26. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out, "A technologist thinks about objects that can not be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions: they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process...The designer and the inventor.., are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist".

　　[參考譯文] 正如尤金·弗格森所指出的那樣："一個(gè)技術(shù)專家思考那些不能被簡(jiǎn)化成 能被清楚的語言描述的東西。這些東西在他的思維中是通過一種視覺的、非語言表述的過程宋處理的設(shè)計(jì)者和發(fā)明者能夠在他們的腦中裝配并作那些還不存在的裝置。"

　　27. Robert Fulton once wrote, "The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheel, etc, like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea".

　　[參考譯文] 羅伯特·法歐特曾經(jīng)這樣寫到："一個(gè)技師會(huì)坐在杠桿、螺絲釘、楔子、 輪子等等當(dāng)中，就像一個(gè)詩人沉浸在字母表的字母中，把這些字母看成自己思想的展示，在這樣的展示中，每種新的次序安排都傳達(dá)了一種新的思想。"

　　28. In the last three chapters, he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programs and, tactics, and, for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists, the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise.

　　[參考譯文] 在最后三章中，他脫下手套，將神造論者好好地揍了一頓。他描述了他 們的活動(dòng)和戰(zhàn)術(shù)，而且，對(duì)于那些對(duì)神造論者的做事方式刁；熟悉的人來說，神造論者的欺騙和扭曲事實(shí)的程度可能會(huì)令這些人有一種不快的詫異。

　　29. On the dust jacket of this fine book, Stephen Jay Gould says: "This book stands for reason itself." And so it does-and all wound be well were reason the only judge in the creationism/evolution debate.

　　[參考譯文] 在這本杰出的書的外紙封面上，史蒂芬·杰伊·古爾德寫道："這本書本 身就代表理性。"而它確實(shí)是這樣的--而且如果理性成為神造論／地化論之間的辯論中的惟一評(píng)判標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的話，一切就都好辦了。

　　30. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia's Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die.

　　[參考譯文] 經(jīng)過了六個(gè)月的爭(zhēng)論以及最后16個(gè)小時(shí)激烈的議會(huì)辯論，澳大利亞北部地區(qū)成了世界上第一個(gè)允許醫(yī)生終止希望死去的絕癥病人生命的立法當(dāng)局。

　　31. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back.

　　[參考譯文] 一些機(jī)構(gòu)終于松了一口氣，但是其他一些機(jī)構(gòu)，包括教堂，倡導(dǎo)生命之 權(quán)的團(tuán)體和澳大利亞醫(yī)學(xué)協(xié)會(huì)，尖銳地抨擊這個(gè)法案，指責(zé)法案的通過過于匆忙。但是大勢(shì)已定，不可逆轉(zhuǎn)。

　　32. In Australia- where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their partother states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia.

　　[參考譯文] 在澳大利亞--人口老齡化，延長(zhǎng)壽命的技術(shù)和變化看的社會(huì)態(tài)度，這些因素都在發(fā)揮作用一一其他的州也會(huì)考慮制定相似的關(guān)于安樂死的法律。

　　33. There are, of course, exceptions. Small--minded officials, rude waiters, and ill mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.

　　[參考譯文] 當(dāng)然，例外是存在的。在美國，心胸狹窄的官員，粗魯?shù)膫髡�，和沒有 禮貌的出租車司機(jī)也并不少見。然而人們常常得出這樣的觀察意見，這使得它值得被討論一下。

　　34. We live in a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves.

　　[參考譯文] 我們生活在一種藥品(毒品)的醫(yī)學(xué)用途和社會(huì)用途都很廣泛的社會(huì)里： 一片用來止頭痛的阿斯匹林，一些用來社交的葡萄酒，早上自己提提神所喝的咖啡，一支用來定神的香煙。

　　35. Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued.

　　[參考譯文] 對(duì)藥品的依賴性首先表現(xiàn)為不斷增長(zhǎng)的耐藥量，要產(chǎn)生想得到的效果所需要的藥品劑量越來越大，然后表現(xiàn)為當(dāng)停止用藥后，令人不快的停藥癥狀的出現(xiàn)。

　　36. "Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers?" Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last week. "You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well?"

　　[參考譯文] 上星期參議員羅博特多爾質(zhì)問時(shí)代華納公司的高級(jí)管理人員們："難道這 就是你們希望能夠成就的事業(yè)?你們已經(jīng)出賣了自己的靈魂，但是難道你們還非要腐化我們的國家，威脅我們的孩子們嗎?"

　　37. "The test of any democratic society, he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column', "lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may sometimes be..."

　　[參考譯文] "對(duì)任何一個(gè)民主社會(huì)的考驗(yàn)，"他在《華爾街雜志》的一個(gè)專欄文章中 寫到，"不在于它能夠多有效地控制各種意見的表達(dá)，而在于這個(gè)社會(huì)是否能給予思考和表達(dá)的盡可能廣泛的自由，不管有時(shí)候這種結(jié)果是多么的富有爭(zhēng)議或令人不快…"

　　38. During the discussion of rock singing verses at last month's stockholders' meeting, Levin asserted that "music is not the cause of society's ills" and even cited his son, a teacher in the Bronx, New York, who uses rap to communicate with students.

　　[參考譯文] 在-上個(gè)月的股東大會(huì)上關(guān)于搖滾歌詞的討論中，萊文宣稱說："音樂不是 社會(huì)問題的原因"，他甚至還以他的兒子為例。他的兒子是紐約州布朗克斯的一個(gè)教師，并用說唱音樂與學(xué)生們進(jìn)行溝通。

　　39. Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as "steering the economy to a soft landing" of "a touch on the brakes" , makes it sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth.

　　[參考譯文] 有很多用于描述貨幣政策的詞匯，例如"輕踩剎車"以"操縱經(jīng)濟(jì)軟著陸"，使貨幣政策聽起來像是一門精確的科學(xué)。沒有什么比這更遠(yuǎn)離實(shí)際情況的了。

　　40. Economists have been particularly surprised by favorable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since, conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially America's, have little productive slack.

　　[參考譯文] 經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們對(duì)英國和美國的有利的通貨膨脹數(shù)據(jù)尤其感到驚訝，因?yàn)閭?統(tǒng)的計(jì)量方法顯示兩國的經(jīng)濟(jì)，特別是美國的經(jīng)濟(jì)，幾乎沒有生產(chǎn)蕭條的時(shí)候。

　　41. The most thrilling explanation is, unfortunately, a little defective. Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have upended the old economic models that were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.

　　[參考譯文] 很不幸，這最令人震驚的解釋有一點(diǎn)缺陷。一些經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為世界經(jīng)濟(jì)結(jié)構(gòu)的強(qiáng)有力的變化已經(jīng)結(jié)束了那個(gè)以經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)和通貨膨脹的歷史關(guān)聯(lián)為基礎(chǔ)的舊的經(jīng)濟(jì)模式。

　　42. The Aswan Dam, for example, stopped the Nile flooding but deprived Egypt of the fertile silt that floods left-all in return for a giant reservoir of disease which is now so full of silt that it barely generates electricity.

　　[參考譯文] 例如，阿斯旺大壩使得尼羅河不再洪水泛濫，但是它也奪去了埃及以前 所享有的洪水留下的肥沃淤泥--這些換宋的就是這么個(gè)疾病滋生的水庫，現(xiàn)在這個(gè)水庫積滿了淤泥，幾乎不能發(fā)電了。

　　43. New ways of organizing the workplace--all that re-engineering and downsizing--are only one contribution to the overall productivity of an economy, which is driven by many other factors such as joint investment in equipment and machinery, new technology, and investment in education and training.

　　[參考譯文] 企業(yè)重組的新方法--所有那些重新設(shè)計(jì)、縮小規(guī)模的做法--只是對(duì) 一個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的整體生產(chǎn)力做出了一方面的貢獻(xiàn)。這種經(jīng)濟(jì)還受許多其他因素的驅(qū)動(dòng)，比如結(jié)合設(shè)備和機(jī)械上的投資、新技術(shù)，以及在教育和培訓(xùn)上的投資。

　　44. His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have applied re-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without giving sufficient thought to long-term profitability.

　　[參考譯文] 他的同事邁克爾·比爾說，有太多的公司已經(jīng)用一種機(jī)械的方式實(shí)行公司內(nèi)部的重新設(shè)計(jì)，在沒有充分考慮長(zhǎng)期贏利的能力下削減了成本。

　　45. Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as "The Flight from S.cience and Reason" , held in New York City in 1995, and "Science in the Age of (Mis) information, which assembled last June near Buffalo.

　　[參考譯文] 科學(xué)衛(wèi)士們?cè)跁?huì)議上也表述了他們的關(guān)注，比如1995年在紐約市舉行的 "逃離科學(xué)與理性"會(huì)議，以及去年6月在布法羅附近召開的"(錯(cuò)誤) 信息時(shí)代的科學(xué)"會(huì)議。

　　46. A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the antiscience tag has been attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research.

　　[參考譯文] 一項(xiàng)關(guān)于1996年新聞報(bào)道的調(diào)查顯示，反科學(xué)的標(biāo)簽還可以貼在許多其 他團(tuán)體身上，從提倡消滅最后存留的天花病毒的權(quán)威機(jī)構(gòu)，到鼓吹削減基礎(chǔ)研究經(jīng)費(fèi)的共和黨人(都被貼上了反科學(xué)的標(biāo)簽)。

　　47. The 'true enemies of science, argues Paul Ehrllch of Stanford University, a pioneer of environmental studies, are those who question the evidence supporting global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and other consequences of industrial growth.

　　[參考譯文] 環(huán)境研究的先驅(qū)、斯坦福大學(xué)的保羅·厄爾里西認(rèn)為，科學(xué)真正的敵人 是那些對(duì)支持全球變暖、臭氧層損耗以及工業(yè)發(fā)展的其他后果的證據(jù)提出置疑的人。

　　48. This development--and its strong implication for US politics and economy in years ahead--has enthroned the South as America's most densely populated region for the first time in the history of the nation's head counting.

　　[參考譯文] 這種發(fā)展--以及其對(duì)美國政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)在未來幾年的潛在的強(qiáng)有力的影 響一一使得南部在全國人口普查中有史以來首次成為美國人口最密集的地區(qū)。

　　49. Often they choose--and still are choosing--somewhat colder climates such as Oregon, Idaho and Alaska in order to escape smog.crime and other plagues of urbanization in the Golden State.

　　[參考譯文] 他們常常選擇--現(xiàn)在依然這樣選擇--居住在那些氣候較為寒冷的地區(qū)， 比如俄勒岡、愛達(dá)荷，還有阿拉斯加，為的是逃避煙霧、犯罪， 以及"金州"(加利福尼亞)城市化進(jìn)程中的其他問題。

　　50. As a result, California's growth rate dropped during the 1970's, to 18.5 percent--little more than two thirds the 1960's growth figure and considerably below that of other Western states.

　　[參考譯文] 結(jié)果，加利福尼亞的人口增長(zhǎng)率在20世紀(jì)70年代時(shí)下降到了18．5％一 一稍高于60年代增長(zhǎng)率的三分之二，大大低于西部其他各州。

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