1、全新版大学英语综合教程1第二版课文原文14单元Unit 1The idea of becoming a writer had come to me off and on since my childhood in Belleville, but it wasnt until my third year in high school that the possibility took hold. Until then Id been bored by everything associated with English courses. I found English grammar dull
2、and difficult. I hated the assignments to turn out long, lifeless paragraphs that were agony for teachers to read and for me to write. When our class was assigned to Mr. Fleagle for third-year English I anticipated another cheerless year in that most tedious of subjects. Mr. Fleagle had a reputation
3、 among students for dullness and inability to inspire. He was said to be very formal, rigid and hopelessly out of date. To me he looked to be sixty or seventy and excessively prim. He wore primly severe eyeglasses, his wavy hair was primly cut and primly combed. He wore prim suits with neckties set
4、primly against the collar buttons of his white shirts. He had a primly pointed jaw, a primly straight nose, and a prim manner of speaking that was so correct, so gentlemanly, that he seemed a comic antique. I prepared for an unfruitful year with Mr. Fleagle and for a long time was not disappointed.
5、Late in the year we tackled the informal essay. Mr. Fleagle distributed a homework sheet offering us a choice of topics. None was quite so simple-minded as What I Did on My Summer Vacation, but most seemed to be almost as dull. I took the list home and did nothing until the night before the essay wa
6、s due. Lying on the sofa, I finally faced up to the unwelcome task, took the list out of my notebook, and scanned it. The topic on which my eye stopped was The Art of Eating Spaghetti. This title produced an extraordinary sequence of mental images. Vivid memories came flooding back of a night in Bel
7、leville when all of us were seated around the supper table Uncle Allen, my mother, Uncle Charlie, Doris, Uncle Hal and Aunt Pat served spaghetti for supper. Spaghetti was still a little known foreign dish in those days. Neither Doris nor I had ever eaten spaghetti, and none of the adults had enough
8、experience to be good at it. All the good humor of Uncle Allens house reawoke in my mind as I recalled the laughing arguments we had that night about the socially respectable method for moving spaghetti from plate to mouth. Suddenly I wanted to write about that, about the warmth and good feeling of
9、it, but I wanted to put it down simply for my own joy, not for Mr. Fleagle. It was a moment I wanted to recapture and hold for myself. I wanted to relive the pleasure of that evening. To write it as I wanted, however, would violate all the rules of formal composition Id learned in school, and Mr. Fl
10、eagle would surely give it a failing grade. Never mind. I would write something else for Mr. Fleagle after I had written this thing for myself. When I finished it the night was half gone and there was no time left to compose a proper, respectable essay for Mr. Fleagle. There was no choice next morni
11、ng but to turn in my tale of the Belleville supper. Two days passed before Mr. Fleagle returned the graded papers, and he returned everyones but mine. I was preparing myself for a command to report to Mr. Fleagle immediately after school for discipline when I saw him lift my paper from his desk and
12、knock for the classs attention. Now, boys, he said. I want to read you an essay. This is titled, The Art of Eating Spaghetti. And he started to read. My words! He was reading my words out loud to the entire class. Whats more, the entire class was listening. Listening attentively. Then somebody laugh
13、ed, then the entire class was laughing, and not in contempt and ridicule, but with open-hearted enjoyment. Even Mr. Fleagle stopped two or three times to hold back a small prim smile. I did my best to avoid showing pleasure, but what I was feeling was pure delight at this demonstration that my words
14、 had the power to make people laugh. In the eleventh grade, at the eleventh hour as it were, I had discovered a calling. It was the happiest moment of my entire school career. When Mr. Fleagle finished he put the final seal on my happiness by saying, Now that, boys, is an essay, dont you see. Its do
15、nt you see its of the very essence of the essay, dont you see. Congratulations, Mr. Baker. (797 words) Unit 2He must have been completely lost in something he was reading because I had to tap on the windshield to get his attention. Is your cab available? I asked when he finally looked up at me. He n
16、odded, then said apologetically as I settled into the back seat, Im sorry, but I was reading a letter. He sounded as if he had a cold or something. Im in no hurry, I told him. Go ahead and finish your letter. He shook his head. Ive read it several times already. I guess I almost know it by heart. Le
17、tters from home always mean a lot, I said. At least they do with me because Im on the road so much. Then, estimating that he was 60 or 70 years old, I guessed: From a child or maybe a grandchild? This isnt family, he replied. Although, he went on, come to think of it, it might just as well have been
18、 family. Old Ed was my oldest friend. In fact, we used to call each other Old Friend when wed meet, that is. Im not much of a hand at writing. I dont think any of us keep up our correspondence too well, I said. I know I dont. But I take it hes someone youve known quite a while? All my life, practica
19、lly. We were kids together, so we go way back. Went to school together? All the way through high school. We were in the same class, in fact, through both grade and high school. There are not too many people whove had such a long friendship, I said. Actually, the driver went on, I hadnt seen him more
20、 than once or twice a year over the past 25 or 30 years because I moved away from the old neighborhood and you kind of lose touch even though you never forget. He was a great guy. You said was. Does that mean ? He nodded. Died a couple of weeks ago. Im sorry, I said. Its no fun to lose any friend an
21、d losing a real old one is even tougher. He didnt reply to that, and we rode on in silence for a few minutes. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to himself than to me: I should have kept in touch. Yes, he repeated, I should have kept in touch. Well, I a
22、greed, we should all keep in touch with old friends more than we do. But things come up and we just dont seem to find the time. He shrugged. We used to find the time, he said. Thats even mentioned in the letter. He handed it over to me. Take a look. Thanks, I said, but I dont want to read your mail.
23、 Thats pretty personal. The driver shrugged. Old Eds dead. Theres nothing personal now. Go ahead, he urged me. The letter was written in pencil. It began with the greeting Old Friend, and the first sentence reminded me of myself. Ive been meaning to write for some time, but Ive always postponed it.
24、It then went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together when they both lived in the same neighborhood. It had references to things that probably meant something to the driver, such as the time Tim Shea broke the window, the Halloween that we tied Old Mr. Parkers gate,
25、 and when Mrs. Culver used to keep us after school. You must have spent a lot of time together, I said to him. Like it says there, he answered, about all we had to spend in those days was time. He shook his head: Time. I thought the next paragraph of the letter was a little sad: I began the letter w
26、ith Old Friend because thats what weve become over the years old friends. And there arent many of us left. You know, I said to him, when it says here that there arent many of us left, thats absolutely right. Every time I go to a class reunion, for example, there are fewer and fewer still around. Tim
27、e goes by, the driver said. Did you two work at the same place? I asked him. No, but we hung out on the same corner when we were single. And then, when we were married, we used to go to each others house every now and then. But for the last 20 or 30 years its been mostly just Christmas cards. Of cou
28、rse thered be always a note wed each add to the cards usually some news about our families, you know, what the kids were doing, who moved where, a new grandchild, things like that but never a real letter or anything like that. This is a good part here, I said. Where it says Your friendship over the
29、years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say because Im not good at saying things like that. I found myself nodding in agreement. That must have made you feel good, didnt it? The driver said something that I couldnt understand because he seemed to be all choked up, so I continued: I know
30、Id like to receive a letter like that from my oldest friend. We were getting close to our destination so I skipped to the last paragraph. So I thought youd like to know that I was thinking of you. And it was signed，Your Old Friend, Tom. I handed back the letter as we stopped at my hotel. Enjoyed tal
31、king with you, I said as I took my suitcase out of the cab. Tom? The letter was signed Tom? I thought your friends name was Ed, I said. Why did he sign it Tom? The letter was not from Ed to me, he explained. Im Tom. Its a letter I wrote to him before I knew hed died. So I never mailed it. He looked
32、sort of sorrowful, or as if he were trying to see something in the distance. I guess I should have written it sooner. When I got to my hotel room I didnt unpack right away. First I had to write a letter and mail it. (1093 words) Unit 3Whether we like it or not, the world we live in has changed a great deal in the last hundred years, and it is likely to change even more in the next hundred. So
