当代大学英语
2002-8
外语教学与研究出版社
唐锦兰
420
I consider myself very lucky and privileged to be given the opportunity to read the manuscripts ofActive English Learners Workbook series for Band 1 before they are out for general public. Atthe series editors cordial request， I venture to make the following observations. As the title of the series betrays its substance， the series are workbooks， viz. books for learnersto work on. Books of such kind cannot be more timely！ The more work you do with English andin English， the more English you learn！ This means time and energy. Some may be put off bythis fact， for time and energy are exactly what they are always running out of supply. "We haveso many other things to do， " they will say. "Theres little time and energy left for English. Tellus the quickest way！" Nowadays there seems to be a general rush for English， and at the sametime an anxious rush for a short-cut route to mastering English. Unfortunately， to the best of myknowledge， there is no such thing as a short-cut way to English. There are only better or poorerways of learning it. The best way to learn is to use it， to work on it. Some of our teachers may also be put off by the Workbook series， for a totally different reason.They find that if students possess too much information， particularly feedback on exercises， theywill have nothing left to offer in class， thus de-authorising their status as a knowledgeableteacher. I have been a teacher for 21 years now. I dont find the students possession of sufficientinformation disadvantageous to me. If my students can learn more things without my help， Icannot be happier. If they can study Active English textbooks all by themselves， this will save alot of class time， which I can use to organise more productive activities such as group work， pairwork， panel discussion， inter-group debating， and so on. Furthermore， teacher-led learningtends to foster teacher-dependency， which is far from being desirable. Perhaps it is the greatestreward to a teacher whose students are taught to overtake him/her. The Workbook series will make a positive contribution to the promotion of autonomous learning.As the class size nowadays is getting increasingly large， so large that it is almost impossible forstudents to get individual attention from the teacher， autonomous learning can no longer be dealtwith in a lip-service way. Teachers and administrators have to take resolute measures toimplement it in order to secure the educational quality which would otherwise deteriorate as aresult. The series have some built-in features that are specifically designed for the purpose. I feel confident that both students and teachers will find the series helpful and worth having.
《当代大学英语》（Active English）是外语教学与研究出版社与世界最大的跨国教育出版公司培生教育出版集团（Pearson Education）根据我国1999年颁布的《大学英语教学大纲》（修订本）联合推出的新型大学英语系列教材。该系列教材设2个模块6个级别：基础共核模块（Common core Module,1-4级）和高级实用模块（Advanced Module，5-6级）。 基础共核模块的4个级别每级由3个部分组成，分别为《综合英语》、《听说交互英语》和《强化阅读英语》。高级实用模块融3个部分为一体，重点传授当代大学生所必备的英语实用技能。《当代大学英语》由英国著名教材编写专家Neville Grant和北京外国语大学应用英语学院院长、博士生导师顾日国教授任总主编，北京外国语大学、北京师范大学、北京航空航天大学、北京理工大学、武汉大学、中山大学、西南交通大学七所院校的专家教授参加编写。 基础共核模块简介： 《综合英语》（Comprehensive English）以阅读真实英语文本为基础，同时进行英语综合技能和训练，其中包括学习技巧的传授与培养。《综合英语》的4个级别还构建了一个完整的文化知识结构网络，把语言教授、文化教学与基本素质教育有机地结合起来。 《听说交互英语》（Interactive English）突破听说课程的传统的设计模式，4个级别囊括了英语交际的主要功能，突出培养学生在交际互动方面的能力，同时配有听、说、读、写技巧之间的循环操练。 《强化阅读英语》（Enrichment Reading）以《综合英语》的文化知识结构网络为主线，为学习者提供大量的真实英语文本和带着问题进行思考的机会，有利于培养学生尽善尽美、自主自发学习的能力。 《当代大学英语》系列丛书的特点是语言教材真实、贴近生活，能够即学即用；融语言、文化和知识于一体，重素质与学习能力的培养；方面上突出交际法，强调五项技能综合训练和互为补充循环操练；在课堂教学上有利于以学生为中心开展各种学习活动。
Unit 1 Focus on CanadaUnit 2 New YorkUnit 3 The world of businessUnit 4 Harvesting the seaUnit 5 Science fictionUnit 6 ComputersUnit 7 RelationshipsUnit 8 Women at workUnit 9 DilemmasUnit 10 Energy sourcesUnit 11 Money mattersUnit 12 The world of machines
THREE summers back, a friend and I were being hurtled by（飞驰） bus through the heart ofAustralia, the desert flashing pink and red before our disbelieving eyes. It seemed never to end,this desert, so flat, so dry. The landscape was very unlike ours——scrub growth with some exoticcacti, no lakes, no rivers, just sand and rock forever. Beautiful, haunting even——what the surfaceof the moon must look like, I thought as I sat in the dusk in that almost empty bus. I turned to look out the front of the bus and was suddenly taken completely by surprise. Screamingout at me in great black lettering were the words CANADA NO. 1 COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.My eyes lit up, my heart gave a heave （起伏）, and I felt a pang of homesickness so acute I ac-tually almost hurt. It was all I could do to keep myself from leaping out of my seat and grabbing thenewspaper from its owner. As I learned within minutes （I did indeed beg to borrow the paper）, this pronouncement was basedon information collected by the United Nations from studies comparing standards of living for 174nations of the world. Some people may have doubted the finding, but I didnt, not for an instant. Where else in the world can you travel by bus, automobile or train （and the odd ferry） for ten, 12or 14 days straight and see a landscape that changes so spectacularly: the Newfoundland coast withits white foam and roar; the red sand beaches of Prince Edward Island; the graceful curves andslopes of Cape Bretons Cabot Trail; the rolling dairy land of south-shore Quebec; themaple-bordered lakes of Ontario; the haunting north shore of Lake Superior; the wheat fields ofManitoba and Saskatchewan; the ranch land of Alberta; the mountain ranges and lush （茂盛的）rain forests of the West Coast. The list could go on for pages and still cover only the southernsection of the country, a sliver of land compared with the North, the immensity of which is almostunimaginable.
