河海大学研究生英语教程解析(完整版)(考试重点课文翻译)(5)

这只老鼠本身没有动脑筋，但很难说不是驱动鼠的电磁体和计算机动了脑筋。这个装置确实有能力辨别正误，有能力根据自己的经历修正它的各种标准。

英国大作家塞缨尔·勃特勒在他1872年出版的长篇小说《乌有乡》中展望了未来的机器世界。从那以后，一些作家捏造了许多大机器接管并摧毁世界的故事，但作品的讽刺意味比勃特勒少得多。他们虚构的那些庞然大物在不同程度上被赋予了繁殖能力，这使它们的数量

不断增加，最终俘获、消灭人类。

现代科学并不嘲笑这种极端的设想。普林斯顿高级研究院的J·冯·诺伊曼博士对这个问题进行了认真思考：机器能成为本身可以繁殖的高级有机体吗？他的结论是，只要它们达到充分复杂的程度，这是可以做到的。从数学上说，一定的复杂程度对繁殖来说似乎是必不可少的。若没有达到那个程度，铁妈妈们就只能产生比它们自己更原始的形式，任何机器怪物的“种族”将很快丧失繁殖能力。

如果数学家的话可信，我们就可以高枕无忧一阵子了，人的生理仍比任何巨脑复杂千百万倍，单就复制错综复杂的人脑就非常棘手了。一位专家说，一台有人脑的神经原那么多电子管的计算机要帝国大厦才能把它装下，要尼亚加拉瀑布做动力才能发动它。晶体管也许可以把这个超级巨人缩小到一幢房子那么大，把它的动力需要降到几百干瓦。但是人脑可以装进一个饭碗里，而且只需要大约25瓦的动力。

但，复杂性并不是唯一要求：几十亿个部件必须协同工作，才能产生可靠的结果。一想到大多数人脑还远非完美这一个事实，人工合成的脑就不足为患了。

Unit 9

Pollution Is a Dirty Word

Robert C. Lugton

Consume, consume, consume! Our society is consumer oriented-dangerously so. To keep the wheels of industry turning, we manufacture consumer goods in endless quantities, and, in the process, are rapidly exhausting (v. use up 耗尽) our natural resources. But this is only half the problem. What do we do with manufactured products when they are worn out? They must be disposed of, but how and where? Unsightly junkyards (n. a place where old useless things are discarded 垃圾场) full of rusting automobiles already surround every city in the nation. Americans throw away 80 billion bottles and cans each year, enough to build more than ten stacks (n. a pile of something, like lumber 堆，垃圾堆) to the moon. There isn’t room for much more waste, and yet the factories grind on(无情地向前移动). They cannot stop because everyone wants a job. Our standard of living, one of the highest in the world, requires the consumption of manufactured products in ever-increasing amounts. Man, about to be buried in his own waste, is caught in a vicious (a. dangerous, cruel 邪恶的) cycle恶性循环. “Stop the world, I want to get off,” is the way a popular song put man’s dilemma (n. a situation for which there is no desirable solution 困境).消费、消费、消费！我们的社会以消费者为中心－这是很危险的。为了让工业的车轮保持转动，我们大量地生产消费品，并在此过程中迅速地消耗我们的自然资源。但这只是问题的一半。当这些工业产品被用过之后我们拿它们怎么办呢？它们 必须被处理掉，但是如何或在哪里处理呢？堆满生锈汽车的垃圾场已经包围了这个国家的每一座城市。美国人每年扔掉８００亿个瓶罐，这些东西中够从地球向月球上10多次。再也没有空间放更多的废物了，但是工厂还在继续生产着。工厂不能停下来，因为每个人都需要工作。我们的生活水平是世界上最高的之一，这就要求我们大量地消费已生产的产品。马上就要被自己制造的垃圾淹没的人类处于一种恶性循环之中。“让世界停下来，我要走开。”一首流行歌曲就是这样描述人类的困境的。

It wasn’t always like this. Only 100 years ago man lived in harmony with nature. There weren’t so many people then and their wants were fewer. Whatever wastes were produced could be absorbed by nature and were soon covered over. Today this harmonious relationship is threatened by man’s lack of foresight (n. ability to see into the future预见力) and planning, and by his carelessness and greed. For man is slowly poisoning his environment.事情并非一直如此。仅在100年前，人与

自然仍在和谐相处。那时没有这么多的人口，人们的需求也比现在少得多。制造出的任何一种垃圾都能被自然界吸收，并很快被掩盖起来。现在这种和谐关系正在面临威胁，这是由于人们缺乏远见和计划以及冷漠贪婪造成的。人类正在慢慢慢地毒害他周围的环境。

Pollution is a “dirty” word. To pollute means to contaminate (v. make dirty, impure or diseased 弄脏，污染)---to spoil something by introducing impurities (n. foreign material which make something unfit for use 杂质), which make it unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many forms. We see it, smell it, taste it, drink it, and stumble through it. We literally live in and breathe pollution, and, not surprisingly, it is beginning to threaten our health, our happiness, and our very civilization.污染是个脏词，污染意味着玷污－即用不洁之物弄污某物，使之不净或不宜使用。污染表现为很多种形式。我们可以看见它闻到它，尝到它，喝到它，甚至踩到它。毫不夸张地说，我们就生活在污染中，呼吸着它。并不奇怪，它已在危害我们的健康、幸福甚至文明。 Once we thought of pollution as meaning simply smog---the choking, stinging, dirty air that hovers (v. remain in the air at one place 盘旋，翱翔) over cities. But air pollution, while it is still the most dangerous, is only one type of contamination among several which attack the most basic life functions.我们曾经认为污染仅指烟雾－即盘旋在城市上空那令人窒息、气味刺鼻的肮脏空气。然而空气污染，虽然仍是最危险的一种污染，但它只是危害人类最基本生活活动的几种污染之一。

Through the uncontrolled use of insecticides, man has polluted the land, killing the wildlife. By dumping sewage and chemicals into rivers lakes, we have contaminated our drinking water. We are polluting the oceans, too, killing the fish and thereby depriving ourselves of an invaluable (a. too valuable for the worth to be measured 无价的) food supply.由于不加限制地使用杀虫剂，人类污染了大地，杀死了野生动物；由于向河里和湖里倾倒污水和化学制品，我们已经污染了饮用水。我们正在污染海洋，杀害鱼类，从而也使我们自己失去了一项宝贵的食物来源。 Part of the problem is our exploding population. More and more people produce more wastes. But this problem is intensified (v. make stronger or more serious 使强化，加剧)by our “throw-away” technology. Each year Americans dispose of (to get rid of as usele …… 此处隐藏：4674字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……