人教课标版高中英语选修8 课文及翻译
选修much too soon8 Unit 1 A land of diversity-Reading
CALIFORNIA
California is the third largest state in the USA but has the largest population. It also has the distinction of being the most multicultural state in the USA, having attracted people from all over the world. The customs and languages of the immigrants live on in their new home. This diversity of culture is not surprising when you know the history of California.
NATIVE AMERCANS
Exactly when the first people arrived in what we now know as California, no one really knows. However, it is likely that Native Americans were living in California at least fifteen thousand years ago. Scientists believe that the ttlers crosd the Bering Strait in the Arctic to America by means of a land bridge which existed in prehistoric times. In the 16th century, after the arrival of the Europeans, the native people suffered greatly. Thousands were killed or forced into slavery. In addition, many died from the dias brought by the
Europeans. However, some survived the terrible times, and today there are more Native Americans living in California than in any other state.
THE SPANISH
留学英语培训In the 18th century California was ruled by Spain. Spanish soldiers first arrived in South America in the early 16th century, when they fought against the native people and took their land. Two centuries later, the Spanish had ttled in most parts of South America and along the northwest coast of what we now call the United States. Of the first Spanish to go to California, the majority were religious men, who ministry was to teach the Catholic religion to the natives. In 1821, the people of Mexico gained their independence from Spain. California then became part of Mexico. In 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico, and after the war won by the USA, Mexico had to give California to the USA. However, there is still a strong Spanish influence in the state. That is why today over 40 of Californians speak Spanish as a first or cond language.
RUSSIANS
In the early 1800s, Russian hunters, who had originally gone to Alaska, began ttling in California. Today there are about 25,000 Russian-Americans living in and around San Francisco.
GOLD MINERS
In 1848, not long after the American-Mexican war, gold was discovered in California. The dream of becoming rich quickly attracted people from all over the world. The nearest, and therefore the first to arrive, were South Americans and people from the United States. Then adventurers from Europe and Asia soon followed. In fact, few achieved their dream of becoming rich. Some died or returned home, but most remained in California to make a life for themlves despite great hardship. They ttled in the new towns or on farms. By the time California elected to become the thirty-first federal state of the USA in 1850, it was already a multicultural society.great expectations
LATER A RRIVALS动名词
Although Chine immigrants began to arrive during the Gold Rush Period, it was the building of the rail network from the west to the east coast that brought even larger numbers to California in the 1860s. Today, Chine-Americans live in all parts of California, although a large percentage have chon to stay in the "Chinatowns" of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
general是什么意思Other immigrants such as Italians, mainly fishermen but also wine makers, arrived in California in the late 19th century. In 1911 immigrants from Denmark established a town of their own, which today still keeps up their Danish culture. By the 1920s the film industry was well established in Hollywood, California. The industry boom attracted Europeans including many Jewish people. Today California has the cond largest Jewish population in the United States.
Japane farmers began arriving in California at the beginning of the 20th century, and since the 1980s a lot more have ttled there. People from Africa have been living in California since the 1800s, when they moved north from Mexico. However, even more arrived between 1942 and 1945 to work in the ship and aircraft industries.
MOST RECENT ARRIVALS
In more recent decades, California has become home to more people from Asia, including Koreans, Cambodians, Vietname and Laotians. Since its beginning in the 1970s, the computer industry has attracted Indians and Pakistanis to California.承担英文
THE FUTURE
People from different parts of the world, attracted by the climate and the lifestyle, still immigrate to California. It is believed that before long the mix of nationalities will be so great that there will be no distinct major racial or cultural groups, but simply a mixture of many races and cultures.
GEORGE’S DIARY 12TH—14TH JUNE
Monday 12th, June
yielded
Arrived early this morning by bus. Went straight to hotel to drop my luggage, shower and shave. Then went exploring. First thing was a ride on a cable car. From top of the hill got a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay and the city. Built in 1873, the cable car system was invented by Andrew Hallidie, who wanted to find a better form of transport than hor-drawn trams. Apparently he'd been shocked when he saw a terrible accident in which a tram's brakes failed, the conductor could not control the situation and the tram slipped down the hill dragging the hors with it.
Had a late lunch at Fisherman's What. This is the district where Italian fishermen first came to San Francisco in the late 19th century and began the fishing industry. Now it's a tourist area with lots of shops, a food restaurants and bakeries. It's also the place to catch the ferry to Angel Island and other places in the Bay.
Did so much exploring at Fisherman's What. Am exhausted and don't feel like doing anything el. Early bed tonight!
Tuesday 13th, June
brics
Teamed up with a couple from my hotel (Peter and Terri) and hired a car. Spent all day driving around the city. There's a fascinating drive marked out for tourists. It has blue and white signs with agulls on them to show the way to go. It's a 79km round-trip that takes in all the famous tourist spots. Stopped many times to admire the view of the city from different angles and take photographs. Now have a really good idea of what the city's like.
中文听力In evening, went to Chinatown with Peter and Terri. Chine immigrants ttled in this area in the 1850s. The fronts of the buildings are decorated to look like old buildings in southern China. Saw some interesting temples here, a number of markets and a great many restaurants. Also art galleries and a muum containing documents, photographs and all sorts of objects about the history of Chine immigration, but it is clod in the evening. Will go back during the day. Had a delicious meal and then walked down the hill to our hotel.
Wednesday 14th, June
In morning, took ferry to Angel Island from the port in San Francisco Bay. On the way had a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge. From 1882 to 1940 Angel Island was a famous immigration station where many Chine people applied for right to live in USA. The cells in the station were very small, cold and damp; some did not even have light but the immigrants had nowhere el to go. Their mirable stay emed to be punishment rather than justice and freedom to them. They wrote poems on the walls about their loneliness and mourned their former life in China. In 1940 the civil authorities reformed the system so that many more Chine people were able to grasp the opportunity of ttling in the USA. Made me very thoughtful and thankful for my life today.
英文小说
选修8 Unit 2 Cloning-Reading
CLONING: WHERE IS IT LEADING US?
Cloning has always been with us and is here to stay. It is a way of making an exact copy
of another animal or plant. It happens in plants when gardeners take cuttings from growing plants to make new ones. It also happens in animals when twins identical in x and appearance are produced from the same original egg. The fact is that the are both examples of natural clones.
Cloning has two major us. Firstly, gardeners u it all the time to produce commercial quantities of plants. Secondly, it is valuable for rearch on new plant species and for medical rearch on animals. Cloning plants is straightforward while cloning animals is very complicated. It is a difficult task to undertake. Many attempts to clone mammals failed. But at last the determination and patience of the scientists paid off in 1996 with a breakthrough - the cloning of Dolly the sheep. The procedure works like this:
