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Take Away English

英语是"练"出来的，在线"练"英语频道

　　"But what if I break my arm again?" my five year-old daughter asked, her lower lip trembling. I knelt holding onto her bike and looked her right in the eyes. I knew how much she wanted to learn to ride. How often she felt left out when her friends pedaled by our house. Yet ever since she'd fallen off her bike and broken her arm, she'd been afraid.

　　"Oh honey," I said. "I don't think you'll break another arm."

　　"But I could, couldn't I?"

　　"Yes," I admitted, and found myself struggling for the right thing to say. At times like this, I wished I had a partner to turn to. Someone who might help find the right words to make my little girl's problems disappear. But after a disastrous marriage and a painful divorce, I'd welcomed the hardships of being a single parent and had been adamant in telling anyone who tried to fix me up that I was terminally single.

　　"I don't think I want to ride," she said and got off her bike.

　　We walked away and sat down beside a tree.

　　"Don't you want to ride with your friends?" I asked.

　　"And I thought you were hoping to start riding your bike to school next year," I added.

　　"I was," she said, her voice almost a quiver.

　　"You know, hon," I said. "Most everything you do comes with risks. You could get a broken arm in a car wreck and then be afraid to ever ride in a car again. You could break your arm jumping rope. You could break your arm at gymnastics. Do you want to stop going to gymnastics?"

　　"No," she said. And with a determined spirit, she stood up and agreed to try again. I held on to the back of her bike until she found the courage to say, "Let's go!"

　　I spent the rest of the afternoon at the park watching a very brave little girl overcome a fear, and congratulating myself for being a self-sufficient single parent.

　　As we walked home, pushing the bike as we made our way along the sidewalk, she asked me about a conversation she'd overheard me having with my mother the night before.

　　"Why were you and grandma arguing last night?"

　　My mother was one of the many people who constantly tried to fix me up. How many times had I told her "no" to meeting the Mr. Perfect she picked out for me. She just knew Steve was the man for me.

　　"It's nothing," I told her.

　　She shrugged. "Grandma said she just wanted you to find someone to love."

　　"What grandma wants is for some guy to break my heart again," I snapped, angry that my mother had said anything about this to my daughter.

　　"But Mom."

　　"You're too young to understand," I told her.

　　She was quiet for the next few minutes. Then she looked up and in a small voice gave me something to think about.

　　"So I guess love isn't like a broken arm."

　　Unable to answer, we walked the rest of the way in silence. When I got home, I called my mother and scolded her for talking about this to my daughter. Then I did what I'd seen my brave little girl do that very afternoon. I let go and agreed to meet Steve.

　　Steve was the man for me. We married less than a year later. It turned out mother and my daughter were right.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　更多美文

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Never Mind

　　A drunk phoned police to report that thieves had been in his car. "They've stolen the dashboard, the steering wheel, even the brake pedal!" he cried out.

　　However, before the police investigation could start, the phone rang a second time "Never mind," the drunk said with a hiccup, "I got in the back seat by mistake."

　　中文：

　　一个醉汉打电话给警察局，报告小偷光顾了他的车，"他们偷走了仪表盘、方向盘，甚至连刹车脚板都偷走了。"

　　然而在警察还没有开始调查时，电话又一次响了起来，"没事了"，醉汉打着嗝说，"我不小心坐到了后坐上。"

　　 更多笑话

　　　　　　　　　　　 The Peasant and the Devil

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

　　Once upon a time there was a clever, wily peasant, whose tricks could be much talked about. The best story, however, is how he once got the best of the devil and made a fool of him. One day the peasant had been working in his field, and just as it was getting dark he was getting ready to go home when in the middle of his field he saw a pile of burning coals. Filled with amazement he walked toward it, and sitting on the top of the glowing coals there was a little black devil.

　　"You must be sitting on a treasure," said the peasant.

　　"Yes indeed," replied the devil, "on a treasure that contains more gold and silver than you have ever seen in your life."

　　"The treasure is in my field and belongs to me," said the peasant.

　　"It is yours," answered the devil, "if for two years you will give me one half of everything your field produces. I have enough money, but I have a desire for the fruits of the earth."

　　The peasant entered into the bargain, saying, "To prevent any dispute from arising about the division, everything above the ground shall belong to you, and everything beneath the ground to me."

　　The devil was quite satisfied with that, but the cunning peasant had planted turnips.

　　Now when harvest time came the devil appeared and wanted to take away his crop, but he found nothing except the yellow withered leaves, and the happy peasant dug up his turnips.

　　"You got the best of me this time," said the devil, "but it won't happen again. Next time what grows above ground shall be yours, and what is under it shall be mine."

　　"That is all right with me," answered the peasant. When planting time came the peasant did not plant turnips again, but wheat. The crop ripened, and the peasant went into the field and cut the full stalks off at ground level. When the devil came he found nothing but the stubble, and he angrily disappeared into a chasm in a cliff.

　　"That's the way one has to deal with foxes," said the peasant, then carried away the treasure.

　　从前有位远见卓识、机智聪明的农夫，有关他足智多谋的故事至今人们仍广为传颂。其中最精彩的要首推他曾经怎样捉弄魔鬼的故事。

　　一天，农夫在田间劳动了一整天，天黑时正准备回家，忽然发现自己的田里有堆煤在燃烧，他惊讶万分，於是便走上前去看，发现竟有一个黑色的小魔鬼走在燃烧的煤堆上。"你是坐在财宝上吗？"农夫问。"正是财宝。"魔鬼答道，"而且比你一生见到的都要多呢！""财宝在我田里就得归我。"农夫说道。"就归你吧！"魔鬼说，"只要你肯将两年内一半的收成给我就行了。钱，我有的是，但我更喜欢地上的果实。"农夫答应了这桩交易，并说："为了避免在我们分配时出现纠纷，凡泥土上的东西归你，泥土下的归我。"魔鬼感到心满意足，但这位聪明的农夫却种上了萝?.

　　现在收?的季节到了，魔鬼又来了，要求收回属於他的收成。但除了那些枯黄的败叶外，他一无所获；而农夫却在兴高采烈地挖着他的萝?."这次让你?了便宜，"魔鬼说，"下次可不能这样。地上的归你，地下的归我。""悉听尊便。"农夫答道。播种的季节又到了，这次他可不播萝?，而是种上了小麦。麦子熟了，他来到田间，把麦秆齐根割倒在地。魔鬼又来了，见到除了残茬外，他又一无所获，气得转身就走，顺着石缝钻了进去。"我就是这样骗倒魔鬼的。"农夫说完，赶紧拾起财宝回家去了。

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　　（1）Introductios and Opening Conversations 介绍和开场白

　　People in the United States don't always shake hands when they are introduced to one another. However, in a formal or business situation people almost always shake hands.

　　1.A： Mary, this is Joe's brother David.

　　B； I'm very glad to meet you.

　　C： It's a pleasure to meet you.

　　B： How do you like Texas so far？

　　C： It's really different from what I expected.

　　B： Don't worry. You'll get used to it in no time.

　　2.A： Mrs. Smith, I'd like to introduce a friend of mine, Pierre Dubois.

　　B： How do you do？

　　C： Hello.

　　B： What's your impression of the United States？

　　C： Well, I can't get over how different the weather is here.

　　B： Oh, you'll get used to it soon！

　　3.A： Wendy, I'd like you to meet my brother Sam.

　　B： Hi.

　　C： Nice to meet you.

　　B： What do you think of Dallas？

　　C： Well, I'm still feeling a little homesick and so many things seem strange to me.

　　B： You're bound to feel that way at first, I guess.

　　4.A： Mrs.Hughs, this is Peter Brown.

　　B： Pleased to meet you.

　　C： How do you do？

　　B： I hope you're enjoying your stay here.

　　C： If it weren't for the climate, I'd like it here very much.

　　B： It always takes time to get used to a new place.

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　　Among the viruses soapy hand washing flushes down the drain is the one that causes the common cold. Other removable viruses cause hepatitis A, acute gastroenteritis and a host of other illnesses.

　　A separate key finding was that waterless handwipes only removed roughly 50 percent of bacteria from volunteer subjects?hands.

　　"We studied the efficacy of 14 different hand hygiene agents in reducing bacteria and viruses from the hands," said Emily E. Sickbert-Bennett, a public health epidemiologist with the University of North Carolina Health Care System and the UNC School of Public Health. "No other studies have measured the effectiveness in removing both bacteria and viruses at the same time."

　　For the first time, too, the UNC researchers tested what happened when people cleaned their hands for only 10 seconds, Sickbert-Bennett said. That represented the average length of time researchers observed busy health-care personnel washing or otherwise disinfecting their hands at work.

　　"Previous studies have had people clean their hands for 30 seconds or so, but that's not what health-care workers usually do in practice, and we wanted to test the products under realistic conditions," she said.

　　Anti-microbial agents were best at reducing bacteria on hands, but waterless, alcohol-based agents had variable and sometimes poor effects, becoming less effective after multiple washes, Sickbert-Bennett said. For removing viruses from the hands, physical removal with soap and water was most effective since some viruses are hardy and relatively resistant to disinfection.

　　Researchers first had volunteers clean their hands and then contaminated their hands with Serratia marcescens and MS2 bacteriophage. Those are, respectively, a harmless bacterium and virus comparable to, and substituted for, disease-causing organisms. After that, scientists had the subjects clean their hands with various agents and measured how much of the bacteria and virus remained afterwards.

　　在一项比较各种手部清洁剂功效的大型综合性研究过程中，美国科学家发现，没有什么比传统的肥皂和清水更能有效地去除手上的细菌了。

　　据美国"每日科学"网站3月26日报道，研究证实，用肥皂洗手可将能引起普通感冒、甲型肝炎和急性肠胃炎等多种疾病的病毒有效地去除干净，研究同时发现不需水洗的手部清洗剂只能去除50%左右的手部细菌。

　　美国北卡罗来纳大学公共卫生流行病学家埃米丽-塞克伯特-博纳特说，我们分析了14种不同的手部清洁剂去除细菌和病毒的功效，而这是以前的研究不曾有过的。在研究过程中，科学家们对人们只用10秒时间洗手的效果进行了测试。这是在通常情况下，繁忙的医护卫生工作者平均所用的手部清洁以及消毒时间。共有62名志愿者参与了这项研究。

　　志愿者把手洗干净后，研究人员在他们的手上涂上无害的粘质沙雷菌和MS2噬菌体，然后志愿者分别使用14种不同的手部清洁剂洗手，研究人员会分析最后残留在他们手上的细菌和病毒量。研究者发现，使用肥皂和清水洗手这种土办法，其除菌效果甚至要好于一些现代的清洁方法。研究显示，含抗菌成分的手部清洁产品在去除细菌这方面的效果要明显好于那些不需水洗的清洁剂；在去除病毒这方面，用肥皂和清水洗手的效果最好；而使用消毒湿巾擦拭的方法，消除病菌的效率最低。

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　　索尼(Sony)昨日宣布其游戏与电视部门亏损加重，并表示，其液晶显示器生产线开工不足，PlayStation 3游戏机的年销售目标也可能无法实现。

　　Sony yesterday reported increased losses in its games and television divisions and said its liquid crystal display model line was inadequate and its annual sales goal for the PlayStation 3 might not be met.

　　索尼指出，与上年同期相比，其游戏部门在第三季度的运营损失已经增加一倍以上，达到967亿日元（合8.57亿美元），凸显出PS3游戏机不尽人意的业绩。

　　Underlining the lacklustre performance of the PS3, Sony said the operating loss of its games unit had more than doubled to Y96.7bn ($857m) in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.

　　不过，索尼首席财务官大根田伸行(Nobuyuki Oneda)表示，下半财年，游戏部门会实现收支平衡，在2008年4月开始的下一财年将会赢利。昨日，索尼还将全年运营收益预期从4400亿日元提高到4500亿日元。

　　However, Nobuyuki Oneda, chief financial officer, said the unit would break even in the second half of this year and would turn a profit in the fiscal year starting April 2008. And Sony yesterday raised its annual operating profit forecast to Y450bn from Y440bn.

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　　　　　　　　　　　 Oh, Captain! My Captain!

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ---By Walt Whitman

Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is worn,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red!

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here, Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head;

It is some dream that on the deck

You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse or will;

The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult, O Shores! and ring, O bell!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

中文译文：　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　 船长！我的船长！

啊， 船长！我的船长！可怕的航程已完成；

这船历尽风险，企求的目标已达成。

港口在望，钟声响，人们在欢欣。

千万双眼睛注视着船----平稳，勇敢，坚定。

但是痛心啊！痛心！痛心！

瞧一滴滴鲜红的血！

甲板上躺着我的船长，

他到下去，冰冷，永别。

啊， 船长！我的船长！起来吧，倾听钟声；

起来吧，号角为您长鸣，旌旗为您高悬；

迎着您，多少花束花圈----候着您，千万人蜂拥岸边；

他们向您高呼，拥来挤去，仰起殷切的脸；

啊，船长！亲爱的父亲！

我的手臂托着您的头！

莫非是一场梦：在甲板上

您到下去，冰冷，永别。

我的船长不作声，嘴唇惨白，毫不动弹；

我的父亲没感到我的手臂，没有脉搏，没有遗言；

船舶抛锚停下，平安抵达；航程终了；

历经艰险返航，夺得胜利目标。

啊，岸上钟声齐鸣，啊，人们一片欢腾！

但是，我在甲板上，在船长身旁，

心悲切，步履沉重：

因为他倒下去，冰冷，永别。

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　　　　　　　　The Gettysburg Address by President Lincoln

　　Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to theproposition that all men are created equal. Now, we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that Nation, or any nation soconceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who gave their lives that Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

　　But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that this Nation, under GOD, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the People by the People and for the People shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln

　　87年前，我们的先辈们在这个大陆上创立了一个新国家，它孕育于自由之中，奉行一切人生来平等的原则。现在我们正从事一场伟大的内战，以考验这个国家，或者任何一个孕育于自由和奉行上述原则的国家是否能够长久存在下去。我们在这场战争中的一个伟大战场上集会。烈士们为使这个国家能够生存下去而献出了自己的生命，我们来到这里，是要把这个战场的一部分奉献给他们作为最后安息之所。我们这样做是完全应该而且是非常恰当的。

　　但是，从更广泛的意义上来说，这块土地我们不能够奉献，不能够圣化，不能够神化。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇士们，活着的和去世的，已经把这块土地圣化了，这远不是我们微薄的力量所能增减的。我们今天在这里所说的话，全世界不大会注意，也不会长久地记住，但勇士们在这里所做过的事，全世界却永远不会忘记。毋宁说，倒是我们这些还活着的人，应该在这里把自己奉献于勇士们已经如此崇高地向前推进但尚未完成的事业。倒是我们应该在这里把自己奉献于仍然留在我们面前的伟大任务--我们要从这些光荣的死者身上汲取更多的献身精神，来完成他们已经完全彻底为之献身的事业；我们要在这里下定最大的决心，不让这些死者白白牺牲；我们要使国家在上帝福佑下得到自由的新生，要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。

亚伯拉罕.林肯

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Unit one

Elementary Schools in early America

What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America -- breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine?

Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the country's excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal, "spatial" thinking about things technological.

Why mention the elementary schools? Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics, especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in arithmetic and in some aspects of geometry and trigonometry.

Acute foreign observers related american adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage. As a member of a British commission visiting here in 1853 reported, "With a mind prepared by thorough school discipline, the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman."

A further stimulus to invention came from the "premium" system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors medals, cash prizes and other incentives.

In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new devices were awarded at country fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of technological advance.

Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation, the American worker took readily to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out, "A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process. The

designer and the inventor are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist."

This nonverbal "spatial" thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. robert fulton once wrote, "The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc. , like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea."

When all these shaping forces -- schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for spatial thinking -- interacted with one another on the rich U.S. mainland, they produced that american characteristic, emulation. Today that word implies mere imitation. But in earlier times it meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence.

invention n. 1.发明,发明物 2.捏造,虚构

inventor n.发明家,发明者

[联想词]

inventory n.1.详细目录 2.存货清单

breakthhrough n. 1.突围,突破 2.重大成就,惊人发现

[联想词]

breakdown n. 1.垮台,破裂 2.衰竭,衰弱 3.损坏,故障 4.分类

premium n. 1.保险金 2.额外费用 3. 奖品,赠品,额外津贴

a. 1.高级的,优质的 2.售价高的

[联想词]

subsidy n. 津贴,补贴

verbal a. 1.口头的 2.用言辞的,用文字的

[联想词]

vocal a. 发声的,嗓音的

spatial a. 空间的,与空间有关的

lever n. 1.杠杆 2.途径,工具,手段

vt. 撬动,撬起

wedge n.楔(子) vt. 把...楔入,塞入

[联想词]

groove n. 沟,槽

hinge n. 铰链

interact vi. 相互作用,相互影响

emulation n. 1.竞赛,竞争 2.仿效,仿真

imitation n. 1.模仿 2.仿制,仿制品 3.赝品

strive vi. 努力,奋斗,力求

sculpture n.1.雕刻,雕塑 2.雕刻作品,雕塑品

[联想词]

carve vt. 1.切,把...切碎 2.雕刻,刻

engrave vt. 1.在...上雕刻 2.使铭记,使牢记

statue n. 雕像,塑像

bust n. 1.胸像,半身像 2.胸部,胸围

marble n. 1.大理石

diploma n. 毕业文凭,毕业证书,资格证书

[联想词]

diplomat n. 1.外交官,外交家 2.有交际手段的人,圆滑的人

perpetual a. 1.永久的,永恒的,长期的 2.无休止的,没完没了的

literacy n.识字,有文化,读写能力

literate a.1.有读写能力的 2.有文化修养的

stimulus n. 1.促进 2.刺激

[联想词]

provocation n. 1.挑衅,挑拨 2.刺激,激怒

provocative a. 1.挑衅的,煽动的 2.刺激的

precede vt. 在...之前,先于

precedent n. 1.先例,范例,判例 2.惯例

patent n.专利,专利权

a.专利(权)的,受专利保护的

vt.得到...的专利权

originate vi. 起源于,来自,产生

vt.创造,创始,开创

[联想词]

commence v.开始

incentive n.刺激,鼓励

multitude n. 1.大量,许多 2.大众,民众

ambiguous a.引起歧义的,模式棱两可的,含糊不清的

[联想词]

indefinite a. 1.不明确的,含糊的 2.无限期的

exdplicit a. 1.明确的,明晰的;详述的 2.直言的,毫不隐瞒的,露骨的

manipulate vt. 1.操纵,控制,影响 2.操作,使用

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