大学英语4

Unit1

when dad told us about the delivery work it sounded easy ,just a piece of cake.the trouble was,we did not take care to inqure just how much material was involved .before long trucks seemded to be pull up outside our house all day long ,leaving stacks of advertising.it seemed we would have no chance of meeting the deadline .then we had thismarvelous idea.Hiring local kids to help would enable us to get the job done on time.True,it woule cut into our profits,but there was no native.Things seemed to be going well,but then we had trouble over a pay claim.Our workersdemanded five dollars an hour,but fortunately for us they were ready to settle for less.As for us,when we finally settle our accounts we ended up earing less than the mimimum wage for all our efforts.I guess we should have know bettle to to believe that big bucks come easy.

1) 我们接到通知，财政将于次日接见我们。

We were informed that the Minister of Finance was to give us an audience /receive us the next day.

2) 我觉得很奇怪，他似乎不记得自己的生日。

I thought it odd that he didn't seem to remember his own birthday.

3) 学期论文最迟应在下星期二交来，可是至今大部分学生却几无进展。

Next Tuesday is the deadline for handing in the term papers, but most students have hardly made a dent in the work so far.

4) 看到学生人数不断减少，校长心里很难受。(pain)

It pained the headmaster to find the number of students shrinking.

5) 在那个国家一般用现金付账，但支票变得普遍起来了，不久会代替现金作为人们结账的一种方式。

Cash is commonly used in paying bills in that country, but checks are becoming more popular and will, in a short while, replace cash as a way for people to settle their accounts.

6) 该公司声称，这条河流的污染不是它造成的。

The company claims that it is not responsible for the pollution in the river.

Unit2

While it is often said that love makes the world go round, scientists take a less romantic view. To their minds, energy is the fundmental force at work. All animal life is dependent on obtaining sufficient energy from food. Deer, like other wild animal, do this through eating as much food as possible in the summer, when food resources are abundant . Any excess of energy over their current needs is deposited in the body in the form of fat. Then, when food becomes scare in the winter, they can live off the fat. In addition, nature helps them to survive the winter by slowing down their metabolism, assisting them to pull through the cold weather. However, when the winter is particularly harsh, deer may have to draw on the fat they have built up more heavily. Under such conditions, only deer in good condition are able to survive to give birth to a new generation.

1) 比尔已是个成熟的小伙子，不再依赖父母替他做主。

Bill is a mature young man who is no longer dependent on his parents for decisions.

2) 这个地区有大量肉类供应，但新鲜果蔬奇缺。

There are abundant supplies of meat in this region, but fresh fruit and vegetables are scarce.

3) 工程师们依靠工人们的智慧发明了一种新的生产方法，使生产率得以提高。

Drawing on the wisdom of the workers, the engineers invented a new production method that led to increased productivity.

4) 他花了许多时间准备数学考试，因此当他获知自己只得了个B时感到有点失望。

He spent a lot of time preparing for his math exam. Hence he was somewhat disappointed to learn that he got only a B.

5) 我们有充裕的时间从从容容吃顿午饭。

We have ample time for a leisurely lunch.

6) 地方不得不动用储备粮并采取其他紧急措施，以渡过粮食危机。

The local government had to draw on its grain reserves and take other emergency measures so as to pull through the food crisis.

Unit3

In his essay George Orwell starts off by citing Bernard Shaw’s remark that people are more superstitious today than they were in the Middle Ages. They promptly accept the opinions of experts

without asking any questions themselves .Obviously Shaw exaggerates just in order to prove his point that we should not always fall back on the theories of well-known authorities .Rather ,we should aim at finding out some things for ourselves .By way of illustration ,Orwell outlines arguments against the Flat Earth and the Oval Earth theories ,thus throwing light on the face that much of our knowledge actually rests on authority rather than on reasoning or onexperiment .Finally ,Orwell draws his conclusion that ours is acredulous age partly because we have such an exceptionally heavy burden of knowledge.

1) 萧伯纳在他一个剧本的前言中提出这样的看法：今天人们比在中世纪时更加迷信。

In the preface to one of his plays, Bernard Shaw advances the idea that people are more superstitious today than they were in the Middle Ages.

2) 丈夫死后，她只好独自挑起抚养五个孩子的经济重担。

After her husband died, she had to bear the severe financial burden of raising five children by herself.

3) 证明或驳斥某个论点的最好办法之一是从亲身经历中举出例子。

One of the best ways to prove or refute a point is to cite examples from your own experience.

4) 亨特说贝蒂老是夸大他的缺点，这话很可能会引起一场争吵。

Hunt's statement that Betty always exaggerates his faults may well lead to a quarrel.

5) 我当时对她绝对信任，无论她告诉我什么，我都会相信。

I trusted her so much that I would have swallowed any story she told me.

6) 一家人聚拢来讨论经济问题时，父亲一开头就说，每月存点钱是绝对必要的，遇到紧急情况，我们可以依靠积蓄。

When the family gathered to discuss matters of finance, Father started off by saying that it was absolutely necessary to set aside some money each month, for in an emergency we could fall back on our savings.

Unit4 The last time Lyz saw her husband was as he waved goodbye to her from the steps of their house.he was due to fly off on business later that day.unluckly for him his flight was cancelled and he found himself having to take united flight 93 the following day.

It was from on board that ill-fated flight that he telephoned with the news that hijackers had threatened to blow up the aircraft Cursing his bad luck,he nonetheless realized that his fate was in his own hands.hoping that the terrorists were bluffing when they claimed to have a bomb,he and some other passengers decided to act.without hanging up,he set off with the others to attack the hijackers.from the telephone came the sound of screams .then silence.

Lyz still finds it hard to make sense of what happened that day,what lay behind the terrorists' mission .all that she is certain of is how enormously proud she is of her husband and how blessed she was to have been his wife.

有时，倒霉的事儿似乎会到处跟随着你。就举不久前我所遭遇到的事为例吧。一天我开车去附近一座城市出差，在一个十字路口，见到红灯亮起我便将车停了下来。可是，突然一辆黑色的别克车从后面向我的车子撞过来。我受了点伤。万分忿怒之下我咒骂着下了车，可却发现那车的女驾驶员像是被撞得不省人事了，她那坐

在车后的小孩也受伤了。我只好在口袋中摸找手机报了警。几分钟后一辆警车开来，急忙将女士和小孩送往医院。而我却被告知要待在原处。事实上，尽管我对这事毫无责任，我在两小时后方得以离开现场。回到家，精神力气好像一点儿都没有了。至于出差的事么，我只好取消了。为此，我的工作也受到很大损失。至今，我仍搞不明白这车祸到底是怎么回事。

Sometimes bad luck seems to follow you everywhere. Take, for instance, what happened to me not long ago. One day I drove to a nearby city on business. At a junction I pulled the car to a halt as the red light was on; however, a black Buick suddenly collided into my car from behind. I was slightly injured. Wild with anger I cursed and got out only to find that the woman driver of the other car appeared to have been knocked unconscious and her young child, who was sitting in the rear of the car, was hurt, too. I had to fumble in my pockets for my mobile phone and call the police. In a few minutes a police car came and rushed the lady and her child to hospital. I was, however, asked to stay where I was. In fact, I didn't leave the scene until two hours later although I was not to blame at all. By the time I got home all my energy seemed to have deserted me. As to the business trip, I had to cancel it. As a result, my work suffered enormously. Up to now, I still can't make sense of the accident.

Unit5

Whether or not to tell the seriously ill about their true condition has long been a dilemma for medical professionals. Many doctors believe that concealing the facts from those patients will benefit them psychologically and may help them recover. But new studies show that contrary to to this widespread belief, the overwhelming majority of patients want to be told the truth, even in the case of grave illnesses. If they are not, they feel betrayed and misled. As it is, lying makes it difficult for patients to make choices concerning their own health. And keeping a dying patient in the dark prevents him from making decisions about the end of his life. Lying can also cause doctors to lose their integrity and credibility and do harm to colleagues who are honest with their patients. In the

long run, lying hurts the entire medical profession. As a consequence of the current concerns, many hospitals have adopted patients’ bills of rights, but patients still need to be wary because the days of physicians deceiving patients are certainly not over yet and may never be.

1) 我确信这项所谓 (so-called) 明智的决定，与期望相反，会带来极其严重的后果。I am convinced that, contrary to expectations, the so-called informed decision will bring very grave consequences.

2) 诚然，他曾欺骗你，但他已经承认自己做错了，并道了歉。所以你不应该老是以怀疑的态度对待他。It's true he once deceived you, but he has admitted he has done wrong and apologized. So you shouldn't always treat him with suspicion.

3) 他在这个问题公开进行辩论之前就已表明了自己的立场。He had taken a stand on the issue before it was openly debated.

4) 在调查过程中，他们发现了种种形式的政治，并揭露了许多贪官污吏。In the course of their investigation, they discovered various forms of political corruption and exposed a number of corrupt officials.

5) 玛丽的两难处境是：把告诉老板从而失信于她的同事，还是让老板蒙在鼓里从而辜负他的信任。Mary's dilemma was whether to betray her colleagues by telling her boss the truth or to betray his trust by keeping him in the dark about it.

6) 首先，是什么使你认为这项规划会促进改革?其次，你怎么知道这些改革会让全县得到好处?Now, in the first place, what has made you think (led you to think) this program will promote reforms, and in the second, how do you know these reforms will benefit the whole county?

Unit6

We all know that we need to read between the lines of a text,but some people find writing between them just as helpful.

For marking books can be a useful tool at times.This is not true of all books,of course.IT would clearly be wrong to scribble notes in a magnificent leather-bound first edition that has been preserved unmarked,Not would writing on woeks we just dip into for light entertainment be appropriate.But with one’s own testbooks,marking may have a place.For reading is not just a passive transfer of information from the page to the eye.Reading is a much more active process,in which we need to thinj through and question what we read in order to integrate it into our esisting knowledge.Setting down our ideas on the pages as we read and underlining those points we find particularly relerant can have a part to play here.So,next time you sit down to study,instead of letting your eyes just glide lazily over the page,reach for your pen!

1) 那位卫生部副一再强调把中西医结合起来是多么重要。

The vice minister of health has emphasized time and again how important it is to integrate traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine.

2) 热天很难保藏食品，使之保持新鲜与食用安全。很自然，许多人觉得在夏季还是不上饭店为好。

In hot weather it is rather difficult to preserve food and keep it fresh and safe to eat. Naturally, many people prefer not to eat in restaurants during the summer months.3) 阅读时在作者强调的论点底下划线，对我们会有所裨益。

It will do us good to underline the points that the author emphasizes in his book.

4) 经过好几天侦查，警方终于弄清这起谋杀案和新近发生的越狱事件有关。

After days of inquiry the police finally tied up the murder with the case of the recent escape from prison.

5) 我想劝说他们采纳我们的计划，首先因为这一计划所需资金较少，其次，不会造成环境污染。

I want to persuade them to adopt our plan, because, in the first place, it calls for less funds and, in the second place, it will not cause environmental pollution.

6) 父亲用绳子把芹菜 (celery) 扎在一起，放在河里浸了浸，然后拿到菜场去卖。

Father bound the celery together with a rope and dipped it in the stream for a while before he took it to the market for sale.

Unit7

While attending a play, the author caught sight of a woman he had taken to luncheon twenty years before. At that time his first impression of her was that she was not very attractive, around forty years old and over-talkative. He had been too inexperienced to bring him to turn down her request to meet at an extremely expensive restaurant. She started their conversation by assuring him that she would eat only a trifle for lunch. But as she chatted away, she soon appeared to overlook her small appetite and kept on ordering more food. And she seemed to be inclined to order the most expensive food and drink. In fact, the wicked woman ordered so much that when the author picked up the bill, he was startled to see that he had only just enough to pay and tip the waiter a mean three francs. But

finally he had had his revenge. She was quite overweight. And of course, he would no longer say yes to a woman just because he was flattered by her attention.

1) 法庭的判决引起史密斯先生的朋友们的气愤，他们相信他是无辜的。

The court's judgment aroused anger among Mr. Smith's friends, who believed that he was innocent.

2) 当我们经过那家价格昂贵的餐馆时，父亲催我们快走，他说在这样高档的 (fancy) 地方用餐是大大超过我们的经济能力的。

As we passed the expensive restaurant, father hurried us along saying that it was well beyond our means to have dinner at such a fancy place.

3) 老师在评价一篇文章并给它打分 (grade vt.) 时，可能是根据总的印象而不是根据仔细的分析 (analysis)。

A teacher may evaluate and grade an essay on the basis of his general impression rather than on a detailed analysis.

4) 小狗 (puppy) 将我的一张画搞坏了，我真想对它发火，可它那十分可爱 (cute) 的样子使我不禁笑着把它从地上抱了起来。(be inclined to, ruin)

I was inclined to get angry at the puppy for ruining my painting but he was so cute that I could not help but laugh and pick him up.

5) 爱德华 (Edward) 常常喜爱在那间可以眺望大海的房间里朗诵诗歌。 Edward was in the habit of

reciting poems in the room overlooking the sea.

6) 安东尼 (Anthony) 彻夜未眠，因为他对于是否得插手此事举棋不定。

Anthony stayed up all night because he just could not make up his mind whether or not to take a hand in the matter.

Unit8 Can you visualize what the world would be like if we all lived underground ?at first thought it may not appear an attractive idea ,but someday it may be forced on us as the buildings we construct come to take up more and more of earth's surface .mind you ,life below might not be all bad .in some ways it could simplify our lives.for one thing,artificial light would enable us to get away from the need to adjust to different local times as we travel around the globe.for another ,with drawing from the surface would save us from being exposed to unfavorable weather conditions.as for other species,they would benefit from our absence and there would be more wildlife for us to see and enjoy whenever felt the need to return to the surface for recreation.

1) 有朝一日人们不需要离开城市去寻求宁静。当我们撤到地下居所时，现在由城市占据的地面便可让位于公园和荒野，供人们休闲娱乐。 Someday people need not get away from the city to find peace and quiet. When we withdraw into underground dwellings, the surface ground now occupied by cities can be turned over to park and to wilderness for recreation.

2) 请你注意并非所有的学生都愿意出席毕业典礼(graduation ceremony)，所以学校才要求凡是想领取毕业证书(diploma)的毕业生(graduating students)都得出席。

Not all of the students, mind you, are willing to attend the graduation ceremony so the school has to require that all graduating students attend the ceremony if they want to receive a diploma.

3) 对于妇女在社会中的地位问题，我们的许多看法来自封建时代(feudal times),与今天的社会是格格不入的(not relevant)。

Many of the ideas we have about the role of women in society are derived from feudal times and are not relevant in today's society.

4) 如今人们的流动性比以往任何时候都大，这也许就是为什么移动电话十分普及的原因。

People today are more mobile than ever before; perhaps this is why mobile phones have become so common.

5) 几乎每个孩子都曾梦想去太空旅游，体会一下在失重(gravity-free)环境下生活是什么样子。(virtually)

Virtually every child has dreamed of traveling in space and experiencing what it would be like to live in a gravity-free environment.

6) 我们学校鼓励学生思考(do independent thinking),不要受老师观点的束缚。 Students of our school are encouraged to do independent thinking and not to be restricted by the teacher's points of view.

几年前我父母把我带到美国时，那里的一切对我来说都十分陌生。进入一所美国中学后不久，我就感到极其孤独寂寞，因为我英语能力（competence）的欠缺造成了我与新同学之间的隔阂。父母亲弄清楚我为什么情绪那么低落后，他们鼓励我提高自己的英语水平，鼓励我通过广泛阅读丰富自己的词汇。此后我花了许多时间阅读英语书籍与杂志。好的推理作品总会使我着迷，但最吸引我的是关于杰出的科学家的故事。我记得阿伯特·爱因斯坦给我留下了很深的印象，他的思想深刻地改变了人类关于空间、时间、物质和能量的基本概念。亚里士多德（Aristotle）写了四百本左右关于各种学科的著作，这真使我大为惊异。斯蒂芬·霍金身体伤残而且不能说话，但他对科学却作出了杰出贡献。这真是奇迹啊！伟大的科学家的光辉业绩促使我下决心把一生献给科

学事业。

When my parents took me to America several years ago, everything there felt very alien to me. Soon after I attended an American high school, I felt desperately lonely because my lack of competence in English formed a barrier separating my new schoolmates and myself. When my parents found out why I was in such low spirits, they encouraged me to improve myself in English and enrich my vocabulary by reading extensively. From then on I spent many hours reading English books and magazines. I was always intrigued by good mysteries, but what fascinated me most was stories of outstanding scientists. I remember I was greatly impressed by Albert Einstein whose ideas profoundly changed mankind's basic concepts of space, time, matter and energy. And I found it amazing that Aristotle had written about 400 books on a variety of subjects. Stephen Hawking is physically disabled and unable to speak; nevertheless, he has made a notable contribution to science. What a miracle! Brilliant deeds of the great scientists led / prompted me to make up my mind to dedicate my life to the pursuit of science.

1) 关键证人的缺席有可能削弱对被告的指控力度(weaken the case against)。

The absence of the crucial witness was likely to weaken the case against the defendant.

2) 为了帮我们准备好参加辩论，教练要我们经常注意与我们自己的论点相悖的论点。(reverse)

To prepare us for the debate, the coach wanted us to be always aware of arguments that are quite the reverse of ours.

3) 尤其是, 人们指望你表现出能激励和领导一班人的潜力。

Above all you are expected to demonstrate a potential to motivate and lead the team.

医生往往为自己能够医治好病人罕见的疾病而自豪。A doctor often prides himself on the ability to cure his patient of a rare disease.

5) 如果不按时将书归还图书馆或到期前不续借，就得按规定罚款。

If books are not returned to the library on time or not renewed before they are due, a fine must be paid in accordance with the regulations.

6) 总的来说，很少有人不抱怨自己的工作的，然而一旦他们没有机会工作了又会不高兴。

On the whole, few people do not complain about their jobs. On the other hand, they would be very unhappy if they got no chance to work.