1、Lesson 15Task 1: Capital Punishment（死刑）A: Did you hear on the news today about that . uh . murderer who was executed? B: I cant believe it. A: Yeah. Thats the first time in ten years that theyve used capital punishment. B: I just cant believe in our society today that they would actually kill anothe
2、r human being. Nobody has the right to take another persons life. A: Oh, I dont agree. Listen, I think capital punishment isits about time it came back. I think thats exactly what killers deserve. B: No, they dont deserve that. Because once youre killing a killer, youre the killer, too. You become a
3、 killer as well. A: No, listen. You take a life, you have to be willing to give up your own. And also, I think that if you have a death penalty it will prevent other people from killing. I think its a good deterrent. B: I dont think its a good deterrent at all. My goodness gracious. I mean, first of
4、 all, are you sure the person youve convicted to death is really guilty? A: Well, I think thats a very rare . very rare incidence. B: I dont think its rare, (I dont think its .) with all the cracker jack lawyers we have today, (Well, no . I .) and the judicial system the way it is. A: I think its a
5、rare incidence, and I think its more important to get rid of the . the bad seed, you know? B: But you dont get rid of it. You rehabilitate somebody like that. (Oh .) You dont eliminate, you rehabilitate. A: Listen, studies show that criminals are never really rehabilitated. When theyre . when they c
6、ome out of prison they just go back to a life of crime, and theyre hardened by that crime. B: Because the rehabilitation process has to be more than just whats in jail. I mean, (Oh . well.) when youre in jail you do have to work, but when youre out of jail there has to be an extensive program. We ha
7、ve to expand on the idea till it works. A: I dont agree. Listenand, anyway, the jails and the prisons are already very crowded, and we have to pay, the taxpayers. Our money goes to maintaining murderers (I .) lives. B: I agree with you. Thats why its important to look at the problem on a much larger
8、 scale. The real problem is a social problem. (What . no .) There are other problems that cause people to kill. Look at poverty, drugs, discrimination. A: Some people are just bad. Theyre just evil and theres nothing you can do. B: No, there . it is . no, it isnt true. Theres rehabilitation. (No.) A
9、nd they . were all responsible it . for . to humanity. Thats one of the reasons . A: Well, but in the meantime you have to take care of the people who have already committed . B: I agree with you there. A: Preventative is different, but . B: I agree with you there.Task 2: A New Way of LifeAnnouncer:
10、 On TV Magazine tonight were looking at people who have given up regular jobs and high salaries to start a new way of life. First of all, we have two interviews with people who decided to leave the rat race. Nicola Burgess spoke to them. Nicola: This is the Isle of Skye. Behind me you can see the cr
11、oft belonging to Daniel and Michelle Burns, who gave up their jobs to come to this remote area of Scotland. Daniel was the sales manager of Hi-Vita, the breakfast cereal company, and Michelle was a successful advertising executive. Michelle, can you tell us what made you give up everything to come h
12、ere? Michelle: Everything? Thats a matter of opinion. A big house and two cars isnt everything! Dan and I both used to work long hours. We had to leave so early in the morning and we came home so late at night, that we hardly ever saw each other. We should have come here years ago, but we were earni
13、ng such big salaries that we were afraid to leave our jobs. In the end we had so little time together that our marriage was breaking up. So two years ago, we took a weeks holiday in the Scottish Highlands. We saw this place and we both fell in love with it. It was for sale, and we liked it so much t
14、hat we decided to give up our jobs, and here we are! Nicola: How do you earn a living? If you dont mind me asking. Michelle: We dont need very much. We keep sheep and goats, grow our own vegetables. Weve got a few chickens. Its a very simple life, and were not in it for profit. Were still so busy th
15、at we work from five in the morning until eight at night, but were together. Were happier than were ever been and were leading a natural life. Nicola: There must be some things you miss, surely. Michelle: I dont know. We knew such a lot of people in London, but they werent real friends. We see our n
16、eighbours occasionally and theres such a lot to do on the farm that we dont have time to feel lonely. At least we see each other now. Nicola: The motor-bike Im sitting on is a very special one. Special because its been all the way round the world. It belongs to Luke Saunders, who has just returned t
17、o England after a three year motor-cycle journey. Luke, what led you to leave your job and make this trip? Luke: I worked in a car factory on the assembly line. All I had to do was put four nuts on the bolts that hold the wheels on. Its done by robots now, and a good thing too! The job was so routin
18、e that I didnt have to think at all. I bought this Triumph 750 cc bike second-hand, fitted two panniers on the back and just set off for Australia. Nicola: What did you do for money? Luke: I had a bit of money to start with, but of course it didnt last long and I had to find work where I could. Ive
19、done so many different thingspicked fruit, washed up, worked as a mechanic. Nicola: How did people react to you? In India, for example. Luke: Everywhere I went, the people were so friendly that problems seemed to solve themselves. There was such a lot of interest in the bike that it was easy to star
20、t a conversation. You know, often you can communicate without really knowing the language. Nicola: Did you ever feel like giving up, turning round and coming home? Luke: Only once, in Bangladesh. I became so ill with food poisoning that I had to go to hospital. But it didnt last long. Nicola: Youve
21、had such an exciting time that youll find it difficult to settle down, wont you? Luke: Im not going to. Next week Im off again, but this time Im going in the opposite direction! See you in about three years time!The Work of Sigmund FreudHere is an extract from a radio talk on the work of Sigmund Fre
22、ud by Professor Eric Watkis: Sigmund Freud developed his system of psychoanalysis while he was studying cases of mental illness. By examining details of the patients life, he found that the illness could often be traced back to some definite problem or conflict within the person concerned. But he di
23、scovered, too, that many of the neuroses observed in mentally ill patients were also present, to a lesser degree, in normal persons. This led him to the realization that the borderline between the normal and the neurotic person is not nearly as clearly marked as was once believed. In 1914 he publish
24、ed a book called The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. This book goes a long way towards explaining some of the strange behaviour of normal, sane people. A glance at Freuds chapter headings will indicate some of the aspects of behaviour covered by the book: Forgetting of proper names Forgetting of f
25、oreign words Childhood and concealing memories Mistakes in speech Mistakes in reading and writing Broadly, Freud demonstrates that there are good reasons for many of the slips and errors that we make. We forget a name because, unconsciously, we do not wish to remember that name. We repress a childho
26、od memory because that memory is painful to us. A slip of the tongue or of the pen betrays a wish or a thought of which we are ashamed. In these days when every would-be doctor or writer has access to Freuds accounts of his research, it is worth pausing and remembering the remarkable scope and origi
27、nality of his ideas.Cheese Cheese is one of those foods that we tend to take for granted as always having been with us, and its odd to think that someone somewhere must have discovered the process that takes place when micro-organisms get into milk and bring about changes in its physical and biochem
28、ical structure. Obviously, we dont know who discovered the process, but its thought that it came from South-West Asia about 8,000 years ago. Early cheese was probably rather unpalatable stuff, tasteless and bland in the case of the so-called fresh cheeses, which are eaten immediately after the milk
29、has coagulated, and rough tasting and salty in the case of the ripened cheeses, which are made by adding salt to the soft fresh cheese and allowing other biochemical processes to continue so that a stronger taste and a more solid texture result. The ancient Romans changed all that. They were great p
30、ioneers in the art of cheese-making, and the different varieties of cheese they invented and the techniques for producing them spread with them to the countries they invaded. This dissemination of new techniques took place between about 60 BC and 300 AD. You can still trace their influence in the En
31、glish word cheese, which comes ultimately from the Latin word caseus, thats C-A-S-E-U-S. Well, things went on quietly enough after the Roman period with the cheese producers in the different countries getting on with developing their own specialities. Its amazing the variety of flavours you can get
32、from essentially the same process. At this stage in history, people werent aware in a scientific way of the role of different micro-organisms and enzymes in producing different types of cheese. But they knew from experience that if you kept your milk or your pre-cheese mixture at a certain temperatu
33、re or in a certain environment, things would turn out in a certain way. The Roquefort caves in France are an example of a place that was used for centuries for the ripening of a certain sort of cheese, before people knew exactly why they produced the effect they did. In the nineteenth century, with
34、the increasing knowledge about micro-organisms, there came the next great step forward in cheese-making. Once it was known exactly which micro-organisms were involved in the different stages of producing a cheese, and how the presence of different micro-organisms affected the taste, it was possible
35、to introduce them deliberately, and to industrialize the process. Cheese started being made on a large scale in factories, although the small producer working from his farm dairy continued to exist and still exist today. Cheese-making moved very much into the world of technology and industrial proce
36、sses, although, because the aim is still to produce something that people like to eat, theres still an important role for human judgement. People still go round tasting the young cheese at different stages to see how its getting on, and may add a bit of this or that to improve the final taste. Whate
37、ver the scale of production, there is still room for art alongside the technology.Recognizing the Main Idea1. All cultures change, even modern ones. As a matter of fact, change occurs most rapidly in modern cultures, since science brings us so many new discoveries every day. It is rather difficult t
38、o follow these changes clearly, since they happen so fast. The civilization that I will discuss today is easier to observe. 2. No formal history was written for these early Indians, but Navajo Indians who came along later found evidence of their great civilization. The Navajos called these prehistor
39、ic people the Anasazi, which means, the Ancient Ones. 3. Descendants of the Anasazi still live in the Southwest, and many aspects of their culture are similar to ancient times. Today these people are called Pueblo Indians. 4. There are four different time periods in the development of the Anasazi. S
40、cientists have looked for the one most important theme in this story, a kind of unifying idea to organize all the facts. The most critical and influential improvement in their lives was the way they used containers to cook, store, and carry food and water. 5. The most important job of the man in thi
41、s society was to learn, teach, and perform the religious ceremonies associated with farming. Women worked in the fields and prepared all the food. Women also wove baskets out of yucca fibers. 6. We dont know what the final problem was. It might have been enemy attack, sickness, lack of rain, or over-farmed soil. But in the year 1300 the last of the Anasazi left the cliff dwellings, never to return again. They left behind their beautiful pueblos, which still stand as a monument to them.