《牛津高中英语》模块5 Reading, Project课文
给我一个机会-中文系毕业论文范文
31. M5U1. Reading (1)—Secrets and lies
Dear Annie,
I feel betrayed by my friend
Hannah. We have been best friends since primary
school and
spend almost every day with each
other. Sometimes, other children say we are no fun
because we
are both very academic and like to
study, but we like it that way. We are both very
hard-working
and always get good grades at
school.
On Monday, we had a surprise math
quiz. I thought it was quite easy and was not
worried
about the results. I must have sounded
very proud of myself after the quiz, saying how
easy it was
and how I was sure to get a good
grade. The next day after class, my math teacher
told me that I
had the lowest grade in the
class! I felt so ashamed; I must be really stupid
to fail a simple math
quiz!
Afterwards, I
pretended to be cheerful, but Hannah sensed
something was wrong. We went to
wash our hands
in the girls‟ washroom before lunch and I admitted
how badly I had done. I
begged her not to tell
anyone else, and she said she would keep my
secret.
However, the next day, I noticed that
my classmates were staring at me as I came into
math
class and, when I went to sit down, I was
shocked to find a piece of paper on my desk that
said,
“Stupid Sarah got a D!” I was so upset
that I felt like crying. I thought that Hannah
must have told
my classmates about my grade
after promising not to. Everyone must have been
laughing behind
my back!
I was so angry
that I went straight to Hannah and told her we
weren‟t going to be friends any
more because
she couldn‟t keep her word. She was really upset
and swore that she hadn‟t told
anyone.
However, the only people who see our grades are
the teacher and the students that the
grades
belong to. She said that someone must have been
spying on us in the washroom, but I
didn't
believe her explanation. I don‟t think I can ever
truly forgive her. Now I‟ve lost my best
friend. What shall I do?
Yours sincerely
Sarah
32. M5U1. Reading (2)—A
friendship in trouble
Dear Annie,
My name
is Andrew. I am 17 years old and I have a problem.
My best friend Matthew has
stopped talking to
me. We have been best friends since childhood and
play together in the school
football
team. Last week, we had an important match against
another school. The other team was
superb and
we really had to focus. I was determined to win,
but Matthew was playing badly. He
could not
keep pace with the game, and as a result of his
careless playing we lost.
Afterwards, I got
really angry with him, and I told him I thought he
was not trying hard
enough. He got annoyed,
saying it wasn‟t his fault if he couldn‟t play as
well as me, and that I
shouldn‟t talk to him
in this manner. Then we both started shouting at
each other and it turned into
a horrible
argument. He accused me of some really bad things
just to hurt me. I feel really guilty
because
I made some cruel remarks too, but I dislike
seeing our team lose. Football is very
important to me, but so is our friendship.
Since we argued, he hasn‟t spoken to me even
though we sit next to each other in class. It‟s
really awkward. He is usually cheerful and
outgoing, but he has been really quiet and looks
sad.
The things he said hurt me too, but he
has not apologized to me.
Yesterday, I saw him
talking to another boy, Peter, and I cannot help
wondering if he wants
Peter to be his best
friend instead of me. I told my brother about the
quarrel, but he said Matthew
is just too
sensitive and perhaps a little bitter because I am
really athletic and good at football, and
that
I had better find another friend. What should I
do?
Yours truly
Andrew
33. M5U1. Project (1)—Teenagers’ friendships
My friend, Robert, has a twin sister named
Amanda. Though they get along well, there are
some things about Amanda and her friends that
puzzle Robert. He can't understand how girls can
talk for so long. For example, sometimes when
he leaves the apartment to play football, Amanda
and her friend, Sharon, are sitting on the
sofa, talking. When he comes back three and a half
hours
later, they‟re still sitting on the
sofa, continuing the same conversation on the same
topic. One day
Robert was so curious that he
asked Amanda what they talked about, but she
replied, „We‟re best
friends. We talk about
almost everything—film stars, pop songs, recipes,
everything!‟
Boys and girls have different
attitudes towards friendship. Friendships between
girls are
usually anchored in shared feelings
and support, but friendships between boys are
based on shared
activities or interests. A boy
is likely to be cautious about sharing his
feelings with his close
friends. A
girl‟s closest friend, however, might be eager to
tell her about something that has
happened in
her life.
Many studies worldwide show that
girls have more friendships than boys. In fact,
many
adolescent males cannot name a single
best friend. When asked, they usually hesitate
before
responding, „My best friend? I can‟t
think about that. I am busy with my homework, and
I have so
many different friends that it is
hard to choose just one best friend.‟
Females
who have been asked can usually answer the
question without pausing, „A best
friend? Of
course. We have a lot to share with each other. We
do a lot of things together such as
talking
and shopping.‟
We have to realize: boys share
activities, while girls share feelings. The
qualities that boys
and girls consider
important in a friend seem to be the same,
regardless of the basis of these
friendships.
The important thing to remember is that both of
them are friendships. We all need
friends in
our lives.
34. M5U1. Project
(2)—What friendship means to me
When deciding
what is most important in life, some people choose
money, while others
choose things like
security and comfort. However, for me, the most
important thing in life is
friendship. I
cannot imagine being without it.
Friendship
means not being alone. Once I was travelling by
myself through Beijing on the
way to my
grandparents‟ house. Since my next train left in
the evening, I had a day for sightseeing.
At
first, I didn‟t mind being alone, but then I saw
all the tourists having their pictures taken
together, and I began feeling sad. I ended up
returning to the train station and spending the
rest of
the day in the waiting room. Life is
no fun without a companion to share it with.
Friendship means having someone I can rely on.
Last year, I left my schoolbag on a
trolleybus, and I lost all of my notes for the
final exam. You can imagine how I panicked.
Luckily
for me, my best friend Jenny let me
copy her notes, and I used them in my revision.
Thanks to her
help, I was able to pass the
exam.
Friendship means being committed to
others. The best way to have a friend is to be a
friend.
Because I am a friend, I have had to
learn patience and mercy. Once I had a quarrel
with Jenny,
and she made some cruel comments
about me. Even though I was hurt, I forgave her
and she later
made an apology. Through this
incident, both of us have become better people.
However, if I had
ended our friendship,
we would have both learnt nothing.
In
conclusion, when we are old and look back on our
lives, what will we remember? Will we
remember
the things we bought or the places we have been
to? No, we will remember those whom
we loved
and those who loved us. We will remember our
friends.
35. M5U2. Reading— The
economy or the environment—must we choose?
TV
host: James Long
Speakers: Lin Shuiqing, a
spokeswoman from the Green Society
Qian Liwei, a business development consultant
James Long: Good morning. Today‟s debate
question is, “The economy or the
environment—must we choose?‟ With me are Ms
Lin Shuiqing, from the Green Society, and Mr
Qian Liwei, a business development consultant.
We are following our usual schedule for debates.
Ms Lin Shuiqing will speak first for three
minutes. Mr Qian Liwei will follow, also for three
minutes. Then we will open the floor for
discussion. If you have any questions or comments,
you
can use this time to express them.
Lin
Shuiqing: Good morning, everyone. First I am
talking to you today about the way vast
areas
of the world are damaged by chemical waste. Many
places have been destroyed and many
plants and
animals have died. This is awful. Factories
produce large numbers of harmful
chemicals.
The waste they create goes into the atmosphere and
makes us sick. Other types of
waste flow into
our water, killing river and sea life.
Much
sea life is being destroyed by fishing boats as
well. These boats catch large numbers of
fish
without giving them time to lay eggs. This will
result in a smaller number of fish left for us to
eat in the future.
While we damage our
environment, we keep producing more and more
people who need
more land to live on and more
food to eat! The world‟s population has grown by
six times what it
was in 1800. The figure is
now about 7 billion people!
It is our duty to
try to cut back on production and reduce the
number of things we make and
buy. The amount
of rubbish we produce is turning into a big
problem; we need to think more
about recycling
our waste. It would be good to increase the amount
of waste we recycle, and teach
people ways of
living that do not harm the environment. We may
even create more jobs and help
our country
become more developed at the same time.
Thank you.
Qian Liwei: Good
morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Ms Lin.
That was an
interesting speech. It is clear
that you are very concerned about the present
situation of our
environment. As a business
development consultant, I‟m often seen as being
against the
environment. When people think of
factories, they think of clouds of dirty smoke or
of pipes
pouring chemical waste into rivers.
They think of greedy businessmen hiding from their
responsibilities and only worrying about
money. People often have this belief that
development is
bad for the environment, but
this does not have to be true.
What I‟m here
to say is that having worked with many
environmental consultants, I know
that a
healthy environment and development should be
possible at the same time.
There are many
factories and industries which control the amount
of pollution they produce,
and are very
careful to spend money repairing any damage they
cause. The people operating these
factories
are deeply concerned about the environment. We
need to stop thinking of companies and
businessmen as the enemy, and give them more
credit!
Ms Lin suggested we should cut back on
the quantity of things we produce in order to save
the environment. I don‟t agree with her
because then jobs will be lost. I believe that
people are
more important than fish and trees.
However, I do agree that we should produce
more things from materials that have been
recycled, and less from raw materials, the
supply of which is growing smaller and smaller.
What we need are better laws to preserve the
environment and still allow our country to grow.
This includes controls on how many trees are
cut down and how many fish are caught. This might
make wood and seafood more expensive, but
paying a higher price for some things is not
always
bad. Asking around, I find many people
willing to pay a little higher price for things
that are
friendly to the environment.
Finally, those factories which pollute the
environment should have to pay higher taxes. If
you
harm the environment, you should have to
pay for it to be repaired.
Thank you for
listening.
James Long: Now we will open the
floor for discussion…
36. M5U2.
Project (1)— Protecting the Yangtze River
As the third longest river in the
world, the health of the Yangtze River has raised
concern
both in China and abroad. Rapid
development and an increase in population have
meant that the
amount of the water taken from
the river is rising, and that the waste being put
back into the river
has been increasing. This
is not good news for the people who rely on the
Yangtze River for water.
Nor is it good news
for the wide range of fish and wildlife that live
in or along the river.
Many people have
recognized the importance of protecting the
Yangtze River, and
organizations and projects
have been set up to deal with the problem. The
Green River
Organization, for example,
educates people on the importance of protecting
this great river. It also
watches the river
and stops the illegal hunting of animals, which
has put the wild animal
population in danger.
Two special government projects are also under
way. The first project, a water and soil
conservation project, was set up in 1989. This
project resulted in farmers replacing their crops
with trees or grass. It has already been a
success because it has helped improve the local
environment and the land around the river.
The second project includes nature reserves
for white-flag dolphins, one of the rarest animals
in the world. The number of white-flag
dolphins in China has dropped because of pollution
in the
Yangtze River. The white-flag dolphin
was last seen several years ago, though scientists
are still
hopeful that the animal has
survived.
We still have a long way to go to
solve all the problems in regard to the Yangtze
River.
However, people have finally realized
that it is their responsibility to protect this
great river.
Because of this, the situation on
the Yangtze River is improving. The efforts of the
Chinese
government and people to protect this
much-loved river will be appreciated for years to
come.
37. M5U2. Project
(2)—Climate change and a low-carbon life
There
is no doubt that the world climate has been
changing in recent years. Many people
blame
this change on gases such as carbon dioxide.
Animals and humans produce carbon dioxide
when
they breathe. However, many other human activities
also let off carbon gases. Anytime
something
is burnt, carbon is put into the atmosphere. Cars
and other vehicles burn petrol in their
engines, and electrical power plants most
often burn fuels such as coal and oil in order to
produce
electricity. Therefore, the
more petrol and electricity we consume, the more
carbon we are letting
off.
One thing we
can all do to help solve this problem is to walk
or use a bicycle when possible.
Although we
produce carbon when we breathe, the carbon we
produce is much less than that
produced by a
car. Of course, there are times when we need to
travel long distances. In this case,
public
transport such as buses and the underground is
always a much better choice than a private
car
or a taxi. If you must drive a car, it is never
good to travel alone—you should try to find other
people to travel with you.
At home, you
should use as little energy as possible. Turn off
the lights and anything else
electrical when
not in use. Since factories use a lot of energy
and also let off carbon gases, it is
important
to recycle as much as possible. In particular,
metal products and paper products require
a
lot of energy to produce, so you should find ways
to use these again without throwing them
away.
Last but not least, you can plant a tree,
because trees absorb the carbon dioxide in the air
to
produce oxygen. Planting a small tree is
cheap and easy, and two decades from now, when you
look at what will have become a large tree,
you will find a sense of satisfaction knowing that
you
did your part to help solve the problem of
climate change.
38. M5U3.
Reading—The perfect copy
Scientists have
announced that they have cloned the first human
embryo. This has caused
much debate round the
world. On the one hand, some scientists point out
that if you clone an
embryo, you can produce
valuable human tissues—such as bone or lung
tissue—that could be
used to save human lives.
On the other hand, many people, including some
scientists, disagree and
are afraid that, if
mankind toys with nature in this way, we may be on
our way to producing a
real-life
Frankenstein‟s monster.
Cloning is
producing an exact copy of a plant or an animal
using its cells. The first mammal
to be cloned
successfully from an adult cell was Dolly the
sheep. She was born in 1996 and died in
early
2003, at a much younger age than normal. When she
was born, many people were worried
that
cloning would lead to more diseases in the animal
world. However, in general the scientists
were
praised for their wonderful scientific advance.
Ian Wilmut, the Scottish scientist who
created Dolly, is shocked that some scientists are
now
considering cloning human beings. Although
he researches cloning, his intention has never
been
to create copies of human. Instead, he
thinks research efforts should concentrate on
creating new
tissues and organs that can be
used to cure diseases like cancer. However, some
people believe
that cloning human embryos with
the intention of destroying them shows no respect
for human
life.
Even though human cloning
is causing a lot of anxiety, it is good news for
Faye Wilson, a
41-year-old saleswoman who
cannot have a baby. „I am anxious to have a child
of my own,‟ she
says. „I don‟t want to adopt
someone else‟s child—If I had the chance, I would
have a cloned baby
right now.
While
cloning human embryos is not legal in many
countries, some scientists are already
pushing
ahead with research in order to produce a cloned
human baby. Severino Antinori, an
Italian
physician, has declared that he wants to be the
first to clone a human being.
In China,
scientists have focused their efforts on cloning
animals, as well as cloned tissues to
be used
in medical treatment. China has succeeded in
producing clones of cows and goats, and
continues to research ways in which cloning
can benefit mankind.
(Letter 1) Dear
Editor
I believe that human cloning is wrong.
If we toy with nature , we will have to deal with
the
consequences. Who knows what could happen?
Human life would just become a crop to be
harvested or a product for sale.
The human
race is using up the Earth‟s natural wealth. We
should be having fewer babies in
order to
reduce the Earth‟s population, not cloning more.
I feel sorry for the lady who cannot have a
baby, but I would like to point out that there are
many children in the world with no parents who
would be delighted to have a mother.
Pauline
Carter
(Letter 2) Dear Editor
I would
like to comment on your article, „The perfect
copy‟. I think the scientific advances
mentioned in your article are fantastic! I am
in complete agreement with human cloning. After
all,
scientists have been challenging moral
ideas for centuries. Why should we stop them now?
On a personal note, cloning would
totally transform my life. Seven years ago, my
10-year-old
daughter died of heart failure.
She was beautiful, cheerful and bright. I miss her
every single day.
If I had the chance, I would
clone her immediately so I that I could be with
her again.
Colin Jake
39. M5U3. Project
(1)— Man and Nature
For a long time, our
environment has been damaged because humans have
been careless.
People have harmed nature
through agriculture, fishing, hunting and tourism.
We further damage
the Earth by building new
channels in the sea and factories on the land, and
by creating pollution
with chemical waste. We
will some day destroy the planet we live on if we
continue in this way.
However, if we focus
only on conservation, then people may suffer. Not
everything that is
best for nature is good for
people. Would anyone say that development should
be stopped in favor
of nature. From the point
of view of some people, we are only doing what
humans have always
done, using nature to meet
our own needs. Other people argue that such
thinking may cause a
catastrophe, unless we
start to look around and understand how a clean
environment benefits us
all.
After decades
of destroying nature and using up natural
resources, many developed nations
are now
concerned about saving nature rather than
developing or destroying it. However, many
poorer nations must focus on meeting the
everyday needs of their people. In doing so, they
are
using up natural resources at a fast pace.
They have not yet seen the effects of the careless
use of
the environment like many wealthy
nations have. Often they do not realize that the
choices they
make are bad for the environment.
Should they be blamed for destroying hundreds of
thousands of
acres of rainforest if it means a
better income for their people? The developed and
developing
countries of the world need to work
together to make sure that people enjoy healthy
and happy
lives, without the environment
around them suffering.
It should not be a
question of humans winning and nature losing.
Humans can only really win
by protecting
nature. After all, food has to be produced in a
healthy, natural system, and we all
need clean
air to breathe and pure water to drink. It is
mankind‟s responsibility to find answers
that
are good for everyone, and everything.
40. M5U3. Project (2)— GM food: hope or
danger?
In recent years, there has been
great progress in the study of genetics. With this
progress
doors have been opened up to
technologies that never existed before. While many
people are
excited about these new
technologies, these same technologies frighten
others. Nowhere is this
truer than with
genetically modified (GM) food.
There are two
ways in which a plant or an animal can be
genetically modified. First, new
material can
be inserted into its DNA to give the plant or
animal qualities which it would never
have in
nature. Second, material can be taken from the DNA
of a plant or an animal in order to
remove
qualities which are not desired.
One aim of GM
research is to produce food which will make us
healthier. So far, this
technology has been
used to produce plants which are better able to
defend themselves against
pests and disease.
Supporters of GM food argue that GM plants are
healthier and have larger
harvests. While
there has been research in GM animals such as
pigs, no GM meat is being sold at
present.
Many questions have been raised about GM food.
No one really knows whether it is safe for
animals or humans to eat. Scientists admit
that more tests should be done on GM food.
Research
has been limited to increasing
production profits, rather than making sure that
GM foods are safe.
GM food could therefore be
dangerous to eat.
There is also a question as
to whether GM plants are safe for the environment.
Since GM
crops are planted outside, they are
part of the food chain—insects and other animals
eat them or
use their products, and these
insects and animals will be eaten by yet other
animals. No one knows
what effects the GM
material might have on the food chain.
Since
no one really knows whether GM food is safe, many
countries have hesitated to give
permission
for the production of GM foods, as they would
rather be cautious with this new
technology.