英语短文汇编

Using the Library

You look for a book in one of two ways: / either you’ll know the author and title of the book, or else you’ll want a book on a particular subject. / Let’s start with what to do if you know the author’s name and the title of the book. / The first thing is to look up the author’s name in the Author Catalogue. / If you can find a card for the book, / you should then write down three things: / the author, the title and the class number. / Now find the class number on the library shelves. / There are notices on the bookcases called shelf guides. / If you find the book on the shelf, / and you want to borrow it, take it to the Issue Desk. / If you can’t find the book, / it means that someone else has borrowed it, / so you should ask the librarian to reserve it for you.

Old Age

Many people mistakenly believe that old age is a time of increased illness and loneliness. / In fact, people do not suddenly change / when they reach the age of 60 or 65. / Furthermore, although more parents and their married children live in separate households than ever before, / this is usually by choice. / It is not because children now tend to neglect their parents when they become old. / It is also wrong to believe / that old age seriously affects a person’s mental abilities. / There is clear proof / that people who were eager to learn / and who welcomed new experiences in their middle age, / continue to do so in old age. / It is true that older people tend to take longer to learn something new than your people. / Nevertheless, if they are given sufficient time, / they learn as well as young people do.

Bell

In ancient times all over the world, / it was believed that evil spirits could put up with / just about anything except the clanging of the bell. / Over time, the bell itself, even when not ringing, / came to be regarded as a powerful lucky symbol. / Because it is suspended in a hanging position, / it takes on the representation of all life suspended between heaven and earth. / Its vault-like shape has become a symbol of heaven. / Bells are used in Christian churches as well as Hindu / and Buddhist temples as a means of keeping evils away. / The bell tolled at funerals is now explained as a signal to the living / that a soul is passing to the other side / and should be accompanied by prayers. / But originally the tolling was intended to prevent / evil forces from interfering with the soul’s heavenward journey.

Travel Books

There are three kinds of travel books. / The first are those that give a personal, subjective account of travels / which the author has actually made himself. / If these books are informative / and have a good index, / they can be very useful to you / when you are planning your travels. / The second can be classified as selective guidebooks / whose purpose is to give a purely objective description of things to be done and seen. / The third are those books which are called “a guide” to some place or other. / They will give an analysis or an interpretation. / They can be as inspiring and entertaining as the first kind, / but their primary function is to assist the reader / who wishes to plan his tour / in the most practical way.

Changing Rate of Employment

West Germany had one of the lowest rates of unemployment back in 1980. / It stood at just three percent. / But then over the next three years it rose quite sharply and steadily. / In 1982 it was nearly sic percent, / and in 1983 it was the same as France. / 1984 saw a slight increase, and 1985 a slight fall. / The 1985 figure was eight percent, / in between France and the United States. / The United States has had ups and downs, / or rather, it’s the only country to show a significant drop in the number of unemployed. / This is due to high interest rates, / which haven’t helped the rest of the world. / In 1980 the rate was about the same as France and Great Britain, / slightly higher than France, actually, at about seven percent. / This rose to 7.5 percent in 1981, and then peaked the following year at over nine percent.

Graduate Student

Graduate students specialize in a particular field of study. / They study to become experts in this field / and to learn new advances in their fields while they earn an M. A. or Ph.D. / Sometimes when they get an M. A. in one field they begin studying another field. / They hope that when they earn their graduate degrees / they will succeed in finding important jobs. / They hope to get jobs that are interesting and high paying. / The life of a graduate student is often difficult. / They are usually too busy studying to make a good living. / Often they have to pay high tuition fees for their education. / Some give up studying before they get their degrees. / But most keep on working at their studies until they graduate. / In today’s world, most graduate students don’t regret spending time with their studies. / They are finding that new developments are occurring in all fields. /

For many graduate, study has become a necessity.

Rainy Britain

Britain is famous around the world for its rainy weather, / but many parts of the country this June / are experiencing much more rain than they have ever seen before. / Torrential downpours have caused rivers to burst their banks, / roads have been closed and many people have been evacuated / from their homes because of the floods. / The worst hit area seems to be the north of England. / There have even been fatalities as people got stuck in the rain / or were washed away by the floodwaters. / Flood warnings have been issued in many parts of the UK / and it is said that over a month’s worth of rain has fallen in just the last couple of days. / The rain has also caused chaos at some of Britain’s famous June events. / The Glastonbury festival is a four-day-long outdoor music festival / and while it is traditionally quite rainy and muddy there, / this year was particularly bad.

Sunbed

In the UK, a country known for its bad weather and lack of sunshine, / there appears to be an ever increasing number of very tanned young people. / So just how are they achieving their golden tans? / Some are opting for the sun-free option / and are getting their tan from a bottle. / However, it appears that others are turning to tanning salons, / of which there are thousands in the UK. / While in China young people often prefer to remain fair, / in the UK there seems to be a growing desire for tanned skin. / So why do the British prefer to be bronzed? / Often, they are trying to emulate their favorite

celebrities, footballers, or footballer’s wives. / Research from the British Sunbed Association suggests that / many people believe a tan makes them feel and look healthier. / This is a belief that is most definitely not shared by Cancer Research UK. / They firmly state that being tanned is not a sign of health.

Ball Games

Ball games have become an integral part of modern society. / They give us entertainment providing us a means to safely free ourselves from stress. / There are many different ball games that can do this for us. / Some people enjoy football, while others like basketball. / These two ball games are the most popular in China. / Other games such as baseball are growing in appeal, yet have not become popular. / The development of these games is interesting. / Basketball is one of the few sports with a known date of birth. / Football, or soccer, originally developed from traits found in both China and Europe. / It has grown to become the world’s most popular sport. / In Europe, football clubs have been established, / which in turn has been copied in the rest of the world. / These football clubs train players / who may later go play for their nations in the World Cup. / This is the most watched ballgame championship on the planet.

Famous University

Many countries have excellent universities. / There are, however, few world famous ones. / These universities have achieved their fame / through a combination of both their age / and the high levels of quality in their instruction. / Throughout their histories, / each one has been a testing ground for the leadership of the nation. / In the United States,

Harvard and Yale attract thousands of foreign students / who would use what they learn for the advancement of their own nations. / In this way, these schools have developed an interesting method of international communication. / Graduates around the world are able to connect with each other / by having graduated from one of the finest universities in the world. / Leaders in every field, whether government officials or ground-breaking scientists, / who graduated form the same school have a direct link to each other / and understand each other much better

Internet Relationship

Internet relationships are ones that are made through online communication / with a prospective friend or date. / Nowadays, many people are turning towards makings such relationships / as they think these are more reliable than ones that are created by meeting in person. / People have their own individual views regarding such relationships. / Internet relationships can be made / for the purpose of getting a date or just friendship. /

There is a debate going on in the online community about these online relationships. / Some say that these kind of bonding is not at all reliable, / as anyone can pose as a person who is not, in reality. / On the other hand, if you use the Internet in the best possible manner, / this bonding can go well further genuinely. / This simply means that, along with emails and chats, / if you use real-time audio and video conversations, / you can be assured that the person online is not faking his identity.

Giving and Sharing

The spirit of giving and sharing is at its peak during the Christmas season. / People

are so generous to dole out gifts, / money and other things to people they care about, / and at times to charity, too. / This innate feeling in us is always there. / It’s not only for special seasons like the holidays / that we should be able to give / and share whatever we have in abundance. / It most likely to be the instinctive feeling in us / that we should be willing to share and give something all year round / especially to those who are in need.

The holiday feeling is all around us. / The malls are all decorated with pretty and shiny Christmas decors all around. / There’s happy Christmas music being heard all over the place. / A lot of people are shopping because there are lots of sales and discounts offered.

Make a Good Speech

Everyone recognizes the importance of speaking English well. / In school one of the chief things to learn and to practice may be the reading and writing of English, / but in everyday life we convey our thoughts to other people / by speaking far more often than by writing. / What we say and how we say it determine the opinion that other people form about us. /

A person who speaks clearly and pleasantly obviously has a very great advantage. / A person who cannot or does not speak acceptably is under a great handicap / ---- he may have a fine character, / he may have many good qualities, / but he may still be held back. /

Perhaps the chief thing about speaking is not to be afraid of it. / There is no real need to be nervous / and you should try to avoid showing nervousness. / But the best way of

overcoming your perfectly natural feelings of shyness is to go ahead and speak / and so accustom yourself to the situation of being on your feet with a group of people listening to you./

Table Manners

We have all gone to a dinner and used our neighbor’s for, glass or bread plate. / How embarrassing it is! / So here’s a shortcut so that you can know exactly what is yours: / your plate is in the center. / Knives and spoons are on your right, and forks and your napkin on the left. / Liquids go to your right, and solids go on your left. / You know where your stuff is. / But now it’s time to know how to use everything properly. / Take your napkin and place it on your lap right away when you sit down. / It should never be on the table. / Just put it on your lap, not into your shirt. / The fork furthest to the outside is the one you should use for the appetizer. / When the next part of the meal comes, / use the next outermost fork, and so on. / Same deal goes for the spoons and knives. /

Writing for Advice

Most Americans don’t like to get advice from members of their family. / When they need advice, they don’t usually ask people they know. / Instead, many Americans write letters to newspapers and magazines / which give advice on many different subjects, / including family problems, the use of languages, health, cooking, child care, clothes and how to buy a house or a car. /

Most newspapers regularly print letters from readers with problems. / Along with the letters there are answers written by people / who are supposed to know how to solve

such problems. / Some of these writers are doctors; / others are lawyers or educators. / But two of the most famous writers of advice are women / without special training for this kind of work. / One of them answers letters addressed to “Dear Mary”. / The other is addressed as “Dear Ann Smith”. / Experience is their preparation for giving advice./

词汇

1.curious 2. figure 3.persistent 4. independent 5. unusual

6. interact 7. formal 8.complicated 9. abstract 10. solve

11. mystery 12. exist 13.appropriately 14.explore 15. model

16. gradually 17 refine 18. concepts 19. preserve 20. adult

21.female household

22. appreciate 23. addition? ? 24.constantly 25.

26. psychologist? 27. impression 28. chat 29. infant 30. license

31. convenient 32. repeat 33.legal 34. rate 35.recognize?

36. obligation 37. receive 38. challenge ? 39. assess 40. submit

41. wisdom? coordinate

42. emotional 43 e-mail 44. identify? 45.

46. collaborate 47. daily 48. suitable 49.concert 50. vocabulary

51. circumstance 52.philosophy 53. secret? concern

. inappropriate 55.

56. practice responsibility

57. offender 58. despite 59. specific 60.

61.criminal 62. survive 63.hand-written . demonstration 65. refuse

66.guilty 67.commit 68.instructions 69. odd 70. complicated

71.content 72. acquire 73. prime 74. restore 75. payers

76. shed 77. dissatisfaction 78.intentionally 79. insane 80. practice

81. insight 82. overtime 83. rewards 84. alternative 85. shift

86. jail 87. whereby 88. account . advance 90. staff

91. symbol 92. decade 93. affair 94. export 95. apparent

96. globe 97. acquire 98. transfer 99. dependence 100. commerce

101. prestigious 102. percentage 103. combination 104. disadvantage 105. competence

106. convenient 107. suffer 108. jam 109. emit 110. tongue

111. official 112. administration 113. transportation 114. vehicle 115. trigger

116. logical 117. link 118. Belgium 119. ancient 120. derive

121. texture 126. immense deliver

131. intricate 136. register 141. tragic 146. average statistically

151. scale loneliness

156. immune vulnerable

123. subject 124. relate 125. investigate

127. particularly 128. variability 129. identity 130.

132.accuracy 133. largely 134. non-native 135. instinct

137.claim 138. recall 139. consistently 140. promote

143. outcome 144. isolation 145. anxiety

147. performance 148. attain 149. trace 150.

152. colleague 153. accurate 1. obesity 155.

157. psychologists 158. vital 159. diverse 160.

122. associate 142. commit

161. intelligent 162. foundation 163. romantic components

1. reflect 165.

166. accomplish 167. profound 168. dramatically 169. deprive 170.

hinder

171. merely 172. concrete 176. equivalent 177. achievement 174. affect

175. well-being

173. blur 178. devise