(2011-08-20 12:47:38)
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70年代80年代初中英语课本第六册教育文化怀旧杂谈分类：
旧读课本目录课文1、ENGLISH IS WIDELY USED
Ping: Dad, I got a "C" in English again. I tried my best.
Dad: Well, don’t give up. English may be hard, but it’s so useful.
Ping: How widely is English used?
Dad: Very widely. English is one of the working languages at international meetings. It’s probably the most widely used at those meetings. And do you know most international business letters are written in English?
Ping: Really? Is English understood by people outside England and the United States?
Dad: Yes. I spoke English when I was in Japan. Many people understood me.
Ping: How about other countries?
Dad: Well, I know that in Sweden and France a lot of people understand English.
Ping: Is English the language spoken by the largest number of people in the world?
Dad: No.
Ping: Then Chinese must have the largest number of speakers.
Dad: Right. But Chinese is spoken by few people outside China.
Ping: Dad, did people in China study English a long time ago?
Dad: Not so very long ago. In China the first English textbooks were published in the late nineteenth century.
Ping: Did many people in China study English at that time?
Dad: No, not many. But by and by, more and more people began to study English. Later, English was required for study in many schools.
Ping: It’s required in our school now. But, Dad, English is so hard!
Dad: It is hard, but when you’ve learned it, you’ll find it a bridge to so much knowledge. And you’ll find you can enjoy so many more books, if you know English.
Ping: Well, I’ll try harder.
2、JOE HILL
You may know the song about Joe Hill. But do you know that the song was written about a real person?
Here is the story of Joe Hill.
He was born in Sweden in 1879. When he was in his twenties he went to the United States and became a worker. At that time, things were hard for the workers. Joe took an active part in the workers’ struggles for better pay and better conditions. He helped to form trade unions. He spoke at meetings and organized strikes.
Joe was a good musician and at the meetings he sang and played the piano. He himself wrote the words and music of the songs. Many of these songs called on the workers to take up the struggle.
Joe Hill was a tall, thin, good-looking man. He had fair hair and blue eyes. His comrades liked him, but the bosses hated him, because they were afraid of his work among the workers and afraid of his songs. He was a fearless fighter for the working class.
In 1915 Joe Hill led a strike in Salt Lake City. The bosses knew that Joe Hill was the soul of the strike and decided to get rid of him. They needed an excuse and they soon found one. One day a man was murdered. The bosses then brought out a man who said that Joe was the murderer. Joe was tried and sentenced to death. He was shot on November 19, 1915.
Even while he was in prison, Joe Hill went on writing songs to keep up the workers’ fight. Just before he was killed, he sent a message to his comrades all over the country. These were his last words: “Don’t waste time mourning. Organize.”
On the day he was killed, a speaker at a big meeting said: “Joe Hill isn’t dead! He will never die!” To this day his name is remembered by fighting workers in the United States.
3、DUSTMEN ON STRIKE
It is Thursday morning. No dustmen come to the Turners’ road. They are still on strike. And the rubbish has not been collected for weeks.
The Turners are sitting at the breakfast table. Mr. Turner is reading the newspaper. It is time for Robert to go to school.
Robert: I’d better be going. ‘Bye.
Mrs. Turner: Oh, Robert, take the bag of rubbish out to the dustbin, please.
Robert: But where can I put it? The dustbin is full, Mum.
Mrs. Turner: Hasn’t it been emptied yet? Well, just put it near the dustbin, then.
Robert: All right. ‘Bye.
Mrs. Turner: This really is too bad. The dustbins haven’t been emptied for three weeks.
Mr. Turner: Hm?
Mrs. Turner: All the dustbins are full, and there are bags of rubbish everywhere. The whole street has been turned into one big rubbish dump. It smells terrible.
Mr. Turner: And it can bring more trouble.
Mrs. Turner: More trouble?
Mr. Turner: Yes, we’ve been warned to be careful of rats.
Mrs. Turner: Aren’t the dustmen going back to work yet?
Mr. Turner: No, they aren’t. Look, there’s a report here in the newspaper, with pictures. I’ll read it to you.
(reads) STRIKE DOES ON
Things are getting worse. No rubbish has been collected since the dustmen went on strike three weeks ago. Dustbins are full, and plastic bags full of rubbish have been piled in the streets. The smell is terrible. In some places rats have even been seen, and people have been warned to be careful.
The public wants to know: why hasn’t anything been done to end the strike? The dustmen say that they are badly paid and they want more money. They are not going back to work until they get it. But that is not all. They want to make it clear to the public that they do an important and necessary job.
Mrs. Turner: That’s true. Their job is important and necessary to us all.
Mr. Turner: Something must be done to end the strike.
4、WATER, STEAM AND ICE
We have all played with snow and ice. When a piece of ice is taken into a warm room, it becomes smaller and smaller, until in the end it disappears completely. Where has it gone? It has been turned into water by the heat.
In winter, when clothes are washed they don’t dry easily. They are often hung up near a fire. Soon steam can be seen rising from the wet clothes. The water in them is being turned into vapor, and they get drier and drier. When no more steam comes out, they must be taken away from the heat of the fire, ir they might get burnt.
If you hold a mirror close in front of your mouth and blow on it, you will find the glass covered at once with little drops of water. The warm water vapor in your breath has been changed into water on the cold glass. Now stop blowing, and soon you will find the glass clear again - the little drops of water has disappeared because they have again been turned into vapor by the warm air around them.
Leave a basin of water outside in freezing weather, and it will soon be covered with ice. If it is not taken inside the room, sooner or later the whole basin of water may be turned into a block of ice.
Most matter has three states: solid, liquid and gas. Solids can usually be turned into liquids and liquids into gases if we raise their temperature high enough. On the other hand, gases can often be turned into liquids and liquids into solids if they are made cold enough.
This change of state is a physical change and not a chemical one. If a piece of wood is heated to a high temperature, it begins to burn. Light and heat are sent out, together with heavy smoke, and soon only black charcoal is left. They is called a chemical change.
5、CUMPUTERS
The computer is a wonderful machine. It is the most important invention in many years. Today it is used a great deal in many ways. By the year 2,000 the computer will probably touch the lives of everyone, even people in faraway village.
The oldest kind of computer is abacus, used in China centuries ago. In the seventeenth century an adding machine was invented, but the first large, modern computer was built in 1946. A computer then could do 5,000 adding problems in one second. Now computers can work millions of times faster.
Today most computers have a memory. That means information can be stored in them and be taken out anytime needed. Computers are getting smaller and smaller, and computing faster and faster. Even in a large computer, the part that does the computing is now only about as big as the end of a finger.
Computers can do many kinds of work. For example, when someone buys something in a big shop, information about the sale is put into a computer. During the night the computer works on the information from all the sales that day. The next morning, the manager has a report on everything that was sold and also on everything that will soon be sold out.
In research about the moon, a lot of information is put into computers. A scientist can then “ask” the computer questions, and the computer “answers” on the screen. It is almost like talking to another scientist.
Another computer programme has information about different illnesses. A doctor can talk to the computer and explain what is wrong with a person. The computer will then tell what to do. If the doctor asks why, the computer goes through its memory and gives the reason.
In some large factories there are very few people. Robots do most of work. For example, in a car factory, when a different type of car comes along the line, the robot changes its work, just as a human would do. How does the robot know this? A computer “tells” it what to do.
In the last few years there have been great changes in computers. They now can do most of the things people can do, though most scientists agree that computers cannot completely take the place of humans. Who knows what the computers of tomorrow will be like? Will they make life better, or will they bring suffering to people? The students of today will have to decide how to use the computers of tomorrow.
6、复习课
7、A LESSON FROM NATURE
Not many years ago, some farmers were worried because hawks were taking many of their chickens. The farmers did not know what to do. Finally they went to the officials and ask for help.
“Kill the hawks,” the officials said. “We’ll even pay you for them.” So the farmers began to think of ways to kill hawks.
The farmers killed many hawks. Before long they didn’t have to worry about their chickens. But they now had a new worry. Field mice were eating up a lot of the farmers’ grain.
How did this happen?
Hawks eat not only chickens but also field mice. They eat mice field mice than chickens. But the farmers did not know this. When they killed a lot of hawks, they changed the balance of nature.
When people move into a new place, they often destroy many wild plants. Many of these plants are food for the animals. If the animals cannot find enough plants to eat, they will starve or have to leave the place.
In one part of the United States, for example, the deer there like to eat a certain kind of wild rose. The mountain lions there eat the deer. The number of deer, mountain lions, and wild roses does not change much if people leave things as they are.
But people killed many mountain lions in order to protect the deer. Soon there were so many deer that they ate up all the wild roses. Then the deer began to eat the green leaves of the young trees. The trees were important to the farmers. So the farmers thought of ways to protect their trees. Now the deer had nothing to eat, and many of them died. This was another lesson from nature.
It is important for us to keep the balance of nature. This is the lesson we should remember.
8、GOOD MANNERS
Manners are important to happy relations among people. Everyone likes a person with good manners. No one likes a person with bad manners. But what are good manners? How does one know what to do and what not to do?
Well, here are some examples.
A person with good manners never laughs at people when they are in trouble. Instead, he tries to help them. He is always kind to others. When people are waiting for a bus, he takes his turn. He does not push to the front of the line. On the bus he gives his seat to an older person or a person with a very young child. If he knocks into someone, or gets in his way, he says "excuse me" or "I’m sorry".
He says "please" when he ask for something and thank you when he receives something. He stands up when he is speaking to an older person, and he does not sit down until the other person takes his seat. He does not interrupt other people when they are talking. He does not talk too much. He does not talk loudly or laugh loudly in public. When he is eating he does not speak with his mouth full of food. He uses a handkerchief when he sneezes or coughs. He does not spit in public.
As a student, it is bad manners to come late to class. If you are late you should make an apology to the teacher either at the time or after class. It is also bad manners to keep silent when the teacher asks you a question. If you do not know the answer, say so immediately. If you do know, answer in a loud enough voice so that all the class may hear. It is polite for the students to help the teacher. Sometimes students can help their teachers to clean the blackboard, to close or open the door or windows. Sometimes there are papers to collect or to hand out. This kind of help is always appreciated.
Ideas of what are good manners are not always the same in different countries. But in all countries it is important to be kind and helpful.
9、LOOK CAREFULLY AND LEARN
My friend Carl will never forget a certain professor. This professor taught him chemistry at the university. He was an ordinary-looking little man with thick glasses, but he had a strange way of making his classes lively and interesting. And the lessons he taught were not easily forgotten.
Carl remembers one of his first lessons from this professor. After the students were all in the chemistry lab, the professor brought out three bottles. One was filled kerosene, one with castor oil, and one with vinegar. "Now watch carefully," said the professor. "Pay attention to everything that I do."
He then filled a cup with some of the kerosene, some of the castor oil and some of the vinegar. As the students watched with fascination, he mixed the three together. After that, he held up one of his finger and showed it to the class. He then dipped it into the cup. After a few seconds he took his finger out. "Now watch," he said. "Remember, you must do everything that I do."
He put his finger in his mouth and sucked it. He nodded with a smile. Then he handed the cup around the class of students. Each student dipped a finger into the mixture and sucked it. Each immediately made a face. The mixture tasted horrible.
When the cup was at last returned to the professor, he shook his head sadly. "I’m sorry," he said to the class, "but none of you watch carefully enough. Yes, I sucked a finger, but the finger I put into my mouth was not the one I had dipped into the cup."
It was their first important lesson as students of chemistry and they never forgot it.
10、复习课
