第一课（课文中的英译汉）
1.The one I am thinking of particularly is entered by a Gothic - arched
gateway of aged brick and stone. You pass from the heat and glare of
a big, open square into a cool, dark cavern which extends as far as
the eye can see, losing itself in the shadowy distance. 此时此刻显现在我脑海中的这个中东集市，其入口处是一座古老的砖石结构的哥特式拱门。你首先要穿过一个赤日耀眼、灼热逼人的大型露天广场，然后走进一个凉爽、幽暗的洞穴。这市场一直向前延伸，一眼望不到尽头，消失在远处的阴影里。
2.It is a point of honour with the customer not to let the shopkeeper
guess what it is she really likes and wants until the last moment. 对于顾客来说，至关重要的一点是，不到最后一刻是不能让店主猜到她心里究竟中意哪样东西、想买哪样东西的。假如让店主猜中了她所要买的商品的话，他便会漫天要价，而且在还价过程中也很难作出让步。
3.The seller, on the other hand, makes a point of protesting that the
price he is charging is depriving him of all profit, and that he is sacrificing this because of his personal regard for the customer. 而在卖主那一方来说，他必须竭尽全力地声称，他开出的价钱使他根本无利可图，而他之所以愿意这样做完全是出于他本人对顾客的敬重。顾客有时来了又去，去了又来，因此，像这样讨价还价的情形有可能持续一整天，甚至好几天。
4.The pole is attached at the one end to an upright post, around which
it can revolve, and at the other to a blind-folded camel, which walks constantly in a circle, providing the motive power to turn the stone wheel. 磙轴的一端与一根立柱相连，使石磙可以绕立柱作旋转运动，另一端则套在一头蒙着眼罩的骆驼身上，通过骆驼不停地绕圈子走动来带动石磙旋转。
5.The machine is operated by one man, who shovels the linseed pulp into
a stone vat, climbs up nimbly to a dizzy height to fasten ropes, and
then throws his weight on to a great beam made out of a tree trunk to set the ropes and pulleys in motion. Ancient girders girders creak and groan , ropes tighten and then a trickle of oil oozes oozes down a stone runnel into a used petrol can. Quickly the trickle becomes a flood of glistening linseed oil as the beam sinks earthwards, taut and
protesting, its creaks blending with the squeaking and rumbling of the grinding-wheels and the occasional grunts and sighs of the camels.
这套装置是由一个人操作的。他先将亚麻籽浆铲入一只大石缸里，继而动作利索地爬上令人头晕目眩的高处系牢缆索，然后全身使劲压在一根用树干做成的粗大的横梁上，带动缆索的滑轮装置运转。古木大梁压得嘎吱作响，缆索开始绷紧，接着便见一滴滴的油沿着一条石槽流入一只废旧汽油桶里。随着大梁越压越低，缆索越绷越紧，大梁的嘎吱声，石磙的辘辘声，以及骆驼不时发出的咕噜咕噜的呼吸声和叹息声响成一片，榨出的油也很快地由涓滴细流变成了一股晶莹发亮、奔腾不止的洪流。
第二课
1.And secondly, because I had a lump in my throat and a lot of sad thoughts
on my mind that had little to do with anything a Nippon railways official
might say. The very act of stepping on this soil, in breathing this air of
Hiroshima, was for me a far greater adventure than any trip or any
reportorial assignment I'd previously taken. Was I not at the scene of the crime?其次，则是因为我当时心情沉重，喉咙哽噎，忧思万缕，几乎顾不上去管那日本铁路官员说些什么。踏上这块土地，呼吸着广岛的空气，对我来说这行动本身已是一套令人激动的经历，其意义远远超过我以往所进行的任何一次旅行或采访活动。难道我不就是在犯罪现场吗?
2.Quite unexpectedly, the strange emotion which had overwhelmed me at
the station returned, and I was again crushed by the thought that I now stood on the site of the first atomic bombardment, where thousands upon thousands of people had been slainin one second, where thousands upon thousands of others had lingered on to die in slow agony .出人意料的是，刚到广岛车站时袭扰着我的那种异样的忧伤情绪竟在这时重新袭上心头，我的心情又难受起来，因为我又一次意识到自己置身于曾遭受第一颗原子弹轰击的现场。这儿曾有成千上万的生命顷刻之间即遭毁灭，还有成千上万的人在痛苦的煎熬中慢慢死去。
3. There are two different schools of thought in this city of oysters, one that
would like to preserve traces of the bomb, and the other that would like to get rid of everything, even the monument that was erected at the point of impact.有两种截然不同的意见，一种主张保存原子弹爆炸留下的痕迹，另一种则主张销毁一切痕迹，甚至要拆除立于爆炸中心的纪念碑
4. If you bear any visible scars of atomic burns, your children will encounter
prejudice on the par t of those who do not. 假如你身上有着明显的原子伤痕，你的孩子就会受到那些没有伤痕的人的歧视。
5.Each day that I escape death, each day of suffering that helps to free me
from earthly cares, I make a new little paper bird, and add it to the others.
This way I look at them and congratulate myself of the good fortune that my illness has brought me. Because, thanks to it, I have the opportunity to improve my character.每当我从死神那儿挣脱出来的那一天，每当病痛将我从尘世烦恼中解放出来的那一天，我都要叠一只新的小纸鸟，加到原有的纸鸟群里去。我就这样看着这些纸鸟，庆幸病痛给自己带来的好运。因为正是我的病痛使我有了怡养性情的机会。
第四课
1. In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.
In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for
washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open tire minutes after it
comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in
the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill be-fore nightfall. But of course all this does not show on
television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred
pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pan-cake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Car – son has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.在现实生活中，我是一个身材粗壮、大骨架的妇女，粗糙的双手就好比干男人活的。冬天睡觉时，我套着绒布睡衣；白天干活时便穿一件罩衫。我能像男人一样毫不心慈手软地宰杀一头猪，并把它收拾干净。我身上的脂肪使我在严冬也不会觉得取下来还冒着热气的猪肝，在明火上烤几分钟我就吃。有一年冬天，我拿着一把铁锤击倒了一头公牛犊，锤子恰好砸在它两眼这间的大脑上。天黑之前，我就已经把牛肉挂起来晾着了。但是，这一切当然都不会出现在电视上。（电视上的）我是我女儿希望的那副模样，体重减掉了一百磅，皮肤像入锅前的大麦饼那样光滑柔润，头发在耀眼的灯光下闪着光泽。不仅如此，我还伶牙俐齿，妙语连珠，就连约翰逊·卡森也望尘莫及。
2. But that is a mistake. I know even before I wake up. Who ever knew a
Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one toot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them. Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.可惜，这一切都不是白日梦，我还没清醒之前就已经意识到了。谁认识一个叫什么约翰逊的伶牙俐齿的家伙？谁能想象我竟然敢直视一个陌生的白人？和他们讲话时，我似乎总是紧张不安，随时准备溜走，头也总是扭到一边，眼睛尽可能不看他们。不过，迪伊可不是这样。她对任何人都无所畏惧。犹豫不决可不是她的个性。
3. I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised the
money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school. She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She
washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know. Pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to understand.过去我一直以为她也很讨厌麦琪。但那是在我和教堂筹钱送她到奥古斯塔上学之前的事了。那时她会经常给我们读点东西，可是她丝毫没有同情心，常用这种方式把别人的文字、谎话、习惯以及生活方式强加于我俩的身上。我和麦琪别无选择，只能坐在那儿，表现得一无所知的样子，任由她的声音凌驾于我们身上。迪伊向我们灌输了一大堆编造出来的东西和一些我们无需掌握的知识。她一脸严肃，强迫我们听她读书，等我们刚有点似懂非懂的时候，她却把我们晾在一边，简直把我俩看成了傻瓜一样。
4. I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed
down. Don't ask me why. in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along
good-naturedly but can't see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by. She will marry John Thomas
(who has mossy teeth in an earnest face) and then I'll be free to sit here and I guess just sing church songs to myself. Although I never was a good singer. Never could carry a tune. I was always better at a man's job. 1 used to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in '49. Cows are soothing and slow and don't bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.
第五课
1. I have only one purpose, the destruction of Hitler, and my life is much
simplified thereby. It Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons. '我现在的目标只有一个，即消灭希特勒。这使我的生活单纯多了。假使希特勒入侵地狱，我至少会在下议院替魔鬼说几句好话的。
2. If Hitler imagines that his attack on Soviet Russia will cause the slightest
divergence of aims or slackening of effort in the great democracies who are resolved upon his doom, he is woefully mistaken.如果希特勒认为他对苏维埃俄国的进攻会使那些决心埋葬他的伟大的民主国家稍稍转移目标或松懈斗志的话，那他就大错特错了。
3. He wishes to destroy the Russian power because he hopes that if he
succeeds in this he will be able to bring back the main strength of his Army and Air Force from the East and hurl it upon this Island, which he knows he must conquer or suffer the penalty of his crimes.他之所以想摧毁俄国，乃是因为他期望着一旦这一行动顺利得手，他便可以将其陆、空军主力从东线调回，投入对英伦三岛的进攻。他清楚地知道，他必须征服英国，否则，他将因其犯下的种种罪行而受到惩罚。
4.He hopes that he may once again repeat, upon a greater scale than ever
before, that process of destroying his enemies one by one by which he has so long thrived and prospered, and that then the scene will be clear for the final act, without which all his conquests would be in vain – namely, the subjugationP of the Western Hemisphere to his will and to his system.他期望能以空前的规模再度重演他长期以来赖以发迹的将敌手各个击破的故伎，然后便可以腾出场地来演出最后的一幕——将整个西半球置于他的控制和统治之下。他知道，如果做不到这一点，他的全部战果都将化为泡影。
第六课：
1. I'll tell you, Duke –I've been in this town and this hotel a long time. I got
friends all over. I oblige them; they do the same for me, like letting me know what gives, an’ where. There ain't much, out of the way, which people who stay in this hotel do, I don't g et to hear about. Most of ’em never know I know, or know me. They think they got their little secret tucked away , and so they have – except like now.告诉你吧，公爵——我在这个城市和这个旅馆呆的时间都很久了。到处都有我的朋友。我时常为他们帮忙，他们也同样帮我的忙，比如说告诉我哪儿发生了些什么事儿，住在这个旅馆的人们做了些什么事情，凡是有点儿出格的，那就很少能瞒得过我。他们多半都不知道
我会知道，而且也不认识我。他们以为自己的那些小秘密被隐瞒住了——也的确有瞒住的时候——可是这一回却瞒不住了。
2.Well now, there's no call for being hasty ." The incongruous falsetto voice
took on a musing note. "What's done's been done. Rushing any place ain't gonna bring back the kid nor its mother neither. Besides, what they'd do to you across at the headquarters, Duke, you wouldn't like. No sir, you
wouldn't like it at all.“依我说呢，这事也不用着急。”他那刺耳的尖嗓音此时带着一种沉思的声调。“事已至此，急也无益，再急也不能让那小孩和她的母亲复生。况且，到了警察局．他们用来处置你的办法，公爵，你是不会喜欢的。真的，阁下，你绝不会喜欢的。”
3.The Duchess of Croydon kept firm, tight rein on her racing mind. It was
essential, she knew, that her thinking remain calm and reasoned. In the last few minutes the conversation had become as seemingly casual as if the discussion were of some minor domestic matter and not survival itself. She intended to keep it that way. Once more, she was aware, the role of
leadership had fallen to her, her husband now a tense but passive
spectator of the exchange between the evil tat man and herself. No matter.
What was inevitable must be accepted. The important thing was to
consider all eventualities. A thought occurred to her.克罗伊敦公爵夫人极力控制自己那如脱缰野马般的思绪。她知道保持自己头脑的冷静和理智是至关重要的。方才那最后几分钟的谈话似乎变得非常随便，仿佛他们所讨论的只是一些无关紧要的家常琐事，而不是人命关天的大事。她有意要使谈话照这样进行。她意识到，唱主角的责任又一次地落到了自己的肩上。此时此刻，在她与这个存心恶毒的肥佬之间的激烈交锋中，她的丈夫只当了一名紧张而被动的旁观者。没关系，既然躲不过，就只好去面对它了。要紧的是对各种可能发生的意外变故预作考虑。她突然想出了一个主意。
第九课
1. From them all Mark Twain gained a keen perception of the human race, of
the difference between what people claim to be and what they really are.
从所有这些形形色色的人身上，马克?吐温敏锐地认识了人类，认识了人们的言与行之间的差距
2.Tom's mischievousdaring, ingenuity , and the sweet innocence of his
affection for Becky Thatcher are almost as sure to be studied in American schools to-day as is the Declaration of Independence.这部描写汤姆的顽皮、勇敢、机智以及他对贝琪?莎切尔的天真纯洁的感情的故事几乎像《独立宣言》一样成了今天美国学校里的必读书本。
Mark Twain suggested that an ingredient was missing in the American
ambition when he said: "What a robustpeople, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and
renew our edges."马克?吐温认为，美国人的理想中缺少了一种成分。他说：“我们只消偶尔地躺下来好好放松休息一下，保持锋棱利角，我们将有可能成为一个多么朝气蓬勃的民族，一个多么富有思想的民族啊!”
3.In The Mysterious Stranger, he insisted that man drop his religious illusions
and depend upon himself, not Providence, to make a better world.在《神秘的陌生人》中，他指出人类应该抛弃宗教幻想，依靠自己而不是上帝的力量去创造一个更加美好的世界。
They vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a
foolishness; where they have left no sign that they had existed – a world which will lament them a day and for-get them forever.”“……他们从世界上消失了，在这个世界上他们无足轻重，无所成就；甚至他们的存在本身就是个错误，是个失败，是种愚蠢。这个世界上也没有留下丝毫能表明他们存在过的痕迹。这个世界赠给他们的只是一日的哀伤和永久的遗忘。”
第十课
1. Darrow walked slowly round the baking court. "Today it is the teachers,
"he continued, "and tomorrow the magazines, the books, the
newspapers. After a while, it is the setting of man against man and
creed against creed until we are marching backwards to the glorious
age of the sixteenth century when bigots lighted faggots to burn the
men who dared to bring any intelligence and enlightenment and Culture to the human mind. "达罗在热得像烘箱似的法庭里来回踱着方步。“今
天受攻击的是教师，”他接着说道，“明天就会轮到杂志、书籍和报纸。
要不了多久，社会上便会是一种人与人为仇，教派与教派为敌的局面，直到我们的社会大踏步地退回到十六世纪那光辉的年代，那时如果有谁胆敢给人类带来智慧、知识和文化，就会被那些愚昧的偏执狂们点燃柴堆活活烧死。”
2."The Bible," he thundered in his sonorous organ tones, " is not going
to be driven out of this court by experts who come hundreds of miles to testify that they can reconcile evolution, with its ancestors in the jungle, with man made by God in His image and put here for His purpose as par t of a divine plan." “《圣经》，”他用洪亮的
嗓音大喊大叫道，“是不会被那些千里迢迢赶来作证的学者专家们赶出这个法庭的。这些专家们来到这里的目的是想证明主张人类祖先来自丛林的进化论和上帝按照天机，依其形象创造人类并安排到这个世界上来的看
法，是并行不悖的。”
3. The oratorial storm that Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone
blew up in the little court in Dayton swept like a fresh wind through the schools and legislative offices of the United States, bringing in its wake a new climate of intellectual and academic freedom that has grown with the passing years. 由克拉伦斯?达罗和达德雷?费尔德?马隆在戴顿镇的小小法庭上掀起的那些辩论风暴犹如一股清风吹遍了美
国的学校和立法机关，随之而来的是日渐增长的思想自由和学术自由的新气象。
第一课救赎 ----兰斯顿.休斯 在我快13岁那年，我的灵魂得到了拯救，然而并不是真正意义上的救赎。事情是这样的。那时我的阿姨里德所在的教堂正在举行一场盛大的宗教复兴晚会。数个星期以来每个夜晚，人们在那里讲道，唱诵，祈祷。连一些罪孽深重的人都获得了耶稣的救赎，教堂的成员一下子增多了。就在复兴晚会结束之前，他们为孩子们举行了一次特殊的集会——把小羊羔带回羊圈。里德阿姨数日之前就开始和我提这件事。那天晚上，我和其他还没有得到主宽恕的小忏悔者们被送去坐在教堂前排,那是为祷告的人安排的座椅。 我的阿姨告诉我说：“当你看到耶稣的时候，你看见一道光，然后感觉心里似乎有什么发生。从此以后耶稣就进入了你的生命，他将与你同在。你能够看见、听到、感受到他和你的灵魂融为一体。”我相信里德阿姨说的，许多老人都这么说，似乎她们都应该知道。尽管教堂里面拥挤而闷热，我依然静静地坐在那里，等待耶稣的到来。 布道师祷告，富有节奏，非常精彩。呻吟、喊叫、寂寞的呼喊，还有地狱中令人恐怖的画面。然后他唱了一首赞美诗。诗中描述了99只羊都安逸的待在圈里，唯有一个被冷落在外的情形。唱完后他说道：“难道你不来吗？不来到耶稣身旁吗？小羊羔们，难道你们不来吗？”他向坐在祷告席上的小忏悔者们打开了双臂，小女孩们开始哭了，她们中有一些很快跳了起来，跑了过去。我们大多数仍然坐在那里。 许多长辈过来跪在我们的身边开始祷告。老妇人的脸像煤炭一样黑，头上扎着辫子，老爷爷的手因长年的工作而粗糙皲裂。他们吟唱着“点燃微弱的灯，让可怜的灵魂得到救赎”的诗歌。整个教堂里到处都是祈祷者的歌声。 最后其他所有小忏悔者们都去了圣坛上，得到了救赎，除了一个男孩和依然静静地坐着等侯的我。那个男孩是一个守夜人的儿子，名字叫威斯特里。在我们的周围尽是祈祷的修女执事。教堂里异常闷热，天色也越来越暗了。最后威斯特里小声对我说：“去他妈的上帝。我再也坐不住了，我们站起来吧，就可以得到救赎了。”于是他就站了起来，也因此得到了救赎。 祈祷席上只剩下我一个人孤零零的。里德阿姨走过来，开始跪在我的旁边，小声哭泣。祷告者的诵诗充满了整个教堂。所有人都在为我一个人祈祷，时而呻吟时而呼号。我依然很平静的等待耶稣，等待等待——可是他没有来。我希望可以看见他，可是什么都没有发生。我希望有些事发生，可什么都没有变化。 我听见大主教说：“为什么你不来呢？我亲爱的孩子，为什么你不来到耶稣身边？他正等着你。他需要你。为什么你不来呢？里德修女，这个孩子叫什么名字？” “休斯顿。“我的阿姨啜泣着说。”休斯顿，你为什么不过来，得到救赎呢哦上帝的小羊羔啊，你为什么不过来呢？“现在天真的黑了。我开始惭愧，是自己把他们托得这么晚。我开始想上帝会怎么认为威斯特里。他当然也没有看见主，但现在正骄傲地坐在圣坛上，晃着灯笼裤的褪，露齿嘲笑我。周围围着一群跪着祈祷的老女人。上帝并没有因为他亵渎神灵或在教堂里撒谎而惩罚他。所以我决定也许为了省去更多的麻烦，我最好也撒谎，说耶稣已经来了，然后站起来，得到救赎。 于是我站了起来。 整个屋子突然成了欢呼的海洋，当她们看见我站起来时。欢呼声一阵接着一阵。女人们跳了起来。我的阿姨拥抱了我，大主教拉起我的手，把我牵到了主席台上。 当一切渐渐平息的时候，教堂安静了下来，只听见几声愉悦的阿门。所有的小羊羔们都得到了上帝的祝福。教堂里充满了欢悦的吟唱。 但那天晚上我却哭了。那是我一生倒数第二次哭泣，因为我已经是个12岁的大男孩了。我独自一人躺在床上，哭泣不已。担心里德阿姨会听到，我把头埋在被子下面。她还是醒了，告诉我的叔叔说：“我哭是因为神圣的上帝进入了我的生命，因为我看见了耶稣。但是我哭的真正原因是我羞于告诉她我撒谎了，我骗了教堂里所有人。我没有看见耶稣，我也不再相信有一个耶稣，因为他没有来拯救我。 第二课名字游戏 约翰·史密斯正朝我走过来。虽然他只是我的一个很平常的熟人，但按照美国人的问候习惯，我得说出那么几个字来（如：“你好！”或“早上好！”之类的话。）向他表示我的好意。然而，我该怎么叫他呢？叫他约翰？或是史密斯？或者史密斯医生？像这样的问题在平常，是不用思考的事情。 对于在美国土生土长讲美语的人来说，我们长大后，学会语法规则的同时也学会了称呼别人的规则。乍一想，我们会认为仔细去考察我们称呼的方式是一件不值得做的事情，然而正是这些称呼的方式揭示了我们对同一个语言社区的人们的主观看法。 首先，我们会用讲话者的年龄关系去判断使用的称呼是否合适。如果我们招呼的是个孩子，那么我们就可以毫无顾虑地忽略那些无意之中学来的规则，而简单地直呼其名（FN）。然而，孩子却要用“头衔+姓氏”的方式来招呼大人。
Lesson Thirteen Work 工作 究竟工作是幸福还是痛苦的源泉，这可能是一个难以回答的问题。 Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. 毫无疑问有许多工作是非常令人厌烦的，而且过多的工作总是十分痛苦的事。 There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful. 然而我认为，只要不过量，对多数人来说即使是最枯燥的工作也比终日无所事事要好些。 I think, however, that, provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. 工作给人的愉快的程度多种多样，从仅仅是消烦解闷到产生巨大的快乐，这会随工作的性质和工 作者的能力而异。 There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. 大多数人不得不从事的工作本身大都无乐趣可言，但即使是这样的工作也有一些很大的好处。Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. 首先，工作可将一天的许多时间占满，人们不必再费神来决定应干些什么，大多数人在可以自由地按自己的愿望打发时间时，常常会不知所措，想不起有什么令人愉快的事值得去做。 To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. 而他们的决定又总是受到干扰，觉得干别的什么事也许会更令人愉快。 And whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter. 能够有意义地利用闲暇时间是文明发展到最高阶段的结果，而目前很少有人能达到这一层次。To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. 何况作出选择本身就是件令人厌烦的事。 Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. 除了那些具有非凡主动性的人，其他的人肯定有人乐于被告诉一天中的每时每刻该做什么， 当然命令他们做的事不能太令人厌烦。 Except to people with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided the orders are not too unpleasant. 多数无所事事的阔佬免遭从事单调乏味工作之苦，但代价是莫名其妙的无聊。 Most of the idle rich suffer unspeakable boredom as the price of their freedom from drudgery. 有时他们去非洲猎取巨兽或环绕世界飞行来解闷，但这类刺激的数量有限，尤其到了中年以后更 是如此。 At times they may find relief by hunting big game in Africa, or by flying round the world, but the number of such sensations is limited, especially after youth is past. 因此较为明智的阔佬们工作起来几乎像穷人一样卖力，而有钱的女人则大多忙于她们自以为
关于希特勒入侵苏联的讲话 二十二日星期天早晨，我一醒来便接到了希特勒入侵苏联的消息。这就使原先意料中的事变成了无可怀疑的事实。我完全清楚我们对此应该承担何种义务，采取何种政策。我也完全清楚该如何就此事发表声明。尚待完成的只不过是将这一切形成文字而已。于是，我吩咐有关部门立即发表通告，我将于当晚九点钟发表广播讲话。不一会儿，匆匆从伦敦赶到的迪尔将军走进我的卧室，为我带来了详细情报。德国人已大规模入侵苏联，苏联空军部队有很大一部分飞机都没来得及起飞便遭到德军的突袭。德军目前似乎正以凌厉的攻势极为迅猛地向前推进。这位皇家军队总参谋长报告完毕后又补了一句，“我估计他们将会大批地被包围。” 一整天我都在写讲稿，根本没有时间去找战时内阁进行磋商，也没有必要这样做。我知道我们大家在这个问题上的立场是完全一致的。艾登先生、比弗布鲁克勋爵，还有斯塔福德?克里普斯爵士——他是十号离开莫斯科回国的——那天也同我在一 起。 那个周末值班的是我的私人秘书科维尔先生。由他执笔记述的下面这段关于那个星期天里切克 尔斯首相官邸发生的情况的文字，也许值得一提： “六月二十一日，星期六。晚饭前我来到切克尔斯首相官邸。怀南特夫妇、艾登夫妇和爱德华?布里奇斯等几位均在那儿。晚饭席上，邱吉尔先生说，德国人人侵苏联已是必然无疑的了。他认为希特勒是想指望博取英美两国的资本家和右冀势力的同情和支持。不过，希特勒的如意算盘打错了。 我们英国将会全力以赴援助苏联。维南特表示美国也会采取同样的态度。 晚饭后，当我同邱吉尔先生在槌球场上散步时，他又一次谈到了这一话题。我当时问他，对于他这个头号反共大将来说，这种态度是否意味着改变自己的政治立场。‘绝非如此。我现在的目标只有一个，即消灭希特勒。这使我的生活单纯多了。假使希特勒入侵地狱，我至少会在下议院替魔 鬼说几句好话的。’ 次日清晨四点钟，我被电话铃惊醒，原来是外交部来的电话，内容是报告德国已开始进攻俄国的消息。首相一向吩咐，只有当英国遭到入侵时才可以叫醒他。因此，我等到八点钟才向他报告这一消息。他听完消息后只说了一句话：‘通知英国广播电台，我今晚九点要发表广播讲话。’他从上午十一点开始撰写讲稿，中间除与斯塔福德．克里普斯爵士、克兰伯恩勋爵和比弗布鲁克勋爵共进午餐外，这一天的全部时间都花在写讲稿上了……讲稿直到九点差二十分才写好。” 在这次广播讲话中，我说道： “纳粹政体与共产主义的最糟糕之处毫无两样。除了贪欲和种族统治外，它没有任何指导思想和行动准则。它在残酷压迫和疯狂侵略过程中所犯下的滔天罪行在人类历史上可谓空前绝后。在过去的二十五年中，我比任何人都更坚定而始终如一地反对共产主义。过去对共产主义所作的批评我仍然一句也不想收回。但现在展现在我们面前的景象已经将那一切冲得烟消云散了。过去的一切，连同它的种种罪恶、蠢行和悲剧全都从眼前乍然消失。此刻我眼前看到的是俄国的士兵昂然挺立于自己的国土，英勇地捍卫着他们祖祖辈辈自古以来一直辛勤耕耘着的土地。我看到他们正在守卫着自己的家园，在那里母亲和妻子正在向上帝祈祷——是啊，任何人都总有祈祷的时候——祈求上帝保佑她们的亲人的平安，并保佑她们的壮劳力、她们的勇士和保护者凯旋归来。我看见成千上万的俄国村庄，那儿的人们虽然要靠在土地上辛勤耕作才能勉强维持生计，却依然能够享受到天伦之乐，那儿的姑娘在欢笑，儿童在嬉戏。我看到这一切正面临着凶暴的袭击，正杀气腾腾地扑向他们的是纳粹的战争机器同它的那些全副武装、刀剑当当有声、皮靴咚咚作响的普鲁士军官以及它的那些奸诈无比、刚刚帮它征服并奴役了十多个国家的帮凶爪牙。我还看到那些呆头呆脑、训练有素、既驯服听话又凶残野蛮的德国士兵像一群蝗虫般地向前蠕动着。我看见天空中那些屡遭英军痛击、余悸未消的德国轰炸机和战斗机此时正庆幸终于找到他们以为是无力反抗、可手到即擒的猎物。“在
Lesson Eleven On Getting off to Sleep谈睡眠 人真是充满矛盾啊! 毫无疑问，幽默是惟一帮助我们摆脱矛盾的办法，要是没有它，我们就会死于烦恼。 What a bundle of contradictions is a man! Surety, humour is the saving grace of us, for without it we should die of vexation. 在我看来，没有什么比睡眠更能说明事物间的矛盾。 With me, nothing illustrates the contrariness of things better than the matter of sleep. 比如，我打算写一篇文章，面前放好了笔、墨和几张白纸，准保没写几个字我就会困得要命，无论当时是几点都会那样。 If, for example, my intention is to write an essay, and 1 have before me ink and pens and several sheets of virgin paper, you may depend upon it that before I have gone very far I feel an overpowering desire for sleep, no matter what time of the day it is. 我瞪着那似乎在谴责我的白纸，直到眼前一片模糊，声音也难以辨清，只有靠意志力才能勉强坚持。 I stare at the reproachfully blank paper until sights and sounds become dim and confused, and it is only by an effort of will that I can continue at all. 即使这时，我也会迷迷糊糊地像在做梦一样继续坚持工作。 Even then, I proceed half-heartedly, in a kind of dream. 但是当深夜躺在床上，我什么事都能干，只有睡觉无法做到。 But let me be between the sheets at a late hour, and I can do any-thing but sleep. 随着时钟一遍一遍的报时，我可以完成大量的文章。 Between chime and chime of the clock I can write essays by the score. 极有吸引力的主题和崇高的思想纷纷出现在脑海，随之而来的还有恰如其分的意象和措辞。Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, each with its appropriate imagery and expression. 除了笔、墨和纸，什么也不能阻止我写出半打不朽的杰作。 Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces but pens, ink, and paper. 如果，我们的思想和主观意象对于来世的人来说真的就像我们的书本和图片一样是有形的、摸得着的，那么我在来世会比在今生获得更高的声誉。 If it be true that our thoughts and mental images are perfectly tangible things, like our books and pictures, to the inhabitants of the next world, then I am making for myself a better reputation there than I am in this place. 只要我躺在床上有一两个小时睡不着觉，我就能令自己满意地解决人类一切的疑虑。 Give me a restless hour or two in bed and I can solve, to my own satisfaction, all the doubts of humanity. 如果我有兴致的话，我可以谱写出宏伟的交响乐，描绘出壮丽的画卷。 When I am in the humour I can compose grand symphonies, and paint magnificent pictures. 我就是莎士比亚、贝多芬和米开朗基罗。但这一切仍无法令我满意，因为我还是无法入睡。
Lesson One 1.This picture brings back many pleasant memories of her Spanish holiday. 2.News and weather forecasts reports are staples of radio programmes. 3.By mere accident Tom met in a bar his long-lost brother who was thought to have been killed in action during the war. 4.Bill intuited something criminal in their plan. 5.They think that obsessive tidiness in factory is a bad sign . 6.Yesterday his mother sold several years’ worth of paper and magazines. 7.His heartening speech impelled us to (work with) greater efforts. 8.Those who enjoy pulling off a miracle often fail. 9.As language students we should have a sense of nuances of plain words and expressions. 10.The rude behavior of Mrs. Taylor’s ado pted son is driving her into a nervous breakdown. 11.I like to see films in general, and American Western and horrors in particular. 12.In some sense Mary saw in her aunt a surrogate of her mother. 13.My father never equivocated, and he always gave some brief but poignant opinions. 14.Though he disabled, he never tries of helping people. 15.In any country, those who are remiss in their duty must be severely punished. 16.Awareness of the fact that the child was in danger impelled the policeman to action. Lesson 2 1. A. The chances are that they will be held up by traffic on their way to the airport. B. the plane takes off at 6:35. It would be a pity if they couldn’t make it. 2.Another popular notion which is in fact a misconception is that expensive clothes invariably raise one’s status. 3.Can you imagine what kind of life a man has lived who aspires to excellence and abhors mediocrity? 4. A copy of our latest product catalogue will be sent free of charge if you will fill up the form on the reverse of this card and post it. 5.It will be an absurdity, if not a catastrophe. If half of the population of this city abandons their posts and goes in for business. 6.Because they want their kids to be somebodies, some well-intentioned parents exercise enormous pressures on their children and the results all too often prove the reverse. 7.The revered professor predicted that these brilliant young people would surely make their way in the scientific-technical realm in a few years. 8.Many writers have quitted writing stories because, as they say there is no market for them. Yet Lessing sticks and she would go on even if there really wasn’t any home for them but a private drawer. 9.Satire under his pen is only a means to an end, a form to expose social evils. 10.It seemed no body at the party, not even the reporters, made special note of the general’s absence which might have aroused the suspicion of his rivals.
1 Rock music began in America in the late 1950’s . It was not only a new musical form , but a forum for the American youth to express their ideas of the world and life . In this forum , the stars sang out the attitudes of the youth towards civil rights , war and peace ,the disaffection of their society , and a range of emotions between love and hate . Allin all , in this forum , the American youth redefined the beliefs and feelings of their society . The typical representatives of the early rock music were Elvis Presley , singer and poet Bob Dylan , the Bealtles , the rolling Stones and so on . They were the culture heroes whom the young people worshipped . 2 The American young people in 1960’s were a generation of rebellion . They found that the affluent American society was filled with poverty , injustice and gypocrisy . They didn’t trust the adult world that didn’t belong to them and refused to take their beliefs and values . Many young people took active part in the struggle which protested against poverty , racial discrimination and Vietnam War . Some young people even tried to overthrow this world by armed revolution. Many other young took passive ways to show their disaffections . They took drugs , refused to take any responsibilities and lived a parasitic way of life . Or they escaped to the frontiers and lived a primitive way of life . 3 Mathilda had been ill for three days . Her mother had given her some medicine, but it did n’t do any good . So they had to ask the doctor to come . There had been a number of cases of diphtheria in Mathilda’s school and two of them had been dead . When the doctor arrived at Olson’s home , he wanted to examine Mthilda’s throat first . But no mat ter how he coaxed ,,She wouldn’t open her mouth . So the doctor had to get the tongue depressor into her mouth . But Mathilda reduced it to splinters . In order to protect Mathilda herself and other children , the doctor had to make sure
Lesson Thirteen Work工作 究竟工作是幸福还是痛苦的源泉，这可能是一个难以回答的问题。 Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. 毫无疑问有许多工作是非常令人厌烦的，而且过多的工作总是十分痛苦的事。 There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome, and an excess of work is always very painful. 然而我认为，只要不过量，对多数人来说即使是最枯燥的工作也比终日无所事事要好些。 I think, however, that, provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. 工作给人的愉快的程度多种多样，从仅仅是消烦解闷到产生巨大的快乐，这会随工作的性质和工作者的能力而异。 There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. 大多数人不得不从事的工作本身大都无乐趣可言，但即使是这样的工作也有一些很大的好处。 Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. 首先，工作可将一天的许多时间占满，人们不必再费神来决定应干些什么，大多数人在可以自由地按自己的愿望打发时间时，常常会不知所措，想不起有什么令人愉快的事值得去做。To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. 而他们的决定又总是受到干扰，觉得干别的什么事也许会更令人愉快。
Unit 1 Pub Talk and the King’s English 人类的一切活动中，只有闲谈最宜于增进友谊，而且是人类特有的一种活动。动物之间的信息交流，不论其方式何等复杂，也是称不上交谈的。 闲谈的引人人胜之处就在于它没有一个事先定好的话题。它时而迂回流淌，时而奔腾起伏，时而火花四射，时而热情洋溢，话题最终会扯到什么地方去谁也拿不准。要是有人觉得“有些话要说”，那定会大煞风景，使闲聊无趣。闲聊不是为了进行争论。闲聊中常常会有争论，不过其目的并不是为了说服对方。闲聊之中是不存在什么输赢胜负的。事实上，真正善于闲聊的人往往是随时准备让步的。也许他们偶然间会觉得该把自己最得意的奇闻轶事选出一件插进来讲一讲，但一转眼大家已谈到别处去了，插话的机会随之而失，他们也就听之任之。 或许是由于我从小混迹于英国小酒馆的缘故吧，我觉得酒瞎里的闲聊别有韵味。酒馆里的朋友对别人的生活毫无了解，他们只是临时凑到一起来的，彼此并无深交。他们之中也许有人面临婚因破裂，或恋爱失败，或碰到别的什么不顺心的事儿，但别人根本不管这些。他们就像大仲马笔下的三个火枪手一样，虽然日夕相处，却从不过问彼此的私事，也不去揣摸别人内心的秘密。 有一天晚上的情形正是这样。人们正漫无边际地东扯西拉，从最普通的凡人俗事谈到有关木星的科学趣闻。谈了半天也没有一个中心话题，事实上也不需要有一个中心话题。可突然间大伙儿的话题都集中到了一处，中心话题奇迹般地出现了。我记不起她那句话是在什么情况下说出来的——她显然不是预先想好把那句话带到酒馆里来说的，那也不是什么非说不可的要紧话——我只知道她那句话是随着大伙儿的话题十分自然地脱口而出的。 “几天前，我听到一个人说‘标准英语’这个词语是带贬义的批评用语，指的是人们应该尽量避免使用的英语。” 此语一出，谈话立即热烈起来。有人赞成，也有人怒斥，还有人则不以为然。最后，当然少不了要像处理所有这种场合下的意见分歧一样，由大家说定次日一早去查证一下。于是，问题便解决了。不过，酒馆闲聊并不需要解决什么问题，大伙儿仍旧可以糊里糊涂地继续闲扯下去。 告诉她“标准英语”应作那种解释的原来是个澳大利亚人。得悉此情，有些人便说起刻薄话来了，说什么囚犯的子孙这样说倒也不足为怪。这样，在五分钟内，大家便像到澳大利亚游览了一趟。在那样的社会里，“标准英语”自然是不受欢迎的。每当上流社会想给“规范英语”制订一些条条框框时，总会遭到下层人民的抵制。 看看撒克逊农民与征服他们的诺曼底统治者之间的语言隔阂吧。于是话题又从19世纪的澳大利亚囚犯转到12世纪的英国农民。谁对谁错，并没有关系。闲聊依旧热火朝天。 有人举出了一个人所共知，但仍值得提出来发人深思的例子。我们谈到饭桌上的肉食时用法语词，而谈到提供这些肉食的牲畜时则用盎格鲁一撒克逊词。猪圈里的活猪叫pig，饭桌上吃的猪肉便成了pork(来自法语pore)；地里放牧着的牛叫cattle，席上吃的牛肉则叫beef(来自法语boeuf)；Chicken用作肉食时变成poultry(来自法语poulet)；calf加工成肉则变成veal(来自法语vcau)。即便我们的菜单没有为了装洋耍派头而写成法语，我们所用的英语仍然是诺曼底式的英语。这一切向我们昭示了诺曼底人征服之后英国文化上所存在的深刻的阶级裂痕。 撒克逊农民种地养畜，自己出产的肉自己却吃不起，全都送上了诺曼底人的餐桌。农民们只能吃到在地里乱窜的兔子。兔子肉因为便宜，诺曼底贵族自然不屑去吃它。因此，活兔子和吃的兔子肉共用rabbit 这个词表示，而没有换成由法语lapin转化而来的某个词。 当我们今天听着有关双语教育问题的争论时，我们应该设身处地替当时的撒克逊农民想一想，新的统治阶级把法语用来对抗撒克逊农民自己的语言，从而在农民周围筑起一道文化障碍。当英国人在像觉醒者赫里沃德这样的撒克逊领袖领导下起来造反时，他们一定深深地感受到了文化上的屈辱。“标准英语”——如果那时候有这个名词的话——已经变成法语。而九百年后我们在美国这儿仍然继承了这种影响。 那晚闲聊过后，第二天一早便有人去查阅了资料。这个名词在16世纪已有人使用过。纳什作于1593年的《截获信函奇闻》中就有过“标准英语”(Queen’s English)的提法。1602年德克写到某人时有句话说：
Lesson One 1. This picture brings back many pleasant memories of her Spanish holiday. 2. News and weather forecasts reports are staples of radio programmes. 3. By mere accident Tom met in a bar his long-lost brother who was thought to have been killed in action during the war. 4. Bill intuited something criminal in their plan. 5. They think that obsessive tidiness in factory is a bad sign . 6. Yesterday his mother sold several years’ worth of paper and magazines. 7. His heartening speech impelled us to (work with) greater efforts. 8. Those who enjoy pulling off a miracle often fail. 9. As language students we should have a sense of nuances of plain words and expressions. 10. The rude behavior of Mrs. Taylor’s adopted son is driving her into a nervous breakdown. 11. I like to see films in general, and American Western and horrors in particular. 12. In some sense Mary saw in her aunt a surrogate of her mother. 13. My father never equivocated, and he always gave some brief but poignant opinions. 14. Though he disabled, he never tries of helping people. 15. In any country, those who are remiss in their duty must be severely punished. 16. Awareness of the fact that the child was in danger impelled the policeman to action. Lesson 2 1. A. The chances are that they will be held up by traffic on their way to the airport. B. the plane takes off at 6:35. It would be a pity if they couldn’t make it. 2. Another popular notion which is in fact a misconception is that expensive clothes invariably raise one’s status. 3. Can you imagine what kind of life a man has lived who aspires to excellence and abhors mediocrity 4. A copy of our latest product catalogue will be sent free of charge if you will fill up the form on the reverse of this card and post it. 5. It will be an absurdity, if not a catastrophe. If half of the population of this city abandons their posts and goes in for business. 6. Because they want their kids to be somebodies, some well-intentioned parents exercise enormous pressures on their children and the results all too often prove the reverse. 7. The revered professor predicted that these brilliant young people would surely make their way in the scientific-technical realm in a few years.
青年人的四种选择 Lesson 2: Four Choices for Young People 在毕业前不久，斯坦福大学四年级主席吉姆?宾司给我写了一封信，信中谈及他的一些不安。 Shortly before his graduation, Jim Binns, president of the senior class at Stanford University, wrote me about some of his misgivings. 他写道：“与其他任何一代人相比，我们这一代人在看待成人世界时抱有更大的疑虑 ,, 同时越 来越倾向于全盘否定成人世界。” “More than any other generation, ” he said, “ our generation views the adult world with great skepticism, there is also an increased tendency to reject completely that world. ”很 明显，他的话代表了许多同龄人的看法。 Apparently he speaks for a lot of his contemporaries. 在过去的几年里，我倾听过许多年轻人的谈话，他们有的还在大学读书，有的已经毕业，他 们对于成人的世界同样感到不安。 During the last few years, I have listened to scores of young people, in college and out, who were just as nervous about the grown world. 大致来说，他们的态度可归纳如下：“这个世界乱糟糟的，到处充满了不平等、贫困和战争。 对此该负责的大概应是那些管理这个世界的成年人吧。如果他们不能做得比这些更好，他们又能拿 什么来教育我们呢？这样的教导，我们根本不需要。” Roughly, their attitude might be summed up about like this:“ The world is in pretty much of a mess, full of injustice, poverty, and war. The people responsible are, presumably, the adults who have been running thing. If they can’ t do better than that, what have they got to teach our generation? That kind of lesson we can do without. ” 我觉得这些结论合情合理，至少从他们的角度来看是这样的。 There conclusions strike me as reasonable, at least from their point of view. 对成长中的一代人来说，相关的问题不是我们的社会是否完美（我们可以想当然地认为是这 样），而是应该如何去应付它。 The relevant question for the arriving generation is not whether our society is imperfect (we can take that for granted), but how to deal with it. 尽管这个社会严酷而不合情理，但它毕竟是我们惟一拥有的世界。 For all its harshness and irrationality, it is the only world we’ ve got. 因此，选择一个办法去应付这个社会是刚刚步入成年的年轻人必须作出的第一个决定，这通 常是他们一生中最重要的决定。 Choosing a strategy to cope with it, then, is the first decision young adults have to make, and usually the most important decision of their lifetime. 根据我的发现，他们的基本选择只有四种： So far as I have been able to discover, there are only four basic alternatives: 1）脱离传统社会