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2021年12月大学英语六级美文
1.2021年12月大学英语六级美文英语六级美文The Powerof BeautyOne of the mostsuccessful,influential andbeloved womenin Americanhistory,Eleanor Rooseveltonce saidthat she had oneregret:she wishedshehad been prettier.Who hasnt feltthe samewayWe areall tooaware ofour physicalimperfections.To overcomethem,we spendbillions uponbillions ofdollars everyyear oncosmetics,diet products,fashion,and plasticsurgery.Why dowe careso muchabout howwe lookBecauseit matters.Because beauty is powerful.Because evenwhen welearn tovalue peoplemostly forbeing kindand wiseand funny,we arestill moved by beauty.No matterhow muchwe argueagainst itor pretendto beimmune,beauty exertsits powerover us.There issimply noescape.Aristotle said,“Beauty isa greaterrecommendation thanany letterof introduction.It s not fair,but its true.We simplytreat beautifulpeople betterthan wedo others.Attach aphotograph of a beautifulauthor toan essay,and peoplewill thinkthat ismore creativeand moreintelligently writtenthanexactly the same essayaccompanied bythe photoofahomely author.Our sensitivityto physicalbeautyisnot somethingwe cancontrol atwill.We areborn withit.Experiments conductedby psychologistJudith J.Langlois showedthat evensmall infantsprefer to look atattractive faces.Before theyhave meta singlesupermodel,before theyhave watcheda singleTV show,before theyhave openedup asingle fashionmagazine,they aredrawn to thesamefaces whichadults havejudged to be attractive.There aremore importantthings inlife thanbeauty.But asEtcoff says,“We have to understandbeauty,or wewill alwaysbe enslavedby it.If youaim to be wiseand kindand funny,it doesnt meanthat youcan talso tryyour besttolookbeautiful.There,snoreason tofeel guiltyabout beingmovedbybeauty,s power.It movesus all.
2.2021年12月大学英语六级美文英语六级美文The Shadowlandof DreamsThe Shadowlandof DreamsMany ayoung persontells mehe wantsto bea writer.I alwaysencourage suchpeople,but Ialso explainthat thereabig differencebetween“being a writer”and writing.In mostcases theseindividuals aredreaming ofwealth andfame,not thelong hoursalone atthe typewriter.You vegot towant towrite,“I sayto them,“not wanttobeawriter.”The realityis thatwriting isa lonely,private andpoor-paying affair.For everywriter kissedby fortune,there arethousands morewhose longingis neverrequited.Even thosewho succeedoften knowlong periodsof neglectand poverty.I did.When Ileft a20-year careerin theCoast Guardto becomea freelancewriter,I had no prospectsat all.What Idid havewas afriend withwhom Id grownup inHenning,Tennessee.George foundme myhome一a cleaned-out storageroom inthe GreenwichVillage apartmentbuilding wherehe workedas superintendent.It didnt evenmatter thatit wascold andhadnobathroom.Immediately Ibought aused manualtypewriter andfelt likea genuinewriter.After ayear orso,however,I stillhadn treceived abreak andbegan todoubt myself.It wasso hardto sella storythat Ibarely madeenough toeat.But Iknew Iwanted towrite.I haddreamed aboutit foryears.I wasnt goingtobeone ofthose peoplewho diewondering,“What if”I wouldkeep puttingmy dreamtothetest一even thoughit meantliving withuncertainty andfear offailure.This isthe Shadowlandof hope,and anyonewith adream mustlearn tolive there.
3.2021年12月大学英语六级美文英语六级美文The Originof theRefrigerators Bythe mid-nineteenth century,the termicebox hadentered theAmerican language,but icewas stillonly beginningto affectthe dietof ordinarycitizens inthe UnitedStates.The icetrade grewwith thegrowth ofcities.Ice was used inhotels,taverns,and hospitals,and bysome forward-looking citydealers infresh meat,fresh fish,and butter.After theCivil War1861-1865,as icewasusedto refrigeratefreight cars,it alsocame intohousehold use.Even before1880half of the icesold inNew York,Philadelphia,and Baltimore,and one-third ofthat soldin Bostonand Chicago,went tofamilies fortheir ownuse.This hadbecome possiblebecause anew householdconvenience,the icebox,a precursorofthemodern refrigerator,had beeninvented.Making an efficient icebox was notas easyas wemight nowsuppose.In theearly nineteenthcentury,the knowledgeofthephysics ofheat,which wasessential toa scienceof refrigeration,was rudimentary.The commonsensenotion thatthe besticeboxwasonethat preventedthe icefrom meltingwas ofcourse mistaken,for itwas themelting ofthe icethat performedthe cooling.Nevertheless,early effortsto economizeice includedwrapping upthe icein blankets,which keptthe icefrom doingits job.Not untilnear theend ofthe nineteenthcenturydid inventorsachieve thedelicate balanceof insulationand circulationneeded foranefficienticebox.But asearly as1803,an ingeniousMaryland farmer,Thomas Moore,hadbeenon theright track.When heused anicebox of his owndesign totransport his butter tomarket,hisbutter,still freshand hardin neat,was worthone-pound abrick.One advantageofhisicebox,Moore explained,was thatfarmers wouldno longerhavetotravel tomarket atnight inorder tokeep theirproduce cool.。