英语时文泛读 Current News Articles for Extensive Reading

1. 英语时文泛读Current News Articles for Extensive Reading BOOK I

2. The Changing American Culture

3. I. Overview • In this unit, you will read 3 passages concerning the American culture. Read them and get a glimpse of the changes happened to it.

4. Structure • The first two articles in this unit are about some new changes in American culture and life, each depicting and revealing some typical American ways of living and thinking. And Text Three tells us about some basic traits of Americans and American culture. Put together, they provide a clue about the links between the ever-changing American culture and the never-changed American traditions.

5. Demand Growing for Taller Christmas Trees It’s about people’s changing tastes for Christmas trees that is an absolute must for an American family during the Christmas season. Text A

6. It’s about the emotional aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Storm Changed Americans’ Attitudes Text B

7. Many people say that America has no history and culture. To refute this view, this text lists many of the things shared by native-born Americans, which largely reflect the American national character and typical American culture. How to Tell If You’re American? Text C

8. Focus of this session

9. II. Text A Demand Growing for Taller Christmas Trees • Main Idea of the Text More and more Americans love to buy bigger and taller Christmas Trees to put up in their houses.

10. Author Holly Ramer Correspondent of The Portsmouth Herald, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA Background Information

11. Source The Portsmouth Herald is a seven-day daily newspaper serving greater Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its coverage area also includes the municipalities of Greenland, New Castle, Newington and Rye, New Hampshire; and Eliot, Kittery, Kittery Point and South Berwick, Maine. Background Information

12. Christmas: Christian festival, the period of time around 25 December, celebrates the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jol or the Anglo-Saxon geol, which referred to the feast of the winter solstice. Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays the pivotal role. Cultural Notes

13. The National Christmas Tree Association is a professional organization in the United States which boasts the support of over 5,100 “Christmas tree professionals” in various capacities. The group focuses its work into three areas: promotion and research, federal representation (which includes Congressional lobbying), and professional education. The association was founded in 1955 and has more than 1,800 members. Cultural Notes

14. Language Points Key Words & Expressions • upscale (para. 2): • (Am. E) relating to people from a high social class who have a lot of money; = upmarket (Br. E) 上流社会的 • e.g. • upscale audience （来自上流社会的观众）

15. Language Points • commission (para. 7): • to formally ask somebody to write an official report, produce a work of art for you 委托制作（或做、完成） • e.g. • commission articles about a subject (就某个题目约稿 ) • The man who had commissioned the killing provided the weapon and promised payment. （谋杀的主使者提供武器并答应付给报酬。 ）

16. Language Points • lug (para. 14): • infml. to pull or carry something heavy with difficulty 拉、拖 • e.g. • It’s a huge book, not something you’d like to lug around. （这本书非常厚，你肯定不愿意整天背着它到处跑。 ）

17. Language Points Difficult Sentences • …some buyers’ eyes are bigger than their living rooms. (para. 1) • 全句意为：有些购买者不切实际地购买其起居室容纳不下的大圣诞树。 • …but I think it’s human nature to go bigger. (para. 3) • 全句意为：我想贪多求大是人的本性。