英语口语教程(高级) UNIT 9-10

[00:01.00]Lesson 9;
[00:01.00]II Read. 7.What Has Caused   the Population   Explosion?;
[00:07.86]The main reason is not so much a rise in birth rates;
[00:13.49]as a fall in death rates as a result of improvements;
[00:18.26]in public health services and medical care.;
[00:22.75]Many more babies now survive infancy, grow up and become parents,;
[00:30.14]and many more adults are living into old age;
[00:34.14]so that populations are being added to at both ends.;
[00:39.34]In Europe and America;
[00:42.01]the death rate began to fall during the Industrial Revolution.;
[00:47.40]In the developing countries of Africa,Asia and Latin America;
[00:53.36]the fall in death rate did not begin till much later;
[00:57.85]and the birth rate has only recently begun to fall.;
[01:03.48]8."The Rich Get  Richer and the  Poor Get Babies...";
[01:10.63]This sudden increase in the population of the developing countries;
[01:15.97]has come at a difficult time.;
[01:19.12]Even if their population had not grown so fast;
[01:23.75]they would have been facing a desperate struggle;
[01:27.04]to bring the standard of living of their people;
[01:29.90]up to the point at which there was enough food,housing,;
[01:34.19]education, medical care and employment for everyone to have a reasonable life.;
[01:42.01]The poor countries are having to run faster and faster;
[01:46.45]in their economic activity in order to stay in the same place,;
[01:51.79]and the gap in wealth between rich and poor countries;
[01:56.18]grows wider every year.;
[01:59.42]The most pressing problem created by the rapid increase in population;
[02:05.86]is a shortage of food.;
[02:08.53]More mouths have to be fed every year,;
[02:12.30]and yet a high proportion of the existing population;
[02:16.88]are not getting enough of the right kind of food.;
[02:20.98]Over the past two years the total amount of food has decreased,;
[02:27.27]and of course the total amount of food per person;
[02:31.09]has decreased even more sharply.;
[02:34.76]More and more of the babies born in developing countries;
[02:39.58]have been surviving infancy;
[02:42.15]and now nearly half the people living in those countries are under the age of 15.;
[02:49.36]The adults have to work harder than ever;
[02:52.84]to provide for the needs of the children,;
[02:55.41]who cannot contribute to the economy until they are older.;
[03:00.28]There is a shortage of schools and teachers,;
[03:04.19]and there are not enough hospitals, doctors and nurses.;
[03:09.53]Farming land is becoming scarce,;
[03:13.16]so country people are moving to the towns and cities;
[03:17.54]in the hope of finding a better standard of living.;
[03:21.36]But the cities have not been able to provide housing,;
[03:25.60]and the newcomers live in crowded slums.;
[03:29.85]Finally,there are too few jobs and unemployment leads to further poverty.;
[03:37.24]Lesson 10 Should Students Only Learn from Books?;
[03:45.73]Text Try to Find out about Real Life;
[03:52.84]During my recent tour to Kunming in Yunnan Province,;
[03:57.89]I encountered a young Australian at Liuzhou railway station.;
[04:03.47]I helped him get on board the train with his luggage,;
[04:08.05]and we got to chatting in English.;
[04:11.68]I learned that he was 21 years old;
[04:15.87]studying Asian literature and history at Sydney University.;
[04:21.93]What surprised me was that,young as he was,he had travelled a lot,;
[04:28.94]not only in China but also in many other part of Asia,;
[04:34.19]and he seemed to know so much about the Asian culture and history,;
[04:39.05]and was even familiar with ancient and modern Chinese literature;
[04:43.87]and philosophy masters such as Confucius,Lu Xun,Mao Dun and Guo Moruo.;
[04:52.02]He could speak four languages.;
[04:55.51]He is a college student,;
[04:58.18]but he did not confine himself to classroom reading only.;
[05:03.04]He said if one really wants to know the society and the world,;
[05:08.67]he or she should go to the grass roots to see,;
[05:12.68]hear and find out about real life.;
[05:16.73]Besides,many students like him in Australia;
[05:21.26]work at part-time jobs after class;
[05:24.51]so as to earn a living and save enough for travelling.;
[05:29.46]I am a bit older than he is.;
[05:32.76]Yet I found myself less knowledgeable than he is;
[05:37.24]about many things in the world.;
[05:40.15]Like some of my classmates at college,;
[05:43.82]I often feel conceited for merely being a college student;
[05:48.83]and sometimes I even looked down upon those  who failed to enter college.;
[05:55.17]We didn't have to work to earn a living,and took many things for granted.;
[06:01.95]We should not just admire;
[06:04.73]other people's living standard and opportunities.;
[06:08.54]What we should do is to learn their spirit of self-reliance;
[06:13.93]as well as a sense of responsibility for the society they live in.;
[06:20.80]II Read Read the following passages.;
[06:28.10]Underline the important Viewpoints while reading.;
[06:32.68]1. It Is Not Profitable to Study;
[06:38.64]This sounds like alarmist talk,;
[06:42.36]but the whole nation faces the danger of believing;
[06:46.32]that it is not profitable to study.;
[06:49.37]The following figures will serve as evidence:;
[06:53.85]Between 1980 and 1988,;
[06:58.67]more than 4 million primary and middle school students quit school.;
[07:04.63]In 1988 alone,more than 6,000 college students;
[07:10.78]and 2,000 post-graduate students left school.;
[07:15.98]At the same time, a large number of teachers resigned;
[07:21.13]to find better -paying jobs.;
[07:23.85]In some areas, schools had to close;
[07:28.10]because there were no teachers available.;
[07:31.53]Although the country lacks educated people,;
[07:35.63]more than 5,000 college graduates;
[07:38.88]were turned down by the work units to which they were assigned last year.;
[07:44.60]A study shows that 35 per cent of the country's population;
[07:50.46]above the age of 15 is illiterate or half-literate.;
[07:56.33]The situation could affect social standards;
[08:00.62]and threaten the survival of the nation.;
[08:04.25]An article from the Beijing-based Economics Weekly;
[08:09.21]attributed the dangerous situation in education to insufficient funding.;
[08:16.12]China only allocates 3.7 percent of its gross national product to education;
[08:24.61]lower than some 100 other countries of the world.;
[08:29.62]China's per capita spending on education;
[08:33.91]equals one-fourth that of other developing countries.;
[08:38.97]Teachers are poorly paid.;
[08:42.55]According to 1988 statistics,;
[08:46.36]teachers generally earn less than factory workers,;
[08:50.42]bank employees and technological personnel.;
[08:55.76]Teachers' housing problems are more serious than those of other employees.;
[09:02.29]Last year,38 percent of the teachers at Qinghua University;
[09:08.87]lived in extremely crowded quarters and 4.5 per cent had no apartments,;
[09:16.93]while 600 single teachers lived in rooms shared by three or four.;
[09:24.23]The tradition over thousands of years;
[09:27.95]that scholars should not pursue material goals has changed.;
[09:33.25]Many teachers have quit their school jobs to do business.;
[09:38.63]Others say they hope that their children will not become teachers like them.;
[09:45.22]To make things worse the limited funds for education;
[09:50.99]have not always been used in the right way.;
[09:55.09]Between 1985 and 1986,;
[09:59.91]government auditing departments;
[10:02.91]discovered that as much as 500 million yuan was spent on official buildings,;
[10:09.83]cars and business activities,;
[10:13.35]while many students attended classes in rundown classrooms or even outdoors.;
[10:22.27]2. Education Is about Something More Important;
[10:29.86]Yes,but what is education about?;
[10:35.29]Is it really about facts and figures,;
[10:38.86]learning things by heart-you know, the three "r's";
[10:43.77]reading,writing and arithmetic;
[10:47.06](and that shows somebody can't spell,doesn't it?;
[10:51.21]No, it gets me really cross.;
[10:55.07]People criticize modern education;
[10:58.22]because some kids don't know their seven times table.;
[11:02.23]Hell,what does that matter in the age of computers and calculators?;
[11:08.62]No,education is about something much more important.;
[11:13.84]It's about teaching people how to live, how to get on with one another,;
[11:19.92]how to form relationships.;
[11:22.97]It's about understanding things not just knowing them.;
[11:28.27]O.K. seven sevens are forty-nine. But what does that mean?;
[11:34.37]It's not just a formula,you know. I want my kids to understand.;
[11:40.33]3. People Don't Learn Anything Today;
[11:45.96]I think it's a great shame;
[11:48.87]the way educational standards are declining today.;
[11:52.83]I mean,good heavens, when you think of all the millions of pounds;
[11:58.03]the Government have spent on education;
[12:00.89]--new schools,more teachers,new equipment.;
[12:06.14]And yet still you find people who can't read properly,;
[12:10.76]can't even write their names;
[12:13.24]and don't know what two and two are without a calculator.;
[12:17.68]I think it's downright disgraceful.;
[12:21.02]I remember when I was young you went to school to learn.;
[12:25.36]You did as you were told and respected your teachers.;
[12:30.10]Nowadays.Huh, nowadays you got long-haired kids;
[12:35.61]who aren't interested in anything.;
[12:38.09]No wonder they don't learn anything.;
[12:41.00]A bit of discipline, that's what they need.A bit of discipline.;
[12:47.44]4. Traditional Schools Face Challenge;
[12:54.74]Every Tuesday and Friday,6-year-old Huang Kan goes to an evening class;
[13:02.75]to learn how to play the piano.;
[13:05.56]He shows little interest in this extra class;
[13:09.57]but his mother is willing to pay 18 yuan a month for his tuition.;
[13:16.29]He is one of the many only children;
[13:19.92]who in recent years have started attending classes;
[13:24.12]to learn to play musical instruments, or to paint or sing,;
[13:29.41]either on holidays or in the evenings during week-days.;
[13:34.56]Such classes are usually run by individuals.;
[13:40.14]Between ABCs and music,the government can only afford the former.;
[13:48.15]Music and painting are seen as luxury items for Chinese children.;
[13:55.50]But parents are eager to have the talents;
[13:59.93]of their only children developed.;
[14:03.08]They want their children;
[14:05.47]to learn far more than the Chinese and arithmetic;
[14:09.28]offered by the public schools.;
[14:12.43]The people in education and artistic circles;
[14:17.34]are filling this gap between-the parents' wishes;
[14:21.06]and public schools supply.;
[14:24.16]In the past,after- school activity centres;
[14:28.98]were encouraged to provide free classes in dancing,;
[14:33.89]playing the violin and Chinese boxing.;
[14:37.95]But as more and more people become interested and seek to take part,;
[14:44.10]teachers are more difficult to find.;
[14:47.96]So up grew the practice for parents;
[14:51.63]to show their gratitude to the volunteer teachers;
[14:55.40]by offering them gifts,such as cigarettes, meat and fish,;
[15:01.13]clothing and coupons for commodities in short supply.;
[15:06.75]But the gifts never quite matched up to the work involved;
[15:11.95]and so teachers began to charge for their services.;
[15:16.72]A very quick expansion of the charged service;
[15:21.40]followed with classes being started for adults.;
[15:25.74]These classes included hairdressing and cooking for women,;
[15:31.75]calligraphy and qigong for the elderly and child care for parents.;
[15:38.85]Many young people also went to English classes;
[15:43.77]to prepare for tests to qualify them to go abroad.;
[15:49.20]There are now classes of various kinds in the big cities.;
[15:55.26]In Guangzhou,for example,;
[15:58.17]the third traffic peak hour is from 9 to 10 in the evening;
[16:03.32]when people are leaving night schools.;
[16:06.94]The charge for service was started by individuals,;
[16:12.38]but now many cultural institutes have also entered the market.;
[16:18.87]Over the past two years,they have set up correspondence courses,;
[16:25.07]invited scholars to give lectures and even compiled text-books.;
[16:31.41]It all means that what was once a purely social service;
[16:37.42]has turned into a business.;
[16:40.28]Competition has grown with organizers offering such attractions;
[16:46.53]as the showing of new films;
[16:49.11]and the issuing of diplomas approved by the State's Education Commission;
[16:55.35]For the institutes, these activities are collective moonlighting.;
[17:01.79]They offer the usually low-paid teachers;
[17:05.70]and science and technology workers the chance of a second pay packet.;
[17:12.28]Students on this market benefit more.;
[17:16.62]Women from Anhui Province applying for baby-sitting jobs;
[17:22.06]can ask for 5 yuan more if they can speak putonghua;
[17:26.93]because parents are concerned;
[17:29.36]that their children would otherwise be affected by local dialects.;
[17:34.80]The skill of typing too can bring extra income.;
[17:40.71]The benefits that both teachers and students gain from this market;
[17:46.58]show just how highly knowledge is evaluated.;
[17:50.97]At a time when the State cannot invest more in education,;
[17:56.78]such a spontaneous market is no doubt a necessary supplement.;
[18:03.56]5. Education Standards Are Higher Than in the Past;
[18:10.71]Well,there are a lot of different views on this,;
[18:15.96]but I must say I don't think there's very much hard evidence;
[18:21.35]that educational standards are any worse today than in the past.;
[18:27.26]It all depends,of course,on what you measure and how you measure it,;
[18:33.51]but I think it is probably wrong to imagine;
[18:36.85]that there was some golden age in the past when everything was perfect.;
[18:42.81]Of course it may surprise some people;
[18:46.43]that there has not been an obvious and dramatic increase;
[18:50.68]in the standard of education,;
[18:52.97]given the vast amounts of money spent in this area;
[18:57.31]by successive governments in recent years.;
[19:01.08]But unfortunately, most improvements in education are intangible.;
[19:08.80]6. Give Students Time to Grow;
[19:15.53]With examinations drawing near,;
[19:19.68]the burden on middle school students is becoming heavier and heavier.;
[19:25.92]They have more homework than ever before,;
[19:29.21]and less time for leisure,rest and sleep.;
[19:34.18]Because of the over-load,;
[19:36.65]most students' health suffers and many become nearsighted.;
[19:42.62]An investigation made in a Honghu middle school shows that:;
[19:48.77]compared with 1985, the number of nearsighted students;
[19:54.54]has increased by 25-30 per cent;
[19:58.69]and a larger proportion of students complain of poor health.;
[20:04.65]It is not necessary to keep the students in class all the time.;
[20:10.52]They need to go outside for sports, singing,dancing and other activities.;
[20:18.29]We should create a good environment to let young students grow healthily.;
[20:25.68]7. Children Must Learn How to Live;
[20:32.36]The realization of China's modernization;
[20:36.75]relies on the children of today.;
[20:40.23]Childhood is a time of physical and mental development,;
[20:45.52]so efforts must be made;
[20:48.15]to provide an ideal environment for their development,;
[20:52.63]encouraging intellectual, physical and moral training.;
[20:58.50]How should our children be trained to cope wisely in the future?;
[21:04.36]We should provide them with a good material life,;
[21:08.80]but more importantly a good spiritual life.;
[21:14.05]Patriotism and communism must be spread among children;
[21:19.77]to stimulate lofty ideals and hard work to enliven the Chinese nation.;
[21:26.97]China needs talent that has developed morally,;
[21:31.31]intellectually and physically.;
[21:34.84]The practice of only enabling people who receive an education;
[21:40.04]to develop intellectually could result in a deficiency;
[21:45.33]on the part of a generation of children.;
[21:49.15]We have to put right the tendency of stressing only intelligence;
[21:55.87]and ignoring moral and physical education;
[21:59.83]and necessary, physical work.;
[22:03.31]Instead of children only receiving a classroom book- learning education,;
[22:09.99]we should encourage them to mingle with society and nature;
[22:14.95]so that they can be more adaptable in society.;
[22:20.05]8.People Should Be   Made to Love   Knowledge   and Reading;
[22:27.83]Recently,there has been a lot of discussion;
[22:32.31]about education in the Chinese press.;
[22:36.13]From these reports, and letters from my friends,;
[22:40.66]I know that many students in schools and universities;
[22:45.43]think studying is useless.;
[22:48.77]Some graduate students and even teachers quit study or teaching;
[22:55.63]to become clerks in big hotels,;
[22:59.02]for a clerk in such hotels can get higher pay than a university professor;
[23:06.99]Government leaders and many scholars;
[23:11.18]have already noticed this and are making great efforts to solve the problem.;
[23:17.62]In the People's Daily I see numerous articles on how to improve education;
[23:25.30]and many reports about government leaders;
[23:28.97]at all levels making various plans.;
[23:33.74]These plans all centre;
[23:36.70]on raising the salaries of teachers and professors.;
[23:41.04]Of course,this is very important to education.;
[23:45.95]However,education has two sides,;
[23:50.10]not just those who teach,but also those who learn.;
[23:55.83]Increasing the salary of teachers is just one way to improve education.;
[24:02.93]It will not work without the co-operation of the other determinants,;
[24:08.75]such as students' love of knowledge and reading.;
[24:13.28]Even if the teachers are devoted,;
[24:16.62]it will make no sense if the students are not willing to learn.;
[24:22.58]How can we make more people love knowledge and reading?;
[24:28.07]First,we all have to realize;
[24:31.74]that knowledge is useful everywhere in society,;
[24:35.65]not just in the classroom.;
[24:38.37]Second,people will love knowledge and reading;
[24:43.09]when they have free access to books and information.;
[24:47.91]Building more libraries and developing fine library services;
[24:53.44]are important to improving education.;
[24:57.64]I worked for six years in a big public library in China.;
[25:04.22]I saw many people reading book after book.;
[25:08.22]They dreamed of entering universities,;
[25:11.61]not just because higher salaries attract them,;
[25:15.19]but because of their need and love of knowledge.;
[25:19.62]As a dedicated librarian,I wish policy makers of our government;
[25:25.82]could spend more on libraries when they plan to improve education.;
[25:31.79]9. The Modern Methods Have Gone Wrong;
[25:36.94]Well,if you asked me,it's all these modern methods that's the problem.;
[25:44.33]In the old days you sat in rows at desks and you did as you were told.;
[25:51.24]You knew what you had to do and you did it--and you kept quiet,;
[25:57.54]Nowadays,my god,;
[25:59.97]the noise in most schools is deafening especially primary schools.;
[26:05.89]The children wander around-do more or less what they want to;
[26:11.28]as far as I can see.;
[26:13.42]The teacher just sits there or wanders around with them,;
[26:18.91]talking to them.;
[26:20.77]Informal teaching they call it. Discovery methods.;
[26:26.54]Sounds more like a recipe for discovering disaster to me.;
[26:32.02]When do they have time to learn anything?;
[26:35.79]Too busy wandering about to do any work.;
[26:39.99]And when you look at the youngsters coming to work for me,;
[26:44.14]you soon find out they haven't learnt very much at all.;
[26:50.34]Lesson 11;
[26:55.11]Does Parental Permissiveness Affect Children's Development?;
[27:01.50]Text Who Is to Blame, Mimi,or Her Parents?;
[27:10.03]I always thought Xiao Hong a spoilt and wilful child,;
[27:16.09]but today I met a girl a hundred times worse.;
[27:21.01]Compared to her Xiao Hong is an angel!;
[27:25.82]Uncle and Aunt Liu came for a visit;
[27:30.21]and brought their darling girl Mimi with them,;
[27:33.40]a girl of five and their only child.;
[27:37.79]The first sight of her disgusted me.;
[27:41.94]She was dressed and made up like nothing on earth.;
[27:46.38]I always hated the sight of Xiao Hong;
[27:50.24]when she got all painted up on Children's Day;
[27:53.82]or on other festive occasions.;
[27:56.97]But this Mimi was painted up for no reasons at all.;
[28:02.83]And even worse,she had her hair permed too.;
[28:08.32]It's bad enough to see grown-up women perm their hair;
[28:12.80]into all sorts of shapes and styles;
[28:16.04]--haystacks, loose wires,bird- nests,cock-tails, name what you will,;
[28:22.91]but it's their own funeral.;
[28:25.39]If they want to abuse and spoil their own hair,they are welcome to it,;
[28:31.27]but to do it to their children is really awful.;
[28:35.79]As though that's not enough,the Lius had Mimi's ears pricked too;
[28:41.65]in order that she may wear ear-rings ...What next?;
[28:46.66]They would have her feet bound too;
[28:49.38]if footbinding should suddenly become fashionable.;