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Unit 13
DIALOGUE I
A Trip to China
A: Hi, Bob. Fancy meeting you here.
B: Oh, Ted. Good to see you again. How have you been?
A: Pretty good. I've just returned from China, you know.
B: Terrific! I'd really like to visit China myself one of these days, I haven't had the opportunity so far. Where did you go in China?
A: Lots of places... the world-renowned places like the capital city Beijing, the most prosperous city Shanghai, the historic city Xi'an — China's ancient capital on and off for several hundred years — and the scenic Guilin, and yes, the "hot and spicy" Chengdu. I've also visited many famous mountains and great rivers, and places of historical interest and scenic beauty.
B: Oh, lucky you. China's huge territory and rich cultural legacy of 5,000 years of civilization have always captured my imagination. I envy you.
A: Well, China's tourist resources are inexhaustible and all that I have seen is only the tip of the iceberg.
B: Which place impressed you the most?
A: I would say the two-thousand-year-old terracotta warriors and horses in Xi'an. I was there exactly two weeks ago today.
B: I read about them somewhere, and I've seen the pictures in National Geographic. Very amazing... Unbelievable, I'd say.
A: Yes, the Xi'an trip was quite an experience. I saw rows upon rows of life-size warriors and horses, so true to life. It was a breathtaking experience walking past them. Tell you what. No two warriors look alike. Each wears his own facial expression and has his own personality. And the horses... oh, they look so alive.
B: Sounds fantastic!
A: There was something even more fantastic than the terracotta army. Guess what...
B: Hot springs? Pagodas? Giant pandas? I've no idea.
A: Chinese food, the authentic Chinese cooking that is unparalleled elsewhere in the world. I'll go back to China again just for those spicy-hot Sichuan dishes. There's really nothing like Sichuan food.
B: You make my eyes shine and my mouth water. I will also take a trip to China to see terracotta warriors and enjoy Chinese food.
A: But if you say you will eat Chinese food, you're taking too much for granted. As a matter of fact, there's no such thing as so-called "Chinese food."
B: I don't understand what you're saying.
A: Let me put it this way. China is such a large country that there are numerous cooking styles that are vastly different from each other. One may prefer a particular Chinese food or a particular regional way of cooking.
B: It's not easy to order food in China's restaurants, then.
A: There is an easy way. For me, that is ordering Chinese food by the names of famous dishes rather than by any prevailing style. For example, if you like hot and spicy food and don't want to gain extra weight, you will order Ma Po Dou Fu, a famous dish of hot and spicy bean curd.
B: Well, in that case I'll ask for your company when I've made up my mind to visit China.
DIALOGUE II
Dialogue:
Paul and Tom are students and they share a large flat in London with another student Martin. One evening, Paul and Tom start talking about Martin.
P: Where's Martin tonight?
T: He's gone to the pictures with a friend.
P: What, again?
T: Yes, I'm afraid so!
P: That's the fourth time he's been out this week in the evening and yet he complains that he's behind with his studies and getting poor results.
T: Well, it's his own fault, he shouldn't go out so much; he should stay at home more and work.
P: He should invite his friends here instead of going out.
T: No, not here! His friends are so noisy, they're always singing, dancing and playing music at any time of the day or night. It's impossible to sleep when they come round.
P: Yes, I know what you mean.
T: In fact, I couldn't sleep last night because Martin was making so much noise. He should turn his radio down at night. He's so clumsy too, he never does anything quietly. He ought to walk a little more quietly when he's upstairs and I wish he wouldn't bang the doors all the time!
P: Was it Martin's turn to cook the meal tonight?
T: Yes, it was! He should have washed the dishes last night too, but he didn't.
P: He is so lazy.
T: I'm really fed up with him. He's left all his clothes and shaving things in the bathroom again. It looks like a building-site!
P: If he cleaned his room and tidied the bathroom more often, he would be a pleasanter person to live with!
READING I
SECRET MESSAGES TO OURSELVES
Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing-machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: it seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Despite his exhaustion, Howe slept badly. He tossed and turned. Then he had a nightmare. He dreamt that he had been captured by a tribe of terrible savages whose king threatened to kill and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing-machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into a rage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They advanced towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the nightmare with a start, realizing that he had just found the solution to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the centre of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally enabled Howe to design and build the first really practical sewing-machine.
Elias Howe was far from being unique in finding the answer to his problem in this way. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light bulb, said that his best ideas came to him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew on her dreams in writing Jane Eyre. The composer, Igor Stravinsky, once said the only way he could solve his problems in musical composition was "to sleep on them".
To appreciate the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious, but still active, part digests your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. It stores all sorts of information and details which you may have forgotten or never have really noticed. It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake. However, the unconscious part expresses itself through its own logic and its own language. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called "secret messages to ourselves".
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