英语精读文章
5篇英语精读文章+翻译
1.Can We Know the Universe? - Reflections on a Grain of SaltCarl SaganScience is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. Its goal is to find out how the world works, to seek what regularities there may be, to penetrate to the connections of things - from sub-nuclear particles, which may be the constituents of all matter, to living organisms, the human social community, and thence to the cosmos as a whole. Our intuition is by no means an infallible guide. Our perceptions may be distorted by training and prejudice or merely because of the limitations of our sense organs, which, of course, perceive directly but a small fraction of the phenomena of the world.Even so straightforward a question as whether in the absence of friction a pound of lead falls faster than a grain of fluff was answered incorrectly by Aristotle and almost everyone else before the time of Galileo. Science is based on experiment, on a willingness to challenge old dogma, on an openness to see the universe as it really is. Accordingly, science sometimes requires courage-at the very least, the courage to question the conventional wisdom.But to what extent can we really know the universe around us? Sometimes this question is posed by people who hope the answer will be in the negative, who are fearful of a universe in which everything might one day be known. And sometimes we hear pronouncements from scientists who confidently state that everything worth knowing will soon be known - or even is already known.Let us approach a much more modest question: not whether we can know the universe or the Milky Way Galaxy or a star or a world. Can we know ultimately and in detail, a grain of salt? Consider one microgram of table salt, a speck just barely large enough for someone with keen eyesight to make out without a microscope. In that grain of salt there are about 1016 sodium and chlorine atoms. This is a 1 followed by 16 zeros, 10 million billion atoms. If we wish to know a grain of salt, we must know at least the three-dimensional positions of each of these atoms. (In fact, there is much more to be known - for example, the nature of the forces between the atoms - but we are making only a modest calculation.) Now, is this number more or less than the number of things which the brain can know?How much can the brain know? There are perhaps 1011 neurons in the brain, the circuit elements and switches that are responsible in their electrical and chemical activity for the functioning of our minds. A typical brain neuron has perhaps a thousand little wires, called dendrites, which connect it with its fellows. If, as seems likely, every bit of information in the brain corresponds to one of these connections, the total number of things knowable by the brain is no more than 1014, one hundred trillion. But this number is only one percent of the number of atoms in our speck of salt.So in this sense the universe is intractable, astonishingly immune to any human attempt at full knowledge. We cannot on this level understand a grain of salt, much less the universe.But let us look more deeply at our microgram of salt. Salt happens to be a crystal in which, except for defects in the structure of the crystal lattice, the position of every sodium and chlorine atom is predetermined. If we could shrink ourselves into this crystalline world, we could see rank upon rank of atoms in an ordered array, a regularly alternating structure - sodium, chlorine, sodium, chlorine, specifying the sheet of atoms we are standing on and all the sheets above us and below us. An absolutely pure crystal of salt could have the position of every atom specified by something like 10 bits of information. This would not strain the information-carrying capacity of the brain.If the universe had natural laws that governed its behavior to the same degree of regularity that determines a crystal of salt, then, of course, the universe would be knowable.Even if there were many such laws, each of considerable complexity, human beings might have the capacity to understand them all.Even if such knowledge exceeded the information-carrying capacity of the brain, we might store the additional information outside our bodies - in books, for example, or in computer memories - and still, in some sense, know the universe.Human beings are, understandably, highly motivated to find regularities, natural laws. The search for rules, the only possible way to understand such a vast and complex universe, is called science. The universe forces those who live in it to understand it. Those creatures who find everyday experience a muddled jumble of events with no predictability, no regularity, are in grave peril. The universe belongs to those who, at least to some degree, have figured it out.It is an astonishing fact that there are laws of nature, rules that summarize conveniently - not just qualitatively but quantitatively - how the world works. We might imagine a universe in which there are no such laws, in which the 1080 elementary particles that make up a universe like our own behave with utter and uncompromising abandon. To understand such a universe we would need a brain at least as massive as the universe. It seems unlikely that such a universe could have life and intelligence, because beings and brains require some degree of internal stability and order. But even if in a much more random universe there were such beings with an intelligence much greater than our own, there could not be much knowledge, passion or joy.Fortunately for us, we live in a universe that has at least important parts that are knowable. Our common-sense experience and our evolutionary history have prepared us to understand something of the workaday world.When we go into other realms, however, common sense and ordinary intuition turn out to be highly unreliable guides.For myself, I like a universe that includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhabit. And I would guess that this is not really much of a coincidence.2.Extraterrestrial LifeA. Bowdoin Van RiperWhether life exists anywhere in the universe besides Earth is an open question, one that Western scholars have debated for over 200 years without coming significantly closer to a solution.Proving that extraterrestrial life does not exist is, by definition, impossible.Our galaxy is too large for us to investigate every corner of it where life might have arisen since we last looked, and it is only one galaxy among many.Proving that extraterrestrial life does exist is easy in principle but difficult in practice.The discovery of an alien organism would provide proof, but searching for one would require interstellar travel-something well beyond humans' technological reach.NONINTELLIGENT LIFE IN OUR GALAXYMost of the planets and moons in our solar system appear inhospitable to life as we know it. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune lack solid surfaces and receive only limited sunlight. Mercury is baked and irradiated by the sun, while Pluto is perpetually dark and frozen. Venus's dense atmosphere creates crushing pressures, intense heat, and corrosive rain at its surface. Few of the solar system's moons, and none of its asteroids, are large enough to hold even a thin atmosphere. The most likely places to search for life in our solar system appear to be Mars and the larger moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Robot spacecraft have photographed Mars, Europa, and Titan from space. Robot landers have explored small portions of the Martian surface. Finding intelligent life on any of the three worlds now seems unlikely. Finding simpler forms of life, if they exist at all, is likely to require systematic observation at close range.The probability that life exists somewhere else in our galaxy is high, simply because the number of stars in our galaxy is so high. Even if only a tiny fraction of stars have planets, even if only a tiny fraction of those planets are suitable for life, even if life only develops on a fraction of those planets, and even if intelligence only evolves on a fraction of the planets with life, there are still likely to be thousands of life-bearing planets in our galaxy. Finding such life will, however, mean finding the planets. Even ifinterstellar travel was routine, the job would be daunting. It would mean finding one world among thousands, with no evidence of its special status visible at interstellar distances.INTELLIGENT LIFE IN OUR GALAXYIntelligent life, if it exists elsewhere, is likely to be much rarer than nonintelligent life. It may, however, prove easier actually to find. Our own species beams a steady stream of radio and television signals into space and attaches information-laden metal plates to spacecraft headed out of the solar system. The signals are an accidental by-product of broadcasting; the plates are a conscious attempt at communication. Both announce our existence, our level of technological sophistication, and a tiny bit about our culture.It is also possible that a sufficiently intelligent and technologically adept species might find us before we develop the ability to go looking for it. Believers in the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs argue that such encounters have already happened, either in the past or in the present. Most mainstream scientists are skeptical of such beliefs, explaining purported encounters with aliens in more prosaic terms.EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE IN POPULAR CULTUREPopular culture depicts thousands of human encounters with extraterrestrial life. Entire subgenres of science fiction are devoted to such encounters: "first contact" stories, "alien invasion" stories, "aliens among us" stories, and so on. A detailed discussion of popular culture's treatment of aliens could easily fill a book. Nearly all stories about extraterrestrial life, however, follow three well-established conventions.First, most stories featuring imagined extraterrestrial life tend to focus on one or, at most, two species from any given world. Gatherings of intelligent aliens from many worlds are common, but fully imagined alien ecosystems are not. The reason for this is both obvious and understandable. Ecosystems are extraordinarily complex. Describing one on Earth, the building blocks of which are familiar, is a significant challenge; creating a plausible alien ecosystem from scratch, using very different building blocks, is an even greater challenge.Second, the physical form of extraterrestrial species reflects human attitudes toward species on Earth. The sweet-natured title character of Stephen Spielberg's film E.T. has a head that is large in proportion to its body and eyes that are large in proportion to its head. It has, in other words, the basic morphology of a human infant. Alien species that invade or attack the earth often resemble creatures that Western culture deems unpleasant. Powerful and benevolent aliens, on the other hand, recall angels in their lack of permanent physical bodies. Their evolution "beyond the need for physical form" is also suggestive of ideas about the afterlife.Third, the personalities and thought patterns of intelligent aliens closely resemble those of humans. Alien invaders of Earth want what human invaders want: territory, resources, slaves, or mates. Alien benefactors of Earth act out of altruism or paternalism or to secure allies in a hostile universe. Humans and aliens routinely discover that despite their physical differences, they share many of the same hopes and fears.We know nothing of how extraterrestrial life - if it exists - appears, behaves, or (if intelligent) thinks. Stories about it thus allow for limitless imagination. We tend, nevertheless, to imagine aliens whose appearance reflects our attitudes toward species here on Earth and whose thought and behavior patterns mirror our own. The reason for this is less a failure of imagination than an acknowledgement of dramatic necessity.Stories about human encounters with alien species are, ultimately, stories about us rather than the aliens. The innocent, stranded aliens of films like Escape from the Planet of the Apes and Starman are litmus tests for human society. Good-hearted individuals shelter and aid them, but those in power persecute them; the stories simultaneously reveal the best and worst of human behavior. Stories like these require aliens that are more human than any real alien species is likely to be-aliens that are human enough for human characters to interact with and for human audiences to care about.3.We Are All ScientistsThomas H. HuxleyThe method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind.It is simply the mode at which all phenomena are reasoned about.There is no more difference, between the mental operations of a man of science and those of an ordinary person, than there is between the operations and methods of a baker weighing out his goods in common scales, and the operations of a chemist in performing a difficult and complex analysis by means of his balance and finely graduated weights.It is not that the action of the scales in the one case, and the balance in the other, differ in the principles of their construction or manner of working; but the beam of one is set on an infinitely finer axis than the other, and of course turns by the addition of a much smaller weight.You have all heard it repeated, that men of science work by means of induction and deduction: and that by the help of these operations, they wring from Nature certain other things, which are called natural laws and causes, and that out of these, they build up hypotheses and theories. And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can by nomeans be compared with these processes, and that they have to be acquired by a sort of special apprenticeship to the craft. To hear all these large words, you would think that the mind of a man of science must be constituted differently from that of his fellow men; but if you will not be frightened by the terms, you will discover that you are quite wrong. Probably there is not one here who has not in the course of the day had occasion to set in motion a complex train of reasoning, of the very same kind, though differing of course in degree, as that which a scientific man goes through in tracing the causes of natural phenomena.A very trivial circumstance will serve to exemplify this. Suppose you go into a fruiter's shop, wanting an apple--you take up one, and, on biting it, you find it is sour; you look at it, and see that it is hard and green. You take up another one, and that too is hard, green, and sour. The shop man offers you a third; but, before biting it, you find it is hard and green, and you immediately say that you will not have it, as it must be sour.Nothing can be simpler than that, but if you take the trouble to analyze and trace out into its logical elements what has been done by the mind, you will be greatly surprised. You found that, in the two experiences, hardness and greenness in apples went together with sourness. When you are offered another apple which is hard and green, you say: "All hard and green apples are sour; this apple is hard and green, therefore it is sour." You see, you have, in the first place, established a law by induction, and upon that you have founded a deduction, and reasoned out the special conclusion of the particular case. Now, suppose, someday, you are questioned by a friend: "But how do you know that all hard and green apples are sour?" You at once reply, "Oh, because I have tried them over and over again, and have always found them to be so." Well, if we were talking science instead of common sense, we should call that an experimental verification. The more extensive verifications are, the more frequently experiments have been made, and results of the same kind arrived at, and the more varied the conditions under which the same results are attained, the more certain is the ultimate conclusion. And in science, as in common life, our confidence in a law is in exact proportion to the absence of variation in the result of our experimental verifications. We believe gravitation in such an extensive, thorough, and unhesitating manner because the universal experience of mankind verifies it, and we can verify it ourselves at any time; and that is the strongest possible foundation on which any natural law can rest.Let us now take another example.Suppose that on coming down to the parlor of your house, you find that a teapot and some spoons which had been left in the room are gone--the window is open, and you observe the mark of a dirty hand on the window frame, and you notice the impress of a hobnailed shoe on the gravel outside. All these phenomena have struck your attention instantly, and before twoseconds have passed you say, "Oh, somebody has broken open the window, entered the room, and run off with the spoons and the teapot!" You mean to say exactly what you know; but in reality you are giving a hypothesis. You do not know it at all; it is nothing but a hypothesis rapidly framed in your own mind. By a train of reasoning involving many inductions and deductions, you have probably arrived at the general law that the windows do not open by themselves. Something has opened the window. A second general law you have arrived at is that teapots and spoons do not go out of a window spontaneously. They have been removed. In the third place, you look at the marks on the windowsill and the shoe-marks outside, and you conclude that they are made by a man. You assume from all these premises that the man who made the marks outside and on the window sill, opened the window, got into the room, and stole your teapot and spoons.Now, in this supposition case, I have taken phenomena of a very common kind, in order that you might see what are the different steps in an ordinary process of reasoning. I say that you are led to your conclusion by exactly the same train of reasoning as that which a man of science pursues when he is endeavoring to discover the origin and laws of the most occult phenomena. The only difference is that the nature of the inquiry being more abstruse, every step has to be most carefully watched, so that there may not be a single crack or flaw in his hypothesis. A flaw or crack in many of the hypotheses of daily life may be of little or no moment; but, in a scientific inquiry, a fallacy, great or small, is always of importance, and is sure to be in the long run constantly productive of mischievous, if not fatal results.puter AddictsDina IngberIt is 3 A.M. Everything on the university campus seems ghostlike in the quiet, misty darkness--everything except the computer center. Here, twenty students sit transfixed at their consoles, tapping away on the terminal keys. For the rest of the world, it might be the middle of the night, but here time does not exist. As in the gambling casinos of Las Vegas, there are no windows or clocks. This is a world unto itself. Like gamblers, these young computer "hackers" are pursuing a kind of compulsion, a drive so consuming it overshadows nearly every other part of their lives and forms the focal point of their existence. They are compulsive computer programmers.What do they do at the computer at all hours of the day or night? They design and play complex games; they delve into the computer's memory bank for obscure tidbits of information; like ham radio operators, they communicate with hackers in other areas who are plugged into the same system. They even do their everyday chores by computer, typing termpapers and getting neat printouts. By breaking the code, they can cut into other programs, discovering secrets in computerized systems or making mischievous (and often costly) changes to other people's programs.Computer-science teachers are now more aware of the implications of this hacker phenomenon and are on the lookout for potential hackers and cases of computer addiction that are already severe. They know that the case of the hackers is not just the story of one person's relationship with a machine. It is the story of a society's relationship to the so-called thinking machines, which are becoming almost ubiquitous.Many feel we are now on the verge of a computer revolution that will change our lives as drastically as the invention of the printing press and the Industrial Revolution changed society in the past. By the most conservative estimates, one out of three American homes will have computers or terminals within the next five to ten years. Electronic toys and games, which came on the market in 1976, already comprise a more than half-billion-dollar business. And though 300,000 Americans now work full time programming computers, at least another 1.2 million will be needed by 1990. Many of them are likely to come from today's young hackers.There is a strong camaraderie and sense of belonging among hackers. They have their own subculture, with the usual in jokes and even a whole vocabulary based on computer terminology (there is even a hacker's dictionary). But to outsiders, they are a strange breed. In high schools, the hackers are called nerds or the brain trust. They spend most of their free time in the computer room and don't socialize much. And many have trouble with interpersonal relationships.Joel Bion, a sophomore at Stanford, explains how he got hooked: "I've been working with computers since I was eight. I grew up in Minnesota and I didn't have many friends. I wasn't into sports and couldn't participate in gym class because I had asthma. Then I found a computer terminal at school. I bought some books and taught myself. Pretty soon I was spending a few hours on it every day. Then I was there during vacations. Sure, I lost some friends, but when I first started I was so fascinated. Here was a field I could really feel superior in. I had a giant program, and I kept adding and adding to it. And I could use the computer to talk to people all over the state, I thought that was a great social interaction. But, of course, it wasn't, because I never came into face-to-face contact."Interesting and malleable are the two key words if you want to understand the hacker's addiction and the increasing allure of the computer for all segments of our society.The computer can be almost as interesting as a human being. Like people, it is interactive. When you ask it a question, it gives you an answer. And because it stores great quantities of information, it can often answermore questions, more accurately, than human friends. This interaction has led some to attribute human characteristics to the machine.Hackers are not the only ones interacting with the computer on a personal level. The amazing powers of the machine have enticed even the most sophisticated scientists into wondering just how human it can become. The newly developing science of artificial intelligence aims at programming the computer to think, reason and react in much the same way that people do. Computers can diagnose a patient's ailments and recommend treatments. They can mimic the dialogue of a psychotherapist or the reasoning of a lawyer.If computers can replace our most admired humans, the professionals, then why shouldn't the hackers feel close to them and invest emotional energy in them? After all, the computer seems to have unlimited potential. Already, with today's technology, tens of thousands of words can be stored on a tiny silicon chip measuring less than a centimeter square and millimeter thick. And any item of information on the chip can be called up and displayed on a TV screen in a fraction of a second. So the computer user has access to worlds of information within reach, literally, of his fingertips. And the computer can rearrange that information and interrelate facts or draw conclusions at the programmer's command. It is extremely malleable.Computer-science teachers say they can usually pick out the prospective hackers in their courses because these students make their homework assignments more complex than they need to be. Rather than using the simplest and most direct method, they take joy in adding extra steps just to prove their ingenuity.But perhaps those hackers know something that we don't about the shape of things to come. "That hacker who had to be literally dragged off his chair at MIT is now a multimillionaire of the computer industry," says MIT professor Michael Dertouzos. "And two former hackers became the founders of the highly successful Apple home-computer company."When seen in this light, the hacker phenomenon may not be so strange after all. If, as many psychiatrists say, play is really the basis for all human activity, then the hacker games are really the preparation for future developments.Computers are not just becoming more and more a part of our world. To a great degree they are our world. It is therefore not unlikely that our relationship with them will become as subjective as that of the hackers. So perhaps hackers are, after all, harbingers of the world to come.5.Why Superstitions?Peter LorieEvery age pays attention to the ancient superstitions according to a certain subtle fashion, very often knowing nothing about the original sources from which they derived. It wasn't so long ago that bibles were fanned in front of sick men's faces and communion wine was prescribed for whooping cough while women bathed their sore eyes with baptismal water. Although modem Westerners would not admit to crossing themselves when faced with potential evil such as a passing magpie, they do cross fingers to prevent bad luck. Some superstitions merely transform from the original, and the original is frequently a relic of still more ancient cultures and long-vanished ways of life. Above all, superstitions remain as outward expressions of the tensions and anxieties that hold sway over humanity as it struggles down the corridor of life from birth to death, full of change and uncertainty.We can see the superstition, therefore, as a kind of reassurance against fluctuation as though we are part of an impenetrable mystery with incomprehensible rules.And yet - strangely perhaps in this age of reason - it very often turns out that we are more interested in the mysteries of superstitions than in previous centuries when they were taken for granted, and that in fact there is much more to many superstitions than is at first obvious. Mistletoe, for example, was the most holy of plants to the Druids, why so? To hang a sprig of this strange plant in a house at Christmas is to attract young men to kiss young women beneath it, each time plucking one of the berries from the sprig. Why should this be so? Who started it? Why did the hanging of mistletoe keep away the devil? The young woman to whom the man had given the plucked berry would retire to her room, lock the door and swallow the berry. She would then inscribe the initials of the man onto a mistletoe leaf and "stitch it into her corset close to her heart, binding him to her so long as it remain there."Superstitious nonsense! But how do we maintain the best love affairs, the best and most happy relationships? By mutual concern, by bringing the partner close to an open heart, by honesty and warmth, by acknowledging their presence in our lives. How better to represent this than with a mistletoe leaf inscribed and secreted in the most intimate place?All superstition has grown from something; there is no smoke without fire. Who was the first one to decide that opening an umbrella in a house is bad luck? Who was the first to walk under a ladder and suffer the consequences? Who smashed a mirror, and spilled salt to spend a life-sentence at the hands of the fates? Who first branded Friday the 13th as a day on which luck would run out? What was the world like that produced and maintained such extraordinary ideas?。
超经典英语美文5篇
超经典英语美文5篇学习英语，阅读真的很重要，多阅读一些短篇英语文章也是提高英语阅读实力的一种。
下面我就和大家共享英语美文阅读，盼望能够协助到大家，来观赏一下吧。
英语阅读篇一给年轻人的忠告Remember, my son, you have to work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction bell or writing funny things, you must work. If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their days without work are the men who work the hardest. Dont be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It’s the interval that kills, my son. The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.谨记，我的年轻人，你们必需工作.不管你是使锄头还是用笔，也不管是推手推车还是编记账簿，也不管你是种地还是编辑报纸，是拍卖师亦或是作家，都必需有一份工作，并为之努力奋斗.假如细致视察四周的人，你就会发觉，那些工作最努力的人最有可能安享晚年而无须去工作.不要胆怯超负荷的工作会缩短你的寿命，缺乏三十岁的年龄，你的承受实力远不止如此.假如说真的有人过早送命，那完全是因为他们在晚上六点完毕工作，却要在外流连到凌晨两点才归家.我的年轻人，正是晚上六点到凌晨两点的这段时间的生活毁了他们自己.工作会增加你的食欲，工作会使你坦然入睡，工作将会使你心满足足地享受假日。
精读英语作文范文模板
精读英语作文范文模板英文回答：Introduction。
The importance of reading comprehension cannot be overstated. It is a fundamental skill that underpins success in all academic disciplines, as well as in everyday life. Reading comprehension involves the ability to decode written text, understand its meaning, and apply that meaning to new situations.There are a number of different reading comprehension strategies that can be employed to improve understanding. One common strategy is to preview the text before reading it. This involves skimming the text to get a general idea of its structure and content. It can also be helpful to identify key words and phrases that will help you understand the text.Another effective reading comprehension strategy is to annotate the text as you read it. This involves making notes in the margins of the text to highlight important points, make connections between ideas, and ask questions. Annotating the text can help you to focus your attention and improve your understanding of the material.It is also important to be aware of your own reading comprehension strengths and weaknesses. If you struggle with understanding certain types of text, such as technical or academic writing, you may need to spend more time practicing these types of texts. There are a number of resources available to help you improve your reading comprehension skills, such as online exercises and tutorials.Conclusion。
英语阅读理解精读100篇UNIT10
UNIT TENTEXT ONEWhen Princeton, the University of Virginia, and Harvard announced last fall that they would drop their early admissions options because they gave an unfair advantage to affluent students, many college counselors held their breath. Would early decision go the way of kegs in dormitories? Not for now, at least. Early admission is still going strong at many colleges and universities, including many top-tier schools.Early decision in particular--in which a student commits to a first-choice institution--is often touted as a plus for both schools and students. Colleges can lock up half of their class before January, and acceptance rates are typically higher than under regular admission. The major drawback of early decision is that it leaves students who are in the market for the best financial aid package out in the cold. By applying early, you must enroll if accepted, so comparing awards with those of other schools is out of the question. Schools like that, of course, because it helps their bottom line. But there is a possible end run: Ask if a school will release you from your obligation should its aid package fall short. In some cases, a school will roll you into the regular admission pool, allowing for comparison shopping come springtime.While some schools admit almost the same percentage of applicants during early and regular admission, many favor the early pool. Johns Hopkins University took 44 percent from its early round and 24 percent from the regular pool. Early birds at Hopkins make up a third of this fall's freshman class.Nonetheless, college counselors have seen borderline students get a boost by applying early decision. "If they aren't legacies, athletes, or an underrepresented minority, early decision may be the only hook that some students have," says Jim Conroy, chair of post-high-school counseling at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Ill. But you need to be realistic. "If a school is out of your reach, it's out of reach whether you apply early decision, early action, or regular admission," says Sarah Wilburn, a college counselor at Campus Bound in Quincy, Mass. "Move on and set some new goals."Advantage or not, applying early decision makes sense only if you're convinced that a school is a good fit for you. Erin Murray decided to apply to Dartmouth early despite the advice of her college counselor and others. They wanted her to beef up her transcript after she had spent a semester of high school in Italy. But the teenager from Cheyenne, Wyo., wisely played up her experience abroad (her 4.0 GPA and top-notch board scores didn't hurt, either) and was accepted. "I probably would have fit well at a number of schools," she admits, "but Dartmouth was the only place I could see myself walking across the greens. It was a gut reaction."If you lack the same certainty but clinching a slot before New Year's is appealing, consider other early admissions plans. Early action is a nonbinding alternative that allows you to apply by November 1 and hear back before the regular application deadline. Some highly selective schools require that you submit only one early action application--called single-choice early action--meaning you can't apply early elsewhere. Another option is to apply early to rolling admissions, where an application that arrives in the fall may stand out more than one that arrives with most of the others in January.1. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of early decision?[A] Early decision is a common strategy adopted by universities to secure high rate of student enrollment.[B] Early decision begins to be abandoned by top American universities.[C] Early decision is a special treatment for rich students, athletes and minorities.[D] Early decision will still be in practice for a fairly long time.2. The major disadvantage of early decision is that_____[A] students can enjoy a less attractive the financial aid package if he chooses early decision.[B] it excludes students who are from lower social class or poor family background.[C] it does not allow students to choose the other better schools.[D] it excludes students who want to have comparison shopping.3. What Sarah Wilburn wants to suggest students is that_____[A] early decision is not so advantageous as people think. [B] students should not regard early decision as the sole way to college.[C] students should evaluate themselves objectively before making early decision.[D] students should not limit themselves in early decision.4.Wyo applied to Dartmouthbecause_____[A] she was quite confident due to her rich experience of studying abroad. [B] the university’s beautiful lawn aroused her affection.[C] she found Dartmouth the only one that fit her after researching a bunch of universities.[D] her 4.0 GPA and top-notch board scores were not so ideal.5. The following options can be adopted by students lacking certainty of which school to apply to except_____[A] applying to early action.[B] applying to rolling admissions.[C] applying to early decision.[D] applying single-choice early action.文章剖析：这篇文章主要讲述了美国的提前择校制度。
如何精读一篇英文文章
如何精读一篇英文文章阅读是学习英语的重要一环，阅读英文文章是提高英语语言能力的重要途径之一。
然而，许多人在阅读英文文章时，往往会遇到困难，无法理解文章的内容。
为了更好地掌握英语阅读技巧，下面将从如何准确理解文章主旨、增强阅读速度和提高阅读效率三个方面探讨如何精读一篇英文文章。
一、准确理解文章主旨准确理解文章主旨是良好阅读的前提。
语言的特点决定了基本上每个单词的意思都是固定的，然而，当单词串在一起构成句子时，则需要考虑上下文语境。
因此，理解上下文的能力对于准确理解文章主旨非常重要。
读一篇英文文章，首先要明确自己的阅读目的，并从题目、副标题、开头和结尾中尽量获取信息。
除此之外，还要注意文章的结构和思路，千万不要死记硬背地来阅读，而是采取主动思考的态度，理解文章讨论的主题、思路和内容。
二、增强阅读速度读英文文章时如果速度过慢，不利于快速掌握文章内容。
因此，增强阅读速度是提高阅读效率的关键。
快速阅读并不意味着牺牲理解深度。
事实上，提高阅读速度还可以通过更好地把握文章大意来加强理解深度。
在阅读过程中避免停顿，出现犹豫、重复等情况。
除此之外，可以采用整体阅读的方法，即尽可能将所有描写整合起来，进行整体性的把握，从而加强对文章整体思路的理解。
同时采用快速阅读技巧可以使我们更加专注注意力，避免分心，也有助于理解文章大意，进一步提高阅读效率和理解深度。
三、提高阅读效率文化语言的背景和特点对于英语阅读难度影响极大。
一个片段文章背后需要理解的文化语言知识很多，因此需要有长效的对英语语言的了解和熟悉，才能慢慢进行阅读提高。
如开头描写国际时，需要对全球各国经济政治背景有基本的了解，否则很容易使得文章内容陌生丰富的文化背景会极大的难度转化为更好的理解能力。
因此，提高阅读效率的关键是增强对英语语言文化的了解和熟悉。
在阅读英文文章时不妨加大词汇量的积累和语法的熟悉程度。
还可以通过拓展阅读口径和扩大学术知识储备来使英语阅读更加积极主动，提高阅读效率和深度理解。
英语精读第一册作文
英语精读第一册作文精读第一册作文。
Title: The Importance of Reading。
Reading is an essential part of our lives. It not only helps us to gain knowledge and information but alsoimproves our language skills and critical thinking. In this essay, I will discuss the importance of reading and how it has impacted my life.First and foremost, reading is a great way to expandour knowledge. When we read, we are exposed to new ideas, information, and perspectives. This helps us to broaden our understanding of the world around us and to become morewell-informed individuals. For example, when I read books about different cultures and societies, I am able to learn about their customs, traditions, and history, which in turn, helps me to become more open-minded and empathetic towards others.Furthermore, reading is also a great way to improve our language skills. When we read, we are exposed to new vocabulary, sentence structures, and writing styles. This helps us to become better communicators and writers. Personally, I have noticed that the more I read, the better I become at expressing myself and articulating my thoughts and ideas.In addition, reading is a great way to develop critical thinking skills. When we read, we are constantly analyzing and evaluating the information that is presented to us.This helps us to become more discerning individuals who are able to think critically and make informed decisions. For example, when I read articles or essays, I am always questioning the author's arguments and evidence, which has helped me to become more analytical and skeptical of the information that is presented to me.Moreover, reading is a great way to relax and de-stress. In today's fast-paced world, it is important to take some time for ourselves and unwind. Reading allows us to escapeinto different worlds and to forget about our worries and problems, even if it is just for a little while. Personally, I always look forward to curling up with a good book at the end of a long day, as it helps me to relax and recharge.In conclusion, reading is an important part of our lives. It helps us to gain knowledge, improve our language skills, develop critical thinking, and relax. Personally, reading has had a profound impact on my life, and I cannot imagine a world without books. I believe that everyone should make an effort to read regularly, as it is a great way to enrich our lives and become better individuals.。
MPA入学考试英语精读文章(四十二)
MPA入学考试英语精读文章（四十二）UNIT 42 TEXT Beginning with the earliest pioneers, Americans have always highly valued their freedoms, and fought hard to protect them. And yet, the author points out that there is a basic freedom which Americans are in danger of losing. What is this endangered freedom? For what reasons could freedom-loving Americans possibly let this freedom slip away? And what-steps can they take to protect ittheir fifth freedom? The Fifth Freedom by Seymour St . John More than three centuries ago a handful of pioneers crossed the ocean t Jamestown and Plymouth in search of freedoms they were unable to find in their own countries, the freedoms of we still cherish today: freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of speech, freedom of religion. Today the descendants of the early settlers, and those who have joined them since, are fighting to protect these freedoms at home and throughout the world. And yet there is a fifth freedom - basic to those four - that we are in danger of losing: the freedom to be one‘s best. St. Exupery describes a ragged, sensitive-faced Arab child, haunting the streets of a North African town, as a lost Mozart: he would never be trained or developed. Was he free? “No one grasped you by the shoulder while there was still time; and nought will awaken in you the sleeping poet or musician or astronomer that possibly inhabited you from the beginning.” The freedom to be one‘s best is the chance for the development of each person to his highest power. How is it that we in America have begun to lose this freedom, and how can we regain it for our nation‘s youth?I believe it has started slipping away from us because of three misunderstandings. First, the misunderstanding of the meaning of democracy. The principal of a great。
(新)大学英语四级考试阅读理解精读100篇(附答案)汇编
Passage One (Clinton Is Right)President Clinton\ decision on Apr.8 to send Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji packing without an agreement on China's entry into the World Trade Organization seemed to be a massive miscalculation. The President took a drubbing from much of the press, which had breathlessly reported that a deal was in the bag. The Cabinet and Whit House still appeared divided, and business leaders were characterized as furious over the lost opportunity. Zhu chiirged (hat Clinton lacked .^thc courage” to reach an accord・ And when Clinton later telephoned the angry Zhu to pledge a renewed effort at negotiations, the gesture was widely portrayed as a flip-flop.In fact Clinton made the right decision in holding out for a better WTO deal. A lot more horse trading is needed before a final agreement can be reached・ And without the Administration^ goal of a "bullet-proof agreement” that business lobbyists can enthusiastically sell to a Republican Congress, the whole process will end up in partisan acrimony that could harm relations with China for years.THE HARD PART. Miiny business lobbyists, while disappointed that the deal was not closed, agree that better terms can still be had. And Treasury Secretary Robert E・Rubin. National Economic Council Director Gene B. Sperling, Commerce Secretary William M. Daley, and top trade negotiator Charlene Barshefsky all advised Clinton that while the Chinese had made a remarkable number of concessions, •Ue're not there yet/ according to senior officials. Negotiating with Zhu over the remaining issues may be the easy part. Although Clinton can signal U.S. approval for China's entry into the WTO himself he needs Congress to grant Beijing permanent most-favored・nalio!)status as part of a broad trade accord・ Andthe temptation for meddling on Capital Hill may prove over-whelming. Zhu had barely landed before Senate Majority Leader Trent Loll (R-Miss) declared himself skeptical that China deserved entry into the WTO. And Senators Jesse A. Helms (R-N.C.) and Emest E Hollings (D-S. C.) promised to intrixluce a bill requiring congressional approval of any deal.The hidden message from these three textile-state Southerners: Get more protection for the U. S. clothing industry. Hoping to smooth the way, the Administration tried, but failed, to budge Zhu on textiles・Also left in the lurch: Wall Street, Hollywood, and Detroit・Zhu refused to open up much of the lucrative Chinese securities market and insisted on ^cultural'' restrictions on American movies and music. He also blocked cflorts to allow U. S. auto makers to provide fleet Gnancing・BIG JOB. Already, business lobbyists are blanketing Capitol Hill to presale any eventual agreement, but what they've heard so far isn't cncouraging. Rq)ublicans, including Lott, say that "the time just isn't right*' for the deal. Translation: We're determined to make it look as if Clinton has capitulated to (he Chinese and is ignoring human, religious, and labor rights violations; the theft of nuclear-weapons technology; and the sale of missile parts to America's enemies・ Beijing's fierce critics within the Democratic Party, such as Senator Paul D. Wellstone of Minnesota and House Minority leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, won't help, either. Just how tough the lobbying job on Capitol Hill will be become clear on Apr. 20. when Rubin lectured 19chicf executives on the need to discipline their Republican allies. With business and the White House still trading charges over who is responsible for the defeat of fasbtrack trade negotiating legislation in 1997, working together won't be easy. And Republicans- with a winky that they Mleventually embrace China's entty into the WTO as a favor to Corporate America. Though not long before tliey torture Clinton. But Zhu is out on a limb, and if Congress overdoes the criticism, he may be forced by domestic critics to renege・ Business must make this much dear to both its GOP allies and the Whil House: This historic deal is too important to risk losing lo any more partisan squabbling 1 ・ The main idea of this passage is(A|. The Contradiction between the Democralic Party and the Republican Party.[B]. On China's entry into WTO-[C]. Clinton was right.[D|. Business Lobbyists Control Capitol Hill.2.What does the sentence “Ako left in the lurch: Wall Street, Hollywood. Detroit" convey? |A|. Premier Zhu rejected their requirements.(BJ. The three places overdid criticism.|C]. They wanted more protection.|D].They arc in trouble.3.What was the attitude of the Republican Party toward China^s entry into the WTO?[A]. Contradictory.[BJ.Appnxiadve.(CJ. Disapproving. ；JD]・ Detestftil.4.Who plays the leading part in the deal in America?(AJ. White House •[B]. Republicans.(CJ. The Dcm<x:ratic Party. [D]. Businessmen.5.It can be inferred from the passage that[A]. America will make concessions・[B]・ America will hold out for a better WTO[C]. Clinton has the right to signal U・ S. approval tor China's entry.[DJ. Democratic party approve China's entry into the WTO.17 . blanket 覆盖，妨碍扫兴.扑灭18 . Capitulate 投降，停止抵抗19 . fast track 快速行程（轻车熟路》20 . with a wink 眼睛一眨，很快的21 . out on a limb 孤立无援（尤指争论和J S见匕1. drubbingget/take a drabbing 遭人痛打2. flip・flop=grea( change suddenly 游说，突然改变，突然反方向.3.hold out 维持，保持hold out for sth. 故J S拖延达成协议以谋求••…4. horse trading 糟明的讨价还价5. bullet-proof 防弹的6. lobby 收买，暗中活动7. lobbyist Bt外活动集团成员& partisan 党人.帮派，是党派强硕支持者9. acrimony 语言/态度的刻薄10 . sell to 说服（某人）接受或采用11 . meddle 干預12 . Capitol Hill 类曲国会13 . budge 使稍微移动，改变14 . lucrative 有利可图的，赚钱的15 . block 制止16 . fleet 觌队.船队•车队.机队Vocabulary22 . renege 违约23.squabble丨・President Clinton^ decision on Apr.8 to send Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji packing without an agreement.••［结构分#f 1 send one packing打发人走.［参考译文］克林顿F 4月8 Fl决定不达成中国加入世贸组织的协议便打发中国总理朱容施丄人。
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Four boys were at the same school. They were good friends, so they often studied and played together. They went to school every day by taxi. One day one of the boys said, “There is a test this morning. Let’s go to school late. Then we won’t have to take the test.” “What can we tell the teacher?” One of the boys said. “He’ll be angry. We’ll need a good excuse. ” The boys thought for several moments, then one of them said, “Let’s tell him that our taxi had a flat tire(爆胎).” “That’s a good idea,” the other boys said. “We’ll tell him that.” They arrived at school an hour later. The test was finished. “Why are you late?” the teacher asked. “You miss the test.” “Our taxi had a flat tire,” one of the boys said. The teacher thought for a moment, then he said, “Sit down, one of you in each corner of the room.” The four boys did this. Then the teacher said, “Write the answer to this question on a piece of paper: Which tire was flat? 1. One day the four boys were late for school because__________________. A. they didn’t like the teacher’s class B. there was a car accident C. they planned to miss the test D. the traffic was busy 2. We can know from the passage that the teacher__________________. A. thought they were good students B. didn’t believe what they said C. gave his students too many tests D. was very angry and called their parents 3. The four boys sat down as the teacher said like Picture ______________. A. B. C. D. 点此可获 C B C 正确答案
点此可获 B 正确答案 C A D
2. Sometimes the moon looks bigger than the sun, because ________. ( ) A. it is much bigger than the sun B. it comes out only at night C. it is much nearer to the earth than the sun D. it doesn't give a very strong light
这篇文章讲的是四个男孩为了逃避一次 考试而编造了一个谎言，老师为了验证他们 说的是否真实而进行了一个试验。 文章中大量内容都与我们所学息息相关， 便于学生理解和巩固所学内容。
英语文章精读
周静宜
A man from the state of Chu was taking a boat across a river when he dropped his sword into the water carelessly. Immediately he made a mark on the side of the boat where the sword dropped, hoping to find it later. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to search for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. As we know, the boat had moved but the sword had not. This is a very foolish way to look for a sword，isn’t it？
3. The sun __________. ( ) A. gives us light B. gives more light than the moon does C. moves round the earth D. makes the moon move round the earth
B
这是一篇科普性文章，讲的是太阳，月 亮与地球三者的关系，虽然文章不难，但环 环相扣，较容易迷惑读者。文中还出现了许 多我们今年学习的语法知识和词组。
1. What did the man fall into the water?（ ） A.boat B.wood C.sword D.shoes 2. Explain the underlined words in English.（） A.at once B. slowly C. Terribly D. vexedly 3. Can this man finally find his own sword?（） A.can B.can’t C. not sure D.I don’t know 4. What is the main idea of the article？（） A.A man lost his sword. B. Tell us to look for it immediately after we have lost something. C.Talk about a foolish person. D.Tell us to do tings flexibly（灵活地）. 5. Where might this article appear?（） 点此可获 A.Science book B.newspaper C 正确答案 A B DC C. Fables book D.magazine
这篇文章就是用另一种方式呈现我们耳 熟能详的“刻舟求剑”这个故事。文章中 出现了许多我们本学期学过的单词，及多 个从句，和最后的反意疑问句。
The earth moves round the sun, and the moon moves round the earth. When our part of the earth turns to the sun, it is day. When our part of the earth turns away from the sun, it is night. The sun is much bigger than the moon. But sometimes the moon looks bigger than the sun, because it's much nearer to the earth. The sun isvery bright. It gives a very strong light. The moon looks quite bright, too. But it doesn't give any light at all. The moon looks much biggers. But in fact the stars are much bigger and brighter than the moon. They look smaller than the moon because they're much farther away from us. 1. ________ moves round __________. ( ) A. The earth, the moon BThe moon, the earth C. The moon, the stars D. The sun, the earth 4. The stars ___________. ( ) A. look much bigger than the sun B. look much brighter than the moon C. are a lot brighter than the moon, but they are not bigger than the moon D. are much farther away from us than the moon 5. The moon looks bright because ________.( ) A. it gives light B. it reflects the sun's light C. it is nearer to the earth D. it is nearer to the sun