人教版高一英语课文

必修一 Unit1Anne’s Best FriendDo you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feeli ngs and thoughts? Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or wou ld not understand what you are going through? Anne Frank wanted the first kind , so she made her diary her best friend.Anne lived in Amsterdam in the Netherlands during World War Ⅱ. Her family was Jewish so nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During t hat time the only true friend was her diary. She said, ”I don’t want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.” Now read how sh e felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942.Thursday 15th June, 1944 Dear Kitty,I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so long that I’ve grown so crazy about everything to do with nature. I can well remember that there was a time when a deep blue sky, the song of the birds, moonlight and flo wers could never have kept me spellbound. That’s changed since I was here. …For example, one evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake on purpose unti l half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by my self. But as th e moon gave far too much light, I didn’t dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs a t dusk when the window was open. I didn’t go downstairs until the window bad to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wi nd, the thundering clouds held me entirely in their power; it was the first time in a year and a half that I’d seen the night face to face……Sadly …I am only able to look at nature through dirty curtains hanging before very dusty windows. It’s no pleasure looking through these any longer because nature is one thing that r eally must be experienced.Yours, AnneUnit2the Road to Modern EnglishAt the end of the 16th century, about five to seven million people spoke English . Nearly all of them lived in England. Later in the next century, people from Eng land made voyages to conquer other parts of the world, and because of that, Eng lish began to be spoken in many other countries. Today, more people speak Engl ish as their first, second or a foreign language than ever before.Native English speakers can understand each other even if they don’t speak the same kind of English. Look at this example: British Betty: Would y ou like to see my flat?American Amy: Yes. I’d like to come up to you apartment.So why has English changed over time? Actually all languages change and develop when cultures meet and communicate with each other. At fist the Englis h spoken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from t he English spoken today. It was base more on German than the English we spea k at present. Then gradually between about AD 500 and 1150, English became l ess like German because those who ruled England spoke first Danish and later F rench. These new settlers enriched the English language and especially its vocab ulary.So by the 1600’s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1 620 some British settlers moved to America. Later in the 18th century some Brit ish people were taken to Australia to. English began to be spoken in both countr ies.Finally by the 19th century the language was settled. At that time two big chan ges in English spelling happened: first Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary and later Noah Webster wrote The American Dictionary of the English language. T he latter gave a separate identity to American English spelling.English now is also spoken as a foreign or second language in South Asia. For example, India has a very large number of fluent English speakers because Brita in ruled India from 1765 to 1947. During that time English became the language for government and education. English is also spoken in Singapore and Malaysi a and countries in Africa such as South Africa. Today the number of people lear ning English in China is increasing rapidly. In fact, China may have the largest number of English learners. Will Chinese English develop its own identity? Onl y time will tell.Unit3Journey Down the MekongMy name is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I ha ve dreamed about taking a great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an expensi ve mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she visited o ur cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their college if Kunming. They are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other countries. Wang Wei soon g ot time interested in cycling too. After graduating from college, we finally got th e chance to take a bike trip. I asked my sister, “Where are we going?” It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from wh ere it begins to where it ends. Now she is planning our schedule for the trip.I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shortcoming. She can be really st ubborn. Although she didn’t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip p roperly. Now I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her, “When are we leaving and when are we coming back?” I asked her whether s he had looked at a map yet. Of course she hadn’t; my sister doesn’t care about details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Pr ovince. She gave me a determined look -- the kind that said she would not chan ge her mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of mor e than 5,000 meters, she seemed to be excited about it. When I told her the air w ould be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interes ting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in.Several months before our trip, Wang Wei and I went to the library. We found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atl as we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier to move quickly. It be comes rapids as it passes through deep valleys, traveling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river becomes a water fall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China. After it leaves Chi na and high altitude, the Mekong becomes wide, brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asia, its pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders through low va lleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the river delta enters the South Chin a Sea.。