大学毕业找工作的第一要义：别躺在沙发上做梦
More than 650,000 students left university this summer and many have no idea about the way to get a tough should a parent be to galvanize them in these financially fraught times?
今年夏天，超过 65万的大学生毕业离校，其中有许多人根本不知道 怎么找工作。在当今金融危机的背景下，做父母的该如何激励他们？
In July,you looked on as your handsome 21-year-old son,dressed in gown and mortarboard,proudly clutched his honours degree for his graduation memories of forking out thousands of pounds a year so that he could eat well and go to the odd party,began to now.
七月，你看着 21岁英俊的儿子穿上学士袍，戴上四方帽，骄傲地握 着优等学士学位证书，拍毕业照。这时，记忆中每年支付几千英镑，好让 儿子吃好、能参加奇特聚会的印象开始消退。总算熬到头了。
As the summer break comes to a close and students across the country prepare for the start of a new term,you find that your graduate son is still spending days slumped in front of the television,broken only by texting,Facebook and visits to the former scion of Generation Y has morphed overnight into a member of Generation he ever get a job?
等到暑假快要结束，全国各地的学生正在为新学期做准备的时候，你 发现大学毕业的儿子还歪躺在沙发上看电视。他只是偶尔走开去发短信， 浏览社交网站 Facebook，去酒吧喝酒。这位前“千禧一代”的后裔一夜之间变成了哼哼一代的成员。他能找到工作吗？
This is the scenario facing thousands of than 650,000 students left university this summer and most in these financially testing times have no idea what to do revert to nagging; sons and daughters become rebels without a cause, aware that they need to get a job, but not sure now.
这就是成千上万家庭所面临的景象：今年夏天，超过 65万大学生毕 业，在当今金融危机的背景下他们中的大多数人不知道自己下一步该做什 么。父母只会唠叨，而儿女们则毫无缘由地变成了叛逆者，他们知道自己 该找份工作，但却不知道如何去找。
Jack Goodwin,form Middlesex,graduated with a 2:1 in politics from Nottingham this walked into the university careers service and straight back out again;there was a big lived with five other boys all of whom did the was no pressure to find a job,even though most of the girls he knew had a clearer plan.
来自米德尔塞克斯郡的杰克·古德温今年夏天从诺丁汉大学政治学系 毕业，获得二级一等荣誉学士学位。他走进大学就业服务中心，又径直走了出来，因为他看见很多人在那里排长队。跟他一起住的另外 5个男孩也 都跟他一样，进去又出来了。找工作的压力不大，虽然他所认识的大多数 女生都有更清晰的计划。
“I applied for a job as a political researcher,but got turned down,”he says.”They were paying 18,000,which doesn’t buy you much more
than a tin of beans after rent,but they wanted people with experience or master’s I applied for the Civil Service fast passed the exam,but at the interviews they accused me of being ‘too detached’ and talking in language that was ‘too technocratic’,which I didn’t think possible,but obviously it is.”
他说：“我申请政治学研究工作， 但被拒了。 他们给的年薪是 1万 8千 镑，交完房租后所剩无几，也就够买一罐煮豆子，可他们还要有研究经历或硕士学位的人。然后我又申请了公务员速升计划，并通过了笔试。但在 面试时，他们说我‘太冷漠’了，谈吐‘太像专家治国国论者’。我觉得自 己不可能那样，但我显然就是那样的。”
Since then he has spent the summer “hiding”.He can recount several episodes of Traffic Cops and has seen more daytime television than is talks to his friends about his aimless days and finds that most are in the same boat. One has been forced out to stack shelves by his the rest it is 9-to-5 “chilling” before heading to the how about working behind the bar,to pay for those drinks?”I don’t want to do bar went to a comprehensive and I worked my backside off to go to a good university, where I worked really hard to get a good degree,”he says.”Now I’m back at the same stage as those friends who didn’t go to uni at all,who are pulling pints and doing dead-end feel that I’ve come full circle.”
打那以后他整个夏天都在“躲”他能够轻松复述《交通警察》中的 。 若干片段，他白天看电视的时间太多，已经到了影响健康的地步。跟朋友 谈自己漫无目标的日子时，他才发现他们的处境和自己的并没有两样。其 中一位朋友在父母的逼迫下去超市摆货，其余的都是白天 9点到 5点“无 所事事”，晚上去酒吧喝酒打发时间。要么，干脆就在酒吧工作？这样还可 以挣些酒钱。 “我不想在酒吧工作，我上的是综合性中学，我拼命读书才考 上了一所好大学。到了大学，我又埋头苦读，才得到一个好学位。可现在 我却跟那些没上过大学的朋友处在同一个水平线上， 他们整天给客人倒酒， 干无聊的活。我觉得自己好像兜了一圈，又回到了原来的起点。
Jacqueline Goodwin, his mother, defends him. She insists that he has tried to get a job,but having worked full-time since leaving school herself, she and her husband find it tricky to advise him on how to proceed.”I have always had to work,”she says. “It’s difficult because when you have a degree, it opens new doors for you, or you’d like to think that it does.”
他的母亲杰奎琳·古德温为他辩护。她坚持认为她的儿子已经尽力了， 她自己中学毕业后一直都在工作，可是她和她的丈夫发现，建议儿子如何 继续找工作是件很棘手的事情。她说，“我一直都必须工作。现在找工作很 难，因为如果你有了学位，学位就会为你提供新的机会，至少你自己会这么想。”
Although she is taking a soft line with her son at the moment, she is clear that after an upcoming three-week trip to South America, his
holiday from work will have to end. He may even have to pay rent and contribute to the household bills.
虽然现在她对儿子的态度还比较温和，但是她心里很清楚，去南美度 三星期的假之后，他的休假就结束了。他可能还得付房租，分担家庭开支。
“They’ve got to grow up at some point. We’ve finished paying for university, so a little bit of help back is good,” she says.”The South America trip is the cutoff he comes back there’ll be Christmas work if nothing else.”
她说，“在某个时候他们总该长大成人，我们已经帮了他们交了大学的 学费，所以他们也该给我们一点点回报了。南美度假就是一个分水岭，他 回来以后如果找不到工作，那就打圣诞节零工好了。”
Gael Lindenfield, a psychotherapist and the author of The Emotional Healing Strategy, says that the Goodwin parents have struck exactly the right note. The transition from university to a job is tough for parents and children: Crucially they must balance being positive and
understanding with not making life too comfortable for their offspring. 心理治疗师盖尔·林登费尔德是《情感康复策略》的作者。她说古德 温家长的说法是很恰当的，从上大学到工作的转换对孩子和父母来说都很 艰难，关键是他们要在支持理解孩子和不溺爱孩子之间取得平衡。
“The main job for the parents is to be there because if they start advising them what to do, that is when the conflict starts. If you have contacts, by all means use those,” she says. “But a lot of parents get too soft,Put limits on how much money you give them,ask them to pay rent or contribute to the care of the house or the on life as normal and don’t allow them to abuse your bank account or sap your reserves of emotional energy.”
“父母的主要任务就是支持他们，如果他们教导孩子该如何做就会引 起矛盾，”她说。“如果有熟人，一定要找他们想办法。但很多父母心太软 了。必须限制孩子的零花钱，要求他们交房租，或分担日常生活或养宠物 的花销。父母要过正常的生活，不要让孩子随便用你们的银行卡或者榨干 你们的情感能量。”
Paying for career consultations, train fares to interviews or books are good things; being too pushy is not. But while parents should be wary becoming too soft, Lindenfield advises them to tread sympathetically after a job setback for a few days or even weeks - depending on the scale of the knock. After that the son or daughter needs to be nudged firmly back into the saddle.
为他们支付职业咨询费、面试交通费及书费是好事，但不能催得太紧。 林登费尔德建议：虽说父母不能太宽容，但是如果孩子找工作遇到了挫折，父母应该体谅他们，宽容他们几天甚至几周——这要看他们受打击的程度 来决定。等他们缓过来之后，父母就该坚决要求孩子继续求职。
Boys are more likely to get stuck at home. Lindenfield believes that men are often better at helping their sons, nephews, or friends’ sons
than are mothers and sisters. Men have a different way of handing setbacks than women, she says, so they need the male presence to talk it through.
男孩更容易困在家里。林登费尔德相信男人比母亲和姐妹更容易帮助 他们的儿子、侄子、或朋友的儿子。她说，由于男人和女人处理挫折的方 式不同，孩子们需要跟男人谈话，才能度过难关。
As for bar work, she is a passionate advocate:It’s a great antidote to graduate apathy. It just depends on how you approach , who found her first job as an aerial photographic assistant through bar work, says it is a great networking opportunity and certainly more likely to get you a job than lounging in front of TV.
她强烈支持他们去酒吧工作：那是克服毕业冷漠症的一剂良方。这工 作好不好要取决于你如何看待它。就是在酒吧打工的时候，林登费尔德找 到了她的第一份工作，当航拍助手。她说在酒吧工作是拓展人际关系的绝 好机会，肯定比赖在家里看电视更容易找到工作。
“The same goes for shelf-stacking. You will be spotted if you’re good at it. If you’re bright and cheerful and are polite to the customers, you’ll soon get moved on. So think of it as an opportunity; people who are successful in the long run have often got shelf-stacking stories,”she says.
她说： “给超市上货也一样。如果干得好，你就会被人发现的。如果你 聪明、活泼，对顾客彬彬有礼，你很快就会升职。所以，把它看作是机会， 那些最终能成功的人士都有在超市上货的经历。 ”
Your son or daughter may not want to follow Hollywood stars such as Whoopi Goldberg into applying make-up to corpses in a mortuary, or guarding nuclear power plants like Bruce Willis,but even Brad Pitt had to stand outside El Pollo Loco restaurant chain in a giant chicken suit at one time in his life. None of them appears the poorer for these experiences.
你的儿子或女儿可能不会干好莱坞影星们干过的活，比如像乌比·戈 德堡那样去停尸房给死人化妆，或者像布鲁斯·威利斯那样在核电站当警 卫，但即便是布拉德·皮特也曾经不得不穿上宽大的鸡套装站在墨西哥快 餐连锁店 El Pollo Loco的门口招揽生意。他们中没有一个人因为这些经历 而变得越来越穷。
Unit 2 Active reading(1)
危险！书可能会改变你的人生
Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice,who falls into a rabbit hole and discovers a mysterious wonderland, when we pick up a book we are about to enter a new become observers of life from the point of view of a person older than ourselves, or through the eyes of a child. We may travel around the globe to countries or cultures we would never dream of visiting in real life. We’ll have experiences which are new, sometimes disconcerting,
maybe deeply attractive, possibly unpleasant or painful,but never less than liberating from the real world we come from.
刘易斯·卡罗尔书中的爱丽丝不小心掉到兔子洞里，在那里发现了一 个神奇的仙境。当我们打开一本书时，我们也会像爱丽丝那样走进一个全新的世界。我们能从一个年长人的角度，或通过一个孩子的眼睛来观察生 活；我们可以周游世界，遍访现实生活中从没想过要访问的国家和文化； 我们可以体验未曾经历过的事情，这些事情有时令人不安，也许引人入胜； 可能是不愉快的也可能是令人痛苦的，但无论如何都至少能把我们从现实 世界中解放出来。
The English poet William Cowper(1731-1800) said “Variety’s the very spice of life , That gives it all its flavour” although he neglected to say where or how we could find we know he was know we live in a world of variety and difference. We know that people live various different lives,spend their time in various different ways,have different jobs,believe in different things,have different opinions,different customs,and speak different , we don’t know the extent of these differences,yet sometimes when something unusual happens to make us notice,variety and difference appear more as a threat than an opportunity.
英国诗人威廉·考珀（1731–1800）说，“变化是生活的调味品，它让 生活变得有滋有味。”虽然他没有说在什么地方以及怎样才能找到变化，但 我们知道他说得对。我们知道我们生活在一个充满变化与差异的世界里，我们知道人们的生活方式各不相同，人们过日子的方式不同，做不同工作， 有不同信仰，持不同观点，有不同的风俗习惯，操不同语言。通常，我们不知道这些差异的大小， 但一旦发生了不平常的事情并引起了我们的注意， 这种变化或差异与其说是机会，毋宁说是威胁。
Reading books allows us to enjoy and celebrate this variety and difference in safety, and provides us with an opportunity to grow. To interact with other people’s lives in the peace and quiet of our homes is a privilege which only reading fiction can afford us. We even understand, however fleetingly, that we have more in common with other readers of books in other cultures than we might do with the first person we meet when we step out of our front doors. We learn to look beyond our immediate surroundings to the horizon and a landscape far away from home.
读书让我们能够安全地享受和庆贺这种变化与差异，为我们提供成长的机会。在家里安详平和的环境中与他人的生活互动，这是阅读小说才享 有的特权。我们甚至感觉到——哪怕只是在那一瞬间——我们和异文化读 者的共同点要多于我们和家门口随便碰到的一个人的共同点。我们学会把 目光移出我们周围的环境，投向天边，去领略一下异域山水。
If we ever question the truth of the power of reading books, we should take the trouble to go to our local library or bookshop, or even, if we’re fortunate enough, to the books on our shelves at home. We should wonder at the striking vistas created by the titles of novels ranging from the classics to the most recent:The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Fourth Hand by John lrving, Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene,
The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger or Slamon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday. Then we should reflect on the other lives we’ll meet once we begin to read.
如果我们怀疑读书是否能给我们力量的话，我们就应该麻烦自己去一 趟当地的图书馆或书店，或者，如果我们足够幸运的话，从家里的书架上 取一本书来读一读。 我们会惊奇于古今小说的标题所创造出来的壮观景象：约翰·斯坦贝克的 《愤怒的葡萄》 约翰·、 欧文的 《第四只手》 亚历山大·、 索 尔仁尼琴的《癌症病房》 、厄内斯特·海明威的《丧钟为谁而鸣》 、格雷厄 姆·格林的《哈瓦那特派员》 、奥黛丽·尼芬格的《时间旅行者的妻子》 、 保罗·托迪的《到也门钓鲑鱼》 。一旦开始阅读，我们就必须思考我们在书 中读到的别样人生。
Every book will have its own language and dialect, its own vocabulary and grammar. We may not always understand every word or sentence, but whether we’re enchanted or whether we feel excluded, our emotions are nevertheless stimulated. Other people and other cultures are not always distant because of geography. In a book we may confront people who live in a different climate, have different religious beliefs, or come from from a different ethnic ours neighbours down the road may be strangers who we can only meet through books.
每一本书都有自己的语言、方言、词汇和语法。我们不见得总能理解 其中的每一个字、句，但不管我们是痴迷其中，还是觉得被排除在外，我 们的情感被调动起来了。尽管在地理上有一定的距离，但其他民族、其他 文化未必就离我们那么遥远。在书里我们可能遇见生活在不同气候、有不 同信仰、来自不同民族的人。即便是住在同一条街上的邻居，我们都有可 能只在书上相识。
As soon as we are able to listen, books are supremely influential in the way we live. From the bedtime story read by a parent to their child all the way though to the sitting room lined with books in our adult homes, books define our English writer even hinted at a more mystical power which books possess over wrote,”I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready,and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have gone ourselves.”It’s as if the right book comes to seek us out at the right moment, and offers itself to us-it’s not us who seek out the book.
小时候，在我们刚刚能听讲的时候，书对我们的生活方式就产生了很 大的影响。 从父母给孩子读的睡前故事一直到成年后家中摆满书柜的客厅， 书界定了我们的人生。英国作家 E. M.福斯特（1879–1970）暗示书对我们 具有另一种更加神秘的支配力。他写道： “我认为能影响我们的书籍是那些 我们已经准备要读的书，它们只是在我们已经选定的道路上走得比我们更 远一些而已。 合适的书好像自己就会在恰当的时候找到我们，出现在我 ”们面前，而不是我们去寻找那本书。
Thomas Merton(1915-1968),the American monk,priest and writer,was once asked a series of seven questions by a journalist:Name the last three books you have read,the three books you are reading now ,the books you intend to read ,the books that have influenced you, and why, a book that
everyone should read,and the books which had influenced him,he cited poetic works of William Blake,various plays by ancient Greek thinkers and writers,and a number of religious asked why they had influenced him,he replied, “These books and others like them have helped me to discover the real meaning of my life,and have made it possible for me to get out of the confusion and meaninglessness of an existence completely immersed in the needs and passivities fostered by a culture in which sales are everything.”
美国修士、牧师及作家托马斯·默顿（1915–1968）曾经被记者一连串 地问了 7个问题：说出你最近读完的 3本书；你正在读的 3本书；你打 算要读的书；对你有影响的书，并解释为什么；一本每人都要读的书，并 解释为什么。关于对他有影响的书，他列出了《威廉·布莱克诗集》 、古希腊思想家和作家写的各种戏剧以及一些宗教作品。当被问及这些书为何会 影响他时，他回答说： “这些书——还有其他类似的书籍——帮助我找到了 人生的真谛，它们把我从生活的困惑和空虚中解脱出来。销售就是一切的 文化培育了人的需求和被动，而那种生活就深陷其中。”
So how would you answer the questions? 那么，你又会如何回答这些问题呢？
In 1947,Clifton Fadiman coined the term home-run a baseball player hits a home run, he hits the ball so hard and so far he’s able to run round the four bases of the diamond, and score points not only for himself but for the other runners already on a base. It’s the most enjoyable and satisfying event in a baseball game. Likewise, a home-run book describes not the child’s first reading experience, but the first time they read a book which induces such pleasure and satisfaction that they can’t put it down. For hundreds of millions of children around the world,the best know example of a home-run book will be the Harry Potter stories.
1947年，克里夫顿·费迪曼发明了“全垒打书籍”这个词。当一个棒 球手打出一个全垒打时，因为击球有力、打得远，他有时间跑完整个棒球 场内的四个垒，不仅自己得分，而且帮其他各个垒的跑垒者得分，这是棒 球赛里最有趣和最开心的事情。同样，一本“全垒打书籍”指的不是儿童 的第一次读书的经历，而是指他们第一次读到一本能给他们带来极大的愉 悦和满足感的书、痴迷到手不释卷的经历。对世界上数以亿计的儿童来说，
As adults, we’re always looking for our own home-run books,not just for the first time,but time after time has read a novel in one sitting will always remember the pleasure and satisfaction which await us,and eagerly,insistently,sometimes even desperately seeks to reproduce the marvellous sensation cannot withstand the hunger to visit another world, to meet different people,to live other lives and to reflect on ourselves.
“全垒打书籍”的最典型的例子就是《哈利波特》系列小说。 作为成年人，我们总在寻找自己的“全垒打书籍”，不是第一次，而是 一次又一次地寻找。所有一口气读完一本小说的人都会记得那种令人期待 的愉悦和满足感，并会焦急、固执、有时甚至疯狂地寻求重复体验这种感 觉。我们想周游另一世界、会
见不同国家不同民族的人、经历别样人生并 自我反省，我们无法遏制这样的渴求。
Danger!Books may change your is the power of reading. 危险！书可能会改变你的人生。这就是读书的力量。
Unit 3 时装潮流 50年
No history of fashion in the yeas 1960 to 2010 can overlook or underestimate two constant factors: the ubiquitous jeans and the rise and fall of hemlines for women’s skirts and dresses.
1960至 2010年间的时装史存在着两个不可忽略或不可低估的不变因 素：一是无处不在的牛仔裤，二是女装裙摆的升降。
Denim,the material which jeans are made of, was know in France in the late 16th century,but it was Levi Strauss who saw that miners in the Californian gold rush in the min-19th century needed strong
trousers,which he reinforced with metal denim jeans remained popular in the US as work clothes until the 1950s,but then became associated with youth, new ideas,rebellion and Levi Strauss & Co began to export blue jeans to Europe and Asia in the late 1950s,they were bought and worn with huge enthusiasm by young people and recognized as a symbol of the young,informal American way of life.
牛仔裤是用粗斜纹布做的，早在 16世纪末法国就有了这种布料。直 到 19世纪中叶，李维·施特劳斯发现在加州淘金热中劳动的矿工很需要用这种耐用布料做成的牛仔裤，他还用铆钉来加固裤子。直到 1950年代， 蓝色粗斜纹布做的牛仔裤一直只是流行的工装，但是后来牛仔裤变成了青 春、新思想、反叛及个性的标志。1950年代末，李维·施特劳斯公司开始 向欧亚出口蓝色牛仔裤。年轻人趋之若鹜，视其为美国活力四射的、随意 的生活方式的象征。
Hemlines have a more peculiar significance during this has often been noted that there is a precise correlation,with only a few
exceptions,between the length of women’s skirts and the the stock market rises, so do hemlines, and when it fails,so do why women should want to expose more or less of their legs during periods of economic boom and bust remains a the general trend is the economic outlook is unsettled,both men and women tend to wear more conservative clothes.
裙摆在这一时期有着特殊的意义。人们时常会注意到，女人的裙摆和 经济之间存在一种颇为精确的关联性，且鲜有例外。股市升时裙摆也跟着 上升；股市跌时裙摆就跟着下降。在经济繁荣和萧条时期女性到底为什么 要多暴露或少暴露双腿至今仍然是个迷。但总的趋势是必定是这样的：每 当经济前景不明朗时，男人和女人都倾向于穿比较保守的衣服。
Perhaps the most important development in fashion in the 1960s was the miniskirt, invented by the British designer Mary Quant worked in the heart of Swinging London, the miniskirt developed into a major international fashion. It was given greater respectability when the great French designer,Courreges,developed it into an item of high it would not
have achieved such international currency without the development of tights,instead of stockings,because the rise in hemlines meant the stocking tops would be visible.
1960年代时装史上一个最重要的发展就是英国时装设计师玛丽·匡特 发明的超短裙。由于匡特在“摇摆伦敦”的中心地带工作，超短裙很快就 风行全球。 当法国杰出的时装设计师库雷热把超短裙变成一件高级时装时， 超短裙得到了人们更多的尊敬。但是，如果只有长筒袜而没有发明裤袜的 话，超短裙是不可能在全球流行的，因为裙摆的上升会让人看见长筒袜的 袜口。
The hippie movement of the mid-1960s and early 1970s influenced the design of jeans,with the trouser leg developing a flared “bell-bottom” style. By the mid-1970s, as the economy deteriorated,hemlines dropped to midi(mid-calf length) and maxi(ankle length),while jeans were no longer exclusively blue.
60年代中、70年代初的嬉皮士运动影响了牛仔裤的设计，牛仔裤的 裤腿发展成了扩张的“喇叭形”。到了 70年代中期，随着经济的恶化，裙 摆降低到了小腿中部和脚踝部，而牛仔裤则不再是清一色的蓝色了。
Jeans remained fashionable during the period of punk,usually worn ripped,often with chains and studded look lasted for several years,although became more and more restricted to small groups of
inner-city young people,and had little influence on other age groups.
牛仔裤在朋克时期依然很时髦，裤腿通常有撕裂的口子，并配有铁链 及打着装饰钉的皮带。这种样式的牛仔裤延续了几年，但流行的范围越来 越小，仅限于内城区的少数年轻人群体，对其他年龄段的群体影响不大。
As a backlash to the anarchy of punk,the New Romantics was a fashion movement which occurred mainly in British nightclubs. It was glamorous and courageous,and featured lavish frilled shirts. Jeans were definitely not acceptable.
作为对朋克无政府主义的一种抗拒，新浪漫派是一个主要出现在英国 夜总会的时装潮流。这种时装大胆创新、魅力十足：衬衫以皱褶和奢侈为 特征，牛仔裤是绝对不可以接受的。
The mid-1980s saw the rise of a number of different dressing was characterized by smart suits and, for the newly-empowered women,shoulder pads and knee-length skirts. Not surprisingly,the economy was
unstable,and people took less risks in what they men,the Miami Vice style,named after the television series,made use of smart T-shirts under designer jackets,and designer stubble-three of four days of beard as always,denim remained popular with the particular,heavy metal music fans wore bleached and ripped jeans and denim jackets.
80年代中期兴起了几种风格各异的服装。“权威装”以雅致的套装为 特色，带肩垫的上衣配及膝短裙，受到新近得势的女士的欢迎。毫不奇怪， 当经济不稳定的时候， 人们不想在穿着上太冒险。 男士则流行以电视剧 “迈 阿密风云”命名的“迈阿密风云”式样的时装，名牌短外套配时髦的 T恤， 留着有型的短胡子——长三、四天的样子。和往常一样，粗斜纹布仍然受 到年轻人的欢迎。尤其是重金属音乐迷，爱穿漂白的、撕开裂口的牛仔裤 及牛仔衫。
Gradually hemlines started to rise again ... Until the world stock market crash in 1987,So the late 1980s in the US saw the rise of the more conservative style called Preppy style,with classic clothes by Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers for men, button-down shirts,chinos and loafers,with a sweater tied loosely around the also wore jeans,but either brand-new or clean and smartly pressed - not at all what Levi Strauss originally intended.
在 1987年全球股市崩盘之前，裙摆也开始逐渐地上升起来。 美国在 80年代末兴起了一种较为保守的风格， 称为 “学院风”男士穿拉尔夫·。 劳 伦和布鲁克斯兄弟品牌的经典服装，衣领带纽扣的衬衫、斜纹棉布裤、平 底便鞋，脖子上随意系着一件毛衣。他们也穿牛仔裤，但是必须是新的， 或者是干净、熨平的牛仔裤，完全不是李维·施特劳斯最初所设想的那种 牛仔裤。
As the world economies improved again in the 1990s,fashion for young people became more and Converse or Nike trainers remained popular,but the predominant colours became olive green and oatmeal. Hair was worn long, or cut spiky short and dyed blue,green or red. Hoodies,baseball caps and baggy jeans,which were often worn low below the buttocks,were common on the streets.
90年代随着世界经济的再次复苏， 年轻人的时装也变得更加大胆起来 了。靴子、匡威或耐克运动鞋都很流行，但是流行颜色变成了橄榄绿和米 灰色。头发要么留得很长，要么是染成蓝色、绿色或红色的短刺头。帽衫、 棒球帽及松垮型牛仔裤在街上随处可见。松垮型牛仔裤往往穿得很低，松 松垮__垮地挂在臀部上。
Then in January 2000 the New York technology stock market usual, so did hemlines,which were described by one commentator as “the prim and proper look is should be below the knee.”But merely one year later,the stock market began to recover,and the micro miniskirt were higher than they had been for many years.
2000年 1月纽约的科技股市崩盘。和往常一样，裙摆也下降了，正
如一位评论家所说的， “循规蹈矩、一本正经的式样开始流行了，裙摆必须 过膝。 但仅仅过了一年，股市开始复苏，超短迷你裙又回来了，裙摆比 ”多年以来的都要高。
During this period, it was unusual to wear formal clothes unless you were at work. Designer jeans gained huge were made of the traditional denim,perhaps with some lycra added,but cut and marketed under well-known brands such as Armani,Hugo Boss and Moschino, who until recently had only concerned themselves with the smartest fashion jeans also became popular in Britain and most of Europe. Skirt length is uncertain,ranging from micro to “sensible”- knee-length or just below.
这段时间，除非在工作时，人们通常不穿正式的服装。 名牌牛仔裤享有很高的知名度，用传统的粗斜纹布制作，可能还加了点莱 卡。由着名服装品牌，如阿玛尼、胡戈·伯斯士及莫斯奇诺剪裁、销售。这些品牌公司以前都只做最优雅的时装。紧身牛仔裤在英国及欧洲大部分 地区很流行。裙子的长度不太确定，范围从超短到“理性”——即及膝或 刚刚过膝。
Sometimes the hemline indicator,as it’s called,can even precede and predict a change in the mood of the stock market long before it actually September 2007,at the New York fashion shows,which were displaying their styles for spring 2008,the trend was for much longer dresses and skirts,many to mid-calf or even down to the people felt this showed that the hemline indicator was no longer reliable,and that designers no longer dictated what people would wear. During the London and New York fashion shows in September 2008,hemlines continued to sure enough,in the fall of stock market indexes fell dramatically when the banking crisis hit the US,Europe and then the rest of the world .Hemlines were no longer following the stock market - they were showing the way and indicating future economic trends.
有时候，所谓的裙摆标志甚至能够在事情发生之前早早地预告股票牛 市和熊市的更替。 2007年 9月的纽约时装展展示了 2008年春季流行式样， 潮流转向了长衣、长裙，裙摆降至小腿中线，甚至到了脚踝。有人觉得这 表明裙摆标志靠不住了， 要不就是服装设计师已经丧失了对时装的主宰权。 2008年 9月，在伦敦和纽约时装展中，裙摆继续下降。果然，2008年秋 天金融危机袭击美欧，波及全球，股指急剧下跌。这时，裙摆不再被动地 追随股市升跌，而是引领潮流，预示未来的经济趋势了。
During the whole period,fashion styles have ranged widely,and have usually been sparked off by a desire to identify people as belonging to a particular the constant factors over this period are denim and hemlines and the greatest influences have been a 19th-century Californian clothes manufacturer and a young designer in the Swinging London of the 1960s.
在整个这段时期内，时装的风格多种多样，它们的诞生往往起因于人 们希望归属于某种亚文化、与之认同的愿望。但是，这个时期不变因素是 粗斜纹布和裙摆。影响力最大的当属 19世纪加利福尼亚州的一个服装制 造商以及 1960年代工作在“摇摆伦敦”的一位年轻的时装设计师。
Unit 4 Active reading (1) 信用卡陷阱
I have a years ago, I was standing in a queue to collect some theatre tickets for my family,and my friend was doing the same for hers. I got mine,and paid for them by credit card,feeling contented by the convenience of this cash-free was then her turn to pay. The whole operation passed as smoothly as mine,but my delight soon turned to abject credit card was a fairly pathetic,status-free dark blue,whereas hers was a very exclusive gold one.
有一件事我得坦白。几年前，我排队为家人取戏票时，我的朋友也在 为她的家人取票。我拿到了戏票，用信用卡付了帐，对这种非现金交易的 便利感到很满意。然后就轮到她付款了，整个交易进行得和我的一样顺利， 但我的高兴劲儿很快就变成了莫大的羞耻：我的信用卡太寒酸了，是不显示身份地位的黑蓝色，而她的信用卡则是高级的金卡。
How did she do this? How could this be? I knew I earned more then her,my car was newer,and my house was did she get to appear more flash than me?
她是怎样弄到金卡的？怎么会这样呢？我知道我挣的比她多，我的车 比她的车新，我的家比她的家漂亮，她怎么看起来显得比我光鲜呢？
Now, I had a job which was as steady as any job was in those days - that’s to say, not very, but you know,no had a mortgage on my house,but then who didn’t? I paid off all my credit debt at the end of the month, so although technically, I was in debt to the credit card company,it was only for a matter of a few I assumed I had a good credit rating.
我有一份跟那时候任何工作相比还算安定的工作——即不太安定的工 作，不过我也没什么可抱怨的。我是通过按揭贷款买的房子，可那会儿谁 买房不贷款呢？我每个月底都付清信用卡欠款。所以，虽然从技术上讲我 欠过信用卡公司的钱，但只是欠几个星期而已。所以我认为我的信用等级 应该很高。
Call me superficial,and I’m not proud of myself,but there and then,I was suddenly jealous of my decided I no longer wanted a blue wanted a gold gold card was suddenly indispensable,it would make me feel good with myself,and desirable to others.
你可以说我肤浅，我也不感到自豪。但就在当时当地我突然非常嫉妒 那位朋友，我决定不要蓝色信用卡了，我要一张金卡。金卡突然变得不可 或缺，它让我自我感觉良好，让别人觉得我更有魅力。
So I applied for the most distinctive,shiny golden card the company offered.
于是，我去信用卡公司申请最特别、最耀眼的金卡。 I was turned down. 可是，我的申请被拒了。 When I had recovered from the shock,which took several seconds,I asked why. It appears that because I pay my credit card bill both on time and in full,I’m not the kind of person that they want to have their gold credit target people who are prone to impulse-buying,and potentially bad credit risks,tempted to spend more than they have, and liable to fall behind with they can charge them more interest,and earn more ’s the way they do business.
过了几秒钟，我才从这个打击中回过神来，我问为什么。显然，因为 我每次都按时全额付清信用卡欠债， 所以我不是他们想要的那种金卡客户， 他们的目标客户是那些随时有购物刷卡的冲动，有潜在信用风险，经不住诱惑超支消费，经常延期还款的人。这样他们才有机会收取更多的利息， 挣更多的钱，这就是他们的经营之道。
So does this explain why the credit card companies are luring impoverished students with unrealistic interest rates,like my kids?
这能够解释为什么信用卡公司会用超低利率诱惑像我们家孩子那样的贫穷大学生吗
Three weeks ago, daughter came home from university for the ’s in her second term of her first has a student loan of $3000,like most of her friends,and a small allowance from her poor mother (ha!) for transport,
books, living expenses. She wears clothes from the local charity shops,and rarely goes hugged me (never usually does that)and then said,”Mum,I need to talk to you.”
三个星期前，我的二女儿回家过周末。她在读大一第二学期。和她的大多 数朋友一样，她借了三千英镑的学生贷款，并从她可怜的妈妈（哈！ ）那里 得到小小的一笔生活费，用于支付交通、书本及其他生活费用。她穿的衣 服是从当地的慈善二手店买来的，平时很少出门。她拥抱了我(以前从不 这样做)，然后说：“妈妈，我有事要跟您商量。”
“What is it,darling? Tell me everything.” “亲爱的，什么事啊？都说出来让我听听。”
“I’ve applied for a credit card,and I need someone to act as a guarantee for it OK if I put down your name? Thanks so much,Mum, must dash!Bye.”
“我申请了一张信用卡，需要保证人，我可以填您的名字吗 非常感谢，妈妈，我得赶快走啦，再见。”
After I’d hauled her back into the house, it transpired that her bank had written to her offering a credit card at a low interest for a trial three-month period,subject to suitability... And so bank! I trusted them! They know even better than I do how broke she is.
我费了好大劲儿才把她从外面拽了回来。 原来她的银行来信告诉她说： 她可以申请一张三个月试用期内低息贷款的信用卡，只要合适……云云。 她的银行！我才不相信他们！他们甚至比我更清楚她一贫如洗。
Here’s an serious question. Why do they call them credit cards when it would be more accurate to call them debt cards?
这里存在一个严重的问题：准确地说这种卡应该叫欠债卡，他们为什么要称它们为信用卡？
Here’s an even more serious friend’s daughter, Kelly,was studying modern languages at university, and spent a year some point in the year,there was a change of procedure,and Kelly’s bank failed to allow her to access her funds in her current account,because the request was from outside the ,there was a lengthy correspondence while she tried to sort this out,so the delay in being able to access her funds meant that she went into the red,and her debts began to rise more than $200 above the agreed limit on her overdraft of $1500.
还有一个故事更严重。我一个朋友的女儿凯丽在大学攻读现代语言， 其中有一年要到国外交流。在出国交流那一年的某段时间，由于程序上的 变动，凯丽的银行切断了她在英国之外访问帐户资金的权限。通过书信同 银行交涉的时间相当长，未能即时访问帐户资金使得她欠了银行的债，欠 款额超过了透支额度（1500英镑）200多英镑。
When Kelly got back home,the bank charged her $100 for going over the limit,and insisted she paid $30 a month to bring the balance back to below her omitted to tell her that she wasn’t actually paying off the debt,but only the exorbitant interest on the overspend of the overdraft. 凯丽回国后，银行因为她超支扣了她 100英镑，并坚持要她每月支付 30
英镑，以使她的超支数额回到透支额度之内。但他们没有告诉她，每月 支付 30英镑并不是偿清欠款，而是支付超额支出的巨额利息。
So Kelly had to turn to her credit card which she had used sensibly and sparingly until that she was a student,and because she didn’t use it much,naturally her credit limit was low.
因此凯丽不得不求助于信用卡，在这之前她对信用卡的使用一直非常 小心谨慎。由于她是学生，又因为她很少使用信用卡，自然她的信用额度 就比较低。
And not surprisingly,she couldn’t pay off even the minimum payment on her credit card there were not only bank charges owing,but also credit
card debts and of curse,she was recorded as being a bad credit risk.
毫不奇怪，她甚至无法偿还信用卡账单里的最小还款数。所以她不仅 欠银行手续费，而且还欠信用卡的债务及利息。当然，她因此被银行登记 为信用风险高的人。
Things then went from bad to few months into her final year,the bank notified her that it was going to reduce her overdraft from $1500 to told her to apply for a student loan to cover the when the loan company did a credit check,they discovered the card debt.
事情越来越糟。大学最后一年刚过几个月，银行通知她：她的透支额 度由 1500英镑减少到 1000英镑，他们让她申请学生贷款来填补缺口。可 是，贷款公司检查她的银行信用时发现了她的信用卡债务。
Guess what? She didn’t get the loan. 猜猜怎么着？她没有申请到学生贷款。
This was a delightful kid who had great restrain with her spending and was economical about her lifestyle. She didn’t go on spending sprees buying new shoes,and she didn’t use her credit card as if(unlike me) it was a fashion had to drop out of university.
凯丽是个讨人喜欢的孩子，消费节制有度，生活节俭。她并没有疯狂 刷卡买鞋，也没有把信用卡当成时髦玩意儿（不像我），她只是用信用卡购 买生存所必需的食品。
And what happened? She had to drop out of university, 结果怎样呢？结果是：她不得不退学。 I wish there was a happy ending to Kelly’s story,although maybe there will the moment,she’s working in the local supermarket,and it’s probable that she’ll have another go at university when she has paid off her debts.
我希望凯丽的故事会有个好的结果，也许会有好结果。现在，她在当 地的一家超市工作，等她还清债务后可能会继续完成大学学业。
So this is what the banks set traps which appeal to our vanity and greed and sometimes to our basic need for then when we fall into the trap they shout “Got you! Didn’t you realize it was a trap?”
这就是银行的所作所为。他们常常利用我们的虚荣和贪婪，有时也利 用我们生存的基本需求给我们设下陷阱。等我们掉进陷阱时，他们会大喊： “抓住你啦！你当初没想到这是个陷阱吧？”
And here we are today,caught in the credit crunch,with world economies in free fall,all because the wicked bankers set us traps which we fell into,attracting us with endless publicity for loans of money which even they didn’t have!It now appears they were borrowing on their own flashy gold credit cards too.
这就是我们现在的处境：随着世界经济一落千丈，我们都处在信贷危 机之中。所有这一切都是因为邪恶的银行家通过大量广告推销他们压根就 不存在的贷款来吸引我们，设圈套让我们钻。现在真相大白了：他们也在 用自己手中金光闪闪的金卡借钱！
So I have a solution to the credit card trap,and I want all of you to listen to me very carefully.
我有一个破解信用卡圈套的办法，各位且听我细细道来。
I want you to lay out all of your credit cards in a line,take a large pair of scissors and cut them into small put them in an envelope and send them to you bank,with a letter saying(more or less)”I trusted you and you deceived me,You’ve got the whole world into this ridiculous credit card trap,and if I now cut your cards in half,and take away your potential to tempt money away from honest people like me,maybe it will be your turn to learn what it’s like to run out of cash.”
我要你们把所有的信用卡拿来排成一排，拿一把大剪子把它们剪成碎 片，然后把碎片装进信封寄回银行，附上一封信，上面（或多或少地）写 上：“我信任你，可你却欺骗了我。你让全世界的人都钻进了这个荒谬的信用卡圈套。我把你的卡剪成了两半，除掉你从像我这样的老实人身上骗钱 的潜力，也许也该让你来体验一下身无分文的滋味了。”
As for me,I don’t want any more credit cards,no more status
symbols,no more bad feeling about wishing I could show how superior I am to ’m not going to yearn any more for what I cannot afford or cannot have.
至于我本人，我再也不用信用卡了，再也不要身份的象征了，再也不 用费心思去炫耀我比别人优越多少了。我再也不会渴望我无力购买或我无 法得到的东西了。
Unit 5 Active reading (1) 英国人说闲话规则的性别差异
Contrary to popular belief, researchers have found that men gossip just as much one English study,both sexes devoted the same amount of conversation time(about 65 per cent) to social topics such as personal relationships; in another,the difference was found to be quite small,with gossip accounting for 55 per cent of male conversation time and 67 per cent of female sport and leisure have been shown to occupy about 10 per cent of conversation time, discussion of football could well account for the difference.
与普遍的看法相反，研究人员发现：男人和女人一样爱说闲话。英国 的一项研究发现：两个性别的人对诸如人际关系这类的社会话题所花的时 间一样多，大约是 65%；另一项研究则表明：两性差异很小，男人谈话时 有55%的时间在
说闲话，女人说闲话的时间是 67%。由于体育和休闲大 约占 10%的说话时间， 所以很可能是谈论足球的时间导致了这种性别的差异。
Men were certainly found to be no more likely than women to discuss “important”or”highbrow”subjects such as politics,work,art and
cultural matters - except(and this was a striking difference) when women were their own,men gossip,with no more than five per cent of conversation time devoted to non-social subjects such as work or is only in mixed-sex groups, where there are women to impress,that the proportion of male conversation time devoted to these more “highbrow” subjects increases dramatically,to between 15 and 20 per cent.
男人谈论政治、职业、艺术及文化事务等“重要”或“高雅”话题的 可能性并不比女人高，除非女人在场（这就形成了强烈的对比） 。女人不在 场的时候，男人也说闲话，他们谈论职业和政治等社会问题的时间不会超 过 5%。男女都在场时，为了引起女人的注意，男人谈论“高雅”话题的时 间会大大增加，达到 15%至 20%。
In fact,recent research has revealed only one significant
difference,in terms of content,between male and female gossip:Men spend much more time talking about the total time devoted to conversation about social relationships,men spend two thirds talking about their own relationships,while women only talk about themselves one third of the time.
事实上，最近的研究表明，男性和女性说闲话在内容上只存在一个重要的差别：男人会花更多的时间谈论自己。在谈论社会关系的总时间中，男人用了三分之二的时间来谈论自己的关系，而女人谈论自己的时间则只 占三分之一。
Despite these findings,the myth is still widely
believed,particularly among males,that men spend their conversations “solving the world’s problems”,while the womenfolk gossip in the my focus groups and interviews,most English males initially claimed that they did not gossip,while most of the female readily admitted that they further questioning, however,the difference turned out to be more a matter of semantics than practice:What the women were happy to call “gossip”,the men defined as “exchanging information”.
即便如此，那个关于男人讨论“解决世界上问题”而女人只是躲在厨 房里闲言碎语的神话仍然大行其道，尤其是在男人堆里。在我所调查的人 群及面谈中，大多数英国男性刚开始时都声称他们不说闲话，而大多数女 性都坦承自己说闲话。在接下来的提问中，我发现两者的差别只在于语义 层面而非实践层面：女性通常称为“说闲话”的活动在男性那里被定义为 “信息交流”。
Clearly,there is a stigma attached to gossip among English males, an unwritten rule to the effect that,even if what one is doing is gossiping,it should be called something even more important:It should sound like something my gossip research,I found that the main difference between male and female gossip is that female gossip actually sounds like seem to be three principal factors involved:the tone rule,the detail rule and the feedback rule.
显然，在英国男性眼里说闲话是一件可耻的事情，这条不成文的规则 已经深入人心，因此就算一个人真的在说闲话，他也会把它说成是另一回 事。更重要的是，它必须听起来像是在说别的事。在研究中我发现男女说 闲话的主要区别在于女人说闲话听起来更像闲言碎语。这涉及到三个主要 因素——音调规则、细节规则和反馈规则。
The tone rule 语调规则
The English women I interviewed all agreed that a particular tone of voice was considered appropriate for gossip-tone should be high and quick, or sometimes a stage whisper ,but always highly animated.”Gossip’s got to start with something like
[quick,high-pitched,excited tone] Oooh--Guess what? Guess what?”explained one woman,,”or ‘Hey,listen,listen[quick,urgent stage whisper]-are you know what I heard?’”Another told me:”You have to make it sound surprising or scandalous,even when it isn’t ’ll
go,’Well,don’t tell anyone,but...’even when it’s not really that big of a secret.”
我面谈过的英国女人都认为只有某种特别的语调适合于说闲话。说闲 话的语调有时很高、语速很快，有时像在舞台上演戏一样轻轻说，但总是 活灵活现的。一位妇女这样解释： “闲话总是以语速快、调门高、口气激动 的话语开始的： ‘哎，你猜猜怎么着？你知道吗？’或者， ‘嗨，听我说， 听我说（语速快、急切，像舞台上清晰的低语） ，你猜我听到了什么？’ ”另一位女士告诉我： “即使实际上并不是那么回事儿，你必须让它听起来像 令人吃惊的事或者像丑闻。虽然那根本算不上什么秘密，你可以说：‘哎，你可别告诉别人，我听说……’”
Many of the women complained that men failed to adopt the correct tone of voice,recounting items of gossip in the same flat,unemotional manner as any other piece of information,such that,as one woman sniffed,”You can’t even tell it’s gossip.”Which,off course,is exactly the impression the males wish to give.
这些妇女中有许多人抱怨男人在说闲话时没有使用正确的语调。像交流任 何其他信息一样，他们总是用平缓、冷静的语调说闲话。一位妇女对此嗤 之以鼻： “你简直搞不清他们是不是在说闲话。”但这正是男人要的效果。
The detail rule 细节规则
Females also stressed the importance of detail in the telling of gossip,and again bemoaned the shortcomings of males in this
matter,claiming that men “never know the details”.”Men just don’t do the he-said-she-said thing,”one informant told me,”and it’s no good unless you actually know what people said.”Another said:”Women tend to speculate more ... They’ll talk about why someone did something,give a history to the situation.”For women,this detailed speculation about possible motives and causes,requiring an exhaustive raking over
“history”,is a crucial element of gossip,as is detailed speculation
about possible males find all this detail boring,irrelevant and,of course, unmanly.
女人强调说闲话时细节的重要性，她们悲叹男人在这方面的缺陷，声 称男人“从不了解细节。 ”一位被调查者告诉我： “男人从不引述别人的话。如果我们不能确切地 知道别人说了什么，那有什么意思呢？”另一位被调查者说： “女人比男人 更倾向于推测……她们谈及某某为什么会做某事，并追溯整个事情的历 史。 ”对女人而言，详细推测动机和原因与详细推测可能的后果一样是闲话 的关键因素，它要求对“过去的历史”进行详尽的梳理。英国男人认为： 所有这些细节都很乏味、无关紧要，当然，讲出来也就有伤男子气概。
The feedback rule 反馈规则
Among English women,it is understood that to be a “good gossip” requires more than a lively tone and attention to detail:You also need a good audience,by which they mean appreciative listeners who give plenty of appropriate feedback rule of female gossip requires that listeners be at least as animated and enthusiastic as reasoning seems to be that this is only polite;the speaker has gone to the trouble of making the information sound surprising and scandalous,so the least one can do is to reciprocate by sounding suitably men,according to my female informant, just don’t seem to have grasped this do not understand that “You are supposed to say ‘NO!Really?’and ‘Oh my GOD!’”
在英国妇女中存在一种共识：好的“闲话”除了语调生动、关注细节 之外，还要有好的听众。所谓好的听众是指欣赏闲话并给予大量恰当的反 馈的听众。 女性的闲话反馈规则要求听众至少应该和说话者一样生动活泼、 充满热情。她们的道理好像是：这样才足够礼貌，因为说话人要把事情讲 得出人意外，讲得像丑闻，还是颇费心力的。因此听众至少要表现出适度 的吃惊才能回报说话人的努力。据我的女性被调查者说，英国男人好像完 全没有掌握这条规则。 他们 不知道 “你应该说 ‘不会吧！ 真的吗？’‘噢，及我的上帝！” ’
My female informants agreed,however,that a man who did respond in the approved female manner would sound inappropriately girly,or even disturbingly the gay males I interviewed felt that
the”NO!Really?”kind of response would be regarded as decidedly
“camp”.The unwritten rules of English gossip etiquette do allow men to express shock or surprise when they hear a particularly juicy bit of gossip,but it is understood that a suitable expletive conveys such surprise in a more acceptably masculine fashion.
不过，我的女性被调查者也同意，那些以女性方式做出反应的男人听 起来像小女孩，或者被认为女里女气，让人感觉不舒服。我面谈过的一位 男同性恋也觉得“不会吧！真的吗？”这类反应会被认为是十足的“娘娘 腔”英国闲话礼仪的不成文规则的确允许男人在听到特别有趣的闲话时感 。 到震惊或吃惊，但大家都明白：一句恰到好处的脏话也能表达同样的诧异， 这种方式更能被男人接受。
因篇幅问题不能全部显示，请点此查看更多更全内容