上海新世纪英语高二全部课文及重点词组上海新世纪英语高二全部课文（包括Additional Reading）及重点词组高二第二学期 17. Words and their stories 18. English proverbs 19. Tips on making a public speech 20. Keep it short for the audience’s sake 21. Making friends 22. What does friendship mean to westerners? 23. Adjo 24. Ryan, his friends, and his incredible torch run 25. The father of modern physics 26. The survival of the fittest 27. Miracle in the rice field 28. Newton’s three important laws 29. Oliver wants more (Adapted from Oliver Twist Charles Dickens) 30. Enjoy the classics 31. Is she guilty? (Adapted from The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain) 32. Mark Twain 高二第二学期 17. Words and their stories EAGER BEAVER An eager beaver is a person who is always willing to do and is excited about doing what is expected of him. Suppose, for example, that a teacher tells his students they each must solve one hundred math problems before coming to school the next day. The children complain about so much homework. But one student does not protest at all. That student is an eager beaver. He loves to do math problems, and does not mind all the homework. The expression is said to have come from the name of a hard-working animal---the beaver. Beavers are strange-looking creatures. They spend a lot of time in the water, building dams to create little lakes or ponds. They use their huge teeth and work hard to cut down trees, remove branches and put them across streams. They use their tails to pack mud on the branches to make the dams solid. Few other animals work so hard. Historians say the beaver had an important part in the settlement of North America. There were hundreds of millions of beavers when European settlers first arrived. The settlers put great value on the fur of beavers. In fact, for two hundred years or more, beavers provided the most valuable fur in NorthAmerica. Beaver skins often used as money. Young men looking for adventure headed west across the country to search for beavers. In their search, they explored much of the western territories. The trading posts, where they exchanged beaver skins for the goods they needed, became villages, and later towns and cities. IT’S IN THE BAG The bag---one of the simplest and most useful things in every man or woman’s life---has given the world many strange expressions that are not very simple.A number of these expressions are widely used in the United States today. Some were imported from England a long time ago. When you are sure of something, you can say, “It’s in the bag.” This phrase seemed to have arrived with the modern paper bag. Before, Americans used to say, “It’s all wrapped up.” Then, things you bought were wrapped in plain brown paper, or sometimes in old newspaper. Another widely used expressions is “to let the cat out of the bag”, meaning to reveal a well-kept secret. No one can explain how the cat got into the bag, or why it remained there. But there is an old story about it. Long ago tradesman sold things in large cloth bags. Once a woman asked for a pig. The tradesman held up his cloth bag. Inside there was supposed to be a live pig. The woman asked to see it. When the dishonest tradesman opened the bag, out jumped a squealing cat, not a pig. The tradesman’s secret was out: he was tricky, and now everybody knew it. 18. English proverbs Characters Teacher of English: Ms Smith (MS) Students: Li (LI), Mao (MA), Anne (AN), Rivera (RI) MS: Good morning, everyone. I hope you all know what we are here for. The topic of our discussion this morning is “English Proverbs”. LI: So, I’m in the right group. MA: Me, too. RI: Me, too. MS: But I was told we would have four…and yet… AN: I’m coming. Good morning. Am I late? MS: Morning. “Speak of angels and you hear their songs.” AN: Isthat a proverb referring to my coming? MS: Exactly. LI: We have a saying in Chinese, which I think is very close in m eaning… MA: Speak of Cao Cao and he appears. MS: Right. Well, “first things first”. A proverb is a traditional saying which offers advice or presents a moral in a short and brief manner. A proverb normally is a sentence, into which the writer often works rhyme. For instance, “East or west, home is best.” Sometimes it comes out in the form of a phrase. MA: I’ve seen dictionaries of proverbs. MS: Well, there are thousands of proverbs. They fall into three main categories. Those of the first type take the form of abstract statements. They express general truths. Here are two good examples: “One is never too old to learn.” and “A man who neglects his studies in youth will regret it in later years.” RI: I think there is some truth in both proverbs. To encourage a person who has had little education for some reason as a young man, we may use the former. With us, I guess the latter works. MS: So you have to keep this in mind. Never use proverbs out of context. “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” LI: I see. Then, what is the second type? MS: The second type uses specific observations from everyday experience to make a general point. AN: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Does it fall into the second category? MS: You’re right, dear. Then the third type consists of sayings from particular areas of traditional customs and beliefs. “After dinner, rest a while; after supper, walk a mile.” is an example of this type. Such proverbs are often related to agriculture, the seasons, and the weather. LI: Many people hold the opinion that proverbs are going out of fashion. Is that true? MS: The fact is, as some old ones are falling into disuse, new ones are being created. The computer world has recently given us lots of them. AN: I’ve got one: “Rubbish in, rubbish out.” MA: It also goes “Garbagein, garbage out.” MS: I think it is more common to say “Garbage in, garbage out.” Well, I hope, today “You’ll have something nice out as you have had something nice in.” AN: Thank you, Ms Smith. By the way, do we have an assignment as usual? MS: Yes. You are to collect some proverbs of the first type, that is, proverbs that express general truths. LI: I’d like to collect some on studies. MS: Good! I’m so glad to have been with you. (To the four students) “Strike while the iron is hot.” See you next week. 19. Tips on making a public speech It is interesting to note that speeches are always “given” or “delivered”. They are never “said”. When giving a speech, therefore, it is useful to think of yourself as playing a part, i.e. acting. This kind of acting calls for an integration of verbal and nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication chiefly involves the speaker’s stance and gestures, the eye contact between the speaker and the audience, and a good control of the presentation speed of talking/speaking. STANCE This is important to the delivery of a good speech. Stand up straight and keep your head up. Dropping your head looks unprofessional and may prevent your audience from hearing you clearly. On the other hand, don’t stand like a guard on duty. You have to be able to move in a natural way in order to add expression to your words. Body language “says” a lot. Avoid holding your hands tightly together; this will interfere with free and natural movement. Don’t play with keys or coins in your pocket; this will distract your audience. GESTURES Gestures and facial expressions are both important aids to the spoken word when you are communicating. A dull, long speech delivered without expression, without gestures or eye contact will not be well received. The skill is in deciding how much gesturing to be employed and in making sure that your gestures are natural. Ingeneral, the larger the audience, the more expansive the gestures should be, because they will not be seen so clearly by the audience. In a small group, facial expressions will add a lot to understanding. Try telling somebody something funny with a very serious face. They will have difficulty believing what you are really saying is funny. Different gestures are supposed to be used in delivering a speech. Some people use their hands a lot when speaking. You must make sure that your gestures are not repeated too often, and they should be expressive and meaningful. EYE CONTACT To have maximum impact you need to make each member of your audience fell as if you were speaking to them personally. To do this, glance towards all sections of the audience and don’t be afraid to move your head. If you favour one direction, the other side may feel you are ignoring them and therefore lose interest in what you are saying. TIMING Accurate timing is essential. You should ensure that you don’t fall short of or run over the time allowed for your speech. Either way, the audience will feel unhappy and lose concentration on your speech. The best way to overcome this is through preparation. Clear thinking about what you want to say and how long your speech will last, before you start to write it, will save a lot of time. When practising, make sure that you speak at the correct speed and do time yourself. 20. Keep it short for the audience’s sake How long should I make my speech? How long will my audience concentrate on my speech? Hoe slowly should I speak to make myself clearly understood? In trying to answer these questions, we see how important timing is to speech. KEEP YOUR SPEECH LESS THAN 15 MINUTES Lin Yutang, the famous writer and translator, once said about the length of a speech, “the shorter, the better.” Speaking around the topic should be seriously avoided, not only in speech, but inall conversations in English. Being indirect and roundabout in your approach may be thought skillful in Chinese. But in English speech? No way. When one is making a speech in English, he should always stick to the point, and use simple, clear, and direct language. According to scientists, audiences can generally only manage to concentrate for about 13 minutes. So a10-15-minute speech is about right. The famous Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 has about 200 words, but it still managed to express the idea that all people are born equal. 150-160 WORDS PER MINUTE Speaking speed often depends on the occasion for the speech. The number of people in the audience is also an importa。