UNIT01

PART A

DISCUSS

1:How valuable is friendship in a person's life?

I believe friendship is very valuable in a person's life. Just imagine what life would be if you had no friend to talk to, no friend to share your joy or celebrate your success with, no friend to comfort and cheer you up when you were having a hard time, no friend to lend you a hand when you needed help. Life without friends is unthinkable. So, we should treasure the friendship given to us by our friends and at the same time return true friendship to our friends.

2. "In prosperity our friends know us, in adversity we know our friends." Please comment.

This popular saying describes a common phenomenon. When you are rich and successful, many people would want to make friends with you. When you are poor or in trouble, your friends would go away. So at this time, go and seek help from your friends and you would find out who your real friends are. Sounds kind of snobbish (势利的), isn't it? But it is human nature. Of course, we should not be only fair-weather friends with other people. However, we mustn't be so naive (天真的) as to forget what the real world is like.

PART B

[-] V ocabulary:

drain v. 使……渐渐流出fluid n. 液体broaden v. 使……开阔enliven v. 使……有生气overlook v. 俯视swan n. 天鹅

skyline n. (城市建筑物)在空中的轮廓线exquisite a. 精致的picturesque a. 景色如画的portray v. 描sadden v. 使伤心melodious a. 动听的

prop v. 支撑strain v. 尽全力compel v. 强迫

sit up 坐起来kill time 消磨时间model boat 模型船in one's mind's eye 在心灵的眼睛中occur to 被想到

The Hospital Window

Jack and Ben, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. Jack, whose bed was next to the room's only window, was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. But Ben had to spend all day and night lying flat on his bed. To kill time the two men began to talk. They talked for hours about their wives, families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, and where they had been on vacation. As days went by, a deep friendship began to develop between them.

Every afternoon when Jack could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to Ben all the things he could see outside the window. And Ben began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees beautified the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As Jack described all this in exquisite detail, Ben would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scenes.

One warm afternoon Jack described a parade passing by. Although Ben couldn't hear the band -- he could see it in his mind's eye as Jack portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed. One morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths