英语高级视听说-下册-unit-2

Not Your Average TeenLots of teenage girls dream of becoming rich and famous. But it's not a fantasy for Michelle Wie. Just before her 16th birthday last fall, she became the highest-paid woman golfer in history simply by turning professional and lending her name to commercial endorsements that will pay her between $10 million and $12 million a year, most of which will go into a trust fund until she becomes an adult.Wie has been a celebrity since she was 13, when people began predicting she would become the Tiger Woods of women’s golf. But, as correspondent Steve Kroft reports, that has never been enough for Wie. She wants to become the first woman ever to successfully compete with men in a professional sport. She has tried a couple of times on the PGA Tour without embarrassing herself.As you will see, she has changed a lot since we first talked to her way back in 2004, when she was 14.At the time, Wie told Kroft her ultimate goal was to play in the Masters."I think it'd be pretty neat walking down the Masters fairways," she said.It was a neat dream for a 14-year-old kid. Nothing has happened in the last two years to change Wie's mind or shake her confidence.She is stronger now, more mature and glamorous. She has already demonstrated that she can play herself into the middle of the pack against the best men on the PGA Tour and has come within a shot of winning her first two starts on the LPGA Tour this year as a part-time professional.The day before 60 Minutes interviewed her at the Fields Open in Honolulu, she shot a final round of 66, coming from six strokes off the lead to just miss a playoff."You won your first check yesterday," Kroft says."Uh-huh," Wie says. "It was, it was really cool. I mean, I was like looking at how much I won. I was like 'Oh my God.' "Wie says she won around $72,000.Asked whether she gets to keep that money, Wie said she didn't know."I'm trying to negotiate with my dad how much I can spend of that, and stuff like that. We're still working it out. But, you know, I'm definitely gonna go shopping today," she says, laughing.Half of her life is spent in the adult world, competing with men and women twice her age for paychecks they may need to make expenses and dealing with the media, sponsors and marketing executives. The rest of the time she is a junior at Punahou High School in Honolulu, where she isan A student and claims to lead the life of a typical 16-year-old."Well, I have a math test tomorrow that I haven't studied for at all. Which I'm kind of worried for," she says, laughing.What about boys?"Not yet," she says."And the boys, I'm sure, at your high school are probably a little intimidated," Kroft says."Well, I don't know, I mean, that's what everyone else says," she replies, laughing. "But I don't really care. I'm way too busy as it is."She has already been on the David Letterman Show, graced countless magazines and played golf with former President Clinton, who, she claims, can be rather vague when recording his score.ContinuedTo help manage all of this, her parents have surrounded her with the best people all that money can buy. Besides her caddy, Greg Johnston, and renowned golf coach David Leadbetter, her retinue includes agents, a sports psychologist, physical trainer and image consultant.Two years ago, it was just Wie and her parents. Now she has an entourage."Entourage. That's funny," says Wie. "But, you know, I'm very glad for all the new members of the team. It feels nice to have, you know, people that you can trust around you.""And making decisions for you," Kroft says."Yeah. I mean it's awesome," Wie says.Most of the shots are still being called by her parents, B.J. and Bo, with recommendations from the William Morris Agency, which was hired by the Wie family to manage the business aspects of her career and line up endorsements from sponsors who were already standing in line.They include a ubiquitous sporting goods and apparel company, a Japanese electronics giant and a Swiss watch manufacturer? --who collectively contribute an eight-figure sum to the Michelle Wie trust fund.William Morris president David Wirtschafter says Michelle is, and will remain, their only golf client in a talent stable mostly filled with Hollywood actors, directors and writers. He sees her as someone who can easily make the jump from sports to entertainment.Asked if he thinks there is a difference anymore between sports and entertainment, Wirtschaftersays: "We don't think so. We think that sports is a subset of entertainment. And we feel that so many people are interested in her because almost every demographic is anxious to watch her play and anxious to see what she does next, that she will be one of the few athletes who essentially transcends sports and becomes somebody that people pay attention to in popular culture."Why are so many people interested in her?"I think that men are fascinated by the way that she plays golf," says Wirtschafter. "She plays golf in a style that is much more like men. It's a power golf style. She hits the ball a long, long way. I think women find her attractive, particularly young women, because she, again, is playing against boys. And, yet, when she's off the course, she's very much like them."Wirtschafter acknowledges that Wie has also become very attractive and that it makes a huge difference. "Because she exudes femininity, she exudes youth and, on the other hand, just has a skill level that's off the charts. And I think that's a very, very rare combination.""So if she was 5-2 and weighed 160 pounds, there wouldn't be this interest?" Kroft asks."I don't think there'd be this level of interest. But if she was 5-2 and weighed 160 pounds and could play golf as she plays golf, she'd still be a great golfer," says Wirtschafter.Much of the interest in Michelle is in Asia. She is of Korean descent, already speaks Japanese and is now taking a stab at Mandarin. When she arrived at an airport in Japan last year before playing in a tournament there, she was styled and greeted like a major movie star, although she tries to pretend otherwise.Wie says she doesn’t feel the level of celebrity she has already achieved. Referring to her movie star-like reception in Japan, Wie says, "Oh, I just figure that they were there at the airport because they had a plane to catch."Wie admits juggling high school life while playing on the LPGA Tour is hectic but says that's the way she likes it."I mean, I like being busy. When I have nothing to do, I'm just like, 'Find me something to do.' I'm just, like, walking around my house trying to find something, actually cleaning up my room," she says, laughing. "Which I never do."Asked if her parents still rule her life, Wie says: "Well, basically, in the household. I mean they're the head of the household. So I guess I have to listen. But I'm still stubborn. I won't give in easily, that’s the thing."That stubbornness has helped propel her to stardom. She passed up junior events and amateur tournaments that she could win for the chance to lose and learn from the best professionals. She also ignored people like John Hawkins, a senior writer at "Golf World" and "Golf Digest," whoadvised her to stay away from the men’s tour and go play with the girls."Michelle's an iconoclast. She is somebody who dares to separate herself from her so-called peers," says Hawkins.Hawkins says it's a huge part of Wie's appeal."She is unlike anybody else," he says. "Who has the guts? Can’t refer to any other part of the anatomy here? Who has the guts to play against men when they're 16? I have a tremendous amount of respect for the satchel it takes to go out there and tee it up with the big boys. You gotta turn your TV on and watch that, don't you? I mean, you got to."And people watched. "People came out. It was all over the newspapers the next day. It's news. It's news when she tries," says Hawkins.ContinuedNo one is happier with the prospect than the TV networks and tournament sponsors. When Michelle plays against men or women, television ratings and ticket sales go up an average of 50 percent. But Hawkins points out that Michelle hasn't won anything since she was 13, and if she is going to justify her eight-figure endorsement deals over any length of time, she needs to win some tournaments."I think a lot of that money is predicated on her not only competing against men, Steve, but beating the women. She is a special talent. She is a transcendent figure," says Hawkins. "She's got it all. But you still gotta have W's in your pocket. I mean, that's the deal."Does Michelle feel the pressure to start winning tournaments?"Well, I mean, I've heard a lot of people say that, but you know, I, hopefully, a lot of my fans will recognize that I'm still a full-time student," she says. "I still have a lot of other things that I have to do. And, hopefully, they'll be patient with me because I believe that I can do it."Last weekend at the Kraft Nabisco Tournament, she just missed another opportunity to win a major championship on the women’s tour. After making a birdie on the 16th hole, all she had t o do to make the playoff was get it down in two from the edge of the 18th green. But her chip shot went 10 feet past the hole and she just missed the putt coming back."I think, when you're 16, you still come across situations that you've never encountered before," says Hawkins. "You still feel emotions that you've never felt. Your heart beats a little harder. You're not used to feeling the crunch of pressure. I think she's still learning."But if you ask Michelle what has been her most stressful experien ce this year, she’ll likely give you the 16-year-old answer? Which was taking and barely passing her driver’s test?"I got 15 points wrong. So I made it on the number," she explains.While she just made the cut, she says she was really nervous and didn't know what to expect. "More than a PGA event?" Kroft asks."Yeah, I think so. It was different, though," she replies.Michelle says she would rate her driving skills as OK. "But I kind of panic sometimes. It's not very good. I have to get better on that."When her parents finally allow her to have her own car, she’ll not only get exactly what she wants, some company will gladly pay her to drive it. But to her friends at Punahou High, she is just another junior."She lives her life just like us. We all go to the movies. We all go shopping," says Michelle's friend Raquel.And Meghan, another friend, says even when Michelle is halfway around the world, they text message each other a lot. "I just upped my minutes by the way," she says, laughing.Wie is not one of those prodigies who has been robbed of her childhood; in some ways she is still holding on to it? --the final stages, anyway, and enjoying every minute of it. At 16, the days and weeks still last a long time for her. An endless summer competing against some of the best golfers in the world still feels a long way off. Anything beyond that is hard for her to grasp."I always fantasize with me being on my own, traveling by myself, you know, being independent," she says. "But then the reality sinks in that I never booked a hotel room by myself. I've never bought a plane ticket. I barely know how to do laundry. I can't cook. I can't even, I almost cannot microwave stuff. I mean it's pathetic. So basically the reality sets in and I can't do that.""That's why you have William Morris," Kroft remarks."Yeah," she replies."Isn't it?" Kroft asks."No, that's a good point, that's a really good point. I haven't thought about that before. I mean, I guess I just have to learn how to do laundry," she says.Asked whether she wants to get married and have kids, Michelle Wie said, laughing: "Yeah, most definitely. That's way down the road. I mean, I'm 16 right now. Might be illegal right now."。

《高级英语视听说（第二版）》教师用书第二版说明《高级英语视听说》为专业英语课程教材，供高等院校英语专业高年级本科生使用；同时也为高等院校非英语专业高年级本科生使用。

近些年，大学英语及专门用途英语教学改革成果显著，非英语专业学生的英语水平提高很大，有些甚至好于英语专业的学生。

教师和学生都感到特别需要更高要求、更深程度内容的英语教材满足这部分学生的智力和情感需求。

这套教材既是很好的选择。

本教材还可以供研究生英语课程使用，供有同等英语水平的自学者和工作者使用。

本套教材于2008年荣获北京市精品教材奖。

目前已经重印十余次，受到教师和学生的广泛欢迎。

第二版教材去掉五部旧片，换上五部新片，其中三部电影，一部纪录片，以跟进时代。

它们分别是《黑天鹅》、《帮助》、《朗读者》和《精神病人》。

这些片子已在北外的课堂使用过，深受学生们喜爱。

单元安排根据学生的兴趣、影片的新旧、影片的难易重新做了调整，现在的安排给人一种全新的感受。

教师也可以按照自己的考虑、学生的水平重新安排一学期的课程顺序。

第二版教材建议每周学习一部片子，所用学时两小时。

网络的发展以及各学校音视频的建设使学生随时可以看到新片，这样使一周完成学生课前的准备及课上的讨论成为了可能。

我们衷心希望第二版能够受到更多教师和学生的喜爱。

在内容带给我们更多挑战的同时，也希望带给我们更多思考的快乐。

主编：王镇平2013年4月23日编写理念21世纪是一个以经济全球化和信息化为显著特征的时代，我们的人才培养目标要适应这个时代，我们的教材则要适应这个新的培养目标。

英语专业培养的人才应该是具有扎实的英语语言基础和广博的英语文化知识，并能在不同的工作和研究领域熟练运用英语的复合型人才，要同时兼具组织能力、实践能力和创新能力。

这套教材就是在这样的需求中应运而生的。

根据2000年《高等院校英语专业英语教学大纲》（以下简称《大纲》）的要求，21世纪外语专业教材应具有以下几个特征：教材内容和语言能够反映快速变化的时代；教材能处理好专业知识、语言训练和相关学科知识之间的关系；教材不仅仅着眼于知识的传授，还有助于学生的鉴赏批判能力、思维能力和创新能力的培养；教学内容有较强的实用性和针对性；注意充分利用计算机、多媒体、网络等现代化的技术手段。

高级英语视听说下册答案unit21、Our campus is _____ big that we need a bike to make it. [单选题] *A. veryB. so(正确答案)C. suchD. much2、Where have you _______ these days? [单选题] *A. been(正确答案)B. beC. isD. are3、97．Go ______ the square and you will find the theatre. [单选题] * A．aboveB．atC．across(正确答案)D．on4、These apples smell _____ and taste ______. [单选题] *A. well; wellB. good; good(正确答案)C. well; goodD. good; well5、55．There is a ________ on in the bookshop. Let's go to buy some books. [单选题] * A．movieB．matchC．sale(正确答案)D．concert6、---Excuse me sir, where is Room 301?---Just a minute. I’ll have Bob ____you to your room. [单选题] *A. show(正确答案)B. showsC. to showD. showing7、The flowers _______ sweet. [单选题] *A. tasteB. smell(正确答案)C. soundD. feel8、You could hardly imagine _______ amazing the Great Wall was. [单选题] *A. how(正确答案)B. whatC. whyD. where9、The travelers arrived _______ Xi’an _______ a rainy day. [单选题] *A. at; inB. at; onC. in; inD. in; on(正确答案)10、The manager gave one of the salesgirls an accusing look for her（）attitude towards customers. [单选题] *A. impartialB. mildC. hostile(正确答案)D. opposing11、—Does your grandpa live ______ in the country?—Yes. So I often go to visit him so that he won’t feel ______. （）[单选题] *A. alone; aloneB. lonely; lonelyC. lonely; aloneD. alone; lonely(正确答案)12、63．There will be? ? ? ? ??? water on the road after the heavy rain. [单选题] *A．too much(正确答案)B．much tooC．too manyD．many too13、Nowadays more and more people travel by _______, because its safe, cheap and fast. [单选题] *A. footB. bikeC. high-speed train(正确答案)D. boat14、I have only two tickets for TF Boys’concert. ______ you ______ he can go with me.（）[单选题] *A. Either; or(正确答案)B. Either; norC. Both; andD. Not only; but also15、I always get ______ grades than he does, so maybe I should help him more.（）[单选题] *A. bestB. better(正确答案)C. goodD. well16、Marie is a _______ girl.She always smiles and says hello to others. [单选题] *A. shyB. friendly(正确答案)C. healthyD. crazy17、I_____you that I had made the right decision. [单选题] *A.ensuredB.insuredC.assured(正确答案)D.for sure18、—What’s wrong with you, Mike?—I’m really tired because I studied for today’s test ______ midnight last night. （）[单选题] *A. althoughB. unlessC. until(正确答案)D. so that19、24．Kitty’s father ______ a policeman since 2 He loves helping people. [单选题] *A．isB．wasC．has been (正确答案)D．have been20、He used to get up at six in the morning,（)? [单选题] *A. used heB. did heC. didnt he (正确答案)D. should he21、Have you kept in（）with any of your friends from college? [单选题] *A. contractB. contact(正确答案)C. continentD. touching22、He studied harder to _______ his reading skills. [单选题] *A. improve(正确答案)B. rememberC. memorizeD. forget23、It’s so nice to hear from her again. ______, we last met more than thirty year ago [单选题] *A. What ‘s wordB. That’s to sayC. Go aheadD. Believe it or not(正确答案)24、Be careful when you _______ the street. [单选题] *A. are crossingB. is crossingC. cross(正确答案)D. is cross25、—Whose book is it? Is it yours?—No, ask John. Maybe it’s ______.（）[单选题] *A. hersB. his(正确答案)C. he’sD. her26、This is not our house. lt belongs to _____. [单选题] *A. the Turners'B. the Turners(正确答案)C. Turner'sD. Turners27、David ______ at home when I called at seven o’clock yesterday evening. （）[单选题] *A. didn’tB. doesn’tC. wasn’t(正确答案)D. isn’t28、When you are tired, listen to music and try to _______ yourself. [单选题] *A. supportB. showC. playD. relax(正确答案)29、75．As a student in Senior Three, I must work hard．（）, I should take exercise to strengthen my body．[单选题] *A.OtherwiseB.Meanwhile(正确答案)C.ThereforeD.Thus30、If you want to _______, you’d better eat more healthy food and do more exercise. [单选题] *A. keep fatB. keep calmC. keep healthy(正确答案)D. keep on。

A plan to build the world's first airport for launching commercial spacecraft in New Mexico is the latest development in the new space race, a race among private companies and billionaire entrepreneurs to carry paying passengers into space and to kick-start a new industry, astro tourism.The man who is leading the race may not be familiar to you, but to astronauts, pilots, and aeronautical engineers – basically to anyone who knows anything about aircraft design –Burt Rutan is a legend, an aeronautical engineer whose latest aircraft is the world's first private spaceship. As he told 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley when he first met him a little over a year ago, if his idea flies, someday space travel may be cheap enough and safe enough for ordinary people to go where only astronauts have gone before.The White Knight is a rather unusual looking aircraft, built just for the purpose of carrying a rocket plane called SpaceShipOne, the first spacecraft built by private enterprise.White Knight and SpaceShipOne are the latest creations of Burt Rutan. They're part of his dream to develop a commercial travel business in space."There will be a new industry. And we are just now in a beginning. I will predict that in 12 or 15 years, there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people that fly, and see that black sky," says Rutan.On June 21, 2004, White Knight took off from an airstrip in Mojave, Calif., carrying Rutan's spaceship. It took 63 minutes to reach the launch altitude of 47,000 feet. Once there, the White Knight crew prepared to release the spaceship one.The fierce acceleration slammed Mike Melvill, the pilot, back in his seat. He put SpaceShipOne into a near vertical trajectory, until, as planned, the fuel ran out.Still climbing like a spent bullet, Melvill hoped to gain as much altitude as possible to reach space before the ship began falling back to earth.By the time the spaceship one reached the end of its climb, it was 22 miles off course. But it had, just barely, reached an altitude of just over 62 miles —the internationally recognized boundary of space.It was the news Rutan had been waiting for. Falling back to Earth from an altitude of 62 miles, SpaceShipOne's tilting wing, a revolutionary innovation called thefeather, caused the rocket plane to position itself for a relatively benign re-entry and turned the spaceship into a glider.SpaceShipOne glided to a flawless landing before a crowd of thousands."After that June flight, I felt like I was floating around and just once in a while touching the ground," remembers Rutan. "We had an operable space plane." Rutan's "operable space plane" was built by a company with only 130 employees at a cost of just $25 million. He believes his success has ended the government's monopoly on space travel, and opened it up to the ordinary citizen."I concluded that for affordable travel to happen, the little guy had to do it because he had the incentive for a business," says Rutan.Does Rutan view this as a business venture or a technological challenge"It's a technological challenge first. And it's a dream I had when I was 12," he says.Rutan started building model airplanes when he was seven years old, in Dyenuba, Calif., where he grew up."I was fascinated by putting balsa wood together and see how it would fly," he remembers. "And when I started having the capability to do contests and actually win a trophy by making a better model, then I was hooked."He's been hooked ever since. He designed his first airplane in 1968 and flew it four years later. Since then his airplanes have become known for their stunning looks, innovative design and technological sophistication.Rutan began designing a spaceship nearly a decade ago, after setting up set up his own aeronautical research and design firm. By the year 2000, he had turned his designs into models and was testing them outside his office."When I got to the point that I knew that I could make a safe spaceship that would fly a manned space mission -- when I say, 'I,' not the government, our little team -- I told Paul Allen, 'I think we can do this.' And he immediately said, 'Go with it.'"Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft and is one of the richest men in the world. His decision to pump $25 million into Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, was the vote of confidence that his engineers needed to proceed."That was a heck of a challenge to put in front of some people like us, wherewe're told, 'Well, you can't do that. You wanna see We can do this," says Pete Sebold.Work on White Knight and SpaceShipOne started four years ago in secret. Both aircraft were custom made from scratch by a team of 12 engineers using layers of tough carbon fabric glued together with epoxy. Designed to be light-weight, SpaceShipOne can withstand the stress of re-entry because of the radical way it comes back into the atmosphere, like a badminton shuttlecock or a birdie.He showed 60 Minutes how it works."Feathering the wing is kind of a dramatic thing, in that it changes the whole configuration of the airplane," he explains. "And this is done in space, okay It's done after you fly into space.""We have done six reentries. Three of them from space and three of them from lower altitudes. And some of them have even come down upside down. And the airplane by itself straightens itself right up," Rutan explainsBy September 2004, Rutan was ready for his next challenge: an attempt to win a $10 million prize to be the first to fly a privately funded spacecraft into space, and do it twice in two weeks."After we had flown the June flight, and we had reached the goal of our program, then the most important thing was to win that prize," says Rutan.That prize was the Ansari X Prize – an extraordinary competition created in 1996 to stimulate private investment in space.The first of the two flights was piloted, once again, by Mike Melvill.September's flight put Melville's skill and training to the test. As he was climbing out of the atmosphere, the spacecraft suddenly went into a series of rolls.How concerned was he"Well, I thought I could work it out. I'm very confident when I'm flying a plane when I've got the controls in my hand. I always believed I can fix this no matter how bad it gets," says Melville.SpaceShipOne rolled 29 times before he regained control. The remainder of the flight was without incident, and Melvill made the 20-minute glide back to the Mojave airport. The landing on that September afternoon was flawless.Because Rutan wanted to attempt the second required flight just four days later, the engineers had little time to find out what had gone wrong. Working 12-hour shifts, they discovered they didn't need to fix the spacecraft, just the way in which the pilots flew it.For the second flight, it was test pilot Brian Binnie's turn to fly SpaceShipOne.The spaceship flew upward on a perfect trajectory, breaking through to space.Rutan's SpaceShipOne had flown to space twice in two weeks, captured the X Prize worth $10 million, and won bragging rights over the space establishment."You know I was wondering what they are feeling, 'They' being that other space agency," Rutan says laughing. "You know, quite frankly, I think the big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds, the nay-say people at Houston, I think they're looking at each other now and saying 'We're screwed!' Because, I'll tell you something, I have a hell of a lot bigger goal than they do!""The astronauts say that the most exciting experience is floating around in a space suit," says Rutan, showing off his own plans. "But I don't agree. A space suit is an awful thing. It constrains you and it has noisy fans running. Now look over here. It's quiet. And you're out here watching the world go by in what you might call a 'spiritual dome.' Well, that, to me, is better than a space suit because you're not constrained."He also has a vision for a resort hotel in space, and says it all could be accomplished in the foreseeable future. Rutan believes it is the dawn of a new era.He explains, "I think we've proven now that the small guys can build a space ship and go to space. And not only that, we've convinced a rich guy, a very rich guy, to come to this country and build a space program to take everyday people to space."That "rich guy" is Richard Branson, the English billionaire who owns Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Branson has signed a $120 million deal with Rutan to build five spaceships for paying customers. Named "Virgin Galactic," it will be the world's first "spaceline." Flights are expected to begin in 2008."We believe by flying tens of thousands of people to space, and making that a profitable business, that that will lead into affordable orbital travel," says Rutan.Rutan thinks there "absolutely" is a market for this.With tickets initially going for $200,000, the market is limited. Nevertheless, Virgin Galactic says 38,000 people have put down a deposit for a seat, and 90 of those have paid the full $200,000.But Rutan has another vision. "The goal is affordable travel above low-Earth orbit. In other words, affordable travel for us to go to the moon. Affordable travel. That means not just NASA astronauts, but thousands of people being able to go to the moon," he says. "I'd like to go. Wouldn't you"。

Unit 2 The new space raceA plan to build the world's first airport for launching commercial spacecraft in New Mexico is the latest development in the new space race, a race among private companies and billionaire entrepreneurs to carry paying passengers into space and to kick-start a new industry, astro tourism.The man who is leading the race may not be familiar to you, but to astronauts, pilots, and aeronautical engineers –basically to anyone who knows anything about aircraft design –Burt Rutan is a legend, an aeronautical engineer whose latest aircraft is the world's first private spaceship. As he told when he first met him a little over a year ago, if his idea flies, someday space travel may be cheap enough and safe enough for ordinary people to go where only astronauts have gone before.The White Knight is a rather unusual looking aircraft, built just for the purpose ofcarrying a rocket plane called SpaceShipOne, the first spacecraft built by private enterprise.White Knight andSpaceShipOne are the latest creations of Burt Rutan.They're part of his dream to develop a commercial travel business in space."There will be a new industry. And we are just now in a beginning. I will predict that in 12 or 15 years, there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people that fly, and see that black sky," says Rutan.On June 21, 2004, White Knight took off from an airstrip in Mojave, Calif., carrying Rutan's spaceship. It took 63 minutes to reach the launch altitude of 47,000 feet. Once there, the White Knight crew prepared to release the spaceship one.The fierce acceleration slammed Mike Melvill, the pilot, back in his seat. He put SpaceShipOne into a near vertical trajectory,until, as planned, the fuel ran out.Still climbing like a spent bullet, Melvill hoped to gain as much altitude as possible to reach space before the ship began falling back to earth.By the time the spaceship one reached the end of its climb, it was 22 miles off course. But it had, just barely, reached an altitude of just over 62 miles --the internationally recognized boundary of space.It was the news Rutan had been waiting for. Falling back to Earth from an altitude of 62 miles, SpaceShipOne's tilting wing, a revolutionary innovation called the feather, caused the rocket plane to position itself for a relatively benign re-entry and turned the spaceship into a glider.SpaceShipOne glided to a flawless landing before a crowd of thousands."After that June flight, I felt like I was floating around and just once in a while touching the ground," remembers Rutan. "Wehad an operable space plane."Rutan's "operable space plane" was built by a company with only 130 employees at a cost of just $25 million. He believes his success has ended the government's monopoly on space travel, and opened it up to the ordinary citizen."I concluded that for affordable travel to happen, the little guy had to do it because he had the incentive for a business," says Rutan.Does Rutan view this as a business venture or a technological challenge?"It's a technological challenge first. And it's a dream I had when I was 12," he says. Rutan started building model airplanes when he was seven years old, in Dyenuba, Calif., where he grew up."I was fascinated by putting balsa wood together and see how it would fly," he remembers. "And when I started having the capability to do contests and actually win atrophy by making a better model, then I was hooked."He's been hooked ever since. He designed his first airplane in 1968 and flew it four years later.Since then his airplanes have become known for their stunning looks, innovative design and technological sophistication.Rutan began designing a spaceship nearly a decade ago, after setting up set up his own aeronautical research and design firm. By the year 2000, he had turned his designs into models and was testing them outside his office."When I got to the point that I knew that I could make a safe spaceship that would fly a manned space mission -- when I say, 'I,' not the government, our little team -- I told Paul Allen, 'I think we can do this.'And he immediately said, 'Go with it.'"Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft and is one of the richest men in the world.His decision to pump $25 million into Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, was the vote of confidence that his engineers needed to proceed."That was a heck of a challenge to put in front of some people like us, where we're told, 'Well, you can't do that. You wanna see? We can do this," says Pete Sebold. Work on White Knight and SpaceShipOne started four years ago in secret.Both aircraft were custom made from scratch by a team of 12 engineers using layers of tough carbon fabric glued together with epoxy. Designed to be light-weight, SpaceShipOne can withstand the stress of re-entry because of the radical way it comes back into the atmosphere, like a badminton shuttlecock or a birdie.He showed 60 Minutes how it works. "Feathering the wing is kind of a dramatic thing, in that it changes the whole configuration of the airplane," he explains."And this is done in space, okay?It's done after you fly into space.""We have done six reentries. Three of them from space and three of them from lower altitudes. And some of them have even come down upside down.And the airplane by itself straightens itself right up," Rutan explainsBy September 2004, Rutan was ready for his next challenge: an attempt to win a $10 million prize to be the first to fly a privately funded spacecraft into space, and do it twice in two weeks. "After we had flown the June flight, and we had reached the goal of our program, then the most important thing was to win that prize," says Rutan.That prize was the Ansari X Prize –an extraordinary competition created in 1996 to stimulate private investment in space.The first of the two flights was piloted, once again, by Mike Melvill.September's flight put Melville's skill and training to the test. As he was climbing out of the atmosphere, the spacecraft suddenly went into a series of rolls.How concerned was he?"Well, I thought I could work it out. I'm very confident when I'm flying a plane when I've got the controls in my hand. I always believed I can fix this no matter how bad it gets," says Melville.SpaceShipOne rolled 29 times before he regained control. The remainder of the flight was without incident, and Melvill made the 20-minute glide back to the Mojave airport. The landing on that September afternoon was flawless.Because Rutan wanted to attempt the second required flight just four days later, the engineers had little time to find out what had gone wrong. Working 12-hour shifts, they discovered they didn't need to fix the spacecraft, just the way in which the pilotsflew it.For the second flight, it was test pilot Brian Binnie's turn to fly SpaceShipOne.The spaceship flew upward on a perfect trajectory, breaking through to space.Rutan's SpaceShipOne had flown to space twice in two weeks, captured the X Prize worth $10 million, and Won bragging rights over the space establishment."You know I was wondering what they are feeling, 'They' being that other space agency," Rutan says laughing. "You know, quite frankly, I think the big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds, the nay-say people at Houston, I think they're looking at each other now and saying 'We're screwed!' Because, I'll tell you something, I have a hell of a lot bigger goal than they do!" "The astronauts say that the most exciting experience is floating around in a space suit," says Rutan, showing off his own plans. "But I don't agree. A space suit is an awfulthing. It constrains you and it has noisy fans running.Now look over here. It's quiet. And you're out here watching the world go by in what you might call a 'spiritual dome.' Well, that, to me, is better than a space suit because you're not constrained."He also has a vision for a resort hotel in space, and says it all could be accomplished in the foreseeable future. Rutan believes it is the dawn of a new era.He explains, "I think we've proven now that the small guys can build a space ship and go to space. And not only that, we've convinced a rich guy, a very rich guy, to come to this country and build a space program to take everyday people to space."That "rich guy" is Richard Branson, the English billionaire who owns VirginAtlantic Airlines. Branson has signed a $120 million deal with Rutan to build fivespaceships for paying customers. Named "Virgin Galactic," it will be the world's first "spaceline." Flights are expected to begin in 2008. "We believe by flying tens of thousands of people to space, and making that a profitable business, that that will lead into affordable orbital travel," says Rutan.Rutan thinks there "absolutely" is a market for this.With tickets initially going for $200,000, the market is limited. Nevertheless,Virgin Galactic says 38,000 people have put down a deposit for a seat, and 90 of those have paid the full $200,000.But Rutan has another vision. "The goal is affordable travel above low-Earth orbit. In other words, affordable travel for us to go to the moon. Affordable travel. That means not just NASA astronauts, but thousands of people being able to go to the moon," he says. "I'd like to go. Wouldn't you?"。

Unit 2 The new space raceA plan to build the world's first airport for launching commercial spacecraft in New Mexico is the latest development in the new space race, a race among private companies and billionaire entrepreneurs to carry paying passengers into space and to kick-start a new industry, astro tourism.The man who is leading the race may not be familiar to you, but to astronauts, pilots, and aeronautical engineers – basically to anyone who knows anything about aircraft design – Burt Rutan is a legend, an aeronautical engineer whose latest aircraft is the world's first private spaceship. As he told 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley when he first met him a little over a year ago, if his idea flies, someday space travel may be cheap enough and safe enough for ordinary people to go where only astronauts have gone before.The White Knight is a rather unusual looking aircraft, built just for the purpose of carrying a rocket plane called SpaceShipOne, the first spacecraft built by private enterprise.White Knight and SpaceShipOne are the latest creations of Burt Rutan. They're part of his dream to develop a commercial travel business in space."There will be a new industry. And we are just now in a beginning. I will predict that in 12 or 15 years, there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people that fly, and see that black sky," says Rutan.On June 21, 2004, White Knight took off from an airstrip in Mojave, Calif., carrying Rutan's spaceship. It took 63 minutes to reach the launch altitude of 47,000 feet. Once there, the White Knight crew prepared to release the spaceship one.The fierce acceleration slammed Mike Melvill, the pilot, back in his seat. He put SpaceShipOne into a near vertical trajectory, until, as planned, the fuel ran out.Still climbing like a spent bullet, Melvill hoped to gain as much altitude as possible to reach space before the ship began falling back to earth.By the time the spaceship one reached the end of its climb, it was 22 miles off course. But it had, just barely, reached an altitude of just over 62 miles— the internationally recognized boundary of space.It was the news Rutan had been waiting for. Falling back to Earth from an altitude of 62 miles, SpaceShipOne's tilting wing, a revolutionary innovation called the feather, caused the rocket plane to position itself for a relatively benign re-entry and turned the spaceship into a glider.SpaceShipOne glided to a flawless landing before a crowd of thousands. "After that June flight, I felt like I was floating around and just once in a while touching the ground," remembers Rutan. "We had an operable space plane."Rutan's "operable space plane" was built by a company with only 130 employees at a cost of just $25 million. He believes his success has ended the government's monopoly on space travel, and opened it up to the ordinary citizen."I concluded that for affordable travel to happen, the little guy had to do it because he had the incentive for a business," says Rutan.Does Rutan view this as a business venture or a technological challenge? "It's a technological challenge first. And it's a dream I had when I was 12," he says.Rutan started building model airplanes when he was seven years old, in Dyenuba, Calif., where he grew up."I was fascinated by putting balsa wood together and see how it would fly," he remembers. "And when I started having the capability to do contests and actually win a trophy by making a better model, then I was hooked."He's been hooked ever since. He designed his first airplane in 1968 and flew it four years later. Since then his airplanes have become known for their stunning looks, innovative design and technological sophistication.Rutan began designing a spaceship nearly a decade ago, after setting up set up his own aeronautical research and design firm. By the year 2000, he had turned his designs into models and was testing them outside his office. "When I got to the point that I knew that I could make a safe spaceship that would fly a manned space mission -- when I say, 'I,' not the government, our little team -- I told Paul Allen, 'I think we can do this.' And he immediately said, 'Go with it.'"Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft and is one of the richest men in the world. His decision to pump $25 million into Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, was the vote of confidence that his engineers needed to proceed."That was a heck of a challenge to put in front of some people like us, where we're told, 'Well, you can't do that. You wanna see? We can do this," says Pete Sebold.Work on White Knight and SpaceShipOne started four years ago in secret. Both aircraft were custom made from scratch by a team of 12 engineers using layers of tough carbon fabric glued together with epoxy. Designed to be light-weight, SpaceShipOne can withstand the stress of re-entry because of the radical way it comes back into the atmosphere, like a badminton shuttlecock or a birdie.He showed 60 Minutes how it works."Feathering the wing is kind of a dramatic thing, in that it changes the whole configuration of the airplane," he explains. "And this is done in space, okay? It's done after you fly into space.""We have done six reentries. Three of them from space and three of them from lower altitudes. And some of them have even come down upside down. And the airplane by itself straightens itself right up," Rutan explainsBy September 2004, Rutan was ready for his next challenge: an attempt to win a $10 million prize to be the first to fly a privately funded spacecraft into space, and do it twice in two weeks."After we had flown the June flight, and we had reached the goal of our program, then the most important thing was to win that prize," says Rutan.That prize was the Ansari X Prize – an extraordinary competition created in 1996 to stimulate private investment in space.The first of the two flights was piloted, once again, by Mike Melvill.September's flight put Melville's skill and training to the test. As he was climbing out of the atmosphere, the spacecraft suddenly went into a series of rolls.How concerned was he?"Well, I thought I could work it out. I'm very confident when I'm flying aplane when I've got the controls in my hand. I always believed I can fix this no matter how bad it gets," says Melville.SpaceShipOne rolled 29 times before he regained control. The remainder of the flight was without incident, and Melvill made the 20-minute glide back to the Mojave airport. The landing on that September afternoon was flawless.Because Rutan wanted to attempt the second required flight just four days later, the engineers had little time to find out what had gone wrong. Working 12-hour shifts, they discovered they didn't need to fix the spacecraft, just the way in which the pilots flew it.For the second flight, it was test pilot Brian Binnie's turn to fly SpaceShipOne.The spaceship flew upward on a perfect trajectory, breaking through to space.Rutan's SpaceShipOne had flown to space twice in two weeks, captured the X Prize worth $10 million, and won bragging rights over the space establishment."You know I was wondering what they are feeling, 'They' being that other space agency," Rutan says laughing. "You know, quite frankly, I think the big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds, the nay-say people at Houston, I think they're looking at each other now and saying 'We're screwed!' Because, I'll tell you something, I have a hell of a lot bigger goal than they do!""The astronauts say that the most exciting experience is floating around in a space suit," says Rutan, showing off his own plans. "But I don't agree. A space suit is an awful thing. It constrains you and it has noisy fans running. Now look over here. It's quiet. And you're out here watching the world go by in what you might call a 'spiritual dome.' Well, that, to me, is better than a space suit because you're not constrained."He also has a vision for a resort hotel in space, and says it all could be accomplished in the foreseeable future. Rutan believes it is the dawn of a new era.He explains, "I think we've proven now that the small guys can build a space ship and go to space. And not only that, we've convinced a rich guy, a very rich guy, to come to this country and build a space program to take everyday people to space."That "rich guy" is Richard Branson, the English billionaire who owns Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Branson has signed a $120 million deal with Rutan to build five spaceships for paying customers. Named "Virgin Galactic," it will be the world's first "spaceline." Flights are expected to begin in 2008."We believe by flying tens of thousands of people to space, and making that a profitable business, that that will lead into affordable orbital travel," says Rutan.Rutan thinks there "absolutely" is a market for this.With tickets initially going for $200,000, the market is limited. Nevertheless, Virgin Galactic says 38,000 people have put down a deposit for a seat, and 90 of those have paid the full $200,000.But Rutan has another vision. "The goal is affordable travel above low-Earth orbit. In other words, affordable travel for us to go to the moon. Affordable travel. That means not just NASA astronauts, but thousands of people being able to go to the moon," he says. "I'd like to go. Wouldn't you?"。

Chapter 1 The PopulationI 2 populous 3 race 4 origin 5 geographical distPrelisteningB 1 census ribution6 made up of7 comprises8 relatively progressively9 Metropolitan densely 10 decreased death rate11 birth rate increasing 12 life expectancyD 1 a 18.5 mill b 80% c 1/2 d 13.4 mill e 2: 10f 4%g 1990h 40%i 3/4j 33.1%2 a3 b 1 c 2 d 5 e 4II First ListeningST1 population by race and originST2 geographical distributionST3 age and sexIII PostlisteningA 1. People’s Republic of China, India2. 281 mill3. Hispanics(12.5%)4. Texas5. the South and the West6. 20%7. by more than 5 million8. about 6 years9. 2.2 years10. a decreasing birth rate and an increasing life expectancyChapter 2: Immigration: Past and PresentPRELISTENINGB. Vocabulary and Key Conceptsimmigratednatural disasters/ droughts/ faminespersecutionsettlers/ colonistsstageswidespread unemploymentscarcityexpanding/ citizensfailuredecreaselimitedquotassteadilytrendskills/ unskilledD Notetaking PreparationDates: Teens and Tens18501951The 1840sFrom 1890 to 1930Between 1750 and 18501776188213291860From approximately 1830 to 1930Language Conventions: Countries and NationalitiesThe Scandinavian countries are Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The Southern European countries are Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. The Eastern European countries are Russia and Poland.LISTENINGFirst ListeningMajor SubtopicsST1 the Great ImmigrationST2 reasons for the Great Immigration and why it endedST3 immigration situation in the United States todayPOSTLISTENINGA. Accuracy Checkcolonists or settlersDutch, French, German, Scotch-Irish, BlacksThe third, 1890-1930Southern Europe and Eastern EuropeThe population doubled, there was widespread unemployment, and there was a scarcity of farmlandfree land, plentiful jobs, and freedom from religious and political persecutionthe failure of the potato crop in Irelandlaws limiting immigration from certain area, the Great Depression, and World War ⅡThey are largely non-European.Industry doesn’t need a large number of unskilled workers。

Unit2Ⅰ。

Lead-in1.This is a difficult question, for most of us enjoy both. But if you press me with this question, I should say that personally Iprefer watching a DVD at home. It is true that watching a movie at a theater has a number of advantages. For example, the sound effects are much better. When you hear guns firing in a theater, you feel as if you were on a real battlefield.Moreover, the presence of an audience can create a good atmosphere. When you watch a comedy on TV by yourself, you may be amused by the funny words and actions, but you are unlikely to laugh out loud. In a theater, on the other hand, you may laugh heartily when the whole audience bursts into wild laughter. In spite of those pluses for the theater, I have to say that I prefer to stay home and watch the same movie on DVD. In this way I feel more relaxed. I don't have to sit on a chair.Instead, I can lie on a sofa. I can drink tea or coffee while watching the movie. I can also press the PAUSE button, go to the kitchen or toilet, and then come back to continue the movie. More importantly, if I don't understand a section of the movie,I can replay it. Obviously, the advantages of viewing at home outweigh the advantages of viewing it at a theater.2.Different people have different choices, each with their own reasons. Generally, older people prefer old, classic movies,while young people choose contemporary movies, though we can find many exceptions to that pattern. It is reasonable for older people to favor the traditional movies of their time. When they see such movies, their memories of the past will be activated. It is not uncommon for us to observe that when elderly people see things in a movie that they personally experienced, they get excited and even shed tears. Some doctors say this sort of memory stimulation can have healing effects and slow down memory loss. While I understand that older people have good reasons to choose old movies, I prefer movies on contemporary themes. New movies are superior in many respects. First of all, the technology has improved, and therefore we can enjoy better scenes. Second, the directors, actors and actresses have all improved their skills. When you look at Chinese movies of the 1950s, you may find some actors and actresses talk or act somewhat artificially. Third, contemporary movies are often closer to our daily lives, and after seeing them, we can understand our society better. In other words, new movies have better educational value. Of course, the advantages of modern movies are not limited only to those I've just named. But they are reasons enough for me to make my choice.3.Occasionally I do enjoy seeing a foreign movie. It can take my mind off to a distant land. The outlandish setting oftenexcites me, and the different values tend to give me much food for thought. However, my lack of background information often requires me to make too many inferences, and sometimes I cannot understand certain parts of the movie. In such cases I may feel less entertained. By comparison, I feel more at home with Chinese movies. I can easily associate the scene and lines with the historical background. I can readily understand witty conversation and implied meanings. Sometimes I can even predict what is going to happen from the speaker's tone or gesture. Still, it is true that Chinese movies cannot yet compete with Western movies in filming technology. I do hope the next generation of Chinese movies will make further improvement.4.Certainly I want to see the movie first. A movie is meant chiefly to entertain, while a book may have a stronger educationalfunction in addition to its entertainment function. If one reads the book first, one will know the outcome of the movie in advance. With hardly any suspense, the movie will lose much of its appeal in spite of its colorful scenes. On the other hand, if we see the movie first, we can still appreciate the corresponding book. The book is usually longer than the adapted movie, and therefore you can still find a lot of new stuff. What's more, while reading a book, you can stop from time to time to think about the deeper meaning. So you see, after seeing the movie, you can still enjoy the book.Ⅲ.Listening InTask2:A Great ActorThere was once a great actor who could no longer remember his lines. After several years of searching, he finally found a theater that was willing to give him a try. The director said, "This is the most important part, and it has only one line. At theopening you walk onto stage carrying a rose. You hold the rose to your nose with just one finger and thumb, smell it deeply and then say the line in praise of the rose: 'Ah, the sweet smell of my love.'" The actor was excited. All day long before the play he practiced his line over and over again. Finally, the time came. The curtain went up, the actor walked onto the stage, looked at the audience, and with great emotion said the line, "Ah, the sweet smell of my love." The audience exploded in laughter. Only the director was furious! "Ahhhhhh! You damned fool!" he cried. "You've ruined my play! You've ruined me!" The actor was puzzled, "What happened? Did I forget my line?" "No!" shouted the director. "You forgot the rose!"Task3: Movie ReviewsI love movies! And after I see them, I like to comment on them. These are movies I saw this year that I would like to recommend: Among comedies I highly recommend "Monsoon Wedding". It's an Indian movie. The story is about an Indian wedding. Preparations for the wedding bring out funny and sad situations touching on love and a past rape. This movie shows some of the wonderful customs of India, and the importance of family and love. It's great!Among dramas, I like "Adaptation". It is an excellent movie! But for me the first part of the movie was too fast to follow.I hope to see it again on DVD with captions."The Pianist" is set in the Second World War. It's about a young Polish-Jewish pianist, who lives in Warsaw with his family. The Nazis sent his family to die in the concentration camps. He was safe, but would have died without unusually good luck and the kindness of a few non-Jews. This is a powerful movie with thought-provoking themes."Rabbit-Proof Fence" is set in the 1930s in Australia, and it's based on real events. It is about three native girls, who are separated from their families by the racist police who send them to special centers. There the girls are taught practical skills, and the government tries to integrate them into white Australian society. They ran away from the camp and walked 1,500 miles to find their mothers. This is a sad, touching story that you should not miss.Ⅴ.Let’s TalkAlfred HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock was a British director. His movies frequently show innocent people caught up in situations beyond their control or even understanding.Hitchcock preferred the use of suspense to surprise in his movies. In surprise, the director provides the viewer with frightening things. In suspense, the director tells or shows things to the audience which the characters in the movie do not know, and then skillfully builds up tension around what would happen when the characters finally learn the truth.Hitchcock had a great sense of humor. Once at a French airport, a suspicious customs official looked at Hitchcock's passport, which was marked simply PRODUCER. The curious official asked, "And what do you produce?" "Gooseflesh." replied Hitchcock.Alfred Hitchcock always managed to make a brief appearance in his movies: He was sometimes getting on a bus, or crossing a street, or walking in front of a store, or across the courtyard in an apartment. However, for the movie Lifeboat in 1944, he was faced with a difficult problem. The entire movie was set in a lifeboat out at sea, and there were only a few characters in the boat. Originally, he wanted to float by as a dead body, but he was afraid he'd sink! His clever solution was to place a photograph of himself in a newspaper that one of the characters read during the course of the movie.Ⅵ.Further Listening and SpeakingTask1: Only One LinePeter had always wanted to be an actor, but never succeeded because he had a hard time memorizing lines. A friend of his told him about a small part in a play. He promised Peter that he could do it because he'd only have to remember one line. Peter decided to take the part. His only line was, "Listen, I hear the guns roar!" Peter practiced and practiced, "Listen, I hear the guns roar!" On the opening night of the play Peter was very nervous. Backstage, he practiced his line, over and over again, "Listen, I hear the guns roar! Listen, I hear the guns roar!" Finally came his turn, Peter went onto stage. He heard a loud BOOM and cried out in spite of himself, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"Task3:The Secret of the Next Harry Potter BookThe Harry Potter books rapidly became one of the most in-demand book series among young readers and have earned large sums of money. Movies based on the books won several Oscar nominations. Readers are now keen to know the plot of the next book.Harry Potter movie fans will get a long-awaited treat. The movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is finally about to come out. This time around, Harry discovers a frightening secret at Hogwarts School. Eager readers of the first four Harry Potter books are also trying to discover a secret. The secret plot of the fifth book in the series. Because of the long wait since Book Four, they are guessing many things. Some think that Professor Lupin will die or that Harry and his friend Ron may be related!J. K. Rowling herself has only said that Book Five will be shorter and scarier than Book Four. To make sure her readers hear only rumors, she locks all her ideas for the books in a hidden place. Since the next book does not come out until 2003, for now Harry's secret is safe with her!。

视听说答案及录⾳原⽂unit2视听说课程第⼆单元II. Basic Listening Practice1.ScriptM: Now we have satellite and high-powered microscope, it’s easy to think we know everything about the world; but we still don’t understand EI Nino.W: Right. Scientists all over the world over are even uncertain about the cause of the warm Pacific current that brings storms or drought—the mysterious EI Nino.Q: Which of the following is true according to the conversation?2. ScriptM: Everyone is talking about environmental problem: acid rain, the greenhouse effect, holes in the ozone layer. We should think positively. What can we do to improve things?W: I agree. We could do a lot more to harness the sun’s energy for heating and lighting in our homes. In Japan 43,000 solar roofs were installed in 2002.Q: How do the man and the woman view the environment?3. ScriptW: We lived in Beijing some years ago. It was always difficult to keep the house clean with wind from the north blowing sand from the desert at us.M: That’s why the Chinese government has been encouraging people to plant trees along the edges of the Gobi Desert. Now those trees act as wind barriers.Q: What did the government encourage people to do?4. ScriptM:Many old refrigerators and cars are environmental hazards because they contain CFCs that destroy the ozone layer.W: Yes, but government or organizations are helping people to safely dispose of old refrigerators or, in the case of cars, to upgrade their air conditioning.Q: What are government departments helping people to do?5. ScriptM:Hey, that’s an aerosol spray you’re using on your hair! Build a bomb or set fire to the apartment to kill us quickly instead of making holes in the ozone, so we die of cancer.W: Cool it, man. This spray doesn’t contain CFC s. And you’d better read a little more. In 2003 the hole in the ozone layer shrank by 20 percent, so there’s no reason to panic.Q: What does the man mean?Keys: 1.B 2.D 3. A 4.A 5.CIII. Listening InTask 1: We should have proper respect for nature!ScriptMartha: Do you think most people in your culture respect nature?Ed:I think so. Umm…more now than before.Martha: What do you think is the most serious environment problem in the world today?Ed: Today…I think damage to the ozone layer is a big problem; and another problem is pollution in big cities and things like that.Martha: How do you learn about environmental problems?Ed: Umm…through school. A lot of clubs promote environmental safely, and some TV programs, too. They talk about environmental safely and stuff like that.Martha:Do you think students should learn more about the environment at school?Ed: I think so. So, as they grow older, they can be more aware of all the problems that are going on. And also to prevent more problems from occurring.Martha: If you could create a new law to help the environment, what would it be?Ed: A new law for the environment? Umm…I’d probably say that when people throw away their cigarette butts, they have to throw them into the garbage bin, not just throwthem everywhere because it’s just littering and I hate that. So they should be fined ifthey throw them on the floor on the ground.Martha:That’s a good idea. What do you personally do to help protect the environment? Ed: I’ m so against littering. I never litter. If I see somebody litter, I get really angry. So I always throw my trash into the garbage bin.While being interviewed by Martha, Ed said more people in his culture respect nature ever before. When asked about the most serious environmental problem in the world today, he mentioned the damaged ozone layer and the pollution in big cities.Ed learned about environmental problem at school. A lot of clubs and some TV programs promote environmental safely. He believes that students should learn more about the environment at school. Then they can be more aware of all the problems and prevent more problems from occurring.When asked about a new law he would like to create to help the environment, he said that when people throw away their cigarette butts, they have to throw them in the garbage bin. They should be fined if they throw them on the floor. Personally, Ed is so set against littering that he never litters. He always throws his trash into the garbage bin.Task 2 River pollutionIf you see dead fish floating on the river or notice that the water is discolored and smelly, you know the river has been polluted, and there are four main possible causes for it.First, fertilizer. If large amounts of fertilizer or farm waste drain into a river, the concentrations of nitrate and phosphate in the water increase considerably. Algae use these substances to grow rapidly, turning the water green. This massive growth of algae leads to pollution. When the algae die, they are broken down by the action of the bacteria, which quickly multiply, using up all the oxygen in the water and therefore causing the death of fish.Second, industrial waste. Factories sometimes discharge chemical waste into rivers. Examples of such pollutants include cyanide, lead, copper, and mercury. These substances may enter the water in such high concentrations that fish and other animals are killed immediately. Sometimes the pollutants enter the food chain and accumulate until they reach toxic levels, eventually killing fish and other animals.Third, oil pollution. If oil enters a slow-moving river, it forms a rainbow-colored film over the entiresurface, preventing oxygen from entering the water.Fourth, warm water. Industry often uses water for cooling processes, sometimes discharging large quantities of warm water back into rivers. A higher temperature of the water lowers the level of dissolved oxygen and upsets the balance of life in the water.Questions and key1. What is the passage mainly about?D) The causes of river pollution.2. Why does the river water turn green?A) Because nitrate and phosphate in the water increase.3. What harm does industrial waste cause?B) Poisoning.4. Which of the following is true of oil pollution?C) It prevents oxygen from entering the water.5. What harm can warm water in a river bring?D) Lack of oxygen.Task3: Curbing Carbon emissionsScriptAlthough it is not an easy task, China is striving to fulfill the promise to cut its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent in the next 10 years.Zhang Guobao, Director of the National Energy Administration, said, "The government puts great emphasis on seeking harmonious development between cities and the environment, and is readjusting the energy structure by giving priority to the development of clean and low-carbon energies, including hydroelectric, nuclear, wind, and solar power."Government authorities have closed small, coal-fired plants with a total capacity of 60.06 million kilowatts in the past four years. This year's target of closing 10 million kilowatts of capacity will be achieved by August. "We have promised to the international community that 15 percent of our power will be generated from non-fossil sources by 2020," Director Zhang said. At present, non-fossil energy accounts for only 7.8 percent.China is making efforts to increase the proportion of clean energy in its total energy consumption. Statistics show that China invested US$34.6 billion in clean energy last year, exceeding the United States which invested US$18.6 billion. Thus, China has become the world leader in generating clean energy. Five years earlier, China's investment in clean energy was only US$2.5 billion.However, China's carbon emission reduction target cannot be achieved easily. The shift to a low-carbon economy might be met at a cost to society. For instance, more than 400,000 people were laid off as a result of the shutdown of small coal-fired power plants in the past four years. Many studies indicate that the effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions may delay China's development, affect people's income, and lead to unemployment.Questions and key1. What is the passage mainly about?D) Cutting carbon dioxide emissions: China's achievements and problems.2. From four years ago until August this year, how many kilowatts of coal-fired plant capacity will have been closed?D) More than 70 million.3. By 2020, what will be the proportion of non-fossil energy in the total power in China?A) 15%.4. Which of the following is true of the investment by China and the United States in clean energy last year?B) China's investment was almost twice as large as the United States'.5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a problem arising from curbing greenhouse gas emissions?C) Causing more strikes.。

The African and the Asian elephants are the largest land animals in the world.They are really eno rmous animals.The African and the Asian elephants are alike,or similar,in many ways,but there are differences between the2types of elephants,too.What are some of the similarities between the African and the Asian elephant?Well,for one thin g,both animals have long noses,called trunks.An elephant sometimes uses its trunk like a third h and.Both kinds of elephants use their trunks to pick up very small objects and very large,heavy o bjects.They can even pick up trees with their trunks.For another thing,both the African and the Asian elephants have very large ears,although the African elephant’s ears are considerably larger. In addition,both animals are intelligent.They can be trained to do heavy work.They can also be trained to do tricks to entertain people.In other words,they both work for people,and they ent ertain people also.As I said before,the African and Asian elephants are alike in many ways,but they are also quite di fferent,too.Let me explain what I mean.The African elephant is larger and heavier than the Asia n elephant.The African male elephant weighs between12,000and14,000pounds.In contrast,th e average Asian male elephant weighs between7,000and12,000pounds.Another major difference between the2kinds of elephants is the size of the n elephant s have smaller ears than African elephants do.The teeth are different,too.The African elephant has2very large teeth.These teeth are called tusks.The Asian elephant sometimes does not have any tusks at all.The elephants differ in color,too.The African elephant is dark gray in color while the Asian elephant is light gray.Occasionally an Asian elephant is even white in color!The last big difference between the2elephants is their temperament.The Asian elephant is tamer than the A frican elephant.In other words,the African elephant is much wilder than the Asian elephant.As a result,it’s more difficult to train the African elephant to perform tricks to entertain people.That’s why the elephants you see in the circus are probably Asian elephants…not African elephants.Y es,there certainly are differences between the African and the Asian elephants,but there is one big similarity between the2animals:they are both fascinating and enormous animals. Postlisteningprehension Check1.Recognizing Information and Checking Accuracy1.What part of an elephant's body is its trunk(b)2.Which animals can be trained to work for man?(c)3.What is the range of an African male elephant's weight?(c)4.Which of the following best describes the Asian elephant in comparison with the African eleph ant?(c)5.Which is true of both elephants?(d).6.Elephants use their trunks to pick up both small and large objects.(I heard it.)7.Elephants enj oy working and doing tricks for people.(I cannot infer it.)8.African elephants are generally more dangerous than Asian elephants.(I can infer it.)n e lephants like people more than African elephants do.(I cannot infer it.)10.Some Asian elephants have tusks.(I can infer it.)In the early1970s five baby elephants were released in Kruger National Park in South Africa near a herd of buffalo.Park rangers later reported that one of the young elephants had joined the herd of buffalo and was acting like a buffalo.A visitor to the park in1980saw the ten-year-old elephant with its adopted family of about20buffalo.The buffalo and the elephant were tryin g to chase some lions away from a water hole.A few years later a park ranger reported seeing the young elephant and the herd of buffalo drinking water from a water hole when a herd of elepha nts arrived to drink water.The herd of buffalo ran off when they saw the herd of elephants,and t he young elephant ran off along with the herd of buffalo.It appears that the elephant was accept ed as a member of the herd by the buffalo.Listening Factoid#2An elephant grasps objects with its trunk much as a person does with a hand.The elephant's trun k can carry a log that weighs as much as600pounds(or272kilograms).The tip of the trunk can p ick up an object as small as a coin.An elephant also uses its trunk to communicate with other ele phants.When two elephants greet each other,each places the tip of its trunk in the other’s mout h.A mother will comfort her calf by stroking it with her trunk.Young males also play-fight by wrestling with their trunks.Chapter11Lincoln and Kennedy:Similar DestiniesJohn F.Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln lived in different times and had very different family and e ducational backgrounds.Kennedy lived in the20th century;Lincoln lived in the19th century.Ken nedy was born in1917,whereas Lincoln was born more than a hundred years earlier,in1809.As for their family backgrounds,Kennedy came from a rich family,but Lincoln’s family was not wealt hy.Because Kennedy came from a wealthy family,he was able to attend expensive private school s.He graduated from Harvard University.Lincoln,on the other hand,had only one year of formal schooling.In spite of his lack of formal schooling,he became a well-known lawyer.He taught himself law by reading law books.Lincoln was,in other words,a self-educated man.In spite of these differences in Kennedy and Lincoln’s backgrounds,some interesti ng similarities between the2men are evident.In fact,books have been written about the strange coincidences in the lives of these2men.For example,take their political careers.Lincoln began h is political career as a congressman.Similarly,Kennedy also began his political career as a congres sman.Lincoln was elected to the U.S.House of Representatives in1847,and Kennedy was electe d to the House in1947.They went to Congress just100years apart.Another interesting coincide nce is that each man was elected president of the United States in a year ending with the number 60.Lincoln was elected president in1860,and Kennedy was elected in1960;furthermore,both men were president during years of civil unrest in the country.Lincoln was president during the A merican Civil War.During Kennedy’s term of office,civil unrest took the form of civil rights demon strations.Another striking similarity between the2men was that,as you probably know,neither president lived to complete his tern in office.Lincoln and Kennedy were both assassinated while in office.K ennedy was assassinated in Dallas,Texas,after only1,000days in office.Lincoln was assassinated in1865a few days after the end of the American Civil War.It’s rather curious to note that both pr esidents were shot while they were sitting next to their wives.These are only a few examples of the uncanny,or unusual similarities in the destinies of these2Americans–men who had a tremendous impact on the social and political life in the United State s and the imagination of the American people.were incredibly large.One dinosaur,believed to have been the largest dinosaur ever,is called seis mosaurus.Seismosaurus literally means"earth shaker.‖This animal was between100and120f eet long and weighed about89tons.To give you some idea of how big seismosaurus was,let me tell you that an American football field is300feet long.Consider that the African elephant weighs between six and seven tons,This means that seismosourus was about13to14times heavier tha n an African elephant.It's not surprising that his name means"earth shaker"!Listening Factoid# 2Dinosaur life spans probably varied in length from tens of years to hundreds of years,Many scientists who study dinosaurs think that their possible age can be estimated from the maximum life sp ans of modern reptiles,such as the66-year lifespan of the common alligator and the amazing lifespan of a Black Seychelles Tortoise.The Black Seychelles Tortoise is now extinct,but one of these tortoises was captured in1766,when it was an adult tortoise.The captured tortoise lived until1918,a record152years in captivity.The sad thing is that the tortoise had an accidental death,so no one knows how long it might have liv ed,if it had not been for the accident.Now,these estimates of the life spans of the dinosaurs wo uld be too long if it,turned out that dinosaurs were more similar to modern birds or animals,rath er than to reptiles,as some scientists believe.Scientists may gain more knowledge about the life spans of the dinosaurs in coming years.Chapter14The American Civil War:Why It HappenedThe American Civil War was fought over100years ago.It began in1861and lasted until1865.T he battles of the American Civil War resulted in the death of620,000Americans.What caused thi s terrible civil war between the North and the South?Well,historians believe that there were many causes of the war.One of the important causes of the war was the friction between the North and the South over the issues of slavery.The souther n way of life and the southern economy were based on the use of slave labor.For almost250year s before the Civil War,the economy of the South depended on the use of black slaves.The slaves were used to plant and pick cotton and tobacco.Cotton and tobacco were the main crops grown i n the South.Most southerners did not think it was wrong to own,buy,or sell slaves like farm ani mals.Slavery was,in fact,the foundation of the entire economy and way of life in the South.This was not the situation in the North.The northern economy did not depend on the use of slave lab or.Why not?Well,in the South there were many large cotton plantations that used hundreds of slaves.In the North,however,there were smaller farms.The northern farmers planted many different kinds of crops,nor just cotton or tobacco.The Northerners did not need slaves,since their farms were sm aller than most of the southern plantations.In fact,many Northerners were so opposed to slaver y that thy wanted to end slavery completely.The northern attitude against slavery made the Sout herners angry.So,for many years before the war,there was constant friction between the North and the South over this issue.This friction eventually led to war.There was other friction,too,as I said before,between the North and the South.There were,in other words,other causes of conflict between the North and the South.One involved the growth of industry in the North.While the South remained an agricultural area,the North became more and more industrialized.As industry increased in the North,it brought more people and greater wealth to the northern states.As a result,many Southerners began to fear northern political andeconomic domination.Because of this fear,many Southerners believed that the South should lea ve the Union and that they should form their own country.In1860,the Southerners decided it was time to leave the Union when Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States.Lincoln,as you may know,was against slavery.The people of the S outh were afraid that their way of life and their economic system were in danger with Lincoln in t he presidency.Consequently,the southern states decided to secede from the Union.In other wor ds,they wanted to break away from the North and form a separate country.In1861,South Caroli na seceded,and by June of1861eleven states had seceded and established a new country.They called the new country the Confederate States of America.The war between the North and the S outh began when the southern states seceded from the Union.The main reason that the North went to war against the South was to bring the southern states back into the Union.In other words,the North went to war to keep the United States one countr y.After4years of terrible fighting,the North won the war against the South,and the US remain ed one country.The North won the war mainly because of its economic and industrial strength an d power.The Civil War had2important results for the US:(1)the Civil War preserved the US as one count ry;and(2)it ended slavery in the US.Many Americans wonder what the US would be like today if the South had won the Civil War.Th e history of the US would have been very different if the South had won the war between the stat es.PostlisteningA.The Comprehension Check1.Recognizing Information and Checking Accuracy1.How long did the American Civil War last?(c )2.What was one cause of the American Civil War?(b)3.Describe the economy of the South at the time of the Civil War.(c)4.How was the economy of the North different from the economy of the South before the war?( d)5.How did the growth of industry change the North?(b)6.Why did the South decide to leave the Union and form its own country?(b)7.What was the na me of the country formed by the southern states?(d)8.What was the most important reason that the North went to war with the South?(b)9.Why did the North win the war?(d)10.What did the Civil War accomplish?(c)11.The American Civil W ar started in1861.(T)12.The American Civil War ended over100years ago.(T)13.There were many large cotton plantations in the North before the war.(F There were many。