考研英语阅读理解典型范文含译文翻译版spend.docx

考研英语阅读理解典型范文含译文翻译版
I read somewhere that we spend a full third of our lives waiting. But where are we doing all of this waiting, and what does it mean to an society like ours? To answer these questions correctly, let/ s take a look at three types of "waits".
The very purest form of waiting is the Watched-Pot Wait. It is without doubt the most tiring of all. Take filling up the kitchen sink as an example. There is nothing you can do while this is going on but keep both eyes fixed on the sink until it's full. During these waits, the brain gets away from the body and wanders about until the water runs over the edge of the counter and onto your socks. This kind of wait makes the waiter helpless and mindless.
A cousin to the Watched-Pot Wait is the Forced Wait. This one requires some rules. Properly preparing packaged noodle soup requires a Forced Wait. Directions are clear in details. "Bring three cups of water to boilz add mix, simmer （炖）three minutes, remove from heat, let stand five minutes/' I have my doubts that anyone has actually followed the processes strictly. After all, Forced Waiting requires patience.
Perhaps the most powerful type of waiting is the Lucky-Break Wait. This type of wait is unusual in that it is for the most part voluntary. Unlike the Forced Wait, which is also voluntary, waiting for your lucky break does not necessarily mean that it will happen.
Turning one' s life into a waiting game requires belief and hope, and is quite useful for the optimists （乐观主义）among us. On the surface it seems as silly as following the directions on soup mixes, but the Lucky-Break Wait well serves those who are willing to do it. As long as one doesn# t come to depend on it, wishing for a few good things to happen never hurts anybody. We certainly do spend a good deal of our time waiting. The next time you' re standing at the sink waiting for it to fill while cooking noodle soup that youz II have to eat until a large bag of cash falls out of the sky； don't be hopeless. You' re probablyjust as busy as the next guy.
我曾在哪里读到过，我们一生中有三分之一的时间都在等待。但我 们在哪里等待，这对我们这样的群体意味着什么?为了正确地回答这些 问题，让我们来看看三种类型的〃等待〃。
最纯粹的等待方式是"守望水的等待〃。毫无疑问，这是最令人厌 倦的。以填满厨房水槽为例。在这期间你什么也做不了，只能把两只眼 睛盯着水槽，直到它满了。在这些等待过程中，大脑离开身体，四处游 荡，直到水溢出柜台边缘，流到你的袜子上。这样的等待让服务员很无 助，也很盲目。
跟〃守望水的等待〃的不相上下的是〃强迫等待〃。这需要一些规 则。正确准备包装面汤需要强制等待。细节很明确。取三杯水烧开，加 入混合料，小火煮三分钟，熄火，静置五分钟。我怀疑是否有人真的严 格遵循了流程。毕竟，〃强制等待〃需要耐心。
也许最强大的等待类型是〃期待幸运〃的等待。这种等待是不寻常 的,因为它在很大程度上是自愿的。不像强制等待，这也是自愿的〃期 待幸运〃的等待不一定意味着它会发生。
把人生变成一场等待的游戏需要信念和希望，这对我们当中的乐观 主义者来说是非常有用的。从表面上看，这似乎和按照配方做汤一样愚 蠢，但是〃期待幸运〃的等待很适合那些愿意这样做的人。只要一个人 不依赖它，希望一些好事发生不会伤害任何人。我们确实花了很多时间 等待。下次当你站在水槽边等着水满的时候，当你正在做一份马上要吃 的面汤的时候，一大袋现金将从天而降，不要绝望。你可能和下一个人 一样忙。
The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study in Youngstown, Ohio, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime（犯罪）.In another, workers were shown to be 15% more when their workplaces were beautified with houseplants.
The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT） have taken it a step further changing the actual composition（成分）of plants in order to get them to perform differently, even unusual useful things that they do. These include plants that have sensors（传感器）printed onto their leaves to show when they' re short of water and a plant that can discover harmful chemicals in groundwater.
“We' re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace some of the things that we use every day,
"explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow（发光） in experiments using some common vegetables. Stranoz s team found that they could create a weak light for three-and-a-half hours. The light, about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by, isjust a start. The technology, S trano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.
In the future, the team hopes to develop the technology and invent something that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant1 s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off “switch” where the glow would disappear gradually when daylight appeared.
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity used up in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source—such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a highway far away一a lot of energy is lost during sending.
人与植物之间的联系一直是科学研究的主题。最近的研究发现了积 极的影响。在俄亥俄州扬斯敦的一项研究发现，城市的绿色区域经历更少 的犯罪。在另一项研究中，当员工的工作场所用室内植物美化时，他们 的效率增加了 15%。
麻省理工学院(MIT)的工程师们正在进一步改变植物的实际成分，以 让它们有不同的功能，甚至能做一些很不寻常的事情。包括将传感器印 到植物的叶子上，用来显示当他们什么时候会缺少水份，另外一种植物 还可以发现地下水中的有害化学物质。
麻省理工学院(MIT)化学工程教授迈克尔•斯特拉诺(Michael Strano)解释说：〃我们正在考虑如何让植物取代我们日常使用的一些东 西。〃
他的最新项目之一是在实验中用一些常见的蔬菜使植物发光。斯特 拉诺的团队发现，他们可以制造出持续三个半小时的弱光。这个光大约 是阅读所需光线的千分之一,这只是一个开始。斯特拉诺说,这项技术 有一天可以用来照亮房间，甚至可以把树木变成自动供电的路灯。
未来，该团队希望开发这项技术，并发明一种可以一次性喷洒到植 物叶片上的东西，这种东西可以持续植物的生命周期。工程师们还试图 开发一种开关，当日光出现时，光线会逐渐消失。
照明用电约占美国总用电的7%e由于照明通常远离电源——比如 从发电厂到高速公路上的路灯的距离——在发送过程中会损失很多能 量。
The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study in Youngstown, Ohio, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime(犯罪).In another, workers were shown to be 15% more when their workplaces were beautified with houseplants.
The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology（MIT） have taken it a step further changing the actual composition（成分）of plants in order to get them to perform differently, even unusual useful things that they do. These include plants that have sensors（传感器）printed onto their leaves to show when they' re short of water and a plant that can discover harmful chemicals in groundwater.
〃We' re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace some of the things that we use every day,
''explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow（发光） in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano' s team found that they could create a weak light for three-and-a-half hours. The light, about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by, is just a start. The technology, S trano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.
In the future, the team hopes to develop the technology and invent something that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant1 s lifetime. Theengineers are also trying to develop an on and off "switch” where the glow would disappear gradually when daylight appeared.
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity used up in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source一such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a highway far away-a lot of energy is lost during sending.
人与植物之间的联系一直是科学研究的主题。最近的研究发现了积 极的影响。在俄亥俄州扬斯敦的一项研究发现，城市的绿色区域经历更少 的犯罪。在另一项研究中，当员工的工作场所用室内植物美化时，他们 的效率增加了 15%。
麻省理工学院(MIT)的工程师们正在进一步改变植物的实际成分，以 让它们有不同的功能，甚至能做一些很不寻常的事情。包括将传感器印 到植物的叶子上，用来显示当他们什么时候会缺少水份，另夕1种植物 还可以发现地下水中的有害化学物质。
麻省理工学院(MIT)化学工程教授迈克尔・斯特拉诺(Michael Strano)解释说：〃我们正在考虑如何让植物取代我们日常使用的一些东 西。〃
他的最新项目之一是在实验中用一些常见的蔬菜使植物发光。斯特 拉诺的团队发现，他们可以制造出持续三个半小时的弱光。这个光大约 是阅读所需光线的千分之一,这只是一个开始。斯特拉诺说,这项技术 有一天可以用来照亮房间，甚至可以把树木变成自动供电的路灯。
未来，该团队希望开发这项技术，并发明一种可以一次性喷洒到植 物叶片上的东西，这种东西可以持续植物的生命周期。工程师们还试图 开发一种开关，当日光出现时，光线会逐渐消失。
照明用电约占美国总用电的7%e由于照明通常远离电源——比如 从发电厂到高速公路上的路灯的距离——在发送过程中会损失很多能 量。