【www.jianqiaoenglish.com--英语六级阅读理解】
2006年12月
一、
In a purely biological sense, fear begins with the body"s system for reacting to things that can harm us -- the so-called fight-or-flight response. "
从纯生物角度来说，恐惧始于人体系统对会伤害我们的事情的反应----即所谓的“战斗或逃脱”反应。
An animal that can"t detect danger can"t stay alive," says Joseph LeDoux. Like animals, humans evolved with an elaborate mechanism for about potential threats.
“不能觉察到危险的动物无法生存”Jeseph LeDoux。像动物一样，人类进化过程中形成了一个精巧的机制，以处理潜在威胁的信息。
At its core is a cluster of neurons (神经元) deep in the brain known as the amygdala (扁桃核).
该机制的核心是大脑内部的一束被称为扁桃核的神经元。
LeDoux studies the way animals and humans respond to threats to understand how we form memories of significant events in our lives.
Ledoux研究了动物和人类对危险的反应方式，以理解我们对于生活中重要事件是如何形成记忆的。
The amygdala receives input from many parts of the brain, including regions responsible for retrieving memories.
扁桃核从大脑的很多部位中接受输入的信息，包括负责回收记忆的部位。
Using this information, the amygdala appraises a situation - I think this charging dog wants to bite me - and triggers a response by radiating nerve signals throughout the body.
使用该信息，扁桃核对情景进行分析---我觉得这只充满攻击性的狗想咬我---进而通过体内神经信号的辐射启动效应。
These signals produce the familiar signs of distress: trembling, perspiration and fast-moving feet, just to name three.
这些信号产生与危险相似的信号：颤抖、流汗和快步逃跑，这仅是其中的三种反应。
This fear mechanism is critical to the survival of all animals, but no one can say for sure whether beasts other than humans know they"re afraid.
恐惧机制对所有动物的生存都是至关重要的，但是没有人敢肯定地说除了人以外，动物是否感受到了恐惧。
That is, as LeDoux says, "if you put that system into a brain that has consciousness, then you get the feeling of fear."
正如Ledoux所言：“如果你把该机制放进一个有知觉的大脑中，你就会有恐惧的感觉”
Humans, says Edward M. Hallowell, have the ability to call up images of bad things that happened in the past and to anticipate future events.
Edward M.Hallowell说人类拥有回忆过去发生的不好事情的图像和预测未来的能力。
Combine these higher thought processes with our hardwired danger-detection systems, and you get a near-universal human phenomenon: worry.
把这些高级思维过程与我们固有的危险探测系统结合在一起，你将会获得一个几乎是人类所共有的现象：担忧。
That"s not necessarily a bad thing, says Hallowell, "When used properly, worry is an incredible device," he says.
Hallowell说，这未必是件坏事。“如果使用恰当，担忧式中难以置信的设计”他说。
After all, a little healthy worrying is okay if it leads to constructive action -- like having a doctor look at that weird spot on your back.
毕竟，稍许健康的担忧是未尝不可的，如果担忧可以带来建设性的行为----如让医生检查一下你背上奇怪的斑点。
Hallowell insists, though, that there"s a right way to worry.
但是Hallowell坚持认为，担忧存在着一种正确的模式。
"Never do it alone, get the facts and then make a plan," he says.
“永远不要只是担忧，要获取事实，然后指定计划”他说。
Most of us have survived a recession, so we"re familiar with the belt-tightening strategies needed to survive a slump.
我们中的大多数都有从衰退中熬过来的精力，所以我们都熟知度过低潮所需要的节约政策。
Unfortunately, few of us have much experience dealing with the threat of terrorism, so it"s been difficult to get facts about how we should respond.
不幸的是，我们中仅有少数人有处理恐怖主义危险的经验，所以要获取我们应该如何应对的信息变得十分困难。
That"s why Hallowell believes it was okay for people to indulge some extreme worries last fall by asking doctors for Cipro (抗炭疽菌的药物) and buying gas masks.这就是为什么Hallowell认为在去年秋天的时候，人们向医生获取抗炭疽菌的药物和购买防毒面具并由此深陷于某种极度担忧中的行为是可以理解的。
二、
Amitai Etzioni is not surprised by the latest headings about scheming corporate crooks (骗子).
Amitai Etzioni并没有对最新的关于行骗团伙的阴谋的报纸标题感到惊奇。
As a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School in 1989, he ended his work there disgusted with his students’ overwhelming lost for money.
作为1989年哈佛大学商学院的访问学者，他在结束工作时对于他的学生对金钱的绝大欲望感到厌恶。
“They’re taught that profit is all that matters,” he says. “Many schools don’t even offer ethics (伦理学) courses at all.”
“他们被教育金钱就是一切。他说,“很对学校甚至不提供任何伦理学的课程。”
Etzioni expressed his frustration about the interests of his graduate students.
Etzioni说他对他的研究生们的兴趣所在感到沮丧。
“By and large, I clearly had not found a way to help classes full of MBAs see that there is more to life than money, power, fame and self-interest.”
He wrote at the time. Today he still takes the blame for not educating these “business-leaders-to-be.” “I really like I failed them,” he says. “If I was a better teacher maybe I could have reached them.”“很长时间，很明显我找不到一个方法让一个MBA班的学员认识生活不但是金钱，全力，名声和私立”他那时候写道。现在她仍然自责当初没有好好教导这群“未来的商业领袖”“我真的觉得我让他们失望了”他说：“如果我当初是个更好的老师，或许就能够影响他们”
Etzioni was a respected ethics expert when he arrived at Harvard.
初到哈佛的时候，Etzioni是一位受人尊敬的伦理学专家。
He hoped his work at the university would give him insight into how questions of morality could be applied to places where self-interest flourished.
他希望他在哈佛的工作可以帮他弄明白如何让道德问题应用于充满私立的地方。
What he found wasn’t encouraging.
他的研究结果很难让人兴奋。
Those would be executives had, says Etzioni, little interest in concepts of ethics and morality in the boardroom—and their professor was met with blank stares when he urged his students to see business in new and different ways.
Etzioni说，那些未来的经理们对于董事会里的伦理和道德概念没有什么兴趣------当他尝试促使他的学生用一种新的，不同的方式看待商业的时候，教授看到的是空洞的眼神。
Etzioni sees the experience at Harvard as an eye-opening one and says there’s much about business schools that he’d like to change.
Etzioni把在哈佛的经历看作开了一次眼界，并称他觉得商学院需要作出很多改变。
“A lot of the faculty teaching business are bad news themselves,” Etzioni says. From offering classes that teach students how to legally manipulate contracts, to reinforcing the notion of profit over community interests, Etzioni has seen a lot that’s left him shaking his head.
“很多教商业的教职人员本身就是坏消息”Etzioni说。从提供教授学生如何合法操作合同，到强化利润高于公众利益的观念。Etzioni看到了很多让他摇头叹息的事情。
And because of what he’s seen taught in business schools, he’s not surprised by the latest rash of corporate scandals.
由于他目睹了商学院所教授的内容，所以在看到公司一连串最新的丑闻时，他一点也不觉得奇怪。
“In many ways things have got a lot worse at business schools, I suspect,” says Etzioni.
“从很多方面来说，我怀疑商学院里的情形变的更糟了”Etzioni说。
Etzioni is still teaching the sociology of right and wrong and still calling for ethical business leadership.
Etzioni仍然在教授关于是与非的社会学，仍然在奔走号召复合伦理的商业领导学。
“People with poor motives will always exist.” He says. “Sometimes environments constrain those people and sometimes environments give those people opportunity.”
“怀有不良动机的人总会存在”他说。“有时候环境限制了那些人，有时候环境给那些人创造了生命”
Etzioni says the booming economy of the last decade enabled those individuals with poor motives to get rich before getting in trouble.
Etzioni说，最近十年经济的高速发展让那些心怀不轨的人在遇上麻烦之前发了财。
His hope now: that the cries for reform will provide more fertile soil for his long-standing messages about business ethics.
他现在希望：对改革的呼吁会让他一直提出的商业伦理的信息可以得到肥沃的土壤。
2007年6月
一、
Google is a world-famous company, with its headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Google(谷歌）是一家享誉世界的公司，其总部位于加州山景区。
It was set up in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998, and inflated (膨胀) with the Internet bubble.
1998年始建于硅谷的一间车房里，随着互联网泡沫的膨胀发展。
Even when everything around it collapsed the company kept on inflating.
即使当与互联网相关的一切开始破裂的时候，它仍然飞速发展。
Google’s search engine is so widespread across the world that search became Google, and google became a verb.
Google的搜索引擎在全球范围内流传，以至于Google成了搜索的代名词，而google也成为一个动词。
The world fell in love with the effective, fascinatingly fast technology.
世界爱上了这项迷人而快捷的技术。
Google owes much of its success to the brilliance of S. Brin and L. Page, but also to a series of fortunate events.
Google的成功很大程度上归功于S.Brin和L.Page的才华，但同时也是一连串幸运事件的结果。
It was Page who, at Stanford in 1996, initiated the academic project that eventually became Google’s search engine.
1996年，Page在斯坦福大学作一个学术项目，最终成为google的搜索引擎。
Brin, who had met Page at a student orientation a year earlier, joined the project early on.
Brin在之前的一年的新生介绍会上认识了Page，随后加入了Google搜索引擎的项目。
They were both Ph.D. candidates when they devised the search engine which was better than the rest and, without any marketing, spread by word of mouth from early adopters to, eventually, your grandmother.
当时他们都是博士研究生，但他们设计的搜索引擎要优于其他的，而且没有做任何市场推广，仅靠交口相传，就从最初的使用者最终传到了你祖母的耳中。
Their breakthrough, simply put, was that when their search engine crawled the Web, it did more than just look for word matches, it also tallied (统计) and ranked a host of other critical factors like how websites link to one another.
简单来说，他们的突破发生在搜索引擎在网络上慢慢传播的时候，引擎提供的不仅仅是找寻匹配的词语，还可以根据一些关键指标如网页如何相连对主页进行统计和排序。
That delivered far better results than anything else.
引擎得到的结果比其他的都好。
Brin and Page meant to name their creation Googol (the mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes), but someone misspelled the word so it stuck as Google.
Brin和Page用googol(数学术语，指前面有100个零的数字）命名他们的作品，但是有人把这个单词错拼成了Google。
They raised money from prescient (有先见之明的) professors and venture capitalists, and moved off campus to turn Google into business.
他们从有先见之明的教授和风险投资者那里筹集资金，让google从校园走向商业化。
Perhaps their biggest stroke of luck came early on when they tried to sell their technology to other search engines, but no one met their price, and they built it up on their own.
或许他们最大的运气是在早期，那是他们尝试出售自己的技术给其他引擎公司，但没有人能够满足他们的价位，于是他们决定自己创业。
The next breakthrough came in 2000, when Google figured out how to make money with its invention.
第二次突破是在2000年，当时google提出如何利用发明盈利。
It had lots of users, but almost no one was paying.
Google有众多用户，但几乎没有人付费。
The solution turned out to be advertising, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that Google is now essentially an advertising company, given that that’s the source of nearly all its revenue.
最终的解决方法是做广告，毫不夸张的说，Gooogle现在实际上就是一家广告公司，因为几乎其所有的收入都是源于广告。
Today it is a giant advertising company, worth $100 billion
现在Google是一家巨型广告公司，其市值达到一千亿美元。
二、
You hear the refrain all the time: the U.S. economy looks good statistically, but it doesn’t feel good.
你一直重复听到：美国的经济从数据上看很不错，但实际上并不觉得很好。
Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness?
为什么不断增加的财富却没有促进不断提高的幸福程度呢？
It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Affluent(富裕的) Societyby John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.
这个问题最早要追溯到1958年《富足社会》一书的出现，其作者John Kenneth Galbraith最近去世了，享年97岁。
The Affluent Society is a modern classic because it helped define a new moment in the human condition.
《富足社会》是一本现代名著，因为书中定义了人类境况的一个新时期。
For most of history, “hunger, sickness, and cold” threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote.
在历史上的大多数时期，“饥寒交迫和疾病”几乎威胁了每一个人。Galbraith写道：
“Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.”
“贫穷出现在那个世界的任何角落。但这显然与我们无关”
After World War II, the dread of another Great Depression gave way to an economic boom. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.
“二战”后，对于新的一次大衰退的恐惧让位于一次经济繁荣。在二十世纪三十年代，失业率高达18.2%，而在二十世纪五十年代，失业率为4.5%。
To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and would breed discontent.
对于Galbraith而言，物质主义已经疯狂，并且会滋生不满。
Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need.
公司通过广告让消费者购买他们不需要或者不想要的东西。
Because so much spending was artificial, it would be unfulfilling.
如此多的花费是虚假的，所以肯定会有不满
Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people instinctively—and wrongly—labeled government only as “a necessary evil.”
同时，能让每个人生活得更好的政府开销却减少了，因为人们本能地、错误地为政府贴上了“必要的恶魔”的标签。
It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else is standing still or falling behind.
人们常说只有富人在前行，其他人都停留在原地或者落在后面。
Well, there are many undeserving rich—overpaid chief executives, for instance.
例如，是有很多人不应富有的人
But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing.
工资过高的首席执行官。但是在经历了很多重要时期之后，大多数人的收入在上升。
From 1995 to 2004, inflation-adjusted average family income rose 14.3 percent, to $43,200.
从1995年到2004年，针对通货膨胀进行调整的普通家庭收入上升了14.3%，达到了43，200美元。
People feel “squeezed” because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants—for bigger homes, more health care, more education, faster Internet connections.
人们觉得“被压榨”，是因为他们增加的收入不能满足他们上升的欲望----更大的房子，更多医疗保健，更多教育，更快的网络连接。
The other great frustration is that it has not eliminated insecurity.
另外一大沮丧是不安全感并没有被消除。
People regard job stability as part of their standard of living.
人们把工作的稳定性看成生活标准的一部分。
As corporate layoffs increased, that part has eroded.
随着公司裁员的增加了，这部分被腐蚀了。
More workers fear they’ve become “the disposable American,” as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
更过的员工害怕自己会成为“被处理的美国人”，这一说法来自于LouisUchtelle的同名著作。
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict stemmed from poverty, the arrival of widespread affluence suggested utopian (乌托邦式的) possibilities.
因为前面提到的痛苦和社会冲突都来源于贫穷，大范围富裕的来临暗示了乌托邦式的可能。
Up to a point, affluence succeeds. There is much les physical misery than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, affluence also creates new complaints and contradictions.
从某种意义来说，富裕成功了。比起以前，身体上的痛苦大大减少。人们比以前更富于了。不幸的是，富足同样创造了新的抱怨和矛盾。
Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens.
现金的社会需要经济增长，以满足市民日益多样化的需要。
But the quest for growth lets loose new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order.
但是对增长的追求却产生了新的焦虑和经济冲突，扰乱了社会秩序。
Affluence liberates the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-fulfillment.
富裕解放了个人，承诺每个人可以选择独特方式来达成自己的愿望。
But the promise is so extravagant that it predestines many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown and obesity (肥胖症).
但是承诺是如此的奢侈，以至于注定会有失望，有时还会引起带来反社会的选择，包括家庭破裂和肥胖症。
Statistical indicators of happiness have not risen with incomes.
数据表明，幸福并没有随着收入的增长而增长。
Should we be surprised? Not really. We’ve simply reaffirmed an old truth: the pursuit of affluence does not always end with happiness.
我们是不是应该感到惊讶？不必。我们仅是重新印证了一句老话：对富裕的追求并不会总是以幸福为结局。
2007年12月
一、
Like most people, I’ve long understood that I will be judged by my occupation, that my profession is a gauge people use to see how smart or talented I am.
像大多数人一样，我早就知道我的职业将左右别人对我的判断，我的工作室人们可以用来衡量我的聪明和材质的标准。
Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.
但是最近，我非常失望地发现工作也决定了别人怎样对待我。
Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables.
去年我辞去了小镇记者的工作，该做了一名侍者。
As someone paid to serve food to people. I had customers say and do things to me I suspect they’d never say or do to their most casual acquaintances.
在这份为人们提供食物的工作中，我遇到的一些顾客对我说了一些话、做了一些事情，这些话和是我认为他们从来不会向哪怕是他们最熟悉的人去说或做的。
One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then beckoned (示意) me back with his finger a minute later, complaining he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.
有一天晚上，一个正在打电话的男人先是打手势把我赶走，一分钟后又用他的手指示我回来，对我抱怨说他正在准备点菜，问我究竟去了哪里。I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon(勤杂工) by plenty of people.
上大学期间，在暑假我就做过侍者，但是就被很多人当勤杂工。
But at 19 years old. I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults.
但是那时19岁的我认为那些职场中的成年人对我差一点也理所当然。
Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college.
此外，当我告诉他们我在读大学时，我得到的对待又有所不同。
Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.
顾客们开玩笑说，总有一天我会坐在他们的位置上，等候服务。Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper.
毕业之后我在社区的报社找到一份工作。
From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked-cordially.
从工作的第一天开始，其他人就用充满敬意的语气称呼我。我以为这就是职场的方式--亲切。I soon found out differently, I sat several feet away from an advertising sales representative with a similar name.
我很快发现并不是这样。我坐的位置和我的名字相似的广告部销售代表只有几英尺远。
Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie.
我们的电话经常会被弄混，有人要找克里斯滕会被转到克里斯蒂这里来。
The mistake was immediately evident.
这是明显的错误。
Perhaps it was because money was involved, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.
或许是包含了金钱的因素，但是人们对克里斯滕的语气是从来不会用在我身上的。My job title made people treat me with courtesy.
我的共组头衔让很多人礼貌地对待我。
So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry.
所以回到饭店行业之后我真的很受打击。It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips.
当侍者忍受很多，这早已不是什么秘密。但幸运的是，当收到小费的时候，大部分的不快都可以轻易忘掉。
The service industry, by definition, exists to cater to others’ needs.
服务业的定义就是满足他人的需要。
Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.
但是，我的很多顾客四壶分辨不清侍者和侍从的区别。I’m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want.
我现在在申请研究生，这就意味着将来有一天我会回到那种职位，那时别人为乐得到他们想要的东西就必须对我礼貌一点。
I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose only job is to serve them.我想我会把他们带去吃顿饭，看一下他们是怎么对待那些专职为他们服务的人的。
二、
What’s hot for 2007 among the very rich? A S7.3 million diamond ring. A trip to Tanzania to hunt wild animals. Oh. and income inequality.
2007年，对于富豪来说什么事最热门的？价值730万美元的钻戒。去坦桑尼亚狩猎。噢，还有收入不均衡。Sure, some leftish billionaires like George Soros have been railing against income inequality for years.
当然左翼百万符文乔治-索罗斯多年以来一直反对收入不均衡。
But increasingly, centrist and right-wing billionaires are starting to worry about income inequality and the fate of the middle class.
但是越来越多的中间派和右翼亿万富翁都开始担心收入不均衡和中产阶级的命运了。In December. Mortimer Zuckerman wrote a column in U.S News & World Report, which he owns.
在12月，莫蒂默-朱克曼在他旗下的《美国新闻和世界报道》上写上了一篇专栏文章。
“Our nation’s core bargain with the middle class is disintegrating,” lamented (哀叹) the 117th-richest man in America. “Most of our economic gains have gone to people at the very top of the income ladder.
“我们国家的中产阶级的核心竞争力正在瓦解，”这位在美国排名第117位的富豪这样哀叹。“我们大部分的经济效益都归于收入阶梯最上层的人了。
Average income for a household of people of working age, by contrast, has fallen five years in a row.” He noted that “Tens of millions of Americans live in fear that a major health problem can reduce them to bankruptcy.”
相比之下，工薪阶层的平均收入却连续五年下降。”他注意到“数以千万计的美国人害怕一个重要的健康问题就会导致他们破产。”
Wilbur Ross Jr. has echoed Zuckerman’s anger over the bitter struggles faced by middle-classAmericans.
小威尔伯-罗斯回应了朱克曼杜宇美国中产阶级的痛苦挣扎感到的愤怒。
“It’s an outrage that any American’s life expectancy should be shortened simply because the company they worked for went bankrupt and ended health-care coverage,” said the former chairman of the International Steel Group.
“这应该让我们愤怒，所有美国人的平均寿命都被缩短了，仅仅是因为他们所供职的公司破产了，健康保险被终止了”这位国际钢铁集团的前任主席说。What’s happening? The very rich are just as trendy as you and I, and can be so when it comes to politics and policy.
发生了什么？巨富们当谈到政治和政策的时候就像你我一样适应潮流。
Given the recent change of control in Congress, popularity of measures like increasing the minimum wage, and efforts by California’ governor to offer universal health care, these guys don’t need their own personal weathermen to know which way the wind blows.
只要看一下国会最近的全力变更，像提高最低工资等政策的受欢迎程度，以及加州州长所致力于的全民保健项目，这些人不需要私人天气预报员就可以知道风向如何了”
It’s possible that plutocrats(有钱有势的人) are expressing solidarity with the struggling middle class as part of an effort to insulate themselves from confiscatory (没收性的) tax policies.
这群有钱有势的人可能是通过表达对中产阶级的挣扎的同情，进而逃避没收性税务政策。
But the prospect that income inequality will lead to higher taxes on the wealthy doesn’t keep plutocrats up at night. They can live with that.
但是收入不均衡会导致对富人征收更多税款的期望并不会让有钱有势的人晚上难以入眠。他们承受得了。No, what they fear was that the political challenges of sustaining support for global economic integration will be more difficult in the United States because of what has happened to the distribution of income and economic insecurity.
不，他们真正害怕的是由于在收入分配和经济安全方面出现的问题，美国持续支持全球经济一体化所带来的政治挑战。In other words, if middle-class Americans continue to struggle financially as the ultrawealthy grow ever wealthier, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain political support for the free flow of goods, services, and capital across borders.
换句话说，如果美国的中产阶级持续在财政上陷入困境，同时巨富们变得越来越富有，那么要获得政治上持续支持产品、服务和资金的跨国性自由流动将会日益困难。
And when the United States places obstacles in the way of foreign investors and foreign goods, it’s likely to encourage reciprocal action abroad.
当美国对其他国家的投资者和商品设置障碍时，也在刺激其他国家采取相应的措施。
For people who buy and sell companies, or who allocate capital to markets all around the world, that’s the real nightmare.对于在全球买卖公司或调动资金的人来说，这才是真正的噩梦。
2008年6月
一、
Imagine waking up and finding the value of your assets has been halved.
想象你一觉醒来，发现自己的资产减半。
No, you’re not an investor in one of those hedge funds that failed completely.
不，你并不是其中一支彻底失败的基金的投资者。
With the dollar slumping to a 26-year low against the pound, already-expensive London has become quite unaffordable.
随着美元兑英镑跌至26年来的最低值，物价本就偏高的伦敦变得更让人难以承受。
A coffee at Starbucks, just as unavoidable in England as it is in the United States, runs about $8.
一杯星巴克的咖啡在英国不得不买到8美元，同在美国如出一辙。
The once all-powerful dollar isn’t doing a Titanic against just the pound.
无所不能的美元在兑换英镑时，不再是庞然大物。
It is sitting at a record low against the euro and at a 30-year low against the Canadian dollar.
美元兑欧元的汇率创下新低，并在与加元的汇兑中处于30年来的最低值。
Even the Argentine peso and Brazilian real are thriving against the dollar.
就连阿根廷闭锁和巴西雷亚尔都比美元有活力。
The weak dollar is a source of humiliation, for a nation’s self-esteem rests in part on the strength of its currency.
疲软的美元带来了屈辱，因为一个国家的尊严部分来源于本国货币的强度。
It’s also a potential economic problem, since a declining dollar makes imported food more expensive and exerts upward pressure on interest rates.
这也是一个潜在的经济问题，因为编制的美元使得进口食品价格上扬，并施加加息的压力。
And yet there are substantial sectors of the vast U.S. economy-from giant companies like Coca-Cola to mom-and-pop restaurant operators in Miami-for which the weak dollar is most excellent news.
但对于庞大美国经济体中大量的产业部门-----从可口可乐这样的大公司到迈阿密的夫妻餐厅经营者----美元疲软的消息对他们来说可是再好不过了。
Many Europeans may view the U.S. as an arrogant superpower that has become hostile to foreigners.
一些欧洲人视美国为一个傲慢的超级大国，并且认为美国对外国人怀有敌意。
But nothing makes people think more warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar.
但当人们想起美国时，没有什么比疲软的美元更带劲的了。
Through April, the total number of visitors from abroadwas up 6.8 percent from last year. Should the trend continue, the number of tourists this year will finally top the 2000 peak.
整个4月的游客总数比去年同期增加了6.8%，如果这种趋势延续下去，今天游客的人数将最终比2000年的峰值还多。
Many Europeans now apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans view Mexico-as a cheap place to vacation, shop and party, all while ignoring the fact that the poorer locals can’t afford to join the merrymaking.
一些欧洲人现在看待美国的方式恰似美国人看待墨西哥一样-----一个廉价的度假、购物和举行派对的场所，他们都忽略了那些更贫穷的本土居民不能承担这种寻欢作乐的费用。
The money tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade deficit. So do exports, which thanks in part to the weak dollar, soared 11 percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first five months of 2007, the trade deficit actually fell 7 percent from 2006.
游客的消费帮助减缓了我们长期以来的贸易赤字。出口也是如此，部分由于疲软的美国，2006年5月----2007年5月的出口额飙升了11%。与2006年相比，2007年前5个月的贸易赤字居然下降了7%。
If you own shares in large American corporations, you’re a winner in the weak-dollar gamble.
如果你持有美国大公司的股票，那么你会是疲软美元投机中的赢家。
Last week Coca-Cola’s stick bubbled to a five-year high after it reported a fantastic quarter.
上周可口可乐发布了令人振奋的一季数据后，其股价攀升至五年来的新高。
Foreign sales accounted for 65 percent of Coke’s beverage business.
Other American companies profiting from this trend include McDonald’s and IBM.
海外销售占据可口可乐65%的饮料业务。
其他美国企业，包括麦当劳和IBM在这种趋势下也赢得了利润。
American tourists, however, shouldn’t expect any relief soon.
然而，美国游客不应该期望任何迅速的改善。
The dollar lost strength the way many marriaqe:break up- slowly, and then all at once.
美元疲软的过程就如同婚姻破裂的过程----都是缓慢的，然后才是快速的。
And currencies don’t turn on a dime.
货币不会立即升值。
So if you want to avoid the pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic dollar, cancel that summer vacation to England and look to New England.
因此如果你想避免不断惨淡的美元带来的痛苦，那就取消去英格兰的暑期度假计划，该去新英格兰州吧。
There, the dollar is still treated with a little respect.
在那儿，美元还是有点尊严的。
二、
In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fights.
在大学入学的战役中，我们这些家长都是真正的战士。
We are pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice.
我们督促自己的孩子取得更好的成绩，参加权门学科评鉴考试（SAT）预备课程和填写简历，以便他们能进入第一志愿的大学。
I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening.
我已参加过两次这场战役，我在这战场上存活了下来，不同的情况总是在发生。
We see our kids’ college background as e prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them.
我们把自己孩子的大学牌子是视为我们培养他们好坏程度的奖赏。
But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession(痴迷) is more about us than them.
但我们不能理解的是我们的痴迷是为了自己还是孩子。
So we’ve contrived various justifications that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths.
所以我们发明了很多自认为有理的辩护，这些辩护成了半真半假的陈词、偏见和荒诞的说法。
It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.
事实上，阿伦和尼克尔是否进入斯坦福大学并不是真的那么重要。We have a full-blown prestige panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around.
我们有着充足的威望恐慌症；我们担心未来没有足够的荣誉去炫耀。
Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever.
满怀担忧的父母督促他们的孩子申请比以往多得多的学校。
Underlying the hysteria(歇斯底里) is the belief that scarce elite degrees must be highly valuable.
这歇斯底里的关键是他们相信少数精英学位肯定有着更高的价值。
Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts.
他们毕业后肯定能获得更多的成功，因为他们受到更优质的教育，发展了更优良的交际圈。
All that is plausible——and mostly wrong. We haven’t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters.
这些说法都似是而非-----而大多数是错误的。我们还没有找到任何可信证据表明选择或威望的重要性。
Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools.
重点学校不会比非重点学校系统地使用更好地教育方法。
On two measures——professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams——selective schools do slightly worse.
在以下两方面----教授的反馈和写作考试的数量----重点学校做得稍差。By some studies, selective schools do enhance their graduates’ lifetime earnings.
一些研究表明，重点学校的确增加了其毕业生的终生收入。
The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-poinnt increase in a school’s average SAT scores.
一所学校的平均SAT分数增加100分，这一财产就会增加2%--4%.
But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然).
但这种优势也可能只是统计学上的偶然。
A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere.
一项著名的研究考察了进入重点学校的学生和他们毕业后的去向。
They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
他们的收入和高级学校的学生一样。
Kids count more than their colleges.
孩子自身的作用远远高于学校的作用。
Getting into yale may signify intellgence,talent and ambition.
进入耶鲁大学标志着聪明过人、才华横溢和雄心勃勃。
But it’s not the only indicator and,paradoxically,its significance is declining.
但这并非是唯一的标志，而且讽刺的是，这种标志性正在逐渐淡化。
The reason:so many similar people go elsewhere.Getting into college is not life only competiton.
原因是大量有同样才气的人到别的地方去了。进入大学并非人生唯一的竞赛。
Old-boy networks are breaking down.princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D.program.High scores on the GRE helpd explain who got in;degrees of prestigious universities didn’t.
在另一项竞赛中----职场和研究所----结果可能会改变。校友关系开始瓦解。普林斯顿经济学家艾伦昆格研究了一项顶尖博士项目的录取工作。美国研究生入学考试（GRE）的高分有助于解释谁能入选；而学校的名气则不能。So,parents,lighten up.the stakes have been vastly exaggerated.up to a point,we can rationalize our pushiness.
因此，家长们，清醒一下。事实已被嫉妒夸大。
America is a competitive society;our kids need to adjust to that.but too much pushiness can be destructive.
在某一方面，我们可以解释这种狂热。美国是个竞争性的社会；我们的孩子需要为其而调整。但太多的一意孤行是毁灭性的。
The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment.
我们在孩子身上寄托的野心可能引领着部分孩子进入哈佛大学，但也可能使他们失望。
One study found that,other things being equal,graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction.
一项研究发现，从重点学校毕业不易获得工作上的满足感。他们对自己的要求过高。
They may have been so conditioned to deing on top that anything less disappoints.一旦达不到这种高要求，就会感到失望。
2008年12月
一、
Sustainable development is applied to just about everything from energy to clean water and economic growth, and as a result it has become difficult to question either the basic assumptions behind it or the way the concept is put to use.
可持续发展适用于诸如能源，净水，经济增长等几乎所有的方面，因此，要对可持续发展的基本假设或其概念的实施方法提出质疑也变得日益困难。
This is especially true in agriculture, where sustainable development is often taken as the sole measure of progress without a proper appreciation of historical and cultural perspectives.
这在农业方面尤其显著，可持续发展经常被认为是农业进步的唯一标准，而这并没有从历史和文化的角度进行适当的评估。
To start with, it is important to remember that the nature of agriculture has changed markedly throughout history, and will continue to do so .medieval agriculture in northern Europe fed, clothed and sheltered a predominantly rural society with a much lower population density than it is today.
首先，重要的是认识到农业的本质随着历史的发展已经发生了显著的变化，并且这种变化仍将持续。中世纪北欧的农业为以农业为主导的社会提供了衣食和住所，而当时的人口密度远低于现在。
It had minimal effect on biodiversity, and any pollution it caused was typically localized.
那是的农业对生物多样性的影响有限，产生的任何污染通常都是地方性的。
In terms of energy use and the nutrients（营养成分）captured in the product it was relatively inefficient.
当时的农业在能源利用以及农产品的营养成分方面是相对低效的。
Contrast this with farming since the start of the industrial revolution.
对比一下工业革命开始以后出现的农场化。
Competition from overseas led farmers to specialize and increase yields.
来自国外的竞争促使农民专业化并且提高产量。
Throughout this period food became cheaper, safe and more reliable.
在这个时期，食品价格下降，安全性和可靠性都有所提高。
However, these changes have also led to habitat（栖息地）loss and to diminishing biodiversity.
但是，这些变化也是导致了栖息地的流失和生物多样性的减少。
What’s more, demand for animal products in developing countries is growing so fast that meeting it will require an extra 300 million tons of grain a year by 2050.yet the growth of cities and industry is reducing the amount of water available for agriculture in many regions.
此外，发展中国家队畜产品的需求增长如此迅速，以至于在2050年之前每年需要额外收货3亿吨谷物才能满足该需求。但是城市和工业的发展导致在很多地区农业可利用的水资源越来越少。
All this means that agriculture in the 21stcentury will have to be very different from how it was in the 20th.
所有这些都意味着21世纪的农业将非常不同于20世纪的农业。
This will require radical thinking.
这需要激进的思考方式。
For example, we need to move away from the idea that traditional practices are inevitably more sustainable than new ones.
例如，我们需要摒弃传统生产比新型生产注定更有利于可持续发展的方法，而这些方法的核心在于需要在保持生产的同时避免产生更多的破坏。
We also need to abandon the notion that agriculture can be “zero impact”.
我们同样需要抛弃农业可以“零污染”的观念。
The key will be to abandon the rather simple and static measures of sustainability, which centre on the need to maintain production without increasing damage.
关键在于放弃相对简单和静态的衡量可持续发展性的方法，而这些方法的核心在于需要在保持生产的同时避免产生更多的破坏。
Instead we need a more dynamic interpretation, one that looks at the pros and cons（正反两方面）of all the various way land is used.
取而代之的是更加动态的解释，可以兼顾到种种土地使用方式的正反两面。
There are many different ways to measure agricultural performance besides food yield: energy use, environmental costs, water purity, carbon footprint and biodiversity.
除了粮食产量以外，还有很多不同的方式可以衡量农业的效益；能源利用，环境成本，水源纯净程度，碳排放和生物多样性。
It is clear, for example, that the carbon of transporting tomatoes from Spain to the UK is less than that of producing them in the UK with additional heating and lighting.
例如，显然把番茄从西班牙运到英国的碳排放量要少于在英国用额外的供暖和照明设备种植番茄。
But we do not know whether lower carbon footprints will always be better for biodiversity.
但是我们不知道降低碳排放量是否总是对生物多样性是有益的。
What is crucial is recognizing that sustainable agriculture is not just about sustainable food production.
关键是要意识到农业可持续的发展并不仅仅是关于可持续的食物生产。
二、
The percentage of immigrants (including those unlawfully present) in the United States has been creeping upward for years.
美国移民的比例（包括非法移民）连续数年呈增长趋势.
At 12.6 percent, it is now higher than at any point since the mid 1920s.
现已达到12.6%，比20世纪20年代中期以来的任何时候都要高。
We are not about to go back to the days when Congress openly worried about inferior races polluting America’s bloodstream.
我们不是要回到国会公开表示担忧等民族污染美国血统的时代。
But once again we are wondering whether we have too many of the wrong sort of newcomers.
但是我们再一次想知道美国是否有太多不适合的新移民。
Their loudest critics argue that the new wave of immigrants cannot, and indeed do not want to, fit in as previous generations did.
其中声势最大的批评认为新的移民浪潮并不能像前面数代人一样真正融入，实际上他们也并不想这么做。
We now know that these racist views were wrong. In time, Italians, Romanians and members of other so-called inferior races became exemplary Americans and contributed greatly, in ways too numerous to detail, to the building of this magnificent nation.
现在我们知道这些种族主义的观点都是错的。曾经，意大利人、罗马尼亚人以及其他所谓的“低等民族”成为美国人的楷模，并且通过不胜枚举的方式为这个美妙国度的建设做出了伟大的贡献。
There is no reason why these new immigrants should not have the same success.
说这些新移民不能取得同样的成功毫无根据。
Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms of educational and professional attainment, than their parents, UCLA sociologist Edward Telles has found that the gains don’t continue.
尽管墨西哥移民的孩子在教育和职业成就领域比起他们的父母表现更佳，加州大学洛杉矶分校的社会学家爱德华-特列斯发现这种成就感并没有持续性。
Indeed, the fourth generation is marginally worse off than the third. James Jackson, of the University of Michigan, has found a similar trend among black Caribbean immigrants.
事实上，第四代要比第三代稍差一点。密歇根大学的詹姆斯-杰克逊在加勒比黑人移民中也发现了相似的趋势。
Telles fears that Mexican-Americans may be fated to follow in the footsteps of American blacks—that large parts of the community may become mired (陷入) in a seemingly permanent state of poverty and underachievement.
特列斯担心墨西哥裔美国人可能注定会步美国黑人的后尘---社区中的大部分人将陷入贫穷和毫无建树的状态。Like African-Americans, Mexican-Americans are increasingly relegated to (降入) segregated, substandard school, and their dropout rate is the highest for any ethnic group in the country.
像非裔美国人一样，墨西哥裔美国人日益降入实行种族隔离政策、低标准的学校，他们的退学率在整个国家的所有民族中是最高的。
We have learned much about the foolish idea of excluding people on the presumption of ethnic/racial inferiority.
我们已经认识到在民族、种族低劣的前提下去排斥他们是多么愚蠢。
But what we have not yet learned is how to make the process of Americanization work for all.
但是我们仍然不知道如何使美国化的过程适合所有的人。
I am not talking about requiring people to learn English or to adopt American ways; those things happen pretty much on their own.
我并不是说要求所有的人都学习英语或者采取美国的方式；这些事情自然而然就会发生。
But as arguments about immigration heat up the campaign trail, we also ought to ask some broader questions about assimilation, about how to ensure that people, once outsiders, don’t forever remain marginalized within these shores.
但是随着关于移民的争论使总统大选白热化，我们也应该提出关于融合，关于如何确保曾经的外来人口无需永远在国内边缘化等更广泛的问题。
That is a much larger question that what should happen with undocumented workers, or how best to secure the border, and it is one that affects not only newcomers but groups that have been here for generations.
这是比无证工人的遭遇或者如何包围边境安全更重要的问题。这个问题不仅影响了新移民，而且也影响到了已经在这里时代生活的群体。
It will have more impact on our future than where we decide to set the admissions bar for the latest wave of would-be Americans. And it would be nice if we finally got the answer right.
与现在我们队即将涌入的准美国人设定“准入点”相比，它将对我们的未来产生更大的影响。当然如果最终可以找到正确答案就太好了。
2009年6月
一、
For hundreds of millions of years, turtles (海龟) have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings (幼龟) down to the water’s edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead.
在数亿年前的时间里，海龟一直在挣扎着离开大海道海滩上产卵，时间远远遭遇自然纪录片的赞扬，或全球定位通讯卫星和海洋生物学家的追踪，又或者志愿者们用手把幼龟放在海边以避免它们受到光线的影响迷失方向，爬向汽车旅馆的停车场。
A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines.
由官方建造的大型围墙用于保护海龟在大西洋沿岸的主要筑巢地。
With all that attention paid to them, you’d think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct.
收到了各种各样的关注后，你可能会认为这些生物至少会心怀感激，不至于走向灭亡。But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds.
但是自然却无视人类的公平观念，由渔业和野生动物服务组织提供的用一份报告显示，北大西洋的数种海龟的种群数量出现了令人担忧的下降，特别是体重可达400磅的红海龟。
The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana.
来自环保组织的Ocean的海洋生物学家伊丽莎白格里芬称，数量最多的佛罗里达州南部穴居种群在过去十年里减少了50%。
The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from “threatened” to “endangered”—meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.
该数据促使Oceana组织向政府情愿，要求将北大西洋红海龟的保护级别从“受威胁”提升至“濒危”-----这意味着如果没有外界的帮助，它们将会面临灭绝的危险。Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway?
这就提出了一个明显的问题：这些海龟究竟还要我们做什么？
It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egg-laying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. “The threat is from commercial fishing,” says Griffin.
根据格里芬的说法，虽然海龟在陆上的数周时间内，我们可以很好地保护它们（包括产卵的母龟，卵和幼龟），但是我们忽略了它们在海里的漫长时光。“主要是来自商业捕捞的威胁”格里芬说。
Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and longline fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles.
拖网渔船（在水中和海床拖行大型的渔网）和延绳钓鱼船（在钓线上装备数以千记的鱼钩，可以延伸至数英里）给海龟造成了惨重的伤亡。Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems.
当然，就像所有当下的环保问题一样，这也是在全球变暖和人类干预自然生态系统的背景下发生的。
The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm.
海龟产卵的狭窄沙滩一方面收到开发的压榨，另一方面收到海洋变暖导致的海平面上升的威胁。
Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龙) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.最终我们还要解决这些问题，否则一种比恐龙活得更久的生物将会在人类手中灭绝，让我们的后代困惑于怎么这种丑陋的生物会赢得如此多的关爱。
二、
There are few more sobering online activities than entering data into college-tuition calculators and gasping as the Web spits back a six-figure sum.
在大学学费计算器里输入数据，然后对着网络吐出来的六位数倒抽一口气，很少有其他在线活动比这种活动更让人清醒了。
But economists say families about to go into debt to fund four years of partying, as well as studying, can console themselves with the knowledge that college is an investment that, unlike many bank stocks, should yield huge dividends.
但是经济学家们认为，打算举债资助四年聚会和学习的家庭可以这样安慰自己：大学是不同于很多银行股票的投资，它应该产生巨额的红利。A 2008 study by two Harvard economists notes that the “labor-market premium to skill”—or the amount college graduates earned that’s greater than what high-school graduate earned—decreased for much of the 20th century, but has come back with a vengeance (报复性地) since the 1980s.
两位哈佛经济学家在2008年进行的一项研究发现“劳动力市场对及恩那个的溢价现象”----换种说法就是大学毕业生的收入高于高中毕业生----在20世纪大部分的时间都有所下降，但是自从20世纪80年代出现了报复性的增长。
In 2005, The typical full-time year-round U.S. worker with a four-year college degree earned $50,900, 62% more than the $31,500 earned by a worker with only a high-school diploma.
在2005年，典型的拥有四年大学学位的全职美国工人平均收入为50900美元，比高中文凭的工人的平均收入31500美元多了62%。There’s no question that going to college is a smart economic choice. But a look at the strange variations in tuition reveals that the choice about which college to attend doesn’t come down merely to dollars and cents.
毫无疑问，上大学从经济上来说是明智的选择。但是学费奇怪的变化说明，选择上哪种大学并不只是金钱的问题。
Does going to Columbia University (tuition, room and board $49,260 in 2007-08) yield a 40% greater return than attending the University of Colorado at Boulder as an out-of-state student ($35,542)?
上哥伦比亚大学（学费，食宿费在2007年--2008年达到了49260美元）比起非当地学生报读科罗拉多大学博德尔分销（费用为35542美元）的回报率高40%吗？
Probably not. Does being an out-of-state student at the University of Colorado at Boulder yield twice the amount of income as being an in-state student ($17,380) there? Not likely.不太可能。一名报读科罗拉多大学博德尔分校的非当地学生的收入会是当地学生（费用为17380美元的两倍吗？不太可能。No, in this consumerist age, most buyers aren’t evaluating college as an investment, but rather as a consumer product—like a car or clothes or a house. And with such purchases, price is only one of many crucial factors to consider.
不，在消费主义的时代，大部分的买家不会把大学看做一种投资，而是一种消费品----就像汽车、衣服或住房一样。购买这些商品，价格仅是需要考虑的很多关键因素中的一个。As with automobiles, consumers in today’s college marketplace have vast choices, and people search for the one that gives them the most comfort and satisfaction in line with their budgets.
正如汽车一样，在今天的大学市场，消费者有很多选择，人们在寻找复合预算条件的最舒适和满意的学校。
This accounts for the willingness of people to pay more for different types of experiences (such as attending a private liberal-arts college or going to an out-of-state public school that has a great marine-biology program).
这解释了为什么人们愿意为不同的体验付出更高的费用（例如报读私立学校的文学院或者报读一家有很好的海洋生物学课程的外州公立大学）。
And just as two auto purchasers might spend an equal amount of money on very different cars, college students (or, more accurately, their parents) often show a willingness to pay essentially the same price for vastly different products.
正如两名购车人会为完全不同的汽车付同样的价钱一样，大学生（或者更准确地说，他们的父母）经常愿意为完全不同的产品支付差不多的价钱。
So which is it? Is college an investment product like a stock or a consumer product like a car?
那这是哪一种？究竟大学是像股票一样的投资产品还是像汽车一样的消费品？
In keeping with the automotive world’s hottest consumer trend, maybe it’s best to characterize it as a hybrid (混合动力汽车); an expensive consumer product that, over time, will pay rich dividends.为了追上汽车最炙手可热的消费者趋势，或许最好是把大学看做混合动力汽车；一种消费品，但随着时间的流逝，会带来丰厚的回报。
2009年12月
一、
There is nothing like the suggestion of a cancer risk to scare a parent, especially one of the over-educated, eco-conscious type.
没有什么事情比有得癌症的迹象更让父母感到害怕的了，尤其对于受到过度教育、对生态环境敏感的那种人来说。
So you can imagine the reaction when a recent USA Today investigation of air quality around the nation’s schools singled out those in the smugly（自鸣得意的）green village of Berkeley, Calif., as being among the worst in the country.
所以当《今日美国》在近期公布的一份全国范围内的学校周边空气质量调查中，把加州伯克利的绿色环保小镇列为全国最差时，你可以想象到那些自鸣得意的人的反应。
The city’s public high school, as well as a number of daycare centers, preschools, elementary and middle schools, fell in the lowest 10%. Industrial pollution in our town had supposedly turned students into living science experiments breathing in a laboratory’s worth of heavy metals like manganese, chromium and nickel each day.
该市的公立高中以及为数众多的日间看护中心、学前教育机构、小学和中学都在最差的10%之列。我们镇上的工业污染大概把学生置于活体科学实验之中，学生们以等值于实验室的剂量每天吸入锰、镉和镍等重金属。
This in a city that requires school cafeterias to serve organic meals. Great, I thought, organic lunch, toxic campus.
这发生在一个要求学校的餐厅提供有机饭菜的城市中。太伟大了，我想，有机午餐，有毒校园。
Since December, when the report came out, the mayor, neighborhood activists（活跃分子）and various parent-teacher associations have engaged in a fierce battle over its validity: over the guilt of the steel-casting factory on the western edge of town, over union jobs versus children’s health and over what, if anything, ought to be done.
自12月份报告公布以来，市长，社区活跃分子和各种家长---教师联合会都参与到一场关于报告的可信度的激烈斗争中：关于位于小镇西北角上的钢铁铸造厂的罪责、有关孩子们的健康VS工会职责，以及应该去做的事，如果还有事能做的话。
With all sides presenting their own experts armed with conflicting scientific studies, whom should parents believe?
每一方都有代表他们的专家，手头上的科学研究结果相互矛盾，父母究竟应该相信谁？
Is there truly a threat here, we asked one another as we dropped off our kids, and if so, how great is it?
我们在让孩子下车时会相互询问，这儿是不是真的存在危险？如果真有危险的话，有多大？
And how does it compare with the other, seemingly perpetual health scares we confront, like panic over lead in synthetic athletic fields?
和其他危险相比怎么样？比如像综合运动场上铅含量这样我们似乎要面临的永久性的健康恐慌。
Rather than just another weird episode in the town that brought you protesting environmentalists, this latest drama is a trial for how today’s parents perceive risk, how we try to keep our kids safe—whether it’s possible to keep them safe—in what feels like an increasingly threatening world. It raises the question of what, in our time, “safe” could even mean.
这不仅仅是发生在城镇中的又一个奇特事件 ，引来一群游行抗议的环保主义者，这场最新的闹剧是对现在的父母如何看待风险的试金石，我们如何在一个看起来日益危机四起的世界里尽量保证我们孩子的安全----无论能否保证他们的安全。这引起的问题是，在我们的时代“安全”究竟意味着什么。
“There’s no way around the uncertainty,” says Kimberly Thompson, president of Kid Risk, a nonprofit group that studies children’s health. “That means your choices can matter, but it also means you aren’t going to know if they do.”
“没有办法解决不确定的问题，”金伯利汤普森说，她是一个研究儿童健康问题的非盈利性组织“孩子的危险”的主席。“这意味着你的选择很重要，但这也意味着如果你的选择真的很重要的话，你也没有办法知道。”
A 2004 report in the journal Pediatrics explained that nervous parents have more to fear from fire, car accidents and drowning than from toxic chemical exposure.
一份2004年发表在学术期刊《儿科》上的报告解释了不安的父母们对火灾、车祸和溺水的恐慌要更甚于接触有毒化学物质。
To which I say: Well, obviously. But such concrete hazards are beside the point.
对此我认为：“嗯，很明显。但是这些具体的危险并非重点。
It’s the dangers parents can’t—and may never—quantify that occur all of sudden. That’s why I’ve rid my cupboard of microwave food packed in bags coated with a potential cancer-causing substance, but although I’ve lived blocks from a major fault line(地质断层) for more than 12 years, I still haven’t bolted our bookcases to the living room wall.
正式父母们不能----可能永远也不能-----量化危险会突然发生。这正是我已经把所有包装袋上涂有可能致癌物质的微波食品全部扔掉的原因，但是尽管我住在一个距离大地质断层几街区远的地方已经12年了，我仍然没把我们的书架固定在客厅的墙上。
二、
Crippling health care bills, long emergency-room waits and the inability to find a primary care physician just scratch the surface of the problems that patients face daily.
问题重重的医疗保障费用，急诊室前排起的长队，以及无法找到初级护理医生，这些仅是每天要面对的问题中的一部分。
Primary care should be the backbone of any health care system.
初级护理应该是所有医疗保障体系的支柱。
Countries with appropriate primary care resources score highly when it comes to health outcomes and cost.
有充足的初级护理资源的国家在健康水平和费用支出上都获得甚佳的评价。
The U.S. takes the opposite approach by emphasizing the specialist rather than the primary care physician.
美国却反其道而行之，注重专科医生而非初级护理医生。
A recent study analyzed the providers who treat Medicare beneficiaries（老年医保受惠人）.
最近一项研究分析了负责治疗老年医保受惠人的医生。
The startling finding was that the average Medicare patient saw a total of seven doctors—two primary care physicians and five specialists—in a given year. Contrary to popular belief, the more physicians taking care of you don’t guarantee better care.
这项令人震惊的研究发现，老年医保受惠人平均每天要看七名医生----包括两名初级护理医生和五名专科医生。与公众的想法刚好相反，更多的医生给你看病并不能保证更好的医疗服务。
Actually, increasing fragmentation of care results in a corresponding rise in cost and medical errors.
实际上，医疗服务的日益分化导致的是费用的上升和误诊数量的增多。
How did we let primary care slip so far? The key is how doctors are paid. Most physicians are paid whenever they perform a medical service.
我们怎么会使初级护理如此严重地滑坡呢？关键是医生的收入。大部分医生的收入来源于他们所提供的医疗服务。
The more a physician does, regardless of quality or outcome, the better he’s reimbursed (返还费用).
医生做的越多，不管质量或结果如何，他获得的返还费用就越高。
Moreover, the amount a physician receives leans heavily toward medical or surgical procedures.
此外，医生的收入在很大程度上受到医疗或者外壳手术的影响。
A specialist who performs a procedure in a 30-minute visit can be paid three times more than a primary care physician using that same 30 minutes to discuss a patient’s disease.
一名专科医生耗时30分钟进行某个手术，其收入要比比一名初级护理医生花同样多的时间去讨论一个病人病情的收入高3倍。
Combine this fact with annual government threats to indiscriminately cut reimbursements, physicians are faced with no choice but to increase quantity to boost income.
再加上政府每年都威胁要一视同仁地降低医疗返还费用，初级护理医生没有选择的余地，只好通过提升数量以增加收入。
Primary care physicians who refuse to compromise quality are either driven out of business or to cash-only practices, further contributing to the decline of primary care.
对于拒绝牺牲质量的初级护理而言，要么被迫停业，要么就只从事能赚钱的业务，这使得初级护理的质量进一步下滑。
Medical students are not blind to this scenario. They see how heavily the reimbursement deck is stacked against primary care. The recent numbers show that since 1997, newly graduated U.S. medical students who choose primary care as a career have declined by 50%.
医学院的学生对此并非一无所知。他们看到了费用返还体制是如何严重地弄虚作假，不利于初级护理。最近的数据表明，自1997年以来，美国医学院的毕业生选择初级护理作为职业的人数下降了50%。
This trend results in emergency rooms being overwhelmed with patients without regular doctors.
这样的趋势导致急诊室里人满为患，挤满了那些无法找到普通医生的病人。
How do we fix this problem?
我们怎么解决这个问题。
It starts with reforming the physician reimbursement system. Remove the pressure for primary care physicians to squeeze in more patients per hour, and reward them for optimally (最佳地) managing their diseases and practicing evidence-based medicine.
首先需要改革医生费用返还体制。卸下初级护理医生每小时看更多病人的压力，对于优化病患管理和机遇病症用药给予奖励。
Make primary care more attractive to medical students by forgiving student loans for those who choose primary care as a career and reconciling the marked difference between specialist and primary care physician salaries.
通过减免从事初级护理的医学院学生的学费贷款，使初级护理对医学院学生更有吸引力，消除去专科医生和初级护理医生薪水之间的巨大差异。
We’re at a point where primary care is needed more than ever. Within a few years, the first wave of the 76 million Baby Boomers will become eligible for Medicare.
我们对初级护理的需求从未像现在这样迫切过。在几年之内，第一波7600万婴儿潮一代将被纳入老年人医保。在未来的十年期间
Patients older than 85, who need chronic care most, will rise by 50% this decade.
年龄大于85岁的最需要长期看护的病人数量将会增加50%。
Who will be there to treat them?
到时谁去治疗他们？
