自学考试综合英语二课文文本

自学考试综合英语二课文文本内容摘要：

the faces of the stars became as familiar as those we saw across the breakfast table. We came to know more about the lives of the celebrities than we did about most of the people we know personally. Less than seventy years after the appearance of the first moving pictures, the shift from heroworship to celebrityworship was plete. Today an appearance on a television talk show is the ultimate proof of ―making it ‖ in America. Actually, the term ‖talk show‖ is misleading. Celebrities do not appear on such a program because of an actual desireor abilityto talk, but simply to gain recognition, and prove, merely by showing up, that they are ―somebody.‖ Being a guest on a talk show does not require qualities of wit, eloquence, brilliance, insight, or intelligence. A former talent coordinator for ―the Tonight Show‖, says that when he would ask a scheduled guest, ―What would you like to talk to the host about?‖ the reply he got often was, ―Have him ask me anything.‖ This , he says, usually meant. ―I am a typical Hollywood actor, so I have never had an original thought and I have nothing to say of any interest to anyone anywhere.‖ Most hosts are grateful just to get someone who will fill the room with sound. One talk show coordinator ments. ―we look for the guest who is sure to talk no matter what. Ten seconds of silence appears very awkward on television。 thirty seconds is disastrous. A guest who‘s got to stop to think about everything he says before the opens his mouth is a ratings nightmare.‖ This kind of attitude rewards smooth, insincere talk, and makes hesitancy look like stupidity. ―we wouldn‘t have used Gee Washington on our show. ‖ says one talent coordinator. ―he might have been first in the hearts of his countrymen, but today he‘d be dragging his bottom in the ratings.‖ lesson3 Go Go Americans GoGo Americans Alison R. Lanier believe no one stands you are not moving ahead,you are falling attitude of time results in a nation of people mitted to researching,experimenting and is one of the two elments Americans save carefully,the other being labor. 2We are slaves to nothing but the clock.it has been is trated as if it were something almost budget it,save it,waste it,steal it,kill it,cut it,account for it, we also charge for is a precious modity. Many people have a rather accute sence of the shortness of each the sands have run out of a person39。 s hourglass,they cannot be want every minute to count. foreigner39。 s first impression to the is likely to be that everyone is in a rushoften under people appear always to be hurrying to get where they are going,restlessly seeking attention in a store,elbowing others as they try to plete their through daytime meals is considered in public eating places are waiting for you to finish so they too can be served and get back to work within the time person hurries to make room for the next you don39。 t waiters will hurry you. also find drivers will be abrupt and that people will push past will miss smiles,brief conversations,small contacts with 39。 t take it is because people value time highly,and they resent someone else wasting it beyond a certain courtesy point. view of time affects the importance we attach to the American system of values ,patience is not a high priority. Many of us have what might be called a short fuse. We begin to move restlessly about if we feel time is slipping away without some return——be this in terms of pleasure, work value,or rest. Those ing from lands where time is looked upon differely may find this matter of pace to be one of their most difficult adjustments in both business and daily life. newers to the states will miss the opening courtitesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a weling cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a cafe or coffee house. Normally, Americans don39。 t access their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk。 much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust and rapport .Rapport to us is less important then seek out evidence of past performance then evalute a business college through social courtesies. Since we generally acess and probe prefessionally rather than socially,we start talking business very quickly. Americans live according to time segments laid out in engagement calendars may be be devided into intervals as short as fifteen often give a person two or three(or more) segments of my calendar,but in the business world we almost always have other appointments following hard on the heels of whatever we are doing is therefore always ticking in our inner ear. a result we work hard at the task of saving produce a steady flow of laborsaving devices。 we municate rappidly through telexes, phone calls or memos rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant,take longer especially given our trafficfilled therefore save most personal visiting for after work hours or for social weekend gatherings. us the impersonality of electronic munication has little or no relation to the importance of the matter at hand,In some countries no major business is carried on without eye contact,requiring face to face conversation. In America, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in people are meeting increasingly on television screens,conducting teleconferences to setlle problems not only in this country but also——by satellite—— increasingly high percentage of normal business is being done these days by voice and electronic devide. Mail is slow and uncertain and is growing ever more expensive. . is defined a telephone everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chat with friends,。