新视野大学英语第四册第三版课文及翻译

Unit 5

Speaking Chinese in America

在美国说中文

Once, at a dinner on the Monterey Peninsula, California, my mother whispered to me confidentially: \(brother's wife) pretends too hard to be a polite recipient! Why bother with such nominal courtesy? In the end, she always takes everything.\

有一次，在加州蒙特雷半岛上用餐时，我母亲私下悄悄地对我说：“嫂嫂想做个彬彬有礼的客人，但是装得太厉害了！何必费劲讲究形式上的客套呢？到最后她还是什么都要。”

My mother acted like a waixiao, an emigrant, no longer patient with old taboos and courtesies. To prove her point, she reached across the table to offer my elderly aunt from Beijing the last scallop from the garlic seafood dish, along with the flank steak and the cucumber salad.

我母亲行事像个“外侨”，即一个移民国外的侨民，因为她已经不耐烦老一套的禁忌和礼数了。为了证明她刚才的观点，她手伸过桌子，把蒜香海鲜拼盘里的最后一个扇贝，连同牛腩排及黄瓜沙拉一起，递给我从北京来的年长舅妈。

Sau-sau frowned. \嫂嫂皱起了眉头，“不要，真不要！”她一边大声说一边拍着自己已经吃得很饱的肚子。我不要了，真的不要了。

\

“拿去吧！拿去吧！”我母亲用中文责备道。预料到她就会这样，就像月亮盈亏周期似的。 \“饱了，我已经饱了，”嫂嫂低声嘀咕着，眼睛却瞟着扇贝。 \“哎！”我母亲感叹着说，“没人愿意吃，只能让它坏掉了！”

Sau-sau sighed, acting as if she were doing my mother a favor by taking the scrap off the tray and sparing us the trouble of wrapping the leftovers in foil.

嫂嫂叹了口气，从碟子上拿去了那个扇贝，就好像是帮了我母亲一个大忙，并省去了我们用箔纸将剩菜打包的麻烦似的。

My mother turned to her brother, an experienced Chinese magistrate, visiting us for the first time. \

Chinese person could starve to death. If you don't breach the old rules of etiquette and say you want it, they won't ask you again.\

我母亲转头看着她兄长——一位经验丰富的中国地方法官，这是他初次来看我们。她说：“在美国，一个中国人可能会饿死。要是你不打破老一套的礼数说你要吃，他们就不会再问你了。”

My uncle nodded and said he understood fully: Americans take things quickly because they have no time to be polite.

我舅舅点点头，说他完全理解：美国人待人接物快速迅捷，因为他们没有时间客气来客气去。

I read an article in The New York Times Magazine on changes in New York's little cultural colony of Chinatown, where the author mentioned that the interwoven configuration of Chinese language and culture renders its speech indirect and polite. Chinese people are so \\

我在《纽约时报杂志》上读到过一篇文章，描述的是纽约市内的中国城这一小块文化聚居地的变迁。作者在文章中提到，中国语言与文化错综交织，使中文十分委婉和客套。中国人是如此“谨慎和谦虚”，文章开头写道，以至于他们都没有词语来表达“是”和“不是”。

Why do people keep fabricating these rumors? I thought. They describe us as though we were a tribe of those little dolls sold in Chinatown tourist shops, heads moving up and down in contented agreement!

我思索着，为什么人们会不断地编造这样的谣言呢？他们把我们描述得就像是唐人街旅游品商店里出售的一批小布娃娃。那些布娃娃的头不停地上下晃动，似乎对一切都心满意足，完全赞同。

As any child of immigrant parents knows, there is a special kind of double bind attached to knowing two languages. My parents, for example, spoke to me in both Chinese and English; I spoke back to them in English.

生于移民家庭的孩子都清楚，有一种特殊的两难境地与说两种语言的生活联系在一起。比如我父母，他们和我说话时中文和英文都用，但我和他们说话时只用英文。 \“艾米啊！”他们会这样责备我。 \“怎么啦？”我会回问道。

\“我们叫你时，不要对我们反问，”他们会用中文训斥道。“这是不礼貌的！” \“你们什么意思？”

\Didn't we just tell you not to question?\is If I consider my upbringing carefully, I find there was nothing discreet about the Chinese language I grew up with, no censorship for the sake of politeness. My parents made everything abundantly clear in their consecutive demands: \course you will become a famous aerospace engineer, they prodded.\

仔细想想自己的成长过程，我发现，我从小到大所接触到的中文并不是什么特别谨慎的语言，也不存在出于客气而对所说的话进行仔细检查的现象。我父母向我提一连串的要求时，总是把一切都表述得清清楚楚：“你当然会成为著名的航空工程师，”他们会鼓励我说，“对了，你业余时间还要做音乐会的钢琴师。” It seems that the more forceful proceedings always spilled over into Chinese: \not a single grain is lost.\

似乎更加强硬的事情总是通过中文倾泻出来：“不能那样！你淘米的时候，必须一粒都不漏。”

Having listened to both Chinese and English, I'm suspicious of comparisons between the two languages, as I notice the reciprocal challenges they each present. English speakers say Chinese is extremely difficult because different words can be denoted by very subtle variations in tone. English is often bracketed with the label of inconsistency, a language of too many broken rules.

由于一直同时听着中英文两种语言，故而我对它们之间的任何对比总是心存怀疑，因为我注意到它们各自都有对方所没有的难点。说英文的人会认为中文极其难，因为中文用非常微妙的声调变化就可以表示不同的词语。而英文则常常被认为缺乏一致性，因为英文具有太多不合规则的用法。

Even more dangerous, in my view, is the temptation to view the gulf between different languages and behavior in translation. To listen to my mother speak English, an outside spectator might make the deduction that she has no concept of the temporal differences of past and future or that she is gender blind because she refers to my husband as \the point. It is, rather, my mother's individual tendency to ornament her language and wander around a bit. 在我看来，更危险的做法是，人们往往倾向于通过翻译来理解不同语言和行为之间的差异。如果一个旁观的外人听我母亲说英语，可能会得出结论，说她对过去和将来这样的时间区别没有概念，或者认为她对人的性别不加区分，因为她提到我丈夫时总是说“她”。如果一个人对此类现象不假思虑，他也许还会概括说，所有中国人都是通过委婉迂回的方式才能说到话题重点的。而实际上喜欢修饰和绕弯子只是我母亲个人的说话风格。

I worry that the dominant society may see Chinese people from a limited perspective, hedging us in with the stereotype. I worry that the seemingly innocent stereotype may lead to actual intolerance and be part of the reason why there are few Chinese in top management positions, or in the main judiciary or political sectors. I worry about the power of language: If one says anything enough times, it might become true, with or without malicious intent. 我担心主流社会可能会从一个狭隘的角度、以一种成见看待中国人。我担心这种看似无害的成见实际会导

致人们对中国人难以容忍，并成为中国人在高层管理职位或主要的司法及政府部门寥寥无几的部分原因。我担心语言的力量，即如果一个人将一件事说了很多遍，无论其是否有恶意，这件事都会变成事实。 Could this be why the Chinese friends of my parents' generation are willing to accept the generalization? 这会不会就是我父母辈的中国朋友愿意接受那些对中国人的简单概括的原因呢？

\Wouldn't Americans appreciate such an honorary description?\

“你为什么要抱怨呢？”他们中有人问我。“如果人们认为我们谦虚礼让，就让他们那样想好了。难道美国人不喜欢这种赞誉性的话吗？

And I do believe that anyone would take the description as a compliment - at first. But after a while, it annoys, as if the only things that people heard one say were what had been filtered through the sieve of social niceties: I'm so pleased to meet you. I've heard many wonderful things about you.

我当然相信每个人在一开始都会把这种描述的话当成称赞。但过了一段时间，这种话就会让人恼怒，就好像所听到的只是些经过细微的社交区别过滤后的言辞，诸如“很高兴认识你，我听到许多人都夸奖你”之类的话。

These remarks are not representative of new ideas, honest emotions, or considered thought. Like a piece of bread, they are only the crust of the interaction, or what is said from the polite distance of social contexts: greetings, farewells, convenient excuses, and the like. This generalization, therefore, is not a true composite of Chinese culture but only a stereotype of our exterior behavior.

这些话不能表达什么新观点，也不能传达什么真实的情感或深思熟虑的想法。它们就像一片面包，只是人们交往中最表层的东西，或社交场合下出于礼貌而说的一些话：问候、道别、顺口的托词，诸如此类。由此看来，那些对中国人的概括性评价并非是对中国文化成分的真实描述，而仅仅是对我们外在行为的一种成见而已。

\“那么中文究竟怎么表达?是?和?不是?呢？”我的朋友也许会小心翼翼地问。

At this junction, I do agree in part with The New York Times Magazine article. There is no one word for \\\

在这一点上，我的确在某种程度上同意《纽约时报杂志》的那篇文章。在中文里，没有哪一个字专门用于表达“是”或“不是”，但这并非是因为需要保持谨慎。若的确有什么不同的话，那我会说中文里对应的“是”

或“不是”的表达通常是针对所问的具体内容而定的。

Ask a Chinese person if he or she has eaten, and he or she might say chrle (eaten already) or meiyou (have not). 如果你问一个中国人是否吃饭了，他（或她）会说“吃了”（已经吃过）或“没有”（没有吃过）。

Ask, \you stopped beating your wife?\and the answer refers directly to the proposition being asserted or denied: stopped already, still have not, never beat, have no wife.

你若问：“你停止打老婆了吗？”他会直接就所断定或所否认的假设进行回答：已经停止了，还没有，从来不打，没有老婆。 What could be clearer? 还有什么能比这更明了的呢？

Unit 4

Achieving sustainable environmentalism

实现可持续性发展的环保主义

Environmental sensitivity is now as required an attitude in polite society as is, say, belief in democracy or disapproval of plastic surgery. But now that everyone from Ted Turner to George H. W. Bush has claimed love for Mother Earth, how are we to choose among the dozens of conflicting proposals, regulations and laws advanced by congressmen and constituents alike in the name of the environment? Clearly, not everything with an environmental claim is worth doing. How do we segregate the best options and consolidate our varying interests into a single, sound policy?

在上流社会，对环境的敏感就如同信仰民主、反对整容一样，是一种不可或缺的态度。然而，既然从泰德?特纳到乔治?W.H.布什，每个人都声称自己热爱地球母亲，那么，在由议员、选民之类的人以环境名义而提出的众多的相互矛盾的提案、规章和法规中，我们又该如何做出选择呢？显而易见，并不是每一项冠以环境保护名义的事情都值得去做。我们怎样才能分离出最佳选择，并且把我们各自不同的兴趣统一在同一个合理的政策当中呢？

There is a simple way. First, differentiate between environmental luxuries and environmental necessities. Luxuries are those things that would be nice to have if costless. Necessities are those things we must have regardless. Call this distinction the definitive rule of sane environmentalism, which stipulates that combating ecological change that directly threatens the health and safety of people is an environmental necessity. All else is luxury.

有一种简便的方法。首先要区分什么是环境奢侈品，什么是环境必需品。奢侈品是指那些无需人类付出代价就能拥有的给人美好感受的东西。必需品则是指那些无论付出什么代价，都一定要去拥有的东西。这一

区分原则可以被称为理性环保主义的至高原则。它规定，对那些直接威胁人类健康与安全的生态变化采取应对措施是环境保护的必需品，而其他则都属于奢侈品。

For example, preserving the atmosphere - stopping ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect - is an environmental necessity. Recently, scientists reported that ozone damage is far worse than previously thought. Ozone depletion has a correlation not only with skin cancer and eye problems, it also destroys the ocean's ecology, the beginning of the food chain atop which we humans sit.

例如，保护大气层——阻止臭氧损耗及控制温室效应——是环境保护的必需品。近来，科学家报告说臭氧层遭受破坏的程度远比我们先前认为的要严重得多。臭氧损耗不仅与皮肤癌及眼疾有关，而且它还会破坏海洋生态。而海洋生态是食物链的起点，人类则位于该食物链的顶端。

The possible thermal consequences of the greenhouse effect are far deadlier: melting ice caps, flooded coastlines, disrupted climate, dry plains and, ultimately, empty breadbaskets. The American Midwest feeds people at all corners of the atlas. With the planetary climate changes, are we prepared to see Iowa take on New Mexico's desert climate, or Siberia take on Iowa's moderate climate?

温室效应所可能引发的热效应是非常具有毁灭性的：冰川融化、海岸线被淹没、气候遭受破坏、平原干涸，最终食物消失殆尽。美国中西部地区的粮食供养着全世界。随着全球气候的变化，我们难道准备看到衣阿华州变成新墨西哥州的沙漠气候，而西伯利亚变成衣阿华州的温和气候吗？

Ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect are human disasters, and they are urgent because they directly threaten humanity and are not easily reversible. A sane environmentalism, the only kind of environmentalism that will strike a chord with the general public, begins by openly declaring that nature is here to serve human beings. A sane environmentalism is entirely a human focused regime: It calls upon humanity to preserve nature, but merely within the parameters of self-survival.

臭氧损耗和温室效应是人类的灾难，而且是需要紧急处理的灾难，因为它们直接威胁到人类，且后果很难扭转。理性环保主义——唯一能够引起公众共鸣的环保主张——首先公开声明，自然是服务于人类的。理性环保主义是一种完全以人类为中心的思想。它号召人类保护自然，但是是在人类自我生存得到保证的前提之下。

Of course, this human focus runs against the grain of a contemporary environmentalism that indulges in overt earth worship. Some people even allege that the earth is a living organism. This kind of environmentalism likes to consider itself spiritual. It is nothing more than sentimental. It takes, for example, a highly selective view of the kindness of nature, one that is incompatible with the reality of natural disasters. My nature worship stops with the twister that came through Kansas or the dreadful rains in Bangladesh that eradicated whole villages and left millions homeless.

当然，这种以人类为中心的主张与当下盛行的环保主义是格格不入的，后者已经沉溺于对地球的公然崇拜。

有的人甚至声称地球是一个活的生物体。这种环保主义喜欢把自己看作是神圣的，其实它只是感情用事而已。比如，在自然是否友善的问题上，当下的环保主义采取了高度选择性的片面的观点，而这种观点与自然造成的灾难这一现实是不相协调的。当龙卷风肆虐堪萨斯州，当瓢泼大雨袭击孟加拉国，毁灭了整座整座的村庄，使几百万人失去家园的时候，我对自然的崇拜便停止了。

A non-sentimental environmentalism is one founded on Protagoras's idea that \establishing the sovereignty of man, such a principle helps us through the dense forest of environmental arguments. Take the current debate raging over oil drilling in a corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Environmentalist coalitions, mobilizing against a legislative action working its way through the US Congress for the legalization of such exploration, propagate that Americans should be preserving and economizing energy instead of drilling for it. This is a false either-or proposition. The US does need a sizable energy tax to reduce consumption. But it needs more production too. Government estimates indicate a nearly fifty-fifty chance that under the ANWR rests one of the five largest oil fields ever discovered in America. It seems illogical that we are not finding safe ways to drill for oil in the ANWR.

非感情用事的环保主义是建立在普罗泰哥拉的格言“人是万物的尺度”的基础上的。在建立人类权威的过程中，这条原则会帮助我们梳理各种错综复杂的关于环境保护的争议。就以当前关于是否在北极国家野生动物保护区的某一角落开采石油的激烈争论为例吧。环保主义者联盟动员人们反对目前正在试图通过美国国会审议、使这一开采行为变得合法化的一项立法行动。他们散布说美国应该保护并且节约能源而不是开采能源。这其实是一个错误的非此即彼的主张。美国确实需要征收高额的能源税以减少能源消耗，但同时也需要生产更多的能源。政府的估测表明，在北极国家野生动物保护区的地下蕴藏着美国五大油田之一的可能性几乎到达 50%。我们没有寻找安全的方法开采北极国家野生动物保护区地下的石油，这看上去是不符合情理的。

The US has just come through a war fought in part over oil. Energy dependence costs Americans not just dollars but lives. It is a bizarre sentimentalism that would deny oil that is peacefully attainable because it risks disrupting the birthing grounds of Arctic caribou.

美国刚刚经历了一场战争，其部分原因就是为了获取石油。对能源的依赖使美国不但付出了金钱的代价，而且也付出了生命的代价。就因为可能破坏北美驯鹿的繁衍地而放弃能够以和平手段获得的石油，这是一种十分怪异的感情用事。

I like the caribou as much as the next person. And I would be rather sorry if their mating patterns were disturbed. But you can't have your cake and eat it too. And in the standoff of the welfare of caribou versus reducing an oil

reliance that gets people killed in wars, I choose people over caribou every time.

我像别人一样喜欢驯鹿。如果他们的交配模式受到干扰，我会感到非常遗憾。但是，鱼和熊掌不能兼得。是要保护驯鹿，还是要为了避免人们在战争中丧生而减少对石油的依赖，面对这一僵局，我每次都会选择人类而不是驯鹿。

I feel similarly about the spotted owl in Oregon. I am no enemy of the owl. If it could be preserved at a negligible cost, I would agree that it should be - biodiversity is after all necessary to the ecosystem. But we must remember that not every species is needed to keep that diversity. Sometimes aesthetic aspects of life have to be sacrificed to more fundamental ones. If the cost of preserving the spotted owl is the loss of livelihood for 30,000 logging families, I choose the families (with their saws and chopped timber) over the owl.

我对俄勒冈州的斑点猫头鹰的态度也是一样。我绝不是仇视猫头鹰。如果花很少的代价就可以保护猫头鹰，我会赞同它应受保护——毕竟，生物多样性对生态系统是非常必要的。但是，我们必须记住，保持生物多样性并不意味着要留住每一种物种。有时候，为了更加根本的利益，我们不得不牺牲一部分生活中美的东西。如果为了保护斑点猫头鹰而让三万伐木工家庭失去生计，我会选择伐木工家庭（包括他们的锯子和砍伐的木材），而不是猫头鹰。

11 The important distinction is between those environmental goods that are fundamental and those that are not. Nature is our ward, not our master. It is to be respected and even cultivated. But when humans have to choose between their own well-being and that of nature, nature will have to accommodate.

重要的是，我们要区分哪些东西对环境保护是根本性的，哪些是非根本性的。自然受我们的监护，而不是我们的主人。我们应该尊重自然，也可以开发利用自然。但是，如果人类必须在自身的福利和自然的福利之间作出选择，自然则必须作出让步。

12 Humanity should accommodate only when its fate and that of nature are inseparably bound up. The most urgent maneuver must be undertaken when the very integrity of humanity's habitat, e.g., the atmosphere or the essential geology that sustains the core of the earth, is threatened. When the threat to humanity is lower in the hierarchy of necessity, a more modest accommodation that balances economic against health concerns is in order. But in either case the principle is the same: protect the environment - because it is humanity's environment.

只有当人类的命运与自然的命运密不可分时，人类才应该作出让步。当人类栖息地的完整性（比如大气层或维持地球核心的基本地质状况）受到威胁时，人类就必须立即调整自己的行为。而当人类受到的威胁不大，不太需要对自己的行为进行调整时，恰当的做法是平衡考虑经济方面和与之相对的健康方面的因素，以便作出适度的调整。但是，无论是哪种情况，其遵循的原则是一致的：保护环境，因为这是我们人类的

环境。

13 The sentimental environmentalists will call this saving nature with a totally wrong frame of mind. Exactly. A sane and intelligible environmentalism does it not for nature's sake but for our own.

感情用事的环保主义者会说这种拯救自然的思路是完全错误的。的确是这样。理性、明确的环保主义保护环境是为了人类自身，而不是为了自然。

Unit3

Fred Smith and FedEx: The vision that changed the world 弗雷德·史密斯与联邦快递：一个改变了世界的创想

Every night several hundred planes bearing a purple, white, and orange design touch down at Memphis Airport, in

Tennessee. What precedes this landing are package pickups from locations all over the United States earlier in the day. Crews unload the planes' cargo of more than half a million parcels and letters. The rectangular packages and envelopes are rapidly reshuffled and sorted according to address, then loaded onto other aircraft, and flown to their destinations to be dispersed by hand - many within 24 hours of leaving their senders. This is the culmination of a dream of Frederick W. Smith, the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of the FedEx Corp. - known originally as Federal Express - the largest and most successful overnight delivery service in the world. Conceived when he was in college and now in its 28th year of operation, Smith's exquisite brainchild has become the standard for door-to-door package delivery.

每天夜晚，在田纳西州的孟菲斯机场，都有几百架带着白、紫、桔色图案的飞机降落。而在每天此前的早些时候，这些飞机都在美国各地收集包裹。工作人员从飞机上卸下的包裹及信件数量超过五十万之巨。长方形的包裹和信封又在这里依据收件地址被迅速整理分拣，然后装载上其他飞机，飞往各自的目的地，在那儿再由人工投递——到这时很多邮件离开寄件人之手还不到 24 小时。这是弗雷德里克·W·史密斯的终极梦想，他就是联邦快递集团（最初为联邦快递）这一全球最大、最成功的隔夜送达服务企业的创始人、总裁、首席执行官及董事会主席。如今，史密斯这一源于大学时代的妙想已在现实中经营到了第 28 个年头，并已成为包裹快递入户行业的标杆。

Recognized as an outstanding entrepreneur with an agreeable and winning personality, Smith is held in high regard by his competitors as well as his employees and stockholders. Fred Smith was just 27 when he founded FedEx. Now, so many years later, he's still the \of the ship\He attributes the success the company simply to leadership, something he deduced from his years in the military, and from his family.

史密斯被公认为是一位和蔼可亲、性格迷人的杰出企业家。无论是他的竞争者、员工，还是他公司股票的持有人，都对他十分敬重。弗雷德·史密斯创建“联邦快递”时只有 27 岁。现在多年过去了，他仍然坐在“掌

门人”的位置上。他将公司的成功简单地归因于领导力，而这一推论则来自于他的军旅生涯及其家庭的影响。 Frederick Wallace Smith was born into a wealthy family clan on August 11, 1944 in Mississippi. His father died when he was just four years old. As a juvenile, Smith was an invalid, suffering from a disease that left him unable to walk normally. He was picked on by bullies, and he learned to defend himself by swinging at them with his alloy walking stick. Cured of the disease by the age of 10, he became a star athlete in high school, playing football, basketball, and baseball.

弗雷德里克·华莱士·史密斯 1944 年 8 月 11 日出生于密西西比州一个富裕的家族。他四岁时父亲就离世了。史密斯年少时被视为病残者，因为他得了一种病，使他无法正常行走。为此他常遭受坏孩子的侮辱捉弄，他学会了挥舞合金拐杖来保护自己。十岁时他的病治好了，到了高中他则成了学校里的体育明星，足球、篮球、棒球样样能行。

Smith's passion was flying. At 15, he was operating a crop-duster over the skyline of the Mississippi Delta, a terrain so flat that there was little need for radar navigation. As a student at Yale University, he helped revive the Yale flying club; its alumni had populated naval aviation history, including the famous \I. Smith administrated the club's business end and ran a small charter operation in New Haven.

史密斯对飞行充满了激情。15 岁时，他就曾驾驶一架作物喷粉飞机在密西西比三角洲的天际翱翔，三角洲的地形平坦开阔，甚至都不需要雷达导航。在耶鲁大学上学时，他参与重建了耶鲁飞行倶乐部，在美国海军航空史的每个时期都有这一俱乐部出来的校友的身影，包括一战时期著名的“百万富翁飞行队”。史密斯负责管理俱乐部的事务，同时还在纽黑文经营一项小规模的租赁业务。

With his study time disrupted by flying, his academic performance suffered, but Smith never stopped looking for his own \prototype for a transportation company that would guarantee overnight delivery of small, time-sensitive goods, such as replacement parts and medical supplies, to major US regions. The professor wasn't impressed and told Smith he couldn't quantify the idea and clearly it wasn't feasible.

由于飞行打乱了学习时间，他的学业受到了影响，但史密斯从未停止寻找自己的“伟大想法”。在撰写一门经济学课程的学期论文时，他认为自己已经找到了它。他设计了一份运输企业的经营草案，该运输企业可以确保连夜递送小型或时间紧迫的货品到达美国的主要地区，如替换零件、医药用品等等。教授对这篇论文未予重视，他告诉史密斯说，他无法量化他的想法，并说这一想法明显不切合实际。

However, Smith was certain he was onto something, even though several more years elapsed before he could turn his idea into reality. In the interim, he graduated from Yale in 1966, just as America's involvement in the Vietnam War was deepening. Since he was a patriot and had attended officers' training classes, he joined the Marines. 然而，史密斯确信自己已经发现了些什么，尽管又过了好几年他才得以把自己的想法付诸实施。在此期间，

cream in your hair and inside the folds of your ears.

不管怎样，言归正传：如果你是一位男性，当有女士问你她看起来怎么样时，你千万不能说她看起来很糟糕，那样肯定会使她立刻迁怒于你，这也是你咎由自取。但是，你也不能慷慨地大放空洞之词，赞美她的鞋子和裙子是多么相配，因为她知道你是在说谎。她已经花费了无数个小时发愁自己的容貌不能和辛迪?克劳馥的一样。而且，也许因为你的头发和耳廓上粘着剃须膏，她会怀疑你根本没有资格对任何人的外表给出主观评价。

Unit1

Love and logic: The story of fallacy

爱情与逻辑：谬误的故事

I had my first date with Polly after I made the trade with my roommate Rob. That year every guy on campus had a leather jacket, and Rob couldn't stand the idea of being the only football player who didn't, so he made a pact that he'd give me his girl in exchange for my jacket. He wasn't the brightest guy. Polly wasn't too shrewd, either. 在我和室友罗伯的交易成功之后，我和波莉有了第一次约会。那一年校园里每个人都有件皮夹克，而罗伯是校足球队员中唯一一个没有皮夹克的，他一想到这个就受不了，于是他和我达成了一项协议，用他的女友换取我的夹克。他可不那么聪明，而他的女友波莉也不太精明。

But she was pretty, well-off, didn't dye her hair strange colors or wear too much makeup. She had the right background to be the girlfriend of a dogged, brilliant lawyer. If I could show the elite law firms I applied to that I had a radiant, well-spoken counterpart by my side, I just might edge past the competition.

但她漂亮而且富有，也没有把头发染成奇怪的颜色或是化很浓的妆。她拥有合适的家庭背景，足以胜任一名坚忍而睿智的律师的女友。如果我能够让我所申请的顶尖律师事务所看到我身边伴随着一位光彩照人、谈吐优雅的另一半，我就很有可能在竞聘中以微弱优势获胜。

\“光彩照人”，她已经是了。而我也能施予她足够多的“智慧之珠”，让她变得“谈吐优雅”。

After a banner day out, I drove until we were situated under a big old oak tree on a hill off the expressway. What I had in mind was a little eccentric. I thought the venue with a perfect view of the luminous city would lighten the mood. We stayed in the car, and I turned down the stereo and took my foot off the brake pedal. \to talk about?\

在一起外出度过了美好的一天之后，我驱车来到了高速公路旁一座小山上一棵古老的大橡树下。我的想法

有些怪异。而这个地方能够俯瞰灯火灿烂的城区，我觉得它会使人的心情变轻松。我们呆在车子里，我调低了音响并把脚从刹车上挪开。“我们要谈些什么？”她问道。 \“逻辑学。”

\

“好酷啊，”她一边嚼着口香糖一边说。

\ogic,” I said, \well known. First let's look at the fallacy Dicto Simpliciter.\

“逻辑学的原理，”我说道，“即清晰思考的主要原则。逻辑上出现的问题会歪曲事实，其中有些还很普遍。我们先来看看一种叫做?绝对判断?的逻辑谬误。” \reed. “好啊，”她表示同意。

\Simpliciter means an unqualified generalization. For example: Exercise is good. Therefore, everybody should exercise.\

“?绝对判断?是指在证据不足的情况下所作出的推断。比方说：运动是有益的，所以每个人都应该运动。 She nodded in agreement. 她点头表示赞同。

I could see she was stumped. \extreme obesity, exercise is bad, not good. Therefore, you must say exercise is good for most people.\

我看得出她没弄明白。“波莉，”我解释说，“这个推断太过简单化了。如果你有心脏病或者超级肥胖症什么的，运动就变得有害而不是有益。所以你应该说，运动对大多数人来说是有益的。”

\French. Looks like nobody at this school can speak French.\

“接下来是?草率结论?。这似乎不言自明，对吧？仔细听好了：你不会说法语，罗伯也不会说法语，那么这所学校里好像是没有人会说法语。” \“是吗？”波莉吃惊地说。“没有人吗？”

\is also a fallacy,\I said. \generalization is reached too hastily. Too few instances support such a conclusion.\

“这也是一种逻辑谬误，”我说，“这一结论太草率了，因为能够支持这一结论的例证太少了。”

She seemed to have a good time. I could safely say my plan was underway. I took her home and set a date for another conversation.

她似乎学得很开心，而我也可以放心地说我的计划正在稳步推进中。我把她送回家，并且定下了下一次约会交谈的日子。

Seated under the oak the next evening I said, \第二天晚上，坐在那棵橡树下，我说：“今天晚上我们要谈的第一个逻辑谬误叫?文不对题?。” She nodded with delight. 她高兴地点了点头。

\six children to feed.\

“听好了，”我说，“有个人去申请工作，当老板问他有什么应聘资格时，他说他有六个孩子要抚养。” \“哇，这太可怕了，太可怕了，”她哽咽着轻声说到。

\d he appealed to the boss's sympathy - Ad Misericordiam.\

“对，是挺可怕的，”我表示赞同地说，“但这不是理由。这个人根本没有回答老板的问题，而只是在博取老板的同情，这就是?文不对题?。”

She blinked, still trying hard to keep back her tears.\她眨着眼睛，仍在竭力地忍住眼泪。

Next,\textbooks during exams, because surgeons have X-rays to guide them during surgery.

“接下来”，我小心地说，“我们来讨论?错误类比?。举个例子：学生考试时应该允许看课本，因为外科医生在做手术时可以看 X 光片。” \“我喜欢这个主意，”她说。

\they have learned, but students are. The situations are altogether different. You can't make an analogy between them.\

“波莉，”我抱怨道，“别打岔，这一推论是错误的。医生们不是在参加考试以检查他们学到了多少，而学生却是。他们的情况完全不同，你不能将他们作类比。”

\ “我仍然认为这是一个好主意，”波莉说。

With five nights of diligent work, I actually made a logician out of Polly. She was an analytical thinker at last. The time had come for the conversion of our relationship from academic to romantic.

经过五个夜晚的辛勤努力，我竟然真的将波莉打造成了一个逻辑行家，她总算能够分析思考了。现在应该是时候让我们的关系从学术向浪漫发展了。

\

“波莉，”当我们又一次坐在那棵橡树下的时候我对她说，“今晚我们不讨论逻辑谬误了。” \“哦？”她回答说，有一点失望。

Favoring her with a grin, I said, \pretty good couple.\

我赞许地对她笑了笑，说：“我们在一起已经度过了五个晚上，相互之间挺合得来，我们是蛮相配的一对。” \think?\said, patting her hand in a tolerant manner, \know it's good.\

“草率结论，”波莉伶俐地说，“或者是按一般人的说法，这个结论有些不成熟，你不这样认为吗？”我被逗得笑了起来，她功课还真学得不错，大大超过了我的预期。“亲爱的，”我开口说，同时宽容地拍了拍她的手，“五次约会已经够多了，毕竟你不需要吃掉整个蛋糕才知道它是不是好吃。” 。“错误类比，”波莉立即回应。

“你的前提是约会就如同吃东西。可你不是蛋糕，你是个男孩。”

我又笑了笑，不过不觉得那么有趣了，同时还不能表露出我害怕她学得太好了。 再错几步我可就无法挽回了。我决定改变策略，转而尝试奉承她的办法。 “波莉，我爱你。请答应做我的女朋友，没有你我什么也不是。” “文不对题，”她说。

“你还真是能在遇到逻辑谬误时一一辨别它们了，”我说，心里的希望已经开始动摇。

“不过不要对它们太死板，我是说这都是些学术的东西。你知道，学校里学的东西和实际生活根本没有什么联系。” “绝对判断，”她说道，“而且，你自己教的东西应该自己身体力行。” 我一下跳了起来，怒火中烧，“你到

底愿不愿意做我的女朋友？” “我不愿意，”她答道。

“为什么？”我追问道。“我对另一位求爱者更感兴趣――罗伯和我重归于好了。” 我极力地保持着平静，说道：“你怎么会甩了我而选择罗伯？

看看我，一个聪明过人的学生，一个不同凡响的学者，一个前途无量的人。

32 “错误类比，”波莉立即回应。“你的前提是约会就如同吃东西。可你不是蛋糕，你是个男孩。” 33 我又笑了笑，不过不觉得那么有趣了，同时还不能表露出我害怕她学得太好了。 再错几步我可就无法挽回了。 我决定改变策略，转而

尝试奉承她的办法。 34 “波莉，我爱你。请答应做我的女朋友，没有你我什么也不是。” 35 “文不对题，”她说。

36 “你还真是能在遇到逻辑谬误时一一辨别它们了，” 我说，心里的希望已经开始动摇。 “不过不要对它们太死板，我是说这都是些学术

的东西。你知道，学校里学的东西和实际生活根本没有什么联系。”

7 “绝对判断，”她说道，“而且，你自己教的东西应该自己身体力行。” 38 我一下跳了起来，怒火中烧，“你到底愿不愿意做我的女朋友？” 39 “我不愿意，”她答道。 40 “为什么？”我追问道。

41 “我对另一位求爱者更感兴趣——罗伯和我重归于好了。”

42 我极力地保持着平静，说道：“你怎么会甩了我而选择罗伯？看看我，一个聪明过人的学生，一个不同凡响的学者，一个前途无量的人。

再看看罗伯，一个肌肉发达的蠢材，一个有了上顿没下顿的家伙。你是否能给我一个充足的理由，为什么要选择跟他？”

43 “喔，这是什么假设啊！为了让像你这样聪明的人能够明白，我这么说吧，”波莉反驳道，声音里充满了

讽刺，“事情的真相是——我喜

欢罗伯穿皮衣。是我让他同意你们的协议的，这样他就能拥有你的夹克！”

再看看罗伯，一个肌肉发达的蠢材，一个有了上顿没下顿的家伙。你是否能给我一个充足的理由，为什么要选择跟他？”

43 “喔，这是什么假设啊！为了让像你这样聪明的人能够明白，我这么说吧，”波莉反驳道，声音里充满了讽刺，“事情的真相是——我喜

欢罗伯穿皮衣。是我让他同意你们的协议的，这样他就能拥有你的夹克！”

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