全新主题大学英语读写译教程4-1.docVIP

Book 4 Unit One Powerful Words Section A Pre-reading Questions 1. What do you think is the purpose of college education? 2. Do you think college is an indispensable part of one’s education? Why? 3. Have you heard of Harvard University? Why do you think it is so famous? Almost a household name, Harvard sets standards for top universities in the world. When its president Lawrence H. Summers speaks, his words become powerful in defining what it means to be an educated person today. 2006 Harvard Commencement Address 1 The world that today’s Harvard’s graduates are entering is a profoundly different one than the world administrators like me, the faculty, and all but the most recent alumni of Harvard entered. 2 It is a world where opportunities have never been greater for those who know how to teach children to read, or those who know how to distribute financial risk; never greater for those who understand the cell and the pixel; never greater for those who can master, and navigate between, legal codes, faith traditions, computer platforms, and political viewpoints. 3 Scientific and technological advances are enabling us to comprehend the furthest reaches of the cosmos, the most basic constituents of matter, and the miracle of life. They offer the prospect of liberating people from drudgery on an unprecedented scale and of eliminating dreaded diseases. 4 Globalization is making the world smaller, faster and richer. One-third of human beings now live in places where the standards of living may increase 30 fold in a single human lifespan — a transformation that dwarfs what we call the Industrial Revolution. Still, 9/11, avian flu, Darfur, and Iran remind us that a smaller, faster world is not necessarily a safer world. 5 Our world is bursting with knowledge — but desperately in need of wisdom. Now, when sound bites are getting shorter, when instant messages crowd out essays, and when individual lives grow more frenzied, college graduates