自考英语综合一下册课文 lesson 2

　　[00:00.00]Text

[00:02.61]In the Laboratory

[00:07.58]I entered Professor Agassiz's laboratory,

[00:11.83]and told him I had enrolled 1 my name in the Scientific School

[00:16.80]as a student of natural history.

[00:20.45]"When do you wish to begin?""Now,"I replied.

[00:25.50]This seemed to please him,and with an energetic"Very well!"

[00:30.64]he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens 2 in yellow alcohol.

[00:36.10]"Take this fish,"he said,"and look at it;

[00:40.25]by and by I will ask what you have seen."

[00:44.70]With that he left me.

[00:47.65]I was disappointed,for gazing at a fish did not seem to be challenging enough to an eager student

[00:54.49]and the alcohol had a very unpleasant smell.

[00:59.04]But I said nothing and began to work immediately.

[01:03.58]In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in the fish,

[01:08.44]and started to look for the Professor who had,however,left.

[01:13.59]Half an hour passed an hour another hour;the fish began to look disgusting.

[01:20.74]I turned it over and around;looked it in the face ghastly;

[01:26.52]from behind,beneath,above,sideways just as ghastly.

[01:32.37]I must not use a magnifying 3 glass,nor instruments of any kind.

[01:38.25]Just my two hands,my two eyes,and the fish:

[01:43.00]it seemed a most limited filed of study.

[01:47.68]With a feeling of desperation again I looked at that fish.

[01:52.33]I pushed my finger down its throat to feel how sharp the teeth were.

[01:57.39]I began to count the scales in the different rows,

[02:01.52]until I was convinced that was nonsense.

[02:05.57]At last a happy thought struck me I would draw the fish;

[02:11.03]and now with surprise I began to discover new features in the creature.

[02:15.99]Just then the Professor returned.

[02:19.44]"That is right,"said he,"a pencil is one of the best of eyes.

[02:25.61]"With these encouraging words,he added,"Well,what is it like?"

[02:31.80]He listened attentively 4 to my brief description.

[02:35.64]When I finished,he waited as if expecting more,

[02:40.68]and then,with an air of disappointment;

[02:45.15]"You have not looked very carefully;why,"he continued more earnestly,"

[02:51.00]you haven't even seen one of the most visible features of the animal,

[02:55.86]which is as plainly before your eyes as the fish itself;

[03:00.40]look again,look again!"and he left me to my misery 5.

[03:05.86]I was hurt.Still more of that wretched 6 fish!

[03:11.43]But now I set myself to my task with a will,

[03:16.00]and discovered one new thing after another,

[03:20.15]until I saw how just the Professor's criticism had been.

[03:25.40]The afternoon passed quickly;

[03:28.88]and when,towards its close,the Professor inquired,"Do you see it yet?"

[03:34.94]"No,"I replied,"I do not,but I see how little saw before."

[03:41.78]"That is next best,"said he earnestly,"But I won't hear you now;

[03:47.42]put away your fish and go home;

[03:50.77]perhaps you will be ready with a better answer in the morning.

[03:55.23]I will examine you before you look at the fish."

[03:59.39]This was disconcerting

[04:02.73]Not only must I think of my fish all night,studying,

[04:07.30]without the object before me,

[04:10.75]what this unknown but most visible feature might,

[04:15.32]but also,without reviewing my discoveries,

[04:19.40]I must give an exact account of them the next day.

[04:23.76]The friendly greeting from the Professor the next morning was reassuring 7.

[04:28.72]He seemed to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself what he saw.

[04:34.29]"Do you perhaps mean,"I asked,"

[04:37.66]that the fish has symmetrical sides with paired organs?"

[04:42.51]His thoroughly 8 pleased"Of course!"

[04:46.28]repaid the wakeful hours of the previous night.

[04:50.64]After he had talked most happily

[04:54.30]and enthusiastically as he always did upon the importance of this point,

[05:00.17]I asked what I should do next.

[05:03.52]"Oh,look at your fish!"he said,and left me alone again.

[05:09.11]In a little more than an hour he returned,and heard my new list.

[05:13.84]"That is good,that is good!"he repeated,"but that is not all;go on.

　　[05:19.87]"And so for three days he placed that fish before my eyes,

[05:24.73]forbidding me to look at anything else,or to use any artificial aid.

[05:30.48]"Look,look,look,"was his repeated instruction.

[05:35.44]The fourth day,a second fish of the same group was placed beside the first,

[05:41.39]and I was told to point out the similarities and differences between the two;

[05:46.67]another and another followed,until the entire family lay before me.

[05:52.42]This was the best lesson I ever had.

[05:56.18]It has influenced the way I have studied ever since

[06:00.44]It was something the Professor gave me,which we could not buy,

[06:05.40]with which we could not part.

[06:08.64]While training the students in the method of observing facts and their orderly arrangement

[06:15.61]Professor Agassiz urged them not to be content with just facts.

[06:21.96]"Facts are stupid things,"he would say,"

[06:25.83]until brought into connection with some general law."