1、Unit 1The cloze procedure originated in the 1950s as a means of assessing the difficulty of a reading text for native speakers, but within three years its originator was suggesting that it could be used for assessing the progress of second and foreign language learners. The principle is that single
2、words are taken out of a text at regular intervals, leaving gaps which students have to complete with appropriate “fillers,” one only for each gap. In order to do this the student has to refer to the text or either side of the gap so that he can judge what an appropriate filler might be, taking into
3、 account both meaning and structure.There are two types of gap: “function” gaps (such as conjunctions, preposition, articles) which have only one correct filler, and “semantic” gaps (such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs) that can be filled with any one of number of alternatives.The variation in
4、 acceptable filler leads to two main systems of marking: “exact” and “acceptable.” The first of these means that only the original word is counted as correct, and since there is only one right answer, the marking is objective and can be done quickly. In “acceptable” marking, decisions must be made a
5、bout whether a students offering is good enough to be counted as correct or not. It has been shown, however, that the two systems of marking produce very similar result, in the sense that the students are sorted into roughly the same rank order.Unit 2At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continen
6、t still wrapped in the Ice Age and, until recent times, unknown to man. Most of the continent is a complete blank on our maps. A 1,000-mile stretch of the coastline has never been reached by any ship. Man has explored, on foot, less than one per cent of its area.Antarctica differs fundamentally from
7、 the Arctic regions. The Arctic is an ocean, covered with drifting ice and surrounded by the land masses of Europe, Asia, and North America. The Antarctic is a continent almost as large as Europe and Australia combined centered roughly on the South Pole and surrounded by the most unobstructed water
8、areas of the world the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.The continental ice sheet is more than two miles deep in its center; thus the air over the Antarctic is much colder than it is over the Arctic regions. More than a million persons live within 2,000 miles of the North Pole in an area that in
9、cludes most of Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia a region rich in forest and mining industries. Apart from a handful of weather stations, within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree, industry or settlement.Unit 3Of all UNHCR programs involving internally displaced persons (I
10、DPs), former Yugoslavia has perhaps been the most problematic. When UNHCR was asked by the Secretary- General to take the lead humanitarian role in the region in late 1991, few imagined that the conflict would grow so big, that the victims would eventually number so many, and that within months the
11、program would be costing UNHCR so much nearly $1 million a day.From an agency long used to protecting and assisting refugees once they had reached the relative safety of an asylum country, UNHCR soon found itself in the middle of a war zone in the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. U
12、NHCR humanitarian staff suddenly found themselves caught in the crossfire while trying to help, not refuges, but millions of IDPs and other “war affected” people in communities like Sarajevo, Gorazde and Bihac. Twelve were killed in UNHCR operations, and dozens were wounded. By 1993, UNHCR found its
13、elf, for the first time in its 40-year-history, in the midst of a conflict that the international community appeared powerless to stop. There seemed to be no way out.Unit 4Information and education programs against smoking have been intensified in France. Tobacco taxes have also been increased regul
14、arly, and in 1991, France adopted a comprehensive tobacco control law. This law, which was phased in and came fully into force in 1993, bans tobacco advertising, fixes maximum tar yields, and requires strong health warnings on both the front and back of the package. Besides/Moreover the law also con
15、trols smoking in transport, public places and workplaces by either banning it altogether or limiting it to just a few smoking areas. A non-governmental organization, the National Committee Against Tobacco Use, has been especially active in encouraging strict observance of the tobacco advertising ban
16、. Early attempts to find ways around the law let the National Committee Against Tobacco Use to bring charges against the alleged violators. These resulted in a number of successful convictions, which, in turn, have led to near-total observance of Frances strict ban on direct and indirect tobacco adv
17、ertising. By 1995, tobacco consumption had fallen by 7.3% since 1991 when the comprehensive tobacco control law was adopted.Unit 5Visit the website of the European central bank, click on the icon for its French-language pages and you will be politely advised that the bulk of the site is unfortunatel
18、y in English, and you should perhaps try the Bank of Frances homepage for information in French.“The first instrument of a peoples genius,” wrote the author Stendhal, “is its language.” In which case, the French are in trouble. Already drowning at home in a rising tide of what stalwarts see as vulga
19、r and inelegant English, their tongue is now in grave danger of disappearing from the international scene altogether. “What is at stake is the survival of our culture. It is a life or death matter,” Jacques Viot, head of the Alliance Francise, which promotes French abroad, warned last month. For a c
20、ountry that has long proclaimed its tongue the language of love, of global diplomancy and the rights of man, the threat is taken seriously. Few here complained when a francophobic US senator recently described French as “a near-forgotten” language; many realize that unless something is done, he coul
21、d very soon be right.Within France, the language benefits from a veritable battery of protective laws, decrees and directives. Radio stations must play mostly music with French lyrics, and advertisements in English are, with few exceptions, outlawed unless accompanied by a translation.Most of the le
22、gislation stems from the 1994 “loi Toubon,” which briefly threatened jail for anyone using words like “le weekend” or “le parking.” Even today, companies are occasionally prosecuted although not as often as organizations such as the Committee for the Defence of the French Language, one of a myriad o
23、f similar militant bodies, would like for using anglicisms in ads and brochures.Unit 6Round the end of the sixteenth century, Puritans, whose goal was the purification of religion in England, frequently suffered persecution at the hands of the English government. In order to seek religious freedom,
24、they decided to leave England.In early September 1620, 102 settlers (among whom 35 were Puritans) left for America aboard the Mayflower. After a two-month journey they came within sight of Cape Cod and decided to stay. They met aboard the ship and drafted the Mayflower Compact a document that establ
25、ished the principles and rules by which their community would be governed. They also elected John Carver to serve as their first governor.After landing at Plymouth on December 21, 1920, however the Pilgrims faced terrible hardships. Few of them had any experience in colonization. Worse still, they h
26、ad come to America without adequate food supplies, and they couldnt start to plant crops until spring. By then more than half the Pilgrims, including Governor Carver, had died. It was with the help of the Indians that the survivors learned how to plant corn and where to fish. In October 1621, they w
27、ere able to celebrate their first harvest with the Indians. The same year, the Pilgrims secured a charter for Plymouth Colony from the Council for New England.Unit 7It was during the 1960s that ecology, a small and relatively unimportant branch of biology, rose to the attention of the United States
28、public. Science and medicine had made great advances in making human life easier, longer, and more comfortable. People became so reliant on technology that they were sure science could solve almost any problem. In the early 1960s, however, as populations became larger and open space less available,
29、people started to realize that there was one problem technology didnt have a quick-fix solution for the mistreatment of the environment.The science of ecology studies the ways humans can live in harmony with their natural environment ways humans can exist on this planet without destroying the very s
30、ystems that sustain life. Nature abides by very strict laws and an extremely delicate check and balance system. When those laws and system are upset, the resulted can be devastating. It is an ecologists job to see to it that the laws and system are not violated.Unit 8The word Hebrew, the original me
31、aning of which is not clear, can be used to designate a specific Semitic language namely, that utilized by a particular group of Ancient Near Eastern “people.” The linguistic name became attached also to the people among whom it was spoken. These “Hebrews” differed from their neighbors in their semi
32、-nomadic character and their supporting themselves not through settled agriculture but rather as herders. Their identity as a distinct people with an even more distinctive religion is attributed in the book of Genesis to the calling of the patriarch (paternal ruler) Abraham. The god who thus called
33、Abraham would from now on be regarded as the god of the Hebrews and from the time of Moses be known as Yahweh. Similarly, the Hebrews people would now no longer be defined simply by language or kinship, but by their allegiance to this, their god.At Yahwehs instructions, Abraham moved from Mesopotami
34、a into the land of Canaan, later known as Palestine. The story of Abraham and his descendants the patriarchs of Israel is legendary in character, but maybe rooted in historical events taking place around the first quarter of the second millennium BC that is, 2000-1750 BC.Unit 9The term “convention”
35、is generally applied to a multilateral treaty of a law-making type. There are many conventions concluded since the Second World War within the framework of the United Nations Charter, such as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963,
36、convention on the law of the sea and others, Law-making treaties concluded under the guidance of one or other of the specialized agencies of the United Nations also normally take the form of conventions: examples are conventions for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviati
37、on, and the series of anti-pollution conventions. Treaties which establish international unions of a technical character may also be designated as conventions for example, the various conventions for the protection of intellectual property, the Universal Postal Convention, and the International Tele
38、communications Convention.However, “convention” is used to indicate not only multilateral treaties of a law-making type, but also bilateral treaties, such as consular conventions, double taxation conventions and others.Unit 10The one person most associated with the development of the Presbyterian Ch
39、urch is John Calvin (1509 - 1564). His major work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, is a systematic treatise of 16th-century protestant thought, the cornerstone of Presbyterian doctrine, and one of the most influential books in Western thought.Dutch, French, English, Scots, and Irish brought th
40、e Presbyterian faith to America. One man, Francis Makemie, holds the distinction of being called the Father of American Presbyterianism. This Scottish minister came to America in 1683 with a zeal for preaching and a genius for organization. He soon recruited other clergy in his tireless efforts to o
41、rganize Presbyterians in the English colonies of America.The Presbyterian Church took root and grew in American soil, but not without difficulties. Presbyterians, along with Baptists and Methodists, divided at the question of slavery prior to the Civil War. The northern group, called the United Pres
42、byterian Church in the USA, became the largest Presbyterian body in this country and in the world. The southern group was called the Presbyterian Church in the United States. In 1983 these two groups merged to form the Presbyterian Church (USA), the fourth largest Protestant denomination in the United States.
