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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
大学英语自学教程
(
上
)
01-A. How to be a successful language
learner?
―Learning a language is easy,
even a child can do it!‖
Most
adults who are learning a second language would
disagree with this statement. For
them,
learning
a
language
is
a
very
difficult
task. They
need
hundreds
of
hours
of study
and
practice, and even this will not
guarantee success for every adult language
learner.
Language
learning
is
different from
other
kinds
of
learning.
Some
people
who
are
very
intelligent
and
successful
in
their
fields
find
it
difficult
to
succeed
in
language
learning.
Conversely,
some
people
who
are
successful
language
learners
find
it
difficult
to
succeed
in
other fields.
Language teachers often offer advice to
language learners:
“
Read as much as you can in
the new
language.
”
“
Practice speaking the language every day.
”
“
Live with people who speak
the
language.
”
“
Don‘t translate
-try to think in the new language.
”
“
Learn as a child would learn;
play with the
language.
”
But what does
a successful language
learner do? Language
learning research shows that
successful language learners are
similar in many ways.
First of all,
successful language learners are independent
learners. They do not depend on
the
book or the teacher; they discover their own way
to learn the language. Instead of waiting for
the teacher to explain, they try to
find the patterns and the rules for themselves.
They are good
guessers who look for
clues and form their own conclusions. When they
guess wrong, they guess
again. They try
to learn from their mistakes.
Successful language learning is active
learning. Therefore, successful learners do not
wait
for a chance to use the language;
they look for such a chance. They find people who
speak the
language
and
they
ask
these
people
to correct
them when
they
make
a
mistake.
They will
try
anything to
communicate. They are not afraid to repeat what
they hear or to say strange things;
they
are
willing
to
make
mistakes
and
try
again.
When
communication
is
difficult,
they
can
accept
information that is inexact or incomplete. It is
more important for them to learn to think in
the language than to know the meaning
of every word.
Finally, successful
language learners are learners with a purpose.
They want to learn the
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
language because they are interested in
the language and the people who speak it. It is
necessary
for them to learn the
language in order to communicate with these people
and to learn from them.
They find it
easy to practice using the language regularly
because they want to learn with it.
What kind of language learner are you?
If you are a successful language learner, you have
probably
been
learning
independently,
actively,
and
purposefully.
On
the
other
hand,
if
your
language learning has been less than
successful, you might do well to try some of the
techniques
outlined above.
01-B. Language
When we want to tell other people what
we think, we can do it
not only with the help of
words, but also in many other
ways. For instance, we sometimes move our heads up
and down
when we want to say
from side to side when we want to say
People who can neither hear nor
speak (that is, deaf and dumb people) talk to each
other with the
help of their fingers.
People who do not understand each other's language
have to do the same.
The following
story shows how they sometimes do it.
An
Englishman
who
could
not
speak
Italian
was
once
traveling
in
Italy.
One
day
he
entered
a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the
waiter came, the Englishman opened his
mouth, put his fingers in it, took them
out again and moved his lips. In this way he meant
to say
,
his head and
the waiter understood that he didn't want tea, so
he took it away and brought him
some
coffee. The
Englishman, who was very hungry by this time and
not at all thirsty, looked
very sad. He shook his head each time
the waiter brought him something to drink. The
waiter
brought him wine, then beer,
then soda-
water, but that wasn‘t food, of course. He was ju
st going
to
leave the restaurant when another traveler came
in. When this man saw the waiter, he put his
hands on his stomach. That was enough:
in a few minutes there was a large plate of
macaroni
and meat on the table before
him.
As
you
see,
the
primitive
language
of
signs
is
not
always
very clear.
The
language
of
words is much
more exact.
Words consist of sounds,
but there are many sounds which have a meaning and
yet are not
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
words.
For example, we may say
sh‖ when we mean
laugh,
we know they are happy,
and when they cry, we know they are ill or simply
want something.
It is the same with
animals. When a dog says ―G
-r-
r‖ or a cat says
-f-
f‖ we know they
are angry.
But
these
sounds
are
not
language.
Language
consists
of words which we
put
together
into sentences. But
animals can not do this: a dog can say
―G
-r-
r‖ when he means
,‖
but he cannot say first
parrot can talk like a man; it can
repeat
whole sentences and knows what they mean. We may
say that a parrot talks, but cannot
say
that it really speaks, because it cannot form new
sentences out of the words it knows. Only
man has the power to do this.
02-A. Taxes,
Taxes, and More Taxes
Americans often
say that there are only
two things a person can
be sure of in life: death
and taxes, Americans do not
have a corner on the
United States leads the
world with the worst taxes.
Taxes
consist
of
the
money which
people
pay
to
support
their
government.
There
are
generally three
levels of government in the United States:
federal, state, and city; therefore, there
are three types of taxes.
Salaried people who earn more than a
few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage
of
their
salaries
to
the
federal
government.
The
percentage
varies
from
person
to
person.
It
depends
on
their
salaries.
The
federal
government
has
a
graduated
income
tax,
that
is,
the
percentage of the tax (14 to 70
percent) increases as a person's income increases.
With
the high
cost of taxes,
people are not very happy on April 15, when the
federal taxes are due.
The second tax
is for the state government: New Y
ork, California, North Dakota, or any
of
the
other
forty-seven states.
Some
states
have
an
income tax
similar
to
that
of
the federal
government. Of course, the percentage
for the state tax is lower. Other states have a
sales tax,
which is a percentage
charged to any item which you buy in that state.
For example, a person
might
want
to
buy
a
packet
of cigarettes
for
twenty-five
cents.
If
there
is
a sales
tax
of
eight
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
percent in that state, then the cost of
the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure
includes the
sales tax. Some states use
income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their
revenues. The state tax
laws are
diverse and confusing.
The third tax is
for the city. This tax comes in two forms:
property tax (people who own a
home
have to pay taxes on it) and excise tax, which is
charged on cars in a city. The cities use
these funds for education, police and
fire departments, public works and municipal
buildings.
Since Americans pay such
high taxes, they often feel that they are working
one day each
week just to pay their
taxes.
People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the
government uses their tax dollars in
the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on
useless
and impractical programs.
Although
Americans have different views on many issues, they
tend
to agree
on one subject: taxes are too high.
02-B. Advertising
Advertising
is
only
part
of
the total
sales
effort,
but
it
is
the
part
that
attracts
the most
attention.
This
is
natural
enough
because
advertising
is
designed
for
just
that
purpose.
In
newspapers, in magazines, in the mail,
on radio and television, we constantly see and
hear the
messages for hundreds
of different products and services. For the most
part, they are the kinds of
things that
we can be persuaded to buy
–
food and drinks, cars and television sets, furniture and
clothing, travel and leisure time
activities.
The simplest
kind
of
advertising
is
the classified
ad.
Every
day
the
newspapers carry a
few pages of these ads; in the large
Sunday editions there may be several sections of
them. A
classified
ad
is
usually
only
a
few
lines
long.
It
is
really
a
notice
or
announcement
that
something is available.
Newspapers also carry a large amount of
display advertising. Most of it is for stores or
for
various forms of entertainment.
Newspapers generally reach an audience only in a
limited area.
To
bring
their
message
to
a
larger
audience,
many who want
to
put
out
their
ads
use
national
magazines. Many of the techniques of
modern advertising were developed in magazine ads.
The
use of bright colors, attractive
pictures, and short messages is all characteristic
of magazine ads.
The
most
important
purpose
is
to catch
the
eye. The
message
itself
is
usually
short,
often
no
more than a slogan which the
public
identifies with the product.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
The
same techniques have been carried over into
television advertising. V
oices and music
have been added to color and pictures
to catch the ear as well as the eye. Television
ads are short
–
usually
only
15,30,
or
60
seconds,
but
they
are
repeated
over
and
over
again
so
that
the
audience sees and hears them many
times. Commercial television has mixed
entertainment and
advertising. If you
want the entertainment, you have to
put up with the advertising-and millions
of
people want the entertainment.
The
men
and
women
in
the
sales
department
are
responsible
for
the
company‘s
advertising, They must decide on the
audience they want to reach. They must also decide
on the
best way
to
get
their
message
to their
particular
audience. They
also
make
an
estimate
of
the
costs
before
management
approves
the
plan. In
most
large companies
management
is
directly
involved in planning
the advertising.
03-A. The Atlantic Ocean
The
Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate
the Old World from the New. For
centuries it kept the Americas from
being discovered by the people of Europe.
Many wrong ideas about the Atlantic
made early sailors unwilling to sail far out into
it.
One idea was that it reached out to
sail right off the earth. Another idea
was that at the equator the ocean would be boiling
hot.
The Atlantic Ocean is only half as
big as the Pacific, but it is still very large. It
is more
than 4,000 miles (6,000 km)
wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its
narrowest it is about 2,
000 miles
(3,200 km) wide. This narrowest place is between
the bulge of south America and the
bulge of Africa.
Two things
make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so
large an ocean it has very few
islands.
Also, it is the world's saltiest ocean.
There is so much water in the Atlantic
that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But
suppose no more rain fell into it and
no more water was brought to it by rivers. It
would take the
ocean about 4,000 years
to dry up. On the average the water is a little
more than two miles (3.2
km)
deep,
but
in
places
it
is much
deeper.
The
deepest spot
is
near
Puerto
Rico. This
30, 246 feet - almost six
miles (9.6 km).
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
One
of
the
longest
mountain
ranges
of
the
world
rises
the
floor
of
the
Atlantic.
This
mountain
range
runs
north
and
south
down
the
middle
of
the
ocean.
The
tops
of
a few
of
the
mountains
reach
up
above
the sea
and
make
islands. The
Azores
are
the tops
of
peaks
in
the
mid-Atlantic mountain range.
Several
hundred
miles
eastward
from
Florida
there
is
a
part
of
the
ocean
called
the
Sargasso Sea. Here the water
is quiet, for there is little wind. In the days of
sailing vessels the
crew were afraid
they would be becalmed here. Sometimes they were.
Ocean
currents
are
sometime
called
in
the
sea.
One
of
these
in
the
Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It
is a current of warm water. Another is the
Labrador Current
- cold water coming
down from the Arctic. Ocean currents affect the
climates of the lands near
which they
flow.
The
Atlantic
furnishes
much
food
for
the
people
on
its shores.
One
of
its
most famous
fishing regions, the
Grand Banks, is near Newfoundland.
Today the Atlantic is a great
highway
. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one.
Storms sweep
across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float
down from the Far North across
the
paths of ships.
We now have such fast
ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to
have grown smaller.
Columbus sailed for
more than two months to cross it. A
fast modern steamship can make the
trip in
less than four days. Airplanes fly from New
Y
ork to London in only eight hours
and from
South America to Africa in
four!
03-B. The Moon
We find that the moon is about 239,000
miles (384,551km) away from the earth, and, to
within a few thousand miles, its
distance always remains the same. Y
et a very little observation
shows that the
moon is not standing still.
Its distance from the earth remains the same, but its
direction continually changes. We find
that it is traveling
in a circle
- or very nearly a circle
-
round
the earth, going completely round once a month,
or, more exactly, once every 27 1/3 days.
It is our nearest neighbour in space,
and like ourselves it is kept tied to the earth by
the earth's
gravitational pull.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
Except
for the sun, the moon looks the biggest object in
the sky
. Actually it is one of the
smallest, and only
looks big because it is so near to us. Its diameter is only 2, 160 miles (3,389
km), or a little
more than a quarter of the diameter of the earth.
Once a month, or, more exactly, once
every 29 1/2 days, at the time we call
its whole disc looks bright. At other
times only part of it appears bright, and we
always find that
this
is
the
part which
faces
towards
the
sun, while
the
part facing
away from
the
sun
appears
dark. Artists could make their pictures
better if they kept in mind -- only those parts of
the moon
which are lighted up by the
sun are bright. This shows that the moon gives no
light of its own. It
merely reflects
the light of the sun, like a huge mirror hung in
the sky.
Y
et the dark part of the moon‘s surface is not absolutely black;
generally
it is
just light
enough for us to be able to see its
outline, so that we speak of seeing
moon's arms.
earth. we knows
well how the surface of the sea or of snow, or
even of a wet road, may reflect
uncomfortably
much
of the
sun's
light
on
to
our faces.
In the
same way
the surface
of
the
whole earth reflects enough
of the sun's light on to the face of the moon for
us to be able to see
the parts of it
which would otherwise be dark.
If there
were any inhabitants of the moon, they would see
our earth reflecting the light of
the
sun,
again
like
a
huge
mirror
hung
in
the
sky
. They would
speak
of
earthlight
just
as we
speak
of
moonlight
.
The
old
moon
in
the
new
moon's
arms
is
nothing
but
that
part
of
the
moon's
surface
on
which
it
is
night,
lighted
up
by
earth
light.
In
the
same
way
,
the
lunar
inhabitants would
occasionally see part of our earth in full sunlight, and the rest lighted only
by
moonlig
ht; they might call this
04-A. Improving Your Memory
Psychological
research
has
focused
on
a
number
of
basic
principles
that
help
memory:
meaningfulness,
organization,
association,
and
visualization.
It
is
useful
to
know
how
these
principles
work.
Meaningfulness affects memory at
all levels. Information that does not make any
sense to
you
is
difficult
to
remember.
There
are
several
ways
in
which
we
can
make
material
more
meaningful. Many people,
for instance, learn a rhyme to help them remember.
Do you know the
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
rhyme
―Thirty
days
has
September,
April,
June,
and
November…?
‖
It
helps
many
people
remember which months of the year have
30 days.
Organization
also
makes
a
difference
in
our
ability
to
remember.
How
useful
would
a
library
be
if
the
books
were
kept
in
random
order?
Material
that
is
organized
is
better
remembered
than
jumbled
information.
One
example
of
organization
is
chunking.
Chunking
consists
of
grouping
separate
bits
of
information.
For
example,
the
number
4671363
is
more
easily remembered if it is
chunked as 467,13,63. Categorizing is another
means of organization.
Suppose you are
asked to remember the following list of words:
man, bench, dog, desk, woman,
horse,
child, cat, chair. Many people will group
the words into similar categories and remember
them
as
follows:
man, woman, child;
cat,
dog,
horse;
bench, chair,
desk.
Needless
to
say,
the
second list can be remembered more
easily than the first one.
Association
refers
to
taking
the
material
we
want
to
remember
and
relating
it
to
something we
remember accurately. In memorizing a number, you
might try to associate it with
familiar
numbers
or
events.
For
example,
the
height
of
Mount
Fuji
in
Japan
-
12,
389
feet -
might be remembered using the following
associations: 12 is the number of months in the
year,
and 389 is the number of days in
a year(365) added to the number of months twice
(24).
The
last
principle
is
visualization.
Research
has
shown striking
improvements
in
many
types of
memory tasks when people are asked to visualize the items to be remembered. In one
study, subjects in
one group were asked to learn some words using
imagery, while the second
group used
repetition to learn the words. Those using imagery
remembered 80 to 90 percent of
the
words, compared with 30 to 40 percent of the words
for those who memorized by repetition.
Thus forming an integrated image with
all the information placed in a single mental
picture can
help us to preserve a
memory.
04-B.
Short-term Memory
There
are
two
kinds
of
memory:
shore-term
and
long-term.
Information
in
long-term
memory can be recalled
at a later time when it is needed. The information
may be kept for days
or weeks.
Sometimes information in the long-term memory is
hard to remember. Students taking
exam
often have this experience.
In contrast, information in shore-term memory is kept for only
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
a few
seconds, usually by repeating the information over
and over. For example, you look up a
number
in
the
telephone
book,
and
before
you
dial,
you
repeat
the
number
over
and
over.
If
someone interrupts you, you will
probably forget the number. In laboratory studies,
subjects are
unable
to
remember
three
letters
after
eighteen
seconds
if
they
are
not
allowed
to
repeat
the
letters to themselves.
Psychologists study memory and learning
with both animal and human subjects. The two
experiments here show how short-term
memory has been studied.
Dr. Hunter
studied short-term memory in rats. He used a
special apparatus which had a
cage for
the rat and three doors, There was a light in each
door. First the rat was placed in the
closed cage. Next, one of the lights
was turned on and then off. There was food for the
rat only at
this door. After the light
was turned off, the rat had to wait a short time
before it was released
from its cage.
Then, if it went to the correct door, it was
rewarded with the food that was there.
Hunter did this experiment many times.
He always turned on the lights in a random order.
The
rat had to wait different intervals
before it was release from the cage. Hunter found
that if the rat
had to wait more than
ten seconds, it could not remember the correct
door. Hunter's results show
that rats
have a short-term memory of about ten seconds.
Later, Dr. Henning studied how students
who are learning English as
a second language
remember
vocabulary.
The
subjects
in
his
experiment
were
75
students
at
the
University
of
California
in
Los
Angeles.
They
represented
all
levels
of
ability
in
English;
beginning,
intermediate,
advanced, and native-speaking students.
To begin, the subjects listened to a
recording of a native speaker reading a paragraph
in
English. Following the recording,
the subjects took a 15-question test to see which
words they
remembered. Each question
had four choices. The subjects had to circle the
w
ord they had heard
in the
recording. Some of the questions had four choices
that sound alike. For example,
weather
,
whether
,
w
ither,
and
wetter
are
four
words
that sound
alike.
Some
of
the
questions
had
four
choices that
have
the same
meaning.
Method,
way,
manner
,
and
system
would
be
four words
with the same meaning. Some of them had
four unrelated choices. For instance,
weather
, method,
love,
and
result
could
be
used
as
four
unrelated
words.
Finally
the
subjects
took
a
language
proficiency test.
Henning
found
that
students
with
a
lower
proficiency
in
English
made
more
of
their
mistakes
on
words
that
sound
alike;
students
with
a
higher
proficiency
made
more
of
their
mistakes
on
words
that
have
the
same
meaning.
Henning‘s
results
suggest
that
beginning
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
students hold the sound of words in
their short-term memory, while advanced students
hold the
meaning of words in their
short-term memory
.
05-A. Fallacies about Food
Many primitive peoples believed that by
eating an animal they could get some of the good
qualities of that animal for
themselves. They thought, for example, that eating
deer would make
them
run
as
fast
as
the
deer.
Some savage
tribes
believed
that
eating
enemies
that
had shown
bravery
in
battle
would
make
them
brave.
Man-eating
may
have
started
because
people
were
eager to become as strong
and brave as their enemies.
Among
civilized
people
it
was
once
thought
that
ginger
root
by
some
magical
power
could
improve
the
memory
.
Eggs were
thought
to
make
the
voice
pretty.
Tomatoes
also
were
believed
to
have
magical
powers.
They were called
love
apples
and
were
supposed to
make
people who ate them fall in
love.
Later
another wrong
idea
about
tomatoes
grew
up
-
the
idea
that
they were
poisonous.
How
surprised
the
people
who
thought
tomatoes
poisonous would
be
if they could
know that
millions of pounds of tomatoes were
supplied to soldiers overseas during World War II.
Even
today
there
are
a
great
many
wrong
ideas
about
food.
Some
of
them
are
very
widespread.
One such idea is that fish is the best
brain food. Fish is good brain food just as it is
good
muscle food
and skin
food
and
bone
food.
But
no
one
has
been
able
to
prove
that
fish
is
any
better for the brain than
many other kinds of food.
Another such idea is that you should
not drink water with meals. Washing food down with
water as a substitute for chewing is
not a good idea, but some water with meals has
been found
to be helpful. It makes the
digestive juices flow more freely and helps to
digest the food.
Many of the ideas
which scientists tell us have no foundation have
to do with mixtures of
foods.
A
few
years
ago
the
belief
became
general
that
orange
juice
and
milk
should
never
be
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drunk
at the same meal. The reason given was that the
acid in the orange juice would make the
milk curdle and become indigestible. As
a matter of fact, milk always meets in the stomach
a
digestive juice which curdles it; the
curdling of the milk is the first step in its
digestion. A
similar
wrong
idea
is
that
fish
and
ice
cream
when
eaten
at
the
same
meal
form
a
poisonous
combination.
Still
another
wrong
idea
about
mixing
foods
is
that
proteins
and carbohydrates
should
never
be
eaten
at
the
same
meal.
Many
people
think
of
bread,
for
example,
as
a
carbohydrate
food.
It
is
chiefly
a
carbohydrate
food,
but
it
also
contains
proteins.
In
the same
way,
milk,
probably the
best single food, contains both proteins and
carbohydrates. It is just as foolish to
say that one should never eat meat and
potatoes together as it is to say that one should
never eat
bread or drink milk.
05-B. Do
Animals Think?
The question has often
been asked, Do animals think? I believe that some
of them think a
great deal. Many of
them are like children
in their sports. We notice this to be true very often
with
dogs and cats; but it is true with other animals
as well.
Some birds are very lively in
their sports; and the same is true with some
insects. The ants,
hardworking as they
are, have their times for play. They run races;
they wrestle; and sometimes
they have
mock fights together. V
ery busy must be their thoughts while engaged in these sports.
There are many animals, however, that
never play; their thoughts seem to be of the more
sober kind. We never see frogs engaged
in sport. They all the time appear to be very
grave. The
same is true of the owl, who
always looks as if he were considering some
important question.
Animals think much
while building their houses. The bird searches for
what it can use in
building its nest,
and in doing this it thinks. The beavers think as
they build their dams and their
houses.
They think in getting their materials, and also in
arranging them, and in plastering them
together with mud. Some spiders build
houses which could scarcely have been made except
by
some thinking creature.
As
animals
think,
they
learn.
Some
learn
more
than
others.
The
parrot
learns
to
talk,
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though
in some other respects it is quite stupid. The
mocking bird learns to imitate a great many
different sounds. The horse is not long
in learning many things connected with the work
which
he has to do. The shepherd dog
does not know as much about most things as some
other dogs ,
and yet he understands
very well how to take care of sheep.
Though animals think and learn, they
do not make any real improvement in their ways
of
doing
things,
as
men
do.
Each
kind
of
bird
has
its
own way
of
building
a
nest,
and
it
is
always
the same way. And so of other animals. They have
no new fashions, and learn none from
each
other.
But
men,
as
you
know,
are
always
finding
new
ways
of
building
houses,
and
improved
methods of doing almost all kinds of labor.
Many
of
the
things
that
animals
know
how
to
do
they
seem
to
know
either
without
learning,
or
in
some
way
which
we
cannot
understand.
They
are
said
to
do
such
things
by
instinct; but no one can tell what
instinct is. It is by this instinct that birds
build their nests and
beavers
their
dam
and
huts.
If
these
things
were
all
planned
and
thought
out
just
as
men
plan
new houses.
there would be some changes in the fashions of
them, and some improvements.
I have
spoken of the building instinct of
beavers. An English gentleman caught a young
one and put him at first in a
cage. After a while he let him out in a room where
there was a great
variety
of
things.
As
soon
as
he
was
let
out
he
began
to
exercise
his
building
instinct.
He
gathered
together whatever
he could
find,
brushes,
baskets,
boots, clothes,
sticks,
bits
of coal,
etc., and arranged them as if to
build a dam. Now, if he had had his wits about
him, he would
have known that there was
no use in building a dam where there was no water.
It
is
plain
that, while
animals
learn
about
things
by
their
senses
as
we
do,
they
do
not
think nearly as
much about what they learn, and this is the reason
why they do not improve more
rapidly.
Even the wisest of them, as the elephant and the
dog, do not think very much about what
they
see
and
hear.
Nor
is
this
all.
There
are
some
thing
that we
understand,
but
about which
animals know
nothing. They have no knowledge of anything that
happens outside of their own
observation. Their minds are so much
unlike ours that they do
not know the difference between
right and wrong.
06-A. Diamonds
Diamonds are rare, beautiful, and also
quite useful. They are the hardest substance found
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in
nature. That means a diamond can cut any other
surface. And only another diamond can make
a slight cut in a diamond.
Diamonds
are
made
from
carbon.
Carbon
is
found
in
all
living
things,
both
plant
and
animal. Much of the carbon in the earth
comes from things that once lived.
Scientists
know
that
the combination
of
extreme
heat
and
pressure
changes carbon
into
diamonds. Such heat and pressure exist
only in the hot, liquid mass of molten rock deep
inside
the earth. It is thought that
millions of years ago this liquid mass pushed
upward through cracks
in the earth‘s
crust. As the liquid cool
ed, the carbon changed into diamond crystals.
There
are only four areas where very many diamonds have
been found.
The first known area was in
India, where diamonds were found thousands of
years ago. In
the
1600‘s,
travelers
from
Europe
brought
back
these
b
eautiful
stones
from
India.
Diamonds
became
very popular with the kings and queens of Europe.
In the 1720‘s, diamonds were discovered
in Brazil. This discovery came at a good time,
too. India‘s supply of diamonds was
finally
running out after 2,500 years of mining the stones.
In the 1800‘s, two
other important areas were found in Russia and
South Africa. Today
,
most
diamonds
used
in
industry come
from
Russia.
Most
diamonds
used
as
gems come
from
South
Africa. Only 25 percent of all diamonds mined are
good enough for cutting into gems.
Most
of
the
diamonds
in
India
were
found
in
stream
beds.
People
would
pick
up
handfuls of gravel from the bottom of
the streams and sort out the diamonds. These
diamonds
were probably carried from
where they were formed to India by great sheets of
moving ice that
covered parts of the
earth 20,000 years ago.
Most
diamonds today are not found in stream beds,
however. They are mined from rock
formations deep inside the earth called
pipes. Scientists believe that these are parts
of volcanoes
that were formed
when molten rock pushed upward through the earth‘s
crust. The hard rock in
which diamonds
are found is called blue ground, because it is
somewhat blue. The blue ground
is
blasted into large pieces of rock which are
carried to
the surface by elevator. Then the rocks
are carefully crushed so that
the diamonds are not destroyed. Next, the crushed
material is taken
over to washing
tables. Here, it flows over boards thickly coated
with grease. Since diamonds
stick to
grease, they are left behind by the rocks and mud
which flow down the tables.
Diamonds,
as they are found, do not look very impressive.
They are gray, greasy-looking
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
pebbles.
Experienced
diamond
miners can
tell
a
diamond
immediately.
But
some
people
have
carried around an unusual pebble for
weeks before finding out that they had got a
diamond.
06-B. The
difference between plants and animals
if you were asked, ―what is the
difference between plants and animals?‖ what
answer do
you
think
you would
give?
Y
our
first
thought
might
be
that
a
plant
has
leaves
and
roots
and
flowers, which an animal has not.
Y
et that would not be correct; for there are many plants which
have neither
roots nor leaves nor flowers, while there are some
animals which seem to have all
three.
Look up into the sky, and then down at
the earth beneath your feet, It is easy enough,
you
think, to tell which is earth and
which is sky; but if you live
in the wide, open country, or near
the sea, you will
often find when you look far away to the place
where sky and earth seem to
meet, that
this is a matter of some difficulty. Y
ou see only the thin blue haze, like smoke, which
is the dividing line between the
heavens and the earth. But just where the one ends
and the other
begins, you cannot tell.
Just so it is throughout al the
world of Nature. Y
ou may look at a group of cows standing
under the trees or catch
a bee at his early drink in a morning-glory bell,
and you would laugh if
any one should
ask you whether you can tell an animal from a
plant.
But suppose you
turn aside from
these familiar, everyday things, and study objects which
you have to
look at through a magnifying glass, and you will
find many things that will puzzle
you.
Y
ou
will
find
plants
without
roots,
leaves, flowers,
or
seeds;
and
you will
find
animals
without heads, legs,
eyes, mouths, or stomachs.
Students
of
Nature
are
not satisfied
with
guessing,
but
they
observe,
day
after
day,
the
changes which
take place in an object; and they see many things which most people would fail
to see. And thus they have
found that the real difference between plants and
animals lies in what
they do, and not
in what they seem to be.
We now know
that about one fourth of all the kinds of seaweed
are animals. A
few years
age all
of them were classed as plants. It was
long supposed that the main difference between
animals
and
plants was that
the
former could
move
about while
the
latter
could
not.
But
this
difference will not hold good.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
How
then are we to know whether a living object is a
plant or an animal? Plants can
live
on
inorganic
matter;
they
have
the
power
of changing
earth
and
air
and water
into substances
which enter into and become a part of
themselves. Animals can live only on what plants
have
already turned from inorganic to
vegetable matter. Animals, although they need some
inorganic
food, cannot live on it
alone.
All the food that keeps
our bodies strong, or makes them grow, was once in
the vegetable
form. No bird nor fish
nor other animal could ever have lived on this
earth, if the plants had not
come first
and fitted it for the dwelling place of a higher
order of beings.
Plants
are
the
true
fairies
that
are
forever working
wonders
around
us.
Their
roots
dig
down into the earth and
gather its treasures. Their leaves spread their
broad surfaces to the air
and take m
its riches; and out of what they have thus
gathered they produce the beautiful flowers,
the delicious fruits, and the golden
grain.
Let us study more closely the
way in which a plant grows. The root pushes itself
down
into the earth. If it finds no
water, it soon dies. If it finds water, it begins
to suck it up and change
it into sap
Besides the water, it takes up such parts of the
soil as are dissolved in the water.
Here, then, you see in what ways the
food of the plant is different from that of
animals.
07-A. Families
―Family‖—
the word has different meanings for different people, and even the dictionary
gives us several definitions
:―a group of people related by blood or marriage,‖
―two adults and
their children,‖ ―all
those people descended from
a common ancestor,‖ ―a household,‖ and so on
Some
people
think
of
a
family
as
a
mother,
a
father,
and
their
children;
others
include
grandparents,
aunts,
uncles,
and cousins.
For some
of
us,
family
means
the
group
of
relatives
living
far
away from
home.
For
others,
having
a
family
simply
means
having
children.
Some
families have long
histories, while others know very little about
their ancestors. No matter if it is
young or old, large or small,
traditional or modern, every family has a sense of
what a family is.
It is that feeling of
belonging, of love and security that comes from
living together, helping and
sharing.
There
are
basically
two
types
of
families:
nuclear
families
and
extended
families.
The
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
nuclear family usually consists of two
parents (mother and father) and their children.
The mother
and
father
form
the
nucleus,
or center,
of
the
nuclear
family.
The children
stay
in
the
nuclear
family until they grow up and
marry
. Then form new nuclear families.
The extended family is very large.
There are often many nuclear families in one
extended
family. An extended family
includes children parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
The
members
of
an
extended
family
are
related
by
blood
(grandparent,
parents,
children,
brothers, sisters,
etc.) or by marriage (husbands, wives, mothers-in-
law, etc). They are all related,
so the
members of an extended family are called
relatives.
Traditionally,
all
the
members
of
an
extended
family
lived
in
the
same
area.
However,
with the change from an
agricultural to an industrial society, many
nuclear families moved away
from the
family home in order to find work. In industrial
societies today, the members of most
nuclear families live together, but
most extended families do not live together.
Therefore we can
say
that
the
nuclear
family
becomes
more
important
than
the
extended
family
as
the
society
industrializes.
In post-
industrial societies like the United States, even
the nuclear family is changing. The
nuclear family is becoming smaller as
parents want fewer children, and the number of
childless
families is increasing.
Traditionally, the father of a nuclear family
earned money for the family
while
the
mother
cared for
the
house
and
the
children.
Today
more
than
50%
of
the
nuclear
families in the United
States are two-earner families
–
both the father and the mother earn money
for the family
–
and in a few families the mother earns the money while the father takes care of
the
house
and
the
children.
Many
nuclear
families
are
also
―splitting
up‖
–
more
and
more
parents are getting divorce.
What will be the result of this ―split‖ of the nuclear family? Social scientists now talk
of two new family
forms: the single parent family and the remarried
family. Almost 20% of all
American
families are single parent families, and in 85% of
these families the single parent is
the
mother. Most single parents find it very difficult
to take care of a family alone, so they soon
marry again and form remarried
families. As social scientists study these two new
family form,
they will be able to tell
us more about the future of the nuclear family in
the post-industrial age.
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07-B.
The Changing American Family
The family
is important to people all over the world although
the structure of the family is
quite
different
from
one country
to
another. In the
United
States,
as
in
many
countries
in
the
world, the
family
is
changing.
A
generation
or
two
ago,
the
traditional
family,
in
which
the
father
was
boss,
was
customary
.
Now,
the
modern
family,
in
which
both
the
father
and
the
mother are equal
partners, is more common. Although there are
several similarities between the
traditional and the modern family,
there are also some very important differences.
The
traditional
family
of
yesterday
and
the
modern
family
of
today
have
several
similarities. The traditional family
was a nuclear family, and the modern family is,
too. The role
of the father in the
traditional family was
to provide for his family. Similarly, the father in the
modern family is expected to do so,
also. The mother in the traditional family took
care of the
children‘s physical and
emotional needs just as the modern mother
does.
On the other hand, there
are some great differences between the traditional
family and the
modern family. The first
important difference is in the man‘s r
ole. the traditional husband was
the head of
the household, because he was the only one who
worked outside the home. If the
wife
worked
for
pay,
then
the
husband
was
not
considered
to
be
a
good
provider.
In
many
families
today,
both
husband
and wife work
for
pay. Therefore,
they
share
the
role
of
head
of
household.
In
addition,
the
traditional
husband
usually
made
the
big
decisions
about spending
money. However,
the modern husband shares these decisions with his
working wife. Also, the
traditional
husband did not help his wife with the housework
or meal preparation. Dinner was
ready
when he came home. In contrast, the modern husband
helps his working wife at home. He
may
do some of the household jobs, and it is not
unusual for him to cook.
The second
differe
nce is in the woman‘s role. In the traditional family, the woman may
have
worked for pay during her first years of marriage.
However, after she became pregnant, she
would
usually
give
up
her
job.
Her
primary
role was
to
take care
of
her
family
and
home.
In
contrast, in many families today, the
modern woman works outside the home even after she
has
children . She's doing two jobs
instead of one, so she is busier than the
traditional mother was.
The traditional
wife learned to live within her husband's income.
On the other hand, the modern
wife does
not have to because the family has two incomes.
The
final
difference
is
in
the
role
of
the children.
In
the
traditional
family,
the children
were taken care of
by the mother because she did not work outside the
home. However, today
17
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
preschool children may go to a child
care center or to a baby-sitter regularly because
the mother
works. The school-age
children
of
a
traditions
family
were
more
dependent.
their
mother was
there
to
help
them
to
get
ready
for
school
and
to
make
their
breakfast.
In
contrast,
modern
children
are
more
independent.
They
have
to
get
up
early
in
the
morning
and
get
ready
for
school. Their mother is busy getting
ready for work, so they may even have to make
their own
breakfast.
In
conclusion, the American family of today is
different from the family of fifty years ago.
In
the
modern
family,
the roles
of
the
father,
mother,
and children
have
changed
as
more
and
more
women work outside the home. The next century may
bring more important changes to the
American family structure. It should be
interesting to see.
mmunication via Satellite
At
the beginning of the twentieth century, there were
four powerful means of transmitting
and
receiving
information over long distances: print, photography, telegraph and telephone.
By
the
middle
of
the
century
,
both
radio
and
television
had
become
established
means
of
transmitting
sound
and/or
pictures.
In
1964,
the
Olympic
Games
in
Tokyo
became
the
first
program to be
transmitted via satellite.
In order to
transmit an event such as the Olympics via
satellite, television signals are first
changed into radio waves, which are
then sent from a station on earth to an orbiting
satellite. The
satellite receives the
radio waves and sends them back to earth, where
another station picks them
up
and
changes
them
back
into
television
signals.
Because
any
form
of
sound
or
visual
information
can
be
changed
into
radio
waves,
satellites
are
capable
of
transmitting
not
only
television
broadcasts, but telephone calls and printed
materials such as books and magazines.
The
combination
of
satellites,
which
transmit
information,
computers,
which
store
information,
and
television,
which
displays
information,
will
change
every
home
into
an
education
and
entertainment
center.
In
theory,
every
person will
have
access
to
an
unlimited
amount of information.
Another
important
use
of
telecommunication
satellites
was
demonstrated
in
1974
when
the
United States. In 1975, many people in
India saw television for the first time as they
watched
18
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
programs about agriculture and health.
The satellite also demonstrated how it
could provide help to people living in isolated
areas
where
transportation
is
difficult.
For
example,
a
health
worker
in
an
isolated
area was
able
to
transmit
pictures
of
a
patient
s wound to
a
doctor
far
away.
He
was
then
able
to
follow
the
doctor's
instructions on how to care for the patient.
The
most
common
use
of
telecommunication
satellites,
however,
has
been
for
transmitting
telephone calls. Most of them trave1 40, 000 miles
to a satellite and then back to
earth.
Ten
years
ago,
a
satellite
was
capable
of
receiving
and
transmitting
more
than
3?000
telephone conversations
simultaneous
ly. Now a single satellite
is able to transmit over 100,000
conversations as well as several
hundred television channels - all at the same
time.
Telecommunication can make
information from around the world available to use
quickly
and easily, but some people
worry that this may be a risk to our privacy. If
personal information
is stored in
computers, then it may be easily transmitted via
satellite to anyone who can pay for
the
service.
Another
worry
is
that telecommunication
systems
may
isolate
people
from
each
other.
When
people
are
able
to
shop
from their
homes,
do their
banking
without
leaving
the
house,
watch any movie they want
on their television, as well as get any
information they need, then
there will not be as much contact
between people.
It is important to
realize that the same technology that helps us may
also harm us. We can
prevent
this
from
happening
by
carefully
controlling
the
new
technology.
As
one
telecommunication expert says, ―We must
remember that technology alone is not the
answer…It
is the intelligent
application of technology that will lead us to
success.
08-
people Don’t know about Air
The
air
around
us
is
important
to
everyone.
Without
air,
we could
not
exist.
Everyone
understands that. But air is necessary
in many other ways - ways that are not always so
obvious
or widely known.
For
example, if we did not have air, there would be no
sound. Sound travels through air.
Where
there is no air, there is no sound. Without air,
there would be no fire. There would be no
19
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
cars
or trucks, since motors need air in order to work.
Without air, there would be no wind or
clouds. There would be no weather, as we know it.
The night time would be very cold and
the days very hot. We would be forced to seek
shelter
from the sun, as there would be
no atmosphere to protect us from the sun's deadly
rays.
The atmosphere is all the air
surrounding the earth. Atmospheric pressure is the
weight of
all that air against the
surface of the earth. If we did not have
atmospheric pressure, we could not
have
automobile tires. The tires would burst if they
did not have the pressure of the atmosphere
against their surfaces.
Large and powerful, the atmosphere
consists of an ocean of gases hundreds of miles
high.
It presses down on out bodies
with a force of more than
fourteen pounds per square inch. The
narrow
column
of
air
which
rests
upon
our
shoulders
weighs
almost
2,000
pounds.
But
our
bodies are built in such a way that
this weight does not crush us.
In this
huge ocean of air there is more energy than in all
the coal, oil, and gas we have on
earth. Electrical energy is collected
in the atmosphere as water is collected and stored
in a dam.
The existence of electricity
in the air has been known for centuries. Men have
gazed in wonder
at
the
bright
patterns
of
lightning
in
storm
clouds.
But
a
thorough study
of
electricity
in
the
atmosphere was not possible
until the development of radio and radar.
One scientist, Dr. Sydney Chapman, has
tried to explain the electric field which
surrounds
the earth. He believes that
the great storms on the sun create large amounts
of electric energy
.
This energy
is contained in a very light gas called hydrogen.
The earth pulls the gas toward it,
and
a ring is formed around the earth several thousand
feet above its surface. the great spac
e ring
is a powerful current of
electrical energy. Sometimes the ring comes down
and curves into the
lower atmosphere,
causing strange electrical effects.
Dr.
Chapman's ideas explain many things. It has long
been known that there is an electric
field inside the earth. It moves in
much the same manner as the electric energy
contained in the
atmosphere. Scientists
now believe that the electric energy in the
atmosphere causes the electric
energy
inside the earth to flow.
If we can
learn to control the energy in the atmosphere, we
will have an unending supply
of energy.
Many scientists are trying to learn how to control
it. In the meantime, even those of us
who are not scientists have begun to
pay attention to air. We realize that air does not
contain the
same
elements
that
it
contained
years
ago.
Automobiles,
airplanes,
factories,
and
atomic
20
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
explosions have added dust and waste
gases to the atmosphere. It is time to learn how
to protect
our atmosphere, the roof
over the world of man.
09-A. Learned words and popular words
In every cultivated language there are
two great classes of words which, taken together,
make up the whole vocabulary. First,
there are those words with which we become
familiar
in
ordinary
conversation, which we learn, that is to
say
, from the
members of our own family and
from our friends, and which
we should know and use
even if we could not read or write. They
concern
the common
things
of
life,
and
are
the stock
in
trade
of
all
who speak
the
language.
Such words
may
be called
―popular,‖
since
they
belong
to
the
people
at
large
and
are
not
the
possession of limited class
only.
On
the
other
hand,
our
language
includes
a
large
number
of words which
are
relatively
seldom used in
ordinary conversation. Their meanings are known to
every educated person, but
there is
little occasion to use them at home. Our first
acquaintance with them comes not from our
mother's lips or from the talk of our
classmates, but from books that we read, lectures
that we
hear,
or
the
more
formal
conversation
of
highly
educated
speakers
who
are
discussing
some
particular topic in an elevated style.
Such words are called
them and
The difference between popular and
learned words may be easily seen in a few
examples.
We
may
describe
a
girl
as
―lively‖
or
as
In
the
first
case,
we
are
using
a
native
English word formed from the familiar
noun
life.
In the latter, we are using a Latin derivative
which has
exactly the same meaning. Yet the atmosphere of
the two words is quite different. No
one ever got the adjective
lively
out of a book. It is a part of everybody's vocabulary. We cannot
remember a time when we did not know
it, and we feel sure that we learned
it long before we
were
able
to read.
On
the
other
hand,
we
must
have
passed several
years
of
our
lives
before
learning
the
word
vivacious.
We
may
even
remember
the first
time
that we saw
it
in
or
heard
it
from
some
grown-up
friend.
Both
l
ively
and
vivacious
are
good
English
words,
but
Lively
is popular and
vivacious
is learned.
The
terms
two persons have the same stock
of words, and the same word may be
in one man's
vocabulary and
in another's. There are also different grades of
21
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
classification
into
and
is
convenient
and
sound.
Different
opinions
may
come up as to the classification of any
particular word, but there can be no difference of
opinion
about the general principle. We
must be careful, however, to avoid misconception.
When we call
a word
we
do
not
mean that
it
is
a
favorite word,
but
simply
that
it
belongs
to
the
people as a whole that is, it is
everybody's word, not the possession of a limited
number. When
we call a word
its presence in the English vocabulary
is due to books and the cultivation of literature
rather than
to the actual needs of
ordinary conversation.
09-B. How
Should You Build Up Your Vocabulary
Through context
When
students in a college class were asked what should
be done when they come across
a new
word in their reading, 84 percent said, ―Look it
up in the dictionary.‖ if you do, however,
you interrupt the very mental processes
needed to make your efforts most productive.
But there‘s another reason. Suppose
someone asks you what the word
ou
answer,
But
does
it
mean
that
in
such contexts
as
or
friend
depends. On the
dictionary? No, on context
- on how the word is actually used.
After all there
are
twenty
different
meanings
for
in
the
dictionary.
But
the
dictionary
doesn‘t
tell
you
which meaning is
intended. That's why it makes such good sense to
begin with context.
Through Word
Parts
Now for the next step.
Often new words contain one or more parts, which,
if recognized,
provide
specific
help
with
meaning.
Suppose
you
read
that
someone
a
preference
for
reading travel
books.
root that you know? Well, there's
the familiar prefix pre-, meaning
Look back at the
22
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
context and cry inserting
of
reading. Y
es, a preference is something put
Y
our second step, then,
is to look for familiar word parts. If they do not give you exact
meanings, they
should at least bring you much closer.
Now
you
can
see
why
you
should
consult
the
dictionary
last,
not
first.
Y
ou
looked
carefully at context.
Y
ou've looked for familiar word parts. Now you play Sherlock Holmes - an
exciting
role. Y
ou guess. What exactly does that strange word mean? Only when you go through
the mental exercises to come up with a
tentative definition should you open the
dictionary to see
if you're right.
After all, those first two steps or
approaches spark a stronger than usual interest in
that
dictionary definition.
Y
ou're now personally involved. Did you find out the word meaning? Y
our
heightened
interest
will
lead
to
better
memory
of
both word
and
meaning.
It
also
encourages
your development of
the habits needed to speed your progress. And when
you see in black and
white the
definition you had expected, what a feeling of
success is yours. In that way
, the CPD
Formula provides you with maximum
effectiveness.
Well,
there
it
is,
your
new
formula
-
Context,
Parts,
Dictionary.
Use
it!
The
exercises
which
follow
will
give
you
specific,
step-by-step
help
in
sharpening
your
awareness
of
contextual
clues,
learning
the
most
useful word
parts,
and
using
the
dictionary with
increased
accuracy and ease. The
results will be like money in the bank.
10-A. Scientific Attitudes
Science had its beginning when man
started asking questions about his environment. He
wondered where the sun went at night
and why the sky was blue. He questioned why the
wind
blew
and
the
leaves
fell.
He
sought
answers
to
these
and
other
questions.
Not
all
his
answers
were correct, but at least he did want
to know.
Curiosity and Imagination
Science began to develop rapidly when
man laid aside his wrong beliefs and begs to seek
true explanations. Y
oung children are curious about how things work. The child wants to take
apart a watch to
see what makes it work.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
Benjamin Franklin wondered about
lightning He combined his curiosity with
imagination
and carried out his well-
known experiment to show that lightning and an
electric spark are the
same
thing.
Curiosity
and
imagination
are
important
qualities
which
help
stimulate
the
discovery
of new facts and advance science.
Belief in Cause and Effect
Scientifically minded people believe in
a
is a perfectly natural explanation
for everything. For example, there is a good
reason why some
leaves turn red and
others yellow in the fall. Changes such as these,
which are easily observed,
are
called
phenomena.
Some common
phenomena,
however,
are
not completely
understood.
Still others cannot
be explained at all at this time. In cases where
the explanation is unknown the
scientific point of view is that there
is a reason if it can only be discovered.
Being Open - Minded
Open-
mindedness
is
also
extremely
important
to
a
scientific
attitude.
This
means
the
ability to face
the facts as they are regardless of what one has
previously thought. It includes an
ability to accept new and sometimes
even disagreeable
ideas. The worker in science must face
facts whether they
are pleasant or unpleasant. He must expect many
failures and be willing to try
again.
Thomas
Edison
failed
thousands
of
times
before
he
succeeded
in
producing
the
first
electric lamp.
The
solutions
to
real
problems
cannot
be
seen
in
advance.
Scientists
must
be
able
to
change their
thinking and to adapt their theories to new facts
as they are discovered. The mind
cannot
be made up
once and for all. New knowledge may make a change in thinking necessary
.
This
is
another
way
of saying
that
man's
understanding
is
always
less
than
perfect.
What
is
accepted
as
true
often
is
relatively,
and
not
absolutely,
true.
A
scientific
truth
offers
an
explanation that is acceptable only in
the light of what is known at a particular time.
Respect for the Views of Others
Another part of a scientific attitude
is respect for the views of others. This is easy
when
these
views
are
like
one's
own.
The
difficulty
comes
up
when
their
ideas
are
different.
V
iews
which are entirely new or foreign may
also be hard to accept.
New
ideas
are
frequently
very
slow
to
be
accepted.
Scientists
such
as
Galileo,
Louis
Pasteur, and Edward Jenner were laughed
at because they held theories that were not
accepted.
Respect for new ideas is
important for continued progress in all fields of
knowledge
24
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
Opinions on Evidence
Sometimes evidence is not complete. It
may take time for new facts to become available.
When they are available, a person may
have to change his mind. New findings may also
require
a ―wait
-and-
see‖ attitude. For example, there is an experiment on the sprouting of seeds which
has been
running for more than 50 years. The purpose is to
determine how long a time can be
buried
in the ground and still grow when proper
conditions for growth exist.
10-B. Solving Problems Scientifically
There
are
scientific
ways
in which
man
solves
problems.
Once
his
curiosity
has
been
aroused,
he
uses
certain
methods
and
procedures
to
obtain
new
knowledge
and
greater
understanding. Although
the methods are not always the same, there are
usually certain elements
in the
procedures that are similar.
Recognizing the Problem
Problems
must
first
of
all
be recognized. The right
answers can
be
obtained
only
if
the
right
questions
are
asked.
A
thoroughly
understood
problem
is
well
started
toward
solution.
Problems
arise
in
a
variety
of ways. Sometimes
they
grow
out
of
a chance
observation. They
may result from reading, from
laboratory experiments, or simply from thinking.
They also may
result
from
new
developments
or
from
new
or
different
human
needs.
Today,
for
example,
problems
are
arising
from
new
discoveries
in
the
fields
of
nuclear
physics,
biological
engineering
and
microelectronics.
The
development
of
industry
has
also
brought
about
large
numbers of problems which
have to be solved.
Collecting
Information
Next, the scientist tries
to learn as much as possible about
it. Often this means going to
the library
and studying books which contain accounts of man‘s
experience and knowledge of
the
problem. This is called searching the literature.
The
scientist
may
find
that
others
have
already
solved
all
or
a
part
of
the
problem.
Occasionally he finds
answers to closely related questions, which give
clues for solving the new
one. In his
search the scientist accumulates much background
information. With these new ideas
and
facts he builds a firm foundation for solving the
problem.
25
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
Organizing the Information
After the scientist has finished this
part of his work he will probably take the many
facts
which
he
has collected
and
organize
them
into
some
kind
of
system.
This
may
be
a
logical
classification
or it may be a mathematical analysis. Usually the
analysis will show unanswered
questions. Sometimes it will suggest
areas that are in need of further study.
Perhaps one of the
most
important results of such an analysis is that it
indicates certain truths, which generally are
called inferences.
Making a
Hypothesis
In
making
an
inference
the
scientist
has
built
up
a
hypothesis.
A
hypothesis
is
only
a
s. It must next be tested.
If it is correct, then certain things
should follow. This means if a particular
experiment is
carried
out, certain
observations
ought
to
be
possible
or
it should
be
possible
to
make
certain
predictions.
Should the observations or predictions
turn out to be as expected, the scientist has
added
confidence in the probable truth
of his hypothesis. If, however, observations
cannot be made or
the predictions are
unreliable, then the hypothesis will probably be
given up or at least modified.
The
Experiment
The
hypothesis
must check with
the
facts.
Scientific
facts
are
usually
established
by
work
in
the
laboratory.
Experiments
have
to
be
made
under carefully
controlled
conditions.
Thorough and
accurate records must be kept.
In
making
certain
kinds
of
experiments
in
science
variables
are
used.
A
variable
is
something which has different
values under different conditions. In one type of
laboratory test all
the variables but
one are controlled. This method of testing is
called controlled experimentation.
11-A. The Great American Garage Sale
Not long ago, Charles Erickson and his
family decided to do some spring housecleaning.
Sorting through their possessions, they
came up with some 1,500 old, unwanted items
- all sorts
of things they
wanted to get rid of. The Ericksons decided to do
what a lot of other Americans
26
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
are
doing
these
days
--
have
a
―garage
sale.‖
They
posted
homemade
signs
throughout
the
neighborhood, ran an advertisement in
the local newspaper, then set out the unwanted
objects on
the front yard of their home
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and waited to see
if any one would
come. The Ericksons
needn‘t have worried. Eager buyers bought all but
50 of the items in one
weekend, leaving
the family $$442 richer.
Garage sale,
yard sale, basement sale - whatever they're called
and wherever they're held,
Americans
are having them in ever-increasing numbers.
The
variety
of things
put
up
for
sale
is really
wonderful
-
dishes,
books,
used
clothing,
tools, tires, empty
bottles, bicycles, furniture. A
man in
Atlanta, Georgia, even sold a full-size
replica of a 1931 Ford.
ou
wouldn't
believe
the
stuff
people will
buy,‖ says
Mrs. Jerry
McNeely
of
Houston,
Texas, who
has
held
two
garage
sales with friends.
the
other
hand,
you wouldn‘t
believe
s
ome of the things people will put out to sell.‖
Why would
Americans want to shop by searching among someone
else‘s castoffs?
Rising living
costs are considered by almost everyone as a
reason both for holding sales
and
for
attending
them. The
seller
makes
a
little
extra
money
and
the
buyer
saves
quite
a
lot,
since garage-sale items
usually are priced at a very small part of their
original cost.
But beyond that, they‘re
fun. Garage sales have become suburban social
events, drawing
people of all ages.
Neighbors enjoy meeting new people, and some
families even serve drinks
and cakes.
One
psychologist
suggests
that
people
are
fed
up with
the computerization
of
their
lives - they may
be searching for their roots. Many of the younger
buyers say they are turned off
by the
poor quality of modern goods and are looking for
remnants of a stronger and firmer era,
when things were built to last.
Some
people
have
made
garage-sale
shopping
into
a
hobby;
they spend
their weekends
going from
sale to sale, hoping to run across a real
treasure. Says one long-time weekend bargain
hunter,
away somewhere or
something else of great value for a bargain price.
Diana McLellan, a reporter for the
Washington Star-News,
wrote,
the quality of mercy - it blesseth him
that gives and him that takes. It separates
clothes, toys, pots,
cups, forks and
knives from their reluctant owners and places them
in loving new homes.‖
27
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
How
long will al
l this enthusiasm continue? Says one recent seller, ―Some day the people
who are buying are bound to be faced
with the same problem we had
–
getting rid of this stuff.‖
11-B. American Stores
In
the
United
States
you
will
find
yourself
being
urged
from
every
page
of
every
newspaper
and
on
practically
every
television
station
to
buy
all
kinds
of
goods
that
you
are
actually quite happy without.
Not only is there a wide range of
prices for goods in America, there is also a wide
range in
the quality of goods offered
for sale. Unlike some countries, Americans
generally pay the price
of
a
product without
question,
instead
of
trying
to
get
a
lower
price
by
bargaining.
However,
there
are
many
in
the
United
States,
during which
time stores will
lower
their
n
ormal
prices.
This
may
all
be
very
confusing
to
the
visitor.
Which
is
the
best
product
to
buy
out
of
hundreds to choose
from? How are you going to know how to
you shop? Perhaps the best advice is:
Don't hurry
. V
isit various stories and determine the quality
of
goods.
Examine
them
carefully.
Read
the
advertisements
so
that
you can
compare
prices.
Explore and examine before you buy.
There is a great variety of shops in
the United States, ranging from very large stores
called
artment stores,‖ offering clothing, furniture, household goods as well as many other goods,
to
very
small
shops
that
specialize
in
just
one
kind
of
product. There
are
houses‖
offering
goods
at
low
prices,
and
―dime
stores‖
specializing
in
a
wide
range
of
inexpensive
items.
Most department stores in large cities
carry average to better quality products at
average
to
higher
prices.
However,
they
offer
the
shopper
great convenience since
they
contain such
a
wide variety of products.
If
convenience isn't as important to you as price,
you may want to shop in some of the
discount houses. These stores have
nearly as great a variety of goods as department
stores, but
offer
lower
prices.
They
can
do so for several
reasons. They
don't
offer
the same
services
to
buyers that department stores
do; there may be fewer sales people; and the store
probably doesn't
28
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
deliver purchases.
There are
many small shops in America, as there are
everywhere, that offer a more limited
quantity of products. Usually run by a
small number of salespeople, these shops offer
products
that range from inexpensive to
very expensive, depending on the shop. Y
ou are likely to receive
more attention
from the sales-people in small shops than in
department stores.
Another popular shop
is the
ime store,‖ sometimes referred to as the
longer selling many things for five
or ten cents, these stores got their name in the
last century
when it was decided that a
small profit on a great quantity of goods would be
better than a large
profit on fewer
sales. Dime stores specialize
in a wide variety of inexpensive
items and today,
prices range from a quarter or 50 cents
up to several dollars. If you need a small item
and don‘t
want to spend very much, the
dime store is likely to have just what you are
looking for.
The United States is also
known for its
of food and household
articles are sold. These stores offer good quality
food at lower prices than
smaller food
stores.
The
vast
majority
of
Americans
do
all
their
food shopping
in
supermarkets.
One
of
the
most
interesting
sections
to
visit
is
the
frozen
food
section.
With
discoveries
in
methods
to
preserve
food,
almost
every
kind
of
food can
be frozen
and
yet
keep
its
original
flavor.
Since
frozen foods require so
little time to cook, they have naturally become
very popular everywhere
in the
country
.
12-A. How
Dictionaries Are Made
It is widely
believed that every word has a correct meaning,
that we learn these meanings
mainly
from
teachers
and
grammarians,
and
that
dictionaries
and
grammars
are
the
supreme
authority
in
matters
of
meaning
and
usage.
Few
people
ask
by what
authority
the writers
of
dictionaries and grammars say what they
say. I once got into a dispute with an English
woman
over the pronunciation of a word
and offered to look it up in the dictionary. The
English woman
said firmly, ―What for? I
am English. I was born and brought up in England,
The way I speak is
English.‖ Such
self
-
assurance about one‘s own language is fairly com
mon among the English. In
the United States, however,
anyone who is willing to quarrel with the
dictionary is regarded as
either
eccentric or mad.
Let
us
see
how
dictionaries
are
made
and
how
the
editors
arrive
at
definitions.
What
29
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
follows applies only to
those dictionary offices where first-hand, original research goes on
- not
those in
which editors simply copy existing dictionaries.
The task of writing a dictionary begins
with the reading of vast amounts of the
literature of the period or subject that the
dictionary is to
cover. As the editors
read, they copy on cards every interesting or rare
word, every unusual or
peculiar
occurrence of a common word, a large number of
common words in their ordinary uses,
and also the sentences in which each of
these words appears.
That
is
to
say,
the context
of
each
word
is
collected,
along
with
the
word
itself. For a
really
big
job
of
dictionary
writing,
such
as
the
Oxford
English
Dictionary,
millions
of
such
cards are collected, and
the task of editing occupies decades. As the cards
are collected, they are
alphabetized
and sorted. When the sorting is completed, there
will be for each word anywhere
from two
or three to several hundred quotations, each on
its card.
To
define
a
word,
then,
the
dictionary
editor
places
before
him
the
stack
of
cards
illustrating
that word; each of the cards represents an actual
use of the word by a writer of some
literary or historical
importance. He reads the cards carefully, discards some, re-reads the rest,
and
divides up the stack according to what he thinks
are the several senses of the word. Finally,
he writes his definitions, following
the hard-and-fast rule that each definition must
be based on
what the quotations in
front of him reveal about the meaning of the word.
The editor cannot be
influenced by what
he thinks a given word ought to mean. He must work
according to the cards,
or not at all.
The writing of a dictionary, therefore,
is not a task of setting up authoritative
statements
about
the
meanings
of words,
but
a
task
of
recording,
to
the
best
of
one's
ability, what
various words have meant to authors in
the distant or immediate past, If, for example, we
had
been
writing
a
dictionary
in
1890,
or
even
as
late
as
l919, we could
have
said
that
the word
on,
the
common
meaning
of
the
word
should
become
―to
send
out
programs
by
radio
or
television.‖
In choosing our words when we Speak or write, we can be guided by the historical
record provided us by the dictionary,
but we cannot be bound by it, because new
situations, new
experiences, new
inventions, new feelings, are always forcing us to
give new uses to old words.
Looking
under
a
―hood,‖
we
should
ordinarily
have
found,
five
hundred
years
ago,
a
monk;
today, we find a car engine.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
12-B.
Reading Provides Necessary Survival Skills
With the coming of the
television age and the increasing emphasis on
pictures and sound
in
all
quarters
of
our
society,
many
people would
have
us
believe
that we
are
moving
rapidly
away from reading as a necessary life
skill. But this is not the case at all.
Good
reading
is
a
more
important
life
skill
than
ever
before
and
the
printed
word
continues to be the cornerstone of both
higher education and better positions in the job
market.
For students, almost all
studying involves reading. For adults, reading is
day to day, either
a stumbling block or
a smooth path to pleasure and opportunity. This is
why good reading habits
are not only an
important study skill for the student, but also an
important life skill for anyone.
SCANNING -- Y
ou can get a good idea about the material by taking a few moments right
off to read the title, chapter
headings, section titles and headlines. The
purpose of scanning is to
get a quick
understanding of what to expect from the reading,
so that you will know what you
are
reading as you go along.
Maps,
charts,
graphs
and
pictures
are
clues
that
will
help
the
reader
to
cue
in
on
the
content and
organization of the material. This simple
technique of scanning can help you read
for ideas because you will know where
you are going when you begin to read.
READING SPEED
-- Another good reading habit
is reading fast. The expression
makes waste
you
are probably reading this slower than you need for
good comprehension. Studies show that
fast
readers
are
the
best
readers,
and
that
slow
readers
often
lose
their
concentration
and
comprehension abilities because their
minds will wander out of boredom.
Remember,
nothing
hurts
concentration
more
than
reading
too
slowly.
Y
our
mind
will
keep
up
with
your reading
speed
if
you
ask
it
to.
By
always
reading
at
your
top speed,
you
challenge
your understanding and make it easier for your
mind to concentrate on the material.
VOCABULARY
BUILDING
--
For
a
person with
good
reading
habits,
a
printed
page
contains not
only words but ideas, actions, thoughts and
feelings. But all these things are built on
words. The more words you are familiar
with, the less you are aware of reading words and
the
more you are aware of content and
meaning. Expanding your vocabulary will help you
to read
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
more
effectively and rapidly.
Many people
simply skip over words they do not understand.
This, naturally, hurts their
overall
comprehension. Other people stop at each new word
and look it up in the dictionary, but
this method can slow down your reading,
affecting concentration and comprehension.
But
you
can
build
your
vocabulary without
using
a
dictionary
each
time.
Here
are
two
rules:
1. Pause for a moment
on each new word and let it register in your mind.
2. Try to guess what the word means
from context clues, from the words around it.
What happens with this method is that
you will see the word again and again. Each time
you will have a stronger impression of
the meaning. Soon, the new word will be familiar
and its
meaning clear.
The
key to the method is to be alert to new words.
Don‘t skip over them. Y
ou'll find you
are adding to your vocabulary each day
and a good strong vocabulary is a great help to
reading
quickly and with strong
comprehension.
Good
reading
habits
like
these
can
help
students
and working
adults
alike
to
be
more
successful. The special
world of school and the real world of school and
of everyday life can be
more
comfortable, productive and rewarding with the
addition of simple yet important life skills
such as good reading habits.
13-A. Insurance
An
insurance agent called me this morning.
This particular agent wanted to discuss my
automobile
coverage,
but
the
next
agent
to
call
might
be
interested
in
my
life
insurance
program,
my
health
insurance,
or
fire
protection
for
my
home
and
furniture.
The
American
consumer
often
feels
constantly
disturbed
by
insurance
agents.
Many
agents
selling
many
different
policies
call
us
by
phone
and
sometimes
even
come
to
our
doors.
These
insurance
agents are always friendly, well
dressed, and eager to be of help.
Y
et few Americans really enjoy visiting with these eager, helpful men and women. We are
not happy when they call us; we
are on guard when they visit our homes. They are
never really
our friends; at best, they
are a necessary evil.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
Three
reasons why we are unwilling to discuss insurance
can be suggested. First of all,
insurance is expensive. A
young father who purchases a fairly small life insurance policy agrees
to pay a sum of $$200
every year for 40 years - a total of $$8,000. Many
college students pay $$800
to $$1,000 per
year for car insurance. In effect, they pay as
much for the insurance as they do for
the car itself. Health insurance that
pays for modern medical miracles often costs
Americans as
much as $$2,000 every year.
Adequate insurance is expensive; it is a major
item for most families.
Insurance also
reminds us that we live
in an unsafe world. We are human and we must
face the
possibilities of illness, injury, death, and
financial loss. Our rational minds recognize the
many
unfortunate
events that can
occur,
but
in
our
hearts we
hope that we
might
be
spared.
Serious injury or death is not a
pleasant subject to discuss or even consider. We
are afraid; we
would rather talk about
football or the weather or what we had for lunch.
Finally,
insurance
is
a
difficult,
complex
subject.
No
one
understands
it completely
and
only
a
few
insurance
professionals
really
feel
comfortable
in
a
discussion
of
automobile,
life,
and
major
medical
coverages.
We feel
inadequate
and
try
to
hide
our
ignorance
by
avoiding
discussions of insurance.
Y
et these three reasons for not discussing insurance provide three excellent reasons why
we should learn more about
it. Insurance
is expensive. In a lifetime, many of us spend as much
on
insurance as we do on the purchase of a home. If
we are to spend our money intelligently, we
need
information
about
the
products
and
services
a
vailable.
We
don‘t
depend
entirely
on
salespeople when we buy a
car, a house, or a suit of clothes. Neither should
we depend entirely
on the agent when we
buy insurance. We need a basic knowledge of
insurance coverages if we
are to be
intelligent consumers.
The intelligent
consumer looks problems in the face. Although
accident, illness, and death
are not
pleasant subjects, each of us knows we face these
possibilities. It is better that we plan
for these situations by finding means
to deal with them than to just hope that they will
somehow
go away.
Although
insurance can be complex, its basic concepts are
neither difficult nor impossible
to
learn. Quite the opposite. Insurance fundamentals
can be understood by those willing to study
them. Serious study provides knowledge.
The study of insurance is
an effective
,
proven method
of dealing with the insurance ignorance
faced by many American families.
33
大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
13-B. What Is Money and What Are Its
Functions?
Money
is
something
you've
been
familiar
with
throughout
your
life.
In
fact,
you
may
already consider
yourself an expert on the subject. Y
ou regularly use money to measure the value
of
things
you
own.
Y
ou
also
have
some
of
it
in
your
and
in
bank
accounts. It
might
surprise
you
to
learn
that
there's
a
great
deal
of
disagreement
among
economists
about what
money
is
and
how
to
measure
it.
Money
serves
a
number
of functions,
and
any
definition
of
money must consider all of its
functions.
The four major functions of
money are as a medium of exchange, a standard of
value,
a
standard of deferred
payment, and a store of value.
A Medium
of Exchange.
As a generally accepted medium of exchange, money rules out
the
need for
barter,
the
direct
exchange
of
one
item
for
another.
Barter
is
a
very
inconvenient
means of trading
because it requires the double coincidence of
wants. A
seller with a good or
service to offer must search for a
buyer who has exactly what the seller desires. For
example, if a
baker wants meat, he must
search for a person who sells meat and wants bread
under a barter
system.
Because
money
is
generally
accepted
as
payment
for
any
purchase,
a
baker who sells
bread for money
can use the money to buy meat or anything else he
wants.
A
Standard
of
Value.
Money
provides
a
unit
of
account
that
serves
as
a
standard
to
measure
value. The
value
of
an
item
is
a measure
of what
a
person will
sacrifice
to
obtain
it.
How
much
is
a
two week
vacation
in
Hawaii
worth
to
you?
If
you're
like
most
people,
you'll
probably
respond to such a question by valuing the vacation
in dollars - say $$2,000 - rather than
in terms of other things (like your
car). Whether or not you're conscious of it,
you're constantly
valuing
items in dollars. As a standard of value, money allows the addition of values of many
different items as automobiles,
repairs, and all other goods and services. The
concept of GNP
is
useless
without a standard of value such as the
dollar.
A Standard of Deferred
Payment.
Many contracts involve promises to pay sums of money
in the future. The
unit of account for deferred payment
of debts is also money. If you borrow
money to buy a car, the loan contract
specifies how much you must pay back every month
and
the number of months required to
satisfy your obligation. However, money serves its
function as
a standard of deferred
payment only if its purchasing power remains
fairly constant over time. If
the price
level rises, the future purchasing power of money
over time will go down. Similarly, a
decrease in the price level will
increase the future purchasing power of money.
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大学英语自学教程（上）电子版
A
Store of Value.
Money can also serve as a store of value that can be quickly converted to
goods and services. Money as the actual
medium of exchange is completely
liquid, meaning
it
can immediately be
converted to goods and services without any
inconvenience or cost. Other
assets
that serve as stores of value must first be sold
to be converted into a generally accepted
medium of exchange. There are often
costs and inconvenience associated with
liquidating other
assets.
Holding
money
as
a
store
of
value
thus
can
reduce
the
transaction
costs
involved
in
everyday business.
14-A. The Importance of
Being Kind and Polite
Frankly,
I
think
you‘re
boring.‖
Why
do
we
seldom
hear
people
speak
so
honestly?
Unless you want to end a relationship,
you don't tell another person what you think of
her or him
like this. Failing to be
impressed by a friend's collection of stamps,
yawning when a golfer tells
you about
that great shut he made on the 14th hole, or
falling asleep when friends show pictures
from their last trip to Sault Ste.
Marie are all things that educated people try not
to do. This is
what
manners
are
about:
acting
in
a
civilized
way
to
avoid
misunderstanding,
friction,
and
conflict.
There
are
no
laws
enforcing
respect.
Y
et we
cannot
interact with
others without
some
rules
of behavior, rules that are set by some form of
social consensus. These guidelines represent
what a majority of people consider
acceptable and what they consider unacceptable.
Rude people
are those whose behavior
shows little respect for the rules that the
majority follow. For instance,
because
they talk at home while the television is on, many
people think they can talk at movies
as
well. They are not even aware that this habit will
bother the other members of the audience.
Restaurants have smoking and non-
smoking sections, and most smokers are polite
enough
to
ask,
you
mind
if
I
smoke?
before
lighting
up.
Restaurants
should
also
have
cellular-phone
and
no-cellular-phone
sections.
A
new class
of rude
people
has
been
born:
the
look-at-me
phone users whose boring conversations are just as dangerous to our mental health as
smoke is to our lungs.
Sometimes, it is better to remain unknown than to
make pimple hate you.
There are many
children and adolescents whose behavior is
generally unacceptable. They
swear no
matter who is around them, they listen to their
Walkmans while the teacher is talking to
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