Unit 1 要提高我们的英语水平，关键是多读，多写，多听，多说。此外，尽可能多背熟一些好文章也十分重要。如果你脑子里没有储存大量好的英语文章，你就不能用英语自由地表达自己的思想。一般学一边总结经验也是很有帮助，因为这样做，我们就能搞明白哪种学习方法是更有效的，能够产生最理想的效果。只要我们坚持努力学习，到时候我们就会完成掌握英语的任务。
To improve our English, it is critical to do more reading, writing, listening and speaking.Besides, learning by heart as many well-written eays as poible is also very important.Without an enormous store of good English writing in your head you cannot expre yourself freely in English.It is also helpful to summarize our experience as we go along, for in so doing, we can figure out which way of learning is more effective and will produce the most desirable result.As long as we keep working hard on it, we will in due course accomplish the task of mastering English.
Unit 2 随着捐款源源不断地进来，我校明年的财务状况会好多了。这样我们就能集中应对我们作为教育工作者必须承担的最重要的任务：鼓励学生实现他们的学业目标，培养他们成为有责任感、靠的住的人，使他们对将来的生活有所准备，并在他们追求物质及精神满足的过程中给予引导。 With more and more donations coming in, our university will be much better off financially next year.We will thus be able to focus on the most important task that we, educators, must take on: to encourage students to attain their academic goals, to train them to be dependable and responsible individuals, to prepare them for the life ahead, and to guide them in their pursuit of spiritual as well as material satisfaction.
Unit 3 约翰逊先生的儿子乔治爱在晚上听重金属（heavy metal）音乐，这使社区其他居民无法入眠。疲惫不堪的邻居们终于失去了耐心，决定直接干预。他们打电话给约翰逊先生，坦率地把想法告诉了他。约翰逊先生向邻居保证他一定会解决这个问题。放下电话他便去训斥儿子：“你这是怎么了？你该懂得不能为了你自己的娱乐而妨碍（disturb）别人。”结果乔治拿CD跟同学换了电脑游戏软件。
George, the son of Mr.Johnson, liked listening to heavy metal music in the evenings, which made it hard for other residents in the community to fall asleep.Eventually the exhausted neighbors lost their patience and decided on direct interference.They called Mr.Johnson to tell him in a frank manner what they were thinking.Mr.Johnson aured them that he would certainly settle the iue.As soon as he put down the phone he scolded his son, “What has come over you? You should know better than to disturb others for your own amusement.” In the end George traded his CD’s for computer games software from his clamates.
Unit 4 也许你羡慕我，因为我可以借助计算机在家里工作。我也这么想，互联网使我的工作方便多了。我可以通过电子邮件撰写，编辑并交出我的文章，在网上与我的同事聊天，与老板讨论工作。我用鼠标一击，马上就能拿到我要的一切资料，获得最新的消息。可是，另一方面，用网络通信有时也令人沮丧。系统有可能瘫痪，更糟的是，因为没有面对面交谈的情感提示，键出的词有时似乎很难理解。
Perhaps you envy me for being able to work from home on the computer.I agree that the Internet has made my job a lot easier.I can write，submit and edit articles via email, chat with my colleagues on line and discu work with my bo.With a click of the mouse, I can get all the data I need and keep up with the latest news.But then, communicating through the Net can be frustrating at times.The system may crash.Worse still, without the emotional cues of face-to-face communication, the typed words sometimes seem difficult to interpret.
Unit 5 众多事实证明这一说法：要想让自己很快从低落的（negative）情绪中解脱出来，你得让自己哭。你不必为“哭”而感到羞愧。忧虑和悲伤能随同眼泪一起流出身体。
看一看唐娜（Donna）的例子吧。她的儿子在一次车祸中不幸丧生。这次打击之大使她欲哭无泪。她说：“直到两个星期后的一天，我才开始放声痛哭。然后，我便觉得好像一块大石头从我肩上抬走了，是眼泪将我带回到了现实之中，帮助我度过危机。”
Numerous facts bear out the argument that in order to recover speedily from negative emotion, you should allow yourself to cry.You don’t have to be ashamed of crying.Anxiety and sorrow can flow out of the body along with tears.Consider the case of Donna, Her son unfortunately died in a car accident.The intensity of the blow made her unable to cry.She said, “It was not until two weeks later that I began to cry.And then I felt as if a big stone had been lifted from my shoulders.It was the tears that brought me back to earth and helped me survive the crisis.”
Unit 6 南希·霍普金斯（Nancy Hopkins）是麻省理工学院（MIT）的生物学教授。她渴望知识，努力工作。然而，作为一名科学家，她不能不注意到校园里男女不平等（gender inequality）的各种表现。男女教授做同样的工作，但是到提升的时候，行政领导却很有选择性。具有讽刺意味的是在取得这么多的文化进步以后，妇女在高等学府里却依然处于不利的地位。当她增加实验室面积的请求被拒之后，她知道她必须起来抗争。因此她咬紧牙关向校长申述。这次抗争以胜利告终，南希也因此变成了男女平等的倡导者。
Nancy Hopkins is a biology profeor at MIT.She craves knowledge and works hard.However, as a scientist, she could not help noticing all kinds of indications of gender inequality on campus.Men and women profeors did the same work, but when it came to promotion the administrators were rather selective.It was ironic that after so much cultural progre, women were still at a disadvantage in institutions of higher education.When her request for more lab space was refused, she knew she had to fight.So she gritted her teeth and complained to the President.The fight ended in victory and Nancy was converted into a gender-equality advocate.
Unit 7 虽然英语是如何产生的对许多人来说还是个谜，语言学家认为它和很多欧洲语言来自同一个源头，即印欧母语。英语最初是在公元五世纪入侵英格兰的盎格鲁—撒克逊人使用的。他们将英语的基本词汇传给了我们。在十五个多世纪的发展中，英语通过大量借用丰富了自己。随着英国移民登陆美洲并建立了独立的美利坚合众国，英语又增添了一个新的变种：美语。虽然有人担忧英语的发展失控了，但大多数以英语为母语的人对他们的语言的宽容性感到自豪。
Though how the English language came into existence remains a mystery to many people，linguists believe that English and most other European languages have descended from a common source: the Indo-European parent language.English was first spoken by the Anglo-Saxons who invaded England in the fifth century.They paed onto us the basic vocabulary of English.In over fifteen centuries of its development, English has enriched itself by maive borrowing.As British immigrants landed in America and established the United States as an independent nation, a new variety was added to the English language: American English.Though some people worry that the language is running out of control, many native speakers of English take pride in the tolerance of their language.
Unit 8 这个村庄曾因其优美的自然环境而闻名于世，这里终年树木长青，鲜花盛开，清澈的溪水从山间流出，穿过棋盘般的水稻田。鸟儿整天在唱歌，鹿悠闲地来来往往。然而，在使用滴滴涕和其他杀虫剂后，这个村子好像中了什么邪。灾难接踵而来。鸡突然死去；牛羊得了怪病；农场主抱怨说有种恶心的感觉，使村里的医生感到莫名其妙。曾经是生机勃勃的村广场，现在变得空空荡荡。
This village was once famous for its beautiful natural surroundings.All the year round, the trees were green and the flowers in bloom.Clear streams flowed out of the hills through a checkerboard of rice fields.Birds sang all day, and deer came and went in a leisurely manner.However, with the coming of DDT and other pesticides, an evil spell seemed to have settled over the village.Misfortunes came one after another.Chicken died suddenly, cattle and sheep were stricken by mysterious maladies, and farmers complained about a sickening feeling that puzzled the village doctor.The village square, once throbbing with life, was now deserted.
