-
Unit 1
恰到好处
Have you ever watched a clumsy man
hammering a nail into a box? He hits
it
first to one side, then to another, perhaps
knocking it over completely,
so
that
in
the
end
he
only
gets
half
of
it
into
the
wood.
A
skillful
carpenter,
on the other
hand, will drive the nail with a few firm, deft
blows, hitting
it each time squarely on
the
head. So
with
language;
the good
craftsman
will
choose words that drive home his
point firmly and exactly. A word that is
more
or
less
right,
a
loose
phrase,
an
ambiguous
expression,
a
vague
adjective
（模糊的形容词）
, will not satisfy a
writer who aims at clean English. He
will try always to get the word that is
completely right for his purpose.
你见过一个笨手笨脚的男人往箱子上钉钉子吗？只见他左敲敲，
右敲敲，<
/p>
说不准
还会将整个钉子锤翻，结果敲来敲去到头来只敲进了半截。
而娴熟的木匠就不这么
干。他每敲一下都会坚实巧妙地正对着钉头落下去，一钉到底。语
言也是如此。一
位优秀的艺术家谴词造句上力求准确而有力地表达自己的观点。差不多的
词，不准
确的短语，摸棱两可的表达，含糊不清的修饰，都无法使一位追求纯真英语的作
家
满意。他会一直思考，直至找到那个能准确表达他的意思的词。
The French have an
apt
（贴切的）
phrase for this.
They speak of
“
le mot
juste,
”
(the
exact word) the word that is just right. Stories
are told of
scrupulous
（一丝不苟的）
writers, like Flaubert, who spent days trying to
get one or two sentences exactly right.
Words are many
and various; they are
subtle
（微妙的）
and
delicate
（细腻的）
in their
different shades
（色调）
of meaning, and it is not easy to find
the ones that express
precisely
（正
是，恰恰）
what
we
want
to
say.
It
is
not
only
a
matter
of
having
a
good
command
of language
and a
fairly wide
vocabulary;
it is also necessary
to
think hard
and to observe accurately.
Choosing words is part of the process of
realization, of defining our thoughts
and feelings for ourselves, as well
as
for those who hear or read our words. Someone once
remarked:
“
How can
I know what I think till I see what I
say?
”
this sounds stupid,
but there
is a great deal of truth in
it.
法国人有一个很贴切的短语来表达这样一个意思，即“le mot
juste”, 恰到好处
的词。有很多关于精益求精的作家的名人轶事，比如福楼拜常
花几天的时间力求使
一两个句子在表达上准确无误。在浩瀚的词海中，词与词之间有着微
妙的区别，要
找到能恰如其分表达我们意思的词绝非易事。这不仅仅是扎实的语言功底和
相当大
的词汇量的问题，
还需要人们绞尽脑汁，
要观察敏锐。
选词是认识过程的一个步骤，
也是详细描
述我们的思想感情并表达出来使自己以及听众和读者深刻理解的一个环
节。有人说：“在
我思想未成文之前，我怎么知道自己的想法？”这听起来似乎很
离谱，但它确实很有道理
。
It is
hard work choosing the right words, but we shall
be rewarded by
the satisfaction that
finding them brings. The exact use of language
gives
us
mastery
（掌握）
over the
material we are dealing with. Perhaps you have
been asked
“
What
sort of a man is so-and-so
（某某等）
< br>?
”
You begin:
“
Oh,
I think
he
’
s quite a nice chap
（家伙）
but
he
’
s
rather
…”
and then you
hesitate
trying
to
find
a
word
or
phrase
to
express
what
it
is
about
him
that
you
don
’
t
like, that
constitutes
（构成）
his limitation.
When you
find the
right
phrase
you
feel
that
your
conception
of
the
man
is
clearer
and
sharper.
寻找恰如其分的词的确是件不容易的事。
一旦找到了那个词，
我们就会感到很欣慰：
辛劳得到了回报。准确地用语言有助于我们深入了解
我们描述的事物。例如，当有
人问你：“某某是怎么样的人？”你回答说：“恩，我想他
是个不错的家伙，但他
非常……”接着你犹豫了，试图找到一个词或短语来说明他到底讨
厌在哪里。当你
找到一个恰当的短语的时候，你发觉自己对他的看法更清楚，也更精确了
。
Some
English
words
have
a
common
root
but
are
used
in
very
different
senses.
Consider
human
and
humane
（
人道，仁慈的
）
, for example.
Their
origin is the
same and their
meanings are related, but their usage is distinct.
A
human
action is
not the same thing as a
humane
action. We cannot
speak of a
Declaration of
Humane
Rights. --- There is a weapon
called a
humane
killer,
but it is not a
human
killer.
一些英语词汇词根相同而意义却截然不同。
例如
human
和
humane,
二者
的词根相
同，
词义也相关，
但用法完全
不同。
“
human
action
(人类行为)”和“humane
action
(
人道行为)”完全是两码事。
我们
不能说“人道权力宣言”，
而是说“人权宣言”。
有一种屠杀工
具叫“humane killer (
麻醉屠宰机
)
，而不是
human
killer (
杀人
机器
)
。
We
don
’
t have to look far
afield to find evidence of bad carpentry in
language.
A
student,
replying
to
an
invitation
to
dinner,
finished
his
letter:
“I
shall
be
delighted
to
come
and
I
am
looking
forward
to
the
day
with
anxiety
.
”
Anxiety
carries
with
it
suggestions
of
worry
and
fear.
What
the
writer
meant
was
possibly
eagerness
.
Anxiety
has
some
kinship
（亲属关系）
with
eagerness
but it will not do as a
substitute
（替代）
in this
context.
语言中的坏手艺
的例子在我们身边随处可见。有人邀请一名学生去吃饭，他写信给
予回复。请看他的信是
这样结尾的：“我将很高兴赴约并满怀不安（
anxiety
）期
待着那个日子的到来。
”“Anxiety” 含有烦恼和恐惧的意味。作者想表达的很可
能是一种翘首期盼的心情。
“Anxiety”
跟热切期盼有一定的关联，但在这个场合
是不能等同的。
The
leader
of
a
political
party
in
Uganda
wrote
a
letter
to
the
Press
which
contained this
sentenc
e:
乌干达一政党领袖给新闻界的一封信中有一句这样写道：
Let us all fight this selfishness,
opportunism, cowardice and ignorance
now rife in Uganda and put in their
place truth, manliness, consistency and
singularity
of
mind.
让我们打破这自私、投机、怯懦和无知充斥的乌干
达，代之以真理，刚毅，坚定
和奇异的精神。
This stirring appeal is
spoilt by a malapropism in the last phrase, the
word
singularity
.
What the writer meant, I think, was
singleness
of mind,
holding
steadfastly
to
the
purpose
in
mind,
without
being
drawn
aside
by
less
worthy objects.
Singularity
means
oddity
or
peculiarity
, something that
singles a man out from other men
这一激动人心的呼吁被最后一个词“奇异（
singularity
）” 的误用破坏掉了。我
猜想作者真正要表达的意思是思想的专一，
即抱定一个信念永不改变，咬定青山不
放松，不被次要的目的干扰。而
< br>singularity
指的是古怪，特性，是将一个人从众
< br>多人中区分出来的那种东西。
Without being a malapropism, a word
may still fail to be the right word
for
the
writer
’
s
purpose,
the
“
mot
juste
”
.
A
journalist,
writing
a
leader
about Christmas, introduced a quotation
from Dickens by saying:
即使没有出现词语误用，这词仍可能不是符合作者意图的恰如其分的词。一名记者
在一篇有关圣诞节的社论中这样引出狄更斯的话：
All that was ever thought or written about
Christmas is
imprisoned
in
this
sentence
…
.
Imprisonment
suggests
force,
coercion
（强迫）
,
as
if
the
meaning
were held against
its will. It would be better to write
contained
or
summed
up
.
Epitomized
（集中体现）
might do, though it is
rather a clumsy-sounding
word.
Searching a little farther for the
“
mot
juste
”
we might hit on the
word
distilled
（
提取
）
. This has more
force than
contained
or
summed up
.
Distillation suggests
essence
and we might further
improve the sentence by
adding this
word at the beginning:
任何有关圣诞节的想法和文字已经被禁锢
(imprisoned
)
在这句话
中……“Imprisonment”
暗示着强迫，威逼，这么一来似乎意思是有悖其初衷的。
用
“包含(contained
)”或
“归结
（
summed
up
）
”就要好些。
“概括
（
epitomized
）
”
也行，尽管听起来有点僵硬。稍微再用点心我们就能准确
地找到
“mot juste
(恰
倒好处的词)
”，
那就是“di
stilled”.它比包含和归结语气更强。
“Distillation
(
提炼)”意味得到本质
（
essence
）
的东西。
因此我
们可以进一步把这个句子修改为：
The essence
of all that was ever thought or written about
Christmas is
distilled in this
sentence.
所有有关圣诞节的想法和文字的精华都被提炼到这句话之中。
English has a wide
vocabulary and it is a very flexible language.
There
are
many
different
ways
of
making
a
statement.
But
words
that
are
very
similar
in
meaning have fine shades of difference, and a
student needs to be alive
to these
differences. By using his dictionary, and above
all by reading, a
student
can
increase
his
sensitivity
to
these
shades
of
difference
and
improve
his ability to
express his own meanings exactly.
英语词汇丰富，运用灵活。一个意思有很多种表达方式。但是无论意思上如何相近
< br>的词总是存在着些许区别。作为学生就要敏感地意识到这些区别。通过查字典，尤
其是通过阅读，学生对这类细微差别敏感性将逐步增强，准确表达自己意思的能力
也相应
提高。
Professor Raileigh
once stated:
“
there are no
synonyms, and the same
statement
can
never
be
repeated
in
a
changed
form
of
words.
”
This
is
perhaps
too absolute, but it is not easy to
disprove. Even a
slight alteration in
the wording of a statement
can
subtly shift the
meaning
. Look at these two
sentences:
(1)In
my childhood I loved to watch trains go
by.
(2)When I was a child I
loved watching trains go by.
罗利教授曾经说过：“同义词是不存在的。句子用词改变了，
句子就不再是原来的
意思了。
”这也许过于绝对，
但是很难驳倒。
措辞稍有变更，
意思会有微妙的变化
。
看下面两个句子：
（
1
）
童年时候我喜欢去看火车开过。
（
2
）
当我是个小孩子的时候我喜欢看火车开过。
At
fist
glance
these
two
sentences
are
exactly
the
same.
But
look
more
closely
and you will see
that there are very
tiny
differences.
In my
childhood
is
a shade more
abstract than
when I was a
child
.
Watching
perhaps emphasizes
the
looking
at
trains
a
little
more
than
to
watch
.
This
is
a
very
subtle
example,
and it would be possible
to
argue about
it, but everyone
would at once agree
that
there is a marked difference between the next two
statements:
乍一看这两个句子的意思完全一样。
但仔细一看你会发现它们之间存在细微的差别。
在
我童年时候比当我是小孩子的时候更加抽象。而看很可能比去看更强调看火
车这一
动作。这个例子不是很明显，可能有待商榷。但每个人看了下面例子后一定马上同
意。两者之间存在显着区别。
(1)He died poor.
(2)He
expired
（断气、死）
in
indigent
（贫困）
circumstances.
In one
sense
expired
is
a synonym for
died
and
in indigent circumstances
for
poor
, but when the whole
statement is considered, we cannot maintain that
the
two
are
the
same.
The
change
in
words
is
a
change
in
style,
and
the
effect
on
the
reader
is
quite
different.
It
is
perhaps
easier
to
be
a
good
craftsman
with
wood
and
nails
than
a
good
craftsman
with
words,
but
all
of
us
can
increase
our skill and
sensitivity with a little effort and patience. In
this way we
shall not only improve our
writing, but also our reading.
（
1
）
他死的时侯很穷。
（
2
）
他断气时穷困潦倒。
在某种意义上，
expired
是
died
的同义词，
in
indigent
circumstances
是
poor
的
同义词。
但当看整个句子时，我们就不能坚持认为两句是一样的了。措辞的变化往往意味着
风格的
改变，并给读者以不同的感受。也许当好一个
谴词造句的
工匠
比当好一个与
木头钉子打交道的
木匠
要难一些，但是只要我们付出努力和耐心，我们就能提高自
己的技能和敏感性。
这样我们不仅可以提高我们的写作能力，
还可以提高阅读能力。
English
offers a fascinating variety of words for many
activities and
interests. Consider the
wide range of meanings that can expressed by the
various words we have to describe
walking, for example. We can say that a
man is
marching
（行军）
,
pacing
（起搏）
,
patrolling
（巡逻）
,
stalking
（缠
扰）
,
striding(
大步
),
treading
（踩水）
,
tramping
（流浪）
,
stepping
out
（
走
出去
）
,
prancing
（
昂首阔步
< br>）
,
strutting
（<
/p>
神气活现
）
,
prowling
（
潜行
）
,
plodding
（
单调乏味
）
, strolling
（
散步
）
, shuffling
（
洗牌
）
, sta
ggering
（
惊人的
）
,
sidling
（侧身而行；悄悄贴近）
, trudging
（
跋涉
）
, toddling
（
蹒跚学步；东倒西歪
地走
）
,
rambling
（
散漫
）
,
roaming
（
漫游
）
,
saunt
ering
（
参观船上
）
,
meandering
（
蜿蜒
）
, lounging
（
闲逛
）
, loitering
（
游荡
）
, or cr
eeping
（
匍匐
）
.
英语为各种活动和嗜好提供了丰富多彩的词汇。<
/p>
就那走路来说，
通过我们拥有的
各种各样
的词语的意义范围有多么广阔。我们可以说行军，踱步，巡逻，潜进，跨
过，践踏，重步
走，蹦蹦跳跳地走，昂首阔步，高视阔步，徘徊，沉重缓慢地走，
溜达，曳足而行，摇摇
晃晃地走，侧身而行，跋涉，蹒跚学步，漫步，徜徉，漫游，
闲荡，悄悄地走。
The foreign
student of English may be discouraged and
dismayed
（惊惶）
when
he learns that there are over 400,000 words in the
English language,
without counting
slang
（俚语）
. But let him take
courage. More than half of
these words
are dead. They are not in current use. Even
Shakespeare used a
vocabulary of only
some 20,000 words. The average Englishman today
probably
has a vocabulary range of from
12,000 to 13,000 words. It is good to make
your
vocabulary
as
complete
as
you
can,
but
a
great
deal
can
be
said
and
written
with
a vocabulary of no more than 10,000 words. The
important thing is to
have a good
control and command over the words you do know.
Better know two
words exactly than
three vaguely. A good carpenter is not
distinguished by
the
number
of
his
tools,
but
by
the
craftsmanship
（手艺）
with
which
he
uses
them. So a good writer
is not measured by the extent of his vocabulary,
but
by his skill in finding the
“
mot
juste
”
, the word that will
hit the nail
cleanly on the
head.
即使不包括俚语在内英
语就有四十余万单词，这很可能让学习英语的外国学生感到
气馁和沮丧。但千万不要灰心
，因为超过半数的词已不再通用。就算大文豪沙士比
亚也只使用了两万左右的词汇。今天
普通英国人的词汇量在
12000
到
1
3000
之间。
一个人的词汇量当然是尽量扩大的好，但仅仅<
/p>
10000
的词汇量就够他说话写字表达
丰富的意义了。关键是你要扎实地掌握你知道的单词。粗略地认识三个单词还不如
准确地
掌握两个。衡量一个木匠的好坏并不在于他拥有工具的数量多少，而是在于
他运用工具的
技艺如何。
同样的，
衡量一个作家好不好不能通过其认识单词的
数量，
而应通过其找到恰如其分的词的能力。这个词要不偏不倚正中要害，一言中的。<
/p>
UNIT 2 BEWARE THE DIRTY
SEAS
当心肮脏的海洋
--
杰弗里·
利恩
1
Every year
100 million holiday-makers are drawn to the
Mediterranean.
With one-third of the
world's tourist trade, it is the most popular of
all
the holiday destinations; it is
also the most polluted.
每年都有
一千万的渡假者到地中海去度假，这里占去了世界旅游业的三分之一，是
最受欢迎的度假
胜地，但与此同时，它也成了受污染最严重的地方。
It
has only 1 per cent of the world's sea surface,
but carries more than
half
the
oil
and
tar
floating
on
the
waters.
Thousands
of
factories
pour
their
poison into the
Mediterranean, and almost every city, town and
village on
the coast sluices its
sewage, untreated, into the sea.
虽然地中海仅占全球海洋面积的百分之一，但在它的海面上却漂浮着全球海面一半
以上的汽油和焦油。成千上万的工厂将他们排放的有毒物质倾人地中海，而且几乎
每
一个靠地中海海岸的城市、城镇和乡村也都把未经处理的污水排到海里。
The result is that the Mediterranean,
which
1
nurtured so many
civilizations, is gravely ill --- the
first of the seas to
2
fall
victim to
3
the abilities and
attitudes that evolved around it. And the
pollution does
not
merely
4
stifle
the
life
of
the
sea
---
it
threatens
the
people
who
inhabit
and visit its
shores.
其结果导致孕育了高度文明的地中海周围环境极其恶劣― 第一个由于人们对其利
用能力的增强和对其环境污染的忽视态度而受害的海洋。这种污染不仅使海洋生物
感到窒息，而且对于那些居住在地中海周围并喜欢游赏海滨的人们也是一个威胁。
不只是
4
Typhoid, paratyphoid,
dysentery, polio, viral hepatitis
and food
poisoning are
endemic in the area, and there are periodic
outbreaks of
cholera.
伤寒、
副伤寒、
痢疾、
小儿
麻痹症、
病毒性肝炎和食物中毒是这个地区的常见病，
并且还会
引发阶段性的霍乱。
5
The
mournful
litany
of
disease
is
caused
by
sewage.
Eighty-five
per
cent
of the waste from the
Mediterranean's 120 coastal cities is pushed into
the
waters where their people and
visitors bathe and fish. What is more, most
cities just drop it in straight off the
beach; rare indeed are the places
like
Cannes and Tel Aviv which pipe it even half a mile
offshore.
这一系列令人扼腕的疾病
（这种恶疾的反复）
爆发是由下水道污水造成的。
地中
海的
120
个海滨城市中
85
％的垃圾被倾人到
供居民们和参观者游泳嬉戏，钓鱼的水
域，而且，大多数城市直接将其废物倾倒在海滩上
，实际上很少有像（嘎纳）坎城
和特拉维夫那样用管道把废物抽到离海岸半英里的地方。
6
Less than
100,000 of Greece's four million coastal people
have sewage
properly
treated
and
Greece,
as
our
map
shows,
is
one
of
the
cleaner
countries
of the northern
shore.
在希腊，
生活在海滨
城市的人有四百万，
但只有不到十万的人将他们的污水进行
适当
处理。正如我们的地图所显示的那样，希腊还算是北方海岸比较干净的国家之
一。
What does the author want to
tell his readers in Paragraph 6?
SA:
He wants to tell his
readers in Paragraph 6 that because of man’s
irresponsibility and indifference
towards environmental protection, Greece
is rated one of the few cleaner
countries of the northern shore.
The worst parts of the sea are the
Israeli / Lebanon coast and between
Barcelona and
Genoa,
which flushes out
over 200
tons of
sewage
each
year for
every mile of its length.
叫最糟糕的则要数以色列及黎巴嫩海滨和巴赛罗那与热那亚之间的海洋部分，
那
里每年会向其海岸线的每一英里倾倒
200
多吨的污水。
8
Not
surprisingly,
vast
areas
of
the
shallows
are
awash
with
bacteria
and
it
doesn't take long for these to reach people.
Professor William Brumfitt
of the Royal
Free Hospital once calculated that anyone who goes
for a swim
in
the
Mediterranean
has
a
one
in
seven
chance
of
getting
some
sort
of
disease.
Other
scientists say this is an overestimate; but almost
all of them agree
that bathers are at
risk.
7
一点也不感到惊奇的是
，
大面积的浅水区都滋生着细菌，
而它们接触到人并不需
要花费太多的时间。皇家自由医院的威兼· 布鲁佛特教授曾经计算过任何到地中海
游泳的人都会有七分之一感染疾病的可能。其他科学家说这种估计过高，但几乎所
< br>有的人都同意游泳者是在冒险。
9
An even greater danger
5
lurks in the seductive
seafood dishes that add
much interest
to holiday menus. Shellfish are prime carriers of
many of the
most vicious diseases of
the areas.
在那些诱人的、
为假日的菜单增色不少的海鲜中还隐藏着一种更大的危险。
贝类
水生物是本地区大部分恶性疾病最主要的携带者。
10
They
often
grow
amid
pollution.
And
even
if
they
don't
they
are
frequently
infected
by
the
popular
practice
of
them
up
---
throwing
filthy
water over them in
markets.
他们通常在污染中生长，
< br>而且即使不是这样，
他们也会被“使它们变得新鲜一些”
这一普遍做法所污染― 在市场里它们身上被卖主拨上脏水以保持鲜活。
11
Industry adds its own
poisons. Factories cluster round the coastline,
and even the most modern rarely has
proper waste-treatment
plant
污水净化
厂
. They
do as much damage to the sea as sewage.
工业也加重了地中海的污染。
海岸线上，
工厂密密匝匝，
即使是最现代化的工厂
也鲜有合适的污物处理
设备。他们对海洋造成的损害同污水造成的差不多。
12
Fifteen thousand factories
7
foul the Italian Ligurian
6
riviera. Sixty
thousand pollute the Tyrrhenian Sea
between Sardinia, Sicily and the west
8
9
Italian
coast!
The
lagoon
of
Venice
alone
receives
the
effluents factories.
15
,
000
家工厂污染着意大利利古里亚的沿海游憩胜地。
6,
000
家工厂污染着
撤丁岛和西西里
岛之间的第勒尼安海，以及西部的意大利海滨！仅威尼斯的礁湖就
遭受着
76
个工厂废水的污染。
13
More
filth
comes
washing
down
the
rivers
from
industries
far
inland.
The
PO and the Rhone are the dirtiest,
followed by the Ebro and the Llobregat
in Spain
,
by the
Adige and the Tiber in Italy, and by the.
Nile.
更多的污物来自于内陆工业，
自河流冲人到这里。
波河和罗纳河是最脏的，
其次
就是西班牙的埃布罗河、巴塞罗那，意大利的阿迪杰河和台伯河，再就是尼罗河。
14
Thousands of tons of
pesticides are blown off the fields into the sea,
detergents from millions of sinks kill
fish, and fertilizers, flushed out
to
sea,
nourish
explosions
of
plankton
which
cover
bathers
with
itchy
slime.
数千吨的杀虫剂从田间
流人海里；
数以百万的洗涤剂从洗碗槽中流出，
毒死了海
鱼；被冲到海里的肥料，滋养了海里的浮游生物并使其数量激增，它们粘在游泳者
身上，成为一层令人发痒的黏液。
15
Then there is the oil ---
350,000 tons pouring each year from ships,
115,000 tons more from industries round
the shore. Recent studies show that
the
Mediterranean is four times as polluted by oil as
the north Atlantic,
40 times as bad as
the north-east Pacific.
还有就是汽油― 每年有
350 , 000
吨废油从船上倒人海里，还有
ns , 00
多吨
来自于海岸周围的工业。最近的研究显示地中海的油污染是北大西洋的四倍
，是东
北太平洋的
40
倍。
16
Apart
from
the
nine-
mile-wide
Strait
of
Gibraltar,
the
Mediterranean
is
10
landlocked, virtually
unable to
11
cleanse itself.
It takes 80 years for the
water to be
renewed, through the narrow, shallow straits, far
too slow a
process to cope with the
12
remorseless rush of
pollution.
除了九英里宽的直布罗陀海峡之外，<
/p>
地中海完全被陆地包围，
因此它实际上不具
备自洁功能。因为海峡既窄且浅，地中海需要
80
年才能完
成水循环进行自洁，这个
过程太缓慢，远远跟不上无情的污染大势肆虐的进程。
17
Weak
coastal
currents
keep
sewage
and
industrial
waste
close
to
the
shore
and
gently
spin
floating
oil
and
tar
towards
the
beaches.
And
the
sea's
feeble
tides can do little to help remove
it.
海边的浪花无力地拍打着海岸，
冲不走岸边的污水和工业废料，
浪花轻轻地打着
旋，把浮着汽
油与焦油的海水冲向海滩。
18
0f
course,
the
people
of
the
Mediterranean
have
always
used
the
sea
for
their
wastes. The canals of Venice, the waters of the
Bosphorus and the sea
off the Nile
Delta have been health hazards for
centuries.
很自然，
地中
海的人们也总是利用海洋来处理他们的废物。
威尼斯运河、
博斯
普
鲁斯海峡和尼罗河三角洲一带的水域，几个世纪以来一直威胁着人们的健康。
19
But the population
has increased round the shores to 100 million and
a
further
100
million
tourists
come
annually.
The
population
of
the
French
and
Italian rivieras trebles every
summer.
但是，
海岸周围的人口已增长到了
l
千万，
而且每年还有
1
千多万旅游者来此旅
游。每年夏天，意大利的沿海游憩胜地的人口呈三倍地增
长着。
20
Three
tourists
visit
the
northern
shore
every
year
for
every
yard
of
beach.
With
the numbers of holiday-makers expected to double
in the next 20 years,
it is hard for
even the best treatment plants to cope.
在北海岸平均每年每码海岸就有三个观光者。在今后
20
年里渡假者的数量有可
能会增加两倍，到时即使是最好的污水处理厂
也很难应付了。
21
The
good
news
is
that
the
countries
of
the
Mediterranean
have
been
coming
together to work out how to save their
common sea.
但也有一个好消息：
地中海周围的一些国家已经联合到一起正为拯救他们共同的
海洋而努力工作着。
22
But
it
will
be
a
long
time
before
the
measures
they
approved
take
effect
in cleaning up the
sea.
但是离他们一致同意的净化海水措施确实产生效应之
前还有很长的一段时间。
Unit3 My
Friends, Albert Einstein
He was one of
the greatest scientists the world has ever known,
yet if I had
to convey the essence of
Albert Einstein in a single word, I would choose
simplicity. Perhaps an anecdote will
help. Once, caught in a downpour, he
took off his hat and held it under his
coat. Asked why, he explained, with
admirable logic, that the rain would
damage the hat, but his hair would be
none the worse for its wetting. This
knack for going instinctively to the
heart of a matter was a secret of his
major scientific discoveries - this
and
his extraordinary feeling for beauty.
<
/p>
爱尔伯特·爱因斯坦是世界上最伟大的科学家之一，但如果要我用一个词来概括他
这个人的品质，那我会选
质朴
< br>
。也许一个小故事能让我们略知一二。有一次，天
降大雨
，爱因斯坦躲之不及，于是他摘下了帽子，把它夹在外衣下。当别人问他为
什么要这么做
时，他解释说，雨水会弄坏他的帽子，但是他的头发湿了不会有什么
大碍。他的逻辑真是
无懈可击。他这种本能地把握事物本质的能力正是他能够做出
重大科学发现的秘诀所在，
除此之外，还有他对美的那种非凡的感觉。
I first
met Einstein in 1935, at the famous Institute for
Advanced Study in
Princeton, . He
had been
among
the first
to be invited
to the institute,
and
was offered carte blanche as to salary.
To the director's dismay, Einstein
asked for an impossible sum:
it was
far too
small. The director
had to
plead
with him to accept a larger
salary.
我第一次见到爱因斯坦是在
< br>1935
年，在位于新泽西
New Jersey
的着名的普林斯顿
大学高级研究中心。他是最早被邀请到该中心的科学
家之一。薪水方面，研究中心
让他自己全权决定。但让研究中心主任感到沮丧的是，爱因
斯坦开出了一个让人无
法接受的数目：
他要的实在是太少了。<
/p>
中心主任不得不恳求他接受一份更高的工资。
I was in awe of Einstein, and hesitated
before approaching him about some
ideas
I had been working on. When I finally knocked on
his door, a gentle
voice said,
with
a rising inflection
that made
the single word both
a
welcome
and
a
question.
I
entered
his
office
and
found
him
seated
at
a
table,
calculating and smoking his pipe.
Dressed in ill-fitting clothes, his hair
characteristically awry, he smiled a
warm welcome. His utter naturalness at
once set me at ease.
我对爱因斯坦充满了敬畏，因此当我想就一些我正在研究的问题与他探讨时，一直
犹豫不决。最终我还是鼓起勇气我敲了门，里面传来了非常温和的声音：请进
---<
/p>
他
说这个词的时候声调上扬，听起来即像是欢迎又像是在提问。我
进到他的办公室，
发现他正坐在桌旁，
抽着烟斗，
演算一个问题。
他的衣服很不合身，
头发乱蓬蓬的。
他朝我微笑，表示对我的热忱的欢迎。他的自然随意立刻让我放松了。
< br>
As I began to explain my ideas, he
asked me to write the equations on the
blackboard so he could see how they
developed. Then came the staggering -
and altogether endearing - request:
things quickly.
then on, all
vestiges of fear were gone.
当我开始向他解释我的想法时，他让我把方程写在黑板上，这样让他能看到每一步
的推演
。然后他提出了一个让我极其震惊同时又备感亲切的要求：
请讲
得稍微慢一
点，我理解问题的速度比较慢
。这种话出自爱因斯坦之口！他说这话时非常温和，
我不由得笑了。从此，我对他的畏
惧之心烟消云散。
Collaborating with
Einstein was an unforgettable experience. In 1937,
the
Polish physicist Leopold Infeld and
I asked if we could work with him. He
was
pleased
with
the
proposal,
since
he
had
an
idea
about
gravitation
waiting
to be worked out in detail. Thus we got
to know not merely the man and the
friend, but also the
professional.
和爱因斯坦的合作是让人终身难
忘的经历。
1937
年，
我和波兰物理
学家列奥泼德·英
费尔德问他是否可以和他合作，他欣然应允，因为他有一个重力方面的
问题，有待
仔细的研究。于是，我们有机会认识了爱因斯坦作为一个普通人和朋友的一面
，我
们还了解了他作为一个科学家的职业素养。
The intensity and depth of his
concentration were fantastic. When battling
a recalcitrant problem, he worried it
as an animal worries its prey. Often,
when we found ourselves up against a
seemingly insuperable difficulty, he
would stand up, put his pipe on the
table, and say in his quaint English,
and down, twirling a lock of
his long, graying hair around his
forefinger.
他极度的专注，全身心的投入，让人
叹为观止。当他处理一个难题的时候，他努力
思索，就像动物撕咬猎物。通常，当我们碰
到一个似乎是无法逾越的难题时，他会
站起来，把烟斗放在桌子上，用他那口音古怪的英
语说：
我要稍微思考一下。
然
后他在房间里来回踱步，食指捻弄着他那长而灰白的发卷。
A dreamy, faraway and yet inward
look would come over his face. There was
no
appearance
of
concentration,
no
furrowing
of
the
brow
-
only
a
placid
inner
communion. The minutes would pass, and
then suddenly Einstein would stop
pacing as his face relaxed into a
gentle smile. He had found the solution
to
the
problem.
Sometimes
it
was
so
simple
that
Infeld
and
I
could
have
kicked
ourselves for not having thought of it.
But the magic had been performed
invisible
in
the
depths
of
Einstein's
mind,
by
a
process
we
could
not
fathom.
他脸上会有一种恍惚
出神而又深邃的表情。没有专着的神情，也没有皱眉
---
只有
宁
静的内心的交流。时间一分一秒过去，突然他会停止自己的脚步，脸上浮现出温和
的微笑。他已经找出了问题的答案。有的时候，答案非常简单，我和英费尔德都会
自责我们怎么会想不到呢。
爱因斯坦在他的脑海深处，
施展了外人无法看见的魔法，
这个高深的过程是我们无法理解的。
< br>
Einstein was an accomplished
amateur musician. We used to play duets, he on
the violin, I at the piano. One day he
surprised me by saying Mozart was the
greatest composer of all. Beethoven
Mozart
was
of
such
purity
and
beauty
one
felt
he
had
merely
it
-
that
it had always existed
as part of the inner beauty of the Universe,
waiting
to be revealed.
爱因斯坦还是一位出色的业余音乐家。我们那时常进行二重奏，他拉小提琴，我弹
钢琴。有一天他说莫扎特是所有作曲家中最伟大的一位，这让我吃惊不小。他认为
贝多芬的音乐是
创造
出来的，而莫扎特的音乐是如此纯净和优美，让人感觉他只
是在哪儿
发现
了它
---
它一直是宇宙内在的美的一部分，一直存在着，等待着我们
去发现。
It was this very
Mozartean simplicity that most characterized
Einstein's
methods. His 1905 theory of
relativity, for example, was built on just two
simple
assumptions.
One
is
the
so-called
principle
of
relativity,
which
means,
roughly
speaking,
that
we
cannot
tell
whether
we
are
at
rest
or
moving
smoothly.
The other
assumption is the speed of light is the same no
matter what the
speed of the object
that produces it. You can see how reasonable this
is if
you think of
agitating
a stick
in
a lake
to create waves.
Whether
you wiggle
the stick from a
stationary pier, or from a rushing speedboat, the
waves,
once
generated,
are
on
their
own,
and
their
speed
has
nothing
to
do
with
that
of the
stick.
这种莫扎特式的淳朴正是大部分爱因斯坦理论的
最显着特点。比如他
1905
年提出的
相对论就是建立在两个简单的假说之上的。一个是所谓的相对原则，粗略的说，就
是我们
无法判断自己是否是静止还是在平稳的移动。另一个假定是：不管产生它的
物体速度如何
，光的速度是恒定的。如果你用一根木棍搅动湖水，你就会知道这个
假定是多么的有道理
。不管你是在一个静止的码头，还是在飞驰的高速游艇上搅动
棍子，波浪一旦产生，就不
受外界的影响，它的速度和木棍没有任何关系。
Each
of
these
assumptions,
by
itself,
was
so
plausible
as
to
seem
primitively
obvious. But together they were in such
violent conflict that a lesser man
would
have
dropped
one
or
the
other
and
fled
in
panic.
Einstein
daringly
kept
both - and by so doing
he revolutionized physics. For he demonstrated
they
could,
after
all,
exist
peacefully
side
by
side,
provided
we
gave
up
cherished
beliefs about the
nature of time.
这两个假定，分开来看，都
是合理的，而看上去又如此明显，自然，无须证明。但
是如果把这两个假定放在一起，它
们之间便有了强烈的矛盾，一个二流的物理学家
会丢掉其中一个，落荒而逃。爱因斯坦很
大胆，一个都没有放弃，从而使物理学发
生了翻天覆地的变化。因为他证明如果我们放弃
我们原先持有的关于时间性质的观
念，这两个假设是可以和谐地共存的。
Science is like a house of cards,
with concepts like time and space at the
lowest level. Tampering with time
brought most of the house tumbling down,
and it was this that made Einstein's
work so important and controversial.
At
a conference in Princeton in honour of his 70th
birthday, one of the
speakers, a Nobel
Prize-winner, tried to convey the magical quality
of
Einstein's achievement. Words failed
him, and with a shrug of helplessness
he pointed to his wristwatch, and said
in tones of awed amazement,
came from
this.
I have heard to Einstein's
genius.
科学就好像是由很多扑克牌建成的房屋，时间
和空间的概念是最底下的那两张。对
时间的胡乱干预会让大半个房屋倒塌，正是这一点让
爱因斯坦的工作显得举足轻重，
同时也极具争议性。在普林斯顿举行的庆祝他
70
大寿的会议上，其中一位发言人，
是诺贝尔奖
获得者，当他试图表述爱因斯坦卓绝非凡的成就时，他找不到合适的词
句，于是无助地耸
了一下肩，指了指他的手表，说：
所有的一切都来自于此
。语
气中充满了敬畏和惊异。他的语屈词穷恰
恰是我听过的对爱因斯坦天才的最为深刻
的褒奖。
There was something elusively whimsical
about Einstein. It is illustrated
by
my
favorite
anecdote
about
him.
In
his
first
year
in
Princeton,
on
Christmas
Eve, so the story
goes, some children sang carols outside his house.
Having
finished, they knocked on his
door and explained they were collecting money
to buy Christmas presents. Einstein
listened, then said,
He put on his
overcoat,
and
took his
violin from its
case. Then,
joining
the
children as they
went from door to door, he accompanied their
singing of
爱因斯坦身
上有让人难以捉摸的古怪的一面。我最为喜欢的一个关于他的逸事很好
的说明了这一点。
据说这是他在普林斯顿的第一年，圣诞前夜，几个孩子在他的屋
外唱起了圣诞节颂歌。唱
完之后，他们敲门告诉他，他们在筹钱买圣诞礼物。爱因
斯坦听了之后说：
等一下
。他穿上外套，从琴
盒里取出小提琴。然后他和他们一
起走家串户，他们唱
寂静的夜
，
他用小提琴给他们伴奏。
How
shall I sum up what it meant to have known
Einstein and his works? Like
the Nobel
Prize-winner who pointed helplessly at his watch,
I can find no
adequate words.
It was akin to
the
revelation
of great art that lets
one see
what
was
formerly
hidden.
And
when,
for
example,
I
walk
on
the
sand
of
a
lonely
beach, I
am reminded
of
his ceaseless search for
cosmic
simplicity -
and the
scene takes on a deeper beauty.
能够认识爱因斯坦这个人，了解他的工作，这对我来说意味着
什么呢？我应该如何
表述呢？和那个无助的指着自己手表的诺贝尔奖获得者一样，我找不
到合适的词句。
好像是一件伟大的艺术作品给人的启示，让你看到了原来看不到的东西。
比如，当
我走在一片人迹稀少的沙滩，想起他对简单宇宙的不懈追求，于是眼前的风景便
具
有了一种更为深沉的美。
Unit
4 Preparing for
College
为上大学做准备
The year 1884-85 was a period of great
adventure for me. When I came up to
Berkeley for the entrance examinations
at the University of California I
failed in Greek, Latin, and was put off
for a year. My father was
alarmed
.
I was
eighteen years old, and he thought, that my
failure was his fault: he
had chosen
the wrong school for me. He had, but the right
school for me did
not exist. There were
schools that put boys into the colleges at a
younger
age than mine. I knew those
boys well. They are the boys that the schools,
colleges, and the world are made for.
Often I have envied them; more often
I
have been glad that I was not of them.
从
1884
到
1885
，这段时间对于我来说是了不起的历险。我来到贝克莱，参加加
利福尼亚大学的入学考试，但是我的希腊语，拉丁语和其他几门功课不及格，不得
不推迟一年再考。这时父亲慌了。那年我十八岁，我想，他可能认为我的失败是他
造成
的：他以为他为我选错了学校，但是真正合适我和我这类人的学校并不存在。
当时的确有
些学校将来自四面八方的男孩们送进了大学，那些男孩都比我小，后来
我渐渐地和那些孩
子熟悉了。中小学、大学乃至世界都是为他们（那时的男孩，将
来的男子汉）准备的。我
常嫉妒他们，但更多时候我庆幸我和他们不一样。
The
elect were boys who had been brought up to do
their duty. They
memorized whatever
their teachers told them to learn. Whether they
wanted
to
know
it,
whether
they
understood
it
or
no,
they
could
remember
and
recite
it.
Their
own
driving
motives
were,
so
far
as
I
could
make
out,
not
curiosity;
they rarely talked about our studies,
and if I spoke of the implications of
something we had read or
heard,
they looked
dazed or indifferent. Their own
motives
were
foreign
to
me;
to
beat
the
other
fellows,
stand
high,
represent
the honor of the
school.
一般来说，被选中的男孩都是已经受过教育，
去担当己任的。他们记住老师让
他们学的所有东西，不管自己想不想学，也不管理解了没
有，他们都能记住并背诵
出来。在我看来，激发他们学习的动力并不是好奇心：他们很少
谈论我们的学习，
我提到与我们读过或听到的内容相关的事情时，
他们或是神情茫然，
或是无动于衷。
他们学习的动力是：打败
对手，独占鳌头，为学校争光，这样的学习动机是我所不
解的。
My
parents
did
not
bring
me
up.
They
sent
me
to
school,
they
gave
me
teachers
of
music,
drawing;
they
offered
me
every
opportunity
in
their
reach.
But
also
they
gave
me
liberty
and
the
tools
of
quite
another
life:
horses,
guns,
dogs,
and
the
range
of
an
open
country
（
countryside
）
.
The
people,
the
businesses,
and the dreams of this life interested
me, and I learned well whatever
interested
me.
School
subjects
which
happened
to
bear
on
my
outside
interests
I studied in
school and out; I read more
than I was
required, and I read for
kee
ps
（
forever
）
,
too.
I
know
these
subjects
to
this
day,
just
as
I
remember
and
love still the men and women, the boys and girls,
who let me be friends
with them then
and so revealed to me some of the depths and the
limitations
of
human
nature.
On
the
other
hand
I
can
remember
few
of
my
teachers
and
little
of the
subjects which seemed to me irrelevant to my
life.
我的父母没有亲自教育我，他们把我送进学校，给
我找音乐老师和美术老师。
他们尽其所能为我提供各种机会；但是同时也给我自由，给我
另一种生活方式：骑
马、射击、养狗以及在旷野漫游。如我所示：我对形形色色的人，各
种各样的职业
和今生的美好的东西感兴趣；我感兴趣的，我学得很好，学习课程如果恰好
和我的
课外兴趣爱好相吻合，我就校内外都学。阅读的内容超过了老师的要求，而且认真
投入。时至今日，这些课程我仍记忆犹新，就像我仍记得并爱着那些男女、少年，
他们与我交友，让我多少了解人性的深浅；但是，给我上课的老师，我倒是没记住
几个，那些我似乎和我生活无关的课程，我也忘记得差不多了。
These other subjects are interesting to
me. No one tried to interest me in
them;
they
were
put
before
me
as
things
that
I
had
to
have
to
get
into
college.
The
teachers of them did not appeal to my curious,
active result was that
I
did
not
really
work
at
them
and
so
got
only
what
stuck
by
dint
of
repetition:
the
barest rudiments
of a school
education. When I knocked at the college
gates, I was prepared for a college
education in some branches; my mind was
hungry
enough
for
the
answers
to
some
profound
questions
to
have
made
me
work
and
develop
myself,
especially
on
lines
which
I
know
now
had
no
ready
answers,
only more and more
questions: science, metaphysics, etc. I was not in
the
least curious about Greek, Latin,
mathematics, and the other
required by
the standardization of that day.
一些其它课程也很有意思，而且也应该能使我感兴趣，但从来没有人尝试激发
我对这些课程的兴趣。这些课程就这么摆在我面前：这些是上大学必须学的，这些
课程
的老师没有调动我好奇又活跃的大脑，结果就是我没有认真地学这些课程，仅
仅掌握了一
些反复灌输的东西
---
学校教育的基础知识。我叩响大学之门
时，我只是
在某些学科上为大学学习做了准备；我急切渴望找寻一些深奥的问题的答案，
这种
探寻使我不断学习以提高自己，特别在一些还没有现成答案的领域里，我知道在这<
/p>
些领域仍然有很多的疑问：比如，科学和玄学领域。对希腊语、拉丁语、数学和那
些当时教育标准要求掌握的“知识”，我一点也不感兴趣。
My
father
discovered
and
put
me
into
the
best
private
school
in
San
Francisco
as a special
student to be
crammed for
Berkeley?
–
and he
retained one of
the teachers there, Mr.
Evelyn Nixon, to tutor me on the side.
（课外，作
为兼职）
Characteristically,
too,
my
father
gave
me
liberty:
a
room
to
sleep
and work in, with no
one to watch over and care for me. I could go and
come
as
I
pleased.
And
I
came
and
went.
I
went
exploring
and
dreaming
alone
around
that
city and the
place I
liked
best
was
the
ocean
shore;
there I lived
over
the lives of the Greek heroes and
the Roman generals and all the poets of
all
the
ages,
sometimes
with
ecstasy,
but
never,
as
in
my
boyhood,
with
myself
as the hero. A change
had come over me.