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英美报刊选读》一、教学目的通过本课程的学习，使学员对英美报刊有一个清晰的了解，认识英美报刊语言、文体、词汇、语法等基本特点，掌握英美报刊阅读的基本知识及技巧，为独立阅读英美报刊打下良好的基础。
二、教材特点与该课程旧教材（第 1 版）相比，本教材具有以下特点：1．为使学生改变以往依赖教师和英汉词典的学习习惯，培养他们独自排解疑难词语的能力，编者不但向他们推荐工具书，并教授他们使用方法；为使他们能加深对词汇的记忆，还介绍词法和重要词根及词缀。
2．为使学生掌握必要的新闻词语和扩大词汇量，本书在“新闻词语解说”中尽量结合课文，讲透疑难词语。
此外还列出一些与这些词语或课文内容有关的课外词汇。
3．为使学生掌握必要的读报知识，本书在“背景知识”中尽量结合课文，介绍重要的并时常见诸报端的人物、党派和组织机构等，并举例说明其重要性。
4．为使学生对新闻写作有一个大致的认识，加深对课文的理解，编者较系统地说明标题的若干特点，对新闻体裁的分类、导语和写作特点及常语等做了简介。
三、教学内容《英美报刊选读》为省开课程。
1．授课内容：重点为第1、3、4、5、6、8、13、15、17、19、20、21、24、28、30课（共15 课），其它内容主要供自学。
2．课时安排：a）学员自学：2学时/周，共30学时学完15 课。
b）面授辅导：4学时/次，共4次。
每学时辅导一课，最后一学时复习。
3．作业：共四次，在湖北电大网站英语本科网页上下载，课后完成，交辅导教师批改，评分，作为平时成绩的主要依据。
学员完成作业后，可浏览网页上的“答案及详解” ，以加深理解，检查自己掌握的情况四、教学建议教师授课时应以学生为中心，鼓励学生自己去探索和获取知识。
在上课时，可要求学生先回答每课后的练习题一一Questio ns,使他们基本了解课文的主要内容。
然后，再逐段或跳跃式选段对学生需要掌握的内容、新闻词语和背景知识进行阅读和问答式方式讲解。
如果备课充分，学生的英语水平又高，教员可采用美英教员教授母语的方法，抛开课本或讲义，只讲有关课文的重点词语、背景知识和写作手法等。
美英报刊阅读教程Lesson2课文Lesson 2 Who Are America?s Hispanics ?The answers may surprise youBy Michael Barone1. As you walk around the Cisco Brothers, furniture factory in South Central Los Angeles, you?d hardly guess that Francisco Pinedo is the boss. Short and slight[1], wearing jeans and speaking rapid-fire[2] Spanish to his workers, he seems younger than his 35 years. Pinedo came to the United States in 1976 from Jalisco, Mexico, a 13-year-old boy who spoke no English. He dropped out of the 1 1th grade to work for a furniture manufacturer to support his family. Later he and his wife, Alba, borrowed everything they could to buy a one-bedroom, no-windows house for $36,000.2. Today the Pinedos own Cisco Brothers which employs 115 and last year sold more than $9 million worth o f furniture to stores around the world. “Being American offers you almost every opportu nity,” says Pinedo, who speaks English fluently and has applied for U.S. citizenship.3. His is one of the success stories written by what the Census Bureau[3] calls Hispanics: people of Latin American or Spanish origin. Whether recent immigrants or descendants of people who lived in the Southwest before the Pilgrims[4] came to America, they are all members of one of this country?s most important ethnic groups—and one of the least understood. Consider these facts:4. The Census Bureau estimates that there are 28 million Hispanics in the United states today, ap?proximately one in ten of us. That number is projected to reach 53 million in the year2020, or one in six Americans. Most of that growth will not be because of immigration, legal or illegal, but will come from the natural increase among Hispanics already here.5. Like Fransisco Pinedo, most Hispanics come from humble backgrounds —many from unthinkable poverty. But the large majority are not poor or on welfare. Indeed, Hispanic men havea higher labor-force participation rate than the national average.6. Some Hispanics speak only Spanish —but the overwhelming majority growing up in the United States see English as their primary language.7. In recent years the public spotlight on America?s Hispanics has often focused on drug crime, urban poverty and illegal immigration. But beyond these publicized problems are millions of ordinary, and many extraordinary, people. Who are they — and what will be their impact on the nation?s future?8. The Ninth of 12 Children, Danny Villanueva grew up in California and Arizona border towns. His father was a minister and a supporter of Cesar Chavez?s United Farm Workers. His diminutive[5] mother insisted that her sons raise themselves through athletics. After every game, win or lose, she would ask, “Did you give it all you had?[6]“9. Villanueva was, by his own description, “short, fat and slow—but nobody outworked me.” He became the kicker for the Los Angeles Rams[7], then helped found the Spanish-language Univision television network[8]. T oday he is head of the nation?s first Hispanic investment fund[9], its high-rise offices overlooking the mansions of Beverly Hills[10].10. Family ti es, like the strong partnership betweenVillanueva? s parents that gave him a future, re?main important to today? s young Hispanics. Many of the men working in Francisco Pinedo? s factory, for instance, are about the same age as the characters on TV?s “Seinfeld” or “Friends.” [11] But instead of hanging out[12] with contemporaries, most are married with children.11. According to the most recent statistics, 37 percent of Hispanic households are composed of two parents raising minor[13] children—as compared with 25 percent of non-Hispanic Americans. Divorce is significantly less common among Hispanics than among non-Hispanics.12. Sleepless in El Paso. As a boy, Cesar Viramontes crossed the Mexican border to El Paso, Texas, knowing no English. He dropped out of high school to work in a laundry. Then he and his wife saved enough money to buy a laundromat[14] When the fashion for prewashed[15] jeans started, the Viramontes family got into the business. Closing the laundromat at 10 p.m., they? d set the machines spinning with jeans from local manufacturers. Then they? d clean out the blue water and lint[16] before customers arrived at 7 a.m. All for 15 cents a pair.13. When did they rest? “We didn?t,” says Cesar Viramonters. “You can sleep when you?re 60.” Today the family owns International Garment Processors, which employs more than 750 workers at two large plants just outside El Paso. The company processes 50,000 garments a day for Levi Strauss[17] and other makers, and grosses [18] more than $30 million a year.14. America?s Hispanics are known as hard workers. “Latinos[19] have a strong work eth ic[20] and strong loyalty to employers,” says Jose de Jesus Legaspi, a real-estate developer who came to Los Angeles from Mexico as a teen-ager. Theirattitude, he says, is: “I?m asked to do this job, and 1 go and do it. If I need more money, I?ll get an e xtra job.”15. Statistics back up Legaspi? s opinion: the percentage of Hispanic men in the labor force in 1996 was 80 percent, well above the U.S. average of 67 percent. And many are entrepreneurs: the number of Hispanic-owned businesses rose to 863,000 in 1992, with receipts of $77 billion.16. All T ogether Now. In 1994 (the last figures available)[21], Hispanic income per person was only 57 percent of the national average—reflecting low earnings by immigrants with little English and few marketable skills. But often several people in each family work, so average Hispanic household income was 73 percent of the U.S. average.17. This is one way immigrants work themselves up to the middle class. Mexican-born Elena Lomeli is a top assistant to Laurie Gates, a pottery designer whose work appears in leading department stores. Arriving here in 1969 at age 13 and knowing no English, Lomeli baby-sat and did housekeeping. Today sh e helps transform Gates? s designs into finished products. “I surprise myself every day by what we do here,” she says.18. The Language Crisis. When Miami lawyer Nicolas Gutierrez, Jr., was interviewed on Span?ish-language television, his Cuban-born family called him later to “correct what 1 got wrong,”[22] he says. Although he grew up heari ng Spanish at home, he spoke English in school, college and law school—and speaks it today in his business and personal life.19. Today, in many workplaces and with family and friends, Spanish is usually the choice for Hispanic immigrants. As a result, many critics of immigration worry that Hispanic America will become a separate, Spanish-language community.20. It?s an old controversy, one that also raged early this cent ury when Italian, Polish and Jewish immigrants did not learn English. But the second generation did. And the experience of Nick Gutierrez and many others is reason to believe that things are no different today.21. Indeed, more than three-quarters of U.S.-born Hispanics have a solid command of English[23]. And in a 1996 poll conducted for the Center for Equal Opportunity, 51 percent of Hispanic parents said that learning to read, write and speak English was the most important goal of their children? s education; only 11 percent said the same of Spanish.22. Unfortunately, public schools—the great entryway to American success for the children ofearlier immigrants—have not served Hispanic students well. Part of the problem: the “experimental” bilingual educat ion programs started a generation ago. Technically voluntary[24], these programs enlist many Hispanic children regardless of parents? wishes. States such as California and Illinois can keep pupils in bilingual classes for five years. The effect is to hold back children from learning the English that they need and their parents desire.23. And because many Hispanic students are thus ill-prepared when they get to college, bilingual programs have even found a foothold there. Herman Badillo, a former New York City Congressman of Puerto Rican descent, spoke to one student from Hostos Community College, a bilingual branch of the City University of New York. The woman had failed a required English-proficiency test twice. “She couldn …t speak fluent English, and she?d majored in gerontology and gotten a job in a nursing home,” Badillo said. “If she?s working with elderly people whodon?t speak Spanish, it will be a calamity.”24. Clearly, reform of bilingual education programs is long overdue[25].25. Citizens Who Vote. Eighty years ago it was said that Italian immigrants would never be ab?sorbed into mainstream society. Yet in time they became unequivocally American. Today, writes cultural critic John Leo[26], ” Hispanics are blending into the general population at l east as fast as earlier white ethnic groups did.”26. In the past two years Hispanics have become U.S. citizens at a record pace[27]. Already the largest ethnic minority, they will in time be the largest voting bloc—maybe even the majority—in several of our largest metropolitan areas. And competition for Hispanic votes is becoming as politically crucial as past battles for immigrants? votes.27. Texas and California, the nation?s two largest states, with the two largest Hispanic populations, have already de veloped very different Hispanic politics. Hispanics in Texas? s Congressional delegation, for example, include a conservative Republican as well as both conservative and liberal Democrats. In California—with 54 electoral votes, 20 percent of those needed to win the Presidency—Hispanic voters tend to favor government-spending programs[28] and activism, positions that usually help liberal Democrats. But they are also likely to support capital punishment[29] and oppose abortion, views that help Republicans.28. In any event, the GOP[30] could pay a high price if it is perceived as engaging in immigrant-bashing[31]. In 1994, for example, one in four Hispanics voted for California?s Proposition 187[32], which barred state aid to illegal immigrants. But manyresented Republican Governor Pete Wilson? s ads for the measure, which they thought labeled all Hispanics as lazy. Two years later the Republicans? share of the Hispanic vote sharply declined.29. Whatever they may be in the future, Hispanic preferences and priorities are likely to strongly influence the direction of our politics and government. But it will be American politics.30. Consider Texas Congressman Silvestre Reyes. Growing up in a small Texas town, he learned English at school, served in Vietnam and then got a job with the Border Patrol[33]. In 1993 he devised Operation Hold the Line[34], which stationed agents at the border along the Rio Grande and vastly reduced the flow of illegal immigrants. In 1996 he was elected to Congress.31. A reporter once a sked him, “How do you guys celebrate independence day?”32. “With fireworks and a picnic,” Reyes replied.33. The writer was surprised. “I had no idea you celebrated the 16th of September [Mexico's independence day] that way,” he said.34. Reyes explained: “I?m talking about the Fourth of July.”From Reader?s Digest, January, 1998V. Analysis of Content1. Hispanics may refer to____________.A. Americans of Latin American or Spanish originB. recent immigrants to America from South AmericaC. descendants of people who lived in the Southwest before the Pilgrims came to AmericaD. immigrants from Spain2. From the article, we know that ___________A. the number of Hispanics will reach 53 million in 2020because of increasing immigrationB. most Hispanics are poor and on welfareC. the employment rate of Hispanic men is higher than the national averageD. the Hispanics see Spanish as their primary language3. Which of the following statement is wrong ?A. Family ties remain important to today? s you ng Hispanics.B. All Hispanic men are likely to hang out with their contemporaries.C. Divorce among Hispanics is not so common as among non-Hispanics.D. Hispanic families are relatively stable.4. What?s the effect of the “experimental” bilingual edu cation programs to Hispanic children?A. They can speak both Spanish and English fluently.B. It holds back children from learning the English that they need and their parents desire.C. It has well prepared Hispanic students.D. It helps the children to learn English.5. In 1996 the Republicans? share of the Hispanic vote sharply declined because___________A. Hispanics in California are against the Republicans? platformB. Hispanics in California are for liberal Democrats? platformC. California?s Proposition 187 is unreasonableD. the Republican Governor Pete Wilson had bashed HispanicsVI. Questions on the Article1. Why does the author say one would hardly guess that Francisco Pinedo is the boss?2. In recent years, what have been the publicized problems with Hispanics?3. Can you tell how Cesar Viramontes succeeded in his business?4. Will Hispanic America become a separate, Spanish language community as many critics worry?5. Why is the competition for Hispanic votes becoming as politically crucial as past batties for immigrants? votes?VII. Topics for Discussion1. How do you interpret Pi nedos? words “Being American offers you almost every oppor-tunity”?2. Is bilingual education necessary for Hispanics?。
BOOK TWOUNIT 1 SuburbanizationI．Vocabulary Builder1.Definition1)divert:distract one’s attention; to deliberately take someone's attention from something by making themthink about or notice other things2)at the heart of: the most important or central part of a problem, question etc3)be reduced to: bring sb./sth. into a worse condition4)entertain: hold in mind5)homogeneous: consisting of people or things that are all of the same type6)remedy: put right; resolve; solve7)allocate: give2.Phrase translation1) C 2) D 3) A 4) A 5) C3.Blank filling1)inevitable2)rolls3)affluent 4)compelling5)persistent6)infested7)crammed8)backlash9)proximity10)undermined11)divide12)As befitsII．S entence Structure1.Translation1)郊区化既是近四十年来最不可抗拒的人口趋势，也是旧城区沦落为一个“空壳”的原因。
目前在旧城区居住的大部分都是贫困的非白种人。
2)尽管在这些破败的商业街及犯罪高发的贫民住房区零星点缀着几栋整洁的平房，但此处每个成年人的平均收入近一万美元。
