大学英语第六册
unit1 A
The Pursuit of Happiness
(The Pursuit of Happiness)
The right to pursue happiness is promised to Americans by the US Constitution, but no one seems quite sure which way happiness runs. It may be we are issued a hunting license but offered no game. Jonathan Swift conceived of happiness as \"the state of being well-deceived\\"a fool among idiots \
It is, of course, un-American to think in terms of false goals. We do, however, seem to be dedicated to the idea of buying our way to happiness. We shall all have made it to Heaven when we possess enough.
And at the same time the forces of American business are hugely dedicated to making us deliberately unhappy. Advertising is one of our major industries, and advertising exists not to satisfy desires but to create them — and to create them faster than anyone's budget can satisfy them. For that matter, our whole economy is based on addicting us to greed. We are even told it is our patriotic duty to support the national economy by buying things.
Look at any of the magazines that cater to women. There advertising begins as art and slogans in the front pages and ends as pills and therapy in the back pages. The art at the front illustrates the dream of perfect beauty. This is the baby skin that must be hers. This, the perfumed breath she must breathe out. This, the sixteen-year-old figure she must display at forty, at fifty, at sixty, and forever. This is the harness into which Mother must strap herself in order to display that perfect figure. This is the cream that restores skin, these are the tablets that melt away fat around the thighs, and these are the pills of perpetual youth.
Obviously no reasonable person can be completely persuaded either by such art or by such pills and devices. Yet someone is obviously trying to buy this dream and spending billions every year in the attempt. Clearly the happiness-market is not running out of customers, but what is it they are trying to buy?
Defining the meaning of \"happiness\" is a perplexing proposition: the best one can do is to try to set some extremes to the idea and then work towards the middle. To think of happiness as achieving superiority over others, living in a mansion made of marble, having a wardrobe with hundreds of outfits, will do to set the greedy extreme. To think of happiness as the joy of a holy man of India will do to set the spiritual extreme. He sits completely still, contemplating the nature of reality, free even of his own body. If admirers bring him food, he eats it; if not, he starves. Why be concerned? What is physical is trivial to him. To contemplate is his joy and he achieves complete mental focus through an incredibly demanding discipline, the accomplishment of which is itself a joy to him.
Is he a happy man? Perhaps his happiness is only another sort of illusion. But who can take it from him? And who will dare say it is more false than happiness paid for through an installment plan?
Although the holy man's concept of happiness may enjoy considerable prestige in the Orient, I doubt the existence of such motionless happiness. What is certain is that his way of happiness would be torture to almost anyone of Western temperament. Yet these extremes will still serve to define the area within which all of us must find some sort of balance. Thoreau had his own firm sense of that balance: save on the petty in order to spend on the essential.
Possession for its own sake or in competition with the rest of the neighborhood would have been Thoreau's idea of the petty. The active discipline of raising one's perception of what is eternal in nature would have been his idea of the essential. Time saved on the petty could be spent on the essential. Thoreau certainly didn't intend to starve, but he would put into feeding himself only as much effort as would keep him functioning for more important efforts.
Effort is the essence of it: there is no happiness except as we take on challenges. Short of the impossible, the satisfactions we get from a lifetime depend on how high we place our difficulties. The mortal flaw in the advertised version of happiness is in the fact that it claims to be effortless. We demand difficulty even in our diversions. We demand it because without difficulty there can be no game; a game is a way of making something hard for the fun of it. The rules of the game are an arbitrary addition of difficulty. It is easier to win at chess if you are free to change the rules,
but the fun is in winning within the rules. If we could mint our own money, even building a fortune would become boring. No difficulty, no fun.
Those in advertising seem too often to have lost their sense of the pleasure of difficulty. And the Indian holy man seems dull to us, I suppose, because he seems to be refusing to play anything at all. The Western weakness may be in the illusion that happiness can be bought. Perhaps the oriental weakness is in the idea that there is such a thing as perfect happiness.
Happiness is never more than partial. Whatever else happiness may be, it is neither in having nor in being, but in becoming. What the writers of the Constitution declared for us as an inherent right was not happiness but the pursuit of happiness. What the early patriots might have underlined, could they have foreseen the happiness-market, is the cardinal fact that happiness is in the pursuit itself, in the pursuit of what is engaging and life-changing, which is to say, in the idea of becoming. A nation is not measured by what it possesses or wants to possess, but by what it wants to become. (Words: 1,005) 追求幸福
美国宪法赋予美国人民追求幸福的权利，但是似乎谁也说不清幸福跑到哪里去了。 这就好比我们获得了打猎许可却无猎物可打一样。 乔纳森·斯威夫特认为幸福是 \"一种大上其当而浑然不觉的状态\"， 或者是充当\"一名白痴中的傻瓜\"的感觉 ，因为斯威夫特把社会看作是一片布满虚假目标的土地。
虚假目标的提法当然不是美国式思维。 然而，我们似乎执迷于花钱买幸福的理念。 当我们拥有足够的财力时，我们就会获得极大的成功。
与此同时，美国商业势力却大肆渲染，人为地使我们感到不幸福。 广告业是我们的主要产业之一，它的存在不是为了满足欲望，而是为了制造欲望，其速度之快为任何人的预算所不及。 这样一来，我们整个的经济就建立在使我们沉溺于贪婪的基础上。 甚至有人告诉我们通过购物来支持国家经济是我们的爱国义务。
随便翻开一本迎合妇女口味的杂志，不难发现，开头的几页广告都是艺术和口号，到了结尾的几页就都变成了药丸和疗法。 开头几页的艺术包装所展示的是对至尊美丽的渴望。 她拥有的是婴儿般的细腻皮肤。 她呼出来的是芬芳的气息。 无论她40岁、50岁、60岁，还是任何时候，她永远都拥有16岁的身段。 这就是母亲为了展示她的优美体形所使用的束带。 这是可使人肌肤恢复细嫩的护肤霜，这些是减去大腿脂肪的药片，这些是青春永驻的药丸。
很明显，任何有理智的人都不会完全被此类广告艺术、药丸或器械所打动。 不过确实有人想要花钱买这个梦，不惜为此每年花销数十亿美元。 显然，幸福市场不乏顾客，但是他们想要购买的又是什么呢？
给\"幸福\"下定义是一个令人困惑的问题：最好的办法是先设定两个极端，然后寻求中庸。 认为幸福就是高人一等，住的是大理石豪宅，衣柜里有上百套衣服，这可成为贪婪的极端。 认为幸福就是印度圣人似的快乐，这将成为精神生活的极端。 圣人打坐，冥想着现实的本质，超脱于肉身的拖累。 如果有崇敬者给他端上食物，他就吃；如果没人给，他就饿着。 何苦为此事烦恼？一切物质的东西对他都微不足道。 冥想就是他的快乐。他凭借常人难以想像的自律达到高度的精神集中，对他来说，能够达到如此境界，这本身就是快乐。
他是一个幸福的人吗？也许他的幸福不过是又一种幻觉罢了。 但是，谁能剥夺他的幻觉呢？谁又敢说这种幸福比靠分期付款购买的幸福更虚假呢？
尽管圣人的幸福观在东方享有很高的声誉，但我却怀疑是否真有这样静态的幸福。 可以肯定的是，他的幸福方式几乎对于任何具有西方性格的人来说都是一种折磨。 但这些极端认识仍将有助于说明幸福的概念，我们每个人都能从中找到某种平衡。 梭罗自己的坚定平衡信念是：小事省一省，大事有保证。
为了占有而占有，或是为了与邻里攀比而占有，可能就是梭罗认为的小事。 自觉提高自己对自然界中永恒价值的认识能力，应该属于梭罗认识中的大事。 从小事上省下来的时间可以花在大事上。 梭罗当然不会让自己挨饿，但是他的进食仅仅是为了保持其体能，以便有精力做大事。
努力是幸福的精髓：只有接受了挑战，我们才会有幸福感。 除非不可能，我们一生的满足均取决于我们把困难定位到怎样的高度。 广告版幸福的致命缺陷在于它声称幸福不需要做出任何努力。
即使是在娱乐中，我们也希望有点难度。 我们想要难度，因为没有难度就没有了游戏乐趣；游戏要靠制造难度来生成乐趣。 游戏的规则是人为地增加难度。 如果可以自行改变棋赛规则，赢一盘棋将会容易得多。然而，下棋赢棋的乐趣是在规则下赢棋。 如果我们自己就能够造钱，那么即使造出一座金山也了然无趣。 没有难度，就没有乐趣。
广告中推销的东西似乎常常因缺少难度而缺少乐趣。 我想，印度圣人在我们看来似乎
也提不起兴趣，因为他好像拒绝任何游戏。 西方幸福观的弱点可能在于他们幻想幸福是可以买来的。 而东方幸福观的弱点或许在于他们相信存在完美的幸福。
幸福从来就是不圆满的。 不管我们对幸福还有什么别的解释，它都既不是拥有，也不是存在，而是过程。 美国宪法的制订者为我们公布的天赋人权，不是幸福权，而是对幸福的追求权。 如果当年的爱国者能够预见后来的幸福市场，他们或许会强调这样一个基本事实：幸福在于追求本身，在于参与和改变人生，也就是说，在于相信\"过程\"这一理念。 评估一个国家的标准，不是看它已经拥有什么，或者想要拥有什么，而是看它想要成为什么。
UNIT2 A
My Teacher, My Salvation
I stepped off the ship on a gray March day in 1949, a small boy with a new American visa shoved in his pocket, a boy who had lost his mother and was emigrating to America to live with a father he did not know. I was very suspicious of the heavy, bald man who embraced my sisters and me at the dock. Still, he was the very image of American people in his gleaming black shoes, gray overcoat, and new hat.
After several years in an elementary school class for those with low IQ — there were no classes for non-English-speaking children — I made it to junior high school. The first week of classes we were told to select a hobby to pursue during \"club hour\"on Fridays. I decided to follow the prettiest girl in my class, who led me through a door marked Newspaper Club. And there was a sharp-tongued, no-nonsense English teacher named Marilyn Burd. \"We're going to put out a newspaper,\" she yelled, rapping her desk with a ruler, \"so if any of you don't want to work, I suggest you go across the hall to the Theater Club rehearsal now, because you're going to work your tails off here!\"
I was soon under the spell of this formidable and eloquent woman. She drilled us on grammar and made me fall in love with literature. I was fascinated by the way she could read a story or a piece of verse, then open it up like a fan, displaying its various facets, colors, and meanings. I had considered stories to be simple adventures, but she showed me they could express feelings as well: pain, frustration, anger, and loss. And she taught me that my motherland was the foundation of Western civilization. I began to be proud of my origins.
One day she assigned us to compose a concise essay from our own experience. Fixing me with a stern look, she added, \"Nick, I want you to write about what happened to your family in your homeland.\"
That was the last thing I wanted to write about, and so I left the assignment until the last moment. Then, on a warm weekend afternoon, I sat in my room with a pad and pencil and stared out the window. The chorus of bird song, the buzz of insects, and the perfume of freshly cut grass distracted me. Finally I wrote the first sentence: \"To many people the coming of spring means the end of winter, the first birds, thoughts of love. Spring to me has a very different meaning because this was when I hugged my mother for the last time.\"
I kept writing, telling how the local guerrillas occupied our village and took our home and food; how my mother planned our escape when she learned all the children were to be sent to schools in another country for the indefinite future; and how she could not come with us because the guerrillas sent her to dig an irrigation ditch in a distant village.
I wrote about how one night we were smuggled down the mountain and into the lines of government soldiers, where a sergeant sent us to a refugee camp. It was there that we learned of our mother's torture and execution. I wrote that I could still hear the cries of my sisters when we were told my mother was taken into a cellar and shot by the guerrillas for what they called disloyalty — the escape of her children.
But I did write that I felt very lucky to have started a new life, my mother's dream for us. I ended my narrative by saying that, nevertheless, the coming of spring always reminded me of the green and gold day in 1948 when I last saw my mother.
I handed in my essay, hoping that was the end of it, but Miss Burd had it published in the school paper. I was horror-struck — until I saw that my classmates reacted with sympathy and understanding. Without telling me, Miss Burd also entered the essay in a national contest, and it won a medal.
For the first time I began to understand the power of the written word. Meanwhile, I followed the literary path Miss Burd had set me on. I managed to finance four years of university tuition
with scholarships and part-time jobs with newspapers. An article I wrote about a friend who died in the Philippines — one of the first volunteers to lose his life in the Peace Corps — won a national award. The award was given to me in the White House by the President. When the local paper ran a picture of me clasping hands with the President, my father clipped it, had it sealed in plastic and carried it in his breast pocket. I found it there on the day he died 20 years later.
Miss Burd taught for 41 years. Often her students were from troubled homes, yet she would alternately bully and charm each one until the spark of potential caught fire. She retired in 1981 at the age of 62.
Marilyn Burd is still an honored and enthusiastic guest at all our family celebrations. At my 50th-birthday picnic last summer, my sisters and I felt a painful void because my father was not there to lead the line of dancers, the way he did at every celebration during his 92 years. But Miss Burd was there, sipping wine and viewing the scene with quiet satisfaction. Her presence was a comfort.
Life is full of opportunity, and I would have enjoyed its plenty even if I hadn't walked into Miss Burd's classroom. But she was the one who directed my grief and pain into writing. She was my salvation, the one that sent me into writing and indirectly caused all the good things that came after.
A few years ago, I answered the telephone and heard her telling me that I was to deliver the speech at her funeral. I hope, Miss Burd, that you'll accept this tribute instead. (Words:1,008) 我的老师，我的救星
1949年3月的一个阴沉的日子，我，一个小男孩，兜里揣着新领的美国签证走下了船。我刚刚失去了母亲，这次移民来美国，准备同素未谋面的父亲一道生活。 在码头上，看着这个拥抱我和我的姐妹们的秃顶胖男人，我满怀疑惑。 不过，他的皮鞋黑色，穿着灰色大衣，戴着崭新的帽子，是典型的美国人形象。 由于没有专为不会讲英语的孩子开设的课程，我在低智商孩子班读了几年小学后，升入了初中。 第一周的课上，老师通知我们要为周五的\"俱乐部活动时间\"选择一个自己喜欢的活动项目。 我决定随班里最漂亮的女孩去，她带着我进了一道门，门上标着\"报刊俱乐部\"。 在那里，我们见到了言辞尖刻、一本正经的英语教师玛丽莲·伯德。 \"我们准备出一份报纸，\"她用尺子敲着桌子，高声地说，\"所以，如果你们不想出力的话，我建议你们现在就到大厅那边去参加戏剧俱乐部的排练，因为在这里你们要玩命地干！\"
我很快就被这个令人望而生畏、口若悬河的女士所折服。 她反复训练我们掌握语法，并使我爱上了文学。 她能够读一篇故事或一首诗，然后像打开折扇一样，将它的各个侧面、色彩和含义全部展示出来，这一点强烈地吸引了我。 我过去一直认为小说写的只不过是不平凡的生活经历，而她却使我知道小说还可以表达情感：如痛苦、挫折、愤怒和失落。 她使我知道我的祖国是西方文明的发源地。 我开始对自己的出身感到骄傲。
一天，她布置了一份作业，让我们根据自己的亲身经历写一篇短文。 她用严厉的目光盯着我，接着说：\"尼克，我要你写你们一家在你家乡的经历。\"
这可是我最不愿写的东西，所以我把作业拖到了最后时刻。 后来，一个周末温暖的下午，我坐在自己的房间里，备好稿纸和铅笔，两眼呆呆地望着窗外。 鸟儿的欢唱声、昆虫的唧唧声，以及新剪草地的芳香使我无法集中注意力。 最后，我写下了第一句：\"对很多人来说，春天的来临意味着冬季的结束，第一批候鸟的出现，以及对爱的思念。 而春天对我来说却有着完全不同的意义，因为我最后一次拥抱母亲就是在这个季节。\" 我不停地写着，讲述当地游击队如何占领我们村庄，强占我们的房屋，夺走我们的食物。 写母亲在听说所有的孩子都要被送到外国的学校而前途未卜之后，如何安排让我们逃走，而她自己却被游击队强迫到远处的村庄挖水渠而不能与我们同行。 我描述了在一天夜里我们是怎样被偷偷地送下山，进入到政府军的地界，然后一位中士把我们送进难民营。 正是在难民营里，我们听说了母亲遭受的折磨和被处决的消息。 我写道，我依然能够听到姐妹们的哭声，那时，有人告诉我们，母亲因为让孩子们逃走而被认为是对游击队的不忠，所以被带到一个地窖枪杀了。
但我也写道，开始了新的生活，我感到很幸运，这也是母亲为我们编织的梦。 在故事的结尾，我这样写道：不过，春天的来临总让我想起1948年那个大地返青、阳光灿烂的日子，那天，我最后一次见到母亲。
我交上了自己的作文，希望这件事到此为止，但伯德小姐却将它发表在了校刊上。 我非常惶恐，直到看见同学们同情和理解的反应心里才塌实了下来。 后来伯德小姐没让我知道，又报名让此文参加全国作文竞赛，并获得了一枚奖章。
我第一次开始理解文字的力量。 与此同时，我开始按着伯德小姐为我铺设的文学道路前行。 我设法用奖学金和在报社兼职赚的钱筹措了大学4年的学费。 我的一篇关于一个在
菲律宾捐躯的朋友（他是和平队第一批志愿者中的牺牲者）的文章获得了国家奖，这个奖是总统在白宫为我颁发的。 当地报纸刊登了我与总统握手的照片，我父亲把它剪下塑封起来，放在自己胸前的口袋里。 20年后父亲去世的那天，我在他的口袋里发现了这张照片。 伯德小姐教了41年书。 她的学生大多来自不幸的家庭，但她总会交替使用逼迫和诱导的方法对待每个学生，直到他们的潜能绽放出火花。 1981年，她退休了，时年62岁。 玛丽莲·伯德至今仍是我们每次家庭聚会上的一位尊贵而热情的客人。 去年夏天我50岁生日野餐聚会，我和姐妹们都感到痛苦和空虚，因为我父亲不在了，不能再像他92年生命中每次喜庆场合那样领舞了。 但伯德小姐来了，她一边品啜着葡萄酒，一边平静而满意地看着这一切。 她的到来是对我们的一种安慰。
生活充满了机遇，即使我未曾走进伯德小姐的教室，我也会享有大量的机会。 但是她指导我把悲伤和痛苦写出来。 她是我的救星，是她把我引上了写作道路，随之而来的所有好事也是她间接地带给我的。
几年前，我接到她的电话，要我在她的葬礼上讲话。 伯德小姐，我希望您还是接受我以此文向您表达的敬意吧。
UNIT3 A
Humans in the Amazon — A Long-Lost History Comes to Light
The Amazon rainforest is one of the most significant and largely intact ecosystems left on the earth. It is often characterized as an essentially untouched natural environment in which man's presence is merely secondary. However, vast reaches of the rainforest have been lived in and shaped by human hands for thousands of years.
The Amazon River Basin boasts the largest river system on Earth and harbors an ecosystem that is tremendously complex. Early travelers from Renaissance Europe were overwhelmed by their first encounters. In 1531, Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Incan empire, removing the emperor from his throne and taking for Spain the Incan imperial treasures. A decade later his younger brother ventured east from the high plateau of the Andes Mountains in pursuit of the famous cities of gold and spices thought to be hidden in the jungle forest. Going down the river the expedition soon exhausted its supplies and a small group was sent ahead to search for food. Eight months later, this group emerged at the mouth of the Amazon, having made what would prove to be the first descent of the length of the river.
A missionary who accompanied the group sent a remarkable account of their adventures to the Pope, including mention of the great signal drums that sounded from village to village far in advance of their arrival, warning of the coming of the European strangers. His manuscript records seeing innumerable settlements along the river — on one day they passed more than twenty villages in succession, and some of these are said to have stretched for six miles or more. Such reports have intrigued scientists ever since, for they describe dense populations and large federations of tribes which, if verified, would be entirely at odds with modern stereotypes of hidden, thinly scattered tribes scratching out an uncertain existence.
Beginning in the late seventeenth century, the successors to the first explorers recorded and collected many of the everyday objects fashioned from wood and other organic materials that usually rot in a tropical climate. Such collections housed in European museums preserve a \"window\" into cultures that were soon to experience huge changes brought about by foreign diseases and cruel abuse at the hands of Europeans.
Population collapse and movement along the principal rivers of the Amazon system have contributed to a veil of misunderstanding that has long covered the cultural achievements of tropical forest societies. Diffuse bands hunting deep in the forest interior eventually came to be seen as the typical tropical forest adaptation. So much so that when archaeological studies began in earnest at the mouth of the Amazon in the 1950s, scientists argued that the sophisticated culture they were discovering could not have originated in the Amazon Basin itself, but must have been derived from more advanced cultures elsewhere. They imagined the tropical forest to be an \"imitation paradise\" unable to support much beyond a simple hunting-and-gathering way of life. This mistaken idea has exerted a persistent influence ever since.
Two factors have been instrumental in lifting the veil of misunderstanding. First is a surprisingly diverse range of ceramic styles. Recent research seems to confirm that a creative explosion of styles occurred about 2,000 years ago. Archaeological digs in the highest reaches of the Upper Amazon have demonstrated the existence of a widespread style of painting large watertight jars in bold black, red and cream designs. This same style has been found on an isle at
the mouth of the Amazon, and appears to have its origins where the Amazon meets the ocean, later spreading across much of the Upper Amazon. The style transcends local and regional cultures and points to considerable intercourse between societies along the vast river network.
Secondly, there is a truly impressive diversity of languages, with several hundred distinct tongues and dialects. This verbal diversity must have evolved over thousands of years and implies an occupation of the Amazon Basin for at least 14,000 years, a figure supported by archaeological evidence. The rock art in the Amazon Basin may be as old as human occupation itself. Images are carved and painted on exposed rock near rapids and waterfalls where fishing is most productive, and in caves and rock shelters close to archaeological sites.
Recent archaeological research has focused on a phenomenon barely noticed before: extensive patches of rich black soil found along the banks and on terraces above all major rivers in the Amazon. Some cover an area of many acres and are up to 6 feet deep. They are thought to have formed over many centuries as the accumulated product of organic remains left by native settlements. These soils are usually filled with fragments of busted ceramics and are now being studied for clues to the rise of tropical forest civilizations in the Amazon Basin. Local farmers regard the black soils as a \"gift from the past\" because they are naturally fertile and have the ability to support a wide range of crops.
Among the most exciting discoveries are funeral jars dating to A.D. 1400 — 1700 found in caves and rock shelters near the mouth of the Amazon. The bones of men, women and children were preserved in individually dedicated vessels. It seems that the sites were visited regularly over the years and new jars added as family members expired. These burials reflect the family ties of ancient settlements and their nurturing of links between the living and the dead.
The native peoples of the Amazon can no longer be seen as isolated communities in the depths of the forest or dispersed along rivers. We still have much to learn about their societies, but the rainforest should no longer be seen as an untouched \"paradise\".
The future of the Amazon Basin is now a subject of fierce debate. Knowledge about the past has a vital role to play in planning and decision making for the future. Archaeology points to successful methods for adapting to the forest, grounded in practical expertise and empirical knowledge of the limitations and possibilities of this environment. These techniques for wise management are becoming a matter of global concern. (Words: 1,011)
亚马孙河流域的文明——一段被忘却已久的历史重见光明
亚马孙热带雨林是地球上现存最有意义、大部分保存完好的生态系统之一。 它基本上是无人涉足的自然环境。在这里，人类的存在退居第二位。 然而，大片大片的热带雨林有人类居住并被人类的双手塑造已经有成千上万年了。
亚马孙河流域拥有地球上最大的河系，能为极其复杂的生态系统提供庇护。 文艺复兴时期来自欧洲的早期旅行家们一见到它就被慑服了。 1531年，弗朗西斯科·皮萨罗推翻了印加帝国，把国王从宝座上赶下了台，为西班牙夺取了印加帝国的财宝。 10年后，他的弟弟从安第斯山脉高原冒险向东挺进, 探寻被认为隐藏在丛林之中的几个著名的盛产黄金和香料的城市。 探险队沿着河流行进，不久就耗尽了给养, 于是他们派一小队人向前突进，去寻找食物。 8个月后，这支小分队出现在亚马孙河口，完成了探险——后来证明他们首次顺流而下走完了全程。
跟随该小分队的一名传教士对他们的探险经历做了十分精彩的记述，并把它寄给了罗马教皇, 其中提到了当地的大信号鼓。 这种信号鼓发出的鼓声早在他们到达之前就从一个村落传向另一村落，通知大家欧洲陌生人的到来。 他的手稿记载了他们在亚马孙河沿岸看到的无数的大小村落。有一天，他们连续经过了20多个村庄，据说一些村庄延伸长达6英里或更长。 从那以后，这类报导便激起了科学家们的兴趣，因为报导所描绘的稠密人口和庞大的部落联盟如果得到证实，将会完全不同于现代有关部落的既定认识：隐秘的、稀疏零星的部落，居无定所。
从17世纪晚期开始，首批探险家的后继者们开始记载并收集了许多木制的和其他有机材料制成的日常物品。这些物品在热带气候条件下，一般是会腐烂的。 这些收藏在欧洲博物馆中的物品保留了一个认识亚马孙文化的\"窗口\"。然而，那些文化不久就经历了外来疾病和欧洲野蛮蹂躏带来的巨大变化。
人口的急剧下降和人们沿亚马孙河水系主要河流的迁移给亚马孙问题蒙上了一层曲解的面纱，这层面纱，长久以来一直掩盖着热带森林社会的文化成就。 密林深处零散的结帮狩猎活动逐渐被看成是典型的适应热带森林生活的方式。 这种认识如此顽固，以至于20世纪50年代亚马孙河口考古学研究真正开始之际，科学家们竟然怀疑他们所发现的复杂的文化不可能发源于亚马孙流域自身，而是可能发源于某些文化更先进的地方。 他们把热带
森林设想为\"仿造的天堂\"，这种地方只能维持简单的、以守猎和采集为主的生活方式，仅此而已。 从那以后，这种错误观点就一直发挥着持久的影响。 揭开这层曲解的面纱的是两个因素。 首先是多得惊人的陶器制品样式。 最近的研究似乎证实，大约在2,000年前就出现了一个陶器制品样式创作的繁荣期。 在亚马孙河最上游挖掘出土的文物向我们展示了一种当时广为流传的陶罐式样——一种大型彩绘密封罐。这种陶罐上绘有醒目的黑色、红色、奶油色的图案。 在亚马孙河口的一个小岛上也发现了同样风格的陶瓷制品，而且其起源似乎出现在亚马孙河与海洋的交汇处，以后逐渐向亚马孙河上游的大部分地区流传。 其风格超越了当地的区域文化，说明广阔的河网沿岸社会群体之间曾有过大量的交流。
其次是令人瞩目的语言体系——各具特色的语言和方言多达数百种。 这种话语上的多样性肯定已经演化了数千年，这就意味着亚马孙河流域有人类居住至少已有14,000年了——这一说法得到了考古证据的支持。 亚马孙河流域的岩石艺术可能和人类在此居住的历史一样悠久。 在靠近急流和瀑布的裸露的岩石上，雕绘有各种各样的图像，这些地方是捕鱼的最佳位置。在靠近考古学遗址的洞穴和岩石遮蔽处也发现了上述雕刻和绘画。 最近的考古研究集中在一个以前几乎没有人注意到的现象上，即沿亚马孙河岸和亚马孙河所有主要支流的梯田上发现的大片大片的黑色沃土。 一些沃土面积有好几英亩，厚度达6英尺。 人们认为这些土地的形成要经过很多世纪，是当地定居点一代代积聚下来的有机物残骸。 这些土壤里往往布满了陶器的碎片，现在被用作研究亚马孙河流域热带森林文明兴起的线索。 当地农民把黑土地视为\"上古的遗赠\"，因为它们是天然的沃土，能够为庄稼提供充足的营养。 在所有的发现中，最令人激动的是在亚马孙河口附近的洞穴和岩石隐蔽处发现的葬礼陶罐。这些陶罐可追溯到公元1400至1700年。 男人、女人和孩子的尸骸被保存在各自的专用器皿里。 在过去的岁月里人们似乎定期来这里探视，而且随着家庭成员的不断去世，陶罐也不断地增加。 这些埋葬品反映了古代定居点家庭成员间的联系，以及他们对活人与死人之间联系的珍惜。
亚马孙河流域当地各族人民再也不能被视为是森林深处孤立的群体或是沿着亚马孙河沿岸居住的分散群体了。 关于他们的社会状况，有很多方面仍有待我们去了解，但亚马孙热带雨林再也不应该被视为无人类痕迹的\"天堂\"了。
今天，亚马孙河流域的未来是一个热烈争论的话题。 有关亚马孙河流域的过去的知识对于它明天的规划和决策至关重要。 考古学为我们揭示了适应雨林的成功方法，这些方法是在生活实践中以及对该环境的局限性和可能性亲身经历的基础上形成的。 这种高明的管理技能正日益成为全球关注的对象。 UNIT4 A
An Encounter with Wolves
One spring morning many years ago, I had been prospecting for gold in southern Alaska, and as I emerged from a forest, I froze in my tracks. No more than 20 paces away in a flat marshy area was a huge, black Alaska timber wolf — caught in one of Old George's traps. Old George had died the previous week of a heart attack, so the wolf was lucky I had happened along.
Yet now, confused and frightened at my approach, the wolf backed away, straining at the trap chain. Then I noticed something else: it was a female, and she was full of milk. Somewhere, there was a batch of hungry babies waiting for their mother. From her appearance, I guessed that she had been trapped only a few days. That meant her babies were probably still alive, surely no more than a few miles away. But I suspected that if I tried to release the wolf, she would turn aggressive and try to tear me to pieces. So I decided to search for her pups and began to look for incoming tracks that might lead me to her nest.
Fortunately, there were still a few remaining patches of snow. After several moments, I spotted paw marks on a trail skirting the marsh. The tracks led a half-mile through the forest, then up a rock-filled slope. I finally spotted a hole at the base of an enormous tree stump. There wasn't a sound inside. Wolf pups are shy and timid, and I didn't have much hope of luring them outside. But I had to try. So I began imitating the high-pitched sound of a mother wolf calling her young. No response. A few moments later, after I tried another call, four tiny baby wolves appeared. They couldn't have been more than a few weeks old.
I extended my hands, and they tentatively sucked at my fingers; perhaps hunger had helped overcome their natural fear. I placed them in a cloth bag, and headed back down the slope. When the mother wolf spotted me, she stood erect. Possibly picking up the scent of her young, she let out a high-pitched, miserable howl. I released the babies and they darted towards her; within
seconds, they were sucking at her belly.
What next? I wondered. The mother wolf was clearly suffering. Yet each time I moved in her direction, a menacing sound rose from her throat. With her young to protect, she was becoming aggressive. She needs food, I thought. I have to find her something to eat. I hiked towards a creek, and spotted the leg of a winter-killed deer sticking out of the snow. I cut off a piece, then returned the still edible remains to nature's icebox. Hoisting the meat, I went back to the wolf and whispered to her in a gentle tone, \"Okay, mother, your dinner is served. But only if you stop glaring at me...\" I tossed chunks of deer meat in her direction. She sniffed them, then started feasting. Cutting some sturdy tree branches, I fashioned a rough shelter for myself and was soon asleep.
At dawn I was awakened by four cute bundles of fur sniffing at my face and hands. I glanced toward the nervous mother wolf. If I could only win her confidence, I thought. It was her only hope. Over the next few days, I divided my time between prospecting and trying to win the wolf's trust. At dusk on the fifth day, I delivered her daily fare of deer meat. \"You want to go back to your friends on the mountain. Relax.\"
Then I thought I saw a slight movement of her tail. I moved within the length of her chain. She didn't move. My heart in my mouth, I sat down eight feet from her. One snap of her huge muscular jaws and she could break my arm, or my neck. Then I slowly placed my hand on the wolf's injured leg. She jumped back, but made no threatening move. I could see that the trap's steel jaws had caught only two toes. They were swollen and bleeding, but she would not lose the foot — if I could free her. I wedged a stick between the jaws of the trap and applied pressure; the slot between the two jaws of the trap became wider, and the wolf pulled free.
My experience in the wild suggested the wolf would now gather her pups and vanish into the woods. But cautiously, she crept toward me. Slowly, she sniffed my hands and arms. Then the wolf began licking my fingers. What a thrill! This went against everything I'd ever heard about timber wolves. Yet, in a bizarre way, it all seemed so natural. After a while, with her babies darting around her, the mother wolf was ready to leave and began to limp off toward the forest. Then she turned back to me. \"You want me to come with you, girl?\" I asked. Curious, I packed my gear, and set off.
Following the creek for a few miles, we ascended a mountain until we reached a meadow. There I counted nine adult wolves and, judging by their playful behavior, four nearly full-grown juveniles. After a few minutes of greeting, the wolf clan broke into howling. It was a queer sound, ranging from low moaning to high-pitched crying. That night, by the light of my fire and a luminous moon, I could see wolf shapes darting in and out of the shadows in a kind of strange ballet, eyes shining. I had no fear. They were merely curious. So was I. I awoke at first light; it was time to leave. The wolves watched as I assembled my gear and started walking across the meadow. Reaching the far side, I looked back. The mother, with her babies at her flank, was sitting where I had left her, watching me. I don't know why, but I waved. At the same time, the mother wolf sent a long howl into the crisp air. (Words: 1,007) 与狼相处
多年前一个春天的上午，我在阿拉斯加南部探寻金矿。当我走出一片森林时，突然站住不敢动了。 距我不到20步远的一块平坦的沼泽地里有一只体形高大的阿拉斯加黑狼——它被老乔治安置的一个捕捉夹给夹住了。 老乔治上周死于心脏病发作，碰巧我从这儿路过，这头大黑狼算是够走运的了。
可这时，狼见我来了又是困惑又是恐惧，拖着捕捉夹的链子往后退。 这时，我注意到另一情况：这是只母狼，乳房鼓鼓的充满奶水。 在别的什么地方一定有一窝饥饿的小狼正等候着它们的妈妈。 从它的外表看来，它被夹住没几天。 这也就是说小狼崽可能还活着，肯定在不到几英里远的地方。 可是我想，要是我设法把这只狼放了，它肯定会转而攻击我，将我撕成碎片。 于是我决定还是先去找它的小狼崽，并开始寻找它进来的足迹，顺着足迹或许我能找到它的老窝。
好在路面还残留着一些积雪。 过了一会儿，我在沼泽地边缘的一条小路上发现了爪印。 爪印穿过森林有半英里路，然后上了一个布满岩石的斜坡。 最后我在一棵巨树的根部发现了一处洞穴。 里面悄然无声。小狼生性胆怯，对于把它们诱出洞来，我不抱多大希望。 但是我得试试。于是我开始模仿母狼召唤自己孩子的尖叫声。 里面毫无反应。过了一会儿，我又试着叫唤一次，四只极小的狼崽出来了。 它们大概刚出生不过几星期。
我伸出双手，它们试探性地吮吸我的手指。或许饥饿帮助它们克服了那天性的恐惧吧！ 我把它们一个一个放进布袋中，转身走下了斜坡。 母狼发现了我，直直地站了起来。 它大
概是闻出了幼崽的气味，发出一声尖锐、哀伤的嗥叫。 我放出布袋中的小狼，它们径直奔向母狼。片刻之间，就在它肚子上吮吸起来。
下一步怎么办？我不知如何是好。母狼显然很痛苦。 然而我每次朝它走去时，它喉咙里就响起威胁的咆哮声。 由于要保护自己的孩子，它变得好斗了。 我想，它需要食物。 我必须给它找点东西吃。 我朝一条小河走去，发现了一只冻死的鹿，一条腿露在雪堆外。 我砍下一块肉，然后把还能食用的部分放回天然冰箱里。 我手提着鹿肉，回到了狼呆的地方，用温柔的语调轻声说，\"好了，妈妈，开饭了。 但愿你别对我怒目而视……\"我把一块块鹿肉向它扔过去。 它嗅了嗅，然后开始大口吞咽起来。 我砍了一些大的树枝，为自己搭了一个简陋的棚子，然后很快就睡着了。
黎明时分，我被四个可爱的毛团弄醒了，它们在我脸上和手上嗅来嗅去。 我朝那焦虑不安的母狼看了看。 我想，但愿能赢得它的信任。这是它得救的惟一希望。 在随后的几天里，我的一部分时间用于找矿，另一部分时间用于取得那只母狼的信任。 第五天傍晚，我照例抛给它每天一餐的鹿肉伙食。 \"知道你想回到山里的朋友那里。别紧张。\"
这时我似乎看见它的尾巴轻轻摆动了一下。 于是我走进那条链子的长度以内。它一动不动。我在离它八英尺处坐了下来，心提到了嗓子眼。 只要它强健的大嘴猛地咬我一口，就能咬断我的胳膊，或咬断我的脖子。 接着，我慢慢把手放在母狼的伤腿上。 它身子往后一缩，但没有做出威胁的举动。 我能看出捕捉夹的钢齿只夹住了它两个脚趾，已经肿起，流着血。如果我放了它的话，它还不至于丧失这只脚爪。 我把一根木棍塞进捕捉夹的钢齿中使劲撬；上下钢齿之间的槽变宽，母狼把腿抽了出来。
野外的生活经验告诉我，此刻母狼会带上小狼一起消失在树林中。 但是它却谨慎地慢慢朝我走过来。 它慢慢地嗅我的手和臂， 然后又开始舔我的手指。多么激动人心呀！ 这情形同我曾听说过的所有有关狼的说法大相径庭。 然而，在目前这种特殊环境下，这一切看起来完全顺理成章。 过了一会儿，母狼带着几只活蹦乱跳的小狼准备离开了，它开始一跛一跛地朝森林走去。 过了一会儿，它转身朝我看了看。\"姑娘，你想要我跟你们一起走吗？\"我问。 出于好奇，我收拾好我的行头，随它们动身了。
沿着河走了几英里，我们登上了一座山头，一直来到了一片草地。 在那里我数了数，共有九只成年狼，从嬉戏顽皮的动作来看，还有四只近乎成年的幼狼。 母狼受到几分钟欢迎之后，狼群便大声嗥叫起来。 那是一种奇异的声音，有的是低沉的哀鸣，有的是高声的尖叫。 那一晚，借着我的篝火和融融的月光，我看见一只只狼影在黑暗中时隐时现，好像跳着一种奇怪的芭蕾舞，两只眼闪闪发光。 我并不害怕。它们只是好奇，我也一样。 曙光初现时，我醒了。该是我离开的时候了。 狼群看着我收拾好东西，起身穿过草地。 到了草地的另一头，我回过头来。 只见母狼和几只幼崽蹲在我离开它们的地方注视着我。 我下意识地朝它们挥了挥手。 与此同时，母狼冲着清澈的天空发出一声长长的嚎叫。 UNIT5
SA Revolution in Biology — and Society?
Dissolved in a test tube, the essence of life is a clear liquid. To the naked eye it bears a strong resemblance to water. But when it is stirred, the \"water\" turns out to be sticky and thick, clinging to a glass rod and forming long, hair-thin threads. \"You get the feeling this is really different stuff,\" says Dr. Francis Collins in his laboratory. Collins heads a gigantic effort to catalog the library of biological data locked in those threads, a challenge he compares with splitting the atom or going to the moon.
In his laboratory at a university in California, Dr.W.French Anderson looks at the same clear liquid and sees not a library but a drug factory. This scientist's goal, and his passion, is to find the wonder drugs hidden in that test tube. Someday, he says, doctors will simply diagnose their patients' illnesses, give them a prescription for the proper pieces of molecular thread, and send them home cured.
This thread of life, of course, is DNA, the spiral- staircase -shaped molecule found in the nuclei of cells. Scientists have known since 1952 that DNA is the basic stuff of genetics. They've known its chemical structure since 1953. They know that human DNA acts like a biological computer program that spells out the instructions for the synthesis of proteins, the basic building blocks of life.
But everything the scientists have accomplished during the past half-century is just a preface to the work in which Collins and a multitude of his colleagues are now immersed. Collins leads the Human Genome Project, a 15-year effort to compile the first detailed atlas of every detail in human DNA. Anderson, who pioneered the first successful human gene-therapy operations, is leading the campaign to put information about DNA to use as quickly as possible in the treatment and prevention of human diseases.
What they and other researchers are plotting is nothing less than a biological and medical
revolution. Like Silicon Valley pirates tearing apart a computer chip to steal a competitor's secrets, genetic engineers are studying life's secrets and trying to use that knowledge to reverse the natural course of disease. DNA in their hands has become a drug, a substance of extraordinary potential that can treat not just symptoms or the diseases that cause them but also the flaws in DNA that make people susceptible to a disease.
And that's just the beginning. Notwithstanding all the frantic work being done, science is still far away from the creation of human perfection. Much more research is needed before gene therapy becomes commonplace, and many diseases will take decades to conquer, if they can be conquered at all.
In the interim, the most practical way to use the new technology will be in genetic testing. Doctors will be able to detect all sorts of flaws in DNA long before they can be fixed. In some cases this knowledge may lead to treatments that delay the onset of the disease or soften its effects. Someone with a genetic disposition to heart disease, for example, could ward off a latent heart attack by following a low-fat diet to prevent cholesterol from building up in his arteries. And if scientists determine that a vital protein is missing because the gene that was supposed to make it is faulty, they might be able to give the patient an artificial version of the protein. But in other instances, almost nothing can be done to stop the damage brought on by genetic defects.
This is the dilemma currently posed by the genetic revolution. Do people want to know about genetic defects that can't be corrected yet? Do they want a notation describing a genetic defect added to their permanent medical records? The danger for many people in whom a genetic disease has been diagnosed is that if they leave their job (and their health insurance), they may never get another. In one case, an insurance company discovered that the baby a client was carrying had the gene for a serious inherited spine disease. The company told her it would pay for an abortion, but that if she chose to have the child, it would not pay for any treatments. The woman had the child, and threatened to sue the company, forcing it to back down.
\"You're going to see things you won't believe,\" says a professor of health law. He thinks it is only a matter of time before someone sweeps up some of Bill Clinton's hair at the barber shop, runs a genetic scan on the DNA in the hair cells and publishes a list of diseases to which the former President is heir. Under current law, there is nothing Clinton or anyone else could do to stop it. This expert is worried that samples from routine blood tests on ordinary citizens could be screened and that the resultant genetic information might eventually find its way into the vast DNA data banks. To prevent misuse of this information, he has proposed a series of guidelines that would, among other things, preclude genetic data collected for one purpose being used for another. There is already talk of a revolt against the notion that we are nothing more than our genes. The editor of the scientific journal Nature warns that the greatest drawback of the genome project may be what he calls the \"arrogant optimism\" that accompanies a rush of discoveries, leaving the impression that scientists know a lot more than they do. Studies claiming to have found genes for high IQ, for instance, have been refuted by many scientists. Many people, however, still accept as plausible the premise that complex phenomena are determined by our genes.
Even if there were a gene for, say, criminal activity, what would society do about it? One scientist points out that \"we already have a true genetic marker, which can be detected before birth, that is correlated with violence.\" The individuals with this gene, he says, are nine times as likely to get arrested and convicted for a violent act as people without the gene. (Words: 1,010)
生物革命，也是社会革命？
如果将生命的精华溶解于试管中，它便是一种透明的液体。 用肉眼观察，它和水非常相像。 但将其搅拌后，这种\"水\"就会变得很黏稠，黏附在玻璃棒上，形成头发般粗细的长丝。 \"你会觉得这确实是一种不同的物质，\"弗朗西斯·柯林斯博士在他的实验室里说。 柯林斯领导着一个大型研究项目，目标是将锁定在这些细丝里的大量生物信息编目分类。他认为，其挑战性堪与分解原子或登月技术相比。 在加利福尼亚一所大学的实验室里，W．弗伦奇·安德森博士正注视着同样的透明液体。但在他看来，这些透明液体不是信息库，而是药物制造厂。 安德森的目标和强烈的愿望就是要发现隐藏在试管中的神奇药物。 他说，总有一天，医生要做的只不过是给病人诊断病情，开几根适合病人的分子丝作为处方，然后病人即可痊愈回家。
这种生命细丝当然就是脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)，即人们在细胞核中发现的螺旋梯状分子。 自1952年以来，科学家们就知道DNA是遗传学的基本物质。 1953年以后，他们又弄清楚了它的化学结构。 他们了解到，人类的DNA的作用犹如一个生物计算机程序，该程序向生命的基本成分蛋白质的合成发出指令。
但是，科学家们在过去半个世纪中所完成的一切只是柯林斯和他的大批同事现在所做工作的一个前奏。 柯林斯主持的\"人类基因组工程\"将用15年的时间编写出第一部详尽的人类DNA图谱。 安德森，这位成功完成人类基因疗法手术的开拓者，正领导着一场将DNA信息尽快应用到人类疾病治疗和预防的运动。
他们与其他研究人员的策划决不亚于一场生物学和医学革命。 就像硅谷剽窃者拆开电脑芯片窃取竞争对手的秘密一样，遗传工程学家正在破译生命的奥秘，并试图用这方面的知识来逆转疾病的自然过程。 DNA在他们手中成为一种药。这种药具有超凡的潜力，不仅能消除病症，治疗引发病症的疾病，而且还能矫正使人易染某种疾病的DNA缺陷。
而这还仅仅是个开端。 尽管人们正以极高的热情从事着各种研究，但是科学还远远不能创造出十全十美的人。 基因疗法尚需大量的研究工作才能得以普及，许多疾病如果真能被攻克，也需要几十年的功夫。
在此期间，对这项新技术的最切实可行的应用将是遗传检测。 医生将能够检测到各种DNA缺陷，但要修复它们，尚待时日。 在某些情况下，知道检测结果有助于延缓疾病的发作，或减轻疾病的后果。 例如，有心脏病遗传倾向的人，可以通过低脂饮食防止胆固醇在动脉中凝聚，从而避免潜在的心脏病发作。 如果科学家们发现一种制造关键性蛋白质的基因有缺陷，从而导致该蛋白质缺失，他们或许就能够给病人输入这种人造蛋白质。 但在其他情况下，人们对基因缺陷所引起的损害几乎完全无能为力。 这就是基因革命目前面临的窘境。 对于目前还无法修正的基因缺陷，人们还想了解吗？ 他们愿意在自己的常规病历卡中添加一条注释来描述他们身上的某种基因缺陷吗？ 对于许多被诊断患有遗传疾病的人来说，他们所面临的危险是，如果他们离开了自己的工作（以及他们的健康保险），他们可能再也找不到另一份工作了。 有这样一个实例：一家保险公司发现一名投保妇女怀的胎儿体内带有一种很严重的遗传脊椎病基因。 保险公司告诉她，如果她流产，他们将负担一切费用。但是，如果她选择要孩子的话，他们将不承担任何医疗费用。 这位女士生下了这个孩子，并威胁要起诉这家公司，迫使公司让步。
\"你将会看到一些难以置信的事，\"一位医疗法律教授说。 他认为迟早会有人在理发店里扫到比尔·克林顿的一些头发，对发丝细胞中的DNA进行基因组扫描，然后公布这位前总统可能继承的一系列遗传疾病。 按照现行法律，克林顿以及其他任何人都无法阻止这种行为。 这位专家担心，普通人的常规血液检查血样可能会被筛选甄别，由此获取的基因信息可能最终进入庞大的DNA数据库。 为了防止滥用基因信息，他提出了一系列准则，包括防止为某一目的而收集的基因数据被另作他用等等。
目前已经有说法，反对\"我们的一切皆由基因控制\"的观念。 科学期刊《自然》的编辑警告说，基因组工程的最大弊端也许就是他所说的随发现的激增而产生的\"傲慢的乐观\" ，给人的印象是科学家懂得很多，虽然事实并非如此。 例如，声称已找到高智商基因的研究已受到许多科学家的驳斥。 然而，许多人仍然肯定地接受基因决定复杂生理现象这一假设。 即使真有一种，比方说，能导致犯罪活动的基因，社会又能拿它怎么样呢？ 一位科学家指出：\"人类已经有了一种真正的与暴力相关联的基因标志，这种标志在出生之前就能探测到。\" 他说，带有这种基因类型的人因暴力行为而被捕和判罪的概率很可能是不带这种基因的人的9倍。
UNIT6 A
Jeans: From Low Beginnings to High Fashion
A simple pair of pants may contain a multitude of meanings. In the 1850s, jeans were the unemotional, durable dress of those that came to California to labor in the gold fields. Seams were strengthened with metal pins to make them hold, a technology borrowed from the construction of horse blankets. Cloth for beasts of burden was translated to the needs of men of burden. These were the clothes of hard-laboring people, and these pants held little promise for the men who wore them, save the promise that they would be ready for the next day's labors. During the same decade, in the court of one European queen, \"the gown worn by a fashionable lady in attendance contained 1,100 yards of material not including lace and other ornaments.\" American women of wealth were also wrapped in an abundance of cloth. While makers of jeans worried over how many men could be fitted into a given amount of cloth, for women of wealth the concern was with how many yards of cloth could be attractively arranged upon a given individual. This was the mark of prosperity: to wear enough material on one's back to clothe many of more modest means. The fashionable rich could not imagine themselves wearing the vulgar canvas pants of workers and \"peasants\". Neither could working-class people reasonably imagine themselves in the costumes of wealth and power. The only fashion link
between them — subtle at best — was the stern top hat of wealthy capitalists, a coal-black cylinder symbolizing the factory chimney pipes that brought profit to one, hardship to the other. Blue jeans only signified labor and sweat.
Years later, the clothing of nineteenth-century laborers would assume new and different meanings. Humble beginnings became increasingly obscure within the unfolding of popular culture. In the movies, the horse riders of the early cattle industry were reborn as symbols of a noble, rural simplicity, and blue jeans became conspicuous within the landscape of the American media. On the screen these pants teased the imaginations of city folk, who longed for a simpler and less corrupt life. While laborers would continue to wear them at work, now the well-off might put on a pair at home or in the garden — an escape from the discipline of the business world.
In the 1950s, blue jeans became a statement by those who wished to boycott the values of a consumer-based society that was concerned only with acquisition. Blue-jeans-wearing rebels of popular movies were an expression of contempt towards the empty and obedient silence of Cold-War America; the positive images of American consumer society were under siege. What had been a piece of traditional American culture — blue jeans — became a rejection of traditional culture. These images found an eager audience among those for whom gray suits and formal dresses had been elevated as ideals of the age. In blue jeans, men and boys found relief from the priorities of the business world; women and girls found relief from the underlying harness required to fit into more formal wear. Even some among the middle class slipped into jeans for a sleepy afternoon on the porch.
By the mid-sixties, blue jeans were an essential part of the wardrobe of those with a commitment to social struggle. In the American Deep South, black farmers and grandchildren of slaves still segregated from whites, continued to wear jeans in their mid-nineteenth-century sense; but now they were joined by college students — black and white — in a battle to overturn deeply embedded race hatred. The clothes of the workers became a sacred bond between them. The clothing of toil came to signify the dignity of struggle.
In the student rebellion and the antiwar movement that followed, blue jeans and work shirts provided a contrast to the uniforms of the dominant culture. Jeans were the opposite of high fashion, the opposite of the suit or military uniform.
With the rise of the women's movement in the late 1960s, the political significance of dress became increasingly explicit. Rejecting orthodox sex roles, blue jeans were a woman's weapon against uncomfortable popular fashions and the view that women should be passive. This was the cloth of action; the cloth of labor became the badge of freedom.
If blue jeans were for rebels in the 1960s and early 1970s, by the 1980s they had become a foundation of fashion — available in a variety of colors, textures, fabrics, and fit. These simple pants have made the long journey \"from workers' clothes to cultural revolt to status symbol\". On television, in magazine advertising, on the sides of buildings and buses, jeans call out to us. Their humble past is obscured; practical roots are incorporated into a new aesthetic. Jeans are now the universal symbol of the individual. They are the costume of liberated women, with a fit tight enough to restrict like the harness of old — but with the look of freedom and motion.
In blue jeans, fashion reveals itself as a complex world of history and change. Yet looking at fashions, in and of themselves, reveals situations that often defy understanding. Our ability to understand a specific fashion — the current one of jeans, for example — shows us that as we try to make sense of it, our confusion intensifies. It is a fashion whose very essence is contradiction and confusion.
To pursue the goal of understanding is to move beyond the actual cloth itself, toward the more general phenomenon of fashion and the world in which it has risen to importance. What events, what developments, what forces proceeded to make fashion a more important concern than function among increasing numbers of people? In what ways have fashion and society coincided, particularly in the context of changes in the structure, habits, and economy of the society?
Exploring the role of fashion within the social and political history of industrial America helps to reveal the parameters and possibilities of American society. The ultimate question is whether the development of images of rebellion into mass-produced fashions has actually resulted in social change.
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牛仔裤：从劳工服到高级时装
一条普通的裤子可以包含许多层含义。 在19世纪50年代，牛仔裤属于毫无情感色彩的耐用服装，只有那些来加州淘金的人才穿。 裤缝是用金属别针加固过的，这样更结实。这种技术借用了马鞍鞍垫的制作法。 用来负重的动物身上的鞍垫布料变成了负重的人需要的东西。 这都是卖苦力的人穿的衣服，除了准备好第二天卖苦力的人以外，这些衣服对于着装的人来说就没有多大意义了。
就在同一个10年期间，在一位欧洲女王的宫廷里，\"一名穿着考究的侍女的一套礼服要用1,100码的布料做成，这还不包括花边和其他饰物。\" 那时美国有钱的女士也用大量的布料把自己裹起来。 牛仔裤的裁缝担心的是手中有限的布料能替多少劳工遮身裹体，而富家女子关心的是用多少码布料为自己量身定做才能展示出足够的魅力。 当时富贵的标志是：一个有钱人着装所用的布料足以为好几个普通人做衣服了。 时髦的富人很难想像自己会和工人和\"农民\"一样穿粗俗的帆布裤子。 劳动人民也别奢望穿上有钱有势的人才穿的高档服装。两类服装之间的联系微乎其微，惟一的联系就是戴在富有的资本家头上的威严高耸的大礼帽，乌黑的帽筒象征着给资本家带来利润、给劳工带来苦难的工厂烟囱。 蓝色牛仔裤仅象征劳动和汗水。
若干年后，19世纪的劳工服开始具有新的不同的意义。 随着通俗文化的不断发展，它卑贱的起源渐渐在演变中淡化。 在电影中，早期畜牧业界骑在马背上的牛仔获得重生，象征高贵而质朴的田园风情。蓝色牛仔裤则在美国媒体的画面里日益惹人注目。 在屏幕上，这些牛仔裤唤起城里人的想像力，他们渴望过上一种更简朴、不奢侈的生活。 劳动者继续穿牛仔裤上班，而富人呢，在家中或在花园里也身着牛仔裤——这让他们摆脱了生意场上的约束。
20世纪50年代，对于那些想否定只重视获取的消费者社会价值观的人们来说，蓝色牛仔裤就成了他们的一纸宣言书。 在大众化的电影中，身着蓝色牛仔裤的叛逆者表达了他们蔑视冷战时期美国无言的反应和逆来顺受的态度。 美国消费社会的一些正面形象受到围攻。 曾经作为美国传统文化一部分的蓝色牛仔裤却被传统文化抛弃了。 在那些曾经把灰西服和礼服奉为时代最理想的服装的人群中不乏牛仔裤的爱好者。 穿上蓝色的牛仔裤，男性不分老少都能从崇尚尊贵的商业气氛的压迫下解脱出来；女性不分长幼都能从正统着装的潜在压力中得到解放。 甚至一些中产阶级人士也会套上牛仔裤，在门廊里度过一个闲散的下午。 到60年代中期，蓝色牛仔裤已成为致力于社会斗争的人衣柜中的必备服装。 在美国的南方腹地，黑人农民和奴隶的后代仍然与白人隔离，他们所穿的牛仔裤仍保持着19世纪中叶的含义。 如今，大学生不分白人和黑人，都加入了他们的行列，为了推翻根深蒂固的种族仇视而斗争。 工装成为他们之间的神圣纽带。 劳工的衣服成为斗争尊严的象征。 在随后发生的学生反叛和反战的运动中，蓝色牛仔裤和工作服与主流文化中清一色的服装形成了对比。 牛仔裤与高级时装、西装和军服形成对立。
随着20世纪60年代后期妇女运动的兴起，服装的政治意义变得越来越明显。 为了抵制传统的性别歧视，蓝色牛仔裤成为女性的武器，用来抵制穿着不舒适的流行时装以及女性应该随大流的观念。 牛仔裤成为运动的衣服；劳动服成为自由的象征。
如果说蓝色牛仔裤在60年代和70年代初曾象征叛逆的话，那么到了80年代，它们已经成为时装的基础，而且颜色、质地、布料和尺码齐全。 这些朴素的裤子经历了\"从工装到文化叛逆使者、到社会地位象征\"的漫长历程。
在电视和杂志的广告中，在建筑物的围墙上，在公交车的侧面，牛仔裤在向我们呼唤。 它们卑微的过去已被淡忘；实用的渊源融入了新的审美理念。 现在，牛仔裤成为个人民主的普遍象征。 它们是解放了的妇女的服装，穿着束身，恰似旧时的束腰，但是看上去却使人觉得穿着随意、行动自如。
透过蓝色牛仔裤，复杂的时装界展示了它的历史和变迁。 然而，审视时装本身和相关的内容往往反映出一些令人费解的情形。 我们对某种时装的理解力（譬如说，这里讲到的牛仔裤）说明，我们越是想理解它，就越发感到迷惑不解。 时装的本质就是矛盾加费解。 要寻求理解不仅要考虑布料本身，而且要趋时顺势，因为世人重视这一点。 是哪些事件、哪些进展、哪些力量让越来越多的人更多地关心服装的时装感，而不是其功能呢？ 在社会结构、社会习惯、社会经济的变化的前提下，时装与社会在哪些方面相符相容？ 在工业化美国的社会政治历史背景下探讨时装的作用，有助于揭示美国社会的特征和各种可能性。 最根本的问题在于，从叛逆形象发展成为大规模生产的时装是否真的引起了社会的变化。 UNIT7 A
The Effects of Space Travel on the Human Body (Part 1)
When a healthy Russian astronaut opened the hatch of his space capsule after a world-record 438 days on the Mir Space Station, he had demonstrated that humans could live and work in space
for months at a time. It was not always clear that this would be the case.
In 1951, more than 10 years before the first human space flight, an expert in aviation medicine tried to predict some of the medical effects of space travel and, in particular, of weightlessness. Some of the things he predicted, such as the motion sickness that often occurs at the beginning of a flight, have been observed in real life. Others, such as the comic notion that space travelers would suddenly start to spin clockwise during normal motion in space, have not. As most doctors can testify, it is difficult to predict what will happen when the novelty of a brand-new challenge is presented to the human body. Time and again, space travel has revealed the body's marvelous and sometimes subtle ability to adapt. But only in the last few years have scientists begun to understand the body's responses to weightlessness, as both numerical and qualitative data have grown tremendously. Pursuit of this analytic knowledge is improving health care not only for those who journey into space but also for those of us stuck on the ground. The unexpected outcome of space medicine has been an enhanced understanding of how the human body works right here on Earth.
Although many factors affect human health during periods in space, weightlessness is the dominant and single most important one. The direct and indirect effects of weightlessness lead to a series of related responses. Ultimately, the whole body, from bones to brain, kidneys to bowels, reacts.
When space travelers grasp the wall of their spacecraft and jerk their bodies back and forth, they say it feels as though they are stationary and the spacecraft is moving. This is due to our reliance on gravity to perceive our surroundings.
The continuous and universal nature of gravity removes it from our daily notice, but our bodies never forget. Whether we realize it or not, we have evolved a large number of silent, automatic reactions to cope with the constant stress of living in a downward-pulling world. Only when we decrease or increase the effective force of gravity on our bodies do our minds perceive it. Our senses provide accurate information about the location of our center of mass and the relative positions of our body parts. Our brains integrate signals from our eyes and ears with other information from the organs in our inner ear, from our muscles and joints, and from our senses of touch and pressure.
The apparatus of the inner ear is partitioned into two distinct components: circular, fluid-filled tubes that sense the angle of the head, and two bags filled with calcium crystals embedded in a thick fluid, which respond to linear movement. The movement of the calcium crystals sends a signal to the brain to tell us the direction of gravity. This is not the only cue the brain receives. Nerves in the muscles, joints, and skin — particularly the skin on the bottom of the feet — respond to the weight of limb segments and other body parts.
Removing gravity transforms these signals. The inner ear no longer perceives a downward tendency when the head moves. The limbs no longer have weight, so muscles are no longer required to contract and relax in the usual way to maintain posture and bring about movement. Nerves that respond to touch and pressure in the feet and ankles no longer signal the direction of down. These and other changes contribute to orientation illusions, such as a feeling that the body or the spacecraft spontaneously changes direction. In 1961 a Russian astronaut reported vivid sensations of being upside down; one space shuttle specialist in astronomy said \"when the main engines cut off, I immediately felt as though we had inverted 180 degrees.\" Such illusions can recur even after some time in space.
The lack of other critical environmental cues also confuses the brain. Although flight around the Earth is a literal free fall — the only difference from \"normal\" falling is that the spacecraft's supersonic forward velocity carries it around the curve of the planet — space travelers say they do not feel as if they are falling. The perception of falling probably depends on visual and wind cues along with information from the organs that sense gravity directly.
The aggregate of the changes in brain signals produces a motion sickness that features many of the same symptoms as motion sickness on Earth: headache, impaired concentration, loss of appetite, and even throwing up. Space motion sickness may affect half or more of space travelers, but usually does not last beyond the first three days or so of weightlessness.
At one time, scientists attributed space motion sickness to the unusual pattern of inner ear activity, which conflicts with the brain's expectations. Now it is clear that this explanation was too simple. The sickness results as a variety of factors converge, including the alteration of the patterns and levels of muscle activity necessary to control the head itself. A similar motion
sickness can also be elicited by computer systems designed to create virtual environments, through which one can move without the forces and nerve signals present during real motion.
Over time, the brain learns to mediate between conflicting signals, and some space travelers visualize \"down\" as simply where their feet are. This process probably involves physiological changes in nerve-cell patterns. Similar changes occur on the ground during children's growth and during periods of major body-weight changes. The way we control our balance and avoid falls is an important and poorly understood part of medical science. Because otherwise healthy people returning from space initially have difficulty maintaining their balance but recover this sense rapidly, studies of returning astronauts may allow doctors to help others who suffer a loss of balance on Earth, such as the elderly.
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太空旅行对人体的影响 (1)
当一名健康的俄罗斯宇航员在和平号空间站完成了创世界记录的438天工作后，打开太空舱的舱门时，他已证实人类在太空中一次连续居住、工作的时间可达数月之久。 但当时人们并不十分肯定结果竟然是这样的。
1951年，在人类实现太空飞行10多年前，一位航空医学专家就试图预测太空旅行对人体产生的一些医学方面的影响，特别是失重对人体的影响。 他的一些预测，如飞行开始时出现的太空晕动症已经得到证实； 其他一些预测，如宇航员在太空中正常活动时会突然按顺时针方向旋转这样令人可笑的想法至今未得到证实。 正如多数医生所证实的那样，当一个全新的挑战摆在人体面前时，很难预测会发生什么情况。 太空旅行已不止一次地证实，人体具有令人惊异的、有时甚至是微妙的适应能力。 但直到最近几年，随着数据积累的量和质的增加，科学工作者才开始了解人体对失重的反应。 探索这方面的分析知识不仅能改善太空旅行者的健康，而且对于我们呆在地面上的人的健康也有好处。 太空医学所带来的意想不到的成果，就是我们更加了解人体在地球上是怎样工作的。
虽然在太空飞行中影响人体健康的因素有很多，但占主导地位、惟一至关重要的还是失重问题。 由失重引起的直接或间接的影响会导致一系列相关的反应。 最终整个身体——从骨骼到大脑，从肾脏到肠子——都会作出反应。 当太空旅行者抓住太空船舱壁，身体前后晃动时，他们说那种感觉就好像他们静止不动，而太空船在运动。 其原因在于我们通常借助地球引力来感知周围的环境。 地球引力的持续和普遍的存在使我们在日常生活中很容易忽略它，但我们的身体从未忘记过它。 无论我们是否认识到这一点，我们已逐步形成大量无声的、下意识反应来对付生活在一个重力向下的世界里所必须承受的每日每时的压力。 只有当地球引力对人体的作用减少或增加时，我们才意识到它的存在。
我们的感官提供我们身体重心所处位置的确切信息，以及我们身体各部位所处的相应位置。 大脑的功能是把来自眼睛和耳朵的信号与来自内耳器官、肌肉、关节以及触觉、压力等感官的信息综合在一起。
内耳的构造分为两部分：环状的、充满液体的液管，其作用是能感受头部所处的角度，以及两个充满浸在稠状液体的钙晶体液囊，其作用是对线性运动做出反应。 钙晶体的运动向大脑发出信号使我们感知地球引力的方向，但这不是大脑接收到的惟一信号。 肌肉、关节和皮肤中的神经，特别是足底皮肤的神经对肢体各部分及身体其他部位的重量作出反应。 消除地球引力就会改变这些信号。 当头部移动时，内耳再也感受不到向下的趋势了。 肢体不再有重量，所以肌肉再也不需要收缩、放松来保持某种姿势或促成运动。 对脚、踝部位的触、压产生反应的神经也不发出向下的信号了。 这些变化和其他一些变化使人产生方位错觉，例如感到身体或太空船突然自动改变方向。 1961年，一名俄罗斯宇航员报告过那种身体倒置时的逼真感觉。一名航天飞机专家说：\"当主发动机被关掉时，我立刻感觉到我们就好像经历了180度的大颠倒。\" 这种错觉甚至在太空航行一段时间后会再次出现。 缺少其他关键性环境提示同样使大脑感到不知所措。 尽管绕地球飞行确实是自由落体运动——它与\"正常\"下落的惟一区别是太空船的超音速前进最终使它围绕着地球的弧线飞行——但宇航员说他们并没有感到他们像是在下落。 下落的感觉大概取决于视觉和气流的暗示，以及来自那些直接感觉地球引力的器官的信息。 大脑中信号变化的集聚会使宇航员患晕动症，其特征类似于地球晕动症的很多症状：头痛、注意力不集中、没有胃口、呕吐等。 太空晕动症会对一半或一半以上的宇航员产生影响，但持续时间一般不超过失重的最初三天左右。
科学家曾一度把太空晕动症归结于内耳异常的活动模式，这种模式与大脑的期待相冲突。 现在我们弄清楚了，这种解释过于简单化了。 晕动症是各种因素综合在一起产生的，包括控制头部本身所需要的肌肉活动的模式和强度的改变。 我们也可以用模拟真实环境的
计算机来诱发晕动症，通过此系统，我们可以在真实运动中才出现的力量和神经信号都不存在的情况下就可以活动。
经过一段时间，大脑就学会了在相互冲突的信号之间进行协调。一些太空旅行者把\"下面\" 形象化地理解为不过是脚所在的位置罢了。 这一过程大概包括了神经元模式在生理上的变化。 在地面上，当儿童生长或人的体重发生大的变化时也会出现类似的变化。 人类是用什么方法控制身体平衡、避免摔倒的，这是医学界一个非常重要但知之甚少的问题。 因为从太空返回的宇航员原本很健康，刚返回地面时会感到难以保持身体平衡，但他的平衡感很快就会恢复。所以对返回地面的宇航员所做的研究也许会有助于医生帮助那些地球上患有失衡症的人们，例如老年失衡症患者。
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