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大学英语精读第三版第四册课文及课文翻译
Unit 1
Text
Two
college-age
boys,
unaware
that
making
money
usually
involves
hard
work,
are
tempted by an advertisement that
promises them an easy way to earn a lot of money.
The boys soon learn that if something
seems to good to be true, it probably
is.
BIG BUCKS THE EASY
WAY
John G. Hubbell
ought
to
look
into
this,
I
suggested
to
our
two
college-age
sons.
might
be a way to avoid the indignity of
having to ask for money all the
time.
them some magazines in a plastic
bag someone bad hung on our doorknob. A message
printed on the bag offered leisurely,
lucrative work (
of delivering more such
bags.
it
pains
me,
I
said
< br>,
find
that
you
both
have
been
panhandling
so
long
that it
no longer embarrasses you.
The
boys
said
they
would
look
into
the
magazine-delivery
thing.
Pleased,
I
left
town on a business trip. By midnight I
was comfortably settled in a hotel room far
from home. The phone rang. It was my
wife. She wanted to know how my day had
gone.
She
snapped.
super!
And
it's
only
getting
started.
Another
truck
just pulled up out
front.
third
one
this
evening.
The
first
delivered
four
thousand
Montgomery
Wards.
The second brought four thousand Sears,
Roebucks. I don't know what this one has,
but I'm sure it will be four thousand
of something. Since you are responsible, I
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thought you might like to know what's
happening.
What I was
being blamed for, it turned out, was a newspaper
strike which made
it
necessary
to
hand-deliver
the
advertising
inserts
that
normally
are
included
with
the
Sunday
paper.
The
company
had
promised
our
boys
$$600
for
delivering
these
inserts
to 4,000 houses by
Sunday morning.
Six
hundred
bucks!
His
brother
had
echoed,
we
can
do
the
job
in
two
hours!
me.
speak,
two
big
guys
are
carrying
armloads
of
paper
up
the
walk.
What
do
we
do
about
all this
do what they have to
do.
At noon the
following day I returned to the hotel and found an
urgent message
to telephone my wife.
Her voice
was unnaturally
high and quavering. There had been
several
more
truckloads
of
ad
inserts.
for
department
stores,
dime
stores,
drugstores,
grocery
stores,
auto
stores
and
so
on.
Some
are
whole
magazine
sections.
We have hundreds
of thousands, maybe millions, of pages of
advertising here! They
are crammed
wall-to-wall all through the house in stacks
taller than your oldest
son. There's
only enough room for people to walk in, take one
each of the eleven
inserts, roll them
together, slip a rubber band around them and slide
them into a
plastic bag. We have enough
plastic bags to supply every takeout restaurant in
America!
Her
voice
kept
rising,
as
if
working
its
way
out
of
the
range
of
the
human
ear.
and I'll
talk to you later. Got a lunch date.
When I returned, there was another
urgent call from my wife.
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you
have
a
nice
lunch
she
asked
sweetly.
I
had
had
a
marvelous
steak,
but
knew
better by now than to say so.
couple
of
neighborhood
children
to
help
for
five
dollars
each.
Assembly
lines
have
been
set up. In the language of diplomacy, there is
'movement.'
it's
not,
she
corrected.
very
discouraging.
They're
been
as
it
for
hours. Plastic bags have
been filled and piled to the ceiling, but all this
hasn't
made a dent, not a dent, in the
situation! It's almost as if the inserts keep
reproducing themselves!
thing,
she
continued.
college
sons
must
learn
that
one
does
not
get the best out of employees by
threatening them with bodily harm.
Obtaining an audience
with son NO. 1, I snarled,
one of those
kids again! Idiot! You should be offering a bonus
of a dollar every
hour to the worker
who fills the most bags.
won't
be
any
profit
unless
those
kids
enable
you
to
make
all
the
deliveries on time. If they don't, you
two will have to remove all that paper by
yourselves. And there will be no eating
or sleeping until it is removed.
There
was
a
short,
thoughtful
silence.
Then
he
said,
you
have
just
worked
a profound change in my
personality.
By
the
following
evening,
there
was
much
for
my
wife
to
report.
The
bonus
program
had worked until
someone demanded to see the color of cash. Then
some activist on
the work force claimed
that the workers had no business settling for $$5
and a few
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competitive
bonuses
while
the
bossed
collected
hundreds
of
dollars
each.
The
organizer
had
declared
that
all
the
workers
were
entitled
to
$$5
per
hour!
They
would
not work another
minute until the bosses agreed.
The strike lasted less than two
hours. In mediation, the parties agreed on $$2
per hour. Gradually, the huge stacks
began to shrink.
As
it
turned
out,
the
job
was
completed
three
hours
before
Sunday's
7
.
deadline.
By the time I
arrived home, the boys had already settled their
accounts: $$150 in
labor costs, $$40 for
gasoline, and a like amount
for
gifts
—
boxes of candy for
saintly neighbors who had volunteered station
wagons and help in delivery and dozen
roses for their mother. This left them with
$$185
each
—
about
two-thirds
the
minimum
wage
for
the
91
hours
they
worked.
Still,
it
was
as
one
of
them
put
it,
to
enable
them
to
indignity
for
quite
a while.
All went well for
some
weeks. Then one Saturday morning
my
attention was drawn
to
the
odd
goings-on
of
our
two
youngest
sons.
They
kept
carrying
carton
after
carton
from
various corners of the house out the front door to
curbside. I assumed their
mother had
enlisted them to remove junk for a trash pickup.
Then I overheard them
discussing
finances.
Investigation revealed that they were offering
library.
might as well
make a little money from them. We wanted to avoid
the indignity of
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having to ask you for……
一个大学男孩,不清楚赚钱需要付出艰苦的劳动,被一份许诺轻松赚大钱的广告吸引了。男孩们很
快
就明白,如果事情看起来好得不像真的,那多半确实不是真的。
轻轻松松赚大钱
“你们该看看这个,
”我向我们的两个读大学的儿子建议道。“你们若想避免因为老是向人讨钱而有
失尊严的
话,这兴许是一种办法。”我将挂在我们门把手上的、装在一个塑料袋里的几本杂志拿给他们。
< br>塑料袋上印着一条信息说,需要招聘人投递这样的袋子,这活儿既轻松又赚钱。
(
“轻轻松松赚大钱!”)
“我不在乎失不失尊严,”大儿子回答说。
“我可以忍受,”他的弟弟附和道。
“看到你们俩伸手讨钱讨惯了一点也不感到尴尬的样子,真使
我痛心,”我说。
孩子们说他们可
以考虑考虑投递杂志的事。我听了很高兴,便离城出差去了。午夜时分,我已远离家
门,
在一家旅馆的房间里舒舒服服住了下来。电话铃响了,是妻子打来的。她想知道我这一天过得可好。
“好极了!”我兴高采烈地说。“你过得怎么样”我问道。
“棒极了!”她大声挖苦道。“真棒
!
而且这还仅仅是个开始。又一辆卡车刚在门前停下。”
“又一辆卡车”
“今晚第三辆了。
第一辆运来了四千份蒙哥马利
-
沃德百货公司的广告;第二辆运
来四千份西尔斯
-
罗
伯克百货公司的广
告。我不知道这一辆装的啥,但我肯定又是四千份什么的。既然这事是你促成的,我想
你
或许想了解事情的进展。”
我之所以受到指责,事情原来是
这样:由于发生了一起报业工人罢工,通常夹在星期日报纸里的广告
插页,必须派人直接
投送出去。公司答应给我们的孩子六百美金,任务是将这些广告插页在星期天早晨之
前投
递到四千户人家去。
“不费吹灰之力!”我们上大学的大儿子嚷道。
“六百块!”他的弟弟应声道,“我们两个钟点就能干完!”
“西尔斯和沃德的广告通常都是报纸那么大的四页,”妻子告
诉我说,“现在我们门廊上堆着三万二
千页广告。就在我们说话的当儿,两个大个子正各
抱着一大捆广告走过来。这么多广告,我们可怎么办”
“你
让孩子们快干,”我指示说。“他们都是大学生了。他们自己的事得由他们自己去做。”
第二天中午,我回到旅馆,看到一份紧急留言,要我马上给妻
子回电话。她的声音高得很不自然,而
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且有些颤抖。家里又运到了好几卡车的广告插页。“有百货公司的,廉价商店的,杂货店的,
食品店的,
汽车行的,等等。有些像整本杂志那么厚。我们这里有数十万页,说不定是几
百万页的广告
!
我们家整个房
子从东墙
到西墙,从南墙到北墙统统堆满了广告,一堆又一堆,比你大儿子还要高。现在只剩下一点点空
< br>间,刚够一个人走进去,从十一种插页中各取一份,卷在一起,套上橡皮筋,再塞进一只塑料袋内。我们< /p>
的塑料袋足够供应全美所有的外卖餐厅!”她越讲声音越响,
几乎
震耳欲聋。
“这么多的广告必须在星期日
早晨七点以前统统送出
去。”
“嗯,你最好让孩子们尽快地捆扎装袋,等会儿我再跟你谈。我有个午餐约会。”
我餐后回来,妻子又打来一只紧急电话。
“你午餐吃得不错吧”她用悦耳的声音问道。我吃的牛排好极
了,但这次我学乖了,还是不说为妙。
“糟透了,”我报告说。“一种什么酸溜溜的鱼,我想大概是鳗鲡吧。”
“不错嘛。你的大学生儿子已经雇了他们的弟弟妹妹和两三个
邻居的小孩帮忙,工钱一人五块,建起
了流水作业线。用外交术语来说,事情‘有进展’
。”
“这确实令人鼓舞。”
<
/p>
“不,并非如此,”她纠正说。“相反,非常叫人泄气。他们干了好几个小时了。装好的塑
料袋,一
直堆到天花板,但一切努力收效很小。这些广告宣传品简直就像是不停地自行生
产出来一样!”
“还有一件事,”她接着说,“你那上大学
的儿子必须明白,威胁雇员,说要揍他们,是不可能使他
们卖力的。”
我跟大儿子一通上话,
便咆哮道,“
你如果再威胁那些孩子,
我就对你不客气了
!
< br>白痴
!
你应该给奖金,
对装袋最
多的工人每小时奖励一块。”
“可那要减少我们的利润啦,”他提醒道。
“那些孩子不帮你按时将所有的广告投送出去,你就什么利润
也得不到。如果他们不干,你们俩就得
亲手搬走所有的广告。而在把它们搬掉之前,你们
吃不成,也睡不成。”
电话里出现了短暂的沉默,
他在思考。
接着,
他说,“爸爸,
你刚才使我深受启迪,
令我恍然大悟。”
“那就干吧!”
“是,阁下!”
到第二天傍晚,我妻子就有许多事报告了。奖金计划行之有效
,可后来有人对能否兑现表示怀疑,提
出把钱拿出来给大家看看。接着工人队伍里的一位
活动家声称,老板每人拿几百块钱,工人们决没有理由
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满足于每人五块外加一
点点竞争性的奖金。劳工组织人宣布,所有工人的工资都应该达到每小时五块钱
!
在老板答应之前,他们不再干活儿,一分钟也不干。
罢工持续了不到两小时。通过调解,双方达成协议,每小时两
块。渐渐地,大堆的广告开始减少。
结果,全部工作比最后限期星期日早晨七点提前三个小时完成。等我回到家里,孩子们已经结了账。
劳务支出
150
元,汽油费
40
元,还有
40
元买礼品——几盒
糖果,送给乐于助人的邻居,他们主动开出自
家的车帮助投递,还有一打玫瑰送给他们的
母亲。除去以上开支,他们每人得到
185
元——大约相当于他
们所干的
91
小时的最低工资的三分之
二。
虽然如此,
可正如一个儿子所说,
那还是“足够”他们花一阵子,
使他们“避免那种有失尊严的事。”
几个星期过去了,一切都很好。后来,一个星期六的上午,我
们两个小儿子的奇怪举动引起了我的注
意。他们不停地将一个又一个的纸箱从房屋四处的
角落里搬出,经过前门,送到人行道边。我以为他们的
妈妈在指挥他们清除破烂,好让垃
圾车运走呢。正在这时,我听到他们在议论经济问题。
“哟,我们会赚许多钱呢!”
“我们要发财啦!”
经查问发现,他们正在把我们的全部图书“出售或出租”。
“不成
!
不成!”我叫道。“不能把我们的书卖了!”
哎唷,爸,我们以为你用不着它们了呢!”
“书永远不会
'
用
'
不着的,”我尽力解释道。
“你肯定用不着了。你都看过了,再也不用了。没有错。既然
不用,还不如卖点钱。我们想避免那种
有失尊严的事,不再伸手向你要……”
Unit 2
Text
Is
there
anything
we
can
learn
from
deer
During
the
crisis
of
1973-1974
the writer of this
essay was living in northern Minnesota and was
able to observe
how
deer
survive
when
winter
arrives.
The
lessons
he
learns
about
he
way
deer
conserve
energy turn out applicable to our
everyday life.
DEER
AND THE ENERGY CYCLE
Some
persons
say
that
love
makes
the
world
go
round.
Others
of
a
less
romantic
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and more practical turn of mind say
that it isn't love; it's money. But the truth
is that it is energy that makes the
world go round. Energy is the currency of the
ecological
system
and
life
becomes
possible
only
when
food
is
converted
into
energy,
which in turn is
used to seek more food to grow, to reproduce and
to survive. On
this cycle all life
depends.
It is fairly
well known that wild animals survive from year to
year by eating
as
much
as
they
can
during
times
of
plenty,
the
summer
and
fall,
storing
the
excess,
usually in the form
of fat, and then using these reserves of fat to
survive during
the hard times in winter
when food is scarce. But it is probably less well
known
that even with their stored fat,
wild animals spend less energy to live in winter
than in summer.
A
good
case
in
point
is
the
whiter-tailed
deer. Like
most
wildlife,
deer
reproduce, grow, and
store fat in the summer and fall when there is
plenty of
nutritious food available. A
physically mature female deer in good condition
who
has conceived
怀孕
in November and given
birth to two fawns during the end of May
or first part of June, must search for
food for the necessary energy not only to
meet
her
body's
needs
but
also
to
produce
milk
for
her
fawns.
The
best
milk
production
occurs at the
same time that new plant growth is available. This
is good timing,
because
milk
production
is
an
energy
consuming
process
—
it
requires
a
lot
of
food.
The cost can not be met unless the
region has ample food resources.
As
the
summer
progresses
and
the
fawns
grow,
they
become
less
dependent
on
their
mother's
milk
and
more
dependent
on
growing
plants
as
food
sources.
The
adult
males
spend
the summer growing antlers and getting fat. Both
males and females continue
to eat high
quality food in the fall in order to deposit body
fat for the winter.
In the case of does
and fawns, a great deal of energy is expended
either in milk
production or in
growing, and fat is not accumulated as quickly as
it is in full
grown males. Fat reserves
are like bank accounts to be drawn on in the
winter when
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food supplies are limited and sometimes
difficult to reach because of deep
snow.
As fall turns into
winter, other changes take place. Fawns lose their
spotted
coat.
Hair
on
all
the
deer
becomes
darker
and
thicker.
The
change
in
the
hair
coats
is
usually complete by September and maximum hair
depths are reached by November
or
December when the weather becomes cold.
But in addition, nature provides a
further safeguard to help deer survive the
winter
—
an
internal physiological response which lowers their
metabolism, or rate
of bodily
functioning, and hence slows down their
expenditure of energy. The deer
become
somewhat slow and drowsy. The heart rate drops.
Animals that hibernate
practice
energy
conservation
to
a
greater
extreme
than
deer
do.
Although
deer
don't
hibernate, they do the
same thing with their seasonal rhythms in
metabolism. Deer
spend more energy and
store fat in the summer and fall when food is
abundant, and
spend less energy and use
stored fat in the winter when food is less
available.
When the
in
a
cabin
on
the
edge
of
an
area
where
deer
spend
the
winter
in
northern
Minnesota,
observing the deer as
their
behavior changed
from more activity in
summer and fall
to less as winter
progressed, followed by an increase again in the
spring as the
snow melted. It was
interesting and rather amusing to listen to the
advice given
on the radio:
stay warm, and turn the
thermostat
on your furnace
down.
the
deer
reduce
their
activity,
grow
a
winter
coat
of
hair,
and
reduce
their
metabolism
as
they
have
for
thousands
of
years.
It
is
biologically
reasonable
for
deer
to
reduce
their cost of living
to increase their chance of surviving in
winter.
Not every winter
is critical for deer of course. If the winter has
light snow,
survival and productivity
next spring will be high. But if deep snows come
and the
weather
remains
cold
for
several
weeks,
then
the
deer
must
spend
more
energy
to
move
about, food will be
harder to find, and they must then depend more on
their fat
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reserves
to
pull
them
through.
If
such
conditions
go
on
for
too
long
some
will
die,
and
only
the
largest
and
strongest
are
likely
to
survive.
That
is
a
fundamental
rule
of life for wild, free
wandering animal such as deer.
Yes, life
—
and
death, too -- is a cycle that goes round and
round, and when
animals
die
their
bodies
become
food
for
other
life
forms
to
use
by
converting
them
into energy.
And
the cycle continues.
有什么是
我们能从鹿身上学到的吗在
1973-1974
年的“能源危机
”期间,
本文作者正住在明尼苏达北
部,能够观察当冬天来临时
,鹿如何生存。他从鹿储存能量的方法上得到的经验也能够运用到我们的日常
生活中。<
/p>
鹿和能量循环
有些人说,爱情驱使世界运转;另一些并不那么罗曼蒂克而更为注重实际的人则说,不是爱情,而是
金钱。但真实情况是,能量驱使世界运转。能量是生态系统的货币,只有当食物转变为能量,能量再 用来
获取更多的食物以供生长、繁殖和生存,生命才成为可能。所有生命都维系在这一循
环上。
差不多众所周知,野生动物得以年复一年地生存下去,
主要依靠在夏秋生长旺季尽量多吃,通常将多
余的部分以脂肪的形式储存起来,然后到了
冬天食物稀少的艰难时期,就用这些储备的脂肪来维持生命。
然而,很可能鲜为人知的是
,即使有储备的脂肪,野生动物在冬天消耗的能量比夏天要少。
一个很好的例证是白尾鹿。与大多数野生动物一样,鹿在营养丰富、食物充足的夏秋两季,繁殖、生
长并储存脂肪。一只成熟健壮的母鹿,在十一月份怀胎,五月底或六月初生下两只幼鹿,这时,它必 须寻
找食物以获得必要的能量,这不仅是为了满足自身的需要,而且也是为了给幼鹿生产
乳汁。产乳的最佳期
也正是植物生长茂盛之时。这个时机选择得很好,因为乳汁生产是一
个消耗能量的过程——它需要大量的
食物,除非该地区具有丰富的食物资源,否则无法满
足这种消耗。
夏季一天天过去,幼鹿日渐生长,它们变得较少
依赖母鹿的乳汁,而更加依靠生长中的植物为其食物
来源。雄性成鹿在夏天生长鹿角并养
肥身体。在秋天,雄鹿和雌鹿都继续进食高质量食物,贮存体内脂肪,
以备过冬。至于雌
鹿和幼鹿,由于大量的能量用于产奶或生长,脂肪的积累速度不如完全成熟的雄鹿快。
脂
肪储备如同银行里的存款,供冬天食物来源不足时和有时由于雪深难以获得时,支取使用。
随着秋去冬来,还会发生其他变化
:
幼鹿失去皮毛上的斑纹,所有鹿身上的毛长厚,颜色变深。毛皮
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的变化通常持续到
p>
9
月。到
11
月或
12
月天气变冷时,毛长得最厚。
<
/p>
此外,
大自然还为鹿提供进一步的保护以帮助它们度过冬天——体
内生理机能作相应调节,
放慢新陈
代谢,亦即生理活动的速度,
从而降低能量的消耗。鹿变得有点动作迟缓、嗜睡。它们的心率减慢。冬眠
的动物保存能
量的习性胜过鹿。虽然鹿不冬眠,但他们随季节改变新陈代谢节奏的习性则是一样的。夏秋
间,食物充裕的时候,鹿消耗较多的能量并储存脂肪。在冬天食物匮乏时,它们则消耗较少的能量并使用
储存的脂肪。
1973-1974
年间,第一次出现“能源危机”的时候,我正与家人住在明尼苏达州北部一处鹿群过冬地
方的边缘地带。我们住在一个小屋里,观察鹿的生活习性,观察它们是如何随着冬季来临从夏秋的
活动频
繁状态而变得少动的,而到春暖雪融时,他们的活动又是如何增多起来的。
当时广播电台常告诫我们:“没有必要不开车,”“多穿衣服好保暖
,并请调低锅炉上的恒温器。”
这些话听起来既有趣又逗笑。因为与此同时,我们一直注
视着鹿减少活动,长出越冬的厚毛,并减缓新陈
代谢。几千年来,他们一贯如此。鹿减少
生存所需的能耗以增加越冬生存的机会,从生物学角度来看是合
情合理的。
当然,对鹿来讲,并非每个冬天都处于危难之中。如果冬天雪下得少,存活
率和次年春天的繁殖力就
高。但如果雪积得深,天气连续数周寒冷,鹿活动起来就得花费
较多的能量,觅食会更难,这时它们就得
更多地依赖其脂肪储备度过寒冬。如果这种情况
持续太久,有些鹿就要死亡,只有体型最大最壮的,才有
可能存活。对于像鹿这样四处自
由奔走的野生动物来说,这是一条根本的生存规律。
的确,生
命——还有死亡——周而复始,循环不已。当动物死亡的时候,他们的尸体转化为能量,变
成食物,供其他生命形式使用。
如此循环,永不止息。
Unit 3
Text
Can you
prove that the earth is round Go ahead and try!
Will you rely on your
senses or will
you have to draw on the opinions of
experts
WHY DO WE
BELIEVE
THAT THE EARTH
IS ROUND
George Orwell
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Somewhere
or
other
—
I
think
it
is
in
the
preface
to
saint
Joan
—
Bernard
Shaw
remarks
that
we
are
more
gullible
and
superstitious
today
than
we
were
in
the
Middle
Ages,
and
as
an
example
of
modern
credulity
he
cites
the
widespread
belief
that
the
earth is
round. The average man, says Shaw, can advance not
a single reason for
thinking that the
earth is round. He merely swallows this theory
because there is
something about it
that appeals to the twentieth-century
mentality.
Now, Shaw is
exaggerating, but there is something in what he
says, and the
question is worth
following up, for the sake of the light it throws
on modern
knowledge. Just why do we
believe that the earth is round I am not speaking
of the
few
thousand
astronomers,
geographers
and
so
forth
who
could
give
ocular
proof,
or
have a theoretical knowledge of the
proof, but of the ordinary newspaper-reading
citizen, such as you or me.
As for the Flat Earth theory, I
believe I could refute it. If you stand by the
seashore
on
a
clear
day,
you
can
see
the
masts
and
funnels
of
invisible
ships
passing
along
the
horizon.
This
phenomenon
can
only
be
explained
by
assuming
that
the
earth's
surface
is
curved.
But
it
does
not
follow
that
the
earth
is
spherical.
Imagine
another
theory called the Oval Earth theory,
which claims that the earth is shaped like an
egg. What can I say against
it
Against
the
Oval
Earth
man,
the
first
card
I
can
play
is
the
analogy
of
the
sun
and
moon.
The
Oval
Earth
man
promptly
answers
that
I
don't
know,
by
my
own
observation,
that those
bodies are spherical. I only know that they are
round, and they may
perfectly well be
flat discs. I have no answer to that one. Besides,
he goes on,
what reason have I for
thinking that the earth must be the same shape as
the sun
and moon I can't answer that
one either.
My second
card is the earth's shadow: When cast on the moon
during eclipses,
it appears to be the
shadow of a round object. But how do I know,
demands the Oval
Earth
man,
that
eclipses
of
the
moon
are
caused
by
the
shadow
of
the
earth
The
answer
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is
that
I
don't
know,
but
have
taken
this
piece
of
information
blindly
from
newspaper
articles and science
booklets.
Defeated in
the minor exchanges, I now play my queen of
trumps: the opinion of
the experts. The
Astronomer Royal, who ought to know, tells me that
the earth is
round.
The
Oval
Earth
man
covers
the
queen
with
his
king.
Have
I
tested
the
Astronomer
Royal's statement, and would I even
know a way of testing it Here I bring out my
ace.
Yes,
I
do
know
one
test.
The
astronomers
can
foretell
eclipses,
and
this
suggests
that their opinions about the solar
system are pretty sound. I am, to my delight,
justified in accepting their say-so
about the shape of the earth.
If the Oval Earth man answers
—
what I believe is true
—
that the ancient
Egyptians, who thought the sun goes
round the earth, could also predict eclipses,
then bang goes my ace. I have only one
card left: navigation. People can sail ship
round
the
world,
and
reach
the
places
they
aim
at,
by
calculations
which
assume
that
the
earth
is
spherical.
I
believe
that
finishes
the
Oval
Earth
man,
though
even
then
he may
possibly have some kind of counter.
It
will
be
seen
that
my
reasons
for
thinking
that
the
earth
is
round
are
rather
precarious ones. Yet this is an
exceptionally elementary piece of information. On
most other questions I should have to
fall back on the expert much earlier, and
would be less able to test his
pronouncements. And much the greater part of our
knowledge is at this level. It does not
rest on reasoning or on experiment, but
on authority. And how can it be
otherwise, when the range of knowledge is so vast
that the expert himself is an ignoramus
as soon as he strays away from his own
specialty Most people, if asked to
prove that the earth is round, would not even
bother
to
produce
the
rather
weak
arguments
I
have
outlined
above.
They
would
start
off
by
saying
that
the
earth
to
be
round,
and
if
pressed
further,
would
become
angry.
In
a
way
Shaw
is
right.
This
is
a
credulous
age,
and
the
burden
of knowledge which we
now have to carry is partly responsible.
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你能证明地球是圆的吗来试试看吧!你将依靠你自己的智力还是不得不引用专家的观点呢< p>
我们为什么相信地球是圆的
< br>记得在什么地方——我想是在《圣女贞德》序言中——肖伯纳评论说,今天我们比在中世纪时更加轻
信,更加迷信。而作为现代轻信的例证,他举出地圆说这一广为传播的信念。肖伯纳说,普通人
举不出一
条理由来说明为什么相信地球是圆的。
他全盘接受这一
理论,
只是因为这一理论中有一种迎合
20
世纪心态
的东西。
当然,肖伯纳
是夸大其词了,但他说的也确实有些道理,这一问题值得进一步探讨,因为它会帮助人
们
看清现代知识的真实情况。我们究竟为什么会相信地球是圆的呢我说的不是数千位天文学家、地理学家
之类的人,他们可以用观察到的事实或用理论上的根据来证实这一点,我指的是如同你我之辈的报纸 的普
通读者。
至于“地平说”,我相
信我能够加以驳斥。如果你在天气晴朗的日子站立海边,你可以看到船桅和烟
囱沿着地平
线移动而不见船体本身。只有假设地球表面呈曲线状,这一现象才能得到解释。但不能由此推
断地球是球形的。设想另一个称做“地球卵形说”的理论吧,这一学说声称地球形如蛋状。对此,我能说 p>
什么加以反驳呢
面对“地球卵形说”者,
我能打的第一张牌是,可以根据太阳和月亮来类推。“地球卵形说”者立即
回敬道,我无
法根据自己的观察得知那些天体是球形的。我只能得知他们是圆的,而它们完全可能呈扁平
的圆盘状。我对此无言以答。此外,他还会说,我凭什么理由认为地球一定与太阳和月亮的形状相同对此,
p>
我同样无法解答。
我的第二张牌是地球的影子
:
月食期
间,
地球投在月亮上的影子看上去呈圆形物体状。
但“地球卵形
说”者马上要问,我怎么知道月食是由地球的影子造成的呢回答是,我并不知道,我只是
照搬报刊文章和
科普小册子上的说法而已。
小小交锋受挫,于是我打出一张王牌“Q”: 专家的看法。英国格林威治皇家天文台台
长总该是权威
了,他告诉我说地球是圆的。“地球卵形说”者用他的“K”牌压倒我的“
Q”牌。天文台台长的话我检验
过没有再说,我知道怎么个检验法吗这时候,我打出我的
“爱司”。是的,我确实知道一个检验方法。天
文学家能预报月食,这一点表明他们关于
太阳系的看法是非常可信的。因此,令我高兴的是,我接受他们
关于地球形状的论断是有
道理的。
如果“地球卵形说”者反驳道——我以为他反驳得有
理——认为太阳绕地球转的古代埃及人也能预
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言月食,那我的“爱司”牌便立刻化为乌有。我只剩下一张牌
:
航海。人们可以扬帆绕地球航行而到达他
们的目的地,其航程的
计算,就是以地球是球形的假定为依据的。我相信这一下可以彻底击败“地球卵形
说”者
了。不过即便如此,他还可能有某种回击的办法。
由此可见,
我认为地球是圆的,其根据是相当不牢靠的。然而这却是一点极其基本的知识。在别的大
多数问题上,我只得更早地依赖专家的理论,且更少有办法检验他的结论了。我们的知识,其绝大部分都
停留在这一水平上。它不是依靠推理或实验,而是依赖权威。可是,不这样,又有什么别的法子呢
知识的
范围如此广博,一旦越出其专业范围,专家也会变成一无所知。对大多数人来说,
如果要他们证明地球是
圆的话,就连我上面概述的这些相当无力的论据,他们也不愿提供
出来。他们一开始就会说
:
谁都知道地
球是圆的。要是再加追问,就会生气了。在某种程度上讲,肖伯纳是说对了,如今是一个轻信的时代。究
其缘由,部分在于,我们现今必须掌握的知识实在太多了。
Unit 4
Text
On
September 11, 2001, a series of suicide attacks on
the United States took
place. Foreign
hijackers took control of four . airliners. Two
were crashed into
the
World
Trade
Center.
The
third
aircraft
was
crashed
into
the
Pentagon.
The
fourth,
intended, it is
thought, for another government target, crashed
into a field,
apparently
after
passenger
resistance.
This
is
the
story
of
one
of
those
passengers
Flight 93:What I
never know
Sunday,
September 9, 2001, was a good day for the three of
us. Emmy was just
11 weeks old and we
were enjoying her enormously. After three
miscarriages in two
years,
she
was
doubly
precious
to
us.
My
husband,
Jeremy,
who
was
thinking
of
changing
jobs, had gone on
two interviews and felt they went well. Since
Sunday was rainy,
we just lay around
our house in northern New Jersey. We laughed a
lot, and watched
Emmy, and then went to
bed early.
The next
day, September 10, was busy, with Jeremy due to
fly from Newark to
California on
business. I would take Emmy up to my parents’
house in Windham, New
York, and he
could meet us there when he returned.
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For some reason he particularly
wanted to take care of Emmy that morning. So
he fed her and bathed and dressed her.
He packed up both our cars, made sure Emmy
was
tucked
into
her
car
seat,
and
kissed
her.
Then
he
stood
waving
as
we
drove
off.
When I got to Windham, Jeremy
called. His flight to San Francisco had been
canceled.
He
didn’t
want
to
take
the
next
available
flight
and
get
in
at
2
.“Screw
it
,
”
he
said.
“I’m
going
to
go
home,
get
a
good
night’s
sleep,
and
get
up
early
tomorrow.” He would grab the first
flight out of Newark. United Flight 93.
Tuesday
morning
found
me
in
the
kitchen,
fumbling
with
the
lid
of
the
doughnut
box, when I heard
my father say something about the World Trade
Center. I looked
in the living room at
the TV, and saw the image of the fire poking
through the
blackened holes in the
tower’s silver skin. The phone rang, and my dad
said i
nto
it,
“Oh,
thank
God
it’s
you.”
I
ran
into
the
living
room.
He
held
out
the
phone,
his face pale.
“Jeremy,” he said
.
I grabbed the phone.
“<
/p>
Jer
”
I
said.
“
Hi
”
he
said.
“
Listen
,
there are some bad men on the plane
.
”
“
What do you
mean
”
“Thes
e three guys
took over the plane. They put on
these red
headbands. They
said they had a bomb.”
I was crying now.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love
you,” I said.
“only have good thoughts”
I was shaking and nauseated, but
I also knew I could make myself do whatever
was necessary to help Jeremy.
“I don’t
think I’m going to make it out of here,” he said.
And then, “I
don’t want to die.” And he
cursed.
“You’re not going to die,” I told him.
“Jer, put a picture of me and Em
my
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in your head and only have really good
thoughts.”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Don’t think about
anything bad,” I said.
“You’ve got to promise me you’re going
to be happy,” he said. “For Emmy
to
know how much I love her. And that whatever
decisions you make in your life, no
matter what, I’ll support you.”
After
a
pause,
Jeremy
said
to
me,
“A
passenger
said
they’re
crashing
planes
into the World Trade
Center. Is that true”
“Are they going to blow the plane up or
are they going to cras
h it into
something” he almost screamed at me.
“They’re not
going to the World Trade Center,” I said.
“Because the
whole thing’s on fire.”
He
said
there
were
maybe
30
or
35
passengers,
herded
to
the
back.
For
some
reason,
however, no one was
guarding them back there.
“What about the pilots” I asked him.
“Has there been any communication”
“No.
These
guys
just
stood
up
and
yelled
and
ran
into
the
cockpit.
After
that,
we
didn’t hear from the pilots.”
Just then, we saw something on TV
about a plane crashing into the Pentagon,
and I thought, thank God it isn’t
Jeremy’s plane.
When I
told him about this new attack, Jeremy cursed
again. The Pentagon was
probably the
jolt that made him see clearly that his fate and
that of his fellow
passengers
in
the
rear
of
the
plane
were
completely
in
their
own
hands.
“Okay,
I’m
going
to
take
a
vote,”
he
said.
“There’s
three
other
guys
as
big
as
me
and
we’re
thinking of attacking the guy with the
bomb. What do you think”
“No, I didn’t see guns. I saw knives.”
He joked, “I still have my butter
knife
from breakfast.” There was a pause, and then he
said, “I know I could take
the guy with
the bomb. Do you think it’s really a bomb”
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I don’t think so. I
think they’re bluffing you.”
“Okay, I’m going to do it,” Jer
said
“screams
in the background”
“I think you need to do it,” I told
him. “You’re strong, you’re brave, I
love you.”
“Okay,
I’m
going
to
put
the
phone
down,
I’m
going
to
leave
it
here,
and
I’m
going to come right back
to it,”
When my father put
the phone to his ear, he heard nothing on the line
for two
or three minutes. Then he heard
screams off in the background. And he thought,
They’re
doing
it.
It
was
bound
to
be
noisy.
Perhaps
a
minute
and
a
half
later,
there
was
another
set of screams, muffled, like
people on a roller coaster. Then silence
I sat on the living room
couch and all my energy seemed to have deserted
me.
After
a
while,
I
got
up
and
headed
for
the
kitchen
and
almost
collided
with
my
dad,
who was coming the
other way. He must have just hung up the phone. He
was crying.
He gave me a hug. I watched
him cry, a bit dumbfounded.
Wait, you think he’s dead” I
said.
He couldn’t manage
anything but to cry harder. I must have asked the
same
question five times. And then,
when it finally sank in, I collapsed on the
floor
。
“searching
for Jeremy”
Over
the
next
months,
I
spent
a
lot
of
time
searching
for
Jeremy.
Often
I
heard
his
voice
in my head, comforting me when my pain was
almost
unendurable.
I
visited
the
crash
site.
I
hungered
to
know
what
had
happened
on
Flight
93 and
why Jeremy died.
Now I find
that my viewpoint has changed. Not that I don’t
want to know what
happened.
It’s
just
that
I’m
sure
I
will
never
really
make
sense
of
September
11.
Did
someone
declare
war
on
us
for
a
principle
Because
they
were
jealous
To
show
how
tough they were Did we
in this country somehow overstep, push too hard,
tread on
18
18
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ancient sensibilities The world Jeremy
and I knew was never more than the rooms we
lived
in,
a
few
places
we
walked,
a
few
friends
and
family
we
loved.
Now
it’s
gone,
and no one could ever really make sense
of why.
I think Jeremy
always suspected he had a higher purpose. I don’t
believe it
was an accident that he was
on Flight 93. It wasn’t mere luck that an airline
passenger with precisely the right
physical skills to abort one of the terror
missions happened to be on the only
plane hijacked that day where there was an
opportunity to do that.
Jeremy was 31 when he died, had been
married to me for five years and knew his
daughter
for
barely
three
months.
Yet
I
consider
us
blessed.
He and
I
left
nothing
unsaid
or
undone,
and
he
managed
to
give
Emmy
and
me
everything
we
need.
And
sometimes,
when I’m
watching
and
listening,
I
can
still
feel
him
near
me, leading
me
forward
into
the rest of my life.
2001
年
9
月
11
日,
在美国发生了一系列自杀式的袭击事件。
外
国的劫机者控制了四架美国的航空公司的
飞机,两架撞入世界贸易中心,第三架冲进五角
大楼,而第四架据传原本要袭击另一政府目标,但显然由
于遭到乘客的反抗而坠毁于一片
田地里。本文说的便是其中一位乘客的故事。
第
93
次航班:我所无法理解的事
莉兹·格里克
丹·泽加特
2001
年
9
月
9
日是星期日,对我们三个人来说,是个美好的日子。埃米刚有
11
< br>周大,我们极其喜欢她。
她是我在两年内经过连续三次流产后生下的,
所以对我们更为珍贵。
我的丈夫杰里米当时正考虑换个工作,
已经面试过两次,自己感觉进行得还顺利。周日那天下雨,我们就在我们位于新泽西北部的自家屋内闲
躺
着。我们嬉笑着,照看着埃米,随后就早早就寝了。
次日,
9
月
10
p>
日,我们忙碌起来,杰里米将从纽瓦克飞往加利福尼亚出差。我将带埃米北上去纽约州温
p>
德姆我父母的家中。这样,杰里米回来时可以去那里接我们。
p>
那天早晨,不知什么原因,他特想要照料埃米。他给她喂奶、给她洗澡、给她穿衣。他把两辆
车的行
李都装好,把埃米在汽车座椅上安置妥当,并吻了吻她。而后当我们开车离开时他
站到一边挥手告别。
我到达温德姆时,杰里米打来电话。他飞
往旧金山的航班被取消了。他不打算搭乘下一班飞机在凌晨
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19
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两点到达目的地。“该
死,”他说。“我想回家,美美地睡上一夜,明天早点起身。”他将赶上第一班航
班飞离
纽瓦克。联合航空公司的第
93
次航班。
星期二早晨我正在厨房里设法打开一盒炸圈饼的盒盖时,
听到父亲在说什么世贸中心的事。我向起居
室的电视瞧去,
看见
屏幕上出现了从世贸中心大楼的银色外墙上被燻黑的洞中窜出的大火。
这时电话响了,<
/p>
父亲对着话筒说道,“哦,感谢上帝,是你啊。”我跑进起居室,父亲脸色苍白地把话筒递
了过来。“是
杰里米,”他说。
我夺过话筒,说道,“杰尔。”
“你好,”他说。“听着,飞
机上有几个坏蛋。”“什么”“三个家
伙控制了飞机。
他们头上
戴着红色的束发帶,
声称带着一颗炸弹。
”我当即哭了。
“我爱你,
”他说。
“我
爱你,”我说。
“只往好处想”
我浑身颤抖,想要呕吐,可同时我很清楚,我还是可以尽一切
可能帮助杰里米的。
“我感到我是无法从这儿活着出去了,”
他说。随后他又说,“我可不想死。”接着他咒骂起来。
“你不会死的,”我对他说。“杰尔,心里就装着我和埃米吧
,只往好处去想。”
“好,”他回答道。“不要去想那些糟糕的事,”我说。
p>
“你得答应我,你将来要高高兴兴地生活下去,”他说。“务必让埃米知道我非常爱她。不论
你将来
作出什么决定,我都支持你。”稍停片刻,杰里米又对我说,“一位乘客说他们正
在用飞机撞击世贸中心,
这是真的吗”
我正站在起居室里看着电视上播放此事,心想:我是否该告诉他
“他们想要炸毁这架飞机呢,还是想用它去撞击什么东西”他几乎在对我大声喊叫道。<
/p>
“他们不会去撞世贸中心了,”我说。“为什么”“因为整个世
贸中心都在燃烧了。”
他说约有
30
到
35
位乘客,都被驱赶到客舱的后部
,但,不知怎的,却无人看管他们。
“那么驾驶员们的情况如何”我问道。“你们之间联络过没有”
“没有。那几个家伙就这么站了起来,喊叫着冲进了驾驶舱。后来就再也没有听到有关驾
驶员们的情
况。”
正在那时,我们从
电视上看到一架飞机撞进了五角大楼。心想,上帝保佑那不是杰里米的飞机。
我把新发生的这次攻击告
了杰里米,
他再次咒骂起来。
五角大楼一事可能使他受到极大震惊,使他认
清他和待在客舱后面的其他乘客的命运完全掌握在他们自己的手中。“好,我这就去进行表决,”他说。
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20
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“另外有三个身材和我
一样高大的人,我们打算去袭击那个带炸弹的家伙。你看行吗”
“他们有枪吗”我问道。
“没有,我
没有看到枪。我见到刀子。”他开玩笑说,“我这里还有早餐用的牛油刀呢。”停了一会
儿,他说,“我想我可以制服那个带炸弹的家伙。你觉得那是一颗真的炸弹吗”
“我认为不是真的炸弹,那是在吓唬你们。”
“行,我这就去干,”杰尔说。
“隐隐约约的尖叫声”
“我觉得你必
须去干,”我对他说。“你身强力壮,又勇敢,我爱你。”
“
好,我这就把话筒搁下离开这儿,我会马上回来再拿起它的,”杰尔说。我把话筒递给父亲,跑进
盥洗室,在水池上呕吐起来。
我父亲把话筒放到耳边,有两三分钟光景什么都听不到。而后他听到隐隐约约的尖叫声。他想,他们
正干上了。这必然会引起喧闹。隔了约莫一分半钟,又传来一阵低沉的尖叫声,就像人们坐过山车
时发出
的叫声那样。随后便沉寂了下来。
我坐在起居室的长沙发上,浑身乏力。过了一会儿,我起身向厨房走去,几乎与从相反方向走来的父
亲相撞。他想必刚挂上电话,他在哭泣。他拥抱了我。我瞧着他哭着,我有点麻木了。
“等一等,你是不是认为他死了”我说。
p>
他除了放声大哭之外再也说不出话来。我大概重复问了五次之多。接着,当我终于明白过来之
后,我
瘫倒在地上。
“寻找杰里米”
在接下的几个月里,
我花了大量时间寻觅杰里米。每当我痛楚万分之际,我常听到他在耳边安慰我的
声音。我
去了飞机坠毁的地方。我渴求了解第
93
次航班上发生的事情以
及杰里米为何而身故。
如今我发现
我已改变了看法。不是因为我不想了解到底发生了什么,而恰恰是我相信我将永远不可能
真正理解
911
事件。
是否有人出于某
种原则性的问题向我们宣战了或是他们出于妒忌或是他们想炫耀其强悍
是否我们这个国家
的人越轨了,做得过分了,伤及了人家自古而来的情感杰里米和我所熟悉的世界只不过
是
我们所居住的房子、几处散步的地方、几个朋友以及我们所热爱的家人。如今一切全完了,但却始终无
人能真正弄清这到底是怎么回事。
我觉得杰里米
一直认为他生来就肩负有崇高使命。
我也并不认为杰里米乘坐上第
93
次航班是出于偶然。
一位具有足够挫败恐怖行径体能的旅
客正好搭乘了那天被劫持的飞机中唯一一个可以有机会进行反击劫机
21
21
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者的航班,这不仅仅是一种巧合。
杰
里米去世时
31
岁,和我结婚了五年,和他的女儿相处了三个月
都不到。可我认为我们是幸福的。他
与我之间未留下任何未尽之言或未竟之事。他总是努
力给埃米和我带来我们所需的一切。有时,当我留神
观察和倾听时,我仍然能感到他就在
我的身边,在我有生之年指引我向前。
Unit
5
Text
Is it ever proper for a medical
doctor to lie to his patient Should he tell a
patient he is dying These questions
seem simple enough, but it is not so simple to
give a satisfactory answer to them. Now
a new light is shed on them.
TO LIE OR NOT
TOLIE
—
THE
DOCTOR'S DILEMMA
Sissela Bok
Should
doctors ever lie to benefit their patients -- to
speed recovery or to
conceal the
approach of death In medicine as in law,
government, and other lines
of work,
the
requirements of honesty
often seem
dwarfed by
greater needs: the need
to
shelter
from
brutal
news
or
to
uphold
a
promise
of
secrecy;
to
expose
corruption
or to promote the public
interest.
What
should
doctors
say,
for
example,
to
a
46-year-old
man
coming
in
for
a
routine
physical
checkup
just
before
going
on
vacation
with
his
family
who,
though
he
feels
in
perfect
health,
is
found
to
have
a
form
of
cancer
that
will
cause
him
to
die
within
six
months
Is
it
best
to
tell
him
the
truth
If
he
asks,
should
the
doctors
deny
that
he is ill, or minimize
the gravity of the illness Should they at least
conceal the
truth until after the
family vacation
Doctors
confront
such
choices
often
and
urgently.
At
times,
they
see
important
reasons to lie for
the patient's own sake; in their eyes, such lies
differ sharply
from self-serving
ones.
22
22
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Studies show that most doctors
sincerely believe that the seriously ill do not
want
to
know
the
truth
about
their
condition,
and
that
informing
them
risks
destroying
their
hope,
so
that
they
may
recover
more
slowly,
or
deteriorate
faster,
perhaps even commit suicide. As one
physician wrote:
traditionally has been
guided by a precept that transcends the virtue of
uttering
the truth for truth's sake,
and that is 'as far as possible do no
harm.'
Armed
with
such
a
precept,
a
number
of
doctors
may
slip
into
deceptive
practices
that they assume will
prescribe
innumerable
placebos,
sound
more
encouraging
than
the
facts
warrant,
and
distort grave news, especially to the
incurably ill and the dying.
But the illusory nature of the
benefits such deception is meant to produce is
now coming to be documented. Studies
show that, contrary to the belief of many
physicians,
an
overwhelming
majority
of
patients
do
want
to
be
told
the
truth,
even
about grave
illness,
and feel betrayed
when they learn that they have been misled.
We are also learning that truthful
information, humanely conveyed, helps patients
cope with illness: helps them tolerate
pain better, need less medicine, and even
recover faster after
surgery.
Not only do
lies not provide the
deception; they
invade the autonomy of patients and render them
unable to make
informed choices
concerning their own health, including the choice
of whether to
be patient in the first
place. We are becoming increasingly aware of all
that can
befall patients in
the
course of
their
illness
when information
is
denied or
distorted.
Dying patients especially -- who are easies to
mislead and most often kept in
the
dark
--
can
then
not
make
decisions
about
the
end
of
life:
about
whether
or
not
they
should
enter
a
hospital,
or
have
surgery;
about
where
and
with
whom
they
should
spend their remaining
time; about how they should bring their affairs to
a close
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23
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and take leave.
Lies also do harm to those who tell them: harm to
their integrity and, in the
long run,
to their credibility. Lies hurt their colleagues
as well. The suspicion
of deceit
undercuts the work of the many doctors who are
scrupulously hones with
their
patients;
it
contributes
to
the
spiral
of
lawsuits
and
of
medicine,
and thus
it injures, in turn, the entire medical
profession.
Sharp conflicts are now arising.
Patients are learning to press for answers.
Patients' bills of rights require that
they be informed about their condition and
about
alternatives
for
treatment.
Many
doctors
go
to
great
lengths
to
provide
such
information.
Yet
even
in
hospitals
with
the
most
eloquent
bill
of
rights,
believers
in
benevolent
deception
continue
their
age-old
practices.
Colleagues
may
disapprove
but refrain from objecting. Nurses may
bitterly resent having to take part, day
after day, in deceiving patients, but
feel powerless to take a stand.
There is urgent need to debate this
issue openly. Not only in medicine, but
in other professions as well,
practitioners may find themselves repeatedly in
difficulty where serious consequences
seem avoidable only through deception. Yet
the
public
has
every
reason
to
be
wary
of
professional
deception,
for
such
practices
are
peculiarly
likely
to
become
deeply
rooted,
to
spread,
and
to
erode
trust.
Neither
in medicine, nor in
law, government, or the social sciences can there
be comfort
in the old saying,
医生可以对病人撒谎吗医
生应该告诉病人他已经病入膏肓了吗这些问题看起来很简单,
但是要给出令
人满意的回答却并不那么简单。
撒谎还是不撒谎——医生的难题
为了
对病人有好处——为了加快病人康复或不让病人知道死亡的来临——医生到底该不该撒谎医疗
行业与法律、
政府及其他行业一样,
往往显得对诚实与否的
问题不那么看重,
要紧的倒是另外的一些事情,
譬如,应设法避
免可怕的消息造成的打击,或是应考虑恪守保密的诺言,或是需要揭露腐败行为或促进公
众利益等。
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24
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举例说吧。一个
46
岁的男子,在与家人外出度假
之前进行常规体格检查,虽然他自我感觉良好,但
医生发现他患了某种癌症,
6
个月内就会死去。这时,医生该怎么对他讲呢是不是最好对他讲实话要是
他
问起检查结果,医生该不该否认他得了病该不该将病情的严重性缩小到最低限度该不该
将真情至少隐瞒到
他全家度假之后
医
生们常常面临这样的非常紧迫的选择。他们不时认为,为了病人自身的利益,撒谎很有必要,在他
们看来,这种谎言与利己的谎言截然不同。
研究结果
表明,大多数医生深信身患重病的人不想知道他们的真实病情,如果将真情相告,则有可能
使他们完全失去希望,结果使他们恢复得更慢或恶化得更快,甚至会自寻短见。正如一位内科医生写道:
“我们这个职业,传统上恪守一条信条,那就是:
'
< br>尽可能不造成伤害
'
,这一信条胜过为讲真话而讲真话<
/p>
的美德”。
有了这样一个指导原则,<
/p>
一些医生可能渐渐习惯于采用他们认为对病人很可能有益而“无害”的骗人
做法。他们可能开出无数帖安慰剂,说一些没有事实根据的打气的话,并歪曲严重的病情,对那些患有不
治之症和濒临死亡的病人,则尤其如此。
然而,现在开始有人提出证据,说明这种欺骗旨在给病人带来好处的说法是虚幻的。研究结果表明,
与许多医生的想法相反,绝大多数病人确实想知道真实情况,甚至是严重的病情。当他们了解到医
生没有
对他们讲真话的时候,他们感到自己被玩弄了。我们还获悉,将真实情况妥当地告
诉病人,能帮助他们与
病魔作斗争,有助于他们更好地忍受疼痛,减少用药,甚至在手术
后更快地康复。
谎言不仅不能提供鼓吹“仁慈”欺骗的人们所
希望的那种“帮助”,
它还侵犯了病人的个人自由,
使
他们不能对有关自己健康的问题作出明达的选择,包括要不要就医这一首要的选择。我们越来越意
识到,
病人发病期间,在不知病情或未被如实地告知病情的情况下,他们会遭到什么样的
不幸。
特别是濒临死亡的病人——他们最易受骗也最会被人蒙
在鼓里——因此而不能作出临终前的种种有
关抉择
:
是否要住进医院,或进行手术,在何处与何人度过所剩下的一点时间,以及如何处理完自己的事<
/p>
务而后与世长辞。
谎言也伤害说谎的人
,损害他们的诚实,并最终损害他们的信誉。谎言还伤害他们的同事。由于病人
怀疑有欺
骗行为,许多对病人十分开诚布公的医生的工作也因此受到影响。病人的不信任使医疗诉讼案增
< br>多,造成医生避免风险的“防御性诊治”增多,而这些又进而有损于整个医疗事业。
剧烈的冲突正在出现。病人开始学会催问真实情况。根据病人应享有的权利的规定,
医生应将病情和
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可供选择的治疗方案通告病人。许多医生尽可能向病人提供这些情况。然而,即使在对病人的权益考 虑得
最周到的医院里,信奉“仁慈”欺骗的医生们继续他们传统的古老做法。同事们也许
不赞同,但避免公开
表示反对。护士们对不得不日复一日地参与欺骗病人的做法也许深恶
痛绝,但要抵制却感到无能为力。
及时对这个问题进行公开辩
论非常必要。不仅在医疗业,而且在其他行业,从业者不断发现,自己常
处于似乎不采用
欺骗手段就无法避免严重后果的困难处境。但是公众完全有理由对职业性欺骗保持警惕,
因为这种做法特别容易变得根深蒂固,蔓延滋长,并损害信任。无论医疗界、法律界、政府机构还是社会
科学界,都不应从“不知者,不为所害”这句老话中得到丝毫慰藉。
Unit 6
Text
ever
mark
in
a
book!
Thousands
of
teachers,
librarians
and
parents
have
so
advised.
But
Mortimer
Adler
disagrees.
He
thinks
so
long
as
you
own
the
book
and
needn't preserve its physical
appearance, marking it properly will grant you the
ownership
of
the
book in the
true sense of
the word and make
it a part of
yourself.
HOW TO
MARK A BOOK
Mortimer J. Adler
You
know you have to read
I
want
to
persuade
you
to
do
something
equally
important
in
the
course
of
your
reading.
I
want
to
persuade
you
to
between
the
lines.
Unless
you
do,
you
are
not
likely
to do
the most efficient kind of reading.
You shouldn't mark up a book which
isn't yours. Librarians (or your friends)
who
lend
you
books
expect
you
to
keep
them
clean,
and
you
should.
If
you
decide
that
I am
right about the usefulness of marking books, you
will have to buy them.
There
are
two
ways
in
which
one
can
own
a
book.
The
first
is
the
property
right
you
establish
by
paying
for
it,
just
as
you
pay
for
clothes
and
furniture.
But
this
act of
purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full
ownership comes only when
you have made
it a part of yourself, and the best way to make
yourself a part of
it
is
by
writing
in
it.
An
illustration
may
make
the
point
clear.
You
buy
a
beefsteak
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and transfer it from the butcher's
icebox to your own. But you do not own the
beefsteak in the most important sense
until you consume it and get it into your
bloodstream. I am arguing that books,
too, must be absorbed in your bloodstream
to do you any good.
There are three kinds of book
owners. The first has all the standard sets and
best-sellers -- unread, untouched.
(This individual owns wood-pulp and ink, not
books.) The second has a great many
books -- a few of them read through, most of
them dipped into, but all of them as
clean and shiny as the day they were bought.
(This
person
would
probably
like
to
make
books
his
own,
but
is
restrained
by
a
false
respect for their physical appearance.)
The third has a few books or many -- every
one
of
them
dog-eared
and
dilapidated,
shaken
and
loosened
by
continual
use,
marked
and scribbled in from
front to back. (This man owns books.)
Is
it
false
respect,
you
may
ask,
to
preserve
intact
a
beautifully
printed
book,
an elegantly bound
edition Of course not. I'd no more scribble all
over a first
edition of
Rembrandt! I wouldn't mark up a
painting or a statue. Its soul, so to speak, is
inseparable
from
its
body.
And
the
beauty
of
a
rare
edition
or
of
a
richly
manufactured volume
is like that of painting or a statue. If your
respect for
magnificent binding or
printing gets in the way, buy yourself a cheap
edition and
pay your respects to the
author.
Why is marking
up a book indispensable to reading First, it keeps
you awake.
(And
I
don't
mean
merely
conscious;
I
mean
wide
awake.)
In
the
second
place,
reading,
if
it
is
active,
is
thinking,
and
thinking
tends
to
express
itself
in
words,
spoken
or
written. The marked book is usually the thought-
through book. Finally, writing
helps
you remember the thoughts you
had,
or the
thoughts the author
expressed.
Let
me develop
these three points.
If
reading
is
to
accomplish
anything
more
than
passing
time,
it
must
be
active.
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