外研社必修五課文reading-原文

1、Module 1 British and American EnglishWords, words, wordsBritish and American English are different in many ways. The first and most obvious way is in the vocabulary. There are hundreds of different words which are not used on the other side of the Atlantic, or which are used with a different meaning

2、. Some of these words are well known Americans drive automobiles down freeways and fill up with gas; the British drive cars along motorways and fill up with petrol. As a tourist, you will need to use the underground in London or the subway in New York, or maybe you will prefer to get around the town

3、 by taxi (British) or cab (American).Chips or French fries?But other words and expressions are not so well known. Americans use aflashlight , while for the British, its atorch. The British queue up; Americans stand in line. Sometimes the same word has a slightly different meaning, which can be confu

4、sing. Chips, for example, are pieces of hot fried potato in Britain; in the States chips are very thin and are sold in packets. The British call these crisps. The chips the British know and love are French fries on the other side of the Atlantic.Have or have got?There are a few differences in gramma

5、r, too. The British say Have you got .? while Americans prefer Do you have .? An American might say My friend just arrived, but a British person would say My friend has just arrived. Prepositions, too, can be different: compare on the team, on the weekend (American) with in the team, at the weekend

6、(British). The British use prepositions where Americans sometimes omit them (Ill see you Monday; Write me soon!).Colour or color?The other two areas in which the two varieties differ are spelling and pronunciation. American spelling seems simpler: center, color and program instead of centre, colour

7、and programme. Many factors have influenced American pronunciation since the first settlers arrived four hundred years ago. The accent, which is most similar to British English, can be heard on the East Coast of the US. When the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw made the famous remark that the Britis

8、h and the Americans are two nations divided by a common language, he was obviously thinking about the differences. But are they really so important?After all, there is probably as muchvariation of pronunciation within the two countries as between them. A Londoner has more difficulty understanding a

9、Scotsman from Glasgow than understanding a New Yorker.Turn on the TVSome experts believe that the two varieties are moving closer together. For more than a century communications across the Atlantic have developed steadily. Since the 1980s, with satellite TV and the Internet, it has been possible to

10、 listen to British and American English at the flick of a switch. This non-stop communication, the experts think, has made it easier for British people and Americans to understand each other. But it has also led to lots of American words and structures passing into British English, so that some peop

11、le now believe that British English will disappear.However, if you turn on CNN, the American TV network, you find newsreaders and weather forecasters all speaking with different accents American, British, Australian, and even Spanish. One of the best-known faces, Monita Rajpal, was born in Hong Kong

12、, China, and grew up speaking Chinese and Punjabi, as well as English. This international dimension suggests that in the future, there are going to be many Englishes, not just two main varieties. But the message is Dont worry. Users of English will all be able to understand each other wherever they

13、are.Module 2 The Human Traffic SignalThe roadAt 3,500 metres, La Paz, in Bolivia, is the highest capital in the world. Life is hard at high altitude, and the mountains make communications difficult. Many roads are in bad condition and accidents are frequent. One road in particular, which goes north

14、from La Paz, is considered the most dangerous road in the world. On one side the mountains rise steeply; on the other side there is a sheer drop, which in places is hundreds of metres deep. Although there is not a lot of traffic, on average, one vehicle comes off the road every two weeks. The drop i

15、s so great that anyone inside the vehicle is lucky to survive. In theory, the road can only be used by traffic going uphill from 8 in the morning, and by traffic coming downhill from 3 in the afternoon. But in practice, few drivers respect the rules.The manBut thanks to one man, the death toll has f

16、allen. Timoteo Apaza is a gentle 46-year-old man who lives in a village near the most dangerous part of the road, known locally as la curva del diablo (the Devils Bend). Timoteo has an unusual job he is a human traffic signal. Every morning he climbs up to the bend with a large circular board in his

17、 hand. The board is red on one side and green on the other. Timoteo stands on the bend and directs the traffic. When two vehicles approach from opposite directions they cant see each other, but they can see Timoteo. Timoteo is a volunteer. No one asked him to do the job, and no one pays him for it.

18、Sometimes drivers give him a tip, so that he has just enough money to live on. But often they just pass by, taking the human traffic signal for granted. The reason why he does itSo why does he do it? Before he volunteered to direct the traffic, Timoteo had had lots of jobs. He had been a miner and a

19、 soldier. Then one day while he was working as a lorry driver he had a close encounter with death. He was driving a lorry load of bananas when he came off the road at a bend and fell three hundred metres down the mountain. Somehow he survived. He was in hospital for months. Then, a few years later,

20、he was called out in the night to help pull people out of a bus which had crashed at la curva del diablo . This last experience had a profound effect on Timoteo. He realised that he was lucky to be alive himself, and felt that it was his mission in life to help others. And so every morning, week in,

21、 week out, from dawn to dusk, Timoteo takes up his place on the bend and directs the traffic.Module 3 The SteamboatThere was a big storm after midnight and the rain poured down. We stayed inside the shelter we had built and let the raft sail down the river. Suddenly, by the light of the lightning, w

22、e saw something in the middle of the river. It looked like a house at first, but then we realized it was a steamboat. It had hit a rock and was half in and half out of the water. We were sailing straight towards it.It looks as if itll go under soon, Jim said, after a couple of minutes.Lets go and ta

23、ke a look, I said.I dont want to board a sinking ship, said Jim, but when I suggested that we might find something useful on the boat, he agreed to go. So we paddled over and climbed on to the steamboat, keeping asquiet as mice. To ourastonishment, there was a light in one of the cabins. Then we hea

24、rd someone shout, Oh please boys, dont kill me! I wont tell anybody!A mans angry voice answered, Youre lying. You said that last time. Were going to kill you.When he heard these words, Jim panicked and ran to the raft. But although I was frightened, I also felt very curious, so I put my head round t

25、he door. It was quite dark, but I could see a man lying on the floor, tied up with rope. There were two men standing over him. One was short, with a beard. The other was tall and had something in his hand that looked like a gun.Ive had enough of you. Im going to shoot you now, this man said. He was

26、obviously the one who had threatened the man on the floor. And it was a gun he had in his hand.No, dont do that, said the short man. Lets leave him here. The steamboat will sink in a couple of hours and hell go down with it.When he heard that, the frightened man on the floor started crying. He sound

27、s as if hes going to die of fright! I thought. I have to find a way to save him!I crawled along the deck, found Jim, and told him what I had heard. We must find their boat and take it away, then theyll have to stay here, I said.Jim looked terrified. Im not staying here, he said. But I persuaded him

28、to help me, and we found the mens boat tied to the other side of the steamboat. We climbed quietly in and as we paddled away we heard the two men shouting. By then we were a safe distance away. But now I began to feel bad about what we had done. I didnt want all three men to die.Module 4 The Magic o

29、f the MaskThink of carnival, and you think of crowds, costumes, and confusion. The sounds and sights change from one country to another but the excitement is the same everywhere.Carnival comes from two Latin words, meaning no more meat. In Europe, where it began, carnival was followed by forty days

30、without meat, as people prepared for the Christian festival of Easter. People saw Carnival as a last chance to have fun at the end of the winter season. Having fun meant eating, drinking, and dressing up.The most famous carnival in Europe was in Venice. At the beginning, it lasted for just one day.

31、People ate, drank, and wore masks. As time passed, however, the carnival period was extended, so that it began just after Christmas. For weeks on end people walked round the streets wearing masks, doing what they wanted without being recognised. Ordinary people could pretend to be rich and important

32、, while famous people could have romantic adventures in secret. Many crimes went unpunished.The government realised that wearing masks had become a problem. Their use was limited by laws, the first of which dates back to the fourteenth century. Men were not allowed to wear masks at night; and they w

33、ere not allowed to dress up as women. In later times more laws were passed. People who wore masks could not carry firearms; and no one could enter a church wearing a mask. If they broke the laws, they were put into prison for up to two years. Finally, when Venice became part of the Austrian empire,

34、at the end of the eighteenth century, masks were banned completely, and carnival became just a memory.But in the late 1970s the tradition was revived by students. They began making masks and organising parties, and threw bits of brightly coloured paper (called coriandoli) at tourists. The town counc

35、il realised that carnival was good for business, and the festival was developed for tourists.Today, carnival in Venice is celebrated for five days in February. People arrive from all over Europe to enjoy the fun. Hotels are fully booked and the narrow streets are crowded with wonderful costumes. Ger

36、man, French and English seem to be the main languages. But the spirit of Venice carnival is not quite the same as the great American carnivals. If the key to Rio is music and movement, then in Venice it is the mystery of the mask. As you wander through the streets, you see thousands of masks elegant

37、 or frightening, sad or amusing, traditional or modern but you have no idea what the faces behind them look like. Nobody takes them off. If the masks come off, the magic is lost.Module 5 A Life in SportThey called him the prince of gymnasts. When he retired at the age of 26, he had won 106 gold meda

38、ls in major competiti ons across the world. They in cluded six out of seve n gold medals at the 1982 World Champi on ship, and three at the 1984 Olympics in Los An geles (as well as two silver and a bron ze). Li Ning was the best. When sports journalists met in 1999 to make a list of the greatest sp

39、ortsmen and sportswomen of the twentieth century, Li Nings name was on it, together with footballer Pel 6and boxer Muhammad Ali. But even though he had won everything it was possible to win in his sport, Li Ning retired with the feeling that he had failed. He was disappo in ted because he had not pe

40、rformed well in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.But it was this sense of failure that made him determ ined to succeed in his new life. A year after his retireme nt, Li Ning bega n a new career as a bus in essma n. But he did nt forget his sport ing backgro und. He decided to launch a new brand of sportswear

41、, competing with global giants like Nike and Adidas. He made the unusual choice, for a Chinese person, of choosing his own name as the brand mark. The bright red logo is made up of the first two pinyin letters of Li Nin gs n ame, L and N.Li Nings sports clothes came onto the market at just the right

42、 time. The number of young people with money tospe nd was on the in crease and sport had n ever bee n so popular. Li Ning desig ns were attractive, and they had a major adva ntage over their better-k nownrivalsthey were cheaper. A pair of Nike train ers, for example, could cost up to five times as m

43、uch as a similar Li Ning product. Success for Li Ning wa guara nteed, and it came quickly.In just a few years, Li Ning won more than fifty percent of the national market.Today a Li Ning product is purchased every ten sec on ds. But the clothes are not only worn on the athletics track or the football

44、 pitch. If you go into a school o uni versity any where, the cha nces are you will see stude nts in Li Ning with the familiar logo. The company has also grown internationally. The Spanish and French gymnastics teams wear Li Ning clothes, while Italian designers are employed by the company to create

45、new styles. When ever Chin ese athletes step out onto the track duri ng the 2008 Olympics, they will be weari ng Li Ning tracksuits.But Li Nings goal when he retired was not to make money. His dream was to open a school for gymnasts. He was able to do this in 1991. Since the n, he has con ti nued to

46、 help young people to achieve their sport ing ambiti ons. Like Pel aiid Muhammad Ali before him, who have worked with the United Nations for childrens rights and peace, Li Ning has discovered that the work of a great sportsman does not finish when he retires from the sport. It starts. And if you are

47、 a great sportspers on, anything is possible, as Li Nin gs advertis ing sloga n says.Module 6 Saving the AntelopesOn a freezing cold day in January 1994, Jiesang Suonandajie found what he was looking for a group of poachers who were killing the endangered Tibetan antelope. Jiesang knew he had to mov

48、e quickly. He shouted to the poachers to put down their guns. Although surprised, the poachers had an advantage there were more of them. In the battle which followed Jiesang was shot and killed. When his frozen body was found hours later, he was still holding his gun. He had given his life to save t

49、he Tibetan antelope.At the beginning of the twentieth century there were millions of antelopes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. By the 1990s the number had fallen to about 50,000. The reason is simple: the wool of the Tibetan antelope is the most expensive in the world. It is soft, light, and warm th

50、e ideal coat for an animal which has to survive at high altitudes. A shawl made from the wool (known as shahtoosh, or king of wools in Persian) can sell for five thousand dollars. For poachers the profits can be huge.Often working at night, the poachers shoot whole herds of antelopes at a time, leav

51、ing only the babies, whose wool is not worth so much. The animals are skinned on the spot and the wool taken to India, where it is made into the shawls. From there, it is exported to rich countries in North America and Europe. The business is completely illegal there has been a ban on the trade sinc

52、e 1975. But in the 1990s the shawls came into fashion among rich people. A police raid on a shop in London found 138 shawls. About 1,000 antelopes or 2 percent of the worlds population had been killed to make them.In the 1990s the Chinese government began to take an active part in protecting the ant

53、elopes in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve the huge national park on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which is the main habitat of the antelopes. Over the next ten years about 3,000 poachers were caught and 300 vehicles confiscated. Sometimes there were gunfights, like the one in which Jiesang Suonandajie was

54、 killed.But today the government seems to be winning the battle. The number of poachers has fallen. The small group of officials who work in the reserve are helped by volunteers who come from all over the country, and who are ready for the difficult conditions of life at 5,000 metres. Meanwhile, in

55、those countries where the shawls are sold, police are getting tough with the dealers. International co-operation seems to be working. Since 1997 the antelope population has slowly begun to grow again.Cultural cornerModule 1:The Man Who Made Spelling SimpleIn English the spelling of words does not al

56、ways represent the sound. So people say/raIt/ but spell itright , or write , or evenrite . Combinations of letters (likeough ) may beand he felt that writtenThe Elementary SpellingBook , suggested simplifying the spellingof Englishwords. The bookwas extremelypronounced in a number of ways. And some

57、words just seem to have too many letters.For Americans things are a little bit easier, thanks to the work of Noah Webster, a teacher who graduated from Yale University in 1778. As a young man he had fought against the British in the American War of Independence,English in the newly independent Unite

58、d States should have a distinctive American look.So he began his work on American English. His first book,popular. By the 1850s it was selling one million copies a year, making it one of the mostpopular school books ever.Many of the suggestions were quickly adopted.Center instead ofcentre, programinstead of programmeand flavor instead of flavour . Others,however,such asremoving silent letters like thes in island or the finale in examine, were not.Webster is best known for hisAmerican Dictionary of the English Language, whichf