Unit8Time新编大学英语第二版第四册课文翻译

1、unit 8 timehow to take your timedr. larry dossey has two antique clocks. none fast, the other slow/ says dr dossey. "they remind me that my life is not ruled by clocks, that i can choose the time i live by."how a person thinks about time can kill him, according to dossey, a pioneer in the

2、emerging science of chronobiology, the study of how time interacts with life. one of the most common ills in our society，he says，is "time sickness11, a sense of time pressure and hurry that causes anxiety and tension. these symptoms can contribute to heart disease and strokes, two of our most f

3、requent causes of death.dossey has discovered that these and other stress-induced ills can often be successfully treated by using simple techniques to change how a person thinks about time.dr dossey became interested in time and health when he noticed how many patients insisted on having watches wit

4、h them in the hospital, even though they had no schedules to keep they were all time addicts, taught since childhood to schedule their lives by society's clock, and all felt lost without the security of a timepiece. time seems to rule our lives. time is money, to be saved and spent wisely, not w

5、asted or lost.almost all living things in our world carry their own biological clocks synchronised with the rhythms of nature. a crab can sense when the tide is about to change. a mouse wakes when night nears. a squirrel knows when to prepare for its long winter nap. these living clocks are not accu

6、rate in any robot-like mechanical sense. they adjust to changes in the environment.light is the most powerful synchroniser in most living things. but in humans there is another powerful synchroniser: other people. pioneering studies in germany reported that when people were put together in groups is

7、olated from external time cues of light, temperature and humidity, their own complex internal timekeeping rhythms became desynchronised; then they resynchronised in unison. even body temperatures started to rise and fall together, a sign that subtle biochemical changes in each body were now happenin

8、g together. these experiments may have discovered one of the mysterious forces that reshape individuals into members of a team, cult or mob.the mind can alter rhythms of time in various ways. people brought back from the brink of death often recall their entire lives flashing before them in an insta

9、nt. those who have been in a serious accident often report that, as it occurred, everything happened in slow motion; apparently this is a survival tool built into the brain, an ability to accelerate to several times normal perceptual speed, thereby nslowing down" the world and giving the victim

10、 "time" to think how to avoid disaster.because the time our society keeps has been taught to us since birth, we think of it as something that everyone everywhere must somehow share- but cultures differ in how they perceive time. in north america and the industrialised countries of northern

11、 europe, life is tightly scheduled. to keep someone waiting is frowned upon. but in southern europe and in the hispanic countries of latin america, people are given priority over schedules and in making appointments the starting time is more flexible.each view of time has advantages and disadvantage

12、s. but the costs can be great. when our natural inner rhythms are out of synchronisation with clock time, stress results. under the tyranny of clock time, western industrialised society now finds that heart disease and related ills are leading causes of death. however, such "time illnesses” can

13、 be treated and prevented by changing the way we think about time, according to dr dossey. he applies simple techniques that you can also use to change and master your own time:1) unclock your life. stop wearing a wristwatch. time becomes much less a concern when we break the habit of looking at clo

14、cks or watches.2) set your own inner sense of time. to illustrate that time is relative, einstein observed that to a person siting on a hot stove, two minutes could feel like two hours; to the young man with a pretty girl, two hours could seem like two minutes.3) tap your body's power to change

15、time. we all possess an inborn ability to relax. most people can summon it up merely by dismissing disturbing thoughts and by controlling their breathing-for example, by thinking the word "one" with each outgoing breath- within several minutes this can produce deep calm.4) synchronise your

16、self with nature. take time to watch a sunset, or a cloud cross the sky. remember that there is a time far older than what humankind has created with clocks-the cultural pattern we call time is learnt, and if we wish to live in harmony with nature we must learn to recognize that its time still shape

17、s our world and should not be ignored. we created the mechanical time around which our society operates, and we have the freedom to choose whether we will be its slave or its master.如何从容使用时间1 拉里多希博士有两个古董钟。“一个走得快，一个走得慢，”多希博士说。“它 们提醒我，生活不是由时蚀控制的，而ii我能自己选择按什么样的时间生活。”2 多希博士研究时间生物学，是这门新兴学科的开拓者。该学科研究的是时间与

18、生 活是如何相互影响的。多希博士认为，一个人如何看待时间可能是生死攸关的事。他说，在 我们社会中最常见的一种疾病是“时间病”，就是由于时间造成的压力和紧迫性而引起的焦 虑和紧张。这些症状会导致心脏病和屮风，这是我们最大的两种死因。3 多希发现,采用一些简单的方法去改变人们对时间的看法，上述疾病和其他一些 因紧张而诱发的疾病常常可以得到成功的治疗。4 多希i専士注意到，有相当多的病人虽然在住院期间并没有任何日程安排，但仍坚 持要带手表，于是就对时间与健康z间的关系产生了兴趣。这些人都是“时间瘾君子”。他 们从孩提时代起就受到这样的教育：要按社会的时钟安排自己的生活。因此一旦没有了计时 器所给予的

19、安全感，就会茫然若失。于是乎时间就统治了我们的生活。时间就是金钱，应该 动脑筋积攒起来或理智地花，不要浪费或者丢失。5 儿乎所有生活在我们这个世界上的生物，都拥有与大自然节奏同步的生物钟。蟹 能感知潮水什么时候要变化。老鼠会在夜幕降临时醍来。松鼠知道什么时候该为漫长的冬眠 做准备。这些生物钟并不像口动机械装置那么精确，却能适应环境的变化。6 对大多数生物来说，光是最强有力的同步指示仪。但人类还另有一个强有力的同 步指示仪：周围的人。根据在德国进行的开拓性研究报告，当人们被分成小组，一起置身于 与光、温度、湿度等外部时间提示因素相隔绝的环境时，他们自身内部复杂的时间节奏无法（与外部因素）同步了；

20、但他们的生物钟随后又恢复了相互间一致的同步节奏。就连他们的 体温也一起上升或下降一一这表明，每个人体内的一些微妙的生物化学变化现在也都同步 to这些实验也许揭示了一种神秘力量，一种把个人改变为群体（团队、异教或乌合z众） 成员的神秘力量。7 人的头脑能以各种各样的方式改变时间的节奏。那些从死亡的边缘抢救过来的人 常常回忆说，在那一瞬间他们整个一生的生活经历会在他们而前重新闪现。那些经历过严重 事故的人常描述说，在事故发生的过程屮，一切都以慢动作的形式进行；这显然是人脑屮内 置有逃生工具，也就是一种能力，它能把人对外部世界的感知速度提高到正常状态下的数倍, 从而“减慢” 了世界运行的速度，使当事

21、人有“时间”来思考避免灾难的对策。8 由于我们一生下来就被灌输了社会所遵循的时间，于是我们就以为这是任何人在 任何地方不管怎么样都必须共同遵守的。但不同的文化对时间的认识存在着差异。在北美和 欧洲北部的一些工业化国家，生活安排得很紧凑。让别人等候是令人皱眉头的。但在欧洲南 部及拉丁美洲说西班牙语和葡萄牙语的国家里，人比时间表更重要，故在约会时会把开始的 时间定得比较灵活。9 每一种时间观都各有优缺点。但其代价可能会很高。当我们体内的自然节奏与时 钟时间z间的同步关系被打乱时，紧张感便会随z而生。在时钟时间的严格控制下，现在西 方工业化社会发现心脏病和其他一些相关疾病是导致死亡的主要原因。但是，

22、多希博士认为, 这样的“时间病”是可以通过改变我们对时间的看法而得到治疗和预防的。他能采用一些简 单的手段来改变和主宰自己的时间，这些手段你我也可以釆用。10 1）摆脱时钟对你生活的控制。别再戴手表。当我们打破了看钟表的习惯时，时间便不再让你我如此时时关注了。11 2）确立你自己的内部时间感。为了说明时间是相对的，爱因斯坦曾经说，对于一个坐在滚烫的火炉上的人来说，两分 钟的时间给人的感觉就像两小时；而对一个身边有靓丽女子陪伴的青年男子来说，两小时就 像两分钟一样。12 3）发挥你自身的能力去改变时间。我们都天生具有使自己放松的能力。大多数人能通过排除朵念和控制呼吸的方法做到这 一点。例如，每次

23、呼气时都想数字“1”。儿分钟内，就能使自己非常平静。13 4）使自己与大自然同步。耐心地看看日落，或者看一朵从头顶的天空慢慢飘过的云。记住，有一种时间比人类用 钟表创造出来的时间要古老得多。14 被我们称作时间的文化模式是后天学来的。如果我们希望与大自然和谐相处， 我们必须努力认识到，大自然的时间依然影响着我们的世界，决不应该忽视它。我们创造了 机械时间，令我们的社会随着它运转，我们有自市去选择究竟是做它的奴隶还是做它的主人。social time: the heartbeat of culture”if a man does not keep pace with his companions

24、, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." this thought by thoreau strikes a chord' in so many people that it has become part of our language. we use the phrase "the beat of a different drummer" to explain any pace of life unlike our own. such colorful vagueness reveal

25、s how informal our rules of time really are. the world over, children simply "pick up” their society*s time concepts as they mature. no dictionary clearly defines the meaning of "early1' or "late" for them or for strangers who stumble over the annoying differences between the

26、 time sense they bring with them and the one they face in a new land.i learned this a few years ago, and the resulting culture shock forced me to search for answers .it seemed clear that time "talks." but what is it telling us?my journey started shortly after i accepted an appointment as v

27、isiting professor of psychology at the federal university in niteroi, brazil, a small city across the bay from rio de janeiro. as i left home for my first day of class, i asked someone the time. it was 9： 05 a.m., which allowed me time to relax and look around the campus before my 10 o'clock lec

28、ture. after what i judged to be half an hour, i glanced at a clock i was passing. it said io: 20! in panic, i broke for the classroom, followed by gentle calls of nhola, professor11 and ntudo bem，professor?11 from unhurried students, many of whom, i later realized, were my own. i arrived breathless

29、to find an empty room.frantically, i asked a passerby the time. nnine forty-five11 was the answer. no, that couldn't be. i asked someone else. "nine fifty-five.n another said: nexactly 9： 43j' the clock in a nearby office read 3： 15. i had learned my first lesson about brazilians: their

30、 timepieces are consistently inaccurate. and nobody minds.my class was scheduled from 10 until noon. many students came late, some very late. several arrived after 10： 30. a few showed up closer to 11. two came after that. all of the latecomers wore the relaxed smiles that i came, later, to enjoy. e

31、ach one said hello, and although a few apologized briefly, none seemed terribly concerned about lateness. they assumed that i understood-the idea of brazilians arriving late was not a great shock. i had learned about umanha/f the portuguese equivalent of hmananan in spanish. this term, meaning ”tomo

32、rrow” or, "the morning, stereotypes the brazilian who puts off the business of today until tomorrow. the real surprise came at noon that first day, when the end of class arrived.back home in california, i never need to look at a clock to know when the class hour is ending. the shuffling of book

33、s is accompanied by strained expressions that say, ”tm starving ive got to go to the bathroom tm going to suffocate if you keep us one more second.” (the pain usually becomes unbearable at two minutes to the hour in undergraduate classes and five minutes before the close of graduate classes.)when no

34、on arrived in my first brazilian class, only a few students left immediately. others slowly drifted out during the next 15 minutes, and some continued asking me questions long after that. when several remaining students kicked off their shoes at 12： 30,1 went into my own ”starving/ bathroom/ suffoca

35、ting” routine.i could not, in all honesty, attribute their lingering to my superb teaching style. i had just spent two hours lecturing on statistics in halting portuguese. apparently, for many of my students, staying late was simply of no more importance than arrhdng late in the first place. as i ob

36、served this casual approach in infinite variations during the year, i learned that the hmanhan stereotype oversimplified the real anglo/ brazilian differences in conceptions of time.社会时间：文化的脉搏1“如果一个人跟不上他同伴的步伐，很可能是因为他听从了不同鼓手的节拍。”梭罗的这一 观点引起了那么多人的共鸣，使它变成了我们大家的语言。我们用“不同鼓手的节拍”这个说 法来表示任何与自己不同的生活节奏。这种说法非常生

37、动但很含糊，这正说明了我们对时间 的定义确实很随意。在世界各地，孩子们在成长的过程中，只是“无意小掌握”了他们所处社 会的时间概念。没有一部词典能向孩子们或者初来乍到的人清楚地解释“早”或“晚”的定义， 这使初来者不知所措，因为原来的时间观念与所到z地存在着令人恼火的差异。2儿年前我就对此有所领教，而且由此产生的文化冲击迫使我去寻求答案。时间看似会“说 话”。但它在对我们说些什么呢？3我应邀担任巴西尼泰罗伊联邦大学心理学的客座教授，不久便启程前往这座与里约热内卢 市仅隔着一个海湾的小城。第一天动身去上课时，我问了一个人当时的时间，是上午9：。5, 这使我有时间在io点钟上课前轻松一下，在校园里

38、走一走。在估计走了大约半个小时后， 我路过一个钟，瞥了一眼，上而显示1o: 20 1我惊慌地向教室跑去，一路上听到学生们柔 和的招呼声一一“教授好!”和“您好吗，教授?”。他们不慌不忙。后来我认岀他们屮的许多人 是我自己的学生。当我上气不接下气地来到教室时，却发现里面空无一人。4我紧张极了，忙向一位过路人问时间，答复是“9： 4- 5”。不对，那不可能。我又问了其 他人。一个说是“9： 55"，另一个说是“正好9： 43”。附近一个办公室的钟则显示3：】5。我 算是领教了巴西人给我的第一个教训：他们的计时器一贯不准，而且谁也不在乎。5我的课安排在上午点到中午。许多学生迟到了，有些来得

39、非常晚。有儿个io： 30以后 才到。有儿个快到11点时才来。还有两个人来得更晚。所有迟到者脸上都带着轻松的微笑。 我后来倒慢慢喜欢上了这种微笑。每个人来了都打招呼，尽管有些人做了简短的道歉，但似 乎没有人很在意迟到这件事。他们想当然地认为我理解这一点。6巴西人爱迟到这件事还不值得让人震惊。我以前就知道西班牙语屮有一个词叫manana", 在葡萄牙语里，它的对应词是“m苔nha”。这个词的意思是“明天”或“早上”。这个词使巴西 人成为把今天的事拖到明天去做的典型。而真正让我吃惊的是第一天中午下课的时候发生的 事情。7在家乡加利福尼亚，我从来无须看表便可以知道什么时候该下课了。翻书声伴

40、随着焦虑不 安的表情，好像在说“我饿了我得去洗手问如果你再耽搁1秒钟，我就要窒息了。”（在 本科班到了下课前的2分钟，在研究生班到了下课前的5分钟，这种痛苦就会显得难以忍 受了。）8我在巴西上课的第一天屮午到来时，仅有儿个学生很快离开了。其他的人在课后巧分钟 里慢吞吞地走出教室。还有一些人在那以后过了很长时间还继续向我提问题。还有儿个留下 来的学生到了 12： 30才开始真正舒舒服服地在教室里坐下来，我自己却进入了“饥饿/卫 生间/窒息”的程序。9坦诚地说，我不能把他们在教室里的逗留归因于我岀色的教学风格。我是用结结巴巴的葡 萄牙语进行了两个小时的统计学讲座。显然，对于我的许多学生来说，首先，

41、在教室里逗留 到很晚和上课迟到一样无关紧要。在这一年里，我观察到这种对时间的随意态度有千变万化, 于是我懂得了： “mnha”这个老框框把盎格鲁人与巴西人z间在时间概念上的真正差异过分 简单化了。the voices of timetime talks. it speaks more plainly than words. the message it conveys comes through loud and clear. because it is manipulated less consciously, it is subject to less distortion than th

42、e spoken language. it can shout the truth where words lie.different parts of the day, for example, are highly significant in certain contexts. time may indicate the importance of the occasion as well as on what level an interaction between persons is to take place< in the united states if you tel

43、ephone someone very early in the morning, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call usually signals a matter of utmost importance or extreme urgency. the same applies for calls after 11: oo p.m. a call received during sleeping hours is apt to be taken as a matter of life and deat

44、h, hence the rude joke value of these calls among the young.how troublesome differing ways of handling time can be is well illustrated by the case of an american agriculturist assigned to duty as an attache of our embassy in a latin country. after what seemed to him a suitable period he let it be kn

45、own that he would like to call on the minister who was his counterpart. for various reasons, the suggested time was not suitableall sorts of cues came back to the effect that the time was not yet ripe to visit the minister. our friend, however, persisted and forced an appointment which was reluctant

46、ly granted. arriving a little before the hour (the american respect pattern), he waited. the hour came and passed; five minutesten minutesfifteen minutes- at this point he suggested to the secretary that perhaps the minister did not know he was waiting in the outer office. this gave him the feeling

47、he had done something concrete, and also helped to overcome the great anxiety that was stirring inside him. twenty minuteshventy-five minutesthirty minutesforty-five minutes (the insult period)!he jumped up and told the secretary that he had been ncooling his heelsn in an outer office for forty-five

48、 minutes and he was ”sick and tired11 of this type of treatment. this message was relayed to the minister, who said, in effect, "let him cool his heels.” the attache's stay in the country was not a happy one.the principal source of misunderstanding lay in the fact that in the country in que

49、stion the five-minute-delay interval was not significant. forty-five minutes, on the other hand, instead of being at the tail end of the waiting scale, was just barely at the beginning. to suggest to an american's secretary that perhaps her boss didn't know you were there after waiting sixty

50、 seconds would seem absurd, as would raising a storm about "cooling your heels” for five minutes. yet this is precisely the way the minister perceived the protests of the american in his outer office! he felt, as usual, that americans were being totally unreasonable.throughout this unfortunate

51、episode the attache was acting according to the way he had been brought up. at home in the united states his responses would have been normal ones and his behavior legitimate. yet even if he had been told before he left home that this sort of thing would happen, he would have had difficulty not feel

52、ing insulted after he had been kept waiting fortyfive minutes- if, on the other hand, he had been taught the details of the local time system just as he should have been taught the local spoken language, it would have been possible for him to adjust himself accordingly.what bothers people in situations of this sort is that they don&