新编英语教程第二册Unit15

Unit 15

DIALOGUE I

A Beijing Opera Fan

A: I've sensed a boom in the recreational activities of the Chinese.
B: You really keep your eyes open. Yes, more and more people are taking part in various kinds of recreation.
A: Dancing, singing, going to the theatre and concerts, and giving concerts and staging plays themselves.
B: More than that. Painting, photographing, collecting, fishing, touring, body-building, shadow boxing, and many more, so far as I know.
A: Do people form interest clubs and associations?
B: Yes, many do. And some activities are well organized. For example, book review discussions and poetry readings are often organized by community centres for cultural exchanges. And workers' clubs encourage members to read literature and create their own works of literature.
A: That's amazing! People really profit from their reading this way.
B: Say, you've been in China for some time now. Have you developed any interest in a particular form of Chinese entertainment?
A: You bet I have. I go to Beijing opera at the weekends.
B: Beijing opera! That's really a surprise.
A: I can't say I liked it the first time I went to one. In fact, the moment the opera started, I regretted going there. The deafening¹ gongs and cymbals² almost drove me nuts. Luckily I was with Professor Shi, my Chinese teacher. He's a Beijing opera fan, completely obsessed³ with this theatrical⁴ art.
B: A lot of people are, particularly older people.
A: Professor Shi taught me how to appreciate this genuine Chinese art. I stayed on and soon began to feel fascinated by the singing and acting⁵. Later on, I went to more Beijing operas and gradually developed an interest. I used to go to movies a lot. But now, compared with Beijing opera, films are boring.
B: Imagine a young American admiring an old school of Chinese folk theatre. Unbelievable!
A: Now that I've taken a fancy to Beijing opera, I never miss a chance to see the famous stars acting.
B: You're really more Chinese than I am in this respect. I somehow haven't been able to appreciate Beijing opera yet.
A: What's more, I've begun to read books about this form of ancient art so that I can enjoy it more. I know there are five categories of major roles in Beijing opera, namely, sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou (生旦净未丑).
B: What's jing!
A: That's the painted face, also known as hualian (花脸). I also know that different coloured clothes show different social ranks: yellow for the imperial family, red for aristocracy, dark red for usurpers and barbarian⁶ generals.
B: My! You seem to have become an expert in Beijing opera now.
A: Oh, no, far from it. But I do find the mimes⁷ amusing. Two people stoop and rise alternately, and they do look as if they were sailing in a boat. A man flicks⁸ his whip and he looks as if he were riding on horseback. I've really come to appreciate the artistic⁹ value of Beijing opera.
B: Next time you go to a Beijing opera, I'll go with you. Perhaps you'll make a Beijing opera fan of me, too.

DIALOGUE II

Dialogue:

Bob and Peter are planning their camping holiday. Bob has prepared a list of articles to include in their survival kit¹⁰. Here is the incomplete list:
Survival Kit
a knife
a whistle
a torch
tinned food
water bottles
antiseptic cream
sticking plasters
...

B: What's the point of taking a torch?
P: I'm going to take it for signalling, in case we get lost and have to attract attention.
B: I don't see why you're taking a whistle. I really don't think we'll need it.
P: Well, maybe not, but it doesn't take up much room, so let's put it in.
B: What about all this tinned food? What are you taking all these heavy tins for, I don't understand.
P: Well, in case we get hungry and can't find anywhere to eat.
B: But it's so heavy! Wouldn't it be better to take some packet-foods, or at least some smaller tins?
P: Packet-foods may get wet. It's a bit risky¹¹.
B: Well, we could put them in plastic bags to keep them dry. If it rains then they won't get wet.
P: A tin would keep them from getting wet.
B: Yes, but it would be too heavy.

READING I

A Breeze at Hand, Part I

Many a grown man can remember with pleasure the cool refreshment¹² that came to him as a five-year old when he ran to his mother after playing on a hot afternoon and she fanned his perspiring¹³ face for a moment with her fan. If it was a folding lace fan it may have had a drop of sweet-smelling perfume in it to make the breeze sweet to a child.
Today, air-conditioning and electric motors have made us forget fans. In these days it often seems, too, that we have no time to sit and fan ourselves - and that's our great loss.
And yet you may be surprised to know that fans have not yet disappeared from the scene. A good many are still made in France, which has always been a great home of the fan, and in the Orient, and quite a few even in busy, bustling¹⁴ America. You might never expect to see a fan today in a great, rushing city, and yet a few are still sold in New York and other great cities.
Today in Fifth Avenue's smart shops you may buy a severe little fan for a lady for $ 3, or a fine French "Louis XIV" fan, with pictures of the king's courtiers, and the price? ... $ 25.
Fans are still used here and there by people who find time to sit on porches, and they're used, too, at concerts and in church -- and at dances. Today, however, they're finding a use they never had before; once a year an interior decorator from St. Paul, Minnesota, journeys 1,100 miles to New York City to buy fans which she then frames as "shadow-boxes" and uses as decorations in smart homes.
Though no one knows where fans came from, researchers say that primitive¹⁵ men in all countries seem to have used them. Chances are that the first fan may have been a branch with leaves to whisk flies away from food, or a palm leaf used to fan up a fire in smouldering wood.
The word comes from Latin vannus: a Roman instrument for winnowing¹⁶ grain. The Bible says (Isaiah, 30:24): "The oxen ... shall eat clean provender¹⁷ which hath been winnowed¹⁸ with the shovel¹⁹ and the fan." This fan, or vannus, was a basket of special shape for tossing grain high into the air so the breeze could blow away the chaff²⁰. On hot days, farmers no doubt found they could cool each other by fanning with the vannus.
But fans have a very ancient history as the Chinese had fans in 2699 B.C., if not long before. The Assyrians, 3,000 years ago, hung fans from the ceiling and, when they were pulled by ropes, they gave "enough wind to wreck²¹ a ship". In early Egypt, fans were widely used by kings and became a symbol of authority.
The strange thing about fans is: they are talkative. Since early times, man has used fans to say things. What can you say with a fan? Until fifty years ago, Japanese generals when giving an order to attack, threw their fans in the air as high as possible where, whirling over and over, the fans inspired men to fight.
Labourers in the Far East for hundreds of years used fans to cool themselves while working. Soldiers fanned themselves while under attack. Laborers²² and soldiers alike learned to greet each other pleasantly by a "nod" of their fans.

READING II

A Breeze at Hand, Part II

The fan has always been far more than a cooling device. It is interesting to note that it has long been called a "fly-whisk". Early fans were sometimes mentioned in royal wills as tools used to "de-fly" the King's table.
Women in Europe found fans useful in romance. A pair of eyes above a lace fan went straight to a man's heart. A flutter of the fan, or of the eyelids²³ at the right time, carried a message only love could understand.
But fans also have had their intrigue²⁴. Marat, the French revolutionary leader, was killed in his bath by Charlotte Corday who held a fan to hide the knife with which she stabbed him. Old pictures show fans being used to hide a letter, to mask a face, and to cover a whisper.
King Louis XVI of France carried a great feather fan, as did many men of his court. Only in recent years did the fan become a woman's implement²⁵.
Fans were used, too, to dramatize news; some showed the latest balloon flight, a new play, a leading person. They have figured in the world's great plays and books. Shakespeare talks of fans, while in the Arabian Nights, in the tale known as "The Sleeper²⁶ Awakened²⁷", it is told that Abou Hassan sat at a fine dinner table where he was fanned by seven beautiful women with feather fans. And Ovid, in a charming passage, asks his beloved: "Dost thou wish that a gentle breeze cool the heat of thy cheeks? This leaf, waved by my hand, will afford thee this pleasure."
The Arabians, who have had fans for 2,000 years, used to place religious writings on them. And school boys in Japan wrote notes on them; and on Japanese "war fans" a red sun was painted so that it showed when the fan was spread wide. Japan's iron-and-leather fans were useful, in emergency, as weapons of defense²⁸! In India, fans have been held in reverence²⁹ -- along with umbrellas.
But men seem to have overlooked one great value in their fans: therapy. Nothing is more refreshing³⁰ to tired men, women and children than a breeze across the face. Men discover this when they turn their faces to a breeze on a hilltop, a cooling wind across a desert on a hot day, or a rush of salty air across a ship's rolling deck. A breeze has power to "blow the cobwebs away", but it does more than that. It brings new heart, new vigour³¹, new courage. So, in a small but important way, mankind's fans have helped him for thousands of years.


So of cheerfulness, or a good temper - the more
it is spent, the more of it remains³².
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

2 cymbals   

pl.铙钹

参考例句：

• People shouted, while the drums and .cymbals crashed incessantly. 人声嘈杂，锣鼓不停地大响特响。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The dragon dance troupe, beating drums and cymbals, entered the outer compound. 龙灯随着锣鼓声进来，停在二门外的大天井里。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

3 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

4 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 barbarian   

n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的

参考例句：

• There is a barbarian tribe living in this forest.有一个原始部落居住在这个林区。
• The walled city was attacked by barbarian hordes.那座有城墙的城市遭到野蛮部落的袭击。

7 mimes   

n.指手画脚( mime的名词复数 )；做手势；哑剧；哑剧演员v.指手画脚地表演，用哑剧的形式表演( mime的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Hanks so scrupulously, heroically mimes the wasting wought by the disease. 汉克斯咬紧牙关，一丝不苟地模仿艾滋病造成的虚弱。 来自互联网
• On an airplane, fellow passengers mimicked her every movement -- like mimes on a street. 在飞机上，有乘客模拟她的每个动作—就像街头模拟表演。 来自互联网

8 flicks   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• 'I shall see it on the flicks, I suppose.' “电影上总归看得见。” 来自英汉文学
• Last night to the flicks. 昨晚看了场电影。 来自英汉文学

9 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

10 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

11 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

12 refreshment   

n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点

参考例句：

• He needs to stop fairly often for refreshment.他须时不时地停下来喘口气。
• A hot bath is a great refreshment after a day's work.在一天工作之后洗个热水澡真是舒畅。

13 perspiring   

v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He had been working hard and was perspiring profusely. 他一直在努力干活，身上大汗淋漓的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• So they "went it lively," panting and perspiring with the work. 于是他们就“痛痛快快地比一比”了，结果比得两个人气喘吁吁、汗流浃背。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

14 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

15 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

16 winnowing   

v.扬( winnow的现在分词 )；辨别；选择；除去

参考例句：

• The petrel came winnowing in from afar on the sea. 海燕从遥远的地方振翼飞来。 来自辞典例句
• He is winnowing wheat now. 他现在正在簸小麦。 来自辞典例句

17 provender   

n.刍草；秣料

参考例句：

• It is a proud horse that will bear his own provender.再高傲的马也得自己驮草料。
• The ambrosial and essential part of the fruit is lost with the bloom which is rubbed off in the market cart,and they become mere provender.水果的美味和它那本质的部分，在装上了车子运往市场去的时候，跟它的鲜一起给磨损了，它变成了仅仅是食品。

18 winnowed   

adj.扬净的，风选的v.扬( winnow的过去式和过去分词 )；辨别；选择；除去

参考例句：

• Administration officials have winnowed the list of candidates to three. 行政官员将候选名单筛减至3人。 来自辞典例句
• I had winnowed the husk away when he came in. 他进来时，我已把糠筛去了。 来自辞典例句

19 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

20 chaff   

v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳

参考例句：

• I didn't mind their chaff.我不在乎他们的玩笑。
• Old birds are not caught with chaff.谷糠难诱老雀。

21 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

22 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

23 eyelids   

n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色

参考例句：

• She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

25 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

26 sleeper   

n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺

参考例句：

• I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
• But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。

27 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

28 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

29 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

30 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

31 vigour   

（=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力

参考例句：

• She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情，有朝气。
• At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。

32 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。