最新大学英语综合教程第二册第二六单元原文及翻译(2)

am the only female engineer at my company. In order to get my college degree, I had to take a lot of math and science classes. I also had to work with a team of students as part of a national competition to convert a gas-guzzling SUV into a hybrid electric

vehicle--that's where I learned how to fix cars. I'm proud to say that I got A's in all my

classes, including multivariable calculus and differential equations. I've always been pretty good at math and design, but I didn't understand where that could take me. I was expected to go to college, but no one ever told me I'd make a good engineer someday.

3. When I was in high school, I didn't know the first thing about engineering. I couldn't

have distinguished a transmission from an alternator. The car I drove needed some work but I was afraid to take it to the mechanic. Because honestly, the mechanic could have shown me an electric can opener and said, "This is part of your car and it's broken--pay me to fix it," and I wouldn't have known any better. 不久，我们的关系就急转直下。

4. At the end of my junior year of high school, I heard about a summer program designed

to interest girls in engineering. The six-week program was free, and students were given college credit and a dorm room at the University of Maryland. I applied to the program, not because I wanted to be an engineer, but because I was craving independence and wanted to get out of my parents' house for six weeks.

5. I was accepted to the program and I earned six engineering credits. The next year I

entered the university as an engineering major. Five years later I had a degree and three decent job offers.

6. I can't help shuddering when I hear about studies that show that women are at a

disadvantage when it comes to math. They imply that I am somehow abnormal. I'm not, but I do know that if I hadn't stumbled into that summer program, I wouldn't be an

engineer.

7. When I was growing up I was told, as many students are, to do what I am best at. But I

didn't know what that was. Most people think that when you are good at something, it

comes easily to you. But this is what I discovered: just because a subject is difficult to learn, it does not mean you are not good at it. You just have to grit your teeth and work harder to get good at it. Once you do, there's a strong chance you will enjoy it more than anything else.

8. In eighth grade I took algebra. On one test I got only 36 percent of the answers correct.

I failed the next one, too. I started to think, Maybe I'm just no good at this. I was lucky

enough to have a teacher who didn't take my bad grades as a judgment of my abilities, but simply as an indication that I should study more. He pulled me aside and told me he knew I could do better. He let me retake the tests, and I pulled my grade up to an A.

9. I studied a lot in college, too. I had moments of panic while sitting underneath the

buzzing fluorescent lights in the engineering library on Saturday afternoons, when I worried that the estrogen in my body was preventing me from understanding

thermodynamics. But the guys in my classes had to work just as hard, and I knew that I couldn't afford to lose confidence in myself. I didn't want to choose between my femininity and a good career. So I reminded myself that those studies, the ones that say that math comes more naturally to men, are based on a faulty premise: that you can judge a

person's abilities separate from the cultural cues that she has received since she was an infant. No man is an island. No woman is, either.

10. Why are we so quick to limit ourselves? I'm not denying that most little girls love dolls

and most little boys love videogames, and it may be true that some people favor the right side of their brain, and others the left. But how relevant is that to me, or to anyone, as an individual? Instead of translating our differences into hard and fast conclusions about the human brain, why can't we focus instead on how incredibly flexible we are? Instead of using what we know as a reason why women can't learn physics, maybe we should consider the possibility that our brains are more powerful than we imagine.

11. Here's a secret: math and science don't come easily to most people. No one was ever

born knowing calculus. A woman can learn anything a man can, but first she needs to know that she can do it, and that takes a leap of faith. It also helps to have selective hearing.

第六单元

卡罗琳.特克从事的职业传统上一直是男人们的天下。在本文，她谈到自己是如何干上这一行的以及通过她的成功显示出男人们能学会的事女人们也能做到。

男人学得会的，女人也学得会

卡罗琳·特克

1. 我小时候卧室里的每样东西都是粉红色的。我有两个姐妹，我们有一个一应俱全的微型厨房，一群各种颜色的小马驹，还有好几个芭比和凯恩玩具娃娃。我们没有玩具卡车，没有玩具大兵，也没有篮球。我们确实有一套空心棒球，但是很难在我们的游戏室找到，毕竟我们不是假小子。

2.正因为如此，有些人对我长大后成了一名机械工程师也许感到出乎意外。事实上，我是我公司里唯一的一个女工程师。为了取得大学文凭，我要上许多数学和自然科学方面的课程。我还得和几个学生一起工作，作为参与一次全国性竞赛的一部分，把一辆耗费汽油特多的运动型多用途汽车改装成混合型电动车——就这样我学会了修车。 我可以自豪地说，我门门功课都是A，包括多变量微积分和微分方程。我的数学和设计总是相当好，但是我不知道这些会给我带来什么样的结果。家里要我上大学，但是没人告诉我有一天会成为一名优秀的工程师。

3.我上高中时对工程一无所知。我那时不能辨别变速器和交流发电机。我开的车需要修理，但是我不敢把车开到修理工那里，因为说实话，如果修理工给我看一把电动开罐器并对我说：“这是你的汽车部件，坏了——你付钱我给你修，”我也不会知道他在敲诈。

4.我在高中第三年末的时候，听说有一个暑期班，专门培养女孩对工程的兴趣。课程六周，不用缴费，学生还可获得大学学分，还可享受马里兰大学学生宿舍一个房间。我申请参加这个暑期 …… 此处隐藏：4397字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……