1、新东方背诵80篇01 The Language of Music音乐的语言A painter hangs his or her finished picture on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A
2、student of music needs as long and as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as thei
3、r vocal chords would be inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm - two entirely different movements. Singers and instrumentalists have to be able to get every note perf
4、ectly in tune. Pianists are spared this particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuners responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties: the hammers that hit the strings have to be coaxed not to sound like percuss
5、ion, and each overlapping tone has to sound clear. This problem of getting clear texture is one that confronts student conductors: they have to learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound, and they have to aim at controlling these sounds with fanatical but selfless authority. Techn
6、ique is of no use unless it is combined with musical knowledge and understanding. Great artists are those who are so thoroughly at home in the language of music that they can enjoy performing works written in any century.画家将已完成的作品挂在墙上,每个人都可以观赏到。作曲家写完了一部作品,得由演奏者将其演奏出来,其他人才能得以欣赏。因为作曲家是如此完全地依赖于职业歌手和职业演
7、奏者,所以职业歌手和职业演奏者肩上的担子可谓不轻。一名学音乐的学生要想成为一名演奏者,需要经受长期的、严格的训练,就象一名医科的学生要成为一名医生一样。绝大多数的训练是技巧性的。音乐家们控制肌肉的熟练程度,必须达到与运动员或巴蕾舞演员相当的水平。歌手们每天都练习吊嗓子,因为如果不能有效地控制肌肉的话,他们的声带将不能满足演唱的要求。弦乐器的演奏者练习的则是在左手的手指上下滑动的同时,用右手前后拉动琴弓-两个截然不同的动作。歌手和乐器演奏者必须使所有的音符完全相同协调。钢琴家们则不用操这份心,因为每个音符都已在那里等待着他们了。给钢琴调音是调音师的职责。但调音师们也有他们的难处:他们必须耐心地调
8、理敲击琴弦的音锤,不能让音锤发出的声音象是打击乐器,而且每个交叠的音都必须要清晰。如何得到乐章清晰的纹理是学生指挥们所面临的难题:他们必须学会了解音乐中的每一个音及其发音之道。他们还必须致力于以热忱而又客观的权威去控制这些音符。除非是和音乐方面的知识和悟性结合起来,单纯的技巧没有任何用处。艺术家之所以伟大在于他们对音乐语言驾轻就熟,以致于可以满怀喜悦地演出写于任何时代的作品。02 Schooling and Education上学与受教育It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to
9、get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important. Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows no bounds. It can t
10、ake place anywhere, hether in the shower or in the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on
11、the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in education from infancy on.
12、 Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of ones entire life. Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from o
13、ne setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understand
14、ing of the workings of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high school students know that they are not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimen
15、ting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.在美国,人们通常认为上学是为了受教育。 而现在却有人认为孩子们上学打断了他们 受教育的过程。 这种观念中的上学与受教育之间的区别非常重要。 与上学相比,教育更具 开放性,内容更广泛。 教育不受任何限制。 它可以在任何场合下进行,在淋浴时,在工作 时,在厨房里或拖拉机上。 它既包括在学校所受的正规教育,也包括一切非正规教育。 传 授知识的人可以是德高望重的老者,可以是收音机里进行政治辩论的人们,可以是小孩子, 也可以是知
16、名的科学家。 上学读书多少有点可预见性,而教育往往能带来意外的发现。 与 陌生人的一次随意谈话可能会使人认识到自己对其它宗教其实所知甚少。 人们从幼时起就 开始受教育。 因此,教育是一个内涵很丰富的词,它自始至终伴随人的一生,早在人们上 学之前就开始了。 教育应成为人生命中不可缺少的一部分。然而,上学却是一个特定的形 式化了的过程。 在不同场合下,它的基本形式大同小异。 在全国各地,孩子们几乎在同一 时刻到达学校,坐在指定的座位上,由一位成年人传授知识,使用大致相同的教材,做作业, 考试等等。 他们所学的现实生活中的一些片断,如字母表或政府的运作,往往受到科目范 围的限制。 例如,高中生们知道
17、,在课堂上他们没法弄清楚他们社区里政治问题的真情, 也不会了解到最新潮的电影制片人在做哪些尝试。 学校教育这一形式化的过程是有特定的 限制的。03 The Definition of Price价格的定义Prices determine how resources are to be used. They are also the means by which products and services that are in limited supply are rationed among buyers. The price system of the United States is a
18、 complex network composed of the prices of all the products bought and sold in the economy as well as those of a myriad of services, including labor, professional, transportation, and public-utility services. The interrelationships of all these prices make up the system of prices. The price of any p
19、articular product or service is linked to a broad, complicated system of prices in which everything seems to depend more or less upon everything else. If one were to ask a group of randomly selected individuals to define price, many would reply that price is an amount of money paid by the buyer to t
20、he seller of a product or service or, in other words, that price is the money value of a product or service as agreed upon in a market transaction. This definition is, of course, valid as far as it goes. For a complete understanding of a price in any particular transaction, much more than the amount
21、 of money involved must be known. Both the buyer and the seller should be familiar with not only the money amount, but with the amount and quality of the product or service to be exchanged, the time and place at which the exchange will take place and payment will be made, the form of money to be use
22、d, the credit terms and discounts that apply to the transaction, guarantees on the product or service, delivery terms, return privileges, and other factors. In other words, both buyer and seller should be fully aware of all the factors that comprise the total package being exchanged for the asked-fo
23、r amount of money in order that they may evaluate a given price.价格决定资源的使用方式。价格也是有限的产品与服务在买方中的配给手段。美国的价格系统是复杂的网状系统,包括经济生活中一切产品买卖的价格,也包括名目繁多的各种服务,诸如劳动力、专职人员、交通运输、公共事业等服务的价格。所有这些价格的内在联系构成了价格系统。任何一种个别产品或服务的价格都与这个庞大而复杂的系统密切相关,而且或多或少地受到系统中其它成份的制约。如果随机挑选一群人,问问他们如何定义价格,许多人会回答价格就是根据卖方提供的产品或服务,买方向其付出的钱数。换句话说,
24、价格就是市场交易中大家认同的产品或服务的货币量。该定义就其本身来说自有其道理。但要获得对价格在任何一桩交易中的完整认识,就必须考虑到大量非货币因素的影响。买卖双方不但要清楚交易中的钱数,而且要非常熟悉交易物的质量和数量,交易的时间、地点,采用哪种形式付款,有怎样的缓付和优惠,对交易物的质量保证、交货条款、退赔权利等等。也就是说,为了能估算索价,买卖双方必须通晓构成交易物价格的通盘细节。04 Electricity电The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio, tele
25、visions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators. Yet, people b
26、egan to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for millions of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanit
27、y. All living cells send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out pulses of record; they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroen
28、cephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small - often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. Whe
29、n large numbers of these cells are linked together, the effects can be astonishing. The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can send a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it lives. (An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts. )
30、As many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eels body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to the length of its body.当今时代是电气时代。人们对电灯、收音机、电视和电话早已司空见惯以致很难想象没有它们生活会变成什么样。当停电时,人们在摇曳不定的烛光下暗中摸索;因没有红绿灯的指示,汽车在道路上迟疑不前;冰箱也停止工作
31、,导致食物变质。人们只是在两个世纪前一点才开始了解电的使用原理,自然界却显然在这方面经历过了数百万年。科学家不断发现许多生物世界里可能有益于人类的关于电的有趣秘密。所有生物细胞都会发出微小的电脉冲。当心脏跳动时,把它发出的脉冲记录下来就成了心电图,这可让医生了解心脏的工作状况。大脑也发出脑电波,这可在脑电图上记录下来。许多生物细胞发出的电流都是极微小的,小到要用灵敏仪器才能记录和测量。但一些动物的某些肌肉细胞能转化成一个个发电机,以致完全失去肌肉细胞的功能。这种细胞大量地连接在一起时产生的效果将是非常令人吃惊的。电鳗就是一种令人惊异的蓄电池。它可以在水中发出相当于800伏特电压电流(家庭用户的
32、电压只有120伏特)。在电鳗的身体里,多至五分之四的细胞都专门用来发电,而且发出的电流的强度大约和它身体的长度成正比。05 The Beginning of Drama戏剧的起源There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. I
33、n the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world - even the seasonal changes - as unpredictable, and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they
34、 hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama. Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also arg
35、ue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the acting area and the a
36、uditorium. In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the
37、 desired effect - success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun - as an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities. Another theory traces the theaters origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this view tales
38、 (about the hunt, war, or other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythm
39、ical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.关于古希腊戏剧的起源存在着多种理论,其中一个最普遍为人接受的理论假设认为戏剧从仪式演化而来。这个观点是这样进行论证的:一开始,人类把世界上的自然力量,甚至季节的变化都看成是不可预料的。他们试图通过各种方式去控制这些未知的、令人恐惧的力量。那些似乎带来了满意结果的手段就被保留下来并且重复直到这些手段固化为不变的仪式,最后产生了能够解释或者掩盖这些仪式神秘性的故事。随着时间的推移,一些仪式被废弃了,但这些后来被称作神话的故事流传下来并且为艺术和戏剧提供了
40、素材。认为戏剧从仪式演化而来的人们还认为那些仪式包含了戏剧的基本因素,因为音乐、舞蹈、面具和服装几乎经常被使用,而且,必须为演出提供一个合适的地点;如果不是整个社区共同参加演出,经常在演出区和观众席之间划分出明显的分界。另外,仪式中还有演员,而且宗教领袖通常承担演出任务,因为在仪式的执行中避免错误的发生被认为有相当大的重要性;他们经常带着面具,穿着服装象演员那样扮演其它人、动物或超自然的生灵,用动作来表演以达到所需要的效果,比如打猎的成功或战斗的胜利、将至的雨、太阳的复活。最后这些戏剧性的表演从宗教活动中分离了出来。另一个追溯戏剧起源的理论认为它来自人们对叙述故事的兴趣。根据这个观点,故事(关
41、于狩猎、战争或者其它伟绩)是逐渐丰富起来的。首先通过一个讲解人来运用模仿、表演和对话,然后再由不同的人扮演各自的角色;另一个与之紧密相关的理论将戏剧的起源追溯至舞蹈,这些舞蹈大体上是有节奏感的和体操式的那一类,或者是对动物动作和声音的模仿。06 Television电视Television - the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth - is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophisti
42、cation and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies. The word television, derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and Latin (visio: sight) roots, can literally be inte
43、rpreted as sight from a distance. Very simply put, it works in this way: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting an image (focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera) into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or
44、 cable. These impulses, when fed into a receiver (television set), can then be electronically reconstituted into that same image. Television is more than just an electronic system, however. It is a means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for r
45、eaching other human beings. The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television signals. Second, there is nonbroadcast television, whi
46、ch provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest groups through controlled transmission techniques. Traditionally, television has been a medium of the masses. We are most familiar with broadcast television because it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to wha
47、t exists today. During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, who have been the major purveyors of news, information, and entertainment. These giants of broadcasting have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as we
48、ll. We have come to look upon the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this dynamic medium as the passive viewer.电视-以快速变化与发展为标志的最普遍、最具有影响力的一项现代技术,正在步入一个极端复杂化与多样化的新时代。这个时代承诺重新塑造我们的生活和我们的世界。这可以称得上是又一次电子革命,其关键在于电视技术与计算机技术的结合。电视这个词来源于希腊语词根(tele:远)和拉丁语词根(vision:景象),可以从字面上理解为来自远处
49、的景象。简单说来,电视是以这种方式工作的,通过一个复杂的电子系统,电视能够将一幅图像(这幅图像被聚焦在一部摄像机内的一块特殊的光导底片上)转换成能经过导线或电缆发送出去的电子脉冲信号。当这些电子脉冲信号被输入一部接收机(电视机)时,就可以用电子学的方法把脉冲信号重新恢复成同一幅图像。但是,电视不仅仅是一个电子系统,它还是一种表达工具和传播渠道。因此,电视成了一个对其他人发生影响的强大工具。电视这个领域可以根据其发射方式分为两类。第一类为广播电视,通过电视信号的宽带无线电波发射展现在大众面前;第二类为非广播电视,使用受控的发射技术来满足个人以及某些特殊利益群体的需要。电视早已成为大众媒介。我们熟悉广播电视,因为广播电视已经以类似目前的方式存在了大约37年。在那些年头中,电视绝大部分一直由ABC、NBC、CBS这些广播电视公司控制着,这些广播电视公司一直是新闻、信息和娱乐的主要提供者。这些广播业的巨头实际上不仅塑造了电视,而且也塑造了我们对电视的理解。我们渐渐把显像管看作是娱乐的来源,让自己成为这个生动的媒介的被动观众。07 Andrew Carnegie安德鲁卡内基Andrew Carnegie, known as