1. O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise.
2. One day a few years ago a very funny thing happened to a neighbour of mine. He is a teacher at one of London’s big medical schools, He had finished his teaching for the summer term and was at the airport on his way to Russia to give a lecture. He had put a few clothes and his lecture notes in his shoulder bag, but he had put Rupert, the skeleton (人体骨骼) to be used in his lecture, in a large brown suitcase (箱子). At the airport desk, he suddenly thought that he had forgotten to buy a newspaper. He left his suitcase near the desk and went over to the shop. When he got back he discovered that someone had taken his suitcase by mistake. He often wonders what they said when they got home and found Rupert.
3. On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel ball before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles.” Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India. When he was 11, he read the book Marco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true. Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.
4. Mr. Grey was the manager of a small office in London. He lived in the country, and came up to work by train. He liked walking from the station to his office unless it was raining, because it gave him some exercise. One morning he was walking along the street when a stranger stopped him and said to him, “You may not remember me, sir, but seven years ago I came to London without a penny in my pockets, I stopped you in this street and asked you to lend me some money, and you lent me £ 5, because you said you were willing to take a chance so as to give a man a start on the way to success.” Mr Grey thought for a few minutes and then said, “Yes, I remember you. Go on with your story!” “Well,” answered the stranger, “are you still willing to take a chance?”
5. Even if you are a good high-jumper, you can jump only about seven feet off the ground. You cannot jump any higher because the earth pulls you hard. The pull of the earth is called gravity. You can easily find out the pull of the earth. If you weigh yourself, you will know how much gravity is pulling you. Since there is gravity, water runs down hill. When you throw a ball into the air, it falls back down. Because of gravity, you do not fall off the earth as it whirls (旋转) around. Then, can we get away from the earth and go far out into space? Now you can do it, because spaceships have been invented. Then spaceship will go so fast that it can escape (逃出) the earth’s gravity and carry you into space.
6. An expensive car speeding down the main street of a small town was soon caught up with by a young motorcycle policeman. As he started to make out the ticket, the woman behind the wheel said proudly, “Before you go any further, young man, I think you should know that the mayor of this city is a good friend of mine.”The officer did not say a word, but kept writing. “I am also a friend of chief of police Barens,”continued the woman, getting more angry each moment, Still he kept on writing. “Young man,”she persisted, “I know Judge Lawson and State Senator (参议员) Patton.” Handing the ticket to the woman, the officer asked pleasantly , “Tell me, do you know Bill Bronson.” “Why, no,”she answered. “Well, that is the man you should have known,”he said, heading back to his motorcycle, “I an Bill Bronson.”
7. Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取) to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling. In 1849, after graduation from medical school. she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea. Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.
8. In today’s age of fast travel, the world seems a smaller place---- and to some people, a less exciting place, Fifty years ago only a few English people and holidays abroad, People who didn’t travel thought of other countries as very far away and different. For example, people thought the French all eat garlic(大蒜), the Italians all eat spaghetti(细条实心面). and the Americans all drink Coca Cola, These definite(明确的) ideas of other nationalities are called stereotypes(陈规老套) . But do we have the same stereotypes today? People travel more, we all watch the same TV programmes, and ideas travel quickly too. Nowadays everyone eats garlic and spaghetti and drinks Coca Cola. Everyone listens to the same music. wears the same fashions(流行式样) , buys the same cars. They just do it in a different language!
9. We are used to the idea of aging in ourselves. We are so used to this that it comes as a surprise to find that there may be some animals that do not age. Sea anemones(海葵) are an example. Some have been kept for nearly a century without showing any signs of lifelessness. Some kinds of sea worms can even “grow backwards.” If kept in the dark and given nothing to eat, they get steadily smaller, They finally end as a ball of cells(细胞) looking rather like the egg from which they came. Under good conditions the ball will turn back to a worm and start growing again. One could probably keep them growing and un-growing again and again.
10. Now I’d like to talk to you about your final exam. The exam will be held next Thursday, the last day of the exam week. Remember to bring two of three pens in case you run out of ink. And unlike the midterm exam, this test will not include multiple --- choice questions; it will consist entirely of essays(文章). You’ll have to answer three of the five essay questions. The exam will be comprehensive (全面的), which means you’ll be responsible for all of the subject matters we covered in class this term, I would suggest you review your midterm exam as well as textbooks and your class notes. The final exam will count as 50 percent of your grade of the course. The research project (项目) will count as 20 percent and the midterm exam 30 percent. I’ll be in my office almost all day next Tuesday. If you run into any problems, please drop in. Good luck to you and I’ll see you on Tuesday.
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