Unit 6 Risks and You
风险与你
1 At some time or other, all of us have played the part of a hypochondriac, imagining that we have some terrible disease on the strength of very minor symptoms. Some people just have to hear about a new disease and they begin checking themselves to see if they may be suffering from it. But fear of disease is not our only fear, and neither is risk of disease the only risk we run. Modern life is full of all manner of threats‐to our lives, our peace of mind, our families, and our future. And from these threats come questions that we must pose to ourselves: Is the food I buy safe? Are toys for my children likely to hurt them? Should my family avoid smoked meats? Am I likely to be robbed on vacations? Our uncertainties multiply indefinitely.
1 在说不定的某个时候，我们大家都曾充当过疑病症患者的角色，只凭一些轻微的症状便怀疑自己得了某种可怕的病。有的人只要一听说一种新的疾病，就会去检查，看自己是否可能患了这种病。然而，对疾病的恐惧并非我们唯一的恐惧。同样，患病的危险也并非我们唯一会遇上的危险。现代生活中充满了各种各样的威胁，诸如对我们生命的威胁，对我们平和心境的威胁，对我们家人的威胁，对我们未来的威胁。从而产生了好些问题，我们不得不问自己：我买的食品安全吗?给孩子们的玩具会伤害他们吗?我们家的人是不是不该吃熏肉?我度假时会不会遭抢劫?我们的疑虑就无休止地增加。
2 Anxiety about the risks of life is a bit like hypochondria; in both, the fear or anxiety feeds on partial information. But one sharp difference exists between the two. The hypochondriac can usually turn to a physician to get a definitive clarification of the situation‐either you have the suspected disease or you don't. It is much more difficult when anxiety about other forms of risk is concerned, because with many risks, the situation is not as simple.
2 对生活中风险的担忧与疑病症有相似之处；二者的恐惧或忧虑皆起因于信息不全面。但二者之间也存在一个明显的差别。疑病症患者通常可以求助于医生，以便澄清疑虑——要么你得了你所怀疑的疾病，要么你没得。但当涉及到其他形式的风险时，事情就要困难得多，因为对许多风险来说，情况并不那么简单。 3 Risks are almost always a matter of probability rather than certainty. You may ask,
3 风险几乎总是一个可能性的问题而无确定性可言。你也许会问：“我该不该系安全带?”如果你坐的车要与其他车正面相撞，那当然该系安全带。倘若你的车侧面被撞，因安全带装置遭破坏而被困在车里，无法挣脱，那怎么办呢?这是否意味着你该再花些钱在车内安一个保险气袋呢?同样，在正面相撞的情况下，保险气袋完全可以救你一命。但是，万一正当你在高速公路上开车时，保险气袋突然意外充气膨胀，从而导致了本来绝不会发生的事故，那又该如何是好?
4 All of this is another way of saying that nothing we do is completely safe. There are risks, often potentially serious ones, associated with every hobby we have, every job we take, every food we eat‐in other words, with every action. But the fact that there are risks associated with everything we are going to do does not, or should not, reduce us to trembling neurotics. Some actions are riskier than others. The point is to inform ourselves about the relevant risks and then act accordingly.
4 上面说的这一切，只是从另一角度说明我们所做的事没有一件是百分之百安全的。有些风险——常常是潜在的重大风险——与我们的每个业余爱好、所做的每项工作、所吃的每种食物有关，换句话说，与所进行的任何活动有关。但我们又不能，也不该因危险存在于我们将要做的每件事，而变成战战兢兢的神经症患者。有些活动是比其他活动更危险。关键在于要让自己了解相应的风险，然后相机行事。
5 For example, larger cars are generally safer than small ones in collisions. But how much safer? The answer is that you are roughly twice as likely to die in a serious crash in a small car than in a large one. Yet larger cars generally cost more than small ones (and also use more gas, thus increasing the environmental risks!), so how do we decide when the reduced risks are worth the added costs? The ultimate risk avoider might, for instance, buy a tank or an armored car, thus minimizing the risk of death or injury in a collision. But is the added cost and inconvenience worth the difference in price, even supposing you could afford it?
5 例如，两车相撞时，大车总的说来要比小车安全些。可究竟能安全多少呢?答案是这样：在一起严重的车祸中坐小车丧生的可能性是坐大车的两倍左右。然而，大车通常比小车贵(并且消耗更多的汽油，由此给环境带来了更大的风险!)。那么我们该怎样确定什么时候值得为降低风险增加花费呢?例如，避免风险最保险的做法也许是去买一辆坦克或装甲车，从而把撞车时死亡或受伤的风险降到最小。然而，即便你买得起，这笔额外的费用以及忍受坦克或装甲车所带来的不便是否值得呢?
6 We cannot begin to answer such questions until we have a feel for the level of risks in question. So how do we measure
the level of a risk? Some people seem to think that the answer is a simple number. We know, for instance, that about 25,000 people per year die in automobile accidents. By contrast, only about 300 die per year in mine accidents and disasters. Does that mean that riding in a car is much riskier than mining? Not necessarily . The fact is that some 200 million Americans regularly ride in automobiles in the United States every year; perhaps 700,000 are involved in mining. The relevant figure that we need to assess a risk is a ratio or fraction. The numerator of the fraction tells us how many people were killed or harmed as the result of a particular activity over a certain period of time; the denominator tells us how many people were involved in that activity during that time. All risk levels are thus ratios or fractions, with values between 0 (no risk) and 1 (totally risky).
6 在我们尚不知所涉及的风险程度之前，我们还无法回答这些问题。那么，我们该如何去衡量风险程度呢?有些人似乎认为答案只不过是一个简单的数字。例如，我们知道每年大约有25,000人死于车祸。相比之下，每年只有大约300人死于矿山事故和灾难。这难道就意味着乘坐汽车要比采矿危险得多吗?未必。事实是，在美国每年大约有两亿人经常性地以车代步；而大概只有70万人从事采矿作业。我们评估一种风险时，所需要的有关数字是一个比率或分数。该分数的分子告诉我们在某个特定时期由于从事某种特定活动而丧生或受伤的人数；其分母告诉我们在这一时期从事这种活动的总人数。这样，所有的风险程度都是由比率或分数表示，其大小介于0(无风险)到1(完全风险)之间。
7 By reducing all risks to ratios or fractions of this sort, we can begin to compare different sorts of risks‐like mining versus riding in a car. The larger this ratio, that is, the closer it is to 1, the riskier the activity in question. In the case just discussed, we would find the relative safety of car travel and coal mining by dividing the numbers of lives lost in each by the number of people participating in each. Here, it is clear that the riskiness of traveling by car is about 1 death per 10,000 passengers; with mining, the risk level is about 4 deaths per 10,000 miners. So although far more people are killed in car accidents than in mining, the latter turns out to be four times riskier than the former. Those ratios enable us to compare the risks of activities or situations as different as apples and oranges. If you are opposed to risks, you will want to choose your activities by focusing on the small‐ratio exposures. If you are reckless, then you are not likely to be afraid of higher ratios unless they get uncomfortably large.
7 通过把所有风险都简化为这种比率或分数，我们便可以开始比较不同种类的风险，如比较采矿与乘坐汽车。这个比率越大，也就是说它越接近l，那么有关活动的风险就越大。在刚才讨论的例子中，我们可以用每一活动中死亡的人数除以参与该活动的总人数，从而找出汽车旅行与采煤的相对安全性。此处，我们可以很清楚地看到，乘坐汽车旅行的风险是每一万人中大约有一人丧生；而就采矿而言，其危险程度是每一万矿工中大约有四人死亡。所以，尽管在车祸中丧生的人远比采矿要多，其实后者的风险是前者的四倍。这些比率使我们能够对毫不相干的活动或情形的危险性加以比较，即便差别如苹果与橘子那样大也能比较。如果你反对冒险，你就会选择风险比率较小的活动。如果你无所畏惧，那么你往往会对高比率不太在乎，除非它们大得令人难以承受。
8 Once we understand that risk can never be totally eliminated from any situation and that, therefore, nothing is completely safe, we will then see that the issue is not one of avoiding risks altogether but rather one of managing risks in a sensible way. Risk management requires two things: common sense and information about the character and degree of the risks we may be running.
8 我们一旦明白了风险是永远无法从任何情况中完全去除的，因而就没有绝对安全的事，我们也就会明白问题的关键不是要彻底避免风险，而是要理智地管理风险。风险管理需要两大要素：常识以及与我们可能要承担的风险的性质和程度相关的信息。
Essay I
Unit 7 The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear
Jacob Neusner
永远不会听到的毕业典礼演说
1 We the faculty take no pride in our educational achievement with you. We have prepared you for a world that does not exist, indeed, that cannot exist. You have spent four years supposing that failure leaves no record. You have learned at Brown that when your work goes poorly, the painless solution is to drop out. But starting now, in the world to which you go, failure marks you. Confronting difficulty by quitting leaves you changed. Outside Brown, quitters are no heroes.
1 我们这些教师对于在你们身上取得的教育成就一点都不感到自豪。我们培养你们去适应的是一个根本不存在的世界——事实上也是不可能存在的。在这里度过的四年时间里，你们一直以为失败是不会留下任何记录的。要是学得不好，一个最省事的办法就是中途退出(不修这门课)，在布朗大学你们学会了这一点。但是，从现在开始，在你们要涉足的世界里，失败是要给你留下疤痕的。知难而退也会使你变成另一个人。走出布朗，知难而退
的人绝不是英雄。
2 With us you could argue about why your errors were not errors, why mediocre work really was excellent, why you could take pride in routine and slipshod presentation. Most of you, after all, can look back on honor grades for most of what you have done. So, here grades can have meant little in distinguishing the excellent from the ordinary. But tomorrow, in the world to which you go, you had better not defend errors but learn from them. You will be ill‐advised to demand praise for what does not deserve it, and abuse those who do not give it.
2 你们可以跟我们争辩，说服我们为什么你们的错误不是错误，为什么平庸的作业是优秀的，为什么你们会对普普通通并不出色的课堂报告感到骄傲。回想一下，毕竟你们中的大多数人在你们所学的大部分课程中都得了高分。因此，在这里分数并不能作为区分优秀学生与学业平平的学生的依据。但是，今后，在你们所要去的世界里，你们最好不要为自己的错误辩护，而应该从中吸取教训。假如你们要求得到你们不该得到的表扬，诋毁那些
不给你们表扬的人，这是不明智的做法。
3 For years we created an altogether forgiving world, in which whatever slight effort you gave was all that was demanded. When you did not keep appointments, we made new ones. When your work came in beyond the deadline, we pretended not to care.
3 多年来，我们创造了一个完全宽容的世界。这里所要求于你们的仅仅是一点微不足道的努力。当你们没有按约定的时间赴约时，我们就再约时间。当你们没有按期交作业时，我们装作不在乎。
4 Worse still, when you were boring, we acted as if you were saying something important. When you were garrulous and talked to hear yourselves talk, we listened as if it mattered. When you tossed on our desks writing upon which you had not labored, we read it and even responded, as though you earned a response. When you were dull, we pretended you were smart. When you were predictable, unimaginative and routine, we listened as if to new and wonderful things. When you demanded free lunch, we served it. And all this why？
4 更糟糕的是，当你们的言谈枯燥无味时，我们却装作你们说的是重要的事情；当你们喋喋不休、不知所云时，我们认真倾听，似乎你们说的东西事关重大；当你们把根本没有花心思写的作业扔到我们桌上时，我们不仅拜读，甚至批改给评语，好像值得为你们这样做似的。当你们犯傻时，我们装作你们聪明过人；当你们老生常谈、毫无想象力、平平淡淡时，我们却装作像在听什么美妙绝伦的新鲜事情一样；当你们要不劳而获时，我们拱手
奉上。所有这一切究竟是为了什么?
5 Despite your fantasies, it was not even that we wanted to be liked by you. It was that we did not want to be bothered, and the easy way out was pretense: smiles and easy Bs.
5 对这一切尽管你们可以想入非非，但我们决不是因为想要讨你们的欢心，而是因为我们不想让你们来Ⅱ罗唆。一个简单的办法就是作假：微笑，让你们轻轻松松都得B。
6 It is conventional to quote in addresses such as these. Let me quote someone you've never heard of: Professor Carter A. Daniel, Rutgers University:
6 在这一类的演说中人们往往习惯于引用，在此让我来引用一个你们从来没有听说过的人的话，这个人是拉特格斯大学的卡特•A．丹尼尔教授。他说：
“大学毁了你们，让你们阅读那些不值得一读的论文，听那些不值得一听的评论，甚至要去尊重那些无所事事、孤陋寡闻、极不文明的人。为了教育，我们过去不得不这样做，但是今后不会有人再这样做了。在过去的50年中，大学使你们丧失了得到充分培养的机会。由于大学成了一个轻松、自由、包容、体贴、舒适、充满乐趣、好玩的地方，它没有对你们尽到责任。但愿你们今后好运。”
7 That is why, on this commencement day, we have nothing in which to take much pride.
7 这就是为什么，在今天进行毕业典礼之际，我们没有任何可引以自豪的东西。
8 Oh, yes, there is one more thing. Try not to act toward your co‐workers and bosses as you have acted toward us. I mean, when they give you what you want but have not earned, don't abuse them, insult them, act out with them your parlous relationships with your parents. This too we have tolerated. It was, as I said, not to be liked. Few professors actually care whether or not they are liked by peer‐paralyzed adolescents, fools so shallow as to imagine professors care not about education but about popularity. It was, again, to be rid of you. So go, unlearn the lies we taught you. To life! (585 words) 8 哦，对了，还有一点。尽量不要像对待我们那样去对待你们的同事和老板。我的意思是，当他们把你们想要但不是你们应得的东西给了你们时，要善待他们，不要侮辱他们，不要在他们身上重演你们与父母之间的那种糟糕的关系。这一切，我们也都忍受了。正如我刚才所说的，这不是为了讨你们的欢心。有一些年轻
人只能在同龄人的眼中找到自我，是一些愚昧无知的人，竟然肤浅到以为教授们关心的不是教育，而是自己的人缘。实际上，很少有教授在乎这类年轻人是否喜欢他们。我们容忍这一切，只是为了摆脱你们。摒弃我们在教学中给你们造成的这些假象，投身到真实的生活中去吧。
Essay II
College: An All‐Forgiving World
Ida Timothee
大学：一个宽恕一切的世界吗?
1 In
l 在“永远不会听到的毕业典礼演说”中，雅各布•诺伊斯纳认为，大学经历使得我们认为：“失败不会留下任何记录”(第一段)，而成绩是很容易取得的。在诺伊斯纳看来，大学并不是一所很好的着眼于将来生活的预备学校，因为它为一个“根本就不存在的世界”而培养我们(第一段)。
2 There's no doubt that Neusner should have taken a closer look at what college life is really like before formulating such a strong opinion about it. He is completely ignoring all the pressures and hard times students go through to make it at college. It is not the way he describes it at all.
2 毫无疑问，诺伊斯纳在发表这么强烈的论点之前，该对大学生活的实际情况做更进一步的审视。他完全无视学生们为了学业成功而经受的一切压力与艰辛。大学生活根本就不是他所描绘的那样。
3 Is college not preparing us for real life, as Neusner puts it Is what we are experiencing something not useful to learn for the real world These are questions that pop into my mind when I think about what Neusner says. I think that he is very wrong. The college years, for many of us, are when we start to be independent, make crucial decisions on our own, and become responsible for them. At college, we must learn to budget our time (and money!) and to be tolerant (otherwise we wouldn't survive in a crowded triple room!). We meet people from different parts of the world that broaden our view of the world itself and help us understand each other better. If these things are not useful for the real world, then I don't know what could be.
3 大学难道真的像诺伊斯纳所说的那样，没有让我们为现实生活作准备吗?我们所经历的一切难道无助于我们了解现实世界吗?这些问题都是在思考诺伊斯纳所说的话时涌现到我的脑海中的。我认为他完全错了。对我们许多人来说，大学时代正是我们开始独立，自己做重要决定，并对这些决定负责的时代。在大学里，我们必须学会计划时间(还包括计划用钱!)，学会容忍(否则，住在一个拥挤的三人间里，我们会无法过下去的)。我们与来自世界各地的人相识，开阔了我们的视野，使我们彼此加深了解。如果这些对现实世界是没用的，那我可不知道什么才是有用的。
4 Neusner believes that in college we are trained to think that
4 诺伊斯纳认为，在大学里我们所接受的教育使我们认为“失败不会留下任何记录”，因为据称我们犯了错误可以轻而易举地不受惩罚。我要告诉他的是：要是你考试不及格，你就不能再考，或者即使老师明知你一辈子都会恨他，他也不会抹去你的成绩。要是你中途放弃了某一门课，下学期你就得多修课。要是你有几门课的成绩很低，就几乎不可能进入一个好的研究生院。要是你好几门课的平均积分点不够高，那你就得不到学位。期中考试、期末考试临时，没有人能够逃避。当学习紧张时，本来刻苦学习的人也得更加努力学习，因为大学并不像诺伊斯纳所认为的那样，会给失误提供“省事的”解决办法(第一段)。大学不是一个“宽恕一切的世界”，当“最后期限”已过，或者没有按要求的时间完成作业时，老师们也绝不会“装作不在乎”(第三段)。
5 To me, living in a crowded triple, having a one‐day reading period before finals, tons of readings, papers, and midterms due the same week are not exactly my idea of
fun'
5 对于我来说，生活在一个拥挤的三人间里，期末考试前只有一天时间看书，繁重的阅读任务，论文，还有集中在一个星期里进行的期中考试，这些可不是我心目中的“轻松、自由、包容、体贴、舒适、充满乐趣、好玩”(第六段)。
Unit 8 How to Take Your Time
如何从容使用时间
1 Dr Larry Dossey has two antique clocks.
l 拉里•多希博士有两个古董钟。 “一个走得快，一个走得慢，”多希博士说。“它们提醒我，生活不是由时钟控制的，而且我能自己选择按什么样的时间生活。” 2 How a person thinks about time can kill him, according to Dossey, a pioneer in the emerging science of chronobiology, the study of how time interacts with life. One of the most common ills in our society, he says, is
2 多希博士研究时间生物学，是这门新兴学科的开拓者。该学科研究的是时间与生活是如何相互影响的。多希博士认为，一个人如何看待时间可能是生死攸关的事。他说，在我们社会中最常见的一种疾病是“时间病”，就是由于时间造成的压力和紧迫性而引起的焦虑和紧张。这些症状会导致心脏病和中风，这是我们最大的两种死因。
3 Dossey has discovered that these and other stress‐induced ills can often be successfully treated by using simple techniques to change how a person thinks about time.
3 多希发现，采用一些简单的方法去改变人们对时间的看法，上述疾病和其他一些因紧张而诱发的疾病常常可以得到成功的治疗。
4 Dr Dossey became interested in time and health when he noticed how many patients insisted on having watches with them in the hospital, even though they had no schedules to keep. They were all time addicts, taught since childhood to schedule their lives by society's clock, and all felt lost without the security of a timepiece. Time seems to rule our lives. Time is money, to be saved and spent wisely, not wasted or lost.
4 多希博士注意到，有相当多的病人虽然在住院期间并没有任何日程安排，但仍坚持要带手表，于是就对时间与健康之间的关系产生了兴趣。这些人都是“时间瘾君子”。他们从孩提时代起就受到这样的教育：要按社会的时钟安排自己的生活。因此一旦没有了计时器所给予的安全感，就会茫然若失。于是乎时间就统治了我们的生活。时间就是金钱，应该节省，应该理智地花，不要浪费或者丢失。
5 Almost all living things in our world carry their own biological clocks synchronised with the rhythms of nature. A crab can sense when the tide is about to change. A mouse wakes when night nears. A squirrel knows when to prepare for its long winter nap. These living clocks are not accurate in any robot‐like mechanical sense. They adjust to changes in the environment.
5 几乎所有生活在我们这个世界上的生物，都拥有与大自然节奏同步的生物钟。蟹能感知潮水什么时候要变化。老鼠会在夜幕降临时醒来。松鼠知道什么时候该为漫长的冬眠做准备。这些生物钟并不像自动机械装置那么精确，却能适应环境的变化。
6 Light is the most powerful synchroniser in most living things. But in humans there is another powerful synchroniser: other people. Pioneering studies in Germany reported that when people were put together in groups isolated from external time cues of light, temperature and humidity, their own complex internal timekeeping rhythms became desynchronised; then they resynchronised in unison. Even body temperatures started to rise and fall together, a sign that subtle biochemical changes in each body were now happening together. These experiments may have discovered one of the mysterious forces that reshape individuals into members of a team, cult or mob.
6 对大多数生物来说，光是最强有力的同步指示仪。但人类还有另一个强有力的同步指示仪：周围的人。根据在德国进行的开拓性研究报告，当人们被分成小组，一起置身于与光、温度、湿度等外部时间提示因素相隔绝的环境时，他们自身内部复杂的时间节奏无法(与外部因素)同步了；但他们的生物钟随后又恢复了相互问一致的同步节奏。就连他们的体温也一起上升或下降——这表明，每个人体内的一些微妙的生物化学变化现在也都同步了。这些实验也许揭示了一种神秘力量，一种把个人改变为群体(团队、异教或乌合之众)成员的神秘力量。
7 The mind can alter rhythms of time in various ways. People brought back from the brink of death often recall their entire lives flashing before them in an instant. Those who have been in a serious accident often report that, as it occurred, everything happened in slow motion; apparently this is a survival tool built into the brain, an ability to accelerate to several times normal perceptual speed, thereby
disaster.
7 人的头脑能以各种各样的方式改变时间的节奏。那些从死亡的边缘抢救过来的人常常回忆说，在那一瞬间他们整个一生的生活经历会在他们面前重新闪现。那些经历过严重事故的人常描述说，在事故发生的过程中，一切都以慢动作的形式进行；这显然是人脑中内置有逃生工具，也就是一种能力，它能把人对外部世界的感知速度提高到正常状态下的数倍，从而“减慢”了世界运行的速度，使当事人有“时间”来思考避免灾难的对策。
8 Because the time our society keeps has been taught to us since birth, we think of it as something that everyone everywhere must somehow share. But cultures differ in how they perceive time. In North America and the industrialised countries of northern Europe, life is tightly scheduled. To keep someone waiting is frowned upon. But in southern Europe and in the Hispanic countries of Latin America, people are given priority over schedules and in making appointments the starting time is more flexible.
8 由于我们一生下来就被灌输了社会所遵循的时间，于是我们就以为这是任何人在任何地方不管怎么样都必须共同遵守的。但不同的文化对时间的认识存在着差异。在北美和欧洲北部的一些工业化国家，生活安排得很紧凑。让别人等候是令人皱眉头的。但在欧洲南部及拉丁美洲说西班牙语和葡萄牙语的国家里，人比时间表更重要，故在约会时会把开始的时间定得比较灵活。
9 Each view of time has advantages and disadvantages. But the costs can be great. When our natural inner rhythms are out of synchronisation with clock time, stress results. Under the tyranny of clock time, western industrialised society now finds that heart disease and related ills are leading causes of death. However, such
9 每一种时间观都各有优缺点。但其代价可能会很高。当我们体内的自然节奏与时钟时间之间的同步关系被打乱时，紧张感便会随之而生。在时钟时间的严格控制下，现在西方工业化社会发现心脏病和其他一些相关疾病是导致死亡的主要原因。但是，多希博士认为，这样的“时间病”是可以通过改变我们对时间的看法而得到治疗和预防的。他能采用一些简单的手段来改变和主宰自己的时间，这些手段你我也可以采用。
10 1) Unclock your life. Stop wearing a wristwatch. Time becomes much less a concern when we break the habit of looking at clocks or watches.
10 1)摆脱时钟对你生活的控制。别再戴手表。当我们打破了看钟表的习惯之后，时间便不再让你我如此时时关注了。
11 2) Set your own inner sense of time. To illustrate that time is relative, Einstein observed that to a person sitting on a hot stove, two minutes could feel like two hours; to the young man with a pretty girl, two hours could seem like two minutes. 11 2)确立你自己的内部时间感。为了说明时间是相对的，爱因斯坦曾经说，对于一个坐在滚烫的火炉上的人来说，两分钟的时间给人的感觉就像两小时；而对一个身边有靓丽女子陪伴的青年男子来说，两小时就像两分钟一样。
12 3) Tap your body's power to change time. We all possess an inborn ability to relax. Most people can summon it up merely by dismissing disturbing thoughts and by controlling their breathing‐for example, by thinking the word
12 3)发挥你自身的能力去改变时间。我们都天生具有使自己放松的能力。大多数人能通过排除杂念和控制呼吸的方法做到这一点。例如，每次呼气时都想数字“1”。几分钟内，就能使自己非常平静。
13 4) Synchronise yourself with nature. Take time to watch a sunset, or a cloud cross the sky. Remember that there is a time far older than what humankind has created with clocks.
13 4)使自己与大自然同步。耐心地看看日落，或者看一朵从头顶的天空慢慢飘过的云。记住，有一种时间比人类用钟表创造出来的时间要古老得多。
14 The cultural pattern we call time is learnt, and if we wish to live in harmony with nature we must learn to recognize that its time still shapes our world and should not be ignored. We created the mechanical time around which our society operates, and we have the freedom to choose whether we will be its slave or its master.
14被我们称作时间的文化模式是后天学来的。如果我们希望与大自然和谐相处，我们必须努力认识到，大自然的时间依然影响着我们的世界，决不应该忽视它。我们创造了机械时间，令我们的社会随着它运转，我们有自由去选择究竟是做它的奴隶还是做它的主人。
Unit 9 Too Fast?
太快了吗?
1 People who were born just before World War I remember waving at automobiles as they passed. Seeing a car was like watching a parade exciting and out of the ordinary. The airplane it was spelled
in the winter. Now, the iceman, like the blacksmith, survives only in literature.
1 在第一次世界大战前夕出生的人仍然记得看到身边经过的汽车就挥手的情景。那时，见到一辆汽车就像观看游行一样令人兴奋、非同寻常。另一项新发明就是飞机了(当时被拼作“aeroplane”)。当时的电冰箱只是些“冰箱” (icebox)，而且有人夏天专门为冰箱送冰，冬天为火炉送炭。现在，送冰的人就像铁匠一样只有在文学作品中才能读到了。
2 Today, change comes so fast that working people can become obsolete because their occupations vanish in the middle of their lives. Knowledge, and thus the rate of change, increases geometrically. Every idea gives birth to a dozen new ones, and each of them has a dozen children. The people of the pre‐World War I generation had hardly assimilated the inventions of that era before they were attacked by a new batch of even more sophisticated inventions. The Atomic Age dawned in 1945, August 6 to be exact, and then, before we could catch our breath, the Space Age arrived.
2 如今，变化来得如此之快，以至于从业人员往往人到中年却因所从事的职业不复存在而变得一无用处。知识以及随之而来的变化速度都成几何级数增长。每一个想法能引发出许多新的想法，而每一个新想法又引发更多的想法。第一次世界大战前出生的这代人还没有来得及掌握那个时代的诸多发明时便又面临一批更高级的发明的挑战。原子时代起始于1945年，确切地说是那一年的8月6日；我们尚未有喘息的机会，太空时代便来临了。
3 Change was not always this rapid. Certain important inventions, like the telephone, the airplane, the automobile, and the radio, had been invented by 1914, but the effects of these inventions upon the lives of ordinary citizens were not felt until many years later. We now have the technology to develop machines before people are ready to use them. For example, we have the technology to enable people to pay their bills by phone but even people with phones resist. The change is too much too fast. People don't want to talk to machines, especially if the machines talk back to them.
3 以前，变化并不总是这样快的。一些重要的发明，如电话、飞机、汽车和收音机，早在1914年以前就已经问世，但直到许多年后普通老百姓才感受到这些发明对他们生活所产生的影响。现在我们的技术足以开发人们一时还接受不了的新机器。例如，我们的技术可以让人通过电话付款，但即便有电话的人也抵制这项技术。这一变化来得太快了。人们不愿对着机器说话，尤其是当回话的也是机器的时候。
4 It is certain that technology, especially computer technology, will rule our lives to a greater and greater degree. This situation will not necessarily prove positive or negative in effect. Many people would be more comfortable if change came more slowly, but on the other hand, there are many for whom every innovation is like a new toy. They can't wait for the next invention to be available. When scientists talk about the remarkably adaptable nature of people, they probably have these people in mind.
4 有一点是肯定的，那就是技术，特别是计算机技术，将在越来越大的程度上控制我们的生活。这种情况并非一定是有利的或者是不利的。如果变化来得慢一点，许多人可能会觉得更适应一些；但另一方面，对不少人来说，每一项新发明都像是一个新玩具。他们迫不及待地期待着下一个新发明的出现。在科学家们谈论人的非凡的适应性时，他们想到的可能就是这群人。
5 But there is a limit to everyone's ability to adapt. What will happen to us when change comes so rapidly that we can no longer adjust to it? These same scientists who talk about our adaptable nature also tell us that change is to some degree emotionally painful to everyone. What then, will happen to us when change comes so rapidly that we can no longer stand the pain, and we refuse to change?
5 但是每个人的适应能力都是有限的。一旦变化来得过快以至于我们不能再适应时，我们会怎样呢?还是那些认为我们有非凡适应性的科学家们告诉我们，变化在一定程度上给每个人造成情感上的痛苦。那么，一旦变化迅速得使我们忍受不了这种痛苦从而拒绝变化的时候，我们又会怎样呢?
6 We have read a lot about scientific and technological change, but that is only part of the picture of modern life. There is often a great lag between scientific discovery and cultural acceptance. For example, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, proposed over one hundred years ago and accepted by all serious scholars for generations, is still rejected by large segments of society. These segments~ see science as contradicting a higher religious authority. They see science as questioning and destroying their beliefs and culture.
6 关于科技变化，我们读到过很多，但这只是现代生活的一部分。科学发现和文化上认可之间常常存在着一个很长的滞后阶段。例如，查尔斯•达尔文在100多年以前就提出了进化论，而且为好几代的严肃学者所接受，但至今许多大的社会群体仍然拒绝接受这一理论。这些人认为科学是与更高的宗教权威相抵触的。在他们看来，科学在质疑甚至破坏他们的信仰与文化。
7 The problem is not easily solved because it is in the nature of science to question, and it is in the nature of human beings not to want to question the things they believe in. Science is not merely a field of study like chemistry or physics or biology. Science is a method of looking at the world, a method that requires an open mind, objectivity, and proof based upon observation or experimentation. It is a method that ignores religion, race, nationality, economics, morality, and ethics. It
pays attention only to the results of research. The scientific method has shown us endless marvels and wonders, but methods can't provide all the answers. Science cannot tell us whether or not to drop a bomb: That is a moral or political question. Science only tells us how to make one.
7 这一问题很难得到解决，因为科学的本质是质疑，而人类的天性则不容怀疑他们所相信的东西。科学不仅仅是门学科，就像化学、物理或生物那样。科学还是一种看待世界的方法，这种方法要求人们思想开明，持客观的态度和根据观察和实验来获得证据。这是一种脱离了宗教、种族、民族、经济、道德和伦理的方法。它只注重研究的结果。这种科学方法已经给我们展示了无穷的奇迹和成就，但它无法提供所有问题的答案。科学不能告诉我们是否应该投放炸弹：这是一个道德或政治问题。科学只能告诉我们如何制造炸弹。
8 As we have already said, technological innovations are being made at faster and faster rates. The future will be even more revolutionary than the past. Will we, as a species, survive the revolutions that we have begun? There is plenty of evidence to think that we will. Our species has enormous potential that we have just begun to use. For example, we have only begun to control the environment. One day technology will make every desert bloom. It's simple, really. To do so, all we need to do is lower the cost of converting sea water into fresh water. Then, when the deserts bloom, will they provide enough food for our growing numbers? Most likely, they will. We have only just begun to discover the possibilities of highly intensive desert agriculture. We already have the technology to increase production ten times and to use one‐twentieth of the water we needed before.
8 正如我们前面所说的，技术革新的速度越来越快。未来社会的变革将超过以往任何时候。作为一个物种，我们人类能否在我们自己发动的这种变革中幸存下来呢?有大量的证据表明我们能。我们人类有巨大的潜能，我们才刚刚开始开发利用。例如，我们才刚刚开始控制环境。将来有一天，技术将使所有的沙漠鲜花盛开。这的确不难。要做到这一点，我们只需要降低海水淡化的成本。接下来的问题是，沙漠变成绿洲后，它们能为我们不断增加的人口提供充足的粮食吗?很可能。最近，我们已经开始发现集约式沙漠农业是可能的。我们已经拥有的技术能将产量提高10倍，用水量减少到从前的1／20。
9 We know how to make agricultural miracles. What we need are the time and money to make the technology available to everyone.
9 我们知道如何创造农业奇迹。我们需要时间和金钱以便使这项技术为人人所用。
10 In the nineteenth century, people believed in progress. They believed that science would lead them to a new era of endless prosperity and happiness. Well, it didn't work out that way. Two disastrous world wars convinced people of that. Yet, in our disappointment and in our fears that science was a monster that would one day destroy us, we forgot that science was not the monster; we were the monster. Science was merely a servant, and like fire, a good servant when treated properly.
lO在19世纪，人们信仰进步。他们相信科学将带领他们进入一个无限繁荣无限幸福的新时代。然而，事情并没有如他们所想象的那样发展。两次灾难性的世界大战使人们确信了这一点。但是，我们在失望时，在担心科学是一头将来某一天会毁灭我们的巨兽时，却忘记了科学并不是巨兽，我们自己才是巨兽。科学只是一个仆人，像火一样，如果使用得当，它将是个好仆人。
11 Despite all the problems of the modern world, however, most people would not choose to live in any of the less scientific ages that have preceded ours. If and this is a big if we don't destroy ourselves in war, the future can only be better. Each year will bring a more bewildering array of scientific advances: diseases cured, space conquered, transportation and communication revolutionized, agriculture and industry completely transformed, etc. To some, the future sounds exciting; to others, frightening. But one thing is sure it won't be boring.
1 1尽管现代世界存在着种种问题，大多数人都不会愿意生活在我们之前的任何一个科学欠发达的时代。如果我们不在战争中毁灭自己——当然，我们说的是“如果”——未来只会更好。我们每年都将取得令人目不暇接的科学进步：疾病得到根治，太空被征服，运输和通讯取得根本性的变革，农业和工业得到彻底改造等等。对一些人来说，未来听起来令人兴奋；而对另一些人来说，则令人恐惧。但有一点是肯定的：未来不会让人感到乏味。
Unit 6 Risks and You
风险与你
1 At some time or other, all of us have played the part of a hypochondriac, imagining that we have some terrible disease on the strength of very minor symptoms. Some people just have to hear about a new disease and they begin checking themselves to see if they may be suffering from it. But fear of disease is not our only fear, and neither is risk of disease the only risk we run. Modern life is full of all manner of threats‐to our lives, our peace of mind, our families, and our future. And from these threats come questions that we must pose to ourselves: Is the food I buy safe? Are toys for my children likely to hurt them? Should my family avoid smoked meats? Am I likely to be robbed on vacations? Our uncertainties multiply indefinitely.
1 在说不定的某个时候，我们大家都曾充当过疑病症患者的角色，只凭一些轻微的症状便怀疑自己得了某种可怕的病。有的人只要一听说一种新的疾病，就会去检查，看自己是否可能患了这种病。然而，对疾病的恐惧并非我们唯一的恐惧。同样，患病的危险也并非我们唯一会遇上的危险。现代生活中充满了各种各样的威胁，诸如对我们生命的威胁，对我们平和心境的威胁，对我们家人的威胁，对我们未来的威胁。从而产生了好些问题，我们不得不问自己：我买的食品安全吗?给孩子们的玩具会伤害他们吗?我们家的人是不是不该吃熏肉?我度假时会不会遭抢劫?我们的疑虑就无休止地增加。
2 Anxiety about the risks of life is a bit like hypochondria; in both, the fear or anxiety feeds on partial information. But one sharp difference exists between the two. The hypochondriac can usually turn to a physician to get a definitive clarification of the situation‐either you have the suspected disease or you don't. It is much more difficult when anxiety about other forms of risk is concerned, because with many risks, the situation is not as simple.
2 对生活中风险的担忧与疑病症有相似之处；二者的恐惧或忧虑皆起因于信息不全面。但二者之间也存在一个明显的差别。疑病症患者通常可以求助于医生，以便澄清疑虑——要么你得了你所怀疑的疾病，要么你没得。但当涉及到其他形式的风险时，事情就要困难得多，因为对许多风险来说，情况并不那么简单。 3 Risks are almost always a matter of probability rather than certainty. You may ask,
3 风险几乎总是一个可能性的问题而无确定性可言。你也许会问：“我该不该系安全带?”如果你坐的车要与其他车正面相撞，那当然该系安全带。倘若你的车侧面被撞，因安全带装置遭破坏而被困在车里，无法挣脱，那怎么办呢?这是否意味着你该再花些钱在车内安一个保险气袋呢?同样，在正面相撞的情况下，保险气袋完全可以救你一命。但是，万一正当你在高速公路上开车时，保险气袋突然意外充气膨胀，从而导致了本来绝不会发生的事故，那又该如何是好?
4 All of this is another way of saying that nothing we do is completely safe. There are risks, often potentially serious ones, associated with every hobby we have, every job we take, every food we eat‐in other words, with every action. But the fact that there are risks associated with everything we are going to do does not, or should not, reduce us to trembling neurotics. Some actions are riskier than others. The point is to inform ourselves about the relevant risks and then act accordingly.
4 上面说的这一切，只是从另一角度说明我们所做的事没有一件是百分之百安全的。有些风险——常常是潜在的重大风险——与我们的每个业余爱好、所做的每项工作、所吃的每种食物有关，换句话说，与所进行的任何活动有关。但我们又不能，也不该因危险存在于我们将要做的每件事，而变成战战兢兢的神经症患者。有些活动是比其他活动更危险。关键在于要让自己了解相应的风险，然后相机行事。
5 For example, larger cars are generally safer than small ones in collisions. But how much safer? The answer is that you are roughly twice as likely to die in a serious crash in a small car than in a large one. Yet larger cars generally cost more than small ones (and also use more gas, thus increasing the environmental risks!), so how do we decide when the reduced risks are worth the added costs? The ultimate risk avoider might, for instance, buy a tank or an armored car, thus minimizing the risk of death or injury in a collision. But is the added cost and inconvenience worth the difference in price, even supposing you could afford it?
5 例如，两车相撞时，大车总的说来要比小车安全些。可究竟能安全多少呢?答案是这样：在一起严重的车祸中坐小车丧生的可能性是坐大车的两倍左右。然而，大车通常比小车贵(并且消耗更多的汽油，由此给环境带来了更大的风险!)。那么我们该怎样确定什么时候值得为降低风险增加花费呢?例如，避免风险最保险的做法也许是去买一辆坦克或装甲车，从而把撞车时死亡或受伤的风险降到最小。然而，即便你买得起，这笔额外的费用以及忍受坦克或装甲车所带来的不便是否值得呢?
6 We cannot begin to answer such questions until we have a feel for the level of risks in question. So how do we measure
the level of a risk? Some people seem to think that the answer is a simple number. We know, for instance, that about 25,000 people per year die in automobile accidents. By contrast, only about 300 die per year in mine accidents and disasters. Does that mean that riding in a car is much riskier than mining? Not necessarily . The fact is that some 200 million Americans regularly ride in automobiles in the United States every year; perhaps 700,000 are involved in mining. The relevant figure that we need to assess a risk is a ratio or fraction. The numerator of the fraction tells us how many people were killed or harmed as the result of a particular activity over a certain period of time; the denominator tells us how many people were involved in that activity during that time. All risk levels are thus ratios or fractions, with values between 0 (no risk) and 1 (totally risky).
6 在我们尚不知所涉及的风险程度之前，我们还无法回答这些问题。那么，我们该如何去衡量风险程度呢?有些人似乎认为答案只不过是一个简单的数字。例如，我们知道每年大约有25,000人死于车祸。相比之下，每年只有大约300人死于矿山事故和灾难。这难道就意味着乘坐汽车要比采矿危险得多吗?未必。事实是，在美国每年大约有两亿人经常性地以车代步；而大概只有70万人从事采矿作业。我们评估一种风险时，所需要的有关数字是一个比率或分数。该分数的分子告诉我们在某个特定时期由于从事某种特定活动而丧生或受伤的人数；其分母告诉我们在这一时期从事这种活动的总人数。这样，所有的风险程度都是由比率或分数表示，其大小介于0(无风险)到1(完全风险)之间。
7 By reducing all risks to ratios or fractions of this sort, we can begin to compare different sorts of risks‐like mining versus riding in a car. The larger this ratio, that is, the closer it is to 1, the riskier the activity in question. In the case just discussed, we would find the relative safety of car travel and coal mining by dividing the numbers of lives lost in each by the number of people participating in each. Here, it is clear that the riskiness of traveling by car is about 1 death per 10,000 passengers; with mining, the risk level is about 4 deaths per 10,000 miners. So although far more people are killed in car accidents than in mining, the latter turns out to be four times riskier than the former. Those ratios enable us to compare the risks of activities or situations as different as apples and oranges. If you are opposed to risks, you will want to choose your activities by focusing on the small‐ratio exposures. If you are reckless, then you are not likely to be afraid of higher ratios unless they get uncomfortably large.
7 通过把所有风险都简化为这种比率或分数，我们便可以开始比较不同种类的风险，如比较采矿与乘坐汽车。这个比率越大，也就是说它越接近l，那么有关活动的风险就越大。在刚才讨论的例子中，我们可以用每一活动中死亡的人数除以参与该活动的总人数，从而找出汽车旅行与采煤的相对安全性。此处，我们可以很清楚地看到，乘坐汽车旅行的风险是每一万人中大约有一人丧生；而就采矿而言，其危险程度是每一万矿工中大约有四人死亡。所以，尽管在车祸中丧生的人远比采矿要多，其实后者的风险是前者的四倍。这些比率使我们能够对毫不相干的活动或情形的危险性加以比较，即便差别如苹果与橘子那样大也能比较。如果你反对冒险，你就会选择风险比率较小的活动。如果你无所畏惧，那么你往往会对高比率不太在乎，除非它们大得令人难以承受。
8 Once we understand that risk can never be totally eliminated from any situation and that, therefore, nothing is completely safe, we will then see that the issue is not one of avoiding risks altogether but rather one of managing risks in a sensible way. Risk management requires two things: common sense and information about the character and degree of the risks we may be running.
8 我们一旦明白了风险是永远无法从任何情况中完全去除的，因而就没有绝对安全的事，我们也就会明白问题的关键不是要彻底避免风险，而是要理智地管理风险。风险管理需要两大要素：常识以及与我们可能要承担的风险的性质和程度相关的信息。
Essay I
Unit 7 The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear
Jacob Neusner
永远不会听到的毕业典礼演说
1 We the faculty take no pride in our educational achievement with you. We have prepared you for a world that does not exist, indeed, that cannot exist. You have spent four years supposing that failure leaves no record. You have learned at Brown that when your work goes poorly, the painless solution is to drop out. But starting now, in the world to which you go, failure marks you. Confronting difficulty by quitting leaves you changed. Outside Brown, quitters are no heroes.
1 我们这些教师对于在你们身上取得的教育成就一点都不感到自豪。我们培养你们去适应的是一个根本不存在的世界——事实上也是不可能存在的。在这里度过的四年时间里，你们一直以为失败是不会留下任何记录的。要是学得不好，一个最省事的办法就是中途退出(不修这门课)，在布朗大学你们学会了这一点。但是，从现在开始，在你们要涉足的世界里，失败是要给你留下疤痕的。知难而退也会使你变成另一个人。走出布朗，知难而退
的人绝不是英雄。
2 With us you could argue about why your errors were not errors, why mediocre work really was excellent, why you could take pride in routine and slipshod presentation. Most of you, after all, can look back on honor grades for most of what you have done. So, here grades can have meant little in distinguishing the excellent from the ordinary. But tomorrow, in the world to which you go, you had better not defend errors but learn from them. You will be ill‐advised to demand praise for what does not deserve it, and abuse those who do not give it.
2 你们可以跟我们争辩，说服我们为什么你们的错误不是错误，为什么平庸的作业是优秀的，为什么你们会对普普通通并不出色的课堂报告感到骄傲。回想一下，毕竟你们中的大多数人在你们所学的大部分课程中都得了高分。因此，在这里分数并不能作为区分优秀学生与学业平平的学生的依据。但是，今后，在你们所要去的世界里，你们最好不要为自己的错误辩护，而应该从中吸取教训。假如你们要求得到你们不该得到的表扬，诋毁那些
不给你们表扬的人，这是不明智的做法。
3 For years we created an altogether forgiving world, in which whatever slight effort you gave was all that was demanded. When you did not keep appointments, we made new ones. When your work came in beyond the deadline, we pretended not to care.
3 多年来，我们创造了一个完全宽容的世界。这里所要求于你们的仅仅是一点微不足道的努力。当你们没有按约定的时间赴约时，我们就再约时间。当你们没有按期交作业时，我们装作不在乎。
4 Worse still, when you were boring, we acted as if you were saying something important. When you were garrulous and talked to hear yourselves talk, we listened as if it mattered. When you tossed on our desks writing upon which you had not labored, we read it and even responded, as though you earned a response. When you were dull, we pretended you were smart. When you were predictable, unimaginative and routine, we listened as if to new and wonderful things. When you demanded free lunch, we served it. And all this why？
4 更糟糕的是，当你们的言谈枯燥无味时，我们却装作你们说的是重要的事情；当你们喋喋不休、不知所云时，我们认真倾听，似乎你们说的东西事关重大；当你们把根本没有花心思写的作业扔到我们桌上时，我们不仅拜读，甚至批改给评语，好像值得为你们这样做似的。当你们犯傻时，我们装作你们聪明过人；当你们老生常谈、毫无想象力、平平淡淡时，我们却装作像在听什么美妙绝伦的新鲜事情一样；当你们要不劳而获时，我们拱手
奉上。所有这一切究竟是为了什么?
5 Despite your fantasies, it was not even that we wanted to be liked by you. It was that we did not want to be bothered, and the easy way out was pretense: smiles and easy Bs.
5 对这一切尽管你们可以想入非非，但我们决不是因为想要讨你们的欢心，而是因为我们不想让你们来Ⅱ罗唆。一个简单的办法就是作假：微笑，让你们轻轻松松都得B。
6 It is conventional to quote in addresses such as these. Let me quote someone you've never heard of: Professor Carter A. Daniel, Rutgers University:
6 在这一类的演说中人们往往习惯于引用，在此让我来引用一个你们从来没有听说过的人的话，这个人是拉特格斯大学的卡特•A．丹尼尔教授。他说：
“大学毁了你们，让你们阅读那些不值得一读的论文，听那些不值得一听的评论，甚至要去尊重那些无所事事、孤陋寡闻、极不文明的人。为了教育，我们过去不得不这样做，但是今后不会有人再这样做了。在过去的50年中，大学使你们丧失了得到充分培养的机会。由于大学成了一个轻松、自由、包容、体贴、舒适、充满乐趣、好玩的地方，它没有对你们尽到责任。但愿你们今后好运。”
7 That is why, on this commencement day, we have nothing in which to take much pride.
7 这就是为什么，在今天进行毕业典礼之际，我们没有任何可引以自豪的东西。
8 Oh, yes, there is one more thing. Try not to act toward your co‐workers and bosses as you have acted toward us. I mean, when they give you what you want but have not earned, don't abuse them, insult them, act out with them your parlous relationships with your parents. This too we have tolerated. It was, as I said, not to be liked. Few professors actually care whether or not they are liked by peer‐paralyzed adolescents, fools so shallow as to imagine professors care not about education but about popularity. It was, again, to be rid of you. So go, unlearn the lies we taught you. To life! (585 words) 8 哦，对了，还有一点。尽量不要像对待我们那样去对待你们的同事和老板。我的意思是，当他们把你们想要但不是你们应得的东西给了你们时，要善待他们，不要侮辱他们，不要在他们身上重演你们与父母之间的那种糟糕的关系。这一切，我们也都忍受了。正如我刚才所说的，这不是为了讨你们的欢心。有一些年轻
人只能在同龄人的眼中找到自我，是一些愚昧无知的人，竟然肤浅到以为教授们关心的不是教育，而是自己的人缘。实际上，很少有教授在乎这类年轻人是否喜欢他们。我们容忍这一切，只是为了摆脱你们。摒弃我们在教学中给你们造成的这些假象，投身到真实的生活中去吧。
Essay II
College: An All‐Forgiving World
Ida Timothee
大学：一个宽恕一切的世界吗?
1 In
l 在“永远不会听到的毕业典礼演说”中，雅各布•诺伊斯纳认为，大学经历使得我们认为：“失败不会留下任何记录”(第一段)，而成绩是很容易取得的。在诺伊斯纳看来，大学并不是一所很好的着眼于将来生活的预备学校，因为它为一个“根本就不存在的世界”而培养我们(第一段)。
2 There's no doubt that Neusner should have taken a closer look at what college life is really like before formulating such a strong opinion about it. He is completely ignoring all the pressures and hard times students go through to make it at college. It is not the way he describes it at all.
2 毫无疑问，诺伊斯纳在发表这么强烈的论点之前，该对大学生活的实际情况做更进一步的审视。他完全无视学生们为了学业成功而经受的一切压力与艰辛。大学生活根本就不是他所描绘的那样。
3 Is college not preparing us for real life, as Neusner puts it Is what we are experiencing something not useful to learn for the real world These are questions that pop into my mind when I think about what Neusner says. I think that he is very wrong. The college years, for many of us, are when we start to be independent, make crucial decisions on our own, and become responsible for them. At college, we must learn to budget our time (and money!) and to be tolerant (otherwise we wouldn't survive in a crowded triple room!). We meet people from different parts of the world that broaden our view of the world itself and help us understand each other better. If these things are not useful for the real world, then I don't know what could be.
3 大学难道真的像诺伊斯纳所说的那样，没有让我们为现实生活作准备吗?我们所经历的一切难道无助于我们了解现实世界吗?这些问题都是在思考诺伊斯纳所说的话时涌现到我的脑海中的。我认为他完全错了。对我们许多人来说，大学时代正是我们开始独立，自己做重要决定，并对这些决定负责的时代。在大学里，我们必须学会计划时间(还包括计划用钱!)，学会容忍(否则，住在一个拥挤的三人间里，我们会无法过下去的)。我们与来自世界各地的人相识，开阔了我们的视野，使我们彼此加深了解。如果这些对现实世界是没用的，那我可不知道什么才是有用的。
4 Neusner believes that in college we are trained to think that
4 诺伊斯纳认为，在大学里我们所接受的教育使我们认为“失败不会留下任何记录”，因为据称我们犯了错误可以轻而易举地不受惩罚。我要告诉他的是：要是你考试不及格，你就不能再考，或者即使老师明知你一辈子都会恨他，他也不会抹去你的成绩。要是你中途放弃了某一门课，下学期你就得多修课。要是你有几门课的成绩很低，就几乎不可能进入一个好的研究生院。要是你好几门课的平均积分点不够高，那你就得不到学位。期中考试、期末考试临时，没有人能够逃避。当学习紧张时，本来刻苦学习的人也得更加努力学习，因为大学并不像诺伊斯纳所认为的那样，会给失误提供“省事的”解决办法(第一段)。大学不是一个“宽恕一切的世界”，当“最后期限”已过，或者没有按要求的时间完成作业时，老师们也绝不会“装作不在乎”(第三段)。
5 To me, living in a crowded triple, having a one‐day reading period before finals, tons of readings, papers, and midterms due the same week are not exactly my idea of
fun'
5 对于我来说，生活在一个拥挤的三人间里，期末考试前只有一天时间看书，繁重的阅读任务，论文，还有集中在一个星期里进行的期中考试，这些可不是我心目中的“轻松、自由、包容、体贴、舒适、充满乐趣、好玩”(第六段)。
Unit 8 How to Take Your Time
如何从容使用时间
1 Dr Larry Dossey has two antique clocks.
l 拉里•多希博士有两个古董钟。 “一个走得快，一个走得慢，”多希博士说。“它们提醒我，生活不是由时钟控制的，而且我能自己选择按什么样的时间生活。” 2 How a person thinks about time can kill him, according to Dossey, a pioneer in the emerging science of chronobiology, the study of how time interacts with life. One of the most common ills in our society, he says, is
2 多希博士研究时间生物学，是这门新兴学科的开拓者。该学科研究的是时间与生活是如何相互影响的。多希博士认为，一个人如何看待时间可能是生死攸关的事。他说，在我们社会中最常见的一种疾病是“时间病”，就是由于时间造成的压力和紧迫性而引起的焦虑和紧张。这些症状会导致心脏病和中风，这是我们最大的两种死因。
3 Dossey has discovered that these and other stress‐induced ills can often be successfully treated by using simple techniques to change how a person thinks about time.
3 多希发现，采用一些简单的方法去改变人们对时间的看法，上述疾病和其他一些因紧张而诱发的疾病常常可以得到成功的治疗。
4 Dr Dossey became interested in time and health when he noticed how many patients insisted on having watches with them in the hospital, even though they had no schedules to keep. They were all time addicts, taught since childhood to schedule their lives by society's clock, and all felt lost without the security of a timepiece. Time seems to rule our lives. Time is money, to be saved and spent wisely, not wasted or lost.
4 多希博士注意到，有相当多的病人虽然在住院期间并没有任何日程安排，但仍坚持要带手表，于是就对时间与健康之间的关系产生了兴趣。这些人都是“时间瘾君子”。他们从孩提时代起就受到这样的教育：要按社会的时钟安排自己的生活。因此一旦没有了计时器所给予的安全感，就会茫然若失。于是乎时间就统治了我们的生活。时间就是金钱，应该节省，应该理智地花，不要浪费或者丢失。
5 Almost all living things in our world carry their own biological clocks synchronised with the rhythms of nature. A crab can sense when the tide is about to change. A mouse wakes when night nears. A squirrel knows when to prepare for its long winter nap. These living clocks are not accurate in any robot‐like mechanical sense. They adjust to changes in the environment.
5 几乎所有生活在我们这个世界上的生物，都拥有与大自然节奏同步的生物钟。蟹能感知潮水什么时候要变化。老鼠会在夜幕降临时醒来。松鼠知道什么时候该为漫长的冬眠做准备。这些生物钟并不像自动机械装置那么精确，却能适应环境的变化。
6 Light is the most powerful synchroniser in most living things. But in humans there is another powerful synchroniser: other people. Pioneering studies in Germany reported that when people were put together in groups isolated from external time cues of light, temperature and humidity, their own complex internal timekeeping rhythms became desynchronised; then they resynchronised in unison. Even body temperatures started to rise and fall together, a sign that subtle biochemical changes in each body were now happening together. These experiments may have discovered one of the mysterious forces that reshape individuals into members of a team, cult or mob.
6 对大多数生物来说，光是最强有力的同步指示仪。但人类还有另一个强有力的同步指示仪：周围的人。根据在德国进行的开拓性研究报告，当人们被分成小组，一起置身于与光、温度、湿度等外部时间提示因素相隔绝的环境时，他们自身内部复杂的时间节奏无法(与外部因素)同步了；但他们的生物钟随后又恢复了相互问一致的同步节奏。就连他们的体温也一起上升或下降——这表明，每个人体内的一些微妙的生物化学变化现在也都同步了。这些实验也许揭示了一种神秘力量，一种把个人改变为群体(团队、异教或乌合之众)成员的神秘力量。
7 The mind can alter rhythms of time in various ways. People brought back from the brink of death often recall their entire lives flashing before them in an instant. Those who have been in a serious accident often report that, as it occurred, everything happened in slow motion; apparently this is a survival tool built into the brain, an ability to accelerate to several times normal perceptual speed, thereby
disaster.
7 人的头脑能以各种各样的方式改变时间的节奏。那些从死亡的边缘抢救过来的人常常回忆说，在那一瞬间他们整个一生的生活经历会在他们面前重新闪现。那些经历过严重事故的人常描述说，在事故发生的过程中，一切都以慢动作的形式进行；这显然是人脑中内置有逃生工具，也就是一种能力，它能把人对外部世界的感知速度提高到正常状态下的数倍，从而“减慢”了世界运行的速度，使当事人有“时间”来思考避免灾难的对策。
8 Because the time our society keeps has been taught to us since birth, we think of it as something that everyone everywhere must somehow share. But cultures differ in how they perceive time. In North America and the industrialised countries of northern Europe, life is tightly scheduled. To keep someone waiting is frowned upon. But in southern Europe and in the Hispanic countries of Latin America, people are given priority over schedules and in making appointments the starting time is more flexible.
8 由于我们一生下来就被灌输了社会所遵循的时间，于是我们就以为这是任何人在任何地方不管怎么样都必须共同遵守的。但不同的文化对时间的认识存在着差异。在北美和欧洲北部的一些工业化国家，生活安排得很紧凑。让别人等候是令人皱眉头的。但在欧洲南部及拉丁美洲说西班牙语和葡萄牙语的国家里，人比时间表更重要，故在约会时会把开始的时间定得比较灵活。
9 Each view of time has advantages and disadvantages. But the costs can be great. When our natural inner rhythms are out of synchronisation with clock time, stress results. Under the tyranny of clock time, western industrialised society now finds that heart disease and related ills are leading causes of death. However, such
9 每一种时间观都各有优缺点。但其代价可能会很高。当我们体内的自然节奏与时钟时间之间的同步关系被打乱时，紧张感便会随之而生。在时钟时间的严格控制下，现在西方工业化社会发现心脏病和其他一些相关疾病是导致死亡的主要原因。但是，多希博士认为，这样的“时间病”是可以通过改变我们对时间的看法而得到治疗和预防的。他能采用一些简单的手段来改变和主宰自己的时间，这些手段你我也可以采用。
10 1) Unclock your life. Stop wearing a wristwatch. Time becomes much less a concern when we break the habit of looking at clocks or watches.
10 1)摆脱时钟对你生活的控制。别再戴手表。当我们打破了看钟表的习惯之后，时间便不再让你我如此时时关注了。
11 2) Set your own inner sense of time. To illustrate that time is relative, Einstein observed that to a person sitting on a hot stove, two minutes could feel like two hours; to the young man with a pretty girl, two hours could seem like two minutes. 11 2)确立你自己的内部时间感。为了说明时间是相对的，爱因斯坦曾经说，对于一个坐在滚烫的火炉上的人来说，两分钟的时间给人的感觉就像两小时；而对一个身边有靓丽女子陪伴的青年男子来说，两小时就像两分钟一样。
12 3) Tap your body's power to change time. We all possess an inborn ability to relax. Most people can summon it up merely by dismissing disturbing thoughts and by controlling their breathing‐for example, by thinking the word
12 3)发挥你自身的能力去改变时间。我们都天生具有使自己放松的能力。大多数人能通过排除杂念和控制呼吸的方法做到这一点。例如，每次呼气时都想数字“1”。几分钟内，就能使自己非常平静。
13 4) Synchronise yourself with nature. Take time to watch a sunset, or a cloud cross the sky. Remember that there is a time far older than what humankind has created with clocks.
13 4)使自己与大自然同步。耐心地看看日落，或者看一朵从头顶的天空慢慢飘过的云。记住，有一种时间比人类用钟表创造出来的时间要古老得多。
14 The cultural pattern we call time is learnt, and if we wish to live in harmony with nature we must learn to recognize that its time still shapes our world and should not be ignored. We created the mechanical time around which our society operates, and we have the freedom to choose whether we will be its slave or its master.
14被我们称作时间的文化模式是后天学来的。如果我们希望与大自然和谐相处，我们必须努力认识到，大自然的时间依然影响着我们的世界，决不应该忽视它。我们创造了机械时间，令我们的社会随着它运转，我们有自由去选择究竟是做它的奴隶还是做它的主人。
Unit 9 Too Fast?
太快了吗?
1 People who were born just before World War I remember waving at automobiles as they passed. Seeing a car was like watching a parade exciting and out of the ordinary. The airplane it was spelled
in the winter. Now, the iceman, like the blacksmith, survives only in literature.
1 在第一次世界大战前夕出生的人仍然记得看到身边经过的汽车就挥手的情景。那时，见到一辆汽车就像观看游行一样令人兴奋、非同寻常。另一项新发明就是飞机了(当时被拼作“aeroplane”)。当时的电冰箱只是些“冰箱” (icebox)，而且有人夏天专门为冰箱送冰，冬天为火炉送炭。现在，送冰的人就像铁匠一样只有在文学作品中才能读到了。
2 Today, change comes so fast that working people can become obsolete because their occupations vanish in the middle of their lives. Knowledge, and thus the rate of change, increases geometrically. Every idea gives birth to a dozen new ones, and each of them has a dozen children. The people of the pre‐World War I generation had hardly assimilated the inventions of that era before they were attacked by a new batch of even more sophisticated inventions. The Atomic Age dawned in 1945, August 6 to be exact, and then, before we could catch our breath, the Space Age arrived.
2 如今，变化来得如此之快，以至于从业人员往往人到中年却因所从事的职业不复存在而变得一无用处。知识以及随之而来的变化速度都成几何级数增长。每一个想法能引发出许多新的想法，而每一个新想法又引发更多的想法。第一次世界大战前出生的这代人还没有来得及掌握那个时代的诸多发明时便又面临一批更高级的发明的挑战。原子时代起始于1945年，确切地说是那一年的8月6日；我们尚未有喘息的机会，太空时代便来临了。
3 Change was not always this rapid. Certain important inventions, like the telephone, the airplane, the automobile, and the radio, had been invented by 1914, but the effects of these inventions upon the lives of ordinary citizens were not felt until many years later. We now have the technology to develop machines before people are ready to use them. For example, we have the technology to enable people to pay their bills by phone but even people with phones resist. The change is too much too fast. People don't want to talk to machines, especially if the machines talk back to them.
3 以前，变化并不总是这样快的。一些重要的发明，如电话、飞机、汽车和收音机，早在1914年以前就已经问世，但直到许多年后普通老百姓才感受到这些发明对他们生活所产生的影响。现在我们的技术足以开发人们一时还接受不了的新机器。例如，我们的技术可以让人通过电话付款，但即便有电话的人也抵制这项技术。这一变化来得太快了。人们不愿对着机器说话，尤其是当回话的也是机器的时候。
4 It is certain that technology, especially computer technology, will rule our lives to a greater and greater degree. This situation will not necessarily prove positive or negative in effect. Many people would be more comfortable if change came more slowly, but on the other hand, there are many for whom every innovation is like a new toy. They can't wait for the next invention to be available. When scientists talk about the remarkably adaptable nature of people, they probably have these people in mind.
4 有一点是肯定的，那就是技术，特别是计算机技术，将在越来越大的程度上控制我们的生活。这种情况并非一定是有利的或者是不利的。如果变化来得慢一点，许多人可能会觉得更适应一些；但另一方面，对不少人来说，每一项新发明都像是一个新玩具。他们迫不及待地期待着下一个新发明的出现。在科学家们谈论人的非凡的适应性时，他们想到的可能就是这群人。
5 But there is a limit to everyone's ability to adapt. What will happen to us when change comes so rapidly that we can no longer adjust to it? These same scientists who talk about our adaptable nature also tell us that change is to some degree emotionally painful to everyone. What then, will happen to us when change comes so rapidly that we can no longer stand the pain, and we refuse to change?
5 但是每个人的适应能力都是有限的。一旦变化来得过快以至于我们不能再适应时，我们会怎样呢?还是那些认为我们有非凡适应性的科学家们告诉我们，变化在一定程度上给每个人造成情感上的痛苦。那么，一旦变化迅速得使我们忍受不了这种痛苦从而拒绝变化的时候，我们又会怎样呢?
6 We have read a lot about scientific and technological change, but that is only part of the picture of modern life. There is often a great lag between scientific discovery and cultural acceptance. For example, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, proposed over one hundred years ago and accepted by all serious scholars for generations, is still rejected by large segments of society. These segments~ see science as contradicting a higher religious authority. They see science as questioning and destroying their beliefs and culture.
6 关于科技变化，我们读到过很多，但这只是现代生活的一部分。科学发现和文化上认可之间常常存在着一个很长的滞后阶段。例如，查尔斯•达尔文在100多年以前就提出了进化论，而且为好几代的严肃学者所接受，但至今许多大的社会群体仍然拒绝接受这一理论。这些人认为科学是与更高的宗教权威相抵触的。在他们看来，科学在质疑甚至破坏他们的信仰与文化。
7 The problem is not easily solved because it is in the nature of science to question, and it is in the nature of human beings not to want to question the things they believe in. Science is not merely a field of study like chemistry or physics or biology. Science is a method of looking at the world, a method that requires an open mind, objectivity, and proof based upon observation or experimentation. It is a method that ignores religion, race, nationality, economics, morality, and ethics. It
pays attention only to the results of research. The scientific method has shown us endless marvels and wonders, but methods can't provide all the answers. Science cannot tell us whether or not to drop a bomb: That is a moral or political question. Science only tells us how to make one.
7 这一问题很难得到解决，因为科学的本质是质疑，而人类的天性则不容怀疑他们所相信的东西。科学不仅仅是门学科，就像化学、物理或生物那样。科学还是一种看待世界的方法，这种方法要求人们思想开明，持客观的态度和根据观察和实验来获得证据。这是一种脱离了宗教、种族、民族、经济、道德和伦理的方法。它只注重研究的结果。这种科学方法已经给我们展示了无穷的奇迹和成就，但它无法提供所有问题的答案。科学不能告诉我们是否应该投放炸弹：这是一个道德或政治问题。科学只能告诉我们如何制造炸弹。
8 As we have already said, technological innovations are being made at faster and faster rates. The future will be even more revolutionary than the past. Will we, as a species, survive the revolutions that we have begun? There is plenty of evidence to think that we will. Our species has enormous potential that we have just begun to use. For example, we have only begun to control the environment. One day technology will make every desert bloom. It's simple, really. To do so, all we need to do is lower the cost of converting sea water into fresh water. Then, when the deserts bloom, will they provide enough food for our growing numbers? Most likely, they will. We have only just begun to discover the possibilities of highly intensive desert agriculture. We already have the technology to increase production ten times and to use one‐twentieth of the water we needed before.
8 正如我们前面所说的，技术革新的速度越来越快。未来社会的变革将超过以往任何时候。作为一个物种，我们人类能否在我们自己发动的这种变革中幸存下来呢?有大量的证据表明我们能。我们人类有巨大的潜能，我们才刚刚开始开发利用。例如，我们才刚刚开始控制环境。将来有一天，技术将使所有的沙漠鲜花盛开。这的确不难。要做到这一点，我们只需要降低海水淡化的成本。接下来的问题是，沙漠变成绿洲后，它们能为我们不断增加的人口提供充足的粮食吗?很可能。最近，我们已经开始发现集约式沙漠农业是可能的。我们已经拥有的技术能将产量提高10倍，用水量减少到从前的1／20。
9 We know how to make agricultural miracles. What we need are the time and money to make the technology available to everyone.
9 我们知道如何创造农业奇迹。我们需要时间和金钱以便使这项技术为人人所用。
10 In the nineteenth century, people believed in progress. They believed that science would lead them to a new era of endless prosperity and happiness. Well, it didn't work out that way. Two disastrous world wars convinced people of that. Yet, in our disappointment and in our fears that science was a monster that would one day destroy us, we forgot that science was not the monster; we were the monster. Science was merely a servant, and like fire, a good servant when treated properly.
lO在19世纪，人们信仰进步。他们相信科学将带领他们进入一个无限繁荣无限幸福的新时代。然而，事情并没有如他们所想象的那样发展。两次灾难性的世界大战使人们确信了这一点。但是，我们在失望时，在担心科学是一头将来某一天会毁灭我们的巨兽时，却忘记了科学并不是巨兽，我们自己才是巨兽。科学只是一个仆人，像火一样，如果使用得当，它将是个好仆人。
11 Despite all the problems of the modern world, however, most people would not choose to live in any of the less scientific ages that have preceded ours. If and this is a big if we don't destroy ourselves in war, the future can only be better. Each year will bring a more bewildering array of scientific advances: diseases cured, space conquered, transportation and communication revolutionized, agriculture and industry completely transformed, etc. To some, the future sounds exciting; to others, frightening. But one thing is sure it won't be boring.
1 1尽管现代世界存在着种种问题，大多数人都不会愿意生活在我们之前的任何一个科学欠发达的时代。如果我们不在战争中毁灭自己——当然，我们说的是“如果”——未来只会更好。我们每年都将取得令人目不暇接的科学进步：疾病得到根治，太空被征服，运输和通讯取得根本性的变革，农业和工业得到彻底改造等等。对一些人来说，未来听起来令人兴奋；而对另一些人来说，则令人恐惧。但有一点是肯定的：未来不会让人感到乏味。