英美报刊选读

《英美报刊选读》有以下两个方面的特点：一是选材丰富多彩，具有时代性，信息量丰富；二是从英语新闻学的角度介绍了阅读英语报刊的一些基本知识，而不是简单谈论阅读理解的方法。《英美报刊选读》共选了54篇新闻，按内容分成18个单元。每篇新闻的长度在700～900个词之间，全书共有生词2000左右。每篇新闻后面都附有两大类内容。第一类帮助学生理解文章，如生词、重要的专有名词、内容要点和句子翻译，用中文写出。第二类属于“考”学生，也就是“练习”，包括阅读理解、词汇训练及一道讨论和写作题。不论采用哪种形式，练习都紧扣文章。最后，每单元还附有一幅生动的漫画或新闻照片，可让学生在轻松的气氛中获得信息，理解文章，并得到提高。此外，还有报刊英语常识介绍。

Unit 1 Hot Issues in Today's World
1. Israel to Intensify Strikes if Rocket Fire Continues
2. Afghan Soldiers Battle Taliban as NATO Leader Warns of Perils to Nation's Stability
3. N. Korea Shifts toward Engagement with World

Unit 2 Violence and Terrorism Worldwide
1. Terrorists Hijack 4 Airliners, Destroy World Trade Center, Hit Pentagon; Hundreds Dead
2. "I Saw Bodies Falling Out —— Oh, God, Jumping, Falling"
3. "The Worst Thing I've Ever Seen"

Unit 3 The Irag War
1. Back to Irag
2. Blinded by War: Injuries Send Troops into Darkness
3. Around the Globe, Elation-and Tension-over Capture

Unit 4 Politics —— the American Scene
1. Majority Favor Changing Immigration Laws, Poll Says
2. Minorities Often a Majority of the Population under 20
3. A Defiant Look at What Little Lies ahead

Unit 5 The American Presidential Election 2008
1. Barack Obama Becomes Heir to JFK as He Sweeps to Victory in South Carolina
2. As McCain's Road Gets Steeper, Obama Warns of Overconfidence
3. Once again, the Greatest Show on Earth

Unit 6 Political Issues in Britain and Europe
1. Sarkozy Wins Battle to Loosen 35-hour Workweek
2. Right of Households to Rubbish Bin Collection by Councils to be Abolished
3. German City Wonders How Green is too Green

Unit 7 Economic Issues
1. Slowing Economy Gives Way to Global Role Reversals
2. Threat of Recession Amid Double Decline in Services and Industry
3. Markets Shaken as Two Big Banks Falter

Unit 8 Business and Business Management
1. How US Airways Vaulted to First Place
2. At Freddie Mac, Chief Discarded Warning Signs
3. Companies Cut Holes in CEOs' Golden Parachutes

Unit 9 Natural Disasters
1. At a Resort, Harrowing Tales of Survival, Loss and Grief
2. Powerful Quake Ravages China, Killing Thousands
3. Texans Take Shelter, Feel First Effects of Ike

Unit 10 Energy and the Environment
1. The Preservation Predicament
2. EPA won't Act on Emissions This Year
3. Coal Carves a Place in the Future of Global Energy

Unit 11 Science and Technology —— Developments and New Ideas
1. Birds Do It, Bees Do It, Dragons don' t Need to.
2. Uncovering Evidence of a Workaday World along the Nile
3. A Reality Check on Dreams for Space: the Repairs

Unit 12 Computer Technology is Changing Our Life
1. The Web is the Most Conservative Force on Earth
2. Nomads at Last
3. Demand for Data Puts Engineers in Spotlight

Unit 13 New Thoughts and Directions in Today's Education
1. Good Grades Pay off- Literally
2. Authors Unite against Drive for Toddler Literacy
3. Does New S. A.T. Help with Admissions Decisions？

Unit 14 The 2008 Olympics in Beijing
1. Games in Beijing Open with a Lavish Ceremony
2. After Glimmer of Glory for China, U.S. Pulls away
3. In the 100, a Show of Flash after a Burst of Speed

Unit 15 News Stories on Daily Life Issues
1. Do Teenagers Need Full-time Mums？ One Mother's Skepticism
2. Bliss Arrives in Icy, Creamy Scoops
3. A Speck of Sunlight is a Town's Yearly Alarm Clock

Unit 16 The British Pub and Drinking Culture
1. A Pub Crawl through the Centuries
2. Still the Moon under Water
3. Tackling "Booze Britain"

Unit 17 Entertainment News
1. And the Plot Thinned...
2. James Miller: the New Lost Boys
3. In "American Gangster", True Crime doesn't Pay off

Unit 18 People in the News
1. Mandela's Birthday Message: Rich should Help Poor
2. The Giant of Russian Literature
3. The Patron Saint of Plastic Bags

Key to exercises
参考文献

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Thailand is still coming to grips with the scale of the disaster that engulfed its southerncoast, including the major resort of Phuket, which receives about a third of the 12 milliontourists a year who visit the country.
By late Monday officials estimated a death toll of at least 1 000. The fatalities includePoom Jensen, 21, the Thai-American grandson of King Bhumbol Adulyadej. But PrimeMinister Thaksin Shinawatra said more than 1 000 other people remained unaccounted for,and the number of dead is expected to rise.
Tourists evacuated from Phi Phi island and other locations by helicopter and boat werearriving by the thousands in Phuket on Monday, many visibly stunned, limping with cuts andbruises, some searching for missing relatives. At the city hall, where diplomats from a dozenor more countries set up desks to help their citizens replace lost documents, medical workersin a first aid room comforted shocked and grieving survivors.
“Grief counseling and bandages and hugs are what we have been doling out,” saidDebbie Cairns, 49, a nurse from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, who has lived here forseveral months and is helping out.
William and Amanda Robins of Sacramento, who chose to spend part of theirhoneymoon on Phi Phi, sensed that something was wrong when they heard screams of terroroutside their hotel from tourists coming off the ferry from the Thai mainland.
At first they feared a terrorist strike. They jumped a low counter and hid in a small roomfull of computers.
“We got down and started to pray,” Mr. Robins said. The building started shaking, theyheard a roar like a bulldozer and within seconds they were being swept away by a torrent ofwater of astounding force. “We were in the water fighting for our lives,” said Mr. Robins,26, a pro golfer.
The water wrenched them apart, battered them with concrete blocks and other debrisfrom the hotel and dragged them at high speed more than 150 yards out to sea. Just as Mr.Robins feared that his lungs could not hold out any longer, he said, he surfaced. Mrs.Robins bobbed up a few feet away, and a boat nearby pulled them from the water.
Although Mrs. Robins suffered a fractured pelvis and her husband a broken collarboneand a nearly severed ear, they said they were grateful to be alive.
“If we can get through one of the strongest tsunamis in history, we can get throughpractically anything,” Mr. Robins said from his hospital bed here. “You think, ' Why am Ibroken and bruised？' then you hear about people who are missing their husbands or wives,and you think, 'Who am I to complain？' ” （700 words）