大学英语精读2全部课文

1、1.The dinner party I first heard this tale in India, where is told as if true - though any naturalist would know it couldnt be. Later someone told me that the story appeared in a magazine shortly before the First World War. That magazine story, and the person who wrote it, I have never been able to

2、track down. The country is India. A colonial official and his wife are giving a large dinner party. They are seated with their guests - officers and their wives, and a visiting American naturalist - in their spacious dining room, which has a bare marble floor, open rafters and wide glass doors openi

3、ng onto a veranda. A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who says that women have outgrown the jumping-on-a-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era and a major who says that they havent. A womans reaction in any crisis, the major says, is to scream. And while a man may feel like it, he has

4、 that ounce more of control than a woman has. And that last ounce is what really counts. The American does not join in the argument but watches the other guests. As he looks, he sees a strange expression come over the face of the hostess. She is staring straight ahead, her muscles contracting slight

5、ly. She motions to the native boy standing behind her chair and whispers something to him. The boys eyes widen: he quickly leaves the room. Of the guests, none except the American notices this or sees the boy place a bowl of milk on the veranda just outside the open doors. The American comes to with

6、 a start. In India, milk in a bowl means only one thing - bait for a snake. He realizes there must be a cobra in the room. He looks up at the rafters - the likeliest place - but they are bare. Three corners of the room are empty, and in the fourth the servants are waiting to serve the next course. T

7、here is only one place left - under the table. His first impulse is to jump back and warn the others, but he knows the commotion would frighten the cobra into striking. He speaks quickly, the tone of his voice so commanding that it silences everyone. I want to know just what control everyone at this

8、 table has. I will count three hundred - thats five minutes - and not one of you is to move a muscle. Those who move will forfeit 50 rupees. Ready? The 20 people sit like stone images while he counts. He is saying .two hundred and eighty. when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the cobra emerge

9、and make for the bowl of milk. Screams ring out as he jumps to slam the veranda doors safely shut. You were right, Major! the host exclaims. A man has just shown us an example of perfect self-control.Just a minute, the American says, turning to his hostess. Mrs. Wynnes, how did you know that cobra w

10、as in the room?A faint smile lights up the womans face as she replies: Because it was crawling across my foot. 提问者： 纯美素然 - 三级最佳答案检举 晚宴我最初听到这个故事是在印度，那儿的人们今天讲起它来仍好像确有其事似的尽管任何一位博物学家都知道这不可能是真的。后来有人告诉我，在第一次世界大战之前不久，一家杂志曾刊登过这个故事。但登在杂志上的那篇故事以及写那篇故事的人，我却一直未能找到。 故事发生在印度。某殖民地官员和他的夫人正举行盛大的晚宴。筵席设在他们家宽敞的餐室里，室内大理

11、石地板上没有铺地毯；屋顶明椽裸露，宽大的玻璃门外便是走廊。跟他们一起就做的客人有军官和他们的夫人，另外还有一位来访的美国博物学家。 席间，一位年轻的女士同一位少校展开了热烈的讨论。年轻的女士认为妇女已经有所进步，不再像过去那样一见到老鼠就吓得跳到椅子上，少校则不以为然。 他说：“一遇到危急情况，女人的反应便是尖叫。而男人虽然也可能想叫，但比起女人来，自制力却略胜一筹。这多出来的一点自制力正是真正起作用的东西。” 那个美国人没有参加这场争论，他只是注视着在座的其他客人。在他这样观察时，他发现女主人的脸上显出一种奇异的表情。她两眼盯着正前方，脸部肌肉在微微抽搐。她向站在座椅后面的印度男仆做了个手势

12、，对他耳语了几句。男仆两眼睁得大大的，迅速地离开了餐室。 在座的客人中除了那位美国人以外谁也没注意到这一幕，也没有看到那个男仆把一碗牛奶放在紧靠门边的走廊上。 那个美国人突然醒悟过来。在印度，碗中的牛奶只有一个意思引蛇的诱饵。他意识到餐室里一定有条眼镜蛇。他抬头看了看屋顶上的椽子那是最可能有蛇藏身的地方但那上面空荡荡的。室内的三个角落里也是空的，而在第四个角落里，仆人们正在等着上下一道菜。这样，剩下的就只有一个地方了餐桌下面。 他首先想到的是往后一跳，并向其他人发出警告。但他知道这样会引起骚乱，致使眼镜蛇受惊咬人。于是他很快讲了一道话，其语气非常威严，竟使得所有的人都安静了下来。“我想了解一下

13、在座的诸位到底有多大的克制能力，我数三百下也就是五分钟你们谁都不许动一动。动者将罚款五十卢比。准备好！”在他数数的过程中，那二十个人都像一尊尊雕塑一样端坐在那儿。当他数到“二百八十”时，突然从眼角处看到那条眼镜蛇钻了出来，向那碗牛奶爬去。在他跳起来把通往走廊的门全都砰砰地牢牢关上时，室内响起了一片尖叫声。“你刚才说的很对，少校！”男主人大声说。“一个男子刚刚为我们显示了从容不迫、镇定自若的范例。”“且慢，”那位美国人一边说着一边转向女主人。“温兹太太，你怎么知道那条眼镜蛇是在屋子里呢？”女主人脸上闪出一丝淡淡的微笑，回答说：“因为它当时正从我的脚背上爬过去。” 2.lessons from j

14、effersonJefferson died long ago, but may of his ideas still of great interest to us.Lessons from JeffersonThomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, may be less famous than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but most people remember at last one fact about him: he wrote the Decla

15、ration of Independence.Although Jefferson lived more than 200 years ago, there is much that we learn from him today. Many of his ideas are especially interesting to modern youth. Here are some of the things he said and wrote:Go and see. Jefferson believed that a free man obtains knowledge from many

16、sources besides books and that personal investigation is important. When still a young man, he was appointed to a committee to find out whether the South Branch of the James River was deep enough to be used by large boats. While the other members of the committee sat in the state capitol and studied

17、 papers on the subject, Jefferson got into a canoe and made on-the-spot-observations.You can learn from everyone. By birth and by education Jefferson belonged to the highest social class. Yet, in a day when few noble persons ever spoke to those of humble origins except to give an order, Jefferson we

18、nt out of his way to talk with gardeners, servants, and waiters. Jefferson once said to the French nobleman, Lafayette, You must go into the peoples homes as I have done, look into their cooking pots and eat their bread. If you will only do this, you may find out why people are dissatisfied and unde

19、rstand the revolution that is threatening France.Judge for yourself. Jefferson refused to accept other peoples opinions without careful thought. Neither believe nor reject anything, he wrote to his nephew, because any other person has rejected or believed it. Heaved has given you a mind for judging

20、truth and error. Use it.Jefferson felt that the people may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment. Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to pr

21、efer the latter.Do what you believe is right. In a free country there will always be conflicting ideas, and this is a source of strength. It is conflict and not unquestioning agreement that keeps freedom alive. Though Jefferson was for many years the object of strong criticism, he never answered his

22、 critics. He expressed his philosophy in letters to a friend, There are two sides to every question. If you take one side with decision and on it with effect, those who take the other side will of course resent your actions.Trust the future; trust the young. Jefferson felt that the present should ne

23、ver be chained to customs which have lost their usefulness. No society, he said, can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs to the living generation. He did not fear new ideas, nor did he fear the future. How much pain, he remarked, has been caused by evils which h

24、ave never happened! I expect the best, not the worst. I steer my ship with hope, leaving fear behind.Jeffersons courage and idealism were based on knowledge. He probably knew more than any other man of his age. He was an expert in agriculture, archeology, and medicine. He practiced crop rotation and

25、 soil conservation a century before these became standard practice, and he invented a plow superior to any other in existence. He influenced architecture throughout America, and he was constantly producing devices for making the tasks of ordinary life easier to perform.Of all Jeffersons many talents

26、, one is central. He was above all a good and tireless writer. His complete works, now being published for the first time, will fill more than fifty volumes. His talent as an author was soon discovered, and when the time came to write the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia in 1776, the task

27、 of writing it was his. Millions have thrilled to his words: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equalWhen Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence, he left his countrymen a rich legacy of ideas and examples. American education owes

28、a great debt to Thomas Jefferson, Who believed that only a nation of educated people could remain free.3.my first jobTrying to make some money before entering university, the author applies for a teaching job. But the interview goes from bad to worse.My First Job While I was waiting to enter univers

29、ity, I saw advertised in a local newspaper a teaching post at a school in a suburb of London about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short money and wanting to do something useful, I applied, fearing as I did so, that without a degree and with no experience in teaching my chances of getting t

30、he job were slim. However, three days later a letter arrived, asking me to go to Croydon for an interview. It proved an awkward journey: a train to Croydon station; a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at least a quarter to feel nervous. The school was a red brick house with big windows, The fro

31、nt garden was a gravel square; four evergreen shrubs stood at each corner, where they struggled to survive the dust and fumes from a busy main from a busy main road. It was clearly the headmaster himself that opened the door. He was short and fat. He had a sandy-coloured moustache, a wrinkled forehe

32、ad and hardly any hair. He looked at me with an air of surprised disapproval, as a colonel might look at a private whose bootlaces were undone. Ah yes, he grunted. Youd better come inside. The narrow, sunless hall smelled unpleasantly of stale cabbage; the walls were dirty with ink marks; it was all

33、 silent. His study, judging by the crumbs on the carpet, was also his dining-room. Youd better sit down, he said, and proceeded to ask me a number of questions: what subjects I had taken in my General School Certificate; how old I was; what games I played; then fixing me suddenly with his bloodshot

34、eyes, he asked me whether I thought games were a vital part of a boys education. I mumbled something about not attaching too much importance to them. He grunted. I had said the wrong thing. The headmaster and I obviously had very little in common. The school, he said, consisted of one class of twent

35、y-four boys, ranging in age from seven to thirteen. I should have to teach all subjects except art, which he taught himself. Football and cricket were played in the Park, a mile away on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.The teaching set-up filled me with fear. I should have to divide the class into

36、three groups and teach them in turn at three different levels; and I was dismayed at the thought of teaching algebra and geometry-two subjects at which I had been completely incompetent at school. Worse perhaps was the idea of Saturday afternoon cricket; most of my friends would be enjoying leisure

37、at that time. I said shyly, What would my salary be? Twelve pounds a week plus lunch. Before I could protest, he got to his feet. Now, he said, youd better meet my wife. Shes the one who really runs this school. This was the last straw. I was very young: the prospect of working under a woman constit

38、uted the ultimate indignity.4.the professor and the yo-yoSeen through the eyes of a young friend Einstein was a simple, modest and ordinary man.The professor and the Yo-yo My father was a close friend of Albert Einstein. As a shy young visitor to Einsteins home, I was made to feel at ease when Einst

39、ein said, I have something to show you. He went to his desk and returned with a Yo-Yo. He tried to show me how it worked but he couldnt make it roll back up the string. When my turn came, I displayed my few tricks and pointed out to him that the incorrectly looped string had thrown the toy off balan

40、ce. Einstein nodded, properly impressed by my skill and knowledge. Later, I bought a new Yo-Yo and mailed it to the Professor as a Christmas present, and received a poem of thanks. As boy and then as an adult, I never lost my wonder at the personality that was Einstein. He was the only person I knew

41、 who had come to terms with himself and the world around him. He knew what he wanted and he wanted only this: to understand within his limits as a human being the nature of the universe and the logic and simplicity in its functioning. He knew there were answers beyond his intellectual reach. But thi

42、s did not frustrate him. He was content to go as far as he could. In the 23 years of our friendship, I never saw him show jealousy, vanity, bitterness, anger, resentment, or personal ambition. He seemed immune to these emotions. He was beyond any pretension. Although he corresponded with many of the

43、 worlds most important people, his stationery carried only a watermark - W - for Woolworths. To do his work he needed only a pencil only a pencil and a pad of paper. Material things meant nothing to him. I never knew him to carry money because he never had any use for it. He believed in simplicity,

44、so much so that he used only a safety razor and water to shave. When I suggested that he try shaving cream, he said, The razor and water do the job.But Professor, why dont you try the cream just once? I argued. It makes shaving smoother and less painful. He shrugged. Finally, I presented him with a

45、tube of shaving cream. The next morning when he came down to breakfast, he was beaming with the pleasure of a new, great discovery. You know, that cream really works, he announced. It doesnt pull the beard. It feels wonderful. Thereafter, he used the shaving cream every morning until the tube was em

46、pty. Then he reverted to using plain water. Einstein was purely and exclusively a theorist. He didnt have the slightest interest in the practical application of his ideas and theories. His E=mc2 is probably the most famous equation in history - yet Einstein wouldnt walk down the street to see a reac

47、tor create atomic energy. He won the Nobel Prize for his Photoelectric Theory, a series of equations that he considered relatively minor in importance, but he didnt have any curiosity in observing how his theory made TV possible. My brother once gave the Professor a toy, a bird that balanced on the

48、edge of a bowl of water and repeatedly dunked its head in the water. Einstein watched it in delight, trying to deduce the operating principle. But be couldnt. The next morning he announced, I had thought about that bird for a long time before I went to bed and it must work this way He began a ling e

49、xplanation. Then he stopped, realizing a flaw in his reasoning. No, I guess thats not it, he said. He pursued various theories for several days until I suggested we take the toy apart to see how it did work. His quick expression of disapproval told me he did not agree with this practical approach. H

50、e never did work out the solution. Another puzzle that Einstein could never understand was his own fame. He had developed theories that were profound and capable of exciting relatively few scientists. Yet his name was a household word across the civilized world. Ive had good ideas, and so have other

51、 men, he once said. But its been my good fortune that my ideas have been accepted. He was bewildered by his fame: people wanted to meet him; strangers stared at him on the street; scientists, statesmen, students, and housewives wrote him letters. He never could understand why he received this attent

52、ion, why he was singled out as something special.5.the villain in the atmosphereThe Villain in the AtmospherePara 1-5: The villain in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide.It does not seem to be a villain. It is not very poisonous and it is present in the atmosphere in so small a quantity only 0.034 perc

53、ent that it does us no harm.Whats more, that small quantity of carbon dioxide in the air is essential to life. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into their own tissue, which serve as the basic food supply for all of animal life (including human beings, of course). In the process they liber

54、ate oxygen, which is also necessary for all animal life. But here is what this apparently harmless and certainly essential gas is doing to us: The sea level is rising very slowly from year to year. In all likelihood, it will continue to rise and do so at a greater rate in the course of the next hund

55、red years. Where there are low-lying coastal areas (where a large fraction of the worlds population lives) the water will advance steadily, forcing people to retreat inland.Para 6: Eventually the sea will reach two hundred feet above its present level, and will be splashing against the windows along

56、 the twentieth floors of Manhattans skyscrapers. Florida will disappear beneath the waves, as will much of the British Isles, the crowded Nile valley, and the low-lying areas of China, India, and Russia.Para 7-9: Not only will many cities be drowned, but much of the most productive farming areas of

57、the world will be lost. As the food supply drops, starvation will be widespread and the structure of society may collapse under the pressure.And all because of carbon dioxide. But how does that come about? What is the connection?It begins with sunlight, to which the various gases of the atmosphere (including carbon dioxide) are transparent. Sunlight, striking the top of the atmosphere, travels right through miles of it to warm the Earths surface. At night, the Earth cools by radiating heat into space in the form of infrared radiation.Para 10: However, the atmosph