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2020年全国英语等级考试教材第三级第六单元闲暇活动

CHAPTER 6 FREE TIME ACTIVITIES
Unit 6
Free Time Activities
Conversations
Mother asks Helen about her hitchhiking.
Mother:How did your hitchhiking go?
Helen:Oh,it was all right,provided I thumbed the drivers down.
Alec didn't let me at first in case the drivers decided to kidnap me.
But whenever he did it,we had to wait for hours.
Mother:And didn't you have any trouble?Your father and I were very worried.
Helen:No,you needn't have worried,really.
It's all right provided you're patient.And people are very kind.
One couple gave us a lift in the south of ltaly,near Brindisi,
and they wanted to put us up at their house in case we couldn't find rooms in the youth hostel.
We got the boat to Greece from there.
Mother:You went to Greece?You never told us you got so far!
Helen:We didn't tell you in case you got worried...
Steve asks Judy to see the film.
Steve:Hello.Is that judy?
Judy:Yes.Who's that?
Steve:Steve.You know,we met in the pub.
Judy:Oh,of course.Hello.
Steve:Look.I was wondering if you'd like to go to the pictures tonight.
Judy:Well,er...What's on?
Steve:Gone with the Wind is at the Phoenix.
Judy:I've seen that.Rather soppy,I thought.
Steve:Close Encounters is on too.
Judy:I don't know if I want to see that.It doesn't sound my cup of tea.
Steve:Oh,it's not just science fiction,you know.It's got a message.
Well,what about it?
Judy:Well...OK then.
Steve:Fine.See you outside about half past seven.
Judy:OK.Goodbye.
Steve:Bye.
Ruth is asking her children to help her with the housework.
Ruth:Now it's time for cleaning up our house,we need a thorough cleaning,
everybody gets to do something.
Lily:Mum,we should get downtown today,we can't be too late.
Ruth:If everyone gives a hand,we will make it done early.
OK,let's assign tasks now.
Sam,it's your job to clean our two bathrooms,you need to wash the tubs,
basins,both wall and floor tiles.
Roy,you should mow and water the lawn and vacuum all the rooms.
Lily and I will clean the kitchen,and I will keep an eye on the washing machine.
Jimmy,you should put your toys in order to make our house look tidy.
Roy:Can I do it some other day?I am tired from playing soccer yesterday.
Ruth:Sorry,you can't.
If I agree to let you do it some other day,
I'll have to agree Lily to leave earlier for shopping,
if that were the case,who would be left for cleaning the house?
OK,everyone,get down to your own assignment ASAP(as soon as possible)
and we will dine out at noon.
Passage
Perhaps no other thing has such power to lift the poor out of his poverty,
the wretched out of his misery,to make the burden-bearer forget his burden,
the sick his suffering,as books.
They are friends to the lonely,companions to the deserted,
joy to the joyless,hope to the hopeless,good cheer to the disheartened,
a helper to the helpless.
They bring light into darkness,and sunshine into shadow.
We may be poor,socially ostracized,
shut out from all personal association with the great and the good,
and yet be in the best society in the world,in books.
The trend of many a life for good or ill,for success or failure,
has been determined by a single book.
The books which we read early in life are those which influence us the most.
The greatest advantage of books does not always come from what we remember of them,
but from their suggestiveness.
A good book often serves as a match to light the dormant-powder within us.
There is explosive material enough in most of us if we can only reach it.
A good book or a good friend often excites thought in great writers,
even upon entirely dfferent subjects.
We often find in books what we thought and felt,
could we have expressed ourselves.
Indeed,we get acquainted with ourselves in books.
We discover one feature in Emerson,another lineament in Shakespeare,
an expression in Homer,a glimpse of ourselves in Dante,
and so on until we spell out our whole individuality.
True,we get many pleasing reflections of ourselves from fiends,
many mirrored deformities from our enemies,
and a characteristic here and there from the world;
but in calm and unbiased way we find the most of ourselves,
our strength,our weakness,our limitations,our opinions,our tastes,
our harmonies and discords,our poetic and prosaic qualities,in books.
We form many of our opinions from our favorite books.
The author whom we prefer is our most potent teacher;
we look at the world through his eyes.
If we habitually read boods that are elevating in tone,pure in style,
style,sound in reasoning,and keen in insight,our minds develop the same characteristics.
The best books are those which stir us up most
and make us the most determined to do smething and be something ourselves.
Libraries are no longer a luxury,but a necessity.
A home without books and periodicals
and newspapers is like a house without windows.
Children learn to read by being in the midst of books;
they unconsciously absorb knowledge by handling them.
No family can now afford to be without good reading.
"No entertainment is so cheap as reading,"says Mary Wortley Montagu,
"nor any pleasure so lasting."
Good books elevate the character,purify the taste,
take the attractiveness out of low pleasures,
and lift us upon a higher plane of thinking and living.
Whatever you read,read with enthusiasm,with energy,
read with the whole mind,if you would increase your mentalk stature.
Learn to absorb the mental and the moral life of a book,
and assimilate it into your life.
He is the best reader who consumes the most knowledge and converts it into character.
Mechanical readers remember words,the husks of things,but digest nothing.
They cram their brains but starve their minds.
If you are getting the most out of a book,
you will feel a capacity for doing things which you never felt before.
Words and Expressions
poverty wretched misery burden
贫穷,贫困可怜的,悲惨的痛苦,不幸担子,负担
suffering dishearten socially ostracized
苦楚,受难使气馁,使沮丧在社交方面受排斥的
association trend failure influence
协会;联合;结交倾向,趋势失败影响,改变
suggestiveness dormant explosive entirely
启发;建议;暗示睡眠状态的;静止的爆炸的,爆发的完全地,全然地
acquaint feature lineament glimpse
使熟悉,使相识面貌的一部分特点,特征一瞥,一看
individuality
个性
pleasing fiend
令人高兴的,愉快的魔鬼,邪恶的人
deformity characteristic unbiased limitation
缺陷;畸形特性,特征没有偏见的局限性;限制
harmony discord poetic prosaic
协调,融洽不一致,意见不合诗的,诗意的散文的
potent habitually elevating tone
使人信服的习惯地振奋精神的语调;语气
style keen insight stir
风格;风度敏锐的,锋利的洞察力;见识激起;鼓动
luxury necessity periodical midst
奢侈;豪华必要性,需要期刊,杂志中间
unconsciously
无意中,不知不觉
absorb handle entertainment
吸收处理;操作娱乐
purify attractiveness plane enthusiasm
使纯净吸引人,有魅力水平,程度狂热,热心
stature moral
高度道德的;精神的
assimilate consume convert
吸收;彻底了解消耗,消费使转变,转换
mechanical husk digest
机械的,呆板的外壳,皮;无价值之物消化;融会贯通
cram capacity
填满才能,能力
Exercises
Section I Listening Comprehension
Listen to the record.
Answer each question by choosing A,B,C or D from the four possible choices.
A
Receptionist:Royal Hotel.Good afternoon.Can I help you?
Mr.Brown:Good afternoon.I'd like to book a room,please,
for the twenty-third of December.
Receptionist:Right.The twenty-third of December?
Mr.Brown:Yes,please.
Receptionist:Er,how long for?
Mr.Brown:Two days.
Receptionist:So the twenty-third to the twentyfifth of December?
Mr.Brown:That is correct.Thank you.
Recepotionist:Is that right?Mr.Brown:Yes.
Receptionist:And,er,what time will you be arriving on the twenty-third?
Mr.Brown:Approximately two thirty.
Receptionist:Two thirty P.M.Yes?
Mr.Brown:Yes,indeed.Yes.
Receptionist:And,er,what kind of room would you like,sir?A single or a double?
Mr.Brown:Single,please.
Receptionist:Single room.Right.Could you give me your name,please?
Mr.Brown:Yes,it's Mr.Bown.
Receptionist:Brwon,could you spell that for me,please?
Mr.Brown:B-R-O-W-N.
RECEPTIONIST:B-R-O-W-N.
Mr.Brown:Yes.
Receptionist:Look forward to seeing you.Goodbye.
Mr.Brown:Thank you.Goodye.
B
Because I leave for work very early,
my husband gets our four children ready for school.
One day,I laid out a jumper for my youngest daughter.
Running late,I couldn't find her matching shirt and tights,
so I left my husband a note
explaining they were somewhere in the clean laundry in the basement.
Later,when I called him,I discovered there was utter chaos at home.
Nobody could find anything.
I phoned him again at work and asked if he found everything
for our daughter's outfit.
"Oh,yes,"he replied that he got everything they needed.
Relieved.I asked,"So,was it all where I said it would be?"
"Not exactly,"he answered.
"Where was it then?"
After a short silence,he confessed,"WalMart."
Supplementary Reading
Wrestling with Television
Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the stuggle for survival is how easily
organisms can be harmed by that which they desire.
The trout is carght by the fisherman's lure,
the mouse by cheese,and man by the world's most leisure pastime,television.
Most people admit to having a love-hate reationship with it(the TV).
They complain about the"boob tube"and"couch potatoes",
then they settle into their sofas and grab the remote control.
The amount of time people spend watching television is astonishing.
According to a research,on average,
American adults spend four hours a day in front of the TV-
fully half of their leisure time.
Over a lifetime,that's more than nine years.
Yet,we love to complain that we don't have time
for the things we really want to do.
There are two reasons we end up watching more TV than we know we should.
Peole think they need it and it's easy.
We usually don't realize how many hours we're watching television.
Since it's a passive activity,
with feelings of lowered alertness continuing even after the set is off,
watchers typically find their energy and concentration are low.
Inertia sets in.Hence,
there is no motivation to get up and do something else
once you're planted on the couch.
When you think about other activities(sleep,playing with your kids,hobbies)
that you're giving up by watching television,it can be an eye-opener.
Don't make it easy to be a potato.
Instead of being a passive watcher,there are ways to make TV watching harder.
Most people arrange their living room furniture around the TV.
But you may try to put the TV away in a cabinet,
a back room,or the basement.
Then arrange your couches and chairs for conversation and reading.
If your TV is too big to move,
you can remove the batteries from your remote
so that chnnel surfing must be done manually.
Keep a list of alternate activities taped to the TV as a reminder.
The TV-Turnoff website lists screen-free suggestions like starting a garden,
looking at the stars,or going to a bookstore as options.
You may see TV watching as a way to decompress after your day.
Siince studies have shown that watching television doesn't lower your stress level,
and in fact may increase it,you're better off trying other activities.
Could you do something that is more reacing like yoga,
reading or listening to music?
Benefits fo less TV will be obvious,
if you try life without TV for a week or less and see how you feel.
Every spring during TV-Turnoff Week(April 21-27,2004)
thousands of people give this a try and oftenfind they prefer watching less.
The first few days can be rough,
but,after that initial period,people find freedom.
They get more things done and taht makes them happier.
My husband and I do own a TV,
and I'm working on being more aware of my viewing habits.
Now,before I pick up the remote,I ask myself,
"Is this what I really want to be doing?"
Often I come up with better options and the ON button doesn't get pushed.
After all,I doubt on my deathbed I'll regret that I didn't watch more TV.

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