新概念36篇_彩版_.doc

精选新概念必背优秀文章36篇 34 -
新概念四Lesson 1  Finding fossil man 发现化石人
We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write.But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas----legends handed down from one generation of story-tellers to another. These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.
But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first‘modern men’ came from.
Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away. Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.
我们从书籍中可以读到5,000年前近东发生的事情，那里的人最早学会了写字。但直到现在，世界上仍然有些地方；人们还不会书写。他们保存历史的唯一办法是将历史当作传说讲述，由讲述人一代接一代地将史实描述为传奇故事口传下来。这些传说是很有用的，因为它们能告诉我们以往人们迁居的情况。但是；没有人能把他们当时做的事情记载下来。人类学家过去不清楚如今生活在太平洋诸岛上的波利尼西亚人的祖先来自何方，当地人的传说却告诉了人们：其中有一部分是约在2,000年前从印度尼西亚迁来的。
但是，和我们相似的原始人生活的年代太久远了；因此，有关他们的传说即使有如今也失传了。于是，考古学家们既缺乏历史记载，又无口头传说来帮助他们弄清最早的“现代人”是从哪里来的。
然而，幸运的是，远古人用石头制作了工具，特别是用燧石，因力燧石较之其他石头更易成形。他们也可能用过木头和兽皮，但这类东西早已腐烂殆尽。石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制造这些工具的人的骨头早已荡然无存；但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来。
Lesson 2  Spare that spider不要伤害蜘蛛
Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race．Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals．We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders．Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings.
Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly  related to them．One can tell the difference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.
How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in a grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch．Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects．It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day．It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.
你可能会觉得奇怪，蜘蛛怎么会是我们的朋友呢？因为它们能消灭那么多的昆虫，其中包括一些人类的大敌。要不是人类受一些食虫动物的保护，昆虫就会使我们无法在地球上生活下去，昆虫会吞食我们的全部庄稼，杀死我们的成群的牛羊。我们要十分感谢那些吃昆虫的鸟和兽，然而把它们所杀死的昆虫全部加在一起也只相当于蜘蛛所消灭的一小部分。此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食虫动物，它们丝毫不危害我们和我们的财物。
许多人认为蜘蛛是昆虫，但它们不是昆虫，甚至与昆虫毫无关系。人们几乎一眼就能看出二者的差异，因为蜘蛛都是8条腿，而昆虫的腿从不超过6条。
有多少蜘蛛在为我们效力呢？一位研究蜘蛛的权威对英国南部一块草坪上的蜘蛛作了一次调查。他估计每英亩草坪里有225万多只蜘蛛。这就是说，在一个足球场上约有600万只不同种类的蜘蛛。蜘蛛至少有半年忙于吃昆虫。它们一年中消灭了多少昆虫，我们简直无法猜测，它们是吃不饱的动物，不满意一日三餐。据估计，在英国蜘蛛一年里所消灭昆虫的重量超过了这个国家人口的总重量。
Lesson 3 Matterhorn man马特霍恩山区人
 Modern alpinists try to climb mountains by a route which will give them good sport, and the more difficult it is, the more highly it is regarded．In the pioneering days, however, this was not the case at all．The early climbers were looking for the easiest way to the top, because the summit was the prize they sought, especially if it had never been attained before．It is true that during their explorations they often faced difficulties and dangers of the most perilous nature, equipped in a manner which would make a modern climber shudder at the thought, but they did not go out of their way to court such excitement．They had a single aim, a solitary goal---the top!
It is hard for us to realize nowadays how difficult it was for the pioneers．Except for one or two places such as Zermatt and Chamonix, which had rapidly become popular,  Alpine villages tended to be impoverished settlements cut off from civilization by the high mountains．Such inns as there were generally dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread often twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine．Often a valley boasted no inn at all, and climbers found shelter wherever they could---sometimes with the local priest (who was usually as poor as his parishioners), sometimes with shepherds or cheese-makers．Invariably the background was the same: dirt and poverty, and very uncomfortable．For men accustomed to eating seven-course dinners and sleeping between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps must have been very hard indeed．
现代登山运动员总想找一条能够给他们带来运动乐趣的路线来攀登山峰。他们认为，道路愈艰险愈带劲儿。然而，在登山运动的初期，全然不是这种情况。早期登山者所寻找的是通往山顶的最方便的途径，因为顶峰——特别是前人未曾到过的顶峰——才是他们寻求的目标。确实，在探险中他们经常遇到惊心动魄的困难和危险，而他们装备之简陋足以使现代登山者一想起来就胆战心惊。但是，他们并非故意寻求这种刺激，他们只有一个目的，唯一的目标——顶峰！
我们今天很难想像昔日的登山先驱们是多么艰苦。除了泽曼特和夏蒙尼等一两个很快出了名的地方外，阿尔卑斯山山区的小村几乎全是高山环抱、与世隔绝的穷乡僻壤。那里的小客栈一般都很肮脏，而且跳蚤猖獗。食物是当地的干酪和通常存放了一年之久的面包，人们就着劣质酒吞下这种食物。山谷里常常没有小客栈，登山者只好随遇而安。有时同当地牧师（他通常和他的教民一样穷）住在一起，有时同牧羊人或制乳酪的人住在一起。无论住在哪儿，情况都一样：肮脏、贫穷，极其不舒适。对于过惯了一顿饭吃7道菜、睡亚麻细布床单的人来说，变换一下生活环境来到阿尔卑斯山山区，那一定是很艰难的。
Lesson 6 The sporting spirit体育的精神
 I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield．Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.
Nearly all the sports practiced nowadays are competitive．You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win．On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused．Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this．At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare．But the significant thing is not the behavior of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe --- at any rate for short periods --- that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.
当我听人们说体育运动可创造国家之间的友谊，还说各国民众若在足球场或板球场上交锋，就不愿在战场上残杀的时候，我总是惊愕不已。一个人即使不能从具体的事例（如1936年奥林匹克运动会）了解到国际运动比赛会导致疯狂的仇恨，也可以从常理中推断出结论。
现在开展的体育运动几乎都是竞争性的。参加比赛就是为了取胜。如果不拚命去赢，比赛就没有什么意义了。在乡间的草坪上，当你随意组成两个队，并且不涉及任何地方情绪时，那才有可能是单纯为了娱乐和锻炼而进行比赛。可是一旦涉及到荣誉问题，一旦你想到你和某一团体会因你输了而丢脸时，那么最野蛮的争斗天性便会被激发起来。即使是仅仅参加过学校足球赛的人也有这种体会。在国际比赛中，体育简直是一场模拟战争。但是，要紧的还不是运动员的行为，而是观众的态度，以及观众身后各个国家的态度。面对着这些荒唐的比赛，参赛的各个国家会如痴如狂，甚至煞有介事地相信——至少在短期内如此——跑跑、跳跳、踢踢球是对一个民族品德素质的检验。
Lesson 15  Secrecy in industry  工业中的秘密
Two factors weigh heavily against the effectiveness of scientific research in industry. One is the general atmosphere of secrecy in which it is carried out, the other the lack of freedom of the individual research worker. In so far as any inquiry is a secret one, it naturally limits all those engaged in carrying it out from effective contact with their fellow scientists either in other countries or in universities, or even, often enough, in other departments of the same firm. The degree of secrecy naturally varies considerably. Some of the bigger firms are engaged in researches which are of such general and fundamental nature that it is a positive advantage to them not to keep them secret. Yet a great many processes depending on such research are sought for with complete secrecy until the stage at which patents can be taken out. Even more processes are never patented at all but kept as secret processes. This applies particularly to chemical industries, where chance discoveries play a much larger part than they do in physical and mechanical industries. Sometimes the secrecy goes to such an extent that the whole nature of the research cannot be mentioned. Many firms, for instance, have great difficulty in obtaining technical or scientific books from libraries because they are unwilling to have their names entered as having taken out such and such a book for fear the agents of other firms should be able to trace the kind of research they are likely to be undertaking.
有两个因素严重地妨碍着工业中科学研究的效率：一是科研工作中普遍存在的保密气氛；二是研究人员缺乏个人自由。任何一项研究都涉及到保密，那些从事科研的人员自然受到了限制。他们不能和其他国家、其他大学、甚至往往不能与本公司的其他部门的同行们进行有效的接触。保密程度自然差别很大。某些大公司进行的研究属于一般和基础性的研究。因此不保密对他们才有利。然而，依赖这种研究的很多工艺程序是在完全保密的情况下进行的，直到可以取得专利权的阶段为止。更多的工艺过程根本就不会取得专利权，而是作为秘方保存着。这在化学工业方面尤其突出。同物理和机械工业相比，化学工业中偶然发现的机会要多得多。有时，保密竟达到了这样的程度，即连研究工作的整个性质都不准提及。比如，很多公司向图书馆借阅科技书籍时感到很困难，因为它们不愿让人家记下它们公司的名字和借阅的某一本书。他们生怕别的公司的情报人员据此摸到他们可能要从事的某项科研项目。
Lesson 16  The modern city 现代城市
In the organization of industrial life the influence of the factory upon the physiological and mental state of the workers has been completely neglected．Modern industry is based on the conception of the maximum production at lowest cost, in order that an individual or a group of individuals may earn as much money as possible．It has expanded without any idea of the true nature of the human beings who run the machines, and without giving any consideration to the effects produced on the individuals and on their descendants by the artificial mode of existence imposed by the factory．The great cities have been built with no regard for us．||The shape and dimensions of the skyscrapers depend entirely on the necessity of obtaining the maximum income per square foot of ground, and of offering to the tenants offices and apartments that please them．This caused the construction of gigantic buildings where too large masses of human beings are crowded together．Civilized men like such a way of living．While they enjoy the comfort and banal luxury of their dwelling, they do not realize that they are deprived of the necessities of life．The modern city consists of monstrous edifices and of dark, narrow streets full of petrol fumes and toxic gases, torn by the noise of the taxi-cabs, lorries and buses, and thronged ceaselessly by great crowds．||Obviously, it has not been planned for the good of its inhabitants. ||
在工业生活的组织中，工厂对工人的生理和精神状态的影响完全被忽视了。现代工业的基本概念是：以最低成本获取最多产品，为的是让某个个人或某一部分人尽可能多地赚钱。现代工业发展起来了，却根本没想到操作机器的人的本质。工厂把一种人为的生存方式强加给工人，却不顾及这种生存方式给工人及其后代带来的影响。大城市的建设毫不关心我们。摩天大楼完全是按这样的需要修建的：每平方英尺地皮取得最大收入和向租房人提供使他满意的办公室和住房。这样就导致了许多摩天大厦拔地而起，大厦内众多的人挤在一起。文明人喜欢这样一种生活方式。在享受自己住宅的舒适和庸俗的豪华时，却没有意识到被剥夺了生活所必需的东西。大得吓人的高楼和阴暗狭窄的街道组成了今日现代化的城市。街道上充斥着汽油味和有毒气体，出租汽车、卡车、公共汽车的噪音刺耳难忍，络绎不绝的人群挤来挤去。显然，现代化的城市不是为居民的利益而规划的。
Lesson 22  Knowledge and progress 知识和进步
Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest．Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge．|| Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech．With the invention of writing, a great advance was made,for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored．Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound-interest law,which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing．All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised．Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan．The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent．|| Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account．What is called‘modern civilization’is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature, but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life．The problem now facing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil．It is now being used indifferently for both．Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners using science to shatter men's bodies while, close at hand, surgeons use it to restore them? We have to ask ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power,continues.||
为什么进步这个概念在现代世界显得如此突出？无疑是因为有一种特殊的进步实际上正在我们周围发生，而且变得越来越明显。虽然人类在智力和道德上没有得到普遍提高，但在知识积累方面却取得了巨大的进步。人一旦能用语言同别人交流思想，知识的积累便开始了。随着书写的发明，又迈进了一大步，因为这样一来，知识不仅能交流，而且能储存了。藏书使教育成为可能，而教育反过来又丰富了藏书，因为知识的增长遵循着一种“滚雪球”的规律。印刷术的发明又大大提高了知识增长的速度。所有这些发展都比较缓慢，而随着科学的到来，增长的速度才突然加快。于是，知识便开始有系统有计划地积累起来。涓涓细流汇成了小溪，小溪现已变成了奔腾的江河。而且，新知识一旦获得，便得到实际应用。所谓“现代文明”并不是人的天性平衡发展的结果，而是积累起来的知识应用到实际生活中的结果。现在人类面临的问题是：用这些知识去做什么？正像人们常常指出的，知识是一把双刃刀，可以用于造福，也可用来为害。人们现在正漫不经心地把知识用于这两个方面，例如：炮兵利用科学毁坏人的身体、而外科医生就在附近用科学抢救被炮兵毁坏的人体，还有什么情景比这更可怕、更怪诞的吗？我们不得不严肃地问问我们自己：随着日益增长的知识的力量，如果我们继续利用知识的这种双重性，将会发生什么样的情况呢？
Lesson 32 Galileo reborn 伽利略的复生
In his own lifetime Galileo was the centre of violent controversy; but the scientific dust has long since settled, and today we can see even his famous clash with the Inquisition in something like its proper perspective. But, in contrast, it is only in modern times that Galileo has become a problem child for historians of science.
The old view of Galileo was delightfully uncomplicated. He was, above all, a man who experimented: who despised the prejudices and book learning of the Aristotelians, who put his questions to nature instead of to the ancients, and who drew his conclusions fearlessly. He had been the first to turn a telescope to the sky, and he had seen there evidence enough to overthrow Aristotle and Ptolemy together. He was the man who climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped various weights from the top, who rolled balls down inclined planes, and then generalized the results of his many experiments into the famous law of free fall.
But a closer study of the evidence, supported by a deeper sense of the period, and particularly by a new consciousness of the philosophical undercurrents in the scientific revolution, has profoundly modified this view of Galileo. Tod