全新版大学英语快速阅读1Unit 1Johnny the ExplorerJohnny was three when he ran away from home for the first time. Somebody left the garden gate open. Johnny wandered out, crossed some fields, and two hours later, arrived in the next village. He was just able to give his name and address.By the time he was seven, Johnny used to vanish from home two to three times a year. Sometimes he covered quite long distances on foot. On other occasions he got on a bus or even a train, and simply sat there until someone asked for his ticket. Generally the police brought him home. "Why do you do it?" they used to ask. "You aren't unhappy at home, are you? .... " "Of course not," Johnny replied. "Then why?" "I just like seeing places," Johnny told them.Johnny continued to "see places" although everyone tried to stop him. His parents used to watch him closely, and so did his teachers; butsooner or later Johnny managed to slip away. As he grew older, his favorite trick was to hide on a long distance truck. Sometimes he used to travel hundreds of miles before anyone discovered him.It is hardly surprising that eventually Johnny managed to get on board a plane. He was twelve at the time. It was a cargo plane and, a few hours later, Johnny found himself in Cairo. How did he get on board? No one knows! According to Johnny himself, it was easy: he just went into the airport, walked along some corridors and got on board the nearest plane.In spite of all this, Johnny did well at school. He enjoyed maths and languages and, perhaps not surprisingly, he was especially good at geography. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" his teachers asked him. Johnny did not take long to answer that question. "An explorer!" he answered. "But it's difficult to become an explorer in this modem age." they tried to tell him, "unless you go into space!" But it was no use: Johnny knew what he wanted!Just before he left school, Johnny saw a notice in one of the daily papers. An expedition was about to go to Brazil to travel up the Amazon River. There were vacancies for three young people "willing to work hard and with a sense of adventure". Johnny applied, and, two months later, he was on his way to Brazil.Growing PainsI guess it was not Scottie 's day. We did not know if something had happened, or if Scottie was just feeling his age. After all, how grown up is a four-year-old supposed to act? But to really understand what happened, let us start at the beginning.Mary and I had invited our nephew, Scottie, over for his usual Sunday supper. We always looked forward to having him because he was a neat little boy. On this particular evening, he arrived on time as usual. However, instead of hugs and kisses, Scottie just pushed past us and headed for the sofa. I had to take a second look to make sure this was the right little boy.While we waited for the roast chicken—Scottie's favorite—to finish cooking, we sat on the sofa talking. Right in the middle of one of my sentences, Scottie said suddenly, "Hey, Uncle Arnold, I want to play my record." The conversation came to a halt. A minute later, the record player was on as loud as it could go with "Disco Duck". Scottie was dancing and singing in the middle of the room. Mary was talking to me, but I could not hear a thing she was saying. I was puzzled that I let the matter pass with only a slight comment.Soon dinner was served. We sat down, lit the candles, and started to eat. Scottie usually would be the first to start eating, but tonight hejust sat there and stared at me. "Aren't you hungry?" I asked. "Yes," replied Scottie. "Then aren't you going to eat?" "No, I 'm not," he answered. "It's your favorite dinner," said my wife. "I don't want to eat," answered Scottie. Paying no attention to his strange behavior for the moment, I said, "Okay, if you don't want to eat, you don't have to eat. You may sit and keep us company until we finish our delicious meal." As we continued our dinner, Scottie 's face looked confused and uncertain.After we finished dinner, we began clearing away the dishes, leaving Scottie to sit there with that look of disappointment on his little face. When I removed the dish containing the roast beef, it was more than he could bear. He stood up and threw his napkin across the table. Unfortunately, it hit one of the candles and caught fire. I do not know who cried out the loudest, myself or Scottie. We both stood there with a look of horror on our faces. I took the napkin and put it out. Scottie started crying. "I 'm sorry," he said. "I was just trying to be Dennis. My teacher read us the book about Dennis the Menace, and we thought all the things he did were so funny. But they are not funny when I do them. I don't want to be Dennis any more." We were glad that he was not Dennis any more, just our little Scottie.Working while You GrowKitchen Manager—JoeI had been working at a cafe called Pacific Desserts for two years. One day the kitchen manager left his job. I had worked there the longest. I was given the kitchen manager 's work, but not the title or the pay.High school kids waited tables at night there. They often visited in the morning before the place was open. They came for free coffee. I had been making myself breakfast before the manager got there and I decided to expand. For the last three months of school, I made fried eggs and potato salad using the restaurant 's eggs, cheese, milk, vegetables, potatoes, and spices. We started a morning coffee club, and charged $ 1 per plate. Soon the high school students started to bring their friends. One of them even made a signboard in his carpentry class that read "Joe 's Underground Cafe". I usually made about $ 8 extra per day. This was the same as an increase in my pay. I was also spending an hour of the company 's time for my own profit.Bicycle Messenger—KennyBeing a bike messenger in Seattle is hard, but our job was easy. We had to work extremely hard, but at least we got paid by the hour.The company always let us wear shorts, but we had to wear the company T-shirts. We cut off the sleeves to stay cool. Then, the companywanted to give a better impression of itself because we delivered to big businesses. They made us wear long pants and shirts made of heavy material. This was crazy! Try riding your bicycle fast for ten miles up hills, really big hills, with heavy packages while you 're wearing long pants!All of the messengers agreed we could not continue like that. We decided that we wouldn't wash our clothes at all. We wore the same clothes every day. You can imagine what it was like when we were in an elevator. Our clothes smelled terrible and our bodies also smelled bad. Within a month, the company received many complaints. They let us wear shorts again.E.T.—A fairy Tale of the Space AgeFor many children the search for extra-terrestrial life or life from other planets may seem to be already over. An extra-terrestrial has been with us for some time. Children ask for shirts that read "E.T.—I love you" and for E.T. toys under the Christmas tree. Steven Spielberg 's film, "E.T.—the Extra-terrestrial", has become one of the biggest film money-makers of all time; even ahead of "Star Wars".What is it about this big-eyed creature from outer space that has made America 's children and many adults so excited? Psychologists saythat the film of E.T., like ancient fairy tales, contains powerful stories that help children through the difficult process of growing up. The message that fairy tales bring to the child is that a struggle against severe difficulties in life cannot be avoided, but that if one does not run away but meets unexpected and often unjust hardships, one masters all obstacles and at the end comes out victorious.Today 's children, who often grow up alone in homes that are separated from other children, need fairy tales even more than children did at the time when those tales were first told. In E.T. they find a fairy tale with a special interest because it is set in the space age, which is closer to their situation than a story set in an old castle. E.T. may not be good-looking physically, but he is totally harmless, kind and charming. No child need fear an outer space filled with creatures like E.T.The film has at least two heroes who children can understand and with whom they can share their feelings—E.T. himself and Elliott, the 10-year-old boy who finds, looks after and saves the friendly and likable creature after he is left behind by his spaceship. Both Elliott and E.T. have been left to look after themselves. Elliott feels alone because his parents have separated, but he finds a magical friend whom he can protect and who provides him with friendship. Children often have a strong need for imaginary playmates.For all children, the film raises the question of the need to grow up and the desire to stay a child. Elliott decides not to go with E.T. aboard the spaceship, where he could continue living in an imaginary world. As one child said, "Elliott stayed on Earth because he has to grow up and you can't grow up on the faraway planet of Jupiter. You stay small and a kid like E.T."The film offers many ideas from the traditional fairy tale: first, good children get the better of bad adults. Secondly, the hero is put in a difficult position in the early stages of the story but there is a happy ending when he is finally rescued. Thirdly, the film offers the idea of rebirth, which is found in many fairy tales. Finally, the story also reminds one of "The Three Feathers" by the well-known writers of fairy tales—the Grimm brothers. In this story, the youngest son wins his father 's kingdom by defeating his brothers with the help of an ugly old toad. Put to a final test, to bring back the most beautiful woman, he wins again by choosing the toad who turns into a beauty. Thus, it is love which turns even ugly things into something beautiful. It's easy to see how that is true of E.T.Unit 2Making FriendsFriends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take the fact of friendship for granted, we often don't clearly understand how we make friends. While we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only a very few—for example; the average among students is about 6 per person.Moreover, a great many relationships come under the general term "friendship". In all cases, two people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of closeness between them and the reasons for their interest in each other vary greatly.At the beginning, much depends on how people meet, and on good first impressions. As we get to know people, we consider things like age, race, looks, economic and social status, and intelligence. Although these factors are not of the greatest importance, it is more difficult to have a good relationship with people when there is a big difference in age and background.We pay attention to actual behavior, facial expression, and the way a person speaks. Friends will stand closer together and will spend more time looking at each other than ordinary acquaintances. Smiles and soft voices also express friendliness, and it is because they may give the wrongsignals that shy people often have difficulty in making friends. A friendly look with the wrong facial expression can turn into an unfriendly stare, and nervousness may be wrongly understood as unfriendliness. People who do not look one in the eye are not trusted when, in fact, they simply do not have confidence.Some relationships are a result of argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have the same ideas and beliefs, the same opinions and interests—they often talk about "being on the same wavelength". The more closely involved people become, the more they depend on one another. People want to do friends favors and hate to let them down. Equally, friends have to learn to make allowances for each other, to put up with annoying habits, and to accept differences in opinion. Imagine going on a long trip with someone you occasionally meet for a drink!In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to strengthen the relationship between two people. But the mutual support and understanding that results from shared experiences and emotions does seem to create a close and lasting relationship, which can overcome differences in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race.Black and WhiteFrom the beginning, we knew we came from different worlds, yet it was surprising how much the same we were in many ways. When I first met Bud, I knew we were going to be friends, even though he was white and I was black. He was confident, forward, and very friendly. He would just walk up and start a conversation about anything. He really was very much like me. People said we both had the same kind of personality.We first met at the All-City Chorus. I thought I could sing a little, but Bud could really have a good voice. I really believe he could have broken a glass singing one of his high notes—just as you see on the TV ads. We stood side by side in the chorus, and he always made me look good, even if I missed a note. After practice, the two of us would always go to McDonald 's for a hamburger and an ice-cream. We had a lot in common, but our stories were really about two different worlds.Bud went to an all-white high school in a quiet, all-white neighborhood. There were very few big buildings or stores in his community. As a matter of fact, you would have to walk four or five blocks to get to the nearest shopping center. Bud always talked about how green and beautiful the neighborhood looked. He even lived close to a wide-open park where he first became interested in football. He started out as a fullback, and later became the best fullback on his high school football team. Bud 'shouse was another point of interest. In his basement, he had a complete mini-gym. In his bedroom, he had a nice desk, complete with reference books and his own little TV on which he could play his video games.My home and neighborhood were totally different. My family lived in a nice apartment in an all-black housing project. Our project housed many families, so we were used to living in small crowded quarters. Everyone in the project knew what everybody else was doing. It was like a city within a city. We never had to walk far to the nearest store. There were all kinds of stores nearby. For beauty, we had concrete buildings, basketball courts, and the rose garden in front of the project building. If I wanted to exercise, I would have to stay late at school. As captain of my high school football team, I really had to keep physically fit, and I never had the convenience of a mini-gym in my basement. My study was the kitchen table. After dinner, I would do my homework there and hope none of my five brothers and sisters would disturb me.Comparing worlds was always interesting. We never were jealous or looked down on one another, either. We always accepted one another as equals. As a matter of fact, we both felt we had lost something because we lived in worlds set apart from others. Bud 's only contact with blacks his age was in the All-City Chorus. Because of this, he felt his life was sheltered and not as interesting as it would have been if he had grown up with people of different groups and races living together. I felt the sameway. Both races could learn a great deal from one another, and I knew this because Bud and I surely did learn from each other. It was only because society set us apart in different communities that we had never shared an experience like this before.Bud and I became great friends. We even went to the same college, were roommates, and played on the same college football team. The fact that we came from different worlds did not mean a thing compared to the values we learned from each other and the friendship we gave to one another.FriendsIt was Saturday morning. Nicky and I were just finishing our shopping. "Let me see ... " Nicky said. "We 've been to the supermarket, the baker 's and the greengrocer 's ... Is that the lot?"I looked at my list. "I just need a couple of things from the chemist 's," I told her. "All right," Nicky said. "While you 're doing that, I'll just call in at the bookshop."We arranged to meet at a cafe in a quarter of an hour. I arrived first. When Nicky came in, she looked quite excited."Did you find your book, then?" I asked as she sat down."Yes," Nicky said."Something special?" I asked. I was curious because Nicky was not a great reader, except for newspapers and magazines. She sometimes borrowed books, but she rarely bought them."Well, yes," Nicky admitted."What's all the mystery?" I asked. "Tell me all about it!""It isn't exactly a mystery, Kay," Nicky began. I waited for her to go on. "Well, do you remember that woman who used to live opposite the church—Miss Hunter?""The one who used to wear funny clothes and had a large dog? Wasn't she an artist?""Well, yes," Nicky said. "She did paint—but only as a hobby. As a matter of fact, she was a writer—and I 've just bought her latest book!" Nicky took the book out of her bag and passed it across the table. The title was "Death Comes to the Village"."A detective story," I said. "Hey, do you think we 're in it?""I 'm pretty sure I am," Nicky said, looking rather pleased with herself. "You see, Miss Hunter and I were quite good friends and she often said she was going to put me into her next book!""Shall we have a look?" I asked. But Nicky picked the book up and put it in her bag. "I 'd like to read it first," she said. "But I'll lend it to you, of course ... "Some time passed after our meeting in the cafe" and I heard nothing from Nicky. I decided to ring her up and ask about the book. "Oh, that!" she said in a small voice."You don't sound very pleased," I said. "Weren't you in the book after all?""Yes," Nicky said. "I 'm in the book all right! But who do you think I am? I 'm the village post woman! I pass on all the gossip in the village! I even open letters sometimes! I 'm the most unpleasant person in the whole book! That woman is no friend of mine, I can tell you!"FriendshipA high school history teacher once told us, "If you make one close friend in school, you will be most fortunate. A true friend is someone who stays with you for life." Experience teaches that he was right. Good friendships are just not easily formed. Why?One reason is that it is easy to move around in our society. Mr. Darrell Sifford, a news reporter for the Washington Daily, has beenstudying and talking about friendship for a number of years. He reports what one woman thought about the effect of ease of movement on friendship:"I was nine, and we 'd just moved from South Carolina to New Jersey, and I didn't know anybody. My mother had a way of getting to the root of things and she said to me, 'Amelia, I know you 're feeling bad because you don't have any friends. But you can fix that. Just walk across the street—I know there's a girl about your age over there—and knock on the door and ask her to be your friend.'""As a 9-year-old, I could do that. I knocked on the door and said, 'Hi, my name is Amelia, and I 'd like for us to be friends.' And to my surprise, she said that she would like that too—and we became friends."She added that going about it directly always worked when she was a child. But as she left childhood, she found that the simple direct approach was more and more difficult for her to follow. So, as an adult, Amelia longed to have friends but her hands were tied when it came to doing anything about it. The problem, according to her, is that society teaches us in a number of ways that direct action is not an acceptable way of doing things. We need to be less direct so that our feelings will not be hurt if our offer of friendship is refused.Mr. Sifford goes on to describe his own ideas on the subject:"To most of us, friendship is very important, but we need to have clear in our own minds the kinds of friendships we want. Are they to be very close or kept at arm 's length? Do we want to share ourselves or do we want to walk on the surface?""For some people, an ordinary friendship is enough—and that's all right. But at some point we need to make sure that what we expect from the friendship is the same as what our friends expect from it. If one wants more from the friendship than the other, and if this is not talked about, one is likely eventually to feel that he's not being given enough attention.""The sharing of close secrets, including our fears as well as our dark dreams, is the surest way to deepen friendships. But the process must be gone through slowly and continued only if there are signs of interest and our efforts are answered."What are some of the problems in forming friendships? According to Mr. Sifford, the biggest problem is to expect too much too soon. Deep relationships take time. Another "big difficulty" is to think one "possesses" the other and that he should spend all his time only with you. Similarly, friendships require action from both sides. In short, you must give as much as you take. Finally there is a question of developing friendship. Unless you spend enough time together, talking on the phone, writing letters, doing things together, friendships will gradually fade away.Why is it so difficult to form friendships? Perhaps it is possible, as Mr. Sifford states, that we simply do not stay in one place long enough for a true friendship to develop. However, we all agree that each of us should think carefully about the kind of friendships we want. As in all inter-personal relationships, success depends on the kind of friendship we expect to have, openness to others, and a willingness to experiment.Unit 3Louis Pasteur: A Modern-Day ScientistIn the summer of 1885, nine-year-old Joseph Meister was a very ill little boy. He had been attacked by a sick dog that had rabies, a very dangerous disease. His doctor tried to help him, but there was no cure for rabies at that time. The doctor told Joseph 's parents that perhaps there was one man who could save Joseph 's life. His name was Louis Pasteur.When Pasteur was a young boy in France, he was very curious. Louis was especially interested in medicine, so he spent many hours every day with the chemist who lived in his small town. The chemist sold pills, cough syrups, and other types of medicine, just as modern pharmacists, or druggists, do today. At that time, the chemist had to make all themedicines himself. Young Louis enjoyed watching the chemist as he worked and listening to him help the customers who came to him each day. Pasteur decided that one day he wanted to help people, too.As a schoolboy, Pasteur worked slowly and carefully. At first, his teachers thought that young Louis might be a slow learner. Through elementary school, high school, and college, Pasteur worked the same thoughtful way. In fact, he was not a slow learner, but a very intelligent young man. He became a college professor and a scientist, and he continued to work very carefully.Because of Pasteur 's patient methods, he was able to make many observations about germs. For example, germs cause meat and milk to spoil. They also cause many serious diseases. Pasteur was studying about the germs that cause rabies when Joseph Meister became ill. In fact, Pasteur believed he had a cure for rabies, but he had never given it to a person before. At first, Pasteur was afraid to treat Joseph, but his doctor said the child was dying. Pasteur gave Joseph an inoculation, or shot, every day for ten days. Slowly, the child became better. Pasteur 's vaccination cured him.During his lifetime, Pasteur studied germs and learned how they cause diseases in animals and people. He developed vaccinations that prevent many of these illnesses. He also invented the process of pasteurization, which stops foods such as milk from spoiling. LouisPasteur died on September 28, 1895, at the age of 72. Modern medicine continues to benefit from the work of this great scientist.Can Computers Replace People?Most people 's jobs are likely to be affected by computers in one way or another. Teachers, for example, can use computer terminals or sets of screens and keyboards in the classroom. Each pupil may one day have a terminal to use, which can pose problems and ask questions, and the computer can inspect and check the pupil 's replies. But could a computer ever replace teachers or do any job a man or woman can do? The short answer is that this is very unlikely.At the moment there are vast numbers of things a computer cannot do. Computers cannot perform an operation or dock a big ship. But they can help the people who do these tasks. In fact, computers can help nearly everyone, from an architect to a postal clerk. However, there is no program that makes a computer behave in anything like the way a human mind works. Even so, some people are trying to program computers to think like people. They have had some surprising successes. Some computer programs can play chess much better than the average player,and there is one game in which a computer has beaten the world champion: backgammon, which is a board game like chess but much simpler.But playing backgammon is only one skill. How can we decide if a computer is as "intelligent" as a human being? A simple test has been suggested. The test involves two people who have never met before—person A and person B—and a computer, all three in separate rooms. A has to try to tell the difference between B and the computer. B tries to make it clear to A that he is not a computer, but the computer is programmed to try to deceive A into thinking that it is B. Obviously A could tell easily if he could see into the other rooms, or if he could speak to B, so the only way that he can communicate with both the computer and B is through terminals. A has two terminals, one leading to each of the other rooms, and he can use them to ask any questions he likes. If he cannot tell from the replies which terminal leads to the computer, then it is generally accepted that the computer must be regarded as being as intelligent as a human. At the moment no program has been written which gets a computer anywhere near it.Computers are only effective when problems are clearly described in advance. They are next to useless when problems are not clearly described. For example, an airplane can fly automatically most of the time, but there is always a human pilot in case something goes wrong. The human can react to any situation, some of which he may never haveimagined. At the moment most computer programs need to know everything that might happen in advance, and what to do if it does happen. Such programs can be written if the computer is only playing backgammon, but they cannot be written for a nurse, an athlete, or any number of other professions.Some people say that computers can never have "minds of their own" because they need a program, which is created by a human, to tell them what to do. This is perfectly true. But how do we know that a program cannot be written which gives a computer a mind of its own? A programmer cannot always say in advance how a computer running his or her program will react. There are many examples of a computer running a chess-playing program in which the computer has made the best possible choice of the alternative moves it was programmed to make. Despite this, it will be many years before a program is devised that is anything like the human mind.The Scientific Method (1)Science is based on wondering. You begin to be a scientist when you ask questions:Why did that happen?。