新视野大学英语第三版电子书

1. Content

Unit 1 Fresh Start 1

Text A Toward a brighter future for all 1

Text B What we wish 7

Unit 2 Loving parents, loving children 8

Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return 8

Text B Time slows down 10

Unit 3 Digital Campus 12

Text A College life in the Internet age 12

Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction 14

Unit 4 Heroes of our time 15

Text A Heroes among us 16

Text B A hero’s aspiration 18

Unit 5 Winning is not everything 19

Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero 19

Text B Shaping young lives with sports 21

Unit 6 Earn as you learn 22

Text A To work or not to work- That is a question 22

Text B Earn as you learn? 24

Unit 7 Hoping for the better 25

Text A When honesty disappears 25

Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness 27

Unit 8 Friendship Across gender and boarder 28

Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not? 28

Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures 29

2. Unit 1 Fresh Start

Text A Toward a brighter future for all 

Text B What we wish 

2.1. Text A Toward a brighter future for all

Text A Toward a brighter future for all 

Toward a brighter future for all 

1 Good afternoon! As president of the university, I am proud to welcome you to this university. Your achievement is the triumph of years of hard work, both of your own and of your parents and teachers. Here at the university, we pledge to make your educational experience as rewarding as possible. 

2 In welcoming you to the university, I am reminded of my own high school graduation and the photograph my mom took of my dad and me. "Pose naturally," Mom instructed us. "Wait!" said Dad, "Let's take a picture of me handing him an alarm clock." The clock woke me up every morning in college. It is still on my office desk. 

3 Let me share with you something that you may not expect. You will miss your old routines and your parents' reminders to work hard and attain your best. You may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with high school, and your parents may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with doing your laundry! But know this: The future is built on a strong foundation of the past. 

4 For you, these next four years will be a time unlike any other. Here you are surrounded by great resources: interesting students from all over the country, a learned and caring faculty, a comprehensive library, great sports facilities, and student organizations covering every possible interest from the arts to science, to community service and so on. You will have the freedom to explore and learn about new subjects. You will learn to get by on very little sleep, meet fascinating people, and pursue new passions. I want to encourage you to make the most of this unique experience, and to use your energy and enthusiasm to reap the benefits of this opportunity. 

5 You may feel overwhelmed by the wealth of courses available to you. You will not be able to experience them all, but sample them widely! College offers many things to do and to learn, and each of them offers a different way to see the world. If I could give you only one piece of advice about selecting courses, it would be this: Challenge yourself! Don't assume that you know in advance what fields will interest you the most. Take some courses in fields you've never tried before. You will not only emerge as a more broadly educated person, but you will also stand a better chance of discovering an unsuspected passion that will help to shape your future. A wonderful example of this is the fashion designer, Vera Wang, who originally studied art history. Over time, Wang paired her studies in art history with her love of fashion and turned it into a passion for design, which made her a famous designer around the world. 

6 Here at the university, it may not always be pleasant to have so many new experiences all at once. In your dorm, the student next door may repeatedly play the one song, which gives you a giant headache! You may be an early bird while your roommate is a night owl! And still, you and your roommate may become best friends. Don't worry if you become a little uncomfortable with some of your new experiences. I promise you that the happy experiences will outweigh the unpleasant ones. And I promise that virtually all of them will provide you with valuable lessons which will enrich your life. So, with a glow in your eye and a song in your heart, step forward to meet these new experiences! 

7 We have confidence that your journey toward self-discovery and your progress toward finding your own passion will yield more than personal advancement. We believe that as you become members of our community of scholars, you will soon come to recognize that with the abundant opportunities for self-enrichment provided by the university, there also come responsibilities. A wise man said: "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." You are the inheritors of the hard work of your families and the hard work of many countless others who came before you. They built and transmitted the knowledge you will need to succeed. Now it is your turn. What knowledge will you acquire? What passions will you discover? What will you do to build a strong and prosperous future for the generations that will come after you? 

8 We take great pleasure in opening the door to this great step in your journey. We take delight in the many opportunities which you will find, and in the responsibilities that you will carry as citizens of your communities, your country, and the world. Welcome！

Words and Expressions

triumph 

n. （尤指苦战后获得的）胜利，成功，成就 

pledge 

vt. 发誓；作保证 

pose 

vi. （为照相或画像而）摆姿势 

vt. 造成，导致（困难或危险） 

routine 

n. 例行公事；常规；惯例 

a. 常规的；例行的；惯常的 

attain 

vt. 得到；获得；赢得 

foundation 

n. 基础 

resource 

n. 1 资源；2 自然资源 

faculty 

n. 1 全体教员；2 天赋；能力；本领 

comprehensive 

a. 综合的；多方面的 

facility 

n. （为某种目的而提供的）设施，设备 

community 

n. 1 （同住一地的人所构成的）社区；2 群体；团体 

explore 

vt. 探讨，研究（主题、思想等） 

v. 勘探；探测；考察 

fascinating 

a. 吸引人的；迷人的；使人神魂颠倒的 

pursue 

vt. 1 追求；致力于；2 追赶；追逐 

passion 

n. 1 强烈的爱好；热爱 

n. 2 强烈的情感；激情 

unique 

a. 1 特别的；极不寻常的；极好的；2 不同的；独特的 

enthusiasm 

n. 热爱；热情；热心 

reap 

vt. 收获；获得 

v. 收割（庄稼） 

benefit 

n. 好处；益处；裨益 

opportunity 

n. 机会；时机 

overwhelm 

vt. （数量大得）使无法对付 

available 

a. 可获得的；可利用的；现成的 

sample 

vt. 1 体验；2 对…作抽样检验 

n. 样本；样品；货样 

assume 

vt. 假定；假设；认为 

emerge 

vi. 1 出现；为……所公认；2 出现；露出 

giant 

a. 巨大的；特大的 

mate 

n. 同事；同伴 

roommate 

n. （尤指大学里的）室友 

owl 

n. 猫头鹰 

virtual 

a. 1 几乎相同的；实质上的；2 虚拟的；模拟的 

virtually 

ad. 1 实际上；几乎；差不多；2 虚拟地；模拟地 

enrich 

vt. 使丰富；充实；强化 

glow 

n. 1 （某种）强烈的情感；2 柔和稳定的光 

vi. 发出柔和稳定的光 

confidence 

n. 1 信心；信赖；信任；2 自信心 

yield 

vt. 1 产生（结果等）；2 出产；产生 

vi. 屈从；让步 

abundant 

a. 大量的；丰富的；充裕的 

responsibility 

n. 1 （道德、社会）责任，义务；2 责任；3 职责；任务；义务 

inherit 

vt. 沿袭，秉承（信仰、传统或生活方式） 

v. 继承（财产） 

inheritor 

n. 1 （生活或思想方式的）后继者，继承人；2 遗产继承人 

transmit 

vt. 传送；传递；传播 

acquire 

vt. 1 学到，获得（知识、技能）；2 取得；获得；3 购得；得到 

prosperous 

a. 富裕的；繁荣的；兴旺的 

remind sb. of sb./sth. 

1 使某人想起某人或某事 

2 使某人想起（相似的）人或事 

get by 

过活；过得去；勉强应付 

make the most of sth. 

最大限度地利用某物 

reap the benefits (of sth.) 

得享（某事物的）好处 

in advance 

预先；提前 

stand a chance (of doing sth.) 

有（做成某事的）希望 

over time 

逐渐地；慢慢地 

turn (sb./sth.) into sth. 

（使某人/某物）变成 

all at once 

1 同时 

2 一下子；突然 

take pleasure in (doing) sth. 

乐于做某事 

open the door to sth. 

给…以机会；给…敞开方便之门 

take delight in (doing) sth. 

以（做）某事为乐 

Vera Wang 

王薇薇（1949– ，著名美籍华裔设计师，被誉为“婚纱女王”） 

2.2. Text B What we wish

Text B What we wish

My dear child,

1 You are about top anticipate in the next leg of your journey through life.  For us, this part is bittersweet.  As you go off to college, exciting new worlds will open up to you. They will inspire and challenge you; you will grow in incredible ways.

2 This is also a moment of sadness.  Your departure to college makes it undeniably clear that you are no longer a child. There has been no greater joy than watching you arrive at this moment.  You have turned our greatest challenge into our greatest pride.  Although we have brought you to this point, it is hard to watch you depart.  Remember above all things, we will miss you. 

3 College will be the most important time of your life. It is here that you will truly discover what learning is about.  You often ask, "Why do I need to know this?"  I encourage you to stay inquisitive, but remember this: "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." What you learn is not as important as the fact that you learn.  This is the heart of scholarship: moving from teacher-taught to master-inspired, on over to the point where you become a self-learner.  So, take each subject seriously, and if something doesn't immediately engage you, don't despair. Embrace it as a challenge. Find a way to make it your own. 

4 Of course, you must still take care to sign up for courses which stimulate your passion you’re your intellectual capacity.  Don't be bound by what other people think.  Steve Jobs said, when you are in college, your passion will create many dots, and later in your life you will connect them.  So, don't worry too much about what job you will have; don't be too practical.  If you like French or Korean, study it even if someone else tells you that it's not useful. Enjoy picking your "dots". Be assured that one day, you will find your own meaningful career, and you will connect a beautiful curve through those dots. 

5 You know that we always want you to do your best, but don't let the pressure of grades get to you.  We care only that you try your very best, and that you learn.  It is better that your greatest effort earns a lesser grade than that no effort earns you a decent or higher grade.  Grades in the end are simply letters fit to give the vain something to boast about, and the lazy something to fear.  You are too good to be either.  The reward is not the grade but what you learn. 

6 More importantly, make friends and trust others. The friends you make in college can be the best ones you will ever have. During these years, when you move into adulthood, the friends you make in college live closer to you than your family.  You will form bonds of friendship that will blossom over many decades.  Pick friends who are genuine and sincere.  Select a few and become truly close to them.  Don't worry about their hobbies, grades, or looks.  Instead, trust your instincts when you make new friends.  You are a genuine and sincere person; anyone would enjoy your friendship. So be confident, secure, and proactive.  If you think you like someone, tell them. You have very little to lose.  Don't be afraid to trust.  Give others the benefit of the doubt, and don't reduce anyone to stereotypes.  Nobody is perfect; as long as others are genuine, trust them and be good to them. They will give back. 

7 Remember also that your youth is full of strength and beauty, something that you will not comprehend until it is gone.  You must guard and cultivate your strength and beauty.  A healthy body and a sound mind are the greatest instruments you will ever possess.  Enjoy life.  Dance if you feel like it. Don't be afraid of what other people think.  But also keep yourself safe and sound.  Don't let the range of new experiences take your innocence, health, or curiosity away from you.  Treasure your youth and the university experience before you. 

8 College is the time when you have: the first taste of independence, the greatest amount of free time, the most flexibility to change, the lowest cost for making mistakes. 

9 Approach these years enthusiastically!  Make the most of your time. Become the great thinker you were born to be.  Let your talents evolve to their fullest potential.  Be bold! Experiment!  Learn and grow!  We are enormously proud that you've made it this far, and we can't wait to see what you will become. 

Your father 

3. Unit 2 Loving parents, loving children

Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return 8

Text B Time slows down 10

3.1. Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return

Text A A child’s clutter awaits an adult’s return 

1 I watch her back her new truck out of the driveway. The vehicle is too large, too expensive.  She'd refused to consider a practical car with good gasefficiency and easy to park.  It's because of me, I think.  She bought it to show me that she could. 

2 "I'm 18," she'd told me so often that my teeth ached. "I am an adult!" 

3 I thought, is that true? Just yesterday you watched some cartoons. What changed between yesterday and today? 

4 Today she's gone, off to be an adult far away from me.  I'm glad she's gone.  It means she made it, and that I'm finally free of 18 years of responsibilities. And yet I wonder if she could take good care of herself. 

5 She left a mess.  Her bathroom is anembarrassment of damp towels, rusted shavingblades, hair in the sink, and nearly empty tubes oftoothpaste.  I bring a box of big black garbage bags upstairs.  Eye shadow, face cream, nail polish — all go into the trash.  Idump drawers, sweep shelves clear and clean the sink.  When I am finished, it is as neat and impersonal as a hotel bathroom. 

6 In her bedroom I findmismatched socks under her bed and purple pants on the closet floor.  Desk drawers are filed with school papers, field by year and subject.  I catch myself reading through poems and essays, admiring high scores on tests and reading her name, printed or typed neatly in the upper right-hand corner of each paper.  I pack the desk contents into a box.  Six months, I think.  I will give her six months to collect her belongings, and then I will throw them all away. That is fair.  Grown-ups pay for storage. 

7 I have to pause at the books.  Comic books, teenfiction, romantic novels,historical novels, and textbooks.  A lifetime of reading; each bookbeloved.  I want to be practical, to stuff them in paper sacks for the used bookstore.  But I love books as much as she does, so I stack them onto a single bookshelf to deal with later. 

8 I go for her clothes. Dresses, sweaters, and shoes she hasn't worn since seventh grade are placed into garbage bags. I am a plague of locusts emptying the closet.  Two piles grow to clumsyheights: one for charity, the other trash. 

9 There are more shoes, stuffed animals, large and small posters, hair bands, and pink hair curlers.  The job grows larger the longer I am at it.  How can one girl collect so much in only 18 years? 

10 I stuff the garbage bags until the plastic strains.  Ihaul them down the stairs, two bags at a time. Donations to charity go into the trunk of my car; trash goes to the curb.  I'm earning myself sweat andsore shoulders. 

11 She left the bedroom aridiculous mess, the comforter on the floor, the sheets tossed aside.  Istrip off the comforter, blanket, sheets, and pillows.  Once she starts feeding coins into laundry machines, she'll appreciate the years of clean clothes I've provided for free. 

12 I will turn her room into a crafts room. Or create the fancy guest room I've always wanted. 

13 I turn the bed over. A large brown envelope is marked "DO NOT THROW AWAY."  I open it. More papers.  I dump the contents onto the floor. There are old family photographs, letters, greeting cards, and love notes from us to her. There are comics clipped from newspapers and magazines.  Every single item in this envelope has passed from our hands to hers.  These are all things that we gave her. Suddenly, I feel very emotional. 

14 "DO NOT THROW AWAY." 

15 My kid — my clutter bug— knows me too well.  As I read through the cards and notes, I think maybe the truck wasn't such a bad idea, after all.  Maybe it helps her to feel less small in a big world. 

16 I reverse myself and bring back the garbage bags from the car and the curb.  Clothes and shoes go back into the closet.  I remake the bed and pile it with stuffed animals.  My husband comes home and calls up the stairs. 

17 "Just straightening up," I tell him.  "Can you find some boxes for her stuff?" 

18 He brings up boxes from the basement. 

19 "She left a mess," he says. 

20 "I don't mind," I reply. Silence. 

21 Then he says softly, "She's not coming back."  I feel my throat tighten at the sadness in his voice.  I try hard to keep back my tears. 

22 My little baby, my dependent child, isn't coming back.  But someday my daughter, the independent woman, will return home.  Tokens of her childhood will await her.  So will we, with open arms. 

3.2. Text B Time slows down

Text B Time slows down

1 "Daddy, let's take a walk." 

2 It's an April day in Virginia.  He nods, puts his hands on the arms of his wheelchair, whispers something that makes little sense.  I try to help him up, but he is too heavy andlimp. 

3 "Come for a walk, and then — I've brought you a surprise." 

4 The white curtains surge in the breeze. 

5 Shivering, he complains it's chilly.  "It's cold, I'm tired. Can't we go home now?" 

6 Suddenly we're far away in a time long past in part of a harbor I've never seen before.  December, Chicago, I'm five, and cold. One glove is lost.  My feet are tired.  His legs are longer; he strides quickly through melting snow, toward buildings like airplane sheds withimmense doors. 

7 This is the most exciting place I have ever been. Suddenly my fatigue is gone.  I could walk along here forever, at least until I find out how to get aboardone of the boats. 

8 We slow down our pace. Smaller sheds now. A green diner.  Smells of fish and smoke.  We enter a little hut.  Barrels of salty water, string bags ofshellfish, bundles of fish laid out on ice. 

9 "Daddy, look at that snake!" 

10 "No, that's an eel," says Daddy.  "Smoked. We'll take a portion home for supper." 

11 "I certainly won't eat that!" 

12 "All right," he says, and carries the smelly package.  As we walk back, he tells me aboutmigrations of eels to the Sargasso Sea: how eels come down Dalmatian rivers and swim across the Mediterranean and then the whole Atlantic, until they reach the warm Sargasso Sea.  Here they lay their eggs, and then the baby eels swim back to the native rivers of their parents. 

13 Back at last in the apartment, he unwraps the eel, opens his pocket knife and slices carefully. 

14 "I won't eat it," I saysuspiciously. 

15 "Try one bite, just for me." 

16 "I won't like it." 

17 While he hangs up our coats, I test one pinch. Smelly, smoky, and salty. 

18 He goes into the kitchen to heat milk for me and tea for himself.  I test another pinch.  Then another.  He returns with the steaming cups. 

19 The eel has vanished. 

20 Because it is Sunday and I am five, he forgives me.  Time slows down and the love flows in — father to daughter and back again. 

21 At 19, I fly out to Japan.  My father and I climb Mount Fuji.  High above the Pacific, and hours up the slope, we picnic on dried eel, seaweed crackers, and cold rice wrapped in the eel skin.  He reaches thepeak first. 

22 As the years stretch, we walk along waterways all over the world.  With his long stride, he often overtakes me.  I've never known anyone with such energy. 

23 Some days, time flies with joy all around. Other days, time rots like old fish. 

24 Today in the nursing home in Virginia, anticipating his reluctance, I beg boldly and encourage him, "Please, Daddy, just a little walk.You are supposed to exercise." 

25 He can't get out of his chair.  Not that he often gets up on his own, but once in a while he'll suddenly have a surge of strength.  I stoop to lift his feet from the foot restraints, fold back the metal pieces which often scrape his delicate, paper-thin skin.  "Come, now you can stand." 

26 He grips the walker and struggles forward. Gradually I lift and pull him to his feet.  Standing unsteadily, he sways and then gains his balance. 

27 "See, you made it! That's wonderful! All right, I'll be right behind you, my hand in the small of your back. Now — forward, march!" 

28 He is impatient with the walker as I accompany him to the dining room.  I help him to his chair, and hand him a spoon.  It slips from his fingers.  Pureed tuna is heaped on a plastic plate.  I encourage him, sing him old songs, tell stories, but he won't eat. When I lift a spoonful of gray fishy stuff to his mouth, he says politely, "I don't care for any." 

29 Nor would I. 

30 Then I take the small smelly package covered in white wrapping paper from a plastic bag.  He loves presents, and he reaches forward with awkward fingers to try to open it. The smell fills the room. 

31 "Look, Daddy, they've been out of it for months, but at last this morning at the fish seller near the Potomac, I found some smoked eel." 

32 We unwrap it, and then I take out the Swiss Army Knife my beloved aunt gave me "for safekeeping", and slice the silvery flesh. 

33 "What a beautiful picnic," my father beams. 

34 He takes a sip of his champagne, and then with steady fingers picks up a slice of eel and downs it easily.  Then another, and another, until he eats the whole piece.  And again, time slows down and the love flows in — daughter to father and back again. 

4. Unit 3 Digital Campus

Text A College life in the Internet age 12

Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction 14

4.1. Text A College life in the Internet age

Text A College life in the Internet age

1 The college campus, long a place of scholarship and frontiers of new technology, is beingtransformed into a new age of electronics by afleet of laptops, smartphones and connectivity 24 hours a day. 

2 On a typical modern-day campus, where every building and most outdoor common areas offer wireless Internet access, one student takes her laptop everywhere.  In class, she takes notes with it, sometimes instant-messaging or emailing friends if the professor is less than interesting.  In her dorm, she instant-messages her roommate sitting just a few feet away.  She is tied to her smartphone, which she even uses to text a friend who lives one floor above her, and which supplies music for walks between classes. 

3 Welcome to college life in the 21st century, where students on campus are electronically linked to each other, to professors and to their classwork 24/7 in an ever-flowing river of information and communication.  With many schools offering wireless Internet access anywhere on campus, colleges as a group have become the most Internetaccessible spots in the world. 

4 Students say they really value their fingertip-access to the boundless amount of information online, and the ability to email professors at 2 a.m. and receive responses the next morning.  "I always feel like I have a means of communication — in class and out of class," says oneengineering major. 

5 Many are using smartphones, not only to create their own dialectswhen texting, but also to do more serious work, such as practicing foreign languages and analyzingscripts from their theater classes.  In a university class on the history of American radio, students use smartphones to record their own radio shows. The course instructor said, "It's adding to students' sense of excitement about the subject."  Professors have been encouraged to tape their lectures and post them online.  "We realized there might be some potential for a devicethat could get attention and encouragesophisticated thinking," says one leading university director. 

6 For mostundergraduates, non-stop Internet connectivity is the fuel of college life.  More than just toys, these instruments are powerful tools for the storage and management of virtually every kind of information. And as more people around the world adoptthese instruments, they are becoming indispensable. So, students should use the wonders of the Internet to do homework, review lecture outlines, take part in class discussions and network online with their friends.  But in doing so, students must remember to regulate and balance their time.  Too much time online can mean too little time in real-life studying or exercising or visiting with friends.  Students should not let the Internet world on their computer screens take them away from the real world outside. 

7 Colleges began embracing Internet access in the mid-1990s, when many began wiring dorms with high-speed connections.  In the past few years, schools have taken the lead by turning their campuses intobubbles of Wi-Fi networks. In fact, a recent study in the US found that information technology accounted for 5% to 8% of college budgets, up from an estimated 2% to 3% in the mid-1980s. 

8 On one campus, students use Wi-Fi to fire off instant messages, review their homeworkassignments, and check their bank balances.  Just nine miles down thehighway, another university had been feeling a bit of a technologyinferiority complex.  Tocompensate, it spent tens of thousands of dollars to give every one of its incoming freshmen a free Apple iPad. 

9 Some universities even require that all students own or lease a laptop. Some say the focus on technology prepares students for a wired world.  "You have to keep up with the rest of the world. Students expect high-bandwidth information, and if you can't deliver it, you're at acompetitive disadvantage," states a university president. 

10 Other colleges are straining to stand out from their peers.  The race to attract students with the most modern networks and the hottest systems has reached fever pitch. Some business majors are receiving free portablecomputers.  In an always-connected mode, they can get information anytime and anywhere they need. One university is even giving its freshmen new smartphones to enrich the student experience and prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world. 

11 For those who prefer to travel laptop-free, colleges supply several computer labs.  And for students who study late into the night, many have set up 24-hour repair shops where students can get their laptops fixed by the next day and receive aloaner in the meantime. 

12 Colleges around the world have been replacing their computer systems for the past decade, in large part to provide students with the most advanced free system.  The anywhere-anytime access has already yieldedamazing benefits in education.  With the widespread application of computer technologies, we are going to produce a generation of problem-solvers and intelligentthinkers, which is indispensable for the future of the world. 

4.2. Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction

Text B Too much of a good thing-a real addiction

1 The college campus, long a place of scholarship and frontiers of new technology, is beingtransformed into a new age of electronics by afleet of laptops, smartphones and connectivity 24 hours a day. 

2 On a typical modern-day campus, where every building and most outdoor common areas offer wireless Internet access, one student takes her laptop everywhere. In class, she takes notes with it, sometimes instant-messaging or emailing friends if the professor is less than interesting. In her dorm, she instant-messages her roommate sitting just a few feet away. She is tied to her smartphone, which she even uses to text a friend who lives one floor above her, and which supplies music for walks between classes. 

3 Welcome to college life in the 21st century, where students on campus are electronically linked to each other, to professors and to their classwork 24/7 in an ever-flowing river of information and communication. With many schools offering wireless Internet access anywhere on campus, colleges as a group have become the most Internetaccessible spots in the world. 

4 Students say they really value their fingertip-access to the boundless amount of information online, and the ability to email professors at 2 a.m. and receive responses the next morning. "I always feel like I have a means of communication — in class and out of class," says oneengineering major. 

5 Many are using smartphones, not only to create their own dialectswhen texting, but also to do more serious work, such as practicing foreign languages and analyzingscripts from their theater classes. In a university class on the history of American radio, students use smartphones to record their own radio shows. The course instructor said, "It's adding to students' sense of excitement about the subject." Professors have been encouraged to tape their lectures and post them online. "We realized there might be some potential for a devicethat could get attention and encouragesophisticated thinking," says one leading university director. 

6 For mostundergraduates, non-stop Internet connectivity is the fuel of college life. More than just toys, these instruments are powerful tools for the storage and management of virtually every kind of information. And as more people around the world adoptthese instruments, they are becoming indispensable. So, students should use the wonders of the Internet to do homework, review lecture outlines, take part in class discussions and network online with their friends. But in doing so, students must remember to regulate and balance their time. Too much time online can mean too little time in real-life studying or exercising or visiting with friends. Students should not let the Internet world on their computer screens take them away from the real world outside. 

7 Colleges began embracing Internet access in the mid-1990s, when many began wiring dorms with high-speed connections. In the past few years, schools have taken the lead by turning their campuses intobubbles of Wi-Fi networks. In fact, a recent study in the US found that information technology accounted for 5% to 8% of college budgets, up from an estimated 2% to 3% in the mid-1980s. 

8 On one campus, students use Wi-Fi to fire off instant messages, review their homeworkassignments, and check their bank balances. Just nine miles down thehighway, another university had been feeling a bit of a technologyinferiority complex. Tocompensate, it spent tens of thousands of dollars to give every one of its incoming freshmen a free Apple iPad. 

9 Some universities even require that all students own or lease a laptop. Some say the focus on technology prepares students for a wired world. "You have to keep up with the rest of the world. Students expect high-bandwidth information, and if you can't deliver it, you're at acompetitive disadvantage," states a university president. 

10 Other colleges are straining to stand out from their peers. The race to attract students with the most modern networks and the hottest systems has reached fever pitch. Some business majors are receiving free portablecomputers. In an always-connected mode, they can get information anytime and anywhere they need. One university is even giving its freshmen new smartphones to enrich the student experience and prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world. 

11 For those who prefer to travel laptop-free, colleges supply several computer labs. And for students who study late into the night, many have set up 24-hour repair shops where students can get their laptops fixed by the next day and receive aloaner in the meantime. 

12 Colleges around the world have been replacing their computer systems for the past decade, in large part to provide students with the most advanced free system. The anywhere-anytime access has already yieldedamazing benefits in education. With the widespread application of computer technologies, we are going to produce a generation of problem-solvers and intelligentthinkers, which is indispensable for the future of the world.

5. Unit 4 Heroes of our time

Text A Heroes among us 16

Text B A hero’s aspiration 18

5.1. Text B A hero’s aspiration

1 Officer Jonda's pulse quickened.  Road conditions were dangerous on that cold, dark wintery night.  The fierce storm made it hard to see, but she could tell the car ahead of her was in trouble.  It was swaying.  It was not swaying violently, and was still barely within the lane, but on the winding road in the fierce November rain, it was enough.  Jonda had a sixth sense for accidents and lived in terror of them ever since that awful night so many years ago.  She still couldn't abolish the terribleimage of that teenager screaming for help, her help.  Help that she had been unable to give as she was driven back by the intense heat of the car fire.

 

2 Her subsequent report on the incident had dutifully noted the facts, as she had been trained to write them, facts that did not include screams or pain.  It was strange to talk about them one way: a string of facts for a police report; and to think about them in another: burning metal and deep tire tracks on the slippery concrete, bits of safety glass likeprimitive crystals reflecting in pools of blood.  These were memories Jonda could never really turn off.  Sheleaned on her training for support, and these days she never ignored any signs of the next accident. She made a gesture to turn on the patrol car's flashing lights, but her partner, David, beat her to it; he too had sensed the danger. "Let's pull that car over before someone gets hurt," he said.

 

3 The big car slowed, but not enough to stop at the warning sign as the driverslammed on the brakes. The car slipped off the road into the Dalton River.

 

4 Jonda quickly brought the police car to a halt and got out.  Yelling at David to call for backup help, she slipped down the side of the road to the water's edge.

 

5 The rain had swelled the river into a ragingmonster.  It roared well over its banks, rushing swiftly with tree limbscaught in the raging current.  And halfsubmerged in the currentwas the car.  As big as it was, the force of the water had heaved it against a tree, the passenger seat submerged, water rushing over the windshield.  "DearLord!" Jonda prayed. "Never again!" This is too much, too familiar, Jonda thought.

 

6 The driver would not have had time to make it out, Jonda knew.  Her flashlight beam barely cut through the heavy rain, but she could still see the trapped driver screaming and banging the window. And the car was filling up with water.

 

7 "David, I need the window hammer!"  Jonda called over her radio and rushed toward the car.  By the time she was at the driver door, the water was rushing up to her waist, and unbelievably cold, like her legs had been encased in ice.  If she didn't work quickly, she could lose the feeling in her lower body and collapse.

 

8 Through the window, Jonda saw the woman with water up to her chest. A work badge pinned to her chest identified her as Sandy.  And she was old, 65 or 70.  She would not last long in the icy water. Her eyes, betraying her intense fear, were locked on Jonda's.  "Save me," she screamed.

 

9 David caught up with Jonda and passed her the window hammer.  "Ma'am," she yelled through the window, "I need you to turn away from the glass! I'm going to break through!" The woman turned her head, and Jonda struck. The glass, thick as the old car was big, barelycracked.  And with a heavy heart Jonda felt the car heave.  The current was loosening it from the tree.

 

10 Jonda struck again with all her might and this time, mercifully, the window broke into little pieces. Water rushed in and the car heaved again, soon to be carried downstream.

 

11 The woman tried to speak through her shivering lips.  "Tell my grandchildren I love them," she moaned.

 

12 Jonda leaned in and wrapped her arms around the woman.  "We're not going to lose you, Sandy! Put your arms around my neck and hold on! David, grab my waist and pull!"

 

13 With all her strength in the icy water, Jonda grabbed the slender woman out of her seat and through the broken window, David pulling at her waist.  The car heaved one last time, and just as the woman cleared it, it was swallowed by the water.

 

14 The woman was crying in Jonda's arms.  "It's all right, ma'am," Jonda said, tears streaking down her cheeks, unable to let go of the woman.  "We didn't lose you! We didn't lose you!" she cried.  Stiff and sore, Sandy cried, "Thank you!"

 

15 Since the accident, the two women have become close friends.  "She's a fantastic woman," Sandy says.  "She just refused to let me die. I'm forever grateful to her."  But Jonda feels she has much to be grateful for too, because finally, she is healed and free of the acute nightmares of her past.

5.2. Text A Heroes among us

1 Who's a hero these days?  In an era of heightened heroism, the word hero has become more common.  We use hero to describe bothvictims and survivors of all kinds of difficulties andtragedies.  Who are the heroes among us?

 

2 In the days subsequentto a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, many described 20-yearold political associate Daniel Hernandez as a hero. During the horrible shooting, he courageously ran through the danger to save the life of one of the victims, his boss and friend, congresswomanGabrielle Giffords.  Daniel held her head up so she could breathe and applied pressure to her wounds. He spoke tender words ofsympathy, telling her that he would find her husband and her parents and that everything would be fine. And he never left her side, staying beside her in the ambulance all the way to the hospital.

 

3 Another hero from the mass shooting in Tucson was Dory Stoddard.  Dory gave his life for his wife, Mavy.  Dory and his wife had been friends since childhood and when Dory heard shots ring out he immediately fell on top of his wife to shield her from the hail of bullets.  At the memorial service, thepriest said: "Dory didn't die a hero; he lived a hero." Long known for hisremarkable spirit and love of humanity, Dory Stoddard died as he had always lived, assisting others.

 

4 These are civilianheroes, who acted instinctively with courage and grace when caught up in extraordinarycircumstances.

 

5 But what about firstresponders , whose job is, in the words of the widowof a fallen police officer, to "rush toward danger"?

 

6 In Toronto, Canada, downtown life stopped when more than 11,000 police and other emergency responders marched solemnly through the streets to honorSergeant Ryan Russell, a 35-year-old "good man and good cop", who believed deeply in his commitmentto protect and serve.  Sgt. Russell moved quickly to protect others from harm. He tried to stop a drunk driver in a stolen snowplow with only his police automobile and his goodwill to help others. Sadly, Sgt. Russell was unable to stop the drunk driver and was killed in the effort.

 

7 It used to be that the word hero was reserved for those who performed acts of distinct courage beyond the call of duty.  A soldier who runs through gunfire to rescue othermilitary personnel is seen as a hero.  So are larger-than-life leaders such as Nelson Mandela, who emerged after 27 years ofjail, confined in a solitarychamber.  He made the choice not to be bitter, and worked hard as South Africa's first black president to establishharmony and helped society reconcile itsconflicted past.

 

8 But today, our heroes are average men and women, "everyday heroes" to whom we can relate, people like us.

 

9 However, while many people honor Sgt. Russell, some people raise this question when they try to make sense of a tragedy like Sgt. Russell's: "Some first responders do not succeed in helping others and they get injured or die in their efforts. Do these people become heroes because of what happens to them as they try to help others — instead of what they actually make happen?"

 

10 I asked road safetyadvocate Eleanor McMahon whether she thought Sgt. Russell was a hero.  Ms. McMahon's late husband, a police officer, was killed by a drunk truck driver in a 2006 off-duty bicycling accident. Through grief and rage, Ms. McMahon founded Share the Road, a cyclingassociation, and worked tirelessly until the government established "Greg's Law", legislationthat gave authority to police to immediately seize the automobiles of drunk drivers caught on the road.

 

11 Ms. McMahon replied that she thought Sgt. Russell was indeed a hero.  "Just imagine, in the middle of an intensesnowstorm this policeman thinks: I've got to stop this snowplow before it hurts others."  Ms. McMahon summed up why she considered many police officers to be heroes: "It's natural to be afraid of danger. It's natural for that fear to cause most people to rush toward safety and away from danger. Heroes do just the opposite. They rush toward danger to help those in need."

 

12 We count on first responders to rush toward danger, especially when itinvolves us or those we love.  We expect nothing less.  So when one of them dies doing that, we should recognize the heroic action even though we may doubt our own capacity to be heroic ourselves.

 

13 The inspiring stories of heroes help remind us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, whether it is in thefulfillment of their duties or as part of everyday life. We honor the fireman, the policeman, and the average citizen by recognizing their heroism. Perhaps, even more importantly, we honor them by working to change the circumstances that led to their death.  By honoring them we can be inspired by them.  Will we be heroes when circumstances call on us to act heroically? Hopefully, we will!

Pre-reading activities

 

On a New York City subway, it's hard enough to find someone who'll give up his seat to some stranger, let alone be willing to give his life for another person.

 

Fifty-year-old Wesley Austrey was a construction worker. One day he was standing on a subway platform with his two little daughters. Right in front of them stood a man. Suddenly the man slipped off the platform edge and fell to the tracks between the two rails. The headlights of a train appeared. Wesley had to make a quick decision. He jumped onto the tracks. He lay on top of the man, pressing him down in a space roughly a foot deep. There was only one half inch of space between the two men and the train. The train rolled overhead before it stopped and people got them out.

 

Wesley's children were extremely scared at the scene, and Wesley himself was scared too. “I got to talk to him,” later he told news reporters. “Sir, you can't move. I've got two kids up there looking for their father to come back. I don't know you and you don't know me, but listen, don't panic. I'm here to save you.”

 

The man Wesley saved is 20-year-old Cameron Hollopeter. Except for a few small wounds, Hollopeter was doing fine. Wesley refused medical help because, he said, nothing was wrong. He visited Hollopeter in the hospital before he went to work. “I don't feel like I did something extraordinary; I just saw someone who needed help,” he said. “I did what I felt was right.”

6. Unit 5 Winning is not everything

Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero

Text B Shaping young lives with sports

6.1. Text A Cliff Yong, an unlikely hero

1 Considered one of the toughest marathon events in the world, the 875-kilometer annual Australian race, a route from Sydney to Melbourne, is a harsh test of endurance for the world's top athletes, regardless of their age.  The young, super-fit runners train for months before a competition and are under contract to prominent sponsors like Nike and Adidas, who finance them and furnish them with a substantial support mechanism of money and equipment.  The contest takes up to seven days to complete and is a challenging test of fitness and strength even for world-class athletes who compete for distinction and a cash prize. 

 

2 On the day of the race in 1983, Cliff Young, a toothless 61-year-old farmer and amateur runner, wearing rubber boots, and much older than the other runners, was in attendance.  No one paid any attention to this odd-looking man who might as well have been invisible.  The assembled crowd assumed Cliff was there to observe the race. When he asserted his intention to compete, the world-class athletes around him reacted with apparent disbelief and then with disrespect. Obviously, this was some sort of publicity trick. 

 

3 But the press was curious, so as he took his number and moved into the crush of runners in their special, expensive racing gear, the camera focused on him and the assembled reporters shouted question after question at Cliff.  They asked: "Who are you?" "What are you doing?" 

 

4 "I'm Cliff Young. I'm from a large farm where we raise sheep outside of Melbourne." 

 

5 They went on, "What makes you think you can run this race? It takes a week to run this race on no more than six hours of sleep a night!" 

 

6 Cliff replied, "I've run sheep for two or three days at a time. This race should only be a couple more days than that. I believe I can do it." 

 

7 Soon, the marathon started and the young athletes left Cliff far behind.  The crowds smiled, and some laughed out loud because he didn't even run properly.  He had the strangest running style; he appeared to shuffle.  As the race progressed along, of course, the attention of the sports commentators and viewers alike was on the athletes at the front of the pack.  Imagine everyone's surprise the next morning when the news showed Cliff was still in the race! Not only that, but he had run through the entire night without sleeping. And it seemed that he intended to keep running until he reached the finish line or fell ill or was injured as many viewers now began to fear.  They were uneasy and very concerned for his welfare. Many people said and even more people thought: "Surely, someone should stop this insane old man before he really harms himself!" 

 

8 But Cliff had no intention of stopping.  Although he was still far behind the world-class athletes, he kept at it.  When he got to a major town, he was asked about his plan for the rest of the race.  He said he would just keep running, and he did.  With every passing hour and every shuffling step, he got just a little bit closer to the race leaders.  Later, he told people that throughout the race he kept focused by imagining he was gathering his sheep and trying to outrun a storm. 

 

9 By the fifth night, he had overtaken them all.  By the sixth day, he led the whole pack of runners by a wide lead.  He led all the way to the finish line, smashing the record by finishing the 875-kilometer race in 5 days, 15 hours and 4 minutes — 9 hours faster than anyone before!  In that instant, Cliff Young became a beloved national hero. 

 

10 When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money.  He said, "There're five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me," and he gave them $2,000 each.  He did not keep a single cent for himself. That act increased his fame and endeared him to all of Australia. 

 

11 Cliff came to prominence[rose to fame] again in 1997, at age 75, when he attempted to become the oldest man to run around Australia and raise money for homeless children. 

 

12 For the rest of his life, Cliff kept running.  Over the years, despite increasing age and physical challenges, he participated in many races and won a number of them.  It was said that Cliff Young never kept a single prize.  People gave him watches because he never had one.  He would thank them because he did not want to hurt their feelings, but then gave them away to the first child he saw. He said, "I don't need a watch. I know when it's daylight, when it's dark, and when I'm hungry." 

 

13 His love for running never dimmed, but in the year 2000, he suffered a mild stroke that ended his heroic running days.  Cliff Young, the running legend, passed away on November 2, 2003. He was 81. 

 

14 To this day, Cliff Young remains a magnificent reminder and brilliant example of how ordinary individuals can inherently achieve remarkable results.  As the famous saying goes, "Where there's a will, there's a way!"  With determination and preparation, we can achieve distinction and be a brilliant example to others. 有坚定的决心和充分的准备，我们就能获得殊荣，也能成为别人的光辉榜样。

6.2. Text B Shaping young lives with sports

1 The leaders of tomorrow are shaped and molded in the here and now.  As the Roman poet, Juvenal, famously said, "A healthy mind is to be found in a healthy body."  For parents, teachers, and coaches, there is no greater responsibility than sustaining the mental and physical health of our young people. 

 

2 Growing children need inspiration and physical stimulation.  Team sports are a great way to provide these attributes!  More than just entertainment, through sports young people learn critical skills that will serve them well in their adult lives.  The ability to work toward a common goal underlines the value of teamwork. Being both humble in victory and generous in defeat emphasizes the mutual obligation of graceful manners in all human interactions.  The lessons our youth learn will stay with them all their lives, and there is no better place to assist this learning than on the playing field. 

 

3 Of course, the most critical lessons youngsters receive are those that they are taught by their parents and teachers. Nevertheless, many lessons remain abstract concepts until they are made real by life experiences.  You can talk about how bitter lemons are or how sweet honey is. However, until you actually taste lemons and honey you cannot experience the true meaning of "bitter" and "sweet".  Knowledge comes from the application of ideas in the experience of real life. Strategy, teamwork, and cooperation are crucial concepts that can be best learned and understood through sports.  Team sports give children a natural place to work hard and learn valuable life lessons. 

 

4 Naturally, those who are inherently talented will spend more time on the field and will achieve fame.  They have the opportunity to develop leadership skills and earn the respect of their team members.  However, the benefits of participating in team sports are not dependent on natural ability.  Youth need not be stars to benefit from team membership.  It doesn't matter whether they are gifted at their chosen sport.  As a famous American sportswriter said, "It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game." 

 

5 Sports can inspire and encourage the less naturally talented athletes to be their best.  What is missing in natural talent can be overcome through hard work, practice, and learning from the example of others.  Those lacking in talent should never be envious, and they may learn more about the real world than the gifted players because they learn early on that there are no free rides and they will have to make continuous effort if they want to achieve in this world. Through sports, they will learn the value of individual hard work and even greater value of cooperation and teamwork.  They will also learn the fundamental importance of planning and preparation for the positive outcome of their life's ambitions.  These are all lessons that will be valuable to them throughout their entire lives, both in their careers and their personal lives. 

 

6 Of course, participation in competitive team sports is not without hazards. Some psychologists have expressed considerable concern about the intensity of competition in youth sports.  They argue that children often suffer psychological harm when the emphasis is exclusively on winning.  A football coach, famous for his competitive spirit, said: "Winning isn't everything; it is the only thing."  Such an outlook can be harsh on children when they feel pressured to win from the adults around them.  Child psychologists often blame parents and coaches for being too demanding.  By placing excessive emphasis on winning, children miss the learning opportunities sports can offer.  In such circumstances, the sports experience uncovers negative, draining and harmful consequences, canceling out the many desirable effects of sports.

 

7 Sports teach much more than what is easily seen on the surface.  Young athletes learn something every time they step onto the field.  It does much more than just keep young bodies in shape and growing at healthy rates. Sports give youth a sense of self-worth and accomplishment and teach them to deal capably with failure and success.  It helps them learn the ways of the world, the benefits of hard work and determination, and how to coexist with others to achieve a common goal, even with other team members they may not particularly like!  It allows youth to find a role they can fill, then to change or adapt to that role, and, over time, to grow and redefine who they are and who they will become.  These are all traits that can be extremely useful in the real world, and developing such traits at an early age paves the way for success later in life. 

7. Unit 6 Earn as you learn

Text A To work or not to work- That is a question

Text B Earn as you learn?

7.1. Text A To work or not to work- That is a question

1 There are numerous and reliable ways by which one can measure the impact of employment on student achievement, and we used several in our research. We compared the grades of students who work a great deal with those who work in limited amounts or not at all.  We also contrasted workers with non-workers, on different indicators of their commitment to education. Additionally, we followed students overtime as they increased or decreased their work hours, and we assessed how different patterns of employment altered school performance and engagement. 

 

2 We have simplified and classified the data and the results are clear: Thestakes are high.  A heavy commitment to a part-time job during the academicyear, say, working 20 hours per week or more,undermines andsignificantly interfereswith school achievement and commitment.  Overall, our study offers proof that students who worked more than 20 hours weekly were not comparable to their classmates.  They earned lower grades, spent less time on homework, cut class more often, and cheated more frequently. And they reported lower levels of commitment to school and more modest educational aspirations. 

 

3 On the other hand, we also detected a different pattern.  Working forapproximately 10 hours per week or less seeminglydoes not take a consistenttoll on school performance. Nevertheless, given that half of all employed seniors, about one-third of all juniors, and about one-fifth of all second-year students work above the 20-hour limit, indicationsare that a large number of students are at risk ofcompromising their school careers with their part-time jobs. 

 

4 Whereas it is true that more disengaged students are more likely to work long hours to begin with, it appears that working makes a marginal situation worse.  In other words, over time, the more students work, the lesscommitted to school they become.  When studentswithdraw from the labor force or cut back on their work hours, however, the results are striking: Their interest in school isgenerated anew.  This then is good news:The negative effects of working on schooling are notpermanent. 

 

5 We uncovered numerous explanations for the undesirable effects of working on students' engagement in school. First, owing to their demanding work schedule, working students have less time to devote to school assignments.  One common response to this time pressure is that they cut corners by taking easier classes, copying assignments from other students, cutting class, or refusing to do work assigned by their teachers.  Over time, as these become established practices, students' commitment to school iseroded bit by bit. 

 

6 Second, in order to work 20 hours or more each week, many students must work evenings.  Evening work interferes not only with doing homework, but with both sleep and diet. Studies show that working students get less rest and eat less healthy meals than non-working students.  Burning the midnight oil makes working teenagers more tired in school.  Teachers frequently complain about working students falling asleep in class.  Nearly a third of the students in our study said they were frequently too tired from work to do their homework. 

 

7 Third, it appears that the excitement of earning large amounts of spending money makes school seem less rewarding and interesting.  Although mind-wandering during school is characteristic of young adults, working students report significantly more of it than non-workers.  Indeed, the rush from earning and spending money may be so strong that students who have a history ofintensive employment, those who, for example, have been working long hours since their second year, are actually at greater risk than their classmates of dropping out before graduating. 

 

8 Finally, working long hours can be associated with increased alcohol and drug use.  Working students use drugs and alcohol about 33% more often than non-working students.  Our long-term study shows that working long hours leads to increased alcohol and drug use for entertainment andrecreation among working students.  Teenagers with between $200 and $300 of monthly surplus income frequently have more money to spend than their peers, and often they become accustomed to spending their earnings on drugs and alcohol. According to our study, alcohol and drug use, in turn, may be linked to disengagement from school, and therefore, is likely to depress school performance. 

 

9 To summarize,convention has long held that early employment builds character.  Our findings indicate that for many students, working 20 hours or more a week can contribute to decreased school performance and increased drug and alcohol use.  We know that these findings may seemcontroversial to many.  To our own surprise, our findings make us question how long we have held on to the conventionalassumptions about the great value of work in ourformative years.  It's time to abandon this appealingmyth!  We conclude that students should resolve to work no more than 10 hours per week if they want to be successful in school. 

7.2. Text B Earn as you learn?

1 As the cost of attending university has soared over the last two decades, afrank and vigorous debate is emerging over who should pay for the cost of higher education.  While in some countries students have always been expected to absorb part or even all of their tuitioncosts through work or borrowing, in other countries the tremendouscost of attending university has been provided by the relevanteducation authority or by parents.  I am proud to be in the small minority of students who "earn as they learn" and absorb the cost of their own university education in spite of the many obstacles. 

 

2 As for the remaining majority, I ask myself, "Is it me, or are students these days just lazy?" Collectively, they claimthat they have no capacity to pay for college.  I think it's more a matter of them simply not wanting to pay or contribute.  During college I consistentlyendured comments from peers with scholarships and loans, and peers who had new cars and expensive apartments, who would ask me, eyesbulging, "You mean your parents didn't help you at all?"  "How did you pay for tuition?"  My response was simple: "I worked."  They would look at me blankly, as though I had told them I'd gone to the moon. 

 

3 As an undergraduate student, I worked for two solid years as a day care provider earning minimum wage.  Then I paid for the rest of my education by helping deaf children and working as a tutor in a private school.  Looking back, I'm not sure how I managed to cover all the costs of my education. But I did.  And I bought every single textbook and pencil myself too. 

 

4 Sometimes, I did feel a little sorry for myself, especially when I compared myself to wealthy students.  I once asked another student if she worked.  "Oh, no!" she said, startled, "I go to school full-time."  She was taking only 13 credit hours, and yet was "too busy" to work.  She went on to explain that her parents paid for everything and provided her with everynecessity, and manyluxuries too! 

 

5 Truthfully, I was a little envious of her easy life as I took 18 credit hours so that I could graduate within four years.  Besides, I was working 25 hours a week so I could pay tuition without future loan debt. And here's something amazing: I pulled straight A's and was at the top of my class! 

 

6 One day I caught aglimpse of that same girl's report card at the end of the term.  She pulled C's and a few B's, low grades, which didn't surprise me. Having to work hard and multitask forces you toprioritize, a skill she hadn't learned. 

 

7 I am aware that my work and study choices are not popular and that manyinfluential studies claim toillustrate that working while going to school negatively impacts educational performance. They cite increaseddropout rates, lower scores and reduced lifetime earnings.  Besides, these studies also giveevidence that many students exhaust much of their earnings not on school, but on entertainment and partying while attending school. The studies also show increased abuse of alcohol and drugs, which leads me to question these students' resolve and commitment to the serious side of life. 

 

8 For me, one of the mostauthentic benefits of the "earn-as-you-learn" approach is that, upon graduation, I was free from the substantial stress andtension of debt payments that make so many people worried and uneasy. Relieved of this considerable burden, I amconvinced that I will be able to make intelligent career choices that will provide me with greater personal satisfaction andensure better pay over the years to come. 

 

9 The central questions of this debate are: "What is the major purpose of attending university?" and "Who should beresponsible for the cost?" For me, the answer has always been that my purpose is to get a formaleducation with anadvanced degree and that the responsibility is my own.  I understand that some will disagree with mysingular approach to educational funding.  But consider this, the path I have chosen has massive educational, financial, and psychological benefits! 

 

10 I am particularly proud that, in choosing this path of self-support, I have relieved my parents of the burden of my university education.  Furthermore, by taking care of myself, without their assistance, I have given them the satisfaction of knowing that they successfully completed the task of raising me into adulthood. 

 

11 I will readily concedethat it's not always fun.  It's not!  But, with acceptance that you will pay your own way, you will grow andmature and learn important skills that will serve you all your life. Want to know a successful path to a happy and sustainable life?  Consider joining the ranks of those of us who "earn as they learn"! 

8. Unit 7 Hoping for the better

Text A When honesty disappears

Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness

8.1. Text A When honesty disappears

1 "Is anybody truly honest?"  As numerous accounts of cheating, lying, and fraud crowd our newspaper pages and TV news, it seems that honesty is a rapidly vanishing value.  And the reports indicate that, around the globe,corruption and dishonesty are so widespread that the health and well-being of society are at risk.  These reports include stories such as the students who faced criminal charges for selling in advance copies of a university final exam, a student who wasexpelled when he turned in a term paper with thepurchase receipt for it still inside the pages, and a clerk who ran his own Christmas cards through the office postage meter and was found out when he sent one of the cards to the company treasurer! We have all read or heard accounts such as these, not to mention the stories of dishonesty amongst alllayers of society asexemplified by consumerswho steal and politicians who demand bribes. Travelers ripped off so many towels last year that it cost a major hotel chain $3 million to replace them. Especially troubling are the reports that dishonesty is increasing amongst student populations around the world. 

 

2 But are these reports truly accurate or do theyexaggerate the situation? Should we be alarmed by these accounts of falling standards of principlesand morality?  The assumption is that student dishonesty is moreextensive now than it was 20, 50, 100 years ago.  If so, what's behind it?  If this is indeed the case, it's deeply troubling as today's students are tomorrow's leaders!  It's possible that the desire to cheat is no greater than in the past. However, the critical importance of having a university degree may have increased the pressure to cheat in academic environments. Undoubtedly, modern technology facilitates the means and opportunities to cheat.  The demanding task of writing term papers has always been a source of tense nerves andfrustration, if not theultimate homework nightmare.  But now, with Internet access, illegalresources are just a few links away. 

 

3 Modern students who want to fake a term paper don't have to browse long. They only have to locatethe appropriate website, purchase or order online papers, or even download them for free.  One webservice offers "highest quality papers at the lowest possible prices", only $5.95 per page.  Busy, cost-conscious students will find other "low-priced" term papers on websites that promise consumers "You will be happy and successful."  Some people worry that the Internet, once hailed as the ultimate learning tool, could become the best aid yet for cheating. 

 

4 To cope with the growing plague of cheating, universities around the world now use anti-plagiarism software and have very strict cheating and plagiarism policies.  If students are caughtplagiarizing or cheating in any way, they will be immediately expelled from school.  Some college faculty decided to do more than talk about rising student cheating. Professors at a major university launched acampaign to try toeliminate one form of cheating.  As 409 students filed out of their Introduction to Psychology exam, they found all but one exit blocked.  Test monitors asked each student to produce an ID card with an attachedphoto.  If they provided asatisfactory ID, they were fine.  If they had left their ID at home, the officialsconfronted them and took their picture.  The purpose of the campaign was to reveal hired cheaters, students who take tests for other students.  The majority of students at the university applauded the new strategy. 

 

5 With awareness of increasing dishonesty in today's society, it's sometimes implied that in "the good old days" people were better, happier, and more honest.  Were they more honest?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  Long ago, all American schoolchildren knew the historical story of how Abraham Lincoln walked five miles to return a penny he had overcharged a customer. It's the kind of story that we think of as myth.  But in the case of Lincoln, the story is true. 

 

6 Like the Lincoln tale, every society has stories stressing the absolutevalue of honesty.  It is these stories that students need to remember when temptation induces them to cheat.  Whether discovered or not, dishonesty has an undesirable effect on anyone who practices it. Equally importantly, the ill effects are not confined to the dishonest person alone.  Without trust, ordered societies woulddescend into chaos.  It's important that we do what we say we will do, pay when we say we will, and create words that are our own.  Perhaps the most important lesson our schools can teach is that we must trust each other. When honesty disappears, the affirmative, durablebonds of trust are eliminated and we all lose. The future of our society depends on mutual trust. 

8.2. Text B Roys of hope in rising rudeness

1 Rudeness is a commonelement of modern life.  "If you don't like it, lump it." Or "Mind your own business." Or "Get out of the way." This kind of talk and attitude is cropping up more often in public experiences — on the highways, in theater lines, on public transport. Whether it is people smoking in public, or people cutting in line, the examples are almost endless. 

 

2 It is generally thought around the world that theinhabitants of large cities are ruder than their fellow citizens from smaller towns or the countryside. Walk down streets of any major capital around the world and you willencounter taxi drivers who believe a "Walk" sign at a walkway is an automaticinvitation to bump their cars against pedestrians' knees.  Recently, an angry pedestrian reacted by kicking a cab, promptingthe driver to get out and give chase.  And hardly a day goes by without areluctant office worker riding an elevator with someone talking loudly on the cell phone, despite the obvious disturbance to fellow passengers.  "If you don't like it, get out andswitch to another elevator," one cell phone user recently told another passenger who objected to his loud voice.  In New York and other cities, quiet walks are a thing of the past.  Who is to blame? The cell phone users talking loudly as well as the annoying drivers behind beeping car horns. In some big cities, subwayterminals are bulging withherds of commuters,elbowing their way to grab seats, intimidating the old, the young, the disabled and the pregnant.  It's common to hear people on the bus or subway talking on their cell phones very loudly, being a nuisance to those around them. 

 

3 What can we detect about such incidents? Some experts say thetrend began decades ago when people became resistant to traditionalvalues and manners. Others blame fast-paced modern lifestyles for contributing to a society that has little time to be polite.  This is particularly true in big cities, where people are surrounded by strangers.  As a noted psychologist has observed, "In a small town, the person to whom you are rude is more likely to be someone you are going to see again tomorrow."  In the city, if you have aminor conflict, it's very unlikely you will ever encounter that person again. 

 

4 Stress also plays a role in incidents of ignorantbehavior.  Cindy Kludt, acounselor who works with overworked nurses, says rudeness in hospitals corresponds with the stress of people constantly working under life-and-death circumstances.  "If people at the top are rude or uncaring, rudeness moves on downward, affecting everyone's behavior." 

 

5 Rudeness comes with stress and this is becoming strikingly common.  Motorists regularly force bicyclists off the road, and large trucks intimidate autos moving too slowly in front of them.  Disgracefulinsults are shouted and even bottles and trash are thrown at road crews by upset drivers because lanes are restricted. 

 

6 Public officials are often the target of people's frustration.  Staffassistants in public institutions tell of rude,hostile, and sometimesthreatening words from people who feel government agencies are rude or mistreating them. As rudeness in public dealings cuts both ways, citizens perceive that public servants habitually ignore them, and they in turn treat the public servants in an offensivefashion. 

 

7 Sometimes, such behavior goes beyondverbal abuse.  A worker in a restaurant was slappedand cursed by a customer after she told him no table would be available for two hours.  A man in the United States recently won damages for injuries suffered when he made acomplaint about a woman for using bad language in her loud conversation. After being told to "get lost", he was beaten with an umbrella by the woman and punched by her companion.  Utility crews in big cities report increasing violence from people who have complaints against the power company.  "Our repair crews have a rough time in some apartment houses where a lot of people live with relatively little space," says a utility company executive."That makes short tempers, and angry, rude behavior shows up." 

 

8 There is disagreement as to whether the situation is improving or not.  Many see little hope for a decline in today's rude behavior. In fact, some see a new pattern emerging in big cities — the "norm of non-involvement" as one psychologist calls it. Others are feeling more hopeful.  For example, one international organization, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, inspires people to practice kindness and to pass it on to others!  The organization points to a variety of indicators showing kinder and morecompassionate citizens. More people arevolunteering their time for community projects; also, donations of goods and money to charities have increased.  These acts of kindness would have a positive effect on others and would help to reduce the stress in society.  Let's hope this optimistic viewprevails and brings a better, brighter world for us all. 

9. Unit 8 Friendship Across gender and boarder

Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not?

Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures

9.1. Text A Gender variable in friendship: Contradiction or not?

1 When I think of my good friends, I see them in cinematic terms.  The camerawork is entirely different for men and women.  The "movie" memories I have of female friends are open andintimate.  We are talking, interested in each other in a magnetic sort of way. They look straight into my eyes, sensitive to my feelings, listening to me with deliberate attention. In comparison, memories of male friends are in an entirely different film altogether.  An action or adventure movie!  Not much in the way of dialog. The ritual of motion, or thesequence of action, makes up for the deficiency of dialog and honestnarrative. 

 

2 My mind retreats back to my earliest childhood friend, Donald.  I was still living in Europe at the time, and near my house was an old German truck left abandoned after the war. No wheels. No windshield. No doors.  But the steeringwheel was intact.  Donald and I continuously "flew" to America in that truck, our "airplane".  Even now, I remember our daily ritual as we flew along, across Europe, across the Atlantic, on a mission of mercy.  We were innocent and inseparable, the deep security that comes between best friends. Naturally, not one word of our evident feelings for one another was everuttered; it was all done in actions. 

 

3 Each day, as we were flying over the Atlantic, there inevitably came that wonderful moment: "Engine failure!" I'd shout into the microphone, "We'll have to jump out."  "A-a-a-a-a-!" Donald made sounds like a failing engine. Glancing at me, he'd say, "I can't swim!"  "Fear not! I'll drag you to shore," I'd bravely reply.  And, with that, we'd both spill out of the truck onto the dusty street.  I swam through the dust.  Donald drowned in the dust, coughing, "Sharks!" he cried.  But I always saved him.  The next day, changing roles, the elaborate drama would repeat.  "I can't swim!" I'd say and Donald would save me.  We saved each other from certain death hundreds of times, until finally a day came when my family really did leave for America.  Donald and I stood rigid at the train station ready to sayfarewell.  We didn't know what to say; we couldn't save each other this time. So, we just cried silently as the train pulled away. 

 

4 These days, Jessica is one of my best friends.  A recent occurrence made me reexamine and interpret my behavior in a new light.  We were swimming at a beach in the Atlantic.  The very Atlantic I had "flown" over in my German truck with Donald.  We were far from shore when we abruptlyturned back.  We both thought we detected a shark!  Water is not only a good conductor of electricity but of panic as well.  We began splashinglike crazy people toward the shore.  In my panic, I suddenly realized how much I loved my friend Jessica, and what an irreplaceable friend she was.  Although I was the faster swimmer, I fell back to protect her.  In the end, the "shark" proved to be imaginary.  But not my deep emotional feelings for my friend.  It felt great back on the beach, a littlescared and laughing with the excitement of being alive.  We looked into each other's eyes and Jessicaspontaneously said, "I love you!"  "Love you too!" I replied. 

 

5 As I spoke, I realized just how gender-based my communication styles were.  With women, I could be open, emotionally honest, and transparent. With male friends, it seemed impossible to express caring feelings no matter how deep the friendship was.  I could easily utter "I love you" to my mother, my sisters and girlfriends; yet not once in my life had I been able to look a male friend in the eye and say the same thing.  Quite impossible! Was this just me or was every male in the world similarly cursed?  Was I emotionally backward or just a "guy"?  I was determined to find out! 

 

6 Much to my relief, research shows that I am, indeed, a "normal guy".  It seems that men and women have very different emotional and rationalprocesses.  Part of it is "nature" and part is "nurture".  We are born with very different genetictendencies which society encourages as either "masculine" or "feminine". These differences in behavior and communication styles were made famous by John Gray in his book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.  This book and other articles helped me realize it's OK I am the way that I am.  Men do tend to be more restrained with emotional expressions.  I learned that I did love all my friends — only the means of expression differs from one gender to the other.  What a relief! 

9.2. Text B Similarities and differences: Friendship across cultures

1 Since I was five years old, I have had the good fortune to travel all over the world.  I have had theprivilege of living in Europe, Africa and North America and have made many foreign friends there.  My family, friends, and co-workers are always very interested and curious and shower me with questions like: How do you begin a friendship in a foreign country?  Are they different from us?  Do people in those countries value friendship?  In fact, the framework and value of friendship is universal and comparable around the world.  But the way friendship is expressed differs greatly from country to country.  The difficulty when strangers from two countries meet is not a lack of appreciation for friendship but the assumption of sameness. They do not anticipate thediverse expectations andsubtle differences of whatconstitutes friendship, how it comes into being and how it should be expressed.  So, who is a friend?  How should friends treat each other? That depends on where you are! 

2 In the United States, society is highly mobile and it is quite common for people to move back andforth across the country for a new job, education, or many other reasons.  The term friend can be appliedcasually to a wide range of relationships — to someone you worshipwith, to a close business associate, to a childhood playmate, or a trusted ally, either man or woman. They may be parents of the children's friends, a neighbor's guests, members of a committee, or business clients from another town or even another country.  For Americans, there are real differences among these relations; a friendship may be superficial, casual, situational or deep and enduring.  But a foreign visitor who comes to an American home canscarcely find anyvariations.  For an outsider, who sees only behavior visible on the surface, the differences seem arbitrary if they find any.  The mood is relaxed, and there is littleceremony.  Most people, old and young, are called by first names and family and friends alike interact freely and speak in a relaxed, casual way. 

3 Comparatively, friendship in other countries seems morecomplicated.  In France, as in many other European countries, friends generally are of the same sex.  Many French people doubt the possibility of cross-gender friendships.  For the French, friendship is a one-to-one relationship that demands a keenawareness of the other person's personality and specialized interests.  The special relationship of friendship is based on what the French value most — on the mind, oncompatibility of outlook, on a correspondingappreciation of artistic expression, on a love of fine foods, on philosophy, or on the enjoyment of sports.  French friendships are private relationships with distinct boundaries. A man may play chess with one friend or discusspoetry with another for 30 years without learning about either of his friends' personal lives or families. 

4 In Germany, friendship is much more a matter of feeling and affection. Young boys and girls form deeply sensitive alliances, walk and talk together — not so much to polish theirwits as to share their hopes, fears, and ideals, and to join in a kind of mutual discovery of each other's own inner life. Within the family, the closest relationship over a lifetime is between brothers and sisters. German men and women find in their closest friends among the same sex theloyalty of a brother or the devotion of a sister. 

5 English friendships follow a still different pattern.  Their basis is shared activity.  They may share literary interests, serve on a committee, enjoy sports together or share a mutual love of walking.  Close English friendships may be of the same sex or of mixed gender; friends may be found in two people, two couples or even a small group.  English friendships are made outside the family but can often beenhanced by becoming anintegrated part of a family's social life. 

6 What, then, is friendship and what is itssignificance?  To summarize, it's a vital human quality that can bind people together for life.  And unlike family, it involves freedom of choice.  A friend is someone you choose and who chooses you.  My friends are quite different from each other.  Some are mutual friends. Conversely, others don't even like each other!  That is the odd thing about friendship.  Just because I like two people does notguarantee that they will like each other.  However, I owe them all a debt ofgratitude.  Whatever the continent or country, people have extended the hand of friendship and welcomed me into their lives.  By opening the doors of friendship to me, they occupy a special place in my heart.  They have profoundly enriched my life experience, because wherever I am, when I'm with friends, I feel at home.  The miracle of friendship is the same.  It just takes time to understand the many different ways that friendship is expressed around the world.