胡敏 读故事记单词 考研英语词汇

1.

The Time of Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16

th

president of the United States of America. He is remembered

for many things, including his log- cabin home, his

absurd

looking clothing

accessory,

a top-hat,

but Lincoln?s

absolute

most important

contribution

to

America?s

history was to

abolish

slavery, a

very hard task to

accomplish

at that time. In the middle of the 19

th

century, America was split by

an

abstract

border. The country was cut into two parts: the North and the South. There were an

abundance

of differences which caused this abnormal

separation

. For instance, the North held all

of the Universities and

Military Academies

whereas in the South, access to such

institutions

was

limited.

Also,

Northerners

spoke

standard

American

English

while

Southerners

spoke

with

a

Southern

accent

. But the largest difference that abound between the North and the South at that

time was slavery and all of the

aspects

that

accompanied

it.

The North

thought

that

the South

should

abandon

slavery

because

mint

most

cases,

slaves

faced daily

abuse

from their owners. Most Northerners tried to abide by the rule that “All men are

created

equal

.” These reasons largely account for the American Civil War. The Civil War was a

long,

brutal

war with a very high

casualty

rate. Many young men from both the North and the

South

were

killed

on

the

battlefield;

the

death

toll

was

also

accelerated

by

the

fact

that

small

Army hospitals could not

accommodate

so many wounded soldiers.

The Civil War was filled with heroes on both sides of the battlefield. Names like ,

General Sherman, and the

acclaimed

Southern General Robert E. Lee. All of these men fought

bravely and made harrowing decisions on their own accord. But Lincoln is probably most often

associated with his leadership of the country during this difficult period. He was a firm believer

that slavery was wrong and he fought hard to stop it. In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation

Proclamation which legally granted freedom to all slaves living in America. But in 1865

, Lincoln?s

life came to an

abrupt

ended

while he was watching a play at Ford?s Theater in Washington D.C.

His death was not an

accident

; he was

assassinated

by a man named John Wilkes Booth.

Not long after Lincoln?s death, the North defeated the South and the Civil War

was ended.

The South was no longer thought of as another country, but part of America. And all of the slaves

living and working in the South were freed and

absorbed

into society.

2.

Mike

—

a Story of Personal Change

Mike could hardly be described as your typical adolescent. He would casually acknowledge

to his few friends that he liked to watch DVDs, although perhaps a more accurate description was

that he was a DVD addict. Over the last six months, Mike had accumulated thousands of DVDs.

When he was not at school, he had become accustomed to spending his time wandering the streets

of the city, acquiring more and more films. Indeed, it became a joke that if asked for his address,

he would give the address of the DVD shop adjacent to our school since he spent so much time

there.

Mike hated attending school. In his eyes, its only advantage was its location. During lessons,

he adopted a rather cool demeanor towards most of his classmates and was often accused of being

aloof. All he seemed concerned about was adding to his DVD collection. In truth, Mike had not

adapted to life at the school very well. Perhaps he felt that he still needed adequate time to adjust

to a new environment although no one could work out why he harbored such an acute feeling of

self- pity.

As someone who also adores watching films, I had slowly become acquainted with Mike. I

had often seen him in the DVD shop which adjoined our school, yet it took a long time before he

responded to my advances of friendship. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say we were actually

friends, although he would at least acknowledge my presence with a cursory nod of the head when

he saw me.

One day, I was asked to administrate our school?s new film club. I was a little wary about

asking Mike to help me select su

itable films in case he said no. however, I needn?t have worried.

Mike?s face lit up as he scrutinized a poster I had just adhered to the wall. The poster advertised

the grand opening of the Film Club the following week. ?Hey David,? he muttered excitedly,

?I

want to be involved with that.?

The change in Mike?s behavior over the next month was dramatic. I have no doubt that it was

the Film Club which activated the turnaround. Once a boy who spent most of his time sulking,

Mike was now a model student. Before each film was shown, he would give a very informative

speech about the director and main actors. Everyone was impressed by his knowledge and passion

for films and he suddenly became extremely popular at school.

3.

Salt

Now that Billy?s parents were a

little more affluent, the family had agreed that they could a

cottage

on

the

out

skirts

of

town.

Although

the

cottage was

somewhat

old-fashioned,

the

agent

who rented the place to them was keen to advocate that they should not install air-conditioning as

they could air-condition the place by opening the skylights. The day that they moved, the air was

heavy with the advent of spring, a sense of renewal accompanied them along the way; Billy and

the old dog Rufus watched the amazing aerial gymnastics of the swallows out of the car window,

browsing through the family album every now and then. When they arrived, a group of men were

unloading the van. Billy thought looking around the new surroundings should be placed high on

their

agenda,

so

he

whistled

to

Rufus

and

they

set

off

on

an

adventure.

They

found

a

small

footpath, Rufus showing his excitement and his affection for Billy by panting and wagging his tail.

Billy was at an age when he could still feel a sense of aesthetic excitement at the beauty of nature.

The adverse effects of those years in the city seemed to vanish as he walked, and with Rufus as his

affiliate he felt invincible. However, he had reckoned without Rufus. They rounded a bend in the

path and suddenly, in the next field, they saw sheep. Rufus knew a good game when he saw one,

he ran straight into the field, baking aggressively. Just then, a man in green boots stepped out and

in an equally aggressive manner started to shout at Rufus to get out of the field. With a sense of

alarm, Billy realized that the man was carrying a shotgun and he saw him level it and take aim at

Rufus.

“Please don?t shoot”, yelled Billy, but this seemed to aggravate the man still more. The gun

went off and Rufus howled in agony. He ran helter-skelter back to Billy with his tail between his

legs. The man strode over to Billy.

“Those sheep are pregnant”, the man said, angrily. “If you agitate them they can lose their

lambs. I will affirm my right to kill any dog that chases them.”

“I agree”, said Billy. “And I?m sorry, please; help me get Rufus to a vet!”

“I don?t think your dog will need a vet this time”, said them man, “the gun was only loaded

with salt. But next time, keep him on a lead, okay?”

4. Freshman Year

I was born in a small town, up in the mountains. Because of the high altitude, few people lived

there. I was always amid my neighbors and friends, people I had known for all of my life. When I was

in my hometown, I felt like those days would last forever.

But the days went by quickly, and soon I

found myself packing my bags for college. I was full of ambition, and had applied to go to university in

a big city.

When I first got to my university, I was on the alert for everything. I felt very much alone without

my

family

and

friends.

I

was

like

an

alien

arriving

on

a

new

planet.

I

felt

like

an

ambassador

from

another world. Once classes started, things were better. I was busier, because I had to allocate most of

my time to studying. I wanted to work hard, and did not allow my self to go to a large amount of parties.

I wanted to find an alternate social life that would let me have fun, without always drinking alcohol,

like

some

university

students

do.

Many

people

allege

that

this

is

why

some

students

get

bad

grades

their first year at university.

Because I felt very ambiguous about what I wanted to study, I took many different classes. I tried

many different things, but still hadn?t found the perfect match for me.

This made me feel even more

lost

at

school,

and

I

knew

I

had

to

find

a

way

to

amend

things.

In

order

to

make

new

friends,

and

alleviate

my

loneliness,

I

joined

the

drama

club

at

my

school.

It

was

there

I

met

my

first

ally.

The

president of the drama club was an older student, named Betty. She was quite amiable, and helped give

me advice about school. She helped me to alter my schedule so that I had the best classes.

Soon our drama club put on its first show. It was a comedy, full of jokes to amuse the audience.

My parents and friends even drove out to watch me. We were only amateur actors, but I think we did a

good job. After

the show, my father said, “Sarah, you amaze me, I didn?

t know you were so good at

acting!”

such

ample

praise

made

me

very

proud.

That

was

when

I

realized

what

I

wanted

to

be,

an

actress.

5.

Story of the Vikings

Jerry had been interested in ancient history since he was a little child. Every night before going to

bed, his grandfather would tell him stories of great civilizations like the Romans, the Vikings, the Incas

and many others. These short anecdotes and stories always involved great kings and leaders, great wars

and battles, and great heroes and foes. However, a story that had anything to do with the fierce Vikings

was

always

J

erry?s

favorite.

He

was

most

interested

in

these

stories

because

his

grandfather

had

analyzed their family tree a

nd discovered that the family?s ancestors were actually

Vikings.

Every day at school, Jerry would wonder what story his grandfather would tell him that night.. He

was always anxious to come home so that he could see his grandfather and hear the next story. Apart

from

the

action

of

each

story,

J

erry?s

grandfather

also

tried

to

teach

Jerry

a

life- lesson

that

he

could

apply in his life.

Jerry?s

grandfather often accomplished this by using analogies to compare Jerr

y?s life

with

some

thing

from

that

day?s

story.

The

story

that

Jerry

enjoyed

the

most

was

about

an

annual

fishing trip that the Vikings made each year on a certain anniversary. in this story, the captain of a large

Viking

ship

decided

to

set

sail

without

bringing

their

large,

heavy

anchor

because

they

did

not

anticipate

the

trip

taking

a

long

time

and

they

wanted

more

room

for

all

of

the

fish

too

because

the

Vikings had a strong appetite for fish.

Some of the Vikings on the ship were appalled at the decision of not bringing an anchor because of

the

apparent

danger

of

not

bringing

one.

They

thought

the

ship

was

anything

but

safe.

These

men

appealed

to

the

captain

of

the

ship

and

one

man

even

wrote

an

anonymous

letter

to

the

king

of

the