DISCOURSESHe Guogui

Everyday

(1) Christmas• When the shopping has to stop,

people are trying to give themselves the gifts of self-control this Christmas. Christmas was always about giving. But gifts are meant to show out families and friends how much we like them. Increasingly, they are showing only how much we can afford to buy.

(2) 100 years of flying• In 1903, the Wright brothers –Wilbur and

Orville –came up with what was perhaps the most important invention in history. That was nearly 320 kilograms of wood, wire, muslin cloth, a sputtering homemade engine, and hand-carved propeller. From trade to travel, war or weather, aviation has transformed civilization like no other accomplishment.

--100 years of flying

Countless dreamers before them had looked to the skies and failed to get off the ground. But it was the two bicycle-makers , high school dropouts who invented the airplane.

(3) Staying a bit far from home

• A homing pigeon took the wrong route on his return to Britain from France, and ended up in the United States.Billy, from a town in northwest England, had been expected to arrive home seven hours after being released from northern France, on June 6. The owner thought Billy had died after failing to return but then received a telephone call earlier this week to say it had turned up in New York.

(4) Shanghai to cut bike traffic

• Bicycles were kings of the road in China for decades, transporting young and old, rich and poor, through the streets and markets. Time have changed, though, and the automobile now rules. Already barred from some major city center roads, bicycles will be banned altogether from important streets in Shanghai starting next year, newspapers reported last week.

Banning bicycles could worsen overcrowding on buses and subways, and prompt more people to turn to automobiles, worsening the pollution problem. A Shanghai Economic commission official said, “Bicycles are an environmentally friendly means of transportation that should not be banned.” The figure of private vehicles is expected to top 200,000 by the end of this year, according to Shanghai media reports. --- Agencies

(5) Express your thanks with warmth

• Letters of thanks Dear Mr Martin You will have already received our for

mal acknowledgement of your order number 456 dated 12 August. However, as this is your first order with us, I felt I must write to say how pleased we were to receive it, and to thank you for the opportunity given to us to supply the goods you need.

I hope our handling of your order will lead to further business between us and to a happy and mutually beneficial association.

Yours sincerely

Li Hua

Letter of thanks for prompt settlement of accounts

Dear Mr Watts,

I am writing to say how much we appreciated the promptness with which you have settled your accounts with us the past year, especially as a number of them have been for very large amounts.

This has been of great help to us at a time when we have been faced with heavy commitments connected with the expansion of our business.

I hope our business relationship will continue in the future.

Yours sincerely

Letter of congratulation

Dear Dr Roberts, I would like to convey my warm

congratulations on your appointment to the Board of Electrical Industries Ltd.

My fellow directors and I are delighted that the many years of service you have given to your company should at last have been rewarded in this way. We all join in sending you our very best wishes for the future.

Yours sincerely

Lawyer on wrong side of law

• A German lawyer who appeared in a court to defend a client suddenly found he was the one in the dock( 被告席 ), facing a judge who promptly jailed him for not paying a fine after being convicted ( 判决 ) of tax fraud （诈骗） .

The judge, noticing that court documents did not have the address of the defence lawyer’s firm, checked with prosecutors （起诉人） and found that the lawyer was wanted for not paying a US$900 fine. Two minutes after sitting down to defend his client （委托人） , the lawyer was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

India’s tech challenges

• Quietly but with breath-taking （令人吃惊的） speed. India and its millions of top engineering, business, and medical graduates are becoming part of America’s New Economy in ways most of us barely （难以） imagine.

India has always had brilliant, educated people. Now Indians are taking the lead in cyberspace.This tech take-off is wonderful for India –but terrifying for many Americans who have have to watch US jobs move to the subcontinent （次大陆） increasingly. Yet the Indian challenge also presents an enormous opportunity for the US.

If America can handle the change, the results could lead to greater productivity and innovation （创新） for both countries.

India and the US, nations that had few links 15 years ago, could turn out to be the ideal economic partners for the new century.

(6) Wishing you a happy holiday

1. Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

2. Best wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

3. Wishing you a happy and abundant New Year !

4. A blessed Christmas and a joyful New Year!

5. May your New Year start out joyful!

6 Good fortune and success in the New Year!

7. May the season’s joy stay with you all year round.

8. May joy and happiness surround you today and always.

9. Even though we’re apart, you’re in my heart this Christmas and New Year’s season.

10. Wishing you peace, joy and happiness for Christmas and throughout the coming year.

11. May the warmest of wishes, happiest of thoughts and friendliest of greetings come to you at Christmas and stay with you throughout the year.

12. A merry Christmas day is not unusual, but this is to wish you the kind of Christmas that outshines all others!

13. Wishing you a holiday season filled with joy, and all the happy things in life.

14. I was looking out the windows thinking about the person I care most about and the person that came to mind was you, so I want to wish you a Happy New Year.

15. Another year has come to an end. And it’s nice to have a friend like you to make my every day so great. Thank you my dear friend.

16. When a greeting comes from afar you can’t hear the wishes and can’t see the smile, but you can sense the care that truly comes from the heart. Happy New Year.

17. Everyone says the earth is such a huge place. So, with those billions of people and all , I believe it’s a miracles that I got to know you!

18. If I were in heaven, I’d write your name on every star for all to see just how much you mean to me.

19. Remember that there is always someone thinking of you at New Year, whether you get the message or not.

20. A special smile, a special face. A special someone I can’t replace. A special hug, from me to you. A special friendship, I’ve found in you….Happy New Year, my dear friend.

(7) Background knowledge

•Business had been slow since the oil crisis. Nobody seemed to want anything really elegant any more. Suddenly the door opened and a well-dressed man entered the showroom floor. John put on his friendliest and most sincere expression and walked toward the man.

You can judge John is ______.

A.a lawyer B. a businessman

C.a salesman D. a gentleman

由于石油危机生意变得清淡了，好象没有人再需要那些精致的东西了。 突然门开了，一个穿着讲究的人走进展厅。约翰装出最友好和最诚挚的表情向那人走去。

（ 8 ） Swift thinking

• In March 1997, an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy using handguns and rifles shot dead four children and a teacher at a school in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In October, two were killed and seven wounded in a shooting at a Mississippi school. Two months later, a 14-year-old boy killed three high school students and wounded five in Daducah, Kentucky.

How many students were shot dead in 1997 in US schools?

A.10 B. 9

C. 12 D. 22

[B]

(9) In Brazil

•In Brazil, large areas of forest have been cut down for wood. The animals, birds, insets and so on, that needed the trees for food and to make their homes, died or moved away from the area as a result.

(10) Science history

•Science history is regarded as the best bridge linking natural science and the humanities. Besides focusing on the research of the development of science and technology, the study of science history also attaches great importance to social science.

(11) Animals•   Animals are natural resources that people have

wasted all through our history. Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the earth forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger. Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.

(12) Water Shortage

Serious water shortage hit Nampula Province, northern Mozambique, where about 3 million people are in urgent need of drinking water. According to the provincial authorities, the water supply system in the province can only meet the demand of one third of the population. Most of the population in the province, especially that living in the rural areas are facing increasing difficulties in obtaining drinking water.

(13) Venice• Venice, a city on water, is built on 118

islands and linked by many canals and more than 400 bridges. In Venice, boats are used instead of cars. Public boats are as convenient as public buses in other countries. People will not only go to and from work by boat, but also go and visit friends and relatives by boat. However, visitors to Venice prefer to take a small wooden boat. The boatman, while rowing the boat, sings. The songs spread out with the ripples in water. All these remind people what a happy and comfortable life they have in Venice.

(14) Stop Wasting Food Some people’s eyes are bigger than their

stomachs.• China, and its people, can now enjoy the

results of sacrifices made over past decades. Good food, comfort, and beauty are well-deserved rewards. However, we all need to do our little bit to ensure we are not living on natural resources borrowed from Mother Nature. Eventually we must repay the debt. In the even more wasteful west, we call it “Robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

• My mother often said “waste not, want not.” It is still very good advice.

(15) The Young Can’t Wait• When I was little, the world was

simple. But as a young adult, I’m learning that as we have to make choices --- education, career, lifestyle – life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful.

• Today I’m no longer a child, but I’m worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in.

(16) Keep reading and writing I firmly believe that in order to write well,

one has to read --- read widely, read often, read anything and everything.

One can learn the rules of grammar without reading much, and one can learn vocabulary by practicing conversations with other people, but the only way to develop a degree of fluency in writing, and the ability to use different styles of writing, is to expose oneself to as wide a range of reading material as possible. …

(17) Londoners split over Diana• Nearly half of Londoners believe there was a c

onspiracy to murder Diana, Princess of Wales, a poll on this site reveals. The finding comes a day after the publication of a letter written Prince Charles was plotting to have her killed.

• conspiracy n. 阴谋，谋反• plot v. 阴谋策划

It is claimed that , 10 months before her death in a car crash, Diana wrote, “My husband is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury… to make the path clear for him to marry.

--From ‘London News’

（ 18 ） He has a way of doing business

• The thief is charmed, not armed.Police said last week that an American bank robber has used his good manners to take thousands of dollars, unusually wishing tellers a Merry Christmas before he stole the money. The man walks into a bank, always unarmed, approaches a teller and offers a warm greeting. “I hope you have a Merry Christmas,: he says as he hands over a note demanding money. The note says, “I am a robber, give me all the money, don’t give me any dye pack, you have 20 seconds.”

• charmed: 吸引人的； dye pack: 最坏的包装• teller: 银行出纳员

(19) Iran quake leaves city flattened A powerful earthquake, believed to be the

most lethal in 10 years, has killed tens of thousands of people in southeastern Iran and shattered the historic city of Bam. Bam occupied a six-square-kilometer area and prospered as a trading center on the Silk Road between China and Europe. The city was declared a world heritage site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

--- Agencieslethal 致命的 prosper 繁荣 heritage: 遗产，传

统

(20) China is ready to act on the fuel economy

Chinese government imposed minimum fuel economy standards on new cars. New standards are intended to save energy and force automakers to introduce the latest engine, and other, technologies. It’s said that the new standards are nearly as strict as those in Western Europe and the US. China is taking many steps to regulate its rapidly growing auto industry.

(21) Fear of snakes and spiders rooted in evolution

The mere sight of a snake or a spider strikes terror in the hearts of millions of people. A new study suggests that such fear has been shaped by evolution ( 进化 ). It dates back to a time when early mammals had to survive and breed in an environment dominated( 控制） by reptiles ( 爬行动物） , some of which were deadly.

(22) China’s first space man

Yang Liwei, male, a 38-year-old astronaut, was born into an ordinary family in Liaoning Province. Few people knew his name. But since he came back to the earth after a 21-hour trip to space, his name has been well known all over the world.

China’s first spaceman

While in space, he overcame a lot of difficulties and recorded everything he saw, and showed both China’s national flag and the United Nations’ flag to the people watching him on TV at home.

China’s first spaceman

• He spent five years training to fulfill this mission( 使命，任务） . He thinks becoming China’s first spaceman has made all his efforts worthwhile（值得做） .

(22) Energy for the future

Fuel cell ( 电池 ) promise to be the environment-friendly power source of the future, but some types become too hot to be practical. New research may have a solution.

燃料电池有望将来成为环保能源，但是有的类型变得太热而不实用。新的研究或许会有个解决办法。

Energy for the future

Astronauts have been using them for power aboard spacecrafts since the 1960s. Soon, they may be just as common on the earth –powering cars, trucks, computers, and cell phones.

They’re called fuel cells. 宇航员自六十年代一直在飞行器上使用

燃料电池。没有多久，燃料电池可以同样用在地面上的汽车卡车计算机和手机。 他们被称做燃料电池。

（ 23 ） Memories are made with sleep

Don’t forget to sleep! If you’re studying for a test, preparing

for a play, or learning a difficult piece of music, the best thing you can do for your memory is to go to bed on time. Two new studies suggest that we form memories in several stages, and sleep may be the most important part of all.

(24) The Characteristics of the popular newspapers

Popular papers are generally smaller with fewer columns per page. They have bigger headlines and more photographs. The articles are shorter and there are fewer per page. Such devices are not only used to make the paper more attractive, they may also influence what the reader reads. Large headlines, pictures and position on the page all serve to draw the reader’s attention to one article rather than the others.

(25) Giraffe—an interesting animal

Like the camel, the giraffe can go a long time without drinking water. One source of water is the leaves which the giraffe eats from trees. Since it is so tall, the giraffe can reach the tender leaves at the top of a tree.

Giraffes usually live in small groups. A baby giraffe is two meters tall at birth. It can stand up by itself within a few minutes and can run well in about two days.

Giraffe –an interesting animal

Giraffe –an interesting animal

•Giraffes have two methods of self-protection. If something frightens an adult giraffe, it can run away at about fifty kilometers per hour or stay to fight with its strong legs.

(26) If global warming continues

• Hundreds of species of land plants and animals around the globe could vanish or be on the road to extinction over the next 50 years if global warming continues, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

• 美联社周三报道， 如果全球变暖继续下去，在未来 50 年内，全球数百种陆地动植物将灭绝或者接近灭绝。

(27) Wake up your life

•Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience. Enthusiastic people can turn a boring drive into an adventure, extra work into opportunity and strangers into friends.

(27)

•Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is the paste that helps you hang in there when the going gets tough. It is the inner voice that whispers, “I can do it!”when others shout, “No, you can’t!”

going: 道路的状况 , 进行，进度

(27)• It took years and years for the early wor

k of Barbara McClintonck, a geneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn’t let up （放松） on her experiments. Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.

• It is this childlike wonder that gives people such a youthful air, whatever their age.

(28) 1-1 strange stories

1. One summer in the early 1980s, strange patterns appeared overnight in cornfields across the English countryside. Observers were impressed by the regularity of the circular shapes and beauty of the designs. Some corn circles were as big as 60 meters across, others just one meter.

(28) 1-2

The patterns were made by flattening but not breaking the corn, but there was no sign of human or animal approach to the sites as the corn in the surrounding area was undisturbed.

(29) Mr and Mrs Downes were walking ho

me from church in Bristol in March 1977 when they heard something which sounded like a button falling onto the ground. In fact it was a hazel nut(榛子 ) , and it was followed by hundreds more appearing out of the clear blue sky. The Downes took some home and found them good to eat. Not long after that, they were followed by showers of peas and beans.

(30)

In the Nazea desert of southern Peru there is an amazing display of art laid out on the desert floor.Outlines of animals have been ‘drawn’by removing the dark stone layer which covers the desert to reveal the light-colored sand underneath. There’s a bird which measures 120 meters across, a spider of 50 meters , a monkey, a whale and other birds, fishes and strange plants.

There’s a bird which measures 120 meters across, a spider of 50 meters , a monkey, a whale and other birds, fishes and strange plants.The pictures were not discovered until 1941, but they are thought to date from about AD 900. The strange thing is that these pictures can only be seen from the air.

(31)

The winter of 1884 was an exceptionally cold one in southern England. One morning, people got up to find that the rivers had frozen over and a blanket of snow lay everywhere. Then they noticed a mysterious line of footsteps running up to their doors,

through their gardens, over rooftops, crossing fields and covering an area of about 100 miles.They looked like donkey’s hooves, but they were in a single line as if the animal had been walking on two legs.

(32)

On an island off the north of Scotland,a lighthouse was built in 1895. A year later, just before Christmas, Joseph Moore and his crew were due to take supplies by ship to the three men living in the lighthouse. Because of bad weather conditions, their departure was delayed until the 26th December.

As they approached the island, they expected to see a sign that the men on the lighthouse had seen the ship, but there was no response. The ship’s horn was sounded, but nobody appeared from the lighthouse. Joseph and three other men decided to go and investigate. In the lighthouse, the beds had seen made and the dishes from the last meal had been washed.

All the clocks had stopped. But there were no men. They searched the island and found nothing apart from some damage caused by storms earlier that month. The last entry in the log book, on 15th December, reads, ‘Storm ended, sea calm. God is with us.

(33) Second mission to Mars

•A probe (探测器 )the size of an open umbrella will soon land on Mars. It will start trying to answer a question which has fascinated people for centuries – is there life on the red planet?

(34) Whooping crane population reaches record high

• The tallest bird in North America has something special to “whoop(打叫）” about. The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge ( 保护、避难） in Texas, USA announced that it has the highest number of these endangered whooping cranes since 100 years ago. They are staying there for the winter because of the warm weather.

(35)

There were 189 whooping cranes. Their numbers are increasing because they have a good, safe place to make nests in Canada. There was a record of 61 pairs of birds making nests, and 27 chicks were born.

(36) Agency is selling land on the moon

Businessman Paul Jackson,33, announced he had bought the Australian rights to sell the land from Nevada-based businessman Dennis Hope.

In 1967, United Nations Outer Space Treaty announced that nations have no right to own the moon, but said nothing about single persons.

(36) With permission from government

s of the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Nations, Hope began to sell the land of the moon. So he has been earning money by selling the land of the moon since 1980.

Jackson said two million people from 180 countries have bought a piece of land of the moon since 1980.

(36)

“I would be extremely happy if one day we got the chance to live on the moon,” said Jackson, who has bought an acre of land for himself. “I look at the world around us and think stranger things have happened.”

(37) Internet access increases quickly in schools

Public schools have made huge improvements in providing computer and Internet access ( 使用 ), according to two new reporters by the National Center for Education Statistics of United States. The reporters also found that minority and poor students didn’t have computer access outside of regular school hours, especially at home.But the digital divide ( 数字鸿沟 ) still exists in homes.

(38) A Geneticist It took years and years for the ea

rly work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn’t let up (放松，减少 ) on her experiment. Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.

(39) Scientists find a more distant galaxy(星系 )

French and Swiss astronomers say they have detected the farthest galaxy ever observed, a glimmer that dated back to when the universe was still in its infancy. The galaxy, dubbed（取名） Abell 1835 IR1916, is 13.23 billion light-years from Earth. It is at least 10 times smaller than our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and has one ten-thousandth of its mass. Previously, the farthest-known galaxy, whose discovery was announced in February, was roughly 13 billion light-years from Earth.

(40) Land of bicycles There are currently more than 500

million cyclists in China. 10 million of them are in Beijing even though there are good bus networks, lots of taxis, and personal cars. The bicycle is still a big part of Chinese daily life. But for cyclists today, it is much more than just a way to get around. Now people are looking for better looking and more useful bikes.

(40) Land of bicycles Many more people now own cars and

China’s public transportation system has improved in the past 20 years, but the bicycle remains the favorite for Chinese citizens. It is the cheapest, most convenient, and often quickest form of transportation, especially at rush hour. Bicycling is good for the heart, and lowers the risk of hypertension (高血压 ). Above all, the bicycle is environmentally friendly.

(41) DNA explains reading problems

Scientists have found the first gene for some cases of dyslexia. Dyslexia is a problem that affects at least 1 in 25 people. People with dyslexia have trouble with spelling, reading, writing, explaining their thoughts in words, and understanding sounds within words.

(41) DNA explains reading problems

Cells in your body contain DNA, which give instructions for making proteins. Generally speaking, DNA that makes one type of protein is known as a gene. If there is a problem with a gene, it could produce the wrong protein and cause something in your body not to work properly.

(42)‘Father of hybrid rice’wins prize Yuan Longping, who is called the “father

of hybrid rice”, was awarded in annual World Food Prize for his high-yield rice work, on March 29. He shares the award with a scientist from Sierra Leone. Yuan is credited with developing the world’s first successful hybrid-rice varieties, revolutionizing rice cultivation in China and tripling production over a generation. The award was created in 1986 to recognize people who help improve the quantity or availability of food in the world.

(43) Fine isn’t always good

European regulators fined Microsoft Corp around US$600 million for breaking antitrust law and ordered it to strip media software from its operating system.

REUTERS, March 24

(44) Music for brain

It is a well-established fact that exercise improved our mood, but new research has suggested that music may give exercisers a cognitive boost. Listening to music is also thought to enhance brain power. Researchers at Ohio State University, US, said that this was the first study to look at the combined effects of music and short-term exercise on mental performance.

(45) Fire – out- of- control

Coal mining in China is dangerous business. Thousands of mines are illegal, and hundreds of miners are killed every year. Countless fires are started by carelessness. But the coal is so abundant that when a mine starts to burn, its operators simply leave and start again somewhere else.

(45) Fire – out of control

Many scientific reports note that China is already one of the worst atmospheric （大气的） polluters. Coal gas and soot bring acid rain and disease to more than 100 Chinese cities, and problems spill over into Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. The underground fires add to the problem immeasurably （无法测量地） .

(46) Warning—Read the not-so-fine print When my physician said that my

headaches were caused by tension in my neck and shoulders, I looked for a product that would relax these muscles. The solution seemed to be a neck wrap that was to be cooled in the freezer or heated in the microwave.

Luckily, the product had clear instruments, including the following:”Warning – do not microwave while on body.”

(47) Cured by laughter• Forget about other things, laughter i

s the best way to ensure a healthy heart, according a new US research.The study found that people with heart diseases were 40 per cent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to healthy people of the same age. Researchers suggest that five minutes of laughter is good enough to revitalize (恢复生机） the body fro 12 hours.

(48) Reading expands knowledge

• Student A: No doubt, reading is good for

every student. I don’t think there is a conflict between reading for exams and reading for widening their horizons. The point is that students should learn to keep a balance between the kinds of books they are reading. It won’t do them any good to read only one kind of book.

(48) Student B:

Good reading can benefit you a great deal in your lifetime. I suggest you try to read what you are interested in and absorb as much knowledge as you can. If you lack a solid foundation in knowledge, you can hardly go anywhere. Try to be more efficient ( 有效 )in your professional study and you’ll be able to spend your spare time reading widely.

（ 48 ） Student C I’m strongly against students just

reading for exams or certificates. Today’s society needs people with comprehensive backgrounds. It’s only when you acquire a wide range of knowledge outside your field that you can be competitive in job hunting. Philosophy, history and psychology are needed to shape ability, thinking, and comprehension.

(48) Student D

Nowadays, it’s essential for students to read as much as possible in their spare time. Because society in the future will need talented people with knowledge in many areas outside their majors. To be competitive in the labor market, students should form good reading habits on campus.

(49)-1 Moscow: 200 missiles are found along eastern highway

More than 200 anti-aircraft missiles have been found alongside a major highway in Russia’s far East, the Itar-Tass news agency reported Sunday quoting military officials.

(49)-2 There was no immediate explanatio

n as to how the missiles, which fit a 57-mm launcher, ended up at a fork of a busy highway close to the town of Nakhodka.

The missiles have been taken to a nearby military base and an investigation has begun, the news agency reported.

(50)-1 Moscow: Raging forest fires kill 9 and destroy 400 homes

Nine people have been killed by forest fires that have raged for two days in Russia’s Kurgan region in the eastern Urals, the interfax news agency reported Sunday quoting a top regional official.

(50)-2 Four people, including a 9-year-ol

d child, had been hospitalized. A dozen fires in the region have dest

royed more than 5,000 hectares, or 12,400 acres, of forest since Friday. Some 400 houses have been set ablaze, leaving more than 1,000 people with homeless. They have been temporarily lodges in hotels in the region.