时间:2018-11-30 作者:英语课 分类:英语专业晨读美文


英语课

[00:04.22]The Thanks We Give

[00:08.71]It's not the turkey alone we're grateful for.

[00:12.25]Not the cranberry 1 sauce or the stuffing or even the pumpkin 2 pie.

[00:16.52]Some of the people seated at the table

[00:19.30]are strangers—friends of friends,

[00:21.59]cousins of in-laws—and some are almost desperately 3 familiar,

[00:25.46]faces we live and work with every day.

[00:28.11]In any other week, today would merely be Thursday

[00:32.21]and the gathering 4 of all these people—the cooking

[00:35.86]and serving and cleaning—a chore.

[00:37.78]But today it doesn't feel that way.

[00:39.86]The host—perhaps it's you—stands up and asks that we give thanks,

[00:45.23]and we do, each in our own way.

[00:47.79]And what we're thankful for is simply this, the food, the shelter,

[00:52.47]the company and, above all, the sense of belonging.

[00:56.63]As holidays go, Thanksgiving is in some ways the most philosophical 5.

[01:01.72]Today we try not to take for granted the things

[01:05.12]we almost always take for granted. We try,

[01:08.08]if only in that brief pause before the eating begins,

[01:11.63]to see through the well-worn patterns of our lives to

[01:14.95]what lies behind them. In other words,

[01:17.74]we try to understand how very rich we are,

[01:20.76]whether we feel very rich or not.

[01:23.52]Today is one of the few times most Americans consciously set desire aside,

[01:29.48]if only because desire is incompatible 6 with the gratitude—

[01:33.23]not to mention the abundance—that Thanksgiving summons.

[01:36.66]It's tempting 7 to think that one Thanksgiving

[01:39.70]is pretty much like another,

[01:41.48]except for differences in the guest list and the recipes.

[01:44.95]But it isn't true. This is always a feast about where we are now.

[01:49.94]Thanksgiving reflects the complexion 8 of the year we're in.

[01:53.80]Some years it feels buoyant, almost jubilant in nature.

[01:58.40]Other years it seems marked by a conspicuous 9 humility 10

[02:03.11]uncommon in the calendar of American emotions.

[02:06.68]And this year? We will probably remember this Thanksgiving

[02:11.04]as a banquet of mixed emotions. This is, after all,

[02:14.61]a profoundly American holiday.

[02:16.89]The undertow of business as usual seems especially strong this year.

[02:21.76]The shadow of a war and misgivings 11 over the future

[02:25.00]loom in the minds of many of us.

[02:27.34]Most years we enjoy the privacy of Thanksgiving, but this year,

[02:32.18]somehow, the holiday feels like part of a public effort to remember

[02:36.44]and reclaim 12 for ourselves what it means to be American.

[02:40.30]That means giving thanks for some fundamental principles

[02:44.09]that should be honored every day of the year

[02:47.36]in the life of this nation—principles of generosity 13,

[02:51.20]tolerance and inclusion. This is a feast

[02:54.02]that no one should be turned away from.

[02:56.16]The abundance of the food piled on the table should signify

[03:00.07]that there is plenty for all, plenty to be shared.

[03:03.12]The welcome we feel makes sense only if we also extend it to others.



1 cranberry
n.梅果
  • Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
  • Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。
2 pumpkin
n.南瓜
  • They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
  • It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你!
3 desperately
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
4 gathering
n.集会,聚会,聚集
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
5 philosophical
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的
  • The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
  • She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。
6 incompatible
adj.不相容的,不协调的,不相配的
  • His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
  • Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。
7 tempting
a.诱人的, 吸引人的
  • It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
  • It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。
8 complexion
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格
  • Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
  • Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。
9 conspicuous
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的
  • It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显,抽烟对健康有害。
  • Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。
10 humility
n.谦逊,谦恭
  • Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
  • His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和,甚至有点谦卑。
11 misgivings
n.疑虑,担忧,害怕;疑虑,担心,恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 );疑惧
  • I had grave misgivings about making the trip. 对于这次旅行我有过极大的顾虑。
  • Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后, 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧! 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
12 reclaim
v.要求归还,收回;开垦
  • I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
  • You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时,必须出示这张票子。
13 generosity
n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为
  • We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
  • We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。
学英语单词
ac josephson effect
acidulous element
ALD-BSA
allomerize
ALPURCOMS
Amomum aurantiacum
appellable
asymptotic structure
back-staff
be angry about
behandling
Belgic
bipolar-cmos amplifiers
Bristaciclina
bubblies
Capana
cartel-like agreement
cataractal
CHG'D
climatotheraphy
co2-silicate process
commerciate
continuous current converter
D-Dimer
DBF-HSP
debbier
declivity of keel
determination of time
disprivilege
dust-prevention agriplast film
echinodermatas
elevation board
Enines
exponent
flame blocker
For the Common Safety
frame scan transformator
gametophyte carrier
grate ball mill
green mature
greven
grimmas
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
hoidens
homogenous functions
I'm willing
ice cores
jet ignition system
know through and through
lamellibranches
land sake
line-shooters
long term manuring
magnetic field due to current
MCAP
medium-frequency changer
mesorchium
meteorological instrumentation
mid-range positioning system
mid-westerners
mining room and pillar
mirgil
moderate heat portland cement
motor luggage van
mountain ash
MP-TV
multichannel applicative signal analyzer
multiconcentric
multiple shearing machine
Murray Valley
non-selective radiation
nonsimulated
oil-prospectings
one touch control
path generation method
point vision
pre-budget
pteris venusta kunze
radial earth
radioscopes
rebaited
rerefy
reshears
rosin-cerate
scariness
settlement action
silicon single crystal rod
socket gauge
soft X-ray filter
solar spectrograph
strakelet
supercritical unit
task table
texture coating
tiger moth
tom boys
transistorise
true up
unanimity rule
up to this time
Wiechert seismograph
ziphodont