大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文(精選14篇)
隨著國(guó)際貿(mào)易的不斷發(fā)展,英語(yǔ)這一門語(yǔ)言也變得越來(lái)越重要,大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文豐富多樣,涵蓋了不同主題和文體。下面是小編整理的相關(guān)內(nèi)容,希望對(duì)你有幫助。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 1
Section A:
Choose to Be Alone on Purpose
Here we are, all by ourselves, all 22 million of us by recent count, alone in our rooms, some of us liking it that way and some of us not. Some of us divorced, some widowed, some never yet committed.
Loneliness may be a sort of national disease here, and its more embarrassing for us to admit than any other sin. On the other hand, to be alone on purpose, having rejected company rather than been cast out by it, is one characteristic of an American hero. The solitary hunter or explorer needs no one as they venture out among the deer and wolves to tame the great wild areas. Thoreau, alone in his cabin on the pond, his back deliberately turned to the town. Now, thats character for you.
Inspiration in solitude is a major commodity for poets and philosophers. Theyre all for it. They all speak highly of themselves for seeking it out, at least for an hour or even two before they hurry home for tea.
Consider Dorothy Wordsworth, for instance, helping her brother William put on his coat, finding his notebook and pencil for him, and waving as he sets forth into the early spring sunlight to look at flowers all by himself. “How graceful, how benign, is solitude,” he wrote.
No doubt about it, solitude is improved by being voluntary.
Look at Miltons daughters arranging his cushions and blankets before they silently creep away, so he can create poetry. Then, rather than trouble to put it in his own handwriting, he calls the girls to come back and write it down while he dictates.
You may have noticed that most of these artistic types went outdoors to be alone. The indoors was full of loved ones keeping the kettle warm till they came home.
The American high priest of solitude was Thoreau. We admire him, not for his self-reliance, but because he was all by himself out there at Walden Pond, and he wanted to be. All alone in the woods.
Actually, he lived a mile, or 20 minutes walk, from his nearest neighbor; half a mile from the railroad; three hundred yards from a busy road. He had company in and out of the hut all day, asking him how he could possibly be so noble. Apparently the main point of his nobility was that he had neither wife nor servants, used his own axe to chop his own wood, and washed his own cups and saucers. I dont know who did his laundry; he doesnt say, but he certainly doesnt mention doing his own, either. Listen to him: “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
Thoreau had his own self-importance for company. Perhaps theres a message here. The larger the ego, the less the need for other egos around. The more modest and humble we feel, the more we suffer from solitude, feeling ourselves inadequate company.
If you live with other people, their temporary absence can be refreshing. Solitude will end on Thursday. If today I use a singular personal pronoun to refer to myself, next week I will use the plural form. While the others are absent you can stretch out your soul until it fills up the whole room, and use your freedom, coming and going as you please without apology, staying up late to read, soaking in the bath, eating a whole pint of ice cream at one sitting, moving at your own pace. Those absent will be back. Their waterproof winter coats are in the closet and the dog keeps watching for them at the window. But when you live alone, the temporary absence of your friends and acquaintances leaves a vacuum; they may never come back.
The condition of loneliness rises and falls, but the need to talk goes on forever. Its more basic than needing to listen. Oh, we all have friends we can tell important things to, people we can call to say we lost our job or fell on a slippery floor and broke our arm. Its the daily succession of small complaints and observations and opinions that backs up and chokes us. We cant really call a friend to say we got a parcel from our sister, or its getting dark earlier now, or we dont trust that new Supreme Court justice.
Scientific surveys show that we who live alone talk at length to ourselves and our pets and the television. We ask the cat whether we should wear the blue suit or the yellow dress. We ask the parrot if we should prepare steak, or noodles for dinner. We argue with ourselves over who is the greater sportsman: that figure skater or this skier. Theres nothing wrong with this. Its good for us, and a lot less embarrassing than the woman in front of us in line at the market whos telling the cashier that her niece Melissa may be coming to visit on Saturday, and Melissa is very fond of hot chocolate, which is why she bought the powdered hot chocolate mix, though she never drinks it herself.
Its important to stay rational.
Its important to stop waiting and settle down and make ourselves comfortable, at least temporarily, and find some grace and pleasure in our condition, not like a self-centered British poet but like a patient princess sealed up in a tower, waiting for the happy ending to our fairy tale.
After all, here we are. It may not be where we expected to be, but for the time being we might as well call it home. Anyway, there is no place like home.
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 2
Section A:
Does Mickey Mouse have a beard?
No.
Does this mean that French men seeking work with the Disney organization must shave off their moustaches too?
It depends.
A labor inspector took the Disney organization to court this week, contending that the companys dress and appearance code — which bans moustaches, beards, excess weight, short skirts and fancy stockings — offends individual liberty and violates French labor law.
The case is an illustration of some of the delicate cultural issues the company faces as it gets ready to open its theme park 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Paris in five months time.
The Disney management, which is assembling what it calls a "cast" of 12,000 to run the theme park, argues that all employees, from bottle washers to the president, are similar to actors who have to obey rules about appearance. Anyway, a company spokesman says, no one has yet put his moustache before a job. As one new "cast member" put it: "You must believe in what you are doing, or you would have a terrible time here."
But what do people think of Euro Disney? People everywhere are wondering whether Europeans would like the American recreation.
For all its concern about foreign cultural invasion and its defense against the pollution of the French language by English words, Frances Socialist government has been untroubled about putting such a huge American symbol on the doorstep of the capital and has been more concerned about its social effect. It made an extraordinary series of tax and financial concessions to attract the theme park here rather than let it go to sunny Spain.
The theme park itself will be only part of a giant complex of housing, office, and resort developments stretching far into the next century, including movie and television production facilities. As part of its deal with the Disney organization, the government is laying on and paying for new highways, an extension of Pariss regional express railway and even a direct connection for the high speed TGV railway to the Channel Tunnel. The TGV station is being built in front of the main entrance of Euro Disneyland, and is scheduled to come into service in 1994.
If Euro Disneyland succeeds — where theme parks already in France have so far failed — a second and even a third park is likely to be built by the end of the century. Financial experts say that Euro Disneyland, the first phase of which is costing an estimated $3.6 billion, is essential to Disneys overall fortunes, which have been hit by competition and declining attendance in the United States.
French intellectuals have not found many kind things to say about the project. The kids, however, will probably never notice. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio all come from European fairy tales or stories and are as familiar to children here as they are in the United States. To a French child Mickey is French. To an Italian kid he is Italian.
The Disney management is stressing this tradition in an apparent response to suggestions that it is culturally insensitive. Although the concept of the theme park is closely based on the original Magic Kingdom in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, "Euro Disneyland will be unique in a manner appropriate to its European home," the company says. "The legends and fairy tales which come from Europe figure prominently in the creative development of the theme park." Officials point out, for example, that Sleeping Beautys castle, the central feature of the theme park, is based not on Hollywood, as some might think, but on the illustrations in a medieval European book. Also, a 360-degree movie, based on the adventures of Jules Verne, features well-known European actors.
Asked to describe other aspects of the effort to make the park more European, a spokesman mentioned that direction signs in the theme park will be in French as well as English, and that some performers will chat in French, Spanish and English. "The challenge is telling things people already know — and at the same time making it different," the spokesman said.
On the other hand, this effort is not being taken too far. Another Disney spokesman said earlier that the aim of the theme park is to provide a basically American experience for those who seek it. In this way, he said, people who might otherwise have contemplated a vacation in the United States will be happy to stay on this side of the Atlantic.
The Disney organization does seem to focus a bit too much on hair. "Main Street, USA", the heart of Euro Disneyland, it promises, will feature an old time "Harmony Barber Shop" to deal with "messy hair and hairy chins" — and perhaps even offending mustaches. One difference from California or Florida: Parts of Main Street and waiting areas to get into the attractions will be covered over as a concession to Pariss rainy weather.
Euro Disneylands short distance to Paris is a definite attraction. Anyone tiring of American or fake European culture can reach the Louvre art museum by express railway in less than an hour — from Minnie Mouse to Mona Lisa in a flash.
Communications figured largely in the Disney organizations decision to site its fourth theme park near Paris. The site is within a two-hour flight of 320 million Europeans. The opening of Eastern Europe is another prize for the company, which thinks that millions of people will put Disneyland at the top of a list of places to visit on their first trip to Western Europe.
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 3
Section A:
Slavery Gave Me Nothing to Lose
I remember the very day that I became black. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a black town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming from Orlando, Florida. The native whites rode dusty horses, and the northern tourists traveled down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and never stopped chewing sugar cane when they passed. But the Northerners were something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The bold would come outside to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village.
The front deck might seem a frightening place for the rest of the town, but it was a front row seat for me. My favorite place was on top of the gatepost. Not only did I enjoy the show, but I didnt mind the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually spoke to them in passing. Id wave at them and when they returned my wave, I would say a few words of greeting. Usually the automobile or the horse paused at this, and after a strange exchange of greetings, I would probably "go a piece of the way" with them, as we say in farthest Florida, and follow them down the road a bit. If one of my family happened to come to the front of the house in time to see me, of course the conversation would be rudely broken off.
During this period, white people differed from black to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there. They liked to hear me "speak pieces" and sing and wanted to see me dance, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop. Only they didnt know it. The colored people gave no coins. They disapproved of any joyful tendencies in me, but I was their Zora nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby hotels, to the country — everybodys Zora.
But changes came to the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent to school in Jacksonville. I left Eatonville as Zora. When I got off the riverboat at Jacksonville, she was no more. It seemed that I had suffered a huge change. I was not Zora of Eatonville any more; I was now a little black girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a permanent brown — like the best shoe polish, guaranteed not to rub nor run.
Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is something sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible war that made me an American instead of a slave said "On the line!" The period following the Civil War said "Get set!"; and the generation before me said "Go!" Like a foot race, I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the middle to look behind and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think, to know, that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of the national stage, with the audience not knowing whether to laugh or to weep.
I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the unconscious Zora of that small village, Eatonville. For instance, I can sit in a restaurant with a white person. We enter chatting about any little things that we have in common and the white man would sit calmly in his seat, listening to me with interest.
At certain times I have no race, I am me. But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of mixed items propped up against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a pile of small things both valuable and worthless. Bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since decayed away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still with a little smell. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the pile it held — so much like the piles in the other bags, could they be emptied, that all might be combined and mixed in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place — who knows?
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 4
Research into Population Genet
Section A:
Bribery and Business Ethics
(Bribery and Business Ethics)
Students taking business courses are sometimes a little surprised to find that classes on business ethics have been included in their schedule. They often do not realize that bribery in various forms is on the increase in many countries and, in some, has been a way of life for centuries.
Suppose that during a negotiation with some government officials, the Minister of Trade makes it clear to you that if you offer him a substantial bribe, you will find it much easier to get an import license for your goods, and you are also likely to avoid "procedural delays", as he puts it. Now, the question is: do you pay up or stand by your principles?
It is easy to talk about having high moral standards but, in practice, what would one really do in such a situation? Some time ago a British car manufacturer was accused of operating a fund to pay bribes, and of other questionable practices such as paying agents and purchasers an exaggerated commission, offering additional discounts, and making payments to numbered bank accounts in Switzerland. The company rejected these charges and they were later withdrawn. Nevertheless, at that time, there were people in the motor industry in Britain who were prepared to say in private: "Look, were in a very competitive business. Every year were selling more than a £ 1,000 million worth of cars abroad. If we spend a few million pounds to keep some of the buyers happy, whos hurt? If we didnt do it, someone else would."
It is difficult to resist the impression that bribery and other questionable payments are on the increase. Indeed, they seem to have become a fact of commercial life. To take just one example, the Chrysler Corporation, third largest of the U.S. car manufacturers, revealed that it made questionable payments of more than $2.5 million between 1971 and 1976. By announcing this, it joined more than 300 other U.S. companies that had admitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that they had made payments of one kind or another — bribes, extra discounts, etc. — in recent years. For discussion purposes, we can divide these payments into three broad categories.
The first category consists of substantial payments made for political purposes or to secure major contracts. For example, one U.S. corporation offered a large sum of money in support of a U.S. presidential candidate at a time when the company was under investigation for possible violations of U. S. business laws. This same company, it was revealed, was ready to finance secret U.S. efforts to throw out the government of Chile.
In this category, we may also include large payments made to ruling families or their close advisers in order to secure arms sales or major petroleum or construction contracts. In a court case involving an arms deal with Iran, a witness claimed that £ 1 million had been paid by a British company to a "negotiator" who helped close a deal for the supply of tanks and other military equipment to that country. Other countries have also been known to put pressure on foreign companies to make donations to party bank accounts.
The second category covers payments made to obtain quicker official approval of some project, to speed up the wheels of government. An interesting example of this kind of payment is provided by the story of a sales manager who had been trying for some months to sell road machinery to the Minister of Works of a Caribbean country. Finally, he hit upon the answer. Discovering that the minister collected rare books, he bought a rare edition of a book, slipped $20,000 within its pages, then presented it to the minister. This man examined its contents, then said: "I understand there is a two-volume edition of this work." The sales manager, who was quick-witted, replied: "My company cannot afford a two-volume edition, sir, but we could offer you a copy with a preface!" A short time later, the deal was approved.
The third category involves payments made in countries where it is traditional to pay people to help with the passage of a business deal. Some Middle East countries would be included on this list, as well as certain Asian countries.
Is it possible to devise a code of rules for companies that would prohibit bribery in all its forms? The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) favors a code of conduct that would ban the giving and seeking of bribes. This code would try to distinguish between commissions paid for real services and exaggerated fees that really amount to bribes. A council has been proposed to manage the code.
Unfortunately, opinions differ among members of the ICC concerning how to enforce the code. The British members would like the system to have enough legal power to make companies behave themselves. However, the French delegates think it is the business of governments to make and impose law; the job of a business community like the ICC is to say what is right and wrong, but not to impose anything.
In a well-known British newspaper, a writer argued recently that "industry is caught in a web of bribery" and that everyone is "on the take";. This is probably an exaggeration. However, todays businessman, selling in overseas markets, will frequently meet situations where it is difficult to square his business interests with his moral conscience.
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 5
Oxford University
Oxford University is the oldest university in Britain and one of the worlds most famous institutions of higher learning. Oxford University was established during the 1100s. It is located in Oxford, England, about 80 kilometers northwest of London.
The university has over 16,300 students (1999-2000), almost a quarter of these students are from overseas and more than 130 nationalities are represented. It consists of 35 colleges, plus five private halls established by various religious groups. Three of the five private halls are for men only. Of the colleges, St. Hildas and Somerville are for women, and the rest are for men and women.
At Oxford, each college is a corporate body distinct from the university and is governed by itsown head and fellows. Most fellows are college instructors called tutors, and the rest are university professors and lecturers. Each college manages its own buildings and property, elects its own fellows, and selects and admits its own undergraduate students. The university provides some libraries, laboratories, and other facilities, but the colleges take primary responsibility for the teaching and well-being of their students.
Each student at Oxford is assigned to a tutor, who supervises the students program of study, primarily through tutorials. Tutorials are weekly meetings of one or two students with their tutor. Students may see other tutors for specialized instruction. They may also attend lectures given by university teachers. Students choose which lectures to attend on the basis of their own special interests and on the advice of their tutors.
The university, not the individual colleges, grants degrees. The first degree in the arts or sciences is the Bachelor of Arts with honors. Oxford also grants higher degrees, diplomas, and certificates in a wide variety of subjects.
The Rhodes scholarship program enables students from the United States, Canada, and many other nations to study at Oxford for a minimum of two years. The British government grants Marshall scholarships to citizens of the United States for study at Oxford and other universities that are located in Britain.
The competition for scholarships and grants is, however, extremely strong and there are usually strict requirements. Students should check carefully that they are eligible to apply for a particular scholarship before making an application as most of the schemes are restricted to certain nationalities and/or programs.
The students and staff at Oxford are actively involved in over 55 initiatives (2001), including visits to more than 3,700 schools and colleges, to encourage the brightest and best students to apply to Oxford, whatever their background.
The university has been named the UKs most innovative university in the Launchit 2001 competition, which aimed to discover which British university has demonstrated the greatest achievements in innovation and enterprise across the broadest range of activity. In the national Teaching Quality Assessment exercises for 2000, Oxford was awarded top marks in six out of ten subjects assessed.
Oxford, Stanford and Yale Universities have recently become partners in a joint distance learning venture, the Alliance for Lifelong Learning, which will provide online courses in the arts and sciences.
The mission of Oxford is to aim at achieving and maintaining excellence in every area of its teaching and research, maintaining and developing its historical position as a world-class university, and enriching the international, national, and regional communities through the fruits of its research and the skills of its graduates.
In support of this aim the university will provide the facilities and support for its staff to pursue innovative research by responding to developments in the intellectual environment and society at large; and promote challenging and rigorous teaching which benefits from a fruitful interaction with the research environment, facilitating the exchange of ideas through tutorials and small-group learning and exploiting the Universitys resources in its libraries, museums, and scientific collections, to equip its graduates to play their part at a national and international level.
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 6
When is the best time to visit your city or country
The United States is a big country, so if you want to go there and play, you must be careful in the choice of time and place. Maybe you want to walk around, so take a good map.
It was a good time to go to New York and Washington, D.C., in May or October, when the weather was not very hot. There will be a lot of snow in winter.
It was a good idea to play new England in September, and the weather began to cool and the trees began to change color. Maybe you have to take photos of the leaves of the fall, so taking your camera is a good idea.
In Losangeles, California, four thousand miles away, the weather is good all year round. Its so nice to see the sun in December. With a swimsuit, you might want to swim in the sea.
The northwest is not very cold, but there is a lot of rain, so you have to take an umbrella. Its very comfortable to go to Alaska in July and August. But at night, it may be cool so remember to wear warm. But the winter do not go there, because all day long is dark and cold.
In the Texas and southeastern regions, there are frequent storms in summer and fall. Compared to many other places, there are often jiaoyangsihuo.
So, when is the best time to go to the United States?
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 7
Advice to tourists: traditional British life
When I was in England, I had a good time. But I noticed a lot of different traditions.
For example, when you first meet people, you usually shake hands with them. But then you just have to say, "hello". When you talk to older people, say it first... Mr. or... Madam / madam. But for your friend, you can call its name.
One day, we went to visit some friends and drink tea together. This tea is not just a drink, but a table of tea at about 4 oclock. You cant have tea after 4:30 and you cant drink coffee or juice. And you have to drink tea with milk. You have to pour tea first and then add milk to you, and you can say, you cant pour the milk and pour the tea first.
On the bus or train, the other passengers are quiet, and you cant talk about it. This is very different from China! You cant even use a mobile phone on some trains! And you can hardly hear someone yelling on the street.
I was very lucky and even attended a wedding. The wedding here is quite different from the Chinese wedding. For example, the bride and groom cant meet the day before the wedding. Then the bride can never reach the church according to the prescribed time, but a few minutes later. At the party after the wedding, the bride is to throw her flowers out of her shoulder. The girl who has received the flower will be the next bride! This is all wonderful but very interesting!
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 8
Unit1 What Courage Looks Like?
By Miranda Taylor Cosgrove
I know what courage looks like. I saw it on a flight I took 6 years ago, and only now can I speak of it without tears filling eyes at the memory.
我知道勇氣是什么樣子。 我在6年前的一次飛行中看到了它,只有現(xiàn)在,我才能說(shuō)起它,而不流淚,眼睛充滿了記憶。
When our L1011 left the Orlando Airport that Friday morning, we were a chipper, high-energy group. The early-morning flights hosted mainly professional people going to Atlanta for a day or two of business. As I looked around, I saw lots of designer suits, leather briefcases and all the trimmings of seasoned business travelers. I settled back for some light reading and the brief flight ahead.
當(dāng)我們的L1011在那個(gè)星期五早上離開(kāi)奧蘭多機(jī)場(chǎng)時(shí),我們是一個(gè)精力充沛的人。 清晨的航班主要接待專業(yè)人士到亞特蘭大出差一兩天。 當(dāng)我環(huán)顧四周時(shí),我看到了許多名牌西裝、皮箱和所有經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的商務(wù)旅行者的裝飾。 我安頓下來(lái),看了一些清淡的書和前面的短暫飛行。
Immediately upon taking off, it was clear that something was wrong. The aircraft was bumping up and down and jerking left to right. All the experienced travelers, including me, looked around with knowing grins. Our communal looks acknowledged to one another that we had experienced minor problems and disturbances before. If you fly much, you see these things and learn to get accustomed to them.
起飛后,很明顯出了問(wèn)題。 飛機(jī)上下顛簸,從左到右顛簸。 所有有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的旅行者,包括我,都帶著熟悉的微笑環(huán)顧四周。 我們的社區(qū)面貌相互承認(rèn),我們以前經(jīng)歷過(guò)一些小問(wèn)題和動(dòng)亂。 如果你飛得多,你就會(huì)看到這些東西,并學(xué)會(huì)習(xí)慣它們。
We did not remain calm for long. Minutes after we were in the air, our plane began dipping wildly and one wing rushed downward suddenly. The plane climbed higher but that didn’t help. It didn’t. The pilot soon made a grave announcement.
我們很久沒(méi)有保持平靜。 在空中飛行幾分鐘后,我們的飛機(jī)開(kāi)始瘋狂地傾斜,一只機(jī)翼突然向下沖去。 飛機(jī)爬得更高,但這無(wú)濟(jì)于事。 它沒(méi)有。 飛行員很快作出了一個(gè)嚴(yán)肅的宣布。
“We are having some difficulties,” he said. “At this time, it appears one of the engines is out of order. Our indicators show that our hydraulic system has failed. We will be returning to the Orlando Airport at this time. Because of the lack of hydraulics, we are not sure our landing gear will lock, so the flight attendants will prepare you for a bumpy landing. Also, if you look out of the windows, you will see that we are dumping fuel from the airplane. We want to have as little on board as possible in the event of a rough touchdown.”
“我們有一些困難,”他說(shuō)。 ”“這時(shí),似乎有一個(gè)引擎失靈了。 我們的指標(biāo)顯示我們的液壓系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)失敗了。 此時(shí)我們將返回奧蘭多機(jī)場(chǎng)。 由于缺乏液壓,我們不確定我們的起落架是否會(huì)鎖定,所以乘務(wù)員會(huì)為你的顛簸著陸做好準(zhǔn)備。 另外,如果你看窗外,你會(huì)看到我們正在從飛機(jī)上傾倒燃料。 我們希望在遇到一次粗略的觸地時(shí)盡可能少地上船!
In other words, we were about to crash. No sight has ever been so sobering as that fuel, hundreds of gallons of it, streaming past my window out of the plane’s tanks. The flight attendants helped people get into position and comforted those who were already hysterical.
換句話說(shuō),我們要崩潰了。 從來(lái)沒(méi)有人看到過(guò)如此清醒的燃料,數(shù)百加侖的燃料,從我的窗口從飛機(jī)的坦克。 空乘人員幫助人們就位,安慰那些已經(jīng)歇斯底里的人。
As I looked at the faces of my fellow business travelers, I was stunned by the changes I saw in their faces. Many looked visibly frightened now. Even the most sobering passengers looked grim and pale. Yes, their faces actually looked gray in color, something I’d never seen before. There was not one exception. No one faces death without fear, I thought. Everyone lost composure in one way or another.
當(dāng)我看著我的商務(wù)旅行伙伴的臉時(shí),我被我在他們臉上看到的變化驚呆了。 現(xiàn)在許多人看起來(lái)很害怕。 即使是最清醒的乘客也顯得面色陰沉,臉色蒼白。 是的,他們的臉實(shí)際上是灰色的,這是我以前從未見(jiàn)過(guò)的。 沒(méi)有一個(gè)例外。 我想,沒(méi)有人會(huì)無(wú)所畏懼地面對(duì)死亡。 每個(gè)人都以某種方式失去了鎮(zhèn)靜。
I began searching the crowd for one person who felt the peace and calm that true courage or great faith gives people in these events. I saw no one. Then a couple of rows to my left, I heard a still calm voice, a woman’s voice, speaking in an absolutely normal conversational tone. There was no tremor or tension. It was a lovely, even tone. I had to f ind the source of this voice.
我開(kāi)始在人群中尋找一個(gè)人,他感受到了真正的勇氣或偉大的信念在這些事件中給予人們的和平和平靜。 我沒(méi)看到任何人。 然后在我的左邊幾排,我聽(tīng)到了一個(gè)仍然平靜的聲音,一個(gè)女人的聲音,以一種絕對(duì)正常的談話語(yǔ)氣說(shuō)話。 無(wú)震顫或緊張感。 這是一種可愛(ài)的,均勻的語(yǔ)氣。 我不得不找出這個(gè)聲音的來(lái)源。
All around, people cried and screamed. A few of the men held onto their composure by gripping armrests and clenching teeth, but their fear was written all over them. Although my faith kept me from hysteria, I could not have spoken so calmly, so sweetly at this moment as the assuring voice I heard. Finally I saw her.
周圍,人們哭著尖叫著。 一些人抓住扶手,咬緊牙關(guān),保持鎮(zhèn)靜,但他們的恐懼在他們身上被寫滿了。 雖然我的信仰使我不會(huì)歇斯底里,但我不能像我聽(tīng)到的保證的聲音那樣平靜地、甜蜜地說(shuō)話。 我終于看到她了。
In the midst of all the chaos, a mother was talking, just talking, to her child. The woman, in her mid-30’s and unremarkable looking in any other way, was staring full into the face of her daughter, who looked to be 4 years old. The child listened closely, sensing the importance of her mother’s words. The mother’s gaze held the child so fixed and intent that she seemed untouched by the sounds of grief and fear around her.
在所有的混亂中,一個(gè)母親正在和她的孩子說(shuō)話,只是在說(shuō)話。 這個(gè)女人,30多歲,以任何其他方式看起來(lái)不起眼,盯著她女兒的臉,她看起來(lái)已經(jīng)4歲了。 孩子仔細(xì)地聽(tīng)著,意識(shí)到母親的話的重要性。 母親的目光緊緊地盯著孩子,她似乎沒(méi)有受到周圍悲傷和恐懼的聲音的影響。
A picture flashed into my mind of another little girl who had recently survived a terrible plane crash. It was reported that she had lived because her mother had strapped her own body over the little girl’s in order to protect her. The mother did not survive. The newspapers had been tracking how the little girl had been treated by psychologists for weeks afterward to ward off feelings of guilt and unworthiness that often haunt survivors. The child was told over and over again that it had not been her fault that her mommy had gone away. I hoped this situation would not end the same way.
一張照片閃現(xiàn)在我腦海中,另一個(gè)小女孩最近在一場(chǎng)可怕的飛機(jī)失事中幸存下來(lái)。 據(jù)報(bào)道,她之所以活著,是因?yàn)樗哪赣H為了保護(hù)她,把自己的身體綁在小女孩的身上。 母親沒(méi)有活下來(lái)。 報(bào)紙一直在追蹤這個(gè)小女孩在幾個(gè)星期后如何受到心理學(xué)家的治療,以避免經(jīng)常困擾幸存者的內(nèi)疚和不值得的感覺(jué)。 孩子一遍又一遍地被告知,她媽媽走了不是她的錯(cuò)。 我希望這種情況不會(huì)以同樣的方式結(jié)束。
I strained to hear what this mother was telling her child. I was compelled to hear. I need to hear. Finally, I leaned over and by some miracle could hear this soft, sure voice with the tone of assurance. Over and over again, the mother said, “I love you so much. Do you know for sure that I love you more than anything?”
我緊張地聽(tīng)到這個(gè)母親對(duì)她的孩子說(shuō)了什么。 我不得不聽(tīng)。 我要聽(tīng)聽(tīng)。 最后,我靠了過(guò)去,奇跡般地聽(tīng)到了這個(gè)柔和、肯定的聲音,語(yǔ)氣充滿了保證。 母親一遍又一遍地說(shuō):“我太愛(ài)你了。 你確定我愛(ài)你勝過(guò)一切嗎?”
“Yes, Mommy,” the little girl said.
“是的,媽媽,”小女孩說(shuō)。
“And remember, no matter what happens, that I love you always. And that you are a good girl. Sometimes things happen that are not your fault. You are still a good girl and my love will always be with you.”
“記住,無(wú)論發(fā)生什么,我永遠(yuǎn)愛(ài)你。 你是個(gè)好女孩。 有時(shí)發(fā)生的'事情不是你的錯(cuò)。 你仍然是個(gè)好女孩,我的愛(ài)將永遠(yuǎn)和你在一起!
Then the mother put her body over her daughter’s, strapped the seat belt over both of them and prepared to crash. For no earthly reason, our landing gear held and our touchdown was not the tragedy it seemed destined to be. It was over in seconds.
然后,母親把她的身體放在她女兒的身上,把安全帶綁在兩人身上,準(zhǔn)備撞車。 沒(méi)有任何塵世的理由,我們的起落架保持和我們的著陸不是它似乎注定的悲劇。 幾秒鐘就結(jié)束了。
The voice I heard that day never wavered and never acknowledged doubt, which seemed emotionally and physically impossible. Not one of us hardened business people could have spoken without a tremoring voice. Only the greatest courage, strengthened by even greater love, could have borne that mother up and lifted her above the chaos around her. That mom showed me what a real hero looks like. And for those few minutes, I heard the voice of courage.
那天我聽(tīng)到的聲音從來(lái)沒(méi)有動(dòng)搖過(guò),也從來(lái)沒(méi)有承認(rèn)懷疑,這在感情和身體上似乎是不可能的。 我們中的任何一個(gè)強(qiáng)硬的商人都不可能沒(méi)有顫抖的聲音說(shuō)話。 只有最大的勇氣,更大的愛(ài),才能把那個(gè)母親抱起來(lái),把她從周圍的混亂中抬起來(lái)。 媽媽給我看了一個(gè)真正的英雄。 在那幾分鐘里,我聽(tīng)到了勇氣的聲音。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 9
Unit2
My Challenge to You: Only Speak Like a Human
By Daniel H. Pink
One night, a Virgin Atlantic flight left Heathrow Airport bound for Newark, New Jersey. As the plane neared the Eastern Seaboard, bad weather forced the flight to divert to Hartford, Connecticut, some 171 kilomiles north of its destination. The plane sat on the runway there for four hours — without air-conditioning, food or water — as babies wept and adults suffered in the darkened cabin.
一天晚上,維珍航空公司的一架航班離開(kāi)希思羅機(jī)場(chǎng)飛往新澤西州紐瓦克。 當(dāng)飛機(jī)接近東海岸時(shí),惡劣的天氣迫使航班轉(zhuǎn)向康涅狄格州哈特福德,大約171公里的目的地以北。 飛機(jī)在那里的跑道上坐了四個(gè)小時(shí),沒(méi)有空調(diào)、食物或水,嬰兒哭泣,成年人在昏暗的小屋里受苦。
The next day, the airline, which explained that the Hartford airport lacked the customs personnel to process an international flight, offered this response: “Virgin Atlantic would like to thank passengers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
第二天,該航空公司解釋說(shuō),哈特福德機(jī)場(chǎng)缺乏處理國(guó)際航班的海關(guān)人員,提出了這一答復(fù):“維珍大西洋公司感謝乘客的耐心,并對(duì)所造成的不便表示歉意!
Jason Fried, co-founder of the American software firm 37signals, finds the language of that statement almost as inhuman as the problem that prompted it.
美國(guó)軟件公司37Signals的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人杰森·弗里德3發(fā)現(xiàn),這種說(shuō)法的語(yǔ)言幾乎和引發(fā)這種說(shuō)法的問(wèn)題一樣不人道。
Not too long ago, Fried saw a similar, though less disastrous, disaster in a Chicago café. A woman had just purchased a large cup of coffee. On the way to sit down, she tripped and spilled the entire contents all over another customer.
不久前,弗里德在芝加哥的一家咖啡館里看到了一場(chǎng)類似的災(zāi)難,盡管災(zāi)難不那么嚴(yán)重。 一個(gè)女人剛買了一大杯咖啡。 在坐下的路上,她絆倒了,把所有的東西都灑在另一個(gè)顧客身上。
Here’s what she said, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
她說(shuō):“我很抱歉。 我很抱歉。”
“If someone is really, truly sorry,” says Fried, “that’s how they respond.”
“如果有人真的,真的很抱歉,”弗里德說(shuō),“這就是他們的反應(yīng)。”
But, in business, we rarely talk like that. Instead, we resort to a weird and unplanned bilingualism. We speak human at home and “professionalese” when dealing with business.
但是,在生意上,我們很少這樣說(shuō)話。 相反,我們采用了一種奇怪而無(wú)計(jì)劃的'雙語(yǔ)。 我們?cè)诩依镏v人話,在處理業(yè)務(wù)時(shí)講“專業(yè)。
Go back to that all-too-common phrase: “We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.”
回到這個(gè)非常常見(jiàn)的短語(yǔ):“我們對(duì)這可能造成的任何不便表示歉意!
“Any inconvenience” is emotionally anemic and lacks the specificity to make it meaningful. “We apologize” isn’t much better. It’s distancing almost to the point of disdainfulness. “When you say ‘I’m sorry,’ you’re owning,” Fried explains. “When you say ‘I apologize,’ you’re renting.”
“任何不便”都是情感上的貧血,缺乏使其有意義的特異性。 “我們道歉”也好不到哪里去。 它的距離幾乎達(dá)到了輕蔑的程度。 “當(dāng)你說(shuō)‘對(duì)不起’時(shí),你就擁有了,”弗里德解釋道。 “當(dāng)你說(shuō)‘我道歉’時(shí),你在租房。”
Professionalese is a renter’s language. It doesn’t expect to be around for very long and has no stake in the long-term prospects of the neighborhood. It says “mistakes were made” rather than “we messed up” and claims to “take responsibility” instead of acknowledging “it’s my fault”.
專業(yè)人士是房客的語(yǔ)言。 它預(yù)計(jì)不會(huì)出現(xiàn)很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間,也不會(huì)影響鄰里的長(zhǎng)期前景無(wú)關(guān)。 它說(shuō)“錯(cuò)誤是犯的”而不是“我們搞砸了”,聲稱“承擔(dān)責(zé)任”而不是承認(rèn)“這是我的錯(cuò)”。
Using business-speak rests on the notion that the distance of professional language is inherently strong — and the closeness of personal language inherently weak.
使用商務(wù)語(yǔ)言是基于這樣一種觀念,即專業(yè)語(yǔ)言的距離本質(zhì)上是強(qiáng)大的,而個(gè)人語(yǔ)言的封閉性本質(zhì)上是脆弱的。
But this idea may be wrong.
但是這個(gè)想法可能是錯(cuò)誤的。
The behavioural economist Dan Ariely has conducted research showing that when people are treated rudely, they’re more likely to behave vengefully, for instance, by not saying anything when they’re given too much change in a transaction. But when rudeness is followed by a clear and simple “I’m sorry”, the annoyance dissolves and people tend to behave as honourably as they do in ordinary circumstances.
行為經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家丹·艾瑞利(DanAriely)進(jìn)行的研究表明,當(dāng)人們受到粗魯對(duì)待時(shí),他們更有可能表現(xiàn)出報(bào)復(fù)性,例如,當(dāng)他們?cè)诮灰字械玫教嗟淖兓瘯r(shí),他們不會(huì)說(shuō)任何話。 但是,當(dāng)粗魯之后是一個(gè)清晰而簡(jiǎn)單的“我很抱歉”時(shí),煩惱就會(huì)消失,人們往往表現(xiàn)得像他們?cè)谄胀ㄇ闆r下一樣正直。
Or consider medicine. In the United States, where physicians fret that every patient is a potential plaintiff in a malpractice lawsuit, lawyers counsel doctors never to admit a mistake. But evidence shows that when doctors apologize for an error and show how they’ll avoid it in the future — that’s to say, when they talk and act like human beings — aggrieved patients think more highly of the physician and are less likely to sue.
或者考慮藥物。 在美國(guó),醫(yī)生擔(dān)心在醫(yī)療事故訴訟中每個(gè)病人都是潛在的原告,律師建議醫(yī)生永遠(yuǎn)不承認(rèn)錯(cuò)誤。 但有證據(jù)表明,當(dāng)醫(yī)生為一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤道歉,并展示他們將如何在未來(lái)避免它-也就是說(shuō),當(dāng)他們說(shuō)話和行為像人類-受委屈的病人更多地考慮醫(yī)生,更不可能起訴。
In 2006, Threadless, an online T-shirt company, confronted a case of technological malpractice. While upgrading its computer system, the company accidentally d all of the blogs that its customers had maintained for several years. Yet when Threadless, instead of hiding behind the stiff language of “inconvenience caused”, explained its errors, apologized directly for them and even invited comments on the blunder, customers reacted with surprising empathy.
2006年,一家在線T恤公司Threadless遭遇了一起技術(shù)事故。 在升級(jí)其計(jì)算機(jī)系統(tǒng)時(shí),該公司無(wú)意中刪除了其客戶維護(hù)了幾年的所有博客。 然而,當(dāng)Threadless沒(méi)有隱藏在“造成不便”的生硬語(yǔ)言背后,解釋錯(cuò)誤,直接為他們道歉,甚至邀請(qǐng)對(duì)錯(cuò)誤的評(píng)論時(shí),顧客的反應(yīng)是令人驚訝的移情。
Like any valuable relationship, the ones we have in business hinge on trust. And trust depends on openness, respect and humanity. Yet we often resist taking that approach in our professional lives, even though we know it would be absurd to do anything else in our personal lives.
就像任何有價(jià)值的關(guān)系一樣,我們?cè)谏虡I(yè)上的關(guān)系取決于信任。 而信任取決于開(kāi)放,尊重和人性。 然而,我們經(jīng)常拒絕在我們的職業(yè)生活中采取這種做法,盡管我們知道在我們的個(gè)人生活中做任何其他事情都是荒謬的。
For instance, suppose I’m talking on my mobile phone — maybe doing an interview for this column — when my wife calls. I can’t speak with her at the moment — I’m on deadline — so I say to her, “All of my brain is busy right now, so please hold and I’ll be with you shortly. Your call is very important to me.”
例如,假設(shè)我在我的手機(jī)上聊天-也許在為這個(gè)專欄做采訪-當(dāng)我妻子打電話的時(shí)候。 我現(xiàn)在不能和她說(shuō)話-我在截止日期-所以我對(duì)她說(shuō),“我所有的大腦現(xiàn)在都很忙,所以請(qǐng)稍等,我很快就會(huì)和你在一起。 你的電話對(duì)我很重要!
I guarantee that my customer satisfaction scores at home would suffer.
我保證我在家的客戶滿意度分?jǐn)?shù)會(huì)受到影響。
But if that’s true, why not rework the waiting message in our call centres so that it’s more like what we’d say to our spouses? “We know it’s frustrating to wait on hold, but we’re busy right now answering other calls. We’ll get to you as soon as we can — probably about [ an accurate number minutes. We’re sorry for making you wait.”
但如果這是真的,為什么不在我們的呼叫中心重新處理等待信息,這樣它就更像我們對(duì)配偶說(shuō)的話? “我們知道等待是令人沮喪的,但我們現(xiàn)在正忙著接聽(tīng)其他電話。 我們會(huì)盡快聯(lián)系你的-可能是[插入一個(gè)準(zhǔn)確的數(shù)字分鐘。 我們很抱歉讓你久等了!
In a world overflowing with information and choices, clarity is now a source of competitive advantage, says Fried. “The real winners in business are going to be the clear companies. Clarity is what everybody really wants and appreciates.”
弗里德說(shuō),在信息和選擇泛濫的世界里,清晰度現(xiàn)在是競(jìng)爭(zhēng)優(yōu)勢(shì)的來(lái)源。 “真正的商業(yè)贏家將是清晰的公司。 清晰是每個(gè)人真正想要和欣賞的!
So try an experiment. For the next seven days, go monolingual and speak only human at all times.
試一試。 在接下來(lái)的七天里,只會(huì)說(shuō)一種語(yǔ)言,任何時(shí)候都只講人類。
It might startle people at first. But I suspect that they’ll reply in the same vernacular, and you might start actually understanding each other and getting something done.
一開(kāi)始可能會(huì)嚇到人們。 但我懷疑他們會(huì)用同樣的語(yǔ)言回答,你可能會(huì)開(kāi)始真正理解對(duì)方,并完成一些事情。
However, if I’m mistaken — and this test flops — I apologize in advance for any inconvenience caused.
然而,如果我弄錯(cuò)了-而且這個(gè)測(cè)試失敗了-我提前為所造成的不便道歉。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 10
Unit 3 Busy, Busy, Busy
By Margaret Wente
Not long ago, I phoned up an old friend of mine, a high-powered career woman who is usually on the road two or three days a week.
不久前,我給我的一位老朋友打了電話,他是一位職業(yè)女性,通常每周在路上兩三天。
“How about lunch? “ I said. “How does your calendar look for June?”
“午餐怎么樣? ”“我說(shuō)。 “你的日歷看起來(lái)怎么樣?”
“How about today?” she said. “I’m totally free.”
“今天怎么樣?”她說(shuō)。 “我完全自由了!
I was shocked. Nobody I know is free for lunch today. A person of average busyness is sometimes free the week after next. If you’re trying to book a higher-status person, four to six weeks is normal, by which time you will be lucky to remember what it is you wanted to have lunch about anyway. This lunch will probably be rearranged a few times by various executive assistants, who will spend more time talking to each other, coordinating your respective calendars, than you will spend talking to your lunch guest. If you are of a higher status (i.e. busier) than the other person, you will be allowed to reschedule at least twice.
我很震驚。 我認(rèn)識(shí)的人今天沒(méi)有人有空吃午飯。 一般忙碌的人有時(shí)在下個(gè)星期有空。 如果你想訂一個(gè)地位更高的人,四到六個(gè)星期是正常的,到那時(shí),你會(huì)很幸運(yùn)地記住你想吃午飯的內(nèi)容。 這頓午餐可能會(huì)被不同的行政助理重新安排幾次,他們會(huì)花更多的時(shí)間互相交談,協(xié)調(diào)你各自的日歷,而不是你花在你的午餐客人交談上。 如果你的地位更高(即。 比其他人更忙,你將被允許重新安排至少兩次。
That is, if you still do lunch. Busy people don’t, and when they do, they tell you, “I really don’t do lunch anymore,” implying that you ought to be immensely honoured that they have broken the rule for you. And you’d better eat in a hurry. An hour and ten minutes is the most anyone spends on a business lunch now.
如果你還吃午飯的話。 忙碌的人不會(huì),當(dāng)他們這樣做的時(shí)候,他們會(huì)告訴你,“我真的不再吃午飯了”,這意味著你應(yīng)該感到非常榮幸,因?yàn)樗麄優(yōu)槟愦蚱屏艘?guī)則。 你最好趕快吃飯。 一小時(shí)十分鐘是現(xiàn)在人們?cè)谏虅?wù)午餐上花費(fèi)最多的時(shí)間。
Whenever I run into someone I haven’t seen for a while and ask how they are, they always say the same thing, “I’m really busy.”
每當(dāng)我遇到一個(gè)我很久沒(méi)見(jiàn)過(guò)的人,問(wèn)他們?cè)趺礃,他們總是說(shuō)同樣的話,“我真的很忙!
Want to get together for dinner some Saturday with another busy couple? Two months, minimum, before you can fit it in.
想在某個(gè)星期六和另一對(duì)忙碌的夫婦晚飯嗎? 最少兩個(gè)月,然后才能裝進(jìn)去。
And when you do get together, you’ll all brag about how much email you get. “It’s horrible,” someone will say. “I took three days off and when I had 47 voice mails.”
當(dāng)你們?cè)谝黄鸬腵時(shí)候,你們都會(huì)吹噓你們收到了多少郵件。 “太可怕了,”有人會(huì)說(shuō)。 “我請(qǐng)了三天假,當(dāng)時(shí)我有47封語(yǔ)音郵件!
The truly busy person, of course, will have answered all these voice mails and emails on vacation so that she can get right back down to work.
真正忙碌的人,當(dāng)然會(huì)在假期里回復(fù)所有這些語(yǔ)音郵件和電子郵件,這樣她就可以馬上回去工作了。
Then comes the discussion about how early people get up in the morning. If you sleep in after 5:30 on a weekday, your best strategy is to lie about it so your friends don’t think you’re a slacker.
然后是關(guān)于人們?cè)缟掀鸬枚嘣绲挠懻摗?如果你在一個(gè)工作日的5:30以后睡覺(jué),你最好的策略是撒謊,這樣你的朋友就不會(huì)認(rèn)為你是個(gè)懶漢。
Recently, I took a few days off from work between assignments. It was pleasant to spend all day reading the papers at my kitchen table, with the sun streaming in, no places to go, no people to see. Pleasant — for about five minutes. Then I started to get nervous. What if they had forgotten all about me? So I got on the phone and called a few friends. The first person I called had to take a call on his cellphone while he was speaking to me. The second and third persons were in meetings and would call me back just as soon as they were free.
最近,我在工作間隙休了幾天假。 一整天都在我的廚房桌子上看報(bào)紙,陽(yáng)光灑進(jìn)來(lái),沒(méi)有地方可去,沒(méi)有人可看。 愉快-大約五分鐘。 然后我開(kāi)始緊張起來(lái)。 如果他們都忘了我呢? 所以我打電話給幾個(gè)朋友。 我第一個(gè)打電話給他的人在和我說(shuō)話的時(shí)候必須打個(gè)電話。 第二個(gè)人和第三個(gè)人在開(kāi)會(huì),一有空就給我回電話。
Everyone was so busy! I recalled that just the day before I had been that busy too, and in a few days’ time I would be that busy again. Meantime, I had the odd sensation that I was fading away. I quickly invented a ridiculously complicated project that involved a great deal of Internet searching and faxing things overseas at all hours of the day and night, and immediately felt much better.
大家都很忙! 我回想起,就在我開(kāi)始忙碌的前一天,再過(guò)幾天,我又會(huì)那么忙碌。 同時(shí),我有一種奇怪的感覺(jué),我正在消失。 我很快就發(fā)明了一個(gè)非常復(fù)雜的項(xiàng)目,在白天和晚上的所有時(shí)間里,我都在海外進(jìn)行大量的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索和傳真,我立刻感覺(jué)好多了。
How did we get so busy? Thats not too hard to figure out. The work world has become a far more Darwinian place in the past decade. Plenty of middle managers with middling incomes are obligated to put in 60 or 70 hours a week on the job. Workaholism? Its a condition of employment. Job flexibility? Puh-lease. New technology? Fabulous. It lets us work all the time. To be is to do. And the more there is on your to-do list, the more reassured you are that you must count for something.
我們?cè)趺催@么忙? 不難搞清楚。 在過(guò)去十年中,工作世界已成為一個(gè)更加達(dá)爾文主義的地方。 許多中等收入的中層管理人員必須每周工作60或70小時(shí)。 工作狂? 這是就業(yè)的條件。 工作靈活性? 請(qǐng)。 新技術(shù)? 太棒了。 它讓我們一直工作。 做就是做。 而且你的待辦事項(xiàng)清單上的東西越多,你就越放心,你一定要數(shù)點(diǎn)什么。
Of course, you don’t get work overload without work stress, and everyone I know has plenty of that. But people who suddenly aren’t busy have more.
當(dāng)然,在沒(méi)有工作壓力的情況下,你不會(huì)超負(fù)荷工作,我認(rèn)識(shí)的每個(gè)人都有很多。 但突然不忙的人有更多。
One man told me what happened to him after he had accepted a gigantic buyout. He took his bag of money and set up a little office to figure out what to do next. He showed up on Monday morning at eight. His appointment book was blank. The phone didnt ring. Nobody needed him. He says it was the worst moment of his life.
一個(gè)人告訴我他接受了一筆巨額收購(gòu)后發(fā)生了什么事。 他拿了一袋錢,成立了一個(gè)小辦公室,想知道下一步該做什么。 他在星期一早上八點(diǎn)出現(xiàn)。 他的預(yù)約書是空白的。 電話沒(méi)響。 沒(méi)有人需要他。 他說(shuō)這是他一生中最糟糕的時(shí)刻。
When I met my friend for lunch, I asked her what had happened to her ultra-busy schedule. She told me that she had put herself on a strict new regimen. She was turning down at least three assignments a week. She was practicing being a slacker. She had sworn off multitasking and was trying unitasking, though she confessed it was incredibly difficult. Then she invited me to go to the garden centre with her after lunch.
當(dāng)我遇見(jiàn)我的朋友吃午飯時(shí),我問(wèn)她,她的超級(jí)忙碌的日程發(fā)生了什么。 她告訴我,她給自己制定了嚴(yán)格的新方案。 她每周至少拒絕三次作業(yè)。 她在練習(xí)做一個(gè)懶漢。 她曾發(fā)誓不再做多項(xiàng)任務(wù),并試圖進(jìn)行單位任務(wù),盡管她承認(rèn)這非常困難。 然后她邀請(qǐng)我午飯后和她一起去花園中心。
It would have been fun, I said. But I really had to get back to work.
那會(huì)很有趣的,我說(shuō)。 但我真的得回去工作了。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 11
Unit4
In the United States, the vast majority of Americans live with people to whom they are related by blood or marriage. Most American couples have two or three children, though larger families are not unusual. Typicall, the family consists of parents and their minor children. Middle aged and elderly peoplegenerally do not live with their married children. However, parents usually keep in close contact with their grown children. On holidays, members of the larger family group - grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins-often dine together.
In the past, very few people would have liked living with their parents beyond childhood. But recently, more and more young American people have been returning home after graduating from college. Some of them decide to stay home and save money while working hard toward the day they can establish a home of their own. This isa practical decision, as so much work –academic and professional - is needed today in order to become self-sufficient.
在美國(guó),絕大多數(shù)美國(guó)人都和他們有血緣或婚姻關(guān)系的人生活在一起。大多數(shù)美國(guó)夫婦有兩個(gè)或三個(gè)孩子,盡管大家庭并不罕見(jiàn)。一般來(lái)說(shuō),家庭由父母及其未成年子女組成。中老年人一般不與已婚子女同住。然而,父母通常與成年子女保持密切聯(lián)系。節(jié)假日,大家庭的成員——祖父母、阿姨、叔叔、堂兄弟姐妹一家經(jīng)常一起吃飯。
在過(guò)去,很少有人愿意在童年之后和父母住在一起。但最近,越來(lái)越多的美國(guó)年輕人大學(xué)畢業(yè)后回國(guó)。他們中的一些人決定呆在家里省錢,同時(shí)努力工作,爭(zhēng)取有一天他們可以建立一個(gè)自己的家。這是一個(gè)切實(shí)可行的決定,因?yàn)榻裉煨枰龃罅康?工作——學(xué)術(shù)上的和專業(yè)上的——才能做到自給自足。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 12
Unit5
The Psychology of Consumerism1
By J.D. Roth
A recent story in my local newspaper dealt with a sad-case family. The son was in jail for drugs, and his mother was trying desperately to f ind a way to give her son hope. The story described her plain home, which she shared with her son before he went to jail, containing 4 cats, a 50-inch Panasonic and little else. The mom was particularly motivated to get back her son’s 2000 BMW and 2001 Audi Quattro, both of which were recently stolen by his “friends”. She felt that by getting his cars back for him, it would give him some hope for the future.
我當(dāng)?shù)貓?bào)紙上最近的一個(gè)報(bào)道涉及一個(gè)悲傷的家庭。 兒子因吸毒入獄,母親拼命想辦法給兒子帶來(lái)希望。 這個(gè)故事描述了她平淡無(wú)奇的家,她在兒子入獄前和他分享了這個(gè)家,里面有4只貓,一只50英寸的松下貓,幾乎沒(méi)有其他東西。 這位母親特別有動(dòng)力拿回她兒子的2000輛寶馬和2001年奧迪Quattro,這兩輛車最近都被他的“朋友”偷了”。 她覺(jué)得把他的車還給他會(huì)給他一些未來(lái)的希望。
The newspaper story addressed how this family is dealing with a lot of deep-seated issues. Yet, the plasma TV and European cars stand out as symbols of an illness that exists in our society that few want to think about, and many don’t even know about.
報(bào)紙的報(bào)道談到了這個(gè)家庭如何處理許多根深蒂固的問(wèn)題。 然而,等離子電視和歐洲汽車作為一種疾病的象征脫穎而出,這種疾病存在于我們的社會(huì)中,很少有人想過(guò),而且許多人甚至不知道。
Consumerism can be a destructive psychological addiction that destroys our f inancial resources, well-being, and hope. I’m sure that desire wasn’t the only drug in this household. The big-screen TV was likely running non-stop, altering this poor family member’s brains by imparting the questionable wisdom that having nice things and living a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption is the answer to all of their dreams and woes.
消費(fèi)主義可能是一種破壞性的心理成癮,它破壞了我們的金融資源、福祉和希望。 我相信欲望不是這個(gè)家庭唯一的毒品。 大屏幕電視可能會(huì)不停地運(yùn)行,通過(guò)傳授令人懷疑的智慧來(lái)改變這個(gè)貧窮家庭成員的大腦,即擁有美好的事物和過(guò)著炫耀性消費(fèi)的生活方式是他們所有夢(mèng)想和痛苦的答案。
Unknowing Victims
Juliet Schor, a leading scholar on the culture of consumerism in the US, recently said that we have reached a critical point in our culture: The average American woman now buys more than 52 items of new clothing each year — more than one per week. Of course, women don’t need that many new clothes, yet they buy them anyway. Why? Well, much to our surprise, most of us have been brainwashed by our consumer culture to over-consume. Worse, over time this over-consumption has become part of our identities. Our values, attitudes, habits and practices reflect this culture of addiction.
不認(rèn)識(shí)的受害者
美國(guó)消費(fèi)主義文化的主要學(xué)者朱麗葉·肖爾(JulietSchor)最近說(shuō),我們的文化已經(jīng)達(dá)到了一個(gè)臨界點(diǎn):美國(guó)女性平均每年購(gòu)買52件以上的新衣服-每周超過(guò)一件。 當(dāng)然,女人不需要那么多新衣服,但她們還是買了。 為什么? 令我們驚訝的是,我們大多數(shù)人都被我們的消費(fèi)文化洗腦,過(guò)度消費(fèi)。 更糟糕的是,隨著時(shí)間的推移,這種過(guò)度消費(fèi)已經(jīng)成為我們身份的一部分。 我們的價(jià)值觀、態(tài)度、習(xí)慣和做法反映了這種成癮文化。
Many continue to believe that it’s not possible for them to become brainwashed without their knowledge. “I hit the mute button during commercials,” they say. Or, “I digitally record my shows before watching them and fast-forward through the commercials.”
許多人仍然認(rèn)為,沒(méi)有他們的知識(shí),他們就不可能被洗腦。 他們說(shuō):“我在廣告中按了靜音鍵。 或者,“我在看電視前先用數(shù)字方式記錄我的節(jié)目,然后通過(guò)廣告快速前進(jìn)!
It’s true this may help reduce exposure to the temptation of market materialism. Yet, the programs themselves are often the reasons. One study found that the cost of the lifestyles represented in the most popular TV situation comedies are well beyond what the average American can afford. We see these lifestyles and, over time, expect them. Another study found that the more a person watches television, the more money they spend. This was in spite of the participants’ beliefs that they weren’t affected by commercials.
這可能有助于減少市場(chǎng)唯物主義的誘惑。 然而,這些項(xiàng)目本身往往是原因。 一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),最受歡迎的電視情景喜劇中所代表的生活方式的成本遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出了一般美國(guó)人所能承受的范圍。 我們看到了這些生活方式,并隨著時(shí)間的推移,期待它們。 另一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),一個(gè)人看電視越多,他們花的錢就越多。 盡管參與者認(rèn)為他們不會(huì)受到廣告的影響,但這一點(diǎn)還是存在的。
What people typically fail to recognize is that advertisers target people with money to burn. We’re endlessly exposed to advertising directed at the rich. And things have gotten worse over the past 50 years.
人們通常不認(rèn)識(shí)到的是,廣告商的目標(biāo)是有錢的人。 我們無(wú)休止地接觸到針對(duì)富人的廣告。 在過(guò)去的50年里情況越來(lái)越糟。
For example, a research study that looked at magazine ads found that magazines in the f ifties and sixties containedmostly ads for household and lower-cost products. The same magazines today contain ads for many more luxury items, such as Lexus automobiles, and Hilton Hawaiian Vacations.
例如,一項(xiàng)針對(duì)雜志廣告的研究發(fā)現(xiàn),fifties和60ties的雜志大多包含家庭和低成本產(chǎn)品的廣告。 同樣的雜志也刊登了許多奢侈品的廣告,比如雷克薩斯汽車和希爾頓夏威夷度假。
We subconsciously believe that we are the targets of this advertising, and that the high-cost products and lifestyles portrayed are our birthright as Americans. This leads us to spend well beyond our means. In fact, during the near-peak of the recent economic boom, the personal savings rate was in negative territory.
我們潛意識(shí)地認(rèn)為我們是這種廣告的目標(biāo),高成本的產(chǎn)品和生活方式被描繪成我們作為美國(guó)人的與生俱來(lái)的權(quán)利。 這導(dǎo)致我們花費(fèi)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出我們的能力。 事實(shí)上,在最近經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮的近高峰時(shí)期,個(gè)人儲(chǔ)蓄率處于負(fù)值狀態(tài)。
A Silver Lining
In the depths of addiction, it often appears that there’s no way out. This is certainly the case with the cultural addiction of consumerism. We regularly hear that our economy is 70% dependent on consumer spending. Acting to jeopardize that economic “fact” is akin to locking yourself up in a rehab center. How am I going to get to the alcoholic drink when I need it?
一條銀色襯里
在成癮的深處,往往似乎沒(méi)有出路。 消費(fèi)主義的文化成癮當(dāng)然是如此。 我們經(jīng)常聽(tīng)說(shuō),我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)70%依賴于消費(fèi)支出。 破壞經(jīng)濟(jì)“事實(shí)”的行為就像把自己鎖在康復(fù)中心。 當(dāng)我需要酒精飲料時(shí),我要怎么喝?
Fortunately, through all this there’s a silver lining. Though you’ll inevitably experience some withdrawal symptoms if you disconnect yourself from the extrinsic motivations of our consumer culture, you’ll f ind that they don’t last long. Numerous funny personal stories from readers of Get Rich Slowly (and elsewhere) demonstrate that they find it difficult to change at first. But soon they f ind that, when they look back on their wasteful spending days, it seems like they were possessed by another person. How could they have been so stupid? They report being so much happier now. And their savings has grown from negative to sturdy.
幸運(yùn)的是,在這一切中有一線希望。 雖然你會(huì)不可避免地經(jīng)歷一些戒斷癥狀,如果你脫離了我們消費(fèi)文化的外在動(dòng)機(jī),你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它們不會(huì)持續(xù)很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。 許多有趣的個(gè)人故事,從讀者的GetRich慢慢(和其他地方)表明,他們發(fā)現(xiàn)很難改變最初。 但很快他們發(fā)現(xiàn),當(dāng)他們回顧他們浪費(fèi)的'日子時(shí),似乎他們被另一個(gè)人占有了。 他們?cè)趺磿?huì)這么蠢? 他們說(shuō)現(xiàn)在快樂(lè)多了。 而他們的儲(chǔ)蓄也從負(fù)增長(zhǎng)到了堅(jiān)挺。
There’s more than just amusing evidence to show that living a less materialistic, consumeristic lifestyle will bring greater joy to your life.
有更多有趣的證據(jù)表明,過(guò)一種不那么唯物主義、消費(fèi)主義的生活方式會(huì)給你的生活帶來(lái)更大的快樂(lè)。
Psychologists recently discovered that having a realistic expectation of financial means and lifestyle pays untold dividends toward greater well-being and happiness. To the extent that there is greater discrepancy between financial reality and financial expectations (a.k.a. financial desire discrepancy), there’s greater risk to your sense of well-being. Put another way, being satisfied with what you have will reap invaluable rewards. Being dissatisfied with what you have, and making a point of acquiring more, is the quickest way to dissatisfaction in life.
心理學(xué)家最近發(fā)現(xiàn),對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)手段和生活方式有一個(gè)現(xiàn)實(shí)的期望會(huì)給更大的幸福和幸福帶來(lái)無(wú)盡的紅利。 到財(cái)務(wù)現(xiàn)實(shí)與財(cái)務(wù)預(yù)期之間存在更大差異的程度(a.k.a。 財(cái)務(wù)欲望差異),對(duì)你的幸福感有更大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。 換句話說(shuō),對(duì)你所擁有的東西感到滿意將會(huì)獲得寶貴的回報(bào)。 對(duì)你所擁有的不滿意,并提出獲得更多的觀點(diǎn),是生活中最快的不滿方式。
Of course, being inextricably tied to the advertising machine makes this difficult, if not impossible, to do. A good first step is to keep yourself away from commercialized media a little at a time. You’ll quickly recognize that you’re not missing anything and, in fact, have more time on your hands to do the things you enjoy most. Disconnect and live better.
當(dāng)然,與廣告機(jī)器密不可分,這使得這件事很難做到,即使不是不可能做到的。 一個(gè)好的第一步是讓自己一次稍微遠(yuǎn)離商業(yè)化的媒體。 你會(huì)很快意識(shí)到你沒(méi)有錯(cuò)過(guò)任何東西,事實(shí)上,你有更多的時(shí)間去做你最喜歡的事情。 斷開(kāi)和活得更好。
Well, perhaps there’s hope for the poor family in the newspaper story after all. Rather than being victims of our consumer culture and insisting that getting the cars back will do the trick, they can let the cars go, sell the television, and focus on the best things in life. And, they can save money in the process.
好吧,也許報(bào)紙上的故事對(duì)貧窮的家庭有希望。 與其成為我們的消費(fèi)文化的受害者,堅(jiān)持讓汽車回來(lái)會(huì)起作用,他們可以讓汽車走,賣電視,專注于生活中最好的事情。 而且,他們可以在這個(gè)過(guò)程中省錢。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 13
Unit6
An M.R.I. was a huge trial for someone as old and crippled as my mother. The first few times she had them, while still living in Florida, I was not with her; I’d asked only afterward about the awful banging and claustrophobia inside that tube. But once I became her regular M.R.I. escort, I found there was so much more to this appointment for her. It came as a revelation to me that these tests are far different for someone in her 80s than for someone in her 50s.
個(gè)M.R.I。 對(duì)一個(gè)像我母親一樣老殘的人來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)巨大的審判。 前幾次她還住在佛羅里達(dá)的時(shí)候,我沒(méi)有和她在一起;后來(lái)我才問(wèn)起那個(gè)管子里可怕的砰砰聲和幽閉恐懼癥。 但一旦我成為她的常規(guī)M.R.I。 護(hù)衛(wèi),我發(fā)現(xiàn)她還有更多的約會(huì)。 對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō),這些測(cè)試對(duì)于80多歲的人來(lái)說(shuō)和50多歲的人來(lái)說(shuō)是完全不同的。
Since her arthritis was worst in the morning, she had to rise at dawn and wait to dress until her joints had loosened. I’d go to her apartment and help her downstairs to the car, fold the walker and put it in the trunk, and then settle her into the front seat and fasten her seat belt, since she could no longer turn around from the shoulder and waist or manipulate the buckle. These were among my early lessons in how hard it is to be old — how long everything takes, how much some of it hurts, and how a caregiver must stop moving at warp speed and adapt to the pace of someone who is disabled, trying to make it all look natural and effortless.
由于她的關(guān)節(jié)炎在早上最嚴(yán)重,她不得不在黎明起床,等待著穿衣服,直到關(guān)節(jié)松動(dòng)。 我會(huì)去她的公寓,幫她下樓到車旁,折疊步行器,把它放在后備箱里,然后把她安頓在前排座位上,系好安全帶,因?yàn)樗僖膊荒軓募绨蚝脱哭D(zhuǎn)過(guò)來(lái),也不能操縱扣了。 這些都是我早期的經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)之一:變老是多么的困難-每件事都需要多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間,其中有多大的傷害,以及照顧者必須停止以扭曲的速度移動(dòng),適應(yīng)殘疾人的步伐,試圖使這一切看起來(lái)自然和毫不費(fèi)力。
I learned this much: Never shame your mother into rushing to keep up with you. First of all, it’s not nice. Second, both of you will have to cope with her broken hip if rushing leads to a fall.
我學(xué)到了這么多:永遠(yuǎn)不要讓你媽媽羞于跟上你。 首先,這不太好。 第二,你們兩個(gè)都必須應(yīng)付她的臀部骨折,如果匆忙導(dǎo)致跌倒。
And this: Simply slowing the pace isn’t sufficient. If your mother is as watchful as mine was, she will see it if your face reflects impatience; it will make her feel guilty or embarrass her.
而這:僅僅放慢速度是不夠的。 如果你的母親和我一樣小心,如果你的臉?lè)从吵霾荒蜔龝?huì)看到的;這會(huì)讓她感到內(nèi)疚或?qū)擂巍?/p>
At the radiology center, I’d drop her off in the lobby, get her settled into a chair, go to park the car, get out the walker and return to the main building to meet her. Then, upstairs in the M.R.I. suite we’d wait, and wait, and wait some more. Every time she had to go to the bathroom, I’d be on the alert. At first I forgot bottles of water or snacks, assuming there would be a cafeteria or vending machines. The uncomfortable plastic chairs had no armrests and shaped backs, and thus were painful for her to sit in. There was no TV. My mother was scared, miserable and alternatively grumbling and irritable. I bounced between jolly and sullen, with occasional bursts of genuine kindness.
在放射中心,我會(huì)把她送到大廳,讓她安頓在椅子上,去停車,走出步行者,回到主樓迎接她。 然后,在M.R.I樓上。 套房我們會(huì)等,等等,再等一些。 每次她必須去洗手間,我都會(huì)警覺(jué)起來(lái)。 起初,我忘了瓶裝水或零食,假設(shè)會(huì)有自助餐廳或自動(dòng)售貨機(jī)。 不舒服的塑料椅子沒(méi)有扶手和形狀的背,因此她坐在里面很痛苦。 沒(méi)有電視。 我母親很害怕,很痛苦,或者抱怨和易怒。 我時(shí)而高興,時(shí)而悶悶不樂(lè),時(shí)而流露出真誠(chéng)的善意。
Maybe I was kind more often than just occasionally. But mostly what I recall is hating the process, hating myself for hating it, and hating her for making it all necessary. Maybe it’s OK, sometimes, to hate your mother or father in those moments when their needs are devouring you. These thoughts are only thoughts, and there is nothing terrible or exceptional about having them. Still, you cannot help but feel like a bad person when they come washing over you.
在放射中心,我會(huì)把她送到大廳,讓她安頓在椅子上,去停車,走出步行者,回到主樓迎接她。 然后,在M.R.I樓上。 套房我們會(huì)等,等等,再等一些。 每次她必須去洗手間,我都會(huì)警覺(jué)起來(lái)。 起初,我忘了瓶裝水或零食,假設(shè)會(huì)有自助餐廳或自動(dòng)售貨機(jī)。 不舒服的塑料椅子沒(méi)有扶手和形狀的背,因此她坐在里面很痛苦。 沒(méi)有電視。 我母親很害怕,很痛苦,或者抱怨和易怒。 我時(shí)而高興,時(shí)而悶悶不樂(lè),時(shí)而流露出真誠(chéng)的善意。
But the constancy of an aging parent’s needs, together with the fact that they cannot be answered quickly or fully or sometimes at all, takes its toll. It amazes me that f lat-out black-and-blue abuse of the elderly happens only rarely, given the level of frustration and exhaustion that sometimes overtakes caregivers. Somehow, very, very few lose control in that way. That we so often hear of the exceptional cases is, I think, both a distortion of what actually is going on out there in the world and an implied insult to all caregivers — especially those who watch over family members with Alzheimer’s, who hold it all together amid circumstances one would think might sink them.
但是,一個(gè)年邁的父母的需求的恒久性,再加上他們不能迅速或完全或有時(shí)根本得到答復(fù),都造成了損失。 令我驚訝的是,對(duì)老年人的黑藍(lán)虐待很少發(fā)生,因?yàn)橛袝r(shí)照顧者會(huì)感到沮喪和疲憊。 不知何故,很少人會(huì)以這種方式失去控制。 我認(rèn)為,我們經(jīng)常聽(tīng)到的例外情況,既是對(duì)世界上實(shí)際發(fā)生的事情的歪曲,也是對(duì)所有照顧者的一種隱含的侮辱,尤其是那些照顧阿爾茨海默氏癥家庭成員的人,他們?cè)谌藗冋J(rèn)為可能一起,在人們認(rèn)為可能會(huì)使他們沉淪的情況下。
My mother’s name was finally called. Together, we squeezed into one dressing room so I could help her out of her clothes and into the paper gown. We learned quickly that on test days she’d do better without underwear because it was so exhausting to get in and out of. Venturing into the world without one was, for her, one small disgrace among many.
我媽媽的名字終于被呼喚了。 我們一起擠進(jìn)一個(gè)更衣室,這樣我就可以幫她脫下衣服,穿上紙袍。 我們很快了解到,在考試的日子里,她不穿內(nèi)衣會(huì)做得更好,因?yàn)檫M(jìn)出是如此的'疲憊。 對(duì)她來(lái)說(shuō),沒(méi)有一個(gè)人進(jìn)入這個(gè)世界是許多人中的一個(gè)小小的恥辱。
The second hardest thing for my mother was her socks, unavoidable in winter. She resisted assistance taking them off, and watching her struggle both saddened and annoyed me.
對(duì)我母親來(lái)說(shuō),第二最難的事情是她的襪子,在冬天是不可避免的。 她拒絕幫助我把它們摘下來(lái),看著她的掙扎既悲傷又惹惱了我。
When we finally finished undressing her — both of us by then embarrassed and testy — I accompanied her into the M.R.I. room. There, the young technician seemed to expect her to hop up on the table, like a gymnast. I explained she needed help. He, like the other technicians we met along the way, was nice enough but seemed surprised by the request, as if she were the first person of her age and stiffness he’d ever seen, which seemed to me somewhere between unlikely and impossible.
當(dāng)我們終于脫完她的衣服時(shí)——那時(shí)我們兩個(gè)都很尷尬,也很測(cè)試——我陪她走進(jìn)M.R.I。 房間。 在那里,年輕的技術(shù)人員似乎期待著她像體操運(yùn)動(dòng)員一樣跳上桌子。 我解釋說(shuō)她需要幫助。 他和我們一路上遇到的其他技術(shù)人員一樣,很好,但似乎對(duì)這個(gè)要求感到驚訝,好像她是他見(jiàn)過(guò)的第一個(gè)年齡和僵硬的人,在我看來(lái),這在不可能和不可能之間。
My mother never uttered a word of complaint during the test or the reversal of the whole process — dressing, getting settled into the car, being driven home and helped upstairs. One M.R.I., door-to-door, generally consumed a full day for me and two for my mother, since she was physically spent for 24 hours afterward. Blessedly, I had an employer who simply let me skip a day of work, knowing I’d make it up on my own time.
我母親在考試或整個(gè)過(guò)程的逆轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)程中,從來(lái)沒(méi)有說(shuō)過(guò)一句抱怨的話-穿衣、安頓在車?yán)、被開(kāi)車回家?guī)椭蠘恰?一M.R.I,挨家挨戶,通常為我花了一整天,為我母親花了兩天,因?yàn)樗谏眢w上度過(guò)了24個(gè)小時(shí)。 幸運(yùn)的是,我有一個(gè)雇主,他只是讓我跳過(guò)一天的工作,知道我會(huì)彌補(bǔ)我自己的時(shí)間。
But I often wondered how many other adult daughters stood to lose a day’s pay, or even their livelihoods, as their care giving obligations grew, including all else until gradually these women vanished from their own lives.
但我經(jīng)常想知道,有多少其他成年女兒會(huì)失去一天的工資,甚至他們的生計(jì),因?yàn)樗麄兊淖o(hù)理義務(wù)增加,包括所有其他,直到這些婦女逐漸從自己的生活中消失。
大學(xué)英語(yǔ)課文原文 14
Unit7
Looking Good by Doing Good1
By Jac Depczyk
Rewarding people for their generosity may be counterproductive----By Jac Depczyk
A large plaque in the lobby of Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), a museum housed in a dramatic glass and metal building on the harbour’s edge, identifies its most generous patrons. Visitors will notice that some donors — including two who gave the ICA over $2.5 million — have chosen not to reveal their names. Such reticence is unusual: less than 1% of private gifts to charity are anonymous. Most people want their good deeds to be talked about. In Richistan, a book on America’s new rich, Robert Frank writes of the several society publications in Florida’s Palm Beach which exist largely to publicize the charity of its rich residents.
獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)人們的慷慨可能會(huì)適得其反
波士頓當(dāng)代藝術(shù)學(xué)院(ICA)大廳里的一塊巨大的牌匾,是一座坐落在海港邊緣一座引人注目的玻璃和金屬建筑中的博物館,標(biāo)志著它最慷慨的贊助人。 游客會(huì)注意到,一些捐贈(zèng)者——包括兩個(gè)捐給ICA超過(guò)250萬(wàn)$的捐贈(zèng)者——選擇不透露他們的姓名。 這種沉默是不尋常的:不到1%的私人禮物是匿名的。 大多數(shù)人希望他們的善行被談?wù)摗?羅伯特·弗蘭克(Robert Frank)在《里希斯坦》(Richistan)一書中寫道,在佛羅里達(dá)棕櫚灘(Palm Beach)有幾本社會(huì)出版物,主要是為了宣傳富裕居民的慈善事業(yè)。
As it turns out, the distinction between private and public generosity is helpful in understanding what motivates people to give money to charities or donate blood. Such actions are widespread, and growing. The $306 billion that Americans gave to charity in 2007 was more than triple the amount donated in 1965. And though a big chunk of this comes from billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, whose philanthropy has attracted much attention, modest earners also give generously of their time and money. A 2001 survey found that 89% of American households gave to charity, and that 44% of adults volunteered the equivalent of 9 million full-time jobs. Tax breaks explain some of the kindness of strangers. But by no means all.
事實(shí)證明,私人和公共慷慨之間的區(qū)別有助于理解是什么促使人們向慈善機(jī)構(gòu)捐款或獻(xiàn)血。 這種行動(dòng)十分普遍,而且還在增加。 2007年美國(guó)人捐給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)的$為3060億,是1965年捐款額的三倍多。 盡管其中很大一部分來(lái)自像比爾·蓋茨和沃倫·巴菲特這樣的億萬(wàn)富翁,他們的慈善事業(yè)引起了人們的廣泛關(guān)注,但中等收入者也慷慨地提供了他們的時(shí)間和金錢。 2001年的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),89%的美國(guó)家庭捐贈(zèng)給慈善機(jī)構(gòu),44%的成年人自愿提供相當(dāng)于900萬(wàn)份全職工作。 減稅解釋了陌生人的一些善良。 但絕不是全部。
Economists, who tend to think self-interest governs most actions of man, have identified several reasons to explain good deeds of this kind. Tax breaks are, of course, one of the main ones, but donors are also sometimes paid directly for their pains, and the mere thought of a thank-you letter can be enough to persuade others to give. Some even act out of selflessness. But most interesting is another explanation, which is that people do good in part because it makes them look good to those whose opinions they care about. Economists call this “image motivation”.
經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家往往認(rèn)為人的大多數(shù)行為都是出于自身利益,他們已經(jīng)找出了解釋這種善舉的幾個(gè)理由。 當(dāng)然,減稅是其中的一個(gè)主要因素,但捐助者有時(shí)也直接支付他們的痛苦,而僅僅想到一封感謝信就足以說(shuō)服別人給予。 有些人甚至出于無(wú)私的`行為。 但最有趣的是另一種解釋,即人們做好事的部分原因是它使他們?cè)谀切┧麄冴P(guān)心的人看來(lái)很好。 經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家稱之為“形象動(dòng)機(jī)”。
Dan Ariely of Duke University, Anat Bracha of Tel Aviv University, and Stephan Meier of Columbia University sought, through experiments, to test theimportance of image motivation, as well as to gain insights into how different motivating factors interact. Their results, which they report in a new paper, suggest that image motivation matters a lot, at least in the laboratory. Even more amazingly, they f ind evidence that monetary incentives can be counterproductive.
杜克大學(xué)的DanAriely4、特拉維夫大學(xué)的Anat Bracha和哥倫比亞大學(xué)的Stephan Meier通過(guò)實(shí)驗(yàn),試圖檢驗(yàn)圖像動(dòng)機(jī)的重要性,以及了解不同的動(dòng)機(jī)因素是如何相互作用的。 他們?cè)谝黄碌恼撐闹袌?bào)告了他們的結(jié)果,表明形象動(dòng)機(jī)非常重要,至少在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里是如此。 更令人驚訝的是,他們發(fā)現(xiàn),貨幣激勵(lì)可能適得其反。
The decisive thing about charity as a means of image building is, of course, that it can work only if others know about it and think positively of the charitable organization in question. So, the researchers argue, people should give more when their actions are public.
慈善作為一種形象塑造手段的決定性因素當(dāng)然是,只有別人知道它,并積極考慮有關(guān)慈善組織,它才能發(fā)揮作用。 因此,研究人員認(rèn)為,當(dāng)人們的行為是公開(kāi)的時(shí),他們應(yīng)該給予更多。
To test this, they conducted an experiment named “Click for Charity”, in which participants could donate by clicking an awkward combination of computer keys on the keyboards. The number of times they clicked determined how much money was donated on their behalf to the American Red Cross. Since 92% of participants thought highly of the Red Cross, giving to it could be assumed to make people look good to their peers. People were randomly assigned to either a private group, where only the participant knew the amount of the donation, or a public group, where the participant had to stand up at the end of the session and share this information with the group. Consistent with the hypothesis that image mattered, participants exerted much greater effort in the public case: the average number of clicks, at 900, was nearly double the average of 517 clicks in the private case.
為了測(cè)試這一點(diǎn),他們進(jìn)行了一個(gè)名為“點(diǎn)擊慈善”的實(shí)驗(yàn),參與者可以通過(guò)點(diǎn)擊鍵盤上的電腦鍵的尷尬組合來(lái)捐贈(zèng)。 他們點(diǎn)擊的次數(shù)決定了他們?yōu)槊绹?guó)紅十字會(huì)捐贈(zèng)了多少錢。 由于92%的參與者高度評(píng)價(jià)紅十字會(huì),因此可以認(rèn)為給予紅十字會(huì)可以使人們看起來(lái)對(duì)他們的同齡人很好。 人們被隨機(jī)分配到一個(gè)私人團(tuán)體,只有參與者知道捐贈(zèng)金額,或者一個(gè)公共團(tuán)體,參與者必須在會(huì)議結(jié)束時(shí)站起來(lái),并與該團(tuán)體分享這些信息。 與圖像重要的假設(shè)相一致,參與者在公共案例中付出了更大的努力:平均點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)為900次,幾乎是私人案例中517次點(diǎn)擊的平均次數(shù)的兩倍。
However, the researchers wanted to go a step further. In this, they were inf luenced by the theoretical model of two economists, Roland Benabou, of Princeton University, and Jean Tirole, of University of Toulouse, who formalized the idea that if people do good to look good, introducing monetary or other rewards into the mix might complicate matters. An observer who sees someone getting paid for donating blood, for example, would find it hard to distinguish between the donor’s intrinsic “goodness” and his greed.
然而,研究人員想更進(jìn)一步。 在這方面,他們被普林斯頓大學(xué)的羅蘭·貝納布(Roland Benabou)和圖盧茲大學(xué)的讓·蒂羅爾(Jean Tirole)兩位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的理論模型所束縛,他們正式提出了這樣的觀點(diǎn),即如果人們表現(xiàn)得很好,在混合中引入貨幣或其他獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)可能會(huì)使問(wèn)題復(fù)雜化。 例如,一個(gè)觀察者看到有人因獻(xiàn)血而得到報(bào)酬,就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)很難區(qū)分獻(xiàn)血者內(nèi)在的“善”和貪婪。
Mr. Ariely and his colleagues presumed that the addition of a monetary incentive should have much less of an impact in public than in private (where the image is not important). By adding a monetary reward for participants to their experiment, they were able to confirm their hypothesis. In private, the number of clicks increased from 548 clicks to 740, but in public, there was next to no effect.
Ariely先生和他的同事認(rèn)為,增加貨幣激勵(lì)應(yīng)該在公共場(chǎng)合比在私人場(chǎng)合產(chǎn)生的影響小得多(在私人場(chǎng)合,形象并不重要)。 通過(guò)給實(shí)驗(yàn)參與者增加金錢獎(jiǎng)勵(lì),他們能夠證實(shí)他們的假設(shè)。 在私底下,點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)從548次增加到740次,但在公開(kāi)場(chǎng)合,幾乎沒(méi)有效果。
“It’s like you do a run for charity,” clarifies Ariely. “If I give you a dollar for every mile you’ll run longer and harder. However, if others are watching you then adding this dollar makes you less likely to run. You think others will assume you are just running for the money. This is because you value other people’s opinion so much.
“這就像你為慈善事業(yè)做了一次競(jìng)選,”Ariely說(shuō)。 “如果我每英里給你一塊錢,你就會(huì)跑得越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)。 然而,如果別人看著你,那么加上這一美元會(huì)使你不太可能跑。 你認(rèn)為別人會(huì)認(rèn)為你只是為了錢而跑。 這是因?yàn)槟惴浅V匾晞e人的意見(jiàn)。
The experiment also indicates that cleverly designed rewards may actually raise the possibility to draw out more generosity by exploiting image motivation. Suppose, for example, that rewards were used to encourage people to support a certain cause with a minimum donation. If that cause then publicized those people who were generous well beyond the minimum required of them, it would show that they were not just “in it for the money”. Behavioral economics may yet provide charities with some creative new fund-raising techniques.
實(shí)驗(yàn)還表明,巧妙設(shè)計(jì)的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)實(shí)際上可以通過(guò)利用形象動(dòng)機(jī)來(lái)獲得更多的慷慨。 例如,假設(shè)獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)被用來(lái)鼓勵(lì)人們以最低限度的捐贈(zèng)來(lái)支持某一事業(yè)。 如果這一事業(yè)將那些慷慨超過(guò)最低要求的人公之于眾,就會(huì)表明他們不僅僅是“為了錢”。 行為經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)可能會(huì)為慈善機(jī)構(gòu)提供一些創(chuàng)造性的新籌款技術(shù)。
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