新概念英语考研必背优秀文章36篇.pdf

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1、新机念三 Lesson 14 A noble gangster贵族 歹徒.There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangstars inreturn for protection.If the nwney was not paid promptly,the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business bydestroying his shop.Obtaining protec

2、tion money1 is not a modern crime.As long ago as the fourteenth century,anEnglishman,Sir John Hawkwood,made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of money thanhave their life work destroyed by gangsters.Six hundred years ago,Sir Johan Hawkwood arrived in Italy with a band

3、of soldiers and settled near Florence.He soonmade a name for himself and came to be known to the kalians as Giovanni Acuto.Whenever the Italian city-states were atwar with each other,Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded.Intimes of peace,whe

4、n business was bad,Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,after burning down a fewfarms,would offer to go away if protection money was paid to them.Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way.Inspite of this,the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.When he died at the age of eig

5、hty,the Florentines gave him a statefuneral and had a pictured painted which was dedicated to the memory of the most valiant soldier and most notable leader,Signor Giovanni Haukodue.1曾经有个时期，芝加哥的店主和商行的老板们不得不拿出大笔的钱给歹徒以换取“保护”。如果交款不及时，歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店，让他破产.榨取“保护金”并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.早在1 4世纪，英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:“人们

6、情愿拿出大笔的钱，也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手.6 0 0年前，约翰.霍克伍德爵士带着一队士兵来到意大利，在佛罗伦萨附近驻扎下来，很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.每次意大利各城邦之间发生战争，霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主:。和平时期，当生意萧条时,霍克伍德便带领士兵进入某个城邦，纵火烧毁一两个农场，然后提出,如向他们缴纳保护金，他们便主动撤离。霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.尽管如此，意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。他8 0岁那年死去时，佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬，并为他画像以纪念这位”骁勇无比的战士、杰出的领袖乔凡尼.阿库托先生Lesson 17 The longest s

7、uspension bridge in the world 世界上最长的小桥Verrazano,an Italian about whom little is known,sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 and named it Angouleme.Hedescribed it as*a very agreeable situation located within two small hills in the midst of which flowed a great river.*ThoughVerrazano is by no means con

8、sidered to be a great explorer,his name will probably remain immortal,for on November 21st,1964,the longest suspension bridge in the world was named after him.The Verrazano Bridge,which was designed by Othmar Ammann,joins Brooklyn to Staten Island.It has a span of 4,260feet.The bridge is so long tha

9、t the shape of the earth had to be taken into account by its designer.Two great towers supportfour huge cables.The towers are built on immense underwater platforms made of steel and concrete.The platforms extend toa depth of over 100 feet under the sea.These alone took sixteen months to build.Above

10、the surface of the water,the towersrise to a height of nearly 700 feet.They support the cables from which the bridge has been suspended.Each of the four cablescontains 26,108 lengths of wire.It has been estimated that if the bridge were packed with cars,it would still only be carryinga third of its

11、total capacity.However,size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge.Despite itsimmensity,it is both simple and elegant,fulfilling its designers dream to create an enormous object drawn as faintly aspossible.1524年，一位鲜为人知的意大利人维拉萨诺驾船驶进纽约港，并将该港名为安古拉姆。他对该港作了这样的描述：”地理位置十分适宜，位于两座小山

12、的中间，条大河从中间流过虽然维拉萨诺绝对算不上个伟大的探险家，但他的名字将流芳百世，因 为1964年11月2 1日建成的一座世界上最长的吊桥是以他的名字命名。维拉萨诺大桥由奥斯马.阿曼设计，连结着布鲁克林与斯塔顿岛，桥长4,260英尺。由于桥身太长，设计者不得不考虑了地表的形状。两座巨塔支撑着4根粗大的钢缆。塔身建在巨大的水下钢盘混凝土平台上。平台深入海底100英尺。仅这两座塔就花了 16个月才建成。塔身高出水面将近700英尺。高塔支撑着钢缆，而钢缆乂悬吊着大桥，4根钢缆中的每根由26,108股钢绳组成。据估计，若桥上摆满了汽车，也只不过是桥的总承载力的l/3 o然而，这座桥重要特点不仅是它的

13、规模与强度。尽管此桥很大，但它的结构简单，造型优美，实现了设计者企图创造一个“尽量用细线条勾画出一个庞然大物”的梦想。Lesson 21 Daniel Mendoza 丹尼尔.门多萨Boxing matches were very popular in England two hundred years ago.In those days,boxers fought with bare fists forprize money.Because of this,they were known as prize-fighters.However,boxing was very crude,for

14、there were no rulesand a prize-fighter could be seriously injured or even killed during a match.One of the most colourful figures in boxing history was Daniel Mendoza,who was bom in 1764.The use of gloves wasnot introduced until 1860,when the Marquis of Queensberry drew up the first set of rules.Tho

15、ugh he was technically aprize-fighter,Mendoza did much to change crude prize-fighting into a sport,for he brought science to the game.In his day,Mendoza enjoyed tremendous popularity.He was adored by rich and poor alike.Mendoza rose to fame swiftly after a boxing-match when he was only fourteen year

16、s old.This attracted the attention ofRichard Humphries who was then the most eminent boxer in England.He offered to train Mendoza and his young pupil wasquick to learn.In fact,Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphries turned against him.The two men quarrelledbitterly and it was clear that the

17、 argument could only be settled by a fight.A match was held at Stilton,where both men foughtfor an hour.The public bet a great deal of money on Mendoza,but he was defeated.Mendoza met Humphries in the ring on alater occasion and he lost for a second time.It was not until his third match in 1790 that

18、 he finally beat Humphries and becameChampion of England.Meanwhile,he founded a highly successful Academy and even Lord Byron became one of his pupils.He earned enormous sums of money and was paid as much as 100 pounds for a single appearance.Despite this,he was soextravagant that he was always in d

19、ebt.After he was defeated by a boxer called Gentleman Jackson,he was quickly forgotten.He was sent to prison for failing to pay his debts and died in poverty in 1836.两百年前，拳击比赛在英国非常盛行。当时，拳击手们不戴手套，为争夺奖金而搏斗。因此，他们被称作“职业拳击手“。不过，拳击是十分野蛮的，因为当时没有任何比赛规则，职业拳击手有可能在比赛中受重伤，甚至丧命。拳击史上最引人注目的人物之是丹尼尔.门多萨，他生于1764年。186

20、0年昆斯伯里侯爵第次为拳击比赛制定了规则，拳击比赛这才用上了手套。虽然门多萨严格来讲不过是个职业拳击手，但在把这种粗野的拳击变成一种体育运动方面，他作出了重大贡献。是他把科学引进了这项运动。门多萨在他的全盛时期深受大家欢迎，无论是富人还是穷人都对他祟拜备至。门多萨在14岁时参加一场拳击赛后一举成名。这引起当时英国拳坛名将理查德.汉弗莱斯的注意。他主动提出教授门多萨，而年少的门多萨学就会。事实上，门多萨不久便名声大振，致使汉弗莱斯与他反目为敌。两个人争吵不休，显而易见，只有较量番才能解决问题。于是两人在斯蒂尔顿设下赛场，厮打了一个小时。公众把大笔赌注下到了门多萨身上，但他却输了。后来，门多萨与汉

21、弗莱斯再次在拳击场上较量，门多萨又输了一场。直 到1790年他们第3次对垒，门多萨才终于击败汉弗莱斯，成了全英拳击冠军。同时，他建立了一所拳击学校，办得很成功，连拜伦勋爵也成了他的学生。门多萨挣来大笔大笔的钱，一次出场费就多可达100英镑。尽管收入不少，但他挥霍无度，经常债台高筑。他被一个叫杰克逊绅士的拳击手击败后很快被遗忘。他因无力还债而被捕入狱，最 后于1836年在贫困中死去。Lesson 24 A skeleton in the cupboard 家丑”We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family

22、 has some terrible secret which has been concealedfrom strangers for years.The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situatien.The terrible secret iscalled a skeleton in the cupboard.At some dramatic moment in the story,the terrible secret becomes known and areputation i

23、s ruined.The readers hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine,a dear oldlady who had always been so kind to everybody,had,in her youth,poisoned every one of her five husbands.It is all very well foe such things to occur in fiction.To varying degrees,we all ha

24、ve secrets which we do not want evenour closest friends to learn,but few of us have skeletons in the cupboard.The only person I know who has a skeleton in thecupboard is George Carlton,and he is very proud of the fact.George studied medicine in his youth.Instead of becoming adoctor,however,he became

25、 a successful writer of detective stories.I once spent an uncomfortable weekend which I shallnever forget at his house.George showed me to the guest-room which,he said,was rarely used.He told me to unpack mythings and then come down to dinner.After I had stacked my shirts and underclothes in two emp

26、ty drawers,I decided to hangone of the two suits I had brought with me in the cupboard.I opened the cupboard door and then stood in fnent of it petrified.A skeleton was dangling before my eyes.The sudden movement of the door made it sway slightly and it gave me theimpression that it was about to lea

27、p out at me.Dropping my suit,I dashed downstairs to tell George.This was worse than aterrible secret*;this was a real skeleton!But George was unsympathetic.4Oh,that/he said with a smile as if he were talkingabout an old friend.Thats Sebastian.You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.

28、在小说中，我们经常读到个表面上受人尊重的人物或家族，却有着某种多年不为人所知的骇人听闻的秘密。英语中有个生动的说法来形容这种情况。惊人的秘密被称作“柜中骷髅”。在小说的某个戏剧性时刻，可怕的秘密泄漏出来，接着便是某人的声誉扫地。当读者读到小说最后儿页了解到书中女主人公，那位 响待大家很好的可爱的老妇人年轻时连毒死了她的5个丈夫时，不禁会毛骨悚然。这种事发生在小说U 是无可非议的。尽管我们人人都有各种大小秘密，连最亲密的朋友都不愿让他们知道，但我们当中极少有人有柜中骷髅。我所认识的唯的在柜中藏骷髅的人便是乔治卡尔顿，他甚至引以为自豪。乔治年轻时学过医，然而，他后来没当上医生，却成了一位成功的侦探

29、小说作家。有一次，我在他家里度周末，过得很不愉快。这事我永远不会忘记。乔治把我领进客房，说这间房间很少使用。他让我打开行装后下楼吃饭。我将衬衫、内衣放进两个空抽屉里，然后我想把随身带来的两套西服中的套挂到大衣柜里去。我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下子惊呆了。一具骷髅悬挂在眼前，由于柜J突然打开，它也随之轻微摇晃起来，让我觉得它好像马上要跳出柜门朝我扑过来似的。我扔卜.西服冲卜楼去告诉乔治。这是比“骇人听闻的秘密”更加惊人的东西，这是一具真正的骷髅啊！但乔治却无动于衷。“噢，是它呀！他笑着说道，俨然在谈论一位老朋友。“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是学医的了。”Lesson 27 Nothing to

30、sell and nothing to b u y没有东西可类也没有东西可买It has been said that everyone lives by selling something.In the light of this statement,teachers live by sellingknowledge,philosophers by selling wisdom and priests by selling spiritual comfort.Though it may be possible to measurethe value of material good in t

31、erms of money,it is extremely difficult to estimate the true value of the services which peopleperform for us.There are times when we would willingly give everything we possess io save ou。lives,yet we might grudgepaying a surgeon a high fee for offering us precisely this service.The conditions of so

32、ciety are such that skills have to be paidfor in the same way that goods are paid for at a shop.Everyone has something to sell.Tramps seem to be the only exception to this general rule.Beggars almost sell themselves as human beings to arousethe pity of passers-by.But real tramps are not beggars.They

33、 have nothing to sell and require nothing from others.In seekingindependence,they do not sacrifice their human dignity.A tramp may ask you for money,but he will never ask you to feelsorry for him.He has deliberately chosen to lead the life he leads and is fully aware of the consequences.He may never

34、 besure where the next meal is coming from,but he is free from the thousands of anxieties which afilict other people.His fewmaterial possessions make it possible for him to move from place to place with ease.By having to sleep in the open,he getsfar closer to the world of nature than most of us ever

35、 do.He may hunt,beg,or steal occasionally to keep himself alive;he mayeven,in times of real need,do a little work;but he will never sacrifice his freedom.We often speak of tramps with contemptand put them in the same class as beggars,but how many of us can honestly say that we have not felt a little

36、 envious of theirsimple way of life and their freedom from care?据说每个人都靠出售某种东西来维持生活。根据这种说法，教师靠卖知识为生，哲学家靠卖智慧为生，牧师靠卖精神安慰为生。虽然物质产品的价值可以用金钱来衡量，但要估算别人为我们为所提供的服务的价值却是极其困难的。有时，我们为了挽救生命，愿意付出我们所占有的切。但就在外科大夫给我们提供了这种服务后，我们却可能为所支付的昂贵的费用而抱怨。社会上的情况就是如此，技术是必须付钱去买的，就像在商店里要花钱买商品一样。人人都有东西可以出售。在这条普遍的规律前面，好像只有流浪汉是个例外，乞丐

37、出售的儿乎是他本人，以引起过路人的怜悯。但真正的流浪并不是乞丐。他们既不出售任何东西，也不需要从别人那儿得到任何东西，在追求独立自由的同时，他们并不牺牲为人的尊严。游浪汉可能会向你讨钱，但他从来不要你可怜他。他是故意在选择过那种生活的，并完全清楚以这种方式生活的后果。他可能从不知道下顿饭有无着落，但他不像有人那样被千万桩愁事所折磨。他几乎没有什么财产，这使他能够轻松自如地在各地奔波。由于被迫在露天睡觉，他比我们中许多人都离大自然近得多。为了生存，他可能会去打猎、乞讨，偶尔偷上一两I可；确实需要的时候，他甚至可能干一点儿活，但他决不会牺牲自由。说起流浪汉，我们常常带有轻蔑并把他们与乞丐归为一类。

38、但是，我们中有多少人能够坦率地说我们对流浪汉的简朴生活与无忧无虑的境况不感到有些羡慕呢？Lesson 33 A day to remember 难志的一天We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong.A day may begin well enough,but suddenly everythingseems to get out of control.Whnt invariably happens is that a great number of things choose to go wrong at precisely

39、 thesame moment.It is as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions.Let us suppose that you are preparing a mealand keeping an eye on the baby at the same time.The telephone rings and this marks the prelude to an unforeseen series ofcatastrophes.While you are on the phone,the baby pul

40、ls the table-cloth off the table,smashing half your best crockery andcutting himself in the process.You hang up huniedly and attend to baby,crockery,etc.Meanwhile,the meal gets burnt.As ifthis were not enough to reduce you to tears,your husband arrives,unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.Th

41、ings can go wrong on a big scale,as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta,a suburb of Sydney.Duringthe rush hour one evening two cars collided and both drivers began to argue.The woman immediately behind the two carshappened to be a learner.She suddenly got into a panic and stopped he

42、r car.This made the driver following her brake hard.His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake.As she was thrown forward,the cake went right through the windscreenand landed on the road.Seeing a cake flying through the air,a lorry-driver who was drawing up alongside the car,pulled upall of

43、 a sudden.The lorry was loaded with empty bee】bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of th。vehicle and on tothe road.This led to yet another angry argument.Meanwhile,the traffic piled up behind.It took the police nearly an hour to getthe traffic on the move again.In the meantime,the lorry dr

44、iver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles.Only two straydogs benefited from all this confusion,for they greedily devoured what was left of the cake.It was just one of those days!我们大家都有过事事不顺心的日子。一天开始时，可能还不错，但突然间似乎 切都失去了控制。情况经常是这样的，许许多多的事情都偏偏赶在同一时刻出问题，好像是一件无关紧要的小事引起了一连串的连锁反应。假设你在做饭，同时又在照看孩子。这时电话

45、铃响了，它预示着连串意想不到的灾难的来临。就在你接电话时，孩子把桌布从桌子上扯了下来，将家中最好的陶瓷餐具半数摔碎，同时也弄伤了他自己。你急急忙忙挂上电话，赶去照看孩子和餐具。这时，饭又烧糊了。好像这一切还不足以使你急得掉泪，你的丈夫接着回来了，事先没打招呼就带来3个客人吃饭。就像许多人最近在悉尼郊区帕拉马塔所发现的那样，有时乱子会闹得很大。一天傍晚交通最拥挤时，一辆汽车撞上前面一辆汽车，两个司机争吵起来。紧跟其后的辆车上的司机碰巧是个初学者，她惊之下突然把车停了下来。她这停使得跟在后头的司机也来了个急刹车。司机的妻子正坐在他身边，手里托着块大蛋糕。她往前一冲，蛋糕从挡风玻璃飞了出去掉在马路上

46、。此时，一辆卡车正好从后边开到那辆汽车边上，司机看见一块蛋糕从天而降，紧急刹车。卡车上装着空啤酒瓶，成百只瓶子顺势从卡车后面滑出车外落在马路上。这又引起了 场唇枪舌剑的争吵。与此同时，后面的车辆排成了长龙，警察花了将近个小时才使车辆乂开起来。在这段时间里，卡车司机不得不清扫那几百只破瓶子。只有两只野狗从这一片混乱中得到了好处，它们贪婪地吃掉了剩下的蛋糕。这就是事事不顺心的那么一天！Lesson 34 A happy discovery 幸 运 的 发 现Antique shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people.The m

47、ore expensive kind of antique shop where rareobjects are beautifully displayed in glass cases to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place.But no one has tomuster up courage to enter a less pretentious antique shop.There is always hope that in its labyrinth of musty,dark,disordered room

48、s a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of assorted iunk that litter the floors.No one discovers a rarity by chance.A truly dedicated bargain hunter must have patience,and above all,the ability torecognize the worth of something when he sees it.To do this,he must be at least as knowledgeable

49、 as the dealer.Like ascientist bent on making a discovery,he must cherish the hope that one day he will be amuly rewarded.My old friend,Frank Halliday,is just such a person.He has often described to me how he picked up a masterpiece for amere 50.One Saturday morning,Frank visited an antique shop in

50、my neighbourhood.As he had never been there before,hefound a great deal to interest him.The morning passed rapidly and Frank was about to leave when he noticed a largepacking-case lying on the floor.The dealer told him that it had just eome in,but that he could not be bothered to open it.Frankbegged