2015考研英语作文素材精选 (六)
考研英语作文是一个考察综合运用语言的部分，需要同学们运用逻辑思维下笔成文，因此，考前看一些意义深远、质量好的文章很有必要。以下是2015考研英语作文备考素材精选，请作参考。2015考研英语作文素材精选 (六)
21 The Origin of Sports
When did sport begin? If sport is, in essence, play, the claim might be
made that sport is much older than humankind, for , as we all have observed, the
beasts play. Dogs and cats wrestle and play ball games. Fishes and birds dance.
The apes have simple, pleasurable games. Frolicking infants, school children
playing tag, and adult arm wrestlers are demonstrating strong, transgenerational
and transspecies bonds with the universe of animals - past, present, and future.
Young animals, particularly, tumble, chase, run wrestle, mock, imitate, and
laugh (or so it seems) to the point of delighted exhaustion. Their play, and
ours, appears to serve no other purpose than to give pleasure to the players,
and apparently, to remove us temporarily from the anguish of life in
earnest.
Some philosophers have claimed that our playfulness is the most noble part
of our basic nature. In their generous conceptions, play harmlessly and
experimentally permits us to put our creative forces, fantasy, and imagination
into action. Play is release from the tedious battles against scarcity and
decline which are the incessant, and inevitable, tragedies of life. This is a
grand conception that excites and provokes. The holders of this view claim that
the origins of our highest accomplishments ---- liturgy, literature, and law
---- can be traced to a play impulse which, paradoxically, we see most purely
enjoyed by young beasts and children. Our sports, in this rather happy,
nonfatalistic view of human nature, are more splendid creations of the
nondatable, transspecies play impulse.
22. Collectibles
Collectibles have been a part of almost every culture since ancient times.
Whereas some objects have been collected for their usefulness, others have been
selected for their aesthetic beauty alone. In the United States, the kinds of
collectibles currently popular range from traditional objects such as stamps,
coins, rare books, and art to more recent items of interest like dolls, bottles,
baseball cards, and comic books.
Interest in collectibles has increased enormously during the past decade,
in part because some collectibles have demonstrated their value as investments.
Especially during cycles of high inflation, investors try to purchase tangibles
that will at least retain their current market values. In general, the most
traditional collectibles will be sought because they have preserved their value
over the years, there is an organized auction market for them, and they are most
easily sold in the event that cash is needed. Some examples of the most stable
collectibles are old masters, Chinese ceramics, stamps, coins, rare books,
antique jewelry, silver, porcelain, art by well-known artists, autographs, and
period furniture. Other items of more recent interest include old photograph
records, old magazines, post cards, baseball cards, art glass, dolls, classic
cars, old bottles, and comic books. These relatively new kinds of collectibles
may actually appreciate faster as short-term investments, but may not hold their
value as long-term investments. Once a collectible has had its initial play, it
appreciates at a fairly steady rate, supported by an increasing number of
enthusiastic collectors competing for the limited supply of collectibles that
become increasingly more difficult to locate.
23 Ford
Although Henry Ford's name is closely associated with the concept of mass
production, he should receive equal credit for introducing labor practices as
early as 1913 that would be considered advanced even by today's standards.
Safety measures were improved, and the work day was reduced to eight hours,
compared with the ten-or twelve-hour day common at the time. In order to
accommodate the shorter work day, the entire factory was converted from two to
three shifts.
In addition, sick leaves as well as improved medical care for those injured
on the job were instituted. The Ford Motor Company was one of the first
factories to develop a technical school to train specialized skilled laborers
and an English language school for immigrants. Some efforts were even made to
hire the handicapped and provide jobs for former convicts.
The most widely acclaimed innovation was the five-dollar-a-day minimum wage
that was offered in order to recruit and retain the best mechanics and to
discourage the growth of labor unions. Ford explained the new wage policy in
terms of efficiency and profit sharing. He also mentioned the fact that his
employees would be able to purchase the automobiles that they produced - in
effect creating a market for the product. In order to qualify for the minimum
wage, an employee had to establish a decent home and demonstrate good personal
habits, including sobriety, thriftiness, industriousness, and dependability.
Although some criticism was directed at Ford for involving himself too much in
the personal lives of his employees, there can be no doubt that, at a time when
immigrants were being taken advantage of in frightful ways, Henry Ford was
helping many people to establish themselves in America.
24.Piano
The ancestry of the piano can be traced to the early keyboard instruments
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries --- the spinet, the dulcimer, and the
virginal. In the seventeenth century the organ, the clavichord, and the
harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard group, a supremacy they
maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end of the eighteenth century.
The clavichord's tone was metallic and never powerful; nevertheless, because of
the variety of tone possible to it, many composers found the clavichord a
sympathetic instrument for intimate chamber music. The harpsichord with its
bright, vigorous tone was the favorite instrument for supporting the bass of the
small orchestra of the period and for concert use, but the character of the tone
could not be varied save by mechanical or structural devices.
The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by a harpsichord
maker in Italy (though musicologists point out several previous instances of the
instrument). This instrument was called a piano e forte (sort and loud), to
indicate its dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer
with a felt-padded head. The wires were much heavier in the earlier instruments.
A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century,
including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the
perfection of a metal frame, and steel wire of the finest quality, finally
produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate
harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone
to a sharp, percussive brilliance.
NOTE:
Musical Instruments
1.The strings (弦乐)
1) plectrum: harp, lute, guitar, mandolin;
2) keyboard: clavichord, harpsichord, piano;
3) bow: violin, viola, cello, double bass.
2. The Wood(木管)-winds : piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, English
horn;
3. the brass(铜管): French horn, trumpet, trombone, cornet, tuba, bugle,
saxophone;
4.the percussion(打击组): kettle drum, bass drum, snare drum, castanet,
xylophone, celesta, cymbal, tambourine.
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