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UNIT 1Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor. We are slaves to nothing but the clock, it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost real. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious resource. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a persons hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count. 美国人认为没有人能停止不前。如果你不求进取，你就会落伍。这种态度造就了一个投身于研究、实验和探索的民族。时间是美国人注意节约的两个要素之一，另一要素是劳力。人们一直说：“只有时间才能支配我们。”人们似乎把时间当作一个差不多是实实在在的东西来对待。我们安排时间、节约时间、浪费时间、挤抢时间、消磨时间、缩减时间、对时间的利用作出解释；我们还要因付出时间而收取费用。时间是一种宝贵的资源，许多人都深感人生的短暂。时光一去不复返。我们应当让每一分钟都过得有意义。UNIT 3Gail and I imagined a quiet wedding. During our two years together we had experienced the usual ups and downs of a couple learning to know, understand, and respect each other. But through it all we had honestly confronted the weaknesses and strengths of each others characters. Our racial and cultural differences enhanced our relationship and taught us a great deal about tolerance, compromise, and being open with each other. Gail sometimes wondered why I and other blacks were so involved with the racial issue, and I was surprised that she seemed to forget the subtler forms of racial hatred in American society. 我和盖尔计划举行一个不事张扬的婚礼。在两年的相处中，我们的关系经历了起伏，这是一对情侣在学着相互了解、理解和尊重时常常出现的。但在这整整两年间，我们坦诚地面对彼此性格中的弱点和优点。我们之间的种族及文化差异不但增强了我们的关系，还教会了我们要彼此宽容、谅解和开诚布公。盖尔有时不明白为何我和其他黑人如此关注种族问题，而我感到吃惊的是，她好像忘记了美国社会中种族仇恨种种微妙的表现形式。UNIT 4 A young woman was coming toward him, and he felt a connection with her right away. Her figure was long and thin, her spectacular golden hair lay back in curls from her small ears. Her eyes were blue flowers; her lips had a gentle firmness. In her fancy green suit she was like springtime come alive. She was standing almost directly behind the girl, a woman well past forty, and a fossil to his young eyes, her hair sporting patches of gray. She was more than fat; her thick legs shook as they moved. But she wore a red rose on her brown coat一名年轻女子向他走来，他立刻感到自己与她之间存在着一种联系。她身材修长而苗条，漂亮的金色长发卷曲在小巧的耳后。她的眼睛如蓝色的花朵，双唇间有着一种温柔的坚毅。她身穿别致的绿色套装，犹如春天般生气盎然。她就站在那少女的身后，一位四十好几的女人，头发斑斑灰白。在年轻的他的眼里，梅内尔简直就是一块活脱脱的化石。她不是一般的胖，粗笨的双腿移动时摇摇晃晃。但她棕色的外衣上戴着一朵红色的玫瑰。UNIT 5Parent-child relationship needs nurturing. Lack of communication may lead to one problem or another between parents and their children. Therefore, finding out the right way of communication to which a child responds best is an essential task. Many negative parent-child relationships occur when parents fail to do so. They may simply give in to their childrens demands, or simply discipline them. Raising a child is a learning process and a good parent-child relationship takes time to develop. 父子关系需要培养。缺少交流可能导致父子之间一个接一个的问题。因此，寻找正确与孩子更好的交互的方法是一个必要的任务。许多糟糕的父子关系都是因父母做的不好而导致的，他们或许简单地就向孩子的需求屈服，或者简单的惩戒他们。抚养孩子是个学习的过程，一个好的父子关系需要时间的浇筑。UNIT 6Though most of us would like to think ourselves free from such prejudiced notions, were all guilty of name stereotyping to some extent. Confess: Wouldnt you be surprised to meet a carpenter named Nigel? A physicist named Bertha? A Pope Mel? Often, we project name-based stereotypes on people, as one woman friend discovered while taking charge of a nursery schools group of four-year-olds. There I was, trying to get a little active boy named Julian to sit quietly and read a bookand pushing a thoughtful creature named Rory to play ball. I had their personalities confused because of their names! Though your parents probably meant your name to last a lifetime, remember that when they picked it theyd hardly met you, and the hopes and dreams they valued when they chose it may not match yours. If your name no longer seems to fit you, dont despair; you arent stuck with the label. Movie stars regularly change their names, and with some determination, you can, too. 虽然我们中大多数人会认为自己没有这样的偏见，但在某种程度上，我们都多多少少对名字产生过成见。说实话，你碰到一个名叫奈杰尔的木匠会不会感到惊讶呢？或是一个叫伯莎的物理学家？抑或是一个叫梅尔的教皇？正如我的一位女性朋友在照看托儿所里四岁的儿童时所发现的那样，我们常常把由名字引起的固有想法加到他人身上。“在托儿所里，有一次我想让一个很活跃的名叫朱利安的小男孩静静地坐下来看书，而把一个喜欢沉思、名叫罗里的孩子推出去打球。因为他们的名字，我把他们的性格给搞混了！”虽然你父母很可能想让你的名字伴随你一辈子，但记住，他们选这个名字的时候几乎还没有见到你呢。而且，他们在选名字时所看重的希望和梦想也许并不符合你的希望和梦想。如果你的名字看上去已不再适合你，不要苦恼；你不必一辈子用这个名字。影星们就经常改名，下点决心，你也可以这样做。UNIT 7Life is more demanding today than it ever has been. There are greater pressures at work, greater expenses at home and in general more things that need to be done in one day than what can be accomplished in two. This leads to tremendous amounts of stress in our lives, and that stress can affect our health. But it doesnt have to. Reducing stress may be a matter of making a conscious effort to decide what we really need to do. Sometimes a little bit of organization can help us finish the important tasks more efficiently while putting some other things aside. How to achieve a balance between life and work is a lesson we must learn.现在的生活比以往都要苛求。工作充满压力，家庭面临较大的开支，总之，一天做的事情比两天能完成的都还要多。这就导致了极大量的压力在我们的生活中，那些压力也会影响我们的健康。但它也许并不必须。减少压力或许就是有意识的去努力决定我们真正需要做什么的问题。有时，一个小小的组织就可以帮助我们高效的完成把无关痛痒的事放一边的重要任务。怎样实现生活和工作的平衡是我们必须要学的一门课。UNIT 8While its true all of us need a career, preferably a prosperous one, it is equally true that our civilization has collected an incredible amount of knowledge in fields far removed from our own. And we are better for our understanding of these other contributionsbe they scientific or artistic. It is equally true that, in studying the diverse wisdom of others, we learn how to think. More importantly, perhaps, education teaches us to see the connections between things, as well as to see beyond our immediate needs.虽然我们所有人都确实需要一份工作，最好是一份薪水丰厚的工作。但同样不容争议的事实是，我们的文明已经在我们各自的领域之外积累了巨大的知识财富。而且正因为我们理解了这些在其他领域的贡献不管是科学方面的,还是艺术方面的我们的人生才更完善。同样地，我们在了解他人的智慧的同时，自己也学会了如何去思考。也许更重要的是，教育使我们的视野超越了眼前的需求，并使我们看到了事物间的联系。
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