时间:2018-12-11 作者:英语课 分类:新视野大学英语:视听说教程 4


英语课

Task 2: Americans’ Work Ethic 1

Script

For four hundred years or more, one thing has been a characteristic of Americans. It is called their “work ethic”. Its (S1) roots were in the teaching of the Christian 2 Puritans who first settled in (S2) what is now the northeastern state of Massachusetts. They believed that it was their (S3) moral duty to work at every task to please God by their

(S4) diligence, honesty, attention to details, skill, and attitude. To these Puritans, it was a (S5) sin to be lazy or to do less than your best in any task. They and later Americans tried to follow the Bible’s (S6) teachings, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

Therefore, Americans have for (S7) centuries believed that they were guilty of sin if they did not work as carefully and hard as they could when they did anything. God would punish those who were careless or lazy in their work. (S8) Even as children they were taught, “If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well.”

But some people have gone beyond the usual sense of diligence. They are especially attracted to the notion of “climbing the ladder” so as to increase their status, financial position, and sense of self-worth. (S9) In English a new word has been created to describe people who work compulsivelly. The word “workaholic” describes an individual who is as addicted 3 to work as an alcoholic 4 is to alcohol.

There are conflicting points of view about workaholics. Those concerned with problems of mental stress believe workaholics abuse themselves physically 5 and mentally. (S10) Others hold that workaholics are valuable members of society because they are extremely productive. The American culture values achievement, efficiency, and production, and a workaholic upholds these values.



1 ethic
n.道德标准,行为准则
  • They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
  • The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。
2 Christian
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
3 addicted
adj.沉溺于....的,对...上瘾的
  • He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
  • She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。
4 alcoholic
adj.(含)酒精的,由酒精引起的;n.酗酒者
  • The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
  • Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。
5 physically
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律
  • He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服,心绪也很乱。
  • Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。
学英语单词
a horse of another color
acceptor doping
air baffle ring
Alfisol
assembl? battu
assembly language source file
balkline billiards
Bamton
Barrier's vacuoles
be attracted to
bioenvironment
blankson
Bāsa'īdū
cdiz
channel modification
Chiputneticook Lakes
circular shape
conservation of momentum momentum conservation
conversion between types
Corluvite
corundom
coulda, woulda, shoulda
courtyard house
cranial deformation
cross ampere-turns
csc (containment spray cooling)
death ray
deceiver
decoat
dismantling(of a machine)
diving skip
dodecyl trichlorosilane
dry bean
dual-gun cathode-ray tube
EEG
electrically programmable read-only memory
entry date
Esperantisms
eucalyptus tree
expatriate premium
extractability
fechners
fin segments
floating prison
Formula One Car
fracture control technique
general supervision department
gerke
get jiggy
Gould's suture
haggag
heat fusing
homonymity
horizontally-polarized antenna
indicator length
industrial applicability
iododermas
Jumaytepeque
Kingston Bagpuize
long range data
lscc
mainline
Makopse
Mickey Rooney
necrocytosis
neojusticin
nymphaeums
oligoene
others-group
Panax pseudo-ginseng Wall.
pescheria
petrostate
predominations
psychophysics
pyrola albo-reticulata
remote control reading
reporter-researcher
reservoir behavior data
rule of mixture
Samundri
schvitzing
self-correct
shift in demand
soft ice cream
stable pair
stankevich
steadiness test at maximum continuous rating
strewnfield
syndrox
table corduroy
tarkenton
three-time overload relay
tour buses
transverse magnetic wave
trapezoidal divisor
turp
variable resistance transducer
vine-ripe
warse
wellhead manifold
Yermaki
zoltar