新世紀(jì)大學(xué)英語(yǔ)綜合教程4_課文A原文.doc

Unit1Man in the Realm of NatureHuman beings live in the realm of nature. They are constantly surrounded by it and interact with it. Man is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he drinks, and the food he eats. We are connected with nature by “blood ties” and we cannot live outside nature. Man is not only a dweller in nature, he also transforms it. Humanity converts natures wealth into the means of the cultural, historical life of society. Man has subdued and disciplined electricity and compelled it to serve the interests of society. Not only has man transferred various species of plants and animals to different climatic conditions, he has also changed the shape and climate of his environment and transformed plants and animals. As society develops, man tends to become less dependent on nature directly, while indirectly his dependence grows. Our distant ancestors lived in fear of natures destructive forces. Very often they were unable to obtain the merest daily necessities. However, despite their imperfect tools, they worked together. stubbornly, collectively, and were able to attain results. Nature was also changed through interaction with man. Forests were destroyed and the area of farmland increased. Nature with its elemental forces was regarded as something hostile to man. The forest, for example, was something wild and frightening and people tried to force it to retreat.This was all done in the name of civilization, which meant the places where man had made his home, where the earth was cultivated, where the forest had been cut down. But as time goes on mankind becomes increasingly concerned with the question of where and how to obtain irreplaceable natural resources for the needs of production.Science and mans practical transforming activities have made humanity aware of the enormous geological role played by the industrial transformation of the earth. At present the previous dynamic balance between man and nature and between nature and society as a whole, has shown ominous signs of breaking down. The problem of the so-called replaceable resources of the biosphere has become particularly acute. It is getting more and more difficult to satisfy the needs of human beings and society. even for such a substance, for example, as fresh water. The problem of eliminating industrial waste is also becoming increasingly complex. Modern technology is distinguished by an ever-increasing abundance of produced and used synthetic goods. Hundreds of thousands of synthetic materials are being made. People increasingly cover their bodies from head to foot in nylon and other synthetic, glittering fabrics that are obviously not good for them. Young people may hardly feel this , and they pay more attention to appearance than to health. But they become more aware of this harmful influence as they grow older. As time goes on, the synthetic output of production turns into waste, and then substances that in their original form were not very toxic are transformed in the cycle of natural processes into aggressive agents. Today both natural scientists and philosophers are asking themselves the question: Is mans destruction of the biosphere inevitable? The man-nature relation the crisis of the ecological situation is a global problem. Its solution lies in rational and wise organization of both production itself and care for Mother Nature, not just by individuals, enterprises or countries, but by all humanity. One of the ways to deal with the crisis situation in the “man-nature” system is to use such resources as solar energy, the power of winds, the riches of the seas and oceans and other, as yet unknown natural forces of the universe. But to return to our theme, the bitter truth is that those human actions which violate the laws of nature, the harmony of the biosphere, threaten to bring disaster and this disaster may turn out to be universal. How apt then are the words of ancient Oriental wisdom: live closer to nature, my friends, and its eternal laws will protect you!Unit3 The Rainbow of KnowledgeFor more than of my life 39 of my 50 years Ive either studied or taught in a school or a college in New York. You might think, then, that after all this time Id have some grasp of the situation, that Id actually know things that Id have some positive sense of assurance, of certainty, about knowledge and about life. But I dont. In fact, the more I know, the more I know I dont know. To say that the more I know, the more I know I dont know is, of course, contradictory. But then, modern physics tells us that reality itself is contradictory. The more scientists look into our physical reality, the more it slips away from them. In a way, the more they learn, the less they know. Knowledge itself is contradictory. For example, picture your knowledge as a dot, as perhaps the period at the end of this sentence. Notice the tiny circumference of that period, and let that represent the interface of the known with the unknown in other words, your awareness of what you dont know. But now imagine that little period growing, its blackness consuming more and more of the page. As it grows, so does its circumference. And if that growing blackness represents knowledge, then as it grows, so does the awareness of what remains unknown. In other words, the more you know, the more you know you dont know. No doubt you have experienced this yourself in your own personal quests for knowledge. At first, you dont even know a field of learning exists. Its been there all along, of course; you just havent noticed it before. When I got my first computer in 1988, I walked down to the magazine store, hoping to find something about computing and was amazed at the number of choices. Likewise, when I lucked into an opportunity to teach film analysis, I found myself dazzled at the sheer number of books devoted to the subject. Lets say you decide to learn about this topic. You buy one of these books, the best and most complete one you can find (or so you think), or perhaps you borrow it from the library. But you quickly find that your reading, rather than answering questions, only creates more of them. Earlier this year, for example, I not only had no idea that I had any interest at all in the relationship of technology to freedom; I didnt even realize that a connection between them might exist. So I started reading books and became more and more aware of the relationship between technology and freedom. Then, on the one hand, I now know much more about this topic than I did a few short months ago. But on the other hand, all this reading has made me see how little I really know and how much more I need to read and think and write. Once Ive finished reading a book, I always feel that I need to read three more to gain a better grasp of the topic. And I think and write at the same time. In fact, it is my writing that has led me into it. We think often that only people who know and who are sure of themselves write. For me, however, its just the opposite. Writing doesnt close things off it opens things up. For a long time, I, as a writer, was paralyzed by this paradox the more I know, the more I know I dont know. I was very aware of the teaching from Taoism that said “those who know dont speak; those who speak dont know.” I wasnt sure I should write at all, and, even if I did, I didnt believe that I was qualified to do it. I always felt I had to know more first. It took me a long time not to let this paradox freeze me and to believe that it was my writing that would qualify my knowledge, and not the other way around. I think of my work not as articles or as columns but as essays a word from French, meaning “to try”. I do not know truth. I only try to find it. I dont mean, of course, to suggest that we should not learn, or that we should not read and write and think and talk. I do not mean to suggest that we should not try. An infinite quest is not a hopeless one. I only suggest that an understanding will inevitably and doubtlessly lead us away from the force and rigidity of dogmatism and toward the flexibility and freedom of the individual. As Taoism teaches, “the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.”We must temper our pride in knowing with the humility of not knowing. The truth, as they say, is out there, but, maybe, like the rainbow, we can never really grasp it, never hold it in our hands and truly know it. We can only, as William James said, “l(fā)ive today by what truth we can get today and be ready to call it falsehood tomorrow.”Unit 5 Fame Fame is very much like an animal chasing its own tail who, when he captures it, does not know what else to do but to continue chasing it. Fame and the publicity that accompanies it, force the famous person to participate in his or her own destruction. Ironic, isnt it?Those who gain fame most often gain it as a result of possessing a single talent or skill: singing, dancing, painting, or writing, etc. The successful performer develops a style that gains some popularity, and it is this popularity that usually convinces the performer to continue performing in the same style, since that is what the public seems to want and to enjoy. But in time, the performer becomes bored singing the same songs in the same way year after year, or the painter becomes bored painting similar scenes or portraits, or the actor is tired of playing the same character repeatedly. The artist becomes the slave of his or her own success because of the public demands. If the artist attempts to change his or her style of writing or dancing or singing, etc., the audience may turn away and look to give the momentary fame to another and then, in time, to another, and so on and so on. Fame brings celebrity and high regard from loyal fans in each field. A performer can easily come to believe that he or she is as good as his or her press. But most people, most artists do not gain fame and fortune. What about those performers who fail, or anyone who fails? Curiously enough, failure often serves as its own reward for many people. It brings sympathy from others who are delighted not to be you, and it allows family and friends to lower their expectations of you so that you need not compete with those who have more talent and who succeed. And they find excuses and explanations for your inability to succeed and become famous: you are too sensitive, you are not interested in money, you are not interested in the power that fame brings and you are not interested in the loss of privacy it demands, etc. all excuses, but comforting to those who fail and those who pretend not to notice the failure. History has sufficiently proven that some failure for some people at certain times in their lives does indeed motivate them to strive even harder to succeed and to continue believing in themselves. Thomas Wolfe, the American novelist, had his first novel Look Homeward, Angel rejected 39 times before it was finally published and launched his career and created his fame. Beethoven overcame his cruel and harsh father and grudging acceptance as a musician to become the greatest, most famous musician in the world, and Thomas Edison was thrown out of school in fourth grade, at about age 10, because he seemed to the teacher to be quite dull and ill-behaved. Many other cases may be found of people who failed and used the failure to motivate them to achieve, tosucceed, and to become famous. But, unfortunately, for most people failure is the end of their struggle, not the beginning.There are few, if any, famous failures.Well then, why does anyone want fame? Do you? Do you want to be known to many people and admired by them? Do you want the money that usually comes with fame? Do you want the media to notice everything you do or say both in public and in private? In some areas it is very obvious that to be famous is to be the target of everyone who disagrees with you as well as of the media.Fame turns all the lights on and while it gives power and reputation, it takes the you out of you: you must be what the public thinks you are, not what you really are or could be. But why does anyone want fame? Several reasons come to mind: to demonstrate excellence in some field; to gain the admiration and love of many others; to be the one everyone talks about; to show family and friends you are more than they thought you were. Probably you can list some other reasons, but I think these are reasonably common.I say to those who desperately seek fame and fortune, celebrity: good luck. But what will you do when you have caught your tail, your success, your fame? Keep chasing it? If you do catch it, hang on for dear life. See you soon famous and almost famous! Unit 6Two Truths to Live byThe art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. An ancient man said long ago: “A man comes to this world with his fist clenched, but when he dies, his hand is open.”Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wonderful, and full of a beauty. We know that this is so, but all too often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember what it was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.We remember a beauty that faded, a love that withered. But we remember with far greater pain that we did not see that beauty when it flowered, that we failed to respond with love when it was tendered. A recent experience re-taught me this truth. I was hospitalized following a severe heart attack and had been in intensive care for several days. It was not a pleasant place. One morning, I had to have some additional tests. The required machines were located in a building at the opposite end of the hospital, so I had to be wheeled across the courtyard in a chair. As we emerged from our unit, the sunlight hit me. Thats all there was to my experience. Just the light of the sun. And yet how beautiful it was how warming; how sparkling; how brilliant! I looked to see whether anyone else relished the suns golden glow, but everyone was hurrying to and fro, most with eyes fixed on the ground. Then I remembered how often I, too, had been indifferent to the grandeur of each day, too preoccupied with petty and sometimes even mean concerns to respond to the great beauty of it all. The insight gleaned from that experience is really as commonplace as was the experience itself: lifes gifts are precious but we are too careless of them.Here then is the first pole of lifes paradoxical demands on us: Never too busy for the wonder and the awe of life. Be respectful before each dawning day. Embrace each hour. Seize each golden minute.Hold fast to life, but not so fast that you cannot let go. This is the second side of lifes coin, the opposite pole of its paradox: we must accept our losses, and learn how to let go.This is not an easy lesson to learn, especially when we are young and think that the world is ours to command, that whatever we desire with the full force of our passion can, and will be ours. But then life moves along to confront us with realities, and slowly but surely this second truth dawns upon us.At every stage of life we sustain losses and grow in the process. We begin our independent lives only when we come to this world. We enter schools, then we leave our mothers and fathers and our childhood homes. We get married and have children and then have to let them go. We confront the death of our parents and our spouses. We face the gradual or not so gradual weakening of our own strength. And ultimately, we must confront the inevitability of our own death, losing ourselves, as it were, all that we were or dreamed to be. But why should we be reconciled to lifes contradictory demands? Why fashion things of beauty when beauty is short-lived? Why give our heart in love when those we love will ultimately be torn from our grasp? In order to resolve this paradox, we must seek a wider perspective, viewing our lives as through windows that open on eternity. Once we do that, we realize that though our lives are finite, our deeds on earth weave a timeless pattern.Life is never just being. It is becoming, a relentless flowing on. Our parents live on through us, and we will live on through our children. The institutions we build endure, and we will endure through them. The beauty we fashion cannot be dimmed by death. Our flesh may perish, our hands will wither, but the beauty and goodness and truth they create live on for all time to come.Dont spend and waste your lives accumulating objects that will only turn to dust and ashes. Pursue not so much the material as the ideal, for ideals alone invest life with meaning and are of enduring worth.Add love to a house and you have a home. Add righteousness to a city and you have a community. Add truth to a pile of red brick and you have a school. Add justice to the far-flung round of human endeavor and you have civilization. Put them all together, elevate them above their present imperfections, add to them the vision of humankind redeemed, forever free of need and conflict and you have a future lighted with the radiant colors of hope. Unit7Stripping Down to Bare Happiness“What were talking about is simplification, not deprivation,” explains Sara, a friend of mine. “It isnt that you cant do all the things you like, but you change. You dont like them anymore. Some of the old habits seem so wasteful and unsatisfying that you really lose your taste for them. So you still have everything you wantonly on less money.”When I first met them, Sara and Michael were a two-career couple with a home of their own, and a large boat bought with a large loan. They began to take an interest in the conc