考研英语翻译1990.docx

考研英语翻译1990.docx

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考研英语翻译1990

1990年

Peoplehavewonderedforalongtimehowtheirpersonalitiesandbehaviorsareformed.Itisnoteasytoexplainwhyonepersonisintelligentandanotherisnot,orwhyoneiscooperativeandanotheriscompetitive.

Socialscientistsare,ofcourse,extremelyinterestedinthesetypesofquestions.（21）Theywanttoexplainwhywepossesscertaincharacteristicsandexhibitcertainbehaviors.Therearenoclearanswersyet,buttwodistinctschoolsofthoughtonthematterhavedeveloped.Asonemightexpect,thetwoapproachesareverydifferentfromeachother.Thecontroversyisoftenconvenientlyreferredtoas“naturevs.nurture.”

（22）Thosewhosupportthe“nature”sideoftheconflictbelievethatourpersonalitiesandbehaviorpatternsarelargelydeterminedbybiologicalfactors.（23）Thatourenvironmenthaslittle,ifanything,todowithourabilities,characteristicsandbehavioriscentraltothistheory.

Takentoanextreme,thistheorymaintainsthatourbehaviorispre-determinedtosuchagreatdegreethatwearealmostcompletelygovernedbyourinstincts.

Thosewhosupportthe“nurture”theory,thatis,theyadvocateeducation,areoftencalledbehaviorists.Theyclaimthatourenvironmentismoreimportantthanourbiologicallybasedinstinctsindetermininghowwewillact.Abehaviorist,B.F.Skinner,seeshumansasbeingswhosebehaviorisalmostcompletelyshapedbytheirsurroundings.（24）Thebehavioristsmaintainthat,likemachines,humansrespondtoenvironmentalstimuliasthebasisoftheirbehavior.

Letusexaminethedifferentexplanationsaboutonehumancharacteristic,intelligence,offeredbythetwotheories.（25）Supportersofthe“nature”theoryinsistthatwearebornwithacertaincapacityforlearningthatisbiologicallydetermined.Needlesstosay:

Theydon’tbelievethatfactorsintheenvironmenthavemuchinfluenceonwhatisbasicallyapredeterminedcharacteristic.Ontheotherhand,behavioristsarguethatourintelligencelevelsaretheproductofourexperiences.（26）Behavioristssuggestthatthechildwhoisraisedinanenvironmentwheretherearemanystimuliwhichdevelophisorhercapacityforappropriateresponseswillexperiencegreaterintellectualdevelopment.

Thesocialandpoliticalimplicationsofthesetwotheoriesareprofound.（27）IntheUnitedStates,blacksoftenscorebelowwhitesonstandardizedintelligencetests.Thisleadssome“nature”proponentstoconcludethatblacksarebiologicallyinferiortowhites.（28）Behaviorists,incontrast,saythatdifferencesinscoresareduetothefactthatblacksareoftendeprivedofmanyoftheeducationalandotherenvironmentaladvantagesthatwhitesenjoy.

Mostpeoplethinkneitherofthesetheoriescanyetfullyexplainhumanbehavior.

1991年

Thefactisthattheenergycrisis,whichhassuddenlybeenofficiallyannounced,hasbeenwithusforalongtimenow,andwillbewithusforanevenlongertime.WhetherAraboilflowsfreelyornot,itiscleartoeveryonethatworldindustrycannotbeallowedtodependonsofragileabase.（31）Thesupplyofoilcanbeshutoffunexpectedlyatanytime,andinanycase,theoilwellswillallrundryinthirtyyearsorsoatthepresentrateofuse.

（32）Newsourcesofenergymustbefound,andthiswilltaketime,butitisnotlikelytoresultinanysituationthatwilleverrestorethatsenseofcheapandplentifulenergywehavehadinthetimespast.Foranindefiniteperiodfromhereon,mankindisgoingtoadvancecautiously,andconsideritselfluckythatitcanadvanceatall.

Tomakethesituationworse,thereisasyetnosignthatanyslowingoftheworld’spopulationisinsight.Althoughthebirth-ratehasdroppedinsomenations,includingtheUnitedStates,thepopulationoftheworldseemssuretopasssixbillionandperhapsevensevenbillionasthetwenty-firstcenturyopens.

（33）Thefoodsupplywillnotincreasenearlyenoughtomatchthis,whichmeansthatweareheadingintoacrisisinthematterofproducingandmarketingfood.

Takingallthisintoaccount,whatmightwereasonablyestimatesupermarketstobelikeintheyear2001?

Tobeginwith,theworldfoodsupplyisgoingtobecomesteadilytighteroverthenextthirtyyears—evenhereintheUnitedStates.By2001,thepopulationoftheUnitedStateswillbeatleasttwohundredfiftymillionandpossiblytwohundredseventymillion,andthenationwillfinditdifficulttoexpandfoodproductiontofilltheadditionalmouths.（34）Thiswillbeparticularlytruesinceenergypinchwillmakeitdifficulttocontinueagricultureinthehigh-energyAmericanfashionthatmakesitpossibletocombinefewfarmerswithhighyields.

Itseemsalmostcertainthatby200ltheUnitedStateswillnolongerbeagreatfoodexportingnationandthat,ifnecessityforcesexports,itwillbeatthepriceofbelt-tighteningathome.

Infact,asfooditemswilltendtodeclineinqualityanddecreaseinvariety,thereisverylikelytobeincreasinguseofflavouringadditives.（35）Untilsuchtimeasmankindhasthesensetoloweritspopulationtothepointwheretheplanetcanprovideacomfortablesupportforall,peoplewillhavetoacceptmore“unnaturalfood”.

1992年

“Intelligence”atbestisanassumptiveconstruct—themeaningofthewordhasneverbeenclear.31）Thereismoreagreementonthekindsofbehaviorreferredtobythetermthanthereisonhowtointerpretorclassifythem.Butitisgenerallyagreedthatapersonofhighintelligenceisonewhocangraspideasreadily,makedistinctions,reasonlogically,andmakeuseofverbalandmathematicalsymbolsinsolvingproblems.Anintelligencetestisaroughmeasureofachild’scapacityforlearning,particularlyforlearningthekindsofthingsrequiredinschool.Itdoesnotmeasurecharacter,socialadjustment,physicalendurance,manualskills,orartisticabilities.Itisnotsupposedto—itwasnotdesignedforsuchpurposes.32）Tocriticizeitforsuchfailureisroughlycomparabletocriticizingathermometerfornotmeasuringwindvelocity.

Theotherthingwehavetonoticeisthattheassessmentoftheintelligenceofanysubjectisessentiallyacomparativeaffair.

33）Nowsincetheassessmentofintelligenceisacomparativematterwemustbesurethatthescalewithwhichwearecomparingoursubjectsprovidesa“valid”or“fair”comparison.Itisherethatsomeofthedifficultieswhichinterestusbegin.Anytestperformedinvolvesatleastthreefactors:

theintentiontodoone’sbest,theknowledgerequiredforunderstandingwhatyouhavetodo,andtheintellectualabilitytodoit.34）Thefirsttwomustbeequalforallwhoarebeingcompared,ifanycomparisonintermsofintelligenceistobemade.Inschoolpopulationsinourculturetheseassumptionscanbemadefairandreasonable,andthevalueofintelligencetestinghasbeenprovedthoroughly.Itsvaluelies,ofcourse,initsprovidingasatisfactorybasisforprediction.Nooneisintheleastinterestedinthemarksalittlechildgetsonhistest;Whatweareinterestediniswhetherwecanconcludefromhismarkonthetestthatthechildwilldobetterorworsethanotherchildrenofhisageattaskswhichwethinkrequire“generalintelligence”.35）Onthewholesuchaconclusioncanbedrawnwithacertaindegreeofconfidence,butonlyifthechildcanbeassumedtohavehadthesameattitudetowardsthetestastheotherwithwhomheisbeingcompared,andonlyifhewasnotpunishedbylackofrelevantinformationwhichtheypossessed.

1993年

（31）Themethodofscientificinvestigationisnothingbuttheexpressionofthenecessarymodeofworkingofthehumanmind;itissimplythemodebywhichallphenomenaarereasonedaboutandgivenpreciseandexactexplanation.Thereisnomoredifference,butthereisjustthesamekindofdifference,betweenthementaloperationsofamanofscienceandthoseofanordinaryperson,asthereisbetweentheoperationsandmethodsofabakerorofabutcherweighingouthisgoodsincommonscales,andtheoperationsofachemistinperformingadifficultandcomplexanalysisbymeansofhisbalanceandfinelygradedweights.（32）Itisnotthatthescalesintheonecase,andthebalanceintheother,differintheprinciplesoftheirconstructionormannerofworking;butthatthelatterisamuchfinerapparatusandofcoursemuchmoreaccurateinitsmeasurementthantheformer.

Youwillunderstandthisbetter,perhaps,ifIgiveyousomefamiliarexamples.（33）Youhaveallhearditrepeatedthatmenofscienceworkbymeansofinduction（归纳法）anddeduction,thatbythehelpoftheseoperations,they,inasortofsense,managetoextractfromNaturecertainnaturallaws,andthatoutofthese,bysomespecialskilloftheirown,theybuilduptheirtheories.（34）Anditisimaginedbymanythattheoperationsofthecommonmindcanbebynomeanscomparedwiththeseprocesses,andthattheyhavetobeacquiredbyasortofspecialtraining.Tohearalltheselargewords,youwouldthinkthatthemindofamanofsciencemustbeconstituteddifferentlyfromthatofhisfellowmen;butifyouwillnotbefrightenedbyterms,youwilldiscoverthatyouarequitewrong,andthatalltheseterribleapparatusarebeingusedbyyourselveseverydayandeveryhourofyourlives.

Thereisawell-knownincidentinoneofMotiere’splays,wheretheauthormakestheheroexpressunboundeddelightonbeingtoldthathehadbeentalkingprose（散文）duringthewholeofhislife.Inthesameway,Itrustthatyouwilltakecomfort,andbedelightedwithyourselves,onthediscoverythatyouhavebeenactingontheprinciplesofinductiveanddeductivephilosophyduringthesameperiod.（35）Probablythereisnotoneherewhohasnotinthecourseof