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2024年5月12日发(作者：)
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Unit 1 Fresh Start ................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Text A Toward a brighter future . 1
Text B What we wish .................................................................................................................................................. 14
Unit 2 Loving parents, loving children ........................................................................................................................ 16
Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return ......................................................................................... 17
Text B Time slows down ........................................................................................................................................... 20
Unit 3 Digital Campus ........................................................................................................................................................ 24
Text A College life in the Internet age ................................................................................................................. 24
Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction ......................................................................................... 28
Unit 4 Heroes of our time ................................................................................................................................................ 31
Text A Heroes among us ........................................................................................................................................... 31
Text B A hero’s aspiration ...................................................................................................................................... 35
Unit 5 Winning is not everything .................................................................................................................................. 39
Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero ........................................................................................................................ 39
Text B Shaping young lives with sports .............................................................................................................. 42
Unit 6 Earn as you learn .................................................................................................................................................... 45
Text A To work or not to work- That is 45
Text B Earn as you learn? .......................................................................................................................................... 48
Unit 7 Hoping for the better ........................................................................................................................................... 51
Text A When honesty disappears .......................................................................................................................... 51
Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness ............................................................................................................... 54
Unit 8 Friendship Across gender and boarder .......................................................................................................... 57
Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not? ....................................................................... 57
Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures .................................................................. 60
新视野大学英语第三版第一册课文
Unit 1 Fresh Start
Text A Toward a brighter future for all
Toward a brighter future for all
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1 Good afternoon! As president of the university, I am proud to welcome you
to this university. Your achievement is thetriumph of years of hard work, both of
your own and of your parents and teachers. Here at the university, we pledge to
make your educational experience as rewarding as possible.
2 In welcoming you to the university, I am reminded of my own high school
graduation and the photograph my mom took of my dad and me.
"Posenaturally," Mom instructed us. "Wait!" said Dad, "Let's take a picture of me
handing him an alarm clock." The clock woke me up every morning in college.
It is still on my office desk.
3 Let me share with you something that you may not expect. You will miss
your old routines and your parents' reminders to work hard and attain your best.
You may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with high school, and your
parents may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with doing your laundry!
But know this: The future is built on a strong foundation of the past.
4 For you, these next four years will be a time unlike any other. Here you are
surrounded by great resources: interesting students from all over the country, a
learned and caring faculty, a comprehensive library, great sports facilities, and
student organizations covering every possible interest from the arts to science, to
community service and so on. You will have the freedom to explore and learn
about new subjects. You will learn to get by on very little sleep, meet fascinating
people, and pursue new passions. I want to encourage you to make the most of
this unique experience, and to use your energy and enthusiasm to reap the
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benefits of this opportunity.
5 You may feel overwhelmed by the wealth of courses available to you. You
will not be able to experience them all, but sample them widely! College offers
many things to do and to learn, and each of them offers a different way to see the
world. If I could give you only one piece of advice about selecting courses, it
would be this: Challenge yourself! Don't assume that you know in advance what
fields will interest you the most. Take some courses in fields you've never tried
before. You will not only emerge as a more broadly educated person, but you will
also stand a better chance of discovering an unsuspected passion that will help to
shape your future. A wonderful example of this is the fashion designer, Vera
Wang, who originally studied art history. Over time, Wang paired her studies in
art history with her love of fashion and turned it into a passion for design, which
made her a famous designer around the world.
6 Here at the university, it may not always be pleasant to have so many new
experiences all at once. In your dorm, the student next door may repeatedly play
the one song, which gives you a giant headache! You may be an early bird while
your roommate is a night owl! And still, you and your roommate may become best
friends. Don't worry if you become a little uncomfortable with some of your new
experiences. I promise you that the happy experiences will outweigh the
unpleasant ones. And I promise that virtually all of them will provide you with
valuable lessons which will enrich your life. So, with a glow in your eye and a song
in your heart, step forward to meet these new experiences!
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7 We have confidence that your journey toward self-discovery and your
progress toward finding your own passion will yield more than personal
advancement. We believe that as you become members of our community of
scholars, you will soon come to recognize that with the abundant opportunities for
self-enrichment provided by the university, there also come responsibilities. A
wise man said: "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one
generation to another." You are the inheritors of the hard work of your families
and the hard work of many countless others who came before you. They built
and transmitted the knowledge you will need to succeed. Now it is your turn.
What knowledge will you acquire? What passions will you discover? What will
you do to build a strong and prosperous future for the generations that will come
after you?
8 We take great pleasure in opening the door to this great step in your journey.
We take delight in the many opportunities which you will find, and in the
responsibilities that you will carry as citizens of your communities, your country,
and the world. Welcome！
Words and Expressions
triumph
n. （尤指苦战后获得的）胜利，成功，成就
pledge
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vt. 发誓；作保证
pose
vi. （为照相或画像而）摆姿势
vt. 造成，导致（困难或危险）
routine
n. 例行公事；常规；惯例
a. 常规的；例行的；惯常的
attain
vt. 得到；获得；赢得
foundation
n. 基础
resource
n. 1 资源；2 自然资源
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faculty
n. 1 全体教员；2 天赋；能力；本领
comprehensive
a. 综合的；多方面的
facility
n. （为某种目的而提供的）设施，设备
community
n. 1 （同住一地的人所构成的）社区；2 群体；团体
explore
vt. 探讨，研究（主题、思想等）
v. 勘探；探测；考察
fascinating
a. 吸引人的；迷人的；使人神魂颠倒的
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pursue
vt. 1 追求；致力于；2 追赶；追逐
passion
n. 1 强烈的爱好；热爱
n. 2 强烈的情感；激情
unique
a. 1 特别的；极不寻常的；极好的；2 不同的；独特的
enthusiasm
n. 热爱；热情；热心
reap
vt. 收获；获得
v. 收割（庄稼）
benefit
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n. 好处；益处；裨益
opportunity
n. 机会；时机
overwhelm
vt. （数量大得）使无法对付
available
a. 可获得的；可利用的；现成的
sample
vt. 1 体验；2 对…作抽样检验
n. 样本；样品；货样
assume
vt. 假定；假设；认为
emerge
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vi. 1 出现；为……所公认；2 出现；露出
giant
a. 巨大的；特大的
mate
n. 同事；同伴
roommate
n. （尤指大学里的）室友
owl
n. 猫头鹰
virtual
a. 1 几乎相同的；实质上的；2 虚拟的；模拟的
virtually
ad. 1 实际上；几乎；差不多；2 虚拟地；模拟地
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enrich
vt. 使丰富；充实；强化
glow
n. 1 （某种）强烈的情感；2 柔和稳定的光
vi. 发出柔和稳定的光
confidence
n. 1 信心；信赖；信任；2 自信心
yield
vt. 1 产生（结果等）；2 出产；产生
vi. 屈从；让步
abundant
a. 大量的；丰富的；充裕的
responsibility
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n. 1 （道德、社会）责任，义务；2 责任；3 职责；任务；义务
inherit
vt. 沿袭，秉承（信仰、传统或生活方式）
v. 继承（财产）
inheritor
n. 1 （生活或思想方式的）后继者，继承人；2 遗产继承人
transmit
vt. 传送；传递；传播
acquire
vt. 1 学到，获得（知识、技能）；2 取得；获得；3 购得；得到
prosperous
a. 富裕的；繁荣的；兴旺的
remind sb. of sb./sth.
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1 使某人想起某人或某事
2 使某人想起（相似的）人或事
get by
过活；过得去；勉强应付
make the most of sth.
最大限度地利用某物
reap the benefits (of sth.)
得享（某事物的）好处
in advance
预先；提前
stand a chance (of doing sth.)
有（做成某事的）希望
over time
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逐渐地；慢慢地
turn (sb./sth.) into sth.
（使某人/某物）变成
all at once
1 同时
2 一下子；突然
take pleasure in (doing) sth.
乐于做某事
open the door to sth.
给…以机会；给…敞开方便之门
take delight in (doing) sth.
以（做）某事为乐
Vera Wang
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王薇薇（1949– ，著名美籍华裔设计师，被誉为“婚纱女王”）
Text B What we wish
My dear child,
1 You are about top anticipate in the next leg of your journey through life. For
us, this part is bittersweet. As you go off to college, exciting new worlds will open
up to you. They will inspire and challenge you; you will grow in incredible ways.
2 This is also a moment of sadness. Your departure to college makes it
undeniably clear that you are no longer a child. There has been no greater joy than
watching you arrive at this moment. You have turned our greatest challenge into
our greatest pride. Although we have brought you to this point, it is hard to watch
you depart. Remember above all things, we will miss you.
3 College will be the most important time of your life. It is here that you will
truly discover what learning is about. You often ask, "Why do I need to know
this?" I encourage you to stay inquisitive, but remember this: "Education is what
remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." What you learn
is not as important as the fact that you learn. This is the heart of scholarship:
moving from teacher-taught to master-inspired, on over to the point where you
become a self-learner. So, take each subject seriously, and if something doesn't
immediately engage you, don't despair. Embrace it as a challenge. Find a way to
make it your own.
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4 Of course, you must still take care to sign up for courses which stimulate
your passion you’re your intellectual capacity. Don't be bound by what other
people think. Steve Jobs said, when you are in college, your passion will create
many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. So, don't worry too much
about what job you will have; don't be too practical. If you like French or Korean,
study it even if someone else tells you that it's not useful. Enjoy picking your "dots".
Be assured that one day, you will find your own meaningful career, and you will
connect a beautiful curve through those dots.
5 You know that we always want you to do your best, but don't let the pressure
of grades get to you. We care only that you try your very best, and that you
learn. It is better that your greatest effort earns a lesser grade than that no effort
earns you a decent or higher grade. Grades in the end are simply letters fit to give
the vain something to boast about, and the lazy something to fear. You are too
good to be either. The reward is not the grade but what you learn.
6 More importantly, make friends and trust others. The friends you make in
college can be the best ones you will ever have. During these years, when you
move into adulthood, the friends you make in college live closer to you than your
family. You will form bonds of friendship that will blossom over many
decades. Pick friends who are genuine and sincere. Select a few and become
truly close to them. Don't worry about their hobbies, grades, or looks. Instead,
trust your instincts when you make new friends. You are a genuine and sincere
person; anyone would enjoy your friendship. So be confident, secure, and
proactive. If you think you like someone, tell them. You have very little to
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lose. Don't be afraid to trust. Give others the benefit of the doubt, and don't
reduce anyone to stereotypes. Nobody is perfect; as long as others are genuine,
trust them and be good to them. They will give back.
7 Remember also that your youth is full of strength and beauty, something
that you will not comprehend until it is gone. You must guard and cultivate your
strength and beauty. A healthy body and a sound mind are the greatest
instruments you will ever possess. Enjoy life. Dance if you feel like it. Don't be
afraid of what other people think. But also keep yourself safe and sound. Don't
let the range of new experiences take your innocence, health, or curiosity away
from you. Treasure your youth and the university experience before you.
8 College is the time when you have: the first taste of independence, the
greatest amount of free time, the most flexibility to change, the lowest cost for
making mistakes.
9 Approach these years enthusiastically! Make the most of your time. Become
the great thinker you were born to be. Let your talents evolve to their fullest
potential. Be bold! Experiment! Learn and grow! We are enormously proud that
you've made it this far, and we can't wait to see what you will become.
Your father
Unit 2 Loving parents, loving children
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Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return
1 I watch her back her new truck out of the driveway. The vehicle is too large,
too expensive. She'd refused to consider a practical car with good gasefficiency
and easy to park. It's because of me, I think. She bought it to show me that she
could.
2 "I'm 18," she'd told me so often that my teeth ached. "I am an adult!"
3 I thought, is that true? Just yesterday you watched some cartoons. What
changed between yesterday and today?
4 Today she's gone, off to be an adult far away from me. I'm glad she's
gone. It means she made it, and that I'm finally free of 18 years of responsibilities.
And yet I wonder if she could take good care of herself.
5 She left a mess. Her bathroom is anembarrassment of damp towels, rusted
shavingblades, hair in the sink, and nearly empty tubes oftoothpaste. I bring a
box of big black garbage bags upstairs. Eye shadow, face cream, nail polish — all
go into the trash. Idump drawers, sweep shelves clear and clean the sink. When I
am finished, it is as neat and impersonal as a hotel bathroom.
6 In her bedroom I findmismatched socks under her bed and purple pants on
the closet floor. Desk drawers are filed with school papers, field by year and
subject. I catch myself reading through poems and essays, admiring high scores
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on tests and reading her name, printed or typed neatly in the upper right-hand
corner of each paper. I pack the desk contents into a box. Six months, I think. I
will give her six months to collect her belongings, and then I will throw them all
away. That is fair. Grown-ups pay for storage.
7 I have to pause at the books. Comic books, teenfiction, romantic
novels,historical novels, and textbooks. A lifetime of reading; each
bookbeloved. I want to be practical, to stuff them in paper sacks for the used
bookstore. But I love books as much as she does, so I stack them onto a single
bookshelf to deal with later.
8 I go for her clothes. Dresses, sweaters, and shoes she hasn't worn since
seventh grade are placed into garbage bags. I am a plague of locusts emptying the
closet. Two piles grow to clumsyheights: one for charity, the other trash.
9 There are more shoes, stuffed animals, large and small posters, hair bands,
and pink hair curlers. The job grows larger the longer I am at it. How can one girl
collect so much in only 18 years?
10 I stuff the garbage bags until the plastic strains. Ihaul them down the stairs,
two bags at a time. Donations to charity go into the trunk of my car; trash goes to
the curb. I'm earning myself sweat andsore shoulders.
11 She left the bedroom aridiculous mess, the comforter on the floor, the
sheets tossed aside. Istrip off the comforter, blanket, sheets, and pillows. Once
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she starts feeding coins into laundry machines, she'll appreciate the years of clean
clothes I've provided for free.
12 I will turn her room into a crafts room. Or create the fancy guest room I've
always wanted.
13 I turn the bed over. A large brown envelope is marked "DO NOT THROW
AWAY." I open it. More papers. I dump the contents onto the floor. There are old
family photographs, letters, greeting cards, and love notes from us to her. There
are comics clipped from newspapers and magazines. Every single item in this
envelope has passed from our hands to hers. These are all things that we gave her.
Suddenly, I feel very emotional.
14 "DO NOT THROW AWAY."
15 My kid — my clutter bug— knows me too well. As I read through the
cards and notes, I think maybe the truck wasn't such a bad idea, after all. Maybe it
helps her to feel less small in a big world.
16 I reverse myself and bring back the garbage bags from the car and the
curb. Clothes and shoes go back into the closet. I remake the bed and pile it with
stuffed animals. My husband comes home and calls up the stairs.
17 "Just straightening up," I tell him. "Can you find some boxes for her
stuff?"
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18 He brings up boxes from the basement.
19 "She left a mess," he says.
20 "I don't mind," I reply. Silence.
21 Then he says softly, "She's not coming back." I feel my throat tighten at the
sadness in his voice. I try hard to keep back my tears.
22 My little baby, my dependent child, isn't coming back. But someday my
daughter, the independent woman, will return home. Tokens of her childhood will
await her. So will we, with open arms.
Text B Time slows down
1 "Daddy, let's take a walk."
2 It's an April day in Virginia. He nods, puts his hands on the arms of his
wheelchair, whispers something that makes little sense. I try to help him up, but
he is too heavy andlimp.
3 "Come for a walk, and then — I've brought you a surprise."
4 The white curtains surge in the breeze.
5 Shivering, he complains it's chilly. "It's cold, I'm tired. Can't we go home
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now?"
6 Suddenly we're far away in a time long past in part of a harbor I've never
seen before. December, Chicago, I'm five, and cold. One glove is lost. My feet are
tired. His legs are longer; he strides quickly through melting snow, toward
buildings like airplane sheds withimmense doors.
7 This is the most exciting place I have ever been. Suddenly my fatigue is
gone. I could walk along here forever, at least until I find out how to get
aboardone of the boats.
8 We slow down our pace. Smaller sheds now. A green diner. Smells of fish
and smoke. We enter a little hut. Barrels of salty water, string bags ofshellfish,
bundles of fish laid out on ice.
9 "Daddy, look at that snake!"
10 "No, that's an eel," says Daddy. "Smoked. We'll take a portion home for
supper."
11 "I certainly won't eat that!"
12 "All right," he says, and carries the smelly package. As we walk back, he
tells me aboutmigrations of eels to the Sargasso Sea: how eels come down
Dalmatian rivers and swim across the Mediterranean and then the whole Atlantic,
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until they reach the warm Sargasso Sea. Here they lay their eggs, and then the
baby eels swim back to the native rivers of their parents.
13 Back at last in the apartment, he unwraps the eel, opens his pocket knife
and slices carefully.
14 "I won't eat it," I saysuspiciously.
15 "Try one bite, just for me."
16 "I won't like it."
17 While he hangs up our coats, I test one pinch. Smelly, smoky, and salty.
18 He goes into the kitchen to heat milk for me and tea for himself. I test
another pinch. Then another. He returns with the steaming cups.
19 The eel has vanished.
20 Because it is Sunday and I am five, he forgives me. Time slows down and
the love flows in — father to daughter and back again.
21 At 19, I fly out to Japan. My father and I climb Mount Fuji. High above the
Pacific, and hours up the slope, we picnic on dried eel, seaweed crackers, and cold
rice wrapped in the eel skin. He reaches thepeak first.
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22 As the years stretch, we walk along waterways all over the world. With his
long stride, he often overtakes me. I've never known anyone with such energy.
23 Some days, time flies with joy all around. Other days, time rots like old fish.
24 Today in the nursing home in Virginia, anticipating his reluctance, I beg
boldly and encourage him, "Please, Daddy, just a little are supposed to
exercise."
25 He can't get out of his chair. Not that he often gets up on his own, but
once in a while he'll suddenly have a surge of strength. I stoop to lift his feet from
the foot restraints, fold back the metal pieces which often scrape his delicate,
paper-thin skin. "Come, now you can stand."
26 He grips the walker and struggles forward. Gradually I lift and pull him to
his feet. Standing unsteadily, he sways and then gains his balance.
27 "See, you made it! That's wonderful! All right, I'll be right behind you, my
hand in the small of your back. Now — forward, march!"
28 He is impatient with the walker as I accompany him to the dining room. I
help him to his chair, and hand him a spoon. It slips from his fingers. Pureed tuna
is heaped on a plastic plate. I encourage him, sing him old songs, tell stories, but
he won't eat. When I lift a spoonful of gray fishy stuff to his mouth, he says politely,
"I don't care for any."
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29 Nor would I.
30 Then I take the small smelly package covered in white wrapping paper from
a plastic bag. He loves presents, and he reaches forward with awkward fingers to
try to open it. The smell fills the room.
31 "Look, Daddy, they've been out of it for months, but at last this morning at
the fish seller near the Potomac, I found some smoked eel."
32 We unwrap it, and then I take out the Swiss Army Knife my beloved aunt
gave me "for safekeeping", and slice the silvery flesh.
33 "What a beautiful picnic," my father beams.
34 He takes a sip of his champagne, and then with steady fingers picks up a
slice of eel and downs it easily. Then another, and another, until he eats the whole
piece. And again, time slows down and the love flows in — daughter to father
and back again.
Unit 3 Digital Campus
Text A College life in the Internet age
1 The college campus, long a place of scholarship and frontiers of new
technology, is beingtransformed into a new age of electronics by afleet of laptops,
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smartphones and connectivity 24 hours a day.
2 On a typical modern-day campus, where every building and most outdoor
common areas offer wireless Internet access, one student takes her laptop
everywhere. In class, she takes notes with it, sometimes instant-messaging or
emailing friends if the professor is less than interesting. In her dorm, she
instant-messages her roommate sitting just a few feet away. She is tied to her
smartphone, which she even uses to text a friend who lives one floor above her,
and which supplies music for walks between classes.
3 Welcome to college life in the 21st century, where students on campus are
electronically linked to each other, to professors and to their classwork 24/7 in an
ever-flowing river of information and communication. With many schools
offering wireless Internet access anywhere on campus, colleges as a group have
become the most Internetaccessible spots in the world.
4 Students say they really value their fingertip-access to the boundless
amount of information online, and the ability to email professors at and
receive responses the next morning. "I always feel like I have a means of
communication — in class and out of class," says oneengineering major.
5 Many are using smartphones, not only to create their own dialectswhen
texting, but also to do more serious work, such as practicing foreign languages
and analyzingscripts from their theater classes. In a university class on the history
of American radio, students use smartphones to record their own radio shows. The
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course instructor said, "It's adding to students' sense of excitement about the
subject." Professors have been encouraged to tape their lectures and post them
online. "We realized there might be some potential for a devicethat could get
attention and encouragesophisticated thinking," says one leading university
director.
6 For mostundergraduates, non-stop Internet connectivity is the fuel of
college life. More than just toys, these instruments are powerful tools for the
storage and management of virtually every kind of information. And as more
people around the world adoptthese instruments, they are becoming
indispensable. So, students should use the wonders of the Internet to do
homework, review lecture outlines, take part in class discussions and network
online with their friends. But in doing so, students must remember to regulate
and balance their time. Too much time online can mean too little time in real-life
studying or exercising or visiting with friends. Students should not let the Internet
world on their computer screens take them away from the real world outside.
7 Colleges began embracing Internet access in the mid-1990s, when many
began wiring dorms with high-speed connections. In the past few years, schools
have taken the lead by turning their campuses intobubbles of Wi-Fi networks. In
fact, a recent study in the US found that information technology accounted for 5%
to 8% of college budgets, up from an estimated 2% to 3% in the mid-1980s.
8 On one campus, students use Wi-Fi to fire off instant messages, review their
homeworkassignments, and check their bank balances. Just nine miles down
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thehighway, another university had been feeling a bit of a technologyinferiority
complex. Tocompensate, it spent tens of thousands of dollars to give every one of
its incoming freshmen a free Apple iPad.
9 Some universities even require that all students own or lease a laptop. Some
say the focus on technology prepares students for a wired world. "You have to
keep up with the rest of the world. Students expect high-bandwidth information,
and if you can't deliver it, you're at acompetitive disadvantage," states a university
president.
10 Other colleges are straining to stand out from their peers. The race to
attract students with the most modern networks and the hottest systems has
reached fever pitch. Some business majors are receiving free
portablecomputers. In an always-connected mode, they can get information
anytime and anywhere they need. One university is even giving its freshmen new
smartphones to enrich the student experience and prepare them for success in a
rapidly changing world.
11 For those who prefer to travel laptop-free, colleges supply several
computer labs. And for students who study late into the night, many have set up
24-hour repair shops where students can get their laptops fixed by the next day
and receive aloaner in the meantime.
12 Colleges around the world have been replacing their computer systems for
the past decade, in large part to provide students with the most advanced free
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system. The anywhere-anytime access has already yieldedamazing benefits in
education. With the widespread application of computer technologies, we are
going to produce a generation of problem-solvers and intelligentthinkers, which is
indispensable for the future of the world.
Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction
1 The college campus, long a place of scholarship and frontiers of new
technology, is beingtransformed into a new age of electronics by afleet of laptops,
smartphones and connectivity 24 hours a day.
2 On a typical modern-day campus, where every building and most outdoor
common areas offer wireless Internet access, one student takes her laptop
everywhere. In class, she takes notes with it, sometimes instant-messaging or
emailing friends if the professor is less than interesting. In her dorm, she
instant-messages her roommate sitting just a few feet away. She is tied to her
smartphone, which she even uses to text a friend who lives one floor above her,
and which supplies music for walks between classes.
3 Welcome to college life in the 21st century, where students on campus are
electronically linked to each other, to professors and to their classwork 24/7 in an
ever-flowing river of information and communication. With many schools
offering wireless Internet access anywhere on campus, colleges as a group have
become the most Internetaccessible spots in the world.
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4 Students say they really value their fingertip-access to the boundless
amount of information online, and the ability to email professors at and
receive responses the next morning. "I always feel like I have a means of
communication — in class and out of class," says oneengineering major.
5 Many are using smartphones, not only to create their own dialectswhen
texting, but also to do more serious work, such as practicing foreign languages
and analyzingscripts from their theater classes. In a university class on the history
of American radio, students use smartphones to record their own radio shows. The
course instructor said, "It's adding to students' sense of excitement about the
subject." Professors have been encouraged to tape their lectures and post them
online. "We realized there might be some potential for a devicethat could get
attention and encouragesophisticated thinking," says one leading university
director.
6 For mostundergraduates, non-stop Internet connectivity is the fuel of
college life. More than just toys, these instruments are powerful tools for the
storage and management of virtually every kind of information. And as more
people around the world adoptthese instruments, they are becoming
indispensable. So, students should use the wonders of the Internet to do
homework, review lecture outlines, take part in class discussions and network
online with their friends. But in doing so, students must remember to regulate
and balance their time. Too much time online can mean too little time in real-life
studying or exercising or visiting with friends. Students should not let the
Internet world on their computer screens take them away from the real world
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outside.
7 Colleges began embracing Internet access in the mid-1990s, when many
began wiring dorms with high-speed connections. In the past few years, schools
have taken the lead by turning their campuses intobubbles of Wi-Fi networks. In
fact, a recent study in the US found that information technology accounted for 5%
to 8% of college budgets, up from an estimated 2% to 3% in the mid-1980s.
8 On one campus, students use Wi-Fi to fire off instant messages, review their
homeworkassignments, and check their bank balances. Just nine miles down
thehighway, another university had been feeling a bit of a technologyinferiority
complex. Tocompensate, it spent tens of thousands of dollars to give every one
of its incoming freshmen a free Apple iPad.
9 Some universities even require that all students own or lease a laptop. Some
say the focus on technology prepares students for a wired world. "You have to
keep up with the rest of the world. Students expect high-bandwidth information,
and if you can't deliver it, you're at acompetitive disadvantage," states a university
president.
10 Other colleges are straining to stand out from their peers. The race to
attract students with the most modern networks and the hottest systems has
reached fever pitch. Some business majors are receiving free portablecomputers.
In an always-connected mode, they can get information anytime and anywhere
they need. One university is even giving its freshmen new smartphones to enrich
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the student experience and prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world.
11 For those who prefer to travel laptop-free, colleges supply several
computer labs. And for students who study late into the night, many have set up
24-hour repair shops where students can get their laptops fixed by the next day
and receive aloaner in the meantime.
12 Colleges around the world have been replacing their computer systems for
the past decade, in large part to provide students with the most advanced free
system. The anywhere-anytime access has already yieldedamazing benefits in
education. With the widespread application of computer technologies, we are
going to produce a generation of problem-solvers and intelligentthinkers, which is
indispensable for the future of the world.
Unit 4 Heroes of our time
Text A Heroes among us
1 Who's a hero these days? In an era of heightened heroism, the word hero
has become more common. We use hero to describe bothvictims and survivors
of all kinds of difficulties andtragedies. Who are the heroes among us?
2 In the days subsequentto a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, many
described 20-yearold political associate Daniel Hernandez as a hero. During the
horrible shooting, he courageously ran through the danger to save the life of one
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of the victims, his boss and friend, congresswomanGabrielle Giffords. Daniel held
her head up so she could breathe and applied pressure to her wounds. He spoke
tender words ofsympathy, telling her that he would find her husband and her
parents and that everything would be fine. And he never left her side, staying
beside her in the ambulance all the way to the hospital.
3 Another hero from the mass shooting in Tucson was Dory Stoddard. Dory
gave his life for his wife, Mavy. Dory and his wife had been friends since
childhood and when Dory heard shots ring out he immediately fell on top of his
wife to shield her from the hail of bullets. At the memorial service, thepriest said:
"Dory didn't die a hero; he lived a hero." Long known for hisremarkable spirit and
love of humanity, Dory Stoddard died as he had always lived, assisting others.
4 These are civilianheroes, who acted instinctively with courage and grace
when caught up in extraordinarycircumstances.
5 But what about firstresponders , whose job is, in the words of the widowof a
fallen police officer, to "rush toward danger"?
6 In Toronto, Canada, downtown life stopped when more than 11,000 police
and other emergency responders marched solemnly through the streets to
honorSergeant Ryan Russell, a 35-year-old "good man and good cop", who
believed deeply in his commitmentto protect and serve. Sgt. Russell moved
quickly to protect others from harm. He tried to stop a drunk driver in a stolen
snowplow with only his police automobile and his goodwill to help others. Sadly,
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Sgt. Russell was unable to stop the drunk driver and was killed in the effort.
7 It used to be that the word hero was reserved for those who performed acts
of distinct courage beyond the call of duty. A soldier who runs through gunfire to
rescue othermilitary personnel is seen as a hero. So are larger-than-life leaders
such as Nelson Mandela, who emerged after 27 years ofjail, confined in a
solitarychamber. He made the choice not to be bitter, and worked hard as South
Africa's first black president to establishharmony and helped society reconcile
itsconflicted past.
8 But today, our heroes are average men and women, "everyday heroes" to
whom we can relate, people like us.
9 However, while many people honor Sgt. Russell, some people raise this
question when they try to make sense of a tragedy like Sgt. Russell's: "Some first
responders do not succeed in helping others and they get injured or die in their
efforts. Do these people become heroes because of what happens to them as they
try to help others — instead of what they actually make happen?"
10 I asked road safetyadvocate Eleanor McMahon whether she thought Sgt.
Russell was a hero. Ms. McMahon's late husband, a police officer, was killed by a
drunk truck driver in a 2006 off-duty bicycling accident. Through grief and rage,
Ms. McMahon founded Share the Road, a cyclingassociation, and worked tirelessly
until the government established "Greg's Law", legislationthat gave authority to
police to immediately seize the automobiles of drunk drivers caught on the road.
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11 Ms. McMahon replied that she thought Sgt. Russell was indeed a hero.
"Just imagine, in the middle of an intensesnowstorm this policeman thinks: I've got
to stop this snowplow before it hurts others." Ms. McMahon summed up why she
considered many police officers to be heroes: "It's natural to be afraid of danger.
It's natural for that fear to cause most people to rush toward safety and away from
danger. Heroes do just the opposite. They rush toward danger to help those in
need."
12 We count on first responders to rush toward danger, especially when
itinvolves us or those we love. We expect nothing less. So when one of them
dies doing that, we should recognize the heroic action even though we may doubt
our own capacity to be heroic ourselves.
13 The inspiring stories of heroes help remind us that ordinary people can do
extraordinary things, whether it is in thefulfillment of their duties or as part of
everyday life. We honor the fireman, the policeman, and the average citizen by
recognizing their heroism. Perhaps, even more importantly, we honor them by
working to change the circumstances that led to their death. By honoring them
we can be inspired by them. Will we be heroes when circumstances call on us to
act heroically? Hopefully, we will!
Pre-reading activities
On a New York City subway, it's hard enough to find someone who'll give up
his seat to some stranger, let alone be willing to give his life for another person.
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Fifty-year-old Wesley Austrey was a construction worker. One day he was
standing on a subway platform with his two little daughters. Right in front of them
stood a man. Suddenly the man slipped off the platform edge and fell to the tracks
between the two rails. The headlights of a train appeared. Wesley had to make a
quick decision. He jumped onto the tracks. He lay on top of the man, pressing him
down in a space roughly a foot deep. There was only one half inch of space
between the two men and the train. The train rolled overhead before it stopped
and people got them out.
Wesley's children were extremely scared at the scene, and Wesley himself was
scared too. “I got to talk to him,” later he told news reporters. “Sir, you can't
move. I've got two kids up there looking for their father to come back. I don't know
you and you don't know me, but listen, don't panic. I'm here to save you.”
The man Wesley saved is 20-year-old Cameron Hollopeter. Except for a few
small wounds, Hollopeter was doing fine. Wesley refused medical help because, he
said, nothing was wrong. He visited Hollopeter in the hospital before he went to
work. “I don't feel like I did something extraordinary; I just saw someone who
needed help,” he said. “I did what I felt was right.”
Text B A hero’s aspiration
1 Officer Jonda's pulse quickened. Road conditions were dangerous on that
cold, dark wintery night. The fierce storm made it hard to see, but she could tell
the car ahead of her was in trouble. It was swaying. It was not swaying violently,
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and was still barely within the lane, but on the winding road in the fierce
November rain, it was enough. Jonda had a sixth sense for accidents and lived in
terror of them ever since that awful night so many years ago. She still couldn't
abolish the terribleimage of that teenager screaming for help, her help. Help that
she had been unable to give as she was driven back by the intense heat of the car
fire.
2 Her subsequent report on the incident had dutifully noted the facts, as she
had been trained to write them, facts that did not include screams or pain. It was
strange to talk about them one way: a string of facts for a police report; and to
think about them in another: burning metal and deep tire tracks on the slippery
concrete, bits of safety glass likeprimitive crystals reflecting in pools of blood.
These were memories Jonda could never really turn off. Sheleaned on her
training for support, and these days she never ignored any signs of the next
accident. She made a gesture to turn on the patrol car's flashing lights, but her
partner, David, beat her to it; he too had sensed the danger. "Let's pull that car over
before someone gets hurt," he said.
3 The big car slowed, but not enough to stop at the warning sign as the
driverslammed on the brakes. The car slipped off the road into the Dalton River.
4 Jonda quickly brought the police car to a halt and got out. Yelling at David
to call for backup help, she slipped down the side of the road to the water's edge.
5 The rain had swelled the river into a ragingmonster. It roared well over its
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banks, rushing swiftly with tree limbscaught in the raging current. And
halfsubmerged in the currentwas the car. As big as it was, the force of the water
had heaved it against a tree, the passenger seat submerged, water rushing over
the windshield. "DearLord!" Jonda prayed. "Never again!" This is too much, too
familiar, Jonda thought.
6 The driver would not have had time to make it out, Jonda knew. Her
flashlight beam barely cut through the heavy rain, but she could still see the
trapped driver screaming and banging the window. And the car was filling up with
water.
7 "David, I need the window hammer!" Jonda called over her radio and
rushed toward the car. By the time she was at the driver door, the water was
rushing up to her waist, and unbelievably cold, like her legs had been encased in
ice. If she didn't work quickly, she could lose the feeling in her lower body and
collapse.
8 Through the window, Jonda saw the woman with water up to her chest. A
work badge pinned to her chest identified her as Sandy. And she was old, 65 or
70. She would not last long in the icy water. Her eyes, betraying her intense fear,
were locked on Jonda's. "Save me," she screamed.
9 David caught up with Jonda and passed her the window hammer. "Ma'am,"
she yelled through the window, "I need you to turn away from the glass! I'm going
to break through!" The woman turned her head, and Jonda struck. The glass, thick
,.
as the old car was big, barelycracked. And with a heavy heart Jonda felt the car
heave. The current was loosening it from the tree.
10 Jonda struck again with all her might and this time, mercifully, the window
broke into little pieces. Water rushed in and the car heaved again, soon to be
carried downstream.
11 The woman tried to speak through her shivering lips. "Tell my
grandchildren I love them," she moaned.
12 Jonda leaned in and wrapped her arms around the woman. "We're not
going to lose you, Sandy! Put your arms around my neck and hold on! David, grab
my waist and pull!"
13 With all her strength in the icy water, Jonda grabbed the slender woman
out of her seat and through the broken window, David pulling at her waist. The
car heaved one last time, and just as the woman cleared it, it was swallowed by the
water.
14 The woman was crying in Jonda's arms. "It's all right, ma'am," Jonda said,
tears streaking down her cheeks, unable to let go of the woman. "We didn't lose
you! We didn't lose you!" she cried. Stiff and sore, Sandy cried, "Thank you!"
15 Since the accident, the two women have become close friends. "She's a
fantastic woman," Sandy says. "She just refused to let me die. I'm forever grateful
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to her." But Jonda feels she has much to be grateful for too, because finally, she is
healed and free of the acute nightmares of her past.
Unit 5 Winning is not everything
Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero
1 Considered one of the toughest marathon events in the world, the
875-kilometer annual Australian race, a route from Sydney to Melbourne, is
a harsh test of endurance for the world's top athletes, regardless of their age. The
young, super-fit runners train for months before a competition and are under
contract to prominent sponsors like Nike and Adidas, who finance them
and furnish them with a substantial support mechanism of money and
equipment. The contest takes up to seven days to complete and is a challenging
test of fitness and strength even for world-class athletes who compete
for distinction and a cash prize.
2 On the day of the race in 1983, Cliff Young, a toothless 61-year-old farmer
and amateur runner, wearing rubber boots, and much older than the other runners,
was in attendance. No one paid any attention to this odd-looking man who might
as well have been invisible. The assembled crowd assumed Cliff was there to
observe the race. When he asserted his intention to compete, the world-class
athletes around him reacted with apparent disbelief and then with
disrespect. Obviously, this was some sort of publicity trick.
,.
3 But the press was curious, so as he took his number and moved into
the crush of runners in their special, expensive racing gear, the camera focused on
him and the assembled reporters shouted question after question at Cliff. They
asked: "Who are you?" "What are you doing?"
4 "I'm Cliff Young. I'm from a large farm where we raise sheep outside of
Melbourne."
5 They went on, "What makes you think you can run this race? It takes a week
to run this race on no more than six hours of sleep a night!"
6 Cliff replied, "I've run sheep for two or three days at a time. This race should
only be a couple more days than that. I believe I can do it."
7 Soon, the marathon started and the young athletes left Cliff far behind. The
crowds smiled, and some laughed out loud because he didn't even run
properly. He had the strangest running style; he appeared to shuffle. As the race
progressed along, of course, the attention of the sports commentators and
viewers alike was on the athletes at the front of the pack. Imagine everyone's
surprise the next morning when the news showed Cliff was still in the race! Not
only that, but he had run through the entire night without sleeping. And it seemed
that he intended to keep running until he reached the finish line or fell ill or was
injured as many viewers now began to fear. They were uneasy and very concerned
for his welfare. Many people said and even more people thought: "Surely,
someone should stop this insane old man before he really harms himself!"
,.
8 But Cliff had no intention of stopping. Although he was still far behind the
world-class athletes, he kept at it. When he got to a major town, he was asked
about his plan for the rest of the race. He said he would just keep running, and he
did. With every passing hour and every shuffling step, he got just a little bit closer
to the race leaders. Later, he told people that throughout the race he kept focused
by imagining he was gathering his sheep and trying to outrun a storm.
9 By the fifth night, he had overtaken them all. By the sixth day, he led the
whole pack of runners by a wide lead. He led all the way to the finish
line, smashing the record by finishing the 875-kilometer race in 5 days, 15 hours
and 4 minutes — 9 hours faster than anyone before! In that instant, Cliff Young
became a beloved national hero.
10 When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know
there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money. He said,
"There're five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me," and he gave
them $2,000 each. He did not keep a single cent for himself. That act increased his
fame and endeared him to all of Australia.
11 Cliff came to prominence[rose to fame] again in 1997, at age 75, when he
attempted to become the oldest man to run around Australia and raise money for
homeless children.
12 For the rest of his life, Cliff kept running. Over the years, despite
increasing age and physical challenges, he participated in many races and won a
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number of them. It was said that Cliff Young never kept a single prize. People
gave him watches because he never had one. He would thank them because he
did not want to hurt their feelings, but then gave them away to the first child he
saw. He said, "I don't need a watch. I know when it's daylight, when it's dark, and
when I'm hungry."
13 His love for running never dimmed, but in the year 2000, he suffered a
mild stroke that ended his heroic running days. Cliff Young, the running legend,
passed away on November 2, 2003. He was 81.
14 To this day, Cliff Young remains a magnificent reminder and brilliant
example of how ordinary individuals can inherently achieve remarkable results. As
the famous saying goes, "Where there's a will, there's a way!" With
determination and preparation, we can achieve distinction and be a brilliant
example to others. 有坚定的决心和充分的准备，我们就能获得殊荣，也能成为别人的光
辉榜样。
Text B Shaping young lives with sports
1 The leaders of tomorrow are shaped and molded in the here and now. As
the Roman poet, Juvenal, famously said, "A healthy mind is to be found in a
healthy body." For parents, teachers, and coaches, there is no greater
responsibility than sustaining the mental and physical health of our young people.
2 Growing children need inspiration and physical stimulation. Team sports are
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a great way to provide these attributes! More than just entertainment, through
sports young people learn critical skills that will serve them well in their adult
lives. The ability to work toward a common goal underlines the value of
teamwork. Being both humble in victory and generous in defeat emphasizes the
mutual obligation of graceful manners in all human interactions. The lessons our
youth learn will stay with them all their lives, and there is no better place to assist
this learning than on the playing field.
3 Of course, the most critical lessons youngsters receive are those that they
are taught by their parents and teachers. Nevertheless, many lessons
remain abstract concepts until they are made real by life experiences. You can talk
about how bitter lemons are or how sweet honey is. However, until you actually
taste lemons and honey you cannot experience the true meaning of "bitter" and
"sweet". Knowledge comes from the application of ideas in the experience of real
life. Strategy, teamwork, and cooperation are crucial concepts that can be best
learned and understood through sports. Team sports give children a natural place
to work hard and learn valuable life lessons.
4 Naturally, those who are inherently talented will spend more time on the
field and will achieve fame. They have the opportunity to develop leadership skills
and earn the respect of their team members. However, the benefits of
participating in team sports are not dependent on natural ability. Youth need not
be stars to benefit from team membership. It doesn't matter whether they are
gifted at their chosen sport. As a famous American sportswriter said, "It's not
whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game."
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5 Sports can inspire and encourage the less naturally talented athletes to be
their best. What is missing in natural talent can be overcome through hard work,
practice, and learning from the example of others. Those lacking in talent should
never be envious, and they may learn more about the real world than the gifted
players because they learn early on that there are no free rides and they will have
to make continuous effort if they want to achieve in this world. Through sports,
they will learn the value of individual hard work and even greater value of
cooperation and teamwork. They will also learn the fundamental importance of
planning and preparation for the positive outcome of their life's ambitions. These
are all lessons that will be valuable to them throughout their entire lives, both in
their careers and their personal lives.
6 Of course, participation in competitive team sports is not
without hazards. Some psychologists have expressed considerable concern about
the intensity of competition in youth sports. They argue that children often suffer
psychological harm when the emphasis is exclusively on winning. A football
coach, famous for his competitive spirit, said: "Winning isn't everything; it is the
only thing." Such an outlook can be harsh on children when they feel pressured to
win from the adults around them. Child psychologists often blame parents and
coaches for being too demanding. By placing excessive emphasis on winning,
children miss the learning opportunities sports can offer. In such circumstances,
the sports experience uncovers negative, draining and harmful consequences,
canceling out the many desirable effects of sports.
7 Sports teach much more than what is easily seen on the surface. Young
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athletes learn something every time they step onto the field. It does much more
than just keep young bodies in shape and growing at healthy rates. Sports give
youth a sense of self-worth and accomplishment and teach them to deal capably
with failure and success. It helps them learn the ways of the world, the benefits of
hard work and determination, and how to coexist with others to achieve a
common goal, even with other team members they may not particularly like! It
allows youth to find a role they can fill, then to change or adapt to that role, and,
over time, to grow and redefine who they are and who they will become. These
are all traits that can be extremely useful in the real world, and developing such
traits at an early age paves the way for success later in life.
Unit 6 Earn as you learn
Text A To work or not to work- That is a question
1 There are numerous and reliable ways by which one can measure the impact
of employment on student achievement, and we used several in our research. We
compared the grades of students who work a great deal with those who work in
limited amounts or not at all. We also contrasted workers with non-workers, on
different indicators of their commitment to education. Additionally, we followed
students overtime as they increased or decreased their work hours, and we
assessed how different patterns of employment altered school performance and
engagement.
2 We have simplified and classified the data and the results are clear:
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Thestakes are high. A heavy commitment to a part-time job during
the academicyear, say, working 20 hours
school
per week or
and more,undermines andsignificantly interfereswith achievement
commitment. Overall, our study offers proof that students who worked more than
20 hours weekly were not comparable to their classmates. They earned lower
grades, spent less time on homework, cut class more often, and cheated more
frequently. And they reported lower levels of commitment to school and more
modest educational aspirations.
3 On the other hand, we also detected a different pattern. Working
forapproximately 10 hours per week or less seeminglydoes not take
a consistenttoll on school performance. Nevertheless, given that half of all
employed seniors, about one-third of all juniors, and about one-fifth of all
second-year students work above the 20-hour limit, indicationsare that a large
number of students are at risk ofcompromising their school careers with their
part-time jobs.
4 Whereas it is true that more disengaged students are more likely to work
long hours to begin with, it appears that working makes a marginal situation
worse. In other words, over time, the more students work, the lesscommitted to
school they become. When studentswithdraw from the labor force or cut back on
their work hours, however, the results are striking: Their interest in school
isgenerated anew. This then is good news:The negative effects of working on
schooling are notpermanent.
,.
5 We uncovered numerous explanations for the undesirable effects of working
on students' engagement in school. First, owing to their demanding work
schedule, working students have less time to devote to school assignments. One
common response to this time pressure is that they cut corners by taking easier
classes, copying assignments from other students, cutting class, or refusing to do
work assigned by their teachers. Over time, as these become established practices,
students' commitment to school iseroded bit by bit.
6 Second, in order to work 20 hours or more each week, many students must
work evenings. Evening work interferes not only with doing homework, but with
both sleep and diet. Studies show that working students get less rest and eat less
healthy meals than non-working students. Burning the midnight oil makes
working teenagers more tired in school. Teachers frequently complain about
working students falling asleep in class. Nearly a third of the students in our study
said they were frequently too tired from work to do their homework.
7 Third, it appears that the excitement of earning large amounts of spending
money makes school seem less rewarding and interesting. Although
mind-wandering during school is characteristic of young adults, working students
report significantly more of it than non-workers. Indeed, the rush from earning
and spending money may be so strong that students who have a history
ofintensive employment, those who, for example, have been working long hours
since their second year, are actually at greater risk than their classmates of
dropping out before graduating.
,.
8 Finally, working long hours can be associated with increased alcohol and
drug use. Working students use drugs and alcohol about 33% more often than
non-working students. Our long-term study shows that working long hours leads
to increased alcohol and drug use for entertainment andrecreation among
working students. Teenagers with between $200 and $300 of
monthly surplus income frequently have more money to spend than their peers,
and often they become accustomed to spending their earnings on drugs and
alcohol. According to our study, alcohol and drug use, in turn, may be linked to
disengagement from school, and therefore, is likely to depress school
performance.
9 To summarize,convention has long held that early employment builds
character. Our findings indicate that for many students, working 20 hours or more
a week can contribute to decreased school performance and increased drug and
alcohol use. We know that these findings may seemcontroversial to many. To our
own surprise, our findings make us question how long we have held on to
the conventionalassumptions about the great value of work in
ourformative years. It's time to abandon this appealingmyth! We conclude that
students should resolve to work no more than 10 hours per week if they want to
be successful in school.
Text B Earn as you learn?
1 As the cost of attending university has soared over the last two decades,
afrank and vigorous debate is emerging over who should pay for the cost of
,.
higher education. While in some countries students have always been expected
to absorb part or even all of their tuitioncosts through work or borrowing, in other
countries the tremendouscost of attending university has been provided by
the relevanteducation authority or by parents. I am proud to be in the small
minority of students who "earn as they learn" and absorb the cost of their own
university education in spite of the many obstacles.
2 As for the remaining majority, I ask myself, "Is it me, or are students these
days just lazy?" Collectively, they claimthat they have no capacity to pay for
college. I think it's more a matter of them simply not wanting to pay or
contribute. During college I consistentlyendured comments from peers with
scholarships and loans, and peers who had new cars and expensive apartments,
who would ask me, eyesbulging, "You mean your parents didn't help you at
all?" "How did you pay for tuition?" My response was simple: "I worked." They
would look at me blankly, as though I had told them I'd gone to the moon.
3 As an undergraduate student, I worked for two solid years as a day care
provider earning minimum wage. Then I paid for the rest of my education by
helping deaf children and working as a tutor in a private school. Looking back, I'm
not sure how I managed to cover all the costs of my education. But I did. And I
bought every single textbook and pencil myself too.
4 Sometimes, I did feel a little sorry for myself, especially when I compared
myself to wealthy students. I once asked another student if she worked. "Oh, no!"
she said, startled, "I go to school full-time." She was taking only 13 credit hours,
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and yet was "too busy" to work. She went on to explain that her parents paid for
everything and provided her with everynecessity, and manyluxuries too!
5 Truthfully, I was a little envious of her easy life as I took 18 credit hours so
that I could graduate within four years. Besides, I was working 25 hours a week so
I could pay tuition without future loan debt. And here's something amazing: I
pulled straight A's and was at the top of my class!
6 One day I caught aglimpse of that same girl's report card at the end of the
term. She pulled C's and a few B's, low grades, which didn't surprise me. Having to
work hard and multitask forces you toprioritize, a skill she hadn't learned.
7 I am aware that my work and study choices are not popular and that
manyinfluential studies claim toillustrate that working while going to school
negatively impacts educational performance. They cite increaseddropout rates,
lower scores and reduced lifetime earnings. Besides, these studies also
giveevidence that many students exhaust much of their earnings not on school,
but on entertainment and partying while attending school. The studies also show
increased abuse of alcohol and drugs, which leads me to question these students'
resolve and commitment to the serious side of life.
8 For me, one of the mostauthentic benefits of the "earn-as-you-learn"
approach is that, upon graduation, I was free from the
substantial stress andtension of debt payments that make so many people worried
and uneasy. Relieved of this considerable burden, I amconvinced that I will be able
,.
to make intelligent career choices that will provide me with greater personal
satisfaction andensure better pay over the years to come.
9 The central questions of this debate are: "What is the major purpose of
attending university?" and "Who should beresponsible for the cost?" For me, the
answer has always been that my purpose is to get a formaleducation with
anadvanced degree and that the responsibility is my own. I understand that some
will disagree with mysingular approach to educational funding. But consider this,
the path I have chosen has massive educational, financial, and psychological
benefits!
10 I am particularly proud that, in choosing this path of self-support, I have
relieved my parents of the burden of my university education. Furthermore, by
taking care of myself, without their assistance, I have given them the satisfaction of
knowing that they successfully completed the task of raising me into adulthood.
11 I will readily concedethat it's not always fun. It's not! But, with acceptance
that you will pay your own way, you will grow andmature and learn important skills
that will serve you all your life. Want to know a successful path to a happy and
sustainable life? Consider joining the ranks of those of us who "earn as they
learn"!
Unit 7 Hoping for the better
Text A When honesty disappears
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1 "Is anybody truly honest?" As numerous accounts of cheating, lying,
and fraud crowd our newspaper pages and TV news, it seems that honesty is a
rapidly vanishing value. And the reports indicate that, around the
globe,corruption and dishonesty are so widespread that the health and well-being
of society are at risk. These reports include stories such as the students who faced
criminal charges for selling in advance copies of a university final exam, a student
who wasexpelled when he turned in a term paper with thepurchase receipt for it
still inside the pages, and a clerk who ran his own Christmas cards through the
office postage meter and was found out when he sent one of the cards to the
company treasurer! We have all read or heard accounts such as these, not to
mention the stories of dishonesty
steal
amongst
and
alllayers of
politicians
society
who asexemplified by consumerswho
demand bribes. Travelers ripped off so many towels last year that it cost a major
hotel chain $3 million to replace them. Especially troubling are the reports that
dishonesty is increasing amongst student populations around the world.
2 But are these reports truly accurate or do theyexaggerate the
situation? Should we be alarmed by these accounts of falling standards
of principlesand morality? The assumption is that student dishonesty is
moreextensive now than it was 20, 50, 100 years ago. If so, what's behind it? If
this is indeed the case, it's deeply troubling as today's students are tomorrow's
leaders! It's possible that the desire to cheat is no greater than in the
past. However, the critical importance of having a university degree may have
increased the pressure to cheat in academic environments. Undoubtedly, modern
technology facilitates the means and opportunities to cheat. The demanding task
,.
of writing term papers has always been a source of tense nerves andfrustration, if
not theultimate homework nightmare. But now, with Internet
access, illegalresources are just a few links away.
3 Modern students who want to fake a term paper don't have
to browse long. They only have to locatethe appropriate website, purchase or
order online papers, or even download them for free. One webservice offers
"highest quality papers at the lowest possible prices", only $5.95 per page. Busy,
cost-conscious students will find other "low-priced" term papers on websites that
promise consumers "You will be happy and successful." Some people worry that
the Internet, once hailed as the ultimate learning tool, could become the best aid
yet for cheating.
4 To cope with the growing plague of cheating, universities around the world
now use anti-plagiarism software and have very strict cheating and plagiarism
policies. If students are caughtplagiarizing or cheating in any way, they will be
immediately expelled from school. Some college faculty decided to do more than
talk about rising student cheating. Professors at a major
university launched acampaign to try toeliminate one form of cheating. As 409
students filed out of their Introduction to Psychology exam, they found all but one
exit blocked. Test monitors asked each student to produce an ID card with
an attachedphoto. If they provided asatisfactory ID, they were fine. If they had
left their ID at home, the officialsconfronted them and took their picture. The
purpose of the campaign was to reveal hired cheaters, students who take tests for
other students. The majority of students at the university applauded the new
,.
strategy.
5 With awareness of increasing dishonesty in today's society, it's
sometimes implied that in "the good old days" people were better, happier, and
more honest. Were they more honest? Maybe yes, maybe no. Long ago, all
American schoolchildren knew the historical story of how Abraham Lincoln walked
five miles to return a penny he had overcharged a customer. It's the kind of story
that we think of as myth. But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true.
6 Like the Lincoln tale, every society has stories stressing the absolutevalue of
honesty. It is these stories that students need to remember when
temptation induces them to cheat. Whether discovered or not, dishonesty has an
undesirable effect on anyone who practices it. Equally importantly, the ill effects
are not confined to the dishonest person alone. Without trust, ordered societies
woulddescend into chaos. It's important that we do what we say we will do, pay
when we say we will, and create words that are our own. Perhaps the most
important lesson our schools can teach is that we must trust each other. When
honesty disappears, the affirmative, durablebonds of trust are eliminated and we
all lose. The future of our society depends on mutual trust.
Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness
1 Rudeness is a commonelement of modern life. "If you don't like it, lump it."
Or "Mind your own business." Or "Get out of the way." This kind of talk and
attitude is cropping up more often in public experiences — on the highways, in
,.
theater lines, on public transport. Whether it is people smoking in public, or
people cutting in line, the examples are almost endless.
2 It is generally thought around the world that theinhabitants of large cities
are ruder than their fellow citizens from smaller towns or the countryside. Walk
down streets of any major capital around the world and you willencounter taxi
drivers who believe a "Walk" sign at a walkway is an automaticinvitation to bump
their cars against pedestrians' knees. Recently, an angry pedestrian reacted by
kicking a cab, promptingthe driver to get out and give chase. And hardly a day
goes by without areluctant office worker riding an elevator with someone talking
loudly on the cell phone, despite the obvious disturbance to fellow passengers. "If
you don't like it, get out andswitch to another elevator," one cell phone user
recently told another passenger who objected to his loud voice. In New York and
other cities, quiet walks are a thing of the past. Who is to blame? The cell phone
users talking loudly as well as the annoying drivers behind beeping car horns. In
some big cities, subwayterminals are bulging
withherds of commuters,elbowing their way to grab seats, intimidating the old,
the young, the disabled and the pregnant. It's common to hear people on the bus
or subway talking on their cell phones very loudly, being a nuisance to those
around them.
3 What can we detect about such incidents? Some experts say thetrend began
decades ago when people became resistant to traditionalvalues and
manners. Others blame fast-paced modern lifestyles for contributing to a society
that has little time to be polite. This is particularly true in big cities, where people
,.
are surrounded by strangers. As a noted psychologist has observed, "In a small
town, the person to whom you are rude is more likely to be someone you are
going to see again tomorrow." In the city, if you have aminor conflict, it's very
unlikely you will ever encounter that person again.
4 Stress also plays a role in incidents of ignorantbehavior. Cindy Kludt,
acounselor who works with overworked nurses, says rudeness in hospitals
corresponds with the stress of people constantly working under life-and-death
circumstances. "If people at the top are rude or uncaring, rudeness moves on
downward, affecting everyone's behavior."
5 Rudeness comes with stress and this is becoming strikingly
common. Motorists regularly force bicyclists off the road, and large trucks
intimidate autos moving too slowly in front of them. Disgracefulinsults are
shouted and even bottles and trash are thrown at road crews by upset drivers
because lanes are restricted.
6 Public officials are often the target of people's frustration. Staffassistants in
public institutions tell of rude,hostile, and sometimesthreatening words from
people who feel government agencies are rude or mistreating them. As rudeness
in public dealings cuts both ways, citizens perceive that public servants habitually
ignore them, and they in turn treat the public servants in an offensivefashion.
7 Sometimes, such behavior goes beyondverbal abuse. A worker in a
restaurant was slappedand cursed by a customer after she told him no table
,.
would be available for two hours. A man in the United States recently won
damages for injuries suffered when he made acomplaint about a woman for using
bad language in her loud conversation. After being told to "get lost", he was
beaten with an umbrella by the woman and punched by her
companion. Utility crews in big cities report increasing violence from people who
have complaints against the power company. "Our repair crews have a rough time
in some apartment houses where a lot of people live with relatively little space,"
says a utility company executive."That makes short tempers, and angry, rude
behavior shows up."
8 There is disagreement as to whether the situation is improving or not. Many
see little hope for a decline in today's rude behavior. In fact, some see a new
pattern emerging in big cities — the "norm of non-involvement" as one
psychologist calls it. Others are feeling more hopeful. For example, one
international organization, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, inspires
people to practice kindness and to pass it on to others! The organization points to
a variety of indicators showing kinder and morecompassionate citizens. More
people arevolunteering their time for community projects; also, donations of
goods and money to charities have increased. These acts of kindness would have
a positive effect on others and would help to reduce the stress in society. Let's
hope this optimistic viewprevails and brings a better, brighter world for us all.
Unit 8 Friendship Across gender and boarder
Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not?
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1 When I think of my good friends, I see them in cinematic terms. The
camerawork is entirely different for men and women. The "movie" memories I
have of female friends are open andintimate. We are talking, interested in each
other in a magnetic sort of way. They look straight into my eyes, sensitive to my
feelings, listening to me with deliberate attention. In comparison, memories of
male friends are in an entirely different film altogether. An action or adventure
movie! Not much in the way of dialog. The ritual of motion, or thesequence of
action, makes up for the deficiency of dialog and honestnarrative.
2 My mind retreats back to my earliest childhood friend, Donald. I was still
living in Europe at the time, and near my house was an old German truck left
abandoned after the war. No wheels. No windshield. No doors. But
the steeringwheel was intact. Donald and I continuously "flew" to America in that
truck, our "airplane". Even now, I remember our daily ritual as we flew along,
across Europe, across the Atlantic, on a mission of mercy. We were innocent and
inseparable, the deep security that comes between best friends. Naturally, not one
word of our evident feelings for one another was everuttered; it was all done in
actions.
3 Each day, as we were flying over the Atlantic, there inevitably came that
wonderful moment: "Engine failure!" I'd shout into the microphone, "We'll have to
jump out." "A-a-a-a-a-!" Donald made sounds like a failing engine. Glancing at
me, he'd say, "I can't swim!" "Fear not! I'll drag you to shore," I'd bravely
reply. And, with that, we'd both spill out of the truck onto the dusty street. I swam
through the dust. Donald drowned in the dust, coughing, "Sharks!" he cried. But I
,.
always saved him. The next day, changing roles, the elaborate drama would
repeat. "I can't swim!" I'd say and Donald would save me. We saved each other
from certain death hundreds of times, until finally a day came when my family
really did leave for America. Donald and I stood rigid at the train station ready to
sayfarewell. We didn't know what to say; we couldn't save each other this time. So,
we just cried silently as the train pulled away.
4 These days, Jessica is one of my best friends. A recent occurrence made me
reexamine and interpret my behavior in a new light. We were swimming at a
beach in the Atlantic. The very Atlantic I had "flown" over in my German truck with
Donald. We were far from shore when we abruptlyturned back. We both thought
we detected a shark! Water is not only a good conductor of electricity but
of panic as well. We began splashinglike crazy people toward the shore. In my
panic, I suddenly realized how much I loved my friend Jessica, and what an
irreplaceable friend she was. Although I was the faster swimmer, I fell back to
protect her. In the end, the "shark" proved to be imaginary. But not my deep
emotional feelings for my friend. It felt great back on the beach, a littlescared and
laughing with the excitement of being alive. We looked into each other's eyes and
Jessicaspontaneously said, "I love you!" "Love you too!" I replied.
5 As I spoke, I realized just how gender-based my communication styles
were. With women, I could be open, emotionally honest, and transparent. With
male friends, it seemed impossible to express caring feelings no matter how deep
the friendship was. I could easily utter "I love you" to my mother, my sisters and
girlfriends; yet not once in my life had I been able to look a male friend in the eye
,.
and say the same thing. Quite impossible! Was this just me or was every male in
the world similarly cursed? Was I emotionally backward or just a "guy"? I was
determined to find out!
6 Much to my relief, research shows that I am, indeed, a "normal guy". It
seems that men and women have very different emotional and
rationalprocesses. Part of it is "nature" and part is "nurture". We are born with
very different genetictendencies which society encourages as either "masculine"
or "feminine". These differences in behavior and communication styles were made
famous by John Gray in his book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from
Venus. This book and other articles helped me realize it's OK I am the way that I
am. Men do tend to be more restrained with emotional expressions. I learned
that I did love all my friends — only the means of expression differs from one
gender to the other. What a relief!
Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures
1 Since I was five years old, I have had the good fortune to travel all over the
world. I have had theprivilege of living in Europe, Africa and North America and
have made many foreign friends there. My family, friends, and co-workers are al
ways very interested and curious and shower me with questions like: How do you
begin a friendship in a foreign country? Are they different from us? Do people in
those countries value friendship? In fact, the framework and value of friendship i
s universal and comparable around the world. But the way friendship is expresse
d differs greatly from country to country. The difficulty when strangers from two
,.
countries meet is not a lack of appreciation for friendship but the assumption of s
ameness. They do not anticipate thediverse expectations andsubtle differences of
whatconstitutes friendship, how it comes into being and how it should be expres
sed. So, who is a friend? How should friends treat each other? That depends on
where you are!
2 In the United States, society is highly mobile and it is quite common for pe
ople to move back andforth across the country for a new job, education, or many
other reasons. The term friend can be appliedcasually to a wide range of relation
ships — to someone you worshipwith, to a close business associate, to a childhoo
d playmate, or a trusted ally, either man or woman. They may be parents of the ch
ildren's friends, a neighbor's guests, members of a committee, or business clients
from another town or even another country. For Americans, there are real differe
nces among these relations; a friendship may be superficial, casual, situational or
deep and enduring. But a foreign visitor who comes to an American home cansc
arcely find any
variations. For an outsider, who sees only behavior visible on the surface, the diff
erences seem arbitrary if they find any. The mood is relaxed, and there is little
ceremony. Most people, old and young, are called by first names and family and
friends alike interact freely and speak in a relaxed, casual way.
3 Comparatively, friendship in other countries seems more
complicated. In France, as in many other European countries, friends generally ar
e of the same sex. Many French people doubt the possibility of cross-gender frie
ndships. For the French, friendship is a one-to-one relationship that demands a k
,.
een
awareness of the other person's personality and specialized interests. The special
relationship of friendship is based on what the French value most — on the mind,
on compatibility of outlook, on a corresponding
appreciation of artistic expression, on a love of fine foods, on philosophy, or on th
e enjoyment of sports. French friendships are private relationships with distinct b
oundaries. A man may play chess with one friend or discuss
poetry with another for 30 years without learning about either of his friends' pers
onal lives or families.
4 In Germany, friendship is much more a matter of feeling and affection. Youn
g boys and girls form deeply sensitive alliances, walk and talk together — not so
much to polish theirwits as to share their hopes, fears, and ideals, and to join in a
kind of mutual discovery of each other's own inner life. Within the family, the clos
est relationship over a lifetime is between brothers and sisters. German men and
women find in their closest friends among the same sex theloyalty of a brother or
the devotion of a sister.
5 English friendships follow a still different pattern. Their basis is shared activ
ity. They may share literary interests, serve on a committee, enjoy sports together
or share a mutual love of walking. Close English friendships may be of the same
sex or of mixed gender; friends may be found in two people, two couples or even
a small group. English friendships are made outside the family but can often bee
n hanced by becoming an integrated part of a family's social life.
,.
6 What, then, is friendship and what is its
significance? To summarize, it's a vital human quality that can bind people toget
her for life. And unlike family, it involves freedom of choice. A friend is someone
you choose and who chooses you. My friends are quite different from each other.
Some are mutual friends. Conversely, others don't even like each other! That is t
he odd thing about friendship. Just because I like two people does notguarantee
that they will like each other. However, I owe them all a debt of
gratitude. Whatever the continent or country, people have extended the hand of
friendship and welcomed me into their lives. By opening the doors of friendship t
o me, they occupy a special place in my heart. They have profoundly enriched m
y life experience, because wherever I am, when I'm with friends, I feel at home. T
he miracle of friendship is the same. It just takes time to understand the many dif
ferent ways that friendship is expressed around the world.
2024年5月12日发(作者：)
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Unit 1 Fresh Start ................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Text A Toward a brighter future . 1
Text B What we wish .................................................................................................................................................. 14
Unit 2 Loving parents, loving children ........................................................................................................................ 16
Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return ......................................................................................... 17
Text B Time slows down ........................................................................................................................................... 20
Unit 3 Digital Campus ........................................................................................................................................................ 24
Text A College life in the Internet age ................................................................................................................. 24
Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction ......................................................................................... 28
Unit 4 Heroes of our time ................................................................................................................................................ 31
Text A Heroes among us ........................................................................................................................................... 31
Text B A hero’s aspiration ...................................................................................................................................... 35
Unit 5 Winning is not everything .................................................................................................................................. 39
Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero ........................................................................................................................ 39
Text B Shaping young lives with sports .............................................................................................................. 42
Unit 6 Earn as you learn .................................................................................................................................................... 45
Text A To work or not to work- That is 45
Text B Earn as you learn? .......................................................................................................................................... 48
Unit 7 Hoping for the better ........................................................................................................................................... 51
Text A When honesty disappears .......................................................................................................................... 51
Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness ............................................................................................................... 54
Unit 8 Friendship Across gender and boarder .......................................................................................................... 57
Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not? ....................................................................... 57
Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures .................................................................. 60
新视野大学英语第三版第一册课文
Unit 1 Fresh Start
Text A Toward a brighter future for all
Toward a brighter future for all
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1 Good afternoon! As president of the university, I am proud to welcome you
to this university. Your achievement is thetriumph of years of hard work, both of
your own and of your parents and teachers. Here at the university, we pledge to
make your educational experience as rewarding as possible.
2 In welcoming you to the university, I am reminded of my own high school
graduation and the photograph my mom took of my dad and me.
"Posenaturally," Mom instructed us. "Wait!" said Dad, "Let's take a picture of me
handing him an alarm clock." The clock woke me up every morning in college.
It is still on my office desk.
3 Let me share with you something that you may not expect. You will miss
your old routines and your parents' reminders to work hard and attain your best.
You may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with high school, and your
parents may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with doing your laundry!
But know this: The future is built on a strong foundation of the past.
4 For you, these next four years will be a time unlike any other. Here you are
surrounded by great resources: interesting students from all over the country, a
learned and caring faculty, a comprehensive library, great sports facilities, and
student organizations covering every possible interest from the arts to science, to
community service and so on. You will have the freedom to explore and learn
about new subjects. You will learn to get by on very little sleep, meet fascinating
people, and pursue new passions. I want to encourage you to make the most of
this unique experience, and to use your energy and enthusiasm to reap the
,.
benefits of this opportunity.
5 You may feel overwhelmed by the wealth of courses available to you. You
will not be able to experience them all, but sample them widely! College offers
many things to do and to learn, and each of them offers a different way to see the
world. If I could give you only one piece of advice about selecting courses, it
would be this: Challenge yourself! Don't assume that you know in advance what
fields will interest you the most. Take some courses in fields you've never tried
before. You will not only emerge as a more broadly educated person, but you will
also stand a better chance of discovering an unsuspected passion that will help to
shape your future. A wonderful example of this is the fashion designer, Vera
Wang, who originally studied art history. Over time, Wang paired her studies in
art history with her love of fashion and turned it into a passion for design, which
made her a famous designer around the world.
6 Here at the university, it may not always be pleasant to have so many new
experiences all at once. In your dorm, the student next door may repeatedly play
the one song, which gives you a giant headache! You may be an early bird while
your roommate is a night owl! And still, you and your roommate may become best
friends. Don't worry if you become a little uncomfortable with some of your new
experiences. I promise you that the happy experiences will outweigh the
unpleasant ones. And I promise that virtually all of them will provide you with
valuable lessons which will enrich your life. So, with a glow in your eye and a song
in your heart, step forward to meet these new experiences!
,.
7 We have confidence that your journey toward self-discovery and your
progress toward finding your own passion will yield more than personal
advancement. We believe that as you become members of our community of
scholars, you will soon come to recognize that with the abundant opportunities for
self-enrichment provided by the university, there also come responsibilities. A
wise man said: "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one
generation to another." You are the inheritors of the hard work of your families
and the hard work of many countless others who came before you. They built
and transmitted the knowledge you will need to succeed. Now it is your turn.
What knowledge will you acquire? What passions will you discover? What will
you do to build a strong and prosperous future for the generations that will come
after you?
8 We take great pleasure in opening the door to this great step in your journey.
We take delight in the many opportunities which you will find, and in the
responsibilities that you will carry as citizens of your communities, your country,
and the world. Welcome！
Words and Expressions
triumph
n. （尤指苦战后获得的）胜利，成功，成就
pledge
,.
vt. 发誓；作保证
pose
vi. （为照相或画像而）摆姿势
vt. 造成，导致（困难或危险）
routine
n. 例行公事；常规；惯例
a. 常规的；例行的；惯常的
attain
vt. 得到；获得；赢得
foundation
n. 基础
resource
n. 1 资源；2 自然资源
,.
faculty
n. 1 全体教员；2 天赋；能力；本领
comprehensive
a. 综合的；多方面的
facility
n. （为某种目的而提供的）设施，设备
community
n. 1 （同住一地的人所构成的）社区；2 群体；团体
explore
vt. 探讨，研究（主题、思想等）
v. 勘探；探测；考察
fascinating
a. 吸引人的；迷人的；使人神魂颠倒的
,.
pursue
vt. 1 追求；致力于；2 追赶；追逐
passion
n. 1 强烈的爱好；热爱
n. 2 强烈的情感；激情
unique
a. 1 特别的；极不寻常的；极好的；2 不同的；独特的
enthusiasm
n. 热爱；热情；热心
reap
vt. 收获；获得
v. 收割（庄稼）
benefit
,.
n. 好处；益处；裨益
opportunity
n. 机会；时机
overwhelm
vt. （数量大得）使无法对付
available
a. 可获得的；可利用的；现成的
sample
vt. 1 体验；2 对…作抽样检验
n. 样本；样品；货样
assume
vt. 假定；假设；认为
emerge
,.
vi. 1 出现；为……所公认；2 出现；露出
giant
a. 巨大的；特大的
mate
n. 同事；同伴
roommate
n. （尤指大学里的）室友
owl
n. 猫头鹰
virtual
a. 1 几乎相同的；实质上的；2 虚拟的；模拟的
virtually
ad. 1 实际上；几乎；差不多；2 虚拟地；模拟地
,.
enrich
vt. 使丰富；充实；强化
glow
n. 1 （某种）强烈的情感；2 柔和稳定的光
vi. 发出柔和稳定的光
confidence
n. 1 信心；信赖；信任；2 自信心
yield
vt. 1 产生（结果等）；2 出产；产生
vi. 屈从；让步
abundant
a. 大量的；丰富的；充裕的
responsibility
,.
n. 1 （道德、社会）责任，义务；2 责任；3 职责；任务；义务
inherit
vt. 沿袭，秉承（信仰、传统或生活方式）
v. 继承（财产）
inheritor
n. 1 （生活或思想方式的）后继者，继承人；2 遗产继承人
transmit
vt. 传送；传递；传播
acquire
vt. 1 学到，获得（知识、技能）；2 取得；获得；3 购得；得到
prosperous
a. 富裕的；繁荣的；兴旺的
remind sb. of sb./sth.
,.
1 使某人想起某人或某事
2 使某人想起（相似的）人或事
get by
过活；过得去；勉强应付
make the most of sth.
最大限度地利用某物
reap the benefits (of sth.)
得享（某事物的）好处
in advance
预先；提前
stand a chance (of doing sth.)
有（做成某事的）希望
over time
,.
逐渐地；慢慢地
turn (sb./sth.) into sth.
（使某人/某物）变成
all at once
1 同时
2 一下子；突然
take pleasure in (doing) sth.
乐于做某事
open the door to sth.
给…以机会；给…敞开方便之门
take delight in (doing) sth.
以（做）某事为乐
Vera Wang
,.
王薇薇（1949– ，著名美籍华裔设计师，被誉为“婚纱女王”）
Text B What we wish
My dear child,
1 You are about top anticipate in the next leg of your journey through life. For
us, this part is bittersweet. As you go off to college, exciting new worlds will open
up to you. They will inspire and challenge you; you will grow in incredible ways.
2 This is also a moment of sadness. Your departure to college makes it
undeniably clear that you are no longer a child. There has been no greater joy than
watching you arrive at this moment. You have turned our greatest challenge into
our greatest pride. Although we have brought you to this point, it is hard to watch
you depart. Remember above all things, we will miss you.
3 College will be the most important time of your life. It is here that you will
truly discover what learning is about. You often ask, "Why do I need to know
this?" I encourage you to stay inquisitive, but remember this: "Education is what
remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." What you learn
is not as important as the fact that you learn. This is the heart of scholarship:
moving from teacher-taught to master-inspired, on over to the point where you
become a self-learner. So, take each subject seriously, and if something doesn't
immediately engage you, don't despair. Embrace it as a challenge. Find a way to
make it your own.
,.
4 Of course, you must still take care to sign up for courses which stimulate
your passion you’re your intellectual capacity. Don't be bound by what other
people think. Steve Jobs said, when you are in college, your passion will create
many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. So, don't worry too much
about what job you will have; don't be too practical. If you like French or Korean,
study it even if someone else tells you that it's not useful. Enjoy picking your "dots".
Be assured that one day, you will find your own meaningful career, and you will
connect a beautiful curve through those dots.
5 You know that we always want you to do your best, but don't let the pressure
of grades get to you. We care only that you try your very best, and that you
learn. It is better that your greatest effort earns a lesser grade than that no effort
earns you a decent or higher grade. Grades in the end are simply letters fit to give
the vain something to boast about, and the lazy something to fear. You are too
good to be either. The reward is not the grade but what you learn.
6 More importantly, make friends and trust others. The friends you make in
college can be the best ones you will ever have. During these years, when you
move into adulthood, the friends you make in college live closer to you than your
family. You will form bonds of friendship that will blossom over many
decades. Pick friends who are genuine and sincere. Select a few and become
truly close to them. Don't worry about their hobbies, grades, or looks. Instead,
trust your instincts when you make new friends. You are a genuine and sincere
person; anyone would enjoy your friendship. So be confident, secure, and
proactive. If you think you like someone, tell them. You have very little to
,.
lose. Don't be afraid to trust. Give others the benefit of the doubt, and don't
reduce anyone to stereotypes. Nobody is perfect; as long as others are genuine,
trust them and be good to them. They will give back.
7 Remember also that your youth is full of strength and beauty, something
that you will not comprehend until it is gone. You must guard and cultivate your
strength and beauty. A healthy body and a sound mind are the greatest
instruments you will ever possess. Enjoy life. Dance if you feel like it. Don't be
afraid of what other people think. But also keep yourself safe and sound. Don't
let the range of new experiences take your innocence, health, or curiosity away
from you. Treasure your youth and the university experience before you.
8 College is the time when you have: the first taste of independence, the
greatest amount of free time, the most flexibility to change, the lowest cost for
making mistakes.
9 Approach these years enthusiastically! Make the most of your time. Become
the great thinker you were born to be. Let your talents evolve to their fullest
potential. Be bold! Experiment! Learn and grow! We are enormously proud that
you've made it this far, and we can't wait to see what you will become.
Your father
Unit 2 Loving parents, loving children
,.
Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return
1 I watch her back her new truck out of the driveway. The vehicle is too large,
too expensive. She'd refused to consider a practical car with good gasefficiency
and easy to park. It's because of me, I think. She bought it to show me that she
could.
2 "I'm 18," she'd told me so often that my teeth ached. "I am an adult!"
3 I thought, is that true? Just yesterday you watched some cartoons. What
changed between yesterday and today?
4 Today she's gone, off to be an adult far away from me. I'm glad she's
gone. It means she made it, and that I'm finally free of 18 years of responsibilities.
And yet I wonder if she could take good care of herself.
5 She left a mess. Her bathroom is anembarrassment of damp towels, rusted
shavingblades, hair in the sink, and nearly empty tubes oftoothpaste. I bring a
box of big black garbage bags upstairs. Eye shadow, face cream, nail polish — all
go into the trash. Idump drawers, sweep shelves clear and clean the sink. When I
am finished, it is as neat and impersonal as a hotel bathroom.
6 In her bedroom I findmismatched socks under her bed and purple pants on
the closet floor. Desk drawers are filed with school papers, field by year and
subject. I catch myself reading through poems and essays, admiring high scores
,.
on tests and reading her name, printed or typed neatly in the upper right-hand
corner of each paper. I pack the desk contents into a box. Six months, I think. I
will give her six months to collect her belongings, and then I will throw them all
away. That is fair. Grown-ups pay for storage.
7 I have to pause at the books. Comic books, teenfiction, romantic
novels,historical novels, and textbooks. A lifetime of reading; each
bookbeloved. I want to be practical, to stuff them in paper sacks for the used
bookstore. But I love books as much as she does, so I stack them onto a single
bookshelf to deal with later.
8 I go for her clothes. Dresses, sweaters, and shoes she hasn't worn since
seventh grade are placed into garbage bags. I am a plague of locusts emptying the
closet. Two piles grow to clumsyheights: one for charity, the other trash.
9 There are more shoes, stuffed animals, large and small posters, hair bands,
and pink hair curlers. The job grows larger the longer I am at it. How can one girl
collect so much in only 18 years?
10 I stuff the garbage bags until the plastic strains. Ihaul them down the stairs,
two bags at a time. Donations to charity go into the trunk of my car; trash goes to
the curb. I'm earning myself sweat andsore shoulders.
11 She left the bedroom aridiculous mess, the comforter on the floor, the
sheets tossed aside. Istrip off the comforter, blanket, sheets, and pillows. Once
,.
she starts feeding coins into laundry machines, she'll appreciate the years of clean
clothes I've provided for free.
12 I will turn her room into a crafts room. Or create the fancy guest room I've
always wanted.
13 I turn the bed over. A large brown envelope is marked "DO NOT THROW
AWAY." I open it. More papers. I dump the contents onto the floor. There are old
family photographs, letters, greeting cards, and love notes from us to her. There
are comics clipped from newspapers and magazines. Every single item in this
envelope has passed from our hands to hers. These are all things that we gave her.
Suddenly, I feel very emotional.
14 "DO NOT THROW AWAY."
15 My kid — my clutter bug— knows me too well. As I read through the
cards and notes, I think maybe the truck wasn't such a bad idea, after all. Maybe it
helps her to feel less small in a big world.
16 I reverse myself and bring back the garbage bags from the car and the
curb. Clothes and shoes go back into the closet. I remake the bed and pile it with
stuffed animals. My husband comes home and calls up the stairs.
17 "Just straightening up," I tell him. "Can you find some boxes for her
stuff?"
,.
18 He brings up boxes from the basement.
19 "She left a mess," he says.
20 "I don't mind," I reply. Silence.
21 Then he says softly, "She's not coming back." I feel my throat tighten at the
sadness in his voice. I try hard to keep back my tears.
22 My little baby, my dependent child, isn't coming back. But someday my
daughter, the independent woman, will return home. Tokens of her childhood will
await her. So will we, with open arms.
Text B Time slows down
1 "Daddy, let's take a walk."
2 It's an April day in Virginia. He nods, puts his hands on the arms of his
wheelchair, whispers something that makes little sense. I try to help him up, but
he is too heavy andlimp.
3 "Come for a walk, and then — I've brought you a surprise."
4 The white curtains surge in the breeze.
5 Shivering, he complains it's chilly. "It's cold, I'm tired. Can't we go home
,.
now?"
6 Suddenly we're far away in a time long past in part of a harbor I've never
seen before. December, Chicago, I'm five, and cold. One glove is lost. My feet are
tired. His legs are longer; he strides quickly through melting snow, toward
buildings like airplane sheds withimmense doors.
7 This is the most exciting place I have ever been. Suddenly my fatigue is
gone. I could walk along here forever, at least until I find out how to get
aboardone of the boats.
8 We slow down our pace. Smaller sheds now. A green diner. Smells of fish
and smoke. We enter a little hut. Barrels of salty water, string bags ofshellfish,
bundles of fish laid out on ice.
9 "Daddy, look at that snake!"
10 "No, that's an eel," says Daddy. "Smoked. We'll take a portion home for
supper."
11 "I certainly won't eat that!"
12 "All right," he says, and carries the smelly package. As we walk back, he
tells me aboutmigrations of eels to the Sargasso Sea: how eels come down
Dalmatian rivers and swim across the Mediterranean and then the whole Atlantic,
,.
until they reach the warm Sargasso Sea. Here they lay their eggs, and then the
baby eels swim back to the native rivers of their parents.
13 Back at last in the apartment, he unwraps the eel, opens his pocket knife
and slices carefully.
14 "I won't eat it," I saysuspiciously.
15 "Try one bite, just for me."
16 "I won't like it."
17 While he hangs up our coats, I test one pinch. Smelly, smoky, and salty.
18 He goes into the kitchen to heat milk for me and tea for himself. I test
another pinch. Then another. He returns with the steaming cups.
19 The eel has vanished.
20 Because it is Sunday and I am five, he forgives me. Time slows down and
the love flows in — father to daughter and back again.
21 At 19, I fly out to Japan. My father and I climb Mount Fuji. High above the
Pacific, and hours up the slope, we picnic on dried eel, seaweed crackers, and cold
rice wrapped in the eel skin. He reaches thepeak first.
,.
22 As the years stretch, we walk along waterways all over the world. With his
long stride, he often overtakes me. I've never known anyone with such energy.
23 Some days, time flies with joy all around. Other days, time rots like old fish.
24 Today in the nursing home in Virginia, anticipating his reluctance, I beg
boldly and encourage him, "Please, Daddy, just a little are supposed to
exercise."
25 He can't get out of his chair. Not that he often gets up on his own, but
once in a while he'll suddenly have a surge of strength. I stoop to lift his feet from
the foot restraints, fold back the metal pieces which often scrape his delicate,
paper-thin skin. "Come, now you can stand."
26 He grips the walker and struggles forward. Gradually I lift and pull him to
his feet. Standing unsteadily, he sways and then gains his balance.
27 "See, you made it! That's wonderful! All right, I'll be right behind you, my
hand in the small of your back. Now — forward, march!"
28 He is impatient with the walker as I accompany him to the dining room. I
help him to his chair, and hand him a spoon. It slips from his fingers. Pureed tuna
is heaped on a plastic plate. I encourage him, sing him old songs, tell stories, but
he won't eat. When I lift a spoonful of gray fishy stuff to his mouth, he says politely,
"I don't care for any."
,.
29 Nor would I.
30 Then I take the small smelly package covered in white wrapping paper from
a plastic bag. He loves presents, and he reaches forward with awkward fingers to
try to open it. The smell fills the room.
31 "Look, Daddy, they've been out of it for months, but at last this morning at
the fish seller near the Potomac, I found some smoked eel."
32 We unwrap it, and then I take out the Swiss Army Knife my beloved aunt
gave me "for safekeeping", and slice the silvery flesh.
33 "What a beautiful picnic," my father beams.
34 He takes a sip of his champagne, and then with steady fingers picks up a
slice of eel and downs it easily. Then another, and another, until he eats the whole
piece. And again, time slows down and the love flows in — daughter to father
and back again.
Unit 3 Digital Campus
Text A College life in the Internet age
1 The college campus, long a place of scholarship and frontiers of new
technology, is beingtransformed into a new age of electronics by afleet of laptops,
,.
smartphones and connectivity 24 hours a day.
2 On a typical modern-day campus, where every building and most outdoor
common areas offer wireless Internet access, one student takes her laptop
everywhere. In class, she takes notes with it, sometimes instant-messaging or
emailing friends if the professor is less than interesting. In her dorm, she
instant-messages her roommate sitting just a few feet away. She is tied to her
smartphone, which she even uses to text a friend who lives one floor above her,
and which supplies music for walks between classes.
3 Welcome to college life in the 21st century, where students on campus are
electronically linked to each other, to professors and to their classwork 24/7 in an
ever-flowing river of information and communication. With many schools
offering wireless Internet access anywhere on campus, colleges as a group have
become the most Internetaccessible spots in the world.
4 Students say they really value their fingertip-access to the boundless
amount of information online, and the ability to email professors at and
receive responses the next morning. "I always feel like I have a means of
communication — in class and out of class," says oneengineering major.
5 Many are using smartphones, not only to create their own dialectswhen
texting, but also to do more serious work, such as practicing foreign languages
and analyzingscripts from their theater classes. In a university class on the history
of American radio, students use smartphones to record their own radio shows. The
,.
course instructor said, "It's adding to students' sense of excitement about the
subject." Professors have been encouraged to tape their lectures and post them
online. "We realized there might be some potential for a devicethat could get
attention and encouragesophisticated thinking," says one leading university
director.
6 For mostundergraduates, non-stop Internet connectivity is the fuel of
college life. More than just toys, these instruments are powerful tools for the
storage and management of virtually every kind of information. And as more
people around the world adoptthese instruments, they are becoming
indispensable. So, students should use the wonders of the Internet to do
homework, review lecture outlines, take part in class discussions and network
online with their friends. But in doing so, students must remember to regulate
and balance their time. Too much time online can mean too little time in real-life
studying or exercising or visiting with friends. Students should not let the Internet
world on their computer screens take them away from the real world outside.
7 Colleges began embracing Internet access in the mid-1990s, when many
began wiring dorms with high-speed connections. In the past few years, schools
have taken the lead by turning their campuses intobubbles of Wi-Fi networks. In
fact, a recent study in the US found that information technology accounted for 5%
to 8% of college budgets, up from an estimated 2% to 3% in the mid-1980s.
8 On one campus, students use Wi-Fi to fire off instant messages, review their
homeworkassignments, and check their bank balances. Just nine miles down
,.
thehighway, another university had been feeling a bit of a technologyinferiority
complex. Tocompensate, it spent tens of thousands of dollars to give every one of
its incoming freshmen a free Apple iPad.
9 Some universities even require that all students own or lease a laptop. Some
say the focus on technology prepares students for a wired world. "You have to
keep up with the rest of the world. Students expect high-bandwidth information,
and if you can't deliver it, you're at acompetitive disadvantage," states a university
president.
10 Other colleges are straining to stand out from their peers. The race to
attract students with the most modern networks and the hottest systems has
reached fever pitch. Some business majors are receiving free
portablecomputers. In an always-connected mode, they can get information
anytime and anywhere they need. One university is even giving its freshmen new
smartphones to enrich the student experience and prepare them for success in a
rapidly changing world.
11 For those who prefer to travel laptop-free, colleges supply several
computer labs. And for students who study late into the night, many have set up
24-hour repair shops where students can get their laptops fixed by the next day
and receive aloaner in the meantime.
12 Colleges around the world have been replacing their computer systems for
the past decade, in large part to provide students with the most advanced free
,.
system. The anywhere-anytime access has already yieldedamazing benefits in
education. With the widespread application of computer technologies, we are
going to produce a generation of problem-solvers and intelligentthinkers, which is
indispensable for the future of the world.
Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction
1 The college campus, long a place of scholarship and frontiers of new
technology, is beingtransformed into a new age of electronics by afleet of laptops,
smartphones and connectivity 24 hours a day.
2 On a typical modern-day campus, where every building and most outdoor
common areas offer wireless Internet access, one student takes her laptop
everywhere. In class, she takes notes with it, sometimes instant-messaging or
emailing friends if the professor is less than interesting. In her dorm, she
instant-messages her roommate sitting just a few feet away. She is tied to her
smartphone, which she even uses to text a friend who lives one floor above her,
and which supplies music for walks between classes.
3 Welcome to college life in the 21st century, where students on campus are
electronically linked to each other, to professors and to their classwork 24/7 in an
ever-flowing river of information and communication. With many schools
offering wireless Internet access anywhere on campus, colleges as a group have
become the most Internetaccessible spots in the world.
,.
4 Students say they really value their fingertip-access to the boundless
amount of information online, and the ability to email professors at and
receive responses the next morning. "I always feel like I have a means of
communication — in class and out of class," says oneengineering major.
5 Many are using smartphones, not only to create their own dialectswhen
texting, but also to do more serious work, such as practicing foreign languages
and analyzingscripts from their theater classes. In a university class on the history
of American radio, students use smartphones to record their own radio shows. The
course instructor said, "It's adding to students' sense of excitement about the
subject." Professors have been encouraged to tape their lectures and post them
online. "We realized there might be some potential for a devicethat could get
attention and encouragesophisticated thinking," says one leading university
director.
6 For mostundergraduates, non-stop Internet connectivity is the fuel of
college life. More than just toys, these instruments are powerful tools for the
storage and management of virtually every kind of information. And as more
people around the world adoptthese instruments, they are becoming
indispensable. So, students should use the wonders of the Internet to do
homework, review lecture outlines, take part in class discussions and network
online with their friends. But in doing so, students must remember to regulate
and balance their time. Too much time online can mean too little time in real-life
studying or exercising or visiting with friends. Students should not let the
Internet world on their computer screens take them away from the real world
,.
outside.
7 Colleges began embracing Internet access in the mid-1990s, when many
began wiring dorms with high-speed connections. In the past few years, schools
have taken the lead by turning their campuses intobubbles of Wi-Fi networks. In
fact, a recent study in the US found that information technology accounted for 5%
to 8% of college budgets, up from an estimated 2% to 3% in the mid-1980s.
8 On one campus, students use Wi-Fi to fire off instant messages, review their
homeworkassignments, and check their bank balances. Just nine miles down
thehighway, another university had been feeling a bit of a technologyinferiority
complex. Tocompensate, it spent tens of thousands of dollars to give every one
of its incoming freshmen a free Apple iPad.
9 Some universities even require that all students own or lease a laptop. Some
say the focus on technology prepares students for a wired world. "You have to
keep up with the rest of the world. Students expect high-bandwidth information,
and if you can't deliver it, you're at acompetitive disadvantage," states a university
president.
10 Other colleges are straining to stand out from their peers. The race to
attract students with the most modern networks and the hottest systems has
reached fever pitch. Some business majors are receiving free portablecomputers.
In an always-connected mode, they can get information anytime and anywhere
they need. One university is even giving its freshmen new smartphones to enrich
,.
the student experience and prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world.
11 For those who prefer to travel laptop-free, colleges supply several
computer labs. And for students who study late into the night, many have set up
24-hour repair shops where students can get their laptops fixed by the next day
and receive aloaner in the meantime.
12 Colleges around the world have been replacing their computer systems for
the past decade, in large part to provide students with the most advanced free
system. The anywhere-anytime access has already yieldedamazing benefits in
education. With the widespread application of computer technologies, we are
going to produce a generation of problem-solvers and intelligentthinkers, which is
indispensable for the future of the world.
Unit 4 Heroes of our time
Text A Heroes among us
1 Who's a hero these days? In an era of heightened heroism, the word hero
has become more common. We use hero to describe bothvictims and survivors
of all kinds of difficulties andtragedies. Who are the heroes among us?
2 In the days subsequentto a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, many
described 20-yearold political associate Daniel Hernandez as a hero. During the
horrible shooting, he courageously ran through the danger to save the life of one
,.
of the victims, his boss and friend, congresswomanGabrielle Giffords. Daniel held
her head up so she could breathe and applied pressure to her wounds. He spoke
tender words ofsympathy, telling her that he would find her husband and her
parents and that everything would be fine. And he never left her side, staying
beside her in the ambulance all the way to the hospital.
3 Another hero from the mass shooting in Tucson was Dory Stoddard. Dory
gave his life for his wife, Mavy. Dory and his wife had been friends since
childhood and when Dory heard shots ring out he immediately fell on top of his
wife to shield her from the hail of bullets. At the memorial service, thepriest said:
"Dory didn't die a hero; he lived a hero." Long known for hisremarkable spirit and
love of humanity, Dory Stoddard died as he had always lived, assisting others.
4 These are civilianheroes, who acted instinctively with courage and grace
when caught up in extraordinarycircumstances.
5 But what about firstresponders , whose job is, in the words of the widowof a
fallen police officer, to "rush toward danger"?
6 In Toronto, Canada, downtown life stopped when more than 11,000 police
and other emergency responders marched solemnly through the streets to
honorSergeant Ryan Russell, a 35-year-old "good man and good cop", who
believed deeply in his commitmentto protect and serve. Sgt. Russell moved
quickly to protect others from harm. He tried to stop a drunk driver in a stolen
snowplow with only his police automobile and his goodwill to help others. Sadly,
,.
Sgt. Russell was unable to stop the drunk driver and was killed in the effort.
7 It used to be that the word hero was reserved for those who performed acts
of distinct courage beyond the call of duty. A soldier who runs through gunfire to
rescue othermilitary personnel is seen as a hero. So are larger-than-life leaders
such as Nelson Mandela, who emerged after 27 years ofjail, confined in a
solitarychamber. He made the choice not to be bitter, and worked hard as South
Africa's first black president to establishharmony and helped society reconcile
itsconflicted past.
8 But today, our heroes are average men and women, "everyday heroes" to
whom we can relate, people like us.
9 However, while many people honor Sgt. Russell, some people raise this
question when they try to make sense of a tragedy like Sgt. Russell's: "Some first
responders do not succeed in helping others and they get injured or die in their
efforts. Do these people become heroes because of what happens to them as they
try to help others — instead of what they actually make happen?"
10 I asked road safetyadvocate Eleanor McMahon whether she thought Sgt.
Russell was a hero. Ms. McMahon's late husband, a police officer, was killed by a
drunk truck driver in a 2006 off-duty bicycling accident. Through grief and rage,
Ms. McMahon founded Share the Road, a cyclingassociation, and worked tirelessly
until the government established "Greg's Law", legislationthat gave authority to
police to immediately seize the automobiles of drunk drivers caught on the road.
,.
11 Ms. McMahon replied that she thought Sgt. Russell was indeed a hero.
"Just imagine, in the middle of an intensesnowstorm this policeman thinks: I've got
to stop this snowplow before it hurts others." Ms. McMahon summed up why she
considered many police officers to be heroes: "It's natural to be afraid of danger.
It's natural for that fear to cause most people to rush toward safety and away from
danger. Heroes do just the opposite. They rush toward danger to help those in
need."
12 We count on first responders to rush toward danger, especially when
itinvolves us or those we love. We expect nothing less. So when one of them
dies doing that, we should recognize the heroic action even though we may doubt
our own capacity to be heroic ourselves.
13 The inspiring stories of heroes help remind us that ordinary people can do
extraordinary things, whether it is in thefulfillment of their duties or as part of
everyday life. We honor the fireman, the policeman, and the average citizen by
recognizing their heroism. Perhaps, even more importantly, we honor them by
working to change the circumstances that led to their death. By honoring them
we can be inspired by them. Will we be heroes when circumstances call on us to
act heroically? Hopefully, we will!
Pre-reading activities
On a New York City subway, it's hard enough to find someone who'll give up
his seat to some stranger, let alone be willing to give his life for another person.
,.
Fifty-year-old Wesley Austrey was a construction worker. One day he was
standing on a subway platform with his two little daughters. Right in front of them
stood a man. Suddenly the man slipped off the platform edge and fell to the tracks
between the two rails. The headlights of a train appeared. Wesley had to make a
quick decision. He jumped onto the tracks. He lay on top of the man, pressing him
down in a space roughly a foot deep. There was only one half inch of space
between the two men and the train. The train rolled overhead before it stopped
and people got them out.
Wesley's children were extremely scared at the scene, and Wesley himself was
scared too. “I got to talk to him,” later he told news reporters. “Sir, you can't
move. I've got two kids up there looking for their father to come back. I don't know
you and you don't know me, but listen, don't panic. I'm here to save you.”
The man Wesley saved is 20-year-old Cameron Hollopeter. Except for a few
small wounds, Hollopeter was doing fine. Wesley refused medical help because, he
said, nothing was wrong. He visited Hollopeter in the hospital before he went to
work. “I don't feel like I did something extraordinary; I just saw someone who
needed help,” he said. “I did what I felt was right.”
Text B A hero’s aspiration
1 Officer Jonda's pulse quickened. Road conditions were dangerous on that
cold, dark wintery night. The fierce storm made it hard to see, but she could tell
the car ahead of her was in trouble. It was swaying. It was not swaying violently,
,.
and was still barely within the lane, but on the winding road in the fierce
November rain, it was enough. Jonda had a sixth sense for accidents and lived in
terror of them ever since that awful night so many years ago. She still couldn't
abolish the terribleimage of that teenager screaming for help, her help. Help that
she had been unable to give as she was driven back by the intense heat of the car
fire.
2 Her subsequent report on the incident had dutifully noted the facts, as she
had been trained to write them, facts that did not include screams or pain. It was
strange to talk about them one way: a string of facts for a police report; and to
think about them in another: burning metal and deep tire tracks on the slippery
concrete, bits of safety glass likeprimitive crystals reflecting in pools of blood.
These were memories Jonda could never really turn off. Sheleaned on her
training for support, and these days she never ignored any signs of the next
accident. She made a gesture to turn on the patrol car's flashing lights, but her
partner, David, beat her to it; he too had sensed the danger. "Let's pull that car over
before someone gets hurt," he said.
3 The big car slowed, but not enough to stop at the warning sign as the
driverslammed on the brakes. The car slipped off the road into the Dalton River.
4 Jonda quickly brought the police car to a halt and got out. Yelling at David
to call for backup help, she slipped down the side of the road to the water's edge.
5 The rain had swelled the river into a ragingmonster. It roared well over its
,.
banks, rushing swiftly with tree limbscaught in the raging current. And
halfsubmerged in the currentwas the car. As big as it was, the force of the water
had heaved it against a tree, the passenger seat submerged, water rushing over
the windshield. "DearLord!" Jonda prayed. "Never again!" This is too much, too
familiar, Jonda thought.
6 The driver would not have had time to make it out, Jonda knew. Her
flashlight beam barely cut through the heavy rain, but she could still see the
trapped driver screaming and banging the window. And the car was filling up with
water.
7 "David, I need the window hammer!" Jonda called over her radio and
rushed toward the car. By the time she was at the driver door, the water was
rushing up to her waist, and unbelievably cold, like her legs had been encased in
ice. If she didn't work quickly, she could lose the feeling in her lower body and
collapse.
8 Through the window, Jonda saw the woman with water up to her chest. A
work badge pinned to her chest identified her as Sandy. And she was old, 65 or
70. She would not last long in the icy water. Her eyes, betraying her intense fear,
were locked on Jonda's. "Save me," she screamed.
9 David caught up with Jonda and passed her the window hammer. "Ma'am,"
she yelled through the window, "I need you to turn away from the glass! I'm going
to break through!" The woman turned her head, and Jonda struck. The glass, thick
,.
as the old car was big, barelycracked. And with a heavy heart Jonda felt the car
heave. The current was loosening it from the tree.
10 Jonda struck again with all her might and this time, mercifully, the window
broke into little pieces. Water rushed in and the car heaved again, soon to be
carried downstream.
11 The woman tried to speak through her shivering lips. "Tell my
grandchildren I love them," she moaned.
12 Jonda leaned in and wrapped her arms around the woman. "We're not
going to lose you, Sandy! Put your arms around my neck and hold on! David, grab
my waist and pull!"
13 With all her strength in the icy water, Jonda grabbed the slender woman
out of her seat and through the broken window, David pulling at her waist. The
car heaved one last time, and just as the woman cleared it, it was swallowed by the
water.
14 The woman was crying in Jonda's arms. "It's all right, ma'am," Jonda said,
tears streaking down her cheeks, unable to let go of the woman. "We didn't lose
you! We didn't lose you!" she cried. Stiff and sore, Sandy cried, "Thank you!"
15 Since the accident, the two women have become close friends. "She's a
fantastic woman," Sandy says. "She just refused to let me die. I'm forever grateful
,.
to her." But Jonda feels she has much to be grateful for too, because finally, she is
healed and free of the acute nightmares of her past.
Unit 5 Winning is not everything
Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero
1 Considered one of the toughest marathon events in the world, the
875-kilometer annual Australian race, a route from Sydney to Melbourne, is
a harsh test of endurance for the world's top athletes, regardless of their age. The
young, super-fit runners train for months before a competition and are under
contract to prominent sponsors like Nike and Adidas, who finance them
and furnish them with a substantial support mechanism of money and
equipment. The contest takes up to seven days to complete and is a challenging
test of fitness and strength even for world-class athletes who compete
for distinction and a cash prize.
2 On the day of the race in 1983, Cliff Young, a toothless 61-year-old farmer
and amateur runner, wearing rubber boots, and much older than the other runners,
was in attendance. No one paid any attention to this odd-looking man who might
as well have been invisible. The assembled crowd assumed Cliff was there to
observe the race. When he asserted his intention to compete, the world-class
athletes around him reacted with apparent disbelief and then with
disrespect. Obviously, this was some sort of publicity trick.
,.
3 But the press was curious, so as he took his number and moved into
the crush of runners in their special, expensive racing gear, the camera focused on
him and the assembled reporters shouted question after question at Cliff. They
asked: "Who are you?" "What are you doing?"
4 "I'm Cliff Young. I'm from a large farm where we raise sheep outside of
Melbourne."
5 They went on, "What makes you think you can run this race? It takes a week
to run this race on no more than six hours of sleep a night!"
6 Cliff replied, "I've run sheep for two or three days at a time. This race should
only be a couple more days than that. I believe I can do it."
7 Soon, the marathon started and the young athletes left Cliff far behind. The
crowds smiled, and some laughed out loud because he didn't even run
properly. He had the strangest running style; he appeared to shuffle. As the race
progressed along, of course, the attention of the sports commentators and
viewers alike was on the athletes at the front of the pack. Imagine everyone's
surprise the next morning when the news showed Cliff was still in the race! Not
only that, but he had run through the entire night without sleeping. And it seemed
that he intended to keep running until he reached the finish line or fell ill or was
injured as many viewers now began to fear. They were uneasy and very concerned
for his welfare. Many people said and even more people thought: "Surely,
someone should stop this insane old man before he really harms himself!"
,.
8 But Cliff had no intention of stopping. Although he was still far behind the
world-class athletes, he kept at it. When he got to a major town, he was asked
about his plan for the rest of the race. He said he would just keep running, and he
did. With every passing hour and every shuffling step, he got just a little bit closer
to the race leaders. Later, he told people that throughout the race he kept focused
by imagining he was gathering his sheep and trying to outrun a storm.
9 By the fifth night, he had overtaken them all. By the sixth day, he led the
whole pack of runners by a wide lead. He led all the way to the finish
line, smashing the record by finishing the 875-kilometer race in 5 days, 15 hours
and 4 minutes — 9 hours faster than anyone before! In that instant, Cliff Young
became a beloved national hero.
10 When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know
there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money. He said,
"There're five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me," and he gave
them $2,000 each. He did not keep a single cent for himself. That act increased his
fame and endeared him to all of Australia.
11 Cliff came to prominence[rose to fame] again in 1997, at age 75, when he
attempted to become the oldest man to run around Australia and raise money for
homeless children.
12 For the rest of his life, Cliff kept running. Over the years, despite
increasing age and physical challenges, he participated in many races and won a
,.
number of them. It was said that Cliff Young never kept a single prize. People
gave him watches because he never had one. He would thank them because he
did not want to hurt their feelings, but then gave them away to the first child he
saw. He said, "I don't need a watch. I know when it's daylight, when it's dark, and
when I'm hungry."
13 His love for running never dimmed, but in the year 2000, he suffered a
mild stroke that ended his heroic running days. Cliff Young, the running legend,
passed away on November 2, 2003. He was 81.
14 To this day, Cliff Young remains a magnificent reminder and brilliant
example of how ordinary individuals can inherently achieve remarkable results. As
the famous saying goes, "Where there's a will, there's a way!" With
determination and preparation, we can achieve distinction and be a brilliant
example to others. 有坚定的决心和充分的准备，我们就能获得殊荣，也能成为别人的光
辉榜样。
Text B Shaping young lives with sports
1 The leaders of tomorrow are shaped and molded in the here and now. As
the Roman poet, Juvenal, famously said, "A healthy mind is to be found in a
healthy body." For parents, teachers, and coaches, there is no greater
responsibility than sustaining the mental and physical health of our young people.
2 Growing children need inspiration and physical stimulation. Team sports are
,.
a great way to provide these attributes! More than just entertainment, through
sports young people learn critical skills that will serve them well in their adult
lives. The ability to work toward a common goal underlines the value of
teamwork. Being both humble in victory and generous in defeat emphasizes the
mutual obligation of graceful manners in all human interactions. The lessons our
youth learn will stay with them all their lives, and there is no better place to assist
this learning than on the playing field.
3 Of course, the most critical lessons youngsters receive are those that they
are taught by their parents and teachers. Nevertheless, many lessons
remain abstract concepts until they are made real by life experiences. You can talk
about how bitter lemons are or how sweet honey is. However, until you actually
taste lemons and honey you cannot experience the true meaning of "bitter" and
"sweet". Knowledge comes from the application of ideas in the experience of real
life. Strategy, teamwork, and cooperation are crucial concepts that can be best
learned and understood through sports. Team sports give children a natural place
to work hard and learn valuable life lessons.
4 Naturally, those who are inherently talented will spend more time on the
field and will achieve fame. They have the opportunity to develop leadership skills
and earn the respect of their team members. However, the benefits of
participating in team sports are not dependent on natural ability. Youth need not
be stars to benefit from team membership. It doesn't matter whether they are
gifted at their chosen sport. As a famous American sportswriter said, "It's not
whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game."
,.
5 Sports can inspire and encourage the less naturally talented athletes to be
their best. What is missing in natural talent can be overcome through hard work,
practice, and learning from the example of others. Those lacking in talent should
never be envious, and they may learn more about the real world than the gifted
players because they learn early on that there are no free rides and they will have
to make continuous effort if they want to achieve in this world. Through sports,
they will learn the value of individual hard work and even greater value of
cooperation and teamwork. They will also learn the fundamental importance of
planning and preparation for the positive outcome of their life's ambitions. These
are all lessons that will be valuable to them throughout their entire lives, both in
their careers and their personal lives.
6 Of course, participation in competitive team sports is not
without hazards. Some psychologists have expressed considerable concern about
the intensity of competition in youth sports. They argue that children often suffer
psychological harm when the emphasis is exclusively on winning. A football
coach, famous for his competitive spirit, said: "Winning isn't everything; it is the
only thing." Such an outlook can be harsh on children when they feel pressured to
win from the adults around them. Child psychologists often blame parents and
coaches for being too demanding. By placing excessive emphasis on winning,
children miss the learning opportunities sports can offer. In such circumstances,
the sports experience uncovers negative, draining and harmful consequences,
canceling out the many desirable effects of sports.
7 Sports teach much more than what is easily seen on the surface. Young
,.
athletes learn something every time they step onto the field. It does much more
than just keep young bodies in shape and growing at healthy rates. Sports give
youth a sense of self-worth and accomplishment and teach them to deal capably
with failure and success. It helps them learn the ways of the world, the benefits of
hard work and determination, and how to coexist with others to achieve a
common goal, even with other team members they may not particularly like! It
allows youth to find a role they can fill, then to change or adapt to that role, and,
over time, to grow and redefine who they are and who they will become. These
are all traits that can be extremely useful in the real world, and developing such
traits at an early age paves the way for success later in life.
Unit 6 Earn as you learn
Text A To work or not to work- That is a question
1 There are numerous and reliable ways by which one can measure the impact
of employment on student achievement, and we used several in our research. We
compared the grades of students who work a great deal with those who work in
limited amounts or not at all. We also contrasted workers with non-workers, on
different indicators of their commitment to education. Additionally, we followed
students overtime as they increased or decreased their work hours, and we
assessed how different patterns of employment altered school performance and
engagement.
2 We have simplified and classified the data and the results are clear:
,.
Thestakes are high. A heavy commitment to a part-time job during
the academicyear, say, working 20 hours
school
per week or
and more,undermines andsignificantly interfereswith achievement
commitment. Overall, our study offers proof that students who worked more than
20 hours weekly were not comparable to their classmates. They earned lower
grades, spent less time on homework, cut class more often, and cheated more
frequently. And they reported lower levels of commitment to school and more
modest educational aspirations.
3 On the other hand, we also detected a different pattern. Working
forapproximately 10 hours per week or less seeminglydoes not take
a consistenttoll on school performance. Nevertheless, given that half of all
employed seniors, about one-third of all juniors, and about one-fifth of all
second-year students work above the 20-hour limit, indicationsare that a large
number of students are at risk ofcompromising their school careers with their
part-time jobs.
4 Whereas it is true that more disengaged students are more likely to work
long hours to begin with, it appears that working makes a marginal situation
worse. In other words, over time, the more students work, the lesscommitted to
school they become. When studentswithdraw from the labor force or cut back on
their work hours, however, the results are striking: Their interest in school
isgenerated anew. This then is good news:The negative effects of working on
schooling are notpermanent.
,.
5 We uncovered numerous explanations for the undesirable effects of working
on students' engagement in school. First, owing to their demanding work
schedule, working students have less time to devote to school assignments. One
common response to this time pressure is that they cut corners by taking easier
classes, copying assignments from other students, cutting class, or refusing to do
work assigned by their teachers. Over time, as these become established practices,
students' commitment to school iseroded bit by bit.
6 Second, in order to work 20 hours or more each week, many students must
work evenings. Evening work interferes not only with doing homework, but with
both sleep and diet. Studies show that working students get less rest and eat less
healthy meals than non-working students. Burning the midnight oil makes
working teenagers more tired in school. Teachers frequently complain about
working students falling asleep in class. Nearly a third of the students in our study
said they were frequently too tired from work to do their homework.
7 Third, it appears that the excitement of earning large amounts of spending
money makes school seem less rewarding and interesting. Although
mind-wandering during school is characteristic of young adults, working students
report significantly more of it than non-workers. Indeed, the rush from earning
and spending money may be so strong that students who have a history
ofintensive employment, those who, for example, have been working long hours
since their second year, are actually at greater risk than their classmates of
dropping out before graduating.
,.
8 Finally, working long hours can be associated with increased alcohol and
drug use. Working students use drugs and alcohol about 33% more often than
non-working students. Our long-term study shows that working long hours leads
to increased alcohol and drug use for entertainment andrecreation among
working students. Teenagers with between $200 and $300 of
monthly surplus income frequently have more money to spend than their peers,
and often they become accustomed to spending their earnings on drugs and
alcohol. According to our study, alcohol and drug use, in turn, may be linked to
disengagement from school, and therefore, is likely to depress school
performance.
9 To summarize,convention has long held that early employment builds
character. Our findings indicate that for many students, working 20 hours or more
a week can contribute to decreased school performance and increased drug and
alcohol use. We know that these findings may seemcontroversial to many. To our
own surprise, our findings make us question how long we have held on to
the conventionalassumptions about the great value of work in
ourformative years. It's time to abandon this appealingmyth! We conclude that
students should resolve to work no more than 10 hours per week if they want to
be successful in school.
Text B Earn as you learn?
1 As the cost of attending university has soared over the last two decades,
afrank and vigorous debate is emerging over who should pay for the cost of
,.
higher education. While in some countries students have always been expected
to absorb part or even all of their tuitioncosts through work or borrowing, in other
countries the tremendouscost of attending university has been provided by
the relevanteducation authority or by parents. I am proud to be in the small
minority of students who "earn as they learn" and absorb the cost of their own
university education in spite of the many obstacles.
2 As for the remaining majority, I ask myself, "Is it me, or are students these
days just lazy?" Collectively, they claimthat they have no capacity to pay for
college. I think it's more a matter of them simply not wanting to pay or
contribute. During college I consistentlyendured comments from peers with
scholarships and loans, and peers who had new cars and expensive apartments,
who would ask me, eyesbulging, "You mean your parents didn't help you at
all?" "How did you pay for tuition?" My response was simple: "I worked." They
would look at me blankly, as though I had told them I'd gone to the moon.
3 As an undergraduate student, I worked for two solid years as a day care
provider earning minimum wage. Then I paid for the rest of my education by
helping deaf children and working as a tutor in a private school. Looking back, I'm
not sure how I managed to cover all the costs of my education. But I did. And I
bought every single textbook and pencil myself too.
4 Sometimes, I did feel a little sorry for myself, especially when I compared
myself to wealthy students. I once asked another student if she worked. "Oh, no!"
she said, startled, "I go to school full-time." She was taking only 13 credit hours,
,.
and yet was "too busy" to work. She went on to explain that her parents paid for
everything and provided her with everynecessity, and manyluxuries too!
5 Truthfully, I was a little envious of her easy life as I took 18 credit hours so
that I could graduate within four years. Besides, I was working 25 hours a week so
I could pay tuition without future loan debt. And here's something amazing: I
pulled straight A's and was at the top of my class!
6 One day I caught aglimpse of that same girl's report card at the end of the
term. She pulled C's and a few B's, low grades, which didn't surprise me. Having to
work hard and multitask forces you toprioritize, a skill she hadn't learned.
7 I am aware that my work and study choices are not popular and that
manyinfluential studies claim toillustrate that working while going to school
negatively impacts educational performance. They cite increaseddropout rates,
lower scores and reduced lifetime earnings. Besides, these studies also
giveevidence that many students exhaust much of their earnings not on school,
but on entertainment and partying while attending school. The studies also show
increased abuse of alcohol and drugs, which leads me to question these students'
resolve and commitment to the serious side of life.
8 For me, one of the mostauthentic benefits of the "earn-as-you-learn"
approach is that, upon graduation, I was free from the
substantial stress andtension of debt payments that make so many people worried
and uneasy. Relieved of this considerable burden, I amconvinced that I will be able
,.
to make intelligent career choices that will provide me with greater personal
satisfaction andensure better pay over the years to come.
9 The central questions of this debate are: "What is the major purpose of
attending university?" and "Who should beresponsible for the cost?" For me, the
answer has always been that my purpose is to get a formaleducation with
anadvanced degree and that the responsibility is my own. I understand that some
will disagree with mysingular approach to educational funding. But consider this,
the path I have chosen has massive educational, financial, and psychological
benefits!
10 I am particularly proud that, in choosing this path of self-support, I have
relieved my parents of the burden of my university education. Furthermore, by
taking care of myself, without their assistance, I have given them the satisfaction of
knowing that they successfully completed the task of raising me into adulthood.
11 I will readily concedethat it's not always fun. It's not! But, with acceptance
that you will pay your own way, you will grow andmature and learn important skills
that will serve you all your life. Want to know a successful path to a happy and
sustainable life? Consider joining the ranks of those of us who "earn as they
learn"!
Unit 7 Hoping for the better
Text A When honesty disappears
,.
1 "Is anybody truly honest?" As numerous accounts of cheating, lying,
and fraud crowd our newspaper pages and TV news, it seems that honesty is a
rapidly vanishing value. And the reports indicate that, around the
globe,corruption and dishonesty are so widespread that the health and well-being
of society are at risk. These reports include stories such as the students who faced
criminal charges for selling in advance copies of a university final exam, a student
who wasexpelled when he turned in a term paper with thepurchase receipt for it
still inside the pages, and a clerk who ran his own Christmas cards through the
office postage meter and was found out when he sent one of the cards to the
company treasurer! We have all read or heard accounts such as these, not to
mention the stories of dishonesty
steal
amongst
and
alllayers of
politicians
society
who asexemplified by consumerswho
demand bribes. Travelers ripped off so many towels last year that it cost a major
hotel chain $3 million to replace them. Especially troubling are the reports that
dishonesty is increasing amongst student populations around the world.
2 But are these reports truly accurate or do theyexaggerate the
situation? Should we be alarmed by these accounts of falling standards
of principlesand morality? The assumption is that student dishonesty is
moreextensive now than it was 20, 50, 100 years ago. If so, what's behind it? If
this is indeed the case, it's deeply troubling as today's students are tomorrow's
leaders! It's possible that the desire to cheat is no greater than in the
past. However, the critical importance of having a university degree may have
increased the pressure to cheat in academic environments. Undoubtedly, modern
technology facilitates the means and opportunities to cheat. The demanding task
,.
of writing term papers has always been a source of tense nerves andfrustration, if
not theultimate homework nightmare. But now, with Internet
access, illegalresources are just a few links away.
3 Modern students who want to fake a term paper don't have
to browse long. They only have to locatethe appropriate website, purchase or
order online papers, or even download them for free. One webservice offers
"highest quality papers at the lowest possible prices", only $5.95 per page. Busy,
cost-conscious students will find other "low-priced" term papers on websites that
promise consumers "You will be happy and successful." Some people worry that
the Internet, once hailed as the ultimate learning tool, could become the best aid
yet for cheating.
4 To cope with the growing plague of cheating, universities around the world
now use anti-plagiarism software and have very strict cheating and plagiarism
policies. If students are caughtplagiarizing or cheating in any way, they will be
immediately expelled from school. Some college faculty decided to do more than
talk about rising student cheating. Professors at a major
university launched acampaign to try toeliminate one form of cheating. As 409
students filed out of their Introduction to Psychology exam, they found all but one
exit blocked. Test monitors asked each student to produce an ID card with
an attachedphoto. If they provided asatisfactory ID, they were fine. If they had
left their ID at home, the officialsconfronted them and took their picture. The
purpose of the campaign was to reveal hired cheaters, students who take tests for
other students. The majority of students at the university applauded the new
,.
strategy.
5 With awareness of increasing dishonesty in today's society, it's
sometimes implied that in "the good old days" people were better, happier, and
more honest. Were they more honest? Maybe yes, maybe no. Long ago, all
American schoolchildren knew the historical story of how Abraham Lincoln walked
five miles to return a penny he had overcharged a customer. It's the kind of story
that we think of as myth. But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true.
6 Like the Lincoln tale, every society has stories stressing the absolutevalue of
honesty. It is these stories that students need to remember when
temptation induces them to cheat. Whether discovered or not, dishonesty has an
undesirable effect on anyone who practices it. Equally importantly, the ill effects
are not confined to the dishonest person alone. Without trust, ordered societies
woulddescend into chaos. It's important that we do what we say we will do, pay
when we say we will, and create words that are our own. Perhaps the most
important lesson our schools can teach is that we must trust each other. When
honesty disappears, the affirmative, durablebonds of trust are eliminated and we
all lose. The future of our society depends on mutual trust.
Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness
1 Rudeness is a commonelement of modern life. "If you don't like it, lump it."
Or "Mind your own business." Or "Get out of the way." This kind of talk and
attitude is cropping up more often in public experiences — on the highways, in
,.
theater lines, on public transport. Whether it is people smoking in public, or
people cutting in line, the examples are almost endless.
2 It is generally thought around the world that theinhabitants of large cities
are ruder than their fellow citizens from smaller towns or the countryside. Walk
down streets of any major capital around the world and you willencounter taxi
drivers who believe a "Walk" sign at a walkway is an automaticinvitation to bump
their cars against pedestrians' knees. Recently, an angry pedestrian reacted by
kicking a cab, promptingthe driver to get out and give chase. And hardly a day
goes by without areluctant office worker riding an elevator with someone talking
loudly on the cell phone, despite the obvious disturbance to fellow passengers. "If
you don't like it, get out andswitch to another elevator," one cell phone user
recently told another passenger who objected to his loud voice. In New York and
other cities, quiet walks are a thing of the past. Who is to blame? The cell phone
users talking loudly as well as the annoying drivers behind beeping car horns. In
some big cities, subwayterminals are bulging
withherds of commuters,elbowing their way to grab seats, intimidating the old,
the young, the disabled and the pregnant. It's common to hear people on the bus
or subway talking on their cell phones very loudly, being a nuisance to those
around them.
3 What can we detect about such incidents? Some experts say thetrend began
decades ago when people became resistant to traditionalvalues and
manners. Others blame fast-paced modern lifestyles for contributing to a society
that has little time to be polite. This is particularly true in big cities, where people
,.
are surrounded by strangers. As a noted psychologist has observed, "In a small
town, the person to whom you are rude is more likely to be someone you are
going to see again tomorrow." In the city, if you have aminor conflict, it's very
unlikely you will ever encounter that person again.
4 Stress also plays a role in incidents of ignorantbehavior. Cindy Kludt,
acounselor who works with overworked nurses, says rudeness in hospitals
corresponds with the stress of people constantly working under life-and-death
circumstances. "If people at the top are rude or uncaring, rudeness moves on
downward, affecting everyone's behavior."
5 Rudeness comes with stress and this is becoming strikingly
common. Motorists regularly force bicyclists off the road, and large trucks
intimidate autos moving too slowly in front of them. Disgracefulinsults are
shouted and even bottles and trash are thrown at road crews by upset drivers
because lanes are restricted.
6 Public officials are often the target of people's frustration. Staffassistants in
public institutions tell of rude,hostile, and sometimesthreatening words from
people who feel government agencies are rude or mistreating them. As rudeness
in public dealings cuts both ways, citizens perceive that public servants habitually
ignore them, and they in turn treat the public servants in an offensivefashion.
7 Sometimes, such behavior goes beyondverbal abuse. A worker in a
restaurant was slappedand cursed by a customer after she told him no table
,.
would be available for two hours. A man in the United States recently won
damages for injuries suffered when he made acomplaint about a woman for using
bad language in her loud conversation. After being told to "get lost", he was
beaten with an umbrella by the woman and punched by her
companion. Utility crews in big cities report increasing violence from people who
have complaints against the power company. "Our repair crews have a rough time
in some apartment houses where a lot of people live with relatively little space,"
says a utility company executive."That makes short tempers, and angry, rude
behavior shows up."
8 There is disagreement as to whether the situation is improving or not. Many
see little hope for a decline in today's rude behavior. In fact, some see a new
pattern emerging in big cities — the "norm of non-involvement" as one
psychologist calls it. Others are feeling more hopeful. For example, one
international organization, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, inspires
people to practice kindness and to pass it on to others! The organization points to
a variety of indicators showing kinder and morecompassionate citizens. More
people arevolunteering their time for community projects; also, donations of
goods and money to charities have increased. These acts of kindness would have
a positive effect on others and would help to reduce the stress in society. Let's
hope this optimistic viewprevails and brings a better, brighter world for us all.
Unit 8 Friendship Across gender and boarder
Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not?
,.
1 When I think of my good friends, I see them in cinematic terms. The
camerawork is entirely different for men and women. The "movie" memories I
have of female friends are open andintimate. We are talking, interested in each
other in a magnetic sort of way. They look straight into my eyes, sensitive to my
feelings, listening to me with deliberate attention. In comparison, memories of
male friends are in an entirely different film altogether. An action or adventure
movie! Not much in the way of dialog. The ritual of motion, or thesequence of
action, makes up for the deficiency of dialog and honestnarrative.
2 My mind retreats back to my earliest childhood friend, Donald. I was still
living in Europe at the time, and near my house was an old German truck left
abandoned after the war. No wheels. No windshield. No doors. But
the steeringwheel was intact. Donald and I continuously "flew" to America in that
truck, our "airplane". Even now, I remember our daily ritual as we flew along,
across Europe, across the Atlantic, on a mission of mercy. We were innocent and
inseparable, the deep security that comes between best friends. Naturally, not one
word of our evident feelings for one another was everuttered; it was all done in
actions.
3 Each day, as we were flying over the Atlantic, there inevitably came that
wonderful moment: "Engine failure!" I'd shout into the microphone, "We'll have to
jump out." "A-a-a-a-a-!" Donald made sounds like a failing engine. Glancing at
me, he'd say, "I can't swim!" "Fear not! I'll drag you to shore," I'd bravely
reply. And, with that, we'd both spill out of the truck onto the dusty street. I swam
through the dust. Donald drowned in the dust, coughing, "Sharks!" he cried. But I
,.
always saved him. The next day, changing roles, the elaborate drama would
repeat. "I can't swim!" I'd say and Donald would save me. We saved each other
from certain death hundreds of times, until finally a day came when my family
really did leave for America. Donald and I stood rigid at the train station ready to
sayfarewell. We didn't know what to say; we couldn't save each other this time. So,
we just cried silently as the train pulled away.
4 These days, Jessica is one of my best friends. A recent occurrence made me
reexamine and interpret my behavior in a new light. We were swimming at a
beach in the Atlantic. The very Atlantic I had "flown" over in my German truck with
Donald. We were far from shore when we abruptlyturned back. We both thought
we detected a shark! Water is not only a good conductor of electricity but
of panic as well. We began splashinglike crazy people toward the shore. In my
panic, I suddenly realized how much I loved my friend Jessica, and what an
irreplaceable friend she was. Although I was the faster swimmer, I fell back to
protect her. In the end, the "shark" proved to be imaginary. But not my deep
emotional feelings for my friend. It felt great back on the beach, a littlescared and
laughing with the excitement of being alive. We looked into each other's eyes and
Jessicaspontaneously said, "I love you!" "Love you too!" I replied.
5 As I spoke, I realized just how gender-based my communication styles
were. With women, I could be open, emotionally honest, and transparent. With
male friends, it seemed impossible to express caring feelings no matter how deep
the friendship was. I could easily utter "I love you" to my mother, my sisters and
girlfriends; yet not once in my life had I been able to look a male friend in the eye
,.
and say the same thing. Quite impossible! Was this just me or was every male in
the world similarly cursed? Was I emotionally backward or just a "guy"? I was
determined to find out!
6 Much to my relief, research shows that I am, indeed, a "normal guy". It
seems that men and women have very different emotional and
rationalprocesses. Part of it is "nature" and part is "nurture". We are born with
very different genetictendencies which society encourages as either "masculine"
or "feminine". These differences in behavior and communication styles were made
famous by John Gray in his book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from
Venus. This book and other articles helped me realize it's OK I am the way that I
am. Men do tend to be more restrained with emotional expressions. I learned
that I did love all my friends — only the means of expression differs from one
gender to the other. What a relief!
Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures
1 Since I was five years old, I have had the good fortune to travel all over the
world. I have had theprivilege of living in Europe, Africa and North America and
have made many foreign friends there. My family, friends, and co-workers are al
ways very interested and curious and shower me with questions like: How do you
begin a friendship in a foreign country? Are they different from us? Do people in
those countries value friendship? In fact, the framework and value of friendship i
s universal and comparable around the world. But the way friendship is expresse
d differs greatly from country to country. The difficulty when strangers from two
,.
countries meet is not a lack of appreciation for friendship but the assumption of s
ameness. They do not anticipate thediverse expectations andsubtle differences of
whatconstitutes friendship, how it comes into being and how it should be expres
sed. So, who is a friend? How should friends treat each other? That depends on
where you are!
2 In the United States, society is highly mobile and it is quite common for pe
ople to move back andforth across the country for a new job, education, or many
other reasons. The term friend can be appliedcasually to a wide range of relation
ships — to someone you worshipwith, to a close business associate, to a childhoo
d playmate, or a trusted ally, either man or woman. They may be parents of the ch
ildren's friends, a neighbor's guests, members of a committee, or business clients
from another town or even another country. For Americans, there are real differe
nces among these relations; a friendship may be superficial, casual, situational or
deep and enduring. But a foreign visitor who comes to an American home cansc
arcely find any
variations. For an outsider, who sees only behavior visible on the surface, the diff
erences seem arbitrary if they find any. The mood is relaxed, and there is little
ceremony. Most people, old and young, are called by first names and family and
friends alike interact freely and speak in a relaxed, casual way.
3 Comparatively, friendship in other countries seems more
complicated. In France, as in many other European countries, friends generally ar
e of the same sex. Many French people doubt the possibility of cross-gender frie
ndships. For the French, friendship is a one-to-one relationship that demands a k
,.
een
awareness of the other person's personality and specialized interests. The special
relationship of friendship is based on what the French value most — on the mind,
on compatibility of outlook, on a corresponding
appreciation of artistic expression, on a love of fine foods, on philosophy, or on th
e enjoyment of sports. French friendships are private relationships with distinct b
oundaries. A man may play chess with one friend or discuss
poetry with another for 30 years without learning about either of his friends' pers
onal lives or families.
4 In Germany, friendship is much more a matter of feeling and affection. Youn
g boys and girls form deeply sensitive alliances, walk and talk together — not so
much to polish theirwits as to share their hopes, fears, and ideals, and to join in a
kind of mutual discovery of each other's own inner life. Within the family, the clos
est relationship over a lifetime is between brothers and sisters. German men and
women find in their closest friends among the same sex theloyalty of a brother or
the devotion of a sister.
5 English friendships follow a still different pattern. Their basis is shared activ
ity. They may share literary interests, serve on a committee, enjoy sports together
or share a mutual love of walking. Close English friendships may be of the same
sex or of mixed gender; friends may be found in two people, two couples or even
a small group. English friendships are made outside the family but can often bee
n hanced by becoming an integrated part of a family's social life.
,.
6 What, then, is friendship and what is its
significance? To summarize, it's a vital human quality that can bind people toget
her for life. And unlike family, it involves freedom of choice. A friend is someone
you choose and who chooses you. My friends are quite different from each other.
Some are mutual friends. Conversely, others don't even like each other! That is t
he odd thing about friendship. Just because I like two people does notguarantee
that they will like each other. However, I owe them all a debt of
gratitude. Whatever the continent or country, people have extended the hand of
friendship and welcomed me into their lives. By opening the doors of friendship t
o me, they occupy a special place in my heart. They have profoundly enriched m
y life experience, because wherever I am, when I'm with friends, I feel at home. T
he miracle of friendship is the same. It just takes time to understand the many dif
ferent ways that friendship is expressed around the world.
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