1、 爱思英语学习网 爱思英语 - 中国最受欢迎的英语学习网站 - http:/ 大学英语自选读物 （精彩篇） 年月 大学英语教学改革扩展项目课题组 1 前 言 亲爱的同学们，这本阅读材料是我们学校 2005 年的一个“大学英语教改”课题成果。它收集了当时参加课题实验的 04 级同学们（大一第二学期）自选的 29 篇精彩文章，字数约在 1 万 1 千字左右，涵盖爱情、工作、生活、人物等多种主题。 我们最初让同学去自由选材，目的是了解同学们平时阅读的喜好、习惯以及可接受的阅读难度。我们共收集到了 140 多篇故事和小短文。这些故事和小短文让我们进一步了解了这些同 学们的学习，为我们的英语教学提供了丰
2、富的信息。现在，我们将其中的一小部分筛选出来，也让你们了解他们在读什么，读多大难度的文章，及他们都是在哪儿获得这些阅读材料的。 我们根据材料的内容，编排了一些简单的问题，希望大家在阅读之后，并尝试回答每篇后的问题（后附答案）。 我们认为这些简易有趣的读物对大家很快地增加词汇量和阅读速度有帮助。 由于篇幅的关系，我们只收集部分同学的选文。另外，还因时间的关系，我们无法对材料中没有标注的同学姓名和材料出处一一核实，敬请原谅。我们感谢范永兰、王海兰、张玲梅和喻萍四位老师的辛勤工 作。 你们生活在一个英语学习的大好的环境中，周围的英语资源非常丰富。这些资料虽然有用，但也庞杂纷扰，容易让人迷失。我们希望
3、这本阅读材料能为你起到引领的作用，使大家最终能获得英语学习的巨大成功。 学习快乐！ 2 大学英语改革 扩展项目 课题组 章少泉，李勇忠，唐雄英 Part I Story We used to be crazy about stories when we were little kids, and I believe we will always like reading them even now we are grown up. In fact, stories are what make our lives interesting and inspiring. 3 1 Things are
4、 not what they seem Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a h
5、ole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, Things arent always what they seem. The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angel
6、s sleep in their bed where they could have good nights rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, How could t
7、his happen? Why did you not watch out for the cow? The first man had everything, yet you watched over his house. she accused, The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you did not help. Things arent always what they seem. The angel replied, When we stayed in the basement,
8、 I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked 4 God if I could seal the wall so he wouldnt find it. Then last as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I asked God if the angel cou
9、ld take the cow instead. Things arent always what they seem. 选自：征服英语一百篇 New words: basement 地下室 hospitable 热情好客的 Task: Fill in the blanks to complete a summary of this story: Two angels asked to spend the night with two families, one is rich, the other is poor. The rich one let them stay in the _, t
10、he poor one let them sleep in their _. In return, the rich lost _, the poor lost a cow. It seems _, but things are not _ _ _. 5 2 A Safe Bet It was nearly seven oclock, when a man walked into a bar, ordered a drink and turned to watch the television. The seven oclock news was on and it was showing a
11、 man standing on top of a tall building. He was looking down at the crowd of people below. On the ground, a police officer with a megaphone was trying to persuade him not to jump. “Lets talk about your problem,“ the police officer was saying. “Perhaps we can help you.“ The man turned to the bartende
12、r and said, “I bet you a hundred dollars he doesnt jump.“ The bartender looked at him. “Youre offering me a hundred dollars if he jumps? Is that right?“ “Yes. I dont think hell jump.“ The bartender smiled. “O.K. Youve got a bet.“ The man turned back to the TV and watched it carefully. The bartender,
13、 however, did not seem to be very interested. He continued washing glasses and serving the other customers. Then, after about five minutes, the man on the building threw himself off the roof and fell to the ground. The man in the bar turned to the bartender. “He jumped,“ he said. “You win.“ He held
14、out a hundred dollar bill to the bartender, but the bartender would not take it. 6 “I cant take your money,“ he said. “I knew I couldnt lose. That story was on the six oclock news. I saw him jump.“ “Well, yes, so did I,“ the man said, “but I didnt think hed do such a stupid thing twice.“ 李黎 选自：英文辅导报
15、 2004-2005 第期 New Words: megaphone 扩音器 bartender 酒吧侍者 Task: Answer the following questions. 1. What did the two bet on? 2. Who won? 3. Why could the winner win? And 4. Why did the other lose? 7 3 Top Salesman A young guy from Virginia moves to California and goes to a big department store looking fo
16、r a job. The manager says, “Do you have any sales experience?“ The kid says, “Yeah, I was a salesman back home in Virginia.“ The boss liked the kid, so he gave him the job. “You start tomorrow. Ill come down after we close and see how you did.“ His first day on the job was rough but he got through i
17、t. After the store was locked up, the boss came down. “How many sales did you make today?“ The kid says, “One.“ The boss says, “Just one? Our sales people average 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale for?“ Kid says, “101,237.64.“ Boss says, “101,237.64? What did you sell him?“ Kid says, “Firs
18、t I sold him a small fish hook. Then I sold him a medium fish hook. Then I sold him a larger fish hook. Then I sold him a new fishing rod. Then I asked him where he was going fishing, and he said down at the coast, so I told him he was gonna need a boat, so we went down to the boat department, and I
19、 sold him that twin engine Chris Craft. Then he said he didnt think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him that 4X4 Blazer.“ The boss said, “A guy came in here to buy a fish hook 8 and you sold him a boat and truck?“ The kid says, “No, he came in
20、here to buy a box of tampons for his wife, and I said, Well, since your weekends short, you might as well go fishing.“ 郑小明 选 New Words: hook 钩 rod 杆 tampons 塞伤口等用的棉塞 Task 1: Answer the following questions: 1) How did you like the story? 2) Can you guess what a 4X4 Blazer is? 3) Do agree that the kid
21、 is an experienced salesmen? 4) How can he make such a big sale? Task 2: Do you still remember the stuffs the kid sold to the customer? The customer first came in to buy a _, then the kid tried to sell a _, then a _, then a _, then a _, then a _, and finally the a _. The total amount of the sale is
22、_. Task 3: Can you retell the story now? 9 4 Thirteen Equals One Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another. But he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago, and has
23、been silent ever since. One night, however, the vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw it was one oclock. But the bell stroke thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In
24、the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as BILL, our local grocer. Whatever are you doing up here Bill? asked the vicar in surprise. I am trying to repair the bell, answered Bill. I have been here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a
25、 surprise! You certainly did give me a surprise. Said the vicar, and you have probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still I am glad that the clock is working again. That is just the trouble! answered Bill. It is working all right. But I am afraid at one oclock it will strike thirteen times and there is nothing I can do about it! We will get used to it, Bill said the vicar, thirteen is not as good as one , but it is better than nothing . Now lets
