shape of mountains so that life could flourish in the old bad lands of the world where it had never taken root before.
不到两年前，乔治以优异成绩毕业于麻省理工学院，在田纳西州南部的一家建筑工程公司谋得一个职位。从小时候起，乔治想的就是隧道呀、摩天楼呀、巨大的平坝呀??有着3座塔墩的高桥呀——桥上的塔墩像是一排手拉手的舞蹈家，塔尖像都市的大楼一样高耸入云，钢缆又如同姑娘的长裙一般婀娜多姿。乔治·奥凯利一直觉得，让江河改向、让高山让路、让世界上那些了无生机的不毛之地兴旺发达起来，这该有多么浪漫啊!
关键句子讲解
? ? ?
There it was on the bureau, the letter — in sacred ink, on blessed paper
信，摊在写字台上——写信的墨水是圣洁的，用的信纸也是神圣的
all over the city, people, if they listened, could hear the beating of George O'Kelly's heart.
整座城市的人们啊，只要侧耳细听，准能听到乔治·奥凯利的心房跳动声。
He read the commas, the blots, and the thumb-smudge on the margin — then he threw himself hopelessly upon his
bed.
信上的每个标点、每个墨渍、以至空白处手指蹭脏的每个污痕，都读进了他的心里——看完，他绝望地扑倒在床上。
?
He was in a mess, one of those terrific messes which are ordinary incidents in the life of the poor, which follow
poverty like birds of prey.
乔治陷入了困境——像他这样极为狼狈的处境原是穷人生活中常有的事，可以说如同魔影一样总是缠住穷人不放。（真可谓越穷越见鬼。？）
? ?
The poor go under or go up or go wrong or even go on, somehow, in a way the poor have
穷人嘛，不往上爬就完蛋，要不走上邪道，再就是用穷人所特有的办法混下去
but George O'Kelly was so new to poverty that had any one denied the uniqueness of his case he would have been
astounded.
不过，乔治尝到贫穷的滋味还不长；要是有人说他的境遇不过是小事一桩，他准会惊奇得说不出话来。
? ? ?
Less than two years ago he had been graduated with honors from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
不到两年前，乔治以优异成绩毕业于麻省理工学院，
and had taken a position with a firm of construction engineers in southern Tennessee.
在田纳西州南部的一家建筑工程公司谋得一个职位。
All his life he had thought in terms of tunnels and skyscrapers and great squat dams and tall, three-towered
bridges,
从小时候起，乔治想的就是隧道呀、摩天楼呀、巨大的平坝呀……有着3座塔墩的高桥呀
? ?
that were like dancers holding hands in a row, with heads as tall as cities and skirts of cable strand.
桥上的塔墩像是一排手拉手的舞蹈家，塔尖像都市的大楼一样高耸入云，钢缆又如同姑娘的长裙一般婀娜多姿。
It had seemed romantic to George O'Kelly to change the sweep of rivers and the shape of mountains so that life could
flourish in the old bad lands of the world where it had never taken root before. 乔治·奥凯利一直觉得，让江河改向、让高山让路、让世界上那些了无生机的不毛之地兴旺发达起来，这该有多么浪漫啊!
英汉翻译作业（3）
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Until recently, the acquisition of scientific literacy and the enlargement of general knowledge on the part of the individual had only been intuitively understood and was best observed in extreme cases. Contrary to the notion of instant \was popular in the 1960s, distinguished scientific accomplishment is a matter of opportunity and of continuous and concentrated effort over at least a decade. When Newton was asked how he had managed to surpass the discoveries of his predecessors, in both quantity and quality, he replied, \\it becomes apparent that \
直到不久前，人们才直观地认识到个体是如何习得科学知识和拓展常识的，并且在一些极端的事例中得到最有说服力的说明。二十世纪六十年代，瞬间式―创造力‖的观念曾一度盛行，而现在人们则认识到，杰出的科学成就既需要机遇，也需要至少长达十余年持之以恒和专心致志的努力。有人问牛顿如何能成功地超越前人的发现，且成果颇丰，成就之大，他的回答是：―时时刻刻都在思索。‖数学家高斯也发表过类似的言论，―如果别人也像我一样心无旁骛、坚持不懈地钻研数学，他们也会获得我的这些发现。‖显然，―瞬间‖的科学发现是厚积薄发的结果。
So, too, are accomplishments in many other areas. Psychological studies of the lives of eminent painters, writers, musicians, philosophers, religious leaders, and scientists of previous centuries, as well as prizewinning adolescents in this country today, reveal early, intense concentration on previous work in their fields, often to the near exclusion of other activities. It appears, though, that science and mathematics, because of their highly specialized and abstract symbolism, may require the greatest concentration and perseverance.
其他领域的成就之取得也莫过如此。通过对几个世纪以来的著名画家、作家、音乐家、哲学家、宗教领袖和科学家以及当今本国冲击各项大奖的青少年们生活的研究，人们早已得出其心理学上的结论：他们都能很早就专注于同一领域内前人的成果，几乎心无旁骛。尽管任何成就的取得都需要艰苦努力，可是专业性强和抽象性高的科学和数学可能最需要人们专心致志和持之以恒。
The same fundamental thought process, moreover, appear to be required in both elementary and advanced science, as Simon and his colleagues have shown. \ beginners differ in degree rather than in kind from mental activities of experts.\The scarce resources are opportunities and concentration rather than the amount of information available or the processing capacity of the mind, both of which, for practical purposes, are unlimited.
基础科学理论和高级科学理论都需要运用相同的思维程式。正如西蒙和他的同事所说，―在知识水平的提高、信息的获得和解决问题方法的掌握等方面，初学者与专家的思维方式并无区别，只是思考问题的深度不同而已。‖人们所缺乏的是机遇和专注，而不是信息和智力，因为就实际目标而言，后者是无法量化的。
关键句子讲解
? Until recently, the acquisition of scientific literacy and the enlargement of general knowledge on the part of the individual
had only been intuitively understood and was best observed in extreme cases.
直到不久前，人们才直观地认识到个体是如何习得科学知识和拓展常识的，并且在一些极端的事例中得到最有说服力的说明。
? Contrary to the notion of instant \
matter of opportunity and of continuous and concentrated effort over at least a decade.
二十世纪六十年代，瞬间式―创造力‖的观念曾一度盛行，而现在人们则认识到，杰出的科学成就既需要机遇，也需要至少长达十余年持之以恒和专心致志的努力。
? When Newton was asked how he had managed to surpass the discoveries of his predecessors, in both quantity and quality,
he replied, \
有人问牛顿如何能成功地超越前人的发现，且成果颇丰，成就之大，他的回答是：―时时刻刻都在思索。‖
? Add to this the comment of Gauss that \have, they would make my discoveries,\
数学家高斯也发表过类似的言论，―如果别人也像我一样心无旁骛、坚持不懈地钻研数学，他们也会获得我的这些发现。‖
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? ?
and it becomes apparent that \显然，―瞬间‖的科学发现是厚积薄发的结果。
So, too, are accomplishments in many other areas
其他领域的成就之取得也莫过如此。
? Psychological studies of the lives of eminent painters, writers, musicians, philosophers, religious leaders, and scientists of
previous centuries, as well as prizewinning adolescents in this country today, reveal early, intense concentration on previous work in their fields, often to the near exclusion of other activities.
通过对几个世纪以来的著名画家、作家、音乐家、哲学家、宗教领袖和科学家以及当今本国冲击各项大奖的青少年们生活的研究，人们早已得出其心理学上的结论：他们都能很早就专注于同一领域内前人的成果，几乎心无旁骛。
? It appears, though, that science and mathematics, because of their highly specialized and abstract symbolism, may require
the greatest concentration and perseverance. 尽管任何成就的取得都需要艰苦努力，可是专业性强和抽象性高的科学和数学可能最需要人们专心致志和持之以恒。
? The same fundamental thought process, moreover, appear to be required in both elementary and advanced science, as
Simon and his colleagues have shown.
很显然基础科学理论和高级科学理论都需要运用相同的思维程式。正如西蒙和他的同事所说，
? \rather than in kind from mental activities of experts.\
―在知识水平的提高、信息的获得和解决问题方法的掌握等方面，初学者与专家的思维方式并无区别，只是思考问题的深度不同而已。‖
? The scarce resources are opportunities and concentration rather than the amount of information available or the processing
capacity of the mind, both of which, for practical purposes, are unlimited.
人们所缺乏的是机遇和专注，而不是信息和智力，因为就实际目标而言，后者是无法量化的。
英汉翻译作业（4）Beauty Dies香消玉殒
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
The sudden death of an admired public person always seems impossibility. 受公众敬慕的名人突然撒手人寰似乎总是令人难以接受。
People ascribe invulnerability, near immortality to our centers of attention. 人们把自己心目中的偶像皆视为超脱病灾，近乎不朽。 John Kennedy dies, and it could not happen. 约翰·肯尼迪遭暗杀归天?这是不可能的事! John Lennon dies, and it could not happen. 约翰·列农死于非命?这是不可能的事!
? Elvis, and Grace Kelly, and shock after shock.
? 埃尔维斯和格雷斯·凯丽等人相继辞世，都使人接连不断地感到震惊。
? And now this death of a young woman by whom the world had remained transfixed from the moment she first appeared
before it, whose name contained the shadow of her end: Princess Di.
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? 现在又传来一位年轻女子瘁死的消息。这位女子从第一次公开亮相的那一刻起就一直令全世界瞩目。黛妃的名字隐
隐约约也预示了她的归宿，因为在英语中，黛安娜的昵称与―死亡‖谐音。
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
But who would have believed it? People thought every thought that could be thought about Diana, but not death. 在此之前，谁会想到她会突然离我们而去?人们对黛安娜有过千般想像，万般猜测，惟独没有想到她会死。 She was beauty, death's antithesis.
因为她是国色天香，可谓与死神天各一方。
Beauty is given not only a special place of honor in the world but also a kind of permanence, as if it were an example of the tendency of nature to perfect itself, and therefore something that once achieved, lives forever.
绝代佳人不仅在世上享有殊荣而且还被赋予了某种永恒。这就好似大自然为有意要使自己完美无缺而端出来的造化物，一旦定型，万世不朽。
Her life never seemed as tragic as it was often made out'--just sad, and a little off.
她的一生看来也从不像人们常认定的那样充满悲剧性，只是颇为伤感，有点不尽如人意罢了。 She married the wrong man. Her in-laws could be vindictive. 她错 嫁了夫君，其姻亲们可能对她也怨恨有加。
? For every photographer eager to capture a picture of her in one of those astonishing evening gowns or hats, another was
skulking in the bushes ready to bring her down.
? 她的一款款晚礼服，一顶顶靓帽都曾使她看上去如同仙女下凡一般。在这种场合，每每有摄影师急切地要摄下她的
丽影。而在别的什么场合，却另有人会躲在暗处，手拿相机，随时准备拍她的隐私照片来诋毁她。
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
One cannot think of any public statement of hers that was especially brilliant or witty. 人们根本想不起她哪次对公众讲话显示出了她特别的才华，或是妙趣横生
She was more innocent than clever; even her confession of an affair to a reporter sounded’ girlish.
与其说她聪明，倒不如说她天真。就连她向记者承认自己有婚外情的那番话，听上去也像少女般的闹着玩。 If pressed, few could say exactly what it was that made her so important, especially to people outside England, except for the fact that one could not take one's eyes off the woman.
如果一定要问，何以使黛安娜在人们的心目中占有这么重要的地位(在英格兰之外情形尤其如此)?几乎没有人能说得清，道得明。人们就是觉得自己的注意力被这位女子牢牢地吸引住了，欲罢不能。
Yet that was no small thing. Diana was someone one had to look at, and such a person comes along once in a blue moon.
这一点却是非同小可。黛安娜是一位令普天下之人都向她投去眼光的人物，而这样的人物千载难逢。
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