英语口语教程(高级) UNIT 15

[00:01.00]Lesson 15;
[00:01.30]5.Smoking is associated with coronary heart disease.;
[00:05.75]Nowadays this disease accounts for a high percentage of deaths annually.;
[00:12.14]Cigarette smokers are much more likely to die from a heart attack;
[00:17.67]than non-smokers.;
[00:20.14]Smoking injures blood vessels,;
[00:24.16]speeds up hardening of the arteries and increases the work of the heart.;
[00:30.38]It is one of the factors contributing to high blood pressure:;
[00:36.41]What little we've mentioned above;
[00:39.55]is sufficient to show that smoking is extremely harmful to health.;
[00:45.44]Most people throughout the world have come to realize the danger.;
[00:51.87]Nowadays;
[00:53.74]some governments are taking practical measures against smoking.;
[00:58.96]We sincerely advise those who have formed the smoking habit to stop;
[01:05.32]and those who haven't yet started not to.;
[01:09.61]It is both for your own sake and for the sake of the next generation.;
[01:16.57]A recent survey report;
[01:19.45]says that children exposed to parental cigarette smoke;
[01:23.60]may be put at a higher risk of developing lung disease;
[01:27.88]later in their lives.;
[01:30.56]Passive exposure to smoke;
[01:33.50]may also interfere with normal lung growth in young children.;
[01:38.86]There is a strong association between parental smoking;
[01:43.88]and children's pulmonary function.;
[01:47.22]Children who recorded the weakest lung function;
[01:51.98]were found to be smokers themselves;
[01:54.79]and to have parents or brothers and sisters who smoked.;
[01:59.81]So let us join together;
[02:02.75]to launch a mass movement to break this harmful smoking habit,;
[02:07.44]and build ourselves up, healthy and strong,;
[02:11.65]to work hard for the four modernizations.;
[02:15.60]6.Call to Stop   Offering   Cigarettes;
[02:21.29]To the Chinese,who claim to have invented rules of etiquette,;
[02:28.19]offering cigarettes is a way of being hospitable to guests.;
[02:34.41]When somebody calls, first of all,;
[02:38.63]the host would offer him a cigarette and a cup of tea.;
[02:43.65]In the countryside, hospitable old men,;
[02:48.60]often allow visiting guests to share the long-stemmed Chinese pipe;
[02:54.36]which they themselves are smoking.;
[02:57.64]At wedding ceremonies,;
[03:00.72]brides Would offer cigarettes to all guests;
[03:04.67]who came to express their congratulations;
[03:07.88]and light the cigarettes for each of them one after another.;
[03:13.17]All these were originally aimed at displaying the Chinese hospitality;
[03:19.79]and respect towards the guests.;
[03:22.61]But in recent years,;
[03:25.35]the old tradition has been used as a means to nurse good relations.;
[03:32.11]Even those who never smoke have brand- name cigarettes in their pockets.;
[03:39.14]Whenever they have to seek somebody's favour,;
[03:42.89]they first offer him a cigarette,;
[03:46.10]If the other party turns it down,he is being impolite.;
[03:51.39]If he accepts it he has to do something, for courtesy demands a favour in return.;
[04:00.76]Tobacco contains harmful substances.;
[04:05.71]So offering cigarettes to somebody is equal to doing harm to him.;
[04:12.00]But neither people who offer cigarettes;
[04:15.42]nor those who take them fully realize it.;
[04:20.57]It is even more unhealthy for the host;
[04:24.32]to pass the long- stemmed Chinese pipe or water pipe;
[04:28.34]to the visitor after smoking it beforehand.;
[04:32.28]Once I paid a visit to a relative who had just returned from abroad.;
[04:39.65]He was smoking but did not produce one for me.;
[04:44.47]Instead,he placed the cigarette packet on the table and told me:;
[04:50.63]"Cigarettes produce carbon monoxide and nicotine.;
[04:55.18]But if you don't mind this,take it yourself.";
[05:00.40]His way of offering cigarettes was unique but worth learning.;
[05:06.76]Many people throughout the world are attempting to quit smoking.;
[05:12.91]But to give up the practice,firstly I think,;
[05:17.33]we had better change the traditional method of entertaining guests.;
[05:23.29]Not to offer cigarettes does not mean one is inhospitable;
[05:29.18]The cigarette packet is on the table.;
[05:32.86]If you cannot check your craving for one at the risk of your health, you may.;
[05:39.69]But you will have to bear the consequences yourself.;
[05:44.64]You had better also bear in mind;
[05:48.05]that while you are smoking and harming yourself,;
[05:51.87]you are also polluting the air and hurting others.;
[05:57.63]7. Smoking Is a Bad    Habit;
[06:04.12]Smoking is a bad habit.;
[06:07.93]Firstly, it ruins people's health.;
[06:12.28]Health experts have warned us for years;
[06:16.23]that smoking can lead to heart disease,;
[06:19.25]lung cancer and various respiratory ailments.;
[06:24.00]The World Health Organization says diseases linked to smoking;
[06:30.16]kill at least 2,500,000 people each year.;
[06:34.91]Research conducted in many countries;
[06:38.86]also indicates that pregnant women who smoke;
[06:42.61]run the risk of having deformed babies.;
[06:46.69]Besides,it has been proven beyond doubt that when a person smokes,;
[06:53.32]he subjects the people around him not only to great discomfort;
[06:58.94]but also to physical harm.;
[07:01.75]Secondly,smoking is extravagant.;
[07:05.97]Smokers,either wage-earners or those who live off their parents,;
[07:11.86]spend a large sum of money on cigarettes,;
[07:15.20]which cost them at least 10% of their expenses each month.;
[07:21.63]What's more,sensible women try to avoid marrying heavy smokers,;
[07:28.12]even though some of them appreciate the image of a handsome young man;
[07:33.41]with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.;
[07:37.96]A friend of mine,a heavy smoker,;
[07:41.71]has been seeking an ideal wife who will tolerate his extravagant;
[07:46.60]"hobby,but up to now he hasn't found one.;
[07:50.75]Thirdly,smoking has a bad impact on the psyche of the sneakers.;
[07:56.90]After realizing the bad effects of smoking,;
[08:01.05]many people try to give up smoking.;
[08:04.27]But no matter how hard they try,;
[08:07.48]some of them just can't resist the temptation to smoke again.;
[08:12.83]Gradually,;
[08:14.37]they lose confidence in themselves and get used to making excuses.;
[08:21.47]Lesson 16 Is Money the Most Important Thing, in Life?;
[08:30.04]Text;
[08:32.71]"The Only Thing People Are Interested in Today;
[08:37.73]Is Earning More Money.";
[08:40.41]Once upon a time there lived a beautiful young woman;
[08:45.16]and a handsome young man.;
[08:47.37]They were very poor, but as they were deeply in love,;
[08:52.39]they wanted to get married.;
[08:55.20]The young people's parents shook their heads.;
[08:59.29]"You can't get married yet," they said.;
[09:03.10]"Wait till you get a good job with good prospects.";
[09:08.06]So the young people waited until they found good jobs with good prospects;
[09:14.08]and they were able to get married.;
[09:17.22]They were still poor,of course.;
[09:20.30]They didn't have a house to live in or any furniture,but that didn't matter.;
[09:26.86]The young man had a good job with good prospects,;
[09:31.62]so large organizati -ons lent him the money he needed to buy a house,;
[09:37.44]some furniture,;
[09:38.91]all the latest electrical appliances and a car.;
[09:44.07]The couple lived happily ever after paying off debts;
[09:49.02]for the rest of their lives.;
[09:51.03]And so ends another modern romantic fable.;
[09:56.65]We live in a materialistic society;
[10:01.20]and are trained from our earliest years to be acquisitive.;
[10:05.89]Our possessions, "mine" and "yours", are clearly labeled from early childhood;
[10:14.39]When we grow old enough to earn a living,;
[10:18.54]it does not surprise us to discover that;
[10:21.62]success is measured in terms of the money you earn.;
[10:26.17]We spend the whole of our lives keeping up with our neighbours,;
[10:31.46]the Joneses.;
[10:33.20]If we buy a new television set,;
[10:36.61]Jones is bound to buy a bigger and better one.;
[10:41.09]If we buy a new car,;
[10:43.77]we can be sure that Jones will go one betters and get two new ears:;
[10:50.00]one for his wife and one for himself.;
[10:54.21]The most amusing thing about this game;
[10:57.96]is that the Joneses and all the neighbours;
[11:01.11]who are struggling frantically to keep up with them;
[11:04.52]are spending borrowed money kindly provided,;
[11:08.81]at a suitable rate of  interest, of course,by  friendly banks,;
[11:13.82]insurance companies, etc.;
[11:17.84]It is not only in affluent societies;
[11:21.66]that people are obsessed with the idea of making more money.;
[11:26.68]Consumer goods are desirable everywhere;
[11:30.89]and modern industry deliberately sets out to create new markets;
[11:36.78]Gone are the days when industrial goods were made to last forever.;
[11:43.21]The wheels of industry must be kept turning.;
[11:48.30]"Built-in obsolescence' provides the means:;
[11:52.98]goods are made to be discarded.;
[11:56.46]Cars get tinnier and tinnier.;
[11:59.88]You no sooner acquire this year's model;
[12:03.36]than you are thinking about its replacement.;
[12:07.31]This materialistic outlook has seriously influenced education.;
[12:14.27]Fewer and fewer young people these days acquire knowledge;
[12:19.29]only for its own sake.;
[12:21.83]Every course of studies must lead somewhere: i.e.;
[12:27.45]to a bigger wage packet.;
[12:30.13]The demand for skilled personnel far exceeds the supply;
[12:35.22]and big companies compete with each other;
[12:38.50]to recruit students before they have completed their studies.;
[12:43.18]Tempting salaries and "fringe benefits" are offered to them.;
[12:49.27]Recruiting tactics of this kind have led to the "brain drain"  ,;
[12:54.09]the process by which highly skilled people offer their services;
[12:58.78]to the highest bidder.;
[13:00.72]The wealthier nations deprive their poorer neighbours;
[13:04.67]of their most able citizens.;
[13:07.35]While Mammon is worshipped as never before,;
[13:11.76]the rich get richer and the poor,poorer.;
[13:16.65]II．Read;
[13:20.13]Read the following passages.;
[13:23.28]Underline the important viewpoints while reading.;
[13:28.70]1.Wealth Led to   Disaster;
[13:34.39]In all American history,;
[13:37.47]there is no story stranger than that of John A.Sutter.;
[13:43.69]We have read about the early history of San Francisco.;
[13:48.85]When the independence of California was declared in 1846,;
[13:55.27]San Francisco was a small town of some 800 inhabitants.;
[14:01.23]Then,in 1848,gold was discovered on land not far away.;
[14:09.73]This land was owned by John A.Sutter.;
[14:14.61]Immediately,there was a vast movement of people,;
[14:19.37]not only from the United States but from other parts of the world,;
[14:24.79]toward San Francisco and the gold fields.;
[14:29.88]This was the famous Gold Rush of 1849.;
[14:35.36]San Francisco grew to three times its size in just a few weeks.;
[14:42.06]Within a year it had a population of over 25,000 people.;
[14:48.75]Previously a quiet, pleasant town,;
[14:53.17]San Francisco was changed almost overnight;
[14:56.99]into a rough and crowded city,;
[15:00.06]full of all  kinds of adventurers and other strange characters.;
[15:06.15]The same factors that operated to change San Francisco;
[15:11.38]also changed the life of John A.Sutter in an equally extreme form;
[15:18.94]John A.Sutter was a citizen  of Switzerland.;
[15:23.96]He had come, penniless,in the spirit of adventure to the United States;
[15:30.32]He Lived and worked for a time in Pennsylvania;
[15:35.07]and finally settled in California in 1839,;
[15:39.96]when still a young man of thirty-six.;
[15:44.17]He obtained the rights from the Mexican government;
[15:48.06]to a large track of land in the present area of Sacramento,;
[15:53.08]some seventy miles north of San Francisco on the Sacramento River.;
[15:59.23]Here Sutter established his own private colony.;
[16:04.59]This colony he named New Helvetia.;
[16:09.34]Sutter was an intelligent, well-educated man.;
[16:14.70]He built a fort, inside which he established a large trading post.;
[16:21.39]He planted great numbers of fruit trees;
[16:24.94]along the banks of the Sacramento- to River,;
[16:27.95]as well as hundreds of acres of wheat.;
[16:31.83]He became a very rich man by providing most of the ships that;
[16:36.99]came to the harbor of San Francisco with supplies;
[16:41.34]both for their own use and for export.;
[16:44.75]Sutter had thousands of cattle and horses on his many acres.;
[16:50.97]Five hundred men, mostly Mexicans and Indians,worked regularly for him.;
[16:58.87]He wrote his wife and three sons,whom he had left in Switzerland,;
[17:04.76]asking them to come and live with him and enjoy his great success.;
[17:11.32]Then in 1848, gold was discovered on Sutter's land.;
[17:17.81]He was building a saw mill,some distance from his fort.;
[17:22.84]Here,in a stream leading from the mill,;
[17:26.99]one of Sutter's workmen found some pieces of gold.;
[17:31.87]At first Sutler tried to keep the news quiet.;
[17:36.29]He had dreams of becoming even richer than he already was,;
[17:41.04]perhaps the richest man in the whole world;
[17:45.73]But,within a few weeks, the news about the gold leaked out.;
[17:52.02]Men descended upon Sutter's land from all directions.;
[17:57.58]Soon they were coming from all over the United States;
[18:02.13]and even from more distant places.;
[18:05.81]These people moved into the area like a great herd of animals.;
[18:11.70]They killed all of Surfer's cattle,;
[18:15.18]stole his farm produce and tools,;
[18:18.12]and tore down his buildings to obtain wood to build homes for themselves.;
[18:24.28]The city of Sacramento sprang up where Sutter's fort stood.;
[18:30.84]On the site of his saw mill grew up the present city of Coloma.;
[18:37.20]Far from becoming the richest man in the world,;
[18:41.15]as he had dreamed, Sutter was reduced to poverty.;
[18:45.90]He finally moved away from the area to a distant part of his land.;
[18:52.19]Here his family arrived to live with him.;
[18:56.54]He began to farm and,with his sons,;
[19:00.76]planted more fruit trees and new fields of wheat.;
[19:04.84]Again he was fairly successful.;
[19:08.73]In 1855 Sutter brought a suit in the Californian courts;
[19:14.95]against the 1,700 settlers,;
[19:18.03]who now occupied the lands he had previously owned.;
[19:23.12]He demanded $25 million from the state for the roads, canals,;
[19:29.74]and bridges that he himself had built but which the state had taken over.;
[19:36.70]He also asked for a percentage of all the gold mined on his property.;
[19:42.93]This suit was decided by the Californian courts in Sutler's favour.;
[19:49.69]Briefly,Gutter was again a rich and important man.;
[19:54.98]His dream of a private empire,with himself as king and ruler,returned.;
[20:02.41]But then the storm broke again.;
[20:06.22]When the judge's decistere was made public,10,000 people,;
[20:12.11]who were now established in the area;
[20:14.79]and thought they might lose their homes,descended upon the court.;
[20:20.35]They burned the courthouse and tried to hang the judge.;
[20:25.63]They destroyed more of Sutter's property.;
[20:29.78]Later,Sutter's home was set on fire and burned to the ground.;
[20:35.47]Sutter's oldest son killed himself; his second son was murdered.;
[20:42.17]Sutter was never able to recover from these last and final blows.;
[20:48.99]He went back east and,in the courts of Washington,;
[20:53.81]again brought a suit to recover what he claimed had been stolen from him.;
[20:59.90]He spent the last fifteen years of his life in this sad manner.;
[21:05.93]Tirelessly,he went from senator to congressman,;
[21:10.41]from one government office to another.;
[21:13.69]Friends tried to help him,and he received various honours;
[21:18.65]in recognition of his early work in California.;
[21:22.46]But delay followed delay,both in Congress and in the government courts.;
[21:29.02]The "General" as he came to be called,;
[21:33.10]died alone in a small Washington hotel room,a broken and bitter man.;
[21:40.60]2.What Did Qi Gong   Do with His Money?;
[21:46.76]Everyone knows how important money is in the world today.;
[21:52.72]But what did Qi Gong do with his hard- earned one and a half million yuan?;
[21:58.94]Mr Qi Gong,aged 79, is a well-known calligrapher in China.;
[22:06.64]He became famous the hard way.;
[22:10.52]Born in a poor family,;
[22:13.33]he did not have much schooling;
[22:15.94]until his talent attracted the attention of Professor Chen Yuan,;
[22:21.10]the president of Furen University.;
[22:24.64]For years Professor Chen took him under his personal care;
[22:30.13]and taught him literature and calligraphy.;
[22:34.08]Professor Chen thought highly of Qi Gong;
[22:38.23]and helped him to find jobs teaching at several institutions.;
[22:43.99]Years of hard work made Qi Gong an excellent teacher;
[22:49.68]and outstanding calligrapher and painter.;
[22:53.83]In memory of his teacher Professor Chen Yuan,;
[22:58.74]Qi Gong decided in 1991 to set up a foundation;
[23:04.73]to give awards to both teachers and students who excel in their work.;
[23:11.22]Qi Gong worked day after day at his desk;
[23:15.98]and produced more than 100 works of calligraphy,;
[23:20.21]which he sold for 1,830,000 yuan.;
[23:25.93]All this money went into the foundation which was named after his teacher.;
[23:32.05]He did not leave a penny for himself!;
[23:35.87]What do you think money means to Qi Gong?;
[23:40.63]3.Pop Stars Live   Like the Royalty;
[23:47.17]Pop stars today enjoy a style of living;
[23:51.80]which was once the prerogative only of Royalty.;
[23:55.88]Wherever they go, people turn out in their thousands to greet them.;
[24:02.28]The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse;
[24:07.46]of their smiling, colourfully-dressed idols.;
[24:12.50]The stars are transported in their chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces,;
[24:18.90]private helicopters or executive aeroplanes.;
[24:23.80]They are surrounded by a permanent entourage of managers,;
[24:28.84]press-agents and bodyguards.;
[24:32.79]Photographs of them appear regularly in the press;
[24:37.42]and all their comings and goings are reported,for, like Royalty,;
[24:43.68]pop stars are news.;
[24:46.68]If they enjoy many of the privileges of Royalty,;
[24:51.31]they certainly share many of the inconveniences as well.;
[24:57.17]It is dangerous for them;
[24:59.48]"to make unscheduled appearances in public.;
[25:03.16]They must be constantly shielded from the adoring crowds;
[25:08.20]which idolize them.;
[25:10.24]They are no longer private,individuals, but public property.;
[25:16.10]The financial rewards they receive for,this sacrifice cannot be calculated;
[25:23.31]for their rates of pay are astronomical. And why not?;
[25:29.17]Society has always rewarded its top entertainers lavishly.;
[25:35.02]The great days of Hollywood have become legendary:;
[25:39.65]famous stars enjoyed fame,wealth and adulation on an unprecedented scale.;
[25:47.55]By today's standards;
[25:49.87]the excesses of Hollywood do not seem quite so spectacular.;
[25:55.72]A single gramophone record nowadays may earn much more in royalties;
[26:02.26]than the films of the past ever did.;
[26:06.07]The competition for the title "Top of the Pops" is fierce,;
[26:11.38]but the rewards are truly colossal.;
[26:16.15]4."Pop Stars   Certainly Earn   Their Money";
[26:22.01]It is only right that the stars should be paid in this way.;
[26:27.73]Don't the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the services;
[26:33.26]they perform to their companies and their countries?;
[26:37.53]Pop stars earn vast sums in foreign currency-;
[26:42.16]-often more than large industrial concerns-and the tax-man;
[26:47.70]can only be grateful for their massive annual contributions to the exchequer.;
[26:53.46]So who would begrudge them their rewards?;
[26:57.41]It's all very well for people in humdrum jobs;
[27:02.45]to moan about the successes and rewards of others.;
[27:07.22]People who make envious remarks;
[27:10.89]should remember that the most famous stars;
[27:14.57]represent only the tip of the iceberg.;
[27:18.11]For every famous star,;
[27:20.84]there are hundreds of others struggling to earn a living.;
[27:25.47]A man working in a steady job;
[27:28.60]and looking forward to a pension at the end of it;
[27:32.55]has no right to expect very high rewards.;
[27:36.50]He has chosen security and peace of mind,;
[27:41.13]so there will always be a limit to what he can earn.;
[27:45.35]But a man Who attempts to' become a star is taking enormous risks.;
[27:51.89]He knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors;
[27:57.06]ever get to the very top.;
[27:59.78]He knows that years of concentrated effort;
[28:03.46]may be rewarded with complete failure.;
[28:06.73]But he knows, too, that the rewards for success are very high indeed:;
[28:13.40]they are the recompense for the huge risks involved;
[28:17.90]and if he achieves them,he has certainly earned them.;
[28:22.25]That's the essence of private enterprise!;