全新版大学英语听说教程2 Unit11

2-11-A

 

 

Passage 1:

Napoleon was many things but he was, first of all, remembered as a military leader. Rising from an artillery¹ officer to the commander of the French army, he waged war after war against neighboring countries. In 1804, he declared himself emperor and became the most powerful man in the world. At one time he controlled most of Europe. But Napoleon's power was short-lived. His defeat came when he decided² to attack Russia. Soon the whole of Europe rose against him, eventually forcing him to give up his throne. In 1821, he died alone on the small island of St. Helena.

Passage 2:

Tom Cruise has always represented cool, but somehow over the last couple of years, he has gone from just another Hollywood pretty boy to a certified³ world renowned⁴ actor. It seems that everything he touches turns to gold. Not everyone likes him, but at least now almost everyone respects him. His movies make millions, he is an international star -- men envy him, and women love him.

Passage 3:

His critics agree that the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is a dignified⁵ moral idealist.

But he's also tough. Elected to the post in 1996, thanks largely to the US's displeasure with Boutros-Ghali, Annan has proved to be energetic and willing to press Americans to accept greater international responsibility.

As the host of 159 heads of state at this year's Millennium⁶ Summit in New York September 6 to 8, he advocated intervention⁷ against war, disease and poverty.

2-11-B

 

 

A Musician-turned Economist⁸

Alan Greenspan, who has been Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board for over a decade, is regarded as one of the most important men by many people in the world.

Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926. His father was a stockbroker⁹ and his mother worked in retailing¹⁰. When he was 4 years old, his parents divorced and he was raised by his mother in New York.

Young Alan was a shy boy but he was very good at large numbers. When he was only five, his mother would get him to add two three-digit numbers in his head.

He loved baseball and tennis. And, like his mother, he developed a deep appreciation¹¹ for music. In the mid-1940s he studied briefly¹² at a music school in New York, and then toured the country for a year with a music band. Then he entered New York University's School of Commerce and graduated with a degree in economics. He got a Master's degree at NYU in 1949, and shifted to Columbia University to work on his PhD. When his money ran low, he withdrew from graduate school and went to work for the National Industrial Conference Board. He eventually earned a PhD from NYU in 1977.

In the mid-1950s Greenspan opened an economic consulting company. In 1987 he began to work in the Federal Government. Today his work as Chief of Federal Reserve Board is much the same as the work he did on Wall Street, trying to understand how the economy is working and what drives it; offering suggestions for improvement. He is, however, making less money.

 

2-11-C

Edwin Hubble

Edwin Powell Hubble was a tall, elegant, athletic¹³ man. During his lifetime, his research was focused on nebulae, which are misty¹⁵ patches of light in the sky. In 1924, he announced the discovery of a star in a nebula¹⁴. He calculated that this star was much further away than anyone had thought and that therefore the nebula was not inside our galaxy¹⁶, but a galaxy of stars just like the Milky¹⁷ Way, only much further away. His discovery enabled the world to realize that the universe was much bigger than had been previously¹⁸ presumed.

Hubble wanted to classify the galaxies¹⁹ according to their content, distance, shape and brightness patterns, and in his observations he made another great discovery: the galaxies were moving away from each other at a rate constant to the distance between them. This is known as Hubble's law. The greater the distance between them, the faster they move away from each other. This supported the big bang theory of how the universe came into being.

Hubble died in 1953. To honor his great contribution to space exploration, his name was chosen for the world's most powerful space telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope.

1 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

4 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

5 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

6 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

7 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 stockbroker   

n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构）

参考例句：

• The main business of stockbroker is to help clients buy and sell shares.股票经纪人的主要业务是帮客户买卖股票。
• My stockbroker manages my portfolio for me.我的证券经纪人替我管理投资组合。

10 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

12 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

13 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

14 nebula   

n.星云，喷雾剂

参考例句：

• A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
• A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。

15 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

16 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

17 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

18 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

19 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。