新标准大学英语三summary.doc

大英3 summaryUNIT 11.1 catching crabsIn the fall of our final year,our mood changed.Peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Meanwhile, the most important thing for us was what we would do next after graduation. My father wanted me to go to law school,but I wanted to travel,as well as to be a writer.So I have to brace myself for some resistance to his idea,.However,he supported but he made me think about it by watching the crabs.The cage was full of crabs. One of them was trying to escape,but each time it reached the top the other crabs pulled it back.In the end it gave up escaping and started to prevent other crabs from escaping.By watching crabs,my father told me not to be pulled back by others,and to get to know myself better.1.2We are all dyingLife is short.We never quite know when we become coffin dwellers or trampled ash in the rose garden of some local ceremony.So theres no point in putting our dreams on the back burner until the right time arrives.Now is the time to do what we want to do. Make the best of our short stay . And if you dont like your job, just turn to another one. Besides, there is no time like present . We should make best use of our time, so that when the reaper arrives,weve achieved much instead of regrets.UNIT 22.1supermanWhen the war began, the author was in the fifth grade in the Annie F. It was also the winter that she was a winner of the prize for drawing the best Civil Defense signs,lived by an airport. She thought her Uncle Frank bore resemblance to Superman.In her imagination,the airport was her Mecca and Jerusalem because of her flying dreams.Superman fulfilled her dream at the moment.David Stirling,a bookish boy,also worship Superman.During the recess at school,he and the author played Superman games.Compared with their school-mates who played the routine games,they felt they were outlaws but had a sense of windy superiority.They also found a stand-in,Sheldon Fein, who later invented tortures.UNIT 33.1how we listenWe all listen to music according to our separate capacities. For the sake of clarify,we split up the process of listening to music into three hypothetical planes.Firstly,the sensuous plane.It is a kind of brainless but attractive state of mind engendered by the sound appeal of the music.The second plane is the expressive one.It is when we believe each piece of music has a theme,which mirrors a different world of feeling. Thirdly,the musical plane. It is very important for all of us to become more alive to music on its sheerly muscial plane. It is the ability to experience different musical elements,such as melodies,the rhythms,the harmonies,the tone colors etc.We usually listen to music on all three planes.3.2the mystery of Girl with a Pearl EarringThe painting Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeers masterworks.It shows a striking young woman wearing an exotic costume and a turban,peering over her shoulder straight out at the viewer. There were lots of mystery about this painting. As the name implies,it uses a pearl earring for a focal point.It has been referred to as the Mona Lisa of the north,because,like Leonardo da Vincis painting,it appears to be a simple likeness of a woman with an enigmatic smile,yet which contains levels of meanings and questions. And the painting has been the theme of a novel and a film.UNIT 44.1work in corporate AmericaIn todays American jobs are not what they used to be. It is hard to visualize what work is in corporate America. When a father was asked about his job, he could answer in terms that a child could come to grips with.Nowadays,when the parent take his offspring to his place of business in glass buildings that are really hard to understand. Whats more, its safe bet that even grown men have trouble visualizing what other men does in their jobs with his day. Therefore,its not difficult to imagine a poor child may answer”mulling over” after it beats me the mysteries of work,when his friends asks him of his fathers job.4.2our supposedly exciting times are really rather dullLiving in a world of unprecedented change,there are never been anything quite like it. However,we are just ignorant about deeper historical patterns, take globalization for example,from historical context point of view,the world is almost meaningless.We simply do not live in a age of great technological innovation for all our enthusiasm about internet and iPod.With staggering 90 percent of all web traffic is local,we are always be told the Internet has “opened up”the world.As the Chinese curse runs “May you live in interesting times”,it can bring chaos and anxiety in the in the wake. Even an Englishman born in 1865 would have seen changes the magnitude of which we can hardly imagine.UNIT 55.1dinner at JoannesJosh was meeting Jo Rogers, the senior. And he came to Joannes, a famous restaurant which there are always lots of famous people. When he arrives in the crowded and expensive restaurant, the head waiter makes him sit in the least comfortable place,even though a table has been booked for him and a “Ms Rogers”.When Ms Rogers arrives,the waiter realizes that she is a well-known Senator; and Ms Roger realizes that her friend has been treated badly because of the color of his skin.The waiter realizes his mistake too,and tries to make up for it,but its too late.5.2we theyThe writer uses stories about doing business to illustrate the differences between an individualist and a collectivist. They have different concepts of the role of personal relationships in business. The Swedes believe the business is done with a company while the Saudis think it should be done with a person they know and trust. Collectivist the individualist are different.In the most collectivist societies,the families are usually extended families while in the individualist societies,nuclear families are prevalent. People consider themselves as part of a group in the collectivist societies.In contrast, the individualist think of themselves as their personal identity. A practical and psychological dependence relationship develops between the person and the in-group in the collectivist societies. However, rarely do people depend on a group in the individualist societies.UNIT 66.1 Last man downThe text from Last Ma Down offers an eyewitness account of defining historical event of 9/11 attack from the perspective of Richard Picciotto, a firefighter. When the event happened, there wasnt much time for him to think. The building was shocking and many people was in danger. He fumbled for some fix for the situation. He tried to calm down and to save other people. His story is that of a man, a hero,and a tragic event that inspired the nation. His recount isnt one of death and destruction, but a celebration of life and its unpredictable nature. And the book he wrote became an immediate best-seller.6.2 Eleanor RooseveltThe passage offers a hero who contrasts with brave firefighters. This time she is a woman of power and previlege who still wanted to devote herself to the success she believed in.Living in a male-dominated world, Eleanor Roosevelt showed growing concern for womens issues, along with those for labor issues,youth and civil rights issues.Eleanor created new First Lady profile. She held a press conference for the female only. She was a great supporter for FDR, her wheel-bound husband, whose career as the US president offered her opportunity to come into her own.After FDRs departure, she still held public posts to use her power to her beliefs.Anna Eleanor Roosevelt never ran on a par with men, she set the place.7.1Even the most rational person can be convinced at times that there is a force out there making mishaps occur at the worst possible time. We all like to believe that Murphys Law is true. There is a very close connection between peoples perception of bad luck and interesting coincidences. A particular event may only be a misfortune because of the circumstances. When people are in bad luck, they are always glad to look for the examples prove the theory and ignore those which dont. Besides, people always have selective memory where an unfair comparison is made between good and bad.