牛津英语模块三课文原文
风水物品-思维导图教程
Unit 1
Fog
Fog warning
When
Polly left home that morning, the city was already
covered in a grey mist. At lunch, the
radio
forecast that the mist would become a thick fog in
the afternoon. At four o'clock, Polly left
work and stepped out into the fog .She
wondered if the buses would still be running.
No buses to King Street
Once out in the
street, she walked quickly towards her usual bus
stop.
‘How far are you going?’ the bus
conductor asked her before he took her fare.
‘King Street.’ said Polly.
‘Sorry，Miss’
replied the man, ‘the truth is that it is too
foggy for the bus to run that far. Take
the
Underground to Green Park. The weather might be
better there and you might be able to get a
taxi.’
A tall man
As Polly observed
the passengers on the train, she had a feeling
that she was being watched
by a tall man in a
dark overcoat. At last the train arrived at Green
Park station. While the rest of
the passengers
were getting out, she glanced at the faces around
her. The tall man was nowhere to
be soon.
Footsteps
When Polly got to the station
entrance, it was empty. Outside, wherever she
looked the fog lay
like a thick, grey cloud.
There was no one in sight. Polly set off towards
Park Street. As she
walked along the narrow
street, she heard the sound of footsteps
approaching, but by the time she
reached the
corner of the street, the foot steps were gone.
Suddenly Polly felt a rough hand brush
her
cheek, and she heard a man’s voice in her ear
saying ‘Sorry.’ The man moved away. She could
feel her heart beating with fear.
The
helpful stranger
Then she heard the sound
again-soft footsteps behind her. A minute before,
she had wished for
someone to come along. Now
she wanted to run, but fear held her still. The
footsteps seemed close
now. Then a man’s voice
came out of the darkness. ‘Is anybody there?’
Polly hesitated. At last she answered, ‘Hello,
I think I’m lost. ’
A few seconds later, a
hand reached out and grasped her arm. Polly found
herself staring up at the
face of an old man
with a beard.
‘Maybe I can help you. Which
road do you want?’ he asked.
‘I live at 86
King Street.’ Polly replied.
‘Just take my
hand.’ said the man. ‘Come with me. You’ll be all
right.’ He took Polly’s hand.
‘Watch out for
the step here.’
In his other hand the man
carried a stick. Polly heard it hit the step. ‘I
can remember some terrible
fogs, but maybe
that was before your time. I can’t see your face,
but you sound young. How old
are you?’
‘Just twenty.’ answered Polly.
‘Ah, twenty
! A nice age to be. I was young once. Now we’re at
the crossroads. Turn left here.’
‘I’m quite
lost now. Are you sure you know the way?’ Polly
was beginning to feel frightened
again.’
‘Of course. You really shouldn’t feel
anxious,’ He held her hand more firmly.
The grateful helper
‘Here we are.
King Street.’ He stopped.
‘Thank you so much
for coming to my aid.’ said Polly in relief.
‘Would you like to come in and
rest for a
while?’
‘It’s very nice of you.’ said the man,
‘but I’ll be off. There may be more people lost
today, and
I’d like to help them. You see, a
fog this bad is rare. It gives me the chance to
pay back the help
that people give me when
it’s sunny. A blind person like me can’t get
across the road without help,
except in a fog
like this.’
Project (P18)
Shark
attacks
There are nearly 400 different types
of sharks, but only about 30 types are known to
have attacked
human beings. Many people know
that the most dangerous shark is the great white
shark,
probably because they have seen the
film Jaws. However, two other sharks are also
rather
dangerous: the tiger shark and the bull
shark. Contrary to what many people might assume,
evidence shows that sharks seldom attack
humans. There are three types of shark
attacks. In the main type, the shark attacks
you because it mistakes you for a fish, but when
it
tastes human flesh it decides to give up
and swims away. In the second type, the shark
pushes you
with its nose to find out if you
are fit to be eaten, and then bites you if it
thinks you are. In the
third type, the shark
waits for you to swim by, and then attacks you
suddenly. The last two types of
attack more
often result in the death of humans.
To reduce
the risk of a shark attack, you should follow
these suggestions.
Do not swim in the dark.
Sharks can still see you but you cannot see them.
Do not go swimming in the ocean if you have a
fresh wound. Sharks can smell blood over a long
distance.
Do not wear bright clothing or
jewellery, because sharks are attracted to the
flash of, colours and
bright objects. Stay in
groups, as sharks usually avoid large numbers of
people.
Recently, shark attacks have been
increasing as water sports are becoming more
popular. If a shark
attacks you, follow the
advice below.
Keep calm. Do not panic.
Hit
the shark on the nose with your fist.
Stick
your finger in the shark's eye.
Don't be
frightened by sharks: you are 3o times more likely
to be hit by lightning than be attacked
by a
shark.
The wonderful world of pigeons
It
is night. All is quiet. The soldiers are asleep
while a guard watches for the enemy. There is a
flash, and the sound of guns! They are being
attacked! Hundreds of enemy soldiers rush towards
them. They are all going to be killed unless
they get help. What should they do?
An officer
writes a short message quickly on a small piece of
paper: 'Being attacked! Hurry!'
He rolls up
the paper and puts it into a small case, and then
reaches into a cage and gets a bird.
Attaching
the message to its leg, he sets the bird loose. It
immediately flies into the air and
disappears
in the dark.
Will the bird arrive in time?
Will they be saved?
Though it may seem hard to
believe, the bird the officer uses is the same
bird often seen in public
parks--the
pigeon. Pigeons have a wonderful sense of
direction and can find their way home over
long distances. Indeed, pigeons have been
known to fly home from as far away as 1,800
kilometres. That is why pigeons have been used
since ancient times to carry the news or even the
mail. However, it was in war that they found
their greatest use. During both World War I and
II,
pigeons were employed by armies to carry
messages to and from the front lines, saving the
lives of
many soldiers and even helping win
some important victories.
How do pigeons find
their way? Pigeons appear to have a compass inside
them that tells them
which way is north. How
this compass works remains a mystery. Of course,
since a compass alone
is not enough to find
one's way, they also appear to use their sight and
even their sense of smell to
tell them which
way they should go. Unlike humans, they never get
lost and can always find their
way home.
Unit 2
English and its history
All through history, people from many
different countries and cultures have lived
together in
Britain. The English language is
made up of the grammar and vocabulary these people
brought to
Britain. That is why English has so
many difficult rules that confuse people.
Old
English
Old English is very different from the
English we speak nowadays. In fact, we would not
be
able to understand it if we heard it today.
Before the middle of the 5th century, people in
Britain
all spoke a language called Celtic.
Then two Germanic groups from the European
mainland—the
Angles and the Saxons—occupied
Britain. Old English consisted of a mixture of
their languages.
(Both the English language
and the English people are named after the Angles;
the word Angle
was spelt Engle in Old
English.) Aside from place names such as London,
very few Celtic words
became part of Old
English. At the end of the 9th century, the
Vikings, people from Northern
European
countries such as Denmark and Norway, began to
move to Britain. They brought with
them their
languages, which also mixed with Old English. By
the 10th century, Old English had
become the
official language of England.
When we speak
English today, we sometimes feel puzzled about
which words or phrases to
use. This is because
English has many words and phrases from different
languages, but with
similar meanings. For
example, the word sick came from a word once used
by the Angles and the
Saxons, while ill came
from a word once used by the Norwegians.
Middle English
Middle English is the name
given to the English used from around the 12th to
the 15th
centuries. Many things played a part
in the development of this new type of English.
The most
important contribution was from the
Normans, a French-speaking people who defeated
England
and took control of the country in
1066. However, the Norman Conquest did not affect
English as
mush as the Angles and the Saxons’
victory about 600 years earlier, which led to Old
English
replacing Celtic. Even though the
Normans spoke French for the entire 250 years they
ruled
England, French did not replace English
as the first language. On the other hand, the
English
language did borrow many words from
French. This resulted in even more words with
similar
meanings, such as answer (from Old
English) and reply (from Old French). It is
interesting to
learn how the words for animals
and meat developed. After the Norman Conquest,
many English
people worked as servants
who raised animals. Therefore, the words for most
animals raised for
food, such as cow, sheep
and pig, came from Old English. However, the words
for the meat of
these animals, which was
served to the Normans, came from Old French: beef,
mutton, pork and
bacon.
Old French made
other contributions to Middle English as well. In
Old English, the
Germanic way of making words
plural was used. For example, they said housen
instead of houses,
and shoen instead of shoes.
After the Normans took control, they began using
the French way of
making plurals, adding an -s
to house and shoe. Only a few words kept their
Germanic plural
forms, such as manmen and
childchildren.
After the Norman Conquest,
high-class people spoke French while common people
spoke
English. However, by the latter half of
the 14th century, English had come into widespread
use
among all classes in England. In 1399,
Henry Ⅳ became King of England. His mother tongue
was English, and he used English for all
official events.
Modern English
Modern
English appeared during the Renaissance in the
16th century. Because of this
Modern English
includes many Latin and Greek words. Pronunciation
also went through huge
changes during this
period. Of course, this was not the end of the
changes in the English language.
The question
of whether English will keep on changing in the
future is easy to answer. It is certain
that
this process will continue, and people will keep
inventing new words and new ways of saying
things.
Project
The development
Chinese characters
The Chinese language
differs from Western languages in that, instead of
an alphabet, it uses
characters which stand
for ideas, objects or deeds. Chinese words are
formed by putting together
different
characters. In many cases, a single character can
also make up a word. The history of the
Chinese language can be examined by looking at
how these characters developed.
Chinese
writing began thousands of years ago. According to
an ancient story, a man named Cang
Jie
invented Chinese writing. One winter day while he
was hunting, he saw the tracks of animals
in
the snow and observed that the appearance of each
one was different. Then he had the idea that
he could use different shapes to represent
different objects. The first Chinese characters
were
drawings of physical objects. Some
characters have been simplified and others have
been made
more difficult over time.
However, as a whole, the characters have
developed from drawings into standard forms. The
character for a mountain was at first three
mountaintops together. This became one mountaintop
and three lines, and over time turned into the
character used nowadays.
Not all characters
were developed from drawings of objects. Sometimes
to express ideas, some
characters were made by
combining two or more characters together. For
example, 'rest' was made
up of the characters
for a man and a tree. The character 'prisoner' was
formed with a 'man' inside a
square. Other
characters were developed for directions and
numbers. It is easy to distinguish their
meanings by looking at them, for example, the
characters for 'up' and 'down', which are
opposites
of each other.
Though these
kinds of characters indicate meanings, one of
their shortcomings is that they do not
show
how they should be pronounced. Therefore, a method
was developed to have one part of a
character indicate the meaning and the
other suggest the pronunciation. Many Chinese
characters
used today were made this way.
In the 1950s the Chinese government introduced
simplified Chinese characters and now they have
widespread use in China's mainland.
The
story of Braille
Usually, when we talk about
reading, we think of using our eyes to see letters
written in ink on
paper. However, this is not
always true. For example, blind people cannot see,
but they can still
read books.
The man who
introduced blind people to reading was Louis
Braille (1809-1852). Braille lost his
eyesight
at the age of three as a result of an injury. When
he was ten, he went to a school for the
blind
in Paris. In those days, books for blind people
used paper pressed against metal wire to form
letters. Since the metal wire was heavy, each
book weighed as much as 100 pounds. The whole
system was not convenient for use. Indeed, the
school library only had fourteen such books in it.
In 1821, a soldier visited the school and
showed the students a system for passing messages
at
night during times of battle. His system
used paper with small, raised dots that could be
felt with
the fingers. Each letter of the
alphabet was represented by a different pattern
which consisted of
twelve dots. The soldiers
would drag their fingers over the raised dots to
read the message. While
the students found the
soldier's idea interesting, the system was too
difficult to be of practical use.
However,
young Louis Braille took the idea and worked on
it. At the age of fifteen, he created a
system
with patterns of six raised dots representing each
letter. 'Braille', the system for reading
used
today by blind people around the world, was thus
born.
The blind can easily recognize Braille
with the fingers. They can also easily write in
Braille with a
special typewriter. Today, it
is the most common system used by blind people for
reading and
writing, and nearly every
language, including Chinese, has its own version
of Braille for its people
to use.
Unit 3
Lost civilizations
Day 1, 15
July
I feel lucky to have won a place on this
trip. We are in Italy now, and tomorrow we are
visiting
Pompeii. Next week we are flying to
China, and going to Loulan, which is known as
China’s
Pompeii in the desert. Both Pompeii
and Loulan became lost civilizations long ago.
Day 2, 16 July
This morning we attended a
lecture about Pompeii. The city was founded in the
8th century BC. In
89 BC, the Romans took over
Pompeii. It then became a rich and busy city. Near
the city was a
volcano. On 24th August AD 79,
the volcano erupted and lava, ash and rocks poured
out of it onto
the surrounding countryside. It
continued to erupt for the next two days. Many
people were buried
alive, and so was the city.
How unfortunate!
Day 3, 17 July
Today I
saw the ancient Roman city of Pompeii as it was
2,000 years ago. How amazing! The city
was
forgotten for many years until the 18th century
when a farmer discovered a stone with writing
on it. People started to dig in the area for
treasure, which caused much damage. Thus, in 1860,
the
area was put under government protection
so it could be preserved and studied.
When I walked around the city, I saw
streets just as they had been, with stepping
stones along the
road so you did not have to
step in the mud on rainy days! I saw several
houses which were
decorated with wall
paintings. I also saw the people who had been
buried alive. It turns out that
after the ash
covered the people who failed to feel the city,
their bodies nearly completely broke
down and
disappeared, leaving empty spaces in the ash.
Years later, researchers were able to use
these empty spaces to produce true-to-life
figures of the people who had died in the
disaster. You
can see them today in Pompeii,
in the same place where the people fell. The
volcano is still there,
but looks very quiet
now. It’s hard to imagine how this peaceful
volcano destroyed the whole city!
Day10, 24
July
Finally, we arrived in Loulan after
several days of travelling. This commercial city
was busy and
wealthy about 2,000 years ago. It
was a stopping point on the famous Silk Road
between the East
and the west. It is believed
to have been gradually covered over by sandstorms
from AD200 to
AD400. I am so excited to be
here!
Day11, 25 July
A scholar from the
local cultural institute, Professor Zhang, told us
that around the year 1900 the
European
explorer Sven Hedin discovered the ruins of the
Loulan Kingdom. Seven found the
remains of
buildings buried beneath the sand, together with a
lot of treasures, including coins,
painted
pots, materials such as silk, documents and wall
paintings. When we went to the city, we
saw
the city walls, palaces, temples, workshops and
towers. We found the ruins most interesting.
There was an ancient water system that ran
through the middle of the city. The desert was
once a
green land with huge trees, but they
were cut down and that resulted in the city from
being buried
by sand—what a pity!
Project
Ancient Greek statue found in
Xinjiang
Researchers announced the discovery
of a small statue in northern Xinjiang, China,
recently. The
metal statue is of a Greek
soldier. When asked how a statue from distant
Greece could have
appeared in China,
researchers explained that no doubt this was a
result of Alexander the Great’s
influence.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) was the son
of a Greek king who defeated many Greek cities in
battle. At the age of twenty, Alexander
himself became king after his father died.
However, many
cities rose up against
Alexander, so he led an army to take them back.
Though his army had only
3,000 troops, he won
every battle and many enemy soldiers joined him.
In 334 BC, he took his army, now with 42,000
men, into the Middle East and then Egypt,
defeating every army that stood in his path.
Then he turned his eyes east, and marched all the
way
to India, finding victory wherever he
went. It seemed that nothing could stop him from
taking
control of the entire world. However,
his own army grew tired of endless battles and
refused to go
any further, so he had to turn
back. By the age of thirty, he had already
occupied more land than
anyone before, and it
seemed that more glory was waiting ahead of him.
Yet, in 323 BC, he came
down with a fever and
died. Since he had no son, his generals divided
his vast kingdom among
themselves. Alexander
the Great spread the Greek culture from Europe to
Africa and Asia,
influencing the world for
centuries to come. The statue of the Greek soldier
found in northern
Xinjiang probably came to
China in the 4th century BC as a result of trade.
Like many other
ancient objects that show a
Greek influence, it can now be seen in a museum in
Urumqi.
The father of Western
philosophy
The word 'philosophy' means 'love
of wisdom'. Philosophy can be thought of as a way
of looking
at the world around us, or of
answering the great questions of life, such as
'Why are we here?' and
'What is truth?'
The father of Western philosophy was Socrates
(469-399 BC). Socrates was from Athens, in
Greece. When he was young, he was a brave
soldier. Later, he became a teacher, but he taught
for
free and earned his salary from being a
common worker. Aside from this, we know very
little
about him. Since he never wrote a book,
we also know very little about his philosophy.
Yet,
Socrates has had a deep influence on
Western thought and science. To understand how
this can be
true, we must understand how
Socrates taught. Socrates taught by asking
questions. Through this,
he challenged his
students to develop and explain their own
arguments. In many cases, his
questions made
his students aware of their own errors. Many
students got embarrassed and even
angry when
this happened, while others changed their
opinions. Socrates' way of approaching the
truth is now called the Socratic Method. The
idea of asking questions until you reach the right
answer is the basis of modern philosophy and
science.
Unfortunately for him, Socrates
questioned too much. He always asked challenging
questions to
everyone he met, upsetting many
people in Athens. Finally, some people had had
enough of him,
so they took him to court for
questioning the existence of the Greek gods and
for corrupting the
young people of Athens. At
his trial, he defended himself by asking his
judges yet more questions.
This just made a
bad situation worse. Finally he was put to death
by being forced to drink poison.
Through his
death, Socrates became the hero of all people who
search for the truth.