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大学英语--美文阅读

Passage 1 (31)

An Exhausting Struggle

Balzac once said artistic creation was “an exhausting struggle”．He believed that only by tenacious work and not fearing difficulties could you show your talent．It was just like the soldiers charging the fortress，not relaxing your effort for even a moment．

Once Balzac wrote for hours on end，he was so tired that he could not hold out any longer．He ran to a friend’s home and plunged head long on the sofa．He wanted to sleep，but he told his friend he must be woken up within an hour．His friend，seeing him so tired，did not wake him up on time．After he woke up，Balzac got very angry at his friend．Fortunately his friend had an intimate understanding of him and did not quarrel with him．

Balzac did not smoke cigarettes，nor did he drink any alcohol．But he got one habit：while he was writing he always drank very strong coffee that could almost anaesthetize his stomach．He didn’t add milk，nor did he add sugar in his coffee．It would not satisfy him until it was made bitter．People generally did not like to drink such bitter coffee．That had strange stimulus effect to him，and could help him drive the sleepiness away，according to himself．

Passage 2 (33)

The Smile

I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous. I fumbled in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those. I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. I called out to him: “Have you got a light?” He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette. As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I didn’t know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I knew he didn’t want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.

Passage 3 (34)

My Shooting Experience

I have never been a sportsman — or, rather, I have been a sportsman only once, and that was the first and last time. I was a child, and one day, for some reason or other, I found myself with my father, who was holding a gun in his hand, behind a bush, watching a bird that had perched on a branch not very far away. It was a large, gray bird —or perhaps it was brown —with a long —or perhaps a short —beak; I don’t remember. I only remember what I felt at that moment as I looked at it. It was like watching an animal whose vitality was rendered more intense by the very fact of my watching it and of the animal’s not knowing that I was watching it.

At that moment, I say, the notion of wildness entered my mind, never again to leave it: everything is wild which is autonomous and unpredictable and does not depend upon us. Then all of a sudden there was an explosion; I could no longer see the bird and I thought it had flown away. But my father was leading the way, walking in front of me through the undergrowth. Finally he stooped down, picked up something, and put it in my hand. I was aware of something warm and

soft and I lowered my eyes: there was the bird in the palm of my hand; its dangling, shattered head crowned with a plume of already-thickening blood. I burst into tears and dropped the corpse on the ground, and that was the end of my shooting experience.

Passage 4 (64)

The Nobel Academy

For the last 82 years, Sweden’s Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal.

But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from the within. Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself. According to Ingmar Bjorksten, the cultural editor for one of the country’s two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent “what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes.”

The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences. This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy’s inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary world.

Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek. If for no other reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that accompany it; not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also dramatically increases sales of an author’s books.

Passage 5 (37)

Henry Ford

Henry Ford should receive credit for introducing labor practices as early as 1913 that would be considered advanced even by today’s standards. Safety measures were improved, and the work day was reduced to eight hours, compared with the ten-or twelve-hour day common at the time. In order to accommodate the shorter work day, the entire factory was converted from two to three shifts.

In addition, sick leaves as well as improved medical care for those injured on the job were instituted. The Ford Motor Company was one of the first factories to develop a technical school to train specialized skilled laborers and an English language school for immigrants. Some efforts were even made to hire the handicapped and provide jobs for former convicts.

The most widely acclaimed innovation was the five-dollar-a-day minimum wage that was offered in order to recruit and retain the best mechanics and to discourage the growth of labor unions. Ford explained the new wage policy in terms of efficiency and profit sharing. He also mentioned the fact that his employees would be able to purchase the automobiles that they produced. In order to qualify for the minimum wage, an employee had to establish a decent home and demonstrate good personal habits. Although some criticism was directed at Ford for involving himself too much in the personal lives of his employees, there can be no doubt that, at a time when

immigrants were being taken advantage of in frightful ways, Henry Ford was helping many people to establish themselves in America.

Passage 6 (39)

Toni Morrison

After finishing her sixth novel, Jazz, published in 1922, Toni Morrison began casting about for the subject of her next book. Constant reading, a habit and passion she developed as a little girl, eventually led her to an obscure chapter in 19th century U.S. history: the westward emigration of former slaves into the sparsely settled territories of Oklahoma and beyond. Some found the promise of a new life in wide-open spaces, touted in numerous newspaper advertisements in the 1870s, irresistible and a challenge besides.

As she began imagining how this historical material might generate a work of fiction, Morrison bumped into one of the banes of creative artists everywhere: the intrusion of the outside world into the space of private concentration. In October 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

“I was so happy that I had a real book idea in progress,”she said of the beleaguered period following the announcement. “If I hadn’t, I would have thought, ‘Can I ever write a novel again?”At that moment, deluged by congratulations, invitations and preparations, never mind another novel, Morrison found herself stymied by her acceptance speech. She had no free time to work on it, and when she stole some, she produced nothing she liked. “I called someone at the Nobel Committee and said, if you are going to keep giving prizes to women — and I hope you do —you are going to have to give us more warning.”

Passage 7 (40)

Pierre de Coubertin — Founder of Modern Olympic Games

As a child of a noble family，Pierre de Coubertin received a good education and developed a strong interest in literature and history. He refused the military career planned for him by his family, as well as renounced a promising political career in order to serve his people better.

Coubertin was convinced that sport was the springboard for moral energy and he defended his idea with rare tenacity. His study of history made him wish the Olympic Games were still being held. He was sure that bringing amateur athletes together would promote friendly relations between the countries. It was this conviction that led him to announce that he wanted to revive the Olympic Games.

Although his statement was greeted with little enthusiasm, Coubertin was not discouraged and on 23 June，1894，he founded the International Olympic Committee in a ceremony held at the University of Sorbonne in Paris.

Two years later，in 1896，the first Olympic Games of the modern era was held in Athens. On that occasion Coubertin was elected president of the IOC and he remained president until 1925. Due to the 1st World War，Coubertin requested permission to establish the headquarters of the IOC in Lausanne，Switzerland. Coubertin withdrew from the IOC in 1925 to devote himself to his pedagogical work, which he termed his “unfinished symphony”. Coubertin suddenly died of a heart attack on September 2，1937，in a park in Geneva.

Passage 8 (41)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an autumn harvest festival like those found in many cultures.

Today the holiday is a time of family reunions, parades and watching football games on television, and of course food. For millions of Americans, Thanksgiving is a day spent cooking, eating and talking.

Thanksgiving is what the social scientists call a civil holiday. It is not religious but it does have spiritual meaning. For some families, Thanksgiving may be the only time of year when everyone gets together. The government says the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for long-distance travel as people return from gatherings.

Thanksgiving is also a time when thoughts start to turn to other kinds of gifts. The Friday after Thanksgiving is the traditional start of the shopping season for Christmas and the other winter holidays.

And speaking of traditions, a popular Thanksgiving tradition is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Employees of the huge Macy’s department store on Herald Square organized the first parade in 1924. Many of them wanted to hold a big parade like the ones in Old World Europe. So they dressed in costumes and borrowed some animals from the zoo. They also carried small balloons that floated just overhead.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is marking its eightieth anniversary this year. The parade traditionally includes invited marching bands. But now, in addition, the parade will have its own marching band.

Two hundred musicians and dancers will take part in what is called the Macy’s Great American Marching Band. The young musicians will represent all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Passage 9 (42)

Love in the Supermarket

Supermarket dating, where singletons can check each other out via the contents of their trolleys, flirt while weighing vegetables and even walk down the aisles together, is coming to Paris. Lafayette Gourmet, the food hall at the Galeries Lafayettes department store in Paris, is about to unleash the concept on the worldwide capital of romance. Single shoppers will be identified on Thursday evenings by special purple shopping baskets decorated with a cartoon of a kissing couple, and offered a glass of champagne and a free photograph if they succeed in hooking up with a potential mate. “We have noticed that we have an evening clientele buying single portions of fresh food, so we decided the demand is there,”Lafayette Gourmet Sylvain Gaudu told reporters. Paris, home to around 900,000 singles, many of whom are increasing working hours as long as that in London and New York, has already been introduced to speed dating and online dating. The “dating market” shopping evenings, an idea imported from the Netherlands, will be jointly run with Yahoo!, which already has an online dating service in France. Once shoppers have made eyes at each other through the cereal packets or brushed past each other at the cheese counter, they will be able to chat each other up in the queue for a special checkout counter reserved for singletons.

Passage 10 (44)

French Maids Lure Diners to Cartoon-inspired Café

A tiny eatery decorated almost completely in black and white is creating a big buzz in Toronto but it’s not the decor getting attention —it’s the servers, who all wear French maid outfits.

With servers in black mini-skirts, long socks and white aprons, the cafe is believed to be the first in Canada to mimic the cartoon-inspired restaurants devoted to “costume play”, or cosplay that first appeared in Japan a few years ago.

Owner Aaron Wang, 24, who opened the iMaid Cafe this summer, got the idea for the theme after seeing a piece about a maid cosplay restaurant on the television news in China.

“I call them maids not waitresses,” said Wang, who moved to Canada from Beijing six years ago.

Cosplay, which originated in Japan, is a com bination of the words “costume” and “play”. In cosplay, people dress as characters from Japanese animation, as well as graphic manga novels and video games.

Wang wanted to open a restaurant that would be different from other traditional Hong Kong and Chinese restaurants in Toronto, a cosmopolitan city where two million of the 4.6 million people are foreign born. The largest minority group is the Chinese population, which is 410,000.

He ordered the costumes from Japan at a cost of about $200 each.

“I want pe ople to come to the restaurant and to feel like home,” he said, adding that about 70 percent of his clientele is Asian.

Passage 11 (47)

Christmas Trees and Plants

Christmas has many traditions, such as singing songs, cooking foods, giving gifts and so on. Some special trees and plants also are part of the Christmas tradition.

One of the most popular is the evergreen tree. It is usually a pine or a fir. It remains green during the cold, dark months of winter in the northern part of the world. Many people buy an evergreen tree for Christmas. They put it in their house and hang small lights and colorful objects on its branches. Some people buy living trees and plant them after the Christmas holiday. Others cut down a tree or buy a cut tree.

Other popular plants at Christmas are the poinsettias. These plants are valued for their colorful bracts, which look like leaves. Most poinsettias are red. But they also can be white or pink. Poinsettias are native to Mexico. They are named after America’s first ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett. He liked the plant and sent some back to the United States. Many people believe that poinsettias are poisonous. But researchers say this is not true. They say the milky liquid in the plant’s stem can cause a person’s skin to become red. If children or animals eat the leaves they may become sick, but they will not die.

There are several herbs used in Christmas foods, drinks and decorations. One is sage. Its leaves are cooked with turkey. And sweet-smelling rosemary plants are hung on doors or cut to look like little Christmas tree.

Passage 12 (48)

How the British Spend Their Holidays

Nearly all the British people in full-time jobs have at least four weeks’ holiday a year. The normal working week is 35 to 40 hours, Monday to Friday. People who have to work in shifts with

unsocial hours are paid extra for the inconvenience. More overtime is worked at extra pay than in most other Western European countries, but there is relatively little “moonlighting” —that is, independent work for pay in leisure hours.

There are only eight official public holidays a year, only one of them in the six months before Christmas. None of them celebrates anything to do with state or nation, though the first Monday in May was made a “bank holiday”by a recent Labor government as the British holiday in honor of working people.

The most obvious —and traditional —British holiday destination is the coast. No place in the country is more than three hours’ journey from some part of it. The coast is full of variety, with good cliffs and rocks between the beaches, but the uncertain weather and cold sea are serious disadvantages. Also, two weeks in a hotel room with balcony and private bath can now cost less in Spain or Greece, with flights included, than the same in a British hotel.

Most of the hotels in the numerous seaside resort towns were built in the railway age, between 50 and 100 years ago, and seem not to be used as much by people going to conferences as by those on holiday. Going to a conference can be a sort of holiday, even in working time and with expenses paid.

Passage 13 (49)

Eatery’s English-Only Sign Raises Ire

A sign in a landmark Philadelphia restaurant asking customers to order in English is sparking controversy in the metropolis known as the “City of Brotherly Love”.According to the owner of Geno’s Steaks, Joey Vento，the sign “This is America —when ordering speak English”is intended to encourage immigrants to learn the language and assimilate into U.S. society, but one Latino activist said it’s racist. The controversy comes amid a national debate over immigration in the United States. The U.S. Senate passed an immigration bill this May that includes a provision which would make English the national language. The 66-year-old Joey Vento, whose grandparents moved to the United States from Italy, posted the sign about six months ago. He says that he is helping the immigrants speak English and he has no intention of removing, which has made some people angry. Roberto Santiago, executive director of Philadelphia’s Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, said he was “appalled”by the policy. He thought what Vento had said indicated that he was racist. It seemed that Vento was saying that he didn’t like those brown faces in his community and he would do everything he could to get them out of there. Santiago said he has urged Latinos to boycott Geno’s Steaks, a fixture in South Philadelphia’s Little Italy neighborhood which has seen an influx of Hispanic immigrants in recent years.

Passage 14 (50)

Halloween and Chinese Ghost Festival

The origins of Halloween go back to ancient Celtic traditions in Ireland. According to Celtic mythology，November 1 marked the end of summer，and it was then that the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural were believed to disappear，and spirits of the dead moved freely among the human world.

It is interesting to see certain parallels with the Chinese Ghost Festival，also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival in southern China and Southeast Asia. It falls on July 15 of the lunar calendar，or mid-August of the Gregorian calendar. On that day，Chinese legend says，the gate

to hell is opened at midnight，and ghosts swarm into the world of human beings in search of food and money. These ghosts，who have been starving for a whole year，will enter households if they cannot find enough delicacies in the street. Therefore，people in southern China traditionally put chicken，meat，vegetables，rice，tea and fruit on their doorsteps that day. In Chongqing，the streets that night are empty，as few dare to leave their house. The legend says that if a ghost finds you in the street and follows you back home，your family will have bad luck all year.

All in all，people should be very careful during the Chinese ghost festival; they have to keep away from ghosts and not offend them. It’s really not as much fun as Halloween.

Passage 15 (51)

Christmas Eve Spells Romance for Couples in Japan

Christmas customs are different in the world. Christmas Eve in some parts of the world may find parents battling crowds of other last-minute shoppers or struggling to assemble toys as their children sleep, but in Japan the holiday is as much for couples as for kids.

Magazines aimed at the young in love are filled with advice on the best places to stroll down streets illuminated with stunning displays of Christmas lights, the best restaurants for a cozy dinner for two — and the best hotels for a romantic night.

Tokyo Tower, a popular dating spot, is lighting up a heart-shaped illumination on its observation deck every night until Christmas. Some believe that couples who stand under the tower when the lights go on must vow eternal love. Lovers can also tie a ribbon to a special Christmas “love tree”on the tower’s observation deck.

Nearby, the new Tokyo Prince Hotel Park Tower has two specially decorated Christmas suites on offer for $16,660 a night, fancy dinner included.

Only about 1 percent of Japan’s population is Christian, and December 25 is a working day for most people, but practices such as decorating shopping streets and exchanging gifts became common in the robust consumer economy that emerged after World War Two. Modern “traditions”include Christmas Cake —a sponge cake with strawberries and whipped cream eaten on Christmas Eve —and, for some families, a take-out bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Passage 16 (52)

Burning of the Socks to Celebrate the Coming of Spring

In sailing-crazy Annapolis, boaters celebrate the first day of spring with a ceremonial Burning of the Socks, signifying it will soon be warm enough to wear shoes without socks. The tradition began in the mid-1980s, when an employee at Annapolis Yacht Yard tired of his winter days doing engine maintenance on yachts and power boats. He stripped off his stinky socks, put them in a paint can with some lighter fluid and drank a beer while looking forward to warmer days ahead.

At first, this was only confined to the people who worked on boats, but the sock-burning ritual now draws more than boatyard workers. Even wealthy sailboat owners delight in throwing tube socks and panty hose on the flames in this town, whose residents have a special disdain for socks. Waterfront restaurants that serve big crab feasts draw men wearing leather loafers sans socks.

Annapolis resident Michael Busch joked that socks constitute formal wear around here. The most hard-core sock haters refuse to wear them from the spring equinox until the first day of

winter. “The uniform is deck shoes and khaki pants in winter. The uniform is deck shoes and khaki shorts in summer.”Holland said with a laugh. The sock bonfire, he said, is a way of remembering Annapolis’ bygone days of working-class watermen who brought in crabs in the summer and scraped the paint off wooden vessels in the winter.

These days, the bonfire revelers retire for crab cakes and oysters after burning their socks.

Passage 17 (53)

Celebrations on New Year’s Day

January 1st is the beginning of a new year. As far back in history as we can tell, people have celebrated the start of a new year.

The people of ancient Egypt began their new year in summer. That is when the Nile River flooded its banks, bringing water and fertility to the land. And, some Native American Indians began their new year when the nuts of the oak tree became ripe. That was usually in late summer.

Now, almost everyone celebrates New Year’s Day on January 1st. Today, as before, people celebrate the New Year’s holiday in many different ways.

The idea of admitting wrongs and finishing the business of the old year is found in many societies at New Year’s Day. So is the idea of making resolutions. A resolution is a promise to change your ways, for example, to stop smoking or get more physical exercise.

Noise-making is another ancient custom at the New Year. The noise is considered necessary to chase away evil spirits of the old year. People around the world do different things to make a lot of noise.

Americans celebrate the New Year in many ways. Some visit family and friends, share a holiday meal, or watch New Year’s parades on television.

For those who have been busy at work or school, New Year’s Day may be a day of rest. They spend the time thinking about, and preparing for the demands of the New Year.

Passage 18(56)

The Delights of Books

Books are to mankind what memory is to the individual. They contain the history of our race, the discoveries we have made, the accumulated knowledge and experience of ages; they picture for us the marvels and beauties of nature; they help us in our difficulties, comfort us in sorrow and in suffering, change hours of weariness into moments of delight, store our minds with ideas, fill them with good and happy thoughts, and lift us out of and above ourselves.

When we read we may not only be kings and live in palaces, but, what is far better, transport ourselves to the mountains or the seashore, and visit the most beautiful parts of the earth, without fatigue, inconvenience, or expense. Precious and priceless are the blessings which the books scatter around our daily paths. We walk, in imagination, with the noblest spirits, through the most sublime and enchanting regions.

Macaulay had wealth and fame, rank and power, and yet he tells us in his biography he owed the happiest hours of his life to books. In a charming letter to a little girl, he says, “If any one would make me the greatest king that ever lived, with palaces and gardens and fine dinners and wines and coaches, and beautiful clothes, and hundreds of servants, on condition that I should not read books, I would not be king. I would rather be a poor man in garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.”

Passage 19(61)

Distraction Is a Bad Thing

Your parents were right; don’t study with the TV on. Multitasking may be a necessity in today’s fast-paced world, but new research shows distractions affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later on.

That could affect a lot of young people. As Poldrack explains it, the brain learns in two different ways. One, called declarative learning, deals with learning active facts that can be recalled and used with great flexibility. The second is called habit learning.

For instance, in learning a phone number you can simply memorize it by using declarative learning, and can then recall it whenever needed. A second way to learn is by habit. Punch it in 1,000 times. Then even if you don’t remember it consciously, you can go to the phone and punch it in. Memorizing is a lot more useful, for if you use the habit system, you have to be at a phone to recreate the movements.

The problem is that the two types of learning seem to be competing with each other, and when someone is distracted, habit learning seems to take over from declarative learning.

We have to multitask in today’s world, but you have to be aware of this: when a kid is trying to learn new concepts and new information, distraction is going to be bad, and it’s going to impair their ability to learn. That doesn’t mean Poldrack thinks a silent environment is essential — music can help in learning because it can make the individual happier.

But in general, distraction is almost always a bad thing.

Passage 20(58)

All Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush the toilet after you’ve used it. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: Look. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all the whole world had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap, or if we had a basic policy in our nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is better to hold hands and stick together.

Passage 21(63)

Online, In-person Classes Blending

Many schools, like in Washington State and Arizona State, let individual departments and academic units decide who can take an online course. They say students with legitimate academic needs —a conflict with another class, a course they need to graduate but is full —often get permission, though they still must take some key classes in person.

In fact, the distinction between online and face-to-face courses is blurring rapidly. Many if not most traditional classes now use online components —message boards, chat rooms, electronic filing of papers. Students can increasingly “attend”lectures by down-loading a video or a podcast.

At Arizona State, 11,000 students take fully online courses and 40,000 use the online course management system, which is used by many “traditional” classes. Administrator s say the distinction between online and traditional course is now so meaningless that it may not even be reflected in next fall’s course catalogue.

Then there’s the question of whether students are well served by taking a course online instead of in-person. Some teachers are wary, saying showing up to class teaches discipline, and lectures and class discussions are an important part of learning. But online classes aren’t necessarily easier. Two-thirds of schools responding to a recent survey by The Sloan Consortium agreed that it takes more discipline for students to succeed in an online course than in a face-to-face one.

Passage 22(70)

Kin Reunited 65 Years After Holocaust

Hilda Shlick, 75, thought she lost nearly all her family in the Holocaust —until her Internet-savvy grandsons located her 81-year-old brother in Canada.

“After 65 years, I have found the sister who I love,” Simon Glasberg said in heavily accented English, his eyes filling with tears.

Using the database of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, two of Shlick’s grandchildren, Benny and David, began unearthing a mystery spanning six decades and three continents.

While improved technology in recent years has made the task of tracking Holocaust survivors easier, fewer and fewer survivors remain as each year passes.

Scanning the database, the grandsons discovered an entry erroneously stating their grandmother had perished half a century earlier. That entry led them to other surviving relatives, who eventually brought about the siblings’emotional reunion.

When Glasberg, who lives near Ottawa, Canada, saw his gray-haired little sister for the first time, he recognized her immediately, he said.

The last time the two saw each other was in 1941, when the Glasberg family in Romania was separated after the Nazis invaded.

Hilda, then 10, escaped to Uzbekistan with her older sister Bertha. The rest of the family —parents and four brothers including Simon — stayed in Romania, finding refuge in a basement.

Glasberg, his brothers and parents emigrated to Canada after the war ended. Shlick and her

sister moved to Estonia, where Bertha died in 1970.

In 1998, Shlick immigrated to Israel. During a family conversation this summer, her grandsons learned her maiden name was Glasberg, and they began to investigate her past.

Passage 23(65)

The Language of Music

A composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them.

A student of music needs a long and arduous training to become a performer. Most training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an athlete or a ballet dancer.

Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm — two entirely different movements.

Singers and instrumentalists have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties: the hammers that hit the strings have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound clear.

This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these sounds with fanatical but selfless authority.

Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing works written in any century.

Passage 24(72)

Smoking Ban Hits Tom and Jerry

The violence is legendary. Characters are chased with cleavers, blasted with shotguns, and even blown apart with explosives.

Since the 1940s, that has been the stuff of which Tom and Jerry cartoons are made.

However, two episodes of their vintage escapades went too far for one concerned viewer, who was worried that young children could be given the wrong impression.

Media watchdog Ofcom investigated a complaint after children’s channel Boomerang broadcast decades-old episodes of Tom and Jerry, which showed cats smoking.

In one Oscar-winning episode, Texas Tom, Tom is seen rolling a cigarette, lighting it and smoking it in a bid to impress a female cat. In Tennis Champs, Tom’s opponent in a tennis match was seen smoking a large cigar.

The channel agreed to cut scenes in future which glamorize or condone smoking.

Ofcom said，“We recognize that these are historic cartoons, most of them having been produced in the 40s, 50s, 60s, at a time when smoking was more generally accepted.

“However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smokin g in such cartoons is necessarily high.”

Boomerang, part of Turner Broadcasting, has an audience made up predominantly of children — 56 per cent of viewers are aged 4 to 14.

The Turner company has agreed to review its archive material and edit scenes or references where smoking is glamorized or might encourage imitation.

The company is also planning to edit out smoking scenes from classic Hanna Barbera cartoons including Scooby Doo, The Jetsons and The Flintstones.

Passage 25(75)

New Maori King Crowned in New Zealand

A 51-year-old university employee took his place on the ornately carved wooden throne of New Zealand’s Maori monarch, hours before his mother, the late queen, was buried atop a sacred mountain.

The late Maori queen was buried among five royal forebears, six days after her death at 75.

Thousands of people crammed a meeting place for the ceremony naming the new monarch after days of mourning that saw tens of thousands pay their respects to the queen.

Paki was chosen as the new monarch by tribal leaders throughout New Zealand at secret meetings over the past few days.

At the formal Ascension or “Raising Up” ceremony, he tapped on his head with the same Bible used to crown the last six Maori monarchs.

Moments before his crowning the crowd was asked whether he should be king：the spectators replied “ai!”or “yes”.

The Maori line of sovereigns stretches back to 1858, when the indigenous people selected their first king to unite tribes struggling to retain ownership of their land amid an influx of British immigrants.

As the late queen’s coffin was closed by attendants, three white doves were released, signifying her departing spirit.

One dove sat on the ground, only flying away after the coffin lid had been closed — seen by Maori mourners as a sign of the reluctance of the queen to leave them.

The coffin was taken to the Taupiri Mountain, the sacred burial place of the Tainui tribe.

Passage 26(77)

38,000 Grasshoppers

A concert by pop star Elton John had music fans hopping in Canada’s farming heartland as they braved a plague of grasshoppers in an unusual quest to win a pair of tickets. Brandy Elliott won a radio contest for the prized tickets by capturing 38,000 grasshoppers. She said she was grossed out and every night she went to bed all she could dream about was grasshoppers. Brandy Elliott was one of more than 100 Saskatchewan residents to respond to the contest launched by a popular Regina radio show.

The rules were simple：whoever collected the most grasshoppers over a two-day period, would win the two highly coveted tickets to see Elton John at a sold-out concert. “When we first thought of this contest we thought, oh you know, we might get a few hundred, maybe even a thousand grasshoppers from people. She (Brandy) showed up with 38,000 grasshoppers which

blew us away,”said Buzz Elliot, a morning show host on Z99, the station that launched the bug-gathering gimmick. Brandy rigged up 1.5 meter nets made out of window bug-screens and plastic tubing. She then recruited her roommate and some young nephews and nieces to help with the harvest. Saskatchewan, a province known for its vast fields of wheat, also has a reputation for vast, cyclical grasshopper invasions.

Passage 27(79)

Tech Replaces Diamonds as Girl’s Best Friend

Diamonds are no longer a girl’s best friend, according to a new U.S. study.

The survey, commissioned by U.S. cable television’s Oxygen Network that is owned and operated by women, found the technology gender gap has virtually closed with the majority of women snapping up new technology and using it easily.

Women were found on average to own 6.6 technology devices while men own 6.9, and four out of every five women felt comfortable using technology with 46 percent doing their own computer trouble-shooting.

Geraldine Laybourne, chairman and chief executive of Oxygen Network，said that people made the assumption that women were not as advanced as men when it came to technology. She felt surprised at the parity men and women now have in terms of technology.

The Girls Gone Wired survey of 1,400 women and 700 men aged 15 to 49, which was conducted by market researcher TRU, found that given the choice, women would opt for tech items rather than luxury items like jewelry or vacations.

The study found 77 percent of women surveyed would prefer a new plasma television to a diamond necklace and 56 percent would opt for a new plasma TV over a weekend vacation in Florida.

The study found over the next five years women see themselves increasing their activities in six tech areas：digital cameras, cell phones, e-mail, camera phones, text messaging and instant messaging.

Laybourne said this increasing use of technology among women was expected to continue —with advertisers needing to ensure they addressed women’s increased usage and knowledge.

Passage 28(82)

Factors for Colds

A critical factor that plays a part in susceptibility to colds is age. A study, done by the University of Michigan School of Public Health，revealed particulars that seem to hold true for the general population. Infants are the most cold-ridden group，averaging more than six colds in their first years. Boys have more colds than girls up to age three. After the age of three，girls are more susceptible than boys，and teenage girls average three colds a year to boys’two.

The general incidence of colds continues to decline into maturity. Elderly people who are in good health have as few as one or two colds annually. One exception is found among people in their twenties，especially women，who show a rise in cold infections，because people in this age group are most likely to have young children. Adults who delay having children until their thirties and forties experience the same sudden increase in cold infections.

The study also found that economics plays an important role. As income increases，the frequency at which colds are reported in the family decreases. Families with the lowest income

suffer about a third more colds than families at the upper end. Lower income generally forces people to live in more cramped quarters than those typically occupied by wealthier people，and crowding increases the opportunities for the cold virus to travel from person to person. Low income may also adversely influence diet. The degree to which poor nutrition affects susceptibility to colds is not yet clearly established, but an inadequate diet is suspected of lowering resistance generally.

Passage 29(89)

The Origin of Refrigerators

By the mid-nineteenth century，the term “icebox”had entered the American language，but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels，taverns，and hospitals，and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat，fresh fish，and butter. After the Civil War，it came into household use. This had become possible because a new household convenience，the icebox，a precursor of the modern refrigerator，had been invented.

Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century，the knowledge of the physics of heat，which was essential to a science of refrigeration，was rudimentary. The commonsense notion the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken，for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless，early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets，which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.

But as early as 1803，Thomas Moore had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington，for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market，he found his butter，still fresh and hard in neat，one-pound bricks，was more welcomed.

Passage 30(84)

New Energy — Animal Fats

American scientists are developing a new use for chicken fat. Scientists at the University of Georgia in Athens are burning fat from chickens and other animals to produce heat. They have successfully used the fat to produce hot water and heat for buildings at the university.

The scientists say their tests show that animal fat often is less costly than more traditional fuels. They also say that burning the fat is safe for people and the environment. They add that no one has reported smelling anything unusual from the local heat production center.

Scientists with the University’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering have been supervising the tests. They have burned different mixes of fuel and animal fat.

The result of the tests shows that the animal fat produces about ninety percent of the heat that traditional fuel oils produce，and substances released into the air by the burning fat are low in harmful pollutants.

According to Engineer Bob Synk，another member of the research team，an increasing number of Americans believe that the country’s dependence on foreign oil imports is a problem. The government’s energy plan calls for non-traditional fuels to supply up to twenty percent of

America’s energy needs within twenty years.

The United States already produces almost five-thousand-million kilograms of fat from chickens，cows and pigs each year. The scientists predict that chicken fat and other natural products could become important fuels in the future.

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