世纪大学英语读写教程-reading-aloud-课文及翻译

1、"Very hesitantly I selected a tube of blue paint, and with infinite precaution made a mark about as big as a bean on the snow-white field. At that moment I heard the sound of a motorcar in the drive and threw down my brush in a panic. I was even more alarmed when I saw who stepped from the car:

2、 the wife of Sir John Lavery, the celebrated painter who lived nearby.“我迟疑不决地选了一管蓝色颜料，然后小心翼翼地在雪白的底子上的画上蚕 豆般大小的一笔。就在这时，我听到车道上传来一辆汽车的声音，于是 一份耕耘，一份收获 答案只是参考，请大家努力自学 惊恐地丢下我的画笔。当我看清是谁从汽车里走出来时，更是惊慌失措。 来者正是住在附近的著名画家约翰?莱佛利爵士的妻子。 "'Painting!' she declared. 'What fun. But what are you waiting

3、 for? Let me have the brush the big one.' She plunged into the paints and before I knew it, she had swept several fierce strokes and slashes of blue on the absolutely terrified canvas. Anyone could see it could not hit back. I hesitated no more. I seized the largest brush and fell upon my wretch

4、ed victim with wild fury. I have never felt any fear of a canvas since."在画画呢!她大声说道。 多么有趣。可你还在等什么呢? 把画 笔给我-大的那支。 她猛地用笔蘸起颜料，还没等我缓过神来，她已经 挥笔泼墨在惊恐不已的画布上画下了有力的几道蓝色。谁都看得出画布 无法回击。我不再迟疑。我抓起那支最大的画笔，迅猛异常地向我可怜 的牺牲品扑了过去。自那以后，我再也不曾害怕过画布。 This belief in hard work is the first of three main factors contributi

5、ng to Asian students' outstanding performance. It springs from Asians' common heritage of Confucianism, the philosophy of the 5th-century-BC Chinese sage whose teachings have had a profound influence on Chinese society. One of Confucius's primary teachings is that through effort, people

6、can perfect themselves.这种对于勤奋的信念是促成亚洲学生成绩突出的三大要素中的第一个。它来源于亚洲人共同的儒教传统即公元前5世纪那位中国圣人的哲学思想他的教义对中国社会产生了深远的影响。孔夫子的主要教义之一是人们通过努力能够完善自我。Confucianism provides another important ingredient in the Asians' success as well. In Confucian philosophy, the family plays a central role an orientation that leads pe

7、ople to work for the honor of the family, not just for themselves. One can never repay one's parents, and there's a sense of obligation or even guilt that is as strong a force among Asians as Protestant philosophy is in the West.儒教也为亚洲人的成功提供了另一个要素。在孔夫子的哲学中家庭起着最重要的作用-这种定向引导人们为家庭的荣誉而学习工作而不仅仅是为

8、了他们自己。一个人永远无法报答他的父母而且在亚洲人中间还有一种责任感、乃至负罪感这是一种如同新教哲学在西方一样的强大力量。 The first cultural translator I ever met was an installation engineer, George by name, who worked for an American company where I was the director of international operations. The company had just started a joint venture with a Japanese f

9、irm, and the American management needed someone to train the Japanese employees in its unique technology. George's solid understanding of the equipment, its installation and use made him the best-qualified employee for the job, so everyone was happy when George accepted a two-year contract for t

10、emporary transfer to Japan.我遇到的第一位文化翻译是一位设备安装工程师名叫乔治他在一家我担任国际业务部主任的美国公司里工作。 这家公司刚同一家日本商社开办了一家合资企业美方管理部门需要有人在它的独特技术方面培训日本雇员。乔治对设备及其安装和使用的透彻了解使他成为最能胜任这项工作的雇员 所以当乔治接受了暂时调往日本的一份两年期合同时大家都很快乐。 From the start, George was well accepted by all the Japanese employees. Japanese managers often distrust anyone s

11、ent to represent US owners, but George was so naturally nonassertive that no one could see him as a threat to their careers. So they felt comfortable asking his advice on a wide range of matters, including the odd behavior of their partners across the ocean. Engineers throughout the company apprecia

12、ted George's expertise and his friendly and capable help, and they got into the habit of turning to him whenever they had a problem any problem. And the secretaries in the office were eager to help this nice bachelor learn Japanese.从一开始乔治就被所有的日本雇员欣然接受。日方经理通常不信任任何被派去代表美方业主的人但乔治生性随和没有人把他看作是对自己职业的一

13、种威胁。所以他们喜欢就广泛的各类问题征求他的意见包括大洋此岸他们的合作伙伴的乖僻行为。公司上下的工程师们都珍视乔治的专业知识和他友好而技能熟练的帮助他们已养成了一有问题-任何问题就找他帮助的习惯。办公室里的秘书们都热衷于帮助这个讨人喜欢的单身汉学习日语。Failure is never pleasant. It hurts adults and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask, "Why d

14、id I fail?" Resist the natural impulse to blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don't be shy about inquiring.失败从来就不是什么令人愉快的事情。它让成年人和孩子同样伤心。然而一旦你学会了去利用失败它就能对你的生活起到积极的作用。第一步是要问“我为什么失败了?要抵抗责怪别人的本能冲动问问自己做错了什么如何才能改正。如果别人能够给予帮助那就不要羞于询问

15、。Success, which encourages repetition of old behavior, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a disastrous party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems total can prompt fresh thinking, a change of directi

16、on.成功鼓励人们重复过去的行为因而远不及失败这个老师来得好。你可以从一次极糟的晚会中学会如何举办一次成功的晚会 从第一次不当的选房中学到下次选房时要注意些什么。即使一次看似彻底的失败也能激发新的思路引起方向的改变。 Balancing work and school was difficult. "I was staying up late studying, and going to work early every morning. I was having a hard time concentrating in class, and a hard time on the j

17、ob because I was so tired," she says. But she ended up with two A's in her first semester anyway.要做到工作学习两不误很困难。“我要一直熬夜学习每天一大早又要去上班。我上课时很难集中思想上班时也很难受因为我实在太累了她说。不过她第一学期最后还是得了两个A。 Priscilla decided to pursue an archaeology major, and in the summer of 1992, she got her first opportunity to real

18、ly test out her interest in the subject. The archaeological field school of Washington State University was sponsoring a summer research project at a site alongside the Snake River in Washington. Priscilla threw herself into the work, and the project supervisors were impressed. At the end of the sum

19、mer, one of the professors offered her a job. "He said,We just got a contract for a project in North Dakota. We want to hire you if you're willing to take a semester off from school.'" The offer was a diversion from Priscilla's pursuit of her BA. "But by then I no longer d

20、oubted that I would ultimately finish school, so I felt comfortable grabbing this opportunity," she says.普丽西拉决定攻读考古专业 并在1992年夏天获得了检验自己对这一学科兴趣的第一个时机。华盛顿州立大学的野外考古中心正在发起一个夏季研究工程开掘位于华盛顿州斯内克河边的一个遗址。普丽西拉全力投入这项工作给工程管理人留下了深刻印象。 夏季结束时 有一个教授给她提供了一份工作。“他说我们刚拿到北达科他州一个工程的合同。 如果你愿意休学一个学期我们就聘用你。这份工作偏离了普丽西拉要获得

21、学士学位的追求。“但那时我已不再疑心我最终会完成学业所以很坦然地抓住了这次机 会她说。He has been proclaimed "the finest mind alive", "the greatest genius of the late 20th century", and "Einstein's heir". Known to millions, far and wide, for his book A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking is a star scienti

22、st in more ways than one. His gift for revealing the mysteries of the universe in a style that non-scientists can enjoy made Hawking an instant celebrity and his book a bestseller in both Britain and America. It has earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records for spending 184 weeks in The Sunday

23、Times "top-ten" lists, and has sold more than five million copies worldwide virtually unheard-of success for a science book.他被称为“活着的最有才华的人“20世纪后期最伟大的天才以及“爱因斯坦的传人。因?时间简史?一书而闻名遐迩为众人所知的斯蒂芬?霍金是一个多重意义上的明星科学家。 霍金擅长于用一种非科学工作者乐于接受的文体揭示宇宙的奥秘这种天赋使他声誉鹊起也使他的书在英国和美国都成了畅销书。该书因在?星期日泰晤士报?十大畅销书名单上持续了184周并在

24、全世界销售了500多万册而在?吉尼斯世界纪录大全?上赢得了一席之地对一本科学书籍来说这简直是前所未闻的成功。 How did all this happen? How has a man who is almost completely paralysed and unable to speak except through a computer overcome these incredible obstacles and achieved far more than most people ever dream of?这一切是如何发生的呢？一个几乎全身瘫痪通过电脑说话的人只能是如何克服这些令人难以置信的障碍 获得了远远超过大多数人所梦想过的成就的呢？But thinking is far different from laziness. Thinking is one of the most productive activities a human being can undertake. Every beautiful