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1
Rock music began in America in
the late 1950’
s . It was not only a new
musical
form , but a forum for the
American youth to express their ideas of the world
and life .
In this forum , the stars
sang out the attitudes of the youth towards civil
rights , war
and peace ,the
disaffection of their society , and a range of
emotions between love and
hate . Allin
all , in this forum , the American youth redefined
the beliefs and feelings
of their
society . The typical representatives of the early
rock music were Elvis
Presley , singer
and poet Bob Dylan , the Bealtles , the rolling
Stones and so on . They
were the
culture heroes whom the young people worshipped .
2
The American young people in 1960’s
were a generation of rebellion . They found
that the affluent American society was
filled with poverty , injustice and gypocrisy .
They didn’t trust the adult world that
didn’t belong to them and refused to take their
beliefs and values . Many young people
took active part in the struggle which
protested against poverty , racial
discrimination and Vietnam War . Some young
people even tried to overthrow this
world by armed revolution. Many other young
took passive ways to show their
disaffections . They took drugs , refused to take
any
responsibilities and lived a
parasitic way of life . Or they escaped to the
frontiers and
lived a primitive way of
life .
3
Mathilda had been ill for three days .
Her mother had given her some medicine,
but it didn’t do any good . So they had
to ask the doctor to come . There had been a
number of cases of diphtheria in
Mathilda’s
school and two of them had
been dead .
When the doctor arrived at
Olson’s home , he wanted to examine Mthilda’s
throat
first . But no matter how he
coaxed ,,She wouldn’t open her mouth . So the
doctor had
to get the tongue depressor
into her mouth . But Mathilda reduced it to
splinters . In
order to protect
Mathilda herself and other children , the doctor
had to make sure
1
whether she had diphtheria or not , so
that he could treat her in time . Letting Mathilda
‘s father hold her wrists he tried his
best to
open her mouth and found she
really had
diphtheria. This story made
us can think such a question that something in
life can’t
only depend on self
willingness . Under some circumstances , certain
force seems
necessary .
4
The need for laws on euthanasia
can’t be dodged for much longer .
Euthanasia is a taboo in
most countries
. In these countries doctors can only practise it
secretly . But it is openly practiced
in
some
countries
,
such
as
Holland .
Right
now
more
and
more
countries
are
going
over
the
arguments about
legalizing euthanasia .
When a patient suffers from illness for
a long time and there is no hope of curing it ,
why do
we let him polong the throes
?Why can’t we practise euthanasia to stop the
throes ?
But if we legalize
euthanasia , there will be a danger Someone may
use it for killing . All in
all ,
euthanasia is question we can’t dodge .
5
The American women made great
contributions to the nation’s development , but
they received different forms of
prejudices because of their sex . In politics ,
they did
all the tedious details that
made the differene between victory and defeat on
election
day and seldom had the chance
to reach a better position , while the men reaped
the
rewards . In economy , most women
did the lower-paying and dead
–
end jobs and
they were paid less than the men for
the same job . Many American people didn’t
admit it was prejudice against women .
They said it was only a different division of
labour in society . Even many women
were content with their roles as second-class
citizens . So the author said it was a
long painful struggle for the women to get real
equality .
6
2
When I knew
Magpie got a scholarship of a California
University and could go to
the Fine
Arts School to study , I was very pleased for him
. I knew he wanted to
become a poet all
the time. I also knew he had a good talent . It
was a very good
chance for him . So I
went back to Crow Creek to tell him about the good
news and
let him fill out some papers .
But I didn’t find him at his home . His wife said
th
ey had
not been together
for a while and only heard he was in Chamberlain .
Then I went for
Salina and asked her to
help me find Magpie . Salina said Magpie had
changed a lot
since he was taken into
prison . She thought he was not interested in
going to the
university of white people
. But I said Magpie had a right to know this news
and make
the decision whether to go or
not by himself . She agreed and took me to his
good
friend , Elgie . But when I could
really see Magpie at last , he had been shot by
the
police .
7
Miss Brill was
an English who lived in a coastal city in France .
She was old and
poor . She would go to
the park on every Sunday afternoon . She always
sat on the
same bench , listening
people around her talk , or watching other
people’s lives in
front of her . She
suddenly had a feeling on that Sunday afternoon .
She felt the life
was like a play and
she was one part of the community . She had a part
in the
performance . At this time , the
feeling of loneliness began to escape her .
But just at this time she
heard a couple of young people talk about her with
contempt . Even the young man asked her
to leave in a low voice . The short feeling
of happiness disappeared . she went
home with a broken heart .
8
Man
created
language .
It
was
man’s
way
of
commu
nicating
with
his
fellow
man .
The
difference between oral and written
language was that oral language could take the
human voice to
infuse it with the
shades of deeper meaning . Flowers was nearly
singing when she read A Tale of
3
Two
Cities .
It
sounded
beautiful .
Her
reading
made
me
realize
the
wonder
of
language.
Mrs.
Flowers gave me novels and poems . I
learned value of life from these books and
realized how
beautiful the language of
literature works was .
Man
created
language .
It
was
man’s
way
of
com
municating
with
his
fellow
man .
The
difference between oral and written
language was that oral language could take the
human voice to
infuse it with the
shades of deeper meaning . Flowers was nearly
singing when she read A Tale of
Two
Cities .
It
sounded
beautiful .
Her
reading
made
me
realize
the
wonder
of
language.
Mrs.
Flowers gave me novels and poems . I
learned value of life from these books and
realized how
beautiful the language of
literature works was .
9
People have a short
attention span . So in order to capture the
viewer’s attention , television
must
provide constant stimulation through variety ,
novelty , action and movement . The result of
doing so is that news is too brief and
results in inefficient communication . Many news
programs
are
like
“
machine
–gunning
with
scraps
“and
fight
coherence
of
appeal
to
the
short
attention
span
will
decivilize
as
well.
To
avoid
complexity
means
to
give
up
thinking .
The
“
functionally illiterates “ among a
dult
Americans are continually increasing . They even
do not
know how to answer the want ad.
Or understand the instructions on a medicine
bottle . At least
television should be
responsible for part of it .
10
One night , two German military
officers were murdered by Frenchmen . The next
day , a German officer declared to
thirty French prisoners , “ My order is that one
man
in every ten shall be selected and
shot tomorrow . That is to say , three of you
thirty
people will die tomorrow . We
are indifferent as to which three . You can choose
for
yourselves .”
The prisoners had a heated discussion
about who should die. Someone said the old
people should go first . This was the
way of nature . Some people said the unmarried
should go first because they had no
responsibilities . At last , all consented to
drawing
4
lots
to decide which three went to die . A rich lawyer
unfortunately got the death
draw . He
said , “ I ‘ll give a hundred thousand francs to
anyone who will die for me .
“
11
Some people will fall as
leep
as soon as their heads touch the pillows . Some
people can’t go to
sleep although they
have been lying in bed several hours . The more he
wants to go to sleep , the
more wakeful
he is . I belong to the latter . When I write an
essay , I feel an overpowering desire
for sleep . But when I go to bed , I
can do anything but sleep . I can compose grand
symphonies ,
paint magnificent pictures
and write good essays . The artificial ways of
inducing sleep are legion ,
but they
are of no avail . When I can’t go
to
sleep at night , I imagine a dialogue with a
friend till I
either laugh or fall
asleep . I find this is a good way to go to sleep
.
12
As a very small child , I made up my
mind to become a writer in future . When I
become a writer , what I have most
wanted to do is to make political writing into a
work of art . The opinion that art
should have nothing to do with politics is wrong .
Writing is exposing lies , protecting
truth and also an aesthetic experience . Animal
Farm was the book in which I tried to
fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into
one whole . Writing should serve the
society and the public . This is the principle I
must follow . I f a writer lacks
political purpose , he will only write some purple
passages , even some humbug .
13
The
first
thing
Russell
thinks
is
the
most
ordinary
function
of
work
,
namely
the
relief
o
ftedium.
He thinks even the dullest work is less painful
than idleness to most people . Then he
talks about how the work can provide
the people with opportunities for their ambitions.
Man, as a
member of the society , hopes
that he can procure more and more social
achievements . He points
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