第二单元
Smart Cars
Michio Kaku
。
7 Two getting
of the most frustrating stuck in traffic.
things about driving a car are getting
is unlikely
lost and cure these
While the computer revolution to
problems, it will have a positive impact. Sensors in your car tuned to radio signals from orbiting
satellites
can locate your car precisely
at any momentand
warn of traffic jams. We already have twenty-four Navstar satellites orbiting
the earth, making up what is called the Global Positioning System. They make it possible to determine your location
on the earth to within
about a hundred feet.
At any given time, there are several GPS satellites orbiting overhead at a
distance of about 11,000 miles. Each satellite contains four \"atomic clocks,\" which vibrate
at a precise frequency, according to the laws of the quantum theory.
开车最头疼的两大麻烦是迷路和交通堵塞。 虽然计算机革命不可能彻底解决这两个问题, 但却会带来积极的影响。你汽车上与绕轨道运行的卫星发出的无线电信号调谐的传感器 能随时精确地确定你汽车的方位,并告知交通阻塞情况。我们已经有 的导航卫星,组成了人们所说的全球卫星定位系统。
24颗环绕地球运行
通过这些卫星我们有可能以小于 100
英尺的误差确定你在地球上的方位。在任何一个特定时间,总有若干颗全球定位系统的 卫星在 11000英里的高空绕地球运行。每颗卫星都装有 4个“原子钟”,它们根据量子理
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论法则,以精确的频率振动。
8 As a satellite passes overhead, it sends out a radio signal that can be
detected by a receiver in a car's how far the satellite
computer. The car's computer can then calculate
took for the signal
to arrive.
is by measuring how long it
Since the speed of light is well known, any delay in receiving the satellite's signal can be converted into a distance.
卫星从高空经过时发出能被汽车上计算机里的接收器辨认的无线电信号。汽车上的计算机就会根据信号传来所花的时间计算出卫星有多远。由于光速为人熟知,接收卫星信号时的任何时间迟缓都能折算出距离的远近。
第四单元
3. Although Browder and Mandl define their nationality differently, both see their identity as a matter of personal choice, not an accident of birth. And not incidentally, both are Davos Men, members of the international business lite who treké each year to theSwiss Alpine town for the annual meeting of theWorld Economic Forum, founded in 1971. This week, Browder and Mandl will join more than 2,200 executives, politicians, academics, journalists, writers
and a handful ofHollywood stars for five days of networking, parties and
endlessearnestdiscussions about everything from post-election Iraq andHIV in Africa to the global supply of oil and the implications of nanotechnology. Yet this year, perhaps more than ever, a hot topic at Davos is Davos itself. Whatever theirconsiderable differences, most Davos Men and Women share at least one belief: that globalization, theunimpeded flows of capital, labor and technology across national borders, is both welcome and unstoppable. They see the
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world increasingly as one vast,interconnectedmarketplace in which corporations search for the
most advantageouslocations to buy, produce and sell their goods and services.
虽然布劳德和曼德尔对各自的国籍界定不同, 他们都将国籍视为个人选择, 而不是由出生地决定的。而且,他俩都是达沃斯人,这可不是巧合。达沃斯人指的是那些每年长
途跋涉去瑞士阿尔卑斯山区小城达沃斯参加年度世界经济论坛 —— 该论坛始于 1971 年 —— 的国际商业精英们。 本周,布劳德和曼德尔将同其他 2200 余名企业高管、政界人士、学者、记者、作家和少数几位好莱坞明星一起,参加为时五天的交际活动、宴会和没完
没了的认真的讨论。讨论话题林林总总,从大选后的伊拉克和非洲的艾滋病病毒到全球的石油供应和纳米技术的重大意义。然而今年,或许比以往更甚的是,达沃斯论坛的一个热门话题就是达沃斯本身。尽管与会男女各不相同,但他们大多数有一个共同信念:全球化,亦即资本、劳动力和技术不受阻碍地跨国界流动,是值得欢迎和不可阻挡的。
在他们看来, 世界越来越像一个巨大的互相联系的市场。 在这个市场里, 企业寻求采购、生产及销售产品和服务的最佳地点。
第六单元
24 As Godbey points out, the stress we feel arises not from a shortage of time, but from the surfeit of things we try to cram into it. \"It's the kid in the candy store,\" h
e says. \"There's just so many good things to do. The array of choices is stunning. Our f ree time is increasing, but not as fast as our sense of the necessary.\"
正如戈德比所指出的,我们的紧张感并非源于时间短缺,而是因为我们试图在一个个时段中塞入过多的内容。“就像糖果店里的孩子,”他说,“有那么多美好的事情要做。选择之多,令人眼花缭乱。我们的空余时间在增加,但其速度跟不上我们心中日益增多的必须做的事。”
25 A more successful remedy may lie in understanding the problem rather than evading
it.
更有效的解决方式或许在于去理解这一问题,而不是回避这一问题。
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26 Before the industrial revolution, people lived in small communities with limited communications. Within the confines of their village, they could reasonably expect to kn ow everything that was to be
known, see everything that was to be seen, and do everything that was to be done.
工业革命前,人们居住在交通联系不方便的小社区里。在本村范围内,人们自然而然地期望了解该了解的一切,见到该见的一切,做该做的一切。
27 Today, being curious by nature, we are still trying to do the same. But the globa l village is a world of limitless possibilities, and we can never achieve our aim.
如今,生性好奇的我们仍试图这么做。然而,地球村是一个有着无限可能的世界,我们永远无法
实现自己的目标。
28 It is not more time we need: it is fewer desires. We need to switch off the cell-phone and leave the children to play by themselves. We need to buy less, read less and t ravel less. We need to set boundaries for ourselves, or be doomed to mounting despair.
我们需要的不是更多的时间:是更少的欲望。我们定要关掉手机,让孩子们自己玩耍。我们定要
少购物,少阅读,少出游。我们定要在有所为、有所不为方面给自己设定界限,不然则注定会越来越
感到绝望。
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