2023年6月24日发(作者：)

Unit 1

1. Nothing in life is more exciting and rewarding than the sudden flash of light that leaves you a

changed person--not only changed, but changed for the better.

The most inspiring and gratifying fact of life is the unexpected spark of enlightenment that

makes you different and a better person than before.

2. He came across the street, finally, muffled in his ancient overcoat, shapeless felt hat pulled down

over his bald head, looking more like an energetic gnome than an eminent psychiatrist.

At last he walked over from the other side of the street, wrapped in his old-fashioned overcoat,

his bald head covered by a shapeless felt hat. He looked like a dwarfish old man full of energy

rather than a well-known psychiatrist.

3. The woman who spoke next had never married because of a sense of obligation to her widowed

mother; she recalled bitterly all the marital chances she had let go by.

The next speaker on the tape was a woman who had remained single because she thought she

was obliged to take care of her mother who was a widow. She still remembered and told

others miserably about all the chances of marriage she had missed.

4. In the end, if you let it become a habit, it can become a real roadblock, an excuse for not trying

any more.

Eventually, if you form a habit of saying “if only”, the phrase can really turn to an

obstruction, providing you with an excuse for giving up trying anything at all.

5. ... you never got out of the past tense. Not once did you mention the future.

…you are always thinking of the past, regretting and lamenting. You did not look forward to

what you can do in the future at all.

6. ''My, my,'' said the Old Man slyly. ''If only we had come down ten seconds sooner, we'd have

caught that cab, wouldn't we?''

The Old Man said to me trickily, using the phrase “if only” on purpose, “If only we’d got here

ten seconds earlier, we’d have caught the cab.” I laughed and understood what he meant. So I

followed his advice and said, “Next time I’ll run faster”.

Unit 2

1. Moses pleaded a speech defect to rationalize his reluctance to deliver Jehovah's edict to Pharaoh.

Moses justified his unwillingness to pass Jehovah’s order to Pharaoh, saying that he was

“slow of speech”.

2. Yet for all the trouble procrastination may incur, delay can often inspire and revive a creative

soul.

Delay leads to problems. However, in many cases, it can often stimulate the creativity in an

artist.

3. He notes that speedy action can be embarrassing or extremely costly.

1 He points out that hastiness may give rise to decision which turn out to be humiliating or

expensive.

4. Bureaucratization, which flourished amid the growing burdens of government and the greater

complexity of society, was designed to smother policymakers in blankets of legalism, compromise

and reappraisal---and thereby prevent hasty decisions from being made.

Excessive red-tape(官样文章；繁文缛节) developed because public administration was

expanding in scope and because society was growing more and more complicated. In this

sense, red-tape helped those in charge of policy to be fully engaged in enormous amount of

paperwork and judgment, thus making it impossible for an immature decision to result.

5. ...many of my friends go through agonies when they face a blank page.

…many of my friends have a hard time the moment they attempt to put pen to paper.

Unit 3

1. Of course, my father is a gentleman of the old school, a member of the generation to whom a

good deal of modern architecture is unnerving; but I suspect---I more than suspect, I am

convinced---that his negative response was not so much to the architecture as to a violation of his

concept of the nature of money.

Brought up in the old tradition, my father is naturally not prepared to accept the idea of

modern architecture; his objection to it, I would assume, indeed I should say I am pretty sure,

is not a result of his strong dislike of the physical building itself, but rather that of his refusal

to change his attitude towards money.

2. If a building's design made it appear impregnable, the institution was necessarily sound, and the

meaning of the heavy wall as an architectural symbol dwelt in the prevailing attitude toward money,

rather than in any aesthetic theory.

If a building was made to look sturdy/invulnerable, it would be accordingly regarded as

reliable, and the significance of the thick walls would be measured not by their artistic value,

but by their seeming ability to provide a safe location for money.

3. In a primitive society, for example, men pictured the world as large, fearsome, hostile, and

beyond human control.

People in a primitive society, for example, saw the world as an enormous planet full of fear,

hatred and disorder.

principal function of today's wall is to separate possible undesirable outside air from the

controlled conditions of temperature and humidity which we have created inside.

Today a wall serves mainly as a physical means to protect the desired atmosphere inside from

being disturbed by anything unwelcome outside.

5. To repeat, it is not our advanced technology, but our changing conceptions of ourselves in

relation to the world that determine how we shall build our walls.

2 Again, the decisive factor that can influence the design of a wall is not the advancement of

science and technology, but our ever-changing attitude towards our place in this world.

Unit 4

1. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he

turned his varied fancies into facts.

He was a man rich in whimsies, and intolerant of any act bold enough as to challenge his

authority. When his mind caught upon something, absurd as it might be, he would do

everything to make sure that it was done in the way he wished.

2. When every member of his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in its appointed

course, his nature was bland and genial; but whenever there was a little hitch, and some of his orbs

got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as to

make the crooked straight, and crush down uneven places.

When all his subjects behaved in such a manner as they were told to, he could be gentle and

kind. And he could even be more so, if anything not conforming to what he expected should

occur, because that offered a great chance for him to see the undesirable removed, a thing he

was most delighted in doing.

3. He could open either door he pleased: he was subject to no guidance or influence but that of the

aforementioned impartial and incorruptible chance.

He enjoyed total freedom to choose what to do: he was not directed or influenced by anyone

as to which door to open. The only thing that was decisive in terms of his fate was the

above-mentioned chance, granted to all the accused alike.

4. This element of uncertainty lent an interest to the occasion which it could not otherwise have

attained.

The fact that no one could tell for sure what might happen (to the accused) made this from of

trial more attractive than any other form of justice.

5. Thus the masses were entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could

bring no charge of unfairness against this plan; for did not the accused person have the whole matter

in his own hands?

Thus people enjoyed coming here to watch, and those guided by reason in the society could

not possibly question the fairness of this form of trial; for was it not the fact that all the

accused were given equal chances to make decisions upon their won destiny?

Unit5

1. This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as

fervent and imperious as his own.

This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as exuberant as the wildest of his notions, a daughter

who possessed a nature as fierce and tyrannical as his own.

2. Of course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was charged had been done.

3 It was, of course, known to all that he was guilty of the offense of conducting an affair with the

princess.

3. ...; but the king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interfere with the workings of

the tribunal, in which he took such great delight and satisfaction.

…,even though the king was well aware that the love affair had taken place, he would still

refuse to let the normal method of deciding guilt or innocence be disturbed, because he was

extremely enthusiastic about his way of setting matters of this kind.

4. ...; but gold, and the power of a woman's will, had brought the secret to the princess.

.…; but because she had the money, and above all, because her determination was so

irresistible, the princess was able to get access to the secret.

5. He understood her nature, and his soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made

plain to herself this thing, hidden to all other lookers-on, even to the king.

He knew her so well that he was perfectly positive that she would never cease to search for the

secret, which remained unknown to all other spectators, even to the king himself.

Unit 6

1. There seems to be a general assumption that brilliant people cannot stand routine; that they need

a varied, exciting life in order to do their best.

It is generally believed that a colorless life can freeze a creative mind, and that only a colorful

life can inspire a man to creative work.

2. The outstanding characteristic of man's creativeness is the ability to transmute trivial impulses

into momentous consequences.

One of the wonders human creativity works is that man can make full use of even

insignificant feelings to produce far-reaching results.

3. An eventful life exhausts rather than stimulates.

A life full of diversions stops man’s creativity instead of activating it.

4. It is usually the mediocre poets, writers, etc.,who go in search of stimulating events to release

their creative flow.

Only literary artists of an average type rely on excitements in life as a source for their creative

work./ Great poets, writers, etc., create works of art out of trivial and common subject.

5. People who find dull job unendurable are often dull people who do not know what to do with

themselves when at leisure.

People who are unable to see how to be patient with repetitious work are usually those who

are unable to see where to find fun in life when it comes to relaxation.

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