What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate's need to study for an exam may take priority (优先) over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade.

    In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our points of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail — other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situ­ation, and the merit of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.

    Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical (合乎道义的) or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrad­ing. Persuaders may enlighten our minds or get our vulnerability(脆弱之处). Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of edu­cation is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.

    Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution (美国宪法).

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项 （A 、B 、C  和 D ）中，选出最佳选项。

    A recent announcement by scientists that they have successfully cloned the first human embryo(胚胎) has caused much debate and has shocked many people around the world. On the one hand, some scientists point out that if you clone an embryo, you can produce valuable tissues(组织) and organs that could be used to save human lives. On the other hand, many people, including some scientists, disagree and fear that if mankind interferes with (干涉) nature in this way, they may be on their way to producing a real-life Frankenstein's monster.

Cloning is producing an exact copy of a plant or an animal using its cells. The first mammal to be cloned successfully from an adult cell was Dolly—the sheep. She was born in 1996 and died in early 2003, at a much younger age than normal. When she was born, many people were angry because they thought cloning would create more diseases in the animal world. However, in general the scientists were praised for their wonderful scientific breakthrough.

    The Scottish scientist who created Dolly, Ian Wilmut, is shocked that some scientists are now considering cloning human beings. Although he researches cloning, he has never thought of creating copies of humans. Instead, he thinks the scientists should concentrate on creating new tissues and organs that could eventually be used to cure diseases like cancer. However, some people consider that cloning human embryos with the intention of destroying them shows no respect for human lives.

    While cloning human embryos is illegal in many countries, some scientists are already pushing ahead with the research so as to deliver a cloned human baby. Severino Antinori, an Italian doctor, is one of the leaders in this field of research. He has declared that he wants to be the first to clone a human being.

In China, scientists have focused their efforts on cloning animals, as well as stem cells to be used in medical research. China has succeeded in producing clones of cows and goats, and continues to research ways in which cloning can benefit mankind.

    Two heads are better than one. It means that two people working together have a better chance of solving a problem than one person alone. But not everyone likes working in a group.

    There can be a number of reasons why people dislike group work. Some may feel nervous or uneasy in group situations. Others might have had a bad experience with individuals who did not work well as a team. Another comment is that teachers or instructors fail to provide roles for group members. This may create a situation where everyone or no one wants to lead. Whatever the issue, the result is the same: the group does not realize its goal.

    Cooperative (合作的) learning is an educational method that can help to solve this problem. There are many methods of cooperative learning. Today we will talk about one: giving each person in a small group a specific duty to reach a shared goal. For example, if learners are divided into groups of four people each, their roles might be: leader, writer, checker and speaker. This structure helps ensure that everyone takes part equally in group work and allows each member to play a meaningful part in completing the shared goal.

    Before dividing learners into groups, it is a good idea for the teacher or club's instructor to first have knowledge about the language skill levels of participants. The goal is to make each group a mixture of higher- and lower-level language learners. Putting too many people with similar skill levels together could make the work too difficult or easy. Role cards can be a helpful tool in this method of cooperative learning. Their purpose is to remind learners of each person's role.

    Before the cooperative activity, the role of the teacher or activity instructor is to explain two things to the group: the main job for the activity and how the cooperative roles work. The person in charge may appoint these roles or let the English learners choose them. Then, during the activity, the instructor's job is to watch the groups and provide more guidance when needed. After the activity, the instructor may wish to provide feedback to groups on their work and their use of cooperation.

    With this cooperative learning method, you can say that four heads are better than just one.

    Throughout history, artist, inventors, writers and scientists have solved problems in their dreams. Now, let's have a look together at some of them.

    ⒈Paul McCartney Found Yesterday in a dream

    Paul McCartney is one of the most famous singers/songwriters of all time. According to the Guinness Book of Records, his Beatles song Yesterday(1965) has the most cover（翻唱） versions of any song ever written and, according to record label BMI，was performed over seven million times in the 20^th century.

    The tune for Yesterday came to Paul McCartney in a dream.

“I woke up with a lovely tune in my head. I thought, 'That's great, I wonder what that is?' There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of my bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor—- and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but because I'd dreamed it, I couldn't believe I'd written it. I thought, 'No, I've never written anything like this before.' But I had the tune, which was the most magic thing! ”

    ⒉Mary Shelley's Frankentein Inspired by a Dream

    In the summer of 1816, nineteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover, the poet Percy Shelley (whom she married later that year), visited the poet Lord Byron at his villa beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Stormy weather frequently forced them indoors, where they and Byron's other guests sometimes read from a volume of ghost stories. One evening, Byron challenged his guests to each write one themselves.

    Mary's story, inspired by a dream, became Frankentein（科学怪人）.

“When I placed my head upon my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think—-My eyes shut ,I saw——with my acute mental vision—-the pale student of unholy arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the ugly figure of a man stretch out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and tremble with an uneasy motion, extremely frightful. The next morning I announced that I had thought of a story. I began that day with the words, 'It was on a dull night of November', making only a transcript(文字稿) of the cruel terror of my waking dream.”

    Blue Planet II's latest episode focuses on how plastic is having a disastrous effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, the oceans are drowning in plastic.

    Though it seems now that the world couldn't possibly function without plastics, consumer plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s; the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining in popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.

    We put all these plastics into the environment and we still don't really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

    And it's not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning to the same degree as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don't have to remake our planet energy system.

This is not a problem where we don't know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose (处理) of it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag—when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.

A BIG DAY OUT

    Home to Scotland's national maritime (海事的) collection, the award winning Scottish Maritime Museum makes a great day out, with so much to do:

    ● Explore tools and tales across the big Linthouse, a former shipyard (造船厂) building.

    ● See historic ships such as Garnock & Carola, a steam boat built in 1898.

    ● Test a model boat on our indoor boating pond or sail your own on our outdoor boating pond.

    ● Learn about Scotland's importance to maritime history, and about the people that built and sailed Scottish ships around the world.

    Irvine public tours

    Leaving the Linthouse three times a day and lasting about 75 minutes, you will visit the 1920s Tenement Flat and take a step back in time in a typical (典型的) shipyard worker's home. Then, weather permitting, you can experience life at sea onboard MV Kyles, the oldest Clyde-built boat still in service in the UK.

    Getting here:

    By rail: five minutes' walk from Irvine Railway Station

    By road: From the A77, take the A71 and follow the brown signs to the Harbourside and the Maritime Museum. (FREE PARKING)

    By bus: No 11 from Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenson, Kilwinning, Irvine and Kilmarnock;

    No 585 from Ayr, Irvine and Greenock;

    X34 from Irvine, Beith and Glasgow;

    14A Service from Troon all have convenient bus stops nearby.

    By sea: We have our own spot in Irvine harbour that visitors can use. Pre-booking is needed by emailing visitorservices@scotmaritime.org.uk.

    By bike: We have cycle spaces within our boat shop. We are located on Route 7 of the National Cycle Network.

    Opening times and admission:

    Open daily: 10 am – 5 pm Monday to Sunday

    Adults: ￡7.50 (age 17+)

    Concessions (优惠): ￡5.50 (Visitors aged 60+, registered disabled (已注册的残疾人士), or full time students aged 17+)

    Children: Three go FREE (age 16 and under) with any paying adult or concession

    EXTRA CHILD PRICE IS ￡2.

    Registered carers: One free when accompanying (陪同) a paid disabled person

    Group visits: Pre-booked groups of 10 or more receive special rates from ￡4 for a self-tour