08级

Unit I

1-1   Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor.
1-2   "We are slaves to nothing but the clock," it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost real. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious resource. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.

1-3   A foreigner's first impression of the US is likely to be that everyone is in a rush—often under pressure. City people always appear to be hurrying to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, or elbowing others as they try to complete their shopping. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they, too, can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. You also find drivers will be abrupt and people will push past you. You will miss smiles, brief conversations, and small exchanges with strangers. Don't take it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else "wasting" it beyond a certain appropriate point.

1-4   Many new arrivals in the States will miss the opening exchanges of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual interaction that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be a convention in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a restaurant or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over extended small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly. Time is, therefore, always ticking in our inner ear.

1-5   Consequently, we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through faxes, phone calls or emails rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longer—especially given our traffic-filled streets. We, therefore, save most personal visiting for after-work hours or for social weekend gatherings.
1-6   To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relation to the significance of the matter at hand. In some countries no major business is conducted without eye contact, requiring face-to-face conversation. In America, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in person. However, people are meeting increasingly on television screens, conducting "teleconferences" to settle problems not only in this country but also—by satellite—internationally.

1-7   The US is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chat with friends, to make or break social appointments, to say "Thank you", to shop and to obtain all kinds of information. Telephones save the feet and endless amounts of time. This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is superb here, whereas the postal service is less efficient.
1-8   Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are, consequently, given added weight by the passage of time. In the US, however, it is taken as a sign of skillfulness or being competent to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with speed.
Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to "get it moving".

1-1 What precious resource do Americans value?
1-2 What is considered to be a waste of time in the US?
1-3 What do you think of time-conscious Americans?

Unit II2-1   Nikolai Petrovich Anikin was not half as intimidating as I had imagined he would be. No, this surely was not the ex-Soviet coach my father had shipped me out to meet.
2-2   But Nikolai he was, Petrovich and all. He invited me inside and sat down on the couch, patting the blanket next to him to get me to sit next to him. I was so nervous in his presence.
3   "You are young," he began in his Russian-style English. "If you like to try for Olympic Games, I guess you will be able to do this. Nagano Olympics too soon for you, but for 2002 in Salt Lake City, you could be ready."

2-4    "Yes, why not?" he replied to the shocked look on my face. I was a promising amateur skier, but by no means the top skier in the country. "Of course, there will be many hard training sessions, and you will cry, but you will improve."
2-5   To be sure, there were countless training sessions full of pain and more than a few tears, but in the five years that followed I could always count on being encouraged by Nikolai's amusing stories and sense of humor.
2-6   "My friends, they go in the movies, they go in the dance, they go out with girls," he would start. "But I," he would continue, lowering his voice, "I am practice, practice, practice in the stadium. And by the next year, I had cut 1-1/2 minutes off my time in the 15-kilometer race!

2-7   "My friends asked me, 'Nikolai, how did you do it?' And I replied, 'You go in the movies, you go in the dance, you go out with girls, but I am practice, practice, practice.' "
2-8   Here the story usually ended, but on one occasion, which we later learned was his 25th wedding anniversary, he stood proudly in a worn woolen sweater and smiled and whispered, "And I tell you, I am 26 years old before I ever kiss a girl! She was the woman I later marry."
2-9   Romantic and otherwise, Nikolai knew love. His consistent good humor, quiet gratitude, perceptivity, and sincerity set an Olympic standard for love that I continue to reach for, even though my skiing days are over.

2-10  Still, he never babied me. One February day I had a massive headache and felt quite fatigued. I came upon him in a clearing, and after approximately 15 minutes of striding into the cold breeze over the white powder to catch him, I fussed, "Oh, Nikolai, I feel like I am going to die."
2-11 "When you are a hundred years old, everybody dies," he said, indifferent to my pain. "But now," he continued firmly. "Now must be ski, ski, ski."
2-12  And, on skis, I did what he said. On other matters, though, I was rebellious. Once, he packed 10 of us into a Finnish bachelor's> tiny home for a low-budget ski camp. We awoke the first morning to find Nikolai making breakfast and then made quick work with our spoons while sitting on makeshift chairs around a tiny card table. When we were finished, Nikolai stacked the sticky bowls in front of my sole female teammate and me, asserting, "Now, girls do dishes!"

2-13  I threw my napkin on the floor and swore at him, "Ask the damn boys! This is unfair." He never asked this of me again, nor did he take much notice of my outburst. He saved his passion for skiing.
2-14  When coaching, he would sing out his instructions keeping rhythm with our stride: "Yes, yes, one-two-three, one-two-three." A dear lady friend of my grandfather, after viewing a copy of a video of me training with Nikolai, asked, "Does he also teach dance?"
2-15  In training, I worked without rest to correct mistakes that Nikolai pointed out and I asked after each pass if it was better.
2-16  "Yes, it's OK. But the faster knee down, the better."
2-17  "But is it fast enough?" I'd persist.
2-18  Finally he would frown and say, "Billion times you make motion — then be perfect," reminding me in an I've-told-you-a-billion-times tone, "You must be patient."

2-19  Nikolai's patience and my hard work earned me a fourth-place national ranking heading into the pre-Olympic season, <p29>but then I missed the cut for the 2002 Olympics.
2-20  Last summer, I returned to visit Nikolai. He made me tea... and did the dishes! We talked while sitting on his couch. Missing the Olympic Team the previous year had made me pause and reflect on what I had gained—not the least of which was a quiet, indissoluble bond with a short man in a tropical shirt.
2-21  Nikolai taught me to have the courage, heart, and discipline to persist, even if it takes a billion tries. He taught me to be thankful in advance for a century of life on earth, and to remind myself every day that despite the challenges at hand, "Now must be love, love, love."

2-1. Who does the speaker often think of when she thinks back?
2-2. What are the two things that her coach thought and inspired her?
2-3. Who had the biggest influence on you? And in what way?

Unit IX4-1   Six minutes to six, said the digital clock over the information desk in Grand Central Station. John Blandford, a tall young army officer, focused his eyesight on the clock to note the exact time. In six minutes he would see the woman who had filled a special place in his life for the past thirteen months, a woman he had never seen, yet whose written words had been with him and had given him strength without fail.
4-2   Soon after he volunteered for military service, he had received a book from this woman. A letter, which wished him courage and safety, came with the book. He discovered that many of his friends, also in the army, had received the identical book from the woman, Hollis Meynell. And while they all got strength from it, and appreciated her support of their cause, John Blandford was the only person to write Ms. Meynell back. On the day of his departure, to a destination overseas where he would fight in the war, he received her reply. Aboard the cargo ship that was taking him into enemy territory, he stood on the deck and read her letter to him again and again.

4-3   For thirteen months, she had faithfully written to him. When his letters did not arrive, she wrote anyway, without decrease. During the difficult days of war, her letters nourished him and gave him courage. As long as he received letters from her, he felt as though he could survive. After a short time, he believed he loved her, and she loved him. It was as if fate had brought them together.
4-4   But when he asked her for a photo, she <14>declined</14> his request. She explained her objection: "If your feelings for me have any reality, any honest basis, what I look like won't matter. Suppose I'm beautiful. I'd always be bothered by the feeling that you loved me for my beauty, and that kind of love would disgust me. Suppose I'm plain. Then I'd always fear you were writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else. Either way, I would forbid myself from loving you. When you come to New York and you see me, then you can make your decision. Remember, both of us are free to stop or to go on after that—if that's what we choose ..."

4-5   One minute to six ... Blandford's heart leaped.

4-6   A young woman was coming toward him, and he felt a connection with her right away. Her figure was long and thin, her spectacular golden hair lay back in curls from her small ears. Her eyes were blue flowers; her lips had a gentle firmness. In her fancy green suit she was like springtime come alive.

4-7   He started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she wasn't wearing a rose, and as he moved, a small, warm smile formed on her lips.
4-8   "Going my way, soldier?" she asked.
4-9   Uncontrollably, he made one step closer to her. Then he saw Hollis Meynell.
4-10  She was standing almost directly behind the girl, a woman well past forty, and a fossil to his young eyes, her hair sporting patches of gray. She was more than fat; her thick legs shook as they moved. But she wore a red rose on her brown coat.
4-11  The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away and soon vanished into the fog. Blandford felt as though his heart was being compressed into a small cement ball, so strong was his desire to follow the girl, yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and brought warmth to his own; and there she stood. Her pale, fat face was gentle and intelligent; he could see that now. Her gray eyes had a warm, kindly look.

4-12  Blandford resisted the urge to follow the younger woman, though it was not easy to do so. His fingers held the book she had sent to him before he went off to the war, which was to identify him to Hollis Meynell. This would not be love. However, it would be something precious, something perhaps even less common than love—a friendship for which he had been, and would always be, thankful.
13  He held the book out toward the woman.
14  "I'm John Blandford, and you—you are Ms. Meynell. I'm so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?" The woman smiled. "I don't know what this is all about, son," she answered. "That young lady in the green suit—the one who just went by—begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you that she's waiting for you in that big restaurant near the highway. She said it was some kind of a test."

4-1. What is the young soldier doing in the speaker’s story?
4-2. What kind of ending do the speaker’s stories tend to have?
4-3. What does love mean to you?

Unit VII7-1   If you often feel angry and overwhelmed, like the stress in your life is spinning out of control, then you may be hurting your heart.
7-2   If you don't want to break your own heart, you need to learn to take charge of your life where you can—and recognize there are many things beyond your control.
7-3   So says Dr. Robert S. Eliot, author of a new book titled From Stress to Strength: How to Lighten Your Load and Save Your Life. He's a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Nebraska.
7-4   Eliot says there are people in this world that he calls "hot reactors". For these people, being tense may cause tremendous and rapid increases in their blood pressure.

7-5   Eliot says researchers have found that stressed people have higher cholesterol levels, among other things. "We've done years of work in showing that excess alarm or stress chemicals can literally burst heart muscle fibers. When that happens it happens very quickly, within five minutes. It creates many short circuits, and that causes crazy heart rhythms. The heart beats like a bag of worms instead of a pump. And when that happens, we can't live."
7-6   Eliot, 64, suffered a heart attack at age 44. He attributes some of the cause to stress. For years he was a "hot reactor". On the exterior, he was cool, calm and collected, but on the interior, stress was killing him. He's now doing very well.

7-7    The main predictors of destructive levels of stress are the FUD factors—fear, uncertainty and doubt—together with perceived lack of control, he says.
7-8    For many people, the root of their stress is anger, and the trick is to find out where the anger is coming from. "Does the anger come from a feeling that everything must be perfect?" Eliot asks.
7-9   "That's very common in professional women. They feel they have to be all things to all people and do it all perfectly. They think, 'I should, I must, I have to.' Good enough is never good enough. Perfectionists cannot delegate. They get angry that they have to carry it all, and they blow their tops. Then they feel guilty and they start the whole cycle over again."

7-10  "Others are angry because they have no compass in life. And they give the same emphasis to a traffic jam that they give a family argument," he says. "If you are angry for more than five minutes—if you stir the anger within you and let it build with no safety outlet—you have to find out where it's coming from."
7-11  "What happens is that the hotter people get, physiologically, with mental stress, the more likely they are to blow apart with some heart problem."
7-12  One step to calming down is to recognize you have this tendency.
Learn to be less hostile by changing some of your attitudes and negative thinking.

7-13  Eliot recommends taking charge of your life. "If there is one word that should be substituted for stress, it's control. Instead of the FUD factors, what you want is the NICE factors—new, interesting, challenging experiences."
7-14  You have to decide what parts of your life you can control," he says. "Stop where you are on your trail and say, 'I'm going to get my compass out and find out what I need to do.'"
7-15  He suggests that people write down the six things in their lives that they feel are the most important things they'd like to achieve. Ben Franklin did it at age 32. "He wrote down things like being a better father, being a better husband, being financially independent, being stimulated intellectually and remaining even-tempered—he wasn't good at that."

7-16  Eliot says you can first make a list of 12 things, <p25>then cut it down to 6 and set your priorities. "Don't give yourself impossible things, but things that will affect your identity, control and self-worth."
7-17  "Put them on a note card and take it with you and look at it when you need to. Since we can't create a 26-hour day we have to decide what things we're going to do."
7-18  Keep in mind that over time these priorities are going to change.
"The kids grow up, the dog dies and you change your priorities."
7-19  From Eliot's viewpoint, the other key to controlling stress is to "realize that there are other troublesome parts of your life over which you can have little or no control—like the economy and politicians".
20  You have to realize that sometimes with things like traffic jams, deadlines and unpleasant bosses, "You can't fight. You can't flee. You have to learn how to flow."
7-1. What causes stress?
7-2. What are the NICE factors?
7-3. What are the major causes of stress in your life?

Unit VIII8-1   It has often been remarked that the saddest thing about youth is that it is wasted on the young.
8-2   Reading a survey report on first-year college students, I recalled the regret, "If only I knew then what I know now."
8-3   The survey revealed what I had already suspected from informal polls of students both in Macon and at the Robins Resident Center: If it (whatever it may be) won't compute and you can't drink it, smoke it or spend it, then "it" holds little value.
8-4   According to the survey based on responses from over 188,000 students, today's college beginners are "more consumeristic and less idealistic" than at any time in the 17 years of the poll.

8-5   Not surprising in these hard times, the students' major objective "is to be financially well off". Less important than ever is developing a meaningful philosophy of life. Accordingly, today the most popular course is not literature or history but accounting.
8-6   Interest in teaching, social service and the humanities is at a low, along with ethnic and women's studies. On the other hand, enrollment in business programs, engineering and computer science is way up.
8-7   That's no surprise either. A friend of mine (a sales representative for a chemical company) was making twice the salary of college instructors during her first year on the job—even before she completed her two-year associate degree.
8-8   "I'll tell them what they can do with their music, history, literature, etc.," she was fond of saying. And that was four years ago; <p9>I tremble to think what she's earning now.

8-9   Frankly, I'm proud of the young lady (not her attitude but her success). But why can't we have it both ways? Can't we educate people for life as well as for a career? I believe we can.
8-10   If we cannot, then that is a conviction against our educational system—kindergarten, elementary, secondary and higher. In a time of increasing specialization, more than ever, we need to know what is truly important in life.
8-11  This is where age and maturity enter. Most people, somewhere between the ages of 30 and 50, finally arrive at the inevitable conclusion that they were meant to do more than serve a corporation, a government agency, or whatever.
8-12  Most of us finally have the insight that quality of life is not entirely determined by a balance sheet. Sure, everyone wants to be financially comfortable, but we also want to feel we have a perspective on the world beyond the confines of our occupation; we want to be able to render service to our fellow men and to our God.

8-13  If it is a fact that the meaning of life does not dawn until middle age, is it then not the duty of educational institutions to prepare the way for that revelation? Most people, in their youth, resent the Social Security deductions from their pay, yet a seemingly few short years later find themselves standing anxiously by the mailbox.
8-14  While it's true all of us need a career, preferably a prosperous one, it is equally true that our civilization has collected an incredible amount of knowledge in fields far removed from our own. And we are better for our understanding of these other contributions—be they scientific or artistic. It is equally true that, in studying the diverse wisdom of others, we learn how to think. More importantly, perhaps, education teaches us to see the connections between things, as well as to see beyond our immediate needs.

8-15  Weekly we read of unions that went on strike for higher wages, only to drive their employer out of business. No company, no job. How short-sighted in the long run.
8-16  But the most important argument for a broad education is that in studying the accumulated wisdom of the ages, we improve our moral sense. I saw a cartoon recently which depicts a group of businessmen looking puzzled as they sit around a conference table; one of them is talking on the intercom: "Miss Baxter," he says, "could you please send in someone who can distinguish right from wrong?"

8-17  In the long run that's what education really ought to be about. I think it can be. My college roommate, now head of a large shipping company in New York, not surprisingly was a business major. But he also hosted a classical music show on the college's FM station and listened to Wagner as he studied his accounting.
8-18  That's the way it should be. Oscar Wilde had it right when he said we ought to give our ability to our work but our genius to our lives.
8-19  Let's hope our educators answer students' cries for career education, but at the same time let's ensure that students are prepared for the day when they realize their short-sightedness. There's a lot more to life than a job.

8-1 What do we usually neglect in life?
8-2 What is the meaning of life according to the passage?
8-3 How do you understand the meaning of life?

Topics of Spoken English Test For 1st Grade

1. Say something about how to build up a good relationship with your roommates?
2. What’s your idea about friendship?
3. Talk about the most important thing/ interesting thing or the greatest happiness in your childhood
4. What can you do for environmental protection in daily life?
5. Are you willing to take risks for the welfare of others? Why or Why not?
6. Who do you turn to  when you have problems? Why or why not? 
7. Have you ever thought about volunteering your time for those who are in need    of help and for the welfare of society?
8. A place I like to travel to
9. My plan for summer vacation
10, What do you think is crucial for a happy marriage?
11. What do you think about surfing the Net?
12. Mobile phones are popular with teenagers. Do you think it’s a good thing? Why or why not?
13. Do you think technology makes our life easier and more enjoyable? Why do you think so?
14. Talk about a film/a soap opera you have seen
15. A friend of mine
16. How to keep yourselves healthy physically and mentally?
17. If you are finacially independent, will you choose to live with your parents or not? Why?
19. Do you think it is good for students to live off campus?
20. Do you think pressure is always a bad thing? Why or why not?
21. Do you think it a good habit to stay up late before an examination? (Why or why not?)
22. Where are you from, city or the countryside? which do you prefer, city life or country life? Why?
23. What are considered to be good manners in some public places?
24. Is developing public transportation a good way for environmental protection?