關於大學英語故事演講

  在英語教學實踐中,興趣和成就感常常是成功個案的動力源泉。學生對於喜愛的、感興趣的故事,就會主動去讀,會對所讀內容積極思考,努力想讀懂故事、理解故事。小編精心收集了,供大家欣賞學習!

  :Golf Like a Girl

  He was in his 60s. He was short, fat, and arrogant. He was the plant manager, thesupervisor, the boss! His name was Tom. He relished every minute of his power. He yelled at the employees. He called them names. He smoked daily, even though it was against the law to smoke in the workplace. He didn’t care. As the license plate on his car said, he was The Boss.

  California is an “at will” state. That means that your employer can let you go for no reason ***“You’re fired!”*** or almost any reason ***"You’re fired because you’re too tall!”***. You can take your firing to court if it involves discrimination—sexism, racism, or ageism. However, even if you werediscriminated against, proving it in court is difficult.

  Tom considered himself a macho man. He did not know that his employees considered him a jerk. They made fun of him behind his back. They called him Tommy Troll because he was short and mean and had no manners. Never once had anyone heard Tom use the words Please, Thank You, Excuse Me, or I’m Sorry.

  Everyone wanted to attend his funeral. But that wasn’t going to happen soon. After his last physical, he presented his blood test report at a weekly staff meeting. Every item on that report was within the acceptable range. “The doctor said I'll live to be 100,” he said proudly, immediately depressing most of the employees.

  Tom played golf every Sunday with some other supervisors. He was a bad golfer, but he thought he was good. He liked to joke around and make fun of other golfers. On the first tee last Sunday, Tom joked about a golfer who had just teed off: “Look at that guy. He swings like a girl.” Tom laughed heartily at his own joke. His buddies were silent.

  “What did you say?” asked the golfer angrily. He had overheard Tom’s remark. He was a mean-looking man.

  “Uh, nothing,” Tom said.

  “Yes, you did. You said I swing like a girl. Now I’ve got something to say. You apologize like a good little girl, or I’ll give you a fresh knuckle sandwich.”

  In front of his golf buddies, Tom meekly apologized. After only nine holes, during which Tom was unusually quiet, he excused himself and went home. He said he had a headache. But his friends thought it was shame that was eating at him. The next day, Tom was still upset. He told Bill to report to his office. He had never liked Bill. He always wondered why he had hired him in the first place.

  “I’m letting you go. I don’t need you here. Your last day is Friday."

  Bill wasn’t surprised. Saying nothing, he spat on Tom’s desk and walked out.

  :Copper Robbers

  For the last two years, the Los Angeles area has seen an increasing number of metal thefts, reported Paul Moyer, co-anchor of the local 6 o’clock news. Sometime before dawn Wednesday, thieves had stolen the copper wire out of six lamp posts. A day earlier, a heavy 7-foot-tall bronze statue of a gold miner in West LA had disappeared. Eight manhole covers in downtown LA had been removed three nights earlier. At least twice a week, Moyer reported, thieves steal copper from construction sites. All this metal is sold as scrap.

  The price of copper today is six times what it was just six years ago. Even the federal government is reducing production of pennies, because it now takes two cents worth of copper to produce a one-cent penny. LA’s police chief, Bill Bratton, promised that he was going to increase the number of cameras and live patrols around statues and all outdoor metal sculptures in LA. He said that metal thieves were destroying LA’s “cultural history.” He reminded thieves that they were endangering their own lives when they cut into live wires, and they were endangering drivers’ lives when they removed manhole covers.

  Moyer, famous for his wit, ended his special report by joking that it was a good thing that the Statue of Liberty was not in Los Angeles harbor. “I bet that would be worth a pretty penny,”chuckled his blonde co-anchor.

  :Can You Spare a Carburetor

  Daniel needed a new carburetor for his car. Well, not a new one. A new one would cost at least $250. Even a rebuilt one would cost about $110. The cheapest thing to do was to go to asalvage yard.

  California has about 50 salvage yards. Most of them are in southern California. The yards range in size from 10 acres to 70 acres, holding anywhere from 300 to 3,000 abandoned, wrecked, or cheaply sold cars. The yards are usually located outside of downtown but near a freeway ramp.

  A salvage yard might pay you up to $200 to take your rundown car off your hands. Before they place it in the yard, however, they will remove all its liquids—oil, gas, coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, and windshield washer solvent. Vehicles usually sit in the yard for only a month before they are crushed, stacked, and then transported to a recycler.

  Vehicle parts are inexpensive, but you have to remove them yourself. The carburetor that Daniel needed was only $20. Nothing in the yard, however, comes with a guarantee. If it doesn’t work or fit, you can replace it with a similar item, but you won’t get your money back.

  Daniel borrowed his brother’s car. After paying the $3 entry fee to the man in the little woodenshack, Daniel walked into the yard. He walked about five minutes before he found the foreign car section. It looked like there were at least 200 cars. It was sunny and hot. There was no shade anywhere in the yard. Carrying his toolbox, Daniel went searching for a matching carburetor.

  Almost three hours later, Daniel was back at the shack. He bought himself a cold soda from a machine. A few minutes later, he paid the $20 plus tax and walked out of the yard. Driving home, he wondered if all the work was worth the savings. If the carburetor didn’t work, he’d have to do this all over again.

  When he got home, his brother Monty was standing next to Daniel’s car. Monty had a big smile on his face. “Hey, guess what? It wasn’t your carburetor. It was the fuel filter. I changed it, and your car runs great now.”