全新版大學英語第三冊 课文翻译

   全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT1-2   In America many people have a romantic idea of life in the countryside.
在美国，不少人对乡村生活怀有浪漫的情感。Many living in towns dream of starting up their own farm, of living off the land.
许多居住在城镇的人梦想着自己办个农场，梦想着靠土地为生。Few get round to putting their dreams into practice.
很少有人真去把梦想变为现实。 This is perhaps just as well, as the life of a farmer is far from easy, as Jim Doherty discovered when he set out to combine being a writer with running a farm.     
 或许这也没有什么不好，因为，正如吉姆·多尔蒂当初开始其写作和农场经营双重生涯时所体验到的那样，农耕生活远非轻松自在。Nevertheless, as he explains, he has no regrets and remains enthusiastic about his decision to change his way of life.
但他写道，自己并不后悔，对自己作出的改变生活方式的决定仍热情不减。  Mr. Doherty Builds His Dream Life
多尔蒂先生创建自己的理想生活 Jim Doherty
吉姆·多尔蒂 1     There are two things I have always wanted to do -- write and live on a farm. Today I'm doing both.
      有两件事是我一直想做的――写作与务农。如今我同时做着这两件事。I am not in E. B. White's class as a writer or in my neighbors' league as a farmer, but I'm getting by.
作为作家，我和E·B·怀特不属同一等级，作为农场主，我和乡邻也不是同一类人，不过我应付得还行。 And after years of frustration with city and suburban living, my wife Sandy and I have finally found contentment here in the country.
在城市以及郊区历经多年的怅惘失望之后，我和妻子桑迪终于在这里的乡村寻觅到心灵的满足。
 
 
 
  　
2    It's a self-reliant sort of life. We grow nearly all of our fruits and vegetables.
这是一种自力更生的生活。我们食用的果蔬几乎都是自己种的。 Our hens keep us in eggs, with several dozen left over to sell each week.     
 自家饲养的鸡提供鸡蛋，每星期还能剩余几十个出售。Our bees provide us with honey, and we cut enough wood to just about make it through the heating season. 自家养殖的蜜蜂提供蜂蜜，我们还自己动手砍柴，足可供过冬取暖之用。
 
 
3    It's a satisfying life too. In the summer we canoe on the river, go picnicking in the woods and take long bicycle rides.
      这也是一种令人满足的生活。夏日里我们在河上荡舟，在林子里野餐，骑着自行车长时间漫游。In the winter we ski and skate. We get excited about sunsets.
冬日里我们滑雪溜冰。我们为落日的余辉而激动。 We love the smell of the earth warming and the sound of cattle lowing.
我们爱闻大地回暖的气息，爱听牛群哞叫。 We watch for hawks in the sky and deer in the cornfields.
我们守着看鹰儿飞过上空，看玉米田间鹿群嬉跃。
 
 
4    But the good life can get pretty tough.
但如此美妙的生活有时会变得相当艰苦。 Three months ago when it was 30 below, we spent two miserable days hauling firewood up the river on a sled.
就在三个月前，气温降到华氏零下30度，我们辛苦劳作了整整两天，用一个雪橇沿着河边拖运木柴。 Three months from now, it will be 95 above and we will be cultivating corn, weeding strawberries and killing chickens.
      再过三个月，气温会升到95度，我们就要给玉米松土，在草莓地除草，还要宰杀家禽。Recently, Sandy and I had to retile the back roof.
前一阵子我和桑迪不得不翻修后屋顶。Soon Jim, 16 and Emily, 13, the youngest of our four children, will help me make some long-overdue improvements on the outdoor toilet that supplements our indoor plumbing when we are working outside.
过些时候，四个孩子中的两个小的，16岁的吉米和13岁的埃米莉，会帮着我一起把拖了很久没修的室外厕所修葺一下，那是专为室外干活修建的。 Later this month, we'll spray the orchard, paint the barn, plant the garden and clean the hen house before the new chicks arrive.
这个月晚些时候，我们要给果树喷洒药水，要油漆谷仓，要给菜园播种，要赶在新的小鸡运到之前清扫鸡舍。
 
 
 
  
5    In between such chores, I manage to spend 50 to 60 hours a week at the typewriter or doing reporting for the freelance articles I sell to magazines and newspapers.
在这些活计之间，我每周要抽空花五、六十个小时，不是打字撰文，就是为作为自由撰稿人投给报刊的文章进行采访。Sandy, meanwhile, pursues her own demanding schedule.
桑迪则有她自己繁忙的工作日程。 Besides the usual household routine, she oversees the garden and beehives, bakes bread, cans and freezes, drives the kids to their music lessons, practices with them, takes organ lessons on her own, does research and typing for me, writes an article herself now and then, tends the flower beds, stacks a little wood and delivers the eggs.
除了日常的家务，她还照管菜园和蜂房，烘烤面包，将食品装罐、冷藏，开车送孩子学音乐，和他们一起练习，自己还要上风琴课，为我做些研究工作并打字，自己有时也写写文章，还要侍弄花圃，堆摞木柴、运送鸡蛋。
There is, as the old saying goes, no rest for the wicked on a place like this -- and not much for the virtuous either.       正如老话说的那样，在这种情形之下，坏人不得闲――贤德之人也歇不了。
 
 
6    None of us will ever forget our first winter.
我们谁也不会忘记第一年的冬天。We were buried under five feet of snow from December through March.
从12月一直到3月底，我们都被深达5英尺的积雪困着。 While one storm after another blasted huge drifts up against the house and barn,
      暴风雪肆虐，一场接着一场，积雪厚厚地覆盖着屋子和谷仓，we kept warm inside burning our own wood, eating our own apples and loving every minute of it.
而室内，我们用自己砍伐的木柴烧火取暖，吃着自家种植的苹果，温馨快乐每一分钟。
   
7    When spring came, it brought two floods.
开春后，有过两次泛滥。First the river overflowed, covering much of our land for weeks.
一次是河水外溢，我们不少田地被淹了几个星期。 Then the growing season began, swamping us under wave after wave of produce.
 接着一次是生长季节到了，一波又一波的农产品潮涌而来，弄得我们应接不暇。 Our freezer filled up with cherries, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, peas, beans and corn.
我们的冰箱里塞满了樱桃、蓝莓、草莓、芦笋、豌豆、青豆和玉米。 Then our canned-goods shelves and cupboards began to grow with preserves, tomato juice, grape juice, plums, jams and jellies.
接着我们存放食品罐的架子上、柜橱里也开始堆满一罐罐的腌渍食品，有番茄汁、葡萄汁、李子、果酱和果冻。 Eventually, the basement floor disappeared under piles of potatoes, squash and pumpkins, and the barn began to fill with apples and pears. It was amazing.最后，地窖里遍地是大堆大堆的土豆、西葫芦、南瓜，谷仓里也储满了苹果和梨。真是太美妙了。
 
  
8    The next year we grew even more food and managed to get through the winter on firewood that was mostly from our own trees and only 100 gallons of heating oil.
第二年我们种了更多的作物，差不多就靠着从自家树林砍斫的木柴以及仅仅100加仑的燃油过了冬。 At that point I began thinking seriously about quitting my job and starting to freelance.
     其时，我开始认真考虑起辞了职去从事自由撰稿的事来。The timing was terrible.时机选得实在太差。 By then, Shawn and Amy, our oldest girls were attending expensive Ivy League schools and we had only a few thousand dollars in the bank.
当时，两个大的女儿肖恩和埃米正在费用很高的常春藤学校上学，而我们只有几千美金的银行存款。Yet we kept coming back to the same question: Will there ever be a better time?
但我们一再回到一个老问题上来：真的会有更好的时机吗？ The answer, decidedly, was no, and so -- with my employer's blessings and half a year's pay in accumulated benefits in my pocket -- off I went.
答案无疑是否定的。于是，带着老板的祝福，口袋里揣着作为累积津贴的半年薪水，我走了。
 
9    There have been a few anxious moments since then, but on balance things have gone much better than we had any right to expect.
      那以后有过一些焦虑的时刻，但总的来说，情况比我们料想的要好得多。For various stories of mine, I've crawled into black-bear dens for Sports Illustrated,
为了写那些内容各不相同的文章，我为《体育画报》爬进过黑熊窝；hitched up dogsled racing teams for Smithsonian magazine,
为《史密森期刊》替参赛的一组组狗套上过雪橇；checked out the Lake Champlain "monster" for Science Digest,
为《科学文摘》调查过尚普兰湖水怪的真相；and canoed through the Boundary Waters wilderness area of Minnesota for Destinations.
为《终点》杂志在明尼苏达划着小舟穿越美、加边界水域内的公共荒野保护区。
 
10    I'm not making anywhere near as much money as I did when I was employed full time, but now we don't need as much either.
  我挣的钱远比不上担任全职工作时的收入，可如今我们需要的钱也没有过去多。 I generate enough income to handle our $600-a-month mortgage payments plus the usual expenses for a family like ours.
我挣的钱足以应付每月600美金的房屋贷款按揭以及一家人的日常开销。 That includes everything from music lessons and dental bills to car repairs and college costs.
    那些开销包括了所有支出，如音乐课学费、牙医账单、汽车维修以及大学费用等等。 When it comes to insurance, we have a poor man's major-medical policy.
至于保险，我们买了一份低收入者的主要医疗项目保险。 We have to pay the first $500 of any medical fees for each member of the family. It picks up 80% of the costs beyond that.
我们需要为每一位家庭成员的任何一项医疗费用支付最初的500美金。医疗保险则支付超出部分的80％。 Although we are stuck with paying minor expenses, our premium is low -- only $560 a year -- and we are covered against catastrophe.
虽然我们仍要支付小部分医疗费用，但我们的保险费也低--每年只要560美金--而我们给自己生大病保了险。 Aside from that and the policy on our two cars at $400 a year, we have no other insurance.除了这一保险项目，以及两辆汽车每年400美金的保险，我们就没有其他保险了。 But we are setting aside $2,000 a year in an IRA.
不过我们每年留出2000美元入个人退休金账户。
 
  
11    We've been able to make up the difference in income by cutting back without appreciably lowering our standard of living.
我们通过节约开支而又不明显降低生活水准的方式来弥补收入差额。We continue to dine out once or twice a month, but now we patronize local restaurants instead of more expensive places in the city.
      我们每个月仍出去吃一两次饭，不过现在我们光顾的是当地餐馆，而不是城里的高级饭店。 We still attend the opera and ballet in Milwaukee but only a few times a year.
我们仍去密尔沃基听歌剧看芭蕾演出，不过一年才几次。 We eat less meat, drink cheaper wine and see fewer movies.
我们肉吃得少了，酒喝得便宜了，电影看得少了。 Extravagant Christmases are a memory, and we combine vacations with story assignments...
铺张的圣诞节成为一种回忆，我们把完成稿约作为度假的一部分……
 
  
12    I suspect not everyone who loves the country would be happy living the way we do.
 我想，不是所有热爱乡村的人都会乐意过我们这种生活的。It takes a couple of special qualities.
这种生活需要一些特殊的素质。 One is a tolerance for solitude. Because we are so busy and on such a tight budget, we don't entertain much.
 其一是耐得住寂寞。由于我们如此忙碌，手头又紧，我们很少请客。 During the growing season there is no time for socializing anyway.
    在作物生长季节，根本就没工夫参加社交活动。Jim and Emily are involved in school activities, but they too spend most of their time at home.
吉米和埃米莉虽然参加学校的各种活动，但他俩大多数时间也呆在家里。
 
  
13    The other requirement is energy -- a lot of it.
另一项要求是体力――相当大的体力。The way to make self-sufficiency work on a small scale is to resist the temptation to buy a tractor and other expensive laborsaving devices.
  小范围里实现自给自足的途径是抵制诱惑，不去购置拖拉机和其他昂贵的节省劳力的机械。Instead, you do the work yourself. The only machinery we own (not counting the lawn mower) is a little three-horsepower rotary cultivator and a 16-inch chain saw.
    相反，你要自己动手。我们仅有的机器（不包括割草机）是一台3马力的小型旋转式耕耘机以及一架16英寸的链锯。
 
14    How much longer we'll have enough energy to stay on here is anybody's guess -- perhaps for quite a while, perhaps not.
没人知道我们还能有精力在这里再呆多久--也许呆很长一阵子，也许不是。When the time comes, we'll leave with a feeling of sorrow but also with a sense of pride at what we've been able to accomplish.
      到走的时候，我们会怆然离去，但也会为自己所做的一切深感自豪。 We should make a fair profit on the sale of the place, too.
我们把农场出售也会赚相当大一笔钱。 We've invested about $35,000 of our own money in it, and we could just about double that if we sold today.
我们自己在农场投入了约35，000美金的资金，要是现在售出的话价格差不多可以翻一倍。But this is not a good time to sell. Once economic conditions improve, however, demand for farms like ours should be strong again.
不过现在不是出售的好时机。但是一旦经济形势好转，对我们这种农场的需求又会增多。
 
  
15    We didn't move here primarily to earn money though.
 但我们主要不是为了赚钱而移居至此的。We came because we wanted to improve the quality of our lives.
     我们来此居住是因为想提高生活质量。 When I watch Emily collecting eggs in the evening, fishing with Jim on the river or enjoying an old-fashioned picnic in the orchard with the entire family, I know we've found just what we were looking for.
当我看着埃米莉傍晚去收鸡蛋，跟吉米一起在河上钓鱼，或和全家人一起在果园里享用老式的野餐，我知道，我们找到了自己一直在寻求的生活方式。
              
全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT2-2
  In 2004 a center in honor of the "underground railroad" opens in Cincinnati. The railroad was unusual. It sold no tickets and had no trains. Yet it carried thousands of passengers to the destination of their dreams.
      2004年，一个纪念“地下铁路”的中心将在辛辛那提州成立。这条铁路不同寻常，它不出售车票，也无火车行驶。然而，它将成千上万的乘客送往他们梦想中的目的地。  
 
 
The Freedom Givers Fergus M. Bordewich
1     A gentle breeze swept the Canadian plains as I stepped outside the small two-story house. Alongside me was a slender woman in a black dress, my guide back to a time when the surrounding settlement in Dresden, Ontario, was home to a hero in American history. As we walked toward a plain gray church, Barbara Carter spoke proudly of her great-great-grandfather, Josiah Henson. "He was confident that the Creator intended all men to be created equal. And he never gave up struggling for that freedom."
给人以自由者 弗格斯·M·博得威奇       我步出这幢两层小屋，加拿大平原上轻风微拂。我身边是一位苗条的黑衣女子，把我带回到过去的向导。那时，安大略省得雷斯顿这一带住着美国历史上的一位英雄。我们前往一座普普通通的灰色教堂，芭芭拉·卡特自豪地谈论着其高祖乔赛亚·亨森。“他坚信上帝要所有人生来平等。他从来没有停止过争取这一自由权利的奋斗。”
 
 
 
  　
2    Carter's devotion to her ancestor is about more than personal pride: it is about family honor. For Josiah Henson has lived on through the character in American fiction that he helped inspire: Uncle Tom, the long-suffering slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ironically, that character has come to symbolize everything Henson was not. A racial sellout unwilling to stand up for himself? Carter gets angry at the thought. "Josiah Henson was a man of principle," she said firmly.
      卡特对其先辈的忠诚不仅仅关乎一己之骄傲，而关乎家族荣誉。因为乔赛亚·亨森至今仍为人所知是由于他所激发的创作灵感使得一个美国小说人物问世：汤姆叔叔，哈丽特·比彻·斯陀的小说《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中那个逆来顺受的黑奴。具有讽刺意味的是，这一人物所象征的一切在亨森身上一点都找不到。一个不愿奋起力争、背叛种族的黑人？卡特对此颇为愤慨。“乔赛亚·亨森是个有原则的人，”她肯定地说。
 
 
 
 
3    I had traveled here to Henson's last home -- now a historic site that Carter formerly directed -- to learn more about a man who was, in many ways, an African-American Moses. After winning his own freedom from slavery, Henson secretly helped hundreds of other slaves to escape north to Canada -- and liberty. Many settled here in Dresden with him.
      我远道前来亨森最后的居所――如今已成为卡特曾管理过的一处历史遗迹――是为了更多地了解此人，他在许多方面堪称黑人摩西。亨森自己摆脱了黑奴身份获得自由之后，便秘密帮助其他许多黑奴逃奔北方去加拿大――逃奔自由之地。许多人和他一起在得雷斯顿这一带定居了下来。
 
 
 
 
4    Yet this stop was only part of a much larger mission for me. Josiah Henson is but one name on a long list of courageous men and women who together forged the Underground Railroad, a secret web of escape routes and safe houses that they used to liberate slaves from the American South. Between 1820 and 1860, as many as 100,000 slaves traveled the Railroad to freedom.
      但此地只是我所承担的繁重使命的一处停留地。乔赛亚·亨森只是一长串无所畏惧的男女名单中的一个名字，这些人共同创建了这条“地下铁路”，一条由逃亡线路和可靠的人家组成的用以解放美国南方黑奴的秘密网络。在1820年至1860年期间，多达十万名黑奴经由此路走向自由。
 
 
 
  
5    In October 2000, President Clinton authorized $16 million for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to honor this first great civil-rights struggle in the U. S. The center is scheduled to open in 2004 in Cincinnati. And it's about time. For the heroes of the Underground Railroad remain too little remembered, their exploits still largely unsung. I was intent on telling their stories.       2000年10月，克林顿总统批准拨款1600万美元建造全国“地下铁路”自由中心，以此纪念美国历史上第一次伟大的民权斗争。中心计划于2004年在辛辛那提州建成。真是该建立这样一个中心的时候了。因为地下铁路的英雄们依然默默无闻，他们的业绩依然少人颂扬。我要讲述他们的故事。
 
 
 
 
6    John Parker tensed when he heard the soft knock. Peering out his door into the night, he recognized the face of a trusted neighbor. "There's a party of escaped slaves hiding in the woods in Kentucky, twenty miles from the river," the man whispered urgently. Parker didn't hesitate. "I'll go," he said, pushing a pair of pistols into his pockets.
      听到轻轻的敲门声，约翰·帕克神情紧张起来。他开门窥望，夜色中认出是一位可靠的邻居。“有一群逃亡奴隶躲在肯塔基州的树林里，就在离河20英里的地方，”那人用急迫的口气低语道。帕克没一点儿迟疑。“我就去，”他说着，把两支手枪揣进口袋。
 
 
 
 
7    Born a slave two decades before, in the 1820s, Parker had been taken from his mother at age eight and forced to walk in chains from Virginia to Alabama, where he was sold on the slave market. Determined to live free someday, he managed to get trained in iron molding. Eventually he saved enough money working at this trade on the side to buy his freedom. Now, by day, Parker worked in an iron foundry in the Ohio port of Ripley. By night he was a  "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, helping people slip by the slave hunters. In Kentucky, where he was now headed, there was a $1000 reward for his capture, dead or alive.
      20年前，即19世纪20年代，生来即为黑奴的帕克才8岁就被从母亲身边带走，被迫拖着镣铐从弗吉尼亚走到阿拉巴马，在那里的黑奴市场被买走。他打定主意有朝一日要过自由的生活，便设法学会了铸铁这门手艺。后来他终于靠这门手艺攒够钱赎回了自由。现在，帕克白天在俄亥俄州里普利港的一家铸铁厂干活。到了晚上，他就成了地下铁路的一位“乘务员”，帮助人们避开追捕逃亡黑奴的人。在他正前往的肯塔基州，当局悬赏1000美元抓他，活人死尸都要。
 
 
 
  
8    Crossing the Ohio River on that chilly night, Parker found ten fugitives frozen with fear. "Get your bundles and follow me, " he told them, leading the eight men and two women toward the river. They had almost reached shore when a watchman spotted them and raced off to spread the news.
      在那个阴冷的夜晚，帕克渡过俄亥俄河，找到了十个丧魂落魄的逃亡者。“拿好包裹跟我走，”他一边吩咐他们，一边带着这八男二女朝河边走去。就要到岸时，一个巡夜人发现了他们，急忙跑开去报告。
 
 
 
 
9    Parker saw a small boat and, with a shout, pushed the escaping slaves into it. There was room for all but two. As the boat slid across the river, Parker watched helplessly as the pursuers closed in around the men he was forced to leave behind.
      帕克看见一条小船，便大喝一声，把那些逃亡黑奴推上了船。大家都上了船，但有两个人容不下。小船徐徐驶向对岸，帕克眼睁睁地看着追捕者把他被迫留下的两个男人围住。
 
 
 
  
10    The others made it to the Ohio shore, where Parker hurriedly arranged for a wagon to take them to the next  "station" on the Underground Railroad -- the first leg of their journey to safety in Canada. Over the course of his life, John Parker guided more than 400 slaves to safety.
      其他的人都上了岸，帕克急忙安排了一辆车把他们带到地下铁路的下一“站”――他们走向安全的加拿大之旅的第一程。约翰·帕克在有生之年一共带领400多名黑奴走向安全之地。
 
 
 
  
11    While black conductors were often motivated by their own painful experiences, whites were commonly driven by religious convictions. Levi Coffin, a Quaker raised in North Carolina, explained, "The Bible, in bidding us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, said nothing about color."
      黑人去当乘务员常常是由于本人痛苦的经历，而那些白人则往往是受了宗教信仰的感召。在北卡罗来纳州长大的贵格会教徒利瓦伊·科芬解释说：“《圣经》上只是要我们给饥者以食物，无衣者以衣衫，但没提到过肤色的事。”
 
 
 
  
12    In the 1820s Coffin moved west to Newport (now Fountain City), Indiana, where he opened a store. Word spread that fleeing slaves could always find refuge at the Coffin home. At times he sheltered as many as 17 fugitives at once, and he kept a team and wagon ready to convey them on the next leg of their journey. Eventually three principal routes converged at the Coffin house, which came to be the Grand Central Terminal of the Underground Railroad.
      在19世纪20年代，科芬向西迁移前往印第安纳州的新港（即今天的喷泉市），在那里开了一家小店。人们传说，逃亡黑奴在科芬家总是能得到庇护。有时他一次庇护的逃亡者就多达17人，他还备有一组人员和车辆把他们送往下一段行程。到后来有三条主要路线在科芬家汇合，科芬家成了地下铁路的中央车站。
 
 
 
  
13    For his efforts, Coffin received frequent death threats and warnings that his store and home would be burned. Nearly every conductor faced similar risks -- or worse. In the North, a magistrate might have imposed a fine or a brief jail sentence for aiding those escaping. In the Southern states, whites were sentenced to months or even years in jail. One courageous Methodist minister, Calvin Fairbank, was imprisoned for more than 17 years in Kentucky, where he kept a log of his beatings: 35,105 stripes with the whip.
      科芬经常由于他做的工作受到被杀的威胁，收到焚毁他店铺和住宅的警告。几乎每一个乘务员都面临类似的危险――或者更为严重。在北方，治安官会对帮助逃亡的人课以罚金，或判以短期监禁。在南方各州，白人则被判处几个月甚至几年的监禁。一位勇敢的循道宗牧师卡尔文·费尔班克在肯塔基州被关押了17年多，他记录了自己遭受毒打的情况：总共被鞭笞了35,105下。
 
 
 
  
14    As for the slaves, escape meant a journey of hundreds of miles through unknown country, where they were usually easy to recognize. With no road signs and few maps, they had to put their trust in directions passed by word of mouth and in secret signs -- nails driven into trees, for example -- that conductors used to mark the route north.
      至于那些黑奴，逃亡意味着数百英里的长途跋涉，意味着穿越自己极易被人辨认的陌生地域。没有路标，也几乎没有线路图，他们赶路全凭着口口相告的路线以及秘密记号――比如树上钉着的钉子――是乘务员用来标示北上路线的记号。
 
 
 
  
15    Many slaves traveled under cover of night, their faces sometimes caked with white powder. Quakers often dressed their  "passengers," both male and female, in gray dresses, deep bonnets and full veils. On one occasion, Levi Coffin was transporting so many runaway slaves that he disguised them as a funeral procession.
      许多黑奴在夜色掩护下赶路，有时脸上涂着厚厚的白粉。贵格会教徒经常让他们的“乘客”不分男女穿上灰衣服，戴上深沿帽，披着把头部完全遮盖住的面纱。有一次，利瓦伊·科芬运送的逃亡黑奴实在太多，他就把他们装扮成出殡队伍。
 
 
 
  
16    Canada was the primary destination for many fugitives. Slavery had been abolished there in 1833, and Canadian authorities encouraged the runaways to settle their vast virgin land. Among them was Josiah Henson.
      加拿大是许多逃亡者的首选终点站。那儿1833年就废除了奴隶制，加拿大当局鼓励逃亡奴隶在其广阔的未经开垦的土地上定居。其中就有乔赛亚·亨森。
 
 
 
  
17    As a boy in Maryland, Henson watched as his entire family was sold to different buyers, and he saw his mother harshly beaten when she tried to keep him with her. Making the best of his lot, Henson worked diligently and rose far in his owner's regard.
      还是孩子的亨森在马里兰州目睹着全家人被卖给不同的主人，看到母亲为了想把自己留在她身边而遭受毒打。亨森非常认命，干活勤勉，深受主人器重。
 
 
 
  
18    Money problems eventually compelled his master to send Henson, his wife and children to a brother in Kentucky. After laboring there for several years, Henson heard alarming news: the new master was planning to sell him for plantation work far away in the Deep South. The slave would be separated forever from his family.
      经济困顿最终迫使亨森的主人将他及其妻儿送到主人在肯塔基州的一个兄弟处。在那儿干了几年苦工之后，亨森听说了一个可怕的消息：新主人准备把他卖到遥远的南方腹地去农庄干活。这名奴隶将与自己的家人永远分离。
 
 
 
  
19    There was only one answer: flight. "I knew the North Star," Henson wrote years later. "Like the star of Bethlehem, it announced where my salvation lay. "
      只有一条路可走：逃亡。“我会认北斗星，”许多年后亨森写道。“就像圣地伯利恒的救星一样，它告诉我在哪里可以获救。”
 
 
 
  
20    At huge risk, Henson and his wife set off with their four children. Two weeks later, starving and exhausted, the family reached Cincinnati, where they made contact with members of the Underground Railroad. "Carefully they provided for our welfare, and then they set us thirty miles on our way by wagon."
      亨森和妻子冒着极大的风险带着四个孩子上路了。两个星期之后，饥饿疲惫的一家人来到了辛辛那提州，在那儿，他们与地下铁路的成员取得了联系。“他们为我们提供了食宿，非常关心，接着又用车送了我们30英里。”
 
 
 
  
21    The Hensons continued north, arriving at last in Buffalo, N. Y. There a friendly captain pointed across the Niagara River. "'Do you see those trees?' he said. 'They grow on free soil.'" He gave Henson a dollar and arranged for a boat, which carried the slave and his family across the river to Canada.
      亨森一家继续往北走，最后来到纽约州的布法罗。在那儿，一位友善的船长指着尼亚加拉河对岸。“‘看见那些树没有？’他说，‘它们生长在自由的土地上。’”他给了亨森一美元钱，安排了一条小船，小船载着这位黑奴及其家人过河来到加拿大。
 
 
 
  
22    "I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand and danced around, till, in the eyes of several who were present, I passed for a madman. 'He's some crazy fellow,' said a Colonel Warren."
      “我扑倒在地，在沙土里打滚，手舞足蹈，最后，在场的那几个人都认定我是疯子。‘他是个疯子，’有个沃伦上校说。”
 
 
 
  
23    "'Oh, no! Don't you know? I'm free!'"
      “‘不，不是的！知道吗？我自由了！’”
   全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT3-2
 Years ago in America, it was customary for families to leave their doors unlocked, day and night. In this essay, Greene regrets that people can no longer trust each other and have to resort to elaborate security systems to protect themselves and their possessions.
      许多年前，在美国，家家户户白天黑夜不锁门是司空见惯的。在本文中，格林叹惜人们不再相互信任，不得不凭借精密的安全设备来保护自己和财产。   
 
 
The Land of the Lock Bob Greene
1     In the house where I grew up, it was our custom to leave the front door on the latch at night. I don't know if that was a local term or if it is universal; "on the latch" meant the door was closed but not locked. None of us carried keys; the last one in for the evening would close up, and that was it.
锁之国鲍伯·格林      小时候在家里，我们的前门总是夜不落锁。我不知道这是当地的一种说法还是大家都这么说；"不落锁"的意思是掩上门，但不锁住。我们谁都不带钥匙；晚上最后一个回家的人把门关上，这就行了。
 
 
 
  　
2    Those days are over. In rural areas as well as in cities, doors do not stay unlocked, even for part of an evening.
      那样的日子已经一去不复返了。在乡下，在城里，门不再关着不锁上，哪怕是傍晚一段时间也不例外。
 
 
 
 
3    Suburbs and country areas are, in many ways, even more vulnerable than well-patroled urban streets. Statistics show the crime rate rising more dramatically in those allegedly tranquil areas than in cities. At any rate, the era of leaving the front door on the latch is over.
      在许多方面，郊区和农村甚至比巡查严密的城市街道更易受到攻击。统计显示，那些据称是安宁的地区的犯罪率上升得比城镇更为显著。不管怎么说，前门虚掩不落锁的时代是一去不复返了。
 
 
 
 
4    It has been replaced by dead-bolt locks, security chains, electronic alarm systems and trip wires hooked up to a police station or private guard firm. Many suburban families have sliding glass doors on their patios, with steel bars elegantly built in so no one can pry the doors open.
      取而代之的是防盗锁、防护链、电子报警系统，以及连接警署或私人保安公司的报警装置。郊区的许多人家在露台上安装了玻璃滑门，内侧有装得很讲究的钢条，这样就没人能把门撬开。
 
 
 
  
5    It is not uncommon, in the most pleasant of homes, to see pasted on the windows small notices announcing that the premises are under surveillance by this security force or that guard company.       在最温馨的居家，也常常看得到窗上贴着小小的告示，称本宅由某家安全机构或某个保安公司负责监管。
 
 
 
 
6    The lock is the new symbol of America. Indeed, a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company featured not charts showing how much at risk we are, but a picture of a child's bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.
      锁成了美国的新的象征。的确，一家大保险公司最近的一则公益广告没有用图表表明我们所处的危险有多大，而是用了一幅童车的图片，车身上悬着如今无所不在的挂锁。
 
 
 
 
7    The ad pointed out that, yes, it is the insurance companies that pay for stolen goods, but who is going to pay for what the new atmosphere of distrust and fear is doing to our way of life? Who is going to make the psychic payment for the transformation of America from the Land of the Free to the Land of the Lock?
      广告指出，没错，确是保险公司理赔失窃物品，但谁来赔偿互不信任、担心害怕这种新氛围对我们的生活方式所造成的影响呢？谁来对美国从自由之国到锁之国这一蜕变作出精神赔偿呢？
 
 
 
  
8    For that is what has happened. We have become so used to defending ourselves against the new atmosphere of American life, so used to putting up barriers, that we have not had time to think about what it may mean.
      因为那就是现状。我们已经变得如此习惯于保护自己不受美国生活新氛围的影响，如此习惯于设置障碍，因而无暇考虑这一切意味着什么。
 
 
 
 
9    For some reason we are satisfied when we think we are well-protected; it does not occur to us to ask ourselves: Why has this happened? Why are we having to barricade ourselves against our neighbors and fellow citizens, and when, exactly, did this start to take over our lives?
      出于某种原因，当我们觉得防范周密时就感到心满意足；我们没有问过自己：为什么会出现这种情况？为什么非得把自己与邻居和同住一城的居民相隔绝，这一切究竟是从什么时候开始主宰我们生活的？
 
 
 
  
10    And it has taken over. If you work for a medium- to large-size company, chances are that you don't just wander in and out of work. You probably carry some kind of access card, electronic or otherwise, that allows you in and out of your place of work. Maybe the security guard at the front desk knows your face and will wave you in most days, but the fact remains that the business you work for feels threatened enough to keep outsiders away via these "keys."
      这一切确是主宰了我们的生活。如果你在一家大中型公司上班，你上下班很可能不好随意进出。你可能随身带着某种出入卡，电子的或别的什么的，因为这卡能让你进出工作场所。也许前台的保安认识你这张脸，平日一挥手让你进去，但事实明摆着，你所任职的公司深感面临威胁，因此要借助这些“钥匙”不让外人靠近。
 
 
 
  
11    It wasn't always like this. Even a decade ago, most private businesses had a policy of free access. It simply didn't occur to managers that the proper thing to do was to distrust people.
      这一现象并非向来有之。即使在十年前，大多数私营公司仍采取自由出入的做法。那时管理人员根本没想到过恰当的手段是不信任他人。
 
 
 
  
12    Look at the airports. Parents used to take children out to departure gates to watch planes land and take off. That's all gone. Airports are no longer a place of education and fun; they are the most sophisticated of security sites.
      且看各地机场。过去家长常常带孩子去登机口看飞机起飞降落。这种事再也没有了。机场不再是一个有趣的学习场所；它们成了拥有最精密的安全检查系统的场所。
 
 
 
  
13    With electronic X-ray equipment, we seem finally to have figured out a way to hold the terrorists, real and imagined, at bay; it was such a relief to solve this problem that we did not think much about what such a state of affairs says about the quality of our lives. We now pass through these electronic friskers without so much as a sideways glance; the machines, and what they stand for, have won.
      凭借着电子透视装置，我们似乎终于想出妙计让恐怖分子无法近身，无论是真的恐怖分子还是凭空臆想的。能解决这一问题真是如释重负，于是我们不去多想这种状况对我们的生活质量意味着什么。如今我们走过这些电子搜查器时已经看都不看一眼了，这些装置，还有它们所代表的一切已经获胜。
 
 
 
  
14    Our neighborhoods are bathed in high-intensity light; we do not want to afford ourselves even so much a luxury as a shadow.
      我们的居住区处在强光源的照射下；我们连哪怕像阴影这样小小的享受也不想给自己。
 
 
 
  
15    Businessmen, in increasing numbers, are purchasing new machines that hook up to the telephone and analyze a caller's voice. The machines are supposed to tell the businessman, with a small margin of error, whether his friend or client is telling lies.
      越来越多的商人正购置连接在电话机上、能剖析来电者声音的新机器。据说那种机器能让商人知道他的朋友或客户是否在撒谎，其出错概率很小。
 
 
 
  
16    All this is being done in the name of "security"; that is what we tell ourselves. We are fearful, and so we devise ways to lock the fear out, and that, we decide, is what security means.
      所有这一切都是以“安全”的名义实施的：我们是这么跟自己说的。我们害怕，于是我们设法把害怕锁在外面，我们认定，那就是安全的意义。
 
 
 
  
17    But no; with all this "security," we are perhaps the most insecure nation in the history of civilized man. What better word to describe the way in which we have been forced to live? What sadder reflection on all that we have become in this new and puzzling time?
      其实不然；我们虽然有了这一切安全措施，但我们或许是人类文明史上最不安全的国民。还有什么更好的字眼能用来描述我们被迫选择的生活方式呢？还有什么更为可悲地表明我们在这个令人困惑的新时代所感受到的惶恐之情呢？
 
 
 
  
18    We trust no one. Suburban housewives wear rape whistles on their station wagon key chains. We have become so smart about self-protection that, in the end, we have all outsmarted ourselves. We may have locked the evils out, but in so doing we have locked ourselves in.
      我们不信任任何人。郊区的家庭主妇在客货两用车钥匙链上挂着防强暴口哨。我们在自我防卫方面变得如此聪明，最终聪明反被聪明误。我们或许是把邪恶锁在了门外，但在这么做的同时我们把自己锁在里边了。
 
 
 
  
19    That may be the legacy we remember best when we look back on this age: In dealing with the unseen horrors among us, we became prisoners of ourselves. All of us prisoners, in this time of our troubles.
      那也许是我们将来回顾这一时代时记得最牢的精神遗产：在对付我们中间无形的恐惧之时，我们成了自己的囚徒。在我们这个问题重重的时代，所有的人都是囚徒。
  全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT4-2   
 
     It was just an error, a stupid error, the kind anyone could make. Only now Earth is never going to have another visitor from space. Not ever.
      这仅仅是一个错误，一个愚蠢的错误，那种人人都可能犯的错误。只是从今往后再也不会有太空客前来访问地球了。再也不会了。   
 
 
The Watery Place Issac Asimov
1     We're never going to have visitors from space. No extraterrestrials will ever land on Earth -- at least, any more.
水 乡伊萨克·阿西莫夫       我们不会再有太空游客前来了。外星人将不会登陆地球――至少是再也不会了。
 
 
 
  　
2    I'm not just being a pessimist. As a matter of fact, extraterrestrials have landed. I know that. Space ships are crisscrossing space among a million worlds, probably, but they will never come here. I know that, too. All on account of a ridiculous error.
      我这不是悲观。事实上，外星人登陆过地球。这个我知道。在宇宙的千百万颗星球当中穿梭往来的太空飞船可能有许多，可它们永远不会再来我们这儿了。这我也知道。而这一切都是由于一个荒唐的错误导致的。
 
 
 
 
3    I'll explain.
      且听我解释。
 
 
 
 
4    It was actually Bart Cameron's error and you'll have to understand about Bart Cameron. He's the sheriff at Twin Gulch, Idaho, and I'm his deputy. Bart Cameron is an impatient man and he gets most impatient when he has to work up his income tax. You see, besides being sheriff, he also owns and runs the general store, he's got some shares in a sheep ranch, he's got a kind of pension for being a disabled veteran (bad knee) and a few other things like that. Naturally, it makes his tax figures complicated.
      这实际上是巴特·卡默伦的错，所以你得对巴特·卡默伦这人有所了解。他是爱达荷州特温加尔奇的治安官，我是他的副手。巴特·卡默伦是个脾气暴躁的人，到了他不得不整理个人应缴多少所得税时更是容易光火。你想，他除了当治安官，还经营着一家杂货铺，并拥有一家牧羊场的股份，同时还享有残疾退伍军人（膝盖受过伤）津贴，以及其他某些类似的津贴。这样一来他的个人所得税计算起来自然就变得复杂。
 
 
 
  
5    It wouldn't be so bad if he'd let a taxman work on the forms with him, but he insists on doing it himself and it makes him a bitter man. By April 14, he isn't approachable.       要是他让税务人员帮他填表就不至于那么糟糕，可他非得要自己填，于是填得他牢骚满腹。每年到了4月14日，他就变得难以接近。
 
 
 
 
6    So it's too bad the flying saucer landed on April 14, 1956.
      那个飞碟在1956年4月14日这一天登陆真是大错特错。
 
 
 
 
7    I saw it land. My chair was backed up against the wall in the sheriff's office, and I was looking at the stars through the windows and wondering if I ought to knock off and hit the sack or keep on listening to Cameron curse real steady as he went over his columns of figures for the hundred twenty-seventh time.
      我是看着它降落的。当时我的椅子背靠着治安官办公室的墙，我正望着窗外的星星，琢磨着是不是该下班去睡觉，还是继续听卡默伦骂个不停，他正在第127次核对他在税单上填写的一栏栏数字。
 
 
 
  
8    It looked like a shooting star at first, but then the track of light broadened into two things that looked like rocket exhausts and the thing came down without a sound.
      一开始像是颗流星，可接着那轨迹越来越亮，变成两个光点，就像是火箭喷出的气流，那个东西一点没出声就着落了。
 
 
 
 
9    Two men got out.
      两个人走了出来。
 
 
 
  
10    I couldn't say anything or do anything. I couldn't choke or point; I couldn't even bug my eyes. I just sat there.
      我没法说话，也无法做事。喉部肌肉僵直，也没法用手示意，甚至眼睛都没法瞪大。我就那么呆坐着。
 
 
 
  
11    Cameron? He never looked up.
      卡默伦？他压根儿就没抬起过头。
 
 
 
  
12    There was a knock on the door. It opened and the two men from the flying saucer stepped in. I would have thought they were city fellows if I hadn't seen the flying saucer land. They wore gray suits, with white shirts and dark red-brown ties. They had on black shoes and black hats. They had dark complexions, black wavy hair and brown eyes. They had very serious looks on their faces and were about five foot ten apiece. They looked very much alike.
      有敲门声。门开了，飞碟上的那两个人走了进来。要不是我看着飞碟降落，我还会以为他们就是镇上的人。两人身着灰套装、白衬衣，戴着深红棕色的领带。他们穿着黑皮鞋，戴着黑帽子，肤色黑黑的，卷曲的头发黑黑的，眼睛呈棕色。两人神情严肃，身高都在5.10英尺左右，看上去非常相象。
 
 
 
  
13    God, I was scared.
      天哪，我害怕极了。
 
 
 
  
14    But Cameron just looked up when the door opened and frowned. He said, "What can I do for you, folks?" and he tapped his hand on the forms so it was obvious he hadn't much time.
      可卡默伦只是在门开的那会儿略一抬头，皱了皱眉头。 “有什么事吗，伙计？”他边说边用手拍着税单，显然正忙着呢。
 
 
 
  
15    One of the two stepped forward. He said, "We have had your people under observation a long time." He pronounced each word carefully and all by itself.
      那两人中的一个走上前说道：“我们对你们的人已经观察很久了。”他说话时小心翼翼一字一顿的。
 
 
 
  
16    Cameron said, "My people? All I got's a wife. What's she been doing?"
      卡默伦说：“我们的人？我只有老婆一个人。她干什么来着？”
 
 
 
  
17    The fellow in the suit said, "We have chosen this locality for our first contact because it is isolated and peaceful. We know that you are the leader here."
      穿西装的那人说：“我们选择此地作为第一接触点，因为这里偏僻安静。我们知道您是这里的首领。”
 
 
 
  
18    "I'm the sheriff, if that's what you mean, so spit it out. What's your trouble?"
      “我是治安官，这是你要说的吧，有什么话就直说, 你们遇到什么麻烦了？”
 
 
 
  
19    "We have been careful to adopt your mode of dress and even to assume your appearance. We have also learned your language."
      “我们非常谨慎，沿用了你们的衣着模式，甚至采用了你们的外貌。我们还学习了你们的语言。”
 
 
 
  
20    You could see the light break in on Cameron. He said, "You guys foreigners?" Cameron didn't go much for foreigners, never having met many outside the army, but generally he tried to be fair.
      你可以看到卡默伦脸上开始现出领悟的神情。他说：“你俩是外国人？”卡默伦不怎么喜欢外国人，退伍后就没怎么见过外国人，不过总的来说他尽力做到为人公正。
 
 
 
  
21    The man from the saucer said, "Foreigners? Indeed we are. We come from the watery place your people call Venus."
      飞碟来人说：“外国人？正是如此。我们来自你们称之为金星的水乡。”
 
 
 
  
22    Cameron never blinked an eye. He said, "All right. This is the U.S.A. We all got equal rights regardless of race, color, or nationality. I'm at your service. What can I do for you?"
      卡默伦连眼也没眨一下便说：“好吧。这里是美国。我们这儿不论种族、肤色、国籍，一律平等。我为你们效劳。你们有何贵干？”
 
 
 
  
23    "We would like to have you make immediate arrangements for the important men of your U.S.A., as you call it, to be brought here for discussions leading to your people joining our great organization."
      “我们希望您马上与贵国，即你们所说的美国的要人联系，前来此地商讨加入我们组织的事宜。”
 
 
 
  
24    Slowly, Cameron got red. "Our people join your organization. We're already part of the U.N. and God knows what else. And I suppose I'm to get the President here, eh? Right now? In Twin Gulch? Send a hurry-up message?" He looked at me, as though he wanted to see a smile on my face, but I couldn't as much as fall down if someone had pushed the chair out from under me.
      卡默伦的脸色渐渐涨红。“我们加入你们的组织。我们已经是联合国的成员了，天知道还有别的什么。我想是让我把总统找来，呃？就现在？前来特温加尔奇？要我送去一封加快信？”他看了看我，似乎想在我脸上看到一丝笑意，可此刻若有人从我身后把椅子抽开，我也不会摔倒在地。
 
 
 
  
25    The saucer man said, "Speed is desirable."
      飞碟来人说：“事不宜迟。”
 
 
 
  
26    "You want Congress, too? The Supreme Court?"
      “你们想不想要国会也来？还有最高法院？”
 
 
 
  
27    "If they will help, sheriff."
      “那也无妨，治安官。”
 
 
 
  
28    And Cameron really went to pieces. He banged his income tax form and yelled, "Well, you're not helping me, and I have no time for wise guys who come around, especially foreigners. If you don't get the hell out of here straight away, I'll lock you up for disturbing the peace and I'll never let you out."
      这下卡默伦真的气坏了。他把税单向桌上重重地一摔，叫道：“好啊，你们跟我添乱，我可没时间跟你们这些自作聪明的人纠缠，尤其是外国人。要是你们不马上从这里滚出去，我就以扰乱治安罪把你们关起来，永远不放你们出来。”
 
 
 
  
29    "You wish us to leave?" said the man from Venus.
      “您是要我们离开？”金星人问。
 
 
 
  
30    "Right now! Get the hell out of here and back to wherever you're from and don't ever come back. I don't want to see you and no one else around here does."
      “这就走！滚出去，滚回你们老家去，别再回来。我不想见到你们，这儿谁都不想见到你们。”
 
 
 
  
31    The two men looked at each other.
      那两人对望了一眼。
 
 
 
  
32    Then the one who had done all the talking said, "I can see in your mind that you really wish, with great intensity, to be left alone. It is not our way to force ourselves or our organization on people who do not wish us or it. We will respect your privacy and leave. We will not return. We will put a warning around your world and none will enter."
      一直作为发言人的那人于是说：“看得出您确实极其不愿受到打搅。我们从不愿将我们自己或我们组织的意见强加于无意接受者。我们尊重您的私人自由，马上离开。我们将不再返回。我们会在你们地球周围发布警告，不再会有人前来。”
 
 
 
  
33    Cameron said, "Mister, I'm tired of this garbage, so I'll count to three -- "
      卡默伦说：“先生，够了，别再胡说八道了，我要开始数3――”
 
 
 
  
34    They turned and left, and I just knew that everything they said was so. I was listening to them, you see, which Cameron wasn't, because he was busy thinking of his income tax, and it was as though I could hear their minds, know what I mean? I knew that there would be a kind of fence around earth, keeping others out.
      那两人转身离去，我当然知道他们说的句句是实话。你知道，我一直在听他们说，卡默伦可没有，他一心只想着他的税单，而且我似乎知道了他们脑子里在想什么，你明白我的意思吗？我知道地球周围会竖起一道屏障，使他人无法进入。
 
 
 
  
35    And when they left, I got my voice back -- too late. I screamed, "Cameron, for God's sake, they're from space. Why'd you send them away?"
      他们走了之后，我才能又开口说话――已经太迟了。我高声叫起来：“天哪，卡默伦，他们是从太空来的。你为什么要赶他们走？”
 
 
 
  
36    "From space!" He stared at me.
      “从太空来的！”他两眼瞪着我。
 
 
 
  
37    I yelled, "Look!" I don't know how I did it, he being twenty-five pounds heavier than I, but I heaved him to the window by his shirt collar.
      我大喝一声：“你看！”我到现在都不明白是怎么一回事，他比我重了25英磅，可我竟然扯着他的衣领把他拽到了窗前。
 
 
 
  
38    He was too surprised to resist and when he recovered his wits enough to make like he was going to knock me down, he caught sight of what was going on outside the window and the breath went out of him.
      他震惊之下都没有反抗，等他回过神来想要把我击倒时，正好看见窗外的情景，顿时气都喘不出来了。
 
 
 
  
39    They were getting into the flying saucer, those two men, and the saucer sat there, large, round, shiny and kind of powerful, you know. Then it took off. It went up easy as a feather and a red-orange glow showed up on one side and got brighter as the ship got smaller till it was a shooting star again, slowly fading out.
      他们正在进入飞碟，就是那两人，飞碟就在那儿，知道吗，大大的， 圆圆的，亮晶晶的，挺有气势的。接着飞碟起飞了。它轻轻巧巧地上升，像根羽毛似的，一侧发出一道桔红色的光芒，那光越来越强烈，飞碟变得越来越小，最后重新变成一颗流星渐渐消失。
 
 
 
  
40    And I said, "Sheriff, why'd you send them away? They had to see the President. Now they'll never come back."
      我说：“治安官，你什么要赶他们走？他们要见总统。这下他们再也不会回来了。”
 
 
 
  
41    Cameron said, "I thought they were foreigners. They said they had to learn our language. And they talked funny."
      卡默伦说：“我当他们是外国人。他们说的，要学我们的语言。而且他们说的话莫名其妙。”
 
 
 
  
42    "Oh, fine. Foreigners."
      “哼，得了，还外国人呢。”
 
 
 
  
43    "They said they were foreigners and they looked Italian. I thought they were Italian."
      “他们说自己是外国人，两人看上去像是意大利人。我以为他们是意大利人。”
 
 
 
  
44    "How could they be Italian? They said they were from the planet Venus. I heard them. They said so."
      “他们怎么会是意大利人呢？他们说他们是从金星来的。我听见的。他们是这么说的。”
 
 
 
  
45    "The planet Venus." His eyes got real round.
      “金星。”他的眼睛瞪得越发圆了。
 
 
 
  
46    "They said it. They called it the watery place or something. You know Venus has a lot of water on it."
      “他们是这么说的。他们把它叫做水乡什么的。要知道，金星上多的是水。”
 
 
 
  
47    But you see, it was just an error, a stupid error, the kind anyone could make. Only now Earth is never going to have another Venusian visit us. That dope, Cameron, and his income tax!
      所以你瞧，这仅仅是个错误，一个愚蠢的错误，那种人人都可能犯的错误。只是从今往后地球上再也不会有任何金星人来访了。卡默伦这个笨蛋，还有他那该死的税单！
 
 
 
  
48    Because he whispered, "Venus! When they talked about the watery place, I thought they meant Venice!"
      只听他嘀咕道：“金星！他们说水乡的时候，我还以为他们指的是威尼斯呢！”
  全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT5-2  
     Making a living as a door-to-door salesman demands a thick skin, both to protect against the weather and against constantly having the door shut in your face. Bill Porter puts up with all this and much, much more.
      干挨家挨户上门推销这一营生得脸皮厚，这是因为干这一行不仅要经受风吹日晒，还要承受一次又一次的闭门羹。比尔 · 波特忍受着这一切，以及别的种种折磨。    
 
Life of a Salesman Tom Hallman Jr.
 
     Alex Haley served in the Coast Guard during World War ll. On an especially lonely day to be at sea -- Thanksgiving Day -- he began to give serious thought to a holiday that has become, for many Americans, a day of overeating and watching endless games of football. Haley decided to celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving by writing three very special letters.
      亚历克斯·黑利二战时在海岸警卫队服役。出海在外，时逢一个倍感孤寂的日子――感恩节，他开始认真思考起这一节日的意义。对许多美国人而言，这个节日已成为大吃大喝、没完没了地看橄榄球比赛的日子。黑利决定写三封不同寻常的信，以此来纪念感恩节的真正意义。   
 
 
Writing Three Thank-You Letters Alex Haley
1     It was 1943, during World War II, and I was a young U. S. coastguardsman. My ship, the USS Murzim, had been under way for several days. Most of her holds contained thousands of cartons of canned or dried foods. The other holds were loaded with five-hundred-pound bombs packed delicately in padded racks. Our destination was a big base on the island of Tulagi in the South Pacific.
写三封感谢信 亚利克斯·黑利       那是在二战期间的1943年，我是个年轻的美国海岸警卫队队员。我们的船，美国军舰军市一号已出海多日。多数船舱装着成千上万箱罐装或风干的食品。其余的船舱装着不少五百磅重的炸弹，都小心翼翼地放在垫过的架子上。我们的目的地是南太平洋图拉吉岛上一个规模很大的基地。
 
 
 
  　
2    I was one of the Murzim's several cooks and, quite the same as for folk ashore, this Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.
      我是军市一号上的一个厨师，跟岸上的人一样，那个感恩节的上午，我们忙着在准备一道以烤火鸡为主的传统菜肴。
 
 
 
 
3    Well, as any cook knows, it's a lot of hard work to cook and serve a big meal, and clean up and put everything away. But finally, around sundown, we finished at last.
      当厨师的都知道，要烹制一顿大餐，摆上桌，再刷洗、收拾干净，是件辛苦的事。不过，等到太阳快下山时，我们总算全都收拾停当了。
 
 
 
 
4    I decided first to go out on the Murzim's afterdeck for a breath of open air. I made my way out there, breathing in great, deep draughts while walking slowly about, still wearing my white cook's hat.
      我想先去后甲板透透气。我信步走去，一边深深呼吸着空气，一边慢慢地踱着步，头上仍戴着那顶白色的厨师帽。
 
 
 
  
5    I got to thinking about Thanksgiving, of the Pilgrims, Indians, wild turkeys, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and the rest.       我开始思索起感恩节这个节日来，想着清教徒前辈移民、印第安人、野火鸡、南瓜、玉米棒等等。
 
 
 
 
6    Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else -- some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving. It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word "Thanksgiving" -- at least that suggested a verbal direction, "Giving thanks."
      可我脑子里似乎还在搜索着别的事什么――某种我能够赋予这一节日以个人意义的方式。大概过了半个小时左右我才意识到，问题的关键也许在于把Thanksgiving这个字前后颠倒一下――那样一来至少文字好懂了：Giving thanks。
 
 
 
 
7    Giving thanks -- as in praying, thanking God, I thought. Yes, of course. Certainly.
      表达谢意――就如在祈祷时感谢上帝那样，我暗想。对啊，是这样，当然是这样。
 
 
 
  
8    Yet my mind continued turning the idea over.
      可我脑子里仍一直盘桓着这事。
 
 
 
 
9    After a while, like a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come -- that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them. The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted. Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere "Thank you."
      过了片刻，如同晨曦初现，一个更清晰的念头终于涌现脑际――要感谢他人，那些赐我以诸多恩惠，我根本无以回报的人们。令我深感不安的实际情形是，我向来对他们所做的一切受之泰然，认为是理所应当。我一次也没想过要对他们中的任何一位真心诚意地说一句简单的谢谢。
 
 
 
  
10    At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me. I realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died -- so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. Then I pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin.
      至少有七个人对我有过不同寻常、影响深远的帮助。令人难过的是，我意识到，他们中有一半已经过世了――因此他们永远也无法接受我的谢意了。我越想越感到羞愧。最后我想到了仍健在的三位，几分钟后，我就回到了自己的舱房。
 
 
 
  
11    Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A. Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee; and to the Rev. Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning.
      我坐在摊着信纸的桌旁，回想着他们各自对我所做的一切，试图用真挚的文字表达我对他们的由衷的感激之情：父亲西蒙·A·黑利，阿肯色州派因布拉夫那所古老的农业机械师范学院的教授；住在田纳西州小镇亨宁老家的外祖母辛西娅·帕尔默；以及我的文法学校校长，退休后住在亨宁以北6英里处的里普利的洛纽尔·纳尔逊牧师。
 
 
 
  
12    The texts of my letters began something like, "Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you -- " And briefly I recalled for each of them specific acts performed on my behalf.
      我的信是这样开头的：“出海在外度过的这个感恩节，令我回想起您为我做了那么多事，但我从来没有对您说过自己是多么想感谢您――”我简短回忆了各位为我所做的具体事例。
 
 
 
  
13    For instance, something uppermost about my father was how he had impressed upon me from boyhood to love books and reading. In fact, this graduated into a family habit of after-dinner quizzes at the table about books read most recently and new words learned. My love of books never diminished and later led me toward writing books myself. So many times I have felt a sadness when exposed to modern children so immersed in the electronic media that they have little or no awareness of the marvelous world to be discovered in books.
      例如，我父亲的最不同寻常之处在于，从我童年时代起，他就让我深深意识到要热爱书籍、热爱阅读。事实上，这一爱好渐渐变成一种家庭习惯，晚饭后大家围在餐桌旁互相考查近日所读的书以及新学的单词。我对书籍的热爱从未减弱，日后还引导我自己撰文著书。多少次，当我看到如今的孩子们如此沉迷于电子媒体时，我不由深感悲哀，他们很少，或者根本不了解书中所能发现的神奇世界。
 
 
 
  
14    I reminded the Reverend Nelson how each morning he would open our little country town's grammar school with a prayer over his assembled students. I told him that whatever positive things I had done since had been influenced at least in part by his morning school prayers.
      我跟纳尔逊牧师提及他如何每天清晨和集合在一起的学生做祷告，以此开始乡村小学的一天。我告诉他，我后来所做的任何有意义的事，都至少部分地是受了他那些学校晨祷的影响。
 
 
 
  
15    In the letter to my grandmother, I reminded her of a dozen ways she used to teach me how to tell the truth, to share, and to be forgiving and considerate of others. I thanked her for the years of eating her good cooking, the equal of which I had not found since. Finally, I thanked her simply for having sprinkled my life with stardust.
      在给外祖母的信中，我谈到了她用了种种方式教我讲真话，教我与人分享，教我宽恕、体谅他人。我感谢她多年来让我吃到她烧的美味菜肴，离开她后我从来没吃过那么可口的菜肴。最后，我感谢她，因为她在我的生命中撒下美妙的遐想。
 
 
 
  
16    Before I slept, my three letters went into our ship's office mail sack. They got mailed when we reached Tulagi Island.
      睡觉前，我的这三封信都送进了船上的邮袋。我们抵达图拉吉岛后都寄了出去。
 
 
 
  
17    We unloaded cargo, reloaded with something else, then again we put to sea in the routine familiar to us, and as the days became weeks, my little personal experience receded. Sometimes, when we were at sea, a mail ship would rendezvous and bring us mail from home, which, of course, we accorded topmost priority.
      我们卸了货，又装了其它物品，随后我们按熟悉的常规，再次出海。 一天又一天，一星期又一星期，我个人的经历渐渐淡忘。我们在海上航行时，有时会与邮船会合，邮船会带给我们家信，当然这是我们视为最紧要的事情。
 
 
 
  
18    Every time the ship's loudspeaker rasped, "Attention! Mail call!" two hundred-odd shipmates came pounding up on deck and clustered about the two seamen, standing by those precious bulging gray sacks. They were alternately pulling out fistfuls of letters and barking successive names of sailors who were, in turn, shouting back "Here! Here!" amid the pushing.
      每当船上的喇叭响起：“大伙听好！邮件点名！”200名左右的水兵就会冲上甲板，围聚在那两个站在宝贵的鼓鼓囊囊的灰色邮袋旁的水手周围。两人轮流取出一把信，大声念收信水手的名字，叫到的人从人群当中挤出，一边应道：“来了，来了！”
 
 
 
  
19    One "mail call" brought me responses from Grandma, Dad, and the Reverend Nelson -- and my reading of their letters left me not only astonished but more humbled than before.
      一次“邮件点名”带给我外祖母，爸爸，以及纳尔逊牧师的回信――我读了信，既震惊又深感卑微。
 
 
 
  
20    Rather than saying they would forgive that I hadn't previously thanked them, instead, for Pete's sake, they were thanking me -- for having remembered, for having considered they had done anything so exceptional.
      他们没有说他们原谅我以前不曾感谢他们，相反，他们向我致谢，天哪，就因为我记得，就因为我认为他们做了不同寻常的事。
 
 
 
  
21    Always the college professor, my dad had carefully avoided anything he considered too sentimental, so I knew how moved he was to write me that, after having helped educate many young people, he now felt that his best results included his own son.
      身为大学教授的爸爸向来特别留意不使用任何过于感情化的文字，因此， 当他对我写道，在教了许许多多的年轻人之后，他认为自己最优秀的学生当中也包括自己的儿子时，我知道他是多么地感动。
 
 
 
  
22    The Reverend Nelson wrote that his decades as a "simple, old-fashioned principal" had ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt. "I heard more of what I had done wrong than what I did right," he said, adding that my letter had brought him welcome reassurance that his career had been appreciated.
      纳尔逊牧师写道，他那平凡的传统校长的岁月随着学校里发生的如此迅猛的变化而结束，他怀着自我怀疑的心态退了休。“说我做得不对的远远多于说我做得对的，” 他写道，接着说我的信给他带来了振奋人心的信心：自己的校长生涯还是有其价值的。
 
 
 
  
23    A glance at Grandma's familiar handwriting brought back in a flash memories of standing alongside her white rocking chair, watching her  "settin' down" some letter to relatives. Character by character, Grandma would slowly accomplish one word, then the next, so that a finished page would consume hours. I wept over the page representing my Grandma's recent hours invested in expressing her loving gratefulness to me -- whom she used to diaper!
      一看到外祖母那熟悉的笔迹，我顿时回想起往日站在她的白色摇椅旁看她给亲戚写信的情景。外祖母一个字母一个字母地慢慢拼出一个词，接着是下一个词，因此写满一页要花上几个小时。捧着外祖母最近花费不少工夫对我表达了充满慈爱的谢意，我禁不住流泪――从前是她给我换尿布的呀。
 
 
 
  
24    Much later, retired from the Coast Guard and trying to make a living as a writer, I never forgot how those three "thank you" letters gave me an insight into how most human beings go about longing in secret for more of their fellows to express appreciation for their efforts.
      许多年后，我从海岸警卫队退役，试着靠写作为生，我一直不曾忘记那三封“感谢”信是如何使我认识到，大凡人都暗自期望着有更多的人对自己的努力表达谢意。
 
 
 
  
25    Now, approaching another Thanksgiving, I have asked myself what will I wish for all who are reading this, for our nation, indeed for our whole world -- since, quoting a good and wise friend of mine, "In the end we are mightily and merely people, each with similar needs." First, I wish for us, of course, the simple common sense to achieve world peace, that being paramount for the very survival of our kind.
      现在，感恩节又将来临，我自问，对此文的读者，对我们的祖国，事实上对全世界，我有什么祝愿，因为，用一位善良而且又有智慧的朋友的话来说，“我们究其实都是十分相像的凡人，有着相似的需求。”当然，我首先祝愿大家记住这一简单的常识：实现世界和平，这对我们自身的存亡至关重要。
 
 
 
  
26    And there is something else I wish -- so strongly that I have had this line printed across the bottom of all my stationery: "Find the good -- and praise it."
      此外我还有别的祝愿――这一祝愿是如此强烈，我将这句话印在我所有的信笺底部：“发现并褒扬各种美好的事物。”   
全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT6-2    
     When Johnsy fell seriously ill, she seemed to lose the will to hang on to life. The doctor held out little hope for her. Her friends seemed helpless. Was there nothing to be done?
      约翰西病情严重，她似乎失去了活下去的意志。医生对她不抱什么希望。朋友们看来也爱莫能助。难道真的就无可奈何了吗？   
 
 
The Last Leaf O. Henry
1     At the top of a three-story brick building, Sue and Johnsy had their studio.  "Johnsy" was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at a cafe on Eighth Street and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so much in tune that the joint studio resulted.
最后一片叶子 欧·亨利       在一幢三层砖楼的顶层，苏和约翰西辟了个画室。“约翰西”是乔安娜的昵称。她们一位来自缅因州，一位来自加利福尼亚。两人相遇在第八大街的一个咖啡馆，发现各自在艺术品味、菊苣色拉，以及灯笼袖等方面趣味相投，于是就有了这个两人画室。
 
 
 
  　
2    That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the district, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Johnsy was among his victims. She lay, scarcely moving on her bed, looking through the small window at the blank side of the next brick house.
      那是5月里的事。到了11月，一个医生称之为肺炎的阴森的隐形客闯入了这一地区，用它冰冷的手指东碰西触。约翰西也为其所害。她病倒了，躺在床上几乎一动不动，只能隔着小窗望着隔壁砖房那单调沉闷的侧墙。
 
 
 
 
3    One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a bushy, gray eyebrow.
      一天上午，忙碌的医生扬了扬灰白的浓眉，示意苏来到过道。
 
 
 
 
4    "She has one chance in ten," he said. "And that chance is for her to want to live. Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?
      “她只有一成希望，”他说。“那还得看她自己是不是想活下去。你这位女朋友已经下决心不想好了。她有什么心事吗？”
 
 
 
  
5    "She -- she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day," said Sue.       “她――她想有一天能去画那不勒斯湾，”苏说。
 
 
 
 
6    "Paint? -- bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking about twice -- a man, for instance?"
      “画画？――得了。她有没有别的事值得她留恋的――比如说，一个男人？”
 
 
 
 
7    "A man?" said Sue. "Is a man worth -- but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."
      “男人？”苏说。“难道一个男人就值得――可是，她没有啊，大夫，没有这码子事。”
 
 
 
  
8    "Well," said the doctor. "I will do all that science can accomplish. But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines." After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried. Then she marched into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling a merry tune.
      “好吧，”大夫说。“我会尽一切努力，只要是科学能做到的。可是，但凡病人开始计算她出殡的行列里有几辆马车的时候，我就要把医药的疗效减去一半。”大夫走后，苏去工作室哭了一场。随后她携着画板大步走进约翰西的房间，口里吹着轻快的口哨。
 
 
 
 
9    Johnsy lay, scarcely making a movement under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window. She was looking out and counting -- counting backward.
      约翰西躺在被子下几乎一动不动，脸朝着窗。她望着窗外，数着数――倒数着数！
 
 
 
  
10    "Twelve," she said, and a little later "eleven"; and then "ten," and "nine"; and then "eight" and "seven," almost together.
      “12，”她数道，过了一会儿“11”，接着数“10”和“9”；再数“8”和“7”，几乎一口同时数下来。
 
 
 
  
11    Sue looked out of the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine climbed half way up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had blown away its leaves, leaving it almost bare.
      苏朝窗外望去。外面有什么好数的呢？外面只看到一个空荡荡的沉闷的院子，还有20英尺开外那砖房的侧墙，上面什么也没有。一棵古老的常青藤爬到半墙高。萧瑟秋风吹落了枝叶，藤上几乎光秃秃的。
 
 
 
  
12    "Six," said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."
      “6”，约翰西数着，声音几乎听不出来。“现在叶子掉落得快多了。三天前差不多还有100片。数得我头都疼。可现在容易了。又掉了一片。这下子只剩5片了。”
 
 
 
  
13    "Five what, dear? "
      “5片什么，亲爱的？”
 
 
 
  
14    "Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"
      “叶子。常青藤上的叶子。等最后一片叶子掉了，我也就得走了。三天前我就知道会这样。大夫没跟你说吗？”
 
 
 
  
15    "Oh, I never heard of such nonsense. What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? Don't be so silly. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were ten to one! Try to take some soup now, and let Sudie go and buy port wine for her sick child."
      “噢，我从没听说过这种胡说八道。常青藤叶子跟你病好不好有什么关系？别这么傻。对了，大夫上午跟我说，你的病十有八九就快好了。快喝些汤，让苏迪给她生病的孩子去买些波尔图葡萄酒来。”
 
 
 
  
16    "You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another. No, I don't want any soup. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go, too. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."
      “你不用再去买酒了，”约翰西说道，两眼一直盯着窗外。“又掉了一片。不，我不想喝汤。这一下只剩下4片了。我要在天黑前看到最后一片叶子掉落。那时我也就跟着走了。我都等腻了。也想腻了。我只想撇开一切, 飘然而去，就像那边一片可怜的疲倦的叶子。”
 
 
 
  
17    "Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old miner. I'll not be gone a minute."
      “快睡吧，”苏说。“我得叫贝尔曼上楼来给我当老矿工模特儿。我去去就来。”
 
 
 
  
18    Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. He was past sixty and had a long white beard curling down over his chest. Despite looking the part, Behrman was a failure in art. For forty years he had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists who could not pay the price of a professional. He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who mocked terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as guard dog to the two young artists in the studio above.
      老贝尔曼是住在两人楼下底层的一个画家。他已年过六旬，银白色蜷曲的长髯披挂胸前。贝尔曼看上去挺像艺术家，但在艺术上却没有什么成就。40年来他一直想创作一幅传世之作，却始终没能动手。他给那些请不起职业模特的青年画家当模特挣点小钱。他没节制地喝酒，谈论着他那即将问世的不朽之作。要说其他方面，他是个好斗的小老头，要是谁表现出一点软弱，他便大肆嘲笑，并把自己看成是楼上画室里两位年轻艺术家的看护人。
 
 
 
  
19    Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of gin in his dimly lighted studio below. In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece. She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker. Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt for such foolish imaginings.
      苏在楼下光线暗淡的画室里找到了贝尔曼，他满身酒味刺鼻。屋子一角的画架上支着一张从未落过笔的画布，在那儿搁了25年，等着一幅杰作的起笔。苏把约翰西的怪念头跟他说了，并说约翰西本身就像一片叶子又瘦又弱，她害怕要是她那本已脆弱的生存意志再软下去的话，真的会凋零飘落。老贝尔曼双眼通红，显然是泪涟涟的，他大声叫嚷着说他蔑视这种傻念头。
 
 
 
  
20    "What!" he cried. "Are there people in the world foolish enough to die because leafs drop off from a vine? I have never heard of such a thing. Why do you allow such silly ideas to come into that head of hers? God! This is not a place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy should lie sick. Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away. Yes."
      “什么！”他嚷道。“世界上竟然有这么愚蠢的人，因为树叶从藤上掉落就要去死？我听都没听说过这等事。你怎么让这种傻念头钻到她那个怪脑袋里？天哪！这不是一个像约翰西小姐这样的好姑娘躺倒生病的地方。有朝一日我要画一幅巨作，那时候我们就离开这里。真的。”
 
 
 
  
21    Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down, and motioned Behrman into the other room. In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.
      两人上了楼，约翰西已经睡着了。苏放下窗帘，示意贝尔曼去另一个房间。在那儿两人惶惶不安地凝视着窗外的常青藤。接着两人面面相觑，哑然无语。外面冷雨夹雪，淅淅沥沥。贝尔曼穿着破旧的蓝色衬衣, 坐在充当矿石的倒置的水壶上，摆出矿工的架势。
 
 
 
  
22    When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.
      第二天早上，只睡了一个小时的苏醒来看到约翰西睁大着无神的双眼，凝望着拉下的绿色窗帘。
 
 
 
  
23    "Pull it up; I want to see," she ordered, in a whisper.
      “把窗帘拉起来；我要看，”她低声命令道。
 
 
 
  
24    Wearily Sue obeyed.
      苏带着疲倦，遵命拉起窗帘。
 
 
 
  
25    But, Lo! after the beating rain and fierce wind that had endured through the night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last on the vine. Still dark green near its stem, but with its edges colored yellow, it hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground.
      可是，瞧！经过一整夜的急风骤雨，竟然还存留一片常青藤叶，背靠砖墙，格外显目。这是常青藤上的最后一片叶子。近梗部位仍呈暗绿色，但边缘已经泛黄了，它无所畏惧地挂在离地20多英尺高的枝干上。
 
 
 
  
26    "It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today, and I shall die at the same time."
      “这是最后一片叶子，”约翰西说。“我以为夜里它肯定会掉落的。我晚上听到大风呼啸。今天它会掉落的，叶子掉的时候，也是我死的时候。”
 
 
 
  
27    The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed.
      白天慢慢过去了，即便在暮色黄昏之中，他们仍能看到那片孤零零的常青藤叶子，背靠砖墙，紧紧抱住梗茎。尔后，随着夜幕的降临，又是北风大作。
 
 
 
  
28    When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.
      等天色亮起，冷酷无情的约翰西命令将窗帘拉起。
 
 
 
  
29    The ivy leaf was still there.
      常青藤叶依然挺在。
 
 
 
  
30    Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken soup over the gas stove.
      约翰西躺在那儿，望着它许久许久。接着她大声呼唤正在煤气灶上搅鸡汤的苏。
 
 
 
  
31    "I've been a bad girl, Sudie," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now, and some milk with a little port in it and -- no; bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook."
      “我一直像个不乖的孩子，苏迪，”约翰西说。“有一种力量让那最后一片叶子不掉，好让我看到自己有多坏。想死是一种罪过。你给我喝点汤吧，再来点牛奶，稍放一点波尔图葡萄酒――不，先给我拿面小镜子来，弄几个枕头垫在我身边，我要坐起来看你做菜。”
 
 
 
  
32    An hour later she said:
      一个小时之后，她说：
 
 
 
  
33    "Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."
      “苏迪，我真想有一天去画那不勒斯海湾。”
 
 
 
  
34    The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.
      下午大夫来了，他走时苏找了个借口跟进了过道。
 
 
 
  
35     "Even chances," said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his.
      “现在是势均力敌，”大夫说着，握了握苏纤细颤抖的手。
 
 
 
  
36    "With good nursing you'll win. And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is -- some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to be made more comfortable."
      “只要精心照料，你就赢了。现在我得去楼下看另外一个病人了。贝尔曼，是他的名字――记得是个什么画家。也是肺炎。他年老体弱，病来势又猛。他是没救了。不过今天他去了医院，照料得会好一点。”
 
 
 
  
37    The next day the doctor said to Sue: "She's out of danger. You've won. The right food and care now -- that's all."
      第二天，大夫对苏说：“她脱离危险了。你赢了。注意饮食，好好照顾，就行了。”
 
 
 
  
38    And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay and put one arm around her.
       当日下午，苏来到约翰西的床头，用一只手臂搂住她。
 
 
 
  
39    "I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. He was ill only two days. He was found on the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a terrible night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and -- look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece -- he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."
      “我跟你说件事，小白鼠，”她说。“贝尔曼先生今天在医院里得肺炎去世了。他得病才两天。发病那天上午人家在楼下他的房间里发现他疼得利害。他的鞋子衣服都湿透了，冰冷冰冷的。他们想不出那么糟糕的天气他夜里会去哪儿。后来他们发现了一个灯笼，还亮着，还有一个梯子被拖了出来，另外还有些散落的画笔，一个调色板，和着黄绿两种颜色，――看看窗外，宝贝儿，看看墙上那最后一片常青藤叶子。它在刮风的时候一动也不动，你没有觉得奇怪吗？啊，亲爱的，那是贝尔曼的杰作――最后一片叶子掉落的那天夜里他画上了这片叶子。”
   
全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT7-2
  Making a living as a door-to-door salesman demands a thick skin, both to protect against the weather and against constantly having the door shut in your face. Bill Porter puts up with all this and much, much more.
      干挨家挨户上门推销这一营生得脸皮厚，这是因为干这一行不仅要经受风吹日晒，还要承受一次又一次的闭门羹。比尔 · 波特忍受着这一切，以及别的种种折磨。   
 
 
Life of a Salesman Tom Hallman Jr.
1     The alarm rings. It's 5:45. He could linger under the covers, listening to the radio and a weatherman who predicts rain. People would understand. He knows that.
一个推销员的生活 小汤姆 · 霍尔曼       闹钟响了。是清晨5：45。他可以在被子里再躺一会儿，听听无线电广播。天气预报员预报有雨。人们会理解的。这点他清楚。
 
 
 
  　
2    A surgeon's scar cuts across his lower back. The fingers on his right hand are so twisted that he can't tie his shoes. Some days, he feels like surrendering. But his dead mother's challenge echoes in his soul. So, too, do the voices of those who believed him stupid, incapable of living independently. All his life he's struggled to prove them wrong. He will not quit. 3    And so Bill Porter rises.
      他的下背有一道手术疤痕。他右手的手指严重扭曲，连鞋带都没法系。有时，他真想放弃不干了。可在他内心深处，一直回响着已故老母的激励, 还有那些说他蠢，说他不能独立生活的人的声音。他一生都在拚命去证明他们错了。他决不能放弃不干。
于是比尔·波特起身了。
 
 
 
 
4    He takes the first unsteady steps on a journey to Portland's streets, the battlefield where he fights alone for his independence and dignity. He's a door-to-door salesman. Sixty-three years old. And his enemies -- a crippled body that betrays him and a changing world that no longer needs him -- are gaining on him.
      他摇摇晃晃迈出了去波特兰大街的头几步，波特兰大街是他为独立与尊严而孤身搏杀的战场。他是个挨家挨户上门推销的推销员，今年63岁。他的敌人――辜负他的残疾的身体和一个不再需要他的变化着的世界――正一步一步把他逼向绝境。
 
 
 
 
5    With trembling hands he assembles his weapons: dark slacks, blue shirt and matching jacket, brown tie, tan raincoat and hat. Image, he believes, is everything.
      他用颤抖的双手收拾行装：深色宽松裤，蓝衬衣和与之相配的茄克衫，褐色领带，土褐色雨衣和帽子。在他看来，形象就是一切。
 
 
 
  
6    He stops in the entryway, picks up his briefcase and steps outside. A fall wind has kicked up. The weatherman was right. He pulls his raincoat tighter. 7    He tilts his hat just so.       他在门口停了一下，提起公文包，走了出去。秋风骤起，冷飕飕的。天气预报员说得没错。他将雨衣裹裹紧。
      他把帽子往一侧微微一斜。
 
 
 
  * * *
8    On the 7:45 bus that stops across the street, he leaves his briefcase next to the driver and finds a seat in the middle of a pack of bored teenagers. 9    He leans forward, stares toward the driver, sits back, then repeats the process. His nervousness makes him laugh uncontrollably. The teenagers stare at him. They don't realize Porter's afraid someone will steal his briefcase, with the glasses, brochures, order forms and clip-on tie that he needs to survive.
      在街对面停靠的7：45那班公共汽车上，他把公文包放在司机身旁，在一群没精打采的十几岁的孩子当中找了个位子坐下。
      他身子往前一倾，盯着司机那儿望，然后靠着椅背坐下，接着他又反复这个过程。他心情紧张，控制不住自己而笑出声来。那些孩子望着他。他们不明白，波特是担心有人偷他的包，包里有他生存不可缺少的眼镜，宣传小册子，定单，以及可用别针别上的领带。
 
 
 
 
10    Porter senses the stares. He looks at the floor. 11    His face reveals nothing. In his heart, though, he knows he should have been like these kids, like everyone on this bus. He's not angry. But he knows. His mother explained how the delivery had been difficult, how the doctor had used an instrument that crushed a section of his brain and caused cerebral palsy, a disorder of the nervous system that affects his speech, hands and walk.
      波特意识到了小孩子在盯着他看。他把目光转向车厢地板。
      他脸上没有流露出任何神情。但在他心里，他知道自己本该和这些孩子一样，和车上其他所有人一样。他并不生气。但他心里明白。他母亲解释说生他时难产，医生使用了某种器械，损坏了他大脑的一部分，导致了大脑性麻痹，一种影响他说话，手部活动以及行走的神经系统的紊乱。
 
 
 
  
12    Porter came to Portland when he was 13 after his father, a salesman, was transferred here. He attended a school for the disabled and then Lincoln High School, where he was placed in a class for slow kids. 13    But he wasn't slow.
波特13岁那年随着当推销员的父亲工作调动来到波特兰。他上了一个残疾人学校，后来就读林肯高级中学，在那儿他被编入慢班。
      但他并不笨。
 
 
 
 
14    His mind was trapped in a body that didn't work. Speaking was difficult and took time. People were impatient and didn't listen. He felt different -- was different -- from the kids who rushed about in the halls and planned dances he would never attend.
      他由于身体不能正常运行而使脑子不能充分发挥其功能。他说话困难，而且慢。别人不耐烦，不听他说。他觉得自己不同于――事实上也确实不同于――那些在过道里东奔西跑的孩子，那些孩子安排的舞会他永远也不可能参加。
 
 
 
  
15    What could his future be? Porter wanted to do something and his mother was certain that he could rise above his limitations. With her encouragement, he applied for a job with the Fuller Brush Co. only to be turned down. He couldn't carry a product briefcase or walk a route, they said.
      他将来会是个什么样子呢？波特想做些事，母亲也相信他能冲破身体的局限。在她的鼓励之下，他向福勒牙刷公司申请一份工作，结果却遭到拒绝。他不能提样品包，也不能跑一条推销线路，他们说。
 
 
 
  
16    Porter knew he wanted to be a salesman. He began reading help wanted ads in the newspaper. When he saw one for Watkins, a company that sold household products door-to-door, his mother set up a meeting with a representative. The man said no, but Porter wouldn't listen. He just wanted a chance. The man gave in and offered Porter a section of the city that no salesman wanted.
      波特知道自己想当推销员。他开始阅读报纸上的招聘广告。他看到沃特金斯，一家上门推销家用物品的公司要人，他母亲就跟其代理人安排会面。那人说不行，可波特不予理会。他就是需要一个机会。那人让步了，把城里一个其他推销员都不要的区域派给了他。
 
 
 
  
17    It took Porter four false starts before he found the courage to ring the first doorbell. The man who answered told him to go away, a pattern repeated throughout the day.
      波特一开始四次都没敢敲门，第五次才鼓起勇气按了第一户人家的门铃。开门的那人让他走开，这种情形持续了一整天。
 
 
 
  
18    That night Porter read through company literature and discovered the products were guaranteed. He would sell that pledge. He just needed people to listen. 19    If a customer turned him down, Porter kept coming back until they heard him. And he sold.
      当晚，波特仔细阅读了公司的宣传资料，发现产品都是保用的。他要把保用作为卖点。只要别人肯听他说话就成。
      要是客户回绝波特，拒绝倾听他的介绍，他就一再上门。就这样他将产品卖了出去。
 
 
 
  
20    For several years he was Watkins' top retail salesman. Now he is the only one of the company's 44,000 salespeople who sells door-to-door. 21    The bus stops in the Transit Mall, and Porter gets off.
      他连着几年都是沃特金斯公司的最佳零售推销员。如今他是该公司44000名推销员中惟一一个上门推销的人。
      公共汽车在公交中转购物中心站停下，波特下了车。
 
 
 
  
22    His body is not made for walking. Each step strains his joints. Headaches are constant visitors. His right arm is nearly useless. He can't fully control the limb. His body tilts at the waist; he seems to be heading into a strong, steady wind that keeps him off balance. At times, he looks like a toddler taking his first steps. 23    He walks 10 miles a day.
      他的身体不适合行走。每走一步关节都疼。头疼也是习以为常的事。他的右臂几乎没用。他不能完全控制这只手臂。他的身体从腰部开始前倾，看上去就像是顶着一股强劲的吹个不停的风迈步向前，风似乎要把他刮倒。有时他看上去就像是个刚刚学步的孩童。
      他每天要走10英里的路程。
 
 
 
  
24    His first stop today, like every day, is a shoeshine stand where employees tie his laces. Twice a week he pays for a shine. At a nearby hotel one of the doormen buttons Porter's top shirt button and slips on his clip-on tie. He then walks to another bus that drops him off a mile from his territory. 25    He left home nearly three hours ago.
      像平日一样，他今天的第一站是个擦鞋摊，这里的雇员替他系好鞋带。他每周请他们擦两次鞋。附近一家旅馆的门卫替他扣上衬衣最上面一粒纽扣，戴上用别针别上的领带。随后他步行去搭乘另一部巴士，在距离他的推销区域一英里处下车。
      他是差不多3个小时前从家里动身的。
 
 
 
  * * *  
26    The wind is cold and raindrops fall. Porter stops at the first house. This is the moment he's been preparing for since 5:45 a.m. He rings the bell. 27    A woman comes to the door.
      风冷雨淋。波特在第一户人家门前停了下来。这是他从5：45分开始就为之准备的时刻。他按了门铃。
      一位妇人开了门。
 
 
 
  
28    "Hello." 29    "No, thank you, I'm just preparing to leave." 30    Porter nods. 31    "May I come back later?" he asks. 32    "No," says the woman. 33    She shuts the door. 34    Porter's eyes reveal nothing. 35    He moves to the next house. 36    The door opens. 37    Then closes.
      “你好。”
      “不，多谢了。我这就要出门。”
      波特点点头。
      “那我过会儿来，可以吗？”他问。
      “不用了，”那妇人回答道。
      她关上了门。
      波特眼里没有流露丝毫神情。
      他转向下一个人家。
      门开了。
      随即又关上。
 
 
 
  
38    He doesn't get a chance to speak. Porter's expression never changes. He stops at every home in his territory. People might not buy now. Next time. Maybe. No doesn't mean never. Some of his best customers are people who repeatedly turned him down before buying.
      他连开口说话的机会都没有。波特的表情从不改变。他敲开自己推销区内的每一个家门。人们现在可能不买什么。也许下一次会买。现在不买不等于永远不买。他的一些老客户都是那些多次把他拒之门外而后来才买的人。
 
 
 
  
39    He makes his way down the street. 40    "I don't want to try it." 41    "Maybe next time." 42    "I'm sorry. I'm on the phone right now." 43    "No."
      他沿着街道往前走。
      “我不想试用这个产品。”
      “也许下次试一试。”
      “对不起。我在打电话。”
      “不要。”
 
 
 
  
44    Ninety minutes later, Porter still has not made a sale. But there is always another home. 45    He walks on. 46    He knocks on a door. A woman appears from the backyard where she's gardening. She often buys, but not today, she says, as she walks away. 47    "Are you sure?" Porter asks. 48    She pauses. 49    "Well..."
      90分钟之后，波特仍没能卖出一件物品。不过，下面有的是人家。
      他继续向前走。
      他敲响一扇门。一位正在拾掇花园的妇女从后院走了出来。她常常买他的东西，不过今天不买，她说着走开了。
      “你真的不买什么？”波特问。
      她迟疑了一下。
      “那么……”
 
 
 
  
50    That's all Porter needs. He walks as fast as he can, tailing her as she heads to the backyard. He sets his briefcase down and opens it. He puts on his glasses, removes his brochures and begins his sales talk, showing the woman pictures and describing each product.
      波特要的就是这一迟疑。他尽可能快步上前，跟着她朝后院走去。他放下公文包，打了开来。他戴上眼镜，拿出产品介绍小册子，开始推销，给那位妇人看图片，详细介绍每一个产品。
 
 
 
  
51    Spices? 52    "No." 53    Jams? 54    "No. Maybe nothing today, Bill." 55    Porter's hearing is the one perfect thing his body does. Except when he gets a live one. Then the word "no" does not register.
      调料？
      “不要。”
      果酱？
      “不要。恐怕今天不要什么，比尔。”
      波特的听觉是他身上惟一没有一点毛病的功能。只有当他察觉对方有可能买他东西的时候才会发生例外。这个时候，他是听不见“不”字的。
 
 
 
  
56    Pepper? 57    "No." 58    Laundry soap? 59    "Hmm." 60    Porter stops. He smells blood. He quickly remembers her last order. 61    "Say, aren't you about out of soap? That's what you bought last time. You ought to be out right about now." 62    "You're right, Bill. I'll take one."
      胡椒粉？
      “不要。”
      洗衣皂？
      “嗯。”
      波特停了下来。他嗅到了猎物。他很快记起了她上次的订单。
      “对了，你肥皂差不多用完了吧？你上次买的就是这个。现在该差不多用完了。”
      “没错，比尔。我买一块。”
 
 
 
  * * *  
63    He arrives home, in a rainstorm, after 7 p.m. Today was not profitable. He tells himself not to worry. Four days left in the week. 64    At least he's off his feet and home. 65    Inside, an era is preserved. The telephone is a heavy, rotary model. There is no VCR, no cable. 66    His is the only house in the neighborhood with a television antenna on the roof.
      晚上7点过后，他在暴风雨中回到了家。今天没赚钱。他跟自己说别着急。这个星期还有4天呢。
      至少他回到了家，不用再站立了。
      屋内，俨然是保存完好的一个旧时代。电话是笨重的拨盘式的那种。没有录像放映机，没有有线电视。
      他家是附近惟一一家屋顶上支着电视接收天线的人家。
 
 
 
  
67    He leads a solitary life. Most of his human contact comes on the job. Now, he heats the oven and slips in a frozen dinner because it's easy to fix. 68    The job usually takes him 10 hours. 69    He's a weary man who knows his days -- no matter what his intentions -- are numbered. 70    He works on straight commission. He gets no paid holidays, vacations or raises. Yes, some months are lean.
      他过着离群索居的生活。他跟别人的来往大都限于工作上。他打开了烤炉，放了一盒冷藏食品进去，因为这样做饭方便。
      他的工作通常要花去他10个小时。
      他身心疲惫，知道来日无多了――不管他愿不愿意。
      他的收入完全依靠佣金。他没有带薪假期，没有度假，也没有加薪。的确，有些月份收入相当微薄。
 
 
 
  
71    In 1993, he needed back surgery to relieve pain caused from decades of walking. He was laid up for five months and couldn't work. He was forced to sell his house. The new owners, familiar with his situation, froze his rent and agreed to let him live there until he dies.
      1993年，他需要作背部手术，以减轻数十年行走引起的疼痛。他卧床五个月，无法工作。他被迫出售房子。房子的新主人了解他的处境，冻结了他的房租，并答应让他在有生之年继续住在那里。
 
 
 
  
72    He doesn't feel sorry for himself. 73    The house is only a building. A place to live, nothing more. 74    His dinner is ready. He eats at the kitchen table and listens to the radio. The afternoon mail brought bills that he will deal with later this week. The checkbook is upstairs in the bedroom. 75    His checkbook.
      他并不因此自悲自怜。
      房子只不过是个建筑物。一个住的地方。仅此而已。
      晚饭好了。他在厨房的桌子旁吃饭，边吃边听着收音机。下午的邮差送来了他的账单，这些账单他将在这个星期后几天支付。支票簿在楼上卧室里。
      他的私人支票簿。
 
 
 
  
76    He types in the recipient's name and signs his name. 77    The signature is small and scrawled. 78    Unreadable. 79    But he knows. 80    Bill Porter. 81    Bill Porter, salesman.
      他用打字机打上收款人的名字，随后签上名。
      签名小小的，字迹潦草。
      难以辨认。
      可他认得出来。
      比尔·波特。
      推销员比尔·波特。
 
 
 
  
82    From his easy chair he hears the wind lash his house and the rain pound the street outside his home. He must dress warmly tomorrow. He's sleepy. With great care he climbs the stairs to his bedroom. 83    In time, the lights go off. 84    Morning will be here soon.
      他坐在安乐椅上，只听得呼啸的大风猛烈地冲击着他的屋子，大雨击打着屋外的街面。明天他得穿得暖和些。他觉得睏了，他小心翼翼地爬上楼就寝。
      没过一会儿，灯就灭了。
      早晨很快就会来临。     全新版大学英语综合教程第三册UNIT8-2     Cloning offers the possibility of making exact copies of ourselves. Should this be allowed? What benefits and dangers may cloning bring?
      克隆技术使我们有可能分毫不差地复制自己。这一技术是否应该获准应用？克隆技术会带来什么裨益与危险？   
 
 
A Clone Is Born Gina Kolata
1     On July 5, 1996, at 5:00 p.m., the most famous lamb in history entered the world. She was born in a shed, just down the road from the Roslin Institute in Roslin, Scotland, where she was created. And yet her creator, Ian Wilmut, a quiet, balding fifty-two-year-old embryologist, does not remember where he was when he heard that the lamb, named Dolly, was born. He does not even recall getting a telephone call from John Bracken, a scientist who had monitored the pregnancy of the sheep that gave birth to Dolly, saying that Dolly was alive and healthy and weighed 6.6 kilograms.
克隆生命诞生了吉纳·科拉泰      1996年7月5日下午5点，有史以来最出名的小羊羔问世了。它出生在苏格兰罗斯林镇的罗斯林研究院所在的那条路上的一个小棚里，这只羊羔是在该研究院创造出来的。而它的创造者伊恩·威尔莫特，一位正在谢顶的文质彬彬的52岁的胚胎学家，却不记得自己是在什么地方听到这头名叫多利的羊问世的消息的。他甚至不记得曾接到约翰· 布拉肯的电话，这位对产下多利的那头羊的整个妊娠过程进行监察的科学家在电话上说多利健康存活，体重6.6千克。
 
 
 
  　
2    No one broke open champagne. No one took pictures. Only a few staff members from the institute and a local veterinarian who attended the birth were present. Yet Dolly, who looked for all the world like hundreds of other lambs that dot the rolling hills of Scotland, was soon to change the world.
      没有人打开香槟酒庆贺。没有人拍照留影。只有研究院的几位员工，以及接生的一位当地兽医在场。然而，多利，这头与苏格兰起伏的山丘上散布着的千百头其他的羊毫无异样的小羊羔，很快就改变了世界。
 
 
 
 
3    When the time comes to write the history of our age, this quiet birth, the creation of this little lamb, will stand out. The world is a different place now that she is born.
      当后人编写我们这一时代的历史的时候，这一平静的降生，这头小羊羔的问世，将会引人注目。世界因它降生而从此改变。
 
 
 
 
4    Dolly is a clone. She was created not out of the union of a sperm and an egg but out of the genetic material from an udder cell of a six-year-old sheep. Wilmut fused the udder cell with an egg from another sheep, after first removing all genetic material from the egg. The udder cell's genes took up residence in the egg and directed it to grow and develop. The result was Dolly, the identical twin of the original sheep that provided the udder cells, but an identical twin born six years later.
      多利是头克隆羊。它不是精卵结合的产物，而是由取自一头六龄羊的乳腺细胞的基因材料生成的。威尔莫特先将取自另一头羊的卵子中的所有基因材料取出，再将该卵子与这一乳腺细胞融合。乳腺细胞的基因在该卵子中安营扎寨，令其生长发育。其结果就是多利羊，即与提供乳腺细胞的那头羊一模一样的孪生羊，只是这头孪生羊晚出生了6年。
 
 
 
  
5    Until Dolly entered the world, cloning was the stuff of science fiction. It had been raised as a possibility decades ago, then dismissed, something that serious scientists thought was simply not going to happen anytime soon. Now it is not fantasy to think that someday, perhaps decades from now, but someday, you could clone yourself and make tens, dozens, hundreds of genetically identical twins. Nor is it science fiction to think that your cells could be improved beforehand, genetically engineered to add some genes and remove others.       在多利羊问世之前，克隆技术不过是科学幻想的故事。几十年前有人提出这种可能性，后来遭到摒弃，严肃的科学家那时认为克隆在近期根本不可能实现。现在这已不再是幻想，几十年之后，或许有朝一日你可以克隆自己，造出数十个，数百个，上千个基因完全相同的孪生的兄弟。事先改进你的细胞，运用基因工程注入某些基因，剔除某些基因，这样的事也不再是科学幻想。
 
 
 
 
6    True, it was a sheep that was cloned, not a human being. But there was nothing exceptional about sheep. Even Wilmut, who made it clear that he was opposed to the very idea of cloning people, said that there was no longer any theoretical reason why humans could not clone themselves, using the same methods he had used to clone Dolly. "There is no reason in principle why you couldn't do it." But, he added, "All of us would find that offensive."
      没错，克隆的是头羊，而不是人。但羊并没有任何独特之处。甚至明确表示反对克隆人的威尔莫特也称，理论上，没有理由说人类不能使用与克隆多利羊同样的手段来克隆人类本身。“原则上没有不能这么做的理由。”但他补充说，“我们都会认为这样做令人厌恶。”
 
 
 
 
7    We live in a time when we argue about pragmatism and compromises in our quest to be morally right. But cloning forces us back to the most basic questions that have plagued humanity since the dawn of recorded time: What is good and what is evil? And how much potential for evil can we tolerate to obtain something that might be good? Cloning, with its possibilities for creating our own identical twins, brings us back to the ancient sins of vanity and pride; the sins of Narcissus, who so loved himself, and of Prometheus, who, in stealing fire, sought the powers of God. So before we can ask why we are so fascinated by cloning, we have to examine our souls and ask, What exactly so bothers many of us about trying to make an exact copy of our genetic selves? Or, if we are not bothered, why aren't we?
      我们生活在这样一个时代，人们为了追求道德的完善对实用主义和妥协折衷的问题争论不休。而克隆技术迫使我们回到有史以来一直困扰人类的那些最本质的问题：何者为善，何者为恶？为了获得可能有益的东西，我们对邪恶的隐患能容忍到何种程度？克隆技术以其创造与我们自身完全一样的孪生兄弟的可能性，将我们带回到种种古老的罪孽：虚荣傲慢；那喀索斯式的自恋罪，以及普罗米修斯的罪孽，他以盗火来谋求上帝的权力。因此，我们在扪心自问为什么对克隆技术如此着迷之前，不得不首先审视自己的心灵，问一问：究竟是什么东西使得我们中的许多人对于尝试复制与自身基因完全等同的孪生兄弟那么不安？或者，如果我们并没有感到不安，其原因又是什么？
 
 
 
  
8    We want children who resemble us. Even couples who use donor eggs or donor sperm, search catalogs of donors to find people who resemble themselves. Several years ago, a poem by Linda Pastan, called "To a Daughter Leaving Home," was displayed on the walls of New York subways. It read:        Is it my own image
        I love so
        in your face?
        I lean over your sleep,
        Narcissus over
        his clear pool,
        ready to fall in --
        to drown for you
        if necessary.Yet if we so love ourselves, reflected in our children, why is it so terrifying to so many of us to think of seeing our exact genetic replicas born again, identical twins years younger than we? Is it one thing for nature to form us through a genetic lottery, and another for us to take complete control, abandoning all thoughts of somehow, through the mixing of genes, having a child who is like us, but better? Normally, when a man and a woman have a child together, the child is an unpredictable mixture of the two. We recognize that, of course, in the old joke in which a beautiful but dumb woman suggests to an ugly but brilliant man that the two have a child. Just think of how wonderful the baby would be, the woman says, with my looks and your brains. Aha, says the man. But what if the child inherited my looks and your brains?
      我们希望子女像我们自己。即使是采用捐赠卵子或捐赠精子的夫妇也要查找精子捐献人名录，以发现与自己相像的人。若干年前，琳达· 帕斯坦写的一首题为《致离家的女儿》的诗曾出现在纽约地铁的墙上，诗中写道：        难道是我自己的形象
        映在你的脸上
        使我如此爱恋？
        我俯视着安睡的你
        就像那喀索斯俯视着
        他那一潭清水，
        随时准备跳下去――
        如有必要
        为你沉溺      然而，如果我们如此爱恋在子女身上映现出来的自我，那为什么我们当中有这么多人，一想到将目睹与我们完全一样的基因复制品、比自己年轻许多的双胞胎降生的时候，就会感到如此惊恐？难道大自然通过基因的任意组合将我们造就是一回事，而由我们自己实施全面控制，摈弃一切随意的念头，通过基因组合造就一个与我们相似但更为完美的孩子则又是另外一回事？当男女一起生育孩子时，孩子往往是两个人基因的不可预料的组合。显然，一个老笑话表明我们已经认识到了这一点。这个笑话说的是一位漂亮但蠢笨的女人向一个丑陋但才华横溢的男人建议两人一起生一个孩子。想一想吧，那女人说，孩子拥有我的容貌、你的大脑那将会多么出色。啊，那男人说，可要是孩子继承了我的容貌你的大脑呢？
 
 
 
 
9    Cloning brings us face-to-face with what it means to be human and makes us confront both the privileges and limitations of life itself. It also forces us to question the powers of science. Is there, in fact, knowledge that we do not want? Are there paths we would rather not pursue?
      克隆技术使我们直接面对做人的意义这个问题，使我们直接面对生命本身的特权与限制。克隆技术也迫使我们对科学的力量提出质疑。是不是有些知识我们真的不要去获取？有一些路我们宁愿不去探寻？
 
 
 
  
10    The time is long past when we can speak of the purity of science, divorced from its consequences. If any needed reminding that the innocence of scientists was lost long ago, they need only recall the comments of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the genius who was a father of the atomic bomb and who was transformed in the process from a supremely confident man, ready to follow his scientific curiosity, to a humbled and troubled soul, wondering what science had let loose.
      我们奢谈科学的纯洁性，将科学与其后果分离的时代早已过去。如果有谁还需要提醒，科学家的纯真早已丧失，他们只要回想一下J·罗伯特·奥本海默的话。奥本海默是一位天才，他是原子弹的缔造者之一。他在追求科学的过程中，从一个极其自信、随时准备跟着科学好奇心走的人，逐渐变成了一个谦恭困惑的人，他不知道科学放出了什么妖魔。
 
 
 
  
11    Before the bomb was made, Oppenheimer said, "When you see something that is technically sweet you go ahead and do it." After the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in a chilling speech delivered in 1947, he said: "The physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose."
      在原子弹造出之前，奥本海默说：“当你看到某个技术完美的东西时，你就毫不犹豫地去实现它。”原子弹投在广岛、长崎之后，他在1947年发表的一则令人毛骨悚然的演说中指出：“物理学家们已经尝到过罪孽的滋味，这种滋味他们无法忘记。”
 
 
 
  
12    As with the atom bomb, cloning is complex, multi-layered in its threats and its promises. It offers the possibility of real scientific advances that can improve our lives and save them. In medicine, scientists dream of using cloning to reprogram cells so we can make our own body parts for transplantation. Suppose, for example, you needed a bone marrow transplant. Some deadly forms of leukemia can be cured completely if doctors destroy your own marrow and replace it with healthy marrow from someone else. But the marrow must be a close genetic match to your own. If not, it will lash out at you and kill you. Bone marrow is the source of the white blood cells of the immune system. If you have someone else's marrow, you'll make their white blood cells. And if those cells think you are different from them, they will attack.
      如同原子弹一样，克隆技术带来的威胁与希望是复杂的、 多层面的。它提供了改善生活、拯救生命的真正科学进步的可能性。在医学上，科学家梦想着运用克隆技术改编细胞的编码指令程序，这样我们就可以制造出我们自己身体的某些部分进行移植。比如说，假定你需要进行骨髓移植。如果医生摧毁你自身的骨髓，用他人的健康骨髓来取代，某些致命的白血病就能得到彻底的医治。但骨髓的属型必须与你自己的相匹配。不然的话，移植的骨髓就会向你发起进攻，置你于死地。骨髓是免疫系统的白细胞的来源。如果你获得别人的骨髓，你就会造出别人的白细胞。如果这些白细胞认定你与它们不同，它们就会发起进攻。
 
 
 
  
13    But suppose, instead, that scientists could take one of your cells -- any cell -- and merge it with a human egg. The egg would start to divide, to develop, but it would not be permitted to divide more than a few times. Instead, technicians would bathe it in proteins that direct primitive cells, embryo cells, to become marrow cells. What started out to be a clone of you could grow into a batch of your marrow -- the perfect match.
      不过，可以有别的办法。假定科学家能够用你自身的某个细胞――任何一个细胞――将它与人的卵细胞融合。卵细胞开始分裂，生长，但你可以控制它，只让它分裂若干次。技术人员将它置于蛋白质当中，指令原始细胞，即胚胎细胞，长成骨髓细胞。开始时本可以克隆你的东西却可以长成一批你的骨髓――与你完美相配的骨髓。
 
 
 
  
14    More difficult, but not inconceivable, would be to grow solid organs, like kidneys or livers, in the same way.
      更为困难，但并非不可思议的，是以同样的方法长成完整的器官，如肾脏或肝脏。
 
 
 
  
15    Another possibility is to create animals whose organs are perfect genetic matches for humans. If you need a liver, a kidney, or even a heart, you might be able to get one from a specially designed pig clone.
      另一种可能性是生成器官与人类基因完全吻合的动物。如果你需要肝脏，肾脏，甚至心脏，你或许能从一头特别设计的克隆猪身上获得。
 
 
 
  
16    The possibilities are limitless, scientists say, and so, some argue, we should stop focusing on our hypothetical fears and think about the benefits that cloning could bring.
      科学家称克隆技术蕴藏着无穷的可能性，因此，有人争辩说，我们不应该喋喋不休地谈论种种假设的恐惧，而去想一想克隆技术能够带来的裨益。