2020年PETS-3考试教材第二单元：家和家庭

家和家庭

Unit 2 Home and Family

Conversations：

Wang Fang shows a photo of her family to Dianna.

How many members are these in your family?

There are five.Look at the photo.

The old couple sitting in the middle are my parents.

Oh,your parents!They smile so happily.

You're right.My mother was an English teacher in a middle school,

and my father was a doctor,now both of them are retired from work.

Your fluent English must be inherited from your mother,I think.

Maybe.When I was little,she liked to teach me English.

A wise mother!Who is the man on the left?

He's my elder brother.

He looks so handsome and energetic.What is he doing now?

He works in a big company in Shanghai as a manager.

Who is the girl on the right?Is that you?

No,that's my younger sister.She is studying in Los Angeles.

So the girl next to her must be you.

Yes,you're right.

You are still as lovely as you were.

Thank you,by the way,I'd like to see my parents this weekend.

Would you like to go with me?My mother is preparing my favorite dishes.

Have a taste,OK?

Oh,I'd love to.I'll be gald to meet your parents.

It seems you really have a happy family.

Mary's Daisy and brother-in-law are to travel to Europe,

now Daisy is talking to Mary.

Mary,come here,I will tell you a secret,OK?

OK!

We are going to Europe together.Can you remember what dad has said?

Travelling around the world,living life.

Let me give his necklace to you...to wear until I get back,

well,so you will not forget me.

Before we come back,what are you going to do?

To cry.

Oh,no,my poor little sister!

OK.Will you think of me in your travelling?

Sure.I promise to send you a postcard every day till I return.

That's great!I'll be waiting for you at home.

Kate and her brother Bill are talking about their cousin Nancy and her husband Steve.

Kate,Nancy and Steve are breaking up.

It's really shame.I've heard that quarrel,

but they've always made up afterward.

Things are not working out this time.They are getting a separation soon.

What is going to happen to our nephew,little Jack?

Nancy is going to take him.

The cost of living is so high.

It will be very difficult for her to take the respon sibility.

She had better think the whole thing over.

She seems to have made up her mind.

She said she would rather be a single parent than make do with an unhappy marriage.

Well,I hope her parents will be able to talk her out of it.

Passage Enjoy the Round

My old man was the original silver Lining Guy.

As a teenager I called him Opi the Mystic

because of his crazy optimism and his imperturbable ability to see any crisis as\

"an opportunity for growth".

For 30 years my father had been senior representative for one of the world's largest firms.

To Opti,hard work was a form of a play because work involved solving problems.

This life view fit the philosophy of his favorite game-golf.

He first put a club in my hand when I was ten.

I was in such a rush to be good that he would urge me to"relax and enjoy the round.

The game ends far too soon."I didn't have a clue what he meant.

Eventually when I grew up,golf became much more than a game between Dad and I.

It acted as a means of seeing who this funny,oddball philosopher really was,and who I needed to become.

Dad was pushing 80.But he always laughed off my concerns.

Now the cancer came back.He had a month,two at most,he said,and merely asked me to save my strength for the golf course.

We played a course near the English village of Freckleton.

During World War II

my father had served in an army on the outskirts of the village.

A local told us,"There was quite a memorial service because of the bember."

I glanced at Dad."Do you know the bomber?"

His complexion had turned pale."Yes.Come with me."

I followed him to a burying ground at the rear of a church.

"How did these folks die?"I asked.

"They weren't folks.They were children.Four and five-year-olds.

Thirty-eight in all.One of our bombers crashed into the school."

He shut his eyes."God,what a sight!I rememeber pulling away pieces of the plane,bricks and all these precious kies inside.."

I saw tears gathering in my father's eyes,

There was one girl who was always laughing.

I called her Lady Sunshine.A week after the crash,

I found a note on the base of bulletin board from her parents.

They wondered if anybody had taken a photograph of her.

I took them all the photos I had.

We sat in their front parlor and cried.

I've never experienced anything quited so sad."

"I'm surprised you never told me this story."I said.

"The war ended for me right here,"he said.

"I promised myself I would never speak about it again."

The night before,he had tole me that when he'd joined the Army he was a cocky guy.

Then"Something happened"and he realized"the only thing life really promises us is pain.

It's up to to create the joy".

Opti the Mystic had been born in that bomber's wreckage.

That night,my prayer was simple:

I hoped that my own children would never know the pain my Dad had known,but if they must,I hoped the pain would make them little Optis.

Dad died the following march.

I was on the course near Freckleton again.

My partners,who had been warned what was coming,watched solemnly.

I told them my old man had said golf was a game that made you smile.

"So please smile."As they smiled,

I scattered my father's cremated ashes into the bunker.

After the round,a boy passed me.

"Did you shoot a good one?"I asked.

"Not so good,sir."

"That's okay,"I said."Enjoy it.The game ends too soon."

"Right.Thanks."

He walked on and I walked on-and then I stopped.

I'd heard it-my father's voice.

Words and Expressions：

original teenager optimism imperturbable

adj.独创的,新颖的n.十几岁的青少年n.乐观的;乐观主义adj.沉着的;冷静的

ability crisis opportunity growth

n.能力;才干n.危险;危险期n.机会，时机n.生长,发展,增长

senior representative involve solve

adj.高级的,地位较高n.代表vt.包括,涉及vt.解决,解答

philosophy golf club urge

n.哲学n.高尔夫球n.棍棒,球棒vt.催促,力劝

relax clue eventually oddball

vi.放松,休息,变从容n.线索adv.最后adj.古怪的

laugh off concern cancer outskirts

一笑置之n.关心,关注n.癌;肿瘤n.边界,市郊

local memorial bomber complexion

n.当地居民adj.纪念的n.轰炸机n.面色

crash sunshine bulletin parlor

v.坠落,坠毁n.阳光n.公告;报告n.客厅,会客室

cocky guy wreckage prayer

adj.骄傲的,自大的n.家伙,人n...的残骸n.祈祷

partner solemnly scatter cremate

n.搭档adv.严肃地,庄严地vt.使分散,散播vt.火葬,焚化

bunker

n.沙坑,障碍洞

Exercises：

Section I Listening Comprehension

Listen to the record.

Answer each question by choosing A,B,C or D from the four possible choices.

A

1.What do you think I should bring for your father as a gift?

Why not get him a mobile phone?

2.Why don't you and your family come for supper in our house this Sunday?

We would havt to if we weren't already invited by my brother.

3.May I offer you one of my cigarettes?

No,thankls.I'm sitting here only

because all the seats in the nonsmoking section are occupied.

4.Look,here is an advertisement for an apartment with two bedrooms.

It's really near our campus.

What's the number?

I will find out whether it's available for immediate occupancy.

5.Did you notice that man with a fashionable wig was our uncle?

Oh,I didn't recognize him at all.

B

One hot night last July,when our new baby wouldn't or couldn't sleep,

I tried evertthing I could think of:

a warm bottle,songs,gentle rocking.Nothing would settle him.

Guessing that I had a long night ahead of me.

I brought a portable TV into his room,figuring that watching the late movie was as good a way was any to kill off the hours until dawn.

To my surprise,as soon as the TV lit up,the baby quieted right down,his little eyes focused brightly on the tube.

Not to waste an opportunity for sleep,

I then tiptoed out of the room.

Leaving him to watch the actors celebrate John Bellushi's forty-birthday.

My wife and I heard no more of the baby that night,and the next morning when I went into his room,I found him still watching TV himself.

I found in my baby's behavior a metaphor for the new generation.

My wife and I had given him some books to examine,but the merely spit upon them.

When we read to him,he didn't feel comfortable.

And so it is in the schools.

We find that our students don't read,that they look down upon reading and scold those of us who teach it.

All they want to do is to watch TV.After this experience with the baby,however,I have reached a conclusion:

let them watch it.

If television is that much more attractive to children than books,why should we fight it?

Let them watch all they want.

Supplementary Reading

Working Woman

Today more and more married women are working outside the home.

For most of them the reason is obvious:they must work if their families are to survive.

But what about those who don't really have to work?

Do the rewards justify their efforts?

The amswer is pretty clearly"yes".

The most obvious benefit to woman working outside the home is financial.

The rishing costs of living have forced many to work simply to keep their families going.

And even in those families in which the wife has a choice,the extra income may reduce the financial burden on her husband in paying for college for the children,remodeling their house,or taking a long-delayed vacation.

For young couples the benefit is not being able to temodel a house,it's the possibility of buying one in the first place.

If the wife does not work,buying a house is simply out of the question.

Two other points need to be considered,too.

Even when the children have left the house,the drop in family costs if often replaced by the cost of supporting aging parents.

And second,a job provides a wife additional security,psychological as well as financial,in case of the illness or death of her husband.

A second benefit,particularly for women in their late thirties or forties,is the relief from the boredom of housework.

They want a change from the deadly routine of washing clothes,making beds,cleaning the furniture,and the like.

Not all jobs are exciting,of course;but they provide a change and a challenge,particularly for those who feel their abilities and skills have been wasted at home.

In addition,women who work often have more to contribute to conversation with their husbands and friends.

And as their conversation becomes live-lier,more interesting,they become more lively and interesting themselves.

But perhaps the most significant benefit of working is psychological.

Most women have spent their early married lives looking after their homes,their children and husbands.

When their children are gone and the housework is reduced,they often find themselves unable to cope with the extra time on their hands.

Working gives them something constructive to do outside the home.

Meeting new people on the job,putting long-neglected skills to use,competing successfully in the marketplace-all of these experiences help to build their self-confidence;they give a woman a sense of her won importance.

As she proves to herself that she can bring home the bacon as well as cook it.she will open herself to new experiences and broaden her interests.

But some people may ask,"Won't all this make a wife less dependent on her husband?"

Yes,quite likely.

Some husbands want their wives dependent upon them for all their needs.

But a truly happy,successful marriage means freedom for each partner to grow with in the bonds of a loving relationship.

For some husbands the change will be painful,but all growth involves pain.

And,in the long run,it's an acceptable price to pay for the personal growth and sense of achievement his wife will gain.