上海牛津高二下课文U1-U6

上海牛津高二下课文

U1 What is beauty?

Suffering to be beautiful

Read the transcript below from a radio programme called Head to Head.

Host: Good morning. Today’s topic is beauty. What is beauty? And, to what lengths can or should we go to make ourselves more beautiful? In the studio today are two beautiful women to help answer these questions! Sue Leslie, a former model who is now a successful businesswoman, and Elizabeth Cade, a writer and lecturer. Sue, perhaps we could start with you. Is beauty important?

SL: Welt, first, thanks for the compliment, Mary. Now, I think that in today’s world, it is important to look your best. You should watch what you eat and keep yourself fit. And if that’s not enough, then cosmetic surgery can change people’s lives.

Host: Eliz abeth, what’s your viewpoint?

EC: I think it’s up to everyone to decide what is right for them, but I do feel that people should be happy with themselves, regardless of how they look.There is too much emphasis on appearance these days. Seldom do people think about the real dangers of this obsession with looks, both from eating disorders and from having cosmetic surgery. Also, many people feel unhappy because just don’t happen to fit society’s current ideas of what is beautiful.

Host: Since you’re a histo rian, perhaps you could give us a brief historical perspective on this.

EC: Well, there are lots of examples of societies in which people have done some horrendous things to try to make themselves look more beautiful. For instance, some European women used to have their bottom ribs removed so that they would have thin waists. Neck stretching was fashionable in some parts of South-East Asia. Ln Africa, there were tribes which stretched their ear lobes or lips. I think it is ridiculous that people-usually women-have been forced by society to endure such considerable pain and suffering.

SL: So do l. But times have changed. No one forces people to come to ‘Sue’s Salon’, my health stud\o. They’re free to come, and they enjoy coming because after a course there, they look as if they were ten years younger. So I don’t see any real point in discussing all these quaint o/d customs.

EC: But there really is no difference between then and now! That is why today, millions of women alter their bodies. They have eye operations, facelifts and many other operations just to make other people think they are more beautiful.

SL: Yes, but it’s their own choice.

EC: I don’t agree. Society still judges people on how they look, and so forces them to worry about their appearance. Judging people by their appearance. Is silly. We should judge the whole person.

Host: Well, I think that sets out some of the issues very we11, so now, let’s take our first call…

U2 Laughter heals

A practical joke

Read this article on a humour website to see an example of a practical joke.

We’ can define a joke as something you say that causes laughter, and a practical joke as something you do that causes laughter. A practical joke is a trick that is played on an unsuspecting victim to make him or her look silly or embarrassed. In Richard Boston’s Book of Practical jokes, the writer tells the story of a practical joke played on a Mr Potts who worked in a newspaper office.The impression that Mr Potts regarded his colleagues as inferiors made him unpopula r:’H-is 1 co-workers decided to play a joke on him that might make him feel more humble.

Now it so happened that Mr Potts always wore the same hat to work. It was a rather unpleasant-looking green colour. When he arrived at the office every morning at prec isely ten o’clock, he would hang his hat on a peg near the door and .I proceed

to his desk. When he left in the afternoon, he reversed the process. He took his hat from the peg, placed it on his head, said ‘Good afternoon: and departed for home.

One day, when he was out of the room, his colleagues examined the hat very carefully. Then they went to a nearby shop and bought another hat exactly like it, but quite a bit larger. When they returned to the office, Mr Potts was still out, so they exchanged the new hat for the old one.

At the end of the afternoon, Mr Potts got up to leave. When he put his hat on his head, however, it dropped down over his eyes. After he left the office, everyone roared with laughter.

The next day, to everyone’s surprise, Mr Potts turned up with his hat in its normal position. His colleagues were puzzled by this, and while Mr Potts was out they studied the hat carefully. They found that Mr Potts had fixed some pieces of newspaper round the inside of the hat to reduce its diameter and make it smaller.

The next day they decided to take Mr Potts’s old hat from the cupboard where they had concealed it. They made it smaller in the same way, and replaced the new hat with the old one. At the end of the day, Mr Potts got up to leave as usual. When he put his hat on this time, however, it stuck right on top of his head. Again, everyone roared with laughter when he left the office.

Mr Potts’s colleagues changed the hats every day. The result was that on alternate days he wore the big hat and then the small one.In the end, the belief that an illness was making his head change size from day to day led Mr Potts to go to a doctor. ‘Nonsense’,said the doctor. ‘There is no such disease’.

U3

What do colors tell us about ourselves and the world around us? Read this magazine article to find out.

The study of color and personality is a fascinating mixture of scientific fact and emotional guesswork. Swiss psychologist Max Luscher has spent most of his life studying color, and has developed a color test which helps explain your personality.

According to Luscher, people who choose red on the test are energetic and adventurous, looking for excitement. Those who prefer blue are calm and in control, and prefer a peaceful life. Green means firmness, a dislike of change and a fear of failure. Yellow means you are open and free, ambitious and optimistic.

Each color affects us in a different way. Blue and green often remind people of peace and quiet. Blue is the color of the sky and the sea, and green is the color of plants and trees. People’s pulse rates decrease and they feel more relaxed when they see safe and familiar colors such as blue or green. Red, however, is rare in nature. It is the color of blood and meat, of hunting and injuries. It is also the color of fire. It is only natural that red should make people tense. When people see the color red, their pulse rates increase. The darkest nights are black—a color often associated with fear.

In our daily life, colors are often used by the food industry. Next time you are in a supermarket, think about the colors around you and on the products. That food companies often use red, green, orange and yellow is not surprising. All of these are regarded as the main ‘appetite’ colors that help persuade people to buy more food. Fast-food restaurants often use red for two reasons. Not only does it stimulate the appetite, but it also makes people feel energetic, so that after they have eaten they will leave more quickly, thus making space for more customers.

It is no secret why banks like to use more serious, restful colors such as blue, brown and green. These persuade people to think of the bank as a safe and reliable place. Yellow makes us think of sunshine and holidays, which is the reason why travel agents use it.

Colors are used in flags, as well. Over 80% of countries have red—the color of action—in their national flags. Light blue, which symbolizes peace, is the color of the United Nations. Many environmental groups have chosen green, which reminds people of nature, as their color.

Color is a powerful tool. It can be used to help us, to warn us, to relax us, to control us and to make us buy things.

U4

An exhibition of some of the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh will open at the Cultural Centre next week. Read an critic’s review of Van Gogh’s life and work.

Vincent Van Gogh is probably the world’s most famous painter. Many people wonder if he deserves such a reputation. Certainly, he was not a success in his lifetime. Although he produced more than 800 paintings, he sold only one, for about US $80. No gallery showed his work during his life. Few people may have even heard of him. His fame developed slowly after his death in 1890, but it has never stopped growing. One hundred years later, in 1990, a Japanese businessman paid US $82 million for one of his works—a world record.

He was born in the Netherlands in 1853. As a young man, he tried many different jobs. He worked in an art dealer’s company, but he must have disliked it, because he left. He went to England and became a language teacher. Then, looking for a deeper purpose in life, he worked as a missionary among the poor in Belgium, but he quarreled with his superiors and abandoned that career as well. Finally, he decided to become a painter.

For the rest of his life, he depended on the financial support of his brother Theo, the only person who believed in his ability. For ten years, from 1880 to 1890, Van Gogh produced his best paintings, until, sadly, he took his own life.

It would be easy to say that he was mad. He had difficulty getting along with people, often arguing with them. After one quarrel, in late 1888, he was so upset that he cut off part of his own ear and gave it to a young girl. Later, from 1889 to 1890, he spent a year in a mental hospital. Yet, for most of his life he was completely sane. We know this because he wrote hundreds of letters to Theo expressing his ideas and his work, and these letters show the clarity of his thinking.

Does he deserve the fame he now possesses? Certainly, I admire his work tremendously. His paintings are realistic, not abstract. At the same time, they are not like photographs. The bright colors and thick strokes of his paintings make the strong feelings inside him visible. Even when his subjects are flowers, trees or the sky, his paintings are full of powerful, honest emotions, emotions which finally killed him.

We are undoubtedly lucky to have the chance to view these masterpieces. Van Gogh exhibitions are very rare. This is the cultural event of the decade. You may have to spend hours in the queue, but do not miss this chance—his paintings might not come this way again for many years.

U5

Read this story from a book on environmental issues.

Life is a series of choices, and we cannot always foresee the consequences. Harry Saleem, an obsess man with too much money and power, faced a choice. Outside his office waited his personal doctor, bringing him vital news about the only medicine that could save his life. On the other side of the world, one of his engineers waited for his decision on an important matter of business.

His secretary asked whether she could bring the doctor in. The billionaire businessman made his decision.

‘No, let the fool wait,’ growled Saleem, ‘Business comes first.’ Despite the health problems caused by his huge weight, he was still obsessed with making money. He raised a fat finger, and one of his staff hurried to switch on a large television set.

The screen flashed to life, and Saleem’s engineer appeared. The man talked by satellite directly to his master alt hough they were thousands of miles apart. ‘It’s all ready to blow, Mr Saleem,’ he said. ‘Just say the world.’

His engineer was standing above Pakan Valley in South America. A few months ago, it had been a rainforest. Then Saleem’s men had come, cutting dow n all the valuable trees and forcing the villagers to move out. Across the bottom of the valley, a dam had been built. This would provide power for the factories which Saleem planned to build in the area. The factories would bring him vast profits.

He saw no reason to delay. He ordered the engineer to press the button. The camera panned away into the distance, and then a cloud of dust rose up, followed shortly by a dull explosion. A mighty river changed its course, and water flooded into the doomed Pakan Valley.

‘Good, that’s that. Turn it off. Now get that doctor in here,’ he commanded. The

doctor came in with a worried look and started to examine his wealthy patient. ‘You’re doing very well, Mr Saleem,’ he said finally. ‘The new medicine is saving your lif e. The only difficulty is getting more of it.’

‘Can you get more? Money is no problem,’ Saleem said. ‘Tell me what you need, and we’ll get it.’

‘The main ingredient of this medicine came from a newly-discovered plant—a small, green orchid,’ the doctor explained. ‘We’ll need many of them to make enough medicine. They are very rare. There’s only one place in the world where they grow.’

‘Where?’ demanded the businessman, impatiently.

The doctor smiled. ‘Well, luckily the orchids come from some land which you o wn, sir, so there won’t be any difficulty finding them. They’re from a place in South America known as Pakan Valley.’

U6

Read this brochure to see how one company engages in a new way of doing business.

Like all industries, the cosmetics industry wants to make money. It promises to make you younger and more beautiful. It promises that all your dreams will come true if you use a certain type of shampoo or face cream. These dreams are sold to customers with persuasive and expensive advertising campaigns. Pictures of youthful girls are used to sell anti-ageing creams to fifty-year-old women. The products are presented in expensive packaging, often doubling their cost.

The cosmetics industry also wants to be sure that the products are not harmful. It does not want a customer to be poisoned by a lipstick, or blinded by a new type of eye make-up. Its products proven unsafe, a company is likely to be sued for millions of dollars. To avoid this, many cosmetic products are tested on animals to ensure that they are harmless. These painful tests include force-feeding, injections, applying the product to the skin or dripping it into the eyes of the helpless animals.

Then came The Body Shop. In 1976 an amazing, unconventional woman called Anita Roddick decided to open a small shop in England. She ignored all the accepted

principles of the cosmetics industry. Yet, The Body Shop now has over 2,100 shops worldwide. Her company prospering, Anita revolutionized the industry.

Anita wanted to sell simple, natural products for the skin and hair. She thought it was immoral to make false promises about the qualities of her cosmetics. Therefore, she explained the qualities (and limitations) of each product in simple, truthful language. Banning images of beautiful women in her shops, she promoted health, not beauty.

She thought that packaging was unimportant, so she started a refilling and recycling service which is unique in the cosmetics industry. In every shop, there is a “Refill Bar”. This allows customers to refill their old bottle s, thus saving waste.

Remarkably, The Body Shop has become a global business without spending any money on advertising. At first Anita attracted wide publicity by explaining her views and later by holding pro-environment campaigns. These helped the causes which she supported, and also publicized The Body Shop. She encouraged all her staff to take part in local campaigns. She also taught them to believe that profits, although important, are not the only aim of a business.