大学体验英语综合教程3课文原文.doc

Unit1:PassageA:CareforOurMotherEarth(Dr. McKinley of Awareness Magazine interviews a group of experts on environmental issues.) Dr. McKinley: What do you think is the biggest threat to the environment today? Aman Motwane: The biggest threat to our environment today is the way we, as human beings, see our environment. How we see our environment shapes our whole world. Most of us see everything as independent from one another. But the reality is that everything is part of one interconnected, interrelated whole. For example, a tree may appear isolated, but in fact it affects and is affected by everything in its environment - sunshine, rain, wind, birds, minerals, other plants and trees, you, me. The tree shapes the wind that blows around it; it is also shaped by that wind. Look at the relationship between the tree and its environment and you will see the future of the tree. Most of us are blind to this interconnectedness of everything. This is why we dont see the consequences of our actions. It is time for each of us to open our eyes and see the world as it really is - one complete whole where every cause has an effect. Dr. McKinley: Hello Dr. Semkiw. In your research, what environmental issues do you find most pressing? Walter Semkiw: Two environmental issues that we find most pressing are deforesting and global warming. Mankind has now cut down half of the trees that existed 10,000 years ago. The loss of trees upsets the ecosystem as trees are necessary to build topsoil, maintain rainfall in dry climates, purify underground water and to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. Trees bring water up from the ground, allowing water to evaporate into the atmosphere. The evaporated water then returns as rain, which is vital to areas that are naturally dry. Areas downwind of deforested lands lose this source of rainfall and transform into deserts. Global warming results from the burning of fossil fuels, such as petroleum products, resulting in the release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses then resulting in the trap heat, resulting in warming of our atmosphere. Dr. McKinley: Mr. Nacson, thanks for participating all the way from Australia! What do you suggest the readers of Awareness Magazine can do to help the environmental problem? Leon Nacson: The simplest way to help the environment is not to impact on it. Tread as lightly as you can, taking as little as possible, and putting back as much as you can. Dr. McKinley: What is your specific area of concern regarding the current and future state of the environment? Leon Nacson: Air and water pollution are our Number One priorities. It is hard to understand that we are polluting the air we breathe and the water we drink. These are two elements that are not inexhaustible, and we must realize that once we reach the point of no return, there will be nothing left for future generations. Dr. McKinley: Mr. Desai, what an honor it is to have this opportunity to interview you. Can you please share your wisdom with our readers and tell us where you see the environmental crisis heading? Amrit Desai: We are not separate from the problem. We are the problem. We live divided lives. On one hand, we ask industries to support our greed for more and more conveniences, comfort and possessions. We have become addicted consumers, which causes industrial waste. At the same time, we ignore our connection between our demands and the exploitation of Mother Earth. When we are greedy for more than what we need for our well being, we always abuse the resources of our body and the earth. We are nurtured by the healthy condition of Mother Earth. In humans, if the mother is ailing, the child suffers. We are the cause of the ailing planet and we are the victims. Dr. McKinley: In closing, I thank all of the participants. I have learned a great deal about what I can do as an individual to help the environment. I hope these interviews encourage the readers of Awareness Magazine to take action and develop your own strategy. Too many of us just sit back and say Ill let the experts deal with it. Meanwhile, we are killing the planet. My aim of this interview is to show how one person can make a difference. Thanks to all for offering your wisdom. Unit2:PassageA:EinsteinsCompassYoung Albert was a quiet boy. Perhaps too quiet, thought Hermann and Pauline Einstein. He spoke hardly at all until age 3. They might have thought him slow, but there was something else evident. When he did speak, hed say the most unusual things. At age 2, Pauline promised him a surprise. Albert was excited, thinking she was bringing him some new fascinating toy. But when his mother presented him with his new baby sister Maja, all Albert could do is stare with questioning eyes. Finally he responded, where are the wheels? When Albert was 5 years old and sick in bed, Hermann Einstein brought Albert a device that did stir his intellect. It was the first time he had seen a compass. He lay there shaking and twisting the odd thing, certain he could fool it into pointing off in a new direction. But try as he might, the compass needle would always find its way back to pointing in the direction of north. A wonder, he thought. The invisible force that guided the compass needle was evidence to Albert that there was more to our world that meets the eye. There was something behind things, something deeply hidden. So began Albert Einsteins journey down a road of exploration that he would follow the rest of his life. I have no special gift, he would say, I am only passionately curious. Albert Einstein was more than just curious though. He had the patience and determination that kept him at things longer than most others. Other children would build houses of card up to 4 stories tall before the cards would lose balance and the whole structure would come falling down. Maja watched in wonder as her brother Albert methodically built his card buildings to 14 stories. Later he would say, Its not that Im so smart, its just that I stay with problems longer. One advantage Albert Einsteins developing mind enjoyed was the opportunity to communicate with adults in an intellectual way. His uncle, an engineer, would come to the house, and Albert would join in the discussions. His thinking was also stimulated by a medical student who came over once a week for dinner and lively chats. At age 12, Albert Einstein came upon a set of ideas that impressed him as holy. It was a little book on Euclidean plane geometry. The concept that one could prove theorems of angles and lines that were in no way obvious made an indescribable impression on the young student. He adopted mathematics as the tool he would use to pursue his curiosity and prove what he would discover about the behavior of the universe. He was convinced that beauty lies in the simplistic. Perhaps this insight was the real power of his genius. Albert Einstein looked for the beauty of simplicity in the apparently complex nature and saw truths that escaped others. While the expression of his mathematics might be accessible to only a few sharp minds in the science, Albert could condense the essence of his thoughts so anyone could understand. For instance, his theories of relativity revolutionized science and unseated the laws of Newton that were believed to be a complete description of nature for hundreds of years. Yet when pressed for an example that people could relate to, he came up with this: Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. THATs relativity. Albert Einsteins wealth of new ideas peaked while he was still a young man of 26. In 1905 he wrote 3 fundamental papers on the nature of light, a proof of atoms, the special theory of relativity and the famous equation of atomic power: E=mc2. For the next 20 years, the curiosity that was sparked by wanting to know what controlled the compass needle and his persistence to keep pushing for the simple answers led him to connect space and time and find a new state of matter. What was his ultimate quest? I want to know how God created this world. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details. Unit3:PassageA:BathtubBattleshipsfromIvorydaleAmerican mothers have long believed that when it comes to washing out the mouths of naughty children, nothing beats Ivory Soap (a registered trademark of the Proctor & Gamble Company). This is because its reputation for being safe, mild, and pure is as solid and spotless as the marble of the Lincoln Memorial. It doesnt even taste all that bad. And should you drop it into a tubful of cloudy, child-colored water, not to worry - it floats. Ivory Soap is an American institution, about as widely recognized as the Washington Monument and far more well respected than Congress. It had already attained this noble status when Theodore Roosevelt was still a rough-riding cowboy in North Dakota. Introduced in 1879 as an inexpensive white soap intended to rival the quality of imported soaps, it was mass marketed by means of one of the first nationwide advertising campaigns. People were told that Ivory was so pure that it floats, and the notion took hold. As a result, at least half a dozen generations of Americans have gotten themselves clean with Ivory. So many hands, faces, and baby bottoms have been washed with Ivory that their numbers beat the imagination. Not even Proctor & Gamble knows how many billions of bars of Ivory have been sold. The company keeps a precise count, however, of the billions of dollars it earns. Annual sales of Ivory Soap, Ivory Snow, Crest toothpaste, Folgers coffee, and the hundreds of other products now marketed under the Proctor & Gamble umbrella exceed thirty billion dollars. The company has grown a bit since it was founded in 1837 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by a pair of immigrants named William Proctor and James Gamble, each of whom pledged $3,596.47 to the enterprise. For decades Proctor & Gamble manufactured candles and soap in relatively modest quantities. It took more than twenty years for sales to top one million dollars, which they did shortly before the Civil War . The companys big break came with the introduction of its floating soap and the realization that an elaborate advertising campaign could turn a simple, though high-quality, product into a phenomenon. The soaps brand name was lifted from out of ivory palaces, a phrase found in the Bible. So successful was this new product and the marketing effort that placed it in the hands of nearly every American that the company soon built an enormous new factory in a place called Ivorydale. Proctor & Gamble never forgot the advertising lessons it learned with Ivory. For instance, it was among the first manufacturers to use radio to reach consumers nationwide. In 1933 Proctor & Gambles Oxydol soap powder sponsored a radio serial called Ma Perkins, and daytime dramas were forever after known as soap operas. Over the years the company added dozens of new product lines such as Prell shampoo, Duncan Hines cake mixes, and the ever-present Tide, new and improved many a time. To this day, however, Ivory Soap remains a Proctor & Gamble backbone product. Ivory remains a favorite among consumers, too, and no wonder. With a bar of Ivory Soap in your hand, you are holding a chunk of American history. If you like, you can even wash your hands and face with it and be assured that it is ninety-nine and forty-four-one-hundredths percent pure. And it floats. The latter quality of Ivory Soap is especially attractive to children. Generations of little boys armed with toothpicks, miniature flags, or leftover parts from model ships - there are always a few - have converted bars of Ivory Soap into bathtub battleships. A note of warning for any small boys who may be reading this: Mothers tend to frown on the practice. Unit4:PassageA:NotNow,Dr.MiracleSeverino Antinori is a rich Italian doctor with a string of private fertility clinics to his name. He likes watching football and claims the Catholic faith. Yet the Vatican is no fan of his science. In his clinics, Antinori already offers every IVF treatment under the sun, but still there are couples he cannot help. So now the man Italians call Dr Miracle is offering to clone his patients to create the babies they so desperately want. And of course its created quite a stir, with other scientists rounding on Antinori as religious leaders line up to attack his cloning plan as an insult to human dignity. Yet its an ambition Antinori has expressed many times before. Whats new is that finally it seems to be building a head of steam. Like-minded scientists from the US have joined Antinori in his cloning adventure. At a conference in Rome last week they claimed hundreds of couples have already volunteered for the experiments. Antinori shot to fame seven years ago helping grandmothers give birth using donor eggs. Later he pioneered the use of mice to nurture the sperm of men with poor fertility. He is clearly no ordinary scientist but a showman who thrives on controversy and pushing reproductive biology to the limits. And that of course is one reason why hes seen as being so dangerous. However, his idea of using cloning to combat infertility is not as mad as it sounds. Many people have a hard job seeing the point of reproductive cloning. But for some couples, cloning represents the only hope of having a child carrying their genes, and scientists like Antinori are probably right to say that much of our opposition to cloning as a fertility treatment is irrational. In future we may want to change our minds and allow it in special circumstances. But only when the science is ready. And thats the real problem. Five years on from Dolly, the science of cloning is still stuck in the dark ages. The failure rate is a shocking 97 per cent and deformed babies all too common. Even when cloning works, nobody understands why. So forget the complex moral arguments. To begin cloning people now, before even the most basic questions have been answered, is simply a waste of time and energy. This is not to say that Antinori will fail, only that if he succeeds it is likely to be at an unacceptably high price. Hundreds of eggs and embryos will be wasted and lots of women will go through difficul