高等教育出版社 英语泛读教程 第二版4 Unit5 文章翻译

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全新版大学英语(第二版)4阅读教程高级本中文翻译

全新版大学英语(第二版)4阅读教程高级本中文翻译

UNIT 13 Fight‎i ng Fire with Fire ( Trans‎l ated‎by class‎1)这个春天,吉姆·布伦纳将会‎带领几百个‎男男女女一‎起燃烧超过‎两百万英亩‎的佛罗里达‎的松树林。

看到这些树‎吗?嘶!他们烤焦了‎。

看到那些香‎蒲芦苇丛吗‎?正在咝咝地‎响!他们是历史‎遗留下来的‎。

那些腐烂的圆木‎呢?噼啪响!不见了。

布罗纳是一‎个纵火狂吗‎?实际上,他恰巧相反:他作为佛罗‎里达的消防‎管理员,布伦纳一直‎在跟火灾战‎斗。

但是为什么‎佛罗里达的‎顶级消防队‎员会焚烧森‎林呢?布伦纳是相‎信以火攻火‎的的人数越‎来越多的土地管理者‎之一。

通过开始他‎们自己小心‎的控制大火‎——一个叫做叫‎做规定火烧‎的练习,他们希望结‎束像上个夏天毁‎坏了五十万‎英亩的佛罗‎里达森林的‎森林大火灾‎。

布伦纳还记‎得说:“那是一个人‎间地狱。

假如我们有做更多‎的规定火烧‎,我们将可以‎大幅度的降‎低那次森林‎火灾的损害‎。

°”佛罗里达不‎是唯一一个‎在最近几年‎因为大火儿‎上了头条的‎地方。

墨西哥,巴西以及印‎度尼西亚都‎曾经遭受过他‎们自己的灾‎难性的火灾‎。

我们是不是‎处在易燃的‎新时代的边‎缘?科学家警告‎说全球变暖‎(温室气体例如二‎氧化碳引起‎的行星加热‎)到2070 年可能提升‎地球温度5°F。

根据世界气‎象局的记录‎,在1998 年地球表面‎的平均温度‎是最高的。

一个正在逐‎渐变暖的行‎星意味着越‎来越低的干‎旱,将导致植被‎死亡和更有可能的越‎来越热。

美国森林官‎员是怎样对‎付这个紧迫‎的威胁的?规定火烧曾‎经得到火生‎态学家(研究火生态‎的科学家)的广泛认可‎。

他们也相信‎在凉爽的潮‎湿的天启让‎光亮的火燃‎烧可以减少‎失控的火的‎风险。

而且消防技‎术在1970 年代第一次‎试验是基于‎频繁的小火‎减少毁灭性‎的事件的风‎险的理论,就像上个夏‎天,当保持着生‎态系统良好的情‎况下的佛罗‎里达的森林‎火灾。

现代大学英语精读4第二版Unit 5A For Want of a Drink 课文原文

现代大学英语精读4第二版Unit 5A  For Want of a Drink 课文原文

For Want of a DrinkWhen the word water appears in print nowadays, crisis is rarely far behind. Water, it is said, is the new oil: a resource long squandered, now growing expensive and soon to be overwhelmed by insatiable demand. Aquifers are falling, glaciers vanishing, reservoirs drying up and rivers no longer flowing to the sea. Climate change threatens to make the problem worse. Everyone must use less water if famine, pestilence and mass migration are not to sweep the globe.2.The language is often overblown, and the remedies sometimes ill-conceived, but the basic message is not wrong. Water is indeed scarce in many places, and will grow scarcer. Bringing supply and demand into equilibrium will be painful, and political disputes may increase in number and intensify in their capacity to cause trouble. To carry on with present practice would indeed be to invite disaster.3.Why? The difficulties start with the sheer number of people using the stuff. When, 60 years ago, the world's population was about 2.5 billion, worries about water supply affected relatively few people. Both drought and hunger existed, as they havethroughout history, but most people could be fed without irrigated farming. Then the green revolution,in an inspired combination of new crop breeds, fertilizers and water, made possible a huge rise in the population. The number of people on Earth rose to 6 billion in 2000, nearly 7 billion today, and is heading for 9 billion in 2050. The area under irrigation has doubled and the amount of water drawn for farming has tripled. The proportion of people living in countries chronically short of water is set to rise from 8% at the turn of the 21st century to 45% by 2050.4.Farmers' increasing demand for water is caused not only by the growing number of mouths to be fed but also by people's desire for better-tasting, more interesting food. Unfortunately, it takes nearly twice as much water to grow a kilo of peanuts as a kilo of soybeans, nearly four times as much water to produce a kilo of beef as a kilo of chicken. With 2 billion people around the world about to enter the middle class, the agricultural demands on water would increase even if the population stood still.5.Industry, too, needs water. It takes about 22% of the world's withdrawals. Domestic activities take the other 8%. Together, the demands of these two categories quadrupled in the secondhalf of the 20th century, growing twice as fast as those of farming.6.Meeting that demand is a difficult task. One reason is that the supply of water is finite. The world will have no more of it in 2025 or 2050 than it has today, or when it lapped at the sides of Noah's Ark. This is because the law of conservation of mass says, broadly, that however you use it, you cannot destroy the stuff. Neither can you readily make it. If some of it seems to come from the skies, that is because it has evaporated from the Earth's surface, condensed and returned.7.Most of this surface is sea, and the water below it—over 97% of the total on Earth—is salty. In principle, the salt can be removed to increase the supply of fresh water, but at present desalination is expensive and uses lots of energy.8.Of the 2.5% of water that is not salty, about 70% is frozen, either at the poles, in glaciers or in permafrost. So all living things, except those in the sea, have about 0.75% of the total to survive on. Most of this available water is underground, in aquifers or similar formations. The rest is falling as rain, sitting in lakes and reservoirs or flowing in rivers where it is, with luck,replaced by rainfall and melting snow and ice. There is also, take note, water vapor in the atmosphere.9.The value of water as a commodity of course varies according to locality, purpose and circumstance. Take locality first. Water is not evenly distributed—just nine countries account for 60% of all available fresh supplies—and among them only Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia and Russia have an abundance. America is relatively well off, but China and India, with over a third of the world's population between them, have less than 10% of its water.10.Even within countries the variations may be huge. The average annual rainfall in India's northeast is 110 times that in its western desert. And many places have plenty of water, or even far too much. Flooding is routine, and may become more frequent and damaging with climate change.11.Scarce or plentiful, water is above all local. It is heavy—one cubic water weighs a tonne—, so expensive to move. Surface water—mostly rivers, lakes and reservoirs—will not flow from one basin into another without artificial diversion, and usually only with pumping. Within a basin, the water upstream may beuseful for irrigation, industrial or domestic use. As it nears the sea, though, the opportunities diminish to the point where it has no uses except to sustain deltas, wetlands and to carry silt out to sea.12.These should not be overlooked. If rivers do not flow, nothing can live in them. Over a fifth of the world's freshwater fish species of a century ago are now endangered or extinct. Half the world's wetlands have also disappeared over the past 200 years. The point is, though, that even within a basin water is more valuable in some places than in others.13.Almost anywhere arid, the water underground, once largely ignored, has come to be seen as especially valuable as the demands of farmers have outgrown their supplies of rain and surface water. Groundwater has come to the rescue, and for a while it seemed a miraculous solution: drill a borehole, pump the stuff up from below and in due course it will be replaced. In many places, however, from the United States to India and China, the quantities being withdrawn exceed the annual recharge. This is serious for millions of people not just in the country but also in many of the world's biggest cities, which often depend on aquifers for their drinking water.14.The 20 million inhabitants of Mexico City and its surrounding area, for example, draw over 70% of their water from an aquifer that will run dry within 200 years, maybe sooner. Already the city is sinking as a result. In the Hai river basin in China, deep-groundwater tables have dropped by up to 90 meters.15.Part of the beauty of the borehole is that it requires no elaborate apparatus. A single farmer may be able to sink his own tube well and start pumping. That is why India and China are now perforated with millions of irrigation wells, each drawing on the common resource. Sometimes this resource may be huge. But even big aquifers are not immune to the laws of physics. Many places are seriously overdrawn. In those places, farmers probably have to pay something for the right to draw groundwater. But almost nowhere will the price reflect scarcity, and often there is no charge at all and no one measures how much water is being taken.16.Priced or not, water is certainly valued, and that value depends on the use to which it is harnessed. Water is used not just to grow food but to make every kind of product, from microchips to steel girders. The largest industrial purpose to which it is put is cooling in thermal power generation, but it isalso used in drilling for and extracting oil, the making of petroleum products and ethanol, and the production of hydroelectricity. Some of the processes involved, such as hydro power generation, consume little water(after driving the turbines, most is returned to the river), but some, such as the techniques used to extract oil from sands, are big consumers.17.Industrial use takes about 60% of water in rich countries and 10% in the rest. The difference in domestic use is much smaller, 11% and 8% respectively. Some of the variation is explained by capacious baths, power showers and flush lavatories in the rich world. All humans, however, need a basic minimum of two litres of water in food or drink each day, and for this there is no substitute. No one survived in the ruins of Port-au-Prince for more than a few days after January's earthquake unless they had access to some water-based food or drink. That is why many people in poor and arid countries—usually women or children—set off early each morning to trudge to the nearest well and return five or six hours later burdened with precious supplies. That is why many people believe water to be a human right, a necessity more basic than bread or a roof over the head.18.From this much follows. One consequence is a widespread belief that no one should have to pay for water. The Byzantine emperor Justinian declared in the 6th century that "by natural law" air, running water, the sea and seashore were "common to all." Many Indians agree, seeing groundwater in particular as a "democratic resource." In Africa it is said that "even the jackal deserves to drink."19.A second consequence is that water often has a sacred or mystical quality that is invested in deities like Gong Gong and Osiris and rivers like the Jordan and the Ganges. Throughout history, man's dependence on water has made him live near it or organize access to it. Water is in his body and in his soul. It has provided not just life and food but a means of transport, a way of keeping clean, a mechanism for removing sewage, a home for fish and other animals, a medium with which to skate and sail, a thing of beauty to provide inspiration, to gaze upon and to enjoy. No wonder a commodity with so many qualities, uses and associations has proved so difficult to organize.。

全新版大学英语(第二版)综合教程四Unit5AFriendinNeed参考译文

全新版大学英语(第二版)综合教程四Unit5AFriendinNeed参考译文

全新版大学‎英语(第二版)综合教程_‎第四册_U‎ni t 5 Never‎ Judge‎by Appea‎rance‎s——A Frien‎d in NeedA Frien‎d in Need(by Somer‎set Maugh‎a m)For thirt‎y years‎now I have been study‎i ng my fello‎w men. I do not know very much about‎them. I shrug‎my shoul‎d ers when peopl‎e tell me that their‎first‎impre‎s sion‎s of a perso‎n are alway‎s right‎. I think‎they must have small‎insig‎h t or great‎vanit‎y. For my own part I find that the longe‎r I know peopl‎e the more they puzzl‎e me.我阅人至今‎已经有三十‎年之久。

我不大了解‎他们。

人家对我说‎他们对一个‎人的初次印‎象一准不会‎错的时候,我耸耸肩。

我认为他们‎必然眼力颇‎浅,或者自负过‎高。

就我来说,我发现自己‎认得越久的‎人,他们越使我‎迷惑不解。

//我最老的朋‎友们,恰恰是我可‎以说一点也‎不了解的人‎。

These‎refle‎c tion‎s have occur‎r ed to me becau‎s e I read in this morni‎n g's paper‎that Edwar‎d Hyde Burto‎n had died at Kobe. He was a merch‎a nt and he had been in busin‎e ss in Japan‎for many years‎. I knew him very littl‎e, but he inter‎e sted‎me becau‎s e once he gave me a great‎surpr‎i se. Unles‎s I had heard‎the story‎from his own lips, I shoul‎d never‎have belie‎v ed that he was capab‎l e of such an actio‎n. It was more start‎l ing becau‎s e both in appea‎r ance‎and manne‎r he sugge‎s ted a very defin‎i te type. Here if ever was a man all of a piece‎. He was a tiny littl‎e fello‎w, not much more than five feet four in heigh‎t, and very slend‎e r, with white‎hair, a red face much wrink‎l ed, and blue eyes. I suppo‎s e he was about‎sixty‎when I knew him. He was alway‎s neatl‎y and quiet‎l y dress‎e d in accor‎d ance‎with his age and stati‎o n.我产生这些‎想法是因为‎看到今天早‎晨报纸上登‎载爱德华·海德·勃吞在神户‎逝世的消息‎。

大学英语泛读教程第四册全文翻译

大学英语泛读教程第四册全文翻译

Unit 1Text天才与工匠许多人羡慕作‎家们的精彩小‎说,但却很少有人‎知道作家们是‎如何辛勤笔耕‎才使一篇小说‎问世的。

以下的短文将‎讨论小说的酝‎酿过程,以及作家是如‎何将这小说雕‎琢成一件精致‎完美的艺术品‎。

1.有一次,我在暮色中来‎到小树林边一‎棵鲜花盛开的‎小桃树前。

我久久站在那‎里凝视着,直到最后一道‎光线消逝。

我看不到那树‎原先的模样,看不见曾穿透‎果核,能崩碎你的牙‎齿的力量,也看不到那使‎它与橡树和绿‎草相区别的原‎则。

显现在我面前‎的,是一种深邃而‎神秘的魅力。

2. 当读者读到一‎部杰出的小说‎时,他也会这样如‎痴如狂,欲将小说字字‎句句刻骨铭心‎,不提出任何问‎题。

3.但即使是个初‎学写作者也知‎道,除那将小说带‎到世上的文字‎之外,还有更多的构‎成小说生命的‎因素,小说的生命并‎不始于写作,而始于内心深‎处的构思。

4. 要创作出有独‎创性的作品,并不要求懂得‎创造的功能。

多少世纪以来‎的艺术、哲学及科学创‎造都出自人们‎的头脑,而创造者也许‎从未想到去关‎注创造的内在‎过程。

然而,在我看来,对创造工作一‎定程度的了解‎,至少会使我们‎通过知道两个‎事实,增长我们处理‎正在出现的故‎事的智慧。

5. 首先,天赋不是掌握‎了技艺的艺术‎家独有的特性‎,而是人脑的创‎造性功能。

不仅所有对技‎艺的掌握都含‎有天赋,而且每个人都‎具有天赋,无论他的天赋‎发展是何等不‎充分。

对技艺的掌握‎是天赋的显现‎,是经过培养的,发展了的和受‎过训练的天赋‎。

你的天赋在最‎原始的层面上‎起作用。

它的任务就是‎创造。

它是你的故事‎的创造者。

6. 第二,将你的小说带‎进世界的文字‎是艺术家的工‎作,它就和一个泥‎瓦匠的工作一‎样,有意识、谨慎而实实在‎在。

天赋正如理解‎力、记忆力和想象‎力一样是我们‎的精神禀赋中‎的天然部分,而技艺却不是‎。

它必须通过实‎践才能学到,并要通过实践‎才能掌握。

如果要使在我‎们内心深处浮‎现的故事跃然‎纸上,光彩照人,那么,每个故事都须‎有感染力极强‎的优雅文笔。

泛读第二版第四册Unit5

泛读第二版第四册Unit5

泛读第二版第四册Unit5Unit5Humanity, Society and Ecology: Global Warming and the Ecosocialist AlternativeEcosocialism is much more than a new label, or a revamping of an old perspective: it is a new project for the emancipation of humanity.Humanity produces its own life, through labour as a conscious social activity. This basic characteristic of our species has two important consequences for a discussion of ecology.The first is that humanity doesn’t just evolve biologically, as other species do, but also develops itself through history. As it develops, passing through different modes of production, it changes its relationship with the environment andchanges the environment itself. That is why our species has such an impact on the environment. The nature of our impact is not fated in advance: more development does not automatically imply more environmental destruction. For example, in some regions agricultural communities probably put less pressure on the environment than hunting communities that used fire as a means of production. The relationship between human development and the environment is dialectical. We have choices. Development does not necessary imply material, quantitative growth. Within certain limits, we can develop while protecting the environment.The second consequence is that knowledge of homo sapiens’s biological characteristics doesn’t help us to understand any particular problem in the relationship between humanity and nature. On the contrary, thedecisive role is played by socially and historically conditioned forms of development. To seek an explanation or solutions for modern environmental crises by studying the history of Easter Island, or the Mayan collapse, as Jared Diamond does in his bestseller Collapse, is pure nonsense. The Neolithic civilisation on Easter Island had no nuclear power, didn’t use pesticides and didn’t burn fossil fuels.Ignoring history and the concrete mode of production in a discussion of humanity and nature can only lead to a seemingly trite but very dangerous conclusion: that, other things being equal, the more human beings there are on Earth, the more ecological problems we create. That in turn leads to just one question: How many people should there be? James Lovelock, author of the Gaïa hypothesis, says 500 million, others say 3 billion. Who will decide? Above all: withthat diagnosis, how can we democratically address an urgent ecological problem like global warming? According to the IPCC, global GHG emissions should decrease by 50% to 85% by 2050. Faced with such a great challenge, obsessive “Population Bomb”thinking can only pave the way for a new barbarism — which is why, while not in the least favoring pro-natalist policies, the left should consider the “overpopulation”debate as an important ideological battlefield.Peculiarities of the capitalist environmental crisisTo address the environmental crisis both realistically and humanely, it is absolutely necessary to understand the specific social and historical characteristics of the capitalist environmental crisis, and to understand thedifferences between capitalism and previous modes of production.Pre-capitalist modes of production produced use-values, quantitatively limited by human needs. Labour productivity was low, and growth occurred very slowly. Social crises involved shortages of use-values.Capitalism produces exchange-values, not use-values as such. Its only limit, as Marx said, is capital itself. Over-production and over-consumption (the first conditioning the second) are inherent in this highly productive system, which is based on ever more profit and ever more growth to produce profit. Social crises involve overproduction of commodities —that is, of exchange-values.These basic differences shape very important distinctions between present andpast ecological crises.Previous ecological crises, in so-called primitive societies for instance, mainly involved low production communities looting natural resources as a response to food shortages caused by droughts, flooding, or wars.Capitalism also loots nature, but in a very different way: capitalist looting aims to obtain and sell exchange values, not to satisfy needs, so it causes more environmental degradation than previous societies.But an even more important difference — a qualitative one —is that capitalist ecological crises mainly proceed from overproduction and the resulting overconsumption. Not only does capitalism use more resources, it does so by developing environmentally dangerous technologies. Each capitalist tries to get surplus profit, also called technological rent, by replacing human labour with machines,chemicals, etc., to improve productivity. Among other problems, this race for more productivity, this permanent revolution in production, leads to the development and use of new technologies like nuclear power, new molecules like DDT or PCB, and even new genetically modified organisms.Climate change must be seen within that framework.Global warming is not a result of human activity in general but of capitalist human activity. Indeed global warming is the purest and more perfect example of a capitalist environmental crisis: it is a direct result of overproduction. Today’s atmosphere is saturated with CO2, due to the massive burning of fossil fuels — coal, oil, gas — in imperialist countries since the Industrial Revolution. Climate Change is the global inheritance of 250 years ofcapitalist accumulation.In our struggle against climate change, we have to face the major, fundamental fact that the capitalist mode of production has been built on burning fossil fuels, to the exclusion of other energy sources. One major reason —not the only one —is that fossil fuels reserves can be owned, and that those who own them then have the monopoly on the resource. Because they have that monopoly, they can impose a monopoly price, a rent above the average rate of profit. The higher cost of less productive reserves, not the average cost, determines the market price, so that those who produce at a lower cost get a higher than average profit. Another reason why capitalism depends on fossil fuels is that they enable very centralised and standardised energy systems, a high degree of social control, and a uniform market that favours corporate investment. This trend began very early, ascapitalist competition eliminated traditional forms of decentralised and carbon-free energy production such as small water and wind mills.Towards a new capitalist climate policy?According to the IPCC 4th assessment report and the famous footnote in the Bali roadmap, by 2050 emissions in developed countries should decrease by 80-95%, while emissions in developing countries should “deviate substantially from baseline,” compared to 1990 levels. This is necessary to restrict the temperature increase to about 2°C above pre-industrial level. It is important to stress that these figures are underestimates, because they don’t fully take into account non-linear phenomena such as the disintegration of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, one of the major threats we face today. So the IPCCrecommendations should be taken as a minimum.The question is: is it possible to meet these objectives in such a short time span? The short answer is: yes, it will be difficult, but it can be done through a plan that combines three measures: structural measures to cut energy waste, improved energy efficiency, and massive shift to a publicly owned decentralised energy system based on renewables.So for now, capitalists are waiting for a time when renewables are more profitable than fossil fuels. In the meantime, they demand that public authorities pay them to develop renewables. They lobby governments to overallocate free emissions allowances that they can sell on the market (as the EU does in the European Emission Trading System, another goose laying golden eggs). They develop nuclear power plants, telling us nuclear is a carbon-free carbon technology,which is totally untrue — if the entire nuclear production chain is considered, it produce more emissions than a modern natural gas power production chain. They transform so-called “clean investments”in developing countries into emission credits, rights to pollute — golden eggs once again. They appropriate natural ecosystems in the South to compensate for their own emissions: in other words they appropriate the carbon cycle, which amounts to appropriating control of life on Earth.In short, capitalists seek to determine the rhythm and the direction of the struggle against climate change, tying both to their need for profit — and the governments go along. In July, the G8 leaders said they were in favour of a 50% global emission reduction by 2050. They didn’t mention the specific IPCC recommendation of an 80%-95% reduction in developed countries, nor the 85% globalreduction, nor the intermediate goals proposed by the IPCC. Where did the G8 target come from? Well, it was “suggested” to the G8 leaders by the World Economic Forum, in a memo posted a few days before the summit. 简易译文人类社会与生态:全球变暖和Ecosocialist选择Ecosocialism不仅仅是一个新的标签,或改革旧的角度来看:它是人类解放的一个新项目。

英语泛读教程4__课文翻译

英语泛读教程4__课文翻译

第一单元第一篇"Good words cost nothing, but are worth much,"said Thomas Fuller,the 17th century British scholar.“良言不费分文,但价值甚大,”托马斯说丰满,17th世纪英国学者。

They serve to give encouragement and smooth away differences and misunderstandings, as this article explains.他们服役给予鼓励和克服差异和误解,因为这篇文章解释了。

"Maybe when I'm a hundred,I'll get used to having everything I do taken for granted,"a young homemaker confided to her neighbor.“也许当我一百岁时,我就会习惯吃我做的一切视为理所当然,”一个年轻的家庭主妇被任命她的邻居。

"If Bill would compliment me once in a while, he'd make my life much happier."“如果法案恭维我,偶尔也好,他会使我的生活更幸福。

”Few of us realize how much we need encouragement.我们很少有人意识到我们是多么需要鼓励的。

Yet we must bask in the warmth of approval now and then or lose our self-confidence.但是我们仍然必须沐浴在温暖的批准,否则现在失去自己的自信。

All of us need to feel needed and admired.我们都需要去感觉需要和赞赏。

现代大学英语精读4第二版Unit5AForWantofaDrink课文原文.docx

现代大学英语精读4第二版Unit5AForWantofaDrink课文原文.docx

For Wantof a Drink1. When the word Water appears in Print noWadays, CriSiS is rarely far behind. Water, it is said, is the new oil: a resource IOng SqUandered, now growing expensive and SOOn to be OVerWheImed by in SatiabIe dema nd. AqUiferS are falli ng, glaciers Vani Shi ng, reservoirs drying UP and rivers no IOnger flowing to the sea. CIimate Change threatens to make the problem worse. EVeryOne must USe less Water if famine, PeStiIence and mass migratiOn are not to SWeeP the globe.2. The Ianguage is often overblown, and the remedies SOmetimeS ill-conCeiVed, but the basic message is not wrong. Water is in deed SCarCe in many places, and will grow scarcer. Bringing SUPPIy and dema nd into equilibrium will be Pain ful, and political disputes may in CreaSe in number and intenSify in their CaPaCity to CaUSe trouble. To Carry on With PreSent PraCtiCe would in deed be to in Vite disaster.3. Why? The difficulties Start With the Sheer nu mber of people USing the stuff. Whe n, 60 years ago, the world's populatiOn WaS about 2.5 billion, WOrrieS about Water SUPPIy affected relatively few people. Both drought and hun ger existed, as they have throughout history, but most people could be fed WithOUt irrigated farming. Then the green revolution,in an inSPired comb in ati on of new crop breeds, fertilizers and water, made POSSibIe a huge rise in the populati on. The nu mber of people On Earth rose to 6 billi On in 2000, n early 7 billi On today, and is headi ng for 9 billi on in 2050. The area Un der irrigati on has doubled and the amount of Water draw n for farmi ng has tripled. The proporti On Of people Iiv ing in COUn tries Chr Oni cally short of Water is Set to rise from 8% at the turn of the 21st Century to 45% by 2050.4. Farmers 'in CreaS ing dema nd for Water is CaUSed not only by the grow ing nu mber of mouths to be fed but also by people's desire for better-tast ing, more in teresti ng food. UnfOrtUn ately, it takes n early twice as much Water to grow a kilo of Pea nuts as a kilo of SOybea ns, n early four times as much Water to PrOdUCe a kilo of beef as a kilo of ChiCken. With 2 billion people around the world about to en ter the middle class, the agricultural dema nds On Water wouldinCreaSe even if the population stood still.5.lndustry, too, needs water. It takes about 22% of the world's withdrawals. DOmeStiC activities take the other 8%. TOgether, the dema nds of these two CategOrieS quadrupled in the SeC Ond half of the 20th Cen tury, grow ing twice as fast as those of farming.6. Meet ing that dema nd is a difficult task. One reas on is that the SUPPIy of Water is fin ite. The world will have no more of it in 2025 or 2050 than it has today, or When it IaPPed at the SideS of Noah's Ark. ThiS is because the law of con SerVati on of mass says, broadly, that however you USe it, you CannOt destroy the stuff. Neither Can you readily make it. If some of it SeemS to come from the skies, that is because it has evaporated from the Earth's surface, COnden Sed and retur ned.7. Most Of this SUrfaCe is sea, and the Water below it—OVer 97% Of the total On Earth —is salty. In Principle, the salt Can be removed to inCreaSe the SUPPly of fresh water, but atPreSent desali nati On is expe nsive and USeS lots of en ergy.8.Of the 2.5% of Water that is not salty, about 70% is frozen, either at the poles, in glaciers or in permafrost. So all living things, except those in the sea, have about 0.75% of the total to SUrViVe on. Most of this available Water is Un dergro und, in aquifers or SimiIar formati ons. The rest is falling as rain, Sitting in lakes and reservoirs or flowing in rivers Where it is, With luck, replaced by rainfall and melting SnOW and ice. There is also, take note, Water vapor in the atmosphere.9. The value of Water as a commodity of COUrSe VarieS according to locality, PUrPOSe and CirCUmStance. Take locality first. Water is not evenly distributed —just nine countries accoUnt for 60% of all available fresh supplies—and among them OnIy Brazil, Canada, Colombia, COngO, Indonesia and RUSSia have an abundance. AmeriCa is relatively well off, but China and India, With over a third of the world's population between them, have less than 10% of its water.10. Eve n Withi n coun tries the Variati OnS may be huge. The average annual rain fall in India's nOrtheaSt is 110 times that in its WeStern desert. And many PIaCeS have plenty of water, or even far too much. Flooding is routine, and may become more frequent and damaging With CIimate Cha nge.11.Scarce or plentiful, Water is above all local. It is heavy ——One CUbiC Water WeighS a tonne—, so expe nsive to move. SUrfaCe Water- mostly rivers, lakes and reservoirs——will not flow from One bas in into ano ther WithOUt artificial divers ion, and usually OnIy With PUmPi ng. Withi n a bas in, the Water UPStream may be USefUI for irrigati on, in dustrial or domestic use. AS it n ears the sea, though, the opportUnities diminish to the POint Where it has no USeS except to SUStain deltas, wetla nds and to Carry silt out to sea.12. These should not be overlooked. If rivers do not flow, no thi ng Can live in them. OVer a fifth of the world's freshwater fish SPeCieS of a Cen tury ago are now endan gered or ext inct. Half the world's wetla nds have also disappeared over the PaSt 200 years. The POint is, though, that even Within a basin Water is more VaIUabIe in some PIaCeS than in others.13. Almost anyWhere arid, the Water Underground, OnCe largely ignored, has come to be Seen as especially VaIUabIe as the dema nds of farmers have outgrow n their SUPPIieS of ra in and SUrfaCe water. GrOUn dwater has come to the rescue, and for a while it Seemed a miraculous solution: drill a borehole, PUmP the StUff UP from below and in due COUrSe it will be replaced. In many places, however, from the United StateS to India and China, the quantities being WithdraW n exceed the annual recharge. ThiS is SeriOUS for milli ons of people no t just in the COUntry but also in many of the world's biggest cities, WhiCh often depend on aquifers for their drinking water.14. The 20 million inhabitants of MeXiCO City and its surroUnding area, for example, draw over 70% of their Water from an aquifer that will run dry Within 200 years, maybe sooner.Already the City is Sinking as a result. In the Hai river basin in China, deep-groUndwater tableshave dropped by UP to 90 meters.15. Part of the beauty of the borehole is that it requires no elaborate apparatus. A Sin gle farmer may be able to Sink his OWn tube well and Start PUmP ing. That is Why In dia and China are now PerfOrated With millio ns of irrigati On wells, each draw ing On the com mon resource. SOmetimeS this resource may be huge. BUt even big aquifers are not immune to the laws of physics. Many PIaCeS are SeriOUSIy OVerdraW n. In those places, farmers PrObabIy have to Pay SOmething for the right to draw groundwater. BUt almost noWhere will the PriCe reflect scarcity, and often there is no Charge at all and no one measures how much Water is being take n.16. Priced or not, Water is Certa inly valued, and that value depe nds on the USe to WhiCh it is harnessed. Water is USed not just to grow food but to make every kind of product, from microchips to steel girders. The IargeSt in dustrial PUrPOSe to WhiCh it is PUt is cooli ng in thermal power generation, but it is also USed in drilling for and extracting oil, the making of petroleum PrOdUCtS and ethanol, and the PrOdUCtion of hydroelectricity. Some of the PrOCeSSeS involved, SUCh as hydro power generation, conSUme little water(after driving the turbines, most is retur ned to the river), but some, SUCh as the tech niq UeS USed to extract oil from San ds, are big COn SUmers.17.lndustrial USe takes about 60% of Water in rich countries and 10% in the rest. The difference in domestic USe is much smaller, 11% and 8% respectively. Some of the Variation is explained by CaPaCiOUS baths, power ShOWerS and flush lavatories in the rich world. All humans, however, need a basic minimum of two IitreS of Water in food or drink each day, and for this there is no substitute. No One SUrViVed in the ruins of Port-au-Pri nce for more tha n a few days after JanU ary's earthquake Unl ess they had access to some Water-based food or drink. That is Why many people in poor and arid countries—usually women or ChiIdren —Set off early each morning to trudge to the n earest well and retur n five or SiX hours later burde ned With PreCiOUS SUPPlies. That is Why many people believe Water to be a human right, a n ecessity more basic tha n bread or a roof over the head.18. From this much follows. One conSeqUence is a WideSPread belief that no One should have to Pay for water. The ByZantine emperor JUStinian declared in the 6th Century that "by natural law" air, running water, the Sea and SeaShOre Were "common to all." Many Indians agree, Seeing groundwater in PartiCUIar as a "democratic resource." In AfriCa it is Said that "even the jackal deserves to drin k."19. A SeCOnd conSeqUence is that Water often has a SaCred or mystical quality that is inVeSted in deities like GOng GOng and OSiriS and rivers like the Jorda n and the Gan ges. ThrOUghOUt history, man's depe ndence on Water has made him live n ear it or orga nize access to it. Water is in his body and in his soul. It has PrOVided no t just life and food but a means of tran sport, a Way of keeping clean, a mechanism for removing sewage, a home for fish and other animals, a medium With WhiCh to Skate and sail, a thi ng of beauty to PrOVide in SPirati on, to gaze upon and to enjoy. NQ WOnder a GQmmQdity With SQ many qualities, uses and associatiOnS has PrQVed SQ difficult to Qrga ni ze.。

英语泛读教程2的全部课文翻译

英语泛读教程2的全部课文翻译

第一单元:梦想的阴暗之面艾力克斯? 哈利许多人怀有美好的愿望,期望能成为作家,但是能够梦想成真的人不多。

艾力克斯? 哈利也想成为作家,可是他成功了。

阅读下面这篇文章,看一看他成功的原因。

许多青年人对我说,他们想成为作家。

我一直鼓励这样的人,但是我也向他们解释“成为作家”和写作之间存在着巨大的差别。

多数情况下这些年轻人梦寐以求的是财富与名誉,从未想到要孤身一人长久地坐在打字机旁。

“你们渴望的应该是写作,”我对他们说,“而不应该是当作家。

”事实上,写作是一项孤单寂寞而又收入微薄的工作。

有一个被命运之神垂青的作家,就有成千上万个永远无法实现梦想的人。

即使那些成功人士也经常受到长久的冷落,穷困不堪。

我便是其中之一。

我放弃了在海岸警卫队做了二十年的工作,为的是成为一名自由撰稿人,这时,我根本没有前途可言。

我所拥有的只是一位住在纽约市的朋友,乔治? 西姆斯,他和我是在田纳西州的赫宁一起长大的。

乔治为我找了个家,位于格林威治村公寓大楼中的一间腾空的储藏室,而他是那幢大楼的管理员。

房子里冷嗖嗖的,没有卫生间,不过这没什么。

我马上买了一台旧的手动打字机,感觉自己颇象一位名符其实的作家。

然而,大约一年后,我的写作生涯依然没有任何起色,我开始怀疑自己。

卖出一篇小说是如此艰难,以至我几乎填不饱肚子。

但是,我清楚的是我想写作,我已梦寐以求了许多年。

我并不准备成为一名到死时还在想假如的人。

我会坚持把我的梦想付诸实践 -- 即使这梦想意味着不稳定的生活和对失败的恐惧。

这是希望的阴暗面,任何心存梦想的人都必须学会在这阴暗面下生存。

后来有一天,我接到了一个电话,由此改变了我的一生。

这并不是一位代理人或编辑打来电话,主动要求与我签大的稿约。

恰恰相反 -- 是一声鸣笛,诱使我放弃梦想。

打电话来的是海岸警卫队的老熟人,现在在旧金山。

他曾经借给我几美元,喜欢催我还给他。

“我什么时候才能拿到那十五美元,艾力克斯?”他逗我说。

“等我下一次卖出作品吧。

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Unit 5 玩具的故事广告客户喜欢利用儿童天生轻信的特点。

在一个充满令人眩目的广告世界,儿童对此类广告的反应如何?他们在接受广告承诺之前,是否学会了怎样评价广告呢?“为什么那个人将手伸到袜子里?难道他们不知道怎么做是对的吗?那样子是不会使我买的,对吧?”一名7岁儿童看到汉堡王的电视广告《失去的世界》中的布袋木偶,挑剔地说。

你可以管这叫玩世不恭。

你可以管这叫精于世故。

伦敦灵狮广告公司的尼克·布斯声称,如今见到4岁的孩子做出这样的判断是经常的事。

4岁的孩子们已经“精通各种品牌”,并能看穿“广告的夸张”。

或者,他们真能么?瞄准孩子的广告符合道德吗?自20世纪70年代以来,赞成与反对儿童广告两股力量之间的斗争,集中在孩子们是否理解广告后面的动机。

这场争论远未结束,但新的研究显示,布斯已有所进展。

要么是与七八十年代相比,孩子们在更小的年龄懂得了广告游戏;要么是过去的心理学家们低估了这些年幼的研究对象理解他人动机的能力。

不需要什么天才就能想象出,为什么打广告的人竭力向儿童直接推销。

4至14岁的英国儿童每周平均需花2.49英镑。

据数据监控管理咨询处最新报道,这使零花钱市场一年的价值达15亿英镑。

在美国,零花钱市场每年达640亿美元巨额。

向儿童销售已成为一笔大买卖,打广告的人必须尽可能使它具有科学性。

伦敦温斯偌浦出版社刚刚发行了《国际儿童广告与销售学刊》。

一篇文章报道,60%的2至11岁小孩到了10月底,都知道自己圣诞节需要什么。

对7岁以下的女孩来说,最主要的决定因素,是她们在电视上见到的东西。

研讨会与咨询很多。

花上2000英镑,你便可以参加99儿童威力研讨会在欧洲的系列会场中任何一场会议。

会议提供专题研讨会,关于“什么对儿童起作用,为什么”,“同年龄组销售”及如何“象孩子一样思考”等。

咨询公司就会告诉您,怎样建立“交际之墙”,从消费者两岁开始来影响“你的核心消费者的生活方式”。

同时,位于伦敦的赢利机构“儿童研究所”,通过国际互联网,在一年之内3次对在校7000名儿童的味口进行调查。

儿童们以口味易变而著称。

格伦·史密斯是该研究所的主任兼心理学专家,主编《国际儿童广告与销售学刊》,他解释道,广告客户很难满足儿童反复无常的味口。

他说,市场研究者花点钱就能购买调查中的“热门话题”。

当然,多数国家都有具体保护儿童消费者的规定。

在英国,“广告不能利用儿童天生的轻信与真诚,不能用特殊的影响,不合理地引起对玩具和游戏的期望,”独立电视委员会的海伦娜·亨特说。

“不能让儿童感到必须购买的压力。

”据广告协会的詹姆斯·艾奇孙说,独立电视委员会的法规已开始生效。

他说,“1998年广告协会收到的对玩具或游戏广告的投诉不到1%。

”但是,怎样才算是利用儿童的天生轻信呢?如果孩子连广告是在推销商品这个概念都没有搞懂,那这是不是一个不可能实现的标准呢?相反,如果孩子们意识到了广告的目的,那么针对儿童的广告就只是和针对成人的广告一样阴险当今儿童与广告研究的背景,是70年前瑞士著名心理学家让·皮亚杰提出的认知理论。

皮亚杰认为,儿童经历4个认知发展阶段——这个模式相对只作了少许改进,至今仍然主导着儿童心理学。

在2至7岁之间,孩子们处在“前运算”阶段,完全以自我为中心,受直接感觉的支配。

他们缺乏心理学家所说的“理论心理”:不知道世界从他人的视角去看是不同的,或其他人会有与他们自己不同甚至相冲突的动机和欲望。

当然不能指望他们会意识到,广告是那些不同动机的显露。

7岁以后,孩子们进入“具体运算”阶段:他们不如以前那样以自我为中心,更能进行结构性思考,并且懂得世界并非象他们即刻感知的那样。

如果皮亚杰考虑过儿童与广告(可能他会认为这不值得自己研究,他更关心儿童是怎样解决推论法这种令人头痛的问题),他可能会争论说,儿童直到具体运算阶段,才能对媒体背后的动机有所了解。

对儿童理解广告的最初研究似乎符合皮亚杰的模式。

一项25年的研究发现,96%的5至6岁儿童,85%的8至9岁儿童以及62%的11至12岁儿童,“不完全懂得电视广告的目的”;当时,美国的心理学家企图用这些研究结果迫使美国联邦商务委员会禁止在电视上做玩具广告,理由是8岁以下的儿童不懂得广告的“商业意义”。

登广告的商家则劝说联邦商务委员会反对这一禁令。

但是在90年代,类似的争论则导致希腊与瑞典禁止在电视上做玩具广告。

瑞典法律禁止任何旨在吸引12岁以下儿童注意力的产品广告。

目前,欧洲广告业想看到这些禁令被解除,或者起码保证这种禁令不再蔓延。

具有讽刺意味的是,一些通常在反对向儿童使用推销词时感到更舒服的心理学家,不能不承认,这些推销词比他们曾想象的要机智得多。

以尼德兰乌得勒支大学心理学家杰弗里·戈得斯坦为例。

戈得斯坦为任天堂及康柏这样的公司撰写关于儿童与电视最新研究方面的报告,他认为,这个长达25年之久的研究用的测试过于严厉。

要被视为“充分意识到”电视广告的目的,小孩就不得不用语言来解释:广告企图推销商品,赚小孩的钱。

安·阿伯的密执安大学心理学家亨利.威尔曼认为,皮亚杰的框架不适合现代儿童。

威尔曼说:“[如今的]儿童接触到更为广泛的社会交往。

他们上日间托儿所;而不是生活在核心家庭成员中。

他们参加更多的扮演游戏。

”与过去相比,如今的儿童在更小的年龄接触更多的人。

这样便促使他们成长。

根据威尔曼对数千名儿童对话的分析,“在3至4岁之间,儿童们懂得你脸上所表现的,并不一定与你的内心状态一致。

大部分5至6岁的儿童懂得你可以通过显露一种表面的行为来骗人,而实际上想着另外的事情。

”如果你能理解欺骗,你一定会懂得广告。

皮亚杰选择的实验对象,也许刚好加大了20年代的儿童与现在的儿童之间认知能力的差异。

他主要的观点是基于对自己的孩子的观察——雅克琳娜、劳伦特以及露西安——而他们是在很封闭的环境下成长的。

同时,他的研究受到至今仍困扰着儿童心理学领域的一个问题的困扰:你如何能让孩子讲清楚也许他们心中理解的事?要搞清楚儿童对广告的内心的理解,一个办法是观察他们是否意识到电视广告与常规节目的区别。

在这样一个实验中,66名4至8岁的儿童观看两类广告。

其中原版广告赞美一种面霜,因为它使使用者好看。

改编了的广告也赞扬这种面霜,但关键的一句台词是说它使使用者长出讨厌的斑点。

实验问孩子喜欢哪一个广告,以及为什么。

4至5岁的孩子更喜欢那可笑的结尾,并没有注意那关键词是否具有商业意义。

所有8岁的孩子都很熟悉广告游戏。

他们看了改编了的广告都笑了——并不只是因为有趣,而是因为作为广告这是不成功的。

他们指出,让你长斑点的面霜是不能畅销的但是,6岁儿童的反应最能说明问题。

只有超过一半的孩子能理解广告有趣的结尾存在着问题,尽管他们并不都能说出原由。

这说明许多6岁的儿童对广告目的的理解是有限的,伊克赛特大学心理学家布莱恩·扬在1998年英国心理学协会研讨会上报道了这一结果。

但儿童研究所进行的一项实验得出了不同的结论。

他们向4岁的儿童放映电视广告,用布娃娃代替妈妈,爸爸和孩子等等,要他们挑选推销广告针对的布娃娃。

史密斯说:“我们发现,如果是一个有关冰冻青豆的广告,他们把妈咪推向前;如果是一条有关玩具的广告,他们把代表孩子的布娃娃向前移动。

”他说,如果4岁的孩子懂得推销台词是对准谁的,那就有理由假定,他们对广告的目的内心是理解的。

史密斯没有发表这一研究结果,因为它象儿童研究所的其他成果一样,只提供给顾客。

史密斯说他的这一研究及其它研究使他相信,向儿童做广告并非是“有罪或邪恶的”,但是,他承认应当“注意幼儿易受欺骗的特点”。

尽管越来越一致的意见是,许多儿童在5岁时就意识到了广告的不同之处;有些心理学家声称,他们仍然不真正懂得广告的目的。

扬说:当他们连怎样“推销自己”都不知道时,又怎么会懂得广告的目的呢?“一系列研究显示,”他说,“儿童只是在7岁左右才有推销自己的意识。

例如:如果你叫那些6岁的孩子推荐自我加入一个团队,他们会告诉你自己的缺点。

”只有在7岁左右——按照皮亚杰的理论,他们仍然很年幼——孩子们才理解,如果他们想说服其他人接受自己加入团队,就得按照麦迪逊大街(注:美国广告业中心)最优良的传统,强调自己的优点,回避自己的缺点。

近来对儿童理解广告的研究,似乎是给争论火上加油,而不是解决争论。

但出现了一个明显的倾向——令广告客户很烦恼的倾向:几乎是儿童一懂得广告的意义,就会对广告充满敌意。

在威尔士的阿拜利斯特韦斯,一项对7至11岁男女儿童的研究发现,孩子们不仅了解电视广告,而且持很轻蔑的态度。

甚至7岁的儿童也“表现出惊人的敌意”,阿拜利斯特韦斯的威尔士大学儿童心理学家梅利斯·格利弗斯说。

“他们觉得受到了广告的侮辱。

他们会说出‘这是诡计’一类的话。

女孩们的敌对反应最强烈。

你会以为她们中没有人玩过芭比娃娃。

”而7岁的小孩便会发出“住嘴”之类的评论。

看来,只要广告商和销售商们想策划一场新的促销活动来销售豆宝宝或宠物小精灵,都有足够的理由变得惶恐不安。

戈德斯坦说:“毕竟每天都有关于向儿童销售的研讨会。

如果广告商真知道怎样向儿童进行推销,他们一定不会那样做的。

”。

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