第一篇：適合高中生拓展閱讀的英語美文（本站推薦）

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit50:CellsandTemperature 50.Cells and Temperature ? Cells cannot remain alive outside certain limits of temperature and much narrower limits mark the boundaries of effective functioning.Enzyme systems of mammals and birds are most efficient only within a narrow range around 37C;a departure of a few degrees from this value seriously impairs their functioning.Even though cells can survive wider fluctuations the integrated actions of bodily systems are impaired.Other animals have a wider tolerance for changes of bodily temperature.For centuries it has been recognized that mammals and birds differ from other animals in the way they regulate body temperature.Ways of characterizing the difference have become more accurate and meaningful over time, but popular terminology still reflects the old division into “warm-blooded” and “cold-blooded” species;warm-blooded included mammals and birds whereas all other creatures were considered cold-blooded.As more species were studied, it became evident that this classification was inadequate.A fence lizard or a desert iguana—each cold-blooded----usually has a body temperature only a degree or two below that of humans and so is not cold.Therefore the next distinction was made between animals that maintain a constant body temperature, called home0therms, and those whose body temperature varies with their environments, called poikilotherms.But this classification also proved inadequate, because among mammals there are many that vary their body temperatures during hibernation.Furthermore, many invertebrates that live in the depths of the ocean never experience change in the depths of the ocean never experience change in the chill of the deep water, and their body temperatures remain constant.細胞與溫度細胞只能在一定的溫度范圍內存活，而進一步保證它們有效工作的溫度范圍就更小了。

哺乳動物和鳥類的酶系統只能在37℃左右的很小范圍內才能有效工作。與此相差僅幾度的溫度都會大大削弱它們的工作效率。

盡管溫度變化更大時細胞仍能存活，但機體系統的整體運行能力卻被削弱了。其它動物對體溫的變化有更強的適應性。幾個世紀以來，人們就

認識到哺乳動物和鳥類調節體溫的方式與其它動物不同。隨著時間的推移，人們對這種差 異的描述越來越精確和有意義，但是“暖血動物”和“冷血動物”這一古老的分類方式至今仍在大眾詞匯中有所反映。

暖血動物包括哺乳動物和鳥類，其它動物統統被視為冷血動物。但是對更多物種進行的研究表明這種分類顯然是不適當的。美洲一種小型蜥蜴和沙漠鬣蜥同

屬冷血動物，但實際上它們的體溫通常只比人類的體溫低1～2度，因此并不是真正的冷血。因此又出現了恒溫動物(即保持恒定體溫的動物)和變溫動物(即體溫隨外界環境的變化而改變的動物)這一區分方式。但這種分類也不恰當。

因為有不少哺乳動物在冬眠期間會改變體溫，而許多生活在深海的無脊椎動物在寒冷的深海水域中體溫并不變化，而是恒定的。? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit49:Sleep 49 Sleep Sleet is part of a person’s daily activity cycle.There are several different stages of sleep, and they too occur in cycles.If you are an average sleeper, your sleep cycle is as follows.When you fist drift off into slumber, your eyes will roll about a bit, you temperature will drop slightly, your muscles will relax, and your breathing well slow and become quite regular.Your brain waves slow and become quite regular.Your brain waves slow down a bit too, with the alpha rhythm of rather fast waves 1 sleep.For the next half hour or so, as you relax more and more, you will drift down through stage 2 and stage 3 sleep.The lower your stage of sleep.slower your brain waves will be.Then about 40to 69 minutes after you lose consciousness you will have reached the deepest sleep of all.Your brain will show the large slow waves that are known as the delta rhythm.This is stage 4 sleep.You do not remain at this deep fourth stage all night long, but instead about 80 minutes after you fall into slumber, your brain activity level will increase again slightly.The delta rhythm will disappear, to be replaced by the activity pattern of brain waves.Your eyes will begin to dart around under your closed eyelids as if you were looking at something occurring in front of you.This period of rapid eye movement lasts for some 8 to 15 minutes and is called REM sleep.It is during REM sleep period, your body will soon relax again, your breathing will slip gently back from stage 1 to stage 4 sleep----only to rise once again to the surface of near consciousness some 80 minutes later.睡眠

睡眠是人每天日?；顒友h的一部分。人的睡眠分幾個階段，而這些階段也是循環發生的。如果你是一個正常的睡眠者，你的睡眠循環會這樣進行。

在你開始昏昏入睡時，你的眼睛會滾動幾下，體溫略有下降，肌肉放松，呼吸變得緩慢而有節奏。除了開始幾分鐘比較快的α節奏外，腦電波也稍有減緩。

這被稱為第一階段睡眠。在隨后約半小時內，你進一步放松，進入第二和第三階段睡眠。睡眠越深入，腦電波就越緩慢。大約在開始睡眠后的40到

60分鐘，你將進入沉睡狀態。這時的腦電波表現為巨大的緩波，被稱為δ節奏。這就是第四階段睡眠。但你并不是整夜都保持這種沉睡狀態。入睡后約 80分鐘左右，你的大腦運動水平會再度略有提高。δ節奏消失，并被腦電波的運動圖形取代。你的眼睛會

在閉著的眼瞼下迅速轉動，就好象你在看著眼前發生的什么事情。這種迅速的眼球運動持續約8～15分鐘，這一階段睡眠被稱之為快速眼動(REM)睡眠。

在REM睡眠階段，你的肢體會很快再度放松，呼吸也再次放慢并變得有節奏，你會輕松地從第一階段滑入第四階段睡眠-直到大約80 分鐘后重新接近清醒狀態。?

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit48:Bacteria 48 Bacteria Bacteria are extremely small living things.While we measure our own sizes in inches or centimeters, bacterial size is measured in microns.One micron is a thousandth of a millimeter: a pinhead is about a millimeter across.Rod-shaped bacteria are usually from two to four microns long, while rounded ones are generally one micron in diameter.Thus if you enlarged a rounded bacterium a thousand times, it would be just about the size of a pinhead.An adult human magnified by the same amount would be over a mile(1.6 kilometer)tall.Even with an ordinary microscope, you must look closely to see bacteria.Using a magnification of 100 times, one finds that bacteria are barely visible as tiny rods or dots.One cannot make out anything of their structure.Using special stains, one can see that some bacteria have attached to them wavy-looking “hairs” called flagella.Others have only one flagellum.The flagella rotate, pushing the bacteria through the water.Many bacteria lack flagella and cannot move about by their own power, while others can glide along over surfaces by some little-understood mechanism.From the bacteria point of view, the world is a very different place from what it is to humans.To a bacterium water is as thick as molasses is to us.Bacteria are so small that they are influenced by the movements of the chemical molecules around them.Bacteria under the microscope, even those with no flagella, often bounce about in the water.This is because they collide with the watery molecules and are pushed this way and that.Molecules move so rapidly that within a tenth of a second the molecules around a bacteria have all been replaced by new ones;even bacteria without flagella are thus constantly exposed to a changing environment.細菌細菌是極其微小的生物體。我們用英寸或厘米來測量自己的大小，而測量細菌卻要用微米。一微米等于千分之一毫米。針頭直徑大約一毫米。

棒狀細菌通常有2～4微米長，而圓形細菌的直徑一般只有1微米。因此，即使你把一個圓形細菌放大1000倍，它也不過一個針頭那么大?？墒侨绻岩粋€成年人放大1000倍，就會變成1英里(或1.6公里)多高。用一般的顯微鏡觀察細菌時，你必須仔細觀察才能看見它們。使用

100倍的顯微鏡時，你會發現細菌不過是隱約可見的小細棒或小點點，而它們的結構你卻根本看不出來。使

用特殊的著色劑后，你會發現有的細菌上長著不少波狀的“毛發”即鞭毛，而有的細菌只有一根鞭毛。鞭毛的旋轉可以推動細菌在水中行進。

不少細菌沒有鞭毛，因而不能自己行進。還有些細菌卻能通過某些鮮為人知的機制沿物體表面滑動。我們所熟知的世界在細菌眼中完全是另一個樣子。

對于細菌來說，水就同糖漿之于人類一樣稠密。細菌是如此的微小，周圍化學分子的一舉一動都會對它們產生影響。在顯微鏡下，細菌，甚至包括那些沒有鞭

毛的細菌，經常在水中跳來跳去。這是因為它們與水分子相撞后，被彈向各個方向。分子移動很迅速，僅0.1 秒之隔，一個細菌周圍的分子就會完全更新。因此，即使是沒有鞭毛的細菌也暴露在一個不斷變化的環境中 ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit47:Folk Culture 47 Folk Cultures A folk culture is a small isolated, cohesive, conservative, nearly self-sufficient group that is homogeneous in custom and race with a strong family or clan structure and highly developed rituals.Order is maintained through sanctions based in the religion or family and interpersonal.Relationships are strong.Tradition is paramount, and change comes infrequently and slowly.There is relatively little division of labor into specialized duties.Rather, each person is expected to perform a great variety of tasks, though duties may differ between the sexes.Most goods are handmade and subsistence economy prevails.Individualism is weakly developed in folk cultures as are social classes.Unaltered folk cultures no longer exist in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada.Perhaps the nearest modern equivalent in Anglo America is the Amish, a German American farming sect that largely renounces the products and labor saving devices of? the industrial age.In Amish areas, horse drawn buggies still serve as a local transportation device and the faithful are not permitted to own automobiles.The Amish’s central religious concept of Demut? “humility”, clearly reflects the weakness of individualism and social class so typical of folk cultures and there is a corresponding strength of Amish group identity.Rarely do the Amish marry outside their sect.The religion, a variety of the Mennonite faith, provides the principal mechanism for maintaining order.By contrast a popular culture is a large heterogeneous group often highly individualistic and a pronounced many specialized professions.Secular institutions of control such as the police and army take the place of religion and family in maintaining order, and a money-based economy prevails.Because of these contrasts, “popular” may be viewed as clearly different from “folk”.The popular is replacing the folk in industrialized countries and in many developing nations.Folk-made objects give way to their popular equivalent, usually because the popular item is more quickly or cheaply produced, is easier or time saving to use or leads more prestige to the owner.??? 民間文化民間文化是小型的、孤立的、緊密的、保守的、近乎自給自足的群體，具有同樣的習俗、同樣的人種和強有力的家庭或部族結構以及高度發展的宗教儀式。

秩序由宗教或家庭的約束來維持，成員間的關系非常緊密，傳統至高無上，很少有變動且變動緩慢。勞動專業分工相對較少。

每個人都要做各類活計，盡管男女兩性分工不同。絕大多數物品是手工制造的，經濟一般為自給自足型。個人主義和社會階層在民間文化群體中的發展十分

薄弱。在象美國和加拿大這樣的工業化國家里，一成不變的民間文化群體已不復存在了。在當代美洲的英語區，與民間文化最相似的群體也許算是Amish。

Amish是美國的德裔農耕部落，他們基本上拒絕接受工業時代的大多數產品和節省勞力的設施。在Amish地區，輕

便馬車仍是當地的交通工具，信徒們不允許擁有汽車。Amish宗教中的核心觀念Demut即謙卑典型地反映了在民間文化群中個人主義和階級的不發達。

而與此同時，Amish對群體的認同性卻十分強。Amish人很少和他們宗派以外的人通婚。其宗教，作為Mennonite信

仰的一種，提供了維護秩序的主要機制。相反，大眾文化是包含不同種族的大群體，通常高度個性化而且不斷在變化。

人際關系冷漠，勞動分工明確，由此產生了許多專門的職業。世俗的控制機構，比如警察和軍隊，取代了宗教和家庭來維持秩序，而且實行的是貨幣經濟。

由于存在著這些差異，“大眾的”與“民間的”可謂大相徑庭。在工業化國家以及許多發展中國家里，大眾文化正在取代民間文化。

民間制造的物品正讓位于大眾化產品，這通常是因為大眾化的物品制造起來更快、更便宜，用起來更容易、更方便或者是能給其所有者帶來更多的威望。? ? ? ? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit46:Vision 46.Vision Human vision like that of other primates has evolved in an arboreal environment.In the dense complex world of a tropical forest, it is more important to see well that to develop an acute sense of smell.In the course of evolution members of the primate line have acquired large eyes while the snout has shrunk to give the eye an unimpeded view.Of mammals only humans and some primates enjoy color vision.The red flag is black to the bull.Horses live in a monochrome world.light visible to human eyes however occupies only a very narrow band in the whole electromagnetic spectrum.Ultraviolet rays are invisible to humans though ants and honeybees are sensitive to them.Humans though ants and honeybees are sensitive to them.Humans have no direct perception of infrared rays unlike the rattlesnake which has receptors tuned into wavelengths longer than 0.7 micron.The world would look eerily different if human eyes were sensitive to infrared radiation.Then instead of the darkness of night, we would be able to move easily in a strange shadowless world where objects glowed with varying degrees of intensity.But human eyes excel in other ways.They are in fact remarkably discerning in color gradation.The color sensitivity of normal human vision is rarely surpassed even by sophisticated technical devices.視覺

人類的視覺，和其它靈長目動物的一樣，是在叢林環境中進化出來的。在稠密、復雜的熱帶叢林里，好的視覺比靈敏的嗅覺更加重要。

在進化過程中，靈長目動物的眼睛變大，同時鼻子變小以使視野不受阻礙。在哺乳類動物中，只有人和一些靈長目動物能夠分辨顏色。

紅旗在公牛看來是黑色的，馬則生活在一個單色的世界里。然而，人眼可見的光在整

個光譜中只占一個非常狹窄的頻段。人是看不到紫外線的，盡管螞蟻和蜜蜂可以感覺到。與響尾蛇不同，人也不能直接感受到紅外線。

響尾蛇的感覺器可以感受波長超過0.7微米的光線。如果人能感受到紅外線的話，這世界看上去將十分不同，而且恐怖。到那時，將與

夜的黑暗相反，我們能輕易地在一個奇異的沒有陰影的世界里走動。任何物體都強弱不等地閃著光。然而，人眼在其它方面有優越之處。

事實上，人眼對顏色梯度具有非凡的分辨能力。普通人類的視覺感受色彩的靈敏程度，甚至連精密的技術裝備都很難超越。? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit45:The Source of Energe 45.The source of Energy A summary of the physical and chemical nature of life must begin, not on the Earth, but in the Sun;in fact, at the Sun’s very center.It is here that is to be found the source of the energy that the Sun constantly pours out into space as light and heat.This energy is librated at the center of the Sun as billions upon billions of nuclei of hydrogen atoms collide with each other and fuse together to form nuclei of helium, and in doing so, release some of the energy that is stored in the nuclei of atoms.The output of light and heat of the Sun requires that some 600 million tons of hydrogen be converted into helium in the Sun every second.This the Sun has been doing for several thousands of millions of year.The nuclear energy is released at the Sun’s center as high-energy gamma radiation, a form of electromagnetic radiation like light and radio waves, only of very much shorter wavelength.This gamma radiation is absorbed by atoms inside the Sun to be reemitted at slightly longer wavelengths.This radiation , in its turn is absorbed and reemitted.As the energy filters through the layers of the solar interior, it passes through the X-ray part of the spectrum eventually becoming light.At this stage, it has reached what we call the solar surface, and can escape into space without being absorbed further by solar atoms.A very small fraction of the Sun’s light and heat is emitted in such directions that after passing unhindered through interplanetary space, it hits the Earth.能量的來源

概說生命的物理和化學特性必須始于太陽--確切地說，是太陽的核心，而非地球。能量來自太陽的核心。

在這里，太陽不停地以光和熱的形式向空間傾瀉出能量。數十億計的氫原子核在太陽的核心碰撞并且聚變生成氦。在此過程中一部分原本儲存于原子核中的能

量被釋放出來。太陽所產生的光和熱需要每秒將六億噸氫轉化為氦。這樣的轉化在太陽中 已經持續幾十億年了。核能在太陽的核心被釋放為高能的伽馬射線。這是一種電磁射線，就象光波和無線電波一樣，只是波長要短得多。

這種伽瑪射線被太陽內的原子所吸收，然后重新釋放為波長稍長一些的光波。這新的射線再次被吸收，而后釋放。在能量由太陽內

部一層層滲透出來的過程中，它經過了光譜中X射線部分，最后變成了光。在此階段，能 量到達我們所稱的太陽表層，并且離散到空間而不再被太陽原子所吸收。只有很小一部分太陽的光和熱由此方向釋放出來，并且未被阻擋，穿越星空，來到地球。

? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit44:Obtaining Fresh water from icebergs 44.Obtaining Fresh water from icebergs?? ? The concept of obtaining fresh water from icebergs that are towed to populated areas and arid regions of the world was once treated as a joke more appropriate to cartoons than real life.But now it is being considered quite seriously by many nations, especially since scientists have warned that the human race will outgrow its fresh water supply faster than it runs out of food.Glaciers are a possible source of fresh water that has been overlooked until recently.Three-quarters of the Earth’s fresh water supply is still tied up in glacial ice, a reservoir of untapped fresh water so immense that it could sustain all the rivers of the world for 1,000 years.Floating on the oceans every year are 7,659 trillion metric tons of ice encased in 10000 icebergs that break away from the polar ice caps, more than ninety percent of them from Antarctica.Huge glaciers that stretch over the shallow continental shelf give birth to icebergs throughout the year.Icebergs are not like sea ice, which is formed when the sea itself freezes, rather, they are formed entirely on land, breaking off when glaciers spread over the sea.As they drift away from the polar region, icebergs sometimes move mysteriously in a direction opposite to the wind, pulled by subsurface currents.Because they melt more slowly than smaller pieces of ice, icebergs have been known to drift as far north as 35 degrees south of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean.To corral them and steer them to parts of the world where they are needed would not be too difficult.The difficulty arises in other technical matters, such as the prevention of rapid melting in warmer climates and the funneling of fresh water to shore in great volume.But even if the icebergs lost half of their volume in towing, the water they could provide would be far cheaper than that produced by desalinization, or removing salt from water.從冰山中獲取淡水把冰山拖到世界上人口稠密的地區和干旱地帶，再從中獲取淡水，這個想法曾一度被認

為是一個笑話，更適合于卡通畫，而非現實生活。然而現在，許多國家正相當認真地考慮這件事情，特別是在科學家們發出警告之后。

科學家們認為人類將在耗盡糧食之前首先耗盡淡水資源。冰川是一個直到最近以前一直被忽視的可能的淡水源。全球四分之三的淡水還鎖在冰川的冰塊中。

冰川就是一個蓄水池，其中未開發的淡水量是如此巨大，足夠支持全世界的江河1000年。每年有7，659萬億公噸冰漂流在海洋中。

它們包含在10，000座從極地冰帽中斷裂出來的冰山中。這些冰山的90%以上來自南極。一年四季里，覆蓋

在淺層大陸架上的巨大冰川生成了眾多冰山。冰山和海水的冰不同，后者是海水自身結冰形成的，而冰山則完全是在陸地上形成的。

當冰川伸展到海水中時，冰山就斷裂下來。當漂離極地地區時，冰山有時會在底層洋流的推動下頗為神秘地逆風移動。由于冰山比小塊 的冰融化要慢，因此有的冰山在大西洋中向北飄到了赤道以南35°的地方。把冰山蓄攔起來并拖到世界上需要它們的地方將不會太困難。

有困難的是其它的技術事宜。比如，如何防止冰山在較暖的氣候中迅速融化以及如何把大量的淡水收集到岸上去。但是，即便在拖 的過程中冰山失去了一半體積，這樣做也遠比從海水中脫鹽取得淡水便宜。

? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit43:Statistics 43.Statistics There were two widely divergent influences on the early development of statistical methods.Statistics had a mother who was dedicated to keeping orderly records of government units(states and statistics come from the same Latin root status)and a gentlemanly gambling father who relied on mathematics to increase his skill at playing the odds in games of chance.The influence of the mother on the offspring, statistics, is represented by counting, measuring, describing, tabulating, ordering, and the taking of censuses—all of which led to modern descriptive statistics.From the influence of the father came modern inferential statistics, which is based squarely on theories of probability.Describing collections involves tabulating, depicting and describing collections of data.These data may be quantitative such as measures of height, intelligence or grade level------variables that are characterized by an underlying continuum---or the data may represent qualitative variables, such as sex, college major or personality type.Large masses of data must generally undergo a process of summarization or reduction before they are comprehensible.Descriptive statistics is a tool for describing or summarizing or reducing to comprehensible form the properties of an otherwise unwieldy mass of data.Inferential statistics is a formalized body of methods for solving another class of problems that present great of problems characteristically involves attempts to make predictions using a sample of observations.For example, a school superintendent wishes to determine the proportion of children in a large school system who come to school without breakfast, have been vaccinated for flu, or whatever.Having a little knowledge of statistics, the superintendent would know that it is unnecessary and inefficient to question each child: the proportion for the sample of as few as 100 children.Thus , the purpose of inferential statistics is to predict or estimate characteristics of a population from a knowledge of the characteristics of only a sample of the population.統計學

統計方法的早期發展受到兩種截然不同的影響。統計學有一個“母親”，她致力于井井

有條地記錄政府機構的文件(國家和統計學這兩個詞源于同一個拉丁語詞根，status)，還有一

個有紳士般的賭博“父親”，他依靠數學來提高賭技，以便在幾率的游戲中取勝。“母親”對 其子女統計學的影響表現在計數、測量、描述、制表、歸類和人口普查。所有這些導致了現代描述統計學的誕生。

由于“父親”的影響則產生了完全基于概率論原理的現代推理統計學。描述統計學涉及對所收集數據的制表、制圖和描述。這些數據可以是數量性的數據，如高度、智商、或者是層級性的數據--具有連續性的變量--或數據也可以代表性質變量，如性別、大學專業或性格類型等等。數量龐大的數據通常必須經過概括或刪減的程序才能為人所理解。描述統計學就是這樣一個工具，它對極其龐雜的數據進行描述、概括或刪減，使其變成能為人理解的東西。推理統計學是一套已定形了的方法體系，它解決的是光憑人腦極難解決的另一類問題。

這類問題的顯著特點是試圖通過取樣調查來作出預測。例如，有一位教育督察想知道在一個龐大的學校系統中，不吃早飯就上學的學生、已經做過防感冒

免疫的學生，或其它任何類型的學生占多大比例。若具備一些統計學的知識，這位督察應明白，詢問每個孩子是沒有必要而且沒有效率的，只要用100 個孩子為樣本，他就可以相當精確地得出這些孩子占整個學區的比例了。因此，推理統計學的目的就是通過了解一個群

體中一些樣本的特性，從而對整個群體的特性進行推測和估算。

? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit42:Coal-fired power plants 42.Coal-fired power plants The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas A.Edison in 1879 created a demand for a cheap, readily available fuel with which to generate large amounts of electric power.Coal seemed to fit the bill, and it fueled the earliest power stations.(which were set up at the end of the nineteenth century by Edison himself).As more power plants were constructed throughout the country, the reliance on coal increased throughout the country, the reliance on coal increased.Since the First World War, coal-fired power plants had a combined in the United States each year.In 1986 such plants had a combined generating capacity of 289,000 megawatts and consumed 83 percent of the nearly 900 million tons of coal mined in the country that year.Given the uncertainty in the future growth of the nearly 900 million tons of coal mined in the country that year.Given the uncertainty in the future growth of nuclear power and in the supply of oil and natural gas, coal-fired power plants could well provide up to 70 percent of the electric power in the United States by the end of the century.Yet, in spite of the fact that coal has long been a source of electricity and may remain on for many years(coal represents about 80 percent of United States fossil-fuel reserves), it has actually never been the most desirable fossil fuel for power plants.Coal contains less energy per unit of weight than weight than natural gas or oil;it is difficult to transport, and it is associated with a host of environmental issues, among them acid rain.Since the late 1960’s problems of emission control and waste disposal have sharply reduced the appeal of coal-fired power plants.The cost of ameliorating these environment problems along with the rising cost of building a facility as large and complex as a coal-fired power plant, have also made such plants less attractive from a purely economic perspective.Changes in the technological base of coal-fired power plants could restore their attractiveness, however.Whereas some of these changes are intended mainly to increase the productivity of existing plants, completely new technologies for burning coal cleanly are also being developed.火力發電廠托馬斯?愛迪生1879年發明的白熾燈導致對便宜、易得、可生產大量電能的燃料的需求。

煤似乎符合這個要求，并成為第一批電廠的燃料(正是愛迪生本人在19世紀末建造了第一批電廠)。全國到處興建電廠時，對煤的依賴加深了。

自第一次世界大戰以來，美國每年約有一半的電力是以煤為燃料的電廠提供的。1986年這些電廠的總發電能力達到28，900 千瓦并且消耗了當年全國開采的九億噸煤的83%?？紤]到核能發展以及石油、天然氣供應中的不確定因素，到本世紀末，火力發電廠仍可能為美國提供多達

70%的電力。然而，盡管煤長期以來一直是電力的原料之一并且可能會繼續如此(煤占美國化石燃料儲量的80%)，它卻不是電廠的理想燃料。

煤的單位能量含量低于石油和天然氣，而且會導致包括酸雨在內的一系列環境問題。從1960年以來，排放控制和垃圾處理的問題極大地

削弱了燃煤電廠的魅力。由于減輕這些環境問題需要大量資金，而且建造龐大復雜的燃煤電廠的費用不斷上漲，也使得這些電廠從經濟角度上不具備吸引力。

改變火力發電廠的基礎技術卻可能恢復它們的吸引力。雖然某些技術改進是漸進的，其目的只是提高現有電廠的生產率，但人們正在開發全新的清潔燃煤的技術。? ? ? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit41:American Black Bears 41.American black bears American black bears appear in a variety of colors despite their name.In the eastern part of their range, most of these brown, red, or even yellow coats.To the north, the black bear is actually gray or white in color.Even in the same litter, both brown and black furred bears may be born.Black bears are the smallest of all American bears, ranging in length from five to six feet, weighing from three hundred to five hundred pounds Their eyes and ears are small and their eyesight and hearing are not as good as their sense of smell.Like all bears, the black bear is timid, clumsy, and rarely dangerous , but if attacked, most can climb trees and cover ground at great speeds.When angry or frightened, it is a formidable enemy.Black bears feed on leaves, herbs.Fruit, berries, insects, fish, and even larger animals.One of the most interesting characteristics of bears, including the black bear, is their winter sleep.Unlike squirrels, woodchucks, and many other woodland animals, bears do not actually hibernate.Although the bear does not during the winter moths, sustaining itself from body fat, its temperature remains almost normal, and it breathes regularly four or five times per minute.Most black bears live alone, except during mating season.They prefer to live in caves, hollow logs, or dense thickets.A little of one to four cubs is born in January or February after a gestation period of six to nine months, and they remain with their mother until they are fully grown or about one and a half years old.Black bears can live as long as thirty years in the wild , and even longer in game preserves set aside for them.美國黑熊

美國黑熊雖然被叫做黑熊但卻有各種各樣的顏色。在它們生活區域的東部，大部分黑熊長有富有光澤的黑毛，但在西部，他們則長著棕色、紅色甚至是黃色的毛。

在北部，黑熊其實長著灰色或白色的毛。就是在一胎所生的小熊中，都可能混雜棕毛和黑毛。黑熊是所有美洲熊中最小的，5～6英尺長，300～500 磅重。它們的眼睛和耳朵都很小，他們的視力和聽覺不如嗅覺那樣好。像所有的熊一樣，黑熊膽小，笨拙，很少具有危險性。但如果

受到攻擊，大部分黑熊會以很快的速度爬上樹和奔跑。當發怒或受驚嚇時，黑熊會成為可怕的對手。

黑熊以樹葉、草、樹根、水果、漿果、昆蟲、魚，甚至更大的動物為食。熊類，包括黑熊的最有趣的一個特點是他們的冬眠。

與松鼠、旱獺和其它別的林地動物不同，熊并不真正地冬眠。雖然熊在冬天的幾個月中不吃東西，靠體內脂肪維持生命，但它們的體

溫保持正常，并有規律地一分鐘呼吸4或5次。除交配季節外，大多數黑熊獨自生活。他們喜歡住在洞里、空心的大木頭里或茂密的樹叢里。經過6 到9個月的懷孕期后一胎1～4個小熊在1月或2月出生。它們同母熊住在一起，直到它們完全長大，即1歲半左右。黑

熊在野外可以活到長達30年，在專門的保護區中甚至能活得更長。新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit40:Cohesion-tension Theory 40 Cohesion-tension Theory Atmospheric pressure can support a column of water up to 10 meters high.But plants can move water much higher;the sequoia tree can pump water to its very top more than 100 meters above the ground.Until the end of the nineteenth century, the movement of water in trees and other tall plants was a mystery.Some botanists hypothesized that the living cells of plants acted as pumps.But many experiments demonstrated that the stems of plants in which all the cells are killed can still move water to appreciable heights.Other explanations for the movement of water in plants have been based on root pressure, a push on the water from the roots at the bottom of the plant.But root pressure is not nearly great enough to push water to the tops of tall trees.Furthermore, the conifers, which are among the tallest trees, have unusually low root pressures.If water is not pumped to the top of a tall tree, and if it is not pushed to the top of a tall tree, then we may ask: how does it get there? According to the currently accepted cohesion-tension theory, water is pulled there.The pull on a rising column of water in a plant results from the evaporation of water at the top of the plant.As water is lost from the surface of the leaves, a negative pressure, or tension, is created.The evaporated water is replaced by water moving from inside the plant in unbroken columns that extend from the top of a plant to its roots.The same forces that create surface tension in any sample of water are responsible for the maintenance of these unbroken columns of water.When water is confined in tubes of very small bore, the forces of cohesion(the attraction between water molecules)are so great that the strength of a column of water compares with the strength of a steel wire of the same diameter.This cohesive strength permits columns of water to be pulled to great heights without being broken.內聚壓力理論

大氣壓能夠支持10米高的水柱，但植物可將水送得更高。美洲紅杉就能把水泵到地面以上100多米高的樹頂。直到19 世紀末，水在樹木和其它高大植物中的輸送還是一個謎。一些植物學家假定植物中的活細胞充當了水泵的角色。但許多實驗表明細胞都已死亡的植

物莖干仍能將水輸送到相當可觀的高度。對于植物中輸送水的其它解釋都基于根壓--植物底端的根對水的推動。但根壓完全不足以將水推到樹頂。

況且，最高樹木中的松柏只有很低的根壓。如果水不是被泵到高樹的樹頂，也不是被推到樹頂，那么我們會問：它是怎樣

到達樹頂的呢?根據目前為人們所接受的內聚壓力的理論，水是被拉到上面去的。一株植物中作用于一個正在升高的水柱之上的拉力來自該植物頂部水的蒸發。

由于水從葉子表面喪失，一個負壓力，或張力就得以產生。蒸發出去的水被植物里流動的水代替。這些水形成

水柱從植物頂端一直延伸到根部。在任何水樣中造成表面張力的力支持著這些不斷的水柱。當水被限制在內徑很小的管道中時，內聚壓力(水分子之間的相互吸引力)是如此之大以致一支水柱的強度相當于一根直徑相同的鋼絲的強度。

這種內聚壓力使得水柱被拉到非常高的地方而不會斷裂。? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit39:The Salinity of Ocean Waters 39 The Salinity of Ocean Waters If the salinity of ocean waters is analyzed, it is found to vary only slightly from place to place.Nevertheless, some of these small changes are important.There are three basic processes that cause a change in oceanic salinity.One of these is the subtraction of water from the ocean by means of evaporation---conversion of liquid water to water vapor.In this manner the salinity is increased, since the salts stay behind.If this is carried to the extreme, of course, white crystals of salt would be left behind.The opposite of evaporation is precipitation, such as rain, by which water is added to the ocean.Here the ocean is being diluted so that the salinity is decreased.This may occur in areas of high rainfall or in coastal regions where rivers flow into the ocean.Thus salinity may be increased by the subtraction of water by evaporation, or decreased by the addition of fresh water by precipitation or runoff.Normally, in tropical regions where the sun is very strong, the ocean salinity is somewhat higher than it is in other parts of the world where there is not as much evaporation.Similarly, in coastal regions where rivers dilute the sea, salinity is somewhat lower than in other oceanic areas.A third process by which salinity may be altered is associated with the formation and melting of sea ice.When sea water is frozen, the dissolved materials are left behind.In this manner, sea water directly materials are left behind.In this manner, sea water directly beneath freshly formed sea ice has a higher salinity than it did before the ice appeared.Of course, when this ice melts, it will tend to decrease the salinity of the surrounding water.In the Weddell Sea Antarctica, the densest water in the oceans is formed as a result of this freezing process, which increases the salinity of cold water.This heavy water sinks and is found in the deeper portions of the oceans of the world.海水鹽度如果我們分析海水的鹽度，會發現地區間只有輕微的變化，然而有些小的變化是重要的。

導致海洋的鹽度變化的基本過程有三個，其中之一是通過蒸發的方式即把液態水轉化為水蒸氣來減少海洋中的水分。這樣由于鹽留了下來，所以鹽度增大。

當然，如果這種方式走向極端，將會余下白色的鹽晶體。與蒸發相反的是降水，如降雨，由此水被加入海中，海水被稀釋，從而鹽度降低。

這種情形會發生在大量降雨的地區，或江河入海岸處。因此，鹽度通過蒸發減少水分而上升或通過降水或徑流增加淡水成分而下降。一般來說，在陽光很

強烈的熱帶地區，海水的鹽度略高于世界上其它沒有熱帶那樣多的蒸發的地區。同理，在江河稀釋海水的海岸地帶，海水鹽度略低于其它海區。

第三個可以變更鹽度的過程與海洋中冰的形成和融化有關。海水凍結時，溶于其中的物質被留了下來。這樣，在新形成的海

水冰面的正下方的海水比在冰形成之前有更高的鹽度。當然，當冰融化的時候，會降低周圍水中的鹽度。

在南極洲邊緣的威德爾海中，結冰過程增加低溫海水的鹽度，從而形成了濃度最大的海水。這些大密度的海水下沉，可以在世界海洋的深水域發現。新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit38:Topaz 38 Topaz Topaz is a hard, transparent mineral.It is a compound of aluminum, silica, and fluorine.Gem topaz is valuable.Jewelers call this variety of the stone “precious topaz”.The best-known precious topaz gems range in color from rich yellow to light brown or pinkish red.Topaz is one of the hardest gem minerals.In the mineral table of hardness, it has a rating of 8, which means that a knife cannot cut it, and that topaz will scratch quartz.The golden variety of precious topaz is quite uncommon.Most of the world’s topaz is white or blue.The white and blue crystals of topaz are large, often weighing thousands of carats.For this reason, the value of topaz does not depend so much on its size as it does with diamonds and many other precious stones, where the value increases about four times with each doubling of weight.The value of a topaz is largely determined by its quality.But color is also important: blue topaz, for instance, is often irradiated to deepen and improve its color.Blue topaz is often sold as aquamarine and a variety of brown quartz is widely sold as topaz.The quartz is much less brilliant and more plentiful than true topaz.Most of it is variety of amethyst: that heat has turned brown.黃水晶

黃水晶是一種堅硬、透明的礦物質。它是鋁、硅和氟的化合物。黃水晶寶石價值不菲。珠寶商把這種石頭稱為“黃玉”。

最出名的黃玉有各種顏色如深黃色、淡棕色、淺紅色等。黃水晶是最堅硬的寶石礦中的一種。在礦石硬度表上，它的硬度為8，這表明刀子不能割開

它而它可在石英上劃痕。金黃色的黃玉品種非常罕見。世界上大多數的黃水晶是白色或藍色的。這些白色或藍色的黃水晶晶體很大，常常有數千克拉重。

由于這個原因，黃水晶的價值不像鉆石和許多其它寶石那樣主要依賴于其大小，重量翻一番價值即上升約四倍。黃

水晶的價值很大程度上取決于其品質，但顏色也很重要。舉例來說，藍色的黃水晶常需放射處理以加深和改善其顏色。

藍色的黃水晶常被作為海藍寶石出售，許多種棕色石英被當作黃水晶廣為販賣。石英光亮度遠小于黃水晶，礦藏儲量也遠較黃水晶豐富。大多數石英 是一種紫水晶，高溫使其變為棕色。

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit37:Icebergs 37 Icebergs Icebergs are among nature’s most spectacular creations, and yet most people have never seen one.A vague air of mystery envelops them.They come into being-----somewhere------in faraway, frigid waters, amid thunderous noise and splashing turbulence, which in most cases no one hears or sees.They exist only a short time and then slowly waste away just as unnoticed.Objects of sheerest beauty they have been called.Appearing in an endless variety of shapes, they may be dazzlingly white, or they may be glassy blue, green or purple, tinted faintly of in darker hues.They are graceful, stately, inspiring-----in calm, sunlight seas.But they are also called frightening and dangerous, and that they are----? in the night, in the fog, and in storms.Even in clear weather one is wise to stay a safe distance away from them.Most of their bulk is hidden below the water, so their underwater parts may extend out far beyond the visible top.Also, they may roll over unexpectedly, churning the waters around them.Icebergs are parts of glaciers that break off, drift into the water, float about awhile, and finally melt.Icebergs afloat today are made of snowflakes that have fallen over long ages of time.They embody snows that drifted down hundreds, or many thousands, or in some cases maybe a million years ago.The snows fell in polar regions and on cold mountains, where they melted only a little or not at all, and so collected to great depths over the years and centuries.As each year’s snow accumulation lay on the surface, evaporation and melting caused the snowflakes slowly to lose their feathery points and become tiny grains of ice.When new snow fell on top of the old, it too turned to icy grains.So blankets of snow and ice grains mounted layer upon layer and were of such great thickness that the weight of the upper layers compressed the lower ones.With time and pressure from above, the many small ice grains joined and changed to larger crystals, and eventually the deeper crystals merged into a solid mass of ice.冰山冰山是大自然最壯觀的創造之一，但大多數人卻從未看到過冰山，一種朦朧神秘的氣氛 籠罩著它們。冰山形成于久遠的、寒冷的水體中，而且伴隨著雷聲轟鳴般的嘈雜和水花洶 涌的風暴，但卻無人耳聞目睹。冰山僅存在短短的一段時間就慢慢地悄無聲息地融化掉。冰山具有最純粹的美，人們如是說。

冰山呈現出千姿百態，可能白得耀眼，或者是閃耀著藍色、綠色或紫色的玻璃般的光芒，或濃或淡。它們在平靜的陽光照耀的海水中顯得優雅堂 皇，令人浮想聯翩。但是人們亦把冰山稱為恐怖的和危險的。它們的確如此--在夜間，霧天和風暴肆虐時。

即便是在晴朗的天氣里，與它們保持一段安全距離也是明智的。冰山的大部分體積穩藏于水下，因此其水下部分的伸展遠遠超過可見的頂部。冰山也可能出人意

料地翻滾，劇烈地攪動周圍的水體。冰山是冰川的一部分，從冰川斷裂漂流進水中，一段時間后融化。今天的冰山由多年前降落的雪花形成。

它們的體內是數百年，或數千年，有時甚至是數百萬年前的降雪。這些雪花落在極地或寒冷的山上，僅有少量融化或根本不融

化，這樣經過許多年或許多世紀后積累了巨大的深度。由于每年的雪花積累在表面之上，蒸發和融化使得雪花慢慢失去其羽狀尖端而變成微小的冰粒。

當新的雪花降落到舊的表面上，也變成了冰粒。因而雪花覆蓋層和冰粒層層堆積起來直到如此之大的厚度以致較上層的重量壓縮較下層。

在時間和壓力的作用下，許多小冰粒結合到一起變成更大的晶體，最終較底層的晶體合并成龐大而堅固的冰塊。? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit36:Plate Tectonics and Sea-floor Spreading 36.Plate Tectonics and Sea-floor Spreading The theory of plate tectonics describes the motions of the lithosphere, the comparatively rigid outer layer of the Earth that includes all the crust and part of the underlying mantle.The lithosphere(n.[地]巖石圈)is divided into a few dozen plates of various sizes and shapes, in general the plates are in motion with respect to one another.A mid-ocean ridge is a boundary between plates where new lithospheric material is injected from below.As the plates diverge from a mid-ocean ridge they slide on a more yielding layer at the base of the lithosphere.Since the size of the Earth is essentially constant, new lithosphere can be created at the mid-ocean ridges only if an equal amount of lithospheric material is consumed elsewhere.The site of this destruction is another kind of plate boundary: a subduction zone.There one plate dives under the edge of another and is reincorporated into the mantle.Both kinds of plate boundary are associated with fault systems, earthquakes and volcanism, but the kinds of geologic activity observed at the two boundaries are quite different.The idea of sea-floor spreading actually preceded the theory of plate tectonics.In its original version, in the early 1960’s, it described the creation and destruction of the ocean floor, but it did not specify rigid lithospheric plates.The hypothesis was substantiated soon afterward by the discovery that periodic reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field are recorded in the oceanic crust.As magma rises under the mid-ocean ridge, ferromagnetic minerals in the magma become magnetized in the direction of the magma become magnetized in the direction of the geomagnetic field.When the magma cools and solidifies, the direction and the polarity of the field are preserved in the magnetized volcanic rock.Reversals of the field give rise to a series of magnetic stripes running parallel to the axis of the rift.The oceanic crust thus serves as a magnetic tape recording of the history of the geomagnetic field that can be dated independently;the width of the stripes indicates the rate of the sea-floor spreading.板塊結構與海床擴展

板塊結構理論描述巖石圈的運動。巖石圈是相對堅硬的地球外層，包括全部地殼和部分地幔。巖石圈被劃分為幾十個大小不同形狀各異的板塊，一般而言這些板塊都處于相對運動之中。一道中海脊是板塊之間的邊界，在那里新的巖石圈的物質從下部注入。

當板塊從中海脊脫離時，它們滑向在巖石圈基部較易變形的地層上。因為地球的大小本質上是不

變的，只有同等數量的巖石圈物質在其它地方被吞沒，新的巖石圈才能生成。銷毀舊巖石 圈的地方形成另外一種板塊邊界：一塊潛沒的區域。在這里，一塊板塊潛沒到另一板塊的邊緣之下并結合入地幔之中。

兩種板塊邊界均與地層系統、地震以及火山活動有關，但在兩種邊界處觀察到的諸般地質活動卻迥然不同。海床擴展說實際上早于板塊結構理論。在

20世紀60年代它的理論雛形中，描述了海底的生成和毀滅，但沒有詳細介紹堅硬的巖石圈板塊。這個假定不久之后為發現所證實。

該發現表明地球磁場周期性的逆轉被記錄在海洋地殼中。當巖漿從中海脊下涌起的時候，巖漿中的磁鐵礦物質按地磁場的方向被磁化。巖

漿冷卻并凝固下來后，地磁場的方向和磁極被保留在磁化了的火山巖中。磁場的逆轉形成一系列與斷層軸線平行的條形磁區。

這樣海洋殼就扮演了磁帶的角色，記錄下可以鑒定時間的地磁場的歷史。條形磁區的寬度表明了海底擴展的速度。

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit35:Oil Refining 35.Oil Refining An important new industry, oil refining, grew after the Civil war.Crude oil, or petroleum – a dark, thick ooze from the earth – had been known for hundreds of years, but little use had ever been made of it.In the 1850’s Samuel M.Kier, a manufacturer in western Pennsylvania, began collecting the oil from local seepages and refining it into kerosene.Refining, like smelting, is a process of removing impurities from a raw material.Kerosene was used to light lamps.It was a cheap substitute for whale oil, which was becoming harder to? get.Soon there was a large demand for kerosene.People began to search for new supplies of petroleum.The first oil well was drilled by E.L.Drake, a retired railroad conductor.In 1859 he began drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania.The whole venture seemed so impractical and foolish that onlookers called it “ Drake’s Folly”.But when he had drilled down about 70 feet(21 meters), Drake struck oil.His well began to yield 20 barrels of crude oil a day.News of Drake’s success brought oil prospectors to the scene.By the early 1860’s these wildcatters were drilling for “ black gold” all over western Pennsylvania.The boom rivaled the California gold rush of 1848 in its excitement and Wild West atmosphere.And it brought far more wealth to the prospectors than any gold rush.Crude oil could be refined into many products.For some years kerosene continued to be the principal one.It was sold in grocery stores and door-to-door.In the 1880’s refiners learned how to make other petroleum products such as waxes and lubricating oils.Petroleum was not then used to make gasoline or heating oil.煉油

一種重要的新興工業--煉油業在國內戰爭后成長起來。未加工的石油，或原油--一種深色的地下的稠漿--數百年來一直為大眾所知，但是人們卻很少使用過它。

在十九世紀五十年代，薩繆爾?M?科爾，賓西法尼亞西部的一位制造商，開始從當地的溢出物中收集石油

并將它煉成煤油。與冶煉礦石一樣，石油提煉是一個從未加工的原料中除去雜質的過程。煤油被用來點燈。

它是鯨油的一種便宜的替代品，而鯨油正變得越來越難以獲得。不久就產生了對煤油的大量需求。人們開始尋找新的石油供應。第一口油井為

E?L?瑞克，一個退休的火車檢票員所鉆得。1859年他開始在賓西法尼亞的泰特斯維爾鉆井。整個的這項

冒險事業看起來是如此不現實和愚蠢以致旁觀者稱之為“鴨子的蠢行”。(譯者注：Drake'sFolly,drake 在這里意含雙關，即指瑞克的名字，又指該詞的本義即鴨子。)但當瑞克往下鉆至70英尺(21米)的時候，他發現了石油。他的油井從此每天生產

20桶原油。瑞克成功的消息將石油勘探者們吸引到現場。截止到19世紀60年代早期，這些冒險者為尋找“黑色的

金子”鉆探遍了整個賓西法尼亞西部。這項繁榮的事業在刺激性和粗獷的西部氣氛上可與 1848年的加州淘金熱相媲美，而且它為勘探者帶來了遠超過淘金潮的財富。原油能被提煉成許多產品。多年以來煤油一直是主要的一種產品。

它在雜貨店中出售由人挨戶推銷。19世紀八十九十年代煉油者們懂得了生產其它石油產品，如蠟和潤滑油。那時石油還沒有被 用來制造汽油或采暖裝置用油。

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit34:Raising Oysters 34 Raising Oysters In the oysters were raised in much the same way as dirt farmers raised tomatoes-by transplanting them.First, farmers selected the oyster bed, cleared the bottom of old shells and other debris, then scattered clean shells about.Next, they ”planted” fertilized oyster eggs, which within two or three weeks hatched into larvae.The larvae drifted until they attached themselves to the clean shells on the bottom.There they remained and in time grew into baby oysters called seed or spat.The spat grew larger by drawing in seawater from which they derived microscopic particles of food.Before long, farmers gathered the baby oysters, transplanted them once more into another body of water to fatten them up.Until recently the supply of wild oysters and those crudely farmed were more than enough to satisfy people’s needs.But today the delectable seafood is no longer available in abundance.The problem has become so serious that some oyster beds have vanished entirely.Fortunately, as far back as the early 1900’s marine biologists realized that if new measures were not taken, oysters would become extinct or at best a luxury food.So they set up well-equipped hatcheries and went to work.But they did not have the proper equipment or the skill to handle the eggs.They did not know when, what, and how to feed the larvae.And they knew little about the predators that attack and eat baby oysters by the millions.They failed, but they doggedly kept at it.Finally, in the 1940’s a significant breakthrough was made.The marine biologists discovered that by raising the temperature of the water, they could induce oysters to spawn not only in the summer but also in the fall, winter, and spring.Later they? developed a technique for feeding the larvae and rearing them to spat.Going still further, they succeeded in breeding new strains that were resistant to diseases, grew faster and larger, and flourished in water of different salinities and temperatures.In addition, the cultivated oysters tasted better!

飼養牡蠣

過去人們飼養牡蠣的方式很大程度上類似于田地里的農夫種植蕃茄--通過移植來飼養它們。首先，農夫選好牡蠣苗床，清除底部的舊殼和其它雜物，然后四處撒播干凈的殼。接著，他們“栽種”已受精的牡蠣卵。這些卵在2～3周內會孵化成幼貝。

幼貝一直漂流直到粘在苗床底部干凈的殼上為止。它們會呆在那兒并逐漸長成小牡蠣。我們稱之為種子或貝

苗。貝苗吸進海水中的微小生物作為食物從而越長越大。不久之后，農夫將這些小牡蠣收 集起來，把它們移種進其他的水域加快其生長，然后再次將它們移種進另外的水域以使其肥壯起來。直到最近，野生的以及人工飼養的牡蠣完全能夠滿足人們的需要。

但是今天這種可口的海味已不再大量存在。這個問題已經變得如此嚴重以至于一些牡蠣苗床已完全消失。幸運的是，早在20 世紀初期海洋生物學家們就意識到如果不采取新的措施，牡蠣將會滅絕或至少會變為一種奢侈的食品。因此他們建造了裝備良好的孵卵場所并開始工作。但是他

們尚沒有適當的裝置或技術來處理牡蠣卵。他們不知道何時、用什么以及如何喂養幼貝。他們對捕食數百萬幼小牡蠣的動物天敵也所知無幾。

他們失敗了，但他們頑強地堅持了下來。終于，在20世紀40年代，一個重要的突破性的進展產生了。海洋生物學家發現，升高水

溫能夠誘導牡蠣不僅在夏季也在秋季、冬季和春季里產卵。后來他們發展了一項技術來喂養幼貝至其長成貝苗。

他們進一步成功地培養出了新的品種，可以抵抗疾病、長得更快、更大并且在不同的鹽度和溫度的水中都能茁壯生長。此外，這些培殖出的牡蠣口感更佳!? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit33:Plankton浮游生物 33 Plankton浮游生物.Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton.Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see.They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one.In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses.One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year, the sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much.Despite its enormous food potential, little effect was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land.Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea’s resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.No one yet has seriously suggested that “ plankton-burgers” may soon become popular around the world.As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimp-like creature called krill.Growing to two or three inches long, krill provides the major food for the great blue whale, the largest animal to ever inhabit the Earth.Realizing that this whale may grow to 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily.浮游生物數十億噸的被稱為“浮游生物”的小動物、植物散布在世界的海洋中。這些小的動、植物大多太小而難以被人眼看到。

它們隨波逐流，為許多較大的動物提供了基本的食物。浮游生物曾被描述為生長在大陸陸地上的各種草類的海洋對應物。這種比喻是恰當 的。然而就潛在的食物價值而言，浮游生物遠勝于草類。一位科學家曾經估計，世界上的草類每年生產大約490 億噸有用的碳水化合物，而海洋里的浮游生物每年生產的碳水化合物多于此數的兩倍。盡管浮游生物具備巨大的食物潛能，但直到最近人們還很少象種植草類

那樣付出努力養殖浮游生物?，F在，海洋科學家們至少已開始研究這種可能性。全球人口不斷擴張，海洋資源作為食品的重要性日益突出。

現在還沒有人認真說過“浮游生物漢堡”會很快在世界上流行起來。然而，作為一種可能養殖的補充性食物資源，浮游生物正引起了海洋科學家們相當大的興趣。一種似乎具有很大收獲可能性的微小的蝦狀浮游生物被稱為鱗蝦。鱗蝦長至2～3英寸長時即成為地球上曾居住過的最大動物--藍鯨的主要食物。成

熟的藍鯨可以達到100英尺長，150噸重，所以每頭鯨每天吞食1噸多的鱗蝦一點也不讓人吃驚。

? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit32:Botany 32 Botany Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar position in the history of human knowledge.For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest of insights.It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but form what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient.This is logical.Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants.They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people not only for food, but also for clothing, weapons, tools, dyes, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes.Tribes living today in the jungles of the Amazon recognize literally hundreds of plants and know many properties of each.To them, botany, as such, has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of “ knowledge” at all.Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows.Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid.When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer yields the next season the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken.Grains were discovered and from them flowed the marvel of agriculture: cultivated crops.From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild-and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and intimacy with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.植物學

植物學，即對植物的研究，在人類知識的歷史中占據了特殊的地位。這是人類幾千年來超越模糊的認知而真正有所了解的領域之一。

我們今天不可能知道新石器時代的祖先們對植物到底了解多少，但我們在至今仍存在的前工業化社會觀察到：人類對植物及其特性的詳細了解應該是非常古老的。

這是理所當然的。植物是其他生物甚至其他植物食物金字塔的基礎。它們對人們的生活至關重要，不僅在食物上，而且在衣物、武器、工具、染料、藥物、住所和許許多多其他的用途上。至今仍生活在亞馬遜河叢林中的部落確實能夠辨識幾百種植物并知道每一種的許多特性。

對他們來說，植物學沒有專門的名稱，甚至可能根本未被認為是一種專門知識。不幸的是，工業化的程度越高，我們距直接與植物接觸就越

遠，我們的植物學知識的增加也就越微不足道。然而每個人在不知不覺中擁有大量的植物學知識，很少有人認不出玫瑰、蘋果或蘭花。

大約一萬年前居住在中東的新時代的祖先們發現某些草能被收獲，它們的種子下一季耕種會收獲更多時，人類就邁出了人和植物之間的新關系第一大步。

谷子被發現后，農業的奇跡從此誕生：這就是可栽培的谷物。從那時起，人類越來越依賴少數可控制的作物生存，而不再是從眾多的野生種類中這里獲取一點，那里 獲取一點。這樣在千萬年中對于野生植物的經驗和密切聯系中積累起來的知識就開始消失了。

? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit31:British Columbia 31 British Columbia British Columbia is the third largest Canadian provinces, both in area and population.It is nearly 1.5 times as large as Texas, and extends 800 miles(1,280km)north from the United States border.It includes Canada’s entire west coast and the islands just off the coast.Most of British Columbia is mountainous, with long rugged ranges running north and south.Even the coastal islands are the remains of a mountain range that existed thousands of years ago.During the last Ice Age, this range was scoured by glaciers until most of it was beneath the sea.Its peaks now show as islands scattered along the coast.The southwestern coastal region has a humid mild marine climate.Sea winds that blow inland from the west are? warmed by a current of warm water that flows through the? Pacific Ocean.As a result, winter temperatures average above freezing and summers are mild.These warm western winds also carry moisture from the ocean.Inland from the coast, the winds from the Pacific meet the mountain barriers of the coastal ranges and? the Rocky Mountains.As they rise to cross the mountains, the winds are cooled, and their moisture begins to fall as rain.On some of the western slopes almost 200 inches(500cm)of rain fall each year.More than half of British Columbia is heavily forested.On mountain slopes that receive plentiful rainfall, huge Douglas firs rise in towering columns.These forest giants often grow to be as much as 300 feet(90m)tall, with diameters up to 10 feet(3m).More lumber is produced from these trees than from any other kind of tree in North America.Hemlock, red cedar, and balsam fir are among the other trees found in British Columbia.英屬哥倫比亞

英屬哥倫比亞是加拿大的第三大省，無論是面積還是人口都是如此。它幾乎是德克薩斯的1.5倍，從美國邊境一直向北延伸了800英里(1，280 公里)。它包括了加拿大整個西海岸及附近島嶼。大部分英屬哥倫比亞多山巒。綿長而粗獷的山脈貫通南北。甚至那些

沿海的島嶼都是那些存在于千萬年前的山脈的遺跡。在上一個冰河時期，這些山脈被冰河沖刷侵蝕，直到大部分山脈被淹沒在海中。

它們的峰頂顯現為沿著海岸散布的島嶼。西南海岸地區有著潮濕溫和的海洋性氣候。從太平洋來的溫暖的洋流使得從西吹過內陸的海風變得溫暖。

因此這兒冬天平均氣溫在零上而且夏天也不會酷熱。這些溫暖的西風同樣也從海洋帶來了濕氣。

來自太平洋的、從海岸向內陸的風遇到海岸山脈和落基山脈這些山脈屏障。當氣流升高跨越這些山脈時，風的溫度就降低了，風中的水分形成降雨。在一些朝西

山坡區域每年大約有200英寸(500厘米)的降水。大部分英屬哥倫比亞密布著森林。在有充足降水的斜坡，巨大的道格拉斯樅樹高聳入云。這些森林巨人常常長到高達300英尺(90米)，直徑粗達10英尺(3米)。這些樹產出了比北美其他任何樹都多的木材。鐵杉、紅香

椿、香脂冷杉樅都是發現于英屬哥倫比亞的其它樹種。

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit30:The origin of Refrigerators 30 The origin of Refrigerators By the mid-nineteenth century, the term “icebox” had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States.The ice trade grew with the growth of cities.Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter.After the Civil War(1861-1865),as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use.Even before 1880,half of the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use.This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern refrigerator, had been invented.Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose.In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary.The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling.Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job.Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.But as early as 1803, and ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track.He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center.When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers? would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks.One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.冰箱的由來

直到19世紀中期，“冰箱”這個名詞才進入了美國語言，但冰僅僅只是開始影響美國普通市民的飲食。冰的買賣隨著城市的發展而發展。

冰被用在旅館、酒館、醫院以及被一些有眼光的城市商人用于肉、魚和黃油的保鮮。內戰(1861-1865)之后，冰被用于冷藏貨車，同時也進入了民用。

甚至在1880年前，半數在紐約、費城和巴爾的摩銷售的冰，三分之一

在波士頓和芝加哥銷售的冰進入家庭使用，因為一種新的家庭設備，冰箱，即現代冰箱的前身，被發明了。制造一臺有效率的冰箱不像我們想象的那么簡單。

19世紀早期，關于對冷藏科學至關重要的熱物理知識是很淺陋的。認為最好的冰箱應該防止冰的融化這樣一個

普遍的觀點顯然是錯誤的，因為正是冰的融化起了制冷作用。早期為節省冰的努力，包括用毯子把冰包起來，使得冰不能發揮它的作用。直到近19 世紀末，發明家們才成功地找到有效率的冰箱所需要的精確的隔熱和循環的精確平衡。但早在1803年，一位有發明天才的

馬里蘭農場主，托馬斯?莫爾，找到了正確方法。他擁有一個農場，離華盛頓約20英里，那里的喬治鎮村莊是集市中心。

當他用自己設計的冰箱運送黃油去市場時，他發現顧客們會走過裝在競爭者桶里那些迅速融化的黃油而給他比市價更高的價格買他仍然新鮮堅硬，整

齊地切成一磅一塊的黃油。莫爾說他的冰箱的一個好處是使得農民們不必在夜里上路去市場以保持他們產品的低溫。

? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit29:Telecommuting 29 Telecommuting Telecommuting--substituting the computer for the trip to the job----has been hailed as a solution to all kinds of problems related to office work.For workers it promises freedom from the office, less time wasted in traffic, and help with child-care conflicts.For management, telecommuting helps keep high performers on board, minimizes tardiness and absenteeism by eliminating commutes, allows periods of solitude for high-concentration tasks, and provides scheduling flexibility.In some areas, such as Southern California and Seattle, Washington, local governments are encouraging companies to start telecommuting programs in order to reduce rush-hour congestion and improve air quality.But these benefits do not come easily.Making a telecommuting program work requires careful planning and an understanding of the differences between telecommuting realities and popular images.Many workers are seduced by rosy illusions of life as a telecommuter.A computer programmer from New York City moves to the tranquil Adirondack Mountains and stays in contact with her office via computer.A manager comes in to his office three days a week and works at home the other two.An accountant stays home to care for her sick child;she hooks up her telephone modern connections and does office work between calls to the doctor.These are powerful images, but they are a limited reflection of reality.Telecommuting workers soon learn that it is almost impossible to concentrate on work and care for a young child at the same time.Before a certain age, young children cannot recognize, much less respect, the necessary boundaries between work and family.Additional child support is necessary if the parent is to get any work done.Management too must separate the myth from the reality.Although the media has paid a great deal of attention to telecommuting in most cases it is the employee’s situation, not the availability of technology that precipitates a telecommuting arrangement.That is partly why, despite the widespread press coverage, the number of companies with work-at-home programs or policy guidelines remains small.電子交通

電子交通--用電腦取代上班的往返--作為對各種各樣的辦公室工作問題的解決辦法已受到了歡迎。

對工作者來說，它承諾不受辦公室的約束，更少的時間浪費在交通上和有助于解決照看小孩的矛盾。

對管理者來說，電子交通有助于挽留高效率的工作者，通過省去辦公室與家之間的來回往返，大大減少工作拖拉和曠工，給予管理者獨處的時間來完成需要高

度集中精神的任務，為管理者提供靈活的時間安排。在一些地區，如南加利福尼亞和西雅 圖、華盛頓，地方政府鼓勵公司開始電子交通計劃以減少交通高峰時的塞車和提高空氣質量。但這些益處也來之不易。

要使電子交通成功需要仔細的計劃并且理解電子交通的現實狀況和流行的想象之間的區別。許多工作者被電子交通的美好幻想所迷惑。一位電腦程序設計

員從紐約市搬到了寧靜的阿第倫達克山，用電腦保持與她辦公室之間的聯系。一位經理一 周三天到辦公室，其他兩天在家工作；一位會計師在家照顧她生病的孩子，接通電話調制解調器的接頭，在同醫生通話之余完成辦公室工作。

這些是很有震撼力的情景，但也是對現實有限的反映。電子交通者很快發現在同一時間專注工作和照看小孩幾乎是不可能的。在

某個年齡之前，小孩子不可能意識到，更不可能尊重工作與家庭之間的界限。如果家長要完成工作，就必須另外照看小孩。管理階層必須把現實同神話分開。

雖然傳媒對電子交通投入了極大的關注，但在很大程度上，是員工的實際情況而不是技術的可能性促成電子交通的安排。

這就是為什么盡管有廣泛的報導，具有在家工作項目或行動綱領的公司數目依然很少的部分原因。? 28.Changing Roles of Public Education One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950's and 1960's on the schools.In the 1920's, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930's, the United States experienced a declining birth rate---every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940.With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression.Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946,106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955.Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom.The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates.The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid 1940's and became a flood by 1950.The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed.While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the food.The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945.Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed, large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy.Therefore in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system.Consequently, the “ custodial rhetoric” of the 1930’s and early 1940’s no longer made sense that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen.With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline.The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths.公共教育的角色變化一項重要的、有可能促使人們對公共教育的角色的看法發生轉變的社會發展是本世紀五

六十年代的生育高峰對學校的影響。在20年代，尤其是在30年代后的大蕭條中，美國經歷了一次出生率的下降--1920年每千名年齡在15 歲至45歲的婦女生下大約118個存活嬰兒，1930年89.2個，1936年75.8個，1940年80個。隨著二戰帶來的持續繁榮以及隨之而來 的經濟增長，年輕人比大蕭條中的同齡人更早地結婚成家，而且比前輩養育更大的家庭。1946年出生率上升到102%，1950年達106%，1955年達118%。對于生育高峰，經濟有可 能是最重要的決定因素，但它并不是唯一的解釋。不斷受到重視的家庭觀念也有助于解釋出生率的上升。到40 年代中期為止，這些生育高峰出生的孩子們開始源源不斷地進入小學一年級。到了1950年，就形成了一股洪流。公共教育系統突然感到不堪重負了。

由于戰時和戰后的狀況，使得學齡兒童人數增加，這些狀況使得學校面對這股洪流更加措手不及。戰時經濟意味著在1940年到1950 年間幾乎沒有建立新學校。而且，在戰時和隨后的經濟增長時期，大量的教師離開崗位去別處從事報酬更為優厚的工作。因此，在五六十年代，生育高峰沖擊著陳舊而不完備的學校體系。這樣一來，30年代以及40年代早期，“監護理論”就不再有意義了。也就是說，通過使16 歲以上的年輕人留在學校不進入勞動力市場的做法再也不是教育機構的優先考慮了。因為教育機構不再能找到場地和教師來教育那些更小的5-16 歲的孩子。隨著生育高峰，教育者和圈外人士對教育的興趣和焦點，不可避免地轉向了更低的年級和基礎的學術技能和學科上。

這個系統不再有濃厚的興趣給較年長的年輕人提供非傳統的新式的和額外的服務。? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit27:Scientific Theories 27.Scientific Theories In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related.A theory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an observed event could be produced.A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases are pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not as yet been observed.After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experiments to test the theory.If observations confirm the scientist’s predictions, the theory is supported.If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must search further.There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have to be revised or rejected.Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information and performing experiments.Facts by themselves are not science.As the mathematician Jules Henri Poincare said, “Science is built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a house.”

Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about a particular problem.After known facts have been gathered, the scientist comes to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination.Possible solutions to the problem are formulated.These possible solutions are called hypotheses.In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown.It extends the scientist’s thinking beyond the known facts.The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes observations to test hypotheses.Without hypothesis, further investigation lacks purpose and direction.When hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories.科學理論

在科學中，理論是對所觀察到的相關事件的合理解釋。理論通常包含一個虛構的模型，這個模型幫助科學家構想所觀察到的事件是如何發生的。分子運動理論便是我們能找到的一個很好的例子。

在這個理論中，氣體被描繪成由許多不斷運動的小顆粒組成。一個有用的理論，除了能夠解釋過去的觀測，還有助于預測那些未被觀測到的事件。一個理論公開

后，科學家們設計實驗來檢驗這個理論。如果觀察證實了科學家的預言，這個理論則得到了驗證。如果觀察不能證實科學家的預言，科學家就必須進一步的研究。

或許是實驗存在錯誤，或許是這個理論必須被修改或拋棄。科學家除了收集信息和操作實驗外還需要想象能力和創/造性思維。事實本身并不是科學。

正如數學家喬斯?亨利?波恩克爾所說：“科學建立在事實之上，就像房子用磚砌成一樣。但事實的收集不能被稱作科學，就像一堆磚不能被叫作房子一樣。

”多數科學家通過找出別的科學家在一個特定問題上的所知來開始研究。在收集了已知事實之后，科學家開始了研究中需要相當想像力的部分。他們爾后擬訂

對這個問題的可行的解決方法。這些可行的解決方式被稱為假設。在某種意義上，任何假 設都是向未知的跳躍。它使科學家的思維超越已知事實。科學家計劃實驗、計算、觀測以檢驗假定。若沒有假設，進一步的研究便缺乏目的和方向。當假設被證實了，就成為理論的一部分。? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit26:International Business and Cross-cultural Communication 26.International Business and Cross-cultural Communication The increase in international business and in foreign investment has created a need for executives with knowledge of foreign languages and skills in cross-cultural communication.Americans, however, have not been well trained in either area and, consequently, have not enjoyed the same level of success in negotiation in an international arena as have their foreign counterparts.Negotiating is the process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching an agreement.It involves persuasion and compromise, but in order to participate in either one, the negotiators must understand the ways in which people are persuaded and how compromise is reached within the culture of the negotiation.In many international business negotiations abroad, Americans are perceived as wealthy and impersonal.It often appears to the foreign negotiator that the American represents a large multi-million-dollar corporation that can afford to pay the price without bargaining further.The American negotiator’s role becomes that of an impersonal purveyor of information and cash.In studies of American negotiators abroad, several traits have been identified that may serve to confirm this stereotypical perception, while undermining the negotiator’s position.Two traits in particular that cause cross-cultural misunderstanding are directness and impatience on the part of the American negotiator.Furthermore, American negotiators often insist on realizing short-term goals.Foreign negotiators, on the other hand, may value the relationship established between negotiators and may be willing to invest time in it for long-term benefits.In order to solidify the relationship, they may opt for indirect interactions without regard for the time involved in getting to know the other negotiator.國際商業和跨文化交流國際貿易和海外投資的增加產生了對具有外語知識和跨文化交流技巧的經理的需求。

然而，美國人在這兩方面未得到良好的訓練，因此沒有在國際談判中象他們的外國對手一樣成功。談判是為了達成協議而反復交流的過程。它包括說服和妥協。

但是為了去進行說服和妥協，談判者必須懂得在談判的文化中怎樣說服人和怎樣達成妥協。在國外的國際商務談判中，美國人被視為富有和不帶個人情感。

在外國談判者看來，似乎美國人代表著一個龐大的擁有數百萬資財的大企業，不用進一步地討價還價就能出得起價錢。

美國談判者的角色變成了一個沒有個人感情的信息及現金的供應者。對在國外的美 國談判者的研究中，我們找出了損害談判者能力的幾個特點，或許證實這個已成定式的看法。尤其引起跨文化誤解的兩個特點是美國談判者的直截了當和缺乏耐心。

此外，美國談判者經常堅持實現短期目標，而外國的談判者會珍視建立談判者之間的聯系并愿意為長期利益投入時間。

為了鞏固這種聯系，他們會選擇非直接的交流而不計較投入用于了解對方的時間。明顯地，價值觀的不同和理解上的差異影響了談判的結果和談判者的成功與否。

美國人要在國際商務談判中扮演更為有效的角色，他們就必須投入更多的努力提高跨文化的理解力。? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit25: Movie Music 25.Movie Music Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as “silent”, the film has never been, in the full sense of the word, silent.From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment;when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes.At first, the music played bore no special relationship to the films;an accompaniment of any kind was sufficient.Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film.As movie theaters grew in number and importance, a violinist, and perhaps a cellist, would be added to the pianist in certain cases, and in the larger movie theaters small orchestras were formed.For a number of years the selection of music for each film program rested entirely in the hands of the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces.Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown(if indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then), the musical arrangement was normally improvised in the greatest hurry.To help meet this difficulty, film distributing companies started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments.In 1909, for example, the Edison Company began issuing with their films such indications of mood as “ pleasant”, “sad”, “lively”.The suggestions became more explicit, and so emerged the musical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitable pieces of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led into the next.Certain films had music especially composed for them.The most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for D.W Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915.電影插曲

盡管我們習慣于將1927年以前的電影稱為“無聲電影”，但是就無聲這個詞完整的意義

上來說，電影從未真正的無聲過，從最初開始音樂就被視為必不可少的伴奏。當盧米埃爾的電影在1896年2 月美國首屆影片公映展覽上放映的時候，影片便用當時的流行曲臨場鋼琴伴奏。最初，這些音樂伴奏與電影沒有什么特別的關系，用什么曲子伴奏都行。但在很

短的時間內，為一部莊重的影片演奏快活的音樂所產生的不協調感變得顯而易見，因此鋼琴家們開始注意將自己的作品與影片的情調結合起來。

隨著影劇院在數量上與重要性上的不斷增長，在一些場合，除了鋼琴師外，還要加上小提琴師，或許還有一位大提琴師。較大 的影劇院里還組成了小型的管弦樂隊。在很長的時間內，為各部影片選擇配樂完全掌握在 樂隊指揮或隊長手中，而通常把持這種職位的資格不是技巧或鑒賞品味，而是擁有一個大的音樂作品的個人收藏。

因為直到電影上映的前一天晚上樂隊指揮才能看到影片(如果這個指揮真正有幸能夠看到影片的話)，音樂安排通常是在非常匆忙的情況下臨場進行的。為了解

決以上的困難，電影發行公司開辦了為音樂伴奏印制提示單的業務。例如1909年愛迪生公 司開始將一些諸如“喜悅的”、“悲傷的”、“活潑的”之類表明影片情調特征的提示與影片一起發行。

這些提示逐漸變得更加具體，并且出現了包括影片情調說明、適用樂曲名稱和樂曲轉換點等內容的配樂說明單。某些影片擁有專門為其創作的音樂。

這些早期特創樂譜中最著名的便是為D.W.格雷夫斯1915年上映的影片《一個國家的誕生》所創作的音樂。Note: 美國通俗音樂分類： 1．Jazz;? 1)traditional jazz----a)blues, 代表人物：Billy Holiday ?? b)ragtime(切分樂曲): 代表人物：Scott Joplin ?? c)New Orleans jazz(= Dixieland jazz)? eg: Louis Armstron ?? d)swing??? eg: Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington,? etc.e)bop(=bebop, rebop)? eg: Lester Young, Charlie Parker etc.? 2)modern jazz------? a)cool jazz(=progressive jazz)高雅爵士樂。Eg: Kenny G.?? ??? b)third-stream jazz.? Eg: Charles Mingus, John Lewis.??? c)main stream jazz.??? d)avant-garde jazz.??? e)soul jazz.Eg: Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald ??? f)Latin jazz.2.gospel music 福音音樂，主要源于Nero spirituals.Eg.Dolly Parker, Mahalia Jackson 3.Country and Western music.Eg.John Denver, Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rogers, etc.4.Rock music-----------a)rock and roll? eg: Elvis Prestley(US), the Beatles(UK.)?? b)folk rock Eg: Bob Dylon, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Riche etc.c)punk rock d)acid rock ?? e)rock jazz eg: M.J.McLaughlin ?? f)Jurassic rock 5.Music for easy listening(i.e.light music)新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit23:Ford 23 Ford Although Henry Ford’s name is closely associated with the concept of mass production, he should receive equal credit for introducing labor practices as early as 1913 that would be considered advanced even by today’s standards.Safety measures were improved, and the work day was reduced to eight hours, compared with the ten-or twelve-hour day common at the time.In order to accommodate the shorter work day, the entire factory was converted from two to three shifts.In addition, sick leaves as well as improved medical care for those injured on the job were instituted.The Ford Motor Company was one of the first factories to develop a technical school to train specialized skilled laborers and an English language school for immigrants.Some efforts were even made to hire the handicapped and provide jobs for former convicts.The most widely acclaimed innovation was the five-dollar-a-day minimum wage that was offered in order to recruit and retain the best mechanics and to discourage the growth of labor unions.Ford explained the new wage policy in terms of efficiency and profit sharing.He also mentioned the fact that his employees would be able to purchase the automobiles that they produced – in effect creating a market for the product.In order to qualify for the minimum wage, an employee had to establish a decent home and demonstrate good personal habits, including sobriety, thriftiness, industriousness, and dependability.Although some criticism was directed at Ford for involving himself too much in the personal lives of his employees, there can be no doubt that, at a time when immigrants were being taken advantage of in frightful ways, Henry Ford was helping many people to establish themselves in America.23亨利?福特

盡管亨利?福特的名字和大生產的概念相連，但他在勞工保護上得到同樣的贊譽，因為 他早在1913年便實行了用今天的標準來衡量依然是先進的標準。安全措施得到改進，日工作時間從當時普遍的10或12小時減少到8小時。

為了適應更短的日工作時間，整個工廠從雙班變成了三班。而且，病假和改善了的工傷醫療得以制度化。福特汽車公司是最早建

立技術學校來培訓專門技工和為移民開設英語學校的工廠之一。公司甚至為雇傭殘疾人和 有前科的人而作出了一些努力。最受廣泛稱贊的革新是實行五美元一天的最低工資。其目的是招收和留住那些最好的技工并阻礙工會的發展。

福特從效率和利潤分享的角度來解釋這項新的工資政策。他也提到這樣一個事實，他的員工可以買他們生產的汽車--這實際上是為其產品另開辟了一個市場。

為了夠資格得到最低工資，員工必須建立一個得體的家庭并顯示出良好的個人習慣，包括節制、儉省、勤勉和可靠。雖然有人批評福特過多地干涉

了員工的私人生活，但毫無疑問，在移民們被用惡劣的方式剝削的時代，亨利?福特卻幫助了許多人在美國扎下根來。

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit22:Collectibles 22 Collectibles Collectibles have been a part of almost every culture since ancient times.Whereas some objects have been collected for their usefulness, others have been selected for their aesthetic beauty alone.In the United States, the kinds of collectibles currently popular range from traditional objects such as stamps, coins, rare books, and art to more recent items of interest like dolls, bottles, baseball cards, and comic books.Interest in collectibles has increased enormously during the past decade, in part because some collectibles have demonstrated their value as investments.Especially during cycles of high inflation, investors try to purchase tangibles that will at least retain their current market values.In general, the most traditional collectibles will be sought because they have preserved their value over the years, there is an organized auction market for them, and they are most easily sold in the event that cash is needed.Some examples of the most stable collectibles are old masters, Chinese ceramics, stamps, coins, rare books, antique jewelry, silver, porcelain, art by well-known artists, autographs, and period furniture.Other items of more recent interest include old photograph records, old magazines, post cards, baseball cards, art glass, dolls, classic cars, old bottles, and comic books.These relatively new kinds of collectibles may actually appreciate faster as short-term investments, but may not hold their value as long-term investments.Once a collectible has had its initial play, it appreciates at a fairly steady rate, supported by an increasing number of enthusiastic collectors competing for the limited supply of collectibles that become increasingly more difficult to locate.23亨利?福特

盡管亨利?福特的名字和大生產的概念相連，但他在勞工保護上得到同樣的贊譽，因為 他早在1913年便實行了用今天的標準來衡量依然是先進的標準。安全措施得到改進，日工作時間從當時普遍的10或12小時減少到8小時。

為了適應更短的日工作時間，整個工廠從雙班變成了三班。而且，病假和改善了的工傷醫療得以制度化。福特汽車公司是最早建

立技術學校來培訓專門技工和為移民開設英語學校的工廠之一。公司甚至為雇傭殘疾人和 有前科的人而作出了一些努力。最受廣泛稱贊的革新是實行五美元一天的最低工資。其目的是招收和留住那些最好的技工并阻礙工會的發展。

福特從效率和利潤分享的角度來解釋這項新的工資政策。他也提到這樣一個事實，他的員工可以買他們生產的汽車--這實際上是為其產品另開辟了一個市場。

為了夠資格得到最低工資，員工必須建立一個得體的家庭并顯示出良好的個人習慣，包括節制、儉省、勤勉和可靠。雖然有人批評福特過多地干涉

了員工的私人生活，但毫無疑問，在移民們被用惡劣的方式剝削的時代，亨利?福特卻幫助了許多人在美國扎下根來。

新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit21:The Origin of Sports 21 The Origin of Sports When did sport begin? If sport is, in essence, play, the claim might be made that sport is much older than humankind, for , as we all have observed, the beasts play.Dogs and cats wrestle and play ball games.Fishes and birds dance.The apes have simple, pleasurable games.Frolicking infants, school children playing tag, and adult arm wrestlers are demonstrating strong, transgenerational and transspecies bonds with the universe of animals – past, present, and future.Young animals, particularly, tumble, chase, run wrestle, mock, imitate, and laugh(or so it seems)to the point of delighted exhaustion.Their play, and ours, appears to serve no other purpose than to give pleasure to the players, and apparently, to remove us temporarily from the anguish of life in earnest.Some philosophers have claimed that our playfulness is the most noble part of our basic nature.In their generous conceptions, play harmlessly and experimentally permits us to put our creative forces, fantasy, and imagination into action.Play is release from the tedious battles against scarcity and decline which are the incessant, and inevitable, tragedies of life.This is a grand conception that excites and provokes.The holders of this view claim that the origins of our highest accomplishments----liturgy, literature, and law----can be traced to a play impulse which, paradoxically, we see most purely enjoyed by young beasts and children.Our sports, in this rather happy, nonfatalistic view of human nature, are more splendid creations of the nondatable, transspecies play impulse.21體育的起源

體育運動開始于何時?如果體育運動的本質就是游戲的話，我們就可以宣稱體育運動比 人類古老，因為正如我們所觀察到的，野獸也進行嬉戲。狗和貓會扭抱玩球，魚和鳥翩翩起舞，猿類會進行一些簡單的、愉快的游戲。

雀躍的幼兒，捉迷藏的學童和成年摔跤者展示出人與動物界的有力的跨越世代與物種的永恒的聯系--特別是幼獸，它們翻筋斗、追逐、奔跑、扭打、模仿、嬉笑(或者看起來是)，直到愉快地精疲力盡。他們的玩耍，同我們的 一樣，似乎并沒有別的目的而只是給游戲者以愉悅，暫時把我們從嚴肅生活的痛苦中拉出來。一些哲學家稱我們的嬉戲是我們本質中最崇高的部分。

依他們這些隨意性很大的見解，游戲無害而且實驗性地允許我們的創造力、幻想和想象發揮作用。游戲讓人們從永不間斷亦

不可避免的生活悲劇-與乏匱和衰退進行的枯燥抗爭中得到一種解脫。這是一個令人興奮、給人啟發的偉大見解。

這種見解的持有者宣稱，我們的最高成就如宗教典禮、文學、法律的起源可以追溯到游戲的沖動。但令人不解的是我們看到只有幼獸和小孩子才最純粹地享

受著這種沖動。從這種比較豁達和非宿命的人性觀來看，我們的運動是超時代、跨物種的輝煌的創造。? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit20:The History Significance of American Revolution 20 The Historical Significance of American Revolution The ways of history are so intricate and the motivations of human actions so complex that it is always hazardous to attempt to represent events covering a number of years, a multiplicity of persons, and distant localities as the expression of one intellectual or social movement;yet the historical process which culminated in the ascent of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency can be regarded as the outstanding example not only of the birth of a new way of life but of nationalism as a new way of life.The American Revolution represents the link between the seventeenth century, in which modern England became conscious of itself, and the awakening of modern Europe at the end of the eighteenth century.It may seem strange that the march of history should have had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but only in the North American colonies could a struggle for civic liberty lead also to the foundation of a new nation.Here, in the popular rising against a “tyrannical” government, the fruits were more than the securing of a freer constitution.They included the growth of a nation born in liberty by the will of the people, not from the roots of common descent, a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty.With the American nation, for the first time, a nation was born, not in the dim past of history but before the eyes of the whole world.20美國革命的歷史意義

歷史的進程是如此錯綜復雜，人類行為的動機是如此令人費解，以至于想把那些時間跨 度大，涉及人數多，空間范圍廣的事件描述成為一個智者或一場社會運動的表現的企圖是危險的。

然而以托馬斯?杰弗遜登上總統寶座為高潮的那一段歷史過程可以被視為一個特殊的例子。在這段歷史時期里不僅誕生了新的生活方式，而且民族主義成為了一種新的生活方式。美國獨立戰爭成為聯結17世紀現代英格蘭的自我意識和18 世紀末現代歐洲的覺醒的紐帶。歷史的行程需要跨越大西洋，這看起來似乎有些奇怪，但卻只有在北美殖民地為民權和自由的斗爭才能導致新國家的建立。

這里，反對“暴政”的民眾起義的成果不僅是獲得一個包含更多自由的憲法，還包括了一個依照人民的意愿誕生在自由中的國家的成長。這

個國家不是基于血緣、地理、君主或王朝的野心。由于有了美國，第一次一個國家的誕生 不是發生在歷史模糊的過去，而是在全世界人們的眼前。? ? 新東方優美背誦短文50篇 Unit19:Children s Numerical Skills 19 children’s numerical skills people appear to born to compute.The numerical skills of children develop so early and so inexorably that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth.Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impress accuracy---one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs.Soon they are capable of nothing that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table and, a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware.Having thus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction.It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth and retrieved seven years later, he or she could enter a second enter a second-grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment.Of course, the truth is not so simple.This century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends.Children were observed as they slowly grasped-----or, as the case might be, bumped into-----concepts that adults take for quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short glass into a tall thin one.Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed into finding the total.Such studies have suggested that the rudiments of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort.They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbers------the idea of a oneness, a twoness, a threeness that applies to any class of objects and is a prerequisite for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a table-----is itself far from innate 19兒童的數學能力

人似乎生來就會計算。孩子們使用數字的技能發展得如此之早和如此必然，很容易讓人想象有一個內在的精確而成熟的數字鐘在指導他們的成長。

孩子們在學會走路和說話后不久，就能以令人驚嘆的準確布置桌子--五把椅子前面分別擺上一把刀、一個湯匙、一把叉

子。很快地，他們就能知道他們已在桌面上擺放了五把刀、五個湯匙、五把叉子。沒有多久，他們就又能知道這些東西加起來總共是15把銀餐具。

如此這般地掌握了加法之后，他們又轉向減法。有一種設想幾乎順理成章，那就是，即使一個孩子一出生就被隔絕到荒島

上，七年后返回世間，也能直接上小學二年級的數學課，而不會碰到任何智力調整方面的大麻煩。當然，事實并沒有這么簡單。

本世紀認知心理學家的工作已經揭示了智力發展所依賴的日常學習的微妙形式。他們觀察到孩子們緩慢掌握那些成年人認為理所當然的概念的

過程，或者是孩子們偶然遇到這些概念的過程。他們也觀察到孩子們拒絕承認某些常識的情況。比如：

孩子們拒絕承認當水從短而粗的瓶中倒入細而長的瓶子中時，水的數量沒有變化。心理學家們而后又展示一個例子，即：讓孩子們數一堆鉛筆時，他們能順利地報出藍鉛筆或紅鉛筆的數目，但卻需誘導才能報出總的數目。此類研究表明：數學基礎是經過逐漸努力后掌握的。

他們還表示抽象的數字概念，如可表示任何一類物品并且是在做比擺桌子有更高數學要求的任何事時都必備的一、二、三意識，遠遠不是天生就具備的。? ? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit18:Modern American Universities 18.Modern American Universities Before the 1850’s, the United States had a number of small colleges, most of them dating from colonial days.They were small, church connected institutions whose primary concern was to shape the moral character of their students.Throughout Europe, institutions of higher learning had developed, bearing the ancient name of university.In German university was concerned primarily with creating and spreading knowledge, not morals.Between mid-century and the end of the 1800’s, more than nine thousand young Americans, dissatisfied with their training at home, went to Germany for advanced study.Some of them return to become presidents of venerable colleges-----Harvard, Yale, Columbia---and transform them into modern universities.The new presidents broke all ties with the churches and brought in a new kind of faculty.Professors were hired for their knowledge of a subject, not because they were of the proper faith and had a strong arm for disciplining students.The new principle was that a university was to create knowledge as well as pass it on, and this called for a faculty composed of teacher-scholars.Drilling and learning by rote were replaced by the German method of lecturing, in which the professor’s own research was presented in class.Graduate training leading to the Ph.D., an ancient German degree signifying the highest level of advanced scholarly attainment, was introduced.With the establishment of the seminar system, graduate student learned to question, analyze, and conduct their own research.At the same time, the new university greatly expanded in size and course offerings, breaking completely out of the old, constricted curriculum of mathematics, classics, rhetoric, and music.The president of Harvard pioneered the elective system, by which students were able to choose their own course of study.The notion of major fields of study emerged.The new goal was to make the university relevant to the real pursuits of the world.Paying close heed to the practical needs of society, the new universities trained men and women to work at its tasks, with engineering students being the most characteristic of the new regime.Students were also trained as economists, architects, agriculturalists, social welfare workers, and teachers.? 18現代美國大學

19世紀50年代以前美國有一些小的學院，大多數成立于殖民時期。它們是與教會掛

鉤的小機構，主要目的是培養學生的道德品行。當時在歐洲各地，高等教育機構已經發展起來，用的是一個古老的名稱--大學。

德國已經發展出一種不同類型的大學。德國大學關心的主要是創造知識和傳播知識，而不是道德教育。從世紀中葉到世紀末，有9000多名美 國青年因不滿國內所受的教育而赴德深造。他們中的一些人回國后成為一些知名學府--哈佛、耶魯、哥倫比亞的校長并且把這些學府轉變成了現代意義的大學。

新校長們斷絕了和教會的關系，聘請了新型的教職員，聘用教授根據的是他們在學科方面的知識，而不是正確的信仰和約束學生的強硬手段。

新的原則是大學既要傳播知識也要創造知識。這就需要由學者型老師組成教工隊伍?？克烙浻脖澈妥鼍毩晛韺W習的方法變為德國式的講解方法。德

國式的講解就是由教授講授自己的研究課題。通過研究生性質的學習可以獲得表明最高學術造詣的古老的德國學位--博士學位。

隨著討論課制度的建立，研究生們學會了提問、分析以及開展他們自己的研究。同時，新式大學學校規模和課程設置完全突破了過去那種只 有數學、經典著作、美學和音樂的狹窄課程表。哈佛大學的校長率先推出選課制度，這樣 學生們就能選擇自己的專業。主修領域的概念也出現了。新的目標是使大學對實際社會更有用。

密切關注著社會上的實際需求，新的大學著意培養學生解決問題的能力。工程系學生

成為新式教育體制下最典型的學生。學生們還被培訓成為經濟學家、建筑師、農學家、社會工作人員以及教師。? ? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit17:Evolution of Sleep 17.Evolution of sleep Sleep is very ancient.In the electroencephalographic sense we share it with all the primates and almost all the other mammals and birds: it may extend back as far as the reptiles.There is some evidence that the two types of sleep, dreaming and dreamless, depend on the life-style of the animal, and that predators are statistically much more likely to dream than prey, which are in turn much more likely to experience dreamless sleep.In dream sleep, the animal is powerfully immobilized and remarkably unresponsive to external stimuli.Dreamless sleep is much shallower, and we have all witnessed cats or dogs cocking their ears to a sound when apparently fast asleep.The fact that deep dream sleep is rare among pray today seems clearly to be a product of natural selection, and it makes sense that today, when sleep is highly evolved, the stupid animals are less frequently immobilized by deep sleep than the smart ones.But why should they sleep deeply at all? Why should a state of such deep immobilization ever have evolved? Perhaps one useful hint about the original function of sleep is to be found in the fact that dolphins and whales and aquatic mammals in genera seem to sleep very little.There is, by and large, no place to hide in the ocean.Could it be that, rather than increasing an animal’s vulnerability, the University of Florida and Ray Meddis of London University have suggested this to be the case.It is conceivable that animals who are too stupid to be quite on their own initiative are, during periods of high risk, immobilized by the implacable arm of sleep.The point seems particularly clear for the young of predatory animals.This is an interesting notion and probably at least partly true.? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit16:The War between Britain and France 16.the war between Britain and France In the late eighteenth century, battles raged in almost every corner of Europe, as well as in the Middle East, south Africa ,the West Indies, and Latin America.In reality, however, there was only one major war during this time, the war between Britain and France.All other battles were ancillary to this larger conflict, and were often at least partially related to its antagonist’ goals and strategies.France sought total domination of Europe.this goal was obstructed by British independence and Britain’s efforts throughout the continent to thwart Napoleon;through treaties.Britain built coalitions(not dissimilar in concept to today’s NATO)guaranteeing British participation in all major European conflicts.These two antagonists were poorly matched, insofar as they had very unequal strengths;France was predominant on land, Britain at sea.The French knew that, short of defeating the British navy, their only hope of victory was to close all the ports of Europe to British ships.Accordingly, France set out to overcome Britain by extending its military domination from Moscow t Lisbon, from Jutland to Calabria.All of this entailed tremendous risk, because France did not have the military resources to control this much territory and still protect itself and maintain order at home.French strategists calculated that a navy of 150 ships would provide the force necessary to defeat the British navy.Such a force would give France a three-to-two advantage over Britain.This advantage was deemed necessary because of Britain’s superior sea skills and technology because of Britain’s superior sea skills and technology, and also because Britain would be fighting a defensive war, allowing it to win with fewer forces.Napoleon never lost substantial impediment to his control of Europe.As his force neared that goal, Napoleon grew increasingly impatient and began planning an immediate attack.? ? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit15:The Nobel Academy ?15 The Nobel Academy For the last 82years, Sweden's Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal.But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from within.Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself.According to Ingmar Bjorksten , the cultural editor for one of the country's two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent “what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes.” The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences.This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy's inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary world.Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek.If for no other reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that accompany it;not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also dramatically increases sales of an author's books.? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit14:A Rare Fossil Record? ?14 A Rare Fossil Record The preservation of embryos and juveniles is a rate occurrence in the fossil record.The tiny, delicate skeletons are usually scattered by scavengers or destroyed by weathering before they can be fossilized.Ichthyosaurs had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures because, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less subject to erosion.Still, their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by other animals, a lack of swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid burial.Given these factors, some areas have become a treasury of well-preserved ichthyosaur fossils.The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for analysis.The ichthyosaur remains are found in black, bituminous marine shales deposited about 190 million years ago.Over the years, thousands of specimens of marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates have been recovered from these rocks.The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos.Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time.The embryos are quite advanced in their physical development;their paddles, for example, are already well formed.One specimen is even preserved in the birth canal.In addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30 inches long.Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare elsewhere? The quality of preservation is almost unmatched and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of the fossils.But these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit12:Museums ?12 Museums From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs.These programs already have radically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex, but one factor is a consideration everywhereor selling off-works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems.And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however,“ the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years,” according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit10:Types of Speech Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used, and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality.As such, these words and expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries.Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal speech or writing, but not considered appropriate for more formal situations.Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language.Slang, however, refers to words and expressions understood by a large number of speakers but not accepted as good, formal usage by the majority.Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard dictionaries but will be so identified.Both colloquial usage and slang are more common in speech than in writing.Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech.Some slang also passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary popularity followed by obscurity.In some cases, the majority never accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their collective memories.Every generation seems to require its own set of words to describe familiar objects and events.It has been pointed out by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary for the creation of a large body of slang expressions.First, the introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the society;second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups;third, association among the subgroups and the majority population.Finally, it is worth noting that the terms “standard” “colloquial” and “slang” exist only as abstract labels for scholars who study language.Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions.Most speakers of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use all three types of expressions.? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit9:Suburbanization If by “suburb” is meant an urban margin that grows more rapidly than its already developed interior, the process of suburbanization began during the emergence of the industrial city in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.Before that period the city was a small highly compact cluster in which people moved about on foot and goods were conveyed by horse and cart.But the early factories built in the 1840's were located along waterways and near railheads at the edges of cities, and housing was needed for the thousands of people drawn by the prospect of employment.In time, the factories were surrounded by proliferating mill towns of apartments and row houses that abutted the older, main cities.As a defense against this encroachment and to enlarge their tax bases, the cities appropriated their industrial neighbors.In 1854, for example, the city of Philadelphia annexed most of Philadelphia County.Similar municipal maneuvers took place in Chicago and in New York.Indeed, most great cities of the United States achieved such status only by incorporating the communities along their borders.With the acceleration of industrial growth came acute urban crowding and accompanying social stress-conditions that began to approach disastrous proportions when, in 1888, the first commercially successful electric traction line was developed.Within a few years the horse-drawn trolleys were retired and electric streetcar networks crisscrossed and connected every major urban area, fostering a wave of suburbanization that transformed the compact industrial city into a dispersed metropolis.This first phase of mass-scale suburbanization was reinforced by the simultaneous emergence of the urban Middle Class, whose desires for homeownership in neighborhoods far from the aging inner city were satisfied by the developers of single-family housing tracts.新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit8:American Revolution The American Revolution was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations.Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking.What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution.During the conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing.Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on.America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations.One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States.Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors.The third newcomer-the United States-based itself squarely on republican principles.Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose.In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing.British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit7:Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in the United States, and , in the process, became one of the wealthiest men in America.His success resulted in part from his ability to sell the product and in part from his policy of expanding during periods of economic decline, when most of his competitors were reducing their investments.Carnegie believed that individuals should progress through hard work, but he also felt strongly that the wealthy should use their fortunes for the benefit of society.He opposed charity, preferring instead to provide educational opportunities that would allow others to help themselves.“He who dies rich, dies disgraced,” he often said.Among his more noteworthy contributions to society are those that bear his name, including the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, which has a library, a museum of fine arts, and a museum of national history.He also founded a school of technology that is now part of Carnegie-Mellon University.Other philanthrophic gifts are the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to promote understanding between nations, the Carnegie Institute of Washington to fund scientific research, and Carnegie Hall to provide a center for the arts.Few Americans have been left untouched by Andrew Carnegie's generosity.His contributions of more than five million dollars established 2,500 libraries in small communities throughout the country and formed the nucleus of the public library system that we all enjoy today ? ? 新概念優美背誦短文50篇 Unit6:Television Television-----the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth-is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world.It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies.The word “television”, derived from its Greek(tele: distant)and Latin(visi sight)roots, can literally be interpreted as sight from a distance.Very simply put, it works in this way: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting an image(focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera)into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable.These impulses, when fed into a receiver(television set), can then be electronically reconstituted into that same image.Television is more than just an electronic system, however.It is a means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings.The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by its means of transmission.First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television signals.Second, there is nonbroadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest groups through controlled transmission techniques.Traditionally, television has been a medium of the masses.We are most familiar with broadcast television because it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today.During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, who have been the major purveyors of news, information, and entertainment.These giants of broadcasting have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well.We have come to look upon the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this dynamic medium as the passive viewer.05 The Beginning of Drama There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece.The on most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual.The argument for this view goes as follows.In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world-even the seasonal changes-as unpredictable, and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers.Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals.Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites.As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used, Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the “acting area” and the “auditorium.” In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task.Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effect-success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun-as an actor might.Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.Another theory traces the theater's origin from the human interest in storytelling.According to this vies tales(about the hunt, war, or other feats)are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person.A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.? 04 Electricity The modern age is an age of electricity.People are so used to electric lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them.When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators.Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago.Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for million of years.Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.All living cell send out tiny pulses of electricity.As the heart beats, it sends out pulses of record;they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working.The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram.The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small – often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them.But in some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all.When large numbers of these cell are linked together, the effects can be astonishing.The electric eel is an amazing storage battery.It can seed a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it live.(An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts.)As many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eel’s body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to length of its body.? 03 The Definition of “Price”

Prices determine how resources are to be used.They are also the means by which products and services that are in limited supply are rationed among buyers.The price system of the United States is a complex network composed of the prices of all the products bought and sold in the economy as well as those of a myriad of services, including labor, professional, transportation, and public-utility services.The interrelationships of all these prices make up the “system” of prices.The price of any particular product or service is linked to a broad, complicated system of prices in which everything seems to depend more or less upon everything else.If one were to ask a group of randomly selected individuals to define “price”, many would reply that price is an amount of money paid by the buyer to the seller of a product or service or, in other words that price is the money values of a product or service as agreed upon in a market transaction.This definition is, of course, valid as far as it goes.For a complete understanding of a price in any particular transaction, much more than the amount of money involved must be known.Both the buyer and the seller should be familiar with not only the money amount, but with the amount and quality of the product or service to be exchanged, the time and place at which the exchange will take place and payment will be made, the form of money to be used, the credit terms and discounts that apply to the transaction, guarantees on the product or service, delivery terms, return privileges, and other factors.In other words, both buyer and seller should be fully aware of all the factors that comprise the total “package” being exchanged for the asked-for amount of money in order that they may evaluate a given price.? 02 Schooling and Education It is commonly believed in United States that school is where people go to get an education.Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school.The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling.Education knows no bounds.It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or in the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor.It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning.The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist.Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises.A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions.People are engaged in education from infancy on.Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term.It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of one’s entire life.Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next.Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on.The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the working of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught.For example, high school students know that there not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with.There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.01 The Language of Music A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it.A composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed.Professional singers and players have great responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them.A student of music needs as long and as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor.Most training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an athlete or a ballet dancer.Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be inadequate without controlled muscular support.String players practice moving the fingers of the left hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different movements.Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune.Pianists are spared this particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s responsibility to tune the instrument for them.But they have their own difficulties;the hammers that hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound clear.This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these sound with fanatical but selfless authority.Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding.Great artists are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing works written in any century.?

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第二篇：高中生英語美文誦讀

必背美文

Youth

Youth is not a time of life;it's a state of mind;it's not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;it's a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;it's the freshness of the deep springs of life.Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for the adventure over the love of ease.This often exists in a man of 60 more than of 20.Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.We grow old by deserting our ideals.Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry, fear ,self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.Whether 60 or 16 ,there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what's next and the joy of the game of living.In the center of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station: so long as it receives message of beauty ,hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cyniciam and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20,but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.Love your mother Let us take a moment of the time/ just to pay tribute and show appreciation /to the person called MOM /though some may not say it openly to their mother.There’s no one who could take the place of her.Cherish every single moment together with her.Though at times she may not be the best of friends, she may not agree to our thoughts, she is still your mother!Your mother will be there for you;to listen to your sorrows, your frustrations, etc.Ask yourself “Have you put aside enough time for her, to listen to her ‘blues’ of working in the kitchen, her tiredness?”Show her your due respect, though you may have a different view from hers.Once gone, only fond memories of the past and also regrets will be left.Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.Love her more than you love yourself, for life is meaningless without her.Time Is Money “Time is money.” This saying means that time is very valuable.But time is more valuable than money.The money we have lost can be gained again, but the time we have wasted cannot be regained.Moreover, sometimes persons can exist without money, but nothing can be done without time, just as no one can live without air.Despite being so valuable, time is often neglected by men.Since time is an invisible thing, men often waste their time unconsciously（無意地）.Without anything to do, they may gossip from morning till night.Man can live only at most to about 100 years.It seems fairly long, but in fact it is rather short.We often say “How quickly time flies!” How many things can a man accomplish in such a short period? Hence we should use the valuable time properly to do our work.We will race with it.We will study and work hard.Never waste a little bit of it.Hope Hope is what makes one's life continue forward.Setting goals for oneself is fine, but impossible to reach without hope.Many humans believe that hope is what creates disappointment;a sad belief to have.For hope provides one with the ability to project success in one's mind, aids in one's acceptance of one's faults and to know that challenges lie ahead, and provides the strength needed to remain appropriately focused on reaching one's goals.Hope provides one with trust, healthy and responsible anticipation, and gives one optimism.Hope does not create disappointment, expectation does.For when one expects, one ignorantly narrows one's focus.Expectation is what creates disappointment by causing each expectant individual to feel pessimistic with failure, impatient with new fears and challenges, and immature and uneducated when their narrow scope of goal achieving goes awry.Hope brings one's focus on goal achieving into a broader view allowing one to see new fears and challenges and helping one to prepare.Try to Be a Good Student Perhaps it is the dream of everyone to be a good student at school, but quite a few students feel at a loss on how to make it.In my opinion it is rather easy if you can act on the following points.First of all, make full use of your time and work hard.Don’t put off till tomorrow what should be done today, as time past will never come back.The fast developing society requires adequate knowledge, which presses us to spare no efforts to study.Of course, your hard work will be rewarded one day.Secondly, use your own head and present your point of view.Credulous（輕信的）attitude will only make you take anything for granted.With your own judgment you will be able to tell right from wrong and set up your own theory.Thirdly, set aside enough time for relaxation, entertainment, etc.don’t ignore the harm of all work and no play.Proper sports will build up your body and improve the efficiency of your studying.To be a good student is easier said than done, for it needs a student’s consistent efforts.But nothing is difficult to a man if he puts his heart into it.Natural Resources Nature has provided us with many kinds of resources.Almost everything we use in our everyday life comes from Nature.The food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, the concrete and bricks to build our houses, the materials to make bikes we ride, etc.all come originally from Nature.People have been making use of these natural supplies for thousands of years.With the development of technology and the increase of the population, the amount and range of materials taken has increased.It is estimated that this tread will continue in the years to come.However, natural resources are not in exhaustible.Some resources are already nearly used up.For example, the end of the world’s fuel is already within sight.Such an essential daily item as water is in short supply in many parts of the world.We can no longer thoughtlessly use the many resources provided by Nature.We must learn to conserve what remains.We Have Only One World When industries grow, pollution also grows.Today the problem of environment has become more and more important.The world population is rising so quickly that the world has become too crowded.We are using up our natural resources too quickly and at the same time we are polluting our environment with dangerous chemicals.If we don’t take action immediately, then we will destroy our only world.Man has made great progress in environment protection.Government of many countries has established laws to protect the forest and sea resource and to stop the environmental pollution.Still more measures should be taken to solve the problem.First, we should start by educating the public about the hazards of pollution.The government on its part should also design stricter laws.This is not only for our own generation but also for the future generation to come.It is necessary to protect our nature environment.We must begin now to protect our only world.Make The Best Use of Our Land It is the land that has been providing us with everything we need for centuries.In other words, almost everything we use daily comes from the land directly or indirectly.The food, clothes, houses, even the books and furniture are all supplied by the land.But the limited land is decreasing at a surprising speed.With the expanding of the cities, the development of the industry and over population, lots of large pieces of good farmland are being turned into residential areas with many houses and apartment buildings, or industrial areas, or warehouses.Therefore some measures must be taken to stop the abusing of our farmland.On the other hand, we should let everyone realize the danger of being short of land.And also we should educate them how to make better use of our land.Health It is said that we do not properly value a thing until we have lost it.It is only when a friend dies that we find out how much he was to us.So it is with health.When we are young and strong and have good health, we think little about it.It seems natural to us to be always well, and we cannot imagine what it is like to be ill.Wo we are often careless about our health, and without thinking we spoil our health by bad habits and doing silly things.It is only when we have our good health that we find that it was one of God’s best gifts to us.Health is our most important possession.We should do our best to maintain it.Good health is necessary to happiness and success.People who are in poor health are often pessimistic or depressed.As a rule, bad health means misery and failure.How can we keep our health? Only by knowing and carefully obeying the laws of health.A happy man is a healthy man, and only the healthy man can live a happy life.The desire for good health is universal.Everyone who loves life understands how important health is.First, good health is the guarantee for enjoying life.The only desire of a patient is always to live an ordinary and healthy life.Second, good health establishes a firm foundation for your ambition of the career.Without it, any lofty aspiration turns to be a daydream.Then how to keep fit? Everyone has his own answers to this question, while I think three principal suggestions should be followed.The first one is that a scientific diet should be adopted, which offers the necessities for your body.The second one is that physical exercises must be persisted, especially for the indoor people.The last, but not the least, is that the cheerful mood should be kept.In order to keep fit, I force myself to keep away from the “junk food”, although it usually tastes good, I even form a good habit of doing morning exercises.And the beautiful music and good books always cheer me up.Sports and Games Sports and games do a lot of good to our health.They can make us strong, prevent us from getting too fat, and keep healthy and fit.Especially they can be of great value to people who work with their brains most of the day, for sports and games give people valuable practice in exercising the body.What’s more, they make our life richer and more colourful.If we do not have a strong body, we will find it hard to do whatever we want.So persons of all ages enjoy watching and taking part in various kinds of sports-track and fields, swimming, skating, football, volleyball and basketball, etc.Sports and games are also very useful in character training.They demand not only physical skills and strength but also courage, endurance, discipline and usually teamwork.For boys and girls, what is learned in the playground often has a deep effect on their character.If each of them learns to work for his team and not for himself on the football field, he will later find it natural to work for the good of his country instead of only for his own benefit.A healthy citizen makes a strong country.Let’s all take part in sports and games.Smoking It is well known that smoking does harm to the health.Today, so many people still keep smoking, which has drawn wide attention of the society.Smoking has so many disadvantages but no advantages at all.First, the cigarettes with nicotine in them do great harm to the health.Such diseases as pneumonia, lung cancer may be caused or partly caused by them.Furthermore, the bad effects of cigarettes cost the smokers lots of money, which could be spent on other meaningful things.Thirdly, the accidents of fire all over the world every year are mostly caused by the still-burning butts(end).The government has formulated the regulation of no smoking in public places.Yet its result is not so satisfactory.From my point of view, it needs the common efforts of the society.Not only the nonsmokers but the smokers should cooperate on this matter.My Views on Large Modern Cities Since every coin has two sides, living in large modern cities offers us many advantages, simultaneously causes many troubles.Better education and better jobs are easy to get, and better medical care is convenient to receive in large modern cities.People are usually well informed due to the advanced media, such as television, newspaper and net PC.Large modern cities also provide varied entertainment for the city-dwellers.The public places like cinema, bar, disco-ball are everywhere.On the other hand, large modern cities are too big to control, so the traffic jams and traffic accidents often happen, and the social security is a headache problem.And city-dwellers have to face the housing problem.Usually a house is too expensive for the salary earning class to buy and the rent is also high.Moreover, noise and pollution in large cities bring harm to people’s health.Live in the City or in the Country Where do you like to live, in the city or in the country?Most cities are centers of economy, trade, transportation or culture.With the development of economy and society, more and more people have flooded into the cities, which makes the scale of the cities larger and larger.Surely, it is very convenient for shopping, education, business and so on.But it also has many disadvantages: the large population makes it crowded in each corner of the city;the big factories, too many cars, buses and trucks pollute the clean air;too much noise can make people mad.To live in the city, one even can’t get enough room for living.To live in the country is another thing.You can breathe the fresh air cheerfully, own a spacious house with a big backyard, and relax yourself in quietness.But when you want to go shopping, or take your child to school, perhaps you will complain about its inconvenient transportation, its remoteness?I am an ordinary person.I am always longing for the peaceful idyll（田園詩般的）life of the countryside.

第三篇：適合高中生閱讀的雜志美文

一、適合高中生閱讀的雜志

《美文》《散文詩》《萌芽》《讀者》《意林》 《青年文摘》

《雜文選刊》《課堂內外》《格言》《哲思》《意匯》《中學生閱讀》.《作文與考試》

二、適合高中生閱讀的散文

《心靈百合》，畢淑敏 2.《林清玄散文》，林清玄

《川端康成散文選》，川端康成 4.《先知》，(黎)紀伯倫著，冰心譯 《瓦爾登湖》，(美)索羅著，徐遲譯 6.《靈魂獨行》，周國平《各自朝圣的路》，周國平8.《緣緣堂隨筆》，豐子愷 《我與地壇》，史鐵生 10.《我的精神家園》，王小波

11.《賈平凹散文選》

12、《我選擇，我向往》，張煒

13.《蒙田隨筆》，(法)蒙田 14.《周作人散文》，錢理群選編

15.《看世紀末向你起來》，《目送》龍應臺

16.《收起落葉好過冬》，《像自由一樣美麗》林達

18.《一個人的村莊》，劉亮程

19.《身后的田野》，一平20.《守望的距離》，周國平21.《文化苦旅》余秋雨

22.泰戈爾散文集 23.《張曉風散文》 24.《草葉集》（美國，惠特曼）?

《哭泣的駱駝》、25.三毛散文《撒哈拉的故事》、《雨季不再來》、《溫柔的夜》、《夢里花落知多少》、26.韓靜霆的《粉墨人生》中學生讀名家

另外：

林語堂散文冰心散文席慕蓉散文沈從文散文張小嫻散文

?

￥15.80

青山不老 中學生讀名家 ? ?

? ?

? ￥18.80

? ?

梁衡：把欄桿拍遍

第四篇：適合高中生的英語朗讀材料

1.The Force of Habits Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed.The more we do a thing, the more we tend to like doing it;and if we do not continue to do it, we feel uncomfortable.This is called the force of habits, and the force of habits should be fought against.This applies even to such good things as work or rest.Some people form a bad habit of working too much, and others of idling too much.Bad habits, once formed, are difficult to get rid of.The wise man always remembers to check any bad habit.He warns himself “I am now becoming idle” or “I like too many sweets” or “I smoke too much”.And then adds, “I will get myself out of this bad habit at once.”

習慣的力量

習慣，不管是好還是壞，都是逐漸形成的。我們越多做一件事情，我們就越傾向于喜歡做.如果我們不繼續這樣做，我們覺得不舒服。這就是所謂的習慣的力量，習慣的力量應該被戰勝。這甚至適用于工作或休息。有些人形成了工作太多的壞習慣，有些人虛度太多光陰。壞習慣一旦形成，難以擺脫。聰明的人總是記得檢查任何壞習慣。他警告自己：“我現在已經變得懶散了”或“我喜歡太多糖果”或“我抽煙太多。”然后說：“我會立馬改掉這個壞習慣?！?/p>

2.The Way to Achieve Success Many people say that they owe much of it to the cultivation of certain good habits in early life.In forming good habits, I think we should pay attention to four things, that is honesty, industry, enthusiasm and thrift.“Honesty is the best policy.” This is a proverb to which we must pay attention.There are so many temptations in society that through a little carelessness we may go astray.But when we are honest, people will not be dishonest to us.Industry gives every man and woman, every boy and girl, proper work to do.To do nothing is going to ruin oneself.Enthusiasm is a great force.One’s soul will expand if one devotes oneself to a noble cause.The difficulties in our way are tremendous, but what can we not accomplish, if with enthusiasm?

There are many proverbs, which set forth the advantages of thrift.Since we live in the world in which money is a very powerful thing, we should always try to save a portion of our earnings for future use.These are the four things to which we must pay attention.It is only by this way that we can achieve success.取得成功之路

很多人說，他們在早期的生活中，對于培養某些良好的習慣做得很不夠。關于養成良好的習慣，我認為我們應該注意的四件事情，就是誠實，勤勞，熱情，節儉。“誠為上策。”這是一個我們必須重視的俗語。在社會上有這么多的誘惑，一個小疏忽，我們可能會誤入歧途。但是，當我們是誠實的，人們不會對我們不誠實的。行業讓每個男人和女人，每一個男孩和女孩，適當的工作要做。什么也不做會毀了自己。

熱情是一個偉大的力量。一個人的靈魂，如果一個致力于將擴大自己一個崇高的事業。在我們這樣的困難是巨大的，但我們不能完成的，如果與熱情？

有許多諺語，其中確定了節儉的優點。因為我們在這個世界上，錢是一個非常強大的東西生活，我們應該始終嘗試保存供日后使用我們的盈利部分。這是四件事情是我們必須注意。因為只有這樣，我們才能取得成功。

3.Is Failure a Bad Thing? Failure is a common occurrence(happening)in our daily life.Whatever we do, there are always two possible results: success or failure.Although everyone wants to succeed in what he tries, sometimes failure can’t be avoided.Different people hold different attitudes towards failure.When faced with it, some can stand up to it, draw a useful lesson from it and try their best to fulfill what they are determined to do.Others, however, lose heart and give in.They do nothing but complain about themselves and objective conditions.As a popular saying goes, “Failure teaches success.” In my opinion, what really counts is not the failure itself, but the proper attitude we should take after it.I trust that as long as we keep to what is right and correct what is wrong, that is to say, learn a lesson from failure, we will be certain to succeed.So I am of the opinion that failure is not a bad thing.失敗是壞事嗎？

失敗是經常發生在我們的日常生活（事情）。無論我們做什么，總是有兩種可能的結果：成功或失敗。雖然每個人都希望他成功嘗試，有時失敗無法避免。不同的人對失敗持有不同的態度。當面對失敗，有人能夠經得起考驗它，從中汲取有益的教訓，盡力去完成他們下定決心做的事。然而，其他人喪失信心和退讓，他們只是抱怨自己和客觀條件。

正如常言道，“失敗是成功之母?！痹谖铱磥?，真正重要的不是失敗本身，而是我們應采取正確的態度后。我相信，只要我們堅持正確的什么是正確的，什么是錯的，這就是說，從失敗中汲取教訓，我們肯定會成功。所以我認為，失敗不是一件壞事。

4.Time Is Money “Time is money.” This saying means that time is very valuable.But time is more valuable than money.The money we have lost can be gained again, but the time we have wasted cannot be regained.Moreover, sometimes persons can exist without money, but nothing can be done without time, just as no one can live without air.Despite being so valuable, time is often neglected by men.Since time is an invisible thing, men often waste their time unconsciously（無意地）.Without anything to do, they may gossip from morning till night.Man can live only at most to about 100 years.It seems fairly long, but in fact it is rather short.We often say “How quickly time flies!” How many things can a man accomplish in such a short period? Hence we should use the valuable time properly to do our work.We will race with it.We will study and work hard.Never waste a little bit of it.時間就是金錢

“時間就是金錢。”這句話的意思就是說時間是非常寶貴的。

但是，時間比金錢更寶貴。我們已經失去了可以得到錢了，但是我們也浪費時間不能恢復。此外，有時沒有錢的人可以存在，但什么事也沒有時間做，只是因為沒有人能夠生活在沒有空氣。

盡管是如此寶貴，時間往往忽略了男性。由于時間是一種無形的東西，男人往往不自覺地浪費自己的時間（無意地）。沒有什么關系，他們可能會從早忙到晚閑話。

人可以住在最多只有約100年。似乎相當長，但實際上它是比較短。我們常說“時光飛逝！”多少事，男人能做到在這么短的時間？因此，我們應該用正確的寶貴時間做我們的工作。我們將與它比賽。我們將努力學習和工作。永遠不要浪費一點點位。

5.Try to Be a Good Student Perhaps it is the dream of everyone to be a good student at school, but quite a few students feel at a loss on how to make it.In my opinion it is rather easy if you can act on the following points.First of all, make full use of your time and work hard.Don’t put off till tomorrow what should be done today, as time past will never come back.The fast developing society requires adequate knowledge, which presses us to spare no efforts to study.Of course, your hard work will be rewarded one day.Secondly, use your own head and present your point of view.Credulous（輕信的）attitude will only make you take anything for granted.With your own judgment you will be able to tell right from wrong and set up your own theory.Thirdly, set aside enough time for relaxation, entertainment, etc.don’t ignore the harm of all work and no play.Proper sports will build up your body and improve the efficiency of your studying.To be a good student is easier said than done, for it needs a student’s consistent efforts.But nothing is difficult to a man if he puts his heart into it.試著做一個好學生

也許這是每個人的夢想是在學校的好學生，但不少學生對如何使它喪失感覺。在我看來，這是相當容易，如果你可以做以下幾點。

首先，請您充分利用時間，努力工作。不要推遲到明天應該怎么做的今天，隨著時間的過去永遠不會回來。快速發展的社會需要足夠的知識，按我們不遺余力地研究。當然，你的努力會得到回報的一天。

其次，用你自己的頭和現在你的觀點。輕信（輕信的）的態度只會讓你理所當然的事情。有了自己的判斷，你將能夠明辨是非，建立自己的見解。第三，預留休閑，娛樂的時間不夠，等等千萬不要忽視了各項工作，不玩耍傷害。適當的體育運動會逐漸建立起自己的身體，提高您的學習效率。

要成為一個好學生，說起來容易做起來難，因為它需要一個學生的一致努力。但世上無難事，一個人如果把它放在他心上。

第五篇：高中生英語美文

多閱讀一些英文美文，可以提高學生的閱讀理解能力，以下是小編跟大家分享高中生英語美文，歡迎大家閱讀！

篇一：高中生英語美文

tress is a normal part of life and usually comes from everyday occurrences.Here are some ways you can deal with everyday sources of stress.Eliminate as many sources of stress as you can.For example, if crowds bother you, go to supermarket when you know the lines won’t be too long.Try renting videotapes rather than going to crowded movie theaters.If you are always running late, sit down with a pencil and paper and see how you are actually allotting your time.You may be able to solve your problem(and destress your life a bit)just by being realistic.If you can’t find the time for all the activities that are important to you, maybe you are trying to do too much.Again, make a list of what you do during the day and how much each activity takes.Then cut back.Avoid predictably stressful situations.If a certain sport or game makes you tense(whether it’s tennis or bridge), decline the invitation to play.After all, the point of these activities is to have a good time.If you know you won’t, there’s no reason to play.If you can’t remove the stress,remove yourself.Slip away once in a while for some private time.These quiet moments may give you a fresh perspective on your problems.Competing with others,whether in accomplishments, appearance, or possessions, is an avoidable source of stress.You might know people who do all they can to provoke envy in others.While it may seem easy to say you should be satisfied with what you have, it’s the truth.Stress from this kind of jealousy is self’inflicted.Labor-saving devices, such as cell phones or internet, often encourage us to cram too many activities into each day.Before you buy new equipment, be sure that it will really improve your life.Be aware that taking care of equipment and getting it repaired can be stressful.Try doing only one thing at a time.For example, when you’re riding your exercise bike, you don’t have to listen to the radio or watch television.Remember, sometimes it’s okay to do nothing.If you feel stress(or anything else)is getting the better of you, seek professional help—a doctor or psychologist.Early signs of excess stress are loss of a sense of well-being and reluctance to get up in the morning to face another day.篇二：高中生英語美文

Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work.There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eyes.I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours, the afternoon sun is too warm for it.Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard.I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers.I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditches would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers.Everyday I drove past the flowers thinking, “I'll stop on my way home and dig them.”

“Gee, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty...” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them.My husband even gave me a folding shovel one year for my trunk to be used for that expressed purpose.One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had mowed the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone.I thought to myself, “Way to go, you waited too long.You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.” A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a terminal brain tumor.She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven’t been as close as we all would have liked.I couldn’t help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us.I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.篇三：高中生英語美文

It may seem an exaggeration to say that ambition is the drive of society, holding many of its different elements together, but it is not an exaggeration by much.Remove ambition and the essential elements of society seem to fly apart.Ambition is intimately connected with family, for men and women not only work partly for their families;husbands and wives are often ambitious for each other, but harbor some of their most ardent ambitions for their children.Yet to have a family nowadays—with birth control readily available, and inflation a good economic argument against having children—is nearly an expression of ambition in itself.Finally,though ambition was once the domain chiefly of monarchs and aristocrats, it has, in more recent times,increasingly become the domain of the middle classes.Ambition and futurity—a sense of building for tomorrow—are inextricable.Working, saving, planning—these, the daily aspects of ambition —have always been the distinguishing marks of a rising middle class.The attack against ambition is not incidentally an attack on the middle class and what it stands for.Like it or not, the middle class has done much of society’s work in America;and it, the middle class, has from the beginning run on ambition.It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition.It would probably be a kinder world:without demands, without abrasions,without disappointments.People would have time for reflection.Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity.Competition would never enter in.Conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past.The stress of creation would be at an end.Art would no longer be troubling, but purely entertaining in its functions.The family would become superfluous as a social unit, with all its former power for bringing about neurosis drained away.Life span would be expanded, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by overwork.Anxiety would be extinct.Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.Ah, how unbearably boring life would be!