新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson1921.docx

1、新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson1921新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson1921新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson19【课文】First listen and then answer the following question.听录音，然后回答以下问题。What is going on when a person experiences rapid eye-movements during sleep?It is fairly clear that the sleeping period must have some function, and because t

2、here is so much of it the function would seem to be important. Speculations about its nature have been going on for literally thousands of years, and one odd finding that makes the problem puzzling is that it looks very much as if sleeping is not simply a matter of giving the body a rest. Rest, in t

3、erms of muscle relaxation and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down. The bodys tissues are self-repairing and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active. In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifical

4、ly concerned with preventing muscle inactivity.If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? This might be a plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording the electrical activi

5、ty of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp) shows that while there is a change in the pattern of activity during sleep, there is no evidence that the total amount of activity is any less. The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental. Some years ago an American psychiatrist na

6、med William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individuals sleep cycle is punctuated with peculiar bursts of eye-movements, some drifting and slow, others jerky and rapid. People woken during these periods of eye-movement

7、s generally reported that they had been dreaming. When woken at other times they reported no dreams. If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep for several nights on end, and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were no exhibiting eye-moveme

8、nts, the first group began to show some personality disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.CHRISHER EVANS The stuff of dreams from The Listener【New words and

9、expressions 生词和短语】speculation n. 推测literally adv. 确实odd adj. 奇特的tissue n. 组织plausible adj. 似乎有理的hypothesis n. 假说electroencephalograph n. 脑电图仪electrode n. 电极scalp n. 头皮psychiatrist n. 精神病学家punctuate v. 不时介入jerky adj. 急动的disorder n. 失调implication n. 含意，暗示【课文注释】1.not simply a matter of.不但仅是。simply a ma

10、tter of+doing sth例句：I think its simply a matter of the attack being weakened.我看这根本就是因为进攻削弱了的缘故。simply a matter of time，仅仅时间问题。例句：It s simply a matter of time before the rebels are crushed.把这些叛乱分子镇压下去仅仅迟早的事。2.in terms of muscle relaxation and so on，从是肌肉得到放松等方面来看。in terms of，从方面看，就来说。例句：In term of mon

11、ey, hes quite rich, but not in term of happiness.就钱来说他很富有，但就幸福来说就不然了。3.to a degree，在一定水准上，相当。You use expressions such as to some degree, to a large degree, or to a certain degree in order to indicate that something is partly true, but not entirely true.例句：These statements are, to some degree, all co

12、rrect.这些论断从某种水准上来说是对的。by degrees：gradually，逐渐地。例句：By degrees their friendship grew into love.他们的友谊逐步发展成爱情。4.then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? 这是一个陈述句的语序，但句尾加问号，表示说话人对这种观点有把握但需进一步证实。5.a plausible hypothesis，有道理的假设。An explanation or statement that is plausible seems likely to be true or

13、 valid.似乎准确的，似乎有道理可信的(借口、陈述等)。例句：He trotted out a most plausible story, but most of us were inclined to doubt the truth of it.他提出了一个听起来很有道理的说法，但我们绝大部分人对此都持怀疑态度。If you say that someone is plausible, you mean that they seem to be telling the truth and to be sincere and honest.(指人)能说会道的(尤指为行骗)。例句：She w

14、as so plausible she would have deceived anyone.她巧舌如簧-，把谁都能骗倒。6.were it not for two factors，这是省略了if的条件句，可译作“如果不是下面两个因素的话”。7.several nights on end，一连几夜。on end：连续地。例句：It has been raining for days on end.一连好几天连续下雨。8.it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming. 这是一个

15、表示否定的强调句，把强调结构it was not.that去掉，句子仍然成立，仅仅语气减弱了：The disturbance of sleep doesnt matter, but the disturbance of dreaming matters.【参考译文】很清楚，睡眠必然具有某种作用。睡眠占去那么多时间，所以其作用似乎还是很重要。人们对睡眠作用的种种猜测，确实有数千年之久。一项使人对这个问题感到困惑的奇怪的发现是，睡眠在很大水准似乎并不但仅是为了使身体得到休息。“休息”，从使肌肉得到放松等方面来看，只要稍微躺一躺，甚至坐一坐就能达到。人体组织在一定水准上有自我修补和自我恢复的水平，有

16、张有弛地连续活动时，其功能。事实上，睡眠状态下仍有着基本的活动量，以防止肌肉活动停止。如果睡眠的功能不是在于使身体得到休息，那么也许是让大脑得以休息?若不是下面两点，这种假使似乎是有道理的。第一点，脑电图记录仪(不过是一种把电极接到头皮上记录脑电活动的仪器)显示，人在睡眠时大脑活动的方式有变化，但没有迹象表明，其活动总量有任何减少。第二点更有意思，也更重要。前些年，美国一位精神病学者发表了一篇报告，报告中记录了眼球在睡眠时的活动情况。他指出，平常人的睡眠周期中不时伴有一阵阵奇怪的眼球队活动，这些活动有的飘忽而缓慢，有的急剧而快速。在眼球活动期间被叫醒的人都说自己在做梦;在其他期间叫醒他们，则说

17、没有做梦。如果有两组人，一组人连续几夜在眼球队活动时被叫醒;另一组人也是连续几夜被叫醒，但是在眼球队没活动时被叫醒的。结果，第一组人开始出现性格失常，而第二组人似乎没受什么影响。这个切暗示我们：睡眠受到干忧没关系，而做梦受到干忧是有问题的。新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson20【课文】First listen and then answer the following question.听录音，然后回答以下问题。What are the two different ways in which snake poison acts?How it came about that snakes

18、 manufactured poison is a mystery. Over the periods their saliva, a mild, digestive juice like our own, was converted into a poison that defies analysis even today. It was not forced upon them by the survival competition; they could have caught and lived on prey without using poison, just as the tho

19、usands of non-poisonous snakes still do. Poison to a snake is merely a luxury; it enables it to get its food with very little effort, no more effort than one bite. And why only snakes? Cats, for instance, would be greatly helped; no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbit

20、s - just a bite and no more effort needed. In fact, it would be an assistance to all carnivores though it would be a two-edged weapon when they fought each other. But, of the vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes (and one lizard). One wonders also why Nature, with some snakes, conco

21、cted poison of such extreme potency.In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place. It did not; some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others, as different as arsenic is from strychnine, and having different effects. One p

22、oison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.The makers of the nerve poison include the mambas and the cobras and their venom is called neurotoxic. Vipers (adders) and rattlesnakes manufacture the blood poison, which is known as haemolytic. Both poisons are unpleasant, but by far the more unplea

23、sant is the blood poison. It is said that the nerve poison is the more primitive of the two, that the blood poison is, so to speak, a newer product from an improved formula. Be that as it may, the nerve poison does its business with man far more quickly than the blood poison. This, however, means no

24、thing. Snakes did not acquire their poison for use against man but for use against prey such as rats and mice, and the effects on these of viperine poison is almost immediate.JOHN CROMPTON The snake【New words and expressions 生词和短语】saliva n. 唾液digestive adj. 助消化的defy v. 使不可能analysis n. 分析prey n. 被捕食的

25、动物fierce adj. 凶猛的tussle n. 扭打carnivore n. 食肉动物vertebrate n. 脊椎动物lizard n. 蜥蜴concoct v. 调制potency n. 效力conversion n. 转变arsenic n. 砒霜strychnine n. 马钱子碱mamba n. 树眼镜蛇cobra n. 眼镜蛇venom n. 毒液neurotoxic adj. 毒害神经的viper n. 蝰蛇adder n. 蝮蛇rattlesnake n. 响尾蛇haemolytic adj. 溶血性的viperine adj. 毒蛇【课文注释】1.How it cam

26、e about that snakes.a mystery.这句话的主语是一个句子：How it came about that snakes manufactured poison，谓语部分是is a mystery。主语从句中的it是形式主语，真正主语是that snakes manufactured poison，因为主语太长，所以使用it作先行主语的结构。2.over the periods，经过很长时间。例句：Over the peroids, she finally managed to walk out of the breaking-up shadow which had br

27、ought much pain to her.经过很长时间，她终于走出了那段曾给她带去无数伤痛的分手阴影。3.convert into，改变成。If one thing is converted or converts into another, it is changed into a different form.例句：The solar cell can convert the energy of sunlight into electric energy.太阳能电池能把阳光的能量转化为电能。4.live on，靠生活。关于live的短语在第9课：王室谍报活动中有讲过哦，能够去复习一下戳

28、我去复习5.a two-edged weapon，一把双刃刀，这里的意思是：如果食肉动物都有毒液，就会造成食肉动物之间的互相残杀。双刃剑、双刃刀，也能够说成double-edged sword： a situation or decision that has both positive and negative aspects例句：Scientific development may be a two-edged weapon, on one hand it lifts peoples living standard, on the other hand it poses potential

29、 threats to the environment.科技进步是一把双刃剑，一方面它提升了人们的生活水平，另一方面也对环境构成了潜在威胁。6.act on，对起作用;遵照。If a force or substance acts on someone or something, it has a certain effect on them.有作用。例句：These medical herbs are said to act on the heart.据说这些药草对心脏起作用。If you act on advice or information, you do what has been

30、advised or suggested.遵照。例句：A patient will usually listen to the doctors advice and act on it.通常病人都会听从并遵照医生的建议去做。7.by far the more unpleasant，更难受得多，by far是“得多”的意思。例句：It is quicker by far to go by train.乘火车要快得多。8.so to speak，插入语，有“能够这样说”，“打个比方说”的意思。9.Be that as it may，这是一个倒装的让步状语从句，相当于however that may

31、 be，可译成“即使如此”。10.does its business with man，在人的身上发挥作用，要人的命。11.the effects on these of viperine poison，these是指rats and mice，介词宾语结构of viperine poison是作effets的定语。【参考译文】蛇是怎样产生毒液的，这是一个谜。蛇的唾液本来和我们人的消化液一样柔和，但经过漫长的时间，演变成了今天仍无法分析清楚的毒液。毒液不是生存竞争强加给 它们的，它们也能够不用毒液捕捉动物而生存，就像今天成千上万的无毒蛇那样。毒液对毒蛇来说只不过是一种舒适生存的优越手段，它使蛇不用费多大力气就能捕 获到食物，轻咬一口即可。为什么只有蛇才有毒液呢?譬如说，如果猫有毒液，那对猫会大有协助，它就不必再和又大又凶的老鼠边跑边博斗了，也不必再和大兔子 扭斗了，只要咬一口，就不必再费大力气。所以，任何食肉动物有了毒液，都能从中获益。不过，当它们相互撕打时，毒液就成了