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全新版大学英语综合教程第一册 Unit2

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Unit 2
Friendship

Part I Pre-reading Task

Listen to the recording1 two or three times and then think over the following questions:
1. Have you ever heard of Dionne Warwick? Have you happened to hear her sing?
2. What does a fair weather friend mean?
3. What does Dionne Warwick think friends are for?
4. Does the song give you any idea of what the stories in this unit will be about?

Part II

Text A

How do you feel when old friends are far away? Do you make an effort to keep in touch? Sometimes it is easy to put off writing a letter, thinking that there will be plenty of time tomorrow. But then sometimes, as this story shows, we leave it too late. Perhaps reading it will make you want to reach for your pen.

ALL THE CABBIE HAD WAS A LETTER

Foster3 Furcolo

He must have been completely lost in something he was reading because I had to tap on the windshield to get his attention.
"Is your cab2 available?" I asked when he finally looked up at me. He nodded, then said apologetically as I settled into the back seat, "I'm sorry, but I was reading a letter." He sounded as if he had a cold or something.
"I'm in no hurry," I told him. "Go ahead and finish your letter."
He shook his head. "I've read it several times already. I guess I almost know it by heart."
"Letters from home always mean a lot," I said. "At least they do with me because I'm on the road so much." Then, estimating4 that he was 60 or 70 years old, I guessed: "From a child or maybe a grandchild?"
"This isn't family," he replied. "Although," he went on, "come to think of it", it might just as well have been family. Old Ed was my oldest friend. In fact, we used to call each other 'Old Friend' — when we'd meet, that is. I'm not much of a hand at writing."
"I don't think any of us keep up our correspondence5 too well," I said. "I know I don't. But I take it he's someone you've known quite a while?"
"All my life, practically6. We were kids together, so we go way back."
"Went to school together?"
"All the way through high school. We were in the same class, in fact, through both grade and high school."
"There are not too many people who've had such a long friendship," I said.
"Actually," the driver went on, "I hadn't seen him more than once or twice a year over the past 25 or 30 years because I moved away from the old neighborhood and you kind of lose touch even though you never forget. He was a great guy."
"You said 'was'. Does that mean —?"
He nodded. "Died a couple of weeks ago."
"I'm sorry," I said. "It's no fun to lose any friend — and losing a real old one is even tougher."
He didn't reply to that, and we rode on in silence for a few minutes. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke7 again, almost more to himself than to me: "I should have kept in touch. Yes," he repeated, "I should have kept in touch."
"Well," I agreed, "we should all keep in touch with old friends more than we do. But things come up and we just don't seem to find the time."
He shrugged9. "We used to find the time," he said. "That's even mentioned in the letter." He handed it over to me. "Take a look."
"Thanks," I said, "but I don't want to read your mail. That's pretty personal."
The driver shrugged. "Old Ed's dead. There's nothing personal now. Go ahead," he urged me.
The letter was written in pencil. It began with the greeting "Old Friend," and the first sentence reminded me of myself. I've been meaning to write for some time, but I've always postponed11 it. It then went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together when they both lived in the same neighborhood. It had references13 to things that probably meant something to the driver, such as the time Tim Shea broke the window, the Halloween that we tied Old Mr. Parker's gate, and when Mrs. Culver used to keep us after school.
"You must have spent a lot of time together," I said to him.
"Like it says there," he answered, "about all we had to spend in those days was time." He shook his head: "Time."
I thought the next paragraph of the letter was a little sad: I began the letter with "Old Friend" because that's what we've become over the years — old friends. And there aren't many of us left.
"You know," I said to him, "when it says here that there aren't many of us left, that's absolutely right. Every time I go to a class reunion, for example, there are fewer and fewer still around."
"Time goes by," the driver said.
"Did you two work at the same place?" I asked him.
"No, but we hung out on the same corner when we were single. And then, when we were married, we used to go to each other's house every now and then. But for the last 20 or 30 years it's been mostly just Christmas cards. Of course there'd be always a note we'd each add to the cards — usually some news about our families, you know, what the kids were doing, who moved where, a new grandchild, things like that — but never a real letter or anything like that."
"This is a good part here," I said. "Where it says Your friendship over the years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that. " I found myself nodding in agreement. "That must have made you feel good, didn't it?"
The driver said something that I couldn't understand because he seemed to be all choked up, so I continued: "I know I'd like to receive a letter like that from my oldest friend."
We were getting close to our destination so I skipped to the last paragraph. So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you. And it was signed,Your Old Friend, Tom.
I handed back the letter as we stopped at my hotel. "Enjoyed talking with you," I said as I took my suitcase out of the cab. Tom? The letter was signed Tom?
"I thought your friend's name was Ed," I said. "Why did he sign it Tom?"
"The letter was not from Ed to me," he explained. "I'm Tom. It's a letter I wrote to him before I knew he'd died. So I never mailed it."
He looked sort of sorrowful, or as if he were trying to see something in the distance. "I guess I should have written it sooner."
When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack15 right away. First I had to write a letter — and mail it.
(1093 words)

New Words and Expressions

cabbie
n. (infml) a taxi driver

be lost in/lose oneself in
be absorbed in, be fully16 occupied with 专心致志于

windshield
n. (AmE) the glass window in the front of a car, truck, etc. (汽车的)挡风玻璃

cab
n. a taxi 出租车

available
a. able to be used, had or reached 可用的;可得到的

apologetically
ad. showing or saying that one is sorry for some fault or wrong 道歉地,带着歉意地

or something
(infml)(used when you are not very sure about what you have just said) 诸如此类的事

go ahead
continue; begin

know/learn by heart
memorize, remember exactly 记住,能背出

estimate17
vt. form a judgement about 估计

might/may(just) as well
不妨,(也)无妨

not much of a
not a good 不太好的

keep up
continue without stopping 保持

correspondence
n. the act of writing, receiving or sending letters; letters 通信(联系);信件

practically
ad. almost

kid
n. (infml) a child

all the way
自始至终,一直

neighborhood
n. 街坊;四邻

kind/sort of
(infml) a little bit, in some way or degree 有几分,有点儿

lose touch
失去联系

a couple of
几个;一对,一双

guy
n. 家伙;伙计

tough
a. (infml) unfortunate; difficult; strong 不幸的;困难的;坚固的;坚强的

on one's mind
挂记在心头

keep in touch (with)
(与…)保持联系,保持接触

come up
happen, occur, esp. unexpectedly18 (尤指意想不到地)发生,出现

shrug8
v. lift (the shoulders) slightly 耸(肩)

urge
v. try very hard to persuade 力劝,催促

postpone10
vt. delay 推迟,使延期

reference12
n. 提及,谈到;参考,查阅

absolutely
ad. completely 完全地,极其

absolute14 a.

reunion▲
n. (家人、朋友、同事等久别后的)重聚

go by
(of time) pass (时间)逝去

hang out
(infml) stay in or near a place, not doing very much 闲荡;徘徊

every now and then
sometimes, at times

mostly
ad. almost all; generally 几乎全部;多半,大体

awful
a. (infml) (used to add force) very great; very bad or unpleasant 非常的,极大的;可怕的,糟糕的

choke
v. (使)窒息,堵塞

choke up
become too upset to speak (因激动等)哽得说不出话;堵塞

destination
n. 目的地

skip▲
v. 略过,跳过;跳跃

sorrowful
a. showing or causing sadness 伤心的,悲伤的

sorrow n.

in the distance
far away

unpack
v. take out (things) from (a suitcase, etc.) 打开

right away
at once

Proper Names

Foster Furcolo
福斯特·弗克洛

Ed
埃德(男子名)

Tim Shea
蒂姆·谢

Parker
帕克(姓氏或男子名)

Culver
卡尔弗(姓氏)

Tom
汤姆(男子名)


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 recording UktzJj     
n.录音,记录
参考例句:
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
2 cab ExWzHt     
n.计程车,出租车,出租单马车;vi.乘出租马车
参考例句:
  • The cab drove over his legs.马车从他腿上碾过。
  • Shall we walk or take a cab?我们步行还是坐出租车?
3 foster dfwzy     
vt.收养,培养,促进;adj.收养的,收养孩子的
参考例句:
  • Nowadays young couple sometimes foster.现今年轻夫妇有时领养别人的孩子。
  • The captain did his best to foster a sense of unity among the new recruits.队长尽力培养新成员之间的团结精神。
4 estimating d09f48e4c1dd9be0167e409cce110a01     
n.估计v.估计,评价,评估( estimate的现在分词 );(粗略)估计(…的距离、价值、数目、大小、重量、费用等),估量,预算
参考例句:
  • We use nonparametric tests, we lose sharpness in estimating intervals. 使用非常数检验我们失掉了估计区间的灵敏性。 来自辞典例句
  • CA986 from San Francisco is estimating in at 22:25. 从旧金山飞来的CA986航班估计22点25分到达。 来自辞典例句
5 correspondence WzGxt     
n.信件,通信(联系)符合,一致,相似
参考例句:
  • He showed me all the correspondence relating to the matter.他把与这件事有关的全部信件都给我看了。
  • What she has just said isn't in correspondence with the views of the majority.她刚才所说的同大多数人所持的观点不一致。
6 practically HPjxb     
adv.差不多;几乎;实际地,从实际角度
参考例句:
  • He solved the problem very practically.他很实事求是地解决了这个问题。
  • She's practically always late for school.她上学几乎总是迟到。
7 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
8 shrug Ry3w5     
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)
参考例句:
  • With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩,走出了房间。
  • I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。
9 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 postpone rP0xq     
v.延期,推迟
参考例句:
  • I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
  • She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。
11 postponed 9dc016075e0da542aaa70e9f01bf4ab1     
vt.& vi.延期,缓办,(使)延迟vt.把…放在次要地位;[语]把…放在后面(或句尾)vi.(疟疾等)延缓发作(或复发)
参考例句:
  • The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
  • The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。
12 reference IACzU     
n.提到,说到,暗示,查看,查阅
参考例句:
  • We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。
  • I like to have my reference books within my reach.我喜欢把参考书放到伸手可取的地方。
13 references 44a2dc91e1e21b653fd7ff6c63eca555     
n.参考( reference的名词复数 );证明书;(为方便查询所用的)标记;(帮助或意见的)征求
参考例句:
  • Applications with a full curriculum vitae and two references should reach the Principal by June 12th. 申请书连同完整个人简历和两份推荐信必须在6月12日以前送达校长处。
  • The book is full of references to growing up in India. 这本书谈到许多在印度怎样长大成人的事。
14 absolute JIwyM     
adj.十足的;绝对的;不受任何限制的
参考例句:
  • The first year of the course was an absolute doddle.第一年的课程简单极了。
  • I look upon this as an absolute necessity.我认为这是绝对必要。
15 unpack sfwzBO     
vt.打开包裹(或行李),卸货
参考例句:
  • I must unpack before dinner.我得在饭前把行李打开。
  • She said she would unpack the items later.她说以后再把箱子里的东西拿出来。
16 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
17 estimate Ti4zb     
n.估计,估量;评价,看法;vt.估计,估量
参考例句:
  • We estimate the cost to be five thousand dollars.我们估计费用为5000美元。
  • The lowest estimate would put the worth of the jewel at $200.按最低的评估这块宝石也值200美元。
18 unexpectedly 3fEz5m     
adv.未料到地,意外地;竟;居然;骤然
参考例句:
  • The volcano unexpectedly blew up early in the morning. 火山一早突然爆发了。
  • I had just put the dinner on when Jim walked in unexpectedly. 我刚把晚饭摆上桌,吉姆突然走进来。
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