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新概念第四冊課文翻譯及學習筆記Lesson19
【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What is going on when a person experiences rapid eye-movements during sleep?
It is fairly clear that the sleeping period must have some function, and because there is so much of it the function would seem to be important. Speculations about its nature have been going on for literally thousands of years, and one odd finding that makes the problem puzzling is that it looks very much as if sleeping is not simply a matter of giving the body a rest. 'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down. The body's tissues are self-repairing and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active. In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifically concerned with preventing muscle inactivity.
If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? This might be a plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording the electrical activity of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp) shows that while there is a change in the pattern of activity during sleep, there is no evidence that the total amount of activity is any less. The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental. Some years ago an American psychiatrist named William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated with peculiar bursts of eye-movements, some drifting and slow, others jerky and rapid. People woken during these periods of eye-movements generally reported that they had been dreaming. When woken at other times they reported no dreams. If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep for several nights on end, and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were no exhibiting eye-movements, the first group began to show some personality disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.
CHRISHER EVANS The stuff of dreams from The Listener
【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】
speculation n. 推測
literally adv. 確實
odd adj. 奇特的
tissue n. 組織
plausible adj. 似乎有理的
hypothesis n. 假說
electroencephalograph n. 腦電圖儀
electrode n. 電極
scalp n. 頭皮
psychiatrist n. 精神病學家
punctuate v. 不時介入
jerky adj. 急動的
disorder n. 失調(diào)
implication n. 含意，暗示
【課文注釋】
1.not simply a matter of...不僅僅是……。
①simply a matter of+doing sth
例句：I think it's simply a matter of the attack being weakened.
我看這根本就是因為進攻削弱了的緣故。
②simply a matter of time，只是時間問題。
例句：It' s simply a matter of time before the rebels are crushed.
把這些叛亂分子鎮(zhèn)壓下去只是遲早的事。
2.in terms of muscle relaxation and so on，從是肌肉得到放松等方面來看。
in terms of，從……方面看，就……而言。
例句：In term of money, he's quite rich, but not in term of happiness.
就錢來說他很富有，但就幸福來說就不然了。
3.to a degree，在一定程度上，相當。
①You use expressions such as to some degree, to a large degree, or to a certain degree in order to indicate that something is partly true, but not entirely true.
例句：These statements are, to some degree, all correct.
這些論斷從某種程度上來說是對的。
②by degrees：gradually，逐漸地。
例句：By degrees their friendship grew into love.
他們的友誼漸漸發(fā)展成愛情。
4.then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? 這是一個陳述句的語序，但句尾加問號，表示說話人對這種觀點有把握但需進一步證實。
5.a plausible hypothesis，有道理的假設。
①An explanation or statement that is plausible seems likely to be true or valid.似乎正確的，似乎有道理可信的(借口、陳述等)。
例句：He trotted out a most plausible story, but most of us were inclined to doubt the truth of it.
他提出了一個聽起來很有道理的說法，但我們大多數(shù)人對此都持懷疑態(tài)度。
②If you say that someone is plausible, you mean that they seem to be telling the truth and to be sincere and honest.(指人)能說會道的(尤指為行騙)。
例句：She was so plausible she would have deceived anyone.
她巧舌如簧-，把誰都能騙倒。
6.were it not for two factors，這是省略了if的條件句，可譯作“如果不是下面兩個因素的話”。
7.several nights on end，一連幾夜。
on end：連續(xù)地。
例句：It has been raining for days on end.
一連好幾天連續(xù)下雨。
8....it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming. 這是一個表示否定的強調(diào)句，把強調(diào)結(jié)構"it was not...that"去掉，句子仍然成立，只是語氣減弱了："The disturbance of sleep doesn't matter, but the disturbance of dreaming matters."
【參考譯文】
很清楚，睡眠必然具有某種作用。睡眠占去那么多時間，所以其作用似乎還是很重要。人們對睡眠作用的種種猜測，確實有數(shù)千年之久。一項使人對這個問題感到困惑的奇怪的發(fā)現(xiàn)是，睡眠在很大程度似乎并不僅僅是為了使身體得到休息。“休息”，從使肌肉得到放松等方面來看，只要稍微躺一躺，甚至坐一坐就能達到。人體組織在一定程度上有自我修補和自我恢復的能力，有張有弛地連續(xù)活動時，其功能佳。事實上，睡眠狀態(tài)下仍有著基本的活動量，以防止肌肉活動停止。
如果睡眠的功能不是在于使身體得到休息，那么也許是讓大腦得以休息?若不是下面兩點，這種假使似乎是有道理的。第一點，腦電圖記錄儀(不過是一種把電極接到頭皮上記錄腦電活動的儀器)顯示，人在睡眠時大腦活動的方式有變化，但沒有跡象表明，其活動總量有任何減少。第二點更有意思，也更重要。前些年，美國一位精神病學者發(fā)表了一篇報告，報告中記錄了眼球在睡眠時的活動情況。他指出，平常人的睡眠周期中不時伴有一陣陣奇怪的眼球隊活動，這些活動有的飄忽而緩慢，有的急劇而快速。在眼球活動期間被叫醒的人都說自己在做夢;在其他期間叫醒他們，則說沒有做夢。如果有兩組人，一組人連續(xù)幾夜在眼球隊活動時被叫醒;另一組人也是連續(xù)幾夜被叫醒，但是在眼球隊沒活動時被叫醒的。結(jié)果，第一組人開始出現(xiàn)性格失常，而第二組人似乎沒受什么影響。這一切暗示我們：睡眠受到干憂沒關系，而做夢受到干憂是有問題的。
新概念第四冊課文翻譯及學習筆記Lesson20
【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
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 also why Nature, with some snakes, concocted poison of such extreme potency.
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
【課文注釋】
1.How it came about that snakes...a mystery.這句話的主語是一個句子：How it came about that snakes manufactured poison，謂語部分是is a mystery。主語從句中的it是形式主語，真正主語是that snakes manufactured poison，因為主語太長，所以使用it作先行主語的結(jié)構。
2.over the periods，經(jīng)過很長時間。
例句：Over the peroids, she finally managed to walk out of the breaking-up shadow which had brought much pain to her.
經(jīng)過很長時間，她終于走出了那段曾給她帶去無數(shù)傷痛的分手陰影。
3.convert into，改變成。
If one thing is converted or converts into another, it is changed into a different form.
例句：The solar cell can convert the energy of sunlight into electric energy.
太陽能電池能把陽光的能量轉(zhuǎn)化為電能。
4.live on，靠……生活。
關于live的短語在第9課：王室諜報活動中有講過哦，可以去復習一下^^戳我去復習>>
5.a two-edged weapon，一把雙刃刀，這里的意思是：如果食肉動物都有毒液，就會造成食肉動物之間的互相殘殺。
雙刃劍、雙刃刀，也可以說成double-edged sword: a situation or decision that has both positive and negative aspects
例句：Scientific development may be a two-edged weapon, on one hand it lifts people's living standard, on the other hand it poses potential threats to the environment.
科技進步是一把雙刃劍，一方面它提高了人們的生活水平，另一方面也對環(huán)境構成了潛在威脅。
6.act on，對……起作用;遵照。
①If a force or substance acts on someone or something, it has a certain effect on them.有作用。
例句：These medical herbs are said to act on the heart.
據(jù)說這些藥草對心臟起作用。
②If you act on advice or information, you do what has been advised or suggested.遵照。
例句：A patient will usually listen to the doctor's advice and act on it.
通常病人都會聽從并遵照醫(yī)生的建議去做。
7.by far the more unpleasant，更難受得多，by far是“……得多”的意思。
例句：It is quicker by far to go by train.
乘火車要快得多。
8.so to speak，插入語，有“可以這樣說”，“打個比方說”的意思。
9.Be that as it may，這是一個倒裝的讓步狀語從句，相當于however that may be，可譯成“盡管如此”。
10.does its business with man，在人的身上發(fā)揮作用，要人的命。
11.the effects on these of viperine poison，these是指rats and mice，介詞賓語結(jié)構of viperine poison是作effets的定語。
【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)生的毒液在各方面與另外一些毒蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液不相同，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。
新概念第四冊課文翻譯及學習筆記Lesson21
【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
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, for 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-bad 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
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
【課文注釋】
1.nothing but，僅僅，只是。
例句：There was nothing but silence in the room.
這間屋內(nèi)聲息全無，一片寂靜。
例句：He is nothing but a hypocrite, pretending that he knows nothing about it.
他是一個虛偽的人，假裝對那件事一無所知。
2.supreme，高的，好的。
①(權力﹑ 級別或地位)高的;至高無上的。
例句：He is the supreme ruler of a vast empire.
他是一個龐大帝國的高統(tǒng)治者。
the Supreme Court：高法院。
② 重要的;大的。
例句：Winning an Olympic gold medal was, I suppose, the supreme moment of my life.
我認為我榮獲奧運會金牌時是我一生中重要的時刻。
3.It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film，正是他創(chuàng)造了西部電影的基調(diào)。這是一個強調(diào)句。
4.in short，總而言之，一句話。
例句：In short, I am interested in all of the sports.
簡而言之，我對一切運動都感興趣。
在作文中可以用來結(jié)尾，這里也幫大家總結(jié)下其它可以用來結(jié)尾的短語^^
To sum up
In a word
All in all
Taking into all these factors
In conclusion
5.in conflict with，和……有矛盾。
例句：It is a statement in conflict with other evidence.
這一陳述與其他證詞不一致。
6.the old West，指密西西比河以西地區(qū)。
7.be rooted in，生根于。
例句：The belief of founding a new China was deeply rooted in his mind.
建立行中國的想法深深的根植在他的腦海中。
8.join hands in，攜手聯(lián)合。
例句：Let's join hands and struggle for a better future together.
讓我們攜起手來，共同為美好的明天而奮斗。
9.arena，競技場，舞臺。
①arena的本意是圓形劇場或競技場。
例句：The Roman arena was very famous.
羅馬競技場是很出名的。
②arena引申意為活動或斗爭的場所或場面。
例句：A member of congress works in the political arena.
國會議員在政界活動。
10.live by，靠……過活，以……為生。
例句：Man shall not live by bread alone.
人活著不能僅靠面包。
【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?？傊魅斯且粋€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。