资源描述
The Gift of Life 1.The bombs landed in the small village. Nobody knows what these bombs were supposed to hit during the terrible Vietnam War, but they landed in a small orphanage run by a missionary group.2The missionaries and one or two children were killed, and several children were wounded, including one young girl, about 8 years old, who suffered wounds to her legs. 3A couple of hours later, medical help arrived. The medical help was a young American Navy doctor and an equally young Navy nurse. They quickly found one young girl to be very badly injured, and it was clear that without immediate action, she would die from loss of blood and shock.4They saw that she had to have blood, but their limited supplies did not include plasma, so a matching blood type was required. A quick blood typing showed that neither American had the correct blood type. Several of the uninjured orphans did.5 The doctor spoke a little Vietnamese, and the nurse spoke a little high-school French. The children spoke no English but some French. Using what little common language they could find, together with a lot of sign language, they tried to explain to these frightened children that unless they could give some blood to their little friend she would certainly die. Then they asked if anyone would be willing to give blood to help.6 Their request was met with wide-eyed silence. Their little patients life hung in the balance. Yet they could only get the blood if one of these frightened children would agree to give it. After several long moments, a little hand slowly went up, dropped back down, and a moment later went up again.7 Oh, thank you, the nurse said in French. What is your name? 8 Heng, came the reply. 9 Heng was quickly laid on a bed, his arm cleaned with alcohol, and the needle inserted into his arm. Through all of this Heng lay stiff and silent.10 After a moment, he let out a long sob, quickly covering his face with his free hand. 11 Is it hurting, Heng? the doctor asked. 12 Heng shook his head silently, but after a few moments another sob escaped, and again he tried to cover up his crying. Again the doctor asked him if the needle in his arm was hurting, and again Heng shook his head. 13 But now his occasional sob turned to a steady, silent crying, his eyes held tightly shut, his fist in his mouth trying to stop his sobs. 14 The medical team now was very worried because the needle should not have been hurting their tiny patient. Something was obviously very wrong. At this point, a Vietnamese nurse arrived to help, and seeing the little ones tears, spoke rapidly in Vietnamese, listened to his reply, and quickly answered him again. Moving over to pat his head as she talked, her voice was gentle and kind.15 After a moment, the little boy stopped crying, opened his eyes, and looked questioningly at the Vietnamese nurse. When she nodded, a look of great relief spread over his face. 16 Looking up, the Vietnamese nurse said quietly to the Americans, He thought he was dying. He misunderstood you. He thought you had asked him to give all his blood so the little girl could live. 17 But why would he be willing to do that? asked the Navy nurse.18 The Vietnamese nurse repeated the question to the little boy, who answered simply, Shes my friend. 19 Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend. (595 words) Love Thy Neighbor by Andy Rooney1 It seems to me that neighbors are going out of style in America. The friend next door from whom you borrowed four eggs or a ladder has moved, and the people in there now are strangers. 2 Some of the old ideas about neighbors are probably silly, and it may be just as wellthat our relations with our neighbors are changing. The religious teaching to Love Thy Neighbor was probably a poor translation of what must have originally been Respect Thy Neighbor.Love doesnt exist just because we want it to.3 Fewer than half the people in the United States live in the same house they lived in five years ago, so theres no reason to love the people who live next door to you just because they happened to buy a house next door to yours. The only thing neighbors have in common to begin with is being close, and unless something more develops, thatisnt reason enoughto be best friends. It sometimes happens, but the chancesare very small that your neighbors will be your choice as friends. Or that you will be theirs, either. 4 The best relationship with neighbors is one of friendly distance. You say hello, you sometimes talk if you see them in the yard, you discuss problems and you help each other when help is needed. The bushes or the fence between you is not a cold shoulder, but a clear boundary. We all like clearly defined boundaries for ourselves. 5 If neighbors have changed, neighborhoods have not. They still have the same parts. If you live in a real neighborhood you can be sure most of the following people will be found there: One family with more children than they can take care of. A dogthat gets into garbage cans. One big, beautiful home with a family so rich that they really arent part of the neighborhood. A bad child who steals or sets fire to things, although no one has ever been able to prove it. People who leave their Christmas lights up until March.Someone who doesnt cut their grass more than twice a summer. Someone who cuts their grass twice a week and one of the times always seems to be Sunday morning at 7:30. A family that never seems to turn off any lights in the house. A teenager who plays the radio too loud in the summer with the windows open. Someone who leaves their barking dog out until 11:30 most nights. One mystery couple. They come and go but hardly anyone ever sees them and no one knows what they do. A couple that has loud parties all the time with guests that take an hour to leave once they get outside and start shouting good-bye to each other. Someone who doesnt pull the shades. 6 It is easier to have a longing about a past neighborhood than about a past community, but a community is probably a better unit. A neighborhood is just a group of people who live close together, but a community is a group of people who put aside their own concerns to get some important things done for a larger group. (529 words) We All Need Friendsby Melinda Marshall 1 Having good old friends is a good thing, but making new ones can be even better. No matter what age we are, all of us appreciate the support and help which friends give us. The help may be for only a small thing, or it may be for something that could save our life. The size of the help or support is not really the most important thing, but the fact of having friends is very important.2 Ive just made a new friend, Joan. Shes not just another person I can talk with or wave to as we pass one another on the street, but a good friend. She is someone who will go out with me for lunch, or drop by my home for a cup of tea. She is someone who will listen and make me feel understood the next time I may feel sad or worried for no apparent reason. 3 This is no small matter for me. I barely have enough time or energy to keep up with my old friends, let alonemake new ones. But, as I grow older - and I am now 35 years old - it is important to me to have a safety net of friends. Holes keep opening up in the net as old friends move away. Ive got to spend the energy now to include new friends.4 Making friends is a lot like dating after a terrible breakup. You hesitate and drag your feet because you cant believe you have to start over again. But when you do, its not half as hard as you thought it would be, and its twice as rewarding as you might have hoped. 5 For example, I almost didnt meet Joan who is now one of my best friends. We were at the city swimming pool, waiting for our 5-year-old sons to finish their swimming lessons. Joan was reading a book that I had read for my book club, and I wanted to say something, but didnt. It was almost as if Id lost the ability to say hello. 6 In the locker room we were together again as our sons got dressed and ready to go home. I said, mostly to her back, What do you think of Amy Tans writing? She turned around, and like a teenager, I blushed. Oh, she said, Im really enjoying The Bonesetters Daughter. I read Joy Luck Club, and shes been my favoritewriter since then. 7 We talked after the next two lessons, compared our reading lists, and chased our sons out of the dressing room again. By the fifth swimming lesson, we arranged to spend a day together shopping in the city. Thats pretty wild, dont you think for a person of my age? 8 I didnt always choose my friends. For years, I let fate choose them for me. A new job, a new city, an expensive apartment made me be friends with people Id never have said hello to otherwise. But, as I grew older I grew impatient with some of my friends, and I decided that accidental relationships dont always survive changes in life. Those types of friends dont often help you during lifes difficult times when you really need help. 9 We can be ourselves with our friends, and that is a wonderful thing; too precious a gift to deny other friends. It really doesnt take that much time, or that much effort to share the gift of making friends. (573 words) Special Delivery 1 Arriving at the airport, I discovered that my brothers flight had been delayed for an hour. Usually when I wait around the airport to meet a flight, I pass the time by watching planes land and take off, but that evening I had a bad headache. I thought the noise of jet engines might make it worse, so I decided to walk around inside the airport for a while.2 As I was walking by the shops, I happened to see a display of flight bags, which reminded me of my briefcase. I realized that I was not carrying it now. Quickly I tried to remember where I might have left it. Knowing that I had not stopped anywhere since I left the airline ticket counter, I concluded I must have put it down there. I hurried back to get it, but my briefcase was nowhere in sight. At first I was sure that somebody had just walked off with it, but then I realized there was a chance that whoever found it might have turned it in at the counter, I waited in line for my turn at the counter and then I described the briefcase and asked if by any chance it had been turned in. The agent shook his head. Then I glanced over his shoulder at the conveyor belt that was moving baggage from the check-in counter down to the loading area and I shouted, There it is! But just as the agent turned to look, the briefcase reached the end of the conveyor belt and vanished from view . 3 Did you see your briefcase? the agent asked. 4 Yes! I exclaimed. It just went through that opening over there. How can I get it back now? 5 Thats no problem, replied the agent. Just give me your baggage claim check and I think we can catch it before its loaded on a flight. 6 But I dont have a claim check! I replied. I didnt check it! Im not going anywhere. Im just here to meet a flight. Calming myself down a bit, I explained what had happened and suggested that the bag had probably been turned in at the counter where one of the agents had checked it with other baggage and placed it on the conveyor belt. 7 The agent told me that the only way he could find it would be to have a claim form with a description of what the briefcase looked like. By the time I filled out the form and the agent called down to the baggage area, the briefcase had already been loaded on one of the flights, but they didnt know which one. The agent took my phone number and promised they would call as soon as they found the briefcase. Even though I lived in Sioux City, which was an hour-and-a-half drive away, they would deliver it to my address as soon as they got it back. 8 My brothers flight arrived and, after getting his suitcases, we headed for my car in the parking lot. During the drive home I told him all about the briefcase. When we got home and were unloading the car, I could hardly believe my eyes when my brother took a briefcase out of the car. The briefcase I thought I had lost had never been taken into the airport! It had been on the floor in the back seat. I realized that at that moment the airline people were checking each piece of baggage on their Denver, St. Louis and Chicago flights, looking for my briefcase. The thought of having to call and tell them I had found it in my car was painful. 9 As we walked in the house the telephone was ringing. Answering it, I was shocked when an airline worker said, We have good news for you! We found your briefcase in Denver. It should be here by eleven oclock and will be delivered to you shortly after midnight. ( 657 words) Memory and the Human Brain1Is it possible to know exactly how memory works in humans and other intelligent animals? Some people believe that it never will be. But some scientists, who are studying the function of the brain and its relationship to memory, do not share this view. 2It is now well known that memory, like other brain functions, is located in specific parts of the brain in humans. These parts may be identified and their location in the brain may be established. They work together in both short-term and long-term memory. Although scientists have not yet fully studied the brain, much progress has been made. One day the mind will be described fully both in biological and mental terms. 3Some people claim that they can recall things which happened many years ago. Have you ever had the same experience? The fact is, these long-term memories are very accurate in detail and can be compared to a movie in the brain. Once we start the movie going, we experience the entire memory. This movie in the mind (brain) is the reason why we have a sense of self. We know who we are and we know that we exist. 4Try to think of something like a long poem, a joke, or a song you learned in early elementary school. If you remember it, you can often repeat the entire poem or song in quite accurate detail. You will often remember the reason why you were asked to learn this poem or song. It may have been for a show to which families were invited, or it may have been a pleasant holiday meeting where your parents asked you to tell them what you had learned. 5However, sometimes you cannot even remember the details of things that are part of your short-term memory. This happens when you are required to remember many things, and especially if you do not feel well, or if you are not well rested. 6All of us have learned facts which we thought would help us do well on an exam in school. But often, when we tried to recall the facts, we could not, or we could think of only a little of what we thought we had learned. 7Have you ever experienced anything like this: you were to call a good friend, but you couldnt recall the telephone number? You were shopping in the grocery store for your mother, but you couldnt remember exactly what you were expected to get for her. Even when things have been learned well in our memory, we find that we cannot recall them when we need them. It may be that ten minutes later, or the next day, our memory will tell us what these things were, but it is true that the memory is not always perfect. Of course it is possible to train ourselves to remember things better. This usually involves repeating the facts to ourselves, or even writing them a few times until they are easily remembered. 8Memory allows us to remember facts, see them in the light of new information, and make decisions that are important to us. It would be nice if it were always perfect, and it will be nice when we know even more about how memory works on a biological and mental basis. ( 548 words) The Benefits of Forgetting 1We have all wished, at some time or other, for a perfect memory. We want to be able to remember things in exact detail. Its too bad that we forget so much that we have learned in school and at home. How can we make a realistic opinion of ourselves if our recall of the past is neither accurate nor complete?2Yet a perfect memory is not always as good as one might suppose. There was the story about a Russian journalist, S. He could remember long lists of numbers and words and many pages of a telephone book after seeing them for only a few seconds. He could repeat these lists both forward and backward, even after many years had passed. He also remembered the conditions under which he had first learned the material. 3S. used various memory tricks to help his memory. Many of these tricks involved forming mental pictures. But you shouldnt envy him, for he had a serious problem: he could not forget. Those mental pictures kept coming to his mind. They distracted him and made it difficult for him to concentrate. At times he even had trouble holding a simple conversation because the other persons words would make him recall memories of other things. In fact, he was described as rather dull. At last, S. was unable to work at his job. He supported himself by traveling from place to place as a memory expert, showing off his abilities for people. There have been other examples of people with this sort of memory problem. They come from many different countries and use many different languages. 4Perhaps you still think a perfect memory would be a good thing to have. Imagine, then, for a moment, what it would be like to remember everything. Each time you recalled the past, you would remember not only the jewels of experience but the worthless stones as well. Remembering might take hours instead of moments. The confusion in your mind might grow beyond your ability to organize it well. With a perfect memory, you might also remember things that may be best forgotten. Would you really want to recall every angry quarrel, every mistake youve made, every painful moment of your life? How would total recall affect your relationships with family and friends? Could it be that the success of a close relationship depends on a certain amount of forgetting? Could it be that self-confidence and optimism are only possible if we lock some bad memories in a back drawer of memory, and stop thinking about them? If you keep all these things in mind, you can understand why a perfect memory is not the best type of memory to have. 5Like remembering, a certain degree of forgetting helps us to lead a normal life. Where is the line between helpful forgetting and harmful forgetting? If you had the choice, what would you choose to remember more clearly, and what would you allow to disappear from your memory? Think about it. ( 503 words) Communication Without Words 1)When you learn a foreign language you must learn more than just the vocabulary and the grammar. To communicate successfully in speech, you must also learn the nonverbal language, or body language, of that culture. Body language is a term used to describe facial expressions, gestures, and other movements of the body that send messages. This means of communication is so important that we may actually say more with our movements than we do with words. 2 Speaking a foreign language is sometimes difficult because we may not understand the nonverbal signals of another culture, or they may mean something very different from what they mean in our own culture. For example, nodding the head up and down is a gesture that communicates a different message in different parts of the world. In North America, it
展开阅读全文