《新概念英语》是经过长期实践检验,并被公认为世界上最为经典、权威、正规、系统的英语教材之一。下面是小编带来的新概念英语经典文章，欢迎阅读!

新概念英语经典文章1

Skyscrapers and Environment

摩天大楼与环境

In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.

60年代后期，许多北美人把注意力转向了环境问题，那些崭新的玻璃钢摩天大楼受到了广泛的批评。生态学家指出，城市中密集的高层建筑经常给公共交通与停车场的承载能力造成过重的负担。

Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts -- enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.

摩天大楼还是电能的过度消费者与浪费者。最近的某一年，纽约市摩天写字楼1，700万英尺办公面积的增加使电能的最高日需求量提高了120，000千瓦。这些电能足以供纽约的整个奥尔巴尼市使用一天。

Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or gain) through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

玻璃表面的摩天大楼特别地浪费。 通过半英寸的平板玻璃墙壁损失(或增加)的热量是典型的加入绝缘板的石墙所允许的热量损失(或增加)的十倍以上。为了减轻取暖设备或空调设备的压力，摩天大楼的建造者们已经开始使用双面上釉的玻璃镶板和涂上了金色或银色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，来减少强光照射和热量的增加;但是，镜面的摩天大楼会提高周围空气的温度并会对附近的建筑物产生影响。

Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year -- as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109, 000.

摩天大楼也对城市的卫生设施造成了沉重的压力。单单纽约市的二个世界贸易中心大楼如果完全被占满的话，每年就会产生2，250，000加仑的污水。 这相当于康涅狄格州的斯坦福市这样大的城市一年所产生的污水量，而康州的斯坦福市拥有109，000人口。

新概念英语经典文章2

Skyscrapers and Environment

摩天大楼与环境

In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.

60年代后期，许多北美人把注意力转向了环境问题，那些崭新的玻璃钢摩天大楼受到了广泛的批评。生态学家指出，城市中密集的高层建筑经常给公共交通与停车场的承载能力造成过重的负担。

Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts -- enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.

摩天大楼还是电能的过度消费者与浪费者。最近的某一年，纽约市摩天写字楼1，700万英尺办公面积的增加使电能的最高日需求量提高了120，000千瓦。这些电能足以供纽约的整个奥尔巴尼市使用一天。

Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or gain) through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

玻璃表面的摩天大楼特别地浪费。 通过半英寸的平板玻璃墙壁损失(或增加)的热量是典型的加入绝缘板的石墙所允许的热量损失(或增加)的十倍以上。为了减轻取暖设备或空调设备的压力，摩天大楼的建造者们已经开始使用双面上釉的玻璃镶板和涂上了金色或银色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，来减少强光照射和热量的增加;但是，镜面的摩天大楼会提高周围空气的温度并会对附近的建筑物产生影响。

Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year -- as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109, 000.

摩天大楼也对城市的卫生设施造成了沉重的压力。单单纽约市的二个世界贸易中心大楼如果完全被占满的话，每年就会产生2，250，000加仑的污水。 这相当于康涅狄格州的斯坦福市这样大的城市一年所产生的污水量，而康州的斯坦福市拥有109，000人口。

新概念英语经典文章3

Piano

钢琴

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.

钢琴的家系可以追溯至15至16世纪早期的键盘乐器，包括小型拨弦琴、洋琴和维金娜琴。17世纪时风琴、敲弦琴和拨弦琴成为键盘乐器类的主要成员。这种至高无上的地位一直为它们所保持，直到18世纪末期钢琴将它们取代。

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.

敲弦古钢琴的音调有金属的音质，缺乏雄劲。然而由于它的音调变化多，许多作曲家发现对于亲切的室内乐是一种得体的乐器。

The harpsichord with its bright, vigorous tone was the favorite instrument for supporting the bass of the smallorchestra of the period and for concert use, but the character of the tone could not be varied save bymechanical or structural devices.

人们最喜欢用具备明快有力音调的拨弦古钢琴来配合当时小型管弦乐团的低音乐器以及在演奏会上演奏。但它的音调难以变化，除非使用机械或构件装置。

The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by a harpsichord maker in Italy(though musicologistspoint out several previous instances of the instrument).This instrument was called a piano e forte (soft and loud), to indicate its dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer with a felt-padded head.

18世纪早期的意大利，钢琴在一位拨琴钢琴制造者手中得到完善(尽管音乐理论家们指出有更早的例子)。 这种乐器被称为piano e forte(意大利语，柔和而响亮的)，以显示它有力的多样性。 演奏者用一个头部带皮毡的弹击乐锤敲击琴弦。

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.

更早的这种乐器之上的金属丝要重得多。从此，持续到19世纪的一系列机械上的改进，包括引入踏板以维持音调或使其柔和，改善金属框架，以及使用最佳性能的钢丝，最终产生了一种具备无数音调效果的乐器。这些效果涵盖了从最精致的和声到几乎全部的管弦乐音响，从明快流畅的吟唱的音调到尖锐的打击乐器的清晰动人的恢宏气势。