综合英语二课文完整版

自考综合英语二课文

全国高等教育自学考试指定教材综合英语二（上下）主编徐克荣外语教学与研究出版社

Lesson One

Twelve Things l Wish They Taught at School

Carl Sagan

俗话说：“活到老，学到老。”人的一生就是不断学习、不断丰富和充实自己的过程。青少年阶段，尤其是中学阶段，无疑是学习的最佳时期。中学教育的重点应放在什么地方？美国著名科学家和科普作家萨根批评中学只抓各个学科具体内容的做法，他认为中学要注重对青少年的宏观教育，使他们建立起唯物的世界观和宇宙观，使他们能够正确对待自己，关心周围的世界——人类生存的环境和自己的地球同胞。

1 I attended junior and senior high school, public institutions in New Y ork and New Jersey, just after the Second World War. It seems a long time ago. The facilities and the skills of the teachers were probably well above average for the United States at that time. Since then, I've learned a great deal. One of the most important things I've learned is how much there is to learn, and how much I don't yet know. Sometimes I think how grateful I would be today if I had learned more back then about what really matters. In some respects that education was terribly narrow; the only thing I ever heard in school about Napoleon was that the United States made the Louisiana Purchase from him. (On a planet where some 95% of the inhabitants are not Americans, the only history that was thought worth teaching was American history. ) In spelling, grammar, the fundamentals of math, and other vital subjects, my teachers did a pretty good job. But there's so much else I wish they'd taught us.

2 Perhaps all the deficiencies have since been rectified. It seems to me there are many things (often more a matter of attitude and perception than the simple memorization of facts) that the schools should teach —things that truly would be useful in later life, useful in making a stronger country and a better world, but useful also in making people happier. Human beings enjoy learning. That's one of the few things that we do better than the other species on our planet. Every student should regularly experience the "Aha!" —when something you never understood, or something you never knew was a mystery, becomes clear.

3 So here's my list:

Pick a difficult thing and learn it well.

4 The Greek philosopher Socrates said this was one of the greatest of human joys,and it is. While you learn a little bit about many subjects, make sure you learn a great deal about one or two. It hardly matters what the subject is, as long as it deeply interests you, and you place it in its broader human context. After you teach yourself one subject, you become much more confident about your ability to teach yourself another. Y ou gradually find you've acquired a key skill. The world is changing so rapidly that you must continue to teach yourself throughout your life. But don't get trapped by the first subject that interests you, or the first thing you find yourself good at. The world is full of wonders, and some of them we don't discover until we're all grown up. Most of them, sadly, we never discover. Don't be afraid to ask "stupid" questions.

5 Many apparently naive inquiries like why grass is green, or why the Sun is round, or why we need 55,000 nuclear weapons in the world —are really deep questions. The answers can be a gateway to real insights. It's also important to know, as well as you can, what it is that you don't know, and asking questions is the way. To ask "stupid" questions requires courage on the part of the asker and knowledge and patience on the part of the answerer. And don't confine your learning to schoolwork. Discuss ideas in depth with friends. It's much braver to ask questions even when there's a prospect of

ridicule than to suppress your questions and become deadened to the world around you.

Listen carefully.

6 Many conversations are a kind of competition that rarely leads to discovery on either side. When people are talking, don't spend the time thinking about what you're going to say next. Instead, try to understand what they're saying, what experience is behind their remarks, what you can learn from or about them. Older people have grown up in a world very different from yours, one you may not know very well. They, and people from other parts of the country and from other nations, have important perspectives that can enrich your life.

Everybody makes mistakes.

7 Everybody's understanding is incomplete. Be open to correction, and learn to correct your own mistakes. The only embarrassment is in not learning from your mistakes.

Know your planet.

8 It's the only one we have. Learn how it works. We're changing the atmosphere, the surface, the waters of the Earth, often for some short-term advantage when the long-term implications are unknown. The citizens of any country should have at least something to say about the direction in which we're going. If we don't understand the issues, we abandon the future. Science and technology.

9 Y ou can't know your planet unless you know something about science and technology. School science courses, I remember, concentrated on the unimportant parts of science, leaving the major insights almost untouched. The great discoveries in modern science are also great discoveries of the human spirit. For example, Copernicus showed that — far from being the center of the universe, about which the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars revolved in clockwise homage — the Earth is just one of many small worlds. This is a deflation of our pretensions, to be sure, but it is also the opening up to our view of a vast and awesome universe. Every high school graduate should have some idea of the insights of Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein. (Einstein's special theory of relativity, far from being obscure and exceptionally difficult, can be understood in its basics with no more than first-year algebra, and the notion of a rowboat in a river going upstream and downstream. )

Don't spend your life watching TV.

10 Y ou know what I'm talking about.Culture.

11 Gain some exposure to the great works of literature, art and music. If such a work is hundreds or thousands of years old and is still admired, there is probably something to it. Like all deep experiences, it may take a little work on your part to discover what all the fuss is about. But once you make the effort, your life has changed; you've acquired a source of enjoyment and excitement for the rest of your days. In a world as tightly connected as ours is, don't restrict your attention to American or Western culture. Learn how and what people elsewhere think. Learn something of their history, their religion, their viewpoints.

Compassion.

12 Many people believe that we live in an extraordinarily selfish time. But there is a hollowness, a loneliness that comes from living only for yourself. Humans are capable of great mutual compassion, love, and tenderness. These feelings, however, need encouragement to grow.

13 Look at the delight a one- or two-year-old takes in learning, and you see how powerful is the human will to learn. Our passion to understand the universe and our compassion for others jointly provide the chief hope for the human race. Lesson Two

Icons

提起一位获得诺贝尔奖的华人物理学家的名字，今天的青少年恐怕很多人会感到陌生，无话可说，可是谈起当红歌星、球星，他们则是津津乐道。当今国内外的明星大腕被少男少女们一个个奉为偶像。君不见，追星族们为求得偶像的签名，可以在瓢泼大雨中等待半天，为一睹偶像的风采，可以大打出手破门而入。三四十年前青年人崇拜的科学家和英雄人物已被视为昨日黄花，中外都是如此。这种价值观的变化引起了社会学家和教育家的忧虑，他们指出星们、腕儿们只不过是媒体尤其是电视炒作的产物。

Heroes and Cultural Icons

Gary Gosggarian

1 If you were asked to list ten American heroes and heroines, you would probably name some or all of the following: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Helen Keller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Rosa Parks. If next you were asked to list people who are generally admired by society, who somehow seem bigger than life, you might come up with an entirely different list. Y ou might, in fact, name people who are celebrated for their wealth and glamour rather than their achievements and moral strength of character. And you would not be alone, because pollsters have found that people today do not choose political leaders who shape history for their "Most Admired" list, but rather movie and television celebrities, fashion models, professional athletes, and even comic book and cartoon characters. In short media icons.

2 By definition, heroes and heroines are men and women distinguished by uncommon courage, achievements, and self-sacrifice made most often for the benefit of others —they are people against whom we measure others. They are men and women recognized for shaping our nation's consciousness and development as well as the lives of those who admire them. Y et, some people say that ours is an age where true heroes and heroines are hard to come by, where the very ideal of heroism is something beyond us — an artifact of the past. Some maintain that because the Cold War is over and because America is at peace our age is essentially an unheroic one. Furthermore, the overall crime rate is down, poverty has been eased by a strong and growing economy, and advances continue to be made in medical science. Consequently, bereft of cultural heroes, we have latched onto cultural icons —media superstars such as actors, actresses, sports celebrities, television personalities, and people who are simply famous for being famous.

3 Cultural icons are harder to define, but we know them when we see them. They are people who manage to transcend celebrity, who are legendary, who somehow manage to become mythic. But what makes some figures icons and others mere celebrities? That's hard to answer. In part, their lives have the quality of a story. For instance, the beautiful young Diana Spencer who at 19 married a prince, bore a king, renounced marriage and the throne, and died at the moment she found true love. Good looks certainly help. So does a special indefinable charisma, with the help of the media. But nothing be comes an icon more than a tragic and early death — such as Martin Luther King Jr. , John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana.

Being Somebody

Donna Wool folk Cross

4 One hundred years ago, people became famous for what they had achieved. Men like J.P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman and Jay Gould were all notable achievers. So were Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, and Susan B. Anthony.

5 Their accomplishments are still evident in our own day. Today's celebrities, however, often do not become known for any enduring achievement. The people we most admire today are usually those who are most highly publicized by the media.

6 In 1981, a Gallup poll revealed that Nancy Reagan was the nation's "most admired woman." The year before, that distinction went to President Carter's wife, Rosalynn. In fact, the wife of the current president is always one of the nation's most admired women. Today's celebrities, as the writer Daniel Boorstin says, are "people well-known for their well-knownness."

7 To become such a celebrity, one needs luck, not accomplishment. As Boorstin says, "The hero was distinguished by his accomplishment; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name."

8 There is another distinction: heroes inspire respect; celebrities inspire envy. Few of us believe we could be another Jonas Salk or Eleanor Roosevelt, but we could be another TV star like Telly Savalas or Suzanne Somers. Except for the attention they get from the media, these people are exactly like us.

9 The shift from hero-worship to celebrity-worship occurred around the turn of the century. It was closely tied to the rise of new forms of media—first photography, and later moving pictures, radio and television. For the first time, Americans could see and recognize their heroes. Previously, men like Gould and Harriman, whose names everyone knew, could easily have passed through a crowd without being recognized. The reproduction of photos in newspapers turned famous people into celebrities whose dress, appearance, and personal habits were widely commented upon. Slowly, the focus of public attention began to shift away from knowing what such people did to knowing what they looked like.

10 The shift was accelerated by the arrival of moving pictures. Between 1901 and 1914, 74 percent of the magazine articles about famous people were about political leaders, inventors, professionals, and businessmen. After 1922, however, most articles were about movie stars.

11 With the arrival of television, the faces of the stars became as familiar as those we saw across the breakfast table. We came to know more about the lives of the celebrities than we did about most of the people we know personally. Less than seventy years after the appearance of the first moving pictures, the shift from hero-worship to celebrity-worship was complete.

12 Today an appearance on a television talk show is the ultimate proof of "making it" in America. Actually, the term "talk show" is misleading. Celebrities do not appear on such a program because of an actual desire —or ability —to talk, but simply to gain recognition, and prove, merely by showing up, that they are "somebody."

13 Being a guest on a talk show does not require qualities of wit, eloquence, brilliance, insight, or intelligence. A former talent coordinator for "the Tonight Show," says that when he would ask a scheduled guest, "What would you like to talk to the host about?"the reply he got most often was, "Have him ask me anything."This, he says, usually meant, "I am a typical Hollywood actor, so I have never had an original thought and I have nothing to say of any interest to anyone anywhere."

14 Most hosts are grateful just to get someone who will fill the room with sound. One talk show coordinator comments, "We look for the guest who is sure to talk no matter what. Ten seconds of silence appears very awkward on television; thirty seconds is disastrous. A guest who's got to stop to think about everything he says before he opens his mouth is a ratings nightmare."

15 This kind of attitude rewards smooth, insincere talk, and makes hesitancy look like stupidity.

16 "We wouldn't have used George Washington on our show," says one talent coordinator. "He might have been first in the hearts of his countrymen, but today he'd be dragging his bottom in the ratings."

Lesson Three Go-Go Americans

Alison R. Lanier

如果矜持是英国人突出的特性，我们则可以用“风风火火”来概括美国人典型的特点。他们好像整天在忙忙碌碌，匆匆去上班，匆匆用午饭，匆匆返回工作；他们没有耐心，脾气急，爱发火，不耐烦排队；他们谈公事开门见山，没有客套话，直截了当切入话题；他们喜爱快餐，大量使用节省劳力的家用电器，钟情电子通讯设施；他们办事不拘形式，讲速度，重效率等等。这一切皆源于他们对生命之短促的紧迫感，视时间为生命的价值观。

1 Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor.

2 "We are slaves to nothing but the clock," it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost tangible. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious commodity. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifet ime. Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.

3 A foreigner's first impression of the U.S. is likely to be that everyone is in a rush —often under pressure. City people appear always to be hurrying to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, elbowing others as they try to complete their errands. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating places are waiting for you to finish so they too can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. Each person hurries to make room for the next person. If you don't, waiters will hurry you.

4 Y ou also find drivers will be abrupt and that people will push past you. Y ou will miss smiles, brief conversations, small courtesies with strangers. Don't take it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else "wasting" it beyond a certain courtesy point.

5 This view of time affects the importance we attach to patience. In the American system of values, patience is not a

high priority. Many of us have what might be called "a short fuse." We begin to move restlessly about if we feel time is slipping away without some return — be this in terms of pleasure, work value, or rest. Those coming from lands where time is looked upon differently may find this matter of pace to be one of their most difficult adjustments in both business and daily life.

6 Many newcomers to the States will miss the opening courtesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a cafe or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust and rapport. Rapport to most of us is less important than performance. We seek out evidence of past performance rather than evaluate a business colleague through social courtesies. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly.

7 Most Americans live according to time segments laid out in engagement calendars. These calendars may be divided into intervals as short as fifteen minutes. We often give a person two or three (or more) segments of our calendar, but in the business world we almost always have other appointments following hard on the heels of whatever we are doing. Time is therefore always ticking in our inner ear.

8 As a result we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through telexes, phone calls or memos rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longer —especially given our traffic-filled streets. We therefore save most personal visiting for after work hours or for social weekend gatherings.

9 To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relation to the importance of the matter at hand. In some countries no major business is carried on without eye contact, requiring face-to-face conversation. In America, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in person. However, people are meeting increasingly on television screens, conducting "teleconferences" to settle problems not only in this country but also —by satellite —internationally. An increasingly high percentage of normal business is being done these days by voice or electronic device. Mail is slow and uncertain and is growing ever more expensive.

10 The U.S. is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chat with friends, to make or break social engagements, to say their "Thank you's," to shop and to obtain all kinds of information. Telephones save your feet and endless amounts of time. This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is good here, whereas the postal service is less efficient. Furthermore, the costs of secretarial labor, printing, and stamps are all soaring. The telephone is quick. We like it. We can do our business and get an answer in a matter of moments. Furthermore, several people can confer together without moving from their desks, even in widely scattered locations. In a big country that, too, is important.

11 Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are thus felt to be given added weight by the passage of time. In the U.S. , however, it is taken as a sign of competence to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with rapidity. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to "get it moving."

Lesson Four "Take Over, Bos'n!" Oscar Schisgall

一艘失事船只的10名幸存水手在救生艇上漂流了20天，水手们干渴难忍，三副因不许他们碰艇上最后一小壶淡水，成了众矢之的，尤其是副水手长，对他是更是恨之入骨。为了保住那壶水，3天来，他没有合眼，一直把枪口对准了其他水手，不许他们轻举妄动。他明白，那点水是10个人活下去的动力。他疲乏至极，就在他倒下之际，他低声说："水手长，接过去!"后来……

1 Hour after hour I kept the gun pointed at the other nine men. From the lifeboat's stern, where I'd sat most of the twenty days of our drifting, I could keep them all covered. If I had to shoot at such close quarters, I wouldn't miss. They

realized that. Nobody jumped at me. But in the way they all glared I could see how they'd come to hate my guts.

2 Especially Barrett, who'd been bos'n's mate; Barrett said in his harsh, cracked voice, "Y ou're a fool, Snyder. Y-you can't hold out forever! Y ou're half asleep now!"

3 I didn't answer. He was right. How long can a man stay awake? I hadn't dared to shut my eyes in maybe seventy-two hours. V ery soon now I'd doze off, and the instant that happened they'd jump on the little water that was left.

4 The last canteen lay under my legs. There wasn't much in it after twenty days. Maybe a pint. Enough to give each of them a few drops. Y et I could see in their bloodshot eyes that they'd gladly kill me for those few drops. As a man I didn't count any more. I was no longer third officer of the wrecked Montala. I was just a gun that kept them away from the water they craved. And with their tongue swollen and their cheeks sunken, they were half crazy.

5 The way I judged it, we must be some two hundred miles east of Ascension. Now that the storms were over, the Atlantic swells were long and easy, and the morning sun was hot —so hot it scorched your skin. My own tongue was thick enough to stop my throat. I'd have given the rest of my life for a single gulp of water.

6 But I was the man with the gun —the only authority in the boat —and I knew this: once the water was gone we'd have nothing to look forward to but death. As long as we could look forward to getting a drink later, there was something to live for. We had to make it last as long as possible. If I'd given in to the curses, we'd have emptied the last canteen days ago. By now we'd all be dead.

7 The men weren't pulling on the oars. They'd stopped that long ago, too weak to go on. The nine of them facing me were a pack of bearded, ragged, half-naked animals, and I probably looked as bad as the rest. Some sprawled over the gunwales, dozing. The rest watched me as Barrett did, ready to spring the instant I relaxed.

8 When they weren't looking at my face they looked at the canteen under my legs.

9 Jeff Barrett was the nearest one. A constant threat. The bos'n's mate was a heavy man, bald, with a scarred and brutal face. He'd been in a hundred fights, and they'd left their marks on him.

10 Barrett had been able to sleep —in fact, he'd slept through most of the night —and I envied him that. His eyes wouldn't close. They kept watching me, narrow and dangerous.

11 Every now and then he jeered at me in that hoarse, broken voice:

12 "Why don't you quit? Y ou can't hold out!"

13 "Tonight," I said. "We'll ration the rest of the water tonight."

14 "By tonight some of us'll be dead! We want it now!"

15 "Tonight," I said.

16 Couldn't he understand that if we waited until night the few drops wouldn't be sweated out of us so fast? But Barrett was beyond all reasoning. His mind had already cracked with thirst. I saw him begin to rise, a calculating look in his eyes. I aimed the gun at his chest — and he sat down again.

17 I'd grabbed my gun on instinct, twenty days ago, just before running for the lifeboat. Nothing else would have kept Barrett and the rest away from the water.

18 These fools —couldn't they see I wanted a drink as badly as any of them? But I was in c ommand here —that was the difference. I was the man with the gun, the man who had to think. Each of the others could afford to think only of himself; I had to think of them all.

19 Barrett's eyes kept watching me, waiting. I hated him. I hated him all the more because he'd slept. As the boat rose and fell on the long swells, I could feel sleep creeping over me like paralysis. I bent my head. It filled my brain like a cloud.

I was going, going...

20 Barrett stood over me, and I couldn't even lift the gun. In a vague way I could guess what would happen. He'd grab the water first and take his drop. By that time the others would be screaming and tearing at him, and he'd have to yield the canteen. Well, there was nothing more I could do about it.

21 I whispered, "Take over, bos'n."

22 Then I fell face down in the bottom of the boat. I was asleep before I stopped moving...

23 When a hand shook my shoulder, I could hardly raise my head. Jeff Barrett's hoarse voice said, "Here! Take your share o' the water !"

24 Somehow I propped myself up on my arms, dizzy and weak. I looked at the men, and I thought my eyes were going.

Their figures were dim, shadowy; but then I realized it wasn't because of my eyes. It was night. The sea was black; there were stars overhead. I'd slept the day away.

25 So we were in our twenty-first night adrift —the night in which the tramp Croton finally picked us up —but now, as I turned my head to Barrett there was no sign of any ship. He knelt beside me, holding out the canteen, his other hand with the gun steady on the men.

26 I stared at the canteen as if it were a mirage. Hadn't they finished that pint of water this morning? When I looked up at Barrett's ugly face, it was grim. He must have guessed my thoughts.

27 "Y ou said,‘Take over, bos'n, ' didn't you?" he growled. "I've been holding off these apes all day." He lifted the gun in his hand."When you're boss-man," he added, "in command and responsible for the rest —you —you sure get to see things different, don't you?"

Lesson Five Are you Giving Y our Kids Too Much?

benjamin Spock

天下的父母哪个不疼爱自己的孩子？天下的父母又有哪个不望子成龙、盼女成凤？一个普遍存在的错误观念是：给孩子的越多，越能体现对孩子的爱；相当多的家长对孩子的物质要求不愿说“不”。殊不知孩子最需要的是父母对他们的关心和爱护，无节制地满足孩子的物质愿望不利于他们的健康成长，也不是他们的愿望。有时孩子的哭闹仅仅是发出信号，请求家长规定界限。家长应该让孩子从小就学习如何面对回绝、挫折和失败。

1 While traveling for various speaking engagements, I frequently stay overnight in the home of a family and am assigned to one of the children's bedrooms. In it, I often find so many playthings that there's almost no room - for my small toilet kit. And the closet is usually so tightly packed with clothes that I can barely squeeze in my jacket.

2 I'm not complaining, only making a point. I think that the tendency to give children an overabundance of toys and clothes is quite common in American families, and I think that in far too many families not only do children come to take their parents' generosity for granted, but also the effects of this can actually be somewhat harmful to children.

3 Of course, I'm not only thinking of the material possessions children are given. Children can also be overindulged with too many privileges - for example, when parents send a child to an expensive summer camp that the parents can't really afford.

4 Why parents give their children too much, or give things they can't afford? I believe there are several reasons.

5 One fairly common reason is that parents overindulge their children out of a sense of guilt. Parents who both hold down full-time jobs may feel guilty about the amount of time they spend away from their children and may attempt to compensate by showering them with material possessions.

6 Other parents overindulge because they want their children to have everything they had while growing up, along with those things the parents yearned for but didn't get. Still others are afraid to say no to their children's endless requests f or toys for fear that their children will feel unloved or will be ridiculed if they don't have the same playthings their friends have.

7 Overindulgence of a child also happens when parents are unable to stand up to their children's unreasonable demands. Such parents vacillate between saying no and giving in - but neither response seems satisfactory to them. If they refuse a request, they immediately feel a wave of remorse for having been so strict or ungenerous. If they give in, they feel regret and resentment over having been a pushover. This kind of vacillation not only impairs the parents' ability to set limits, it also sours the parent-child relationship to some degree, robbing parents and their children of some of the happiness and mutual respect that should be present in healthy families.

8 But overindulging children with material things does little to lessen parental guilt (since parents never feel that they've given enough), nor does it make children feel more loved (for what children really crave is parents' time and attention). Instead, the effects of overindulgence can be harmful. Children may, to some degree, become greedy, self-centered, ungrateful and insensitive to the needs and feelings of others, beginning with their parents. When children are given too much, it undermines their respect for their parents. In fact, the children begin to sense that a parent's unlimited generosity is not right. The paradoxical result may be that these children will push further, unconsciously hoping that, if they push too hard, they will force their parents into setting limits.

9 Also, overindulged children are not as challenged as children with fewer playthings to be more creative in their play.

They have fewer opportunities to learn the value of money, and have less experience in learning to deal with a delay in gratification, if every requested object is given on demand.

10 The real purpose of this discussion is not to tell parents how much or how little to give to their children. Rather, my intent is to help those parents who have already sensed that they might be overindulging their children but don't know how to stop.

11 Parents who are fortunate enough not to have a problem with feelings of guilt don't need to respond crossly to their children when denying a specific request which is thought to be unreasonable. They can explain, cheerfully, that it's too expensive - except perhaps as a birthday or holiday gift - or that the child will have to contribute to its purchase from an allowance or from the earnings of an outside job.

12 It's the cheerfulness and lack of hesitation that impress upon the child that parents mean what they say. A cross response signals that the parents are in inner conflict. In fact, I'll make a rash statement that I believe is true, by and large: Children will abide by what their parents sincerely believe is right. They only begin arguing and pestering when they detect uncertainty or guilt, and sense that their parents can be pushed to give them what they want, if they just keep at it. But the truth is that a child really wants parents to be in control - even if it means saying no to a request - and to act with conviction in a kind and loving fashion.

13 But, you may answer, I often am uncertain about whether to give in to many of my children's requests. That doesn't mean you can't change. First you should try to determine what makes you submissive or guilty. Then, even if you haven't uncovered the reason, you should begin to make firm decisions and practice responding to your children's requests in a prompt, definite manner.

14 Once you turn over a new leaf, you can't expect to change completely right away. Y ou are bound to vacillate at times. The key is to be satisfied with gradual improvement, expecting and accepting the occasional slips that come with any change. And even after you are handling these decisions in a firmer and more confident manner, you can't expect your children to respond immediately. For a while they'll keep on applying the old pressures that used to work so well. But they'll eventually come to respect your decisions once they learn that nagging and arguing no longer work. In the end, both you and your children will be happier for it.

Lesson Six Culture Shock

在今天的社会里，很少有人一生只在一个地方生活，只在一种环境里活动。一个人在成长过程中，从幼儿园到小学、中学、乃至大学，不断离开自己熟悉的同伴而进入新的环境。越来越多的学子走出国门到海外求学。由于各种原因，人们更换工作单位、居住地点，到陌生的地方去求生存、求发展。环境的变化往往给人们带来各种生理的和心理的不适，甚至压力。社会学家把这种情况称之为“文化震荡”，指出这是当今社会的一种流行病，并分析了其病因、症状、过程和治愈方式。这些分析也许对于预防和治疗此病有一定的作用。

Cause and Symptoms

Kalvero Oberg

1 Culture shock might be called an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most diseases, it has its own symptoms.

2 Culture shock is caused by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. Those signs or cues include the thousand and one ways with which we are familiar in the situation of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to go shopping, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not. These cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms, are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues, often without our conscious awareness.

3 Now when a person enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. He or she is like a fish out of water. No matter how broad-minded or full of goodwill you may be, a series of props have been knocked from under

you, followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety. People react to the frustration in much the same way. First they reject the environment which causes the discomfort. "The ways of the host country are bad because they make us feel bad." When foreigners in a strange land get together to grumble about the host country and its people, you can be sure they are suffering from culture shock. Another symptom of culture shock is regression. The home environment suddenly takes on a tremendous importance. To the foreigner everything becomes irrationally glorified. All the difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things back home are remembered. It usually takes a trip home to bring one back to reality.

4 Some of the symptoms of culture shock are excessive washing of the hands; excessive concern over drinking water, food dishes, and bedding; fear of physical contact with attendants; the absent-minded stare; a feeling of helplessness and a desire for dependence on long term residents of one's own nationality; fits of anger over minor frustrations; great concern over minor pains and eruptions of the skin; and finally, that terrible longing to be back home.

5 Individuals differ greatly in the degree in which culture shock affects them. Although not common, there are individuals who cannot live in foreign countries. However, those who have seen people go through culture shock and on to a satisfactory adjustment can see steps in the process.

Stages of Adjustment

Raymond Zeuschner

6 Kalvero Oberg describes four stages that people go through when they experience situations that are very different from those to which they are accustomed. Examples of such situations include moving to a new city, traveling to a new country, and becoming part of a new organization, military unit or corporation.

7 Stage one is a honeymoon phase, during which the new experience is perceived to be interesting, picturesque, entertaining, and charming. Y ou may notice several superficial differences such as music, food, and clothing, and the fresh appeal of the new experience keeps you feeling interested and positive. If you are a real tourist, you probably do not stay long enough for this phase to wear off but go on to the next new location or experience. There are people who frequently change jobs, majors, romantic partners, travel plans, clothing styles, foods, diets, or cars so that they never get very far away from the honeymoon stage of culture shock. It is very pleasant to travel and to try out and explore whatever is new.

8 When you stay in a new environment for a while, you move to stage two - the crisis stage - in which the shine wears off and day to-day realities sink in. In a relationship, you notice annoying habits; in a new country, you find barriers to establishing connections or to learning the language beyond a few polite phrases. Suddenly, your new major includes a class or a professor you dislike. The difficulties and unpleasantness of reality replace the charming and picturesque "honeymoon." However, if you stick with the experience and try to deal with it realistically, you will probably move to the third phase of culture shock: recovery.

9 In recovery, you learn the systems, procedures, language, or nonverbal behaviors of the new environment so that you can cope with it on the basis of some mastery, competence, and comfort. After about two weeks in London, I began to feel familiar with traveling by "tube," shopping nearly every day for groceries, paying in the correct currency, buying a newspaper, and using some phrases that are unique to English people. I had the advantage of speaking the same basic language and of sharing a great deal with the English in some broad, cultural aspects. In a country that was very different from my own, it would probably have taken me longer to move into the recovery phase.

10 Finally, the fourth, or adjustment, phase occurs when you feel that you function well and almost automatically in the new culture. Y ou no longer need to make mental conversions of the country's money; you know where services are located and how to use them; you understand some of the customs that accompany ordinary life, and it is relatively easy for you to adjust to them. A greater enjoyment of the new experience is now possible, and you may regain some of the initial positive regard you had in the honeymoon stage. If you stay long enough on a visit from a big city to a small town, or, the other way round, you may become so well adapted to the new environment that when you return to your original home, you will again experience culture shock. For some people, it may take several days to readjust, depending on the length of time they were away. Usually, however, since you are in your home culture, your shock wears off faster than the shock that you experienced in the new culture.

Lesson Seven The Model Millionaire (Ⅰ)

Oscar Wilde

一个虽有英俊的相貌与潇洒的风度但没有钱的小伙子，在普遍认为漂亮不如有钱的伦敦社会，有资格谈情说爱吗?他能得到姑娘们的青睐吗?休吉就是这样一位青年，偏偏有一位美丽的姑娘愿意嫁给他。未来的老丈人对小伙子也颇为欣赏。但是若论及婚嫁，先得拿出1万英镑。对此这个性格开朗的年轻人是一筹莫展，到哪里去筹这笔巨款?那天在朋友的画室里，一个衣衫褴褛、满脸愁容的老模特打动了他的心。自己虽穷，但他仍然可怜比他更穷的人，他毫不犹豫地把兜里唯一的一个英镑悄悄地送给了那可怜的老头。

1 Unless one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow. Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed. The poor should be practical and ordinary. It is better to have a permanent income than to be attractive. These are the great truths of modern life which Hughie Erskine never realised. Poor Hughie! Intellectually, we must admit, he was not of much importance. He never said a clever or even an ill-natured thing in his life. But then he was wonderfully good-looking, with his brown hair, his clear-cut face, and his grey eyes. He was as popular with men as he was with women, and he had every quality except that of making money. His father, on his death, had left him his sword and a history of a particular war in fifteen volumes. Hughie hung the first over his looking-glass, put the second on a shelf, and he lived on two hundred pounds a year that an old aunt allowed him. He had tried everything. He had gone on the Stock Exchange for six months; but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears? He had been a tea merchant for a little longer, but he had soon tired of that. Then he had tried selling dry sherry. That did not answer; the sherry was a little too dry. At last he became nothing, a delightful, useless young man with a perfect face and no profession.

2 To make matters worse, he was in love. The girl he loved was Laura Merton, the daughter of a former army officer who had lost his temper and his health in India, and never found either of them https://www.wendangku.net/doc/186088288.html,ura loved him and he was ready to kiss her shoestrings. They were the handsomest couple in London, and had not a penny between them. Her father was very fond of Hughie, but would not hear of any engagement.

3 "Come to me, my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own, and we will see about it," he used to say; and Hughie looked very miserable in those days, and had to go to Laura for comfort.

4 One morning, as he was on his way to Holland Park, where the Mertons lived, he dropped in to see a great friend of his, Alan Trevor. Trevor was a painter. Indeed, few people are not nowadays. But he was also an artist, and artists are rather rare. Personally he was a strange, rough fellow, with a freckled face and red, rough beard. However, when he took up the brush he was a real master, and his pictures were eagerly sought after. He had been very much attracted by Hughie at first, it must be admitted, entirely on account of his personal charm. "The only people a painter should know," he used to say,"are people who are beautiful, people who are an artistic pleasure to look at, and restful to talk to. Men who are well-dressed and women who are lovely rule the world - at least they should do so." However, after he got to know Hughie better, he liked him quite as much for his bright, cheerful spirits, and his generous, careless nature, and had asked him to come to his studio whenever he liked.

5 When Hughie came in he found Trevor putting the finishing touches to a wonderful life-size picture of a beggar-man. The beggar himself was standing on a raised platform in a corner of the room. He was a wizened old man with a wrinkled face and a sad expression. Over his shoulder was thrown a rough brown coat, all torn and full of holes; his thick boots were old and patched; and with one hand he leant on a rough stick, while with the other he held out his battered hat for money.

6 "What an amazing model!" whispered Hughie, as he shook hands with his friend.

7 "An amazing model?" shouted Trevor at the top of his voice; "I should think so! Such beggars are not met with every day. Good heavens! What a picture Rembrandt would have made of him!"

8 "Poor old fellow!" said Hughie, "How miserable he looks! But I suppose, to you painters, his face is valuable."

9 "Certainly," replied Trevor, "you don't want a beggar to look happy, do you?"

10 "How much does a model get for sitting?" asked Hughie, as he found himself a comfortable seat.

11 "A shilling an hour."

12 "And how much do you get for your picture, Alan?"

13 "Oh, for this I get two thousand."

14 "Pounds?"

15 "Guineas. Painters, poets, and doctors always get guineas."

16 "Well, I think the model should have a percentage," cried Hughie, laughing; "they work quite as hard as you do."

17 "Nonsense, nonsense! Why, look at the trouble of laying on the paint alone, and standing all day in front of the picture! It's easy, Hughie, for you to talk, but I tell you that there are moments when art almost reaches the importance of manual work. But you mustn't talk; I'm very busy. Smoke a cigarette, and keep quiet."

18 After some time the servant came in, and told Trevor that the frame-maker wanted to speak to him.

19 "Don't run away, Hughie," he said, as he went out, "I will be back in a moment."

20 The old beggar-man took advantage of Trevor's absence to rest for a moment on a wooden seat that was behind him. He looked so miserable that Hughie pitied him, and felt in his pockets to see what money he had. All he could find was a pound and some pennies."Poor old fellow," he thought to himself, "he wants it more than I do, but I shan't have much money myself for a week or two"; and he walked across the studio and slipped the pound into the beggar's hand.

21 The old man startled, and a faint smile passed across his lips."Thank you, sir," he said, "thank you."

22 Then Trevor arrived, and Hughie left, blushing a little at what he had done. He spent the day with Laura, was charmingly blamed for giving away a pound, and had to walk home.

Lesson Eight The Model Millionaire (II)

Oscar Wilde

当休吉得知那老乞丐原来是欧洲少有的巨富，十分懊丧；听说朋友把自己为婚事发愁的隐私也告诉了那老头，性格随和的他也动怒了。次日，富翁派人来访，休吉断定他是代表主人来向他讨个歉意；没想到老头解决了他的燃眉之急……

1 That night Hughie went to a club about eleven o'clock, and found Trevor sitting by himself in the smoking room drinking.

2 "Well, Alan, did you finish the picture all right?" he said, as he lit his cigarette.

3 "Finished and framed, my boy!" answered Trevor; "and, by the way, that old model you saw has become very fond of you. I had to tell him all about you - who you are, where you live, what your income is, what hopes you have -"

4 "My dear Alan," cried Hughie, "I shall probably find him waiting for me when I go home. But, of course, you are only joking. Poor old fellow! I wish I could do something for him. I think it is terrible that any one should be so miserable. I have got heaps of old clothes at home - do you think he would care for any of them? Why, his rags were falling to bits."

5 "But he looks splendid in them," said Trevor. "I should never want to paint him in a frock coat for anything. What you call rags I call romance. What seems poverty to you is charm to me. However, I'll tell him of your offer."

6 "Alan," said Hughie seriously, "you painters are a heartless lot."

7 "An artist's heart is his head," replied Trevor; "and besides, our business is to show the world as we see it, not to make it better. And now tell me how Laura is. The old model was quite interested in her. "

8 "Y ou don't mean to say you talked to him about her?" said Hughie.

9 "Certainly I did. He knows all about the cruel father, the lovely Laura, and the ten thousand pounds."

10 "Y ou told the old beggar all about my private affairs.?" cried Hughie, looking very red and angry.

11 "My dear boy," said Trevor, smiling, "that old beggar, as you call him, is one of the richest men in Europe. He could buy all London tomorrow. He has a house in every capital, has his dinner off gold plate, and can prevent Russia going to war when he wishes."

12 "What on earth do you mean?" cried Hughie.

13 "What I say," said Trevor. "the old man you saw today in the studio was Baron Hausberg. He is a great friend of mine, buys all my pictures and that sort of thing, and gave me a commission a month ago to paint him as a beggar. What do you expect? It is the whim of a millionaire. Y ou know these rich men. And I must say he looked fine in his rags, or perhaps I should say in my rags; they are an old suit I got in Spain."

14 "Baron Hausberg！" cried Hughie. "Good heavens! I gave him a pound!" and he sank into an arm-chair the picture of dismay.

15 "Gave him a pound!" shouted Trevor and he burst into a roar of laughter. "My dear boy, you'll never see it again. His business is with other men's money."

16 "I think you ought to have told me, Alan," said Hughie in a bad temper, "and not have let me make such a fool of myself."

17 "Well, to begin with, Hughie," said Trevor, "It never entered my mind that you went about giving money away in that careless manner. I can understand your kissing a pretty model, but your giving money to an ugly one -, no! Besides, when you came in I didn't know whether Hausberg would like his name mentioned. Y ou know he wasn't in full dress!"

18 "How stupid he must think me!" said Hughie.

19 "Not at all. He was in the highest spirits after you left; kept laughing to himself and rubbing his old wrinkled hands together. I couldn't understand why he was so interested to know all about you; but I see it all now. He'll invest your pound for you, Hughie, pay you the interest every six months, and have a wonderful story to tell after dinner."

20 "I'm an unlucky devil," said Hughie. "The best thing I can do is to go to bed; and, my dear Alan, you mustn't tell anyone. I shouldn't dare to show my face if people knew."

21 "Nonsense! It shows your kindness of spirit, Hughie. And don't run away. Have another cigarette, and you can talk about Laura as much as you like."

22 However, Hughie wouldn't stay, but walked home, feeling very unhappy, and leaving Alan Trevor helpless with laughter.

23 The next morning, as he was at breakfast, the servant brought him a card on which was written, "Monsieur Gustave Naudin, for M. le Baron Hausberg." "I suppose he has come for an apology,"said Hughie to himself; and he told the servant to bring the visitor in.

24 An old gentleman with gold glasses and grey hair came into the room and said, in a slight French accent, "Have I the honour of speaking to Monsieur Erskine?"

25 Hughie bowed.

26 "I have come from Baron Hausberg," he continued. "The Baron -" he continued. "The Baron -"

27 "I beg, sir, that you will offer him my sincerest apologies,"stammered Hughie.

28 "The Baron," said the old gentleman with a smile, "has commissioned me to bring you this letter"; and he held out a sealed envelope.

29 On the outside was written, "A wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar," and inside was a cheque for ten thousand pounds.

30 When they were married Alan Trevor was the best man, and the Baron made a speech at the wedding breakfast.

31 "Millionaire models," remarked Alan, "are rare enough; but model millionaires are rarer still!"

Lesson Nine Only Three More Days

William L. Shirer

第二次世界大战结束已经五十多年，但是这场人类有史以来最大的灾难，至今仍然给人们留下许多值得反思的问题，仍然是影视、文学、艺术作品热衷于挖掘的题材。经受了这场战争的人不会忘记那个年代，也希望今天的年轻人牢记这场战争给人们的教训，不让历史重演。从这个意义上来说，60年代出版并风靡世界的《第三帝国的兴亡》的作者如何在纳粹分子鼻子底下携带大量珍贵资料大模大样登上德国航空公司的班机逃离柏林的故事，仍然具有现实意义。

1 My Berlin diary for December

2 was limited to four words.

2 "Only three more days!"

3 Next day, December 3: "... The Foreign Office still holding up my passport and exit visa, which worries me. Did my

last broadcast from Berlin tonight."

4 "Berlin, December 4: Got my passport and official permission to leave tomorrow. Nothing to do now but pack."

5 There was one other thing to do. For weeks I had thought over how to get my diaries safely out of Berlin. At some moments I had thought I ought to destroy them before leaving. There was enough in them to get me hanged - if the Gestapo ever discovered them.

6 The morning I got my passport and exit visa I realized I had less than twenty-four hours to figure out a way of getting my Berlin diaries out. I again thought of destroying them, but I wanted very much to keep them, if I could. Suddenly, later that morning, the solution became clear. It was risky, but life in the Third Reich had always been risky. It was worth a try.

7 I laid out the diaries in two big steel suitcases I had bought. Over them I placed a number of my broadcast scripts, each page of which had been stamped by the military and civilian censors as passed for broadcast. On top I put a few General Staff maps I had picked up from friends. Then I phoned the Gestapo Headquarters. I had a couple of suitcases full of my dispatches, broadcasts and notes that I wanted to take out of the country, I said. As I was flying off early the next day, there would be no time for Gestapo officials at the airfield to go over the contents. Could they take a look now, if I brought them over; and if they approved, put a Gestapo seal on the suitcases so I wouldn't be held up at the airport?

8 "Bring them over," the official said.

9 After I hung up, I had some more doubts. Wasn't I tempting fate: how could these hard-nosed Nazi detectives help but smell out the diaries beneath my broadcasts? That would be the end of me. Maybe I had just better begin to flush them down the toilet. On the other hand ... I calculated that the secret police would seize the General Staff maps. That's why I had put them there on top. Customs officials always felt better if they found something in your bags to seize, and so would these Gestapo officials.

10 Then they would look at the layers of my broadcast scripts and I would point to the censors' stamps of approval on each page. That would make a Gestapo official sit up and take notice. It would give me prestige in his eyes, or at least make me less suspect, foreigner though I was. I was going to gamble on their inspection ending there, before they dug deeper to my diaries. The feared Gestapo, I knew, was really not very efficient.

11 Everything at Gestapo headquarters worked out as I had planned. The two officials who handled me seized at once my General Staff maps. I apologized. I had forgotten, I said, that I had put them in. They had been very valuable to me in reporting the army's great victories. I realized I shouldn't take out General Staff maps.

12 "What else you've got here?" one of the men said, putting his paw on the pile of papers.

13 "The texts of my broadcast," I said,"... every page, as you can see, stamped for approval by the High Command and two ministries."

14 Both men studied the censors' stamps. I could see they were impressed. They put their hands in a little deeper, each man now looking into a suitcase. Soon they would reach the diaries. I now wished I had not come. I felt myself beginning to sweat. I had deliberately got myself into this jam. What a fool!

15 "Y ou reported on the German army?" one of the agents looked up to ask.

16 "All the way to Paris, "I said. "A great army it was, and a great story for me. It will go down in history!"

17 That settled everything. They put half a dozen Gestapo seals on my suitcases. I tried not to thank them too much. Outside, I called a taxi and drove away.

18 The last entry I would ever make in my diary from Hitler's Berlin:

19 December 5. -It was still dark and a storm was blowing when I left for the airport this morning...

20 As my taxi drove to the airport I wondered if my plane could take off in such weather. If the flight was canceled it might mean I would have to stay for weeks.

21 At the customs there was literally a herd of officials. I opened the two bags with my personal belongings, and after pawing through them two officials chalked a sign of approval on them. I noticed they were from the Gestapo. They pointed to the two suitcases full of my diaries.

22 "Open them up!" one of them said rudely.

23 "I can't," I said. "They're sealed - by the Gestapo."

24 I felt grateful that there were at least a half-dozen seals. The two officials talked in whispers for a moment.

25 "Where were those bags sealed?" one of them snapped.

26 "At Gestapo Headquarters," I said.

27 This information impressed them. But still they seemed suspicious.

28 "Just a minute," one said. His colleague picked up the phone at a table behind them. Obviously he was checking. The man hung up, walked over to me, and without a word chalked the two suitcases. I was free at last to get to the ticket counter to check my luggage.

29 "Where to?" a Lufthansa man asked.

30 "Lisbon," I said.

31 The thought of the German airline delivering my diaries to me safely in Portugal, beyond the reach of the last German official who could seize them, extremely pleased me.

32 The airport tower kept postponing the departure of our plane. I went to the restaurant and had a second breakfast. I really was not hungry. But I had to do something to relieve the tension. I started to glance at the morning papers I had bought automatically on arriving at the airport.

33 "I don't have to read any of this trash anymore!" I thought.

34 Before the end of this day, when we would arrive in Barcelona, I wouldn't have to put up with anything anymore in the great Third Reich. The sense of relief I felt was tremendous. I had only to hold out this one more day, and the whole nightmare for me would be over, though it would go on and on for millions of others.

35 We had survived the Nazi horror and its mindless suppression of the human spirit. But many others, I felt sadly, had not survived -the Jews above all, but also the Czechs and now the Poles. Even for the great mass of Germans who supported Hitler, I felt a sort of sorrow. They did not seem to realize what the poison of Nazism was doing to them.

Lesson Ten The Washwoman

I. B. Singer

一个年近八旬、瘦小的老妇人，不愿增加儿子和社会的负担，一不乞讨，二不进孤老院，顽强地靠为他人洗衣维持生活。经她洗熨过的衣物又干净又平整；一旦收了活儿，即使是大病一场她也要完成自己的职责，冒着大雪严寒也要让洗熨好的衣物尽快物归原主。这个尽职的洗衣妇体现了人类的优秀的品质，她那衰弱的身躯体现了人类坚韧不拔的意志，她那粗糙的双手创造出了光辉灿烂的人类文明。有谁比她更平凡？但有谁比她更崇高？

1 Our home had little contact with Gentiles. But there were the Gentile washwomen who came to the house to fetch our laundry. My story is about one of these.

2 She was a small woman, old and wrinkled. When she started washing for us, she was already past seventy. Most Jewish women of her age were sickly, weak, broken in body. But this washwoman, small and thin as she was, possessed a strength that came from generations of peasant ancestors. Mother would count out to her a bag of laundry that had accumulated over several weeks. She would lift the heavy bag, load it on her narrow shoulders, and carry it the long way home. It must have been a walk of an hour and a half.

3 She would bring the laundry back about two weeks later. My mother had never been so pleased with any washwoman. Every piece of laundry was as clean as polished silver. Every piece was neatly ironed. Y et she charged no more than the others. She was a real find. Mother always had her money ready, because it was too far for the old woman to come a second time.

4 Washing clothes was not easy in those days. The old woman had no tap where she lived, but had to bring in the water from a pump. For the clothes and bedclothes to come out so clean, they had to be scrubbed thoroughly in a washtub, rinsed with washing soda, soaked, boiled in an enormous pot, starched, then ironed. Every piece was handled ten times or more. And the drying! It had to be hung in the attic.

5 She could have begged at the church door or entered a home for the poor and aged. But there was in her a certain pride and love of labor with which many Gentiles have been blessed. The old woman did not want to become a burden, and so bore her burden.

6 The woman had a son who was rich. I no longer remember what sort of business he had. He was ashamed of his mother, the washwoman, and never came to see her. Nor did he ever give her any money. The old woman told this without bitterness. One day the son was married. It seemed that he had made a good match. The wedding took place in a church. The son had not invited the old mother to his wedding, but she went to the church and waited at the steps to see her son lead the "young lady" to the altar...

7 The story of the faithless son left a deep impression on my mother. She talked about it for weeks and months. It was an insult not only to the old woman but to all mothers. Mother would argue,"Does it pay to make sacrifices for children? The mother uses up her last strength, and he does not even know the meaning of loyalty."

8 That winter was a harsh one. The streets were icy. No matter how much we heated our stove, the windows were covered with frost. The newspapers reported that people were dying of the cold. Coal became dear. The winter had become so severe that parents stopped sending children to school.

9 On one such day the washwoman, now nearly eighty years old, came to our house. A good deal of laundry had accumulated during the past weeks. Mother gave her a pot of tea to warm herself, as well as some bread. The old woman sat on a kitchen chair trembling and shaking, and warmed her hands against the teapot. Her fingers were rough from work, and perhaps from arthritis, too. Her fingernails were strangely white. These hands spoke of stubbornness of mankind, of the will to work not only as one's strength permits but beyond the limits of one's power.

10 The bag was big, bigger than usual. When the woman placed it on her shoulders, it covered her completely. At first she stayed, as though she were about to fall under the load. But an inner stubbornness seemed to call out: No, you may not fall. A donkey may permit himself to fall under his burden, but not a human being, the best of creation.

11 She disappeared, and mother sighed and prayed for her.

12 More than two months passed. The frost had gone, and then a new frost had come, a new wave of cold. One evening, while Mother was sitting near the oil lamp mending a shirt, the door opened and a small puff of steam, followed by a gigantic bag, entered the room. I ran toward the old woman and helped her unload her bag. She was even thinner now, more bent. Her head shook from side to side as though she were saying no. She could not utter a clear word, but mumbled something with her sunken mouth and pale lips.

13 After the old woman had recovered somewhat, she told us that she had been ill. Just what her illness was, I cannot remember. She had been so sick that someone called a doctor, and the doctor had sent for a priest. Someone had informed the son, and he had contributed money for a coffin and for the funeral. But God had not yet wanted to take this soul full of pain to Himself. She began to feel better, she became well, and as soon as she was able to stand on her feet once more, she began her washing. Not just ours, hut the wash of several other families, too.

14 "I could not rest easy in my bed because of the wash," the old woman explained. "The wash would not let me die."

15 "With the help of God you will live to be a hundred and twenty,"said my mother, as a blessing.

16 "God forbid! What good would such a long life be? The work becomes harder and harder... my strength is leaving me... I do not want to be a burden on anyone!" The old woman crossed herself, and raised her eyes toward heaven.

17 Fortunately there was some money in the house and Mother counted out what she owed. Then she left, promising to return in a few weeks for a new load.

18 But she never came back. The wash she had returned was her last effort on this earth. She had been driven by an indomitable will to return the property to its rightful owners, to fulfill the task she had undertaken.

19 And now at last her body, which had long been supported only by the force of honesty and duty, had fallen. Her soul passed into those spheres where all holy souls meet, regardless of the roles they played on this earth, in whatever tongue, of whatever religion. I cannot imagine paradise without this Gentile washwoman. I cannot even imagine a world where there is no reward for such effort.

Lesson Eleven How I Served My Apprenticeship

Andrew Carnegie

人类进入新的千年之际，越来越多的青少年享受着父辈们创造的物质文明的成果，从小生活在“刻罐”里，不知道什么叫“匮乏”，不晓得何谓“贫困”，更不了解从小就要干活、帮助父母养家糊口的艰辛。与此同时，人类尚

未消灭贫困，世界上还有穷人，在穷困生活中挣扎的青少年还大有人在。一个青少年时期经历一段艰苦的生活未必是件坏事。俗话说穷则思变，穷能使人发奋图强。一位少年时期有过一段贫困生活经历的大富翁如是说……

1 It is a great pleasure to tell how I served my apprenticeship as a businessman. But there seems to be a question preceding this: Why did I become a businessman? I am sure that I should never have selected a business career if I had been permitted to choose.

2 The eldest son of parents who were themselves poor, I had, fortunately, to begin to perform some useful work in the world while still very young in order to earn an living and therefore came to understand even in early boyhood that my duty was to assist my parents and become, as soon as possible, a breadwinner in the family. What I could get to do, not what I desired, was the question.

3 When I was born my father was a well-to-do master weaver in Scotland. This was the days before the steam engines. He owned no fewer than four handlooms and employed apprentices. He wove cloth for a merchant who supplied the material.

4 When the steam engine came, handloom weaving naturally declined. The first serious lesson of my life came to me one day when I was just about ten years old. My father took the last of his work to the merchant, and returned home greatly distressed because there was no more work for him to do. I resolved then that the wolf of poverty should be driven from our door some day.

5 The question of starting for the United States was discussed from day to day in the family council. It was finally resolved that we would join relatives already in Pittsburgh. I well remember that both father and mother thought the decision was a great sacrifice for them, but that "it would be better for the two boys."

6 On arriving, my father entered a cotton factory. I soon followed, and served as a "bobbin-boy," and that was how I began my preparation for subsequent apprenticeship as a businessman. I cannot tell you how proud I was when I received my first week's earnings — one dollar and twenty cents. It was given to me because I had been of some use in the world! And I became a contributing member of my family! I think this makes a man out of a boy sooner than almost anything else. It is everything to feel that you are useful.

7 I have had to deal with great sums. Many millions of dollars have since passed through my hands. But the genuine satisfaction I had from that one dollar and twenty cents outweighs any subsequent pleasure in money making. It was the direct reward of honest, manual labor; it represented a week of very hard work — so hard that it might have been described as slavery if it hadn't been for its aim and end.

8 It was a terrible task for a lad of twelve to rise every morning, except Sunday, go to the factory while it was still dark, and not be released until after darkness came again in the evening, forty minutes' break only being allowed at noon.

9 But I was young and had my dreams, and something within always told me that this would not, could not, should not last - I should some day get into a better position. Also, I felt myself no longer a mere boy, but quite a little man, and this made me happy.

10 A change soon came, for a kind old Scotsman, who made bobbins, took me into his factory before I was thirteen. But here for a time it was even worse than in the cotton factory, because I was set to fire the boiler in the cellar and run the small steam engine which drove the machinery. The responsibility of keeping the water right and of running the engine, and the danger of my making a mistake and blowing the whole factory to pieces, caused too great a strain, and I often awoke and found myself sitting up in bed through the night, trying the steam-gauges. But I never told them at home about this. No, no! Everything must be bright to them.

11 This was a point of honor, for every member of the family was working hard, and we were telling each other only the bright things. Besides, no man would complain and give up —he would die first.

12 There was no servant in our family, and my mother earned several dollars per week by binding shoes after her daily work was done! Father was also hard at work in the factory. And could I complain?

13 My kind employer soon relieved me of the strain, for he needed someone to make out bills and keep his accounts, and finding that I could write a plain schoolboy hand and could add up, he made me his only clerk. But still I had to work hard upstairs in the workshop for the clerking took but little time.

14 Y ou know how people grumble about poverty as a great evil, and it seems to be accepted that if people had only plenty of money and were rich, they would be happy and more useful, and get more out of life.

15 As a rule, there is more genuine satisfaction from. life in the humble cottages of the poor than in the palaces of the rich. I always pity the sons and daughters of rich men, who are attended by servants, and have a governess even at a later age. They do not know what they have missed. For the poor boy who has in his father his constant companion, tutor, and model, and in his mother his nurse, teacher, guardian angel, saint, all in one, has a richer, more precious fortune in life t han any rich man's son, and compared with which all other fortunes count for little.

16 It is because I know how sweet and happy and pure the home of honest poverty is, how free it is from perplexing care, from social envy and emulations, how loving and how united its members may be in the common interest of supporting the family, that I sympathize with the rich man's boy and congratulate the poor man's boy; and it is for these reasons that from the ranks of the poor so many strong, eminent, self-reliant men have always sprung and always must spring.

17 If you will read the list of the immortals who "were not born to die,"you will find that most of them were born to the precious heritage of poverty.

18 It seems, nowadays, a matter of universal desire that poverty should be abolished. We should be quite willing to abolish luxury, but to abolish honest, industrious self-denying poverty would be to destroy the soil upon which mankind produces the virtues which enable our race to reach a still higher civilization than it now possesses.

Lesson Twelve A Friend of the Environment

John Hartley

20世纪人类物质文明的发展与进步远远超越了以往任何时代，与此同时人类自己的生存环境也遭到了空前的破坏。幸运的是，人们已经逐渐认识到环境保护问题是人类要解决的重大问题。对于人们今天所达到的这一共识，本世纪初常在宾夕法尼亚树林里溜达的一个小姑娘功不可没……

Early Kinship with Nature

1 A little girl tramping around in the Pennsylvania woods near her home feels close to the birds and plants and animals. She is at ease with them. They are, in a way, her close friends. The little girl, like many people, feels that these wonders of Nature are precious and permanent.

2 Rachel Carson continued to feel that way for much of her life. "It was pleasant to believe," she wrote later, "that much of Nature was forever beyond the tampering reach of man. He might cut down the forests and dam the streams, but the clouds and the rain and the stream of life were God's. It was comforting to suppose that the stream of life would flow on through time in whatever course God had given it - without interference by one of the drops in that stream -man. "

Silent Spring - a Warning to Mankind

3 But she found out that she was wrong. As a scientist, she learned with sadness that little in Nature is truly beyond the "tampering reach of man." Then, angrily aware of the harsh facts concerning the present and future dangers to the environment, she used her great skills as a writer to sound a startling warning to mankind. Silent Spring, published in 1962, showed quite clearly that man was endangering himself and everything else on this planet by his indiscrimin ate use of chemical pesticides. As her title suggests, Miss Carson was saying that there might come a springtime that would indeed be silent. It would be silent because the birds, as well as other creatures, and plants would have been destroyed by the man-made poisons used to kill crop-threatening insects.

4 When she was that little girl in Pennsylvania, Rachel Carson never would have believed that years later she would write a scientific book that would stir up so much controversy. The book created the enthusiasm for "protecting the environment" that has become so commonplace today. Because she had always been such an avid and appreciative reader, her dream when she started college was to become an imaginative writer. She wanted to be one perhaps like the English poet John Masefield. His fine words had fired her imagination about the sea, which she had never seen. When she was a sophomore, though, she took a course in biology. It was there she discovered the wonder and excitement of scientific study of those animals she had learned to know and admire as a child tramping through the woods.

Redirected Toward Science

5 After finishing college, she did research and taught in various universities and government agencies. At the same time, she did indeed become acquainted with the sea that Masefield had written about. She learned "the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife." Like any good scientist, she took extensive notes about her studies, whether her focus of the moment was a crab in Chesapeake Bay or a turtle in the Caribbean. Ultimately she wrote about the sea. She wrote about it not only in formal academic reports but also in a book that informed and thrilled laymen around the world. The Sea Around Us, published in 1951, has been translated into more than thirty languages and was on the best-seller list for more than eighty consecutive weeks. Rachel Carson, a scientist with the magic touch of a poet, shared her love of the ocean and its creatures with all mankind. Her style was clear but lively, informative but not preachy, and for most readers truly exhilarating. Although the oceans may cover seven-tenths of the earth's surface, few of us know much about them. The Sea Around Us was a delightful antidote to our ignorance.

Her Concern over Pesticides

6 In the decade after the publication of The Sea Around Us she continued with her research and writing. There were other books and numerous magazine articles. Most of them dealt with the major love of her life - the sea. However, because she was a true scientist and an aware human being, she knew that everything on this planet is connected to everything else. Thus, she became increasingly alarmed by the development and use of DDT and other pesticides of its type. These chemicals, she knew, do not break down in the soil. Instead, they tend to be endlessly recycled in the food chains on which birds and animals and man himself are completely dependent. The Poisonous Cycle.

7 One might guess that at this time Carson the reader might have reminded Carson the scientist of some passages in Shakespeare's most famous play. Prince Hamlet used revoltingly grisly images in vic ious baiting of his hated uncle when he told him that in nature's food chain, the worm is king. We fatten other creatures so that they can feed us, and we fatten ourselves to ultimately feed maggots. The worms eat the king and the beggar alike; they are simply two dishes but the same meal for the worm. The worm that has eaten the king may be used by a man (who could be a beggar) for fishing, and he, in turn, eats the fish that ate the worm. In this way, a king can pass through the guts of a beggar.

8 Rachel Carson knew of this poisonous cycle. And she knew now, as her own observations were confirmed by fellow scientists all over the country, that this "worm" now carried a heavy concentration of poison. It could be passed on to fish, to other animals, to their food supply, and to men and women and children throughout the earth. In spite of fierce opposition from the chemical industry, from powerful government agencies, and from farmer organizations, she persisted in her research and writing. Then in 1962 she published Silent Spring. The book exploded into the public consciousness. It received great praise from some, great criticism from others. The little girl from the Pennsylvania woods, now approaching middle age, had fired a major salvo in the battle for the environment.

Lesson Thirteen Who Shall Dwell?

H. C. Neal

这是一个虚构的故事，因为除了美国于1945年8月在日本广岛和长崎投下了两枚原子弹之外，还没有任何核大国使用过这种大规模的杀伤武器。

但是故事提出的问题却具有现实意义，尤其是在冷战时期，两个超级大国的核军备竞赛使西方不少作家、文人探索人类如何面对可能会发生的核攻击，使自己所创造的物质和精神财富得以继承。

故事也提出了一个与核战无关但更为现实的问题：在危难之际，生的机会应该给谁?故事中这对夫妇的最后决定，令人看到了普通劳动人民的美德和人类的希望。

1 It came on a Sunday afternoon. They had prayed that it would never come, ever, but suddenly here it was.

2 The father was resting on a couch and half-listening to some music on the radio. Mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner and the younger boy and girl were in the bedroom drawing pictures. The older boy was working in the shed out back.

3 Suddenly the music was cut off. Then, the announcer almost shouted:

4 "Bomb alert! Attention! A number of missiles have just been launched across the sea, heading this way. They are expected to strike within the next sixteen minutes. This is a verified alert! Take cover! Keep your radios tuned for further instructions."

5 "My God!" the father gasped. His face was ashen, puzzled, as though he knew that this was real —but still could not quite believe it.

6 "Get the children," his wife blurted, then dashed to the door to call the older boy. He stared at her a brief moment, seeing the fear in her face, but also a loathing for all men involved in the making and dispatch of nuclear weapons.

7 The father jumped to his feet, and ran to the bedroom. "Let's go," he snapped, "shelter drill!" Although they had had many rehearsals, his voice and bearing sent the youngsters dashing for the door without a word.

8 He hustled them through the kitchen to the rear door and sent them to the shelter. As he returned to the bedroom, the older boy came running in.

9 "This is the hot one, son," said his father tersely, "the real one." He and the boy stared at each other a long moment, both knowing what must be done and each knowing the other would more than do his share, yet wondering still at the frightening fact that it must be done at all.

10 "How much time have we got, dad?"

11 "Not long," the father replied, glancing at his watch, "twelve, maybe fourteen minutes."

12 The boy left. The father stepped to the closet, slid the door open and picked up the metal box containing their important papers. He then picked up the big family Bible from the headboard on the bed. Everything else they would need had been stored in the shelter the past several months. He heard his wife approaching and turned as she entered the room.

13 "Ready, dear?" she asked.

14 "Y es," he replied, "are the kids gone in?"

15 "They're all down," she answered, "I still can't believe it's real."

16 "We've got to believe it," he said, looking at her steadily in the eye, " we can't afford not to."

17 Outside, the day was crisp and clear, typical of early fall. He looked at his watch again. Four minutes had elapsed since the first alarm. Twelve minutes, more or less, remained.

18 Inside the shelter, he latched the door, and looked around to see that his family was squared away. Now it began. The waiting.

19 The man and his wife knew that others would come soon, begging and crying to be taken in now that the time was here.

20 They had argued about this when the shelter was being built. It was in her mind to share their refuge. "We can't call ourselves Christians and then deny safety to our friends when the showdown comes," she contended, "that isn't what God teaches."

21 "That's nothing but religious pap," he retorted with a degree of anger. "God created the family as the basic unit of society," he reasoned. "That should make it plain that a man's primary Christian duty is to protect his family."

22 "But don't you see?" she protested, "We must prepare to purify ourselves... to rise above this ‘mine' thinking and be as God's own son, who said, ‘love thy neighbor.'"

23 "No," he replied, "I can't buy that." Then, after a moment's thought, "It is my family I must save, no one more. Y ou. These kids. Our friends are like the people of Noah's time: he warned them of the coming flood when he built the ark on God's command. He was ridiculed and scoffed at, just as we have been ridiculed. No,"and here his voice took on a new sad sureness, "it is meant that if they don't prepare, they die. I see no need for further argument."

24 With seven minutes left, the first knock rang the shelter door."Let us in! For God's sake."

25 He recognized the voice. It was his first neighbor toward town.

26 "No!" shouted the father, "There is only room for us. Go!"

27 Again came the pounding. Louder. More urgent.

28 "Y ou let us in or we'll break down this door!" He wondered if they were actually getting a ram of some sort to batter at the door. He was reasonably certain it would hold.

29 The seconds ticked relentlessly away. Four minutes left.

30 His wife stared at the door and moaned slightly. "Steady, girl,"he said, evenly. The children looked at him, frightened, puzzled. He glared at his watch, ran his hands through his hair, and said nothing.

31 Three minutes left.

32 At that moment, a woman cried from the outside, "If you won't let me in, please take my baby, my little girl."

33 He was stunned by her plea. What must I do? He asked himself in sheer agony. What man on earth could deny a child the chance to live?

34 At that point, his wife rose, and stepped to the door. Before he could move to stop her, she let down the latch and dashed outside. Instantly a three-year-old girl was thrust into the shelter. He hastily fought the door latch on again, then stared at the frightened little newcomer in anger, hating her for simply being there in his wife's place and knowing he could not turn her out.

35 He sat down heavily, trying desperately to think. The voices outside grew louder. He glanced at his watch, looked at the faces of his own children a long moment, then rose to his feet. There were two minutes left, and he made his decision. He marveled now that he had even considered any other choice.

36 "Son," he said to the older boy, "you take care of them." It was as simple as that.

37 Unlatching the door, he thrust it open and stepped out. The crowd surged toward him. Blocking the door with his body, he snatched up the two children nearest him, and shoved them into the shelter. "Bar that door," he shouted to his son, "and don't open it for at least a week!"

38 Hearing the latch drop into place, he turned and glanced around at the faces in the crowd. Some of them were still babbling incoherently, utterly panic-stricken. Others were quiet now, no longer afraid.

39 Stepping to his wife's side, he took her hand and spoke in a warm, low tone. "They will be all right, the boy will lead them."He grinned reassuringly and added, "We should be together, you and Ⅰ．"

40 She smiled wordlessly through her tears and squeezed his hand, exchanging with him in the one brief gesture a lifetime and more of devotion.

41 Then struck the first bomb, blinding them, burning them, blasting them into eternity.

Lesson Fourteen Cipher in the Snow

Jean E. Mizer

一个母亲再嫁，与继父一起生活，没有家庭温暖的少年，在学校里成绩不好，沉默寡言，默默无闻，极少参加学校活动。在一个寒冷的早晨，上学的路上，他突然倒了下去，死于“心力衰竭”。一位老师进行了家访，阅读了他的全部档案之后，发出了愤怒的呼声：“是学校的‘教育’扼杀了他的信心，‘教育’对他的早逝有不可推卸的责任。这是为什么? ”

1 It started on a biting cold February morning. I was driving behind the Milford Corners bus as I did most snowy mornings on my way to school. It stopped short at a hotel, and I was annoyed, as I had to come to an unexpected stop. A boy staggered out of the bus, stumbled, and collapsed on the snowbank at the curb. The bus driver and I reached him at the same moment. His thin, hollow face was white even against the snow.

2 " He's dead, " the driver whispered.

3 I glanced quickly at the scared young faces staring down at us from the school bus. " A doctor! Quick! "

4 " No use. I tell you he's dead. " The driver looked down at the boy's still body. " He never even said he felt bad, " he muttered, " just tapped me on the shoulder and said, quietly, I'm sorry. I have to get off at the hotel. ' That's all. Polite and apologizing. "

5 At school, the giggling morning noise quieted as the news went down the halls. I passed a group of girls. " Who was it? Who dropped dead on the way to school? " I heard one of them half-whisper.

6 " Don't know his name; some kid from Milford Corners " was the reply.

7 It was like that in the faculty room and the principal's office. " I'd appreciate your going out to tell the parents, " the principal told me. " They haven't a phone and, anyway, somebody from school should go there in person. I'll cover your classes. "

8 " Why me? " I asked. " Wouldn't it be better if you did it? "

9 " I didn't know the boy, " the principal admitted. " And in last year's sophomore personalities column I note that you were listed as his favorite teacher. "

10 I drove through the snow and cold down the bad road to the Evans place and thought about the boy, Cliff Evans.