1、269TV Ratings Children in the United States watch from one to five hours of television every day. / Thats a lot of television! / Teachers and parents dont like a lot of the childrens television programs. / They think a lot of these programs are not suitable for children. / For this reason, every tel
2、evision program in America has a rating. / The ratings tell parents about the program. / Parents can check the ratings in the newspaper and this gives parents a choice. / TV-G programs are suitable for all ages, and families watch them together. / TV-Y programs are suit- able for children 2-6, and t
3、hey dont frighten children. / TV-PG programs are suitable for some children, but they can frighten children. / Some parents watch these programs with their children. / Then, they can answer their childrens questions. / TV-14 programs are suitable for children 14 and older. / TV-MA programs are for a
4、dults, 17 and older. / They are not suitable for children. /268 The Functions of the Family The family fulfills a number of roles, / such as providing education and recreational activities. / Yet there are several major functions performed by the family. / First, unlike the young of animals, / human
5、 infants need constant care and economic security. / In all cultures, the family assumes ultimate responsibility for the protection of children. / Second, parents monitor a childs behavior / and transmit the values and language of a Culture to the child. / Third, ideally, the family provides members
6、 with warm and intimate relationships / and helps them to feel satisfied and secure. / Unlike other institutions, the family is obliged to serve the emotional needs of its members. / Finally, family resources affect childrens ability to pursue certain opportunities / such as higher education and spe
7、cialized study. / It is apparent, then, that the family has been assigned / at least four vital functions within human societies. /267 Stress As the pace of life continues to increase, / we are fast losing the art of relaxation. / Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, / it is hard to sl
8、ow down. / But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body. / Stress is a natural part of everyday life. / In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. / A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation. / It is only when the stress gets out of control / that it can
9、lead to poor performance. / The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individ- ual. / Some people are not afraid of stress, / others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. / Since we cannot remove stress from our lives, / we need to find ways to deal with i
10、t. /266Laws Before laws were written, there was no sure way / of knowing what was permitted and what was forbid- den. / One judge might apply one set of rules to a case / while another judge might apply completely different rules to a similar case. / It all depended on the personal judgment of one p
11、erson. / Today we follow the custom of recording our laws. / Rules passed by our lawmakers are printed and avail- able for everyone to see. / Unless laws are publicly available, / we do not regard them as binding. / Each of us is subject to many different sets of laws. / Some laws say what is permit
12、ted, such as how fast you may drive. / Other laws say what is required, such as paying a federal income tax. / Still other laws say what is prohibited, such as smoking in elevators. / In the United States, federal laws apply to everyone / and state laws apply to activities within each state. /265Tha
13、nksgiving Day Thanksgiving Day is one of the most truly American holidays in the United States/and is most closely connected with the earliest history of the country. / In 1620, the settlers, or Pilgrims, sailed to America on the May Flower, /seeking a place where they could have freedom of worship.
14、 /After a two-month tempestuous voyage they landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in the icy November. / During their first winter, over half of the settlers died of starvation or epidemics. / Those who survived began sowing in the first spring. / All summer long they waited for the harvests with great
15、anxiety, /knowing that their lives and the future existence of the colony/depended on the coming harvest. / Finally the fields produced a rich yield beyond expectations. /And therefore it was decided/that a day of thanksgiving to the Lord be fixed. / Years later, a President of the United States pro
16、claimed the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day every year. / The celebration of Thanksgiving Day has been observed on that date until today.264The Father and His Sons A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. / When he failed to heal their disputes,
17、 / he determined to give them a practical illustration of disunion; /and for this purpose he told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. /When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, /and ordered them to break it in pieces. /They tried with all their stren
18、gth, and were not able to do it. /He next opened the faggot,/took the sticks separately, one by one,/and again put them into his sons hands, upon which they broke them easily. /He then addressed them in these words: /My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other,/you will be as thi
19、s faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; / but if you are divided among yourselves,/you will be broken as easily as these sticks.263Sleep Sleep is part of a persons daily activity cycle. / There are several different stages of sleep, and they too occur in cycles. / If you are an aver
20、age sleeper, your sleep cycle is as follows. /When you first drift off into sleep, your eyes will roll about a bit, your temperature will drop slightly, / your muscles will relax, and your breathing will slow and become quite regular. / Your brain waves slow down a bit, too, /with a rhythm of rather
21、 fast waves predominating for the first few minutes. / This is called Stage 1 sleep. / For the next half hour or so, as you relax more and more, / you will drift down through Stage 2 and Stage 3 sleep. / The lower your stage of sleep, the slower your brain waves will be. / Then about 40 to 69 minute
22、s after you lose consciousness / you will have reached the deepest sleep of all. / Your brain will show the large slow waves. / This is Stage 4 sleep.262Social and Physical Distance Social distance may affect how openly employees speak about their work. /People of the same rank may talk frankly to o
23、ne another about how things are going. / However, they may be less honest with someone higher up in the hierarchy / for fear of prejudicing their position in the company. / For this reason employees often alter the facts to tell the boss what he or she wants to hear. / One way of reducing social dis
24、tance is to cut clown the ways / in which employees can indicate higher status. / Physical distance can affect how well people communicate. / The farther away one person is from another, the less often they communicate. / Some research has shown that when the distance is more than 10 meters, / the p
25、robability of communicating at least once a week is only 8%. / The most important thing for all managers to remember / is that communication is a two-way process. / They should encourage their employees to ask questions/and to react to what the managers are saying.261The Historical Significance of A
26、merican Revolution The American Revolution represents the link between the seventeenth century, / in which modern England became conscious of itself, / and the awakening of modern Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. / It may seem strange that the march of history should have had to cross th
27、e Atlantic Ocean, / but only in the North American colonies could a straggle for civic liberty/lead also to the foundation of a new nation. / Here, in the popular rising against a tyrannical government, / the fruits were more than the securing of a freer constitution. /They included the growth of a
28、nation horn in liberty by the will of the people, / not from the roots of common descent, / a geographic entity, or the ambitions of king or dynasty. / With the American nation, /for the first time, a nation was born, /not in the dim past of history/but before the eyes of the whole world.260Salt We
29、do not know when man first began to use salt, /but we do know that it has been used in many different ways. / Historical evidence shows that people who lived over 3,000 years ago ate salted fish. / Thousands of years ago in Egypt, / salt was used to embalm the dead. / Stealing salt was considered a
30、major crime during some eras of history. / In the 18th century, if a person was caught stealing salt, / he could be put in jail. / Salt was an important item on the table of royalty. / It was traditionally placed in front of the King when he sat down to eat. / In the early days in the U. S., salt wa
31、s very scarce. / So the storekeeper of pioneer days was very careful with his salt. / in the modern world salt has many uses beyond the dining table. / It is used in making glass and airplane parts, /growing crops and killing weeds.259There are very often strong opinions expressed about what makes a
32、 good wine. /At a simple level, a good wine is one that you enjoy drinking. /But why do you prefer one wine to another? /To judge a wine there are three basic senses that have to be employed: /the sense of sight, the sense of smell, and the sense of taste. /Of these three, taste is by far the most c
33、omplex, but sight and smell are powerful. /The wrong colour or the wrong smell enables a wine to be discarded /without taste even being involved. /Having examined the wine, /you can now get on and drink it. /But try and remember your conclusions, /for it is only by building up your own personal tast
34、e bank memory /that you can progress as a wine taster. /It is not difficult, and it is great fun. Cheers!258American Wedding Customs Wedding days are often considered the most important day of many peoples lives. /For this mason alone, throughout the past and into modern day,/numerous customs and su
35、perstitions have developed around the wedding event,/in hopes of creating The Perfect Day. /A very common custom still honored today /is in reference to a time-old saying: /something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, /and a silver sixpence inside your shoe. /So old is this that
36、 tracing it back to its origination is nearly impossible. /The old is believed to be the friends and family attending the wedding. /The new is represented by the couple themselves, as a new union. /The borrowed is something from the families that is to be returned. /Something blue is interpreted to
37、represent the brides virginity. /The sixpence can be any form of money, tucked into the brides shoe, /this to bring wealth to the union, both in monetary means and love.257Opportunity Opportunities dont come often. /They come every once in a while. Very often, they come quietly and go by without bei
38、ng noticed. /Therefore, its advisable that you should value and treat them with care. /When an opportunity comes, /it brings a promise but never realizes it on its own. /If you intend to fulfill one of your ambitions, you must work hard. /Otherwise, you will take no advantage of opportunities when t
39、hey visit you. /The difference between a successful man and one who is not lies only in their way of treating opportunities. /The successful person always makes adequate preparations to meet opportunities. /The loser, on the other hand, works little and just waits to see them pass by. / There are pl
40、enty of opportunities for everyone in our society, /but only those who are prepared adequately and qualified highly / can make use of them to achieve their purpose. /Chance favors the minds that are prepared.256Television Television, although not essential, has become an important part of most peopl
41、es lives. / It alters peoples ways of seeing the world; / in many ways, it supports and sustains modern life. / Television has become a baby-sitter, an introducer of conversations, / the major transmitter of culture, a keeper of tradition. / Yet what can be seen on TV in one day is critically analyz
42、ed. / It becomes evident that television is not a reader but a sustainer; / the poor quality of programmers does not elevate people into greater understanding, / but rather maintains and encourages the life as it exists. / The primary reason for the lack of quality in American television/is related
43、to both the history of TV program development and the economics of TV. /The close relationship which the advertisers had with radio programs/ became the system for American TV. / Sponsors not only paid money for time within programs, /but many actually produced the programs.255Self-concept The self-
44、concept is a complex structure./This complexity is illustrated by the idea of multiple selves./We seem to be a different person in each of many different situations./An example may clarify this concept. First, picture yourself at an athletic event. / Now, contrast this image with one of yourselves t
45、aking a final exam. /Finally, imagine yourself at work on a very busy day./You should probably describe yourself differently in each setting./Which image is really you? Of course, all are./We have multiple selves, each dependent on a context. Together they form our self-concept./It is the context th
46、at makes certain aspects of our self-concept more important at a particular moment./ Self-concept is composed of our beliefs, values, and attitudes./Our beliefs give our self-concepts their substance,/our values give them aspirations and standards,/and our attitudes give them motivation./These three
47、 elements provide a structure in which we develop and build ourselves.254Hemingway American writer Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. / He started his career as a writer in a newspaper office at the age of seventeen./During the 1920s, Hemingway became a member of the group Americans living in
48、 Paris,/ which he described in his first important work, The Sun Also Rises. / Equally successful was A Farewell To Arms, / the study of an American ambulance officers disillusionment in the war and his role as a deserter./Hemingway used his experience as a reporter/during the Civil War in Spain as
49、the background for his most ambitious novel,/For Whom the Belt Tolls. /Among his later works, the most outstanding is the short novel / The Old Man and The Sea,/the story of an old fishermans journey,/his long and lonely struggle with a fish and the sea,/and his victory in defeat./Now Hemingway is the classic symbol of bravery, or strong man.253Global Text Project Books are a hig
