泛读教程第三册精选段落翻译.doc

第23页 Politics offers a familiar example of contrast. Herbert Hoover must have learned administration in the cradle. When he was at school he was chosen as football manager, though he didnt know the game, and the glee club manager, though he couldnt sing a note.政治圈提供了一个关于熟悉的对比例子。赫伯特胡佛在摇篮里的时候就已经学会了政府管理。当他在学校时,他被选为足球主管和合唱团的主管,尽管他既不知道足球这个游戏也不会唱一个音符。(Whatever he touched went smoothly, glee club or food for a starving Europe.) But one of his successors in the White House had about as checkered a youth as can be imagined. Turned down by West Point because of poor vision, Harry Truman tried a dozen jobs, including stretches in a drugstore, a bank, a bottling works, and a railroad yard. But he got there just the same.但可以想象的到，他在白宫的继任者之一是一个命途多舛的年轻人。哈里 杜鲁门被西点军校以视力不好为由拒绝后，他尝试了很多工作,包括泡在一个药店,一家银行,一个装瓶厂,和一个联络调车场。但他到哪里都是一样的。 Great writers are supposed to be born, not made, but again there are many fascinating exceptions. William Faulkner quit school in the fifth grade and wandered around the country as a house painter and a dishwasher.而人们认为：伟大的作家是天生的，不是造就的。但是，有许多例外，令人惊奇。威廉福克纳读到五年级时便退学回家，在全国到处游荡，当过家庭油漆工，也洗过盘子。 Once he tried attending college, but failed in freshman English and quit. He got a postmasters job in a small Mississippi town, and infuriated the populace by getting the mail all mixed up and closing the office whenever he felt like it.但是，参加大学一年级英语考试，不及格而退学。他在密西西比州的一个小镇上，当上了邮局局长，然而，他把邮件搞得乱七八糟，想什么时候关门就什么时候关门，因而激怒了当地的人们。 And just to show that girls can be as confusing as boys, take Pearl Buck, who from early youth made it a point to write at least a few lines every day of her life. Then take Edna Ferber, whose sole ambition was to be an actress; she never even thought of writing anything until she was in her 20s and had to take a $3-a-week job on a newspaper to help her family. 为了表明女孩也会像男孩一样令人困惑，看看赛珍珠，从青春早期开始就每天至少要写几行句子。再看看艾德娜 费勃，唯一的志向就是要成为一名女演员；20多岁前她从未想过要写什么，并不得不在报社做一份每周3美元工资的工作以供养家人。第57页 单头或双头的老鹰对于许多神圣罗马帝国和拜占庭帝国君主，拿破仑，沙皇和许多奥地利的皇帝来说是一种力量和君权统一的象征。在墨西哥的国旗上一头老鹰吞噬一条蛇象征着正义战胜邪恶。1782年，美国决定美国国旗的中心主题是一头展翅的秃鹰握着象征战争的利箭和象征和平的橄榄枝，以此来表现民族的强大与自由。老鹰也经常出现在许多国家的硬币上，美国10美元金币上就有鹰徽。鹰，作为胜利，勇气和皇权的象征，出现在苏美尔，波斯和埃及的战旗上，也出现在罗马军团的鹰旗中。第68页In truth, history is complicated. It is more complicated than the simple lines in Model A and Model B. It more closely resembles Model C. Periods of accomplishment are followed by periods of decay. In fact,“progress” is mostly a myth. There is nothing inevitable about it. The idea that the simple passage of time will allow things to improve flies in the face of experience. If you let time pass, will the dishes get washed, will rooms get cleaned, or will your car run better? The truth is that things deteriorate and decay with age.事实上，历史是复杂的。它比模型A和模型B的简单描述更为复杂。它更接近于模型C。紧接着辉煌时期的是衰落时期。实际上，“进步”基本上是个神话。这是不可避免的。实 践 的简 单推 移会使事物改进的想法与经验相悖。如果你让时间流逝，餐盘会被清洗吗，房间会被打扫吗，你的汽车会行进的更好吗？真相是事物会随着时间的推移恶化、衰退。The periods of progress and achievement are the exceptions and not the rule. There are remarkable periods scattered through history in which a group of men or a generation seem (perhaps supernaturally?) empowered to reverse the trends and to make remarkable achievements. Sometimes it is in literature, sometimes it is in science, sometimes it is in politics, sometimes it is in art or music. But inevitably, after a period of achievement, a long, slow period of decay sets in.进步和成就的时期是特例，而非常态。非凡的时期分布在历史的进程中，在那些时期一组人或者一代人似乎（也许是 超 自 然 ）被 赋 予 扭 转 趋 势 并 取 得 非 凡 成 就 的 力 量。它 有 时 在文 学 中，有 时 在 科 学 中，有 时 在 政 治 中 ，有 时 在 艺 术 或 音 乐中。但 无 法 避 免 的 是 ，一个辉 煌 的 时 期 之后，一个 漫 长 的 衰 退 的 时 期 就 会 开 始 。 第 10 2- 1 03 页 人 类 精 神 的 象 征贯穿20世 纪 6 0年代，一个持续给了美国对自身和对人类将来的信念的发展，是成功征服太空的计划。自从 前苏联于1957年成功发射了世界上第一颗人造地球卫星带来突然的震动，远非美国的成就可以比较，美国在太空上的成就一直迎头赶上的观念几乎被淡忘。苏联人有更为强大的