综合英语教程第三册课文翻译

I don't really know my father. He isn't easy to get on with. He's quite self-centred, and a little bit vain, I think, and in some ways quite unapproachable. The public must think he's very easy-going, but at home he keeps himself to himself.

He can't have been at home much when I was a child, because I don't remember much about him. He's always been slightly out of touch with family life. His work always came first, and he was always off somewhere acting or rehearsing. He loves being asked for his autograph, he loves to be recognised. He has won several awards, and he's very proud of that. He was made a Member of the British Empire, and we had to go to Buckingham Palace to get the medal. It was incredibly boring. There were hundreds of other people getting the same awards, and you had to sit there for hours. He shows off his awards to whoever comes to the house.

I went to public school, and because of my total lack of interest and non-attendance I was asked to leave. I didn't want to go there in the first place. I was taken away from all my friends. He must have been very pleased to get me into the school, but in the end it was a complete waste of money. I let him down quite badly, I suppose. I tried several jobs but I couldn't settle down in them. Then I realised that what I really wanted to do was live in the country and look after animals, so that's what I now do.

As a family, we're not that close, either emotionally or geographically. We don't see much of each other these days. My father and I are totally different, like chalk and cheese. My interests have always been the country, but he's into books, music and above all, opera, which I hate. If they do come to see us, they're in completely the wrong clothes for the country-mink coats, nice little leather shoes, not exactly ideal for long walks across the fields.

He was totally opposed to me getting married. He was hoping we would break up. Gerald's too humble, I suppose. He must have wanted me to marry someone famous, but I didn't, and that's all there is to it. We don't want children, but my father keeps on and on talking about wanting grandchildren. You can't make someone have children just because you want grandchildren.

I never watch him on television. I'm not that interested, and anyway he usually forgets to tell me when he's on.

我实在不了解我的父亲，与他相处很难。在我看来，他总以自我为中心，还有一点自负，在某种程度上难以接近。公众一定以为他很随和，但在家里，他总是拒人于千里之外。

在我小的时候，他一定很少在家，因为在我的记忆里关于他的不多。他总有点冷落家庭成员。工作是第一要义，他总是离家去拍戏或排练。他喜欢别人索要他的亲笔签名，喜欢出风头。他获得过几项大奖，并引以为荣。他还被授予英国皇家成员的称号，为此我们不得不去白金汉宫领取勋章。授勋典礼简直无聊透顶。由于有数百人获此勋章，因此你就不得不在那儿等上好几个小时。只要有人来我家拜访，他总不忘向来访的每个人炫耀他的那些奖章。

我上的是私立学校，由于对功课毫无兴趣，再加上无故旷课，我被勒令退学。我本来就不愿去那儿上学，因为我不得不离开我所有的朋友。把我送进那所学校父亲一定很满意，可到头来纯粹是在浪费钱。我猜我一定让他失望至极。我试过几份工作，但总无法安下心来。后来，我终于意识到我真正想做的就是在乡下照料家畜，于是一直干到现在。 作为一家人，我们不仅住的地方相隔不近，在情感上也不那么亲近。这些天我们很少互相走动。父亲和我性格迥异，或者说是貌合神离。乡村是我的乐趣所在，而父亲却对书本，音乐，尤其是我最讨厌的歌剧感兴趣。就算他们真的来看我，也是穿着及其\"不合地宜\"的衣服---貂皮大衣，漂亮小巧的皮鞋，根本不适合在田间远足。

对于我的婚姻，他及其反对，且一直希望我们分手。我想是杰拉德出身太卑微了。父亲一定是想让我和名人结合，但我没有，就这么回事。我和丈夫不想要小孩，可父亲却不停地唠叨说想要个外孙。但总不能因为你想要个外孙就让别人生小孩吧。

我从不看他演的电视节目，不怎么想看。何况他还常忘了告诉我播出的时间。

Unit3 Saved by his mistakes

Jerry Cram set out to go coon hunting that gloomy afternoon. With him were his old shepherd dog and two beagle hound pups. At least he said they were beagles, but his older brother Bob had roared with laughter a month earlier, when Jerry had told him they had cost five dollars. \"It's another of your mistakes, Jerry!\" He said. And that's what Bob called the pups \"Mistake No. 1\" and \"Mistake No. 2\"

Even Jerry had to admit that the pups weren't much help, for he hunted for several hours without any luck, till at last he ran out of shells. Then, toward evening, he spotted a racoon high in a beech tree. It was a forty-foot tree, an ancient one that had died years ago. The top of its trunk had been carried away in some storm, and the trunk itself had been gutted by rot and insects.

Still, Jerry went up after the coon, intending to capture him by hand. But he never reached the animal. Just as he got level with the top of the broken trunk, the limb on which he was standing cracked ominously under his feet. Instantly he

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jumped to the rim of the tree trunk, and at once the edge crumbled. Down he plunged, too suddenly to make a sound, into the deep hollow of the dead tree.

Halfway down Jerry's fall was broken for a moment by a jutting piece of wood that caught his clothing. Then he tumbled the rest of the way. Shaken, dazed, but miraculously unhurt, he picked himself up. It was dark inside the tree. Above him there was only a pale disc of sky. At his feet a pear-shaped hole framed a small patch of grey light. He could hear the pups sniffing and yelping to him, and Shep backed off and barked in alarm.

Jerry was scared. Some time passed before he calmed down and began to look for a way to get out. There were no handholds on the inside of the trunk; the snag that had slowed him up on his way down was out of reach. And, though he tried desperately, he couldn't enlarge the hole at his feet by kicking. It would do no good to call, either; he was much too far from home for that. At last the idea came to him of sending the dogs for help. \"Go home, Shep! Go home!\" He shouted. The dog gave one sharp bark. \"Go home!\" He shouted again. And, at that, Shep turned and streaked across the field, but the two pups remained, yelping encouragement to their master.

Night came. A storm broke. Lightning writhed above his head, and rain poured into the hollow cylinder of the tree. There was just room for Jerry to stand, and he was drenched by the rain. For a minute he wondered if he would drown there, but the water ran out of the hole at the bottom as fast as it came in at the top. Outside, Jerry could hear the pups whimpering. They were frightened by the storm, but they didn't go away. Instead, they moved closer to the tree to comfort him, and stuck their muzzles through the hole to lick his feet.

Meanwhile Shep had run across the fields to the Cram home. Barking furiously, he got Bob to follow him back. But when they reached the fences the old dog, who had leaped over them frantically as he came, was too tired to jump them again, and, in the end, it was only the barking of the sad-eyed little pups that guided Bob to the right tree.

Even then it took a rescue party, ropes, and fifteen hours to get Jerry out of his sodden prison-wet, hungry, and exhausted.

\"Oh, gosh,\" he said over and over after they had finally pulled him up, \"I kept thinking, this is Jerry's last mistake: I'm going to die down here. But the pups didn't give up hope! Shep went for help, and the pups stayed with me all the time! Mistake No. 1 and Mistake No. 2 -they saved me!\"

那是一个阴霾的下午，杰瑞\"克莱姆动身准备去猎浣熊。随他同行的有他的老牧羊狗和两只猎犬幼仔。至少他说他们是小猎兔犬。一个月以前，当杰瑞告诉他哥哥鲍勃说他自己花了五美元买了那两只小狗，鲍勃吼笑道：\"你又犯傻了，杰瑞！\"因而，鲍勃称呼两只幼仔为\"错误1号\"和\"错误2号\"。

杰瑞猎捕了好几个小时，一无所获，直到最后用尽了子弹，他不得不承认这两只幼仔无多大用处。临近傍晚，他在一棵山毛榉树顶发现了一只浣熊。这棵树四十英尺高，极古老，数年前就枯死。树干顶部被风暴卷起了，树干本身由于腐烂和虫咬被毁坏了。

然而，杰瑞走到浣熊后，想用手抓它。但是他从未碰过动物。正当他到达残缺的树干的顶尖时，他踩的树枝在脚下不幸破裂了。他马上移到树干的边缘，立刻树梢被压断了。他突然跌下来了。事情发生的太突然了，杰瑞没来得及喊一声，就落入了朽树的深洞里。

他直摔下去，途中一根伸出的树枝挂住了他的衣服，悬空片刻，接着他又跌倒了。他颤抖地茫然地爬起来，但奇怪的是没有受伤。

树洞里一片漆黑。他头顶上仅有圆盘大的灰蒙蒙的天空。脚下梨状小孔映出一小块淡淡的光。他可以听见两只幼仔朝着他叫，牧羊狗后退并且惊慌地叫着。

杰瑞害怕了。过了一段时间，他平静下来了，开始寻找出路。树干里没有东西可以抓着爬出去；他无法抓住帮助阻止他下跌速度的那根根株。他竭尽全力，却不能把脚下的那个孔踢大。求救也无用，当时他离家太远。最后他决定派狗去寻求帮助。\"回家，牧羊狗，回家！\"他喊道。牧羊狗尖叫一声。\"回家！\"他又喊了一声。牧羊狗转身飞快的跨过田野，但两只幼仔仍原地不动，用叫声鼓励着主人。

夜幕来临。暴风雨袭来。闪电在尖顶上闪过，雨涌入了树中的空洞里。那恰是杰瑞可以站的地方，他被雨淋透了。他曾担心自己是否会淹死在那儿。但是雨水从顶部流入的同时又流出了这个空洞。外面，杰瑞可以听到两只幼仔在呜咽。他们被暴雨吓坏了，并没有离开。相反，他们更接近树了，用嘴穿过小孔去舔主人的脚以示安慰。

同时牧羊狗跑过田野到了克莱姆家。它猛烈地叫着，鲍勃紧跟着它。但是当他们到达篱笆旁时，这只狗，正如它来的时候一样身体慌乱不稳，太累了再也不能跳过去了。最后，仅靠眼睛悲伤的幼仔的叫声引导鲍勃到了那棵树前。 接着是营救工作，用绳子花了15个小时把杰瑞从浸透了的囚笼里拖出来---这时杰瑞浑身湿透了，又饿又累。

他们把他拖上来后，杰瑞反复唠叨：\"哎，天哪，我一直在想我会死在这儿，这是杰瑞的最后一次错误。但是幼仔没有放弃希望！牧羊狗去求助，幼仔自始至终陪着我！错误1号和错误2号---他们救了我的命。\"

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Unit5 Learning a Language

When we talk about learning a language like English, Japanese or Spanish, we speak and think as though the language in question were a fixed unchanging thing. We expect to learn it as we learned geometry or how to ride a bicycle-systematically, and with clear ultimate success. Many people subsequently give up when they discover just what a misconception this is. They have in fact embarked on an activity that could last the rest of their lives. The experience makes them realise that they are not only going to have to work very hard indeed if they want to succeed, but also that they are -in many cases-barely masters of the language they call their own \"mother tongue\".

Studying any language is, in fact, an endless voyage. Each of the thousands of languages currently used in the world is a complex affair. Many languages do have a standard form-particularly on paper-and this is what we learn, but they probably also have a variety of regional dialects and social styles, and many are the products of the historical mingling of other languages. The English language is just such a hybrid. It began its career just under two thousand years ago as a form of ancient German, collided with a special kind of old French, was subjected to several waves of Latin and a flood of Greek, and since then has acquired bits and pieces of every other language that its users have ever been in contact with. A second common misconception about language is that words have fixed and clear meanings. This is-fortunately or unfortunately-far from true. Take even the apparently simple and specific English word man. It seems clear enough; it refers to \"an adult male human being\". Of course it does, but just consider for a moment the following sentences: 1) There are several men missing in that chess set.

2) The boat was manned entirely by women and children.

You might argue that these sentences are somewhat unnatural; certainly, they do not represent the everyday core meaning of the word man. They are, however, legitimate extensions of that core meaning, the second being especially interesting because it is a verb and not a noun, and suggests that we expect adult male human beings to serve as the crews of ships, not women and certainly not children. Part of the pleasure and genius of language may well arise out of this slight \"misuse\" of words. After all, if you call a person a cat or a cabbage, no literal identification is intended, but a great deal of meaning is nevertheless conveyed.

A third misconception about language claims that every language is -or should be-equally used and understood by all its practitioners everywhere. Certainly, users of the standard forms of English in the United Kingdom generally understand their equivalents in the United States; the degree of similarity between these two major forms of English is great. Dialect-users in these countries, however, have serious problems understanding each other, to the extent that they may wonder if they are actually using the same language. Someone from Brooklyn, New York, will have trouble with a Cockney from London; an old-style British Army colonel won't do well in discussions with a Californian flower-boy. Yet they all belong within the vast community of 20th century World English.

当我们谈到学习一门语言诸如英语、日语或西班牙语时，我们讲并且认为正在谈论中的语言是固定不变的，我们期望像学几何或学骑车一样系统学习并且最后的成功明了可见。许多人发现这仅是一种误解时便放弃了。实际上，他们开始了一份持续终生的工作。这种经验使他们不仅意识到如果想要成功不得不努力工作，而且意识到在很多情况下，他们连自己所谓的母语也没有精通。

其实，学习任何语言就像是一次永无止境的航行。当今世界上使用的成千上万语言中的每一种语言都是一件复杂的事情。许多语言确实有一种标准形式---特别是书面语---这就是我们要学习的，然而，他们也可能有各种各样的地区方言和社会文体，许多是历史进程中和其他语言融合的产物。英语就是这样一种混合语言。大约二千年前开始演变的。首先是一种古德语形式，与一种特殊的古法语发生了冲突，其后又吸取了一些拉丁语和希腊语。自那以后有吸收了它的使用者所接触的其他所有语言的点点滴滴。

关于语言的第二种常见误解是单词意思固定清楚。这种想法---无论不幸还是有幸---是远远不正确的。举个十分简单和具体的英语单词\"man\"为例。似乎足够清楚，指的是\"成年男子\"。当然的确如此，但是考虑一下下列句子： 1） There are several men missing in that chess set. 那副象棋缺了几颗棋子。

2） The boat was manned entirely by women and children. 这艘船全由妇女和小孩掌舵。

你可能争论这些句子有点不自然。是的，它们不是单词\"man\"的日常用法，而是其中心意义的合理延伸。尤其有趣的是在第二个句子中它作动词用而不是名词。这表明我们期望成年男子做水手，而不是妇女当然更不是小孩。语言中的一些乐趣和天赋很可能是由这种单词的细微差别的误用而产生的。别忘了，如果你叫一个人\"猫\"或\"卷心菜\"，虽然你不是表达字面意思，但它们会被曲解成许多意思。

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关于语言的第三个误解是：每一种语言都被--- 或者说应该被它的所有使用者到处同样地使用和理解。当然，一般说来，使用英国英语标准形式的人都能理解其在美国英语中的对等词。英语这两种主要形式相似程度极大。这些国家的讲方言的人在互相理解对方时有严重的障碍，甚至到了怀疑他们是否真正使用同一语言的程度。一个来自纽约布鲁克林的人与来自伦敦的伦敦佬交流有困难一位古板的英国上校不会和一个加里福利亚的嬉皮士谈笑风生。然而他们都属于20世纪世界英语的巨大群体中的成员。

Unit6 Bargains

Let us take the orthodox definition of the word bargain. It is something offered at a low and advantageous price. It is an opportunity to buy something at a lower price than it is really worth. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to extort money from the pockets of silly and innocent people.

I have never attended a large company's board meeting in my life, but feel certain that the discussion often takes the following lines. The cost of producing a new -for example-toothpaste would make 80p the decent price for it, so we will market it at ￡1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste (not specially good either, but not bad), and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that starts to happen we will reduce the price to ￡1.15. And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it, whereupon people will rush to buy it even though it still costs about forty-three percent more than its fair price.

Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking impertinence to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or dog food or whatever. Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult, but he doesn't. A bargain must not be missed. To be offered a \"gift\" of one penny is like being invited to dinner and offered one single pea (tastily cooked), and nothing else. Even if it represented a real reduction it would be an insult. Still, people say, one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper. When I was a boy in Hungary a man was accused of murdering someone for the sake of one pengo, the equivalent of a shilling, and pleaded guilty. The judge was outraged: \"To kill a man for a shilling! ... What can you say in your defence?\" The murderer replied:\"A shilling here ... a shilling there\". And that's what today's shopper says, too: \"A penny here ... a penny there\". The real danger starts when utterly unnecessary things become \"bargains\". There is a huge number of people who just cannot resist bargains and sales. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear, furniture they have no space for. Old ladies will buy roller-skates and non-smokers will buy pipe-cleaners. And I once heard of a man who bought an electric circular saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.

Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady I know, otherwise a charming and seemingly sane girl, sometimes tells me stories such as this: \"I've had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for￡120, reduced from￡400.\" She feels as though she has made￡280. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.

Some people buy in bulk because it is cheaper. I once knew a couple who could not resist buying sugar in bulk. They thought it a tremendous bargain, not to be missed, so they bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. When the sugar arrived they didn't know where to store it -until they realised that their loo was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the loo became extremely sticky.

To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right. All the same, if bargains were prohibited by law our standard of living would immediately rise by 7.39 per cent.

让我们给\"甩货\"这个词下一个传统定义，即商家推出的物美价廉的产品，也是一次机会让人们可以买到比实际价格低的商品。而近来又有了这样的定义：甩货是商家使用的从傻子与无头脑的人们口袋中骗取钱财的伎俩。

我从未参加过任何一家大型公司的董事会议，但可以肯定这样的会总是围绕以下事宜展开。以牙膏为例，生产这种新产品的成本费80便士为其合理价格，市场价格为1英镑20便士。这种牙膏不算很差（尽管没什么特别，也还过得去），加之人们乐于尝试新事物的心理，因此起初它销量会很可观。但是新鲜的吸引力一过, 销量自会下跌，于是我们将价格降到1英镑15便士，还打着甩货的幌子贴出“买一盒牙膏省五便士”的海报，人们则争先恐后地抢购，尽管抢购价比正常价位高出大约43%。

有时不是省5便士，而只是省1便士而已。\"只要您购买香皂，洗衣粉，狗食或其他商品均可享受1便士的优惠。这样的广告是一种让人难以忍受的屈辱。\"即使是最穷困的高龄养老金领取者也应当认为这是一种侮辱行为，然而却没有人这样想。甩货是不能错过的嘛！而这1便士的礼物就像你应邀去参加一场丰盛的晚宴却只提供一粒烹饪考究的豌豆。即使1便士真实地反映了产品的降价，可它仍然是一种侮辱。然而，人们会说，反正我们不能没有洗衣粉这样的东西，

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还是买那个能省1便士的好了。记得当我在匈牙利时，还是个孩子，有一个人就因为1 pengo （等值于1先令）而被指控谋杀，并且他认了罪。法官义愤填膺：\"就为了1先令去杀人……你还要为自己辩护什么？\"凶手答道：\"这儿1先令，那儿1先令……\"这也正是今天的商家所说：\"这儿1便士，那儿1便士。\"

随着那些完全没有必要东西成了“便宜货”，真正的危机也如期而至，一大群人都无法抵制甩卖和降价的诱惑。只要他们在买甩卖品，他们就会买这辈子都不会穿的衣服，没有地方安置的家具。老太太会买溜冰鞋，不吸烟的人则买烟斗通条。我还听说一个人在甩卖时买了一个电动圆锯，结果第二天就割掉了两根手指，可他并不后悔：这个锯子真是很便宜啊！

事实上，很多人都相信买甩货是有利可图的。我认识一个楚楚动人，似乎心志很健全的女士，她常给我讲这样的故事：\"今天太走运了，只花120英镑就买到了一件原价400的连衣裙。\" 那感觉好像是她赚了280英镑。我确信她也认为如果再多花点时间购物，就可以靠此谋生了。

由于商品的贱价出售，有人则大批量购买。我听说有一对夫妇忍不住购买了大量的糖，他们认为这是万万不能错过捡大便宜的好时机，于是买足了供他们一辈子用的糖，就连他们的孩子们和子孙都够用了。可当糖运到家中时，他们意识到没有地方储存，直到发现卫生间还算宽敞，糖理所当然被堆在那里。每当他们往客人咖啡里加糖时，不仅客人总觉得古怪，而且连卫生间也变得粘粘糊糊的。

主动甩卖是一种商业诡计，使穷人变得更穷。如果那些贪婪的傻子上当受骗，那也是活该。无论如何，如果甩卖被依法禁止的话，我们的生活标准会顺势上涨7.39个百分点。

Unit8 Genius sacrificed for failure

During my youth in America's Appalachian mountains, I learned that farmers preferred sons over daughters, largely because boys were better at heavy farm labour. With only 3% of Americans in agriculture today, brain has supplanted brawn, yet cultural preferences, like bad habits, are easier to make than break. But history warns repeatedly of the tragic cost of dismissing too casually the gifts of the so-called weaker sex. About 150 years ago, a village church vicar in Yorkshire, England, had three lovely, intelligent daughters but his hopes hinged entirely on the sole male heir, Branwell, a youth with remarkable talent in both art and literature.

Branwell's father and sisters hoarded their pennies to pack him off to London's Royal Academy of Arts, but if art was his calling, he dialled a wrong number. Within weeks he hightailed it home, a penniless failure. Hopes still high, the family landed Branwell a job as a private tutor, hoping this would free him to develop his literature skills and achieve the success and fame that he deserved. Failure again.

For years the selfless sisters squelched their own goals, farming themselves out as teachers and governesses in support of their increasingly indebted brother, convinced that the world must eventually recognise his genius. As failures multiplied, Branwell turned to alcohol, then opium, and eventually died as he had lived: a failure. So died hope in the one male-but what of the three anonymous sisters? During Branwell's last years, the girls published a book of poetry at their own expense (under a pseudonym, for fear of reviewers' bias against females). Even Branwell might have snickered: they sold only 2 copies.

Undaunted, they continued in their spare time, late at night by candlelight, to pour out their pent-up emotion, writing of what they knew best, of women in conflict with their natural desires and social condition-in reality, less fiction than autobiography! And 19th century literature was transformed by Anne's Agnes Grey, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte's Jane Eyre.

But years of sacrifice for Branwell had taken their toll. Emily took ill at her brother's funeral and died within 3 months, aged 29; Anne died 5 months later, aged 30; Charlotte lived only to age 39. If only they had been nurtured instead of sacrificed.

No one remembers Branwell's name, much less his art or literature, but the Bronte sisters' tragically short lives teach us even more of life than of literature. Their sacrificed genius cries out to us that in modern society we must value children not for their physical strength or gender, as we would any mere beast of burden, but for their integrity, strength, commitment, courage-spiritual qualities abundant in both boys and girls. Patrick Bronte fathered Branwell, but more important, he fathered Anne, Emily and Charlotte. Were he alive today he would surely urge us to put away our passe prejudices and avoid his own tragic and irrevocable error of putting all of his eggs in one male basket! 在当今的美国仅有3% 的人口从事农业，脑力劳动取代了体力劳动。然而，人们的成见已根深蒂固，就象恶习，一旦沾上就难以改掉。但历史教训时刻警示着世人们不要随意否定那些所谓的性别上的弱者的能力，否则将会付出悲剧性的代价。

大约在150年以前，在英国的约克郡有个乡村牧师，他有三个聪明伶俐的女儿，然而他却把毕生的希望全都寄托在

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他唯一的儿子勃兰威尔身上。这个年轻人在艺术与文学方面有着非凡的天赋。

勃兰威尔的父亲和姐妹们拿出家里所有的积蓄把他送到英国皇家艺术学校深造，但是，如果把艺术作为他人生的目标的话他显然选错了方向。短短几周不到，他迅速离开学校返回家中，失败得毫无价值。

家人对他依旧抱有很高的期望，他们为他找了份私人家教的工作，希望这能使他有足够自由发展的空间，提高写作技巧，最后获得他本应获得的成功和名誉。但又一次以失败告终。

多年来他无私的姐妹们一如既往地支持着他，为了支援她们债台高筑的兄弟， 她们努力压抑自己的追求，劳累奔波, 做着老师和家庭女教师。她们深信总有一天兄弟的才华会为世人瞩目。然而她们的兄弟在经过一次又一次的失败打击后，开始酗酒，吸毒，自暴自弃，最终由于不得志抑郁而死。他的去世带走了家人深厚的期望，但那同样出类拔萃的三姐妹后来怎样了呢？

在勃兰威尔最后的几年里，三姐妹自费出版了一部诗集（用的是笔名，怕引起评论家的性别歧视），但只售出了两本。可能连勃兰威尔也暗地里嘲笑过此事。

然而她们并没有因此而灰心丧气，在闲暇时她们仍是不停地写，时常写到深夜。在微弱的烛光里不停地写，尽情地宣泄着被压抑的情感，写她们最能够体会的关于女人的东西-- 即女人的自然欲望与世俗的抵触与矛盾-- 都很现实，没有自传那么夸张，脱离实际。这三姐妹的作品：安的艾格尼斯格雷，爱米丽的呼啸山庄和夏洛特的简爱，在19世纪的文坛引起轩然大波。

长年累月为勃兰威尔劳累奔波终于使她们付出了代价，爱米丽在他兄弟的葬礼上病倒了，三个月后去世，死时才29岁；安在五个月后也去世了，年仅30岁；而夏洛特只活了39岁。 要是她们也象她们的兄弟一样被呵护，培养，而不只是付出和牺牲的话，就不会出现这样的悲剧了。

没人记得勃兰威尔是谁，更别提他的文学艺术成就，然而他的姐妹却留给了后人很多人生道理，其价值甚至超过文学本身。她们的牺牲提醒我们在现代我们不能从体力和性别来估价孩子，因为那都只是表面肤浅的东西，我们要看中他们的诚实，坚强，专注和勇气—— 男孩、女孩双方的精神世界是否丰富。

勃朗特培养了勃兰威尔，更重要的是他的三个女儿，要是今天他仍然活着的话，他一定会鼓励世人抛开腐朽观念，以免重蹈他的覆辙。象他那样孤注一掷造成了无可挽回的过失。

Unit9 Biotechnology

While the computer has had a profound effect on society in so many ways, there are other new technologies that are changing, or could change, our lives no less dramatically. One of these is the new science of biotechnology. Virtually unheard of thirty years ago, biotechnology is considered by many to be the most important development of the late twentieth century. It falls into three main areas: genetics; embryology and microbiology.

Genetics is the study and manipulation of genes in plants and animals. From the moment that each living thing-plant or animal-comes into being, its characteristics are strictly determined. Its shape, size, colour, intelligence are all the result of a set of instructions contained in every cell of its body. These instructions are in the form of a \"code\parent to offspring. The genes themselves are arranged on a long chain in a complex chemical known as DNA. To understand DNA is to understand the secret of life; to be able to alter DNA is the basis of the new science of genetic engineering. The implications of this are dramatic. Using genetic engineering, it is possible to produce plants and animals that have particular desired characteristics: to grow plants, for example, that are resistant to disease, or which yield an extra large crop, or grow in difficult conditions; or again, to breed animals that are good meat or milk producers-even to breed entirely new animals.

Such plants or animals can be created not only once, but also, from a basic genetic model, in endless numbers of identical units-a process known as \"cloning\".

Genetic science does also have a relevance for human beings. Many diseases and handicaps are hereditary, that is, are passed on from one generation to the next through genes. Identifying the presence of harmful genes in unborn children or potential parents, a technique known as \"genetic screening\is already possible and widely done. Thus a doctor can now inform parents who are expecting a child that it will be born handicapped, effectively giving them the choice of whether to go ahead with the birth or not. Similarly, a couple thinking of marriage could be screened for potential genetic problems. With the growing threat of the disease of AIDS, genetic screening is becoming more and more of a daily reality. The second major area of biotechnology is embryology. Here, one technique in particular has attracted special attention: the fertilisation of human eggs outside the body. In vitro fertilisation (IVF)-or in more popular language, the conception of \"test tube babies\"-allows a woman unable to give birth in the normal way to have some of her eggs removed, fertilised in the laboratory by her partner's sperm, and re-implanted in her uterus, where they would have the chance to develop naturally. It is a technique which therefore offers hope to many couples who would otherwise remain childless.

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IVF and related techniques like AI (artificial insemination) create moral and legal problems because they allow, within limits, any egg to be fertilised by any sperm and implanted in any body. Thus a woman's egg may be fertilised by sperm other than her partner's, drawn from what is usually called a \"sperm bank\" alternatively, it is possible for an egg other than a woman's own to be implanted in her body-a process known as \"surrogate motherhood\".

The third area of biotechnology is that of microbiology, the study of bacteria (microbes) and in particular, their use in industrial processes.

Bacteria are tiny organisms which cause unpleasant spots on your face and turn milk sour. So far, not very useful. But the number and variety of bacteria are enormous and, using genetic engineering, even more can be created. Some of these can do things which have the most positive advantages to man: there are bacteria, for example, capable of producing oil, or \"eating\" toxic waste, or helping to manufacture plastic. The coal industry in Britain is currently looking into microbes that will liquefy coal, making it possible to pump it to the surface instead of mining it in the traditional way. There is even talk of bacteria able to convert sunlight into electrochemical energy; these are called \"biological solar cells\".

当计算机在社会的各个方面产生着深远影响的时候，另一些新兴技术也戏剧性地正在改变或可能已改变我们的生活。其中之一就是生物工程学这一新兴学科。 事实上，三十年以前根本就没人听说过这个词。 因而， 生物工程学被很多人奉为20世纪末期最重要的科学进步。它可分为三大领域： 遗传学、 胚胎学和微生物学。

遗传学是关于植物和动物体内基因的研究和控制的科学。 从每个生物-- 植物和动物--诞生的那一刻起，它的特性就已经被严格地确定了。它的形状、大小、颜色、信息都是一系列指令作用的结果。这些指令蕴藏在其体内的每一个细胞中， 并以密码的形式存在着。基因从父母遗传到子孙后代，存在于一条称之为DNA的复杂的化学物质的长链上。 破译了DNA也就明白了生命的奥秘。是否能够改变DNA是基因工程这一新学科的基础。

它的意义是激动人心的。运用基因工程，生产某种所希望的特殊性能的植物和动物将成为可能。就以栽培植物为例，可利用它培育抗病毒作物，高产作物或是能在恶劣环境中生长的作物。而且还可以用来繁殖提供优质的肉类和奶制品的动物-- 甚至还可以培育新的物种。

这种植物或动物根据一套基本的基因不仅可以创造一个完全相同的个体，而且可以创造无数的完全相同的个体，这个过程被称为\"克隆\"。

遗传科学与人类也有联系。许多疾病和残疾都具有遗传性，即通过基因从一代人传递给下一代人。\"基因甄别\"技术可用于鉴别胎儿或潜在父母体内是否存在有害基因。这项技术已被验证并得到了广泛应用。这样医生就可以告诉怀孕的父母，这个孩子出生后将会是残疾，并且有效地为他们提供选择是否继续要这个孩子。同样， 一对考虑结婚的夫妻也可检查他们是否有基因问题。随着AIDS疾病的威胁性的逐渐增长，\"基因甄别\"也开始越来越走进现实生活。

生物工程学的第二大领域是胚胎学。现有一项特别的技术引起了人们的热切关注：体外受精。在试管中受精，或使用更加时尚的语言：\"试管婴儿\"，让一个不能通过常规方式生育的女人受孕，即从她体内取出一些卵子，通过其配偶的精子在实验室里实现受精，然后重新放回到她的子宫内，在那里自然地发育。这项技术为许多没有子女的夫妇带来了希望。

IVF及其相关技术如AI引起了伦理和法律上的问题。 因为在限定的范围内他们允许任何卵子与任何精子受精并植入任何体内。因此一个女人的卵子可以与不是她配偶的精子受精， 也可以从通常所说的精子库中选取；或是可以将不属于这个女人的卵子植入她的体内，这个过程被称为\"代母\"。

生物工程学的第三大领域是微生物学，对微生物特别是其在工业生产中的作用的科学。

细菌是一种让你脸上冒出讨厌的小豆豆或是使牛奶变酸的细小的生物体。目前为止，还没有多大用处，但其数量和种类是巨大的，利用基因工程甚至可以产生更多的细菌。一些细菌可以产生人类极其有意的东西，例如，这些细菌可以在目前用来生产石油，处理有毒废物或是帮助制造塑料。英国的煤矿企业时下正在研究利用细菌液化煤，用抽出地面的方法取代传统的采煤方式将成为可能。甚至有人说细菌可以把太阳光转化成电化学能，这被称为\"生物学太阳能电池\"。

Unit11 The two roads

It was New Year's night. An aged man was standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake. Then he cast them on the earth, where a few more hopeless people besides himself now moved towards their certain goal---the tomb. He had already passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had brought from his journey nothing but errors and remorse. Now his health was poor, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age short of comforts.

The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the entrance of the two roads---one leading to a peaceful, sunny place, covered with flowers, fruits and resounding with soft sweet songs; the other leading to the deep, dark cave, which was endless, where poison flowed instead of water and

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where devils and poisonous snakes hissed and crawled.

He looked towards the sky and cried painfully, \"O youth, return! O my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, and I'll choose the better way!\" But both his father and the days of his youth had passed away.

He saw the lights flowing away in the darkness. These were the days of his wasted life; he saw a star fall from the sky and disappear, and this was a symbol of himself. His remorse, which was like a sharp arrow, struck deeply into his heart. Then he remembered his friends in his childhood, who entered on life with him. But they had made their way to success and were now honoured and happy on this New Year's night.

The clock in the high church tower struck and the sound made him remember his parents' early love for him. They had taught him and prayed to God for his good. But he chose the wrong way. With shame and grief he dared no longer look towards that heaven where his father lived. His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing effort, he burst out a cry: \"Come back, my early days! Come back!\"

And his youth did return, for all this was only a dream which he had on New Year's night. He was still young though his faults were real; he had not yet entered the deep, dark cave, and he was still free to walk on the road which leads to the peaceful and sunny land.

Those who still linger at the entrance of life, hesitating to choose the bright road, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but in vain: \"O youth, return! Oh give me back my early days!\"

那是个除夕之夜，一位老人站在窗前，举目凝视着深蓝的天空，眼中充满悲哀。夜空中的星星犹如朵朵白色的百合浮在清澈宁静的湖面上。他将目光缓缓移向地面，此刻，除他以外还有一些更绝望的人正走向他们确定的目标---坟墓。他已经走过了人生旅程中的六十个驿站，但除了错误和悔恨，他一无所获。现在的他年迈体衰，思想空虚，内心沉痛，了无慰藉。

青春如梦一般呈现于眼前，他记起了那严肃的一刻，父亲把他放在两条人生道路的入口处---一条通往和平的阳光地带，那里有鲜花水果覆盖，有甜蜜婉转的歌声环绕；而另一条则通向深不可测的黑洞，那里流淌的是毒汁而不是水，魔鬼在嘶叫，毒蛇在爬行。

他看着天空，痛苦的哭喊着：\"我的青春回来啊！爸爸，给我一次机会重新回到人生的路口，我会选择那条更好的路！\"但是父亲已逝，青春已逝。

他看到黑暗中泛起的灯，那就像他生命中浪费的日子；他看到一颗流星划过天际，继而消逝，那就是自己的象征。悔恨像利箭一般深深的刺向他的心，那一刻，他想起儿时的伙伴，是他们与他一起开始人生。但是，现在他们已经步向成功，在这个除夕之夜正享受着荣誉和幸福。

高高的教堂塔楼上，钟声响起，他想起了父母对他的爱、他们的谆谆教导和为他向上帝作的祈祷。但是他还是走上了错误之路。由于羞耻和悲伤，他再也没敢看父亲所在的天堂。他那阴郁的眼中充满泪水，在一阵绝望中他怒喊道：\"回来啊，青春！回来吧！\"

他的青春确实回来了，所有一切都在那个除夕之夜他的梦中发生，即使错误是真的，他还年轻，他没有走向那深黑的洞穴，他现在仍可以选择通往和平与阳光的大道。

那些仍在人生歧路徘徊、对选择光明道路犹豫不决的人们啊，要记住，当岁月已逝，而你仍在无知的山峰上蹒跚时，你将会痛苦地哭喊：\"啊，青春，回来啊！把青春还给我吧！\"但这一切已为时已晚，无济于事了！

Unit13 Creating a Caribbean Spring Festival

I remember when I was little, right before the Lunar New Year we'd make an offering to the Kitchen God. Mom always told us not to jabber, and that we should eat some sweets, so as to speak some sweet words. There should be no fighting or disturbances so as not to cause the Kitchen God to report unfavourably on our family to the Jade Emperor in Heaven. Before New Year's Eve, Mom had already started the busy process of making New Year foods like steamed buns, both stuffed and plain. Meanwhile Dad prepared the New Year couplet. The whole family took part in a big New Year house cleaning. The family was as busy as could be. The big streets and hidden alleys of my hometown were swarming with people at this time of the year. Shop fronts were piled up with all sorts of foods and gifts appropriate for the New Year's holiday. Last but not least, one of my happiest memories was of the New Year's dinner and especially of the money handed out to us kids in red envelopes. As a kid the New Year was a joyous time with all sorts of treats. I left my hometown when I was twelve years old and in a flash more than twenty years have passed. My memories, however, not only have not diminished, they've actually got fresher.

Last year I followed my husband to the Caribbean island of French Guadeloupe. It has a population of 390 000 people and an area of 1 200 square kilometres. It was here that my husband and I spent the most miserable New Year of our life, eating sausage sent from Mom and Dad that had mildewed after being detained in customs for too long. We cried in each other's 8

arms. This year I suddenly had a brainstorm. Why couldn't I, in this place devoid of Chinese people, foods, and thus the New Year spirit, recreate the New Year of my youth? Taking advantage of a business trip with my husband's, I went to French Guinea where I was able to pick up a few Chinese foods and Indian spices. Afterwards I went to one of Guadeloupe's stationery stores where I purchased the last two sheets of red paper. I then went to raise an army, sending invitations out to all our friends and asking those who could make Chinese food to provide a dish or two. I borrowed calligraphy ink from one of my Japanese friends and, using a brush that Mom gave me last year, wrote out a New Year couplet. As I was afraid I might not have time to explain the couplet to my friends, I also wrote a translation in French. I also asked an English friend of mine to fold the red paper into envelopes to prepare the Lunar New Year money for the children.

The day we had been waiting for finally arrived. On the third day of the New Year, a Sunday, a group of over 60 adults and children got together to celebrate the Year of the Ox. For a gathering of people from around the world, we laid out quite a surprising spread of Chinese dishes. I made Ants on a Hill, a twisted steamed bread called hua-juan (made for the first time in my life. They looked strange and I doubt a \"real\" Chinese would have eaten them), and boiled salted chicken. Our French friends provided kung-pao chicken, stewed pork in brown sauce and Cantonese fried rice. Our Japanese friends brought sushi and a raw fish salad. Our Indian friends provided five-spice spareribs and oyster sauce beef. Our Vietnamese friends provided Vietnamese sausage and small moon cakes, while our English friends provided all sorts of delicious cakes. Those who didn't know how to cook Chinese dishes brought French red wine and champagne. We specially prepared some red cards to identify, in Chinese and French, every dish on the table. My friends discovered that the name of the traditional ants on a hill is just a fanciful one. The dishes we had laboured over disappear in less than a half hour.

After dinner, we announced that it was time to give out the red envelopes and explained that when one's mother and father hands them to one, one should always kneel down and kow-tow. Who would have guessed that when I brought out a platter of red envelopes the children would kneel and kow-tow to me? I pulled them up quickly and explained again that they needed to kneel to their own parents. My husband commented that it was the first time he had seen with his own eyes the power of the Red Envelope.

On Guadeloupe getting things done takes time, but news travels fast. After our New Year celebration various organisations on the island approached us one after another to request our \"husband and wife association\" to give a talk on Chinese culture in a discussion group. We who had lived outside China for so many years felt that our shaky knowledge of Chinese culture would show us up for fake Chinese. So we started reading Chinese newspapers and magazines in order to catch up on our motherland. 记得在孩提时代，过年前我们都要供奉灶神。妈妈常常告诉我们不要唧唧喳喳，吵个不休，还叫我们吃点糖，说这样就能讲出些好话来。这时我们不能打闹，也不能惊扰灶神，以免灶神在玉皇大帝面前道我们家的不是。除夕未到，妈妈已经开始忙着准备诸如包子、馒头之类的应节食品了。而这时，爸爸就在写春联。全家老小会搞一次大扫除，大家忙得不亦乐乎。每年的这个时候，家乡的大街小巷里都会挤满熙熙攘攘的人群；商店门口都会摆满林林总总的应节食物和礼品。最后，除夕的年夜饭，还有那些装在红包里发给小孩子们的压岁钱，也是我最快乐的回忆之一。对一个小孩来说，过年是欢天喜地的日子，充满着各种各样的乐趣。我12岁就离开了家乡，转眼间20多年过去了，但是这些记忆不但没有消减，反倒愈加鲜明了。

去年，我跟随丈夫到了加勒比海上的法属瓜德罗普岛。这个小岛方圆1200平方千米，人口390 000人。也就是在这里，我和丈夫度过了一生中最痛苦的一个春节。吃的是爸妈寄来的香肠，因为在海关里被扣押太久，这些香肠发了霉，对此，我们只有相拥而泣。今年，我突然心血来潮，灵机一动：在这个没有华人，没有中式食品，因此也没有节日气氛的地方，我为什么不再过一次那记忆中的春节呢？

乘着我与丈夫去法属几内亚作商务旅行的便利，我可以买到些中式食品和印度调料。然后，在瓜德罗普的一个文具店里，我有幸买到最后的两张红纸。然后，我竭尽所能，邀请我所有朋友，还让那些能做中国菜的朋友都一展身手。我向一个日本朋友借来墨水，用妈妈去年给我的一杆毛笔，挥毫写出一副春联。因为怕到时无暇向朋友们解释对联的意思，所以我还写出了它的法语译文。我还让一个英国朋友帮我把买来的红纸折成红包，以备装压岁钱之用。

我们盼望的日子终于来临了。大年初三是星期天，家里来了六十多位客人，老老小小聚在一起，共庆中国牛年的到来。对于来自全球各地的朋友来说，我们确实做出一道道另人惊讶的菜式。我做了\"蚂蚁上树\"，一种叫\"花卷\"的螺旋状的馒头（我第一次做，它们看起来很奇怪，于是我拿不准一个\"真正\"的中国人看到了会不会吃），还有盐水鸡。法国朋友们准备了宫堡鸡丁，红烧肉和广式炒饭；日本朋友们带来了寿司和鱼生沙拉；印度朋友们做了五香排骨和蚝油牛肉；越南朋友们准备了越南香肠和小月饼；而英国朋友们则带来了各种各样的美味糕点。那些不会做中国菜的朋友们就带来法国红酒和香槟。我们还特别准备了一些红卡片放到桌上，写上各个菜式中文和法语名字，让大家易于辨认。

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对于传统菜式\"蚂蚁上树\"这个名字，朋友们发现它只是一个奇妙的想象而已。不到半个小时，我们费了九牛二虎之力做出来的菜就被一扫而光了。

年夜饭后，我们宣布发红包的时候到了，又向朋友们介绍说如果父母给小孩压岁钱，小孩就要跪下叩头。可是想不到的是当我端出满是红包的托盘时，小孩子们都跪下来向我叩头。我连忙扶起他们，再告诉他们只需要给自己的父母叩头。丈夫说这是他第一次见识到红包有如此大的威力。

在瓜德罗普岛，干事很费时间，但是消息却传得很快。我们庆祝完春节后，岛上五花八门的社团纷纷闻讯赶来，请我 们这对夫妻档到他们的讨论节目中谈一谈中华文化。侨居海外多年，我们觉得自己对中华文化知之甚少，会让人觉得我们人徒有虚名。于是，我们就开始阅读中文的报刊杂志，来弥补我们对祖国的无知。

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