精选-Reading0408

1、Complete the following task before you read the text.What is your view about reading? Do you agree that books are gateways to other worlds? Give your answer by:* filling in the questionnaire for yourself.* comparing your answers with your classmates.Yes. No. Why?1. Reading helps us expand our horizo

2、ns as we learn more about people and the world.2. Reading helps us develop an ability to understand how other people think and feel.3. Fiction is a great way to take a quick immediate break, to be instantly transported into another world.4. Reading a good story can help us forget some of the problem

3、s in our own life.5. Reading, as opposed to T,Vallowsus to form our own images, and our own thoughts from what we absorb from a good book.6. Fiction is capable of provoking many and varied emotional responses, making us laugh out loud, making tears spill onto the page, making us blush with embarrass

4、ment,and challenging our own beliefs.What s Right About ReadingEver since I was very small, I ve had the sense that I ousgohmt etowhbereelse. I remember watching trains click by - a blur of gray, the diamond glitter of sunshine on glass - and wishing I was aboard. I remember going to the airport wit

5、h my parents when I was 13 and reading the destinations board, seeing all the places I could go: San Juan, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, London.But the trains sped by and the planes took off without me, so I wandered the world through books. I went to Victorian England in the pages of Middlemarch and A L

6、ittle Princess, and to St. Petersburg before the fall of the czar with Anna Karenina. I went to Tara and Manderley and Thornfield Hall, all those great houses with their high ceilings and high drama, as I readGone with the Wind, Rebeccaand Jane Eyre.My home was in a pleasant place outside of Philade

7、lphia. But I really lived, truly lived, somewhere else. I lived within the covers of books.There was a club chair in our house, a big one, with curled arms and a square ottoman, sitting in the living room catty-corner to the fireplace, with a barrel table next to it. In my mind, I am flung into it,

8、reading, with my skinny legs slung over one arm. “It a sbeautiful day, ”my mother is saying. She said that always -autumn, spring, even when there was fresh snowfall.“All your friends are outside.It was true; they always were. Sometimes I went out with them, coaxed into the street, out into the fiel

9、ds, down by the creek, drawn by the lure of what I knew intuitively was normal childhood. I have clear memories of lifting rocks at the creek that ran through Naylor s Run to search for crayfish, of laying pennies on the tracks of the trolley and running to fetch them, flattened, when the trolley ha

10、d passed.But there was always a part of me, the best part of me, at home, within some book laid flat on the table to mark my place, its imaginary people waiting for me to return and bring them back to life. That was where the real people were, the trees that moved in the wind, the still, dark waters

11、.In books I traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own. I learned who I was and who I wanted to be, what I might aspire to, and what I might dare to dream about my world and myself. In the years since those days in my club chair, I have learned that I was not alone in my devotion to books,

12、although at the time it seemed I was the only child anyone knew who preferred reading a book to ice skating or playing kick-the-can.By the time I became an adult, I realized that the world was often as hostile, or at least as blind, to the joy of reading as my girlfriends had been when they banged o

13、n our screen door, begging me to put down the book - “that stupid book,” theyusually called it.While we pay lip service to the virtues of reading, there is still in our culture something that suspects those who read too mcuh (whatever “too much ” means) as lazy, aimless dreamers, as people who need

14、to grow up and come outside where real life is, as people who think themselves superior in their separateness.There is something in the American character that is suspicious of reading as anything more than a tool for advancement.America is also a nation that prizes sociability and community, that b

15、elieves that alone leads to loner, loner to loser. Any sort of turning away from human contact is suspect.We have a get-out-and-going ethos at the heart of our national character. The images of American Presidents that stick are those that portray them as men of action: Theodore Roosevelt on safari,

16、 John Kennedy throwing a football around with his brothers. There may only be Lincoln to give solace to the inveterate reader, a solitary figure sitting by the fire who believed that books held the knowledge he so eagerly sought.“My best friend s the man who ll get me one, ” he once said.Perhaps at

17、base we readers are dissatisfied people, yearning to be elsewhere, to live vicariously through words in a way we cannot live directly through life. Perhaps we are the worlds great nomads, if only in our minds. I travel today in theway I once dreamed of traveling as a child - on airplanes and in trai

18、ns. And the irony is that I don t care for it very much. I am the sort of person who prefers to stay at home, surrounded by family, friends, familiarity, books. The only thing I do like about traveling is the time on airplanes spent reading.It turns out that when my younger self thought of taking wi

19、ng, she wanted only to let her spirit soar. Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.Proper NamesSan Juan / /圣胡安（拉丁美洲波多黎各岛首府） ，圣胡安（阿 根廷西部城市）Cincinnati / /辛辛那提（美国俄亥俄州西南部城市）Los Angeles /洛杉矶（美国加利福尼亚州西南部港市）Middlemarch米德尔马契 （英国女作家艾略特（ Geor

20、geEliot, 1819-1880）的作品）A Little Princess小公主（美国女作家伯内特（ Frances HodgsonBurnett, 1849-1924）的儿童小说）St. Petersburg / /圣彼得斯堡（俄罗斯西北部港市）Anna Karenina /安娜卡列尼娜（俄国作家托尔斯泰（LeoTolstoy, 1828-1910）的长篇小说 ）Tara / /塔拉庄园（府第）（小说飘以其为背景）Manderley / /曼德里城堡（杜莫里埃小说 蝴蝶梦中的地点）Thornfield Hall /桑菲尔德府（小说简爱中女主人公简爱做家庭教师的地方）Gone with

21、the Wind飘，又译乱世佳人或随风而去 （美国 女作家（ Margaret Mitchell, 1900-1949）的长篇小 说）Rebecca/ /蝴蝶梦，又译吕蓓卡（英国女小说家和剧 作豕达夫妮杜莫里埃（ Daphne du Maurier, 1907-1989）的代表作之一）Jane Eyre/ /简爱（英国女作家夏洛蒂勃朗特（CharlotteBront?, 1816-1855）的代表作Philadelphia / /费城，费拉德尔非亚 （美国宾夕法尼亚州东南部 港市）Naylor sRun /内勒小溪Theodore Roosevelt / /西奥多罗斯福（1858-1909,美

22、国第二十六任总 统）John Kennedy / /统约翰肯尼迪（1917-1963,美国第三十五任总统）Lincoln / /林肯（Abraham Li ncol n, 1809-1865,美国第十六 任总统）Critical Reading -Critical ThinkingOne of our greatest responsibilities to ourselves as adults is to develop a clear understanding about the way things are in the world around us. In our complic

23、ated society, many issues arise that demand our attention, our analysis, and our decision. Unfortunately, most of us have not been well-trained in thinking critically. We tend to accept the guidance of those we respect or believe are better informed than we are. Thus we often reach adulthood still c

24、linging to the attitude taught us by our parents and other authority figures from our youth. Educated persons, however, are not satisfied with “borrowing ”the opinions and ideas of others -they insist on forming their own. To do so, they carefully analyze their beliefs. This, however, is only the fi

25、rst step in developing a responsible opinion. Other viewpoints may be equally valid, and must be considered before we can develop a complete understanding of an issue. For example, imagine you are looking at a sculpture from one spot, trying to understand the artists message. Although your view of t

26、he sculpture may be accurate, it is not complete. It is not until you walk around the sculpture and see it from different perspectives that you can get a full sense of what it really looks like.It is the same with most of the important issues and problems in life one perspective is not enough to giv

27、e us the whole picture. It is essential to seek other perspectives on the issues we are trying to understand. What are some ways we can get information on other perspectives? Take, for example, the emotional issue of abortion. To develop an understanding of the issue, we must examine it from all pos

28、sible points of view. What are the possible perspectives on this issue? One perspective is that of the pregnant woman, another is that of the prospective father, another is the family of each prospective parent, doctors, religious groups, the fetus itself, and, of course, society as a whole. We can

29、use our imagination to inform ourselves by mentally putting ourselves in the shoes of each of these persons or groups. How would I feel if I were the husband of a pregnant woman who wished an abortion? How would I feel as the doctor? Or the minister? What if the pregnant woman were the victim of a r

30、ape? Or a drug addict who had already given birth to several addicted children or children who were subsequently abused? What is the impact on society of the decision that will be made?Other ways of learning about additional perspectives include reading about them in books, magazines, the newspapers

31、, listening to television and radio broadcasts, and, of course, discussing them with other people.Learning about each of the perspectives on an issue helps us to see the arguments. An argume nt in this con text means a reas on - somethi ng that supports the way a person feels about an issue. For exa

32、mple, when you were considering the issue of whether to go to college, you probably thought of several different arguments supporting a decision to go to school. For example:1. It will help prepare me for a better job.2. I will earn more money in the long run.3. I am bored with my life as it is now.

33、4. It will help me grow as a person.5. It will help me develop my mind.6. I will meet new people with similar interests.7. I will make new friends.Although some of these arguments may be more important to you than others, all of them are reasons to support the decision to go to college. On the other

34、 hand, despite all these good arguments, going to school may still not be the right thing for you. You must examine other sides of the issue: what are some arguments against attending college?When you learn about developing and analyzing arguments, you will be learning a skill that is important beyo

35、nd the world of the classroom. You will need to argue many questions in your life. You will no doubt argue about political and moral issues. Someone you love may be considering an abortion, or the school in your neighborhood may decide to hand out condoms to students. You may discover a large indust

36、ry is dumping toxic wastes in the water near your home. You may apply for financial aid or for a scholarship and be turned down unfairly. You may receive a grade in a course that you feel is lower than you deserve. Making arguments is not limited to the sort of issues reported in newspapers and maga

37、zines. When you apply for a job, decide to get married, or give advice to a friend, you need to know to argue effectively.Only by exploring all sides of issues can we hope to develop a clear and resp on sible un dersta nding of them. To do this, we must be ope n to the viewpo ints of others, and be

38、willing to listen and exchange ideas with them. This process is called a discussion or dialogue. If you felt strongly about the abortion issue, for example, it might make you feel un comfortable to liste n to some one who disagreed with you. But that is the only way you can be sure your own position

39、 is supported and strong. Listening to others point of view should always make us re-examine our own; we may not cha nge our min ds, but we will have a more valuable opinion because it has bee n exam in ed.The readings in this section will help you clarify your ideas on some of the important issues

40、of the day. By reading, thinking, and writing about them you will learn to formulate good argume nts of your own and to hold opinions that are mature and valuable. As you read, keep in mind the words of the great French philosopher Rene Descartes:It is now some years since I detected how many were t

41、he false beliefs that I had believed to be true since my earliest youth. And since that time, I have been con vin ced that I must once and for all seriously try to rid myself of all the opinions which I had formerly accepted, and beg in to build an ew, if I wan ted to establish any firm and perma ne

42、nt structure for my belief.Complete the following task before you read the text.What are the important factors in deciding what you want to do in your life? Give your an swers by:* filling in the questionnaire for yourself.* compari ng your an swer with your classmates:Yes.No. Why?1. Your pare nts.

43、2. Your teacher(s). 3. Your frie nd(s). 4. The subjects offered at your school. 5. Your pers onal in terests. 6. Your pers onal ability. 7. This career would en able me to make a differe nee in others: lives.8. I believe I have someth ing unique to offer in this field.The Brewer: s Sont even wave ne

44、verWhe n I was tee nager,my dad did everythi ng he could to dissuade me from becoming a brewer. He dspent his life brewing beer for local breweries, barely making a liv ing, as had his father and gran dfather before him. He did n me any where n ear a vat of beer.So I did as he asked. I got good grad

45、es, went to Harvard and in 1971 was accepted into a graduate program there that allowed you to study law and bus in ess simulta neously.In my school year of grad school, I had someth ing of an epipha ny. Idone anything but go to school, I thought, and I mgetting pressured to make a career choice for

46、 the rest of my life. Thats stupid. The future was closing in on mea lot earlier than I wanted.So, at 24, I decided to drop out. Obviously, my parents didn t think this was a great idea. But I felt strongly that you can t wait till youre 65 to do what youin life. You have to go for it.I packed my st

47、uff into a U-Haul and headed to Colorado to become an instructor at Outward Bound, the wilderness-education program. The job was a good fit for me. Heavily into mountaineering and rock climbing, I lived and climbed everywhere, from crags outside Seattle to volcanoes in Mexico.I never regretted takin

48、g time to “find myself. ” I think we d all be a lot better if we could take off five years in our 20s to decide what we want to do for the rest of our lives. Otherwise were going to be making other peoples choices, not ourown.After 3 1/2 years with Outward Bound, I was ready to go back to school. I

49、finished Harvard and got a highly paid job at the Boston Consulting Group, a think tank and business-consulting firm. Still, after working there five years, I was haunted by doubt. Is this what I want to be doing when Im 50?I remembered that some time before, my dad had been cleaning out the attic a

50、nd came across some old beerecipes on scraps of yellow paper.“ Today s beer isbasically water that can hold a head, ” he d told me.I agreed. If you didnt like t-hperomduacsesd American stuff, the other choiceswere imports that were often stale. Americans pay good money for inferior beer, I thought.

51、Why not make good beer for Americans right here in America?I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. When I told Dad, I was hoping hed put his arm around me and get misty about reviving tradition. Instead he said, “Jim, that is the dumbest thing Ive ever heard!”As much as Dad objected, in the end

52、 he supported me: he became my new company fsirst investor, coughing up $40,000 when I opened the Boston Beer Company in 1984. I plunked down $100,000 of my savings and raised another $100,000 from friends and relatives. Going from my fancy office to being a brewer was like mountain climbing: exhila

53、rating, liberating and frightening. All my safety nets were gone.Once the beer was made, I faced my biggest hurdle yet: getting it into beer drinkers hands. Distributors all said the same thing: “Your beer is too expensive; no one has ever heard of you. ”So I figure I had to create a new category: t

54、he craft-brewed American beer. I needed a name that was recognizable and elegant, so I called my beer Samuel Adams, after the brewer and patriot who helped to instigate the Boston Tea Party.The only way to get the word out, I realized, was to sell direct. I filled my leather briefcase with beer and

55、cold packs, put on my best power suit and hit the bars.Most bartenders thought I was from the IRS. But once I opened the briefcase, they paid atte nti on. After I told the first guy my storyhow I wan ted to start thislittle brewery in Bost on with my dad s familheesOPe “ -id, I liked yourstory. But

56、I didn t think the beer would be this good.” What a great moment.Six weeks later, at the Great American Beer Festival, Sam Adams Boston Lager won the top prize for American beer. The rest is history. It wasn t supposed to wout this way - what ever does? - but in the end I was dest ined to be a brewe

57、r.My advice to all young entrepreneurs is simple: life is very long, so don tto make decisions. Life doesn t let you plan.Crazy IdeasI ve been inventing and launching new products since my early 20s. People have sometimes characterized me as a born inventor, and more than 30 patents later, I suppose

58、 I wouldntdisagree.When I didntlike the contraption the dentist used for taking X rays of my teeth, I devised a more comfortable mouthpiece. When I wondered why alcoholic beverages gave me a headache,I created a vodka with fewer irritating ingredients. The result was SKYY, which has grown into a top-selling premium vodka in the United States.The inspiration for my very first invention came on a visit to a dude ranch with my friend Marvin