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21世纪大学英语读写教程第二册第2单元内容详解
英语读写是为高等院校英语专业一至三年级学生编写的基础英语教材，旨在巩固和提高学生的语言基础，特别是阅读和写作的能力。下面是小编给大家带来21世纪大学英语读写教程第二册第2单元内容详解，希望能帮到大家！
在听磁带之前，请快速查看以下空白以准备好自己聆听数字。当你第一次听这段话时，用你听到的单词填写那些空白。
Pre-reading Activities
First Listening
Before listening to the tape, have a quick look at the following blanks to prepare yourself to listen for the figures.
1. As you listen to the passage the first time, fill these blanks with the words you hear:
Asians and Asian Americans make up only _____ of the US population, but they come up to ____ of the undergraduates at Harvard, _____ at MIT, ______ at Yale and _____ at Berkeley.
Second Listening
Read the following words first to prepare yourself to answer them to the best of your ability.
Talent effort money concentration ambition intelligence pressure sacrifice discrimination tradition
2. Why are these statistics "amazing"? And what do you think the explanation is?
Why They Excel
Fox Butterfield
Kim-Chi Trinh was just nine when her father used his savings to buy a passage for her on a fishing boat that would carry her from Vietnam. It was a heartbreaking and costly sacrifice for the family, placing Kim-Chi on the small boat, among strangers, in hopes that she would eventually reach the United States, where she would get a good education and enjoy a better life.
It was a hard journey for the little girl, and full of risks. Long before the boat reached safety, the supplies of food and water ran out. When Kim-Chi finally made it to the US, she had to cope with a succession of three foster families. But when she graduated from San Diego's Patrick Henry High School in 1988, she had straight A's and scholarship offers from some of the most prestigious universities in the country.
"I have to do well," says the 19-year-old, now a second-year student at Cornell University. "I owe it to my parents in Vietnam."
Kim-Chi is part of a wave of bright, highly - motivated Asian - Americans who are suddenly surging into our best colleges. Although Asian - Americans make up only 2.4 percent of the nation's population, they constitute 17.1 percent of the undergraduates at Harvard, 18 percent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 27.3 percent at the University of California at Berkeley.
Why are Asian - Americans doing so well? Are they grinds, as some stereotypes suggest? Do they have higher IQs? Or can we learn a lesson from them about values we have long treasured but may have misplaced — like hard work, the family and education?
Not all Asians are doing equally well; poorly - educated Cambodian refugee children, for instance, often need special help. And many Asian - Americans resent being labeled a "model minority," feeling that this is reverse discrimination by white Americans — a contrast to the laws that excluded most Asian immigrants from the US until 1965, but prejudice nevertheless.
The young Asians' achievements have led to a series of fascinating studies. Perhaps the most disturbing results come from the research carried out by a University of Michigan psychologist, Harold W. Stevenson, who has compared more than 7,000 students in kindergarten, first grade, third grade and fifth grade in Chicago and Minneapolis with counterparts in Beijing, Taipei and Sendai. On a battery of math tests, the Americans did worst at all grade levels.
Stevenson found no differences in IQ. But if the differences in performance are showing up in kindergarten, it suggests something is happening in the family, even before the children get to school.
It is here that various researchers' different studies converge: Asian parents are motivating their children better. "The bottom line is, Asian kids work hard," Stevenson says.
The real question, then, is how Asian parents imbue their offspring with this kind of motivation. Stevenson's study suggests a critical answer. When asked why they think their children do well, most Asian parents said "hard work." By contrast, American parents said "talent."
"From what I can see," criticizes Stevenson, "we've lost our faith in the idea that we can all get ahead in life through hard work. Instead, Americans now believe that some kids have what it takes and some don't. So we start dividing up classes into‘fast learners’and‘slow learners’, whereas the Chinese and Japanese feel all children can succeed in the same curriculum."
This belief in hard work is the first of three main factors contributing to Asian students' outstanding performance. It springs from Asians' common heritage of Confucianism, the philosophy of the 5th-century-BC Chinese sage whose teachings have had a profound influence on Chinese society. One of Confucius's primary teachings is that through effort, people can perfect themselves.
Confucianism provides another important ingredient in the Asians' success as well. In Confucian philosophy, the family plays a central role — an orientation that leads people to work for the honor of the family, not just for themselves. One can never repay one's parents, and there's a sense of obligation or even guilt that is as strong a force among Asians as Protestant philosophy is in the West.
There's yet another major factor in this bond between Asian parents and their children. During the 15 years I lived in China, Japan, and Vietnam, I noticed that Asian parents establish a closer physical tie to their infants than most parents in the United States. When I let my baby daughter crawl on the floor, for example, my Chinese friends were horrified and rushed to pick her up. We think this constant attention is old-fashioned or even unhealthy, but for Asians, it's highly effective.
Can we learn anything from the Asians? "I'm not naive enough to think everything in Asia can be transplanted," says Stevenson. But he offered three recommendations.
"To start with," he says, "we need to set higher standards for our kids. We wouldn't expect them to become professional athletes without practicing hard."
Second, American parents need to become more committed to their children's education, he declares. "Being understanding when a child doesn't do well isn't enough." Stevenson found that Asian parents spend more time helping their children with homework or writing to their teachers than American parents do.
And, third, our schools could be reorganized in simple but effective ways, says Stevenson. Nearly 90 percent of Chinese youngsters say they actually enjoy school, and 60 percent can't wait for school vacations to end. This is a vastly more positive attitude than youngsters in The US express. One reason may be that students in China and Japan typically have a break after each class, helping them to relax and to increase their attention spans.
"I don't think Asians are any smarter," says Don Lee, an Asian-American student at Berkeley. "There are brilliant Americans in my chemistry class. But the Asian students work harder. I see a lot of wasted potential among the Americans."
New Words
excel
v. (at) be the beat or better others (at sth.) 胜过他人
savings
n. money saved, esp. in a bank 积蓄;存款
heartbreaking
a. which causes great sorrow 令人悲痛的，令人心碎的
costly
a. expensive, costing a lot of money 代价高昂的;昂贵的
sacrifice
n. loss or giving up of sth. of value, esp. for what is believed to be a good purpose 牺牲
vt. 牺牲
risk
n. (of) a danger;sth. that might have undesirable results 危险;风险
vt. place in a dangerous situation 使遭受危险;冒…的风险
cope
vi. (with) deal successfully (with a difficult situation) (妥善地)应付或处理
succession
n. a series or the act of following one after the other (前后相接的)一系列，一连串;连续
successive
a. following each other closely 接连的，连续的，相继的
*foster
a. 收养孩子的;寄养的
vt. 收养;照料
scholarship
n. 1. 奖学金
2. 学识;学术成就
owe
vt. (to) 1. have sth. (usually sth. good) because of 把…归功于
2. have to pay, for sth. already done or given 欠
owing
a. (to) still to be paid 未付的，欠着的
motivate
vt. (often pass.) 1. provide (sb.) with a (strong) need, purpose or reason for doing sth. [常被动] 激发…的积极性
2. 使有动机
*surge
vi. move, esp. forward, in or like powerful waves (如浪潮般) 汹涌;奔腾
n. (感情等的)洋溢或奔放
constitute
vt. 1. form or make up 形成;构成
2. formally establish or appoint 组建;选派
constitution
n. 1. the act of establishing, making, or setting up;constituting 制定;设立;组成
2. (often cap.) [常大写] 宪法;法规;章程
*constitutional
a. allowed or limited by a political constitution 宪法规定的;合乎宪法的
grind
n. (AmE, often derog.) a student who is always working (美)[常贬义]用功的学生，书呆子
vt. 磨;磨碎
*stereotype
n. a fixed pattern which is believed to represent a type of person or event 固定形式，老套
misplace
vt. 1. lose (sth.),usu. for only a limited time (暂时)丢弃
2. put in an unsuitable or wrong place 把…放错地方
refugee
n. sb. who has been forced to leave their country for political reason or during a war 难民;流亡者
*resent
vt. feel anger and dislike about sth. 对…表示愤恨
label
vt. 1. describe as belonging to a particular kind or class 把…称为;把…列为
2. 加标签于;用标签标明
n. 标签
minority
n. 1. a small part of a population which is different from others in race, religion, etc. 少数民族;少数派
2. the small number or part;less than half 少数
minor
a. 较少的，较小的
*discrimination
n. 1. the practice of unfairly treating sb. or sth. 区别对待;歧视
2. the ability to recognize the difference between two things 识别力;辨别力
reverse discrimination
the making of distinctions in favour of groups considered disadvantaged or underprivileged 逆向歧视，反其道而行之的歧视
*discriminate
v. 1. (against, in favor of) unfairly treat one person or group worse or better than others 有差别地对待
2. see or make a difference between things or people 区别，辨别，区分
contrast
n. (to, with) a strong difference between two people, objects or situations 对比;对照
v. examine (two things) in order to find or show differences 对比;对照
exclude
vt. keep out from a place or an activity 阻止…进入;把…排斥在外
exclusion
n. the act of excluding or fact of being excluded 拒绝;排斥
exclusive
a. (of) not taking into account;without;excluding 不算;不包括;把…排斥在外
exclusively
ad. only;and nothing/no one else 排斥其他地;专有地;单独地
immigrant
n. a person who has come to live in a country from abroad 移民;侨民
prejudice
n. unfair and usually unfavorable feeling or opinion about a group—e.g.a nationality or race 歧视;偏见;成见
series
n. 1. (of) a set or group of things of the same kind or related in some way, coming one after another or in order 系列;连接
2. 丛书;广播(或电视)系列节目
fascinating
a. having great attraction or charm 吸引人的;迷人的
*fascinate
vt. (with) charm powerfully;be very interesting to 强烈地吸引;迷住
disturbing
a. causing worry or fright 令人不安的;令人烦恼的
disturb
vt. 1. break the peace or order of 扰乱;打扰
2. cause to become anxious or upset 使心神不安;使烦恼
*disturbance
n. 1. an act of disturbing or the state of being disturbed 打扰;扰乱
2. sth. that disturbs 造成干扰的事物
kindergarten
n. a school or class for young children, usu. between the ages of four and six 幼儿园
*counterpart
n. a person or thing that has the same purpose or does the same job as another in a different system 对应的人(或物);对手(方)
battery
n. 1. (of) a set or number of things of the same kind occurring in rapid succession 一组;一系列
2. 电池(组)
*converge
vi. (of two or more things) come together towards the same point (在一点上)会合;集中
the bottom line
the basic point 基本要点
imbue
v. (with)(usu. pass.) to fill with (sth., often a strong feeling or opinion) [常被动]灌输(某种强烈的情感或意见)
*offspring
n. a child or children from particular parents 子女;后代
critical
a. 1. providing a careful judgment of the good and bad qualities of sth. 判断(或评价)审慎的
2. 批判的
3. 关键的
criticize (-cise)
v. 1. make judgments about the good or bad points of 评论
2. judge with disapproval;point out the faults of 批评;指责
criticism
n. unfavorable judgment or expression of disapproval 批评;指责
curriculum
n. the program of study offered in a school, college, etc. 课程，大纲
factor
n. any of the facts, conditions, influences, etc. that act with others to bring about a result 因素，要素
outstanding
a. 1. better than others, very good 杰出的;优秀的
2. easily seen, important 显要的;重要的
*heritage
n. a tradition, custom, or quality which is passed down over many years within a family, social group, or nation and which is thought of as belonging to all its members 继承物，遗产;传统
philosophy
n. 哲学
sage
n. sb., esp. an old man or historical person, known for his wisdom and long experience 圣贤;哲人
primary
a. 1. chief, main 主要的
2. earliest in time or order of development 最初的
ingredient
n. 1. one of the essential parts of a situation 因素;要素
2. 成分
central
a. 1. chief, main, of greatest importance 主要的，最重要的
2. being (at, in, or near) the center (位居)中心的
*orientation
n. a direction or position 取向;方位;定位
*repay
vt. reward;pay back 偿还;回报
obligation
n. sth. that one must do out of a duty or promise 义务;责任
guilt
n. 1. the feelings produced by knowledge or belief that one has done wrong 内疚
2. the fact of having broken a moral rule or official law 罪(行)
bond
n. 1. sth. that unites two or more people, or groups, such as a shared feeling or interest 联结;联系
2. 公债，债券
3. 合约
crawl
vi. & n. 爬(行)
horrify
vt. shock greatly;fill with horror 吓;使感惊骇
unhealthy
a. 1. likely to cause illness or poor health 有碍健康的
2. not very strong or well, often ill 体弱多病的，不结实的，不健康的
*naivea. 1. too willing to believe or trust 轻信的
2. without experience (as of social rules or behaviour), esp. because one is young 幼稚的;天真的
*transplant
vt. move sth. from one place and plant, settle or establish elsewhere 移植;移居
recommendation
n. 1. suggestion, piece of advice 建议
2. 推荐信
vacation
n. (esp. AmE) holiday 假期;休假
vastly
ad. 1. very greatly 非常大地
2. 广阔地
vast
a. 1. very large and wide 广阔的;广大的
2. great in amount 大量的
positive
a. 1. (of people) sure, having no doubt about sth. 无疑问的;确定的
2. certain, beyond any doubt 肯定的
3. (of a statement) direct 正面的
span
n. 1. the length of time over which a stated thing continues or works well 持续时间
2. 跨度;跨距
attention span
a length of time over which one can concentrate 注意力的持续时间
Phrases and Expressions
make it (to) (a place)
succeed in getting (to) (a place) 成功抵达某地
owe to
have (sth. good) because of 把…归功于…
imbue with
(use. pass.) fill (sb), with (sth.), esp. a strong feeling or opinion [常被动] 向…灌输…
by contrast
very differently (from sth. previously mentioned);on the other hand 对比之下
get ahead
be successful in one's career 获得成功;出头
have what it takes
(infml.) have the qualifications necessary for success 具备取得成功的必要条件
spring from
be a product or result of;originate from 发源于;来自
can't wait (for sth.)
be excited about and eager (for sth.) 迫不及待，等不及
Proper Names
Fox Butterfield
富克斯·巴特菲尔德
Trinh Kim-Chi
郑金枝(越南人名)
Vietnam
n. 越南
San Diego
圣地亚哥(美国港市，位于加利福尼亚州南部)
Patrick Henry High School
帕特里克·亨利中学
Cornell University
康奈尔大学(美国纽约州一大学)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
(美国)马萨诸塞州理工学院(或译麻省理工学院)
IQ
intelligence quotient 智商
Cambodian
a. 柬埔寨的
University of Michigan
(美国)密歇根大学
Harold W. Stevenson
哈罗德·W·斯蒂文森
Minneapolis
明尼阿波利斯 (美国明尼苏达州东南部城市)
Taipei
台北(台湾省)
Sendai
仙台(日本本州岛东北岸港市)
Confucianism
n. 孔子学说，儒学
Confucius
孔子
Confucian
n. & a. 孔子(的);儒学(的);孔子信徒;儒士
Protestant
n. & a. 新教徒;新教(教徒)的
Lee Don
李·唐
全新版大学英语综合教程
The features of Illinois are not striking; they do not leap to the eye but lie flat and at first appear monotonous. The roads are wide, hard, perfect, sometimes of a shallow depth in the far distance but so nearly level as to make you feel that the earth really is flat. From east and west, travelers dart across these prairies into the huge horizons and through cornfields that go on forever; giant skies, giant clouds, an eternal nearly featureless sameness. You find it hard to travel slowly. The endless miles pressed flat by the ancient glacier seduce you into speeding. As the car eats into the distances you begin gradually to feel that you are riding upon the floor of the continent, the very bottom of it, low and flat, and an impatient spirit of movement, of overtaking and urgency passes into your heart.
伊利诺伊的地貌平平常常，没有引人注目之处。平坦的地势，初初看来单调乏味。道路宽阔坚实，毫无损毁，有时遥看有个不深的凹陷，可差不多全是那么平坦，你禁不住以为地球实际上是平的。从东到西，从西到东，旅人飞快地驶过茫茫大草原，驶向苍茫天际，穿过一望无际的玉米地;高不可测的苍穹，硕大的云朵，老是几乎平淡无奇、千篇一律。你很难缓慢地行驶。被古冰川挤压得平平坦坦的无尽长路诱使你加快车速。汽车渐行渐远，你这才开始逐步意识到自己正穿行在北美大陆的底部，地势最低之处，既低又平坦，这时一种亟欲行进、急着想超车的焦躁情绪在心头滋生。
Miles and miles of prairie, slowly rising and falling, sometimes give you a sense that something is in the process of becoming, or that the liberation of a great force is imminent, some power, like Michelangelo's slave only half released from the block of stone. Conceivably the mound-building Indians believed their resurrection would coincide with some such liberation, and built their graves in imitation of the low moraines deposited by the departing glaciers. But they have not yet been released and remain drowned in their waves of earth. They have left their bones, their flints and pots, their place names and tribal names and little besides except a stain, seldom vivid, on the consciousness of their white successors.
连绵不断的大草原徐徐起伏，有时会让你觉得有什么东西正在生成，或是即刻将有伟力释放，某种力，一如米开朗琪罗的奴隶雕像只浮现半个身形。可以想象，擅长构筑土墩的印第安人相信人的死而复生会与某种类似的释放同时发生，所以他们在建造墓茔时模仿离去的冰川积下的低矮冰碛。然而，他们迄今未能复苏，仍掩埋在泥土中。他们留下了自己的尸骸、燧石、壶罐、地名和部落名，此外就没留下什么，除了白人后继者的意识中并不清晰的污痕。
The soil of the Illinois prairies is fat, rich and thick. After spring plowing it looks oil-blackened or colored by the soft coal which occurs in great veins throughout the state. In the fields you frequently see a small tipple, or a crazy-looking device that pumps oil and nods like the neck of a horse at a quick walk.... () Along the roads, with intervals between them as neat and even as buttons on the cuff, sit steel storage bins, in form like the tents of Mongolia. They are filled with grain. And the elevators and tanks, trucks and machines that crawl over the fields and blunder over the highways -- whatever you see is productive. It creates wealth, it stores wealth, it is wealth.
伊利诺伊大草原上，土壤肥沃、丰产而深厚。春耕之后，泥土油亮乌黑，像是被遍布全州的大矿脉里松软的烟煤染过似的。田野上你常常看到一种小型翻卸车，一种样子滑稽的抽油用的装置，就像飞奔中马匹的颈部上下抖动…… 沿途耸立着形似蒙古包的铁皮谷仓，它们之间的间距如同袖口的纽扣般排列得整齐划一。里面储满了谷物。还有升降机、储藏罐、卡车、机器缓慢地行驶在田野上，笨拙地奔走在公路上――你所见到的一切都能产生经济效益。这块土地创造财富，这块土地储存财富，这块土地本身就是财富。
As you pass the fields, you see signs the farmers have posted telling in short code what sort of seed they have planted. The farmhouses are seldom at the roadside, but far within the fields. The solitude and silence are deep and wide. Then, when you have gone ten or twenty miles through cornfields without having seen a living thing, no cow, no dog, scarcely even a bird under the hot sky, suddenly you come upon a noisy contraption at the roadside, a system of contraptions, rather, for husking the corn and stripping the grain. It burns and bangs away, and the conveyor belts rattle....
当你穿过田野时，你见到农场主张贴的指示牌，上面用简短的标记写明他们播下的是什么种子。农舍通常不在路边，而是建在田野深处。那份寂寥和静谧既深沉又广大。当你穿行在玉米田间，行驶了十里，二十里，却看不到一个活物，看不到牛看不到狗，连晴热天空下的飞鸟也难见到，这时，突如其来地，你会见到路旁有个发出噪声的新奇的机械装置，或者说是一组机械装置，那是用来剥玉米壳碾谷的。它热得烫手，不停地砰砰作响，传送带咯嚓喀嚓地在运行……
When you leave, this noise and activity are cut off at one stroke: you are once more in the deaf, hot solitude of trembling air, alone in the cornfields.
你一走开，这声响，这动静就倏然消失：你重新回到那份无声的灼人的寂寥之中，呼吸颤动的空气，回到玉米田间，孤身一人……
North, south, east and west, there is no end to them. They line roads and streams and hem in the woods and surround towns, and they crowd into back yards and edge up to gas stations. () An exotic stranger might assume he had come upon a race of corn worshipers who had created a corn ocean;or that he was among a people who had fallen in love with infinite repetition of the same details, like the builders of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago who have raised up bricks and windows by the thousands, and all alike. From corn you can derive notions of equality, or uniformity, massed democracy. You can, if you are given to that form of mental play, recall Joseph's brethren in the lean years, and think how famine has been conquered here and super-abundance itself become such a danger that the Government has to take measures against it.
东南西北，四面八方的玉米地望不到边。路边、溪边都种了玉米，林子、城镇四周也都种了玉米，玉米种满后院，甚至挤到了加油站。异乡客会以为自己来到了一个创建起玉米海洋的对玉米顶礼膜拜的民族，或以为自己身处那些偏爱无休止地重复同样细节的人们之中，就如同纽约、芝加哥那些摩天高楼的建造者，他们垒万砖安千窗，全都一个模样。在玉米田间，你可以获得平等的观念、划一的观念、大众民主的观念。如果你好做这类脑力游戏，你可以回想一下遇到荒年的约瑟夫兄弟，想一想在这里饥馑是如何被铲除的，过剩本身又如何成为一种危险，政府不得不对其采取措施。
The power, the monotony, the oceanic extent of the cornfields do indeed shrink up and dwarf the past. How are you to think of the small bands of Illini, Ottawas, Cahokians, Shawnee, Miamis who camped in the turkey grass, and the French Jesuits who descended the Mississippi and found them. () When you force your mind to summon them, the Indians appear rather doll-like in the radiance of the present moment. They are covered in the corn, swamped in the oil, hidden in the coal of Franklin County, run over by the trains, turned phantom by the stockyards. There are monuments to them...throughout the state, but they are only historical ornaments to the pride of the present...
玉米地所展现的那种震撼力、那种千篇一律、浩瀚无垠的确使过去变得渺小。你不妨回想一下那些在草地设营的小群印第安人：伊里尼人、奥塔瓦人、卡豪凯扬人、肖尼人、迈阿密人，也不妨回想一下顺密西西比河而下、发现他们的法国耶稣会教徒。当你凝神回顾这些昔日的印第安人时，他们在今日的辉煌之前显得犹如玩偶。他们被玉米掩没，被石油淹没，被富兰克林县的煤埋没，被火车碾过，化作了在牲畜围场近旁出没的幽灵。为他们建的纪念碑……遍布全州，但这些不过是为今日的荣耀添彩的历史点缀……
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