综合英语二课文完整版

自考综合英语二课文

全国高等教育自学考试指定教材 综合英语二（上下） 主编 徐克荣 外语教学与研究出版社

Lesson One

Twelve Things l Wish They Taught at School

Carl Sagan

俗话说：“活到老，学到老。”人的一生就是不断学习、不断丰富和充实自己的过程。青少年阶段，尤其是中学阶段，无疑是学习的最佳时期。中学教育的重点应放在什么地方？美国著名科学家和科普作家萨根批评中学只抓各个学科具体内容的做法，他认为中学要注重对青少年的宏观教育，使他们建立起唯物的世界观和宇宙观，使他们能够正确对待自己，关心周围的世界——人类生存的环境和自己的地球同胞。

1 I attended junior and senior high school, public institutions in New York and New Jersey, just after the Second World War. It seems a long time ago. The facilities and the skills of the teachers were probably well above average for the United States at that time. Since then, I've learned a great deal. One of the most important things I've learned is how much there is to learn, and how much I don't yet know. Sometimes I think how grateful I would be today if I had learned more back then about what really matters. In some respects that education was terribly narrow; the only thing I ever heard in school about Napoleon was that the United States made the Louisiana Purchase from him. (On a planet where some 95% of the inhabitants are not Americans, the only history that was thought worth teaching was American history. ) In spelling, grammar, the fundamentals of math, and other vital subjects, my teachers did a pretty good job. But there's so much else I wish they'd taught us.

2 Perhaps all the deficiencies have since been rectified. It seems to me there are many things (often more a matter of attitude and perception than the simple memorization of facts) that the schools should teach — things that truly would be useful in later life, useful in making a stronger country and a better world, but useful also in making people happier. Human beings enjoy learning. That's one of the few things that we do better than the other species on our planet. Every student should regularly experience the \— when something you never understood, or something you never knew was a mystery, becomes clear. 3 So here's my list:

Pick a difficult thing and learn it well.

4 The Greek philosopher Socrates said this was one of the greatest of human joys,and it is. While you learn a little bit about many subjects, make sure you learn a great deal about one or two. It hardly matters what the subject is, as long as it deeply interests you, and you place it in its broader human context. After you teach yourself one subject, you become much more confident about your ability to teach yourself another. You gradually find you've acquired a key skill. The world is changing so rapidly that you must continue to teach yourself throughout your life. But don't get trapped by the first subject that interests you, or the first thing you find yourself good at. The world is full of wonders, and some of them we don't discover until we're all grown up. Most of them, sadly, we never discover. Don't be afraid to ask \questions.

5 Many apparently naive inquiries like why grass is green, or why the Sun is round, or why we need 55,000 nuclear weapons in the world — are really deep questions. The answers can be a gateway to real insights. It's also important to know, as well as you can, what it is that you don't know, and asking questions is the way. To ask \courage on the part of the asker and knowledge and patience on the part of the answerer. And don't confine your learning to schoolwork. Discuss ideas in depth with friends. It's much braver to ask questions even when there's a prospect of

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ridicule than to suppress your questions and become deadened to the world around you.

Listen carefully.

6 Many conversations are a kind of competition that rarely leads to discovery on either side. When people are talking, don't spend the time thinking about what you're going to say next. Instead, try to understand what they're saying, what experience is behind their remarks, what you can learn from or about them. Older people have grown up in a world very different from yours, one you may not know very well. They, and people from other parts of the country and from other nations, have important perspectives that can enrich your life. Everybody makes mistakes.

7 Everybody's understanding is incomplete. Be open to correction, and learn to correct your own mistakes. The only embarrassment is in not learning from your mistakes.

Know your planet.

8 It's the only one we have. Learn how it works. We're changing the atmosphere, the surface, the waters of the Earth, often for some short-term advantage when the long-term implications are unknown. The citizens of any country should have at least something to say about the direction in which we're going. If we don't understand the issues, we abandon the future. Science and technology.

9 You can't know your planet unless you know something about science and technology. School science courses, I remember, concentrated on the unimportant parts of science, leaving the major insights almost untouched. The great discoveries in modern science are also great discoveries of the human spirit. For example, Copernicus showed that — far from being the center of the universe, about which the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars revolved in clockwise homage — the Earth is just one of many small worlds. This is a deflation of our pretensions, to be sure, but it is also the opening up to our view of a vast and awesome universe. Every high school graduate should have some idea of the insights of Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein. (Einstein's special theory of relativity, far from being obscure and exceptionally difficult, can be understood in its basics with no more than first-year algebra, and the notion of a rowboat in a river going upstream and downstream. ) Don't spend your life watching TV. 10 You know what I'm talking about.Culture.

11 Gain some exposure to the great works of literature, art and music. If such a work is hundreds or thousands of years old and is still admired, there is probably something to it. Like all deep experiences, it may take a little work on your part to discover what all the fuss is about. But once you make the effort, your life has changed; you've acquired a source of enjoyment and excitement for the rest of your days. In a world as tightly connected as ours is, don't restrict your attention to American or Western culture. Learn how and what people elsewhere think. Learn something of their history, their religion, their viewpoints. Compassion.

12 Many people believe that we live in an extraordinarily selfish time. But there is a hollowness, a loneliness that comes from living only for yourself. Humans are capable of great mutual compassion, love, and tenderness. These feelings, however, need encouragement to grow.

13 Look at the delight a one- or two-year-old takes in learning, and you see how powerful is the human will to learn. Our passion to understand the universe and our compassion for others jointly provide the chief hope for the human race. Lesson Two

Icons

提起一位获得诺贝尔奖的华人物理学家的名字，今天的青少年恐怕很多人会感到陌生，无话可说，可是谈起当红歌星、球星，他们则是津津乐道。当今国内外的明星大腕被少男少女们一个个奉为偶像。君不见，追星族们为求得偶像的签名，可以在瓢泼大雨中等待半天，为一睹偶像的风采，可以大打出手破门而入。三四十年前青年人崇拜的科学家和英雄人物已被视为昨日黄花，中外都是如此。这种价值观的变化引起了社会学家和教育家的忧虑，他们指出星们、腕儿们只不过是媒体尤其是电视炒作的产物。 Heroes and Cultural Icons Gary Gosggarian

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1 If you were asked to list ten American heroes and heroines, you would probably name some or all of the following: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Helen Keller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Rosa Parks. If next you were asked to list people who are generally admired by society, who somehow seem bigger than life, you might come up with an entirely different list. You might, in fact, name people who are celebrated for their wealth and glamour rather than their achievements and moral strength of character. And you would not be alone, because pollsters have found that people today do not choose political leaders who shape history for their \professional athletes, and even comic book and cartoon characters. In short media icons.

2 By definition, heroes and heroines are men and women distinguished by uncommon courage, achievements, and self-sacrifice made most often for the benefit of others — they are people against whom we measure others. They are men and women recognized for shaping our nation's consciousness and development as well as the lives of those who admire them. Yet, some people say that ours is an age where true heroes and heroines are hard to come by, where the very ideal of heroism is something beyond us — an artifact of the past. Some maintain that because the Cold War is over and because America is at peace our age is essentially an unheroic one. Furthermore, the overall crime rate is down, poverty has been eased by a strong and growing economy, and advances continue to be made in medical science. Consequently, bereft of cultural heroes, we have latched onto cultural icons — media superstars such as actors, actresses, sports celebrities, television personalities, and people who are simply famous for being famous.

3 Cultural icons are harder to define, but we know them when we see them. They are people who manage to transcend celebrity, who are legendary, who somehow manage to become mythic. But what makes some figures icons and others mere celebrities? That's hard to answer. In part, their lives have the quality of a story. For instance, the beautiful young Diana Spencer who at 19 married a prince, bore a king, renounced marriage and the throne, and died at the moment she found true love. Good looks certainly help. So does a special indefinable charisma, with the help of the media. But nothing be comes an icon more than a tragic and early death — such as Martin Luther King Jr. , John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana. Being Somebody Donna Wool folk Cross

4 One hundred years ago, people became famous for what they had achieved. Men like J.P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman and Jay Gould were all notable achievers. So were Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, and Susan B. Anthony.

5 Their accomplishments are still evident in our own day. Today's celebrities, however, often do not become known for any enduring achievement. The people we most admire today are usually those who are most highly publicized by the media.

6 In 1981, a Gallup poll revealed that Nancy Reagan was the nation's \distinction went to President Carter's wife, Rosalynn. In fact, the wife of the current president is always one of the nation's most admired women. Today's celebrities, as the writer Daniel Boorstin says, are \well-known for their well-knownness.\

7 To become such a celebrity, one needs luck, not accomplishment. As Boorstin says, \his accomplishment; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name.\

8 There is another distinction: heroes inspire respect; celebrities inspire envy. Few of us believe we could be another Jonas Salk or Eleanor Roosevelt, but we could be another TV star like Telly Savalas or Suzanne Somers. Except for the attention they get from the media, these people are exactly like us.

9 The shift from hero-worship to celebrity-worship occurred around the turn of the century. It was closely tied to the rise of new forms of media— first photography, and later moving pictures, radio and television. For the first time, Americans could see and recognize their heroes. Previously, men like Gould and Harriman, whose names everyone knew, could easily have passed through a crowd without being recognized. The reproduction of photos in newspapers turned famous people into celebrities whose dress, appearance, and personal habits were widely commented upon. Slowly, the focus of public attention began to shift away from knowing what such people did to knowing what they looked like.

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10 The shift was accelerated by the arrival of moving pictures. Between 1901 and 1914, 74 percent of the magazine articles about famous people were about political leaders, inventors, professionals, and businessmen. After 1922, however, most articles were about movie stars.

11 With the arrival of television, the faces of the stars became as familiar as those we saw across the breakfast table. We came to know more about the lives of the celebrities than we did about most of the people we know personally. Less than seventy years after the appearance of the first moving pictures, the shift from hero-worship to celebrity-worship was complete.

12 Today an appearance on a television talk show is the ultimate proof of \America. Actually, the term \— or ability — to talk, but simply to gain recognition, and prove, merely by showing up, that they are \

13 Being a guest on a talk show does not require qualities of wit, eloquence, brilliance, insight, or intelligence. A former talent coordinator for \talk to the host about?\typical Hollywood actor, so I have never had an original thought and I have nothing to say of any interest to anyone anywhere.\

14 Most hosts are grateful just to get someone who will fill the room with sound. One talk show coordinator comments, \seconds is disastrous. A guest who's got to stop to think about everything he says before he opens his mouth is a ratings nightmare.\

15 This kind of attitude rewards smooth, insincere talk, and makes hesitancy look like stupidity.

16 \the hearts of his countrymen, but today he'd be dragging his bottom in the ratings.\ Lesson Three Go-Go Americans Alison R. Lanier

如果矜持是英国人突出的特性，我们则可以用“风风火火”来概括美国人典型的特点。他们好像整天在忙忙碌碌，匆匆去上班，匆匆用午饭，匆匆返回工作；他们没有耐心，脾气急，爱发火，不耐烦排队；他们谈公事开门见山，没有客套话，直截了当切入话题；他们喜爱快餐，大量使用节省劳力的家用电器，钟情电子通讯设施；他们办事不拘形式，讲速度，重效率等等。这一切皆源于他们对生命之短促的紧迫感，视时间为生命的价值观。

1 Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor.

2 \budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious commodity. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.

3 A foreigner's first impression of the U.S. is likely to be that everyone is in a rush — often under pressure. City people appear always to be hurrying to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, elbowing others as they try to complete their errands. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating places are waiting for you to finish so they too can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. Each person hurries to make room for the next person. If you don't, waiters will hurry you. 4 You also find drivers will be abrupt and that people will push past you. You will miss smiles, brief conversations, small courtesies with strangers. Don't take it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else \

5 This view of time affects the importance we attach to patience. In the American system of values, patience is not a

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high priority. Many of us have what might be called \slipping away without some return — be this in terms of pleasure, work value, or rest. Those coming from lands where time is looked upon differently may find this matter of pace to be one of their most difficult adjustments in both business and daily life.

6 Many newcomers to the States will miss the opening courtesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a cafe or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust and rapport. Rapport to most of us is less important than performance. We seek out evidence of past performance rather than evaluate a business colleague through social courtesies. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly.

7 Most Americans live according to time segments laid out in engagement calendars. These calendars may be divided into intervals as short as fifteen minutes. We often give a person two or three (or more) segments of our calendar, but in the business world we almost always have other appointments following hard on the heels of whatever we are doing. Time is therefore always ticking in our inner ear.

8 As a result we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through telexes, phone calls or memos rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longer — especially given our traffic-filled streets. We therefore save most personal visiting for after work hours or for social weekend gatherings.

9 To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relation to the importance of the matter at hand. In some countries no major business is carried on without eye contact, requiring face-to-face conversation. In America, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in person. However, people are meeting increasingly on television screens, conducting \to settle problems not only in this country but also — by satellite — internationally. An increasingly high percentage of normal business is being done these days by voice or electronic device. Mail is slow and uncertain and is growing ever more expensive.

10 The U.S. is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chat with friends, to make or break social engagements, to say their \Telephones save your feet and endless amounts of time. This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is good here, whereas the postal service is less efficient. Furthermore, the costs of secretarial labor, printing, and stamps are all soaring. The telephone is quick. We like it. We can do our business and get an answer in a matter of moments. Furthermore, several people can confer together without moving from their desks, even in widely scattered locations. In a big country that, too, is important.

11 Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are thus felt to be given added weight by the passage of time. In the U.S. , however, it is taken as a sign of competence to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with rapidity. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to \ Lesson Four \

一艘失事船只的10名幸存水手在救生艇上漂流了20天，水手们干渴难忍，三副因不许他们碰艇上最后一小壶淡水，成了众矢之的，尤其是副水手长，对他是更是恨之入骨。为了保住那壶水，3天来，他没有合眼，一直把枪口对准了其他水手，不许他们轻举妄动。他明白，那点水是10个人活下去的动力。他疲乏至极，就在他倒下之际，他低声说：\水手长，接过去!\后来??

1 Hour after hour I kept the gun pointed at the other nine men. From the lifeboat's stern, where I'd sat most of the twenty days of our drifting, I could keep them all covered. If I had to shoot at such close quarters, I wouldn't miss. They

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realized that. Nobody jumped at me. But in the way they all glared I could see how they'd come to hate my guts. 2 Especially Barrett, who'd been bos'n's mate; Barrett said in his harsh, cracked voice, \ou're a fool, Snyder. Y-you can't hold out forever! You're half asleep now!\

3 I didn't answer. He was right. How long can a man stay awake? I hadn't dared to shut my eyes in maybe seventy-two hours. Very soon now I'd doze off, and the instant that happened they'd jump on the little water that was left. 4 The last canteen lay under my legs. There wasn't much in it after twenty days. Maybe a pint. Enough to give each of them a few drops. Yet I could see in their bloodshot eyes that they'd gladly kill me for those few drops. As a man I didn't count any more. I was no longer third officer of the wrecked Montala. I was just a gun that kept them away from the water they craved. And with their tongue swollen and their cheeks sunken, they were half crazy.

5 The way I judged it, we must be some two hundred miles east of Ascension. Now that the storms were over, the Atlantic swells were long and easy, and the morning sun was hot — so hot it scorched your skin. My own tongue was thick enough to stop my throat. I'd have given the rest of my life for a single gulp of water.

6 But I was the man with the gun — the only authority in the boat — and I knew this: once the water was gone we'd have nothing to look forward to but death. As long as we could look forward to getting a drink later, there was something to live for. We had to make it last as long as possible. If I'd given in to the curses, we'd have emptied the last canteen days ago. By now we'd all be dead.

7 The men weren't pulling on the oars. They'd stopped that long ago, too weak to go on. The nine of them facing me were a pack of bearded, ragged, half-naked animals, and I probably looked as bad as the rest. Some sprawled over the gunwales, dozing. The rest watched me as Barrett did, ready to spring the instant I relaxed. 8 When they weren't looking at my face they looked at the canteen under my legs.

9 Jeff Barrett was the nearest one. A constant threat. The bos'n's mate was a heavy man, bald, with a scarred and brutal face. He'd been in a hundred fights, and they'd left their marks on him.

10 Barrett had been able to sleep — in fact, he'd slept through most of the night — and I envied him that. His eyes wouldn't close. They kept watching me, narrow and dangerous.

11 Every now and then he jeered at me in that hoarse, broken voice: 12 \ou can't hold out!\

13 \ 14 \

15 \

16 Couldn't he understand that if we waited until night the few drops wouldn't be sweated out of us so fast? But Barrett was beyond all reasoning. His mind had already cracked with thirst. I saw him begin to rise, a calculating look in his eyes. I aimed the gun at his chest — and he sat down again.

17 I'd grabbed my gun on instinct, twenty days ago, just before running for the lifeboat. Nothing else would have kept Barrett and the rest away from the water.

18 These fools — couldn't they see I wanted a drink as badly as any of them? But I was in command here — that was the difference. I was the man with the gun, the man who had to think. Each of the others could afford to think only of himself; I had to think of them all.

19 Barrett's eyes kept watching me, waiting. I hated him. I hated him all the more because he'd slept. As the boat rose and fell on the long swells, I could feel sleep creeping over me like paralysis. I bent my head. It filled my brain like a cloud. I was going, going...

20 Barrett stood over me, and I couldn't even lift the gun. In a vague way I could guess what would happen. He'd grab the water first and take his drop. By that time the others would be screaming and tearing at him, and he'd have to yield the canteen. Well, there was nothing more I could do about it. 21 I whispered, \

22 Then I fell face down in the bottom of the boat. I was asleep before I stopped moving...

23 When a hand shook my shoulder, I could hardly raise my head. Jeff Barrett's hoarse voice said, \share o' the water !\

24 Somehow I propped myself up on my arms, dizzy and weak. I looked at the men, and I thought my eyes were going.

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Their figures were dim, shadowy; but then I realized it wasn't because of my eyes. It was night. The sea was black; there were stars overhead. I'd slept the day away.

25 So we were in our twenty-first night adrift — the night in which the tramp Croton finally picked us up — but now, as I turned my head to Barrett there was no sign of any ship. He knelt beside me, holding out the canteen, his other hand with the gun steady on the men.

26 I stared at the canteen as if it were a mirage. Hadn't they finished that pint of water this morning? When I looked up at Barrett's ugly face, it was grim. He must have guessed my thoughts.

27 \ou said,‘Take over, bos'n, ' didn't you?\in his hand.\— you — you sure get to see things different, don't you?\

Lesson Five Are you Giving Your Kids Too Much? benjamin Spock

天下的父母哪个不疼爱自己的孩子？天下的父母又有哪个不望子成龙、盼女成凤？一个普遍存在的错误观念是：给孩子的越多，越能体现对孩子的爱；相当多的家长对孩子的物质要求不愿说“不”。殊不知孩子最需要的是父母对他们的关心和爱护，无节制地满足孩子的物质愿望不利于他们的健康成长，也不是他们的愿望。有时孩子的哭闹仅仅是发出信号，请求家长规定界限。家长应该让孩子从小就学习如何面对回绝、挫折和失败。

 1 While traveling for various speaking engagements, I frequently stay overnight in the home of a family and am assigned to one of the children's bedrooms. In it, I often find so many playthings that there's almost no room - for my small toilet kit. And the closet is usually so tightly packed with clothes that I can barely squeeze in my jacket.

2 I'm not complaining, only making a point. I think that the tendency to give children an overabundance of toys and clothes is quite common in American families, and I think that in far too many families not only do children come to take their parents' generosity for granted, but also the effects of this can actually be somewhat harmful to children.

3 Of course, I'm not only thinking of the material possessions children are given. Children can also be overindulged with too many privileges - for example, when parents send a child to an expensive summer camp that the parents can't really afford.

4 Why parents give their children too much, or give things they can't afford? I believe there are several reasons. 5 One fairly common reason is that parents overindulge their children out of a sense of guilt. Parents who both hold down full-time jobs may feel guilty about the amount of time they spend away from their children and may attempt to compensate by showering them with material possessions.

6 Other parents overindulge because they want their children to have everything they had while growing up, along with those things the parents yearned for but didn't get. Still others are afraid to say no to their children's endless requests for toys for fear that their children will feel unloved or will be ridiculed if they don't have the same playthings their friends have. 7 Overindulgence of a child also happens when parents are unable to stand up to their children's unreasonable demands. Such parents vacillate between saying no and giving in - but neither response seems satisfactory to them. If they refuse a request, they immediately feel a wave of remorse for having been so strict or ungenerous. If they give in, they feel regret and resentment over having been a pushover. This kind of vacillation not only impairs the parents' ability to set limits, it also sours the parent-child relationship to some degree, robbing parents and their children of some of the happiness and mutual respect that should be present in healthy families.

8 But overindulging children with material things does little to lessen parental guilt (since parents never feel that they've given enough), nor does it make children feel more loved (for what children really crave is parents' time and attention). Instead, the effects of overindulgence can be harmful. Children may, to some degree, become greedy, self-centered, ungrateful and insensitive to the needs and feelings of others, beginning with their parents. When children are given too much, it undermines their respect for their parents. In fact, the children begin to sense that a parent's unlimited generosity is not right. The paradoxical result may be that these children will push further, unconsciously hoping that, if they push too hard, they will force their parents into setting limits.

9 Also, overindulged children are not as challenged as children with fewer playthings to be more creative in their play.

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They have fewer opportunities to learn the value of money, and have less experience in learning to deal with a delay in gratification, if every requested object is given on demand.

10 The real purpose of this discussion is not to tell parents how much or how little to give to their children. Rather, my intent is to help those parents who have already sensed that they might be overindulging their children but don't know how to stop.

11 Parents who are fortunate enough not to have a problem with feelings of guilt don't need to respond crossly to their children when denying a specific request which is thought to be unreasonable. They can explain, cheerfully, that it's too expensive - except perhaps as a birthday or holiday gift - or that the child will have to contribute to its purchase from an allowance or from the earnings of an outside job.

12 It's the cheerfulness and lack of hesitation that impress upon the child that parents mean what they say. A cross response signals that the parents are in inner conflict. In fact, I'll make a rash statement that I believe is true, by and large: Children will abide by what their parents sincerely believe is right. They only begin arguing and pestering when they detect uncertainty or guilt, and sense that their parents can be pushed to give them what they want, if they just keep at it. But the truth is that a child really wants parents to be in control - even if it means saying no to a request - and to act with conviction in a kind and loving fashion.

13 But, you may answer, I often am uncertain about whether to give in to many of my children's requests. That doesn't mean you can't change. First you should try to determine what makes you submissive or guilty. Then, even if you haven't uncovered the reason, you should begin to make firm decisions and practice responding to your children's requests in a prompt, definite manner.

14 Once you turn over a new leaf, you can't expect to change completely right away. You are bound to vacillate at times. The key is to be satisfied with gradual improvement, expecting and accepting the occasional slips that come with any change. And even after you are handling these decisions in a firmer and more confident manner, you can't expect your children to respond immediately. For a while they'll keep on applying the old pressures that used to work so well. But they'll eventually come to respect your decisions once they learn that nagging and arguing no longer work. In the end, both you and your children will be happier for it. Lesson Six Culture Shock

在今天的社会里，很少有人一生只在一个地方生活，只在一种环境里活动。一个人在成长过程中，从幼儿园到小学、中学、乃至大学，不断离开自己熟悉的同伴而进入新的环境。越来越多的学子走出国门到海外求学。由于各种原因，人们更换工作单位、居住地点，到陌生的地方去求生存、求发展。环境的变化往往给人们带来各种生理的和心理的不适，甚至压力。社会学家把这种情况称之为“文化震荡”，指出这是当今社会的一种流行病，并分析了其病因、症状、过程和治愈方式。这些分析也许对于预防和治疗此病有一定的作用。

Cause and Symptoms

Kalvero Oberg

1 Culture shock might be called an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most diseases, it has its own symptoms.

2 Culture shock is caused by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. Those signs or cues include the thousand and one ways with which we are familiar in the situation of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to go shopping, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not. These cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms, are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues, often without our conscious awareness.

3 Now when a person enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. He or she is like a fish out of water. No matter how broad-minded or full of goodwill you may be, a series of props have been knocked from under

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you, followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety. People react to the frustration in much the same way. First they reject the environment which causes the discomfort. \foreigners in a strange land get together to grumble about the host country and its people, you can be sure they are suffering from culture shock. Another symptom of culture shock is regression. The home environment suddenly takes on a tremendous importance. To the foreigner everything becomes irrationally glorified. All the difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things back home are remembered. It usually takes a trip home to bring one back to reality. 4 Some of the symptoms of culture shock are excessive washing of the hands; excessive concern over drinking water, food dishes, and bedding; fear of physical contact with attendants; the absent-minded stare; a feeling of helplessness and a desire for dependence on long term residents of one's own nationality; fits of anger over minor frustrations; great concern over minor pains and eruptions of the skin; and finally, that terrible longing to be back home.

5 Individuals differ greatly in the degree in which culture shock affects them. Although not common, there are individuals who cannot live in foreign countries. However, those who have seen people go through culture shock and on to a satisfactory adjustment can see steps in the process.

Stages of Adjustment Raymond Zeuschner

6 Kalvero Oberg describes four stages that people go through when they experience situations that are very different from those to which they are accustomed. Examples of such situations include moving to a new city, traveling to a new country, and becoming part of a new organization, military unit or corporation.

7 Stage one is a honeymoon phase, during which the new experience is perceived to be interesting, picturesque, entertaining, and charming. You may notice several superficial differences such as music, food, and clothing, and the fresh appeal of the new experience keeps you feeling interested and positive. If you are a real tourist, you probably do not stay long enough for this phase to wear off but go on to the next new location or experience. There are people who frequently change jobs, majors, romantic partners, travel plans, clothing styles, foods, diets, or cars so that they never get very far away from the honeymoon stage of culture shock. It is very pleasant to travel and to try out and explore whatever is new. 8 When you stay in a new environment for a while, you move to stage two - the crisis stage - in which the shine wears off and day to-day realities sink in. In a relationship, you notice annoying habits; in a new country, you find barriers to establishing connections or to learning the language beyond a few polite phrases. Suddenly, your new major includes a class or a professor you dislike. The difficulties and unpleasantness of reality replace the charming and picturesque \However, if you stick with the experience and try to deal with it realistically, you will probably move to the third phase of culture shock: recovery.

9 In recovery, you learn the systems, procedures, language, or nonverbal behaviors of the new environment so that you can cope with it on the basis of some mastery, competence, and comfort. After about two weeks in London, I began to feel familiar with traveling by \shopping nearly every day for groceries, paying in the correct currency, buying a newspaper, and using some phrases that are unique to English people. I had the advantage of speaking the same basic language and of sharing a great deal with the English in some broad, cultural aspects. In a country that was very different from my own, it would probably have taken me longer to move into the recovery phase.

10 Finally, the fourth, or adjustment, phase occurs when you feel that you function well and almost automatically in the new culture. You no longer need to make mental conversions of the country's money; you know where services are located and how to use them; you understand some of the customs that accompany ordinary life, and it is relatively easy for you to adjust to them. A greater enjoyment of the new experience is now possible, and you may regain some of the initial positive regard you had in the honeymoon stage. If you stay long enough on a visit from a big city to a small town, or, the other way round, you may become so well adapted to the new environment that when you return to your original home, you will again experience culture shock. For some people, it may take several days to readjust, depending on the length of time they were away. Usually, however, since you are in your home culture, your shock wears off faster than the shock that you experienced in the new culture.

Lesson Seven The Model Millionaire (Ⅰ)

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Oscar Wilde

一个虽有英俊的相貌与潇洒的风度但没有钱的小伙子，在普遍认为漂亮不如有钱的伦敦社会，有资格谈情说爱吗?他能得到姑娘们的青睐吗?休吉就是这样一位青年，偏偏有一位美丽的姑娘愿意嫁给他。未来的老丈人对小伙子也颇为欣赏。但是若论及婚嫁，先得拿出1万英镑。对此这个性格开朗的年轻人是一筹莫展，到哪里去筹这笔巨款?那天在朋友的画室里，一个衣衫褴褛、满脸愁容的老模特打动了他的心。自己虽穷，但他仍然可怜比他更穷的人，他毫不犹豫地把兜里唯一的一个英镑悄悄地送给了那可怜的老头。

1 Unless one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow. Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed. The poor should be practical and ordinary. It is better to have a permanent income than to be attractive. These are the great truths of modern life which Hughie Erskine never realised. Poor Hughie! Intellectually, we must admit, he was not of much importance. He never said a clever or even an ill-natured thing in his life. But then he was wonderfully good-looking, with his brown hair, his clear-cut face, and his grey eyes. He was as popular with men as he was with women, and he had every quality except that of making money. His father, on his death, had left him his sword and a history of a particular war in fifteen volumes. Hughie hung the first over his looking-glass, put the second on a shelf, and he lived on two hundred pounds a year that an old aunt allowed him. He had tried everything. He had gone on the Stock Exchange for six months; but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears? He had been a tea merchant for a little longer, but he had soon tired of that. Then he had tried selling dry sherry. That did not answer; the sherry was a little too dry. At last he became nothing, a delightful, useless young man with a perfect face and no profession.

2 To make matters worse, he was in love. The girl he loved was Laura Merton, the daughter of a former army officer who had lost his temper and his health in India, and never found either of them again.Laura loved him and he was ready to kiss her shoestrings. They were the handsomest couple in London, and had not a penny between them. Her father was very fond of Hughie, but would not hear of any engagement.

3 \and Hughie looked very miserable in those days, and had to go to Laura for comfort.

4 One morning, as he was on his way to Holland Park, where the Mertons lived, he dropped in to see a great friend of his, Alan Trevor. Trevor was a painter. Indeed, few people are not nowadays. But he was also an artist, and artists are rather rare. Personally he was a strange, rough fellow, with a freckled face and red, rough beard. However, when he took up the brush he was a real master, and his pictures were eagerly sought after. He had been very much attracted by Hughie at first, it must be admitted, entirely on account of his personal charm. \people who are beautiful, people who are an artistic pleasure to look at, and restful to talk to. Men who are well-dressed and women who are lovely rule the world - at least they should do so.\him quite as much for his bright, cheerful spirits, and his generous, careless nature, and had asked him to come to his studio whenever he liked.

5 When Hughie came in he found Trevor putting the finishing touches to a wonderful life-size picture of a beggar-man. The beggar himself was standing on a raised platform in a corner of the room. He was a wizened old man with a wrinkled face and a sad expression. Over his shoulder was thrown a rough brown coat, all torn and full of holes; his thick boots were old and patched; and with one hand he leant on a rough stick, while with the other he held out his battered hat for money. 6 \

7 \day. Good heavens! What a picture Rembrandt would have made of him!\

8 \ 9 \

10 \ 11 \ shilling an hour.\

12 \ 13 \ 14 \

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