UNIT 1
1. Americans think that no one can stop. If you don't make progress, you will fall behind. This attitude has created a country devoted to research, experiment and exploration. Time is one of the two elements that Americans pay attention to saving, and the other element is labor.
People always say, "Only time can dominate us." People seem to regard time as something almost real. We arrange time, save time, waste time, grab time, kill time, shorten time and explain the use of time; We must charge for time. Time is a precious resource, and many people deeply feel that life is short. Time is gone forever. We should make every minute meaningful.
The first impression foreigners have of the United States is probably that everyone is in a hurry-often under pressure. City people always seem to be in a hurry to go where they want to go. In the store, they are eager for the clerk to serve them at once, or push others to finish shopping quickly. People are also in a hurry when eating during the day, which reflects the pace of life in this country to some extent. People think that working hours are precious. In public dining places, people are waiting for others to finish eating as soon as possible so that they can eat in time. You will also find that drivers are reckless and people push past you. You will miss smiling, talking briefly and chatting casually with strangers. Don't take this personally, because people cherish time very much and don't like others to "waste" their time to an inappropriate degree.
4. Many people who have just arrived in America will miss the greeting at the beginning of business visits and other occasions. They will also miss the polite communication when drinking tea or coffee, which may be a custom in their own country. They may also miss the relaxed and leisurely conversation when talking business in restaurants or cafes. Generally speaking, Americans don't judge their guests by chatting for a long time in such a relaxed environment, let alone take them out to eat or play golf in the process of enhancing mutual trust. Since we usually evaluate and understand others through work rather than socializing, let's get to the point. Therefore, time is always ticking in our hearts.
Therefore, we try to save time. We invented a series of labor-saving devices; We communicate with others quickly by fax, telephone or e-mail, instead of direct contact. Although face-to-face contact is pleasant, it takes more time, especially when there is heavy traffic on the road. Therefore, we arrange most private visits at social gatherings after work or on weekends.
As far as we are concerned, there is little relationship between the impersonality of electronic communication and the importance of the matter at hand. In some countries, if you don't make eye contact, you can't do big business, which requires face-to-face conversation. In America, I usually need to sign the final agreement. However, nowadays, people are meeting more and more on TV screens, and teleconference can not only solve domestic problems, but also solve international problems through satellites.
7. The United States is undoubtedly a telephone kingdom. Almost everyone is doing business by telephone, chatting with friends, arranging or canceling social appointments, expressing gratitude, shopping and getting all kinds of information. Telephone can not only save walking effort, but also save a lot of time. This is partly because the telephone service in the United States is first-class, while the postal service is inefficient.
Some newcomers to the United States come from other countries with different cultural backgrounds. In their country, people think it is impolite to work too fast. In their view, if you don't spend a certain amount of time to deal with something, then it seems insignificant and doesn't deserve proper attention. Therefore, people think that spending a long time will increase the importance of what they do. But in the United States, being able to solve problems or finish work quickly and successfully is regarded as a sign of proficiency and ability. Generally speaking, the more important the work is, the more money, energy and attention will be invested, and its purpose is to "get the work started"
2 unit
1. Nikolai petrovich Anikin is not as terrible as I thought. No, he can't be the former Soviet coach my father sent me to see on purpose.
2. But he is indeed Nikolai petrovich Anikin himself. He invited me in, sat down on the sofa, patted the cushion beside him and asked me to sit next to him. I am really nervous in front of him.
"You are still young," his English has a Russian accent. "If you are willing to try to enter the Olympic Games, I think you can. It's too late for the Nagano Olympics, but you can prepare for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. "
4. Absolutely, isn't it? Seeing the surprised expression on my face, he added. I was a promising amateur skier at that time, but I was by no means a top skier in China. "Of course, you need a lot of hard training, you will cry, but you will definitely make progress."
Admittedly, I have experienced countless painful trainings and shed a lot of tears for them. But in the next five years, I was always encouraged by Nicholas's funny stories and his sense of humor.
6. At first, he always said, "My friends often go to the movies, dance and date girls." Then he would lower his voice and say, "I just train, train and retrain on the playground. In the second year, my 15 km skiing competition was shortened by 1.5 minutes. "
7. "My friend asked me,' Nicholas, how did you do it?' I replied,' You go to the movies, dance and date girls, while I have been training, training and retraining.' "
8. The story usually ends here. But once-we later learned that it was his 25th wedding anniversary-he stood proudly in an old sweater and whispered with a smile, "I tell you, the first time I kissed a girl was when I was 26 years old. She later married me. "
9. Whether he knows romance or not, Nicholas knows what love is. With his consistent humor, silent gratitude, keen sense and sincere attitude, he set an Olympic standard for the love tree. Even after I finished my skiing career, I have been trying to reach that standard.
10. But he never coddles me. One day in February, I had a headache and felt very tired. I met him in a clearing, and after skiing in the snow in the cold wind for about fifteen minutes, I caught up with him and said, "Hey, Nicholas, I feel like I'm going to die."
1 1. "If you live to be a hundred years old, everyone will die," he continued firmly, indifferent to my pain. "But now you must slide, slide and slide again."
12. On the snowboard, I did as he said. But I will resist him in other ways. In a skiing camping activity with limited funds, he squeezed ten of us into a Finnish house where a bachelor lived. On the first day, we woke up and found Nicholas cooking breakfast. Then we sat in a makeshift chair around a small card table and ate breakfast quickly with spoons. After eating, Nicholas pushed the greasy bowl forward in front of me and my only other female teammate and said arbitrarily, "Girls, go and wash the dishes now!" " "
13. I threw the napkin on the ground and scolded him: "Let the damn boy wash it!" It's not fair! "He didn't let me wash the dishes again, and he didn't seem to care too much about my temper. He only shows strong feelings when skiing.
14. During training, he will give instructions loudly according to the rhythm of our steps: "Yes, that's it, one, two, three, one, two, three."
A good friend of my grandfather's-an elderly lady-watched the video tape that Nicholas took me to train and asked, "Does he teach dance, too?"
15. During the training, I constantly corrected the mistakes pointed out by Nicholas. Every time I finish an action, I ask him if he has made progress.
16. "Yes, this is good. But it would be better if the knees could bend faster. "
17. "But do I skate fast enough?" I insisted on asking him.
18. Finally, he will frown and say, "You have to repeat it countless times to achieve perfection." He reminded me to be "patient", and there was a meaning of "I have told you countless times".
19. Nikolai's patience and my diligence made me win the fourth place in the country and began to prepare for the Olympic preseason. But then I was not selected to participate in the 2002 Olympic Games.
Last summer, I went back to visit Nicholas. He made me tea ... and washed the dishes himself! We sat on the sofa and chatted.
Thinking of the Olympic team of the previous year, I was silent for a moment, recalling all I had gained-very importantly, I established a humble but unbreakable connection with this short man in a tropical shirt.
2 1. Nikolai taught me to persevere with courage, enthusiasm and strict discipline even if I need countless efforts.
He also taught me to be grateful in advance in order to live in this world all my life, reminding myself every day: "Even in the face of many challenges, what I have in my heart now must be love, love, love."
Unit 3
Gail and I plan to have a quiet wedding. In the two years of getting along, our relationship has experienced ups and downs, which often happens when a couple learns to understand, understand and respect each other. But during these two years, we faced each other's weaknesses and strengths frankly.
The racial and cultural differences between us not only strengthen our relationship, but also teach us tolerance, understanding and openness. Gail sometimes doesn't understand why other blacks and I are so concerned about racial issues. To my surprise, she seems to forget the subtle expression of racial hatred in American society.
Gail and I got married in America and have no unrealistic fantasies about the future.
Mutual trust and respect are inexhaustible sources of strength for both of us.
4. Many couples get married for the wrong reasons, 10, 20 years, 30 years before they find that they can't get along. They hardly took the time to get to know each other before marriage. They ignore the serious personality differences and hope that marriage will naturally solve all kinds of problems. We hope to avoid repeating the same mistakes. The fact shows this point even more: Gail's parents, who have been married for 35 years, are experiencing a bitter and painful marriage change, which has brought a great blow to Gail and once had a negative impact on our budding relationship.
When Dangul told her family that we planned to hold a wedding, she met with some resistance. Her mother Deborah used to approve of our relationship and even jokingly asked when we would get married so that she could have grandchildren.
But when she heard the news that we were getting married this time, she didn't congratulate us, but advised Gail to think clearly about whether her decision was right or not.
6. "So it's true that I date him, but if I marry him, it's wrong. Mom, is it because of his skin color? " Gail later told me that she had asked her mother this question.
7. "First of all, I must admit that I had reservations about intermarriage at first. Maybe you can even call it prejudice. But when I met Mark, I found him a charming and clever young man. Any mother will feel ashamed of having such a son-in-law. So, it has nothing to do with skin color. Yes, my friends will gossip. Some friends even expressed shock at what you did. But their lives are different from ours. So you have to understand that mark's skin color is not a problem. My biggest worry is that you may marry Mark for the wrong reasons, just like I married your father. When I met your father, in my eyes, he was cute, smart, charming and considerate.
Everything is so fresh and exciting. Moreover, both of us believe that our marriage is an ideal marriage, at least on the surface, and all the signs indicate that our marriage will last forever. I didn't know until later that when we got married, I didn't quite understand the person I loved-your father. "
8. "But I have been with Mark for more than two years," Gail complained. "We have experienced a lot of things together. We have seen the worst of each other many times. I am sure that time can only prove that we love each other deeply. "
9. "You may be right. But I still think it's okay to wait a little longer. You are only 25 years old. "
10. Gail's father, David-I haven't met him yet-treats our decision with the attitude of Governor Murrow's father. He asked the same question as Gail's mother: "Why are you in such a hurry? Who is this mark? What is his citizenship? " When he learned that there was something wrong with my citizenship, he suspected that I married his daughter because I wanted to stay in America.
1 1. "But dad, what you said is terrible," Gail said.
12. "Then why the hurry?" He asked repeatedly.
13. "Mark has nationality problems, but he always handles them himself," Gail argued. "In fact, when we talked about getting married, he made it clear that if I had any questions about anything, I could totally cancel our plans."
14. Her father began to quote statistics to show that the divorce rate of intermarriage is higher than that of intermarriage, and also listed examples of intermarriage couples who had been consulted by him and had marital problems.
15. He asked, "Have you considered the possible sufferings of your future children?"
16. "Dad, are you a racist?"
17. "No, of course not. But you must be realistic. "
18. "Maybe our children will encounter some problems. But whose child won't? But there is one thing they will always have, and that is our love. "
19. "That's an idealistic idea. People will be cruel to children born of intermarriage. "
20. "Dad, we will worry about ourselves then. But if we have to solve all the problems before doing anything, then we can hardly do anything. "
2 1. "Remember, it's never too late to change your mind."
Unit 4
1. The digital clock above the information desk of Grand Central Station shows that it is six minutes to six. John branford is a tall young officer. He keeps an eye on the clock to see the exact time. Six minutes later, he will meet a woman who has occupied a special place in his life in the past 13 months, a woman he has never met, but has been giving him strength through letters.
Shortly after he volunteered to join the army, he received a book from this lady. Along with the book came a letter wishing him courage and peace. He found that many of his friends who joined the army also received the same book from this woman named Hollis Mignel. Everyone got courage from it and thanked her for supporting the cause they were fighting for, but only he wrote back to Mignel. He received her reply on the day he left for overseas battlefield. Standing on the deck of the cargo ship that was about to take him into enemy territory, he read her letter over and over again.
13 months, she wrote to him faithfully. Even without his reply, she wrote to him as always, never decreasing. In those hard days of fighting, her letter encouraged and gave him strength. After receiving her letter, he felt as if he could survive. After a while, he believed that they loved each other, as if fate had brought them together.
But when he asked her for photos, she politely refused. She explained, "If your feelings for me are true and sincere, what does it matter what I look like?"? If I am beautiful, I will always be troubled, because I think you only love my beauty. That kind of love will disgust me. If I am plain, I will always be afraid that you will write to me just out of loneliness and have no other choice. Anyway, I will stop myself from loving you. When you come to see me in new york, you can make your own decision. Remember, at that time, we were both free to choose to stop or continue-if that was our choice ... "
It's one minute to six ... branford's heart is pounding.
When a young woman came to him, he immediately felt the connection between himself and her. She is slender and slender, with beautiful long blond hair curled behind her small ears. Her eyes are like blue flowers, and there is a gentle firmness between her lips.
She is wearing a unique green suit, full of spring-like vitality.
He greeted her, completely forgetting that she was not wearing roses. Seeing him coming, a warm smile appeared on her lips.
8. "Soldier, come with me?" She asked.
9. He took a step towards her involuntarily. Then, he saw Hollis Mignel.
10. She is standing behind that girl, a woman in her forties with gray hair. In his young eyes, Mignel is simply a living fossil. She is not generally fat, and her clumsy legs stagger. But she wears a red rose on her brown coat.
1 1. The girl in green walked quickly and disappeared in the fog. Branford felt as if his heart had been compressed into a small cement ball. He wants to follow that girl, but he deeply yearns for the woman who really accompanies him and brings him warmth. She stood there. Now he can see that her pale and fat face is full of kindness and wisdom. Her gray eyes sparkled with warmth and kindness.
12. branford resisted the impulse to follow the young woman, although it was not easy to do so. He took the book she sent him before going to war, so that Hollis Mignel could recognize him. This will not become love, but it will become a precious thing, something more unusual than love-a friendship that he has always been grateful for and will continue to be grateful for.
13. He held the book in front of the woman.
14. "I'm John branford, and you ── you must be Hollis Mignel. I'm glad you came to see me. May I invite you to dinner? " The woman smiled. "I don't know what happened, son," she answered. "The young lady in the green suit-the one who just walked by-asked me to pin this rose on her skirt. She said that if you invited me out with you, I would tell you that she was waiting for you in that big hotel near expressway. She said it was a test. "
Unit 5
My daughter smokes. When she did her homework, her feet rested on the bench in front, and the calculator clicked out the answers to the geometry questions. I looked at the half-smoked pack of "Camel" cigarettes that she threw at hand. I picked up my cigarette and went to the kitchen to have a closer look. The light there is better-thankfully, cigarettes have filters. I feel very sad in my heart. I want to cry. Actually, I cried. I stood by the fire with a white cigarette in my hand. It's very delicate, but it will kill my daughter. When she smoked Marlboro and Preil cigarettes, I hardened my heart not to feel sad. No one I know smokes these two brands.
She didn't know that my father, her grandfather, smoked "Camel" cigarettes before his death. But before he started smoking machine-made cigarettes-he was young, poor and bright-eyed-he smoked his own hand-rolled cigarettes with Albert Pro Ace tobacco. I still remember the bright red tobacco box with a picture of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, wearing a black tuxedo and holding a cane.
By the end of 1940s and the beginning of 1950s, in my hometown of Eaton, Georgia, no one had produced their own cigarettes (almost no women smoked). The tobacco industry, coupled with Hollywood movies in which both male and female protagonists are heavy smokers, has completely won people like my father who are hopelessly addicted to smoking. However, my father has never been as fashionable as Prince Albert. He is also a poor and fat man who works hard to support a big family. He is black, but he always has a white cigarette in his mouth.
I don't remember when my father started coughing. It may not be obvious at first, but I have a slight cough when I light my first cigarette in the morning. When I was 16 years old, that is, my daughter's age now, he wheezed as soon as he breathed, which made people very uneasy; When he goes upstairs, he stops every three or four stairs to have a rest and often coughs for an hour.
Lung pain made my father weak. In a severe winter, he died of a disease called "the friend of the poor"-pneumonia. He has been coughing for so many years that I don't think anything in his lungs is complete. A few years before his death, his breathing was so weak that he had to rely on something. I remember a family reunion when my daughter was only two years old. He gave her a hug for a while so that I had time to take a picture of them. But obviously, he had a hard time. He gave up smoking before the end of his life, mainly because his lung function was extremely damaged. I gained a few pounds after quitting smoking, but I was so thin that no one noticed.
When I travel to third world countries, I see many people like my father and daughter. There are huge billboards of these two kinds of people everywhere: strong, confident or fashionable mature men, and beautiful, "sophisticated" young women, all smoking. Just like the old cities and Indian settlements in the United States, in these poor countries, money that should have been spent on food has flowed into tobacco companies. Over time, people not only lack food, but also lack air, which not only greatly damages children's physique, but also makes them addicted to cigarettes and eventually leads to their death. I read in newspapers and gardening magazines that cigarette butts are very toxic: if a baby swallows a cigarette butt, it is likely to die, and boiling water plus a cigarette butt becomes a very effective insecticide.
7. As a mother, I feel deeply painful. Sometimes I feel very weak. I remember how careful I was when I was pregnant! How patient she was when she was taught how to cross the road safely! Sometimes I think: What the hell am I doing? Is it because she struggled weakly for the rest of her life and then poisoned herself like her grandfather?
8. I especially like a famous saying written in a shelter for battered women: "Peace on earth begins with family." I think everything in the world is like this. I also remembered another quotation for people who want to quit smoking: "Every family should be a no-smoking area." Smoking is a kind of self-destruction, and it also destroys those who have to sit next to you. Those people occasionally make fun of or complain about your smoking, but often they can only sit helplessly and watch. I realize now that since I was a child, I have actually been sitting by and watching my father commit suicide all these years. For those tobacco tycoons whose business is booming, it must be enough to win such a victory in my home.
Unit 6
1. In the first 24 years of her life, people have been calling her Debbie-a name that doesn't match her beautiful appearance and elegant manners. "My name always makes me think I should be a chef," she complained. "I really don't want the name Debbie."
One day, while filling out an application form for a publishing job, the young lady changed her name Debbie to her middle name Lynn on impulse. "This is the best thing I have ever done in my life," she says to People now. "Once I stopped calling myself Debbie, I felt much better ... others began to take me more seriously." After successfully passing the job interview for two years, the former waitress is now a successful magazine editor. Friends and colleagues call her Lynn.
Of course, Debbie's (or Lynn's) career achievements were not brought about by changing her name, but it certainly benefited her, even though changing her name only increased her confidence in her talents. Social scientists believe that your name will affect your life. Throughout the ages, names have been used not only to identify people, but also to describe them. The bible says: a man is as his name suggests. In addition, Webster's dictionary also defines a name as follows: one or more words representing a certain feature are considered to reflect the essence of someone or something, or describe someone or something, and often express approval or disapproval. Please pay attention to these words: "for or against". Good or bad, friendly or reserved, plain or beautiful and charming features have been implicit in your name, and even others have known these features before meeting you in person.
Names are associated with specific images, and anyone who is called "Su Zhen" or "Ordinary Joe" can prove it. The latter name bothers me especially because my name is Joe, too. Some people think that this name makes me more suitable to be a baseball player than any other profession, such as an art critic. However, despite this limitation, I once became an art critic. Even so, a famous magazine refused to sign "Joe" as my article, but used my initials J.S. instead. I suspect that if my name is Arthur or Adrian, my name will completely appear in the magazine.
Of course, a positive name is good for you and can even promote you to make new friends. The latest survey shows that American men think Susan is the most attractive female name, while women think Richard and David are the most attractive male names. I know a lady who once refused to meet a man named Harry because "this man's name sounds boring". But just a few days later, at a party, she came to me and urged me to introduce her to an extraordinary man. They were flirting with each other all night. "Oh," I said, "you mean Harry." She felt embarrassed after listening.
6. Although most of us will think that we have no such prejudice, to some extent, we all have preconceived ideas about names. To tell the truth, would you be surprised to meet a carpenter named Nigel? Or a physicist named Bertha? Or a pope named Mel? As a female friend of mine discovered when she was looking after a four-year-old child in the nursery, we often add the inherent ideas caused by names to others. "When I was in the nursery, I once wanted a very active little boy named Julian to sit down quietly and read a book, pushing a child named Rory who likes to meditate to play ball. Because of their names, I confused their personalities! "
7. Obviously, such prejudice will also affect classroom performance. In a study conducted by Herbert Harari of San Diego State University and John Macdavid of Georgia State University, it was found that teachers always gave lower marks to the essays signed by Elmer and Hubert, but when the signatures of the two essays were changed to Michael and David, the teachers gave higher marks. But the teacher's prejudice is not the only reason for the difference in classroom performance. Dr. Thomas V. Bowser and Luisa Serari Darian of Temple University found that girls named Linda, Diane, Barbara, Carol and Cindy performed better in objective scores in intelligence tests and academic performance tests than those with unattractive names. A related study shows that the popularity of girls among their peers is also related to the popularity of names, although this relationship is not obvious for boys. )
Although your parents probably want your name to accompany you all your life, remember that when they choose this name, they have hardly met you. Moreover, the hopes and dreams they value when choosing a name may not match yours.
If your name no longer seems to suit you, don't worry; You don't have to use that name all your life. Movie stars often change their names. Make up your mind and you can do it, too.