中石油职称英语考试文章选读.docx

1、中石油职称英语考试文章选读中石油职称英语考试文章选读中石油职称英语考试文章选读以下是中石油职称英语考试文章选读系列，来看看如何?一、The Value of Time 时间的价值1.Time says the proverb is money. This means that every moment well-spent may put some money into our pockets. If our time is usefully employed, it will either produce some useful and important piece of work whi

2、ch will fetch its price in the market, or it will add to our experience and increase our capacities so as to enable us to earn money when the proper opportunity comes. There can thus be no doubt that time is convertible into money. Let those who think nothing of wasting time remember this; let them

3、remember that an hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a banknote; and that an hour utilized is tantamount to so much silver or gold; and then they will probably think twice before they give their consent to the loss of any part of their time.翻译：谚语说：“时间就是金钱。”这句话的意思是，一时片刻只要用得有效， 都会让我们的口袋增添一些钱。如果

4、我们的时间使用得当，就能生产出有用 的、重要的产品，在市场上卖得一定的价钱;就能充实经验，增长才干，等 到适当的时机来临时，我们就能挣得金钱。因此，毫无疑问，时间可以转化 为金钱。让那些对浪费时间满不在乎的人记住这一点。让他们记住，浪费一 小时等于损失一张钞票，而利用一小时就等于得到若干金银。这样，他们想 浪费时间时或许会三思而后行。2.Moreover, our life is nothing more than our time. To kill time is therefore a form of suicide. We are shocked when we think of dea

5、th, and we spare no pains, no trouble, and no expense to preserve life. But we are too often indifferent to loss of an hour or of a day, forgetting that our life is the sum total of the days and of the hours we live. A day or an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Let us bear this in mi

6、nd, and waste of time will appear to us in the light of a crime as culpable as suicide itself.翻译：再说，我们的生命无非就是我们活在人世的时间。因此，浪费时间也 就是一种自杀。我们想到死，便惊恐不已，因而不惜一切努力、麻烦和费用 来保全我们的生命。可是，我们对于损失一个小时或者一天的时间却往往漠 不关心、无动于衷，忘记了我们的生命原本就是我们生活的每一天、每一小 时的总和。因此，浪费一天或一小时也就是丧失一天或一小时的生命。让我 们记住这一点，这样就会把浪费时间看作一种罪过，跟自杀一样应该受到惩罚。3

7、.There is a third consideration which will also tend to warn us against loss of time. Our life is a brief span measuring some sixty or seventy years in all, but nearly one half of this has to be spent in sleep; some years have to be spent over our meals; some over dressing and undressing; some in ma

8、king journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merry-making,either on our own account or for the sake of others; some in celebrating religious and social festivities; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives .Now if all these years were to be deducted from the term

9、 over which our life extends, we shall find about fifteen or twenty years at our disposal for active work. Whoever remembers this can never willingly waste a single moment of his life. It is astonishing says Lord Chesterfield, that anyone can squander away in absolute idleness one single moment of t

10、hat portion of time which is allotted to us in this world. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it!翻译还有第三层考虑，也会提醒我们别浪费时间。人生短暂，总共不过六 七十年，可是将近一半时间必须用于睡眠;吃饭时间加起来也得花去一些年; 穿衣脱衣又是一些年;水陆、陆路旅行又是一些年;再加上一些年娱乐时间 (不论是为自己还是为别人);一些年宗教节日和社会节日的庆祝活动;还有 一些年在病床边照看至亲至爱。现在如果从我们的寿命中扣除所有这些

11、岁月， 我们将会发现，能受我们支配的有效的工作时间大约仅十五或二十年而己。 谁能记住这一点，谁就不会心甘情愿地浪费他生命的分分秒秒和每时每刻。 查斯特菲尔德勋爵说过，“对于分配给我们这一生的时间，若有人游手好闲， 即使浪费片刻，也是令人吃惊的。要认识到时间的真正价值，要争分夺秒， 充分利用有限的时间。”4.All time is precious; but the time of our childhood and of our youth is more precious than any other portion of our existence, for those are the p

12、eriods when alone we can acquire knowledge and develop our faculties and capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away, unutilized, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. As we grow older, our power of acquisition gets blunted, so that the art or science which is not acquired

13、in childhood or youth will never be acquired at all. Just as money laid out at interest doubles and trebles itself in time, so the precious hours of childhood and youth, if properly used, will yield us incalculable advantages. Every moment you lose says Lord Chesterfield is so much character and adv

14、antage lost; as on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully is so much time wisely laid out at prodigious interest.翻译：所有的时间都是宝贵的，而我们童年和青年时期的光阴比一生中的其他阶段都更为宝贵，因为只有在这两个阶段我们才能获取知识、增长才干和发展各种才能。如果我们让这些生命的早晨时光悄悄溜走，这损失将永远也 无法弥补。等我们长大了，获得知识的能力就变得迟钝了，因此在童年和青年时期未能获得的知识和技能将永远不能获得了。储蓄金钱，产生利息，到 时候会翻两三

15、倍;同样，童年和青年时期的宝贵时光，如果使用得当，必将带来不可估量的收益。查斯特菲尔德勋爵还说过，“丧失的每一时刻就等于丧失了与之相当的名和利。从另一方面看，你现在有效利用的每一时刻正是明 智地以这时间作为投资，将来定会获取巨额的利息。”5.A proper employment of time is of great benefit to us from a moral point of view. Idleness is justly said to be the rust of the mind and an idle brain is said to be Satans worksho

16、p. It is mostly when you do not know what to do with yourself that you do something ill or wrong. The mind of the idler preys upon itself. As Watts has said: In works of labor or of skillLet me be busy too;For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do.翻译：从道德的观点来看，恰当地利用时间对我们也有很大的好处。懒惰是心灵上的锈

17、迹，懒人的头脑是撒旦的作坊，这话说得很有理。犯错误大多数是由于无所事事、百无聊赖所致。懒人只会自寻烦恼和作茧自缚。正如艾萨克，瓦茨所说，“我要勤快地工作，不管是粗活还是细活;因为撒且还有些坏事，专借懒人的手去做。”二、English is a Crazy Language 英语是一门疯狂的语言1.Lets face it-English is a crazy language .There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins werent

18、 invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads,which arent sweet,are meat.翻译：让我们接受现实吧-英语是一种疯狂的语言。茄子(eggplant，字面意为鸡蛋植物)里并没有鸡蛋，汉堡包(hamburger，字面意为火腿夹饼)里也没有火腿。同样，菠萝(pineapple，字面意为松树苹果)里既没有松树也没有苹果。松饼(English muffin，字面意为英式松饼)并不是英国人发明的，而炸薯条(French fries，字面意为法式油炸食品

19、)也不是法国人的发明。“甜肉”(sweetmeat)指的是蜜饯，而“甜面包”(sweetbread)不是甜的，它指的是牛杂碎。2.We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes,we find that quicksand can work slowly,boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why it is that writers write but fingers dont fing

20、,grocers dont groce and hammers dont ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth,why isnt the plural of booth beeth? If you have one goose,two geese,why not one moose,two meese,or one index,two indices?翻译：我们理所当然地接受了英语的一切，但是如果我们分析一下英语中似是而非的情况，我们马上就会发现“快的沙子”(quicksand，流沙，也指陷阱，困境)往往走得很慢，“拳击的圆圈”(boxing rings，拳

21、击场)是方的，“几内亚猪”(guinea pig，天竺鼠)既不是来自几内亚，也不是猪。还有，既然名词作家(writers)去掉词尾的rs 就可以成为动词“写作(write)”，那为什么名词“手指”(fingers)、杂货店(grocers)、锤子(hammers)去掉rs就不能成为各自相应的动词呢?如果牙齿的复数是teeth，那为什么售货亭的复数不是beeth?一只鹅我们用goose，两只鹅用geese，那么，一只驼鹿用moose(单复数同形)，两只驼鹿就应该是meese了?为什么一条索引是index，两条索引却成了indices?3.Doesnt it seem crazy that you

22、 can make amends but not one amend,or that you can comb through the annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,what do you call it?翻译：如果你赔偿时只能赔偿复数不能赔偿单数，这是不是很莫名其妙?你可以梳理历史的编年史，为什么却不能复习某一个单个的编年史?如果你有一堆麻烦，那么在你把其他的都解决了只剩下一个的时候该怎么说呢?4

23、.If teachers taught,why didnt preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables,what does a humanitarian eat?翻译：如果教师教学是taught，那为什么传教士不是praught?如果素食主义者(vegetarian)吃蔬菜(vegetable)，那人道主义者(humanitarian)吃什么?5.Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally ins

24、ane. In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital; ship by truck and send cargo by ship; have noses that run and feet that smell; park on driveways and drive on parkways?翻译：有时候我觉得根据英国人说话时疯狂的用词可以将他们送进精神病院。哪一种语言人们可以在一出戏中朗诵，在朗诵中玩(分别指演戏和开独唱会)?用卡车运船，用船运货(分别只用卡车运输和用船运输)?鼻子可以跑而脚可

25、以闻味道(分别指流鼻涕和脚有臭味)?车可以停在驾驶路上，而且在停车路上驾驶(driveway从字面上理解是驾驶路，parkway从字面上理解是停车路)。6.How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,while a wise man and wise guy are opposites,and quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?翻译：为什么一个苗条的机会(sl

26、im chance，指没机会)和一个肥胖的机会(fat chant，也指没机会)意思是一样的，而一个聪明的人(wise man，聪明人)和一个聪明的家伙(wise guy，自作聪明的人)却意思相反?为什么相当多(quite a lot)和相当少(quite a few)意思一样?(实际上quite a lot和quite a few都是相当多的意思。)为什么天气可以热的像地狱也可以冷得像地狱?(as hell字面意思像地狱一样，指非常)7.You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can

27、burn up as it burns down,in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on.翻译：你不得不对这种精神病一样的语言表示惊奇，在这种语言中，你的房子在被烧下去(burn down，意为烧为平地)的同时又被烧上去(burn up，意为烧起来，烧掉)。你用填出来(fill out，意为填写)的方法填进去(fill in,意思也是填写)一个表格。闹钟在走(go on)的时候响(go off)了。8.English was invented b

28、y people,not computers,and it reflects the creativity of the human race. That is why,when the stars are out,they are visible,but when the lights are out,they are invisible. And why,when I wind up my watch,I start it,but when I wind up this essay,I end it?翻译：英语是人而不是机器创造出来的语言，它反映了人类的创造性。这也是为什么当星星出来的时候

29、，我们是看得见的，当阳光出来(out)的时候是看不见的。同理，我“处理”我的手表之后，它就开始(走)了;而我“处理”完这篇文章后，它却结束了。三、Can Money Buy Happiness 金钱能买到快乐?1.Many of us dream of having thousands and thousands of dollars to spend on anything we desire. We buy lottery tickets,enter contests or spend hours building a business or playing the stock marke

30、t. Were sure when we have plenty of money,we will be happy. But will we?1.我们很多人都梦想拥有万贯钱财来满足自身欲望。我们会买乐透彩券、参加比赛或付出很多时间发展事业或投资股市。我们深信一旦我们有很多钱，就会很开心，但真的会吗?2.While having some money does have an impact on our level of happiness,having a lot of money docs not. People in the United States whose income goes

31、 from US$20,000 a year to US$50,000 a year are more likely to be happy.2.虽然有“一些”钱的确会影响我们的快乐程度，拥有“很多”钱则不然。在美国，年薪为2万5万美元的人比较可能感到快乐。3.But after USS50.000,happiness does not increase as salaries go up. Why is that? Its because we are never satisfied. We always think if we just had a little more money,we

32、d be happier, says Catherine Sanderson,a psychology professor at Amherst College. But when we get there,were not.3.但薪水超过5万美元后，快乐程度会不随着薪水增多而升高。此话怎讲?原因是我们永远不会满足。安默斯特学院心理学教授凯萨琳珊德森说：“我们总是以为只要我们的钱再多一点，我们就会比较快乐，但是当我们走到那一步，我们却不快乐。”4.The more you make,the more you want. The more you have,the less it brings you joy, says Daniel Gilbert,a psychology professor at Harvard. We incorrectly assume well get more pleasure from more,and we dont.4.“你赚得越多，欲望就越多。你拥有的越多，得到的喜悦就越少。”哈佛大学心理学教授丹尼尔吉尔勃特说：“我们误以为我们会因为拥有越