1、 it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost real. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious resource. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out o
2、f a persons hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.Para. 3 外国人对美国的第一印象很可能是:每个人都匆匆忙忙常常处于压力之下。城里人看上去总是在匆匆地赶往他们要去的地方,在商店里他们焦躁不安地指望店员能马上来为他们服务,或者为了赶快买完东西,用肘来推搡他人。白天吃饭时人们也都匆匆忙忙,这部分地反映出这个国家的生活节奏。工作时间被认为是宝贵的。Para. 3b 在公共用餐场所,人们都等着别人吃完后用餐,以便按时赶回去工作。你还会发现司机开车很鲁莽,人们推搡着在你身边过去。你会怀念微笑、
3、简短的交谈以及与陌生人的随意闲聊。不要觉得这是针对你个人的,这是因为人们非常珍惜时间,而且也不喜欢他人“浪费”时间到不恰当的地步。A foreigners first impression of the US is likely to be that everyone is in a rushoften under pressure. City people always appear to be hurrying to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, or elbowing others a
4、s they try to complete their shopping. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they, too, can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. You also find d
5、rivers will be abrupt and people will push past you.You will miss smiles, brief conversations, and small exchanges with strangers. Dont take it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else wasting it beyond a certain appropriate point. Para. 4 许多刚到美国的人会怀念诸如商务拜访等
6、场合开始时的寒暄。他们也会怀念那种一边喝茶或咖啡一边进行的礼节性交流,这也许是他们自己国家的一种习俗。他们也许还会怀念在饭店或咖啡馆里谈生意时的那种轻松悠闲的交谈。一般说来,美国人是不会在如此轻松的环境里通过长时间的闲聊来评价他们的客人的,更不用说会在增进相互间信任的过程中带他们出去吃饭,或带他们去打高尔夫球。既然我们通常是通过工作而不是社交来评估和了解他人,我们就开门见山地谈正事。因此,时间老是在我们心中的耳朵里滴滴答答地响着。Many new arrivals in the States will miss the opening exchanges of a business call,
7、 for example. They will miss the ritual interaction that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be a convention in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a restaurant or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings ove
8、r extended small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly. Time is, therefore, always ticking in our inner ear. P
9、ara. 5 因此,我们千方百计地节约时间。我们发明了一系列节省劳力的装置;我们通过发传真、打电话或发电子邮件与他人迅速地进行交流,而不是通过直接接触。虽然面对面接触令人愉快,但却要花更多的时间, 尤其是在马路上交通拥挤的时候。因此,我们把大多数个人拜访安排在下班以后的时间里或周末的社交聚会上。Consequently, we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through faxes, phone cal
10、ls or emails rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longerespecially given our traffic-filled streets. We, therefore, save most personal visiting for after-work hours or for social weekend gatherings. Para. 6 就我们而言,电子交流的缺乏人情味与我们手头上事情的重要性之间很少有或完全没有关系。在有些国家, 如果没有目光接触,就做不成大生
11、意,这需要面对面的交谈。在美国,最后协议通常也需要本人签字。然而现在人们越来越多地在电视屏幕上见面,开远程会议不仅能解决本国的问题,而且还能通过卫星解决国际问题。 To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relation to the significance of the matter at hand. In some countries no major business is conducted without eye contact, requiring face-to-face conv
12、ersation. In America, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in person. However, people are meeting increasingly on television screens, conducting teleconferences to settle problems not only in this country but alsoby satelliteinternationally.Para. 7 美国无疑是一个电话王国。几乎每个人都在用电话做生意、与朋友聊天、安排或取消社交约会
13、、表达谢意、 购物和获得各种信息。电话不但能免去走路之劳,而且还能节约大量时间。其部分原因在于这样一个事实:美国的电话服务是一流的,而邮政服务的效率则差一些。 The US is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chat with friends, to make or break social appointments, to say Thank you, to shop and to obtain all kinds of informati
14、on. Telephones save the feet and endless amounts of time. This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is superb here, whereas the postal service is less efficient.Para. 8 有些初来美国的人来自其他文化背景不同的国家,在他们的国家,人们认为工作太快是一种失礼。在他们看来,如果不花一定时间来处理某件事的话,那么这件事就好像是无足轻重的,不值得给予适当的重视。因此, 人们觉得用的时间长会增加所做事情的重要
15、性。 但在美国,能迅速而又成功地解决问题或完成工作则被视为是有水平、有能力的标志。通常,工作越重要,投入的资金、精力和注意力就越多,其目的是“使工作开展起来”。Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignifica
16、nt, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are,consequently, given added weight by the passage of time. In the US, however, it is taken as a sign of skillfulness or being competent to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with speed. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capit
17、al, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to get it moving.Unit2学习奥林匹克标准的爱 Para. 1 尼克莱彼得罗维奇安尼金一点都不像我想象的那么吓人。不,他不可能是我父亲特地送我来见的那位前苏联教练。 Nikolai Petrovich Anikin was not half as intimidating as I had imagined he would be. No, this surely was not the ex-Soviet coach my father had shipped
18、 me out to meet.Para. 2 可他的确是尼克莱彼得罗维奇安尼金本人。他请我进门,在沙发上坐了下来,又拍了拍身边的垫子,让我坐在他旁边。在他面前,我真的很紧张。But Nikolai he was, Petrovich and all. He invited me inside and sat down on the couch,patting the blanket next to him to get me to sit next to him. I was so nervous in his presence.Para. 3 “你还年轻,” 他的英语带着俄语口音:“如果你
19、愿意试着向奥林匹克运动会进军,我想你能行。长野奥运会来不及参加了,但你可以准备参加2002年盐湖城奥运会。”You are young, he began in his Russian-style English. If you like to try for Olympic Games, I guess you will be able to do this. Nagano Olympics too soon for you, but for 2002 in Salt Lake City, you could be ready. Para. 4 “完全可以,不是吗?” 看到我脸上惊愕的表情,
20、他又说道。我那时是一个很有前途的业余滑雪运动员,但在国内决不是顶尖选手。“当然,你需要进行很多艰苦的训练,你会哭鼻子,但你一定会进步的。” Yes, why not? he replied to the shocked look on my face. I was a promising amateur skier, but by no means the top skier in the country. Of course, there will be many hard training sessions, and you will cry, but you will improve.P
21、ara. 5 的确,后来我经历了无数痛苦的训练,还为此流了不少眼泪。但在后来的五年里,我总能从尼克莱讲的有趣故事和他的幽默感中得到鼓励。To be sure, there were countless training sessions full of pain and more than a few tears, but in the five years that followed I could always count on being encouraged by Nikolais amusing stories and sense of humor.Para. 6 他开始总是说:“我
22、的朋友们常去看电影,去跳舞,去和女孩子约会,” 然后他会降低声音接着说:“我就在运动场上训练、训练、再训练。第二年,我的15公里滑雪比赛成绩缩短了1.5分钟。My friends, they go in the movies, they go in the dance, they go out with girls, he would start. But I, he would continue, lowering his voice, I am practice, practice, practice in the stadium. And by the next year, I had
23、cut 1-1/2 minutes off my time in the 15-kilometer race!Para. 7 “朋友们问我:尼克莱,你怎么做到的呢?我回答:你们去看电影、跳舞、和女孩子约会,而我一直在训练、训练、再训练。 ” My friends asked me, Nikolai, how did you do it? And I replied, You go in the movies, you go in the dance, you go out with girls, but I am practice, practice, practice.Para. 8 故事通
24、常到这儿就结束了。但有一次后来我们知道那天是他结婚25周年纪念日他穿着一件旧的毛衣,很自豪地站着,微笑着轻声说道:“告诉你们,我可是在26岁那年才第一次亲吻女孩子。她后来就和我结了婚。” Here the story usually ended, but on one occasion, which we later learned was his 25th wedding anniversary, he stood proudly in a worn woolen sweater and smiled and whispered, And I tell you, I am 26 years
25、old before I ever kiss a girl! She was the woman I later marry.Para. 9 不管他是不是懂得浪漫,尼克莱知道什么是爱。他以一贯的幽默、默默的感恩、敏锐的感觉和真诚的态度为爱设立了奥林匹克般的标准。即使在我结束了滑雪生涯之后,我仍一直努力去达到这个标准。Romantic and otherwise, Nikolai knew love. His consistent good humor, quiet gratitude,perceptivity, and sincerity set an Olympic standard for
26、 love that I continue to reach for, even though my skiing days are over. Para. 10 但他又从不娇惯我。二月里的一天,我头很疼,感到十分疲倦。我在一片空地上遇见了了他,大概在寒风中的雪地里滑了十五分钟后,我赶上了他,有点小题大做地说:“嘿,尼克莱,我感觉我要死了。” Still, he never babied me. One February day I had a massive headache and felt quite fatigued. I came upon him in a clearing, an
27、d after approximately 15 minutes of striding into the cold breeze over the white powder to catch him, I fussed, Oh, Nikolai, I feel like I am going to die.Para. 11 “如果活到一百岁,人人都会死的,” 他对我的痛苦无动于衷,态度坚决地接着说:“但你现在必须滑、滑、再滑。When you are a hundred years old, everybody dies, he said, indifferent to my pain. B
28、ut now, he continued firmly. Now must be ski, ski, ski.Para. 12 在滑雪板上,我照他说的去做。但在其他事情上我会反抗他。在一次经费并不宽裕的滑雪露营活动中,他让我们十个人挤在一个单身汉住的芬兰式屋子里。第一天我们醒来时发现尼克莱正在做早餐。然后我们坐在临时拼凑起来的椅子上,围着张小小的牌桌,用勺子很快地吃完早饭。吃完后,尼克莱把摞起来的油腻腻的碗向我和我唯一的另一个女队友前一推,专断地说:“女孩子们,现在去洗碗吧!”And, on skis, I did what he said. On other matters, though,
29、 I was rebellious. Once, he packed 10 of us into a Finnish bachelors tiny home for a low-budget ski camp. We awoke the first morning to find Nikolai making breakfast and then made quick work with our spoons while sitting on makeshift chairs around a tiny card table. When we were finished, Nikolai st
30、acked the sticky bowls in front of my sole female teammate and me, asserting, Now, girls do dishes!Para. 13 我把餐巾往地上一扔,向他骂道:“让该死的男孩子们去洗吧! 这不公平!” 他没再让我去洗碗,也没对我的大发脾气显得太在意。他只在滑雪时才显露出强烈的情感。I threw my napkin on the floor and swore at him, Ask the damn boys! This is unfair. He never asked this of me again, nor did he take much notice of my outburst. He saved his passion for skiing. Para. 14 训练的时候,他会跟着我们迈步的节奏大声发出指令:“对,就这样,一二三,一二三。” 我祖父的一个好朋友一位上了年纪的女士看了尼克莱带我训练的录像带后问道:“他也教舞蹈吗?” When coaching, he would sing out his instructions keeping rhythm with our stride:Yes, yes,
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