1, why does the author tell us not to be afraid to ask stupid” questions?The author thinks that many apparently naïve inquiries like why grass is green, or why the sun is round, or why we need 55,000 unclear weapons in the world- are really deep questions. He says when you try to get the answers; you will gain deep understanding of the things. It’s also important to know, as well as you can, what it is that you don’t know, and asking question like the way, he also tells us to ask “stupid”questions requires courage on the part of the asker and knowledge and patience on the part of the answerer, and don’t confine you learning to schoolwork. Discuss ideas in depth with friends, it’s much braver to ask questions even when there’s a prospect of ridicule than to suppress you questions and become deadened to the world around you.2What are the factors to shift the hero-worship to the celebrity worship?The new forms of media-photography, moving pictures, radio and television are the main factors.The reproduction of photos in newspapers turned famous people into celebrities whose dress, appearance, and personal habits were widely commented upon. Slowly the focus of public attentionbegan to shift away fromknowing what such peopledid to knowing what theylooked like.The shift was acceleratedby the arrival of movingpictures. Between 1901 and1974, 74percent of themagazine articles aboutfamous people were aboutpolitical leaders, inventors,professionals, andbusinessmen. After 1922,however, most articles wereabout movie starsWith the arrival oftelevision, the faces of thestars became as familiar asthose we saw across thebreakfast table. We came toknow more about the livesof the celebrities than wedid about most of thepeople we know personally.Less than seventy yearsafter the appearance of thefirst moving pictures, theshift from hero-worship tocelebrity- worship wascomplete.3 what is the Americans’attitude towards time? Givenecessary examples.In the United States, manypeople keenly feel theshortness of each life-time.They are aware that once aday in their life is gone, itwill never come back. AndAmericans believe no onestands still. If you are notmoving ahead, you arefalling behind. So theyvalue time and want everyminute to count.This attitude towards timeis shown in the fast pace oflife in thecountry .whatever they dothey always seem to be in arush. You find peoplehurrying to get where theyare going. They hurry toeating places for a meal andfinish it as quickly aspossible.Also Americans do whatthey can to save time. Theyproduce a lot oflabor=saving devices suchas clothes-and dish-washers.They rapidly communicatethrough phone calls.Telex-and email and cutdown on personal contacts.4can you imagine what didbarrette think of when heheard Snyder’s whisper“take over ,bos’n?Because of thirst, barrettewas almost out of mind. Herose several times and wasa constant threat. But heheard Snyder said “takeover, bos’n ,he had astrange feeling suddenly.He came to realize hewould and must take overthe task and be responsiblefor the rest. As long as hestopped others from thelittle water, they wouldalways have hopes andwouldn’t die soon. So hepicked Snyder’s gun up anddecided to hold off theother from the water untilnight when a ship savedthem.5why parents overindulgetheir children?There are several reasons toexplain why parentsoverindulge their children.One fairly common reasonis that parents who bothhold down full-time jobsmay feel guilty about theamount of time they spendaway from their childrenand may attempt tocompensate by showeringthem with materialpossessions. Other parentsoverindulge, because theywant their children to haveeverything they had whilegrowing up, along withthose things the parentsyearned for but didn’t get.Still others are afraid of sayno to their children’sendless requests for toys forfear that their children willfell unloved or will beridiculed if they don’t havethe same playthings theirfriends have.6what are four stages thatpeople go through whenthey experience situationsthat are very different fromthose to which they areaccustomed?Stage one is a honeymoonphase, which the newexperience is perceived tobe interesting, picturesque,entertaining ,and charming.You may notice severalsuperficial differences suchas music, food and clothing,and the fresh appeal of thenew experience keeps youfeeling interested andpositive. When you stay ina new environment for awhile, you move to stagetwo-the crisis stage- inwhich the shine wears offday to day realities sink in.in relationship, you noticeannoying habits in a newcountry , you few politephrase. If you stick with theexperience and try to dealwith it realistically you will probably move to the third phase: recovery. In recovery, you learn the systems, procedures, language or nonverbal behaviors of the new environment so that you can cope with it on the basis of some mastery, competence, and comfort. Finally, when you feel that you function well and almost automatically in the new culture, you will move to the fourth phase: adjustment.7suppose you are the millionaire. Explain how you get to know Hughie Erskine and what you do in return for the pound he gave you when you first met.I’m baron hausberg. I have enough money to buy the whole of London. One day, on a whim I asked my artist friend Alan Trevor to paint me as beggar. Alan had almost finished the picture when a very charming young man walked into his studio. I suppose he must have been very sympathetic with me. For when Alan was away a minute, the young man quickly put a pound into my hat. I was startled for a moment, but I was please when I realized that he took me for a real beggar.Later I learned from Alan all about this young man: he was poor, and could not marry the girl he loved because her father wouldn’t let them unless he had 10,000pounds. Touched by the young man’s spirit ofkindness, I decided to helphim. The next day I had acheque for 10000poundsdelivered to him as awedding gift.8retell the story “the modelmillionaire in about 150words, concluding yourretelling with aone-sentence comment.Hughie Erskine was acharming young man whowas in love with a nice girlcalled Laura Merton.Laura’s father made it clearto Hughie that he would notmarry his daughter to himuntil Hughie had thethousand pounds.One day, Hughie went tosee his artist friend AlanTrevor in his studio. Therehe found his friend paintinga beggar, who was an oldman in rags, Hughie felt sosorry for the poor modelthat he gave him the onlypound he had.The old model was actuallya millionaire, when heheard all about Hughie andLaura, and their problem,he had a cheque for tenthousand pounds deliveredto him the very nextDay. The couple washappily married, and the“beggar” attended theirwedding.The story shows that agenuine millionaire is notwho has, but who gives.9the author got a solutionfinally. What was thesolution? Was it risky?He laid out the diaries intwo big steel suitcases, overthem he placed a number ofhis broadcast scripts, eachpage of which had beenstamped by the military andcivilian censors as passedfor broadcast. On top he puta few general staff maps hehad pick up from friends.then he phoned the Gestapoheadquarters to say he hada couple of suitcases full ofhis dispatches, broadcastsand notes that he wanted totake out of the country. Ashe was flying off early thenext day, there would be notime for Gestapo officials atthe airfield to go over thecontents, could they take alook now, if he broughtthem over, and if theyapproved, put a Gestaposeal on the suitcases so hewouldn’t be held up at theairport? Yes it was risky. Hethought life in the thirdReich had always beenrisky. It was worth a try.10decribe the situation that“I saw the old washwomanfor last time.One evening ,while motherwas sitting near the oillamp mending a shirt, thedoor opened and a smallpuff of steam, followed bya gigantic bag, entered theroom. I ran toward the oldwoman and helped herunload her bag, she waseven thinner now, morebent, her head shook fromside to side as though shewere saying no. she couldnot utter a clear word, butmumbled something withher sunken mouth and palelips.After the old woman hadrecovered somewhat, shetold us that she had been illbadly. But as soon as shewas able to stand on herfeet once more, she beganhe washing. She said Icould not rest easy in mybed because of the wash.the wash would not let medie. I don’t want to be aburden on anyone!11why was AndrewCarnegie so proud of theone dollar and twentycents- the first pay hebrought home?Carnegie was very proud ofthe one dollar and twentycents he earned for the firsttime in his life when he wasonly twelve, the money,though small inamount ,meant a great deal.First ,when he got his firstpay he felt that he hadgrown up. He way nolonger a boy who had todepend on his parents; hehad become a man who wasable to help support thefamily. A contributingmember. This wasimportant because at thattime life was hard for thefamily and it was difficultfor his parents to managealone.Also he thought the moneywas the direct reward ofhonest manual labor. Itrepresented a week of veryhard work. This moneygave him the greatestsatisfaction of beingrewarded for what he haddone.12why did Rachel Carsonwrite the “silent spring“what’s the conent of it?Because she felt that thewonders of nature are precious and permanent, and much of nature was forever beyond the destruction of man. But then she discovered she was wrong. She learned with sadness that little in nature is truly beyond the “tampering reach of man”then, she wrote the book silent spring to sound a startling warning to mankind and the book showed quite clearly that man was endangering himself and everything else on this planet by his indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides. As her title suggests, miss Carson was saying that there might come a springtime that would indeed be silent because the birds. As well as other creatures, and plants would have been destroyed by the man-made poisons used to kill crop-threatening insects.13in the story “who shall dwell? How did the father’s attitude towards the neighbors change? What brought about the change. When the bomb alert came, the father was clear that he had built the shelter for his own family, and that he would not le anybody else in. so when his neighbours came and asked to share the shelter he rejected them flatly. When a mother begged him to take her little girl in, he did not know what to do. At that moment his wife dashed outside and pushed the girl in. her act set him thinking hard. Just amoment before the firstbomb struck he made a bigdecision. After giving hiselder son a few instructions,he stepped out and shovedtwo children into the shelter.He stood beside his wife,ready to spend the lastminute with her.His change seemed sudden,but was actually quitenatural. He loved hischildren, so he was greatlyaffected by the mother’splea and gave the chance ofsurvival to the two children.Also his love for his wifeled him to follow herexample.14describe cliff evans’lifebefore his sudden deathCliff evans lived with hismother, stepfather and fiveyounger half brothers andsisters.His stepfather had neverlegally adopted him,nor didhe show any affection forhim. At home cliff didn’ttalk much and had nevertold his family about hisproblems.When he began school, hewas timid but eager to learn.And his iq was pretty good.Then in the third grade ateacher worte in the schoolrecord that he wasuncooperative and slow.Since then he had never gotany encouragement fromhis teachers, gradually, thechild had no moreconfidence left. He neversmiled nor talked much. Hehad no friends:he had neverbelonged to a club, neverplayed on a team and neverheld an office. He came toschool by himself and leftby himself. In class, hewould sit back in the lastseat. Finally he becamesilent and lonely. Hebecame nothing.15what are the major formsof bribery?Bribery can be classifiedinto three broad categories.The first category consistsof large amounts of moneypaid for political purposesor to secure major contracts.For example, a certainAmerican company offeredbig sums of money tosupport a us presidentialcandidate when it wasunder investigation. Also inorder to get big contracts,such payments are oftenmade to ruling families ortheir close advisers.The second categorycovers payments made tobotain quicker officialapproval of some project.In such cases, the money isoften paid to keygovernment officialsconcerned.The third category involvespayments made in certaincountries to make abusiness deal easy to getapproved, for instance, aforeign company may payto get permission to importequipment. A common typeof this category is the“facilitating payment”toclear cargoes. These aresmaller sums of money paidto customs officials.16what do you know aboutrandy ad carole in “a socialevent? Why are theyanxious to get invited toscotty’s funeral.Randy and carole are ayoung Hollywood couple.They have been marriedonly a short time. Bothhave achieved a certaindegree of success inpictures, but their careers inthe snow business are stillin the promising stage.Scotty Woodrow, aworld-famous moive starhas just died, and randy andcarole are anxious to go tohis funeral, which will be agathering of celbrities andis regarded as a big socialevent. It is said that flowershave come from the uspresident and the birtishqueenRandy and carole think it isextremely important fortheir career to be seen therewith a lot of big shots. Butthey haven’t got aninvitation while some oftheir Hollywood friends,actors and actress liketheselves, have been invited.That’s why they are worriedand are trying hard to findways of getting themselvesinvited in the last minute.1illustrate with examplesthe basic ingredients ofgood manners Dr . pealementions in his article”courtesy”Dr. peale lists three thingsas the basic ingredient ofgood manners: a strongsense of justice, the ablityto share another person’sinner feelings and thecapacity to treat all peoplealike.Once a man was drivingalong, narrow and dusty road ahead of another car. Suddenly he stopped off the road and told the driver of the car behind to get ahead of him. He did not want the other person to put up with hid dust all the way. This is a man with a strong sense of justice.A courteous person can also understand the pain or unhappiness of others. He\she offers help without hurting the feeling of the other person because he\she shares their emotions as if they were his\he own. Finally , a person with good manners treats all people alike, whether they are plain citizens or big shots. He\she never asks whether the other person deserves their good manners.2how did mr. fotheringay discover his unusual powers and how did he take advantage of them?It was while he was trying to prove the impossibility of miracles that mr. fotheringay discover his extraordinary powers.He was having a drink in a bar, a person called toddy opposed everything he said, this made him very angry. He wanted to show toddy that the lamp there couldn’t burn upside down without breaking no matter how he wished it to do so. But as soon as he said”turn upside down without breaking, the lamp did as fotheringay had just said.Back at home he experimented with his magical powers and cameto see that he could withthings. The next day hebegan to take advantage ofthis unusual power. By hiswill he first got a freshgooes-egg for breakfast. Inthe same day he got thewhole day’s work done in10 minutesHe also created a number ofuseful things and increasedhis personal property.3how did mr. fotheringay’sattitude towards changes?Mr.fotheringay didn’tbelieve In miracles until hewas thirty years old. It waswhile he was assertiong theimpossiblity of miraclesthat he discovered hisextraordinary powers. Oneday ,when he was having adrink in a bar, toddybeamish opposedeverything he said, so hedecided to make an unusualeffort.he tried to illustratewhat was a miracle bygiving a special example,that is, to make a lampupside down and go onburning steadily withoutfalling. To his great surprise,what he said came ture.Everyone was astonished atit. They all didn’t believe it,after going back home, hetried his will power. Hesucceeded in getting amatch and lighting thecandle with his will power.He wondered at his willpower. Then he tried to gethimself a nightshirt. Layand cook a goose-egg,Do one day’s work in tenminutes, make walkingstick blossom, and sent thepoliceman to hades, then tosan franciso by using hiswill power. In the end heleft delighted even thouthhe understood that the giftrequired caution andwatchfulness.4what did kaz see on thatday?When she saw a b-29bomber approaching, itdidn’t frighten her, becauseshe thought Hiroshima wasthe only peaceful cityduring the war.but, then,kaz saw the bomb fallingaway from the plane anddrifting down towards her.The journery took 43seconds. A loud explosionreverberated in the air. Amushroom cloud rose overthe remains of the city. Kazwas thrown to the groundso wiolently that her twofront teeth broke off. Shelost consciousness. Whenshe came to herself. Shefound there was a deadsilence around, broken onlyby the cries of the dying.Their house crashed down.Her father had the front ofhis body burnt. When herbrother came back.shecould barely recongnizehim through his wounds. Asnight fell, she and hebrother made for themountains to look for afriend of kaz’s who offeredto take them in. there kazlooked back and saw thecity on fire. She left hebrother behind and randown the hillside towardsthe flames for her parents.The streets were filled withthe dead and the barelyliving.5how did the wadescelebrate the Christmas?Several days beforeChristmas, they’d gongdown to their ouw littlefarm. They had cut a tree intheir own woods. They hadeaten and slept, and read bythe light of oil lamps. Thechildren had been morethan satisfied with theirpresents, there had beenballs, erector sets, a numberof story books, and a lot ofjunk from the five-and –tenfor the boys, and for laura,a picture Emily had foundcheap in a second-hand artshop and small brooch thathad brightenedeverything.whether she waschopping wood, or rompingwith her brothers,Or basting the turkey, ortalking politics verysensibly with her father,she’d seemed to radiatehappiness. On new year’seve , they had given her aweak highball, the firstshe’d ever had, and she hadgong to sleep sitting on thefloor with her rosycheek against henr’s knee.The family all had a verywonderful time!6what is the characteristicsof Britan’s landscape thatgoes with variety?With variety goes surprise.Ours is the country ofhappy surprise. You havenever to travel long withoutbeing pleasantly astonished.It would not be difficult tocompile a list of suchsurprises that would fill thenext fifty pages. But I willcontent myself with suggesting the first few that occur to me. If go down into the west country, among rounded hills and soft pastures, you suddenly arrive at the bleak tabelands as if the north had left a piece of itself down ther. But before you have reached them you have already been surprised by the queer bit of marshland, as if a former inhabitant had been sent to Cambridge and had brought his favorite marshland walk back from college with him into the west.7 in the author’s opinion, what does love mean? Love means that I know the person I love. Love means that I care about the welfare of the person I love. Love means having respect fro the dignity of the person I love. Love means having responsibility toward the person I love. Love means growth for both myself and the person I love. Love can tolerate imperfection. Love is freeing. Love is expansive. Love means having a want for the person I love without having a need for that person in order to be complete. Love means identifying with the person I love. Love is selfish. Love involves seeing the potential within the person we love.8how did Phillips design an atomic bomb in his junior year at Princeton?Phillips read over the books on nvclear-reactortechnology, general nuclearphysics, and current atomictheory. Besides, he listenedto dyson’s explanations ofthe basic principles ofnvclear physics. Thatwasn’t enough.In order to find more usefulinformation, Phillips wentto Washington. D. c tosearch for records of the losAlamos oproject that weredeclassified fully outlinedall the details of atomicfissioning known to theworld’s most advancedscientists in the early1940s.The biggest probleminvolved in the explosion ofan atomic bomb was how toarrange the explosivesaround the plutonium.Another problem he wasfaced with was whichexplosives around theplutonium, if his equationsWere correct, his atomicbomb would explodeeffectively as expected. Buthe should know the exactnature of the explosivesfrom du pont company.Now ,so to speak, healready succeeded indesigning an atomic bombon paper.9 what do you think are theadvantages anddisadvantages of goading?I think goading is a goodway to prod the children tobehave well.In a way, goading ispositive. As human beings,we all have the sense ofself-respect and will beproud of our littleachievement. If there areoccasious prods in the rear,we will in tim be consciousof our inefficiency, and thenpress ourselves to achievehigher aims. Just as itaffected john and his cousin,goading from time to timecan prevent children frombeing proud of their littleachievement, it can makethem more modest andprudent. The modestreceive bendfit, while theconceited reap failure.However, we could not sayit is without any harm.Sometimes it might beharmful. It may disappointchildren and cause them tolose heart. Perhaps theywill collapse after onesetback. Therefore, onlygoading itself is not enough:it must be combined withthe proper method to carryit out.10what is your idea about atrue friend?In my view, a true shouldbe honest, loyal and willingto help.Honesty in friendshipmeans that we should besincere and frank. Weshould not hesitate to pointout our friends’shortcomings and shouldnever try to cover up theirerrors. What we should dois to encourage and helpthem in improve.Loyalty is important if wewant the relationship to last.We have confidence in oneanother in fine weather andin rainy days. We don’tdesert our friends whenthey run into trouble. Notdo we cling to them in theirsuccess. We share with ourfriends both joy and sorrow.True friends are the peoplewe can turn to in allcircumstances, as thesaying goes,”a friend inneed is a friend indeed.They are always read tolend a helping hand to pullus out of tight corner.I believe in true friendshipthough true friends are noteasy to find.11was there differencebetween baker and doris?What were their mother’sexpectations of them?Doris was quite differentfrom baker in character.Take the example of“gumption”, baker lacked itbut enough of it for a dozenpeople. What baker liked todo most was lying in frontof the radio rereading hisfavorite big little book, dicktracy meets stooge viler. Incontrast, doris like activity.When she was only seven,she could carry a piece ofshort-weighted cheese backto the A &p, threaten themanager with legal actiongand come backtriumphantly with the fullquarter pound they’d paidfor and a new extra thrownin for forgiveness.Mrs. Baker expected herson to make something ofhimself.She did not expect doris todo the same only becausedoris was a girl. The best acapable girl could hope forwas to become a nurse orschool teacher.12describ the baker’sfamily background and their life thenIt was in 1932.The great depression, the worst time before the wolrd war two, broke out, which lasted from 1929-1933. the year 1932 was the bleakest time in ghe great depression. The great depression began in America and spread all over the European countries quickly. Also, it was the great depression that led to the second world war. Millions of peole were out of work. Many factories and landlords went bankrupt. The year 1932 was the climax of the depression. The author’s father had died two years before. Leaving them with a few pieces of sears, roebuck furniture and not much else. His family was poor so that his mother had to take his sister, doris, and him to live with one of her younger brothers, uncle allen, who had made something of himself by 1932 as a salesman for a soft-drink bottler and had an income of $30a week.13what are the two dangers to be guarded against in old age?One of these is too great an absorption in the past. One should not live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One’s thoughts must be directed to the future, and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy: one’s own past is a graduallyincreasing weight. It is easyto think to oneself thatone’s emotions used to bemore vivid than they are ,and one’s mind more keen.If this is true, it should beforgotten, and if it isforgotten it will probablynot be true.The other thing to beavoided is clinging to youthin the hope of findingstrength in its vitality.When your children aregrown ups they want to livetheir own lives, and if youcontinue to be as interestedin them as you were whenthey were young, you arelikely to become a burdento them, unless they areunusually insensible.14what kind of person wasthe lighthouse keeper?I think the lighthousekeeper was a person thatdeserves our respect andadmiration.Life in the lighthouseseemed very simple anddull, but he had no desirefor anything that he did notneed or anything that he didnot need or anything thatwas beyong his power toobtain. For this reason hedelined the tobacco Rudolfoffered.Though his world waslimited, his mind was asspacious as the ocean helived close to. He was kindand generous to Rudolf astranger who had come tothe lighthouse to seekshelter from the storm. Hedid not know what a violinwas ad had never heardmusic before, but he couldunderstand Beethoven’swork Rudolf played forhim.He was a man of few words,and did not show muchwarmth towards Rudolf, butdeep down he was greatlyattached to his guest. Tohim the violin was part ofthe man he wanted to knowmore about, not somethinghe was interested inbecause he had never seenit before.15why the author mentionsthat it is impossible tomeasure the importance ofEdison by adding up thespecific inventions withwhich his name isassociated?Because he thinks thatalthough many inventionsof Edison have been intheir effect upon moderncivilization, the total ofeffect of ediso’s careersurpasses the sum of allthem. He did not merelymake the lamp and thephonograph andinnumerable other devicespracticable for general use:it was given to him todemonstrate the power ofapplied science soconcretely, sounderstandably, soconvincingly that he alteredthe mentality of mankind,.In his lifetime, largelybecause of his success,there came into widestacceptance therevolutionary conceptionthat man could by the useof his intelligence invent anew mode of living on thisplanet; the human spirit,which in all previous ageshad regarded the conditionsof life as essentiallyunchanging and beyondman’s control, confidently,and perhaps somewhatnaively, abopted theconviction that anythingcould be changed andeverything could becontrolled.。
