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新概念英語第四冊Lesson20課文及翻譯
Snake poison
蛇毒
What are the two different ways in which snake poison acts?
How it came about that snakes manufactured poison is a mystery. Over the periods their saliva, a mild, digestive juice like our own, was converted into a poison that defies analysis even today. It was not forced upon them by the survival competition; they could have caught and lived on prey without using poison, just as the thousands of non-poisonous snakes still do. Poison to a snake is merely a luxury; it enables it to get its food with very little effort, no more effort than one bite. And why only snakes? Cats, for instance, would be greatly helped; no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbits -- just a bite and no more effort needed. In fact, it would be an assistance to all carnivores though it would be a two-edged weapon when they fought each other. But, of the vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes (and one lizard). One wonders saliva into why Nature, with respect from that of others, as other on the blood.
In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place. It did not; some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others, as different as arsenic is from strychnine, and having different effects. One poison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.
The makers of the nerve poison include the mambas and the cobras and their venom is called neurotoxic. Vipers (adders) and rattlesnakes manufacture the blood poison, which is known as haemolytic. Both poisons are unpleasant, but by far the more unpleasant is the blood poison. It is said that the nerve poison is the more primitive of the two, that the blood poison is, so to speak, a newer product from an improved formula. Be that as it may, the nerve poison does its business with man far more quickly than the blood poison. This, however, means nothing. Snakes did not acquire their poison for use against man but for use against prey such as rats and mice, and the effects on these of viperine poison is almost immediate.
JOHN CROMPTON The snake
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
saliva
n. 唾液
digestive
adj. 助消化的
defy
v. 使不可能
analysis
n. 分析
prey
n. 被捕食的動物
fierce
adj. 兇猛的
tussle
n. 扭打
carnivore
n. 食肉動物
vertebrate
n. 脊椎動物
lizard
n. 蜥蜴
concoct
v. 調(diào)制
potency
n. 效力
conversion
n. 轉(zhuǎn)變
arsenic
n. 砒霜
strychnine
n. 馬錢子堿
mamba
n. 樹眼鏡蛇
cobra
n. 眼鏡蛇
venom
n. 毒液
neurotoxic
adj. 毒害神經(jīng)的
viper
n. 蝰蛇
adder
n. 蝮蛇
rattlesnake
n. 響尾蛇
haemolytic
adj. 溶血性的
viperine
adj. 毒蛇
參考譯文
蛇是怎樣產(chǎn)生毒液的，這是一個謎。蛇的唾液本來和我們?nèi)说南阂粯尤岷停?jīng)過漫長的時間，演變成了今天仍無法分析清楚的毒液。毒液不是生存競爭強加給它們的，它們也可以不用毒液捕捉動物而生存，就像今天成千上萬的無毒蛇那樣。毒液對毒蛇來說只不過是一種舒適生存的優(yōu)越手段，它使蛇不用費多大力氣就能捕獲到食物，輕咬一口即可。為什么只有蛇才有毒液呢?譬如說，如果貓有毒液，那對貓會大有幫助，它就不必再和又大又兇的老鼠邊跑邊博斗了，也不必再和大兔子扭斗了，只要咬一口，就不必再費大力氣。因此，任何食肉動物有了毒液，都能從中獲益。不過，當它們相互撕打時，毒液就成了利弊參半的武，可以殺死對方，也可以被對方的毒液殺死。然而，在脊椎動物中，大自然神秘模測地只選擇了蛇(還有一種蜥蜴)，人們弄不清楚大自然為什么在某些蛇的身上調(diào)制出如此高效的毒液來。
人們可能認為，唾液轉(zhuǎn)變成毒液，其中有固定的程序。其實沒有。有些蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液也在各方面與另外一些毒蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液不同，就像砒霜不同于馬錢子堿一樣。不同毒蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液產(chǎn)生的效果不同，一種毒液作用于神經(jīng)，另一種毒液作用于血液。
產(chǎn)生神經(jīng)毒液的蛇有一種非洲樹眼鏡蛇和眼鏡蛇，它們的毒液稱為神經(jīng)毒素。蝰蛇(蝮蛇)和響尾蛇產(chǎn)生血液毒素，稱為溶血性毒液。這兩種毒液都很可怕，但溶血性毒液尤其厲害。據(jù)說，神經(jīng)毒液在兩種毒液中是較為原始的一種，而溶血性毒液，打個比方說，是根據(jù)改良配方生產(chǎn)的一種較新的產(chǎn)品。不過，神經(jīng)毒辣液比溶血性毒液在人身上起作用快得多。但是，這沒有什么關(guān)系，因為蛇有毒液不是用來對付人的，而是對付它的獵物，諸如鼠類，毒液對這些獵物會立刻起作用。
新概念英語第四冊Lesson21課文及翻譯
William S. Hart and the early 'Western' film
威廉.S. 哈特和早期限的‘西部’影片
How did William Hart's childhood prepare him for his acting role in Western films?
William S. hart was, perhaps, the greatest of all Western stars, fro unlike Gary Cooper and John Wayne he appeared in nothing but Westerns. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged. It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film, and devised the protagonist he played in every film he made, the good-had man, the accidental-noble outlaw, or the honest-but-framed cowboy, or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip; in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his frontier environment.
Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood, Hart actually knew something of the old West. He had lived in it as a child when it was already disappearing, and his hero was firmly rooted in his memories and experiences, and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier. And although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized, myth and reality did join hands in at least one arena, the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.
Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians were bewildered by politicians, bankers and businessmen, and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. Hart's good-bad man was always an outsider, always one of the disinherited, and if he found it necessary to shoot a sheriff or rob a bank along the way, his early audiences found it easy to understand and forgive, especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.
Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century found it pleasant to escape to a time when life, though hard, was relatively simple. We still do; living in a world in which undeclared aggression, war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by.
CARL FOREMAN Virtue and a Fast Gun from The Observer
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
Supreme
adj.
protagonist
n. 主角
outlaw
n. 逃犯，亡命之徒
framed
adj. 遭到陷害的
vicious
adj. 惡毒的
mythology
n. 神話
vanished
adj. 消失了的
absurdly
adv. 荒誕地
arena
n. 競技場在
encroaching
adj. 漸漸滲入的
Indian
n. 印第安人
bewilder
v. 使手足無措
alien
adj. 外來的
taboo
n. 戒律
disinherit
v. 剝奪...繼承權(quán)
undeclared
adj. 未經(jīng)宣布的
hypocrisy
n. 偽善
chicanery
n. 詐騙
impending
adj. 迫近的，近在眉睫的
immolation
n. 殺戮
code
n. 準則
參考譯文
威廉.S.哈特大概是美國西部電影明星中的佼佼者。他和加里.古柏、約翰.韋恩不同，他只在西部電影中扮演角色。在1914年至1924年期間，他，獨霸影壇。正是他創(chuàng)造了西部電影的基調(diào)，即在他自己的拍攝的影片中他所塑造的主人公形象：被認為是壞人的好人，出人意料的高尚的逃犯，誠實卻遭陷害的牛仔或因流言蜚語蒙受嫌疑的司法官�？傊�，主人公是一個自相矛盾，又與他的拓荒環(huán)境相矛盾的人物。
哈特與大部分同時代在好萊塢的演員不同，他確實了解西部早期拓荒生活的一些情況。作為一個孩子他曾在西部生活過，當時西部拓荒生活正在消失。他塑造的英雄人物深深地扎根于他本人的記憶和經(jīng)歷之中，也扎根于有關(guān)已經(jīng)消失的拓荒生活的歷史和神話之中。雖然在美國歷沒有任何時期或地區(qū)像西部拓荒時期那樣被荒謬地浪漫主義化了，但神話和事實至少在某一個舞臺上共存，也就是存在于個人與漸漸闖入的文明這兩者的沖突之中。
習慣與大自然和印第安人作斗爭以求生存的拓荒者被政客、銀行家和商人搞得暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向，后被圈地、尖律我外來的清規(guī)戒律所擊敗。哈特扮演的被誤為壞人的好人總是一個局外人，總是一個被剝奪繼承權(quán)的人。如果他認為在進行過程中有必要槍擊一個司法官或搶劫一個銀行，他的早期觀眾很容易接受，覺得應(yīng)該原諒他，特別是當哈特后戰(zhàn)勝了前來進攻的印第安人時，觀眾更能原諒他。
生活在20世紀20年代的觀眾認為，逃到一個即使艱苦但比較簡樸的時代中去是件愉快的事，我們今天仍有這種感覺。如今，不宣而戰(zhàn)的侵略、戰(zhàn)爭、虛偽、詐騙、無政府狀態(tài)以及即將臨頭的毀滅成了我們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹囊徊糠�，我們都希望有一個賴以生存的行為準則。
新概念英語第四冊Lesson22課文及翻譯
Knowledge and progress
知識和進步
In what two areas have people made no 'progress' at all?
Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest. Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech. With the invention of writing, a great advance was made, for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised. Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. What is called 'modern civilization' is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature. but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. The problem now facing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil. It is now being used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power, continues.
G.N.M.TYRRELL The Personality of Man
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
loom
v. 赫然聳起
manifest
adj.明顯的
morality
n. 道德
communicate
v. 交流，交際
compound
adj. 復合的
enhance
v. 增進
tempo
n. 速率
trickle
n. 涓涓細流
torrent
n. 滔滔洪流
humanity
n. 人類
indifferently
adv. 不在乎地
grimly
adv. 可怖地
whimsical
adj. 怪誕的
shatter
v. 毀壞
twofold
adj. 雙重的
參考譯文
為什么進步這個概念在現(xiàn)代世界顯得如此突出?無疑是因為有一種特殊的進步實際上正在我們周圍發(fā)生，而且變得越來越明顯。雖然人類有智力和道德上沒有得到普遍提高，但在知識積累方面卻取得了巨大的進步。人一旦能用語言同別人交流思想，知識的積累便開始了。隨著書寫的發(fā)明，又邁進了一大步，因為這樣一來，知識不僅能交流，而且能儲存了。藏書使教育成為可能，而教育反過來又豐富了藏書，因為知識的增長遵循著一種“滾雪球”的規(guī)律。印刷術(shù)的發(fā)明又大大提高了知識增長的速度。所有這些發(fā)展都比較緩慢，而隨著科學的到來，增長的速度才突然加快。于是，知識便開始有系統(tǒng)有計劃地積累起來。涓涓細流匯成小溪，小溪現(xiàn)已變成了奔騰的江河。而且，新知識一旦獲得，便得到實際應(yīng)用。所謂“現(xiàn)代文明”并不是人的天性平衡發(fā)展的結(jié)果，而是積累起來的知識應(yīng)用到實際生活中的結(jié)果。現(xiàn)在人類面臨的問題是：用這些知識去做什么?正像人們常常指出的，知識是一把雙刃刀，可以用于造福，也可以用來為害。人們現(xiàn)在正漫不經(jīng)心地把知識用于這兩個方面，例如：炮兵利用科學毀壞人的身體、而外科醫(yī)生就在附近用科學搶救被炮兵毀壞的人體，還有什么情景比這更可怕、更怪誕的嗎?我們不得不嚴肅地問問我們自己：隨著日益增長的知識的力量，如果我們繼續(xù)利用知識的這種雙重性，將會發(fā)生什么樣的情況呢?
