新视野大学英语读写教程6ReadingAloud.docVIP

Reading Aloud第一单元：Defining the meaning of “happiness” is a perplexing proposition: the best one can do is to try to set some extremes to the idea and then work toward the middle. To think of happiness as achieving superiority over others, living in a mansion made of marble, having a wardrobe with hundreds of outfits, will do to set the greedy extreme. To think of happiness as the joy of a holy man of India will do to set the spiritual extreme. He sits completely still, contemplating the nature of reality, free even of his own body. If admirers bring him food, he eats it; if not, he starves. Why he concerned? What is physical is trivial to him. To contemplate is his joy and he achieves complete mental focus through an incredibly demanding discipline, the accomplishment of which is itself a joy to him.给“幸福”下定义是一个令人困惑的问题：最好的办法是先设定两个极端，然后寻求中庸。 认为幸福就是高人一等，住的是大理石豪宅，衣柜里有上百套衣服，这可成为贪婪的极端。 认为幸福就是印度圣人似的快乐，这将成为精神生活的极端。 圣人打坐，冥想着现实的本质，超脱于肉身的拖累。 如果有崇敬者给他端上食物，他就吃；如果没人给，他就饿着。 何苦为此事烦恼？一切物质的东西对他都微不足道。 冥想就是他的快乐。他凭借常人难以想像的自律达到高度的精神集中，对他来说，能够达到如此境界，这本身就是快乐。第二单元That was the last thing I wanted to write about, and so I left the assignment until the last moment. Then, on a warm weekend afternoon, I sat in my room with a pad and pencil and stared out the window. The chorus of bird song, the buzz of insects, and the perfume of freshly cut grass distracted me. Finally I wrote the first sentence:“ To many people the coming of spring means the end of winter, the first birds, thoughts of love. Spring to me has a very different meaning because this was when I hugged my mother for the last time.”这可是我最不愿写的东西，所以我把作业拖到了最后时刻。 后来，一个周末温暖的下午，我坐在自己的房间里，备好稿纸和铅笔，两眼呆呆地望着窗外。 鸟儿的欢唱声、昆虫的唧唧声，以及新剪草地的芳香使我无法集中注意力。 最后，我写下了第一句：对很多人来说，春天的来临意味着冬季的结束，第一批候鸟的出现，以及对爱的思念。 而春天对我来说却有着完全不同的意义，因为我最后一次拥抱母亲就是在这个季节。第三单元The Amazon River basin boasts the largest river system on earth and harbors an ecosystem that is tremendously complex. Early travelers from Renaissance Europe were overwhelmed by their by their first encounters. In 1531, Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Incan empire, removing the emperor from his throne and taking for Spain the Incan imperial treasures. A decade later his younger brother ventured east from the high plateau of the Andes Mountains in pursuit of the famous cities of gold and spices thought to be hidden in the jungle forest. Going down the river the expedition soon exhausted its supplies and a small group was sent ahead to search for food. Eight months later, this group emerged at the mouth of the Amazon, having made what would prove to be the first descent of the length of the river.亚马孙河流域拥有地球上最大的河系，能为极其复杂的生态系统提供庇护。文艺复兴时期来自欧洲的早期旅行家们一见到它就被慑服了。1531年，弗朗西斯科皮萨罗推翻了印加帝国，把国王从宝座上赶下了台，为西班牙夺取了印加帝国的财宝。10年后，他的弟弟从安第斯山脉高原冒险向东挺进,探寻被认为隐藏在丛林之中的几个著名的盛产黄金和香料的城市。探险队沿着河流行进，不久就耗尽了给养,于是他们派一小队人向前突进，去寻找食物。8个月后，这支小分队出现在亚马孙河口，完成了探险后来证明他们首次顺流而下走完了全程。第四单元I extended my hands, and they tentatively sucked at my fingers; perhaps hunger had helped overcome their nature fear. I placed them in a cloth bag, and headed back down the slope. When the mother wolf spotted me, she stood erect. Possibly picking up the scent of her young, she let out a high-pitched, miserable howl. I released the babies and they darted towards her; within seconds, they were sucking at her belly.我伸出双手，它们试探性地吮吸我的手指。或许饥饿帮助它们克服了那天性的恐惧吧！ 我把它们一个一个放进布袋中，转身走下了斜坡。 母狼发现了我，直直地站了起来。 它大概是闻出了幼崽的气味，发出一声尖锐、哀伤的嗥叫。 我放出布袋中的小狼，它们径直奔向母狼。片刻之间，就在它肚子上吮吸起来。第五单元There is already talk of a revolt against the notion that we are nothing more than our genes. The editor of the scientific journal nature warns that the greatest drawback of the genome project may be what he calls the “arrogant optimism” that accompanies a rush of discoveries, leaving the impression that scientists know a lot more than they do. Studies claiming to have found genes for high IQ, for instance, have been refuted by many scientists. Many people, however, still accept as plausible the premise that complex phenomena are determined by our genes.目前已经有说法，反对我们的一切皆由基因控制的观念。 科学期刊自然的编辑警告说，基因组工程的最大弊端也许就是他所说的随发现的激增而产生的傲慢的乐观 ，给人的印象是科学家懂得很多，虽然事实并非如此。 例如，声称已找到高智商基因的研究已受到许多科学家的驳斥。 然而，许多人仍然肯定地接受基因决定复杂生理现象这一假设。第六单元In the 1950s, blue jeans became a statement by those who wished to boycott the values of a consumer-based society that was concerned only with acquisition. Blue-jeans-wearing rebels of popular movies were an expression of contempt towards the empty and obedient silence of cold-war America; the positive images of American consumer society were under siege. What had been a piece of traditional American culture-blue jeans-became a rejection of traditional culture. These images found an eager audience among those for whom gray suits and formal dresses had been elevated as ideals of the age. In blue jeans, men and boys found relief from the priorities of the business world; women and girls found relief from the underlying harness required to fit into more formal wear. Even some among the middle class slipped into jeans for a sleepy afternoon on the porch.20世纪50年代，对于那