[分享]英语（二）课文翻译

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本贴内容 摘自 “网上课堂” 那里，特此摘出为有针对性的复习而用。

Unit One What Is a Decision ?
何为决策？
A decision is a choice made from among alternative courses of action that are available. The purpose of making a decision is to establish and achieve organizational goals and objectives. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists, goals or objectives are wrong, or something is standing in the way of accomplishing them.
决策是一种选择，来自可以获得的、任择其一的行动步骤。作决策的意图是要确立和实现机构的目标和目的。作决策的原因是有问题存在、目标和目的不正确、或者有某种东西妨碍目标或目的的实现。
Thus the decision-making process is fundamental to management. Almost everything a manager does involves decisions, indeed, some suggest that the management process is decision making. Although managers cannot predict the future, many of their decisions require that they consider possible future events. Often managers must make a best guess at what the future will be and try to leave as little as possible to chance, but since uncertainty is always there, risk accompanies decisions . Sometimes the consequence s of a poor decision are slight; at other times they are serious.
因此，作决策的过程对管理人员来说至关重要。管理者所做的每件事几乎都与决策有关， 事实上，有些人认为管理过程就是作决策。尽管管理者不能预测未来，但他们所作的许多决策 都要求他们考虑将来可能发生的事情。通常情况下，管理者必须对未来情况作出最佳估测，并且 努力要使偶然事件尽可能少地发生，但是，由于不确定的因素一直存在，所以，决策总是与风险 为伴。有时候，拙劣决策的后果并不严重，但在另外一些时候则是非常严重了。
Choice is the opportunity to select among alternatives. If there is no choice, there is no decision to be made. Decision making is the process of choosing, and many decisions have a broad range of choice. For example, a student may be able to choose among a number of different courses in order to implement the decision to obtain a college degree. For managers, every decision has constraints based on policies, procedures, laws, precedents, and the like. These constraints exist at all levels of the organization.
选择是指从多个可能性中挑选的机会。如果没有选择，就毋须作决策。作决策就是挑选的过程， 许多决策的选择范围很广。例如，一个学生为了获得学位，他可能会从许多不同的课程中选择 从而作出决策。对管理者来说，每项决策都受到基于政策、程序、法律、惯例等等因素的制约， 这些制约存在于各个层次的机构中。
Alternatives are the possible courses of action from which choices can be made. If there are no alternatives, there is no choice and, therefore, no decision. If no alternatives are seen, often it means that a thorough job of examining the problems has not been done. For example, managers sometimes treat problems in an either/or fashion; this is their way of simplifying complex problems. But the tendency to simplify blind s them to other alternatives.
抉择是从中可以作出选择的可能的行动步骤。假如没有可供选择的可能性，这就意味着没有 做过对问题进行彻底调查的工作。例如，管理者有时用两者择一的方式来处理问题，即他们简化 复杂问题的手法。但是，这种简化的倾向使他们看不到其他可供选择的可能性。
At the managerial level, decision making includes limiting alternatives as well as identify ing them, and the range is from highly limited to practically unlimited.
在管理层，作决策包括了限定和鉴别可供选择的可能性，其限定范围从非常有限到基本无限。
Decision makers must have some way of determining which of several alternatives is best — that is, which contributes the most to the achievement of organizational goals. An organizational goal is an end or a state of affairs the organization seeks to reach. Because individuals (and organizations) frequently have different ideas about how to attain the goals, the best choice may depend on who makes the decision. Frequently, departments or units within an organization make decisions that are good for them individually but that are less than optimal for the larger organization. Called suboptimization, this is a trade-off that increases the advantages to one unit or function but decreases the advantages to another unit or function. For example, the marketing manager may argue effective ly for an increased advertising budget. In the larger scheme of things, however, increased funding for research to improve the products might be more beneficial to the organization.
决策者必须具备从多个可供选择的可能性中确定最佳选择——即：最有助于实现机构的目标—的手段。机构目标是该机构竭力要达到的最终目标或理想状态。因为个人（和机构）常常对达到目标 有着不同的主意，所以，最佳选择就取决于决策者了。在同一机构内的部门或单位经常会作出有利于他们自己而对大单位不甚理想的决策。被称为局部最优化的权衡加强了某一单位或某一功能的优势，却削弱了另一单位或另一功能的优势，例如，市场营销经理会极力要求增加广告预算。然而，在更大的事情策划中，为改进产品而增加科研经费可能会更有益于该机构。
These trade-offs occur because there are many objectives that organizations wish to attain simultaneously. Some of these objectives are more important than others, but the order and degree of importance often vary from person to person and from department to department .Different managers define the same problem in different term s. When presented with a common case, sales managers tend to see sales problems, production managers see production problems, and so on.
这些权衡的产生是因为机构希望同时达到多个目标。有些目标比其他的目标更重要，但其重要性的先后顺序和等级却因人而异、因部门而异。不同的管理者对同一个问题持不同的看法。面对一件日常事件时，销售经理常易看到销售问题，生产经理则常易看到生产问题等等。
The ordering and importance of multiple objectives is also based, in part, on the values of the decision maker. Such values are personal; they are hard to understand, even by the individual, because they are so dynamic and complex. In many business situations different people's values about acceptable degrees of risk and profitability cause disagreement about the correctness of decisions.
多种目标的顺序和重要性也部分地基于决策者的价值观，这些价值观带有个人特色，他人很难理解，因为价值观是不断变化的、极为复杂的。在许多商情中，不同的人对于风险的可接受程度有着不同的价值观，这就造成了决策正确与否的不同意见。
People often assume that a decision is an isolated phenomenon. But from a systems point of view, problems have multiple causes, and decisions have intended and unintended consequences. An organization is an ongoing entity, and a decision made today may have consequences far into the future. Thus the skilled manager looks toward the future consequences of current decisions.
人们常常以为决策是一个孤立的现象。但从系统的观点来看，问题具有多种原因，故而决策有意料中的结果和非意料中的结果。一个机构是一个发展中的实体，今天所作的决策可能会对将来产生深远的影响。因此，有经验的管理者着眼于当前决策的将来效果。

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Unit Two Black Holes
黑洞
What is a black hole ? well, it's difficult to answer this question , since the terms we would normally use to describe a scientific phenomenon are inadequate here. Astronomers and scientists think that a black hole is a region of space (not a thing ) into which matter has fallen and from which nothing can escape – not even light. So we can't see a black hole. A black hole exerts a strong gravitational pull and yet it has no matter . It is only space — or so we think. How can this happen?
黑洞是什么？这个问题很难回答，因为我们通常用来描述某一科学现象的术语不足以回答这个问题。天文学家和科学家都认为黑洞是一个太空区域（不是一种事物），落人其中的任何物质都无法逃逸——甚至包括光。所以我们看不见黑洞。一个黑洞能产生强大的吸力，但它却没有物质。它只是空间——或许是我们这么想的。这种现象是怎样发生的呢？
The theory is that some stars explode when their density increases to a particular point; they collapse and sometimes a supernova occurs. From earth, a supernova looks like a very bright light in the sky which shines even in the daytime. Supernova were reported by astronomers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some people think that the Star of Bethlehem could have been a supernova. The collapse of a star may produce a White Dwarf or a neutron star — a star, whose matter is so dense that it continually shrinks by the force of its own gravity. But if the star is very large (much bigger than our sun) this process of shrinking may be so intense that a black hole results. Imagine the earth reduced to the size of a marble, but still having the same mass and a stronger gravitational pull, and you have some idea of the force of a black hole . Any matter near the black hole is sucked in. It is impossible to say what happens inside a black hole. Scientists have called the boundary area around the hole the "event horizon." We know nothing about events which happen once object s pass this boundary. But in theory, matter must behave very differently inside the hole.
从理论论来说，当某些恒星的密度增大到某种程度时就会发生爆炸，爆炸使它们崩溃，有时会产生超新星。从地球上看，一颗超新星看上去像是天空中的一盏明灯，甚至在白天也闪闪发光。超新星是由十七、十八世纪的天文学家发现的。有人认为圣诞星可能是一颗超新星。一颗超新星的崩溃可能会产生白矮星或中子星，其物资的密度非常大以至于在其自身重力的作用下持续收缩。但是，假如这颗恒星非常大（比我们的太阳大得多），那么，这种收缩的过程可能会非常强烈，其结果导致了黑洞的产生。想像一下地球收缩小到有弹球那么大，但仍具有同样的质量和更强的吸力，你就会对黑洞的力量有某种概念。靠近黑洞的任何物质都会被吸入，根本说不出黑洞里究竟发生了什么、科学家把黑洞的边缘区域称为“事界”。对物质通过这个界线时发生的情况我们一无所知。从理论上来说，黑洞里面物质的表现一定是不大相同的。
For example, if a man fell into a black hole, he would think that he reached the center of it very quickly. However an observer at the event horizon would think that the man never reached the center at all. Our space and time law s don't seem to apply to objects in the area of a black hole. Einstein's relativity theory is the only one which can explain such phenomena. Einstein claimed that matter and energy are interchangeable, so that there is no " absolute " time and space. There are no constants at all, and measurements of time and space depend on the position of the observer. They are relative. We do not yet fully understand the implications of the relativity theory; but it is interesting that Einstein's theory provided a basis for the idea of black holes before astronomers started to find some evidence for their existence. It is only recently that astronomers have begun specific research into black holes. In August 1977, a satellite was launched to gather data about the 10 million black holes which are thought to be in the Milky Way. And astronomers are planning a new observatory to study the individual exploding stars believed to be black holes.
例如，假如一个人落人黑洞，他可能会认为自己很快就会到达黑洞的中心。然而，位于“事界”上的观察者则认为这个人永远不会到达黑洞的中心。我们的时空法则似乎不适用于黑洞区内的物体。爱因斯坦的相对论是惟－解释这种现象的理论。爱因斯坦宣称物质和能量是互换的，因此不存在“绝对的”时间和空间。根本没有不变的事物，时间和空间的衡量取决于观察者的位置，是相对的。我们还没有能完全理解相对论的蕴涵。但有趣的是爱因斯坦的相对论为黑洞的假说提供了理论基础，早于天文学家找到黑洞存在的证据。天文学家只是在最近才开始对黑洞作具体的研究。1977年8月，人类发射了一颗卫星收集有关被认为处于银河系中的1000万个黑洞的信息。而且天文学家正在设计一座新天文台，用来研究被认为是黑洞的爆炸恒星。
The most convincing evidence of black holes comes from research into binary star systems. Binary stars, as their name suggests, are twin stars whose position in space affects each other. In some binary systems, astronomers have shown that there is an invisible companion star, a "partner" to the one which we can see in the sky. Matter from the one which we can see is being pulled towards the companion star. Could this invisible star, which exerts such a great force, be a black hole? Astronomers have evidence of a few other stars too, which might have black holes as companions.
有关黑洞的最有说服力的证据来自对双星系的研究。双星，顾名思义，就是彼此之间的空间位置相互影响的成双恒星。天文学家已证实在某些双子星座里有一颗隐匿的伴星，即我们从天空上能看到的某颗星的“伙伴”。我们能看见的那颗星被其伴星所吸引，难道产生这么大吸引力的隐匿的恒星就是黑洞？天文学家也还有另外几颗恒星的证据，这几颗恒星也可能有黑洞作伴。
The story of black holes is just beginning. Speculations about them are endless. There might be a massive black hole at the center of our galaxy swallowing up stars at a very rapid rate. Mankind may one day meet this fate. On the other hand, scientists have suggested that very advanced technology could one day make use of the energy of black holes for mankind. These speculations sound like science fiction . But the theory of black holes in space is accepted by many serious scientists and astronomers. They show us a world which operates in a totally different way from our own and they question our most basic experience of space and time.
有关黑洞的故事刚刚开头，各种各样的假说层出不穷。在我们的星系中心可能存在一个以极快速度吞噬恒星的巨大黑洞。人类总有一天要遭此命运。另一方面，科学家已表明，总有一天，人类会使用非常先进的技术来利用黑洞的能量。这些假说听起来像科幻小说，但宇宙黑洞理论却被许多严肃的科学家及天文学家所接受。他们给我们 展示了一个跟我们截然不同的世界，他们对时空的基本认识提出了疑问。

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Unit Three Euthanasia : For and Against 安乐死—赞成和反对 　　"We mustn't delay any longer ... swallowing is difficult ... and breathing, that's also difficult. Those muscles are weakening too ... we mustn't delay any longer." 　　“我们不能再拖了……吞咽困难……呼吸困难。那部分肌肉也在萎缩……我们不能再拖了。” 　　 These were the words of Dutchman Cees van Wendel de Joode asking his doctor to help him die. Affected with a serious disease, van Wendel was no longer able to speak clearly and he knew there was no hope of recovery and that his condition was rapidly deteriorating. 　　以上是荷兰人齐思·范·万德尔，德·尤德请求医生帮他结束自己生命时说过的话了，患有严重疾病的范·万德尔当时已不再能够清楚地说话了，他知道自己没有康复的希望，他的病情正在迅速恶化。 　　 Van Wendel's last three months of life before being given a final, lethal injection by his doctor were filmed and first shown on television last year in the Netherlands . The programme has since been bought by 20 countries and each time it is shown, it starts a nationwide debate on the subject. 　　范·万德尔在接受其医生给他打最后致命的一针之前的3个月的情况被制作成影片，去年首次在荷兰电视上播出。此后，该影片被20个国家购买，每次播放时都引起一场全国性的有关安乐死的大讨论。 　　 The Netherlands is the only country in Europe which permits euthanasia, although it is not technically legal there. However, doctors who carry out euthanasia under strict guidelines introduced by the Dutch Parliament two years ago are usually not prosecuted. The guideline s demand that the patient is experiencing extreme suffering , that there is no chance of a cure, and that the patient has made repeated requests for euthanasia . In addition to this, a second doctor must confirm that these criteria have been met and the death must be reported to the police department. 　　尽管安乐死在荷兰并未合法化，但荷兰仍然是欧洲惟一允许安乐死的国家。两年前在荷兰议会制定的严格标准下实施安乐死的医生通常不会被起诉。这此指导原则要求：病人正在经受极度的痛苦；没有治愈的机会；病人一再提出安乐死的请求。除此之外，还需有另外一位医生确认是否已达到安乐死的标准，而且，必须向警方提出死亡报告。 　　Should doctors be allowed to take the lives of others? Dr, Wilfred van Oijen, Cees van Wendel's doctor, explains how he looks at the question: 　　 "Well, it's not as if I'm planning to murder a crowd of people with a machine gun. In that case, killing is the worst thing 1 can imagine. But that's entirely different from my work as a doctor. I care for people and I try to ensure that they don't suffer too much. That's a very different thing." 　　是不是应该允许医生结束病人的生命呢？齐思·范·万尔德的医生威尔费雷德·范·奥仁博上解释了对这个问题的看法： “情况并不像我计划用机关枪屠杀一大群人似的，倘若那样，屠杀是我所能想像到的最坏的事情，这与我的医生职业风马牛不相及。我关怀病人并努力使他们不至于遭受太多的痛苦。这完全是两码事。” 　　 Many people, though, are totally against the practice of euthanasia, Dr. Andrew Ferguson, Chairman of the organization Healthcare Opposed to Euthanasia, says that "in the vast majority of euthanasia cases, what the patient is actually asking for is something else. They may want a health professional to open up communication for them with their loved ones or family — there's nearly always another question behind the question." 　　然而，许多人完全反对安乐死。反对安乐死保健组织主席安德鲁·福格森博士说：“在大量安乐死的病例中，病人实际所要求的是别的东西。他们或许是想要保健专业人员为他们打开与亲人或家人开展思想交流的渠道—－可能请求之后另有他求”。 　　 Britain also has a strong tradition of hospices — special hospitals which care only for the dying and their special needs. Cicely Saunders, President of the National Hospice Council and a founder member of the hospice movement, argues that euthanasia doesn't take into account that there are ways of caring for the dying. She is also concerned that allowing euthanasia would undermine the need for care and consideration of a wide range of people: "It's very easy in society now for the elderly, the disabled and the dependent to feel that they are burdens, and therefore that they ought to opt out. I think that anything that legally allows the shortening of life does make those people more vulnerable. 　　英国对晚期病人收容所的做法有着根深蒂固的传统。收容所就是指那些关怀临终之人和照顾他们特殊需要的专门医院。英国收容所理事会主席及收容所运动创始人之一的茜茜莉·桑德斯认为，安乐死没有考虑其他关怀临终病人的途径。她还担心允许安乐死会减弱大众对关怀和照顾的需求：“当前社会中的那些老年人、残疾人和受赡养的人很容易感到自已是个负担从而脱离社会。我认为任何法律允许缩短生命的行为都必定使这些人更容易受到伤害”。 　　 Many find this prohibition of an individual's right to die paternalistic. Although they agree that life is important and should be respected, they feel that the quality of life should not be ignored. Dr. van Oijen believes that people have the fundamental right to choose for themselves if they want to die: "What those people who oppose euthanasia are telling me is that dying people haven't the right. And that when people are very ill, we are all afraid of their death. But there are situations where death is a friend. And in those cases, why not?" 　　许多人认为这种禁止个人生死权利的做法是家长作风。尽管他们同意生命是重要的、应该受到尊重，但是他们感到生命的质量不应该被漠视。范·奥仁博十认为人们具有自己选择生死的基本权利：“那些反对安乐死的人告诉我的是临终之人没有这个权利。当人们病重的时候，我们都害怕他们死亡。但是，在某些情况下，死亡是一位朋友。如果这样，为什么不呢？” 　　 But "why not?" is a question which might cause strong emotion . The film showing Cees van Wendel's death was both moving and sensitive. His doctor was clearly a family friend; his wife had only her husband's interests at heart. Some, however, would argue that it would be dangerous to use this particular example to support the case for euthanasia. Not all patients would receive such a high level of individual care and attention.

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Unit Four Slavery on Our Doorstep
家庭雇佣奴役
There are estimate d to be more than 20,000 overseas domestic servants working in Britain (the exact figure is not known because the Home Office, the Government department that deals with this, does not keep statistics). Usually, they have been brought over by foreign businessmen, diplomats or Britons returning from abroad. Of these 20,000, just under 2,000 are being exploited and abused by their employers, according to a London-based campaigning group which helps overseas servants working in Britain.
据统计，在美国工作的外籍家庭佣人有两万多人（由于处理该项事务的政府部门————内政部——没有做过统计，精确数字不得而知）。通常，他们是由外国商人、外交官员和归国英侨带来的。根据设在伦敦的帮助在伦敦工作的外籍家庭佣人的政治组织说，在两万多外籍家庭佣人中几乎有2000人正遭受雇主的剥削和虐待。
The abuse can take several forms. Often the domestics are not allowed to go out, and they do not receive any payment . They can be physically , ***ually and psychologically abused. And they can have their passports removed, making leaving or "escaping" virtually impossible.
虐待有几种形式〔家庭佣人常常不允许外出，又得不到任何报酬。他们在身体上、性和心理上遭受凌辱。他们还会被收去护照，使得出走或“逃跑”根本不可能。
The sad condition of women working as domestics around the world received much media attention earlier this year in several highly publicise d cases. In one of them, a Filipino maid was executed in Singapore after being convicted of murder, despite protests from various quarter s that her guilt had not been adequately established. Groups like Anti-Slavery International say other, less dramatic, cases are equally deserving of attention, such as that of Lydia Garcia, a Filipino maid working in London:
今年年初，几个透明度颇高的案例中有关世界各地的家庭女佣的悲惨状况受到新闻媒体的关注。其中一个案例是讲一位菲律宾女佣因被指控犯有谋杀罪在新加坡被处死，尽管有来自各地的抗议认为她的罪名不足以成立。诸如“反对奴隶制国际组织”之类的团体说，一些不那么戏剧化的其他案例也应同样受到人们的关注，比如莉迪亚·加西亚，一位在伦敦工作的菲律宾女佣的案例。
"I was hired by a Saudi diplomat directly from the Philippines to work in London in 1989. I was supposed to be paid ￡ 120 but I never received that amount. They always threatened that they would send me back to my country."
“我是1989年由一位沙特外交官直接从菲律宾雇到伦敦来工作的。我的报酬应该是 120英镑，但我从未得到过那么多钱。雇主总是威胁要把我遣送回国”。
Then there is the case of Kumari from Sri Lanka. The main breadwinner in her family, she used to work for a very low wage at a tea factory in Sri Lanka. Because she found it difficult to feed her four children, she accepted a job working as a domestic in London. She says she felt like a prisoner at the London house where she worked.
还有一个来自斯里兰卡名叫库马里的案例。她家主要靠她挣钱维持生计，她曾在斯里兰卡一家茶厂挣一份微薄的工资。因为她发现很难养活她的4个孩子，她才接受到伦敦去做家庭佣人。她说她觉得在伦敦她干活的那家人家眼就像一个犯人：
"No days off — ever, no breaks at all, no proper food. I didn't have my own room; I slept on a shelf with a space of only three feet above me. I wasn't allowed to talk to anybody. I wasn't even allowed to open the window. My employers always threatened to report me to the Home Office or the police."
“没有休息日——甚至根本没有闲下来的功夫，没有适当的食物，没有自己的房间，睡在一个上面的空间只有3英尺高的架子上。不允许我跟任何人说话，甚至不许我开窗。雇主总是威胁把我的身份报告给内政部或警察局。”
At the end of 1994 the British Government introduced new measure s to help protect domestic workers from abuse by their employers. This included increasing the minimum age of employees to 18, getting employees to read and understand an advice leaflet , getting employers to agree to provide adequate maintenance and conditions, and to put in writing the main terms and conditions of the job (of which the employees should see a copy).
1994年底，英国政府采取新措施来帮助家庭佣人免遭雇主的虐待。措施包括把雇工的最小年龄提高到18岁，使受雇者能阅读并理解通告单，使雇主同意提供适当的生活费用和条件，并写出工作条件和主要的工作条款（受雇者应有此种副本）。
However, many people doubt whether this will successfully reduce the incidence of abuse. For the main problem facing overseas maids and domestics who try to complain about cruel living and working conditions is that they do not have independent immigrant status and so cannot change employer. (They are allowed in the United Kingdom under a special concession in the immigration rules which allow foreigners to bring domestic staff with them.) So if they do complain, they risk being deported.
然而，许多人怀疑该措施能否成功地减少虐待发生率，因为那些企图抗议恶劣生活和工作条件的外籍女佣和家仆所面临的主要问题是他们没有独立的移民身份，因此不能更换雇主（英国移民法的特许条款允许外国人携带家仆）。所以如果抗议的活，他们就冒着被驱逐出境的风险。
Allowing domestic workers the freedom to seek the same type of work but with a different employer, if they so choose, is what groups like Anti-Slavery International are campaigning the Government for. It is, they say, the right to change employers which distinguishes employment from slavery.
允许家庭雇工自由寻找不同雇主的同类工作——假如他们这样选择——正是“反奴隶制国际组织”与政府交涉的内容，他们说正是有权改变雇主的这一做法区分了雇佣制和奴隶制。

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Unit Five What Is a Decision ?
何为决策？
The new music was built out of materials already in existence: bules, rock'n'roll, folk music. But although the forms remained, something completely new and original was made out of these older element s — more original, perhaps, than even the new musicians themselves yet realize. The transformation took place in 1966- 1967. Up to that time, the blues had been an essentially black medium . Rock'n'roll, a blues derivative , was rhythmic dance music. Folk music, old and modern, was popular among college students. The three forms remained musically and culturally distinct, and even as late as 1965, none of them were expressing any radically new states of consciousness. Blues expressed black soul; rock was the beat of youthful energy; and folk music expressed anti-war sentiments as well as love and hope.
新音乐是从已有的音乐：布鲁斯，摇滚乐，民间音乐中产生的。虽然新音乐保留了原有的形式，但某些全新的、独创性的东西从旧的成分中脱颖而出的——它们也许比新音乐家意识到的还要更富有独创性。这个变革发生在1966-1967年间。那个时候以前，布鲁斯基本上一直是黑人的音乐表达方式。由它衍生出的摇滚乐是节奏性很强的舞蹈音乐。而民间音乐，既有古老又有现代的，在大学生中颇为流行。这三种音乐形式在音乐和文化方而都各不相同，甚至直到1965年，它们中任何一个都没有表达任何全新的意识境界。布鲁斯表现黑人的心灵，摇滚是年轻活力的节拍，民乐除表现爱情与希望外，还表现反战情绪。
In 1966-1967 there was spontaneous transformation . In the United States, it originated with youthful rock groups playing in San Francisco. In England, it was led by the Beatles, who were already established as an extremely fine and highly individual rock group What happened, as well as it can be put into words, was this. First the separate musical traditions were brought together. Bob Dylan and the Jefferson Airplane played folk rock, folk ideas with a rock beat White rock groups began experimenting with the blues. Of course, white musicians had always played the blues, but essentially as imitators of the Negro style; now it began to be the white band s' own music. And all of the groups moved towards a broader eclecticism and synthesis. They freely took over elements from jazz, from America country music, and as time went on from even more diverse sources What developed was a music readily taking on various forms and capable of an almost limitless range of expression.
自发的变革出现在1966年到1967年间。在美国，旧金山的年轻摇滚乐队发起了这场变革；在英国，被公认是极其完美和非常独特的披头士摇滚乐队领导了这股新潮流。所发生的情况，如用言词尽可能地表达出来是这样的：首先，分离的音乐传统被结合起来了。鲍伯·狄伦和杰弗逊飞机队演奏民歌摇滚乐，将民歌思想与摇滚节奏结合在一起。白人摇滚乐队开始尝试演奏布鲁斯。当然，白人音乐家虽然已经一直在演奏布鲁斯，但基本上只是模仿黑人音乐的风格。而现在，它开始变成白人乐队自己的音乐了。所有的乐队都朝着更广泛的折衷主义和结合主义的方向前进。他们自由地吸收爵士音乐、美国乡土音乐的成分，而随着时间的推移，他们甚至对各种各样的音乐兼收并蓄，最后发展成一种能轻松采取多种形式的、几乎有无穷表现力的新音乐。
The second thing that happened was that all the musical groups began using the full range of electric instruments and the technology of electronic amplifiers. The electric guitar was an old instrument, but the new electronic effects were altogether different — so different that a new listener in 1967 might well feel that there had never been an; sounds like that in the world before. Electronics did, in fact, make possible sounds that no instrument up to that time could produce. And in studio recordings, new techniques made possible effects that not even an electronic band could produce live . Electronic amplifiers also made possible a fantastic increase in volume , the music becoming as loud and penetrating as the human ear could stand, and thereby achieving a "total" effect, so that instead of an audience of passive listeners, there were now audiences of total participants, feeling the music in all of their senses and all of their bones.
发生的第二件事是所有乐队都开始使用全套的电子乐器和电子扬声器技术。电吉他是一种老式乐器，但新的电子效果迥然不同——如此不同，以致1967年一位新听众可能感觉以前在世界上从没有听过像这样的声音。事实上，电子技术的确能合成那时任何乐器也无法奏出的声音。在录音室录制时，新技术有可能制作出甚至电子乐队现场表演时也演奏不出的效果。电子扬声器也能使音量有惊人的增大，音乐变得那么宏亮，那么富有穿透力，极尽人的耳朵承受之能，从而达到了一种“整体”效果。因此，观众不再是被动地听，而是完全参与，他们全身心地感受音乐，如痴如醉。
Third, the music becomes a multi-media experience; a part of a total environment. The walls of the ballrooms were covered with changing pattern s of light, the beginning of the new art of the light show. And the audience did not sit, it danced. With records at home, listeners imitated these lighting effects as best they could, and heightened the whole experience by using drugs. Often music was played out of doors, where nature provided the environment.
第三，音乐变成一种多媒体的感受，成了整体环境的一部分。舞厅的墙壁上布满变幻无常的灯光图案，这也是灯光表演这门新艺术的开始。观众并不坐着，而是随着音乐起舞。在家里欣赏唱片时候听众尽力模仿照明效果，甚至服用毒品来增强整个音乐享受的快感。音乐常在户外演奏，在那儿大自然则提供了周围的环境。

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Unit Six Improving Industrial Efficiency through Robotics
采用机器人技术提高工业效率
Robots , becoming increasingly prevalent in factories and industrial plants throughout the developed world, are programmed and engineered to perform industrial tasks without human intervention.
机器人在所有发达国家的工厂和其他工业生产部门日益普遍得到应用；机器人通过编制程序和策划在无人干预的条件下完成工业生产任务。
Most of today's robots are employed in the automotive industry, where they are programmed to take over such jobs as welding and spray painting automobile and truck bodies. They also load and unload hot, heavy metal forms used in machines casting automobile and truck frames.
目前多数机器人用于汽车工业，它们按编制的程序承担轿车和卡车车身的焊接和喷漆这一类的工作。机器人还可以用来装卸用于铸造轿车和卡车框架的机械中的炽热、笨重的金属铸模。
Robots, already taking over human tasks in the automotive field, are beginning to be seen, although to a lesser degree, in other industries as well. There they build electric motors, small appliances, pocket calculators, and even watches. The robots used in nuclear power plants handle the radioactive materials, preventing human personnel from being exposed to radiation. These are the robots responsible for the reduction in job-related injuries in this net industry.
除了已在汽车生产领域替代人工劳动外，机器人也开始出现在别的工业部门，虽然应用的程度低一些。在那里机器人制造电机、小型器具、袖珍计算机甚至手表等。在核电站使用的机器人处理放射性材料，避免人员接触放射性物质。这样的机器人在这一新工业中用来减少职业性伤害。
What makes a Robot a Robot and not just another kind of automatic machine? Robots differ from automatic machines in that after completion of one specific task, they can be reprogrammed by a computer to do another one. As an example, a robot doing spot welding one month can be reprogrammed and switched to spray painting the next. Automatic machines, on the other hand, are not capable of many different uses; they are built to perform only one task.
是什么东西决定一个自控装置是机器人而不是一个自动化机器呢？机器人与自动化机器不同之处在于机器人完成某一特定任务后，可由计算机重新编制程序去完成另一项任务。例如，做电焊工作1个月后，可以重新编制程序而转成下个月做喷漆工作。反之，自动化机器不能有多种不同的用途，它只是被制造成执行一项任务。
The next generation of robots will be able to see objects, will have a sense of touch, and will make critical decisions. Engineers skilled in microelectronics and computer technology are developing artificial vision for robots. With the ability to "see", robots can identify and inspect one specific class of objects out of a stack of different kinds of materials. One robot vision system uses electronic digital cameras containing many rows of light-sensitive materials. When light from an object such as a machine part strikes the camera, the sensitive materials measure the intensity of light and convert the light rays into a range of numbers. The numbers are part of a grayscale system in which brightness is measured in a range of values. One scale ranges from 0 to 15, and another from 0 to 255. The 0 is represented by black. The highest number is white. The numbers in between represent different shades of gray. The computer then makes the calculations and converts the numbers into a picture that shows an image of the object in question. It is not yet known whether robots will one day have vision as good as human vision. Technicians believe they will, but only after years of development.
下一代机器人将有视觉和触觉功能，并且能够做出关键性的决策。在微电子学和计算机技术上有专长的工程技术人员正研制机器人的人工视觉。机器人有了“看”的能力便能在一堆不同类别的物中辨别和检查出某一特定物体。有一种机器人的视觉系统使用多排光敏材料的数字电子摄像机当一个物体（如机器零件）上的光线照射到摄像机上时，光敏材料能测量光的强度并将光线转变为一系列数字。这些数字是灰度系统的一部分，该系统以数值表示亮度。有的灰度范围为0一15，有的灰度范围为0一255。0代表黑色，而最大的数值代表白色。中间的数字代表不同的灰色程度。然后由计算机计算，并将数字转换成一幅表示该物体形态的图像。迄今尚不清楚机器人会不会有朝一日具有人眼那样的视力。技术人员相信机器人会做到这一点的，但需要若干年的研究。
Engineers working on other advances are designing and experimenting with new types of metal hands and fingers, giving robots a sense of touch. Other engineers are writing new programs allowing robots to make decisions such as whether to discard defective parts in finished products. To do this, the robot will also have to be capable of identifying those defective parts.
从事其他先进技术研究的工程技术人员正在设计和试验新型金属手与手指，赋予机器人以触觉。还有的工程技术人员编制新的程序使机器人能确定诸如是否要报废成品中有缺陷的零件。要做到这一点，机器人还应能识别哪些零件有缺陷。
These future robots, assembled with a sense of touch and ability to see and make decisions, will have plenty of work to do. They can be used to explore for minerals on the ocean floor or deep areas of mines too dangerous for humans to enter. They work as gas station attendants, firemen, housekeepers, and personnel. Anyone wanting to understand the industry of the will have to know about robotics.
具有触觉、视觉并能决策的未来机器人将要做许多工作。它们可用来海底探矿或进入对人危险的矿井深区。机器人还可充当汽车加油站的服务员、消防员、勤杂工以及保安人员等。任何想要了解未来工业的人必须要了解机器人

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Unit Seven Leisure and Leadership
休闲与导向
Observations and research findings indicate that people in advanced industrial societies are increasingly concerned with opportunities for leisure and what they can do in their leisure time. The importance people attach to paid holidays and the rapid development of service for mass entertainment and recreation are signs of this increase concern.
观察与研究成果表明，生活在先进的工业化社会的人们越来越关心休闲的机会和休闲中他们能干些什么。人们赋予带薪休假的重要性和大众娱乐服务的快速发展是日益关注这一问题的标志。
The term "quality of life" is difficult to define. It covers a very wide scope such as living environment, health, employment, food family life, friends, education, material possessions, leisure and recreation, and so on. Generally speaking, the quality of life, especial as seen by the individual, is meaningful in terms of the degree I which these various areas of life are available or provide satisfaction. to the individual.
生活质量这一术语不易定义，它包括范围很广，如生活环境、健康、就业、饮食、家庭生活、朋友、教育、物质的占有、休闲与娱乐等等。一般来说，生活质量，特别在个人看来，其意义是由这些不同的生活领域可以供个人享受或者可以使个人满意的程度来衡量的。
As activity carried out as one thinks fit during one's spare time leisure has the following functions: relaxation, recreation and entertainment, and personal development. The importance of these varies according to the nature of one's job and one's life-style. Thus, people who need to exert much energy in their work will find relaxation most desirable in leisure. Those with a better education and in professional occupations may tend more to seek recreation and personal development (e.g., cultivation of skills and hobbies) in leisure.
休闲作为空闲时进行的自己认为适当的活动，具有下列功能：放松、娱乐、个人发展。这些功能的重要性随着个人工作性质与生活方式的不同而变化，所以在工作中需要付出很多精力的人，更渴望休闲时放松，而受过良好教育、从事专业工作的人可能更趋向于休闲时寻求娱乐和个人发展，如掌握技巧，培养爱好。
The specific use of leisure varies from individual to individual. Even the same leisure activity may be used differently by different individuals. Thus, the following are possible uses of television watching, a popular leisure activity: a change of experience to provide "escape" from the stress and strain of work; to learn more about what is happening in one's environment; to provide an opportunity for understanding oneself by comparing other people's life experiences as portrayed in the programmes.
对休闲的具体利用人与人不同，即使是同一休闲活动，不同的人也有不同的利用方式。下面就是对最常见的休闲方式看电视的不同利用：改变感受来“逃避”工作压力与紧张；更多了解自己周围正在发生的一切；通过对比节目中描绘的他人生活经历，提供机会理解自己。
In an urban society in which highly structured, fast-paced and stressful work looms large in life, experiences of a different nature, be it television watching or bird-watching, can lead to a self-renewal and a more "balanced" way of life.
在城市社会中，结构紧密、节奏快捷、充满压力的工作笼罩着人们的生活，某种不同性质的经历，不管是看电视还是看鸟，都能导致自我更新和一种更加“平衡”的生活方式。
Since leisure is basically self-determined, one is able to take to one's interests and preferences and get involved in an activity in ways that will bring enjoyment and satisfaction.
由于休闲基本上是自己决定的事，个人就可以培养自己的兴趣和爱好，并以能为自己带来享乐和满足的方式参与某项活动。
Our likes and dislikes, tastes and preferences that underlie our choices of such activities as reading books, going to the cinema, camping, or certain cultural pursuits, are all related to social contexts and learning experiences. We acquire interests in a variety of things and subjects from our families, schools, jobs, and the mass media. Basically, such attitudes amount to a recognition that leisure is an important area of life and of a belief that leisure can and should be put to good use.
我们的喜爱与厌恶、品味与偏爱决定我们选择这样的活动，如：读书、看电影、野营、或者某些文化追求，所有这些活动均与社会环境和学习经历有关。我们通过家庭、学校、工作、和大众传媒获得对不同事物、不同主题的兴趣。基本上说，上述态度相当于一个共识：休闲是生活的一个重要方面；相当于一个信念：休闲能够并且应该充分利用。
Professional workers in recreation services, too, will find that to impart positive leisure attitudes to the general public is essential for motivating them to use their leisure in creative and satisfying ways. Hence, it can be argued that the people with whom we come into contact in these various contexts are all likely to have in shaping our attitudes, interests and even skills relevant to how we handle leisure. Influence of this kind is a form of leadership.
从事娱乐业的专业工作者也会发现，培养大众积极的休闲态度对促进他们以创造性的，满意的方式利用休闲时间十分必要。因此，可以认为，我们在不同环境中接触的人都可能对形成我们如何处理休闲时间的态度、兴趣、甚至技巧产生影响。这也是一种导向形式。
Parents, teachers in schools, work associates and communicator in or using the mass media are all capable of arousing our potential interests. For example, the degree to which and the ways in which a school encourages participation in games, sports and cultural pursuit: are likely to contribute to the shaping of leisure attitudes on the part of the students.
父母、学校的老师、工作中的同事、大众媒体的传播上作者都能对我们的兴趣产生潜在的影响。比如，学校鼓励参加游戏、运动和文化活动的程度和方式可能对形成学生的休闲态度起一定的作用。
Schools usually set as their educational objective the attainment, of a balanced development of the person. The more seriously this is sought, the more likely positive attitudes towards leisure as well as academic work will be encouraged.
学校常常把达到个人均衡发展定为它们的教育目标对此追求得越认真，就越可能鼓励人们对待休闲和学术工作持积极态度。

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Unit Eight Jet Lag: Prevention and Cure
喷气飞机时差综合症的预防和治疗
The problem of Jet Lag is one every international traveler comes across at some time . But do you have to suffer? Understand what it is. and how a careful diet can minimize its worst effects, and your flights will be less stressful.
喷气飞机时差综合症是每个乘坐国际航班旅行的人在某个时候会碰到的问题。但你是否就这样忍受着？如果你能了解喷气飞机时差综合症是怎么回事以及注意饮食怎样把它的不良作用减少到最小，你坐飞机的紧张程度就会轻些。
The effects of rapid travel on the body are actually far more disturbing than we realize. Jet Lag is not a psychological consequence of having to readjust to a different time zone. It is due lo changes in the body's physiological regulatory mechanisms, specifically the hormonal systems, in a different environment.
乘飞机旅行对身体的影响实际上远比我们意识到的更令人焦灼不安。时差综合症不是对不同时区进行调整的心理后果。它是身体的生理调节机制，特别是激素系统，在不同环境中发生变化所引起的。
Confused? So was John Foster Dulles, the American Secretary of Stale, when he flew to Egypt to conduct negotiations on the Aswan Dam. He later blamed his poor judgement on Jet Lag.
是不是被弄糊涂啦？美国国务卿约翰·福斯特·杜勒斯从美国飞往埃及谈判阿斯旺水坝问题时就被弄糊涂了。他后来把自己在谈判中判断失误归咎于时差综合症。
The effects can be used to advantage, too. President Johnson once conducted an important meeting in Guam and kept the entire proceedings at Washington DC time. The White House working personnel were as fresh as paint, while the locals, in this case, were jet-lagged. Essentially, they had been instantaneously transported to America.
但是乘飞机旅行对身体的影响也可使之对人有利。约翰逊总统曾在关岛主持一次重要会议，整个会议按华盛顿时间进行。白宫的工作人员个个精力充沛，而当地人在这种情况下却得了时差综合症。从本质上说，他们瞬间一下子被运到了美国。
Now that we understand what Jet Lag is, we can go some way to overcoming it. A great number of the body's events are scheduled to occur at a certain time of day. Naturally these have to be regulated, and there are two regulatory systems which interact.
既然我们懂得了喷气飞机时差综合症是怎么回事，我们就能够在解决它方而有所作为。我们身体的大量活动都按时在一天中的某个时间发生的。很自然它们需要调整。这时两个调节系统相互起作用。
One timing system comes from the evidence of our senses and stomachs, and the periodicity we experience when living in a particular time zone. The other belongs in our internal clocks (the major one of which may be physically located in a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus) which, left alone, would tie the body to a 25 hour — yes, 25 — rhythm. Normally the two timers are in step, and the external cues tend to regularise the internal clocks to the more convenient 24 hour period.
一个定时系统根据我们的官能和饥饿感以及我们在某个特定时区所经受的周期性变化。另一个定时系统在我们的体内时钟内（其中一个主要时钟可能位于我们大脑的称为超交*核的那部分中）这些体内时钟在不受干扰时，会使人体有一个25小时——是的，25小时——的生理节奏。正常情况下两个定时系统是同步的，外部的信号会将体内时钟调节到更方便的24小时周期。
If, however, you move the whole body to a time zone which is four hours different, the two clocks will be out of step, like two alarm clocks which are normally set together, but which have been reset a few hours apart. Whereas the two clocks would normally sound their alarms together, now they ring at different times. Similarly, the body can be set for evening while the sun is rising.
然而如果你把整个身体移到一个时差4个小时的时区，两个时钟就不再同步，正像两个闹钟通常被一起定时，但现在定时相差几个小时，两个闹钟通常同时报时，但现在则不同时间报时。和时钟相似，人体可以定时在晚上，而这时太阳正在升起来。
In time the physiological system will reset itself, but it does take time. One easily monitored rhythm is palm sweating. A man flown to a time zone different by 10 hours will take eight days to readjust his palm sweat. Blood pressure, which is also rhythmical, takes four days to readjust.
经过一段时间之后，生理系统将会自我调整过来，但这需要时间一个很容易监测到的节奏是手掌出汗。一个人飞往某个时差为10小时的时区将需要8天的时间重新调节他的手掌出汗情况。血压也是有节奏性的，需要4天才能调整过来。
One reason for this discrepancy is that different bodily events are controlled by different factors. The hormone cortisol, which controls salt and water excretion, is made in the morning, wherever the body is. But the growth hormone is released during sleep, whenever in the day that sleep occurs. Normally these two hormones are separated by seven or eight hours, but if the body arrives at a destination in the early morning (local) and goes to sleep as soon as possible, the two hormones will be released simultaneously.
出现这种差异的一个原因是人体的不同活动受到不同因素的支配。激素皮质醇控制盐和水的排泄，不管人体处于何地，它都是在早晨形成的。但生长激素在睡眠时才分泌，而不论一天中什么时候睡觉。这两种激素的分泌时间通常间隔七八个小时，但如果人体在（当地）清晨很早到达目的地并且尽快睡觉，这两种激素将会同时分泌。
What can we do about it? It is not feasible to wait four days until the body is used to the new time zone. Fortunately there is a short cut. It relies on two things — the power of the stomach to regulate the timing of other events, and the pharmacological actions of coffee. The basic assumptions are: 　　　Coffee delays the body clock in the morning, and advances it at night. Coffee at mid-afternoon is neutral. 　　　Protein in meals stimulates wakefulness, while carbohydrates promote sleep. 　　　Putting food into an empty stomach helps synchronize the body clock.
我们对此该怎么办呢？不可能等上4天直到身体习惯新的时区。幸好我们有个捷径。这靠两件东西——利用胃的力量调节其他活动发生的时间和利用咖啡的药理作用。 基本的设想是： 　　早晨喝咖啡可以延迟体内时钟，晚上可以加快体内时钟，下午三点左右喝咖啡对人体时钟不起作用。 　　膳食中的蛋白质引起不眠，而碳水化合物促人人睡。空腹进食有助使体内时钟得到调整。

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Unit Nine Aging in European Countries
欧洲国家的年龄老化问题
We have to realise how old , how very old , we are . Nations are classified as “aged” when they have 7 per cent or more of their people aged 65 or above, and by about 1970 every one of the advanced countries had become like this. Of the really ancient societies, with over 13 per cent above 65, all are in Northwestern Europe. At the beginning of the I980's East Germany had 15.6 per cent, Austria, Sweden, West Germany and France had 13.4 per cent or above, and England and Wales 13.3 per cent. Scotland had 12.3 per cent. Northern Ireland 10.8 per cent and the United States 9.9 per cent. We know that we are getting even older, and that the nearer a society approximates to zero population growth, the older its population is likely to be — at least, for any future that concerns us now.
我们必须认识到我们有多老了。当一个国家人口中有7%或以上的人满65岁或超过65岁时，就被列为“老龄国”，而大约在1970年前，每一个先进国家就已步人这个行列了。在真正的老龄社会中，有13%以下的人超过65岁的国家全部分布在西北欧。在20世纪80年代初，一些国家（或地区）人口超过65岁的比例如下：东德15.6%，奥地利、瑞典、西德和法国13.4%或超过13.4%，英格兰和威尔13.3%，苏格兰12.3%a，北爱尔兰10.8%，美国9.9%。我们知道我们的社会正在变得更老，一个社会的人口增长率越接近零，它的人口就可能越老龄——至少对任何能关系到我们现在的未来是这样的。
To these now familiar facts a number of further facts may be added, some of them only recently recognised. There is the apparent paradox that the effective cause of the high proportion of the old is births rather than deaths. There is the economic principle that the dependency ratio — the degree to which those who cannot earn depend for a living on those who can — is more advantageous in older societies like ours than in the younger societies of the developing world, because lots of dependent babies are more of a liability than numbers of the inactive aged. There is the appreciation of the salient historical truth that the aging of advanced societies has been a sudden change.
除了这些我们现在已经熟知的事实外，还有更多的事实可以补充，而其中一些还是最近才被我们认识到的。有这样一个明显的、似非而是的论点：造成老年人高比例的实际原因是出生人数而不是死亡人数。有这样一条经济原则：扶养率——即不能挣钱生活的人依赖能挣钱养家的人的程度——在我们这样老龄化社会里比发展中世界的较年轻社会里要有利一些，因为大量尚需扶养的孩子与一定数量不能工作的老年人相比，更是一个负担。人们已认识到这样一个突出历史事实：先进社会的老龄化都是一种突变。
If "revolution" is a rapid resettlement of the social structure, and if the age composition of the society counts as a very important aspect of that social structure, then there has been a social revolution in European and particularly Western European society within the lifetime of everyone over 50. Taken together, these things have implications which are only beginning to be acknowledged. These facts and circumstances were well to the fore earlier this year at a world gathering about aging as a challenge to science and to policy, held at Vichy in France.
如果“革命”是对社会结构的迅速重建，如果社会的年龄构成被看作是社会结构的一个非常重要的方面，那么在欧洲尤其是在西欧社会里，每个超过50岁的人一生中就已经历过一次社会革命了。综合起来，这些事情牵连出的结果刚开始被人们认识。这些事实和情况今年早些时候在法国维希举行的一个世界大会上被视为对科学和政策的挑战而置于显著地位。
There is often resistance to the idea that it is because the birthrate fell earlier in Western and Northwestern Europe than elsewhere, rather than because of any change in the death rate, that we have grown so old. But this is what elementary demography makes clear. Long life is altering our society, of course, but in experiential terms. We have among us a very much greater experience of continued living than any society that has ever preceded us anywhere, and this will continue. But too much of that lengthened experience, even in the wealthy West, will be experience of poverty and neglect, unless we do something about it.
这种观点常遇到反对意见，即正因为西欧和西北欧出生率比别的地区下降得早，而不是因为死亡率方面的任何变化，所以我们的社会才变得如此老龄但初级人口统计学已经把这个问题解释清楚了。当然长寿正改变我们的社会，但这是根据经验而来的说法。我们比以前任何一个社会更经历着长寿，这种情况还将继续下去。但过度的长寿，即便是在富裕的西方，也会遭受贫穷和忽视，除非我们采取一些办法。
If you are now in your thirties, you ought to be aware that you can expect to live nearly one third of the rest of your life after the age of 60. The older you are now , of course, the greater this proportion will be, and greater still if you are a woman. Expectation of life is a slippery figure, very easy to get wrong at the highest ages. At Vichy the demographers were telling each other that their estimates of how many old there would be and how long they will live in countries like England and Wales are due for revision upwards.
如果你现在30多岁，你应当知道你可以期望活到60岁后再活上剩余生命的三分之一。当然，你现在年龄越大，这种比例就越高，如果你是女人，这比例还应该更高。人生的估计寿命是一个飘忽不定的数字，年龄越大越容易有误差。在维希，人口学家们互相转告，他们对一些地方人口情况的估计，如英格兰和威尔上将有多少老年人，这些老人的寿命如何，注定要进行修改，因为这些数字一直呈上升趋势。

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Unit Ten The campaign for election
美国的竞选运动
The winner in the November general election is almost certain to be either the Republican or the Democratic nominee. A minor-party or independent candidate, such as George Wallace in 1968, John Anderson in 1980, or Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, can draw votes away from the major-party nominees but stands almost no chance of defeating them.
11月大选的获胜者几乎可以肯定不是共和党就是民主党提名的候选人。小党派或独立的候选人，如1968年的乔治·华莱十、1980年的约翰·安德森，或者1992年和1996年的罗斯·佩罗等，可能会从大党的提名人那里拉走一此选票，但几乎没有人可能战胜他们。
A major-party nominee has the critical advantage of support from the party faithful. Earlier in the twentieth century, this support was so firm and steady that the victory of the stronger party's candidate was almost a certainty. Warren G. Harding accepted the 1920 Republican nomination at his Ohio home, stayed there throughout most of the campaign, and won a full victory simply because most of the voters of his time were Republicans. Party loyalty has declined in recent decades, but more than two-thirds of the nation's voters still identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans, and most of them support their party's presidential candidate. Even Democrat George McGovern, who had the lowest level of party support among recent nominees, was backed in 1972 by nearly 60 percent of his party's voters.
大党提名人具有得到党的忠实信徒支持这一关键的优势．在20世纪早期，这种支持是如此的坚固和稳定以至于强大党派候选人的胜利几乎是不容置疑的。沃伦·G·哈定在他的俄亥俄州的家中接受了1920年共和党的提名，而且竞选期间他多数时间是呆在家里。他最终大获全胜仅仅是因为那个时期多数选民是共和党成员。近几十年人们对党的忠诚有所减弱，但是这个国家三分之二以上的选民仍自我归属为民主党人或共和党人，并且他们当中的大多数会支持自己党派的总统候选人。甚至于民主党的乔治·麦戈文，他在近期的提名人中所得到的党派支持是最低的，也于1972年时获得了他的党将近团％的选民的支持。
Presidential candidates act strategically. In deciding whether to pursue a course of action, they try to estimate its likely impact on the voters. During the 1992 campaign, a sign on the wall of Clinton's headquarters in Little Rock read, "The Economy, Stupid." The slogan was the idea of James Carville, Clinton's chief strategist, and was meant as a reminder to the candidate and the staff to keep the campaign focused on the nation's slow-moving economy, which ultimately was the issue that defeated Bush. As in 1980, when Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan during tough economic times, the voters were motivated largely by a desire for change.
总统竞选人做事讲究战略。在决定是否遵循某一项行动方针时，他们要尽量估计一下该方针对选民可能具有的影响。在1992年的选运动中，在小石城克林顿总部的墙上的一条标语说，“经济，愚蠢。”这一口号是克林顿的总战略家詹姆斯·卡维尔的主意，其用意是想提醒候选人及总部人员始终把竞选的注意力集中在本国缓慢发展的经济上。而这一点正是最终击败布什的问题。正如1980年在经济艰难时期吉米·卡特败与罗纳德·里根时那样，选民很大程度上是被他们想变革的欲望调动起来的。
Candidates try to project a strong leadership image. Whether voters accept this image, however, depends more on external factors than on a candidate's personal characteristics. In 1991, after the Gulf War, Bush's approval rating reached 91 percent, the highest level recorded since polling began in the 1930s. A year later, with the nation's economy in trouble. Bush's approval rating dropped below 40 percent. Bush tried to stir images of his strong leadership of the war, but voters remained concerned about the economy.
候选人都想尽力突出表现一种强有力的领导者的形象。然而选民们是否接受这一形象则更取决于外在因素而不是候选人的个人特征。1991年海湾战争以后，布什的支持率达到91%，这是自20世纪30年代开始民意测验以来的最高记录。一年以后，随着国家经济陷入困境，布什的支持率则下降到40%以下。布什试图重振其战争期间强有力的领导者的形象，但是选民们始终一直关心经济。
The candidates' strategies are shaped by many considerations, including the constitutional provision that each state shall have electoral votes equal in number to its representation in Congress. Each state thus gets two electoral votes for its Senate representation and a varying number of electoral votes depending on its House representation. Altogether, there are 538 electoral votes (including three for the District of Columbia, even though it has no voting representatives in Congress). To win the presidency, a candidate must receive at least 270 votes, an electoral majority.
候选人的战略的形成要考虑到许多因素，包括宪法的这一条款：每个州拥有的选票必须与其在国会中的代表人数相等。于是每个州便有两票选举参议院的代表并根据各州在众议院的代表数，有不同数量的选票。选票总数为538张（包括哥伦比亚特区的3张选票，尽管在国会中它没有投票代表）要赢得总统席位，候选人必须至少获得270票，即选票的大多数。
Candidates are particularly concerned with winning the states which have the largest population, such as California (with 54 electoral votes), New York (33), Texas (32), Florida (25), Pennsylvania (23), Illinois (22), and Ohio (21). Victory in the eleven largest slates alone would provide an electoral majority, and presidential candidates therefore spend most of their time campaigning in those states. Clinton received only 43 percent of the popular vote in 1992, compared with Bush's 38 percent and Perot's 19 percent; but Clinton won in states that gave him an overwhelming 370 electoral votes, compared with 168 for Bush and none for Perot.
候选人特别关注人口最多的几个州的州选举中获胜，例如，加利福尼亚州（有54张选票），纽约州（33张），德克萨斯州（32张），佛罗里达州（25张），宾夕法尼亚州（23张），伊利诺斯州（22张）和俄亥俄州（21张）。仅在这11个最大的州获胜就可获得选举的多数，因此，总统候选人花大量的时间在这些州进行竞选活动。在1992年，克林顿仅获得民众选票的43%，相比之下，布什是38%，佩罗是19%；但是克林顿在州选举中获胜。这些州却给了他压倒多数的370张选票，相比之下布什是168张，佩罗则一张也没有。