自考 综合英语二(上册下册) 作文

自考 综合英语二（上册） 作文
L1 Twelve things I wish they teach at school
Q: Why does the author tell us not to be afraid to ask stupid questions?
A: The author thinks that many apparently naive inquiries like why grass is green, or why the sun is round，or why we need 55.000 nuclear weapons in the world are really deep questions. He says when you try to get the answers，you will gain deep understanding of the things. It’s also important to know, as well as you can, what it is that you don't know, and asking questions is the way. He also tells us that to ask “stupid” questions requires courage on the part of the asker and knowledge and patience on the part of the answerer. And don’t confine your learning to schoolwork. Discuss ideas in depth with friends. It’s much braver to ask questions even when there's a prospect of ridicule than to suppress your questions and become deadened to the world around you.

List two of the things Carl Sagan mentions in his article “Twelve things I wish they teach at school” and explain why you think them important.
Of the things Carl Sagan wished he had learned in high school, I think that “Don’t be afraid to ask ‘stupid’ questions” and “Everyone makes mistakes” are more important than others.
If we are eager to learn, we are sure to find a lot of things we don’t understand. Asking question is a way of learning. Questions regarded as “stupid” may be intelligent and profound ones. They may lead to important discoveries, and while trying to get answers we may gain insights into matters of importance.
It is also important to know that our understanding is limited and that we can’t avoid making mistakes. What is important is to learn from our mistakes. In others words, we must think hard and try to find out why we make mistakes so that we will not make the same or similar mistakes again. This thinking process is an important aspect of learning.

L2 ICON Q: what are the factors shift from hero-worship to the celebrity-worship?
A: The new forms of media-photography, moving pictures, radio and television are the main factors.
The reproduction of photos in newspapers turned famous people into celebrities whose dress, appearance, and personal habits were widely commented upon. Slowly, the focus of public attention began to shift away from knowing what such people did to knowing what they looked like.
The shift was accelerated by the arrival of moving pictures. Between1901 and 1914, 74 percent of the magazine articles about famous people were about political leaders, inventors, professionals, and businessmen. After1922, however, most articles were about movie stars.
With the arrival of television, the faces of the stars became as familiar as those we saw across the breakfast table. We came to know more about the lives of the celebrities than we did about most of the

people we know personally. Less than seventy years after the appearance of the first moving pictures, the shift from hero-worship to celebrity-worship was complete.

What are the differences between heroes or heroines and celebrities?
There are three distinctions between heroes or heroines and celebrities. The distinctions are classified on the bases of quality, origin and social effect.
First, heroes or heroines are men and women distinguished by uncommon courage, achievements, and self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. They are famous for their enduring achievements. Celebrities are people well-known for their well-knownness, who become famous because of much publicity and not of any enduring achievements.
Second, to become a hero or heroine, one needs accomplishment; to become celebrity, one needs luck. Heroes or heroines are distinguished by their accomplishment; celebrities by their image or trademark. Heroes or heroines create themselves; celebrities are created by the media. Heroes or heroines are big men and women; celebrities are big names.
Third, heroes or heroines inspire respect. They are people against whom we measure others. Celebrities inspire envy. Except for the attention celebrities get from the media, they are exactly like common people.
L3 Go- Go American Q: what’s the American’s attitude towards time?
A: In the United States, many people keenly feel the shortness of each life-time. They are aware that once a day in their life is gone, it will never comeback. And Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. So they value time and want every minute to count.
This attitude towards time is shown in the fast pace of life in the country. Whatever they do they always seem to be in a rush. You find people hurrying to get where they are going. They hurry to eating places for a meal and finish it as quickly as possible.
Also Americans do what they can to save time. They produce a lot of labor-saving devices such as clothes-and dish-washers; they rapidly communicate through phone calls, telex and e-mail and cut down on personal contacts.

Summarize some striking characteristics of American life. Give some examples to illustrate the characteristics
“Time is money,” say Americans, since you are allowed only this much of time in your life, you’d better make the best use of it.” In the United-Stated, highly efficient and well-organized people are admired. These people will list all the things that they are going to do, draw up plans and carry them out one by one. In this country, an ideal person turns up at meeting on time, fulfils an appointment punctually按时 and does not waste other people’s time.
Fast-food chains, such as McDonald’s, Kentuckey Fried Chicken(KFC) and Pizza Hut (PH), can be found everywhere in America, and are very popular among American people, since many people try to spend less time in cooking and eating.
Americans like electronic comm

unication, too. They do their business by using the telephone, the E-mail and the internet, they hold “teleconferences” to settle problem, and they obtain various kinds of information on the internet. In short, they want every minute to count

L4 Take over Boson
Q: Can you image what did Barrett think of when he heard Snyder’s whisper “take over boson”?
A: Because of thirst, Barnet was almost out of mind. He rose several times and was a constant threat. But when he heard Snyder said “Take over boson”, he had a strange feeling suddenly. He came to realize he would and must take over the task and be responsible for the rest. As long as he stopped others from the little water, they would always have hopes and wouldn't die soon. So he picked Snyder’s gun up and decided to hold off the other from the water until night when a ship saved them.

Have you ever found yourself suddenly in a position of leadership? Describe your experience.






L5 Are you giving your kid too much Q: Why parents overindulge their children?
There are several reasons to explain why parents overindulge their children. One fairly common reason is that parents overindulge their children out of a sense of guilt. Parents who both hold down full-time jobs may feel guilty about the amount of time they spend away from their children and may attempt to compensate by showering them with material possessions. Other parents overindulge because they want their children to have everything they had while growing up, along with those things the parents yearned for but didn't get. Still others are afraid to say no to their children' s endless requests for toys for fear that their children will feel unloved or will be ridiculed if they don't have the same playthings their friends have.
L6 Culture shock
Q: What are four stages that people go through when they experience situations that are very different from those to which they are accustomed?
A: Stage one is a honeymoon phase, during which the new experience is perceived to be interesting, picturesque, entertaining, and charming. You may notice several superficial differences such as music, food, and clothing, and the fresh appeal of the new experience keeps you feeling interested and positive. When you stay in a new environment for a while, you move to stage two-the crisis stage-in which the shine wears off and day-to-day realities sink in. In relationship, you notice annoying habits; in a new country, you find barriers to establishing connections or to learning the language beyond a few polite phrases. If you stick with the experience and try to deal with it realistically, you will probably move to the third phase: recovery. In recovery, you learn the systems, procedures, language or nonverbal behaviors of the new environment so that you can cope with it on the basis of some mastery, competence, and comfort. Finally, when you feel that you function well and almost automatically in the new culture, you wil

l move to the fourth phase: adjustment.

Have you ever experienced culture shock? Did you finally adjust to the new environment?











Studying abroad greatly appeals to young people. It is really a brand-new experience which provides us with the opportunities to discover new things. But we have to be mentally prepared for the problems with which we may be confronted. Owing to the differences in social system, belief, values and way of life, we may suffer culture shock and it is hard for us to be adapted to the new environment.
Usually, we need to go through four stages to get accustomed to a new place. The four stages are honeymoon, crisis, recovery and adjustment. On arriving in a foreign country, we may feel excited, and everything appears wonderful. But when we enter the second stage, we feel that things are not so good as we have expected. We begin to miss our homes and tend to give it up. However, as long as we stick with it, we can overcome this culture shock, be adapted to and finally get benefit from this new culture.

How do people adjust themselves to a new environment?
In a new environment people will go through four stages when they experience situations that are very different from those to which they are accustomed. Stage one is a honeymoon phase, during which the new experience is perceived to be interesting, picturesque, entertaining, and charming. You may notice several superficial differences, and the fresh appeal of the new experience keeps you feeling interested and positive. Stage two is the crisis stage, in which the shine wears off and day-to-day realities sink in. the difficulties and unpleasantness of reality replace the charming and picturesque “honeymoon”. Stage three is a recovery stage. In which they learn the systems, procedures, language or nonverbal behaviors of the new environment so that you can cope with it on the basis of some mastery, competence, and comfort. Stage four, the adjustment stage, occurs when they feel that they function well and almost automatically in the new culture. A greater enjoyment of the new experience is now possible, and they may regain some of the initial positive regard they had in the honeymoon stage.

L7 Model Millionaire I
Q: Suppose you are the millionaire. Explain how you get to know Hughie Erskine and what you do in return for the pound be gave you when you first met?-
A: I' m Baron Husberg. I have enough money to buy the whole of London. One day, on a whim I asked my artist friend Alan Trevor to paint me as a beggar. Alan had almost finished the picture when a very charming young man walked into his studio. I suppose he must have been very sympathetic with me, for when Alan was away a minute, the young man quickly put a pound into my hat. I was startled for a moment, but I was pleased when I realized that he took me for a real beggar. Later I learned from Alan all about this young man: he was poor, and could not marry the girl he loved because he

r father wouldn’t let them unless he had 10,000 pounds. Touched by the young man’s spirit of kindness, I decided to help him. The next day I had a cheque for 10, 000 pounds delivered to him as a wedding gift.

L8 Model Millionaire II
Q: Retell the story “the model millionaire”.
A: Hughie Erskine was a charming young man who was in love with a nice girl called Laura Merton. Laura’s father made it clear to Hughie that he would not marry his daughter to him until Hughie had the thousand pounds.
One day, Hughie went to see his artist friend Alan Trevor in his studio. There he found his friend painting a beggar, who was an old man in rags. Hughie felt so sorry for the poor model that he gave him the only pound he had.
The old model was actually a millionaire. When he heard all about Hughie and Laura, and their problem, he had a cheque for ten thousand pounds delivered to him the very next day. The couple were happily married, and the "beggar" attended their wedding.
The story shows that a genuine millionaire is not one who has, but who gives.

Which is more important to you: a more comfortable life or a meaningful one?






L9 Only three more days
Q: The author got a solution finally. What was the solution? Was it risky?
A: He laid out the diaries in two big steel suitcases. Over them he placed a number of his broadcast scripts, each page of which had been stamped by the military and civilian censors as passed for broadcast. On top he put a few General Staff maps he had picked up from friends. Then he phoned the Gestapo Headquarters to say he had a couple of suitcases full of his dispatches, broadcasts and notes that he wanted to take out of the country. As he was flying off early the next day, there would be no time for Gestapo officials at the airfield to go over the contents. Could they take a look now, if he brought them over; and if they approved, put a Gestapo seal on the suit-cases so he wouldn't be held up at the airport?
Yes, it was risky. He thought life in the Third Reich（raik）had always been risky. It was worth a try.

How did the author spend his last two days in Berlin?




L10 The washwoman
Q: Describe the situation that I saw the old woman for last time.
A: One evening, while Mother was sitting near the oil lamp mending a shirt, the door opened and a small puff of steam, followed by a gigantic bag, entered the room. I ran toward the old woman and helped her unload her bag. She was even thinner now, more bent. Her head shook from side to side as though she were saying no. She could not utter a clear word, but mumbled something with her sunken mouth and pale lips.
After the old woman had recovered somewhat, she told us that she had been ill badly. But as soon as she was able to stand on her feet once more, she began her washing. She said "I could not rest easy in my bed because of the wash. The wash would not let me die. “I don't want to be a burden on anyone!”

What do you think is th

e most admirable quality of the old woman in the text “The washwoman”
The old washwoman had a very strong sense of duty. Every piece of laundry she did was clean and neatly ironed. One harsh winter, she felt ill after she collected a great deal of laundry. She was so sick that a doctor and some neighbors thought she was dying, and a priest was sent for. However, she recovered, and as soon as she was able to stand on her feet once more, she began her washing. She couldn’t allow herself to stay in bed because of the wash. Supported by a strong sense of duty and driven by an indomitable will, she finally finished the wash, and returned it to its owners. Her story tells us that to be respected person, what work you do is not so important. What counts is your attitude. A washwoman and an economist should both be respected because they both do work society needs.

L11 How I served my apprenticeship
Q: why was Andre Carnegie so proud of the one dollar and twenty cents—the first pay he brought home?
A: Carnegie was very proud of the one dollar and twenty cents he earned for the first time in his life when he was only twelve. The money，though small in amount, meant a great deal．
First，when he got his first pay he felt that he had grown up ．He was no longer a boy who had to depend on his parents；he had become a man who was able to help support the family，a contributing member. This was important because at that time life was hard for the family and it was difficult for his parents to manage alone．
Also he thought the money was the direct reward of honest manual labor. It represented a week of very hard work. This money gave him the greatest satisfaction of being rewarded for what lie had done.

What is your view of poverty?







L12 A friend for environment
Q: Why did Rachel Carson write the silent spring? What’s the content of it?
A: Because she felt that the wonders of Nature are precious and permanent, and much of Nature was forever beyond the destruction of man. But then she discovered she was wrong .She learned with sadness that little in Nature is trap beyond the "tampering reach of man". Then, she wrote the book Silent Spring to sound a startling warning to mankind and the book showed quite clearly that man was endangering himself and everything else on this planet by his indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides. As her title suggests, Miss Carson was saying that there might come a springtime that would indeed be silent because the birds, as well as other creatures, and plants would have been destroyed by the man-made poisons used to kill crop-threatening insects.
Carson and her Silent Spring
Rachel Carson was a scientist devoted to environment protection. She learned with sadness that little in Nature is truly beyond the “tampering reach of man”. She struggled for the harmony between Nature and man. In 1962, she published Silent Spring, a masterpiece in environment protection. In this book she p

ointed out clearly that man was endangering himself and everything else on this planet by his indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides. As the title suggests, there might come a springtime that would indeed be silent. It would be silent because the birds, as well as other creatures, and plants would have been destroyed by the man-made poisons used to kill crop-threatening insects. She discovered that everything on this planet is connected to everything else. Because the chemical do not break down in the soil, they tend to be endlessly recycled in the food chains on which birds and animals and man himself are completely dependent. By polluting the environment and destroying the animals and plants, man is destroying himself. Silent Spring exploded into the public consciousness and created the enthusiasm for “environment protection”.

L13 Who shall dwell
Q: In the story, how did the father’s attitude towards the neighbors change? What brought about the change?
A: When the bomb alert came, the father was clear that he had built the shelter for his own family, and that he would not let anybody else in. So when his neighbors came and asked to share the shelter he rejected them flatly. When a mother begged him to take her little girl in, he did not know what to do. At that moment his wife dashed outside and pushed the girl in. Her act set him thinking hard .Just a moment before the first bomb struck he made a big decision. After giving his elder son a few instructions, he stepped out and shoved two children into the shelter. He stood beside his wife, ready to spend the last minute with her. His change seemed sudden, but was actually quite natural. He loved his children, so he was greatly affected by the mother's plea and gave the chance of survival to the two children. Also his love for his wife led him to follow her example.

What kind of person do you think the father was in the story “Who Shall Dwell?”
The man was a loving and responsible father and husband. He believed that a man’s first Christian duty was to protect his family. He built a shelter so that they could survive a nuclear attack. When a bomb alert came, the family immediately got into their shelter. Then the neighbors came and asked to share his shelter. He rejected them at first. He seemed selfish, but deep down he felt bad. Later after his wife walked out and pushed a little girl in, he made a big decision. He told his eldest son to take care of all the younger children in the shelter. Then he walked out and pushed two other children in. he was able to give the chance of survival to others because he was by nature a good, responsible man.

L14 Cipher in the snow
Q: Describe Cliff Evan’s life before his sudden death.
How Cliff Evans Become a Zero? (The text you should base your composition on is “Cipher in the snow.”
A: Cliff Evans lived with his mother, stepfather and five younger half-brothers and half-sisters.
His stepfather had never legally adop

ted him, nor did he show any affection for him. At home Cliff didn't talk much and had never told his family about his problems.
When he first began school, he was timid but eager to learn. And his I﹒Q﹒ was pretty good .Then in his third year a teacher wrote in the school record that he was “uncooperative and slow”. Since then he had never got an encouragement from his teachers. Gradually, the child had no more confidence left. He never smiled or talked much. He had no friends; he never belonged to a club, never played on a team and never held an office. He come to school by himself and left by himself. In class, he would sit back in the last seat. Finally, he became silent and lonely. He became nothing/a zero.



L15 Bribery- an inevitable evil?
Q: what are the major forms of bribery?
A: Bribery can be classified into three broad categories. The first category consists of large amount of money paid for political purposes or to secure major contracts. For example, a certain American company offered big sums of money to support a U.S. presidential candidate when it was under investigation. Also in order to get big contracts, such payments are often made to ruling families or their close advisers.
The second category covers payments made to obtain quicker official approval of some project. In such cases, the money is often paid to key-government officials concerned.
The third category involves payments made in certain countries to make a business deal easy to get approved. For instance, a foreign company may pay to get permission to import equipment. A common type of this category is the "facilitating payment" to clear cargoes. These are smaller sums of money paid to customs officials.

Is Bribery an Inevitable Evil?
Bribery in business can be classified into three broad categories.
The first category consists of substantial payments made for political purposes or to secure major contracts and also large payments made to ruling families or their close advisers in order to secure arms sales or major petrochemical and construction contracts. The second category covers payments made to obtain quicker official approval of some project, to speed up the wheels of bureaucracy. The third category involves payments made in countries where it is traditional to pay people to facilitate the passage of a business deal.
It is true that bribery in business is still pervasive today. But that does not mean bribery should be eternally inevitable. All countries should take measures to fight bribery. National and international laws should be formulated to ban bribery. Political reforms should be carried out to minimize the necessity, possibility and feasibility of bribery. With the ceaseless efforts of the entire world, bribery in business can be conquered.

L16 A social event
Q: What do you know about Randy and Carole in ? why are they anxious to get invited to Scotty’s funeral?
A: Randy and Carole are a young Hollywood

couple. They have been married only a short time. Both have achieved a certain degree of success in pictures, but their careers in the show business are still in the promising stage.
Scotty Woodrow, a world-famous movie star has just died, and Randy and Carole are anxious to go to his funeral, which will be a gathering of celebrities and is regarded as a big social event. It is said that flowers have come from the U . S. President and the British Queen,
Randy and Carole think it is extremely important for their career to be seen there with a lot of big shots. But they haven' t got an invitation while some of their Hollywood friends, also young actors and actresses like themselves , have been invited . That's why they are worried and are trying hard to find ways of getting themselves invited in the last minute

How do you understand the young Hollywood couple in the play?






自考 综合英语二（下册） 作文

L1 Courtesy: key to a happier world
Q: illustrate with example the basic ingredients of good manners Dr. Peale mentions in his article.
A: Dr. Peale lists three things as the basic ingredients of good manners: a strong sense of justice, the ability to share another person s inner feelings and the capacity to treat all people alike.
Once, a man was driving along a long, narrow and dusty road ahead of another car. Suddenly he stopped off the road and told the driver of the car behind to get ahead of him. He did not want the other person to put up with his dust all the way. This is a man with a strong sense of justice.
A courteous also understands the pain or unhappiness of others. He/she offers help without hurting the feelings of the other person because he/she shares their emotions as if they were he/she own.
Finally, a person with good manners treats all people alike, whether they are plain citizens or big shots. He/She never asks whether the other person deserves their good manners.

Courtesy: the key to a happier world.
Courtesy includes three basic qualities. First: a strong sense of justice. Courtesy is often nothing more than a highly developed sense of fair play. Second: empathy, a quality that enables a person to see into the mind or heart of someone else, to understand the pain or unhappiness there and to do something to minimize it. Third: the capacity to treat all people alike regardless of all status or importance.
People may improve their manners in three ways. First: by practicing courtesy. Second: by thinking in a courtesy way. If our thoughts are predominantly self-directed, discourteous persons are what we will be. If we train ourselves to be considerate of others and acquire the habit of identifying with their problems and hopes and fears, good manners will follow automatically. Third, by accepting courtesy, receiving it gladly and rejoicing when it comes our way.
The core of courtesy is how we regard people-not just people in general, but individuals. Politeness is the golden rule in actio

n. Blessed are the courteous.

L2 The man who could work miracles I
Q: how did Mr. Fotheringay discover his unusual power and how did he take advantage of them? A: It was while he was trying to prove the impossibility of miracles that Mr. Fotheringay discovered his extraordinary powers. He was having a drink in a bar. A person called Toddy opposed everything he said. This made him very angry. He wanted to show Toddy that the lamp there couldn't burn upside down without breaking no matter how he wished it to do so . But as soon as he said," Turn upside down without breaking, "the lamp did as Fotheringay had just said.
Back at home he experimented with his magical powers and came to see that he could with things. The next day he began to take advantage of this unusual power. By his will he first got a fresh goose-egg for breakfast. In the same way he got the whole day's work done in 10 minutes. He also created an, her of useful things and increased his personal property.

What magic power did Mr. Fotheringgay come to possess?
How and why did he decide to give up this power?
Conclude your answer with a one-sentence comment.









L3 The man who could work miracles II
Q: how did Mr. Fotheringay’s attitude towards miracles changes? A: Mr．Fotheringay did not believe in miracles until he was thirty years old．It was while he was asserting the impossibility of miracles that he discovered his extraordinary powers ．One day，when he was having a drink in a bar，
Toddy Beamish opposed everything he said, so he decided to make an unusual effort. He tried to illustrate what was a miracle by giving a special example, that is, to make a lamp upside down and go on burning steadily without falling-To his great surprise, what he said came true. Everyone was astonished at it. They all didn't believe it. After going back home, he tried his will power. He succeeded in getting a match and lighting the candle with his will power. He wondered at his will power. Then he tried to get himself a nightshirt, lay and cook a goose-egg, do one day's work in ten minutes, make walking stick blossom, and sent the policeman to Hades, then to San Francisco by using his will power. In the end he felt delighted even though he understood that the gift required caution and watchfulness.

Do you believe in miracles? Why do so many people do? What does this story want to tell from the experience of Mr. Fotheringay?










L4 Zero hour: forty-three seconds over Hiroshima
Q: what did Kaz see at that day ?
A: When she saw a B - 29 bomber approaching , it didn't frighten her, be-cause she thought Hiroshima was the only peaceful city during the war. But, then, Kaz saw the bomb falling away from the plane and drifting down to-wards her. The journey took 43 seconds. A loud explosion reverberated in the air. A mushroom cloud rose over the remains of the city. Kaz was thrown to tire ground

so violently that her two front teeth broke off. She lost consciousness. When she came to herself, she found there was a dead silence around, broken only by the cries of the dying .Their house crashed down .Her father had the front of his body burnt. When her brother came back, she could barely recognize him through his wounds. As night fell, she arid her brother made for the mountains to look for a friend of Kaz' s who offered to take them in. There Kaz looked back and saw the city on fire. She left her brother behind and ran down the hillside towards the flames for her parents .The streets were filled with the dead and the barely living.

Kaz’s life before and after the bombing.









L5 First principles
How did the wades in “first principles” spend Christmas the year Henry Wades, the breadwinner of the family, lost his job?
1 Provide some background information about the family.
2 Describe where and how the family spent Christmas and give some details about gifts, food, activities, etc.
3 conclude the essay with a one-sentence comment pointing out in what way Christmas that year was memorable.
The wades were a middle-class family of five, Henry, Emily, their 14-year-old daughter Laura and their two younger sons. They lived in New York City.
A month before Christmas, Henry, the breadwinner of the family, lost his job. He and his wife decided to spend Christmas on their farm, where they had a simple but memorable celebration. They gave Laura as gifts a picture and a small brooch that had belonged to her grandmother, and the boy’s balls and story books. The family had a turkey and a tree from their own woods. They had a lot of fresh air and exercise. The children were more than satisfied. Emily thought no other family had a nicer Christmas than they did.
Christmas should be an occasion to express one’s love for one’s family and Christmas gifts should gifts should be what one can afford and what is worth remembering.

L6 The beauty of Britain
Q: what is the characteristic of Britain’s landscape that goes with variety?
A: With variety goes surprise. Ours is the country of happy surprises. You have never to travel long without being pleasantly astonished. It would not be difficult to compile a list of such surprises that would fill the next fifty pages, but I will content myself with suggesting the first few that occur to me. If you go down into the West Country, among rounded hills and soft pastures, you suddenly arrive at the bleak tablelands as if the North had left a piece of itself down there. But before you have reached them you have already been surprised by the queer bit of marshland, as if a former inhabitant had been sent to Cambridge and had brought his favorite marshland walk back from college with him into the West.

What does the author think the beauty of Britain lies in?







L7 some meanings of authentic love
Q: in the author’s opinion, what does love means?
A: Love means tha

t I know the person I love. love means that I care about the welfare of the person I love. Love means having respect for the dignity of the person I love } Love means having a responsibility toward the person I love .Love means growth for both myself and the person I love. Love can tolerate imperfection. Love is freeing. Love is expansive. Ave means having a want for the person I love without having a need for that person in order to be complete. Love means identifying with the person I love. Love is selfish. Love involves seeing the potential within the person we love.2007-08-19 14:48

What are the three most important elements of love? What do they entail?




L8 how I designed a-bomb in my junior year at Princeton
Q: how did Philip design an atomic bomb in his junior year at Princeton?
A: Phillips read over the books on nuclear-reactor technology, general nuclear physics, and current atomic theory. Besides, he listened to Dyson’s explanations of the basic principles of nuclear physics. That wasn't enough.
In order to find more useful information, Phillips went to Washington. D . C . , to search for records of the Los Alamos Project that were declassified between 1954 and 1964. He discovered a copy of the literature which carefully outlined all the details of atomic fashioning known to the world's most advanced scientists in the early 1940s.
The biggest problem involved in the explosion of an atomic bomb was how to arrange the explosives around the plutonium. Another problem he was faced with was which explosive he should use to create a very high density. After finding errors, Philips ran through a series of new calculations, carefully figuring the arrangement of the explosives around the plutonium. If his equations were correct, his atomic bomb would explode effectively as expect-ed. But he should know the exact nature of the explosives he would use. Fortunately, he got the very information about these explosives from Du Pont Company. Now, so to speak, he already succeeded in designing an atomic bomb on paper.

How did Phillip design an A-bomb?
Phillips was a below-average physics student. He decided to design an A-bomb to prove that a terrorist group could easily make an A-bomb with the information and materials available. He chose Freeman Dyson as his adviser, who actually gave little help. He first mastered basic principles and theories. In Washington D. C. he got some valuable documents from the records of the Los Alamos Project declassified between 1954 and 1964. An atomic bomb is like a marble inside a grapefruit inside a basketball inside a beach ball. At the center of the bomb is the initiator, a marble-size piece of mental. Around the initiator is a grapefruit-size ball of plutonium-239. Wrapped around the plutonium is a three-inch reflector shield made of beryllium. High explosives are placed symmetrically around the beryllium shield. Most of the supplies are legally available at hardware stores and chemical-supply

houses. Plutonium would be the most difficult supply. Phillips scanned government documents and put together a huge jigsaw puzzle. He ran through a series of new calculations, mathematically figuring the arrangement of the explosives around the plutonium. He called the Du Pont Company about the explosives he would use. In less than three months’ time, he succeeded in designing an A-bomb.

L9 Forty years on
Q: what do you think are the advantage and disadvantage of goading?
A: I think goading is a good way to prod the children to behave well.
In a way, goading is positive. As human beings, we all have the sense of self-respect and will be proud of our little achievement. If there are occasions prods in the rear, we will in time be conscious of our inefficiency, and then press ourselves to achieve higher aims. Just as it affected John and his cousin, goading from time to time can prevent children from being proud of their little achievement. It can make them more modest and prudent. The modest receive benefit, while the conceited reap failure.
However, we could not say it is without any harm. Sometimes it might be harmful. It may disappoint children and cause them to lose heart. Perhaps they will collapse after one setback. Therefore, only goading itself is not enough; it must be combined with the proper method to carry it out.

What are the effects of the comparisons on the author and John Bullyer?







L10 On friendship
Q: what is your idea about a true friend?
A: An my view, a true friend should be honest, loyal and willing to help.
Honesty in friendship means that we should be sincere and frank. We should not hesitate to point out our friends' shortcomings and should never try to cover up their errors. What we should do is to encourage and hell, them to improve.
Loyalty is important if we want the relationship to last. We have confidence in one another in fine weather and in rainy days. We don 't desert our friend when they run into trouble. Not do we cling to their, in their success. We share with our friends both joy and sorrow.
True friends are the people we can turn to in all circumstances, as Cite saying goes, "A friend in need is a friend indeed. They are always ready to lend a helping hand to pull us out of tight corner.
I believe in true friendship though true friends are not easy to find.

What three qualities do you most expect in a friend?
The text you should base your composition on is “On Friendship”. Use the following outline as a guide:
1 Introduction (you name the three qualities).
2 Body (you develop what you have mentioned in the introduction).
3 Conclusion (you summarize what you have written).
The qualities I expect most in friends are loyalty, honesty and readiness to help.
Loyalty means that they trust me and don’t desert me when I am in trouble. They not only share my joys and hopes, but also my sorrows and fears. This quality is important if I want our friendship to last. Also, I

think friendship requires honesty. I want my friends to be sincere and frank with me. I hope they don’t hesitate to point out my shortcomings and never try to cover up my errors. Instead, I want them to help me improve. Finally, I think true friends are people I can turn to in terms of difficulty, as the saying goes, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
In summary, I would like to make friends with those who never tell me lies, who don’t leave me when I am in trouble but try to pull me out of a tight corner.

L11 Selling the post I
Q: was there different between Baker and Doris? What was their mother’s expectation of them?
A: Doric was quite different from Baker in character. Take the example of "gumption" , Baker lacked it but Dons had enough of it for a dozen people. What Baker liked to do most was lying in front of the radio reading his favorite Big Little Book , Dick Trasy Meet Stoge Viller . In contrast, Doris liked activity. When she was only seven, she could carry a piece of short-weighted cheese back to the A&P, threaten the manager with legal action and come back triumphantly with the full quarter pound they'd paid for and a new extra thrown in for forgiveness .
Mrs .Baker expected her son to make something of himself. She did not expect Doris to do the same only because Doris was a girl .The best a capable girl could hope for was to become a nurse or school teacher.

Differences Between Young Russell and Doris.
Base your composition on the two texts “selling the Post（Ⅰ）” and “Selling the Post(Ⅱ)”.
Russell and Doris were quite different when they were young. Doris did more housework though she was two years younger. She washed the dishes, made the beds and cleaned the house. Russell liked reading children’s stories, and did not do these things unless he was told to.
Also Doris seemed to have more “gumption”. When Russell was eight, he began to sell a magazine after school. But often he just stood at the roadside waiting for people to come over to him. Dories proved to be much better at the job. One rainy night Russell returned home without red light and knocked at the closed window. When it opened she would trust a copy at the driver. In this way she soon sold all the copies.


L12 Selling the post II
Q: Describe the Baker’s family background and their life then.
A: It was in 1932. The Great Depression, the worst time before the World War Two, broke out, which lasted from 1929 --- 1933. The year 1932 was the bleakest time in the Great Depression. The Great Depression began in America and spread all over the European countries quickly. Also, it was the Great Depression that led to the Second World War. Millions of people were out of work. Many factories and landlords went bankrupt. The Near 1932 was the climax of the Depression .
The author's father had died two years before, leaving their with a few pieces of Sears, Roebuck furniture and not much else. His family was poor so that h

is mother had to take his sister, Doris, and him to live with one of her younger brothers, uncle Allen, who had made something of himself by1932 as a salesman for a soft-drink bottler and had an income of $ 30 a week.

What do you think are the main elements for a person’s success according to Russell Baker’s experience in his childhood?








L13 How to grow old
Q: what are the two dangers against in old age?
A: One of these is too great an absorption in the past. One should not live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are (lead. One's thoughts must be directed to the future, and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy; on, own past is a gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one's emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one's mind more keen. If this is true, it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.
The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of finding strength in its vitality. When your children are grown ups they want to live their own lives, and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually insensible.

What would you say as advice for a successful old age?
There are some recipes for old people to remain young. They should have wide and keen interests and activities in which they can still be effective. Then, they will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the number of years they have already lived, still less of the probable shortness of their future.
Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against. One of these is too great an absorption in the past. The other is clinging to youth in the hope of finding strength in its vitality.
What is beneficial is to have strong impersonal interests leading to suitable activities. It is in this sphere that long experience is fruitful.
In an old man who has known human joys and sorrows and has done whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat ignoble. The best way to overcome it-so at least it seems to me-is to make their interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit the walls of the ego recede, and their life becomes increasingly part of the universal life.





L14 The listener
Q: what kind of person was the lighthouse keeper?
A: I think the lighthouse keeper was a person that deserves our respect and admiration.
Life in the lighthouse seemed very simple and dull, but he had no de-sire for anything that he did not need or anything that was beyond his power to obtain. For this reason he declined the tobacco Rudolf offered.
Though his world was limited, his mind was as spacious as the ocean he lived close to. He was kind and generous to Rudolf, a stranger who had come to the lighthouse to seek shelter from the storm. He did not know wha

t a violin was and had never heard music before, but he could understand Beethoven's work Rudolf played for him.
He was a man of few words, and did not show much warmth towards Rudolf, but deep down he was greatly attached to his guest. To him the violin was part of the man he wanted to know more about, not something he was interested in because he had never seen it before.

Why did Rudolf play the Kreutzer Sonata of Beethoven for the old man?







L15 Edison: Inventor of Invention.
What is the contribution of Edison to Mankind?
Edison is the greatest inventor of the world. His inventions include the incandescent lamp, the photograph and innumerable other devices. But the total effect of his career surpasses the sum of all of them. His greatest contribution to mankind is that is that he altered the mentality of mankind and established the place of scientific research in human society.
People in the previous ages viewed the world as unchangeable and beyond man’s control. Edison and his inventions demonstrated and helped people accept the idea that the world could be changed, things could be invented and life could be made better. Largely because of his success, there came into wide acceptance the revolutionary conception that man could by the use of his intelligence invent a new mode of living on this planet.
Edison was the supreme propagandist of science and his name the great symbol of an almost blind faith in its possibilities. He was not only the symbol but the creator of a new age.