2016年12月大學(xué)英語(yǔ)六級(jí)閱讀練習(xí)(18)

　　Campus Life

　　An Apple for the Teacher

　　American schoolchildren occasionally present anapple to the teacher. Obviously the custom containsan element of bribery 1 — you offer sweet fruit toauthority figures to “sweeten” 2 their disposition3. In school children's case, the apple is offered tomake their grades more favorable. Therefore, theapple has more or less acquired a corrosive4 reputation and maybe for this reason, in slangEnglish “to applepolish” means“to flatter or fawn” and an applepolisher is a flatterer.

　　But the custom might also be explained as a fair payment for the teacher's instruction. In theearly days of public education, school teachers were not always salaried. Often they would bepaid in goods and services, offered by either the school, or the pupils or the parents. . ..Therefore, the occasional gift of an apple for the teacher in today's classroom should be awelcome reminder of the era when education was one -to-one and when teaching meantenlightening the students rather than identifying their rankings.

　　Caps and Gowns

　　For students, the most exciting moment may be the graduation ceremony 5: parents, relativesand friends are invited to the ceremony; all the graduates are wearing black square flat capsand gowns. They all await the president to announce in the end,“Now, please move yourtassels from right to left. ”

　　The caps and gowns worn by high school and college graduates today are survivors of theeveryday dress worn by members of the academic community in medieval Europe. Themajority of scholars in the Middle Ages6 were churchmen, or soon to become so, and theirdress was often strictly regulated by the universities where they taught and studied. Thestandard clerical dress throughout Europe was the long black cope. The original preferencefor black was changed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as such colors as red, violetand purple came into fashion; but by the Renaissance black was back, as the color blacksymbolized simple and plain, or austere way of life in the sixteenth century. With fewexceptions, modern universities keep that ceremonial austerity.

　　The origin of the square flat cap, or mortarboard7 , is obscure, though it probably derives fromthe medieval biretta . Such a tufted square cap is considered the badge of the 024 mastership, and is later adopted by undergraduates and schoolboys. The term mortarboard does notappear in English until the 1850 s. The tassel that graduates transfer from one side to anotheras a signal of their elevation is an outgrowth of the medieval tuft. The tuft still appears onthe modern biretta, worn by bishops throughout the Church of Rome .

　　閱讀自測(cè)

　?、? True o r false :

　　1. Nowadays, American pupils always offer an apple to the teacher in order to get a bettergrade.

　　2. In the early days of public education, schoolteachers were paid in money.

　　3. In America, the caps and gowns are only adopted by college graduates during graduationceremonies.

　　4. Before the Renaissance, the standard clerical dress was black.

　　5. The biretta was considered the mark of scholarship.

　　6. That the graduates move the tassel from one side to the other is a signal of elevation.

　　Ⅱ. Questions :

　　1. According to the passage, when you say somebody is an apple polisher, what do you reallymean by saying that?

　　2. For students, when is the most exciting moment?

　　3. After graduation, which side should you put your tassel, right or left?

　　參考答案

　?、? 1. T 2. F 3 . F 4 . F 5. T 6. T

　　Ⅱ. 1. It really means that he is flattering orfawning some figures.

　　2. For students, the most exciting moment is thegraduation ceremony, especially the moment whenthe president makes the announcement.

　　3. After graduation, the tassel should be put to theleft side.

　　參考譯文

　　校園記趣

　　獻(xiàn)給老師的蘋果

　　美國(guó)的學(xué)童經(jīng)常會(huì)送蘋果給老師。很明顯, 這個(gè)習(xí)慣做法有點(diǎn)行賄的意味——— 給當(dāng)權(quán) 者一些甜頭來(lái)軟化他們的態(tài)度。對(duì)學(xué)童來(lái)說(shuō), 他們送老師蘋果只是為了得到更令人滿意的 成績(jī)。為此, 蘋果的榮譽(yù)多少受到些損害, 而且可能就是這個(gè)緣故, 英語(yǔ)俚語(yǔ)“to applepolish”的意思就是“ 阿諛?lè)畛? 溜須拍馬”, 而“ applepolisher”則指“ 馬屁精”。 這一習(xí)慣做法同樣可以看作是對(duì)老師授課的一種合理報(bào)答。公立教育早期, 學(xué)校教師 并不總是拿薪水的。通常情況下, 他們得到的報(bào)酬是學(xué)校、學(xué)生或?qū)W生家長(zhǎng)提供的實(shí)物或服務(wù)。因此, 在今天的教室里時(shí)常出現(xiàn)的送老師蘋果的現(xiàn)象應(yīng)該算是對(duì)那個(gè)年代的一種 美好回憶。那時(shí)的教育是一對(duì)一式的, 而且那時(shí)的教學(xué)是為了使學(xué)生受到教育, 而不是為 了區(qū)分他們的社會(huì)地位。

　　學(xué)士帽與學(xué)士服

　　對(duì)學(xué)生而言, 最激動(dòng)人心的時(shí)刻莫過(guò)于畢業(yè)典禮。父母及親朋好友都被邀請(qǐng)來(lái)參加典 禮。所有的畢業(yè)生都頭戴黑色的方平帽, 身穿黑長(zhǎng)袍。他們等待著校長(zhǎng)在最后一刻宣布: “ 現(xiàn)在, 請(qǐng)將你的流蘇從右邊移到左邊。” 今天的高中生和大學(xué)生戴的學(xué)士帽, 穿的學(xué)士服是由中世紀(jì)歐洲學(xué)院里學(xué)者們的日常 著裝演變而來(lái)的。中世紀(jì)時(shí), 大多數(shù)的學(xué)者要么是牧師, 要么將要成為牧師; 他們的著裝經(jīng) 常受到他們?nèi)谓袒驅(qū)W習(xí)的大學(xué)的嚴(yán)格控制。在整個(gè)歐洲, 標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的牧師服都是黑色的長(zhǎng)袍。 13 和14 世紀(jì)的時(shí)候, 人們最初偏愛(ài)黑色的狀況得到了改變, 諸如紅色、紫羅蘭色和紫色這 樣的顏色開(kāi)始流行起來(lái)。但是到了文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期, 黑色又流行回來(lái), 因?yàn)楹谏砹撕?jiǎn)約 樸素和16 世紀(jì)嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)目嘈薹绞健，F(xiàn)代大學(xué)都少有例外地保留了那種肅穆簡(jiǎn)樸的儀式。方平帽或者學(xué)士帽的起源不甚了了, 不過(guò)這很可能是從中世紀(jì)的法冠演變而來(lái)。這種 植絨的方帽被看作是學(xué)位的象征, 后來(lái)被大學(xué)本科生和高中生采用。學(xué)士帽這個(gè)術(shù)語(yǔ)直到 19 世紀(jì)50 年代才傳到英國(guó)。畢業(yè)生們將其從一邊移到另一邊, 作為一種晉級(jí)標(biāo)志的流蘇 其實(shí)是中世紀(jì)時(shí)的帽穗的派生?，F(xiàn)代羅馬教會(huì)的大主教們戴的法冠上仍保留著這種穗子。