每天一課英語口語365 Unit 048-059
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[00:00.00]48 The Foolest Man
[00:04.10]George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison.
[00:12.64]Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty and sent to prison for a long time.
[00:22.96]Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury at his trial.
[00:30.30]Of course, he didn't tell any-body, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day.
[00:39.08]He said to his friend, "Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money.
[00:48.51]I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it.
[00:52.87]But I should be grateful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members
[01:00.29]of the jury to add a strong recommendation for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty."
[01:09.02]"Well, George," answered Jim, "I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend,
[01:18.16]but of course I cannot promise anything.
[01:22.13]The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me."
[01:28.87]George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him,
[01:37.33]and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.
[01:41.38]The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not.
[01:52.22]It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy.
[02:03.17]Of course, George was very pleased, but he didn't have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial.
[02:14.11]At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly
[02:22.86]and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.
[02:31.17]"Well, George," Jim answered, "as I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade,
[02:40.76]but I managed it in the end by tiring them out.
[02:46.22]Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!"
[02:53.90]49 Where Is the Teacher
[03:00.24]Class 5A was the worst class in Hill Valley High School.
[03:07.69]The students were badly behaved and had no interest in their lessons.
[03:14.04]When a new principal came to work at the school, he decided to do something about class 5A.
[03:24.46]On the second day of school he left his office and walked to 5A's classroom.
[03:33.32]He did not need to know where it was.
[03:37.94]He could hear them.
[03:40.16]They were making a terrible noise.
[03:43.92]He stood outside the classroom for a few moments and looked inside through the window.
[03:51.24]He was disgusted by what he saw.
[03:55.34]Some boys were fighting. Other students were throwing things at one another.
[04:02.76]No one was doing any work.
[04:06.80]The principal had experienced badly behaved classes be-fore.
[04:12.87]He knew what to do. He would go into the classroom, take hold of the biggest boy in the class and punish him.
[04:24.80]This would he an example to the others.
[04:28.46]He took a deep breath and opened the classroom door.
[04:34.63]The students paid no attention to him.
[04:38.41]"Silence!" he shouted at the top of his voice.
[04:43.82]This time the students stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
[04:50.32]Quickly he walked up to the oldest-looking boy in the room.
[04:56.52]He was also the noisiest and had been shouting at the others at the top of his voice.
[05:04.40]He took hold of him by the ear and pulled him to the front of the class.
[05:10.62]"I am going to punish you as an example to the others," he said.
[05:17.36]"Now go to my office and wait for me."
[05:21.72]Then he turned to the class and lectured them about how they should behave in school.
[05:29.14]When he had finished he said, "Does anyone have any questions?"
[05:36.35]One of the students put up her hand. "Yes, sir. I have.
[05:43.17]When can we have our teacher back?"
[05:46.98]50 The Bag They Missed
[05:53.33]The police received a report that six men had stopped a van.
[05:59.89]The van was carrying factory wages and the men had at-tacked the driver.
[06:06.76]They had tied him up and had stolen one of the bags.
[06:12.51]After searching for three hours the police found the van near the river.
[06:19.92]The driver was sitting on a bag in the van and his hands were tied behind his back.
[06:27.97]The thieves had tied a hand-kerchief round his mouth so that he wouldn't shout.
[06:36.23]The police climbed into the back of the van and freed the driver.
[06:42.49]Then they asked him what had happened.
[06:46.36]"I was stopped soon after I left the bank," the driver ex-plained.
[06:52.73]"Six men stopped my van and made me drive to the river."
[06:58.53]"If you shout," one of them said, "We'll shoot you."
[07:04.83]When I got to the river, they tied me up.
[07:09.58]Then they threw me into the back of the van.
[07:13.53]There were two bags in the back, and the thieves took one of them.
[07:19.95]"How much money did the bag contain?" a police officer asked.
[07:27.16]"It didn't contain any money at all," the driver laughed.
[07:33.64]"It was full of letters. This one contains all the money.
[07:39.76]I've been sitting on it for three hours."
[07:44.09]51 The Smuggler
[07:49.08]Sam Lewis was a customs officer.
[07:53.84]He used to work in a small border town.
[07:57.62]It wash't a busy town and there wasn't much work.
[08:02.66]The road was usually very quiet and there weren't many travellers.
[08:09.04]It wasn't a very interesting job, but Sam liked an easy life.
[08:15.49]About once a week, he used to meet an old man.
[08:21.03]His name was Draper.
[08:24.24]He always used to arrive at the border early in the morning in a big truck.
[08:30.85]The truck was always empty.
[08:34.80]After a while Sam became suspicious.
[08:39.52]He often used to search the truck, but he never found anything.
[08:46.00]One day he asked Draper about his job. Draper laughed and said, "I'm a smuggler."
[08:55.69]Last year Sam retired. He spent his savings on an expensive holiday.
[09:04.24]He flew to Bermuda, and stayed in a luxurious hotel.
[09:10.27]One day, he was sitting by the pool and opposite him he saw Draper drinking champagne.
[09:20.30]Sam walked over to him.
[09:23.44]Sam: Hello, there!
[09:25.63]Draper: Hi!
[09:27.17]Sam: Do you remember me?
[09:29.39]Draper: Yes... Of course. You're a customs officer.
[09:33.73]Sam: I used to be. but I'm not any more.
[09:38.56]I retired last month. I often searched your truck, but I didn't find anything.
[09:46.68]Can I ask you something? Were you a smuggler?
[09:52.20]What were you smuggling, if you were?
[09:56.48]Draper: Of course I was.
[09:59.59]The truck was always empty because I was smuggling trucks.
[10:05.99]52 Where to Fred a Listener
[10:12.41]Mr. Adamson enjoys playing the violin in his leisure time.
[10:19.52]He is often carried away by his music.
[10:23.54]But it is a terrible time for his neighbors, when Mr. Adamson plays as he does so badly.
[10:33.44]One day Mr. Adamson sat by a window and began to play the violin as usual.
[10:42.33]Mr. Adamson seemed to be making noises in-stead of music.
[10:49.22]However, Mr. Adamson was absorbed.
[10:53.71]Just then, some stones were thrown out of the window under which Mr. Adamson was sitting,
[11:02.86]but he did not pay attention to it.
[11:07.61]The "music" continued. After a little while, an empty bottle and a worn-out shoe were thrown out of the window too.
[11:20.28]Mr. Adam-son knew that this was not the place for him.
[11:25.74]The neighbors did not like his "music".
[11:30.05]Mr.Adamson was very sad. He was badly hurt, "Perhaps no living people can understand my music.
[11:42.12]I should go to a place where people may appreciate my works."
[11:47.55]So he decided to go to a graveyard.
[11:53.38]He came to a graveyard where there was no other sound except the church toll.
[12:01.71]The yard was a Heaven where dead people rest.
[12:06.65]Mr.Adamson sat at a grave and thought a lot, "I must do my best to show that my music is outstanding."
[12:19.16]He was in-spired and began to play his violin.
[12:24.73]Suddenly a barefoot stretched out from the grave and gave Mr. Adamson a kick which sent him flying.
[12:36.14]His treasured violin also dropped from his hand.
[12:40.92]Mr. Adamson felt very sad because his works were not accepted by anyone, not even the dead.
[12:52.21]53 The Shopping List
[12:58.55]Mrs. Black was having a lot of troubles with her skin, so she went to her doctor about it.
[13:08.11]He could not find anything wrong with her, however, so he sent her to the local hospital for tests.
[13:17.57]The hospital, of course, sent the results of the tests directly to Mrs. Black's doctor
[13:26.03]and next morning he telephoned her to give her a list of the things that he thought she should not eat,
[13:36.74]as any of them might be the cause of her skin trouble.
[13:42.28]Mrs. Black carefully wrote all the things down on a piece of paper,
[13:49.02]which she then left beside the telephone while she went out to a ladies meeting.
[13:56.73]When she got back home two hours later, she found her husband waiting for her.
[14:05.58]He had a big basket full of packages beside him and when he saw her, he said,
[14:15.01]"Hello, dear, I have done all your shopping for you."
[14:20.26]"Done all my shopping?" she asked in surprise,
[14:26.90]"Well, I found your shop-ping list beside the telephone,
[14:32.67]so I went to the shops and bought everything you had written down." answered her husband.
[14:43.38]54 Part-time Job Hunting
[14:48.32]--Hello, Professor Denis. My name is Susan Adams.
[14:54.98]I read in the university newspaper that you're looking for a student to work as a language laboratory assistant.
[15:04.93]--Yes, we are. Are you interested in the job?
[15:10.21]--I think so. But before I apply I'd like you to tell me more about the work.
[15:18.36]--Have you worked with tape recorders before?
[15:22.44]--I used cassette recorders a lot when I studied French in high school.
[15:29.07]--Good. There are many different kinds of language labs.
[15:34.95]Ours is a small one. It is fairly easy to operate.
[15:40.59]This is the main control panel.
[15:44.41]You can set the controls to allow students to listen to the lessons they want to hear.
[15:51.35]If you decide to take the job, I'll explain how the system operates.
[15:58.46]Most of the lessons are on cassette tapes.
[16:03.03]But some of them are also on long reel tapes or on records.
[16:09.56]The cassettes are kept in order on these shelves and they are clearly marked with the language and lesson number.
[16:20.53]For example, the cassettes in the green boxes are French lessons.
[16:26.98]Records and long tapes are over there.
[16:31.37]--How many hours would I work?
[16:35.32]--We need someone ten hours a week. Monday through Friday, from 4 to 6 p.m.
[16:44.30]That's one of the busiest time for this laboratory.
[16:49.42]--I'll fill out an application for the job right now, if it would fit
in my class schedule nicely.
[16:58.28]--Fine. I'll get back to you week or so after we review the applications.
[17:06.80]55 Career Selection
[17:12.57]Helen: Has your son chosen his career yet, Mrs. Young?
[17:18.99]What is he going to do when he leaves college?
[17:23.93]Is he going to be a doctor like his father?
[17:28.19]Dorothy: Oh, no, he's decided not to be a doctor.
[17:34.20]He's seen the hard life of a doctor! Mrs. Black, he's made up his mind to be an engineer.
[17:44.15]Helen: Oh! That's very interesting.
[17:48.77]A mechanical engineer, like my husband?
[17:53.50]Dorothy: No, not that sort. Of course, Patrick is very interested in cars, too.
[18:02.75]But he isn't going to make them.
[18:05.75]Helen: There are several kinds of engineers, aren't there? Electrical engineers, chemical engineers...
[18:15.50]Dorothy: Oh, no, Patrick is taking a general course on Civil Engineering at the University.
[18:24.01]You know--a civil engineer is a man who makes roads and bridges and that sort of thing.
[18:32.58]When he's finished the course, he'll take a special course on water-supply.
[18:39.66]Helen: Oh, how interesting! Does he intend to go abroad?
[18:46.45]Dorothy: Oh, yes, when he's finished his education, perhaps he'll take a job abroad.
[18:54.50]There are a lot of opportunities for water-supply engineers, especially in underdevel-oped countries.
[19:05.97]56 An Interview
[19:10.72]Blake: Let's discuss your educational background. Miss Kelly, you were an English major, weren't you?
[19:20.96]Kelly: Yes. That's right. It was my best subject at college.
[19:27.15]Blake: Fine. And could you tell me what kind of work experience you've had?
[19:33.29]Kelly: My last position was with Loomis and Martin. That's a law firm in Sacramento.
[19:41.88]Blake: And when was that exactly?
[19:44.94]Kelly: From 1999 to 2003.
[19:50.40]Blake: Uh huh.
[19:51.81]Kelly: Before that I worked for Biship and Baldwin. That was from 1997 to 1999.
[20:02.10]And I've been doing freelance work for the last few months.
[20:07.77]Blake: Well, Miss Kelly, your qualifications for the job are excel lent.
[20:13.91]Could you tell me what kind of salary are you expecting?
[20:19.29]Kelly: Well, in my last job I was making $1500 a month.
[20:26.76]I understand that this position has a starting salary of around $1600 a month.
[20:35.98]Blake: That's right.
[20:37.63]Kelly: That would be fine with me.
[20:39.90]Blake: And is there anything you'd like to ask about the job?
[20:44.74]Kelly: Yes, I'd like to know if the company provides opportuni-ties for further education.
[20:52.31]Blake: Yes, our employees are allowed to take up to six hours a week at full pay, to attend college courses.
[21:02.89]Kelly: That's very generous.
[21:05.32]Blake: Is there anything else you'd like to know?
[21:08.87]Kelly: No, not at this time.
[21:11.38]Blake: Well, I've enjoyed meeting and talking with you. We'll call you within the week.
[21:20.47]57 The Old People Can Be Active
[21:27.18]After retiring from 30 years of teaching, Elizabeth Pepper could easily have decided to sit back
[21:37.48]and relax and enjoy a peaceful retirement.
[21:41.94]But that kind of life is not for Elizabeth Pep-per.
[21:46.93]"I just want to do something different.
[21:51.43]If you want to partic-ipate in life, do it.
[21:56.78]Don't just sit down and look out of the window." She says.
[22:02.19]At 68, she decided to become one of the pioneers participating in a program at the University of California.
[22:13.63]The program offers campus housing and classes to people over sixty.
[22:20.29]She enrolled in a class called Human Relationships and Diverse Society.
[22:27.42]"I taught my minority students in my English and drama classes in high school for 20 years.
[22:35.83]But in this course, I have found out a lot about other cultures I didn't know then.
[22:43.98]One of the most important lessons that I'm learning is to perceive, not to judge."
[22:52.53]Elder adults can add to the educational re-sources of university by bringing a lot of valuable experience.
[23:03.55]Their coming on compus helps break some long beliefs of aging.
[23:08.93]Young students may have fears of growing older.
[23:13.58]But that kind of fear can be reduced as they see that older people can be active, healthy,
[23:21.73]and contribute to society.
[23:24.58]The younger students can be-gin to see aging as a natural part of life.
[23:32.49]58 Choosing Careers
[23:37.90]Parents generally believe it is their responsibility to plan the careers for their children.
[23:46.47]They claim that they know their children well enough to decide what kind of job suit them.
[23:54.20]Hoping that their children will go in for professions that will bring them the greatest prestige
[24:02.82]and economic benefit,
[24:05.70]many parents think that their children are too young to see this for themselves.
[24:12.75]There are some parents who even expect their children to take over the careers of their fathers.
[24:20.92]For these reasons, many parents insist that their children should obey them in choosing careers.
[24:30.64]But many children suggest that they should be left free to choose their own careers.
[24:39.24]For one thing, parents and children may not share the same interest.
[24:45.69]A job that appeals to parents is likely to be boring for their children.
[24:52.11]For another, children have been brought up in a different age from their parents, and there-fore,
[25:00.40]they should be allowed to cultivate a spirit of independence and self reliance.
[25:07.97]In short, children should be free to make their own decisions as to future careers.
[25:15.91]In my opinion, in this case as in many other things, mutual understanding is important.
[25:24.79]On the one hand, parents' view does reflect their concern for the wellbeing of their children.
[25:34.22]On the other hand, after all it is children who will be doing the jobs.
[25:41.96]Therefore, it will be wise for parents to give them this free-dom
[25:48.62]while children should consult their parents when it is neces-sary.
[25:54.83]59 Interview
[26:01.34]Interview has become one of the chief means in hiring new workers.
[26:08.34]For instance, it is a usual practice for a large company to have interviewed an applicant
[26:16.96]before deciding whether to ac-cept him or not.
[26:21.74]This is also true of many factories and depart-ment stores.
[26:28.01]Through interviews, those institutions have selected the best people among the numerous applicants.
[26:36.87]Interview, as a means of selecting candidates, has a number of advantages over any other means.
[26:46.84]For one thing, through direct, contact with the candidates,
[26:52.30]the employer may find out whether he is up to the general standard.
[26:57.53]Besides, the interviewer may further discover what qualities the young man has
[27:05.10]so that he may be given a position that suits him well.
[27:10.12]How to pass an interview successfully is certainly a concernfor every young man
[27:18.30]who is looking for a good job.
[27:20.91]First, he should dress formally and present an impressive look.
[27:27.60]Besides, in the course of the interview, he must show good manners.
[27:33.73]Finally, he must respond to the interviewer's questions quickly
[27:39.95]and give correct answers to show that he is qualified for the job.
[27:46.19]By following these steps, that applicant will stand a good chance of Success.
