高二下英语课文

Words and their storiesEAGER BEA VER An eager beaver is a person who is always willing to do and is excited about doing what is expected of him.Suppose, for example, that a teacher tells his students they each must solve one hundred math problems before coming to school the next day. The children complain about so much homework. But one student does not protest at all. That student is an eager beaver. He loves to do math problems, and does not mind all the homework.The expression is said to have come from the name of a hard-working animal---the beaver.Beavers are strange-looking creatures. They spend a lot of time in the water, building dams to create little lakes or ponds. They use their huge teeth and work hard to cut down trees, remove branches and put them across streams. They use their tails to pack mud on the branches to make the dams solid. Few other animals work so hard.Historians say the beaver had an important part in the settlement of North America.There were hundreds of millions of beavers when European settlers first arrived. The settlers put great value on the fur of beavers. In fact, for two hundred years or more, beavers provided the most valuable fur in North America. Beaver skins often used as money.Young men looking for adventure headed west across the country to search for beavers. In their search, they explored much of the western territories. The trading posts, where they exchanged beaver skins for the goods they needed, became villages, and later towns and cities.IT’S IN THE BAG Th e bag---one of the simplest and most useful things in every man or woman’s life---has given the world many strange expressions that are not very simple. A number of these expressions are widely used in the United States today. Some were imported from England a long time ago.When you are sure of something, you can say, “It’s in the bag.”This phrase seemed to have arrived with the modern paper bag. Before, Americans used to say, “It’s all wrapped up.” Then, things you bought were wrapped in plain brown paper, or sometimes in old newspaper.Another widely used expressions is “to let the cat out of the bag”, meaning to reveal a well-kept secret.No one can explain how the cat got into the bag, or why it remained there. But there is an old story about it. Long ago tradesman sold things in large cloth bags. Once a woman asked for a pig. The tradesman held up his cloth bag. Inside there was supposed to be a live pig. The woman asked to see it. When the dishonest tradesman opened the bag, out jumped a squealing cat, not a pig. The tradesman’s secret was out: he was tricky, and now everybody knew it. Tips on making a public speechIt is interesting to note that speeches are always “given” or “delivered”. They are never “said”. When giving a speech, therefore, it is useful to think of yourself as playing a part, i.e. acting. This kind of acting calls for an integration of verbal and nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication chiefly involves the speaker’s stance and gestures, the eye contact between the speaker and the audience, and a good control of the presentation speed of talking/speaking.STANCE This is important to the delivery of a good speech. Stand up straight and keep your head up. Dropping your head looks unprofessional and may prevent your audience from hearing you clearly. On the other hand, don’t stand like a guard on duty. You have to be able to move in a natural way in order to add expression to your words. Body language “says” a lot. Avoid holding your hands tightly together; this will interfere w ith free and natural movement. Don’t play with keys or coins in your pocket; this will distract your audience.GESTURES Gestures and facial expressions are both important aids to the spoken word when you are communicating. A dull, long speech delivered without expression, without gestures or eye contact will not be well received. The skill is in deciding how much gesturing to be employed and in making sure that your gestures are natural.In general, the larger the audience, the more expansive the gestures should be, because they will not be seen so clearly by the audience. In a small group, facial expressions will add a lot to understanding. Try telling somebodysomething funny with a very serious face. They will have difficulty believing what you are really saying is funny.Different gestures are supposed to be used in delivering a speech. Some people use their hands a lot when speaking. You must make sure that your gestures are not repeated too often, and they should be expressive and meaningful.EYE CONTACT To have maximum impact you need to make each member of your audience fell as if you were speaking to them personally. To do this, glance towards all sections of the audience and don’t be afraid to move your head. If you favour one direction, the other side may feel you are ignoring them and therefore lose interest in what you are saying.TIMING Accurate timing is essential. You should ensure that you don’t fall short of or run over the time allowed for your speech. Either way, the audience will feel unhappy and lose concentration on your speech. The best way to overcome this is through preparation. Clear thinking about what you want to say and how long your speech will last, before you start to write it, will save a lot of time. When practising, make sure that you speak at the correct speed and do time yourself.Making friendsJamie was like a magnet---she always had a crowd around her. She wasn’t especially pretty, and she wasn’t particularly good at sports. But she was one of the most popular students at school. Everyone loved her!Why? What was it about Jamie that made everyone notice her? If her looks and her talents weren’t anything to show off, what did she have going for her?Here it is---short and simple---Jamie had learned the secret of how to make friends and keep them. Her secret is: Be nice to others! Jamie was kind and genuinely cared about others: people responded by wanting to be around her.Going along with this big secret of making friends are a few additional suggestions:SMILING SUGGESTS CONFIDENCE There is something fascinating about someone who smiles a lot. We are automatically drawn to someone who is happy. Wearing a smile usually implies the person behind it is approachable. An approachable person makes others feel at ease and comfortable.Smiles also convey confidence, which is really important when making friends. You don’t have to actually feel confident to smile, but when you do, people will think you are. Furthermore, the more you smile, the more natural your smile will be. You’ll gain confidence from smiling!LEARN TO LISTEN AND TALK Everyone wants to talk. We all have a story to tell. Each of us enjoys having someone listen to what we say. It makes us feel important when someone is truly interested in what we’re saying.When other people find out you are willing to listen, they will be talking to you! When someone is talking to you, zero in 100 per cent on that person. Don’t pretend to listen but really think about something else. That won’t work in making friends.Meanwhile, don’t put the burden of the entire conversation on someone else. You’ve got to do your part, too. It is learning when to talk that is important. Try not to talk just to hear yourself talking; no one else can get a word in.Everyone should learn to give and take in any relationship. Learn to move from being the centre of attention to focusing on the needs of others. Modesty is extremely attractive.TRY TO ADD V ALUE TO THOSE AROUND YOU People light up when you recognize something they do well and let them know. It only takes a minute to give someone a compliment or to notice what gifts a person has. It automatically adds value to how they see themselves. Try to be the kind of person who’s always seeing the positive qualities in others. Don’t tear someone down.AdjoHow the years have rushed by! It has been a long time since I knew Marget Swenson. I was a child when I knew her, and now I myself have children. The mind loses many things as it matures, but I never lost Marget---my first love and first hurt.I met Marget Swenson when she joined our sixth-grade class.Marget, just fresh from Sweden, and I, a sixth generation American. She spoke very little English, but somehow we did manage to understand each other. We took to each other instantly.Marget lived up on the hill. That was the place where there were many large and pretty houses. I suppose it was only in passing that I knew only white people lived there.We had so much fun together. We sat for hours in my garden or hers, surrounded by grass. Her words were Swedish; mine, English. We laughed at the way each of us slid our tongues over the unfamiliar words. I learned the Swedish equivalents of hello, friend, and goodbye.However, such fun did not last long, and the disaster began at Marget’s birthday party.It was a Wednesday. I arrived at the party early. Marget and I ran around quickly, putting the finishing touches on the decorations.Some fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang, and in came Mary, another girl in our class.But after that nobody came. No one.When it got to be after five, Mrs Swenson called Marget inside. She was there for a long time, and when she came out, she looked very, very sad. “My mother does not think they are coming,” she said.“Why not?” Mary blurted.Marget cast a quick glance at me, but she didn’t say anything.I took Marget’s hand. “It’s me, isn’t it?” I said. Oh! I remember so painfully today how much I wanted her quick and positive “No!” to my question. But I was only aware of Marget trying to slip her hand from mine. I opened my hand and let her go.It was different between us after her birthday. Marget stopped coming to my house, and when I asked her when she would, she looked as though she would cry.One day, uninvited, I went to her house, climbed up the hill, and a restless feeling grew within me at every step.Marget almost jumped when she opened the door. She stared at me in shock. Then, quickly, in a voice I’d never heard before, she said, “My mother says you can’t come to my house any more.”I opened my mouth, and closed it without speaking. The awful thing had come; my suspicion was confirmed; Marget was white and I was not. I did know it deep within myself.Since that meeting Marget and I did not speak to each other at all.On the last day of school, getting up a strange courage, I handed my autograph book to Marget. She hesitated, then without looking up, wrote words I don’t remember now; they were quite common words, the kind everyone was writing in everyone else’s book. I waited. Slowly, she passed her book to me and in it I wrote with a slow, firm hand some of the words she had taught me. I wrote Adjo min van---Goodbye, my friend. I released her, let her go, told her not to worry, told her that I no longer needed her. Adjo.The father of modern physicsAlbert Einstein was born of Jewish parents in 1879 in Germany. He did badly in most subjects at school, but was fascinated by mathematics, which he did quite well. When he was fifteen, his family moved to Italy, and from there he went to Switzerland to attend a polytechnic school.After gaining a teaching qualification from the polytechnic, Einstein took a post as a junior clerk in an office. Einstein was happy to get such an easy job, because it gave him plenty of time to think about physics. It was the “thought experiments” that he carried out in his head that led to a new understanding of space, time and gravity(引力).In 1905, when he was twenty-six years old, Einstein began to publish his thoughts. One of his theories provided an explanation for a puzzling effect, called the photoelectric effect(光电效应), which had been noticed some years earlier. It was in 1921 that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect.In 1914, Einstein became a professor of physics at the University of Berlin and all went well until Hitler came to power in 1933. Einstein, who was Jewish, spoke out against Nazi crimes. As a result, he had to leave Germany and spent the rest of his life teaching in the United States at Princeton University.In the long course of research, Einstein developed his theories of relativity. These theories were so different and new that most scientists could do not believe or understand them, and it took a long time for them to be accepted.Einstein’s theories also predicted that solid objects can be changed into pure energy. This did lead to the development of nuclear power(核能) and the atomic bomb(原子弹). However, Einstein himself protested against nuclear weapons, and became involved in the peace movement after the First World War.Einstein passed away in 1955 at the age of seventy-six. What he left behind is a wealth of ideas that form the foundation of modern physics today.Apart from his scientific work, Einstein found much pleasure in simple pastimes. Among his hobbies were sailing and playing the violin. Besides, he loved the company of children.Although he was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, Einstein did not take himself seriously. Once, when asked to enter a newspaper competition to write an article explaining how light is bent by gravity, he joked that the competition was much too difficult for him to enter.Miracle in the rice fieldIt is said that every scientist has a childhood dream for his or her future success. For Yuan Longpin, known as the “father of hybrid rice(杂交水稻)”, the dream is that he cultivates rice as huge as peanuts, and farmers can have a rest in the cool shadow of big rice plants.Yuan Longpin was born into a poor family in 1931. Upon graduating from the Southwestern Agricultural College(西南农业学院) in 1953, he began his teaching career at an agriculture school and has since devoted himself to agricultural education and research.He came up with the idea of hybrid rice for the first time in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, he succeeded in developing the world’s first high-yield hybrid rice. Of great importance is his pioneering work, which has established China’s position of world leadership in this area.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO)(联合国粮食与农业组织) has decided to get involved in the work of spreading the coverage of Yuan’s high-yield hybrid rice, which it considers the best way to increase the world’s grain output.In the following years, increasing grain output of hybrid rice further sho wed the success of Yuan Longpin’s research. This made him firmly believe that China can surely feed her large population with her limited cultivated land.This breakthrough in rice cultivation has significantly contributed to solving the food problem in China and the rest of the world. Yuan’s amazing achievement has won him a great many awards and honours from the United Nations and worldwide.However, even with such a great achievement, Yuan won’t take a break. In his mind there always exist a dream, more practical than that of his youth, that popularizing the new hybrid rice with higher yields around the world can eliminate starvation on Earth. “If the new hybrid rice were grown in the world’s remaining fields, the present grain output around the world wou ld be more than doubled. This can solve the grain shortage,” said the scientist.Some people estimate Yuan’s actual fortune might make him one of the richest people in China. But he doesn’t know for sure himself, for he seems to care for nothing more than his research.In spite of his busy research work, Yuan Longpin has managed to keep some hobbies in his spare time, including reading books and listening to music. He enjoys daily motor cycling and sometimes playing the violin.Oliver wants more (Adapted from Oliver Twist Charles Dickens)Life in the workhouse was very severe indeed. The member of the board of management had ruled that the children should work to earn their living, and that they should be given three meals of thin soup a day, with an onion twice a week and half a cake on Sundays.The room, in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a huge pot at one end. Out of this, the master,assisted by one or two women, served out the soup at mealtimes. Each boy had one small bowl, and nothing more---except on public holidays, when he had a small piece of bread as well. Never ever did the bowls need washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation, they would sit staring at the huge pot, as if they could have eaten that, too.Oliver Twist and his companions suffered terrible hunger in silence for three months; so desperate did they become in the end that one boy, who was tall for his age, told the others that unless he had another bowl of soup every day, he was afraid he might some night eat the boy who slept next to him. He had a wild, hungry eye, and they fully believed him. A council was held; votes were cast, and it fell to Oliver Twist to walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more.The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook’s uniform, stood beside the huge pot with his two assistants behind him; the soup was served out. It quickly disappeared; the boys whispered to each other, and made signs to Oliver. He rose from the table and, advancing to the master, bowl in hand, said.“Please, sir, I want some more.”The master was a fat, healthy man; but the turned very pale. He stared with horror and amazement at the small boy for some seconds.“What!” he said finally in a faint voice.“Please, sir,” replied Oliver, “I want some more.”The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with his big spoon, seized him tightly in his arms, and shouted for Mr. Bumble.Mr. Bumble, hearing the cry and learning the cause of it, rushed into the room where members of the board were meeting and, addressing the gentleman at the head of the table, said, “Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more.”There was a general alarm. Horror showed on every face.“For more!” said Mr. Limbkins. “Be calm, Mr. Bumble, and answer me clearly. Do you mean to say that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper given by the board?”“He did, sir,” replied Bumble.“That boy will be hanged,” said one of the gentlemen on the board. “I know that boy will be hanged one day.”Oliver was locked up at once. Next morning a notice was put up on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist away from the workhouse.Is she guilty? (Adapted from The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain)By a twist of fate, Tom, a pauper, was mistaken for Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales. Since he looked very much like the prince, his true identity went hidden. So when Edw ard’s father died, Tom was made the new “king”.One day, a terrified woman and her little girl were brought before Tom. He ordered the sheriff to state the crime they had committed.“Your majesty, they must have been practising witchcraft.”Tom had been taught to hate people who practised witchcraft. Still, to satisfy his curiosity, he asked:“Where and when was this committed?”“One midnight, in December---in a ruined church, your majesty.”“Who was present?”“Only these two, your majesty.”“Have they confessed?”“No, they deny it.”“Then how was this crime known?”“Certain witness saw them there, your majesty, and this should be enough to prove that they are guilty. Thencame a terrible storm. It is evident that they used their evil power to bring about the storm. About forty people witnessed the storm and had every reason to remember it, for they suffered from it. They should not have made all these people suffer so much.”“This sounds very serious indeed.” Tom thought about this information for a while, and then he asked: “Did this woman also suffer from the storm?”Several old heads among the group nodded. They recognized the wisdom of this question.The sheriff answered, “Indeed she did, your majesty. Her house was swept away and she and her child are now homeless.”“How did they bring about the storm?” asked Tom.“By pulling off their stocking, your majesty.”This astonished Tom and made him more curious than ever. He said, eagerly:“That is wonderful! Has it always this disastrous effect?”“Always---at least when the woman desires it and says the right words, either in her mind or with her tongue.”Tom turned to the woman, and ordered her:“Exert your power. I wish to see a storm!”In the group, cheeks went pale suddenly. There was a general, though unexpressed, desire to get out of the place. The woman looked puzzled and astonished.Tom added excitedly, “Do not fear, you shall not be punished. More t han that, you shall go free. Exert your power.”“Oh, my king, I do not have such power. I have been falsely accused. I should not have been brought here at all.”“Take courage. No harm will come to you. Make a storm, it does not matter how small a storm. D o this, and your life shall be spared; you and your child will go free.”The woman bent herself down to the ground, and protested with tears, that she had no power to do the miracle or else she would gladly save her child’s life alone even if she lost her own.Finally, Tom said:“I think what the woman says is the truth. If my mother had been in her place and gifted with this power, she would not have hesitated to call her storms and lay the whole land in ruins to save my life. it is true that all mothers are the same. You are free, good woman, you and your child, for I believe you are innocent. Go your way in peace.”。