Unit 1 Text A
人在自然界 |亚历山大·斯伯金
Nature nurtures mankind unselfishly with its rich resources. Yet, man is so carried away in his transformation of nature that he is unaware that it also has limitations and needs constant care. Now worn by the excessive demands of mankind, nature is unable to maintain the ecological balance needed. Humanity is faced with the problem of how to stop, or at least to moderate, the destruction of Mother Nature.
人类生活在大自然的王国里。他们时刻被大自然所包围并与之相互影响。人类呼吸的空气、喝下的水和摄入的食 物，无一不令人类时刻感知到大自然的影响。我们与大自然血肉相连，离开大自然，我们将无法生存。
Human beings live in the realm of nature. They are constantly surrounded by it and interact with it. Man is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he drinks, and the food he eats. We are connected with nature by \"blood\" ties and we cannot live outside nature.
人类不仅生活在大自然之中，同时也在改变着大自然。人类把自然资源转变为各种文化，社会历史的财富。人类降服并控制了电，迫使它为人类社会的利益服务。人类不仅把各种各样的动植物转移到不同的气候环境，也改变了他生活环境的地貌和气候并使动植物因之而发生转变。
Man is not only a dweller in nature, he also transforms it. Humanity converts nature's wealth into the means of the cultural, historical life of society. Man has subdued and disciplined electricity and compelled it to serve the interests of society. Not only has man transferred various species of plants and animals to different climatic conditions, he has also changed the shape and climate of his environment and transformed plants and animals.
随着社会的发展，人类对大自然的直接依赖越来越少，而间接的依赖却越来越多。我们远古的祖先生活在大自然的威胁及破坏力的恐惧之中，他们常常连基本的生活物资都无法获取。然而，尽管工具不甚完备，他们却能同心协力，顽强工作，并总是有所收获。在与人类的相互作用中，大自然也发生了改变。森林被破坏了，耕地面积增加了。大自然及其威力被看成是和人类敌对的东西。譬如，森林被认为是野性的和令人恐惧的，因此人类便想方设法使其面积缩小。这一切都是打着―文明‖的旗号进行的，所谓―文明‖，就是人类在哪里建立家园，耕耘土地，哪里的森林就被砍伐。
As society develops, man tends to become less dependent on nature directly, while indirectly his dependence grows. Our distant ancestors lived in fear of nature's destructive forces. Very often they were unable to obtain the merest daily necessities. However, despite their imperfect tools, they worked together stubbornly , collectively, and were able to attain results . Nature was also changed through interaction with man. Forests were destroyed and the area of farmland increased. Nature with its elemental forces was regarded as something hostile to man. The forest, for example, was something wild and frightening and people tried to force it to retreat . This was all done in the name of civilization , which meant the places where man had made his home, where the earth was cultivated, where the forest had been cut down. 然而，随着岁月的流逝，人类越来越关注的是在何处得到和如何得到生产所需的不可替代的
自然资源的问题。科学与人类改变大自然的实践活动已经使人类意识到了工业在改变地球的进程中对地质产生的重大影响。
But as time goes on mankind becomes increasingly concerned with the question of where and how to obtain irreplaceable natural resources for the needs of production. Science and man's practical transforming activities have made humanity aware of the enormous geological role played by the industrial transformation of the earth.
目前，人与自然以及自然与社会整体之间过去存在的动态平衡，已呈现崩溃的迹象。生物圈中所谓可替代资源的问题变得极为尖锐。人类和社会的需求，即便是简单得像淡水一样的物质，也变得越来越难以满足。清除工业废物的问题也变得日益复杂。
At present the previous dynamic balance between man and nature and between nature and society as a whole, has shown ominous signs of breaking down. The problem of the so-called replaceable resources of the biosphere has become particularly acute . It is getting more and more difficult to satisfy the needs of human beings and society even for such a substance , for example, as fresh water. The problem of eliminating industrial waste is also becoming increasingly complex.
现代技术的特征是生产和使用日益丰富的人工合成产 品。人们生产成千上万的人工合成材料。人们越来越多地用尼龙和其他人造纤维把自己从头到脚地包裹起来，这些绚丽的织物显然对他们无益。年轻人或许很少注意到这一点，他们更关注的是外表，而不是健康。但是上了年岁之后，他们就会感受到这种有害的影响。
Modern technology is distinguished by an ever increasing abundance of produced and used synthetic goods. Hundreds of thousands of synthetic materials are being made. People increasingly cover their bodies from head to foot in nylon and other synthetic, glittering fabrics that are obviously not good for them. Young people may hardly feel this, and they pay more attention to appearance than to health. But they become more aware of this harmful influence as they grow older.
久而久之，这些合成物质转变成废弃物，那些原本毒性不大的物质在自然循环中变为极其有害的物质。自然科学家和哲学家如今都在问自己这样一个问题：人类对生物圈的破坏难道是无法避免的吗？
As time goes on the synthetic output of production turns into waste, and then substances that in their original form were not very toxic are transformed in the cycle of natural processes into aggressive agents . Today both natural scientists and philosophers are asking themselves the question: Is man's destruction of the biosphere inevitable?
人与大自然的关系——生态环境的危机——已经成为一个全球性问题。这一问题的解决之道在于理性而明智地协调生产和对大自然的关爱之间的关系，这不仅要依靠个人、企业或者某些国家的力量，而且要依靠全人类的力量。解决人与大自然关系危机的方法之一，就是使用太阳能、风能、海洋能等资源，以及其他尚不为人所知的宇宙中的自然能。
The man-nature relation – the crisis of the ecological situation – is a global problem. Its solution lies in rational and wise organization of both production itself and care for Mother Nature, not just by individuals, enterprises or countries, but by all humanity. One of the ways to deal with the crisis situation in the \"man-nature\" system is to use such resources as solar energy, the power of winds, the riches of the seas and oceans and other, as yet unknown natural forces of the universe. 但是，回到我们原先的主题上，令人难以接受的事实是那些违背了自然规律、破坏了生物圈和谐的人类行为将会带来灾难，而这种灾难也许是全球性的。古代东方智者的话讲得真是恰如其分：朋友们，你要是亲近大自然，大自然就会用那永恒不变的规律永远呵护你！ But to return to our theme, the bitter truth is that those human actions which violate the laws of
nature, the harmony of the biosphere, threaten to bring disaster and this disaster may turn out to be universal. How apt then are the words of ancient Oriental wisdom: live closer to nature, my friends, and its eternal laws will protect you!
Text B
|物种灭绝 —— 过去和将来 Extinctions, Past and Present 理查德·利基 Preface
Man and wildlife are supposed to live in harmony, but human intrusion has driven a large number of species to extinction. It is high time that we took up the cause of wildlife conservation; otherwise, the price for us to pay in the future will be extremely high. In the following essay, the author calls for a global fund for wildlife conservation.
我在肯尼亚的图尔卡纳湖东岸工作时度过了生命中最激动人心的一些日子，寻找我们人类祖先的化石残骸。我们并不总是想找什么就能得到什么，但是，除了我们祖先的遗迹外，每天都会发现更多的东西。那些化石，有些相当完整，有些仅是碎片，道出了另一个世界。在那个世界，约150万年至200万年前，许多今天非洲哺乳动物的祖先漫游在肥沃的草原和森林边缘。当时的环境与现在非洲雨水更多的一些草原没有太大区别，但那里当时到处生活着今天早已灭绝的令人称奇的动物。
I spent some of the most exciting days of my life working on the eastern shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana searching for the fossilized remains (遗体) of our early ancestors. We did not always find what we wanted, but every day there was much more to discover than the traces of our own ancestors. The fossils , some quite complete, others mere fragments , spoke of another world in which the ancestors of many of today's African mammals (哺乳动物) wandered the rich grassland and forest edges between 1.5 million and 2 million years ago. The environment was not too different from the wetter grasslands of Africa today, but it was full of amazing animals that are now long extinct (绝种的).
不仅非洲如此，世界上任何地方的化石记录下来的一 切，都是一样。据估计，在过去的6亿年中，这个世界上存在过的物种，有95％以上都已灭绝了。
That was true not just for Africa. The fossil record tells the same story everywhere. It is estimated that more than 95％ of the species that have existed over the past 600 million years are gone. 工农业不断的扩展加速了当前物种灭绝的步伐，因此，我们该不该关心一下这个问题？有没有必要尽力去减慢这个永不停止的过程呢？
So, should we be concerned about the current rate of extinction (灭绝), which has been accelerated by the constant expansion of agriculture and industry? Is it necessary to try to slow down a process that has been going on forever?
我认为是应该的。我们知道，人类的健康发展与其他许多物种的健康发展紧密相关，而我们不能确知哪一种生物对我们的生存最为重要。
I believe it is. We know that the well-being of the human race is tied to the well-being of many other species , and we can't be sure which species are most important to our own survival. 但是，解决物种灭绝的危机问题决非易事，因为世界上许多生物多样性地区位于最贫穷的国家，尤其是亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲。这些国家划拨土地，兴建国家公园和自然保护区而禁止人类侵入甚至接近它们，人们能接受吗？当一个国家相当大一部分人仍生活在贫困线以下，
去花大笔钱挽救一些物种，这样做是否合适呢？
But dealing with the extinction crisis is no simple matter, since much of the world's biodiversity (生物多样性) resides (存在) in its poorest nations, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Can such countries justify setting aside national parks and nature reserves where human intrusion (侵扰) and even access is forbidden? Is it appropriate to spend large sums of money to save some species in a nation in which a considerable percentage of the people are living below the poverty line?
这些问题令我对倡导在贫穷国家中推行野生动植物的保护感到不安。然而我相信我们能够——而且也应该——做大量的工作。这是一个改变侧重点的问题。大量资金已投入到对濒危物种的野外科学研究和会议上。但是，能不能给那些保护野生动物使之不被偷猎的公园管理人员提供些胶鞋和车子？能不能为那些靠伐木和种地为生的当地人提供别的经济出路，帮助他们发展？这些资金很难获得。
Such questions make me uneasy about promoting wildlife conservation in poor nations. Nonetheless , I believe that we can – and should – do a great deal. It's a matter of changing priorities. Plenty of money is available for scientific field studies and conferences on endangered (将要灭绝的) species. But what about boots and vehicles for park personnel who protect wildlife from illegal hunters? What about development aid to give local people economic alternatives to cutting forests and plowing over the land? That kind of funding is difficult to come by . 我们不应该要求贫穷国家的人们在自己的短期生存和长期环境需求之间做出选择。假如他们的政府愿意保护环境，所需的资金应由国际组织提供。我认为，答案是明摆着的：要么富有国家现在就伸出援助之手，要么整个世界将遭受巨大损失。
People in poor countries should not be asked to choose between their own short-term survival and longer-term environmental needs. If their governments are willing to protect the environment, the money needed should come from international sources. To me, the choice is clear. Either the more wealthy world helps now or the world as a whole will lose out . 为此，我们需要在全球筹集专门用于野生动植物保护的资金，这些资金应该主要由工业国家的政府和国际援助机构提供。
For that reason, we need permanent global funds devoted to wildlife protection. The funds should Primarily come from the governments of the industrial nations and international aid agencies. 至于如何使用这些资金，人们可能会无休无止地争论下去。是应该由当地社团决定工作事项，还是由外面请来的专家控制这些资金？野生动物园里应该允许有限制的打猎呢，还是禁止入内？错误总是难免的，自然外貌也会不断地发生变化，物种仍旧会继续消逝，但是这项工作的困难不应该使我们放弃希望。地球上的许多自然栖息地已经永远消失了，但是也有许多栖息地可以挽救，并最终得到恢复。
How to use those funds would be a matter of endless debate. Should local communities be entitled to set the agenda , or should outside experts take control? Should limited hunting be allowed in parks, or should they be put off limits ? Mistakes will be made, the landscape will keep changing, and species will still be lost, but the difficulty of the task should not lead us to abandon hope. Many of the planet's natural habitats (栖息地) are gone forever, but many others can be saved and in time restored.
21世纪的一个主要挑战是保护尽可能多的自然栖息地。让我们全力抵制任何减少现有野生物种天然栖息地数量的行为。让我们号召全世界最富有的国家提供资金，使这个抵制行动成为可能。这并不是对慈善事业的捐赠，这是对人类未来和地球上所有生命的一项投资。 A major challenge for the 21st century is to preserve as much of our natural estate as possible. Let
us resist with all our efforts any moves to reduce the amount of wild land available for wild species. And let us call upon the world's richest nations to provide the money to make that possible. That would not be a contribution to charity ; it would be an investment in the future of humanity – and all life on Earth.
Unit 2 Text A
技术与幸福Technology and Happiness 詹姆斯·萨洛维奇
Preface
In the present era, all of us are enthusiastically pursuing technological advancement and take it for granted that the development of technology will make us happier. However, little evidence can be found to prove the correlation between technology and happiness once material and technological advances reach a certain level. The text below may provide you with some insights into this issue.
20世纪的美国人、欧洲人和东亚人都享受到了过去历代人都无法想象的物质和技术进步带来的乐趣。譬如，在美 国，从1950年到2000年国民生产总值翻了3倍。人们的寿命大幅度提高。二战后生产力的迅速发展使商品变得价廉物 美。诸如乘飞机旅游和打长途电话等曾经是奢侈的事情成了生活不可或缺的一部分。
In the 20th century, Americans, Europeans, and East Asians enjoyed material and technological advances that were unimaginable in previous eras. In the United States, for instance, gross domestic product per capita tripled from 1950 to 2000. Life expectancy soared. The boom in productivity after World War II made goods better and cheaper at the same time . Things that were once luxuries, such as jet travel and long-distance phone calls, became necessities. And even though Americans seemed to work extraordinarily hard, their pursuit of entertainment turned media and leisure into multibillion-dollar industries.
那么，根据大多数标准衡量，你会说，现在的美国人比上个世纪中叶富裕多了。不过，奇怪的是，如果你问美国人有多幸福，你会发现，他们并不比1946年时幸福（1946年正式开始对幸福状况进行调查）。事实上，那些说自己―非常幸福‖的人所占的比例自20世纪70年代以来一直稳中有降——尽管20世纪40年代出生的人的收入在他们的工作生涯中平均增长了116％。你可以在大多数发达国家找到相似的数据。
By most standards, then, you would have to say that Americans are better off now than they were in the middle of the last century. Oddly, though, if you ask Americans how happy they are, you find that they are no happier than they were in 1946 (which is when formal surveys of happiness started). In fact, the percentage of people who say they are \"very happy\" has fallen slightly since the early 1970s – even though the income of people born in 1940 has, on average , increased by 116 percent over the course of their working lives. You can find similar data for most developed countries.
自工业革命开始以来，幸福与技术之间的关系一直是社会批评家和哲学家们长期研究的课题，然而，基本上还没有受到经济学家和社会学家们的关注。经济学家理查德·伊斯特林在经济繁荣和幸福的关系方面进行了具有开拓性的研究，并于1974年发表了一篇题为―经济增长改变人类命运吗？‖的著名论文。伊斯特林表明，就发达国家而言，一个国家的收入和国民的幸福之间没有真正的相互关系。伊斯特林认为，金钱买不到幸福，至少在（金钱）达到
了一定程度以后是如此。伊斯特林认为，尽管贫穷与苦难密不可分，但是，一个国家一旦达到稳定的中产阶级水平，富有似乎并没有让其国民感到更多的幸福。
The relationship between happiness and technology has been an eternal subject for social critics and philosophers since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. But it's been left largely unexamined by economists and social scientists . The truly groundbreaking work on the relationship between prosperity and well-being was done by the economist Richard Easterlin , who in 1974 wrote a famous paper entitled \"Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?\" Easterlin showed that when it came to developed countries, there was no real correlation between a nation's income level and its citizens' happiness. Money, Easterlin argued, could not buy happiness – at least not after a certain point. Easterlin showed that though poverty was strongly correlated with misery, once a country was solidly middle-class, getting wealthier did not seem to make its citizens any happier.
这好像几乎是一种普遍现象。实际上，研究幸福的学者们最重要的观点之一是：人们对好消息很快便习以为常。拿彩票中奖者为例。一项重要的研究表明，尽管买彩票中奖的人中奖时会感到非常非常幸福，可这种兴奋很快就消逝了。一段时间之后，他们的心情和幸福感与中奖之前没有什么两样。
This seems to be close to a universal phenomenon . In fact, one of happiness scholars' most important insights is that people adapt very quickly to good news . Take lottery winners for example. One famous study showed that although winners were very, very happy when they won, their extreme excitement quickly evaporated , and after a while their moods and sense of well-being were indistinguishable from what they had been before the victory. 人们对待技术的态度也是一样的：无论一种新事物多么引人注目，也无论它使我们的生活变得多么舒适，人们都认为这是理所当然的事情。在技术世界，你每天都会看到这一原则起作用。曾经一度被视为非常神奇的东西很快就变得习以为常，更糟的是，当这些东西运转不正常时，还会令人沮丧。要把新技术问世之前的情形牢记在心原来是如此困难！
So, too, with technology: no matter how dramatic a new innovation is, no matter how much easier it makes our lives, it is very easy to take it for granted. You can see this principle at work in the world of technology every day, as things that once seemed miraculous soon become common and, worse, frustrating when they don't work perfectly. It's hard, it turns out, to keep in mind what things were like before the new technology came along.
那么，我们对技术进步的快速吸收是否意味着技术没有发挥什么作用呢？不，决非如此。不论好歹，这只是把技术影响的问题变得更加复杂。我们先从负面影响谈起。在某些方面，技术显然使得生活更加糟糕了。譬如，我们马上会想到电话推销、交通阻塞以及身份资料失窃等情况。这些都是让人们明显意识到不幸福的现象。可是，现代的技术评论文章多半都没有把焦点集中在具体的、有害的技术上，而是集中在了技术对人际关系的影响上。
Does our fast assimilation of technological progress mean, then, that technology makes no difference ? No. It just makes the question of technology's impact, for good or ill , more complicated. Let's start with the downside . There are certain ways in which technology makes life obviously worse. Telemarketing , traffic jams, and identity theft all come to mind . These are all phenomena that make people consciously unhappy. But for the most part, modern critiques of technology have focused not so much on specific, bad technologies as the impact of technology on our human relationships.
在联了网的数据库世界里，隐私变得越来越脆弱。在许多工作场所，诸如按键监控和电话全程录音之类的技术使得对员工的监视变得更加容易。人们对电视的攻击主要集中在以下方
面：技术扰乱了人际关系、破坏了社区交往。一些人甚至说，电视是美国人逐渐相互疏远的罪魁祸首。同样也有人认为，互联网的负面影响进一步使人远离了我们常说的―真实世界‖。 Privacy has become increasingly fragile in a world of linked databases . In many workplaces, technologies like keystroke monitoring and full recordings of phone calls make it easier to watch workers. The notion that technology disrupts relationships and fractures community gained mainstream prominence as an attack on television. Some even say that TV is chiefly responsible for the gradual isolation of Americans from each other. Similarly , the harmful effects of the Internet, which supposedly further isolates people from what is often called \"the real world\". 这种广义上关于技术影响人际关系的批评颇有趣味，尤与幸福的问题相关，因为我们真正有把握说清楚的事情没有几件，但其中之一是：人们的朋友越多，关系越密切，就越幸福。 This broad criticism of technology's impact on relationships is an interesting one and is especially relevant to the question of happiness, because one of the few things we can say for certain is that the more friends and the closer relationships people have, the happier they tend to be.
今天的技术变化异常神速，购买某种产品时你就知道，再过几个月，比这个产品性能更好、运作更快的款式就会问世，而你却还得使用旧款式的产品。换句话说，别人买到的产品要比你的好。这种失望感仿佛从开始购买这件产品时就已经存在了。
Today, technological change is so rapid that when you buy something, you do so knowing that in a few months there's going to be a better, faster version of the product, and that you're going to be stuck with the old one . Someone else, in other words, has it better. It's as if disappointment were built into acquisition from the very beginning. 日常生活的压力，一种令人烦恼的失望感、对政府知道你的情况超出你所希望程度的恐惧感——这些显然都是技术降低了人们幸福感的几个方面。然而，技术对人们的幸福感最重要的影响是在医疗保健方面。工业革命以前，每三个欧洲人就有两个的寿命不足30岁。今天，西欧妇女的寿命差不多是80岁，而且还会继续提高。道理很清楚：绝大多数人很乐意活下去，他们在地球上生活的时间越长，感觉就越好。可是，不久前，绝大多数人还过着龌龊不堪、畜生般的生 活，而且生命非常短暂。技术改变了这种状况，至少对于富裕国家的人们来说是如此。我们在该为医疗保健费用的提高和没有参加保险的人们的问题而担忧的同时，也应该记住，医疗技术带给我们身体上和精神上的好处是多么有价值。
Daily stress, an annoying sense of disappointment, fear that the government knows a lot more about you than you would like it to – these are obviously some of the ways in which technology reduces people's sense of well-being. But the most important impact of technology on people's sense of well-being is in the field of health care. Before the Industrial Revolution , two out of every three Europeans died before the age of 30. Today, life expectancy for women in Western Europe is almost 80 years, and it continues to increase. The point is obvious: the vast majority of people are happy to be alive, and the more time they get on earth, the better off they feel they'll be . But until very recently, life for the vast majority of people was nasty , rough , and short. Technology has changed that, at least for people in the rich world. As much as we should worry about the rising cost of health care and the problem of the uninsured , it's also worth remembering how valuable for our spirits as well as our bodies are the benefits that medical technology has brought us.
从更深的层次上说，我们在健康和长寿方面所取得的进步却强调了在国家和全球层面讨论幸福问题的一个自相矛盾的说法。即使人们不会更幸福，即使他们更加富裕并拥有更多技术，他们还会像以前那样渴望长寿。这就像那个古老的笑话一样：食品也许并不好，可我们都想让自己得到的那一份尽量大。
On a deeper level, what the technological improvement of our health and our longevity emphasizes is a paradox of any discussion of happiness on a national or a global level : even though people may not be happier, even though they are wealthier and possess more technology, they're still as hungry as ever for more time. It's like that old joke: the food may not be so great, but we want the portions to be as big as possible.
Text B
该怨谁，是技术，还是使用技术的人？ Who to Blame, Technology or the Person Who Uses It? 斯比洛斯·泽勒皮斯 Preface
Nowadays, great concern has arisen over the negative impact of technology on various aspects of life. Who is to blame for the negative impact, technology or the person who uses it? Read the following text and see how the author answers the question.
技术一直是人们当今谈论的―热门‖话题。关于这个话 题，人们发表了许多见解，撰写了大量的文章。捍卫技术的人和反对技术的人数旗鼓相当。这两类人通常都不愿意花时间去考虑对方的观点，而是各自一味地强调技术的长处或短处。至于那些对技术没有偏见（既不偏爱技术，也不反对技术）的人，他们的看法大致在这两种极端的观点之间。技术就像一把刀：我们可以用它切割食物，也可以用它去杀人。这要看我们想用它去做什么。我们是要用它改善我们的生活呢，还是要毁坏我们的生活？
Technology is always a \"hot\" issue in discussions nowadays. A lot has been said and written about it. The defenders of technology are as many as the opponents of it. Usually each one of these two classes of people stresses the advantages or disadvantages of technology without taking the time to look at the opposite point of view. For those who have no prejudice in favor of or against technology, the truth is to be found somewhere between these two extreme views. Technology is like a knife: we can use it to cut our food, and we can also use it to kill somebody. It depends on what we want to do with technology. Do we want to improve our lives or do we want to destroy them?
当然，谁也不能反驳下面的事实：由于技术，我们的生活条件得到了改善；科学家能治疗多种疾病；由于产品成本降低，生产得以提高，许多产品得以被更多的人享用；人们的劳动减少了，空余的时间就多了；人们的视野开扩了；总的来说，由于技术，我们的寿命延长了，生活也好起来了。
Of course, nobody can neglect the fact that our living conditions have been improved due to technology; scientists have been able to cure many diseases; production has been increased, and many products have become obtainable by many more people, because the cost of production has been reduced; human labor has been decreased, and, therefore, people have more free time; people's mental horizons have been broadened; and generally we live longer and better because of technology.
但是，事情的另一面也已经显现出来。我们在谈论对大自然的无理破坏、自然资源的枯竭、现代社会的消费至上、许多科学家把自己的发明用于不道德的目的而产生的社会责任、以及工作的机械化把人类置于仅仅是机器操作者的地位等问题。
But the other side of the coin has become already visible. We talk about the irrational interference with nature, the exhaustion of natural resources, the consumerism of modern societies, the social responsibility of scientists when their inventions are used for bad ends, and the mechanization of
work which leaves man as little more than a machine operator . 让我们举一个医学上的例子，以便把问题讲得更清楚一些。
Let us use an example from medicine to make matters clearer. 技术可以提高人们的健康水平。看一下在像美国这样技术发达的国家采用外科手术的种种可能性便清楚了，相比之下，有些国家是没有这种优势的。另一方面，在医学研究 上，许多方法的使用把综合保守型的思维方式变成了分析型的思维方式。内科医生可以做许多事情，但都不是独立完成的。今天的医生已经成为―良好的效仿者‖，但却不是―思考 者‖，因为他们已经习惯于把健康范围内的每一个参数转换成数字。医患之间那种密切的关系和人际交往已不复存在。病人感到自己更像一件东西而不是一个人。
Technology improves people's health. This can be seen if one looks at the possibilities of surgery in technologically developed countries like America as compared to countries which do not have this advantage. On the other hand, the involvement of advanced technical equipment in medicine modified the synthetic and conservative way of thinking into an analytical (分析的) one . The physician can do much, but not on his own. Doctors today have become \"good learners\\"thinkers\" as they are used to translating every piece of health data into numbers. A close relationship and human interaction between the doctor and the patient does not exist any more. Patients feel more like objects than persons.
再者，让我们考虑一下生物工艺学的问题。这门科学把人们撩拨得神魂颠倒。科学家们觉得自己是在用生命的奥秘―做游戏‖，这一事实把他们的想法越推越远，指望会出现生物的永存或永恒。尽管人们期待着遗传工程的奇迹，可大自然有其自身的神秘法则，所有妨碍这些法则的东西都要付出代价。人们对大自然的本质知道的越多，就越对其本质感到困惑。当科学家找到了治愈某种疾病的疗法时，更加糟糕的疾病又会出现，给人们带来恐惧。
Furthermore, consider biotechnology (生物工艺学). It fascinates man's thoughts. The fact that scientists feel that they can \"play\" with the secret of life pushes them further and further, promising biological immortality and eternity. People expect miracles from genetic engineering , but nature has its own secret laws. Everything that disturbs them has its cost. The closer people reach nature's truth, the further it eludes (躲避) them. When scientists find the cure for a disease, something worse appears to terrify mankind.
此外，想一想由于技术战争发生了多么大的变化。人们不再手对手地交战了，而是远距离作战；是技术使之成为可能。另一方面，面对面打仗需要某些价值观，而在一个人按动按钮并指挥现代化武器装备的情况下，这些价值观是不存在的。
Additionally , think about how much war has changed because of technology. People do not fight hand to hand any more – they fight from a distance; technology makes this possible. Fighting face to face needs some values which do not exist in the case where someone presses a button and directs the modern means.
问题肯定不在技术方面，而在于我们最终对技术发出的指令。人一旦丧失了价值观，技术就再也无法控制了。只要人还有价值观，技术就会为人服务。
The problem is certainly not technology, but the direction we have finally given to it. When man has no values, technology cannot be controlled any more. When man has values, technology serves him.
技术本身既不会行善，也不会作恶，这要看我们怎样使用它。我坚信，现在是我们明白这个道理的时候了：确保技术造福人类的责任只能由具有社会良知、尊重人类、尊重自然和自然平衡的那些人来承担。
Technology is neither good nor bad. It depends on how we use it. I strongly believe that it is time
for us to understand that the responsibility belongs exclusively to humans who have to acquire a social conscience, to respect human beings, nature and its balances.
Unit 3 Text A
知识彩虹 克雷格·拉塞尔 Preface
The acquisition of knowledge is self-contradictory by nature. The more one knows, the more he knows how little he knows. Reading often leads to more questions than answers. Writing opens things up rather than closes them off. The author of the following essay regards truth as a rainbow that cannot be really grasped. He urges us to be humble about what we don't know as we pride ourselves on what we know.
我这辈子四分之三以上的时间（50年中有39年）是在纽约的中小学或大学里度过的，不是在上学，就是在教学。
For more than 3/4 of my life – 39 of my 50 years – I've either studied or taught in a school or a college in New York.
于是，你或许会认为，经过这么长一段时间，我应该了解一些情况，确实知道一些东西，对知识和对生活该会积极地予以把握和肯定了。可是，我却没有做到这一点。事实 上，我知道的东西越多，反倒越觉得自己无知。
You might think, then, that after all this time I'd have some grasp of the situation, that I'd actually know things – that I'd have some positive sense of assurance, of certainty, about knowledge and about life. But I don't. In fact, the more I know, the more I know I don't know.
当然，说自己知道的东西越多，反倒越觉得自己无知，这种说法是矛盾的。然而，现代物理学告诉我们，现实世界本身就是矛盾的。科学家们对物质现实世界研究得越多，就越无法对它进行把握。在某种意义上，他们了解的越多，知道的就越少。
To say that the more I know, the more I know I don't know is, of course, contradictory. But then, modern physics tells us that reality itself is contradictory. The more scientists look into our physical reality, the more it slips away from them. In a way , the more they learn, the less they know.
知识本身就是矛盾的。打个比方，假设你的知识是一个点，就像这个句子末尾的句号一样。请注意这个句号微小的圆周，假设它代表我们已知和未知的分界——换句话说，就是你对自己不知道的东西的认知。
Knowledge itself is contradictory. For example, picture your knowledge as a dot , as perhaps the period at the end of this sentence. Notice the tiny circumference of that period, and let that represent the interface of the known with the unknown – in other words, your awareness of what you don't know.
但现在想象一下那个小小的句号在渐渐扩大，它的黑色部分占据页面越来越多的地方。随着它的扩大，它的周缘也跟着扩大。如果那个正在增大的黑色部分代表你的知识的 话，在知识增长的同时，你会意识到自己有许多不知道的东西。也就是说，你知道的越多，就越觉得自己无知。
But now imagine that little period growing, its blackness consuming more and more of the page. As it grows, so does its circumference. And if that growing blackness represents knowledge, then as it grows, so does the awareness of what remains unknown. In other words, the more you know, the more you know you don't know.
你在求知过程中肯定有过类似的经历。起初，你甚至并不知道还有某个学科的存在。当然，这个学科是早就存在 的，只是你以前没有注意到而已。1988年有了第一台电脑以后，我去杂志店，想找一些关于电脑操作方面的书，结果发现这类书琳琅满目，让我吃惊。同样，当我有幸获得讲授电影分析这门课的机会时，我发现有关这个领域的专著也多得令我眼花缭乱。
No doubt you have experienced this yourself in your own personal quests for knowledge. At first, you don't even know a field of learning exists. It's been there all along, of course; you just haven't noticed it before. When I got my first computer in 1988, I walked down to the magazine store, hoping to find something about computing and was amazed at the number of choices. Likewise , when I lucked into an opportunity to teach film analysis, I found myself dazzled at the sheer number of books devoted to the subject. 假设你决定研究这一课题。你买了一本有关这一课题的书，一本你能找到的最好也是最全面的（或是你认为是这样的）书，或许你是从图书馆借来了这本书。但你很快就会发现，阅读这本书只会给你带来更多的问题，而不是要解答你的疑问。
Let's say you decide to learn about this topic. You buy one of these books, the best and most complete one you can find (or so you think), or perhaps you borrow it from the library. But you quickly find that your reading, rather than answering questions, only creates more of them.
譬如，今年早些时候，我非但不知道自己对技术和自由之间的关系有兴趣，甚至没有意识到这两者之间有可能存在着某种联系。于是，我开始阅读这方面的书籍，越读越意识到技术与自由之间的关系。一方面，比起短短的几个月之 前，现在我对这个课题的了解是多了。但另一方面，所有这些阅读让我看到了自己真正懂得的东西是多么的少，而需要阅读、思考和写作的东西又是多么的多。每读完一本书，我总是觉得需要再读三本书，才能更好地把握这个课题。我的思考和写作也在同时进行。事实上，正是写作让我接触了这一课题。我们通常认为只有那些知识渊博、充满自信的人才会从事写作。然而，在我看来却恰恰相反。写作并不是总 结，而是拓展。
Earlier this year, for example, I not only had no idea that I had any interest at all in the relationship of technology to freedom; I didn't even realize that a connection between them might exist. So I started reading books and became more and more aware of the relationship between technology and freedom. Then, on the one hand, I now know much more about this topic than I did a few short months ago. But on the other hand, all this reading has made me see how little I really know and how much more I need to read and think and write. Once I've finished reading a book, I always feel that I need to read three more to gain a better grasp of the topic. And I think and write at the same time. In fact, it is my writing that has led me into it. We think often that only people who know and who are sure of themselves write. For me, however, it's just the opposite. Writing doesn't close things off – it opens things up .
身为作家，很长一段时间我都被这个矛盾所困惑——知道的越多，越感到自己无知。我深深领悟了道家的教诲：―知者不言，言者不知。‖我对自己该不该写作毫无把握，即使写了，也觉得自己没有资格写。我总觉得自己应该先获得更多的知识。我花了很长一段时间，才解除了这种矛盾对我的禁锢，最终才确信正是写作让我增长了知识，而不是知识让我有资格从事写作。我觉得自己的作品不是文章或者专栏，而是essays，即―随笔‖，essays是一个法语词，
意思是―尝 试‖。我不懂得真理，只是努力要找到它。
For a long time, I, as a writer, was paralyzed by this paradox – the more I know, the more I know I don't know. I was very aware of the teaching from Taoism that said \"those who know don't speak; those who speak don't know.\" I wasn't sure I should write at all, and, even if I did, I didn't believe that I was qualified to do it. I always felt I had to know more first. It took me a long time not to let this paradox freeze me and to believe that it was my writing that would qualify my knowledge, and not the other way around. I think of my work not as articles or as columns but as essays – a word from French, meaning \"to try\". I do not know truth. I only try to find it.
当然，我不是说我们不应该学习，或者不应该阅读、写作、思考和交谈。我也不是说我们不应该去尝试。永无止境的探索并非毫无希望。我只是认为，对知识中矛盾的理解，必然会把我们从教条主义的压迫和僵化中引导出来，迈向个人的灵活和自由。这正如道家所说：―坚强者死之徒，柔弱者生之徒。‖
I don't mean, of course, to suggest that we should not learn, or that we should not read and write and think and talk. I do not mean to suggest that we should not try. An infinite quest is not a hopeless one. I only suggest that an understanding will inevitably and doubtlessly lead us away from the force and rigidity of dogmatism and toward the flexibility and freedom of the individual. As Taoism teaches, \"the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.\"
我们必须将因知识而生出的自豪感和因无知而生出的谦卑感加以揉和。他们说得好，真理就在那里，但或许就像彩虹一样，我们却永远不能真正地抓住它，也不能把它握在手里并真正地掌握它。正如威廉·詹姆斯所说的那样，我们只能―按照今天得到的真理而生活，并准备明天把它叫做谬论。‖
We must temper our pride in knowing with the humility of not knowing. The truth, as they say, is out there, but, maybe, like the rainbow , we can never really grasp it, never hold it in our hands and truly know it. We can only, as William James said, \"live today by what truth we can get today and be ready to call it falsehood tomorrow.\"
Text B
知识传递的障碍 Barriers to Knowledge Transfer 维多利亚·格里菲斯
Preface
We now have easy access to more information than what we ever possibly dreamed of. Huge amounts of data move around the globe at incredible speed. Yet, knowledge transfer requires more than just technology. Lack of trust and resistance to change are the two major barriers to knowledge transfer.
今天人人都在谈论―知识时代‖，然而，知识是什么？这是一个模糊的概念。我们大多数人都感到知识肯定不仅仅是信息。我2岁的女儿就能告诉你美国的第一任总统是乔治·华盛顿；列奥纳多·达·芬奇创作了《蒙娜丽莎》这幅油画。但是，她真的―知道‖这些人物、艺术和政治的一般情况吗？当然不是。电脑尽管很擅长执行某些任务，譬如在网上预订机票，或清理银行账户，可对于那些人类天生俱有的东西，譬如对情感的理解，则特别笨拙。但是，如果说知识不是纯信息，那它就是经验了？经验当然很重要。譬如，只听一个人不停地谈论关于（骑自行车）过程的信息，是不可能学会骑自行车的。
Everyone is talking about the \"knowledge era\" these days. Yet what is knowledge? It is a vague
concept. Most of us feel knowledge must be more than just data. My two-year-old will tell you that the first president of the United States was George Washington , and that Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa . But does she really \"know\" anything about these men, or art and politics in general? Of course not. Computers, while they excel in performing certain tasks, such as booking airline seats or sorting out bank accounts, are bad at things that come naturally to human beings, such as understanding emotion. But, if knowledge is not pure data, is it experience? Experience is certainly important. It is impossible to learn to ride a bike, for example, simply by hearing someone talk unceasingly about data on the process.
然而，只有经验也不算有知识。譬如，古代人经历了每天的日出和日落，却不知道地球在绕着太阳转。他们看着人们死于各种疾病，却不知道该如何防止这样的死亡。所以，知识既是经验，又是信息。在美国，教育家们就什么是塑造年轻人心灵的最佳方法争论不休。有些人认为，儿童应该了解事实，譬如，摩洛哥这个国家位于什么地方。其他一些人则认为，儿童应该学会如何发现事物，譬如能运用地图寻找摩洛哥所处的位置。实际上，这两方面的事情儿童都需要 做。聪明人是能够把事实和技能结合在一起的人。知识完全是人类的特性，因为它包括经验。
Yet experience alone is not knowledge, either. The ancients experienced the sun rising and setting every day, for instance, but did not know the earth was moving around the sun. They saw people die of various diseases, but had no idea how to prevent such deaths. Knowledge, then, is both experience and information. In the United States, educators battle over the best way to form young minds. Some people believe children should learn facts, such as where the country of Morocco is located. Others believe children should learn how to discover things, like being able to use a map to discover where Morocco is located. In reality, children need to be able to do both. A wise person is one who can combine facts with know-how . Knowledge is a purely human trait because it includes experience. 遗憾的是，作为知识的唯一持有者，人类把知识从一个大脑传递到另一个大脑的效率却非常低。电脑在几秒钟内就能把大量的信息从一个终端传送到另一个终端。可知识的传递要难得多。传递知识有两大障碍：缺乏信任和对抵制改 变。人类似乎很固执，仅乐意从自己熟悉并信得过的人那里获取知识。17世纪初，伽利略坚持认为地球和其他行星都是绕着太阳运转的。这个知识不仅不为普通群众所接受，而且伽利略还不得不为自己的见解付出遭受终身软禁的代价。3个世纪以前，意大利人对罗马天主教的信任远远超过对伽利略的信任，于是知识的传递当时就立刻被封杀了。
Unfortunately , humans, the sole vessels of knowledge, are very inefficient at passing it along from one brain to another. In seconds, computers can transfer large quantities of data from one terminal to another. Knowledge is far more difficult to move. There are two major barriers to knowledge transfer : lack of trust and resistance to change. Human beings seem rather stubborn. They only absorb knowledge readily from people they know and trust. In the early 1600s, Galileo argued that the earth and other planets move around the sun. Not only was the knowledge rejected by the general population, but Galileo had to spend the rest of his life under house arrest for his ideas. The Italians three centuries ago trusted the Roman Catholic Church more than they trusted Galileo, so the knowledge transfer was stopped in its tracks. 有时候，文化和语言方面的障碍可以使不信任达到很高的程度，使知识交流成为几乎不可能的事情。1992年，美国国家气象局预报了巴西沿海地区破坏性极大的暴雨，然而却没有想办法把这个信息传递给巴西。他们或许认为这不是他们的责任，或许相信，巴西科学家已经完全掌握了当时的情况。尽管一些巴西的天气预报人员看到了美国的报告，他们却没有把这一
信息传递给公众。他们或许对这些报告的准确性表示怀疑，或许并没有认识到即将到来的危险。总而言 之，知识没有得到传递，几十个人做出了不必要的牺牲。
At times, cultural and language barriers can elevate distrust to such an extent that an exchange of knowledge becomes almost impossible. In 1992, the U.S. National Weather Service predicted devastating rains along the coast of Brazil. The American scientists made little effort to pass the information to Brazil, however. Perhaps they thought it was not their responsibility, or perhaps they believed the Brazilian scientists had known the situation. While some Brazilian forecasters saw the U.S. bulletins, they failed to pass the information to the public. Perhaps they doubted the accuracy of these reports, or perhaps they did not realize the danger at hand. In any case, the knowledge failed to transfer, and dozens of people died unnecessarily. 人类抵制改变——这是知识传递的另一大障碍。管理理论学家彼得·德鲁克曾认为，这种抵制最终会损害大多数公司的利益。新知识一直在不断出现，所以，要想成功，人们必须不断在混乱、多变的世界里体验生活，不断对过去的所作所为提出置疑。如果做不到这一点，该组织就倒闭了。譬 如，曾一度是电脑公司中―大哥大‖的数码设备公司，由于没有弄懂个人电脑会取代中央处理机这一知识并根据这一知识采取行动，结果这个公司衰败了，并最终被该行业一个后起之秀——康柏——收购。
Human beings are resistant to change – another major barrier to knowledge transfer. The management theorist Peter Drucker once argued that this very resistance eventually undermines most corporations . New knowledge is always emerging, so to be successful, people must constantly live in a chaotic , changing world , constantly questioning past practices. When this does not happen, the organization collapses . Thus, Digital Equipment Corporation , the once-great computer company, failed to understand and act on knowledge that the personal computer would replace the mainframe (中央处理机). The corporation faltered and was eventually bought by a relative newcomer to the industry – Compaq . 几年前，美孚石油公司一家炼油厂的工人提出了一种更好的炼油方法，这一新方法节约了几百万美元，所以，这些工人期望其他炼油厂也能随时采用这一方法。于是，他们向其他炼油厂的经理们寄发了报告，解释了操作程序，然而什么动静也没有。美孚的高级行政人员对这一问题采取了进一步的行动，亲自给这些经理们发信。这些炼油厂中只有10％—20％采用了新方法。于是，美孚制作了录像带，就这个方法对人们进行采访，还对节省多少钱进行解释。两年后，该公司只有38％的炼油厂进行了革新。美孚公司问这是为什 么，大多数普遍的回答都是：―在那里也许行得通，可在这里行不通。‖缺乏信任和抵制改变阻碍了知识的传递。 Workers at a Mobil Oil Corporation plant a few years ago came up with a better way to refine oil. The new process saved millions of dollars, and the workers expected it would be readily adopted by its other plants. So they sent a report to the managers of other refineries , explaining the process. Nothing happened. Mobil senior executives took up the issue and sent their own letter out to the managers. Only between ten and twenty percent of the factories installed the new process. So Mobil made a video , interviewing people about the process and explaining how much money it saved. After two years, just 38 percent of the corporation's oil refineries had complied (服从) with the change. Mobil asked why. The most common response was: \"It may have worked there, but it won't work here.\" Lack of trust and resistance to change undermined the knowledge transfer.
从上述例子中可以看出，人类似乎习惯于在与别人的接触中学习知识。有人甚至预言说，因特网会减少人们的出 行；然而网络空间看来在这方面却起到了促进人们出行的作用。这是因为知识传递中的许多基本元素主要是通过人与人的接触才成为可能的。尽管电脑和数字通讯本身并不能完成知识传递的任务，它们却能舒缓知识传递的负担。例如，它们能帮我们与
某一领域中有共同兴趣的专家或同行建立联 系。数字网络也许还能为我们提供可以从中得出结论的可靠信息。但是，真正的知识传递是人类的现象，受人类生活条件中各种问题的制约，譬如说缺乏信任，不肯变革等因素。因为知识传递非常困难，就算我们进入了―知识时代‖，知识传递仍将是一个难题。
As is seen from the above examples, human beings seem accustomed to learning from personal contact with others. Some even predicted the Internet would reduce travel; however, cyberspace actually appears to have boosted it . That is because many of the basic elements of knowledge transfer are possible mainly through personal contact. Computers and digital communications, while they cannot accomplish knowledge transfer themselves, can ease the way. They can, for instance, put us in touch with experts or colleagues with a shared interest in a specific field. Digital networks might also provide us with reliable data from which to draw conclusions. Yet true knowledge transfer is a human phenomenon, limited by the problems of the human condition – lack of trust and resistance to change. Because it is so difficult, knowledge transfer will continue to be a tough problem, even as we move into the \"knowledge era\".
Unit 4 Text A
|工作、劳动和玩耍 Work, Labor, and Play 威斯坦·H·奥登
Preface
We go to work every day and we think we are workers. However, after reading Auden's discussion about work, labor, and play, the majority of us may find that we are no longer \"workers\". What are we then?
就我所知，汉娜·阿伦特小姐是界定工作和劳动之间本质区别的第一人。一个人要想快乐，第一要有自由感，第二要确信自己有价值。如果社会迫使一个人去做他自己不喜欢的事，或者说，他所喜欢做的事被社会忽视，看作没有价值或不重要，那他就不会真正快乐。在一个严格意义上已废除奴隶制的社会里，一个人做的事情是否具有社会价值取决于他是否为完成此项工作得到了报酬。然而，今天的劳动者可以被称为名副其实的工资奴隶。如果社会给一个人提供一份他本人不感兴趣的工作，他出于养家糊口的需要不得已才从事这项工作，那这个人就是一个劳动者。
So far as I know, Miss Hannah Arendt was the first person to define the essential difference between work and labor. To be happy, a man must feel, firstly, free and, secondly, important. He cannot be really happy if he is compelled by society to do what he does not enjoy doing, or if what he enjoys doing is ignored by society as of no value or importance. In a society where slavery in the strict sense has been abolished , whether what a man does has social value depends on whether he is paid money to do it, but a laborer today can rightly be called a wage slave. A man is a laborer if the job society offers him is of no interest to himself but he is compelled to take it by the necessity of earning a living and supporting his family.
与劳动相对的是玩耍。玩游戏时，我们能从中得到乐 趣，否则就不会玩这个游戏。但这完全是一种私人的活动，我们玩不玩这个游戏社会是不会关注的。
The opposite to labor is play. When we play a game, we enjoy what we are doing, otherwise we should not play it, but it is a purely private activity; society could not care less whether we play it or not.
处在劳动和玩耍之间的是工作。如果一个人对社会为他支付报酬的工作感兴趣，他就是一个工作者。从社会角度看是必需的劳动在他自己看来却是自愿的玩耍。一个职位是劳动还是工作，并不取决于这个职位本身，而是取决于占据这个职位的个人自己的情趣。这种差异与体力劳动和脑力劳动之间的差异并不吻合。譬如，一个园丁或者鞋匠也许就是一个工作者，而一个银行职员则可能是一个劳动者。一个人是工作者还是劳动者可以从他对闲暇的态度上看出来。对于一个工作者来说，闲暇不过是他需要放松、休息从而进行有效工作的几个小时，所以，他可能只有少量的闲暇，而不会有大量的空闲。工作者可能会死于心脏病，并会忘记自己妻子的生日。而对于劳动者来说，闲暇就意味着摆脱强制，所 以，他自然会想象：他不得不花费在劳动上的时间越少，而自由自在地玩耍的时间越多，那才越好。
Between labor and play stands work. A man is a worker if he is personally interested in the job which society pays him to do; what from the point of view of society is necessary labor is from his own point of view voluntary play . Whether a job is to be classified as labor or work depends, not on the job itself, but on the tastes of the individual who undertakes it. The difference does not, for example, coincide with the difference between a manual and a mental job; a gardener or a cobbler may be a worker, a bank clerk a laborer. Which a man is can be seen from his attitude toward leisure. To a worker, leisure means simply the hours he needs to relax and rest in order to work efficiently. He is therefore more likely to take too little leisure than too much; workers die of heart attacks and forget their wives' birthdays. To the laborer, on the other hand, leisure means freedom from compulsion , so that it is natural for him to imagine that the fewer hours he has to spend laboring, and the more hours he is free to play, the better. 在一个现代化的技术社会里，总人口中有多大比例的人能够像我一样有幸成为工作者呢？我估计大概有16％，而 且，我认为这个数字将来也不会增加。
What percentage of the population in a modern technological society are, like myself, in the fortunate position of being workers? At a guess I would say sixteen per cent, and I do not think that figure is likely to get bigger in the future. 技术和劳动的分工成就了两件事：通过在许多领域取消了特别才能和技术的需要，把过去本来令人愉快的大量受雇职业的工作变成了令人厌倦的劳动；通过提高生产力，缩短了劳动所需的时间。已经可以想象出这样一个社会：其人口的大多数，也就是其中的劳动者们，将会享受到早期贵族们才能享受到的几乎同样多的休闲。当人们回想起过去贵族们的举止行为时，前景并非乐观。的确，在未来这样一个大众社会里，人们要解决―无聊‖这个问题，也许比过去的贵族们要困难得多。后者（贵族们）把他们的时间都仪式化了，譬如，有打松鸡的季节，有在城镇消磨的季节等等。广大民众更有可能以时尚来取代一成不变的仪式，而时尚将会为了某些人的经济利益频繁地变化。再者，广大民众也不会再去狩猎，因为，要不了多久可供猎取的动物就没有了。至于贵族们其他的消遣项目，比如赌博、决斗和战争，人们可以轻而易举地从危险驾驶、吸食毒品和毫无理性的暴力行为中找到同样的乐趣。工作者很少从事暴力活动，他们可以把自己的―敌对心理‖用在工作上，不管是工匠的体力活，还是科学 家、艺术家的脑力活。―敌对心理‖在脑力劳动中的作用可以在―紧紧咬住问题‖这个短语里得到恰如其分的表达。
Technology and the division of labor have done two things: by eliminating in many fields the need for special strength or skill, they have made a very large number of paid occupations which formerly were enjoyable work into boring labor, and by increasing productivity they have reduced
the number of necessary laboring hours. It is already possible to imagine a society in which the majority of the population, that is to say, its laborers, will have almost as much leisure as in earlier times was enjoyed by the aristocracy . When one recalls how aristocracies in the past actually behaved, the prospect is not cheerful. Indeed, the problem of dealing with boredom may be even more difficult for such a future mass society than it was for aristocracies. The latter, for example, ritualized their time; there was a season to shoot grouse , a season to spend in town, etc. The masses are more likely to replace an unchanging ritual by fashion which changes as often as possible in the economic interest of certain people. Again, the masses cannot go in for hunting , for very soon there would be no animals left to hunt. For other aristocratic amusements like gambling , dueling , and warfare , it may be only too easy to find equivalents in dangerous driving, drug-taking, and senseless acts of violence. Workers seldom commit acts of violence, because they can put their aggression into their work, be it physical like the work of a smith , or mental like the work of a scientist or an artist. The role of aggression in mental work is aptly expressed by the phrase \" getting one's teeth into a problem \".
Text B
职业或事业的选择 Choosing an Occupation or Career 杰拉尔德·科里 Preface
Choosing an occupation is an important decision. When making a decision such as this, it is essential to look critically at yourself, and examine your values, interests, abilities, etc. The following text provides you with some insightful advice on the factors worth considering when choosing an occupation or career.
你想从工作中得到什么？在选择职业或行业时，你最看重的因素是什么？我在一所大学职业咨询中心的工作中发 现，许多学生没有认真考虑过他们为什么选择某一职业。对于一些人来说，他们择业的主要原因是来自父母的压力或鼓励。另一些人则把当律师、工程师或医生理想化了。我指导过的许多人在决定职业时，没有审视过自己认为最有价值的东西是什么，也没有考虑过在选定的职业中，是否能够实现这些价值。在选择职业，或者对过去选择的职业进行评估 时，你也许会考虑哪些因素真正对你最有意义。
What do you expect from work? What factors do you give the most attention to in selecting a career or an occupation? In my work at a university counseling center I've discovered that many students haven't really thought seriously about why they are choosing a given vocation. For some, parental pressure or encouragement is the major reason for their choice. Others have idealized views of what it will be like to be a lawyer, engineer, or doctor. Many people I've counseled regarding career decisions haven't looked at what they value the most and whether these values can be attained in their chosen vocation. In choosing your vocation or evaluating the choices you've made previously , you may want to consider which factors really mean the most to you. 选择职业不是一个孤立的事件，而是一个历时较长的过程。从事职业发展研究的人员发现，在选择职业，或者更典型的是，在选择自己将会从事的几种职业时，大多数人都会经历一系列不同的阶段。在职业选择决策过程中，下列因素显然是重要的：自我概念、兴趣、能力、价值观、职业态 度、社会经济地位、父母的影响、种族身份、性别以及身 体、智力、情感和社交方面的缺陷等。让我们考虑一下与择业有关的一些因素，要牢记职业选择是一个过程，
而不是一个孤立的事件。我们将审视在事业选择时的自我概念、职业态度、能力、兴趣及价值观所起的作用。
Making vocational choices is a process that spans a considerable period of time, rather than an isolated event. Researchers in career development have found that most people go through a series of stages in choosing the occupation or, more typically , occupations that they will follow. The following factors have been shown to be important in determining a person's occupational decision-making process: self-concept , interests, abilities, values, occupational attitudes, socio-economic level, parental influence, ethnic identity, gender, and physical, mental, emotional, and social handicaps. Let's consider some of these factors related to career decision making, keeping in mind that vocational choice is a process, not an event. We'll look at the role of self-concept, occupational attitudes, abilities, interests, and values in choosing a career. |自我概念|
Self-Concept
在事业发展方面，一些作家认为，职业选择是实现一个人自我概念的一种努力。譬如：自我概念弱的人，不大会想到自己能得到一份有意义或重要的工作。他们也许胸无大 志，因而所取得的成就也会平淡无奇。他们也许会选择一种自己并不喜欢或无法从中得到满足的工作，而且会一直做下去。他们之所以这样做是基于一种信念：这项工作是他们自身价值的全部。在这一点上，选择职业可以被认为是我们把自己定位为某类人的公开宣言。
Some writers in career development believe that a vocational choice is an attempt to fulfill one's self-concept. People with a poor self-concept, for example, are not likely to picture themselves in a meaningful or important job. They are likely to keep their ambitions low, and thus their achievements will probably be low also. They may select and remain in a job that they do not enjoy or derive satisfaction from, based on their conviction that such a job is all they are worthy of. In this regard, choosing a vocation can be thought of as a public declaration of the kind of person we see ourselves as being. |职业态度|
Occupational Attitudes
研究表明，在影响我们对职业地位之态度的诸多因素 中，教育是非常重要的。一种职业对教育的要求越高，它的地位就越高。
Research indicates that, among the factors that influence our attitudes toward occupational status, education is important. The higher the educational requirements for an occupation, the higher its status.
我们通过向周围人们学习的方式来形成自己对地位的态度。普通的一年级学生意识不到职业的地位差异。然而，几年之后，这些孩子就开始用一种与成年人相似的方式对职业加以分级。另一些研究表明，一年级学生普遍对大多数职业持肯定的态度，但是，随着年级的提高，他们爱好的职业范围则逐渐变窄。等到学生进入高年级时，越来越多的职业被他们看作不可接受而加以拒绝。遗憾的是，他们拒绝考虑的或许恰好是那些当他们长大以后找工作时不得不选择的工 作。要是人们不得不接受他们认为是地位低下的某种职业，那就很难让他们对自己或自己的职业有信心。
We develop our attitudes toward the status of occupations by learning from the people in our environment. Typical first-graders are not aware of the different status of occupations. Yet in a few years these children begin to rank occupations in a manner similar to that of adults. Other research has shown that positive attitudes toward most occupations are common among first-graders but that these preferences narrow steadily with each year of school. As students advance to higher
grades, they reject more and more occupations as unacceptable. Unfortunately, they rule out some of the very jobs from which they may have to choose if they are to find employment as adults. It is difficult for people to feel positively about themselves or their occupation if they have to accept an occupation they perceive as low in status. |能力|
Abilities
能力，或才能，已经受到了与职业决策过程中被认为是重要的其他因素同样的重视，而且可能比其他因素使用得更多。能力包括一般能力和特别能力。学习才能（常称为综合智力或智商），一般被认为是由语言能力和数字能力构成的一种综合能力。特别能力包括：机械才能、文字才能和形态才能；抽象思维能力以及眼、手、脚的协调能力等。学习才能尤为重要，因为它基本上可以确定谁能获得进入高级职业所需要的教育。
Ability, or aptitude, has received as much attention as any of the factors considered significant in the career decision-making process, and it is probably used more often than any other factor. There are both general and specific abilities. Scholastic aptitude, often called general intelligence or IQ , is a general ability typically considered to consist of both verbal and numerical aptitudes. Included among the specific abilities are mechanical , clerical , and spatial (空间的) aptitudes, abstract reasoning ability, and eye / hand / foot coordination . Scholastic aptitude is particularly significant because it largely determines who will be able to obtain the levels of education required for entrance into the higher-status occupations. 有趣的是，大部分研究表明，在评估出的才能与职业工作表现及满意度之间几乎不存在直接关系。这并不意味着能力不重要，然而它的确表明：我们在进行职业规划时必须考虑其他因素。
Interestingly, most studies show little direct relationship between measured aptitudes and occupational performance and satisfaction. This does not mean that ability is unimportant, but it does indicate that we must consider other factors in career planning. |兴趣|
Interests
兴趣评估已经十分流行，并广泛应用于职业规划。与能力不同的是，已经发现，兴趣在预测职业的成功、满意度及其持续性方面是比较有效的。因此，在职业规划时首先要考虑兴趣。重要的是，首先要确定你的职业兴趣领域，接着找出适合这些兴趣的职业，然后再确定那些你有所需能力来做出令人满意表现的职业。研究证据说明，兴趣和能力之间关系甚微。 Interest measurement has become popular and is used extensively in career planning. Interests, unlike abilities, have been found to be moderately effective as predictors of vocational success, satisfaction, and persistence. Therefore, primary consideration should be given to interests in vocational planning. It is important to first determine your areas of vocational interest, then to identify occupations for which these interests are appropriate, and then to determine those occupations for which you have the abilities required for satisfactory job performance. Research evidence indicates only a slight relationship between interests and abilities. |价值观|
Values
认识、明确和评价自己的价值观，使其适合自己的职业是极为重要的。
It is extremely important for you to identify, clarify, and assess your values so that you will be able to match them with your career.
在为大学生选择职业提供建议时，我通常建议他们把自己的兴趣和价值观作为选择某个职业
领域的可靠导向。譬 如，要是你的主要价值观在经济方面，你的职业决策就会建立在想得到某种经济或心理安全感的愿望之上。对大多数人来说，考虑工作的安全感是合理的，但你会发现，只有安全感并不足以使你对职业感到满意。你的主要价值观也许在社交方面，这包括和人们一起工作以及帮助他人。有许多职业都适合那些具有社交价值取向的人。 In counseling college students on vocational decision making I typically Recommend that they follow their interests and values as reliable guides for a general occupational area. If your central values are economic, for example, your career decisions are likely to be based on a desire for some type of financial or psychological security . The security a job affords is a legitimate consideration for most people, but you may find that security alone is not enough to lead to vocational satisfaction. Your central values may be social, including working with people and helping people. There are many careers that would be appropriate for those with a social Orientation (取向).
当然，我所提到的这些因素只是在选择职业时需要考虑的诸多因素中的几个。既然在工作上要投入大量的时间和精力，自己确定出每种因素在我们的思想中占多大的份量极其重要。 总之，如果你在职业选择时多花点时间和心思，并且积极地采取步骤去发现一种职业或行业，能使你的生活变得更加充实而不会扰乱你的生活，你对自己的工作感到满意的机会就更大。归根结底，你才是对自己能够在工作中想得到什么做出最佳决策的人。
Of course, the factors I've mentioned are only a few of the many considerations involved in selecting a vocation. Since so much time and energy are devoted to work, it's extremely important to decide for ourselves what weight each factor will have in our thinking.
In short, you stand a greater chance of being satisfied with your work if you put time and thought into your choice and if you actively take steps toward finding a career or an occupation that will bring more enrichment to your life than it will disruption (扰乱) . Ultimately, you are the person who can best decide what you want in your work.
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