流利美国口语6.6

W: Do you know who is the father of America?

M: George Washington. It’s a horse sense.

W: Well, how much do you know about Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton?

M: Well, I know they did not get along. But I don’t know why.

W: You want to know it?

M: Sure, I would be all ears if you could tell me all about it.

W: Well, the two of them disagreed on the idea of democracy. Hamilton was against it while Jefferson was in favor. They also failed to meet each other on which group the national government should support most, farmers or those who owned factories and businesses. Jefferson was in favor of an America of dependent farmers with few cities if there should be any. On the other hand, Hamilton preferred to build up an ideal America of cities, factories and trade.

M: Was the first president confused by this trouble within his own cabinet?

W: No, he was not influenced by anyone. He listened to opinions from all sides and was independent in his thinking.

Dialogue 2.

W: The history final is in 2 days. Are you ready for it?

M: Not yet. How about you?

W: Dido, a bit bored.

M: What’s up?

W: We’ve been flooded with such a vast sea of names, dates, events and statistics of the past. I am confused. Does the study of history only mean the study of facts about the past?

M: Absolutely not. One history book says that history is a dialogue in the present with the past about the future. It means we study the past in order to gain perspective on the present and the future.

W: But few history books deal with the contemporary relevance¹ of the past. They are nothing but combinations of the facts.

M: Well, we are having the test soon. We’d better think more about the test.

W: I am looking forward to the cancelation of all the history exams.

M: If only it should come tomorrow.

Dialogue 3.

W: I have always been wondering when the world war two could have ended without the two atomic bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

M: Who knows. It sure would have lasted longer.

W: But if the Japanese hadn’t bombed the Pearl Harbor, would America have been involved in the war?

M: The chance would be slim because the United States had been striving to remain neutral. The government tried very hard to prevent involvement in the European war.

W: Was the Pacific war unavoidable?

M: Yes, the sneak² attack on the Pearl Harbor was inevitable³. The Empire of Japan had long ago fixed⁴ the goal of this attack. Japan wanted to sufficiently⁵ cripple the US fleet, so that they could then attack and capture the Philippines and Indo-China. Its ultimate purpose was to grab the raw materials needed to maintain its position as a global military and economic power.

W: What an aggressive ambition. However it was a catastrophic error, wasn’t it?

M: Absolutely, if it had been its goal of Germany in the western Pacific, the attack against Hawaii was in fact the worst possible thing that Japan could have done.

W: It is said that world war two was a total war.

M: You said it. To their surprise this sneak attack against Hawaii brought an immediate⁶ reaction of the American people who had never been so united. Every phase of the American life was affected⁷. It filled the will of the US to completely defeat Japan regardless of the cost. And the enemy was driven back to his homeland.

W: It served the Japanese right.

Exercise.

1. The first landing on the moon happened on July 20, 1969.

2. Slavery could be traced back to ancient times.

3. What triggered the outbreak of the war?

4. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published on March 20, 1852.

5. Do you know anything about the dollar diplomacy⁸?

6. With the outbreak of the civil war the whole country was under going great changes.

7. When would world war two have ended without the 2 atomic bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

8. The sneak attack on the Pearl Harbor was inevitable.

9. England’s new colonial policy was the direct cause of the independence war.

10. Jefferson was in favor of an America of independent farmers.

11. Black was a word used with conscious intent in the 1960s by the black leaders, to rouse their rebellious⁹ spirit and ethnic¹⁰ sense of pride.

12. The 2 parties started peace negotiations¹¹.

1 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

2 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

3 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

6 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

9 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

11 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。