大学英语快速阅读教程(第一册第九单元)

Book OneUnit NinePassage OneDirections: You will have 10 minutes to read this passage quickly and answer the following questions from A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.It’s something to Live inKids have always loved to build tree houses and playhouse. Why should it be a surprise, then, that some grown-ups like to do the same kind of thing? All over America there are many kinds of houses that people built.Many of the people who built their houses knew nothing about building when they started. Maude Meager and Carolyn Smiley were such people. They moved to California when they were in their 50s and decided to build a house. They had never built anything, but they figured they could learn.Of course, they made mistakes along the way. But by trying, they learned how to do everything that had to be done. They made bricks by testing different mixtures of mud until they found a good, strong one. They cut 3,000 windowpanes (窗玻璃) from old car windshields (挡风玻璃). They fashioned nine fireplaces, all different. What they ended up with was a home about the size of eight average houses.In Fresno, California, lives a man named Baldasare Forestiere. When he came to America from Sicily, he got a job digging subway tunnels in Boston. So when he built himself a house, he built it underground. Each of the ninety rooms he built had a hole in its ceiling open to the sky above. And beneath each hole he planted a fruit tree.There is a stone castle in Arizona that was built by one man. There are used auto parts, refrigerator plates, and broken tiles (碎瓦片) in the walls among the stones. The builder’s name was Boyce Gulley. He had promised his daughter that someday she would have a castle. When he died in 1945, she saw it for the first time. Today it is her home.Fred Burns built his house on the water in Belfast, Maine. He used driftwood (浮木), rusty nails, and leftover paint. He built it a little at a time until became a drifting, colorful house. He lives in his work of art with his ten dogs.David Brown built a house of bottles in British Columbia, Canada. He collected bottles from all his friends and cemented them together into thick walls. He figured half a million bottles went into his house. When he died, his son went right on building. Now there is even a bridge built of bottles in the yard.In the mountains of New York, Clarence Schmidt set out to build himself a log cabin（小木屋）. When it was fit to live in, Schmidt found that he couldn’t stop buildi ng. He kept adding to his house. Finally he had a seven-storey house with many rooms. All around the grounds Schmidt placed useless or old things that were interesting to him. Some of this he wrapped in tin foil (锡纸) so it would reflect the light. He painted some of his windows to look like stained glass. Schmidt’s neighbors weren’t happy with his house and his useless things. A fire burned that house down, the work of someone who didn’t understand him.Handmade houses are not always easy to find. The people who build them are often thought strange. Sometimes they hide themselves away. Jan Wampler, a teacher of architecture in Cambridge, Massachusetts, set out to find people who had put together their own houses. His book All Their Own: People and the Places They Build shows many such houses, some of which you have read about here.Wampler believes that what these “strange” people have done is what more people need to do. It feels good to put something of yourself into the walls around you. If you’re not allowed even to pound nails into those walls, you are being robbed. As an architect, Wampler would like to see people take part in the design of their homes. He would like to see housing projects planned and even built by the people who will live in them. He thinks that, like the builders he found across the country, people would care more about their homes if they helped make them.(660 words) Questions1. Maude Meager and Carolyn Smiley cut 3,000 windowpanes from .A) trucks B) other houses C) old car windshields D) old building2. Baldasare Forestiere built his own house with __ ___ rooms underground.A) ninety B) fifty C) eighty D) forty3. Auto parts, refrigerator trays, and ________ were used into the walls of a stone castle inArizona by Boyce Gulley.A) the bottles B) broken tiles C) logs D) both A and C4. Who collected bottles from all his friends and cemented them together to build a house ofbottles in British Columbia, Canada?A) Boyce Gulley. B) Wampler. C) David Brown. D) Fred Burns.5.Who is Jan Wampler?A) An architect. B) A teacher. C) A writer. D) Both A and BNotes1. Cambridge坎布里奇(美国马萨诸塞州城市, 哈佛大学所在地)Passage TwoDirections: In this part,y ou will have 10 minutes to go over the passage quickly and decide questions 1-5 according to the passage. If it is true you fill “T” in the parenthesis, ifnot or false fill “F” in parenthesis before the sentence.How Psychic Development Can Benefit Your LifePsychic development (心理发展)—the ability of an individual to use one or more of their psychic abilities for achieving the results not to be explained beyond the standard. Psychic ability is also not to be explained by any known laws. But since the beginning of modern civilization, man has always known of the existence of these unique powers.Egypt, Greece and RomeMan’s desire to study psychic development is nothing new. Through the centuries of time, man has attempted to understand this unusual phenomenon. The ancient Egyptians were strong believers in these unseen forces and devoted centuries of study to understand, develop and control them. They used various psychic development techniques to help them better know these mysterious forces. The Egyptians used dream scrying (以水晶球推算吉凶), astrology (占星术) and meditation (沉思). They also accepted rebirth as a fact of life. The Egyptians had several religious cults（祭拜仪式）devoted to understanding these psychic forces on a deeper level.The Greeks and Romans also had a strong interest in what we now call psychic development. They believed that you could use this knowledge to help yourself lead a better life. There were even “Mystery Schools” in Greece and Rome devoted to nothing but learning about spiritual and psychic development. In these Mystery Schools, they studied the Tarot (占卜用的纸牌,共二十二张), Numerology (命理学), Astrology and other forms of divination (占卜). In fact, the word “psychic” finds its origin from the Greek word “psychikos” meaning “of the soul and mind”.Common Psychic ExperiencesPsychic development uses our god-given sixth senses and is inherent in all of us. Therefore, learning how to develop and unlock this power is possible for everyone. Psychic development involves the uncovering and developing of your already existing abilities. Many people don’t even realize when t hey’ve had a psychic experience!Here are some common psychic experiences one may have on a daily basis are:- Knowing who is calling before answering the phone- Having a feeling about something that later proves to be correct- Dreaming something that actually happens later- Understanding the hidden purpose behind things that happen- Understanding other people’s true feelings without them having to express them- Knowing what someone is going to say before they say itIf you have experienced one or more of these experiences, it indicates the presence of strong psychic powers within. It is important to realize the presence of these psychic powers and to learn how to develop them using psychic development techniques. Ignoring or denying your psychic ability due to fear and doubt is not the right thing to do.Psychic development has responsibilities that should not be feared but welcomed. These natural god-given abilities won’t go away, even if they are disregarded! They are natural gifts which should be explored and welcomed. Although the journey of discovery requires practice andpatience, the end results will examine your efforts. You can learn to know the mysteries of life and understand what others mistakenly call the “unknown”.The Benefit of MeditationWhen you begin to take your first steps towards psychic development, the key is to remain calm and focused. Meditation helps with this to a great extent. Meditation can be used as a process of shutting out all worldly thoughts and going within. At first, some people find it is difficult to get into the practice of meditation. But meditation is very beneficial to the body, mind and soul of an individual.There are several approaches one can use to get into a meditative state. While sitting upright, make yourself comfortable and keep your spine straight. Then try a few of the following exercises: - Breath naturally while focusing on nothing but your breathing- Sit in a dimly lit room and focus your attention on a candle flame- Focus on a mental image in your mind- Continuously repeat the mantra (颂歌) “Ohm” while relaxing your bodyIn order to make much more benefits of the psychic development process, practice one of the above meditation techniques at least twice a day for a least 10 minutes each time.What You Will GainPsychic development techniques will help you to tap into the abilities already within yourself. In addition to the attainment (成就) of a deep sense of relaxation (放松) and peace of mind, psychic development will help to build up a new sense of confidence in yourself.InsightBy working on psychic development, it will provide clearness, focus and a new sense of purpose in your life. You will come to recognize your potential talents and develop them, realizing that these powers can be used for success, prosperity and the benefit of others.(751 words) True or False( ) 1. Psychic development is the ability of an individual to use one or more of their psychic abilities for achieving unexplainable results beyond the norm.( ) 2. The ancient Egyptians used various psychic development techniques to help them better control these mysterious forces.( ) 3. The original meaning of “psychic” is from the Greek “psychikos”, which means “of the soul and mind”.( ) 4. Many peo ple have strong abilities to realize when they’ve had a psychic experience. ( ) 5. Psychic ability is a natural gift by God in this article.( ) 6. Meditation is a process of shutting out all worldly thoughts and going in one’s inner world.( ) 7. Many people find it is easy to get into the practice of meditation.( ) 8.The study of psychic development can help people to understand and control their behaviours.Passage ThreeDirection: In this part, you’ll have 15 minutes to go over the passa ge quickly and answer the questions followed. For questions 1-7, mark Y(for YES) if the statement agrees withthe information given in the passage. N(for NO) if the statement contradicts theinformation given in the passage; NG(for NOT GIVEN) if the information is notgiven in e passage three.Graffiti: Street Art—or Crime?On the face of it, as a society, we seem to be a little mixed-up when it comes to “graffiti”, as you call it i f you work in the local council’s cleansing department, or “street art” as you say if you’re the chap—and they do mainly seem to be blokes—wielding the spray can.But the confusion now runs deeper than those who spray and those who remove the paint. Great British institutions have been polarized. Last week the might of English law delivered its verdict (裁决) at Southwark Crown Court where five members of the DPM graffiti crew were jailed—one, Andrew Gillman, for two years—after admitting conspiracy to cause criminal damage costing the taxpayer at least £1m.By contrast, just down the road, the riverside façade (正面) of Tate Modern had been covered in giant murals (壁画) by six urban artists with international reputations,including Blu from Bologna, Faile from New York, and Sixeart from Barcelona, in the first display of street art at a major museum.The courtroom and the museum were so close that supporters of the men on trial popped down to the Tate to do a bit of retouching during one lunchtime adjournment. “There is a huge irony in the juxtaposition(并列)of the two events,” said on e of the artists.The man to credit for bringing street art into established gallery spaces is Banksy. A few years ago he was sneaking his work into galleries such as the Louvre and Tate Britain. Now Tate Modern is selling his book in its gift shop. His works go for hundreds of thousands of pounds and he was recently featured in a retrospective exhibition alongside Andy Warhol.“London is to street art, at the start of the 21st century, what Paris was for Impressionism at the start of the 20th,” he says with unfeigned immodesty. “And yet we hate graffiti more than anywhere else in the world. England is by far and away the most draconian for punishments for what are only economic crimes.”A gallery in New York launches an exhibition next week based on the work of those convicted at Southwark. “DPM—Exhibit A”, at the Anonymous Gallery Project in SoHo, will display large photographs of the convicts' work alongside copies of their charge sheets to ask whether the men are criminals or artists.It is a question which prompts different answers in different parts of the world, says Cedar Lewinsohn, the curator (馆长) of the exhibition at Tate Modern. “Brazil for instance is more relaxed about it,” he says. “In parts of Australia, they are like the UK and people really hate graffiti and tags on vans and trains, but in Melbourne van drivers compete with each other as to whose is more decorated.”Street art, you see, is a highly polarising phenomenon. On the one hand there are those like the American artist Elura Emerald who insist that “artists who paint on the street are merely expressing themselves, not hurting anyone” and should not be punished “but appreciated and celebrated”. Then there are those like Judge Christopher Hardy who, in court in Southwark, described the activities of the DPM Crew as “a wholesale self-indulgent campaign to damage property on an industrial scale”.How is such a dichotomy (对立) to be resolved?“I suppose the greater the cost of removing the graffiti, the greater the punishment should be, tho ugh not prison,” says Bob, a street artist. This is not a million miles from Judge Hardy's verdict on the two-year spree in which the DPM Crew staged 120 night-time attacks on stations, trains and railway rolling stock in London, Somerset, Liverpool, Manchester, Sunderland, Paris, Amsterdam and the Czech Republic.The judge had little patience with Gillman's notion that “trains were like a moving canvas(画布)” on which to create something artistic and thought-provoking that made “commuters look up from their paper”.Judge Hardy admitted that “it would be wrong of me not to acknowledge that some examples of your handiwork show considerable artistic talent”,but he concluded, “the trouble is that it is has been sprayed all over other people's property without their consent and that is simply vandalism.” Over the two years the bill must have run into millions of pounds.If art is defined by the artist's intent then vandalism must be determined by the response of the owner of the thing vandalised. Peterborough City Council recently tried to find a compromise. It erected two 8ft by 4ft boards to allow artists there to express themselves freely. The trouble was that they were pulled down by vandals.(760 words) Questions:( ) 1. If you work in the local council's cleansing department, you may take graffiti as a kind of art form.( ) 2. Five members of the DPM graffiti crew were put into prison.( ) 3. The man to credit for bringing street art into established gallery spaces is Banksy.( ) 4. The work of those convicted at Southwark depicts the scenery of Scotland.( ) 5. In Australia, people hate graffiti and tags very much.( ) 6. Street art is a highly polarising phenomenon.( ) 7. According to Judge Christopher Hardy, artists who paint on the street are merely expressing themselves, not hurting anyone.Fill in the blanks:8. London is to street art, at the start of the 21st century, what Paris was for ____________ at thestart of the 20th,9. A street artist, Bob, supposes the greater the cost of removing the graffiti, ___________, thoughnot prison.10. If art is defined by the artist's intent then vandalism must be determined by the response ofthose whose _________________.Notes1.On the face of it: 从表面上判断2. Southwark Crown Court:英国伦敦南华克区刑事法院3. Tate Modern: 泰特现代美术馆。