全新版大学英语综合教程1课文对照翻译 BY12020212

科学发现成为新闻时，很少如新闻标题所显示的那么简单。新闻标题通常只字不提科学发现背后的长年努力。新闻报道也很少帮助我们认识，科学绝少提供最终的、经得住挑战的答案。

How To Make Sense Out Of Science

David H. Levy

1

New Drugs Kill Cancer

如何理解科学

大卫·H·利维

新药灭癌 2

Devastation by El Ni?o ─ a Warning

厄尔·尼诺现象将带来毁灭──一则警告 3

6:30 p.m. October 26, 2028: Could This Be the Deadline for the Apocalypse?

2028年10月26日下午6:30：世界末日的最后期限？ 4

When these headlines appeared this year, their stories became the subjects of conversations around the world ─ talks spiced with optimism and confusion. Imagine the hopes raised in the millions battling cancer. Did the news mean these people never had to worry about cancer again? Or that we all had to worry about a catastrophe from outer space or, more immediately, from El Ni?o?

这些标题于今年见诸报端时，这类新闻便成为全世界的话题 —— 既掺有乐观又带来混乱的话题。想象一下这些新闻为成千上万与癌症抗争的人们所带来的希望。这些新闻是否意味着这些人再也不用为癌症担忧呢？还是说我们所有的人都得为来自外层空间的大祸，或者更近一点，为厄尔·尼诺现象造成的灾难而忧心忡忡呢？。 5

Unfortunately, science doesn't work that way. It rarely arrives at final answers. People battling cancer or victims of El Ni?o may find this frustrating, but the truth is that Nature does not yield her secrets easily. Science is done step by step. First an idea is formed. Then this is tested by an experiment. The outcome, one hopes, results in an increase in knowledge. 不幸的是，科学并非这般运作。科学极少提供最终的答案。与癌症搏斗的人们或厄尔·尼诺现象的受害者也许会觉得这太令人沮丧，但事实是，大自然并不轻易袒露其奥秘。科学研究是一步一步进行的，首先要有一个构想，然后用实验检验这个构想，人们希望其结果能成为知识的一种积累。 6

Science is not a set of unquestionable results but a way of understanding the world around us. Its real work is slow. (1) The scientific method, as many of us learned in school, is a gradualprocessthat begins with a purpose or a problem or question to be answered. It includes a list of materials, a procedure to follow, a set of observations to make and, finally, conclusions to reach. In medicine, when a new drug is proposed that might cure or control a disease, it is first tested on a large random group of people, and their reactions are then compared with those of another random group not given the drug. All reactions in both groups

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全新版大学英语综合教程1课文对照翻译 BY12020212

are carefully recorded and compared, and the drug is evaluated. All of this takes time ─ and patience.

科学并非一组无可置疑的结果，而是认识我们周围世界的一种方法。其实际进程是缓慢的。(1) 正如我们很多人在学校里所学的那样，科学方法是一个渐进的过程，这个过程始于某个目的，或某个有待解决或回答的问题。这包括一组材料，一套必须遵循的操作步骤，一系列有待进行的观察，最后是有待得出的结论。医学上，有人提出一种新药可能医治或控制某种疾病时，先是在随意挑选的大量人群中进行试验，然后将这部分人群的用药反应与另一组随意挑选的未用此药的人群的情况进行比较。两组人群的种种反应被一一记录，仔细比较，从而对新药的疗效作出鉴定。所有这些过程需要时间 —— 以及耐心。 7

It's the result of course, that makes the best news ─ not the years of quiet work that characterize the bulk of scientific inquiry. After an experiment is concluded or an observation is made, the result continues to be examined critically. When it is submitted for publication, it goes to a group of the scientist's colleagues, who review the work. If the work is important enough, just before the report is published in a professional journal or read at a conference, a press release is issued and an announcement is made to the world.

成为新闻热点的当然是结果，而非长年默默无闻的努力，而长年默默无闻的努力正是绝大多数科学探索的特点。在实验有了结论，或观察结束之后，其结果仍将受到严格的检测。结果送交发表时，会由一组科学家的同行审阅。如果成果相当重要，那在专业杂志上发表或会议上宣读该实验报告之前，将会举行新闻发布会，向世人宣布。 8

The world may think that the announcement signifies the end of the process, but it doesn't. A publication is really a challenge: \will tryto repeat the experiment, and the more often it works, the better the chances that the result is sound. Einstein was right when he said: \amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can at any time prove me wrong.\

世人也许会认为宣布结果标志整个过程的结束，其实不然。发表成果实际上是种挑战：“本人所作结论在此。请证其谬！”(2) 别的研究人员会试图重复这一实验，实验成功的次数越多，其结果就越有可能是可靠的。爱因斯坦说得对：“再多的实验也永远不能证明我正确，而一项实验随时就能证明我错误。” 9

In August 1996, NASA announced the discovery in Antarctica of a meteorite from Mars that might contain evidence of ancient life on another world. (3)As President Clinton said that day, the possibilitythat life existed on Mars billions of years ago was potentially one of the great discoveries of our time. 1996年8月，美国国家航天和航空局宣布在南极洲发现了一颗来自火星的陨石，其中可能包含着其他星球存在古老生命的证据。(3) 正如克林顿总统那天所说，发现亿万年前火星上可能存在生命这件事, 有可能是我们时代最伟大的发现之一。 10

After the excitement wore down and initial papers were published, other researchers began looking at samples from the same meteorite. (4) Some concluded that the \was mostly contamination from Antarctic ice or that there was nothing organic at all in the rock. 当兴奋和激动慢慢平息，首批论文发表之后，其他研究人员开始研究取自同一颗陨石的样本。(4) 有些人得出结论说，这些“生命的证据”大多来自南极冰的污染，或者说那块石头里根本就没有有机物。 - 18 -

全新版大学英语综合教程1课文对照翻译 BY12020212 11

Was this a failure of science, as some news reports trumpeted?

这是某些新闻报道所鼓噪的科学的失败吗？ 12

No! It was a good example of the scientific method working the way it is supposed to. Scientists spend years on research, announce their findings, and these findings are examined by other scientists. That's how we learn. Like climbing a mountain, we struggle up three feet and fall back two. It's a process filled with disappointments and reverses, but somehow we keep moving ahead.

不！这正是科学研究以其应有的方式进行的一个范例。科学家经过多年研究发布成果，其成果再由其他科学家加以检验。我们就是这样增进知识的。正如爬山，我们费力爬上三英尺，又掉下去两英尺。这是个充满失望与挫折的过程，但不管怎样，我们一直往前迈进。

Unit 4 American Dream

Part Text A A Tonh Trivisonno's American DreamⅡ

The American Dream means different things to different people. But for many, particularly immigrants, it means the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. For them the dream is that talent and hard work can take you from log cabin to White House. Tony Trivisonno did not rise quite so high, yet he managed to make his own dream come true.

美国梦对不同的人有不同的意义。但对许多人，尤其是对移民而言，它意味着改善自己生活的机会。对于他们，美国梦的含义就是才能与勤劳能让你从小木屋走向白宫。托尼·特里韦索诺并没有爬到那么高，但他成功地使自己的梦想成真。

Tony Trivisonno

's American Dream

Frederick C. Crawford

1 He came from a rocky farm in Italy, somewhere south of Rome. How or when he got to America, I don't know. But one evening I found him standing in the driveway, behind my garage. He was about five-foot-seven or eight, and thin.

托尼·特里韦索诺的美国梦

弗雷德里克·C·克罗弗德

他来自意大利罗马以南某地一个满地石子的农庄。他什么时候怎么到美国的，我不清楚。不过，有天晚上，我看到他站在我家车库后面的车道上。他身高五英尺七、八左右，人很瘦。 2

\mow your lawn,\comprehend his broken English.

“我割你的草坪，”他说。他那结结巴巴的英语很难听懂。 3

I asked him his name. \Trivisonno,\he replied. \mow your lawn.\I told Tony that I couldn't afford a gardener.

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全新版大学英语综合教程1课文对照翻译 BY12020212 我问他叫什么名字。“托尼·特里韦索诺，”他回答说，“我割你的草坪。”我对托尼讲，本人雇不起园丁。 4

\mow your lawn,\he said again, then walked away. I went into my house unhappy. Yes,

these

Depression days were difficult, but how could I turn away a person who had come to me for help? “我割你的草坪，”他又说道，随后便走开了。我走进屋子，心里有点不快。没错，眼下这大萧条的日子是不好过，可我怎么能把一个上门求助的人就这么打发走呢？ 5

When I got home from work the next evening, the lawn had been mowed, the garden weeded, and the walks swept. I asked my wife what had happened.

等我第二天晚上下班回到家，草坪已修整过了，花园除了草，人行道也清扫过了。我便问太太是怎么回事。 6

\man got the lawn mower out of the garage and worked on the yard,\she answered. \assumed you had hired him.\

“有个人把割草机从汽车库里推出来就在院子里忙活起来，”她回答说，“我还以为是你雇他来的。” 7

I told her of my experience the night before. We thought it strange that he had not asked for pay.

我就把前晚的事跟她说了。我俩都觉得奇怪，他怎么没提出要工钱。 8

The next two days were busy, and I forgot about Tony. We were trying to rebuild our business and bring some of our workers back to the plants. But on Friday, returning home a little early, I saw Tony again, behind the garage. I complimented him on the work he had done.

接下来的两天挺忙，我把托尼的事给忘了。我们在尽力重整业务，要让一部分工人回厂里来。但在星期五，回家略微早了些，我又在汽车库后面看到了托尼。我对他干的活夸奖了几句。 9

\

“我割你的草坪，”他说。 10

I managed to work out some kind of small weekly pay, and each day Tony cleaned up the yard and took care of any little tasks. My wife said he was very helpful whenever there were any heavy objects to lift or things to fix.

我设法凑了一小笔微薄的周薪，就这样托尼每天清扫院子，有什么零活，他都干了。我太太说，但凡有重物要搬或有什么要修理的，他挺派得上用场。 11

Summer passed into fall, and winds blew cold. \. Craw, snow pretty soon,\Tony told me one evening. \

夏去秋来，凉风阵阵。“克罗先生，快下雪了，”有天晚上托尼跟我说，“等冬天到了，你让我在厂里干扫雪的活。” 12

Well, what do you do with such determination and hope? Of course, Tony got his job at the factory.

啊，对这种执着与期盼，你又能怎样呢？自然，托尼得到了厂里的那份活儿。

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