2011-2012大学英语学年第一学期背诵材料文本.doc

1. nicknames for new york city （节选）a nickname is a shortened form of a persons name. a nickname also can be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing. many american cities have nicknames. these can help establish an identity, spread pride among citizens and build unity.a few years ago, some marketing and advertising experts were asked to name the best nickname for an american city. the winner was the nations largest city, new york. the top nickname was the big apple.you might wonder how new york got this nickname. in the early nineteen seventies, the city had many problems. the number of visitors was falling. so a campaign was launched to give the city a new image. the head of the new york conventions and visitors bureau decided to call the city, the big apple.there are several explanations for where this name came from. language expert barry popik studied the question and wrote about it on his website. he says john fitz gerald, a writer for a new york newspaper, used the name the big apple to mean new york in the nineteen twenties. mister fitz gerald wrote about horse races. he heard the name used by men who worked at a racetrack in new orleans, louisiana.mister fitz gerald wrote: the big apple. the dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. theres only one big apple. thats new york.2. let go of love 将爱放飞 there was once a lonely girl who longed so much for love. one day while she was walking in the woods she found two starving songbirds. she took them home and put them in a small cage. she cared them with love and the birds grew strong. every morning they greeted her with a wonderful song. the girl felt great love for the birds. one day the girl left the door to the cage open. the larger and stronger of the two birds flew from the cage. the girl was so frightened that he would fly away. as he flew close, she grasped him wildly. her heart felt glad at her success in capturing him. suddenly she felt the bird go limp. she opened her hand and stared in horror at the dead bird. her desperate love had killed him. she noticed the other bird moving back and forth on the edge of the cage. she could feel his great need for freedom. he needed to soar into the clear, blue sky. she lifted him from the cage and tossed him softly into the air. the bird circled once, twice, three times. the girl watched delightedly at the birds enjoyment. her heart was no longer concerned with her loss. she wanted the bird to be happy. suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her shoulder. it sang the sweetest melody that she had ever heard. the fastest way to lose love is to hold on it too tight; the best way to keep love is to give it wings! （译文）从前，有个寂寞的女孩非常渴望爱。一天，她走在丛林中，发现两只快要饿死的鸣鸟。她把小鸟带回家，放入一个小笼子。经她悉心照料，鸟儿一天天地强壮起来。每天早晨，鸟儿都要用美妙的歌声向她问候。女孩不由得爱上了这两只小鸟。 一天，女孩敞开了鸟笼的门。那只较大较壮的鸟儿飞出了鸟笼。女孩非常害怕鸟儿会飞走。鸟儿飞近时，她死命地将它抓住。她十分高兴，终于又把它捉了回来。突然间，她感觉到鸟儿四肢无力。她张开手，惊恐地盯着手中的死鸟。她不顾一切的爱害死了鸟儿。 女孩注意到另一只鸟儿在笼边来来回回地走个不停。她可以感觉到它对自由的无限向往。它渴望冲向明净的蓝天。女孩将它从笼内取出，高高举起，然后轻轻抛向空中。鸟儿盘旋了一圈，两圈，三圈。 看到鸟儿快乐的样子，女孩很高兴。她的内心不再计较自己的得失。她希望鸟儿幸福。突然，鸟儿飞近了，轻轻落在她的肩上，唱起了她从未听过的最动人的歌。 失去爱的方法，最快莫过于将其牢牢地抓在手心；令爱长驻的方法，最好莫过于赋予它一双翅膀-将爱放飞！3. blood, toil, sweat and tears 热血、辛劳、汗水与眼泪 (丘吉尔)in this crisis i think i may be pardoned if i do not address the house at any length today, and i hope that any of my friends and colleagues or former colleagues who are affected by the political reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act.i say to the house as i said to ministers who have joined this government, i have nothing to offer but blood, toil, sweat and tears. we have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. we have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. you ask, what is our policy? i say it is to wage war by land, sea and air. war with all our might and with all the strength god has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and unpleasant catalogue of human crime.that is our policy. you ask, what is our aim? i can answer in one word. it is victory. victory at all costsvictory in spite of all terrorsvictory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival. let that be realized. no survival for the british empire, no survival for all that the british empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.i take up my task in light heart and hope. i feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. i feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, “come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”（译文）值此紧急关头, 我今天不打算在下院作长篇演讲；我希望我的朋友们、同事们、还有受到这次整治改组影响的前任同事们，都能体谅省去常规情况下所必需的礼仪。我已告知参加新政府的各位大臣，在此我再敬告诸位议员：除了热血、辛劳、汗水和眼泪，我没有其他可以奉献。我们面临着极其严峻的考验；我们面临着漫长而艰苦卓绝的斗争。你们会问，我们的政策是什么？我的回答是：在陆地上、在海上、在空中作战。我们要不遗余力，凭籍上帝赐予我们的全部力量，同人类历史上空前黑暗、空前暴虐的专制制度作殊死搏斗。这就是我们的政策。你们会问，我们的目标是什么？我可以用一个词作答，那就是：胜利。不惜一切代价，甘冒一切危险去夺取胜利。不论前面的道路多么漫长，多么崎岖，一定要夺取胜利！因为不获胜利就得灭亡。我们每一个人都必须认识到：没有胜利，大英帝国将不复存在，大英帝国倡导的一切将不复存在，推动人类历史朝既定目标前进的动力将不复存在。我满怀希望欣然承担我的使命。我确信人民不会容忍我们的事业遭遇失败。此时此刻，我认为我有权要求得到所有人的支持，我要说：“来吧！让我们同心协力，奋勇向前吧。”4. work and pleasure 工作和娱乐 （节选）to be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. it is no use starting late in life to say: “i will take an interest in this or that.” such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. a man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. it is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. broadly speaking, human being may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. it is no use offering the manual laborer, tired out with a hard weeks sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on saturday afternoon. it is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.it may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. of these the former are the majority. they have their compensations. the long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. but fortunes favored children belong to the second class. their life is a natural harmony. for them the working hours are never long enough. each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vacation. yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.（译文）要想真正生活得幸福和平安，一个人至少应该有两三种业余爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到了晚年才开始说“我要培养这个或那个兴趣”是毫无用处的，种这种尝试只会增加精神上的负担。在与自己日常工作无关的领域中，一个人可以获得渊博的知识，但却很难有所收益或得到放松。做自己喜欢的事是无益的，你得喜欢自己所做的事。广而言之，人可以分为三个类别：劳累而死的人，忧虑而死的人和无聊而死的人。对于那些体力劳动者来说，一周辛苦的工作使他们精疾力竭，因此在周六下午给他们提供踢足球或者打棒球的机会是没有意义的。对于政界人士，专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为棘手的事务操劳或者烦恼了六天，因此在周末请他们为琐事劳神同样毫无意义。或者可以这么说，理智的，勤奋的，有用的人可以分为两类：对第一类人而言，工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；对于第二类人而言，工作和娱乐是合二为一的。很大一部分人属于前者。他们可以得到相应的补偿。在办公室或工厂里长时间的工作，不仅带给他们维持生计的金钱，还带给他们一种渴求娱乐的强烈欲望，哪怕这种娱乐消遣是以最简单，最淳朴的方式进行的。而第二类人则是命运的宠儿。他们的生活自然而和谐。在他们看来，工作时间永远不够多，每天都是假期；而当正常的假日到来时，他们总会抱怨自己有趣的休假被强行中断。然而，有一些东西对于这两类人来说都十分必要，那就是变换一下视角，改变一下氛围，尝试做点不同的事情。事实上，那些把工作看作娱乐的人可能是需要以某种方式将工作不时地驱赶出自己的大脑。5. companionship of books 以书为伴（节选） a man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.a good book may be among the best of friends. it is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. it is the most patient and cheerful of companions. it does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. it always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. the book is a truer and higher bond of union. men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. they live in him together, and he in them.a good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a mans life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters. books possess an essence of immortality. they are by far the most lasting products of human effort. temples and statues decay, but books survive. time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors minds, ages ago. what was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. the only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing