新概念英語(yǔ)必背文章

1、ArchaeologyArchaeology is a source of history, not just a bumble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts, Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that ha

2、s created the human world in which we live - and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment. Archaeological data are all changes in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The sum total of th

3、ese constitutes what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits certain peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contrast between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records. Not all human behavior fossi

4、lizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they leave no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a dictaphone or written down by a clerk. The movemen

5、t of troops on the battlefield may "change the course of history," but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist's standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic materials are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar materials will decay

6、and vanish in dust in a few years or centuries, save under very exceptional conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduce to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods,

7、 aided by a few lucky finds from peat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the gap. 考古學(xué) 考古學(xué)是歷史學(xué)的一個(gè)來(lái)源，而不是地位卑微的輔助學(xué)科。 考古學(xué)資料本身也是一種歷史文獻(xiàn)，而不僅僅是文字資料的例證。 正象任何一位歷史學(xué)家那樣，考古學(xué)家研究調(diào)查并盡力去重構(gòu)一個(gè)過(guò)程。 這個(gè)過(guò)程創(chuàng)造了我們生活的人類(lèi)世界，也創(chuàng)造了我們自身，因?yàn)槲覀兌际俏覀兯幍臅r(shí)代和社會(huì)環(huán)境的產(chǎn)物。 考古學(xué)的資料就是人類(lèi)行為所造成的物質(zhì)變化。 更簡(jiǎn)潔地說(shuō)，是石化了的人類(lèi)行為。

8、 這些變化的總和構(gòu)成了我們所說(shuō)的考古學(xué)記錄。 這些記錄自有其獨(dú)特和不足之處，因而導(dǎo)致人們對(duì)考古歷史和更熟悉的文字記載歷史進(jìn)行相當(dāng)膚淺的對(duì)比。并不是所有的人類(lèi)行為都留下化石。 我說(shuō)的話，你通過(guò)空氣振動(dòng)聽(tīng)見(jiàn)，這當(dāng)然是人類(lèi)造成的物質(zhì)變化，也可能有重大的歷史意義，但這些話在考古學(xué)中未留下絲毫痕跡，除非有人用錄音機(jī)錄下來(lái)或文書(shū)把這些話寫(xiě)了下來(lái)。 戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上軍隊(duì)的行動(dòng)可能"改變歷史的進(jìn)程"，但從考古學(xué)的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)看，這同樣是難以捕捉的；可能更糟的是，多數(shù)有機(jī)物質(zhì)會(huì)腐爛。 任何由木頭、生皮、絨線、亞麻、草、毛發(fā)以及相似物質(zhì)做成的東西除非在一些非常特殊的條件下，幾年或幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以后，會(huì)在塵土中腐爛并

9、消失。 在短時(shí)期內(nèi)，能留下考古記錄的東西也都會(huì)退化為石頭、骨頭、玻璃、金屬和陶器的碎片。 然而，現(xiàn)代考古學(xué)通過(guò)運(yùn)用適當(dāng)?shù)募夹g(shù)和比較的方法，在從泥炭、沙漠和凍土中所獲得的一些幸運(yùn)發(fā)現(xiàn)的輔助下，能夠填充這個(gè)空缺的很大部分。 Museums From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs. These programs already have r

10、adically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future. In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so. The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex,

11、but one factor is a consideration everywhere - space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity. Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional

12、space for decades and which received its last significant face lift ten years ago. Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections. Deaccessing - or sel

13、ling off - works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage. Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage s

14、pace, however," the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.博物館 從波士頓到洛杉機(jī)，從紐約到芝加哥、到達(dá)拉斯，所有的博物館或者正在籌劃、建造或者正在完成大規(guī)模的擴(kuò)建計(jì)劃。 這些計(jì)劃或者已經(jīng)根本性地改變了博物館門(mén)面與展廳的設(shè)計(jì)，或者預(yù)期在不久的將來(lái)會(huì)這樣做。 單單在紐約市，六個(gè)主要機(jī)構(gòu)或者已經(jīng)向空中和周?chē)鷶U(kuò)

15、展，或者正準(zhǔn)備這樣做。大家一致行動(dòng)的原因是復(fù)雜多樣的，但其中的一個(gè)因素是普遍考慮的空間問(wèn)題。 隨著收藏品的增多，也隨著博物館的需要和功能的變化，空間已經(jīng)變成了一項(xiàng)非常珍貴的商品。在我國(guó)，也許沒(méi)有任何其他地方比費(fèi)城藝術(shù)博物館更符合這個(gè)事實(shí)。 這個(gè)博物館幾十年來(lái)一直需要額外的空間，十年前進(jìn)行了最后一次重大的翻新。 由于空間緊缺，該藝術(shù)博物館在考慮購(gòu)買(mǎi)與受贈(zèng)藝術(shù)品已越來(lái)越謹(jǐn)慎，有時(shí)甚至放棄增強(qiáng)藝術(shù)收藏的機(jī)會(huì)。由于博物館的空間問(wèn)題，將藝術(shù)品脫手或者說(shuō)賣(mài)掉已經(jīng)有了新的重要意義。 博物館館長(zhǎng)們被迫巧妙輪換利用陳列館的空間，輪流著把一些藝術(shù)杰作向公眾展出，而把另一些送入存儲(chǔ)室中。雖然對(duì)額外的陳列室和存儲(chǔ)室空

16、間需要很明顯，但據(jù)費(fèi)城藝術(shù)博物館經(jīng)理講："博物館還沒(méi)有在未來(lái)十五年打破這個(gè)束縛的計(jì)劃。" Skyscrapers and Environment In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall bui

17、ldings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities. Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electric

18、ity by 120, 000 kilowatts-enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day. Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or gain)through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To l

19、essen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the

20、surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings. Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year-as much as a city the size of Stanford

21、, Connecticut , which has a population of more than 109, 000. 摩天大樓與環(huán)境 60年代后期，許多北美人把注意力轉(zhuǎn)向了環(huán)境問(wèn)題，那些嶄新的玻璃鋼摩天大樓受到了廣泛的批評(píng)。 生態(tài)學(xué)家指出，城市中密集的高層建筑經(jīng)常給公共交通與停車(chē)場(chǎng)的承載能力造成過(guò)重的負(fù)擔(dān)。摩天大樓還是電能的過(guò)度消費(fèi)者與浪費(fèi)者。 最近的某一年，紐約市摩天寫(xiě)字樓1，700萬(wàn)英尺辦公面積的增加使電能的最高日需求量提高了120，000千瓦。 這些電能足以供紐約的整個(gè)奧爾巴尼市使用一天。玻璃表面的摩天大樓特別地浪費(fèi)。 通過(guò)半英寸的平板玻璃墻壁損失(或增加)的熱量是典型的

22、加入絕緣板的石墻所允許的熱量損失(或增加)的十倍以上。 為了減輕取暖設(shè)備或空調(diào)設(shè)備的壓力，摩天大樓的建造者們已經(jīng)開(kāi)始使用雙面上釉的玻璃鑲板和涂上了金色或銀色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，來(lái)減少?gòu)?qiáng)光照射和熱量的增加；但是，鏡面的摩天大樓會(huì)提高周?chē)諝獾臏囟炔?huì)對(duì)附近的建筑物產(chǎn)生影響。摩天大樓也對(duì)城市的衛(wèi)生設(shè)施造成了沉重的壓力。 單單紐約市的二個(gè)世界貿(mào)易中心大樓如果完全被占滿的話，每年就會(huì)產(chǎn)生2，250，000加侖的污水。 這相當(dāng)于康涅狄格州的斯坦福市這樣大的城市一年所產(chǎn)生的污水量，而康州的斯坦福市擁有109，000人口。 The Nobel Academy For the last 82years, Sw

23、eden's Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal. But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from within. Critics contend that the selec

24、tion of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself. According to Ingmar Bjorksten , the cultural editor for one of the country's two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent "what people c

25、all a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes." The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences. This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy's inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary world. Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, i