2016届高三英语美文阅读(四).doc

2016届高三英语美文阅读（四） （1）美文The Miracle TapeBY JANE UPCHURCHI cannot wholeheartedly say I am grateful for having had cancer, but I am so deeply grateful for all it has taught me. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2007. My first reaction was one of shock and disbelief. How could someone as robustly healthy as me have cancer? Before I knew it, the whole machine of cancer treatment had begun, and I was on chemotherapy before the tumor had even been found.The first lucky moment was when a friend who had had breast cancer years before sent me a battered and yellowing copy of Love, Medicine & Miracles. At first I was not sure how it could help, but then I got to chapter 4. Bernie lists four important questions there to determine your attitude about yourself and your disease. The second question was, what happened to you in the year or two before your illness? I had to check what had happened to me in that time period, and a light went on in my head! It was like I had been struck by a thunderbolt. I checked my diaries and found twenty-six significant events, starting with the death of my father. I had been brought up to be strong, be independent, help others, and deal with events head on. Now I realized that all the deeply distressful events I thought I had dealt with had had a profound effect on my health. I fit the psychological profile of a cancer patient. I was gripped and read and reread the book during my chemotherapy. I also read every book by Bernie that I could lay my hands on and bought his CD to improve my immune system by meditation.After my last chemo session I became very ill. The antibiotics were not controlling my temperature, and I knew I was getting worse when a microbiologist was called. I could not eat or sleep. I told my husband that if I got any worse, I was not sure I would have the stamina to get through it.That night, as I could not sleep, I played Bernies CD over and over again until I almost knew it word for word. It was Bernies calm voice on the CD that allowed me to overcome the “challenge” that the disease offered me and be reassured that “your body knows what to do.”I must have fallen asleep eventually because when I woke up I knew something was different. I was going to recover. I told my husband I had “turned the corner.” And although I had completely lost the independence I had spent my life acquiring, I did not care. Now I appreciated everything.Some of Bernies teachings carry me forward to this day. For instance, it is especially important to avoid negative messages, and there is nothing wrong with hope. Also, there are no incurable diseases, only incurable people. If one patient can do it, theres no reason others cant.I do not think I would be alive if Bernie Siegel had not written Love, Medicine & Miracles. Even though we have never met, I feel he is a dear friend who inspires me completely. I will always be grateful to him for his wisdom and for showing me the way! I use Bernies saying that “coincidence is Gods way of remaining anonymous” every time a meaningful coincidence occurs in my life. For me, cancer wasnt a disease; it was the cure.（2）文学作品The Little Prince 小王子法 安东尼 圣埃克苏佩里 （Antoine de saint-Exupery）小说的叙述者飞行员讲了 6年前他因飞机故障迫降在撒哈拉沙漠遇见小王子的故事。神秘的小王子来自另一个星球。飞行员讲了小王子和他的玫瑰的故事；小王子离开自己星球的原因；以及他访问过的星球。他转述了小王子对六个星球的历险，他遇见了国王、爱虚荣的人、酒鬼、商人、点灯人、地理学家、蛇、三枚花瓣的沙漠花、玫瑰园、扳道工、商贩、狐狸以及叙述者飞行员本人。 飞行员和小王子在沙漠中共同拥有过一段极为珍贵的友谊。当小王子无法回到他的玫瑰身边时，他选择了死亡。飞行员非常难过。You must strive to find your own voice Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book，called True Stories from Nature，about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.In the book it said，“Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole， without chewing it. After that they are not able to move，and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion.”I pondered deeply，then，over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this.I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups，and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. But they answered， “Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?”My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it，I made another drawing，I drew the inside of the boa constrictor，so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My DrawingNumber Two looked like this:The grown-ups response，this time，was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors，whether from the inside or the outside，and devote myself instead to geography， history，arithmetic and grammar. That is why，at the age of six，I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves，and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them. So then I chose another profession，and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world；and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night， such knowledge is valuable. In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately，close at hand. And that hasnt much improved my opinion of them. Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted，I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One，which I have always kept. I would try to find out，so，if this was a person of true understanding. But， whoever it was，he，or she，would always say:“That is a hat.” Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors， or primeval forests，or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge，and golf，and politics，and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.（3）时文BBC news - We are both the victims and the villains of face-ism.BBC news - Within a split-second of laying eyes on you, others will have decided whether you are competent and trustworthy; whether you are a leader or a follower. And those prejudices might shape key events in your life, determining everything from your friendships to your bank balance.This “face-ism” was considered an unfortunate fact of life. Given our obsession with celebrity culture, physical beauty may appear the greatest source of face-ism.Beginning as early as the 1990s, economist Daniel Hamermesh has found that more attractive people can earn 10 to 12% more for professionals as diverse as American football players, lawyers, and even his fellow economists. In fact, one of the only exceptions, he found, was armed robbers. “If he can scare you into giving you the money, he doesnt need to use violence.”But how do we know what makes an honest, competent or dominant face? One possibility is that we are simply responding to facial expressions. Even so, the evidence suggests we are also reading other, more permanent cues.Olivola and Todorov at Princeton University have used carefully designed computer generated pictures with neutral expressions to control for all other factors. By asking subjects to rate them, and comparing the ratings of many different photos, the team has then been able to create a kind of digital photo-fit that best captures the subtle characteristics that signal each trait.The resulting pictures suggest that we are reacting to slight differences across the whole face - everything from the shape of the eye-brows to the underlying bone structure.You might like to think that you would never be so shallow - but the fact is that whenever you meet someone, you spontaneously appraise them. In fact, Todorov has shown that 40 milliseconds are all it takes to form a rapid impression of someones personality - thats about a tenth as long as a single blink of the eye.Whats more, it appears to be a life-long habit: even three- and four-year-olds decide who looks mean or nice” based solely on appearances