上海牛津英语高二上第一学期全部课本学习知识
法制小报内容-关于坚持的英文名言
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S2A
Chapter 1
Reading My favorite sport
Skiing is my
favorite sport, even though I have only skied for
four days in
my whole life. Last year, my
father promised to take me on a holiday if I
did well in my exams. When I got straight A’s,
Dad said’ ‘How about a
weekend at the
Botanical Gardens? ’
However, my mu said,
‘No, you promised a special holiday. I think you
ought to keep your word.’ And, despite the
expense, he did,
M y dream was to see some
real snow, so in the Christmas vacation we
flew to Seoul, South Korea, and then took a
shuttle bus which runs back
and forth between
Seoul and Muju Resort. As the bus climbed through
the mountains, we saw the snow in the trees. I
was dying to get out of the
bus.
No
one in my family had ever touched snow before. We
were all like
little children--- we picked it
up, made snowballs, and threw them at each
other!
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Then we checked
in at the hotel. Our room overlooked one of the
ski
slopes. The slope was floodlit, so we
watched people skiing until 10 p.m.
We could
not wait to try it ourselves.
The next day
we had our first skiing lesson. We rented our ski
suits, boots
ad skis, and went outside onto
the snow. Wearing skis for the first time
makes you feel very strange. Suddenly you find
you cannot even walk.
Our instructor took
us onto a gentle slope, and showed us some basic
skills. In order to do up a hill, you have to
stand sideways, and go up step
by step. You
must point the tips of your skis together so that
you can stop.
However, the tips must not
cross, or you will fall. You should not ski
alone in case you fall and get injured. To be
honest, that first lesson was
not a great
success, and I kept falling down!
However, the next day I definitely improved. I
only fell over a few times,
and I managed to
do a few longer runs. I felt pleased with myself,
and the
instructor congratulated me, so I felt
great. Although it was very cold, I
spent most
of that holiday skiing. It was the most wonderful
time of my
life.
Nevertheless, it was
all over too soon. Now I have decided to work
part-time this summer, so I can earn enough
money for another super
skiing holiday.
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More reading Faster,
Higher, Stronger
The Olympic Games have a
long history. The first modern Games were
held
in Athens, Greece in 1896. Every four years,
athletics from all over
the world compete in
various sports at the Games. The largest group
participates in athletics.
‘Athletics’
refers to sports in four areas: track, field, road
and combined
events. Track events, such as
running and hurdling, test a person’s speed.
In order to win a track event, a person needs
to go faster than everyone
else. Field events,
however, test how high or far someone can jump in
events such as the long jump or high jump.
They also test how far
someone can throw in
events such as the shot-put, discus or javelin.
The
marathon and race walks are road events.
They test endurance. In
combined events,
athletes are required to compete in a series of
competition from each category. The most
famous combined event is the
decathlon. The
decathlon involves ten different athletics events
that take
place over two days. Since the
decathlon involves ten different athletics
events that take place over two days. Since
the decathlon tests all-around
physical
ability, the winner of the decathlon is often
called ‘the world‘s
greatest athlete.’
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Although all Olympic sports are
equal in importance, athletics is, in many
ways, the best picture of the Olympic motto
‘Faster, Higher, Stronger”.
The desire of
humanity to do better---to run faster, to soar
higher and to
push farther---is what the
Olympics are all about.
Chapter 2
Reading Tutorial centres
Helpful
I have been studying at a
tutorial centre for two years. The fees are very
reasonable, and my command of English has
improved greatly since I
started.
My
tutors are all qualified teachers. They are
sincere and kind. I have
been helped a lot by
them.
One of my teachers was British. At
first, I could not say anything to her.
However, later I learnt how to communicate in
English with a westerner.
I think that the
tutorial centre has given me a lot of confidence
in using
English.
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I go
to sleep
I have been attending a tutorial
centre for two months. I have been forced
to
attend by my parents, but I do not think it is
useful for me.
I am always very tired
after school. Sometimes I even sleep during the
classes in the evening.
Furthermore,
the teachers are very boring. They give us a lot
of
supplementary exercises but they teach us
nothing. I usually read comics
during class.
Sometimes I go to a video arcade instead. I think
tutorial
centres are useless
Waste of
money
I have studied at a tutorial centre
for one year. However, I think that I
have
been cheated.
These tutorial centres are
only interested in making money, so they accept
too many students for each class. However,
they do not want to pay for
good teachers. My
English teacher was a university student who
studied
physics, not English!
Very
often, he could not answer our questions about the
use of the
language.
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In
my opinion, it is better to spend more time on
school work than to
waste money at a ‘money-
making’ tutorial centre.
Good and bad
I have experienced both good and bad tutorial
centres.
In my first centre, I was in a
very big class. My teacher was an Australian.
He just talked about his travels. I could
learn nothing from him. I left
within a
month.
Then I ask all my friends for their
advice. As a result of their
recommendations,
I enrolled on a course at another centre.
The teachers are excellent here and the
classes are small. We have been
taught many
good techniques for developing our language and
studying
skills.
There are both good
and bad tutorial centres, so you must do some
detective work before you enroll.
However, the most important thing is whether
you are willing to learn
and to work hard. The
key factor is yourself.
More reading Independent learning
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Independent learning is one
solution for those who want to continue their
education, nut have no time for it. It is
often described as ‘a class of one’,
because
you work alone. You study at your own pace, at a
time and place
convenient for you. These
courses can help you get a degree, help your
career, or help you learn what interests
you.
One type of independent learning is
the correspondence course, In a
correspondence
course, a school sends you textbooks, study
guides, and
materials such as video and audio
discs. You communicate with your
teacher by
mail. Your teacher reads your papers and makes
comments,
Your marks are recorded by the
school before they are mailed back to
you.
A newer style of independent learning is
e-learning. With e-learning, you
study using
computer software or the Internet. You can learn
on your own,
or you can enroll on a course.
Usually, in an e-learning course, students
communicate with their teachers through
e-mail. However, some students
have been using
video recently. This allows the teacher and the
students
to see and communicate with each
other at the same time.
Independent
learning gives you the freedom to adapt your
learning to
your lifestyle. However, it
requires self-discipline and hard work, so not
everyone is successful at it. Those who are
successful receive a real sense
of achievement
and satisfaction.
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Chapter 3
Reading Fashion
My topic is ‘Fashion’. Fashion is important to
almost all of us. By fashion,
we usually mean
popular trends in styles of dress. When we do out
or to a
party, we usually like to wear
fashionable clothes. To illustrate my talk, I
have brought along five objects.
My
first object is this blouse. It looks beautiful,
doesn’t it? It’s my most
expensive piece of
clothing, and I love it. It cost me $$200. It may
seem
very extravagant, but I could afford it
with my own savings. It wasn’t
easy for me to
earn the money, but when buying clothes, I think
the more
you spend the better the quality. So
you see, fashion is quite important to
me.
However, I’m not as keen on fashion as my
brother Gary. Last summer,
he won a free trip
to London in a contest. The organizers wanted to
show
him some famous sights. But he didn’t
appreciate old buildings. He just
spent all
his time searching for the coolest pair of
trainers! For him,
fashion was more important
than culture. These are the trainers he bought.
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Was it worth a trip to London to
buy these? Well, I don’t think so. It was
a
waste of time and money.
Fashion is very
big business. Changes in fashion can create or
ruin jobs.
As an example, I have brought this
blonde wig to show you. It belongs to
one of
my mum’s friends. In the 1960s, these were very
fashionable. But
a few years later fashions
changed, and women wore wigs much less
often.
Many wig factories closed down, and hundreds of
workers lost
their jobs, which was
terrible!
Fashion can affect the natural
world, as well. I’m holding an old hat
borrowed from a drama company. It’s made of
beaver fur. These hats
were very fashionable
about 200 years ago. As a result, beavers almost
became extinct. Luckily, in the 1850s, these
hats went out of style and the
beavers were
saved.
Finally, we should remember the
saying,’ never judge a book by its
cover.’
Clothes will not make us more or less clever,
better or worse,
more or less honest. I once
saw a movie about Mother Teresa. She spent
all
her life helping poor people in India, most of
whom were dying. In
1979, she was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Peace. When she flew to get
the award, she wore the same old clothes as
usual, and carried all her
possessions in a
little bag like this, which I bought in a market.
This
reminds us that fashion is not the most
important thing in life.
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Thank you.
More reading
Uniform fashion good for young students
School uniforms are not part of the
traditional way of life in the USA. In
1987,
Cherry Hill Elementary, which is in the Maryland,
went against
tradition by becoming the first
public school in the USA to make students
wear
uniforms. The school did this to reduce trouble
caused by the
students’ love of fashion. Since
this new programme has proved to be a
good way
to promote safety and discipline, other schools
soon followed.
By 2000, 12 pert cent of
American public schools required school
uniforms.
The introduction of school
uniforms has helped reduce school violence.
Much of school violence is linked to the
wearing of gang colours, which
are the clothes
worn by different youth gangs. In schools with
youth
gangs, the number of fights decreased by
40 per cent after uniforms wre
introduced.
Uniforms also send a message that students are
at school to study, not to
play. They reduce
peer pressure and create school pride. These
things
help raise the academic level of the
students.
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Although school
uniforms are popular in some areas, this new tren
has
met strong resistance from many parents,
some of whom angrily
complain that uniforms
keep students from showing their individuality. A
few parents have even gone too curt to stop
school uniforms from being
introduced. For
this reason, it is unlikely that uniforms will
ever be
adopted nationwade.
Chapter 4
Reading The hamburger
business
In 1954, an American businessman
called Ray Kroc was selling
milkshake
machines. One small drive-in hamburger stand in
California
bought not one but eight of these
expensive machines. Surprised by this
Kroc
decided to go and visit it.
Arriving
before the hamburger stand opened, Kroc sat in his
car and
watched. A team of young people in
uniforms appeared and started
cleaning the
stand and its car park, making everything neat and
tidy.
When opened for business, the hamburger
stand was immediately filled
with customers.
The staff were cheerful, fast and polite. The food
was
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excellent. Impressed by the
cleanliness, service and food, Kroc looked up
at the name over the hamburger stand. It read,
‘McDonald’s
Hamburgers’.
Although
started six years earlier, in 1948, McDonald’s was
still a small
business owned by two brothers,
Mac and Dick McDonald. Kroc
suggested that
they should set up more outlets, but the brothers
were
happy with their life and did not want to
expand further. However, they
did allow Kroc
to launch other branches of McDonald’s for them.
That
was the start of the biggest fat-food
company in history.
In 1955, Kroc opened
his first McDonald’s near Chicago, and many more
swiftly followed. In 1959, the 100
th
McDonald’s was opened. In 1961,
Kroc took over
complete ownership of the business from the
brothers by
paying them US $$2.7 million.
By 1972, a new McDonald’s was being opened
every day, and by 1974
there were over 3,000
restaurants. McDonald’s came to Hong Kong in
1975, and was introduced into Shenzhen in1990.
Two years later, the first
McDonald’s in
Beijing opened with more than 40,000 customers on
its
first day.
Why has McDonald’s been
so successful? Back in 1956, McDonald’s
adopted the motto ‘Q. S. C. &V.’ These letters
stand for’ Quality, Service,
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Cleanliness and Value’. In all of these areas,
McDonald’s pay great
attention to detail.
For example, after years of planning,
McDonald’s established its largest
ever
restaurant in Moscow in1990. To achieve the right
quality, potatoes
are imported into Russia,
and farmers are taught how to farm them
properly, as well as how to harvest and pack
them.
To achieve good service, McDonald’s
has one of the best training
programmes in the
world. It even has seven Hamburger Universities
(one
in Hong Kong) where top personnel can
learn management and customer
service
skills.
By 2005, McDonald’s had over
30,000 outlets in 119 countries and
regions.
It sells more than 100 hamburgers every second of
the day.
While it does not yet have a
restaurant on the Moon, no doubt a plan is
already being made for one.
More reading The rise of chain stores in
China
During the last few years, the
number of chain stores has greatly
increased
in big cities in China. Nowadays, within a short
walk along a
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busy street, you
are likely to find a chain store of some kind---a
fast food
restaurant, a bakery or a
convenience store.
Chain stores have
become part of people’s daily lives. They may pop
into
a BreadTalk to buy a sweet roll for
breakfast on their way to work. They
may visit
a Lianhua Supermarket in the evening to buy some
food for
dinner,For a birthday, they might
celebrate with friends at a Little Sheep
Hotpot Restaurant. At the weekend they may go
to GoMe Appliances to
buy a DVD or MP3 player.
Chain stores have become so popular that
some
people include them as a factor when deciding
where to live.
Why have chain stores grown
so fast in number and influence? Meeting
the
customers’ needs is the answer. Opened in
convenient locations, the
stores are usually
next door to people’s homes and close to bus stops
or
underground stations. They offer a wide
range of products in a clean,
well-lit and
relaxing environment. Every store in a chain
operates in the
same way as the others do.
That way, everyone knows what to expect in
case they shop there. The prices are
reasonable too.
It seems that chain stores
are a welcome development in China. They are
certainly a new force changing people’s way of
life.
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Chapter 5
Reading Virtual reality
Only 50 years ago, computers were bigger than
people. Today, people
can carry their laptops
with them anywhere they go. Soon, we may be
able to step inside a computer world thanks to
the magic of virtual reality.
What is
virtual reality, or VR? If something is virtual,
then it is created by
computer technology and
appears as if it were real. Virtual reality is a
computer system with a special headset. When
you put on the headset,
you look at two tiny
television screens. They are so close to your eyes
that your mind will see the image as one
picture, and you will believe that
you have
entered a different world. In many systems, you
also wear a
special data glove. With this
glove you can reach out and touch things in
the artificial world.
The first VR
games, already sold round the world, enable you to
drive a
sports car, fly a plane, or fight an
enemy. In the future, it may be difficult
to
distinguish the virtual world of the games from
the real world outside.
However, VR is not
just for entertainment. One day, delighted
children
will be able to learn geography by
observing exciting foreign countries
without
having to leave their classroom. They will be
thrilled to learn
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history by
visiting the pyramids of Egypt, or by hand-feeding
friendly
dinosaurs.
In addition,
business will be able to use VR for many tasks.
Cars
designed using computers can be tested as
virtual machines first, before
they are
manufactures in metal. Architects will be able to
make virtual
buildings, which they can walk
around and inspect before constructing.
VR can
help us in hundreds of ways.
Despite this,
concerned critics have warned that there could be
dangers in
this powerful new medium. Will we
have VR games in which people can
commit
virtual crimes? After people get used to VR, will
they want to
return to reality? Will we forget
how to live and work with real people?
On
the other hand, some people think that VR will
help us improve the
world. By experimenting
harmlessly inside a VR world, we will be able
to see the dangers we may face in the future.
Then we will be able to
avoid them in real
life.
No doubt there will be some problems
with VR, as there are with all new
inventions.
However, one thing is for sure: VR is here to
stay. Get ready
to step into another
world!
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More
reading Wearable technology
Did you know that some technology can be
worn?
In fact, wearable technology has
been around for some time. The first
people to
experiment with the idea were managers of sports
teams. They
wanted to know how athletes could
use technology to improve their
performance.
Special vests, created to monitor an athlete’s
body, can
measure how fast the heart is
beating and how hard the athlete is
breathing.
Scientists have also developed ‘cooling’ vests to
help athletes
perform better in difficult
conditions, such as hot weather. Furthermore,
an American company is currently researching
clothes for soldiers to help
them run faster,
jump higher and lift heavier equipment.
Before long, we will have technology in our
everyday clothing. A
computer hidden in a coat
could be operated by a keyboard on one of the
sleeves.
Electronic sunglasses could
show us maps of where we are standing and
point us in the direction that we want to go.
Our clothes could also
monitor our bodies.
They could tell us when we need to eat certain
foods,
take medicine or rest in order to stay
healthy.
There is only one problem with
clothes like these: They may be difficult
to
wash. Electricity and water do not mix! You could
remove the
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electronic parts
before washing, but putting them back in again
could take
hours. Designers are now building
small wires into the fabric of the
clothing to
solve this problem.
These clothes could
appear in shops any day now. Soon, we could all be
wearing electronic clothes.
Chapter 6
Reading Transforming
Mars
Ever since the beginning of history,
people have dreamt of interplanetary
travel.
For centuries, these dreams have always remained
dreams.
However, scientists now want to make
these dreams come true. They are
planning to
transform Mars so that humans can live there.
Within 30
years, the first people will land on
Mars and, by the year 2185, we will
have
established cities.
In many ways, Mars is
the planet most similar to Earth. A Martian day
lasts about 24 12 hours (although a year has
687 days). While there is no
water, there is a
lot of ice in the two polar ice caps. The average
temperature is -60℃.
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The
plan involves changing Mars so that it becomes
more like Earth. This
means using the
‘greenhouse effect’ (which we are trying to stop
on
Earth). The suggested programme would have
five main stages.
Stage 1 (AD
2030-2045).
The first expedition arrives
on Mars, after a journey by spacecraft of
about six months. The members construct
underground buildings,
conduct experiments,
look for good sites for future landings, and also
check for signs of life. They can survive only
as long as they wear
spacesuits, because 95
per cent of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide.
Nonetheless, the low gravity (one-third of
Earth’s) means they can move
around
easily.
Stage 2 (AD 2045-2095)
More expeditions arrive. Huge mirrors are put
in orbit round Mars to heat
the polar ice
caps. The ice caps are sprayed black, so that they
do not
reflect the heat away. Chemicals are
released into the air. As a result, the
atmosphere becomes thicker and retains more of
the Sun’s heat. If the
greenhouse effect can
be started, the ice caps will melt, releasing
water
vapour, and the temperature will rise to
-40℃.
Stage 3 (AD 2095-2130)
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Next, plants are introduced from
Earth. If these plants can survive on
Mars,
carbon dioxide can be converted into oxygen. The
first clouds
appear, and the sky slowly turns
from pink to blue. The temperature goes
to
-15℃.
Stage 4 (AD 2130-2145)
The
warming continues, melting more ice. Rivers and
small oceans are
made. More people migrate
from Earth and construct towns. Forests of
trees are planted. Mars is looking greener.
The temperature is 0℃.
Stage 5 (AD
2145-2185)
Mars is getting more like
Earth. The amount of oxygen in the air rises,
and the air becomes breathable. The
inhabitants can go outside without
spacesuits.
The temperature reaches 10℃.(Since Mars is 228
million
kilometers from the Sun, it can never
be as warm as Earth) Cities, farms
and
industries are built all over Mars. The
transformation is complete.
More
reading Chinese manned space flights
Chinese people have always dreamt of flying to
space. Around AD 1500,
a man named Wan Hu made
the first attempt at space flight. He sat down
in his chair, tried 47 rockets to it, and then
lit them. There was a big boom.
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When the smoke cleared, Wan Hu was gone. The
people watching might
have thought that he was
successful. However, we know now that his
rockets were not powerful enough to send him
into space. He most likely
was consumed in the
explosion.
Jumping ahead nearly 500 years,
in 1992 China began its manned space
programme, leading to the space flight of Yang
Liwei, China’s first
astronaut, in Shenzhou 5
on 15 October 2003. China became the third
country, after the USA and Russia, to send a
man into space. Yang Liwei
spent only about
21hours in space. This time was beaten by China’s
next
manned space flight, Shenzhou 6, which
began on 12 October
this flight, Chinese
astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng spent five
days orbiting Earth.
In the future,
China plans to have its own manned space station
orbiting
Earth. China is also developing a
programme, named Chang’e after the
story of a
beautiful young girl who floated to the Moon, of
missions
leading to a lunar station. Chinese
scientists are already researching on
the idea
of sending women into space. If China sends a
woman to the
Moon, the story of Chang’e will
no longer be so difficult to believe