-
The most frightening words in the English
language are,
“
Our computer
is down.
”
You hear it
more and more when you are in business.
The other day I was at the airport waiting for a
ticket to
Washington and the girl in
the ticket office said,
“
I
’
m
sorry, I can
’
t sell you a
ticket. Our computer
is
down.
”
“
If your computer is down,
just write me out a ticket.
”
“
I
can
’
t write you out a
ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do
so.
”
I looked
down the counter and every passenger was just
standing there drinking coffee and
staring at the black screen. Then I
asked her,
“
What do you
do?
”
“
We give the computer the
information about your trip,
and it
tells us whether you can fly with
us or
not.
”
“
So when it goes down, you
go down with it.
”
“
That
’
s right,
sir.
”
“
How long will the computer
be down?
”
I wanted to
know.
“
I have no
idea. Sometimes it
’
s down
for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There is
no way
we can find out without asking
the computer, and since it
’
s
down it won't answer us.
”
After
the
girl
told
me
they
had
no
backup(
备用的
)
computers.
I
said,
“
Let
’
s
forget
the
computer. What about your planes?
They
’
re still flying,
aren
’
t
they?
”
“
I couldn't tell without
asking the computer.
”
“
Maybe
I
could
just
go
to
the
gate
and
ask
the
pilot
the
he
’
s
flying
to
Washington.
”
I
suggested.
“
I
wouldn't
know
what
gate
to
sent
you
to.
Even
if
the
pilot
was
going
to
Washington,
he
couldn't take you if you didn't have a
ticket.
”
“
Is there any other flight
to Washington within the next few
hours?
”
“
I wouldn't
know,
”
she said, pointing at
the dark screen.
“
Only
'IT
’
knows.
'IT
’
can tell
me.
”
By this time
there were
quiet
a few
people standing in line. The word spread to other
travelers that
the
computer
was
down.
Some
people
left,
some
people
started
to
cry
and
still
others
kicked
luggage.
在英语语言中最可怕的话是：
“我们的电脑出故障了。
”当你在进行业务时，
你听到这话越来越多了。
有一天，我在机
场候买去华盛顿的机票，售票处里的女孩说，“对不起，我无法给你出票。我们的电脑出
故障了。”
“如果您的电脑出故障了，我手写一张票吧。”
“我无法手写给你。只有电脑是唯一允许这样操作的。”
我低头扫视了柜台
，每个乘客只是站在那里喝着咖啡，盯着黑色屏幕
。然后我问她：“那你做什么
呢？”
“我们把你的旅行信息输入电脑，
它会告诉我们您是否能飞或不能。
”
“所以，当电脑出现故障，你和电脑一起停工。”
“没错，先生。”
“电脑出故障会有多长时间？”我想知道。
< br>“我不知道。有时停
10
分钟，有时停两个小时。除了问
电脑我们没有其他办法知道，因为它出故障也
就不会回答我们。”
女孩告诉我他们没有备用的电脑之后。我说：“让我们忘掉电脑。那么你们的飞机怎
么样了？它们是
不是还在飞行呢？”
“不问电脑我无法告诉你。”
“也许我只能走向大门，去问飞向华盛顿的飞行员。”我建议。
“我不知道你该进什么大门。即使飞行员要飞华盛顿，如果你没有机票，他也不能带上你
。”
“在未来几个小时里，还有没有其他飞往华盛顿的航班？”
<
/p>
“我不知道，”她指着黑色屏幕说。“只有
'
它’知道。只有
'
它’能告诉我。”
到这时候还有相当一部份人在排队。电脑出故障这个词传播到
其余
旅客。有些人离开，有些人哭了起
来，还有一些人踢行李
。
P321 (2)
Almost every family buys at least one
copy of a newspaper everyday. Some people have as
many
as two or three different
newspapers. But why do people read
newspapers?
Five hundred
years
ago,
news of important
happenings,
battles lost and
won, kings
or rulers
overthrown(
推翻
) or
killed took months and even years to travel from
one country to another. The
news passed
by words
of mouth. Today we can read in
our
newspapers of important
things
that
happen in far away countries on the
same day.
Besides giving
news from all over the world, newspapers tell us a
lot of other useful information.
There
are weather reports, radio, television and film
guides, book reviews, stories, and of course,
advertisements(
广告
).
There are all kinds of advertisements. They pay
the newspapers thousands of
dollars for
the advertising space(
广告版面
),
but it is
worth
the money
because news of what they
make
in
factories
goes
into
almost
every
home
in
the
country.
For
those
who
make
newspapers,
advertisements
are also very important. Money from advertisements
makes it possible for them to
sell
their newspapers at a low price and still make a
profit.
Newspapers often
have information on gardening, cookery and
fashion(
时装
)
as
well as
a small but
very
popular part on jokes and cartoons.
几乎每个家庭每天至少购买一份报纸。有些人购买多达两种或
三种不同的报纸。人们为什么看报纸？
五百年前，重大事件，
战争输赢，国王或统治者被推翻或杀死的新闻信息要过上几个月甚至数年才能
从一个国家
传播到另一个国家。那时的新闻信息通过口头传播。今天，我们能够在报上看到同一天里在遥
远的国度发生的重要事件。
除了来自世界各地的新闻，报
纸还给我们提供了其它很多有用的信息。有天气预报，广播，电视和电
影预告，书评，故
事，当然，还有广告。有各种各样的广告。他们支付给广告版面数千美元，但这是值得
的
，
因为他们在工厂发生的新闻信息传入几乎每一个在乡间的家庭
。对于经营报纸和广告的那些人也是非
常重要的。广告收入使他们有可能以低廉的价格出
售他们的报纸并且仍然能够盈利。
报纸经常有园艺，烹饪和时
装方面的信息，也有笑话和漫画方面的一小块但非常流行的版面。
P322 (3)
Many
students are injured or killed in different kinds
of accidents.
Chen haoyu, a
teacher at Beijing No. 25 middle School and a
self-protection expert, gives young
students advice on how to deal with
danger:
·
If you
are robbed
Keep
clam.
If
you
cannot
cry
for
help
or
run
away,
give
the
robber
your
money.
Try
and
remember what the robber looked like
and tell the police.
·
If you are in a traffic
accident
If you are hurt by
a car, take down the registration number, if it is
a bicycle, try to contact
your parents
before you let the rider go. This is in case you
don't realize how seriously you are
hurt.
·
If it is
raining hard and there is lightning
Don't stay in high places and keep away
from trees.
·
When
there is a fire
Gets away as
fast as you can. But wet material on your body and
try to find an exit. Do not take
elevator!
·
If someone is
drowning
If you
can
’
t swim, don't get into
the water. Cry out for help.
·
Remember that danger is
never as far away as you think. Look after
yourself at all times!
许多学生在各类事故中受伤或死亡。
陈浩宇，一位北京第
25
中学教师和自我保护的专家，给年轻学
生关于如何处理危险的建议：
?
如果被抢劫
保持沉默。如果你不能呼叫求助或逃离开，把你的钱给强盗。设法记住这个强盗长什么样子，报告警
察。
?
如果出交通事故
< br>如果你被汽车撞了，记下车牌号，如果是自行车，在你让骑车人离开之前，设法联系你的父母。这是
在你不知道你伤得有多严重的情况下。
?
如果天下大雨并有雷电
不要停留在高处，远离大树。
?
当发生火灾
尽你的可能快速撤离。随身带上湿的东西，并设法找到一个出口。不要乘电梯！
?
如果有人溺水
如果你不会游泳，不能跳入水中。呼叫求助。
?
请记住此类危险从来不是你想象中的遥远。你自己时时要当心！
P323 (4)
Suppose(
假设
) a man
has a car accident. He is hurt badly and is
unconscious(
失去知觉的
); that is,
he can
’
t think,
speak, or hear. His family takes him to the
hospital. The doctors tell the family that
his brain(
大脑
) is
dead. A machine can make him breathe.
Now the patient
’
s
(
病人
) family must answer some
difficult questions. Should they think he is
dead? Should they ask the doctors to
use the machine to make him breathe? Sometimes
machines
can make an unconscious person
breathe for years. However, if his brain is dead,
he will never think,
speak, or hear
again. Then, should his family ask the doctors not
to use the machine and let him die?
Someone who is unconscious
can
’
t say he wants to die.
Can his family say this for him? Some
people think this is a good idea. Some
think
otherwise(
不同地
).
Many people are hurt when machines keep
a person alive. The unconscious person doesn't
know
this. Machine only make the family
and friends hurt longer.
假设一个男子出了车祸。他伤的很重，失去了知觉；也就是说
，他不能思考，不能说话，不能听见。
他的家人送他到医院。医生告诉家人，他的大脑已
经死亡。一台机器可以辅助他呼吸。
现在，
病人的家属必须回答一些棘手的问题。
他们可以认为他死了吗？他们可以要求医生使用机器使
他呼吸吗？有时机器可以使昏迷
不醒的人呼吸多年。但是，如果他的大脑已经死亡，他再也不能思考，不
能说话，不能听
见了。那么，能允许他的家属要求医生不使用机器，让他死去吗？
昏迷不醒的人无法说出他想死。
他的
家属能替他说吗？有些人认为这是一个好主意。
另有一些人持不
同认识。
当机器
维持一个人活着的时候，
许多人受到了伤害。
昏迷不醒的人不知
道这一点。
机器仅能造成他的
家人和朋友更长时间的伤害。
P324 (5)
Most people want to work, but it has
become more difficult in
today
’
s world to find work
for
everybody. The economies of the
world need to grow by 4% each year just to keep
the old number
of jobs for people.
often this is not possible, and so more people are
without work. Some people have
no jobs
now because new machines can do the work of many
people in a shorter time. Also, machines
do not ask for more money and longer
holidays. In all of the countries of the world
machines are
taking work from people,
not only in factories but also on the farms. One
machine can often do the
work of forty
percent of people. About 75,000 people are moving
to the cities a day to look for jobs,
but only 70% of them can find
jobs.
大多数人想要工作，<
/p>
但在当今世界每个人都找到工作已成为很大困难。
世界经济需要每
年增长
4
％，
仅能
维持原先的就业人数。通常这是不可能的，所以好多人没有工作。现今有些人没有工作，是由于新机器能
用较短时间完成许多人的工作。此外，机器不会要求更多的工资和较长的假期。在世界上所有
国家，机器
不仅在工厂，而且在农场正取代人的工作。一台机器通常能够完成人工作的<
/p>
40
％。每天约
75,000
人移居到
城市找工作，但只有其中
70
％可以找到工作。
P325
(6)
On Thursday morning,
more than 100 citizens in Nanjing, the capital of
East China
’
s Jiangsu
Province,
donated
blood
at
a
local
station
as
a
result
of
the
local
promotion
campaign
of
the
country
’
s blood
donation law which took effect
late
last year
. Some 82.3 percent of the
blood in the
local
supply(
供应
) centre has been
donated, compared with last year where a large
amount of blood
was
purchased(
购买
).
As
many
as
12,000
local
people
have
freely
donated
their
blood
so
far,
ensuring(
保证
) an
abundant supply for use in local
hospitals.
周四早上，在中国东部江苏省省会
南京，
100
多名市民在当地
??
电视台献血，以作为去年年底生效的国
家献血法的本地宣传活动。<
/p>
与去年同期那里大量购买的血液相比，已有
82.3%
捐赠到当地供血中心。到目
前为止，多达
12,0
00
名当地市民无偿捐献了自己的鲜血，为当地医院的使用保障了丰富的供应。
P326 (7)
In the past, when people had problems,
they went to their families or friends to get
advice.
Today, it is possible to get
advice from radio show, TV programs and telephone
hot lines, too. A hot
line is a
telephone line that offers a direct way of getting
in touch with(
同??联络
)
advisers. Most
hot lines are completely
anonymous(
不具名的
). Callers do
not have to say their names or telephone
numbers. Most hot lines are usually
free, too. Callers do not have to pay for the
advice or the phone
calls-even if the
calls are long distance(
长途
).
At some hot lines, the advisers are
volunteers(
志愿者
).
Other hot lines pay their advisers for
their words. Usually the advisers are
professionals(
专业人员
),
with years of education and experience,
but sometimes, the advisers have only taken a
short class
before starting to work on
the hot line. All the advisers listen to people
and help them settle their
problems.
在过去，当人们遇到问题，他们向家人或朋友咨询。今天，也可以从广播节目，电视节目和电
话热线
得到咨询。热线是一条电话线，提供了一个与顾问联络的直接方式。大多数热线是
完全匿名的。呼叫者不
必说出他们的名字或电话号码。大多数热线通常也是免费的。呼叫
者不必支付咨询费或电话费，即使是长
途电话费。有些热线的顾问是志愿者。其他热线给
它们的顾问支付报酬。顾问通常是有多年教育和经验的
专业人士，但有时候，顾问在开始
热线电话工作以前只经过短期培训。所有的顾问倾听来电，帮助他们解
决问题。
P328 (8)
Here are four messages on Alan
Marshall
’
s
answerphone.
Monday
9:21
Alan? Alan, if
you
’
re at home, please
answer the phone. Are you really not there? Well,
I
’
d just
like to
say that I
’
m very angry with
you
—
and your father is too.
You know how much he loves our
monthly
family lunches. This is the fifth one
you
’
re missed. I hope
you
’
ve got a really good
reason
this time. Oh, umm, this is your
mother speaking.
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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