第一篇：全新版大學英語第二版綜合教程1-unit1~5作文原文及翻譯

Translation one 蘇珊(Susan)因車禍失去了雙腿。有一段時間，她真不知如何面對自己再也不能行走的事實。

一天，蘇珊在瀏覽雜志時，被一個真實故事吸引住了。那個故事生動地描述了一個殘疾（disabled）姑娘是如何成為一位作家的。蘇珊讀后深受鼓舞，開始相信她最終也會成為一個有用的人生活下去。

Susan lost her legs in a car accident.For a time, she didn’t know how to face up to the fact that she wouldn’t be able to walk again.One day, while scanning some magazines, she was attracted by a true story.It gave a vivid description of how a disabled girl became a writer.Greatly inspired, Susan began to feel that she, too, would finally be able to live a useful life.Translation two 和遠方的朋友保持聯(lián)系不是一件容易的事。對我來說，情形就是這樣。

離開舊街區(qū)和那里的朋友們已有幾年了。我一直打算給他們寫信，可是總有這樣那樣的事兒，似乎就是抽不出空。但是我一直記掛著他們，我想我今后一定會努力與他們保持通信聯(lián)系的。It is not easy to keep in touch with friends far away.This is certainly true in my case.It has been a couple of years since I left my old neighborhood and all the friends I had there.I have been meaning to write to them but something or other comes up, and I just don’t seem to find the time.They are always on my mind, however, and I think I will certainly make an effort to keep up correspondence with them in the future.Translation three 很難想象我們的先輩們（forefathers）沒有現(xiàn)代技術(shù)帶來的這么多方便（conveniences），那日子是怎么過的。那個時候只有一小部分人享受一些舒適條件（comforts）。大部分人連飯都吃不飽，更不要說（not to speak of）接受教育的特權(quán)了。然而，許多人責怪現(xiàn)代技術(shù)，說它帶來了很多問題。他們想減慢進步的速度。但是誰也不能阻止時代的前進。

It is hard to imagine how our forefathers could do without so many conveniences that modern technology has brought about.Back then, only a small proportion of the population enjoyed some comforts of life, while the majority didn’t even have sufficient food, not to speak of the privilege of being educated.However, many people blame modern technology for creating so many problems.They want to slow down the rate of progress.But no one can put the clock back.Translation four 托尼大學畢業(yè)后決定自己開業(yè)。一開始好多家銀行都拒絕了他的貸款要求。但他毫不泄氣，繼續(xù)一個個拜訪銀行家尋求幫助。有一位銀行家被他的決心和樂觀精神所打動，最終答應貸款給他。如今他成為一位富商。在談到所取得的令人驚奇的成就時，托尼說重要的是創(chuàng)造機遇而不是等待機遇。

After graduating from college, Tony decided to start his own business.At the beginning, many a bank turned down his request for a loan.He was not a bit discouraged, and continued to call on one banker after another seeking help.Impressed by his determination and optimism, one banker finally agreed to loan him the money.Now he has become a wealthy businessman.Talking about his amazing achievement, Tony says that it is important to create rather than wait for opportunities.Translation five 我爸是一家制造公司的行政領(lǐng)導，工作很努力。他每周工作六天。每天他得解決各種各樣問題，因此經(jīng)常熬夜。但是，他還是竭盡全力兼顧（balance/maintain a balance between）工作和家庭。星期日我爸通常呆在家里，盡量多多照顧我們。最使我高興的是，他給我們烹飪我們最喜愛的菜肴，還和我們一起打球。My dad is a hard-working executive in a manufacturing firm.He works six days a week.Every day he has to straighten out various kinds of problems, so that he often stays up late.However, he tries his best to balance his work and the family.On Sundays my dad usually stays at home and cares for us as much as he can.To my greatest joy, he cooks our favorite dishes and plays balls with us.

第二篇：全新版大學英語綜合教程作文翻譯

Unit1

十年之前，南希做了許許多多美國人夢寐以求的事。她辭去了經(jīng)理職位，在鄰近地區(qū)開了一家家用器具商店。像南希那樣的人做出這種決定主要是想改善生活質(zhì)量。然而，經(jīng)營小本生意絕非易事。在失去穩(wěn)定的收入后，南希不得不削減日常開支。有時候她甚至沒有錢支付她所需要的種種保險的費用。幸運的是，通過自己的努力，她已經(jīng)度過了最困難的時期。她決心繼續(xù)追求她所向往的更加美好的生活。

A decade ago, Nancy did what so many Americans dream about.She quit an executive position and opened / set up a household equipment store in her neighborhood.People like Nancy made the decision primarily because of/owing to/due to their desire to improve the quality of their lives.But, to run a small business is by no means an easy job.Without her steady income, Nancy had to cut back on her daily expenses.Sometimes she did not even have the money to pay the premiums for the various kinds of insurance she needed.Once she could not even pick up the phone bill and had to ask her parents to loan her some money.Fortunately, through her own hard work, she has now got through the most difficult time.She is determined to continue pursuing her vision of a better life.Unit3

人們幾乎無法將蓄意行竊的盜賊拒之門外。所能做的只是設法阻攔他片刻，從而使其暴露在巡警面前。常識告訴我們，光照是犯罪行為的障礙物。家門口必須安裝一盞燈，并在晚間開著。如果你碰巧是最晚一個回家，別只關(guān)門而不上鎖。如果你決定購買精密的電子報警系統(tǒng)，別忘了索要報警器的標志，并把它們張貼在窗戶和門上。此外，你還可以講報警系統(tǒng)連接到警署。

A burglary is reported every 15 seconds in the United States.Statistics show burglars en-tered more than 2 million homes last year.Actually it is almost impossible to keep a determined burglar out.All you can do is discourage him for a few minutes, thus exposing him to police patrols or those wandering around.Common sense tells us that lighting is a barrier to criminal activity.A light should be fixed in the doorway and switched on at night.Believe it or not, some people, particularly children who happen to be the last to come in, leave their doors on the latch at night.Doors of hollow core, even when locked, are vulnerable to break-ins.Thus doors of solid core or steel are much preferred as they make it difficult for the burglar to pry open.If you decide to buy an alarm device, be sure to ask for its signs and put them up on both windows and doors.Finally, a word of warning —when you travel, make sure that

you have a trusted neighbor collect and keep all the deliveries of newspapers and mail until you return.This is because a collection of newspapers and mail on the front doorstep or in your mailbox is an advertisement that no one is home.Unit5

在感恩節(jié)的氣氛中，喬治沉浸于閱讀他父親留給她的日記。他的父親在連續(xù)兩次完成環(huán)球旅行后在海上去世。這份日記使他回憶起自己與父親度過的每一刻以及父親為他做的許多具體事情。喬治的父親過去經(jīng)常像他強調(diào)必須經(jīng)歷各種艱難困苦去追求卓越。即使今天，他依然記得父親如何引用“懂得感激是高尚者的標志”這句伊索名言來教導他要把懂得感激放在最重要的位置。

Amid the atmosphere of Thanksgiving, rather than joining his friends in celebration of the holiday, George was immersed in the diary left to him by his father, who died at sea after he completed two successive trips around the world.The diary brought back every moment George had spent with his father and many of the specific things his father did on his behalf.George's father used to impress on him the need to undergo all kinds of hardship in quest of excellence.He also taught him that nothing in the world could be taken for granted.Even today, George still remembers how his father would quote Aesop's famous saying “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls” and tell him to accord the greatest importance to it.Unit6

我們到處都能看到“搶眼”的青年藝術(shù)家。他們要么一年四季穿著破舊的牛仔褲；要么大冬天也打赤腳；要么飲酒過度；要么就是抱著創(chuàng)作一部杰作的幻想，實際上并不做任何創(chuàng)作的事。其實，他們中很多人只不過為了看上去像名藝術(shù)家，或為了同其他藝術(shù)家“保持一致”才這么做的。他們忘了，只有通過不懈的努力才能獲得成功。Here and there we see young artists who stand out from other people.They may be in worn out jeans all the year round, or walk barefoot / in bare feet even in winter, or drink to excess, or cling to the fancy of creating a masterpiece without actually doing any creative work.In fact, many of them act like this just to look the part, or to be “in tune with” other artists.They have forgotten that only through persistent effort can one achieve success.

第三篇：全新版大學英語綜合教程3課文原文及翻譯

unit 4

Was Einstein a Space Alien? 1 Albert Einstein was exhausted.For the third night in a row, his baby son Hans, crying, kept the household awake until dawn.When Albert finally dozed off...it was time to get up and go to work.He couldn't skip a day.He needed the job to support his young family.1.阿爾伯特.愛因斯坦精疲力竭。他幼小的兒子漢斯連續(xù)三個晚上哭鬧不停，弄得全家人直到天亮都無法入睡。阿爾伯特總算可以打個瞌睡時，已是他起床上班的時候了。他不能一天不上班，他需要這份工作來養(yǎng)活組建不久的家庭。Walking briskly to the Patent Office, where he was a “Technical Expert, Third Class,” Albert worried about his mother.She was getting older and frail, and she didn't approve of his marriage to Mileva.Relations were strained.Albert glanced at a passing shop window.His hair was a mess;he had forgotten to comb it again.2.阿爾伯特是專利局三等技術(shù)專家。在快步去專利局上班的路上，他為母親憂心忡忡。母親年紀越來越大，身體虛弱。她不同意兒子與邁爾娃的婚事，婆媳關(guān)系緊張。阿爾伯特瞥了一下路過的商店的櫥窗，看見自己頭發(fā)凌亂，他又忘了梳頭了。Work.Family.Making ends meet.Albert felt all the pressure and responsibility of any young husband and father.3.工作，家庭，維持生計——阿爾伯特感受到了一位年輕丈夫和年輕父親所要承擔的全部壓力和責任。

To relax, he revolutionized physics.他想放松下，卻使物理學發(fā)生了突破性進展 In 1905, at the age of 26 and four years before he was able to get a job as a professor of physics, Einstein published five of the most important papers in the history of science--all written in his “spare time.” He proved that atoms and molecules existed.Before 1905, scientists weren't sure about that.He argued that light came in little bits(later called “photons”)and thus laid the foundation for quantum mechanics.He described his theory of special relativity: space and time were threads in a common fabric, he proposed, which could be bent, stretched and twisted.4.1905年，在他被聘為物理學教授的前四年，26歲的愛因斯坦發(fā)表了科學史上最重要論文中的五篇——這些論文都是他在“業(yè)余時間”完成的。他證明了原子和分子的存在。1905年之前，科學家們對此沒有把握。愛因斯坦論證說光以微粒形態(tài)出現(xiàn)（后來被稱為“光子”），這為量子力學奠定了基礎(chǔ)。他把狹義相對論描寫為：時空如同普通織物中的線，他提出，這些線可以彎曲、拉長和交織在一起。Oh, and by the way, E=mc2.5.對了，順便提一下，E = mc2。Before Einstein, the last scientist who had such a creative outburst was Sir Isaac Newton.It happened in 1666 when Newton secluded himself at his mother's farm to avoid an outbreak of plague at Cambridge.With nothing better to do, he developed his Theory of Universal Gravitation.6.在愛因斯坦之前，最近一位迸發(fā)出如此創(chuàng)造性思想的科學家當數(shù)艾薩克牛頓

爵士。事情發(fā)生在1666，為了躲避在劍橋爆發(fā)的瘟疫，牛頓去母親的農(nóng)場隱居。由于沒有什么更好的事可做，他便建立萬有引力理論。For centuries historians called 1666 Newton's “miracle year”.Now those words have a different meaning: Einstein and 1905.The United Nations has declared 2005 “The World Year of Physics” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's “miracle year.” 7.幾個世紀以來,歷史學家稱為1666牛頓的“奇跡年”。現(xiàn)在這些話有不同的意義：愛因斯坦和1905。聯(lián)合國已經(jīng)宣布2005年“世界物理年“慶祝愛因斯坦“奇跡年”的100周年。8 Modern pop culture paints Einstein as a bushy-haired superthinker.His ideas, we're told, were improbably far ahead of other scientists.He must have come from some other planet--maybe the same one Newton grew up on.8.現(xiàn)代流行文化把愛因斯坦繪畫成一位長著蓬亂頭發(fā)的超級思想家。據(jù)說他的思想不可思議地遠遠超過其他科學家。他一定是從其他星球來的——也許是牛頓長大的同一個星球。9 “Einstein was no space alien,” laughs Harvard University physicist and science historian Peter Galison.“He was a man of his time.” All of his 1905 papers unraveled problems being worked on, with mixed success, by other scientists.“If Einstein hadn't been born, [those papers] would have been written in some form, eventually, by others,” Galison believes.9.“愛因斯坦決不是外星人，”哈佛大學物理學家、科學史家彼得加里森笑著說。“他是他那個時代的人。”他所有發(fā)表于1905年的論文解決了當時其他科學家正多多少少在解決的問題，“如果沒有愛因斯坦，其他科學家最終也會以某種形式撰寫出這些論文來的”加里森相信。What's remarkable about 1905 is that a single person authored all five papers, plus the original, irreverent way Einstein came to his conclusions.10.1905年不同尋常的是，愛因斯坦一個人撰寫的五篇論文，而且他得出結(jié)論的方法既富原創(chuàng)性又顯得不合常規(guī)。For example: the photoelectric effect.This was a puzzle in the early 1900s.When light hits a metal, like zinc, electrons fly off.This can happen only if light comes in little packets concentrated enough to knock an electron loose.A spread-out wave wouldn't do the photoelectric trick.11.例如：光電效應。這在20世紀初期的一道難題。當光照射到金屬（如鋅）上時，電子飛速飛離電子表面，這種現(xiàn)象只有當光的粒子集聚的程度足以把電子擊撞松動的時候才會發(fā)生。漫延波不會產(chǎn)生光電效應。The solution seems simple--light is particulate.Indeed, this is the solution Einstein proposed in 1905 and won the Nobel Prize for in 1921.Other physicists like Max Planck(working on a related problem: blackbody radiation), more senior and experienced than Einstein, were closing in on the answer, but Einstein got there first.Why? 12.答案似乎很簡單——光是粒子。事實上，這是愛因斯坦1905年提出的解答，并因此于1921年獲得諾貝爾獎。其他物理學家們，比如比愛因斯坦資歷更深、經(jīng)驗更豐富的麥克斯普蘭克（從事研究相關(guān)的問題：黑體輻射），其研究正接近

該問題的答案，但愛因斯坦捷足先登。為什么？ It's a question of authority.這是對權(quán)威的看法問題 “In Einstein's day, if you tried to say that light was made of particles, you found yourself disagreeing with physicist James Clerk Maxwell.Nobody wanted to do that,” says Galison.Maxwell's equations were enormously successful, unifying the physics of electricity, magnetism and optics.Maxwell had proved beyond any doubt that light was an electromagnetic wave.Maxwell was an Authority Figure.13.“在愛因斯坦的時代，如果你試圖說光由粒子組成，你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己與物理學家杰姆斯.克拉克.馬克斯威爾持不同觀點。沒有人想那么做，”加里森說道。馬克斯威爾的方程式把物理學中的電學、磁學和光學統(tǒng)一起來，獲得了巨大的成功。麥克斯威爾毫無疑問地證明了光是電磁波。他可是權(quán)威人物。Einstein didn't give a fig for authority.He didn't resist being told what to do, not so much, but he hated being told what was true.Even as a child he was constantly doubting and questioning.“Your mere presence here undermines the class's respect for me,” spat his 7th grade teacher, Dr.Joseph Degenhart.(Degenhart also predicted that Einstein “would never get anywhere in life.”)This character flaw was to be a key ingredient in Einstein's discoveries.14.愛因斯坦豪不在乎權(quán)威。他不太反對別人要求他做什么，但是他不喜歡別人告訴他什么是正確的。即使在小時候他也不停地質(zhì)疑和問問題。“你呆在這里損害了全班學生對我尊敬，”他第七年級的老師約瑟夫狄根哈特博士憤怒地說。（狄根哈特還預言愛因斯坦“永遠不會有出息”）這一性格缺陷成為日后愛因斯坦作出種種發(fā)現(xiàn)的主要因素。“In 1905,” notes Galison, “Einstein had just received his Ph.D.He wasn't beholden to a thesis advisor or any other authority figure.” His mind was free to roam accordingly.15.“在1905年，”加里森著重指出，“愛因斯坦剛剛獲得博士學位，他不感激于論文導師或任何其他權(quán)威人士。”因此，他的思想在自由漫游。In retrospect, Maxwell was right.Light is a wave.But Einstein was right, too.Light is a particle.This bizarre duality baffles Physics 101 students today just as it baffled Einstein in 1905.How can light be both? Einstein had no idea.16.回想起來，麥克斯威爾是正確的。光是一種波。但愛因斯坦也是對的。光是粒子。這種異乎尋常的二象性使今天選修無力101課程的同學們感到困惑，就像在1905年使愛因斯坦感到困惑一樣。光怎么可能既是波又是粒子呢？愛因斯坦無法理解。That didn't slow him down.Disdaining caution, Einstein adopted the intuitive leap as a basic tool.“I believe in intuition and inspiration,” he wrote in 1931.“At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason.” 17.困惑并沒有使愛因斯坦放慢探究的腳步。愛因斯坦不屑謹小慎微，他采用直覺跳躍思維作為基本工具。“我相信直覺和靈感，”他在1931年寫道。“有時盡管不知道原因，但是我肯定我是對的。Although Einstein's five papers were published in a single year, he had been thinking about physics, deeply, since childhood.“Science was dinner-table conversation in the Einstein household,” explains Galison.Albert's father Hermann and uncle Jakob ran a German company making such things as dynamos, arc lamps, light bulbs and telephones.This was high-tech at the turn of the century, “l(fā)ike a Silicon Valley company would be today,” notes Galison.“Albert's interest in science and technology came naturally.” 18.雖說愛因斯坦在短短的一年內(nèi)發(fā)表了五篇論文，其實他童年時代就一直深入地思考物理的問題。“科學是愛因斯坦在餐桌上聊天的話題。”加里森解釋道。愛因斯坦的父親赫爾曼和叔叔雅各布經(jīng)營一家德國公司，制造發(fā)電機，電弧燈，燈泡、電話等諸如此類的產(chǎn)品。這是（20）世紀之初屬于高科技，“像今天的硅谷公司，”加里森著重提到。“艾伯特對科學技術(shù)與生俱來懷有興趣。” Einstein's parents sometimes took Albert to parties.No babysitter was required: Albert sat on the couch, totally absorbed, quietly doing math problems while others danced around him.Pencil and paper were Albert's GameBoy!19.愛因斯坦的父母有時會帶兒子參加聚會。她們不常請人看孩子：當其他人在他周圍跳舞時，阿爾伯特坐在沙發(fā)上，全神貫注，靜靜地做數(shù)學題。筆和紙是阿爾伯特的玩具！20 He had impressive powers of concentration.Einstein's sister, Maja, recalled “...even when there was a lot of noise, he could lie down on the sofa, pick up a pen and paper, precariously balance an inkwell on the backrest and engross himself in a problem so much that the background noise stimulated rather than disturbed him.” 20.他有極強的集中思想的能力。愛因斯坦的妹妹瑪雅，回憶說：“??即使周圍非常吵鬧，他也能躺在沙發(fā)上，拿起紙和筆，悠悠地把墨水池放在一個靠背上，專心致志得解題，北京聲音不但沒有打擾他，反而激勵他。” Einstein was clearly intelligent, but not outlandishly more so than his peers.“I have no special talents,” he claimed, “I am only passionately curious.” And again: “The contrast between the popular assessment of my powers...and the reality is simply grotesque.” Einstein credited his discoveries to imagination and pesky questioning more so than orthodox intelligence.21.愛因斯坦顯然很聰明，但不比他的同齡人超出多少。“我沒有什么特別的才能，”他說，“只是我的好奇心非常強烈。”還有：“大眾對我能力的評估?和現(xiàn)實之間的差異簡直大得荒唐。”愛因斯坦把他的發(fā)現(xiàn)更多地歸功于想象力和不斷提問而不是普通所謂的智慧。Later in life, it should be remembered, he struggled mightily to produce a unified field theory, combining gravity with other forces of nature.He failed.Einstein's brainpower was not limitless.22.應該記住的是，愛因斯坦在晚年竭盡全力想象提出統(tǒng)一場論，把萬有引力和自然界中其他的力結(jié)合起來。但他失敗了。愛因斯坦的智力不是無限的。Neither was Einstein's brain.It was removed without permission by Dr.Thomas Harvey in 1955 when Einstein died.He probably expected to find something extraordinary:Einstein's mother Pauline had famously worried that baby Einstein's head was lopsided.(Einstein's grandmother had a different concern: “Much too fat!”)But Einstein's brain looked much like any other, gray, crinkly, and, if anything, a trifle smaller than average.23.愛因斯坦的大腦也是如此。他1955年去世的時候，托馬斯哈維醫(yī)生在未經(jīng)許可的情況下解剖了他的大腦。也許他期盼發(fā)現(xiàn)一些驚人的東西。但是愛因斯坦死的大腦看起來和其他人的大腦很相似，灰色，波狀的。如果非要說什么不同，那就是他的大腦比正常人的小一點。

軼事愛因斯坦

廢紙簍他的錯誤時，艾伯特愛因斯坦抵達美國，在54歲駛?cè)爰~約港的遠洋班輪westernland十月171933，官方歡迎委員會正在等著他。愛因斯坦和他的隨行人員，然而，不知去向。亞伯拉罕弗萊克斯納，導演在普林斯頓高等研究院，新澤西，被屏蔽他的名人教授從宣傳。所以他派拖船精神偉人從westernland盡快通過檢疫。他的頭發(fā)撥出一個寬邊黑帽，愛因斯坦偷偷地到拖船上岸，這使他和他的黨下曼哈頓，在車接送到普林斯頓。”愛因斯坦博士是想求得和平和安靜，”弗萊克斯納告訴記者。諾貝爾獎得主在1921他對理論物理學，愛因斯坦得到一個辦公室在學院。他問他需要什么設備。”一個寫字臺或桌子，椅子，紙和鉛筆，”他回答說。“哦，和一個大簍，所以我可以扔掉我所有的錯誤。”他和埃爾莎，他的妻子，租了一個房子和定居生活在普林斯頓。他喜歡美國的事實，盡管其不平等的財富和種族不公正，更多的是一個精英比歐洲。”讓新來的

致力于這個國家的民主特質(zhì)的人，”他后來奇跡。”沒有人謙卑自己，在另一個人。”不是一個愛因斯坦愛因斯坦，然而，沒有愛因斯坦的時候他還是一個孩子的成長。在慕尼黑，德國，第一個孩子的赫爾曼和保羅愛因斯坦，他在緩慢的學習說話。“我的父母非常擔心，”他回憶道，“他們找醫(yī)生。”當他開始使用的話2歲之后，他制定了一個怪癖，促使他的保姆給他遲鈍的人。”他所說的每一句，無論多么常規(guī)，”回憶起他的妹妹，瑪雅，”他輕聲地反復，動動嘴唇。”他緩慢發(fā)展的結(jié)合是一個厚臉皮的叛逆的權(quán)威，從而導致一個德國校長把他包裝。另一個說，愛因斯坦不會多。“當我問自己這是怎么發(fā)生的，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了相對論，它似乎躺在下面的情況，”愛因斯坦后來解釋說。“普通成人不會困擾他的頭問題的空間和時間。這些都是他認為作為一個孩子。但我發(fā)展很慢，我開始思考的空間和時間，當我已經(jīng)長大了。我更深入探討的問題不是一個普通的孩子都有一個快樂的科學。”鼓勵他的和藹的父親，誰經(jīng)營家族生意，和他熱愛音樂的母親，愛因斯坦花了幾個小時的工作上的難題和建筑 塔的玩具。”的毅力和韌性是他性格中的一部分，”他的妹妹說。一次，愛因斯坦生病在床上作為一個孩子，他的父親帶他一個指南針。愛因斯坦后來想起這么激動，當他檢查了它的神秘力量，他顫抖著越來越冷。磁針的表現(xiàn)好像受到一個隱藏的力場，而不是通過機械的方法接觸或接觸。”深深的藏得背后的東西，”他說。他對磁域，重力，慣性和光束。他保留的能力，將兩個念頭的同時，感到困惑時，沖突和喜悅時，他看到一個潛在的團結(jié)。”像你我這樣的人是永遠不會老的，”他寫道，一個朋友多年以后我們從來沒有停止過。”都是好奇的孩童面前的偉大神秘的，我們是天生的。”普遍的看法相反，愛因斯坦擅長數(shù)學。在13歲的時候，他已經(jīng)有了一個偏愛解決復雜問題的應用數(shù)學，他的妹妹回憶說。一個叔叔，雅各布愛因斯坦，工程師，把他介紹給歡樂的代數(shù)，稱它是“快樂的科學，”當愛因斯坦取得了勝利，他“很高興不已。”他從閱讀科普書籍，這表明他“圣經(jīng)不可能是真的，”愛因斯坦制定了一個抵制一切形式的教條。他寫了1901，“一個愚蠢的信仰權(quán)威是真理最大的敵人。”

一個驕傲的美國在15歲時，愛因斯坦離開德國去了意大利北部，在那里他的父母遷往自己的業(yè)務，并在16，他寫了他的第一篇文章在理論物理。愛因斯坦發(fā)現(xiàn)了相對論，他畢業(yè)于蘇黎世理工大學1900當他21，涉及的直覺知識以及個人的經(jīng)驗。他發(fā)展的理論，從1905開始，后一個工作在瑞士專利局。但他的理論并不完全接受，直到1919，當觀測在一次日食證實他的預測多少太陽的引力彎曲的光束。在年齡40，1919，愛因斯坦突然被世界著名。他也結(jié)婚的埃爾莎和他的妻子，是父親的兒子從他的第一次婚姻。1921的春天，他的名聲大爆炸導致盛大月訪問美國，在那里他收到熱烈歡迎，他會喚起大眾瘋狂所到之處。世界從未見過這樣一個科學名人明星。愛因斯坦熱愛美國，欣賞其連發(fā)繁榮的結(jié)果，自由和個人主義。在3月1933，希特勒在德國，愛因斯坦意識到他可以不再生活在歐洲的。秋天，他定居在普林斯頓，和1940，他是美國公民，自豪地稱自己美國。自然界的和諧和數(shù)學

他的第一個萬圣節(jié)生活在美國，愛因斯坦解除了一些搗蛋的小夜曲驚訝他們在門口和小提琴。在圣誕節(jié)，當成員的本地教會來唱圣誕頌歌，他走到外面，借了一把小提琴，愉快地陪他們。愛因斯坦很快獲得的圖像，它長到附近的一個傳說，是一個親切的教授，分散在次但始終甜，誰很少梳頭穿襪子。”我已經(jīng)到了一歲時，如果有人告訴我穿襪子，我不去，”他告訴當?shù)氐囊恍┖⒆印Ｋ?jīng)幫助一個15歲的學生，亨利·羅索，以新聞類。我們的老師提供了一個高檔的人得分采訪的科學家，所以我們出現(xiàn)在愛因斯坦的家，卻被拒絕在門外。送牛奶的人給了他一個提示：愛因斯坦走了一段路每早晨9: 30.rosso溜出學校，同他搭訕。但學生，突然所有的困惑，不知道問什么。所以愛因斯坦提出的問題，關(guān)于數(shù)學的。”我發(fā)現(xiàn)大自然是建造在一個美妙的方式，我們的任務就是找到我們的[它]的數(shù)學結(jié)構(gòu)，”愛因斯坦解釋了自己的教育。”它是一種信念，幫助我通過我的整個生活。”訪談獲得亨利羅索A。

unit 5 Writing Three Thank-You Letters

Alex Haley served in the Coast Guard during World War ll.On an especially lonely day to be at sea--Thanksgiving Day--he began to give serious thought to a holiday that has become, for many Americans, a day of overeating and watching endless games of football.Haley decided to celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving by writing three very special letters.亞歷克斯·黑利二戰(zhàn)時在海岸警衛(wèi)隊服役。出海在外，時逢一個倍感孤寂的日子――感恩節(jié)，他開始認真思考起這一節(jié)日的意義。對許多美國人而言，這個節(jié)日已成為大吃大喝、沒完沒了地看橄欖球比賽的日子。黑利決定寫三封不同尋常的信，以此來紀念感恩節(jié)的真正意義。

Writing Three Thank-You Letters

Alex Haley

It was 1943, during World War II, and I was a young U.S.coastguardsman.My ship, the USS Murzim, had been under way for several days.Most of her holds contained thousands of cartons of canned or dried foods.The other holds were loaded with five-hundred-pound bombs packed delicately in padded racks.Our destination was a big base on the island of Tulagi in the South Pacific.寫三封感謝信 亞利克斯·黑利

那是在二戰(zhàn)期間的1943年，我是個年輕的美國海岸警衛(wèi)隊隊員。我們的船，美國軍艦軍市一號已出海多日。多數(shù)船艙裝著成千上萬箱罐裝或風干的食品。其余的船艙裝著不少五百磅重的炸彈，都小心翼翼地放在墊過的架子上。我們的目的地是南太平洋圖拉吉島上一個規(guī)模很大的基地。

I was one of the Murzim's several cooks and, quite the same as for folk ashore, this Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.我是軍市一號上的一個廚師，跟岸上的人一樣，那個感恩節(jié)的上午，我們忙著在準備一道以烤火雞為主的傳統(tǒng)菜肴。

Well, as any cook knows, it's a lot of hard work to cook and serve a big meal, and clean up and put everything away.But finally, around sundown, we finished at last.當廚師的都知道，要烹制一頓大餐，擺上桌，再刷洗、收拾干凈，是件辛苦的事。不過，等到太陽快下山時，我們總算全都收拾停當了。

I decided first to go out on the Murzim's afterdeck for a breath of open air.I made my way out there, breathing in great, deep draughts while walking slowly about, still wearing my white cook's hat.我想先去后甲板透透氣。我信步走去，一邊深深呼吸著空氣，一邊慢慢地踱著步，頭上仍戴著那頂白色的廚師帽。

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving, of the Pilgrims, Indians, wild turkeys, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and the rest.我開始思索起感恩節(jié)這個節(jié)日來，想著清教徒前輩移民、印第安人、野火雞、南瓜、玉米棒等等。

Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else--some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving.It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word “Thanksgiving”--at least that suggested a verbal direction, “Giving thanks.”

可我腦子里似乎還在搜索著別的事什么――某種我能夠賦予這一節(jié)日以個人意義的方式。大概過了半個小時左右我才意識到，問題的關(guān)鍵也許在于把Thanksgiving這個字前后顛倒一下――那樣一來至少文字好懂了：Giving thanks。

Giving thanks--as in praying, thanking God, I thought.Yes, of course.Certainly.表達謝意――就如在祈禱時感謝上帝那樣，我暗想。對啊，是這樣，當然是這樣。

Yet my mind continued turning the idea over.可我腦子里仍一直盤桓著這事。

After a while, like a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come--that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them.The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted.Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere “Thank you.”

過了片刻，如同晨曦初現(xiàn)，一個更清晰的念頭終于涌現(xiàn)腦際――要感謝他人，那些賜我以諸多恩惠，我根本無以回報的人們。令我深感不安的實際情形是，我向來對他們所做的一切受之泰然，認為是理所應當。我一次也沒想過要對他們中的任何一位真心誠意地說一句簡單的謝謝。

At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me.I realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died--so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me.The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became.Then I pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin.至少有七個人對我有過不同尋常、影響深遠的幫助。令人難過的是，我意識到，他們中有一半已經(jīng)過世了――因此他們永遠也無法接受我的謝意了。我越想越感到羞愧。最后我想到了仍健在的三位，幾分鐘后，我就回到了自己的艙房。

Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A.Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas;to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee;and to the Rev.Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning.我坐在攤著信紙的桌旁，回想著他們各自對我所做的一切，試圖用真摯的文字表達我對他們的由衷的感激之情：父親西蒙·A·黑利，阿肯色州派因布拉夫那所古老的農(nóng)業(yè)機械師范學院的教授；住在田納西州小鎮(zhèn)亨寧老家的外祖母辛西婭·帕爾默；以及我的文法學校校長，退休后住在亨寧以北6英里處的里普利的洛紐爾·納爾遜牧師。

The texts of my letters began something like, “Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you--” And briefly I recalled for each of them specific acts performed on my behalf.我的信是這樣開頭的：“出海在外度過的這個感恩節(jié)，令我回想起您為我做了那么多事，但我從來沒有對您說過自己是多么想感謝您――”我簡短回憶了各位為我所做的具體事例。

For instance, something uppermost about my father was how he had impressed upon me from boyhood to love books and reading.In fact, this graduated into a family habit of after-dinner quizzes at the table about books read most recently and new words learned.My love of books never diminished and later led me toward writing books myself.So many times I have felt a sadness when exposed to modern children so immersed in the electronic media that they have little or no awareness of the marvelous world to be discovered in books.例如，我父親的最不同尋常之處在于，從我童年時代起，他就讓我深深意識到要熱愛書籍、熱愛閱讀。事實上，這一愛好漸漸變成一種家庭習慣，晚飯后大家圍在餐桌旁互相考查近日所讀的書以及新學的單詞。我對書籍的熱愛從未減弱，日后還引導我自己撰文著書。多少次，當我看到如今的孩子們?nèi)绱顺撩杂陔娮用襟w時，我不由深感悲哀，他們很少，或者根本不了解書中所能發(fā)現(xiàn)的神奇世界。

I reminded the Reverend Nelson how each morning he would open our little country town's grammar school with a prayer over his assembled students.I told him that whatever positive things I had done since had been influenced at least in part by his morning school prayers.我跟納爾遜牧師提及他如何每天清晨和集合在一起的學生做禱告，以此開始鄉(xiāng)村小學的一天。我告訴他，我后來所做的任何有意義的事，都至少部分地是受了他那些學校晨禱的影響。

In the letter to my grandmother, I reminded her of a dozen ways she used to teach me how to tell the truth, to share, and to be forgiving and considerate of others.I thanked her for the years of eating her good cooking, the equal of which I had not found since.Finally, I thanked her simply for having sprinkled my life with stardust.在給外祖母的信中，我談到了她用了種種方式教我講真話，教我與人分享，教我寬恕、體諒他人。我感謝她多年來讓我吃到她燒的美味菜肴，離開她后我從來沒吃過那么可口的菜肴。最后，我感謝她，因為她在我的生命中撒下美妙的遐想。

Before I slept, my three letters went into our ship's office mail sack.They got mailed when we reached Tulagi Island.睡覺前，我的這三封信都送進了船上的郵袋。我們抵達圖拉吉島后都寄了出去。

We unloaded cargo, reloaded with something else, then again we put to sea in the routine familiar to us, and as the days became weeks, my little personal experience receded.Sometimes, when we were at sea, a mail ship would rendezvous and bring us mail from home, which, of course, we accorded topmost priority.我們卸了貨，又裝了其它物品，隨后我們按熟悉的常規(guī)，再次出海。一天又一天，一星期又一星期，我個人的經(jīng)歷漸漸淡忘。我們在海上航行時，有時會與郵船會合，郵船會帶給我們家信，當然這是我們視為最緊要的事情。

Every time the ship's loudspeaker rasped, “Attention!Mail call!” two hundred-odd shipmates came pounding up on deck and clustered about the two seamen, standing by those precious bulging gray sacks.They were alternately pulling out fistfuls of letters and barking successive names of sailors who were, in turn, shouting back “Here!Here!” amid the pushing.每當船上的喇叭響起：“大伙聽好！郵件點名！”200名左右的水兵就會沖上甲板，圍聚在那兩個站在寶貴的鼓鼓囊囊的灰色郵袋旁的水手周圍。兩人輪流取出一把信，大聲念收信水手的名字，叫到的人從人群當中擠出，一邊應道：“來了，來了！”

One “mail call” brought me responses from Grandma, Dad, and the Reverend Nelson--and my reading of their letters left me not only astonished but more humbled than before.一次“郵件點名”帶給我外祖母，爸爸，以及納爾遜牧師的回信――我讀了信，既震驚又深感卑微。

Rather than saying they would forgive that I hadn't previously thanked them, instead, for Pete's sake, they were thanking me--for having remembered, for having considered they had done anything so exceptional.他們沒有說他們原諒我以前不曾感謝他們，相反，他們向我致謝，天哪，就因為我記得，就因為我認為他們做了不同尋常的事。

Always the college professor, my dad had carefully avoided anything he considered too sentimental, so I knew how moved he was to write me that, after having helped educate many young people, he now felt that his best results included his own son.身為大學教授的爸爸向來特別留意不使用任何過于感情化的文字，因此，當他對我寫道，在教了許許多多的年輕人之后，他認為自己最優(yōu)秀的學生當中也包括自己的兒子時，我知道他是多么地感動。

The Reverend Nelson wrote that his decades as a “simple, old-fashioned principal” had ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt.“I heard more of what I had done wrong than what I did right,” he said, adding that my letter had brought him welcome reassurance that his career had been appreciated.納爾遜牧師寫道，他那平凡的傳統(tǒng)校長的歲月隨著學校里發(fā)生的如此迅猛的變化而結(jié)束，他懷著自我懷疑的心態(tài)退了休。“說我做得不對的遠遠多于說我做得對的，” 他寫道，接著說我的信給他帶來了振奮人心的信心：自己的校長生涯還是有其價值的。

A glance at Grandma's familiar handwriting brought back in a flash memories of standing alongside her white rocking chair, watching her “settin' down” some letter to relatives.Character by character, Grandma would slowly accomplish one word, then the next, so that a finished page would consume hours.I wept over the page representing my Grandma's recent hours invested in expressing her loving gratefulness to me--whom she used to diaper!

一看到外祖母那熟悉的筆跡，我頓時回想起往日站在她的白色搖椅旁看她給親戚寫信的情景。外祖母一個字母一個字母地慢慢拼出一個詞，接著是下一個詞，因此寫滿一頁要花上幾個小時。捧著外祖母最近花費不少工夫?qū)ξ冶磉_了充滿慈愛的謝意，我禁不住流淚――從前是她給我換尿布的呀。

Much later, retired from the Coast Guard and trying to make a living as a writer, I never forgot how those three “thank you” letters gave me an insight into how most human beings go about longing in secret for more of their fellows to express appreciation for their efforts.許多年后，我從海岸警衛(wèi)隊退役，試著靠寫作為生，我一直不曾忘記那三封“感謝”信是如何使我認識到，大凡人都暗自期望著有更多的人對自己的努力表達謝意。

Now, approaching another Thanksgiving, I have asked myself what will I wish for all who are reading this, for our nation, indeed for our whole world--since, quoting a good and wise friend of mine, “In the end we are mightily and merely people, each with similar needs.” First, I wish for us, of course, the simple common sense to achieve world peace, that being paramount for the very survival of our kind.現(xiàn)在，感恩節(jié)又將來臨，我自問，對此文的讀者，對我們的祖國，事實上對全世界，我有什么祝愿，因為，用一位善良而且又有智慧的朋友的話來說，“我們究其實都是十分相像的凡人，有著相似的需求。”當然，我首先祝愿大家記住這一簡單的常識：實現(xiàn)世界和平，這對我們自身的存亡至關(guān)重要。

And there is something else I wish--so strongly that I have had this line printed across the bottom of all my stationery: “Find the good--and praise it.”

此外我還有別的祝愿――這一祝愿是如此強烈，我將這句話印在我所有的信箋底部：“發(fā)現(xiàn)并褒揚各種美好的事物。”

Thanksgiving, like Spring Festival, brings families back together from across the country.Waiting for her children to arrive, Ellen Goodman reflects on the changing relationship between parents and children as they grow up and leave home, often to settle far away.如同春節(jié)那樣，散居各處的美國人到感恩節(jié)就回家團聚。埃倫·古德曼在等待著子女回家的同時，思索著當子女長大離家，常常在遠方定居之后，父母與子女關(guān)系的不斷變化。

找不到b了

unit 6 The Last Leaf

When Johnsy fell seriously ill, she seemed to lose the will to hang on to life.The doctor held out little hope for her.Her friends seemed helpless.Was there nothing to be done?

約翰西病情嚴重，她似乎失去了活下去的意志。醫(yī)生對她不抱什么希望。朋友們看來也愛莫能助。難道真的就無可奈何了嗎？

The Last Leaf

O.Henry

At the top of a three-story brick building, Sue and Johnsy had their studio.“Johnsy” was familiar for Joanna.One was from Maine;the other from California.They had met at a cafe on Eighth Street and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so much in tune that the joint studio resulted.最后一片葉子 歐·亨利

在一幢三層磚樓的頂層，蘇和約翰西辟了個畫室。“約翰西”是喬安娜的昵稱。她們一位來自緬因州，一位來自加利福尼亞。兩人相遇在第八大街的一個咖啡館，發(fā)現(xiàn)各自在藝術(shù)品味、菊苣色拉，以及燈籠袖等方面趣味相投，于是就有了這個兩人畫室。

That was in May.In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the district, touching one here and there with his icy fingers.Johnsy was among his victims.She lay, scarcely moving on her bed, looking through the small window at the blank side of the next brick house.那是5月里的事。到了11月，一個醫(yī)生稱之為肺炎的陰森的隱形客闖入了這一地區(qū)，用它冰冷的手指東碰西觸。約翰西也為其所害。她病倒了，躺在床上幾乎一動不動，只能隔著小窗望著隔壁磚房那單調(diào)沉悶的側(cè)墻。

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a bushy, gray eyebrow.一天上午，忙碌的醫(yī)生揚了揚灰白的濃眉，示意蘇來到過道。

“She has one chance in ten,” he said.“And that chance is for her to want to live.Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well.Has she anything on her mind?

“她只有一成希望，”他說。“那還得看她自己是不是想活下去。你這位女朋友已經(jīng)下決心不想好了。她有什么心事嗎？”

”She--she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day,“ said Sue.“她――她想有一天能去畫那不勒斯灣，”蘇說。

”Paint?--bosh!Has she anything on her mind worth thinking about twice--a man, for instance?“

“畫畫？――得了。她有沒有別的事值得她留戀的――比如說，一個男人？”

”A man?“ said Sue.”Is a man worth--but, no, doctor;there is nothing of the kind.“

“男人？”蘇說。“難道一個男人就值得――可是，她沒有啊，大夫，沒有這碼子事。”

”Well,“ said the doctor.”I will do all that science can accomplish.But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines.“ After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried.Then she marched into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling a merry tune.“好吧，”大夫說。“我會盡一切努力，只要是科學能做到的。可是，但凡病人開始計算她出殯的行列里有幾輛馬車的時候，我就要把醫(yī)藥的療效減去一半。”大夫走后，蘇去工作室哭了一場。隨后她攜著畫板大步走進約翰西的房間，口里吹著輕快的口哨。

Johnsy lay, scarcely making a movement under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window.She was looking out and counting--counting backward.約翰西躺在被子下幾乎一動不動，臉朝著窗。她望著窗外，數(shù)著數(shù)――倒數(shù)著數(shù)！

”Twelve,“ she said, and a little later ”eleven“;and then ”ten,“ and ”nine“;and then ”eight“ and ”seven,“ almost together.“12，”她數(shù)道，過了一會兒“11”，接著數(shù)“10”和“9”；再數(shù)“8”和“7”，幾乎一口同時數(shù)下來。

Sue looked out of the window.What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away.An old, old ivy vine climbed half way up the brick wall.The cold breath of autumn had blown away its leaves, leaving it almost bare.蘇朝窗外望去。外面有什么好數(shù)的呢？外面只看到一個空蕩蕩的沉悶的院子，還有20英尺開外那磚房的側(cè)墻，上面什么也沒有。一棵古老的常青藤爬到半墻高。蕭瑟秋風吹落了枝葉，藤上幾乎光禿禿的。

”Six,“ said Johnsy, in almost a whisper.”They're falling faster now.Three days ago there were almost a hundred.It made my head ache to count them.But now it's easy.There goes another one.There are only five left now.“

“6”，約翰西數(shù)著，聲音幾乎聽不出來。“現(xiàn)在葉子掉落得快多了。三天前差不多還有100片。數(shù)得我頭都疼。可現(xiàn)在容易了。又掉了一片。這下子只剩5片了。”

”Five what, dear? “

“5片什么，親愛的？”

”Leaves.On the ivy vine.When the last one falls I must go, too.I've known that for three days.Didn't the doctor tell you?“

“葉子。常青藤上的葉子。等最后一片葉子掉了，我也就得走了。三天前我就知道會這樣。大夫沒跟你說嗎？”

”O(jiān)h, I never heard of such nonsense.What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? Don't be so silly.Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were ten to one!Try to take some soup now, and let Sudie go and buy port wine for her sick child.“

“噢，我從沒聽說過這種胡說八道。常青藤葉子跟你病好不好有什么關(guān)系？別這么傻。對了，大夫上午跟我說，你的病十有八九就快好了。快喝些湯，讓蘇迪給她生病的孩子去買些波爾圖葡萄酒來。”

”You needn't get any more wine,“ said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window.”There goes another.No, I don't want any soup.That leaves just four.I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark.Then I'll go, too.I'm tired of waiting.I'm tired of thinking.I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.“

“你不用再去買酒了，”約翰西說道，兩眼一直盯著窗外。“又掉了一片。不，我不想喝湯。這一下只剩下4片了。我要在天黑前看到最后一片葉子掉落。那時我也就跟著走了。我都等膩了。也想膩了。我只想撇開一切, 飄然而去，就像那邊一片可憐的疲倦的葉子。”

”Try to sleep,“ said Sue.”I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old miner.I'll not be gone a minute.“

“快睡吧，”蘇說。“我得叫貝爾曼上樓來給我當老礦工模特兒。我去去就來。”

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them.He was past sixty and had a long white beard curling down over his chest.Despite looking the part, Behrman was a failure in art.For forty years he had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it.He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists who could not pay the price of a professional.He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece.For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who mocked terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as guard dog to the two young artists in the studio above.老貝爾曼是住在兩人樓下底層的一個畫家。他已年過六旬，銀白色蜷曲的長髯披掛胸前。貝爾曼看上去挺像藝術(shù)家，但在藝術(shù)上卻沒有什么成就。40年來他一直想創(chuàng)作一幅傳世之作，卻始終沒能動手。他給那些請不起職業(yè)模特的青年畫家當模特掙點小錢。他沒節(jié)制地喝酒，談論著他那即將問世的不朽之作。要說其他方面，他是個好斗的小老頭，要是誰表現(xiàn)出一點軟弱，他便大肆嘲笑，并把自己看成是樓上畫室里兩位年輕藝術(shù)家的看護人。

Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of gin in his dimly lighted studio below.In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece.She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt for such foolish imaginings.蘇在樓下光線暗淡的畫室里找到了貝爾曼，他滿身酒味刺鼻。屋子一角的畫架上支著一張從未落過筆的畫布，在那兒擱了25年，等著一幅杰作的起筆。蘇把約翰西的怪念頭跟他說了，并說約翰西本身就像一片葉子又瘦又弱，她害怕要是她那本已脆弱的生存意志再軟下去的話，真的會凋零飄落。老貝爾曼雙眼通紅，顯然是淚漣漣的，他大聲叫嚷著說他蔑視這種傻念頭。

”What!“ he cried.”Are there people in the world foolish enough to die because leafs drop off from a vine? I have never heard of such a thing.Why do you allow such silly ideas to come into that head of hers? God!This is not a place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy should lie sick.Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away.Yes.“

“什么！”他嚷道。“世界上竟然有這么愚蠢的人，因為樹葉從藤上掉落就要去死？我聽都沒聽說過這等事。你怎么讓這種傻念頭鉆到她那個怪腦袋里？天哪！這不是一個像約翰西小姐這樣的好姑娘躺倒生病的地方。有朝一日我要畫一幅巨作，那時候我們就離開這里。真的。”

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs.Sue pulled the shade down, and motioned Behrman into the other room.In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine.Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking.A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow.Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.兩人上了樓，約翰西已經(jīng)睡著了。蘇放下窗簾，示意貝爾曼去另一個房間。在那兒兩人惶惶不安地凝視著窗外的常青藤。接著兩人面面相覷，啞然無語。外面冷雨夾雪，淅淅瀝瀝。貝爾曼穿著破舊的藍色襯衣, 坐在充當?shù)V石的倒置的水壺上，擺出礦工的架勢。

When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.第二天早上，只睡了一個小時的蘇醒來看到約翰西睜大著無神的雙眼，凝望著拉下的綠色窗簾。

”Pull it up;I want to see,“ she ordered, in a whisper.“把窗簾拉起來；我要看，”她低聲命令道。

Wearily Sue obeyed.蘇帶著疲倦，遵命拉起窗簾。

But, Lo!after the beating rain and fierce wind that had endured through the night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf.It was the last on the vine.Still dark green near its stem, but with its edges colored yellow, it hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground.可是，瞧！經(jīng)過一整夜的急風驟雨，竟然還存留一片常青藤葉，背靠磚墻，格外顯目。這是常青藤上的最后一片葉子。近梗部位仍呈暗綠色，但邊緣已經(jīng)泛黃了，它無所畏懼地掛在離地20多英尺高的枝干上。

”It is the last one,“ said Johnsy.”I thought it would surely fall during the night.I heard the wind.It will fall today, and I shall die at the same time.“

“這是最后一片葉子，”約翰西說。“我以為夜里它肯定會掉落的。我晚上聽到大風呼嘯。今天它會掉落的，葉子掉的時候，也是我死的時候。”

The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall.And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed.白天慢慢過去了，即便在暮色黃昏之中，他們?nèi)阅芸吹侥瞧铝懔愕某Ｇ嗵偃~子，背靠磚墻，緊緊抱住梗莖。爾后，隨著夜幕的降臨，又是北風大作。

When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.等天色亮起，冷酷無情的約翰西命令將窗簾拉起。

The ivy leaf was still there.常青藤葉依然挺在。

Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it.And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken soup over the gas stove.約翰西躺在那兒，望著它許久許久。接著她大聲呼喚正在煤氣灶上攪雞湯的蘇。

”I've been a bad girl, Sudie,“ said Johnsy.”Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was.It is a sin to want to die.You may bring me a little soup now, and some milk with a little port in it and--no;bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook.“

“我一直像個不乖的孩子，蘇迪，”約翰西說。“有一種力量讓那最后一片葉子不掉，好讓我看到自己有多壞。想死是一種罪過。你給我喝點湯吧，再來點牛奶，稍放一點波爾圖葡萄酒――不，先給我拿面小鏡子來，弄幾個枕頭墊在我身邊，我要坐起來看你做菜。”

An hour later she said:

一個小時之后，她說：

”Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples.“

“蘇迪，我真想有一天去畫那不勒斯海灣。”

The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.下午大夫來了，他走時蘇找了個借口跟進了過道。

”Even chances,“ said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his.“現(xiàn)在是勢均力敵，”大夫說著，握了握蘇纖細顫抖的手。

”With good nursing you'll win.And now I must see another case I have downstairs.Behrman, his name is--some kind of an artist, I believe.Pneumonia, too.He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute.There is no hope for him;but he goes to the hospital today to be made more comfortable.“

“只要精心照料，你就贏了。現(xiàn)在我得去樓下看另外一個病人了。貝爾曼，是他的名字――記得是個什么畫家。也是肺炎。他年老體弱，病來勢又猛。他是沒救了。不過今天他去了醫(yī)院，照料得會好一點。”

The next day the doctor said to Sue: ”She's out of danger.You've won.The right food and care now--that's all.“

第二天，大夫?qū)μK說：“她脫離危險了。你贏了。注意飲食，好好照顧，就行了。”

And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay and put one arm around her.當日下午，蘇來到約翰西的床頭，用一只手臂摟住她。

”I have something to tell you, white mouse,“ she said.”Mr.Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital.He was ill only two days.He was found on the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain.His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold.They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a terrible night.And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and--look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall.Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece--he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."

“我跟你說件事，小白鼠，”她說。“貝爾曼先生今天在醫(yī)院里得肺炎去世了。他得病才兩天。發(fā)病那天上午人家在樓下他的房間里發(fā)現(xiàn)他疼得利害。他的鞋子衣服都濕透了，冰冷冰冷的。他們想不出那么糟糕的天氣他夜里會去哪兒。后來他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個燈籠，還亮著，還有一個梯子被拖了出來，另外還有些散落的畫筆，一個調(diào)色板，和著黃綠兩種顏色，――看看窗外，寶貝兒，看看墻上那最后一片常青藤葉子。它在刮風的時候一動也不動，你沒有覺得奇怪嗎？啊，親愛的，那是貝爾曼的杰作――最后一片葉子掉落的那天夜里他畫上了這片葉子。”

He did not trust the woman to trust him.And he did not trust the woman not to trust him.And he did not want to be mistrusted now.他不敢相信這個女人居然會信任自己。他也不認為這個女人就不信任自己。不過，現(xiàn)在他不想失去別人對自己的信任。

第四篇：全新版大學英語綜合教程2課文原文翻譯

Unit1 Howard Gardner, a professor of education at Harvard University, reflects on a visit to China and gives his thoughts on different approaches to learning in China and the West.哈佛大學教育學教授霍華德·加德納回憶其中國之行，闡述他對中西方不同的學習方式的看法。

Learning, Chinese-Style

Howard Gardner

For a month in the spring of 1987, my wife Ellen and I lived in the bustling eastern Chinese city of Nanjing with our 18-month-old son Benjamin while studying arts education in Chinese kindergartens and elementary schools.But one of the most telling lessons Ellen and I got in the difference between Chinese and American ideas of education came not in the classroom but in the lobby of the Jinling Hotel where we stayed in Nanjing.中國式的學習風格 霍華德·加德納

1987年春，我和妻子埃倫帶著我們18個月的兒子本杰明在繁忙的中國東部城市南京住了一個月，同時考察中國幼兒園和小學的藝術(shù)教育情況。然而，我和埃倫獲得的有關(guān)中美教育觀念差異的最難忘的體驗并非來自課堂，而是來自我們在南京期間寓居的金陵飯店的大堂。

The key to our room was attached to a large plastic block with the room number on it.When leaving the hotel, a guest was encouraged to turn in the key, either by handing it to an attendant or by dropping it through a slot into a box.Because the key slot was narrow, the key had to be positioned carefully to fit into it.我們的房門鑰匙系在一塊標有房間號的大塑料板上。酒店鼓勵客人外出時留下鑰匙，可以交給服務員，也可以從一個槽口塞入鑰匙箱。由于口子狹小，你得留神將鑰匙放準位置才塞得進去。

Benjamin loved to carry the key around, shaking it vigorously.He also liked to try to place it into the slot.Because of his tender age and incomplete understanding of the need to position the key just so, he would usually fail.Benjamin was not bothered in the least.He probably got as much pleasure out of the sounds the key made as he did those few times when the key actually found its way into the slot.本杰明愛拿著鑰匙走來走去，邊走邊用力搖晃著。他還喜歡試著把鑰匙往槽口里塞。由于他還年幼，不太明白得把鑰匙放準位置才成，因此總?cè)贿M去。本杰明一點也不在意。他從鑰匙聲響中得到的樂趣大概跟他偶爾把鑰匙成功地塞進槽口而獲得的樂趣一樣多。

Now both Ellen and I were perfectly happy to allow Benjamin to bang the key near the key slot.His exploratory behavior seemed harmless enough.But I soon observed an interesting phenomenon.Any Chinese staff member nearby would come over to watch Benjamin and, noting his lack of initial success, attempt to assist.He or she would hold onto Benjamin's hand and, gently but firmly, guide it directly toward the slot, reposition it as necessary, and help him to insert

it.The “teacher” would then smile somewhat expectantly at Ellen or me, as if awaiting a thank you ─ and on occasion would frown slightly, as if considering us to be neglecting our parental duties.我和埃倫都滿不在乎，任由本杰明拿著鑰匙在鑰匙的槽口鼓搗。他的探索行為似乎并無任何害處。但我很快就觀察到一個有趣的現(xiàn)象。飯店里任何一個中國工作人員若在近旁，都會走過來看著本杰明，見他初試失敗，便都會試圖幫忙。他們會輕輕握緊本杰明的手，直接將它引向鑰匙的槽口，進行必要的重新定位，并幫他把鑰匙插入槽口。然后那位“老師”會有所期待地對著我和埃倫微笑，似乎等著我們說聲謝謝——偶爾他會微微皺眉，似乎覺得我倆沒有盡到當父母的責任。

I soon realized that this incident was directly relevant to our assigned tasks in China: to investigate the ways of early childhood education(especially in the arts), and to throw light on Chinese attitudes toward creativity.And so before long I began to introduce the key-slot anecdote into my discussions with Chinese educators.我很快意識到，這件小事與我們在中國要做的工作直接相關(guān) ：考察兒童早期教育（尤其是藝術(shù)教育）的方式，揭示中國人對創(chuàng)造性活動的態(tài)度。因此，不久我就在與中國教育工作者討論時談起了鑰匙槽口一事。

TWO DIFFERENT WAYS TO LEARN 6

With a few exceptions my Chinese colleagues displayed the same attitude as the staff at the Jinling Hotel.Since adults know how to place the key in the key slot, which is the ultimate purpose of approaching the slot, and since the child is neither old enough nor clever enough to realize the desired action on his own, what possible gain is achieved by having him struggle? He may well get frustrated and angry ─ certainly not a desirable outcome.Why not show him what to do? He will be happy, he will learn how to accomplish the task sooner, and then he can proceed to more complex activities, like opening the door or asking for the key ─ both of which accomplishments can(and should)in due course be modeled for him as well.兩種不同的學習方式

我的中國同行，除了少數(shù)幾個人外，對此事的態(tài)度與金陵飯店工作人員一樣。既然大人知道怎么把鑰匙塞進槽口——這是處理槽口一事的最終目的，既然孩子還很年幼，還沒有靈巧到可以獨自完成要做的動作，讓他自己瞎折騰會有什么好處呢？他很有可能會灰心喪氣發(fā)脾氣——這當然不是所希望的結(jié)果。為什么不教他怎么做呢？他會高興，他還能早些學會做這件事，進而去學做更復雜的事，如開門，或索要鑰匙——這兩件事到時候同樣可以（也應該）示范給他看。

We listened to such explanations sympathetically and explained that, first of all, we did not much care whether Benjamin succeeded in inserting the key into the slot.He was having a good time and was exploring, two activities that did matter to us.But the critical point was that, in the process, we were trying to teach Benjamin that one can solve a problem effectively by oneself.Such self-reliance is a principal value of child rearing in middle-class America.So long as the child is shown exactly how to do something ─ whether it be placing a key in a key slot, drawing a hen or making up for a misdeed ─ he is less likely to figure out himself how to accomplish such a task.And, more generally, he is less likely to view life ─ as Americans do ─ as a series of situations in which one has to learn to think for oneself, to solve problems on one's own and even to discover new problems for which creative solutions are wanted.我倆頗為同情地聽著這一番道理，解釋道，首先，我們并不在意本杰明能不能把鑰匙

塞進鑰匙的槽口。他玩得開心，而且在探索，這兩點才是我們真正看重的。但關(guān)鍵在于，在這個過程中，我們試圖讓本杰明懂得，一個人是能夠很好地自行解決問題的。這種自力更生的精神是美國中產(chǎn)階級最重要的一條育兒觀。如果我們向孩子演示該如何做某件事——把鑰匙塞進鑰匙的槽口也好，畫只雞或是彌補某種錯誤行為也好——那他就不太可能自行想方設法去完成這件事。從更廣泛的意義上說，他就不太可能——如美國人那樣——將人生視為一系列的情境，在這些情境中，一個人必須學會獨立思考，學會獨立解決問題，進而學會發(fā)現(xiàn)需要創(chuàng)造性地加以解決的新問題。

TEACHING BY HOLDING HIS HAND

In retrospect, it became clear to me that this incident was indeed key ─ and key in more than one sense.It pointed to important differences in the educational and artistic practices in our two countries.把著手教

回想起來，當時我就清楚地意識到，這件事正是體現(xiàn)了問題的關(guān)鍵之所在——而且不僅僅是一種意義上的關(guān)鍵之所在。這件事表明了我們兩國在教育和藝術(shù)實踐上的重要差異。

When our well-intentioned Chinese observers came to Benjamin's rescue, they did not simply push his hand down clumsily or uncertainly, as I might have done.Instead, they guided him with extreme facility and gentleness in precisely the desired direction.I came to realize that these Chinese were not just molding and shaping Benjamin's performance in any old manner: In the best Chinese tradition, they were ba zhe shou jiao ─ “teaching by holding his hand” ─ so much so that he would happily come back for more.那些善意的中國旁觀者前來幫助本杰明時，他們不是簡單地像我可能會做的那樣笨拙地或是猶猶豫豫地把他的手往下推。相反，他們極其熟練地、溫和地把他引向所要到達的確切方向。我逐漸認識到，這些中國人不是簡單地以一種陳舊的方式塑造、引導本杰明的行為：他們是在恪守中國傳統(tǒng)，把著手教，教得本杰明自己會愉快地要求再來一次。

The idea that learning should take place by continual careful shaping and molding applies equally to the arts.Watching children at work in a classroom setting, we were astonished by their facility.Children as young as 5 or 6 were painting flowers, fish and animals with the skill and confidence of an adult;calligraphers 9 and 10 years old were producing works that could have been displayed in a museum.In a visit to the homes of two of the young artists, we learned from their parents that they worked on perfecting their craft for several hours a day.學習應通過不間斷的精心塑造與引導而得以實現(xiàn)，這一觀念同樣適用于藝術(shù)。我們觀看了孩子們在教室里學習藝術(shù)的情景，他們的嫻熟技藝令我們驚訝。年僅5、6歲的孩子就帶著成人的那種技巧與自信在畫花、畫魚和動物；9歲、10歲的小書法家寫出的作品滿可以在博物館展示。有一次去兩位小藝術(shù)家的家里參觀，我們從孩子的父母處得知，他們每天練習數(shù)小時以完善他們的技藝。

CREATIVITY FIRST?

In terms of attitudes to creativity there seems to be a reversal of priorities: young Westerners making their boldest departures first and then gradually mastering the tradition;and young Chinese being almost inseparable from the tradition, but, over time, possibly evolving to a

point equally original.創(chuàng)造力第一？

從對創(chuàng)造力的態(tài)度來說，優(yōu)先次序似乎是顛倒了：西方的年輕人先是大膽創(chuàng)新，然后逐漸深諳傳統(tǒng)；而中國的年輕人則幾乎離不開傳統(tǒng)，但是，隨著時間的推移，他們同樣可能發(fā)展到具有創(chuàng)新的境界。

One way of summarizing the American position is to state that we value originality and independence more than the Chinese do.The contrast between our two cultures can also be seen in terms of the fears we both harbor.Chinese teachers are fearful that if skills are not acquired early, they may never be acquired;there is, on the other hand, no comparable hurry to promote creativity.American educators fear that unless creativity has been acquired early, it may never emerge;on the other hand, skills can be picked up later.美國人的立場可以概括起來這么說，我們比中國人更重視創(chuàng)新和自立。我們兩種文化的差異也可以從我們各自所懷的憂慮中顯示出來。中國老師擔心，如果年輕人不及早掌握技藝，就有可能一輩子掌握不了；另一方面，他們并不同樣地急于促進創(chuàng)造力的發(fā)展。美國教育工作者則擔心，除非從一開始就發(fā)展創(chuàng)造力，不然創(chuàng)造力就有可能永不再現(xiàn)；而另一方面，技藝可于日后獲得。

However, I do not want to overstate my case.There is enormous creativity to be found in Chinese scientific, technological and artistic innovations past and present.And there is a danger of exaggerating creative breakthroughs in the West.When any innovation is examined closely, its reliance on previous achievements is all too apparent(the “standing on the shoulders of giants” phenomenon).但我并不想夸大其辭。無論在過去還是在當今，中國在科學、技術(shù)和藝術(shù)革新方面都展示了巨大的創(chuàng)造力。而西方的創(chuàng)新突破則有被夸大的危險。如果仔細審視任何一項創(chuàng)新，其對以往成就的依賴則都顯而易見（“站在巨人肩膀之上”的現(xiàn)象）。

But assuming that the contrast I have developed is valid, and that the fostering of skills and creativity are both worthwhile goals, the important question becomes this: Can we gather, from the Chinese and American extremes, a superior way to approach education, perhaps striking a better balance between the poles of creativity and basic skills?

然而，假定我這里所說的反差是成立的，而培養(yǎng)技藝與創(chuàng)造力兩者都是值得追求的目標，那么重要的問題就在于：我們能否從中美兩個極端中尋求一種更好的教育方式，它或許能在創(chuàng)造力與基本技能這兩極之間獲得某種較好的平衡？

Finding a way of teaching children to appreciate the value of money can be a problem.Yet the solution, David Owen suggests, is simple--just open a bank.Easier said than done? Well, it turns out to be not quite so difficult as it sounds, as you'll discover in reading about the First National Bank of Dave.設法教育孩子珍惜錢財會是件難事。然而，大衛(wèi)·歐文說，方法也很簡單——開個銀行就行。說來容易做起來難？其實，這事并沒聽上去那么難，你讀一讀戴夫第一國家銀行的故事就知道了。

Children and Money

David Owen

Parents who decide that the time has come to teach their children about money usually begin by opening savings accounts.The kids are attracted at first by the notion that a bank will pay them for doing nothing, but their enthusiasm disappears when they realize that the interest rate is tiny and, furthermore, their parents don't intend to give them access to their principal.To a kid, a savings account is just a black hole that swallows birthday checks.孩 子 與 金 錢

大衛(wèi)·歐文

當家長覺得該教孩子們懂得如何對待金錢的時候，他們通常先為孩子開個儲蓄賬戶。剛開始的時候，孩子們頗感興趣，因為他們想自己什么也不干銀行還會付給他們錢，可當他們明白利率小得很，而且父母也無意讓他們動用本金時，他們的熱情一下子就冷卻了。對一個孩子來說，一個儲蓄賬戶只不過是一個吞沒其生日禮金支票的黑洞。

Kid: “Grandma gave me twenty-five dollars!”

Parent: “How nice.We'll put that check straight into your savings account.”

Kid: “But she gave it to me!I want it!”

Parent: “Oh, it will still be yours.You just have to keep it in the bank so that it can grow.”

Kid(suspicious): “What do you mean by 'grow'?”

Parent: “Well, if you leave your twenty-five dollars in the bank for just one year, the bank will pay you seventy-five cents.And if you leave all of that in the bank for just one more year, the bank will give you another seventy-five cents plus two and a half more cents besides.That's called compound interest.It will help you go to college.”

孩子：“奶奶給了我25美金！”

家長：“太棒了。咱們把支票直接存到你的賬戶上去。”

孩子：“可這錢她是給我的！我要用！”

家長：“噯，錢還是你的嘛。你只不過是要把錢放在銀行里，好讓它增多。”

孩子（狐疑地）：“你說‘增多’是什么意思？”

家長：“哦，要是你把這25美金在銀行里放一年，銀行就會付給你75美分。要是你連本帶息在銀行里再放一年，銀行會再付給你75美分，另加2.5美分。這叫做復利。這錢能幫你上大學。”

The main defect in such saving schemes is that there's nothing in them for the kids.College is a thousand years away, and they probably think they'd just as soon stay home anyway.Indeed, the true purpose of such plans is usually not to promote saving but to prevent consumption.(1)Appalled by what their children spend on candy and video games(or, rather, appalled by the degree to which their children's overspending seems to mimic their own), parents devise ways to lock up their children's resources.Not surprisingly, kids quickly decide that large sums aren't real money and that all cash should either be spent immediately or hidden in a drawer.這類儲蓄計劃的主要缺陷在于，孩子本人一無所獲。上大學還不知要過多少年，他們或許會想他們寧愿呆在家里。實際上，這類計劃的真正目的通常不是促進儲蓄而是限制消費。孩子們在糖果、電子游戲上的花費之大令家長們十分震驚（或者更確切地說，令他們吃驚的其實是孩子們的超支行為與他們自己的相似程度），于是他們便設法讓孩子們將錢存起來不用。毋怪乎孩子們很快就認定，大額錢款不是實實在在的錢，有了現(xiàn)錢要么趕緊花掉，要么藏在抽屜里。

To avoid this problem with my two children, I started my own bank.It's called the First National Bank of Dave.I set up an account for each child, using the same computer program I use to keep track of my checkbook.Because I wanted my kids' deposits to grow at a pace that would hold their attention, I offered an attractive interest rate-five per cent a month.(2)Compounded, that works out to an annual rate of more than 70 per cent.(No, I don't accept deposits from strangers.)Allowances are deposited automatically on the first day of each month.The kids can make other deposits, or withdrawals, whenever they like.為了避免我的兩個孩子產(chǎn)生這一問題，我開設了自己的銀行，名叫戴夫第一國家銀行。我用記錄自己支票簿使用情況的同一個電腦程序給每個孩子開了一個賬戶。因為我希望孩子存款增長的速度足以引起他們的注意，便給他們一個誘人的利率——月息5厘。以復利計算，年息達到70%以上。（不，我不接受外來存款。）零花錢在每月第一天自動存入。孩子們也可以把別的錢存進來，想存就存，想取就取。

The Bank of Dave, which has been in operation four years, instantly turned both my children into keen savers.My son still comes to me with change he has found on the floor of the car, saying, “And credit this today.” Both kids' accounts grew so fast that after two years I had to roll back my monthly interest rate to three per cent.The kids protested when I announced the change, but they nodded solemnly when I explained that the law of supply and demand applies even to the supply of money.The kids help me calculate their interest--a useful lesson in averaging and percentages.(3)I give them unlimited access to their funds, no questions asked, and I provide printed statements on demand.戴夫銀行經(jīng)營了4年，一下子就把我的兩個孩子變成了熱心的儲蓄者。至今我兒子在車里找到零錢仍會來找我說，“今天就把這個上賬。”兩個孩子的存款增長很快，兩年之后，我不得不將月利率降至3厘。我宣布調(diào)低利率時兩個孩子反對，可當我解釋說供求法則同樣適用于貨幣供應后，兩人嚴肅地點頭贊同。兩個孩子幫我一起計算他們的利息——這可是學習計算平均值與百分比的頗為有用的一課。他們使用自己的資金我不加任何限制，不作任何詢問，我還根據(jù)要求隨時提供打印的賬單。

The high rate of interest is not the only attractive feature of the Bank of Dave.Equally important from the kids' point of view is that their accounts belong to them.When they save, they harvest the benefit;when they want to spend, they don't need permission.Children who have no control over their own funds have no incentive not to beg for money and then spend every dollar that comes into their hands.高利率并非戴夫銀行惟一誘人之處。在孩子看來同樣重要的是，他們的存款屬于他們自己。他們存錢便會獲利；他們想花錢也用不著獲得許可。孩子對自己的錢沒有自主權(quán)，就沒有什么東西激勵他們不去伸手要錢，不把到手的錢花個光。

The way to help children become rational consumers is to give them more control, not less.Before we go on vacation, I'll usually give my kids an extra twenty bucks or so, which I deposit in their accounts.I tell them that they can spend the extra money on a T-shirt, save it, spend it before we leave, or do anything else they want with it--but that while we are on vacation, they won't receive any additional pocket money from me(except in the form of communal purchases considered by custom to be vacation entitlements, such as candy, ice cream, movie tickets, and so on).Because any money they spend starts out as theirs, not mine, they think twice before throwing

it away.In a souvenir store on Martha's Vineyard a couple of summers ago my son quietly studied the unpromising merchandise while a friend of his loudly cajoled his parents into paying five dollars for a toy gun, which fell apart almost before we got back to the car.My son ended up spending thirty-three cents for an unopened geode, which he later cracked open by hitting it with a hammer--a good value, it seemed to me.If he had been spending my money instead of his, he undoubtedly would have wanted a toy gun instead.幫助孩子們成為理性消費者的方法是，交給他們更多的，而不是更少的自主權(quán)。我們?nèi)ザ燃偾埃彝ǔｎ~外多給孩子們20塊錢左右存在他們賬戶上。我告訴他們，他們可以在我們出發(fā)前用這筆額外的錢買T恤衫、存起來，或者花掉，或隨便他們派什么別的用場——但在度假期間，他們就不會從我這兒再拿到任何額外的零用錢了（根據(jù)慣例被認為是度假享受的共同消費除外，如糖果、冰淇淋、電影票等）。由于他們花費的任何一筆錢都是他們自己的而不是我的，他們出手時就很謹慎。兩年前的一個夏天，在瑪莎葡萄園的一家紀念品商店，我兒子一聲不響地仔細察看那些不起眼的商品，他的一個朋友則吵著讓父母花5美金買了一把玩具槍，可幾乎還沒等我們回到車上，槍就壞了。我兒子最后花了33美分買了個未打開的空心晶球，后來他用榔頭把它砸了開來——我看這錢花得值得。要是他花的是我的而不是他自己的錢，毫無疑問，他肯定也會要買一把玩具槍的。

“Children are instinctive capitalists.If given enough leeway, they quickly become shrewd managers of their own finances.When parents fail in their efforts at financial education, it's usually because for reasons of their own they have managed to make saving seem painful and dull.Money is fun, and it's almost entirely self-explanatory.(4)The only way to teach kids to adopt a long-term perspective is to give them a short-term incentive for doing so.兒童是天生的資本家。只要給予足夠的自由活動余地，他們很快就會成為精明的理財者。如果家長的理財教育失敗，那往往是因為他們出于自身的原因把存錢弄得似乎既痛苦又無聊。金錢是有趣的，而且?guī)缀跬耆遣恢v自明的。教育孩子們看問題要有長遠目光的惟一途徑，是讓孩子們近期內(nèi)便能嘗到某種甜頭，從而激勵他們?nèi)ツ菢幼觥?/p>

Unit2 Does being rich mean you live a completely different life from ordinary people? Not, it seems, if your name is Sam Walton.有錢是否意味著過一種完全不同于普通人的生活？看來未必，如果你的名字叫薩姆·沃爾頓。

THE RICHEST MAN IN AMERICA, DOWN HOME

Art Harris

He put on a dinner jacket to serve as a waiter at the birthday party of The Richest Man in America.He imagined what surely awaited: a mansion, a ”Rolls-Royce for every day of the week,“ dogs with diamond collars, servants everywhere.美國鄉(xiāng)巴佬首富

阿特·哈里斯

他穿上餐服準備到美國首富的生日聚會上去擔任侍者。在他的想象里，他定然會看到：豪宅，主人天天要坐的羅爾斯—羅伊斯轎車，戴著鉆石頸圈的家犬，到處可見的仆人。

Then he was off to the house, wheeling past the sleepy town square in Bentonville, a remote Arkansas town of 9,920, where Sam Walton started with a little dime store that grew into a $6 billion discount chain called Wal-Mart.He drove down a country road, turned at a mailbox marked ”Sam and Helen Walton,“ and jumped out at a house in the woods.他動身前往那所宅邸，開著車穿過本頓維爾鎮(zhèn)冷冷清清的市政廣場。本頓維爾鎮(zhèn)是阿肯色州一個人口僅有9,920的偏遠小鎮(zhèn)，薩姆·沃爾頓就在該鎮(zhèn)從一個專賣廉價商品的小店起家，逐漸發(fā)展成為價值60億美金資產(chǎn)的廉價連鎖店沃爾瑪公司。侍者上了一條鄉(xiāng)間車道，轉(zhuǎn)過一個標著“薩姆和海倫·沃爾頓”的信箱，在一幢林間住宅前跳下了車。

It was nice, but no palace.The furniture appeared a little worn.An old pickup truck sat in the garage and a muddy bird dog ran about the yard.He never spotted any servants.房子還不錯，但絕對不是宮殿。家具略顯陳舊，一輛舊的輕便貨車停在車庫里，一條土褐色的捕禽獵犬在院子里竄來竄去。根本沒看見任何仆人的身影。

”It was a real disappointment,“ sighs waiter Jamie Beaulieu.“太令人失望了，”侍者杰米·鮑尤嘆道。

Only in America can a billionaire carry on like plain folks and get away with it.And the 67-year-old discount king Sam Moore Walton still travels these windy back roads in his 1979 Ford pickup, red and white, bird dogs by his side, and, come shooting season, waits in line like everyone else to buy shells at the local Wal-Mart.只有在美國，一個億萬富翁才能像普通百姓一樣，安穩(wěn)地過著普普通通的日子。67歲的廉價店大王薩姆·穆爾·沃爾頓仍然開著他那輛紅白兩色的1979年出廠的福特牌輕型貨車穿行在彎彎曲曲的鄉(xiāng)間小道上，身邊坐著他的捕禽獵犬。當狩獵季節(jié)來臨時，他跟別人一樣在當?shù)氐奈譅柆斏痰昱抨犢徺I獵槍子彈。

”He doesn't want any special treatment,“ says night manager Johnny Baker, who struggles to call the boss by his first name as a recent corporate memo commands.Few here think of his billions;they call him ”Mr.Sam“ and accept his folksy ways.”He's the same man who opened his dime store on the square and worked 18 hours a day for his dream,“ says Mayor Richard Hoback.“他不要任何特殊待遇，” 夜班經(jīng)理喬尼·貝克說，他費了好大的勁才如公司最近一份備忘錄所規(guī)定的那樣對自己的老板以名相稱。這里幾乎沒人去想他的億萬身價，他們稱他為薩姆先生，絲毫不以他的平民作風為怪。“他還是那個在市政廣場開廉價店，為了自己的夢想每天工作18個小時的人，一點沒變，”市長理查德·霍巴克說。

By all accounts, he's friendly, cheerful, a fine neighbor who does his best to blend in, never flashy, never throwing his weight around.人人都說他為人友善，性情開朗，是個好鄰居；他盡力與人們?nèi)谇⑾嗵帲瑥牟混乓矎牟皇饬枞恕?/p>

No matter how big a time he had on Saturday night, you can find him in church on Sunday.Surely in a reserved seat, right? ”We don't have reserved seats,“ says Gordon Garlington III, pastor

of the local church.無論他星期六晚上的夜生活過得多晚，星期日你還是能在教堂見到他。當然是坐在他的包座上，對嗎？“我們不設包座，”當?shù)亟烫媚翈煾甑恰ぜ恿诸D第三說。

So where does The Richest Man in America sit? Wherever he finds a seat.”Look, he's just not that way.He doesn't have a set place.At a church supper the other night, he and his wife were in back washing dishes.“

那美國首富坐哪兒呢？哪兒有空位子就坐哪兒。“知道嗎，他根本就不是那種人。他沒有包座。前幾天晚上教堂舉行晚餐會，他和太太一起在后面洗盤子。”

For 19 years, he's used the same barber.John Mayhall finds him waiting when he opens up at 7 a.m.He chats about the national news, or reads in his chair, perhaps the Benton County Daily Democrat, another Walton property that keeps him off the front page.It buried the Forbes list at the bottom of page 2.19年來，為他理發(fā)的總是同一個師傅。約翰·梅霍早上七點開門會見到他等在門外。他跟人閑聊國內(nèi)新聞，或是坐在椅子里看報，沒準是《本頓民主日報》，這是沃爾頓的又一宗產(chǎn)業(yè)。這份報紙從來不讓有關(guān)他的消息出現(xiàn)在頭版上。它將《福布斯》的富人排行榜塞在第二版的報尾。

”He's just not a front-page person,“ a newspaper employee explains.“他壓根兒不是那種愛上頭版新聞的人，”一位報社雇員解釋說。

But one recent morning, The Richest Man in America did something that would have made headlines anywhere in the world: He forgot his money.”I said, 'Forget it, take care of it next time, '“ says barber Mayhall.”But he said.'No, I'll get it,' and he went home for his wallet.“

但最近有天早上，美國首富做了件在任何其他地方準會成為頭條新聞的事：他忘了帶錢。“我說，‘沒事，下次一起付吧，’”理發(fā)師梅霍說，“可他說，‘不行，我得回去拿，’就回家去取錢包了。”

Wasn't that, well, a little strange? ”No sir,“ says Mayhall, ”the only thing strange about Sam Walton is that he isn't strange.“

這一切，嗯，是不是有點怪？“一點也不，先生，”梅霍說，“薩姆·沃爾頓惟一不同尋常的就是，他平平常常。”

But just how long Walton can hold firm to his folksy habits with celebrity hunters keeping following him wherever he goes is anyone's guess.Ever since Forbes magazine pronounced him America's richest man, with $2.8 billion in Wal-Mart stock, he's been a rich man on the run, steering clear of reporters, dreamers, and schemers.然而，沃爾頓所到之處名人追星族緊跟不舍，他的平民習慣能保持多久，就很難說了。自從《福布斯》雜志宣布他擁有價值28億的沃爾瑪股票成為美國首富以后，他就成了一個東躲西藏的富人，他得甩開記者、尋夢者，還有圖謀不軌者。

”He may be the richest by Forbes rankings,“ says corporate affairs director Jim Von Gremp, ”but he doesn't know whether he is or not--and he doesn't care.He doesn't spend much.He owns

stock, but he's always left it in the company so it could grow.But the real story in his mind is the success achieved by the 100,000 people who make up the Wal-Mart team.“

“他或許是《福布斯》排行榜的首富，”公司事務主管吉姆·馮·格雷姆普說，“但他并不知道自己是不是首富——而且他也不在乎。他不怎么花錢。他是擁有股票，但他一直把股票留在公司里好讓公司發(fā)展。而他腦子里真正想著的是沃爾瑪十萬員工共同取得的成功。”

He's usually back home for Friday sales meetings, or the executive pep rally Saturday morning at 7 a.m., when Walton, as he does at new store openings, is liable to jump up on a chair and lead everyone in the Wal-Mart cheer: ”Give me a W!Give me an A!Give me an L!Louder!“

他通常回來參加星期五的銷售會議，或是星期六早晨7點的行政人員鼓勁會，屆時沃爾頓會像分店新開張時那樣，跳上椅子，帶領(lǐng)大家呼喊沃爾瑪公司口號：“給我一個W！給我一個A！給我一個L！大聲點！”

And louder they yell.No one admits to feeling the least bit silly.It's all part of the Wal-Mart way of life as laid down by Sam: loyalty, hard work, long hours;get ideas into the system from the bottom up, Japanese-style;treat your people right;cut prices and margins to the bone and sleep well at night.Employees with one year on board qualify for stock options, and are urged to buy all they can.于是大家越喊越響。沒有誰說這樣做有點傻。這都是薩姆定下來的沃爾瑪生活方式的一部分：忠誠，勤勉，加班加點；從公司最底層起大家集思廣益，日本管理方式；善待員工；盡可能降低價格、減少利潤，一夜安睡到天亮。員工進公司一年就有資格獲得優(yōu)先認股權(quán)，并一再鼓勵他們盡能力購買。

After the pep rally, there's bird hunting, or tennis on his backyard court.But his stores are always on his mind.One tennis guest managed to put him off his game by asking why a can of balls cost more in one Wal-Mart than another.It turned out to be untrue, but the move worked.Walton lost four straight games.鼓勁會之后，大家一起去打野禽，或在他家后院打網(wǎng)球。但他的那些商店總擱在他的心上。一位來打網(wǎng)球的客人為了分散他打球的注意力，故意問了一句為什么一筒網(wǎng)球在一家沃爾瑪商店賣得比別的一家沃爾瑪商店貴。此話并非實情，但這一招卻真管用。沃爾頓連輸四局。

to change my way of thinking when I came aboard.”

“他會說，‘那人工作努力，獎勵一下吧，’”退休的前任總裁費羅爾德·F·阿倫德回憶道。他原先供職的雇主非常吝嗇，所以19

Walton set up a college scholarship fund for employees' children, a disaster relief fund to rebuild employee homes damaged by fires, floods, tornadoes, and the like.He believed in cultivating ideas and rewarding success.沃爾頓為員工子女設立了大學獎學基金，為房屋遭受火災、洪水、龍卷風等破壞的員工重建家園設立了災難救助基金。他信奉廣開思路、褒獎成功。

“He'd say, 'That fellow worked hard, let's give him a little extra,'” recalls retired president Ferold F.Arend, who was stunned at such generosity after the stingy employer he left to join Wal-Mart.“I had離開那里加入沃爾瑪公司之后，他對這種慷慨行為深感震驚。“我加盟沃爾

瑪后，不得不改變自己的思維方式。”

”The reason for our success,“ says Walton, in a company handout, ”is our people and the way they're treated and the way they feel about their company.They believe things are different here, but they deserve the credit.“

“我們之所以成功，”沃爾頓在公司宣傳冊上寫道，“是由于我們的員工，是由于他們所受到的待遇以及他們對公司的感情。他們認為這里與眾不同，但是這種榮譽他們受之無愧。”

Adds company lawyer Jim Hendren: ”I've never seen anyone yet who worked for him or was around him for any length of time who wasn't better off.And I don't mean just financially, although a lot of people are.It's just something about him--coming into contact with Sam Walton just makes you a better person.“

公司律師吉姆· 亨德倫補充說，“我從沒見過有誰為他工作或和他接觸一段時間后而不受益的。我不僅僅是指錢財方面，當然許多人是更富有了。我是說他的某種內(nèi)在的東西——與薩姆·沃爾頓交往會使你成為一個更健全的人。”

Making the journey from log cabin to White House is part of the American Dream.But when Jimmy Carter was defeated in his attempt to gain a second term as President of the United States he found himself suddenly thrown out of the White House and back in his log cabin.This is how he coped.從小木屋走向白宮是美國夢的一部分。可是，當吉米·卡特連任美國總統(tǒng)的努力失敗后，他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己一下子被趕出白宮，回到了自己的小木屋。本文敘述了他是如何應對的。

The Restoration of Jimmy Carter

Sara Pacher

Maybe it's because I, too, was born and raised in a small south Georgia town, but I found sitting down to talk to Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter as comfortable as lazing in a porch swing on a summer afternoon, sipping iced tea.Just such a swing overlooks a roaring mountain stream at the Carters' log cabin retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains.Along with the cabin's other furniture, the swing was designed and built by the former president, a master woodworker who selects and cuts the trees for such projects from his 160-acre farm.He then strips off the bark and shapes the wood into furniture and other items.吉米·卡特的復元

莎拉·帕夏爾

或許因為我本人也生長在佐治亞州的一個南方小鎮(zhèn)的緣故，我覺得跟羅莎琳和吉米·卡特夫婦坐下交談就如同在夏日午后蕩在門廊的秋千椅上呷冰茶那么舒服。坐落于藍嶺山脈的卡特夫婦幽居的原木小屋前，恰好就有這樣的秋千椅，往下看去是一條咆哮的山間溪流。和小屋里別的家具一樣，這秋千椅是前總統(tǒng)卡特設計和制作的。卡特是一位手藝高明的木工，為了制作這些家具，他從其方圓160英畝的農(nóng)莊上親自遴選并砍伐樹木，而后剝?nèi)淦ぃ瑢⒛玖现瞥杉揖呒捌渌闷贰?/p>

”My daddy was a good man with tools,“ he recalls, ”so learning how to use them was as natural as breathing for us.If something broke, we had to fix it ourselves.You didn't call somebody in to repair something or replace it with something new.We had these skills--all farmers did during the Depression years.“

“我父親擅長使用工具，”他回憶道，“因此學習使用工具對我們來說就像呼吸一樣自然。要是有什么東西壞了，我們就得自己修。我們不會請人來修理或換新的。我們有這種手藝 —— 大蕭條時期，農(nóng)民都有這一手。”

Over the years, Carter has made some 50 household items, about half of which he has given away as gifts.But some pieces still sit around the family's Plains house and have been in use for over 30 years.His wife is quick to point out, however, that his skills improved as time went on.”When we came home from the Navy in 1953, he built a sofa for the back porch.He used nails then.Now he builds everything without nails.He's studied woodworking and worked at it, and he's made really beautiful furniture for our home--including a pencil-post bed and tables by the side.“

多年來，卡特制作了約50件居家用品，差不多有一半已作為禮物饋贈他人。但有些制品仍留在普蘭斯的家里，都用了30多年了。不過，他妻子趕緊指出，他的手藝在不斷提高。“1953年我們剛從海軍退役回家時，他做了只放在后門廊用的沙發(fā)。那時他還用釘子。現(xiàn)在他做什么都不用釘子了。他研究木工工藝，下功夫制作，他給家里做的家具真的非常漂亮，包括一張細柱床和配套的床頭柜。”

His woodworking talent served Carter well during his political campaigns, particularly when meeting factory workers.”You don't have to say but a few things to people who work in a factory before they realize that you, yourself, have been a laborer.It may be a different kind of skill from theirs, but there's a bond, sort of like a brotherhood, among people who work with their hands.“

卡特的木工才干在政治競選中，尤其是在與工廠工人見面時發(fā)揮了很好的作用。“你不用跟在工廠干活的人多說，他們就會明白，原來你本人也是個勞動者。你的手藝或許跟他們不一樣，但在干體力活的人之間有種天然的紐帶，好似手足之情。”

Once he campaigned his way to the presidency, Carter occasionally managed to slip in a few hours at the carpenter's shed at Camp David, because, in his opinion, ”What we need in our lives is a stock of factors that never change.(1)I think that skill with one's own hands--whether it's tilling the soil, building a house, making a piece of furniture, playing a violin or painting a painting--is something that doesn't change with the ups and downs of life.And for me, going back to the earth or going back to the woodshop have always been opportunities to reinforce my basic skills.(2)No matter if I was involved in writing a book, conducting a political campaign, teaching at Emory University or dealing with international affairs, I could always go back--at least for a few hours at a time--to the woodshop.That's meant an awful lot to me.It's a kind of therapy, but it's also a steadying force in my life--a total rest for my mind.卡特一路競選當上總統(tǒng)之后，偶爾也設法悄悄溜到戴維營的木工場干上幾個小時，因為在他看來，“我們在生活中需要一些永

遠不變的要素。我認為手藝 —— 不管是耕地，造房子，做家具，拉小提琴，還是畫圖 —— 這些東西不會因生活的起起落落而改變。至于我，回到農(nóng)場種地或重返木工場一直是我增進基本技能的機會。無論我在寫書，從事政治活動，在愛莫瑞大學教書，還是處理國際事務，我總會設法抽空回到木工場，每次至少呆上幾個小時。這對我十分重要。這是一種理療，同時也是我生活中的一種穩(wěn)定力量 —— 是身心的完全休息。”

“When I'm in the woodshop,” he continues, “I don't ever think about the chapter I'm writing or the paragraph I can't complete or the ideas that don't come.I'm thinking about the design of a piece of furniture, how the wood's going to fit together, what joint I'm going to use and whether or not my hand tools are sharp.”

“在木工場的時候，”他接著說，“我不會去想正在寫的章節(jié)，不會去想寫不下去的段落或擱淺的思路。我考慮的是一件家具的設計，木料該如何嵌合，用什么樣的榫頭，還有工具是否鋒利。”

(3)In Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's recently published book, Everything to Gain, they explain frankly how they used back-to-basics skills to confront and resolve their painful political defeat, a sudden departure from Washington and their fears of an empty future.在吉米和羅莎琳·卡特最近出版的書名為《好處說不盡》的書中，他們直言不諱地解釋了當他們遭遇痛苦的政治上的失敗，突然告別華盛頓以及對茫然的未來感到懼怕時，他們是如何使用返璞歸真的技能來面對和化解這些問題的。

“In the book,” Jimmy says, “we try to relate our lives, not to the White House, but to Plains--for a couple of reasons.One, to show the attraction of a small town, and, second, to make it clear that the book is not just about a couple who happened to have been the First Family of the nation;it's also written for the average person who loses a job, has an unexpected career change, has to move to a place not of his or her choice, has a last child leave home.Or for a married couple who suddenly find themselves at retirement age and living together for the first time all day long--not just at night.”

“在書里，”吉米說，“出于幾種原因，我們試圖將我們的生活與普蘭斯而不是跟白宮聯(lián)系在一起。其一，是為了展示小鎮(zhèn)的魅力；其二是要清楚地表明，這本書寫的并不僅僅是一對有幸成為美國第一家庭的夫婦的生活，它也是寫給普通人看的，例如一個失去工作的人，突然遇到職業(yè)變遷的人，并非出于自己的選擇而不得不遷居的人，一個連自己最小的孩子也長大成人離家而去的人，或者是寫給一對突然發(fā)現(xiàn)已屆退休年齡、第一次得從早到晚而不僅僅是夜里廝守在一起的夫婦看的。”

The Carters plunged with enthusiasm into such projects as laying a sidewalk and putting a hardwood floor in their unfinished loft.Rosalynn has picked up additional carpentry skills in working with one of their favorite organizations, Habitat for Humanity.This is a housing program for the homeless, helping them to build their own houses together with the help of volunteers.卡特夫婦熱情投入了諸如鋪設人行道、在尚未完工的閣樓里鋪硬木地板這類工程。在與兩人最喜歡的一個機構(gòu)“博愛居家”的共事過程中，羅莎琳學到了不少木工手藝。“博愛居家”是一項為無家可歸的人創(chuàng)辦的住房工程，幫助他們在志愿者的協(xié)助下建造自己的家園。

“And we both spend a good bit of time on our farm,” adds Carter.“We take care of the

timberlands.Sometimes we go for long walks in the woods.I may see a particular tree that I think would be suitable for four or five--perhaps, seven or eight--chairs or for some other piece of furniture.I usually select a tree close to home, though, since I have to carry the pieces back to the woodshop area.“我倆都在農(nóng)場上花了不少時間，”卡特說，“我們護理林地。有時我們在林子里長時間散步。我或許會看到某棵我覺得適合制作四五把——也許七把、八把——椅子或別的什么家具的樹。不過，我通常挑選離家近的樹，因為我得自己把木料搬回到木工場地。

”O(jiān)ne of my favorite kinds of woodworking involves green wood, but there's a tremendous amount of hard labor involved in that.You have to try to handle the different rates at which the wood dries, so the joints get tight and durable.It's the kind of technical problem that appeals to me,“ says the former nuclear engineer.“我最喜歡的一件木工活是用濕材制作家具，不過這活要費很大的勁。你得處理好木料干燥后引起的不同的收縮率，以保證榫頭緊固不松。我喜歡的就是這樣的技術(shù)難題，”這位前核工程師說。

Obviously, most of today's young people don't grow up routinely learning to use their hands ”as naturally as breathing,“ as Carter did.But he thinks they still have an advantage his parents' generation lacked.很顯然，今天大多數(shù)的年輕人在成長過程中，不像卡特當年那樣，在日常生活中得學會“像呼吸一樣自然”地使用自己的雙手。但他認為，年輕人還是擁有他們父輩所沒有的優(yōu)勢。

”Back then, you'd start working at the age of 16 or 18 and work until you died or were physically incapable of working anymore.You began work at sunrise and worked until dark.But, nowadays, you work 40 hours a week, get a couple of weeks off for vacation and then retire at 55, 60 or 65.You have so much spare time to take on additional exciting things.Sometimes they can be quite useful things;sometimes just enjoyable;sometimes devoted to serving others.In Everything to Gain we try to present a broad range of activities an average person can undertake.We try to point out that no matter what stage of life you may be in--young, middle-aged or retired--there's the possibility of a constantly expanding field of interest, excitement, challenge, fulfillment and adventure.(4)In this book we encourage people to take on new things that might look very difficult, but that become very rewarding once the person is involved.“ ”If you have a crisis of any kind,“ Rosalynn adds, ”one of the best things to do is to learn something new.“

“過去，你16歲或18歲就開始干活，一直干到死或者再也干不動為止。太陽一出來你就開始干活，一直干到天黑。可如今，你一星期只工作40小時，還有兩個星期的休息度假，然后到了55歲，60歲，或65歲，你就退休了。你有那么多的空余時間去干別的有趣的事。這些事有時可能是相當有益的，有時僅僅是好玩，有時則旨在服務他人。在《好處說不盡》一書中，我們試圖展示一個普通人所能參與的廣闊的活動范圍。我們試圖指出，無論你處于人生的哪個階段——青年，中年，或退休之年——都有可能不斷拓展興趣的領(lǐng)域，找到新的刺激，迎接新的挑戰(zhàn)，獲得新的成功和嘗試新的冒險。在此書中，我們鼓勵人們勇于開拓新天地，看起來也許非常困難，但你一旦投入進去，就會得益匪淺。” “如果你遭遇某種危機，”羅莎琳補充說，“最好的對策之一就是學習新事物。”

Unit3 This comedy centers around a proud father's attempts to help his children, attempts which somehow or other always end up embarrassing them.For the sake of fun it carries things to extremes, but nearly everyone can recognize something of themselves and their parents in it.這出喜劇主要寫一位為兒女感到自豪的父親雖做出種種努力幫助子女，不知怎的，其結(jié)果卻總是令子女尷尬不已。出于搞笑的目的，故事情節(jié)作了極度夸張，但幾乎人人都能從中看到自己以及父母的影子。

Father Knows Better

Marsh Cassady 1

CHARACTERS: FATHER;MOTHER;HEIDI, 14;DIANE, 17;SEAN, 16;RESTAURANT MANAGER, 20s;MRS.HIGGINS.SETTING: Various locations including a fast-food restaurant, the Thompson family dining room, and an office at a high school.AT RISE: As the lights come up, HEIDI enters and crosses Down Right to the edge of the stage.SEAN and DIANE enter and cross Down Left to the edge of the stage.They listen as HEIDI addresses the audience.老爸英明

馬什·卡薩迪

人物： 父親；母親；海蒂，14歲；黛安，17歲；肖恩，16歲；飯店經(jīng)理，20多歲；希金斯太太

場景： 快餐店，湯普森家餐廳，一所中學的辦公室等

幕啟： 隨著燈光亮起，海蒂上，走至舞臺右前方。肖恩與黛安上，走至舞臺左前方。海蒂對觀眾說話，兩人傾聽。

HEIDI: My dad's a nice man.Nobody could possibly believe that he isn't.Yet he's...well, he's always doing these stupid things that end up really embarrassing one or more of us kids.One time, see, my brother wanted to buy this guitar.Been saving money for it for a long time.Then he got a job at this fast-food place, OK? Waiting tables.It was Sean's first actual job, and he was real happy about it.He figured in two or three months he'd have enough money to buy exactly the kind of guitar he wanted.Mom and Dad were proud of him, and well, OK, he's my big brother, and he's always pulling these dumb things on me.But, well, I was proud of him too.You know what happened? I hate to tell you because:

SEAN, DIANE and HEIDI:(In unison)Father knows better!

海蒂： 我老爸是個大好人。沒人會相信他不好。可是他??唉，他老是干那些蠢事，弄得我們當兒女的到頭來無地自容。瞧，我哥曾一度想買把吉他。他都積攢了好一陣子錢了。

后來他在這家快餐店找了份活，不錯吧？當服務員。這是肖恩第一次正經(jīng)打工，他真的挺開心。他算計著，再過兩三個月，他就能攢夠錢買他想要的那把吉他了。老爸老媽都為他感到驕傲。唔，是啊，他是大哥，老是要捉弄我。不過嘛，我也同樣為他感到驕傲。你猜后來怎么了？我都不想說這事，因為：

肖恩、黛安、海蒂：（齊聲）老爸英明！

(The lights come Up Left on the fast-food restaurant where SEAN works.It consists of a counter and couple of small tables.The MANAGER stands behind the counter.SEAN is busily cleaning the tables when FATHER walks in.)

MANAGER: Good evening, sir.May I help you?

FATHER: Good evening.SEAN:(To himself)Oh, no!(He squats behind one of the tables trying to hide from FATHER.)FATHER: I'm looking for the manager.MANAGER: That would be me, sir.FATHER: I'm Sam Thompson.My son works here.MANAGER: Oh, you're Sean's father.FATHER: Yes.It's his first job, you know.I just wanted to check that he's doing OK.MANAGER: Oh, fine.No problem.（左后方燈光亮起，肖恩打工的快餐店。有柜臺和幾張小桌子。經(jīng)理站在柜臺后面。父親進店時，肖恩正忙著擦桌子。）

經(jīng)理： 晚上好，先生，能為您效勞嗎？

父親： 晚上好。

肖恩：（自言自語）噢，不！（他在一張桌子后蹲下，欲躲過父親的視線。）

父親：我找經(jīng)理。

經(jīng)理： 我就是，先生。

父親： 我是薩姆·湯普森。我兒子在這兒打工。

經(jīng)理： 哦，您是肖恩的父親。

父親： 是啊。知道嘛，這是他第一次打工。我只想看看他干得怎么樣。

經(jīng)理： 噢，不錯。沒問題。

SEAN:(Spreading his hands, palms up, speaking to himself)What did I do to deserve this? Tell me what? FATHER: Hiring him was a good thing then? MANAGER: Well, yeah, I suppose so.SEAN:(Still to himself)Go home, Dad.Go home.Go home.FATHER: I'm sure he's a good worker but a typical teenager, if you know what I mean.MANAGER:(Losing interest)I wouldn't know.FATHER: He's a good boy.And I assure you that if there are any subjects that need to be addressed, Sean and I will have a man-to-man talk.MANAGER: I don't think that will be necessary...FATHER: Oh, no problem.I'm proud of my son.Very, very proud.And I just wanted you to know

that I'll do anything I can to help him through life's dangerous sea.肖恩：（雙手攤開，掌心向上，自言自語）我干了什么了要受這份罪？倒是告訴我啊？

父親： 那么雇用他沒錯啦？

經(jīng)理： 呃，對，我想是的。

肖恩：（仍然自言自語）回家去，老爸。回家去。回家去。

父親： 我肯定他是一把干活的好手，可他也跟其他孩子一個樣，明白我的意思嗎？

經(jīng)理：（不再有興趣）我怎么知道。

父親： 他是個好孩子。你放心，要是有什么問題需要解決的話，我和肖恩會開誠布公談一談的。

經(jīng)理： 我看沒必要吧??

父親： 噢，沒事兒。我為我兒子感到驕傲，我為他深感驕傲。我只是想讓你知道，我將竭盡全力幫助他駛過人生的驚濤駭浪。

SEAN:(Standing up and screaming)Aaaargh!Aaaargh!Aaaaaaargh!FATHER: Son, I didn't know you were here.SEAN: It's where I work, Dad.FATHER: Of course.I mean, I didn't see you.SEAN: I can't imagine why.FATHER: Your manager and I were just having a nice chat.(DIANE enters Down Left just as HEIDI enters Down Right.They look at SEAN and FATHER.)SEAN, DIANE, HEIDI:(In unison)Father, you know better than that.肖恩：（站起身，高聲喊叫）唉！唉！唉！

父親： 兒子，不知道你在這兒。

肖恩： 這是我打工的地方嘛，爸！

父親： 那自然。我是說，剛才沒看見你。

肖恩： 我真弄不明白。

父親： 經(jīng)理和我正聊得起勁呢。

（黛安從左前方上，海蒂自右前方上。兩人看著肖恩和父親。）

肖恩、黛安、海蒂：（齊聲）老爸，你這是干什么呀。6

(The lights quickly fade to black and then come up a second or two later.SEAN stands alone at the Down Right edge of the stage.HEIDI and DIANE cross to Down Left edge of the stage.)SEAN: If that sort of thing happened only once in a while, it wouldn't be so bad.Overall, I wouldn't want to trade my dad for anyone else's.He loves us kids and Mom too.But I think that's sometimes the problem.He wants to do things for us, things he thinks are good.But he needs to give them more thought because:

SEAN, HEIDI and DIANE:(In unison)Father knows better!

（燈光迅速暗下，片刻之后又亮起。肖恩獨自站在舞臺右前邊。海蒂、黛安走至舞臺左前邊。）

肖恩： 這類事要是偶爾發(fā)生一兩次，那倒也沒什么。總的來說，我是不肯把自己老爸跟別人的老爸換的。他愛我們當子女的，也愛老媽。不過我想，有時問題就出在這兒。他一心想幫助我們，他自以為在為我們做好事呢。可他應該多想想才對，因為：

肖恩、海蒂、黛安：（齊聲）老爸英明！

(The lights fade to black and come up on the Center Stage area where FATHER and the three children are seated around the dining room table.MOTHER enters carrying a dish, which she sets on the table.FATHER quickly rises and pulls out her chair.She sits.The family starts eating dinner.)

FATHER: I have a surprise for you, Diane.DIANE:(Knows it can't be good.)You have...a surprise? MOTHER: Well, whatever it is, dear, don't keep us in suspense.FATHER: Well, you know, Dan Lucas and I work together? DIANE: Kyle's father?

MOTHER: Don't interrupt, dear, your father is trying to tell you something.HEIDI:(Stage whisper to SEAN)Something Diane won't want to know, I'll bet.SEAN:(Whispering to HEIDI)Whatever would make you think that? MOTHER: Sean, dear.Heidi, sweetheart, don't distract your father.SEAN and HEIDI:(Simultaneously)Sorry, Mom.（燈光暗下，旋即又在舞臺中央亮起。父親與三個孩子圍坐在餐桌旁。母親端菜上，把菜放在桌上。父親迅速起身為她拉出椅子。母親坐下。全家開始用餐。）

父親： 我要給你一個驚喜，黛安。

黛安：（知道不會有好事）你要給我??一個驚喜？

母親： 父親： 黛安： 母親： 哎，是什么事啊，親愛的，別賣關(guān)子了。

呃，你們知道，丹·盧卡斯和我是同事。

凱爾的父親？

別插嘴，親愛的，你父親正有事要跟你們說呢。

海蒂：（與肖恩耳語）我敢肯定準是黛安不要聽的事兒。

肖恩：（與海蒂耳語）你怎么會知道？

母親： 肖恩，親愛的。海蒂，寶貝兒，別打擾你們的父親。

肖恩、海蒂：（同時地）對不起，媽媽。FATHER: Now then.As I was saying, I know how much you like young Kyle.DIANE: Father!FATHER: It's true, isn't it? Didn't I hear you tell your mother that you wish Kyle would ask you to the senior prom? SEAN: Uh-oh!HEIDI: Oops!

MOTHER: Please, children, please.Your father is trying to speak.DIANE:(Through clenched teeth, the words are in a monotone and evenly spaced.)Yes-I-said-that-why-are-you-asking? FATHER: Well then.DIANE:(Becoming hysterical)”Well then“ what?!FATHER: What did I say? Did I say something wrong? HEIDI:(To SEAN)Not yet, he didn't.SEAN:(To HEIDI)But you know it's coming.MOTHER: Children, please.Do give your father the respect he deserves.HEIDI and SEAN:(Rolling their eyes)Yes, Mother.父親： 好吧。我說了，我知道你挺喜歡小凱爾。

黛安： 爸爸！

父親： 是這么回事，對嗎？我不是聽你跟你媽說，你希望凱爾邀請你在高年級舞會上跳舞嗎？

肖恩： 喔！

海蒂： 哎喲！

母親： 靜一下，孩子們，靜一下。你們父親在說話呢。

黛安：（咬緊牙，一字一頓地）對－我－是－說－過－你－問－這－干－嘛？

父親： 那就算了。

黛安：（歇斯底里地）什么算了？

父親： 我說什么啦？我說錯什么了嗎？

海蒂：（對肖恩）這會兒還沒有，還沒說錯什么。

肖恩：（對海蒂）等著吧，這就來了。

母親： 靜一下，孩子們。對父親應該尊敬一點。

海蒂、肖恩：（一邊轉(zhuǎn)著眼珠）是，媽媽。

FATHER: Well, today I saw Dan and asked if he'd like to go to lunch at that French restaurant on Third Street.You know the one, Mother.MOTHER: Well, yes, I believe I do.FATHER: My treat, I told him.And, of course, he was glad to accept.MOTHER: Why wouldn't he be?

FATHER:(Somewhat surprised)Well, yes.DIANE: What-has-this-to-do-with me?!

MOTHER: Diane, sometimes I just don't understand your behavior.I try my best.DIANE:(Very short with her)I'm sorry.MOTHER: Thank you, Diane.(To FATHER)Please do go on, dear.FATHER: As I said--

HEIDI: We know what you said, Daddy.FATHER: Er...uh, what's that?

SEAN: She said,”We know what you said, Daddy.“

FATHER: Yes, yes, of course.MOTHER: Do get on with it, dear.I've made the most glorious dessert.An old recipe handed down to me by my great Aunt Hilda--

DIANE: Mother, please!MOTHER: Yes, dear?

父親： 嗯，今天我見到丹時，問他想不想去第三街上的那家法國餐館吃午飯。孩子他媽，你是知道那家餐館的。

母親： 對，是啊，我知道。

父親： 我請客，我對他說。當然，他挺樂意去了。

母親： 他哪能不樂意呢？

父親：（略為驚訝地）對，是啊。

黛安： 母親： 黛安： 母親： 這－跟－我－有－什－么－關(guān)－系－呢？

黛安，你的行為有時我真弄不懂。無論怎樣我就是弄不懂。

（沒好氣地）那就抱歉了。

多謝了，黛安。（對父親）請說下去，親愛的。

父親： 我說過??

海蒂： 我們知道你說過什么，爸爸。

父親： 嗯??哦，你說什么？

肖恩：她說，“我們知道你說過什么，爸爸。”

父親： 是啊，是啊，當然。

母親： 快說吧，親愛的。我做了特別好吃的甜點。是我姨祖母希爾達傳下來的老配方??

黛安： 媽媽，好了！

母親： 怎么啦，寶貝？

(DIANE shakes her head and lets her body fall against the back of the chair.)FATHER: At any rate, Dan's a nice guy.Never knew him well.Found we have a lot of the same interests.Our families, our community, global peace, human welfare.HEIDI:(Mumbling to herself)That narrows it down, all right.SEAN: Father?

FATHER: Yes, son?

SEAN: I do believe Diane would like to know the surprise.DIANE:(Breathing hard as if exhausted, she turns to SEAN, nodding her head up and down repeatedly.)Thank you, Sean.I owe you one.（黛安搖著頭，身體仰靠在椅背上。）

父親： 不管怎么說，丹人不錯。過去我跟他不熟。發(fā)現(xiàn)我倆還有不少志趣相同之處。家庭，社區(qū)，世界和平，人類幸福。

海蒂：（咕噥著自言自語）就要說到正題了。

肖恩： 爸爸？

父親： 噯？兒子？

肖恩： 我肯定黛安很想知道是什么驚喜。

黛安：（粗粗地喘氣，好像精疲力竭的樣子，她轉(zhuǎn)向肖恩，連連點頭）多謝了，肖恩。我記著你的情。

FATHER: Well, yes.Here it is then.I told Dan of your interest in his son.DIANE: You what?

MOTHER: Diane, what has come over you? I just don't understand the younger generation.Why back in my day--DIANE: Mother, please!

MOTHER: What, what? What?

HEIDI: Mother, I believe she wants Father to continue.SEAN:(To himself)Get this over with, more likely.DIANE: Daddy, please, tell me.Now.Right away.What did you say, Daddy? Please.Tell me, what did you tell Mr.Lucas? Tell me, please.Please tell me.FATHER: Well, now, isn't this nice.It looks like my little scheme is a success.You're so eager to find out...makes a man feel as if it's all worthwhile.父親： 啊，對。我就說吧。我告訴丹，你對他兒子很感興趣。

黛安： 你說什么？

母親： 黛安，你怎么啦？我真不明白你們年輕人。唉，在我那個時候??

黛安： 媽，好啦！

母親： 怎么啦，怎么啦？又怎么啦？

海蒂： 媽媽，我知道她想聽爸爸說完。

肖恩：（自言自語）還不如說是快把這份罪受完算了。

黛安： 爸爸，請你告訴我。現(xiàn)在，馬上告訴我。你說什么啦，爸爸？求你了，快說，你跟盧卡斯先生說什么啦？請快告訴我。請快說。

父親： 嗨，瞧，太妙了。看來我的小計策成功了。如今你急著想知道??這可讓人覺得我做的這一切還真值。

HEIDI:(To SEAN)Can you believe this? SEAN:(To HEIDI)Oh, sure.Can't you?

FATHER: Yes, well, I told him how much you liked young Kyle, and how you'd been wishing he'd ask you to the prom.DIANE: You didn't!Tell me you didn't!FATHER: Oh, yes.Anything for my children.DIANE:(Swallowing hard)And...and--MOTHER: Diane, are you all right?

DIANE:(She juts out her chin at MOTHER and quickly jerks her head around to face FATHER.)Well...what did he say?!

FATHER: Well, of course, being the sort of man he is--frank, understanding, he said he'd speak to the young man, insist he give you a call.DIANE:(Angry scream!)Whaaaaaat!

SEAN and HEIDI:(Together)Father, you know better than that.FATHER: I do? Yes, yes, I guess I do.I've...done it again, haven't I?

海蒂：（對肖恩）你能相信嗎？

肖恩：（對海蒂）啊，當然。你還不信？

父親： 嗯，對了，我告訴他你是多么喜歡小凱爾，一心希望他邀你在班級舞會上跳舞。

黛安： 你沒這么說過！告訴我你沒這么說過！

父親： 說了，當然說了。只要為了我孩子好嘛。

黛安：（盡力忍住）那??那??

母親： 黛安，你沒事吧？

黛安：（沖著母親撅起下巴，很快扭頭面對父親）那??他怎么說？！

父親： 嗯，當然啦，以他的為人——坦率，善解人意，他說他會去跟小伙子說的，一定讓他給你打電話。

黛安：（憤怒地高喊）什——么！

肖恩、海蒂：（齊聲）老爸，你這是干什么呀。

父親： 是嗎？對，對，我想是。我又??弄糟了，是嗎？

(The lights quickly fade to black and then come up a second or two later.DIANE stands alone at the Down Right edge of the stage.HEIDI and SEAN enter Down Left and cross to the edge of the stage.)

DIANE: Can you imagine how humiliated I was? An honor student, class president.And Father was out asking people to have their sons call and ask me to the prom!But that's dear old dad.Actually, he is a dear.He just doesn't stop to think.And it's not just one of us who've felt the heavy hand of interference.Oh, no, all three of us live in constant dread knowing that at any time disaster can strike because:

DIANE, HEIDI and SEAN:(Shouting in unison)Father knows better.（燈光迅速暗下，旋即重新亮起。黛安獨自站在舞臺右前邊沿。海蒂、肖恩自左前方上，走至舞臺邊。）

黛安： 你們能想象我覺得自己有多么丟人現(xiàn)眼嗎？堂堂的優(yōu)秀生，班主席。父親竟然去求別人叫他們的兒子打電話來邀我跳舞！可這就是我那可愛的老爸。他其實挺可愛的。他就是不好好想一想。不止我一個人深受他橫加干預之苦。哦,絕非我一個人，我們兄妹三個整天提心吊膽，知道倒霉的事隨時可能來臨，因為：

黛安、海蒂、肖恩：（齊聲）老爸英明！

(The lights fade to black and quickly come up again Stage Left where there is an executive-type desk and chair and two other chairs.Behind the desk sits MRS.HIGGINS, in charge of admitting new students to Benjamin Harrison High School.HEIDI and FATHER sit in the other chairs.)MRS.HIGGINS: So this is our new student, is it? FATHER: That's right.MRS.HIGGINS: What's your name, young lady? HEIDI: HEIDI Thompson.MRS.HIGGINS: I'm sure you'll find the students friendly.And the teachers more than willing to answer questions.FATHER: She is an exceptional young woman, you know.HEIDI: Daddy!

（燈光暗下，旋即在舞臺左側(cè)重新亮起。舞臺左側(cè)擺放著一套辦公桌椅和另兩張椅子。希金斯太太坐在辦公桌旁辦理本杰明·哈里森中學新生入學手續(xù)。海蒂和父親坐在另外兩張椅子上。）

希金斯太太：你是我們新來的學生，是嗎？

父親： 是的。

希金斯太太：你叫什么名字，小姐？

海蒂： 海蒂·湯普森。

希金斯太太：我相信你一定會發(fā)現(xiàn)這里的同學們都挺友好。這里的老師也都樂意回答問題。

父親： 您知道，她是個出類拔萃的姑娘。

海蒂： 爸爸！FATHER: Very, very bright.MRS.HIGGINS: Yes, now if we can get you to fill out--FATHER: Don't know where she got her brains.Her mother, I suppose.Oh, I was bright enough.But nothing like HEIDI.All her teachers have told Mrs.Thompson--that's her mother--and me that she was just about the brightest--

MRS.HIGGINS:(Interrupts as she loses her patience, though trying to be pleasant)As I said, if you have proof of vaccinations--

FATHER:(Interrupts, carrying on with his line of thought)Besides being bright, she's very, very talented.HEIDI:(Twists her hands over and over in front of her chest.)Please, Daddy, don't do this.FATHER: Well, of course I will, darling.I'm proud of you.Your mother and I are proud of you.(Turns back to MRS.HIGGINS.)Why just last year, in her last year of junior high school, before we moved, Heidi placed first in the county in the annual spelling bee!Isn't that wonderful? And she plays the piano like an angel.An absolute angel.父親： 非常非常聰明！

希金斯太太：一定是的，現(xiàn)在你是不是能填一下??

父親： 不知道她怎么會這么聰明。我想是她母親的遺傳。哦，我也不笨。可沒法跟海蒂比。教過她的老師都對湯普森太太，就是她媽，還有我說，她差不多是最聰明的一個??

希金斯太太：（不耐煩地打斷，但口氣仍盡量和緩）我剛才說了，如果你有疫苗接種證明??

父親：（打斷希金斯太太，沿著自己的思路講下去）她不僅聰明，而且才華出眾。

海蒂：（雙手置于胸前，搓擰著）行了，爸爸，別說了。

父親： 啊，寶貝兒，我當然要說。我為你感到驕傲。我和你媽都為你感到驕傲。（轉(zhuǎn)回身面向希金斯太太）噯，就在去年，她初中最后一年，我們還沒搬家的時候，海蒂在縣里每年一度的拼單詞比賽中得了第一名！了不起吧？而且她鋼琴也彈得美妙之極。簡直就是仙樂。

HEIDI: Daddy, please.Please, please.Daddy, I have to go to class.I want to go to class.Please let me go to class.FATHER: See what I mean? Such an eager learner.I can't imagine anyone's being more eager for knowledge than my Heidi.My little girl.MRS.HIGGINS: Yes, well, be that as it may--

HEIDI: Aaargh!Aaaaargh!Aaaargh!(DIANE and SEAN enter Down Right.They look at HEIDI, FATHER, and MRS.HIGGINS.)HEIDI, DIANE and SEAN:(Shouting in unison)Daddy, you know better than that!FATHER: Er, uh, I do?

(Curtain)

海蒂： 爸爸，行了。求求你了，求求你了。爸爸，我得上課去了。我要去上課。請讓我去上課吧。

父親： 瞧見了沒有？一個多么好學的學生。我想不出還有誰比我家海蒂更好學了。我的好姑娘。

希金斯太太：是的，嗯，不過??

海蒂: 唉！唉！唉！

（黛安、肖恩從右前方上。兩人望著海蒂、父親和希金斯太太。）

海蒂、黛安、肖恩：（齊聲喊）老爸，你這是干什么呀。

父親： 呃，嗯，是嗎？

（幕落）

Unlike the father in the play which began this unit, here we have a father who is far better at seeing things from his son's point of view.As Merton shows, however, this does not always come easy.與本單元開始的那場戲里的那位父親不同，這里我們讀到的是一位頗能設身處地為兒子著想的父親。然而，正如默頓所描述的那樣，要做到這點往往并非易事。

WHEN FATHER DOESN'T KNOW BEST

Andrew Merton

On November 25, 1983, the prizefighter Marvis Frazier, 23 and inexperienced, was knocked out by the heavyweight champion of the world, Larry Holmes, after 2 minutes and 57 seconds of the first round.Holmes pretended to come in with a left punch and Frazier went for it, leaving himself open for a right.Frazier managed to stay on his feet while Holmes rained down 19 blows in a row.Finally, with three seconds left in the round, the referee stopped the fight.At that moment, Marvis Frazier's father and manager, the former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, embraced his son and repeated over and over: ”It's all right.It's all right.I love you.“ 父親未必英明

安德魯·默頓

1983年11月25日，年僅23歲、缺乏臨場經(jīng)驗的職業(yè)拳擊手馬維斯·弗雷澤在第一回合比賽打到2分57秒時被重量級世界冠軍拉里·霍姆斯擊倒。霍姆斯出左拳佯攻，弗雷澤防衛(wèi)時右側(cè)暴露。霍姆斯重拳出擊，雨點般地連打19拳，弗雷澤挺著沒有倒下。最后，在第一回合只剩三秒鐘時，裁判叫停。當時，馬維斯·弗雷澤的父親兼經(jīng)紀人、前重量級冠軍喬·弗雷澤摟抱著兒子一遍遍地說：“沒事兒。沒事兒。我愛你。”

Later, responding to criticism that he had overestimated his son's abilities, Joe Frazier said, ”I knew what I was doing.“(1)In the face of clear evidence to the contrary, Joe Frazier was unable to give up the notion that Marvis would succeed him as champion, that he would continue to hold the crown through his son.后來，有人批評他對兒子的實力估計過高，喬·弗雷澤回答說：“我知道自己在做什么。” 盡管事實清楚表明并非如此，但喬·弗雷澤還是堅信馬維斯能繼承他的衣缽成為冠軍，他的榮耀能通過兒子繼續(xù)下去。

(2)It is a disturbing business, this drive for immortality, usually much more subtle than thrusting one's son naked into the ring.Often it is simply a matter of expecting the boy to repeat one's own boyhood, step for step.這種通常比硬把兒子推上拳壇要微妙得多的對不朽的追求是一件讓人苦惱的事。這常常不過是在期待孩子亦步亦趨地重復自己的童年。

In July 1983, my son Gabriel was 4 and extremely conscious of it.In fact, he defined and justified much of his behavior by his age:” Four-year-olds can put on their own clothes.“ Or ”I can run faster than Mike.That's because I'm 4 and he's only 3.“ A 4-year-old, I thought, was ready for a major-league baseball game.So on Saturday, July 16, I drove him to Boston to see the Red Sox play the Oakland A's.1983年7月，我兒子加布里埃爾4歲，并且已經(jīng)有了強烈的年齡意識。事實上，他的許多行為是以年齡來界定的：“4歲的孩子會自己穿衣服。”或是：“我能比邁克跑得快。因為我4歲了，他才3歲。” 當時我想，一個4歲的孩子可以去看全美職業(yè)棒球賽了。于是，7月16日星期六，我開車帶他去波士頓看紅襪隊與奧克蘭A隊的比賽。

It was a clear, hot day--very hot, in fact, setting a record for Boston on that date at 97 degrees--but, rare for Boston, it was dry.I had packed a bag with fruit and vegetables.Gabe slept through the entire 90-minute drive to Boston, a good sign, he'd be fresh for the game.Another good sign: I found a free, legal parking space.And as we entered the ball park, Gabe seemed excited.Gravely he accepted my advice to go to the bathroom now, so we would not have to move from our seat during the action.那是個晴朗、炎熱的日子——事實上那一天非常炎熱，氣溫達到97度，創(chuàng)下了波士頓當天的最高紀錄——但沒有下雨，這在波士頓是極為罕見的。我裝了一大袋果蔬。加布在前往波士頓的90分鐘的車程里一直在睡覺，這是個好征兆，看球時他就會有精神了。還有一個好征兆：我找到一個合法的免費泊車位。我倆進場時，加布顯得興致勃勃。他鄭重其事地接受了我的建議先去廁所方便，這樣在球賽當中我們就不必離開座位了。

As we walked through the tunnel beneath the stadium, I remembered my own first game, in Yankee Stadium in 1952.As my father and I emerged into the sun, I was overwhelmed by the vast, green outfield.A pitcher named Vic Raschi fired strike after strike, A Yankee named Joe Collins hit a home run and the Yankees won, 3-2.The opponent had been the old Philadelphia Athletics, direct ancestors of the Oakland team.I felt joy and anticipation as Gabe and I now emerged into the sun for his first look at the field.Gabe said nothing, but he must have felt the excitement.當我們穿過體育場下的通道時，我想起了1952年在揚基體育場自己第一次看球賽的情景。當我和父親走進陽光下的體育場時，那綠茵茵的巨大外場令我驚喜萬分。一位名叫維克·拉希的投球手投出了一個又一個好球，揚基隊球員喬·柯林斯擊出一個本壘打，最后揚基隊以3 ：2獲勝。對手是歷史悠久的費城競技隊，就是奧克蘭隊的前身。此刻，當我和加布走到陽光下，他第一次見到賽場時，我心中不由充滿了喜悅與期待。加布沒說話，但他一定也感受到了那份激動。

We found our seats, on the right-field side of the park.Good seats, from which we could see every part of the playing field.We were about a half-hour early, and we settled down to watch the end of batting practice.Gabe said he was hungry.I gave him a carrot stick, which he chewed happily.When he finished that, he asked what else I had in the bag.I gave him some grapes, then an apple.Within 15 minutes he had polished off most of the contents of the bag.And then he said:”I think I've had enough baseball.I want to go home now.“

我倆找到了座位，在右外場側(cè)面。位置不錯，我們能看清場上的每一個部位。我倆提前了半小時入場，坐了下來看差不多就要結(jié)束的擊球練習。加布說他餓了。我給了他一根胡

蘿卜條，他開心地啃著。吃完了胡蘿卜，他問我袋子里還有什么好吃的。我給了他一些葡萄，接著是一個蘋果。在15分鐘之內(nèi)，他把袋子里的大多數(shù)食品都一掃而光。隨后他說：“我想棒球已經(jīng)看夠了。現(xiàn)在我想回家。”

”But the game hasn't started yet,“ I said.”You haven't seen any baseball.“

“可比賽還沒開始呢，”我說，“你一點比賽還沒看到呢。”

”Yes, I have.And I want to go home.“

“看到了，我已經(jīng)看到了。我想回家了。”

”That was only batting practice.Don't you want to see the real game?“

“那只是擊球練習。你不想看正式比賽嗎？”

”No.“

“不想看。”

I considered staying anyway.It was my day with my son that was being ruined here, wasn't it?

我想怎么著都得呆下去。難道我和兒子的這一天就這么毀了不成？

(3)But I knew better.I knew now that if I insisted on staying, it would be his day that would be ruined so Dad could watch a ball game.In a rotten mood, I carried him out of the park on my shoulders just as the Red Sox took the field.但我還是比較明智，放棄了呆下去的念頭，我很明白如果我堅持呆著不走，那他的一天就會因為爸爸想看球賽而過得十分掃興。我情緒糟透了，讓他騎在我的肩上，就在紅襪隊上場擊球時走出了體育場。

”Daddy? Can I have an ice-cream?“

“爸爸，我想吃冰淇淋，行嗎？”

Without much grace, I bought him an ice-cream.Then we got in the car, and I drove away from my precious parking space, still in a bad temper.He was well aware that I was upset;I could see the troubled look on his face, a combination of fear and pain.I hated that look.But I could not shake my mood.I was not looking forward to the drive back to New Hampshire.我不很情愿地給他買了個冰淇淋。我倆上了車，我開車退出那個寶貴的車位，仍然沒有好氣。他也很明白我不高興；我能看到他臉上不安的神情，恐懼中夾雜著痛苦。我討厭那副神情。可我沒法擺脫自己惡劣的心境。我一點都不想開車回新罕布什爾去。

Then on Storrow Drive, I spotted the Boston Museum of Science, just across the Charles River.Gabe had been there before, and he had loved it, although he still referred to it, quite seriously, as the ”Museum of Silence.“ Still angry, I managed to say,” Gabe, would you like to go to the museum?“

隨后，在斯托羅街上，我瞥見波士頓科學博物館，就在查爾斯河對岸。加布以前去

過，而且很喜歡那個地方，不過一直到現(xiàn)在他還鄭重其事地把它叫做“靜默博物館”。我壓著一肚子火，勉強問了一句：“加布，你想不想去博物館？”

”Yeah,“ he said.“想，”他說。

We had the museum nearly to ourselves.As we walked through the wonderfully cool exhibition halls, I acknowledged to myself how much I wanted Gabe to be like me.(4)He was supposed to like the baseball game, not for his sake, but for mine, and I had gotten angry at him when he didn't measure up to my expectations.It was those expectations, and not Gabe's actions, that were out of line.And it was those expectations that had to change.博物館里幾乎就我們倆。當我倆穿過一個個涼爽舒適的展廳時，我心里不得不承認，自己是多么希望加布能像我一樣。他應該為了我，而不是為了他自己喜歡這場棒球賽，當他辜負了我的期望的時候，我便對他生氣了。不是加布的行為不當，而是這種期待不近情理。因此，必須改變的是這種期待。

I also thought about the competition between us: what had happened at the ball park was, after all, a battle of wills.He had won.He had stood up for what he thought was right.我還反思了我倆剛才的對峙：球場上所發(fā)生的一切，歸根到底，是兩種意志的對峙。他贏了。他堅持了自己認為是正確的做法。

We spent three quick hours at the museum, viewing the life-sized tyrannosaurus rex from different angles, trying out the space capsule, making waves and viewing exhibits on everything imaginable.And I was excited.我倆在博物館里瀏覽，三個小時轉(zhuǎn)眼就過去了，我們從不同的角度觀看與實物一樣大小的霸王龍，嘗試宇航艙，造波浪，觀看各種各樣想象得出的展品。我也感到興致勃勃。

Son and father, together, had saved the day--he by holding out for something he enjoyed and I by having the sense, finally, to realize that he was right, and to let go of my dream of how things should be.兒子和父親，兩個人共同挽救了這一天——他堅持不放棄自己所喜歡的事物，而我，總算明智，最終認識到他是對的，并放棄了自己不切實際的幻想。

This time, anyway.至少這一次是這樣的。

And then I remembered something else.When my own father took me to Yankee Stadium, I was 6 years old, not 4.后來我還想起了另一件事。我父親帶我去揚基體育場看棒球的時候，我是6歲，不是4歲。

Maybe in a couple of years...也許再過一兩年??

Unit4

Maia Szalavitz, formerly a television producer, now spends her time as a writer.In this essay she explores digital reality and its consequences.Along the way, she compares the digital world to the ”real“ world, acknowledging the attractions of the electronic dimension.邁亞·塞拉維茨曾是電視制片人，目前從事寫作。她在本文中探索了數(shù)字化世界及其后果。與此同時，她將數(shù)字化世界與真實世界做了比較，承認電子空間自有其魅力。

A Virtual Life

Maia Szalavitz

After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock.My boyfriend's Liverpool accent suddenly becomes impossible to interpret after his easily understood words on screen;a secretary's clipped tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be.Time itself becomes fluid--hours become minutes, or seconds stretch into days.Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days.虛擬世界的生活

邁亞·塞拉維茨

在網(wǎng)上呆了太久，聽到電話鈴聲也會嚇一大跳。顯示屏上看多了我男朋友那些一目了然的文字，他的利物浦口音一下子變得難以聽懂；而秘書的清脆快速的語調(diào)聽上去比我想象的要生硬。時間本身變得捉摸不定——幾小時變成幾分鐘，或幾秒鐘延伸為幾天。周末原本是我一周的黃金時段，現(xiàn)在卻不過是平平常常的兩天。

For the last three years, since I stopped working as a television producer, I have done much of my work as a telecommuter.I submit articles and edit them via email and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists.My boyfriend lives in England, so much of our relationship is also computer-assisted.在我不再當電視制片人的這三年間，我的大部分工作都是在家里使用計算機終端進行的。我通過電子郵件投稿和校訂，利用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上的人名地址與同行交流。我男朋友住在英國，因此兩人的關(guān)系也在很大程度上借助于電腦維系。

If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything.I can order food, and manage my money, love and work.In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries.I watched most of the endless snowstorm of '96 on TV.我要是愿意的話，可以一連幾個星期不出門而什么也不缺。我可以在網(wǎng)上訂購食品、網(wǎng)上理財、網(wǎng)上戀愛、網(wǎng)上工作。事實上我有時獨自呆在家里長達三個星期，只偶爾出去拿信、買報紙及日用品。1996年那一場接一場的暴風雪我大都是在電視上看到的。

But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal.I start to feel as though I've become one

with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another link in the Net.Others on line report the same symptoms.We start to feel an aversion to outside forms of socializing.We have become the Net critics' worst nightmare.然而，一段時間之后，生活本身就顯得不那么真實了。我開始覺得自己似乎與機器融為一體了，我接收信息，再發(fā)送出去，就如同互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的一個連接點。其他上網(wǎng)的人也談到了同樣的癥狀。我們開始厭惡外面的社交方式。我們的狀況成了批評互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的人們最害怕見到的一幕。

What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become a form of escape, a lack of discipline.And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.一下床就上機，不再為發(fā)型、服飾、面部化妝煩心，起初看似高級的享受如今卻成為一種對生活的逃避，一種缺乏自律的表現(xiàn)。你一旦開始用網(wǎng)絡交際取代人與人的真實接觸，要走出這種穴居狀態(tài)就會相當困難。

I find myself shyer, more cautious, more anxious.Or, conversely, when suddenly confronted with real live humans, I get overexcited, speak too much, interrupt.I constantly worry if I am dressed appropriately, that perhaps I've actually forgotten to put on a skirt and walked outside in the T-shirt and underwear I sleep and live in.我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己變得比以前怯生、謹慎、焦慮。或者，反過來，當我突然面對現(xiàn)實中活生生的人時，會變得過于興奮，說個不停，愛打斷別人的講話。我老是擔心自己衣著是否得體，擔心自己會不會真的忘了穿裙子，只穿著夜間睡覺、白天活動的那件T恤和內(nèi)衣就出門了。

At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to talk away in the background, something that I'd never done previously.The voices of the programs are comforting, but then I'm jarred by the commercials.I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather.”Dateline,“ ”Frontline,“ ”Nightline,“ CNN, New York 1, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me.Work moves into the background.I decide to check my email.有時我把電視機開著，讓它作為背景聲音一直響著，以前我從不這樣做。電視節(jié)目中的說話聲讓人感到寬慰，可那些廣告又叫我心煩。我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己沉浸在肥皂劇里，或者不停地收看最新的新聞報道和天氣預報。一而再再而三地從“每日新聞”、“一線新聞”、“夜間新聞”、有線新聞電視網(wǎng)、紐約一套上收看有關(guān)每一條新聞的各種不同視角的報道，盡管它們對我毫無用處。工作成了次要的。我決定去看一下自己的電子信箱。

On line, I find myself attacking everyone in sight.I am bad-tempered, and easily angered.I find everyone on my mailing list insensitive, believing that they've forgotten that there are people actually reading their wounding remarks.I don't realize that I'm projecting until after I've been embarrassed by someone who politely points out that I've attacked her for agreeing with me.在網(wǎng)上，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己見誰攻誰。我脾氣暴躁，動輒生氣。我覺得我與之通信的每一個人都麻木不仁，認為他們已經(jīng)忘卻還有人真會去讀他們那些刻薄傷人的言辭。直到有人禮貌地指出，她同意我的觀點卻遭到我的抨擊時，我才意識到，自己是在以己度人，不由得深感尷尬。

When I'm in this state, I fight my boyfriend as well, misinterpreting his intentions because of the lack of emotional cues given by our typed dialogue.The fight takes hours, because the system keeps crashing.I say a line, then he does, then crash!And yet we keep on, doggedly.在這種精神狀態(tài)下，我也和男朋友吵架，常因鍵出的對話缺乏情感暗示而誤解他的本意。由于系統(tǒng)常出故障，兩人一爭就是幾個小時。我寫一句，他回一句，接著系統(tǒng)失靈！可我們倆還是鍥而不舍地接著吵。

I'd never realized how important daily routine is: dressing for work, sleeping normal hours.I'd never thought I relied so much on co-workers for company.I began to understand why long-term unemployment can be so damaging, why life without an externally supported daily plan can lead to higher rates of drug abuse, crime, suicide.以前我從未意識到日常的生活起居是多么重要，如穿戴整齊去上班，按時就寢。以前我從未想過自己會那么依賴同事做伴。我開始理解為什么長時間的失業(yè)會那么傷人，為什么一個人的生活缺少了外部支持的日常計劃就會導致吸毒、犯罪、自殺率的增長。

To restore balance to my life, I force myself back into the real world.I call people, arrange to meet with the few remaining friends who haven't fled New York City.I try to at least get to the gym, so as to set apart the weekend from the rest of my week.I arrange interviews for stories, doctor's appointments--anything to get me out of the house and connected with others.為了恢復生活的平衡，我強迫自己回到真實世界中去。我給別人打電話，與所剩無幾的仍然住在紐約城的幾個朋友安排見面。我至少設法去去健身房，以便使周末與工作日有所不同。我安排采訪好寫報道，預約看醫(yī)生——安排任何需要我出門與他人接觸的活動。

But sometimes being face to face is too much.I see a friend and her ringing laughter is intolerable--the noise of conversation in the restaurant, unbearable.I make my excuses and flee.I re-enter my apartment and run to the computer as though it were a place of safety.但有時面對面地與人相處實在難以忍受。我與一位朋友見面，她那種響亮的笑聲讓人忍無可忍——飯店里的噪雜談話聲也讓人受不了。我找了個藉口逃之夭夭。我重新回到我的公寓，沖向電腦，似乎那兒才是一個安全的地方。

I click on the modem, the once-annoying sound of the connection now as pleasant as my favorite tune.I enter my password.The real world disappears.我點擊鼠標，打開調(diào)制解調(diào)器，曾經(jīng)聽了就煩的連接聲此刻聽起來就如同最心愛的曲子那么悅耳。我鍵入密碼。真實世界轉(zhuǎn)瞬便消逝了。

Thought you were safe sharing secrets with Internet friends? Wait for the doorbell...你以為與網(wǎng)友分享秘密不會出事兒嗎？等著門鈴響起來吧??

Mother's Mad About the Internuts

Carol Sarler

Tap tap tappa tap-tap.It is the last sound to be heard before sleep.On especially bad days, it is the first sound to be heard in the morning.(1)It is the sound of the only lasting disagreement in a household that is otherwise peaceful.My daughter is hooked on the Internet and I think that it is mad, bad and dangerous.母親恨死了網(wǎng)蟲

卡羅爾·薩爾勒

嗒嗒，嗒嗒，嗒－嗒。這是入睡前最后聽到的聲音。遇到特別糟糕的日子，早上一醒來就聽到這種聲音。這是一個原本安寧的家庭中惟一持續(xù)不去的不和諧音。女兒沉迷于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，我覺得這是一種瘋狂的不端行為，而且兇險四伏。

She is in every other respect a sensible young woman.She graduated in the summer, she goes to work each day, she and her friends are on the phone all evening and she goes out with them at weekends.But on top of that she has lately started spending some two hours in intense communication with a computer.And I hate it.她在別的哪個方面都不失為一個明事理的姑娘。她是夏天畢業(yè)的，天天上班，晚上和朋友們在電話里聊天，周末和他們一起外出玩耍。但除此之外，近來她每天花兩個小時光景與電腦廝守在一起。對此我深惡痛絕。

This is not just fear of new technology.Of course, there is value in instant access to information banks worldwide and, of course, email is revolutionizing the way we correspond with each other.My mistrust is based on the fact that this use of the Internet is such a pale copy of the time-honored way in which people communicate with each other.(2)It leads to intimacy before acquaintance;it scatters secrets outwards, not inwards;and, most worrying of all, it is a vehicle for liars.這不完全是對新科技的恐懼。當然，能隨時獲取全世界信息庫中的信息是很有價值的，電子郵件正在完全改變?nèi)藗兿嗷ラg通信聯(lián)系的方式。我的不信任感是基于這樣一個事實：使用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)通訊與人們傳統(tǒng)的相互交流方式相比實在大為遜色。它使人們還未相識就已親近，它不能保守秘密反而擴散秘密；而最令人擔心的是，它是撒謊人傳播謊言的工具。

What frightens me is that my daughter rejects all this.The denial is there in the language she uses.”I 'met' Janet in January,“ she says, ”and we've been 'friends' ever since.“ At other times, ”I was 'talking' to Alex the other day and he 'said'...“ ”No, he didn't,“ I argue;friends are friends when, and only when, you have seen the whites of their eyes.She just rolls hers, skywards.最令我心驚膽戰(zhàn)的是女兒對我的一切規(guī)勸都拒之不理。這在她的言談間流露無遺。“我是一月份‘遇見’珍妮特的，”她說，“那以后我們就成了‘朋友’。” 有時，她又說“前幾天我和亞歷克斯‘聊天’，他‘說’??”“不對，他沒有說，”我爭辯道；只有當你親眼見過一個人之后，只有在那個時候，朋友才成其為朋友。她只是朝上翻了翻白眼。

Imagine this.When I was planning to go away for a few days last month, this intelligent 22-year-old announced a plan for a party, the guests to include a variety of Internuts who, coming as they would from all corners, would need to stay overnight.你想象得到嗎，上個月我正打算外出數(shù)日的時候，這位聰明的22歲的姑娘宣布打算舉行一次聚會，客人包括各色網(wǎng)蟲，他們來自各地，還要在我家過夜。

Overnight? In my home, my home that contains everything I care about, rather high on the list being my daughter herself.在我家里過夜？在這個有我珍愛的一切的家里，而女兒本身就是我的最珍愛的寶貝之一。

She said: ”Don't be silly.“ She said it would be quite all right, because the people she was planning to invite were those whom she had ”known“ for at least a year and whom she ”knows“ as well as any of her other friends that, on the whole, I tend to like.(3)I said, trying to be reasonable but not altogether succeeding, that in and among the things they ”tell“ each other on the tap-tap, a tendency to murder might just have been overlooked, might it not?

她說，“別傻。”她說不會有事的，因為她準備邀請的那些人都是“認識”了至少有一年的，而且她“了解”他們，就像了解我總的來說比較喜歡的她的其他朋友一樣。我說，他們啪噠啪噠“講”給互相聽的事情中，殺人的傾向或許就被忽略了，難道這不可能嗎？我說這話時盡量想做到通情達理，但不完全成功。

The party did not happen.The row most certainly did.聚會不了了之。但我和她確實大吵了一場。

When I say that if they are not nutters they are nerds, she tries to reason.Do I think she is a nerd? Absolutely not.Well, then, why should they be? Do I think she is a liar? Just as absolutely not.Seizing the initiative she moves over to the attack.當我說那些人即使不是瘋子也一定是些怪人時，她試圖跟我爭論。那我是不是覺得她就是怪人一個？絕對不是。既然這樣，那他們?yōu)槭裁磿枪秩四兀课沂遣皇怯X得她就是個謊言家？當然也不是。她抓住了主動權(quán)，開始反攻。

”You remember that favorite story of yours, the one about how the army captain and the woman whose book he discovered got to know one another solely through writing letters? And how she refused to send him a photograph because she felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like? Well, they hadn't seen each other either.“ She smiles her self-satisfied smile.Arguing with a daughter is always like that, so annoying.They always know where your weak points are, just where to slip in under your guard.“還記得你最喜歡的那個講一個上尉和一個女人的故事嗎？那個他看到那女的讀過的一本書便和她通過書信往來而認識的故事？記得嗎，她拒絕給他寄照片，因為她認為如果他真的喜歡她，她長得怎么樣并不重要？瞧，他們倆也沒見過面嘛。”她得意地笑了。跟女兒爭辯總是這個樣，總是令你煩惱不堪。她們深知你的弱點，知道如何乘虛而入。

But I cannot clear it from my head, the worries refuse to go away.It is not that, as individuals, I have reason to believe they would lie.But they could.They could lie about their age, their state of mind or even their sex.Indeed, apparently in America it is common for men to tap-tap pretending to be women on the basis that they then get other women to communicate with far greater intimacy.但我總是忘不了這個事兒，種種擔憂縈繞心頭。并不是說我有理由認為，他們作為個人，一定會撒謊。但他們可能會撒謊。他們可能隱瞞自己的真實年齡、心態(tài)，甚至性別。的確，在美國顯然有不少上網(wǎng)的男人常常自稱女人，認為藉此可使其他女人更無顧忌地與他們講知心話。

A thought occurs.The worst scenes my mind dreams up play like a horror movie.So I call a friend in Hollywood: has anyone thought of this for a movie plot? He laughs.There are five, to his knowledge alone, in development and one heading into production.(4)Needless to say, it is a

new version of the old tale of innocents calling forth evil forces they cannot control, this time in the form of a visitor with the ever-handy axe packed in his luggage.有一天我突然產(chǎn)生了一個想法。我腦子里虛構(gòu)出來的最可怕的場景一幕接著一幕，就像一部恐怖片。于是我給一個好萊塢的朋友打了個電話：有沒有誰想過用這個題材構(gòu)思一部電影情節(jié)？他哈哈大笑。據(jù)他本人所知就有5部正在醞釀之中，一部已經(jīng)進入制作階段了。不用說，這又是一些無辜的人引出了邪惡的力量卻又不能控制的老故事的翻版，這一次的邪惡力量是以一位來客的面貌出現(xiàn)，但行囊中卻藏著斧頭，隨時可以拿出來殺人。

So now, I say to my daughter, we just wait for life to imitate art and we're home and dry.And murdered in our beds.于是，我對女兒說，我們就等著看生活去模仿藝術(shù)吧。我們現(xiàn)在安然無恙。誰知道什么時候被謀殺在自己的臥床上。

She laughs.”See you in the morning, Mum.I'm just going upstairs to talk to my friends.Goodnight.“ Tap tappa tap-tap...她大笑。“明天早上見，媽媽。我要上樓去跟朋友聊天了。晚安。”塔塔，塔塔，塔塔塔??

Unit5

Look at the following two sayings and then see if the story of Michael Stone bears out the points they make.The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.--Molière

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.--Charles A.Beard

讀一讀以下兩則名言，想一想邁克爾·斯通的故事是否印證了其間的道理。

障礙越是巨大，逾越它也就越感自豪。——莫里哀

只有天空漆黑時，你才可以看到星星。——查爾斯·A·比爾德

True Height

David Naster

His palms were sweating.He needed a towel to dry his grip.The sun was as hot as the competition he faced today at the National Junior Olympics.The pole was set at 17 feet.That was three inches higher than his personal best.Michael Stone confronted the most challenging day of his pole-vaulting career.真正的高度

大衛(wèi)·納史特

他手心在出汗。他需要用毛巾把握竿的手擦干。太陽火辣辣的，與他今天在全國少年奧林匹克運動會上所面臨的競爭一樣熱烈。橫桿升到了17英尺。比他個人的最高紀錄高出3 英寸。邁克爾·斯通面臨的是其撐竿跳高生涯中最具挑戰(zhàn)性的一天。

The stands were still filled with about 20,000 people, even though the final race had ended an hour earlier.The pole vault is truly the highlight of any track and field competition.It combines the grace of a gymnast with the strength of a body builder.It also has the element of flying, and the thought of flying as high as a two-story building is a mere fantasy to anyone watching such an event.盡管賽跑決賽一小時前就已經(jīng)結(jié)束，看臺上仍然觀眾滿座，足有20,000人上下。撐竿跳高確實是所有田徑比賽中最精彩的項目。它融合了體操運動員的優(yōu)雅與健美運動員的力量。它還具有飛翔的特征，對觀看該項目比賽的觀眾來說，飛躍兩層樓的高度簡直是一件不可思議的事情。

As long as Michael could remember he had always dreamed of flying.Michael's mother read him numerous stories about flying when he was growing up.Her stories were always ones that described the land from a bird's-eye view.Her excitement and passion for details made Michael's dreams full of color and beauty.Michael had this one recurring dream.He would be running down a country road.As he raced between golden wheat fields, he would always outrun the locomotives passing by.It was at the exact moment he took a deep breath that he began to lift off the ground.He would begin soaring like an eagle.邁克爾自從能記事起就一直夢想著飛翔。從小到大，母親給邁克爾念過無數(shù)關(guān)于飛翔的故事。她的故事總是從高空俯瞰描述大地。她對細節(jié)的激情和酷愛使得邁克爾的夢境色彩繽紛、絢麗無比。邁克爾總是重復做著一個夢。他在鄉(xiāng)間大路上飛奔。當他奔跑在金色的麥田之間時，總是把開過的機車一路甩在身后。就在他深深吸上一口氣的瞬間，他開始從地面一躍而起，就像一頭雄鷹那樣開始翱翔。

Where he flew would always coincide with his mother's stories.Wherever he flew was with a keen eye for detail and the free spirit of his mother's love.His dad, on the other hand, was not a dreamer.Bert Stone was a hard-core realist.He believed in hard work and sweat.His motto: If you want something, work for it!

他飛越的都是母親故事里描述的地方。無論他飛向何方，他都懷著母愛所賜予他的自由精神，用敏銳的目光觀察入微。可他的父親卻不是個夢想家。伯特·斯通是個徹頭徹尾的現(xiàn)實主義者。他信奉的是努力與苦干。他的格言是：要想有所收獲，就得努力工作！

From the age of 14, Michael did just that.He began a very careful training program.He worked out every other day with weightlifting, with some kind of running work on alternate days.The program was carefully monitored by Michael's coach, trainer and father.Michael's dedication, determination and discipline was a coach's dream.Besides being an honor student and only child, Michael Stone continued to help his parents with their farm chores.Mildred Stone, Michael's mother, wished he could relax a bit more and be that ”free dreaming“ little boy.On one occasion she attempted to talk to him and his father about this, but his dad quickly interrupted, smiled and

said, ”You want something, work for it!“

從14歲起，邁克爾就是這么做的。他開始按非常周密的計劃訓練。他每隔一天進行舉重訓練，其它的日子做些跑步訓練。訓練計劃由邁克爾的教練、訓練員兼父親嚴加督導。邁克爾的投入、執(zhí)著、自律正是每一個教練所夢寐以求的。邁克爾在學校是位優(yōu)秀生，在家是個獨生子，但他仍幫助父母在自家的農(nóng)場上干些雜活。邁克爾的母親米爾德里德·斯通希望他能更放松些，還是做那個“自由幻想”的小男孩。有一次，她試圖跟他及其父親好好談一下，可當父親的馬上就打斷了她，笑著說：“要想有所收獲，就得努力工作！”

All of Michael's vaults today seemed to be the reward for his hard work.If Michael Stone was surprised, excited or vain about clearing the bar at 17 feet, you couldn't tell.As soon as he landed on the inflated landing mat, and with the crowd on its feet, Michael immediately began preparing for his next attempt at flight.He seemed unaware of the fact that he had just beaten his personal best by three inches and that he was one of the final two competitors in the pole-vaulting event at the National Junior Olympics.邁克爾今天躍過的所有高度顯然都是對他刻苦努力的回報。邁克爾·斯通在成功躍過17英尺的橫桿時是感到驚訝、激動還是得意，人們無從知曉。邁克爾身體剛剛落在充氣墊上，觀眾還沒坐下，他馬上就開始準備下一次飛躍。他似乎并未意識到自己剛剛把個人最好成績提高了3英寸，已經(jīng)是全國少年奧林匹克運動會撐竿跳高項目最后兩名決賽者之一。

When Michael cleared the bar at 17 feet 2 inches and 17 feet 4 inches, again he showed no emotion.As he lay on his back and heard the crowd groan, he knew the other vaulter had missed his final jump.He knew it was time for his final jump.Since the other vaulter had fewer misses, Michael needed to clear this vault to win.A miss would get him second place.Nothing to be ashamed of, but Michael would not allow himself the thought of not winning first place.當邁克爾成功躍過17英尺2英寸和17英尺4英寸高度的橫桿時，他仍沒有流露出絲毫感情。他仰面躺著，聽到觀眾在嘆息，他知道另一位撐竿跳運動員最后一跳沒有成功。他知道自己最后一跳的時刻到了。由于那位運動員失敗次數(shù)較少，邁克爾這一跳只有成功才能獲勝。這一次跳不過就會使自己落到第二名。那也絲毫無愧，但邁克爾決不讓自己產(chǎn)生哪怕一絲與冠軍無緣的念頭。

He rolled over and did his routine of three finger-tipped push-ups.He found his pole, stood and stepped on the runway that led to the most challenging event of his 17-year-old life.他翻了個身，照例指尖撐地做了三下俯臥撐。他找著了撐竿，站起身，踏上那引向其17年生命中最具挑戰(zhàn)性的一躍的跑道。

The runway felt different this time.It startled him for a brief

moment.Then it all hit him like a wet bale of hay.The bar was set at nine inches higher than his personal best.That's only one inch off the National record, he thought.The intensity of the moment filled his mind with anxiety.He began shaking the tension.It wasn't working.He became more tense.Why was this happening to him now, he thought.He began to get nervous.Afraid would be a more accurate description.What was he going to do? He had never experienced these feelings.Then out of nowhere, and from the deepest depths of his soul, he pictured his mother.Why now? What was his mother doing in his thoughts at a time like this? It was simple.His mother always used to tell him when you felt tense, anxious or even scared, take deep breaths.這一回，那跑道顯得有些異樣。剎那間，他感到一陣驚嚇。一種惶惑不安的感覺向他襲來。橫桿升在高出他個人最高紀錄9英寸的高度。他想，這一高度與全國紀錄只差1英寸了。這一刻緊張異常，他感到焦慮不安。他想擺脫緊張情緒。沒有用。他更緊張了。在這種時刻怎么會這樣呢，他暗暗思忖著。他有點膽怯起來。說是恐懼也許更為恰當。怎么辦？他以前從來不曾有過這種感覺。這時，不知不覺地，在內(nèi)心最深處，出現(xiàn)了他母親的身影。為什么是在這一刻？記憶中，母親在這種時刻會怎樣做呢？很簡單。母親過去總跟他說，當你覺得緊張、焦慮、甚至害怕的時候，就深深地吸氣。

So he did.Along with shaking the tension from his legs, he gently laid his pole at his feet.He began to stretch out his arms and upper body.The light breeze that was once there was now gone.He carefully picked up his pole.He felt his heart pounding.He was sure the crowd did, too.The silence was deafening.When he heard the singing of some distant birds in flight, he knew it was his time to fly.于是他深深吸了一口氣。在擺脫腿部肌肉緊張的同時，他輕輕地把撐竿放在腳邊。他開始舒展雙臂和上身。剛才飄過一陣輕風，此刻消失了。他小心翼翼地拿起撐竿，只覺得心怦怦在跳。他相信觀眾們的心也在怦怦跳動。場上鴉雀無聲，令人透不過氣來。當他聽見遠處飛鳥啼鳴時，他知道，自己飛身起躍的時刻到了。

As he began sprinting down the runway, something felt wonderfully different, yet familiar.The surface below him felt like the country road he used to dream about.Visions of the golden wheat fields seemed to fill his thoughts.When he took a deep breath, it happened.He began to fly.His take-off was effortless.Michael Stone was now flying, just like in his childhood dreams.Only this time he knew he wasn't dreaming.This was real.Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.The air around him was the purest and freshest he had ever sensed.Michael was soaring like an eagle.他沿著跑道起跑沖刺，那感覺奇特無比，妙不可言，而又似曾相識。腳下的地面就好似過去常常夢見的鄉(xiāng)間大路。金色麥田的景象映現(xiàn)在他的腦海中。他深深吸了一口氣，于是奇跡發(fā)生了。他飛起來了。他的起跳輕松自如。邁克爾·斯通此刻就像兒時夢境中的那般在飛行。不過這一次他知道自己不是在做夢。這一次他真的在飛。周圍一切都似乎在緩緩移動。他感到周圍空氣從未像這樣純凈清新。如同一頭雄鷹，邁克爾在翱翔。

It was either the eruption of the people in the stands or the thump of his landing that brought Michael back to earth.On his back with that wonderful hot sun on his face, he knew he could only see in his mind's eye the smile on his mother's face.He knew his dad was probably smiling too, even laughing.What he didn't know was that his dad was hugging his wife and crying.That's right: Bert ”If You Want It, Work For It“ Stone was crying like a baby in his wife's arms.He was crying harder than Mildred had ever seen before.She also knew he was crying the greatest tears of all: tears of pride.Michael was immediately surrounded by people hugging and congratulating him on the greatest accomplishment of his life.He later went on that day to clear 17 feet 6? inches: a National and International Junior Olympics record.或許是看臺上人們爆發(fā)出的歡呼聲，或許是他著地時嘭的一聲響使邁克爾回到現(xiàn)實之中。他仰面躺著，明媚的驕陽映照著他的臉。他知道自己只能想象母親的笑靨，他知道爸爸或許也在微笑，甚或歡聲大笑。他不知道的是，他爸爸正與妻子相擁而泣。沒錯，這位“要想有所收獲，就得努力工作”的伯特·斯通在妻子懷里孩子似地淚流滿面。米爾德里德從沒見他那樣哭過。她也知道，他流淌的是最難得的淚水：驕傲的淚水。邁克爾一下子被圍住了，人們擁抱他，祝賀他所取得的一生中最輝煌的成就。那天稍后，他接著越過了17英尺6英寸半，創(chuàng)下了全國和世界少年奧林匹克撐桿跳高的新紀錄。

With all the media attention and sponsorship possibilities, Michael's life would never be the same again.It wasn't just because he won the National Junior Olympics and set a new world record.And it wasn't because he had just increased his personal best by 9? inches.It was simply because Michael Stone is blind.隨著媒體的關(guān)注以及可能隨之而來的各種贊助，邁克爾的生活肯定會不同以往。這不僅僅是因為他獲得了全國少年奧林匹克冠軍并刷新了一項世界紀錄,也不是因為他將自己的最高紀錄提高了9英寸半,而是因為邁克爾·斯通是個盲人。

A chance encounter can sometimes make all the difference to whether hardship brings out the best in us or the worst.磨難到底是能讓我們顯出內(nèi)在的美德還是暴露出自身的缺陷，有時一次偶然的遭遇可能會起到?jīng)Q定性的作用。

Fourteen Steps

Hal Manwaring

They say a cat has nine lives, and I am inclined to think that possible since I am now living my third life and I'm not even a cat.十四級臺階

哈爾·馬納林

人們都說貓有九條命，我也覺得這完全可能，因為我現(xiàn)在經(jīng)歷的是自己的第三次人生，而我還不是貓呢。

My first life began on a clear, cold day in November, 1904, when I arrived as the sixth of eight children of a farming family.My father died when I was 15, and we had a hard struggle to make a living.I had to wait until the early years of my marriage before I really began to enjoy my first life.But then I was very happy, in excellent health, and quite a good athlete.My wife and I became the parents of two lovely girls.I had a good job in San Jose and a beautiful home in San Carlos.我的第一次人生始于1904年11月一個晴朗、寒冷的日子，我來到世上，在一戶農(nóng)家8個孩子中排行第6。我15歲那年父親去世，為了生存，我們苦苦掙扎。我不得不等到成家后才真正開始享受自己的第一次人生。那時我非常幸福，體格健壯，還是個運動好手。我和妻子生有兩個可愛的女孩。我在圣何塞有一份很好的工作，在圣卡洛斯有個溫馨的家。

Life was a pleasant dream.那時的生活就像是一場美夢。

Then the dream ended and became one of those horrible nightmares that cause you to wake in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.I began to suffer from a slowly progressive disease of the motor nerves, affecting first my right arm and leg, and then my other side.接著美夢終止，變成了一場可怕的噩夢，令你夜半驚醒，出一身冷汗。我得了一種逐漸惡化的進行性運動神經(jīng)元病，一開始影響我的右臂右腿，后來又侵入身體的另一側(cè)。

Thus began my second life....就這樣我的第二次人生開始了??

In spite of my disease I still drove to and from work each day, with the aid of special equipment installed in my car.And I managed to keep healthy and optimistic, to a degree, because of 14 steps.盡管疾病纏身，我還是借助車上安裝的特殊設備每天開車上下班。在某種程度上，我是由于14級臺階才得以保持健康的心態(tài)與樂觀的情緒的。

Crazy? Not at all.無稽之談？一點也不。

Our home was a split-level affair with 14 steps leading up from the garage to the kitchen door.Those steps were my yardstick, my challenge to continue living.(1)I felt that if the day arrived when I was unable to lift one foot up one step and then drag the other painfully after it--repeating the process 14 times until, utterly spent, I would be through--I could then admit defeat and lie down and die.我們家住的是錯層式的房子，從汽車間通往廚房門有14級臺階。這些臺階是我衡量自己的尺度，是我活下去的一個挑戰(zhàn)。我覺得如果有一天我無法再抬起一只腳邁上一個臺階，再痛苦地拖起另一只腳——將這個過程重復14遍，直到精疲力竭爬上去——到那時我就會服輸并躺下死去。

So I kept on working, kept on climbing those steps.And time passed.The girls went to college and were happily married, and my wife and I were alone in our beautiful home with the 14 steps.因此我堅持上班，堅持爬那些臺階。時光流逝。兩個女兒上了大學，建立了美滿的家庭，只剩我和妻子守在我們那個有著14級臺階的溫馨的家里。

You might think that here walked a man of courage and strength.Not so.Here hobbled a bitterly disillusioned cripple, a man who held on to his sanity and his wife and his home and his job because of 14 miserable steps leading up to the back door from his garage.你或許會以為，這里生活著一個勇敢堅強的男子漢。事實并非如此。這里一瘸一拐走著的是一個幻想破滅、內(nèi)心痛苦的跛子，一個靠著從汽車間通往后門的那14級可憐的臺階才沒有失去理智、沒有丟下妻室并堅持工作的男人。

As I became older, I became more disillusioned and frustrated.I'm sure that my wife and friends had some unhappy times when I chose to talk about my philosophy of life.(2)I believed that in this whole world I alone had been chosen to suffer.I had carried my cross now for nine years and probably would bear it for as long as I could climb those 14 steps.隨著年歲的增長，我變得日益失望和沮喪。我想，當我執(zhí)意談論自己的人生哲學時，我的妻子和朋友一定都很難受。我認為在這整個世界里，就我一個人被選中去受苦受難。我已經(jīng)背了9年的十字架，只要我還能爬上那14級臺階，很可能我就要一路背負下去。

Then on a dark night in August, 1971, I began my third life.It was raining when I started home that night, beating down hard on the car as I drove slowly down one of the less-traveled roads.Suddenly the steering wheel jumped in my hands as one of the tires burst with a bang.I fought the car to a stop and sat there as the terrible nature of the situation swept over me.It was impossible for me to change that tire!Utterly impossible!

后來，1971年8月一個漆黑的夜晚，我開始了自己的第三次人生。那天夜里我回家時天正在下雨，我慢慢地開著車走在一條車輛稀少的路上，雨水嘩嘩拍打著車身。突然，方向盤在我手里猛地一跳，一只車胎啪地一聲爆了。我奮力停下車，呆坐著，心想，這下子麻煩可大了。我沒法自己去換輪胎！根本不可能！

A thought that a passing motorist might stop was dismissed at once.Why should anyone? I

knew I wouldn't!Then I remembered that a short distance up a little side road was a house.I started the engine and drove slowly along until I came to the house.Lighted windows welcomed me as I pulled into the driveway and honked the horn.開車路過的人會停下幫忙嗎？我馬上就把這個念頭打消了。為什么別人要停下幫忙呢？我知道我自己就不會。這時我想起前面不遠處的一條小路上有幢房子。我發(fā)動了引擎，慢慢地開到了那幢房子跟前。接著我把車開上了宅旁車道，按了按喇叭，迎接我的是窗口亮起的燈光。

The door opened and a little girl stood there, peering at me.I rolled down the window and called out that I had a flat and needed someone to change it for me because I had a crutch and couldn't do it myself.門開了，一個小女孩站在那兒朝我張望。我搖下車窗，大聲說道，我有個輪胎爆了，需要有人幫忙替我換一下，因為我要靠拐杖走路，自己干不了。

She went into the house and a moment later came out bundled in raincoat and hat, followed by a man who called a cheerful greeting.她回到屋內(nèi)，稍后裹著雨衣、戴著帽子又出來了，身后跟著個男的，愉快地跟我打招呼。

I sat there comfortable and dry, and felt a bit sorry for the man and the little girl working so hard in the storm.Well, I would pay them for it.The rain seemed to be easing a bit now, and I rolled down the window to watch.It seemed to me that they were awfully slow and I was beginning to become impatient.I heard the little girl's voice from the back of the car.”Here's the jack-handle, Grandpa.“ She was answered by the murmur of the man's lower voice and the slow tilting of the car as it was jacked up.我坐在車里，舒舒服服，淋不著一滴雨，而那男人和小女孩卻在暴雨里干得那么辛苦，我覺得有點過意不去。得了，我會酬謝他們的。這時，雨似乎小了一些，我搖下車窗看著。我只覺得兩人動作慢得出奇，我都開始有點不耐煩了。我聽到車后傳來小女孩的聲音。“千斤頂?shù)谋瑺敔敚煤昧恕！蹦侨溯p輕地應了一聲，車微微傾斜著被頂了起來。

There followed a long interval of noises and low conversation from the back of the car, but finally it was done.I felt the car bump as the jack was removed, and I heard the slam of the trunk lid, and then they were standing at my car window.接著有好一會兒，我聽到車后的響聲和輕輕的說話聲，最后總算換好了。我感覺到千斤頂移開時車顛了一下，又聽到后車廂蓋啪地關(guān)上，接著兩人就站在了我的車窗前。

He was an old man, bent and slightly built.The little girl was about eight or ten, I judged, with a merry face and a wide smile as she looked up at me.那是位老人，身材瘦小，背有些彎。我看小女孩大約8歲或10歲，神情愉快，她抬頭望著我，滿臉的笑容。

He said, ”This is a bad night for car trouble, but you're all set now.“

他說：“這種天氣又是夜里，車出了問題可真夠嗆，不過現(xiàn)在都給你修好了。”

”Thanks,“ I said, ”thanks.How much do I owe you?“

“多謝了，”我說，“多謝。我該付你們多少呢？”

He shook his head.”Nothing.Cynthia told me you were on crutches.Glad to be of help.I know you'd do the same for me.There's no charge, friend.“

他搖搖頭。“什么也不要付。辛西婭跟我說你靠拐杖走路。很高興能幫上忙。我知道如果是我遇到這種情況你也會這樣幫我的。不要錢，朋友。”

I held out a five-dollar bill.”No!I like to pay my way.“

我拿出一張5美元的鈔票。“那不行！我不喜歡欠人家的情。”

He made no effort to take it and the little girl stepped closer to the window and said quietly, ”Grandpa can't see it.“

他沒伸手來接，小女孩湊近車窗，輕聲說道：“爺爺看不見。”

(3)In the next few frozen seconds the shame and horror of that moment penetrated, and I was sick with an intensity I had never felt before.A blind man and a child!Feeling with cold, wet fingers for bolts and tools in the dark--a darkness that for him would probably never end until death.剎那間，時間凝固了，我感到萬分的羞愧和震驚。我從來沒有這么難受過。一個盲人和一個孩子！用又冷又濕的雙手在黑暗中摸著那些螺栓和工具干活——對他來說，這黑暗很可能永遠不能驅(qū)散，直至他死亡。

They changed a tire for me--changed it in the rain and wind, with me sitting in comfort in the car with my crutch.I don't remember how long I sat there after they said good night and left me, but it was long enough for me to search deep within myself and find some disturbing traits.他倆替我換了一個輪胎——在風雨交加之中換著輪胎，而我則舒舒服服地倚著拐杖坐在車里。我不記得他倆道別走后我在那兒坐了多久，但時間之長，足以讓我內(nèi)心深刻反省，發(fā)現(xiàn)令自己深感不安的品行。

(4)I realized that I was filled to overflowing with self-pity, selfishness, and indifference to the needs of others.我意識到我的自艾自憐、自私，以及對他人需求的冷漠，已到了無可復加的地步。

I sat there and said a prayer.I prayed for strength, for a greater understanding, for keener awareness of my shortcomings.我坐在那里禱告。我祈求力量，祈求更多的理解，祈求對自己的缺點有更加深刻的認識。

I prayed for blessings upon the blind man and his granddaughter.Finally I drove away, shaken in mind, humbled in spirit.我祈禱上帝保佑那位盲人及其孫女。最后我開車離去，心靈上震撼巨大，精神上羞愧難當。

I am trying now not only to climb 14 steps each day, but in my small way to help others.Someday, perhaps, I'll have the chance to help a blind man in equal difficulties--someone as blind as I had been.現(xiàn)在我不僅每天努力去爬那14級臺階，而且盡我微薄之力去幫助他人。或許有一天，我能有機會去幫助一個同樣處于困境中的盲人——一個跟我過去一樣瞎的盲人。

Unit6

How do some women manage to combine a full-time job with family responsibilities and still find time for doing other things? Adrienne Popper longs to be like them, but wonders whether it is an impossible dream.有些婦女何以能既做一份全職工作又能兼顧家庭的責任，并仍有余暇做其他事情？艾德麗安·波珀渴望能像她們一樣，但又懷疑這會不會是一個根本無法實現(xiàn)的夢想。

I'm Going to Buy the Brooklyn Bridge

Adrienne Popper

Not long ago I received an alumni bulletin from my college.It included a brief item about a former classmate:”Kate L.teaches part-time at the University of Oklahoma and is assistant principal at County High School.In her spare time she is finishing her doctoral dissertation and the final drafts of two books, and she still has time for tennis and horse riding with her daughters.“ Four words in that description undid me: in her spare time.A friend said that if I believed everything in the report, she had a bridge in Brooklyn she'd like to sell me.我要買下布魯克林橋

艾德麗安·波珀

不久前，我收到母校一份校友簡報。里面有一條是關(guān)于一個老同學的消息：“凱特·L在俄克拉荷馬大學兼職任教，并任縣高中校長助理。她正在利用業(yè)余時間完成博士論文以及兩本著作的最后定稿，同時她仍有時間與女兒們一起打網(wǎng)球、騎馬。”這條短訊中有四個字令我心神不安：業(yè)余時間。有位朋友說，要是我對這一報道里的一切都信以為真，那她在布魯克林還有一座橋要出售給我呢。

My friend's joke hit home.What an idiot I'd been!I resolved to stop thinking about Kate's incredible accomplishments and to be suitably skeptical of such stories in the future.朋友的打趣一針見血。我多蠢啊！于是我打定主意，不再去想凱特那些不可思議的成就，以后看到類似報道也不要輕易相信。

But like a dieter who devours a whole box of cookies in a moment of weakness, I found my resolve slipping occasionally.In weak moments I'd comb the pages of newspapers and magazines and consume success stories by the pound.My favorite superwomen included a politician's daughter who cared for her two-year-old and a newborn while finishing law school and managing a company;a practicing pediatrician with ten children of her own;and a television anchorwoman, mother of two preschoolers, who was studying for a master's degree.可是，就像節(jié)食者一時軟弱竟把整盒餅干吃個精光一樣，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的決心也有動搖之時。每當不堅定時，我就在報刊上到處搜尋，貪婪地閱讀一篇又一篇的成功故事。我最喜歡的女強人有：一位政治家的女兒，她在照料一個兩歲幼兒與一個新生兒的同時讀完了法學院，同時還經(jīng)營著一家公司；一位開業(yè)兒科醫(yī)師，她自己有十個子女；還有一位電視主持人，她是兩個學齡前兒童的母親，還在攻讀碩士學位。

One day, however, I actually met a superwoman face to face.Just before Christmas last year, my work took me to the office of a woman executive of a national corporation.Like her supersisters, she has a husband, two small children and, according to reports, a spotless apartment.Her life runs as precisely as a Swiss watch.Since my own schedule rarely succeeds, her accomplishments fill me with equal amounts of wonder and guilt.然而，有一天我真的與一位女強人面對面相逢。去年圣誕節(jié)前，我因工作需要來到一家全國性公司女總裁的辦公室。如同其他女強人一樣，她有丈夫，兩個孩子，還有一處據(jù)說是纖塵不染的公寓。她的生活安排得如瑞士表一般精確。由于我本人的計劃安排很少成功，她的成就既令我驚訝不已，又使我深感內(nèi)疚。

On a shelf behind her desk that day were at least a hundred jars of strawberry jam, gaily tied with red-checked ribbons.The executive and her children had made the jam and decorated the jars, which she planned to distribute to her staff and visiting clients.那天，她辦公桌后面的架子上放置了至少一百罐草莓醬，上面扎著鮮艷的紅格緞帶。這些果醬是總裁和她的孩子們一起制作的，罐子也是他們一起裝飾的，她準備把果醬送給員工及來訪的客戶。

When, I wondered aloud, had she found the time to complete such an impressive holiday project? I should have known better than to ask.The answer had a familiar ring: in her spare time.我不由得驚問，她從哪兒抽出時間完成如此令人欽佩的假日工程？我真不該多此一問。答案聽上去相當熟悉：業(yè)余時間。

On the train ride home I sat with a jar of strawberry jam in my lap.It reproached me the entire trip.Other women, it seemed to say, are movers and shakers--not only during office hours, but in their spare time as well.What, it asked, do you accomplish in your spare time?

坐火車回家途中，我把那罐草莓醬放在膝頭。這罐草莓醬一路上都在責備我。它似乎在說，別的女人不僅在上班之時干得出人頭地，而且在工作之余也大有作為。而你，它責問道，在業(yè)余時間都做了點什么呢？

I would like to report that I am using my extra moments to complete postdoctoral studies in physics, to develop new theories of tonal harmony for piano and horn, and to bake cakes and play baseball with my sons.The truth of the matter is, however, that I am by nature completely unable

to get my act together.No matter how carefully I plan my time, the plan always goes wrong.我很想回答說，我在業(yè)余時間從事博士后物理學研究，在研究鋼琴與號的聲調(diào)和諧方面的新理論，在烘烤蛋糕，在跟兒子一起打棒球。然而，實際情形是，我生性就根本做不到事事有條不紊。不論怎么仔細安排時間，我的計劃總是出問題。

If I create schedules of military precision in which several afternoon hours are given over to the writing of the Great American Novel, the school nurse is sure to phone at exactly the moment I put pencil to paper.One of my children will have developed a strange illness that requires him to spend the remainder of the day in bed, calling me at frequent intervals to bring soup, juice, and tea.如果我制定像作戰(zhàn)計劃那樣精確的時間表，將下午若干小時用于寫作一部偉大的美國小說，那么幼兒園的保育員肯定會在我剛剛提筆的那一瞬間打來電話。我的一個孩子得了一種怪病需要整天臥床休息，還不停地讓我端湯倒茶送果汁。

Other days, every item on my schedule will take three times the number of minutes set aside.The cleaner will misplace my clothes.My order won't be ready at the butcher shop as promised.The woman ahead of me in the supermarket line will pay for her groceries with a check drawn on a Martian bank, and only the manager(who has just left for lunch)can OK the matter.”They also serve who only stand and wait,“ wrote the poet John Milton, but he forgot to add that they don't get to be superwomen that way.別的日子里，我時間表上的每一件事的耗時都超出原計劃的三倍。洗衣工不知把我的衣服塞到什么地方去了。肉鋪沒有把我的訂貨按時準備好。在超市里，排在我前面的那位女士開出一張“火星銀行”的支票為其食品雜貨付款，只有經(jīng)理（他剛出去吃午飯）才能決定可否接受。“站著等候的人們也在效勞，”詩人約翰·彌爾頓寫道，但他卻忘了補充一句，她們這樣站著等候成不了女強人。

Racing the clock every day is such an exhausting effort that when I actually have a few free moments, I tend to collapse.Mostly I sink into a chair and stare into space while I imagine how lovely life would be if only I possessed the organizational skills and the energy of my superheroines.In fact, I waste a good deal of my spare time just worrying about what other women are accomplishing in theirs.Sometimes I think that these modern fairy tales create as many problems for women as the old stories that had us biding our time for the day our prince would come.每天與時間賽跑令人精疲力竭，等我果真有了一些余暇，往往累得都要垮了。我大多癱倒在椅子里，呆呆地凝視著前方，想象著要是自己擁有那些超級女英雄的組織才能與旺盛精力，生活該會是多么美妙。事實上，我白白浪費了許多閑暇時光不無憂愁地去想著別的女人在業(yè)余時間會成就什么事情。有時我想，這些現(xiàn)代神話故事給女人帶來的問題并不少于那些害得我們終日等待王子前來相救的古老故事。

Yet superwomen tales continue to charm me.Despite my friend's warning against being taken in, despite everything I've learned, I find that I'm not only willing, but positively eager to buy that bridge she mentioned.Why? I suppose it has something to do with the appeal of an optimistic approach to life--and the fact that extraordinary deeds have been accomplished by determined individuals who refused to believe that ”you can't“ was the final word on their dreams.但女強人的故事仍然令我心醉神迷。盡管朋友提醒我不要上當，盡管我也長了不少見識，我還是發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不僅愿意，而且還真的渴望買下她說的那座橋。為什么？我想這是因為樂觀的生活態(tài)度深深地吸引著我 —— 還有，那些就是不肯相信自己的夢想“不能”實現(xiàn)的意志堅定的人確實成就了非凡的業(yè)績。

Men have generally been assured that achieving their heart's desires would be a piece of cake.Women, of course, have always believed that we can't have our cake and eat it too-the old low-dream diet.Perhaps becoming a superwoman is an impossible dream for me, but life without that kind of fantasy is as unappealing as a diet with no treats.男人一般確信，實現(xiàn)自己的心愿不費吹灰之力。女人嘛，當然總是相信魚與熊掌不能兼得 —— 人們反復灌輸?shù)牟灰酶唑\遠那一套。我或許無望成為女強人，但如果沒有這種夢想，生活就變得平淡無味，就如同日常飲食中缺了美味佳肴一般。

I know the idea of admiring a heroine is considered silly today;we working women are too sophisticated for that.Yet the superwomen I read about are my heroines.When my faith in myself falters, it is they who urge me on, whispering, ”Go for it, lady!“

我知道如今人們認為英雄崇拜是一種愚蠢的想法，我們職業(yè)女性業(yè)已成熟，不再干這種傻事。然而我所讀到的女強人就是我的英雄。當我對自己失去信心時，正是她們激勵我向前進，輕輕對我說：“去爭取啊，女士！”

One of these days I plan to phone my former classmate Kate and shout ”Well done!“ into the receiver.I hope she won't be modest about her achievements.Perhaps she will have completed her dissertation and her two books and moved on to some new work that's exciting or dangerous or both.I'd like to hear all about it.After that I'm going to phone the friend who laughed at me for believing all the stories I hear.Then I'll tell her a story: the tale of a woman who bought her own version of that bridge in Brooklyn and found that it was a wise investment after all.我準備近日給老同學凱特打電話，對著話筒大叫一聲“干得好！”我希望她對自己的成就不要謙虛。也許她已經(jīng)完成了博士論文和兩本著作，開始著手某項頗為刺激，或頗具危險，甚或兩者兼有的新工作。我愿意聽她講述這一切。隨后我要給那個嘲笑我輕信自己聽到的成功故事的朋友打電話。我要給她講一個故事：一個女人的故事，她買下了她自己演繹的布魯克林的那座大橋，并發(fā)現(xiàn)這是一項明智的投資。

When you find yourself tied down to doing a job that just isn't you, it is easy to wish to be able to start off along a completely new path.Unfortunately, this is often easier said than done, the path stony and difficult to follow.For Muriel Whetstone, however, it turned out to be a journey well worth the effort.當你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被一份你根本不想做的工作束縛住時，很容易希望自己能重新開辟一條全新的路。不幸的是，說來容易做來難，新路往往充滿崎嶇坎坷。然而，對穆麗爾·韋特斯通來說，這一人生之路還是值得一走的。

Beginning Anew

Muriel L.Whetstone

I dreaded Sundays.I began living for the weekend at 8:30 Monday mornings.I felt bitter towards my boss.(1)The thought of answering other people's telephones, typing other people's work and watching other people take credit for my ideas and opinions would throw me into week-long bouts of depression.I hated my job.I hated my life.I hated myself for not having the courage to change either one.重新開始

穆麗爾·L·韋特斯通

我曾經(jīng)懼怕星期天。那時我從星期一上午八點半開始就盼著周末。我痛恨我的老板。每當我想起給別人回電話、打字，看到我出的主意和見解卻讓別人去受益時，常常整個星期都會悶悶不樂。我痛恨我的工作。我痛恨我的生活。我痛恨自己既沒有勇氣改換工作，也沒有勇氣改變我的生活。

When most of my friends were planning college schedules and partying into the night, I was changing dirty diapers and walking the floor with a crying baby.At 19 years old I was the mother of two, and a pitifully young wife.Everything I did for years, every decision I made, was done with my family in mind.當我的大多數(shù)的朋友都在計劃上大學，歡聚至深更半夜時，我卻在換臟尿布，抱著一個哭鬧的孩子在屋里走來走去。才19歲，我就已經(jīng)是兩個孩子的母親，一個可憐的小媳婦。多年來不管我做什么或是作出什么決定，我總得考慮我的這個家。

And then I turned 29, and 30 was only a breath away.(2)How long could I live like this? Certainly not until I retired.I began to feel that if I didn't do something soon, something quickly, I would die of unhappiness.I decided to follow my childhood dream: I was going to get my undergraduate degree and become a full-time journalist.一晃我就29歲了，離30歲僅一步之遙。這樣的生活我能維持多久？肯定不會到我退休之時。我開始覺得，如果我不早日有所作為，馬上行動的話，我就會苦悶而死。我決定去追尋兒時的夢想：我要拿到大學本科學位，做一個全職的記者。

I quit my job on one of my good days, a Friday.Almost at once I was filled with anxiety.What would I tell my husband and what would be his reaction? How would we pay our bills? I must be crazy, I thought.I was too old to begin again.I prayed, Lord, what have I done? I wondered if I was experiencing some sort of early mid-life crisis.Perhaps if I crawled back to my boss on my hands and knees and pleaded temporary madness, he'd give me my job back.I spent that entire weekend in the eye of an emotional storm.我在我的一個美好的日子，一個星期五，辭去了工作。我的心中幾乎馬上充滿了焦慮。我怎么跟丈夫說呢？他會怎么反應呢？我們?nèi)绾胃都依锬切┵~單呢？我真是瘋了，我心想。我已經(jīng)不再年輕，沒法從頭開始了。我祈禱著，天哪，我都做了些什么呀？我懷疑自己是在經(jīng)歷某種早期的中年生活危機。如果我爬回去跪倒在老板跟前，懇求他原諒我一時神志錯亂，或許他會讓我復職。整個周末我都在忐忑不安中度過。

But while I was feeling uneasy about the bridge I'd just crossed, I also began to feel a renewed sense of hopefulness about the possibilities on the other side.I had had a long love affair with the written word that was separate and apart from any of my roles.What we shared was personal: It belonged to me and would always be mine despite anything going on outside of me.I wasn't quite sure what my journey would involve, but I was positive who would be at the other end.(3)I steeled myself to travel the road that would lead me to a better understanding of who I was and of what I wanted out of life.I shared my mixed feelings with my husband.He was as worried as I was, but he was also warmly supportive.And so I stepped off the bridge and onto the path, nervous but determined.I soon discovered that I loved to learn and that my mind soaked up knowledge at every opportunity.My decision at those times felt right.But sometimes, after realizing what was expected of me, I would be weighed down by self-doubt and uncertainty.然而，就在我對剛剛跨越人生之橋的舉動深感不安之際，我同時也開始感到希望的復萌，覺得彼岸有種種機會在等著我。長久以來，我對與自己生活中的種種角色毫不相干的文字情有獨鐘。我與文字之間有一種默契：它屬于我自己，并將永遠是我的，無論外面的世界發(fā)生什么事情。我并不完全明白我的人生旅途中將要發(fā)生什么，但我對到達旅途終點之后的自己懷有信心。我堅定地走下去，這條路將使我更好地了解自己，更好地認清自己生活的目的。我向丈夫坦陳自己的復雜心緒。他和我一樣擔憂，但同時也熱情支持我。于是我走下橋來，踏上征途，緊張但卻堅定。我很快發(fā)現(xiàn)，我熱愛學習，利用一切機會汲取知識。這時候我會覺得我的決定做對了。但有時，每當意識到別人對自己的期待時，我又會由于自我懷疑和對未來捉摸不定而感到心情沉重。

I was older than a few of my instructors and nearly all of my classmates.I felt like an outsider practically that entire first semester.Finally I met a group of older female students who were, like me, making a fresh start.We began to share our experiences of returning to school, dealing with husbands, lovers, children and bills that had to be paid.Over time we have become sisters, supporting ourselves by encouraging and supporting one another.我比個別教師年齡還大，幾乎比所有的同班同學都大。差不多整整第一學期，我覺得自己完全是個外人。終于我遇到了一些大齡女生，她們和我一樣都在重新開始自己的生活。我們開始交流自己重返校園的體驗，談論怎么與丈夫、男友相處，怎么帶孩子，怎么應付各種要付的賬單等等。隨著時間的推移，我們成了姐妹，通過相互鼓勵，相互支持使自己獲得勇氣和信心。

I eventually had to seek employment to help with expenses.In fact, I've had more jobs in the couple of years than I care to count.Many times I've had to stir a pot with one hand while holding a book with the other.More than a few times I've nearly broken under the pressure.I've shed tears on the bad days, but smiles are plentiful on the good ones.我終于不得不找工作以貼補家用。事實上，在那兩年里，我干過許許多多工作，連自己也懶得記數(shù)了。我常常不得不一手炒菜，一手拿著書看。好多次過重的負擔幾乎要把我壓垮。在不順利的日子里我哭泣流淚，但在順利的日子里我也有許許多多歡笑。

However, I would not take back one tear or change one thing about the last couple of years.It hasn't been a snap: From the beginning I knew it would not be.(4)And it's not so much the results of the action that have reshaped me(although that's important, too)as it is the realization

that I have within myself what it takes to do what I set out to do.I feel more in control these days and less like a flag on a breezy day, blowing this way or that depending on the wind.然而，我不因流淚而后悔，也不想改變過去幾年中發(fā)生的一切。這幾年過得不容易：從一開始我就知道不容易。此外，給我?guī)硇碌纳畹模c其說是自己努力取得的結(jié)果(雖然這也很重要)，不如說是由于意識到自己具有潛在的能力可以做自己想做的事。如今我感到自己更能主宰自己的命運，不再如風中的旗幟，隨風飄蕩。

I no longer dread Sundays, and Wednesdays are just as pleasant as Fridays.Now I get credit for my ideas, and my opinions are sought after.I love my new career.I love my life again.And I can clearly see a new woman waiting patiently just a little way down the road, waiting for me to reach her.我不再懼怕星期天，星期三也如星期五一樣愉快。現(xiàn)在我出了主意，功勞就是我的；我講的意見，別人認真聆聽。我熱愛自己的新工作。我重新熱愛自己的生活。我清楚地看到，在不遠的前方，一個全新的女人正在耐心地等著我去與她擁抱。

Unit7 Some languages resist the introduction of new words.Others, like English, seem to welcome them.Robert MacNeil looks at the history of English and comes to the conclusion that its tolerance for change represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom.有些語言拒絕引入新詞。另一些語言，如英語，則似乎歡迎新詞的引入。羅伯特·麥克尼爾回顧英語的歷史，得出結(jié)論說，英語對變化的包容性體現(xiàn)了根深蒂固的自由思想。

The Glorious Messiness of English

Robert MacNeil

The story of our English language is typically one of massive stealing from other languages.That is why English today has an estimated vocabulary of over one million words, while other major languages have far fewer.英語中絢麗多彩的雜亂無章現(xiàn)象

羅伯特·麥克尼爾

我們的英語的歷史是典型的大量竊取其它語言的歷史。正因為如此，今日英語的詞匯量據(jù)估計超過一百萬，而其它主要語言的詞匯量都要小得多。

French, for example, has only about 75,000 words, and that includes English expressions like snack bar and hit parade.The French, however, do not like borrowing foreign words because they think it corrupts their language.The government tries to ban words from English and declares that Walkman is not desirable;so they invent a word, balladeur, which French kids are supposed to say instead--but they don't.例如，法語只有約75,000個單詞，其中還包括像snack bar（快餐店）和 hit parade（流

行唱片目錄）這樣的英語詞匯。但法國人不喜歡借用外來詞，因為他們認為這樣會損害法語的純潔性。法國政府試圖逐出英語詞匯，宣稱Walkman（隨身聽）一詞有傷大雅，因此他們造了個新詞balladeur讓法國兒童用——可他們就是不用。

Walkman is fascinating because it isn't even English.Strictly speaking, it was invented by the Japanese manufacturers who put two simple English words together to name their product.That doesn't bother us, but it does bother the French.Such is the glorious messiness of English.That happy tolerance, that willingness to accept words from anywhere, explains the richness of English and why it has become, to a very real extent, the first truly global language.Walkman一詞非常耐人尋味，因為這個詞連英語也不是。嚴格地說，該詞是由日本制造商發(fā)明的，他們把兩個簡單的英語單詞拼在一起來命名他們的產(chǎn)品。這事兒我們不介意，法國人卻耿耿于懷。由此可見英語中絢麗多彩的雜亂無章現(xiàn)象。這種樂意包容的精神，這種不管源自何方來者不拒的精神，恰好解釋了英語為什么會這么豐富，解釋了英語緣何在很大程度上第一個成了真正的國際語言。

How did the language of a small island off the coast of Europe become the language of the planet--more widely spoken and written than any other has ever been? The history of English is present in the first words a child learns about identity(I, me, you);possession(mine, yours);the body(eye, nose, mouth);size(tall, short);and necessities(food, water).These words all come from Old English or Anglo-Saxon English, the core of our language.Usually short and direct, these are words we still use today for the things that really matter to us.歐洲沿海一個彈丸小島的語言何以會成為地球上的通用語言，比歷史上任何一種其他語言都更為廣泛地被口頭和書面使用？英語的歷史體現(xiàn)在孩子最先學會用來表示身份（I, me, you）、所屬關(guān)系（mine, yours）、身體部位（eye, nose, mouth）、大小高矮（tall, short），以及生活必需品（food, water）的詞匯當中。這些詞都來自英語的核心部分古英語或盎格魯－薩克遜英語。這些詞通常簡短明了，我們今天仍然用這些詞來表示對我們真正至關(guān)重要的事物。

Great speakers often use Old English to arouse our emotions.For example, during World War II, Winston Churchill made this speech, stirring the courage of his people against Hitler's armies positioned to cross the English Channel: ”We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.We shall never surrender.“

偉大的演說家常常用古英語來激發(fā)我們的情感。例如，在二戰(zhàn)期間，溫斯頓·丘吉爾作了如下的演講來激勵國民的勇氣以抵抗屯兵英吉利海峽準備渡海作戰(zhàn)的希特勒的軍隊：“我們要戰(zhàn)斗在海灘上，我們要戰(zhàn)斗在著陸場上，我們要戰(zhàn)斗在田野和街巷，我們要戰(zhàn)斗在群山中。我們決不投降。”

Virtually every one of those words came from Old English, except the last--surrender, which came from Norman French.Churchill could have said, ”We shall never give in," but it is one of the lovely--and powerful--opportunities of English that a writer can mix, for effect, different words from different backgrounds.Yet there is something direct to the heart that speaks to us from the earliest words in our language.這段文字中幾乎每個詞都來自古英語，只有最后一個詞——surrender 是個例外，來自諾曼法語。丘吉爾原本可以說：“We shall never give in,”但這正是英語迷人之處和活力所

在，作家為了加強效果可以糅合來自不同背景的不同詞匯。而演說中使用古英語詞匯具有直接撥動心弦的效果。

When Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 B.C., English did not exist.The Celts, who inhabited the land, spoke languages that survive today mainly as Welsh.Where those languages came from is still a mystery, but there is a theory.尤利烏斯·凱撒在公元前55年入侵不列顛時，英語尚不存在。當時不列顛的居民凱爾特人使用的那些語言流傳下來主要成了威爾士語。這些語言的起源至今仍是個不解之謎，但有一種理論試圖解開這個謎。

Two centuries ago an English judge in India noticed that several words in Sanskrit closely resembled some words in Greek and Latin.A systematic study revealed that many modern languages descended from a common parent language, lost to us because nothing was written down.兩個世紀前，在印度當法官的一位英國人注意到，梵文中有一些詞與希臘語、拉丁語中的一些詞極為相似。系統(tǒng)的研究顯示，許多現(xiàn)代語言起源于一個共同的母語，但由于沒有文字記載，該母語已經(jīng)失傳。

Identifying similar words, linguists have come up with what they call an Indo-European parent language, spoken until 3500 to 2000 B.C.These people had common words for snow, bee and wolf but no word for sea.So some scholars assume they lived somewhere in north-central Europe, where it was cold.Traveling east, some established the languages of India and Pakistan, and others drifted west toward the gentler climates of Europe.Some who made the earliest move westward became known as the Celts, whom Caesar's armies found in Britain.語言學家找出了相似的詞，提出這些語言的源頭是他們稱之為印歐母語的語言，這種語言使用于公元前3500年至公元前2000年。這些人使用同樣的詞表達“雪”“蜜蜂”、和“狼”，但沒有表示“海”的詞。因此有些學者認為，他們生活在寒冷的中北歐某個地區(qū)。一些人向東遷徙形成了印度和巴基斯坦的各種語言，有些人則向西漂泊，來到歐洲氣候較為溫暖的地區(qū)。最早西移的一些人后來被稱作凱爾特人，亦即凱撒的軍隊在不列顛發(fā)現(xiàn)的民族。

New words came with the Germanic tribes--the Angles, the Saxons, etc.--that slipped across the North Sea to settle in Britain in the 5th century.Together they formed what we call Anglo-Saxon society.新的詞匯隨日爾曼部落——盎格魯、薩克遜等部落——而來，他們在5世紀的時候越過北海定居在不列顛。他們共同形成了我們稱之為盎格魯－薩克遜的社會。

The Anglo-Saxons passed on to us their farming vocabulary, including sheep, ox, earth, wood, field and work.They must have also enjoyed themselves because they gave us the word laughter.盎格魯－薩克遜人將他們的農(nóng)耕詞匯留傳給我們，包括sheep, ox, earth, wood, field 和work等。他們的日子一定過得很開心，因為他們留傳給我們laughter一詞。

The next big influence on English was Christianity.It enriched the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary with some 400 to 500 words from Greek and Latin, including angel, disciple and

第五篇：全新版大學英語綜合教程3課文原文和翻譯

unit 1 Mr.Doherty Builds His Dream Life

In America many people have a romantic idea of life in the countryside.Many living in towns dream of starting up their own farm, of living off the land.Few get round to putting their dreams into practice.This is perhaps just as well, as the life of a farmer is far from easy, as Jim Doherty discovered when he set out to combine being a writer with running a farm.Nevertheless, as he explains, he has no regrets and remains enthusiastic about his decision to change his way of life.在美國，不少人對鄉(xiāng)村生活懷有浪漫的情感。許多居住在城鎮(zhèn)的人夢想著自己辦個農(nóng)場，夢想著靠土地為生。很少有人真去把夢想變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實。或許這也沒有什么不好，因為，正如吉姆·多爾蒂當初開始其寫作和農(nóng)場經(jīng)營雙重生涯時所體驗到的那樣，農(nóng)耕生活遠非輕松自在。但他寫道，自己并不后悔，對自己作出的改變生活方式的決定仍熱情不減。

Mr.Doherty Builds His Dream Life

Jim Doherty

There are two things I have always wanted to do--write and live

on a farm.Today I'm doing both.I am not in E.B.White's class as a writer or in my neighbors' league as a farmer, but I'm getting by.And after years of frustration with city and suburban living, my wife Sandy and I have finally found contentment here in the country.多爾蒂先生創(chuàng)建自己的理想生活

吉姆·多爾蒂

有兩件事是我一直想做的――寫作與務農(nóng)。如今我同時做著這兩件事。作為作家，我和E·B·懷特不屬同一等級，作為農(nóng)場主，我和鄉(xiāng)鄰也不是同一類人，不過我應付得還行。在城市以及郊區(qū)歷經(jīng)多年的悵惘失望之后，我和妻子桑迪終于在這里的鄉(xiāng)村尋覓到心靈的滿足。

It's a self-reliant sort of life.We grow nearly all of our fruits and vegetables.Our hens keep us in eggs, with several dozen left over to sell each week.Our bees provide us with honey, and we cut enough wood to just about make it through the heating season.這是一種自力更生的生活。我們食用的果蔬幾乎都是自己種的。自家飼養(yǎng)的雞提供雞蛋，每星期還能剩余幾十個出售。自家養(yǎng)殖的蜜蜂提供蜂蜜，我們還自己動手砍柴，足可供過冬取暖之用。

It's a satisfying life too.In the summer we canoe on the river, go

picnicking in the woods and take long bicycle rides.In the winter we ski and skate.We get excited about sunsets.We love the smell of the earth warming and the sound of cattle lowing.We watch for hawks in the sky and deer in the cornfields.這也是一種令人滿足的生活。夏日里我們在河上蕩舟，在林子里野餐，騎著自行車長時間漫游。冬日里我們滑雪溜冰。我們?yōu)槁淙盏挠噍x而激動。我們愛聞大地回暖的氣息，愛聽牛群哞叫。我們守著看鷹兒飛過上空，看玉米田間鹿群嬉躍。

But the good life can get pretty tough.Three months ago when it was 30 below, we spent two miserable days hauling firewood up the river on a sled.Three months from now, it will be 95 above and we will be cultivating corn, weeding strawberries and killing chickens.Recently, Sandy and I had to retile the back roof.Soon Jim, 16 and Emily, 13, the youngest of our four children, will help me make some long-overdue improvements on the outdoor toilet that supplements our indoor plumbing when we are working outside.Later this month, we'll spray the orchard, paint the barn, plant the garden and clean the hen house before the new chicks arrive.但如此美妙的生活有時會變得相當艱苦。就在三個月前，氣溫降到華氏零下30度，我們辛苦勞作了整整兩天，用一個雪橇沿著河邊拖運木柴。再過三個月，氣溫會升到95度，我們就要給玉米松土，在草莓地除草，還要宰殺家禽。前一陣子我和桑迪不得不翻修后屋頂。過些時候，四個孩子中的兩個小的，16歲的吉米和13歲的埃米莉，會幫著我一起把拖了很久沒修的室外廁所修葺一下，那是專為室外干活修建的。這個月晚些時候，我們要給果樹噴灑藥水，要油漆谷倉，要給菜園播種，要趕在新的小雞運到之前清掃雞舍。

In between such chores, I manage to spend 50 to 60 hours a week at the typewriter or doing reporting for the freelance articles I sell to magazines and newspapers.Sandy, meanwhile, pursues her own demanding schedule.Besides the usual household routine, she oversees the garden and beehives, bakes bread, cans and freezes, drives the kids to their music lessons, practices with them, takes organ lessons on her own, does research and typing for me, writes an article herself now and then, tends the flower beds, stacks a little wood and delivers the eggs.There is, as the old saying goes, no rest for the wicked on a place like this--and not much for the virtuous either.在這些活計之間，我每周要抽空花五、六十個小時，不是打字撰文，就是為作為自由撰稿人投給報刊的文章進行采訪。桑迪則有她自己繁忙的工作日程。除了日常的家務，她還照管菜園和蜂房，烘烤面包，將食品裝罐、冷藏，開車送孩子學音樂，和他們一起練習，自己還要上風琴課，為我做些研究工作并打字，自己有時也寫寫文章，還要侍弄花圃，堆摞木柴、運送雞蛋。正如老話說的那樣，在這種情形之下，壞人不得閑――賢德之人也歇

不了。

None of us will ever forget our first winter.We were buried under five feet of snow from December through March.While one storm after another blasted huge drifts up against the house and barn, we kept warm inside burning our own wood, eating our own apples and loving every minute of it.我們誰也不會忘記第一年的冬天。從12月一直到3月底，我們都被深達5英尺的積雪困著。暴風雪肆虐，一場接著一場，積雪厚厚地覆蓋著屋子和谷倉，而室內(nèi)，我們用自己砍伐的木柴燒火取暖，吃著自家種植的蘋果，溫馨快樂每一分鐘。

When spring came, it brought two floods.First the river overflowed, covering much of our land for weeks.Then the growing season began, swamping us under wave after wave of produce.Our freezer filled up with cherries, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, peas, beans and corn.Then our canned-goods shelves and cupboards began to grow with preserves, tomato juice, grape juice, plums, jams and jellies.Eventually, the basement floor disappeared under piles of potatoes, squash and pumpkins, and the barn began to fill with apples and pears.It was amazing.開春后，有過兩次泛濫。一次是河水外溢，我們不少田地被淹

了幾個星期。接著一次是生長季節(jié)到了，一波又一波的農(nóng)產(chǎn)品潮涌而來，弄得我們應接不暇。我們的冰箱里塞滿了櫻桃、藍莓、草莓、蘆筍、豌豆、青豆和玉米。接著我們存放食品罐的架子上、柜櫥里也開始堆滿一罐罐的腌漬食品，有番茄汁、葡萄汁、李子、果醬和果凍。最后，地窖里遍地是大堆大堆的土豆、西葫蘆、南瓜，谷倉里也儲滿了蘋果和梨。真是太美妙了。

The next year we grew even more food and managed to get through the winter on firewood that was mostly from our own trees and only 100 gallons of heating oil.At that point I began thinking seriously about quitting my job and starting to freelance.The timing was terrible.By then, Shawn and Amy, our oldest girls were attending expensive Ivy League schools and we had only a few thousand dollars in the bank.Yet we kept coming back to the same question: Will there ever be a better time? The answer, decidedly, was no, and so--with my employer's blessings and half a year's pay in accumulated benefits in my pocket--off I went.第二年我們種了更多的作物，差不多就靠著從自家樹林砍斫的木柴以及僅僅100加侖的燃油過了冬。其時，我開始認真考慮起辭了職去從事自由撰稿的事來。時機選得實在太差。當時，兩個大的女兒肖恩和埃米正在費用很高的常春藤學校上學，而我們只有幾千美金的銀行存款。但我們一再回到一個老問題上來：真的會有更好的時機嗎？答案無疑是否定的。于是，帶著老板的祝福，口袋里揣著作為累

積津貼的半年薪水，我走了。

There have been a few anxious moments since then, but on balance things have gone much better than we had any right to expect.For various stories of mine, I've crawled into black-bear dens for Sports Illustrated, hitched up dogsled racing teams for Smithsonian magazine, checked out the Lake Champlain “monster” for Science Digest, and canoed through the Boundary Waters wilderness area of Minnesota for Destinations.那以后有過一些焦慮的時刻，但總的來說，情況比我們料想的要好得多。為了寫那些內(nèi)容各不相同的文章，我為《體育畫報》爬進過黑熊窩；為《史密森期刊》替參賽的一組組狗套上過雪橇；為《科學文摘》調(diào)查過尚普蘭湖水怪的真相；為《終點》雜志在明尼蘇達劃著小舟穿越美、加邊界水域內(nèi)的公共荒野保護區(qū)。

I'm not making anywhere near as much money as I did when I was employed full time, but now we don't need as much either.I generate enough income to handle our $600-a-month mortgage payments plus the usual expenses for a family like ours.That includes everything from music lessons and dental bills to car repairs and college costs.When it comes to insurance, we have a poor man's major-medical policy.We have to pay the first $500 of any medical fees for each member of the family.It picks up 80% of the costs beyond that.Although we are stuck with paying

minor expenses, our premium is low--only $560 a year--and we are covered against catastrophe.Aside from that and the policy on our two cars at $400 a year, we have no other insurance.But we are setting aside $2,000 a year in an IRA.我掙的錢遠比不上擔任全職工作時的收入，可如今我們需要的錢也沒有過去多。我掙的錢足以應付每月600美金的房屋貸款按揭以及一家人的日常開銷。那些開銷包括了所有支出，如音樂課學費、牙醫(yī)賬單、汽車維修以及大學費用等等。至于保險，我們買了一份低收入者的主要醫(yī)療項目保險。我們需要為每一位家庭成員的任何一項醫(yī)療費用支付最初的500美金。醫(yī)療保險則支付超出部分的80％。雖然我們?nèi)砸Ц缎〔糠轴t(yī)療費用，但我們的保險費也低--每年只要560美金--而我們給自己生大病保了險。除了這一保險項目，以及兩輛汽車每年400美金的保險，我們就沒有其他保險了。不過我們每年留出2000美元入個人退休金賬戶。

We've been able to make up the difference in income by cutting back without appreciably lowering our standard of living.We continue to dine out once or twice a month, but now we patronize local restaurants instead of more expensive places in the city.We still attend the opera and ballet in Milwaukee but only a few times a year.We eat less meat, drink cheaper wine and see fewer movies.Extravagant Christmases are a memory, and we combine vacations with story assignments...我們通過節(jié)約開支而又不明顯降低生活水準的方式來彌補收入差額。我們每個月仍出去吃一兩次飯，不過現(xiàn)在我們光顧的是當?shù)夭宛^，而不是城里的高級飯店。我們?nèi)匀ッ軤栁只牳鑴】窗爬傺莩觯贿^一年才幾次。我們?nèi)獬缘蒙倭耍坪鹊帽阋肆耍娪翱吹蒙倭恕ｄ亸埖氖フQ節(jié)成為一種回憶，我們把完成稿約作為度假的一部分??

I suspect not everyone who loves the country would be happy living the way we do.It takes a couple of special qualities.One is a tolerance for solitude.Because we are so busy and on such a tight budget, we don't entertain much.During the growing season there is no time for socializing anyway.Jim and Emily are involved in school activities, but they too spend most of their time at home.我想，不是所有熱愛鄉(xiāng)村的人都會樂意過我們這種生活的。這種生活需要一些特殊的素質(zhì)。其一是耐得住寂寞。由于我們?nèi)绱嗣β担诸^又緊，我們很少請客。在作物生長季節(jié)，根本就沒工夫參加社交活動。吉米和埃米莉雖然參加學校的各種活動，但他倆大多數(shù)時間也呆在家里。

The other requirement is energy--a lot of it.The way to make self-sufficiency work on a small scale is to resist the temptation to buy a tractor and other expensive laborsaving devices.Instead, you do the work yourself.The only machinery we own(not counting the lawn mower)is a little three-horsepower rotary cultivator and a 16-inch chain saw.另一項要求是體力――相當大的體力。小范圍里實現(xiàn)自給自足 的途徑是抵制誘惑，不去購置拖拉機和其他昂貴的節(jié)省勞力的機械。相反，你要自己動手。我們僅有的機器（不包括割草機）是一臺3馬力的小型旋轉(zhuǎn)式耕耘機以及一架16英寸的鏈鋸。

How much longer we'll have enough energy to stay on here is anybody's guess--perhaps for quite a while, perhaps not.When the time comes, we'll leave with a feeling of sorrow but also with a sense of pride at what we've been able to accomplish.We should make a fair profit on the sale of the place, too.We've invested about $35,000 of our own money in it, and we could just about double that if we sold today.But this is not a good time to sell.Once economic conditions improve, however, demand for farms like ours should be strong again.沒人知道我們還能有精力在這里再呆多久--也許呆很長一陣子，也許不是。到走的時候，我們會愴然離去，但也會為自己所做的一切深感自豪。我們把農(nóng)場出售也會賺相當大一筆錢。我們自己在農(nóng)場投入了約35，000美金的資金，要是現(xiàn)在售出的話價格差不多可以翻一倍。不過現(xiàn)在不是出售的好時機。但是一旦經(jīng)濟形勢好轉(zhuǎn)，對我們這種農(nóng)場的需求又會增多。

We didn't move here primarily to earn money though.We came because we wanted to improve the quality of our lives.When I watch Emily collecting eggs in the evening, fishing with Jim on the river or enjoying an old-fashioned picnic in the orchard with the entire family, I

know we've found just what we were looking for.但我們主要不是為了賺錢而移居至此的。我們來此居住是因為想提高生活質(zhì)量。當我看著埃米莉傍晚去收雞蛋，跟吉米一起在河上釣魚，或和全家人一起在果園里享用老式的野餐，我知道，我們找到了自己一直在尋求的生活方式。

Donna Barron describes how American family life has changed in recent years.She identifies three forces at work.What are they? Read on to find out.Then ask yourself whether similar forces are at work within China.Will family life here end up going in the same direction?

唐娜·巴倫描述了美國家庭生活近幾年來的變化。她指出有三種力量在起作用。是哪三種力量？請讀本文。讀后問一下自己，同樣的力量在中國是否也在起作用。中國的家庭生活最終是否會朝著同一個方向變化？

The Freedom Givers

Fergus M.Bordewich

A gentle breeze swept the Canadian plains as I stepped outside the small two-story house.Alongside me was a slender woman in a black dress, my guide back to a time when the surrounding settlement in

Dresden, Ontario, was home to a hero in American history.As we walked toward a plain gray church, Barbara Carter spoke proudly of her great-great-grandfather, Josiah Henson.“He was confident that the Creator intended all men to be created equal.And he never gave up struggling for that freedom.” 給人以自由者 弗格斯·M·博得威奇

我步出這幢兩層小屋，加拿大平原上輕風微拂。我身邊是一位苗條的黑衣女子，把我?guī)Щ氐竭^去的向?qū)АＤ菚r，安大略省得雷斯頓這一帶住著美國歷史上的一位英雄。我們前往一座普普通通的灰色教堂，芭芭拉·卡特自豪地談論著其高祖喬賽亞·亨森。“他堅信上帝要所有人生來平等。他從來沒有停止過爭取這一自由權(quán)利的奮斗。”

Carter's devotion to her ancestor is about more than personal pride: it is about family honor.For Josiah Henson has lived on through the character in American fiction that he helped inspire: Uncle Tom, the long-suffering slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.Ironically, that character has come to symbolize everything Henson was not.A racial sellout unwilling to stand up for himself? Carter gets angry at the thought.“Josiah Henson was a man of principle,” she said firmly.卡特對其先輩的忠誠不僅僅關(guān)乎一己之驕傲，而關(guān)乎家族榮譽。因為喬賽亞·亨森至今仍為人所知是由于他所激發(fā)的創(chuàng)作靈感使

得一個美國小說人物問世：湯姆叔叔，哈麗特·比徹·斯陀的小說《湯姆叔叔的小屋》中那個逆來順受的黑奴。具有諷刺意味的是，這一人物所象征的一切在亨森身上一點都找不到。一個不愿奮起力爭、背叛種族的黑人？卡特對此頗為憤慨。“喬賽亞·亨森是個有原則的人，”她肯定地說。

I had traveled here to Henson's last home--now a historic site that Carter formerly directed--to learn more about a man who was, in many ways, an African-American Moses.After winning his own freedom from slavery, Henson secretly helped hundreds of other slaves to escape north to Canada--and liberty.Many settled here in Dresden with him.我遠道前來亨森最后的居所――如今已成為卡特曾管理過的一處歷史遺跡――是為了更多地了解此人，他在許多方面堪稱黑人摩西。亨森自己擺脫了黑奴身份獲得自由之后，便秘密幫助其他許多黑奴逃奔北方去加拿大――逃奔自由之地。許多人和他一起在得雷斯頓這一帶定居了下來。

Yet this stop was only part of a much larger mission for me.Josiah Henson is but one name on a long list of courageous men and women who together forged the Underground Railroad, a secret web of escape routes and safe houses that they used to liberate slaves from the American South.Between 1820 and 1860, as many as 100,000 slaves traveled the

Railroad to freedom.但此地只是我所承擔的繁重使命的一處停留地。喬賽亞·亨森只是一長串無所畏懼的男女名單中的一個名字，這些人共同創(chuàng)建了這條“地下鐵路”，一條由逃亡線路和可靠的人家組成的用以解放美國南方黑奴的秘密網(wǎng)絡。在1820年至1860年期間，多達十萬名黑奴經(jīng)由此路走向自由。

In October 2000, President Clinton authorized $16 million for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to honor this first great civil-rights struggle in the U.S.The center is scheduled to open in 2004 in Cincinnati.And it's about time.For the heroes of the Underground Railroad remain too little remembered, their exploits still largely unsung.I was intent on telling their stories.2000年10月，克林頓總統(tǒng)批準撥款1600萬美元建造全國“地下鐵路”自由中心，以此紀念美國歷史上第一次偉大的民權(quán)斗爭。中心計劃于2004年在辛辛那提州建成。真是該建立這樣一個中心的時候了。因為地下鐵路的英雄們依然默默無聞，他們的業(yè)績依然少人頌揚。我要講述他們的故事。

John Parker tensed when he heard the soft knock.Peering out his door into the night, he recognized the face of a trusted neighbor.“There's a party of escaped slaves hiding in the woods in Kentucky, twenty miles from the river,” the man whispered urgently.Parker didn't hesitate.“I'll

go,” he said, pushing a pair of pistols into his pockets.聽到輕輕的敲門聲，約翰·帕克神情緊張起來。他開門窺望，夜色中認出是一位可靠的鄰居。“有一群逃亡奴隸躲在肯塔基州的樹林里，就在離河20英里的地方，”那人用急迫的口氣低語道。帕克沒一點兒遲疑。“我就去，”他說著，把兩支手槍揣進口袋。

Born a slave two decades before, in the 1820s, Parker had been taken from his mother at age eight and forced to walk in chains from Virginia to Alabama, where he was sold on the slave market.Determined to live free someday, he managed to get trained in iron molding.Eventually he saved enough money working at this trade on the side to buy his freedom.Now, by day, Parker worked in an iron foundry in the Ohio port of Ripley.By night he was a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, helping people slip by the slave hunters.In Kentucky, where he was now headed, there was a $1000 reward for his capture, dead or alive.20年前，即19世紀20年代，生來即為黑奴的帕克才8歲就被從母親身邊帶走，被迫拖著鐐銬從弗吉尼亞走到阿拉巴馬，在那里的黑奴市場被買走。他打定主意有朝一日要過自由的生活，便設法學會了鑄鐵這門手藝。后來他終于靠這門手藝攢夠錢贖回了自由。現(xiàn)在，帕克白天在俄亥俄州里普利港的一家鑄鐵廠干活。到了晚上，他就成了地下鐵路的一位“乘務員”，幫助人們避開追捕逃亡黑奴的人。在他正前往的肯塔基州，當局懸賞1000美元抓他，活人死尸都要。

Crossing the Ohio River on that chilly night, Parker found ten fugitives frozen with fear.“Get your bundles and follow me, ” he told them, leading the eight men and two women toward the river.They had almost reached shore when a watchman spotted them and raced off to spread the news.在那個陰冷的夜晚，帕克渡過俄亥俄河，找到了十個喪魂落魄的逃亡者。“拿好包裹跟我走，”他一邊吩咐他們，一邊帶著這八男二女朝河邊走去。就要到岸時，一個巡夜人發(fā)現(xiàn)了他們，急忙跑開去報告。

Parker saw a small boat and, with a shout, pushed the escaping slaves into it.There was room for all but two.As the boat slid across the river, Parker watched helplessly as the pursuers closed in around the men he was forced to leave behind.帕克看見一條小船，便大喝一聲，把那些逃亡黑奴推上了船。大家都上了船，但有兩個人容不下。小船徐徐駛向?qū)Π叮量搜郾牨牭乜粗凡墩甙阉黄攘粝碌膬蓚€男人圍住。

The others made it to the Ohio shore, where Parker hurriedly arranged for a wagon to take them to the next “station” on the Underground Railroad--the first leg of their journey to safety in Canada.Over the course of his life, John Parker guided more than 400 slaves to safety.其他的人都上了岸，帕克急忙安排了一輛車把他們帶到地下鐵路的下一“站”――他們走向安全的加拿大之旅的第一程。約翰·帕克在有生之年一共帶領(lǐng)400多名黑奴走向安全之地。

While black conductors were often motivated by their own painful experiences, whites were commonly driven by religious convictions.Levi Coffin, a Quaker raised in North Carolina, explained, “The Bible, in bidding us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, said nothing about color.”

黑人去當乘務員常常是由于本人痛苦的經(jīng)歷，而那些白人則往往是受了宗教信仰的感召。在北卡羅來納州長大的貴格會教徒利瓦伊·科芬解釋說：“《圣經(jīng)》上只是要我們給饑者以食物，無衣者以衣衫，但沒提到過膚色的事。”

In the 1820s Coffin moved west to Newport(now Fountain City), Indiana, where he opened a store.Word spread that fleeing slaves could always find refuge at the Coffin home.At times he sheltered as many as 17 fugitives at once, and he kept a team and wagon ready to convey them on the next leg of their journey.Eventually three principal routes converged at the Coffin house, which came to be the Grand Central

Terminal of the Underground Railroad.在19世紀20年代，科芬向西遷移前往印第安納州的新港（即今天的噴泉市），在那里開了一家小店。人們傳說，逃亡黑奴在科芬家總是能得到庇護。有時他一次庇護的逃亡者就多達17人，他還備有一組人員和車輛把他們送往下一段行程。到后來有三條主要路線在科芬家匯合，科芬家成了地下鐵路的中央車站。

For his efforts, Coffin received frequent death threats and warnings that his store and home would be burned.Nearly every conductor faced similar risks--or worse.In the North, a magistrate might have imposed a fine or a brief jail sentence for aiding those escaping.In the Southern states, whites were sentenced to months or even years in jail.One courageous Methodist minister, Calvin Fairbank, was imprisoned for more than 17 years in Kentucky, where he kept a log of his beatings: 35,105 stripes with the whip.科芬經(jīng)常由于他做的工作受到被殺的威脅，收到焚毀他店鋪和住宅的警告。幾乎每一個乘務員都面臨類似的危險――或者更為嚴重。在北方，治安官會對幫助逃亡的人課以罰金，或判以短期監(jiān)禁。在南方各州，白人則被判處幾個月甚至幾年的監(jiān)禁。一位勇敢的循道宗牧師卡爾文·費爾班克在肯塔基州被關(guān)押了17年多，他記錄了自己遭受毒打的情況：總共被鞭笞了35,105下。

As for the slaves, escape meant a journey of hundreds of miles through unknown country, where they were usually easy to recognize.With no road signs and few maps, they had to put their trust in directions passed by word of mouth and in secret signs--nails driven into trees, for example--that conductors used to mark the route north.至于那些黑奴，逃亡意味著數(shù)百英里的長途跋涉，意味著穿越自己極易被人辨認的陌生地域。沒有路標，也幾乎沒有線路圖，他們趕路全憑著口口相告的路線以及秘密記號――比如樹上釘著的釘子――是乘務員用來標示北上路線的記號。

Many slaves traveled under cover of night, their faces sometimes caked with white powder.Quakers often dressed their “passengers,” both male and female, in gray dresses, deep bonnets and full veils.On one occasion, Levi Coffin was transporting so many runaway slaves that he disguised them as a funeral procession.許多黑奴在夜色掩護下趕路，有時臉上涂著厚厚的白粉。貴格會教徒經(jīng)常讓他們的“乘客”不分男女穿上灰衣服，戴上深沿帽，披著把頭部完全遮蓋住的面紗。有一次，利瓦伊·科芬運送的逃亡黑奴實在太多，他就把他們裝扮成出殯隊伍。

Canada was the primary destination for many fugitives.Slavery had been abolished there in 1833, and Canadian authorities encouraged

the runaways to settle their vast virgin land.Among them was Josiah Henson.加拿大是許多逃亡者的首選終點站。那兒1833年就廢除了奴隸制，加拿大當局鼓勵逃亡奴隸在其廣闊的未經(jīng)開墾的土地上定居。其中就有喬賽亞·亨森。

As a boy in Maryland, Henson watched as his entire family was sold to different buyers, and he saw his mother harshly beaten when she tried to keep him with her.Making the best of his lot, Henson worked diligently and rose far in his owner's regard.還是孩子的亨森在馬里蘭州目睹著全家人被賣給不同的主人，看到母親為了想把自己留在她身邊而遭受毒打。亨森非常認命，干活勤勉，深受主人器重。

Money problems eventually compelled his master to send Henson, his wife and children to a brother in Kentucky.After laboring there for several years, Henson heard alarming news: the new master was planning to sell him for plantation work far away in the Deep South.The slave would be separated forever from his family.經(jīng)濟困頓最終迫使亨森的主人將他及其妻兒送到主人在肯塔基州的一個兄弟處。在那兒干了幾年苦工之后，亨森聽說了一個可怕的消息：新主人準備把他賣到遙遠的南方腹地去農(nóng)莊干活。這名奴隸

將與自己的家人永遠分離。

There was only one answer: flight.“I knew the North Star,” Henson wrote years later.“Like the star of Bethlehem, it announced where my salvation lay.”

只有一條路可走：逃亡。“我會認北斗星，”許多年后亨森寫道。“就像圣地伯利恒的救星一樣，它告訴我在哪里可以獲救。”

At huge risk, Henson and his wife set off with their four children.Two weeks later, starving and exhausted, the family reached Cincinnati, where they made contact with members of the Underground Railroad.“Carefully they provided for our welfare, and then they set us thirty miles on our way by wagon.”

亨森和妻子冒著極大的風險帶著四個孩子上路了。兩個星期之后，饑餓疲憊的一家人來到了辛辛那提州，在那兒，他們與地下鐵路的成員取得了聯(lián)系。“他們?yōu)槲覀兲峁┝耸乘蓿浅ｊP(guān)心，接著又用車送了我們30英里。”

The Hensons continued north, arriving at last in Buffalo, N.Y.There a friendly captain pointed across the Niagara River.“'Do you see those trees?' he said.'They grow on free soil.'” He gave Henson a dollar and arranged for a boat, which carried the slave and his family across the

river to Canada.亨森一家繼續(xù)往北走，最后來到紐約州的布法羅。在那兒，一位友善的船長指著尼亞加拉河對岸。“‘看見那些樹沒有？’他說，‘它們生長在自由的土地上。’”他給了亨森一美元錢，安排了一條小船，小船載著這位黑奴及其家人過河來到加拿大。

“I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand and danced around, till, in the eyes of several who were present, I passed for a madman.'He's some crazy fellow,' said a Colonel Warren.”

“我撲倒在地，在沙土里打滾，手舞足蹈，最后，在場的那幾個人都認定我是瘋子。‘他是個瘋子，’有個沃倫上校說。”

“'Oh, no!Don't you know? I'm free!'”

“‘不，不是的！知道嗎？我自由了！’”

Jesse Jackson, a well-known leader of black Americans, reviews the progress they have made in recent years.Despite this, he argues, there is still much left to be done before they enjoy full equality.著名美國黑人領(lǐng)袖杰西·杰克遜回顧了近幾年來民權(quán)運動所取得的成就。成績固然不少，但他指出，要享受完全的平等權(quán)利，仍有許多工作要做。

unit 3 The Land of the Lock

Years ago in America, it was customary for families to leave their doors unlocked, day and night.In this essay, Greene regrets that people can no longer trust each other and have to resort to elaborate security systems to protect themselves and their possessions.許多年前，在美國，家家戶戶白天黑夜不鎖門是司空見慣的。在本文中，格林嘆惜人們不再相互信任，不得不憑借精密的安全設備來保護自己和財產(chǎn)。

The Land of the Lock Bob Greene

In the house where I grew up, it was our custom to leave the front door on the latch at night.I don't know if that was a local term or if it is universal;“on the latch” meant the door was closed but not locked.None of us carried keys;the last one in for the evening would close up, and that was it.鎖之國 鮑伯·格林

小時候在家里，我們的前門總是夜不落鎖。我不知道這是當?shù)氐囊环N說法還是大家都這么說；“不落鎖”的意思是掩上門，但不鎖住。我們誰都不帶鑰匙；晚上最后一個回家的人把門關(guān)上，這就行了。

Those days are over.In rural areas as well as in cities, doors do not stay unlocked, even for part of an evening.那樣的日子已經(jīng)一去不復返了。在鄉(xiāng)下，在城里，門不再關(guān)著不鎖上，哪怕是傍晚一段時間也不例外。

Suburbs and country areas are, in many ways, even more vulnerable than well-patroled urban streets.Statistics show the crime rate rising more dramatically in those allegedly tranquil areas than in cities.At any rate, the era of leaving the front door on the latch is over.在許多方面，郊區(qū)和農(nóng)村甚至比巡查嚴密的城市街道更易受到攻擊。統(tǒng)計顯示，那些據(jù)稱是安寧的地區(qū)的犯罪率上升得比城鎮(zhèn)更為顯著。不管怎么說，前門虛掩不落鎖的時代是一去不復返了。

It has been replaced by dead-bolt locks, security chains, electronic alarm systems and trip wires hooked up to a police station or private guard firm.Many suburban families have sliding glass doors on their

patios, with steel bars elegantly built in so no one can pry the doors open.取而代之的是防盜鎖、防護鏈、電子報警系統(tǒng)，以及連接警署或私人保安公司的報警裝置。郊區(qū)的許多人家在露臺上安裝了玻璃滑門，內(nèi)側(cè)有裝得很講究的鋼條，這樣就沒人能把門撬開。

It is not uncommon, in the most pleasant of homes, to see pasted on the windows small notices announcing that the premises are under surveillance by this security force or that guard company.在最溫馨的居家，也常常看得到窗上貼著小小的告示，稱本宅由某家安全機構(gòu)或某個保安公司負責監(jiān)管。

The lock is the new symbol of America.Indeed, a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company featured not charts showing how much at risk we are, but a picture of a child's bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.鎖成了美國的新的象征。的確，一家大保險公司最近的一則公益廣告沒有用圖表表明我們所處的危險有多大，而是用了一幅童車的圖片，車身上懸著如今無所不在的掛鎖。

The ad pointed out that, yes, it is the insurance companies that pay for stolen goods, but who is going to pay for what the new atmosphere of distrust and fear is doing to our way of life? Who is going to make the

psychic payment for the transformation of America from the Land of the Free to the Land of the Lock?

廣告指出，沒錯，確是保險公司理賠失竊物品，但誰來賠償互不信任、擔心害怕這種新氛圍對我們的生活方式所造成的影響呢？誰來對美國從自由之國到鎖之國這一蛻變作出精神賠償呢？

For that is what has happened.We have become so used to defending ourselves against the new atmosphere of American life, so used to putting up barriers, that we have not had time to think about what it may mean.因為那就是現(xiàn)狀。我們已經(jīng)變得如此習慣于保護自己不受美國生活新氛圍的影響，如此習慣于設置障礙，因而無暇考慮這一切意味著什么。

For some reason we are satisfied when we think we are well-protected;it does not occur to us to ask ourselves: Why has this happened? Why are we having to barricade ourselves against our neighbors and fellow citizens, and when, exactly, did this start to take over our lives?

出于某種原因，當我們覺得防范周密時就感到心滿意足；我們沒有問過自己：為什么會出現(xiàn)這種情況？為什么非得把自己與鄰居和同住一城的居民相隔絕，這一切究竟是從什么時候開始主宰我們生活 的？

And it has taken over.If you work for a medium-to large-size company, chances are that you don't just wander in and out of work.You probably carry some kind of access card, electronic or otherwise, that allows you in and out of your place of work.Maybe the security guard at the front desk knows your face and will wave you in most days, but the fact remains that the business you work for feels threatened enough to keep outsiders away via these “keys.”

這一切確是主宰了我們的生活。如果你在一家大中型公司上班，你上下班很可能不好隨意進出。你可能隨身帶著某種出入卡，電子的或別的什么的，因為這卡能讓你進出工作場所。也許前臺的保安認識你這張臉，平日一揮手讓你進去，但事實明擺著，你所任職的公司深感面臨威脅，因此要借助這些“鑰匙”不讓外人靠近。

It wasn't always like this.Even a decade ago, most private businesses had a policy of free access.It simply didn't occur to managers that the proper thing to do was to distrust people.這一現(xiàn)象并非向來有之。即使在十年前，大多數(shù)私營公司仍采取自由出入的做法。那時管理人員根本沒想到過恰當?shù)氖侄问遣恍湃嗡恕?/p>

Look at the airports.Parents used to take children out to departure gates to watch planes land and take off.That's all gone.Airports are no longer a place of education and fun;they are the most sophisticated of security sites.且看各地機場。過去家長常常帶孩子去登機口看飛機起飛降落。這種事再也沒有了。機場不再是一個有趣的學習場所；它們成了擁有最精密的安全檢查系統(tǒng)的場所。

With electronic X-ray equipment, we seem finally to have figured out a way to hold the terrorists, real and imagined, at bay;it was such a relief to solve this problem that we did not think much about what such a state of affairs says about the quality of our lives.We now pass through these electronic friskers without so much as a sideways glance;the machines, and what they stand for, have won.憑借著電子透視裝置，我們似乎終于想出妙計讓恐怖分子無法近身，無論是真的恐怖分子還是憑空臆想的。能解決這一問題真是如釋重負，于是我們不去多想這種狀況對我們的生活質(zhì)量意味著什么。如今我們走過這些電子搜查器時已經(jīng)看都不看一眼了，這些裝置，還有它們所代表的一切已經(jīng)獲勝。

Our neighborhoods are bathed in high-intensity light;we do not want to afford ourselves even so much a luxury as a shadow.我們的居住區(qū)處在強光源的照射下；我們連哪怕像陰影這樣小小的享受也不想給自己。

Businessmen, in increasing numbers, are purchasing new machines that hook up to the telephone and analyze a caller's voice.The machines are supposed to tell the businessman, with a small margin of error, whether his friend or client is telling lies.越來越多的商人正購置連接在電話機上、能剖析來電者聲音的新機器。據(jù)說那種機器能讓商人知道他的朋友或客戶是否在撒謊，其出錯概率很小。

All this is being done in the name of “security”;that is what we tell ourselves.We are fearful, and so we devise ways to lock the fear out, and that, we decide, is what security means.所有這一切都是以“安全”的名義實施的：我們是這么跟自己說的。我們害怕，于是我們設法把害怕鎖在外面，我們認定，那就是安全的意義。

But no;with all this “security,” we are perhaps the most insecure nation in the history of civilized man.What better word to describe the way in which we have been forced to live? What sadder reflection on all that we have become in this new and puzzling time?

其實不然；我們雖然有了這一切安全措施，但我們或許是人類文明史上最不安全的國民。還有什么更好的字眼能用來描述我們被迫選擇的生活方式呢？還有什么更為可悲地表明我們在這個令人困惑的新時代所感受到的惶恐之情呢？

We trust no one.Suburban housewives wear rape whistles on their station wagon key chains.We have become so smart about self-protection that, in the end, we have all outsmarted ourselves.We may have locked the evils out, but in so doing we have locked ourselves in.我們不信任任何人。郊區(qū)的家庭主婦在客貨兩用車鑰匙鏈上掛著防強暴口哨。我們在自我防衛(wèi)方面變得如此聰明，最終聰明反被聰明誤。我們或許是把邪惡鎖在了門外，但在這么做的同時我們把自己鎖在里邊了。

That may be the legacy we remember best when we look back on this age: In dealing with the unseen horrors among us, we became prisoners of ourselves.All of us prisoners, in this time of our troubles.那也許是我們將來回顧這一時代時記得最牢的精神遺產(chǎn)：在對付我們中間無形的恐懼之時，我們成了自己的囚徒。在我們這個問題重重的時代，所有的人都是囚徒。

Many people in America own handguns.Some, like Gail Buchalter, buy a gun for self-defense.Others, like her friends, refuse to do so because they think that guns cause more problems than they solve.Gail used to share her friends' views, but eventually changed her mind.Read what she has to say and decide whether she made the right choice.在美國，許多人擁有手槍。有人為了自衛(wèi)買槍，如蓋爾·巴卡爾特。另外一些人則拒絕這么做，比如她的許多朋友，因為他們認為，槍支引發(fā)的問題比解決的更多。以前蓋爾與她的朋友們持有相同的觀點，但后來她改變了看法。讀一讀她所說的一切，并判定她的選擇是否明智。

Writing Three Thank-You Letters

Alex Haley

It was 1943, during World War II, and I was a young U.S.coastguardsman.My ship, the USS Murzim, had been under way for several days.Most of her holds contained thousands of cartons of canned or dried foods.The other holds were loaded with five-hundred-pound bombs packed delicately in padded racks.Our destination was a big base on the island of Tulagi in the South Pacific.寫三封感謝信 亞利克斯·黑利

那是在二戰(zhàn)期間的1943年，我是個年輕的美國海岸警衛(wèi)隊隊員。我們的船，美國軍艦軍市一號已出海多日。多數(shù)船艙裝著成千上萬箱罐裝或風干的食品。其余的船艙裝著不少五百磅重的炸彈，都小心翼翼地放在墊過的架子上。我們的目的地是南太平洋圖拉吉島上一個規(guī)模很大的基地。

I was one of the Murzim's several cooks and, quite the same as for folk ashore, this Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.我是軍市一號上的一個廚師，跟岸上的人一樣，那個感恩節(jié)的上午，我們忙著在準備一道以烤火雞為主的傳統(tǒng)菜肴。

Well, as any cook knows, it's a lot of hard work to cook and serve a big meal, and clean up and put everything away.But finally, around sundown, we finished at last.當廚師的都知道，要烹制一頓大餐，擺上桌，再刷洗、收拾干凈，是件辛苦的事。不過，等到太陽快下山時，我們總算全都收拾停當了。

I decided first to go out on the Murzim's afterdeck for a breath of

open air.I made my way out there, breathing in great, deep draughts while walking slowly about, still wearing my white cook's hat.我想先去后甲板透透氣。我信步走去，一邊深深呼吸著空氣，一邊慢慢地踱著步，頭上仍戴著那頂白色的廚師帽。

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving, of the Pilgrims, Indians, wild turkeys, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and the rest.我開始思索起感恩節(jié)這個節(jié)日來，想著清教徒前輩移民、印第安人、野火雞、南瓜、玉米棒等等。

Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else--some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving.It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word “Thanksgiving”--at least that suggested a verbal direction, “Giving thanks.”

可我腦子里似乎還在搜索著別的事什么――某種我能夠賦予這一節(jié)日以個人意義的方式。大概過了半個小時左右我才意識到，問題的關(guān)鍵也許在于把Thanksgiving這個字前后顛倒一下――那樣一來至少文字好懂了：Giving thanks。

Giving thanks--as in praying, thanking God, I thought.Yes, of course.Certainly.表達謝意――就如在祈禱時感謝上帝那樣，我暗想。對啊，是這樣，當然是這樣。

Yet my mind continued turning the idea over.可我腦子里仍一直盤桓著這事。

After a while, like a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come--that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them.The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted.Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere “Thank you.”

過了片刻，如同晨曦初現(xiàn)，一個更清晰的念頭終于涌現(xiàn)腦際――要感謝他人，那些賜我以諸多恩惠，我根本無以回報的人們。令我深感不安的實際情形是，我向來對他們所做的一切受之泰然，認為是理所應當。我一次也沒想過要對他們中的任何一位真心誠意地說一句簡單的謝謝。

At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me.I realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died--so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me.The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became.Then I

pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin.至少有七個人對我有過不同尋常、影響深遠的幫助。令人難過的是，我意識到，他們中有一半已經(jīng)過世了――因此他們永遠也無法接受我的謝意了。我越想越感到羞愧。最后我想到了仍健在的三位，幾分鐘后，我就回到了自己的艙房。

Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A.Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas;to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee;and to the Rev.Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning.我坐在攤著信紙的桌旁，回想著他們各自對我所做的一切，試圖用真摯的文字表達我對他們的由衷的感激之情：父親西蒙·A·黑利，阿肯色州派因布拉夫那所古老的農(nóng)業(yè)機械師范學院的教授；住在田納西州小鎮(zhèn)亨寧老家的外祖母辛西婭·帕爾默；以及我的文法學校校長，退休后住在亨寧以北6英里處的里普利的洛紐爾·納爾遜牧師。

The texts of my letters began something like, “Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done

for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you--” And briefly I recalled for each of them specific acts performed on my behalf.我的信是這樣開頭的：“出海在外度過的這個感恩節(jié)，令我回想起您為我做了那么多事，但我從來沒有對您說過自己是多么想感謝您――”我簡短回憶了各位為我所做的具體事例。

For instance, something uppermost about my father was how he had impressed upon me from boyhood to love books and reading.In fact, this graduated into a family habit of after-dinner quizzes at the table about books read most recently and new words learned.My love of books never diminished and later led me toward writing books myself.So many times I have felt a sadness when exposed to modern children so immersed in the electronic media that they have little or no awareness of the marvelous world to be discovered in books.例如，我父親的最不同尋常之處在于，從我童年時代起，他就讓我深深意識到要熱愛書籍、熱愛閱讀。事實上，這一愛好漸漸變成一種家庭習慣，晚飯后大家圍在餐桌旁互相考查近日所讀的書以及新學的單詞。我對書籍的熱愛從未減弱，日后還引導我自己撰文著書。多少次，當我看到如今的孩子們?nèi)绱顺撩杂陔娮用襟w時，我不由深感悲哀，他們很少，或者根本不了解書中所能發(fā)現(xiàn)的神奇世界。

I reminded the Reverend Nelson how each morning he would open our little country town's grammar school with a prayer over his assembled students.I told him that whatever positive things I had done since had been influenced at least in part by his morning school prayers.我跟納爾遜牧師提及他如何每天清晨和集合在一起的學生做禱告，以此開始鄉(xiāng)村小學的一天。我告訴他，我后來所做的任何有意義的事，都至少部分地是受了他那些學校晨禱的影響。

In the letter to my grandmother, I reminded her of a dozen ways she used to teach me how to tell the truth, to share, and to be forgiving and considerate of others.I thanked her for the years of eating her good cooking, the equal of which I had not found since.Finally, I thanked her simply for having sprinkled my life with stardust.在給外祖母的信中，我談到了她用了種種方式教我講真話，教我與人分享，教我寬恕、體諒他人。我感謝她多年來讓我吃到她燒的美味菜肴，離開她后我從來沒吃過那么可口的菜肴。最后，我感謝她，因為她在我的生命中撒下美妙的遐想。

Before I slept, my three letters went into our ship's office mail sack.They got mailed when we reached Tulagi Island.睡覺前，我的這三封信都送進了船上的郵袋。我們抵達圖拉吉島后都寄了出去。

We unloaded cargo, reloaded with something else, then again we put to sea in the routine familiar to us, and as the days became weeks, my little personal experience receded.Sometimes, when we were at sea, a mail ship would rendezvous and bring us mail from home, which, of course, we accorded topmost priority.我們卸了貨，又裝了其它物品，隨后我們按熟悉的常規(guī)，再次出海。一天又一天，一星期又一星期，我個人的經(jīng)歷漸漸淡忘。我們在海上航行時，有時會與郵船會合，郵船會帶給我們家信，當然這是我們視為最緊要的事情。

Every time the ship's loudspeaker rasped, “Attention!Mail call!” two hundred-odd shipmates came pounding up on deck and clustered about the two seamen, standing by those precious bulging gray sacks.They were alternately pulling out fistfuls of letters and barking successive names of sailors who were, in turn, shouting back “Here!Here!” amid the pushing.每當船上的喇叭響起：“大伙聽好！郵件點名！”200名左右的水兵就會沖上甲板，圍聚在那兩個站在寶貴的鼓鼓囊囊的灰色郵袋旁的水手周圍。兩人輪流取出一把信，大聲念收信水手的名字，叫到的人從人群當中擠出，一邊應道：“來了，來了！”

One “mail call” brought me responses from Grandma, Dad, and the Reverend Nelson--and my reading of their letters left me not only astonished but more humbled than before.一次“郵件點名”帶給我外祖母，爸爸，以及納爾遜牧師的回信――我讀了信，既震驚又深感卑微。

Rather than saying they would forgive that I hadn't previously thanked them, instead, for Pete's sake, they were thanking me--for having remembered, for having considered they had done anything so exceptional.他們沒有說他們原諒我以前不曾感謝他們，相反，他們向我致謝，天哪，就因為我記得，就因為我認為他們做了不同尋常的事。

Always the college professor, my dad had carefully avoided anything he considered too sentimental, so I knew how moved he was to write me that, after having helped educate many young people, he now felt that his best results included his own son.身為大學教授的爸爸向來特別留意不使用任何過于感情化的文字，因此，當他對我寫道，在教了許許多多的年輕人之后，他認為自己最優(yōu)秀的學生當中也包括自己的兒子時，我知道他是多么地感動。

The Reverend Nelson wrote that his decades as a “simple, old-fashioned principal” had ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt.“I heard more of what I had done wrong than what I did right,” he said, adding that my letter had brought him welcome reassurance that his career had been appreciated.納爾遜牧師寫道，他那平凡的傳統(tǒng)校長的歲月隨著學校里發(fā)生的如此迅猛的變化而結(jié)束，他懷著自我懷疑的心態(tài)退了休。“說我做得不對的遠遠多于說我做得對的，” 他寫道，接著說我的信給他帶來了振奮人心的信心：自己的校長生涯還是有其價值的。

A glance at Grandma's familiar handwriting brought back in a flash memories of standing alongside her white rocking chair, watching her “settin' down” some letter to relatives.Character by character, Grandma would slowly accomplish one word, then the next, so that a finished page would consume hours.I wept over the page representing my Grandma's recent hours invested in expressing her loving gratefulness to me--whom she used to diaper!

一看到外祖母那熟悉的筆跡，我頓時回想起往日站在她的白色搖椅旁看她給親戚寫信的情景。外祖母一個字母一個字母地慢慢拼出一個詞，接著是下一個詞，因此寫滿一頁要花上幾個小時。捧著外祖母最近花費不少工夫?qū)ξ冶磉_了充滿慈愛的謝意，我禁不住流淚――從前是她給我換尿布的呀。

Much later, retired from the Coast Guard and trying to make a living as a writer, I never forgot how those three “thank you” letters gave me an insight into how most human beings go about longing in secret for more of their fellows to express appreciation for their efforts.許多年后，我從海岸警衛(wèi)隊退役，試著靠寫作為生，我一直不曾忘記那三封“感謝”信是如何使我認識到，大凡人都暗自期望著有更多的人對自己的努力表達謝意。

Now, approaching another Thanksgiving, I have asked myself what will I wish for all who are reading this, for our nation, indeed for our whole world--since, quoting a good and wise friend of mine, “In the end we are mightily and merely people, each with similar needs.” First, I wish for us, of course, the simple common sense to achieve world peace, that being paramount for the very survival of our kind.現(xiàn)在，感恩節(jié)又將來臨，我自問，對此文的讀者，對我們的祖國，事實上對全世界，我有什么祝愿，因為，用一位善良而且又有智慧的朋友的話來說，“我們究其實都是十分相像的凡人，有著相似的需求。”當然，我首先祝愿大家記住這一簡單的常識：實現(xiàn)世界和平，這對我們自身的存亡至關(guān)重要。

And there is something else I wish--so strongly that I have had

this line printed across the bottom of all my stationery: “Find the good--and praise it.”

此外我還有別的祝愿――這一祝愿是如此強烈，我將這句話印在我所有的信箋底部：“發(fā)現(xiàn)并褒揚各種美好的事物。”

Thanksgiving, like Spring Festival, brings families back together from across the country.Waiting for her children to arrive, Ellen Goodman reflects on the changing relationship between parents and children as they grow up and leave home, often to settle far away.如同春節(jié)那樣，散居各處的美國人到感恩節(jié)就回家團聚。埃倫·古德曼在等待著子女回家的同時，思索著當子女長大離家，常常在遠方定居之后，父母與子女關(guān)系的不斷變化。

unit 6 The Last Leaf

When Johnsy fell seriously ill, she seemed to lose the will to hang on to life.The doctor held out little hope for her.Her friends seemed helpless.Was there nothing to be done?

約翰西病情嚴重，她似乎失去了活下去的意志。醫(yī)生對她不抱

什么希望。朋友們看來也愛莫能助。難道真的就無可奈何了嗎？

The Last Leaf

O.Henry

At the top of a three-story brick building, Sue and Johnsy had their studio.“Johnsy” was familiar for Joanna.One was from Maine;the other from California.They had met at a cafe on Eighth Street and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so much in tune that the joint studio resulted.最后一片葉子 歐·亨利

在一幢三層磚樓的頂層，蘇和約翰西辟了個畫室。“約翰西”是喬安娜的昵稱。她們一位來自緬因州，一位來自加利福尼亞。兩人相遇在第八大街的一個咖啡館，發(fā)現(xiàn)各自在藝術(shù)品味、菊苣色拉，以及燈籠袖等方面趣味相投，于是就有了這個兩人畫室。

That was in May.In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the district, touching one here and there with his icy fingers.Johnsy was among his victims.She lay, scarcely moving on her bed, looking through the small window at the blank side of the next brick house.那是5月里的事。到了11月，一個醫(yī)生稱之為肺炎的陰森的

隱形客闖入了這一地區(qū)，用它冰冷的手指東碰西觸。約翰西也為其所害。她病倒了，躺在床上幾乎一動不動，只能隔著小窗望著隔壁磚房那單調(diào)沉悶的側(cè)墻。

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a bushy, gray eyebrow.一天上午，忙碌的醫(yī)生揚了揚灰白的濃眉，示意蘇來到過道。

“She has one chance in ten,” he said.“And that chance is for her to want to live.Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well.Has she anything on her mind?

“她只有一成希望，”他說。“那還得看她自己是不是想活下去。你這位女朋友已經(jīng)下決心不想好了。她有什么心事嗎？”

”She--she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day,“ said Sue.“她――她想有一天能去畫那不勒斯灣，”蘇說。

”Paint?--bosh!Has she anything on her mind worth thinking about twice--a man, for instance?“

“畫畫？――得了。她有沒有別的事值得她留戀的――比如

說，一個男人？”

”A man?“ said Sue.”Is a man worth--but, no, doctor;there is nothing of the kind.“

“男人？”蘇說。“難道一個男人就值得――可是，她沒有啊，大夫，沒有這碼子事。”

”Well,“ said the doctor.”I will do all that science can accomplish.But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines.“ After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried.Then she marched into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling a merry tune.“好吧，”大夫說。“我會盡一切努力，只要是科學能做到的。可是，但凡病人開始計算她出殯的行列里有幾輛馬車的時候，我就要把醫(yī)藥的療效減去一半。”大夫走后，蘇去工作室哭了一場。隨后她攜著畫板大步走進約翰西的房間，口里吹著輕快的口哨。

Johnsy lay, scarcely making a movement under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window.She was looking out and counting--counting backward.約翰西躺在被子下幾乎一動不動，臉朝著窗。她望著窗外，數(shù)

著數(shù)――倒數(shù)著數(shù)！

”Twelve,“ she said, and a little later ”eleven“;and then ”ten,“ and ”nine“;and then ”eight“ and ”seven,“ almost together.“12，”她數(shù)道，過了一會兒“11”，接著數(shù)“10”和“9”；再數(shù)“8”和“7”，幾乎一口同時數(shù)下來。

Sue looked out of the window.What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away.An old, old ivy vine climbed half way up the brick wall.The cold breath of autumn had blown away its leaves, leaving it almost bare.蘇朝窗外望去。外面有什么好數(shù)的呢？外面只看到一個空蕩蕩的沉悶的院子，還有20英尺開外那磚房的側(cè)墻，上面什么也沒有。一棵古老的常青藤爬到半墻高。蕭瑟秋風吹落了枝葉，藤上幾乎光禿禿的。

”Six,“ said Johnsy, in almost a whisper.”They're falling faster now.Three days ago there were almost a hundred.It made my head ache to count them.But now it's easy.There goes another one.There are only five left now.“

“6”，約翰西數(shù)著，聲音幾乎聽不出來。“現(xiàn)在葉子掉落得快

多了。三天前差不多還有100片。數(shù)得我頭都疼。可現(xiàn)在容易了。又掉了一片。這下子只剩5片了。”

”Five what, dear? “

“5片什么，親愛的？”

”Leaves.On the ivy vine.When the last one falls I must go, too.I've known that for three days.Didn't the doctor tell you?“

“葉子。常青藤上的葉子。等最后一片葉子掉了，我也就得走了。三天前我就知道會這樣。大夫沒跟你說嗎？”

”O(jiān)h, I never heard of such nonsense.What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? Don't be so silly.Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were ten to one!Try to take some soup now, and let Sudie go and buy port wine for her sick child.“

“噢，我從沒聽說過這種胡說八道。常青藤葉子跟你病好不好有什么關(guān)系？別這么傻。對了，大夫上午跟我說，你的病十有八九就快好了。快喝些湯，讓蘇迪給她生病的孩子去買些波爾圖葡萄酒來。”

”You needn't get any more wine,“ said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window.”There goes another.No, I don't want any soup.That leaves just four.I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark.Then I'll go, too.I'm tired of waiting.I'm tired of thinking.I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.“

“你不用再去買酒了，”約翰西說道，兩眼一直盯著窗外。“又掉了一片。不，我不想喝湯。這一下只剩下4片了。我要在天黑前看到最后一片葉子掉落。那時我也就跟著走了。我都等膩了。也想膩了。我只想撇開一切, 飄然而去，就像那邊一片可憐的疲倦的葉子。”

”Try to sleep,“ said Sue.”I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old miner.I'll not be gone a minute.“

“快睡吧，”蘇說。“我得叫貝爾曼上樓來給我當老礦工模特兒。我去去就來。”

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them.He was past sixty and had a long white beard curling down over his chest.Despite looking the part, Behrman was a failure in art.For forty years he had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it.He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists who could not pay the price of a professional.He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece.For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who mocked terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded

himself as guard dog to the two young artists in the studio above.老貝爾曼是住在兩人樓下底層的一個畫家。他已年過六旬，銀白色蜷曲的長髯披掛胸前。貝爾曼看上去挺像藝術(shù)家，但在藝術(shù)上卻沒有什么成就。40年來他一直想創(chuàng)作一幅傳世之作，卻始終沒能動手。他給那些請不起職業(yè)模特的青年畫家當模特掙點小錢。他沒節(jié)制地喝酒，談論著他那即將問世的不朽之作。要說其他方面，他是個好斗的小老頭，要是誰表現(xiàn)出一點軟弱，他便大肆嘲笑，并把自己看成是樓上畫室里兩位年輕藝術(shù)家的看護人。

Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of gin in his dimly lighted studio below.In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece.She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt for such foolish imaginings.蘇在樓下光線暗淡的畫室里找到了貝爾曼，他滿身酒味刺鼻。屋子一角的畫架上支著一張從未落過筆的畫布，在那兒擱了25年，等著一幅杰作的起筆。蘇把約翰西的怪念頭跟他說了，并說約翰西本身就像一片葉子又瘦又弱，她害怕要是她那本已脆弱的生存意志再軟下去的話，真的會凋零飄落。老貝爾曼雙眼通紅，顯然是淚漣漣的，他大聲叫嚷著說他蔑視這種傻念頭。

”What!“ he cried.”Are there people in the world foolish enough to die because leafs drop off from a vine? I have never heard of such a thing.Why do you allow such silly ideas to come into that head of hers? God!This is not a place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy should lie sick.Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away.Yes."

“什么！”他嚷道。“世界上竟然有這么愚蠢的人，因為樹葉從藤上掉落就要去死？我聽都沒聽說過這等事。你怎么讓這種傻念頭鉆到她那個怪腦袋里？天哪！這不是一個像約翰西小姐這樣的好姑娘躺倒生病的地方。有朝一日我要畫一幅巨作，那時候我們就離開這里。真的。”

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs.Sue pulled the shade down, and motioned Behrman into the other room.In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine.Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking.A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow.Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.兩人上了樓，約翰西已經(jīng)睡著了。蘇放下窗簾，示意貝爾曼去另一個房間。在那兒兩人惶惶不安地凝視著窗外的常青藤。接著兩人