新视野大学英语(第三版)读写教程第四册课文及翻译

1、爱情与逻辑：谬误的故事I had my first date with Polly after I made the trade with my roommate Rob. That year everyguy on campus had a leather jacket, and Rob couldnt stand the idea of being the only footballplayer who didnt, so he made a pact that hed give me his girl in exchange for my jacket. Hewasnt the brig

2、htest guy. Polly wasnt too shrewd, either.在我和室友罗伯的交易成功之后，我和波莉有了第一次约会。那一年校园里每个人都有件皮夹克，而罗伯是校足球队员中唯一一个没有皮夹克的，他一想到这个就受不了，于是他和我达成了一项协议，用他的女友换取我的夹克。他可不那么聪明，而他的女友波莉也不太精明。But she was pretty,well-off, didntdye her hair strange colors or wear too muchmakeup.She had the right background to be the girlfriend of

3、 a dogged, brilliant lawyer. If I could showtheelite law firms I applied to that I had , well-spokencounterpartby my side, Ijust might edge past the competition.但她漂亮而且富有，也没有把头发染成奇怪的颜色或是化很浓的妆。她拥有合适的家庭背景，足以胜任一名坚忍而睿智的律师的女友。如果我能够让我所申请的顶尖律师事务所看到我身边伴随着一位光彩照人、谈吐优雅的另一半，我就很有可能在竞聘中以微弱优势获胜。Radiant she was alre

4、ady. I could dispense her enough pearls of wisdom to make herwell-spoken.After abanner day out, I drove until we weresituated under a big old oak tree on a hill offvenue with aperfect view of theluminous city would lighten the mood. We stayed in the car, and I turneddown thestereoand took my foot of

5、f the brake pedal. What are we going to talk about?she asked.在一起外出度过了美好的一天之后，我驱车来到了高速公路旁一座小山上一棵古老的大橡树下。我的想法有些怪异。而这个地方能够俯瞰灯火灿烂的城区，我觉得它会使人的心情变轻松。我们呆在车子里，我调低了音响并把脚从刹车上挪开。我们要谈些什么？她问道。Cool, she said over her gum.好酷啊，她一边嚼着口香糖一边说。The doctrine of logic,” I said, is a staple of clear thinking. Failures in lo

6、gic distort the truth,and some of them are well known. First lets look at the fallacy Dicto Simpliciter.逻辑学的原理，我说道，即清晰思考的主要原则。逻辑上出现的问题会歪曲事实，其中有些还很普遍。我们先来看看一种叫做绝对判断的逻辑谬误。”好啊，她表示同意。Dicto Simpliciter means an unqualified generalization. For example: Exercise is good.Therefore, everybody should exercise

7、.绝对判断是指在证据不足的情况下所作出的推断。比方说：运动是有益的，所以每个人都应该运动。She nodded in agreement.她点头表示赞同。I could see she was stumped. Polly, I explained, its too simple a generalization. If youhave, say, heart disease or extreme obesity, exercise is bad, not good. Therefore, you mustsay exercise is good for most people.这个推断太过简

8、单化了。如果你有心脏病或者超级肥胖症什么的，运动就变得有害而不是有益。所以你应该说，运动对大多数人来说是有益的。”Next is Hasty Generalization. Self-explanatory, right? Listen carefully: You cant speakFrench. Rob cant speak French. Looks like nobody at this school can speak French.接下来是草率结论。这似乎不言自明，对吧？仔细听好了：你不会说法语，罗伯也不会说法语，那么这所学校里好像是没有人会说法语。”Really? said P

9、olly, amazed. Nobody?This is also a fallacy, I said. The generalization is reached too hastily. Too few instancessupport such a conclusion.这也是一种逻辑谬误，我说，这一结论太草率了，因为能够支持这一结论的例证太少了。”She seemed to have a good time. I could safely say my plan was underway. I took her homeand set a date for another conver

10、sation.她似乎学得很开心，而我也可以放心地说我的计划正在稳步推进中。我把她送回家，并且定下了下一次约会交谈的日子。Seated under the oak the next evening I said, Our first fallacy tonight is called AdMisericordiam.第二天晚上，坐在那棵橡树下，我说：今天晚上我们要谈的第一个逻辑谬误叫文不对题。”She nodded with delight.她高兴地点了点头。Listen closely, I said. A man applies for a job. When the boss asks h

11、im what hisqualifications are, he says he has six children to feed.听好了，我说，有个人去申请工作，当老板问他有什么应聘资格时，他说他有六个孩子要抚养。”哇，这太可怕了，太可怕了，她哽咽着轻声说到。Yes, its awful, I agreed, but its no argument. The man never answered the bosssquestion. Instead he appealed to the bosss sympathy - Ad Misericordiam.但这不是理由。这个人根本没有回答老板

12、的问题，而只是在博取老她眨着眼睛，仍在竭力地忍住眼泪。Next, I said carefully, we will discuss False Analogy. An example, students should beallowed to look at their textbooks during exams, because surgeons have X-rays to guidethem during surgery.接下来，我小心地说，我们来讨论错误类比。举个例子：学生考试时应该允许看课本，因为外科医生在做手术时可以看 X 光片。”I like that idea, she s

13、aid.我喜欢这个主意，她说。Polly, I groaned, dont derail the discussion. The inference is wrong. Doctors arent takinga test to see how much they have learned, but students are. The situations are altogetherdifferent. You cant make an analogy between them.别打岔，这一推论是错误的。医生们不是在参加考试以检查他们学到了多少，而学生I still think its a

14、good idea, said Polly.With five nights of diligent work, I actually made a logician out of Polly. She was ananalytical thinker at last. The time had come for the conversion of our relationship fromacademic to romantic.经过五个夜晚的辛勤努力，我竟然真的将波莉打造成了一个逻辑行家，她总算能够分析思考了。现在应该是时候让我们的关系从学术向浪漫发展了。Polly, I said whe

15、n next we sat under our oak, tonight we wont discuss fallacies.Oh? she said, a little disappointed.Favoring her with a grin, I said, We have now spent five evenings together. We get alongpretty well. We make a pretty good couple.”Hasty Generalization, said Polly brightly. Or as a normal person might

16、 say, thats a littlepremature, dont you think?草率结论，波莉伶俐地说，“或者是按一般人的说法，这个结论有些不成熟，你不这样认为吗？”I laughed with amusement. Shed learned her lessons well, far surpassing my expectations.Sweetheart, I said, patting her hand in a tolerant manner, five dates is plenty. After all,you dont have to eat a whole cak

17、e to know its good.我被逗得笑了起来，她功课还真学得不错，大大超过了我的预期。亲爱的，”我开口说，同时宽容地拍了拍她的手，五次约会已经够多了，毕竟你不需要吃掉整个蛋糕才知道它是不是好吃。”False Analogy, said Polly promptly.Your premise is that dating is like eating. But youre nota cake. Youre a boy.错误类比，波莉立即回应。“你的前提是约会就如同吃东西。可你不是蛋糕，你是个男孩。”I laughed with somewhat less amusement, hidi

18、ng my dread that shed learned her lessonstoo well.A few more false steps would be my doom. I decided to change tactics and tryflattery instead.我又笑了笑，不过不觉得那么有趣了，同时还不能表露出我害怕她学得太好了。再错几步我可就无法挽回了。我决定改变策略，转而尝试奉承她的办法。波莉，我爱你。请答应做我的女朋友，没有你我什么也不是。”Ad Misericordiam, she said.文不对题，她说。You certainly can discern a

19、 fallacy when you see it, I said, my hopes starting tocrumble.But dont take them so literally. I mean this is all academic. You know the thingsyou learn in school dont have anything to do with real life.不过不要对它们太死板，我是说这都是些学术的东西。你知道，学校里学的东西和实际生活根本没有什么联系。”Dicto Simpliciter, she said. Besides, you reall

20、y should practice what you preach.I leaped to my feet, my temper flaring up. Will you or will you not go out with me?我一下跳了起来，怒火中烧，“你到底愿不愿意做我的女朋友？”我不愿意，她答道。Why? I demanded.为什么？我追问道.我对另一位求爱者更感兴趣罗伯和我重归于好了。”With great effort, I said calmly, How could you give me the axe over Rob?Look at me, aningenious

21、student, a tremendous intellectual, a man with an assured future.Look at Rob,amuscular idiot,a guy whollnever where his next meal is coming from.Can you give me onegood reason why you should be with him?”我极力地保持着平静，说道：“你怎么会甩了我而选择罗伯？看看我，一个聪明过人的学生，一个不同凡响的学者，一个前途无量的人。再看看罗伯，一个肌肉发达的蠢材，一个有了上顿没下顿的家伙。你是否能给我一

22、个充足的理由，为什么要选择跟他？” what presumption! Ill put it in a way someone as brilliant as you canunderstand,”retorted Polly,her voice dripping with sarcasm. disclosure -I like Rob inleather.I told him to say yes to you so he should have your jacket!”喔，这是什么假设啊！为了让像你这样聪明的人能够明白，我这么说吧，波莉反驳道，声音里充满了讽刺，事情的真相是我喜欢罗伯穿皮

23、衣。是我让他同意你们的协议的，这样他就能拥有你的夹克！”You must be careful how you answer this question. The best technique is to form an honestyet sensitive response, then promptly excuse yourself for some kind of emergency. Trust me,this is the easiest way out. No amount of rehearsal will help you come up with the rightansw

24、er.对于如何应对这个问题，你一定得小心。最好的对策就是给一个诚实但又谨慎的回答，然后借口有急事马上脱身。相信我，这是最简单的方法。对于她的这一问题，无论你事先练习多少次，都不会找到正确答案。The problem is that men do not think of their looks in the same way women do. Most menform an opinion of themselves in seventh grade and stick to it for the rest of their lives. Somemen think theyre irres

25、istibly desirable, and they refuse to change this opinion even whenthey grow bald and their faces visibly wrinkle as they age.其原因是，男性和女性对外表的看法截然不同。大多数男性对自己外表的评价在七年级时就形成了，而且终生不变。有些男性认为自己有不可抗拒的魅力，即使随着年龄的增长，他们头发掉光了，脸上布满皱纹，他们仍然拒绝改变这种看法。Most men, I believe, are not arrogant about their looks. If the tran

26、sient thought passesthrough their minds at all, they like to think of themselves as average-looking. Being averagedoesnt bother them; average is fine. They dont affix much value to their looks, or think ofthem in terms of aesthetics. Their primary form of beauty care is to shave themselves, whichis

27、essentially the same care they give to their lawns. If, at the end of his four-minuteallotment of time for grooming, a man has managed to wipe most of the shaving cream outof the strands of his hair and isnt bleeding too badly, he feels hes done all he can.我相信，大多数男性都不会对自己的相貌感到过分自傲。如果他们偶尔想到自己外表的话，他们愿

28、意认为自己样貌中等。长相普通不会使他们有任何烦恼，因为普通就已经是很好了。男性不是特别注重自己的外貌，也不会从美学的角度去审视自己。他们的打扮方式主要就是刮刮胡子，就像打理自家草坪一样。对于一位男性来说，如果能花四分钟刮刮胡子，结束之后再把粘到头发上的剃须膏擦净，又没有出血太厉害，他就觉得自己已经尽心尽力了。Women do not look at themselves this way. If I had to guess what most women think abouttheir appearance, it would be: Not good enough. No matter

29、how attractive a woman may be,her perception of herself is eclipsed by the beauty industry. She has trouble thinking Imbeautiful, She magnifies the smallest imperfections in her body and imagines them as glaringflaws the whole world will notice and ridicule.女性可不是这样看待自己的。如果非要我猜测大多数女性对自己的相貌是如何评价的话，那肯定

30、是：还不够好。一位女士，无论她看起来多么吸引人，她对自己的看法总是由于受美容业的影响而蒙着一层阴影。要她认为我很漂亮以至于全世界的人都会注意到并且嘲笑她。Why do women consider their looks so deficient? This chronic insecurity isnt inborn, butcreated through the interaction of many complex psychological and societal factors,beginning with the dolls we give them as children. G

31、irls grow up playing with dollsproportioned so that, if they were human, they would be seven feet tall and weigh 61 pounds,with tiny thighs and a large upper body. This is an absurd standard to live up to, especiallywhen you consider the size of the dolls waist, a relative measurement physically imp

32、ossiblefor a living human to achieve. Contrast this absurd standard with that presented to little boyswith their action figures. Most of the toys that young boys have played with wereweird-looking, like the one called Buzz-Off that was part human, part flying insect. This guywas not a looker, but he

33、 was still extremely self-confident. You could not imagine him sayingto the others, Is this accessory the right shade of violet for this outfit?为什么女性会把自己的外貌想得这么差呢？这种长期的不安全感并不是与生倶来的，而是由许多复杂的心理和社会因素的相互作用造成的，从小时候大人们给她们买洋娃娃时就开始了。女孩成长过程中摆弄的洋娃娃，如果按照身材比例还原为真人大小的话，就会是 7 61 英磅重，大腿纤细，上身丰满。要达到这样的标准是很荒唐的，尤其是当我们

34、想想那种洋娃娃的腰围尺寸，就知道其相对尺寸对任何一个活人来说都是不可企及的。与女孩玩具的这种荒唐标准相比，小男孩们得到的“动作玩偶却是完全不同的模样。大多数男孩的玩具都样貌古怪，例如那个叫作“蜜蜂侠”的玩偶，一半像人，一半像会飞的昆虫。这个玩偶尽管样子不好看，但仍然非常自信。你肯定无法想象他会问别人说：这个配饰的紫罗兰色和这件外套配不配呢？”But women grow up thinking they need to look like Barbie dolls or girls on magazine covers,which for most women is impossible. N

35、onetheless, the multibillion-dollar beauty industry,complete with its own aisle in the grocery store, is devoted to constant warfare on femaleself-esteem, convincing women that they must buy all the newest moisturizing creams,bronzing powders and appliances that promise to stimulate and restore thei

36、r skin. I oncesaw an Oprah Show in which supermodel Cindy Crawford dispensed makeup tips to the studioaudience. Cindy had all these middle-aged women apply clay masks and otherwrinkle-removing products to their faces; she stressed how important it was to adhere tothe guidelines, like applying produc

37、ts via the tips of their fingers to protect elasticity. All thewomen dutifully did this, even though it was obvious to any rational observer that, no matterhow carefully they applied these products, they would never have Cindy Crawfords face orcomplexion.然而，女性在成长过程中却认为自己应该长得像芭比娃娃或杂志的封面女郎那样，这对大多数女性来说

38、是不可能的。尽管如此，产值达几十亿美元的美容业，在超市化妆品销售专区的配合下，总是在不停地攻击激发和恢复”肌肤活力。我曾经看过一期奥普拉脱口秀，在节目中，超级名模辛迪克劳馥和演播室里的观众分享了自己的化妆秘诀。辛迪要求这些中年妇女在脸上敷上黏土面膜和其他去皱产品；她还强调一定要遵守这些方法，例如：往脸上涂抹这些产品时，要用指尖，这样可以保护皮肤的弹性。所有这些妇女都非常忠实地按照辛迪说的做了。可是对任何一个理智的旁观者来说，无论她们如何认真地使用这些产品，她们都不可能拥有辛迪那样的面容或肤色。Im not saying that men are superior. Im just saying

39、 that youre not going to get a group ofmiddle-aged men to plaster cosmetics to themselves under the instruction of Brad Pitt inhopes of looking more like him. Men dont face the same societal focus purely on physicalbeauty, and theyre encouraged to reach out to other characteristics to promote theirs

40、elf-esteem. They might say to Brad: Oh yeah? Well, what do you know about lawn care,pretty boy?皮特的指导下把化妆品敷到自己脸上，期望自己能看起来更像布拉德。与女性不同，男性的外貌美不是社会所关注的唯一焦点。人们会鼓”Of course women argue that they become obsessed with appearance as a reaction topressure from men. The truth is that most men think beauty is mo

41、re than just lipstick andperfume and take no notice of these extra details. I have never once, in more than 40 yearsof listening to men talk about women, heard a man say, She had gorgeous fingernails! Tomost men, little things like fingernails are all homogeneous anyway, and one womansflawless pink

42、polish is exactly as invisible as anothers bare nails.当然，女性会争辩说她们对外表的热衷追求是出于对来自男性的压力的一种反应。而事实是，大多数男性认为美丽不仅仅来自于口红和香水，而且他们也不会去注意这些额外的细节。四十多年来，我在听男性谈论女性时，从来没有一次听到过哪位男性这样说：“她的指甲真漂亮啊！对大多数男性来说，像指甲这样小的东西看起来都一样，无论一个女士的指甲是用粉色指甲油涂得完美无瑕，还是光光的毫无修饰，男性都一概视而不见。By participating in this system of extreme conformity,

43、 women are actually openingthemselves up to the scrutiny of other women, the only ones qualified to judge their efforts.What is the real benefit of working this hard to appease men who dont notice when it onlyexposes women to prosecution from other women?女性参与这种极端的从众行为，实际上是把自己置于其他女性的审视之下，因为只有那些女性才有资格

44、评价她们所付出的努力。但是，如此费力地去取悦男性而他们却根本不会注意，同时又只是招致其他女性的指责，这样做究竟有什么好处呢？Anyway, to get back to my original point: If youre a man, and a woman asks you how shelooks, you cant say she looks bad without receiving immediate and well-deserved outrage.But you also cant shower her with empty compliments about how he

45、r shoes complement herdress nicely because shell know youre lying. She has spent countless hours worrying aboutthe differences between her looks and Cindy Crawfords. Also,she suspects that youre notqualified to voice a subjective opinion on anybodys appearance. This may be because youhave shaving cr

46、eam in your hair and inside the folds of your ears.不管怎样，言归正传：如果你是一位男性，当有女士问你她看起来怎么样时，你千万不能说她看起来很糟糕，那样肯定会使她立刻迁怒于你，这也是你咎由自取。但是，你也不能慷慨地大放空洞之词，赞美她的鞋子和裙子是多么相配，因为她知道你是在说谎。她已经花费了无数个小时发愁自己的容貌不能和辛迪 克劳馥的一样。而且，也许因为你的头发和耳廓上粘着剃须膏，她会怀疑你根本没有资格对任何人的外表给出主观评价。Unit 4Achieving sustainable environmentalismEnvironmental

47、sensitivity is now as required an attitude in polite society as is, say, belief indemocracy or disapproval of plastic surgery. But now that everyone from Ted Turner toGeorge H. W. Bush has claimed love for Mother Earth, how are we to choose among thedozens of conflicting proposals, regulations and l

48、aws advanced by congressmen andconstituents alike in the name of the environment? Clearly, not everything with anenvironmental claim is worth doing. How do we segregate the best options and consolidateour varying interests into a single, sound policy?在上流社会，对环境的敏感就如同信仰民主、反对整容一样，是一种不可或缺的态度。然而，既然从泰德特纳到

49、乔治W.H.布什，每个人都声称自己热爱地球母亲，那么，在由议员、选民之类的人以环境名义而提出的众多的相互矛盾的提案、规章和法规中，我们又该如何做出选择呢？显而易见，并不是每一项冠以环境保护名义的事情都值得去做。我们怎样才能分离出最佳选择，并且把我们各自不同的兴趣统一在同一个合理的政策当中呢？There is a simple way. First, differentiate between environmental luxuries and environmentalnecessities. Luxuries are those things that would be nice to h

50、ave if costless. Necessities arethose things we must have regardless. Call this distinction the definitive rule of saneenvironmentalism, which stipulates that combating ecological change that directly threatensthe health and safety of people is an environmental necessity. All else is luxury.有一种简便的方法

51、。首先要区分什么是环境奢侈品，什么是环境必需品。奢侈品是指那些无需人类付出代价就能拥有的给人美好感受的东西。必需品则是指那些无论付出什么代价，都一定要去拥有的东西。这一区分原则可以被称为理性环保主义的至高原则。它规定，对那些直接威胁人类健康与安全的生态变化采取应对措施是环境保护的必需品，而其他则都属于奢侈品。For example, preserving the atmosphere - stopping ozone depletion and the greenhouseeffect - is an environmental necessity. Recently, scientists

52、reported that ozone damage is farworse than previously thought. Ozone depletion has a correlation not only with skin cancerand eye problems, it also destroys the oceans ecology, the beginning of the food chain atopwhich we humans sit.例如，保护大气层阻止臭氧损耗及控制温室效应是环境保护的必需品。近来，科学家报告说臭氧层遭受破坏的程度远比我们先前认为的要严重得多。臭

53、氧损耗不仅与皮肤癌及眼疾有关，而且它还会破坏海洋生态。而海洋生态是食物链的起点，人类则位于该食物链的顶端。The possible thermal consequences of the greenhouse effect are far deadlier: melting icecaps, flooded coastlines, disrupted climate, dry plains and, ultimately, empty breadbaskets.The American Midwest feeds people at all corners of the atlas. With

54、 the planetary climatechanges, are we prepared to see Iowa take on New Mexicos desert climate, or Siberia take onIowas moderate climate?温室效应所可能引发的热效应是非常具有毁灭性的：冰川融化、海岸线被淹没、气候遭受破坏、平原干涸，最终食物消失殆尽。美国中西部地区的粮食供养着全世界。随着全球气候的变化，我们难道准备看到衣阿华州变成新墨西哥州的沙漠气候，而西伯利亚变成衣阿华州的温和气候吗？Ozone depletion and the greenhouse eff

55、ect are human disasters, and they are urgentbecause they directly threaten humanity and are not easily reversible. A saneenvironmentalism, the only kind of environmentalism that will strike a chord with the generalpublic, begins by openly declaring that nature is here to serve human beings. A saneen

56、vironmentalism is entirely a human focused regime: It calls upon humanity to preservenature, but merely within the parameters of self-survival.臭氧损耗和温室效应是人类的灾难，而且是需要紧急处理的灾难，因为它们直接威胁到人类，且后果很难扭转。理性环保主义唯一能够引起公众共鸣的环保主张首先公开声明，自然是服务于人类的。理性环保主义是一种完全以人类为中心的思想。它号召人类保护自然，但是是在人类自我生存得到保证的前提之下。Of course, this hum

57、an focus runs against the grain of a contemporary environmentalism thatindulges in overt earth worship. Some people even allege that the earth is a living organism.This kind of environmentalism likes to consider itself spiritual. It is nothing more thansentimental. It takes, for example, a highly se

58、lective view of the kindness of nature, one thatis incompatible with the reality of natural disasters. My nature worship stops with the twisterthat came through Kansas or the dreadful rains in Bangladesh that eradicated whole villagesand left millions homeless.有的人甚至声称地球是一个活的生物体。这种环保主义喜欢把自己看作是神圣的，其实它

59、只是感情用事而已。比如，在自然是否友善的问题上，当下的环保主义采取了高度选择性的片面的观点，而这种观点与自然造成的灾难这一现实是不相协调的。当龙卷风肆虐堪萨斯州，当瓢泼大雨袭击孟加拉国，毁灭了整座整座的村庄，使几百万人失去家园的时候，我对自然的崇拜便停止了。A non-sentimental environmentalism is one founded on Protagorass idea that Man is themeasure of all things. In establishing the sovereignty of man, such a principle helps

60、usthrough the dense forest of environmental arguments. Take the current debate raging overoil drilling in a corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Environmentalistcoalitions, mobilizing against a legislative action working its way through the US Congress forthe legalization of such ex