ope, plus its controls weighs three and-a-half tons. Two large parachutes arc also carried; in case of emergency, the instruments and their records can be separated from the main balloon system, and brought down gently. Many of the radio and electronic devices used are similar to those of artificial satellites.
L50 British Canals
In mediaeval times rivers were the veins of the body politic as well as economic. Boundaries between states or shires, they were crossed by fords which became the sites of towns, or by bridges which were often points of battle. Upon rivers the people of that time depended for food, power and transport.
In our day fish are caught in the sea and brought to us by rail and lorry; only the angler still thinks fresh-water fish important, and pollution of rivers drives him into smaller and smaller reaches in which to practise his sport. But in earlier times, when sea fish were eaten only by those who lived on the sea coast, when meat was obtainable only for part of the year, and when fasts were frequent and universally practised, river fish played an important part in the national life. Every abbey and great man's house had its fish pond, and across the rivers great and small stretched the fish weirs, usually made of stakes and nets or basketwork. Between the owners of the fisheries and the bargemaster who needed an unimpeded passage continuous war was fought, till the importance of fresh water fish lessened as the practice of fasting ceased to be universal, as meat became available all the year round, and as the transport of sea fish inland became practicable.
Rivers were also the most important source of power. Every stream had its mills, not only for grinding corn, but for all the other industrial processes of the time, such as fulling* cloth or driving the hammers of ironworks. Placed down the bank wherever a head of water could be got, these mills were to be found on the tiny stream that ran through a village, or on the bigger river that was also used for navigation. An artificial cut was made from the river to bring the water at proper height to the water-wheel, and, in order to make sure of a supply of water at all seasons, the mill-owner usually built a weir across the river to hold back the water and so form an artificial reservoir. If the river were navigable, the centre of such a weir was made of planks held vertically by cross beams so that they could be removed when it was necessary to pass a barge, or was fitted with a single pair of gates. Such weirs were called staunches or flash-locks; they did not disappear from the bigger rivers till present times, and may still be seen in the Fens.
L51 Elephants
Two main techniques have been used for training elephants, which we may call respectively the tough and the gentle. The former method simply consists of setting an elephant to work and beating him until he does what is expected of him. Apart from any moral considerations this is a stupid method of training, for it produces a resentful animal who at a later stage may well turn man-killer. The gentle method requires more patience in the early stages, but produces a
cheerful, good-tempered elephant who will give many years of loyal service.
The first essential in elephant training is to assign to the animal a single mahout who will be entirely responsible for the job. Elephants like to have one master just as dogs do, and are capable of a considerable degree of personal affection. There are even stories of half-trained elephant calves who have refused to feed and pined to death when by some unavoidable circumstance they have been deprived of their own trainer. Such extreme cases must probably be taken with a grain of salt, but they do underline the general principle that the relationship between elephant and mahout is the key to successful training.
The most economical age to capture an elephant for training is between fifteen and twenty years, for it is then almost ready to undertake heavy work and can begin to earn its keep straight away. But animals of this age do not easily become subservient to man, and a very firm hand must be employed in the early stages. The captive elephant, still roped to a tree,plunges and screams every time a man approaches, and for several days will probably refuse all food through anger and fear. Sometimes a tame elephant is tethered nearby to give the wild one confidence, and in most cases the captive gradually quietens down and begins to accept its food. The next stage is to get the elephant to the training establishment, a ticklish business which is achieved with the aid of two tame elephants roped to the captive on either side.
When several elephants are being trained at one time it is customary for the new arrival to beplaced between the stalls of two captives whose training is already well advanced. It is then leftcompletely undisturbed with plenty of food and water so that it can absorb the atmosphere of itsnew home and see that nothing particularly alarming is happening to its companions. When it iseating normally its own training begins. The trainer stands in front of the elephant holding a longstick with a sharp metal point. Two assistants, mounted or tame elephants, control the captivefrom either side, while others rub their hands over his skin to the accompaniment of amonotonous and soothing chant. This if supposed to induce pleasurable sensations in theelephant, and its effects are reinforced by the use of endearing epithets, such as 'ho ! my son', or'ho ! my father', or 'my mother', according to the age and sex of the captive. The elephant is notimmediately susceptible to such blandishments, however, and usually lashes fiercely with itstrunk in all directions. These movements are controlled by the trainer with the metal-pointedstick, and the trunk eventually becomes so sore that the elephant curls it up and seldomafterwards uses it for offensive purposes.
L52 The Earth Beneath
An earthquake comes like a thief in the night, without warning. It was necessary, therefore, to inventinstruments that neither slumbered nor slept. Some devices were quite simple. one, for instance,consisted of rods of various lengths and thicknesses which would stand up on end like ninepins.when a shock came it shook the rigid table upon which these stood. If it were gentle, only the moreunstabl
e rods fell. If it were severe, they all fell. Thus the rods by falling, and by the direction inwhich they fell, recorded for the slumbering scientist the strength of a shock that was too weak towaken him and the direction from which it came.
But instruments far more delicate than that were needed if any really serious advance was to bemade. The ideal to be aimed at was to devise an instrument that could record with a pen on paper themovements, of the ground or of the table, as the quake passed by. While I write my pen moves, butthe paper keeps still. With practice, no doubt, I could in time learn to write by holding the still whilethe paper moved. That sounds a silly suggestion, but that was precisely the idea adopted in some ofthe early instruments (seismometers) for recording earthquake waves. But when table, penholderand paper are all moving how is it possible to write legibly? The key to a solution of that problemlay in an everyday observation. Why does a person standing in a bus or train tend to fall when asudden start is made? It is because his feet move on, but his head stays still. A simple experimentwill help us a little further. Tie a heavy weight at the end of a long piece of string. With the hand heldhigh in the air hold the strings so that the weight nearly touches the ground. Now move the hand toand fro and around but not up and down. It will be found that the weight moves but slightly or not atall. Imagine a pen attached to the weight in such a way that its point rests upon a piece of paper onthe floor. Imagine an earthquake shock shaking the floor, the paper, you and your hand. In the midstof all this movement the weight and the pen would be still. But as the paper moved from side to sideunder the pen point its movement would be recorded in ink upon its surface. It was upon thisprinciple that the first instruments were made, but the paper was wrapped round a drum whichrotated slowly. As long as all was still the pen drew a straight line, but while the drum was beingshaken the line that the pen was drawing wriggled from side to side. The apparatus thus described,however, records only the horizontal component of the wave movement, which is, in fact, muchmore complicated. If we could actually see the path described by a particle, such as a sand grain inthe rock, it would be more like that of a bluebottle buzzing round the room; it would be up and down,to and fro and from side to side. Instruments have been devised and can he so placed that all threeelements can be recorded in different graphs.
When the instrument is situated at more than 700 miles from the earthquake centre, the graphicrecord shows three waves arriving one after the other at short intervals. The first records the arrivalof longitudinal vibrations. The second marks the arrival of transverse vibrations which travel moreslowly and arrive several minutes after the first. These two have travelled through the earth. It wasfrom the study of these that so much was learnt about the interior of the earth. The third, or mainwave, is the slowest and has travelled round the earth through the surface rocks.
L53 The Story of the French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion was founded by a Royal Ordinance, written on a small piece of officialFrench War Office notepaper date
d March 9th, 1831, and signed by the then reigning monarch ofFrance, Louis-Philippe. He had been on the throne for barely eight months when he authorized thismeasure, which was as much a product of necessity as of careful planning, although there may bedivided views on this.
The reasons for forming the French Foreign Legion were probably twofold. In the first place themen of the disbanded royal bodyguard and the Regiment of Hohenlohe, suddenly turned loose onto the street of a capital seething with unrest, unemployed and perhaps disgruntled at their abruptdismissal, were a potentially dangerous element. They were trained to the use of arms, and shouldthey become tools of the politically ambitious or discontented they would present a distinctmenace to the new regime, not yet too firmly established and sure of itself.
For some time Paris had been swarming with countless other discharged foreign soldiers who hadserved in the French army at various times under the Empire and the Republic, many of whomwere in needy circumstances and open to suggestion, whilst others were openly looking for troubleand always ready to take part in any disturbance. It was clearly both expedient and desirable toremove these dangers as far away from the capital as possible.
Next, the Algerian adventure had begun, and it appeared that this might prove expensive in lives.The more Frenchmen killed in North Africa, the less popular the government at home would be, soif foreign cannon fodder was available so much the better. The Algerian landing had been viewedwith mixed feelings in a politically divided France, but there does not seem to have been, anymarked indication on the part of the politicians that they were unanimous that the occupationshould be abruptly terminated; most were wary and many apprehensive as to how the Algerianbusiness would turn out. The formation of a foreign legion seemed therefore to be an ideal method of killing these two birdswith one stone. Once the conditions were made clear there does not seem o have been any seriousopposition.
Marshal Soult was reputed to be the man behind the scheme both for removing and using the unemployed foreign ex-soldiers. He could not have failed to recognize, once they were formed into disciplined units, how useful they would be, both for garrison duty and for active operations in Algeria, nor the fact that if their casualties were heavy or their conditions not of the best, there would be no embarrassing reaction for agitation in France on their behalf.
The Royal Ordinance decreed that there should be a legion formed foreigners for service outside France, which was to be called the 'Foreign Legion' and it was to be part of the French army and under the control of the War Minister. It laid down that as far as possible companies should be composed of men of the same nationality or who spoke a common language. Algeria was nonspecifically mentioned but as it was the only scrap of foreign territory of any size possessed by France at that moment, there was no doubt as to the meaning of the phrase 'outside France'.
In the anxiety to get dubious, restless characters out of the country no questions were asked as to nationality, previous record or history, and no proof of identity was required. The name and particulars given by the recruit were accepted at face value and many gave noms de guerre, for understandable reasons. Thus the practice began, and the tradition started of 'asking no questions’. This tradition of guaranteeing anonymity began to develop quickly, although it was not until later that it was carried to the extreme of denying all knowledge of any individuals who were in its ranks and of refusing point blank to answer questions or to allow any outside contact with the legionnaires.
L54 Are There Strangers in Space?
We must conclude from the work of those who have studied the origin of life, that given a planet only approximately like our own, life is almost certain to start. Of all the planets in our own solar system we arc now pretty certain the Earth is the only one on which life can survive. Mars is too dry and poor in oxygen, Venus far too hot, and so is Mercury, and the outer planets have temperatures near absolute zero and hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. But other suns, stars as the astronomers call them, are bound to have planets like our own, and as the number of stars in the universe is so vast, this possibility becomes virtual certainty. There are one hundred thousand million stars in our own Milky Way alone, and then there are three thousand million other Milky Ways, or Galaxies, in the universe. So the number of stars that we know exist is estimated at about 300 million million million. Although perhaps only 1 per cent of the life that has started somewhere will develop into highly complex and intelligent patterns, so vast is the number of planets that intelligent life is bound to be a natural part of the universe.
If then we are so certain that other intelligent life exists in the universe, why have we had no visitors from outer space yet ? First of all, they may have come to this planet of ours thousands or millions of years ago, and found our then prevailing primitive state completely uninteresting to their own advanced knowledge. Professor Ronald Brace well, a leading American
radio-astronomer, argued inNature that such a superior civilization, on a visit to our own solar system, may have left an automatic messenger behind to await the possible awakening of an advanced civilization. Such a messenger, receiving our radio and television signals, might well re-transmit them back to its home-planet, although what impression any other civilization would thus get from us is best left unsaid.
But here we come up against the most difficult of all obstacles to contact with people on other planets--the astronomical distances which separate us. As a reasonable guess, they might, on an average, be 100 light years away. (A light year is the distance which light travels at 186,000 miles per second in one year, namely 6 million million miles.) Radio waves also travel at the speed of light, and assuming such an automatic messenger picked up our first broadcasts of the 1920's, the message to its home
planet is barely halfway there. Similarly, our own Present primitive chemical rockets, though good enough to orbit men, have no chance of transporting us to the nearest other star, four light years away, let alone distances of tens or hundreds of light years.
Fortunately, there is a 'uniquely rational way' for us to
communicate with other intelligent beings, as Walter Sullivan has put it in his excellent recent book, We are not alone. This depends on the precise radio-frequency of the 21-cm wavelength, or 1420 megacycles per second. It is the natural frequency of emission of the hydrogen atoms in space and was discovered by us in 1951; it must be known to any kind of radio-astronomer in the universe. Once the existence of this wave-length had been discovered, it was not long before its use as the uniquely recognizable broadcasting frequency for interstellar communication was suggested. Without something of this kind, searching for intelligences on other planets would be like trying to meet a friend in London without a Pre-arranged rendezvous and absurdly wandering the streets in the hope of a chance encounter.
L55 Patterns of Culture
Custom has not been commonly regarded as a subject of any great moment. The inner workings of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom have a way of thinking, is behaviour at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behaviour more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberrant. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role that custom plays in experience and in belief, and the very great varieties it may manifest.
No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. Even in his philosophical probings he cannot go behind these stereotypes; his very concepts of the true and the false will still have reference to his particular traditional customs. John Dewey has said in all seriousness that the part played by custom in shaping the behaviour of the individual as over against any way in which he can affect traditional custom, is as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue over against those words of his own baby talk that are taken up into the vernacular of his family. When one seriously studies the social orders that have had the opportunity to develop autonomously, the figure becomes no more than an exact and matter-off-fact observation. The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviour. By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities, its habits are his habits,
its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities. Every child that is born into his group will share them with him, and no child born into one on the opposite side of the globe can ever achieve the thousandth part. There is no social problem it is more incumbent upon us to understand than this of the role of custom. Until we are intelligent as to its laws and varieties, the main complicating facts of human life must remain unintelligible. The study of custom can be profitable only after certain preliminary propositions have been accepted, and some of these propositions have been violently opposed. In the first place any scientific study requires that there be no preferential weighting of one or another of the items in the series it selects for its consideration. In all the less controversial fields like the study of cacti or termites or the nature of nebulae, the necessary method of study is to group the relevant material and to take note of all possible variant forms and conditions. In this way we have learned all that we know of the laws of astronomy, or of the habits of the social insects, let us say. It is only in the study of man himself that the major social sciences have substituted the study of one local variation, that of Western civilization.
Anthropology was by definition impossible as long as these distinctions between ourselves and the primitive, ourselves and the barbarian, ourselves and the pagan, held sway over people's minds. It was necessary first to arrive at that degree, of sophistication where we no longer set our own belief over against our neighbour's superstition. It was necessary to recognize that these institutions which are based on the same premises, let us say the supernatural, must be considered together, our own among the rest.
New words and expressions a way of thinking 一种想法
commonplace a.平凡的 口头语common the other way around相反
aberrant a.脱离常轨的，异常的；（医）变异，失常 ab-表示\偏离，脱离或离开\
normal正常——abnormal不正常；use用——abuse滥用； （近）eccentric怪异的；straying偏离的：a stray dog野狗；go astray步入歧途
trivial a.微不足道的，琐碎的triviality细节，琐事（见lesson12）frist rate第一流 A-one第一等的，第一流的；topflight最棒的；second to none首屈一指；second to 次于
predominant a.占优势的，起支配作用的 predominace n. dominate统治地位
pre-前面的 = superior,preponderate
paramount绝对重要； principal主要的；校长
manifest vt.清楚地表现 illustrate vi.举例说明；图解；加插图于；阐明vi.举例 portray绘画
pristine a.原始的（太古年代）(lesson27) （近）primitive原始的（一般）；ancient古代的；prehistoric史前的 stereotype n.陈规(lesson5)break through打破 over against和……相比 = be compared with
vernacular n.方言 （和外语相比较）母语，mother tongue的变体 （近）dialect方言（在一国内）
accent口音 vary from person to person因人而异 accommodation n.适应 v. accommodate容纳 He accommodates himself to sth.
accommodation to对……适应 = adapt to, adjustment to 区别adoption采取，收养
incumbent a.义不容辞的，有责任的 结构：It is incumbent on sb.to do…
responsible有责任的 responsible for为……负责 proposition n.主张 来源：propose向……提议 Man proposes,God disposes.谋事在人，成事在天。 （近）tender投标，建议
unintelligible a.难理解的 intelligible可理解的 区别：intellectual 知识分子；intelligent聪明的 read—readable—unreadable;
comprehension—comprehensible—incomprehensible; discern—discernable—undiscernable
preferential a.优先的 来源：prefer favorable有利的 prefer green tea to black tea./I prefer to green tea rather than black tea. black coffee = sugar free coffee现在国外最流行的：decaf coffee
controversial a.引起争论的 controversy n.论争（lesson39） cactus n.仙人掌 复数形式：cacti拉丁变形 abacus算盘—abaci(pl.); alumnus校友—alumni(pl.) termite n.白蚁 group vt.把……分类
variant a.不同的 variation n.变化；变奏曲 易混：various各种各样的；variety多样性 barbarian n.野蛮人 = savage,vandal
pagan n.异教徒 相信不只有一个神的人或非基督教徒者 区别heretic异教徒 信邪教的人 hold sway over支配，掌握
Superstition holds sway over my brain/mind. wield挥，统治，支配（lesson40）
sway（左右）摇；shake（上下）摇；swing（绕圈）摇 premise n.前提 大/小前提：major/minor premise Only on the premise of equality,can we further negotiate. institution n.惯例，风俗 长期的习惯，不一定要遵守（社会风俗）
custom不同部落，种族 When in Rome,do as the Romans do. tradition有历史遗传（可指家庭习俗） supernatural a.超自然的 Notes on the text
The basic background about this author: Ruth Benedict (female) She is a famous anthropologist. \文化相关论 subject ( = topic,theme)
great moment = significance重要性
The inner workings of our own brains…倒装句式
正常：we feel the…workings to be… 宾语前置，强调宾语
workings运作（可数名词） uniquely独特的 = only worthy of值得
commonplace a.后省略名词level
We have a way of thinking. = as we view/see it As a matter of fact作为一个事实而言（ = in fact） Traditional custom,taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behaviour more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberrant.非常难句型 主语：Traditional custom 谓语：is a mass mass大量 = collection is a mass = is a whole/total taken被动语态，\采样\，\取样\
take the world over = throughout the world
detailed细致的 astonishing = surprising evolve进化（develop）the predominant role一个主导作用 experience实践
in belief信仰，思维活动 it may manifest体现 variety多样性
第二段第一句话点出主题
pristine eye原始的眼光 = pure纯洁的 edite编辑
definite一定形式的，有限的 set集合 custom习俗 institution惯例
ways of thinking思维方式 probing = research, studies研究 stereotype陈规，定式 very强调
very修饰名词表示强调
have reference to和……有关 = be connected with John Dewey(1859-…)\哲学思想\：learning by doing in all seriousness = seriously the part = the role 在某一方面，用介词in
as…as比较 第一个as后面，风俗对人的影响——人对风俗的影响
第二个as后面，母语总体的词汇比例——被吸收到家庭语言中的儿语
over against对比，与……比较
orders = different levels不同层面，不同阶层 have had虚拟
autonomously auto自动 autonomous自治的 figure省略用法=figure of speech no more than正好，恰好 = just observation观察，证明 life history 生平
first and foremost = above all最重要，首先 accommodation适应 pattern行为模式
standard规范，标准
hand down = pass on流传下来 省略谓语 group种族 = race born into出生于 globe = earth no——整体否定
cultural transmission文化传递
it is more incumbent upon us to understand…插入语 until直到
as to +名词 = about 关于 complicating = difficult复杂 unintelligible难以理解的 not until直到……才 until直到……为止
profitable有利可图的 = beneficial preliminary基本，基础 = basic
have been的用法：后面的动作，一定是要和前面构成一个完成，后面的完成才能引发前面 的动作
violently opposed强烈的反对 require虚拟 weighting称重 item选择的课题，项目
one of the items or another=on or another of the items
in all the less controversial fields…在不太令人争论的一些领域 nebulae星云
all that we know of…
that we know做all的后置定语 of 做all的后置定语
social insects群居生活的昆虫 let us say = so to speak
major social sciences主要的社会学 substitute替换，替代 that of 作同位语 anthropology人类学 as long as = if 只要，如果
degree of sophistication = understanding理解 set over against与……对比 these institutions这些习俗 指前面belief,superstition Our among the rest 独立主格句
L56 The Age of Automation from The Listener
Science and technology have come to pervade every aspect of our lives and, as a result, society is changing at a speed which is quite unprecedented. There is a great technological explosion around us, generated by science. This explosion is already freeing vast numbers of people from their traditional bondage to nature, and now at last we have it in our power to free mankind once and for all from the fear which is based on want. Now, for the first time, man can reasonably begin to think that life can be something more
新概念英语第四册笔记大全
