全新版大学英语听说教程第二册 Unit12

2-12-A

Drawing Inferences¹

College students are familiar with the initials², WWW, which stand for World Wide Web. But do you know who invented this? According to the magazine Time, Tim Berners-Lee was the creator.

Tim Berners-Lee is extremely intelligent but not good at "random³ connection", such as linking names and faces. In order to keep track of such links, he wrote some software -- "a memory substitute" -- in 1980. A decade later, it took a great leap, growing to cover the world. It is today's World Wide Web, which could prove as important as the printing press. Yet so far, most of the wealth and fame coming from the Web have gone to people other than him. He has not appeared on the cover of any magazine. He has a small office at M.I.T., where his nonprofit group helps and guards the Web.

2-12-B

 

 

The Story of the Walkman

Akio Morita, chairman of Sony, was annoyed because his children constantly played loud music. He told his company engineers to devise some machine to make the music only audible to the user. They did, and the Walkman was born. This totally changed the way we listen to music. Morita personally insisted on using the name "Walkman" for the new machine. His advisers⁴ said the phrase meant nothing in English. But he knew it was easy to pronounce the word in nearly every language. It was also short, catching⁵ and summed up the importance of the new device!

Now the personal stereo⁶ is used by everyone. There are new designs such as CD Walkmans, recording⁷ Walkmans, etc. As size, weight and cost get smaller, quality gets bigger.

Socially, however, the Walkman habit may not be so good. By playing their personal stereos⁸ at full volume in small spaces, listeners may disturb others. The repeated loud beat can also be annoying. That is why in London's Underground Railway System there are signs saying, "Keep Your Personal Stereo Personal." Furthermore, drivers listening to Walkmans may sometimes cause road accidents to happen. And the rise in hearing problems is often blamed on their misuse⁹.

There is no doubt that modern society has a love-hate relationship with the Walkman. Yet even criticism proves how popular the Walkman has become. Rather like the television or the computer, it is hard to imagine how we ever lived without them.

 

2-12-C

 

The Camera Man

Do you own a camera? Undoubtedly¹⁰ you do, and you probably use it often, too. Just slip the camera in your backpack pocket, and you're set to record your activities on film. But before 1888, you would have needed a wagon¹¹ to carry all the necessary equipment just to take one photograph. Early cameras were the size of microwave ovens! But George Eastman changed the way the world took pictures.

Born in upstate New York on July 12, 1854, George Eastman was the youngest of three children. His father died when George was a young boy. He was forced to quit school at 14 and work to support his family. In 1874, he got a job as a junior clerk at a bank for $15 a week.

A friend introduced George to photography when he was 24. George loved taking pictures, but he didn't like the complicated process. He worked for years to invent something to replace the old machine. When he succeeded, he started a company to produce his "film" -- Kodak. Then he worked on developing a simple camera.

When he introduced his camera in 1888, George coined the advertising¹² slogan, "You push the button, we do the rest." People began buying the cameras, and Kodak soon grew to be very large.

George Eastman was also a great philanthropist. He gave much of his fortune to establish hospitals, clinics, universities, museums and performing arts centers. When he died in 1932 at the age of 77, an editorial¹³ in The New York Times said he would be remembered for giving generously for the good of mankind. And, of course, for putting a Kodak smile on the faces of people around the world.

1 inferences   

推论( inference的名词复数 )； 推理； 推断结果； 结论

参考例句：

• The inferences drawn from data have led to some major changes in our policy. 根据资料做出的推论使得我们的方针发生了一些重大变化。
• A teacher should be good at drawing inferences about other cases from one instance. 老师要善于举一反三。

2 initials   

n.首字母，姓名

参考例句：

• a glass tankard with his initials etched on it 刻有他姓名首字母的玻璃大酒杯
• All the towels were personalized with their initials. 所有毛巾上都标有物主姓名的首字母。

3 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

4 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 stereo   

adj.有立体视觉的，立体声的；n.固定形象，立体声

参考例句：

• She had the stereo on at full blast.她把立体声音响开到了最大音量。
• This program is being broadcast in stereo.这个节目正用立体声播放。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 stereos   

立体声( stereo的名词复数 )； 立体声音响器材

参考例句：

• Stereos have been the ordinary household products. 立体声音响装置已经成为普遍家庭用品。
• What do you do when you're not buying stereos?Finance revolutions? 你不买音响的时候都干些什么？融资革命吗？

9 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

10 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

11 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

12 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

13 editorial   

adj.编者的，社论的；n.（报刊的）社论，重要评论

参考例句：

• For a full hour they argued over the wording of the editorial.他们为社论的措辞争论了一个小时。
• We now bring you the full text of the Renmin Ribao editorial.现在全文广播《人民日报》社论。