高中英语人教版必修4 13

[00:07.00]Listening Task
[02:12.65]Listening Task
[03:55.42]READING TASK
[04:03.98]AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE:THE NOODLE HARVEST
[04:09.55]"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees."
[04:15.61]April Fool's Day,or April lst,
[04:22.77]is known¹ in many countries as a day for playing jokes on others.
[04:29.71]It is usually a time when children make fun of each other
[04:35.28]but sometimes other people can get caught in the fun too.
[04:41.23]One of the most famous jokes in England
[04:45.81]took place on British television in 1957.
[04:52.05]It was a Monday night
[04:55.81]when there were always many serious programmes on the television.
[05:01.58]One of them was called Panorama²,
[05:05.71]which explored problems and progress all over the world.
[05:11.67]So nobody was surprised when it began with a report
[05:17.73]on the excellent noodle harvest in south Switzerland.
[05:23.40]The programme mentioned two reasons for the good crop:
[05:29.46]an unusually warm winter and the disappearance³ of the insect
[05:36.12]that attacked the noodle crop every year.
[05:40.85]The reporter showed many noodle trees
[05:45.60]with the farmers pulling noodles off them and putting them into baskets.
[05:52.57]The people watching
[05:55.81]were told that they may not have heard of noodles from this part of the world
[06:01.69]because noodles were grown as part of small family businesses.
[06:07.86]The jprogramme makers⁴
[06:11.02]realised that people might wonder why noodles were always the same size
[06:17.57]so they explained that
[06:21.23]"it was the result of many years'patient research with the trees
[06:27.79]to produce noodles of exactly the smae lenght."
[06:33.14]But even so they explained that the life of noodle farmer was not easy.
[06:40.51]"The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for noodle farmers.
[06:47.46]There is always a chance of very cold weather spoiling⁵ their crop.
[06:53.73]Then it is difficult for them to get top prices on the world markets."
[07:00.57]Many people in England believed this story.
[07:05.61]They rang the BBC⁶ to find out how to grow their own noodle tree.
[07:12.48]They were told to"place a piece of noodle in a tin of tomato sauce⁷
[07:19.54]and hope for the best."
[07:23.09]This may seem very silly.
[07:27.06]But in the 1950s very few British people travelled abroad for their holidays
[07:35.11]and even fewer of them ate noodles.
[07:40.15]So it seemed possible to imagine that noodles grew on trees like apples,
[07:47.80]pears and nuts.
[07:51.28]Also people trusted the Panorama programme
[07:57.20]for its careful research and serious informations.
[08:03.16]So they were shocked to find the next day
[08:08.12]that they had all believed an April Fool's joke.
[08:14.39]Even today the report of the noodle harvest
[08:19.54]is remembered as one of the best April Fool's jokes ever

1 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

2 panorama   

n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置]

参考例句：

• A vast panorama of the valley lay before us.山谷的广阔全景展现在我们面前。
• A flourishing and prosperous panorama spread out before our eyes.一派欣欣向荣的景象展现在我们的眼前。

3 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 spoiling   

v.变质( spoil的现在分词 )；损坏；毁掉；破坏

参考例句：

• You are spoiling this man's son. 贼夫人之子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The murderer attempted to escape from law punishment by spoiling his own face. 那个杀人犯企图自毁容貌以逃脱法律的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 BBC   

abbr.（=British Broadcasting Corporation）英国广播公司

参考例句：

• She works for the BBC.她为英国广播公司工作。
• The BBC was founded in 1922.英国广播公司建于1922年。

7 sauce   

n.酱油，酱汁；调味汁

参考例句：

• Some cream will enrich the sauce.在调味汁里加一些奶油会使其味道更加丰富。
• This sauce is too thick-- add some milk.调味汁太稠，再加点奶.