Rachel Carson,a wellknown nature author in America,was happiest writing about the strength and stability of natural systems.Her books mainly described the inter connectedness of nature and all living things.

Completing Silent Spring took Carson four years.First published in The New Yorker in June 1962,the book alarmed readers across America.It described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated (堆积) in the fatty tissues of animals,including human beings,and caused cancer and genetic damage.

Carson begins by describing exactly these effects in the first chapter,creating strong images and drawing the readers in.As the book continues,she gives various examples of how insecticides(杀虫剂) are not only unsuccessful,but actually very costly and damaging.She also explains about the biological controls which are less expensive and much more efficient.

A single application on a crop,she wrote,killed insects for weeks and months,and not only the targeted insects but countless more,and remained poisonous in the environment even after it was washed out by rainwater.Carson concluded that DDT and other pesticides had definitely harmed birds and animals and had destroyed the entire world's food supply.The book's most famous chapter,A Fable for Tomorrow,described a nameless American town where all life—from fish to birds to apple blossoms to human children—had been “silenced” by the harmful effects of DDT.

The most important effect of Silent Spring,though,was a new public awareness that nature was so easily destroyed by human intervention(干预).Rachel Carson had made a brave proposal:that,at times,technological progress is so basically at odds with(与……不一致) natural processes that it must be prevented.

1.What are Rachel Carson's books mainly concerned about?

A.The relationship between man and nature.

B.The balance of natural systems.

C.The interconnection of nature and living things.

D.The pollution of the environment.

2.According to the text,Silent Spring________.

A.didn't draw the readers' attention when first published

B.mainly describes people's quiet lives in an American town

C.effectively tells people how to keep the balance of nature

D.showed the harmful effects of DDT on nature

3.Rachel Carson thinks that the more efficient way to kill insects is to use ________.

A.DDT

B.human controls

C.biological controls

D.technical progress

4.The publication of Silent Spring makes people ________.

A.understand the author's outstanding writing talent

B.realize the importance of technical progress

C.aware of the necessity of environmental protection

D.rethink the harmful effects of developing industry

What is critical thinking? To a certain degree, it's a matter of logic -- of being able to spot weakness in other people's arguments and to avoid them in your own. It also includes related skills such as distinguishing fact from opinion and assessing the soundness of evidence.

In the broad sense, critical thinking is focused, organized thinking -- the ability to see clearly the relationships among ideas. 1.__. The greatest thinkers, scientists, and inventors have often taken information that was really available and put it together differently to produce new ideas. That, too, is critical thinking.

_2._. As the class goes on, for example, you will probably spend a good deal of time organizing your speeches. While this may seem like a purely mechanical (机械的) exercise, it is closely connected with critical thinking. If the structure of your speech is loose and confused, chances are that your thinking is also disordered and confused. If, on the other hand, the structure is clear, there is a good chance your thinking is too. Organizing a speech is not just a matter of arranging your ideas you already have. 3.___.

What is true of organization is true of many aspects of public speaking. _4._. As you work on expressing your ideas in clear accurate language, you will improve your ability to think clearly and accurately. __5. As you learn to listen critically to speeches in class, you will be better able to assess the ideas of speakers in a variety of situations.

If you take full advantage of your speech class, you will be able to develop your skills as a critical thinker in many circumstances. This is one reason public speaking has been regarded as a vital part of education since the days of ancient Greece.

A.Rather, it is an important part of shaping the ideas themselves.

B.This may seem take a lot of time, but the rewards are well worth it.

C.It may also help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech.

D.It has often been said that there are few new ideas in the world, only reorganized ideas.

E . If you are wondering what this has to do with your public speaking class, the answer is quite a lot.

F. The skills you learn in your speech class can help you become a more effective thinker in a number of ways.

G. As you study the role of evidence and reasoning in speechmaking, you will see how they can be used in other forms of communication as well.

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