Unit 1 The Hidden Side of Happiness
1 Hurricanes, house fires, cancer, whitewater rafting accidents, plane crashes, vicious attacks in dark alleyways. Nobody asks for any of it. But to their surprise, many people find that enduring such a harrowing ordeal ultimately changes them for the better. Their refrain might go something like this: \
1飓风、房屋失火、癌症、激流漂筏失事、坠机、昏暗小巷遭歹徒袭击,没人想找上这些事儿。但出人意料的是,很多人发现遭受这样一次痛苦的磨难最终会使他们向好的方面转变。他们可能都会这样说:“我希望这事没发生,但因为它我变得更完美了。”
2 We love to hear the stories of people who have been transformed by their tribulations, perhaps because they testify to a bona fide type of psychological truth, one that sometimes gets lost amid endless reports of disaster: There seems to be a built-in human capacity to flourish under the most difficult circumstances. Positive responses to profoundly disturbing experiences are not limited to the toughest or the bravest .In fact, roughly half the people who struggle with adversity say that their lives subsequently in some ways improved.
2我们都爱听人们经历苦难后发生转变的故事,可能是因为这些故事证实了一条真正的心理学上的真理,这条真理有时会湮没在无数关于灾难的报道中:在最困难的境况中,人所具有的一种内在的奋发向上的能力会进发出来。对那些令人极度恐慌的经历作出积极回应的
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并不仅限于最坚强或最勇敢的人。实际上,大约半数与逆境抗争过的人都说他们的生活从此在某些方面有了改善。
3 This and other promising findings about the life-changing effects of crises are the province of the new science of post-traumatic growth. This fledgling field has already proved the truth of what once passed as bromide: What doesn't kill you can actually make you stronger. Post-traumatic stress is far from the only possible outcome. In the wake of even the most terrifying experiences, only a small proportion of adults become chronically troubled. More commonly, people rebound-or even eventually thrive.
3诸如此类有关危机改变一生的发现有着可观的研究前景,这正是创伤后成长这一新学科的研究领域。这一新兴领域已经证实了曾经被视为陈词滥调的一个真理:大难不死,意志弥坚。创伤后压力绝不是唯一可能的结果。在遭遇了即使最可怕的经历之后,也只有一小部分成年人会受到长期的心理折磨。更常见的情况是,人们会恢复过来—甚至最终会成功发达。
4 Those who weather adversity well are living proof of the paradoxes of happiness. We need more than pleasure to live the best possible life. Our contemporary quest for happiness has shriveled to a hunt for bliss-a life protected from bad feelings ,free from pain and confusion.
4那些经受住苦难打击的人是有关幸福悖论的生动例证:为了尽可能地过上最好的生活,我们所需要的不仅仅是愉悦的感受。我们这
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个时代的人对幸福的追求已经缩小到只追求福气:一生没有烦恼,没有痛苦和困惑。
5 This anodyne definition of well-being leaves out the better half of the story, the rich, full joy that comes from a meaningful life. It is the dark matter of happiness, the ineffable quality we admire in wise men and women and aspire to cultivate in our own lives. It turns out that some of the people who have suffered the most, who have been forced to contend with shocks they never anticipated and to rethink the meaning of their lives, may have the most to tell us about that profound and intensely fulfilling journey that philosophers used to call the search for \life\
5这种对幸福的平淡定义忽略了问题的主要方面—种富有意义的生活所带来的那种丰富、完整的愉悦。那就是幸福背后隐藏的那种本质—是我们在明智的男男女女身上所欣赏到并渴望在我们自己生活中培育的那种不可言喻的品质。事实证明,一些遭受苦难最多的人—他们被迫全力应付他们未曾预料到的打击,并重新思考他们生活的意义—或许对那种深刻的、给人以强烈满足感的人生经历(哲学家们过去称之为对“美好生活”的探寻)最有发言权。
6 This broader definition of good living blends deep satisfaction and a profound connection to others through empathy. It is dominated by happy feelings but seasoned also with nostalgia and regret. \one among many values in human life,\
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psychologist at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Compassion, wisdom, altruism, insight, creativity-sometimes only the trials of adversity can foster these qualities, because sometimes only drastic situations can force us to take on the painful process of change. To live a full human life, a tranquil, carefree existence is not enough. We also need to grow-and sometimes growing hurts.
6这种对美好生活的更为广泛的定义把深深的满足感和一种通过移情与他人建立的深切联系融合在一起。它主要受愉悦情感的支配,但同时也夹杂着惆怅和悔恨。密苏里大学哥伦比亚分校的心理学家劳拉.金认为:“幸福仅仅是许许多多人生价值中的一种。”慈悲、智慧、无私、洞察力及创造力—有时只有经历逆境的考验才能形成这些品质,因为有时只有极端的情形才能迫使我们去承受痛苦的改变过程。只过安宁的、无忧无虑的生活是不足以体验一段完整的人生的。我们也需要成长-尽管有时成长是痛苦的。
7 In a dark room in Queens, New York, 31-year-old fashion designer Tracy Cyr believed she was dying. A few months before, she had stopped taking the powerful immune-suppressing drugs that kept her arthritis in check. She never anticipated what would happen: a withdrawal reactions that eventually left her in total body agony and neurological meltdown. The slightest movement-trying to swallow, fqr example-was excruciating. Even the pressure of her cheek on the pillow was almost unbearable.
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7在纽约市皇后区一间漆黑的房间里,31岁的时装设计师特蕾西?塞尔感到自己奄奄一息。就在几个月前,她已经停止服用控制她关节炎的强效免疫抑制药。她从没预见到接下来将要发生的事:停药之后的反应最终使她全身剧烈疼痛,神经系统出现严重问题。最轻微的动作—比如说试着吞咽—对她来说也痛苦不堪。甚至将脸压在枕头上也几乎难以忍受。
8 Cyr is no wimp-diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of two, she had endured the symptoms and the treatments (drugs, surgery) her whole life. But this time, she was way6 past her limits, and nothing her doctors did seemed to help. Either the disease was going to kill her or, pretty soon, she felt she might have to kill herself.
8塞尔并不是懦弱的人。她在两岁时就被诊断得了幼年型类风湿性关节炎,一生都在忍受着病症和治疗(药物、手术)的折磨。但是这一次,她实在不堪忍受了,她的医生所做的一切似乎都不起作用。要么让疾病结束她的生命,要么她就得很快了结自己的生命了。 9 As her sleepless nights wore on, though, her suicidal thoughts began to be interrupted by new feelings of gratitude. She was still in agony, but a new consciousness grew stronger each night: an awesome sense of liberation, combined with an all-encompassing feeling of sympathy and compassion. \she said six months later. \
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was useless-time, money, self-image, perception. Recognizing that was so freeing.\
9然而,在经历了若干个不眠之夜后,她想自杀的念头开始被新的感激之情所打断。虽然她仍然感到痛苦,但一种新的意识每一夜都变得更加强烈:一种令人惊叹的解脱感,结合着一种包容一切的同情和怜悯的情感。“我感到一切我曾经用来认同自己身份的东西都被剥夺了,”六个月后她这样说道,“一切我认为我知道或相信的事物—时间、金钱、自我形象、对事物的看法—都毫无价值了。意识到这一点真是让我感到解脱。”
10 Within a few months, she began to be able to move more freely, thanks to a cocktail of steroids and other drugs. She says now there's no question that her life is better. \and why we're here: to be happy and to nurture other life. It's that simple.\
10在几个月内,得益于类固醇加其他药物的鸡尾酒疗法,她开始能够更加自如地活动了。她说,毫无疑问她现在的生活状况有了好转。“我感觉我窥探到了生命的秘密以及我们生存的意义,那就是快乐地生活,同时扶持他人。就这么简单!”
11 Her mind-blowing experience came as a total surprise. But that feeling of transformation is in some ways typical, says Rich Tedeschi, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte who coined the term \
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have endured extreme events, like combat, violent crime or sudden serious illness show that most feel dazed and anxious in the immediate aftermath; they are preoccupied with the idea that their lives have been shattered. A few are haunted long afterward by memory problems, sleep trouble and similar symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder . But Tedeschi and others have found that for many people-perhaps even the majority-life ultimately becomes richer and more gratifying.
11她这种不可思议的经历完全是个惊喜。但是北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校心理学教授里奇.特德斯基认为,这种转变的感觉从某些方面看却是很典型的。里奇.特德斯基教授首创了“创伤后成长”一词。他对那些经历了诸如搏斗、暴力犯罪、突患重病等极端事件的人群进行了研究,这些研究表明,在刚经历不幸后大多数人随即都会感到茫然和焦虑。他们一心想的就是,自己的生活完全被毁了。有少部分人事后很久了还不断被记忆问题、失眠以及类似的创伤后应激障碍所折磨。但特德斯基和其他学者发现,对很多人(可能甚至是绝大多数人)来说,生活最终会变得更加丰富和更加令人满足。
12 Something similar happens to many people who experience a terrifying physical threat. In that moment, our sense of invulnerability is pierced, and the self-protective mental armor that normally stands between us and our perceptions of the world is torn away. Our everyday life scripts-our habits, self-perceptions and assumptions-go out the window, and we are left with a raw experience of the world.
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12许多经历过恐怖的人身威胁的人会遇到类似的情况。在事情发生的那一瞬间,我们的安全感被冲破了,平时处于我们与我们对世界的种种看法之间的自我保护的精神盔甲被剥离了。我们的日常生活轨迹(我们的习惯、自我认识和主观意念)全部被抛到九霄云外,只剩下对世界的原始体验。
13 Still, actually implementing these changes, as well as fully coming to terms with a new reality, usually takes conscious effort. Being willing and able to take on this process is one of the major differences between those who grow through adversity and those who are destroyed by it. The people who find value in adversity aren't the toughest or the most rational. What makes them different is that they are able to incorporate what happened into the story of their own life.
13尽管如此,要实际实现这些转变并完全接受新的现实,通常需要有意识地付出努力。是否愿意并有能力承担这个过程,就是那些在灾难中成长和那些被灾难所摧毁的人之间主要的区别之一。认为灾难有价值的人并不是最坚强或最理性的人。使他们与众不同的是他们能够将所遭遇的事融入他们自己的人生历程中。”
14 Eventually, they may find themselves freed in ways they never imagined. Survivors say they have become more tolerant and forgiving of others, capable of bringing peace to formerly troubled relationships. They say that material ambitions suddenly seem silly and the pleasures of
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friends and family paramount-and that the crisis allowed them to recognize life in line with their new priorities.
14最终,他们可能会发现自己以从未想到过的方式获得了解脱。幸存者往往说他们变得更加宽容,也更能原谅别人,能够缓和原本糟糕的关系。他们说物质追求突然间变得很无聊,而朋友和家庭带来的快乐变得极为重要,他们还说危机使他们能够按照这些新的优先之事来重新认识生活。
15 People who have grown from adversity often feel much less fear, despite the frightening things they've been through. They are surprised by their own strength, confident that they can handle whatever else life throws at them. \wonderful,\were just trying to survive. But in retrospect, what they gained was more than they ever anticipated.\
15从灾难中成长起来的人尽管经历过恐怖的事情,但他们的恐惧感往往大为减少。他们对自己的力量感到吃惊,相信不管今后生活中将要遭遇什么,他们都能应付。特德斯基说:“人们不会说他们所经历的是美好的。他们并不是特意要通过这样的经历来成长。他们只是尽其所能生存下来。但回顾起来,他们的收获远远大于他们所预料的。 16 In his recent book Satisfaction, Emory University psychiatrist Gregory Berns points to extreme endurance athletes who push themselves to their physical limits for days at a time. They cycle through the same
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sequence of sensations as do trauma survivors: self-loss, confusion and, finally, a new sense of mastery. For ultramarathoners, who regularly run 100-mile races that last more than 24 hours, vomiting and hallucinating are normal. After a day and night of running without stopping or sleeping, competitors sometimes forget who they are and what they are doing. 16埃默里大学精神病学家格列高利?伯思斯在他的近作《满足》中指出,极限耐力运动员每次训练都要使自己的身体连续数天处于极限状态。他们和经历创伤的幸存者所经历的感觉过程一样:自我失落,困惑,最后获得一种新的驾驭感。对于经常跑超过24小时的l00英里比赛的超级马拉松运动员来说,呕吐和产生幻觉是常事。在一昼夜不停歇不睡觉地跑步之后,竞赛者有时会忘了自己是谁,忘了自己在干什么。
17 For a more common example of growth through adversity, look to one of life's biggest challenges: parenting. Having a baby has been shown to decrease levels of happiness. The sleep deprivation and the necessity of putting aside personal pleasure in order to care for an infant mean that people with newborns are more likely to be depressed and find their marriage on the rocks. Nonetheless, over the long haul, raising a child is one of the most rewarding and meaningful of all human undertakings. The short-term sacrifice of happiness is outweighed by other benefits, like fulfillment, altruism and the chance to leave a meaningful legacy.
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17更普遍的在逆境中成长的例子要数生命中最大的挑战之一:为人父母。生育孩子一直被认为会降低幸福程度。为了照顾婴儿而睡眠不足并且必须将自己的消遣撇到一边,意味着有了新生儿的人更有可能感到抑郁并且面临婚姻的危机。然而,长远看来,养育孩子是所有人类活动中最有意义、最值得去做的一件事情。短时间内牺牲了幸福,却有了更多的收获,比如满足感、无私以及有机会留下一笔意义深远的遗产。
18 Ultimately, the emotional reward can compensate for the pain and difficulty of adversity. This perspective does not cancel out what happened, but it puts it all in a different context :that it's possible to live an extraordinary rewarding life even within the constraints and struggles we face. In some form or other, says King, we all must go through this realization. \here's who you are going to be instead-and that turns out to be a pretty great life.\
18总之,情感上的回报可以弥补灾难带来的痛苦和艰难。这种精神收获并不能抵消所发生的苦难,但是它可以把这些苦难全部放在另一个不同的背景中来看待,那就是即使我们面临约束和挣扎,我们仍然可以生存得极有价值。金指出,我们所有的人都必须以这样或那样的形式经历这种觉悟。“你将不再是自己心目中曾经的你,取而代之的是一个新的你—而事实会证明生活从此将非常美好。” Unit2 Commercialization and Changes in Sports
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1.Throughout history sports have been used as forms of public entertainment. However ,sports have never been so heavily packaged, promoted, presented and played as commercial products as they are today. Never before have decisions about sports and the social relationships connected with sports been so clearly influenced by economic factors. The bottom line has replaced the goal line for many people, and sports no longer exist simply for the interests of the athletes themselves. Fun and \concessions revenues, the sale of media rights, market shares, rating points, and advertising potential. Then, what happens to sports when they become commercialized? Do they change when they become dependent on gate receipts and the sale of media rights?
1在整个历史长河中,人们都是把体育当作某种形式的公众娱乐。然而,体育从未像今天这样作为一种商业产品被如此盛大地包装、推广、呈现和开展,有关体育的决策以及与体育相关的社会关系也同样从未如此显然地受到商业因素的影响。对许多人来说,账本底线已取代了球门线,体育不再只是为了运动员们自身的兴趣而存在。今天,乐趣和“好比赛”的定义取决于门票收入、特许权收人、媒体传播权的出售、市场份额、收视率以及广告潜力。那么,当体育变得商业化时,它会怎样?当体育变得依赖于门票收人和媒体传播权的出售时,它会发生变化吗?
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2.We know that whenever any sport is converted into commercial entertainment, it success depends on spectator appeal. Although spectators often have a variety of motives underlying their attachment to sports, their interest in any sporting event is usually related to a combination of three factors: the uncertainty of an event's outcome, the risk or financial rewards associated with participating in an event,and the anticipated display of excellence or heroics by the athletes. In other words, when spectators refer to a %usually talking about one in which the outcome was in doubt until the last minutes or seconds, one in which the stakes were so high that athletes were totally committed to and engrossed in the action, or one in which there were a number of excellent or \or matches contain all three of these factors, they are remembered and discussed for a long time.
2我们知道,每当任何一项体育运动被转化为商业性娱乐活动时,它的成功就依赖于观众的兴趣。尽管观众对于体育的拥护背后潜藏着多种动机,但他们对体育比赛的兴趣通常与三种相结合的因素有关:比赛结果的不确定性,参加一项比赛相关的风险或经济回报,以及预期中的运动员的卓越、英勇表现。换句话说,当观众提及一场“不错的比赛”或一场“激动人心的比赛”时,这场比赛,通常在比赛即将结束的最后几分钟甚至儿秒钟时,结果仍然扑朔迷离;或者比赛涉及高额奖金,因而运动员们都全身心地投入比赛。或者比赛展示了许多出
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色的或者“英雄式”的表现。只要运动比赛包含所有这三方面因素,人们就会长时间记得并讨论这场比赛。
3.Commercialization has not had a dramatic effect on the format and goals of most sports. In spite of the influence of spectators, what has occurred historically is that sports have maintained their basic format. Innovations have been made within this framework, rather than completely dismantling the design of a game. For example, the commercialization of the Olympic Games has led to minor rule changes in certain events, but the basic structure of each Olympic sport has remained much the same as it was before the days of corporate endorsements and the sale of television rights.
3商业化对于大多数体育运动的结构和目标没有太大的影响。尽管观众会对其产生影响,但在历史上,运动项目保持了它们的基本结构。创新也是在这一框架内进行的,并不会完全废除这项运动的基本设计。例如、奥运会的商业化导致了某些赛事规则的微小变化但其每项运动的基本结构还是和商家赞助及电视转播权出售之前基本一致。 4.Commercialization seems to affect the orientations of sport participants more than it does the format and goals of sports. To make money on a sport, it's necessary to attract a mass audience to buy tickets or watch the events on television. Attracting and entertaining a mass audience is not easy because it's made up of many people who don't have technical knowledge about the complex athletic skills and strategies used
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by players and coaches. Without this technical knowledge, people are easily impressed by things extrinsic to the game or match itself; they get taken in by hype. During the event itself they often focus on things they can easily understand. They enjoy situations in which players take risks and face clear physical danger; they are attracted to players who are masters of dramatic expression or who are willing to go beyond their normal physical limits to the point of endangering their safety and well-being; and they like to see players committed to victory no matter what the personal cost.
4看来,与运动的结构和目的相比,商业化更多的是影响运动参与者的取向。若要通过一项运动盈利,就必须吸引广大观众买门票或在电视上观看比赛。吸引和娱乐广大观众并非易事,因为这些观众中有很多人没有技木性的知识,因而不懂得运动员和教练采取的复杂竞技技巧和策略。由于缺乏这些技术性知识,人们容易受到运动或赛事之外的东西的影响,容易受到天花乱坠的宜传的迷惑。在比赛期间,他们经常关注那些他们容易理解的事情。他们喜欢那种运动员冒险并明显面临身体危险的情境,他们喜爱那些善长戏剧化表现或者愿意超越正常的生理极限以致威胁到自己的安全和健康的运动员。他们喜欢看到运动员不惜代价,立志求胜。
5.For example, when people lack technical knowledge about basketball, they are more likely to talk about a single slam dunks than about the consistently flawless defense that enabled a team to win a
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game .Similarly, those who know little about the technical aspects of ice skating are more entertained by triple and quadruple jumps than by routines carefully choreographed and practiced until they are smooth and flawless. Without dangerous jumps, naive spectators get bored. They like athletes who project exciting or controversial personas ,and they often rate performances in terms of dramatic expression leading to dramatic results. They want to see athletes occasionally collapse as they surpass physical limits, not athletes who know their limits so well they can successfully compete for years without going beyond them.
5比如,当人们缺乏篮球方面的技术知识时,他们更津津乐道于某一个灌篮,而不会关注球队取胜必需的因素:自始至终配合得天衣无缝的后防。同样,那些对滑冰技术知之甚少的人,他们更感兴趣的是三连跳或四连跳,而不是那些精心设计并训练直至流畅、完美的舞步。没有惊险的跳跃,无知的观众会感到厌倦。他们喜欢那些表现得激动人心或有争议性的运动员。他们往往根据戏剧化的表现是否导致戏剧化的结果来评价比赛。他们想看运动员在超越自己极限时偶尔的突然失败,而不是多年来稳操胜券,熟知自己极限而不去超越它的运动员。 6.When a sport comes to depend on entertaining a mass audience, those involved in the sport often revise their ideas about what is important in sport. This revision usually involves a shift in emphasis from what might be called an aesthetic orientation to a heroic orientation. In fact, the people in sport may even refer to games or matches as \
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they may refer to themselves as entertainers as well as athletes. This does not mean that aesthetic orientations disappear, but it does mean that they often take a back seat to the heroic actions that entertain spectators who don't know enough to appreciate the strategic and technical aspects of the game or match.
6当一项体育运动变得依赖于娱乐广大观众时,对于运动什么才是重要的,运动参与者们往往会改变观念。这一改变常常意味着重心从所谓的美学取向向英雄主义取向转变。其实,运动员可能甚至把运动或比赛称为“表演秀”,并把自己称作表演者兼运动员。这并不意味着美学取向不复存在了,但是这却是意味着与英雄主义行为相比,它们常常退居其后。英雄主义行为吸引着那些没有足够的知识欣赏运动或比赛的策略和技术的观众。
7.As the need to please naive audiences becomes greater, so does the emphasis on heroic orientations. This is why television commentators for US football games continually talk about danger, injuries, playing with pain, and courage. Some athletes, however, realize the dangers associated with heroic orientations and try to slow the move away from aesthetic orientations in their sports. For example, some former figure skaters have called for restrictions on the number of triple jumps that can be included in skating programs. These skaters are worried that the commercial success of their sport is coming to rely on the danger of movement rather than the beauty of movement. However, some skaters seem to be willing
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to adopt heroic orientations if this is what will please audiences and generate revenues. These athletes usually evaluate themselves and other athletes in terms of the sport ethic, and they learn to see heroic actions signs of true commitment and dedication to their sport.
7取悦无知观众的需求越强烈,就越会强调英雄主义取向。这就是为什么美国橄榄球比赛的电视评论员喋喋不休地谈论危险、受伤、带伤比赛和胆量。不过,有些运动员意识到了与英雄主义取向随之而来的危险,并试图在他们的运动中放慢偏离美学取向的步伐。比如,一些前花样滑冰运动员已经呼吁限制滑冰项目中三连跳的数量。这些滑冰运动员担心,他们的体育项目在商业上的成功正越来越依赖于动作的危险性,而不是动作的美感。然而,另外一些滑冰运动员似乎愿意采取英雄主义取向,只要这样能取悦观众,获得收入。这些运动员用体育道德规范去评价自己和他人,他们还学会把英雄主义行为看成是真正地投入及为运动献身的标志。
8 Commercialization also leads to changes in the organizations that control sports. When sports begin to depend on generating revenues, the control of sport organizations usually shifts further and further away from the players. In fact, the players often lose effective control over the conditions of their own participation in the sport. These conditions come under the control of general managers,team owners,corporate sponsors, advertisers, media personnel, marketing and publicity staff, professional management staff, accountants, and agents.
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8商业化同样会导致那些控制体育的组织发生变化。当体育开始依赖于创造收入时,体育组织的控制权就会离运动员越来越远。事实上,运动员常常对于自身的体育参与环境失去有效控制。这些环境越来越受控于下列人员:总经理、运动队老板、企业赞助商、广告商、传媒人员、营销和宜传推广人员、专业管理人员、会计师以及经纪人。 9..The organizations that control commercial sports are usually complex, since they are intended to coordinate the interests of all these people, but their primary goal is to maximize revenues. This means that organizational decisions generally reflect the combined economic interests of many people having no direct personal connection with a sport or with the athletes involved. The power to affect these decisions is grounded in a variety of resources, many of which are not even connected with sports. Therefore athletes in many commercial sports find themselves cut out of decision-making processes even when decisions affect their health and well-being.
9那些控制商业体育的组织通常非常复杂,这是因为它们企图协调上述所有人的利益,但它们的首要目标还是盈利最大化。这意味着组织决策通常反映的是许多人的混合利益,而他们与体育或相关运动员没有直接联系。影响这些决策的力量根植于各种不同的资源,其中许多甚至与体育没有关联。因此,许多商业体育中的运动员发现自己被逐出了决策过程,即便这些决策影响到他们的健康和幸福。 Unit4 Is Google Making Us Stupid
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1.Over the past few years I've had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprograming the memory. My mind isn't going一 so far as I can tell一 but it's changing. I'm not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I?m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I?d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That's rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.
1在过去的几年里,我老有一种不祥之感,觉得有什么人,或什么东西,一直在我脑袋里捣鼓不停,重绘我的脑电图,重写我的脑内存。我的思想倒没跑掉—到目前为止我还能这么说,但它正在改变。我的思维方式在变。这种感觉在我阅读的时候尤为强烈。过去总是不费劲就能让自己沉浸在一本书或一篇长文章中,被其中的叙述或不同的论点深深吸引。我还会花数小时徜徉在长篇散文中。可如今这都不灵了。现在,我翻上两三页书,注意力就开始不集中了。我会变得烦躁,抓不住重点,开始想找点其他的事情做。我感觉我似乎要硬拖着我任性的大脑才能回到文章中。原本轻松自然的深度阅读,已成了痛苦挣扎。
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2.I think I know what's going on. For more than a decade now, I've been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I've got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. Even when I'm not working, I'm as likely as not to be foraging in the Web's info-thickets2-reading and writing emails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link. (Unlike footnotes, to which they're sometimes likened, hyperlinks don't merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)
2我想我知道到底是怎么一回事了。十多年来,我在网上花了好多时间,在因特网的信息汪洋中冲浪、搜寻、添加。对作家而言,网络就像个天上掉下来的聚宝盆。过去要在书堆里或图书馆的期刊阅览室中花上好几天做的研究,现在几分钟就齐活。“谷歌”几下,快速点开几个链接,就可以找到我所需要的事实或者精炼的引证。即使在工作之余,我也很有可能在信息丰富的网络里遨游—收发电子邮件、浏览头条新闻、点击博客、看视频、听播客或者只是从一个链接跳转到一个又一个链接。(超链接常被比作脚注,但是和脚注不一样,超链接不仅仅链接到相关作品;它们还驱使你去点击创门。)
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3.For me, as for others , the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they've been widely described and duly applauded. \Wired's0 Clive Thompson has written, \thinking.\McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away at my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.
3对我来说,像对其他人也一样,网络已经成为了一种通用的媒介,大部分信息都通过这个渠道进人我们的眼、耳,最后进人我们的大脑。能从这样一个异常丰富的信息库中直接获取信息,其优点是很多的,而且也得到了广泛的描述和适当的赞誉。“硅存储器的完美记忆性,”《连线》杂志的克莱夫?汤普森写道,“对于思想来说是一个大实惠。”但是这个实惠是要付出代价的。(此文来自袁勇兵博客)就像媒体理论家马歇尔?麦克卢恩在上世纪60年代所指出的那样,媒体可不只是被动的信息渠道。它们不但提供了思想的源泉,也塑造了思想的进程。
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网络似乎粉碎了我专注与沉思的能力。现如今,我的脑袋就盼着以网络提供信息的方式来获取信息:飞快的微粒运动。曾经我是文字海洋中的潜水者,现在我则像是摩托艇骑手在海面上风驰电掣。 4.I?m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances-literary types, most of them-many say they're having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon. Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether. %used to be a voracious book reader,\speculates on the answer: \much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I'm just seeking convenience, but because the way I think has changed?\
4我并不是唯一一个有此感觉的人。当我向文学界的朋友和熟人提到我在阅读方面的困扰,许多人说他们也有同样的感受。他们上网越多,在阅读长文章时,就越难集中精力。我所关注的一些博主也提到了类似的现象。斯科特?卡普开了一个有关在线媒体的博客,最近他承认自己已经完全不读书了。 “我大学读的是文学专业,曾经是一个嗜书如命的人,”他写道。“到底发生了什么事呢?”他推测出了一个答案:“如果对我来说,通过网络来阅读的真正理由与其说是我的阅读方
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式发生了改变,比如,我只是图个方便,不如说是我的思维方式在发生变化,那么我该怎么办呢?”
5.Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. \longish article on the web or in print,\pathologist who has long been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me. His thinking, he said, has taken on a \staccato\text from many sources online. \admitted \three or four paragraph is too much to absorb. I skim it.\
5布鲁斯?弗里德曼经常撰写有关电脑在医学领域应用的文章。他在早些时候同样提到因特网如何改变了他的思维习惯。“稍长些的文章,不管是网上的还是已经出版的,我现在几乎已经完全丧失了阅读它们的能力。”在密歇根大学医学院长期任教的病理学家布鲁斯,弗里德曼在电话里告诉我,由于上网快速浏览文章的习惯,他的思维呈现出一种“碎读”特性。“我再也读不了《战争与和平》了。”弗里德曼承认,“我失去了这个本事。即便是一篇长达三四段的博客也难以消化。我只能略微浏览一下。”
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6.Anecdotes alone don't prove much. And we still await the long-term neurological and psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how the Internet use affects cognition. But a recently published study of online research habits, conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think. As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs' documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites, one operated by the British Library and one by a UK educational consortium, that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited \hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they'd already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would \Sometimes they'd save a long article, but there's no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it.
6 仅仅是趣闻轶事还不能证明什么。我们仍在等待长期的神经学和心理学的实验,这将给因特网如何影响到我们的认识一个权威的定论。伦敦大学学院的学者做了一个网络研读习惯的研究并发表了研究结果。该研究指出,我们可能已经彻底置身于阅读与思考方式的巨变之中了。作为五年研究计划的一部分,学者们检测了计算机日志,它跟踪记录了两个流行的搜索网站的用户行为。其中一个网站是英国图
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书馆的,另一个是英国教育社团的,他们提供了期刊论文、电子书以及其他一些文献资源。他们发现,人们上网时呈现出“一种浮光掠影般的形式”,总是从一个资源跳到另一个资源,并且很少返回他们之前访问过的资源。他们常常还没读完一两页文章或书籍,就“弹”出来转到另一个网页去了。有时候他们会保存一个篇幅长的文章,但没有任何证据表明他们曾经返回去认真阅读。
7.Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text- messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it's a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking-perhaps even a new sense of the self.' \not only what we read,\psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, \Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts \capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become \decoders of information\mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.
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7多亏铺天盖地的网络文本,更别说当下时兴的手机短信,可供我们阅读的东西很可能比上世纪七八十年代要多了,那时,我们选择的媒体还是电视。但是,这已是另一种阅读模式,背后隐藏的是另一种思考方式—也许甚至是一种全新的自我意识。“不仅阅读的内容塑造了我们,”塔夫茨大学的发展心理学家、《普鲁斯特与鱿鱼:阅读思维的科学与故事》的作者玛丽安娜?沃尔夫说,“阅读方式也体现了我们自身。”沃尔夫担忧,网络所倡导的将“丰富”与“时效性”置于首位的阅读方式可能已经削弱了那种深度阅读能力。深度阅读能力的形成应归功于早期印刷术的发明,有了它,长而复杂的散文作品也相当普遍了。然而,她说,当我们在线阅读时,我们往往只是“信息解码器”而已。我们对文句的设释,心无旁鹜、深度阅读时形成的丰富的精神联系,这些能力很大程度上已经消失了。
8.Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It's not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand. And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains. Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet. The variations extend across many regions of the brain, including those that govern such essential cognitive
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functions as memory and the interpretation of visual and auditory stimuli. We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed Works.
8沃尔夫认为,阅读并非人类与生俱来的技巧,它不像说话那样融人了我们的基因。我们得训练自己的大脑,让它学会如何将我们所看到的字符译解成自己可以理解的语言。而媒体或其他我们用于学习和练习阅读的技术在塑造我们大脑的神经电路中扮演着重要角色。实验表明,表意字读者(如中国人)为阅读所创建的神经电路和我们这些用字母语言的人有很大的区别。这种变化延伸到大脑的多个区域,包括那些支配诸如记忆、视觉设释和听觉刺激这样的关键认知功能的部位。我们可以预料,使用网络阅读形成的思维,一定也和通过阅读书籍及其他印刷品形成的思维不一样。
9.Sometime in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter. His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful, often bringing on crushing headaches. He had been forced to curtail his writing, and he feared that he would soon have to give it up. The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed, using only the tips of his fingers. Words could once again flow from his mind to the page.
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9 1882年,弗里德里希?尼采买了台打字机。此时的他,视力下降得厉害,长时间盯着一张纸会令他感觉疲惫、疼痛,还常常引起剧烈的头痛。他只得被迫缩减他的写作时间,并担心自己今后恐怕不得不放弃写作了。但打字机救了他,起码一度挽救过他。他终于熟能生巧,闭着眼睛只用手指尖也能打字—盲打。心中的词句又得以倾泻于纸页之上了。
10But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche's friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more
telegraphic. \ take to a new idiom,\\paper.\
10然而,新机器也使其作品的风格发生了微妙的变化。尼采的一个作曲家朋友注意到他行文风格的改变。他那已经十分简练的行文变得更紧凑、更电文式了。 “或许就因为这个仪器,你甚至可能会喜欢上一个新短语,”这位朋友在一封信中提到,在他自己的作品中,他“在音乐和语言方面的?思想?常常要依赖于笔和纸的质量”。 Unit5 An Alpine Divorce
1 John Bodman was a man who was always at one extreme or the other. This probably would have mattered little had he not married a wife whose nature was an exact duplicate of his own.
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1约翰.伯德曼是一个常常走极端的人。这本来应该没什么,但可惜,他妻子的性格整个儿是他的翻版。
2.Doubtless there exists in this world precisely the right woman for any given man to marry and vice versa; but when you consider that one human being has the opportunity of being acquainted with only a few hundred people, and out of the few hundred that there are but a dozen or less whom one knows intimately, and out of the dozen, one or two close friends at most, it will easily be seen, when we remember the number of millions who inhabit this world, that probably, since the Earth was created, the right man has never yet met the right woman. The mathematical chances are all against such a meeting, and this is the reason that divorce courts exist. Marriage at best is but a compromise, and if two people happen to be united who are of an uncompromising nature there is bound to be trouble.
2毋庸置疑,对于任何一个男人,这世上总会有一个相当合适的女人能和他成家,反之亦然。但是如果你考虑一下:每个人仅有机会结识几百个人而已,在这几百个人之中熟知的只有那么几人甚至更少,在这十几个人之中又最多只有一两个知心朋友;别忘了,居住在这世上的人有多少个百万,因此显而易见:自地球存在以来,这合适的男人极有可能从来就没有遇到过他那个合适的女人。从概率上来讲,这样相遇的机会微乎其微,这也正是离婚法庭存在的原因。婚姻充其量
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不过是一种妥协,而如果恰好两个个性上互不妥协的人结合了,那就肯定会有麻烦。
3.In the lives of these two young people there was no middle distance. The result was bound to be either love or hate, and in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Bodman it was hate of the most bitter and egotistical kind. 3对于两个这样的年轻人来说,生活没有什么中间点,其结局注定要么是爱,要么是恨,而就伯德曼夫妇而言,他们到头来有的是那种最刻骨、最傲慢的恨。
4.In some parts of the world, incompatibility of temper is considered a just cause for obtaining a divorce, but in England no such subtle distinction is made, and so until the wife became criminal, or the man became both criminal and cruel, these two were linked together by a bond that only death could sever. Nothing can be worse than this state of things, and the matter was only made the more hopeless by the fact that Mrs. Bodman lived a blameless life, while her husband was no worse than the majority of men. Perhaps, however, that statement held only up to a certain point, for John Bodman had reached a state of mind in which he resolved to get rid of his wife at all hazards. If he had been a poor man he would probably have deserted her, but he was rich, and a man cannot freely leave a prospering business because his domestic life happens not to be happy.
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4在这世界上的某些地方,夫妻性情不合就能够成为离婚的正当理由,但是在英格兰,并没有如此微妙的区分,所以除非妻子犯罪,或丈夫犯罪并且为人残暴,否则两者的婚姻关系将一直维系下去,直至死神将他们分开。没有什么比这种事情更糟糕的了,而更令人绝望的是伯德曼太太为人无可厚非,而她丈夫也并不比一般男人差。然而,也许上面的表述只能说在某种程度上是正确的,因为约翰?伯德曼已经忍无可忍,下定决心不管付出什么代价也要摆脱他的妻子。如果他是个穷人,也许他会抛弃她,但是他很富有,而一个人不能因为家庭生活碰巧不幸就轻易放弃一份蒸蒸日上的事业。
5.When a man's mind dwells too much on one subject, no one can tell just how far he will go. The mind is such a delicate instrument that it is easily thrown off balance. Bodman's friends-for he had friends-claimed that his mind became unhinged. Whether John Bodman was sane or insane at the time he made up his mind to murder his wife, will never be known, but there was certainly craftiness in the method he devised to make the crime appear the result of an accident. Nevertheless, cunning is often a quality in a mind that has gone wrong.
5一个人的心思要是太专注于一件事情,没有人敢说他最后会做出什么来。大脑是如此脆弱的一个思维工具,以至于它容易失去平衡。伯德曼的朋友(他确实有几个朋友)事后声称他精神错乱。下定决心要谋杀妻子时,约翰?伯德曼的神智清醒还是不清醒,现在已无从知晓,
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但无疑他把谋杀方案设计成看起来像是意外事件,这种方式的确很狡猾。不过,一般来说,脑子有问题的人才狡猾。
6.Mrs. Bodman well knew how much her presence afflicted her husband, but her nature was as relentless as his, and her hatred of him was, if possible, more bitter than his hatred of her. Wherever he went she accompanied him, and perhaps the idea of murder would never have occurred to him if she had not been so persistent in forcing her presence upon him at all times and on all occasions. So, when he announced to her that he intended to spend the month of July in Switzerland, she said nothing, but made her preparations for the journey. On this occasion he did not protest, as was usual with him, and so to Switzerland this silent couple departed.
6伯德曼太太非常清楚,她的存在相当折磨她的丈夫,可她的冷酷无情跟他不相上下,而她对他的恨—有可能的话—恐怕比他对她的恨还更人骨。不管他去哪儿,她都跟着。要不是任何时间任何场合,她都要顽固地强行出现在他面前,他也许永远不会心生谋杀之念。就这样,他一跟她说打算七月份去瑞士度假,她二话不说就打点行李。往常他总会抗议,但这次没有,于是这对无话可说的夫妇动身去了瑞士。 7.There was a hotel near the mountain-tops which stood on a ledge over one of the great glaciers. It was a mile and a half above sea level, and it stood alone, reached by a toilsome road that zigzagged up the mountain for six miles. There was a wonderful view of snow-peaks and
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glaciers from the verandahs of this hotel, and in the neighborhood were many picturesque walks to points more or less dangerous.
7有一间旅馆位于一座很高的冰川的脊架上,离山峰只有几步之遥.旅馆海拔一点五英里,孑然独立,仅有一条长六英里、盘旋而上的崎岖山路可以到达.在旅馆的回廊可以观赏到雪峰和冰川的美景。旅馆附近小道遍布,沿路风景如画,但通往的地点多少都带点儿危险。 8.John Bodman knew the hotel well, and in happier days he had been intimately acquainted with the vicinity. Now that the thought of murder arose in his mind, a certain spot two miles distant from this inn continually haunted him. It was a point of view overlooking everything, and its extremity was protected by a low and crumbling wall. He arose one morning at four o'clock, slipped unnoticed out of the hotel, and went to this point, which was locally named the Hanging Outlook. His memory had served him well. It is exactly the spot, he said to himself. The mountain which rose up behind it was wild and precipitous. There were no inhabitants nearby to overlook the place. The distant hotel was hidden by a shoulder of rock.
8约翰?伯德曼对这家旅馆很熟悉,以前日子还挺幸福的时候他常来这一带。如今既然已生谋杀之念,他就总是不由自主地想起距离客栈两英里的某个地方。从那地方可以俯瞰周围,它的尽头被一堵破败的矮墙挡住。一天凌晨四点,他偷偷溜出旅馆,来到了这儿—当地人叫“悬望角”。这儿和他印象中的丝毫不差。就是这里了,他对自己说。
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“悬望角”背靠的山荒芜而陡峭,附近也无人居住,所以没人会俯视这里。而且远处的旅馆还被山肩遮住了。
9.One glance over the crumbling wall at the edge was generally sufficient for a visitor of even the strongest nerves. There was a sheer drop of more than a mile straight down, and at the distant bottom were jagged rocks and stunted trees that looked, in the blue haze, like shrubbery.
9站在破墙边沿朝外望,胆子再大的游客也不敢看第二眼。峭壁陡直垂下约有一英里,底下怪石林立,杂树丛生,蓝色雾霭笼罩下,看起来就像灌木丛。
\the time.\
10“就是这里了!”他想,“而且就明天早上!”
11.John Bodman had planned his crime as grimly and relentlessly, and as coolly, as he had ever concocted a deal on the stock exchange. There was no thought in his mind of mercy for his unaware victim. His hatred had carried him far.
11约翰?伯德曼冷酷,无情,沉着地谋划着他的罪行,一如他在证券交易所策划交易。对于那位还蒙在鼓里的受害者,他心中没有一丝怜悯。怨恨让他丧失了所有理智。
12.The next morning after breakfast, he said to his wife: \take a walk in the mountains. Do you wish to come with me?\
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12第二天,用过早餐,他对妻子说:“我想去山里面走走。你想不想跟我一起去?”
13.`Yes,\13“好啊,”她回答得很干脆。
\14“那就好,”他说:“我九点出门。”
15.At that hour they left the hotel together, to which he planned to return alone shortly. They spoke no word to each other on their way to the Hanging Outlook. The path was practically level, skirting the mountains, for the Hanging Outlook was not much higher above the sea than the hotel.
15九点整,两个人一起出了旅馆。按计划,用不了多久他就会一个人回来。一路上谁也没说话,只是在山间绕来绕去,基本上是平路,因为“悬望角”的海拔和旅馆差不多。
16.John Bodman had formed no fixed plan for his procedure when the place was reached. He resolved to be guided by circumstances. Now and then a strange fear arose in his mind that she might cling to him and possibly drag him over the precipice with her. He found himself wondering whether she had any premonition of her fate, and one of his reasons for not speaking was the fear that a tremor in his voice might possibly arouse her suspicions. He resolved that his action should be sharp and sudden, that she might have no chance either to help herself or
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to drag him with her. Of her screams in that desolate region he had no fear. No one could reach the spot except from the hotel and no one that morning had left the premises.
16到了目的地后,约翰?伯德曼也没有什么固定计划,他决定伺机而行。他心中时不时生出一种恐惧,害怕她会死死地拽住自己,一起坠下悬崖。他不自觉地想:厄运当头,她是否已有预感?他一直没有说话,就是怕自己颤抖的声音会引起她的怀疑。他决心要突然行动,干脆利落,让她无法自救,更没机会把他也拉下去。至于她要尖叫,他倒是一点也不害怕。因为这地方人迹罕至,只有从旅馆有一条路可以过来,而他知道那天早晨没有人离开那幢楼。
17.Curiously enough. when they came within sight of the Hanging Outlook, Mrs. Bodman stopped and shuddered. Bodman looked at her through the narrow slits of his veiled eyes, and wondered again if she had any suspicion. No one can tell, when two people walk closely together, what unconscious communication one mind may have with another. 17这时“悬望角”已经在望了,伯德曼太太却停住了脚步,还打了个冷战,这着实令人怀疑。伯德曼先生眼睛微眯,审视着太太,又开始怀疑她是否已有所警觉。没人敢说,两个人这样紧挨着走路,他们的大脑之间会有什么无意识的交流。
\gruffly. \18“怎么了?”他生硬地问道,“累了?”
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19.\Christian name for the first time in years, \been kinder to me at first, things might have been different?\
19“约翰,”她叫道,声音中带着喘息,好多年没有叫过他的教名了,“你不觉得如果你当初对我好点儿,事情也许会不一样?” 20.\late in the day for discussing that question.\
20“我觉得,”他答道,眼睛看着别处,“现在讨论这个问题已经太晚了。”
“I have much to regret,\quaveringly. \21“我有很多遗憾,”她声音发颤,“你就没有?” 22 No,\ 22“没有,”他答道。
23.\her voice, \
23“很好,”伯德曼太太答道,语气又恢复了一贯的生硬,“我只是想给你一次机会。”
24 Her husband looked at her suspiciously. 24她丈夫盯着她,心生疑虑。
25.\chance nor anything else from you. A man accepts nothing from one he hates. My feelings towards you are, I imagine, no secret to you. We are
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tied together, and you have done your best to make the bondage insupportable.\
25“你什么意思?”他问,“给我机会?我不要你的机会,也不要你别的什么。男人不会接受他憎恨的人的任何东西。我想我对你的感觉对你来说不是秘密。我们是硬绑在一起的,而你更是想方设法让这份关系变得让人忍无可忍。”
26.\together-we are tied together!\
26“没错,”她答道,眼睛看着地上,“我们是绑在一起的—我们是绑在一起的!”
27.She repeated these words under her breath as they walked the few remaining steps to the Outlook. Bodman sat down upon the crumbling wall. The woman dropped her alpenstock on the rock, and walked nervously to and fro, clasping and unclasping her hands. Her husband caught his breath as the terrible moment drew near.
27她低声反复嘀咕着这句话,两人走完剩下的几步来到了“悬望角”。伯德曼坐在那摇摇欲坠的破墙上。他妻子则把登山杖扔在了石头上,心神不宁地走来走去,拳头摄了又松,松了又撰。随着那可怕时刻的临近,他屏住了呼吸。
28..\here and sit down beside me, and be still.\
28“你干嘛像个野兽走来走去?”他叫道,“过来坐我旁边,安静点。”
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29.She faced him with a light he had never before seen in her eyes-a light of insanity and of hatred.
29她面对着他,眼中闪耀着一种他从未见过的光芒—一种疯狂和僧恨的光芒。
30.\spoke a moment ago of your hatred of me, but you are a man, and your hatred is nothing to mine. Bad as you are, much as you wish to break the bond which ties us together, there are still things which I know you would not stoop to. There is no thought of murder in heart, but there is in mine.\30她说:“我走起来像个野兽,因为我本来就是。你刚才说了你对我的恨,但你是男的,比起我的恨你的不值一提。尽管你人很坏,非常想了断这份将我们绑在一起的关系,但我知道有些事你还是不会去做的。我知道你没想过谋杀我,但是我想过。”
31.The man nervously clutched the stone beside him, and gave a guilty start as she mentioned murder.
31听到谋杀,他不由得一惊,心里有些负罪感,双手紧张地抓着身旁的石头。
32.\believed you intended to murder me in Switzerland.\
32“是的,”她接着说,“我已经跟我英格兰的所有朋友说我肯定你打算在瑞士谋杀我。”
33\
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33“我的上帝!你怎么能说出这样的话?”他大叫。
34.\give up for revenge. I have warned the people at the hotel, and when we left two men followed us. The proprietor tried to persuade me not to accompany you. In a few moments those two men will come in sight of the Outlook. Tell them, if you think they will believe you, that it was an accident.\
34“我这么说是要让你瞧瞧我有多恨你,让你瞧瞧为了报复你我准备付出什么样的代价。我已经让旅馆的人提高警惕,我们出门时就有两个人跟着我们。旅馆老板还劝我别跟你来。再过一会儿那两个人就会看到“悬望角”了。如果你觉得他们会相信你的话,那你就跟他们说只是个意外吧。”
35.The mad woman tore from the front of her dress shreds of lace and scattered them around. Bodman started up to his feet, crying, \you about?\the wall, and went shrieking and whirling down the awful abyss. 35这个疯女人一把扯碎了裙子前片上的花边,并撒落一地。伯德曼站起身,喊道:“你在做什么?”但是,他还没来得及靠近她,她就已经跳过矮墙,尖叫着,翻滚着,掉进了那令人生畏的万丈深渊。 36.The next moment two men came hurriedly round the edge of the rock, and found the man standing alone. Even in his bewilderment, he realized that if he told the truth he would not be believed.
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36不一会儿,有两个人急急忙忙来到石头边,发现伯德曼一个人愣在那里。尽管内心一团乱麻,但他知道就算实话实说也没人会相信他。 Unit8 像大山一样思考
1一个发自肺腑的低沉而又尖厉的号叫在悬崖之间回荡,最后划过大山,消逝在远方深沉的夜色中。这声号叫爆发出一种充满野性和反抗的哀愁,爆发出对世界上一切逆境的蔑视。
2大山中所有的生物(可能也包括许多死去的生物)都侧耳倾听着这声号叫。对鹿而言,它提醒了众生之道,意味着死亡近在咫尺。对松树而言,它预见了午夜的混战和雪上的血迹。对郊狼而言,它意味着有残肉可食的许诺;对牧牛者而言,它意味着银行透支的威胁;对猎人而言,它意味着撩牙对子弹的挑战。然而,在这些比较容易察觉的希望与恐惧的背后,号叫还隐藏着更深层的含义,但是只有大山自己才能领会。因为只有大山才有沧海桑田的岁月与见识,能够客观地聆听狼的号叫所隐藏的深意。
3而那些无法领会其中深意的,也能感觉到它的存在,而且在所有的狼出没的地方都能感受得到。这种异样的感觉也使那些地区与其他地区区别开来。所有在夜晚听到狼号或是白天看到狼的踪迹的人,都会不自觉地背部发毛,脊部发冷。即使没有听到狼号或是看到狼迹,也可以从许多异样的情景中感知一二。比如说一只驮马半夜的嘶叫、石头刺耳的滚动声、逃亡之鹿奔跑的慌张以及云杉树下诡异的阴影等。
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只有那些不堪造就的新手才无法感知狼的存在,也无法理解只有大山才能体会的那种深奥。
4我对上面的说法深信不疑,是源自于我曾亲眼看到一只狼死去。那日,我们正在一个高高的悬崖上吃午餐,悬崖脚下有一条汹涌澎湃的河流。我们看到了一个东西在急流中挣扎跋涉,胸部浸在白色的水花中。我们原以为是只鹿,但等它朝我们的方向爬上岸,抖落身上的河水时,我们才发现原来它是只狼。这时,六只显然已经长大的狼欢快地摇着尾巴,相互打斗嬉闹着从柳树丛中跳跃出来,以示它们的欢迎。的的确确,在我们所处的山崖脚下的空地上,我们看到一群狼在那里翻滚打闹。
5在那段日子里,没有人会错过射杀狼的机会。很快,一发发子弹射入狼群。但是由于我们太兴奋了,再加上我们都不知道怎样才能瞄准向陡峭的山下射击,所以我们的枪法都不是很准。结果在我们的子弹消耗殆尽时,只有那只老狼倒下了,还有一只小狼拖着受伤的腿躲进了山崩造成的人们无法通行的岩石堆。
6我们接近那只狼的时候,它眼中那绿色的充满仇恨的目光还没有完全消逝。正是在那时,并且从那时起,我意识到了,在那双眼睛里,有我未曾领会的道理—某些只有狼和大山才知晓的道理。但是当时我太年轻气盛,总有扣动扳机的冲动。我认为狼群的减少就意味着鹿群的增加。而狼群的消失则意味着猎人天堂的到来。但是自从我看到那只老狼眼中渐渐消逝的仇恨的绿光时,我才意识到,无论是狼还是大山,肯定不会认同我这样一种看法。
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7自那以后,我看到各州都在相继扑灭自己的狼群。我眼睁睁看到了一座座刚刚扑灭狼群的大山的面貌;看到了山的南坡被鹿群踩出的纷乱的小径;看到了所有能吃的灌木、甚至是细枝嫩芽都被啃光,而这些植物因而也很快衰弱不振,不久便告死亡;我也看到了所有能吃的树叶,在马鞍高度以下的部位全都被吃得精光。看到这样的一座山,你会感觉是有人给了上帝一把剪刀,让他整天除了剪除树木以外,什么都不许做。后来,鹿群由于数量过于庞大,再加上草木供不应求,便大批量地饿死了。它们的白骨与死去的鼠尾草一起变白,或是在高大的杜松树下腐朽。
8现在我想,就像鹿群生活在狼群的阴影和恐怖中一样,大山也生活在鹿群的阴影和恐怖中,也许这种恐怖有着更充分的理由。因为一只鹿被狼吃掉,两三年后很快就会有新的小鹿出生繁衍,但是,一旦一座大山被鹿群毁灭,恐怕几十年也无法恢复原貌。
9牛也是这样,牧牛人在清除狼群的时候,没有意识到其实他正在做着本质上如同狼吃牛一样的工作——削减牛群数量以适应山的承受能力。牧牛人还没有学会像大山那样去思考。其结果,沙尘暴出现了,河流将我们的未来无情地冲入大海。
10我们都在努力追求安全、繁荣、舒适、长寿和懒散的生活。鹿用它柔韧的双腿去追求;牧牛人用陷阱和毒药去追求;政治家用口诛笔伐去追求;大多数人则是用机器、选票和金钱去追求。但不管形式如何迥异,目的只有一个,那就是追求时代的和平。在这些方面取得某种程度的成功是件好事,客观地说也是必要的。但是从长远来看,太多
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的安全似乎只能适得其反。也许这正验证了梭罗的一句话,“野地里蕴含着对于世界的救赎”。也许,这就是隐藏在狼的哀号背后的深层含义。大山早已明白,而人类却知之甚少。 Unit9
1.Just before September 11th ,2001,The U.S. mass media were focused on sports, the lives of various celebrities, and a Congressman's relationship with a missing staff member. Then everything changed. A skyscraper complex, militant group, and distant country suddenly dominated mass media as people sought to understand what had occurred, what to make of passenger planes turned into missiles, and who to trust for credible information on terrorism.
1.在 2001 年 9 月 11 日之前,美国媒体的主要焦点是体育赛事,名人轶事,以及某个国会议员与一个失踪职员的关系等。然而,9\之后一切都发生了改变。一幢摩天大楼,一个武装组织,以及一个遥远的国家突然之间主宰了大众传媒。 这是因为美国民众迫切想要弄明白: 到底发生了什么事, 是什么让载人的客机变成了导弹, 谁提供的有关恐怖主义的情报才是真 实可信的。
2.That dramatic shift in media emphasis is an excellent recent example of how mass media help to shape our shifting concerns and beliefs. Why could we have been so concerned about celebrity lifestyles one week and so unconcerned the next? Why such a prior general
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disinterest in an already notorious terrorist group, and in festering Middle East countries and cultures? Why the sudden media shift from a Regularly-Criticized-President to an Esteemed-Leader-President? 2.这次媒体焦点的巨大转变是近期的一个好例子,它展示了大众传媒如何帮助我们形成迅速变化的关注点和信念。为什么我们在这一周里对名人的生活方式如此关注, 而到了下一周却又对此变得漠不关心?为什么公众以前对一个早已臭名昭著的恐怖组织、对日益衰败的中东国家和文化都普遍缺乏兴趣?为什么媒体以前对我们的总统总是批评,而突然之间又将其誉为一位令人尊敬的、勇于承担责任的总统。
3.Dramatic advances in mass communication and transportation during the past 50 years have truly created a global village, a mass society. Things occurring anywhere are now quickly known everywhere. Mass media both overwhelm us with information, and help us to sort it out.
3.大众传媒和交通运输在过去 50 年里迅猛发展,把世界真真切切地变成了一个地球村,一 个大众社会。如今,任何地方发生的事件都会迅速地传播到世界的每一个角落。大众传媒不 仅用铺天盖地的信息将我们淹没,也帮助我们对这些信息加以分类整理。
4.Mass media seek a broad audience for a typically narrow (and often biased) message that's typically embedded in entertainment or useful information/opinion. Mass media communication is expensive, so it's funded through participant admissions/subscriptions and contributions, or through
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sponsorships and advertising (or a combination of these funding sources). It thus must provide something sufficiently valuable to its potential audience to gain that necessary financial support.
4.大众传媒为典型的受众面非常狭小的(通常带有偏见)讯息寻求广泛的受众群体,这类讯息通常嵌于娱乐或有用的信息/观点中。大众传媒的成本极其昂贵,所以它通过加盟许可/订阅和捐款来获取资金,或者通过赞助和广告(或者多管齐下)来获取资金。因此,它必须为潜在的受众提供足够有价值的讯息,以此获得必要的资金支持。 5.The mass media have a “slow news day” problem. They have pages and time to fill, even when events are mundane. A common solution at such times is to focus on sports and the lives of celebrities (people who are well known for their well-knownness, as Andy Warhol once put it), or to take something relatively trivial and expand it into something important. Think back to the pre-September 11 focus.
5.大众传媒总会遇到这样一个问题—某一天没有任何值得报道的新闻。然而,即使这一天的 事件统统乏善可陈,媒体也得想法把版面填满,或把播出时间打发完。当此类情况发生时, 通常的解决办法是将新闻报道的重点放在体育赛事和名人轶事上(如安迪· 沃霍尔所言:“名人因众所周知而有名”),或者在某个比较琐碎的小事情大做文章,将其包装成重要的大事件。回想 9\事件发生前的热点,正是如此。
6.Mass media encompass much more than print and electronic forms of
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communication (such as magazines and television). Sporting events, churches, museums, theme parks, political campaigns, catalogs, and concerts are also forms of mass media, although many people consider them to be something other than mass media.
6.大众传媒并不局限于印刷媒介和电子通信媒介等形式(如杂志和电视)。 尽管许多人不认同, 但体育赛事、教堂、博物馆、主题公园、政治活动、目录单和音乐会也是大众传播的媒介形 式。 7.The U.S. Constitution underscores the importance of the open communication of information and opinion in our democratic society by granting considerable self-direction to the various forms of mass media. A marketplace mentality suggests that useful information and opinions will spread, and the useless will disappear. A free-speech society can thus tolerate of false information, stupidity, and vulgarity ----assuming them to be a temporary irritant.
7.美国宪法赋予各种形式的大众媒体极大的自主权, 以此来强调信息和想法的公开交流对民主社会的重要性。从一种市场心态来看,有用的信息和想法将会得到传播,而无用的终将消 失。因此,一个言论自由的社会能够容忍虚假信息、愚蠢和庸俗—假设这些东西仅会扰人一 时,不会长久。
8.Mass media are very competitive. Folks today have many options about the TV and films they watch, the books and magazines they read, the cultural and religious institutions they attend. The challenge for a media pr
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ogram is to get and hold the attention of mass media shoppers -- who are channel surfing, browsing at a bookstore, checking out various churches. 8.大众传媒间的竞争很激烈。今天的人们对于所看的电视和电影、所读的书籍和杂志、所参 加的文化和宗教机构都有很多的选择。 媒体面临的挑战是如何吸引并抓住大众传媒消费者的 注意力,他们正在来回调换频道,在书店翻阅书籍,在教堂之间穿梭。
9.In a stimulating competitive environment, a media program must score quickly. Since you're still reading this column, the title and opening paragraph must have sufficiently caught your attention so you continued. Emotional arousal drives attention, which drives learning and conscious behavior - so it's important for mass media programmers to understand and present content that will emotionally arouse potential participants. 9.在竞争激烈的环境下,一个媒体策划必须具备快速得分的能力。既然你仍在阅读这个专栏 的文章,一定是文章的标题和开头充分吸引了你的注意力,这样你才会继续读下去。调动情感能够激发注意力,进而激发学习和自觉行为。因此,对大众传媒策划人来说,一件非常重 要的事就是了解并报道能够激发潜在受众情感的新闻事件。
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10.Our basic biological challenge is to survive and get into the gene pool, so avoiding danger and taking advantage of opportunities for eating/shelter/mating are cognitively important. Events related to these needs are inherently emotionally arousing, and successful mass media programmers understand this.
10.我们生理上的基本挑战是生存和繁衍后代,因此,躲避危险、利用各种机会来吃、住、 交配被认为是头等大事。与这些需求相关的事件本身就能激发起人的情感。 成功的大众传媒 策划人都了解这一点。
11.People complain about the amount of violence, sexuality, and commercialism in mass media, but let's look at the issue from a TV programmer's perspective. Channel surfers will give a TV program only a few seconds before moving to the next channel, so programmers focus on content sequences with a high probability for emotional arousal - and program content and commercials related to violence, sexuality, and food/shelter do attract and hold attention. Consider the recent media focus on terrorist violence, the Taliban treatment of women, the food/shelter problems now facing the families of those killed and Afghani refugees -- and the resultant widespread outpouring of anger and support.
11.人们抱怨大众传媒中充斥着大量的暴力、性和商业行为,但是让我们从一位电视编导的 角度来看待该问题。 浏览电视频道的观众关注一个电视节目的时间只有数秒钟, 然后就会转到另一个频道去。
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