新標準大學(xué)英語綜合教程4 Unit 1

1、新標準大學(xué)英語綜合教程4 Unit 1Unit 11、If you ask me, real life is not all its cracked up to be. Twelve years at school and three years at university, teachers banging on about opportunities in the big wide world beyond our sheltered life as students, and what do I find?依我看，現(xiàn)實生活并沒有人們想象的那么美好。我們上了12年的中、小學(xué)，又上了3年大學(xué)

2、，這期間老師們一直在沒完沒了地談?wù)撛趥涫芎亲o的學(xué)生生活之外的那個廣闊天地里的各種機會，可我遇到的又是什么呢？Try as I might to stay cheerful, all I ever get is hassle, sometimes with people (especially boys, god, when will they grow up?), but mostly with money. Its just so expensive out here! Everyone wants a slice off you. The Inland Revenue wants to d

3、educt income tax, the bank manager wants repayments on my student loan,the landlord wants the rent, gas, water, electricity and my mobile bills keep coming in, and all thats before Ive had anything to eat. And then some bright spark calls me out of the blue, asking if Im interested in buying a pensi

4、on. And this rate, I wont even last till the end of the year, let alone till Im 60.無論我怎么想保持心情愉快，可麻煩事總是接踵而來：有時是跟人發(fā)生矛盾(尤其是跟男孩子，天哪！他們什么時候才能長大？)，但通常是為錢發(fā)愁。這個地方什么東西都很貴！人人都想從我身上賺點錢：稅務(wù)局要收個人所得稅，銀行經(jīng)理要我償清學(xué)生貸款，房東催我交房租、燃氣費、水費、電費，手機賬單也不斷地寄來。所有這些還沒算上吃飯的錢。更可氣的是，不知從哪里冒出一個自作聰明的家伙我打電話，問我要不要買養(yǎng)老金。照這樣下去，我甚至都支撐不到年底，更別提活到6

5、0歲領(lǐng)養(yǎng)老金了。2、我認為，選修第二專業(yè)并不合適每一位本科生。我大學(xué)本科主修英語專業(yè)，大一時就開始輔修經(jīng)濟學(xué)了。無疑，我是班里最用功的學(xué)生。我竭盡全力想同時達到兩個不同專業(yè)的要求，但還是有不及格的時候。因為經(jīng)濟學(xué)需要良好的數(shù)學(xué)基礎(chǔ)，我不得不花大量時間鉆研數(shù)學(xué)，因而忽略了英語學(xué)習。If you ask me, taking a second major isnt good for every undergraduate. In my freshman year as an English major, I took economics as my minor. By all odds, I wa

6、s the most hardworking student in my class. But try as I might to meet the requirements of the two different subjects, I still couldnt do well enough to pass all the exams.Given that the study of economics required a good command of mathematics, I had to spend so much time on math that I neglected m

7、y English major. 第二學(xué)期，英國文學(xué)及宏觀經(jīng)濟學(xué)兩門課不及格給我敲響了警種，這可是我一生中第一次考試不及格，這大大打擊了我的自信心。雖然我不是一個容易向命運低頭的人，在暑假結(jié)束的時候，我還是決定放棄經(jīng)濟學(xué)，以免兩個專業(yè)都難以完成。當我只需修一個專業(yè)的時候，一切似乎又回到了正軌。(if you ask me; odds; try as might; sap ones confidence; given that; bow to fate; come to a close; for fear that; now that)Failing English Literature and

8、 Macro-economics in the second semester sounded the alarm for me. This was the first time I did not pass a course in my life, which had greatly sapped my confidence.Although I was not a man who would easily bow to fate, as the summer break came to a close, I decided to give up economics for fear tha

9、t I would fail in both subjects. Now that I had only one subject to attend to, everything seemed to be on the right track again. Unit 21. Indubitably the vast majority of books overlap one another. Few indeed are those which give the impression of originality, either in style or in content. Rare are

10、 the unique books less than 50, perhaps, out of the whole storehouse of literature. In one of his recent auto-biographical novels, Blaise Cendrars points out that Rmy de Gourmont, because of his knowledge and awareness of this repetitive quality in books, was able to select and read all that is wort

11、hwhile in the entire realm of literature. Cendrars himselfwho would suspect it?is a prodigious reader. He reads most authors in their original tongue. Not only that, but when he likes an author he reads every last book the man has written, as well as his letters and all the books that have been writ

12、ten about him. In our day his case is almost unparalleled, I imagine. For, not only has he read widely and deeply, but he has himself written a great many books. All on the side, as it were. For, if he is anything, Cendrars, he is a man of action, an adventurer and explorer, a man who has known how

13、to “waste” his time royally. He is, in a sense, the Julius Caesar of literature.不容置疑的是，大多數(shù)書都互相重復(fù)，在文體或內(nèi)容上讓人感到具有獨創(chuàng)性的書實在是少之又少。在整個文學(xué)庫藏中，只有極少數(shù)作品-或許不到50本-是獨具一格的。在最近出版的一部自傳體小說中，布萊斯桑德拉爾指出，古爾蒙之所以能夠選擇并通讀文學(xué)領(lǐng)域中一切值得讀的書籍，就是因為他知識淵博，并且了解書的這種重復(fù)性。桑德拉爾本人就是一個博覽群書的人，沒有人會懷疑這一點。他閱讀了大部分作家的原作。不僅如此，一旦他喜歡上一個作家，他就會閱讀這個作家寫的每一本書

14、，包括他的書信以及所有有關(guān)他的書籍。我猜想，在當今世界上，幾乎沒有人能像他一樣，不僅讀的廣、讀得精，而且還著述頗豐。可以說這一切都是在業(yè)余時間完成的。因為桑德拉爾是一個十足的行動家，一個四處跋涉的冒險家和探險家，一個懂得如何“肆意浪費”時間的人。從某種意義上說，他是文學(xué)界的凱撒大帝。2.張磊是在畢業(yè)工作后才開始意識到讀書的樂趣的。反思自己的大學(xué)教育時，他感慨不已：他的一些同學(xué)都沉浸于從圖書館或書店找到的各種有趣的書籍，而他卻只讀了一些教科書，其中連一本真正能讓他愛不釋手、值得一讀的書都沒有。他可以說是被剝奪了通過書了解作家奇妙世界的特權(quán)。It was not until after he ha

15、d graduated from university and started to work that Zhang Lei became aware of the pleasure of reading. Reflecting on his undergraduate studies, he lamented that he, unlike his classmates who had immersed themselves in various interesting books they were able to lay hands on from the library or book

16、shop, had only read textbooks, none of which was really worthwhile, or could be read in one sitting. He was deprived of the privilege of gaining access to the writers fantastic worlds through the windows their books have opened, so to speak.如今，他嗜書如命，廢寢忘食，好像要把大學(xué)期間沒機會讀的好書全都讀一遍。到目前為止他已經(jīng)利用業(yè)余時間讀了幾百本小說、傳記

17、和游記。他意識到書不僅能向他展示一個充滿希望的前景，幫他消除現(xiàn)實生活中的壓力和疲勞，而且能夠幫他澄清一些誤解，找到生活的真諦。(reflect on; in one sitting; lay hands on; immerse in; worthwhile; privilege; withstand; vista)Now he has become an avid and omnivorous reader. It is as if he wants to make up for those marvelous books he hadnt had a chance to read in hi

18、s university days. By now, in his spare time, he has read several hundreds of books, including novels, biographies and travel notes. He realizes that books can not only reveal to him the vista of a hopeful future and help him withstand stresses and strains, they can also help him clear up some misco

19、nceptions and discover the true meaning of the life.Unit 31. Sometimes the hemline indicator, as its called, can even precede and predict a change in the mood of the stock market long before it actually happens. In September 2007, at the New York fashion shows, which were displaying their styles for

20、 spring 2008, the trend was for much longer dresses and skirts, many to mid-calf or even down to the ankles. Some people felt this showed that the hemline indicator was no longer reliable, and that designers no longer dictated what people would wear. During the London and New York fashion shows in S

21、eptember 2008, hemlines continued to drop. But sure enough, in the fall of 2008, the stock market indexes fell dramatically when the banking crisis hit the US, Europe and then the rest of the world. Hemlines were no longer following the stock market they were showing the way and indicating future ec

22、onomic trends.有時候，所謂的裙擺標志甚至能夠預(yù)示股市的行情。2007年9月的紐約時裝展展示了2008年春節(jié)流行式樣，潮流轉(zhuǎn)向了長衣、長裙，裙擺長及小腿中部，甚至到了腳踝。有人覺得這表明裙擺標志靠不住了，服裝設(shè)計師已經(jīng)喪失了對時裝的主宰權(quán)。2008年9月，在倫敦和紐約時裝展中，裙擺的高度繼續(xù)降低。果然，2008年秋天金融危機襲擊歐美，并波及全球，股指急劇下跌。這時，裙擺不再被動地追隨股市的變化，而是預(yù)示股市行情及未來的經(jīng)濟趨勢。2. 一個人的穿著似乎能影響他的行為方式。譬如，在校內(nèi)要穿校服是中小學(xué)生所必須嚴格遵守的規(guī)矩之一。倘若在學(xué)生著裝整齊劃一和行為的統(tǒng)一規(guī)范之間不存在一種象征性

23、關(guān)聯(lián)的話，校服便不可能如此盛行。What you wear seems to dictate the kind of person you are supposed to be. Take primary school and high school students for example. One of the hard and fast rules they have to observe is that they must wear uniforms at school. There is no doubt that school uniforms would not have ach

24、ieved their currency without a symbolic correlation between the uniformity of clothes and the students conformity to some common code of conduct.然而，多年的學(xué)校生活讓學(xué)生在內(nèi)心里對隨處可見的校服產(chǎn)生了抵觸情緒，校服畢竟壓制了個性的表達。為了彌補這種損失，學(xué)生常常會在周末穿流行的休閑裝。直到上了大學(xué)，他們才會享受真正的著裝自由，而服裝上的無序與大學(xué)培養(yǎng)創(chuàng)造力、鼓勵自由表達思想及展露才華密切相關(guān)?？上н@樣的好景不會太長，經(jīng)過一段相對短暫的自由之后，他們在

25、畢業(yè)工作之后將再次經(jīng)歷著裝規(guī)范的壓力。(hard and fast; there is no doubt that; currency; correlation; backlash; ubiquitous; compensate for; anarchy; obtain; revive).However, after years of school life, there is always a backlash secretly nursed in the students mind against the ubiquitous uniform which suppresses the ex

26、pression of individuality. To compensate for this loss, students try to hunt for more casual and popular clothes and wear them on weekends. It is not until they start university, however, that they can really enjoy the freedom of dress, an anarchy associated with the cultivation of creativity and th

27、e encouragement of the free expression of ideas and talents. But this situation wont obtain for long. After a relatively short time of liberty, they may experience again the revived pressure of dress code as soon as they become professionals.Unit 41. Today, while most of us marry for romantic reason

28、s, marriage at its core is still a financial union. So much of what we want or dont want out of life boils down to dollars and cents, whether its how hard we choose to work, how much we consume or how much we save. For some people, its working 80-hour weeks to finance a third home and country club m

29、embership; for others, it means cutting back on office hours to spend more time with the family.如今，盡管我們大多數(shù)人是因相愛而結(jié)婚，婚姻從根本上講仍然是金錢上的結(jié)合。不管是工作的努力程度，還是決定消費多少或儲蓄多少，我們生活中想要得到的-或不想得到的-許多東西歸根結(jié)底都跟錢有關(guān)。對有些人來說，他們想要的就是一周工作80小時來支付第三套房的房款和鄉(xiāng)村俱樂部的會員費；而對另一些人來說，他們想縮短上班時間，花更多的時間陪伴家人?！癆 lot of the debates people have abou

30、t money are code for how we want to live our lives,” said Betsey Stevenson, assistant professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, who researches the economics of marriage and divorce. “A lot of the choices we make in how we want to live our lives involv

31、e how we spend our money.”“關(guān)于錢的許多爭論是提示我們想如何生活的密碼，而生活方式的許多選擇則與如何花錢密切相關(guān)。”賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)沃頓商學(xué)院的商業(yè)及公共政策助理教授貝齊史蒂文森如是說，他研究婚姻和離婚經(jīng)濟學(xué)。Making those choices as a team is one of the most important ways to preserve your marital assets, and your union, experts say. But its that much easier when you already share similar

32、outlooks on money matters or when you can, at the very least, find some middle ground.（注意靈活翻譯某些名詞，如 romantic reasons, dollars and cents, code, union, as a team等。適當調(diào)整原文某些句子的語序以使譯文更通順。）專家們說，夫妻共同做出這些選擇是維護婚姻資產(chǎn)及婚姻關(guān)系的最重要的方法之一。當然，如果夫妻雙方一開始就在錢的問題上看法相似，或者至少能夠在錢的問題上互相妥協(xié)，那么事情就好辦多了。2. 談及目前經(jīng)濟蕭條所帶來的影響，學(xué)生活動的減少就是一個

33、很好的例證。為了活躍校園生活，大學(xué)愿意劃撥一部分資金來資助學(xué)生社團活動，但由于今年學(xué)校的預(yù)算大幅減少，對社團的資助也相應(yīng)縮減了不少。顯然，學(xué)生社團要恢復(fù)以前的活力就必須想辦法克服自身的經(jīng)濟困難。有人主張招募更多會員，因為會員費的增加可以幫助他們度過難關(guān)。When it comes to the effects of the current economic downturn, the decrease of student activities is a good case in point. To enliven campus life, the university is always w

34、illing to carve out money for activities organized by student clubs and societies, but such sponsorships have been pared down this year because of huge budget cut. Apparently, student organizations need to weather their own financial crisis if they want to recover from their current state of inactiv

35、eness. Some suggest enrolling more club members, on the ground that the consequent increase of membership fees may help them get out of the difficulty.當然，如果有更多的會員交年費，而且縮減一些日常開支，我們還是能省下一些錢來組織活動的。但是，問題的關(guān)鍵在于社團活動的費用與參加活動的人數(shù)是成正比的，因此這種方法恐怕不太可行。要推進社團活動，同時又不使經(jīng)費超支，我們必須群策群力，拿出別的籌錢方法，而不是僅僅依賴學(xué)校撥款和會員費。(when it c

36、omes to; carve out; pare down; cut back on; bottom line; go into the red; pool; in lieu of)No doubt, if we have more members paying the annual fee, and if we cut back on our daily expenses, we can spare some money for organizing activities. But the bottom line is that the expenses of these activitie

37、s are in proportion to the number of participants. Im afraid this wont be of much help. To boost student activities and to avoid going into the red, we still need to pool our ideas and come up with some other ways of raising money, in lieu of relying only on university grants and membership fees.Uni

38、t 51. Women cant even fill out a form without telling stories about themselves. Most application forms now give four choices for titles. Men have one to choose “Mr.” so their choice carries no meaning other than to say they are male. But women must choose among three, each of them marked. A woman wh

39、o checks the box for “Mrs.” or “Miss” communicates not only whether she has been married but also that she has conservative tastes in forms of address, and probably other conservative values as well. Checking “Ms.” declines to let on about marriage (whereas “Mr.” declines nothing since nothing was a

40、sked), but it also marks the woman who checks it on her form as either liberated or rebellious, depending on the attitudes and assumptions of the one making the judgment.女人一填表就會暴露自己的個人經(jīng)歷?，F(xiàn)在大多數(shù)的申請表會給出四種稱謂選擇。男人只有一種選擇，即“先生”（Mr.），這除了表明他們是男性之外沒有其他任何含義。女人則必須從三種稱謂中選一個，而任何一種都是標記性的。如果一位女士勾選了“太太”（Mrs.）或者“小姐”（

41、Miss）的稱謂，那么她不僅暴露了自己的婚姻狀況，而且還表明她在稱謂方面很保守，或許在其他價值觀念方面也很保守。如果她選擇“女士”（Ms.）這一稱謂，那么說明她拒絕透露自己的婚姻狀況（而男士選“先生”這個稱謂時則沒有故意隱瞞任何事情，因為本來就沒有要求他透露婚姻信息）。另外，在表格中勾選“女士”這一稱謂的人會被標記為思想解放的人或叛逆者，這就要看評判她的人持什么樣的態(tài)度和看法了。I sometimes try to duck these variously marked choices by giving my title as “Dr.” and thereby risk marking m

42、yself as either uppity (hence sarcastic responses like “Excuse me!”) or an over-achiever (hence reactions of congratulatory surprise, like “Good for you!”). （翻譯時注意原文的語氣，否則就可能不準確。第二段是一個長句，翻譯時應(yīng)注意按中文習慣斷句。）我有時會選擇“博士”頭銜，以避開這幾種帶標記的稱謂選項。但這么做又會給自己帶來風險，標明自己要么驕傲自大（于是乎招來譏諷的反應(yīng)，比如“對不起，我不知道你是博士！”），要么是一個成功欲過強的人（那么對方的反應(yīng)就是祝賀時的驚奇，比如“你真行！”）。2. 我們對理想丈夫或理想妻子的假設(shè)顯示出我們的性別期待以及我們對性別期待的反應(yīng)。如果大多數(shù)年輕姑娘希望她們的