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新标准大学英语4课文翻译

新标准大学英语4课文翻译
新标准大学英语4课文翻译

Unit 1 Active reading (1)

大学毕业找工作的第一要义:别躺在沙发上做梦

More than 650,000 students left university this summer and many have no idea about the way to get a job.How tough should a parent be to galvanize them in these financially fraught times?

今年夏天,超过 65万的大学生毕业离校,其中有许多人根本不知道怎么找工作。在当今金融危机的背景下,做父母的该如何激励他们?

In July,you looked on as your handsome 21-year-old son,dressed in gown and mortarboard,proudly clutched his honours degree for his graduation photo.Those memories of forking out thousands of pounds a year so that he could eat well and go to the odd party,began to fade.Until now.

七月,你看着 21岁英俊的儿子穿上学士袍,戴上四方帽,骄傲地握着优等学士学位证书,拍毕业照。这时,记忆中每年支付几千英镑,好让儿子吃好、能参加奇特聚会的印象开始消退。总算熬到头了。

As the summer break comes to a close and students across the country prepare for the start of a new term,you find that your graduate son is still spending days slumped in front of the television,broken only by texting,Facebook and visits to the pub.This former scion of Generation Y has morphed overnight into a member of Generation Grunt.Will he ever get a job?

等到暑假快要结束,全国各地的学生正在为新学期做准备的时候,你发现大学毕业的儿子还歪躺在沙发上看电视。他只是偶尔走开去发短信,浏览社交网站 Facebook,去酒吧喝酒。这位前“千禧一代”的后裔一夜之间变成了哼哼一代的成员。他能找到工作吗?

This is the scenario facing thousands of families.More than 650,000 students left university this summer and most in these financially testing times have no idea what to do next.Parents revert to nagging; sons and daughters become rebels without a cause, aware that they need to get a job, but not sure now.

这就是成千上万家庭所面临的景象:今年夏天,超过 65万大学生毕业,在当今金融危机的背景下他们中的大多数人不知道自己下一步该做什么。父母只会唠叨,而儿女们则毫无缘由地变成了叛逆者,他们知道自己该找份工作,但却不知道如何去找。

Jack Goodwin,form Middlesex,graduated with a 2:1 in politics from Nottingham this summer.He walked into the university careers service and straight back out again;there was a big queue.He lived with five other boys all of whom did the same.There was no pressure to find a job,even though most of the girls he knew had a clearer plan.

来自米德尔塞克斯郡的杰克·古德温今年夏天从诺丁汉大学政治学系毕业,获得二级一等荣誉学士学位。他走进大学就业服务中心,又径直走了出来,因为他看见很多人在那里排长队。跟他一起住的另外 5个男孩也都跟他一样,进去又出来了。找工作的压力不大,虽然他所认识的大多数女生都有更清晰的计划。

“I applied for a job as a political researcher,but got turned down,”he says.”They were paying 18,000,which doesn’t buy you much more than a tin of beans after rent,but they wanted people with experience or master’s degrees.Then I applied for the Civil Service fast stream.I passed the exam,but at the interviews they accused me of being ‘too detached’ and talking in language that was ‘too technocratic’,which I didn’t think possible,but obviously it is.”

他说:“我申请政治学研究工作,但被拒了。他们给的年薪是 1万 8千镑,交完房租后所剩无几,也就够买一罐煮豆子,可他们还要有研究经历或硕士学位的人。然后我又申请了公务员速升计划,并通过了笔试。但在面试时,他们说我‘太冷漠’了,谈吐‘太像专家治国国论者’。我觉得自己不可能那样,但我显然就是那样的。”

Since then he has spent the summer “hiding”.He can recount several episodes of Traffic Cops and has seen more daytime television than is healthy.He talks to his friends about his aimless days and finds that most are in the same boat. One has been forced out to stack shelves by his parents.For the rest it is 9-to-5 “chilling” before heading to the pub.So how about working behind the bar,to pay for those drinks?”I don’t want to do bar work.I went to a comprehensive and I worked my backside off to go to a good university, where I worked really hard to get a good degree,”he says.”Now I’m back at the same stage as those friends who didn’t go to uni at all,who are pulling pints and doing dead-end jobs.I feel that I’ve come full circle.”

打那以后他整个夏天都在“躲”他能够轻松复述《交通警察》中的。若干片段,他白天看电视的时间太多,已经到了影响健康的地步。跟朋友谈自己漫无目标的日子时,他才发现他们的处境和自己的并没有两样。其中一位朋友在父母的逼迫下去超市摆货,其余的都是白天 9点到 5点“无所事事”,晚上去酒吧喝酒打发时间。要么,干脆就在酒吧工作?这样还可以挣些酒钱。“我不想在酒吧工作,我上的是综合性中学,我拼命读书才考上了一所好大学。到了大学,我又埋头苦读,才得到一个好学位。可现在我却跟那些没上过大学的朋友处在同一个水平线上,他们整天给客人倒酒,干无聊的活。我觉得自己好像兜了一圈,又回到了原来的起点。

Jacqueline Goodwin, his mother, defends him. She insists that he has tried to get a job,but having worked full-time since leaving school herself, she and her husband find it tricky to advise him on how to proceed.”I have always had to work,”she says. “It’s difficult because when you have a degree, it opens new doors for you, or you’d like to think that it does.”

他的母亲杰奎琳·古德温为他辩护。她坚持认为她的儿子已经尽力了,她自己中学毕业后一直都在工作,可是她和她的丈夫发现,建议儿子如何继续找工作是件很棘手的事情。她说,“我一直都必须工作。现在找工作很难,因为如果你有了学位,学位就会为你提供新的机会,至少你自己会这么想。”

Although she is taking a soft line with her son at the moment, she is clear that after an upcoming three-week trip to South America, his holiday from work will have to end. He may even have to pay rent and contribute to the household bills.

虽然现在她对儿子的态度还比较温和,但是她心里很清楚,去南美度三星期的假之后,他的休假就结束了。他可能还得付房租,分担家庭开支。

“They’ve got to grow up at some point. We’ve finished paying for university, so a little bit of help back is good,” she says.”The South America trip is the cutoff point.When he comes back there’ll be Christmas work if nothing else.”

她说,“在某个时候他们总该长大成人,我们已经帮了他们交了大学的学费,所以他们也该给我们一点点回报了。南美度假就是一个分水岭,他回来以后如果找不到工作,那就打圣诞节零工好了。”

Gael Lindenfield, a psychotherapist and the author of The Emotional Healing Strategy, says that the Goodwin parents have struck exactly the right note. The transition from university to a job is tough for parents and children: Crucially they must balance being positive and understanding with not making life too comfortable for their offspring.

心理治疗师盖尔·林登费尔德是《情感康复策略》的作者。她说古德温家长的说法是很恰当的,从上大学到工作的转换对孩子和父母来说都很艰难,关键是他们要在支持理解孩子和不溺爱孩子之间取得平衡。

“The main job for the parents is to be there because if they start advising them what to do, that is when the conflict starts. If you have contacts, by all means use those,” she says. “But a lot of parents get too soft,Put limits on how much money you give them,ask them to pay rent or contribute to the care of the house or the pets.Carry on life as normal and don’t allow them to abuse your bank account or sap your reserves of emotional energy.”

“父母的主要任务就是支持他们,如果他们教导孩子该如何做就会引起矛盾,”她说。“如果有熟人,一定要找他们想办法。但很多父母心太软了。必须限制孩子的零花钱,要求他们交房租,或分担日常生活或养宠物的花销。父母要过正常的生活,不要让孩子随便用你们的银行卡或者榨干你们的情感能量。”

Paying for career consultations, train fares to interviews or books are good things; being too pushy is not. But while parents should be wary becoming too soft, Lindenfield advises them to tread sympathetically after a job setback for a few days or even weeks - depending on the scale of the knock. After that the son or daughter needs to be nudged firmly back into the saddle.

为他们支付职业咨询费、面试交通费及书费是好事,但不能催得太紧。林登费尔德建议:虽说父母不能太宽容,但是如果孩子找工作遇到了挫折,父母应该体谅他们,宽容他们几天甚至几周——这要看他们受打击的程度来决定。等他们缓过来之后,父母就该坚决要求孩子继续求职。

Boys are more likely to get stuck at home. Lindenfield believes that men are often better at helping their sons, nephews, or friends’ sons than are mothers and sisters. Men have a different way of handing setbacks than women, she says, so they need the male presence to talk it through.

男孩更容易困在家里。林登费尔德相信男人比母亲和姐妹更容易帮助他们的儿子、侄子、或朋友的儿子。她说,由于男人和女人处理挫折的方式不同,孩子们需要跟男人谈话,才能度过难关。

As for bar work, she is a passionate advocate:It’s a great antidote to graduate apathy. It just depends on how you approach it.Lindenfield, who found her first job as an aerial photographic assistant through bar work, says it is a great networking opportunity and certainly more likely to get you a job than lounging in front of TV.

她强烈支持他们去酒吧工作:那是克服毕业冷漠症的一剂良方。这工作好不好要取决于你如何看待它。就是在酒吧打工的时候,林登费尔德找到了她的第一份工作,当航拍助手。她说在酒吧工作是拓展人际关系的绝好机会,肯定比赖在家里看电视更容易找到工作。

“The same goes for shelf-stacking. You will be spotted if you’re good at it. If you’re bright and cheerful and are polite to the customers, you’ll soon get moved on. So think of it as an opportunity; people who are successful in the long run have often got shelf-stacking stories,”she says.

她说:“给超市上货也一样。如果干得好,你就会被人发现的。如果你聪明、活泼,对顾客彬彬有礼,你很快就会升职。所以,把它看作是机会,那些最终能成功的人士都有在超市上货的经历。”

Your son or daughter may not want to follow Hollywood stars such as Whoopi Goldberg into applying make-up to corpses in a mortuary, or guarding nuclear power plants like Bruce Willis,but even Brad Pitt had to stand outside El Pollo Loco restaurant chain in a giant chicken suit at one time in his life. None of them appears the poorer for these experiences.

你的儿子或女儿可能不会干好莱坞影星们干过的活,比如像乌比·戈德堡那样去停尸房给死人化妆,或者像布鲁斯·威利斯那样在核电站当警卫,但即便是布拉德·皮特也曾经不得不穿上宽大的鸡套装站在墨西哥快餐连锁店 El Pollo Loco的门口招揽生意。他们中没有一个人因为这些经历而变得越来越穷。

Unit 2 Active reading(1)

危险!书可能会改变你的人生

Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice,who falls into a rabbit hole and discovers a mysterious wonderland, when we pick up a book we are about to enter a new world.We become observers of life from the point of view of a person older than ourselves, or through the eyes of a child. We may travel around

the globe to countries or cultures we would never dream of visiting in real life. We’ll have experiences which are new, sometimes disconcerting, maybe deeply attractive, possibly unpleasant or painful,but never less than liberating from the real world we come from.

刘易斯·卡罗尔书中的爱丽丝不小心掉到兔子洞里,在那里发现了一个神奇的仙境。当我们打开一本书时,我们也会像爱丽丝那样走进一个全新的世界。我们能从一个年长人的角度,或通过一个孩子的眼睛来观察生活;我们可以周游世界,遍访现实生活中从没想过要访问的国家和文化;我们可以体验未曾经历过的事情,这些事情有时令人不安,也许引人入胜;可能是不愉快的也可能是令人痛苦的,但无论如何都至少能把我们从现实世界中解放出来。

The English poet William Cowper(1731-1800) said “Variety’s the very spice of life , That gives it all its flavour” although he neglected to say where or how we could find it.But we know he was right.We know we live in a world of variety and difference. We know that people live various different lives,spend their time in various different ways,have different jobs,believe in different things,have different opinions,different customs,and speak different languages.Normally, we don’t know the extent of these differences,yet sometimes when something unusual happens to make us notice,variety and difference appear more as a threat than an opportunity.

英国诗人威廉·考珀(1731–1800)说,“变化是生活的调味品,它让生活变得有滋有味。”虽然他没有说在什么地方以及怎样才能找到变化,但我们知道他说得对。我们知道我们生活在一个充满变化与差异的世界里,我们知道人们的生活方式各不相同,人们过日子的方式不同,做不同工作,有不同信仰,持不同观点,有不同的风俗习惯,操不同语言。通常,我们不知道这些差异的大小,但一旦发生了不平常的事情并引起了我们的注意,这种变化或差异与其说是机会,毋宁说是威胁。

Reading books allows us to enjoy and celebrate this variety and difference in safety, and provides us with an opportunity to grow. To interact with other people’s lives in the peace and quiet of our homes is a privilege which only reading fiction can afford us. We even understand, however fleetingly, that we have more in common with other readers of books in other cultures than we might do with the first person we meet when we step out of our front doors. We learn to look beyond our immediate surroundings to the horizon and a landscape far away from home.

读书让我们能够安全地享受和庆贺这种变化与差异,为我们提供成长的机会。在家里安详平和的环境中与他人的生活互动,这是阅读小说才享有的特权。我们甚至感觉到——哪怕只是在那一瞬间——我们和异文化读者的共同点要多于我们和家门口随便碰到的一个人的共同点。我们学会把目光移出我们周围的环境,投向天边,去领略一下异域山水。

If we ever question the truth of the power of reading books, we should take the trouble to go to our local library or bookshop, or even, if we’re fortunate enough, to the books on our shelves at home. We should wonder at the striking vistas created by the titles of novels ranging from the

classics to the most recent:The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Fourth Hand by John lrving, Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger or Slamon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday. Then we should reflect on the other lives we’ll meet once we begin to read.

如果我们怀疑读书是否能给我们力量的话,我们就应该麻烦自己去一趟当地的图书馆或书店,或者,如果我们足够幸运的话,从家里的书架上取一本书来读一读。我们会惊奇于古今小说的标题所创造出来的壮观景象:约翰·斯坦贝克的《愤怒的葡萄》约翰·、欧文的《第四只手》亚历山大·、索尔仁尼琴的《癌症病房》、厄内斯特·海明威的《丧钟为谁而鸣》、格雷厄姆·格林的《哈瓦那特派员》、奥黛丽·尼芬格的《时间旅行者的妻子》、保罗·托迪的《到也门钓鲑鱼》。一旦开始阅读,我们就必须思考我们在书中读到的别样人生。

Every book will have its own language and dialect, its own vocabulary and grammar. We may not always understand every word or sentence, but whether we’re enchanted or whether we feel excluded, our emotions are nevertheless stimulated. Other people and other cultures are not always distant because of geography. In a book we may confront people who live in a different climate, have different religious beliefs, or come from from a different ethnic group.Even ours neighbours down the road may be strangers who we can only meet through books.

每一本书都有自己的语言、方言、词汇和语法。我们不见得总能理解其中的每一个字、句,但不管我们是痴迷其中,还是觉得被排除在外,我们的情感被调动起来了。尽管在地理上有一定的距离,但其他民族、其他文化未必就离我们那么遥远。在书里我们可能遇见生活在不同气候、有不同信仰、来自不同民族的人。即便是住在同一条街上的邻居,我们都有可能只在书上相识。

As soon as we are able to listen, books are supremely influential in the way we live. From the bedtime story read by a parent to their child all the way though to the sitting room lined with books in our adult homes, books define our lives.The English writer E.M.Forster(1879-1970) even hinted at a more mystical power which books possess over us.He wrote,”I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready,and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have gone ourselves.”It’s as if the right book comes to seek us out at the right moment, and offers itself to us-it’s not us who seek out the book.

小时候,在我们刚刚能听讲的时候,书对我们的生活方式就产生了很大的影响。从父母给孩子读的睡前故事一直到成年后家中摆满书柜的客厅,书界定了我们的人生。英国作家 E. M.福斯特(1879–1970)暗示书对我们具有另一种更加神秘的支配力。他写道:“我认为能影响我们的书籍是那些我们已经准备要读的书,它们只是在我们已经选定的道路上走得比我们更远一些而已。合适的书好像自己就会在恰当的时候找到我们,出现在我”们面前,而不是我们去寻找那本书。

Thomas Merton(1915-1968),the American monk,priest and writer,was once asked a series of seven questions by a journalist:Name the last three books you have read,the three books you are reading now ,the books you intend to read ,the books that have influenced you, and why, a book that everyone should read,and why.For the books which had influenced him,he cited poetic works of William Blake,various plays by ancient Greek thinkers and writers,and a number of religious writings.When asked why they had influenced him,he replied, “These books and others like them have helped me to discover the real meaning of my life,and have made it possible for me to get out of the confusion and meaninglessness of an existence completely immersed in the needs and passivities fostered by a culture in which sales are everything.”

美国修士、牧师及作家托马斯·默顿(1915–1968)曾经被记者一连串地问了 7个问题:说出你最近读完的 3本书;你正在读的 3本书;你打算要读的书;对你有影响的书,并解释为什么;一本每人都要读的书,并解释为什么。关于对他有影响的书,他列出了《威廉·布莱克诗集》、古希腊思想家和作家写的各种戏剧以及一些宗教作品。当被问及这些书为何会影响他时,他回答说:“这些书——还有其他类似的书籍——帮助我找到了人生的真谛,它们把我从生活的困惑和空虚中解脱出来。销售就是一切的文化培育了人的需求和被动,而那种生活就深陷其中。”

So how would you answer the questions?

那么,你又会如何回答这些问题呢?

In 1947,Clifton Fadiman coined the term home-run book.When a baseball player hits a home run, he hits the ball so hard and so far he’s able to run round the four bases of the diamond, and score points not only for himself but for the other runners already on a base. It’s the most enjoyable and satisfying event in a baseball game. Likewise, a home-run book describes not the child’s first reading experience, but the first time they read a book which induces such pleasure and satisfaction that they can’t put it down. For hundreds of millions of children around the world,the best know example of a home-run book will be the Harry Potter stories.

1947年,克里夫顿·费迪曼发明了“全垒打书籍”这个词。当一个棒球手打出一个全垒打时,因为击球有力、打得远,他有时间跑完整个棒球场内的四个垒,不仅自己得分,而且帮其他各个垒的跑垒者得分,这是棒球赛里最有趣和最开心的事情。同样,一本“全垒打书籍”指的不是儿童的第一次读书的经历,而是指他们第一次读到一本能给他们带来极大的愉悦和满足感的书、痴迷到手不释卷的经历。对世界上数以亿计的儿童来说,

As adults, we’re always looking for our own home-run books,not just for the first time,but time after time again.Whoever has read a novel in one sitting will always remember the pleasure and satisfaction which await us,and eagerly,insistently,sometimes even desperately seeks to reproduce the marvellous sensation again.We cannot withstand the hunger to visit

another world, to meet different people,to live other lives and to reflect on ourselves.

“全垒打书籍”的最典型的例子就是《哈利波特》系列小说。作为成年人,我们总在寻找自己的“全垒打书籍”,不是第一次,而是一次又一次地寻找。所有一口气读完一本小说的人都会记得那种令人期待的愉悦和满足感,并会焦急、固执、有时甚至疯狂地寻求重复体验这种感觉。我们想周游另一世界、会见不同国家不同民族的人、经历别样人生并自我反省,我们无法遏制这样的渴求。

Danger!Books may change your life.Such is the power of reading.

危险!书可能会改变你的人生。这就是读书的力量。

Unit 3 时装潮流 50年

No history of fashion in the yeas 1960 to 2010 can overlook or underestimate two constant factors: the ubiquitous jeans and the rise and fall of hemlines for women’s skirts and dresses.

1960至 2010年间的时装史存在着两个不可忽略或不可低估的不变因素:一是无处不在的牛仔裤,二是女装裙摆的升降。

Denim,the material which jeans are made of, was know in France in the late 16th century,but it was Levi Strauss who saw that miners in the Californian gold rush in the min-19th century needed strong

trousers,which he reinforced with metal rivets.Blue denim jeans remained popular in the US as work clothes until the 1950s,but then became associated with youth, new ideas,rebellion and individuality.When Levi Strauss & Co began to export blue jeans to Europe and Asia in the late 1950s,they were bought and worn with huge enthusiasm by young people and recognized as a symbol of the young,informal American way of life.

牛仔裤是用粗斜纹布做的,早在 16世纪末法国就有了这种布料。直到 19世纪中叶,李维·施特劳斯发现在加州淘金热中劳动的矿工很需要用这种耐用布料做成的牛仔裤,他还用铆钉来加固裤子。直到 1950年代,蓝色粗斜纹布做的牛仔裤一直只是流行的工装,但是后来牛仔裤变成了青春、新思想、反叛及个性的标志。1950年代末,李维·施特劳斯公司开始向欧亚出口蓝色牛仔裤。年轻人趋之若鹜,视其为美国活力四射的、随意的生活方式的象征。

Hemlines have a more peculiar significance during this period.It has often been noted that there is a precise correlation,with only a few exceptions,between the length of women’s skirts and the economy.As the stock market rises, so do hemlines, and when it fails,so do they.Exactly why women should want to expose more or less of their legs during periods of economic boom and bust remains a mystery.But the general trend is inescapable.Whenever the economic outlook is unsettled,both men and women tend to wear more conservative clothes.

裙摆在这一时期有着特殊的意义。人们时常会注意到,女人的裙摆和经济之间存在一种颇为精确的关联性,且鲜有例外。股市升时裙摆也跟着上升;股市跌时裙摆就跟着下降。在经济繁荣和萧条时期女性到底为什么要多暴露或少

暴露双腿至今仍然是个迷。但总的趋势是必定是这样的:每当经济前景不明朗时,男人和女人都倾向于穿比较保守的衣服。

Perhaps the most important development in fashion in the 1960s was the miniskirt, invented by the British designer Mary Quant.Because Quant worked in the heart of Swinging London, the miniskirt developed into a major international fashion. It was given greater respectability when the great French designer,Courreges,developed it into an item of high fashion.But it would not have achieved such international currency without the development of tights,instead of stockings,because the rise in hemlines meant the stocking tops would be visible.

1960年代时装史上一个最重要的发展就是英国时装设计师玛丽·匡特发明的超短裙。由于匡特在“摇摆伦敦”的中心地带工作,超短裙很快就风行全球。当法国杰出的时装设计师库雷热把超短裙变成一件高级时装时,超短裙得到了人们更多的尊敬。但是,如果只有长筒袜而没有发明裤袜的话,超短裙是不可能在全球流行的,因为裙摆的上升会让人看见长筒袜的袜口。

The hippie movement of the mid-1960s and early 1970s influenced the design of jeans,with the trouser leg developing a flared “bell-bottom”style. By the mid-1970s, as the economy deteriorated,hemlines dropped to midi(mid-calf length) and maxi(ankle length),while jeans were no longer exclusively blue.

60年代中、70年代初的嬉皮士运动影响了牛仔裤的设计,牛仔裤的裤腿发展成了扩张的“喇叭形”。到了 70年代中期,随着经济的恶化,裙摆降低到了小腿中部和脚踝部,而牛仔裤则不再是清一色的蓝色了。

Jeans remained fashionable during the period of punk,usually worn ripped,often with chains and studded belts.The look lasted for several years,although became more and more restricted to small groups of inner-city young people,and had little influence on other age groups.

牛仔裤在朋克时期依然很时髦,裤腿通常有撕裂的口子,并配有铁链及打着装饰钉的皮带。这种样式的牛仔裤延续了几年,但流行的范围越来越小,仅限于内城区的少数年轻人群体,对其他年龄段的群体影响不大。

As a backlash to the anarchy of punk,the New Romantics was a fashion movement which occurred mainly in British nightclubs. It was glamorous and courageous,and featured lavish frilled shirts. Jeans were definitely not acceptable.

作为对朋克无政府主义的一种抗拒,新浪漫派是一个主要出现在英国夜总会的时装潮流。这种时装大胆创新、魅力十足:衬衫以皱褶和奢侈为特征,牛仔裤是绝对不可以接受的。

The mid-1980s saw the rise of a number of different styles.Power dressing was characterized by smart suits and, for the newly-empowered women,shoulder pads and knee-length skirts. Not surprisingly,the economy was unstable,and people took less risks in what they wore.For men,the Miami Vice style,named after the television series,made use of smart T-shirts under designer jackets,and designer stubble-three of four days of beard growth.But as always,denim remained popular with the young.In

particular,heavy metal music fans wore bleached and ripped jeans and denim jackets.

80年代中期兴起了几种风格各异的服装。“权威装”以雅致的套装为特色,带肩垫的上衣配及膝短裙,受到新近得势的女士的欢迎。毫不奇怪,当经济不稳定的时候,人们不想在穿着上太冒险。男士则流行以电视剧“迈阿密风云”命名的“迈阿密风云”式样的时装,名牌短外套配时髦的 T恤,留着有型的短胡子——长三、四天的样子。和往常一样,粗斜纹布仍然受到年轻人的欢迎。尤其是重金属音乐迷,爱穿漂白的、撕开裂口的牛仔裤及牛仔衫。

Gradually hemlines started to rise again ... Until the world stock market crash in 1987,So the late 1980s in the US saw the rise of the more conservative style called Preppy style,with classic clothes by Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers for men, button-down shirts,chinos and loafers,with a sweater tied loosely around the neck.They also wore jeans,but either brand-new or clean and smartly pressed - not at all what Levi Strauss originally intended.

在 1987年全球股市崩盘之前,裙摆也开始逐渐地上升起来。美国在 80年代末兴起了一种较为保守的风格,称为“学院风”男士穿拉尔夫·。劳伦和布鲁克斯兄弟品牌的经典服装,衣领带纽扣的衬衫、斜纹棉布裤、平底便鞋,脖子上随意系着一件毛衣。他们也穿牛仔裤,但是必须是新的,或者是干净、熨平的牛仔裤,完全不是李维·施特劳斯最初所设想的那种牛仔裤。

As the world economies improved again in the 1990s,fashion for young people became more daring.Boots and Converse or Nike trainers remained popular,but the predominant colours became olive green and oatmeal. Hair was worn long, or cut spiky short and dyed blue,green or red. Hoodies,baseball caps and baggy jeans,which were often worn low below the buttocks,were common on the streets.

90年代随着世界经济的再次复苏,年轻人的时装也变得更加大胆起来了。靴子、匡威或耐克运动鞋都很流行,但是流行颜色变成了橄榄绿和米灰色。头发要么留得很长,要么是染成蓝色、绿色或红色的短刺头。帽衫、棒球帽及松垮型牛仔裤在街上随处可见。松垮型牛仔裤往往穿得很低,松松垮__垮地挂在臀部上。

Then in January 2000 the New York technology stock market collapsed.As usual, so did hemlines,which were described by one commentator as “the prim and proper look is in.Skirts should be below the knee.”But merely one year later,the stock market began to recover,and the micro miniskirt returned.Hemlines were higher than they had been for many years.

2000年 1月纽约的科技股市崩盘。和往常一样,裙摆也下降了,正

如一位评论家所说的,“循规蹈矩、一本正经的式样开始流行了,裙摆必须过膝。但仅仅过了一年,股市开始复苏,超短迷你裙又回来了,裙摆比”多年以来的都要高。

During this period, it was unusual to wear formal clothes unless you were at work. Designer jeans gained huge popularity.These were made of the traditional denim,perhaps with some lycra added,but cut and marketed under well-known brands such as Armani,Hugo Boss and Moschino, who until

recently had only concerned themselves with the smartest fashion lines.Skinny jeans also became popular in Britain and most of Europe. Skirt length is uncertain,ranging from micro to “sensible”- knee-length or just below.

这段时间,除非在工作时,人们通常不穿正式的服装。名牌牛仔裤享有很高的知名度,用传统的粗斜纹布制作,可能还加了点莱卡。由著名服装品牌,如阿玛尼、胡戈·伯斯士及莫斯奇诺剪裁、销售。这些品牌公司以前都只做最优雅的时装。紧身牛仔裤在英国及欧洲大部分地区很流行。裙子的长度不太确定,范围从超短到“理性”——即及膝或刚刚过膝。

Sometimes the hemline indicator,as it’s called,can even precede and predict a change in the mood of the stock market long before it actually happens.In September 2007,at the New York fashion shows,which were displaying their styles for spring 2008,the trend was for much longer dresses and skirts,many to mid-calf or even down to the ankles.Some people felt this showed that the hemline indicator was no longer reliable,and that designers no longer dictated what people would wear. During the London and New York fashion shows in September 2008,hemlines continued to drop.But sure enough,in the fall of 2008.the stock market indexes fell dramatically when the banking crisis hit the US,Europe and then the rest of the world .Hemlines were no longer following the stock market - they were showing the way and indicating future economic trends.

有时候,所谓的裙摆标志甚至能够在事情发生之前早早地预告股票牛市和熊市的更替。 2007年 9月的纽约时装展展示了 2008年春季流行式样,潮流转向了长衣、长裙,裙摆降至小腿中线,甚至到了脚踝。有人觉得这表明裙摆标志靠不住了,要不就是服装设计师已经丧失了对时装的主宰权。 2008年 9月,在伦敦和纽约时装展中,裙摆继续下降。果然,2008年秋天金融危机袭击美欧,波及全球,股指急剧下跌。这时,裙摆不再被动地追随股市升跌,而是引领潮流,预示未来的经济趋势了。

During the whole period,fashion styles have ranged widely,and have usually been sparked off by a desire to identify people as belonging to a particular sub-culture.But the constant factors over this period are denim and hemlines and the greatest influences have been a 19th-century Californian clothes manufacturer and a young designer in the Swinging London of the 1960s.

在整个这段时期内,时装的风格多种多样,它们的诞生往往起因于人们希望归属于某种亚文化、与之认同的愿望。但是,这个时期不变因素是粗斜纹布和裙摆。影响力最大的当属 19世纪加利福尼亚州的一个服装制造商以及 1960年代工作在“摇摆伦敦”的一位年轻的时装设计师。

Unit 4 Active reading (1) 信用卡陷阱

I have a confession.Several years ago, I was standing in a queue to collect some theatre tickets for my family,and my friend was doing the same for hers. I got mine,and paid for them by credit card,feeling

contented by the convenience of this cash-free transaction.It was then her turn to pay. The whole operation passed as smoothly as mine,but my delight soon turned to abject shame.My credit card was a fairly pathetic,status-free dark blue,whereas hers was a very exclusive gold one.

有一件事我得坦白。几年前,我排队为家人取戏票时,我的朋友也在为她的家人取票。我拿到了戏票,用信用卡付了帐,对这种非现金交易的便利感到很满意。然后就轮到她付款了,整个交易进行得和我的一样顺利,但我的高兴劲儿很快就变成了莫大的羞耻:我的信用卡太寒酸了,是不显示身份地位的黑蓝色,而她的信用卡则是高级的金卡。

How did she do this? How could this be? I knew I earned more then her,my car was newer,and my house was smarter.How did she get to appear more flash than me?

她是怎样弄到金卡的?怎么会这样呢?我知道我挣的比她多,我的车比她的车新,我的家比她的家漂亮,她怎么看起来显得比我光鲜呢?

Now, I had a job which was as steady as any job was in those days - that’s to say, not very, but you know,no complaints.I had a mortgage on my house,but then who didn’t? I paid off all my credit debt at the end of the month, so although technically, I was in debt to the credit card company,it was only for a matter of a few weeks.So I assumed I had a good credit rating.

我有一份跟那时候任何工作相比还算安定的工作——即不太安定的工作,不过我也没什么可抱怨的。我是通过按揭贷款买的房子,可那会儿谁买房不贷款呢?我每个月底都付清信用卡欠款。所以,虽然从技术上讲我欠过信用卡公司的钱,但只是欠几个星期而已。所以我认为我的信用等级应该很高。

Call me superficial,and I’m not proud of myself,but there and then,I was suddenly jealous of my friend.I decided I no longer wanted a blue card.I wanted a gold one.A gold card was suddenly indispensable,it would make me feel good with myself,and desirable to others.

你可以说我肤浅,我也不感到自豪。但就在当时当地我突然非常嫉妒那位朋友,我决定不要蓝色信用卡了,我要一张金卡。金卡突然变得不可或缺,它让我自我感觉良好,让别人觉得我更有魅力。

So I applied for the most distinctive,shiny golden card the company offered.

于是,我去信用卡公司申请最特别、最耀眼的金卡。

I was turned down.

可是,我的申请被拒了。

When I had recovered from the shock,which took several seconds,I asked why. It appears that because I pay my credit card bill both on time and in full,I’m not the kind of person that they want to have their gold credit card.They target people who are prone to impulse-buying,and potentially bad credit risks,tempted to spend more than they have, and liable to fall behind with repayments.Then they can charge them more interest,and earn more money.That’s the way they do business.

过了几秒钟,我才从这个打击中回过神来,我问为什么。显然,因为我每次都按时全额付清信用卡欠债,所以我不是他们想要的那种金卡客户,他们的目标客户是那些随时有购物刷卡的冲动,有潜在信用风险,经不住诱惑超支消费,经常延期还款的人。这样他们才有机会收取更多的利息,挣更多的钱,这就是他们的经营之道。

So does this explain why the credit card companies are luring impoverished students with unrealistic interest rates,like my kids?

这能够解释为什么信用卡公司会用超低利率诱惑像我们家孩子那样的贫穷大学生吗

Three weeks ago,No.2 daughter came home from university for the weekend.She’s in her second term of her first year.She has a student loan of $3000,like most of her friends,and a small allowance from her poor mother (ha!) for transport, books, living expenses. She wears clothes from the local charity shops,and rarely goes out.She hugged me (never usually does that)and then said,”Mum,I need to talk to you.”

三个星期前,我的二女儿回家过周末。她在读大一第二学期。和她的大多数朋友一样,她借了三千英镑的学生贷款,并从她可怜的妈妈(哈!)那里得到小小的一笔生活费,用于支付交通、书本及其他生活费用。她穿的衣服是从当地的慈善二手店买来的,平时很少出门。她拥抱了我(以前从不这样做),然后说:“妈妈,我有事要跟您商量。”

“What is it,darling? Tell me everything.”

“亲爱的,什么事啊?都说出来让我听听。”

“I’ve applied for a credit card,and I need someone to act as a guarantee for me.Is it OK if I put down your name? Thanks so much,Mum, must dash!Bye.”

“我申请了一张信用卡,需要保证人,我可以填您的名字吗非常感谢,妈妈,我得赶快走啦,再见。”

After I’d hauled her back into the house, it transpired that her bank had written to her offering a credit card at a low interest for a trial three-month period,subject to suitability... And so on.Her bank! I trusted them! They know even better than I do how broke she is.

我费了好大劲儿才把她从外面拽了回来。原来她的银行来信告诉她说:她可以申请一张三个月试用期内低息贷款的信用卡,只要合适……云云。她的银行!我才不相信他们!他们甚至比我更清楚她一贫如洗。

Here’s an serious question. Why do they call them credit cards when it would be more accurate to call them debt cards?

这里存在一个严重的问题:准确地说这种卡应该叫欠债卡,他们为什么要称它们为信用卡?

Here’s an even more serious story.Another friend’s daughter, Kelly,was studying modern languages at university, and spent a year overseas.At some point in the year,there was a change of procedure,and Kelly’s bank failed to allow her to access her funds in her current account,because the request was from outside the UK.Naturally,there was a lengthy correspondence while she tried to sort this out,so the delay

in being able to access her funds meant that she went into the red,and her debts began to rise more than $200 above the agreed limit on her overdraft of $1500.

还有一个故事更严重。我一个朋友的女儿凯丽在大学攻读现代语言,其中有一年要到国外交流。在出国交流那一年的某段时间,由于程序上的变动,凯丽的银行切断了她在英国之外访问帐户资金的权限。通过书信同银行交涉的时间相当长,未能即时访问帐户资金使得她欠了银行的债,欠款额超过了透支额度(1500英镑)200多英镑。

When Kelly got back home,the bank charged her $100 for going over the limit,and insisted she paid $30 a month to bring the balance back to below her limit.They omitted to tell her that she wasn’t actually paying off the debt,but only the exorbitant interest on the overspend of the overdraft.

凯丽回国后,银行因为她超支扣了她 100英镑,并坚持要她每月支付 30

英镑,以使她的超支数额回到透支额度之内。但他们没有告诉她,每月支付 30英镑并不是偿清欠款,而是支付超额支出的巨额利息。

So Kelly had to turn to her credit card which she had used sensibly and sparingly until that point.Because she was a student,and because she didn’t use it much,naturally her credit limit was low.

因此凯丽不得不求助于信用卡,在这之前她对信用卡的使用一直非常小心谨慎。由于她是学生,又因为她很少使用信用卡,自然她的信用额度就比较低。

And not surprisingly,she couldn’t pay off even the minimum payment on her credit card bill.So there were not only bank charges owing,but also credit card debts and interest.And of curse,she was recorded as being a bad credit risk.

毫不奇怪,她甚至无法偿还信用卡账单里的最小还款数。所以她不仅欠银行手续费,而且还欠信用卡的债务及利息。当然,她因此被银行登记为信用风险高的人。

Things then went from bad to worse.A few months into her final year,the bank notified her that it was going to reduce her overdraft from $1500 to 1000.They told her to apply for a student loan to cover the rest.But when the loan company did a credit check,they discovered the card debt.

事情越来越糟。大学最后一年刚过几个月,银行通知她:她的透支额度由1500英镑减少到 1000英镑,他们让她申请学生贷款来填补缺口。可是,贷款公司检查她的银行信用时发现了她的信用卡债务。

Guess what? She didn’t get the loan.

猜猜怎么着?她没有申请到学生贷款。

This was a delightful kid who had great restrain with her spending and was economical about her lifestyle. She didn’t go on spending sprees buying new shoes,and she didn’t use her credit card as if(unlike me) it was a fashion item.She had to drop out of university.

凯丽是个讨人喜欢的孩子,消费节制有度,生活节俭。她并没有疯狂刷卡买鞋,也没有把信用卡当成时髦玩意儿(不像我),她只是用信用卡购买生存所必需的食品。

And what happened? She had to drop out of university,

结果怎样呢?结果是:她不得不退学。

I wish there was a happy ending to Kelly’s story,although maybe there will be.For the moment,she’s working in the local supermarket,and it’s probable that she’ll have another go at university when she has paid off her debts.

我希望凯丽的故事会有个好的结果,也许会有好结果。现在,她在当地的一家超市工作,等她还清债务后可能会继续完成大学学业。

So this is what the banks do.They set traps which appeal to our vanity and greed and sometimes to our basic need for survival.And then when we fall into the trap they shout “Got you! Didn’t you realize it was a trap?”

这就是银行的所作所为。他们常常利用我们的虚荣和贪婪,有时也利用我们生存的基本需求给我们设下陷阱。等我们掉进陷阱时,他们会大喊:“抓住你啦!你当初没想到这是个陷阱吧?”

And here we are today,caught in the credit crunch,with world economies in free fall,all because the wicked bankers set us traps which we fell into,attracting us with endless publicity for loans of money which even they didn’t have!It now appears they were borrowing on their own flashy gold credit cards too.

这就是我们现在的处境:随着世界经济一落千丈,我们都处在信贷危机之中。所有这一切都是因为邪恶的银行家通过大量广告推销他们压根就不存在的贷款来吸引我们,设圈套让我们钻。现在真相大白了:他们也在用自己手中金光闪闪的金卡借钱!

So I have a solution to the credit card trap,and I want all of you to listen to me very carefully.

我有一个破解信用卡圈套的办法,各位且听我细细道来。

I want you to lay out all of your credit cards in a line,take a large pair of scissors and cut them into small pieces.Then put them in an envelope and send them to you bank,with a letter saying(more or less)”I trusted you and you deceived me,You’ve got the whole world into this ridiculous credit card trap,and if I now cut your cards in half,and take away your potential to tempt money away from honest people like me,maybe it will be your turn to learn what it’s like to run out of cash.”

我要你们把所有的信用卡拿来排成一排,拿一把大剪子把它们剪成碎片,然后把碎片装进信封寄回银行,附上一封信,上面(或多或少地)写上:“我信任你,可你却欺骗了我。你让全世界的人都钻进了这个荒谬的信用卡圈套。我把你的卡剪成了两半,除掉你从像我这样的老实人身上骗钱的潜力,也许也该让你来体验一下身无分文的滋味了。”

As for me,I don’t want any more credit cards,no more status symbols,no more bad feeling about wishing I could show how superior I am to others.I’m not going to yearn any more for what I cannot afford or cannot have.

至于我本人,我再也不用信用卡了,再也不要身份的象征了,再也不用费心思去炫耀我比别人优越多少了。我再也不会渴望我无力购买或我无法得到的东西了。

Unit 5 Active reading (1) 英国人说闲话规则的性别差异Contrary to popular belief, researchers have found that men gossip just as much women.In one English study,both sexes devoted the same amount of conversation time(about 65 per cent) to social topics such as personal relationships; in another,the difference was found to be quite small,with gossip accounting for 55 per cent of male conversation time and 67 per cent of female time.As sport and leisure have been shown to occupy about 10 per cent of conversation time, discussion of football could well account for the difference.

与普遍的看法相反,研究人员发现:男人和女人一样爱说闲话。英国的一项研究发现:两个性别的人对诸如人际关系这类的社会话题所花的时间一样多,大约是 65%;另一项研究则表明:两性差异很小,男人谈话时有55%的时间在说闲话,女人说闲话的时间是 67%。由于体育和休闲大约占 10%的说话时间,所以很可能是谈论足球的时间导致了这种性别的差异。

Men were certainly found to be no more likely than women to discuss “important”or”highbrow”subjects such as politics,work,art and cultural matters - except(and this was a striking difference) when women were present.On their own,men gossip,with no more than five per cent of conversation time devoted to non-social subjects such as work or politics.It is only in mixed-sex groups, where there are women to impress,that the proportion of male conversation time devoted to these more “highbrow” subjects increases dramatically,to between 15 and 20 per cent.

男人谈论政治、职业、艺术及文化事务等“重要”或“高雅”话题的可能性并不比女人高,除非女人在场(这就形成了强烈的对比)。女人不在场的时候,男人也说闲话,他们谈论职业和政治等社会问题的时间不会超过 5%。男女都在场时,为了引起女人的注意,男人谈论“高雅”话题的时间会大大增加,达到 15%至 20%。

In fact,recent research has revealed only one significant difference,in terms of content,between male and female gossip:Men spend much more time talking about themselves.Of the total time devoted to conversation about social relationships,men spend two thirds talking about their own relationships,while women only talk about themselves one third of the time.

事实上,最近的研究表明,男性和女性说闲话在内容上只存在一个重要的差别:男人会花更多的时间谈论自己。在谈论社会关系的总时间中,男人用了三分之二的时间来谈论自己的关系,而女人谈论自己的时间则只占三分之一。

Despite these findings,the myth is still widely

believed,particularly among males,that men spend their conversations

“solving the world’s problems”,while the womenfolk gossip in the kitchen.In my focus groups and interviews,most English males initially claimed that they did not gossip,while most of the female readily admitted that they did.On further questioning, however,the difference turned out to be more a matter of semantics than practice:What the women were happy to call “gossip”,the men defined as “exchanging information”.

即便如此,那个关于男人讨论“解决世界上问题”而女人只是躲在厨房里闲言碎语的神话仍然大行其道,尤其是在男人堆里。在我所调查的人群及面谈中,大多数英国男性刚开始时都声称他们不说闲话,而大多数女性都坦承自己说闲话。在接下来的提问中,我发现两者的差别只在于语义层面而非实践层面:女性通常称为“说闲话”的活动在男性那里被定义为“信息交流”。

Clearly,there is a stigma attached to gossip among English males, an unwritten rule to the effect that,even if what one is doing is gossiping,it should be called something else.Perhaps even more important:It should sound like something else.In my gossip research,I found that the main difference between male and female gossip is that female gossip actually sounds like gossip.There seem to be three principal factors involved:the tone rule,the detail rule and the feedback rule.

显然,在英国男性眼里说闲话是一件可耻的事情,这条不成文的规则已经深入人心,因此就算一个人真的在说闲话,他也会把它说成是另一回事。更重要的是,它必须听起来像是在说别的事。在研究中我发现男女说闲话的主要区别在于女人说闲话听起来更像闲言碎语。这涉及到三个主要因素——音调规则、细节规则和反馈规则。

The tone rule

语调规则

The English women I interviewed all agreed that a particular tone of voice was considered appropriate for gossip.The gossip-tone should be high and quick, or sometimes a stage whisper ,but always highly animated.”Gossip’s got to start with something like

[quick,high-pitched,excited tone] Oooh--Guess what? Guess

what?”explained one woman,,”or ‘Hey,listen,listen[quick,urgent stage whisper]-are you know what I heard?’”Another told me:”You have to make it sound surprising or scandalous,even when it isn’t really.You’ll go,’Well,don’t tell anyone,but...’even when it’s not really that big of a secret.”

我面谈过的英国女人都认为只有某种特别的语调适合于说闲话。说闲话的语调有时很高、语速很快,有时像在舞台上演戏一样轻轻说,但总是活灵活现的。一位妇女这样解释:“闲话总是以语速快、调门高、口气激动的话语开始的:‘哎,你猜猜怎么着?你知道吗?’或者,‘嗨,听我说,听我说(语速快、急切,像舞台上清晰的低语),你猜我听到了什么?’ ”另一位女士告诉我:“即使实际上并不是那么回事儿,你必须让它听起来像令人吃惊的事或者像丑闻。虽然那根本算不上什么秘密,你可以说:‘哎,你可别告诉别人,我听说……’”

Many of the women complained that men failed to adopt the correct tone of voice,recounting items of gossip in the same flat,unemotional manner as any other piece of information,such that,as one woman sniffed,”You can’t even tell it’s gossip.”Which,off course,is exactly the impression the males wish to give.

这些妇女中有许多人抱怨男人在说闲话时没有使用正确的语调。像交流任何其他信息一样,他们总是用平缓、冷静的语调说闲话。一位妇女对此嗤之以鼻:“你简直搞不清他们是不是在说闲话。”但这正是男人要的效果。

The detail rule

细节规则

Females also stressed the importance of detail in the telling of gossip,and again bemoaned the shortcomings of males in this

matter,claiming that men “never know the details”.”Men just don’t do the he-said-she-said thing,”one informant told me,”and it’s no good unless you actually know what people said.”Another said:”Women tend to speculate more ... They’ll talk about why someone did something,give a history to the situation.”For women,this detailed speculation about possible motives and causes,requiring an exhaustive raking over “history”,is a crucial element of gossip,as is detailed speculation about possible outcomes.English males find all this detail

boring,irrelevant and,of course, unmanly.

女人强调说闲话时细节的重要性,她们悲叹男人在这方面的缺陷,声称男人“从不了解细节。”一位被调查者告诉我:“男人从不引述别人的话。如果我们不能确切地知道别人说了什么,那有什么意思呢?”另一位被调查者说:“女人比男人更倾向于推测……她们谈及某某为什么会做某事,并追溯整个事情的历史。”对女人而言,详细推测动机和原因与详细推测可能的后果一样是闲话的关键因素,它要求对“过去的历史”进行详尽的梳理。英国男人认为:所有这些细节都很乏味、无关紧要,当然,讲出来也就有伤男子气概。

The feedback rule

反馈规则

Among English women,it is understood that to be a “good gossip”requires more than a lively tone and attention to detail:You also need a good audience,by which they mean appreciative listeners who give plenty of appropriate feedback.The feedback rule of female gossip requires that listeners be at least as animated and enthusiastic as speakers.The reasoning seems to be that this is only polite;the speaker has gone to the trouble of making the information sound surprising and scandalous,so the least one can do is to reciprocate by sounding suitably shocked.English men,according to my female informant, just don’t seem to have grasped this rule.They do not understand that “You are supposed to say ‘NO!Really?’and ‘Oh my GOD!’”

在英国妇女中存在一种共识:好的“闲话”除了语调生动、关注细节之外,还要有好的听众。所谓好的听众是指欣赏闲话并给予大量恰当的反馈的听众。女性的闲话反馈规则要求听众至少应该和说话者一样生动活泼、充满热情。她

们的道理好像是:这样才足够礼貌,因为说话人要把事情讲得出人意外,讲得像丑闻,还是颇费心力的。因此听众至少要表现出适度的吃惊才能回报说话人的努力。据我的女性被调查者说,英国男人好像完全没有掌握这条规则。他们不知道“你应该说‘不会吧!真的吗?’‘噢,及我的上帝!” ’My female informants agreed,however,that a man who did respond in the approved female manner would sound inappropriately girly,or even disturbingly effeminate.Even the gay males I interviewed felt that the”NO!Really?”kind of response would be regarded as decidedly “camp”.The unwritten rules of English gossip etiquette do allow men to express shock or surprise when they hear a particularly juicy bit of gossip,but it is understood that a suitable expletive conveys such surprise in a more acceptably masculine fashion.

不过,我的女性被调查者也同意,那些以女性方式做出反应的男人听起来像小女孩,或者被认为女里女气,让人感觉不舒服。我面谈过的一位男同性恋也觉得“不会吧!真的吗?”这类反应会被认为是十足的“娘娘腔”英国闲话礼仪的不成文规则的确允许男人在听到特别有趣的闲话时感。到震惊或吃惊,但大家都明白:一句恰到好处的脏话也能表达同样的诧异,这种方式更能被男人接受。

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新标准大学英语4课文summary

Unit1 reading2 if you ask me This is an informal and personalized account of an economic graduate who gets a job in a pub for a year and then has an opportunity to be successful (a lucky break). Since her family can’t support her to further study, she has to work. She has financial problems and feels lonely. She tells her troubles to Tony, a regular customer of the pub, who talks to some friends and gets her a loan to set up a business. With this help she has her master’s degree and her own company. however, unluckliy,Tony is disabled after an accident and needs the repayment of the loan to adapt his house for his disability. She pay back Tony’s help, and Tony thinks that investing in people gives the best return you can ever hope for. Unit2 reading1 Reading is a life-changing activity. It helps us enter a new world and liberate us from the real world we come from; it stimulates our emotions and allows us enjoy and celebrate the variety and difference from books; it aids us to get out of confusion in a material world and to discover the real meaning of the life. Simply put, books are supremely influential in the way we live. Homerun book might be the answer for the book that everyone should read. It describes the first reading experience that

大学英语课文翻译及习题答案

大学英语课文翻译及习 题答案 标准化管理部编码-[99968T-6889628-J68568-1689N]

Unit 1 1. A very curious boy, Tom, is interested not only in whats but also in whys and hows. 汤姆是个非常好奇的男孩,他不仅对“是什么”感兴趣,而且也对“为什么”和“怎么会”感兴趣。 2. Happiness, according to Prof. Smith, is the ability to make the most of what you have. 据史密斯教授说,幸福就是你能充分利用你所有的一切。 3. You’d better keep the book where your 15-year-old son can’t get his hands on. 你最好把这本书放在你15岁的儿子找不到的地方。 4. The story was very funny and Bill kept laughing while reading it. 这故事非常滑稽,比尔一边读一边不停地笑。 5. High-achieving students do not necessarily put in more time at their studies than their lower-scoring classmates. 成绩优秀的学生未必比他们得分较低的同学在学习上花费更多的时间。 6. How did you manage to persuade these students to take the speed-reading course 你是怎样设法说服这些学生修读快速阅读课的 7. Working hard is important, but knowing how to make the most of one's abilities counts for much more. 用功是重要的,但知道如何充分利用自己的才能更重要得多。 8. She asked her students to think for themselves rather than telling them what to think. 她要求学生独立思考,而不是告诉他们该思考什么。 Unit 2 1. Referring to the differences between American English and British English, he said, “The United States and Britain are, after all, two different countries.” 在谈及美国英语和英国英语的差别时,他说:“美国和英国毕竟是两个不同的国家。” 2. Prof. Smith encourages his students to think for themselves. “I am just as happy,” he often says, “even if you challenge me or completely disagree with me.” 史密斯教授鼓励他的学生独立思考。他常说:“即使你们对我提出质疑或者完全不同意我的看法,我也同样高兴。” 3. We called on him to take part in our conversation about pop music, but as soon as he joined in, he introduced a new topic and referred to the NBA finals of the previous week. 我们请他参加我们关于流行音乐的谈话,但他一参加进来就引入一个新的话题,谈起了上周的NBA决赛。 4. The driver is responsible for this accident. His car knocked down a tree and a man on his bike. 司机应对这次事故负责。他的车撞倒了一棵树和一个骑车的人。

大学英语4课文翻译

unit 1 TextA Love and logic: The story of a fallacy 爱情与逻辑:谬误的故事 1 I had my first date with Polly after I made the trade with my roommate Rob. That year every guy on campus had a leather jacket, and Rob couldn't stand the idea of being the only football player who didn't, so he made a pact that he'd give me his girl in exchange for my jacket. He wasn't the brightest guy. Polly wasn't too shrewd, either. 在我和室友罗伯的交易成功之后,我和波莉有了第一次约会。那一年校园里每个人都有件皮夹克,而罗伯是校足球队员中唯一一个没有皮夹克的,他一想到这个就受不了,于是他和我达成了一项协议,用他的女友换取我的夹克。他可不那么聪明,而他的女友波莉也不太精明。 2 But she was pretty, well-off, didn't dye her hair strange colors or wear too much makeup. She had the right background to be the girlfriend of a dogged, brilliant lawyer. If I could show the elite law firms I applied to that I had a radiant, well-spoken counterpart by my side, I just might edge past the competition. 但她漂亮而且富有,也没有把头发染成奇怪的颜色或是化很浓的妆。她拥有合适的家庭背景,足以胜任一名坚忍而睿智的律师的女友。如果我能够让我所申请的顶尖律师事务所看到我身边伴随着一位光彩照人、谈吐优雅的另一半,我就很有可能在竞聘中以微弱优势获胜。 3 "Radiant" she was already. I could dispense her enough pearls of wisdom to make her "well-spoken". “光彩照人”,她已经是了。而我也能施予她足够多的“智慧之珠”,让她变得“谈吐优雅”。 4 After a banner day out, I drove until we were situated under a big old oak tree on a hill off the expressway. What I had in mind was a little eccentric. I thought the venue with a perfect view of the luminous city would lighten the mood. We stayed in the car, and I turned down the stereo and took my foot off the brake pedal. "What are we going to talk about?" she asked. 在一起外出度过了美好的一天之后,我驱车来到了高速公路旁一座小山上一棵古老的大橡树下。我的想法有些怪异。而这个地方能够俯瞰灯火灿烂的城区,我觉得它会使人的心情变轻松。我们呆在车子里,我调低了音响并把脚从刹车上挪开。“我们要谈些什么?”她问道。 5 "Logic." “逻辑学。” 6 "Cool," she said over her gum. “好酷啊,”她一边嚼着口香糖一边说。 7 "The doctrine of logic," I said, "is a staple of clear thinking. Failures in logic distort the truth, and some of them are well known. First let's look at the fallacy Dicto Simpliciter." “逻辑学的原理,”我说道,“即清晰思考的主要原则。逻辑上出现的问题会歪曲事实,其中有些还很普遍。我们先来看看一种叫做‘绝对判断’的逻辑谬误。”

新视野大学英语4第二版课文翻译

Unit 1 Section A 艺术家追求成名,如同狗自逐其尾,一旦追到手,除了继续追逐不知还能做些什么。成功之残酷正在于它常常让那些追逐成功者自寻毁灭。 对一名正努力追求成功并刚刚崭露头角的艺术家,其亲朋常常会建议“正经的饭碗不能丢~”他们的担心不无道理。 追求出人头地,最乐观地说也困难重重,许多人到最后即使不是穷困潦倒,也是几近精神崩溃。 尽管如此,希望赢得追星族追捧和同行赞扬之类的不太纯洁的动机却在激励着他们向前。享受成功的无上光荣,这种诱惑不是能轻易抵挡的。 成名者之所以成名,大多是因为发挥了自己在歌唱、舞蹈、绘画或写作等方面的特长,并能形成自己的风格。 为了能迅速走红,代理人会极力吹捧他们这种风格。他们青云直上的过程让人看不清楚。他们究竟是怎么成功的,大多数人也都说不上来。 尽管如此,艺术家仍然不能闲下来。 若表演者、画家或作家感到无聊,他们的作品就难以继续保持以前的吸引力,也就难以保持公众的注意力。 公众的热情消磨以后,就会去追捧下一个走红的人。 有些艺术家为了不落伍,会对他们的写作、跳舞或唱歌的风格稍加变动,但这将冒极大的失宠的危险。 公众对于他们藉以成名的艺术风格以外的任何形式都将不屑一顾。 知名作家的文风一眼就能看出来,如田纳西?威廉斯的戏剧、欧内斯特?海明威的情节安排、罗伯特?弗罗斯特或 T.S.艾略特的诗歌等。

同样,像莫奈、雷诺阿、达利这样的画家,希区柯克、费里尼、斯皮尔伯格、陈凯歌或张艺谋这样的电影制作人也是如此。 他们鲜明独特的艺术风格标志着与别人不同的艺术形式上的重大变革,这让他们名利双收,但也让他们付出了代价,那就是失去了用其他风格或形式表现自我的自由。 名气这盏聚光灯可比热带丛林还要炙热。骗局很快会被揭穿,过多的关注带来的压力会让大多数人难以承受。 它让你失去自我。你必须是公众认可的那个你,而不是真实的你或是可能的你。艺人,就像政客一样,必须常常说些违心或连自己都不完全相信的话来取悦听众。 一滴名气之水有可能玷污人的心灵这一整口井,因此一个艺术家若能保持真我,会格外让人惊叹。 你可能答不上来哪些人没有妥协,却仍然在这场名利的游戏中获胜。 一个例子就是爱尔兰著名作家奥斯卡?王尔德,他在社交行为和性行为方面以我行我素而闻名于世。虽然他的行为遭到公众的反对,却依然故我,他也因此付出了惨痛的代价。在一次宴会上,他一位密友的母亲当着他的朋友和崇拜者的面,指责他在性方面影响了她的儿子。 他听了她的话以后大为光火,起诉了这个年轻人的母亲,声称她毁了自己的“好”名声。但是,他真该请一个更好的律师。 结果是,法官不仅不支持他提出的让这个女人赔偿他名声损失费的请求,反而对他本人进行了罚款。 他由于拒交罚款最终还被送进了监狱。更糟糕的是,他再也无法获得更多公众的宠爱。在最糟糕的时候,他发现没有一个人愿意拿自己的名声冒险来替他说话。

新标准大学英语综合教程4第二版unit1-6课文翻译及

新标准大学英语综合教程4第二版unit1-6课文翻译及课后翻译

英语翻译 Unit one Nine to five passage1 大学毕业找工作的第一要义:别躺在沙发上做梦 今年夏天,超过65 万的大学生毕业离校,其中有许多人根本不知道怎么找工作。在当今金融危机的背景下,做父母的该如何激励他们? 1 七月,你看着英俊的21岁的儿子穿上学士袍,戴上四方帽,骄傲地握着大学荣誉学位证书,拍毕业照。这时,记忆中每年支付几千英镑,好让儿子吃好、并能偶尔参加聚会的记忆开始消退。但现在,你又不得不再考虑钱的问题。 2 等到暑假快要结束,全国各地的学生正在为新学期做准备的时候,你却发现大学毕业的儿子还歪躺在沙发上看电视。除此之外,他只是偶尔发发短信,浏览社交网站Facebook,或者去酒吧喝酒。这位属于“千禧一代”的年轻人一夜之间变成了“抱怨一代”的成员。他能找到工作吗? 3 这就是成千上万家庭所面临的状况:今年夏天,超过65万的大学生毕业,在当今金融危机的背景下,他们中的大多数人不知道自己下一步该做什么。父母只会唠叨,而儿女们则毫无缘由地变成了叛逆者。他们知道自己该找份工作,但却不知道如何去找。 4 来自米德尔塞克斯郡的杰克·古德温今年夏天从诺丁汉大学政治学系毕业,获得二级一等荣誉学士学位。他走进大学就业服务中心,但又径直走了出来,因为他看见很多人在那里排长队。跟他一起住的另外5个男孩子也都跟他一样,进去又出来了。找工作的压力不大,虽然他所认识的大多数女生都有更明确的计划。 5 他说:“我申请政治学研究工作,但被拒绝了。他们给的年薪是1.8万镑,交完房租后所剩无几,也就够买一罐豆子,可他们还要有工作经历或硕士学位的人。然后我又申请参加快速晋升人才培养计划,并通过了笔试。但在面试时,他们说我‘太冷漠’了,谈吐‘太像专家政治论者’。我觉得自己不可能那样,但我显然就是那样的。” 6 打那以后,他整个夏天都在“隐身”。他能够轻松地复述出电视剧《交通警察》中的若干片段。他白天看电视的时间太长,已经到了影响健康的地步。跟朋友谈起自己漫无目标的日子时,他才发现他们的处境和自己一样。其中一位朋友在父母的逼迫下去超市上货,其余的则都是朝九晚五地“无所事事”,晚上则去酒吧喝酒打发时间。要么,干脆就在酒吧工作?这样还可以挣些酒钱。“我不想在酒吧工作。我上的是综合学校,我拼命读书才考上了一所好大学。到了大学,我又埋头苦读,才取得一个好学位。可现在我却跟那些没上过大学的做无聊的酒吧侍应的朋友处在同一个水平线上。我觉得自己好像兜了一圈,又回到了原来的起点。” 7 他的母亲杰奎琳·古德温替他辩护。她坚持认为她的儿子已经尽力找工作了。但由于她自己中学毕业后一直都在工作,所以她和她的丈夫发现,建议儿子如何继续找工作是件很棘手的事情。她说:“我一直都不得不工作。而现在的年轻人很难做到这一点,因为如果你有了学位,学位就会为你提供新的机会,至少你自己会这么想。” 8 虽然目前她对儿子的态度还比较温和,但是她心里很清楚,去南美度三星期的假之后,他的休假就该结束了。他可能还得付房租,并分担家庭开支。 9 她说:“在某个时候孩子们总要长大成人。我们已经帮他交了大学的学费,

大学英语四翻译

西蒙顿说,如果事业上取得巨大成就者具有什么共性的话 If great achievers share anything, said Simonton, it is an relenting drive to succeed. “There is an tendency to think that they are endowed with something super-normal,” he explained. “But what comes out of the research is that there are great people who have no amazing intellectual processes. It’s a difference in degree. Greatness is built upon tremend ous amounts of study, practice and devotion.” He cited Winston Churchill, Britain’s prime minister during World War II, as an example of a risk-taker who would never give up. Thrust into his office when his country’s moral was at its lowest, Churchill rose brilliantly to lead the British people. In a speech following the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk in 1940, he inspired to nation when he said, “We should not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end… We shall never surrender.” 一些人不愿表达感激之情,因为他们觉得这不会受欢迎。 Some person refrain from expressing their gratitude because they feel it will not be welcome. A patient of mine, a few weeks after his discharge from the hospital, came back to thank his nurse. “I don’t come sooner,” he explained, “because I imagined you must b e bored to death with people thanking you.” “On the contrary,” she replied, “I am delighted you came. Few realize how much we need encouragement and how much we are helped by those who give it.” Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build up their philosophy of life. 一般西方人解决问题的方法是与之搏斗。 The normal Western approach to a problem is to fight it. The saying, “When the going gets tough, the toug h get going,” is typical of this aggressive attitude toward problem-solving. No matter what the problem is, or the techniques available for solving it, the framework produced by our Western way of thinking is fight.Dr.de Bono calls this vertical thinking; the traditional, sequential, Aristotelian thinking of logic, moving firmly from one step to the next, like toy blocks being built one on top of the other. The flaw is, of course, that if at any point one of the step is not reached, or one of the toy blocks is incorrectly placed, then the whole structure collapse. Impasse is reached, and frustration, tension, feelings of fight take over. Lateral thinking, Dr. de Bono says,is a new technique of thinking about things—a technique that avoids this fight altogether,and solves the problem In an entirely unexpected fashion. 学生的成绩达不到老师的期望是常有的事 When a student's work did not measure up to the teacher's expectations, as often happened, the student was not treated with disappointment, anger, or annoyance. Instead, the teacher assumed that this was an exception, an accident, a bad day, a momentary slip — and the student believed her and felt reassured. The next time around, he tried harder, determined to live up to what the teacher knew he could to. The exact part of communication that tells a child, "I expect the best," is difficult to pinpoint. In part it consists of a level tone showing assurance, a lack of verbal impatience, an absence of negative qualities such as irony, put-downs, and irritation.The teacher who expects the best asks her questions with conviction, knowing the answers she gets will be right, and the child picks up

全新版大学英语(第二版)综合教程1课文翻译

为自己而写 从孩提时代,我还住在贝尔维尔时,我的脑子里就断断续续地转着当作家的念头,但直等到我高中三年级,这—一想法才有了实现的可能。在这之前,我对所有跟英文课沾边的事都感到腻味。我觉得英文语法枯燥难懂。我痛恨那些长而乏味的段落写作,老师读着受累,我写着痛苦。 弗利格尔先生接我们的高三英文课时,我就准备着在这门最最单调乏味的课上再熬上沉闷的一年。弗利格尔先生在学生中以其说话干巴和激励学生无术而出名。据说他拘谨刻板,完全落后于时代。我看他有六七十岁了,古板之极。他戴着古板的毫无装饰的眼镜,微微卷曲的头发剪得笔齐,梳得纹丝不乱。他身穿古板的套装,白衬衣领扣外的领带打得——丝不苟。他救着古板的尖下巴,古板的直鼻梁,说起话来—·本正经,字斟句酌,彬彬有礼,活脱脱一个橱稽的老古董。 我作好准备,打算在弗利格尔先生的班上一无所获地混上—·年,不少日子过去了,还真率出所料。后半学期我们学写随笔小品文。弗利格尔先生发下一张家庭作业纸,出了不少题供我们选择。像“暑假二三事”那样傻乎乎的题目倒是一个也没有,但绝大多数—样乏味。我把作文题带回家,——直没写,直到要交作业的前一天晚上。我躺在沙发上,最终不得不面对这一讨厌的功课,便从笔记本里抽出作文题目单粗粗—看。我的目光落在“吃意大利细面条的艺术”这个题目上。… 这个题目在我脑海里唤起了一连串不同寻常的图像。贝尔维尔之夜的清晰的回忆如潮水一般涌来,当时,我们大家——起围坐在晚餐桌旁——艾伦舅舅、我母亲、查理舅舅、多丽丝、哈尔舅舅——帕特舅妈晚饭做的是意大利细面条。那时意大利细面条还是很少听说的异国食品。多丽丝和我都还从来没吃过,在座的大人也是经验不足,没有—个吃起来得心应手的。艾伦舅舅家诙谐有趣的场景全都重现在我的脑海中,我回想起来,当晚我们笑作—团,争论着该如何地把面条从盘子上送到嘴里才算合乎礼仪。 突然我就想描述那…切,描述当时那种温馨美好的气氛,但我把它写下来仅仅是想白得其乐,而不是为弗利格尔先生而写。那是我想重新捕捉并珍藏在心中的一个时刻。我想重温那个夜晚的愉快。然而,照我希望的那样去写,就会违反我在学校里学的正式作文的种种法则弗利格尔先生也肯定会打它—个不及格。没关系。等我为自己写好了之后,我可以再为弗利格尔先生写点什么别的东西。 等我写完时已是半夜时分,再没时间为弗利格尔先生写——篇循规蹈矩、像模像样的文章了。第二天上午,我别无选择,只好把我为自己而写的贝尔维尔晚餐的故事交了上去。两天后弗利格尔先生发还批改过的作文,他把别人的都发了,·就是没有我的。我正准备着遵命—放学就去弗利格尔先生那儿挨训,却看见他从桌上拿起我的作文,敲了敲桌子让大家注意听。 “好了,孩子们,”他说。“我要给你们念一篇小品文。文章的题目是:吃意大利细面条的艺术。” 于是他开始念了。是我写的!他给全班大声念我写的文章。更不可思议的是,全班同学都在听着他念,而且听得很专心。有人笑出声来,接着全班都笑了,不是轻蔑嘲弄,而是乐乎乎地开怀大笑。就连弗利格尔先生也停顿了两三次,好抑制他那丝拘谨的微笑。我尽力不流露出得意的心情,但是看到我写的文章竟然能使别人大笑,我真是心花怒放。就在十——年级,可谓是最后的时刻,我找到了一个今生想做的事。这是我整个求学生涯中最幸福的——刻。弗利格尔先生念完后说道:“瞧,孩子们,这就是小品文,懂了没有。这才是一知道吗——这才是小品文的精髓,知道了没有。祝贺你,贝克先生。”他这番话使我沉浸 在十全十美的幸福之中

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