UNIT 1

In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, led his Grand Army into Russia. He was prepared for the fierce resistance of the Russian people defending their homeland. He was prepared for the long march across Russian soil to Moscow, the capital city. But he was not prepared for the devastating enemy that met him in Moscow – the raw, bitter, bleak Russian winter.

1812年,法国皇帝拿破仑•波拿巴率大军入侵俄罗斯。他准备好俄罗斯人民会为保卫祖国而奋勇抵抗。他准备好在俄罗斯广袤的国土上要经过长途跋涉才能进军首都莫斯科。但他没有料到在莫斯科他会遭遇劲敌—俄罗斯阴冷凄苦的寒冬。

In 1941, Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, launched an attack against the Soviet Union, as Russia then was called. Hitler's military might was unequaled. His war machine had mowed down resistance in most of Europe. Hitler expected a short campaign but, like Napoleon before him, was taught a painful lesson. The Russian winter again came to the aid of the Soviet soldiers.

1941年,纳粹德国元首阿道夫•希特勒进攻当时被称作苏联的俄罗斯。希特勒的军事实力堪称无敌。他的战争机器扫除了欧洲绝大部分地区的抵抗。希特勒希望速战速决,但是,就像在他之前的拿破仑一样,他得到的是痛苦的教训。仍是俄罗斯的冬天助了苏维埃士兵一臂之力。

UNIT 2

Two of the most frustrating things about driving a car are getting lost and getting stuck in traffic. While the computer revolution is unlikely to cure these problems, it will have a positive impact. Sensors in your car tuned to radio signals from orbiting satellites can locate your car precisely at any moment and warn of traffic jams. We already have twenty-four Navstar satellites orbiting the earth, making up what is called the Global Positioning System. They make it possible to determine your location on the earth to within about a hundred feet. At any given time, there are several GPS satellites orbiting overhead at a distance of about 11,000 miles. Each satellite contains four "atomic clocks," which vibrate at a precise frequency, according to the laws of the quantum theory.

开车最头疼的两大麻烦是迷路和交通堵塞。虽然计算机革命不可能彻底解决这两个问题,但却会带来积极的影响。你汽车上与绕轨道运行的卫星发出的无线电信号调谐的传感器能随时精确地确定你汽车的方位,并告知交通阻塞情况。我们已经有24颗环绕地球运行的导航卫星,组成了人们所说的全球卫星定位系统。通过这些卫星我们有可能以小于100英尺的误差确定你在地球上的方位。在任何一个特定时间,总有若干颗全球定位系统的卫星在11000英里的高空绕地球运行。每颗卫星都装有4个“原子钟”,它们根据量子理论法则,以精确的频率振动。

As a satellite passes overhead, it sends out a radio signal that can be detected by a receiver in a car's computer. The car's computer can then calculate how far the satellite is by measuring how long it took for the signal to arrive. Since the speed of light is well known, any delay in receiving the satellite's signal can be converted into a distance.

卫星从高空经过时发出能被汽车上计算机里的接收器辨认的无线电信号。汽车上的计算机就会根据信号传来所花的时间计算出卫星有多远。由于光速为人熟知,接收卫星信号时的任何时间迟缓都能折算出距离的远近。

UNIT 3

2 When a recent college graduate came into my office not too long ago looking for a sales job, I asked him what he had done to prepare for the interview. He said he’d read something about us somewhere.

不久前一个新近毕业的大学生到我办公室谋求一份销售工作。我问他为这次面试做过哪些准备。他说他在什么地方看到过有关本公司的一些情况。

3 Had he called anyone at Mackay Envelope Corporation to find out more about us? No. Had he called our suppliers? Our customers? No.

他有没有给麦凯信封公司的人打过电话,好了解更多有关我们的情况?没打过。他有没有给我们的供应厂商打过电话?还有我们的客户?都没有。

4 Had he checked with his university to see if there were any graduates working at Mackay whom he could interview? Had he asked any friends to grill him in a mock interview? Did he go to the library to find newspaper clippings on us?

他可曾在就读的大学里查问过有没有校友在本公司就职,以便向他们了解一些情况?他可曾请朋友向他提问,对他进行模拟面试?可曾去图书馆查找过有关本公司的剪报?

5 Did he write a letter beforehand to tell us about himself, what he was doing to prepare for the interview and why he’d be right for the job? Was he planning to follow up the interview with another letter indicating his eagerness to join us? Would the letter be in our hands within 24 hours of the meeting, possibly even hand-delivered? 他事先有没有写封信来介绍自己,告诉我们自己为这次面试在做哪些准备,自己何以能胜任此项工作?面试之后他是否打算再写一封信,表明自己加盟本公司的诚意?这封信会不会在面试后的24小时之内送到我们手上,也许甚至是亲自送来?

6 The answer to every question was the same: no. That left me with only one other question: How well prepared would this person be if he were to call on a prospective customer for us? I already knew the answer.

他对上述每一个问题的回答全都一样:没有。这样我就只剩一个问题要问了:如果此人代表本公司去见可能成为我们客户的人,他准备工作会做得怎样?答案不言自明。

UNIT 4

Although Browder and Mandl define their nationality differently, both see their identity as a matter of personal choice, not an accident of birth.

And not incidentally, both are Davos Men, members of the international business elite who trek each year to the Swiss Alpine town for the annual meeting of the world Economic Forum, founded in 1971.

This week, Browder and Mandl will join more than 2,200 executives, politicians, academics, journalists, writers and a handful of Hollywood stars for five days of networking, parties and endless earnest discussions about everything from post-election Iraq and HIV in Africa to the global supply of oil and the implications of nanotechnology.

Yet this year, perhaps more than ever, a hot topic at Davos is Davos itself.

Whatever their considerable differences, most Davos Men and Women share at least one belief that globalization, the unimpeded flows of capital, labor and technology across national borders, is both welcome and unstoppable.

They see the world increasingly as one vast, interconnected marketplace in which corporations search for the most advantageous locations to buy, produce and sell their goods and services.

虽然布劳德和曼德尔对各自的国籍有不同的界定,但他们都将国籍视为个人选择问题,而并非由出生地决定。

而且,他们两个人都是达沃斯人,这可不是凑巧的事。达沃斯人指的是那些每年长途跋涉去瑞士阿尔卑斯山区的小城参加年度世界经济论坛的国际商业精英们。(该论坛成立于1971年)

本周,布劳德和曼德尔将同2200余名企业高管﹑政客﹑学者﹑记者﹑作家和几位好莱坞明星一起,参加为期五天的交际活动﹑宴会和无休止的认真的讨论。讨论话题形形色色,从大选后的伊拉克和非洲的艾滋病病毒到全球的石油供应和纳米技术的意义。

但是今年,或许比以往更甚的是,达沃斯论坛的一个热门话题即达沃斯本身。

尽管与会男女各不相同,但他们大多数有一个共同的信念:全球化,即资本﹑劳动力和技术不受阻碍的跨国界流动,既值得欢迎又不可阻挡。

在他们看来,世界越来越像一个巨大的互相联系的市场。在这个市场里,企业寻求采购﹑生产及销售产品和服务的最佳地点。

UNIT 5

1 For thirty years now I have been studying my fellowmen. I do not know very much about them. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. I think they must have small insight or great vanity. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more they puzzle me.

三十年来,我一直研究我的人类同胞,但至今了解不多。每当有人跟我说他对一个人的第一次印象向来不错的时候,我就耸耸肩。我想这种人不是无知,就是自大。拿我自己来说,我发现,认识一个人的时间越长,我就越感到困惑。

2 These reflections have occurred to me because I read in this morning’s paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in business in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise.

Unless I had heard the story from his own lips, I should never have believed that he was capable of such an action. It was more startling because both in appearance and manner he suggested a very definite type. Here if ever was a man all of a piece.

He was a tiny little fellow, not much more than five feet four in height, and very slender, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled, and blue eyes. I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.

我产生这些想法,是因为我在今天早上的报纸上看到爱德华·海德·伯顿在神户去世的消息。他是个商人,在日本经商多年。我跟他并不熟,但是对他挺有兴趣,因为有一次他让我大吃一惊。

要不是听他亲口讲述这个故事,我根本不会相信他能做出这种事来。这件事之所以特别令人惊讶,是因为无论是外表还是风度,他都让人想到一种非常明确的类型。要说真有表里如一的人的话,那就是此公了。

他个子很小,身高不过5英尺4英寸,身材纤细,白头发、蓝眼睛,红红的脸上布满皱纹。我估计自己认识他时,他大约有60岁光景。他向来衣着整洁素雅,合乎他的年龄和身份。

3 Though his offices were in Kobe, Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at the British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one. He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humor. He seemed to be popular at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they described him as one of the best.

It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly, and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united and affectionate family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger; his smile was benign. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows.

At the same time he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly.

伯顿的办事处设在神户,但他常常到横滨来。有一次,我正好因为等船,要在那里呆几天,在英国俱乐部经人介绍与他相识。我们在一起玩桥牌。他打得不错,牌风也好。无论在玩牌的时候,还是在后来一起喝酒的时候,他的话都不多,但说的话却都合情合理。他挺幽默,但并不咋呼。他在俱乐部里似乎人缘不错,后来,在他走了以后,人家都说他是个顶呱呱的人。

事有凑巧,我们俩都住在格兰德大酒店。第二天他请我吃饭。我见到了他的太太――一位肥肥胖胖、满面笑容的半老妇人――和他的两个女儿。这显然是和睦恩爱的一家人。我想,伯顿当时给我印象最深的主要还是他这个人和善。他那双温和的蓝眼睛有种令人愉快的神情。他说话的声音轻柔;你无法想象他会提高嗓门大发雷霆;他的笑容和蔼可亲。这个人吸引你,是因为你从他身上感到他对别人的真正的爱。

同时他也喜欢玩牌,喝鸡尾酒,他能绘声绘色地讲个来劲儿的段子什么的,他年轻时多少还是个运动员呢。他是个阔佬,但他的每一个便士都是自己挣来的。我想,人们喜欢他还有一个原因,那就是他非常瘦小、脆弱,容易引起人们的恻隐之心。你觉得他甚至连只苍蝇都不忍伤害。