成教第二册大学英语

成教第二册大学英语

Love Thy(your) Neighbor bark Biblical bible boundary Bunch commandment Comprise decoration

Define driveway Emergency estate fence Folklore

Grand

Impractical

Limitation limit Neighborliness

Nostalgia

Originally

Proximity

Shade small-talk

Wander wonder

Call up come and go

Out of style out of fashion

In common

Have sth.(nothing) in common

On order

Real estate set fire to

To begin with

It seems to me that neighbors are going out of style in America. The friend next door from whom you borrowed four eggs or a ladder has moved, and the people in there now are strangers.

Some of the old folklore of neighborliness is impractical or silly, and it is likely that our relations with our neighbors are changing. The biblical commandment to ―Love Thy Neighbor‖ was probably a poor translation of what must have

originally been ―Respect Thy Neighbor‖. Love can’t be called up on order.

Fewer than half the people in the United States live in the same house they lived in five years ago, so there’s no reason to love the people who live next door to you just because they happened to wander into a real estate office that listed the place next door to yours. The only thing neighbors have in common to begin with is proximity, and unless something more develops, that isn’t reason enough to be best friends. It sometimes happens naturally, but the chances are very small

that your neighbors

will be your choice as best friends. Or that you will be theirs, either. The best relationship with neighbors is one of friendly distance. You say hello, you small-talk if you see them in the yard, you discuss problems as they arise and you help each other in emergency. It’s the kind of arrangement where you see more of them in the summer than in the winter. The driveway or the fence between you is not really cold shoulder, but a clear boundary. We all like clearly defined boundaries for ourselves.

If neighbors have changed, neighborhoods have not. They still comprise the same elements. If you

live in a real neighborhood you can be sure most of the following people will be found there.

One family with more kids than they can take care of.

One grand home with a family so rich that they really aren’t part of the neighborhood.

A bad kid who steals or sets fire to things, although no one has ever been able to prove it.

People who leave their Christmas decorations until March. Someone who

doesn’t cut their grass more than twice a summer.

A family that never seems to turn off any lights in the house.

A teenager who plays the radio too

loud in the summer with the windows open.

Someone who leaves their barking dog out until 11:30 most nights.

A couple that has loud parties all the time with guests that take an hour to leave once they get outside and start shouting goodbye to each other. Someone who doesn’t pull the shade.

It is easier to produce nostalgia about a neighborhood than about a community, but a community is probably a better unit. A neighborhood is just a bunch of individuals who live in proximity, but a community is a group of people who rise above their

individual limitations to get some things done in town.

1.this book is more interesting

than ___ that you have just

read.

B. these

C. one

D. the ones.

2.You will be dismissed __ you

will never be late again.

A.unless

B. until

C. when

D.

after.

3.The board of management ___

seven persons.

A.Consists

B. comprises

B.makes up D. composes.

4.The boy is lonely; he could be

happier if he had someone__ he

could play.

a.who

b. with whom

c. whom

d. that

5.This song ___ memories of my

childhood in the countryside.

a.calls for

b. turns off

b.calls up d. turns up

6.My grandfather’s ideas are

always ___. He is too old to

keep up with the times.

c. out of style

7. It’s surprise that John and his twin brother have nothing___

a. in common

8. If something unexpected__ at the office, I will be home late.

a. rises

b. comes

c. arises

d.goes.

9. It is ___ to rain. We’d better take our umbrella with us.

a. likely

b. possible

c. like

d. unlike

10. The village is ___ far from the highway that we feel apart from the world when we are there.

c. so

Unit II Earthquake Precautions Bam! The bathroom door slamming against the wall woke me out of a sound sleep. Unsteadily working my way in the dark to the bathroom, I secured the door latch to make sure my sleep was not interrupted again.

I then walked back into bed and

started to drift off.

Not for long. My body, the bed and the whole bedroom began shaking. After a few confused seconds, I realized ―Earthquake!‖―Big one,‖ I added, noting that the neighborhood dogs had joined in the strange sounds the hills around my house were making. Within moments I was out of bed and on my feet, considering

leaving the house. ―I’ll wait,‖I comforted myself. ―Even these big ones pass in a few seconds.‖

This one wouldn’t. It kept coming; everything was shaking and trembling. I heard a pane of glass crash onto the floor. I then noticed

that the street lights had failed and my heart was pounding harder than when I used to lift weights. I acknowledged my fear.

Realizing that there was no time to flee the house, I simply waited and waited. The nearly one-minute long tremble finally subsided, and my reasoning came back to me. All was well, or well enough. I walked unsteadily to another room and looked outside. A neighbor with a flashlight was checking on his and other’s homes for damage.

I knew it had been a major earthquake, though not centered where I lived. The next day I learned that a 7.6 Richter-scale

earthquake had destroyed my lovely hometown. Or the next few weeks, everyone’s life was centered around the earthquake due to the constant media coverage and electricity rationing.

My hometown is but one o many places along the ―Ring of Fire‖encircling nearly half the globe around the Pacific Ocean. Constant volcanic and earthquake action occurs here, sometimes with serious results. In this century alone, major

earthquake have taken more than one million lives. Many more have been injured and made homeless.

The economic, social and personal

costs are immeasurable.

Over the past quarter century, many countries in earthquake-prone areas have begun to educate their citizens on how to take appropriate precautions for earthquakes. The following list has been taken from experience.

Before the earthquake.

Prepare an ―earthquake kit‖; near everyone’s bed; these kits should include drinking water, a flashlight with fresh batteries , and dry food. Place an extra pillow, blanket, or quilt near the bed to be placed over the head during the earthquake and for warmth if trapped afterwards. During the earthquake.

If possible, get out of the building you are inside of and into a clear area.

If escaping from a building is impossible, get away from windows and door; try to find shelter under structural beams or under any heavy piece of furniture, like a large table or bed.

After the major earthquake (remember that aftershocks will occur):

When shaking ends or subsides, turn off gas lines.

Leave the building (never use elevators)quickly but not in a panic. If not injured, be ready to help rescue workers with information or

labor.

When big one happens, there is little anyone can do. The above preparations, however, could make the difference between life and death.

1.when the results of the vote were

announced the Prime Minister___ defeat.

a.acknowledged

2.the passengers on the plane___

their seat belts when it took off.

b.secured

3.it was only when Simon finally

___ to sleep that the headaches eased.

a.drifted off

4. someone was heard ___ the

stairs.

a. come up

b. to come up

c. went up

d. goes up

5. when Grandma turned 85, her eyes began to ___

d. fail

6. the people who lived near the river had to __ the flooding waters.

c. flee

7. I am busy at the moment. You can put the book ___ you like.

c. wherever

8. I wonder if there is anything ___ for you.

a. I can do

b. which I can do

9. don’t be too nervous. Dr. Smith will__ your health.

a. look after

b. worry about

c.

check on

10. it seems that the picture is not hanging ___ it should on the wall.

b. where.

1.The mobile medical team

comprises five doctors and

eight nurses.

2.Before we go there it would be

just as well to telephone

them.

3.people tend to become

irrational in an emergency. 4.all through the interview he

carefully avoided the subject

of salary.

5.Susan acknowledged that it

was too late to help Tom now.

6.when you are learning to drive,

having a good teacher will

make all the difference.

7.I like to go to the movies

with my old friends now and

then.

8.his success is entirely due to

his hard work.

Unit 3 Are there strangers in space?

We must conclude from the work of those who have studied the origin of life, that given a planet only approximately like our own, life is almost certain to start. Of all the planets in our own solar system, we are now pretty certain the Earth is the only one on which life can

survive. Mars is too dry and poor in oxygen. Venus far too hot, and so is Mercury, and outer planets have temperatures near absolute zero and hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. But other suns, stars as the astronomers call them, are bound to have planets like our own, and as the number of stars in the universe is so vast, this possibility becomes virtual certainty. There are one hundred thousand million stars in our own Milky Way alone, and then there are three thousand million other Milky Ways , or galaxies, in the universe. So the number of stars that we know exist is now estimated at about 300 million million million.