新视野大学英语2课文原文.pdf

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1、UnitlAmericans believe no one stands still.If you are not moving ahead,youare falling behind.This attitude results in a nation of people committed toresearching,experimenting and exploring.Time is one of the two elements thatAmericans save carefully,the other being labor.We are slaves to nothing but

2、 the clock,it has been said.Time is treated asif it were something almost real.We budget it,save it,waste it,steal it,kill it,cut it,account for it;we also charge for it.It is a precious resource.Manypeople have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime.Oncethe sandshave run out of a pe

3、rsons hourglass,they cannot be replaced.Wewant every minute to count.A foreigners first impression of the U.S.is likely to be that everyoneis in a rush-often under pressure.City people always appear to be hurryingto get where they are going,restlessly seeking attention in a store,or elbowing others

4、as they try to complete their shopping.Racing throughdaytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country.Working time isconsidered precious.Others in public eating-places are waiting for you to finishso they,too,can be served and get back to work within the time allowed.Youalso find drivers wi

5、ll be abrupt and people will push past you.Ybu will misssmiles,brief conversations,and small exchanges with strangers.Dont take itpersonally.This is because people value time highly,and they resent someoneelse wasting it beyond a certain appropriate point.Many new arrivals to the States will miss th

6、e opening exchanges of abusiness call,for example.They will miss the ritual interaction that goes with awelcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be a convention in their owncountry.They may miss leisurely business chats in a restaurant or coffeehouse.Normally,Americans do not assess their visitors in

7、 suchrelaxed surroundings over extended small talk;much less do they take themout for dinner,or for around on the golf course while they develop a sense oftrust.Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially,we start talking business very quickly.Time is,therefore,always tic

8、king in ourinner ear.Consequently,we work hard at the task of saving time.We produce asteady flow of labor-saving devices;we communicate rapidly through faxes,phone calls or emails rather than through personal contacts,which thoughpleasant,take longer-especially given our traffic-filled streets.We,t

9、herefore,save most personal visiting for after-work hours or for socialweekend gatherings.To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relationto the significance of the matter at hand.In some countries no major businessis conducted without eye contact,requiring face-to-face

10、conversation.InAmerica,too,a final agreement will normally be signed in person.However,people are meeting increasingly on television screens,conductingH teleconferences”to settle problems not only in this country but also-by satellite-internationally.The U.S.is definitely a telephone country.Almost

11、everyone uses thetelephone to conduct business,to chat with friends,to make or break socialappointments,to say“Thank you,to shop and to obtain all kinds ofinformation.Telephones save the feet and endless amounts of time.Thisis due partly tothe fact that the telephone service is superb here,whereas t

12、hepostal service is less efficient.Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite towork too quickly.Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse,it seemsin their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant,not worthy of proper respect.Assignments are,c

13、onsequently,felt to be givenadded weight by the passage of time.I n the U.S.,however,it is taken as a signof skillfulness or being competent to solve a problem,or fulfill a jobsuccessfully,with speed.Usually,the more important a task is,the more capital,energy,and attention will be poured into it in

14、 order to 4 1 get it moving.nUnit2Learning the Olympic Standard for LoveNikolai Petrovich Anikin was not half as intimidating as I had imagined he would be.No,this surely was not the ex-Soviet coach my father had shipped me out tomeet.But Nikolai he was,Petrovich and all.He invited me inside and sat

15、 down on the couch,patting theblanket next to him to get me to sit next to him.I was so nervous in his presence.“You are young,he began in his Russian-style English.If you like to try for Olympic Games,Iguess you will be able to do this.Nagano Olympics too soon for you,but for 2002in Salt Lake City,

16、you could be ready.uYes,why not?he replied to the shocked look on my face.I was a promisingamateur skier,but by no means the top skier in the country.Of course,there will be many hard training sessions,and you will cry,but you will improve.To be sure,there were countless training sessions full of pa

17、in and more than a few tears,but in the five years that followedI could always count on being encouraged by Nikolaisamusing stories and sense of humor.My friends,they go in the movies,they go in the dance,they go out with girls,1 he would start.“But I,he would continue,lowering his voice,I am practi

18、ce,practice,practice inthe stadium.And by the next year,1 had cut 1-1/2 minutes off my time in the15-kilometer race!My friends asked me,Nikolai,how did you do it?1 And I replied,You go in the movies,you goin the dance,you go out with girls,but I am practice,practice,practice.1 nHere the story usuall

19、y ended,but on one occasion,which we later learned was his 25th weddinganniversary,he stood proudly in a worn woolen sweater and smiled and whispered,HAnd I tell you,I am 26 years old before I ever kiss a girl!She was the woman I later marry.Romantic and otherwise,Nikolai knew love.His consistent go

20、od humor,quiet gratitude,perceptivity,and sincerity set an Olympic standard forlove that I continue to reach for,even though my skiing days are over.Still,he never babied me.One February day I had a massive headache and felt quitefatigued.I came upon him in a clearing,and after approximately 15 minu

21、tes of stridinginto the cold breeze over the white powder to catch him,I fussed,Oh,Nikolai,I feel like I am going to die.When you are a hundred years old,everybody dies,he said,indifferent to my pain.But now,he continued firmly.Now must be ski,ski,ski.And,on skis,I did what he said.On other matters,

22、though,I was rebellious.Once,he packed 10 of us into a Finnish bachelors tiny home for a low-budget ski camp.We awokethe first morning to find Nikolai making breakfast and then made quick work with our spoonswhile sitting on makeshift chairs around a tiny card table.When we were finished,Nikolaistac

23、ked the sticky bowls in front of my sole female teammate and me,asserting,*Now,girls do dishes!I threw my napkin on the floor and swore at him,Ask the damn boys!This is unfair.He never asked this of me again,nor did he take much notice of my outburst.He savedhis passion fbr skiing.When coaching,he w

24、ould sing out his instructions keeping rhythm with our stride:Yes,yes,one-two-three,one-two-three,A dear lady friend of my grandfather,after viewing a copy of a videoof me training with Nikolai,asked,Does he also teach dance?1In training,I worked without rest to correct mistakes that Nikolai pointed

25、 out and I asked after each pass if it was better.Yes,its OK.But the faster knee down,the better.But is it fast enough?Td persist.Finally he would frown and say,*Billion times you make motionthen be perfect,reminding me in an Fve-told-you-a-billion-times tone,You must be patient.1Nikolais patience a

26、nd my hard work earned me a fourth-place national ranking headinginto the pre-Olympic season,but then I missed the cut for the 2002 Olympics.Last summer,I returned to visit Nikolai.He made me tea.and did the dishes!We talked while sitting on his couch.Missing the Olympic Team the previous year had m

27、ade mepause and reflect on what I had gainednot the least of which was a quiet,indissoluble bond witha short man in a tropical shirt.Nikolai taught me to have the courage,heart,and discipline to persist,even if it takes a billion tries.He taught me to be thankful in advance for a century of life on

28、earth,and toremind myself every day that despite the challenges at hand,HNow must be love,love,love.Unit 3Marriage Across the NationsGail and I imagined a quiet wedding.During our two years together we hadexperienced the usual ups and downs of a couple learning to know,understand,and respect each ot

29、her.But through it all we had honestly confronted theweaknesses and strengths of each others characters.Our racial and cultural differences enhanced our relationship and taught us agreat deal about tolerance,compromise,and being open with each other.Gailsometimes wondered why I and other blacks were

30、 so involved with the racialissue,and I was surprised that she seemed to forget the subtler forms of racialhatred in American society.Gail and I had no illusions about what the future held for us as a married,mixedcouple in America.The continual source of our strength was our mutual trustand respect

31、.We wanted to avoid the mistake made by many couples of marrying for thewrong reasons,and only finding out ten,twenty,or thirty years later that theywere incompatible,that they hardly took the time to know each other,that theyoverlooked serious personality conflicts in the expectation that marriage

32、was anautomatic way to make everything work out right.That point was emphasizedby the fact that Gails parents,after thirty-five years of marriage,were goingthrough a bitter and painful divorce,which had destroyed Gail and for a timehad a negative effect on our budding relationship.When Gail spread t

33、he news of our wedding plans to her family she met withsome resistance.Her mother,Deborah,all along had been supportive of ourrelationship,and even joked about when we were going to get married so shecould have grandchildren.Instead of congratulations upon hearing our news,Deborah counseled Gail to

34、be really sure she was doing the right thing.So it was all right for me to date him,but its wrong for me to marry him.Is hiscolor the problem,Mom?*Gail subsequently told me she had asked her mother.To start with I must admit that at first I harbored reservations about a mixedmarriage,prejudices you

35、might even call them.But when I met Mark I foundhim a charming and intelligent young guy.Any mother would be proud to havehim for a son-in-law.So,color has nothing to do with it.Yes,my friends talk.Some even express shock at what youre doing.But they live in a different world.So you see,Marks color

36、is not the problem.My biggest worry is that you may bemarrying Mark for the same wrong reasons that I married your father.When wemet I saw him as my beloved,intelligent,charming,and caring.It was all sonew,all so exciting,and we both thought,on the surface at least,that ours wasan ideal marriage wit

37、h every indication that it would last forever.I realized onlylater that I didn*t know my beloved,your father,very well when we married.*“But Mark and I have been together more than two years,1 1 Gail railed.Wevebeen through so much together.Weve seen each other at our worst many times.Im sure that t

38、ime will only confirm what we feel deeply about each other.You may be right.But I still think that waiting won*t hurt.You*re onlytwenty-five.*GaiTs father,David,whom I had not yet met personally,approached ourdecision with a father-knows-best attitude.He basically asked the samequestions as GaiTs mo

39、ther:Why the haste?Who is this Mark?Whafs hiscitizenship status?*And when he learned of my problems with the Citizenshipdepartment,he immediately suspected that I was marrying his daughter inorder to remain in the United States.But Dad,thats harsh,Gail said.HThen why the rush?Buy time,buy time,he re

40、marked repeatedly.“Mark has had problems with citizenship before and has always taken care ofthem himself,Gail defended.In fact,he made it very clear when we werediscussing marriage that if I had any doubts about anything,I should nothesitate to cancel our plans.,Her father proceeded to quote statis

41、tics showing that mixed couples had higherdivorce rates than couples of the same race and gave examples of mixedcouples he had counseled who were having marital difficulties.Have you thought about the hardships your children would go through?heasked.Dad,are you a racist?,No,of course not.But you hav

42、e to be realistic.Maybe our children will have some problems,but whose children dont?But onething theyll always have:our love and devotion.Thats idealistic.People can be very cruel toward children from mixedmarriages.Dad,well worry about that when the time comes.If we had to resolve all doubtbefore

43、we acted,very little would ever get done.Remember,its never too late to change your mind.Unti4A Test of True LoveSix minutes to six,said the digital clock over theinformation desk in Grand Central Station.John Blandford,a tall young army officer,focused hiseyesight on the clock to note the exact tim

44、e.In six minutes he would see the woman who had filled a special place in his life for the past thirteen months,a woman he had never seen,yet whose written words had been with him and had given him strength without fail.Soon after he volunteered for military service,he had received a book from this

45、woman.A letter,which wished him courage and safety,came with the book.He discovered that many of his friends,also in the army,had recei ved the identical book from the woman,Hollis Meynell.And while they all got strength from it,and appreciated her support of their cause,John Blandford was the onlyp

46、erson to write Ms.Meynell back.On the day of his departure,to a destination overseas where hewould fight in the war,he received her reply.Aboard the cargo ship that was taking him into enemy territory,he stood on the deck and read her letter to him again and again.For thirteen months,she had faithfu

47、lly written to him.When his letters did not arrive,she wrote anyway,without decrease.During the difficult days of war,her letters nourished him and gave him courage.As long as he received letters from her,he felt as though he could survive.After a short time,he believed he loved her,and she loved hi

48、m.It was as if fate had brought them together.But when he asked her for a photo,she declined his request.She explained her objection:If your feelings for me have any reality,any honest basis,what I look like wont matter.Suppose Im be autiful.Td always be bothered by the feeling that you loved me for

49、 my beauty,and that kind of lovewould disgust me.Suppose Im plain.Then Id always fear you were writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else.Either way,I would forbid myself from loving you.When youcome to New York and you see me,then you can make your decision.Remember,both of us a

50、re free to stop or to go on after thatif thats what we choose.One minute to six.Blandfords heart leaped.A young woman was coming toward him,and he felt a connection with her right away.Her figure was long and thin,her spectacular golden hair lay back in curls from her small ears.Her eyes were blue f