reading aloud+单选.doc

Reading aloud Unit 1 It was a brilliant, hot day on the Seattle waterfront, with unspoilt views across the bay to outlying islands. Just beyond a stretch of grass where people lay with books and lovers, came the melody of live unaccompanied singing. It turned out to be four men outside a cafe singing a love song about Cupid, each with different voice ranges, and a deep, swaying crowd, clapping along. The Starbucks logo of the cafe struck me as a little old-fashioned until someone mentioned that this was the first Starbucks ever opened anywhere in the world. I had come to Seattle because of a recent survey by the Centre for Economic Performance in London, on how easy or difficult it was to get rich in different parts of the world — or if not rich, at least move out of poverty. 这是西雅图海边阳光明媚、赤日炎炎的一天，穿越海湾能一眼望见远处的岛屿，其自然美景没有受到任何破坏。 人们躺在一片草坪上看书或和恋人相依，一阵充满活力的无伴奏的歌声从草坪 的另一端传了过来。原来是一家咖啡馆外面有4位男子正在唱着一首关于丘比特的情歌，每个人都有着不同的音域。围了几圈的人群正摇摆着身体合着节奏拍手。 这家咖啡馆的星巴克徽标让我觉得有一点过时，直到有人提到这是世界上第一家开张的星巴克时我才恍然大悟。 我是因为最近的一次调查来到西雅图的。这项调查是由位于伦敦的经济运转情况中心发起的，旨在了解在世界不同的地方发财致富究竟有多么容易或多么困难——如果不是发财致富，至少也是摆脱贫困。 Unit3 This summer, American scientists will be charting the sea floor north of Alaska on a Coast Guard icebreaker. Chief scientist Larry Mayer says that he’ll always remember two sights from last year’s voyage, when the ice had shrunk so much that the ship was able to research at least 100 miles farther north than was previously possible. He was excited by the first sight: the sea bottom captured on his computer screen. The floor was pocked with 300-foot-wide holes, an occurrence that usually indicates escaping natural gas. The second sight occurred when Mayer was standing on deck. He spotted a lone polar bear drifting on a 30-foot-wide piece of ice. In the old days, the animal could have walked on solid ice back to land, but now it was bent and doomed. To Mayer, the two sights highlighted opportunity and tragedy in the least-mapped area of the world. 这个夏天，美国科学家将乘坐海岸警卫队破冰船测绘阿拉斯加北边的海床。首席科学家拉里·梅耶说，他将永远记得去