英语close汇总第一单元1.At a dinner party the guests and their hosts were involved in a heated discussion ,or rather an argument concerning the question of whether women had as much self-control as men .As they argued, signs appeared to one of the guests that a cobra was present in the room. while his first impulse was to jump back ,he knew that this would be a mistake; so he urged the other dimmers in a commanding tone to hold still without telling then why .shortly ,the cobra emerged on the veranda; and then man ran quickly to the door to slam it shut .it was soon discovered that the had crawled across the foot lf the hostess ,who kept calm ,not uttering a sound .thus the conclusion of this crisis laid bare the fact that women have as much selfcontrol as men.2.lying comfortably upon a sofa, harket brayton smiled as he read the book marvels of science .suddenly something in a dark comer of the room attracted his attention in the shadow ,under the bed,he noticed two points of light about an inch apart,shinng with a greenish glow .his attention was now directed fully to those shining points. there, almost right under the foot-rail of the bed ,he saw the body of a large snake .the points of light were its eyes! Brayton rose to his feet and prepared to back softly away from the snake At that moment ,howeve r ,he felt strangely unwilling to do so .instead of moving backward as planned ,he took a step forward, and then another! the snake made neither sound nor motion, but its evil head was still thrust forth ,its eyes were shining as if electrified, sending needles of light through the shadows. Frightened ,brayton fell to the floor ,dead .Two hours later, when the doctor was pulling the body out ,he chanced to look under the bed, “good god” he cried a snakeHe reached under the bed, pulled out the snake and threw it to the center of the room , where it lay without motion, it was a snake made of cloth and filled with cotton Its eyes were two buttons .第二单元Thomas jefferson was not only a man of ideas, he was also a man of action he believed that, rather than simply learn from reading ,one should engage in personal investigations to gain knowledge from its source ,he also believed that one could obtain valuable knowledge not only from expert people of higher classes, but also from people of people of humble origins .jefferson felt that one must think for himself rather than simply seek agreement with others ;and that it was wrong to go out of one’s way to avoid disagreement or conflict .in spite of his critics, Jefferson constantly held to and acced on his own beliefs.americans owe much Thomas Jefferson for the legacy of ideas and examples he left behind2.When Jefferson began to write the declaration of independence, he was bearing a heavy load of personal sorrow and trouble .Only a few months before, in September, his baby daughter ,aged one and a half had died ,then ,in the following marchm his mother had also died. Now he learned that his wofe was lying seriously ill at homeIt took so many days for news to come from there that she might be dying even as he sat at his desk .always in his mind was the thought that if only he could be there he minght be able to save her life. perhaps, too, if he had not been obliged to be away from home so much he might have saved the lives of his mother and daughter.it was thoughts such as these that may have given his work its passion and nobility, as great sorrow often does when he wrote, for all the world to see the wrongs that England had done to America ,maybe he felt them all the more strongly because his own happiness was mow in such great danger chiefly through englands selfish and foolish actions第三单元While waiting to enter university .the young man saw a teaching jobadvertised in a local newspaper ;and thought he thought his chances of getting the job were slim ,he decided to apply .when he arrived at the school for his interview, he sensed in the headmaster an attitude of superiority and disapproval .he interview consisted of a number of questions regarding the young man’s education and background .and then he was asked whether or not he attached importance to games as part of a boy’s schooling .obviously his answer was not entirely satisfactory to the headmaster ,in spite of the fact that he and the headmaster had little in common in their views on education ,the young man was told that he would be hired .however,at a salary of only twelve pounds per week and with the prospect of having to work under the headmaster’s wife ,the teaching post had become quite undesirable. 2. a gentleman put an advertisement in a newspaper for a boy to work in his office. Out of nearly fifty persons who came to apply ,the man selected one and dismissed the others .I should like to know ,said a friend ,the reason you select that boy, who brought not a single letter ,not a single recommendation.You are wrong,said the gentleman .the had a great many .he wied hid feet at the door and closed the door behind him, showing that he was careful. He gave his seat immediately to that old man,showing that he was kind and thoughtful .he took off his cap when he came in and answered my questions promptly .showing that he was polite and gentlemanly .All the others stepped over the book which I had purposely put on the floor .he picked it up and placed it on the table; and he waited for his turn instead of pushing and crowding.when o talked to him .i noticed his tidy clothing, his neatly brushed hair and his clean finger hails .can’t you see that these things are excellent recommendations? O consider them more significant than letters.第四单元As a boy and as an adult ,the authou of this article felt awed and bewildered at the personality of his father’s friend the great scientist albert Einstein .what inpressed him most was einstenin’s modest manner .though a profound thinker ,Einstein never displayed vanity, jealousy ,or personal ambition ,and though his ideas were singled out as something special and he was awarded the nobel prize ,he seemed to find his own fame a puzzle .it appeared that the great man was not capable ofconceit or pretension; and for this reason. The author always felt at ease in his presence .2\. At one time Einstein traveled all over the united states giving lectures. He traveled by car and soon became quite friendly with the driver.The driver listened carefully to einstein’s lecture, which the great scientist gave again and again one day he told Einstein that he knew the lecture so well that he was sure he could give it himself. Einstein smiled and said why don’t you gave the lecture for me next time the driver agreedThat evening the two of them went along to the lecture hall nobody there had seen Einstein before . as the driver took his place on the stage everybody clapped .then he began the lecture .sure enough .he did not make a single mistake .it was a great success .and when it was over, people clapped and clapped .then he started to leave .shaking hands woth everybody ,while Einstein followed quietly a few steps behind. Just before they got to the door ,a man stopped them and asked the driver a very difficult question .the driver listened carefully .of course he did not understand a thing ,but he nodded his head as if he did . when the man stopped talking, the driver said that he thought the question was very interesting but really quite simple. In fact , in order to show how simple it was ,he would ask his driver to answer it!第五单元It is a apparent that the temperature ofthe earth is rising .if this trend is allowed to continue ,many coastal cities will disapper beneath the ocean waves ,much farmland woll be lost to the sea, and the resulting pressure on food supply may cause widespread starvation and lead to the collapse of the whole social structureWhat’s to be done ? there’s no alternative but to get at the villain of all this ,carbon dioxide .carbon dioxide is not very poisonous ,.and in small quantities it does us no harm .plants absorb it and convert it into their own tissue ,which serve as the basic food supply for all of animal life .including human beings ,in the process they liberate oxygen, which, again ,is essential to all animal life .however, carbon dioxide lets in visible sunlight during the day, but blocks infrared radiation at nighr ,when its concentration in the atmosphere rises, the temperature on earth goes up ,tooBut carbon dioxide is not rising by itself .if we stop cutting down the forests and consume less coal and gas. Or use fuel that does not produce carbon dioxide ,such as nuclear and solar energy, in all likelihood we can restore its concentration to previous levels and save mankind from disaster .2\As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases steadily, earth’s average temperature will go up slightly .winters will grow a bit milder on the average and summers a bit hotter that may not seem frightening, milder winters don’t seem bad ,and as for hotter summers ,we can just run our air –conditioning a bit more .But consider this : if winters in general grow milder ,less snow will fall during the cold season .if summers in general grow hotter ,more snow will melt during the cold season. That means that, little by little ,the snow line will move away from the equator toward the poles. The glaciers will retreat ,the mountaintops will grow more bare, and thepolar ice caps will begin to meltThat might be annoying to skiers and to other devotees of winter sports but would it neccssarily bother the rest of us? After all. If the snow line moves north .it might be possible to grow more food in Canada .scandinavia .and russia .Still if the cold weather moves poleward. Then so do the storm belts the desert regions that now exist in subtropical areas will greatly expand, and fertile land gained in the north will be list in the south .more may be lost than gained .It is the melting of the ice caps, though, that is the worst change, it is this which demonstrates the villainy of carbon dioxide .Something like 90 percent of the ice in the world is to be found in the huge Antarctica ice cap, and another 8 percent is in the Greenland ice cap. In both places the ice is piled miles high, if these ice caps begin to melt. The water that forms won’t stay in place. It will drip down into the ocean.taking up more space and causing sea level to rise. Low-lying coastal areas worldwide would be flooded and the rising oceans would surge farther inland during storms, adding to the problem of coastal flooding.第六单元1. dr. nolen believes that the most important time in a surgical career is the point at which the surgeon begins to feel confident in his ability to make sound decisions in each individual case. Many young doctors dwell on the possibility that they may have made a mistake, especially in emergency situations. At such times , they sweat over patients, wondering if they are competent enough for the job they are attempting to do. And they feel that bound to make a fatal error a at one time or another. When a surgeon learns to relax and approach these situations with confidence in his ability to handle them successfully, according to dr.nolen. he has taken the first step to maturity.2. a man went to see his doctor because he was suffering from pains in his stomach. After the doctor had examined him carefully. He said to him , well, there’s nothing really wrong with you, I’m glad to say Your only trouble is that you worry too much. You know I had a man with the same trouble as you in here a few days ago, and I gave him the same advice, as I’m going to give you. He was worried because he couldn’t pay his tailor’s bills. I told him not to worry his head off about the bills any more. He followed my advice, and when he came to see me again two days ago, he told me that he now felt quite all right again.Yes, I know all about that,answered patient sadly. You see, I’m that man’s tailor .B篇The patient was lying in bed after a minor operation. His friend asked him how he was getting along.Pretty well, as the answer .after my first operation. They had to cut me open again. It seems the surgeon had left a sponge in me and they had to get that out ,But you got over it all rigtOh yes, only I had another operation yesterday. They found a scalpel which had been sewed up in me by mistake .But the patient suddenly got nervous again, for just then the surgeon hurried through the ward saying :Has anyone seen my hat around here?i left it somewhere yesterday.。