绝对值得背诵的经典英语短文

绝对值得背诵的经典英语短文

第一篇

01 The Language of Music

A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different movements.

Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it i s the piano tuner’s responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound clear.

This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these sound with fanatical but selfless authority.

Technique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing works written in any century.

第二篇

02 Schooling and Education

It is commonly believed in United States that school is where people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.

Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or in the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in education from infancy on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of one’s entire life.

Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the working of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high school students know that there not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.

第三篇

03 The Definition of “Price”

Prices determine how resources are to be used. They are also the means by which products and services that are in limited supply are rationed among buyers. The price system of the United States is a complex network composed of the prices of all the products bought and sold in the economy as well as those of

a myriad of services, including labor, professional, transportation, and public-utility services. The interrelationships of all these prices make up the “system” of prices. The price of any particular product or service is linked to a broad, complicated system of prices in which everything seems to depend more or less upon everything else.

If one were to ask a group of randomly selected individuals to define “price”, many would reply that price is an amount of money paid by the buyer to the seller of a product or service or, in other words that price is the money values of a product or service as agreed upon in a market transaction. This definition is, of course, valid as far as it goes. For a complete understanding of a price in any particular transaction, much more than the amount of money involved must be known. Both the buyer and the seller should be familiar with not only the money amount, but with the amount and quality of the product or service to be exchanged, the time and place at which the exchange will take place and payment will be made, the form of money to be used, the credit terms and discounts that apply to the transaction, guarantees on the product or service, delivery terms, return privileges, and other factors. In other words, both buyer and seller should be fully aware of all the factors that comprise the total “package” being exchanged for the asked-for amount of money in order that they may evaluate a given price.

第四篇

04 Electricity

The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators.

Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for million of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.

All living cell send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out pulses of record; they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small –often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cell are linked together, the effects can be astonishing.

The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can seed a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts

of electricity through the water in which it live. ( An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts.) As many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eel’s body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to length of its body.

第五篇

05 The Beginning of Drama

There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The on most widely accepted today

is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows.

In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world-even the seasonal changes-as unpredictable, and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.

Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used, Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the "acting area" and the "auditorium." In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effect-success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun-as an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.

Another theory traces the theater's origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this vies tales (about the hunt, war, or other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.

第六篇

06 Television

Television-----the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth-is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies.

The word "television", derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and Latin (visio: sight) roots, can literally be interpreted as sight from a distance. Very simply put, it works in this way: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting an image (focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera) into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable. These impulses, when fed into a receiver (television set), can then be electronically reconstituted into that same image.

Television is more than just an electronic system, however. It is a means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings.

The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television signals. Second, there is nonbroadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest groups through controlled transmission techniques.

Traditionally, television has been a medium of the masses. We are most familiar with broadcast television because it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today. During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, who have been the major purveyors of news, information, and entertainment. These giants of broadcasting have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well. We have come to look upon the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this dynamic medium as the passive viewer.

第七篇

07 Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in the United States, and , in the process, became one of the wealthiest men in America. His success resulted in part from his ability to sell the product and in part from his policy of expanding during periods of economic decline, when most of his competitors were reducing their investments.

Carnegie believed that individuals should progress through hard work, but he also felt strongly that the wealthy should use their fortunes for the benefit of society. He opposed charity, preferring instead to provide educational opportunities that would allow others to help themselves. "He who dies rich, dies disgraced," he often said.

Among his more noteworthy contributions to society are those that bear his name, including the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, which has a library, a museum of fine arts, and a museum of national history. He also founded a school of technology that is now part of Carnegie-Mellon University. Other philanthrophic gifts are the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to promote understanding between nations, the Carnegie Institute of Washington to fund scientific research, and Carnegie Hall to provide a center for the arts.

Few Americans have been left untouched by Andrew Carnegie's generosity. His contributions of more than five million dollars established 2,500 libraries in small communities throughout the country and formed the nucleus of the public library system that we all enjoy today.

第八篇

08 American Revolution

The American Revolution was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations. Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During the conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on.

America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third newcomer-the United States-based itself squarely on republican principles.

Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.

第九篇

09 Suburbanization

If by "suburb" is meant an urban margin that grows more rapidly than its already developed interior, the process of suburbanization began during the emergence of the industrial city in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Before that period the city was a small highly compact cluster in which people moved about on foot and goods were conveyed by horse and cart. But the early factories built in the 1840's were located along waterways and near railheads at the edges of cities, and housing was needed for the thousands of people drawn by the prospect of employment. In time, the factories were surrounded by proliferating mill towns of apartments and row houses that abutted the older, main cities. As a defense

against this encroachment and to enlarge their tax bases, the cities appropriated their industrial neighbors. In 1854, for example, the city of Philadelphia annexed most of Philadelphia County. Similar municipal maneuvers took place in Chicago and in New York. Indeed, most great cities of the United States achieved such status only by incorporating the communities along their borders.

With the acceleration of industrial growth came acute urban crowding and accompanying social stress-conditions that began to approach disastrous proportions when, in 1888, the first commercially successful electric traction line was developed. Within a few years the horse-drawn trolleys were retired and electric streetcar networks crisscrossed and connected every major urban area, fostering a wave of suburbanization that transformed the compact industrial city into a dispersed metropolis. This first phase of mass-scale suburbanization was reinforced by the simultaneous emergence of the urban Middle Class, whose desires for homeownership in neighborhoods far from the aging inner city were satisfied by the developers of single-family housing tracts.

第十篇

10 Types of Speech

Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used, and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries. Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal speech or writing, but not considered appropriate for more formal situations. Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language. Slang, however, refers to words and expressions understood by a large number of speakers but not accepted as good, formal usage by the majority. Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard dictionaries but will be so identified. Both colloquial usage and slang are more common in speech than in writing.

Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech. Some slang also passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary popularity followed by obscurity. In some cases, the majority never accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their collective memories. Every generation seems to require its own set of words to describe familiar objects and events. It has been pointed out by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary for the creation of a large body of slang expressions. First, the introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the society; second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups; third, association among the subgroups and the majority population.

Finally, it is worth noting that the terms "standard" "colloquial" and "slang" exist only as abstract labels for scholars who study language. Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions. Most speakers of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use all three types of expressions.

第十一篇

11 Archaeology

Archaeology is a source of history, not just a bumble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts, Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that has created the human world in which we live - and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment. Archaeological data are all changes in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The sum total of these constitutes what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits certain peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contrast between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records.

Not all human behavior fossilizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they leave no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a dictaphone or written down by a clerk. The movement of troops on the battlefield may "change the course of history," but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist's standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic materials are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar materials will decay and vanish in dust in a few years or centuries, save under very exceptional conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduce to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the gap.

第十二篇

12 Museums

From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs. These programs already have radically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.

In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.

The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex, but one factor is a consideration everywhere - space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity.

Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional space for decades and which received its last significant facelift ten years ago. Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections.

Deaccessing - or selling off - works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.

Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however," the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.

第十三篇

13 Skyscrapers and Environment

In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.

Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts-enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.

Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or gain)through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that

reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year-as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut , which has a population of more than 109, 000.

第十四篇

14 A Rare Fossil Record

The preservation of embryos and juveniles is a rate occurrence in the fossil record. The tiny, delicate skeletons are usually scattered by scavengers or destroyed by weathering before they can be fossilized. Ichthyosaurs had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures because, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less subject to erosion. Still, their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by other animals, a lack of swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid burial. Given these factors, some areas have become a treasury of well-preserved ichthyosaur fossils.

The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for analysis. The ichthyosaur remains are found in black, bituminous marine shales deposited about 190 million years ago. Over the years, thousands of specimens of marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates have been recovered from these rocks. The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos. Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time. The embryos are quite advanced in their physical development; their paddles, for example, are already well formed. One specimen is even preserved in the birth canal. In addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30 inches long.

Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare elsewhere? The quality of preservation is almost unmatched and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of the fossils. But these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.

15 The Nobel Academy

For the last 82years, Sweden's Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal. But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from within. Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself. According to Ingmar Bjorksten , the cultural editor for one of the country's two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent "what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes."

The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences. This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy's inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary world.

Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek. If for no other reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that accompany it; not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also dramatically increases sales of an author's books.

第十七篇

17.Evolution of sleep

Sleep is very ancient. In the electroencephalographic sense we share it with all the primates and almost all the other mammals and birds: it may extend back as far as the reptiles.

There is some evidence that the two types of sleep, dreaming and dreamless, depend on the life-style of the animal, and that predators are statistically much more likely to dream than prey, which are in turn much more likely to experience dreamless sleep. In dream sleep, the animal is powerfully immobilized and remarkably unresponsive to external stimuli. Dreamless sleep is much shallower, and we have all witnessed cats or dogs cocking their ears to a sound when apparently fast asleep. The fact that deep dream sleep is rare among pray today seems clearly to be a product of natural selection, and it makes sense that today, when sleep is highly evolved, the stupid animals are less frequently immobilized by deep sleep than the smart ones. But why should they sleep deeply at all? Why should a state of such deep immobilization ever have evolved?

Perhaps one useful hint about the original function of sleep is to be found in the fact that dolphins and whales and aquatic mammals in genera seem to sleep very little. There is, by and large, no place to hide in the ocean. Could it be that, rather than increasing an animal’s vulnerability, the University of Florida and Ray Meddis of London University have suggested this to be the case. It is conceivable that animals who are too stupid to be quite on their own initiative are, during periods of high risk, immobilized by the implacable arm of sleep. The point seems particularly clear for the young of predatory animals. This is an interesting notion and probably at least partly true.

第十六篇

16. the war between Britain and France

In the late eighteenth century, battles raged in almost every corner of Europe, as well as in the Middle East, south Africa ,the West Indies, and Latin America. In reality, however, there was only one major war during this time, the war between Britain and France. All other battles were ancillary to this larger conflict, and were often at least partially related to its antagonist’ goals and strategies. France sought total domination of Europe . thi s goal was obstructed by British independence and Britain’s efforts throughout the continent to thwart Napoleon; through treaties. Britain built coalitions (not dissimilar in concept to today’s NATO) guaranteeing British participation in all major European conflicts. These two antagonists were poorly matched, insofar as they had very unequal strengths; France was predominant on land, Britain at sea. The French knew that, short of defeating the British navy, their only hope of victory was to close all the ports of Europe to British ships. Accordingly, France set out to overcome Britain by extending its military domination from Moscow t Lisbon, from Jutland to Calabria. All of this entailed tremendous risk, because France did not have the military resources to control this much territory and still protect itself and maintain order at home.

French strategists calculated that a navy of 150 ships would provide the force necessary to defeat the British navy. Such a force would give France a three-to-two advantage over Britain. This advantage was deemed necessary because of Britain’s superior sea skills and technology because of Britain’s superior sea skills and technology, and also because Britain would be fighting a defensive war, allowing it to win with fewer forces. Napoleon never lost substantial impediment to his control of Europe. As his force neared that goal, Napoleon grew increasingly impatient and began planning an immediate attack.

第十八篇

18.Modern American Universities 胖胖：）

Before the 1850’s, the United States had a number of small colleges, most of them dating from colonial days. They were small, church connected institutions whose primary concern was to shape the moral character of their students.

Throughout Europe, institutions of higher learning had developed, bearing the ancient name of university. In German university was concerned primarily with creating and spreading knowledge, not morals. Between mid-century and the end of the 1800’s, more than nine thousand young Americans, dissatisfied with t heir training at home, went to Germany for advanced study. Some of them return to become presidents of venerable colleges-----Harvard, Yale, Columbia---and transform them into modern universities. The new presidents broke all ties with the churches and brought in a new kind of faculty. Professors were hired for their knowledge of a subject, not because they were of the proper faith and had a strong arm for disciplining students. The new principle was that a university was to create knowledge as well as pass it on, and this called for a faculty composed of teacher-scholars. Drilling and learning by rote were replaced by the German method of lecturing, in which the professor’s own research was presented in class. Graduate training leading to the Ph.D., an ancient German degree signifying the highest level of advanced scholarly attainment, was introduced. With the establishment of the seminar system, graduate student learned to question, analyze, and conduct their own research.

At the same time, the new university greatly expanded in size and course offerings, breaking completely out of the old, constricted curriculum of mathematics, classics, rhetoric, and music. The president of Harvard pioneered the elective system, by which students were able to choose their own course of study. The notion of major fields of study emerged. The new goal was to make the university relevant to the real pursuits of the world. Paying close heed to the practical needs of society, the new universities trained men and women to work at its tasks, with engineering students being the most characteristic of the new regime. Students were also trained as economists, architects, agriculturalists, social welfare workers, and teachers.

第十九篇

19.children’s numerical skills

people appear to born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so early and so inexorably that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impress accuracy---one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs. Soon they are capable of nothing that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table and, a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth and retrieved seven years later, he or she could enter a second enter a second-grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment.

Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped-----or, as the case might be, bumped into-----concepts that adults take for quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short glass into a tall thin one. Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed into finding the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbers------the idea of a oneness,

a twoness, a threeness that applies to any class of objects and is a prerequisite for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a table-----is itself far from innate

第二十篇

20 The Historical Significance of American Revolution

The ways of history are so intricate and the motivations of human actions so complex that it is always hazardous to attempt to represent events covering a number of years, a multiplicity of persons, and distant localities as the expression of one intellectual or social movement; yet the historical process which culminated in the ascent of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency can be regarded as the outstanding example not only of the birth of a new way of life but of nationalism as a new way of life. The American Revolution represents the link between the seventeenth century, in which modern England became conscious of itself,

and the awakening of modern Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. It may seem strange that the march of history should have had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but only in the North American colonies could a struggle for civic liberty lead also to the foundation of a new nation. Here, in the popular rising against a “tyrannical” government, the fruits were more than the securing of a freer constitution. They included the growth of a nation born in liberty by the will of the people, not from the roots of common descent, a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty. With the American nation, for the first time, a nation was born, not in the dim past of history but before the eyes of the whole world.

第二十一篇

21 The Origin of Sports

When did sport begin? If sport is, in essence, play, the claim might be made that sport is much older than humankind, for , as we all have observed, the beasts play. Dogs and cats wrestle and play ball games. Fishes and birds dance. The apes have simple, pleasurable games. Frolicking infants, school children playing tag, and adult arm wrestlers are demonstrating strong, transgenerational and transspecies bonds with the universe of animals – past, present, and future. Young animals, particularly, tumble, chase, run wrestle, mock, imitate, and laugh (or so it seems) to the point of delighted exhaustion. Their play, and ours, appears to serve no other purpose than to give pleasure to the players, and apparently, to remove us temporarily from the anguish of life in earnest.

Some philosophers have claimed that our playfulness is the most noble part of our basic nature. In their generous conceptions, play harmlessly and experimentally permits us to put our creative forces, fantasy, and imagination into action. Play is release from the tedious battles against scarcity and decline which are the incessant, and inevitable, tragedies of life. This is a grand conception that excites and provokes. The holders of this view claim that the origins of our highest accomplishments ---- liturgy, literature, and law ---- can be traced to a play impulse which, paradoxically, we see most purely enjoyed by young beasts and children. Our sports, in this rather happy, nonfatalistic view of human nature, are more splendid creations of the nondatable, transspecies play impulse.

第二十二篇

22. Collectibles

Collectibles have been a part of almost every culture since ancient times. Whereas some objects have been collected for their usefulness, others have been selected for their aesthetic beauty alone. In the United States, the kinds of collectibles currently popular range from traditional objects such as stamps, coins, rare books, and art to more recent items of interest like dolls, bottles, baseball cards, and comic books.

Interest in collectibles has increased enormously during the past decade, in part because some collectibles have demonstrated their value as investments. Especially during cycles of high inflation, investors try to purchase tangibles that will at least retain their current market values. In general, the most traditional collectibles will be sought because they have preserved their value over the years, there is an organized auction market for them, and they are most easily sold in the event that cash is needed. Some examples of the most stable collectibles are old masters, Chinese ceramics, stamps, coins, rare books, antique jewelry, silver, porcelain, art by well-known artists, autographs, and period furniture. Other items of more recent interest include old photograph records, old magazines, post cards, baseball cards, art glass, dolls, classic cars, old bottles, and comic books. These relatively new kinds of collectibles may actually appreciate faster as short-term investments, but may not hold their value as long-term investments. Once a collectible has had its initial play, it appreciates at a fairly steady rate, supported by an increasing number of enthusiastic collectors competing for the limited supply of collectibles that become increasingly more difficult to locate.

传说中的100句背7000单词!

1. Typical of the grassland dwellers of the continent is the American antelope, or pronghorn.

1.美洲羚羊，或称叉角羚，是该大陆典型的草原动物。

2. Of the millions who saw Haley’s comet in 1986, how many people will live long enough to see it return in the twenty-first century.

2. 1986年看见哈雷慧星的千百万人当中，有多少人能够长寿到足以目睹它在二十一世纪的回归呢？

3. Anthropologists have discovered that fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise are universally reflected in facial expressions.

3.人类学家们已经发现，恐惧，快乐，悲伤和惊奇都会行之于色，这在全人类是共通的。

4. Because of its irritating effect on humans, the use of phenol as a general antiseptic has been largely discontinued.

4.由于苯酚对人体带有刺激性作用，它基本上已不再被当作常用的防腐剂了。

5. In group to remain in existence, a profit-making organization must, in the long run, produce something consumers consider useful or desirable.

5.任何盈利组织若要生存，最终都必须生产出消费者可用或需要的产品。

6. The greater the population there is in a locality, the greater the need there is for water, transportation, and disposal of refuse.

6.一个地方的人口越多，其对水，交通和垃圾处理的需求就会越大。

7. It is more difficult to write simply, directly, and effectively than to employ flowery but vague expressions that only obscure one’s meaning.

7.简明，直接，有力的写作难于花哨，含混而意义模糊的表达。

8. With modern offices becoming more mechanized, designers are attempting to personalize them with warmer, less severe interiors.

8.随着现代办公室的日益自动化，设计师们正试图利用较为温暖而不太严肃的内部装饰来使其具有亲切感。

9. The difference between libel and slander is that libel is printed while slander is spoken.

9.诽谤和流言的区别在于前者是书面的，而后者是口头的。

10. The knee is the joints where the thigh bone meets the large bone of the lower leg.

10.膝盖是大腿骨和小腿胫的连接处。

11. Acids are chemical compounds that, in water solution, have a sharp taste, a corrosive action on metals, and the ability to turn certain blue vegetable dyes red.

11.酸是一种化合物，它在溶于水时具有强烈的气味和对金属的腐蚀性，并且能够使某些蓝色植物染料变红。

12. Billie Holiday’s reputation as a great jazz-blues singer rests on her ability to give emotional depth to her songs.

12. Billie Holiday’s作为一个爵士布鲁斯乐杰出歌手的名声建立在能够赋予歌曲感情深度的能力。

13. Essentially, a theory is an abstract, symbolic representation of what is conceived to be reality.

13.理论在本质上是对认识了的现实的一种抽象和符号化的表达。

14. Long before children are able to speak or understand a language, they communicate through facial expressions and by making noises.

14.儿童在能说或能听懂语言之前，很久就会通过面部表情和靠发出噪声来与人交流了。

15. Thanks to modern irrigation, crops now grow abundantly in areas where once nothing but cacti and sagebrush could live.

15.受当代灌溉(技术设施)之赐，农作物在原来只有仙人掌和荞属科植物才能生存的地方旺盛的生长。

16. The development of mechanical timepieces spurred the search for more accurate sundials with which to regulate them.

16.机械计时器的发展促使人们寻求更精确的日晷，以便校准机械计时器。

17. Anthropology is a science in that anthropologists use a rigorous set of methods and techniques to document observations that can be checked by others.

17.人类学是一门科学，因为人类学家采用一整套强有力的方法和技术来记录观测结果，而这样记录下来的观测结果是供他人核查的。

18. Fungi are important in the process of decay, which returns ingredients to the soil, enhances soil fertility, and decomposes animal debris.

18.真菌在腐化过程中十分重要，而腐化过程将化学物质回馈于土壤，提高其肥力，并分解动物粪便。

19. When it is struck, a tuning fork produces an almost pure tone, retaining its pitch over a long period of time.

19.音叉被敲击时，产生几乎纯质的音调，其音量经久不衰。

20. Although pecans are most plentiful in the southeastern part of the United States, they are found as far north as Ohio and Illinois.

20.虽然美洲山河桃树最集中于美国的东南部但是在北至俄亥俄州及伊利诺州也能看见它们。

21. Eliminating problems by transferring the blame to others is often called scape-goating.

21.用怪罪别人的办法来解决问题通常被称为寻找替罪羊。

22. The chief foods eaten in any country depend largely on what grows best in its climate and soil.

22.一个国家的主要食物是什么，大体取决于什么作物在其天气和土壤条件下生长得最好。

23. Over a very large number of trials, the probability of an even t’s occurring is equal to the probability that it will not occur.

23.在大量的实验中，某一事件发生的几率等于它不发生的几率。

24. Most substance contract when they freeze so that the density of a substance’s solid is higher than the density of its liquid.

24.大多数物质遇冷收缩，所以他们的密度在固态时高于液态。

25. The mechanism by which brain cells store memories is not clearly understood.

25.大脑细胞储存记忆的机理并不为人明白。

26. By the middle of the twentieth century, painters and sculptors in the United States had begun to exert a great worldwide influence over art.

26.到了二十一世纪中叶，美国画家和雕塑家开始在世界范围内对艺术产生重大影响。

27. In the eastern part of New Jersey lies the city of Elizabeth, a major shipping and manufacturing center.

27.伊丽莎白市，一个重要的航运和制造业中心，坐落于新泽西州的东部。

28. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman medical doctor in the United States, founded the New York Infirmary, an institution that has always had a completely female medical staff.

28. Elizabeth Blackwell，美国第一个女医生，创建了员工一直为女性纽约诊所。

29. Alexander Graham Bell once told his family that he would rather be remembered as a teacher of the deaf than as the inventor of the telephone.

29. Alexander Graham Bell曾告诉家人，他更愿意让后人记住他是聋子的老师，而非电话的发明者。

30. Because its leaves remain green long after being picked, rosemary became associated with the idea of remembrance.

30.采摘下的迷迭香树叶常绿不衰，因此人们把迷迭香树与怀念联系在一起。

31. Although apparently rigid, bones exhibit a degree of elasticity that enables the skeleton to withstand considerable impact.

31.骨头看起来是脆硬的，但它也有一定的弹性，使得骨骼能够承受相当的打击。

32. That xenon could not FORM chemical compounds was once believed by scientists.

32.科学家曾相信：氙气是不能形成化合物的。

33. Research into the dynamics of storms is directed toward improving the ability to predict these events and thus to minimize damage and avoid loss of life.

33.对风暴动力学的研究是为了提高风暴预测从而减少损失，避免人员伤亡。

34. The elimination of inflation would ensure that the amount of money used in repaying a loan would have the same value as the amount of money borrowed.

34.消除通货膨胀应确保还贷的钱应与所贷款的价值相同。

35. Futurism, an early twentieth-century movement in art, rejected all traditions and attempted to glorify contemporary life by emphasizing the machine and motion.

35.未来主义，二十世纪早期的一个艺术思潮。拒绝一切传统，试图通过强调机械和动态来美化生活。

36. One of the wildest and most inaccessible parts of the United States is the Everglades where wildlife is abundant and largely protected.

36. Everglades是美国境内最为荒凉和人迹罕至的地区之一，此处有大量的野生动植物而且大多受(法律)保护。

37. Lucretia Mott's influence was so significant that she has been credited by some authorities as the originator of feminism in the United States.

37. Lucretia Mott's的影响巨大，所以一些权威部门认定她为美国女权运动的创始人。

38. The activities of the international marketing researcher are frequently much broader than those of the domestic marketer.

38.国际市场研究者的活动范围常常较国内市场研究者广阔。

39. The continental divide refers to an imaginary line in the North American Rockies that divides the waters flowing into the Atlantic Ocean from those flowing into the Pacific.

39.大陆分水岭是指北美洛矶山脉上的一道想象线，该线把大西洋流域和太平洋流域区分开来。

40. Studies of the gravity field of the Earth indicate that its crust and mantle yield when unusual weight is placed on them.

40.对地球引力的研究表明，在不寻常的负荷之下地壳和地幔会发生位移。

41. The annual worth of Utah's manufacturing is greater than that of its mining and farming combined.

41.尤它州制造业的年产值大于其工业和农业的总和。

42. The wallflower is so called because its weak stems often grow on walls and along stony cliffs for support.

42.墙花之所以叫墙花，是因为其脆弱的枝干经常要靠墙壁或顺石崖生长，以便有所依附。

43. It is the interaction between people, rather than the events that occur in their lives, that is the main focus of social psychology.

43.社会心理学的主要焦点是人与人之间的交往，而不是他们各自生活中的事件。

44. No social crusade aroused Elizabeth Williams' enthusiasm more than the expansion of educational facilities for immigrants to the United States.

44.给美国的新移民增加教育设施比任何社会运动都更多的激发了Elizabeth Williams的热情。

45. Quails typically have short rounded wings that enable them to spring into full flight instantly when disturbed in their hiding places.

45.典型的鹌鹑都长有短而圆的翅膀，凭此他们可以在受惊时一跃而起，飞离它们的躲藏地。

46. According to anthropologists, the earliest ancestors of humans that stood upright resembled chimpanzees facially, with sloping foreheads and protruding brows.

46.根据人类学家的说法，直立行走的人的鼻祖面部轮廓与黑猩猩相似，额头后倾，眉毛突出。

47. Not until 1866 was the fully successful transatlantic cable finally laid.

47.直到1866年第一条横跨大西洋的电缆才完全成功的架通。

48. In his writing, John Crowe Ransom describes what he considers the spiritual barrenness of society brought about by science and technology.

48. John Crowe Ransom在他的著作中描述了他认为是由科学技术给社会带来的精神贫困。

49. Children with parents whose guidance is firm, consistent, and rational are inclined to possess high levels of self-confidence.

49.父母的教导如果坚定，始终如一和理性，孩子就有可能充满自信。

50. The ancient Hopewell people of North America probably cultivated corn and other crops, but hunting and gathering were still of critical importance in their economy.

50.北美远古的Hopewell人很可能种植了玉米和其他农作物，但打猎和采集对他们的经济贸易仍是至关重要的。

51. Using many symbols makes it possible to put a large amount of inFORMation on a single map.

51.使用多种多样的符号可以在一张地图里放进大量的信息。

52. Anarchism is a term describing a cluster of doctrines and attitudes whose principal uniting feature is the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary.

52.无政府主义这个词描述的是一堆理论和态度，它们的主要共同点在于相信政府是有害的，没有必要的。

53. Probably no man had more effect on the daily lives of most people in the Untied States than did Henry Ford

a pioneer in automobile production.

53.恐怕没有谁对大多数美国人的日常生活影响能超过汽车生产的先驱亨利.福特。

54. The use of well-chosen nonsense words makes possible the testing of many basic hypotheses in the field of language learning.

54.使用精心挑选的无意义词汇，可以检验语言学科里许多基本的假定。

55. The history of painting is a fascinating chain of events that probably began with the very first pictures ever made.

55.优化历史是由一连串的迷人事件组成，其源头大概可以上溯到最早的图画。

56. Perfectly matched pearls, strung into a necklace, bring a far higher price than the same pearls told individually.

56.相互般配的珍珠，串成一条项链，就能卖到比单独售出好得多的价钱。

57. During the eighteenth century, Little Turtle was chief of the Miami tribe whose territory became what is now Indiana and Ohio.

57.十八世纪时，"小乌龟"是迈阿密部落的酋长，该部落的地盘就是今天的印第安那州和俄亥俄州。

58. Among almost seven hundred species of bamboo, some are fully grown at less than a foot high, while others can grow three feet in twenty-four hours.

58.在竹子的近七百个品种中，有的全长成还不到一英尺，有的却能在二十四小时内长出三英尺。

59. Before staring on a sea voyage, prudent navigators learn the sea charts, study the sailing directions, and memorize lighthouse locations to prepare themselves for any conditions they might encounter.

59.谨慎的航海员在出航前，会研究航向，记录的灯塔的位置，以便对各种可能出现的情况做到有备无患。

60. Of all the economically important plants, palms have been the least studied.

60.在所有的经济作物中，棕榈树得到的研究最少。

61. Buyers and sellers should be aware of new developments in technology can and does affect marketing activities.

61.购买者和销售者都应该留意技术的新发展，原因很简单，因为技术能够并且已经影响着营销活动。

62. The application of electronic controls made possible by the microprocessor and computer storage have multiplied the uses of the modern typewriter.

62.电脑储存和由于电子微处理机得以实现的电控运用成倍的增加了现代打字机的功能。

63. The human skeleton consists of more than two hundred bones bound together by tough and relatively inelastic connective tissues called ligaments.

63.人类骨骼有二百多块骨头组成，住些骨头石油坚韧而相对缺乏弹性的，被称为韧带的结蒂组连在一起。

64. The pigmentation of a pearl is influenced by the type of oyster in which it develops and by the depth, temperature, and the salt content of the water in which the oyster lives.

64.珍珠的色泽受到作为其母体牡蛎种类及牡蛎生活水域的深度，温度和含盐度的制约。

65. Although mockingbirds superbly mimic the songs and calls of many birds, they can nonetheless be quickly identified as mockingbirds by certain aural clues.

65.尽管模仿鸟学很多种鸟的鸣叫声惟妙惟肖，但人类还是能够依其声音上的线索很快识别它们。

66. Not only can walking fish live out of water, but they can also travel short distances over land.

66.鲇鱼不仅可以离开水存活，还可以在岸上短距离移动。

67. Scientists do not know why dinosaurs became extinct, but some theories postulate that changers in geography, climate, and sea levels were responsible.

67.科学家不知道恐龙为何绝种了，但是一些理论推断是地理，气候和海平面的变化造成的。

68. The science of horticulture, in which the primary concerns are maximum yield and superior quality, utilizes inFORMation derived from other sciences.

68.主要目的在于丰富和优质的农艺学利用了其他科学的知识。

69. Snow aids farmers by keeping heart in the lower ground levels, thereby saving the seeds from freezing.

69.雪对农民是一种帮助，因为它保持地层土壤的温度，使种子不致冻死。

70. Even though the precise qualities of hero in literary words may vary over time, the basic exemplary function of the hero seems to remain constant.

70.历代文学作品中的英雄本色虽各有千秋，但其昭世功力却是恒古不变的。

71. People in prehistoric times created paints by grinding materials such as plants and clay into power and then adding water.

71.史前的人们制造颜料是将植物和泥土等原料磨成粉末，然后加水。

72. Often very annoying weeds, goldenrods crowd out less hardy plants and act as hosts to many insect pests.

72.黄菊花通常令人生厌，它挤走不那么顽强的植物，并找来很多害虫。

73. Starting around 7000 B.C., and for the next four thousand years, much of the Northern Hemisphere experienced

temperatures warmer than at present.

73.大约从公元前七千年开始，在四千年当中，北半球的温度比现在高。

74. When Henry Ford first sought financial backing for making cars, the very notion of farmers and clerks owning automobiles was considered ridiculous.

74.当亨利.福特最初制造汽车为寻求资金支持时，农民和一般职员也能拥有汽车的想法被认为是可笑的。

75. Though once quite large, the population of the bald eagle across North America has drastically declined in the past forty years.

75.北美秃头鹰的数量一度很多，但在近四十年中全北美的秃头鹰数量急剧下降。

76. The beaver chews down trees to get food and material with which to build its home.

76.水獭啃倒树木，以便取食物并获得造窝的材料。

77. Poodles were once used as retrievers in duck hunting, but the American Kennel Club does not consider them sporting dogs because they are now primarily kept as pets.

77.长卷毛狗曾被用作猎鸭时叼回猎物的猎犬，但是美国Kennel Club却不承认它们为猎犬，因为它们现在大多数作为宠物饲养。

78. As a result of what is now know in physics and chemistry, scientists have been able to make important discoveries in biology and medicine.

78.物理学和化学的一个成果是使得科学家们能在生物学和医学上获得重大发现。

79. The practice of making excellent films based on rather obscure novels has been going on so long in the United States as to constitute a tradition.

79.根据默默无闻的小说制作优秀影片在美国由来已久，已经成为传统。

80. Since the consumer considers the best fruit to be that which is the most attractive, the grower must provide products that satisfy the discerning eye.

80.因为顾客认为最好的水果应该看起来也是最漂亮的，所以种植者必须提供能满足挑剔眼光的产品。

81. Television the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth, is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world.

81.电视，这项从迅速变化和成长为标志的最普及和最有影响力的现代技术，正在步入一个新时代，一个极为成熟和多样化的时代，这将重塑我们的生活和世界。

82. Television is more than just an electronics; it is a means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings.

82.电视不仅仅是一件电器；它是表达的手段和交流的载体并因此成为联系他人的有力工具。

83. Even more shocking is the fact that the number and rate of imprisonment have more than doubled over the past twenty years, and recidivism------that is the rate for re-arrest------is more than 60 percent.

83.更让人吃惊的事实是监禁的数目和比例在过去的二十年中翻了一番还有余，以及累犯率——即再次拘押的比例——为百分之六十强。

84. His teaching began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but William Rainey Harper lured him to the new university of Chicago, where he remained officially for exactly a generation and where his students in advanced composition found him terrifyingly frigid in the classroom but sympathetic and understanding in their personal conferences.

84.他的教书生涯始于麻省理工学院，但是William Rainey Harper把他吸引到了新成立的芝加哥大学。他在那里正式任职长达整整一代人的时间。他的高级作文课上的学生觉得他在课上古板得可怕，但私下交流却富有同情和理解。

85. The sloth pays such little attention to its personal hygiene that green algae grow on its coarse hair and communities of a parasitic moth live in the depths of its coat producing caterpillars which graze on its mouldy hair. Its muscles are such that it is quits incapable of moving at a speed of over a kilometer an hour even over the shortest distances and the swiftest movement it can make is a sweep of its hooked arm.

85.树獭即不讲究卫生，以至于它粗糙的毛发上生出绿苔，成群的寄生蛾生长在它的皮毛深处，变成毛毛虫，并以它的脏毛为食。她的肌肉不能让他哪怕在很短的距离以内以每小时一公里的速度移动。它能做的最敏捷的动作就是挥一挥它弯曲的胳膊。

86. Artificial flowers are used for scientific as well as for decorative purposes. They are made from a variety of materials, such as way and glass, so skillfully that they can scarcely be distinguished from natural flowers.

86.人造花卉即可用于科学目的，也可用于装饰目的，它们可以用各种各样的材料制成，臂如蜡和玻璃；其制作如此精巧，几乎可以以假乱真。

87. Three years of research at an abandoned coal mine in Argonne, Illinois, have resulted in findings that scientists believe can help reclaim thousands of mine disposal sites that scar the coal-rich regions of the United States.

87.在伊利诺州Angonne市的一个废弃煤矿的三年研究取得了成果，科学家们相信这些成果可以帮助改造把美国产煤区弄得伤痕累累的数千个旧煤场。

88. When the persuading and the planning for the western railroads had finally been completed, the really challenging task remained: the dangerous, sweaty, backbreaking, brawling business of actually building the lines.

88.当有关西部铁路的说服和规划工作终于完成后，真正艰难的任务还没有开始；即危险，吃力，需要伤筋动骨和吵吵嚷嚷的建造这些铁路的实际工作。

89. Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen is collections.

89.由于空间不足，艺术博物馆在考虑购买和接受捐赠的艺术品是越来越慎重，有些情况下放弃其进一步改善收藏的机会。

90. The United States Constitution requires that President be a natural-born citizen, thirty-five years of age or older, who has lived in the United States for a minimum of fourteen years.

90.美国宪法要求总统是生于美国本土的公民，三十五岁以上，并且在美国居住了至少十四年。

91. Arid regions in the southwestern United States have become increasingly inviting playgrounds for the growing number of recreation seekers who own vehicles such as motorcycles or powered trail bikes and indulge in hill-climbing contests or in caving new trails in the desert.

91.美国西部的不毛之地正成为玩耍的地方，对越来越多拥有摩托车或越野单车类车辆的，喜欢放纵于爬坡比赛或开辟新的沙漠通道的寻欢作乐者具有不断增长的吸引力。

92. Stone does decay, and so tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the man who made them have disappeared without trace.

92.石头不会腐烂，所以以前的(石器)工具能保存下来，虽然它们的制造者已经消失的无影无踪。

93. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.

93.昆虫就将会使我们无法在这个世界上居住；如果我们没有受到以昆虫为食的动物的保护，昆虫就会吞嚼掉我们所有的庄稼并杀死我们饲养的禽兽。

94. It is true that during their explorations they often faced difficulties and dangers of the most perilous nature, equipped in a manner which would make a modern climber shudder at the thought, but they did not go out of their way to court such excitement.

94.确实，他们在探险中遇到了极具威胁性的困难和危险，而他们的装备会让一个现代登山者想一想都会浑身颤栗。不过他们并不是刻意去追求刺激的。

95. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

95.老人和年轻人之间只有一个区别：年轻人的前面有辉煌的未来，老年人灿烂的未来却已在它们身后。这也许就是困难之所在。

96. I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things.

96.我们位年强人振奋。它们带有自由的气息，他们不会为狭隘的野心和贪婪享受而孜孜以求。他们不是焦虑的向上爬的人，他们不会对物质性的东西难舍难分。

97. I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield.

97.每次我听说体育运动能够在国家间建立起友好感情，说世界各地的普通人只要能在足球场或板球场上相遇就会没有兴趣在战场上相遇的话，我都倍感诧异。

98. It is impossible to say simply for the fun and exercise: as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are around.

98.没有可能仅仅为了娱乐或锻炼而运动：一旦有了问题，一旦你觉得你输了你和你所属团体会有失体面时，你最野蛮的好斗本能就会被激发出来。

99. It has been found that certain bats emit squeaks and by receiving the echoes, they can locate and steer clear of obstacles------or locate flying insects on which they feed. This echo-location in bats is often compared with radar, the principle of which is similar.

99.人们已经发现，某些蝙蝠发出尖叫声并靠接受回响来锁定和避免障碍物——或者找到它们赖以为生的昆虫。蝙蝠这种回响定位法常拿来和原理与之很相近似的雷达相比。

100. As the time and cost of making a clip drop to a few days and a few hundred dollars, engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failure.

100.随着芯片制造时间和费用降低到了几天和几百美元，工程师们可能很快可以任他们的想象驰骋而不会被昂贵的失败所惩罚。

容易望文生义的英语

1.词汇类

lover 情人（不是“爱人”）

busboy 餐馆勤杂工（不是“公汽售票员”）

busybody 爱管闲事的人（不是“大忙人”）

dry goods （美）纺织品；（英）谷物（不是“干货”）

heartman 换心人（不是“有心人”）

mad doctor 精神病科医生（不是“发疯的医生”）

eleventh hour 最后时刻（不是“十一点”）

blind date （由第三者安排的）男女初次会面（并非“盲目约会”或“瞎约会”）

dead president 美钞（上印有总统头像）（并非“死了的总统”）

personal remark 人身攻击（不是“个人评论”）

sweet water 淡水（不是“糖水”或“甜水”）

confidence man 骗子（不是“信得过的人”）

criminal lawyer 刑事律师（不是“犯罪的律师”）

service station 加油站（不是“服务站”）

rest room 厕所（不是“休息室”）

dressing room 化妆室（不是“试衣室”或“更衣室”）

sporting house 妓院（不是“体育室”）

horse sense 常识（不是“马的感觉”）

capital idea 好主意（不是“资本主义思想”）

familiar talk 庸俗的交谈（不是“熟悉的谈话”）

black tea 红茶（不是“黑茶”）

black art 妖术（不是“黑色艺术”）

black stranger 完全陌生的人（不是“陌生的黑人”）

white coal （作动力来源用的）水（不是“白煤”）

white man 忠实可靠的人（不是“皮肤白的人”）

yellow book 黄皮书（法国政府报告书，以黄纸为封）（不是“黄色书籍”）

red tape 官僚习气（不是“红色带子”）

green hand 新手（不是“绿手”）

blue stocking 女学者、女才子（不是“蓝色长统袜”）

China policy 对华政策（不是“中国政策”）

Chinese dragon 麒麟（不是“中国龙”）

American beauty 红蔷薇（不是“美国美女”）

English disease 软骨病（不是“英国病”）

Indian summer 愉快宁静的晚年（不是“印度的夏日”）

Greek gift 害人的礼品（不是“希腊礼物”）

Spanish athlete 吹牛的人（不是“西班牙运动员”）

French chalk 滑石粉（不是“法国粉笔”）

2.成语类

pull one's leg 开玩笑（不是“拉后腿”）

in one's birthday suit 赤身裸体（不是“穿着生日礼服”）

eat one's words 收回前言（不是“食言”）

an apple of love 西红柿（不是“爱情之果”）

handwriting on the wall 不祥之兆（不是“大字报”）

bring down the house 博得全场喝彩（不是“推倒房子”）

have a fit 勃然大怒（不是“试穿”）

make one's hair stand on end 令人毛骨悚然—恐惧（不是“令人发指——气愤”）

be taken in 受骗，上当（不是“被接纳”）

think a great deal of oneself 高看或看重自己（不是“为自己想得很多”）

pull up one's socks 鼓起勇气（不是“提上袜子”）

have the heart to do （用于否定句）忍心做……不是“有心做”或“有意做”）

3.表达方式类

Look out! 当心！（不是“向外看”）

What a shame! 多可惜！真遗憾！（不是“多可耻”）

You don't say! 是吗！（不是“你别说”）

You can say that again! 说得好！（不是“你可以再说一遍”）

I haven't slept better. 我睡得好极了。（不是“我从未睡过好觉”）

You can't be too careful in your work. 你工作越仔细越好。（不是“你工作不能太仔细”）

It has been 4 years since I smoked. 我戒烟４年了。（不是“我抽烟4年了”）

All his friends did not turn up. 他的朋友没全到。（不是“他的朋友全没到”）

People will be long forgetting her. 人们在很长时间内会记住她的。（不是“人们会永远忘记她”）

He was only too pleased to let them go. 他很乐意让他们走。（不是“他太高兴了，不愿让他们走”）It can't be less interesting. 它无聊极了。（不是“它不可能没有趣”）

英语经典短文40篇

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