10篇英语小短文

The Language of Music

A

painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall,

and everyone can see it. A

composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers

and players have great responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A

student of music needs as long and as arduous a training to become a performer as a

medical student needs to become a doctor

. Most training is concerned with technique, for

musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an athlete or a ballet dancer

. Singers

practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be inadequate without controlled

muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left hand up and down,

while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm

—

two entirely different movements.

Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists

are spared this particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it

is the piano tuner’s res

ponsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own

difficulties; the hammers that hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion,

and each overlapping tone has to sound clear

.

This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they

have to learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to

aim at controlling these sound with fanatical but selfless authority.

Technique

is

of

no

use

unless

it

is

combined

with

musical

knowledge

and

understanding. Great artists are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of

music that they can enjoy performing works written in any century.

Schooling and Education

It is commonly believed in United States that school is where

people go to get an

education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to

go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is

important.

Education

is

much

more

open- ended

and

all-inclusive

than

schooling.

Education

knows

no

bounds.

It

can

take

place

anywhere,

whether

in

the

shower

or

in

the

job,

whether in a kitchen or on a tractor

. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in

schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can range

from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a

distinguished

scientist.

Whereas

schooling

has

a

certain

predictability,

education

quite

often produces

surprises.

A chance

conversation with

a

stranger may

lead

a

person

to

discover

how

little

is

known

of

other

religions.

People

are

engaged

in

education

from

infancy

on.

Education,

then,

is

a

very

broad,

inclusive

term.

It

is

a

lifelong

process,

a

process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part

of one’s entire life.

Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern

varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at

approximately

the

same

time,

take

assigned

seats,

are

taught

by

an

adult,

use

similar

textbooks,

do

homework,

take

exams,

and

so

on.

The

slices

of

reality

that

are

to

be

learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the working of government,

have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high

school

students

know

that

there

not

likely

to

find

out

in

their

classes

the

truth

about

political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting

with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.

The Definition of “Price”

Prices determine how resources are to be used. They are also the means by which

products

and

services

that

are

in

limited

supply

are

rationed

among

buyers.

The

price

system

of

the

United

States

is

a

complex

network

composed

of

the

prices

of

all

the

products bought and sold in the economy as well as those of a myriad of services, including

labor

, professional, transportation, and public-utility services. The interrelationships of all

these prices make up the ―system‖ of prices. The price of any particular product or service

is linked to a broad, complicated system of prices in which everything seems to depend

more or less upon everything else.

If one were to ask a group of randomly selected individuals to define ―price‖, many

would reply that price is an amount of money paid by the buyer to the seller of a product

or

service

or

,

in other

words

that

price

is

the

money

values of

a

product

or

service

as

agreed upon in a market transaction. This definition is, of course, valid as far as it goes. For

a complete understanding of a price in any particular transaction, much more than the

amount of money involved must be known. Both the buyer and the seller should be familiar

with not only the money amount, but with the amount and quality of the product or service

to be exchanged, the time and place at which the exchange will take place and payment

will be made, the form of money to be used, the credit terms and discounts that apply to

the transaction, guarantees on the product or service, delivery terms, return privileges,

and other factors. In other words, both buyer and seller should be fully aware of all the

factors that comprise

the total ―package‖ being exchanged for the asked

-for amount of

money in order that they may evaluate a given price.

Electricity

The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio,

televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them.

When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in

the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent

refrigerators.

Yet,

people began

to

understand

how

electricity

works only

a

little

more

than

two

centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for million of years.

Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting

secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.

All living cell send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out pulses

of record; they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well

the heart is working. The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be

recorded in an electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells

are extremely small

–

often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them.

But

in

some

animals,

certain

muscle

cells

have

become

so

specialized

as

electrical

generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cell

are linked together

, the effects can be astonishing.

The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can seed a jolt of as much as eight

hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it live. ( An electric house current is

only one hundred twenty volts.) As many as four-

fifths of all the cells in the electric eel’s

body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver

corresponds roughly to length of its body.

The Beginning of Drama

There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The on

most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual.

The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the

natural forces of the world-even the seasonal changes-as unpredictable, and they sought

through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures

which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they

hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the

mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later

called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.

Those

who

believe

that

drama

evolved

out

of

ritual

also

argue

that

those

rites

contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost

always used, Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when

the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the

area

and

the

In

addition,

there

were

performers,

and,

since

considerable

importance

was

attached

to

avoiding

mistakes

in

the

enactment

of

rites,

religious

leaders

usually

assumed

that

task.

Wearing

masks

and

costumes,

they

often

impersonated

other

people,

animals,

or

supernatural

beings,

and

mimed

the

desired

effect-success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun-as an actor might.

Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.

Another

theory

traces

the

theater''s

origin

from

the

human

interest

in

storytelling.

According to this vies tales (about the hunt, war

, or other feats) are gradually elaborated,

at

first

through

the

use of

impersonation,

action, and

dialogue

by

a

narrator

and

then

through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory

traces

theater

to

those

dances

that

are primarily

rhythmical

and

gymnastic or

that

are

imitations of animal movements and sounds.

Television

Television-----the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by

rapid change and growth-is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication

and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic

revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer

technologies.

The word

roots, can literally be interpreted as sight from a distance. Very simply put, it works in this

way: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of

converting an image (focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera) into

electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable. These impulses, when fed

into

a

receiver

(television

set),

can

then

be

electronically

reconstituted

into

that

same

image.