每天一课英语口语 UNIT 086-098

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[00:00.00]86 Clouds

[00:03.50]A cloud consists of tiny drops of water or ice crystals or floats in the air.

[00:11.10]Clouds are grouped into classes according to their height above the ground.

[00:17.03]There are three major groups of clouds: there are low clouds, middle clouds, and high clouds.

[00:26.17]The low clouds float less than 6000 feet or 1800 meters above sea level.

[00:34.98]There are two kinds of low clouds.

[00:38.77]The two kinds of low clouds consist of stratus and stratocumulus clouds.

[00:46.65]The stratus clouds cover the sky like a white blanket.

[00:51.20]They bring rain or snow. The stratocumulus clouds cover the sky with large clouded masses.

[01:00.89]The middle clouds usually lie from 6000 to 20,000 feet above sea level or about 1800 to 6100 meters above sea level.

[01:15.00]Middle clouds are grouped into three subclasses.

[01:19.96]They are grouped into altostratus, altocumulus, and nimbostratus.

[01:27.48]An al-tostratus cloud forms a smooth white sheet across the sky.

[01:33.73]Nim-bostratus forms a smooth grey layer across the sky.

[01:39.34]In the third category of clouds are the high clouds.

[01:45.64]High clouds are found 20,000 feet above the earth, or higher.

[01:51.28]There are two kinds of high clouds.

[01:55.33]They are cirrus clouds and cirrostratus clouds.

[02:00.56]All high clouds are formed entirely 2 of ice crystals.

[02:05.49]The middle and low clouds are mainly water droplets 3.

[02:10.56]No two clouds are exactly the same.

[02:14.87]They are always changing their shape or form.

[02:18.81]Clouds are interesting to scientists, to artists, and to picnickers.

[02:26.86]87 Notice

[02:30.33]Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please.

[02:36.21]I am sorry to have to tell you that the police have asked us to e-vacuate

[02:42.90]everyone from this building as quickly as possible.

[02:48.07]We have found a bag possibly containing an explosive device and the bag is now in one of the dressing 4 rooms backstage.

[03:00.01]Experts are on their, way to examine it.

[03:03.64]We ask you to leave in a quiet and orderly fashion.

[03:09.54]There is absolutely no need to worry.

[03:13.52]Please make your way out by Exit 1, cross over the road and wait outside the supermarket on the comer of King' s Road.

[03:26.18]Please help elderly or disabled people.

[03:30.49]If you have children with you, make sure you do not become separated from them.

[03:38.20]Hold small children firmly by hand.

[03:43.03]If you forget anything--your umbrella, your coat, even your handbag, please do not try to go back for it.

[03:54.14]This will only cause unnecessary confusion 5 and delay.

[03:59.62]If you see any suspicious 6 object--a parcel or bag--do not touch it, but tell us as you leave, please stop smoking.

[04:13.41]We rely on your cooperation

[04:16.37]and hope that you will be able to return to your seats shortly to enjoy the last act of the play.

[04:26.37]88 Insurance

[04:31.49]Life is full of dangers and surprises.

[04:36.14]Your house may bum 7 down, and you may fall out of the window and break your neck.

[04:44.03]Mice may eat your floor so that you drop in the flat be-low.

[04:50.12]Any thing may happen you can never know.

[04:55.00]You can not always prevent disasters, but you can insure a-gainst them.

[05:03.23]Most forms of insurance are voluntary.

[05:07.44]It is up to you whether you insure or not.

[05:12.24]But some forms are compulsory 8.

[05:16.63]That means you have to insure.

[05:19.74]For example, a driver must take out a third-party insurance policy.

[05:26.87]The three parties are you yourself, your insurance company,

[05:33.27]and anybody else--for ex-ample, the man who had a crash with you.

[05:39.88]It doesn't cover fire, theft or anything else.

[05:45.94]Its aim is only to protect road users from each other.

[05:51.32]If you want to insure against all the other terri-ble things that might happen to you or your car,

[05:59.81]you can take a comprehensive policy.

[06:03.81]Another form of compulsory insurance is National Insur-ance.

[06:10.81]Everybody over 16 earning money on a regular basis must pay a sum each week to the state.

[06:20.47]These weekly contributions cover part of the cost of the National Health Service and the other social service benefits e.g.

[06:31.42]unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, old-age pensions and so on.

[06:42.76]89 Skills in Giving Gifts

[06:47.93]When you wish to give someone a gift it is always good to remember some basic rules.

[06:55.61]Consider the age, the sex, and the length of your acquaintance as well as the occasion.

[07:04.49]You should know when it is all right to give a gift of money, and when it would be improper 9.

[07:13.32]In any case, when you receive a present, don't forget to send a thank-you note as soon as possible.

[07:23.25]Often people like to bring a gift for the hostess of the party they have been invited to.

[07:32.13]This can be something just for the hostess or something for the party,

[07:39.36]like sweets or fruit, things which all may enjoy.

[07:45.24]If you stay at a friend's house overnight for a weekend

[07:50.70]it is usual to take a gift showing appreciation 10 for their friendliness 11 and their kindness.

[07:59.97]Again, you may choose some-thing for the hostess alone or for the entire family.

[08:07.63]Sometimes it is not possible to return a favor as you would like to.

[08:14.29]When this happens, you may show your own thoughtfulness by giving a thank-you gift,

[08:21.81]especially if you can find something unusual.

[08:26.17]Weddings are a time when gifts of money are greatly appreciated and quite acceptable 12.

[08:35.29]You should never leave money when you have been a weekend guest. Try to use imagination in choosing a thank-you gift.

[08:48.07]90 The Mystery of Diamond

[08:53.63]The diamond is considered the most famous and valuable jewel in the world.

[09:01.18]Diamonds were made as a result of great volcanic 13 heat and pressure.

[09:07.16]A volcano is a mountain with a hole in the top.

[09:12.25]When a volcano is very active, it sometimes explodes and causes great damage.

[09:20.98]Diamonds were pushed towards the surface of the earth-millions of years ago-by a great number of volcanic explosions.

[09:33.23]It is in the narrow volcanic pipes that diamonds are found.

[09:38.77]They are also found among the sand and stones of certain river beds,

[09:46.19]and a few places or the floor of the sea, for they are washed down the mountainsides by the rain.

[09:54.29]Diamonds are very rare.

[09:57.76]There are not many diamond pipes or diamond-producing rivers in the world.

[10:03.56]During the last century, adventurers from Europe went to Brazil,

[10:10.69]because they had heard that there are diamonds in the River Amazon.

[10:15.60]Many of these early diamond miners died of illness or were lost forever in the great forests.

[10:24.93]But some returned home rich.

[10:28.77]The earliest known diamonds were found in India many centuries ago.

[10:36.37]The most recent exciting discoveries have been made in eastern Russia.

[10:42.53]But most of the world's diamonds now come from Congo,

[10:47.78]from Tanzania--which has the largest dia-mend mine in the world--and from South Africa.

[10:56.93]91 The Stars Are Shining Tonight

[11:02.36]Light travels at a speed which is about a million times faster than the speed of sound.

[11:10.46]In one second, light travels about 300,000 km, but sound travels only 344 kin 1.

[11:22.58]You can get some ideas of this difference by watching the start of a race.

[11:29.03]If you stand some distance away from the starter,

[11:33.63]you can see smoke come from his gun before the sound reaches your ears.

[11:40.45]This great speed of light produces some strange facts.

[11:46.17]Sun-light takes about 8 minutes to reach us.

[11:51.29]If you look at the light of the moon tonight,

[11:54.79]remember that the light rays left the moon 1.3 seconds before they reached you.

[12:02.63]The nearest star is so far away that the light which you can see from it tonight

[12:09.70]started to travel towards you four years ago at a speed of nearly 2 million km per minute.

[12:19.00]In some cases, the light from one of tonight's stars start-ed on its journey before you were born.

[12:28.12]Thus, if we want to be honest, we cannot say, "The stars are shining tonight."

[12:37.19]We have to say, "The stars look pretty.

[12:41.97]They were shining four years ago, but their light has only just reached the earth."

[12:50.04]92 The Seasons

[12:55.89]The year is divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

[13:05.32]In spring, nature wakes from her long winter sleep.

[13:10.86]The trees are filled with new life, the earth is warmed by the rays of the sun, and the weather gets gradually milder.

[13:21.36]The fields and meadows 14 are covered with fresh green grass.

[13:27.00]The woods and forests are filled with the songs of birds.

[13:33.04]The sky is blue and cloudless.

[13:36.88]At night millions of stars shine in the darkness.

[13:41.68]When summer comes, the weather gets warmer still and sometimes it's very hot.

[13:48.92]It's the farmer's busy season--he works in his fields from moming till night.

[13:56.08]The grass must be cut and the hay must be made, while the dry weather lasts.

[14:03.44]Autumn brings with its harvest-time, when the crops are gathered in and the fruit is picked in the orchards 15.

[14:12.30]The days get shorter and the nights longer.

[14:15.82]The woods turn yellow, and leaves begin to fall from the trees.

[14:21.73]When winter comes, we spend more time indoors because outdoors it's cold.

[14:29.25]Rivers and lakes are frozen 16, and the roads are sometimes covered with slippery ice or deep snow.

[14:40.30]93 On Writing a Letter

[14:44.56]The first step in writing letters is to get over the guilt 17 of mail writing.

[14:51.79]You don't "owe" anybody a letter.

[14:55.32]Letters are gifts.

[14:57.67]The burning shame you feel when you see unanswered mail makes it harder to pick up a pen

[15:06.37]and makes for a cheerless letter when you finally do.

[15:11.23]Skip sentences like "I feel bad about not writing, but I've been so busy," etc.

[15:21.55]Few letters are obligatory 18, and they are "Thanks for the wonderful gift"

[15:28.94]and "welcome your friends to stay with you." and not many more than that.

[15:35.99]Writethose promptly 19 if you want to keep your friends.

[15:41.11]Don't worry about others, except love letters, of course.

[15:47.44]When your true love writes "Dear Light of My Life; Joy of My Heart."

[15:54.88]Some re-sponse is called for.

[15:58.17]Keep your writing stuff in one place where you can sit down for a few minutes.

[16:05.72]Such as envelopes, stamps, address book, everything in a drawer so you can write fast when the pen is hot.

[16:16.77]Sit down for a few minutes with the blank sheet in front of you,

[16:22.36]and meditate 20 on the person you will write to,

[16:26.38]let your friends come to mind until you can almost see her or him in the noon with you.

[16:35.84]Remember the last time you saw each other and how your friend looked

[16:43.29]and what you said and what perhaps was said between you,

[16:48.46]and when your friend becomes ready to you, start to write.

[16:54.67]Write the salutation--Dear You--and take a deep breath and plunge 21 in.

[17:04.13]A simple declarative sentence will do, followed by another and another.

[17:11.34]Tell us what you're doing and tell it like you were talking to us.

[17:16.93]Don't think about grammar, don't think about style, don't try to write dramatically, just give us your news.

[17:27.82]Where did you go, who did you see, what did they say, and what do you think.

[17:38.90]94 A Chinese Calendar

[17:42.77]A calendar is a kind of chart that is used to keep trace of days, months, and years.

[17:50.68]The ancient calendars of China were sometimes divided into 12-year-cycle.

[17:58.18]Each year in the ]2-year-cycle had the name of an animal.

[18:04.37]There were twelve animals that were used to name the 12 years of the cycle.

[18:10.95]These animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, clog 22 and boar.

[18:29.39]Following that order, you can figure out the animal for any year.

[18:35.09]In ancient times these animals had some significance or meaning for people.

[18:43.14]There were two areas of using the Chinese calendar.

[18:47.45]One area of its use was in selecting a marriage partner.

[18:53.38]For example, a woman who was born in the year of the rooster was perfectly 23 suited to a man

[19:01.89]who was born in the year of the sheep,

[19:05.10]but would not be suitable for a man who was born in the year of the monkey.

[19:10.98]People often consulted the charts before selecting a marriage partner.

[19:17.36]Another area of use for the calendar was in selecting a pro-fession.

[19:24.62]For example, a person born in the year of the dragon might be good for the medical profession,

[19:33.42]but not for the legal profession.

[19:36.90]A person born in the year of the rooster might be suitable for a profession as a cook,

[19:45.05]but not for a profession as a tailor.

[19:49.25]According to some accounts, people often consulted the calendar when making choices like these.

[19:58.03]95 Body Language

[20:02.78]When we do not understand each other's language, we talk with the help of signs.

[20:10.38]A Frenchman was once traveling in England.

[20:14.85]He could not speak English at all.

[20:18.33]One day he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table.

[20:24.62]When the waiter came, he opened his mouth, put his fingers in it and took them out again.

[20:33.50]He wanted to say, "Bring me something to eat."

[20:39.12]The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea.

[20:43.79]The man moved his head from side to side.

[20:48.81]The waiter understood him and took away the tea.

[20:54.27]In a moment he brought a cup of coffee and put it on the table.

[21:01.06]The man again moved his head from side to side.

[21:06.73]He moved his head from side to side whenever the waiter brought him something to drink.

[21:14.88]He brought him a lot of different drinks, but drinks are not food, of course.

[21:23.40]When the man was going away, another man came in.

[21:28.93]This man saw the waiter, and he put his hands on his stomach.

[21:35.83]That was enough: in a few minutes there was a large plate of meat and vegetables on the table in front of him.

[21:47.74]So you see, we cannot understand the language of signs so well as the language of words.

[21:59.81]96 Earthquake

[22:03.63]Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth's surface.

[22:10.13]But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles.

[22:18.36]Their number decreases as the depth increases.

[22:23.32]At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years.

[22:31.34]Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much.

[22:43.20]In comparison with the total number of earthquakes each year, the number of disastrous 24 earthquakes is very small.

[22:53.78]The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors.

[23:02.06]If you carefully build a toy house with an Erector set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table.

[23:11.20]But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall.

[23:21.21]An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments,

[23:30.35]but it completely destroyed the city.

[23:33.85]Many stronger earthquakes have done comparatively little damage.

[23:39.18]If a building is well construct-ed and built on solid ground, it will resist an earthquake.

[23:47.57]Most deaths in earthquakes have been due to faulty building construction or poor building sites.

[23:56.16]A very serious factor is panic.

[23:59.63]When people rush out into narrow streets, more deaths will result.

[24:05.98]The United Nations has played an important role in reducing the damage done by earthquakes.

[24:14.32]It has sent a team of experts to all countries known to be affected 25 by earthquakes.

[24:22.20]Working with local geologists 26 and engineers, the experts have studied the nature of the ground

[24:31.19]and the type of most practical building code for the local area.

[24:36.23]If followed, these suggestions will make disastrous earthquakes almost a thing of the past.

[24:45.71]97 The Reasons for Plant Death

[24:50.63]Even the newest gardener realizes that plants die without water.

[24:57.60]What is not so well known is that plants die equally deci-sively, though not so quickly, if they are overwatered.

[25:09.07]Beginners usually decide to play it safe and keep their potted plants thor-oughly wet.

[25:18.08]In consequence, death by drowning is one of the commonest disasters to befall the plants of new horticulturists.

[25:28.61]Plants wither 27 away if they don't get enough water, and this draws attention to their problem.

[25:36.86]A plant has been slightly under-watered so that it droops 28 and strikes terror into the heart of its new owner.

[25:46.66]But it will, in fact, recover completely as long as rescue comes in time and the process is not repeated too often.

[25:58.70]Overwatered plants, unfortunately, do not give any such obvious signal;

[26:05.81]slowly they cease to thrive and the first visible indication of serious trouble is a yellowing of the lower leaves.

[26:16.96]Unless the overwatered pot soil is given a considerable period without wa-ter,

[26:24.30]during which time the plant will continue look wretched 29,

[26:29.06]it will suddenly collapse 30 in exactly the same way as the underwa-tered plant--but

[26:37.99]with no chance of being revived 31 because the roots have rotted away.

[26:44.36]98 The Intemational Red Cross

[26:50.29]The Red Cross is an international organization which cares for people who are in need of help.

[26:59.41]A man in a Paris hospital who needs blood, a woman in Mexico who was

injured in an earthquake,

[27:09.44]and a family in India that lost their home in a storm may all be aided by the Red Cross.

[27:18.35]The Red Cross exists in almost every country around the globe.

[27:24.70]The World Red Cross Organizations are sometimes called the Red Crescent,

[27:32.04]the Red Mogen David, the Sun, and the Red Lion.

[27:37.91]All of these agencies share a common goal of trying to help people in need.

[27:45.70]The idea of forming an organization to help the sick and  wounded during a war started with Jean Henri Dunant.

[27:56.62]In 1859, he observed how people were suffering on a battlefield in Italy.

[28:04.35]He wanted to help all the wounded people regardless of which side they were fighting for.

[28:12.97]The most important result of his work was an international treaty called the Geneva Convention 32.

[28:23.21]It pro-tects prisoners of war, the sick and wounded, and other citizens

during a war.

[28:32.46]The American Red Cross was set up by Clara Barton in 1881.

[28:40.92]Today the Red Cross in the United States provides a num-ber of services for the public,

[28:49.93]such as helping 33 people in need, teaching first aid,

[28:55.34]demonstrating water safety and artificial respi-ration, and providing blood.