2015职称英语 综合B阅读理解原文与译文

十七 Eiffel Is an Eyeful（引人注目的埃菲尔铁塔）

Some2 300 meters up, near the Eiffel Tower's wind-whipped summit the world comes to scribble3. Japanese,Brazilians, Americans — they graffiti4 their names,loves and politics on the cold iron — transforming the most French of monuments into symbol of a world on the move5.

世界各地的人们都来到大约300米高，接近埃菲尔铁塔顶端的地方涂鸦。日本人、巴西人、 美国人都在冰冷的铁上涂上自己的名字、喜好和政治观点，使这最具有法兰西色彩的纪念碑成为 动感世界的象征。

With Paris laid out in miniature6 below，it seems strange that visitors would rather waste time marking their presence than admiring the view7. But the graffiti also raises a question ： Why, nearly 114 years after it was completed,and decades after it ceased to be the world, s tallest structure,is la Tour Eiffel still so popular8?

从塔上可以看到巴黎市的远景，但奇怪的是观光者们宁愿花时间留下到此一游的痕迹，而不 去观赏风景。但这些涂鸦者也引起了一个问题：为什么在建成114年后，埃菲尔铁塔仍然这么受 欢迎?尽管它在几十年前减已经不是世界上最高的建筑物了。

The reasons are as complex as the iron work that graces9 a structure some 90 stories high. But part of the answer is, no doubt, its agelessness. Regularly maintained, it should never rust away. Graffiti is regularly painted over,but the tower lives on.

这个问题的答案就像那构成90层的铁塔的工程一样复杂。一部分的理由是，毫无疑问，铁塔 是永不过时的。周期性的维护使得它永远不会被腐蚀掉。埃菲尔铁塔定期油漆，覆盖那些涂鸦, 但是它仍将继续存在下去。 \is France. It is very symbolic”，says Hugues Richard10,a 31- year-old Frenchman who holds the record for cycling up to the tower's second floor 一 747 steps in 19 minutes and 4 seconds, without touching the floor with his feet. \，It inspires us11 ”， he says.

“埃菲尔是巴黎的象征，而巴黎又代表了法国。所以，埃菲尔十分具有象征性。” Hugues Richard说道。这位31岁的法国人保持着在19分零4秒的时间内骑自行车经过747级台阶登上铁 塔二层的纪录。“这是铁娘子，能让人产生灵感，”他说。

But to what12? After all,the tower doesn' t have a purpose. It ceased to be the world’ s tallest in 1930 when the Chrysler Building13 went up in New York. Yes，television and radio signals are beamed from the top,and Gustave Eiffel,a frenetic builder who died on December 27，aged 91 ,used its height for conducting research into weather, aerodynamics and radio communication.

但是它能使人们产生怎样的灵感呢？毕竟，铁塔并没有任何&的。1930年纽约的克莱斯勒大 厦取代它成为世界上最高的建筑。但是电视和广播信号仍然从塔顶发送出来，而古斯塔夫?埃菲 尔，这个狂热的建造者利用它的高度进行气象学、空气动力学和无线电通讯的研究。他在12月27 日逝世，终年91岁。

But in essence the tower inspires simply by being there _ a blank canvas for visitors to make of it what they will14. To the technically minded15, it's an engineering triumph. For lovers, it's romantic.

本质上来说，铁塔伫立在那儿本身就是一个灵感——它就像一张空白的画布，任游客自由遐 想。对于那些善于从技术角度考虑问题的人来说，它是一个工程上的胜利;而对于恋人们来说， 它则象征着浪漫。

\”，says Isabelle Esnous, whose company manages Eiffel Tower.

“这座塔将在我们所有的人离去后长久存在。”埃菲尔铁塔管理公司的伊莎贝尔说。

十八Goal of American Education（美国教育的目标）

Education is an enormous and expensive part of American life. Its size is matched by its variety. 教育是美国人的生活中很重要的一部分，花销也大。其规模宏大，种类多样。

Differences in American schools compared with those found in the majority of other countries lie in the fact that education here has long been intended for everyone — not just for a privileged elite. Schools are expected to meet the needs of every child, regardless of ability, and also the needs of society itself. This means that public schools offer more than academic subjects. It surprises many people when they come here to find high schools offering such courses as typing, sewing, radio repair, computer programming or driver training, along with traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and languages. Students choose their curricula depending on their interests, future goals, and level of ability. The underlying goal of American education is to develop every child to the utmost of his or her own possibilities,

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and to give each one a sense of civic and community consciousness.

与其他大多数国家相比，美国教育的不同在于美国教育是为每一个人设臵的~\不只是为享 有特权的优等生。学校是要满足每个孩子的需要，不论其能力如何，同时也要满足社会本身的需 求。这意味着公立学校提供的教育不只限于学术方面的课程。很多人来到美国之后会吃惊地发现， 高中除了提供传统课程，例如：数学、历史和语言之外，他们还提供一些课程如打字、缝纫、无线电修理、计算机课程或驾驶训练课程。学生选择课程是根据个人喜好、目标以及能力水平。美 国教育的潜在目标是将每一个孩子的能力最充分地发挥出来，培养每一个孩子的公民和社区觉悟感。

Schools have traditionally played an important role in creating national unity and “Americanizing” the millions of immigrants who have poured into this country from many different backgrounds and origins. Schools still play a large role in the community, especially in the small towns.

成千上万的移民者涌入这个国家，他们的出身背景不同。传统上,学校在建立民族团结以及 使移民者美国化两方面起着重大作用。在社区中，尤其在小城镇，学校仍然起着重要作用。

The approach to teaching may seem unfamiliar to many, not only because it is informal, but also because there is not much emphasis on learning facts. Instead, Americans try to teach their children to think for themselves and to develop their own intellectual and creative abilities. Students spend much time, learning how to use resource materials, libraries, statistics and computers. Americans believe that if children are taught to reason well and to research well, they will be able to find whatever facts they need throughout the rest of their lives. Knowing how to solve problems is considered more important than the accumulation of facts.

大家对美国的教学方法似乎也很陌生。因为这种教学方法不仅不正式，而且不把重点放在学 习具体知识上。相反，美国人教孩子独立思考，教他们自己去开发自己的智慧以及创造能力。学 生花很多时间学习怎样使用参考资料、图书馆、数据以及计算机。美国人认为只要孩子具有好的 推理能力，好的研究方法，他们就能在以后找到自己所需的具体知识。他们还认为懂得怎样解决 问题比积累事实更重要。

This is America's answer to the searching question that thoughtful parents all over the world are asking themselves in the fast-moving time: “How can one prepare today's child for a tomorrow that one can neither predict nor understand?”

在这个变化万千的时代里，全世界细心的父母都在思考一个尖锐而深刻的问题：“怎样为孩子的明天做准备呢？孩子的明天既不能预料也不能理解。”上述的教学方法正是美国对这一问题 的回答。

十九 The Family（家庭）

The structure of a family takes different forms around the world and even in the same society. The family's form changes as it adapts to changing social and economic influences. Until recently, the most common form in North America was the nuclear family，consisting of a married couple with their minor children. The nuclear family is an independent unit. It must be prepared to fend for itself. Individual family members strongly depend on one another. There is little help from outside the family in emergencies. Elderly relatives of a nuclear family are cared for only if it is possible for the family to do so. In North America，the elderly often do not live with the family; they live in retirement communities and nursing homes.

在全世界，甚至在同一个社会中，家庭结构有着不同的形式。家庭的构成形式随着不断变化 的社会和经济影响而改变。直到最近，北美洲最普遍的家庭形式为核心家庭，由一对夫妇和他们未婚的孩子构成。核心家庭是一个独立的单位。它必须能够照料自己。家庭成员紧密依赖着彼此。 在紧急情况下，外界提供给家庭的帮助微乎其微。核心家庭中，只有当条件允许的时候，才会照料家中年长的亲属。在北美洲，老人很少和家人一起生活，他们一般住在退休社区和养老机构。

There are many parallels between the nuclear family in industrial societies，such as North。 在工业社会，例如北美洲，核心家庭之间有很多相似点。

America，and of families in societies such as that of the Inuits，who live in harsh environments. The nuclear family structure is well adapted to a life of mobility. In harsh conditions，mobility allows the family to hunt for food. For North Americans，the hunt for jobs and improved social status also requires mobility.

在居住在恶劣环境中的因纽特人的社会中，家庭间也有很多相似点。核心家庭结构良好地适应于流动性的生活。在恶劣的条件下， 流动性能让一个家庭吃饱饭。对北美洲人来说，找工作和提高社会地位同样需要流动性。

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The nuclear family was not always the North American standard. In a more agrarian time，the small nuclear family was usually part of a larger extended family. This might have included grandparents，mother and father，brothers and sisters，uncles，aunts，and cousins. In North America today，there is a dramatic rise in the number of single-parent households. Twice as many households in the United States are headed by divorced，separated，or never-married individuals as are comprised of nuclear families. The structure of the family，not just in North America, but throughout the world，continues to change as it adapts to changing conditions.

核心家庭并不总是北美洲人的标准。在农业社会时期，小型的核心家庭经常是大家庭的一部 分。其中可能包括了祖父母、父母、兄弟姐妹、叔伯、阿姨以及表兄弟姐妹。在现在的北美洲， 单亲家庭的数目大幅度增加。由核心家庭构成的单亲家庭的数目是美国由于离婚、分居或者未婚 导致的单亲家庭的两倍。不仅在北美洲，在世界范围内，家庭结构都会随着不断变化的条件而改变。

二十Tales of the Terrible Past（讲述可怕的过去）

It is not the job of fiction writers to analyze and interpret history. Yet by writing about the past in a vivid and compelling manner，storytellers can bring earlier eras to life and force readers to consider them seriously. Among those taking on the task of recounting history are some black writers who attempt to examine slavery from different points of view.

分析和诠释历史并不是小说家的工作。然而通过用一种生动有趣的方式来描写过去，小说家可以重现早斯时代，并引起读者的重视。在叙述历史的作家中，有一些黑人作家试图从不同的角 度审视奴隶制。

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison deals specifically with the legacy of slavery in her book Beloved. The main character in this novel，a former slave called Sethe，lives in Ohio in the years following the Civil War，but she cannot free herself from her horrific memories. Through a series of flashbacks and bitter reminiscences，the reader learns how and why Sethe escaped from the plantation she had lived on; the fate of her husband，who also tried to escape; and finally，what happened to the child called Beloved. Morrison's scenes of torture and murder are vivid and strongly convey the desperation of the slaves and the cruelty of their owners.

诺贝尔奖获得者托妮莫里森在她的作品《宠儿》中专门阐述了奴隶制问题。小说的主人公叫塞丝，她以前是个奴隶，内战之后住在俄亥俄，但是她无法让自己从可怕的记忆中解脱出来。通过一系列的倒序和痛苦的回忆，读者了解到赛丝为什么以及怎样逃出她赖以生存的种植园，她 那同样试图逃出来的丈夫的命运，以及最后发生在叫做宠儿的孩子身上的事情。莫里森对奴隶受 折磨和遭谋杀的场景描写得很生动，充分地表达出奴隶们的绝望以及奴隶主的残酷。

Charles Johnson's Middle Passage approaches slavery from a different，yet no less violent，vantage point. His main character，Rutherfprd Calhoun，is a ne'er-do-well free black American who stows away on a slave ship bound for Africa to collect its \Put to work after he is discovered，Calhoun witnesses firsthand the appalling conditions in which the captured Africans are transported. When they finally rebel and take over the ship，he finds himself in the middle -- and is forced to come to terms with who he is and what his values are.

查尔斯?约翰逊的小说《中途》从另一个不同的角度来描写奴隶制，但同样充满着暴力。他 的主人公叫做卢瑟福?卡尔霍恩，是一个游手好闲、身份自由的美国黑人。他偷偷登上了一艘开 往非洲贩卖奴隶的船只。被发现后，他开始为之工作，并亲眼目睹了非洲人被抓起来，然后被运 送到美国这种可怕的状况。当非洲人最终抵抗并占有了船只后，他发现了自己的中间性——并且 被迫与他自己的身份和价值观念妥协。

Neither Beloved nor Middle Passage is an easy read，but both exemplify African American writers' attempts to bring significant historical situations alive for a modem audience.

不论是《宠儿》还是《中途》读起来都不轻松，但是它们都是非裔美国作家努力为现代观众 重现重要历史的典范之作。

二十一Spacing in Animals（动物的空间距离）

Flight Distance（逃离距离） Any observant person has noticed that a wild animal will allow a man or other potential enemy to approach only up to a given distance before it flees. “Flight distance” is the terms used for this interspecies spacing. As a general rule, there is a positive relationship between the size of an animal and its flight

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distance—the larger the animal, the greater the distance it must keep between itself and the enemy. An antelope will flee when the enemy is as much as five hundred yards away. The wall lizard’s flight distance, on the other hand is about six feet. Flight is the basic means of survival for mobile creatures.

一些善于观察的人已经注意到一只野生动物只让人或其他潜在的敌人在特定的距离内接近它， 然后它便会逃走。“逃离距离”是用来描述这种物种间的空间距离的术语。一般说来，动物体积 与其逃离距离之间成正比关系~^动物的体积越大，和敌人保特的距寓就越大。当敌人离羚羊 500码远时，羚羊就会逃离。另一方面,壁虎的逃离距离大约6英尺。逃离是动物生存的基本手段。

Critical Distance（关键距离）

Critical distance apparently is present wherever and whenever there is a flight reaction. “Critical distance” includes the narrow zone separating flight distance from attack distance. A lion in a zoo will flee from an approaching man until it meets a barrier that it cannot overcome. If the man continues the approach, he soon penetrates the lion's critical distance, at which point the cornered lion reverses direction and begins slowly to stalk the man.

关键距离显然与逃离行为的时间和地点有关。关键距离指的是逃离距离和进攻距离之间的狭 窄区域。动物园的狮子会躲开接近它的人，直到它遇到不可跨过的障碍物才停步。如果那人继续 朝它走去,他就很快地进入了狮子的关键距离,这时无路可走的狮子会调转方向，开始慢慢逼近那个人

Social Distance（相聚距离）

Social animals need to stay in touch with each other. Loss of contact with the group can be fatal for a variety of reasons including exposure to enemies. Social distance is not simply the distance at which an animal will lose contact with his group—that is, the distance at which it can no longer see, hear, or smell the group—it is rather a psychological distance, one at which the animal apparently begins to feel anxious when he exceeds its limits. We can think of it as a hidden band that contains the group. Social distance varies from species to species. It is quite short—apparently only a few yards—among some animals, and quite long among others.

群居动物需要相互之间保持联系。和群体失去联系会因为各种原因（包括面临敌人）而导致 不幸。相聚距离不仅仅是动物和群体失去联系时的距离——也就是说，在这个距离它不再能看到、 听到或闻到群体——确切地说，它更是一种心理距离，一种当动物超越它的限度后会明显感到焦 虑的距离。我们可以认为它是一条控制群体的隐形带。 相聚距离会因动物种类不同而有差别。对一些动物而言，相聚距离非常近，仅有几码远。但 其他动物的相聚距离会非常远。

Social distance is not always rigidly fixed but is determined in part by the situation. When the young of apes and humans are mobile but not yet under control of the mother's voice, social distance may be the length of her reach. This is readily observed among the baboons in a zoo. When the baby approaches a certain point, the mother reaches out to seize the end of its tail and pull it back to her. When added control is needed because of danger, social distance shrinks. To show this in man, one has only to watch a family with a number of small children holding hands as they cross a busy street.

相聚距离不是一成不变的，而是部分地取决于环境。当无尾猿和人类的幼儿会活动，但还不 受母亲言语控制时，相聚距离是她手臂够得着的长度。从动物园的狒狒，我们很容易看到这点。 当小狒狒走到某个位臵时，狒狒妈妈会伸出手来，抓住小狒狒的尾巴，把它拖回身边。因为危险 而需要加强控制时，相聚距离就会缩小。要在人类身上证明这点，你只要观察一个有许多孩子的 家庭就行了。当孩子们横过」条繁忙的街道时，他们会互相牵着手。

二十二Some things we know about language（我们知道的关于语言的一些事情）

Many things about language are a mystery, and many will always remain so．But some things we do know． 许多关于语言方面的事情还是一个谜，而且将永远是一个谜。但是有些事情我们是知道的。

First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort．There is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language, no set of speech sounds by which the people communicate with one mother．Furthermore, in historical times, there has never been a race of men without a language．

首先，我们知道所有人类都有某种语言。世界上没有哪一种族落后到没有语言，没有人们用 于交流的一套声音语言。历史上也没有哪个种族没有自己的语言。

Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language．There are many people whose cultures are undeveloped, who are, as we say, uncivilized. but the languages they speak are not primitive．In all known

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1anguages we can see complexities that must have been tens of thousands of years in developing．

其次，没有原始语言这种东西。许多人的文化不发达，按照我们的说法，他们是不文明的。 但是，他们说的语言则不是原始的。在我们所知道的语言中，我们都可以看到它们经历了几万年 发展历程的复杂性。

This has not always been well understood；indeed, the direct contrary has often been stated． Popular ideas of the 1anguage of the American Indians will illustrate．Many people have supposed that the Indians communicated in a very primitive system of noises．Study has proved this to be nonsense．There are, or were, hundreds of American Indian languages, and a11 of them rum out to be very complicated and very old. They are certainly different from the languages that most of us are familiar with, but they are no more primitive than English and Greek．

这并不总是那么易于理解。的确人们常常提出完全相反的观点。人们对美印第安人语言的普 遍看法就很能说明问题。许多人都认为印第安人用非常原始的声音系统进行交流。研究结果已经 证明那全是瞎说。美印第安人语言有几百种，且所有这些语言都被证明是很复杂和古老的。它们 虽然不同于我们大多数所熟悉的语言，但是它们同英语和希腊语一样不是原始的语言。

A third thing we know about language is that all languages are perfectly adequate．That is, each one is a perfect means of expressing the culture of the people who speak the language．

关于语言我们知道的第三件事是所有的语言都是完全能够满足需要的，也就是说,每一种语 言都能满足说这种语言的人们表达其文化的需要。

Finally, we know that language changes．It is natural and normal for language to change； the only languages which do not change are the dead ones．This is easy to understand if we look backward in time．Change goes on in all aspects of language．Grammatical features change as do speech sounds, and changes in vocabulary are sometimes very extensive and may occur very rapidly．Vocabulary is the least stable part of any language.

最后，我们知道语言是变化的。语言变化是很自然的和正常的，二成不变的语言是死语言。只要我们看一看过去就会发现这是很好理解的。语言在各方面都在发生变化。语法特点就像语音一样变化。词汇方面的变化有时是非常广泛和迅速的。词汇是任何语言中最不稳定的部分。

二十三The Only Way Is Up（只好向上）

Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don't permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

想到一个现代化的城市首先进入脑海的就是它的空中轮廓线。幢幢高楼如根根插入天空的手 指一般。确实有些城市因不愿改变城市固有的风格而不允许建筑物超出一定的高度。但任何一个 城市想要引起世界关注，第一件事就是建造摩天大楼。

When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

当人口在城市聚集时，就产生了对土地的需求。城市是资本的聚集地，对土地的需求可以实 现。而在城市利用土地赚钱最好的方法就是在最小的土地面积上居住最多的人。这就意味着要建 高楼。

The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

早在19世纪建造高楼的技术已经存在，但楼房的高度还受一个很重要的因素的制约。那就是 楼房必须能让顶层的居民上下方便，人们下班回家后肯定不想像爬山那样去爬楼梯。

Elisha Otis, a US inventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

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美国发明家艾莉莎?奥的斯为我们创造了电梯，他更喜欢叫它升降机。其实其中大部分技术 都是很古老的，电梯使用的是跟埃及人修建金字塔同样的滑轮系统。奥的斯所作的贡献是将滑轮 系统与一个蒸汽机连接起来制成一个刹车装臵确保电梯上的链条断开时电梯不会坠落。正是这项 技术赢得了人们对这项新发明的信心。事实上他在游乐场里让大家试乘了几年才把这个想法出售 给建筑师和营造商。

A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.

电梯在现代社会肯定不能成为主题公园的看点了，乘电梯也成了再普通不过的事情，有时甚 至会让人觉得厌烦。然而心理学家及其他研究人类行为的学者则发现了电梯的妙处。原因很简单。 科学家经常在动物园里研究动物，而对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。

\and you just can't choose to move away,\this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

Don't worry about them. They are probably from a university. 工作场所心理学家贾利?菲茨基波恩说：“电梯空间狭小，人们想要享受私人空间的要求在 这里成了幻想，你不可能选择随意离开那里。”他还指出人被封闭在这个小空间里会产生很多不 同的情绪。有些人会感到害怕，有些人则把它当作接近老板的好机会。有些人喜欢站在靠门的地 方,有些人则藏在角落里。大部分的人试图混在人群里，而有些人特意表现以引起别人的注意， 还有的人索性靠在角落记笔记。

不要担心，他们可能只是大学里的研究者。

二十四 The Romance of Arthur（2015新增）

Most cultures have some sort of hero whorepresents the best values of what its people believe in. The unusual thingabout King Arthur is that legends of his heroism have persisted for severalcenturies and spread far beyond England, the place where they began.

很多文化都有某类能代表他们民族所深信的价值观的英雄。有关亚瑟王的非同寻常的事迹就是他的英雄事迹。这些传奇已经持续了几个世纪，并且影响力早已冲出了它的诞生地英国。

The earliest stories of King Arthur represent himas a warrior who fought and subdued the invading Norsemen in the years aroundA. D. 700. This much of the Arthurian tale is probably based on fact. Whethercalled Arthur or not, there is a body of evidence supporting the existence ofsuch a warrior. It is the later embellishments of the tale whose authenticityis questionable. According to these, Arthur was born in a castle in Tintagel onthe stormy western coast of England and because he was the illegitimate son ofKing Uther Pendragon, he was spirited away by the magician Merlin and his trueidentity kept from him. He became king after freeing the sword Excalibur fromthe stone into which it was thrust. He married the beautiful Guinevere andassembled in his court all the noblest knights of the land, including Lancelot,with whom Guinevere would later be unfaithful to him. He was finally defeatedin battle by his illegitimate son Mordred, and his body was spirited away tothe isle of A Valon.

在有关亚瑟王早期的故事中，亚瑟王的形象是一个战士，他在公元700年抗击并且震慑住了入侵的北欧人。许多有关亚瑟王的故事基本是基于事实。大量证据证明是有这样一个战士存在的，无论他是否叫做亚瑟。之后这些故事的真实性受到质疑。根据这些故事，我们知道亚瑟出生在位于英国西海岸廷塔杰尔的一座城堡里，这里经常狂风暴雨。由于亚瑟是国王Uther Pendragon的私生子，所以他被巫师Merlin偷偷地带走，并且隐瞒了他的真实身份。在他拔出插在石头里的王者之剑之后，他成为了国王。他娶了美丽的Guinevere，并且召集所有贵族骑士来到他的王宫，这其中就包括Lancelot，后来Guinevere背叛了亚瑟王和Lancelot在一起。亚瑟王最终在决斗中被他的私生子Mordred打败，他的尸体被偷偷地运到阿瓦隆岛上。

This romantic tale greatly appealed to the Englishand the French in the Middle Ages, when the code of chivalry-ideal qualities ofknighthood-constituted an important part of many stories. Tales of the heroismof Galahad, Percival, Gawain, and many other of Arthur's knights werecirculated as well.

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亚瑟王的传奇故事对中世纪的英国人和法国人很有吸引力。在当时骑士精神，也就是骑士的最理想的品质，是那个时代的故事中很重要的一部分。Galahad，Percival，Gawain，以及其他亚瑟王的骑士的英雄主义故事也都传播开来。

In England today, there are many sites claiming apiece of the Arthurian an legend. There is a mined castle at Tintagel. NearGlastonbury are the remains of an ancient abbey where Arthur’s and Guinevere'sbodies were supposedly exhumed in the 12th century. Neither of these provesthat the legend is true, but they do keep its mystique alive.

在今天的英国，有许多地方都宣称自己是亚瑟王传奇遗址的一部分。廷塔杰尔还有一座被发掘出来城堡。格拉斯顿堡附近还有一座古代修道院的遗迹，据说是亚瑟王和Guineverer的尸体在12世纪就在这里被挖掘出来。这些都不能证明传奇的真实性，但是它们却让这种神秘气氛延续下去。

二十五 Income（收入）

Income may be national income and personal income. Whereas national income is defined as the total earned income of all the factors of production—namely, profits, interest, rent, wages, and other compensation for labor, personal income may be defined as total money income received by individuals before personal taxes are paid. National income does not equal GNP(Gross National Product)because the factors of production do not receive payment for either capital consumption allowances or indirect business taxes, both of which are included in GNP. The money put aside for capital consumption is for replacement and thus is not counted as income. Indirect taxes include sales taxes, property taxes, and excise taxes that are paid by businesses directly to the government and so reduce the income left to pay for the factors of production. Three-fourths of national income goes for wages, salaries, and other forms of compensation to employees.

收入可以是国民收入和个人收入。国民收人被规定为所有生产要素所得收人，即所获利润、利息、房租、工资和其他的劳动报酬的总和。个人收人可以被规定为在支付个人所得税前的个人 收入的总和。国民收入不等于国民生产总值，因为生产要素不能从资本消费限额支付或间接商业 税中得到补偿，这两方面都包括在国民生产总值中。为资本消费而储蓄的那一部分钱用于自换设备，因此不能算作收人。间接税包括营业税、财产税和消费税，由商家直接支付给政府，因此减少了剩下来用于支付生产要素的款额。国民收入的3/4用于支付工资、薪金和其他各种形式的雇员补偿。

Whereas national income shows the income that the factors of production earn, personal income measures the income that individuals or households receive. Corporation profits are included in national income because they are earned. Out of these profits, however, corporation profit taxes must be paid to government, and some money must be put into the business for expansion. Only that part of profits distributed as dividends goes to the individual; therefore, out of corporation profits only dividends count as personal income. The factors of production earn money for social security and unemployment insurance contributions, but this money goes to government(which is not a factor of production), not to individuals. It is therefore part of national income but not part of personal income.

国民收入反映了生产要素所得收入，个人收入衡量个人和家庭收入。公司所获得的利润包括 在国民收入内，因为它们是生产要素所得。无论怎样，必须从这些利润中拿出一部分向政府交纳 公司收益税，剩余的一些钱必须用于扩大经营。只有利润中作为股息分红的那部分才归个人所有， 所以，在公司获利中只有股利算作个人收入。生产要素所得用于社会保障金和失业保险金，但这 些钱归政府（不是一种生产要素）而不是个人。所以说它是国民收人的一部分，而不是个人收入 的一部分。

On the other hand, money received by individuals when they collect social security or unemployment compensation is not money earned but money received. Interest received on government bonds is also in this category, because much of the money received from the sale of bonds went to pay for war production and that production no longer furnishes a service to the economy.

另一方面，个人领取社会保障金和失业保险时所得的钱，不是挣来的钱而是领取的钱。政府 债券所得利息也属于这种范畴，因为从证券的买卖中获得的大部分钱用作支付军事生产，而那些 产品不再为经济提供服务。

The money people receive as personal income may be either spent or saved. However, not all spending is completely voluntary. A significant portion of our income goes to pay personal taxes. Most workers never receive the money they pay in personal taxes, because it is withheld from their paychecks. The money

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that individuals are left with after they have met their tax obligations is disposable personal income. Disposable income can be divided between personal consumption expenditures and personal savings. It is important to remember that personal saving is what is left after spending.

个人收入所得的钱既可以消费也可以储蓄，但无论如何花费不都是完全自愿的。我们收入中 的相当一部分要用于支付个人所得税，大多数人从来没有收到他们交纳的税，因为它从他们的工 资卡上被扣除了。个人在缴纳所得税后余留下来的钱是可自由支配的个人收人。可自由支配的收 入可被分为个人消费支出和个人储蓄，请记住个人储蓄是消费后剩下的那部分收入，这一点很重要。

二十六Seeing the World Centuries Ago（看许久以前的世界）

If you enjoy looking through travel books by such familiar authors as Arthur Frommer or Eugene Fodor，it will not surprise you to lean that travel writing has a long and venerable history. Almost from the earliest annals of recorded time individuals have found ready audiences for their accounts of journeys to strange and exotic locales.1

如果你喜欢读类似亚瑟?弗洛梅尔或尤金?弗多这些令人熟知的作家写的旅行图书，那么你 就不会惊讶于旅行写作那悠长、令人肃然起敬的历史。几乎从最早有记载的时期开始，人们就发 现，他们对去一个陌生地方旅行的记录是不乏读者的。

One of the earliest travel writers，a Greek geographer and historian named Strabo，lived around the time of Christ. Though Strabo is known to have traveled from east of the Black Sea west to Italy and as far south as Ethiopia，he also used details gleaned from other writers to extend and enliven his accounts. His multivolumed work Geography provides the only surviving account of the cities，peoples，customs，and geographical peculiarities of the whole known world of his time.

公元前后的希腊地理学家、历史学家斯特雷波，就是最早的旅行作家之一。虽然斯特雷波因 从黑海的东部出发，西至意大利1南至埃塞俄比亚而闻名，他也借鉴了其他作者的记录来使他的 作品内容更丰富生动。他的多卷著作《地理》是唯一一部记录当时世界上城市、人、风俗、地理 特征的作品

Two other classic travel writers，the ltalian Marco Polo and the Moroccan Ibn Battutah，lived in roughly the same time period. Marco Polo traveled to China with his father and uncle in about A.D.1275 and remained there 16 or 17 years，visiting several other countries during his travels. When Marco returned to ltaly he dictated his memoirs，including stories he had heard from others，to a scribe，with the resulting book II milione being an instant success.Though difficult to attest to the accuracy of all he says，Marco's book impelled Europeans to begin their great voyages of exploration.

大概同时期的另两位优秀的旅行作家是意大利人马可?波罗和摩洛哥人伊本?白图泰。马 可?波罗在公元1275年同他的父亲和叔叔去了中国，在那里待了十六七年，在这期间他也去了一 些其他国家。回到意大利后,他向一位作家口述了他旅行的回忆以及从别人那里听到的故事，最 终《马可?波罗游记》问世，迅速红了起来。虽然很难证实他所说的是否都属实，但马可的书促 使欧洲人开始了他们伟大的航海探索之旅。

lbn Battutah's interest in travel began on his required Muslim joumey to Mecca in 1325，and during his lifetime he journeyed through all the countries where Islam held sway. 3 His travel book The Rihlah is a personalized account of desert journeys，court intrigues，and even the effect of the Back Death in the various lands he visited . In almost 30 years of traveling it is estimated that Ibn Battutah covered more than 75，000 miles.

伊本白图泰在1325年出发去麦加朝圣，从此开始了他的旅行。在他的有生之年，他去了所有的穆斯林国家旅行。他的书《伊本?白图泰游记》记载了沙漠旅行、宫廷阴谋，甚至包括他游 历过的地方受黑死病的影响。据估计，在差不多30年里，伊本白图泰的旅行行程有7万5千多英里。

二十七Importance of Services（服务业的重要性）

The United States has moved beyond the industrial economy stage to the point where it has become the world’s first service economy. Almost three-fourths of the nonfarm labor force is employed in service industries, and over two-thirds of the nation’s gross national product is accounted for by services. Also, service jobs typically hold up better during a recession than do jobs in industries producing tangible goods.

美国已经跨越了工业经济的阶段，成为世界上第一个服务型经济的国家。几乎3/4的非农业 劳动力受雇于服务业。服务业的产值在国民生产总值中所占比例已超过2/3。而且，服务业的工作往往要比从事生产有形商品的工作更

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能经受经济萧条的打击。

During the 20-year period of 1966 to 1986, about 36 million new jobs were created in the United States—far more than in Japan and Western Europe combined. About 90 percent of these jobs were in service industries. During this same time span, some 22 million women joined the labor force—and 97 percent of these women went to work in the service sector. These employment trends are expected to continue at least until the year 2000. For the period 1986-2000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that over 21 million new jobs will be created and 93 percent of them will be in service industries.

从1966年至1986年这20年间，美国新增加了大约3 600万个工作，比日本和西欧合起来还 多。这些工作约有90%是服务性行业。在这同一时期，有2 200万妇女也加入到劳动大军中来， 其中有97%在服务业工作。这种就业趋势可望持续到2000年。美国劳动统计局预测，在1986年 至2000年期间，大约将增加2 100万个工作，其中93%在服务业。

Moreover, most of this explosive growth in services employment is not in low-paying jobs, contrary to the beliefs of many economists, business and labor leaders, and politicians. These people argue that manufacturing jobs, which have been the economic foundation of America's middle class, are vanishing. They claim that factory workers are being replaced with a host of low-wage earners. It is true that manufacturing jobs have declined, with many of them going to foreign countries. It is also true that there has been growth in some low-paying service jobs. Yet cooks and counter people still represent only 1 percent of the U. S. labor force today: Furthermore, for many years the fastest-growing occupational category has been “professional, technical, and related work.” These jobs pay well above the average, and most are in service industries.

而且，服务行业就业率的这种爆炸性增长大部分并不是低薪的工作。这与许多经济学家、商 人、工会首脑和政界人士的观点相反。这些人争论说，已经是美国中产阶级经济基础的生产性工 作正在消失。他们声称，产业工人正被一大群低工资的打工仔所代替。的确，生产性工作已经减 少，有些生产性工作流向了茵外。也确实有一些低报酬的服务型工作巳经有所增长。然而像厨师 和售货员仍然仅占美国当今劳工队伍的1%。而且多年来发展最快的职业种类一直是“职业性的、 技术性的以及有关的工作”。这些工作的报酬高于平均工资，而它们大部分都在服务业。

About one-half of consumer expenditures are for the purchase of services. Projections to the year 2000 indicate that services will attract an even larger share of consumer spending. A drawback of the service economy boom is that the prices of most services have been going up at a considerably faster rate than the prices of most tangible products. You are undoubtedly aware of this if you have had your car or TV set repaired, had your shoes half-soled, or paid a medical bill in recent years.

消费开支大约有1/2是以购买服务为目的的。到2000年的规划表明，服务业将吸引一个更大 的消费开支份额。服务型公司繁荣发展的一个缺点是，大部分服务的价格比大部分有形商品的价 格上涨要快得多。如果近年来你的汽车或彩电修理过，你的鞋子打过后掌或者你支付过医药费， 毫无疑问你会清楚这一点。

When we say that services account for close to one-half of consumer expenditures, we still grossly understate the economic importance of services. These figures do not include the vast amounts spent for business services. By all indications, spending for business services has increased even more rapidly than spending for consumer services.

如果我们说服务几乎占了消费开支的一半时，我们仍然没能充分表明服务业的经济重要性。 这些数字没有包括大量的用于商业性服务的开支。根据所有的迹象来看，商业性服务的开支比消 费服务的开支增长得更快些。

二十八The National Park Service（国家公园的服务机构）

America's national parks are like old friends. You may not see them for years at a time, but just knowing they're out there makes you feel better. Hearing the names of these famous old friends -Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon -revives memories of visits past and promotes dreams of those still to come.

美国国家公园就像老朋友一样，你可能几年都见不到它们一次，但是只要知道它们在那里， 你的心情就会比较畅快。听到这些有名的老朋友的名字：优山美地、黄石、大峡谷国家公园—— 就会唤起对过去游览的记忆或激发起想要到那里游览的激情。

From Acadia to Zion, 369 national parks are part of a continually evolving system. Ancient fossil beds, Revolutionary War battlefields, magnificent mountain ranges, and monuments to heroic men and women who molded this country are all a part of our National Park System (NPS). The care and preservation for

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future generations of these special places is entrusted to the National Park Service. Uniformed Rangers, the most visible representatives of the Service, not only offer park visitors a friendly wave, a helpful answer, or a thought-provoking history lesson, but also are skilled rescuers, firefighters, and dedicated resource protection professionals. The National Park Service ranks also include architects, historians, archaeologists, biologists, and a host of other experts who preserve and protect everything from George Washington's teeth to Thomas Edison's wax recording.

从阿卡迪亚到锡安，369个国家公园是一种不断演化的体系的组成部分。古老的化石床、独 立战争的战场、宏大的山脉、为塑造这个国家而献身的英雄儿女纪念碑，都是我们国家公园体系 的组成部分。为下一代看管和保存这些具有特殊意义的地方的重任落在了国家公园行政部门的肩 上。穿着制服的公园管理员是公园行政部门可以看得见的代表。他们不仅向游客挥手表示欢迎， 帮助解答问题，或给他们上一堂启迪思想的历史课，而且也是熟练的救生员、消防员和有奉献精 神的资源保护人员。国家公园行政部门的人员还包括建筑师、历史学家、考古学家、生物学家和 许多其他的专家。他们负责保存并保护这里的一切，从乔治?华盛顿的牙齿到托马斯》爱迪生的 蜡制唱片。

Modern society has brought the National Park Service both massive challenges and enormous opportunities. Satellite and computer technologies are expanding the educational possibilities of a national park beyond its physical boundaries. Cities struggling to revive their urban cores are turning to the Park Service for expert assistance to preserve their cultural heritage, thirsty for recreational outlets are also working with the NPS to turn abandoned railroad tracks into bike and hiking trails, as well as giving unused federal property new life as recreation centers.

现代社会为国家公园行政部门带来了巨大的挑战和非常巨大的机会，卫星和计算机技术扩大 了一个国家公园超越其自然界线的教育的可能性。一些城市为使它们的都市中心复苏，正求助于 公园行政部门来保护它们的文化遗产、处于建筑群之间的小公园和绿色空间以及活跃当地的经济 等。渴望娱乐场所不断发展的社区也和国家公园系统一起工作，除将废弃了的铁路线变为自行车 道和人行道之外，还把一些弃臵了的设施建成娱乐中心，从而赋予它们新的生命。

To help meet these challenges and take advantage of these opportunities, the National Park Service had formed partnerships - some dating back 100 years, some only months old - with other agencies, state and local governments, corporations, American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives, Park Friends groups, cooperating associations, private organizations, community groups and individuals who share the National Park ethic.

为帮助迎接这些挑战和利用这些机会，国家公园行政部门巳和其他机构、州、地方政府、企 业、美印第安部落、阿拉斯加土著、公园友好小组、社区组织和个人结成合作伙伴。这些合作伙 伴有些已经合作了一百年，有些则合作了几个月。

National Park Week 1996 is a celebration of these partnerships. 1996国家公园周是这些合作伙伴的一个庆祝会。

二十九 I’ll Be Bach（我也能成为巴赫） 2014年新增

Composer David Cope is the inventor of a computerprogram that writes original works of classical music. It took Cope 30 years todevelop the software. Now most people can’t tell the difference between musicby the famous German composer J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and the Bach-likecompositions from Cope’s computer.

作曲家大卫科普发明了一个电脑软件，它能编写出古典音乐的原创作品。科普花了 30年才完成这个软件，现在，科普的电脑写出的作品与德国著名作曲家J.S.巴赫写的作品很相似，很少有人能分辨出其中不同。

It all started in 1980 in the United States, whenCope was trying to write an opera. He was having trouble thinking of newmelodies, so he wrote a computer program to create the melodies. At first thismusic was not easy to listen to. What did Cope do? He began to rethink howhuman beings compose music. He realized that composers，brains work like big databases.First, they take in all the music that they have ever heard. Then they take outthe music that they dislike. Finally, they make new music from what is left.According to Cope, only the great composers are able to create the databaseaccurately, remember it, and form new musical patterns from it.

这一切始于1980年的美国，那时科普正在写一部戏剧，但是他无法创作出新的旋律.于楚他 编写了一个电脑软件来帮他编曲。最开始的时候，软件写出的乐曲并不动听。科普是怎么做的呢？ 他开始重新考虑人们作曲的方式。他认识到作曲家的大脑就像一个大数据库，他们先是吸收他们 听过的所有音乐，然后去除他们不喜欢的，最后再根

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据留下的音乐来创作出新的旋律。科普认为， 只有伟大的作曲家才能建立好的数据库，并且能熟记于心，从而创造出新的音乐。

Cope built a huge database of existing music. He beganwith hundreds of works by Bach. The software analyzed the data：it broke it down into smallerpieces and looked for patterns. It then combined the pieces into new patterns.Before long, the program could compose short Bach-like works. They weren’t good,but it was a start.

科普根据现有的音乐建立了庞大的数据庳，最开始的时候，数据库包含了几百部巴赫的作品。 科普的软件将这些数据进行分析：首先它将音乐拆解成小的片段，从中找出固定模式，然后将片 段组合成新的模式。不久，这个软件就能够写出和巴赫风格很像的小曲子。它们并不完美，但这 只是个开始。

Cope knew he had more work to do-he had a wholeopera to write. He continued to improve the software. Soon it could analyzemore complex music. He also added many other composers, including his own work,to the database.

科普知道，他要做的还有很多一他得写出一整部歌剧。他进一步完普他的软件，不久它就 能够写出更复杂的音乐了。他还在数据库中加人了一些其他作曲家的作品，其中也包括他自己的作品。

A few years later，Cope’s computer program, called “Emmy”，was ready to help him with his opera. The process required a lot ofcollaboration between the composer and Emmy. Cope listened to the computer’smusical ideas and used the ones that he liked. With Emmy, the opera took onlytwo weeks to finish. It was called Cradle Falling, and it was a great success!Cope received some of the best reviews of his career, but no one knew exactlyhow he had composed the work.

几年后，科普的软件“艾米”已经能够帮助他创作歌剧了。创作过程要作曲家和艾米共同 配合。科普聆听艾米写出的音乐片段，从中选取他认为好的。有了艾米的帮助，科蓊只用了两个 星期就完成了这部歌剧，叫做《摇篮坠落》。演出获得巨大成功，科普也得到了他有生以来最高 的评价，但是没有人知道他究竟是怎样创作出这部歌剧的。

Since that first opera, Emmy has written thousandsof compositions. Cope still gives Emmy feedback on what he likes and doesn’tlike of her music, but she is doing most of the hard work of composing thesedays!

从那以后，艾米已经写了上千部作品。科普现在依然会给艾米反馈，吿诉她自己哪些音乐是 他喜欢的，哪些是不喜欢的，但是现在大部分艰巨的工作是由艾米来完成的！

三十“Lucky” Lord Lucan --- Alive or Dead（“幸运的”鲁肯伯爵一是死是活）

On 8th November 1974 Lord Lucan，a British aristocrat，vanished. The day before，his children's nanny had been brutally murdered and his wife had been attacked too. To this day the British public are still interested in the murder case because Lucan has never been found. Now，over 30 years later，the police have reopened，the case，hoping that new DNA techniques will he1p solve this murder mystery.1

1974年11月8日，英国贵族鲁肯伯爵失踪。此前一天，他孩子们的保姆被残忍地杀害，他的 妻子也遭到了袭击。直到现在，英国民众对这个谋杀案仍然很感兴趣，因为鲁肯伯爵一直没有被 找到。30多年后的今天，警察重新调查案希望新的DNA技术帮助揭开这个谋杀之谜。

People suspected that“Lucky”，as he was called by friends，wanted to kill his wife he no longer lived with. They say that Lucan entered his old house and in the dark，killed the nanny by mistake. His estranged wife heard noises，came downstairs and was also attacked，but managed to escape. Seven months after the murder，a jury conc1uded that Lucan had ki1led the nanny.

鲁肯伯爵被朋友称为“幸运的”，人们猜测是他想要杀了他不再与之一起住的妻子。有人说 鲁肯踏进他的老房子，在一片漆黑中错杀了保姆。与他不和的妻子听到声音走下楼，也遭到了攻 击，但是她设法逃了出去。7个月后，陪审团断定是鲁肯杀了保姆。

What happened next is unc1ear，but there are several theories which fall into one of three categories：he may have killed himself，he could have escaped or he might have been killed. It appears that the night after the murder，“Lucky”borrowed a car and drove it，Lucan's friend Aspinall said in an interview that he thought Lucan had committed suicide by sinking his boat in the English Channel.

接下来发生了什么谁也不清楚，但是众多断言被总结为三点：他自杀了，他逃跑了或者他可 能已经被杀了。在谋杀发生的第二天晚上，“幸运的”借了一辆车然后开走了。鲁肯的朋友皮诺 尔在一个采访中表示，他觉得鲁肯伯爵在英吉利海峡中弄沉了自己坐的船，已经自杀了。

Another version of events says that “Lucky” left the blood-soaked car on the coast and took a ferry

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to France.2 He was met there by someone who drove him to safety in another country. However，after a time，his rescuers became worried that they would become involved in the murder too and so Lucan was killed.

另一个版本是说“幸运的”把被血染了的车子扔在了海岸上，乘上了一艘开往法国的船。某 些人在那发现了他，把他送往另一个国家使他安全。但是，过了一段时间，救他的人开始担心自 己也会被卷入到谋杀案件中，所以他们杀了鲁肯。

A further fascinating theory was made in the book Dead Lucky by Duncan MacLaughlin，a former detective. He believes that Lucan travelled to Goa，India，where he assumed the identity of a Mr Barry Haplin. Lucan then lived in Goa till his death in 1996. In the end the c1aim turned out be a case of mistaken identity. The man who died in 1996 was real1y Haplin，an ex-schoolteacher turned hippy. So what is the truth about Lucky? DNA testing has solved many murder cases，but who knows if it can cIose the book on this one. 3

一个更有意思的看法是前侦探邓肯?麦克劳克林在他的书《幸运者之死》中谈到的。他确信 鲁肯逃到了印度的果阿，在那里他换了个身份，假装这个人。鲁肯在果阿一直生活着，直到1996 年他去世。最终这个断言被证实是错误的。1996年去世的是真正的哈普林，他曾经是一个学校老 师，后来做了嬉皮士。那么关于“幸运的”结果哪个是真的？ DNA鉴定破了很多谋杀案件，但是 不知它能否把这个案件做个了结。

三十一 Pool Watch（泳池监护）

Swimmers can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are in trouble. A report says that on average 15 people drown in British pools each year, but many more suffer major injury after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds the alarm when it sees someone in danger of drowning.

如果救生员没有注意到游泳者遇到了麻烦，那么他们可能会在人多的游泳池里淹死。防止事 故皇家协会说每年平均有15个人在英国的游泳池里被淹死。但是更多的人在遇到麻烦后受到了重 伤。现在，一个法国公司开发了一种人工智能系统，叫做波塞冬，当它发现有人有被淹死的危险 时就会发出警报。

When a swimmer sinks towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard's pager (呼机). In trials at a pool in Ancenis, near Nantes, it saved a life within just a few months, says Alistair McQuade, a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies.

当一个游泳者要沉到池底时，新的系统就会给池边的监视站和救生员的呼机发出警告信号。 这个系统的制造商，波塞冬科技的发言人AlistairMcQuade说，在昂斯尼市的一个游泳池对这个系 统进行了试验，它在几个月内就救了一条人命。

Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overhead video cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers' trajectories (轨迹). To do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool.

波塞冬通过水下的网络和头上的摄像机进行监视。AI软件分析图像得出游泳者的轨迹。为了 可靠地做到这些，它（人工智能软件）必须能区分一个游泳的人与投射到池底或池壁的某个人的 影子。McQuade说：“水下的环境是动态的，晃动着许多投影和倒影。”

It does the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer and so the system follows its trajectory.

这个软件做到这些是通过把它视野内的形状投射到游泳池远处的池壁的图像上。它对另一个 从不同角度看到这个形状的摄像机上的图像做了同样的处理。如果这两个投影在同一位臵，这个 形状就被认做是阴影而被忽略掉。但是如果它们是不同的，这个形状就是一个游泳者，这个系统 就会跟踪它的轨迹。

To pick out potential drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to the software's \预先警戒) list, says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning. Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by seeing whether it obscures (使模糊) the pool's floor texture when viewed from overhead. If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer's location on a poolside screen.

McQuade说，为了找到潜在的被淹的受害者，水中任何一个开始缓慢下沉的人都会进入软件的“预警”名单。那些在池底停Ji不动五秒钟以上的游泳者会被认为有溺水的危险。波塞冬通过 从头上看它是否使游泳池地面的纹理变模糊，来双重确定图像是真正的游泳者，而不是阴影。假如是这样，它就会提醒救生员，在池边的屏幕上显示游

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泳者的位臵。

The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork (时钟装臵) radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools - and he was once an underwater escapologist (脱身杂技演员) with a circus (马戏团). \lives,\

第一个完整的波塞冬系统在下个星期将在白金汗郡海威科姆镇的一个游泳池正式开放。对这个想法印象深刻的一个人是TmvorBaylis,时钟收音机的发明者。Baylis经营一家安装游泳池的公 司——他曾经是马戏团一个水下表演脱身术的人。他说：“如果这个系统有效并且可以救人命，那 我会给它们满分。”但是他又说，任何一个花3万多英镑买波塞冬系统的地方政府都应该花同样的钱教孩子们游泳。

三十二 The Cherokee Nation（彻罗基部落）

Long before the white man came to the America, the land belonged to the American Indian nations. The nation of the Cherokees lived in What is now the southeastern part of the United States.

在白人到来之前的很长一段时间里，美洲这片土地是属于美洲印第安部落的。彻罗基部落就 生活在现在美国的东南部地区。

After the white man came, the Cherokees copied many of their ways. One Cherokee named Sequoyah saw how important reading and writing was to the white man. He decided to invent a way to write down the spoken Cherokee language. He began by making word pictures. For each word he drew a picture. But that proved impossible-there were just too many words. Then he took the 85 sounds that made up the language. Using this own imagination and an English spelling book, Sequoyah invented a sign for each sound. His alphabet proved amazingly easy to learn. Before long, many Cherokees knew how to read and write in their own language. By 1828, they were even printing their own newspaper.

白人到来后，彻罗基人学习了他们的很多方法。一个叫赛史伊荷的彻罗基人看到了读书、写 字对白人的重要性。他决心创造一种方法来书写口头的彻罗基语言。他开始是制作单词图形，他 为每一个单词都画了图。但事实证明那是行不通的——单词太多了！接着他记下构成这门语言的 85种声音。根据自己的想象和英语拼读书籍，他为每一个声音创造了一个符号。他的字母表是极 其容易学的。不久彻罗基人知道了怎样用他们自己的语言去读、去写。到1828年的时候，他们已经在印刷他们自己的报纸了。

In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed a law. It allowed the government to remove Indians from their lands. The Cherokees refused to go. They had lived on their lands for centuries. It belonged to them. Why should they go to a strange land far beyond the Mississippi River?

1830年，美国议会通过了一条法令，它允许政府把印第安人从他们现在的土地上迁走。但彻 罗基人拒绝离开，他们已经在这里生活了几个世纪，这片土地是属于他们的，为什么他们要到一个远离密西西比河的陌生地方去？

The army was sent to drive the Cherokees out. Soldiers surrounded their villages and marched them at gunpoint into the western territory. The sick, the old and the small children went in carts, along with their belongings. The rest of the people marched on foot or rode on horseback. It was November, yet many of them still wore their summer clothes. Cold and hungry, the Cherokees were quickly exhausted by the hardships of the journey. Many dropped dead and were buried by the roadside. When the last group arrived in their new home in March 1839, more than 4,000 had died. It was indeed a march of death.

军队被派来驱赶彻罗基人了，士兵包围了他们的村庄，在枪口的威胁下，他们被押往西部地区。病人、老人和孩子坐在运送物品的大车上，剩下的人则步行或骑马。当时正值11月份，可他 们中的好多人还穿着夏天的衣服。寒冷、饥饿，彻罗基人很快便被艰苦的行程折磨得精疲力竭，好多人倒地而死被掩埋在路旁。当1839年3月最后一批人被赶到他们的新家时，已经死了4000 多人。这实在是一次死亡之旅。

三十三 Oseola McCarty（老妇人）

LATE ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON in September 1999，Oseola McCarty，an elderly cleaning lady passed away in the little wooden frame house where she had lived and worked most of her life. It may seem like an ordinary end to a humble life，but there was something quite exceptional about this woman. 1

1999年9月一个周日下午较晚的时候，一位上了年纪的名为McCahy的清洁工在她生活了大 半辈子的小木屋中去世了。这位老妇人看似平凡的一生却有着非同寻常的意义。

In the summer of 1995 ，McCarty gave $ 150，000，most of the money she had saved throughout her life，

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to the University of Southern Mississippi in her hometown. The money was to help other African Americans through university. She had started her savings habit as a young child when she would return from school to clean and iron for money which she would then save.

1995年夏McCarty把她一生的大部分积蓄共计15万美元全部捐给了她家乡的南密西西比大 学，用于帮助大学中的黑人完成学业。她年轻的时候就养成了积蓄的习惯，那时候她从学校放学 就去做清洁工作和熨烫衣服赚钱，并将钱存起来。

She led a simple，frugal existence，never spending on anything but her most basic needs. 2 Her bank also advised her on investing her hard-earned savings.

她一生过着简单、节俭的生活，除了生活必需品外她从不在其他事情上花钱。

When she retired，she decided that she wanted to use the money to give children of limited Means the opportunity to go to university. 3 She had wanted to become a nurse，but had to leave school to look after ill relatives and work. When asked why she had given her life savings away，she replied，“I’m giving it away so that children won't have to work so hard，like I did. ” After news of her donation hit the media，over 600 donations were made to the scholarship fund. One was given by media executive，Ted Turner，who reputedly gave a billion dollars.

她退休的时候，决定资助那些条件有限的孩子上大学。她曾经想成为一名护士，但她不得不 离开学校照顾生病的亲戚。当问及她为什么会把一生的积蓄都捐赠出来时，她回答：“我将钱捐赠 出来，只是为了不让孩子们工作得那么辛苦，像我一样。”捐赠的消息一经传出，就有600多名捐 赠者向奖学金基金捐款。其中一人是媒体管理人员，Fed Turner,号称捐赠了10亿美元。

She didn't want any fuss made over her gift，but the news got out and she was invited all over the United States to talk to people. Wherever she went ，people would come up to her to say a few words or to just touch her. She met the ordinary and the famous，President Clinton included. In the last few years of her life，before she died of cancer，McCarty was given over 300 awards：she was honoured by the United Nations and received the Presidential Citizen' s Medal. Despite having no real education，she found herself with two honorary doctorates：one from the University of Southern Mississippi and the other from Harvard University. Her generosity was clearly an inspiration to many and proof that true selflessness does exist.

她从未想过她的捐赠会产生什么样的影响，但消息一经传出，她就收到了来自美国各个地方 的邀请，去向人们介绍她的事。无论她去哪，都有人去跟她说话或去摸摸她。她见到过普通大众， 也见过名流显赫，如克林顿总统。在她死于癌症的前几年，她获得了 300多个奖项，被联合国授 予过奖项，也获得过总统市民模范称号。从未受过正式教育的她，被南密西西比大学和哈佛大学 分别授予了荣誉博士学位。她的慷慨行为激励鼓舞了很多人，同时也证明了世间确实存在真正的无私。

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