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父亲： 是的。
希金斯太太：你叫什么名字，小姐？ 海蒂： 海蒂·汤普森。
希金斯太太：我相信你一定会发现这里的同学们都挺友好。 这里的老师也
都乐意回答问题。
父亲： 您知道，她是个出类拔萃的姑娘。 海蒂： 爸爸！ 15
FATHER: Very, very bright.
MRS.HIGGINS: Yes, now if we can get you to fill out --
FATHER: Don't know where she got her brains. Her mother, I suppose. Oh, I was bright enough. But nothing like HEIDI. All her teachers have told Mrs. Thompson -- that's her mother -- and me that she was just about the brightest --
MRS.HIGGINS: (Interrupts as she loses her patience, though trying to be pleasant) As I said, if you have proof of vaccinations --
FATHER: (Interrupts, carrying on with his line of thought) Besides being bright, she's very, very talented.
HEIDI: (Twists her hands over and over in front of her chest. ) Please, Daddy, don't do this.
FATHER: Well, of course I will, darling. I'm proud of you. Your mother and I are proud of you.
(Turns back to MRS. HIGGINS. ) Why just last year, in her last year of junior high school, before we moved, Heidi placed first in the county in the annual spelling bee! Isn't that wonderful? And she plays the piano like an angel. An absolute angel.
父亲： 非常非常聪明！
希金斯太太：一定是的，现在你是不是能填一下 ,, 父亲： 不知道她怎么会这么聪明。我想是她母亲的遗传。哦，我也不笨。
可没法跟海蒂比。教过她的老师都对汤普森太太，就是她妈，还有我说，她差不多是最聪明的一个 ,,
希金斯太太：（不耐烦地打断，但口气仍尽量和缓）我刚才说了，如果
你有疫苗接种证明 ,,
父亲： （打断希金斯太太，沿着自己的思路讲下去）她不仅聪明，而且
才华出众。
海蒂： （双手置于胸前，搓拧着）行了，爸爸，别说了。
父亲： 啊，宝贝儿，我当然要说。我为你感到骄傲。我和你妈都为你感
到骄傲。（转回身面向希金斯太太）嗳，就在去年，她初中最后一年，我们还没
搬家的时候，海蒂在县里每年一度的拼单词比赛中得了第一名！ 了不起吧？而且 她钢琴也弹得美妙之极。简直就是仙乐。
16
HEIDI: Daddy, please. Please, please. Daddy, I have to go to class. I want to go to class. Please let me go to class.
FATHER: See what I mean? Such an eager learner. I can't imagine anyone's being
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more eager for knowledge than my Heidi. My little girl. MRS.HIGGINS: Yes, well, be that as it may -- HEIDI: Aaargh! Aaaaargh! Aaaargh!
(DIANE and SEAN enter Down Right. They look at HEIDI, FATHER, and MRS. HIGGINS. )
HEIDI, DIANE and SEAN: (Shouting in unison) Daddy, you know better than that! FATHER: Er, uh, I do? (Curtain)
海蒂： 爸爸，行了。求求你了，求求你了。爸爸，我得上课去了。我要
去上课。请让我去上课吧。
父亲： 瞧见了没有？一个多么好学的学生。我想不出还有谁比我家海蒂
更好学了。我的好姑娘。
希金斯太太：是的，嗯，不过 ,, 海蒂 : 唉！唉！唉！
（黛安、肖恩从右前方上。两人望着海蒂、父亲和希金斯太太。 ） 海蒂、黛安、肖恩：（齐声喊）老爸，你这是干什么呀。 父亲： 呃，嗯，是吗？
（幕落）
Unlike the father in the play which began this unit, here we have a father who is far better at seeing things from his son's point of view. As Merton shows, however, this does not always come easy.
与本单元开始的那场戏里的那位父亲不同， 这里我们读到的是一位颇能设
身处地为儿子着想的父亲。 然而，正如默顿所描述的那样， 要做到这点往往并非易事。
Unit4
Maia Szalavitz, formerly a television producer, now spends her time as a writer. In this essay she explores digital reality and its consequences.Along the way, she compares the digital world to the \electronic dimension.
迈亚·塞拉维茨曾是电视制片人， 目前从事写作。 她在本文中探索了数字
化世界及其后果。 与此同时，她将数字化世界与真实世界做了比较， 承认电子空间自有其魅力。
A Virtual Life
Maia Szalavitz
1 After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend's Liverpool accent suddenly becomes impossible to interpret after his easily understood words on screen; a secretary's clipped tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid -- hours become minutes, or seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days.
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虚拟世界的生活 迈亚·塞拉维茨
在网上呆了太久， 听到电话铃声也会吓一大跳。 显示屏上看多了我男朋友
那些一目了然的文字， 他的利物浦口音一下子变得难以听懂； 而秘书的清脆快速的语调听上去比我想象的要生硬。时间本身变得捉摸不定——几小时变成几分
钟，或几秒钟延伸为几天。 周末原本是我一周的黄金时段， 现在却不过是平平常常的两天。
2 For the last three years, since I stopped working as a television producer, I have done much of my work as a telecommuter. I submit articles and edit them via email and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England, so much of our relationship is also computer-assisted.
在我不再当电视制片人的这三年间， 我的大部分工作都是在家里使用计算
机终端进行的。 我通过电子邮件投稿和校订， 利用互联网上的人名地址与同行交流。我男朋友住在英国，因此两人的关系也在很大程度上借助于电脑维系。
3 If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the endless snowstorm of '96 on TV.
我要是愿意的话， 可以一连几个星期不出门而什么也不缺。 我可以在网上
订购食品、网上理财、网上恋爱、网上工作。事实上我有时独自呆在家里长达三个星期，只偶尔出去拿信、买报纸及日用品。 1996 年那一场接一场的暴风雪我大都是在电视上看到的。
4 But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though I've
become one with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another link in the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to feel an aversion to outside forms of socializing. We have become the Net critics' worst nightmare.
然而，一段时间之后， 生活本身就显得不那么真实了。 我开始觉得自己似
乎与机器融为一体了，我接收信息，再发送出去，就如同互联网的一个连接点。 其他上网的人也谈到了同样的症状。 我们开始厌恶外面的社交方式。 我们的状况成了批评互联网的人们最害怕见到的一幕。
5 What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become a form of escape, a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction, coming back
out of the cave can be quite difficult. 一下床就上机，不再为发型、服饰、面部化妆烦心， 起初看似高级的享受如今却成为一种对生活的逃避， 一种缺乏自律的表现。你一旦开始用网络交际取代人与人的真实接触， 要走出这种穴居状态就会相当困难。
6 I find myself shyer, more cautious, more anxious. Or, conversely, when
suddenly confronted with real live humans, I get overexcited, speak too much,
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interrupt. I constantly worry if I am dressed appropriately, that perhaps I've actually forgotten to put on a skirt and walked outside in the T-shirt and underwear I sleep and live in.
我发现自己变得比以前怯生、谨慎、焦虑。或者，反过来，当我突然面对
现实中活生生的人时，会变得过于兴奋，说个不停，爱打断别人的讲话。我老是
担心自己衣着是否得体， 担心自己会不会真的忘了穿裙子， 只穿着夜间睡觉、 白天活动的那件 T 恤和内衣就出门了。
7 At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to talk away in the background, something that I'd never done previously. The voices of the programs are comforting, but then I'm jarred by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. \
\over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work moves into the background. I decide to check my email.
有时我把电视机开着，让它作为背景声音一直响着，以前我从不这样做。电
视节目中的说话声让人感到宽慰， 可那些广告又叫我心烦。 我发现自己沉浸在肥皂剧里，或者不停地收看最新的新闻报道和天气预报。 一而再再而三地从 “每日新闻”、“一线新闻”、 “夜间新闻”、 有线新闻电视网、纽约一套上收看有关每一条新闻的各种不同视角的报道，尽管它们对我毫无用处。工作成了次要的。 我决定去看一下自己的电子信箱。
8 On line, I find myself attacking everyone in sight. I am bad-tempered, and easily angered. I find everyone on my mailing list insensitive, believing that they've forgotten that there are people actually reading their wounding remarks. I don't realize that I'm projecting until after I've been embarrassed by someone who politely points out that I've attacked her for agreeing with me.
在网上，我发现自己见谁攻谁。我脾气暴躁，动辄生气。我觉得我与之通
信的每一个人都麻木不仁， 认为他们已经忘却还有人真会去读他们那些刻薄伤人
的言辞。直到有人礼貌地指出， 她同意我的观点却遭到我的抨击时， 我才意识到， 自己是在以己度人，不由得深感尴尬。
9 When I'm in this state, I fight my boyfriend as well, misinterpreting his intentions because of the lack of emotional cues given by our typed dialogue. The fight takes hours, because the system keeps crashing. I say a line, then he does, then crash! And yet we keep on, doggedly.
在这种精神状态下， 我也和男朋友吵架， 常因键出的对话缺乏情感暗示
而误解他的本意。由于系统常出故障，两人一争就是几个小时。我写一句，他回一句，接着系统失灵！可我们俩还是锲而不舍地接着吵。 10 I'd never realized how important daily routine is: dressing for work, sleeping normal hours. I'd never thought I relied so much on co-workers for company. I began to understand why long-term unemployment can be so damaging, why life without an externally supported daily plan can lead to higher rates of drug abuse, crime, suicide.
以前我从未意识到日常的生活起居是多么重要， 如穿戴整齐去上班， 按时
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就寝。以前我从未想过自己会那么依赖同事做伴。 我开始理解为什么长时间的失业会那么伤人，为什么一个人的生活缺少了外部支持的日常计划就会导致吸毒、犯罪、自杀率的增长。
11 To restore balance to my life, I force myself back into the real world. I call people, arrange to meet with the few remaining friends who haven't fled New York City. I try to at least get to the gym, so as to set apart the weekend from the rest of my week. I arrange interviews for stories, doctor's appointments -- anything to get me out of the house and connected with others.
为了恢复生活的平衡，我强迫自己回到真实世界中去。我给别人打电话，
与所剩无几的仍然住在纽约城的几个朋友安排见面。 我至少设法去去健身房， 以 便使周末与工作日有所不同。 我安排采访好写报道， 预约看医生——安排任何需 要我出门与他人接触的活动。
12 But sometimes being face to face is too much. I see a friend and her ringing laughter is intolerable -- the noise of conversation in the restaurant, unbearable. I make my excuses and flee. I re-enter my apartment and run to the computer as though it were a place of safety.
但有时面对面地与人相处实在难以忍受。 我与一位朋友见面， 她那种响亮
的笑声让人忍无可忍——饭店里的噪杂谈话声也让人受不了。 我找了个藉口逃之夭夭。我重新回到我的公寓，冲向电脑，似乎那儿才是一个安全的地方。
13 I click on the modem, the once-annoying sound of the connection now as pleasant as my favorite tune. I enter my password. The real world disappears. 我点击鼠标，打开调制解调器， 曾经听了就烦的连接声此刻听起来就如同
最心爱的曲子那么悦耳。我键入密码。真实世界转瞬便消逝了。
Thought you were safe sharing secrets with Internet friends? Wait for the doorbell...
你以为与网友分享秘密不会出事儿吗？等着门铃响起来吧 ,,
Unit5
Look at the following two sayings and then see if the story of Michael Stone bears out the points they make.
The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.
-- Moli reè
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
-- Charles A. Beard
读一读以下两则名言，想一想迈克尔·斯通的故事是否印证了其间的道理。 障碍越是巨大，逾越它也就越感自豪。
——莫里哀
只有天空漆黑时，你才可以看到星星。
——查尔斯· A ·比尔德
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