★ Text A

Vocabulary

I. 

1.

1) abrupt      2) emotional     3) bless    4) wear and tear    5) dated

6）consequences   7）seemingly  8) in contrast to  9) Curiosity  10) genuine   11) primarily  12) sentiments

2. 

1) When you are confronted with more than one problem, try to solve the easiest one first.

2) Water is vital to the existence of all forms of life.

3) There is still some confusion among the students about what to do after class to follow up on the subject.

4) As a person of simple living habits, he needs nothing more than a job and an apartment to be happy.

5) It tickled him to think that she’d come to as his advice.

3. 

1) a lingering, fabricating, sentiments

2) fill out, every item, vital, consequences

3) be denied, tangible, cherish, attain

II.

1. It’s a long trip and will take us five hours by bus.

2. She arrived early and took a front row seat.

3. Don’t take me for a fool.

4. It takes a lot of imagination to fabricate such a story.

5. My uncle will take me (along on his trip) to the Arctic this summer.

6. He took the dinner plate I passed to him.

7. Kevin took second prize in the weight-lifting competition.

8. If you don’t take my advice, you will regret it.  

III.

1. hanging   2. to give  3. to return   4. being praised  5. not having written

6.  to say     7. to open    8. being helped

Comprehensive Exercise

I.

1. 1) well-off/affluent   2) dated   3) falling into   4) bracket    5) deny

6) tangible    7) pursuit    8) cherishes    9) out of place    10) abrupt

11) focus     12) donations

2. 1) consume   2) fueled   3) annual   4) plain   5) physically   6) security

  7) indicates   8) equally   9) traditional   10) follows   

II. Translation

1.

1) The company denied that its donations had a commercial purpose.

2) Whenever he was angry, he would begin to stammer slightly.

3) Education is the most cherished tradition in our family. That’s why my parents never took me to dinner at expensive restaurants, but sent me to the best private school.

4) Shortly after he recovered from the surgery, he lost his job and thus had to go through another difficult phase of his life.

5) In contrast to our affluent neighbors, my parents are rather poor, but they have always tried hard to meet our minimal needs.

2.     

With more and more donations coming in, our university will be much better off financially next year. We will thus be able to focus on the most important task that we, educators, must take on: to encourage students to attain their scholarly/academic goals, to train them to be dependable and responsible individuals, to prepare them for the life ahead, and to guide them in their pursuit of spiritual as well as material satisfaction.

★ Text B

Comprehension Check: 

b b d c d d

Language Practice

1. f c g e b a h d

2. 1) stunned  2) hold (fast) to  3) folks  4) generosity  5) discount   6) liable

7) ranks    8) on the run   9) make up   10) blends in   11) by all accounts  12) comes into contact with