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北师大版高中英语选择性必修四 Unit 11 课文翻译
Lesson 1 Living in a Community
第一课 社区生活
Drummer Hits the Road
鼓手走人
Ma Ming, drummer for the rock band “Storm”, had to pack his bags. He moved out of his rented flat after complaints from his neighbours about disturbing the peace.
摇滚乐队“暴风雨”的鼓手马明不得不收拾行李，搬出租用的公寓，因为邻居们投诉他扰乱社区的宁静。
Being single, Ma Ming often held parties at night, but the biggest problem was his tendency to drum late at night. Ma Ming’s neighbours said they were being driven mad being exposed to such noise. The flat-owner said if he had known that Ma Ming was a drummer, he wouldn’t have rented the flat to him. The neighbours quickly realised they were in trouble when he moved in. And from then on, they rarely got a full night’s sleep. They couldn’t relax or read a book without plugging their ears. One neighbour also claimed that Ma Ming had a bad influence on his teenage son.
In the end, the community council took action. “We took a vote, and came to a resolution. We gave Ma Ming a warning. We told him that he ought to cease drumming or leave the property,” a council member said. “Getting enough sleep is important for people’s health and, after such a chorus of complaints, we had to take action.”
马明是个单身汉，经常在晚上开派对，但最大的问题是他常常打鼓到深夜。邻居说他们都快被这样的噪声逼疯了。房东说他如果知道马明是个鼓手，就不会把房子租给他。马明一搬进来，邻居们就意识到麻烦来了。从那以后，他们很少能安安稳稳地睡一整晚。如果不堵住耳朵，他们就不能放松或看书。有个邻居还说，马明对他十几岁的儿子造成了不良影响。
最后，居委会采取了行动。一位居委会成员说：“我们投票表决，达成了一项决议。警告马明，告诉他应该停止打鼓，否则就搬走。充足的睡眠对人们的健康很重要，收到这样的集体投诉，我们不得不采取行动。”
Ma Ming’s departure has pleased his neighbours. “Life will go back to normal now,” they said.
马明离开了，邻居都很高兴。“生活终于要恢复正常了，”他们说。
For Ma Ming’s version of the story, we found him in a hotel in Shanghai. Ma Ming felt that they were prejudiced against him. He’s bitter over the fact that people thought of his music as “noise”. Otherwise he didn’t really mind having to leave the flat. “Living in a hotel means the hotel staff
makes the bed every day and I don’t have to do my own washing! Anyhow, I’m now looking for a remote house on the edge of the city.”
我们在上海的一家酒店里找到了马明，想听听他对这个事件的看法。马明觉得邻居对自己有偏见，认为他的音乐是“噪声”，这是他的伤心之处。不过他并不介意离开公寓。“住在旅馆里就意味着每天都有服务员整理床铺，我也不必自己洗衣服！不过，我现在正在城郊找位置稍微偏僻一点的房子。”
Grandpa Arrested After One Shower Too Many
洗了“大澡”而被捕的爷爷
Eighty-year-old retired tailor, James McKay, spent Saturday night in a cell after hitting 30-year-old Keith Smith over the head with his walking stick. McKay’s wife, Laurene said that, while McKay is usually a peaceful and pleasant person, he had been driven to this act of violence by literally getting wet just once too often. He could no longer tolerate it.
80岁的退休裁缝詹姆斯·迈奇，周六的晚上是在监狱里度过的，因为用拐杖打了30岁的基思·史密斯的头。迈奇的妻子劳瑞恩说，他平时是个平和、愉悦的人，是因为再三被淋湿，才会做出这种暴力的行为，他实在是忍无可忍了。
Smith lives above the McKays. He is a keen gardener, and also a fish collector. Unfortunately, the water he sent over his balcony every day ended up on the McKay’s floor, or too often, on the unsuspecting McKays themselves.
史密斯住在迈奇家楼上。他热爱园艺，喜欢养鱼。但不幸的是，他每天在阳台上浇的水最后都落到迈奇家的地板上，也经常洒在毫无防备的迈奇夫妇身上。
“For the last two weeks, since Smith moved into the flat above us, we dared not go onto our balcony,” said Laurene. She added that it wasn’t only the water falling onto their balcony from Smith watering his plants that bothered them, but also the way he cleaned his fish tanks. “We’d be sitting there happily reading our newspapers, when suddenly so much water would come from above that we’d be as wet as if we had showered with our clothes on! We could hardly get rid of the smell of fish!”
劳瑞恩说：“过去两周，自从史密斯搬到楼上，我们都不敢去阳台了。”她还说，困扰他们的不仅是史密斯给植物浇水时洒到阳台上的水，还有他清理鱼缸的方式。“我们本来高兴地坐在阳台看报纸，突然间很多水从天而降，把我们都给浇湿了，就像穿着衣服洗了个澡一样！满身的鱼腥味，怎么也洗不掉！”
And on Saturday evening it was just too much. “It was James’ birthday,” Laurene recalled, “and it was such a beautiful night to enjoy the starry night outside. I made him a birthday cake. The candles were a great sight as you can imagine, but James didn’t get to blow them out.” Instead, Smith emptied one of his larger tanks over his balcony and both the McKays and the cake were wet through. “I have never seen him move so fast and I couldn’t stop him. He was up there in a flash.”
这周六晚上实在是忍无可忍了。劳瑞恩回忆道：“那天是詹姆斯的生日，是个特别美丽的夜晚，可以坐在外面享受夜晚的星空。我给他做了个生日蛋糕，你可以想象点上蜡烛有多么漂亮，可詹姆斯却没能把蜡烛吹灭。”相反，史密斯从阳台上倒掉他的一个大鱼缸的水，将迈奇夫妇和蛋糕都浇透了。“我从没见过他动作那么快，根本没办法阻止，他一下子就冲到楼上去了。”
Smith is not going to take things further with the police. He has also promised to change his ways from now on. And what of James McKay As he left the police station, a large crowd of supporters sang him “Happy Birthday”. “Definitely the most exciting birthday ever!” said the cheerful old man. The best since my youth, I’d say!”
史密斯不会让警方进一步追究这件事。他还承诺从现在开始改变他的习惯。而詹姆斯·迈奇呢？他离开警察局时，一大群支持者为他唱起了《生日快乐》歌。“这绝对是最激动人心的一次生日啦！”老人快乐地说道。“我得说，这是自打年轻以来最棒的一次生日！”
Lesson 3 War Memories
第三课 战争回忆
Story A
故事A
Do Chuc is a 48-year-old Vietnamese farmer whose two daughters and an aunt were killed by American soldiers in My Lai that day. He and his family were eating breakfast when the American soldiers entered the village and ordered all civilians out of their homes. Together with other villagers, they were marched a few hundred metres into the village square where they were told to sit. “Still we had no reason to be afraid,” Chuc remembered. “Everyone was calm. We’d seen it all before.” Then he watched in surprise as the soldiers set up a machine gun. The calm ended and panic set in. The people began weeping and praying. One man showed his identification papers to a soldier, but the American simply said, “Sorry.” Then the shooting started. Chuc was wounded in the leg and almost unconscious, but he was covered by a pile of dead bodies and thus, his life was saved. After waiting an hour, he fled the village.
杜沙是48岁的越南农民，他的两个女儿和一位姑妈那一天在美莱村被美国士兵杀害。杜沙和家人正在吃早餐，这时美军士兵进村了，命令所有村民从家里出来。他们和其他村民一起，被带到几百米外的空地上，然后被要求坐下。“这我们没觉得有什么可怕的。”杜沙回忆道，“大家都很平静，我们之前也见过这样的场面。”但他惊讶地发现士兵们竟架起了机枪。平静结束了，恐慌开始了。人们开始哭泣、乞求。一名男子向士兵出示了他的身份证件，但那个美国人只是简单地说了声“对不起”。然后，扫射开始了。杜沙的腿受了伤，几乎不省人事，但他被一堆死尸覆盖，幸存下来。等了一个小时后，他逃离了村子。
(Adapted from from My Lai by Seymour Hersh)
(改编自西摩· 赫什的《美莱村四小时》)
Story B
故事B
We were on the frontier and on Christmas morning we stuck up a board displaying: A Merry Christmas” on it. The enemy had stuck up a similar one. Two of our men then threw their equipment off and climbed out of the trench with their hands above their heads as our representatives. Two of the Germans did the same. They greeted each other and shook hands. Then we all got out of the trench. Bill (our officer) tried to prevent it but it was too late, so he and the other officers climbed out, too. We, and the Germans, walked through the mud and met in the middle of no-man’s land.
那时我们在前线。圣诞节早晨我们竖起一块牌子，上面写着“圣诞快乐”。敌人也竖起了一块差不多的牌子。然后，我们的两名士兵脱下装备，爬出战壕，双手举过头顶，作为我方代表。两名德军士兵也这样做了。他们互相打招呼并握手，然后我们所有人都走出战壕。比尔(我们的军官)试图阻止这一切，但为时已晚，因此他和其他军官也都爬了出来。我们和德国人穿过泥泞，在无人地带中间相聚。
We spent all day with one another. Some of them could speak English. By the look of them, their trenches were in as bad a state as our own. One of their men, speaking in English, said that he had worked in England for some years and that he was fed up to the neck with this war and would be glad when it was over. We told him he wasn’t the only one who was fed up with it. The German officer asked Bill if we would like some beer and they brought them over to us. Bill distributed the beer among us and we consumed a lot. The officers came to an understanding that we would celebrate Christmas in temporary peace until midnight.
我们一起待了一整天。他们中有些人会说英语。从样子上可以看出，他们的战壕和我们的一样糟糕。他们中的一个人用英语说，他在英国工作过几年，受够了这场战争，如果战争结束，他会很高兴。我们告诉他，我们也同样受够了这场战争。德国军官问比尔要不要来点儿啤酒，他们拿过来送给我们。比尔把啤酒分给大家，我们喝了很多。双方军官达成共识，午夜之前我们将暂时和平地庆祝圣诞节。
Just before midnight, we all decided not to start firing before they did. We’d formed a bond and during the whole of Boxing Day, we never fired a shot and they the same; each side seemed to be waiting for the other to set the ball rolling. One of their men shouted across in English and asked how we had enjoyed the beer. We replied that we were very grateful and spent the whole day chatting with them. That evening we were replaced by other soldiers.临近午夜，我们都决定在对方开枪之前不先开枪。我们达成了一种默契，整个节礼日，我们都没有开过一枪，他们也一样；双方似乎都在等对方先开火。他们中的一个人用英语大喊，问我们啤酒怎么样，我们回答说非常感谢他们的啤酒，接下来一整天双方都在聊天。那天晚上，我们被其他部队替换下来了。
(Adapted from Old Soldiers Never Die by Frank Richards)
(改编自弗兰克· 理查兹的《老兵永生》)
Story C
故事C
I got a phone call from the chief nurse, saying, “You’ve got a patient there who is going to get an award. Make sure that the ward looks good.” This really turned me off to begin with, “Let’s clean up the ward because we’ve got VIPs coming in.” Well, the VIPs happened to be a general and a group of about a dozen people. It was this patient’s second visit to us and this time he’d had both his legs blown off—he was all-of-about 20 years old. When he was waking up after the surgeon had finished, he whispered, “Don’t you remember me, ma’am ” I said, “Oh yeah!” But really I didn’t because there were so many of them. The general was coming to give him the award because he happened to be number 20,000 to come through this hospital. They had this little ceremony, where they presented him with a Purple Heart and a watch. As the general handed him the watch, “from the army, to show our appreciation,” the kid more or less threw the watch back at him. He said something like, “I can’t accept this, sir; it’s not going to help me walk.” After this little incident, I went over and took him in my arms. If I remember correctly, I started sobbing and I think he was crying, too. I really admired him for that. That was the only time I let somebody see what I felt. It took a lot for him to do that, and it sort of said what this war was all about to me.
我接到护士长的电话，她说：“你那儿有个病人要得奖了，务必确保病房干净整洁。”这打一开始就让我很反感“我们打扫病房吧，因为有贵宾要来。”嗯，贵宾是一名将军和十几号人的随从。这是这位病人第二次来到我们这里，而这次他的双腿都被炸没了——他也就才二十几岁。做完手术后他苏醒过来，小声说：“你不记得我了吗，女士？”我说：“哦，当然记得你！”但其实我对他没有印象，因为这里的伤员太多了。将军是来给他颁奖的，因为他正好是这家医院的第2万个病人。他们举行了一个小小的仪式，给他颁发一枚紫心勋章和一块手表。将军把那块“来自军队，象征我们的感谢”的表递给他时，那孩子几乎是把表扔了回去。他说了几句话，大概意思是“长官，我不能要这块表，因为它不能帮我走路。”这件小插曲之后，我走过去把他搂在怀里。如果我没记错的话，我哭了，我记得他应该也哭了。我真的很佩服他能说出那样的话。那也是我唯一一次流露自己真实的感受。他那么做是很需要勇气的，这也多少反映了我对这场战争的看法。
(Adapted from A Piece of My Heart by Keith Walker)
(改编自凯斯·沃克的《心之彼方》)
Reading club 1 昏迷的人应该靠生命维持机维持吗
The case of an American woman, Terri Schiavo, whose husband won a legal battle to have her taken off life support machines after she spent 15 years in a coma' like-state, has exposed the many sensitive legal and medical issues that surround the care of coma patients. Even though 15 years had passed, Terri's parents still believed that her coma was only temporary. Her husband disagreed and said that Terri would not have wanted to live on in this state. The court gave their approval for the life support machines to be turned off. This ruling left Terri's parents feeling numb .Others claimed that life is sacred, which no one has the right to end, but many would say it was the right thing to do for Terri.
美国妇女特丽·夏沃(Terri Schiavo)在长达15年的类似昏迷状态后，她的丈夫赢得了一场法律诉讼，让她摘掉了生命维持机。这个案例暴露了围绕昏迷患者护理的许多敏感的法律和医学问题。即使15年过去了，特丽的父母仍然相信她的昏迷只是暂时的。她的丈夫不同意，说特丽不会想在这种状态下生活下去。法院批准了他们关闭生命维持机的请求。这一裁决让特丽的父母感到麻木。其他人声称生命是神圣的，没有人有权结束生命，但许多人会说，这对特丽来说是正确的。
Terri fell into a coma when a heart attack robbed her brain of oxygen, causing permanent harm. People can also fall into comas due to terminal illnesses like cancer and head injuries, Coma patients may seem to be asleep all the time or they may sleep, wake up, move and make sounds. Even though the patient may seem to be “awake" at times, their brain remains unconscious and cannot be woken up. Although doctors don't fully understand comas and the process of recovery, it is generally agreed that a patient's chances of recovery decline the longer they stay in a coma.Therefore, after 15 years it was very unlikely that Terri would ever recover.
特丽因心脏病发作导致大脑缺氧而陷入昏迷，造成了永久性的伤害。人们也会因为癌症、头部受伤等绝症而陷入昏迷。昏迷患者可能看起来一直在睡觉，或者他们可能会睡觉，醒来，移动和发出声音。即使患者有时看起来是“清醒的”，但他们的大脑仍然处于无意识状态，无法被唤醒。虽然医生们并不完全了解昏迷和恢复的过程，但人们普遍认为，病人处于昏迷状态的时间越长，恢复的机会就越低。因此，15年后，特丽几乎不可能康复了。
Even in less severe cases, doctors admit that they don't know if or how well patients will progress. When there is a minimum of harm to the brain and the coma is brief, patients often return to normal but with some loss of memory or other brain functions. When the harm to the brain is worse and the coma is longer, some patients recover slowly while others show little or no progress over a period of years. What is the right decision in the case of long term coma states, should close family members be allowed to take their loved one off life support machines
即使在不太严重的病例中，医生们也承认，他们不知道病人是否会好转，也不知道病情会好转到什么程度。当对大脑的伤害最小且昏迷时间短暂时，患者通常会恢复正常，但会有一些记忆或其他大脑功能的丧失。当对大脑的伤害更严重，昏迷时间更长时，一些患者恢复缓慢，而另一些患者在几年的时间里几乎没有进展。怎样做才是正确的决定 在长期昏迷状态的情况下，是否应该允许近亲将亲人的生命维持机拿掉
Reading club2
起诉还是不起诉
薪酬文化的兴起
想象一下，今天你正在下课的路上。你被一块松动的地毯绊了一跤，扭伤了脚踝。由于受伤，你失去了在当地运动队的位置，不得不错过一个重要的工作面试。坏运气吗 只是其中之一 还是一个快速致富的机会
休斯顿的罗斯林·达奇(Roslyn Darch)被一个在家具店跑来跑去的小孩绊倒，摔断了脚踝，这也许并不奇怪。但几个月后，在成功起诉这家店后，她的财产增加了78万美元。老板们显然对罗斯林的赔偿数额感到惊讶，特别是因为她绊倒的孩子是她自己的儿子。
有人认为这只是贪婪——对于她所受的伤害来说，这笔钱太多了——此外，母亲管不住自己的孩子也不是商店的错。另一些人会说，很高兴看到法律站在个人一边，反对大公司，这是一个改变。以数百名吸烟者为例，他们声称自己要为因吸烟而患上的绝症负责，但却从烟草公司那里获得了数百万美元。不管你怎么想，赔偿 近年来兴起的文化正在蔓延，它会影响到我们所有人。
让律师们忙碌的不仅仅是身体伤害的索赔。一群超重的约克青少年起诉了一家大型快餐公司，声称他们没有得到足够的警告，汉堡、薯条和奶昔会让他们变胖。一名19岁的英国女学生在大学入学考试中未能取得高分，她的父母成功起诉学校，要求赔偿4.2万英镑;而最奇怪的可能是，桑德拉·约克在被洒出的软饮料绊倒后，从一家餐馆得到了11.3万美元的赔偿。然而，饮料在地板上，因为约克在30秒前的一次争吵中把它扔在了她的男朋友身上。
如果你认为去度假是一种摆脱这些麻烦的好方法，那你就大错特错了——每年有数百万人向英国旅游局投诉，其中许多人得到了某种形式的补偿。一家著名公司的员工已经习惯了处理因恶劣天气、航班取消和行李丢失而提出的赔偿要求，但一位发言人说:“我们最近收到了一份索赔，有人说他们的假期被毁了，因为他们和旅行同伴相处不好。”我们还经常收到出国旅游的度假者的投诉，他们说当地人不会说英语。”
谁知道什么时候会结束呢 有人说，应该对过度索赔进行处罚，或者应该对赔付进行限制。但有一件事是肯定的——最终，唯一确定的赢家是律师!

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