六级阅读Speed Reading的实战练习（二）

　　Passage Three

　　Handguns and other firearms have a long tradition in American civilization. The right to bear arms is an American right featured in the second Amendment of the Constitution. In the 18th century, when the constitution was written, times were different; there was a need for armed citizens to insure the safety of the society as a whole. Contemporarily the police department preserves the safety of society and the need for armed citizens is out of date. The founding fathers of the Constitution could presumably never imagine the horrendous outcome of their actions. Every year too many lives are claimed as the result of the American governments inability to fully face up to effects of the issue. Compared to other western countries that have considerably stricter gun control laws America is still viewed as The Wild-Wild West.

　　The growing gun related death toll in the U.S. has to come to a turning point. Stripping away the constitutional right to bear arms might have the effect that only criminals will have access to guns. It is important to understand that in a society where both criminals and law abiding citizens have access to guns the likeliness of an innocent person getting shot, when both parties are waving guns, is probably greater than if only criminals have guns. A ban on firearms might not be appealing as a short-term solution but it is important that people dont limit their thinking to their generation and not think about the safety of their children, grandchildren and the society people are creating today for them to live in.

　　The main obstacle in removing firearms from citizens in the U.S. is the second Amendment of the Constitution. It reads: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. The second Amendment can be interpreted as every citizen right to bear arms. However the key word is Militia, meaning soldiers or defenders of the State. In the late 18th century, when the Constitution was written, times were very different than those of contemporary America. People were scared of possible invasions from Native Americans, the English, and other nationalities. By a well regulated Militia the founding fathers probably meant that citizens could have a muscot standing in the corner just in case anything would happen. Note that the writers of the Constitution added, a well regulated in front of the word Militia. That would most likely reveal a controversy in writing this Amendment, some of the founding fathers might have foreseen the possibility of a misinterpretation of this Amendment.

　　In the U.S. there are approximately 200 million privately owned guns, which is statistically close to a gun per person and places more than one gun per home on average. In other words, guns are all around. This affects, without a doubt, the whole society structure and the citizens that live within its boundaries.

　　The children that live within a gun infested society are going to suffer the consequences. In fact, kids between the ages 16 and 19 have the highest handgun victimization rate among all age groups. Its not hard to understand why, since there are on average more than one gun per household, kids are likely to find firearm and in some cases even use it.

　　In March 1998 two children, 11 and 13 years of age gunned down a total of 13 people in a school in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Of the 13, nine survived and five people, classmates and teacher, died as a result of the shooting. One of the boys had taken two rifles from his grandfather. They positioned themselves about 100 yards from the schoolyard and when the bell for recession sounded and people started to exit the school building the two boys opened fire. This is a horrendous event that proves that if guns are present within a household or within a family, odds are that kids will perhaps be curious enough to actually capitalize on them.

　　In October, 1997 a 16 year old boy shot and killed his girlfriend and her best friend while they were exiting a Mississippi school leaving six others wounded. The spontaneity of young children and guns are a lethal combination as illustrated in these two examples.

　　In a study made across high schools in Seattle, 47% of males and 22% of females reported that they had easy access to handguns and 11.4% were gun-owning males. The access to guns might prove to be deadly for both innocent bystanders and the holder of the gun. Children should not be able to own guns. One of the prerequisites for owning a gun should be that the person is responsible enough to own a firearm. Since there are no guarantees for that, guns should only be issued in extensively controlled forms otherwise the government jeopardizes the safety of the people theyve sworn to protect.

　　In the ages 10-14 72%, and in the ages 15-19, 85% of all homicides are committed with firearms. In addition to that 60 % of all suicides among youths is committed with a handgun. The total firearm death rate concerning white males in their teens now exceed natural causes. These are alarming statistics show the brutal reality of firearms in the U.S.

　　A study made by the American Psychological Association, Commission on Violence and Youth showed, in a study made in Seattle in 1993, that 6% of males in the 11th grade had at least once brought a handgun to school. More than 1 in 20 had brought a handgun to school, in other words the prevalence of guns across the schools is nothing less than a common sight. How does that affect the rest of us? Parents might just get the news from police officers that their son or daughter had become victim to a stray bullet while attending history class.

　　The lawmakers in the United States are addressing the problem by putting up metal detectors in schools. In the case of metal detectors, officials have realized that preventing the possession of firearms inside the boundary of the school is necessary for the safety of the students and teachers. This is a temporary solution to ever-growing problem. The risk of a student or a teacher getting shot inside the school property has probably been reduced, which is positive. But the fact remains that outside of the school property the risk of being victimized is growing every year.

　　In order for these types of events not to occur legislators and other professionals are emphasizing precautionary actions of the gun owners and most of the time a ban on guns isnt mentioned. Why I should be denied the same right my father and grandfather had? Because times have changed, guns are not solely created and used for hunting anymore, and with todays technology, in the form of automatic guns and high impact ammunition, guns have become deadlier, which leaves a greater responsibility on the owners. Are people ready for that responsibility?

　　1. Nowadays it is the armed citizens who are responsible for the overall social safety.

　　2. The legislation should forbid individual citizens to have guns because it is relatively less detrimental.

　　3. According to the second Amendment of the Constitution, American citizens have the right to bear arms and to use them whenever they want.

　　4. It can be told from the statistics that for each American family there is approximately one gun.

　　5. The Jonesboro shooting case demonstrates that if guns are kept in a household, kids would probably ________________________________.

　　6. It is improper for a child to own a gun because they are not _____________________.

　　7. _______ white teenage boys die from firearm attack _________ from natural causes.

　　8. The fact that more than a twentieth of the 11th grade students have brought a gun to school means that guns are actually ____________________.

　　9. Although lawmakers addressed the problem by using metal detectors within the school, It is still highly possible to ____________ out of school.

　　10. The reason why todays individuals should not be allowed to keep guns is that guns are no longer used for _________ alone.

　　Passage Four

　　Our galaxy is a gigantic agglomeration of stars and planets whose numbers will probably never been known. Currently we estimate this number to be about thirty billion. Scientists have estimated that the diameter of our galaxy, if it were to be traveled, would take us about fifty thousand light years and the thickness to be about fifteen to twenty light years.

　　We live in small part of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is referred to as a solar system. Our solar system is made up of nine planets and 31 moons, which orbit the center of galaxy. At the center of our galaxy is our Sun, which is approximately twenty-five thousand light years from our solar system.

　　These nine major planets in order from the center are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

　　Mercury is the planet nearest to the Sun. As it orbits the Sun, it does not rotate, keeping the same face of the planet toward the Sun at all times. This means that one side of the planet has a continual burning day of 900 F, and the other side a continual night and a deadly cold of 450 F below zero. Mercury is the fastest traveling of the nine planets making one full orbit around the Sun in only eight days. Life on mercury would be impossible. If you could live where the night meets the day and survive the extreme conditions, you would need dark goggles to protect you eyes from the extreme light. Mercury has little or no atmosphere to diffuse the sunlight. You would also weigh considerable less due to the lack of gravity. A person weighting 100 pounds on Earth would weigh 27 pounds on Mercury.

　　Looking into the night sky you will notice Venus, the brightest star in the sky, and the second planet from the Sun. Venus can only be seen at certain times of the day either at dawn or at Sunset. In physical characteristics, Venus is most like earth with a diameter of seven thousand six hundred miles, and gravity the same as earth. It is located a distance of sixty-seven million miles from the Sun and makes one complete orbit around the Sun in two hundred twenty five days. A single day on Venus can last up to two hundred and twenty five earth days due to its slow rotation. The atmosphere appears to consist of mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide. This is due to the lack of life on the planet.

　　The best time to view Venus comes every one hundred and twenty years as it passes between the Earth and the Sun. The last time to best view it was on June 7, 2004.

　　Earth, the third planet form the Sun is our home planet. Earth is the only planet in our solar system known to sustain life. Under the layer of atmosphere that surrounds the planet we are able to provide all the necessary components to make life sustainable. Earth is the fifth larges planet in the solar system. Its diameter is just a few hundred kilometers larger than Venus. Earth rotates on its axis one complete revolution in a twenty-four hour period and orbits the Sun in three hundred and sixty five days.

　　Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the closest neighbor to earth. Every seventeen years Mars reaches its closest point to earth in its orbit around the Sun at thirty-five million miles.

　　Mars is a small planet that has a red glow. It makes one complete orbit around the Sun in six hundred and eighty seven days. Oxygen and water vapor have been detected in the atmosphere of Mars, and a yellowish fog and clouds move around the planet indicating that the planet has different types of weather and seasons like the earth. A single day on Mars is very much like a day on earth lasting twenty-four hours and thirty-seven minutes, however, a year on Mars is twice as long as one year on earth.

　　Jupiter the fifth planet from the Sun gets its name from the Father of the Greek Gods. Jupiter, which orbits four hundred eighty-three million miles from the Sun, is the biggest of all the planets in our solar system. It has a diameter of eighty-nine thousand miles and a volume of thirteen times that of earth. Jupiter orbits the Sun every twelve years. Its atmosphere is thousands of miles thick and is made up of mainly hydrogen. The surface temperature is about -205F. There are no seasons on Jupiter, but it has floating clouds of ammonia and methane gas.

　　Jupiter has a bright red distinctive spot that is more than twice as wide as Earth. This mark has astronomers puzzled because there is no reason for the bright spot due to the fact that it does not receive much Sunlight. This spot enables us to see that Jupiter has a very fast rotation. One rotation is completed every ten hours. The forces placed on the planet due to this quick rotation cause the clouds at the equator to bulge like a tire, but due to the gravitational forces of the planet keep the clouds from being cast into space.

　　Saturn, even though it is the sixth planet form the Sun, it shines so brightly because of its size. Its diameter is seventy-one thousand five hundred miles. The planet itself is golden in color and is the brightest yellow star in the night sky.

　　Saturn makes one complete revolution on its axis every ten hours and takes twenty-nine and one half days to complete one orbit around the Sun. The gravitational pull of this planet is most like that of Jupiter. It has a volume that is eight hundred times that of earth, but has a volume that is one hundred times lighter than earth.

　　Saturn has two rings that surround the planet, but never touch it. They are located outside the atmosphere and above the equator. These rings are only about ten miles thick, which makes them transparent, only being seen with the use of a telescope. The ring closest to the planet is about seven thousand miles and very thin. A black band separates the inner ring from the outer ring, which is wider and brighter. It is believed that the rings are made up of crystals of ice or dust particles.

　　Uranus is the seventh planet form the Sun. The name Uranus comes from Greek mythology. Uranus was the God of the Heavens.〃

　　Uranus is situated one thousand seven hundred and eighty two miles form the Sun and completes one orbit around the Sun every eighty-four years. The size of this planet is four times that of earth, but has the same force of gravity on the surface as earth. There are five moons that orbit this planet. The largest one is Titania.

　　Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, is invisible to the naked eye. It is located some two thousand seven hundred and ninety-three million miles form the Sun. A single orbit around the Sun takes one hundred and sixty-five yeas to complete. This planet only receives one nine-hundredth of the heat and Sunlight as the earth.

　　Pluto was the ninth planet from the Sun. The name Pluto comes from the Roman God who was the ruler of the under world. On Thursday, August 24, 2006, however, the International Astronomical Union met in Prague voted finalizing the guidelines of planetary classification, thus reorganizing Pluto into a new category of dwarf planet.

　　Pluto is located three thousand six hundred and seventy million miles form the Sun. It orbits the Sun in total darkness, and is about the same size as Mars and has a diameter two thirds that of Earths moon. Due to the distance and size of Pluto, it can only be seen with the use of a twenty-inch telescope.

　　Pluto disqualified due to its eccentric orbit that crosses with Neptune. In addition to the fact that it is disproportionately smaller than any of its former counterparts in the solar system, it does not qualify as a planet. Otherwise, we might as well qualify Plutos moon, Charon as a planet, thus making Pluto and Charon a binary planet system.

　　1. If we are to travel from one end of the galaxy circle to the other at the speed of light, it would take us fifty thousand light years.

　　2. There can not possibly be any form of water in Mercury.

　　3. Venus is sharing with the earth similar diameter, similar gravity and similar rotation.

　　4. The speed with which Mars travels round the Sun is twice as fast as that of the earth.

　　5. Jupiter has an atmosphere, which, unlike that of earth, contains for the most part _____________.

　　6. Despite the quick rotation of Jupiter, its clouds are still clinging to the planet with the help of __________________.

　　7. between the inner ring and the outer ring of Saturn there is a ___________________.

　　8. Compared with that of the earth, the gravity force on the surface of Uranus is _____________.

　　9. According to the International Astronomical Union, Pluto is no longer seen as a planet; instead, it should be termed as ________________.

　　10. Its eccentric orbit and its _____________ disqualified Pluto as a planet.