发布时间 : 星期四 文章牛津高中英语模块1-5课文及译文更新完毕开始阅读0344f11926d3240c844769eae009581b6bd9bdfc
“对不起，小姐。”男人回答，“事实上，雾太浓了以至于巴士不能行驶那么远。坐地铁列车去绿色花园，那里的天气也许会好一点，而且你也许可以在哪儿拦到一辆出租车。”
一个高大的男人
当波莉观察地铁上的乘客时，她注意到她被一个穿着黑色外套的高大男人盯着。最后，列车到达了绿色花园车站。当其他的乘客下车，她扫视了周围人的脸，四处都找不到那个高大男人。 脚步声
波莉到了车站出口，那里空无一人。外面的雾像一朵厚厚的灰云。在势力范围内一个人都没有。波莉朝着公园街出发。当她沿着街走时，她听到了脚步声，但是等到她到达街道拐角处，脚步声不见了。突然，波莉感到一只粗糙的手轻拂过她的脸，她听到一个男人的声音在她耳边说：“对不起。”男人离开了。她能感觉到心脏带着恐惧的跳动声。
乐于助人的陌生人
然后她再次听到了这个声音——在她后面轻轻的脚步声。一分钟前，她希望有个人和她一起走。现在她想要跑，但是恐惧使她一动不动。现在脚步声似乎靠近了。然后一个男人的声音从黑暗中传来：“有人在那里吗？” 波莉顿了顿，最后她说：“你好，我想我迷路了。”
几分钟后，一只手伸了出来而且碰到了她的手臂。波莉发现她自己抬头凝视着一个手停留在她的手臂上站立着的男人。她看到的是一张老人的脸。
“也许我能帮助你，你要去哪里？”他问。 “我住在国王街86号。”波莉回答。
“只管抓住我的手。”男人说，“跟着我走。你会没事的。”他抓住波莉的手：“留意这里的台阶。”
在他的另外一只手上男人拿着一根拐杖。波莉听到拐杖敲击着台阶。“我还记得一些可怕的雾天，但是也许那是在你出生之前。我看不见你的脸，但是你的声音听起来很年轻。你几岁了？” “刚满20。”波莉说。
“嗯，20岁！一个很美好的年龄。我也曾经年轻。现在我们在拐角处。从这里向左拐。” “我现在快迷路了，您确定您认识路吗？”波莉再次开始感到害怕。 “当然，你真的不必担心。”他握住她的手更紧了。
一个感恩的帮助者
“我们到了，国王街。”他停住。
“非常感谢。”波莉说，“你愿意进来休息一下吗？”
“你真的很善良。”男人说：“但是我要离开了。今天也许会有更多的人迷路，我要去帮助他们。你看，如此糟糕的雾是很罕见的。它给了我们报答在晴天给我们帮助的人们。一个像我这样的盲人没有帮助时不能穿过马路的，除了在像这样的雾天中。”
M3u1 Project Shark attaks
There are nearly 400 different types of sharks, but only about 30 types are known to have attacked human beings. Many people know that the most dangerous shark is the great white shark, probably because they have seen the film Jaws. However, two other sharks are also rather dangerous: the tiger shark and the bull shark.
To reduce the risk of a shark attack, you should follow these suggestions. ?Do not swim in the dark. Sharks can still see you but you cannot see them.
?Do not go swimming in the ocean if you have a fresh wound.Sharks can smell blood over a long distance.
?Do not wear bright clothing or jewellery, because sharks are attracted to the flash of colours
and bright objects.
?Stay in groups, as sharks usually avoid large numbers of people.
Recently, shark attacks have been increasing as water sports are becoming more popular. If a shark attacks you, follow the advice below.
?Keep calm. Do not panic.
?Hit the shark on the nose with your fist. ?Stick your finger in the shark’s eye.
Don’t be frightened by sharks: you are 30 times more likely to be hit by lightning than be attacked by a shark.
M3u1 The wonderful world of pigeons
It is night. All is quiet. The soldiers are asleep while a guard watches for the enemy. There is a flash, and the sound of guns! They are being attacked! Hundreds of enemy soldiers rush towards them. They are all going to be killed unless they get help. What should they do?
An officer writes a short message quickly on a small piece of paper: ‘Being attacked! Hurry!’ He rolls up the paper and puts it into a small case, and then reaches into a cage and gets a bird. Attaching the message to its leg, he sets the bird loose. It immediately flies into the air and disappears in the dark.
Will the bird arrive in time? Will they be saved?
Though it may seem hard to believe, the bird the officer uses is the same bird often seen in public parks—the pigeon. Pigeons have a wonderful sense of direction and can find their way home over long distances. Indeed, pigeons have been known to fly home from as far away as 1,800 kilometres. That is why pigeons have been used since ancient times to carry the news or even the mail. However, it was in war that they found their greatest use. During both World War I and II, pigeons were employed by armies to carry messages to and from the front lines, saving the lives of many soldiers and even helping win some important victories.
How do pigeons find their way? Pigeons appear to have a compass inside them that tells them which way is north. How this compass works remains a mystery. Of course, since a compass alone is not enough to find one’s way, they also appear to use their sight and even their sense of smell to tell them which way they should go. Unlike humans, they never get lost and can always find their way home.
M3U2English and its history
All through history, people from many different countries and cultures have lived together in Britain. The English language is made up of the grammar and vocabulary these people brought to Britain. That is why English has so many difficult rules that confuse people.
Old English
Old English is very different from the English we speak nowadays. In fact, we would not be able to understand it if we heard it today. Before the middle of the 5th century, people in Britain all spoke a language called Celtic. Then two Germanic groups from the European mainland—the Angles and the Saxons— occupied Britain. Old English consisted of a mixture of their languages.(Both the English language and the English people are named after the Angles; the word Angle was spelt Engle in Old English.) Aside from place names such as London, very few Celtic words became part of Old English. At the end of the 9th century, the Vikings, people from Northern European countries such as Denmark and Norway, began to move to Britain. They brought with them their languages, which also
mixed with Old English. By the 10th century, Old English had become the official language of England.
When we speak English today, we sometimes feel puzzled about which words or phrases to use. This is because English has many words and phrases from different languages, but with similar meanings.For example, the word sick came from a word once used by the Angles and the Saxons, while ill came from a word once used by the Norwegians.
Middle English
Middle English is the name given to the English used from around the 12th to the 15th centuries. Many things played a part in the development of this new type of English. The most important contribution was from the Normans, a French-speaking people who defeated England and took control of the country in 1066. However, the Norman Conquest did not affect English as much as the Angles and the Saxons’ victory about 600 years earlier, which led to Old English replacing Celtic.Even though the Normans spoke French for the entire 250 years they ruled England, French did not replace English as the first language. On the other hand, the English language did borrow many words from French. This resulted in even more words with similar meanings, such as answer (from Old English) and reply (from Old French). It is interesting to learn how the words for animals and meat developed. After the Norman Conquest, many English people worked as servants who raised animals. Therefore, the words we use for most animals raised for food, such as cow, sheep and pig, came from Old English. However, the words for the meat of these animals, which was served to the Normans, came from Old French: beef, mutton, pork and bacon.
Old French made other contributions to Middle English as well. In Old English, the Germanic way of making words plural was used. For example, they said housen instead of houses, and shoen instead of shoes. After the Normans took control, they began using the French way of making plurals, adding an -s to house and shoe. Only a few words kept their Germanic plural forms, such as man/men and child/children. After the Norman Conquest, high-class people spoke French while common people spoke English. However, by the latter half of the 14th century, English had come into widespread use among all classes in England. In 1399, Henry IV became King of England. His mother tongue was English, and he used English for all official events.
Modern English Modern English appeared during the Renaissance in the 16th century. Because of this, Modern English includes many Latin and Greek words. Pronunciation also went through huge changes during this period. Of course, this was not the end of the changes in the English language. The question of whether English will keep on changing in the future is easy to answer. It is certain that this process will continue, and people will keep inventing new words and new ways of saying things. 英语及其历史
有史以来，在不列颠共同生活着来自许多不同国家和文化背景的人们。英语就是由这些人带来的语法和词汇构成的。那就是为何英语有这么多使人困惑的不解规则。
古英语古英语和现今我们说的英语完全不同。事实上，如果现在听到古英语，我们会听不懂。公元5世纪中叶前，生活在不列颠的人都说一种叫凯尔特语的语言。然后，来自欧洲大陆的两个日耳曼部族—盎格鲁人和撒克逊人—占领了不列颠。古英语是他们的语言混合而成的。
现在当我们讲英语时，我们有时会对用哪些单词或短语而感到困惑。这是因为英语有着许多来自不同语言的单词和短语，这些单词和短语有着相似的意思.比如，sick一词就是来自由盎格鲁和撒克逊人曾经用过的一个词，而ill则来自曾经被挪威人用过的一个词。
中古英语中古英语是给大约12世纪到15世纪期间使用过的英语起的名字。在这一新型英语的发展中，许多东西起了作用。最大的贡献来自于讲法语的诺曼人，他们于1066年击败英格兰并控制了这个国家。然而，诺曼征服对英语的影响并不及约600年前盎格鲁人和撒克逊人的胜利对英语产生的影响，那场胜利导致古英语替代了凯尔特语。尽管诺曼人在统治英格兰的整整250年间一直讲法语，但是法语并没有取代英语成为第一语言。但另一方面，英语也确实借用了许多法语单词，因此产生了更多意思相近的单词，比如answer（来自于古英语）和 reply（来自于古法语）。了解有关动物和肉的词汇是怎么演变而来的，是件挺有趣的事。诺曼人征服英格兰之后，许多英国人以仆人的身份从事饲养动物的工作。因此，我们现在所用的大多数表示专为肉食而饲养的动物的单词，比如cow（母牛）、sheep（羊）和pig（猪），来自于古英语。然而，由于这些动物的肉是供应给诺曼人的，所以指代这些动物的肉的词来自于古法语，如beef（牛肉）, mutton（羊肉）, pork（猪肉）和bacon（熏猪肉，咸猪肉）。
古法语也为中古英语做出了其他贡献。在古英语中，单词变复数采用了日耳曼语中单词变复数的方法。比如说，他们说housen而不是houses，说shosen而不是shoes。当诺曼人控制英格兰之后，他们开始使用法语的复数构成形式，在house和shoe后面加s。只有很少的单词保留了日耳曼语的复数形式，如man/men和child/children。
诺曼征服之后，上层社会的人讲法语，而普通人则讲英语。但是到了14世纪后半叶时，英语已被英格兰所有社会阶层广泛使用。1399年，亨利四世成了英格兰国王。他的母语是英语，他在所有正式场合都使用英语。
现代英语现代英语是在16世纪的文艺复兴时期出现的。由于这个原因，现代英语中含有许多拉丁语及希腊语单词。在此期间，英语发音也经历了巨大的变化。当然，这并不是英语语言变化的终结。英语在未来是否会继续变化，这一问题是很容易回答的。可以肯定的是，这一变化过程将会继续，人们将会不断地发明新的单词和新的表达方式。
M3U2project The development of Chinese characters
The Chinese language differs from Western languages in that, instead of an alphabet, it uses characters which stand for ideas, objects or deeds. Chinese words are formed by putting together different characters. In many cases, a single character can also make up a word. The history of the Chinese language can be examined by looking at how these characters developed.
Chinese writing began thousands of years ago. According to an ancient story, a man named CangJie invented Chinese writing. One winter day while he was hunting, he saw the tracks of animals in the snow and observed that the appearance of each one was different. Then he had the idea that he could use different shapes to represent different objects. The first Chinese characters were drawings of physical objects. Some characters have been simplified and others have been made more difficult over time. However, as a whole, the characters have developed from drawings into standard forms. The character for a mountain was at first three mountaintops together. This became one mountaintop and three lines, and over time turned into the character used nowadays.
Not all characters were developed from drawings of objects. Sometimes to express ideas, some characters were made by combining two or more characters together. For example, ‘rest’ was made up of the characters for a man and a tree. The character ‘prisoner’ was formed with a ‘man’ inside a square. Other characters were developed for directions and numbers. It is easy to distinguish their meanings by looking at them, for example, the characters for ‘up’ and ‘down’, which are opposites of each other.
Though these kinds of characters indicate meanings, one of their shortcomings is that they do not show how they should be pronounced. Therefore, a method was developed to have one part of a character indicate the meaning and the other suggest the pronunciation. Many Chinese characters used today were made this way.
In the 1950s the Chinese government introduced simplified Chinese characters and now they have widespread use in China’s mainland. M3U2 The story of Braille
Usually, when we talk about reading, we think of using our eyes to see letters written in ink on