新视角研究生英语读说写1课文翻译以及课后习题答案(7)

But here is what really concerns me about these new “smart” appliances:Even if we like the features, we won’t be able to use them. We can’t use the appliance features we have now. I have a feature-packed telephone with 43 buttons, at least 20 of which I am afraid to touch. This phone probably can communicate with the dead, but I don’t know to operate it, just as I don’t know how to operate my TV, which requires three remote controls. One control (44 buttons ) came with the TV; a second (39 buttons )came with the VCR; the third (37 buttons ) was brought here by the cable man, who apparently felt that I did not have enough buttons.但是对于这些新型的“智能”电器，我真正关心的是：即使我们喜欢这些功能，我们也无法使用它们。甚至现在电器已有的功能我们也不会使用。我有一部功能齐全的电话机，上面有43个键，但至少有20个功能健我是不敢碰的。这部电话或许可以与死人交流，我却不知如何使用。这就如同我不知道怎样操纵我的电视一样，它需要3个遥控器。其中一个遥控器（有44个功能键）与电视机相连，另一个（有39个功能键）与录像机配套；再一个（有37个功能键）是有线电视管理员带来的，显然他觉得我的遥控器的功能键还不够多。

So when I want to watch TV, I’m confronted with a total of 120 buttons, identified by such helpful labels as PIP , MTS, DBS, FZ, JUMP and BLANK. There are three buttons labeled POWER, but there are times-especially if my son and his friends, who are not afraid of features, have changed the settings-when I honestly cannot figure out how to turn the TV on. I stand there, holding three remote controls, pressing buttons at random, until eventually I give up and go turn on the dishwasher. It has been, literally, years since I have successfully recorded a TV show. That is how “smart”my appliances have become.所以当我想看电视时，我面对的是120个功能键。通过诸多PIP、MTS、DBS、FZ、JUMP、BLANK等有用的标签来识别它们的功能。其中3个功能键的标签都是POWER。但有些时候尤其是如果我儿子和他的朋友们——他们都不害怕破坏原有的功能——改变了设置，我真不知道该如何打开电视机。我站在那儿，手中握着3个遥控器胡乱地按着，直到最终放弃转而去开洗碗机。毫不夸张地说，我花了几年的工夫才学会了录制电视节目。我的电器就“智能”到了这种程度。

And now the appliance manfacturers want to give us even more features.Do you know what this means? It means that some night you’ll open the door of your “smart” refrigerator, looking for a beer, and you’ll hear a pleasant, cheerful voice-recorded by the same woman who informs you that Your Call Is Important when you call a business that does not wish to speak with you persinally-telling you: Your celery is Limp.” You will not know who else your refrigerator knows this, and, what is worse, you will not know how your refrigerator is telling about it ( Hey, Bob! I hear your celery is limp!” ). And, if you want to try to make the refrigerator stop, you’ll have to decipher Owner’s Manual instructions written by and for nuclear physicists (“To disable the Produce Crispness Monitoring feature, enter the Command Mode, then elect the Edit function, then select Change Vegetable Defaults, then assume that Train A leaves Chicago traveling westbound at 47 mph, while Train B ..”现在电器制造商们想给我们提供更多电器功能。你知道这意味着什么吗？这意味着某天晚上你打开你那“智能”的电冰箱寻找一瓶啤酒时，你会听到甜美而讨人喜欢的声音，“您的芹菜发蔫了”。当你致电一个商家，而对方又不想和你直接交谈时，你会听到一个相同的录音女声告诉你：“这个电话很重要”。你不知道电冰箱是如何知道这些的。更糟糕的是，你不知道电冰箱把这句话告诉了别的什么人。（“嘿：鲍勃！听说你的芹菜发蔫了！”）如果你想让你的冰箱停下来，你不得不被破译由核物理学家编写的用户使用手册指南。（“取消产品保鲜监控功能：进入命令模式，然后选择编辑功能，再选择变化蔬菜默认值，然后假设火车A从芝加哥以47英里/小时的速度向西行驶，火车B ”）。

Is this the kind of future you want, consumers? Do you want appliances that are smarter than you? Your appliances should be dumber than you, just like your furniture, your pets and your represetatives in Congress. So Iam urging you to let the appliance industry know, by phone, letter, fax and e-mail, that when it comes to “smart”appliances, you vote NO.You need to act quickly. Because while you’re reading this, your microwave oven is voting YES.消费者们：这就是你们所期望的未来吗？你希望电器比你还聪明？当然不是。家用电器应该比你笨，就像你的家具、宠物和国会众议员一样。所以我敦促你们通过电话、信件、传真或电子邮件的方式让电器制造厂商知道：当论及“智能电器”时你们会投反对票。必须尽快行动。因为在你读这篇文章时，你的微波炉正在投赞成票。

研究生英语

六、The Right to Fail

1、I like “dropout”as an addition to the American language because it’s brief and it’s clear. What I don’t like is that we use it almost entirely as a dirty word.我喜欢“中途退出者”这个加入美语的词汇，因为它简洁明了。我所不喜欢的是我们几乎完全把它作为一个禁忌词语使用。

2、We only apply it to people under twenty-one. Yet an adult who spends his days and nights watching mindless TV programs is more of a dropout than an eighteen-year-old who quits college, with its frequently mindless courses, to become, say, a VISTA’ valunteer. For the young, dropping out its often a way of dropping in.我们只把它用在21岁以下的人身上。与一个中途离开大学、避开那些毫无思想内容的课程，志愿参加为美国服务志愿队（VISTA）的18岁青年相比，一个整天整夜看不需要动脑筋的电视节目的成年人更是半途而废的人。而对于年轻人来说这是以退为进。

3、To hold this opinion, however is little short of treason in America. A boy or girl who leaves college is branded a failure-and the right to fail is one of the few freedoms that this country does not grant its citizens. The American dream is a dream of “getting ahead,” painted in strokes of gold wherever we look. Our advertisements and TV commercials are a hymn to material success, our magazine articles a toast to people who made it to the top. Smoke the right cigarette or drive the right car-so the ads imply-and the girls will be swooning into your deodorized arms or caressing your expensive lapels …… 此处隐藏：4901字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……