精美英语小短文(英汉对照)

英语短文：拥抱生态旅游

Aremote Patagonian town that's just beginning to prosper by guiding tourists through the virgin forests nearby is being shaken by the realization that it's sitting on a gold mine. Literally. More than 3,000 worried Esquel residents recently took to the streets in protests aimed at assuring that their neat community of 28,000 beco mes an ecotourism center, not a gold-rush town.

巴塔哥尼亚一处偏远的小镇因为发展附近一处原始林的观光业正渐趋繁荣，在这个节骨眼，却如晴天霹雳般得知，当地原来蕴含金矿。没错。三千多位忧心如焚的艾斯圭尔居民最近走上街头，要求将这处拥有两万八千居民的净地作为生态旅游中心，不要沦为淘金城。

Esquel's plight is winning attention from international conservation and environmental groups such as Greenpeace. In Argentina, the town has become a national symbol in the debate over exploitation vs. preservation of the country's vast natural resources.

艾斯圭尔的窘境正获得\"绿色和平\"等国际保育及环保团体的高度关切。在争论阿根廷丰富的自然资源究竟该开发或保育的议题上，该镇俨然成为全国的象征。

About 3.2 million acres already are under contract for mineral exploration in poor and sparsely settled Chubut Province, where Esquel is, near the southern tip of South America. Whether Meridian Gold Corp. gets its open-pit gold mine outside Esquel could determine the fate of mining in Patagonia, a pristine region

spanning southern Argentina and Chile.

艾斯圭尔位于接近南美洲极南点、贫穷而人烟稀少的丘布省内，矿物探勘合约涵盖了该省近三百二十万亩的土地。巴塔哥尼亚高原是横跨阿根廷与智利两国南部的化外之地，而该地采矿业的命运，将取决于MDG公司能否取得艾斯圭尔外围露天金矿的开采权。

Meridian's project, about 5 miles outside Esquel at a higher elevation, is about 20 miles from a national park that preserves rate trees known as alerces, a southern relative of California's giant sequoia. Some of them have been growing serenely in the temperate rain forest for more than 3,000 years.

MDG公司计划开采的地点约在艾斯圭尔五里外海拔高一点的地方，跟一座国家公园约二十里，这座国家公园保育着稀有的落叶柏科树木，一种美国加州红木的南方品种。有些柏树已在这片温带雨林安然度过三千多年了。

The greatest fear is that cyanide, which is used to leach gold from ore, will drain downhill and poison Esquel's and possibly the park's water supplies. The mine will use 180 tons of the deadly chemical each month. Although many townspeople and some geologists disagree, the company says any excess cyanide would drain away from Esquel.

最严重的威胁是，在矿砂滤取黄金的过程中使用的氰化物将会向下排放，污染艾斯圭尔、甚至国家公园的水源。开矿过程每个月会使用一百八十吨的这种致命化学物质。尽管许多镇民和部分地质学家不同意，该公司表示，所有过量的氰化物将全数排出艾斯尔圭。

\"We won't allow them to tear things up and leave us with the toxic aftermath,\" said Felix Aguilar, 28, as he piloted a boatload of tourists through a lake in the Alerces National Park. \"We take care of things here, so that the entire world can hear and see nature in its pure state. The world must help us prevent this.\"

二十八岁的菲力克司亚奇拉在带领一船旅客浏览落叶林国家公园一座湖泊时说：\"我们不会允许他们把事情搞砸，把毒害留给我们。有我们悉心呵护这里的一切，全世界才得以欣赏饱览此地纯朴的自然之美。世界应该和我们一起守护这里。\"

American Douglas Tomkins, the founder of the Esprit clothing line and a prominent global conservationist, has bought more than 800,000 wilderness acres in Chile to preserve alerces and protect what's left of the temperate rain forest. Ted Turner, the communications magnate, also has bought land in Argentine Patagonia with an eye to conservation.

美国服饰品牌Esprit的创始人，也是国际知名自然保育人士的杜格拉斯，汤姆金斯，为保育落叶林及温带雨林内仅存的生物，买下智利八十多万亩的土地。媒体巨子泰德·透纳着眼于环境保育，也买下阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚土地。

A young English botanist named Charles Darwin, the author of the theory of evolution, was the first European to see alerces, with trunks that had a circumference of 130 feet. He gave the tree its generic name, Fitzroya cupressoides, for the captain of his ship, Robert Fitzroy.

进化论的发表人-年轻的英国植物学家查尔斯·达尔文，是第一位见识落叶柏树干圆周

长达一百三十尺的欧洲人。他似他船长的名字罗伯费兹·洛伊，为这种树取了学名\"费兹洛柏\"（即：智利柏）。

Argentina, pressed by the United States, Canada, the World Bank and other global lenders, rewrote its mining laws in the 1990s to encourage foreign investment. Mining companies received incentives such as 30 years without new taxes and duty-free imports of earth-moving equipment.

受到美国、加拿大、世界银行及全球其他债权者频频施压的阿根廷，为了促进外商投资，在九○年代修订了矿业法令。给予矿采业的奖励措施包括三十年免征新税与免税进口矿业开采设备等等。

Argentina took in more than ＄1 billion over the past decade by granting exploration contracts for precious metals to more than 70 foreign and domestic companies. If the country were to turn away a major investor, the message to its mining sector would be chilling.

阿根廷过去十年内与国内外七十多家业者签订贵重矿物开采合约，获得十亿美元以上的利润。如果拒绝主要投资客户，阿根廷的采矿业将面临萧条的景况。

Residents also complain that Argentina hasn't given nature-based tourism a chance.\"If the government invested in us a tenth of the effort they put into mining, things would be a lot different here,\" grumbled Randal Williams, 73, who rents tourist cabins in Esquel.

当地居民也抱怨阿根廷不肯给自然观光业机会。在艾斯圭尔经营观光小屋出租，现年七十三岁的蓝道·威廉斯抱怨：\"当初如果肯花他们投资采矿业资金的十分之一在我们身上的话，事情就会改观了。\"

Forest ecologist Paul Alaback, a University of Montana professor who studies the alerces, said Argentine authorities could gain from Alaska's successful nature-based tourism. \"Nature-based tourism would mean less jobs immediately but would be sustainable. You'd be building on something that is going to grow, not going to go away,\" he said.

蒙大拿大学教授，也是研究落叶植物的森林生态学者保罗，雅勒贝克表示，阿根廷当局可以仿效阿拉斯加自然旅游业的成功之道。\"在当下，发展自然旅游业的确意味着工作机会立即减少，但它却能永续经营。你应该要去建设会茁壮成长的东西，而非日渐消逝的事物。\"

关 键 词

ecotourism // n. 生态旅行

We should protect our natural environment and support ecotourism.

我们应该保护自然环境，支持生态旅游。

pristine // adj. 原始的

The forests on the Alps are still in pristine region, unspoiled by industrialization.

阿尔卑斯山的森林仍是原始林区，未遭工业破坏。

span // v. 横跨，跨越

The government spent two years building a red bridge spanning the gorge.

花了两年的时间建造一座横跨那座峡谷的红桥。

elevation // n. 海拔

The lake on the mountain at an elevation of about 350 meters is our first stop.

山里那座海拔三百五十公尺左右的湖泊是我们的第一站。

leach // v. 过滤

Nitrogen is easily leached from soil because it is more easily dissolved.

氮因为较容易溶解，所以很容易就可以从土壤中过滤出来。

toxic // adj. 有毒的

People in Nazi concentration camps were slaughtered using toxic gas.

纳粹集中营里的人们惨遭毒气杀害。

prominent // adj. 著名的，重要的

Lili played a prominent part in the case.

莉莉在这件案子里扮演举足轻重的角色。

magnate // n.（实业界）巨头，巨子

The press magnate decided on a merger with another company to expand his empire.

那位报巨子决定与另一家公司合并，以扩展他的企业王国。

英语短文：Of Studies

STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one ;but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning, by study; and studies themselves, do give forth directions too

much at large, except they be bounded in by experience......

读书足以怡情，足以傅彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其傅彩也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，然纵观统筹、全局策划，则舍好学深思者莫属。读书费时过多易惰，文采藻饰太盛则矫，全凭条文断事乃学究故态。读书补天然之不足，经验又补读书之不足，盖天生才干犹如自然花草，读书然后知如何修剪移接；而书中所示，如不以经验范之，则又大而无当……

英语短文：美丽的微笑与爱心

美丽的微笑与爱心(Beautiful Smile and Love)

作者介绍: 特蕾莎修女(Mother Teresa,1910-1997)，印度著名的慈善家，印度天主教仁爱传教会创始人，在世界范围内建立了一个庞大的慈善机构网，赢得了国际社会的广泛尊敬。1979年被授予诺贝尔和平奖。本文所选即好在领取该奖项时的演讲辞，语言简洁质朴而感人至深。诺贝尔奖领奖台上响起的声音往往都是文采飞扬、热烈、激昂。而特雷莎修女的演说朴实无华，其所举事例听来似平凡之至，然而其中所蕴含的伟大而神圣的爱感人至深。平凡中孕育伟大，真情才能动人。我们作文时，要善于从自己所熟知的平凡中发掘伟大，以真情来打动读者。

The poor are very wonderful people. One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition，and I told the sisters: You take care of the other three. I take care of this one who looked worse. So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there

was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand as she said just the words \"thank you\" and she died. I could not help but examine my conscience[良心]before her and I asked what would I say if I was in her place. And my answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said I am hungry, that I am dying, I am cold, I am in pain, or something, but she gave me much more-she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face. As did that man whom we picked up from the drain[阴沟、下水道], half eaten with worms, and we brought him to the home. \"I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel, loved and cared for.\" And it was so wonderful to see the greatness of that man who could speak like that, who could die like that without blaming anybody, without cursing anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel-this is the greatness of our people. And that is why we believe what Jesus had said: I was hungry, I was naked, I was homeless, I was unwanted, unloved, uncared for, and you did it to me.

穷人是非常了不起的人。一天晚上，我们外出，从街上带回了四个人，其中一个生命岌岌可危。于是我告诉修女们说：\"你们照料其他三个，这个濒危的人就由我来照顾了。\"就这样，我为她做了我的爱所能做的一切。我将她放在床上，看到她的脸上绽露出如此美丽的微笑。她握着我的手，只说了句\"谢谢您\"就死了。我情不自禁地在她面前审视起自己的良知来。我问自己，如果我是她的话，会说些什么呢？答案很简单，我会尽量引起旁人对我的关注，我会说我饥饿难忍，冷得发抖，奄奄一息，痛苦不堪，诸如此类的话。但是她给我的却更多更多――她给了我她的感激之情。她死时脸上却带着微笑。我们从排水道带回的那个男子也是如此。当时，他几乎全身都快被虫子吃掉了，我们把他带回了家。\"在街上，我一直像个动物一样地活着，但我将像个天使一样地死去，有人爱，有人关心。\"真是太好了，我看到了他的伟大之处，他竟能说出那样的话。他那样地死去，不责怪任何人，

不诅咒任何人，无欲无求。像天使一样――这便是我们的人民的伟大之所在。因此我们相信耶稣所说的话――我饥肠辘辘――我衣不蔽体――我无家可归――我不为人所要，不为人所爱，也不为人所关心――然而，你却为我做了这一切。

I believe that we are not real social workers. We may be doing social work in the eyes of the people, but we are really contemplatives[修行者、沉思冥想的人] in the heart of the world. For we are touching the body of Christ twenty-four hours…And I think that in our family we don't need bombs and guns, to destroy, to bring peace, just get together, love one another, bring that peace, that joy, that strength of presence of each other in the home. And we will be able to overcome all the evil that is in the world.

我想，我们算不上真正的社会工作者。在人们的眼中，或许我们是在做社会工作，但实际上，我们真的只是世界中心的修行者。因为，一天24小时，我们都在触摸的圣体。我想，在我们的大家庭时，我们不需要支和炮弹来破坏和平，或带来和平――我们只需要团结起来，彼此相爱，将和平、欢乐以及每一个家庭成员灵魂的活力都带回世界。这样，我们就能战胜世界上现存的一切。

And with this prize that I have received as a Prize of Peace, I am going to try to make the home for many people who have no home. Because I believe that love begins at home, and if we can create a home for the poor I think that more and more love will spread. And we will be able through this understanding love to bring peace be the good news to the poor. The poor in our own family first, in our country and in the world. To be able to do this, our Sisters, our lives have to be wove with prayer. They have to be woven with Christ to be able to understand, to

be able to share. Because to be woven with Christ is to be able to understand, to be able to share. Because today there is so much suffering…When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person who is shut out, who feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person who has been thrown out from society-that poverty is so full of hurt and so unbearable…And so let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love, and once we begin to love each other naturally we want to do something.

我准备以我所获得的诺贝尔和平奖奖金为那些无家可归的人们建立自己的家园。因为我相信，爱源自家庭，如果我们能为穷人建立家园，我想爱便会传播得更广。而且，我们将通过这种宽容博大的爱而带来和平，成为穷人的福音。首先为我们自己家里的穷人，其次为我们国家，为全世界的穷人。为了做到这一点，姐妹们，我们的生活就必须与祷告紧紧相连，必须同结结一体才能互相体谅，共同分享，因为同结合一体就意味着互相体谅，共同分享。因为，今天的世界上仍有如此多的苦难存在……当我从街上带回一个饥肠辘辘的人时，给他一盘饭，一片面包，我就能使他心满意足了，我就能躯除他的饥饿。但是，如果一个人露宿街头，感到不为人所要，不为人所爱，惶恐不安，被社会抛弃――这样的贫困让人心痛，如此令人无法忍受。因此，让我们总是微笑想见，因为微笑就是爱的开端，一旦我们开始彼此自然地相爱，我们就会想着为对方做点什么了。

英语短篇：想知道梦的成因吗?

Most people often dream at night. When they wake in the morning they say to themselves, \"What a strange dream I had! I wonder what made me dream that.\"

Sometimes dreams are frightening. Sometimes, in dreams, wishes come true. At other times we are troubled by strange dreams in which the world seems to have been turned upside-down1and nothing makes sense.

In dreams we do things which we would never do when we're awake. We think and say things we would never think and say. Why are dreams so strange and unfamiliar? Where do dreams come from?

No one has produced a more satisfying answer than a man called Sigmund Freud. He said that dreams come from a part of one's mind which one can neither recognize nor control. He named this the \"unconscious mind.\"

Sigmund Freud was born about a hundred years ago. He lived most of his life in Vienna, Austria, but ended his days in London, soon after the beginning of the Second World War.

The new worlds Freud explored were inside man himself. For the unconscious mind is like a deep well, full of memories and feelings. These memories and feelings have been stored there from the moment of our birth. Our conscious mind has forgotten them. We do not suspect that they are there until some unhappy or unusual experience causes us to remember, or to dream dreams. Then suddenly we see the same thing and feel the same way we felt when we were little children.

This discovery of Freud's is very important if we wish to understand why

people act as they do. For the unconscious forces inside us are at least as powerful as the conscious forces we know about. Sometimes we do things without knowing why. If we don't, the reasons may lie deep in our unconscious minds.

When Freud was a child he cared about the sufferings of others, so it isn't surprising that he became a doctor when he grew up. He learned all about the way in which the human body works. But he became more and more curious about the human mind. He went to Paris to study with a famous French doctor, Charcot.

At that time it seemed that no one knew very much about the mind. If a person went mad, or 'out of his mind', there was not much that could be done about it. People didn't understand at all what was happening to the madman. Had he been possessed by a devil or evil spirit? Was God punishing him for wrong-doing? Often such people were shut away from the ordinary people as if they had done some terrible crime.

This is still true today in many places. Doctors prefer to experiment on those parts of a man which they can see and examine. If you cut a man's head open you can see his brain. But you can't see his thoughts or ideas or dreams. In Freud's day few doctors were interested in these subjects. Freud wanted to know how our minds work. He learned a lot from Charcot.

He returned to Vienna in 1886 and began work as a doctor in nerve diseases. He got married and began to receive more and more patients at home. Most of the patients who came to see him were women. They were over-excited and

anxious, sick in mind rather than in body. Medicine did not help them. Freud was full of sympathy but he could do little to make them better.

Then one day a friend, Dr Josef Breuer, came to see him. He told Freud about a girl he was looking after. The girl seemed to get better when she was allowed to talk about herself. She told Dr Breuer everything that came into her mind. And each time she talked to him she remembered more about her life as a little child.

Freud was excited when he heard this. He began to try to cure his patients in the same way. He asked about the events of their early childhood. He urged them to talk about their own experiences and relationships. He himself said very little.

Often, as he listened, his patients relived moments from their past life. They trembled with anger and fear, hate and love. They acted as though Freud was their father or mother or lover.

The doctor did not make any attempt to stop them. He quietly accepted whatever they told him, the good things and the bad.

One young woman who came to him couldn't drink anything, although she was very thirsty. Something prevented her from drinking.

Freud discovered the reason for this. One day, as they were talking, the girl remembered having seen a dog drink from her nurse's glass. She hadn't told the nurse, whom she disliked. She had forgotten the whole experience. But suddenly

this childhood memory returned to mind. When she had told it all to Dr Freud--the nurse, the dog, the glass of water --the girl was able to drink again.

Freud called this treatment the 'talking cure'. Later it was called psychoanalysis. When patients talked freely about the things that were troubling them they often felt better.

The things that patients told him sometimes gave Freud a shock. He discovered that the feelings of very young children are not so different from those of their parents. A small boy may love his mother so much that he wants to kill his father. At the same time he loves his father and is deeply ashamed of this wish. It is difficult to live with such mixed feelings, so they fade away1into the unconscious mind and only return in troubled dreams.

It was hard to believe that people could become blind, or lose the power of speech, because of what had happened to them when they were children. Freud was attacked from all sides for what he discovered. But he also found firm friends. Many people believed that he had at last found a way to unlock the secrets of the human mind, and to help people who were very miserable. He had found the answer to many of life's great questions.

He became famous all over the world and taught others to use the talking cure. His influence on modern art, literature and science cannot be measured. People who wrote books and plays, people who painted pictures, people who worked in schools, hospitals and prisons; all these learned something from the great man

who discovered a way into the unconscious mind.

Not all of Freud's ideas are accepted today. But others have followed where he led and have helped us to understand ourselves better. Because of him, and them, there is more hope today than there has ever been before for people who were once just called \"crazy\".

每个人都爱做梦 想知道梦的成因吗

大多数人夜晚经常做梦，早上醒来便自语：\"做了个好奇怪的梦！不知道怎么会梦见这个。\"

有时候梦令人毛骨悚然，有时候梦却使愿望成真，还有的时候怪梦会来打扰我们，梦里的世界好像乱七八糟，不知所云。

在梦里我们会做一些醒着的时候绝不会做的事情，我们想的和说的也非平日所思所言。为什么梦会如此怪异和陌生？梦又是从哪儿来的呢？

迄今为止，除了一个名叫西格蒙特?弗洛伊德的人，没有人能给出更令人满意的答案。据他说梦来自于人无法识别和控制的那部分意识，他称之为\"潜意识\"。

西格蒙特?弗洛伊德出生于大约一百年前，一生大部分时间生活在奥地利的维也纳，二战爆发后不久在伦敦终了一生。

弗洛伊德探索的新世界是人自身的内心世界，因为潜意识就像一口深井，装满了各种记忆和情绪。这些记忆和情绪自我们出生之日起就已经储存在那儿了，而我们有意识的大

脑却已将它们遗忘，直到某次不愉快或不寻常的经历使我们回忆或让我们做梦，我们才不怀疑它们的存在。我们会突然看见儿时见过的东西，感觉也一如从前。

如果我们希望了解人的所作所为，弗洛伊德的这一发现就非常重要，因为我们内心潜意识的力量至少与我们了解的意识力量同样强大。有的时候我们做事情却不知道为什么要这么做，原因可能就在我们深层的潜意识里。

儿时的弗洛伊德就表现出对他人疾苦的关心，所以长大之后做了医生就不足为奇了。他学习掌握了人体各部分的工作原理，但他却对人的意识越来越感兴趣。于是他去了巴黎，师从法国名医夏科特。

那时似乎还没有人对人的意识有太多的了解。如果一个人疯了，或\"精神失常\"了，基本就只能听之任之了。人们完全不知道这个疯子怎么了，是魔鬼附体呢，还是因做孽受到上帝的惩罚呢？这些人常常被关起来，同常人隔离，就像他们犯了什么大罪一样。

即便现在许多地方还是如此。医生们更愿意对人体看得见的器官进行检查、试验，比如你给一个人的头部开刀就可以看到大脑，但你却看不到他的思维、思想或者梦。在弗洛伊德那个时代，几乎没有医生对这些东西感兴趣，他却想知道我们的意识是如何工作的。他从夏科特那儿获益匪浅。

1886年他回到维也纳，开始了精神病医生的职业。他成了家，在家里接待的病人越来越多。她们大多是女性，显得过于激动、焦虑，心病多于体疾，药物帮不了她们的忙。弗洛伊德对此充满同情却无法缓解她们的痛苦。

有一天一个叫约瑟夫?布律尔的医生朋友来看弗洛伊德，说起他正在治疗的一个女孩。

当这个女孩能够畅谈自己的时候她似乎就有所好转。她把脑子里出现的所有事情都和布律尔医生谈，每次谈的时候她都会想起更多儿时的事情。

弗洛伊德听完非常激动，他开始尝试用这种方法来治疗他的病人。他询问他们童年的早期生活，鼓励他们谈自己的经历和人际关系，而他自己却言语无几。

他就这么听着，他的病人们常常说着说着就回到了过去，那些愤怒恐惧、爱恨情仇让他们全身战栗，仿佛面前的弗洛伊德就是他们的父母或恋人。

我们的医生却不去阻止他们，他只是默默地听着他们诉说一切，不论好坏。

其中一位来看病的青年女子，什么都喝不进去，虽然她已非常口渴。一定有什么原因使她无法喝水。

弗洛伊德发现了此事的根源。一天他们谈话的时候，这个女孩回忆起曾见过一只狗在喝她的看护玻璃杯里的水，她不喜欢那个看护，因而没有告诉她。整个事情她都已经忘了，但突然这一儿时的记忆又回到了脑海。她将这一切都告诉了弗洛伊德医生 -- 看护、狗，还有那杯水，这时她又可以喝水了。

弗洛伊德将这样的治疗称为\"倾诉疗法\"，后被命名为\"精神分析\"。病人们畅谈那些困扰他们的事情时他们的感觉往往就好多了。

有的时候病人们的倾诉让弗洛伊德震惊，他发现早期儿童的情感与其父母的情感并无多大差别。一个小男孩对母亲的爱恋可能深到想要杀死自己的父亲，而同时他又爱自己的父亲，因而为自己的想法深感惭愧。这些混杂的情感很难让人接受，所以它们被淡忘于潜

意识里，只有在扰人的梦境中才会重现。

很难相信人会因为儿时的经历而失明或失语，因而弗洛伊德的这一发现遭到来自各方面的攻击，但是他也找到了坚定忠实的朋友。许多人认为他最终找到了一条破解人类意识之谜的途径，从而帮助了那些备受折磨的人们。他找到了解答人生许多重大问题的答案。

他成了世界名人，并向他人传授倾诉疗法。他对现代艺术、文学和科学的影响是不可估量的，不论是作家、剧作家、画家，还是学校、医院和监狱的工作人员，都从这位发现了通往人类潜意识之路的伟人那儿学到了东西。

并不是弗洛伊德所有的思想都被当今社会接受，但是沿着他的道路进行探索的人们却使我们更多地了解了自己。因为他，还有他们，那些曾经被称为\"疯子\"的人如今有了前所未有的希望。

英语短文：自然要多大才足够？

How Much Nature Is Enough?

Even some ardent conservationists acknowledge that the diversity of life on Earth cannot be fully sustained as human populations expand use more resources nudge the climate and move weedlike pests and predators from place to place.

Given that some losses are inevitable the debate among many experts has shifted to an uncomfortable subject what level of loss is acceptable. The discussion is taking place at both the local and global levels How small can a fragment of an

ecosystem be and still function in all its richness and thus be considered preserved﹖ And as global biodiversity diminishes is it a valid fallback strategy to bank organisms and genes in zoos DNA banks or the like or does this simply justify more habitat destruction﹖ Is nature on ice a sufficient substitute for the real thing﹖ Some conservation groups have strenuously avoided or even attacked such calculations and strategies. They say there is no safe diminution of habitat as long as human understanding of ecology is as sketchy as it is a fallback strategy is unthinkable. Furthermore banking nature in a deep freeze or database of gene sequences cannot capture context. For instance even if a vanished bird was someday reconstituted from its genes would it warble with the same fluency as its ancestors﹖ On the other side of the debate those considering what the smallest viable habitats are or how to expand archives as an insurance policy say that recent trends have proved that old conservation strategies are no longer sufficient. A few decades ago the issue seemed fairly uncomplicated identify biological \"hot spots\" or species of concern and establish as many reserves as possible. But the picture has grown murky.

Twentyfour years ago Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy and other biologists began a remarkable experiment on the fasteroding fringe of rain forest near the Brazilian city of Manaus. They established 11 forest tracts ranging from 2.5 to 250 acres each surrounded by an isolating sea of pasture similar to what is advancing around most other tropical forests. Among the many findings an analysis published last week on birds in the lower layers of greenery found that it would take a fragment measuring at least 2 500 acres-10 times as large as the biggest one in the experiment-to prevent a decline of 50 percent in those bird varieties in just 15

years or so.

In the understated language of science the new study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes \"This is unfortunate when one considers that for some species

rich areas of the planet a large proportion of

remaining forest is in fragments smaller than 2 500 acres.\"

In the face of this and other evidence a growing group of conservation biologists say try everything at the same time. \"Clearly the most effective way to protect biodiversity is to protect natural areas \" said Dr. Peter H. Raven the director of the Missouri Botanical Garden \"and to find those organisms most endangered in nature and somehow protect them in type

culture collections botanical

gardens zoos seed banks or whatever.\" But most important he said is to find ways to limit human pressures on the world's last wild places by slowing population growth and using resources more efficiently. One pioneer of genetic deconstruction Dr. J. Craig Venter agrees with Dr. Raven. Dr. Venter has moved from sequencing the DNA of humans and other species to assaying genes in entire ecosystems most recently the waters of the

Sargasso Sea. In five 50

gallon

samples gathered in February he said his team had found 1 million distinct genes quite a haul compared with the 26 000 or so of a human being. And that is the tiniest scratch in the surface he added. His is one effort among many. Britain has a Millennium Seed Bank a growing archive of all the country's plants. The San Diego Zoo has its parallel Frozen Zoo an archive of thousands of DNA samples and cell lines from a host of species. Nonetheless given the overwhelming complexity of nature Dr. Venter added \"we're better off trying to preserve the diversity of what

we have rather than trying to regenerate it in the future.\"

连一些积极的自然资源保护论者都承认，随着人口的膨胀、消耗更多的自然资源、引起气候的变化，以及造成大量害虫和捕食动物的迁移等，地球上的生物多样性肯定不会完全地持续下去。

许多专家的争论焦点已经转到了一个令人不安的话题，假使一些损失是不可避免的，多大程度的损失是可以容忍的呢？关于这个问题的辩论在局部和全球范围两个层面上同时展开：生态系统的一小部分可以小到何种程度仍能维持其完整、丰富的功能，从而可以认为是受到了保护呢？在全球生物多样性减少的过程中，把生物有机体和基因保存在诸如动物园、基因库之类的地方是一种有效的保全策略吗？或者这样做仅仅为更多的（动、植物）栖息地的破坏提供了借口？冷藏的自然能够充分地代替真正的自然吗？一些自然资源保护组织一直极力避开甚至反对这样的推论和策略。他们说，只要人类对生态系统的认识还是一知半解的，那就不存在对栖息地的安全缩小；因此也就谈不上什么保险策略了。更何况，把自然生态深冻起来或者将其存入基因序列数据库并不能保存与其相关的背景。比如，就算一只灭绝的鸟儿某一天被人们从它的基因中重新组合出来，它的啁啾声能像其先辈们一样婉转动听吗？另一方面，寻求最小可行栖地的人们或试图扩大现有档案库作为一种保全策略的人们则说，最近的趋势已经表明，旧的保护策略不再够用了。几十年之前，问题似乎还不是那么复杂：只要确认出那些受到威胁的生态地区或者令人担忧的物种，然后建立尽可能多的保护区就是了。然而，目前这个状况已经变得模糊起来。

24年以前，托马斯?E?洛夫乔伊博士和其他一些生物学家在巴西马瑙斯市附近遭受快速侵蚀的热带雨林地区边缘开始了一项备受瞩目的实验。他们建立了11块森林试验区，面积大小从2.5英亩到250英亩不等，每一块都被一片分割开来的广袤草场包围起来，这些草场与正在向大多数其他热带雨林周边推进的草场相类似。在大量的调查结果中，上周

出版的一篇关于生活在绿地较低层的鸟类的分析报告发现，至少需要一块2500英亩的森林区域--相当于实验中划出来的最大的一块试验区的10倍--才能防止那些鸟类的品种在仅仅15年左右的时间里减少50%。

《美国国家科学院学报》上新刊登的一篇专题研究论文用毫不夸张的科学语言总结道：\"当你考虑到在地球上一些物种资源丰富的地区，留存下来的森林中一大部分是小于2500英亩的分散小块时，这是多么不幸。\"

面对这些情况和其他证据，愈来愈多的自然资源保护生物学家说：应该同时尝试所有可行的办法。美国密苏里州植物园园长彼得?H?雷文博士说：\"显然，最有效的保护生物多样性的方法是保护自然栖息地，同时，还要找出那些自然界中最为濒危的物种，用某种方法把它们保护起来，比如，把它们放入物种培育采集库、植物园、动物园、种子银行等诸如此类的地方。\"他说，但最为重要的是通过减缓人口增长和更有效地利用资源找到减少人类对世界最后原始生态地区的压力的方法。遗传解构学的先驱之一，J?克雷格?文特尔博士同意这一看法。文特尔博士从对人类和其他物种的DNA基因排序的研究转到了对整个生态系统的基因分析，最近开始了对马尾藻海海水的研究。他说，他的小组在2月份（指2003年2月份--译者）收集的5份50加仑的样本中发现了上百万种不同的基因类型，这与人类个体具有的约26000种基因相比实在是太多了。他补充说，这不过才触及到皮毛而已。他所做的只是许多努力中的一部分。英国有一个\"千禧年种子银行\"。它不断扩大，收藏了该国所有植物。（美国）圣地亚哥动物园有一座与其相应的\"冷藏动物园\"，其中保存了许多物种的数千个DNA样本和细胞株的资料。即使如此，考虑到自然界极为复杂，文特尔博士补充说：\"如果我们尽力保护好现存生物的多样性，而不是试图在将来去重新创造它，我们才更明智。\"

英语短文：The Last Class(最后一课)

都德的《最后一课》相信大家都在课本上读过，故事借亚尔萨斯省一个小孩小弗朗士的自述，具体地描写一所小学所上的最后一堂法文课。作家回避了普法战争的正面战场，而把笔墨转向一幅极为平常的生活画面：小学生迟到，老师讲课、提问，习字，拼音练习，下课……描写极为冷静、客观、朴素，却极具感染力。我们就用这部名篇的英文译本来体会一下：

I was very late for school that morning, and I was terribly afraid of being scolded[责骂], especially as Monsieur[法语:先生] Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles[分词], and I did not know the first thing about them. For a moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the fields. It was such a warm, lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the Rippert field, behind the sawmill[锯木厂], the Prussians going through their drill. All that was much more tempting to me than the rules concerning participles; but I had the strength to resist, and I ran as fast as I could to school.

那天早晨，我去上学，去得非常晚，我好害怕被责骂，特别是，阿麦尔先生跟我们说过，他要考一考分词规则，而我连头一个字都不会。这时，在我的头脑里冒出了逃学、去田野跑一跑的念头。天气是那么暖和，那么晴朗！我听见乌鸦在小树林边鸣叫，普鲁士人正在锯木厂后面的里贝尔草地上操练。所有这一切都比分词规则更吸引我，但我还是顶住了诱惑，加快脚步向学校方向跑去。

As I passed the mayor's office, I saw that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that board-battles lost, conscriptions[征兵], orders from headquarters;

and I thought without stopping:

\"What can it be now?\"

从村门前经过的时候，我看见许多人站在小布告栏前。这两年来，所有的坏消息，诸如吃败仗啦，征兵征物啦，还有普鲁士占领军司令部发布的命令啦，都是从那里来的。我边跑边想：\"又有什么事吗？\"

Then, as I ran across the square, Wachter the blacksmith, who stood there with his apprentice[学徒], reading the placard[布告], called out to me:

\"Don't hurry so, my boy; you'll get to your school soon enough!\"

I thought that he was making fun of me, and I ran into Monsieur Hamel's little yard all out of breath.

当我跑着穿过广场的时候，正在布告栏前和徒弟一起看布告的瓦克特尔铁匠朝我高喊：\"小家伙，不用赶得那么急；你去得再晚也不会迟到的！\"我以为他在跟我开玩笑，便上气不接下气地跑进阿麦尔先生的小教室。

Usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar[喧嚣] which could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons repeated aloud in unison[一致], with our ears stuffed in order to learn quicker, and the teacher's stout ruler beating on the desk:

\"A little more quiet!\"

往常，开始上课的时候，总是一片乱哄哄的嘈杂声，斜面课桌的开关声，同学们一起捂住耳朵高声背诵课文的声音，街上都听得见。先生的大戒尺敲打着课桌：\"安静一点！\"

I counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed; but as it happened, that day everything was quiet, like a Sunday morning. Through the open window I saw my comrades already in their places, and Monsieur Hamel walking back and forth[向前] with the terrible iron ruler under his arm. I had no open the door and enter, in the midst of that perfect silence. You can imagine whether I blushed[羞愧] and whether I was afraid!

我打算趁这片嘈杂声，偷偷地溜到我的座位上去。可是，这一天不同于往常，一切都很安静，就像是星期天的早晨。透过敞开的窗户，我看见同学们已经整整齐齐地坐在他们的座上，阿麦尔先生腋下夹着那把可怕的铁戒尺，来回地踱着步子。必须推开教室门，在这一片静谧中走进教室。你们想一想，当时我是多么尴尬，多么害怕！

But no! Monsieur Hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very gently:

\"Go at once to your seat, my little Frantz; we were going to begin without you.\"

可是，没有。阿麦尔先生看着我，没有生气，而是非常温和地对我说：\"快点回到座位上，我的小弗朗茨；我们就要开始上课了。\"

I stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. Not until then,

when I had partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black silk embroidered breeches, which he wore only on days of inspection or of distribution of prizes. Moreover, there was something extraordinary, something solemn about the whole class. But what surprised me most was to see at the back of the room, on the benches which were usually empty, some people from the village sitting, as silent as we were: old Hauser with his three-cornered hat, the ex-mayor, the ex-postman, and others besides. They all seemed depressed; and Hauser had brought an old spelling-book with gnawed edges, which he held wide-open on his knee, with his great spectacles askew.

我跨过凳子，马上坐到座位上。我从惊慌中稍稍定下神来，这才注意到，我们的老师穿着他那件漂亮的绿色常礼服，领口系着折迭得很精致的领结，头上戴着那顶刺绣的黑绸小圆帽，这套装束，只有在上头派人来学校视察或学校发奖时他才穿戴的。此外，整个教室也有一种不同寻常的庄严的气氛。但是，最使我吃惊的是，看到教室面，那些平常空着的凳子上，坐着一些跟我们一样默不作声的村里的人，有头戴三角帽的奥泽尔老人，有前任镇长，有以前的邮递员，另外还有其他人。所有这些人都显得很忧伤；奥泽尔老人还带了一本边角都已破损的旧识字课本，摊放在膝头上，课本上横放着他那副大眼镜。

While I was wondering at all this, Monsieur Hamel had mounted his platform, and in the same gentle and serious voice with which he had welcomed me, he said to us:

\"My children, this is the last time that I shall teach you. Orders have come from Berlin to teach nothing but German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new

teacher arrives to-morrow. This is the last class in French, so I beg you to be very attentive.\"

正当我对这一切感到惊诧莫名时，阿麦尔先生在椅子上坐下，用刚才对我说话的那种既温和又庄重的声音，对我们说道：\"孩子们，我这是最后一次给你们上课了。柏林来了命令，阿尔萨斯和洛林两省的学校只准教德语……新的老师明天就到。今天是你们最后一堂法语课，所以我请你们一定专心听讲。\"

Those few words overwhelmed me. Ah! the villains! that was what they had posted at the mayor's office.

这几句话使我惊呆了。啊！这些坏蛋，他们贴在村布告栏上的就是这个消息。

My last class in French!

And I barely knew how to write! So I should never learn! I must stop short where I was! How angry I was with myself because of the time I had wasted, the lessons I had missed, running about after nests, or sliding on the Saar! My books, which only a moment before I thought so tiresome, so heavy to carry-my grammar, my sacred history-seemed to me now like old friends, from whom I should be terribly grieved to part. And it was the same about Monsieur Hamel. The thought that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget the punishments, the blows with the ruler.

我的最后一堂法语课！……我只是刚刚学会写字！今后永远也学不到法语！法语就到此

为止了！我现在是多么悔恨自己蹉跎光阴啊！悔恨自己从前逃课去掏鸟窝，去萨尔河溜冰！我的那些书，我的语法课本，我的神圣的历史书，刚才背在身上还觉得那么讨厌，那么沉重，现在却像老朋友一样，让我难舍难分。还有阿麦尔先生。一想到他就要走了，再也见不到了，我就忘记了以前的处惩和挨打。

Poor man! It was in honour of that last lesson that he had put on his fine Sunday clothes; and I understood now why those old fellows from the village were sitting at the end of the room. It seemed to mean that they regretted not having come oftener to the school. It was also a way of thanking our teacher for his forty years of faithful service, and of paying their respects to the fatherland which was vanishing.

可怜的人！他身着漂亮的节日盛装，为的是庆贺这最后的一堂课。现在，我明白了为什么村里的老人都坐在教室后面。这好像在说，他们后悔从前不常来学校。这也像是对我们的老师四十年的优秀教学，对今后不属于他们的国土表示他们的敬意的一种方式……\"

I was at that point in my reflections, when I heard my name called. It was my turn to recite. What would I not have given to be able to say from beginning to end that famous rule about participles, in a loud, distinct voice, without a slip! But I got mixed up at the first words, and I stood there swaying against my bench, with a full heart, afraid to raise my head. I heard Monsieur Hamel speaking to me:

我正限于沉思之中，突然我听见叫我的名字。轮到我背分词规则了。要是我能把这条重要的分词规则大声、清晰、准确无误地从头背到尾，有什么代价我不愿付出呢？但是，我连开始的那些词都搞不清楚。我站在凳子前面，左摇右晃，心里难受极了，不敢抬头。

我听见阿麦尔先生说话：

\"I will not scold you, my little Frantz; you must be punished enough; that is the way it goes; every day we say to ourselves: 'Pshaw! I have time enough. I will learn to-morrow.' And then you see what happens. Ah! it has been the great misfortune of our Alsace always to postpone its lessons until to-morrow. Now those people are entitled to say to us: 'What! you claim to be French, and you can neither speak nor write your language!' In all this, my poor Frantz, you are not the guiltiest one. We all have our fair share of reproaches to address to ourselves.

\"我不责备你，我的小弗朗茨，你可能受够了惩罚……事情就是如此。每天，我们都对自己说：算了吧！我有的是时间。我明天再学。现在，你知道出了什么事……唉！我们阿尔萨斯人的最大不幸就是把教育拖延到明天。现在，那些人有权利对我们说：'怎么！你们声称自己是法国人，可你们即不会说也不会写你们的语言！'……我可怜的弗朗茨，造成所有这一切，责任最大的并不是你。我们每个人都有许多应该责备自己的地方。

\"Your parents have not been careful enough to see that you were educated. They preferred to send you to work in the fields or in the factories, in order to have a few more sous. And have I nothing to reproach myself for? Have I not often made you water my garden instead of studying? And when I wanted to go fishing for trout, have I ever hesitated to dismiss you?\"

\"你们的父母没有尽心让你们好好读书。他们宁愿把你们打发到田里或纱厂里去干活，为的是多挣几个钱。我自己呢，难道我一点也没有应该责备自己的地方吗？我不也是经常让你们到我的花园浇水以此代替学习吗？当我想钓鳟鱼的时候，我不是随随便便就给你们

放假吗？\"

Then, passing from one thing to another, Monsieur Hamel began to talk to us about the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world, the most clear, the most substantial; that we must always retain it among ourselves, and never forget it, because when a people falls into servitude, \"so long as it clings to its language, it is as if it held the key to its prison.\" Then he took the grammer and read us our lesson. I was amazed to see how readily I understood. Everything that he said seemed so easy to me, so easy. I believed, too, that I had never listened so closely, and that he, for his part, had never been so patient with his explanations. One would have said that, before going away, the poor man desired to give us all his knowledge, to force it all into our heads at a single blow.

阿麦尔先生从一件事谈到另一件事，然后开始给我们语，他说，法语是世界上最优美的语言，是最清晰的语言，最严谨的语言，我们应该掌握它，永远也不要忘记，因为，当一个民族沦为奴隶时，只要它好好地保存自己的语言，就好像掌握了打开监牢的钥匙……然后，他拿了一本语法书，我们开始朗诵课文。令我吃惊的是，我竟理解得这么透彻。他所讲的一切对我都显得很容易，很容易。我同样觉得，我还从来没有这么认真听讲过，他也从来没有这样耐心讲解过。这个可怜的人，仿佛想在离开这里以前，把他全部的知识都灌输给我们，让我们一下子掌握这些知识。

When the lesson was at an end, we passed to writing. For that day Monsieur Hamel had prepared some entirely new examples, on which was written in a fine, round hand:\"France, Alsace, France, Alsace.\" They were like little flags, waving all about the class, hanging from the rods of our desks. You should have seen how

hard we all worked and how silent it was! Nothing could be heard save the grinding of the pens over the paper. At one time some cock-chafers flew in; but no one paid any attention to them, not even the little fellows who were struggling with their straight lines, with a will and conscientious application, as if even the lines were French. On the roof of the schoolhouse, pigeons cooed in low tones, and I said to myself as I listened to them:

\"I wonder if they are going to compel them to sing in German too!\"

课文讲解完了，我们开始练习写字。这一天，阿麦尔先生为我们准备了许多崭新的字卡样，上面用美丽的圆体字写着：法兰西，阿尔萨斯，法兰西，阿尔萨斯。这些字帖卡片悬挂在我们课桌的金属杆上，就像许多小旗在教室里飘扬。该知道每个人都是那样聚精会神，教室里是那样寂静无声！只听得见笔尖在纸上的沙沙声。有一回，几只金龟子跑进了教室，但是谁也不去注意它们，连年龄最小的也不例外，他们正专心致志地练直杠笔划，仿佛这些笔划也是法语……学校的屋顶上，鸽子低声地咕咕地叫着，我一边听，一边寻思：\"他们该不会强迫这些鸽子用德语唱歌吧？\"

From time to time, when I raised my eyes from my paper. I saw Monsieur Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and staring at the objects about him as if he wished to carry away in his glance the whole of his little schoolhouse. Think of it! For forty years he had been there in the same place, with his yard in front of him and his class just as it was! But the benches and desks were polished and rubbed by use; the walnuts in the yard had grown, and the hop-vine which he himself had planted now festooned the windows even to the roof. What a heart-rending thing it must have been for that poor man to leave all those things, and to hear his sister

walking back and forth in the room overhead, packing their trunks! For they were to go away the next day-to leave the province forever.

我时不时地从书本上抬起眼睛，看见阿麦尔先生一动不动地坐在椅子上，注视着周围的一切东西，仿佛要把这个小小教室里的一切都装进目光里带走……可想而知！四十年来，他一直呆在这个地方，守着对面的院子和一直没有变样的教室。唯独教室里的凳子、课桌被学生磨光滑了；院子里的胡桃树长高了，他自己亲手种下的那棵啤酒花如今爬满了窗户，爬上了屋顶。这个可怜的人听到他妹妹在楼上的卧室里来来回回地收拾行李，想到自己就要告别眼前的一切，这对他来说是多么伤心难过的事啊！因为，他们明天就要动身了，永远离开自己的家乡。

However, he had the courage to keep the class to the end. After the writing, we had the lesson in history; then the little ones sang all together the ba, be, bi, bo, bu. Yonder, at the back of the room, old Hauser had put on his spectacles, and, holding his spelling-book in both hands, he spelled out the letters with them. I could see that he too was applying himself. His voice shook with emotion, and it was so funny to hear him, that we all longed to laugh and to cry. Ah! I shall remember that last class.

他竟然还有勇气把我们的课上完。习字过后，我们上了历史课；接着小家伙们一起唱起了Ｂａ Ｂｅ Ｂｉ Ｂｏ Ｂｕ。教室后头，奥泽尔老人戴上了眼镜，两手捧着识字课本，跟我们一起拼读。我发现他也一样专心，他的声音由于激动而颤抖，听起来很滑稽，叫我们又想笑又想哭。噢！我将永远也不会忘记这最后的一课……

Suddenly the church clock struck twelve, then the Angelus rang. At the same

moment, the bugles of the Prussians returning from drill blared under our windows. Monsieur Hamel rose, pale as death, from his chair. Never had he seemed to me so tall.

突然，教堂的钟声敲了十二下，而后是祈祷的钟声。与此同时，普鲁士士兵的操练完回营的号声在我们的窗户下回响……阿麦尔先生从椅子上站了起来，面色十分苍白。他在我的心目中，从来也没有显得这么高大。

\"My friends,\" he said, \"my friends, I-I-\"

\"我的朋友们，\"他说道，\"我的朋友们，我……我……\"

But something suffocated him. He could not finish the sentence.

Thereupon he turned to the blackboard, took a piece of chalk, and, bearing on with all his might, he wrote in the largest letters he could:

但是，有什么东西堵住了他的喉咙。他没能说完这句话。这时，他转过身子，拿起一截粉笔，使尽了全身力气，在黑板上尽可能大地写下几个字：

\"VIVE LA FRANCE!\"

Then he stood there, with his head resting against the wall, and without speaking, he motioned to us with his hand:

\"That is all; go.\"

\"法兰西万岁！\"

然后，他呆在那里，头靠着墙壁，一句话也不说，只是用手向我们示意：

\"课完了……你们走吧\"

英语短文：学习秘籍·每天只需15分钟

Give us 15 Minutes A Day

Your boss has a bigger vocabulary than you have.

That's one good reason why he's your boss.

This discovery has been made in the word laboratories of the world. Not by theoretical English professors, but by practical, hard-headed scholars who have been searching for the secrets of success.

After a host of experiments and years of testing they have found out:

That if your vocabulary is limited your chances of success are limited.

That one of the easiest and quickest ways to get ahead is by consciously building up your knowledge of words.

That the vocabularyl of the average person almost stops growing by the

middle twenties.

And that from then on it is necessary to have an intelligent plan if progress is to be made. No haphazard hit-or-miss methods will do.

It has long since been satisfactorily established that a high executive does not have a large vocabulary merely because of the opportunities of his position. That would be putting the cart before the horse. Quite the reverse is true. His skill in words was a tremendous help in getting him his job.

Dr.Johnson O';Connor of thee Human Engineering Laboratory of Boston and of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, gave a vocabulary test to 100 young men who were studying to be industrial executives.

Five years later those who had passed in the upper ten percent all., without exception, had executive positions, while not a single young man of the lower twenty-five per cent had become an executive.

You see, there are certain factors in success that can be measured as scientifically as the contents of a test-tube, and it has been discovered that the most common characteristic of outstanding success is \"an extensive knowledge of the exact meaning of English words\".

The extent of your vocabulary indicates the degree of your intelligence. Your brain power will increase as you learn to know more words. Here's the proof.

Two classes in a high school were selected for an experiment. Their ages and their environment were the same. Each class represented an identical cross-section of the community. One, the control class, took the normal courses. The other class was given special vocabulary training. At the end of the period the marks of the latter class surpassed those of the control group, not only in English, but in every subject, including mathematics and the sciences.

Similarly it has been found by Professor Lewis M.Terman, of Stanford University, that a vocabulary test is as accurate a measure of intelligence as any three units of the standard and accepted Stanford-Binet I.Q.tests.

The study of words is not merely something that has to do with literature. Words are your tools of thought. You can't even think at all without them. Try it. If you are planning to go down town this afternoon you will find that you are saying to yourself:\"I think I will go down town this afternoon.\" You can't make such a simple decision as this without using words.

Without words you could make no decisions and from no judgments whatsoever. A pianist may have the most beautiful tunes in his head, but if he had only five keys on his piano he would never get more than a fraction of these tunes out.

Your words are your keys for your thoughts. And the more words you have at your command the deeper, clearer and more accurate will be your thinking.

A command of English will not only improve the. processes of your mind. It will give you assurance; build your self-confidence; lend color to your personality; increase your popularity. Your words are your personality. Your vocabulary is you.

Your words are all that we, your friends, have to know and judge you by. You have no other medium for telling us your thoughts-for convincing us, persuading us, giving us orders.

Words are explosive. Phrases are packed with TNT.A simple word can destroy a friendship, land a large order. The proper phrases in the mouths of clerks have quadrupled the proper phrases inthe mouths of clerks have quadrupled the sales of a department store. The wrong words used by a campaign orator have lost an election. For instance, on one occasion the four unfortunate words, \"Rum, Romanism and a Rebellion\" used in a Republican campaign speech threw the Catholic vote and the presidential victory to Grover Cleveland. Ears are won by words. Soldiers fight for a phrase.\"Make the world safe for Democracy.\" \"All out for England.\" \"V for Victory.\" The \" Remember the Maine\" of Spanish war days has now been changed to \"Remember Pearl Harbor.\"

Words have changed the direction of history. Words van also change the direction of your life. They have often raised a man from mediocrity to success.

If you consciously increase your vocabulary you will unconsciously raise yourself to a more important station in life, and the new and higher position you have won will, in turn, give you a better opportunity for further enriching your

vocabulary. It is a beautiful and successful cycle.

It is because of this intimate connection between words and life itself that we have organized this small volume in a new way. We have not given you mere lists of unrelated words to learn. We have grouped the words around various departments of your life.

This book is planned to enlist your active cooperation. The authors wish you to read it with a pencil in your hand, for you will often be asked to make certain notations,to write answers to particular questions. The more you use your pencil, the more deeply you will become involved, and the deeper your involvement the more this book will help you. We shall occasionally ask you to use your voice as your pencil-to say things out loud. You see, we really want you to keep up a running conversation with us.

It's fun. And it's so easy. And we've made it like a game. We have filled these pages with a collection of devices that we hope will be stimulating. Here are things to challenge you and your friends. Try these tests on your acquaintances. They will enjoy them and it may encourage them to wider explorations in this exciting field of speech. There are entertaining verbal calisthenics here, colorful facts about language, and many excursions among the words that keep our speech the rich, flexible, lively means of communication that it is.

Come to this book every day. Put the volume by your bedside, if you like. A short time spent on these pages before you turn the lights out each night is better

than an irregular hour now and then. If you can find the time to learn only two or three words a day-we will still promise you that at the end of thirty days you will have found a new interest. Give us fifteen minutes a day, and we will guarantee, at the end of a month, when you have turned over the last page of this book, that your words and your reading and your conversation and your life will all have a new and deeper meaning for you.

For words can make you great!

[参考译文]

每天只需15分钟

你老板的词汇量比你的词汇量大。

这是他为什么会成为你老板的一个重要原因。

这一发现是在世界各地的语言实验室里得来的。它不是那些池有理论的英语教授信口胡诌的，而是那些一直以来就在探讨着成功斩秘诀、精明而又计求实际的学者们发现的。

在经历了大量的试验和多年的验证之后，他们发现：

如果你的词汇量不大，你成功的机会也就不多。

最简洁而又最迅速的改进方法之一就是有意识地扩大你的词汇知识。

普通人的词汇量到了二十五六岁左右就几乎停止增长了。

从那以后要想继续啬词汇量就必须有一个精心设计的计划。随意安排的、漫无目的计划是不起作用的。

长期以来人们就有呈个想当然的看法：高级行政管理人员不会有很大的词汇量，因为处不那个位置上，他有的是机会。这未免有点本末倒置了。实际情况恰恰相反。他的言语技巧对他获得那个职位有着巨大的帮助。

约翰逊·欧·康纳博士为波士顿的人才管理实验室和新泽西州霍博肯市的史蒂文斯理工学院工作，他曾对100名学工业行政管理的年青人做过一次词汇测试。

五年以后那些在考试中名列前十位的人全部地、无一例外地跨上了管理岗位，而考试中位列后二十五名的人中没有一个能当上受理人员。

你瞧，有一些成功的因素是要以像试管里的物质那样被精确测量的，而人们发现，获得杰出成贵州省的一个最普遍的要素就是\"大量而准确地掌握英语词汇\"。

你对词汇的把握程度反映了你的智力水平，当你通过学习掌握了更多的词汇析时候，偿大脑的思维能力也会啬。以下事例就可以证明这一点。

一所高中的两个班被挑选徕做了一个试验。年龄相仿，所处的环境相同。每个班都代表着整个社会的一个完全相当的横截面。其中一个班被作为参照班，只上普通班应上的课程。另一个班则附加特别的词汇训练。到试验期结束的时候，后一个班的成绩，不音是英语成绩，而是每一科的成绩，包括数学和自然学科成绩全都超过了参照班的成绩。无独有

偶，斯坦福大学的路易斯·M·特曼教授也发现，词汇测试与三套普遍被人接受的斯坦福·宾尼特标准智商测试题中的任何一套一样，可以准确地测定智力。

词汇学习并非只是某种与文学有关的事情。词汇是思维的工具。滑有了词汇你甚至根本无法思维。你可以试一试。如果你打算今天下午进城，你会发现你在对自己说：\"我候今天下午我要进趟城。\"不借助词的话，你就连这样一个简单的决定也作不了。

没有了词汇佻什么决定也作不了，什么判断也作不成。一位钢琴家的脑袋中可能想到了一首美妙的曲子，但是如果他的钢琴上只有五个音键的话，他永远也只能演奏出这首曲子的一些破碎的片段。你的文科是你思维的关键。你所掌握的词汇越多，你的思想就越深邃、越清晰、越准确。

掌握英语不仅可以改进偿的思维方式，它还给你信心，令你自信，带给你鲜明的个性，使你更受欢迎。你的用词反映了你的个性。所谓词如其人。作为你的朋友，我们大家都是从你的言辞中来了解你和评价你的。除此以外，你无法用别的什么交际手段来告诉我们你的想法--无法使我们信服，无法劝服我们，无法给我们下命令。

单词是具有破坏性的。词组中则充斥着火药。一个简简单单的词可以摧垮一份友谊，可以使 一大批订货泡汤。售货员言辞得体的话可以使商场的销售额翻两番。况选演说者用词失当则会使他竞选失利。例如，在一次共和党的竞选学说中，因演讲者不慎将\"离厅古怪，罗马一塌胡涂主教和叛乱\"等词 连在了一起，结果罗马天主教徒都投了格洛弗·克利夫兰的标，让他赢得了总统竞选的胜利。战争也要靠言语来获胜。战士们往往为一句中号而战。\"为保卫世界民主而战。\"\"一切为了英格兰。\"\"必胜。\"西班牙内时代的口号是\"牢记缅因河\"，如今已换成\"牢记珍珠港\"了。

词汇曾改变过历史的方向。词汇也能改变你生活的方向。它们常常使一个平凡之辈迈向成功。如果你在有意识地增加着你的词汇量，你将在不知不觉中爬到一个更显要的位置上，得到这个新的，更高的位置以后，反过来，你又会有更好的机会进一步丰富你的词汇量。这是一个诱人的、带给人成功的循环过程。

正因为词和生活本身有着如此密切的关系，所以我们采用了一种新的方式来编排这本小书。我们不会让你学记由一组组毫无联系的词汇组成的词汇表。我们将词汇按照生活的各个方面组合了起来。这本书的编排设计是建立在你会积极合作的假想基础上的。作者们希望你在读这本书的时候手里要拿上一支铅笔，因为我们要求你经常做点笔记，或是将一些具体问题的答案写下来。你动笔的时候越多，你就会看得越投入，而你越投入这本书对你就越有帮助。除了动笔之外，我们还会不时地让你动动嘴--要求你把一些东西大声地说出来。你知道，我们的确希望你能不断地与我们对话。

这很有趣。也很容易做到。而且我们还把它弄得像做游戏。我们在书里集中了各种测试手段，希望它们能够富于刺激性。这是对你和你的朋友们的挑战。用这些试题去考考你的熟人吧。他们会从中得到乐趣并受到鼓舞，从而进一步深入地探索这一令人激动的言语领域。书中编排有游戏型的动词健美操，介绍了形形色色的语言客观存在，还谈到了词语间的游离现象，正是它们丰富了我们的言语，使之富于变化，并形成了现在这样一个富有生气的交际工具。

每天都读一读这本书。如果你喜欢的话，就把这本书带在身边。每天晚上关灯之前花一点时间读上几页书要比时不时不定期地花上个把小时来读要好。即使你每天只腾得出时间学两到三个单词--我们仍可向你保证,30天以后你将会得到新的兴趣。如果你每天花上15分钟的话，我们就可以保证，一个月之后，当你翻过了这本书的最后一页时。你的词汇，你的阅读能力，你的谈话技巧，乃至你的生活都将会达到一个更新和更高的程度。

因为词将使你卓越不凡！

英语短文：\"Packaging\" A Person 人的包装

A person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration, however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely.

A young person, especially a female, radiant with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted by God. Any attempt to make up would be self-defeating. Youth, however, comes and goes in a moment of doze. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to conceal the furrows ploughed by time. If you still enjoy life's exuberance enough to retain self-confidence and pursue pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your charm and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life which now arrives at a complacent stage of serenity indifferent to fame or wealth. There is no need to resort to hair-dyeing-the snow-capped mountain is itself a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old synchronizing with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the

elder's company is like reading a thick book of de luxe edition that fascinates one so much as to be reluctant to part with.

As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity establishes its brand by the right packaging.

[参考译文]

人如商品要包装，但切忌过分包装。夸张包装，要善于展示个性的独特品质。在随意与自然中表现人的个性美，重要的是认识自己，包装的高手在于不留痕迹，外在的一切应与自身浑然一体，这时你不再是商品，而是活生生的人。

青年有着充盈的生命的底气，她亮丽诱人，这是上帝赐予的神采，任何涂抹都是多余的败笔，青春是个打个盹就过去的东西。中年的包装主要是修复岁月的磨损，如果中年的生命依然有开拓丰满与自信，便会成年人，如果你生命的河流正常地流过，流过了平原高山和丛林，那么你是美的。你的美充满了安详与淡泊，因为你真正地生活过。老年人不要去染白发，老人的白发像高山的积雪，有种仙境之美。人该年轻时就年轻，该年老时就年老，这是与自然同步，这就是和谐。和谐就是美，反之就是丑。和老年人在一起就像读一本厚厚的精装书，魅力无穷，令人爱不释手。

英语短篇：Self-Awareness(自我意识)

The man who is aware of himself is henceforth independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and hrough with profound yet temperate happiness. Healone lives, while other people, slaves of

ceremony, let life slip past time in a kind of dream. Once conform ,once do what other people do finer than they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul, He becomes all outer show and inward emptiness; dull, callous, and indifferent.

凡是意识到自我的人从今往后才是的；他永远不知疲倦，他明白生命苦短，所以完全沉浸于深深的而又适度的幸福之中。他生活，而别人是繁文缛节的奴隶，在醉生梦死之中听从生命悄然流逝。一旦循规蹈矩，一旦人为亦为，呆滞就笼罩着灵魂中一切灵敏的神经和官能。灵魂变得徒有其表，其中空空；迟钝，木然、冷漠。

英语短篇：Love Your Life(热爱生活)

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hourss, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means. which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, Turn the old, return to

them. Things do not change;we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。

英语短文：Peer Support(互助的意义)

Henry ford didn't always pay attention in school. One day, he and a friend took a watch apart. Angry and upset, the teacher told him both to stay after school. Their punishment was to stay until they had fixed the watch. But the teacher did not know young ford's genius. In ten minutes, this mechanical wizard had repaired the watch and was on this way home..

Ford was always interested in how things worked. He once plugged up the spout of a teapot and placed it on the fire. Then he waited to see what would happen. The water boiled and, of course, turned to steam. Since the steam had no way to escape, the teapot exploded. The explosion cracked a mirror and broke a

window. The young inventor was badly scalded ford's year of curiosity and tinkering paid off. He dreamed of a horseless carriage. When he built one, the world of transportation was changed forever.

亨利.福特在学校里常常心不在焉。有一天，他和一个小朋友把一块手表拆开了。老师很生气，让他们放学后留下来，把表修好才能回家。当时这位老师并不知道小福特的天才。只用了十分钟，这位机械奇才就把手表修好，走在回家的路上了。

福特对各种东西的工作原理总是很感兴趣。曾有一次，他把茶壶嘴用东西堵住，然后把茶壶放在火炉上。他便站在一边等候着会出现什么情况。当然，水开后变成了水蒸气。因为水蒸气无处逸出，茶壶便爆炸了，因而打碎了一面镜子和一扇窗户。这个小发明家也被严重地烫伤了。多年后，福特的好奇心和他的动手能力使他得到了回报。他曾经梦想着去制造一辆无马行进的车。他造成了一辆这样的车后，运输界发生了永久性的变化。

英语短篇：Friends(朋友)

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

真正的朋友是一个可以援手帮助并感动你心扉的人。

There's always going to be people that hurt you,so what you have to do is keep on trusting and just be more careful about who you trust next time around.

别人常常伤害你，所以你该继续付出信任，并小心挑选你下次信任的人。

Make youself a better person and know who you are before you try and know someone else and expect them to know you.

在你想了解别人也想让别人了解你之前，先完善并了解自己。

Remember:Whatever happens,happens for a reason.

要记住：任何事情的发生都有因有起。

How many people actually have 8 true friends?Hardly anyone I know.But some of us have all right friends and good friends.

有多少人可以拥有八个真正的朋友？就我所知少之又少。但我们会有泛泛之交和好友。

英语短文：Elections(美国的选举)

Suprises often come in boxes. Birthday presents wrapped in colorful paper, brown paper packages mailed from a friend. No matter what kind of box it is, people like to open it up and see what's inside. In America, and in many other countries, one special kind of box contains the future. It's called a ballot box. What people put into the box on election day can change the course of history.

惊奇常常是在箱子里出现：包在彩色包装纸里面的生日礼物…朋友寄来牛皮纸包的包裹…不论是怎样的箱子，人们喜欢打开来看看里面是什么。在美国以及其它许多国家，有一个特殊的箱子关系着未来，称为投票箱。人们在选举日投在箱子里的东西可以改变历史的走向。

Elections are the lifeblood of a democracy. The word democracy literally means \"the people rule,\" an important concept in America's history. In the mid-1700s, England began passing laws that made the American colonies angry. The colonists had to pay more and more taxes and enjoyed less and less freedom. They felt the government of England didn't represent their interests. On July 4, 1776, the colonies declared their independence from England. They wanted to establish a democracy where people could have a voice in government.

选举是民主的原动力。民主这个字照字面的意思是\"人民自主\"，是美国历史中一个重要的观念。十八世纪中期，英国开始通过一些使美国殖民地愤怒的法律。殖民地人民必须付愈来愈多的税，享有愈来愈少的自由。他们感到英国没有代表他们的权益。一七七六年七月四日，殖民地宣布脱离英国。他们想要建立民主制度，使人们在中有发言权。

An effective democracy holds regular elections. In America, elections are held every two years for members of Congress. In these elections, all seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs. In addition, every four years, voters go to the polls to elect the nation's president and vice-president. Voters also regularly cast their ballots for state and city government leaders and local school board members. Sometimes they also have to vote on a proposed law.

有效的民主制度定期举行选举。在美国，每两年选一次国会议员。在这些选举中，人们可以争取所有众议院的席位和三分之一的参议院席位。除此以外，选民每四年去投票所选出国家的总统和副总统。选民也定期投票选出州长、及当地学校的董事会成员。有

时他们也必须投票决定提议的法律。

In the American electoral system, people don't really vote for presidential candidates. Instead, voters cast their ballots for \"electors\" who support each candidate. Each state has as many electors as the total number of its representatives in Congress. This equals two senators per state plus the number of its representatives in the House (which is based on the state's population). The candidate who has the most votes in a state wins all of the state's electors. To win the presidential election, a candidate must gain at least 270 of the 538 total electoral votes.

在美国的选举制度中，人们并不直接投票给总统候选人，而是由选民投票给支持各个候选人的\"选举人\"。每一州的选举人人数和代表此州的国会议员人数相同，等于每一州有两位参议员，加上众议院的众议员人数（以各州的人口为基准）。在一个州里拥有最多票数的候选人就赢得了那一州所有选举人的票数。要赢得总统大选，候选人必须至少获得总共538个选举人中的270张票。

Over the years, the U.S. has made a number of election reforms. Some early reforms outlawed cheating, giving bribes and threatening voters. They also limited the amount of money candidates could receive from donors and spend on their campaigns. In 1870, black people gained the right to vote, and in 1920, that right was extended to women. In recent decades, laws against unfair rules for voting have been passed. No longer do people have to pay a special tax or pass a test in order to vote. In 1971, the voting age was lowered to 18. Other reforms made voting easier for the blind, the disabled and people who couldn't read. In some

areas, ballots had to be printed in languages besides English.

多年来，美国在选举方面做了一些改革。早期有些改革禁止作弊、收受贿赂或威胁选民。他们也候选人从捐赠者那儿获得的金额数目及花在竞选宣传上的费用。一八七○年，黑人获得选举权。一九二○年，权利延伸至妇女。近几十年来，通过了反对不公平选举规则的法律。人们不再需要付特殊的税或通过测验才能选举。一九七一年，投票的年龄降至十八岁。其它的改革减轻了盲人、残障者及文盲投票的困难。在某些地区，选票上面除了英文以外，还必须印上别的文字。

In November, Americans will again elect those who will represent them in government. Although some citizens aren't even registered to vote--and some registered voters don't bother to go to the polls--most Americans exercise their right to vote. They realize that their future is wrapped up in a special package--the ballot box. It's a package that must definitely be \"handled with care.\"

十一月五日，美国人要再一次选出在中代表他们的人。虽然有些市民甚至不是法定投票人──有些法定投票人懒得去投票──但是大多数的美国人都会行使他们投票的权利。他们了解他们的未来包在一个特别的箱子里──投票箱。它实在是一个必须\"小心处理\"的箱子。