大学英语精读第三版第四册课文及课文翻译

Unit 1

Two college-age boys, unaware that making money usually involves hard work, are tempted by an advertisement that promises them an easy way to earn a lot of money. The boys soon learn that if something seems to good to be true, it probably is.

一个大学男孩，不清楚赚钱需要付出艰苦的劳动，被一份许诺轻松赚大钱的广告吸引了。男孩们很快就明白，如果事情看起来好得不像真的，那多半确实不是真的。

BIG BUCKS THE EASY W AY轻轻松松赚大钱

"You ought to look into this," I suggested to our two college-age sons. "It might be a way to avoid the indignity of having to ask for money all the time." I handed them some magazines in a plastic bag someone bad hung on our doorknob. A message printed on the bag offered leisurely, lucrative work ("Big Bucks the Easy Way!") of delivering more such bags.

“你们该看看这个，”我向我们的两个读大学的儿子建议道。“你们若想避免因为老是向人讨钱而有失尊严的话，这兴许是一种办法。”我将挂在我们门把手上的、装在一个塑料袋里的几本杂志拿给他们。塑料袋上印着一条信息说，需要招聘人投递这样的袋子，这活儿既轻松又赚钱。（“轻轻松松赚大钱!”）

"I don't mind the indignity," the older one answered. “我不在乎失不失尊严，”大儿子回答说。"I can live with it," his brother agreed. “我可以忍受，”他的弟弟附和道。

"But it pains me," I said，"to find that you both have been panhandling so long that it no longer embarrasses you." “看到你们俩伸手讨钱讨惯了一点也不感到尴尬的样子，真使我痛心，”我说。

The boys said they would look into the magazine-delivery thing. Pleased, I left town on a business trip. By midnight I was comfortably settled in a hotel room far from home. The phone rang. It was my wife. She wanted to know how my day had gone. 孩子们说他们可以考虑考虑投递杂志的事。我听了很高兴，便离城出差去了。午夜时分，我已远离家门，在一家旅馆的房间里舒舒服服住了下来。电话铃响了，是妻子打来的。她想知道我这一天过得可好。"Great!" I enthused. "How was your day?" I inquired. “好极了!”我兴高采烈地说。“你过得怎么样?”我问道。

"Super!" She snapped. "Just super! And it's only getting started. Another truck just pulled up out front." “棒极了!”她大声挖苦道。“真棒!而且这还仅仅是个开始。又一辆卡车刚在门前停下。” "Another truck?" “又一辆卡车?”

"The third one this evening. The first delivered four thousand Montgomery Wards. The second brought four thousand Sears, Roebucks. I don't know what this one has, but I'm sure it will be four thousand of something. Since you are responsible, I thought you might like to know what's happening. “今晚第三辆了。第一辆运来了四千份蒙哥马利-沃德百货公司的广告；第二辆运来四千份西尔斯-罗伯克百货公司的广告。我不知道这一辆装的啥，但我肯定又是四千份什么的。既然这事是你促成的，我想你或许想了解事情的进展。”

What I was being blamed for, it turned out, was a newspaper strike which made it necessary to hand-deliver the advertising inserts that normally are included with the Sunday paper. The company had promised our boys $600 for delivering these inserts to 4,000 houses by Sunday morning. 我之所以受到指责，事情原来是这样：由于发生了一起报业工人罢工，通常夹在星期日报纸里的广告插页，必须派人直接投送出去。公司答应给我们的孩子六百美金，任务是将这些广告插页在星期天早晨之前投递到四千户人家去。

"Piece of cake!" our older college son had shouted. “不费吹灰之力!”我们上大学的大儿子嚷道。

" Six hundred bucks!" His brother had echoed, "And we can do the job in two hours!" “六百块!”他的弟弟应声道，“我们两个钟点就能干完!”

"Both the Sears and Ward ads are four newspaper-size pages," my wife informed me. "There are thirty-two thousand pages of advertising on our porch. Even as we speak, two big guys are carrying armloads of paper up the walk. What do we do about all this?" “西尔斯和沃德的广告通常都是报纸那么大的四页，”妻子告诉我说，“现在我们门廊上堆着三万二千页广告。就在我们说话的当儿，两个大个子正各抱着一大捆广告走过来。这么多广告，我们可怎么办?” "Just tell the boys to get busy," I instructed. "They're college men. They'll do what they have to do." “你让孩子们快干，”我指示说。“他们都是大学生了。他们自己的事得由他们自己去做。” At noon the following day I returned to the hotel and found an urgent message to telephone my wife. Her voice was unnaturally high and quavering. There had been several more truckloads of ad inserts. "They're for department stores, dime stores, drugstores, grocery stores, auto stores and so on. Some are whole magazine sections. We have hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of pages of advertising here! They are crammed wall-to-wall all through the house in stacks taller than your oldest son. There's only enough room for people to walk in, take one each of the eleven inserts, roll them together, slip a rubber band around them and slide them into a plastic bag. We have enough plastic bags to supply every takeout restaurant in America!" Her voice kept rising, as if working its way out of the range of the human ear. "All this must be delivered by seven o'clock Sunday morning." 第二天中午，我回到旅馆，看到一份紧急留言，要我马上给妻子回电话。她的声音高得很不自然，而且有些颤抖。家里又运到了好几卡车的广告插页。“有百货公司的，廉价商店的，杂货店的，食品店的，汽车行的，等等。有些像整本杂志那么厚。我们这里有数十万页，说不定是几百万页的广告!我们家整个房子从东墙到西墙，从南墙到北墙统统堆满了广告，一堆又一堆，比你大儿子还要高。现在只剩下一点点空间，刚够一个人走进去，从十一种插页中各取一份，卷在一起，套上橡皮筋，再塞进一只塑料袋内。我们的塑料袋足够供应全美所有的外卖餐厅!”她越讲声音越响，几乎震耳欲聋。“这么多的广告必须在星期日早晨七点以前统统送出去。”

"Well, you had better get those guys banding and sliding as fast as they can, and I'll talk to you later. Got a lunch date. “嗯，你最好让孩子们尽快地捆扎装袋，等会儿我再跟你谈。我有个午餐约会。”

When I returned, there was another urgent call from my wife. 我餐后回来，妻子又打来一只紧急电话。

"Did you have a nice lunch?" she asked sweetly. I had had a marvelous steak, but knew better by now than to say so. “你午餐吃得不错吧?”她用悦耳的声音问道。我吃的牛排好极了，但这次我学乖了，还是不说为妙。

"Awful," I reported. "Some sort of sour fish. Eel, I think." “糟透了，”我报告说。“一种什么酸溜溜的鱼，我想大概是鳗鲡吧。”

"Good. Your college sons have hired their younger brothers and sisters and a couple of neighborhood children to help for five dollars each. Assembly lines have been set up. In the language of diplomacy, there is 'movement.'" “不错嘛。你的大学生儿子已经雇了他们的弟弟妹妹和两三个邻居的小孩帮忙，工钱一人五块，建起了流水作业线。用外交术语来说，事情‘有进展’。”

"That's encouraging." “这确实令人鼓舞。”

"No, it's not," she corrected. "It's very discouraging. They're been as it for hours. Plastic bags have been filled and piled to the ceiling, but all this hasn't made a dent, not a dent, in the situation!

It's almost as if the inserts keep reproducing themselves!" “不，并非如此，”她纠正说。“相反，非常叫人泄气。他们干了好几个小时了。装好的塑料袋，一直堆到天花板，但一切努力收效很小。这些广告宣传品简直就像是不停地自行生产出来一样!”

"Another thing," she continued. "Your college sons must learn that one does not get the best out of employees by threatening them with bodily harm. “还有一件事，”她接着说，“你那上大学的儿子必须明白，威胁雇员，说要揍他们，是不可能使他们卖力的。”

Obtaining an audience with son NO. 1, I snarled, "I'll kill you if threaten one of those kids again! Idiot! You should be offering a bonus of a dollar every hour to the worker who fills the most bags.我跟大儿子一通上话，便咆哮道，“你如果再威胁那些孩子，我就对你不客气了!白痴!你应该给奖金，对装袋最多的工人每小时奖励一块。”

"But that would cut into our profit," he suggested.“可那要减少我们的利润啦，”他提醒道。"There won't be any profit unless those kids enable you to make all the deliveries on time. If they don't, you two will have to remove all that paper by yourselves. And there will be no eating or sleeping until it is removed."“那些孩子不帮你按时将所有的广告投送出去，你就什么利润也得不到。如果他们不干，你们俩就得亲手搬走所有的广告。而在把它们搬掉之前，你们吃不成，也睡不成。”

There was a short, thoughtful silence. Then he said, "Dad, you have just worked a profound change in my personality."电话里出现了短暂的沉默，他在思考。接着，他说，“爸爸，你刚才使我深受启迪，令我恍然大悟。”

"Do it!"“那就干吧!”

"Yes, sir!"“是，阁下!”

By the following evening, there was much for my wife to report. The bonus program had worked until someone demanded to see the color of cash. Then some activist on the work force claimed that the workers had no business settling for $5 and a few competitive bonuses while the bossed collected hundreds of dollars each. The organizer had declared that all the workers were entitled to $5 per hour! They would not work another minute until the bosses agreed. 到第二天傍晚，我妻子就有许多事报告了。奖金计划行之有效，可后来有人对能否兑现表示怀疑，提出把钱拿出来给大家看看。接着工人队伍里的一位活动家声称，老板每人拿几百块钱，工人们决没有理由满足于每人五块外加一点点竞争性的奖金。劳工组织人宣布，所有工人的工资都应该达到每小时五块钱!在老板答应之前，他们不再干活儿，一分钟也不干。

The strike lasted less than two hours. In mediation, the parties agreed on $2 per hour. Gradually, the huge stacks began to shrink. 罢工持续了不到两小时。通过调解，双方达成协议，每小时两块。渐渐地，大堆的广告开始减少。

As it turned out, the job was completed three hours before Sunday's 7 a.m. deadline. By the time I arrived home, the boys had already settled their accounts: $150 in labor costs, $40 for gasoline, and a like amount for gifts—boxes of candy for saintly neighbors who had volunteered station wagons and help in delivery and dozen roses for their mother. This left them with $185 each —about two-thirds the minimum wage for the 91 hours they worked. Still, it was "enough", as one of them put it, to enable them to "avoid indignity" for quite a while.

结果，全部工作比最后限期星期日早晨七点提前三个小时完成。等我回到家里，孩子们已经结了账。劳务支出150元，汽油费????40元，还有40元买礼品——几盒糖果，送给乐于助人的邻居，他们主动开出自家的车帮助投递，还有一打玫瑰送给他们的母亲。除去以上开支，他们每人得到185元——大约相当于他们所干的91小时的最低工资的三分之二。虽然如此，可正如一个儿子所说，那还是“足够”他们花一阵子，使他们“避免那种有失尊严的事。”

All went well for some weeks. Then one Saturday morning my attention was drawn to the odd goings-on of our two youngest sons. They kept carrying carton after carton from various corners of the house out the front door to curbside. I assumed their mother had enlisted them to remove junk for a trash pickup. Then I overheard them discussing finances. 几个星期过去了，一切都很好。后来，一个星期六的上午，我们两个小儿子的奇怪举动引起了我的注意。他们不停地将一个又一个的纸箱从房屋四处的角落里搬出，经过前门，送到人行道边。我以为他们的妈妈在指挥他们清除破烂，好让垃圾车运走呢。正在这时，我听到他们在议论经济问题。"Geez, we're going to make a lot of money!" “哟，我们会赚许多钱呢!”

"We're going to be rich!" “我们要发财啦!”

Investigation revealed that they were offering " for sale or rent" our entire library. 经查问发现，他们正在把我们的全部图书“出售或出租”。

"No! No!" I cried. "You can't sell our books!" “不成!不成!”我叫道。“不能把我们的书卖了!”"Geez, Dad, we thought you were done with them!" 哎唷，爸，我们以为你用不着它们了呢!” "You're never 'done' with books," I tried to explain. “书永远不会'用'不着的，”我尽力解释道。"Sure you are. You read them, and you're done with them. That's it. Then you might as well make a li ttle money from them. We wanted to avoid the indignity of having to ask you for……"“你肯定用不着了。你都看过了，再也不用了。没有错。既然不用，还不如卖点钱。我们想避免那种有失尊严的事，不再伸手向你要……”

Unit 2

Is there anything we can learn from deer? During the "energy crisis" of 1973-1974 the writer of this essay was living in northern Minnesota and was able to observe how deer survive when winter arrives. The lessons he learns about he way deer conserve energy turn out applicable to our everyday life. 有什么是我们能从鹿身上学到的吗?在1973-1974年的“能源危机”期间，本文作者正住在明尼苏达北部，能够观察当冬天来临时，鹿如何生存。他从鹿储存能量的方法上得到的经验也能够运用到我们的日常生活中。

DEER AND THE ENERGY CYCLE鹿和能量循环

Some persons say that love makes the world go round. Others of a less romantic and more practical turn of mind say that it isn't love; it's money. But the truth is that it is energy that makes the world go round. Energy is the currency of the ecological system and life becomes possible only when food is converted into energy, which in turn is used to seek more food to grow, to reproduce and to survive. On this cycle all life depends.有些人说，爱情驱使世界运转；另一些并不那么罗曼蒂克而更为注重实际的人则说，不是爱情，而是金钱。但真实情况是，能量驱使世界运转。能量是生态系统的货币，只有当食物转变为能量，能量再用来获取更多的食物以供生长、繁殖和生存，生命才成为可能。所有生命都维系在这一循环上。

It is fairly well known that wild animals survive from year to year by eating as much as they can during times of plenty, the summer and fall, storing the excess, usually in the form of fat, and then using these reserves of fat to survive during the hard times in winter when food is scarce. But it is probably less well known that even with their stored fat, wild animals spend less energy to live in winter than in summer.差不多众所周知，野生动物得以年复一年地生存下去，主要依靠在夏秋生长旺季尽量多吃，通常将多余的部分以脂肪的形式储存起来，然后到了冬天食物稀少的艰难时期，就用这些储备的脂肪来维持生命。然而，很可能鲜为人知的是，即使有储备的脂肪，野生动物在冬天消耗的能量比夏天要少。

A good case in point is the whiter-tailed deer. Like most wildlife, deer reproduce, grow, and store fat in the summer and fall when there is plenty of nutritious food available. A physically mature

female deer in good condition who has conceived 怀孕in November and given birth to two fawns during the end of May or first part of June, must search for food for the necessary energy not only to meet her body's needs but also to produce milk for her fawns. The best milk production occurs at the same time that new plant growth is available. This is good timing, because milk production is an energy consuming process — it requires a lot of food. The cost can not be met unless the region has ample food resources. 一个很好的例证是白尾鹿。与大多数野生动物一样，鹿在营养丰富、食物充足的夏秋两季，繁殖、生长并储存脂肪。一只成熟健壮的母鹿，在十一月份怀胎，五月底或六月初生下两只幼鹿，这时，它必须寻找食物以获得必要的能量，这不仅是为了满足自身的需要，而且也是为了给幼鹿生产乳汁。产乳的最佳期也正是植物生长茂盛之时。这个时机选择得很好，因为乳汁生产是一个消耗能量的过程——它需要大量的食物，除非该地区具有丰富的食物资源，否则无法满足这种消耗。

As the summer progresses and the fawns grow, they become less dependent on their mother's milk and more dependent on growing plants as food sources. The adult males spend the summer growing antlers and getting fat. Both males and females continue to eat high quality food in the fall in order to deposit body fat for the winter. In the case of does and fawns, a great deal of energy is expended either in milk production or in growing, and fat is not accumulated as quickly as it is in full grown males. Fat reserves are like bank accounts to be drawn on in the winter when food supplies are limited and sometimes difficult to reach because of deep snow. 夏季一天天过去，幼鹿日渐生长，它们变得较少依赖母鹿的乳汁，而更加依靠生长中的植物为其食物来源。雄性成鹿在夏天生长鹿角并养肥身体。在秋天，雄鹿和雌鹿都继续进食高质量食物，贮存体内脂肪，以备过冬。至于雌鹿和幼鹿，由于大量的能量用于产奶或生长，脂肪的积累速度不如完全成熟的雄鹿快。脂肪储备如同银行里的存款，供冬天食物来源不足时和有时由于雪深难以获得时，支取使用。

As fall turns into winter, other changes take place. Fawns lose their spotted coat. Hair on all the deer becomes darker and thicker. The change in the hair coats is usually complete by September and maximum hair depths are reached by November or December when the weather becomes cold. 随着秋去冬来，还会发生其他变化: 幼鹿失去皮毛上的斑纹，所有鹿身上的毛长厚，颜色变深。毛皮的变化通常持续到9月。到??11月或12月天气变冷时，毛长得最厚。

But in addition, nature provides a further safeguard to help deer survive the winter—an internal physiological response which lowers their metabolism, or rate of bodily functioning, and hence slows down their expenditure of energy. The deer become somewhat slow and drowsy. The heart rate drops. Animals that hibernate practice energy conservation to a greater extreme than deer do. Although deer don't hibernate, they do the same thing with their seasonal rhythms in metabolism. Deer spend more energy and store fat in the summer and fall when food is abundant, and spend less energy and use stored fat in the winter when food is less available. 此外，大自然还为鹿提供进一步的保护以帮助它们度过冬天——体内生理机能作相应调节，放慢新陈代谢，亦即生理活动的速度，从而降低能量的消耗。鹿变得有点动作迟缓、嗜睡。它们的心率减慢。冬眠的动物保存能量的习性胜过鹿。虽然鹿不冬眠，但他们随季节改变新陈代谢节奏的习性则是一样的。夏秋间，食物充裕的时候，鹿消耗较多的能量并储存脂肪。在冬天食物匮乏时，它们则消耗较少的能量并使用储存的脂肪。

When the "energy crisis" first came in 1973-1974, I was living with my family in a cabin on the edge of an area where deer spend the winter in northern Minnesota, observing the deer as their behavior changed from more activity in summer and fall to less as winter progressed, followed by an increase again in the spring as the snow melted. It was interesting and rather amusing to listen

to the advice given on the radio: " Drive only when necessary," we were told. "Put on more clothes to stay warm, and turn the thermostat on your furnace down." Meanwhile we watched the deer reduce their activity, grow a winter coat of hair, and reduce their metabolism as they have for thousands of years. It is biologically reasonable for deer to reduce their cost of living to increase their chance of surviving in winter. 1973-1974年间，第一次出现“能源危机”的时候，我正与家人住在明尼苏达州北部一处鹿群过冬地方的边缘地带。我们住在一个小屋里，观察鹿的生活习性，观察它们是如何随着冬季来临从夏秋的活动频繁状态而变得少动的，而到春暖雪融时，他们的活动又是如何增多起来的。当时广播电台常告诫我们:“没有必要不开车，”“多穿衣服好保暖，并请调低锅炉上的恒温器。”这些话听起来既有趣又逗笑。因为与此同时，我们一直注视着鹿减少活动，长出越冬的厚毛，并减缓新陈代谢。几千年来，他们一贯如此。鹿减少生存所需的能耗以增加越冬生存的机会，从生物学角度来看是合情合理的。

Not every winter is critical for deer of course. If the winter has light snow, survival and productivity next spring will be high. But if deep snows come and the weather remains cold for several weeks, then the deer must spend more energy to move about, food will be harder to find, and they must then depend more on their fat reserves to pull them through. If such conditions go on for too long some will die, and only the largest and strongest are likely to survive. That is a fundamental rule of life for wild, free wandering animal such as deer. 当然，对鹿来讲，并非每个冬天都处于危难之中。如果冬天雪下得少，存活率和次年春天的繁殖力就高。但如果雪积得深，天气连续数周寒冷，鹿活动起来就得花费较多的能量，觅食会更难，这时它们就得更多地依赖其脂肪储备度过寒冬。如果这种情况持续太久，有些鹿就要死亡，只有体型最大最壮的，才有可能存活。对于像鹿这样四处自由奔走的野生动物来说，这是一条根本的生存规律。

Yes, life—and death, too -- is a cycle that goes round and round, and when animals die their bodies become food for other life forms to use by converting them into energy. 的确，生命——还有死亡——周而复始，循环不已。当动物死亡的时候，他们的尸体转化为能量，变成食物，供其他生命形式使用。And the cycle continues. 如此循环，永不止息。

Unit 3

Can you prove that the earth is round? Go ahead and try! Will you rely on your senses or will you have to draw on the opinions of experts? 你能证明地球是圆的吗?来试试看吧！你将依靠你自己的智力还是不得不引用专家的观点呢?

WHY DO WE BELIEVE THAT THE EARTH IS ROUND?我们为什么相信地球是圆的?

George Orwell

Somewhere or other — I think it is in the preface to saint Joan — Bernard Shaw remarks that we are more gullible and superstitious today than we were in the Middle Ages, and as an example of modern credulity he cites the widespread belief that the earth is round. The average man, says Shaw, can advance not a single reason for thinking that the earth is round. He merely swallows this theory because there is something about it that appeals to the twentieth-century mentality. 记得在什么地方——我想是在《圣女贞德》序言中——肖伯纳评论说，今天我们比在中世纪时更加轻信，更加迷信。而作为现代轻信的例证，他举出地圆说这一广为传播的信念。肖伯纳说，普通人举不出一条理由来说明为什么相信地球是圆的。他全盘接受这一理论，只是因为这一理论中有一种迎合20世纪心态的东西。

Now, Shaw is exaggerating, but there is something in what he says, and the question is worth following up, for the sake of the light it throws on modern knowledge. Just why do we believe that the earth is round? I am not speaking of the few thousand astronomers, geographers and so forth

who could give ocular proof, or have a theoretical knowledge of the proof, but of the ordinary newspaper-reading citizen, such as you or me. 当然，肖伯纳是夸大其词了，但他说的也确实有些道理，这一问题值得进一步探讨，因为它会帮助人们看清现代知识的真实情况。我们究竟为什么会相信地球是圆的呢?我说的不是数千位天文学家、地理学家之类的人，他们可以用观察到的事实或用理论上的根据来证实这一点，我指的是如同你我之辈的报纸的普通读者。As for the Flat Earth theory, I believe I could refute it. If you stand by the seashore on a clear day, you can see the masts and funnels of invisible ships passing along the horizon. This phenomenon can only be explained by assuming that the earth's surface is curved. But it does not follow that the earth is spherical. Imagine another theory called the Oval Earth theory, which claims that the earth is shaped like an egg. What can I say against it? 至于“地平说”，我相信我能够加以驳斥。如果你在天气晴朗的日子站立海边，你可以看到船桅和烟囱沿着地平线移动而不见船体本身。只有假设地球表面呈曲线状，这一现象才能得到解释。但不能由此推断地球是球形的。设想另一个称做“地球卵形说”的理论吧，这一学说声称地球形如蛋状。对此，我能说什么加以反驳呢?

Against the Oval Earth man, the first card I can play is the analogy of the sun and moon. The Oval Earth man promptly answers that I don't know, by my own observation, that those bodies are spherical. I only know that they are round, and they may perfectly well be flat discs. I have no answer to that one. Besides, he goes on, what reason have I for thinking that the earth must be the same shape as the sun and moon? I can't answer that one either. 面对“地球卵形说”者，我能打的第一张牌是，可以根据太阳和月亮来类推。“地球卵形说”者立即回敬道，我无法根据自己的观察得知那些天体是球形的。我只能得知他们是圆的，而它们完全可能呈扁平的圆盘状。我对此无言以答。此外，他还会说，我凭什么理由认为地球一定与太阳和月亮的形状相同?对此，我同样无法解答。

My second card is the earth's shadow: When cast on the moon during eclipses, it appears to be the shadow of a round object. But how do I know, demands the Oval Earth man, that eclipses of the moon are caused by the shadow of the earth? The answer is that I don't know, but have taken this piece of information blindly from newspaper articles and science booklets. 我的第二张牌是地球的影子: 月食期间，地球投在月亮上的影子看上去呈圆形物体状。但“地球卵形说”者马上要问，我怎么知道月食是由地球的影子造成的呢?回答是，我并不知道，我只是照搬报刊文章和科普小册子上的说法而已。

Defeated in the minor exchanges, I now play my queen of trumps: the opinion of the experts. The Astronomer Royal, who ought to know, tells me that the earth is round. The Oval Earth man covers the queen with his king. Have I tested the Astronomer Royal's statement, and would I even know a way of testing it? Here I bring out my ace. Yes, I do know one test. The astronomers can foretell eclipses, and this suggests that their opinions about the solar system are pretty sound. I am, to my delight, justified in accepting their say-so about the shape of the earth. 小小交锋受挫，于是我打出一张王牌“Q”: 专家的看法。英国格林威治皇家天文台台长总该是权威了，他告诉我说地球是圆的。“地球卵形说”者用他的“K”牌压倒我的“Q”牌。天文台台长的话我检验过没有?再说，我知道怎么个检验法吗?这时候，我打出我的“爱司”。是的，我确实知道一个检验方法。天文学家能预报月食，这一点表明他们关于太阳系的看法是非常可信的。因此，令我高兴的是，我接受他们关于地球形状的论断是有道理的。

If the Oval Earth man answers — what I believe is true — that the ancient Egyptians, who thought the sun goes round the earth, could also predict eclipses, then bang goes my ace. I have only one card left: navigation. People can sail ship round the world, and reach the places they aim at, by

calculations which assume that the earth is spherical. I believe that finishes the Oval Earth man, though even then he may possibly have some kind of counter. 如果“地球卵形说”者反驳道——我以为他反驳得有理——认为太阳绕地球转的古代埃及人也能预言月食，那我的“爱司”牌便立刻化为乌有。我只剩下一张牌: 航海。人们可以扬帆绕地球航行而到达他们的目的地，其航程的计算，就是以地球是球形的假定为依据的。我相信这一下可以彻底击败“地球卵形说”者了。不过即便如此，他还可能有某种回击的办法。

It will be seen that my reasons for thinking that the earth is round are rather precarious ones. Yet this is an exceptionally elementary piece of information. On most other questions I should have to fall back on the expert much earlier, and would be less able to test his pronouncements. And much the greater part of our knowledge is at this level. It does not rest on reasoning or on experiment, but on authority. And how can it be otherwise, when the range of knowledge is so vast that the expert himself is an ignoramus as soon as he strays away from his own specialty? Most people, if asked to prove that the earth is round, would not even bother to produce the rather weak arguments I have outlined above. They would start off by saying that "everyone knows" the earth to be round, and if pressed further, would become angry. In a way Shaw is right. This is a credulous age, and the burden of knowledge which we now have to carry is partly responsible. 由此可见，我认为地球是圆的，其根据是相当不牢靠的。然而这却是一点极其基本的知识。在别的大多数问题上，我只得更早地依赖专家的理论，且更少有办法检验他的结论了。我们的知识，其绝大部分都停留在这一水平上。它不是依靠推理或实验，而是依赖权威。可是，不这样，又有什么别的法子呢?知识的范围如此广博，一旦越出其专业范围，专家也会变成一无所知。对大多数人来说，如果要他们证明地球是圆的话，就连我上面概述的这些相当无力的论据，他们也不愿提供出来。他们一开始就会说: 谁都知道地球是圆的。要是再加追问，就会生气了。在某种程度上讲，肖伯纳是说对了，如今是一个轻信的时代。究其缘由，部分在于，我们现今必须掌握的知识实在太多了。

Unit 4

On September 11, 2001, a series of suicide attacks on the United States took place. Foreign hijackers took control of four U.S. airliners. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center. The third aircraft was crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth, intended, it is thought, for another government target, crashed into a field, apparently after passenger resistance. This is the story of one of those passengers 2001年9月11日，在美国发生了一系列自杀式的袭击事件。外国的劫机者控制了四架美国的航空公司的飞机，两架撞入世界贸易中心，第三架冲进五角大楼，而第四架据传原本要袭击另一政府目标，但显然由于遭到乘客的反抗而坠毁于一片田地里。本文说的便是其中一位乘客的故事。

Flight 93:What I never know 第93次航班：我所无法理解的事

Sunday, September 9, 2001, was a good day for the three of us. Emmy was just 11 weeks old and we were enjoying her enormously. After three miscarriages in two years, she was doubly precious to us. My husband, Jeremy, who was thinking of changing jobs, had gone on two interviews and felt they went well. Since Sunday was rainy, we just lay around our house in northern New Jersey. We laughed a lot, and watched Emmy, and then went to bed early. 2001年9月9日是星期日，对我们三个人来说，是个美好的日子。埃米刚有11周大，我们极其喜欢她。她是我在两年内经过连续三次流产后生下的，所以对我们更为珍贵。我的丈夫杰里米当时正考虑换个工作，已经面试过两次，自己感觉进行得还顺利。周日那天下雨，我们就在我们位于新泽西北部的自家屋内闲躺着。我们嬉笑着，照看着埃米，随后就早早就寝了。

The next day, September 10, was busy, with Jeremy due to fly from Newark to California on business. I would take Emmy up to my parents’ house in Windham, New York, and he could meet us there when he returned. 次日，9月10日，我们忙碌起来，杰里米将从纽瓦克飞往加利福尼亚出差。我将带埃米北上去纽约州温德姆我父母的家中。这样，杰里米回来时可以去那里接我们。

For some reason he particularly wanted to take care of Emmy that morning. So he fed her and bathed and dressed her. He packed up both our cars, made sure Emmy was tucked into her car seat, and kissed her. Then he stood waving as we drove off. 那天早晨，不知什么原因，他特想要照料埃米。他给她喂奶、给她洗澡、给她穿衣。他把两辆车的行李都装好，把埃米在汽车座椅上安置妥当，并吻了吻她。而后当我们开车离开时他站到一边挥手告别。

When I got to Windham, Jeremy called. His flight to San Francisco had been canceled. He didn’t want to take the next available flight and get in at 2 a.m.“Screw it，”he said. “I’m going to go home, get a good night’s sleep, and get up early tomorrow.” He would grab the first flight out of Newark. United Flight 93. 我到达温德姆时，杰里米打来电话。他飞往旧金山的航班被取消了。他不打算搭乘下一班飞机在凌晨两点到达目的地。“该死，”他说。“我想回家，美美地睡上一夜，明天早点起身。”他将赶上第一班航班飞离纽瓦克。联合航空公司的第93次航班。Tuesday morning found me in the kitchen, fumbling with the lid of the doughnut box, when I heard my father say something about the World Trade Center. I looked in the living room at the TV, and saw the image of the fire poking through the blackened holes in the tower’s silver skin. The phone rang, and my dad said into it, “Oh, thank God it’s you.” I ran into the living room. He held out the phone, his face pale. “Jeremy,” he said. 星期二早晨我正在厨房里设法打开一盒炸圈饼的盒盖时，听到父亲在说什么世贸中心的事。我向起居室的电视瞧去，看见屏幕上出现了从世贸中心大楼的银色外墙上被燻黑的洞中窜出的大火。这时电话响了，父亲对着话筒说道，“哦，感谢上帝，是你啊。”我跑进起居室，父亲脸色苍白地把话筒递了过来。“是杰里米，”他说。

I grabbed the phone.“Jer”I said. 我夺过话筒，说道，“杰尔。”

“Hi”he said.“Listen，there are some bad men on the plane .”“你好，”他说。“听着，飞机上有几个坏蛋。”

“What do you mean?”“什么？”

“These three guys took over the plane. They put on these red headbands. They said they ha d a bomb.” “三个家伙控制了飞机。他们头上戴着红色的束发帶，声称带着一颗炸弹。”

I was crying now. 我当即哭了。

“I love you,” he said. 我爱你，”他说。

“I love you,” I said. “ “我爱你，”我说。

“only have good thoughts” “只往好处想”

I was shaking and nauseated, but I also knew I could make myself do whatever was necessary to help Jeremy. 我浑身颤抖，想要呕吐，可同时我很清楚，我还是可以尽一切可能帮助杰里米的。

“I don’t think I’m going to make it out of here,” he said. And then, “I don’t want to die.” And he cursed. “我感到我是无法从这儿活着出去了，”他说。随后他又说，“我可不想死。”接着他咒骂起来。

“You’re not going to die,” I told him. “Jer, p ut a picture of me and Emmy in your head and only have really good thoughts.” “你不会死的，”我对他说。“杰尔，心里就装着我和埃米吧，只往好处去想。”

“Yeah,” he answered. “好，”他回答道。

“Don’t think about anything bad,” I said. “不要去想那些糟糕的事，”我说。

“You’ve got to promise me you’re going to be happy,” he said. “For Emmy to know how much I love her. And that whatever decisions you make in your life, no matter what, I’ll support you.” “你得答应我，你将来要高高兴兴地生活下去，”他说。“务必让埃米知道我非常爱她。不论你将来作出什么决定，我都支持你。”

After a pause, Jeremy said to me, “A passenger said they’re crashing planes into the World Trade Center. Is that true?” 稍停片刻，杰里米又对我说，“一位乘客说他们正在用飞机撞击世贸中心，这是真的吗？”

“Are they going to blow the plane up or are they going to crash it into something?” he almost screamed at me. “他们想要炸毁这架飞机呢，还是想用它去撞击什么东西？”他几乎在对我大声喊叫道。

“They’re not going to the World Trade Center,” I said. “他们不会去撞世贸中心了，”我说。“Because the whole thing’s on fire.” “因为整个世贸中心都在燃烧了。”

He said there were maybe 30 or 35 passengers, herded to the back. For some reason, however, no one was guarding them back there. 他说约有30到35位乘客，都被驱赶到客舱的后部，但，不知怎的，却无人看管他们。

“What about the pilots?” I asked him. “Has there been any communication?”“那么驾驶员们的情况如何？”我问道。“你们之间联络过没有？”

“No. These guys just stood up and yelled and ran into the cockpit. After that, we didn’t hear from the pilots.” “没有。那几个家伙就这么站了起来，喊叫着冲进了驾驶舱。后来就再也没有听到有关驾驶员们的情况。”

Just then, we saw something on TV about a plane crashing into the Pentagon, and I thought, thank God it isn’t Jeremy’s plane. 正在那时，我们从电视上看到一架飞机撞进了五角大楼。心想，上帝保佑那不是杰里米的飞机。

When I told him about this new attack, Jeremy cursed again. The Pentagon was probably the jolt that made him see clearly that his fate and that of his fellow passengers in the rear of the plane were completely in their own hands. “Okay, I’m going to take a vote,” he said. “There’s three other guy s as big as me and we’re thinking of attacking the guy with the bomb. What do you think?” 我把新发生的这次攻击告了杰里米，他再次咒骂起来。五角大楼一事可能使他受到极大震惊，使他认清他和待在客舱后面的其他乘客的命运完全掌握在他们自己的手中。“好，我这就去进行表决，”他说。“另外有三个身材和我一样高大的人，我们打算去袭击那个带炸弹的家伙。你看行吗？”

“No, I didn’t see guns. I saw knives.” He joked, “I still have my butter knife from breakfast.” There was a pause, and then he said, “I know I could take the guy with the bomb. Do you think it’s really a bomb?” “没有，我没有看到枪。我见到刀子。”他开玩笑说，“我这里还有早餐用的牛油刀呢。”停了一会儿，他说，“我想我可以制服那个带炸弹的家伙。你觉得那是一颗真的炸弹吗？”

I don’t think so. I think they’re bluffing you.” “我认为不是真的炸弹，那是在吓唬你们。”“Okay, I’m going to do it,” Jer said “行，我这就去干，”杰尔说。

“screams in the background” “隐隐约约的尖叫声”

“I think you need to do it,” I told him. “You’re strong, you’re brave, I love you.” “我觉得你必须去干，”我对他说。“你身强力壮，又勇敢，我爱你。”

“Okay, I’m going to put the phone down, I’m going to leave it here, and I’m going to come right