精读PARAPHRASE

Unit 1 A New School Year --- What for?

1.… I was fresh out of graduate school starting my first semester at the University of Kansas City. (Para.

1)

… I had just completed my graduate studies and began teaching at the University of Kansas City.

2.I could have pointed out that he had enrolled, not in a drugstore-mechanics school, but in a college and

that at the end of his course meant to reach for a scroll that read Bachelor of Science. (Para. 2)

I could have told him that he was now not getting training for a job in a technical school but doing a

. at a university.

is to say, he had not entered a technical training school but a university and in universities

students enroll for both training and education. (Para. 2)

Here the word education is used in a broad sense, which involves not only the process of acquiring

knowledge and developing skills, but also that of improving the mind.

will see to it that the cyanide stays out of the aspirin, that the bull doesn‟t jump the fence, or that

your client doesn‟t go to the electric chair as a result of your incompetence. (Para. 5)

You have to take responsibility for the work you do. If you‟re a pharmacist, you should make sure

that aspirin is not mixed with poisonous chemicals. As an engineer, you shouldn‟t get things out of control.

If you become a lawyer, you should make sure an innocent person is not sentenced to death because you

lack adequate legal knowledge and skill to defend your client.

with everything else, they will probably be what puts food on your table, supports your wife, and

rears your children.

In addition to all other things these professions offer, they provide you with a living so that you can

support a family—wife and children.

will be your income, and may it always suffice. (Para. 5)

I hope that your income will always be enough.

7.“I hope you make a lot of it, ” I told him, “because you‟re going to be badly stuck for something to do

when you‟re not signing checks.” (Para. 8)

If you don‟t have any goal in life apart from making money to satisfy your desire for material riches,

go ahead and make a lot of it.

you are too much in a hurry, or too arrogantly proud of your own limitations, to accept as a gift to

your humanity some pieces of the minds of Aristotle, or Chaucer, or Einstein, you are neither a developed

human nor a useful citizen of a democracy. (Para. 12)

If you are too anxious to make money, too ignorant to see your limitations, then you couldn‟t regard

those great people‟s minds as a gift to your humanity, and thus you can‟t be a developed human.

Unit 2 Say Yes

1. Unlike most men he knew, he really pitched in on the housework. (1)

他和他认识的大多数男人不同，他真的努力帮忙做家务。

2. “They don’t come from the same culture. Why, they even have their own language. That’s okay with

me, I like hearing them talk. But it‟s different. „” (8)

I have no objection to that, l like hearing them talk. But marriage is different.

这对我倒没什么。我喜欢听他们说话。但结婚就不一样了。

3. “Yes, different,” he snapped, angry with her for resorting to this trick of repeating his words so that

they sounded hypocritical. (18)

He said quickly and angrily: "Yes, difference." He was angry because she adopted this method of

repeating his words in order to make them seem unreal.

“是的，就是不同。”他高声说。他生气了，因为她总是用这种学舌的方法来使他的话听起来很虚伪。

4. He’d acted out of concern for her, he thought that it would be a nice gesture on her part not to start

up that conversation again, as he was tired of it. (18)

out of: because of

The man had shown concern for his wife, and he hoped that his wife would show her concern in return by

not continuing this unpleasant conversation because he had got tired of it.

他是出于对她的关心才这样做的。他希望她那方面也可以做出一个友好的姿态作会回应，不要再一次开始谈论那个话题，因为他已经厌倦那个话题了。

was no possible way of arguing with the fact that she would not be herself if she were black. (28)

It was impossible for her to argue with the fact that she would not be herself if she were black.

如果她是黑人，她就不是她自己了，这一点是无可争辩的。

6. He knew that she was too angry to be actually reading it, but she didn't snap through the pages the

way he would have done. (45)

He knew that she was not able to read because she was so angry. But she didn't turn the pages quickly

and uneasily as he would have done if it was him being so angry.

他知道她正在气头上，不可能读进去，但她却又不像他在这种情况下那样迅速地翻弄书页。

7. While he was at it, he decided, he might as well mop the floor. (47)

Since he was doing the housework, he thought he might also mop the floor.

在他做家务的时候，他决定了，干脆把地板也给拖干净算了。

8. When he was done the kitchen looked new, the way it looked when they were first shown the house.

(42)

When he had finished cleaning，the kitchen looked new, the way how it looked when they were first

shown the house.

heart pounded the way it had on their first night together, the way it still did when he woke at a

noise in the darkness and waited to hear it again– the sound of someone moving through the house, a

stranger.(52)

The man was both excited and nervous on their first night together, and now he felt the same. Because

after the argument his wife seemed to become a stranger to him. He felt that he didn't really know her

after so many years' living together.

他的心咚咚地跳了起来，就像他们一起度过的第一个夜晚一样。也像有一次他在黑暗中被一个声音惊醒，带着怦怦乱跳的心等着再一次听到它时一样—某个人走过房间的声音，那是一个陌生人。

Unit 4 The Man in the Water

1. As disasters go, this one was terrible, but not unique, certainly not among the worst U.S. air crashes on

record. (para.1)

Air crashes usually involve a heavy loss of lives. Compared with other air crashes, this one was not the

worst.

就灾难而言，此次灾难虽然十分可怕，但并非独一无二，显然也不是美国空难记录当中最严重的一次。

2. Washington, the city of form and rules, turned chaotic by a blast of real winter and a single slap of

metal on metal. (para.1)

Washington, which is a tiny, clean and order city , became a terrible confusion, because of a sudden

strong really cold wind and a sharp, loud and forceful strike of the plane and the bridge, stressing what

met the ear.

华盛顿，这个整齐美丽、井然有序的城市，在一阵寒冬突降的强风中以及金属与金属的一记猛烈碰撞中骤然大乱。

3. And there was the aesthetic clash as well—blue-and-green Air Florida, the name of a flying garden,

sunk down among gray chunks of ice in a black river. (para.1)

When the air crash occurred, it was not just a crash (a loud sound made by two objects) of metal

against the bridge, but also a clash between colors: the blue-green color of the plane and the gray and

black color of the ice and river.

还有那颇富美学意义的视觉冲突——一架蓝绿相间的佛罗里达航机，一架名称有“空中花园”之意的航机，在黝深的河水中、灰的巨大冰块间沉没。

4. Last Wednesday the elements, indifferent as ever, brought down Flight 90. And on that same

afternoon human nature—groping and struggling—rose to the occasion. (Para. 2)

Last Wednesday, the bad weather, unconcerned about the consequences it might bring about as

always, made Flight 90 fall down. On that same afternoon, human nature, groping for the flotation rings

and struggling in the icy water, came to prove its greatness displayed in an unexpected tragedy.

上周三，恶劣的天气如往常一样无情，把第90次航班从空中拽落下来。而在同一个下午，人性——摸索着，挣扎着——在灾难中挺身而出。

6. “In a mass casualty, you‟ll find people like him. But I‟ve never seen one with that commitment.”

(para.4)

We can always find heroic people like him in a mass casualty because although not everyone is a hero,

there‟s bound to be a fair representation of heroes in a big crowd.

“在一场伤亡众多的灾难中，你总能到类似他这样的人，” 温莎说。“但是，我从没见过像他那么有献身精神的人。”

7. For a while he was Everyman, and thus proof (as if one needed it) that no one is ordinary. (Para. 4)

在相当长一段时间里，他就是一个无处不在的平凡的人，而这证明了（仿佛人们还需要证明似的）世上没有任何一个人是普通的。

8. For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand

over the rope and ring to others. He had to know it, no matter how slow the effect of the cold. (para.6)

Obviously, it requires much more courage to face sure death, knowing that you have a choice (keep

one of the rings for yourself), than to face the possibility of death by, for example, a stray bullet in battle.

The man in the story did not act on impulse. He did not pass on his rings to others with a total

unawareness of the consequences.

At some point he must have known that he was freezing to death and would go under at any moment.

But he still gave the chance for survival to the next person.

要知道在水中的某一时刻，他一定意识到了，如果他继续把绳子和救生圈递给别人，他就无法生还了。他必定会认识到这一点，不管寒冷对他的作用如何缓慢。

9. He was there, in the essential, classic circumstance. (Para. 7)

What happened that day was a typical situation in which nature and man fought against each other.

And when nature begins to show its power, we always find man fighting back. He is always there. We can

always expect to find such a hero.

在那最关键、最典型的场合中，他出现在那里。

10. … the one making no distinctions of good and evil, acting on no principles, offering no lifelines; the

other acting wholly on distinctions, principles and, perhaps, on faith. (Para. 7)

Nature has no moral standards. It works on no human principles. It cares nothing about the individual

life of man.

Man, on the other hand, has his moral standards of what is right and wrong. He must behave according

to the moral principles and beliefs.

一个善恶不分，不讲道义原则，不提供任何救生索；而另一个的行动则完全是善恶分明、讲究原则，并很可能源于自身的信仰。

11. In reality, we believe the opposite, and it takes the act of the man in the water to remind us of our

true feelings in this matter. (Para. 8)

Actually, the death of the man did not mean that human beings had lost the battle. In a moral sense,

man had won because man‟s courage to defy death was also a tremendous power. Therefore, what

happened to this man in the water should fill us with pride rather than sadness.

可事实上，我们却有着恰恰相反的信念，而水中那个人的举动正可以提醒我们在这个问题上的真实感受。

13. “Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature,” said Emerson.

“世上万物都蕴含着自然界的全部力量，” 爱默生说。

By “the powers of nature”, Emerson did not just mean such powers as coming from coal, oil, water, wind,

etc. He probably also meant the power unique to human beings: the power to love, change, and create.

14. The man in the water set himself against an immovable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with

kindness; and he held it to a standoff. He was the best we can do. (Para. 9)

The man in the water made himself start to fight with nature, which is indifferent and cannot be

persuaded to change its attitude towards man. He used kindness as his weapon, and he held the fight to

a situation in which neither side in the battle can gain an advantage. He was the best model for us to

follow.

水中的那个人主动迎战一个冷漠的、无动于衷的敌人，他用善良为武器与之斗争，并将它逼和。他代表着我们所能达到的最佳境界。

Unit 5 Quick Fix Society

four hours, our only real amusement consisted of counting exit signs and wondering what it would

feel like to hold still again. (Para. 1)

The 4-hour drive on fast roads was tedious; the only fun we had was to count the exit signs we were

passing and to figure out how we‟d feel if we stopped again.

2. Getting there certainly didn‟t seem like half the fun; in fact, getting there wasn‟t any fun at all. (Para.

1)

We had expected that our ride to West Virginia would be fun, and that half of the fun we‟d get from

the trip would come from it. But we were wrong. It wasn‟t fun at all.

3. The two days it took us to make the return trip were filled with new experiences. (Para. 2)

It took us two days to make the return trip. During the two days, there were full of new experiences

that we were not able to gain in a fast way.

4. We toured a Civil War battlefield and stood on the little hill that fifteen thousand Confederate soldiers

had tried to take on another hot July afternoon, one hundred and twenty-five years ago, not knowing

that half of them would get killed in the vain attempt. (Para. 2)

We visited a Civil War battlefield and stood on the little hill. One hundred and twenty-five years ago, on

a hot July afternoon, 15,000 soldiers fighting for slavery, while trying to occupy the hill, had no idea that

they would fail and that half of them would be killed in the battle.

我们游览了南北战争的一处战场遗址，那是在一个小山头上。125年前，在一个同样炎热的七月下午，15，000名南方联军士兵试图夺取这个小山头，而浑然不知他们的行动会告败，其中一半的人会战死沙场。

stuffed ourselves with spicy salads and homemade bread in an “all-you-can-eat” farmhouse

restaurant, then wandered outside to enjoy the sunshine and the herds of cows—no little dots this

time—lying in it. (Para. 2)

We had a meal in a farmhouse restaurant where for a certain amount of money you could eat as

much as you wanted, and we fed ourselves with lots of spicy salads and homemade bread. After the meal,

we walked leisurely outdoors to enjoy the sunshine and watch the herds of cows—this time they did not

seem like little dots—lying in the sunshine.

6. And we returned home refreshed, revitalized, and reeducated. (Para. 2)

When we got home, we not only felt fresh and energetic, but also felt that we had experienced a new

way of life.

7. In fact, most Americans are constantly in a hurry—and not just to get from Point A to Point B. Our

country has become a nation in search of the quick fix—in more ways than one. (Para. 3)

Actually, most Americans are always in a rush. People are not only trying to find the fast way to get

around from place to place, but also looking for ways of getting things done quickly in various aspects of

life.

8. Once upon a time, Americans understood the principle of deferred gratification. We put a little of each

paycheck away “for a rainy day”. (Para. 4)

In the past, Americans were patient to have their desires satisfied. We saved a little money each

time we got paid in case we might need it in the future.

从前，我们美国人曾经懂得等待日后满足的道理。我们“未雨绸缪”，每次从工资单上留一点钱存进银行。

we wanted a new sofa or a week at a lakeside cabin, we saved up for it, and the banks helped us out

by providing special Christmas Club and Vacation Club accounts. (Para. 4)

If we wanted to buy some new furniture or spend a week at a lakeside, we could open special

accounts at the banks to save money for it.

if we are in a hurry to lose weight, we try the latest miracle diet, guaranteed to take away ten

pounds in ten days… unless we‟re rich enough to afford liposuction. (Para. 4)

If we want to lose weight quickly, we try the most recent miracle diet which is said to be effective and

is sure to make us lose a pound per day. If we are rich enough to pay for the operation, we can have our

unneeded fat removed from our bodies.

like our information fast, too: messages flashed on a computer screen, documents faxed from

your telephone to mine, current events in 90-second bursts on

Eyewitness News, history reduced to

“Bicentennial Minutes”. (Para. 5)

For information, we also want to get it fast by skimming through what is offered on the web.

Documents are faxed to one person from another. We are informed of what is happening at home and

abroad through TV programs through which we get very brief accounts of current events. We learn the

history of the past 200 years quickly from “Bicentennial Minutes”.

12. Even our personal relationships have become compressed. Instead of devoting large parts of our

days to our loved ones, we replace them with something called “quality time”, which, more often than not,

is no time at all. (Para. 6)

Even our personal relationships are affected. Instead of spending much of our time with our loved

ones, we now talk about giving them full attention in the limited time after work. But usually we have no

time to do that at all.

13. As we rush from book to music to news item to relationship, we do not realize that we are living our

lives by the iceberg principle—paying attention only to the top and ignoring the 8/9 that lies just below

the surface. (Para. 6)

When we rush through books, music, news and relationship, we are paying attention to the surface

and will never get into the heart of anything.

did it all begin, this urge to do it now, to get it over with, to skim the surface of life? (Para. 7)

When did this quick-fix lifestyle/attitude toward life begin?

这一切，这种要求马上就做，做完算数，像蜻蜓点水一样的生活习惯，是从什么时候开始的？

15. But I am saying that all of us need to think more seriously about putting the brakes on our

“we-want-it-all-and-we-want-it-now” lifestyle before we speed completely out of control. (Para. 8)

But what I do want to say is this: before we go too far, all of us need to think seriously about changing

our lifestyle of seeking a quick fix in our lives.

Unit 6 Wisdom of Bear Wood

I was 12 years old, my family moved to England, the fourth major move in my short life. (1)

At the age of 12, my family moved to England, which was the fourth major move in my short life.

father's government job demanded that he go overseas every few years, so I was used to

wrenching myself away from friends. (1)

twisting and pulling myself violently away from friends

nature, however, I was most delighted by the endless patchwork of farms and woodland that

surrounded our house. (2)

However, because I loved nature, I was really very happy to enjoy the endless pieces of farms and

woods around our house.

4. In the deep woods that verged against our back fence, a network of paths led almost everywhere, and

pheasants rocketed off into the dense laurels ahead as you walked. (2)

In the deep woods which was close to our back fence, a system of roads that cross and connected to

each other led almost everywhere, and pheasants went off into the dense laurels ahead like rockets

while you walked.

5. I spent most of my time roaming the woods and fields alone, playing Robin Hood, daydreaming,

collecting bugs and bird-watching.

I spent most of my time wandering in the woods and fields by myself for a long time without any clear

purpose or definite destination, and I played Robin Hood, daydreamed, collected insects and

bird-watching.

6. Keeping to myself was my way of not forming attachments that I would only have to abandon the next

time we moved. (3)

I did not try to make many friends because in that way I did not have to give up my friendship the next

time I had to move.

7. But one day I became attached through no design of my own.

But one day, just by chance, I developed an affection towards someone

own breathing rang in my ears, and the slightest stirring of any woodland creature echoed through

this private paradise. (4)

I could even hear my own breathing, and even the lightest movement of any bird or animal in the wood

could be heard throughout Bear Wood.

9. I proceeded quietly, careful not to alarm a bird that might loudly warn other creatures to hide. (5)

I moved quietly and carefully so that I would not alarm any bird which might loudly warn other animals

in the woods to hide.

10. Soon I saw a small brick cottage that glowed pinkly in the westering sun. (18)

Soon I saw a small brick cottage shining with a pink color in the sun that was moving toward the west.

11. …and my well of knowledge about natural history began to brim over. (24)

I began to know much about natural history, too much for a boy of my age.

12. Familiarity sometimes makes people physically invisible, for you find yourself talking to the heart—to

the essence, as it were, rather than to the face. (26)

When people get to know each other really well, sometimes they don't notice physical changes. The

boy did not see that his friend, the old lady, was getting weaker and weaker because all the time he was

talking to her heart, rather than to her face.

13. My mother was regarding me with a strange gentleness. (29)

My mother was looking at me with a strange gentleness because she wanted to break the news gently

so that I would not take it too hard.

14. It is a wisdom tutored by nature itself, about the seen and the unseen, about things that change and

things that are changeless, and about the fact that no matter how seemingly different two souls may be,

they possess the potential for that most precious, rare thing—an enduring and rewarding friendship. (37)

I learnt a lot of knowledge, taught by nature itself, about the things I can see—the birds, insects,

trees, and flowers, and the things I cannot see—ideas, scientific laws and principles. I also learn a lot

about the things that change, including life itself, as well as the things that are changeless like friendship,

love, and many basic values.

Unit 9 Confession of an Miseducated Man

differences were all but wiped out by the similarities. (Para. 4)

The differences became so insignificant compared with the similarities. They were almost completely

pushed aside and forgotten.

2. And the simplest reality of all was that the human community was one—greater than any of its parts,

greater than the separateness imposed by nations, greater than the different faiths and loyalties or the

depth and color of varying cultures. (Para. 4)

And the simplest fact was that the human community was one organic whole, and the whole is always

bigger and more important than the parts. Today the world is divided into nations which force the world

to become separate parts. But no single nation is more important than the whole humanity, and

differences in their religious faiths, political or national loyalties, or their cultures should not be allowed to

blind us to the basic things they all share.

3. This larger unity was the most important central fact of our time—something on which people could

build at a time when hope seemed misty, almost unreal. (Para. 4)

The human community as a whole was the most important central fact of globalization

background—something people could use as a basis for further development at a time when the

possibility of hope seemed very little.

4. It turned out that my ability to get along with other peoples depended not so much upon my

comprehension of the uniqueness of their way of life as my comprehension of the things we had in

common. (Para. 5)

It was proved that I could adjust myself well to other nations was not because of my understanding of

the differences between us but because of my understanding of the similarities we shared.

5. But to stop there was like clearing the ground without any idea of what was to be built on it. (Para. 5)

If we only respect differences but pay no attention to similarities, it will be aimless/unconstructive.

6. It was the mark of a rounded man to be well traveled. (Para. 6)

It was the mark of someone who has received a well-rounded education to have been to many

countries.

7. … the universe itself does not hold life cheaply. Life is a rare occurrence… (Para. 8)

The earth is the only place where life can be found, so the universe seems to take life seriously. And

the respect of life is the very basis on which we must build the future world community.

all these countless forms of life, only one, the human species, possesses certain faculties in

combination that give it supreme advantages over all the others. (Para. 8)

Of all these countless forms of life, only one, the human species, has certain abilities and powers

when put together that give it something that may help one to be successful or to gain a favorable result

over all the others.

in global perspective, what counts is not that… but that… (Para. 9)

When we look at it from the global point of view, what is important is not that… but that…

10. Leadership on this higher level does not require mountains of gold or thundering propaganda. (Para.

11)

Leadership on the spiritual level is not based on money or propaganda.

the best place to apply that test is outside (para. 2)

And the best place to carry out that test is to go and live in a foreign country..

that my education was a complete failure.(para. 3)

I did not mean that my education was completely useless.

13..... a bird 's-eye view of the world,(para.3)

a very general view of the world, a view that lacks depth and subtlety

phy had instructed me in differences of terrain, resources, and productivity.(para. 3)

Geography had taught me about differences of differences in the type of land in different regions (plains,

hills, deserts, etc.);in the kind of resources they have (such as water, minerals, fish, vegetation); and in

the level of economic development they have achieved (whether they are developed or underdeveloped;

industrialized or agricultural).

15.....that beyond the differences are realities scarcely comprehended because of their very

simplicity.(para. 4)

...that if you look beyond the differences, you will find realities that people hardly understand precisely

because they are so simple and obvious.

17.I have the feeling that my words fail to give force to the idea they seek to express. (para. 5)

...I have the feeling that my words are still not strong enough to express my ideas.

it wasn't the type of knowledge you had to live by and build on. (para. 6)

Knowledge about variations of human culture was useful, but that was not a code of conduct(行为守则） people could follow, nor did it form a basis for their further development.

overnight came the great compression.(para. 7)

Suddenly, countries and nations became closely connected as if the world had become very small.

-flung areas which had been secure in their remoteness suddenly became crowded together in a

single arena.(para. 7)

Remote areas which had maintained their separateness suddenly became closely connected as if they

all came crowding into a single place of activity.

21..... an education in liberation from tribalism.(para. 7)

an education in global perspective, in the importance of freeing ourselves from tribalism

tribalism had persisted from earliest times, though it had taken refined forms (para. 7)

Collocations of "take ":

Tribalism was outdated, even though it existed in new forms -- regionalism, racism, and nationalism,

which are equally harmful.(Therefore an education was necessary.)

23..... and be able to recognize the image of himself.(para. 7)

... and be able to find that everybody you see in the world is just like ourselves

those faculties and gifts is a creative intelligence that enables man to reflect and foresee, to

take in past experience, and also to visualize future needs.(para. 8)

Of all the faculties humans have, the most important is their creative intelligence that makes it possible

for them to think and foresee, to understand and remember past experience, and to prepare for future

needs.

are endless other wonderful faculties, the workings of which are not yet within our

(para. 8)

Human beings have numberous such wonderful abilities; we still don„t understand how they work.

26..... communicating in it across time (para. 9)

communicating in print without the restriction of time and space; that is, people today learn about the

past in what people wrote in previous ages; people living far apart can learn about each other through

their writings.

in order would be instruction in the unity of human needs,(para.10)

The next important thing would be to get people to realize that all human needs are a unified whole.

the unity of human needs: the delicate balance or interdependence of human needs (人类需要的整体性)

any one of these and the unity of human needs is attacked and the human race with

it.(para.10)

If we take away one of these things, the unity of human needs will be destroyed and the human race

would also perish.

to control the engines we have created that threaten to alter the precarious balance on which

(para.10)

Here the word “engines” is used figuratively to stand for all the technological developments human

beings achieved. Human beings have invented a great many things to give us more power and to make

our life easier. But these human creations are now threatening the balance of our environmental

conditions.

nation or people may come forward not only with vital understanding but with vital inspiration

that people need no less than food.(para.11)

The author is hoping that some nation or people may come forward to take up the responsibility to lead

us in solving the present problems, a country which understands the vital human needs and can give the

rest of the world important inspiration. It is clear that the author is hoping that his own country, the

United States, will be able to play that role. He did not say it, but he implied it, believing as many of his

countrymen did that such is their “manifest destiny".