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新定义英语第四册Lesson20课文及翻译

Snake poison

蛇毒

What are the two different ways in which snake poison acts?

How it came about that snakes manufactured poison is a mystery. Over the periods their saliva, a mild, digestive juice like our own, was converted into a poison that defies analysis even today. It was not forced upon them by the survival competition; they could have caught and lived on prey without using poison, just as the thousands of non-poisonous snakes still do. Poison to a snake is merely a luxury; it enables it to get its food with very little effort, no more effort than one bite. And why only snakes? Cats, for instance, would be greatly helped; no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbits -- just a bite and no more effort needed. In fact, it would be an assistance to all carnivores though it would be a two-edged weapon when they fought each other. But, of the vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes . One wonders saliva into why Nature, with respect from that of others, as other on the blood.

In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place. It did not; some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others, as different as arsenic is from strychnine, and having different effects. One poison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.

The makers of the nerve poison include the mambas and the cobras and their venom is called neurotoxic. Vipersand rattlesnakes manufacture the blood poison, which is known as haemolytic. Both poisons are unpleasant, but by far the more unpleasant is the blood poison. It is said that the nerve poison is the more primitive of the two, that the blood poison is, so to speak, a newer product from an improved formula. Be that as it may, the nerve poison does its business with man far more quickly than the blood poison. This, however, means nothing. Snakes did not acquire their poison for use against man but for use against prey such as rats and mice, and the effects on these of viperine poison is almost immediate.

JOHN CROMPTON The snake

New words and expressions 生词和短语

saliva

n. 唾液

digestive

adj. 助消化的

defy

v. 使不可能

analysis

n. 剖析

prey

n. 被捕食的动物

fierce

adj. 凶猛的

tussle

n. 扭打

carnivore

n. 食肉动物

vertebrate

n. 脊椎动物

lizard

n. 蜥蜴

concoct

v. 调制

potency

n. 效力

conversion

n. 转变

arsenic

n. 砒霜

strychnine

n. 马钱子碱

mamba

n. 树眼镜蛇

cobra

n. 眼镜蛇

venom

n. 毒液

neurotoxic

adj. 毒害神经的

viper

n. 蝰蛇

adder

n. 蝮蛇

rattlesnake

n. 响尾蛇

haemolytic

adj. 溶血性的

viperine

adj. 毒蛇

参考译文

蛇是如何产生毒液的，这是一个谜。蛇的唾液本来和大家人的消化液一样柔和，但经过漫长的时间，演变成了今天仍没办法剖析了解的毒液。毒液不是存活角逐强加给它们的，它们也可以不需要毒液捕捉动物而存活，就像今天成千上万的无毒蛇那样。毒液对毒蛇来讲只是一种舒适存活的优越方法，它使蛇不需要费多大力气就能捕获到食物，轻咬一口即可。为何只有蛇才有毒液呢?譬如说，假如猫有毒液，那对猫会大有帮助，它就不必再和又大又凶的老鼠边跑边博斗了，也不必再和大兔子扭斗了，只须咬一口，就不必再费大力气。因此，任何食肉动物有了毒液，都能从中获益。不过，当它们相互撕打时，毒液就成了利弊参半的武，可以杀死他们，也可以被他们的毒液杀死。然而，在脊椎动物中，大自然神秘模测地只选择了蛇，大家弄不了解大自然为何在某些蛇的身上调制出这样高效的毒液来。

大家可能觉得，唾液转变成毒液，其中有固定的程序。其实没。有的蛇产生的毒液也在各方面与另外一些毒蛇产生的毒液不同，就像砒霜不同于马钱子碱一样。不同毒蛇产生的毒液产生的成效不同，一种毒液用途于神经，另一种毒液用途于血液。

产生神经毒液的蛇有一种非洲树眼镜蛇和眼镜蛇，它们的毒液称为神经毒素。蝰蛇和响尾蛇产生血液毒素，称为溶血性毒液。这两种毒液都非常可怕，但溶血性毒液特别厉害。据了解，神经毒液在两种毒液中是较为原始的一种，而溶血性毒液，打个比如，是依据改良配方生产的一种较新的商品。不过，神经毒辣液比溶血性毒液在人身上起用途快得多。但，这没什么关系，由于蛇有毒液不是用来应对人的，而是应对它的猎物，诸如鼠类，毒液对这类猎物会立刻起用途。

新定义英语第四册Lesson21课文及翻译

William S. Hart and the early 'Western' film

威廉.S. 哈特和早期限的‘西部’影片

How did William Hart's childhood prepare him for his acting role in Western films?

William S. hart was, perhaps, the greatest of all Western stars, fro unlike Gary Cooper and John Wayne he appeared in nothing but Westerns. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged. It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film, and devised the protagonist he played in every film he made, the good-had man, the accidental-noble outlaw, or the honest-but-framed cowboy, or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip; in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his frontier environment.

Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood, Hart actually knew something of the old West. He had lived in it as a child when it was already disappearing, and his hero was firmly rooted in his memories and experiences, and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier. And although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized, myth and reality did join hands in at least one arena, the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.

Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians were bewildered by politicians, bankers and businessmen, and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. Hart's good-bad man was always an outsider, always one of the disinherited, and if he found it necessary to shoot a sheriff or rob a bank along the way, his early audiences found it easy to understand and forgive, especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.

Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century found it pleasant to escape to a time when life, though hard, was relatively simple. We still do; living in a world in which undeclared aggression, war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by.

CARL FOREMAN Virtue and a Fast Gun from The Observer

New words and expressions 生词和短语

Supreme

adj.

protagonist

n. 主角

outlaw

n. 逃犯，亡命之徒

framed

adj. 遭到陷害的

vicious

adj. 恶毒的

mythology

n. 神话

vanished

adj. 消失了的

absurdly

adv. 荒诞地

arena

n. 竞技场在

encroaching

adj. 日渐渗入的

Indian

n. 印第安人

bewilder

v. 使惊惶失措

alien

adj. 外来的

taboo

n. 戒律

disinherit

v. 剥夺...继承权

undeclared

adj. 未经宣布的

hypocrisy

n. 伪善

chicanery

n. 诈骗

impending

adj. 迫近的，近在眉睫的

immolation

n. 杀戮

code

n. 准则

参考译文

威廉.S.哈特大概是美国西部电影明星中的佼佼者。他和加里.古柏、约翰.韦恩不同，他只在西部电影中饰演角色。在1914年至1924年期间，他，独霸影坛。正是他创造了西部电影的基调，即在他一个人的拍摄的影片中他所塑造的主人公形象：被觉得是坏人的好人，出人意料的高尚的逃犯，诚实却遭陷害的牛仔或因流言蜚语蒙受嫌疑的司法官。总之，主人公是一个自相矛盾，又与他的拓荒环境相矛盾的人物。

哈特与大多数同年代在好莱坞的演员不同，他确实知道西部早期拓荒生活的一些状况。作为一个孩子他曾在西部生活过，当时西部拓荒生活正在消失。他塑造的英雄人物深深地扎根于他本人的记忆和历程之中，也扎根于有关已经消失的拓荒生活的历史和神话之中。虽然在美国历没任何时期或区域像西部拓荒时期那样被荒谬地浪漫主义化了，但神话和事实至少在某一个舞台上共存，也就是存在于个人与日渐闯入的文明这两者的冲突之中。

习惯与大自然和印第安人作斗争以求存活的拓荒者被政客、银行家和商人搞得晕头转向，后被圈地、尖律我外来的清规戒律所击败。哈特饰演的被误为坏人的好人一直一个局外人，一直一个被剥夺继承权的人。假如他觉得在进行过程中有必要枪击一个司法官或打劫一个银行，他的早期观众比较容易同意，感觉应该原谅他，尤其是当哈特后战胜了前来进攻的印第安人时，观众更能原谅他。

生活在20世纪2024年代的观众觉得，逃到一个即便艰苦但比较简朴的年代中去是件愉快的事，大家今天仍有这种感觉。现在，不宣而战的侵略、战争、虚伪、诈骗、无政府状况与马上临头的毁灭成了大家平时生活的一部分，大家都期望有一个赖以存活的行为准则。

新定义英语第四册Lesson22课文及翻译

Knowledge and progress

常识和进步

In what two areas have people made no 'progress' at all?

Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest. Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech. With the invention of writing, a great advance was made, for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised. Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. What is called 'modern civilization' is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature. but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. The problem now facing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil. It is now being used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power, continues.

G.N.M.TYRRELL The Personality of Man

New words and expressions 生词和短语

loom

v. 赫然耸起

manifest

adj.明显的

morality

n. 道德

communicate

v. 交流，交际

compound

adj. 复合的

enhance

v. 增进

tempo

n. 速率

trickle

n. 涓涓细流

torrent

n. 滔滔洪流

humanity

n. 人类

indifferently

adv. 不在乎地

grimly

adv. 可怖地

whimsical

adj. 怪诞的

shatter

v. 毁坏

twofold

adj. 双重的

参考译文

为何进步这个定义在现代世界看上去这样突出?无疑是由于有一种特殊的进步事实上正在大家周围发生，而且变得愈加明显。虽然人类有智商和道德上没得到常见提升，但在常识积累方面却获得了巨大的进步。人一旦可以用语言同其他人交流思想，常识的积累便开始了。伴随书写的创造，又迈进了一大步，由于如此一来，常识不只能交流，而且能储存了。藏书使教育成为可能，而教育反过来又丰富了藏书，由于常识的增长遵循着一种“滚雪球”的规律。印刷术的创造又大大提升了常识增长的速度。所有这类进步都比较缓慢，而伴随科学的到来，增长的速度才忽然加快。于是，常识便开始有系统有计划地积累起来。涓涓细流汇成小溪，小溪现已变成了奔腾的江河。而且，新常识一旦获得，便得到实质应用。所谓“现代文明”并非人的天性平衡进步的结果，而是积累起来的常识应用到实质日常的结果。目前人类面临的问题是：用这类常识去干什么?正像大家常常指出的，常识是一把双刃刀，可以用于造福，也可以用来为害。大家目前正漫不经心地把常识用于这两个方面，比如：炮兵借助科学毁坏人的身体、而外科大夫就在附近用科学抢救被炮兵毁坏的人体，还有哪些情景比这更可怕、更怪诞的吗?大家不能不严肃地问问大家自己：伴随日益增长的常识的力量，假如大家继续借助常识的这种双重性，将会发生哪种状况呢?