英语阅读二课文及翻译

.

凯纳尔说：

―

年龄较 大的女性保持低血压实际上是非常重要的。

‖

但心理学家认为， 随着愈来愈多的女性

进入竞争激烈的就业市场，女士最终可能不再具有现在统计数字上的 优势。

WHEN

ARE

YOU

MOST

LIKELY

TO

DEVELOP

MENTAL

DISORDERS?

From

30

to

surprisingly

narrow

peak

is

very

real.

The

National

Institute

of

Mental

Health

(INMH)

reports

that

more than half of the patients

in

mental hospitals, male and female, are in this

age

group (men leading women by about 20%)

什么时候你最容易患精神错乱病症？是３０到３

这种十分短暂的患这种病的高峰期是千真万确的。

全国精神健康研究所的报告称：

在精神病医院里，在这个年龄段内的男女患者 超过总数的一半（男性比女性高２０％）

But if we are most neurotic (a.

患神经病的

) between 30 and 35, apparently we recover quickly.

Admissions to mental hospitals drop sharply around age 40 and stay down until age 65. Yet, say

psychologists,

between

40

and

55,

more

people

report

the

y

―feel‖

on

the

verge

(n.

边缘

)

of

a

nervous breakdown. Relatively few actually occur. ―We become veterans (n. a person who has had

long experience

老手，有经验的人

) at coping,‖ says psychologist Marvin Marlins.

< br>但如果我们在

３０到３５岁之间最易患神经病，很明显，我们会很快康复。精神病 医院接纳的４０岁左右

的病人数量急剧减少，而且一直持续到６５岁的患者都很少。不过 心理学家说，在４０到５

５岁之间的人罗多的人说他们

―

感到

‖

处在神经崩溃的边缘，实际发生的却相 对很少。心理学

家马文

.

卡林斯说：< /p>

―

我们在处置这类情况时很有经验。

‖

Suicide, a measure of mental problems,

peaks from

20 to 24 and

then again around

70.

Incidences

of

suicide

are

smallest

among

people

with

intact

marriages,

highest

among

the

divorced.

自杀是精神问题的一种，高峰期出在２０到 ２４岁之间和７０岁左右。完整婚

姻中的自杀率最低，而在离异家庭中自杀率最高。

WHEN ARE YOU HAPPIEST? You have the best physical sense of

yourself from 15 to 24; the

best professional sense from 40 to 49. Pessimism (n. tendency to look at the worst aspect of things

悲观主义

) peaks between 30 and 39. San Diego State University psychologists Marilyn Barges and

Linda Dutton found that before age 24, we believe that our happiest years are yet to come; over 30,

we

believer

that

they‘re

behind

us.

A

National

Health

Survey

agrees:

After

age

30,

we

―become

more

realistic

and

do

not

view

happiness

as

a

goal

in

itself.

If

we

maintain

our

health,

achieve

professional and emotional goals, then happiness, we feel, we follow.‖

你什么时候最幸福 ？你对

自己的身体状况感到最满意是１５至２４岁，对事业感到最满意是４０至４９岁， 悲观情结

最严重是３０至３９。对地亚哥州立大学心理学家玛里琳

.

博格斯与琳达

.

达顿发现，

24

岁之

前，我们认为我们最幸福的日子还没 到来；过了３０岁，我们又认为最幸福的日子已经过去

了。国家健康调查报告认为，过了 ３０岁以后，我们

―

变得较为现实，而且并不把幸福就当作

目的本身。如果我们保持身体健康，实现了事业和感情的目标，那么我们就会感到我们获得< /p>

了幸福。

‖

The American Institute of Public Opinion says that the pessimism peak occurs when

we realize that talent and determination aren’t enough to guarantee (v. to assure,

ensure

保证，担保

) success. Lady Luck must help.

美国公共舆论研究所认 为，当我们认

识到才能与意志并不足以保证我们获得成功时，

严 重的悲观情绪就会产生了，

此时就要靠“运

气女神”帮忙了。< /p>

19

Also, youth‘s good physical sense of self apparently does little to foster happiness. ―Parents who tell

their

teenage

children,

?

These

are

the

happiest

years,‘‖

says

Lagged,

―couldn‘t

be

more

wrong.

Adolescence is very difficult. Only when you are 49 and looking back does youth look blissful (a.

extremely happy

非常幸福的，极其快乐的

).‖

另外，年轻人对自己的身体状 况感觉良好很明显

并不能产生幸福感。

―

父母对他们未成年的孩子说：

?

这是最幸福的岁月。

‘‖

利格特说：

―

这样

说就大错特错了。青春时期，荆刺遍地。只有当你４０岁回首往事时才会发现青春是极为 美

好的。

WHEN ARE YOU MOST CREATIVE? Generally between 30 to 39, but the peak varies with

different professions.

Mozart wrote a symphony and four sonatas (

奏鸣曲

) by age eight, and Mendelssohn composed his

best-

known

work,

A

Midsummer

Night‘s

dream,

at

17.

Psychologist

H.

C.

Lehman

presents

the

years for peak work in many fields. Though the peak in most fields comes early---most Nobel Prize

winners

d

id

their

top

research

in

their

late

20‘s

and

30‘s

----creative

people

continue

to

produce

quality

work throughout

their lives.

你什么时候最富有创造力？一般说是 在３０至

39

岁之间，

但其高峰期又因 职业而异

。莫扎特８岁时即创作出一部交响曲和四首奏鸣曲。 门德尔松

17

岁时谱写了他的广为人知的作品

< br>《仲夏夜之梦》

。

心理学家

H. C.

莱曼描绘了许多领域里高峰期

代表作的不同年龄。尽管在大 多数领域中，这种高峰期均来得很早－大多数诺贝尔奖获得者

都是在其３０岁前那几年和 ３０至４０岁之间作出了最突出的成就－但具有创造力的人终其

一生都能做出高质量的工 作。

By viewing life’s various peaks, we can easily get the feeling that we are part of

a

giant

give-and

–

take

plan.

Though

statistically

the

plan

is

there,

we

must

remember

that every pe

ak has many exceptions. Says Mulish, “The human life journey cannot

be charted by a single curving line.”通过观察一生中不同的高峰期，我们 很容易得到

这种印象，即我们都是一项放庞大的（给予与索取）计划中的一部分。虽然从 统计上看确有

这么一个计划，我们必须记住，所有的高峰期都具有例外的。麦克利什说: “人的生命历程不

能用单一的曲线来勾划。”

Text 4

Our disappearing wildlife

Animal life first appeared on the earth about 400 million years ago. Through the

passing

millennia

(millennium

n.

a

period

of

1,000

years),

thousands

of

animal

species

have come and gone. Until recently, this process was gradual, the result of change

in climate, in habitat (the natural home of a plant or animal ), or in the genes of

the animals themselves, but the tremendous expansion of modern civilization now

threatens

to

upset

the

natural

balance,

putting

unprecedented

(a.

无前例的

)

pressure

on the survival of our wildlife.

大约４０亿年前，地球上就有了动物。经过数千年，成

千上万的物种繁衍灭绝。 直到最近，由于气候、栖息地或动物本身基因的变化而引起的，这

一物种灭绝的过程是逐 步而缓慢的，但如今现代文明的大规模入侵似将破坏这种平衡，从而

为我们野生动物的挽 救工作带空前的压力。

This imbalance can be traced to many causes. Most arise in the greed and poor planning of man

himself. With each increase in man‘s population, the wilderness

areas where the animals live get

20

smaller. The use of pesticides

（杀虫剂）

to control injurious (a. causing harm) insect also harms

wild

birds

and

animals.

Water

pollution

kills

fish

in

our

rivers,

lakes,

and

oceans,

Hunters

have

almost exterminated (v. destroy utterly) many of the larger animals like the bighorn sheep (

大角羊

)

and the grizzly bear

（灰熊）

. And farmers destroy smaller animals like the prairie dog (

草原犬鼠

)

and coyote(

郊狼，小狼

). As a result of this unrelenting pressure, our wildlife is disappearing at the

rate of one species or subspecies per years.

这种不平衡可溯自很多原因。而大 多数都源于人类自

身的贪婪和缺乏计划性，人口的每一次增长都会导致野生环境的缩小。 用杀虫剂控制害虫的

同时也危害着野生鸟类和兽类。水污染会毒死江河湖海里的鱼类。狩 猎者几乎灭绝了象大角

羊、灰熊这样形体较大些的动物。农民们则去消灭象草原犬鼠和狡 狼那类小一些的动物。正

是这种未减弱的压力导致我们的野生动物正在以每年一处物种或 亚种的速度消亡。

of all the continents, the most drastic reduction in wildlife has occurred in north

America, where the transition from a rural to a highly industrialized society has

been most rapid. Among the victims are birds, mammals and fish. We will never again

see the passenger pigeon or the eastern elk( n.

麋

). They have been wiped out. Of

many other species, only a few representatives still survive in the wild. The U.S.

Department

of

the

Interior

has

put

no

fewer

than

109

species

on

the

endangered

species

list. (An endangered species is one with poor prospects for survival and in need of

protection.) This list includes everything from the timber wolf

（林狼）

to the

whooping crane

（鸣鹤）

. Even the bald eagle, our national symbol, is threatened.

< br>在各大州中，

北美洲的野生动物减少幅度最大，

因为它由 乡村向高度工业化社会转变得最快。

鸟类、哺乳动物、鱼类就是其中的受害者。我们再也 见不到旅鸽和麋了，因为它们已经灭绝。

在许多其他的物种中，也只有几个代表仍幸存于 荒野。美国内务部将不下１０９个物种列入

面临灭绝的物种名单（面临灭绝的物种指那种 生存前景不乐观，需要保护的物种）。这个名

单包括了所有象林狼和鸣鹤那样的稀有动物 。就连我国的象征－秃鹰也受到了威胁。

Animals that kill other game for food are called predators.

（

n.

捕食者）

The predators include the

wolf, mountain lion, fox, babcat, and bear. Attack against these animals began with the arrival of the

first European settlers, who wished to protect their livestock (n. animals kept on a farm

家畜，

牲畜

).

Eventually, a reward was offered to hunters for every predator that was killed, this reward is called a

bounty

（

n.

money

given

for

reward

）

.

Ironically,

the

Federal

government

is

the

chief

funder

of

predator control programs.

捕食其他猎物的动物叫做食肉动物。食肉动物包括狼、美洲狮、狐狸、野猫和熊等。对这 些

动物的捕杀始于第一批欧洲移民的到来，因为他们希望能保住自己的牲畜。捕猎者只要 杀死

一个食肉动物就会得到一份奖赏。这种奖赏叫作赏金。具有讽刺意味的是联邦政府是 食肉动

物控制项目的主要资金提供者。

the

settlers

also

brought

with

them

their

old

world

fears

and

superstitions

concerning

predators.

Whether preying on livestock or not, predators were shot on sight. This attitude continues to this

day for coyotes, eagles, foxes, mountain lions, and bobcats, and is largely responsible for placing

the eastern timber wolf, grizzly bear, and bald eagle on the endangered species list.

这些移民还带来了在欧洲时那种对食肉动物所怀有的恐惧和迷 信。他们只要看见食肉动物就

开枪打死，不管它们是否在捕食家畜。直至今日，这种观点 对于郊狼、鹰、狐狸、美洲狮和

野猫还同样奏效。东部林狼、灰熊和秃鹰被列入面临灭绝 的物种名单也主要是这种观点作用

的结果。

21

yet

every

animal,

including

the

predator,

has

its

place

in

nature‘s

grand

design.

Predators

help

maintain

the

health

of

their

prey

species

by

eliminating

the

diseased,

young,

old,

and

injured.

Predators like the mountain lion and the wolf help to keep the deer herds healthy. Their kill also

provider food for scavengers (n.

食腐动物

) that feed on carrion. Occasional loss of livestock must

be weighed against the good these animals do in maintaining the balance of nature.

然而，每种动物，包括食肉动物，在大自然的总体设计中都有 一席之地。食肉动物除掉老幼

病残的动物会有助于维持所猎动物的健壮。像美洲狮和狼这 样的食肉动物就能保持鹿群的健

壮。被它们弄死的猎获物还为靠吃腐肉为生的食腐动物提 供了食物。因此我们必须把家畜的

偶尔损失与这些动物对保持生态平衡所做的贡献加以权 衡考虑。

the mountain lion has especially suffered from trapping and hunting. This great cat had the widest

distribution

of

any

mammal

in

the

western

hemisphere.

Its

range

extended

from

northern

British

Columbia to the tip of South America. And from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But by the turn of 19th

century this splendid animal was almost extinct in the eastern United States. In the West, the pattern

of persecution was similar to that suffered by other predators. As the sheep and cattle empires grew,

so did the war on the mountain lion.

美洲狮尤其 遭到了诱捕和追杀。这种狮子在西半球哺乳动物中分布得最广。其分布范围从不

列颠哥伦 比亚北部一赶延伸到南美洲之端，从大西洋延伸到太平洋。但以１９世纪末２０世

纪初时 ，这种威武的动物几乎在美洲东部绝迹。在西部捕杀的方式同其他食肉动物所遭受的

相似 。随着羊群和牛群的增加，对美洲狮的捕杀也在升级。

overhunting an animal is an obvious form of extermination, but there are more subtle processes that

often have the same fatal

result. One of these is destruction of habitat.

When farmers introduced

sheep and cattle to North America, the domestic animals competed with the wild animals for the

available grazing land. Animals like the buffalo and the pronghorn antelope

（叉角羚）

, which once

roamed the plains in countless numbers, were either killed or pushed off the grasslands. Today, a

few remnants (n. a part that remains) of these giant hers are protected from hunters in national game

preserves and wildlife refuges.

过量地捕杀一种动物 是致使其灭绝的明显的形式，还有一些更隐晦的过程带有同样致命的后

果。其中之一就是 对野生动物栖息地的破坏。农民们一将羊和牛引入北美，家畜和野兽就为

争夺可食草地展 开了竞争。象野牛、叉角羚这样曾经数以万计地漫步在草原上的动物不是被

杀死就是被成 群逐出了草地。如今，这些大兽群中的为数不多的残存者被留在国家鸟兽禁猎

区和野生动 物保护区以免受狩猎者的追杀。

pesticides have also taken their toll. In 1947 a new chemical poison called DDT was introduced. It

proved very effective in controlling insect pests like the potato beetle and the boll weevil (

棉铃象鼻

虫

). But pesticides, which decompose

（分解）

very slowly, accumulate in animals which feed on

pest or their predators, and the accumulated poisons attack their nervous systems. Pesticides also

interfere with

the formation of calcium

in

birds,

which then lay eggs with very thin shells

or no

shell at all. When wildlife fail to reproduce, it isn‘t very long before they disappear. The bald eagle,

12 species of hawks, and the pelican have been seriously reduced by chemicals.

杀虫剂也使 鸟兽遭受了死亡。１９４７年，一种新的化学毒药滴滴涕被引进并证实在控制象

马铃薯甲 虫、棉铃象虫等方面很有效。但由于杀虫剂分解得很慢，所以会聚积在以吃这些害

22

虫为生的动物体内或与这些动物为敌的食肉动物身上。杀 虫剂还影响鸟类钙的形成，致使鸟

下的蛋只有很薄的一层壳或根本没有壳。野生动物一旦 不能繁殖后代，它们来绝之日也就不

远了。秃头鹰、１２种隼、鹈鹕都由于化学物质的作 用而减少了很多。

10.

why

should

we

care

about

the

extinction

of

these

birds

and

animals?

The

answer

is

simple

enough. Every species that becomes extinct is gone forever. With each departure a small part of the

diversity of nature that makes life so interesting is also gone. What has man got to look forward to

–

endless cities and houses and roads that cross barren country devoid of birds and animals ? is that

the world we want for ourselves and our children?

我们为什么要关心鸟类和兽类的灭绝呢？答案

很简单。每一个物种一旦灭绝，将不复存在。随着每一次物种的灭亡，使生活如此丰富多彩

的自然界多样性中的一小部分也将永远消失。人们所期待的将是什么？难道是无数城市、房

< br>屋和道路纵横交错在没有鸟类和兽类的荒地上？那是我们为自己和孩子设计的世界吗。

Text 5

POLLUTION IS A DIRTY WORD

污染是个脏词

Consume,

consume,

consume!

Our

society

is

consumer

oriented- dangerously

so.

To

keep

the

wheels

of

industry

turning,

we

manufacture

consumer

goods

in

endless

quantities,

and, in the process, are rapidly exhausting (v. use up

耗尽

) our natural resources.

But

this

is

only

half

the

problem.

What

do

we

do

with

manufactured

products

when

they

are worn out? They must be disposed of, but how and where? Unsightly junkyards (n.

a place where old useless things are discarded

垃圾场

) full of rusting automobiles

already surround every city in the nation. Americans throw away 80 billion bottles

and cans each year, enough to build more than ten stacks (n. a pile of something,

like lumber

堆，垃圾堆) to the moon. There isn’t room fo

r much more waste, and yet

the factories grind on(

无情地向前移动

). They cannot stop because everyone wants a

job.

Our

standard

of

living,

one

of

the

highest

in

the

world,

requires

the

consumption

of manufactured products in ever-increasing amounts. Man, about to be buried in his

own

waste,

is

caught

in

a

vicious

(a.

dangerous,

cruel

邪恶的

)

cycle

恶性循环.

“Stop

the world, I want to get off,” is the way a popular song put man’s dilemma (n. a

situation for which there is no desirable solution

困境

).