英语六级阅读理解精炼

8. Campus Life
An Apple for the Teacher
American schoolchildren occasionally present an apple to the teacher. Obviously the custom contains an element of bribery 1 — you offer sweet fruit to authority figures to “sweeten” 2 their disposition 3. In school children's case, the apple is offered to make their grades more favorable. Therefore, the apple has more or less acquired a corrosive4 reputation and maybe for this reason, in slang English “to applepolish” means“to flatter or fawn” and an applepolisher is a flatterer.
But the custom might also be explained as a fair payment for the teacher's instruction. In the early days of public education, school teachers were not always salaried. Often they would be paid in goods and services, offered by either the school, or the pupils or the parents. . .. Therefore, the occasional gift of an apple for the teacher in today's classroom should be a welcome reminder of the era when education was one -to-one and when teaching meant enlightening the students rather than identifying their rankings.
Caps and Gowns
For students, the most exciting moment may be the graduation ceremony 5: parents, relatives and friends are invited to the ceremony; all the graduates are wearing black square flat caps and gowns. They all await the president to announce in the end,“Now, please move your tassels from right to left. ”
The caps and gowns worn by high school and college graduates today are survivors of the everyday dress worn by members of the academic community in medieval Europe. The majority of scholars in the Middle Ages6 were churchmen, or soon to become so, and their dress was often strictly regulated by the universities where they taught and studied. The standard clerical dress throughout Europe was the long black cope. The original preference for black was changed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as such colors as red, violet and purple came into fashion; but by the Renaissance black was back, as the color black symbolized simple and plain, or austere way of life in the sixteenth century. With few exceptions, modern universities keep that ceremonial austerity.
The origin of the square flat cap, or mortarboard7 , is obscure, though it probably derives from the medieval biretta . Such a tufted square cap is considered the badge of the 024 mastership , and is later adopted by undergraduates and schoolboys. The term mortarboard does not appear in English until the 1850 s. The tassel that graduates transfer from one side to another as a signal of their elevation is an outgrowth of the medieval tuft. The tuft still appears on the modern biretta, worn by bishops throughout the Church of Rome .

阅读自测
Ⅰ. True o r false :
1. Nowadays, American pupils always offer an apple to the teacher in order to get a better grade.
2. In the early days of public education, schoolteachers were paid in money.
3. In America, the caps and gowns are only adopted by college graduates during graduation ceremonies.
4. Before the Renaissance, the standard clerical dress was black.
5. The biretta was considered the mark of scholarship.
6. That the graduates move the tassel from one side to the other is a signal of elevation.
Ⅱ. Questions :
1. According to the passage, when you say somebody is an apple polisher, what do you really mean by saying that?
2. For students, when is the most exciting moment?
3. After graduation, which side should you put your tassel, right or left?

参考答案及讲解

参考答案 :
Ⅰ. 1. T 2. F 3 . F 4 . F 5. T 6. T
Ⅱ. 1. It really means that he is flattering or fawning some figures.
2. For students, the most exciting moment is the graduation ceremony, especially the moment when the president makes the announcement.
3. After graduation, the tassel should be put to the left side.

参考译文
校园记趣
献给老师的苹果
美国的学童经常会送苹果给老师。很明显, 这个习惯做法有点行贿的意味——— 给当权 者一些甜头来软化他们的态度。对学童来说, 他们送老师苹果只是为了得到更令人满意的 成绩。为此, 苹果的荣誉多少受到些损害, 而且可能就是这个缘故, 英语俚语“to applepolish”的意思就是“ 阿谀奉承, 溜须拍马”, 而“ applepolisher”则指“ 马屁精”。 这一习惯做法同样可以看作是对老师授课的一种合理报答。公立教育早期, 学校教师 并不总是拿薪水的。通常情况下, 他们得到的报酬是学校、学生或学生家长提供的实物或服务。因此, 在今天的教室里时常出现的送老师苹果的现象应该算是对那个年代的一种 美好回忆。那时的教育是一对一式的, 而且那时的教学是为了使学生受到教育, 而不是为 了区分他们的社会地位。

学士帽与学士服
对学生而言, 最激动人心的时刻莫过于毕业典礼。父母及亲朋好友都被邀请来参加典 礼。所有的毕业生都头戴黑色的方平帽, 身穿黑长袍。他们等待着校长在最后一刻宣布: “ 现在, 请将你的流苏从右边移到左边。” 今天的高中生和大学生戴的学士帽, 穿的学士服是由中世纪欧洲学院里学者们的日常 着装演变而来的。中世纪时, 大多数的学者要么是牧师, 要么将要成为牧师; 他们的着装经 常受到他们任教或学习的大学的严格控制。在整个欧洲, 标准的牧师服都是黑色的长袍。 13 和14 世纪的时候, 人们最初偏爱黑色的状况得到了改变, 诸如红色、紫罗兰色和紫色这 样的颜色开始流行起来。但是到了文艺复兴时期, 黑色又流行回来, 因为黑色代表了简约 朴素和16 世纪严谨的苦修方式。现代大学都少有例外地保留了那种肃穆简朴的仪式。方平帽或者学士帽的起源不甚了了, 不过这很可能是从中世纪的法冠演变而来。这种 植绒的方帽被看作是学位的象征, 后来被大学本科生和高中生采用。学士帽这个术语直到 19 世纪50 年代才传到英国。毕业生们将其从一边移到另一边, 作为一种晋级标志的流苏 其实是中世纪时的帽穗的派生。现代罗马教会的大主教们戴的法冠上仍保留着这种穗子。

阅读导评
虽然我们深居校园, 但是我们似乎从不曾对校园里出现的文化现象有所深究。那些文 化现象有些可以溯其源头, 有些却已无从查证。但是, 人们对于教育和知识的尊重古往今 来却都是一样的。
阅读导释
1. 这是动词bribe 的名词形式, 意思是“行贿, 受贿”。受贿者用bribee 表示。以前学过embezzle 这个词, embezzle 多指“盗用, 挪用( 公款) , 侵吞( 财物) ”。
2 - 3. sweeten 是形容词sweet 加- en 转变来的动词, 意思是“( 通过赠送礼物, 笼络感情等) 使亲和, 使软化”。它可作“ 使干净, 使纯净”解, 如在莎士比亚的名剧《麦克白》中, 麦克 白夫人杀了国王之后, 梦游中去洗手上的血迹时, 有一句很有名的独白:“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. ”意思就是“ 纵使用所有阿拉伯的香水, 也无法洗 干净这只小手。”disposition 这里是“性情, 性格, 态度倾向”的意思。
4. 这个词是“ 腐蚀的, 有害的, 损害的”的意思。
5. 毕业典礼。ceremony 一词多指“ 庄严的宗教或其他庆典中具有特殊形式及程序的礼 仪”, 如: the ceremony of launching a ship ( 船舶下水典礼) ; perform the opening / closing ceremony ( 举行开幕/闭幕式) 。司仪的专有名词M. C. 即Master of Ceremony 的缩写。
6. Middle Ages, 中世纪, 欧洲历史上从5 世纪罗马文明瓦解直至文艺复兴的这段时期。中 世纪这一名称及其传统含义来自于意大利人文主义者的别有用心: 他们意欲复兴古典学 术与文化, 而一个长达千年的愚昧黑暗时代将他们与古代的希腊罗马世界分隔开来。中 世纪时, 欧洲几乎没出现过任何大的王国或其他能够提供稳定局面的政治结构。唯一能 够提供社会团结基础的力量是罗马天主教会。教皇不仅负责宗教事务, 很多时候还插手 世俗事务, 教会还拥有城市和军队, 管理国家事务。因此, 中世纪呈现出一个试图在宗教 基础上对自身进行政治结构建设的社会。
7. 这里特指“ 学士帽、学位帽”。下文出现的biretta 则是特指“( 天主教等神职人员戴的) 四 角帽———法冠”。