英语口语教程(高级) UNIT 5

[00:01.00]Lesson 5 Is it Good for Students to Have Part-time Jobs?;

[00:00.77]II. Read;

[00:04.04]Read the following passages.Underline the important view- points while reading;

[00:11.60]1.Jobs Attracting   Drop-outs;

[00:17.30]At quitting time, a throng of very young workers;

[00:22.48]walked tiredly out of the gate of the Lihua Printworks,;

[00:26.58]a township enterpri- se in Shenzhen Spec- ial Economic Zone, Guangdong Province.;

[00:33.26]Fifty percent were only 13 years old on the average,;

[00:38.39]while the oldest were no more than 17.;

[00:42.59]The teenagers had to work 14 or 15 hours a day.;

[00:48.08]They started at 7 a.m. every day and had to work until noon.;

[00:54.30]After a one-hour lunch break they worked to 6 p.m.;

[00:59.17]and then had another one-hour rest.;

[01:02.12]Then they went to supper and went back to work again for three or four hours.;

[01:08.65]Although life was very hard,none of them left.;

[01:13.78]They earned 100 yuan a month.;

[01:16.94]"I have much more money than my father;

[01:20.15]who is a middle school teacher," a girl said proudly.;

[01:24.61]In Linxia,the capit- al of Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province,;

[01:33.00]dozens of mosques were erected,attrac- ting both tourists and pedlars.;

[01:40.10]At the stands that sold beef,vegetables fruits and books,;

[01:46.11]children were doing business.;

[01:48.75]The oldest were no more than 16 and the youngest about six.;

[01:56.16]One child weighed a kilogram of apples on his balance scale;

[02:01.45]When he lifted it, the pan of the balance touched his feet.;

[02:06.73]He staggered among the bustling crowds of tourists crying out for business.;

[02:13.32]Since the Spring Festival of 1988,;

[02:17.67]more than 1,000 primary and middle school students;

[02:21.35]at Yulin prefecture in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region;

[02:26.22]have left home to work in factories in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone;

[02:31.45]and Dongwan County in Guangdong Province.;

[02:35.08]Twelve students from the Xingchang Middle School in Lanzhou Gansu Province,;

[02:40.78]quit school.;

[02:42.28]They left a letter that said:"Dear teacher we are grown up.;

[02:48.45]Since you taught us to be independent and self-supporting, we are beginning now;

[02:55.29]These children,whose parents are all well educated,;

[02:59.79]were good students in their class.;

[03:03.21]Not far away from Xi'an, an ancient capital in Shanxi Province;

[03:09.28]there was a cave dwelling in which more than 30 youths were living.;

[03:14.61]They were all boys between the ages of 11 and 18.;

[03:19.95]"We came out to find a new life,"said one boy.;

[03:24.41]But life was not as beautiful as they have dreamed.;

[03:28.45]They had no job and no money.Eventually, they gathered there.;

[03:35.44]In Guangzhou 77 per- cent of the juvenile delinquents under 18;

[03:41.92]were found to be truants.;

[03:44.72]China News Service reported that it's very difficult;

[03:49.74]for well-known professors in the universities in Guangzhou;

[03:53.32]to enroll their students.;

[03:55.96]When a medical college planned to enroll 33 students,only 26 people applied.;

[04:03.89]In March,1988,a post-graduate majoring in mechani- cal engineering;

[04:10.57]in Shanghai Jiaotong University,who came from a remote rural area,;

[04:16.33]asked for permission to quit school.;

[04:19.38]He said that for the sake of changing his backward hometown,;

[04:23.79]he decided to return and do something for it.;

[04:27.78]But he did not go back home,he became a businessman in Shanghai.;

[04:33.89]"After three years of study,;

[04:36.79]we will finally get our master's degree and 86.50 yuan as a monthly salary.;

[04:43.74]That can not buy two sweaters.;

[04:46.74]Knowledge is too cheap,"said a graduate student who had quit school.;

[04:52.80]In 1988, when the State Commission of Education;

[04:58.19]decided to try a new method of job assignment in some universities,;

[05:03.01]letting the graduates choose their own jobs, and vice-versa,;

[05:08.14]it unexpectedly disrupted the educa- tion process itself.;

[05:13.37]Every college student and graduate was busy looking for jobs.;

[05:19.28]They had no time to study.;

[05:22.49]"We have no iron rice bowls.;

[05:25.45]The earlier we find a job the better, " said a student.;

[05:30.27]A wave of quitting school and going into business;

[05:34.26]has swept the campuses of many universities and colleges in China.;

[05:39.18]After the chaotic 10-year-long "cultural revolution",;

[05:43.53]China had a shortage of 60 million engineers.;

[05:47.93]Now it seems there is a second crisis.;

[05:51.56]Only 11.8 out of every 10,000 people are receiving a higher education,;

[05:59.13]429.1 studying in high school and 1,324.7 in primary school.;

[06:09.44]More and more illiterates are living in the society.;

[06:14.26]2.Those Who Do Not   Want to Go to   College;

[06:20.89]According to the August 10th issue of The Youth,;

[06:26.49]out of 30,000 school graduates in Shanghai;

[06:30.79]who could take the college entrance examination this year;

[06:34.41]only 23,000 sat for it. What happened to all the others?;

[06:40.74]Allowing for 2,000 who were exempted from the examination;

[06:45.71]and went straight to college for their brilliance or for whatever reasons,;

[06:50.53]we still have 5,000 unaccounted for.;

[06:54.31]In other words,more than 16% of school graduates;

[06:59.49]who got good marks and were qualified to take the entrant examination;

[07:05.04]gave up the chance of going to college.;

[07:08.61]This is certainly a new phenomenon;

[07:11.88]ever since 1977 when competitive entrance examination was restored,;

[07:19.08]but the question is "Is this going to be a growing tendency?;

[07:24.73]To answer this question we have to look into the reasons;

[07:29.27]why the students gave up the examination.;

[07:32.81]Did they give up out of their own free will;

[07:36.13]or were they under some sort of coercion?;

[07:39.60]A simple clear-cut answer, I am afraid, is impossible to find.;

[07:47.11]Different groups of students give up the examinations for different reasons.;

[07:53.69]Those from the key schools (and they are mostly brilliant students),;

[07:59.34]give up for the simple reason that they want to go abroad.;

[08:04.21]Once they become college students,;

[08:07.37]they are bound by certain regulations which make it very difficult,;

[08:12.35]if not impossible, for them to leave the country.;

[08:16.54]Then there are those who think there is not much point;

[08:20.84]in going to college anyway;

[08:22.92]because you can hardly ever get an ideal job after you graduate.;

[08:27.89]The pay is low and more often than not the job is outside your field;

[08:34.21]so you get the frustrated feeling;

[08:36.65]of having wasted four precious years of your life in college;

[08:41.72]Besides,there is always the danger of your being assigned;

[08:47.27]to a post in another part of the country,;

[08:50.22]so why not be practical;

[08:52.45]and look for a well- paid job straight after middle school?;

[08:57.16]Graduates from ordinary middle schools gave up their chances;

[09:02.40]because they lacked self-confidence.;

[09:05.20]"Why try when I stand very little chance?";

[09:09.29]Not only the poorer students themselves thought this way,;

[09:13.75]some teachers even did their best;

[09:17.11]to dissuade them from taking the entrance examination.;

[09:20.95]If they could not increase;

[09:23.33]the number of successful candidates from their school;

[09:26.96]they could at least decrease the number of unsuccessful candidates;

[09:31.83]by not allowing the poorer students to sit for it.;

[09:36.18]In other words if they could not increase the absolute number;

[09:41.42]they would raise the ratio of successful candidates.;

[09:45.82]What do teachers generally think,of this new phenomenon?;

[09:50.79]Some are frankly worried.;

[09:53.90]"Such students lack drive and want to take things easy.;

[09:58.83]This is a reflection of looking down on knowledge,and should be taken seriously.";

[10:05.20]Other teachers think there is nothing to be alarmed about.;

[10:10.02]Don't we often tell the students that going to college;

[10:13.75]is not the only road they can take?;

[10:16.55]Society is made up of different strata of useful people.;

[10:21.83]Now that the students have made their own choice;

[10:25.46]in finding their place in society, why make such a fuss about it?;

[10:32.20]Lesson 6 Is Euthanasia Humane?;

[10:40.02]Text A Doctor of Good Reputation Hastened His Patient's Death;

[10:48.52]The most famous mercy killing case in America's history;

[10:54.01]involves Dr.Herman N.Sanders,a country doctor from New Hampshire.;

[11:00.75]In the early 1950s, Dr.Sanders had been treating a sixty-year-old woman;

[11:07.88]in Hillsboro County Hospital who was dying of cancer.;

[11:12.97]The woman had wasted away from 140 pounds to 80 pounds.;

[11:19.81]There was no chance for recovery and she suffered extreme pain.;

[11:26.03]Often she screamed out in anguish from her bed.;

[11:30.59]She begged everyone who came near her to help her die.;

[11:35.72]Toward the end there was little Dr. Sanders could do medically;

[11:41.32]to ease his patient's suffering.;

[11:43.86]He knew that her last days would be torturously painful.;

[11:48.99]So he decided to put an end to her misery.;

[11:53.29]Dr.Sanders gave his patient four lethal injections of air,;

[11:59.35]which caused her to die painlessly in under ten minutes.;

[12:03.80]He recorded his action on the hospital's record;

[12:07.85]and said no more of the matter.;

[12:10.64]However,hospital administrators came across Dr.Sanders' entry;

[12:16.71]when reviewing the records at a staff meeting and reported it to the state.;

[12:23.13]A warrant for the doctor's arrest was issued and served by the sheriff.;

[12:29.71]The warrant charged that Dr. Sanders;

[12:34.27]"feloniously and willfully and of his own malice and aforethought;

[12:40.02]did inject air into the veins of Abbie Borroto and with said injection,;

[12:46.40]feloniously and willfully;

[12:48.83]and of his said malice aforethought killed and murdered his patient".;

[12:55.00]The doctor pleaded not guilty and was released on $ 25,000 bail.;

[13:02.61]Dr.Sanders had been a known and respect- ed member of his community;

[13:08.16]for many years.;

[13:09.75]He was born in New Hampshire,;

[13:12.15]where his father had been an official;

[13:14.56]of the Public Service Corporation of New Hampshire.;

[13:17.88]In college,Dr. Sanders had been captain of the Dartmouth ski team;

[13:23.84]as well as a member of the college symphony orchestra.;

[13:27.88]He had recently returned from Europe;

[13:30.94]where he had continued his study of medicine.;

[13:34.46]Until the time of the mercykilling,his reputation was excellent.;

[13:40.16]Dr.Sanders had been considered a trusted and honored physician.;

[13:46.02]In response to the charges hurled against him,;

[13:50.06]Dr.Sanders claimed that he had done no wrong.;

[13:53.95]The woman had been within hours of her death.;

[13:57.47]Moved by pity,he had merely hastened an extremely brutal end;

[14:03.84]The Sunday after his arrest,;

[14:07.26]Dr.Sanders and his family attended services at their church as usual.;

[14:14.00]His minister and other clergymembers across the state;

[14:18.25]openly expressed their support.;

[14:21.36]One minister in a nearby town preached a stirring sermon in Dr.Sanders' defense.;

[14:28.66]He said that if the doctor was guilty, he was guilty too.;

[14:33.90]For he had often prayed that some suffering parishioners;

[14:37.94]might be "eased into the experience of death";

[14:41.77]Later that day 605 of the 650 registered voters in his town;

[14:50.22]presented Dr.Sanders with a written testimonial to his integrity and goodwill;

[14:56.75]They told him to use it wherever it might help him to prove his innocence.;

[15:02.45]However,their efforts did little good.;

[15:06.54]The attorney-general of New Hampshire firmly stated that;

[15:11.31]"the case will be presented forcefully and in complete detail,;

[15:15.92]regardless of the personalities involved,;

[15:19.03]to the end that justice may be met".;

[15:22.29]In response,hundreds of Dr.Sanders' fellow townspeople;

[15:27.68]offered to testify on his behalf.;

[15:30.48]They signed petitions urging the courts to dismiss the case.;

[15:35.35]Nevertheless,a grand jury dieted him for first-degree murder.;

[15:41.25]"All I can say," stated Sanders,;

[15:44.36]"is that I am not guilty of any legal or moral wrong;

[15:48.61]and ultimately my position will be vindicated.";

[15:52.97]Not long afterward, Dr. Sanders was acquitted.;

[15:57.94]But even after he was declared innocent,;

[16:01.15]some were intent on punishing the doctor.;

[16:04.52]His license to practise medicine was suspended.;

[16:08.92]And while some clergymembers had supported Dr.Sanders,;

[16:13.90]others loudly condemned him from their pulpits.;

[16:17.89]Among them was the Reverend Billy Graham,;

[16:21.46]who stated in Boston that "Dr.Sanders should be punished as an example";

[16:27.21]and that anyone who voluntarily,;

[16:30.22]knowingly or premeditatedly takes the life of another,;

[16:34.83]even one minute prior to death, is a killer.;

[16:39.39]While Dr.Sanders was not permitted to practise medicine,;

[16:44.06]he supported himself and his family by working as a farm hand.;

[16:49.50]Finally the Medical Board of the State of New Hampshire re- instated his license;

[16:56.34]And Dr. Sanders has continued as a doctor in his hometown ever since.;

[17:02.66]II.Read;

[17:06.70]Read the following passages.Underline the important view- points while reading;

[17:14.11]1.Euthanasia:Life or   Death Matter;

[17:21.05]Euthanasia,or mercy killing,;

[17:24.57]is quietly being practised in some Urban areas of China;

[17:29.19]despite a lack of legal protection for the death option.;

[17:34.21]Helping to hasten the death of terminally ill patients is humane,;

[17:40.17]said Cai Wenmei,an associate professor;

[17:44.16]at the Institute of Population at Beijing University,;

[17:49.08]Death should not be viewed as a failure,;

[17:52.81]but as a normal and natural stage of life, according to Cai.;

[17:58.72]People have the right to die.;

[18:01.67]Death,Cai said,is as natural as birth and like birth,;

[18:07.37]is sometimes a hard process requiring assistance.;

[18:12.09]It is unnecessary to artificially maintain life;

[18:16.29]beyond the point when people can never regain consciousness.;

[18:21.05]Statistics indicate that medical treatment;

[18:25.35]for a comatose patient costs 26,000 yuan a year,;

[18:30.90]a heavy burden for the hospital and the patient's family.;

[18:35.72]"Extending an incurably ill patient's life;

[18:39.76]means the same as aggravating his pain," Cai said.;

[18:44.68]Birth and death are both natural events,;

[18:48.98]but the emotional impact and the personal meanings;

[18:52.92]of these events are vastly different;

[18:56.60]Birth is usually anticipated with excitement and joy,;

[19:02.09]while the reality of death is often avoided as best one can.;

[19:08.15]Views on death are changing in China,;

[19:11.73]where a traditional saying that debt is better than death,;

[19:16.60]and doctors and nurses do everything they can to save dying patients,;

[19:22.30]including the use of medication and life-support systems.;

[19:28.20]A survey of 200 old people shows that 92 percent do not fear death.;

[19:35.82]They do not want along waiting period;

[19:39.24]They want to die with dignity and peace,;

[19:42.66]instead of agony and degradation.;

[19:46.03]Euthanasia is a progressive way to die,said a report in Beijing Daily.;

[19:53.44]Mercy killing can hasten the death of hopelessly ill individuals;

[19:59.09]by withholding life- sustaining procedures;

[20:02.46]so that death will occur naturally and quickly.;

[20:06.65]According to Cai, euthanasia can end the pain of termina- lly ill patients;

[20:13.80]and can also be a great relief to their family members;

[20:18.83]both mentally and physically.;

[20:22.30]However,the general adoption of the practice of euthanasia;

[20:27.90]would require changes in ethics and this should happen;

[20:32.56]only after the issue is carefully considered by society.;

[20:38.05]Cai suggests working out laws on euthanasia to protect the practice;

[20:45.10]Mercy killing, generally induced by an injection of sedatives,;

[20:50.90]should be performed only at the patient's request,;

[20:54.63]with the consent of his relatives and the signature of a lawyer.;

[21:00.44]Hospitals and family members should respect the dying person's rights;

[21:06.65]in regard to choices about lifestyle, including death.;

[21:12.04]However,it would not be right for medical personnel;

[21:16.70]or family members to casually assume that a patient is beyond hope;

[21:22.20]until a thorough examination is made of his physical condition;

[21:27.38]and of the effect of further medical treatment.;

[21:31.37]Hospitals avoid legal problems;

[21:35.25]by requiring the patient's family members;

[21:38.47]to request the induced death in writing;

[21:41.89]and by having joint approval of all medical personnel attending the case,;

[21:48.42]including nurses and anesthesiologists.;

[21:53.44]Deng Yingchao,widow of former Premier Zhou Enlai,;

[21:58.88]said that she is very much in favour of mercy killing as a practical concept.;

[22:05.20]Nevertheless,there is still a long way to go;

[22:09.30]for euthanasia to be widely accepted;

[22:12.35]because many people still consider it inhumane;

[22:16.24]to perform mercy killing for a patient,no matter how painlessly.;

[22:22.10]According to the report in Beijing Daily,;

[22:25.67]time is not yet ripe for drawing up laws for euthanasia;

[22:30.70]because the concept will require complicated changes.;

[22:34.95]Instead,the report advocates education on death.;

[22:40.70]2.Mercy or Murder?;

[22:46.19]On June 20,1973, 23 year old Lester M.Zygnamiak;

[22:55.52]walked into his older brother George's hospital room;

[22:59.14]at Jersey Shore Medical Centre in Neptune,New Jersey,;

[23:03.65]and shot his brother dead.;

[23:06.40]George had been paralyzed from the neck down;

[23:09.90]in an automobile accident several days earlier.;

[23:13.65]The doctor had told his family;

[23:16.74]that the 26 old boy would probably be paralyzed for life;

[23:22.10]and would never walk again.;

[23:25.05]The Zygnamiaks were an extremely close family.;

[23:29.51]Lester idolized his older brother and would have done anything for him,;

[23:35.47]but now he felt torn;

[23:38.37]After three intensely emotional days,;

[23:42.41]he decided to obey his brother's wishes.;

[23:46.40]When Lester visited his brother's hospital room, he said;

[23:51.32]"I am here today to end your pain.Is that all right with you?";

[23:56.97]His brother nodded and said yes. Then a shot rang out.;

[24:02.67]Hospital staff rushed to the room, and Lester was soon hauled off to jail.;

[24:08.99]Lester stood trial for his brother's murder,;

[24:12.77]but was acquitted November 5, 1973, on the grounds of temporary insanity.;

[24:21.01]The court had deter- mined that he was no longer insane,and Lester was released.;

[24:28.11]3.Mrs.Ross Killed   Her Daughter   Because She Loved   Her;

[24:36.45]Mercy killing,or euthanasia;

[24:41.01](from the Greek,eu-- meaning good and thanos-meaning death thus,"a good death");

[24:50.60]is against the law. It is considered a criminal offense.;

[24:56.71]Yet individuals brought to trial;

[25:00.60]for actual mercy killings are rarely convicted.;

[25:04.59]Like Lester Zygnamiak,they are usually released.;

[25:09.98]Such was the case with Anna Marie Ross.;

[25:14.22]At twenty-five Mrs, Ross gave birth to her first child,;

[25:19.72]a baby girl she and her husband named Paula.;

[25:24.54]The Rosses had wanted a child for several years,;

[25:28.99]but during her pregnancy;

[25:31.22]Mrs.Ross had unknowingly taken a damaging drug called Thalidomide,;

[25:37.54]which caused Paula to be born severely disfigured.;

[25:42.57]The infant had no arms or legs and her face was badly deformed.;

[25:49.93]Although Paula was of normal intelligence,;

[25:53.92]she was totally deaf and had very poor vision.;

[25:58.68]Paula was expected to live a normal life span.;

[26:03.86]But to survive, she would have to undergo numerous operations.;

[26:09.72]It was expected that she would spend much of her life in hospitals.;

[26:15.68]Anna Ross often stated;

[26:18.42]that she firmly believed her child's normal intelligence;

[26:22.31]would only make her more cruelly aware of her fate.;

[26:27.75]She felt certain that Paula's life would be filled with anguish.;

[26:34.64]So one night she put Paula to bed;

[26:38.74]and gave her a bottle containing a strong sedative.;

[26:44.12]The baby died painlessly during the night.;

[26:48.63]Anna Ross readily admitted to the killing.;

[26:52.52]She said,"I killed little Paula because I loved her.;

[26:57.75]I brought her into the world,;

[27:00.24]and she was unable to end her constant pain and misery.;

[27:04.69]I felt I had to send her to God.";

[27:08.22]A survey of more than 10,000 people taken by a local newspaper;

[27:14.75]indicated that over 98 percent agreed with Anna Ross's action.;

[27:21.28]When she stood trial a jury found Mrs. Ross not guilty in under three hours.;

[27:29.72]4.Innocent or   Guilty?;

[27:35.11]The fact that the majority of persons brought to trial for mercy killing;

[27:41.07]are usually found innocent;

[27:43.61]suggests that the law against it exists only on the books or in theory.;

[27:50.86]But this isn't quite true.;

[27:53.92]Case records indica- te that the wheels of justice do not always grind evenly.;

[28:01.33]While Lester M.Zygnamiak was acquitted,;

[28:05.42]Harold Mohar of Pennsylvania, involved in a similar case,was not;

[28:12.57]Mohar was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing his blind,;

[28:18.38]cancer-stricken brother who had pleaded with him to do so.;

[28:23.66]He was sentenced to from three to six years in prison and fined $ 500.;

[28:32.73]As a result of such uncertain consequences,;

[28:37.44]many healthy people have become concerned over their right to die.;

[28:42.99]If stricken with a severe mental or physical disability,;

[28:47.75]they want to be assured that;

[28:49.78]their lives will not be prolonged artificially by medical technology.;