Unit 8 A person of great determination

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少年比尔·盖茨

　　As a child—and as an adult as well—Bill was untidy. It has been said that in order to counteract this. Mary drew up weekly clothing plans for him. On Mondays he might go to school in blue, on Tuesdays in green, on Wednesdays in brown , on Thursdays in black, and so on , Weekend meal schedules might also be planned in detail. Everything time, at work or during his leisure time.
　　Dinner table discussions in the Gate’s family home were always lively and educational. “It was a rich environment in which to learn,” Bill remembered.
　　Bill’s contemporaries, even at the age, recognized that he was exceptional. Every year, he and his friends would go to summer camp. Bill especially liked swimming and other sports. One of his summer camp friends recalled, “He was never a nerd or a goof or the kind of kid you didn’t want your team. We all knew Bill was smarter than us. Even back then, when he was nine or ten years old, he talked like an adult and could express himself in ways that none of us understood.”
　　Bill was also well ahead of his classmates in mathematics and science. He needed to go to a school that challenged him to Lakeside—an all-boys’ school for exceptional students. It was Seattle’s most exclusive school and was noted for its rigorous academic demands, a place where “even the dumb kids were smart.”
Lakeside allowed students to pursue their own interests, to whatever extent they wished. The school prided itself on making conditions and facilities available that would enable all its students to reach their full potential . It was the ideal environment for someone like Bill Gates.
　　In 1968, the school made a decision that would change thirteen-year-old Bill Gates’s life—and that of many of others, too.
　　Funds were raised, mainly by parents, that enabled the school to gain access to a computer—a Program Data processor(PDP)—through a teletype machine. Type in a few instructions on the teletype machine and a few seconds later the PDP would type back its response. Bill Gates was immediately hooked— so was his best friend at the time, Kent Evans, and another student, Paul Allen, who was two years older than Bill.
　　Whenever they had free time, and sometimes when they didn’t, they would dash over to the computer room to use the machine. The students became so single-minded that they soon overtook their teachers in knowledge about computing and got into a lot of trouble because of their obsession. They were neglecting their other studies—every piece of word was handed in late. Classes were cut. Computer time was also proving to be very expensive. Within months, the whole budget that had been set aside for the year had been used up.
　　At fourteen, Bill was already writing short programs for the computer to perform. Early games programs such as Tic-Tac-Toe, or Noughts and Crosses, and Lunar Landing were written in what was to become Bill’s second language, BASIC.
　　One of the reasons Bill was so good at programming is because it is mathematical and logical. During his time at Lakeside, Bill scored a perfect eight hundred on a mathematics test. It was extremely important to him to get this grade-he had to take the test more than once in order to do it.
　　If Bill Gates was going to be good at something. It was essential to be the best.
　　Bill’s and Paul’s fascination with computers and the business world meant that they read a great deal. Paul enjoyed magazines like Popular Electronics, Computer time was expensive and, because both boys were desperate to get more time and because Bill already had an insight into what they could achieve financially, the two of them decided to set themselves up as a company: The Lakeside Programmers Group. “Let’s call the real world and try to sell something to it!” Bill announced.
　　童年时期——即使成了了大人——比尔也不修边幅。据说为了改此习惯，玛丽为他制定了一周着装计划。周一上学他穿蓝色装，周二绿色，周三棕色，周四黑色，等等。周末用餐时间也布置得细致入微。每件事都要井井有条。比尔·盖茨讨厌浪费时间，无论是在工作中或闲暇时。
　　在比尔家中的餐桌上讨论总是既生动又富有教育意义 。“那是个内容丰富的学习环境，”比尔回忆道。
　　比尔的同代人，即使是在那个年龄，都能看出他的与众不同。每年，他和朋友们都要去夏令营。比尔特别喜爱游泳运动等。他的一位在夏令营的朋友回忆道，“他绝不会是个不足挂齿或无足轻重之人。我们都晓得比尔比我们聪颖。甚至在更早的时候，当他九、十岁时，言谈就如同成人一般他说的话有时我们感到高深莫测。
　　在数学和自然方面比尔比同班同学也更胜一筹。他需要上一所对他充满挑战的学校。随即父母决定送他去湖畔中学—一所专门招收超常男生的学校。这是西雅图一所限制最严的学校，它以严格的课程要求而著称，是个“连哑童都聪明的”地方。
　　湖畔中学允许学生们按自己兴趣自由发挥，去通达他们希望的极至。令校方骄傲的是他们所创造的环境及设施使学生们能充分发挥各自的潜能。这是像比尔·盖茨这样学生的理想环境。
　　1968年，学校做出的一项决定改变了13岁的比尔·盖茨的生活——同时也改变了许多其他的人。
　　学校主要靠家长提供的资金通过一种电传打字机进入电脑——即程序数据处理机。在电传打字机上键入几条指令，几秒钟后程序数据处理机即会反馈回信息。比尔·盖茨当即就着了迷——他那时最要好的朋友坎特——他那时最要好的朋友坎特·埃文斯和另一名长他两岁的学生保罗·艾伦也是如此。
　　他们不管有没有空，都要赶到电脑室去用用那台机器。这些学生非常专注，以至于在电脑方面的知识都超过了老师，同时因为他们的执著也带来了不少麻烦。他们忽略了其他的课程——每项作业都迟迟才交，有时还旷课。上机时间也很昂贵。几个月后，当初留做一年用的预算就已经消耗殆尽了。
　　比尔十四岁时，就已开始编写简短的运行电脑的程序了。早期的游戏程序如“三棋杀三子”，或“画圈打叉游戏”，及“登月”就是用后来成为比尔的第二种语言BASIC来写的。
　　比尔善于编程的其中一个原因就是它蕴含的运算性与逻辑性。他在湖畔中学的那段时间，比尔在一次数学测验中取得了满分800分，取得这样的成绩对他来说是至关重要的—为了这个成绩他不得不参加几次测验。
　　倘若比尔?盖茨决定要做好某件事，他必定会做得最为出色。
　　比尔和保罗对电脑和商务的痴迷意味着他们要博览群书。保罗喜爱像《大众电子》之类的刊物，而比尔则翻阅商业杂志。上机时间的昂贵，以及因为这两个孩子迫切需要更多的上机时间，还有比尔早已洞察到他们在经济上会有所收益，于是他们俩决定自己组建公司：湖畔程序设计者集团。比尔宣布道：“让我们唤醒这个世界并给它推销点东西吧！”

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Heart song

By Patty Hansen
　　Once upon a time there was a great man who married the woman of his dreams. With their love, they created a little girl. She was a bright and cheerful little girl and the great man loved her very much.
　　When she was very little, he would pick her up, hum a tune and dance with her around the room, and he would tell her, "I love you, little girl!"
　　When the little girl was growing up, the great man would hug her and tell her, "I love you, little girl. "The little girl would pout and say, "I’m not a little girl anymore." Then the man would laugh and say, "But to me, you’ll always be my little girl."
　　The little girl who-was-not-little-anymore left her home and went into the world. As she learned more about herself, she learned more about the man. She saw that he truly was great and strong, for now she recognized his strengths. One of his strengths was his ability to express his love to his family. It didn’t matter where she went in the world, the man would call her and say, "I love you, little girl."
　　The day came when the little girl who-was-not-little-anymore received a phone call. The great man was damaged. He had had a stroke. He was aphasic, they explained to the girl. He couldn’t talk anymore and they weren’t sure that he could understand the words spoken to him. He could no longer smile, laugh, walk, hug, dance or tell the little girl who-was-not-little-anymore that he loved her.
　　And so she went to the side of the great man. When she walked into the room and saw him, he looked small and not strong at all. He looked at her and tried to speak, but he could not.
　　The little girl did the only thing she could do. She climbed up on the bed next to the great man. Tears ran from both of their eyes and she drew her arms around the useless shoulders of her father.
　　Her head on his chest, she thought of many things. She remembered the wonderful times together and how she had always felt protected and cherished by the great man. She felt grief for the loss she was to endure, the words of love that had comforted her.
　　And then she heard from within the man, the beat of his heart. The heart where the music and the words had always lived. The heart beat on, steadily unconcerned about the damage to the rest of the body. And while she rested there, the magic happened. She heard what she needed to hear.
　　His heart beat out the words that his mouth could no longer say ...
　　I love you
　　I love you
　　I love you
　　Little girl
　　Little girl
　　Little girl
　　And she was comforted.

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中国人学好外语的偏方（祝振华教授）

　　1. 听说领先：小孩子学母语，不会阅读，更不会写，但会听，然后模仿说。语言是这样学会的。所以要多听，尤其要多听听原汁原味的英语，然后大声模仿说，尽可能接近标准；
　　2.注重发音：如果你发音不准确，与外国人谈话时别人听不懂你的发音，索然寡味，学语言的兴趣顿失；
　　3. 不要死背单词，多背句子；
　　4. 学英语时，尽可能忘记母语；
　　5.给自己创造一个“疯狂”环境：镜子前、书桌上、床头贴满英语杂志、报纸；把录音机、收音机、电视机轮流打开，让宿舍整天充满英语的声音；
　　6.一鼓作气：学英语要一鼓作气，不要三天打鱼，两天晒网。学英语其实是一个青蛙爬井的过程，白天爬三尺，晚上滑两尺，要爬出井最省时省力的方法就是一鼓作气，否则永远爬不出这口井。

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点击高考词汇：
1. among : prep. 在……中间
　　As soon as I entered the room, I saw Peter sitting among people.
　　They divided the books among themselves.他们自己把书分了。
　　1).among必须用于三者或三者以上，在两者之间应该用between。
　　2).among用于句首时，句子应该倒装。如：
Among the crowd was our English teacher. 在人群中间的是我们的英语老师。
2.a many, many a
　a many现已少见，多用a great many（很多），a good many（相当多）。a great many和a good many后直接接复数名词，动词用复数。例如：
　　There are a great many schools in Nanning.南宁有很多学校。
　　There are a good many English books in the library.这图书馆有相当多英语书。
　　many a 中的a等于one。Many a man 是 many times one man（许多人），many a time是many times one time（许多次）。many a后的名词是单数，接单数动词。例如：
　　Many a man has seen it before.许多人以前看过它。
　　Many a little makes a mickle.积少成多。
3.a moment, the moment
　　1)moment是时间的“片刻”、“瞬间”。a moment是极短的一段时间，一般译为“一会儿”，跟介词in, for 连用，作状语。例如：
　　Please wait (for) a moment.请等一会儿。
　　for a moment可以用于强调否定。例如：
　　I don't believe it for a moment.我根本不相信它。
　　2)the moment = this moment或that moment（此时或那时），用在现在时的句子里表示“此刻”，用在过去时的句子里表示“那时”，常跟at（或 for）连用。例如：
　　There are still some difficulties at the moment.目前还有些困难。
　　He was busy at the moment.当（那）时他很忙。
　　the moment可以用作连接词，引导一个状语从句，表示“一……就”（=as soon as）。例如：
　　I went out the moment I heard it.一听到那我就跑了出去。
　　Please let me know the moment he comes.他一来就请告诉我。
4.a most, the most
　　1)most可以结合两个音节以上的形容词或副词构成最高级。结合形容词时，前面应有定冠词 the。例如：
　　This book is the most interesting of the three.这本书是三本中最有趣的。
　　This is the most instructive lesson (that) we have learnt.这是我们学过的最有意义的一课。
　　Of all the items in the evening, the dance of Class Two has been the most wonderfully performed.
　　在晚会的节目里，二班的舞蹈演得最好。
　　In capitalist countries those who work the most often get paid the least.
　　在资本主义国家里，工作做得最多的人，所得的工资往往最少。
　　2)a most 之后可跟形容词修饰单数可数名词。这时，most是very（很、十分）的意思，不是最高级。例如：
　　Yours is a most interesting story.你的故事是十分有趣的。
　　Children in China lead a most happy life.中国儿童过着非常幸福的生活。试译： 这树很高。
　　误：The tree is most tall.
　　正：The tree is very tall.
5.amount v.总计，合计；共达
　　His debts amounted to 1,000 dollars. 他的债务共达1，000美元。
n.量，总量
　　There is a large (or small) amount of oil here under the ground.
　　地底下有许多（少量）的石油。
　　（注意）a large amount of 后接用不可数名词，与 a great deal of 相同。a lot of 既可 接可数名词，也可接不可数名词，故也可与之替换。
6.angry
　　adj.发怒的，生气的
　　Are you still angry with me?你是不是还生我的气？
　　He was angry at what his wife said.他对他妻子说的话很生气。
（注意）1.angry 后面用介词with指“对人生气”，用介词at指“对事生气”，但不能用介词 to。
　　　　2.angry --- anger（n. 忿怒）
　　　　3.angry --- angrily（adv.忿怒地）