【活动教室】
Passage 3.
Barbie Dolls and Self Image
There is a noticeable comparison 1) the poem “The Mirror” By Sylvia Plath & the article “Barbie” that appeared in the Newsday Tuesday November 18, 1997. The comparison is about how people look, and how society could reflect how you may feel about your looks.
Calamity is mans true touchstone.
患难是人的试金石。In the poem “The Mirror”, it tells about a lady who dislikes the way she looks. She thinks of herself as being ugly. In the article，it tells how Mattel (the makers of Barbie) want to change the looks & features of Barbie.
The reason for wanting to change the looks is because the makers of Barbie made Barbie too pretty, compared to normal people. Now being pretty is not a bad thing. 2) for little girls growing up they may feel like they want to look like Barbie. Barbie is very skinny and has a great face. 3) little girls may stop eating or doing other things, so they could look like Barbie. 4) it wont happen, Barbie is a doll. People are real，not Barbie dolls.
In the poem it shows how the lady wants to be pretty. 5) the lady takes short cuts to make her self look better to her self. Such as being in a candlelit room. 6) when the lady is in a regular lit room，she becomes ugly to her self again.
The reason Mattel is changing the appearance of Barbie is because little girls impact on the way society looks upon them. 7) this could hurt someones self esteem, and could damage the way someone looks upon oneself. In the poem the girl tries to make her prettier, by creating artificial prettiness. 8) in the end the mirror never lies. The poem & the article compare about how the way people look and feel, and how society has a role on their lives.
答案与解析：
1.答案〖〗between解析〖〗空格前的comparison 意为就两个或多个项目是否相同、相似、相等而进行考察的过程。空格后面我们又看到了两个不同事物的出现，毋庸置疑，这里一定需要一个介词与comparison相搭配，共同表达两者之间的比较。
2.答案〖〗But解析〖〗这里but起到连接上下文的作用，主要用于引领下面的内容。
3.答案〖〗So解析〖〗由于芭比娃娃非常美丽，受到大家的宠爱，所以小孩子要效仿她的样子，这里用表顺序承接的连词so“因而，所以”。
4.答案〖〗But解析〖〗此处表示转折，这是对孩子们不吃饭而去模仿芭比娃娃的模样的做法的否定。空格后面还清晰地给出了理由，即芭比是个娃娃，言外之意她可以变成任意样子，而我们是真正的人，因此我们不能象娃娃一样。
5.答案〖〗So解析〖〗在介绍了芭比娃娃这一事件之后，紧接着向我们展示了文章开头诗歌中提到的那位女士，她为了某个目的而实施了行动，这里空格处需要的是一个承上启下表示原因的单词，我们选用so，“因此”，如：He was sick, so they were quiet.他病了，所以他们很安静。
6.答案〖〗But解析〖〗为配合句子前后意思的变化，此处用一个表转折的词来填充。本段的主要意思是，女士为了让自己看上去美丽，特意剪短了头发，并在有烛光的屋子里呆着，但是，当她出现在普通的地方时就又变得很丑了。
7.Who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl.
近墨者黑。答案〖〗And解析〖〗为实现语气和意思的连贯，这里用一个表并列的连词。但此处and表示“和，并且”的意思并不突出，它主要起到使文章中句与句之间紧密相连的作用。
8.答案〖〗But解析〖〗此处but，“但是”，表示一种强烈的，无可争议的转折关系，也是在提醒人们事实的不可逆性。最后想请大家注意的是，我们在练习各种文章的写作时，总是把注意力集中在老师强调的文章主题要有新意等问题上，而忽略了循序渐进地练习相对简单、基础的知识，如转折、连贯等的表达法的重要性。事实上，文章的主干部分是最重要的，而要想做好这些工作，全靠我们的基本功。只有我们的基本功炼扎实了，才能在中心、主题等方面标新立异，施展无穷的才华。所以希望大家通过这篇文章的练习能够体会到在必要时频繁使用BUT并不一定会让文章失色。
Passage 4.
Teachers and Society
Teachers are “engineers of the human souls.” 1) to many college graduates, teaching is probably the last thing they want to do, 2) the teaching profession in our country is often associated with low pay and poor housing. In the rural areas, the situation is 3) worse: many teachers have no moonlight to survive.
4) , teachers are making enormous contributions to our country. Every year thousands and thousands of welleducated graduates enter the labor force and play important roles in various fields. Many of them have become achieving scholars and scientists and have contributed much to the advancement of Chinas science and technology and to her modernization programs. Teachers，needless to say, can claim part of the credit.
5) , we should not be too optimistic about the future of our education, 6) Chinas long tradition for putting a high premium on education. By comparison, education receives very little attention and investment from the government, its budget totaling less than three percent of the countrys GNP. 7) the last decade has witnessed some progress in improving the educational infrastructure and the teachers living conditions, there is yet world of problems to be solved.
Constant dropping wears away a stone.
滴水穿石。答案与解析：
1.答案〖〗But解析〖〗开篇第一句话打了双引号，显然这是一句对于老师公认的至高无上的评价，但根据空格后面的内容，我们可以推断出学生对于教师这一职业的态度并不像引语中说的那么积极。因此这里我们用一个转折连词but。
2.答案〖〗for解析〖〗社会上既然将老师这一职业大加赞赏，为什么和老师接触最多的学生们不愿意选择这样的未来呢？这是每一位读者都迫切想知道的事情，空格后面的内容就是对这一问题做出的解释。根据空格的位置（for在接表原因的句子时只能放在主句后面）和意思，我们用表原因的for。
3.答案〖〗even解析〖〗人们不想当老师的原因已经很清楚了，这里作者还想进一步介绍老师在物质方面的窘迫，所以谈到了乡村教师，在此要表达一种强调语气“更”“还”的意思，我们使用副词even，此处是even与比较级连用表示“比……更加”“比……还要”的意思。
4.答案〖〗Yet解析〖〗虽然，尽管如此。大家是否注意到该段第一个词后紧接着就是一个标点符号，我们通过观察发现被标点隔开的空格中需要的不是起关键作用的主语或其它句子中的重要成分，因此它要么是一个呼语，要么就是个修饰全句的副词或连词，如果是呼语或副词，在此文讲不通道理，那么它应该是一个承接上文、引领下文的连词，且该词有强调的语气。最后想为大家补充一点的是，在正式文体中，当yet表示“迄今”这一意思时，需与现在完成时动词连用，而不能使用一般过去时动词，如：（1）He hasnt started yet.（正确）（2）He didnt start yet.（错误） The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
生活中最大的幸福是坚信有人爱我们。
5.答案〖〗Unfortunately解析〖〗该段第一句话有些长，但在句子的主干部分没有空格出现，因此在我们理解句意时不会有太大偏差。第五个空格应该是一个承上启下的单词，在此它若是一个副词更合理些，这里我们根据句意，使用unfortunately，现在举个例子来体会一下该词的用法：Unfortunately, the show was one of the dullest we have ever seen.不幸得很，这次演出是我们所见过的最乏味的演出。
6.答案〖〗despite解析〖〗本词意思是：尽管，即使。该空格引领的句子是对主句的补充说明，这里主要表达的意思是，尽管中国有着悠久的重视教育的传统，但其前景仍不慎明朗。在这半句中我们再来巩固一个词组，put (offer, place, set)a premium on重视，促进，鼓励。
7.答案〖〗Although解析〖〗为了能够和句子中的yet相呼应，同时兼顾文章的内容，这里我们选用although一词。该词用在主句中，可与副词yet，nevertheless等连用，但不能与but连用，这是一个与我们的汉语相悖的用法，希望大家在使用时特别留心。
美文赏析
The first step is as good as half over.
第一步是最关键的一步。The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
未选择的路
罗伯特·弗洛斯特
黄色的树林里分出两条路，
可惜我不能同时去涉足，
我在那路口久久伫立，
我向着一条路极目望去，
直到它消失在丛林深处。
但我却选了另外一条路，
它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂，
显得更诱人，更美丽；
虽然在这两条小路上，
都很少留下旅人的足迹；
虽然那天清晨落叶满地，
两条路都未经脚印污染。
呵，留下一条路等改日再见！
但我知道路径延绵无尽头，
恐怕我难以再回返。
也许多少年后在某个地方，
我将轻声叹息将往事回顾：
一片树林里分出两条路——
而我选了人迹更少的一条
从此决定了我一生的道路。 （顾子欣 译）
《未选择的路》是一首深邃的哲理诗。人生道路上有许多重大选择，人人会经常处于生活中的十字路口，面对着面前的两条路，该选择哪一条呢？诗人选择了一条“幽寂”但却“更美丽”的路，一条“人迹更少”的路，走这条路也许会更艰难、需要更多的汗水和心血，但诗人并不后悔这一选择。他所感到遗憾的是他没能选择另一条路，但是诗人知道，人不可能同时选择两条路走下去，只能舍一取一，沿着选择出的一条路坚定地走下去，无怨无悔，至于那条未选择的路，只有当诗人回首往事时，表示轻轻的叹息和遗憾罢了。选择考研这条路不也是这样吗？
