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全新版大学英语听说教程第四册 unit14

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Unit 14

Part B

Unfair Exchange

 

     The exchange rate between South Africa's currency, the rand, and many Western currencies is quite unfair. One rand will buy fewer than ten US cents. As a South African, when I'm in London my great fear is being left holding a restaurant bill. I find myself sitting bolt upright in bed just thinking about it.

     I recently visited England, where I was brought up. I stayed with my sister and her husband, and one evening they suggested we eat out.

     I knew that the cost of dining at the sort of restaurant they wanted to go to would, converted into rands, be something approximating the national debt of the Dominican Republic.

     Obviously I would have to offer to pay. My brother-in-law would then, hopefully, make a counter-offer. Then the tricky1 part. One cannot capitulate too quickly and appear mean. On the other hand, one must not be too insistent2.

     Under normal circumstances, when it's my turn to pay for a serious dinner, I cannot for the life of me remain indifferent. I cannot keep my eyes away from that little piece of paper sticking out from the leather cover. Even though I try to concentrate on the conversation, my mind is on what I could have done with all the money I am about to pay for the dinner.

     Halfway3 through the main course my brother-in-law suggested a second bottle of French claret. Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!

     When, inevitably4, the bill arrived, it was placed between us. We both ignored it. I was hoping my brother-in-law would snatch it. This would be a tactical advantage for me. My own upbringing precludes5 me from snatching just as it precludes me from turning my fork over to pick up peas.

     The bill began to obsess6 me. It would be at least 200 pounds. In South Africa, this would allow me to dine out for a week.

     I realized that if the bill were nearer to my brother-in-law, he would feel some obligation to pick it up. Perhaps by placing my elbows on the table, I could secretly nudge it closer to him. Maybe I should say, "I'll handle this, if you don't mind," and then say assertively7, "Waiter! I trust you accept Central African waginkas? The present exchange rate is nine million to the pound."

     My brother-in-law then made an unexpected move. He left the table.

     I had no choice but to reach forward and, as casually8 as I could, unfold the bill. It was for 226 pounds.

     My shoes fell off just like they do when a person is hit by a bus.

     My sister said, "Don't worry about the bill. The owner is a business partner of ours -- we eat here free."

     If I'd known that, I would have ordered lobster9.

Questions:

 

1. Where did the story take place?

2. Is the speaker a native of South Africa?

3. With whom did he dine out that evening?

4. What bothers him whenever he is in London? Why?

5. Why could he have ordered lobster that evening?

Part C

Chicken Delight

 

    The main character of this story is known simply as the Chicken. How it came to our small backyard remains10 a mystery. Eating the creature was out of the question. So my wife and I decided11 to raise it.

     Of course we knew nothing about raising chickens. For starters, we didn't know whether our chicken was male or female. Moreover, what do chickens eat?

     A colleague put me in touch with a farmer, who told me that chickens eat just about anything.

     The chicken took to its new surroundings easily. Its main social task was to integrate into the local cat society -- a group of about five strays we feed. One morning I looked out the window and saw four cats lined up at their food bowls, and, right in the middle, eating cat food with gusto, was the chicken. Occasionally it would push a cat aside to get a better position.

     Although it was nice to know the chicken could eat anything, cat food didn't seem right. So I called my mother, who sent us a 12-kilo bag of scratch grains. The chicken seemed to appreciate the feed.

     Our care paid off. One morning, Nancy spied an egg on the patio12. At the base of the pine tree, where the chicken slept, was a nest containing four more eggs. Soon we could count on five or six eggs a week.

     After I wrote about the chicken in 'The New York Times', my mailbag was bursting with letters offering advice on the proper care and feeding of chickens. Disturbed that she did not have a name, fans wrote with all kinds of suggestions, Vivian, Henrietta, Henny Penny, to name but a few.

     The media also jumped in. A national radio network quizzed me about the chicken for one of its weekend programs. "My producer wants to know, could you hold the telephone up to the chicken so we can hear it?" the interviewer asked. Unfortunately, I don't have a 30-meter cord on my telephone. The Associated Press sent a photographer to capture the chicken's many moods.

     Then one morning I looked out my kitchen window, and my heart stopped. No chicken -- not in my pine tree or the tree next door. Nor was she pecking and scratching in any of the nearby yards. There were no signs of violence, only a single black feather near the back door.

     She was definitely missing. But why?

     Spring was in the air. Could she be looking for love? Or perhaps she was reacting badly to the burdens of celebrity13. Or maybe she was simply looking for a place to lay her eggs in peace. Anyway, she left at the height of her popularity, well on her way to becoming the most photographed, most talked about chicken of our time.

     And I am left cherishing the memories.

 

 

 

Statements:

 

1. One day someone gave a chicken to the speaker as a present.

2. Though the speaker is a city dweller14, he knows how to raise chickens.

3. The speaker and his wife can be called animal lovers, because they adopted the chicken and five stray cats.

4. The speaker didn't live with his mother, and had to call his mother for the chicken feed.

5. The chicken turned out to be a female one and laid several eggs.

6. The chicken caught the public's attention because a photographer happened to take pictures of it.

7. The speaker sent an article about his adopted chicken to 'The New York Times'. After his article appeared in the newspaper, letters from readers flooded in.

 

 

Part D

Ordinary People, Ordinary Lives

 

    Most of us have photographs of our grandparents, but how many of us know what their lives were like, the sort of people they were in their youth? And what will our grandchildren know about us? We often intend to write things down, but never get round to it. We may leave videos rather than photographs, but the images will remain two-dimensional.

     Hannah Renier has come up with an answer: she writes other people's autobiographies15, producing a hardback book of at least 20,000 words for each autobiography16 -- with illustrations if required -- a chronicle not of the famous, but of the ordinary.

     The idea came to her when she talked to members of her family and realized how much of the past that was part of her own life was disappearing.

     "When I started I didn't take it nearly so seriously as I do now, having met people who genuinely will talk and have led interesting lives," she says. "They would say they are doing it for their children or for posterity17, but they are getting quite a lot out of it themselves. They enjoy doing it."

     "I had the confidence to be honest," said a 62-year-old man who made and lost one fortune before making another. "I was surprised at what came out. There were things that hurt, like my divorce, and the pain was still there."

     "I did it for my family," he continued, "so that perhaps they could learn something, but I have not yet let my children -- who are in their thirties -- read it. They were hurt by things in my life and there are a lot of details which I don't feel I want them to know at the moment. If they insist, I'll let them. But I think I'd rather they read it after I was dead."

     Recorder rather than inquisitor, Renier keeps her distance. "The books are not for public consumption and I'm not there as a very nosy18 person. People have got carried away and told me something, then said, 'I'm not sure if that ought to go in.' I put it in anyway -- they can remove things when they see the draft. But generally people want to be honest, mistakes and all."

     Each book involves up to 30 hours of taped interviews which Renier uses as the basis to write the life story, rearranging the chronology and interpreting. The results are obviously not of the dirt-at-any-cost school of life story, but are fascinating to the private audience at which each book is aimed. Renier organizes her material logically and writes well; the final content is as good as its subject. The book that emerges does not look like a cheap product -- and carries a price tag of nearly £3,000, with extra copies at £25 each. She receives about 10 inquiries19 a week, but the cost clearly deters20 many people.

 

 

 

 

Statements:

 

1. According to the speaker, many people have a real interest in writing about their own lives.

2. Hannah Renier makes a living by writing autobiographies for both famous and ordinary people.

3. Those who have Hannah Renier write their autobiographies have all lived very interesting lives.

4. From the examples given, it can be inferred that when people have their biographies done, they tend to be honest about their past errors and failures.

5. When it comes to putting them down on paper, some people try to hide certain details of their lives from their family.

6. Renier takes an objective attitude when she writes people's life stories.

7. The order of events in Renier's works very often differs from the way they were presented to her.

8. Even though Renier charges a high price for her books, she has to turn down a number of people from time to time as there are too many requests to cope with.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 tricky 9fCzyd     
adj.狡猾的,奸诈的;(工作等)棘手的,微妙的
参考例句:
  • I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手,你能帮我吗?
  • He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题,只做了个笼统的表述。
2 insistent s6ZxC     
adj.迫切的,坚持的
参考例句:
  • There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
  • He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。
3 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
4 inevitably x7axc     
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地
参考例句:
  • In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去,毫无疑问是会散伙的。
  • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。
5 precludes a6099ad5ef93a1df2eb33804a8db6373     
v.阻止( preclude的第三人称单数 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通
参考例句:
  • Lack of time precludes any further discussion. 由于时间不足,不可能进行深入的讨论。
  • The surface reactivity of many nonblack fillers generally precludes strong bonding with this type of matrix. 许多非碳黑填料的表面反应性一般阻碍与该种基质形成牢固的粘结。 来自辞典例句
6 obsess QITxu     
vt.使着迷,使心神不定,(恶魔)困扰
参考例句:
  • I must admit that maps obsess me.我得承认我对地图十分着迷。
  • A string of scandals is obsessing America.美国正被一系列丑闻所困扰。
7 assertively 96ff1844fcdd1810e172c71a22ee838b     
断言地,独断地
参考例句:
  • Using the right body language helps you communicate more assertively. 使用正确的肢体语言会帮助你更有主张力的交流。
  • Learning to communicate assertively involves learning to be honest, open and direct. 果敢自信的交往方式的学习包括做到为人诚实、坦率和直言不讳。
8 casually UwBzvw     
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地
参考例句:
  • She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
  • I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。
9 lobster w8Yzm     
n.龙虾,龙虾肉
参考例句:
  • The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
  • I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾,但它不适宜于我的健康。
10 remains 1kMzTy     
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。
11 decided lvqzZd     
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。
12 patio gSdzr     
n.庭院,平台
参考例句:
  • Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子,我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
  • They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。
13 celebrity xcRyQ     
n.名人,名流;著名,名声,名望
参考例句:
  • Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
  • He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。
14 dweller cuLzQz     
n.居住者,住客
参考例句:
  • Both city and town dweller should pay tax.城镇居民都需要纳税。
  • The city dweller never experiences anxieties of this sort.城市居民从未经历过这种担忧。
15 autobiographies f2cdb4f6f9dc2f372896a22a3192ad84     
n.自传( autobiography的名词复数 );自传文学
参考例句:
  • The series was based on the autobiographies of the author. 这部连续剧是根据那位作家的自传拍摄的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • There are some songs and, recently, a few autobiographies about peasant experience. 有些歌曲描述了农民的经验,最近还出了几本自传。 来自互联网
16 autobiography ZOOyX     
n.自传
参考例句:
  • He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
  • His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。
17 posterity D1Lzn     
n.后裔,子孙,后代
参考例句:
  • Few of his works will go down to posterity.他的作品没有几件会流传到后世。
  • The names of those who died are recorded for posterity on a tablet at the back of the church.死者姓名都刻在教堂后面的一块石匾上以便后人铭记。
18 nosy wR0zK     
adj.鼻子大的,好管闲事的,爱追问的;n.大鼻者
参考例句:
  • Our nosy neighbours are always looking in through our windows.好管闲事的邻居总是从我们的窗口望进来。
  • My landlord is so nosy.He comes by twice a month to inspect my apartment.我的房东很烦人,他每个月都要到我公寓视察两次。
19 inquiries 86a54c7f2b27c02acf9fcb16a31c4b57     
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听
参考例句:
  • He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释,等候进一步调查。
  • I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
20 deters fa9038e0dc6ca5820b8bf591f2a1f604     
v.阻止,制止( deter的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The filth here deters all but the invited guest. 这里污秽不堪,除非有事,外人是裹足不前的。 来自辞典例句
  • Many people believe that capital punishment deters crime. 很多人相信极刑能阻止犯罪。 来自互联网
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