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导语：英语是印欧语系-日耳曼语族下的语言，由26个字母组合而成，英文字母渊源于拉丁字母，拉丁字母渊源于希腊字母，而希腊字母则是由腓尼基字母演变而来的。以下是小编整理高一英语课文翻译第五课的资料，欢迎阅读参考。
第五课：银屏 The Silver Screen
SPEAKING
Meryl Streep was born in a small village in America in 1949.
1949年，梅丽尔·斯特里普出生在美国的一个小山村。
After high school Meryl went to study at a famous drama school.
中学毕业后，梅丽尔到一所著名的戏剧学校就读。
While still a student, she played roles in many plays.
当她还是个学生的时候，她已经在许多戏剧中扮演角色。
After graduating, she went to New York,
毕业后，她去了纽约，
where she started working as an actress
在那里当了一名女演员，
and won the Theater World Award for her role in a play.
后来因为她在一个戏剧中所扮演的角色而获得了戏剧世界奖。
Meryl Streep made her first film, called Julia in 1977.
1977年，梅丽尔·斯特里普拍摄了第一部影片，名字叫《朱丽亚》。
A few years later, she won her first Oscar as Best Actress for the film Kramer vs Kramer(1979).
几年以后，她因电影《克莱默夫妇》(1979)而获得了她的第一个奥斯卡最佳女演员奖。
During the 1980s and 1990s she won many more prizes while acting in famous films such as
Sophie’s Choice(1982), Out of Africa (1985) and Music of the heart(1999).
在二十世纪八十年代和九十年代期间，她在著名的影片，如《苏菲的选择》(1982)，《走出非洲》(1985)以及《弦动我心》(1999)等中表演出色，从而获得更多的奖项。
Meryl Streep got married in 1978 and has a son and three daughters.
梅丽尔·斯特里普于1978年结婚，育有一子三女。
Keanu Reeves was born in Lebanon in 1964. He grew up in Toronto
1964年基努·里维斯出生于黎巴嫩，在多伦多长大。
and left high school without a degree when he was seventeen.
17岁时，他高中毕业，但未获得学历证书。
In the beginning he took many small jobs to make money.
一开始，他靠干零活赚钱。
When he was twenty years old, he acted in his first film, called Wolfboy(1984).
20岁时，他拍摄了名为《狼孩》(1984)的第一部影片。
In 1986 he moved to Hollywood to live with his stepfather, who is a film director.
1986年他迁往好莱坞，和作导演的继父生活在一起。
After acting in many cheap films for a few years,
在几年的时间里，他在很多廉价的影片里扮演角色。
he was asked to play a role in the film Speed in 1994.
1994年他应邀参加了影片《生死时速》的拍摄。
This film quickly made him famous.
此片使他很快扬名天下。
Since then Keanu Reeves has acted in more than twelve films such as The Matrix(1999), Sweet November(2001) and Hardball(2001).
从那时起，基努·里维斯拍摄的影片超过十二部，如《骇客任务》(1999)，《甜蜜的十一月》(2001)和《临时教练》(2001)等。
READING
GETTING TO KNOW STEVEN SPIELBERG
走近史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格
Steven Spielberg, whose mother was a music teacher, was born in 1946 in a small town in America.
史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格1946年生于美国的一个小镇，他的母亲是一名音乐教师。
He started making short films when he was still a young boy.
当他还是个孩子的时候，他就开始制作电影短片。
He made his first real film when he was twelve.
他十二岁时制作了第一部真正的电影。
This was a film in which Spielberg used real actors instead of toys.
在这部电影中，他使用了真正的演员而不是玩具。
He wrote the scripts for the films himself.
他亲自为电影写剧本。
In 1959 Spielberg won a prize for a short film which he made when he was thirteen years old.
1959年，斯皮尔伯格因其制作的一部短片而获得了一个奖项，当时他才十三岁。
A few years later, when he was sixteen, he made a film called Firelight.
几年后，十六岁的他制作了一部电影，名字叫《火光》。
When Spielberg was young, his dream was to go to the Film Academy, but he couldn’t.
当斯皮尔伯格小的时候，他的梦想是上电影学院，但却未能如愿。
The reason why he could not go there was that his grades weretoo low.
他未能去那儿的原因是由于他的分数太低了。
After studying English, he got a small job at a film studio.
当他学习了英语之后，他在一家电影制作室打零工。
Here he worked on a short film, which won him a job as the youngest film director in the world.
在那儿，他从事了一部电影短剧的制作，由此成为了(当时)世界上最年轻的电影导演。
This was the moment when Spielberg’s career really took off.
此时，斯皮尔伯格的事业才真正开始步入辉煌。
Jaws(1975), one of his first films, was a real blockbuster.
他的早期电影之一，《大白鲨》(1975)是一部真正具有轰动效应的作品，
It is about a big white shark that attacks swimmers who are spending their holidays in a small village by the sea.
作品讲述了一条大白鲨的故事，它时常攻击那些到海滨村庄来度假的游泳者。
Many people who saw the film were afraid to swim in the sea when they remembered the scenes in which people were eaten by the shark.
许多看了这部电影的人们一想到电影中鲨鱼吃人的场面就不敢去海里游泳了。
Spielberg has made two films about creatures that come to the earth from outer space.
斯皮尔伯格现已制作了两部关于外星人的影片。
For example, ET(1982) is about a young boy called Elliott who makes friends with a small creature from outer space and helps him to find a way to go home.
例如《外星人》(1982)讲述的是一个叫艾利奥特的小男孩和来自外太空的一个小动物交朋友，然后帮助它回家的故事。
The world of adults is cold. Scientists want to find ET to cut him in pieces to do research.
成人的世界是冷酷的。科学家们想找到外星人，然后把他切成碎片来进行研究。
But in the world of children and the world where ET comes from,
但是在孩子们以及外星人的世界里，
love and friendship are the most important things in life.
爱和友谊却是生命中最重要的部分。
Jurassic park, which Spielberg made in 1993, is abouta parkwherea very rich man keeps different kinds of dinosaurs.
斯皮尔伯格在1993年制作的《侏罗纪公园》描述了这样一个公园。在这座公园里，一个富翁养了各种各样的恐龙。
When the park is hit by a storm, things start going wrong.
当公园遭到风暴袭击时，情况开始变得很糟糕，
The film becomes very exciting when the children are hunted by meat-eating dinosaurs.
孩子们被这些食肉恐龙捕食，影片使人觉得非常刺激。
After these highly successful films, Spielberg made several follow-ups of Jaws and Jurassic Park.
继这几部成功作品之后，斯皮尔伯格接着又制作了《大白鲨》和《侏罗纪公园》的几部续集。
His later films such as Schindler’s Listand Saving Private Ryanare about the cruelty of war.
他后来的电影《辛德勒名单》和《拯救大兵瑞恩》都以战争的残酷性为主题。
In his war films, he has shown that love and peace will win over war in the end.
在他的战争题材的影片里，他揭示了爱与和平将最终战胜战争这一主题。
Steven Spielberg is one of the top directors in the film industry and also has many fans in China.
斯皮尔伯格是电影界中最优秀的导演之一，在中国也有他的许多影迷。
When asked about the secret of his success, Steven Spielberg said that he owes much of his success and happiness to his wife and children.
当问及他成功的秘诀时，斯皮尔伯格说他大部分的成功与欢乐应归于他妻子及孩子。
He met Cate Capshaw, Who is an actress, when he was working on one of his films.
他在执导一部影片时，遇到了女演员凯特卡普萧。
After that it still took seven years before they finally got married.
此后过了七年，他们才终于结婚了。
The couple has seven children in all.
他们共有七个孩子。
重点·难点·考点及疑点注释
1. take off 意为“开始有成就，开始成名，脱掉(衣服)，(飞机)起飞”。
2. keep 意为“抚养(人)，饲养(动物)”，后接名词作宾语，同义词为raise。
3. go wrong意为“变糟”。
4. 辨析：in the end, finally, at last
in the end 与 finally, at last都可作“最后”解，但用法有所不同。
(1) finally有 个用法，一是在列举事物或论点时，可用来引出最后一项内容；二是用在句中，表示“等了好久才……”。
We waited and waited and the train finally arrived.
我们等了又等，火车终于来了。
Finally turn off the lights and lock the door.
最后要关上灯，锁上门。
(2) at last 也可以用来表示“等候或耽误了很多时间之后才……”，带有较浓厚的情感色彩，如不耐烦，不如愿等，语气比较强烈。
At last the work was done and he could rest.
最后，工作完成了，他可以休息了。
She has come at last.
她总算来了。
(3) in the end表示“经过许多变化，困难和捉摸不定的情况以后，某事才发生”。
in the end相当于at last和finally的第二个用法。in the end可以预测将来，但at last和finally则不能。
They won in the end/finally/at last.
最后他们终于赢了。
He will be a scientist in the end.
最终他会成为一名科学家。
5. owe意为“欠钱，欠债，欠情，感激，归功于”，一般用owe…to结构。
I still owe John 60 dollars. (I still owe 60 dollars to John. )
我还欠约翰六十美元。
I owed my success to him.
我的成功要归功于他。
还有固定搭配owing to，相当于because of，意为“因为，由于”。
Owing to the rain, he couldn’t catch the bus.
由于下雨，他未能赶上那班车。
INTEGRATING SKILLS
Reading and writing
NOT ONE LESS
一个也不能少
Zhang Yimou’s film “Not One Less” tells a simple but moving story.
张艺谋的影片《一个也不能少》讲述了一个简单但感人至深的故事，
Mr Gao, the only teacher of the Shuiquan Primary School, has to stay away for a month to take care of his sick mother.
水泉小学的惟一一个教师高老师不得不请假一个月照顾生病的母亲。
The village leader, Mr Tian, asks Wei Minzhi to take Mr Gao’s place until he comes back.
村领导田村长要求魏敏芝代替高老师的职位，直到他回来。
Minzhi is only a 13-year-old girl who has finished her primary school.
敏芝只是位刚刚念完小学的十三岁的小姑娘。
When she is asked to do the job, she says she can read, write and sing.
当她应邀去接受工作时，她说，她能读书、写字、唱歌。
She gets the job because there is nobody else in the village who can take it.
她之所以能够得到这份工作，是因为村里没有其他人能胜任这份工作了。
The most important thing for young Minzhi is not to lose any more pupils from the school?NOT ONE LESS—before Mr Gao returns!
对于敏芝来说，最重要的事情是在高老师回来之前不能让更多的学生离开学校——一个也不能少。
At first Minzhi doesn’t know what her students need to learn.
起初敏芝不知道她的学生要学些什么，
And she doesn’t know how to keep them quiet in class.
她也不知道如何使他们在课堂上保持安静。
She writes the lessons onto the blackboard and then makes her students copy them into their notebooks.
她把课文写到黑板上，然后让学生再把课文抄到她们的练习本上。
She tries to keep the students in the classroom by locking them up in the classroom
她努力让学生呆在教室里，有时把他们锁在里面，
and running after those who escape.
有时还要追赶那些逃跑的学生。
The naughtiest pupil in her class is an 11yearold boy named Zhang Huike.
她的班里最淘气的学生是个叫张慧科的十一岁男孩。
He causes trouble for Minzhi almost every day.
他几乎每天都给敏芝捅篓子。
Perhaps you think Minzhi will be happy when Huike runs away from school.
或许你认为当慧科从学校逃走后，敏芝会很高兴的。
No! When she hears that Huike has gone to town, she becomes very worried and determines to bring Huike back safely.
其实不然，听说慧科去了城里时，她非常着急，决心把慧科安全带回来。
Minzhi wants to go to town, but she can’t afford to buy a bus ticket.
敏芝要去城里，但买不起汽车票。
All the other pupils do their best to help her get onto a bus without a ticket.
其他所有的学生竭尽全力帮助她没有买票就上了一辆汽车。
When Minzhi has to get off the bus, she walks till she finally reaches the town.
中途被赶下车后，她一直步行到城里。
She looks everywhere but can’t find Huike.
她到处都找遍了，但仍未找到慧科。
Then she decides to ask the TV stationfor help.
这时她打算向电视台求助。
She wants them to let her appear live on the air, hoping that Huike will see her.
她希望电视台让她在电视上露面，以便慧科能见到她。
She waits at the gate of the TV station for two days till the boss calls her.
她在电视台门前足足等了两天,电视台的台长才接见了她。
When Huike sees the crying Minzhi on television, he himself starts crying,
当慧科在电视里看到痛哭流涕的敏芝时，他自己也大哭起来，
but he is also happy to see her.
但见了敏芝之后他也很高兴。
At last, both Minzhi and Huike go back to their village, together with the people from the TV station.
最后，敏芝和慧科以及电视台的人们一同回到了他们的山村。
Many people like this film not just because the story itself is moving,
许多人喜欢这部影片，不仅因为故事本身感人，
but also because most of the people in the film use their real names and play themselves.
而且因为影片里的许多人都使用了他们自己的名字，扮演的就是他们自己。
重点·难点·考点及疑点注释
1.moving意为“使人感动的”；moved意为“感动”。
We were moved by the moving story.
我们被这个感人的故事所感动。
2. take one’s place = take the place of，意为“代替……的位置”。
I’ll take the place of my father for a while.
(=I’ll take my father’s place for a while. )
我将暂时代替我父亲。
4.afford意为“(有足够的时间、金钱)做……，负担得起……”，通常与can, could, be able to连用，后接名词，代词或不定式作宾语。
I’ll buy it when I can afford it.
我买得起就买。
We can’t afford to buy a new car.
我们买不起新车。
5.She wants them to let her appear live on air, hoping that Huike will see her.
本句中live是副词，意为“从现场，以直播的方式”；on air意为“在电视里”；hoping是ing形式作伴随状语。
导语：课文指教科书中的正文，区别于注释和习题等，一般在语文或地理中出现。英语，有对话和短文。下面，是高级英语阅读课文翻译，希望能够帮助到你们！
高级英语阅读课文翻译
Unit 1
1. An imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of republics.
贫富不均是共和政体最致命的宿疾。
2. Their poverty is a temporary misfortune: If they are poor and also meek, they eventually will inherit the earth.
它们的贫困只是一种暂时的不幸：如果他们穷困但却温顺，他们最终将成为这个世界的主人。
3. Couples in love should repair to R.H.Macy’s, not their bedrooms.
一对对儿热恋的新婚夫妇应该在梅西百货公司过夜，而不是回到他们的新房。
4. The American Beauty Rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it. And so is it in economic life. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God.
美国这朵玫瑰花以其华贵与芳香让观众倾倒、赞不绝口。而她之所以能被栽培出来，就是因为在早期其周围的花蕾被掐掉了。在经济生活中情况亦是如此。这是自然规律和上帝的意志在起作用
5. (It has become) an economically not unrewarding enterprise.
（它已成为）经济上收入不菲的一个行业。
6. There is … no form of oppression that is quite so great, no constriction on thought and effort quite so comprehensive, as that which comes from having no money at all.
没有那种压迫形式笔身无分文更厉害，也没有哪种对思想和行动的束缚比一无所有更全面彻底。
7. Freedom we rightly cherish. Cherishing it, we should not use it as a cover for denying freedom to those in need.
我们珍惜自由是对的。正因为我们珍惜自由，我们就不能以此为借口，不给最需要自由的人自由。
8. Whether they be in Ethiopia, the South Bronx, or even in such an Elysium as Los Angeles, we resolve to keep them off our mind.
不管他们生活在埃塞俄比亚，还是在纽约市的南布朗克斯区，甚至是在洛杉矶这样的天堂，人们都决心不去为这些人操心。
9. … he is enjoying, as indicated, unparalleled popularity in high Washington circles.
如上所说，他在华盛顿高层当中有无比的威望。
10. Compassion, along with the associated public effort, is the least comfortable, the least convenient course of behavior and action in our time.
同情心，加上与之相关的社会努力是人们在这个年代最麻烦、最令人不快的行为和行动方针。
Unit 2
1. It was an idyllic life, and we lived close to our family and to the comforts and safety a small town could afford.
这是一种田园式的生活，我们和亲戚住得很近，享受着小镇生活所能给予我们的舒服和安全。
2. But papa was a man of enterprise; he realized that the untouched Ten Thousand Islands off the southwest coast of the state were rich in soil for crops and in game for food.
但父亲是一个很有进取心的人，他知道佛罗里达州西南海岸的万岛群岛还没有被开发，那儿土壤肥沃，适于耕种，而且猎物充足，不必担心食物来源。
3. This third day out, and the days to come, found us in the unsettled wilds of Florida.
出发后的第三天及以后的日子里，我们都在佛罗里达无人居住的荒野中穿行。
4. Its underwater grasses looked like green ribbons constantly unrolling, and the trees held thick sprays of wild orchids.
水里的水草就像绿色的丝带，不断地伸展开来，野兰花一簇一簇地挂满了枝头。
5. The burly arms of the oaks were huge with ferns and blooming bromeliads. Redbirds, tanagers, and painted buntings flew back and forth across the trail, leaving a child with the impression that the woods were tossing with jewels…
以前这里经常发水的河滩岸边一丛丛地长满了乔叶栎，那些地面上铺着一层绿色的蕨类植物；乔叶栎粗壮的枝干上也覆盖着蕨类植物，附生的凤梨科植物正在盛开。红雀、唐那雀和色彩斑斓的鸠年沿着小路飞来飞去，在孩子们看来就像是宝石在树林里跳动。
6. The native whites feared him as you would a rattlesnake, but the Indians and black people were susceptible to his manipulations.
本地的白人像惧怕响尾蛇一样怕他，而印第安人和黑人则不得不受他的控制和剥削。
7. Our new home was more than safe; it was a joy!
我们的新家不仅安全稳固，还给我们带来了无尽的乐趣。
8. Today I can see in my grandsons and great-grandson some of those qualities of courage and caring that my father had in such abundance.
今天在我的子孙身上，我仍能看到我父亲所拥有的无尽的勇气和爱心。
Unit 3
1. We have been tampering with this powerful force, unaware, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, of the potentially disastrous consequences of our actions.
我们一直在滥用这股强大的力量，就像传说中的魔术师的徒弟一样，并没有意识到我们的这种行为很可能会导致灾难性的后果。
2. Even if the global warming catastrophe never materializes, and he ozone hole remains an esoteric, polar phenomenon, already human activity has profoundly altered global conditions in ways that may not register on the camera.
即使全球变暖这种灾害永不发生，即使臭氧层空洞仍然只是一种深奥的极地现象，人类活动已极大地改变了全球条件，这些也许是用照相机拍不出来的。
3. The technosphere, in contrast, is dominated by linear processes.
与生态圈相反，技术圈是由线性流程决定的。
4. The energy sources that now power the technosphere are mostly fossil fuels, stores that, once depleted, will never be renewed.
现在技术圈运作的能源主要是矿物材料，一旦用完，永不再生。
5. Nylon… is not biodegradable——that is, there is no enzyme in any known living organism that can break it down.
尼龙不能进行生物分解——也就是说，在现存的有机生物中还没有发现哪种酶可以分解尼龙。
6. … living things have created a limited but self-consistent array of substances and reactions that are essential to life.
……有生命的东西创造了一系列对生命至关重要的有限但独立的物质和反应。
7. A free lunch is really a debt. In the technosphere, a debt is an acknowledged but unmet cost…
免费的午餐实际上是一种负债。在技术圈中，负债是指已承认但尚未归还的欠款……
8. … when the debts represented by environmental pollution are created by the technosphere and transferred to the ecosphere, they are never canceled; damage is unavoidable.
……当债务以技术圈制造的环境污染的形式出现，然后又转嫁到生态圈时，这种债务将永远无法消除。造成破坏是不可避免的。
Unit 4
1. Each of the trees on the place had an attitude and a presence——the elm looked serene and the oak threatening, the maples friendly, the hawthorn old and crabby.
这里的每一棵树都表现出某种神态。比如，榆树看上去宁静安详，橡树则咄咄逼人，枫树亲切友好，而山楂树则老气横秋、脾气暴躁。
2. There was a keen alarm when the cry came, a wire zinging through your whole body, a fanatic feeling of devotion.
当他喊我的名字时，我会紧张万分，全身蹭地就像过了电似的，一种狂热的忠诚感油然而生。
3. One morning, of course, the job was all finished, the well capped, the pump reinstated, the fresh water marvelled at.
一天早晨，工作全部完成，这是意料中的事。井上了盖子，水泵重新安装好了，大家对清新的井水赞叹不已。
4. In my kitchen or in hers, once a week or so, distracted by our children and sometimes reeling for lack of sleep, we stoked ourselves up on strong coffee and cigarettes and launched out on a rampage of talk——about our marriages, our fights, our personal deficiencies, our interesting and discreditable motives, our forgone ambitions.
我们大约每周都要在我家或她家厨房小聚一次。孩子们总是不断打扰我们，有时我们还会因为缺觉而感到头晕，于是我们就用大量的浓咖啡和香烟给自己提神，开始天南海北地聊天，所谈的话题无所不包：我们的婚姻、奋斗、个人的不足、既有趣又有些丢脸的动机，以及我们曾有过的理想抱负。
5. Sunny had given him fresh sheets rather than unmaking and making up again the bed he had left for me.
赛妮给他准备了新床单，也把他换给我的床重新铺好了。
6. My sleep was shallow, my dreams monotonously lustful, with irritating and unpleasant subplots.
我睡得很浅，没完没了地做着充满情欲的梦，中间还穿插着令人不快的小情节。
7. The bushes right at the edge of the grass looked impenetrable, but close up there were little openings, the narrow paths that animals or people looking for golf balls had made.
紧挨着草地边上的灌木丛看上去似乎无法穿过，但走近了可以看到一些小缺口和窄窄的小径，这是被动物或者找高尔夫球的人们踩出来的。
8. It looked as if a large portion of the sky had detached itself and was bearing down, bustling and resolute, taking a not quite recognizable but animal shape.
看上去，天空的一大部分似乎脱离了主体，喧闹着、果断地压向地面，那形状虽然说不出具体像什么，但像是一种活物的样子。
9. This was more of a ritual, a recognition of survival rather than of our bodies’ inclinations.
我们拥抱并不是出于身体的渴望，而是庆祝劫后余生的一种表示。
Unit 5
1. The American experience was unique in a number of ways.
美国的经验在许多方面都是独特的。
2. The country was blessed by notable advantages——above all, by the fact that population was scarce in relation to available resources.
这个国家有着得天独厚的优势——主要是人口相对稀少而资源十分丰富。
3. It arose originally from a philosophical rather than an economic commitment…
它源于对思想原则的信仰，而不是出于对经济利益的追求……
4. We have found no better way than democracy to fulfill man’s talents and release his energies.
我们发现民主是使人的才智得到充分施展、人的能量得以充分发挥的最好方式。
5. In the record of this conflict, ideology has attracted some of the strongest intelligences mankind has produced…
在意识形态体系与经验主义斗争的历史上，意识形态体系曾吸引了人类历史上一些聪明绝顶的人物……
6. In its finest hours, the United States has, so to speak, risen above ideology.
在她处于最佳时期时，美国可以说超越了所有的意识形态体系。
7. … that government was best which governed least…
……政府管得越少越好……
8. Indeed, the whole ideological enterprise contradicted Jefferson’s temper, which was basically flexible and experimental.
说实在的，杰斐逊一生在意识形态体系上所做的努力与他的性格是相矛盾的。他的性格特征基本上是灵活的、从经验出发的。
9. Indeed, I would suggest that we might well banish some overloaded words from intellectual discourse… (These words) are sources of heat, not of light.
我甚至建议在思想界和学术界的讨论中摒弃某些用滥了的词语。……这些词语只能使人头脑发热，而不会给人以智慧的光芒。
10. Free men know many truths, but they doubt whether any mortal man knows the Truth.
自由人掌握许多具体的真理，但他们认为没有一个凡人能够掌握绝对真理。
Unit 6
3. With very small, timid pigs, weanlings, this ruse is often quite successful and will encourage them to eat; but with a large, sick pig the ruse is senseless and the sound I made must have made him feel, if anything, more miserable.
对于那些羞涩、刚断奶的小猪，这些小把戏一般会奏效并且将使它们多进食；可对于一头生病的大猪，这种做法却没有丝毫意义，我发出的声音肯定只会让他觉得更难受。
4. From the lustiness of a healthy pig a man derives a feeling of personal lustiness; the stuff that goes into the trough and is received with such enthusiasm is an earnest of some later feast of his own, and when this suddenly comes to an end and the food lies stale and untouched, souring in the sun, the pig’s imbalance becomes the man’s, vicariously, and life seems insecure, displaced, transitory.
看到一头健康的猪充满活力，人们常常感到自己也是精力充沛。看到它狼吞虎咽地吃掉食槽中的食物，人们就像是预定了今后的大餐。而当一切突然结束，槽中的食物丝毫未动，任其在阳光下发馊时，猪的不适也就让人觉得自己也不舒服，生活变得失去了安全感、失去了平衡，变得转瞬即逝。
5. The pig’s lot and mine were inextricably bound now, as though the rubber tube were the silver cord. From then until the time of his death I held the pig steadily in bowl of my mind; the task of trying to deliver him from his misery became a strong obsession. His suffering soon became the embodiment of all earthly wretchedness.
现在这头猪的命运和我的命运紧紧地联系在一起，似乎冲洗直肠的橡皮管就是连接我们情感的纽带。从他生病到死去，我无时无刻不想着他。如何想尽办法使他脱离苦海成了我心里想的唯一的事情。他的苦难很快就变成了世间所有悲惨经历的写照。
6. The awakening had been violent and I minded it all the more because I knew that what could be true of my pig could be true also of the rest of my tidy world. I tried to put this distasteful idea from me, but it kept recurring.
这种醒悟来得太突然，使我深感不安，因为我知道世事难料，在猪身上发生的事情同样也有可能在我身边其他看似平静之处发生。我想忘记这个令人不快的想法，但它总是不停地出现。
7. … all of us working in darkness and in comfort, working with the instinctive teamwork induced by emergency conditions, the pig unprotesting, the house shadowy, protecting, intimate.
我们大家凭着紧急情况下产生的本能的合作精神，在黑暗中默契地配合，猪并没有反抗，屋子笼罩在黑暗里，给人一种安全感和亲切感。
9. Everything about this last scene seemed overwritten——the dismal sky, the shabby woods, the imminence of rain, the worm (legendary bedfellow of the dead), the apple (conventional garnish of a pig).
关于这最后一幕的描写显得有点冗长——阴沉的天空、杂乱的树丛、即将来领的降雨，以及传说中与尸体做伴的蚯蚓和烤猪时常用来做点缀的苹果。
Unit 7
1. We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom——symbolizing an end as well as a beginning——signifying renewal as well as change.
我们今天庆祝的不是党派的胜利而是自由的选择——象征着一个时代的结束和另一个时代的开始——意味着延续与变化。
2. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do——for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
如果我们团结一致，我们在一系列共同从事的事业中就有可以无往而不胜。如果我们四分五裂，我们就会一事无成——因为在意见分歧、四分五裂的情况下，我们不敢迎接强有力的挑战。
3. … one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny.
……一种殖民控制形式的消失，不应为另一种更为残酷的暴政所取代。
4. … and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
……要记住，在过去，那些愚蠢地想靠与虎谋皮而得势的人最终都为虎所食。
5. … we renew our pledge of support——to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective——to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak——and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
……我们重申我们的支持——不让其变成一个相互指责的论坛——加强其对新生国家和弱小国家的保护——扩大其起主导作用的领域。
6. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
只有当我们的军力强大无比时，我们才有把握永不使用武力。
7. Let us never negotiate our of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
我们永远不会由于恐惧而去谈判，但我们永不畏惧谈判。
8. And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungles of suspicion…
如果小小的一点合作能驱散深深的猜疑……
9. In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.
同胞们，我们事业最终的成败不是掌握在我手中，而是掌握在你们手中。
10. Ask not what your country can do for you——ask what you can do for your country.
不要问你的国家能为你做什么，要自问你能为你的国家做何贡献。
导语：翻译是在准确、通顺的基础上，把一种语言信息转变成另一种语言信息的行为。下面，是大学英语book2课文翻译的内容，提供给大家参考学习！
大学英语book2课文翻译
Unit 1 Are You a 1960s Type Student? 大学已不再特别了
If you can remember anything about the 1960s, you weren"t really there," so the saying goes. It may be true for those who spent their college years in a haze of marijuana smoke. But there is one thing everyone remembers about the 1960s: Going to college was the most exciting and stimulating experience of your life.
In the 1960s, California"s colleges and universities had transformed the state into the world"s seventh largest economy. However, Berkeley, the University of California"s main campus, was also well-known for its student demonstrations and strikes, and its atmosphere of political radicalism. When Ronald Reagan ran for office as governor of California in 1966, he asked if Californians would allow "a great university to be brought to its knees by a noisy, dissident minority". The liberals replied that it was the ability to tolerate noisy, dissident minorities which made universities great.
On university campuses in Europe, mass socialist or communist movements gave rise to increasingly violent clashes between the establishment and the college students, with their new and passionate commitment to freedom and justice. Much of the protest was about the Vietnam War. But in France, the students of the Sorbonne in Paris managed to form an alliance with the trade unions and to launch a general strike, which ultimately brought about the resignation of President de Gaulle.
It wasn"t just the activism that characterized student life in the 1960s. Everywhere, going to college meant your first taste of real freedom, of late nights in the dorm or in the Junior Common Room, discussing the meaning of life. You used to have to go to college to read your first forbidden book, see your first indie film, or find someone who shared your passion, for Jimi Hendrix or Lenny Bruce. It was a moment of unimaginable freedom, the most liberating in your life:
But where"s the passion today? What"s the matter with college? These days political, social and creative awakening seems to happen not because of college, but in spite of it. Of course, it"s true that higher education is still important. For example, in the UK, Prime Minister Blair was close to achieving his aim of getting 50 per cent of all under thirties into college by 2010 (even though a cynic would say that this was to keep them off the unemployment statistics). Yet college education is no longer a topic of great national importance. Today, college is seen as a kind of small town from which people are keen to escape. Some people drop out, but the most apathetic stay the course because it"s too much effort to leave.
Instead of the heady atmosphere of freedom which students in the1960s discovered, students today are much more serious. The British Council has recently done research into the factors which help international students decide where to study. In descending order these are: quality of courses, employability prospects, affordability, personal security issues, lifestyle, and accessibility. College has become a means to an end, an opportunity to increase one"s chances on the employment market, and not an end in itself, which gives you the chance to imagine, just for a short while, that you can change the world.
The gap between childhood and college has shrunk, and so has the gap between college and the real world. One of the reasons may be financial. In an uncertain world, many children rely on their parents" support much longer than they used to. Students leaving university in the 21st century simply cannot afford to set up their own home because it"s too expensive. Another possible reason is the communications revolution. Gone are the days when a son or daughter rang home once or twice a term. Today students are umbilically linked to their parents by their cell phones. And as for finding like-minded friends to share a passion for obscure literature or music, well, we have the Internet and chat rooms to help us do that.
"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!"
Wordsworth may have written these lines about the French Revolution; but they were also true for the students of the 1960s. So why aren"t they true for the students of today?
有这么一种说法：“要是你能记得20世纪60年代的任何事情，你就没有真正经历过那段岁月。”对于在麻地烟雾中度过大学时光的那些人，这话可能是真的。但是，20世纪60年代有一件事人人都记得，那就是：上大学是你一生中最激动人心、最刺激的经历。
20世纪60年代，加州的高校把本州变成了世界第七大经济实体。然而，加州大学的主校园伯克利分校也以学生不上课以及激进的政治氛围而著名。1966年，罗纳德·里根竞选加州州长，他问加州是否允许“一所伟大的大学被喧闹的、唱反调的少数人征服。”自由派人士回答说，大学之所以伟大正是因为它们有能力容忍喧闹的、唱反调的少数人。
在欧洲的大学校园里，大学生以新的姿态和激情投人到争取自由和正义的事业中去，大规模的社会主义或共产主义运动引发了他们与当权者之间日益升级的暴力冲突。许多抗议是针对越南战争的。可是在法国，巴黎大学的学生与工会联盟，发动了一场大罢工，最终导致戴高乐总统辞职。
20世纪60年代大学生活的特点并不仅仅是激进的行动。不论在什么地方，上大学都意味着你初次品尝真正自由的滋味，初次品尝深更半夜在宿舍或学生活动室里讨论人生意义的滋味。你往往得上了大学才能阅读你的第一本被禁止阅读的书，看你的第一部独立影人电影，或者找到和你一样痴迷吉米·亨德里克斯或兰尼·布鲁斯的志同道合者。那是一段难以想象的自由时光，你一生中最无拘无束的时光。
可如今那份激情哪儿去了？大学怎么了？现在，政治、社会和创造意识的觉醒似乎不是凭借大学的助力，而是冲破其阻力才发生的。当然，一点不假，高等教育仍然重要。例如，在英国，布莱尔首相几乎实现了到2010年让50％的三十岁以下的人上大学的目标（即使愤世嫉俗的人会说，这是要把他们排除在失业统计数据之外）。不过，大学教育已经不再是全民重视的话题了。如今，大学被视为人们急于逃离的一种小城镇。有些人辍学，但大多数已经有些麻木，还是坚持混到毕业，因为离开学校实在是太费事了。
没有了20世纪60年代大学生所发现的令人头脑发热的自由气氛，如今的大学生要严肃得多。英国文化协会最近做了一项调查，研究外国留学生在决定上哪所大学时所考虑的因素。这些因素从高到低依次是：课程质量、就业前景、学费负担、人身安全
问题、生活方式，以及各种便利。大学已变成实现目的的手段，是在就业市场上增加就业几率的一个机会，上大学本身不再是目的，不再是给你提供一个机会，让你暂时想象一下：你能够改变世界。
童年与大学之间的距离已缩小了，大学与现实世界之间的距离也缩小了。其中的一个原因可能和经济有关。在一个没有保障的世界里，现在的许多孩子依赖父母资助的时间比以前的孩子更长。21世纪的学生大学毕业后根本无法自立门户，因为那太昂贵了。另一个可能的原因是通讯革命。儿子或女儿每学期往家里打一两回电话的日子一去不复返了。如今，大学生通过手机与父母保持着脐带式联系。至于寻找痴迷无名文学或音乐的同道好友，没问题，我们有互联网和聊天室来帮助我们做到这一点。
“幸福啊，活在那个黎明之中，．年轻更是如进天堂！
华兹华斯的诗句说的可能是法国大革命，但是对于20世纪60年代的大学生而言，这样的诗句同样真实生动。可是为什么对于如今的大学生来说，它们就不真实了呢？
Unit 2 This is Sandy 这位是桑迪
I love it when my friends introduce me to new people, although I never let on. I love the proud and honorable expression they wear when they say “This is Sandy — she"s deaf”, as if I were evidence of their benevolence. I also love the split-second shocked expression on the new people, the hasty smiles and their best imitations of what they think of as their “normal faces”. If they do the ritual well enough I turn my head ever so slightly and tuck my hair behind one of my ears, whichever one"s closer to them. They never fail to say something nice about my pink hearing aids, while my regular friends beam on.
I"m thinking of starting a hearing aid collection, actually. They"d make better accessories than earrings: I once saw a catalog for clip-on hearing aids and hearing aid covers, and the products were most definitely fashion statements in various shapes and hues. It"d be like the exquisitely expensive handbag Esther"s dad got her when we were in high school. The rest of us could only admire, but could not, imitate, because our dads weren’t rich enough to spoil us that way. And now, only I can wear hearing aids: My friends can do nothing but gush.
To be honest, I quite like my deafness. It wasn"t easy the first few years after the car accident and the stupid exploding airbag, but now it"s become something that makes me special among my friends. None of my close friends are hearing-impaired; simply because I wasn’t born deaf. By the time I lost my hearing; I"d already accumulated a fixed circle of people, and they mostly rushed to participate in the drama.
You know how when you talk about your friends, you refer to them as Drew the Bartender, Carol the Feminist, Greg the Guy Who Can Knot a Cherry Stem with His Tongue and so on? I"m Sandy the Deaf Girl. I like it. I don’t have any other particularly outstanding traits or skills. Never did.
It"s more than just standing out; too: I"m sure a lot of important events in my life wouldn"t have happened or worked out quite the same way if I weren"t wearing pink hearing aids. For example, the thing with Colin.
I first met Colin at an apartment party. When Carol the Feminist introduced us to each other, I tucked my hair behind both my ears and leaned closer, not because he did the ritual particularly well; but because he was a stud: You should have seen his recovery smile after the inevitable surprise.
We went in search of drinks after the handshakes, and somewhere between what was functioning as the wine bar and the couch, we lost Carol.
“Do you usually read lips like this? Or do you sign, too?” he asked after a while.
“I mostly just read lips because it was easier to pick up than signing, although that"s not the only reason I was staring at your lips," I told him.
He laughed. We talked more, and then the host upped the music volume and dimmed the lights for the “dance floor”; and I had to lean in much, much closer to be able to continue reading his lips in the semi-darkness. And read his lips I did.
We did the usual and exchanged numbers, and a week later Colin did the unthinkable and called. We went out, satisfied ourselves that the other person still looked good in sober daylight, and read more lips. Within two months Colin and I were dating.
我的朋友向生人介绍我的时候，虽然我嘴上从不说什么，但我心里喜欢得很。我喜欢他们说“这位是桑迪—她是聋子”的时候脸上那副骄傲和荣耀的表情，就好像我证明了他们的仁德善心一样。我也喜欢生人脸上那瞬间的震惊表情、匆忙的微笑和他们竭力装出的“正常脸色”。如果他们这套仪式做得够好，我就会微微转过头，把头发掖到离他们较近的那只耳朵后面。他们总会说些好话，夸我的粉红色助听器，我的朋友们则在一旁灿烂地微笑。
实际上，我在考虑开始收藏助听器。它们是比耳环更好的首饰。我曾经看到过一款“一夹得”带罩助听器的广告图片，产品有各种各样的形状和颜色，绝对时髦。那就像我们上高中的时候，埃斯特的爸爸给她买的精美昂贵的手提包一样。那时，我们其他人只有羡慕的份儿，却无法仿效，因为我们的老爸没那么多钱去娇惯我们。而现在，只有我能戴助听器。朋友们也就只有羡慕的份儿了。
说实话，我挺喜欢耳聋的。在那次车祸和愚蠢的安全气囊破裂之后的头几年，日子不好过，但是现在，耳聋让我在朋友中显得很特别。我的好朋友没有一个是听力残障的，因为我不是天生耳聋，在我失去听觉的时候，我已经有了一个固定的朋友圈。他们中的多数人都热心积极地参加这场“表演”。
你知道，在你谈论朋友时，你会把称他们为“酒吧侍者德鲁”、“女权主义者卡罗尔”、‘能用舌头给樱桃梗打结的家伙格雷格”等等。我是“聋女桑迪”。我喜欢这个称呼。我没有任何其它突出的个性或能耐。从来没有过。
还不仅仅是与众不同。我确信，假如我不戴粉红色助听器的话，我生活中的许多重大事件就不会以同样的方式发生或产生同样的结果。例如，跟柯林之间的事儿。
我初次遇见柯林是在一次公寓派对上。女权主义者卡罗尔给我们彼此做了介绍之后，我把头发拢到两耳之后，凑得更近些，不是因为他把那套仪式做得特别好，而是因为他是个情种。谁都能注意到在不可避免的惊讶之后他脸上恢复的微笑。
握手之后，我们去拿喝的。在临时搭建的吧台和沙发之间的某个地方，卡罗尔不见了。 “你通常都像这样读唇语吗？还是也用手语？”过了一会儿他问。
我告诉他说：“我多数时间只读唇语，因为这比用手语更容易，但这不是我一直盯着你的嘴唇的唯一原因。”
他大笑起来。我们又说了一会儿话。后来，主人放大音乐的音量，调暗“舞池”的灯光；我不得不凑近他，很近很近，以便能在昏暗中接着读他的唇语。我的确读到了他的唇语。 我们照例交换了电话号码。一星期之后，柯林做了件让人无法相信的事：他打来了电话。我们出去玩了，发现对方在大白天依然好看，因此彼此感觉满意。我又读了更多的唇语。在两个月之内，柯林和我就开始约会了。
Unit 3 Stolen Identity 窃取的身份
“Frank never went to pilot school, medical school, law school, ... because he"s still in high school.”
That was the strapline of the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, which tells the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a brilliant young master of deception who at different times impersonated a doctor, a lawyer, and an airplane pilot, forging checks worth more than six million dollars in 26 countries. He became the youngest man to ever make the FBI’s most-wanted list for forgery. Hunted and caught in the film by fictional FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), Abagnale later escaped. He eventually became a consultant for the FBI where he focused on white-collar crime.
It"s a great film, but could it happen in real life? In fact, Catch Me If You Can is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, whose career as a fraudster lasted about six years before he was caught, who escaped from custody three times (once through an airplane toilet), and who spent a total of six years in prison in France, Sweden and the US. He now runs a consultancy advising the world of business how to avoid fraud. He has raised enough money to pay back all his victims, and is now a multi-millionaire.
Since 2003, identity theft has become increasingly common. Few people could imagine how important things like taking mail to the post office and not leaving it in the mailbox for pickup, shredding documents instead of throwing them out with the trash, even using a pen costing a couple of bucks, have become to avoid life-changing crimes.
More and more people are becoming anonymous victims of identity theft. We spend many hours and dollars trying to recover our name, our credit, our money and our lives. We need to look for different ways to protect ourselves. We can improve our chances of avoiding this crime, but it will never go away.
It"s not just a list of do"s and don"ts, we need to change our mindset. Although online banking is now commonplace, there"s a significant group of people in the country — the baby boomers, 15 per cent of the population —who still prefer to use paper. What"s more, 30 per cent of cases of fraud occur within this group. A check has all the information about you that an identity thief needs. If you use a ballpoint pen, the ink can be removed with the help of a regular household
chemical and the sum of money can be changed. More than 1.2 million bad checks are issued every day, more than 13 per second.
Check fraud is big business ... and growing by 25 per cent every year. Criminals count on our mistakes to make their jobs easier. So how can we prevent identity theft before it happens to us?
Take a few precautions. Don"t leave your mail in your mailbox overnight or over the weekend. Thieves wait for the red flag to go up, so they can look through your outgoing mail for useful personal information or checks. Use a gel pen for checks and important forms, the ink is trapped in the fiber of the paper, and it can’t be removed with chemicals: Also, shred or tear up all documents which contain personal information before you put them in the trash.
Remember that there are plenty of online opportunities for thieves to create a false identity based on your own. We’re all aware of the risks to personal information on computer databases by hacking and Trojan horses. But choosing someone and doing a Google search can also yield large amounts of personal information, and so can online social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. And just as we take our pocketbook with us when we leave the office to go to the bathroom, it"s also worth logging off your computer to avoid opportunistic theft.
Finally, if you get robbed in a more traditional way — in the street—canceling your credit cards is obviously the first thing to do. But don"t forget that even after they’re reported lost, they can be used as identification to acquire store cards ... and you get the criminal record.
Identity fraud can go on for years without the victim’s knowledge. There is no escaping the fact that right now fraudsters are finding identity crime all too easy. If you haven’t had your identity stolen, it"s only because they haven’t got to you yet. Your turn will come.
“弗兰克从未上过飞行学院、医学院、法学院?因为他都还在上高中。”
这是2002年的电影《有种来抓我》的剧情简介。影片讲述了小弗兰克·阿巴格纳尔（莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥饰演）的故事。影片主人公是一位聪明绝顶的年轻骗术大师，曾在不同时间扮演医生、律师和飞行员的角色，在26个国家伪造了价值600万美元以上的支票。他成了联邦调查局有史以来伪造罪头号通缉令名单上最年轻的通缉犯。在影片中，阿巴格纳尔被虚构的联邦调查局特工卡尔·汉拉提（汤姆·汉克斯饰演）追捕，但后来逃脱了。他最终成了联邦调查局专攻白领犯罪的顾问专家。
《有种来抓我》是一部很棒的电影，但影片中的事情会在现实生活中发生吗？其实，《有种来抓我》是根据弗兰克·阿巴格纳尔的真实故事改编的，他的行骗生涯持续了大约六年；被抓后，曾三次逃脱监管（有一次是从飞机的厕所逃走的）；在法国、瑞典和美国的监狱中总共度过了六年时光。他现在经营一家咨询事务所，为企业界提供防造假咨询。他挣到了足够的钱，赔付了所有的受害者，如今已是大富豪。
2003年以来，身份盗窃案变得越来越常见。很少有人会想象到，为了预防这种改变人生的犯罪，采取一些预防措施有多么重要，比如把邮件拿到邮局去寄而不是丢在信箱里等人来取、把文件切碎而不是直接把它们连同垃圾一道扔出去，甚至使用几美元一支的（特效）
笔等等。
越来越多的人正在成为身份盗窃案的无名受害者。我们花费许多时间和金钱，去努力挽回我们的姓名、我们的信用、我们的钱和我们的生活。我们需要想方设法来保护自己。我们可以减少此类犯罪的机会，但是它永远不会消失。
这不仅仅是要求我们列一份“该做”和“不该做”事项的清单，我们还需要改变心态。虽然网上银行现在很常见，但国内有一大群人—即占人口15％的生育高峰时期出生的一代人—还是更喜欢用纸。而且，30%的诈骗案都发生在这群人当中。支票上有身份盗贼所需的你的全部信息。如果你用圆珠笔，笔迹可以用一般的家用化学药品除去，钱数可以更改。每天发出的空头支票高达120万张以上，平均每秒13张以上。
支票造假是个大产业??每年以25％的速率增长。犯罪分子指望我们犯错误，好让他们更容易得手。那么我们怎样才能防患于未然呢？
采取一些预防措施。不要把你的邮件留在邮箱里过夜或过周末。小偷就等着看你家信箱的小红旗（注：在美国，信箱上插上小红旗表示有邮件需要投递），以便通过你要投递的邮件找寻有用的个人信息或支票。要用签字笔填写支票和重要表格，（因为）签字笔的墨水会渗进纸张的纤维中，无法用化学药品除去。还有，切碎或撕碎含有个人信息的所有文件，然后再把它们丢进垃圾桶。
记住，网上有大量机会可以被小偷利用。他们根据你的身份伪造假身份。我们都知道黑客行为和木马软件对电脑数据库中个人信息的威胁。但是在谷歌上搜索某人也会透露大量个人信息，在线社交网站（如“我的空间”、“相册”和“毕波”）也一样。正如我们离开办公室去厕所时要随身带上钱包一样，离开电脑时也应该注销你的电脑以防临时起意的盗窃。
最后一点，假如你遭遇较传统方式的抢劫一比如在大街上一挂失你的信用卡显然是要做的第一件事。但是别忘了，即使挂了失，信用卡也可以用作身份证件来获得购物卡??那你就有了犯罪记录。
身份伪造可以肆行多年而不为受害者所知。一个无法回避的事实是：现在的诈骗者觉得身份犯罪简直是太容易了。如果你的身份尚未失窃，那只是因为他们还没有对你动手。就会轮到你的。
Unit 4 The death of Newspaper 报纸的末日？
For years it started the day for millions of people: the sound of the newspaper hitting the front door, the window or the neighbor"s dog. With a cup of coffee, maybe some breakfast, the ritual of reading the newspaper was the quiet before the storm, a moment of pleasure and peace before the working day began.
But all over the English-speaking world, newspaper editors are facing the same problem: Circulation has declined, as more and more readers turn to the Internet for their news. This means that the revenue from advertising is also declining, and the cover price of the newspaper is rising, so they can make the same amount of money. And of course, a price-sensitive product like a newspaper could lose readers, and the vicious circle continues. So what does the future hold? Is it the death of the newspaper?
The decline is a long-term trend of 20 or more years, predating the Internet. Four-fifths of Americans once read newspapers. Today, it seems that fewer than half do. Among adults,
between 1990 and 2000, daily readership fell from 52.6 per cent to 37.5 per cent. Among the young, the situation is even worse: Only 19 per cent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 claim to read a daily newspaper. A mere nine per cent trusted the information the newspaper contains.
Advertising on the Internet works differently than in print. The advertiser can monitor minute by minute if their ads are working, and no longer has to rely on circulation figures. The greater number of outlets which the Internet can offer encourages ferocious competition for advertising revenue, while printing and production costs have risen remorselessly. As a result, The New York Times Company has downsized by 700 jobs among its various papers. The Baltimore Sun is closing down its foreign news bureaux. In the UK most newspapers have reduced the newspaper to tabloid size, in a bid to capture younger readers, although because "tabloid" has a connotation of "downmarket", some of the papers refer to the new size as "compact’.
All large circulation newspapers have established strong websites. The Internet provides an easy outlet for anyone with an opinion, and there"s nothing a newspaper editor likes more for reassurance about their work than feedback and opinions, as diverse as possible. Teenagers today don"t remember a time when they didn"t have the Internet, and reading a newspaper is something they only do if they have an assignment to write about the specific medium of print journalism.
It"s hard to deny the environmental impact of newspapers. Nearly four billion trees worldwide are cut down annually for paper, representing about 35 percent of all harvested trees. It has to be said that many of the trees used for paper come from special estates where they"re planted and replaced on a regular basis. Furthermore, yesterday"s newspaper is often recycled and turned back into today"s. Nevertheless, paper mills are among the worst polluters to air, water and land of any industry in the US.
But the daily or weekend newspaper is still a great tradition for many people. "Sunday wouldn"t be Sunday without the Sunday newspapers," is a comment which occurs regularly in UK-based surveys. Other opinions draw attention to the convenience of the paper over the laptop: "My newspaper"s battery never dies," "If I drop my newspaper, it doesn"t break," "The flight attendant has never told me to put my newspaper away," and, reminding us of the traditional wrapping of the UK"s national takeaway food, "You can swat flies with them, and they can still be used to wrap fish."
So maybe the newspaper won"t die without a struggle. Trends for the future of newspaper include an increased demand for local news, and the continued exploitation of lifestyle journalism, which began in the late 1980s, especially within personal finance and travel, will create new revenue streams. Some commentators recommend that, instead of dumbing down, which is the usual way of increasing one"s market share, newspapers should smarten up, that is to say, honor the principles of integrity and impartiality of their coverage. A newspaper with editorial positions which are respected by its readers will surely have more influence and prestige than the same reports read one by one on the Internet.
Moreover, the small-town newspaper will always be meaningful for the parents whose child"s photo is news for a few days. And reading the traditional Sunday newspapers in an armchair while everyone else takes the day off is going to be a hard habit to break.
But is it enough? Or will we one day see the death of the newspaper?
多年来，数以百万计的人在报纸击中前门、窗户或邻居的狗的叫声中开始了一天的生活。对着一杯咖啡，也许还有早餐，看报的仪式是风暴之前的平静，是工作日开始之前的愉快安宁。
可是，在所有讲英语的国家，报纸编辑们正面临着同一个问题：发行量下滑了，因为越来越多的读者转向互联网阅读新闻。这意味着同时下滑的广告收入，以及随之上涨的报纸定价，因为只有这样他们才能挣到一样多的钱。当然，像报纸这样价格敏感的产品可能会失去读者，恶性循环会不断加剧。那么将来会怎样？报纸是否走上了末路？
这种下滑是20多年来的长期趋势，在互联网问世之前就已出现。从前，五分之四的美国人看报，而如今似乎只有不到一半。1990至2000年间，成年人每天看报的人数从52.6%下降到37.5%。年轻人中情况更槽：18至34岁的年轻人只有19%自称每天看报。而仅有9%的人相信报纸上的信息。
互联网广告的运作方式与报纸广告不同。广告商可以逐分逐秒地监视广告是否在起作用，而不再需要依赖报纸的发行量。互联网可提供的更多的窗口使广告收入之战更加激烈，印刷和生产成本却不可遏制地上涨。结果，《纽约时报》公司旗下各种报纸已裁减了700份工作。《巴尔的摩太阳报》即将关闭其驻外新闻机构。在英国，多数报纸都缩版成为小报开本，意在吸引年轻读者，但是因为“小报”有“低档廉价”之嫌，有些报纸就称新开本为“缩编版”。
所有发行量大的报纸都建立了强大的网站。 互联网为任何有意见的人提供了一个便利的窗口；报纸编辑最喜欢的莫过于给他们提供各种不同的反馈和意见，他们能从中得到安慰。如今十几岁的少年已不记得曾经没有互联网的日子了；只有在写关于印刷新闻这一特定媒体的作业时他们才去看报纸。
不可否认报纸对环境的影响。世界上每年有近40亿裸树木被砍伐用来造纸，约占全部木材砍伐量的35%。但必须承认，许多用来造纸的树木是在特别的种植园出产的，它们是定期砍伐和栽种的。而且，旧报纸常被回收利用，变成新的报纸。尽管如此，在美国，造纸厂是对空气、水体和土地污染最严重的行业之一。
但是，对于许多人来说，日报或周报依然是个伟大的传统。“没有礼拜天版报纸的礼拜天就不是礼拜天，”这样的评语常见于在英国所做的调查。其他评语则提到报纸比笔记本电脑更方便之处：“我的报纸永远不会没电，”“假如我的报纸掉到地上，它不会摔破，”“空姐从来不会叫我把报纸收起来，”此外，还有评语让我们想到英国全国的外卖食品的传统包装方式，“你可以用它们来打苍蝇，还可以用来包鱼。”
如此看来，报纸是不会轻易消失的。未来报纸发展的趋势包括对本地新闻需求的日益增长，而始于20世纪80年代后期的对生活方式新闻的持续开发利用—尤其在个人理财和旅游方面—将会创造新的收入来源。有些评论者建议，报纸不应粗制滥造（尽管这是增加市场份额的通常做法），而应该精工细作。也就是说，尊崇以正直、诚实和不偏不倚的态度从事新闻报道的原则。具有为读者所敬重的办报立场的报纸肯定比互联网上零散阅读的同类报道享有更大的影响力和声望。
此外，小城镇报纸对于为人父母者总是意味深长，因为其子女的照片也许会在上面刊登，几天都是新闻。人人都放假的时候，坐在扶手椅上看传统的礼拜天版报纸，这将是难以打破的习惯。
但是这样是否足够？或者，有朝一日我们一定会看到报纸的消亡？
Unit 5 The Story of Anne Frank’s Diary 安妮·弗兰克日记的故事
“13 June 1944. Another birthday has gone by so now I"m 15. I"ve received quite a few presents, an art history book, a set of underwear, two belts, and a handkerchief, two pots of yogurt, a pot of jam and two small honey biscuits ... Peter and I have both spent years in the annexe — we often discuss the future, the past and the present, but ... I miss the real thing, and yet I know it exists.”
Anne Frank wrote these words in her now famous diary while she and her family were in hiding in "the secret annexe", a few rooms in the back of her father"s office in Amsterdam, Holland.
The Franks were in fact refugees, Jews from Germany who had emigrated to Holland, settling in Amsterdam to escape from Nazi persecution. But when, in May 1940 the German army invaded and occupied Holland, the persecution of the Dutch Jews very quickly began there too.
Like all Jews, Anne and her sister Margot were forbidden to attend school, to ride their bikes, even to travel in a car. They were only allowed to go into certain shops, and at all times they had to wear a yellow star on their clothing to show they were Jewish. The star of David, an important religious symbol, was transformed into a badge of shame by the Nazis.
By 1941, the Nazis were arresting large numbers of Jewish people, and sending them to labor camps which quickly became death camps. Otto Frank, Anne"s father, decided to conceal his family, and the family of his business partner.
The Franks went into hiding on 6 July 1942, just a few weeks after Anne started her diary, and were joined by the second family, the Van Pels a week later. For the next two years, eight people were confined to just six small rooms and could never go outside. There was rarely enough to eat, and the families lived in a state of poverty.
Throughout her time in hiding, Anne continued to write her diary. She describe the day-to-day activity in the annexe but she also wrote about her dreams and aspirations. It was very hard for her to plan for a future; she and the others knew what was happening to the Jews who had been caught.
"Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they"re sending all the Jews ... If it"s that bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they’re being gassed." —October 9, 1942
Despite being an ordinary teenager in many ways, curious, self-critical and moody, Anne was also an honest writer of considerable talent who fought for the right to live and this is what gives the diary such power:
"It"s a wonder I haven"t abandoned all of my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet, I cling to them because I still believe in spite of everything that people are truly good at heart ...I must hold to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I will be able to realize them.
It"s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly turned into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more ... I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out." — July 15, 1944
Writing these words, Anne was not displaying simple childish optimism. It was more a declaration of her principles and of the right to human dignity. The voice that comes across is of a solitary young girl writing for herself, yet at the same time it is the cry of all those innocent victims of evil whose fate was to suffer in the Second World War. That is why Anne Frank"s diary has achieved fame as the voice of the Holocaust in which six million Jews were murdered: She speaks for all of humanity.
In August 1944, the hiding place was stormed, and Nazi officers arrested everyone. They were taken to a transit camp and forced to do hard labor. From there they were taken by train to a concentration camp at Auschwitz. A month later, Anne and Margot were moved to Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany. They both died of typhus and starvation in March 1945. Anne Frank was 15, her sister was 19. Out of the eight people in hiding, Otto Frank was the only survivor, and when he found his daughter"s diary after the war, he arranged for its publication in recognition of her courage.
When Anne wrote in her diary "I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me", she couldn"t have known that her writing would also be a support and comfort to the whole world after her death.
“1944年6月13日。又一个生日过去了，我现在15岁了。我收到了不少礼物：一本艺术史、一套内衣、两根腰带、一幅手帕、两罐酸奶、一罐果酱和两小块蜂蜜饼干??彼得和我在藏身所里待了两年了一我们经常谈论将来、过去和现在，可是??我想念外面真实的世界，而且我知道它存在。”
安妮·弗兰克在她现已出名的日记中写下了这些话，当时她和她的家人躲在“秘室”里，那是她父亲在荷兰阿姆斯特丹的办公室后面的几间屋子。
弗兰克一家实际上是难民，是从德国移民到荷兰的犹太人，定居在阿姆斯特丹以逃避纳粹的迫害，但是在1940年5月，当德国军队入侵并占领了荷兰之后，对荷兰犹太人的迫害也很快就开始了。
像所有的犹太人一样，安妮和姐姐玛戈被禁止上学、骑自行车、甚至坐汽车。德军只允许他们进有些店铺，任何时候都要在衣服上带着一颗黄星以表示他们是犹太人。大卫之星，一种重要的宗教象征，被纳粹变成了一种耻辱的标志。
到1941年，纳粹开始大量逮捕犹太人，把他们送往劳改集中营，劳改集中营很快就变成了死亡集中营。安妮的父亲奥托·弗兰克决定把家人和生意伙伴的家人藏起来。
1942年，7月6日，就在安妮开始写日记数周后，弗兰克一家躲了起来，一星期后，范·佩尔一家人也加入进来。在其后的两年里，八个人就关在六个小房间里，绝不能外出。两家人生活在贫困状态之中，连足够的食物都没有。
在躲藏的日子里，安妮一直坚持写日记。她逐日叙述“秘室”里的日常活动，也记述自己的梦想和憧憬。她很难设想未来；她和别的人都清楚，犹太人被捉住会有什么下场。
“我们的许多犹太人朋友和熟人都被成群地带走了。盖世太保对他们非常粗暴，用运牲口的拖车把他们运送到德伦特最大的集中营威斯特伯克，他们把所有犹太人都遣送到那里。??如果说在荷兰都这么槽，那么在德国人送他们去的那些遥远的蛮荒之地又会是什么样呢？我们猜想他们中的大多数正在被杀害。英国广播说他们正在被毒气熏死。”1942年10月9日
尽管安妮在许多方面都是个普通的十几岁少女，好奇、自我批评而且喜怒无常，但她还是个相当有天赋的诚实的作者，为生存的权利而斗争着。正是这一点赋予了她的日记如此强大的力量：
“我没有放弃所有理想，这简直是奇迹；它们显得那么荒唐和不切实际。然而，我紧紧抓着它们，因为我仍然相信，不管怎么样，人们的内心都是真正善良的??我必须坚持我的理想。也许在将来的某一天我的理想会实现。
我完全不可能把我的生活建立在混乱、苦难和死亡的基础上。我眼看着这世界正慢慢地变成荒野；我耳听着那逼近的雷霆，终有一天也会把我们摧毁；我感受着数百万人的苦难。然而，仰望天空的时候，我不知为什么觉得一切都将变好，这残酷的现实也将结束，和平和安宁将再度回归??我必须捍卫我的理想，因为也许我能够实现它们的时候就要到了。”1944年7月15日
安妮写这些话，并非在展示简单幼稚的乐观主义。那是她的信念和人类尊严权利的宣言。它传来的是一个孤独少女的声音，她为自己写作，但同时也是所有无辜受邪恶迫害者的呐喊，他们的命运就是在第二次世界大战期间受难。这就是安妮·弗兰克的日记被誉为犹太人大屠杀（其间有六百万犹太人被杀害）之声的原因：她的话代表了全人类的心声。
1944年8月，他们的藏身处被突袭了，纳粹官员逮捕了每一个人。他们被带往一个过渡性集中营，被迫做苦工。从那里，他们又被火车送往奥斯威辛。一个月后，安妮和玛戈被转移到德国的贝尔根一贝尔森集中营。她俩均于1945年3月死于斑疹伤寒和饥饿。安妮·弗兰克时年15岁；她的姐姐19岁。在躲藏的八个人中，唯一幸存者是奥托·弗兰克。他在战后发现了女儿的日记，设法出版了它，以表彰她的勇气。
当安妮在日记中写下“我希望你对我会是极大的支持和安慰”这句话时，她不可能知道，在她死后，她的文字也会是对全世界的支持和安慰。
Unit 6 My Dream Comes True梦想成真
The rain had started to fall gently through the evening air as darkness descended over Sydney. Hundreds of lights illuminated Stadium Australia, and the noise was deafening. As I walked towards the track I glanced around me at the sea of faces in the stands, but my mind was focused. The Olympic gold medal was just minutes away, hanging tantalizingly in the distance.
My heart was beating loudly, my mouth was dry and the adrenaline was pumping. I was so close
to the realization of my childhood dream and the feeling was fantastic; it was completely exhilarating, but also terrifying. I knew I would have to push myself beyond my known limits to ensure that my dream came true.
I tried to keep composed, telling myself not to panic, to stick to the plan and run my own race. I knew the Russian girls would set off quickly — and I had to finish this race fewer than ten seconds behind the Russian athlete Yelena Prokhorova. If I could do that, the title would be mine.
I looked out along the first stretch of the 400m track and caught my breath. The 800m race had punished me so much over the years— in the World, Commonwealth and European Championships —and now it stood between me and the Olympic title.
The British supporters were cheering so loudly it seemed as if they were the only fans there. I could hear my name being called. I could hear the shouts of encouragement and the cries of hope. Union Jacks fluttered all around the vast, beautiful stadium. I felt unified with the crowd — we all had the same vision and the same dream.
My ankle was bandaged against an injury I had incurred in the long jump just a couple of hours earlier, but I shut out all thoughts of pain. I tried to concentrate on the crowd. They were so vocal. My spirits lifted and I felt composed.
I knew I would do my best, that I would run my heart out and finish the race. I felt the performer in me move in and take over. I had just two laps to run, that was all. Just two laps until the emotional and physical strain of the past two days and the last 28 years would be eclipsed by victory or failure. This race was all about survival. It"s only two minutes, I kept telling myself, anyone can run for two minutes.
The starting gun was fired, and the race began. The first lap was good, I managed to keep up with the group, but I was feeling much more tired than I usually did, and much more than I"d anticipated. Both the long, hard weeks of training that had led up to this championship, and the exhaustion from two days of grueling competition were showing in my performance. Mental and physical fatigue were starting to crush me, and I had to fight back.
Prokhorova had set the pace from the start. It was important that I didn’t let her get too far in front. I had to stay with her. At the bell I was 2.3 seconds behind her. Just one lap to go. One lap. I could do it. I had to keep going. In the final 150 meters I could hear the roar of the crowd, giving me a boost at exactly the moment I needed it the most — just when my legs were burning and I could see the gap opening between me and the Russian. Thankfully, my foot was holding out, so now it was all down to mental stamina.
Prokhorova was pulling away. I couldn"t let her get too far; I had to stay with her. I began counting down the meters I had left to run; 60m, 50m, 40m, 2om. I could see the clock. I could do it, but it would be close. Then finally the line appeared. I crossed it, exhausted. I had finished.
As I crossed the line my initial thought was how much harder the race had been than expected, bearing in mind how, only eight weeks before, I had set a new personal best of two minutes 12.2 seconds. Then my mind turned to the result. Had I done it? I thought I had. I was aware of where the other athletes were, and was sure that I"d just made it. But, until I saw it on the scoreboard, I wouldn"t let myself believe it. As I stood there, staring up and waiting for confirmation, I tried hard to keep negative thoughts from my mind - but I couldn’t help thinking, what if I have just missed out? What if I’ve been through all this, and missed out?
In the distance I could hear the commentary team talking about two days of tough competition, then I could almost hear someone say, "I think she"s done enough." The next thing I knew, Sabine Braun of Germany came over and told me I"d won. They had heard before me, and she asked what it felt like to be the Olympic champion. I smiled, still not sure.
Then, the moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life —my name in lights. That was when it all hit me. Relief, a moment of calm, and a thank you to my inner self for taking me through these two days. I felt a tingle through the whole of my body. This was how it is meant to be —arms aloft and fists clenched.
I looked out at the fans, who were waving flags, clapping and shouting with delight. I was the Olympic champion. The Olympic champion.
当夜幕降临悉尼时，雨也开始悄悄地从夜空中飘落。几百盏灯把澳大利亚体育场照得灯火通明，场内的声音震耳欲聋。走向跑道时我看了一眼四周看台上无数的脸，但我的注意力还是很集中。再过几分钟奥运金牌的归属就要见分晓了，它悬挂在远处，很诱人。
我的心在剧烈地跳动，口干舌燥，肾上腺素猛增。童年的梦想就要实现了，这种感觉真是太奇妙了：令人非常兴奋，又胆战心惊。我知道，为了确保能梦想成真我必须强迫自己超越已知的极限。
我极力保持镇静，告诫自己不要紧张，要坚持按原计划做，按自己的节奏跑。我知道那些俄罗斯姑娘起跑很快—这场比赛我落后俄罗斯运动员叶莲娜·普罗科霍洛娃不能超过十秒。如果我做到这一点，冠军就是我的了。
我望着四百米跑道的起跑点，屏住了呼吸。这些年来，在世锦赛、英联邦锦标赛以及欧洲锦标赛的八百米赛跑中我屡战屡败，饱受挫折。现在，它再次横在我与奥运冠军头衔之间。
我的英国支持者在为我欢呼，声音特别大，就好像看台上只有他们是我的狂热支持者。我听到他们喊我的名字，为我鼓劲加油，听到他们充满希望的呐喊。宽阔美丽的体育场上到处飘扬着大不列颠联合王国的国旗，我感觉自己和观众融为了一体：我们有着同样的期盼，同样的梦想。！
几个小时前，我的脚踩在跳远时受了伤，缠上了绷带，但是我忘掉伤痛，尽量把注意力集中在观、众身上。他们的叫喊声势浩大，使我精神振奋，我感到镇定自若。
我知道自己会全力以赴，拼尽全力跑完全程。我感觉自己已经进入最佳状态。我只要跑两圈就行了，就两圈。跑完这两圈，过去两天以及28年来所有情感和身体上的辛苦付出就将被胜利或者失败所淹没。这一跑真是生死攸关。我不断地告诉自己：也就是跑两分钟，谁都能跑两分钟。
发令枪响了，比赛正式开始。第一圈还好，我跟其他人跑得一样快，但我觉得比平时要累得多，比我预想的要累得多。这次锦标赛赛前长达数周的艰苦训练以及这两天激烈的比赛所带来的疲劳在我的赛跑过程中显现出来。精神和肉体的疲倦开始向我袭来，我不得不反击。
普罗科霍洛娃一开始就领先。最重要的是我不能被她甩得太远，我得紧紧地跟着她。最后一圈的铃声响起时，我比她落后2.3秒。只剩最后一圈了，就一圈，我能赢，我必须坚持跑下去。到最后150米的时候我听见观众高声叫喊，在我最需要的时候为我加油助威一这时我的腿疼得要命，我看见我和那个俄罗斯运动员之间的距离正在加大。令人欣喜的是我的脚都还在继续往前迈，这时候就全靠精神毅力来支撑了。
我听见远处转播比赛的解说员在谈论两天来的艰难赛事，我好像听见有人说：“我觉得她做得够好了。”接下来，来自德国的萨拜因·布劳恩走过来告诉我我赢了，他们在我之前打听到了消息，她问我当奥运冠军是什么滋味。我笑了，但还是不敢肯定。
接下来的那一刻将让我铭记一生：计分牌上我的名字亮了。那一刻我惊呆了。如释重负，平静了一会儿，感谢我内在的自我帮我度过了这两天。我感到全身一阵振颤，这时候该做的事是：高举双手，紧握双拳。
我向我的支持者望去，他们正兴高采烈地挥舞旗帜，鼓掌呐喊。我是奥运冠军，奥运会的冠军。
Unit 7 Are Animals Smarter Than We Think? 动物比我们想象的更聪明吗？
What does an elephant see when it looks in the mirror? Itself, apparently. Previously, such self-awareness was thought to be limited to humans, primates and the great celebrities of the world of animal intelligence, dolphins. At first, elephants in studies with mirrors will explore the mirror as an object. Eventually, they may realize they are looking at themselves. They will repeatedly touch a mark painted on their heads that they wouldn"t see without the mirror. Diana Reiss of Hunter College believes these are compelling signs of self-awareness.
Scientists used to believe that animals were like machines programmed to react to stimuli. They were not considered capable of feeling or thinking, and certainly not of understanding abstract concepts. However, any dog owner will disagree. They know, when they see the love in their pet"s eyes, that it has feelings. A dog can be trained to respond to commands and perform useful tasks. It can recognize different people and make choices about what to eat or which path to take. But does this mean that an animal is capable of thinking and, if so, can it be proved? Our perceptions of animals are filtered through our own human understanding of the world and we often project human feelings and thoughts onto other creatures.
One of the first scientists to try to investigate the animal mind was the British naturalist Charles Darwin. In his book The Descent of Man, published in 1871, he questioned whether higher mental abilities such as self-consciousness and memory, were limited to human beings. Darwin speculated that human and non-human minds aren"t all that different. Animals, he argued, face the same general challenges and have the same basic needs as humans: to find food and a mate, to navigate through the sky, the woods or the sea. All these tasks require the ability to problem-solve and to categorize. Birds, for example, need to be able to distinguish colors so they know when a
fruit is ripe, what is safe to eat and what is not. Knowing the shapes of predators helps them to escape danger. Having a concept of numbers helps them to keep track of their flock, and to know which individuals have a mate.
All these skills require, not just instinct, but cognitive ability, argues Irene Pepperberg, who has worked on animal intelligence since 1977.
She studied an African grey parrot called Alex from the age of one for 30 years. Parrots are well-known for their ability to imitate speech and in her experiments; Pepperberg used this talent to find out about Alex"s understanding of the world. Her aim was to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language so that she could then have a dialogue with him. "I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world."
Memory, language, self-awareness, emotions and creativity are key indications of higher mental abilities. Scientists have, bit by bit, uncovered and documented these talents in other species. Pepperberg discovered that Alex could count, distinguish shapes, sizes, colors and materials such as wood, wool and metal. Until recently, only higher mammals, such as primates, have been thought capable of understanding concepts of "same" and "different". But parrots, like primates, live for a long time in complex societies, so abstract mental ability would seem to be a valuable survival skill for them, too.
Darwin argued that animals" minds, like their bodies, have evolved to suit their environment. He went so far as to suggest that even worms have some hint of intelligence since he observed them making judgments about the kinds of leaves they used to block their tunnels. Many scientists in the 20th century dismissed such findings as unreliable, usually influenced by anthropomorphism, in other words, judging animals by human attributes. However, the pendulum is now swinging away from thinking of animals as machines without intelligence, and back towards Darwin"s ideas. A wide range of studies on animals suggests that the roots of intelligence are deep, widespread across the animal kingdom and highly changeable.
People were surprised to find that chimpanzees and other primates were smart. They make tools. Orangutans use leaves as rain hats and protect their hands when climbing spiky trees. Scientists put this down to the fact that primates and humans share a common ancestor. What is surprising them now however, is" that intelligence doesn"t seem to be limited to those species with whom; we have a common ancestor. It appears that evolution can reinvent similar forms of consciousness indifferent species; and that to an astonishing degree, this intelligence is not reserved only for higher mammals. One vital question is thrown up by the current research: If all this is true and animals have feelings and intelligence, should it affect the way we humans treat them?
大象照镜子时到底看到了什么？显然是它自己。以前，人们认为这样的自我意识仅存于人类、灵长类动物以及动物智慧世界的明星—海豚。在这项大象和镜子的研究里，大象起初只把镜子当作物品来把玩。最后，它们可能意识到它们在镜子里看到了自己。它们会反复触碰画在它们头上的印记，这是一些没有镜子就不可能看见的印记。亨特大学的戴安娜·雷斯认为，这是自我意识的很有力的说明。
过去，科学家认为动物和机器一样，能根据事先编排好的程序对外界的刺激作出反应。还认为它们不具备感受和思考能力，绝对没有理解抽象概念的能力。但是，养狗的人是不会同意这种看法的。他们在宠物狗的眼睛里看到了爱，知道它有情感。狗能通过训练接受指令做有益的事情。它会认人、选择食物、识别道路。但这是否意味着它有思维能力呢？如果有的话，又如何证实呢？我们对动物的认知是经过过滤的，是建立在人类对世界的理解的基础上的，我们经常把人类的情感和思想投射到其它动物身上。
最早研究动物心智的科学家之一是英国博物学家查尔斯·达尔文。在1871年出版的《人类的起源》一书中，他质疑是否只有人类才具有高级思维能力—如自我意识和记忆。达尔文猜测人脑和动物脑没有那么大的差别。他认为，动物和人一样面对相同的常规挑战和相同的基本需求：寻找食物和伴侣，在天空、森林和海洋中旅行时不迷失方向。要完成这些任务，就需要有解决问题和甄别分类的能力。例如鸟类必须有分辨颜色的能力，以确定果实什么时候成熟，什么东西能吃，什么东西不能吃。了解捕食动物的形状能帮助它们避开危险，有数字概念可帮助他们了解本鸟群的情况，了解哪些鸟已有伴侣。
从1977年起就从事动物智慧研究的艾琳·佩拍伯格认为，所有这些技巧不仅需要本能，还需要认知能力。
她研究一只叫“亚历克斯”的非洲灰鹦鹉，从它一岁开始整整研究了30年。鹦鹉以模仿语言的能力著称；在她的实验里，佩拍伯格利用鹦鹉这方面的才能来了解亚历克斯对世界的理解。她的目标是教会它英语，以便能够和它对话。“我想如果它学会如何交流，我即可问它是如何看待这个世界的了。”
记忆、语言、自我意识、情感和创造性是高智力的关键标志。科学家已经一点一滴地揭示并记录了其他物种在这些方面的才能。佩拍伯格发现亚历克斯不仅能够数数，还能分辨形状、大小、颜色及材料（如木头、羊毛和金属）。直到最近，只有高等哺乳动物，如灵长类，才会被认为具有理解“相同”和“不同”这些概念的能力。但鹦鹉和灵长类一样长期生活在复杂社会里，因此抽象的智力对它们而言似乎也同样是有价值的生存技巧。
达尔文认为，动物的心智和它们的身体一样因为要适应环境而进化了。他甚至说：即便是虫子也有一点点智慧，因为他观察到虫子能判断什么样的叶子适合用来堵它们的洞口。许多20世纪的科学家轻视这些发现，认为它们不可靠，这是受了拟人说的影响，即根据人的特征来判断动物。但是，现在舆论的天平已不再向那些认为动物像机器一样没有智慧的观点倾斜了，而是向达尔文的观点倾斜。大范围的动物研究表明：智慧之根在动物界的分布既深又广，变化多端。
人们吃惊地发现黑猩猩及其他灵长类动物都很聪明，它们会制造工具。红毛黑猩猩能用树叶当斗笠挡雨；在爬带刺的树时，它们知道如何保护自己的手。科学家把这种现象归结为灵长类动物和人类拥有共同祖先这一事实。但是，现在让他们吃惊的是智慧似乎并不仅仅体现在与人同祖的物种身上。进化似乎能够在不同物种身上重新创造出相似的意识形式。令人吃惊的是，这种智慧并非高等哺乳动物的专利。目前的研究提出了一个重大的问题：如果这一切都是真的，如果动物具有情感和智力，这会改变人类对待动物的方式吗？