31. Be Careful about Cloning
谨慎对待克隆
After a series of initial experiments and corrections, the scientist’s hard work paid off when the twin clone turkeys were hatched with normal feather and claws. This breakthrough possibly enabled people to bring their adored pets back to life. However, it bothered him from time to time that their health was in poor condition because they were unable to resist illnesses. This drawback cast him down. Merely 2 weeks later, the clones and their carrier died, which struck frustration into his heart. He retired before he attained his ambition and became a member of an opera chorus to relieve his depression.
Shortly afterwards, the media published a conservative argument objecting to cloning owing to moral problems, and suggested the constitution include compulsory regulations to forbid obtaining commercial profits from cloning.
When interviewed, the scientist stared at the decorations on the ceiling, thinking for a while, and then said, “I’m not in favour of any arbitrary assumption, but undertaking cloning does differ from the straightforward procedure of making loafs out of flour. Until we accumulate enough exact knowledge, any practice is in vain and is bound to fail. Altogether, being more careful is reasonable or we may walk into a side road.”
在最初一系列的实验和修正之后,科学家的辛苦工作终于取得了成功,一对双生的克隆火鸡孵化出来,羽毛和爪子都很正常。这一突破或许能让人们使他们喜爱的宠物死而复生。然而,使他不时地烦恼的是,因为它们无法抵抗疾病,使得它们的健康状况极差。这个缺点让他很沮丧。仅仅过了2个星期,克隆体和母体都死亡了,这使他内心里充满了挫折,他也因此在达到自己目标前就退休了,并选择加入歌剧合唱团来减轻消沉的感觉。
之后不久,媒体就因为道德问题而发表了反对克隆的保守论点,并且建议宪法应该包括强制性的法规禁止通过克隆获得商业利益。
当被采访时,科学家盯着天花板上的装饰物思考了一会儿,说:“我不赞成任何任意的假设,但是从事克隆与用面粉制作面包的简单过程确实不大相同。在我们积累了足够的准确知识前,任何实际操作都是徒劳无功的,注定会失败。总而言之,更加谨慎地对待克隆是合理的,否则我们或许会误入歧途。”
32. Mark and a Seal
马克和海豹
Mark rented an accommodation with his pension near the shore. He paid annual visits there to enjoy the vivid beauty in the depths of the pure sea.
Once, with his underwater telescope and flashlight, Mark dived along the boundary between the steep reef and the area of seaweed conservation. Suddenly, an awesome Antarctic seal with sharp teeth appeared opposite him. Every cell in his body was scared to death. But soon, he was aware that he wasn’t the target of an attack. With a neat wound in its lip caused by a shark, this grey seal was washed upside down by the tides time after time. But it tried to jog Mark as if to urge him to help it. So Mark abandoned fleeing away. With its teamwork, Mark used a net to drag the seal to the shallow water. Without pausing he helped it out after a simple operation and settled it in a narrow cave by the seaside. Every time he brought it tasty fish, it would yell and suck his hands happily. Witnesses said their anecdotes reflected a magic dimension of the relationship between humans and animals.
马克用他的退休金在海岸边租了一间住所,每年都去那儿欣赏纯净的大海深处那生动的美丽。
有一次,马克带着他的水下望远镜和手电筒,潜到陡峭的暗礁和海草保护区间的分界线。突然,一只长着尖利牙齿、使人畏惧的南极海豹出现在他对面。马克吓坏了,但是很快,他就意识到,他不是攻击的目标。这只灰色海豹的唇上有道鲨鱼咬出的整齐伤口,还时不时地被潮水冲得头上脚下。尽管如此,它却总是努力轻轻碰撞马克,似乎在催促他帮助它。于是马克放弃了逃跑。在这只海豹的合作下,马克用一张网把它拖到浅水区,并毫不停歇给它动了一个简单的手术,帮助它解决了问题,然后将它安置在海边一个狭窄的洞里。每次当马克给它带来鲜美可口的鱼时,它就会高兴地大声叫唤,还吮吸他的手。目击者都说他们的轶事映射出人与动物关系中奇妙的一个方面。
33. Refresh Our Environment
恢复环境生机
As the director stated on behalf of his researching group, the data of this graph makes a clear presentation of the future environmental tendency. On one hand, the quantity of fuel keeps on decreasing by 9% per year while the growth of a wide range of pollution has been a global trend. On the other hand, the mildly but steadily going up of the average temperature is resulting in catastrophes like widespread floods. Without disagreement, they subscribe to the view that it is humans’ existence and their randomly consuming energy that result in this phenomenon.
Many people have a commitment that developing nuclear power or energy from outer space will stop bad consequences coming about. However, scientists and educators are opposed to this view even if our needs may be met on the whole. They tend to advocate refreshing our circumstances by saving energy and recycling waste. It is suggested that we use energy-saving appliances such as electrical motors, microwaves and so on and not be casual about little things like recycling a can. So please glance around and see what you can do. So long as everybody makes contribution, we will not have to put up with this problem anymore.
正如那位主任代表他的研究小组所说明的那样,这张图表的数据清楚地描述了未来环境的趋势:一方面,燃料的数量以每年9%的速度持续减少,同时,大范围污染的增长已经成为一种全球趋势;另一反面,平均气温轻微却稳定地升高正在造成像广泛的洪涝那样的灾难。无不同意地,他们一致赞成是人类的存在和任意的消耗能源才造成了这一现象。
许多人都信奉开发核能和外太空能源会防止糟糕的后果发生的理论,然而,即使这样可以基本上满足我们的需要,科学家和教育家们仍然反对这一观点。他们更倾向于拥护用节省能源和回收废料的方法恢复环境生机,并建议我们要使用节省能源的器具,如电力发动机、微波炉等,还建议我们不要对如回收罐子这种小事漫不经心。因此,看看你身边是否有你能做的事,只要每个人都作出贡献,我们就不必再忍受这个问题的困扰了。
34. First Aid
急救
A boy fell ill. His organs were damaged by the radiation of an infrared ray stove. But before the ambulance arrived, a number of other injuries happened to this unlucky boy over and over again. First, he was choked by some poisonous liquid from the kettle on the cupboard. Then his wrist skin was burnt by electric shock. Finally, his ankle was cut by a pan.
Fortunately, the boy’s nurse gave him proper temporary treatments according to his complex symptoms. She mildly squeezed the poisonous liquid out of his throat and put bandages firmly in place to apply pressure to the ankle wound to stop bleeding. As for the burn, she used scissors to remove his sleeve, poured a basin of cold water over the burn to cool it and put her hands on a damp blouse to cover his swollen tissue tightly. She also inspired his bravery to fight against the unbearable pain. Her first aid made a vital difference in saving his life. A ceremony was held to honour the nurse who overcame a variety of barriers to save the boy.
有个孩子病倒了,他的体内器官被一台红外线烤炉的放射线灼伤了。但是在救护车到来前,这个不幸的孩子身上还一而再、再而三地发生了许多别的伤害。开始是被橱柜上水壶里的有毒液体噎住,然后是手腕的皮肤被电击烧伤,最后,一只平底锅还割伤了他的脚踝。
幸运的是,男孩的保姆根据他的复杂症状给予了适当的临时治疗。她轻轻地从他喉咙里把有毒液体挤了出来;并在脚踝合适的位置紧紧扎上绷带,施加压力使伤口的流血止住;对于烧伤,她用剪刀剪去他的袖子,倒了一盆凉水给烧伤位置降温,并找来一件湿的女式衬衫紧紧盖住他肿胀的皮肤组织。此外,她还激发起他的勇敢和难以忍受的疼痛做斗争。她的急救在挽救他性命中起了至关重要的作用。人们举办了一场典礼来表彰这位克服各种障碍挽救了男孩的小保姆。
35. A Strange Disease
奇怪的疾病
When the construction of the firework factory came to the stage of painting, a pump was put in. Then, all the painters in the neighbourhood were defeated by a severe disease whose characteristic was alike to that of a bad burn.
An expert physician was instructed to attend to the victims and handle this case. He was enthusiastic, but he didn’t foresee that it was a hard challenge. After simple enquiry, he announced that the polluted paint was to blame. But without positive evidence, people suspected and rejected his view, saying the theory he put forward made no sense. Being much more strict with himself, he contributed himself to the case. Apart from making enquiries, he made detailed charts and analysed the data cautiously. Finally, he drew a scientific conclusion, linking the disease tothe radium in the pump. Exposed to radium, a kind of radioactive material in the universe, people absorbed radiation and got sick immediately.
Spinning the pump backward, he took away the radium. This simple movement cured all the victims.
当那座烟花工厂的建设到了油漆阶段时,一个水泵被安装进来,接着,在它附近的油漆
工都得了一种严重的疾病(疾病击败油漆工),其特征与烧伤相似。
一位经验丰富的内科医生被指定去照顾受害者并负责处理这一案例。他热情地投入到工作中,但是却没有预见到这是一次艰难的挑战。在简单的询问后,他就宣布说罪魁祸首是受污染的油漆(油漆应受责备)。但是没有确实的证据,人们很怀疑并拒绝他的观点,大家都说他提出的理论毫无道理。他对自己要求更加严格,全身心地投入。除了询问,他还制作了详细的图表,谨慎地分析各项数据,最后,他终于得出了一个科学的结论,把疾病和水泵中的镭联系起来。镭是宇宙中的一种放射性物质,当暴露在镭的辐射中时,人体吸收其射线,立刻染上疾病。
他把水泵向后旋转,拿走了里面的镭,这个简单的动作治愈了所有的受害者。
36. A New Farming Way
新的耕种方式
Tuan was a farmer in Vietnam. For decades, he had been struggling to rid his family of hunger. However, it always confused him how to expand the output of his crops. This disturbing problem led to his regretting being a farmer. He would rather have chosen another job.
One day, when skimming through a newspaper, Tuan read a comment on Yuan Longpin. He underlined Yuan’s nationality and occupation, and then focused on his discovery and the statistics of his research. He found the knowledge Yuan circulated very practical. Therefore, he made a summary and began to build up a new farming method. He planted super grain of rich nutrition and equipped himself to keep his crops roots free from bacteria and pests. He also enriched minerals in the soil while reducing chemical fertilizers. Though it cost him more time and freedom, he was full of hope.
The next year, Tuan was sunburnt but satisfied with his production very much. Thanks to Yuan Longpin, he not only won the battle against hunger, but he could also export his crops abroad.
俊是一名越南的农民,几十年来,他都一直在努力使家人摆脱饥饿。然而,如何扩大他的农作物产量这一问题却一直在困扰着他。这个恼人的问题导致了他后悔当一名农民,而宁愿自己当初选择其它的工作。
一天,俊在浏览报纸的时候,读到一篇关于袁隆平的评论。他在袁的国籍和职业下面划了线,然后将焦点集中在他的发现和研究数据上。他发现袁传播的知识非常实用,因此,他做了摘要,并开始建立一种新的耕作方式。他种植营养丰富的超级谷物,添置设备以使作物的根部免受细菌害虫的伤害;他还增加土壤所含的矿物质,同时减少化学肥料的使用。尽管耗费了他更多的时间和自由,他却充满着希望。
第二年,俊被晒黑了,但是却对自己的生产非常满意。多亏了袁隆平,他不仅赢得了对抗饥饿的战斗,而且还将自己的作物出口到国外呢。
37. Sailing Home
划船回家
This novel was about an unbelievable but genuine adventure. Its author was a black businessman who was brought up in America. In 1956, he visited Africa, his birthplace. One day, when he was wandering on the pavement near the bay enjoying the sea scenes, he lost his money and passport that he kept in an envelope. So he went to the embassy to seek help, but the ambassador with rude manners didn’t permit his staff to help though he bowed to him. Staring at his impatient face, he understood that it was the fault of his skin colour that accounted for their refection. So he decided to take a chance to sail on a small boat home.
He met a large amount of difficulty but was never stopped. On the contrary, difficulty pushed him to go ahead harder. Three months later, he was spotted by a ship by accident. He was in rags indeed. A maid even screamed when bringing him a steak and pineapple dessert. Aboard, he earned his passage by working as a barber and got home finally. As for the name of his novel, he couldn’t think of a better one than the phrase “Go Ahead”.
这部小说写的是一次令人难以置信而又真实的历险。其作者是一位在美国被抚养长大的黑人商人。1956年,他回到他的出生地非洲。有一天,当他在海湾边的人行道上漫步欣赏海景时,他丢失了一个装着钱和护照的信封,于是向当地的大使馆寻求帮助。但是大使态度非常粗鲁,即使向他鞠躬,也不允许他的职员帮忙。盯着他那不耐烦的脸,他知道是他皮肤颜色的错才导致了他们的拒绝。于是,他决定冒险驾驶一只小船回家。
他遇到了许多困难,但是从未停止,相反,困难推动他更努力地前进。三个月后,当他被一艘船偶然发现时,真的是衣衫褴褛。给他端来牛排和菠萝甜品的女仆甚至被吓得尖叫起来。在船上,他当一名理发师来挣取船费,最后终于回到了家。至于这部小说的名字,他再也不能想到一个比“前进”更好的短语了。
38. Wildlife Protection
Dinosaurs died out because of an unexpected incident. But wildlife today disappears or is in danger just because humans do harm to it. For example, tigers are hunted for fur to make carpets so that they can only live in secure reserves; grassland is destroyed without mercy so that dust storms come into being affecting distant cities.
Last year, scientists saw some monkeys rubbing themselves with a certain kind of insects to protect themselves from fierce mosquitoes biting. According to the result of the inspection, they found that the insect contains a powerful drug, so local farmers were employed to catch the insects. The ending was that the insects disappeared from the whole zone. When told that it was a loss to humans, the farmers burst into laughter and responded, “Our real loss is our decreasing income.”
We should appreciate the natural balance and pay more attention to the importance of wildlife protection. Not until we succeed in letting wildlife live in peace, can we smile in relief.
恐龙因一次意外事件而灭绝,但是今天的野生动植物却是因为人类的伤害而消失或处在危险中。例如,老虎被猎杀以获取做地毯的皮毛,以致它们只能生活在安全的保护区里;草地被毫不怜悯地破坏,以致沙尘暴开始影响遥远的城市。
去年,科学家观察到猴子在身上擦某种昆虫来保护自己不受凶猛的蚊子的叮咬。根据检查的结果,他们发现这种昆虫含有一种具有强大效力的药物,于是,当地的农民都被雇来抓虫子。结果是,这种昆虫从这整个地区都消失了。当被告知说这是整个人类的损失时,农民们都突然大笑着回应道:“我们减少的收入才是我们真正的损失呢!”
我们应该意识到自然平衡的重要,更加注意野生动植物的保护。直到我们成功让野生动植物安详平静地生活,我们自己才能如释重负地笑开颜。
39. Fall in Love with English
爱上英语
Hiding behind the loose dusty curtain, a teenager packed up his overcoat into the suitcase. He planned to leave home at dusk though there was thunder and lightning outdoors. He had got to do this because he was tired of his parents’ nagging about his English study and did not want to go through it any longer. He couldn’t get along well with English and disliked joining in English classes because he thought his teacher ignored him on purpose. As a result, his score in each exam never added up to over 60.
His partner was concerned about him very much. She understood exactly what he was suffering from, but entirely disagreed with his idea. In order to calm him down and settle his problem, she talked with him face to face and swapped a series of learning tips with him. The items she set down helped him find the highway to studying English well.
The teenager was grateful and got great power from his friend’s words. Now, he has recovered from being upset and has fallen in love with English.
有个少年躲在积满灰尘的松散窗帘后把大衣装入手提箱。尽管外面正打雷闪电, 他仍计划在黄昏时分离家出走。他不得不这样做是因为厌倦了父母对他英语学习的唠叨,不想再忍受下去了。他的英语学习总是无法取得进展,而且不喜欢参加英语课的学习,因为他以为老师有意忽视他。结果,他每次考试的分数合计从未超过60。
他的搭档很关心他,也确切地理解他遭受的折磨,但却完全不同意他的想法。为了使他冷静下来好好解决问题,她和他面对面地交谈,并交换了一系列的学习心得技巧。她写下来的条款帮助他找到了学好英语的最佳捷径。
这个少年非常很感激,并从朋友的话里获得极大的动力。现在,他已经从沮丧中恢复过来,真正爱上了英语。
40. The Great President
伟大的总统
As the founder of the republic, the president had many good qualities. Before coming to power, he was a generous lawyer. He was willing to selflessly help everyone who turned to him. He accepted no fee to offer legal guidance and opinions to those who were out of work or uneducated. Later, believing all mankind to be equal, he devoted himself tostopping the unfair anti-black laws. He set up the Black Youth League and was voted to be the leader. However, though he kept peaceful principles without violence and terror, his mean enemies still blew up his house and attacked his relatives, and he himself couldn’t escape being sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Not fearing of the prison guards’ cruelty, he kept active and begged no mercy from them. As a matter of fact, he was always hopeful and never lost heart during the stage even though he was in trouble.
Finally, people rewarded him with the leader’s position and a gold blanket.
作为共和国的创始人,这位总统具备许多的优秀品质。还在掌权之前,他就是一位慷慨的律师。他愿意无私地帮助那些向他求助的人。他免费为失业的,或没有受过教育的人提供法律指导和意见。后来,因为相信所有人类都是生来平等,他全身心投入到废除不平等的反黑人法律工作中。他建立了黑人青年团并被选为领袖。然而,尽管他坚持没有暴力、没有恐怖的和平原则,卑鄙的敌人还是炸毁了他的家、袭击了他的亲属,他自己也无法逃脱被判30年徒刑的遭遇。
在狱中,他毫不畏惧狱警的残酷,始终保持积极的态度,不向他们乞求怜悯。实际上,他在任何一个困境时期都充满着希望,从未灰心。