自学考试综合英语二课文文本.docx

1、自学考试综合英语二课文文本自学考试综合英语二课文文本Twelve Things I Wish They Taught at School 1.I attended junior and senior high school, public institution in New York and New Jersey, just after the Second World War. It seems a long time ago.The facilities and skills of the teachers were probably well above average for the

2、 United States at that time.Since then, ive learned a great deal. One of the most important thing ive learned is how much there is to learn,and how much I dont yet know. Sometimes I think how grateful i would be today if I had learned more back then about what really matter. In some respects educati

3、ons is terribly narrow; the only thing I ever learned in school aboutNapoleons was that the United States made a Louisianna Purchase from him (On a planet where some 95% of the inhabitants are not Americans, the only history that was thought worth teaching was American history.) In spelling, grammar

4、, the fundamentalsof math,and other vital subjects, my teachers did a pretty good job.But theres no much else I wish theyd taught us. 2.Perhaps all the deficiencies have since been rectified.It seems to me there are many things (often more a matter of attitude and perception than the simple memoriza

5、tion othings that truly would be useful in later life,f facts) that the schools should teach useful in making a stronger country and a better world, but useful also in making people happier. Human beings enjoy learning. Thats one of the few things that we do better than the other species on our plan

6、et. Every student should regulary experience theAha!when something you never understood, or something you never knew was mystery becomes clear. 3.So heres my list: Pick a difficult thing and learn it well 4.The Greek philosopher Socrates said this was one of the greatest of human joys, andit is. Whi

7、le you learn a little bit about many subjects, make sure you learn a great deal about one or two. It hardly matters what the subject is, as long as it deeply interests you, and you place it in its broader human context. After you teach yourself one subject, you become much more confident about your

8、ability to teach yourself another. You gradually find youve acquired a key skill. The world is changing so rapidly that youmust continue to teach yourself throughout your life. But dont get trapped by the first subject that interests you, or the first thing you find yourself good at. The world is fu

9、ll of wonders, and some of them we dont discover until were all grow up. Most of them. sadly , we never discover. Dont be afraid to ask stupid questions. 5.Many apparently naive inquiries like why grass is green, or why the Sun is round, orwhy we need 55.000 nuclear weapons in the world are really d

10、eep questions. The answers can be a gateway to real insights. Its also important to know, as well as you can, what it is that you dont know, and asking questions is the way. To ask stupid questions requires courage on the part of the asker and knowledge and patience on the part of the answerer. And

11、dont confine your learning to schoolwork. Discuss ideas indepth with friends. Its much braver to ask questions even when theres a prospect ofridicule than to suppress your questions and become deadened to the world around you. Listen carefully. 6.Many conversations are a kind of competition that rar

12、ely leads to discovery on eitherside. When people are talking, dont spend the time thinking about what youre going to say next. Instead, try to understand what theyre saying, what experience is behindtheir remarks, what you can learn from or about them. Older people have grown up in a world very dif

13、ferent from yours, one you may not know very well. They. and people from other parts of the country and from other nations, have important perspectives that can enrich your life. Everybody makes mistakes 7.Everybodys understanding is incomplete. Be open to correction, and learn to correct your own m

14、istakes. The only embarrassment is in not learning from your mistakes. Know your planet 8.Its the only one we have. Learn how it works. Were changing the atmosphere, the surface, the waters of the Earth, often for some short-term advantage when the long-term implications are unknow. The citizens of

15、any country should have at least something to say about the direction in which were going. If we dont understand the issues, we abandon the future. Science and technology. 9.You cant know your planet unless you know something about science and technology.School science courses, I remember, concentra

16、ted on the unimportant parts of science,leaving the major insights almost untouched. The great discoveries in modern science are also great discoveries of the human spirit. For example, Copernicus showed that far frombeing the center of the universe, about which the Sun, the Moon, the planets,and th

17、e stars revolved in clockwise homagethe Earth is just one of many small worlds. This is a deflation of our pretensions, to be sure, but it is also the opening up to our view of a vast and awesome universe. Every high school graduate should have some idea of the insights of Copernicus, Newton, Darwin

18、, Freud, and Einstein. (Einsteins special theory of relativity, far from being obscure and exceptionally difficult, can be understood in its basics with no more than first-year algebra, and the notion of a rowboat in a river going upstream and downstream.) Dont spend your life watching TV. 10.You kn

19、ow what Im Talking about. Culture. 11.Gain some exposure to the great works of liturature, art and music. If such a work is hundreds or thousands of years old and is still admired, there is probably somethingto it. Like all deep experiences, it may take a little work on your part to discover what al

20、l the fuss is about. But once you make the effort, your life has changed; youve acquired a source of enjoyment and excitement for the rest of your days. In a world astightly connected as ours is, dont restrict your attention to American or western culture. Learn how and what people elsewhere think.

21、Learn something of their history, theirreligion, their viewpoints. Compassion 12.Many people believe that we live in an extraordinarily selfish time. But there is a hollowness, a loneliness that comes from living only for yourself. Humans are capable of great mutual compassion, love and tenderness.

22、These feelings, however, need encouragement to grow. 13.Look at the delight a one-or two- year old takes in learning, and you see how powerful is the human will to learn. Our passion to understand the universe and our compassion for others jointly provide the chief hope for the human race. Lesson tw

23、o Icons Heros and Cultural Icons Gray Goshgarian If you were asked to list ten American heroes and heroines, you would probably name some or all of the following : George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,H

24、elen Keller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Rosa Parks. If next you were asked to list people who are generally admired by society, who somehow seem bigger than life, you might come up with an entirely different list. You might, in fact, name people who are celebrated for their wealth and glamour rathe

25、r than their achievements and moral strength of character. And you would not be alone, because pollsters have found that people today do not choose political leaders who shape history for their Most Admired list,but rather movie and television celebrities, fashion models, professional athletes, and

26、even comic book and cartoon characters. In short media icons. By definition, heroes and heroines are men and women distinguished by uncommon courage, achievements, and self-sacrifice made most oftern for the benefit of others-then are people against whom we measure others. They are men and women rec

27、ognized for shaping our nations consciousness and development as well as the lives of thosewho admire them. Yet, some people say that ours is an age where true heroes and heroines are hard to come by, where the very ideal of heroism is something beyond us-an artifact of the past. Some maintain that

28、because the Cold War is over and because America is at peace our age is essentially and unheroic one. Furthermore, the overallcrime rate is down, poverty has been eased by a strong and growing economy, and advances continue to be made in medical science. Consequently, bereft of cultural heroes, we h

29、ave latched onto cultural iconsmedia superstars such as actors, actresses, sports celebrities, television personalities, and people who are simply famous for being famous. Cultural icons are harder to define, but we know them when we see them. They arepeople who manage to transcend celebrity, who ar

30、e legendary, who somehow manageto become mythic. But what makes some figures icons and others mere celebrities? Thats hard to answer. In part, their lives have the quality of a story. For instance, the beautiful young Diana Spencer who at 19 married a prince, bore a king, renounced marriage and the

31、throne, and died at the moment she found true love. Good looks certainly help. So does a special indefinable charisma, with the help of the media. But nothing becomes an icon more than a tragic and early death-such as Martin Luther King Jr.,John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana. Being Somebody Donna W

32、oolfolk Cross One hundred years ago, people became famous for what they had achieved. Men like J.P. Morgan, E.H. Harriman and Jay Gould were all notable achievers. So were Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, and Susan B. Anthony. Their accomplishments are still evident in our own day. Todays celebrities, however, often do not become known for any enduring achievement. The people we most admire today are usually those who are most highly publicized by the media. In 1981, a Gallup poll revealed that Nancy Reagan wa