全新版大学进阶英语综合教程(二)课文+翻译.docx

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1、Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more.-author-date全新版大学进阶英语综合教程(二)课文+翻译全新版大学进阶英语综合教程(二)课文+翻译Unit 1After living in the24-hour city of Las Vegas, Nevada for nearly ten years, my family and I decided toslow things down.My daughter wanted

2、a horse.My husband wantedproperty.My son wanted adirt bike.I wanted our family to be moreself-sufficient.None of us felt that this could beaccomplishedwhere we were living and we all agreed that a move to the country would be great for everyone.Before long weset aboutlooking for a home in Yucca, Ari

3、zona, a very small town of less than 1,000 people.It was while I was scanning listings from our real estateagentthat I firstlearned ofit.There was a home for sale there on 40 acres.When I called toinquireabout the property, I was informed that there was no electricityavailablein the area.What? No el

4、ectricity? I almost dismissed the idea immediately.The property was off the grid.It was not connectedwhatsoeverto anyutilities power, water or sewer.Power was supplied by a wind turbine and solar panels.Water had to behauledin and stored in two tankslocatedon the property.Forty acres would give us p

5、lenty of room for all of our animals and give my husband and son space to ride theirATVs.Besides, what better way is there to become more self-sustainable?After giving it some thought, we decided toput inan offerand moved in onThanksgiving Day.When we first moved to the property, we did some remodel

6、ing and stayed in our motor home.We were confronted with real challenges at the time.The power keptgoing out, the main water line to the house broke,the plumbing backed up into the front yardand the generator died.But thesetbacksjust made us work harder.We slowly got things fixed and moved into the

7、house after 38 days in theRV.The next challenge was tobecome familiar withyour powersystem, andto learn theins and outsof hauling your own water andgeneratingyour own power.Our off-the-grid systemconsists ofeight solar panels (1,000 watts) that are mounted on a sun tracker rack.We also have a wind t

8、urbine that generates 3,000 watts in 24 mph winds.The energy generated by the wind and sun is stored in 16 6v golf cart batteries.We also have two 2,500-gallon above-ground water tanks and a 250-gallon propane tank.Every weekend, we haul two 275-gallon water tanks to the nearby town of Yucca and fil

9、l them with water, which we then pump into our big water tanks.While living here for the past four months has been a bigadjustment, there are many benefits to living off the grid.I think one of the greatest is teaching my kids the importance of conservation.They used totake water, power and gas for

10、granted.The first week we were here, we used almost 1,000 gallons of water.With only a 5,000-gallon water tank, it didnt take them long to understand that we had to use less water.We started taking quicker showers, doing only full loads oflaundry, turning off the water while brushing our teeth or sh

11、aving.Over-consumption is even more clearly demonstrated by our electricity usage.We have a digital readout of how many volts of DC power we have stored in our batteries at any given time.If you turn on a light or the TV, the number goes down.In order to protect the batteries, the system is set up t

12、o shut the inverter off if the volts get too low.Then the power goes out.When we first moved in, we lost power almost daily.After this happens a few times, it becomes clear very quickly just how often you waste electricity.Everything from lights and ceiling fans to computers and radios were left on

13、when they were notin use.The cell phone chargers wereplugged in even when they werent charging anything.All of this uses unnecessary power.We are steadily learning to be morediligentwith our power usage.In addition, we are also trying to make other changes.They include reducing the amount oftrashwe

14、generate byrecyclingand composting, growing our ownorganicvegetables, and reusing and repurposing things that we would normallytoss.We also want to produce our own eggs and goats milk in the near future.Overall, going off the grid has been great for our family.We have learned how to conserve power a

15、nd water and to reallyappreciatewhat the earth gives to us every day.I hope that once my kids move out of the house, they will keep the habits that they have learned by living off the grid.-Unit 3I received an email from a reader who asked, “Why do some friendships end,no matter howmuch you want the

16、m to last?”Shereferred tohaving seen the question in one of my articles,Mysteryof Friendship.As I wrote in it, I dont think easy answers exist as to how friendships start, why some turn into lifetime ones, and why some end.Although Ive tried answering the first two questions in other articles (To Ha

17、ve A FriendandBe A Friend), I still get surprised by friendships that endure and disillusioned by ones thatslip away.Even so, Ill try to offer someinsightshere as to why friendships end.My simple answer is that friendships end because the situations friends are in or even the friends themselves chan

18、ge.Others have similar answers.First, the situations friends face may change.The decision to relocate for a new school or jobcannot help butaffecta friendship.Likewise, if a friend is in an accident, develops an illness, or loses someone close, these situations cannot help but affect a friendship.Do

19、es a friendship need to end because of these changes?No, but itll require adjustments that one or both friends might not be willing to make.Second, the friends themselves may change.A significant reason that friendships often end when friends areapartfor anextendedperiod of time (for summer camp, co

20、llege, etc.) is that one or both of the friends change.I think it hurts less when both friends change,because then the breakup is more oftenmutualand so both friends get closure by both deciding to let go and move forward in their lives without each other.Whattendsto hurt most is when just one frien

21、d changes.One friend might change social circles, becomeinvolvedin new social organizations, start todate, get a pet, ortake onsome otherventurethatconsumesmore time andpassion.Again, a friendship can endure these changes, unless one or both of the friends for some reason decide not toinvestthe time

22、 and energy involved in the adjustment period.(For example, one friend might forget the importance of the friendshipdue tothe high of having a new pet or might feel that the change is impossible toovercomewhen one gets married but the other is still single.)In this situation, breakups may not be mut

23、ual and so one or both friends feelbetrayedandend up withbitter memories about what was a precious friendship to them.There are other reasons why friendships end.For example,as much astwo people might want a friendship tosurvive, one or both of them might unintentionallyneglectit.Friendship is often

24、 compared to a flower garden.Well, if flowers dont getexposedregularly enough to sunlight and dont get watered enough, flowers will wither and even die.The sameapplies tofriendship.If week after week passes where plans are made to spend time together but are never honored, perhaps due to taking a fr

25、iendship for granted,eventually even the closest of friendships mayceasetohave a reason to exist.Conflicts can also cause the end of friendships.If the flower is a fledgling plant, one blow might destroy it just as sometimes relatively young friendships arent strong enough to endure much conflict.Ev

26、en those amazing close friendships,where friends love us no matter what our faults are,need carewhen it comes toconflicts.Sure, if aflourishingflower gets stepped on, it mightreviveon its own.Moreover, if it gets a little extra special care, itll probablybounce backas if it hadnt ever beeninjured.At

27、 the same time, if a flower gets repeatedly trampled on, itll probably eventually break.Especially the friendships thathave been aroundfor a long time can endure storms, and even become stronger for them, but most friendships have breaking points.Nevertheless, while we can rarely predict at the outs

28、et which ones will last, most friendships do enrich us for however short or long theyre a part of our lives.Unit 4In the sleepiness at the end of a library nap, I wasnt sure where I was.Istretched outmy arm to reach for a human being, but what Igrabbedwas a used copy ofThe Odyssey, the book about go

29、ing home.My heart ached.It was 2 a.m.The library,flooded withwhite fluorescent light and smelling of musty books and sweaty sneakers, was eerily quiet.My readings seemed endless.I had been admitted into a three-course, yearlong freshmanprogramcalled Directed Studies,dubbedDirectedSuicideby Yalies.It

30、 was supposed to introduce us to “the splendors of Western civilization,” in the words of thecatalog, by force-feeding the canons of philosophy, literature and history.I wanted very much to study the Western canon, because I knew nothing about it.Yes, McDonalds ads and Madonna posters were plastered

31、 on Shanghai streets, but few Western ideasfilteredthrough.We had been informed of Karl Marxs habit of sitting at the samespotin the British Library,for instance, but had read none of hisoriginalwords.Western civilization was different,mysteriousand thusalluring.Besides, because I longed to be accep

32、ted here, Iyearnedto understand American society.What better way tocomprehendit than to study the very ideas on which it is based?But at 2 a.m., Iwas tired ofthem all: Homer, Virgil, Herodotus and Plato.Their words were dull and the presentations difficult to follow.The professors here do not teach

33、in the same way that teachers in China do.Studying humanities in China meansmemorizingall the “correct,” standardinterpretationsgiven during lectures.Here, professors askprovocativequestions and let the students argue, research and write papers on their own.At Yale,I often waited for the end-of-clas

34、s “correct” answers, which never came.Learning humanities wassecurerepetition in China, but it was shaky originality here.And it could be even shakier for me.The name Agamemnon was impossibly long to pronounce, and as a result I didnt recognize it when we were discussing him in the seminars.I had wr

35、itten my first English essay ever just a year earlier, when applying to colleges, and now came the papersanalyzingthe canons.And I simply didnt write in English fast enough to take notes in classes.I hoped my diligence wouldmake up forlack ofpreparation.On weekend nights, when my American roommates

36、were out on dates, I would tell them I had planned a date with Dante or Aristotle.(They didnt think it was funny.)On one of those weekend nights, I wrote a paper on Aeneas, the protagonist ofThe Aeneid, whowas destined tofound Rome butreluctantto leave behind his native Troy.“Aeneas agonizes,” I wro

37、te.“Hehesitates.Naturalinstinctscall him tostick tothe past, while at the same time, hefeels obligated toobey his fathers instructions for the future.His present life issplit,pulled apartby the bygone days and by the days to come.”I saw myself in what I wrote.During calls home every two weeks, my mo

38、therpleaded withme to take chemistry or biology.Science was the same everywhere, she said.And I, like everybody else from China, was well prepared in math, physics and chemistry.(To graduate from a standard six-year Chinese high school, one needs to take five years of physics, four years of chemistr

39、y and three years of biology.)Instead, I visited the writing tutor there is one in every undergraduate residential hall for every paper Iturned in.My papers were always written days before they were due.Ilingeredafter classes to question professors.My classmates lent me their notes so I could learn

40、the skill of note-taking in English.By the time I missed home so much that soup dumplings and sauted eelspopped upin my head as I read, Nietzsche had replaced Plato on the chronological reading list and Flaubert Homer.And every paper of mine came back with an A.Unit 1脱离电网的生活：一家城市居民如何发现了简单生活艾莉森佐谢尔1.在

41、内华达州的不眠之城拉斯维加斯生活了将近十年之后，我和我的家人决定放慢生活节奏。女儿想要一匹马，我的丈夫想要一块地产，儿子想要一辆越野轻型摩托车，我想要一家人更加自给自足。2.我们都感到这个梦想在我们居住的这个城市里不可能实现。大家一致认为，搬到乡下去对谁都是最好的。3.很快，我们便着手在亚利桑那州的尤卡，这个不满千人的小镇寻找房子。我是在浏览我们的房地产经纪人提供的在售房屋清单时得知这个地方的。那儿有一处占地40英亩的房产在出售。我打电话去询问这处房产时，人家告诉我那个地区不通电。什么？不通电？我差点立刻打消在那里购房的念头。4.这处房产不接电网，一切公用服务事业都没有电、水、下水道。电由风力

42、涡轮机和太阳能电池板提供，水得靠人力拉进来，储存在房里的两个贮水箱里。40英亩的地给我们充裕的场地饲养动物，也给我的丈夫和儿子足够地方驾驶他们的全地形车。还有什么地方比这里更能够做到自给自足呢？考虑一番后，我们决定出价购买，并在感恩节那天搬了进去。5.刚搬进来时，我们住在房车里，给房屋做了一些改建。当时，我们遇到了真正的挑战。电老是断，通向房屋的主水管破裂，水管堵塞，水流到前院，发电机也停转了。6.但是，这些挫折促使我们更加卖力地干活。慢慢地，我们把东西一一修好。在房车里住了38天后，我们搬进了新家。接下来的挑战是逐步熟悉供电系统，了解自己拉水、自己发电的方方面面。7.我们的不连网发电系统由8

43、个安装在太阳跟踪架上的太阳能电池板(1,000瓦)组成。此外，我们还有一个在风速达到每小时24英里时能发3,000瓦电的风力涡轮机。风能和太阳能发的电存储在16个6伏特的高尔夫球车电池中。我们还有两个蓄水量为2,500加仑的地上贮水箱和一个储量为250加仑的丙烷储气罐。每个周末，我们把两个275加仑的水箱拉到附近的尤卡镇，给它们加满水，再用泵把水抽入两个大的贮水箱中。8.过去的四个月我们在这里生活，尽管经历了巨大的调整，却也得到了脱离电网生活的诸多好处。我想，其中最大的一个好处在于教育孩子节约的重要性。以往，他们认为有水、有电、有煤气是理所当然的事。搬来的第一周，我们用掉将近1,000加仑的水

44、，而水箱只能贮存5,000加仑。不久，他们便懂得我们必须少用水。于是，我们加快淋浴速度，洗衣机不满不洗衣，刷牙或剃须时关掉水龙头。9.过度消费在电的使用中表现得尤为明显。我们有一个数字读表器，它能显示在任何时刻电池中储存有多少伏特的直流电。打开电灯或电视，数值就会下降。为了保护电池，系统设置在电压过低的情况下关闭变流器，然后断电。我们刚搬进来的时候，家里几乎天天断电。几次断电之后，你便很快明白你过去经常浪费电。从电灯、吊扇到电脑、收音机，不用的时候都开着。即便不在充电，手机的充电器也插在插座上。所有这一切都消耗着不该消耗的电。我们渐渐学会勤于省电。10.此外，我们还试图在其他方面做出改变，包括

45、通过再循环利用和堆制肥料来减少垃圾，自己种植有机蔬菜，对平日里打算丢弃的物品再利用或派作其他用途。我们还想在不久的将来养鸡生蛋、养羊产奶。11.总体上讲，脱离电网的生活对我们一家人大有裨益。我们从中学会了怎样节约用电、用水，以及对地球每一天赐予我们的一切真正感恩。我希望孩子们将来搬出去住时，仍能保持他们在脱离电网生活期间养成的习惯。Unit 3为什么友谊会终结？艾利森亨特友谊内在的唯一危险是：友谊将会终结。亨利大卫梭罗1.我收到一位读者的电子邮件，她在邮件中问道： “为什么有些友谊不管你多么想维系它却还是会终结？”该读者说她曾在我发表的一篇文章友谊之谜中见到过这个问题。正如我在文章中所说，对于

46、友谊是如何开始的、为什么有些友谊会维系终生、为什么有些友谊会终结这类问题，我认为没有简单的答案。虽然我在别的文章中拥有一个朋友和做一个朋友尝试回答过前两个问题，但是，我仍然对那些经久不衰的友谊感到惊讶，也对那些逝去的友谊感到失望。即便如此，我还是要在本文中对为什么友谊会终结提出我的一些见解。2.我的回答很简单, 友谊终结是因为朋友处境的改变，或甚至是因朋友自身的变化。其他人也有相似的回答。首先，朋友面临的境遇有可能改变。因进一个新的学校或有一份新的工作而决定搬家，这就不能不影响到友谊。同样，如果朋友出了事故，患了疾病，或失去了亲人，这些情况也不能不影响友谊。然而，基于上述原因，友谊就要终结吗？

47、回答是不，但这就需要作相应调整，然而一方或双方却可能不愿作这样的调整。3.其次，朋友自身可能在变。朋友长时间不在一起（如参加夏令营、上大学等）友谊常常会终止的一个重要原因是一方或双方改变了。我认为当朋友双方都改变时，其伤害较轻，因为这时的分手往往是互相的，双方都决定不再交往，从此各奔东西，让友谊终结。当只有一方改变时，往往造成的伤害最重。一方也许换了社交圈子、加入了新的社会组织、开始谈恋爱了、养了一只宠物或从事某个更费时间、更需激情的有风险的事业。当然，友谊是经得起这些变化的，除非一方或双方由于某种原因决定不再在友谊调整期内投入必要的时间和精力。（例如，一方由于养了新宠物而极度兴奋，因而可能忘了友谊的重要性，又或者一方结婚而另一方还是单身时，朋友也许感到这一变化无法克服。）在这种情况下，友谊终止可能不是相互的，所以，一方或双方感到被背叛，最后只留下对一段珍贵友谊的苦涩回忆。4.除此以外，友谊终结还有其它原因。例如，尽管双方也许想维系这段友谊，但是一方或双方可能无意间疏忽了它。友谊常被比作花园，如果花儿不能时常晒到阳光和得到足够的浇灌，花儿将会枯萎，甚至死亡。友谊也是如此。有人也许将友谊当成理所当然的事，他们让时间一周一周流逝，从不兑现