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The 1960’s saw a change in the form and content of movies, treating subjects that for so many years were considered taboo. unpleasant prohibited unethical worthless
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Even a novel in which there is no narrator tacitly creates a picture of an author behind the scenes. theoretically purposely instinctively implicitly
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The legislative filibuster is a parliamentary tactic designed to delay or prevent action by the majority. tradition rule observance maneuver
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Tanning by the sun takes place because sunlight stimulates the skin to produce the pigment melanin. burning roasting browning scorching
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5. Tempestuous times preceded the declaration of war. terrible turbulent trying temperate
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All of the tenants in the building complained about the lack of hot water. old people landlords superintendents occupants
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Glaciers terminate where the rate of ice loss is equivalent to the forward advance of the glacier. stop turn crack rotate
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Communication satellites generally use solar cells as their source of electric power, although some test satellites have used thermoelectric generators. superior authorized former experimental
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Some children display an unquenchablecuriosity about every new thing they encounter. insatiable inherent indiscriminate incredible
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The compact dictionaries published in recent years are not as unwieldy as some of the older editions. complete tiresome reliable cumbersome
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Would you bring me some up-to-date catalogues? current well-documented lavish hostile
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William Faulkner’s stories reflect his Mississippi upbringing. education cousins visits accent
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According to the American Red Cross, blood and plasma donors are urgently needed after natural disasters or other catastrophes. typically conceivably tentatively desperately
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Age is one of the variables which seems to determine the attitude of an older person toward conformity. sections factors results stimuli
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After listening to the testimony, the members of the jury delivered their verdict. sentence decision cross-examination foreman
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Food and Health
The food we eat seems to have profound effects on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon (结肠). Different cultures are more likely to develop certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. That food is related to illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, government researchers realized that nitrates (硝酸盐)commonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, accused cancer. Yet, these additives remain in our food, and it becomes more difficult all the time to know which things on the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin(青霉素) to beef and poultry(家禽),and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cows. Sometimes similar drags are administered to animals not for medicinal purposes, hut for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.
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Volts from the Sky
1．Lightning has caused awe and wonder since old times. Although Benjamin Franklin demonstrated lightning as an enormous electrical discharge more than 200 years ago, many puzzles still surround this powerful phenomenon.
2．Lightning is generated when electrical charges separate in rain clouds, though processes are still not fully understood. Typically, positive charges build at the cloud top, while the bottom becomes negatively charged. In most instances of cloud-to-ground lightning, the negatively charged lower portion of the cloud repels negatively charged particles on the ground’s surfaces, making it become positively charged, The positive charge on the ground gathers at elevated points.
3．A flow of electrons begins between the cloud and earth. When the voltage charge becomes large enough, it breaks through the insulating barrier of air, and electrons zigzag earthward. We see the discharge as lightning.
4．Lightning can occur within a cloud, between clouds, or between clouds and the ground. The first variety, intra-cloud lightning, is the most frequent but is often hidden from our view. Cloud-to -ground lightning, making up about 20 percent of lightning discharges, is what we usually see lightning comes in several forms, including sheet, ribbon, and ball, Intra-cloud lightning can illuminate a cloud so it looks like a White sheet, hence its name. When cloud-to-ground lightning occurs during strong winds, they can shift the lightning channel sideways, so it looks like a ribbon. The average lightning strike is more than 3 miles long and can travel at a tenth of the speed of light. Ball lightning, the rarest and most mysterious form, derives its name from the small luminous ball that appears near the impact point, moves horizontally, and lasts for several seconds.
5．Thunder is generated by the tremendous heat released in a lightning discharge second. This sudden heating acts as an explosion, generating shock waves we hear as thunder.
6．About 2,000 thunderstorms are occurring in the world at any time, generating about 100 lightning strikes every second, or 8 million daily. Within the United States, lightning strikes are estimated at 20 million a year, or about 22,000 per day. You have a 1-in-600,000 chance of being struck by lightning during your lifetime. Lightning can strike twice or more in the same spot. The Empire State Building in New York is struck by lightning about two dozen times annually.
7．You can measure how far you are from a lightning strike by counting the seconds between viewing the flash and hearing the bang, and then dividing by five. This approximates the mileage.
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Energy Crisis
One key question for the next century is how we provide energy in an environmentally sound way.
As living standards rise in the developing world, energy consumption will increase. As a result, many countries are now opening the door for private investment in a sector that used once to be solely the preserve of government.
In the developed world, the move is towards the deregulation and privatization of electricity generation and distribution. There is also a trend towards locally-generated energy, particularly in the developing world. Factories and shopping centers may one day have their own power sources.
Progress is also being made in minimizing the environmental impact of energy production and consumption. A motor car today puts out perhaps 5 percent of the pollution a new car did in 1970. We can produce clean power too but it costs, so in the new millennium(一千年) we’re to some extent going to have the environment we can afford.
The spectre of scarce or impossibly expensive energy is no longer with us, thanks to a combination of opening up new regions of the world and new technologies. Shortage is very unlikely. Environmental considerations mean there is a seriousness too about alternative energy sources that wasn’t there ten years ago.
Right now the fuel cell is at the top of the list of alternative technologies. Advances in turbine transportation mean that natural gas is going to have an ever-increasing role. Nuclear power may prove competitive enough to have a much longer life than many expect, but until there’s a major change in public sentiment, I don’t expect to see much new nuclear construction.
Will the grip of oil on personal transportation continue? Sports utility vehicles like Land Rovers and jeeps are hardly the perfect means of urban transport. But people have become very attached to their automobiles. So until we get around to technology where we beam ourselves around, I suspect we’ll continue to have them. Some may be electric; others could run on cleaner oil-based fuel or natural gas.
One area which is certainly not clear is the impact of the internet on transport. On the one hand, you will be able to accomplish by sitting in front of a screen what you used to have to go to the airport for, on the otherhand, increased knowledge may well fuel a rising demand for travel. We are only at the beginning of a revolution that is already being called a bigger revolution than the internal combustion engine(内燃机).
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Work and Happiness
Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. There is certainly much work which is exceedingly weary and an excess of work is always very painful. I think, however, that, provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. And whatever they decide, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter. To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. Except to people with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided the orders are not too unpleasant. Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from toil. At times they may find relief by hunting big game in Africa, or by flying round the world, but the number of such sensations is limited, especially after youth is past. Accordingly the more intelligent rich men work nearly as hard as if they were poor, while rich women for the most part keep themselves busy with innumerable trifles of those earth-shaking importance they are firmly persuaded.
Work therefore is desirable, first and foremost, as a preventive of boredom, for the boredom that a man feels when he is doing necessary though uninteresting work is as nothing in comparison with the boredom that he feels when he has nothing to do with his days. With this advantage of work another is associated, namely that it makes holidays much more delicious when they come. Provided a man does not have to work so hard as to impair his vigor, he is likely to find far more zest in his free time than an idle man could possibly find.
The second advantage of most paid work and of some unpaid work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition. In most work success is measured by income, and while our capitalistic society continues, this is inevitable. It is only where the best work is concerned that this measure ceases to be the natural one to apply. The desire that men feel to increase their income is quite as much a desire for success as for the extra comforts that a higher income can acquire. However dull work may be, it becomes bearable if it is a means of building up a reputation, whether in the world at large or only in one’s own circle.
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Eating Meat—Less or More?
Every second in the United States alone, more than 250 animals are slaughtered for food, adding up to more than 8 billion animals each year. Reducing the amount of meat in one’s diet is nutritionally, environmentally, and ethically beneficial.
People who eat meat usually have weaker immune systems compared to those of vegetarians. Meat has been directly linked to diabetes, obesity, arthritis, and many other illnesses. Furthermore, meat-eaters are at a higher risk for diseases, including cancer, and they are more likely to die from these diseases. Critics say that a meatless diet does not provide enough nutrients, especially protein and iron. Actually, according to A Teen’s Guide to Going Vegetarian, by Judy Krizmanic, protein is found in almost every food, and iron appears in many vegetables. Getting enough nutrients in a meat-reduced diet should not be difficult. A 1988 study found that some of the highest pesticide residues appear in meat and eggs. Diets including more fruits and vegetables will only make people healthier.
Some skeptics believe that there will be a shortage of food if animals are not eaten. In fact, the opposite is true. More than 80% of the corn and 95% of the oats grown in the U. S. are fed to livestock. The world’s cattle alone consume enough food to equal the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people, more than the entire human population. One half of the water used in the Unites States also goes to livestock; 250 gallons of water produces only 1 lb. of beef. If people eat less meat and more plants, the amount of available food will increase.
Many people become vegetarians because they feel that eating animals is unethical. 90% of these animals are raised in confinement. Chickens and other birds have only about half a square foot of space each, and since they are raised so close together, a lot of blade is used to cut off their beaks to prevent them from pecking each other to death. Likewise, pigs that are repressed will bite each other’s tails, so both their teeth and tails are removed as soon as they are born.
Eating animals is hazardous in numerous ways. Even a slight reduction in meat intake is better than nothing at all. Consuming less meat is beneficial to the health of animals, the health of people, and to the health of the world.
