around you.
明知会引起嘲笑而提问要比把问题埋在心里、对周围的一切麻木不仁
要勇敢得多。
deaden sb to sth ：使某人对……不敏感。
become deadened to sth ：对……变得不敏感或麻木不仁。
Asking questions when you know that you might be laughed at
requires courage. But this is braver than keeping your questions to yourself and gradually become unable to notice what is happening around you.
Listen carefully.
6 Many conversations are a kind of competition that rarely leads to discovery on either side. When people are talking, don't spend the time thinking about what you're going to say next. Instead, try to understand what they're saying, what experience is behind their remarks, what you can learn from or about them. Older people have grown up in a world very different from yours, one you may not know very well. They, and people from other parts of the country and from other nations, have important perspectives that can enrich your life.
① Many conversations are a kind of competition that rarely leads to discovery on either side.
很多情况下人们谈话时，总是争相表现自己，这类交谈对双方都无
②
①
多大益处。
Often, when people talk they show off: they try to show they are
smarter, or that they know more than the person they are talking to; this kind of conversation gives you useful information or understanding. ② try to understand…..what you can learn from or about them.
而是设法搞懂他们说的是什么，什么样的经历才使得他们说这些
话，你从这些话中你能学到什么，你对说这些话的人又能了解到什么情况等。 这里作者使用了排比的手法：用三个what引出的从句作
understand的宾语。
try to learn something from what they say, or try to find out the
kind of person they are.
Everybody makes mistakes.
7 Everybody's understanding is incomplete. Be open to correction, and learn to correct your own mistakes. The only embarrassment is in not learning from your mistakes.
Know your planet.
8 It's the only one we have. Learn how it works. We're changing the atmosphere, the surface, the waters of the Earth, often for some short-term advantage when the long-term implications are unknown. The citizens of any country should have at least something to say about the direction in which we're going. If we don't understand the issues, we abandon the future.
① ...often for some short-term advantage when the long term implications are unknown.
往往为了短期的利益，在尚不了解的长远影响的情况下。
③
②①
often for some quick profit now, when you don't know possible harm or
danger might arise in the future.
②The citizens of any country should have at least something to say about the direction in which we are doing.
任何一个国家的公民至少对我们人类要走向何处有发言权。
All people in the world have the right at least to express their views on
the future of our planet.
③ If we don't understand the issues, we abandon the future.
如果我们不能理解这些问题，我们就是放弃未来。
If we don't realize the seriousness of the problems we are facing,
there'll be no hope for the human race.
Science and technology.
9 You can't know your planet unless you know something about science and technology. School science courses, I remember, concentrated on the unimportant parts of science, leaving the major insights almost untouched. The great discoveries in modern science are also great discoveries of the human spirit. For example, Copernicus showed that — far from being the center of the universe, about which the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars revolved in clockwise homage — the Earth is just one of many small worlds. This is a deflation of our pretensions, to be sure, but it is also the opening up to our view of a vast and awesome universe. Every high school graduate should have some idea of the insights of Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein. (Einstein's special theory of relativity, far from being obscure and exceptionally difficult, can be understood in its basics with no more than first-year algebra, and the notion of a rowboat in a river going upstream and downstream. )
① This is a deflation of our pretensions, to be sure....
这当然煞了我们人类的自命不凡的傲气，但是同时（哥白尼的学说）
①
也开阔了我们的眼界，使我们看到一个漫无边际、令人敬畏的宇宙。
Undoubtedly, to accept the fact that the earth is not the center of the
universe is to shatter the importance of human beings.
Don't spend your life watching TV. 10 You know what I'm talking about.
Culture.
11 Gain some exposure to the great works of literature, art and music. If such a work is hundreds or thousands of years old and is still admired, there is probably something to it. Like all deep experiences, it may take a little work on your part to discover what all the fuss is about. But once you make the effort, your life has changed; you've acquired a source of enjoyment and excitement for the rest of your days. In a world as tightly connected as ours is, don't restrict your attention to American or Western culture. Learn how and what people elsewhere think. Learn something of their history, their religion, their viewpoints.
① Gain some exposure to the great works of literature, art and music.
感受一下文艺、艺术和音乐名篇的熏陶。
④
③
①②
exposure to：接触……，感受……的熏陶，受到……的影响。
Read the great works of literature, and get to know art and music and
gain some insight into the profound thoughts in them.
②If such a work is hundreds or thousands of years old and is still admired, there is probably something to it.
既然一部作品以存在了几百年或是几千年，今天仍然受到赞赏，那么
大概它确实是有些名堂。
If a work was brought out hundreds or thousands of years ago and is
still appreciated, there must be something special in it.
③ ...it may take a little work on your part to discover what all the fuss is about.
要搞清楚人们到底为什么对这些作品还如此热衷，你就得下点功夫，
一切感人至深的经历莫不如此。
you have to make some effort to find out why people admire and are
crazy about those works of the past.
④ In a world as tightly connected as ours is, don't restrict your attention to American or Western culture.
In our age, countries and regions are closely related; what happens
in one country or region can affect others. Therefore we should not only study American culture and Western culture. We should also pay attention to other cultures---Asian, African and Latin American.
Compassion.
12 Many people believe that we live in an extraordinarily selfish time. But there is a hollowness, a loneliness that comes from living only for yourself. Humans are capable of great mutual compassion, love, and tenderness. These feelings, however, need encouragement to grow.
13 Look at the delight a one- or two-year-old takes in learning, and you see how powerful is the human will to learn. Our passion to understand the universe and our compassion for others jointly provide the chief hope for the human race.
① Our passion to understand the universe and our compassion for others jointly provide the chief hope for the human race.
我们有渴望了解宇宙的热忱，我们有对他人的同情心，人类的希望主
①
要寄托于此。
We have a strong desire for learning and we are kind and tender
towards one another. With these two fine qualities, the human race will have a bright future./ The hope for the human race lies mainly in our enthusiasm