甘肃专升本公共课英语阅读短文背单词 6-10

Passage 6

The residents of 24 Acacia Grove were dissatisfied with the condition of the property, so John Preston called a meeting to discuss things last week. At the meeting John suggested setting up a residents’ committee. Everyone was so worried and angry about the agent’s inactivity that they agreed, and they elected John as chairman of the committee. Many residents said that they were tired of telephoning the agent and tired of complaining about the flats. Although the agent was responsible for the flats, they thought that he didn’t do enough. Therefore John was asked to write to the agent and say that they were disappointed with the management of the flats.

The next service payment was due at the end of the month. However, they agreed not to pay it until they were happy with the plans to improve the property. They decided to tell the agent that he must start the work within one month. They all went away very pleased with themselves.

译文：

阿卡西亚格拉芙街24号的居民对公寓情况不满意，因此上周约翰·普雷斯顿召开会议进行讨论。在会上约翰建议成立居民委员会，对房东代理的无所作为，大家既担心又气愤，所以，他们都同意成立居民委员会。他们选举约翰为委员会主席。许多居民说，他们憎恶再给房东代理打电话，向他们抱怨公寓的状况。尽管房东代理有责任管理公寓，但是他们认为房东代理做得不够。因此居民要求约翰写信给房东代理，说明他们对公寓管理很失望。

下期付费应该在月底，但是，他们一致决定直到房东代理制定出令人满意的改善计划，他们才付服务费。他们决定告诉房东代理必须在一个月内开始工作。然后他们都十分满意地离开了。

Passage 7

When I was a little girl, my brothers and I collected stamps for many years. My mother didn't use to work during the week, but she worked in the post office near our house on Saturdays, and she used to bring home all the new stamps as soon as they were issued(发行).

On the day of the World Cup football final in London in 1966, we were very excited because England were playing West Germany in the final. When we were having lunch, my mother told us to go to the post office straight away after the match if England won, but she didn't tell us why. At 2 o'clock my mother went back to work as usual, while the rest of the family were watching the football on TV at home. Although she wasn't watching the match, she was listening to it on the radio.

England won 4:2 and so my brothers and I ran to the post office. As we burst in, my mother was standing behind the counter. She was waiting to sell us a very special limited edition with ENGLAND WINNERS on each stamp. We were over the moon.

We still have it today, and perhaps it is worth a lot of money.

译文：

当我还是个小女孩，我的兄弟和我收集邮票多年。我母亲通常周一至周五不工作，但周六在我们家附近的邮局上班。而且只要一发行最新的邮票，她就把它们都带回家。

1966年伦敦世界杯足球决赛那天，我们都非常兴奋，因为在决赛中英格兰队对阵西德队。吃午饭时，母亲告诉我们比赛后如果英格兰队赢就直接去邮局，但她没告诉我们原因。两点整母亲像往常一样去上班，而家里其他成员都在家收看比赛。虽然没有观看，但是她从收音机里收听了比赛。

英格兰队以4比2获胜，于是我和哥哥跑去邮局。当我们跑进去，母亲正站在柜台后面。她正等着卖给我们特别限量版邮票，每一枚都印着“英格兰胜利者”的字样。我们欣喜若狂。

我们直到今天还保存着它，或许现在它值很多钱了。

Passage 8

When John and Victoria Falls arrived in New York City for one-year stay, they did not bring very many things with them. They had planned either to live in a furnished apartment or to buy used furniture. But they soon learned about a new system that more and more people are using. The renting of home furnishings (beds, tables, dishes, and so on) has become one of America’s fastest growing businesses.

What kinds of people rent their home furnishings instead of buying them? People who are international business or government officials, foreign students, airline workers, young married couple – people whose job or business may force them to move frequently from one city to another. They save a lot of trouble and the cost of moving their furniture each time. They simply rent new furniture when they reach their new homes. Young people with little money do not want to buy cheap furniture that they may soon dislike. They prefer to wait until they have enough money to buy furniture that they really like. Meanwhile, they find they can rent better quality furniture than they could afford to buy.

One family, who now has a large, beautiful home of their own, liked their rented furniture so much that they decided to keep renting it instead of buying new things. But usually people don’t like to tell others about it. The idea of renting home furnishings is still quite new, and they are not sure what their neighbors might think.

译文：

当约翰和维多利亚佛斯到达纽约开始他们的一年生活时，他们没有随身带很多东西。他们计划要么住在装修好的公寓里，要么买些旧家具。但是他们很快了解到越来越多的人正在采用的一种新的方式。租用家具(如床，桌子，盘子等)已经成为美国发展最快的行业之一。

什么样的人是租用家具而不是买家具的呢?从事国际商务的人，政府官员，外国学生，航空公司工作人员，刚结婚的年轻夫妇——那些由于工作而被迫频繁来往于不同城市的人。他们可以省去每次搬家具的麻烦和费用。他们到一个新家的时候，只需租新的家具就好了。收入少的年轻人不想买那些他们可能很快就不喜欢的便宜家具。他们宁愿等到有钱时买他们真正喜欢的家具。同时，他们发现他们租来的家具比他们买得起的家具质量更好。

有户人家，他们有自己的又大又漂亮的房子，可是他们太喜欢租来的家具了以至于他们决定继续租用而不是买新家具。但是人们通常不喜欢告诉别人这些。因为租家具的想法还是很新的，他们不能确定邻居们对此会怎么想。

Passage 9

A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man — the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands. While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some sort.

This attitude toward manual labor is now still seen many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery.

On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education.

译文：

美国文化的一个特点，就是尊敬自我奋斗的人，这几乎已经成为美国的一项传统。这个人通常是白手起家，通过自己的努力到达社会顶峰。尽管公司、企业的领导，大学教授社会地位很高，在社会中获得比一般工人或技术人员更多的尊敬，他们也是想方设法指出自己的父亲在美国开始闯荡时也是一个农民或是某类工人。

这种对体力劳动的尊敬在美国生活的很多方面都能看到。一个人被邀请到一户家庭赴宴，这户家庭装潢舒适，甚至可以说是豪华，家中处处可以证明这家人支付得起国外旅行，奢侈的爱好和孩子的大学教育。但是这样的女主人很有可能自己做饭招待客人，然后洗刷餐具，并且这样的宴会不会仅仅是提供快餐式的罐头食品，从附近面包房买的蛋糕或馅饼。相反，女主人通常会精心准备特色菜，并以此而感到自豪。男主人会谈论自己如何洗车，在花园劳作，粉刷房子，他的太太也会来帮他做这些事就如同他会帮太太洗碗一样。他们的儿子在外地上大学，做餐厅侍应生，洗盘子来挣自己的生活费，有时候，在暑假的时候他会和建筑队一起在高速公路工作以赚取学费。

Passage 10

How men first learnt to invent words is unknown; in other words, the origin of language is a mystery. All we really know is that men, unlike animals, somehow invented certain sounds to express thought and feelings, actions and things, so that they could communicate with each other; and that later they agreed upon certain signs, called letters, which could be combined to present those sounds, and which could be written down. Those sounds, whether spoken or written in letters, we call words.

The power of words, then, lies in their associations—the thing they bring up before our minds. Words become filled with meaning for us by experience; and the longer we live, the more certain words recall to us the glad and sad events of our past; and the more we read and learn, the more the number of words that mean something increases.

Great writers are those who not only have great thoughts but also express these thoughts in words which appeal powerfully to our minds and emotions. This charming and telling use of words is what we call literary style. Above all, the real poet is a master of words. He can convey his meaning in words which sing like music and which by their position and association can move men to tears. We should therefore learn to choose our words carefully and use them accurately, or they will make our speech silly and vulgar.

译文：

没有人知道人类最初是如何发明文字的。换句话说，语言的起源是个谜。我们所知道的就是：人，不同于动物，不知怎么发明了某些声音来表达思想、情感、行为和事物，以便彼此相互交流。后来他们统一了某些符号，就是我们所说的字母，这些字母可以结合起来呈现那些声音，从而可以把这些声音记录下来。那些声音---不管他们是口头上说的还是写在纸上的---我们称之为文字。

文字的力量在于其联系性——即文字在我们的头脑中可以代表那些事物。通过各种经历，文字对我们充满了含义。我们活得越长，能让我们回忆起过去的喜怒哀乐的文字就越多;我们阅读、学习的越多，对我们有意义的文字量就越大。

伟大的作家不仅具有伟大的思想而且擅长用文字来表达这些思想。他们的文字强烈地震撼、吸引着我们的心灵和情感。文字各种魅力的、生动的使用方法就是我们所说的文学体裁。真正的诗人首先是文字大师。他可以用押韵的音乐般的词汇来表达自己的思想，并通过文字位置的转换及其联想性让人感动得热泪盈眶。因此，我们应该学会仔细选择我们的文字并准确使用文字，否则我们说出来的话就会可笑而又粗俗。