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now and then, and they seem to have made their home here, not far from the walnut tree. Can you get rid of them please?\
felt very proud. Here was a
chance for .me
to distinguish myself by inventing something merciful that would catch snakes but not harm them. I knew my parents would not like me to hurt these living creatures! The first thing I did was to
see if there were any products that
might help me, but
was clearly way to trap
there only seemed to be powders designed to kill needed. I set about researching
snakes. A new approach
the habits of snakes to find the easiest
them. Luckily these reptiles are small and that made the solution easier.
Prepared with some research findings, I decided on three possible approaches: firstly, removing their habitat; secondly, attracting them into a trap using male or female perfume or food;
and thirdly
cooling
them so that they would become sleepy
and could be easily caught. I decided to use the last one. I bought an ice-cream of the bowl there
is some jelly,
maker which was made of stainless steel. Between the outside and the inside walls fridge and waited for 24 hours. At the same time I prepared some ice-cubes. over the snakes'
habitat
which freezes when cooled. I put the bowl into
the
The next morning I got up early before the sun was hot. I placed the frozen bowl I covered the whole thing
with a large bucket. Then I waited.
and the ice-cubes on top of the bowl to keep it cool.
Finally
After two hours I removed
the bucket and the bowl. The snakes were less active but they were still too fast for me. They abruptly disappeared into a convenient hole in the wall. So I had to adjust my plan.
For the second attempt as before, I
I froze the bowl and the ice-cubes again but placed them over
the snakes' habitat in the evening, as the temperature was starting to cool. Then the next morning I returned to see the result. This time with great caution I bent tried to bite me. As they were poisonous snakes, I clearly again. hand a small
covered the bowl with the bucket and left everything overnight. Early
down to examine the snakes and I found them very sleepy. But once picked up, they
needed to improve my design
My third attempt repeated the second procedure. The next morning I carried in my
net used for catching fish.
to plan. I collected
This was in the expectation that
the snakes
would bite again. But monitored carefully, the snakes proved to be no trouble and all went according
released them all back into the wild. recognition for my successful
the passive snakes and the next day we merrily
Pressed by my friends and relations, I decided to seize the opportunity to get
idea by sending my invention to the patent office. Only after
you have
had that recognition can you say that you are truly an inventor. The criteria are so strict that it is difficult to get new ideas accepted unless they are truly novel. In addition, no invention will get a patent if it is: ◎ a discovery
◎ a scientific idea or mathematical model ◎ literature or art ◎ a game or a business
◎ a computer programme ◎ a new animal or plant variety
Nor will you receive a patent until a search has been made to find out that your
product really
is different from everyone else's. There are a large number of patent examiners, too, whose only job is to examine whether your claim is valid or not. If it passes all the tests, your application for a patent will be published 18 months from the date you apply. So I have filled in the form and filed my patent application with
the Patent Office. Now it's a matter of waiting and hoping. You'll know if I succeed by the size of my bank balance! Wish me luck!
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL Alexander Graham Bell was born interested
in 1847 in Scotland, but when he was young his
family
moved to Boston, USA. His mother was almost entirely deaf, so Alexander became
in helping deaf people communicate and in deaf education.
This interest
led him to invent the microphone. He found that by pressing his lips against his mother's forehead, he could make his mother understand what he was saying. He believed that one should always be curious and his most famous saying was: \ the beaten track occasionally explore all
around it,
and dive
into the woods. Every you will
will be certain to find something that you have never seen before. Follow it up,
and before you know it,
about to occupy your mind. All really big discoveries are the result of thought.\ It was this exploring around problems and his dynamic spirit that led to his most famous invention
- the telephone in 1876. Bell never set out to invent
to design was a multiple order).
telegraph.
and what he was trying a wire in a particular a machine that
time you do you
have something worth thinking
the telephone
This original telegraph
sent a message over distances using Morse code (a series of dots tapped out along
But only one message could go at a time.
different
sound waves and allow
Bell wanted
to improve it so that it could send several messages at the same time. He designed
would separate
conversations to be held at the same time. But he found the problem difficult to solve. One day as he was experimenting
different
with one end of a straw joined to a deaf man's
ear drum and the other to a piece of smoked glass, Bell noticed that when he spoke into the ear, the straw drew sound waves on the glass. Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration.
If
sound waves could be reproduced in a moving electrical
current, they
could be sent along a wire. In searching to improve the telegraph, Bell had invented the first telephone!
Bell was fully aware of the importance of his invention and wrote to his father: \ or gas – and friends will talk to each other without leaving home.\ his first
telephone
message to his assistant
The patent was given in 1876, but it was not until five days later that Bell sent \
Watson. The words have now become famous:
Alexander Graham Bell was not a man to rest and he interested himself in many other
areas of invention. He experimented with helicopter designs and flying machines.
While searching for a kite strong enough to carry a man into the air, Bell experimented putting triangles together and discovered the tetrahedron shape. Being very stable, it has proved invaluable in the design of bridges.
Bell was an inventor all his life. He made his first invention at eleven and his last at seventy- five. Although he is most often associated with the invention of the telephone, he was indeed a continuing searcher after practical solutions to improve the quality of everybody's life.
选修 8 Unit 4 Pygmalion-Reading PYGMALION
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Eliza Doolittle (E): a poor flower girl who is ambitious to improve herself Professor Higgins (H): an expert in phonetics, convinced that the quality of a person's English decides his/her position in society
Colonel Pickering (CP): an officer in the army and later a friend of Higgins' who sets him a task
Act One FATEFUL MEETINGS
11 :15 pm in London, England in 1914 outside cab whistles to people's
are blowing in all
directions.
a theatre.
It is pouring with rain and
from the rain
listening
A man is hiding
language and watching their reactions. While watching, he makes notes.
Nearby a flower girl wearing dark garments and a woollen scarf is also
sheltering from the rain. A gentleman (G) passes and hesitates for a moment. E: Come over ’ere, cap ’in, and buy me flowers off a poor girl. G: I'm sorry but I haven't any change. E: I can giv ’ou change, cap ’in.
G: (surprised) For a pound? I'm afraid I've got nothing less. E: (hopefully)
Oah! Oh, do buy a flower off
me, Captain.
Take this for
three pence.
(holds up some dead flowers)
G: (uncomfortably) Now don't be troublesome, there's a good girl. (looks in his wallet and sounds more friendly) But, wait, here's some E: (disappointed
at the outcome, but thinking
small change.
Will that be
of any use to you? It's raining heavily now, isn't it? (leaves)
it is better
than nothing) Thank you,
sir. (sees a man taking notes and feels worried) Hey! I ain by speaking to that gentleman. I've a right to s
’t done nothing wrong
ell flowers, I have. I ain
’t no
thief. I'm an honest girl I am! (begins to cry)
H: (kindly) There! There! Who's hurting you, you silly girl? What do you take me for? (gives her a handkerchief)
E: I thought maybe you was a policeman in disguise. H: Do I look like a policeman?
E: (still worried) Then why did 'ou take down my words for? How do I know whether 'ou took me down right? 'ou just show me what 'ou've wrote about me!
H: Here you are. (hands over the paper covered in writing)
E: What's that? That ain't proper writing. I can't read that. (pushes it back at him)
H: I can. (reads imitating Eliza) \off a poor girl.\in Lisson Grove if I'm not mistaken.
E: (looking confused) What if I was? What's it to you? CP: (has been watching the girl How did you do that, may I ask?
H: Simply phonetics studied and classified from people's own speech. That's my profession sometimes.
CP: Let me congratulate you! But is there an income to be made in that?
H: Yes, indeed. Quite a good one. This is the age of the newly rich. People begin their working life in a poor neighbourhood of London with 80 pounds a year and end in a rich one with 100 thousand. But they betray themselves every time they open their mouths. Now once taught by me, she'd become an upper class lady ... CP: Is that so? Extraordinary! H: (rudely)
Look at this girl with her terrible
to the end of her days.
English: the English
(proudly)
that will condemn
her to the gutter
But, sir,
once educated to speak
and also my hobby. You can place a man by just
a few remarks.
I can place
any spoken conversation within six miles, and even within two streets in London
and now speaks to Higgins) That's quite
brilliant!
properly, that girl could pass herself off in three months as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party. Perhaps I could even find her a place as a lady's
maid or a shop assistant, which requires better English.
E: What's that you say? A shop assistant? Now that's sommat I want, that is! H: (ignores her) Can you believe that?
CP: Of course! I study many Indian dialects myself and ...
H: Do you indeed? Do you know Colonel Pickering? CP: Indeed I do, for that is me. Who are you?
H: I'm Henry Higgins and I was going to India to meet you. CP: And I came to England to make your acquaintance!
E: What about me? How'll you help me?
H: Oh, take that. (carelessly throws a handful of money into her basket) We must have a celebration, my dear man. (leave together)
E: (looking at the collected money in amazement) Well, I never. A whole pound! A fortune! That'll help me, indeed it will. Tomorrow I'll find you, Henry Higgins. Just you wait and see! All that talk of (imitates him) \(in her own voice) I'll see whether you can get that for me ... (goes out)
Act Two, Scene 1 MAKING THE BET
It is 11am in Henry Higgins' house the next day. Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering are sitting deep in conversation.
H: Do you want to hear any more sounds?
CP: No, thank you. I rather fancied myself because I can pronounce twenty-four
distinct vowel sounds; but your one hundred and thirty beat me. I can't distinguish
most of them.
H: (laughing) Well, that comes with practice.
There is a knock and Mrs Pearce (MP), the housekeeper, some cream and two cups.
comes in with cookies, a teapot,
MP: Well, she's quite a common kind of girl with dirty nails.I thought perhaps you
wanted her to talk into your machines.
H: Why? Has she got an interesting accent? We'll see.Show her in, Mrs Pearce. MP: (only half resigned to it) Very well, sir. (goes downstairs)
H: This is a bit of luck. I'll show you how I make records on wax disks ... MP: (returning) This is the young girl, sir. (Eliza comes into the room shyly following Mrs Pearce. She is dirty and wearing a shabby dress. She curtsies to the two men.)
H: (disappointed) Why! I've got this girl in my records. She's the one we saw the other day. She's no use at all. Take her away. CP: (gently to Eliza) What do you-want, young lady?
E: (upset) I wanna be a lady in a flower shop 'stead o' selling flowers in the street. But they won't take me 'less I speak better. So here I am, ready to pay him. I'm not asking for any favours - and he treats me like dirt.
E: (happier) Now yer talking. A lady friend of mine gets French lessons for two shillings an hour from a real Frenchman. You wouldn't have the face to ask me for the same for teaching me as yer would for French. So I won't give yer more than a
shilling.
H: (ignoring Eliza and speaking to Pickering) If you think of how much money this girl has - why, it's the best offer I've had! (to Eliza) But if I teach you, I'll be worse than a father.
CP: I say, Higgins. Do you remember what you said last night? I'll say you're the greatest teacher alive if you can pass her off as a lady. I'll be the referee for this
little bet and pay for the lessons too ...
E: (gratefully) Oh, yer real good, yer are. Thank you, Colonel. H: Oh, she is
so deliciously
low. (compromises) OK, I'll
teach you. (to Mrs Pearce)
But she'll need to be cleaned first. Take her away, Mrs Pearce. Wash her and
burn her horrible clothes. We'll buy her new ones. What's your name, girl?
E: I'm Eliza Doolittle and I'm clean. My clothes went to the laundry when I washed last week.
MP: Well, Mr Higgins has a bathtub of his own and he has a bath every morning. If these two gentlemen teach you, you'll of you otherwise.
E: (sobbing) I can't. I dursn't. It ain't natural and it'd kill me. I've never had a bath in my life;
not over my whole body, neither
below my waist nor taking
my vest
have to do the same. They won't like the smell