日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

2021年1月18日发(作者：翟文会)
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Lesson 1


Finding fossil man
发现化石人

We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned
to write.

But there are some parts of the word where even now people cannot write. The only way that they
can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas -- legends handed down
from one generation of
another
. These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who
lived long ago, but none could write down what they did. Anthropologists wondered where the remote
ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now
living
in the Pacific Islands came from. The sagas of these
people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.




But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any,
are forgotten. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first
'modern men' came from.




Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to
shape than other kinds. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away. Stone
does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made
them have disappeared without trace.
参考译文





我们从书籍中可读到
5,000
年前近东发生的事情，那里的人最早学会了写字。但 直到现在
,
世界上有些地方，人
们还不会书写。

他们保存历史的唯 一办法是将历史当作传说讲述，由讲述人一代接一代地将史实描述为传奇故事口传
下来。人类学家过去不 清楚如今生活在太平洋诸岛上的波利尼西亚人的祖先来自何方，当地人的传说却告诉人们：其
中一部分是 约在
2,000
年前从印度尼西亚迁来的。





但是，和我们相似的原始人生活的年代太久远了，因此，有关他们的传说既使有如今也失传了 。于是，考古学家
们既缺乏历史记载，又无口头传说来帮助他们弄清最早的
“
现代人< br>”
是从哪里来的。





然而，

幸运的是，远古人用石头制作了工具，特别是用燧石，因为燧石较之其他石头 更容易成形。他们也可能用
过木头和兽皮，但这类东西早已腐烂殆尽。石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制 造这些工具的人的骨头早已荡然无存，
但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来。


Lesson 2


Spare that spider
不要伤害蜘蛛






Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and
insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. Insects would make it impossible for
us to live in the world; they would
devour
all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the
protection we get from insect-eating animals. We
owe
a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but
all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders. Moreover,
unlike
some
of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings.




Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. One can tell the
difference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and insect never more than six.




How many spiders are engaged in this work no our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census
of
the
spiders
in
grass
field
in
the
south
of
England,
and
he
estimated
that
there
were
more
than
2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch.
Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the
wildest
guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals
a day. It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year
would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.
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参考译文





你可能会觉得奇怪，

蜘蛛怎么会是我们的朋友呢？因为它们能消灭那么多的昆虫，其中包括一些人类的大敌，要
不是 人类受一些食虫动物的保护，昆虫就会使我们无法在地球上生活下去，昆虫会吞食我们的全部庄稼，杀死我们的< br>成群的牛羊。我们要十分感谢那些吃昆虫的鸟和兽，然而把它们所杀死的昆虫全部加在一起也只相当于蜘蛛 所消灭的
一小部分。此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食虫动物，它们丝毫不危害我们和我们的财物。





许多人认为蜘蛛是昆虫，但它们不是昆虫，甚至与昆虫毫无 关系。人们几乎一眼就能看出二者的差异，因为蜘蛛
都是
8
条腿，而昆虫的腿从不超过
6
条。





有多少蜘蛛在为我们效 力呢？一位研究蜘蛛的权威对英国南部一块草坪上的蜘蛛作了一次调查。他估计每英亩草
坪里有
225
万多只蜘蛛。这就是说，在一个足球场上约有
600
万只不同种类的蜘蛛。蜘蛛 至少有半年在忙于吃昆虫。
它们一年中消灭了多少昆虫，我们简直无法猜测，它们是吃不饱的动物，不满 意一日三餐。据估计，在英国蜘蛛一年
里所消灭昆虫的重量超过这个国家人口的总重量。


Lesson 3

Matterhorn man

马特霍恩山区人





Modern alpinists try to climb mountains by a route which will give them good sport, and the more
difficult it is, the more highly it is regarded. In the pioneering days, however, this was not the case at
all. The early climbers were looking for the easiest way to the top, because the summit was the prize
they sought, especially if it and never been attained before. It is true that during their explorations they
often faced difficulties and dangers of the most
perilous
nature,
equipped in a manner with
would make
a modern climber shudder at the thought, but they did not go out of their way to court such excitement.
They had a single aim, a solitary goal -- the top!




It is hard for us to realize nowadays how difficult it was for the pioneers. Except for one or two
places such as Zermatt and Chamonix, which had rapidly become popular, Alpine village tended to be
impoverished
settlements
cut
off
from
civilization
by
the
high
mountains.
Such
inns
as
there
were
generally
dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread often twelve months
old, all washed down with coarse wine. Often a valley boasted no inn at all, and climbers found shelter
wherever they could -- sometimes with the local priest (who was
usually
as poor as his parishioners),
sometimes
with
shepherds
or
cheese-makers.
Invariably
the
background
was
the
same:
dirt
and
poverty, and very uncomfortable. For men accustomed to eating seven-course dinners and sleeping
between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps must have very hard indeed.
参考译文





现代登山运动员总想找一条能够给他们带来运动乐趣的路线来攀登山峰。
他们认为，

道路愈艰险愈带劲儿。
然而，
在登山运动的初期，全然不是这种情况。早期登山者所寻 找的是通往山顶的最方便的途径，因为顶峰特别是前人未曾
到过的顶峰

--
才是他们寻求的目标。确实，在探险中他们经常遇到惊心动魄的困难和危险，而他们装备之简陋足以
使 现代登山者一想起来就胆战心惊。但是，他们并非故意寻求这种刺激，他们只有一个目标，唯一的目标

--
顶峰！





我们今天很难想 像昔日的登山先驱们是多么艰苦。除了泽曼特和夏蒙尼等一两个很快出了名的地方外，阿尔卑斯
山山区的 小村几乎全是高山环抱、与世隔绝的穷乡僻壤。那里的小客栈一般都很肮脏，而且跳蚤猖獗。

食物是当地的
干酪和通常存放了一年之久的面包，人们就着劣酒吞下这种食物。山谷里常常没有小客栈， 登山者只好随遇而安。有
时同当地牧师

（他通常和他的教民一样穷）住在一起，有时 同牧羊人或制乳酪的人住在一起。无论住在哪儿，情况都
一样：肮脏、贫穷，极其不舒适。对于过惯了一 顿饭吃
7
道菜、睡亚麻细布床单的人来说，变换一下生活环境来到阿
尔卑斯山山区，那 一定是很艰难的。






Lesson 4

Seeing hands
能看见东西的手





Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can detect colours with their
fingers, and even see through solid and walls. One case concerns and eleven-year-old schoolgirl, Vera
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Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things with different parts of her skin, and
through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. One day she came into his office and
happened to put her hands on the door of a locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so
many old newspapers locked away there, and even described the way they were done up in bundles.




Vera's
curious
talent
was
brought
to
the
notice
of
a
scientific
research
institute
in
the
town
of
Ulyanovsk, near where she lives, and in April she was given a series of tests by a special commission of
the
Ministry
of
Health
of
the
Russian
Federal
Republic.
During
these
tests
she
was
able
to
read
a
newspaper through an opaque screen and, stranger still, by moving her elbow over a child's game of
Lotto she was able to describe the figures and colours printed on it; and, in another instance, wearing
stockings and slippers, to make out with her foot the outlines and colours of a picture hidden under a
carpet. Other experiments showed that her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all
these tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive
things with her skin. It was also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this
ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.
参考译文





俄罗斯最近报导了几个事例，有人能用手指看书识字和辨认颜色，甚至 能透过厚实的门和墙看到东西。

其中有一
例谈到有一个名叫维拉
.
彼托洛娃的
11
岁学生。她的视力与常人一样，但她还能用皮肤的不同部位辨认东西，甚至看< br>穿坚实的墙壁。是她父亲首先发现她这一功能的。一天，维拉走进父亲的办公室，偶然把手放在一个锁着的 保险柜的
门上，她突然问父亲为什么把这么多的旧报纸锁在柜子里，还说了报纸捆扎的情况。





维拉的特异功能引起了她家附近乌里扬诺夫斯克城一个科研 单位的注意。
4
月里，俄罗斯卫生部一个特别委员会
对她进行了一系列的测试。
在这些测试中，
她能隔着不透明的屏幕读报纸。
更为奇怪的是，
她把肘部在儿童玩的
“
罗托
”
纸牌上移动一下，便能说出印在纸牌上的数字和颜色。还有一次，她 穿着长筒袜子和拖鞋，能用脚步识别出藏在地毯
下面的一幅画的轮廓和颜色。其他实验表明，她的膝盖和 双肩有类似的感觉能力，在所有这些实验中，维拉的双眼都
是蒙着的。如果不蒙上双眼她的皮肤就不再具 有识别物体的能力。这是千真万确的。同时还发现，尽管她能用手指识
别东西，但她的手一旦弄湿，这种 功能便会立即消失。


Lesson 5

Youth
青年





People are always talking about 'the problem of youth'. If there is one -- which I take leave to doubt
-- then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and
agree
that
the
young
are
after
all human
beings
--
people
just
like
their
elders.
There
is
only
one
difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and
the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.




When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain -- that I was a new boy in a huge
school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem.
For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are
busily engaged in seeking.




I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they not a dreary commitment to
mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to
material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things. It's as if they were,
in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures. All that is in my
mind when I meet a young person. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but
I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect of elders -- as if mere age were a reason for
respect. I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wrong.
参考译文

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人们总是在谈论
“
青年问题
”< br>。
如果这个问题存在的话

--
请允许我对此持怀疑态度

--
那么，
这个问题是由老年人
而不是青年人造成的。让我们来认真研究一 些基本事实：承认青年人和他们的长辈一样也是人。老年人和青年人只有
一个区别：青年人有光辉灿烂的 前景，而老年人的辉煌已成为过去。

问题的症结恐怕就在这里。





我十几岁时，总感到自己年轻，有些事拿不准

--
我是一所大学里的一名新生，如果我当时真的被看成像一个问
题那样有趣，我会感到很得意的。 因为这至少使我得到了某种承认，这正是年轻人所热衷追求的。





我觉得年轻人令人振奋，无拘无束。他们既不追逐卑鄙的名利，也不贪图生活的舒适。他们不 热衷于向上爬，也
不一味追求物质享受。在我看来，所有这些使他们与生命和万物之源联系在了一起。从 某种意义上讲，他们似乎是宇
宙人，同我们这些凡夫俗子形成了强烈而鲜明的对照。每逢我遇到年轻人， 脑子里就想到这些年轻人也许狂妄自负，
举止无理，傲慢放肆，愚昧无知，但我不会用应当尊重长者这一 套陈词滥调来为我自己辨护，似乎年长就是受人尊敬
的理由。我认为我和他们是平等的。如果我认为他们 错了，我就以平等的身份和他们争个明白。




Lesson 6

The sporting spirit

体育的精神





I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations,
and that if only the common peoples of the would could meet one another at football or cricket, they
would have no inclination to meet on the hattlefield. Even if one didn't know from concrete examples
(the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred,
one could deduce if from general principles.




Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little
meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling
of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as a the
question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose,
the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football
match knows this. At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is
not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the
nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe -- at any rate
for short periods -- that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.
参考译文





当我听人们说体育运动可创造国家之间的友谊，还说各国民 众若在足球场或板球场上交锋，就不愿在战场上残杀
的时候，我总是惊愕不已。一个人即使不能从具体的 事例（例如
1936
年的奥林匹克运动会）了解到国际运动比赛会
导致疯狂的仇恨，也 可以从常理中推断出结论。





现在开展的体育运动 几乎都是竞争性的。参加比赛就是为了取胜。如果不拚命去赢，比赛就没有什么意义了。

在< br>乡间的草坪上，当你随意组成两个队，并且不涉及任何地方情绪时，那才可能是单纯的为了娱乐和锻炼而进 行比赛。
可是一量涉及到荣誉问题，一旦你想到你和某一团体会因为你输而丢脸时，那么最野蛮的争斗天 性便会激发起来。即
使是仅仅参加过学校足球赛的人也有种体会。在国际比赛中，体育简直是一场模拟战 争。但是，要紧的还不是运动员
的行为，而是观众的态度，以及观众身后各个国家的态度。面对着这些荒 唐的比赛，参赛的各个国家会如痴如狂，甚
至煞有介事地相信

--
至少在短期内如此

--
跑跑、跳跳、踢踢球是对一个民族品德素质的检验。


Lesson 7

Bats
蝙蝠

Not all sounds made by animals serve as language, and we have only to turn to that extraordinary
discovery of echo- location in bats to see a case in which the voice plays a strictly utilitarian role.




To get a full appreciation of what this means we must turn first to some recent human inventions.
Everyone knows that if he shouts in the vicinity of a wall or a mountainside, an echo will come back. The
further off this solid obstruction, the longer time will elapse for the return of the echo. A sound made by
tapping on the hull of a ship will be reflected from the sea bottom, and by measuring the time interval
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between the taps and the receipt of the echoes, the depth of the sea at that point can be calculated. So
was born the echo-sounding apparatus, now in general use in ships. Every solid object will reflect a
sound, varying according to the size and nature of the object. A shoal of fish will do this. So it is a
comparatively simple step from locating the sea bottom to locating a shoal of fish. With experience, and
with improved apparatus, it is now possible not only to locate a shoal but to tell if it is herring, cod, or
other well- known fish, by the pattern of its echo.




It has been found that certain bats emit squeaks and by receiving the echoes, they can locate and
steer clear of obstacles -- or locate flying insects on which they feed. This echo-location in bats is often
compared with radar, the principle of which is similar.
参考译文





动物发出的声音不都是用作语 言交际。我们只要看一看蝙蝠回声定位这一极不寻常的发现，就可以探究一下声音
在什么情况下有绝对的 实用价值。





要透彻理解这句话的意义，我们应先 回顾一下人类最近的几项发明。大家都知道，在墙壁或山腰附近发出的喊声，
就会听到回声。固体障碍物 越远。回声返回所用时间就越长。敲打船体所发了的声音会从海底传回来，测出回声间隔
的时间，便可算 出该处海洋的深度。这样就产生了目前各种船舶上普遍应用的回声探测仪。任何固体者反射声音，反
射的 声音因物体的大小和性质的不同而不同。鱼群也反射声音。从测定海深到测定鱼群，这一进展比较容易。根据经< br>验和改进了的仪器，不仅能够确定鱼群的位置，而且可以根据鱼群回声的特点分辨出是鲱鱼、鳕鱼，这是人 们所熟悉
的其他鱼。





人们发现，某些蝙 蝠能发出尖叫声，并能通过回声来确定并躲开障碍物，或找到它们赖以为生的昆虫。蝙蝠这种
回声定位常 常可与雷达相比较，其原理是相似的。


Lesson 8

Trading standards
贸易标准





Chickens slaughtered in the United States, claim officials in Brussels, are not fit to grace European
tables. No, say the American: our fowl are fine, we simply clean them in a different way. These days, it
is differences in national regulations, far more than tariffs, that put sand in the wheels of trade between
rich countries. It is not just farmers who are complaining. An electric razor that meets the European
Union's safety standards must be approved by American testers before it can be sold in the United
States,
and
an
American-made
dialysis
machine
needs
the
EU's
okay
before
is
hits
the
market
in
Europe.




As it happens, a razor that is safe in Europe is unlikely to electrocute Americans. So, ask businesses
on both sides of the Atlantic, why have two lots of tests where one would do? Politicians agree, in
principle, so America and the EU have been trying to reach a deal which would eliminate the need to
double-test many products. They hope to finish in time for a trade summit between America and the EU
on May 28TH. Although negotiators are optimistic, the details are complex enough that they may be
hard-pressed to get a deal at all.




Why? One difficulty is to construct the agreements. The Americans would happily reach one accord
on standards for medical devices and them hammer out different pacts covering, say, electronic goods
and drug manufacturing. The EU -- following fine continental traditions -- wants agreement on general
principles, which could be applied to many types of products and perhaps extended to other countries.
参考译文





布鲁塞尔的官员说，在美国屠宰的鸡不适于用来装点欧洲的餐桌。不，美国人说，我们的家禽很好，只是 我们使
用了另一种清洗方式。当前，是各国管理条例上的差异，而不是关税阻碍了发达国家之间的贸易。 并不仅仅是农民在
抱怨。一把符合欧洲联盟安全标准的电动剃须刀必须得到美国检测人员的认可，方可在 美国市场上销售；而美国制造
的透析仪也要得到欧盟的首肯才能进入欧洲市场。

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碰巧在欧洲使用安全的剃须刀不大可能使美国人触电身亡，因此，大西洋两岸的企业都在问，当一套测试 可以解
决问题时，为什么需要两套呢？政治家在原则上同意了，

因此，美国和欧洲一 直在寻求达成协议，以便为许多产品取
消双重检查。他们希望尽早达成协议，为
5
月< br>28
日举行的美国和欧洲贸易的最高通级会议作准备。然谈判代表持乐
观态度，但协议细 节如此复杂，他们所面临的困难很可能使他们无法取得一致。





为什么呢？困难之一是起草这些协议。美国人很愿意就医疗器械的标准达成一个协议，然后推 敲出不同的合同，
用以涵盖

--
比如说

--
电子产品和药品的生产。欧洲人遵循优良的大陆传统，则希望就普遍的原则取得一致，而这
些原则适用 于许多不同产品，同时可能延伸到其它国家。


Lesson 9

Royal espionage
王室谍报活动





Alfred the Great acted his own spy, visiting Danish camps disguised as a minstrel. In those days
wandering minstrels were welcome everywhere. They were not fighting men, and their harp was their
passport. Alfred had learned many of their ballads in his youth, and could vary his programme with
acrobatic tricks and simple conjuring.




While Alfred's little army slowly began to gather at Athelney, the king himself set out to penetrate
the camp of Guthrum, the commander of the Danish invaders. There had settled down for the winter at
Chippenham:
thither
Alfred
went.
He
noticed
at
once
that
discipline
was
slack:
the
Danes
had
the
self-confidence
of
conquerors,
and
their
security
precautions
were
casual.
They
lived
well,
on
the
proceeds of raids on neighbouring regions. There they collected women as well as food and drink, and
a life of ease had made them soft.




Alfred stayed in the camp a week before he returned to Athelney. The force there assembled was
trivial compared with the Danish horde. But Alfred had deduced that the Danes were no longer fit for
prolonged battle: and that their commissariat had no organization, but depended on irregular raids.




So, faced with the Danish advance, Alfred did not risk open battle but harried the enemy. He was
constantly on the move, drawing the Danes after him. His patrols halted the raiding parties: hunger
assailed the Danish army. Now Alfred began a long series of skirmishes -- and within a month the Danes
had surrendered. The episode could reasonably serve as a unique epic of royal espionage!
参考译文





阿尔 弗雷德大帝曾亲自充当间谍。他扮作吟游歌手到丹麦军队的营地里侦察。当时，浪迹天涯的吟游歌手到处受
欢迎，他们不是作战人员，竖琴就是他们的通行证。阿尔弗德年轻时学过许多民歌，并能穿插演一些杂技和小魔 术使
自己的节目多样化。





阿尔弗雷德人 数不多的军队开始在阿塞尔纳慢慢集结时，他亲自潜入丹麦入侵司令官古瑟罗姆的营地。丹麦军已
在切本 哈姆扎下营准备过冬，阿尔弗雷便来到此地。他马上发现丹麦军纪律松弛，他们以征服者自居，安全措施马马虎虎。他们靠掠夺附近的地区的财物过着舒适的生活。他们不仅搜刮吃的喝的，而且抢掠妇女，安逸的生活已 使丹麦
军队变得软弱无力。





阿尔弗雷德 在敌营呆了一个星期后，回到了阿塞尔纳。他集结在那里的军队和丹麦大军相比是微不足道的，然而，
阿 尔弗雷德断定，丹麦人已不再适应持久的战争，他们的军需供应处于无组织状态，只是靠临时抢夺来维持。





因此，面对丹麦人的进攻，阿尔弗雷德没有贸然同敌人 作战，而是采用骚扰敌人的战术。他的部队不停地移动，
牵着敌人的鼻子，让他们跟着跑。他派出巡逻队 阻止敌人抢劫，因而饥饿威胁着丹麦军队。这时，阿尔弗雷德发起一
连串小规模的进攻，结果不出一个月 ，丹麦人就投降了。这一幕历史可以说是王室谍报活动中最精彩的篇章。
.

Lesson 10

Silicon valley

硅谷





Technology trends may push Silicon Valley back to the future. Carver Mead, a pioneer in integrated
circuits and a professor of computer science at the California Institute of Technology, notes there are
now work-stations that enable engineers to design, test and produce chips right on their desks, much
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the way an editor creates a newsletter on a Macintosh. As the time and cost of making a chip drop to a
few days and a few hundred dollars, engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without
being penalized by expensive failures. Mead predicts that inventors will be able to perfect powerful
customized chips over a weekend at the office -- spawning a new generation of garage start-ups and
giving the U.S. a jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast. 'We're got more
garages with smart people,' Mead observes. 'We really thrive on anarchy.'




And on Asians. Already, orientals and Asian Americans constitute the majority of the engineering
staffs at many Valley firms. And Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Indian engineers are graduating in droves
from California's colleges. As the heads of next- generation start-ups, these Asian innovators can draw
on customs and languages to forge righter links with crucial Pacific Rim markets. For instance, Alex Au,
a Stanford Ph. D. from Hong Kong, has set up a Taiwan factory to challenge Japan's near lock on the
memory-chip market. India-born r Reddy's tiny California company reopened an AT & T chip
plant in Kansas City last spring with financing from the state of Missouri. Before it becomes a retirement
village, Silicon Valley may prove a classroom for building a global business.
参考译文





技术的发展趋势有可能把硅谷重新推向未来。
卡弗
.
米德

--
集成电路的一位先驱，
加州理工学院的计算机教授

-- < br>注意到，现在有些计算机工作站使工程技术人员可以在他们的办公桌上设计、试验和生产芯片，就像一位编 辑在苹果
机上编出一份时事通讯一样。由于制造一块芯片的时间已缩短至几天，费用也只有几百美元，因 此，工程技术人员可
能很块就可充分发挥他们的想像力，而不会因失败而造成经济上的损失。米德预言发 明者可以在办公室用一个周末的
时间生产了完美的、功能很强的、按客户需求设计的芯片

--
造就新一代从汽车间起家的技术人员，在把产品推向市
场方面使美国把它的外国 对手们打个措手不及。

“
我们有更多的汽车间，那里有许多聪明人，
”米德说。
“
我们确实是
靠这种无政府状态发展起来的。
”
靠的 是亚洲人。硅谷许多公司中工程技术人员的大多数是东方人和亚裔美国人。中
国、韩国、菲律宾和印度的 工程师一批批地从加州的大学毕业。作为新掘起一代的带头人，亚裔发明家可以凭借他们
在习惯和语言上 的优势，与关键的太平洋沿岸市场建立起更加牢固的联系。比如说，亚历克斯
.
奥，一位来自香 港的斯
坦福大学博士，
已经在台湾建厂，
对日本在内存条市场上近似垄断的局面提出了 挑战。
印度出生的
N.
达莫达
.
雷迪经营
的小小的加州公司 在堪萨斯城重新启用了美国电话电报公司的一家芯片工厂，并从密苏里州获取了财政上的支持。在
硅谷变 成一个退休村之前，它很可能成为建立全球商业的一个教学场地。


Lesson 11

How to grow old

如何安度晚年





Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this
feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in
the thought that they have cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has
known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death
is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it -- so at least it seems to me -- is to make
your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your
life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a
river -- small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and
over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in
the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual
being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since
the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought
of rest will be not unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on
what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.
参考译文

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外语下载中心





有些老年人因为怕死而感到烦恼。青年人有这种感觉是情有可原的。有理由害怕自己会死在战场上的年轻 人，想
到自己被剥夺了生活所能给予的最美好的东西时，感到痛苦，这是可以理解的。可是老年人已经饱 尝了人间的甘苦，
一切能做的都做了，如果怕死，就有点儿可怜又可鄙。克服怕死的最好办法

--
至少在我看来是这样

--
就是逐渐使
自己的兴趣 更加广泛，逐渐摆脱个人狭小的圈子，直到自我的围墙一点一点地倒塌下来，自己的生活慢慢地和整个宇
宙的生活融合在一起。个人的存在应该像一条河流，开始很小，被紧紧地夹在两岸中间，接着热情奔放地冲过巨石 ，
飞下瀑布。然后河面渐渐地变宽，两岸后撤，河水流得平缓起来，最后连绵不断地汇入大海，毫无痛苦 地失去了自我
的存在。上了年纪的人这样看待生命，就不会有惧怕死亡的心情了，因为自己关心的一切事 件都会继续下去。

再者，
随着精力的衰退，老年人的疲惫会增长，有长眠的愿望未尝 不是一件好事情，我希望工作到死为止，明白了有人会继
续我的未竟事业，想到能做的事都做了，也就坦 然了。


Lesson 12

Banks and their customers

银行和顾客





When anyone opens a current account at a bank, he is lending the bank money, repayment of which
he
may
demand
at
any
time,
either
in
cash
or
by
drawing
a
cheque
in
favour
of
another
person.
Primarily, the banker-customer relationship is that of debtor and creditor -- who is which depending on
whether the customer's account is in credit or is overdrawn. But, in addition to that basically simple
concept, the bank and its customer owe a large number of obligations to one another. Many of these
obligations can give in to problems and complications but a bank customer, unlike, say, a buyer of
goods, cannot complain that the law is loaded against him.




The bank must obey its customer's instructions, and not those of anyone else. When, for example,
a customer first opens an account, he instructs the bank to debit his account only in respect of cheques
draw by himself. He gives the bank specimens of his signature, and there is a very firm rule that the
bank has no right or authority to pay out a customer's money on a cheques on which its customer's
signature has been forged. It makes no difference that the forgery may have been a very skilful one: the
bank must recognize its customer's signature. For this reason there is no risk to the customer in the
practice, adopted by banks, of printing the customer's name on his cheques. If this facilitates forgery,
it is the bank which will lose, not the customer.
参考译文





任何人在银行开一个活期账户 ，就等于把钱借给了银行。这笔钱他可以随时提取，提取的方式可以是取现金，也
可以是开一张以他人为 收款人的支票。银行与储户的关系主要是债务人和债权人的关系。究竟谁是债务人谁是债权人，
要看储户 是有结余还是透支。除了这一基本的简单的概念外，银行和储户彼此还需承担大量义务。其中许多义务往往
引起问题和纠纷。但是储户不能像货物的买主那样来抱怨法律对自己不利。





银行必须遵照储户的嘱托办事，不能听从其他人的指令。比如，储户首次在银行开 户时，嘱咐银行他的存款只能
凭本世人签字的支票来提取。他把自己签名的样本交给银行，对此有一条非 常严格的规定：银行没有任何权利或理由
把储户的钱让伪造储户的支票取走。即使伪造得很巧妙，也不能 付款，因为银行有责任辨认出其储户的签名。因此，
某些银行已采用把储户印在支票上的作法。这种做法 对储户毫无风险。如果因这种作法出现了伪造的话，受损失的将
不是储户，而是银行。


Lesson 13 The search for oil
探寻石油





The deepest holes of all made for oil, and they go down to as much as 25,0000 feet. But we not need
to send men down to get the oil our, as we must with other mineral deposits. The holes are only borings,
less than a foot in diameter. My particular experience is largely in oil, and the search for oil has done
more to improve deep drilling than any other mining activity. When is has been decided where we are
going to drill, we put up at the surface an oil derrick. It has to be tall because it is like a giant block and
tackle, and we have to lower into the ground and haul out of the ground great lengths of drill pipe which
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外语下载中心

are rotated by an engine at the top and are fitted with a cutting bit at the bottom.




The geologist needs to know what rocks the drill has reached, so every so often a sample is obtained
with a coring bit. It cuts a clean cylinder of rock, from which can be seen the strata the drill has been
cutting through. Once we get down to the oil, it usually flows to the surface because great pressure,
either from or water, is pushing it. This pressure must be under control, and we control it by means of
the mud which we circulate down the drill pipe. We endeavour to avoid the old, romantic idea of a
gusher, which wastes oil and gas. We want it to stay down the hole until we can lead it off in a controlled
manner.
参考译文





在 所有洞穴中，为寻找石油所钻出的洞是最深的，这些洞可深达
25,000
英尺。但是，我们不 必像开采其他矿藏
那样，把人送到地下去把石油取出。这些洞只不过是一些钻孔，直径不到
1< br>英尺。我是专门搞石油的，寻找石油比其
他任何采矿业对改进钻探作的贡献都要大。当确定钻孔地 点后，我们就在那里竖起一个井架。井架必须很高，因为它
像一个巨型滑轮组。我们必须把很长的钻杆一 节节地钻入地下，然后再从地下拉出来。钻杆顶部安装的发动机带动钻
杆旋转，它的底部装有钻头。




地质学家需要知道钻头已以到达什么样的岩层，因此 时常要用芯钻头取样。这种钻头能切割一段光滑的圆柱形岩
石，从中能看出所钻透的地层。一旦到达油层 ，石油就会由于地下巨大的压力流到地面上来，这种巨大的压力来自地
下天然气或水。这种压力必须加以 控制，我们让泥桨顺着钻杆向下循环，用这种方法来控制压力。我们尽量避免使用
陈旧天真的喷井方法， 那样会浪费石油和天然气。我们要让石油留在井下，直到我们能用一种有控制的方法把它引上
来为止。< br>

Lesson 14

The Butterfly Effect

蝴蝶效应





Beyond two or three days, the world's best weather forecasts are speculative, and beyond six or
seven they are worthless.




The Butterfly Effect is the reason. For small pieces of weather -- and to a global forecaster, small can
mean
thunderstorms
and
blizzards
--
any
prediction
deteriorates
rapidly.
Errors
and
uncertainties
multiply, cascading upward through a chain of turbulent features, from dust devils and squalls up to
continent-size eddies that only satellites can see.




The modern weather models work with a grid of points of the order of sixty miles apart, and even
so, some starting data has to guessed, since ground stations and satellites cannot see everywhere. But
suppose the earth could be covered with sensors spaced one foot apart, rising at one-foot intervals all
the
way
to
the
top
of
the
atmosphere.
Suppose
every
sensor
gives
perfectly
accurate
readings
of
temperature, pressure, humidity, and any other quantity a meteorologist would want. Precisely at noon
an infinitely powerful computer takes all the data and calculates what will happen at each point at 12.01,
then 12.02, then 12.03...




The computer will still be unable to predict whether Princeton, New Jersey, will have sun or rain on
a day one month away. At noon the spaces between the sensors will hide fluctuations that the computer
will not know about, tiny deviations from the average. By 12.01, those fluctuations will already have
created small errors one foot away. Soon the errors will have multiplied to the ten-foot scale, and so on
up to the size of the globe.
参考译文





世界上最好的两三天以上的天气预报具有很强的猜测性，如果超过六七 天，天气预报就没有了任何价值。





原因是蝴蝶效应。对于小片的恶劣天气

--
对一个全球性的气象预报员来 说，
“
小
”
可以意味着雷暴雨和暴风雪

--
任 何预测的质量会很快下降。错误和不可靠性上升，接踵而来的是一系列湍流的徵状，从小尘暴和暴风发展到只有卫
星上可以看到的席卷整块大陆的旋涡。

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外语下载中心





现代气象模型以一个坐标 图来显示，
图中每个点大约是间隔
60
英里。
既使是这样，
有些开始 时的资料也不得不依
靠推测，因为地面工作站和卫星不可能看到地球上的每一个地方。假设地球上可以布 满传感器，每个相隔
1
英尺，并
按
1
英尺的间隔从地面一直排列到大 气层的顶端。再假定每个传感器都极极端准确地读出了温度、气压、温度和气象
学家需要的任何其他数据 。在正午时分，一个功能巨大的计算机搜集了所有的资料，并算出在每一个点上
12
：
01
、
12
：
02
、
12
：
03
时可能出现的情况。





计算机无法推断出
1
个月以后的某一天，新泽西州的普林斯顿究竟是晴天还是雨天。正午时分，传感器之间的距
离 会掩盖计算机无法知道的波动、任何偏平均值的变化。到
12
：
01
时，那些 波动就已经会在
1
英尺远的地方造成偏
差。很快这种偏差会增加到尺
10英的范围，如此等等，一直到全球的范围。


Lesson 15 Secrecy in industry
工业中的秘密





Two factors weigh heavily against the effectiveness of scientific research in industry. One is the
general atmosphere of secrecy in which it is carried out, the other the lack of freedom of the individual
research worker. In so far as any inquiry is a secret one, it naturally limits all those engaged in carrying
it out from effective contact with their fellow scientists either in other countries or in universities, or
even, often enough, in other departments of the same firm. The degree of secrecy naturally varies
considerably.
Some
of
the
bigger
firms
are
engaged
in
researches
which
are
of
such
general
and
fundamental nature that it is a positive advantage to them not to keep them secret. Yet a great many
processes depending on such research are sought for with complete secrecy until the stage at which
patents can be taken out. Even more processes are never patented at all but kept as secret processes.
This applies particularly to chemical industries, where chance discoveries play a much larger part than
they do in physical and mechanical industries. Sometimes the secrecy goes to such an extent that the
whole nature of the research cannot be mentioned. Many firms, for instance, have great difficulty in
obtaining technical or scientific books from libraries because they are unwilling to have names entered
as having taken out such and such a book, for fear the agents of other firms should be able to trace the
kind of research they are likely to be undertaking.
参考译文




< br>有两个因素严重地妨碍工业中科学研究的效率：一是科研工作中普遍存在的保密气氛；二是研究人员缺乏个 人自
由。任何一项研究都涉及到保密，那些从事科研的人员自然受到了限制。他们不能和其他国家、其他 大学、甚至往往
不能与本公司的其他部门的同行们进行有效的接触。保密程度自然差别很大。某些大公司 进行的研究属于一般和基础
的研究，因此不保密对他们才有利。然而，依赖这种研究的很多工艺程序是在 完全保密的情况下进行的，直到可以取
得专利权的阶段为止。更多的工艺过程根本就不会取得专利权，而 是作为秘方保存着。在这化学工业方面尤为突出。
同物理和机械工业相比，化学工业中偶然发现的机会要 多得多。有时，保密竟达到了这样的程度，即连研究工作的整
个性质都不准提及。比如，很多公司向图书 馆借阅科技书籍时感到困难，因为它们不愿让人家记下它们公司的名字和
借阅的某一本书。他们生怕别的 公司的情报人员据此摸到他们可能要从事的某项科研项目。


Lesson 16 The modern city


现代城市





In the organization of industrial life the influence of the factory upon the physiological and mental
state of the workers has been completely neglected. Modern industry is based on the conception of the
maximum production at lowest cost, in order that an individual or a group of individuals may earn as
much money as possible. It has expanded without any idea of the true nature of the human beings who
run the machines, and without giving any consideration to the effects produced on the individuals and
on their descendants by the artificial mode of existence imposed by the factory. The great cities have
been built with no regard for us. The shape and dimensions of the skyscrapers depend entirely on the
necessity of obtaining the maximum income per square foot of ground, and of offering to the tenants
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offices and apartments that please them. This caused the construction of gigantic buildings where too
large masses of human beings are crowded together. Civilized men like such a way of living. While they
enjoy the comfort and banal luxury of their dwelling, they do not realize that they are deprived of the
necessities of life. The modern city consists of monstrous edifices and of dark, narrow streets full of
petrol
fumes
and
toxic
gases,
torn
by
the
noise
of
the
taxicabs,
lorries
and
buses,
and
thronged
ceaselessly by great crowds. Obviously, it has not been planned for the good of its inhabitants.
参考译文





在工业生活的组织中，工厂对工人的生理和精神状态的影响完全被忽视了。现代工业的基本概念是：以最 低成本
获取最多产品，为的是让某个个人或某一部分人尽可能多地赚钱。现代工业发展起来了，却根本没 想到操作机器的人
的本质。工厂把一种人为的生存方式强加给工人，却不顾及这种生存方式给工人及其后 代带来的影响。大城市的建设
毫不关心我们。摩天大楼完全是按这样的需要修建的：每平方英尺地皮取得 最大收入和向租房人提供使他满意的办公
室和住房。这样就导致了许多摩天大厦拔地而起，大厦内众多的 人挤地一起。文明人喜欢这样一种生活方式。在享受
自己住宅的舒适和庸俗的豪华时，却没有意识到被剥 夺了生活所必需的东西。大得吓人的高楼和阴暗狭窄的街道组成
了今日现代化的城市。街道上充斥着汽油 味和有毒气体，出租汽车、卡车、公共汽车的噪音刺耳难忍，络绎不绝的人
群挤来挤去。显然，现代化的 城市不是这居民的利益而规划的。





Lesson 17

A man-made disease
人为的疾病





In
the
early
days
of
the
settlement
of
Australia,
enterprising
settlers
unwisely
introduced
the
European rabbit. This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes, so that it multiplied with that
promiscuous abandon characteristic of rabbits. It overran a whole continent. It caused devastation by
burrowing and by devouring the herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle.
Scientists
discovered
that
this
particular
variety
of
rabbit
(and
apparently
no
other
animal)
was
susceptible to a fatal virus disease, myxomatosis. By infecting animals and letting them loose in the
burrows, local epidemics of this disease could be created. Later it was found that there was a type of
mosquito which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits. So while the rest of
the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes, Australia was encouraging this one. It effectively spread
the
disease
all
over
the
continent
and
drastically
reduced
the
rabbit
population.
It
later
became
apparent
that
rabbits
were
developing
a
degree
of
resistance
to
this
disease,
so
that
the
rabbit
population was unlikely to be completely exterminated. There were hopes, however, that the problem
of the rabbit would become manageable.




Ironically, Europe, which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia, acquired this man- made
disease as a pestilence. A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate and
introduced
myxomatosis.
It
did
not,
however,
remain
within
the
confines
of
his
estate.
It
spread
through France, Where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as sport and a useful food
supply, and it spread to Britain where wild rabbits are regarded as a pest but where domesticated
rabbits,
equally
susceptible
to
the
disease,
are
the
basis
of
a
profitable
fur
industry.
The
question
became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.
参考译文





在澳大利亚移民初期，一些有创业精神的移民不明智地把欧 洲兔子引进了澳大利亚。这种兔子在澳大利亚及新西
兰没有天敌，因此便以兔子所特有的杂乱交配迅猛繁 殖起来。整个澳洲兔子成灾。它们在地下打洞，吃掉本可以饲养
数百万头牛羊的牧草，给澳洲大陆造成了 毁灭性的破坏。科学家们发现，这种特殊品种的兔子（显然不包括别的动物）
易患一种叫
“多发性粘液瘤
”
的致命毒性疾病。通过让染上此病的动物在洞内乱跑，就可以使这种疾病在 一个地区蔓延
起来。后来又发现，有一种蚊子是传播这种疾病的媒介，能把此病传染给兔子。因此，世界 上其他地方在设法消灭蚊
子的时候，澳大利亚却在促使这种蚊子大量繁殖。蚊子把这种疾病扩散到整个澳 洲大陆，效果甚佳，结果兔子的数目
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在为减少。后来，明显看出，兔子对这种疾病已产生了一定程度的免疫力，所以兔子不可能被完全消灭。但是，已 有
希望解决兔子所带来的问题。





具有讽 刺意味的是，欧洲把这种兔子作为有害动物传给澳洲，而欧洲自己却染上了这种人为的瘟疫般的疾病。一
位法国内科医生决定除掉自己庄园内的野兔子，于是引进了这种多发性粘液瘤疾病。然而，这种疾病并未被局限在 他
的庄园内，结果在整个法国蔓延开来。野兔在法国一般不被当作有害动物，而被视为打猎取乐的玩物和 有用的食物来
源。这种疾病又蔓延到了英国。在英国，野兔被当作有害的动物，可是家兔是赚钱的毛皮工 业的基础，然而家兔同样
易感染这种疾病。现在的问题是，人类能否控制住这种人为的疾病。


Lesson 18 Porpoises

海豚





There
has
long
been
a
superstition
among
mariners
that
porpoises
will
save
drowning
men
by
pushing them to the surface, or protect them from sharks by surrounding them in defensive formation.
Marine Studio biologists have pointed out that, however intelligent they may be, it is probably a mistake
to credit dolphins with any motive of lifesaving. On the occasions when they have pushed to shore an
unconscious human being they have much more likely done it out of curiosity or for sport, as in riding
the bow waves of a ship. In 1928 some porpoises were photographer working like beavers to push
ashore a waterlogged mattress. If, as has been reported, they have protected humans from sharks, it
may have been because curiosity attracted them and because the scent of a possible meal attracted the
sharks. Porpoises and sharks are natural enemies. It is possible that upon such an occasion a battle
ensued, with the sharks being driven away or killed.




Whether it be bird, fish or beast, the porpoise is intrigued with anything that is alive. They are
constantly after the turtles, who peacefully submit to all sorts of indignities. One young calf especially
enjoyed raising a turtle to the surface with his snout and then shoving him across the tank like an
aquaplane. Almost any day a young porpoise may be seen trying to turn a 300-pound sea turtle over by
sticking his snout under the edge of his shell and pushing up for dear life. This is not easy, and may
require two porpoises working together. In another game, as the turtle swims across the oceanarium,
the first porpoise swoops down from above and butts his shell with his belly. This knocks the turtle down
several feet. He no sooner recovers his equilibrium than the next porpoise comes along and hits him
another crack. Eventually the turtle has been butted all the way down to the floor of the tank. He is now
satisfied merely to try to stand up, but as soon as he does so a porpoise knocks him flat. The turtle at
last gives up by pulling his feet under his shell and the game is over.
参考译文





长期以来，海员中流传着一种迷信的说法，认为海豚会把快 要淹死的人托到水面，救人性命；或在人们周围列队
保护，使他们免遭鲨鱼伤害。海洋摄影室的生物学家 指出，无论海豚多么聪明，认为它们有救人的动机可能是错误的。
当它们偶尔把一个失去知觉的人推到岸 边时，更大的可能是出于好奇或游戏，就像它们追逐被船首犁开的浪花一样。
1928
年，有人拍摄到了海豚像海狸一样把浸透水的床垫推上岸的情景。
正如报道中所说，
如果海豚保 护人不受鲨鱼侵
害，那么它们可能是出于好奇；而鲨鱼可能是闻到了可以美食一顿的香味。海豚和鲨鱼是 天然仇敌，双方可能随之发
生搏斗，搏斗结果是海豚赶走或咬死鲨鱼。





海豚对凡是活的东西都感兴趣，不管是鸟、是鱼，还是野兽。它们经常追逐海龟， 海龟则温顺地忍受着各种侮辱。
一只小海豚特别喜欢用鼻子把海龟推到水面，然后像滑水板一样把海龟从 水池的这一边推到那一边。几乎每天都可以
看到一只小海豚把鼻子顶入一只
300
磅重 的海龟的硬壳下面，拼命地把它翻过来。这并非易事，可能需要两只海豚合
伙干才行。在另一场游戏中， 当海龟游过水族馆时，第一只海豚从上方猛扑下去，用腹部撞击龟壳。这一下子把海龟
撞下去好几英尺。 海龟刚恢复平衡，第二只海豚又冲过来猛击一下。这只海龟最终被撞到池底。此时的海龟，只要能
站起来 就满足了，但它刚站起来，就被一只海豚击倒。海龟终于屈服了，将
4
条腿缩进壳内。游戏到此 结束。






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Lesson 19

The stuff of dreams
话说梦的本质





It is fairly clear that sleeping period must have some function, and because there is so much of it the
function
would
seem
to
e
important.
Speculations
about
is
nature
have
been
going
on
for
literally
thousands of years, and one odd finding that makes the problem puzzling is that it looks very much as
if sleeping is not simply a matter of giving the body a rest. 'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation and so
on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down. The body's tissues are self- repairing
and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active. In fact a basic
amount
of
movement
occurs
during
sleep
which
is
specifically
concerned
with
preventing
muscle
inactivity.




If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? This might
be a plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a
device for recording the electrical activity of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp) shows that
while there is a change in the pattern of activity during sleep, there is no evidence that the total amount
of activity is any less. The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental. Some years ago an
American
psychiatrist
named
William
Dement
published
experiments
dealing
with
the
recording
of
eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated with
peculiar bursts of eye-movements, some drifting and slow, others jerky and rapid. People woken during
these periods of eye-movements generally reported that they had been dreaming. When woken at other
times they reported no dreams. If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep
for several nights on end, and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they
were no exhibiting eye- movements, the first group began to show some personality disorders while the
others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance
of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.
参考译文





很清楚 ，睡眠必然具有某种作用。睡眠占去那么多时间，所以其作用似乎还是很重要。人们对睡眠作用的种种猜
测，确实有数千年之久。一项使人对这个问题感到困惑的奇怪的发现是，睡眠在很大程度似乎并不仅仅是为了使身 体
得到休息。
“
休息
”
，从使肌肉得到放松等方面来看，只要稍微躺 一躺，甚至坐一坐就能达到。人体组织在一定程度上
有自我修补和自我恢复的能力，有张有弛地连续活动 时，其功能最佳。事实上，睡眠状态下仍有着基本的活动量，以
防止肌肉活动停止。





如果睡眠的功能不是在于使身体得到休息，那么也许是让大脑得以休息 ？若不是下面两点，这种假使似乎是有道
理的。第一点，脑电图记录仪（不过是一种把电极接到头皮上记 录脑电活动的仪器）显示，人在睡眠时大脑活动的方
式有变化，但没有迹象表明，其活动总量有任何减少 。第二点更有意思，也更重要。前些年，美国一位精神病学者发
表了一篇报告，报告中记录了眼球在睡眠 时的活动情况。他指出，平常人的睡眠周期中不时伴有一阵阵奇怪的眼球队
活动，这些活动有的飘忽而缓 慢，有的急剧而快速。在眼球活动期间被叫醒的人都说自己在做梦；在其他期间叫醒他
们，则说没有做梦 。如果有两组人，一组人连续几夜在眼球队活动时被叫醒；另一组人也是连续几夜被叫醒，但是在
眼球队 没活动时被叫醒的。结果，第一组人开始出现性格失常，而第二组人似乎没受什么影响。这一切暗示我们：睡眠受到干忧没关系，而做梦受到干忧是有问题的。


Lesson 20

Snake poison

蛇毒





How it came about that snakes manufactured poison is a mystery. Over the periods their saliva, a
mild, digestive juice like our own, was converted into a poison that defies analysis even today. It was
not forced upon them by the survival competition; they could have caught and lived on prey without
using poison, just as the thousands of non-poisonous snakes still do. Poison to a snake is merely a
luxury; it enables it to get its food with very little effort, no more effort than one bite. And why only
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snakes? Cats, for instance, would be greatly helped; no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles
with grown rabbits -- just a bite and no more effort needed. In fact, it would be an assistance to all
carnivores
though
it
would
be
a
two-edged
weapon
when
they
fought
each
other.
But,
of
the
vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes (and one lizard). One wonders saliva into why
Nature, with respect from that of others, as other on the blood.




In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place. It did not;
some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others, as different as arsenic
is from strychnine, and having different effects. One poison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.




The makers
of the
nerve poison include the mambas and the
cobras and their venom is called
neurotoxic.
Vipers
(adders)
and
rattlesnakes
manufacture
the
blood
poison,
which
is
known
as
haemolytic. Both poisons are unpleasant, but by far the more unpleasant is the blood poison. It is said
that the nerve poison is the more primitive of the two, that the blood poison is, so to speak, a newer
product from an improved formula. Be that as it may, the nerve poison does its business with man far
more quickly than the blood poison. This, however, means nothing. Snakes did not acquire their poison
for use against man but for use against prey such as rats and mice, and the effects on these of viperine
poison is almost immediate.
参考译文





蛇是怎样产生毒液的，这是一 个谜。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，演变成了今
天仍无法分析清楚的毒 液。毒液不是生存竞争强加给它们的，它们也可以不用毒液捕捉动物而生存，就像今天成千上
万的无毒蛇 那样。毒液对毒蛇来说只不过是一种舒适生存的优越手段，它使蛇不用费多大力气就能捕获到食物，轻咬
一口即可。为什么只有蛇才有毒液呢？譬如说，如果猫有毒液，那对猫会大有帮助，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，只要咬一口，就不必再费大力气。因此，任何食肉动物有了毒 液，都能从中
获益。不过，当它们相互撕打时，毒液就成了利弊参半的武，可以杀死对方，也可以被对方 的毒液杀死。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），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。





人们可能认为，唾液转变成毒液，其中有固定的程序。其实没有。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，就像砒霜不同于马钱子碱一样。不同毒蛇产生的毒液产生的效果不同 ，一种毒液作用于神经，另一
种毒液作用于血液。





产生神经毒液的蛇有一种非洲树眼镜蛇和眼镜蛇，它们的毒液称为神经毒素。蝰蛇（蝮蛇）和响尾蛇产生 血液毒
素，称为溶血性毒液。这两种毒液都很可怕，但溶血性毒液尤其厉害。据说，神经毒液在两种毒液 中是较为原始的一
种，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。不过，神经 毒辣液比溶血性毒液在人身上
起作用快得多。但是，这没有什么关系，因为蛇有毒液不是用来对付人的， 而是对付它的猎物，诸如鼠类，毒液对这
些猎物会立刻起作用。


Lesson 21

William S. Hart and the early 'Western' film
威廉
.S.
哈特和早期限的
„
西部
‟
影片





William S. hart was, perhaps, the greatest of all Western stars, fro unlike Gary Cooper and John
Wayne he appeared in nothing but Westerns. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged. It
was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film, and devised the protagonist he played in
every film he made, the good-had man, the accidental-noble outlaw, or the honest-but-framed cowboy,
or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip; in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his
frontier environment.




Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood, Hart actually knew something of the old West. He
had
lived
in
it
as
a
child
when
it
was
already
disappearing,
and
his
hero
was
firmly
rooted
in
his
memories and experiences, and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier. And
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although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized, myth and reality
did join hands in at least one arena, the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.




Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians were bewildered by
politicians, bankers and businessmen, and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. Hart's good-bad
man was always an outsider, always one of the disinherited, and if he found it necessary to shoot a
sheriff
or
rob
a
bank
along
the
way,
his
early
audiences
found
it
easy
to
understand
and
forgive,
especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.




Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century found it pleasant to escape to a time when
life, though hard, was relatively simple. We still do; living in a world in which undeclared aggression,
war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a
code to live by.
参考译文





威廉.S.
哈特大概是美国西部电影明星中的佼佼者。他和加里
.
古柏、约翰
.
韦恩不同，他只在西部电影中扮演角色。
在
1914
年至
1924
年期间，他首屈一指，独霸影坛。正是他创造了西部电影的基调，即在他自己的拍摄的影片中他
所塑造的主人公形象：被认为是坏人的好人，出人意料的高尚的逃犯，诚实却遭陷害的牛仔或因流言蜚语蒙受嫌疑 的
司法官。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。





哈特与大部分同时代在好莱坞的演员不同，他确实了解西部早期拓荒生 活的一些情况。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。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，也扎根于有关已经
消失的拓荒生活的历史和神话之中。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，但神话和事实至少在某一个舞台上共 存，也就是存在于个人与渐渐闯入的文明这两者的冲突之中。





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，最后 被圈地、尖律我外
来的清规戒律所击败。哈特扮演的被误为坏人的好人总是一个局外人，总是一个被剥夺 继承权的人。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，他的早期观众很容易接受 ，觉得应该原谅他，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。





生活在
20
世纪
20
年 代的观众认为，逃到一个即使艰苦但比较简朴的时代中去是件愉快的事，
我们今天仍有这种
感觉 。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，我< br>们都希望有一个赖以生存的行为准则。


Lesson 22

Knowledge and progress


知识和进步





Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely progress of a particular
kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest. Although mankind has
undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in
the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual
could be communicated to another by means of speech. With the invention of writing, a great advance
was
made,
for
knowledge
could
then
be
not
only
communicated
but
also
stored.
Libraries
made
education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind
of
compound
interest
law,
which
was
greatly
enhanced
by
the
invention
of
printing.
All
this
was
comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised. Then knowledge
began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. The trickle became a stream; the stream has
now become a torrent. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical
account. What is called 'modern civilization' is not the result of a balanced development of all man's
nature. but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. The problem now facing humanity is:
What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged
weapon which can be used equally for good or evil. It is now being used indifferently for both. Could any
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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.
参考译文

为什么进步这个概念在现代世界显得如此突出？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。虽然人类有智力和道德上没 有得到普遍提高，但在知识积累方面却取得了巨大的进步。人一旦能用语
言同别人交流思想，知识的积累 便开始了。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。藏书使 教育成为可能，而教育反过来又丰富了藏书，因为知识的增长遵循着一种
“
滚雪球
”< br>的规律。印刷
术的发明又大大提高了知识增长的速度。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。于
是，知识便开始有系统有计划地积累起来。涓涓细流汇成小溪，小溪现已 变成了奔腾的江河。而且，新知识一旦获得，
便得到实际应用。所谓
“
现代文明
”
并不是人的天性平衡发展的结果，而是积累起来的知识应用到实际生活中的结果。
现在人类 面临的问题是：用这些知识去做什么？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。人们现在正漫不经心地把知识用于这两个方面，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？

Lesson 23

Bird flight


鸟的飞行方法





No two sorts of birds practise quite the same sort of flight; the varieties are infinite; but two classes
may be roughly seen. Any shi that crosses the Pacific is accompanied for many days by the smaller
albatross, Which may keep company with the vessel for an hour without visible or more than occasional
movement of wing. 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.
The albatross is the king of the gliders, the class of fliers which harness the air to their purpose, but
must yield to its opposition. In the contrary school, the duck is supreme. It comes nearer to the engines
with which man has 'conquered' the air, as he boasts. Duck, and like them the pigeons, are endowed
with such-like muscles, that are a good part of the weight of the bird, 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. Their humbler followers, such as partridges, have a like power of strong propulsion,
but soon tire. You may pick them up in utter exhaustion, if wind over the sea has driven them to a long
journey. The swallow shares the virtues of both schools in highest measure. It tires not, nor does it
boast
of
its
power;
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, and slipping through we no longer take omens
from their flight on this side and that; and even the most superstitious villagers no longer take off their
hats to the magpie and wish it good-morning.
参考译文





没有任何两种鸟的飞行方式是相同的。鸟的飞行方式千差万别，但大体上可分为两类。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。它们随船飞行一小时也难得见其扇动一下翅膀。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。信天翁是滑翔飞行的鸟类之王，它能自如 地驾驭空气，但必须顺
气流飞行。与滑翔鸟相对的另一类鸟中，数野鸭本领最高。它更近乎于人类自夸的
“
征服
”
了空气的发动机。野鸭及它
们相似的鸽子有天赋的钢铁般的 肌肉，占了体重的很大一部分。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。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。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。燕子充分兼有这两类鸟的长处，它既不疲劳，也
不炫耀自己的飞翔力；在空中十分自如，可以飞行
6
，
000
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，虽然我们不
再从它们的飞翔姿态来占卜吉凶，连最迷信的村民 也不再对喜鹊脱帽行礼，祝它早安了。

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外语下载中心


Lesson 24

Beauty
美





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. 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, different and, because the experience
is intensely moving, in some way higher. And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet do they convey
a
hint
of
beauty
and
serenity
greater
than
we
have
known
or
imagined.
Greater
too
than
we
can
describe; for language, which was invented to convey the meanings of this world, cannot readily be
fitted to the uses of another.




That all great has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable. In some moods, Nature
shares it. There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer, 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. But, if this world is not merely a bad joke, life
a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars, and existence an empty laugh braying across the
mysteries;
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.
if,
in
a
word,
beauty
means
something, yet we must not seek to interpret the meaning. If we glimpse the unutterable, it is unwise
to try to utter it, nor should we seek to invest with significance that which we cannot grasp. Beauty in
terms of our human meanings is meaningless.
参考译文





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。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，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。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。这种美感和静谧是我们无法描 述
的，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。





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。在某种状态下，大自然也有这种魅力。六月
蔚蓝的天空总使人遥想一个更加蔚蓝的苍穹；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。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，如果存在不只是对神秘事 物的一种空虚的笑声，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，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。
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；对于我们不理解的事物，我们也不应该去< br>赋予它某种意义。用对我们人类有意义的词解释美是没有意义的。














Lesson 25


Non-auditory effects of noise


噪音的非听觉效应





May
people
in
industry
and
the
Services,
who
have
practical
experience
of
noise,
regard
any
investigation of this question as a waste of time; they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that
noise affects people. On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate
evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society. 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.




One
allegation
often
made
is
that
noise
produces
mental
illness.
A
recent
article
in
a
weekly
newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable
distress,
with
the
caption
'She
was
yet
another
victim,
reduced
to
a
screaming
wreck'.
On
turning
eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters
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worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in this
sort of anecdote is of course that one merely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain
that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her, and yet one might be cautious
about believing this statement.




What is needed in case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions,
to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. Some time ago the United
States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study
was known as Project Anehin. It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome; if you
think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, you will
realize
that
a
modern
navy
is
a
good
place
to
study
noise.
But
neither
psychiatric
interviews
nor
objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors. This result merely confirms
earlier American and British studies: if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, it must be so
small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it. That does not prove that it does exist:
but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage -- which
really is mental health hazard.
参考译文





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，他们认为对这个问题进行调查中浪费时间，甚
至不愿承认噪音可能对人有影响。另一方面，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。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。





常见的一种指责是，噪音能引起精神病。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。图的文字说明：
“
她是又一个受害者，成了只会尖叫的可怜虫。
”
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。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？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，不过，人们不会轻信她的抱怨 。





对于噪音问题，需要对大量生活在噪音中的人 进行研究，看一看他们是否比其他人更易患精神病。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，这次调查被称之为：
“
安内英工程
”
。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。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，你就
会认识到现代海军是研究噪音的好地方。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。这个结果只不过证实了美国和英国早些时候的研 究结论：如果噪音对精神健康有影响
的话，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 。这并不是证实不存在噪音对健康的影响。但它
确实说明，噪音的危险性

--
比如说

--
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。


Lesson 26 The past life of the earth


地球上的昔日生命





It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be preserved,
for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial, and it is only in the seas and rivers,
and sometimes lakes, where mud and sit have been continuously deposited, that bodies and the can be
rapidly covered over and preserved.




But even in the most favourable circumstances 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. After all,
all living creatures live by feeding on something else, whether it be plant or animal, dead or alive, and
it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided. The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are
much more rarely preserved, for there is seldom anything to cover them over. When you think of the
innumerable birds that one sees flying bout, not to mention the equally numerous small animals like
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field mice and voles which you do not see, it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except,
of course, on the roads. They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some
other creature.




It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive, as
by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse, like the Siberian mammoths, when the whole
animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator. This is what happened to the famous Beresovka
mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition. 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. The mammoth has now
just a suburb of Los Angeles. 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. 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. There are also endless
numbers of birds in the tar as well.
参考译文





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，因为保存的必要条件之一是迅速掩埋，所以只有在泥
沙不停淤 积的海洋和江河里，有时在湖泊里，尸体之类的东西才能被迅速地覆盖而保存下来。





即使是在最有利的环境中，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。因为一切生物都是靠吃别的东西来活命的，不管 这种东西是植物还是动物，死的还是活的，因此，生
物偶尔才能避免被吃掉的命运。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，因为陆地上几乎没有什么
东西覆盖它们。你可以想象出天上有看得 见的飞来飞去、数不清的鸟，地上有不显眼的无数的老鼠和田鼠之类的小动
物，但是，除非在路上，很少 有人遇到这些动物的尸体，因为它们腐败之后很快就被风化掉，或被别的动物吃掉了。





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，如掉进难 以到达的洞穴，或掉进冰河裂缝里，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，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。它嘴里还留着冷 杉

--
它掉进冰河裂隙折断脊椎柱之前的最后一顿饭。这头长毛
象已被修 复，现存于圣彼得堡古生物学博物馆。有的动物掉进天然沥清坑里被保存下来，如在兰桥
.
拉< br>.
布里

--
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。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。沥青坑里还有无数只鸟的尸体。


Lesson 27


The 'Vasa' “
瓦萨
”
号





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. For nearly three and a half
centuries she lay at the bottom of Stockholm harbour until her discovery in 1956. This was the Vasa,
royal flagship of the great imperial fleet.




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. Triple gun-decks mounted sixty-four
bronze cannon. She was intended to play a leading role in the growing might of Sweden.




As she was prepared of her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, Stockholm was in a ferment. From
the Skeppsbron and surrounding islands the people watched this thing of beauty begin to spread her
sails and catch the wind. They had laboured for three years to produce this floating work of art; she was
more richly carved and ornamented than any previous ship. The high stern castle was a riot of carved
gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs; and zoomorphic animal shapes ablaze with
rea and gold and blue, symbols of courage, power, and cruelty, were portrayed to stir the imaginations
of the superstitious sailors of the day.
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Then the cannons of the anchored warships thundered a salute to which the Vasa fired in reply. 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. All
gun- ports were open and the muzzles peeped wickedly from them.




As the wind freshened there came a sudden squall and the ship made a strange movement, listing
to port. The Ordnance Officer ordered all the port cannon to be heaved to starboard to counteract the
list, but the steepening angle of the decks increased. 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. The lower gun-ports were now below water and the inrush
sealed the ship's fate. 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.
参考译文





1628
年，一艘大 帆船在处女航时就沉没了，这个从容不迫
7
世纪瑞典帝国流传至今的故事无疑是航海史上最离< br>奇的事件之一。
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1956
年才被发现。
这就是
“
瓦萨
”
号，帝国大舰的 皇家旗舰。





当时号称
“
北方飓 风
”
的国王古斯夫斯
.
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。
3
层的火炮甲 板上装着眼点
4
门青铜加农炮，目的就是要在不断增长的瑞典势力中起主导作用。





1628
年
8
月
10< br>日，
“
瓦萨
”
号准备首航时，斯德哥尔摩一片欢腾。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。瑞典人辛辛苦苦干了
3
年才建成这件水上艺术品，它比以往任何船只雕刻得都更
加精美，装饰得都更加华丽。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，
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，以激起汉时崇尚迷信的水手们的
想像。





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。
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。





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。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，但甲板的倾斜度仍在增加。当物口、压舱物、弹药和
400
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。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。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。


Lesson 28

Patients and doctors
病人与医生





This is a sceptical age, but although our faith in many of the things in which our forefathers fervently
believed has weakened, our confidence in the curative properties of the bottle of medicine remains the
same a theirs. 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. The
majority of the patients attending the medical out-patients departments of our hospitals feel 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, 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. There is no quicker
method of disposing of patients then by giving them what they are asking for, and since most medical
men
in
the
Health
Services
are
overworked
and
have
little
time
for
offering
time-consuming
and
little-appreciated advice on such subjects as diet, right living, and the need for abandoning bad habits
etc., the bottle, the box, and the jar are almost always granted them.




Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who was such faith in the bottle of medicine. It is
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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. Carlyle was entirely ignorant of what the bottle in his
pocket contained, of the nature of the illness from
which his friend was suffering, and of what had
previously been wrong with his wife, but a medicine that had worked so well in one form of illness would
surely be of equal benefit in another, and comforted by the thought of the help he was bringing to his
friend, he hastened to Henry Taylor's house. History does not relate whether his friend accepted his
medical help, but in all probability he did. 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, and that is what
all patients demand of their doctors -- to be cured at no inconvenience to themselves.
参考译文





这是一个怀疑一切的时代，可是虽然我们对我们祖先笃信的许多事物已 不太相信，我们对瓶装药品疗效的信心仍
与祖辈一样坚定。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。在医院门诊部看病的大多数人觉得，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。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，病人要什么就给什么， 没有比这样处理病人更快的方法了。因为卫生部门的大多数医生超负荷工作，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，如注意饮食、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。





并不只是那些 无知和没受过良好教育的人才迷信药瓶子。据说托马斯
.
卡莱尔有过这么一件事：他听说朋友亨 利
.
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。卡莱尔不知道 药瓶子里装的是什么药，
不知道他的朋友得的是什么病，也不知道妻子以前得的是什么病，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。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
.
泰勒的家里，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。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。这也正是病 人对医生的要求

--
病要治好，但不要太麻烦。



Lesson 29


The hovercraft

气垫船





Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century, the strangest of them
being perhaps the hovercraft. In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell,
who
had
turned
to
boat- building
on
the
Norfolk
Broads,
suggested
an
idea
on
which
he
had
been
working for many years to the British Government and industrial circles. 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. 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. 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. 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. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher -- its action
depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.




The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation. The hovercraft travelled first over the water,
then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road. Later it crossed the Channel,
riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.




Since
that
time,
various
types
of
hovercraft
have
appeared
and
taken
up
regular
service.
The
hovercraft is particularly useful in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia; it
can become a 'flying fruit-bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports; giant hovercraft
liners could span the Atlantic; and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain', riding on its air
cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h. -- the possibilities appear
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日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词

日语自学教程-坚韧的近义词