随着国际贸易的不断发展，英语这一门语言也变得越来越重要，大学英语课文原文丰富多样，涵盖了不同主题和文体。下面是小编整理的相关内容，希望对你有帮助。
大学英语课文原文 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.
大学英语课文原文 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.
大学英语课文原文 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?
大学英语课文原文 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.
大学英语课文原文 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.
大学英语课文原文 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?
大学英语课文原文 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!
大学英语课文原文 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.
我知道勇气是什么样子。 我在6年前的一次飞行中看到了它，只有现在，我才能说起它，而不流泪，眼睛充满了记忆。
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.
当我们的L1011在那个星期五早上离开奥兰多机场时，我们是一个精力充沛的人。 清晨的航班主要接待专业人士到亚特兰大出差一两天。 当我环顾四周时，我看到了许多名牌西装、皮箱和所有经验丰富的商务旅行者的装饰。 我安顿下来，看了一些清淡的书和前面的短暂飞行。
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.
起飞后，很明显出了问题。 飞机上下颠簸，从左到右颠簸。 所有有经验的旅行者，包括我，都带着熟悉的微笑环顾四周。 我们的社区面貌相互承认，我们以前经历过一些小问题和动乱。 如果你飞得多，你就会看到这些东西，并学会习惯它们。
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.
我们很久没有保持平静。 在空中飞行几分钟后，我们的飞机开始疯狂地倾斜，一只机翼突然向下冲去。 飞机爬得更高，但这无济于事。 它没有。 飞行员很快作出了一个严肃的宣布。
“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.”
“我们有一些困难，”他说。 ”“这时，似乎有一个引擎失灵了。 我们的指标显示我们的液压系统已经失败了。 此时我们将返回奥兰多机场。 由于缺乏液压，我们不确定我们的起落架是否会锁定，所以乘务员会为你的颠簸着陆做好准备。 另外，如果你看窗外，你会看到我们正在从飞机上倾倒燃料。 我们希望在遇到一次粗略的触地时尽可能少地上船。”
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.
换句话说，我们要崩溃了。 从来没有人看到过如此清醒的燃料，数百加仑的.燃料，从我的窗口从飞机的坦克。 空乘人员帮助人们就位，安慰那些已经歇斯底里的人。
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.
当我看着我的商务旅行伙伴的脸时，我被我在他们脸上看到的变化惊呆了。 现在许多人看起来很害怕。 即使是最清醒的乘客也显得面色阴沉，脸色苍白。 是的，他们的脸实际上是灰色的，这是我以前从未见过的。 没有一个例外。 我想，没有人会无所畏惧地面对死亡。 每个人都以某种方式失去了镇静。
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.
我开始在人群中寻找一个人，他感受到了真正的勇气或伟大的信念在这些事件中给予人们的和平和平静。 我没看到任何人。 然后在我的左边几排，我听到了一个仍然平静的声音，一个女人的声音，以一种绝对正常的谈话语气说话。 无震颤或紧张感。 这是一种可爱的，均匀的语气。 我不得不找出这个声音的来源。
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.
周围，人们哭着尖叫着。 一些人抓住扶手，咬紧牙关，保持镇静，但他们的恐惧在他们身上被写满了。 虽然我的信仰使我不会歇斯底里，但我不能像我听到的保证的声音那样平静地、甜蜜地说话。 我终于看到她了。
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.
在所有的混乱中，一个母亲正在和她的孩子说话，只是在说话。 这个女人，30多岁，以任何其他方式看起来不起眼，盯着她女儿的脸，她看起来已经4岁了。 孩子仔细地听着，意识到母亲的话的重要性。 母亲的目光紧紧地盯着孩子，她似乎没有受到周围悲伤和恐惧的声音的影响。
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.
一张照片闪现在我脑海中，另一个小女孩最近在一场可怕的飞机失事中幸存下来。 据报道，她之所以活着，是因为她的母亲为了保护她，把自己的身体绑在小女孩的身上。 母亲没有活下来。 报纸一直在追踪这个小女孩在几个星期后如何受到心理学家的治疗，以避免经常困扰幸存者的内疚和不值得的感觉。 孩子一遍又一遍地被告知，她妈妈走了不是她的错。 我希望这种情况不会以同样的方式结束。
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?”
我紧张地听到这个母亲对她的孩子说了什么。 我不得不听。 我要听听。 最后，我靠了过去，奇迹般地听到了这个柔和、肯定的声音，语气充满了保证。 母亲一遍又一遍地说：“我太爱你了。 你确定我爱你胜过一切吗？”
“Yes, Mommy,” the little girl said.
“是的，妈妈，”小女孩说。
“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.”
“记住，无论发生什么，我永远爱你。 你是个好女孩。 有时发生的事情不是你的错。 你仍然是个好女孩，我的爱将永远和你在一起。”
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，母亲把她的身体放在她女儿的身上，把安全带绑在两人身上，准备撞车。 没有任何尘世的理由，我们的起落架保持和我们的着陆不是它似乎注定的悲剧。 几秒钟就结束了。
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.
那天我听到的声音从来没有动摇过，也从来没有承认怀疑，这在感情和身体上似乎是不可能的。 我们中的任何一个强硬的商人都不可能没有颤抖的声音说话。 只有最大的勇气，更大的爱，才能把那个母亲抱起来，把她从周围的混乱中抬起来。 妈妈给我看了一个真正的英雄。 在那几分钟里，我听到了勇气的声音。
大学英语课文原文 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，维珍航空公司的一架航班离开希思罗机场飞往新泽西州纽瓦克。 当飞机接近东海岸时，恶劣的天气迫使航班转向康涅狄格州哈特福德，大约171公里的目的地以北。 飞机在那里的跑道上坐了四个小时，没有空调、食物或水，婴儿哭泣，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，该航空公司解释说，哈特福德机场缺乏处理国际航班的海关人员，提出了这一答复：“维珍大西洋公司感谢乘客的耐心，并对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.
美国软件公司37Signals的联合创始人杰森·弗里德3发现，这种说法的语言几乎和引发这种说法的问题一样不人道。
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馆里看到了一场类似的灾难，尽管灾难不那么严重。 一个女人刚买了一大杯咖啡。 在坐下的路上，她绊倒了，把所有的东西都洒在另一个顾客身上。
Here’s what she said, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
她说：“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，”弗里德说，“这就是他们的反应。”
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，我们很少这样说话。 相反，我们采用了一种奇怪而无计划的双语。 我们在家里讲人话，在处理业务时讲“专业。
Go back to that all-too-common phrase: “We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.”
回到这个非常常见的短语：“我们对这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”都是情感上的贫血，缺乏使其有意义的特异性。 “我们道歉”也好不到哪里去。 它的距离几乎达到了轻蔑的程度。 “当你说‘对不起’时，你就拥有了，”弗里德解释道。 “当你说‘我道歉’时，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”.
专业人士是房客的语言。 它预计不会出现很长时间，也不会影响邻里的长期前景无关。 它说“错误是犯的”而不是“我们搞砸了”，声称“承担责任”而不是承认“这是我的错”。
Using business-speak rests on the notion that the distance of professional language is inherently strong — and the closeness of personal language inherently weak.
使用商务语言是基于这样一种观念，即专业语言的距离本质上是强大的，而个人语言的封闭性本质上是脆弱的。
But this idea may be wrong.
但是这个想法可能是错误的。
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.
行为经济学家丹·艾瑞利(DanAriely)进行的研究表明，当人们受到粗鲁对待时，他们更有可能表现出报复性，例如，当他们在交易中得到太多的变化时，他们不会说任何话。 但是，当粗鲁之后是一个清晰而简单的`“我很抱歉”时，烦恼就会消失，人们往往表现得像他们在普通情况下一样正直。
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.
或者考虑药物。 在美国，医生担心在医疗事故诉讼中每个病人都是潜在的原告，律师建议医生永远不承认错误。 但有证据表明，当医生为一个错误道歉，并展示他们将如何在未来避免它-也就是说，当他们说话和行为像人类-受委屈的病人更多地考虑医生，更不可能起诉。
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，一家在线T恤公司Threadless遭遇了一起技术事故。 在升级其计算机系统时，该公司无意中删除了其客户维护了几年的所有博客。 然而，当Threadless没有隐藏在“造成不便”的生硬语言背后，解释错误，直接为他们道歉，甚至邀请对错误的评论时，顾客的反应是令人惊讶的移情。
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.
就像任何有价值的关系一样，我们在商业上的关系取决于信任。 而信任取决于开放，尊重和人性。 然而，我们经常拒绝在我们的职业生活中采取这种做法，尽管我们知道在我们的个人生活中做任何其他事情都是荒谬的。
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，假设我在我的手机上聊天-也许在为这个专栏做采访-当我妻子打电话的时候。 我现在不能和她说话-我在截止日期-所以我对她说，“我所有的大脑现在都很忙，所以请稍等，我很快就会和你在一起。 你的电话对我很重要。”
I guarantee that my customer satisfaction scores at home would suffer.
我保证我在家的客户满意度分数会受到影响。
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.”
但如果这是真的，为什么不在我们的呼叫中心重新处理等待信息，这样它就更像我们对配偶说的话？ “我们知道等待是令人沮丧的，但我们现在正忙着接听其他电话。 我们会尽快联系你的-可能是[插入一个准确的数字分钟。 我们很抱歉让你久等了。”
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.”
弗里德说，在信息和选择泛滥的世界里，清晰度现在是竞争优势的来源。 “真正的商业赢家将是清晰的公司。 清晰是每个人真正想要和欣赏的。”
So try an experiment. For the next seven days, go monolingual and speak only human at all times.
试一试。 在接下来的七天里，只会说一种语言，任何时候都只讲人类。
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.
一开始可能会吓到人们。 但我怀疑他们会用同样的语言回答，你可能会开始真正理解对方，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，如果我弄错了-而且这个测试失败了-我提前为所造成的不便道歉。
大学英语课文原文 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，我给我的一位老朋友打了电话，他是一位职业女性，通常每周在路上两三天。
“How about lunch? “ I said. “How does your calendar look for June?”
“午餐怎么样？ ”“我说。 “你的日历看起来怎么样？”
“How about today?” she said. “I’m totally free.”
“今天怎么样？”她说。 “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.
我很震惊。 我认识的人今天没有人有空吃午饭。 一般忙碌的人有时在下个星期有空。 如果你想订一个地位更高的人，四到六个星期是正常的，到那时，你会很幸运地记住你想吃午饭的内容。 这顿午餐可能会被不同的行政助理重新安排几次，他们会花更多的时间互相交谈，协调你各自的日历，而不是你花在你的午餐客人交谈上。 如果你的地位更高(即。 比其他人更忙，你将被允许重新安排至少两次。
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.
如果你还吃午饭的话。 忙碌的人不会，当他们这样做的时候，他们会告诉你，“我真的不再吃午饭了”，这意味着你应该感到非常荣幸，因为他们为你打破了规则。 你最好赶快吃饭。 一小时十分钟是现在人们在商务午餐上花费最多的时间。
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.”
每当我遇到一个我很久没见过的人，问他们怎么样，他们总是说同样的话，“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.
想在某个星期六和另一对忙碌的夫妇晚饭吗？ 最少两个月，然后才能装进去。
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.”
当你们在一起的时候，你们都会吹嘘你们收到了多少邮件。 “太可怕了，”有人会说。 “我请了三天假，当时我有47封语音邮件。”
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，当然会在假期里回复所有这些语音邮件和电子邮件，这样她就可以马上回去工作了。
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.
然后是关于人们早上起得多早的讨论。 如果你在一个工作日的5：30以后睡觉，你最好的策略是撒谎，这样你的朋友就不会认为你是个懒汉。
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，我在工作间隙休了几天假。 一整天都在我的厨房桌子上看报纸，阳光洒进来，没有地方可去，没有人可看。 愉快-大约五分钟。 然后我开始紧张起来。 如果他们都忘了我呢？ 所以我打电话给几个朋友。 我第一个打电话给他的人在和我说话的时候必须打个电话。 第二个人和第三个人在开会，一有空就给我回电话。
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，就在我开始忙碌的前一天，再过几天，我又会那么忙碌。 同时，我有一种奇怪的感觉，我正在消失。 我很快就发明了一个非常复杂的项目，在白天和晚上的所有时间里，我都在海外进行大量的互联网搜索和传真，我立刻感觉好多了。
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.
我们怎么这么忙？ 不难搞清楚。 在过去十年中，工作世界已成为一个更加达尔文主义的地方。 许多中等收入的中层管理人员必须每周工作60或70小时。 工作狂？ 这是就业的条件。 工作灵活性？ 请。 新技术？ 太棒了。 它让我们一直工作。 做就是做。 而且你的待办事项清单上的东西越多，你就越放心，你一定要数点什么。
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.
当然，在没有工作压力的情况下，你不会超负荷工作，我认识的每个人都有很多。 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.
一个人告诉我他接受了一笔巨额收购后发生了什么事。 他拿了一袋钱，成立了一个小办公室，想知道下一步该做什么。 他在星期一早上八点出现。 他的预约书是空白的。 电话没响。 没有人需要他。 他说这是他一生中最糟糕的时刻。
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.
当我遇见我的朋友吃午饭时，我问她，她的超级忙碌的日程发生了什么。 她告诉我，她给自己制定了严格的新方案。 她每周至少拒绝三次作业。 她在练习做一个懒汉。 她曾发誓不再做多项任务，并试图进行单位任务，尽管她承认这非常困难。 然后她邀请我午饭后和她一起去花园中心。
It would have been fun, I said. But I really had to get back to work.
那会很有趣的，我说。 但我真的得回去工作了。
大学英语课文原文 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.
在美国，绝大多数美国人都和他们有血缘或婚姻关系的人生活在一起。大多数美国夫妇有两个或三个孩子，尽管大家庭并不罕见。一般来说，家庭由父母及其未成年子女组成。中老年人一般不与已婚子女同住。然而，父母通常与成年子女保持密切联系。节假日，大家庭的成员——祖父母、阿姨、叔叔、堂兄弟姐妹一家经常一起吃饭。
在过去，很少有人愿意在童年之后和父母住在一起。但最近，越来越多的美国年轻人大学毕业后回国。他们中的一些人决定呆在家里省钱，同时努力工作，争取有一天他们可以建立一个自己的家。这是一个切实可行的'决定，因为今天需要做大量的工作——学术上的和专业上的——才能做到自给自足。
大学英语课文原文 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.
我当地报纸上最近的一个报道涉及一个悲伤的家庭。 儿子因吸毒入狱，母亲拼命想办法给儿子带来希望。 这个故事描述了她平淡无奇的家，她在儿子入狱前和他分享了这个家，里面有4只猫，一只50英寸的松下猫，几乎没有其他东西。 这位母亲特别有动力拿回她儿子的2000辆宝马和2001年奥迪Quattro，这两辆车最近都被他的“朋友”偷了”。 她觉得把他的车还给他会给他一些未来的希望。
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.
报纸的报道谈到了这个家庭如何处理许多根深蒂固的问题。 然而，等离子电视和欧洲汽车作为一种疾病的象征脱颖而出，这种疾病存在于我们的社会中，很少有人想过，而且许多人甚至不知道。
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.
消费主义可能是一种破坏性的心理成瘾，它破坏了我们的金融资源、福祉和希望。 我相信欲望不是这个家庭唯一的毒品。 大屏幕电视可能会不停地运行，通过传授令人怀疑的智慧来改变这个贫穷家庭成员的大脑，即拥有美好的事物和过着炫耀性消费的生活方式是他们所有梦想和痛苦的答案。
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.
不认识的受害者
美国消费主义文化的主要学者朱丽叶·肖尔(JulietSchor)最近说，我们的文化已经达到了一个临界点：美国女性平均每年购买52件以上的新衣服-每周超过一件。 当然，女人不需要那么多新衣服，但她们还是买了。 为什么？ 令我们惊讶的是，我们大多数人都被我们的消费文化洗脑，过度消费。 更糟糕的是，随着时间的推移，这种过度消费已经成为我们身份的一部分。 我们的价值观、态度、习惯和做法反映了这种成瘾文化。
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.”
许多人仍然认为，没有他们的知识，他们就不可能被洗脑。 他们说：“我在广告中按了静音键。 或者，“我在看电视前先用数字方式记录我的节目，然后通过广告快速前进。”
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.
这可能有助于减少市场唯物主义的.诱惑。 然而，这些项目本身往往是原因。 一项研究发现，最受欢迎的电视情景喜剧中所代表的生活方式的成本远远超出了一般美国人所能承受的范围。 我们看到了这些生活方式，并随着时间的推移，期待它们。 另一项研究发现，一个人看电视越多，他们花的钱就越多。 尽管参与者认为他们不会受到广告的影响，但这一点还是存在的。
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.
人们通常不认识到的是，广告商的目标是有钱的人。 我们无休止地接触到针对富人的广告。 在过去的50年里情况越来越糟。
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，一项针对杂志广告的研究发现，fifties和60ties的杂志大多包含家庭和低成本产品的广告。 同样的杂志也刊登了许多奢侈品的广告，比如雷克萨斯汽车和希尔顿夏威夷度假。
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.
我们潜意识地认为我们是这种广告的目标，高成本的产品和生活方式被描绘成我们作为美国人的与生俱来的权利。 这导致我们花费远远超出我们的能力。 事实上，在最近经济繁荣的近高峰时期，个人储蓄率处于负值状态。
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?
一条银色衬里
在成瘾的深处，往往似乎没有出路。 消费主义的文化成瘾当然是如此。 我们经常听说，我们的经济70%依赖于消费支出。 破坏经济“事实”的行为就像把自己锁在康复中心。 当我需要酒精饮料时，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.
幸运的是，在这一切中有一线希望。 虽然你会不可避免地经历一些戒断症状，如果你脱离了我们消费文化的外在动机，你会发现它们不会持续很长时间。 许多有趣的个人故事，从读者的GetRich慢慢（和其他地方）表明，他们发现很难改变最初。 但很快他们发现，当他们回顾他们浪费的日子时，似乎他们被另一个人占有了。 他们怎么会这么蠢？ 他们说现在快乐多了。 而他们的储蓄也从负增长到了坚挺。
There’s more than just amusing evidence to show that living a less materialistic, consumeristic lifestyle will bring greater joy to your life.
有更多有趣的证据表明，过一种不那么唯物主义、消费主义的生活方式会给你的生活带来更大的快乐。
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.
心理学家最近发现，对经济手段和生活方式有一个现实的期望会给更大的幸福和幸福带来无尽的红利。 到财务现实与财务预期之间存在更大差异的程度(a.k.a。 财务欲望差异)，对你的幸福感有更大的风险。 换句话说，对你所拥有的东西感到满意将会获得宝贵的回报。 对你所拥有的不满意，并提出获得更多的观点，是生活中最快的不满方式。
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.
当然，与广告机器密不可分，这使得这件事很难做到，即使不是不可能做到的。 一个好的第一步是让自己一次稍微远离商业化的媒体。 你会很快意识到你没有错过任何东西，事实上，你有更多的时间去做你最喜欢的事情。 断开和活得更好。
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，也许报纸上的故事对贫穷的家庭有希望。 与其成为我们的消费文化的受害者，坚持让汽车回来会起作用，他们可以让汽车走，卖电视，专注于生活中最好的事情。 而且，他们可以在这个过程中省钱。
大学英语课文原文 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.
个M.R.I。 对一个像我母亲一样老残的人来说是一个巨大的审判。 前几次她还住在佛罗里达的时候，我没有和她在一起；后来我才问起那个管子里可怕的砰砰声和幽闭恐惧症。 但一旦我成为她的常规M.R.I。 护卫，我发现她还有更多的约会。 对我来说，这些测试对于80多岁的人来说和50多岁的人来说是完全不同的。
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.
由于她的关节炎在早上最严重，她不得不在黎明起床，等待着穿衣服，直到关节松动。 我会去她的公寓，帮她下楼到车旁，折叠步行器，把它放在后备箱里，然后把她安顿在前排座位上，系好安全带，因为她再也不能从肩膀和腰部转过来，也不能操纵扣了。 这些都是我早期的经验教训之一：变老是多么的困难-每件事都需要多长时间，其中有多大的伤害，以及照顾者必须停止以扭曲的速度移动，适应残疾人的步伐，试图使这一切看起来自然和毫不费力。
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.
我学到了这么多：永远不要让你妈妈羞于跟上你。 首先，这不太好。 第二，你们两个都必须应付她的臀部骨折，如果匆忙导致跌倒。
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.
而这：仅仅放慢速度是不够的。 如果你的母亲和我一样小心，如果你的脸反映出不耐烦，她会看到的；这会让她感到内疚或尴尬。
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，我会把她送到大厅，让她安顿在椅子上，去停车，走出步行者，回到主楼迎接她。 然后，在M.R.I楼上。 套房我们会等，等等，再等一些。 每次她必须去洗手间，我都会警觉起来。 起初，我忘了瓶装水或零食，假设会有自助餐厅或自动售货机。 不舒服的塑料椅子没有扶手和形状的背，因此她坐在里面很痛苦。 没有电视。 我母亲很害怕，很痛苦，或者抱怨和易怒。 我时而高兴，时而闷闷不乐，时而流露出真诚的善意。
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，我会把她送到大厅，让她安顿在椅子上，去停车，走出步行者，回到主楼迎接她。 然后，在M.R.I楼上。 套房我们会等，等等，再等一些。 每次她必须去洗手间，我都会警觉起来。 起初，我忘了瓶装水或零食，假设会有自助餐厅或自动售货机。 不舒服的塑料椅子没有扶手和形状的背，因此她坐在里面很痛苦。 没有电视。 我母亲很害怕，很痛苦，或者抱怨和易怒。 我时而高兴，时而闷闷不乐，时而流露出真诚的善意。
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，一个年迈的父母的需求的恒久性，再加上他们不能迅速或完全或有时根本得到答复，都造成了损失。 令我惊讶的是，对老年人的黑蓝虐待很少发生，因为有时照顾者会感到沮丧和疲惫。 不知何故，很少人会以这种方式失去控制。 我认为，我们经常听到的例外情况，既是对世界上实际发生的事情的歪曲，也是对所有照顾者的一种隐含的侮辱，尤其是那些照顾阿尔茨海默氏症家庭成员的`人，他们在人们认为可能一起，在人们认为可能会使他们沉沦的情况下。
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.
我妈妈的名字终于被呼唤了。 我们一起挤进一个更衣室，这样我就可以帮她脱下衣服，穿上纸袍。 我们很快了解到，在考试的日子里，她不穿内衣会做得更好，因为进出是如此的疲惫。 对她来说，没有一个人进入这个世界是许多人中的一个小小的耻辱。
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.
对我母亲来说，第二最难的事情是她的袜子，在冬天是不可避免的。 她拒绝帮助我把它们摘下来，看着她的挣扎既悲伤又惹恼了我。
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.
当我们终于脱完她的衣服时——那时我们两个都很尴尬，也很测试——我陪她走进M.R.I。 房间。 在那里，年轻的技术人员似乎期待着她像体操运动员一样跳上桌子。 我解释说她需要帮助。 他和我们一路上遇到的其他技术人员一样，很好，但似乎对这个要求感到惊讶，好像她是他见过的第一个年龄和僵硬的人，在我看来，这在不可能和不可能之间。
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.
我母亲在考试或整个过程的逆转过程中，从来没有说过一句抱怨的话-穿衣、安顿在车里、被开车回家帮助上楼。 一M.R.I，挨家挨户，通常为我花了一整天，为我母亲花了两天，因为她在身体上度过了24个小时。 幸运的是，我有一个雇主，他只是让我跳过一天的工作，知道我会弥补我自己的时间。
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.
但我经常想知道，有多少其他成年女儿会失去一天的工资，甚至他们的生计，因为他们的护理义务增加，包括所有其他，直到这些妇女逐渐从自己的生活中消失。
大学英语课文原文 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 $2.5 million — have chosen not to reveal their names. Such reticence is unusual: less than 1% of private gifts to charity are anonymous. Most people want their good deeds to be talked about. In Richistan, a book on America’s new rich, Robert Frank writes of the several society publications in Florida’s Palm Beach which exist largely to publicize the charity of its rich residents.
奖励人们的慷慨可能会适得其反
波士顿当代艺术学院(ICA)大厅里的一块巨大的牌匾，是一座坐落在海港边缘一座引人注目的玻璃和金属建筑中的博物馆，标志着它最慷慨的赞助人。 游客会注意到，一些捐赠者——包括两个捐给ICA超过250万$的捐赠者——选择不透露他们的姓名。 这种沉默是不寻常的：不到1%的私人礼物是匿名的。 大多数人希望他们的善行被谈论。 罗伯特·弗兰克(Robert Frank)在《里希斯坦》(Richistan)一书中写道，在佛罗里达棕榈滩(Palm Beach)有几本社会出版物，主要是为了宣传富裕居民的慈善事业。
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 $306 billion that Americans gave to charity in 2007 was more than triple the amount donated in 1965. And though a big chunk of this comes from billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, whose philanthropy has attracted much attention, modest earners also give generously of their time and money. A 2001 survey found that 89% of American households gave to charity, and that 44% of adults volunteered the equivalent of 9 million full-time jobs. Tax breaks explain some of the kindness of strangers. But by no means all.
事实证明，私人和公共慷慨之间的区别有助于理解是什么促使人们向慈善机构捐款或献血。 这种行动十分普遍，而且还在增加。 2007年美国人捐给慈善机构的$为3060亿，是1965年捐款额的三倍多。 尽管其中很大一部分来自像比尔·盖茨和沃伦·巴菲特这样的亿万富翁，他们的慈善事业引起了人们的广泛关注，但中等收入者也慷慨地提供了他们的时间和金钱。 2001年的一项调查发现，89%的美国家庭捐赠给慈善机构，44%的成年人自愿提供相当于900万份全职工作。 减税解释了陌生人的一些善良。 但绝不是全部。
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”.
经济学家往往认为人的大多数行为都是出于自身利益，他们已经找出了解释这种善举的几个理由。 当然，减税是其中的一个主要因素，但捐助者有时也直接支付他们的痛苦，而仅仅想到一封感谢信就足以说服别人给予。 有些人甚至出于无私的行为。 但最有趣的是另一种解释，即人们做好事的部分原因是它使他们在那些他们关心的人看来很好。 经济学家称之为“形象动机”。
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.
杜克大学的DanAriely4、特拉维夫大学的Anat Bracha和哥伦比亚大学的Stephan Meier通过实验，试图检验图像动机的重要性，以及了解不同的动机因素是如何相互作用的。 他们在一篇新的论文中报告了他们的结果，表明形象动机非常重要，至少在实验室里是如此。 更令人惊讶的是，他们发现，货币激励可能适得其反。
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.
慈善作为一种形象塑造手段的决定性因素当然是，只有别人知道它，并积极考虑有关慈善组织，它才能发挥作用。 因此，研究人员认为，当人们的行为是公开的时，他们应该给予更多。
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.
为了测试这一点，他们进行了一个名为“点击慈善”的实验，参与者可以通过点击键盘上的电脑键的尴尬组合来捐赠。 他们点击的次数决定了他们为美国红十字会捐赠了多少钱。 由于92%的参与者高度评价红十字会，因此可以认为给予红十字会可以使人们看起来对他们的`同龄人很好。 人们被随机分配到一个私人团体，只有参与者知道捐赠金额，或者一个公共团体，参与者必须在会议结束时站起来，并与该团体分享这些信息。 与图像重要的假设相一致，参与者在公共案例中付出了更大的努力：平均点击次数为900次，几乎是私人案例中517次点击的平均次数的两倍。
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，研究人员想更进一步。 在这方面，他们被普林斯顿大学的罗兰·贝纳布(Roland Benabou)和图卢兹大学的让·蒂罗尔(Jean Tirole)两位经济学家的理论模型所束缚，他们正式提出了这样的观点，即如果人们表现得很好，在混合中引入货币或其他奖励可能会使问题复杂化。 例如，一个观察者看到有人因献血而得到报酬，就会发现很难区分献血者内在的“善”和贪婪。
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先生和他的同事认为，增加货币激励应该在公共场合比在私人场合产生的影响小得多（在私人场合，形象并不重要）。 通过给实验参与者增加金钱奖励，他们能够证实他们的假设。 在私底下，点击次数从548次增加到740次，但在公开场合，几乎没有效果。
“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.
“这就像你为慈善事业做了一次竞选，”Ariely说。 “如果我每英里给你一块钱，你就会跑得越来越长。 然而，如果别人看着你，那么加上这一美元会使你不太可能跑。 你认为别人会认为你只是为了钱而跑。 这是因为你非常重视别人的意见。
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.
实验还表明，巧妙设计的奖励实际上可以通过利用形象动机来获得更多的慷慨。 例如，假设奖励被用来鼓励人们以最低限度的捐赠来支持某一事业。 如果这一事业将那些慷慨超过最低要求的人公之于众，就会表明他们不仅仅是“为了钱”。 行为经济学可能会为慈善机构提供一些创造性的新筹款技术。
【大学英语课文原文】相关文章：
大学英语4课文原文07-28
大学体验英语3课文原文07-21
高一必修英语课文原文03-18
高中英语课文原文05-31
小学课文太阳课文原文11-09
背影课文原文02-13
海燕课文原文07-25
散步课文原文03-19
跳水课文原文06-03