每天一课英语口语365 Unit 208-220
[00:00.00]208 Genius
[00:04.57]Genius usually refers to one who has rare mental powers with which he was born.
[00:11.05]In a dictionary, the word genius is il-lustrated with the sentence:
[00:16.43]Einstein was a genius.
[00:18.49]Einstein was believed to be able to make discoveries which few others could just because he was a genius.
[00:26.46]However Edison once said: Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
[00:35.27]By so saying, he meant that none was born a genius.
[00:40.28]If there was genius at all, he be-lieved, the only difference between a genius
[00:46.50]and common people is that the genius works much harder rather than he relies on in-spiration.
[00:52.95]I agree with him.
[00:54.96]Thomas Edison was a genius. But had he not worked too diligently in the lab,
[01:01.34]he wouldn't have made such great contri-butions to the mankind.
[01:05.72]Sir Issac Newton was so absorbed in his experiments that he occasionally forgot his meals.
[01:12.57]They worked much harder than common people to be geniuses.
[01:16.88]Besides if we all believe in the dominating factor of talent in a genius nobody will do anything
[01:24.61]but wait for inspiration.
[01:27.01]So, it's both true and necessary to say that genius is one percent in- spiration
[01:34.04]and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
[01:38.12]209 Libraries In London Colleges
[01:43.34]Most London colleges have a library, with a full time or part-time librarian,
[01:50.18]who will be able to give students information on the facilities available for consulting or borrowing books.
[01:58.31]In addition, the public libraries give a valuable service to students attending colleges,
[02:05.34]evening classes or working on their own.
[02:08.44]Public libraries are maintained by the city corporation and the various London borough councils.
[02:16.28]They will be helpful to stu-dents who wish to further their studies
[02:21.27]by using the comprehen-sive library services available in the metropolitan area.
[02:27.49]These li-braries have over five million books in stock, the majority of which are for loan,
[02:34.98]and there is a system of interavailability of lending library tickets which extends throughout the metropolitan area.
[02:44.15]Reference departments are provided for the use of those who wish to consult books and periodicals in the library,
[02:51.99]or heavy publications such as encyclopedias which cannot be taken out on loan.
[02:58.73]Public library stocks are of a general nature, covering all subjects.
[03:04.14]Each public library in the metropolitan area specializes in a group of interrelated subjects
[03:11.95]and through the cooperation between various libraries, their combined resources are made generally available.
[03:20.59]Moreover, through the inner-lending system of the British library,
[03:25.37]it is usually possible-for books not available in London public libraries to be obtained from specialist libraries.
[03:34.65]Music stocks, for example, include music writings and frequently records.
[03:41.02]Full details of these various services can be obtained from the central Library in each area.
[03:48.78]Addresses and telephone numbers are listed in the london telephone directory.
[03:55.13]210 My Opinion of Today's Education
[04:01.42]I think one of the main problems with today's education is that too much emphasis is placed on test score.
[04:10.44]It has become the most important criterion for college enrollment.
[04:15.84]A student, however creative and intelligent,
[04:19.03]will not be admitted into a col-lege if his total score is just one point less than required.
[04:26.24]It is also one of the crucial factors either in job assignment or in employ-ment competitions.
[04:33.66]The competition for high scores among students becomes in-tense.
[04:39.17]Students find themselves concentrating more on strategies to achieve high scores than on acquiring the knowledge.
[04:47.48]They will play tricks on some courses,
[04:50.64]skip over the substance which will not be tested on, even pamper teachers for hints on upcom-ing exams.
[04:58.71]Teachers are apt to give their students high scores.
[05:03.44]As their job is judged mainly by the students' performance in terms of scores,
[05:08.85]some teachers tend to set easy papers to test their stu-dents on or narrow down the scope of the exam.
[05:16.87]Some teachers even leak "accidentally" the exam questions or lower their crite-rion of scoring.
[05:25.15]As a result,
[05:27.00]the competition for high scores becomes so in-tense that it actually defeats the academic goals of education.
[05:35.46]211 Studying Abroad
[05:41.84]Studying abroad is an excellent way for students to learn about themselves and the world in which they live.
[05:49.88]When study-ing in a foreign country, students will interact with people from different cultures.
[05:57.12]By doing so,
[05:58.43]they will experience the charac-teristics of a distant culture and see the similarities and differ-ences.
[06:05.74]They will have chances to visit places about which they've previously known only through lectures and textbooks,
[06:13.55]and to learn at least some of the native languages as well.
[06:18.54]Not only will students learn more about the world, but they will also discover more about themselves.
[06:26.14]Through seeing how others live, students will probably think more about their own lives.
[06:33.25]In doing so, they will evaluate their own values and con-sider their appropriate place in the world.
[06:40.90]Finally, studying abroad would bring them "practical" ben-efit.
[06:46.36]With this kind of experience listed on a resume,
[06:50.31]prospective employers may be impressed to know that this applicant can sur vive in a different environment.
[06:58.01]Thus this person is likely to ac-cept any challenging tasks.
[07:02.87]This is certainly a general characteris-tic for which employers search in a job applicant.
[07:10.18]Studying abroad is a very useful Way to enhance one's edu-cational experience.
[07:17.50]It fosters knowledge about oneself as well as the outside world.
[07:23.45]212 It Is Unwise to Cancel Examinations
[07:31.00]As the calling for quality-oriented educational system is get-ting increasingly strong,
[07:38.16]the cancellation of exams has found a good number of advocates
[07:43.26]who tend to base their opinion on the fact that tests don't tell the whole story.
[07:49.58]As a teacher of ten years' professional experience,
[07:54.07]I have found that a student who earns good marks is generally a good student
[07:59.56]and that a student's final mark in a subject is usually a grade average of the year's work.
[08:06.37]Of course, there are excep-tions,
[08:10.16]but they do not have the frequency that would give an un-fair picture of a student's ability.
[08:15.75]Besides there is no acceptable substitute for competition and examination of quality.
[08:23.98]How can teachers and future exployers determine what a student has learned and remembered?
[08:30.85]Should we simply take the student's word for it?
[08:34.35]Any institution that "liberates" students from fair exams is misguided, if not igno-rant.
[08:42.11]When all is said and done,
[08:44.93]I sense that a fear of failure and a fear of unpleasant comparison with others is at the bottom of most ban-exams talk.
[08:54.52]Excellence and quality fear nothing.
[08:57.97]On the contrary, they seek competition and-desire the satisfaction of being the best.
[09:06.69]213 Which Courses to Take
[09:12.39]M: I usually advise first-year students to take mathematics,
[09:18.18]chem-istry, and introductory engineering in the first quarter.
[09:22.78]W: Oh, only three classes?
[09:24.95]M: Yes. But I'm sure that you'll be busy.
[09:28.16]They're all four-hour courses, and you'll have to meet each class every day.
[09:33.91]The chemistry course has an additional two-hour laboratory.
[09:38.09]W: Would that be fourteen hours of class a week?
[09:41.72]M: That's right.
[09:43.00]W: Okay. Which mathematics course do you think I should take?
[09:47.65]M: Have you taken very much math in high school?
[09:51.18]W: Four years. I had algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
[09:56.95]M: Good. Then I suggest that you take the math placement test.
[10:01.99]It's offered this Friday at nine o'clock in the morning in Tow-er Auditorium.
[10:07.19]W: Do I need anything to be admitted? I mean a permission slip?
[10:12.31]M: No. Just the identification. A driver's license will be fine.
[10:17.09]W: Do I take a chemistry test, too?
[10:20.07]M: No. Chemistry 100 is designed for students who have never taken a chemistry course,
[10:26.63]and chemistry 200 for students who have had chemistry in high school.
[10:31.98]W: I've had two courses in chemistry.
[10:34.88]M: Then you should take chemistry 200, orientation to Engi-neering and either mathematics 130 or 135,
[10:45.38]depending on the result of your placement test.
[10:48.57]Come back Friday after-noon I should have your score on the test by then and we can get you registered.
[10:57.01]214 Practice Makes Perfect
[11:03.28]We all know that practice makes perfect is a very popular saying both in Chinese and In English.
[11:11.61]It means that when you want to learn some knowledge, you have to repeat them many times,
[11:17.69]and then you may remember what you learn.
[11:20.73]Also we can say the more you know something, the better you can do it.
[11:26.42]Whether we study or work, those words are very useful to us.
[11:32.04]We can take English study as an example.
[11:35.98]When we want to learn some new words or some good sentences by heart,
[11:41.28]we will read them and write them again and again until we can re-cite them.
[11:47.79]Sometimes it will take up a lot of time for us to re-member, but once we remembered,
[11:54.45]we can use them skillfully Whereas when you are afraid that you cannot remember some words
[12:01.84]and you do not want to try your best, you will not re-member them well.
[12:06.70]However when you take an English exami-nation and come across some words meanings and usage you don't remember,
[12:16.78]what will you feel at that time? You must re-gret.
[12:22.06]So English study means that you have to practice more and more.
[12:27.81]Still we can look at another example in learning.
[12:32.72]When we have heard the same story for many times we can remember it very well and we can recite it to others.
[12:41.60]At the same time, we can also imagine some stories according to what we have heard.
[12:48.08]So in our study and life, we should bear in our minds the sen-tence: "Practice Makes Perfect".
[12:56.83]In this way we can study well and live a better life.
[13:02.76]215 Getting to Know the World outside the Campus
[13:09.84]It is absolutely necessary for college students to know the world outside the campus.
[13:17.10]The ultimate end for college study is to serve society.
[13:22.19]Every college student has to join society some day.
[13:26.53]If they do not know sufficiently enough about the outside world,
[13:31.52]it may be very difficult for them to adapt to society.
[13:36.43]There are several ways for them to get to know the outside world.
[13:42.44]First, they can read newspapers, listen to radios and watch TV.
[13:47.82]Actually all the major events and changes in society are covered in the media in time and in details.
[13:56.52]If students make full use of the media they will be quite informed about the soci-ety they live in.
[14:04.30]Second, students can take part in social ser-vices.
[14:09.58]In this way, they can get in touch with all kinds of people and know their views.
[14:15.72]Third, students can even take up some part time jobs if time permits.
[14:22.25]By doing so, they can experience the feeling of joining the society they live in and doing a job for it.
[14:30.64]As for myself, I will read more newspapers.
[14:35.65]They are avail-able in the school library.
[14:39.02]I have a portable radio.
[14:41.37]Every day, I spend some time listening to the news.
[14:45.42]In the summer vacation, I will take up a part time job.
[14:50.07]I believe I can know a lot about society in this way.
[14:55.63]216 The Written Test
[15:01.93]The written test is an effective way of measuring a learner's competence.
[15:08.12]Every year tens of thousands of students take part in the Entrance Examination
[15:14.39]in the written form for admission to college.
[15:17.89]Many others take part in written tests for getting a job for further study.
[15:24.13]Generally speaking, people are satisfied with this form of test because it is fair to all and can be well prepared.
[15:34.14]The test is usually designed by experts who work diligently through a strict pretest.
[15:41.66]There are, however, some limits to its effectiveness.
[15:45.84]Some abilities, such as the ability to communicate or to cooperate, cannot be examined in the written test.
[15:54.98]Yet these abilities are of extreme importance.
[15:59.53]What's worse is that the popularity of the written test tends to make students focus too much on the study of books
[16:08.75]and ignore the development of their abilities in other ways.
[16:13.19]We can make an examination more accurate by having some additional tests in other forms.
[16:20.61]For instance, we can hold interviews.
[16:23.72]We can also ask the students to deliver speeches and hold a debate.
[16:29.83]When we combine all these scores together,
[16:33.28]I believe we will have a fairer and more effective assessment of the participants.
[16:39.89]217 The Teacher-Student Relationship
[16:47.02]The relationship between a teacher and a student can be ei-ther good or bad, helpful or harmful.
[16:56.16]Either way, the relation ship can affect the student for the rest of his life.
[17:02.38]A good teacher student relationship will make learning enjoyable
[17:07.58]and interesting for the student and will make the teacher's job worthwhile.
[17:12.62]A bad relationship can discourage the student from learning and make teaching an unpleasant task.
[17:20.46]In order to have a good teacher-student relationship,
[17:25.89]it is important that the teacher and the student respect each other.
[17:30.67]If the teacher is too strict, he frightens the student.
[17:35.16]The student will not learn well.
[17:37.86]On the other hand, if the teacher is too friendly,
[17:42.22]the student may become lazy and stop working as hard as possi-ble.
[17:47.05]The teacher's attitude and approach should be in between.
[17:52.64]He should encourage the student without forcing or pushing him to learn.
[17:58.23]He needs patience and understanding.
[18:01.34]It is part of the teacher's job to help develop a good positive attitude in his stu-dents.
[18:08.29]As for the student, in order to have a good relationship with his teacher, he must always show his proper respect.
[18:18.01]He should be eager to learn and willing to-work hard.
[18:21.66]If he learns from the teacher modestly,
[18:24.77]he will be able to profit fully from his teacher's knowledge and assistance.
[18:29.87]In conclusion, a good teacher-student relationship can be mutually beneficial.
[18:36.29]The student gains knowledge eagerly and enjoyably, and the teacher gains satisfaction from his job.
[18:44.75]218 Education and the Market
[18:50.37]As the socialist market economy in China is expanding, ed-ucation is becoming more closely related to the market.
[19:00.87]In a broad sense, the whole modem society is based on the market e-conomy.
[19:07.56]As part of the society, education cannot be separated from the market.
[19:13.59]In fact, the former has much to do with the lat-ter.
[19:18.27]Therefore, it is generally believed that education serves the market which, in turn, supports education.
[19:26.86]The reason for education to enter the market is obvious.
[19:31.80]As a developing country, China is not likely to invest a huge amount of money in the near future.
[19:39.64]Education has to turn to the market to find its own way.
[19:44.13]It is important to note that teachers' way of production is to teach and train students.
[19:51.55]The students' knowl-edge is an invisible product.
[19:55.05]In addition, their services to stu-dents and society are valuable.
[20:00.77]So education has to be run in ac-cordance with the law of value to realize the aim
[20:08.06]that the stu-dents pay for their education
[20:10.88]and find jobs by themselves rather than being assigned jobs by the state.
[20:17.10]Personally, I think education is an independent industry between students and the talent market.
[20:25.04]It is the indispensable link between the two.
[20:28.46]So my conclusion is that since science and technology
[20:32.64]and talented people can enter the market it is a matter of course for education to enter the market.
[20:40.79]219 My Success
[20:46.04]I wrote my first poem at the age of eight or nine.
[20:50.53]My moth-er was extremely proud of me after reading it.
[20:54.03]But I was still anx-ious for my father's opinion.
[20:58.03]I wrote my poem out in my finest flourish,
[21:02.32]crayoned and elaborated border around it and placed it on my father's plate on the dining table.
[21:09.08]My father returned rather late in an angry mood.
[21:14.07]He had been upset by a star who suddenly refused to act in the last scene of a film in the making,
[21:21.57]when he saw my poem, he read it and pronounced it lousy.
[21:27.34]This caused a quarrel between him and my mother, who insisted that I needed encouragement, not criti-cism.
[21:35.60]Somewhat humbled, I kept on composing poems without daring to show them to my father.
[21:42.70]When looking at my first po-em again a few years later, I found it was really very lousy.
[21:50.54]But it was not until I became a professional writer
[21:55.16]that I began to see the beneficial interactions of the mother force and the father force.
[22:01.90]They had worked together to bring me success.
[22:06.47]220 Ideals
[22:10.63]An ideal guides people forward in their life journey just as a beacon does ships on the sea.
[22:19.48]Many great figures in history achieved success because they all had lofty ideals.
[22:26.46]As a young man, Thomas Edison had an ideal of becoming an inventor, and
he did become one.
[22:34.32]Florence Nightingale dreamed of becoming a nurse and finally realized her dream.
[22:40.72]To have an ideal is to have a definite goal for one to strive for and that will make one's life worth living.
[22:49.13]Different people may have different ideals which may lead to different results.
[22:55.09]Many cherish peace, freedom, the prosperity of their nation or the happiness of mankind.
[23:03.21]Their lofty ideals provide them with endless courage and energy to overcome difficulties,
[23:10.55]and ensure their final happiness and success.
[23:14.29]Some people place money above everything else, and others take power as their ultimate goal.
[23:22.02]To realize their vulgar dreams will result in crime and degeneration.
[23:28.42]So it is important for one to have an ideal.
[23:32.62]But it is more important to have a good and lofty ideal,
[23:37.43]because only by fostering such an ideal and continuously, strive for it can one ultimately lead a life of true value.
