大学英语精读第一册 Unit 4

Many people in the United States spend most of their free time watching television. Certainly, there are many worthwhile programs on television, including news, educational programs for children, programs on current social problems, plays, movies, concerts, and so on. Nevertheless, perhaps people should not be spending so much of their time in front of the TV. Mr. Mayer imagines what we might do if we were forced to find other activities.

Turning off TV: a Quiet Hour

I would like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes each evening, right after the early evening news, all television broadcasting in the United States be prohibited by law.

Let us take a serious, reasonable look at what the results be if such a proposal were accepted. Families might use the time for a real family hour. Without the distraction of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another. It is well known that many of our problems -- everything, in fact, from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness -- are caused at least in part by failure to communicate. We do not tell each other what is disturbing us. The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another. By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems, we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better.

On evenings when such talk is unnecessary, families could rediscover more active pastimes. Freed from TV, forced to find their own activities, they might take a ride together to watch the sunset. Or they might take a walk together (remember feet?) and see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes.

With free time and no TV, children and adults might rediscover reading. There is more entertainment in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming. Educators report that the generation growing up with television can barely write an English sentence, even at the college level. Writing is often learned from reading. A more literate new generation could be a product of the quiet hour.

A different form of reading might also be done, as it was in the past: reading aloud. Few pastimes bring a family closer together than gathering around and listening to mother or father read a good story. The quiet hour could become the story hour. When the quiet hour ends, the TV networks might even be forced to come up with better shows in order to get us back from our newly discovered activities.

At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical. What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter? How will we spend the time? But it is not radical at all. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time. Those of us thirty-five and older can remember childhoods without television, spent partly with radio -- which at least involved the listener's imagination -- but also with reading, learning, talking, playing games, inventing new activities. It wasn't that difficult. Honest. The truth is we had a ball.

NEW WORDS

worthwhile

a. good enough for the time or effort needed; valuable 值得花时间（或精力）的；有价值的

program (me)

n. performance on radio or television 节目

educational

a. of or for education; providing education or information 教育的；有教育意义的

current

a. of the present time 当前的

social

a. of or in society 社会的

movie

n. film that one sees at a cinema 电影

nevertheless

conj. but; however 然而，不过

propose

vt. suggest 建议

broadcasting

n. the action of sending out sound (or images) by radio (or television) 广播

prohibit

v & n. forbid by law 禁止

proposal

vt. suggestion 提议，建议

actually

n. in actual fact, really 实际上

generation

n. all the people about the same age （一）代

gap

n. an empty space between two things or two parts of a thing; a wide difference of opinion, character, or the like 缺口，间隙；分歧，隔阂

divorce

n. end of a marriage by law 离婚

rate

n. 率

mental

a. of the mind 精神的；思想上的

communicate

vi. share or exchange opinions, ideas, etc. 交流意见，思想等

disturb

vt. make (sb.) worried 使烦恼

emotional

a. 感情的

pastime

n. anything done to pass time pleasantly 消遣，娱乐

sunset

n. the going down of the sun; the time when the sun goes down日落（时分）neighborhood

n. the area around a point or place 邻近地区；地段

adult

n. 成年人

typical

a. 典型的

educator

n. a person whose profession is education 教育家

barely

ad. hardly 仅仅，勉强；几乎没有

literate

a. able to read and write 能读写的；有文化的

product

n. sth. made or grown 产品

network

n. 广播（或电视）联播公司；广播（或电视)网

glance

n. quick look 一瞥；扫视

radical

a. extreme; very different 激进的

electronic

a. 电子的

electron

baby-sitter

n. someone who looks after a child when the parents are away for a short time （代人临时）照看婴儿

childhood

n. time when one is a child 童年

partly

ad. not completely; in some degree 部分地；在一定程度上

involve

vt. have as a part or result （必须）包括

imagination

n. the ability to imagine 想象力

learning

n. the gaining of knowledge or skill through studying; knowledge or skill gained through studying 学习；学问，知识

invent

vt. produce (sth.) for the first time 发明

PHRASES & EXPRESSIONS

generation gap

failure of the younger and older generations to communicate and understand one another 代沟

in part

in some degree; partly 在一定程度上；部分地

grow up

change from a child to a man or a woman 成长，长大

bring together

cause to meet 使相聚

come up with

think of; produce 想出；提出

at first glance

when first seen or thought about乍一看；最初考虑时

have a ball

(sl.) enjoy oneself, have a very good time 玩得开心

PROPER NAMES

Mayer

迈耶（姓氏）

the United States

美国

现代大学英语精读1课本内容及翻译

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大学英语精读4 书后cloze吐血整理

When dad told us about the delivery work it sounded easy, just a piece of cake. The trouble was, we didn’t take care to inquire just how much material was involved. Before long trucks seemed to be pulling up outside our house all day long, leaving stacks of advertising. It seemed we should have no chance of meeting the deadline. The we had this marvelous idea. Hiring local kids to help would enable us to get the job done on time. True, it would cut into our profits, but there was no alternative. things seemed to be going well, but then we had trouble over a pay claim. Our workers demanded five dollars an hour, but fortunately for us they were ready to settle for less. As for us, when we finally settled our accounts we ended up earning less than the minimum wage for our efforts. I guess we should have know better than to believe that big bucks come easy. While it is often said that love makes the world go round, scientists take a less romantic view. To their minds, energy is the fundamental force at work. All animal life is dependent on obtaining sufficient energy from food. Deer, like other wild animals, do this through eating as much food as possible in the summer, when food resources are abundant. Any excess of energy over their current needs is deposited in the body in the form of fat. Then, when food becomes scarce in the winter, they can live off the fat. In addition, nature helps them to survive the winter by slowing down their metabolism, assisting them to pull through the cold weather. However, when the winter is particularly harsh, deer may have to draw on the fat they have built up more heavily. Under such conditions, only deer in good condition are able to survive to give birth to a new generation. In his essay George Orwell starts off by citing Bernard Shaw’s remark that people are more superstitious today than they were in the Middle Ages. They promptly accept the opinions of experts without asking any questions themselves. Obviously Shaw exaggerates just in order to prove his point that we should not always fall back on the theories of well-known authorities. Rather, we should aim at finding out some things for ourselves. By way of illustration, Orwell outlines arguments against the Flat Earth and the Oval Earth theories, thus throwing light on the fact that much of our knowledge actually rests on authority rather than on reasoning or on experiment. Finally, Orwell draws his conclusion that ours is a credulous age partly because we have such an exceptionally heavy burden of knowledge. The last time Lyz saw her husband was as he waved goodbye to her from the steps of their house. He was due to fly off on business later that day. Unluckily for him his flight was cancelled and he found himself having to take United Flight 93 the following day. It was from on board that ill-fated flight that he telephoned with the news that hijackers had threatened to blow up the aircraft. Cursing his bad luck, he nonetheless realized that his fate was in his own hands. Hoping that the terrorists were bluffing when they claimed to have a bomb, he and some other passengers decided to act. Without hanging up, he set off with the others to attack the hijackers. From the telephone came the sound of screams. Then silence.

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现代大学英语精读1课本内容

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大学英语精读 第一册 Unit 4