Unit 5 Fame
Fame is very much like an animal chasing its own tail who, when he captures it, does not know what else to do but to continue chasing it. Fame and the publicity that accompanies it, force the famous person to participate in his or her own destruction. Ironic, isn’t it?
Those who gain fame most often gain it as a result of possessing a single talent or skill: singing, dancing, painting, or writing, etc. The successful performer develops a style that gains some popularity, and it is this popularity that usually convinces the performer to continue performing in the same style, since that is what the public seems to want and to enjoy. But in time, the performer becomes bored singing the same songs in the same way year after year, or the painter becomes bored painting similar scenes or portraits, or the actor is tired of playing the same character repeatedly. The artist becomes the slave of his or her own success because of the public demands. If the artist attempts to change his or her style of writing or dancing or singing, etc., the audience may turn away and look to give the momentary fame to another and then, in time, to another, and so on and so on.
Unit7 Stripping Down to Bare Happiness
“What we’re talking about is simplification, not deprivation,” explains Sara, a friend of mine. “It isn’t that you can’t do all the things you like, but you change. You don’t like them anymore. Some of the old habits seem so wasteful and unsatisfying that you really lose your taste for them. So you still have everything you want—only on less money.”
When I first met them, Sara and Michael were a two-career couple with a home of their own, and a large boat bought with a large loan. They began to take an interest in the concept of “voluntary simplicity” with the birth of their daughter whom they wanted to raise all by themselves. Neither one of them, it turned out, was willing to restrict what they considered their “real life” into the brief time before work and the tired hours afterwards.
Unit8 The Story of an Hour
Knowing that Mrs Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed”. He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to prevent any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
Unit 6 Two Truths to Live by
The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. An ancient man said long ago: “A man comes to this world with his fist clenched, but when he dies, his hand is open.”
Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wonderful, and full of a beauty. We know that this is so, but all too often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember what it was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.
Unit 5
1他试图拯救这家濒临倒闭的企业，但失败了。(attempt to)
1. He attempted to save the enterprise which was on the verge of collapse but failed.
2总统已经宣布，在第一个任期结束时不再谋求连任。The president has announced that he will not seek re-election at the end of his first
term.
3. The young teacher is skilled at motivating his students to study hard.
4她喜欢举行社交聚会，只要能到借口，她就随时举办。(find an excuse)
4. She loves giving parties and does so whenever she can find an excuse.
5. I’m afraid that you’ll have to compete with at least fifty people for an
administrative post in this company.
6坦率地说，就算你对公司很忠诚，我觉得你得到提拔的机会也不
6. To be frank, I don’t think you stand a good chance of getting promoted even if you are loyal to the company.
7很显然，他的演讲激发了观众对地震灾难中受害者的极大同
7. It was obvious that his speech aroused the sympathy of the audience for the
victims of the earthquake.
8尽管他反复向我保证他有能力推销我们公司的产品，但在雇用他之前我还要再
8. Though he has repeatedly assured me of his ability to promote our company’s 汽车驾驶教程
products, I’ll give him another interview before hiring him.
9公司的投资之所以以失败而告终是由于总经理的决策错误，于是董事
9. The company’s investment ended in failure due to the wrong strategic decisions of
the general manager and so the board of directors decided to throw him out.
10我知道你累了，不过再坚持一会儿吧。再过半个小时我们就要到达顶峰了。
10.I know you are tired but try to hang on a little bit longer. We will reach the peak in half an hour.
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