大学英语综合教程 第二册 unit 4A

[04:56.49]I'd never thought I relied so much on co-workers for company.
[05:01.14]I began to understand why long-term unemployment can be so damaging,
[05:07.02]why life without an externally supported daily plan can lead to higher rates of drug abuse,crime,suicide.
[05:15.56]To restore balance to my life,I force myself back into the real world. I call people,
[05:23.03]arrange to meet with the few remaining friends who haven't fled New York City. I try to at least get to the gym,
[05:30.89]so as to set apart the weekend from the rest of my week. I arrange interviews for stories,
[05:37.14]doctor's appointments-anything to get me out of the house and connected with others.
[05:42.62]But sometimes being face to face is too much.
[05:46.67]I see a friend and her ringing laughter is intolerable-the noise of conversation in the restaurant,unbearable.
[05:54.87]I make my excuses and flee.I re-enter my apartment and run to the computer as though it were a place of safety.
[06:03.23]I click on the modem,the once-annoying sound of the connection now as pleasant as my favorite tune.
[06:10.13]I enter my password. The real world disappears.
[06:14.57]Language Sense Enhancement
[06:17.50]2 Read aloud the following poem
[06:20.40]Happily Addicted to the Web
[06:23.32]Doorbell rings, I'm not listening, From my mouth, drool is ghstening,I'm happy-although My parents are not
[06:33.17]Happily addicted to the Web.All night long,I sit clicking,Unaware time is ticking,There's beard on my cheek,
[06:43.93]Same clothes for a week,Happily addicted to the Web.
[06:49.34]Friends come by;they shake me,Saying, "Yo,man!
[06:54.38]Don't you know tonight's senior prom?"With a shrug,I replied, "No, man;I just discovered letterman-dot-com!"
[07:03.63]I don't phone, don't send faxes,Don't go out, don't pay taxes,Who cares if someday They drag me away?
[07:12.56]I'm happily addicted to the Web!
[07:15.80]3 Read the following quotations.Learn them by heart if you can. You might need to look up new words in a dictionary.
[07:24.66]Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all   John F.Kennedy
[07:33.46]A computer does not substitute for judgment any more than a pencil substitutes for literacy.
[07:41.04]But writing without a pencil is no particular advantage.         Roberts S.McNamara
[07:48.98]A computer will do what you tell it to do,but that may be much different from what you had in mind. Joseph Weizenbaum   
[08:01.12]4 Read the following humorous story for fun:
[08:05.93]An illnois man left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation In Florida,
[08:12.96]His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day.
[08:18.63]When he reached his hotel,he decided to send his wife a quick email.
[08:24.40]Unfortunately,when typing her address, he missed one letter.
[08:29.68]And his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before
[08:38.79]When the grieving widow checked her mail,she took one look at the monitor
[08:44.28]let out a piercing scream,and fell to the floor in a dead faint.
[08:50.05]At the sound,her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
[08:56.61]Dearest Wife,
[08:58.49]Just got checked in.Everything prepared for arrival tomorrow.