新概念英語(yǔ)第四冊(cè)慣用語(yǔ)整理Lesson10

字號(hào):

【課文】
    First listen and then answer the following question.
    聽(tīng)錄音,然后回答以下問(wèn)題。
    What does the computer industry thrive on apart from anarchy?
    Technology trends may push Silicon Valley back to the future. Carver Mead, a pioneer in integrated circuits and a professor of computer science at the California Institute of Technology, notes there are now work-stations that enable engineers to design, test and produce chips right on their desks, much the way an editor creates a newsletter on a Macintosh. As the time and cost of making a chip drop to a few days and a few hundred dollars, engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failures. Mead predicts that inventors will be able to perfect powerful customized chips over a weekend at the office -- spawning a new generation of garage start-ups and giving the U.S. a jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast. 'We've got more garages with smart people,' Mead observes. 'We really thrive on anarchy.'
    And on Asians. Already, orientals and Asian Americans constitute the majority of the engineering staffs at many Valley firms. And Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Indian engineers are graduating in droves from California's colleges. As the heads of next-generation start-ups, these Asian innovators can draw on customs and languages to forge tighter links with crucial Pacific Rim markets. For instance, Alex Au, a Stanford Ph.D. from Hong Kong, has set up a Taiwan factory to challenge Japan's near lock on the memory-chip market. India-born N.Damodar Reddy's tiny California company reopened an AT & T chip plant in Kansas City last spring with financing from the state of Missouri. Before it becomes a retirement village, Silicon Valley may prove a classroom for building a global business.
    US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, October 2, 1989
    【New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)】
    silicon n. 硅
    integrated adj. 綜合的
    circuit n. 線路,電路
    California n. 加利福尼亞(美國(guó)州名)
    workstation n. 工作站
    chip n. 芯片,集成電路片,集成塊
    newsletter n. 時(shí)事通訊
    Macintosh n. 蘋果機(jī),一種個(gè)人電腦
    penalize v. 處罰,懲罰
    customize v. 按顧客具體需要制造
    spawn v. 引起,釀成
    thrive v. 興旺,繁榮
    anarchy n. 無(wú)政府狀態(tài),混亂
    oriental n. 東方人
    constitute v. 構(gòu)成
    drove n. 群
    innovator n. 發(fā)明者
    forge v. 發(fā)展
    memory-chip n. 內(nèi)存條
    AT & T 美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司 (American Telephone and Telegraph)
    Kansas n. 堪薩斯(美國(guó)州名)
    Missouri n. 密蘇里(美國(guó)州名)
    【課文注釋】
    1. thrive on靠……健壯發(fā)展,以……旺盛。
    thrive表示興旺,繁榮。
    例句:First thrive and then wive.
    先立業(yè),后成家。
    例句:He thrives on criticism.
    他接受批評(píng)而不斷進(jìn)步。
    形容詞形式為thriving,興旺的,繁榮的。
    例句:Every trade is thriving.
    各行各業(yè)都欣欣向榮。
    2. apart from,除了/更別說(shuō)。
    You use apart from when you are making an exception to a general statement.
    例句:Apart from the injuries to his face and hands, he broke both legs.
    他除了臉部和雙手受傷以外,兩條腿也斷了。
    3. much the way an editor creates a newsletter,就像一位編輯編出一份實(shí)事通訊一樣。
    4. be free to,可以做……。
    be free of/from,不受某事的影響或傷害。
    例句:She is not free to follow her own inclination in the matter ofmarriage.
    她的婚姻不能自主。
    例句:I want to enjoy a holiday free from all responsibilities.
    我想要好好享受一個(gè)擺脫一切責(zé)任的假期。
    5. soar,急速上升,數(shù)字飆升。
    soar的本意是go up high in the air quickly,急速升入高空:
    例句:Flames were soaring into the sky.
    火焰直竄天空。
    現(xiàn)在越來(lái)越多的用來(lái)形容數(shù)字的飛漲、飆升,是個(gè)很形象的比喻:
    例句:The prices of new cars have soared.
    新車價(jià)格暴漲。
    6. constitute,組成,構(gòu)成。
    A constitute of B→A組成了B
    A make up of B→A組成了B
    A consist of B→A由B組成
    這三個(gè)表示“組成”的詞組很容易用錯(cuò),尤其在定語(yǔ)從句中,這需要我們了解清楚它們使用時(shí)的語(yǔ)態(tài),到底是用主動(dòng)態(tài)還是被動(dòng)態(tài),到底是前面的組成后面的,還是后面的組成前面的,不要搞反了,下面通過(guò)例句來(lái)鞏固練習(xí)。
    例句1:The committee is constituted of members of all three parties. → A committee constituted of members of all three parties is founded.
    委員會(huì)由所有三個(gè)政黨的成員組成。 → 一個(gè)由三個(gè)政黨的成員組成的委員會(huì)成立了。
    例句2:Ten doctors make up of this mecical group. → A medical group made up of ten doctors has been built.
    十名醫(yī)生組成了這支醫(yī)療隊(duì)。→一支由十名醫(yī)生組成的醫(yī)療隊(duì)已經(jīng)成立。
    例句3:The committee consists of ten members. → A committee consisting of ten members is founded.
    委員會(huì)由十人組成。→ 一個(gè)由10人組成的委員會(huì)成立了。
    7. in droves,一批批,成群地。
    例句:Chinese officials have been coming to Singapore on learning trips in droves.
    來(lái)自中國(guó)的政府官員不斷前來(lái)新加坡進(jìn)行學(xué)習(xí)訪問(wèn)。
    8. draw on,依靠,憑借。
    例句:He drew on his experience as a yachtsman to make a documentary programme.
    他憑借自己游艇駕駛的經(jīng)歷拍攝了一部紀(jì)錄片。
    【參考譯文】
    技術(shù)的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)有可能把硅谷重新推向未來(lái)??ǜ?米德 -- 集成電路的一位先驅(qū),加州理工學(xué)院的計(jì)算機(jī)教授 -- 注意到,現(xiàn)在有些計(jì)算機(jī)工作站使工程技術(shù)人員可以在他們的辦公桌上設(shè)計(jì)、試驗(yàn)和生產(chǎn)芯片,就像一位編輯在蘋果機(jī)上編出一份時(shí)事通訊一樣。由于制造一塊芯片的時(shí)間已縮短至幾天,費(fèi)用也只有幾百美元,因此,工程技術(shù)人員可能很塊就可充分發(fā)揮他們的想像力,而不會(huì)因失敗而造成經(jīng)濟(jì)上的損失。米德預(yù)言發(fā)明者可以在辦公室用一個(gè)周末的時(shí)間生產(chǎn)了完美的、功能很強(qiáng)的、按客戶需求設(shè)計(jì)的芯片 -- 造就新一代從汽車間起家的技術(shù)人員,在把產(chǎn)品推向市場(chǎng)方面使美國(guó)把它的外國(guó)對(duì)手們搶下一步。 “我們有更多的汽車間,那里有許多聰明人,”米德說(shuō)?!拔覀兇_實(shí)是靠這種無(wú)政府狀態(tài)發(fā)展起來(lái)的。”
    靠的是亞洲人。硅谷許多公司中工程技術(shù)人員的大多數(shù)是東方人和亞裔美國(guó)人。中國(guó)、韓國(guó)、菲律賓和印度的工程師一批批地從加州的大學(xué)畢業(yè)。作為新掘起一代的帶頭人,亞裔發(fā)明家可以憑借他們?cè)诹?xí)慣和語(yǔ)言上的優(yōu)勢(shì),與關(guān)鍵的太平洋沿岸市場(chǎng)建立起更加牢固的聯(lián)系。比如說(shuō),亞歷克斯.奧,一位來(lái)自香港的斯坦福大學(xué)博士,已經(jīng)在臺(tái)灣建廠,對(duì)日本在內(nèi)存條市場(chǎng)上近似壟斷的局面提出了挑戰(zhàn)。印度出生的N.達(dá)莫達(dá).雷迪經(jīng)營(yíng)的小小的加州公司在堪薩斯城重新啟用了美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司的一家芯片工廠,并從密蘇里州獲取了財(cái)政上的支持。在硅谷變成一個(gè)退休村之前,它很可能成為建立全球商業(yè)的一個(gè)教學(xué)場(chǎng)地。