经典教程

Easytime

展望未来　　

listen-and-speak

抗遗忘速记掌中宝

2006如鱼得水记单词(全)

最新精选

布莱尔首相演讲

外教录听说教程

星火30篇文章贯通考研词汇

新东方考研词汇词根 联想 　

懒人背单词四级词汇

Dear God,

Now that I am no longer young, I have friends whose mothers have passed away. I have heard these sons and daughters say they never fully appreciated their mothers until it was too late to tell them.

如今我不再年轻，一些朋友的母亲已经去世。我曾听这些子女们说过，他们从没有向母亲充分表达过他们的感激之情，而待到要告诉时为时已晚了。

I am blessed with the dear mother who is still alive. I appreciate her more each day. My mother does not change, but I do. As I grow older and wiser, I realize what an extraordinary person she is. How sad that I am unable to speak these words in her presence, but they flow easily from my pen.

幸运的是，我亲爱的母亲依然健在。我对她的感情与日俱增。母亲没有变，而我却变了。随着年岁的增长，我越来越懂事了，我认识道她是个非常了不起的人。这些话在她面前我难以启齿，但在笔下却可以轻易地写出来，这令我感到多么难过。

How does a daughter begin to thank her mother for life itself? For the love, patience and just plain hard work that go into raising a child? For running after a toddler, for understanding a moody teenager, for tolerating a college student who knows everything? For waiting for the day when a daughter realizes her mother really is?

一个女儿该怎样开口感谢她的母亲所给予的生命？感谢她在抚养孩子时所付出的爱、耐心以及无私的辛勤劳动？感谢她跟在蹒跚学步的孩子身后奔跑，对情绪不定的少女的理解，以及对一个自以为是的大学生的宽容？感谢她等待女儿认识到她真实一位好母亲的这一天？

How does a grown woman thank for a mother for continuing to be a mother? For being ready with advice(when asked ) or remaining silent when it is most appreciated? For not saying:"I told you so", when she could have uttered these words dozens of times? For being essentially herself-loving, thoughtful, patient, and forgiving?

一个成年女子该怎样感谢母亲依然如故的角色？感谢在被问到时她会及时提供良言，而在不需要时她会保持沉默？感谢她没有说："我告诉过你，"而她本来可以说上许多次？感谢她始终不变的爱心、体贴周到、耐心与宽容厚道？

I don't know how, dear God, except to bless her as richly as she deserves and to help me live up to the example she has set. I pray that I will look as good in the eyes of my children as my mother looks in mine.

我不知道该怎样来表达，亲爱的上帝，除了请求你好好地保佑她--那时她该得到的--并帮助我朝她作出的榜样看齐。我祈愿在孩子的眼里我会如同母亲在我眼里一般好。

A daughter

一个女儿

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　更多美文

　　The patient is adamant. "Doc, I need a liver transplant, a kidney transplant, a heart transplant, a cornea transplant, a spleen transplant, a pancreas trans. . ." "What makes you think you need all these?" Well, replied the patient, "My boss said if I wanted to keep my job I needed to get reorganized."

　　这个病人显得很坚决。"医生，我需要做肝脏移植、肾脏移植、心脏移植、角膜移植、脾脏移植、胰腺移植和。。。" "你为什么认为你需要做这么多移植手术？"病人回答："哦，是这样，我的老板说如果我这个人不重新组装的话，就别想保住我的工作！"

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 更多笑话

　　When the one-year anniversary of my mother's passing came around, I found myself in the kitchen preparing some of her favorite dishes. I hadn't planned this, but there I was one hot August afternoon, making her famous soup from the turkey I had roasted the day before.

　　As I poured myself into cooking, some of the deep sadness I was experiencing at this one-year mark moved through me. I loved my mom's turkey soup, how she cooked the egg noodles right in the broth, and how they soaked it up and tasted almost like dumplings. I remembered the time she made some especially for me. It was summer then, too, and I had a terrible head cold. She arrived unexpectedly one afternoon at my work place with a huge jar of her turkey noodle soup. I thought about the bread she used to bake and about how much butter she would slather on it, and how we loved to dip it into the broth. I began to feel a little more buoyant amidst the pain of losing her.

　　While the noodles boiled in the broth in my kitchen, I realized that I was reconnecting with my mother through food. I laughed a bit at myself when I reflected on all the dishes I had cooked that week. Without knowing it, I had created a beautiful ritual to honor my mother and to comfort myself at this vulnerable time. I suddenly felt my mother at hand and was filled with her presence. I was so uplifted and excited that I began talking to her, imagining she were there.

　　"What else should we make?" I asked of us both, wanting to keep the ritual from ending.

　　"Irish Potato Pancakes," was the reply.

　　I hesitated. The thought of these brought up another loss. The last time I made potato pancakes was two and a half years ago. I had taken off my engagement ring to make the dough, and never found it again. Since then, I resisted using that recipe even though I really liked those pancakes. It's sort of silly, but whenever I considered making them, I felt resentful of their participation in my loss, as if they were partly to blame.

　　My mom should know better than to suggest these, I thought. (I don't even remember her ever making them.) She knew how upset I was about losing my ring. I had always called her whenever I lost something, even when I was away at college, even from across the country, even when I traveled abroad. She had a knack for helping me find my way to lost things, except for this time.

　　But despite these hesitations, I found myself caught up in the joy and celebration of the moment, and I reached for the cookbook without another thought of the ring. My mom did love Irish things, and these were delicious. I opened the large coffee-table cookbook and turned to the pancake recipe. At once, something at the bottom of the page caught my eye... It sparkled! I gasped in utter amazement! There, pressed into the pages of this book, was my diamond ring!

　　Chills ran up and down my body as my mind raced to ponder how this was at all possible. Hadn't I used the book for other recipes in the course of almost three years? Wouldn't the ring have slipped out during the packing and unpacking of two household moves? Hadn't I checked the book for the ring when I had lost it?

　　My mind was subdued as my heart overflowed with the magic of gratitude and wonder. I slipped my ring onto my trembling hand, and a smile filled my soul as I whispered, "Thanks Mom."

　　That day, I made potato pancakes in the shape of hearts.

　　 更多故事

版本一

　　约在公元三世纪的罗马，那时恺撒已经死去快三百年了，暴君克劳多斯（Claudius）当政。当时，罗马内外战争频仍，民不聊生。为了补足兵员，将战争进行到底，克劳多斯下令，凡是一定年龄范围内的男子，都必须进入罗马军队。自此，丈夫离开妻子，少年离开恋人。于是整个罗马便被笼罩在绵长的相思中。对此，暴君大为恼火。为了达到自己的目的，他竟然下令禁止国人举行结婚典礼，甚至要求已经结婚的毁掉婚约。

　　然而，暴政禁止不了爱情。就在暴君的国都里，居住着一位德高望重的修士，他就是瓦沦丁（Valentine），他不忍看到一对对伴侣就这样生离死别，于是为前来请求帮助的情侣秘密地主持结婚典礼。一时间，这一令人振奋的消息在整个国度传开，更多的情侣秘密地赶来请求修士的帮助。

　　但是，事情很快还是被暴君知晓了，于是他再一次显示了残暴面目--将修士打进大牢，最终折磨致死。修士死的那一天是2月14日，公元270年的2月14日。

　　人们为了纪念这个敢于与暴君斗争的人，渐渐地使2月14日成为一个节日。很多世纪过去了，人们再也记不得克劳多斯的大名，再也记不得他的权杖与宝剑，但依然会纪念瓦沦丁修士，因为那个日子是Valentine's Day，是情人节。

版本二

　　这个版本似乎没有上一个精彩。传说中瓦沦丁是最早的基督徒之一，那个时代做一名基督徒意味着危险和死亡。为掩护其他殉教者，瓦沦丁被抓住，投入了监牢。在那里他治愈了典狱长女儿失明的双眼。当暴君听到着一奇迹时，他感到非常害怕，于是将瓦沦丁斩首示众。据传说，在行刑的那一天早晨，瓦沦丁给典狱长的女儿写了一封情意绵绵的告别信，落款是:From your Valentine（寄自你的瓦沦丁）。

版本三

　　历史学家们更愿意刨根揪底，他们关于情人节的演绎似乎令人信服。其实远远早于公元270年，当罗马城刚刚奠基时，周围还是一片荒野，成群的狼四处游荡。在罗马人崇拜的众神中，畜牧神卢波库斯（Lupercus）掌管着对牧羊人和羊群的保护。每年二月中，罗马人会举行盛大的典礼来庆祝牧神节。那时的日历与现在相比，要稍微晚一些，所以牧神节实际上是对即将来临的春天的庆祝。也有人说这个节日是庆祝法乌努斯神（Faunus），它主管畜牧和农业。在节日的各项庆典中，有一项是年轻的贵族们，手持羊皮鞭，在街道上奔跑。年轻妇女们会聚集在街道两旁，祈望羊皮鞭抽打到她们头上。人们相信这样会使她们更容易生儿育女。在拉丁语中，羊皮鞭被叫做februa，鞭打叫做fabruatio，实际上都含有'纯洁'的意思。二月的名字（February）就是由此而来。

　　随着罗马势力在欧洲的扩张，牧神节的习俗被带到了现在的法国和英国等地。人们最乐此不疲的一项节日活动类似于摸彩。年轻女子们的名字被放置于盒子内，然后年轻男子上前抽取。抽中的一对男女成为情人，时间是一年或更长。

　　基督教的兴起使人们纪念众神的习俗逐渐淡漠。人们不希望放弃节日的欢乐，于是将牧神节（Lupercalia）改成瓦沦丁节（Valentine's Day），并移至二月十四日。这样，关于瓦沦丁修士的传说和古老的节日就被自然地结合在一起。这一节日在中世纪的英国最为流行。未婚男女的名字被抽出后，他们会互相交换礼物，女子在这一年内成为男子的Valentine。在男子的衣袖上会绣上女子的名字，照顾和保护该女子于是成为该男子的神圣职责。

　　有史可查的现代意义上的瓦沦丁情人是在十五世纪早期。法国年轻的奥尔良大公（Duke of Orleans）在阿根科特（Agincourt）战役中被英军俘虏，然后被关在伦敦塔中很多年。他写给妻子很多首情诗，大约有60首保存至今。用鲜花做瓦沦丁节的信物在大约两百年后出现。法王亨利四世（Henry IV）的一个女儿在瓦沦丁节举行了一个盛大的晚会。所有女士从选中她做瓦沦丁的男士那里获得一束鲜花。就这样，延续着古老的意大利，法国和英国习俗，我们得以在每年的二月十四日向自己的朋友传递爱的信息。鲜花，心形糖果，用花边和摺穗掩盖了送物人名字的信物，不仅仅是代表着一份份真挚的爱，更是对敢于反抗暴政的瓦沦丁修士的最好缅怀。

版本四

　　在古罗马时期，2月14日是为表示对约娜的尊敬而设的节日。约娜是罗马众神的皇后，罗马人同时将她尊奉为妇女和婚姻之神。接下来的2月15日则被"卢帕撒拉节"，是用来对约娜治下的其他众神表示尊敬的节日。

　　在古罗马，年轻人和少女的生活是被严格分开的。然而，在卢帕撒拉节，小伙子们可以选择一个自己心爱的姑娘的名字刻在花瓶上。这样，过节的时候，小伙子就可以与自己选择的姑娘一起跳舞，庆祝节日。如果被选中的姑娘也对小伙子有意的话，他们便可一直配对，而且最终他们会坠入爱河并一起步入教堂结婚。后人为此而将每年的2月14日定为情人节。

版本五

　　一本英语辞典上注释说，"瓦沦丁节（情人节）：二月十四日，据说鸟在那天开始相尾。"

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　更多内容

　　　　　　Lots of Fruit in Childhood Cuts Adult Cancer Risk

　　Adults who had been fed plenty of fruit when they were children are less likely to suffer from certain types of cancer, British scientists said on Wednesday.

　　A medical study of nearly 4,000 men and women showed that the more fruits the adults had eaten when they were young the less likely they were to suffer from lung, bowel and breast cancer.

　　"This study shows that childhood fruit consumption may have a long term protective effect on cancer risk in adulthood," Dr. Maria Maynard of the Medical Research Council in London said.

　　All of the adults in the study had filled in a food inventory during the 1930s for a research study looking into the eating habits of families in rural and urban areas of England and Scotland. Maynard and her colleagues studied the medical records of the group up to July 2000, by which time 483 cases of cancer had been diagnosed. In addition to fewer cases of cance, a high consumption of fruit was associated with a lower death rate from all causes.

　　Fruits are loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and other nutrients, which can help to prevent genetic damage that can lead to the development of cancer.

　　The scientists also studied the impact of vitamins C, E and beta carotene on cancer but they did not find any evidence that individual antioxidants were as protective as fruit.

　　英国科学家19日研究发现：童年时多吃水果，长大以后患某些癌症的几率会被降低。

　　科学家对4千名男女进行了跟踪调查，发现童年时水果吃得越多，越不容易得肺癌、肠癌和乳腺癌。

　　伦敦医学研究会的玛利亚?梅纳德博士说："这一研究表明，孩提时代多食用水果将在成年以后产生长期的防癌作用。"

　　接受调查的所有人都曾在20世纪30年代填写过一份英格兰和苏格兰城市及农村家庭饮食状况的调查表。而梅纳德和她的同事对这些人进行了跟踪调查，发现到2000年6月，其中的483人被诊断患了癌症。研究人员发现：孩提时代摄入水果量越高的人越不容易得癌症，而患上癌症的人群中，水果摄入量高的，抗病的时间也越长。

　　水果富含抗氧化剂、维他命和其他营养成分，可以有效防止身体机能发生癌变。

　　科学家还研究了维生素C、维生素E和β胡萝卜素对癌症的抵抗作用，但他们没有找到任何证据显示单一的抗氧化剂能比水果更有效。

　　 更多内容

The Olympics will be good for tourism.

奥运会的召开将有利于旅游业的发展。

A: I'm looking forward to the Olympics!

A: 我期待着奥运会的召开!

B: So am I.

B: 我也是。

A: The Olympics will be good for business.

A: 奥运会的召开将有利于旅游业的发展。

B: Yes, and they'll be good for business, too. Especially for hotels and restaurants.

B: 是的。奥运会对商业发展也会有促进作用。尤其是对酒店和餐馆业。

A: You're right. We're going to expand production this year. We're going to make more maps, guidebooks and postcards.

A: 你说得对。我们今年将扩大生产规模。我们打算制作更多的地图、导游手册和明信片。

B: Good idea. You'll sell a lot.

B: 好主意，你们会有很大的销量。

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes 注释

1. To predict that something will have a beneficial effect on something else, for example, the Olympics on tourism and business, you can say: The Olympics will be good for tourism. And they'll be good for business, too.

要预言某事物对其他事物具有有利的影响。例如：奥运会对旅游业和商业的影响。你可以说：奥运会的召开将有利于旅游业的发展。奥运会对商业发展也会有促进作用。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 更多内容

You have to kiss a lot of toads before you find a handsome prince.

-- American Proverb

He early on let her know who is the boss. He looked her right in the eye and clearly said, "You're the boss."

-- Anonymous

Here's to you and here's to me,

and I hope we never disagree.

But, if that should ever be,

to HELL with you, here's to ME!

-- Anonymous

They had a dispute about a night out with the boys. But he finally decided to let her go.

-- Anonymous

They have come up with a perfect understanding. He won't try to run her life, and he won't try to run his, either.

-- Anonymous

They're almost inseparable. Sometimes it takes ten people to separate them.

-- Anonymous

In a great romance, each person plays a part the other really likes.

-- Elizabeth Ashley

Honeymoon: A short period of doting between dating and debting.

-- Ray Bandy

I date this girl for two years--and then the nagging starts: "I wanna know your name."

-- Mike Binder

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.

-- Jonathan Carroll, Outside the Dog Museum

Many a man that could rule a hundherd millyon sthrangers with an ir'n hand is careful to take off his shoes in the front hallway whin he comes home late at night.

-- Finley Peter Dunne, Mr. Dooley On Making A Will, 1919

I think, therefore I'm single.

-- Female philosopher

Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.

-- Rose Franken

Two souls with but a single thought,

Two hearts that beat as one.

-- Fredrich Halm

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.

-- Katharine Hepburn

There is nothing better for the spirit or the body than a love affair. It elevates the thoughts and flattens the stomachs.

-- Barbara Howar

With the catching end the pleasures of the chase.

-- Abraham Lincoln

We seek the comfort of another. Someone to share and share the life we choose. Someone to help us through the neverending attempt to understand ourselves. And in the end, someone to comfort us along the way.

-- Marlin Finch Lupus

I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.

-- Groucho Marx

A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.

-- Moliere

If a relationship is to evolve, it must go through a series of endings.

-- Lisa Moriyama

A man who has never made a woman angry is a failure in life.

-- Christopher Morley

The absolute yearning of one human body for another particular body and its indifference to substitutes is one of life's major mysteries.

-- Iris Murdoch

Love matches, so called, have illusion for their father and need for their mother.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

When yer in a funk, people in love are a royal pain in the patookus.

-- Portnoy, character in "Outland," comic strip by Berkely Breathed

Being in therapy is great. I spend an hour just talking about myself. It's kinda like being the guy on a date.

-- Caroline Rhea

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the sky.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Whenever I date a guy, I think, is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?

-- Rita Rudner

Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts.

-- William Shakespeare, King Henry the Sixth

The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post.

-- George Bernard Shaw

Saying that men talk about baseball in order to avoid talking about their feelings is the same as saying that women talk about their feelings in order to avoid talking about baseball.

-- Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand

The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet.

-- Andy Warhol

Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.

-- Oscar Wilde

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

-- William Butler Yeats, from "He wishes for the cloths of heaven"

　　 更多内容

June 16, 2007

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, Congress began to debate its annual spending bills. The American people expect us to spend their tax dollars wisely, or not at all, and to pursue pro-growth economic policies that will allow us to reduce the deficit while keeping our economy strong.

Since my Administration's tax relief was implemented four years ago, our economy has added more than eight million new jobs, and we've experienced 45 months of uninterrupted job growth. With more Americans working and more businesses thriving, our economy has produced record tax revenues. The Treasury Department recently reported that this year's Federal revenues are up eight percent over last year. As a result, our Nation's budget deficit is about one-third lower than it was at this time last year.

In addition to pursuing pro-growth tax relief, my Administration is working to reduce the Federal deficit through strict fiscal discipline. Over the past three years, we have met the urgent needs of our Nation while holding the growth of annual domestic spending close to one percent -- well below the rate of inflation. I've also proposed policies that would slow the unsustainable growth of our most serious long-term fiscal challenge: entitlement spending. By keeping taxes low and restraining Federal spending, we can meet my plan to have a balanced budget by 2012.

The Democrats in Congress are trying to take us in a different direction. They've passed a budget that would mean higher taxes for American families and job creators, ignore the need for entitlement reform, and pile on hundreds of billions of dollars in new government spending over the next five years. This tax-and-spend approach puts our economic growth and deficit reduction at risk.

For months, I've warned the Democrats in Congress that I will not accept an irresponsible tax-and-spend budget. I put Democratic leaders on notice that I will veto bills with excessive levels of spending. And I am not alone in my opposition. In the House, 147 Republicans have pledged to support fiscal discipline by opposing excessive spending. These 147 members are more than one-third needed to sustain my veto of any bills that spend too much.

Another key area of difference between my Administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress is my support for meaningful earmark reform. Earmarks are spending provisions that are slipped into bills by individual members of Congress, often at the last hour and without discussion or debate. It's not surprising that this leads to unnecessary Federal spending. And the problem is growing. Over the last decade, the number of earmarks has more than tripled.

In January, I proposed reforms that would make the earmark process more transparent, end the practice of concealing earmarks in so-called report language that is never included in legislation, and cut the number and cost of earmarks by at least half. My Administration has also developed the government's first public database of earmarks, and we've posted them on a website: earmarks.omb.gov. On this website, we will also be releasing information on new earmarks, because this Administration wants you to see where your tax dollars are being spent.

After I announced my earmark reforms in January, the House passed a rule that called for full disclosure of earmarks. But in the past few weeks, Democratic House leaders announced that they were abandoning this commitment. Instead of full disclosure, they decided they would not make public any earmarks until after Members had already voted on the spending bills. This change would have allowed a small group of lawmakers and their unelected staff to meet behind closed doors to decide how and where to spend your tax dollars. I'm pleased to report that earlier this week a group of House Republicans stopped this plan and extracted a commitment from House Democrats to list all earmarks in advance and give lawmakers a chance to strike them. The American people need to hold House Democrats accountable for keeping that commitment.

In the weeks ahead, my Administration will continue pushing for earmark reform and holding the line on Federal spending. The American people do not want to return to the days of tax and spend policies. They expect accountability and fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C. And I will use my veto to stop tax increases and runaway spending that threaten the strength of our economy and the prosperity of our people.

Thank you for listening.

END

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　更多内容

　　许多面临考试、应聘的英语学习者急需在短时间内提高自己的英语口语能力，但是又时常没有信心。不少学了几十年英语的人往往会怀疑：英语口语能力到底有没有可能在短期内获得提高？

　　根据西方最新外语学习理论，口语学习效果提高的最好方式就是采用短期突破法。从下面的公式中，就可以看出，口语短期突破的方法是很有效的。

　　口语提高速度定律＝说英语时间 / 说中文时间Speed of learning English＝Speaking English / Speaking Chinese ( in a period of time)

　　比如，在给定的一天时间内（16小时），学生A练习英语口语的时间为14小时，说中文的时间为2小时，两者的比例为7：1；学生B练习口语的时间为2小时英语，说中文的时间为14小时。比例为1：7。如此一来，学生A比学生B说英语的比例大49倍。

　　专家们在这个理论的基础上进行实践调查，短期突破班的许多初、高中学生都在短期内获得很大提高。只要英语口语练习者能够在一段有效的时间内，全力以赴地将口语提高作为目标，尽可能强化性地多练习口语，提高口语听说能力是绝对可以在比较快的时间内达到效果的。

　　 更多内容