1、269TV Ratings Children in the United States watch from one to five hours of television every day. / Thats a lot of television! / Teachers and parents dont like a lot of the childrens television programs. / They think a lot of these programs are not suitable for children. / For this reason, every tel

2、evision program in America has a rating. / The ratings tell parents about the program. / Parents can check the ratings in the newspaper and this gives parents a choice. / TV-G programs are suitable for all ages, and families watch them together. / TV-Y programs are suit- able for children 2-6, and t

3、hey dont frighten children. / TV-PG programs are suitable for some children, but they can frighten children. / Some parents watch these programs with their children. / Then, they can answer their childrens questions. / TV-14 programs are suitable for children 14 and older. / TV-MA programs are for a

4、dults, 17 and older. / They are not suitable for children. /268 The Functions of the Family The family fulfills a number of roles, / such as providing education and recreational activities. / Yet there are several major functions performed by the family. / First, unlike the young of animals, / human

5、 infants need constant care and economic security. / In all cultures, the family assumes ultimate responsibility for the protection of children. / Second, parents monitor a childs behavior / and transmit the values and language of a Culture to the child. / Third, ideally, the family provides members

6、 with warm and intimate relationships / and helps them to feel satisfied and secure. / Unlike other institutions, the family is obliged to serve the emotional needs of its members. / Finally, family resources affect childrens ability to pursue certain opportunities / such as higher education and spe

7、cialized study. / It is apparent, then, that the family has been assigned / at least four vital functions within human societies. /267 Stress As the pace of life continues to increase, / we are fast losing the art of relaxation. / Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, / it is hard to sl

8、ow down. / But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body. / Stress is a natural part of everyday life. / In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. / A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation. / It is only when the stress gets out of control / that it can

9、lead to poor performance. / The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individ- ual. / Some people are not afraid of stress, / others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. / Since we cannot remove stress from our lives, / we need to find ways to deal with i

10、t. /266Laws Before laws were written, there was no sure way / of knowing what was permitted and what was forbid- den. / One judge might apply one set of rules to a case / while another judge might apply completely different rules to a similar case. / It all depended on the personal judgment of one p

11、erson. / Today we follow the custom of recording our laws. / Rules passed by our lawmakers are printed and avail- able for everyone to see. / Unless laws are publicly available, / we do not regard them as binding. / Each of us is subject to many different sets of laws. / Some laws say what is permit

12、ted, such as how fast you may drive. / Other laws say what is required, such as paying a federal income tax. / Still other laws say what is prohibited, such as smoking in elevators. / In the United States, federal laws apply to everyone / and state laws apply to activities within each state. /265Tha

13、nksgiving Day Thanksgiving Day is one of the most truly American holidays in the United States/and is most closely connected with the earliest history of the country. / In 1620, the settlers, or Pilgrims, sailed to America on the May Flower, /seeking a place where they could have freedom of worship.

14、 /After a two-month tempestuous voyage they landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in the icy November. / During their first winter, over half of the settlers died of starvation or epidemics. / Those who survived began sowing in the first spring. / All summer long they waited for the harvests with great

15、anxiety, /knowing that their lives and the future existence of the colony/depended on the coming harvest. / Finally the fields produced a rich yield beyond expectations. /And therefore it was decided/that a day of thanksgiving to the Lord be fixed. / Years later, a President of the United States pro

16、claimed the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day every year. / The celebration of Thanksgiving Day has been observed on that date until today.264The Father and His Sons A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. / When he failed to heal their disputes,

17、 / he determined to give them a practical illustration of disunion; /and for this purpose he told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. /When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, /and ordered them to break it in pieces. /They tried with all their stren

18、gth, and were not able to do it. /He next opened the faggot,/took the sticks separately, one by one,/and again put them into his sons hands, upon which they broke them easily. /He then addressed them in these words: /My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other,/you will be as thi

19、s faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; / but if you are divided among yourselves,/you will be broken as easily as these sticks.263Sleep Sleep is part of a persons daily activity cycle. / There are several different stages of sleep, and they too occur in cycles. / If you are an aver

20、age sleeper, your sleep cycle is as follows. /When you first drift off into sleep, your eyes will roll about a bit, your temperature will drop slightly, / your muscles will relax, and your breathing will slow and become quite regular. / Your brain waves slow down a bit, too, /with a rhythm of rather

21、 fast waves predominating for the first few minutes. / This is called Stage 1 sleep. / For the next half hour or so, as you relax more and more, / you will drift down through Stage 2 and Stage 3 sleep. / The lower your stage of sleep, the slower your brain waves will be. / Then about 40 to 69 minute

22、s after you lose consciousness / you will have reached the deepest sleep of all. / Your brain will show the large slow waves. / This is Stage 4 sleep.262Social and Physical Distance Social distance may affect how openly employees speak about their work. /People of the same rank may talk frankly to o

23、ne another about how things are going. / However, they may be less honest with someone higher up in the hierarchy / for fear of prejudicing their position in the company. / For this reason employees often alter the facts to tell the boss what he or she wants to hear. / One way of reducing social dis

24、tance is to cut clown the ways / in which employees can indicate higher status. / Physical distance can affect how well people communicate. / The farther away one person is from another, the less often they communicate. / Some research has shown that when the distance is more than 10 meters, / the p

25、robability of communicating at least once a week is only 8%. / The most important thing for all managers to remember / is that communication is a two-way process. / They should encourage their employees to ask questions/and to react to what the managers are saying.261The Historical Significance of A

26、merican Revolution The American Revolution represents the link between the seventeenth century, / in which modern England became conscious of itself, / and the awakening of modern Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. / It may seem strange that the march of history should have had to cross th

27、e Atlantic Ocean, / but only in the North American colonies could a straggle for civic liberty/lead also to the foundation of a new nation. / Here, in the popular rising against a tyrannical government, / the fruits were more than the securing of a freer constitution. /They included the growth of a

28、nation horn in liberty by the will of the people, / not from the roots of common descent, / a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty. / With the American nation, /for the first time, a nation was born, /not in the dim past of history/but before the eyes of the whole world.260Salt We

29、do not know when man first began to use salt, /but we do know that it has been used in many different ways. / Historical evidence shows that people who lived over 3,000 years ago ate salted fish. / Thousands of years ago in Egypt, / salt was used to embalm the dead. / Stealing salt was considered a

30、major crime during some eras of history. / In the 18th century, if a person was caught stealing salt, / he could be put in jail. / Salt was an important item on the table of royalty. / It was traditionally placed in front of the King when he sat down to eat. / In the early days in the U. S., salt wa

31、s very scarce. / So the storekeeper of pioneer days was very careful with his salt. / in the modern world salt has many uses beyond the dining table. / It is used in making glass and airplane parts, /growing crops and killing weeds.259There are very often strong opinions expressed about what makes a

32、 good wine. /At a simple level, a good wine is one that you enjoy drinking. /But why do you prefer one wine to another? /To judge a wine there are three basic senses that have to be employed: /the sense of sight, the sense of smell, and the sense of taste. /Of these three, taste is by far the most c

33、omplex, but sight and smell are powerful. /The wrong colour or the wrong smell enables a wine to be discarded /without taste even being involved. /Having examined the wine, /you can now get on and drink it. /But try and remember your conclusions, /for it is only by building up your own personal tast

34、e bank memory /that you can progress as a wine taster. /It is not difficult, and it is great fun. Cheers!258American Wedding Customs Wedding days are often considered the most important day of many peoples lives. /For this mason alone, throughout the past and into modern day,/numerous customs and su

35、perstitions have developed around the wedding event,/in hopes of creating The Perfect Day. /A very common custom still honored today /is in reference to a time-old saying: /something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, /and a silver sixpence inside your shoe. /So old is this that

36、 tracing it back to its origination is nearly impossible. /The old is believed to be the friends and family attending the wedding. /The new is represented by the couple themselves, as a new union. /The borrowed is something from the families that is to be returned. /Something blue is interpreted to

37、represent the brides virginity. /The sixpence can be any form of money, tucked into the brides shoe, /this to bring wealth to the union, both in monetary means and love.257Opportunity Opportunities dont come often. /They come every once in a while. Very often, they come quietly and go by without bei

38、ng noticed. /Therefore, its advisable that you should value and treat them with care. /When an opportunity comes, /it brings a promise but never realizes it on its own. /If you intend to fulfill one of your ambitions, you must work hard. /Otherwise, you will take no advantage of opportunities when t

39、hey visit you. /The difference between a successful man and one who is not lies only in their way of treating opportunities. /The successful person always makes adequate preparations to meet opportunities. /The loser, on the other hand, works little and just waits to see them pass by. / There are pl

40、enty of opportunities for everyone in our society, /but only those who are prepared adequately and qualified highly / can make use of them to achieve their purpose. /Chance favors the minds that are prepared.256Television Television, although not essential, has become an important part of most peopl

41、es lives. / It alters peoples ways of seeing the world; / in many ways, it supports and sustains modern life. / Television has become a baby-sitter, an introducer of conversations, / the major transmitter of culture, a keeper of tradition. / Yet what can be seen on TV in one day is critically analyz

42、ed. / It becomes evident that television is not a reader but a sustainer; / the poor quality of programmers does not elevate people into greater understanding, / but rather maintains and encourages the life as it exists. / The primary reason for the lack of quality in American television/is related

43、to both the history of TV program development and the economics of TV. /The close relationship which the advertisers had with radio programs/ became the system for American TV. / Sponsors not only paid money for time within programs, /but many actually produced the programs.255Self-concept The self-

44、concept is a complex structure./This complexity is illustrated by the idea of multiple selves./We seem to be a different person in each of many different situations./An example may clarify this concept. First, picture yourself at an athletic event. / Now, contrast this image with one of yourselves t

45、aking a final exam. /Finally, imagine yourself at work on a very busy day./You should probably describe yourself differently in each setting./Which image is really you? Of course, all are./We have multiple selves, each dependent on a context. Together they form our self-concept./It is the context th

46、at makes certain aspects of our self-concept more important at a particular moment./ Self-concept is composed of our beliefs, values, and attitudes./Our beliefs give our self-concepts their substance,/our values give them aspirations and standards,/and our attitudes give them motivation./These three

47、 elements provide a structure in which we develop and build ourselves.254Hemingway American writer Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. / He started his career as a writer in a newspaper office at the age of seventeen./During the 1920s, Hemingway became a member of the group Americans living in

48、 Paris,/ which he described in his first important work, The Sun Also Rises. / Equally successful was A Farewell To Arms, / the study of an American ambulance officers disillusionment in the war and his role as a deserter./Hemingway used his experience as a reporter/during the Civil War in Spain as

49、the background for his most ambitious novel,/For Whom the Belt Tolls. /Among his later works, the most outstanding is the short novel / The Old Man and The Sea,/the story of an old fishermans journey,/his long and lonely struggle with a fish and the sea,/and his victory in defeat./Now Hemingway is t

50、he classic symbol of bravery, or strong man.253Global Text Project Books are a high cost of higher education./But the Global Text Project hopes to create a free library of one thousand electronic textbooks / for students in developing countries./ The aim is to offer subjects that students may take i

51、n their first few years at a university./The books could be printed or read on a computer/or copied onto a CD or DVD./The Global Text Project is a new technology,/the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit on the Internet./But only one or two people will be able to make the final edits in texts./The

52、 project includes a committee of scholars,/mostly from developing countries,/to advice on required textbooks and their content./The groups first book on information systems is being tested in Indonesia. / Project organizers also want to offer textbooks in Arabic, Chinese and Spanish./ They are worki

53、ng with a translation company in the United States.252Christmas Day Christmas Day, the 25th of December,/is the biggest festival celebrated in the Christian countries of the world./ Although everyone enjoys Christmas Day, it is particularly enjoyed by children,/who get very excited bemuse of the pre

54、sents they know they are going to receive./Small children believe that their presents are brought by Father Christmas./Father Christmas is a kind of old man who, / the children are told, lives at the North Pole. / He travels through the sky on a sleigh which is pulled by deer and loaded with present

55、s./Stopping on the roof of houses, he enters by climbing the chimney./When small children go to bed on Christmas Eve,/they hang a stocking at the end of their beds./Their parents warn them not to try to look at Father Christmas,/or he will not leave them anything./When they wake, they find their sto

56、ckings filled with presents./Children are very excited on Christmas morning and always wake up early.251Guilty or Not Guilty Many attempts have been made in the past to assess the effects of alcohol on road safety./For several reasons this is a complicated problem./It is hard to establish that the a

57、ccused driver had been drinking,/and if so, how much./ Even when there is no doubt about this, / there still remains the task of proving that the accident was in fact / due to the alcoholic state of the driver./In Great Britain, its particularly difficult to make any precise assessment of the effect

58、 of alcohol / on the rate of traffic accidents./Because the police, when reporting an accident,/are most reluctant to say that they suspect the driver of being under the influence of alcohol / unless they charge him with being drunk./They are also aware that, even when the driver is charged with bei

59、ng drunk,/he stands an excellent chance of being released / if he chooses to appear for trial before a judge and jury.250Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal skills enable you to communicate and to build personal, social and work relationships with others. These skills enable you to own your own thoughts and feelings and to express these in wor