（英语系统学习推荐材料）新概念英语1―4册（文本、MP3对照）

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 20 Snake poison 蛇毒

312. How it came about that snakes manufactured poison is a mystery.
[FONT=宋体]蛇是怎样产生毒液的，这是一个谜。[/FONT]
313. Over the periods their saliva, a mild, digestive juice like our own,
[FONT=宋体]蛇的唾液本来和我们人的消化液一样柔和，但经过漫长的时间，[/FONT]
314. was converted into a poison that defies analysis even today.
[FONT=宋体]演变成了今天仍无法分析清楚的毒液。[/FONT]
315. It was not forced upon them by the survival competition;
[FONT=宋体]毒液不是生存竞争强加给它们的，[/FONT]
316. they could have caught and lived on prey without using poison,
[FONT=宋体]它们也可以不用毒液捕捉动物而生存，[/FONT]
317. just as the thousands of non-poisonous snakes still do.
[FONT=宋体]就像今天成千上万的无毒蛇那样。[/FONT]
318. Poison to a snake is merely a luxury;
[FONT=宋体]毒液对毒蛇来说只不过是一种舒适生存的优越手段，[/FONT]
319. it enables it to get its food with very little effort,
[FONT=宋体]它使蛇不用费多大力气就能捕获到食物，[/FONT]
320. no more effort than one bite.
[FONT=宋体]轻咬一口即可。[/FONT]
321. And why only snakes?
[FONT=宋体]为什么只有蛇才有毒液呢？[/FONT]
322. Cats, for instance, would be greatly helped;
[FONT=宋体]譬如说，如果猫有毒液，那对猫会大有帮助，[/FONT]
323. no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbits
[FONT=宋体]它就不必再和又大又凶的老鼠边跑边博斗了，也不必再和大兔子扭斗了，[/FONT]
324. In fact, it would be an assistance to all carnivores
[FONT=宋体]因此，任何食肉动物有了毒液，都能从中获益。[/FONT]
325. though it would be a two-edged weapon when they fought each other.
[FONT=宋体]不过，当它们相互撕打时，毒液就成了利弊参半的武器，可以杀死对方，也可以被对方的毒液杀死。[/FONT]
326. But, of the vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes (and one lizard).
[FONT=宋体]然而，在脊椎动物中，大自然神秘模测地只选择了蛇（还有一种蜥蜴），[/FONT]
327. One wonders saliva into why Nature, with respect from that of others, as other on the blood.
[FONT=宋体]人们弄不清楚大自然为什么在某些蛇的身上调制出如此高效的毒液来。[/FONT]
328. In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place.
[FONT=宋体]人们可能认为，唾液转变成毒液，其中有固定的程序。[/FONT]
329. It did not;
[FONT=宋体]其实没有。[/FONT]
330. some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others,
[FONT=宋体]有些蛇产生的毒液也在各方面与另外一些毒蛇产生的毒液不同，[/FONT]
331. as different as arsenic is from strychnine,
[FONT=宋体]就像砒霜不同于马钱子碱一样。[/FONT]
332. and having different effects.
[FONT=宋体]不同毒蛇产生的毒液产生的效果不同，[/FONT]
333. One poison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.
[FONT=宋体]一种毒液作用于神经，另一种毒液作用于血液。[/FONT]
334. The makers of the nerve poison include the mambas and the cobras
[FONT=宋体]产生神经毒液的蛇有一种非洲树眼镜蛇和眼镜蛇，[/FONT]
335. and their venom is called neurotoxic.
[FONT=宋体]它们的毒液称为神经毒素。[/FONT]
336. Vipers (adders) and rattlesnakes manufacture the blood poison,
[FONT=宋体]蝰蛇（蝮蛇）和响尾蛇产生血液毒素，[/FONT]
337. which is known as haemolytic.
[FONT=宋体]称为溶血性毒液。[/FONT]
338. Both poisons are unpleasant,
[FONT=宋体]这两种毒液都很可怕，[/FONT]
339. but by far the more unpleasant is the blood poison.
[FONT=宋体]但溶血性毒液尤其厉害。[/FONT]
340. It is said that the nerve poison is the more primitive of the two,
[FONT=宋体]据说，神经毒液在两种毒液中是较为原始的一种，[/FONT]
341. that the blood poison is, so to speak, a newer product from an improved formula.
[FONT=宋体]而溶血性毒液，打个比方说，是根据改良配方生产的一种较新的产品。[/FONT]
342. Be that as it may, the nerve poison does its business with man far more quickly than the blood poison.
[FONT=宋体]不过，神经毒辣液比溶血性毒液在人身上起作用快得多。[/FONT]
343. This, however, means nothing.
[FONT=宋体]但是，这没有什么关系，[/FONT]
344. Snakes did not acquire their poison for use against man
[FONT=宋体]因为蛇有毒液不是用来对付人的，[/FONT]
345. but for use against prey such as rats and mice,
[FONT=宋体]而是对付它的猎物，诸如鼠类，[/FONT]
346. and the effects on these of viperine poison is almost immediate.
[FONT=宋体]毒液对这些猎物会立刻起作用。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 21 William S. hart and the early ‘Western’ film 威廉.S. 哈特和早期的‘西部’影片

347. William S. hart was, perhaps, the greatest of all Western stars,
[FONT=宋体]威廉[/FONT].S.[FONT=宋体]哈特大概是美国西部电影明星中的佼佼者。[/FONT]
348. fro unlike Gary Cooper and John Wayne
[FONT=宋体]他和加里[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]古柏、约翰[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]韦恩不同，[/FONT]
349. he appeared in nothing but Westerns.
[FONT=宋体]他只在西部电影中扮演角色。[/FONT]
350. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged.
[FONT=宋体]在[/FONT]1914[FONT=宋体]年至[/FONT]1924[FONT=宋体]年期间，他首屈一指，独霸影坛。[/FONT]
351. It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film,
[FONT=宋体]正是他创造了西部电影的基调，[/FONT]
352. and devised the protagonist he played in every film he made,
[FONT=宋体]即在他自己的拍摄的影片中他所塑造的主人公形象：[/FONT]
353. the good-bad man, the accidental-noble outlaw,
[FONT=宋体]被认为是坏人的好人，出人意料的高尚的逃犯，[/FONT]
354. or the honest-but-framed cowboy, or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip;
[FONT=宋体]诚实却遭陷害的牛仔或因流言蜚语蒙受嫌疑的司法官。[/FONT]
355. in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his frontier environment.
[FONT=宋体]总之，主人公是一个自相矛盾，又与他的拓荒环境相矛盾的人物。[/FONT]
356. Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood,
[FONT=宋体]哈特与大部分同时代在好莱坞的演员不同，[/FONT]
357. Hart actually knew something of the old West.
[FONT=宋体]他确实了解西部早期拓荒生活的一些情况。[/FONT]
358. He had lived in it as a child when it was already disappearing,
[FONT=宋体]作为一个孩子他曾在西部生活过，当时西部拓荒生活正在消失。[/FONT]
359. and his hero was firmly rooted in his memories and experiences,
[FONT=宋体]他塑造的英雄人物深深地扎根于他本人的记忆和经历之中，[/FONT]
360. and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier.
[FONT=宋体]也扎根于有关已经消失的拓荒生活的历史和神话之中。[/FONT]
361. And although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized,
[FONT=宋体]虽然在美国历史上没有任何时期或地区像西部拓荒时期那样被荒谬地浪漫主义化了，[/FONT]
362. myth and reality did join hands in at least one arena,
[FONT=宋体]但神话和事实至少在某一个舞台上共存，[/FONT]
363. the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.
[FONT=宋体]也就是存在于个人与渐渐闯入的文明这两者的冲突之中。[/FONT]
364. Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians were bewildered by politicians, bankers and businessmen,
[FONT=宋体]习惯与大自然和印第安人作斗争以求生存的拓荒者被政客、银行家和商人搞得晕头转向，[/FONT]
365. and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos.
[FONT=宋体]最后被圈地、尖律我外来的清规戒律所击败。[/FONT]
366. Hart's good-bad man was always an outsider,
[FONT=宋体]哈特扮演的被误为坏人的好人总是一个局外人，[/FONT]
367. always one of the disinherited,
[FONT=宋体]总是一个被剥夺继承权的人。[/FONT]
368. and if he found it necessary to shoot a sheriff or rob a bank along the way,
[FONT=宋体]如果他认为在进行过程中有必要枪击一个司法官或抢劫一个银行，[/FONT]
369. his early audiences found it easy to understand and forgive,
[FONT=宋体]他的早期观众很容易接受，觉得应该原谅他，[/FONT]
370. especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.
[FONT=宋体]特别是当哈特最后战胜了前来进攻的印第安人时，观众更能原谅他。[/FONT]
371. Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century
[FONT=宋体]生活在[/FONT]20[FONT=宋体]世纪[/FONT]20[FONT=宋体]年代的观众认为，[/FONT]
372. found it pleasant to escape to a time when life,though hard, was relatively simple.
[FONT=宋体]逃到一个即使艰苦但比较简朴的时代中去是件愉快的事，[/FONT]
373. We still do;
[FONT=宋体]我们今天仍有这种感觉。[/FONT]
374. living in a world in which undeclared aggression, war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives,
[FONT=宋体]如今，不宣而战的侵略、战争、虚伪、诈骗、无政府状态以及即将临头的毁灭成了我们日常生活的一部分，[/FONT]
375. we all want a code to live by.
[FONT=宋体]我们都希望有一个赖以生存的行为准则。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 22 Knowledge and progress 知识和进步

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
376. Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world?
[FONT=宋体]为什么进步这个概念在现代世界显得如此突出？[/FONT]
377. Surely progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest.
[FONT=宋体]无疑是因为有一种特殊的进步实际上正在我们周围发生，而且变得越来越明显。[/FONT]
378. Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality,
[FONT=宋体]虽然人类有智力和道德上没有得到普遍提高，[/FONT]
379. it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge.
[FONT=宋体]但在知识积累方面却取得了巨大的进步。[/FONT]
380. Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech.
[FONT=宋体]人一旦能用语言同别人交流思想，知识的积累便开始了。[/FONT]
381. With the invention of writing, a great advance was made, for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored.
[FONT=宋体]随着书写的发明，又迈进了一大步，因为这样一来，知识不仅能交流，而且能储存了。[/FONT]
382. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries:
[FONT=宋体]藏书使教育成为可能，而教育反过来又丰富了藏书，[/FONT]
383. the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law,
[FONT=宋体]因为知识的增长遵循着一种“滚雪球”的规律。[/FONT]
384. which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing.
[FONT=宋体]印刷术的发明又大大提高了知识增长的速度。[/FONT]
385. All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised.
[FONT=宋体]所有这些发展都比较缓慢，而随着科学的到来，增长的速度才突然加快。[/FONT]
386. Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan.
[FONT=宋体]于是，知识便开始有系统有计划地积累起来。[/FONT]
387. The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent.
[FONT=宋体]涓涓细流汇成小溪，小溪现已变成了奔腾的江河。[/FONT]
388. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account.
[FONT=宋体]而且，新知识一旦获得，便得到实际应用。[/FONT]
389. What is called 'modern civilization' is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature.
[FONT=宋体]所谓“现代文明”并不是人的天性平衡发展的结果，[/FONT]
390. but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life.
[FONT=宋体]而是积累起来的知识应用到实际生活中的结果。[/FONT]
391. The problem now facing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge?
[FONT=宋体]现在人类面临的问题是：用这些知识去做什么？[/FONT]
392. As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil.
[FONT=宋体]正像人们常常指出的，知识是一把双刃刀，可以用于造福，也可以用来为害。[/FONT]
393. It is now being used indifferently for both.
[FONT=宋体]人们现在正漫不经心地把知识用于这两个方面，[/FONT]
394. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power, continues.
[FONT=宋体]例如：炮兵利用科学毁坏人的身体、而外科医生就在附近用科学抢救被炮兵毁坏的人体，还有什么情景比这更可怕、更怪诞的吗？我们不得不严肃地问问我们自己：随着日益增长的知识的力量，如果我们继续利用知识的这种双重性，将会发生什么样的情况呢？[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 23 Bird flight 鸟的飞行方法

395. No two sorts of birds practise quite the same sort of flight;
[FONT=宋体]没有任何两种鸟的飞行方式是相同的。[/FONT]
396. the varieties are infinite; but two classes may be roughly seen.
[FONT=宋体]鸟的飞行方式千差万别，但大体上可分为两类。[/FONT]
397. Any shi that crosses the Pacific is accompanied for many days by the smaller albatross,
[FONT=宋体]任何一艘横度太平洋的轮船都会有一种小信天翁伴随飞行许多天。[/FONT]
398. Which may keep company with the vessel for an hour without visible or more than occasional movement of wing.
[FONT=宋体]它们随船飞行一小时也难得见其扇动一下翅膀。[/FONT]
399. The currents of air that the walls of the ship direct upwards, as well as in the line of its course, are enough to give the great bird with its immense wings sufficient sustenance and progress.
[FONT=宋体]沿船体的上升的气流和沿航线向前的气流给这种巨翼大鸟以足够的浮力和推力。[/FONT]
400. The albatross is the king of the gliders,
[FONT=宋体]信天翁是滑翔飞行的鸟类之王，[/FONT]
401. the class of fliers which harness the air to their purpose, but must yield to its opposition.
[FONT=宋体]它能自如地驾驭空气，但必须顺气流飞行。[/FONT]
402. In the contrary school, the duck is supreme.
[FONT=宋体]与滑翔鸟相对的另一类鸟中，数野鸭本领最高。[/FONT]
403. It comes nearer to the engines with which man has 'conquered' the air, as he boasts.
[FONT=宋体]它更近乎于人类自夸的“征服”了空气的发动机。[/FONT]
404. Duck, and like them the pigeons, are endowed with such-like muscles,
[FONT=宋体]野鸭及它们相似的鸽子有天赋的钢铁般的肌肉，[/FONT]
405. that are a good part of the weight of the bird,
[FONT=宋体]占了体重的很大一部分。[/FONT]
406. and these will ply the short wings with such irresistible power that they can bore for long distances through an opposing gale before exhaustion follows.
[FONT=宋体]这些肌肉以巨大的力量扇动短小的翅膀，使这类鸟能顶着大风飞行很远的路才会疲劳。[/FONT]
407. Their humbler followers, such as partridges, have a like power of strong propulsion, but soon tire.
[FONT=宋体]次于野鸭和鸽子的鸟，如鹧鸪，有相似的巨大推动力，但很快会疲劳。[/FONT]
408. You may pick them up in utter exhaustion, if wind over the sea has driven them to a long journey.
[FONT=宋体]如果海风驱使它们飞行很长距离，你可以捡到一些因筋疲力尽而摔下来的鹧鸪。[/FONT]
409. The swallow shares the virtues of both schools in highest measure.
[FONT=宋体]燕子充分兼有这两类鸟的长处，[/FONT]
410. It tires not, nor does it boast of its power;
[FONT=宋体]它既不疲劳，也不炫耀自己的飞翔力；[/FONT]
411. but belongs to the air, travelling it may be six thousand miles to and from its northern nesting home, feeding its flown young as it flies,
[FONT=宋体]在空中十分自如，可以飞行[/FONT]6[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT]000[FONT=宋体]英里，可以飞往北方做窝的老家，再从老家飞回；一边飞一边喂养会飞的雏燕，甚至在顶风时也能在气流中滑翔，似乎气流在帮它前进。这些鸟对我们是有益的，[/FONT]
412. and slipping through we no longer take omens from their flight on this side and that;
[FONT=宋体]虽然我们不再从它们的飞翔姿态来占卜吉凶，[/FONT]
413. and even the most superstitious villagers no longer take off their hats to the magpie and wish it good-morning.
[FONT=宋体]连最迷信的村民也不再对喜鹊脱帽行礼，祝它早安了。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 24 Beauty 美

414. A young man sees a sunset and, unable to understand or to express the emotion that it rouses in him, concludes that it must be the gateway to world that lies beyond.
[FONT=宋体]一个年轻人看到日落，由于无法理解和表达日落在他心中唤起的激情，便得出结论：日落处想必是通往遥远世界的大门。[/FONT]
415. It is difficult for any of us in moments of intense aesthetic experience to resist the suggestion that we are catching a glimpse of a light that shines down to us from a different realm of existence,
[FONT=宋体]无论是谁，在强烈感受到美的时刻，心中都不禁油生一种遐想：我们似乎瞥见从另一个世界射向我们的一线光芒，[/FONT]
416. different and, because the experience is intensely moving, in some way higher.
[FONT=宋体]那个世界不仅不同于我们这个世界，而且由于美感的强烈感染，在某些方面比我们这个世界更美好。[/FONT]
417. And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet do they convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined.
[FONT=宋体]虽然这光芒令人眼花缭乱，但它确实给予我们一种不曾经历和无法想象的美感和静谧的启示。[/FONT]
418. Greater too than we can describe;
[FONT=宋体]这种美感和静谧是我们无法描述的，[/FONT]
419. for language, which was invented to convey the meanings of this world, cannot readily be fitted to the uses of another.
[FONT=宋体]因为我们发明的语言是用来描述这个世界的含义，不能随便拿来去描述另一个世界。[/FONT]
420. That all great has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable.
[FONT=宋体]不可否认，一切伟大的艺术都具有使人遐想到进入天外世界的魅力。[/FONT]
421. In some moods, Nature shares it.
[FONT=宋体]在某种状态下，大自然也有这种魅力。[/FONT]
422. There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer,
[FONT=宋体]六月蔚蓝的天空总使人遥想一个更加蔚蓝的苍穹；[/FONT]
423. no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a greater beauty, a vision which passes before it is fully glimpsed, and in passing leaves and indefinable longing and regret.
[FONT=宋体]美丽的落日总会引起一个更加绚丽的景象未及饱览便一闪即逝，并在消逝中给人留下不可名状的渴望和惆怅。[/FONT]
424. But, if this world is not merely a bad joke, life a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars,
[FONT=宋体]如果这个世界不只是一个拙劣的恶作剧，如果人生不只是群星寒光中平凡的一闪，[/FONT]
425. and existence an empty laugh braying across the mysteries;
[FONT=宋体]如果存在不只是对神秘事物的一种空虚的笑声，[/FONT]
426. if these intimations of a something behind and beyond are not evil humour born of indigestion, or whimsies sent by the devil to mock and madden us.
[FONT=宋体]如果某种玄妙事物的暗示不是消化不良引起的邪恶情绪，也不是魔鬼为了捉弄我们，使我们发狂而送给我们的邪念，[/FONT]
427. if, in a word, beauty means something, yet we must not seek to interpret the meaning.
[FONT=宋体]一句话，如果美有某种意义的话，我闪千万不要去阐明它的意义。[/FONT]
428. If we glimpse the unutterable, it is unwise to try to utter it,
[FONT=宋体]如果我瞥见了只可意会不可言传的事物，企图把它说出来，那上不明智的；[/FONT]
429. nor should we seek to invest with significance that which we cannot grasp.
[FONT=宋体]对于我们不理解的事物，我们也不应该去赋予它某种意义。[/FONT]
430. Beauty in terms of our human meanings is meaningless.
[FONT=宋体]用对我们人类有意义的词解释美是没有意义的。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 25 Non-auditory effects of noise 噪音的非听觉效应

431. Many people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise,
[FONT=宋体]在工业部门工作和在军队中服役的许多人对噪声音有切身的体会，[/FONT]
432. regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time;
[FONT=宋体]他们认为对这个问题进行调查中浪费时间，[/FONT]
433. they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people.
[FONT=宋体]甚至不愿承认噪音可能对人有影响。[/FONT]
434. On the other hand,those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society.
[FONT=宋体]另一方面，[/FONT]
435. those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society.
[FONT=宋体]那些讨厌噪音的人有时会用不充分的证据来支持他们希望有一个较为安静的社会环境的要求。[/FONT]
436. This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with had science.
[FONT=宋体]要求减少噪音是件好事，但是如果与拙劣的科学掺杂在一起的话，就不会被人们所信任，这是很遗憾的。[/FONT]
437. One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness.
[FONT=宋体]常见的一种指责是，噪音能引起精神病。[/FONT]
438. A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress,
[FONT=宋体]例如，最近一家周报刊登了一篇文章，文章上方有一幅引人注目的插图，是一位表情沮丧的女子。[/FONT]
439. with the caption 'She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck'.
[FONT=宋体]图的文字说明：“她是又一个受害者，成了只会尖叫的可怜虫。”[/FONT]
440. On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital.
[FONT=宋体]当人们急切地看完正文后，便知道这女子是个打字员，办公室打字机的声音使她越来越烦，最终住进了精神病医院。[/FONT]
441. Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that one merely a symptom?
[FONT=宋体]这类奇闻的疑难之处是无法区别因果关系。是噪音引起了（精神）病呢，还是（精神）病的症状之一是对噪音的抱怨？[/FONT]
442. Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her,
[FONT=宋体]另有一位病人可能同样有理由抱怨说，她的邻居们正在联合起来对她进行诽谤和迫害，[/FONT]
443. and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
[FONT=宋体]不过，人们不会轻信她的抱怨。[/FONT]
444. What is needed in case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions,
[FONT=宋体]对于噪音问题，需要对大量生活在噪音中的人进行研究，[/FONT]
445. to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are.
[FONT=宋体]看一看他们是否比其他人更易患精神病。[/FONT]
446. Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers:
[FONT=宋体]例如，美国海军前些时候调查了许多在航空母航上工作的人，[/FONT]
447. the study was known as Project Anehin.
[FONT=宋体]这次调查被称之为：“安内英工程”。[/FONT]
448. It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome;
[FONT=宋体]即使住在离机场几英里以外的地方，机场的噪音也会使人难受。[/FONT]
449. if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft,
[FONT=宋体]因此，如果你能想像出和几个中队的喷气机同在一个甲板上是什么滋味儿的话，[/FONT]
450. you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise.
[FONT=宋体]你就会认识到现代海军是研究噪音的好地方。[/FONT]
451. But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors.
[FONT=宋体]但是，不管进行精神病学的调查访问，还是进行客观的测试，都不能显示噪音对这些美国水兵有任何影响。[/FONT]
452. This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies:
[FONT=宋体]这个结果只不过证实了美国和英国早些时候的研究结论：[/FONT]
453. if there is any effect of noise upon mental health,
[FONT=宋体]如果噪音对精神健康有影响的话，[/FONT]
454. it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it.
[FONT=宋体]那也一定是微乎其微，以致现代的精神病诊断方法还发现不了。[/FONT]
455. That does not prove that it does exist:
[FONT=宋体]这并不是证实不存在噪音对健康的影响。[/FONT]
456. but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage -- which really is mental health hazard.
[FONT=宋体]但它确实说明，噪音的危险性[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]比如说[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]比在孤儿院长大所受的危害要小一些，孤儿院才是真正危害精神健康的地方。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 26 The past life of the earth 地球上的昔日生命

457. It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be preserved,
[FONT=宋体]只有生活在水中或水边的动植物尸体最有可能被保存下来，[/FONT]
458. for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial,
[FONT=宋体]因为保存的必要条件之一是迅速掩埋，[/FONT]
459. and it is only in the seas and rivers, and sometimes lakes,
[FONT=宋体]所以只有在泥沙不停淤积的海洋和江河里，有时在湖泊里，[/FONT]
460. where mud and sit have been continuously deposited, that bodies and the can be rapidly covered over and preserved.
[FONT=宋体]尸体之类的东西才能被迅速地覆盖而保存下来。[/FONT]
461. But even in the most favourable circumstances
[FONT=宋体]即使是在最有利的环境中，[/FONT]
462. only a small fraction of the creatures that die are preserved in this way before decay sets in or, even more likely, before scavengers eat them.
[FONT=宋体]死去的生物中也只有一小部分能在开始腐烂前，或更可能在被食腐动物吃掉之前，被这样保存下来。[/FONT]
463. After all, all living creatures live by feeding on something else,
[FONT=宋体]因为一切生物都是靠吃别的东西来活命的，[/FONT]
464. whether it be plant or animal, dead or alive,
[FONT=宋体]不管这种东西是植物还是动物，死的还是活的，[/FONT]
465. and it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided.
[FONT=宋体]因此，生物偶尔才能避免被吃掉的命运。[/FONT]
466. The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved,
[FONT=宋体]曾在陆地上生活过的动植物的遗体被保存下来的更为罕见，[/FONT]
467. for there is seldom anything to cover them over.
[FONT=宋体]因为陆地上几乎没有什么东西覆盖它们。[/FONT]
468. When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying bout,
[FONT=宋体]你可以想象出天上有看得见的飞来飞去、数不清的鸟，[/FONT]
469. not to mention the equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see,
[FONT=宋体]地上有不显眼的无数的老鼠和田鼠之类的小动物，[/FONT]
470. it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads.
[FONT=宋体]但是，除非在路上，很少有人遇到这些动物的尸体，[/FONT]
471. They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other creature.
[FONT=宋体]因为它们腐败之后很快就被风化掉，或被别的动物吃掉了。[/FONT]
472. It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive,
[FONT=宋体]几乎总是由于某些特殊的条件，陆地动物的遗体才被存下来，[/FONT]
473. as by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse,
[FONT=宋体]如掉进难以到达的洞穴，或掉进冰河裂缝里，[/FONT]
474. like the Siberian mammoths, when the whole animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator.
[FONT=宋体]或者像西伯利亚长毛象那样掉进冰窟中，有时整个动物像被放在冰箱里一样被保存下来，[/FONT]
475. This is what happened to the famous Beresovka mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition.
[FONT=宋体]著名的那林索夫卡长毛象就是这样被保存下来的，而且保存得很好。[/FONT]
476. In his mouth were the remains of fir trees -- the last meal that he had before he fell into the crevasse and broke his back.
[FONT=宋体]它嘴里还留着冷杉[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]它掉进冰河裂隙折断脊椎柱之前的最后一顿饭。[/FONT]
477. The mammoth has now just a suburb of Los Angeles.
[FONT=宋体]这头长毛象已被修复，现存于圣彼得堡古生物学博物馆。[/FONT]
478. Apparently what happened was that water collected on these tar pits, and the bigger animals like the elephants ventured out on to the apparently firm surface to drink, and were promptly bogged in the tar.
[FONT=宋体]有的动物掉进天然沥清坑里被保存下来，如在兰桥[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]拉[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]布里[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]现在是洛杉矶的郊区发现的大象、剑齿虎和许多其他动物。显然，事情的经过是这样：沥青坑里积存了水，大象那样的大动物冒险到似乎坚固的水面上去饮水，立即掉进了沥青坑。[/FONT]
479. And then, when they were dead, the carnivores, like the sabre-toothed cats and the giant wolves, came out to feed and suffered exactly the same fate.
[FONT=宋体]大象死后，一些食肉动物，如剑齿虎和大灰狼就来吃大象，结果遭到了同样的命运。[/FONT]
480. There are also endless numbers of birds in the tar as well.
[FONT=宋体]沥青坑里还有无数只鸟的尸体。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 27 The ‘Vasa’ “瓦萨”号

481. From the seventeenth-century empire of Sweden, the story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea.
1628[FONT=宋体]年，一艘大帆船在处女航时就沉没了，这个从容不迫[/FONT]7[FONT=宋体]世纪瑞典帝国流传至今的故事无疑是航海史上最离奇的事件之一。[/FONT]
482. For nearly three and a half centuries she lay at the bottom of Stockholm harbour until her discovery in 1956.
[FONT=宋体]这艘大船在斯德哥尔摩港口的海底躺了将近几年来个世纪之后，直到[/FONT]1956[FONT=宋体]年才被发现。[/FONT]
483. This was the Vasa, royal flagship of the great imperial fleet.
[FONT=宋体]这就是“瓦萨”号，帝国大舰的皇家旗舰。[/FONT]
484. King Gustavus Adolphus, 'The Northern Hurricane', then at the height of his military success in the Thirty Years' War, had dictated her measurements and armament.
[FONT=宋体]当时号称“北方飓风”的国王古斯夫斯[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]阿道尔弗正处在“三十年战争”的军事鼎盛阶段，他亲自规定了这艘船的规模和武器配备。[/FONT]
485. Triple gun-decks mounted sixty-four bronze cannon.
3[FONT=宋体]层的火炮甲板上装着眼点[/FONT]4[FONT=宋体]门青铜加农炮，[/FONT]
486. She was intended to play a leading role in the growing might of Sweden.
[FONT=宋体]目的就是要在不断增长的瑞典势力中起主导作用。[/FONT]
487. As she was prepared of her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, Stockholm was in a ferment.
1628[FONT=宋体]年[/FONT]8[FONT=宋体]月[/FONT]10[FONT=宋体]日，“瓦萨”号准备首航时，斯德哥尔摩一片欢腾。[/FONT]
488. From the Skeppsbron and surrounding islands the people watched this thing of beauty begin to spread her sails and catch the wind.
[FONT=宋体]人们从斯开波斯布朗和周围的岛屿前来观着这艘美丽的战船扬帆起航，乘风前进。[/FONT]
489. They had laboured for three years to produce this floating work of art;
[FONT=宋体]瑞典人辛辛苦苦干了[/FONT]3[FONT=宋体]年才建成这件水上艺术品，[/FONT]
490. she was more richly carved and ornamented than any previous ship.
[FONT=宋体]它比以往任何船只雕刻得都更加精美，装饰得都更加华丽。[/FONT]
491. The high stern castle was a riot of carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs;
[FONT=宋体]高耸的船楼上雕刻了令人眼花缭乱的神仙、妖魔、骑士、国王、武士、美人鱼和小天使，[/FONT]
492. and zoomorphic animal shapes ablaze with rea and gold and blue, symbols of courage, power, and cruelty,
[FONT=宋体]还有用红色、金黄色、蓝色绘制的光彩夺目的兽形图案，象征着勇敢、力量和残暴，[/FONT]
493. were portrayed to stir the imaginations of the superstitious sailors of the day.
[FONT=宋体]以激起汉时崇尚迷信的水手们的想像。[/FONT]
494. Then the cannons of the anchored warships thundered a salute to which the Vasa fired in reply.
[FONT=宋体]这时，停泊在港口的其他战船向“瓦萨”号鸣炮致礼，“瓦萨”号也鸣炮回礼。[/FONT]
495. As the emerged from her drifting cloud of gun smoke with the water churned to foam beneath her bow, her flags colour,she presented a more majestic spectacle than Stockholmers had ever seen before.
[FONT=宋体]当“瓦萨”号从弥漫的礼炮烟云中出现时，船头下浪花加溅，舰旗迎风招展，三角旗随风飘动，微风鼓起风帆，金碧辉煌的船楼闪耀着灿烂的色彩。“瓦萨”号展现的壮观景象是斯德哥尔摩人从未见过的。船上的炮眼开着，炮口虎视眈眈地向外窥视着。[/FONT]
496. As the wind freshened there came a sudden squall and the ship made a strange movement, listing to port.
[FONT=宋体]当风力增强时，突然刮来一阵大风，“瓦萨”号奇怪地摇晃了一下，便向左舷倾斜。[/FONT]
497. The Ordnance Officer ordered all the port cannon to be heaved to starboard to counteract the list,
[FONT=宋体]炮长命令把左舷上所有大炮搬到右舷上来以抵消船的倾斜，[/FONT]
498. but the steepening angle of the decks increased.
[FONT=宋体]但甲板的倾斜度仍在增加。[/FONT]
499. Then the sound of rumbling thunder reached the watchers on the shore, as cargo, ballast, ammunition and 400 people went sliding and crashing down to the port side of the steeply listing ship.
[FONT=宋体]当物口、压舱物、弹药和[/FONT]400[FONT=宋体]个人轰地一声滑向陡斜的左舷时，岸上的观众听到了雷鸣般的轰响。[/FONT]
500. The lower gun-ports were now below water and the inrush sealed the ship's fate.
[FONT=宋体]下层炮眼已淹没在水里，涌进船舱的水给“瓦萨”号带来了难以逃脱的厄运。[/FONT]
501. In that first glorious hour, the mighty Vasa, which was intended to rule the Baltic, sank with all flags flying-in the harbour of her birth.
[FONT=宋体]就这样，想要统治波罗的海的大型战舰“瓦萨”号，在它壮丽的起航时刻，带着全身飘扬的彩旗，沉没在了它诞生的港口。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 28 Patients and doctors 病人与医生

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
502. This is a sceptical age,
[FONT=宋体]这是一个怀疑一切的时代，[/FONT]
503. but although our faith in many of the things in which our forefathers fervently believed has weakened,
[FONT=宋体]可是虽然我们对我们祖先笃信的许多事物已不太相信，[/FONT]
504. our confidence in the curative properties of the bottle of medicine remains the same a theirs.
[FONT=宋体]我们对瓶装药品疗效的信心仍与祖辈一样坚定。[/FONT]
505. This modern faith in medicines is proved the fact that the annual drug bill of the Health Services is mounting to astronomical figures and shows no signs at present of ceasing to rise.
[FONT=宋体]卫生部门的处度药费上升到了天文数字，并且目前尚无停止上升的迹象，这个事实证实了现代人对药物的依赖。[/FONT]
506. The majority of the patients attending the medical out-patients departments of our hospitals feel
[FONT=宋体]在医院门诊部看病的大多数人觉得，[/FONT]
507. that they have not received adequate treatment unless they are able to carry home with them some tangible remedy in the shape of a bottle of medicine,
[FONT=宋体]如果不能带回一些看得见、摸得着的药物，如一瓶药水，一盒药丸、一小瓶药膏回家的话，就没算得到了充分的治疗。[/FONT]
508. a box of pills, or a small jar of ointment,and the doctor in charge of the department is only too ready to provide them with these requirements.
[FONT=宋体]负责门诊的医生也非常乐意为前来看病的人提供他们想要得到的药物，[/FONT]
509. There is no quicker method of disposing of patients then by giving them what they are asking for,
[FONT=宋体]病人要什么就给什么，没有比这样处理病人更快的方法了。[/FONT]
510. and since most medical men in the Health Services are overworked
[FONT=宋体]因为卫生部门的大多数医生超负荷工作，[/FONT]
511. and have little time for offering time-consuming and little-appreciated advice on such subjects as
[FONT=宋体]所以没有多少时间提出一些既费时而又不受人欢迎的忠告，比如[/FONT]
512. diet, right living, and the need for abandoning bad habits etc., the bottle, the box, and the jar are almost always granted them.
[FONT=宋体]注意饮食、生活有规律，需要克服坏习惯等等，结果就是把瓶药、盒药、罐药开给看病的人而完事大吉。[/FONT]
513. Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who was such faith in the bottle of medicine.
[FONT=宋体]并不只是那些无知和没受过良好教育的人才迷信药瓶子。[/FONT]
514. It is recounted of Thomas Carlyle that when him in his pocket what remained of a bottle of medicine formerly prescribed for an indisposition of Mrs. Carlyle's.
[FONT=宋体]据说托马斯[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]卡莱尔有过这么一件事：他听说朋友亨利[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]泰勒病了，就立刻跑去看他，衣袋里装上了他妻子不舒服时吃剩下的一瓶药。[/FONT]
515. Carlyle was entirely ignorant of what the bottle in his pocket contained,
[FONT=宋体]卡莱尔不知道药瓶子里装的是什么药，[/FONT]
516. of the nature of the illness from which his friend was suffering,
[FONT=宋体]不知道他的朋友得的是什么病，[/FONT]
517. and of what had previously been wrong with his wife,
[FONT=宋体]也不知道妻子以前得的是什么病，[/FONT]
518. but a medicine that had worked so well in one form of illness would surely be of equal benefit in another,
[FONT=宋体]只知道一种药对一种病有好处，肯定对另一种病也会有好处。[/FONT]
519. and comforted by the thought of the help he was bringing to his friend, he hastened to Henry Taylor's house.
[FONT=宋体]想到能对朋友有所帮助，他感到很欣慰，于是急急忙忙来到了亨利[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]泰勒的家里，[/FONT]
520. History does not relate whether his friend accepted his medical help, but in all probability he did.
[FONT=宋体]他的朋友是否接受了他的药物治疗，历史没有记载，但很可能接受了。[/FONT]
521. The great advantage of taking medicine is that it makes no demands on the taker beyond that of putting up for a moment with a disgusting taste,
[FONT=宋体]服药的最大优点是：除了暂时忍受一下令人作呕的味道外，对服药人别无其他要求。[/FONT]
522. and that is what all patients demand of their doctors -- to be cured at no inconvenience to themselves.
[FONT=宋体]这也正是病人对医生的要求[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]病要治好，但不要太麻烦。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 29 The hovercraft 气垫船

523. Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century,
[FONT=宋体]本世纪已研制出许多新奇的交通工具，[/FONT]
524. the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft.
[FONT=宋体]其中最新奇的要数气垫船了。[/FONT]
525. In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell,
1953[FONT=宋体]年，有一位[/FONT]50[FONT=宋体]多岁名叫克里斯托弗[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]科克雷的原电子工程师，[/FONT]
526. who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads,
[FONT=宋体]改行在诺福克郡的湖泊地区从事造船业，[/FONT]
527. suggested an idea on which he had been working for many years to the British Government and industrial circles.
[FONT=宋体]他向英国政府和工业界提出了他研究多年的一项计划。[/FONT]
528. It was the idea of supporting a craft on a 'pad', or cushion, of low-pressure air, ringed with a curtain of higher pressure air.
[FONT=宋体]他的设想是：用一个低压空气或软垫来支撑船体，软垫周围用高压空气环绕。[/FONT]
529. Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes, or land vehicles -- for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft.
[FONT=宋体]自那以后，人们很难决定是否应该将这种运载工具列为轮船、飞机，或是陆上交通工具，因为它是介于船和飞机之间。[/FONT]
530. As a shipbuilder, Cockerell was trying to find a solution to the problem of the wave resistance which wastes a good deal of a surface ship's power and limits its speed.
[FONT=宋体]作为一个船舶技师，科克雷尔在寻找解决波浪阻力的方法，因为波浪阻力浪费掉了船在水面行驶的大量动力，从而限制了船的速度。[/FONT]
531. His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft.
[FONT=宋体]他的解决办法是把船体提离水面，让船在一个气垫上行驶，气垫只有一两英尺厚。船底装上大量环状喷气嘴以实现这一目的。[/FONT]
532. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher -- its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.
[FONT=宋体]这样，船就能飞了，但飞不高。它的飞行限决于它所悬浮的水面或地面。[/FONT]
533. The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation.
1959[FONT=宋体]年，在苏伦特海峡进行的首次试航引起了轰动，[/FONT]
534. The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road.
[FONT=宋体]气垫船先是在水面上行驶，后又登上海岸，爬上沙丘，最后停在路上。[/FONT]
535. Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.
[FONT=宋体]后来气垫船跨越英吉利海峡，平衡地在波浪上方行驶，波浪不再产生阻力。[/FONT]
536. Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service.
[FONT=宋体]从那以后，各种各样的气垫船出现了，并开始了定期航行服务。[/FONT]
537. The hovercraft is particularly useful in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia;
[FONT=宋体]气垫船在非洲、澳大利亚等交通不发达地区特别有用。[/FONT]
538. it can become a 'flying fruit-bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports;
[FONT=宋体]它能成为“飞行水果盘子”，把香蕉从种植园动到港口。[/FONT]
539. giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic;
[FONT=宋体]大型的气垫班轮或许能跨越大西洋。[/FONT]
540. and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain',
[FONT=宋体]未来的火车或许能成为“气垫火车”，[/FONT]
541. riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h.
[FONT=宋体]靠气垫在单轨上行驶而不接触轨道，时速可达每小时[/FONT]300[FONT=宋体]英里。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 30 Exploring the sea-floor 海底勘探

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
542. Our knowledge of the oceans a hundred years ago was confined to the two-dimensional shape of the sea surface and the hazards of navigation presented by the irregularities in depth of the shallow water close to the land.
100[FONT=宋体]年前，我们只知道海洋是二维平面形的，以及靠近陆地浅水区的深浅不一能给航行带来危险。[/FONT]
543. The open sea was deep and mysterious, and anyone who gave more than a passing thought to the bottom confines of the oceans probably assumed that the sea bad was flat.
[FONT=宋体]无边无际的海洋深邃而又神秘，凡是稍稍想过大海海底的人大概都会认为海底是平坦的。[/FONT]
544. Sir James Clark Ross had obtained a sounding of over 2,400 fathoms in 1839, but it was not until of deep soundings was obtained in the Atlantic and the first samples were collected by dredging the bottom.
1839[FONT=宋体]年，詹姆斯[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]克拉克[/FONT].[FONT=宋体]罗斯爵士曾测得海水深度超过[/FONT]2[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT]400[FONT=宋体]英寻；但直到[/FONT]1869[FONT=宋体]年，皇家学会用英国“豪猪”号舰艇进行了几次巡航后，才在大西洋测得一个海水深度，同时能过挖掘海底，取得了研究海底的首批样品。[/FONT]
545. Shortly after this the famous H. M. S. Challenger expedition established the study of the sea-floor as a subject worthy of the most qualified physicists and geologists.
[FONT=宋体]此后不久，英国著名的“挑战者”号舰艇对海底的那次考察，把对海床的研究确立为一个值得一流物理学家和地质学家从事的研究课题，[/FONT]
546. A burst of activity associated with the laying of submarine cables soon confirmed the challenger's observation that many parts of the ocean were two to there miles deep,
[FONT=宋体]铺设海底电缆的热潮很快证实了“挑战者”号的观察结果：海洋中很多地方可深达两三英里，[/FONT]
547. and the existence of underwater features of considerable magnitude.
[FONT=宋体]水下特征差异极大。[/FONT]
548. Today, enough soundings are available to enable a relief map of the Atlantic to be drawn and we know something of the great variety of the sea bed's topography.
[FONT=宋体]现在已有足够的水深测量数据来绘制一张大西洋洋底地形图，而且我对海底地形的千变万化也有了一定的了解。[/FONT]
549. Since the sea covers the greater part of the earth's surface,
[FONT=宋体]既然海洋覆盖着地球的大部分表面，[/FONT]
550. it is quite reasonable to regard the sea floor as the basic form of the crust of the earth, with, superimposed upon, it the continents, together with the islands and other features of the oceans.
[FONT=宋体]因此完全有理由把海床看作地壳的基本模壳，上面附加着大陆以及岛屿和海洋的其他形态。[/FONT]
551. The continents form rugged tablelands which stand nearly three miles above the floor of the open ocean.
[FONT=宋体]大陆是崎岖不平的高地，高出辽阔的海洋海底近三英里。[/FONT]
552. From the shore line, out a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles, runs the gentle slope of the continental shelf, geologically part of the continents.
[FONT=宋体]从海岸线向大海延伸几英里到几百英里的区域是大陆架慢坡，从地质学上来说，它是大陆的一部分。[/FONT]
553. The real dividing line between continents and oceans occurs at the foot a steeper slope.
[FONT=宋体]大陆和海洋的真正分界线是在陡破脚下。[/FONT]
554. This continental slope usually starts at a place somewhere near the 100-fatheom mark and in the course of a few hundred miles reaches the true ocean floor at 2,500-3,500 fathoms.
[FONT=宋体]大陆架慢坡一般是从差不多[/FONT]100[FONT=宋体]英寻水深的地方开始的，一直延伸到几百英里远深达[/FONT]2[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT]500[FONT=宋体]至[/FONT]3[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT]500[FONT=宋体]的地方，那里才是真正的海底。[/FONT]
555. The slope averages about 1 in 30.
[FONT=宋体]坡度平均约为[/FONT]1/30[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT]
556. but contains steep, probably vertical, cliffs, and gentle sediment-covered terraces,
[FONT=宋体]但其中包括陡峭的、乃至垂直的峭壁和沉积物覆盖的缓和的阶梯地带，[/FONT]
557. and near its lower reaches there is a long tailing-off which is almost certainly the result of material transported out to deep water after being eroded from the continental masses.
[FONT=宋体]在这个地带的低处是很长的一段尾沙地段，基本上可以断定这个地段是大陆块体上侵蚀下来的物质被水冲到深水处形成的。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 31 The sculptor speaks 雕塑家的语言

558. Appreciation of sculpture depends upon the ability to respond to form in there dimension.
[FONT=宋体]对雕塑的鉴赏力取决于对立体的反应能力。[/FONT]
559. That is perhaps why sculpture has been described as the most difficult of all arts;
[FONT=宋体]雕塑被说成是所有艺术中最难的艺术，可能就是这个道理。[/FONT]
560. certainly it is more difficult than the arts which involve appreciation of flat forms, shape in only two dimensions.
[FONT=宋体]欣赏雕塑品当然比欣赏平面的艺术品要难。“[/FONT]
561. Many more people are 'form-blind' than colour-blind.
[FONT=宋体]形盲”的人数比“色盲”的人数要多得多。[/FONT]
562. The child learning to see, first distinguishes only two-dimensional shape;
[FONT=宋体]正在学看东西的儿童起初只会分辨二维形态，[/FONT]
563. it cannot judge distances, depths. Later, for its personal safety and practical needs, it has to develop (partly by means of touch) the ability to judge roughly three-dimensonal distances.
[FONT=宋体]不会判断距离和深度。慢慢地，由于自身安全和实际需要，儿童必须发展（部分通过触觉）粗略判断三维空间距离的能力。[/FONT]
564. But having satisfied the requirements of practical necessity, most people go no further.
[FONT=宋体]但是。大部分人在满足了实际需要后，就不再继续发展这种能力了。[/FONT]
565. Though they may attain considerable accuracy in the perception of flat form,
[FONT=宋体]虽然他们对平面形的感觉能达到相当准确的程度，[/FONT]
566. they do not make the further intellectual and emotional effort needed to comprehend form in its full spatial existence.
[FONT=宋体]但他们没有在智力和感情上进一步努力去理解存在于空间的整个形态。[/FONT]
567. This is what the sculptor must do. He must strive continually to think of, and use, form in its full spatial completeness.
[FONT=宋体]而雕塑家就必须做到这一点。他必须勤于想像并且利用形体在空间中的完整性。[/FONT]
568. He gets the solid shape, as it were, inside his head-he thinks of it, whatever its size, as if he were holding it completely enclosed in the hollow of his hand.
[FONT=宋体]可以说，当他想像一个物体时，不管其大小如何，他脑子里得到的是一个立体的概念，就好像完全握在自己手心里一样。[/FONT]
569. He mentally visualizes a complex form from all round itself;
[FONT=宋体]他的大脑能从物体周围的各个角度勾画出其复杂的形象，[/FONT]
570. he knows while he looks at one side what the other side is like,
[FONT=宋体]他看物体的一边时，便知道另一边是个什么样子。[/FONT]
571. he identifies himself with its centre of gravity, its mass, its weight;
[FONT=宋体]他把自身和物体重心、质量、重量融为一体。[/FONT]
572. he realizes its volume, as the space that the shape displaces in the air.
[FONT=宋体]他能意识到物体的体积，那就是它的形状有空气中所占的空间。[/FONT]
573. And the sensitive observer of sculpture must also learn to feel shape simply as shape, not as description or reminiscence.
[FONT=宋体]因此，敏锐的雕塑观赏者也必须学会把形体作为形体来感觉，不要靠描述和印象去想象。[/FONT]
574. He must, for example, perceive an egg as a simple single solid shape, quite apart from its significance as food, or from the literary idea that it will become a bird.
[FONT=宋体]以鸟蛋为例。观赏者必须感觉到它是一个单一的实体形态，而完全不靠它的食用意义或它会变成鸟这样的文字概念来感觉。[/FONT]
575. And so with solids such as a shell, a nut, a plum, a pear, a tadpole, a mushroom, a mountain peak, a kidney, a carrot, a tree-trunk, a bird, a bud, a lark, a ladybird, a bulrush, a bone.
[FONT=宋体]对于其他实体，如，贝壳、核桃、李子、梨子、蝌蚪、蘑菇、山峰、肾脏、胡萝卜、树干、鸟儿、花蕾、云雀、瓢虫、芦苇以及骨头也应这样来感觉。[/FONT]
576. From these he can go on to appreciate more complex forms of combinations of several forms.
[FONT=宋体]从这些形体出发，观赏者可进一步观察更为复杂的形体或若干形体的组合。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 32 Galileo reborn 伽利略的复生

577. In his own lifetime Galileo was the centre of violent controversy;
[FONT=宋体]伽利略在世时是激烈论战的中心。[/FONT]
578. but the scientific dust has long since settled, and today we can see even his famous clash with the Inquisition in something like its proper perspective.
[FONT=宋体]但是，自他逝世以来，那场科学上的纷争早已平息了下来，甚至他和宗教法庭的著名冲突，我们今天也能正确如实地看待。[/FONT]
579. But, in contrast, it is only in modern times that Galileo has become a problem child for historians of science.
[FONT=宋体]但是相比之下，对于科学史家来说，伽利略只是在现代才变成了一个新的难题。[/FONT]
580. The old view of Galileo was delightfully uncomplicated.
[FONT=宋体]令人高兴的是，过去对伽利略的看法并不复杂。[/FONT]
581. He was, above all, a man who experimented:
[FONT=宋体]他首先是个实验工作者，[/FONT]
582. who despised the prejudices and book learning of the Aristotelians,
[FONT=宋体]他蔑视亚里士多德学派的偏见和空洞的书本知识。[/FONT]
583. who put his questions to nature instead of to the ancients, and who drew his conclusions fearlessly.
[FONT=宋体]他向自然界而不是向古人提出问题，并大胆地得出结论。[/FONT]
584. He had been the first to turn a telescope to the sky, and he had seen there evidence enough to overthrow Aristotle and Ptolemy together.
[FONT=宋体]他是第一个把望远镜对准天空的人，观察到的论据足以把亚里士多德和托勒密一起推翻。[/FONT]
585. He was the man who climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped various weights from the top,
[FONT=宋体]他就是那个曾经爬上比萨斜塔，从塔顶向下抛掷积各种重物的人；[/FONT]
586. who rolled balls down inclined planes, and then generalized the results of his many experiments into the famous law of free fall.
[FONT=宋体]他是那个使地球体沿斜面向下滚动，然后将多次实验结果概括成著名的自由落体定律的人。[/FONT]
587. But a closer study of the evidence, supported by a deeper sense of the period, and particularly by a new consciousness of the philosophical undercurrents in the scientific revolution, has profoundly modified this view of Galileo.
[FONT=宋体]但是，对那个时代的深化了解，尤其是以科学家革命中哲学潜流的新意识为依据，进一步仔细研究，就会极大地改变对伽利略的看法。[/FONT]
588. Today, although the old Galileo lives on in many popular writings, among historians of science a new and more sophisticated picture has emerged.
[FONT=宋体]今天，虽然已故的伽利略继续活在许多通俗读物中，但在科学史家中间，一个新的更加复杂的伽利略形象出现了。[/FONT]
589. At the same time our sympathy fro Galileo's opponents as grown somewhat.
[FONT=宋体]与此同时，我们对伽利略的反对派的同情也有所增加。[/FONT]
590. His telescopic observations are justly immortal;
[FONT=宋体]伽利略用望远镜所作的观察确实是不朽的，[/FONT]
591. they aroused great interest at the time, they had important theoretical consequences, and they provided a striking demonstration of the potentialities hidden in instruments and apparatus.
[FONT=宋体]这些观察当时引起人们极大的兴趣，具有重要的理论意义，并充分显示出了仪表和仪器的潜在力量。[/FONT]
592. But can we blame those who looked and failed to see what Galileo saw, if we remember that to use a telescope at the limit of its powers calls for long experience and intimate familiarity with one's instrument?
[FONT=宋体]但是，如果我们想到，便用一架倍数有限的望远镜需要长期的经验和对自己仪器的熟悉程度，那么我们怎么能去责备观察了天空但没有看到伽利略所看到的东西的那些人呢？[/FONT]
593. Was the philosopher who refused to look through Galileo's telescope more culpable than those who alleged that the spiral nebulae observed with Lord Rosse's great telescope in the eighteen-forties were scratches left by the grinder?
[FONT=宋体]某位哲学家曾拒绝使用伽利略的望远镜去观察天空；到了[/FONT]19[FONT=宋体]世纪[/FONT]40[FONT=宋体]年代，有人硬把罗斯勋爵高倍望远镜观测到的螺旋状星云说成是磨镜工留下的磨痕。难道反对伽利略的哲学家比诋毁罗斯勋爵造谣者应受到更大的谴责吗？[/FONT]
594. We can perhaps forgive those who said the moons of Jupiter were produced by Galileo's spyglass if we recall that in his day, as for centuries before, curved glass was the popular contrivance for producing not truth but illusion, untruth;
[FONT=宋体]如果我们回想一下伽利略之前几个世纪期间，曲面镜一直是一种用于产生幻影而不是产生真象的把戏装置，那么我们就会原谅那些当时把伽利略观察到的木星卫生说成是伽利略用他的小望远镜变出来的人们，[/FONT]
595. and if a single curved glass would distort nature, how much more would a pair of them?
[FONT=宋体]何况一片曲面镜就可歪曲自然，那么伽利略的两片曲面镜对自然的歪曲又该多大呢？[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 33 Education 教育

596. Education is one of the key words of our time.
[FONT=宋体]教育是我们这个时代的关键词之一。[/FONT]
597. A man without an education, many of us believe, is an unfortunate victim of adverse circumstances, deprived of one of the greatest twentieth-century opportunities.
[FONT=宋体]我们许多人都相信，一个没有受过教育的人，是逆境的牺牲品，被剥夺了[/FONT]20[FONT=宋体]世纪的最优越的机会之一。[/FONT]
598. Convinced of the importance of education, modern states 'invest' in institutions of learning to get back 'interest' in the form of a large group of enlightened young men and women who are potential leaders.
[FONT=宋体]现代国家深深懂得教育的重要性，对教育机构投资，收回的‘利息’便是培养出大批有知识的男女青年，这些人可能成为未来的栋梁。[/FONT]
599. Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by textbooks -- those purchasable wells of wisdom-what would civilization be like without its benefits?
[FONT=宋体]教育，以其教学周期如此精心地安排，并以教科书[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]那些可以买到的智慧源泉[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]予以强化，如果不受其惠，文明将会是个什么样子呢？[/FONT]
600. So much is certain: that we would have doctors and preachers, lawyers and defendants, marriages and births -- but our spiritual outlook would be different.
[FONT=宋体]至少，这些是可以肯定的：虽然我们还会有医生和牧师、律师和被告、婚姻和生育，但人们的精神面貌将是另一个样子。[/FONT]
601. We would lay less stress on 'facts and figures' and more on a good memory, on applied psychology, and on the capacity of a man to get along with his fellow-citizens.
[FONT=宋体]人们不会重视‘资料和数据’，而靠好记性、实用心理学与同伴相处的能力。[/FONT]
602. If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of 'college' imaginable.
[FONT=宋体]如果我们的教育制度仿效没有书籍的古代教育，我们的学院将具有可以想象得出的最民主的形式了。[/FONT]
603. Among tribal people all knowledge inherited by tradition is shared by all;
[FONT=宋体]在部落中，通过传统继承的知识为所有人共享，并传授给部落中的每一个成员。[/FONT]
604. it is taught to every member of the tribe so that in this respect everybody is equally equipped for life.
[FONT=宋体]从这个意义上讲，人人受到的有关生活本领的教育是相等的。[/FONT]
605. It is the ideal condition of the 'equal start' which only our most progressive forms of modern education try to regain.
[FONT=宋体]这就是我们最进步的现代教育试图恢复的“平等起步”的理想状况。[/FONT]
606. In primitive cultures the obligation to seek and to receive the traditional instruction is binding to all.
[FONT=宋体]在原始文化中，寻求和接受传统教育的义务对全民都有约束力。[/FONT]
607. There are no 'illiterates' -- if the term can be applied to peoples without a script
[FONT=宋体]因而没有“文盲”（如果这个字眼儿可以用于没有文字的民族的话）。[/FONT]
608. while our own compulsory school attendance became law in Germany in 1642, in France in 1806, and in England in 1876,and is still non-existent in a number of 'civilized' nations.
[FONT=宋体]而我们的义务教育成为法律在德国是在[/FONT]1642[FONT=宋体]年，在法国是在[/FONT]1806[FONT=宋体]年，在英国是在[/FONT]1876[FONT=宋体]年。[/FONT]
609. This shows how long it was before we deemed it necessary to make sure that all our children could share in the knowledge accumulated by the 'happy few' during the past centuries.
[FONT=宋体]这说明，经过了多么漫长的时间之后，我们才认识到，有必要确保我们的孩子享有多少个世纪以来由‘少数幸运者’所积累起来的知识。[/FONT]
610. Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.
[FONT=宋体]荒凉地区的教育不是钱的问题，[/FONT]
611. All are entitled to an equal start.
[FONT=宋体]所有的人都享有平等起步的权利。[/FONT]
612. There is none of the hurry which, in our society, often hampers the full development of a growing personality.
[FONT=宋体]那里没有我们今天社会中的匆忙生活，而匆忙的生活常常妨碍个性的全面发展。[/FONT]
613. There, a child grows up under the ever-present attention of his parent;
[FONT=宋体]荒凉地区的孩子无时无刻不在父母关怀下成长。[/FONT]
614. therefore the jungles and the savannahs know of no 'juvenile delinquency'.
[FONT=宋体]因此，丛林和荒凉地区不知道什么叫“青少年犯罪”。[/FONT]
615. No necessity of making a living away from home results in neglect of children,
[FONT=宋体]人们没有必要离家谋生，所以不会产生孩子无人管的问题，[/FONT]
616. and no father is confronted with his inability to 'buy' an education for his child.
[FONT=宋体]也不存在父亲无力为孩子支付教育费用而犯难的问题。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 34 Adolescence 青春期

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
617. Parents are often upset when their children praise the homes of their friends and regard it as a slur on their own cooking, or cleaning, or furniture, and often are foolish enough to let the adolescents see that they are annoyed.
[FONT=宋体]当家长听到孩子赞扬自己朋友的家时，总感到不安，认为孩子在嫌弃自家的饭菜、卫生、或家具，而且愚蠢地让孩子看出自己的烦恼。[/FONT]
618. They may even accuse them of disloyalty, or make some spiteful remark about the friends' parents.
[FONT=宋体]他们甚至责备孩子不忠，或者讲些小朋友家长的坏话。[/FONT]
619. Such loss of dignity and descent into childish behaviour on the part to their parents about the place or people they visit.
[FONT=宋体]家长这种有失身份和孩子气的作法使青春期的孩子大为震惊，决心以后不再向父母讲述去过的地方和见过的人。[/FONT]
620. Before very long the parents will be complaining that the child is so secretive and never tells them anything,
[FONT=宋体]不要很久[/FONT],[FONT=宋体]家长就会抱怨孩子守口如瓶，什么事也不告诉他们，[/FONT]
621. but they seldom realize that they have brought this on themselves.
[FONT=宋体]殊不知这是他们自找的。[/FONT]
622. Disillusionment with the parents, however good and adequate they may be both as parents and as individuals, is to some degree inevitable.
[FONT=宋体]不管家长的人品有多么好，作为父母有多么合格，孩子们对家长幻想的破灭在某种程度上是不可避免的。[/FONT]
623. Most children have such a high ideal of their parents, unless the parents themselves have been unsatisfactory, that it can hardly hope to stand up to a realistic evaluation.
[FONT=宋体]除非父母自身不能令人满意，大多数孩子对父母估价过高，以致这种估价很难指望经受住现实的考验。[/FONT]
624. Parents would be greatly surprised and deeply touched if they realized how much belief their children usually have in their character and infallibility, and how much this faith means to a child.
[FONT=宋体]意识到孩子们的这种信念会对孩子产生多么大的影响，那么家长会大为吃惊和深受感动的。[/FONT]
625. If parents were prepared for this adolescent reaction, and realized that it was a sign that the child was growing up and developing valuable powers of observation and independent judgment,
[FONT=宋体]如果家长对青少年的这种反应有思想准备，并且意识到这象征着孩子们正在成熟和正在发展宝贵的观察力、独立判断力，[/FONT]
626. they would not be so hurt, and therefore would not drive the child into opposition by resenting and resisting it.
[FONT=宋体]那么他们就不会那样伤心，也就不会由于怨恨和抵触这种反应，而把孩子推到自己的对立面去。[/FONT]
627. The adolescent, with his passion for sincerity, always respects a parent who admits that he is wrong, or ignorant, or even that he has been unfair or unjust.
[FONT=宋体]青少年酷爱真诚，对于能够承认错误或无知、甚至承认自己做得不分平或不公正的父母，他们总是尊敬的，[/FONT]
628. What the child cannot forgive is the parent's refusal to admit these charges if the child knows them to be true.
[FONT=宋体]孩子们所不能原谅的是：父母错了，孩子们也看出来了，可是做父母的还不肯承认。[/FONT]
629. Victorian parents believed that they kept their dignity by retreating behind an unreasoning authoritarian attitude;
[FONT=宋体]维多利亚时代的父母认为，他们可靠无理的权威气派来维护自己的尊严，[/FONT]
630. in fact they did nothing of the kind, but children were then too cowed to let them know how they really felt.
[FONT=宋体]实际上那是根本不行的。孩子们只不过被吓得不敢让父母知道自己的想法罢了。[/FONT]
631. Today we tend to go to the other extreme, but on the whole this is a healthier attitude both for the child and the parent.
[FONT=宋体]虽然现在我们倾向于走向另一个极端，但总地来看，孩子和家长双方态度都比较端正。[/FONT]
632. It is always wiser and safer to face up to reality, however painful it may be at the moment.
[FONT=宋体]遇事采取面对现实的态度总是比较明智和稳妥的，尽管会有暂时的痛苦。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 35 Space odyssey 太空探索

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
633. The Moon is likely to become the industrial hub of the Solar System, supplying the rocket fuels fro its ships, easily obtainable from the lunar rocks in the from of liquid oxygen.
[FONT=宋体]月球很可能成为太阳系的工业中心。从月球上的岩石中很容易提炼出液态氧，作为航天飞船的燃料。[/FONT]
634. The reason lies in its gravity.
[FONT=宋体]其原因在于月球的重力。[/FONT]
635. Because the Moon has only an eightieth of the Earth's mass,
[FONT=宋体]因为月球的重只有地球的[/FONT]1/8[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT]
636. it requires 97 per cent less energy to travel the quarter of a million miles from the Moon to Earth-orbit than the 200 mile-journey from Earth's surface into orbit!
[FONT=宋体]因此，从月球到地球的[/FONT]25[FONT=宋体]万英里所消耗的能量要比从地球表面进入地球轨道的[/FONT]200[FONT=宋体]英里所耗能量少[/FONT]97%[FONT=宋体]。[/FONT]
637. This may sound fantastic, but it is easily calculated.
[FONT=宋体]这点听起来令人难以置信，但却很容易计算出来。[/FONT]
638. To escape from the Earth in a rocket, one must travel at seven miles per second.
[FONT=宋体]要乘坐一枚火箭飞离地球，火箭的速度要达到每秒[/FONT]7[FONT=宋体]英里，[/FONT]
639. The comparable speed from the Moon is only 1.5 miles per second.
[FONT=宋体]而从月球出发的相应速度史是每秒[/FONT]1.5[FONT=宋体]英里。[/FONT]
640. Because the gravity on the Moon's surface is only a sixth of Earth's (remember how easily the Apollo astronauts bounded along),
[FONT=宋体]由于月球表面的重力仅是地球表面的[/FONT]1/6 -- [FONT=宋体]还记得阿波罗飞船中的宇航员累松地跳跃[/FONT] --
641. it takes much less energy to accelerate to that 1.5 miles per second than it does on Earth.
[FONT=宋体]在月球上加速到每秒[/FONT]1.5[FONT=宋体]英里比在地球上所用能源要少得多。[/FONT]
642. Moon-dwellers will be able to fly in space at only three per cent of the cost of similar journeys by their terrestrial cousins.
[FONT=宋体]月球居民在太空遨游的费用仅是地球上朋友飞越同样路所需费用的[/FONT]3%[FONT=宋体]。[/FONT]
643. Arthur C. Clark once suggested a revolutionary idea passes through three phases:
[FONT=宋体]亚瑟[/FONT].C.[FONT=宋体]克拉克曾提议，一种创新的想法要经过以下[/FONT]3[FONT=宋体]个阶段：[/FONT]
644. 'It's impossible -- don't waste my time.'
1 [FONT=宋体]“根本不可能，不要浪费我的时间。”[/FONT]
645. 'It's possible, but not worth doing.'
2 [FONT=宋体]“可能，但不值得做。”[/FONT]
646. 'I said it was a good idea all along.'
3 [FONT=宋体]“我一直说这是个好想法。”[/FONT]
647. The idea of colonising Mars -- a world 160 times more distant time the Moon -- will move decisively from the second phase to the third, when a significant number of people are living permanently in space.
[FONT=宋体]如果有相当数量的人永久性地住在太空，征服火星的计划[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]一个比月球远[/FONT]160[FONT=宋体]倍的星球[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]就可以明确地从第[/FONT]2[FONT=宋体]阶段进入第[/FONT]3[FONT=宋体]阶段。[/FONT]
648. Mars has an extraordinary fascination for would-be voyagers.
[FONT=宋体]火星对未来的星际旅客说有着特殊的魅力。[/FONT]
649. America, Russia and Europe are filled with enthusiasts -- many of them serious and senior scientists -- who dream of sending people to it.
[FONT=宋体]美国、俄罗斯和欧洲都有许多热心此项事业的人[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]其中的不少是认真和资深的科学家，他们一直梦想着把人送上火星。[/FONT]
650. Their aim is understandable.
[FONT=宋体]他们的目标是可以理解的。[/FONT]
651. It is the one world in the Solar System that is most like the Earth.
[FONT=宋体]火星是太阳系里与地球最接近的一颗行星。[/FONT]
652. It is a world of red sandy deserts (hence its name -- the Red Planet), cloudless skies, savage sandstorms, chasms wider than the Grand Canyon and at least one mountain more than twice as tall as Everest.
[FONT=宋体]这是一个红色沙漠的世界（因而得名：红色行星），无云的天空，凶猛的沙暴，比大峡谷还宽的裂缝，起码有一座山有珠穆朗玛峰的近两倍高。[/FONT]
653. It seems ideal for settlement.
[FONT=宋体]看起来，它很合适居住。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 36 The cost of government 政府的开支

654. If a nation is essentially disunited, it is left to the government to hold it together.
[FONT=宋体]如果一个国家实际上处于分裂状态，使之联合起来就是政府的事了。[/FONT]
655. This increases the expense of government, and reduces correspondingly the amount of economic resources that could be used for developing the country.
[FONT=宋体]这样的一来就增加了政府的开支，从而相应地减少了可以用来了展国家的那部分经济资源。[/FONT]
656. And it should not be forgotten how small those resources are in a poor and backward country.
[FONT=宋体]不应忘记，在一个贫穷落后的国家里，那部分财力是很有限的。[/FONT]
657. Where the cost of government is high, resources for development are correspondingly low.
[FONT=宋体]凡是政府管理费用高的地方，用于发展国家经济的资金就会相应地减少。[/FONT]
658. This may be illustrated by comparing the position of a nation with that of a private business enterprise.
[FONT=宋体]把国家的状况同私人企业的状况加以比较，就可以看清这个问题。[/FONT]
659. An enterprise has to incur certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business.
[FONT=宋体]一个企业为了继续经营，不得不支出一定的费用和开销。[/FONT]
660. For our purposes, we are concerned only with one kind of cost -- the cost of managing and administering the business.
[FONT=宋体]就我们的目的而言，我们只关心一种费用[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]企业行政管理费。[/FONT]
661. Such administrative overheads in a business are analogous to the cost of government in a nation.
[FONT=宋体]一家企业的行政管理开支类似于一个国家的政府管理所用的开支。[/FONT]
662. The administrative overheads of a business are low to the extent that everyone working in the business can be trusted to behave in a way that best promotes the interests of the firm.
[FONT=宋体]如果企业中的每个人都在真诚地为提高企业利润而工作，那么企业的管理费用就会降低到相应的程度。[/FONT]
663. If they can each be trusted to take such responsibilities.
[FONT=宋体]如果企业的每个人都信得过，人人都认真负责，[/FONT]
664. and to exercise such initiative as falls within their sphere, then administrative overheads will be low.
[FONT=宋体]在各自的工作范围内发挥主动性，行政管理费用就会降低。[/FONT]
665. It will be low because it will be necessary to have only one man looking after each job,
[FONT=宋体]行政管理费用的降低的原因是：每项工作只需要一个人去完成，[/FONT]
666. then the business will require armies of administrators, checkers, and foremen and administrative overheads will rise correspondingly.
[FONT=宋体]用不着另外再有一个人检查工作。督促他遵守章程，或向有关人士汇报他的工作。[/FONT]
667. As administrative overheads rise, so the earnings of the business after meeting he expense of administration, will fall;
[FONT=宋体]但是，如果企业中谁也不可信赖会对工作尽忠守职，那公企业就会需大批的管理人员、检查人员和带班人员，管理费用就会相应在增加。[/FONT]
668. and the business will have less money to distribute as dividends or invest directly in its future progress and development.
[FONT=宋体]管理费用增加了，那么在扣除管理费用后，企业的收入就降低了。因此用于分红的金额就用于将来开拓和发展的投资就相应地减少了。[/FONT]
669. It is precisely the same with a nation.
[FONT=宋体]一个国家的情况也完全相同。[/FONT]
670. To the extent that the people can be relied upon to behave in a loyal and responsible manner,
[FONT=宋体]如果人民忠于职守，举止规矩，能受到政府的信赖，[/FONT]
671. the government does not require armies of police and civil servants to keep them in order.
[FONT=宋体]那么政府就不需要大批的警察和文职人员运去促使人民遵纪守法。[/FONT]
672. But if a nation is disunited, the government cannot be sure that the actions of the people will be in the interests of the nation; and it will have to watch, check, and control the people accordingly.
[FONT=宋体]但是，如果一个国家处于分裂状态，政府不能相信人民的行动有利于国家，那么政府就不得不对人民进行监督、检查和控制。[/FONT]
673. A disunited nation therefore has to incur unduly high costs of government.
[FONT=宋体]因此，一个处于分裂的国家必须要支付过高的行政管理费用。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 37 The process of ageing 衰老过程

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
674. At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous.
[FONT=宋体]人体在[/FONT]12[FONT=宋体]岁时是生命力最旺盛的时期。[/FONT]
675. It has yet to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence;
[FONT=宋体]虽然这个时期人的身材、体力和智力还有待发展和完善，[/FONT]
676. but at this age the likelihood of death is least.
[FONT=宋体]但在这个年龄死亡的可能性最小。[/FONT]
677. Earlier, we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable;
[FONT=宋体]再早一些，我们是幼儿和小孩子，身体较脆弱；[/FONT]
678. later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which,
[FONT=宋体]再迟一些，我们就要经历生命力和抵抗力逐步衰退的过程。[/FONT]
679. though imperceptible at first, will finally become so steep that we can live no longer,
[FONT=宋体]虽然这个过程起初难以觉察，[/FONT]
680. however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us.
[FONT=宋体]但最终会急转直下，不管我们怎样精心照料我们自己，不管社会和医生怎样对我们进行精心照顾，我们也无法再活下去了。[/FONT]
681. This decline in vigour with the passing of time is called ageing.
[FONT=宋体]生命力随着时间的流失而衰退叫做衰老。[/FONT]
682. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this way,
[FONT=宋体]人类发现的最不愉快的一个事实是：人必然会衰老。[/FONT]
683. that if we escape wars, accidents and disease we shall eventually 'die of old age',
[FONT=宋体]既使我们能避开战争、意外的事故和各种疾病，我们最终也会“老死”；[/FONT]
684. and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person, so that there are heavy odds in favour of our dying between the ages of sixty-five and eighty.
[FONT=宋体]衰老的速度在人与人之间相差甚微，我们最可能死亡的年龄在[/FONT]65[FONT=宋体]至[/FONT]80[FONT=宋体]岁之间，[/FONT]
685. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer -- on into a ninth or tenth decade.
[FONT=宋体]有些人会死得早一些，少数人寿命会长一些[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]活到八十几岁或九十几岁，[/FONT]
686. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are.
[FONT=宋体]但这种可能性很小。不管我们多么幸运，多么健壮，我们所希望的长寿实际上是有限度的。[/FONT]
687. Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are reminded of it.
[FONT=宋体]衰老的过程，不经提起，正常人容易忘记；一经提醒，才会记起。[/FONT]
688. We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that people have for years assumed that the process of losing vigour with time, of becoming more likely to die the older we get, was something self-evident,
[FONT=宋体]我们对人总是要衰老的现象并不陌生，多年来就已认识到。生命随着时间流失而丧失活力，人随着年龄的增长而接近死亡，这是不言而喻的，[/FONT]
689. like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearing-out of a pair of shoes.
[FONT=宋体]就像一壶热水迟早会凉不来，一双鞋渐渐会磨破一样。[/FONT]
690. They have also assumed that all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe itself, must in the nature of things 'wear out'.
[FONT=宋体]人们不但认识到所有的动物，大概也认识到所有的有机物。如树木，甚至宇宙本身，从事物的本质上来说都会“磨损掉”。[/FONT]
691. Most animals we commonly observe do in fact age as we do, if given the chance to live long enough;
[FONT=宋体]我们通常看到的大多数动物，即使能让它们活得足够长久的话，也会像我们一样衰老的。[/FONT]
692. and mechanical systems like a wound watch, or the sun, do in fact run out of energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (whether the whole universe does so is a moot point at present).
[FONT=宋体]像上紧发条的手表那样的机械装置，或太阳，也都会消耗完其能量（整个宇宙否如此，目前沿有争论）。[/FONT]
693. But these are not analogous to what happens when man ages.
[FONT=宋体]不过，这些衰老的情况同人并不相似。[/FONT]
694. A run-down watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not worth mending.
[FONT=宋体]手表停了依然是只手表，还可以重上好发条。然而一只老掉牙的手表，磨损太厉害，老得一点儿不准了，最终不值得修理了。[/FONT]
695. But a watch could never repair itself -- it does not consist of living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction.
[FONT=宋体]但是，手表决不会自行修理，它不是由有生命的部件组成，而是由金属组成，而金属可以随着磨擦而磨损殆尽。[/FONT]
696. We could, at one time, repair ourselves --well enough, at least, to overcome all but the most instantly fatal illnesses and accidents.
[FONT=宋体]而我们人，在一定时间内是可以自行修复的，除了暴病死或意外事故外，至少足以克服一切疾病和事故。[/FONT]
697. Between twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power;
[FONT=宋体]在[/FONT]12[FONT=宋体]岁至[/FONT]80[FONT=宋体]岁之间，我们逐渐丧失这种能力。[/FONT]
698. an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and another 700 for the survivors to be reduced by half again.
[FONT=宋体]能使我们在[/FONT]12[FONT=宋体]岁时病倒的疾病，到了[/FONT]80[FONT=宋体]岁可能会使我们一厥不振而进入坟墓。假如我们能保持[/FONT]12[FONT=宋体]岁时的旺盛生命力，那么我们当中的一半人过[/FONT]700[FONT=宋体]年才会死去，剩下的一半人再过[/FONT]700[FONT=宋体]年，才会又减少一半。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 38 Water and the traveller 水和旅行者

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
699. Contamination of water supplies is usually due to poor sanitation close to water sources,
[FONT=宋体]水源的污染通常是由于接近水源的地方卫条件太差而造成的：[/FONT]
700. sewage disposal into the sources themselves, leakage of sewage into distribution systems or contamination with industrial or farm waste.
[FONT=宋体]污水排入水源，污水渗入给水系统或工农业污水造成污染。[/FONT]
701. Even if a piped water supply is safe at its source, it is not always safe by the time it reaches the tap.
[FONT=宋体]即使管道供水系统在水源处安全的，等水到达龙头时就不一定总是安全的了。[/FONT]
702. Intermittent tap-water supplies should be regarded as particularly suspect.
[FONT=宋体]断断续续的水管应该被视为是非常可疑的。[/FONT]
703. Travellers on short trips to areas with water supplies of uncertain quality should avoid drinking tap-water, or untreated water from any other source.
[FONT=宋体]短途旅行到水质不保险的地区时，应避免饮用水龙头的水或未经处理任何其他来源的水。[/FONT]
704. It is best to hot drinks, bottled or canned drinks of well-known brand names -- international standards of water treatment are usually followed at bottling plants.
[FONT=宋体]最好仅饮用开水，名牌瓶装或罐装水[/FONT] -- [FONT=宋体]装瓶厂通常遵循国际水处理的标准。[/FONT]
705. Carbonated drinks are acidic, and slightly safer.
[FONT=宋体]碳酸饮料是酸性的，就更安全一些。[/FONT]
706. Make sure that all bottles are opened in your presence, and that their rims are clean and dry.
[FONT=宋体]确保瓶子是当你面开启的，瓶口清洁干燥。[/FONT]
707. Boiling is always a good way of treating water.
[FONT=宋体]烧开一直是水处理的一种好办法。[/FONT]
708. Some hotels supply boiled water on request and this can be used for drinking, or for brushing teeth.
[FONT=宋体]有的酒店根据要求可提供开水，这些开水可用于饮用和刷牙。[/FONT]
709. Portable boiling elements that can boil small quantities of water are useful when the right voltage of electricity is available.
[FONT=宋体]如果有相配的电压，可以煮少量水的便携式热水装置是有用的。[/FONT]
710. Refuse politely any cold drink from an unknown source.
[FONT=宋体]应谢绝任何不明来源的冷饮。[/FONT]
711. Ice is only as safe as the water from which it is made,
[FONT=宋体]冰块只有当制造冰块的水安全时才是保险的，[/FONT]
712. and should not be put in drinks unless it is known to be safe.
[FONT=宋体]只有知道冰块安全时才能加入饮料。[/FONT]
713. Drink can be cooled by placing them on ice rather than adding ice to them.
[FONT=宋体]可以把饮料置于冰块之上来冷却，而不是把冰块加进饮料之中。[/FONT]
714. Alcohol may be a medical disinfectant,but should not be relied upon to sterilize water.
[FONT=宋体]酒精可能是医学上的消毒剂，但决不可用来消毒饮用水。[/FONT]
715. Ethanol is more effective at a concentration of 50-70 per cent;
[FONT=宋体]乙醇的浓度为[/FONT]50%[FONT=宋体]至[/FONT]70%[FONT=宋体]时比较有效，[/FONT]
716. below 20 per cent, its bactericidal action is negligible.
[FONT=宋体]浓度低于[/FONT]20%[FONT=宋体]时，杀菌能力基本上就不存在了。[/FONT]
717. Spirits labelled 95 proof contain only about 47 per cent alcohol.
[FONT=宋体]强度标为[/FONT]95[FONT=宋体]的酒中含有[/FONT]47%[FONT=宋体]的酒精。[/FONT]
718. Beware of methylated alcohol, which is very poisonous, and should never be added to drinking water.
[FONT=宋体]要提防甲基化酒精，那是剧毒的，永远不能掺入饮用水。[/FONT]
719. If no other safe supply can be obtained, tap water that is too hot to touch can be left to cool and is generally safe to drink.
[FONT=宋体]如果没有其他安全的饮用水，水管中流出的烫手的水可以留下来冷却。这种水一般是安全的。[/FONT]

yangyang2005 · 最后编辑: 2007-03-11

Lesson 39 What every writer wants 作家之所需

[FONT=宋体][/FONT]
720. I have known very few writers,
[FONT=宋体]我的认识的作家寥寥无几，[/FONT]
721. but those I have known, and whom I respect, confess at once that they have little idea where they the are going when they first set pen to paper.
[FONT=宋体]然而凡是我所认识和尊敬的作家，都立即承认在他们动笔时，不清楚要写什么，怎么写。[/FONT]
722. They have a character, perhaps two; they are in that condition of eager discomfort which passes for inspiration;
[FONT=宋体]他们心中只在一个或两个角色。他们处于急切不安的状态，而被当作是灵感。[/FONT]
723. all admit radical changes of destination once the journey has begun;
[FONT=宋体]他们无不承认，一旦“旅程”开始，“目的地”常有急剧的变化。[/FONT]
724. one, to my certain knowledge, spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole thing in the Scottish Highlands.
[FONT=宋体]据我所知，有位作家花了[/FONT]9[FONT=宋体]个月的时间写了一部关克什米尔的小说，后来却把整个故事背景换成了苏格兰高地。[/FONT]
725. I never heard of anyone making a 'skeleton', as we were taught at school.
[FONT=宋体]我从未听说过任何一位作家像我们在学校那样，[/FONT]
726. In the breaking and remaking, in the timing, interweaving, beginning afresh, the writer comes to discern things in his material which were not consciously in his mind when he began.
[FONT=宋体]动笔前先列什么提纲。作家在剪裁修改、构思时间、穿插情节、以至从头重写的过程中，会领悟到素材中很多东西是他刚动笔时所未意识到的。[/FONT]
727. This organic process, often leading to moments of extraordinary self-discovery, is of an indescribable fascination.
[FONT=宋体]这种有机的加工过程往往达到不寻常自我发现的境界，具有难以言表的构思魅力。[/FONT]
728. A blurred image appears; he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone;
[FONT=宋体]一个朦胧的形象出现在作家的脑海里，他左添一笔，右添一笔，形象反而消逝了；[/FONT]
729. but something was there, and he will not rest till he has captured it.
[FONT=宋体]可是，好像还有什么东西存在着，不把它捕捉到，作家是不会罢休的。[/FONT]
730. Sometimes the yeast within a writer outlives a book he has written.
[FONT=宋体]有时，一个作家一本书写完了，但兴奋仍不消散。[/FONT]
731. I have heard of writers who read nothing but their own books;
[FONT=宋体]我听说一些作家，除了自己的书外，别的书一概不读，[/FONT]
732. like adolescents they stand before the mirror, and still cannot fathom the exact outline of the vision before them.
[FONT=宋体]犹如希腊神话中那位漂亮的少年，站在镜前，不能辨认自身的真面目。[/FONT]
733. For the same reason, writers talk interminably about their own books, winkling out hidden meanings, super-imposing new ones, begging response from those around them.
[FONT=宋体]由于这个原因，作家喋喋不休地谈论自己的书，挖掘其隐晦的含义，询问周围人的反应。[/FONT]
734. Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try to explain a crime or a love affair.
[FONT=宋体]作家如此行事当然被人误解。他还不如给人讲一个犯罪案件或一个恋爱故事。[/FONT]
735. He is also, incidentally, an unforgivable bore.
[FONT=宋体]顺便说一句，他也是个不可饶恕的令人厌烦的人。[/FONT]
736. This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader,
[FONT=宋体]这种企图消除自己和读者之间距离的作法，[/FONT]
737. to study his image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing: he has begun to write to please.
[FONT=宋体]企图用不了解自己的人的观点来研究自己塑造的形象的作法，会导致作家的毁灭，因为他已经开始为取悦他人而写作了。[/FONT]
738. A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow.
[FONT=宋体]一两年前，一位年轻的英国作家发表了中肯的看法。他说，初稿是才华，以后各稿是艺术。[/FONT]
739. For this reason also the writer, like any other artist, has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from within.
[FONT=宋体]也是由于这个原因，作家同任何艺术家一样，找不到可休息的场所，找不到伙伴和活动使自己得到安逸。任何局外人的判断也比不上他内心的正确判断。[/FONT]
740. A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart;
[FONT=宋体]一旦作家从内心的紊乱中理出头绪，[/FONT]
741. he submits himself to a more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of,
[FONT=宋体]就应该按任何评论家想像不到的无情规范约束自己写作；[/FONT]
742. and when he flirts with fame, he is taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at its inmost point.
[FONT=宋体]当他沽名钓誉时，他就脱离了自我生活，脱离了对自己灵魂最深处世界的探索。[/FONT]

（英语系统学习推荐材料）新概念英语1―4册（文本、MP3对照）

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

附件

Similar threads

家园推荐黄页

家园币系统数据