1、2006 Text 1In spite of “endless talk of difference，American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. There is “ the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse， and the casualness and absence of deference characteristic of popular culture. People are absorbed into “ aculture of con

2、sumption launched by the 19th century department stores that offered “ vastarrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite, these w stores “ anyonelcdoeunter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic ac

3、t. The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization. 不管我們?nèi)绾梧┼┎恍莸卣務(wù)摬町?，美?guó)社會(huì)實(shí)際上是一臺(tái)同化人們的神奇的機(jī) 器。這就是民主化的著裝和言談，并且還有種隨意和缺乏尊重感，這些構(gòu)成了通 俗文化的特性。人們被一種消費(fèi)文化所吸引了，這種文化是由十九世紀(jì)在高雅的 氣氛中陳列著琳瑯滿目的商品的百貨商店所開始的。 他們不是為了迎合有知識(shí) 的精英們而開設(shè)的專門商店，而是創(chuàng)立了“不分階層和背景人人都可以進(jìn)入 的 群眾商店。這使得購(gòu)物成為一種群眾的、民主的行為。群眾傳媒、廣告和體育也 是協(xié)助人們

4、均質(zhì)化的推動(dòng)力。Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that today's immigration is neither at unprecedented levels nor resistant to assimilation. In 1998

5、 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; in 1900, 13.6 percent .In the 10 years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived for every，1 000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 9.2 for every 1, 000. Now, consider three in dices of assimilati onTan guage, home own ership and in termarriage. 盡管這種文化并

6、不算高雅，但也算不上有害，移民們很快就融入了這種共同文化。Gregory Rodriguez為美國(guó)移民研討會(huì)撰文指出，今天的移民既不是處于空前的水 平，也不抵抗同化。在 1998年，移民占全國(guó)人口的 9.8%；在1900年為13.6%。在 1990年以前的十年之中，在每千位居民當(dāng)中，有千分之3.1 的新來的移民；而在 1890年以前的十年之中，每千位居民當(dāng)中就有千分之9.2 的移民。現(xiàn)在，讓我們來看一下三個(gè)同化指標(biāo)語言、擁有產(chǎn)權(quán)住房和異族結(jié)婚情況。The 1990 Census revealed that “amajority of immigrants from each of the fi

7、fteen most common countries of origin spoke English“well or “very well after ten yeof residence. The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual and proficient in English. “Bythe third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families. Hence the description of America a

8、s a“graveyard for languBy 1996 foreignTborn immigrants who had arrived before 1970 had a homeownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born Americans.1990年的人口普查透露：“來自十五個(gè)移民數(shù)量最多的國(guó)家的移民在到美國(guó)十年 后英語說得好'或很好'。移民的子女幾乎都說兩種語言，且精通英語?！暗?了第三代，在大多數(shù)移民家庭，他們的母語就消失了。 因此，有人就把

9、美國(guó)描 述成了“語言的墳場(chǎng) 。到了 1996年，出生于國(guó)外的、在 1970年以前到達(dá)美國(guó) 的移民有 75.6%購(gòu)置了自己的住房，這個(gè)數(shù)字高出土生土長(zhǎng)的美國(guó)人的擁有自己 所有權(quán)住房的百分比 69.8%。Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics “ havehigher rates of intermarriage than doU.S born whites and blacks. By the third gen eratio n, one third of Hispa nic wome n are married to non-Hispa ni cs, and 41

10、 perce nt of AsianAmerica n wome n are married to non-Asians.在國(guó)外出生的亞裔和西班牙裔移民“與美國(guó)外鄉(xiāng)白人和黑人相比，與異族通婚的 比率要高。到了第三代，有三分之一的西班牙裔女性與非西班牙裔男性結(jié)婚， 而有 41%亞裔美國(guó)婦女與非亞裔男性結(jié)婚。Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet“some Amer

11、icans fearthat immigrant living within the United States remain somehow immune to the nation 's assimilative power. 羅得里格斯寫道，即使那些住在世界各地偏僻村莊的孩子們都是諸如阿諾 .施瓦 辛格和加思 .布魯克斯等明星的星迷，然而“一些美國(guó)人卻害怕住在美國(guó)的移民 不知為何能不受這個(gè)國(guó)家的同化力量的影響 。Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething anger in America? Indeed. It is big

12、 enough to have a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against Americasturbulent past, today 'ssocial induces hardly suggest a dark and deteriorating social environment.在美國(guó)是否存在不和以及潛在的不安？答案是肯定的， 因?yàn)檫@個(gè)國(guó)家足夠大以至 于什么現(xiàn)象都存在。但是與美國(guó)動(dòng)亂狂暴的過去相比，如今的社會(huì)根本不能說明 美國(guó)的社會(huì)環(huán)境正變得黑暗，且正在惡化。Text 2Stratford-on-Avon,

13、 as we all know, has only one industry-William Shakespeare-but there are two distinctly separate and increasingly hostile branches. There is the Royal Shakespeare CompanyRSC, which presents superb productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon. And there are the townsfolk w

14、ho largely live off the tourists who come, not to see the plays, but to look at Anne Hathaway Cottage, Shakespeare's birthplace and the other sights.眾所周知Stratford-on-Avon只有一個(gè)特色，那就是威廉？莎士比亞,但這兒卻有兩個(gè) 相互獨(dú)立的部門 ,他們隨著時(shí)間的變化而日益變得敵對(duì)。這兒有皇家莎士比亞公 司RSC，它在Avon的莎士比亞紀(jì)念劇院里將很多優(yōu)秀的戲劇作品呈現(xiàn)給大 家。這兒的居民大局部是靠掙來游玩的游客的錢來維持生計(jì)，

15、這些游客并不是 來看戲劇的，而是來看Anne Hathaway的莊園，莎士比亞的出生地和其他的景色。The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue. They frankly dislike the RSC'sactors, them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. It 's all deliciously ironic when you consider that

16、Shakespeare, who earns their living, was himself an actor with a beard and did his share of noise - making.Stratford的當(dāng)?shù)剜l(xiāng)紳們都質(zhì)疑劇院有沒有為當(dāng)?shù)氐亩愂帐杖胱鲆稽c(diǎn)奉獻(xiàn)。他們直言討厭 RSC 的演員，這些演員留著長(zhǎng)頭發(fā)，長(zhǎng)胡須，拖著涼鞋，吵吵嚷嚷。這 真是一種絕妙的挖苦，當(dāng)你想到作為他們搖錢樹的莎士比亞,自己也是個(gè)演員，留著胡子，一起大吵大鬧。The tourist streams are not entirely separate. The sightseers who co

17、me by bus- andofte n take in Warwick Castle and Ble nheim Palace on the sided on' t usually see the plays, and some of them are even surprised to find a theatre in Stratford. However, the playgoers do manage a little sight - seeing along with their play- going. It is the playgoers, the RSC conte

18、nds, who bring in much of the tow'n s revenue because they spend the night (some of them four or five nights) pouring cash into the hotels and restaurants. The sightseers can take in everything and get out of town by nightfall. 游客群并不是完全分開的。游覽者乘公車來,，經(jīng)常會(huì)去游覽 Warwick 城堡和Blenheim 宮殿，通常不會(huì)去看戲，并且他們中的一些人

19、甚至?xí)?duì)在 Stratford 能 找到劇院感到驚訝。 然而，看戲者只花少量的時(shí)間在觀光上， 也就是在戲劇演出 時(shí)順便看看。 RSC 主張，是看戲者給城鎮(zhèn)帶來大量的稅收，因?yàn)樗麄兺ǔ；ㄕ?晚上時(shí)間(有些是四到五個(gè)晚上) 在旅館或飯店里大量消費(fèi)。 然而游覽者在當(dāng)天 的黃昏前就能把所有事情做完了，然后離開小鎮(zhèn)。The townsfolk don ' t see it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the subsidy of the Royal ShakespeareCompany. Stratford

20、 cries poor traditionally. Nevertheless every hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel there， which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expens

21、ive.當(dāng)?shù)鼐用癫⒉贿@么認(rèn)為，地方政府也直接沒有給予 RSC 補(bǔ)貼。 Stratford 一向都 會(huì)哭窮。然而城鎮(zhèn)上每一家旅館似乎都增加了新的部門或是雞尾酒酒吧。 希爾頓 也在這兒建了一座自己的酒店， 這里肯定可以能看到被裝飾一新的哈姆雷特漢堡 酒吧，Lear休息室，宴會(huì)廳等等。進(jìn)一步說，這里消費(fèi)將很貴。Anyway, the townsfolk can' t understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three

22、 years in a row. Last year its 1,431 seats were 94 per cent occupied all year long and this year they' ll do better.) The reason, of course, is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed low.總之，居民不明白為什么RSC需要補(bǔ)貼。(劇院已經(jīng)打破了連續(xù)三年以來的就座 率紀(jì)錄。去年整年的 1431 個(gè)座位的就坐率到達(dá)了 94%，今年將會(huì)更高。)當(dāng)然， 原因是，演戲的花費(fèi)高了，然而

23、票價(jià)仍然很低。It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford' s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights. They all seem to look alike (though they come from all over)- lea n, pointed, dedicated faces, wearin

24、g jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box office opens at 10:30 a.m.大幅增加票價(jià)是一件很為難的事情，因?yàn)檫@樣會(huì)把Stratford的最有魅力的顧客一 年輕人趕走。他們完全是為了戲而來，不是為風(fēng)景。他

25、們看起來都一個(gè)樣(雖然 他們從各個(gè)地方而來)消瘦、率直、專注的臉龐，穿著牛仔褲和便鞋，吃著 小圓面包， 在劇場(chǎng)外的石板上過夜， 以便能買得到 20 張座票和 80 張站票， 這些 票都是為那些睡覺的人準(zhǔn)備的，并且在票房第二天上午 10 點(diǎn)半開始售票時(shí)就賣 給他們。Text 3When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals. they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. T

26、he large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction.Now something similar could be happening in the oceans. 當(dāng)史前的人到達(dá)世界的一個(gè)新的地方時(shí)，那里的大局部動(dòng)物就會(huì)發(fā)生奇怪的事 情。它們突然滅絕了。小局部動(dòng)物種族存活了下來，但大局部的，成長(zhǎng)緩慢的動(dòng) 物那么成了狩獵的目標(biāo)， 并且很快被狩獵到滅絕。 現(xiàn)在相類似的事情發(fā)生在大海中 .That the seas are being overfished has been know

27、n for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish

28、species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators( animals that kill and eat other animals) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploita

29、tion. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.這些年在海中的捕撈活動(dòng)太過頻繁， 就像Ransom Myers和Boris Worm這些年所 研究的， 事物在迅速地變化著。 他們研究了半個(gè)世紀(jì)以來世界上所有的魚場(chǎng)。 他 們的方法不是為了試圖估算特定區(qū)域的海洋中實(shí)際動(dòng)物總數(shù) (活著生物的總數(shù)) ， 而是研究單位面積中海洋生物數(shù)量的變化。 根據(jù)他們最近在 ?自然?雜志上發(fā)表 的文章，大型食肉的海洋生物(一種殺死和吃其它動(dòng)物的生物)的總量在 15 年 的時(shí)間里已經(jīng)減少了平均 80%。在一些大型的捕魚場(chǎng)，這個(gè)數(shù)量已經(jīng)減半。

30、Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved.Today 'vesssels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so t

31、he real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, lonelines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to tra

32、p them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.Worm 博士成認(rèn)這些數(shù)字還只是保守?cái)?shù)字 ，一個(gè)原因是今天的捕魚技術(shù)已經(jīng)大 大改善，可以通過衛(wèi)星和聲波

33、這些在 50 年前不可能有的東西來發(fā)現(xiàn)獵物，這同 50 年前相比意味著可以捕獲更多的海洋生物，所以現(xiàn)在和過去的真正差距可能 會(huì)比之前在捕獲區(qū)記錄的數(shù)據(jù)所表達(dá)出的更糟糕。 在早期的時(shí)候， 多勾的魚桿線 已經(jīng)對(duì)魚不起作用了。 因此有一些魚種沒被抓到， 往后沒有魚餌的魚鉤根本捕不 到魚，導(dǎo)致過去的捕魚業(yè)受到輕視。而且，早期用魚鉤捕魚的日子，有許多魚在 它們上鉤后被鯊魚給吃了。那不再是個(gè)問題，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在鯊魚已經(jīng)很少了。Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management

34、 efforts must take into account. They believe the date support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shiftingbaseline Th.e notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time

35、 into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that， which is a bad way to be business. Dr. Myers 和 Dr. worm 聲稱呼，他

36、們的工作已經(jīng)確定了一個(gè)正確的根本方針，這 個(gè)方針是未來管理中必須要使用的。 他們認(rèn)為數(shù)據(jù)恰恰表達(dá)了一個(gè)海洋生物學(xué)家 都支持的觀點(diǎn)。這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)就是“改變基線 。這個(gè)概念就是說人們已經(jīng)很難觀察 得到大范圍海洋中發(fā)生的變化， 因?yàn)樗麄冎皇腔貞洀倪^去以來相對(duì)短的時(shí)間。 這 確有其事，因?yàn)槔碚摳嬖V我們?nèi)绻粋€(gè)漁場(chǎng)的總儲(chǔ)量如果連起初的最大可承受的 捕魚量的 50都不到，就應(yīng)該降低捕魚數(shù)量了。大多數(shù)漁場(chǎng)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于這個(gè)數(shù)， 這是對(duì)以后的捕魚業(yè)非常不利的。Text 4 Many things make people think artists are weird.But the weirdest may be th

37、is: artists only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel bad. 許多事情讓人們覺得藝術(shù)家很乖僻。 最乖僻可能是： 藝術(shù)家的唯一工作就是尋找 情感，然而他們所關(guān)注的對(duì)象大多是那些不幸的人。This wasn'at lways so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for expressing joy. But somewhere fro

38、m the 19th century onward,more artists began seeing happiness as meaningless, phony or, worst of all, boring ,as we went from Wordsworth ' s daffodils to Baudelaire' s flowers of evil.當(dāng)然不總是那樣。藝術(shù)的最早形式，像繪畫和音樂，都是最適合表達(dá)快樂的。但 在 19 世紀(jì)的某個(gè)時(shí)期，更多的藝術(shù)家開始把快樂看成無意義的，假冒的，甚至 是最糟的。我們可以從 Wordsworth 的黃水仙到 Baudel

39、aire 的罪惡之花看出這種 變化。You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen so much misery. But it' s not as if earlier times didn't know perpetual wdisaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason,in fact,may be just the opposite: there is too much damn ha

40、ppiness in the world today. 你可能會(huì)爭(zhēng)論藝術(shù)變得對(duì)幸福如此疑心是因?yàn)樵诂F(xiàn)代看到了這樣的苦難。 但這并 不是因?yàn)樵谠缙诓涣私獬志玫膽?zhàn)爭(zhēng) ,災(zāi)難和大規(guī)模的屠殺無辜。事實(shí)上，原因可 能與之相反：現(xiàn)在世界上有太多快樂要去譴責(zé)。After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness？ Advertising. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emerge

41、nce of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology.歸根結(jié)底， 幾乎完全致力于描寫快樂的那種現(xiàn)代表現(xiàn)方式是什么呢？廣告。 反快 樂藝術(shù)的興起幾乎完全與群眾傳媒同步出現(xiàn)， 而隨之興起了一種商業(yè)文化， 在這 種文化中，快樂不僅是一個(gè)抽象概念，而是一種意識(shí)形態(tài)。People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhauste

42、d, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in danger and that they would someday bemeat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too. 早期的人們被悲哀之使者所縈繞。 他們工作到筋疲力盡， 生活幾無保障， 年紀(jì)輕 輕就命喪黃泉。 在西方，在群眾傳媒和文學(xué)普及之前， 最有效的群眾媒體是教堂， 它提醒信徒們， 他們的靈魂處于危險(xiǎn)之中， 他們總有一天會(huì)成為蛆蟲的食物。 在 這種信仰下，他們對(duì)此已十分了然，無須其藝術(shù)再表現(xiàn)這種失落感。Today the messag