新概念英语4-课文

1、NEW CONCEPTENGLISH(IV)(new version)2Lesson 1 Finding Fossil manWe can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write. But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write. The only w ay that they can preserve their history is to

2、recount it as sagas-legends handed down from one generation of story - tellersto another. These legends are useful because they can tell us somethin g aboutmigrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Pol

3、ynesianpeoples now living in th e Pacific Islands came from. The sagasof these peopleexplain that some of them came from Indo nesia about 2,000 years ago.But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that ev en theirsagas, if they had any, are forgotten. So archaeologists have neith

4、er history nor legends to help them to find out where the first 'modern men' came from.Fortunately, however, ancient me n made tools of stone, especially flint, becausethis is easier to shape than other kinds. They may also have used woodand skins, but these have rotted away. Stone does not

5、decay, and so the tool s oflong ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.3Lesson 2 Spare that spiderWhy, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends ? Because they destroy somany insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the h

6、umanrace. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they woulddevour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protectionwe get from insect-eating animals. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts wh o eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fra

7、ction of the number destroyed by spiders. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never dothe least harm to us or our bel ongings.Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them.One can t ell the difference almost at a glance for a spider always has e

8、ight legsand an insect never more th an six.How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf ? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in a grass field in the south of England, andhe estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre, that is something like 6,000,000 spid

9、ers of different kinds on a f ootball pitch. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content wi th only three meals a day. It has been estimated that the weight of a

10、ll the insects destroyed by spi ders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the c ountry.T. H. GILLESPIESpare that Spider from The ListeneLesson 3 Matterhorn manModern alpinists try to climb mountains by a route which will give them goodsport, and th

11、e more difficult it is, the more highly it is regarded. In the pioneeringdays, however, this was not the case at all. The early climbers were looking forthe easiest way to the top because the summit was the prize they sought, especially if it had never been attained before. It is true that during th

12、eir explor ations they often faced difficulties and dangers of the most perilous nature, equipped in a manne r which would make a modern climber shudder at the thought, but they did not go out of their w ay to court such excitement. They had a single aim,a solitary goal-the top!It is hard for us to

13、reali ze nowadays how difficult it was for the pioneers. Exceptfor one or two places such as Zermatt an d Chamonix, which had rapidly become popular, Alpine villages tended to beimpoverished settlements cut off from civilization by the high mountains. Such inns as there were were generally dirty and

14、 flea -ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread often t welve months old, all washed down with coarse wine. Often a valley boasted no inn at all, and cli mbers found shelter wherever they could-sometimes with the local priest (who was usually as p oor as his parishioners), sometimes

15、 with shepherds or cheesemakers. Invariably the background was the same: dirt and poverty, and very uncomfortable. For men accustomed to eating seven-course dinners and sleeping between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps mu st have been very hard indeed.5Lesson 4 Seeing handsIn the So

16、viet Union several cases have been reported recently of people who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls. One case concerns an 'ele ven-year-old schoolgirl, Vera Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things wit h different p

17、arts of her skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. O ne day she came into his office and happened to put her hands on the door of a locked safe. Sudd enly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there, and even desc ribed the way they

18、 were done up in bundles.Vera's curious talent was brought to the notice of a s cientific research institute in the town of UIyanovsk, near where she lives, and in April she was giv en a series of tests by a special commission of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federal Repu blic. During th

19、ese tests she was able to read a newspaper through an opaque screen and, strange r still, by moving her elbow over a child's game of Lotto she was able to describe the figures and c olours printed on it; and, in another instance, wearing stockings and slippers, to make out with h er foot the out

20、lines and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet. Other experiments showed th at her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all these tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive things with her skin. lt was also f ound that altho

21、ugh she could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.6Lesson 5 YouthPeople are always talking about' the problem of youth '. If thereis onewhich I take leave to doubt -then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down

22、 to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human bei ngs-people just like their elders. There is only one difference be tween an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorio us future before him and the old one has a splendid future behi nd him: and maybe that is where the rub is

23、. When I was a teena ger, I felt that I was just young and uncertain -that I was a new b oy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be r egarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thin g, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one o f the things the

24、young are busily engaged in seeking. I find youn g people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have n ot a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with lif

25、e, a nd the origins of things. It's as if they were in some sense cosmi c beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatur es. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person. He may b e conceited, illmannered, presumptuous of fatuous, but I do no t turn for protection to dreary

26、clich about respect for elders- as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are e quals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wron g.Lesson 6 The sporting spiritI am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport create s goodwill between the nations, and that

27、if only the common pe oples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket , they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Eve n if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contes ts lead to orgies of hatre

28、d, one could deduce it from general pri nciples.Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You pl ayto win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your u tmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible t

29、o play si mply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of pr estige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instinct s are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the intern

30、ational level sport is frankly mim ic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the p layers but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the specta tors, of the nations. who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe-at any rate for short per i

31、ods-that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of nation al virtue.刘晓华 8Lesson7 BatsNot all sounds made by animals serve as language, and we have only to turn to that extraordinary discovery of echo-location in bats to seea casein which thePeople are always talking about' the problem of

32、youth '. If there isone which I take leave to doubt -then it is older people wh o create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human bei ngs-people just like their elders. There is only one difference be tween an old man and a young

33、one: the young man has a glorio us future before him and the old one has a splendid future behi nd him: and maybe that is where the rub is. When I was a teena ger, I felt that I was just young and uncertain -that I was a new b oy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be r egarded a

34、s something so interesting asa problem. For one thin g, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one o f the things the young are busily engaged in seeking. I find youn g people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have n ot a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love o

35、f comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, a nd the origins of things. It's as if they were in some sense cosmi c beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatur es. All that is in my

36、mind when I meet a young person. He may b e conceited, illmannered, presumptuous of fatuous, but I do no t turn for protection to dreary clich about respect for elders- as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are e quals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wr

37、on g.7Lesson 6 The sporting spiritI am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport create s goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common pe oples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket , they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Eve n if one d

38、idn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contes ts lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general pri nciples.Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You pl ayto win, and the game has little meaning unless

39、you do your u tmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play si mply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of pr estige arises, as soon asyou feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if yo

40、u lose, the most savagecombative instinct sare aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mim ic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the p layers but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spe

41、cta tors, of the nations. who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe-at any rate for short per iods-that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of nation al virtue.刘晓华 8Lesson7 BatsNot all sounds made by animals serve as language, and we have only to tur

42、n to that extraordinary discovery of echo-location in bats to seea casein which thePeople are always talking about' the problem of youth '. If there isone which I take leave to doubt -then it is older people wh o create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree

43、that the young are after all human bei ngs-people just like their elders. There is only one difference be tween an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorio us future before him and the old one has a splendid future behi nd him: and maybe that is where the rub is. When I was a teena ger, I

44、 felt that I was just young and uncertain -that I was a new b oy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be r egarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thin g, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one o f the things the young are busily engaged in

45、 seeking. I find youn g people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have n ot a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, a nd the origins of thin

46、gs. It's as if they were in some sense cosmi c beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatur es. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person. He may b e conceited, illmannered, presumptuous of fatuous, but I do no t turn for protection to dreary clich about respect for elders- as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are e quals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wron g.Lesson 6 The sporting spiritI