【正文】 stmas is distilled in this sentence.所有有關(guān)圣誕節(jié)的想法和文字的精華都被提煉到這句話之中。 English has a wide vocabulary and it is a very flexible language. There are many different ways of making a statement. But words that are very similar in meaning have fine shades of difference, and a student needs to be alive to these differences. By using his dictionary, and above all by reading, a student can increase his sensitivity to these shades of difference and improve his ability to express his own meanings exactly.英語詞匯豐富，運用靈活。一個意思有很多種表達方式。但是無論意思上如何相近的詞總是存在著些許區(qū)別。作為學(xué)生就要敏感地意識到這些區(qū)別。通過查字典，尤其是通過閱讀，學(xué)生對這類細微差別敏感性將逐步增強，準確表達自己意思的能力也相應(yīng)提高。 Professor Raileigh once stated: “there are no synonyms, and the same statement can never be repeated in a changed form of words.” This is perhaps too absolute, but it is not easy to disprove. Even a slight alteration in the wording of a statement can subtly shift the meaning. Look at these two sentences:In my childhood I loved to watch trains go by.(1) When I was a child I loved watching trains go by. 羅利教授曾經(jīng)說過：“同義詞是不存在的。句子用詞改變了，句子就不再是原來的意思了?！边@也許過于絕對，但是很難駁倒。措辭稍有變更，意思會有微妙的變化。看下面兩個句子：（1） 童年時候我喜歡去看火車開過。（2） 當我是個小孩子的時候我喜歡看火車開過。At fist glance these two sentences are exactly the same. But look more closely and you will see that there are very tiny differences. In my childhood is a shade more abstract than when I was a child. Watching perhaps emphasizes the looking at trains a little more than to watch. This is a very subtle example, and it would be possible to argue about it, but everyone would at once agree that there is a marked difference between the next two statements:乍一看這兩個句子的意思完全一樣。但仔細一看你會發(fā)現(xiàn)它們之間存在細微的差別。在我童年時候比當我是小孩子的時候更加抽象。而看很可能比去看更強調(diào)看火車這一動作。這個例子不是很明顯，可能有待商榷。但每個人看了下面例子后一定馬上同意。兩者之間存在顯著區(qū)別。He died poor.He expired（斷氣、死） in indigent（貧困） circumstances.In one sense expired is a synonym for died and in indigent circumstances for poor, but when the whole statement is considered, we cannot maintain that the two are the same. The change in words is a change in style, and the effect on the reader is quite different. It is perhaps easier to be a good craftsman with wood and nails than a good craftsman with words, but all of us can increase our skill and sensitivity with a little effort and patience. In this way we shall not only improve our writing, but also our reading.（1） 他死的時侯很窮。（2） 他斷氣時窮困潦倒。在某種意義上，expired 是died 的同義詞，in indigent circumstances 是poor 的同義詞。但當看整個句子時，我們就不能堅持認為兩句是一樣的了。措辭的變化往往意味著風格的改變，并給讀者以不同的感受。也許當好一個 譴詞造句的工匠比當好一個與木頭釘子打交道的木匠要難一些，但是只要我們付出努力和耐心，我們就能提高自己的技能和敏感性。這樣我們不僅可以提高我們的寫作能力，還可以提高閱讀能力。English offers a fascinating variety of words for many activities and interests. Consider the wide range of meanings that can expressed by the various words we have to describe walking, for example. We can say that a man is marching（行軍）, pacing（起搏）, patrolling（巡邏）, stalking（纏擾）, striding(大步), treading（踩水）, tramping（流浪）, stepping out（走出去）, prancing（昂首闊步）, strutting（神氣活現(xiàn)）, prowling（潛行）, plodding（單調(diào)乏味）, strolling（散步）, shuffling（洗牌）, staggering（驚人的）, sidling（）, trudging（跋涉）, toddling（）, rambling（散漫）, roaming（漫游）, sauntering（參觀船上）, meandering（蜿蜒）, lounging（閑逛）, loitering（游蕩）, or creeping（匍匐）.英語為各種活動和嗜好提供了豐富多彩的詞匯。就那走路來說，通過我們擁有的各種各樣的詞語的意義范圍有多么廣闊。我們可以說行軍，踱步，巡邏，潛進，跨過，踐踏，重步走，蹦蹦跳跳地走，昂首闊步，高視闊步，徘徊，沉重緩慢地走，溜達，曳足而行，搖搖晃晃地走，側(cè)身而行，跋涉，蹣跚學(xué)步，漫步，徜徉，漫游，閑蕩，悄悄地走。 The foreign student of English may be discouraged and dismayed（驚惶） when he learns that there are over 400,000 words in the English language, without counting slang（俚語）. But let him take courage. More than half of these words are dead. They are not in current use. Even Shakespeare used a vocabulary of only some 20,000 words. The average Englishman today probably has a vocabulary range of from 12,000 to 13,000 words. It is good to make your vocabulary as plete as you can, but a great deal can be said and written with a vocabulary of no more than 10,000 words. The important thing is to have a good control and mand over the words you do know. Better know two words exactly than three vaguely. A good carpenter is not distinguished by the number of his tools, but by the craftsmanship（手藝） with which he uses them. So a good writer is not measured by the extent of his vocabulary, but by his skill in finding the “mot juste”, the word that will hit the nail cleanly on the head. 即使不包括俚語在內(nèi)英語就有四十余萬單詞，這很可能讓學(xué)習(xí)英語的外國學(xué)生感到氣餒和沮喪。但千萬不要灰心，因為超過半數(shù)的詞已不再通用。就算大文豪沙士比亞也只使用了兩萬左右的詞匯。今天普通英國人的詞匯量在12000到13000之間。一個人的詞匯量當然是盡量擴大的好，但僅僅10000的詞匯量就夠他說話寫字表達豐富的意義了。關(guān)鍵是你要扎實地掌握你知道的單詞。粗略地認識三個單詞還不如準確地掌握兩個。衡量一個木匠的好壞并不在于他擁有工具的數(shù)量多少，而是在于他運用工具的技藝如何。同樣的，衡量一個作家好不好不能通過其認識單詞的數(shù)量，而應(yīng)通過其找到恰如其分的詞的能力。這個詞要不偏不倚正中要害，一言中的。Unit 2 BEWARE THE DIRTY SEAS當心骯臟的海洋杰弗里 利恩 1Every year 100 million holidaymakers are drawn to the Mediterranean. With onethird of the world39。s tourist trade, it is the most popular of all the holiday destinations。 it is also the most polluted.每年都有一千萬的渡假者到地中海去度假，這里占去了世界旅游業(yè)的三分之一，是最受歡迎的度假勝地，但與此同時，它也成了受污染最嚴重的地方。It has only 1 per cent of the world39。s sea surface, but carries more than half the oil and tar floating on the waters. Thousands of factories pour their poison into the Mediterranean, and almost every city, town and village on the coast sluices its sewage, untreated, into the sea.雖然地中海僅占全球海洋面積的百分之一，但在它的海面上卻漂浮著全球海面一半以上的汽油和焦油。成千上萬的工廠將他們排放的有毒物質(zhì)傾人地中海，而且?guī)缀趺恳粋€靠地中海海岸的城市、城鎮(zhèn)和鄉(xiāng)村也都把未經(jīng)處理的污水排到海里。The result is that the Mediterranean, which 1nurtured so many civilizations, is gravely ill the first of the seas to 2fall victim to 3the abilities and attitudes that evolved around it. And the pollution does not merely 4stifle the life of the sea it threatens the people who inhabit and visit its shores.其結(jié)果導(dǎo)致孕育了高度文明的地中海周圍環(huán)境極其惡劣― 第一個由于人們對其利用能力的增強和對其環(huán)境污染的忽視態(tài)度而受害的海洋。這種污染不僅使海洋生物感到窒息，而且對于那些居住在地中海周圍并喜歡游賞海濱的人們也是一個威脅。4Typhoid, paratyphoid, dysentery, polio, viral hepatitis and food poisoning are endemic in the area, and there are periodic outbreaks of cholera.傷寒、副傷寒、痢疾、小兒麻痹癥、病毒性肝炎和食物中毒是這個地區(qū)的常見病，并且還會引發(fā)階段性的霍亂。5The mournful litany of disease is caused by sewage. Eightyfive pe