1、The Resource Management Act 資源管理法案The Resource Management Act reflects New Zealanders environmental awareness. Under the Act, laws governing land,air and water resources are combined together to ensure the sustainable management of natural resources. It focuses on the effects of human activities on

2、the whole environment as well. The Act came into force in 1991. With it , New Zealand leads the world in environmental legislation.資源管理法案反映了新西蘭人的環(huán)保意識。根據(jù)該法案，法律將土地，空氣和水資源結(jié)合在一起管理，以確保自然資源的可持續(xù)管理。它側(cè)重于人類活動對整個環(huán)境的影響。該法案于1991生效。有了它，新西蘭在環(huán)境立法方面領(lǐng)先世界。Maoritanga 毛利文化Maoritanga is the Maori word for “ Maori culture

3、. It refers to all the elements of the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous people in New Zealand, including their languages, customs and traditions.毛利文化是毛利語中的“毛利文化。它是指在新西蘭土著居民豐富的文化遺產(chǎn)中的所有元素，包括他們的語言，習(xí)俗和傳統(tǒng)。MMPR 混合成員比例代表制MMPR stands for Mixed Member Proportional Representation. Under this new elect

4、ion system, each voter has two votes, the first one for a candidate in their electorate, the second for a political party. The second vote, when counted nation-wide, decides the number of seats each party will take in Parliament.MMPR代表混合成員比例代表制。在這種新的選舉制度下，每一個選民都有兩張選票，第一張是投給選民的候選人，第二個是投給政黨的候選人。當(dāng)?shù)诙瓮镀?/p>

5、在全國范圍內(nèi)舉行時，將決定各個黨派在議會中所占的席數(shù)。The Ombudsman申述專員The Ombudsman is appointed by Parliament. His responsibilities are to investigate peoples complaints against government departments and local authorities and to make sure that appropriate official information is freely available in accordance to the Offici

6、al Information Act. There are Chief Ombudsman and specialist ombudsman in various fields.申訴專員是由議會任命的。他的職責(zé)是調(diào)查人們對政府部門和地方當(dāng)局的投訴，并確保根據(jù)官方信息法適當(dāng)?shù)奶峁┟赓M(fèi)的官方信息。在各個領(lǐng)域都有首席監(jiān)察官和專家申訴專員。Puritanism清教主義Puritans were those who followed the doctrine of John Calvin and wanted to purify the Church of England. They believe t

7、hat human beings were predestined by God before they were born. Some were Gods chosen people while others were damned to hell. No church nor good works could save people. The sign of being Gods elect was the success in his work or the prosperity in his calling. They also argued that everyone must re

8、ad the Bible in order to find Gods will and establish a direct contact with God. These beliefs had great impact on American culture.清教徒是那些遵循加爾文的學(xué)說，想凈化英國教會的人。他們認(rèn)為，人類的命運(yùn)在出生前就被上帝決定了。有些是被上帝所選擇的人，而其他人是注定要去地獄的。沒有教堂也沒有好的辦法可以拯救人們。（一個人）被上帝選中的標(biāo)志是他在工作上的成功，或是他事業(yè)的繁榮。他們還認(rèn)為，每個人都必須閱讀圣經(jīng)，以了解上帝的意愿，并建立一個與上帝的直接聯(lián)系。這些信仰對美

9、國文化產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響。The Declaration of Independence 獨(dú)立宣言The Declaration of Independence was mainly drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Congress on July 4,1776, when the people of 13 English colonies in North America were fighting for their freedom and independence from the British colonial rule.

10、The document declared that all men were equal and that they were entitled to have some unalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It also explained the philosophy of government: the power of governments came from consent of the governed and the purpose of governments were

11、 to secure the rights mentioned above. The theory of politics and the guiding principles of the American Revolution mainly came from John Locke.獨(dú)立宣言主要由杰佛遜托馬斯起草，并于1776年7月4日在國會通過。 北美13個英國殖民地的人民為了他們的自由和獨(dú)立于英國的殖民統(tǒng)治而奮起反抗。該文件宣稱所有人都是平等的，他們都有不可剝奪的權(quán)利，如生命、自由和對幸福的追求。它也解釋了政府的生活信條：政府的權(quán)力由被統(tǒng)治者授予，政府的目的是確保上述所提到的權(quán)利。政治

12、理論和美國獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭的指導(dǎo)原理主要來自約翰洛克。The Articles of Confederation 聯(lián)邦條例After the War of Independence was won, the new nation of the United States was organized under the agreement of the Articles of Confederation with a weak national government called the Congress. Each state had its own government, made its own

13、laws and handled its internal affairs. The states did not cooperate with the Congress and with each other. The Congress had no power to force any state to contribute money to the national government and the Congress could not tax any citizen either. As a result, the Articles of Confederation failed.

14、當(dāng)獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭勝利后，新的美國是在聯(lián)邦條例下由一個不中用的國民政府-國會所組織的。每個州都有它自己的政府，有它自己的法律以及自行處理各自的內(nèi)部事務(wù)。各州都不和國會以及其他州合作。國會沒有權(quán)利去要求任何一個州為國民政府捐款，也沒有向公民征稅的權(quán)利。所以，聯(lián)邦條例最后失敗了。The Bill of Rights 權(quán)利法案The Bill of Rights consists of the first 10 amendments which were added to the Constitution in 1791. The Bill of Rights was passed to guarantee

15、 freedom and individual rights such as freedom of speech , the right to assemble in public places, the right to own weapons and so on.權(quán)利法案是由10條修正案組成的，于1791年添加進(jìn)憲法中。 權(quán)利法案是為了保障人們的自由及個人權(quán)利，例如言論自由權(quán)，公開集會權(quán)，擁有武器等權(quán)利。Corporation 公司Is a form of business organization. Compared with the sole proprietorship and th

16、e partnership, the corporation may survive the death of its founder or founders. Because it could draw on a pool of investors, it is a much more efficient tool for raising the large amounts of capital needed by expending business. And it enjoys limited liability, so investors only risk the amount of

17、 their investment and not their entire assets.是一種商業(yè)組織形式。與獨(dú)資企業(yè)和合營企業(yè)相比，公司可以使其創(chuàng)始人幸免于難。因?yàn)樗梢晕姸嗟耐顿Y者，這是公司擴(kuò)張所需要的增加大量資金的有效的工具。它享有有限的責(zé)任，所以投資者只需承擔(dān)他們所投資的金額，而不是他們的整個資產(chǎn)。Agribusiness農(nóng)業(yè)綜合企業(yè)Because American agriculture is a big business, people coined the term “ agribusiness” to reflect the large-scale nature of

18、agriculture enterprises in the modern US economy. The term covers the entire complex of farm-related businesses, from the individual farmer to the multinational maker of farm chemicals. It also includes farmer cooperatives, rural banks, shippers of farm products commodity dealers, firms that manufac

19、ture farm equipment , food-processing industries, grocery chains and many other businesses.因?yàn)槊绹霓r(nóng)業(yè)是一個巨大的行業(yè)，人們創(chuàng)造了“農(nóng)業(yè)綜合企業(yè)”這個術(shù)語來反映現(xiàn)代美國經(jīng)濟(jì)中大規(guī)模的農(nóng)業(yè)企業(yè)的性質(zhì)。這個術(shù)語涵蓋了與農(nóng)場相關(guān)的復(fù)雜的企業(yè)，從個體農(nóng)民到農(nóng)用化學(xué)品的跨國公司。它還包括農(nóng)民合作社，農(nóng)村銀行，農(nóng)產(chǎn)品經(jīng)銷商，制造農(nóng)場設(shè)備的公司，食品加工行業(yè)，食品雜貨連鎖店及許多其他的企業(yè)。Religious liberty in the US 宗教自由The Declaration of Independence

20、 guaranteed the basic right of religious freedom and this right was a political necessity. The First Amendment to the US Constitution explicitly forbade the federal government to give special favors to any religion or to hinder the free practice, or exercise, of religion. When disputes about the rel

21、ationship between government and religion arise, American courts must settle them. But American institutions presuppose a Supreme Being, therefore Christianity is often , more favored than other religions.獨(dú)立宣言保證了宗教自由的基本權(quán)利，而這一權(quán)利在政治上是必要的。美國憲法第一修正案明確禁止聯(lián)邦政府給予任何宗教特殊照顧或阻礙其自由運(yùn)動。當(dāng)政府和宗教之間的關(guān)系發(fā)生爭議時，美國法院必須解決他們的

22、問題。美國的社會風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣都是以上帝的存在為前提的，因此，基督教往往比其他宗教更受青睞。Three faiths in the US 美國三大宗教By the 1950s, the three faiths model of American religion had developed. Americans were considered to come in three basic varieties: Protestant, Catholic and Jewish. In terms of numbers, the Protestants are the strongest, the Ca

23、tholics are next to the Protestants and Jewish are the smallest among the three groups.到20世紀(jì)50年代，美國宗教的三種信仰模式得到了發(fā)展。美國人認(rèn)為有三大類：新教、天主教和猶太教。就數(shù)量上而言，信教是最大的， 第二是天主教，猶太教是最小的。Transcendentalists先驗(yàn)論者In his book Nature, Emerson claimed that by studying and responding to nature, individuals could reach a higher s

24、piritual state without formal religion. A circle of intellectuals who were discontented with the New England establishment gathered around Emerson. They accepted Emersons theories about spiritual transcendence. They are known as Transcendentalists.在他的自然一書中，艾默生稱 通過對自然的研究和響應(yīng)，沒有正式宗教人們也可以達(dá)到更高的精神境界。在艾默生身

25、邊有這樣一群不滿于新英格蘭建立的人，他們接受艾默生的“精神的超自然性”的理論，這些人被稱之為 先驗(yàn)論者。The naturalists 自然主義者They were novelists who concentrated upon the grim aspects of reality and a deterministic view of life. They were linked with European naturalists such as French novelist Zola. The most representative naturalists in American li

26、terature were Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and Jack London.他們是全神貫注于現(xiàn)實(shí)的殘酷面和對生活的明確目標(biāo)的小說家。人們把他們和向法國小說家左拉這樣的歐洲自然主義者聯(lián)系在一起。美國文學(xué)上最具代表性的自然主義者是Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and Jack London.Higher education 高級教育In America, higher education refers to education on the college level. American higher educa

27、tion includes four categories of institutions. They are the university, the four-year undergraduate institution , the technical training institution and the two-year or community college. Some are supported by public funds and some by private funds. Many universities and colleges have won reputation

28、s for providing their students with a higher quality of education. The great majority are generally regarded as quite satisfactory.在美國，高等教育是指大學(xué)水平的教育。美國高等教育包括四大類型：大學(xué)，四年制本科院校，技術(shù)培訓(xùn)機(jī)構(gòu)和為期兩年的學(xué)?；蛏鐓^(qū)學(xué)院。有些事由公共基金支持的，有些是由私人基金支持。許多大學(xué)和學(xué)院為他們的學(xué)生提供更高質(zhì)量的教育因此贏得了好名聲。大多數(shù)學(xué)校通常被認(rèn)為是相當(dāng)令人滿意的。Affirmative Action programs肯定性行動計劃

29、Affirmative Action Programs were first advocated by some colleges in the 1960. The purpose of the programs was to equalize educational opportunities for all groups and to make up for past inequality by giving special preference to members of minorities seeking jobs or admission to college. The progr

30、ams effectively helped some minority students. But some critics accused the programs of reverse discrimination.肯定性行動計劃是由幾所學(xué)院在1960年首次提倡的。該計劃的目的是向所有群體提供平等的教育機(jī)會以及彌補(bǔ)過去因?yàn)閷ι贁?shù)民族里找工作或升學(xué)的成員給予了優(yōu)先權(quán)而造成的不平等。這個計劃有效的幫助了一些少數(shù)民族的學(xué)生，但一些批評者指責(zé)該計劃是反向歧視?！?The melting pot”熔爐“ The melting pot” is a metaphor that is associat

31、ed with life in America. It first surfaced in the late 18th century, （but gained new currency in the 20th century when in 1905 a popular play by that name was first produced by a Jewish playwright named Israel Zangwill. ）The melting pot metaphor implied that, in the New World, all differences would

32、be melted away to form a radically new mixture. But it was wrongly embraced by the WASPs（white Anglo-Saxon Protestants) which remained dominant until around the middle of the 20th century. After World War II, the Anglophile WASPs gradually lost their privileged position. With all these changes, the

33、melting pot metaphor was doomed to lose its credibility because its anglophilic values no longer held for the majority of the American people.熔爐是對美國生活的一種隱喻。它首次出現(xiàn)是在18世紀(jì)。熔爐的隱喻意味著在新的世界里，所有的差異都會融入在一起，形成新的混合物。但是它被直到20世紀(jì)中期前都保持著主導(dǎo)地位的白人新教徒錯誤理解了。在二戰(zhàn)以后，親英派的白人新教徒失去了他們的特權(quán)地位。經(jīng)歷這些變化后，熔爐的隱喻注定要失去它的可靠性，因?yàn)樗挠H英價值已不再適用

34、于大多數(shù)的美國人。The Seneca Falls Declaration塞尼卡福爾斯宣言At the Senaca Falls gathering, Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted and read The Seneca Falls Declaration. It was passed by a narrow margin thanks to the firm support and defense by Frederick Douglass, a well-known abolitionist. The Seneca Falls Declaration is

35、now regarded as the single most important document of the nineteenth-centuty American womans movement. Using The Declaration of Independence as a model, it marks the first call for systematic rights for women along the lines of those already available to white men.在塞尼卡福爾斯集會，伊麗莎白斯坦頓 起草和閱讀塞尼卡福爾斯宣言。它因F

36、rederick Douglass-一個著名的廢奴主義者的堅(jiān)定擁護(hù)和支持而險勝通過。塞尼卡福爾斯宣言被認(rèn)為是十九世紀(jì)美國婦女運(yùn)動的一個最重要的文件。該宣言作為一個典型，標(biāo)志著首次呼吁婦女應(yīng)得到和那些白人男性已得到的一樣的系統(tǒng)的權(quán)利。Glass ceiling 玻璃天花板Today (in 2010) almost 75% of women are reported as employed. Although women are protected in employment on an equal basis with men, once they are hired, they often

37、some up against what is known as the “glass ceiling”- a barrier to promotions within their chosen careers. The word ceiling means an upper limit set on anything by a regulation. Here it means a barrier to womens career development. It is called a “glass “ ceiling because it is largely invisible - to

38、 men. Partly as a result of this ceiling on promotions, women on average are paid significantly less at their jobs than men. In theory, a woman may hope to be promoted to the top of her profession. But in reality, most of the top positions in American society are held by men. For instance, the CEOs

39、in 98% of American companies are male.報告稱現(xiàn)如今有約75%的女性被雇傭。雖然女性在工作中和男性享有同等地位的保護(hù)，一旦她們被雇傭，她們經(jīng)常面臨著“玻璃天花板”-她們所選職業(yè)的晉升障礙。天花板 這詞原意是指在任何東西的頂上設(shè)置了限制。而在這里是指女性工作發(fā)展中的障礙。它之所以被稱之為“玻璃”天花板是因?yàn)樗诤艽蟪潭壬鲜强床灰姷?對男性來說。這個晉升障礙導(dǎo)致的一部分結(jié)果是平均女性的工作收入明顯比男性要低。從理論上說，一個女人可能希望被提升到她的職業(yè)的頂端。但在現(xiàn)實(shí)中，大多數(shù)在美國社會的最高職位是由男人舉行。例如，美國98%家公司的首席執(zhí)行官都是男性。女性或許

40、會希望能達(dá)到職業(yè)的高層，但現(xiàn)實(shí)中，美國社會中的大多數(shù)高層職位都是男性。例如，美國98%的CEO都是男的。“The Wizard of Menlo Park” 門羅帕克的怪才“The Wizard of Menlo Park” refers to Thomas A.Edison was the most famous of all American inventors. Among his many important inventions are electric lamp, phonograph, motion pictures and parallel circuit. As he was

41、 so clever and talented and his workplaces were located in Menlo Park, New Jersey, he earned the fond title “the Wizard of Menlo Park”“門羅帕克的怪才”是指全美最著名的發(fā)明家 愛迪生。他的許多重要的發(fā)明有電燈泡、留聲機(jī)、電影和并聯(lián)電路。因?yàn)樗穆斆鞑鸥梢约八ぷ鞯牡攸c(diǎn)是在新澤西的門羅帕克，所以他得此稱號“門羅帕克的怪才”The Internet 因特網(wǎng)The Internet emerged in the United States in 1968 during

42、 the period of the Cold War. The original idea was to connect computers housed at military strategic locations throughout the US for the purpose of saving the information in case that would be a nuclear attack. If any one of the computers was attacked, the information could still be obtained from th

43、e remaining functioning computers. Later four universities were connected to the system. After 1969 more and more computers joined to the system and increasing information was added to its database. Many educational , private and commercial networks joined in . Useful tools were invented such as the

44、 e-mail and www( World Wide Web). The Internet has changed peoples life in unimaginable ways.因特網(wǎng)出現(xiàn)在1968年的二戰(zhàn)時期的美國。它最初的設(shè)計意圖是為了鏈接全美的電腦以方便軍事戰(zhàn)略位置的部署，保存信息以防核襲擊的爆發(fā)。如果任何一臺電腦遭受襲擊，它上面的信息都依然能從另一臺電腦中獲得。后來有4所大學(xué)被連接到了這個系統(tǒng)中。 1969年以后，越來越多的電腦連入了這個系統(tǒng)，越來越多的信息添加到數(shù)據(jù)庫中。許多教育、個人和商業(yè)網(wǎng)都加入了進(jìn)來。像電子郵件和萬維網(wǎng)這樣的實(shí)用工具被發(fā)明了出來。因特網(wǎng)以無法想像的方式改

45、變了人們的生活。The Cold War 冷戰(zhàn)By the end of WWII, the United States, which had not suffered as much as other allied countries, became the strongest country in the world. As the possessor of atomic tombs and much of the worlds gold reserve and industrial production in its hand, the policy -makers of the US wanted a world order dominated by the US, a world market f