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Unit1
在我成长的房子里有一间屋子，我们把它称作图书馆。当然，
那不是真正
的图书馆，
它仅仅是由电视机占据了主要位置的一间
书斋。
但是它四面墙上全部
装修了嵌入式书架，上面摆了数百本
书籍
——
那些精装本的书籍呈现着各种颜
色，
它们在那间屋里把我们团团围住。
这些书是我父母和祖父
母花了毕生精力收
集起来的，它们成为我童年的一部分。
我们这一代人
——
即
20
世纪
50
年代和
60
年代的人
——
可能是了解
这种心
情的最后一代人了，
那种被上百万文字环绕着的感觉；<
/p>
那些文字是历代知名的和
默默无闻的作家们的作品。当前，在
20
世纪
70
年代
中期，我们正目睹一个不
易察觉却毫无疑问存在的慢慢背离书籍这类事物的倾向。
恐怕美国的家庭很快就
不会再留出房间做图书馆了。精装的图书
——
那思想永驻的象征，那从一个时代
向下一
时代传留的智慧
——
可能会添加到我们即将灭绝的物种名单上去
。
Unit 2 The foreign
students at New York University come from more
than 130
countries. Fifty percent are
from Asia, especially South Korea, Japan and
China.
Foreign
students
are
studying
in
all
fourteen
schools
within
the
university.
These
include
arts
and
sciences,
law,
business
and
education .Seventy-five
percent
of
the
foreign
students
are
in
graduate
school.
About
twenty-five
percent are in
four-
year programs that lead to a
bachelor’s degree.
The cost
of attending New York University is different in
each of its schools. For
example, one
year of study at the Wagner Graduate School of
Public Service
costs about $$19,000.
Some other schools within NYU cost more. Some cost
less.
The housing cost is about $$9,000
a year
.
Bachelor
’
s
degree
students
at
NYU
can
borrow
money
from
financial
institutions to
help pay for their studies. Foreign students in
graduate school at
NYU can get teaching
or research jobs at the university. They can also
get loans
from financial institutions.
Unit3.
十五年前，计算机专家们扩展了因特网系统。这个
扩展后的系统被叫做万
维网。
万维网使计算机用户通过比以往的
因特网系统快得多的速度来寻找并交换
书面材料和图片。
对大多数能够使用计算机的人来说，
因特网和万维网已经成为快速交
换信息的工
具。
因特网上有许多很有价值的信息。
作为一种研究工具，
没有什么能比得上因
特网。
通过因特网几乎可以找到任何种类的信息。
网上有专门刊登鬼怪故事，
诗歌或者
儿童故事的电子杂志。在
这个电子世界里有供你玩游戏的地方，也有讨论政治、
科学，
历
史，
农耕或者任何你感兴趣的话题的地方。
你可以浏览或者搜集
哈勃太
空望远镜拍摄到的精美的彩色图片。
你可以听音乐或者看
录像。
你可以看到音乐
家表演他们的最新的歌曲。
你甚至可以加入一个小组，
通过垫子手段和他们聚会
并讨论他们最喜爱的摇滚乐队。
Unit4Movie
experts say Walt Disney was responsible for the
development of the
art
of
animation.
Disney
’
s
artists
tried
to
put
life
into
every
drawing .
That
meant they had to feel
all the emotions of the cartoon creatures:
happiness,
sadness,
anger
,
fear
.
The
artists
looked
at
themselves
in
a
mirror
and
expressed each emotion: a smile, tears,
a red face, wide-opened eyes. Then
they
drew that look on the face of each cartoon
creature.
Disney
’
s
art
of
animation
reached
its
highest
point
in
1940
with
the
movie
Pinocchio. The story
is about a wooden toy that comes to life as a
little boy.
Disney
’
s artists
drew two-a-half-million pictures to make
Pinocchio. The artists
drew flat
pictures. Yet they created a look of space and
solid objects. Pinocchio
was an
imaginary world, yet it looked very real.
Unit5.
20
世纪，美国梦遇到
了挑战。大萧条使得二三十年代的生活到处都很艰
难，
对那些直
接受到影响的人们来说，
现实与美国梦几乎正好相反。
种族间的
不
安定依然存在，在国内的一些地方，种族暴力时有发生。
<
/p>
自从二战结束以后，
年轻的美国家庭开始追求相对舒适和稳定的生
活，
他们选择
居住在大城市周边的市郊住宅区。因此
50
年代是一个相对保守的年代，当时，
“完美家
庭”
是很多人心中的美国梦的一部分，
或者就是美国梦的结果本
身。
但
这种保守的生活方式很快就被新一代人所鄙弃，
60
年代的年轻人用嬉皮士的价
值观取代了包括
美国梦在内的传统价值观。
虽说对于美国梦的追求在那些年中有
所减弱，但美国梦从来就没有彻底消亡过。
means
internships for thousands of American college
students.
They work in the kinds of
jobs they might want to have some day. Experts say
at
least
one-
third
of
all
American
college
students
complete
an
internship
before they graduate. Some students
work for large companies. Some work for
small organizations. Some work for the
United States government.
Many interns do not earn money at their
summer jobs. Some college students
get
an internship to gain experience in the kind of
job they want to get after
graduation.
Others do not yet know what kind of permanent job
they want. So
they may get internships
in several different companies or organizations.
In this
way, they can find out what
kind of job they like best. Why are internships so
popular?
Students
can
learn
about
different
kinds
of
jobs.
They
can
do
interesting work. They can learn skills
and gain valuable experience. And they
can meet important people. Students
often describe internships as a chance
that happens once in a lifetime.
Unit7
迷信是当今英国文化中的一部分。尽管迷信活动在
100
年前更为活跃，但
现在仍有不少相信迷信的人，
有老人也有年轻人。
所有的迷信都有其根源，
所谓无火不起烟。
是谁第一个认为在屋里打伞会带来厄
运？是谁第一个走在梯子下而遭遇不幸？是谁把马蹄铁倒挂？是谁打碎了镜
子？是谁洒了
盐？是谁第一个把
13
号星期五看成最倒霉的日子？
16
、
17
世纪时，人们的生活中充满了碰运气的成分，每天的生活中心都在于揣
测未
来的祸福。宗教、疾病、火灾也许称得上是米线的三大最基本得要素。尽管
今天我们看事
物的角度已经不同，但是迷信作为一种传统仍然流传在我们中间。
Unit8Millions of people around the
world depend on the National Geographic
Society
for
information.
Each
year
,
thousands
of
visitors
tour
the
society
’
s
Explorers Hall in central Washington,
D.C. Exhibits and modern technology in
this museum help them learn about the
Earth and its environment.
The National
Geographic Society produces maps, books, and
magazines that