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.;