英语阅读二 课文与笔记.docx

1、英语阅读二 课文与笔记Text 3 ARE THESE THE BEST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE? 這些是你生命中的黄金时期吗？ (Lead-in: Which are the best years of life? All of us ask ourselves this question from time to time, and we probably come up with different answers.You may find the answers in the following text.) Text:The ups and downs盛衰,沉浮 of

2、life may seem to have no predictable (可预言的) plan. But scientists now know there are very definite life patterns that almost all people share. Today, when we live 20 years longer than our great-grandparents曾祖父/母, and when women mysteriously outlive men by seven years, it is clearer than ever that the

3、 “game of life” is really a game of trade-offs交换. As we age, we trade交换strength for ingenuity (聪明才智/独创性), speed for thoroughness, passion for reason. These exchanges may not always seem fair, but at every age, there are some advantages. So it is reassuring to note that even if youve passed some of y

4、our prime全盛时期, you still have other prime years to experience in the future. Certain important primes seem to peak later in time. WHEN ARE YOU SMARTEST? From 18 to 25, according to IQ scores; but you are more experienced with increasing age. Youre sharpest in your 20s; around 30, memory begins to de

5、cline, particularly your ability to perform mathematical computations. “But your IQ for other tasks climbs,” says Berkeley psychologist Arthur Jensen. Your vocabulary at age 45, for example, is three times as great as when you graduated from college. At 60, your brain possesses almost four times as

6、much information as it did at age 21. This trade-off between sharpness and wisdom has led psychologist Dr. Leopold Bella to suggest that “maturity quotients（成熟商数）” (MQs instead of IQs) be adopted for adults. WHEN ARE YOU HEALTHIEST? For men, from 15 to 25; for women 15 to 30. “A man is in his best s

7、hape in the decade before age 25,” says New York internist Dr. Donald Tompkins. “His muscles are firmest, his resistance to colds and infections (传染/感染) is highest, and his body is most efficient in utilizing nutrients营养.” Women, for reasons scientists do not understand, get a five-year bonus (奖金/意想

8、不到的收获). Peak health begins to decline when the body process called anabolism (合成代谢cell growth) is overtaken by the opposite process, catabolism (cell death). “Cells have been dying since birth,” says Tomkins, “but in our late 20s, they start dying faster than they are replaced.” Also, muscle is repl

9、aced with fat. Women also get an additional bonus of good health later in life. The figures of National Institute of Health show that the onset of such “old age” diseases as arthritis(关节炎), rheumatism（风湿病）, and heart ailments (疾病) denies the generally greater fitness健康 of women: Life expectancy for

10、men is now 68.3; for women 75.9. U. S. aging authority William Kennel says, “Older women with low blood pressure are practically important.” However, psychologists believe that by entering the competitive job market in increasing numbers, women may eventually give up their statistical advantage. WHE

11、N ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO DEVELOP MENTAL DISORDERS? From 30 to 35.This surprisingly narrow peak is very real. The National Institute of Mental Health (INMH) reports that more than half of the patients in mental hospitals, male and female, are in this age group (men leading领先 women by about 20%) But i

12、f we are most neurotic (患神经病的) between 30 and 35, apparently we recover quickly. Admissions进入 to mental hospitals drop sharply around age 40 and stay down until age 65. Yet, say psychologists, between 40 and 55, more people report they “feel” on the verge (边缘) of a nervous breakdown. Relatively few

13、actually occur. “We become veterans at coping (cope:应付,处理).” says psychologist Marvin Marlins. Suicide, a measure of mental problems, peaks from 20 to 24 and then again around 70. Incidences发生/出现 of suicide are smallest among people with intact完好的 marriages, highest among the divorced. WHEN ARE YOU

14、HAPPIEST? You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15 to 24; the best professional sense from 40 to 49. Pessimism (悲观主义) peaks between 30 and 39. San Diego State University psychologists Marilyn Barges and Linda Dutton found that before age 24, we believe that our happiest years are yet to

15、come (还没来); over 30, we believer that theyre behind us. A National Health Survey agrees: After age 30, we become more realistic and do not view happiness as a goal in itself在本质上. If we maintain our health, achieve professional and emotional goals, then happiness, we feel, we follow.” The American In

16、stitute of Public Opinion says that the pessimism peak occurs when we realize that talent and determination arent enough to guarantee (保证/担保) success. Lady Luck幸运女神 must help. Also, youths good physical sense of self apparently does little to foster培养/抱有 happiness. “Parents who tell their teenage ch

17、ildren these are the happiest years,” says Ligget, “couldnt be more wrong大错特错. Adolescence is very difficult. Only when you are 40 and looking back does youth青春期 look blissful (非常幸福的,极其快乐的).” WHEN ARE YOU MOST CREATIVE? Generally between 30 to 39, but the peak varies with different professions. Moza

18、rt wrote a symphony交响曲/乐 and four sonatas (奏鸣曲) by age eight, and Mendelssohn composed his best-known work, A Midsummer Nights dream, at 17. Psychologist H. C. Lehman presents the years for peak work in many fields. Though the peak in most fields comes early-most Nobel Prize winners did their top re

19、search in their late 20s and 30s-creative people continue to produce quality work throughout their lives. By viewing lifes various peaks, we can easily get the feeling that we are part of a giant give-andtake plan. Though statistically the plan is there, we must remember that every peak has many exc

20、eptions例外. Says McLeish, “The human life journey cannot be charted by a single curving line.” Text 4Our disappearing wildlife Animal life first appeared on the earth about 400 million years ago. Through the passing millennia (millennium n. a period of 1,000 years), thousands of animal species have c

21、ome and gone. Until recently, this process was gradual, the result of change in climate, in habitat (the natural home of a plant or animal ), or in the genes基因 of the animals themselves. But the tremendous expansion of modern civilization now threatens to upset this natural balance, putting unpreced

22、ented (史无前例的) pressure on the survival of our wildlife.This imbalance can be traced to many causes. Most arise in the greed and poor planning of man himself. With each increase in mans population, the wilderness areas where the animals live get smaller. The use of pesticides to control injurious ins

23、ect also harms wild birds and animals. Water pollution kills fish in our rivers, lakes, and oceans. Hunters have almost exterminated (v.destroy utterly) many of the larger animals like the bighorn sheep (大角羊) and the grizzly bear (灰熊). And farmers destroy smaller animals like the prairie dog (草原犬鼠)

24、and coyote(郊狼/小狼). As a result of this unrelenting pressure, our wildlife is disappearing at the rate of one species or subspecies per years. Of all the continents, the most drastic激烈的 reduction in wildlife has occurred in North America, where the transition from a rural to a highly industrialized s

25、ociety has been most rapid. Among the victims are birds, mammals哺乳动物 and fish. We will never again see the passenger pigeon旅鸽or the eastern elk ( n.麋/四不像). They have been wiped out. Of many other species, only a few representatives still survive in the wild. The U.S. Department of the Interior has p

26、ut no fewer than多达 109 species on the endangered species list. (An endangered species is one with poor prospects for survival and in need of protection.) This list includes everything from the timber wolf (大灰狼/林狼) to the whooping crane (鸣鹤). Even the bald eagle, our national symbol, is threatened. A

27、nimals that kill other game猎物 for food are called predators (捕食者). The predators include the wolf, mountain lion, fox, bobcat, and bear. Attack against these animals began with the arrival of the first European settlers, who wished to protect their livestock. Eventually, a reward was offered to hunt

28、ers for every predator that was killed. This reward is called a bounty奖励金（money given for reward）. Ironically, the Federal government is the chief funder of predator control programs. The settlers also brought with them their Old World fears and superstitions迷信想法 concerning predators. Whether preyin

29、g on捕食 livestock or not, predators were shot on sight. This attitude continues to this day for coyotes, eagles, foxes, mountain lions, and bobcats, and is largely responsible for placing the eastern timber wolf, grizzly bear, and bald eagle on the endangered species list. Yet every animal, including

30、 the predator, has its place in natures grand总的design. Predators help maintain the health of their prey species by eliminating the diseased, young, old, and injured. Predators like the mountain lion and the wolf help to keep the deer herds healthy. Their kill also provider food for scavengers (食腐动物)

31、 that feed on以.为食 carrion腐肉. Occasional loss of livestock must be weighed against the good these animals do in maintaining the balance of nature. The mountain lion has especially suffered from trapping and hunting. This great cat had the widest distribution of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I

32、ts range extended from northern British Columbia to the tip of South America, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But by the turn of 19th century, this splendid animal was almost extinct in the eastern United States. In the West, the pattern of persecution was similar to that suffered by other predators. As the sheep and cattle empires grew, so did the war on the mountain lion. Overhunting an animal is an obvious form of extermination, but there are more subtle processes that often have the same fatal result. One of these is destruction of habitat. When farmers introduced sheep and catt