1、Unit 1 恰到好處 Have you ever watched a clumsy man hammering a nail into a box? He hits it first to one side, then to another, perhaps knocking it over completely, so that in the end he only gets half of it into the wood. A skillful carpenter, on the other hand, will drive the nail with a few firm, deft

2、 blows, hitting it each time squarely on the head. So with language; the good craftsman will choose words that drive home his point firmly and exactly. A word that is more or less right, a loose phrase, an ambiguous expression, a vague adjective（模糊的形容詞）, will not satisfy a writer who aims at clean E

3、nglish. He will try always to get the word that is completely right for his purpose.你見過一個笨手笨腳的男人往箱子上釘釘子嗎？只見他左敲敲，右敲敲，說不準還會將整個釘子錘翻，結果敲來敲去到頭來只敲進了半截。而嫻熟的木匠就不這么干。他每敲一下都會堅實巧妙地正對著釘頭落下去，一釘到底。語言也是如此。一位優(yōu)秀的藝術家譴詞造句上力求準確而有力地表達自己的觀點。差不多的詞，不準確的短語，摸棱兩可的表達，含糊不清的修飾，都無法使一位追求純真英語的作家滿意。他會一直思考，直至找到那個能準確表達他的意思的詞。 The Fren

4、ch have an apt（貼切的） phrase for this. They speak of “l(fā)e mot juste,” (the exact word) the word that is just right. Stories are told of scrupulous（一絲不茍的） writers, like Flaubert, who spent days trying to get one or two sentences exactly right. Words are many and various; they are subtle（微妙的） and delicat

5、e（細膩的） in their different shades（色調） of meaning, and it is not easy to find the ones that express precisely（正是，恰?。?what we want to say. It is not only a matter of having a good command of language and a fairly wide vocabulary; it is also necessary to think hard and to observe accurately. Choosing wo

6、rds is part of the process of realization, of defining our thoughts and feelings for ourselves, as well as for those who hear or read our words. Someone once remarked: “How can I know what I think till I see what I say?” this sounds stupid, but there is a great deal of truth in it. 法國人有一個很貼切的短語來表達這樣

7、一個意思，即“l(fā)e mot juste”, 恰到好處的詞。有很多關于精益求精的作家的名人軼事，比如福樓拜?；◣滋斓臅r間力求使一兩個句子在表達上準確無誤。在浩瀚的詞海中，詞與詞之間有著微妙的區(qū)別，要找到能恰如其分表達我們意思的詞絕非易事。這不僅僅是扎實的語言功底和相當大的詞匯量的問題，還需要人們絞盡腦汁，要觀察敏銳。選詞是認識過程的一個步驟，也是詳細描述我們的思想感情并表達出來使自己以及聽眾和讀者深刻理解的一個環(huán)節(jié)。有人說：“在我思想未成文之前，我怎么知道自己的想法？”這聽起來似乎很離譜，但它確實很有道理。 It is hard work choosing the right words, bu

8、t we shall be rewarded by the satisfaction that finding them brings. The exact use of language gives us mastery（掌握） over the material we are dealing with. Perhaps you have been asked “What sort of a man is so-and-so（某某等）?” You begin: “Oh, I think hes quite a nice chap （家伙）but hes rather” and then yo

9、u hesitate trying to find a word or phrase to express what it is about him that you dont like, that constitutes（構成） his limitation. When you find the right phrase you feel that your conception of the man is clearer and sharper.尋找恰如其分的詞的確是件不容易的事。一旦找到了那個詞，我們就會感到很欣慰：辛勞得到了回報。準確地用語言有助于我們深入了解我們描述的事物。例如，當有

10、人問你：“某某是怎么樣的人？”你回答說：“恩，我想他是個不錯的家伙，但他非?！苯又悛q豫了，試圖找到一個詞或短語來說明他到底討厭在哪里。當你找到一個恰當的短語的時候，你發(fā)覺自己對他的看法更清楚，也更精確了。Some English words have a common root but are used in very different senses. Consider human and humane（人道，仁慈的）, for example. Their origin is the same and their meanings are related, but their usage

11、 is distinct. A human action is not the same thing as a humane action. We cannot speak of a Declaration of Humane Rights. - There is a weapon called a humane killer, but it is not a human killer.一些英語詞匯詞根相同而意義卻截然不同。例如human 和humane,二者的詞根相同，詞義也相關，但用法完全不同?！?human action (人類行為)”和“humane action ( 人道行為)”完全

12、是兩碼事。我們不能說“人道權力宣言”，而是說“人權宣言”。有一種屠殺工具叫“humane killer ( 麻醉屠宰機)，而不是human killer ( 殺人機器)。 We dont have to look far afield to find evidence of bad carpentry in language. A student, replying to an invitation to dinner, finished his letter: “I shall be delighted to come and I am looking forward to the day

13、with anxiety.” Anxiety carries with it suggestions of worry and fear. What the writer meant was possibly eagerness. Anxiety has some kinship（親屬關系） with eagerness but it will not do as a substitute（替代） in this context. 語言中的壞手藝的例子在我們身邊隨處可見。有人邀請一名學生去吃飯，他寫信給予回復。請看他的信是這樣結尾的：“我將很高興赴約并滿懷不安（anxiety ）期待著那個日子

14、的到來。 ”“Anxiety” 含有煩惱和恐懼的意味。作者想表達的很可能是一種翹首期盼的心情。 “Anxiety” 跟熱切期盼有一定的關聯，但在這個場合是不能等同的。The leader of a political party in Uganda wrote a letter to the Press which contained this sentence:烏干達一政黨領袖給新聞界的一封信中有一句這樣寫道：Let us all fight this selfishness, opportunism, cowardice and ignorance now rife in Uganda a

15、nd put in their place truth, manliness, consistency and singularity of mind.讓我們打破這自私、投機、怯懦和無知充斥的烏干達，代之以真理，剛毅，堅定和奇異的精神。 This stirring appeal is spoilt by a malapropism in the last phrase, the word singularity. What the writer meant, I think, was singleness of mind, holding steadfastly to the purpose

16、in mind, without being drawn aside by less worthy objects. Singularity means oddity or peculiarity, something that singles a man out from other men 這一激動人心的呼吁被最后一個詞“奇異（singularity）” 的誤用破壞掉了。我猜想作者真正要表達的意思是思想的專一，即抱定一個信念永不改變，咬定青山不放松，不被次要的目的干擾。而singularity 指的是古怪，特性，是將一個人從眾多人中區(qū)分出來的那種東西。 Without being a ma

17、lapropism, a word may still fail to be the right word for the writers purpose, the “mot juste”. A journalist, writing a leader about Christmas, introduced a quotation from Dickens by saying: 即使沒有出現詞語誤用，這詞仍可能不是符合作者意圖的恰如其分的詞。一名記者在一篇有關圣誕節(jié)的社論中這樣引出狄更斯的話： All that was ever thought or written about Christm

18、as is imprisoned in this sentence. Imprisonment suggests force, coercion（強迫）, as if the meaning were held against its will. It would be better to write contained or summed up. Epitomized （集中體現）might do, though it is rather a clumsy-sounding word. Searching a little farther for the “mot juste” we mig

19、ht hit on the word distilled（提取）. This has more force than contained or summed up. Distillation suggests essence and we might further improve the sentence by adding this word at the beginning: 任何有關圣誕節(jié)的想法和文字已經被禁錮(imprisoned )在這句話中“Imprisonment” 暗示著強迫，威逼，這么一來似乎意思是有悖其初衷的。用 “包含(contained )”或 “歸結（summed

20、up ）”就要好些?！案爬ǎ╡pitomized）”也行，盡管聽起來有點僵硬。稍微再用點心我們就能準確地找到 “mot juste (恰倒好處的詞) ”，那就是“distilled”.它比包含和歸結語氣更強?！癉istillation (提煉)”意味得到本質（essence）的東西。因此我們可以進一步把這個句子修改為： The essence of all that was ever thought or written about Christmas is distilled in this sentence.所有有關圣誕節(jié)的想法和文字的精華都被提煉到這句話之中。 English has a

21、 wide vocabulary and it is a very flexible language. There are many different ways of making a statement. But words that are very similar in meaning have fine shades of difference, and a student needs to be alive to these differences. By using his dictionary, and above all by reading, a student can

22、increase his sensitivity to these shades of difference and improve his ability to express his own meanings exactly.英語詞匯豐富，運用靈活。一個意思有很多種表達方式。但是無論意思上如何相近的詞總是存在著些許區(qū)別。作為學生就要敏感地意識到這些區(qū)別。通過查字典，尤其是通過閱讀，學生對這類細微差別敏感性將逐步增強，準確表達自己意思的能力也相應提高。 Professor Raileigh once stated: “there are no synonyms, and the same s

23、tatement can never be repeated in a changed form of words.” This is perhaps too absolute, but it is not easy to disprove. Even a slight alteration in the wording of a statement can subtly shift the meaning. Look at these two sentences:(1) In my childhood I loved to watch trains go by.(2) When I was

24、a child I loved watching trains go by. 羅利教授曾經說過：“同義詞是不存在的。句子用詞改變了，句子就不再是原來的意思了。”這也許過于絕對，但是很難駁倒。措辭稍有變更，意思會有微妙的變化?？聪旅鎯蓚€句子：（1） 童年時候我喜歡去看火車開過。（2） 當我是個小孩子的時候我喜歡看火車開過。At fist glance these two sentences are exactly the same. But look more closely and you will see that there are very tiny differences. In my

25、 childhood is a shade more abstract than when I was a child. Watching perhaps emphasizes the looking at trains a little more than to watch. This is a very subtle example, and it would be possible to argue about it, but everyone would at once agree that there is a marked difference between the next t

26、wo statements:乍一看這兩個句子的意思完全一樣。但仔細一看你會發(fā)現它們之間存在細微的差別。在我童年時候比當我是小孩子的時候更加抽象。而看很可能比去看更強調看火車這一動作。這個例子不是很明顯，可能有待商榷。但每個人看了下面例子后一定馬上同意。兩者之間存在顯著區(qū)別。(1) He died poor.(2) He expired（斷氣、死） in indigent（貧困） circumstances.In one sense expired is a synonym for died and in indigent circumstances for poor, but when the

27、 whole statement is considered, we cannot maintain that the two are the same. The change in words is a change in style, and the effect on the reader is quite different. It is perhaps easier to be a good craftsman with wood and nails than a good craftsman with words, but all of us can increase our sk

28、ill and sensitivity with a little effort and patience. In this way we shall not only improve our writing, but also our reading.（1） 他死的時侯很窮。（2） 他斷氣時窮困潦倒。在某種意義上，expired 是died 的同義詞，in indigent circumstances 是poor 的同義詞。但當看整個句子時，我們就不能堅持認為兩句是一樣的了。措辭的變化往往意味著風格的改變，并給讀者以不同的感受。也許當好一個 譴詞造句的工匠比當好一個與木頭釘子打交道的木匠要難

29、一些，但是只要我們付出努力和耐心，我們就能提高自己的技能和敏感性。這樣我們不僅可以提高我們的寫作能力，還可以提高閱讀能力。English offers a fascinating variety of words for many activities and interests. Consider the wide range of meanings that can expressed by the various words we have to describe walking, for example. We can say that a man is marching（行軍）, p

30、acing（起搏）, patrolling（巡邏）, stalking（纏擾）, striding(大步), treading（踩水）, tramping（流浪）, stepping out（走出去）, prancing（昂首闊步）, strutting（神氣活現）, prowling（潛行）, plodding（單調乏味）, strolling（散步）, shuffling（洗牌）, staggering（驚人的）, sidling（側身而行；悄悄貼近）, trudging（跋涉）, toddling（蹣跚學步；東倒西歪地走）, rambling（散漫）, roaming（漫游）, saun

31、tering（參觀船上）, meandering（蜿蜒）, lounging（閑逛）, loitering（游蕩）, or creeping（匍匐）.英語為各種活動和嗜好提供了豐富多彩的詞匯。就那走路來說，通過我們擁有的各種各樣的詞語的意義范圍有多么廣闊。我們可以說行軍，踱步，巡邏，潛進，跨過，踐踏，重步走，蹦蹦跳跳地走，昂首闊步，高視闊步，徘徊，沉重緩慢地走，溜達，曳足而行，搖搖晃晃地走，側身而行，跋涉，蹣跚學步，漫步，徜徉，漫游，閑蕩，悄悄地走。 The foreign student of English may be discouraged and dismayed（驚惶） when

32、he learns that there are over 400,000 words in the English language, without counting slang（俚語）. But let him take courage. More than half of these words are dead. They are not in current use. Even Shakespeare used a vocabulary of only some 20,000 words. The average Englishman today probably has a vo

33、cabulary range of from 12,000 to 13,000 words. It is good to make your vocabulary as complete as you can, but a great deal can be said and written with a vocabulary of no more than 10,000 words. The important thing is to have a good control and command over the words you do know. Better know two wor

34、ds exactly than three vaguely. A good carpenter is not distinguished by the number of his tools, but by the craftsmanship（手藝） with which he uses them. So a good writer is not measured by the extent of his vocabulary, but by his skill in finding the “mot juste”, the word that will hit the nail cleanl

35、y on the head. 即使不包括俚語在內英語就有四十余萬單詞，這很可能讓學習英語的外國學生感到氣餒和沮喪。但千萬不要灰心，因為超過半數的詞已不再通用。就算大文豪沙士比亞也只使用了兩萬左右的詞匯。今天普通英國人的詞匯量在12000到13000之間。一個人的詞匯量當然是盡量擴大的好，但僅僅10000的詞匯量就夠他說話寫字表達豐富的意義了。關鍵是你要扎實地掌握你知道的單詞。粗略地認識三個單詞還不如準確地掌握兩個。衡量一個木匠的好壞并不在于他擁有工具的數量多少，而是在于他運用工具的技藝如何。同樣的，衡量一個作家好不好不能通過其認識單詞的數量，而應通過其找到恰如其分的詞的能力。這個詞要不偏不倚正

36、中要害，一言中的。UNIT 2 BEWARE THE DIRTY SEAS當心骯臟的海洋-杰弗里 利恩 1Every year 100 million holiday-makers are drawn to the Mediterranean. With one-third of the worlds tourist trade, it is the most popular of all the holiday destinations; it is also the most polluted.每年都有一千萬的渡假者到地中海去度假，這里占去了世界旅游業(yè)的三分之一，是最受歡迎的度假勝地，但與

37、此同時，它也成了受污染最嚴重的地方。It has only 1 per cent of the worlds sea surface, but carries more than half the oil and tar floating on the waters. Thousands of factories pour their poison into the Mediterranean, and almost every city, town and village on the coast sluices its sewage, untreated, into the sea.雖然地

38、中海僅占全球海洋面積的百分之一，但在它的海面上卻漂浮著全球海面一半以上的汽油和焦油。成千上萬的工廠將他們排放的有毒物質傾人地中海，而且?guī)缀趺恳粋€靠地中海海岸的城市、城鎮(zhèn)和鄉(xiāng)村也都把未經處理的污水排到海里。The result is that the Mediterranean, which 1nurtured so many civilizations, is gravely ill - the first of the seas to 2fall victim to 3the abilities and attitudes that evolved around it. And the po

39、llution does not merely 4stifle the life of the sea - it threatens the people who inhabit and visit its shores.其結果導致孕育了高度文明的地中海周圍環(huán)境極其惡劣 第一個由于人們對其利用能力的增強和對其環(huán)境污染的忽視態(tài)度而受害的海洋。這種污染不僅使海洋生物感到窒息，而且對于那些居住在地中海周圍并喜歡游賞海濱的人們也是一個威脅。 不只是4Typhoid, paratyphoid, dysentery, polio, viral hepatitis and food poisoning ar

40、e endemic in the area, and there are periodic outbreaks of cholera.傷寒、副傷寒、痢疾、小兒麻痹癥、病毒性肝炎和食物中毒是這個地區(qū)的常見病，并且還會引發(fā)階段性的霍亂。5The mournful litany of disease is caused by sewage. Eighty-five per cent of the waste from the Mediterraneans 120 coastal cities is pushed into the waters where their people and visit

41、ors bathe and fish. What is more, most cities just drop it in straight off the beach; rare indeed are the places like Cannes and Tel Aviv which pipe it even half a mile offshore.這一系列令人扼腕的疾病（這種惡疾的反復）爆發(fā)是由下水道污水造成的。地中海的120 個海濱城市中85 的垃圾被傾人到供居民們和參觀者游泳嬉戲，釣魚的水域，而且，大多數城市直接將其廢物傾倒在海灘上，實際上很少有像（嘎納）坎城和特拉維夫那樣用管道把廢

42、物抽到離海岸半英里的地方。6Less than 100,000 of Greeces four million coastal people have sewage properly treated and Greece, as our map shows, is one of the cleaner countries of the northern shore. 在希臘，生活在海濱城市的人有四百萬，但只有不到十萬的人將他們的污水進行適當處理。正如我們的地圖所顯示的那樣，希臘還算是北方海岸比較干凈的國家之一。What does the author want to tell his read

43、ers in Paragraph 6?SA: He wants to tell his readers in Paragraph 6 that because of mans irresponsibility and indifference towards environmental protection, Greece is rated one of the few cleaner countries of the northern shore.7The worst parts of the sea are the Israeli / Lebanon coast and between B

44、arcelona and Genoa, which flushes out over 200 tons of sewage each year for every mile of its length.叫最糟糕的則要數以色列及黎巴嫩海濱和巴賽羅那與熱那亞之間的海洋部分，那里每年會向其海岸線的每一英里傾倒200 多噸的污水。8Not surprisingly, vast areas of the shallows are awash with bacteria and it doesnt take long for these to reach people. Professor William

45、 Brumfitt of the Royal Free Hospital once calculated that anyone who goes for a swim in the Mediterranean has a one in seven chance of getting some sort of disease. Other scientists say this is an overestimate; but almost all of them agree that bathers are at risk.一點也不感到驚奇的是，大面積的淺水區(qū)都滋生著細菌，而它們接觸到人并不需

46、要花費太多的時間?；始易杂舍t(yī)院的威兼 布魯佛特教授曾經計算過任何到地中海游泳的人都會有七分之一感染疾病的可能。其他科學家說這種估計過高，但幾乎所有的人都同意游泳者是在冒險。9An even greater danger 5lurks in the seductive seafood dishes that add much interest to holiday menus. Shellfish are prime carriers of many of the most vicious diseases of the areas.在那些誘人的、為假日的菜單增色不少的海鮮中還隱藏著一種更大的危

47、險。貝類水生物是本地區(qū)大部分惡性疾病最主要的攜帶者。10They often grow amid pollution. And even if they dont they are frequently infected by the popular practice of freshening them up - throwing filthy water over them in markets.他們通常在污染中生長，而且即使不是這樣，他們也會被“使它們變得新鮮一些”這一普遍做法所污染 在市場里它們身上被賣主撥上臟水以保持鮮活。11Industry adds its own poisons

48、. Factories cluster round the coastline, and even the most modern rarely has proper waste-treatment plant污水凈化廠. They do as much damage to the sea as sewage.工業(yè)也加重了地中海的污染。海岸線上，工廠密密匝匝，即使是最現代化的工廠也鮮有合適的污物處理設備。他們對海洋造成的損害同污水造成的差不多。12Fifteen thousand factories 7foul the Italian Ligurian 6riviera. Sixty thou

49、sand pollute the Tyrrhenian Sea between Sardinia, Sicily and the west Italian coast! The 8lagoon of Venice alone receives the 9effluents of.76 factories.15 , 000 家工廠污染著意大利利古里亞的沿海游憩勝地。6, 000 家工廠污染著撤丁島和西西里島之間的第勒尼安海，以及西部的意大利海濱！僅威尼斯的礁湖就遭受著76個工廠廢水的污染。13More filth comes washing down the rivers from indust

50、ries far inland. The PO and the Rhone are the dirtiest, followed by the Ebro and the Llobregat in Spain, by the Adige and the Tiber in Italy, and by the. Nile.更多的污物來自于內陸工業(yè)，自河流沖人到這里。波河和羅納河是最臟的，其次就是西班牙的埃布羅河、巴塞羅那，意大利的阿迪杰河和臺伯河，再就是尼羅河。14Thousands of tons of pesticides are blown off the fields into the se

51、a, detergents from millions of sinks kill fish, and fertilizers, flushed out to sea, nourish explosions of plankton which cover bathers with itchy slime.數千噸的殺蟲劑從田間流人海里；數以百萬的洗滌劑從洗碗槽中流出，毒死了海魚；被沖到海里的肥料，滋養(yǎng)了海里的浮游生物并使其數量激增，它們粘在游泳者身上，成為一層令人發(fā)癢的黏液。15Then there is the oil - 350,000 tons pouring each year from

52、 ships, 115,000 tons more from industries round the shore. Recent studies show that the Mediterranean is four times as polluted by oil as the north Atlantic, 40 times as bad as the north-east Pacific.還有就是汽油 每年有350 , 000 噸廢油從船上倒人海里，還有ns , 00 多噸來自于海岸周圍的工業(yè)。最近的研究顯示地中海的油污染是北大西洋的四倍，是東北太平洋的40倍。16Apart from

53、 the nine-mile-wide Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean is 10landlocked, virtually unable to 11cleanse itself. It takes 80 years for the water to be renewed, through the narrow, shallow straits, far too slow a process to cope with the 12remorseless rush of pollution.除了九英里寬的直布羅陀海峽之外，地中海完全被陸地包圍，因此它

54、實際上不具備自潔功能。因為海峽既窄且淺，地中海需要80 年才能完成水循環(huán)進行自潔，這個過程太緩慢，遠遠跟不上無情的污染大勢肆虐的進程。17Weak coastal currents keep sewage and industrial waste close to the shore and gently spin floating oil and tar towards the beaches. And the seas feeble tides can do little to help remove it.海邊的浪花無力地拍打著海岸，沖不走岸邊的污水和工業(yè)廢料，浪花輕輕地打著旋，把浮著汽

55、油與焦油的海水沖向海灘。18 0f course, the people of the Mediterranean have always used the sea for their wastes. The canals of Venice, the waters of the Bosphorus and the sea off the Nile Delta have been health hazards for centuries.很自然，地中海的人們也總是利用海洋來處理他們的廢物。威尼斯運河、博斯普魯斯海峽和尼羅河三角洲一帶的水域，幾個世紀以來一直威脅著人們的健康。19But the

56、population has increased round the shores to 100 million and a further 100 million tourists come annually. The population of the French and Italian rivieras trebles every summer.但是，海岸周圍的人口已增長到了l 千萬，而且每年還有1 千多萬旅游者來此旅游。每年夏天，意大利的沿海游憩勝地的人口呈三倍地增長著。20Three tourists visit the northern shore every year for

57、every yard of beach. With the numbers of holiday-makers expected to double in the next 20 years, it is hard for even the best treatment plants to cope.在北海岸平均每年每碼海岸就有三個觀光者。在今后20 年里渡假者的數量有可能會增加兩倍，到時即使是最好的污水處理廠也很難應付了。21The good news is that the countries of the Mediterranean have been coming together t

58、o work out how to save their common sea.但也有一個好消息：地中海周圍的一些國家已經聯合到一起正為拯救他們共同的海洋而努力工作著。22But it will be a long time before the measures they approved take effect in cleaning up the sea.但是離他們一致同意的凈化海水措施確實產生效應之前還有很長的一段時間。Unit3 My Friends, Albert EinsteinHe was one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known, yet if I had to convey the essence of Albert Einstein in a single word, I would choose simplicity. Perhaps an anecdote will help. Once, caught in a downpour, he took off his hat and held it under his coat. Asked why, he explained, with admirable logic, that the