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发表于 2016-7-10 10:00:23
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journal *
n. a serious magazine or newspaper which is published regularly, usually about a specialist subject 报纸，定期刊物
e.g. Each club member will receive a journal four times a year which contains a mixture of news, reviews and articles.
labor *
v. work hard 辛苦劳作
e.g. She was very tired--she'd been laboring in the garden for hours.
lamb *
n. a young sheep 羊羔
lest *
conj.in order to prevent any possibility that (something will happen) 惟恐，以免
e.g. He ran away lest he should be seen.
miserable *
adj. very unhappy 痛苦的
e.g. She's been so miserable since her dog died.
mortgage *
n. an agreement which allows you to borrow money from a bank or similar organization 抵押
e.g. They took out a $ 400,000 mortgage to buy the house.
net
v. earn a particular amount of money as a profit after taxes have been paid 净赚
pantry
n. 食品储藏室
patent *
v. 取得专利权
e.g. If you don't patent your inventions, someone might steal your idea.
peacefully *
adv. quietly, calmly 平静地
e.g. They lived there peacefully and happily.
penniless *
adj. having no money; very poor 身无分文的
e.g. The debt-collectors took all his money, and he was left completely penniless.
purchase *
n. an act of buying 购买
e.g. He gave his son some money for the purchase of his school books.
rare *
adj. unusual, not common 稀少的
e.g. It's rare for me to have this time to watch television.
raw *
adj. in the natural state, not yet treated for use 未经加工的
e.g. raw sugar 粗糖 raw silk 生丝
spin *
v. (spun, spun) 纺(线);纺(纱)
e.g. Wool is made by spinning the fleece (羊毛) from sheep.
stock *
n. 证券，股票
e.g. They own 20% of the company's stocks.
sum *
n. an amount of money 一笔钱
e.g. It will cost an enormous sum to repair the swimming pool.
test-drive
v. drive a car to see if it works correctly or if you like it so that you can decide if you want to buy it 试开
thirst *
n. feeling caused by a desire or need to drink 渴;渴望
e.g. The traveler in the desert suffered from thirst.
vacation *
n. (especially US) holiday 假日
wagon *
n. 旅行车，小型客车
wealthy *
adj. rich 富有的
e.g. Her wealthy family sent her to Switzerland to be educated.
Time Spent Agonizing over Money
1 Within hours of a recent major stock market drop, I telephoned my Ford dealer and ordered the station wagon that I test-drove the day before. As my friends not so subtly pointed out, the Dow Jones Industrial Average didn't have much to do with my financial situation and shouldn't affect my purchase. Besides, my old car had caused me headaches for months.
2 Still, I spent the evening asking myself: Could I afford a new car? Should I be saving instead of spending? Would we need to cut back on vacations?
3 On the list of items people worry about, money is almost always at the top.
4 A study in The Wall Street Journal found that 70 percent of the public lives from paycheck to paycheck. Mortgage debt has increased 300 percent since 1975, and consumer bankruptcies are at an all-time high. Most marriages that fail list financial problems as a contributing factor.
5 When the Dow fell 554 points last October, millions of people lost billions of dollars, on paper anyway. There was expert anxiety on Wall Street and old-fashioned worry on Main Street. Our reaction confirmed what we already knew: We are a people consumed by financial stress.
A "Raw Material"
6 As the Bible tells us, worrying about money-or anything else for that matter-won't do us any good. "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Jesus asked. "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow? They do not labor or spin."
7 In my heart, I aspire to be like those lilies. But in my head, I feel a need to hoard.
8 It is an unusual person who can live free from financial stress, or who can spend money on others as easily as he spends it on himself.
9 Thomas Edison was one of that rare breed. Had the great inventor stored his money, he would have died a wealthy man. His first successful invention netted him $ 40,000, a huge sum in 1869. During his lifetime, he patented 1,093 inventions, yet he departed the world penniless.
10 Years later, his son Charles recalled his father's approach to money: "He considered it a raw material, like metal, to be used rather than amassed, and so he kept plowing his funds back into new objects. Several times he was all but bankrupt. But he refused to let dollar signs govern his actions. "
11 John Wesley was the same. The founder of Methodism had the highest earned income in 18th century England, but he gave it all away. His philosophy about money was simple: "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can."
Root of Evil?
12 Money may not be the root of all evil, but if it keeps us up at night, it has become way too important in our lives.
13 That was the lesson of Leo Tolstoy's tale "Elias", which told of a rich farm couple who lost all their money and were forced to take jobs as servants.
14 A guest one day asked the wife if she was miserable being poor, especially in light of the great wealth she had once enjoyed. The woman's answer-that she was happier than ever before-surprised the visitor.
15 "When we were rich, my husband and I had so many cares that we had no time to talk to one another, or to think of our souls, or to pray to God," the wife explained. "We lay awake at night worrying, lest the ewes should lie on their lambs, and we got up again and again to see that all was well... Now, when my husband and I wake in the morning, we always greet each other in love and harmony. We live peacefully, having nothing to worry about."
16 For most of us, financial security is an elusive goal. No matter how much we have, it's not enough. Kahlil Gibran put it this way: "The fear of need, when the pantry is full, is the thirst that can not be satisfied."
17 When the stock market falls, we can panic, hoard, and worry if we have enough. Or we can take a deep breath and remember: money is merely a raw material to be plowed back into something else. (702 words)
Time taken: ____ minutes
Phrases and Expressions
all but
almost 几乎
e.g. The party was all but over when we arrived.
cut back on
reduce something greatly 减少
e.g. Many schools are cutting back on staff at the moment.
do ... good
benefit 对......有利
e.g. The government could do a lot of good by sending aid to the area.
for that matter
used to say that what you are saying about one thing is also true about something else (用于补充或语气递进的陈述)而且
e.g. Ben never touched beer, or any kind of alcohol for that matter.
have...to do with 与......有关
e.g. Do you think his bad mood has anything to do with what I said?
in (the) light of
in view of, considering something 鉴于，由于
e.g. In light of these changes we must change our plan.
keep... up
prevent somebody from going to bed 使......无法入睡
e.g. I do hope we're not keeping you up.
plow back
put money that you have earned back into a business in order to make the business bigger and more successful 把(利润)再投资
e.g. Profits from ticket sales are plowed back into further conservation (保护) projects.
point out
direct attention to something 指出
e.g. The officer pointed out that the story was somewhat hard to believe. |
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