[新概念第四册课文原文及翻译]新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记【Lesson19、20、21】

【#新概念英语# 导语】新概念英语作为一套世界闻名的英语教程，以其全新的教学理念，有趣的课文内容和全面的技能训练，深受广大英语学习者的欢迎和喜爱。为了方便同学们的学习，®文档大全网为大家整理了面的新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记，希望为大家的新概念英语学习提供帮助!

Lesson19

　　【课文】

　　First listen and then answer the following question.

　　听录音，然后回答以下问题。

　　What is going on when a person experiences rapid eye-movements during sleep?

　　It is fairly clear that the sleeping period must have some function, and because there is so much of it the function would seem to be important. Speculations about its nature have been going on for literally thousands of years, and one odd finding that makes the problem puzzling is that it looks very much as if sleeping is not simply a matter of giving the body a rest. 'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down. The body's tissues are self-repairing and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active. In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifically concerned with preventing muscle inactivity.

　　If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? This might be a plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording the electrical activity of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp) shows that while there is a change in the pattern of activity during sleep, there is no evidence that the total amount of activity is any less. The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental. Some years ago an American psychiatrist named William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated with peculiar bursts of eye-movements, some drifting and slow, others jerky and rapid. People woken during these periods of eye-movements generally reported that they had been dreaming. When woken at other times they reported no dreams. If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep for several nights on end, and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were no exhibiting eye-movements, the first group began to show some personality disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.

　　CHRISHER EVANS The stuff of dreams from The Listener

　　【New words and expressions 生词和短语】

　　speculation n. 推测

　　literally adv. 确实

　　odd adj. 奇特的

　　tissue n. 组织

　　plausible adj. 似乎有理的

　　hypothesis n. 假说

　　electroencephalograph n. 脑电图仪

　　electrode n. 电极

　　scalp n. 头皮

　　psychiatrist n. 精神病学家

　　punctuate v. 不时介入

　　jerky adj. 急动的

　　disorder n. 失调

　　implication n. 含意，暗示

【课文注释】

　　1.not simply a matter of...不仅仅是……。

　　①simply a matter of+doing sth

　　例句：I think it's simply a matter of the attack being weakened.

　　我看这根本就是因为进攻削弱了的缘故。

　　②simply a matter of time，只是时间问题。

　　例句：It' s simply a matter of time before the rebels are crushed.

　　把这些叛乱分子镇压下去只是迟早的事。

　　2.in terms of muscle relaxation and so on，从是肌肉得到放松等方面来看。

　　in terms of，从……方面看，就……而言。

　　例句：In term of money, he's quite rich, but not in term of happiness.

　　就钱来说他很富有，但就幸福来说就不然了。

　　3.to a degree，在一定程度上，相当。

　　①You use expressions such as to some degree, to a large degree, or to a certain degree in order to indicate that something is partly true, but not entirely true.

　　例句：These statements are, to some degree, all correct.

　　这些论断从某种程度上来说是对的。

　　②by degrees：gradually，逐渐地。

　　例句：By degrees their friendship grew into love.

　　他们的友谊渐渐发展成爱情。

　　4.then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? 这是一个陈述句的语序，但句尾加问号，表示说话人对这种观点有把握但需进一步证实。

　　5.a plausible hypothesis，有道理的假设。

　　①An explanation or statement that is plausible seems likely to be true or valid.似乎正确的，似乎有道理可信的(借口、陈述等)。

　　例句：He trotted out a most plausible story, but most of us were inclined to doubt the truth of it.

　　他提出了一个听起来很有道理的说法，但我们大多数人对此都持怀疑态度。

　　②If you say that someone is plausible, you mean that they seem to be telling the truth and to be sincere and honest.(指人)能说会道的(尤指为行骗)。

　　例句：She was so plausible she would have deceived anyone.

　　她巧舌如簧-，把谁都能骗倒。

　　6.were it not for two factors，这是省略了if的条件句，可译作“如果不是下面两个因素的话”。

　　7.several nights on end，一连几夜。

　　on end：连续地。

　　例句：It has been raining for days on end.

　　一连好几天连续下雨。

　　8....it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming. 这是一个表示否定的强调句，把强调结构"it was not...that"去掉，句子仍然成立，只是语气减弱了："The disturbance of sleep doesn't matter, but the disturbance of dreaming matters."

　　【参考译文】

　　很清楚，睡眠必然具有某种作用。睡眠占去那么多时间，所以其作用似乎还是很重要。人们对睡眠作用的种种猜测，确实有数千年之久。一项使人对这个问题感到困惑的奇怪的发现是，睡眠在很大程度似乎并不仅仅是为了使身体得到休息。“休息”，从使肌肉得到放松等方面来看，只要稍微躺一躺，甚至坐一坐就能达到。人体组织在一定程度上有自我修补和自我恢复的能力，有张有弛地连续活动时，其功能。事实上，睡眠状态下仍有着基本的活动量，以防止肌肉活动停止。

　　如果睡眠的功能不是在于使身体得到休息，那么也许是让大脑得以休息?若不是下面两点，这种假使似乎是有道理的。第一点，脑电图记录仪(不过是一种把电极接到头皮上记录脑电活动的仪器)显示，人在睡眠时大脑活动的方式有变化，但没有迹象表明，其活动总量有任何减少。第二点更有意思，也更重要。前些年，美国一位精神病学者发表了一篇报告，报告中记录了眼球在睡眠时的活动情况。他指出，平常人的睡眠周期中不时伴有一阵阵奇怪的眼球队活动，这些活动有的飘忽而缓慢，有的急剧而快速。在眼球活动期间被叫醒的人都说自己在做梦;在其他期间叫醒他们，则说没有做梦。如果有两组人，一组人连续几夜在眼球队活动时被叫醒;另一组人也是连续几夜被叫醒，但是在眼球队没活动时被叫醒的。结果，第一组人开始出现性格失常，而第二组人似乎没受什么影响。这一切暗示我们：睡眠受到干忧没关系，而做梦受到干忧是有问题的。

Lesson20

　　【课文】

　　First listen and then answer the following question.

　　听录音，然后回答以下问题。

　　What are the two different ways in which snake poison acts?

　　How it came about that snakes manufactured poison is a mystery. Over the periods their saliva, a mild, digestive juice like our own, was converted into a poison that defies analysis even today. It was not forced upon them by the survival competition; they could have caught and lived on prey without using poison, just as the thousands of non-poisonous snakes still do. Poison to a snake is merely a luxury; it enables it to get its food with very little effort, no more effort than one bite. And why only snakes? Cats, for instance, would be greatly helped; no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbits -- just a bite and no more effort needed. In fact, it would be an assistance to all carnivores though it would be a two-edged weapon when they fought each other. But, of the vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes (and one lizard). One wonders also why Nature, with some snakes, concocted poison of such extreme potency.

　　In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place. It did not; some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others, as different as arsenic is from strychnine, and having different effects. One poison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.

　　The makers of the nerve poison include the mambas and the cobras and their venom is called neurotoxic. Vipers (adders) and rattlesnakes manufacture the blood poison, which is known as haemolytic. Both poisons are unpleasant, but by far the more unpleasant is the blood poison. It is said that the nerve poison is the more primitive of the two, that the blood poison is, so to speak, a newer product from an improved formula. Be that as it may, the nerve poison does its business with man far more quickly than the blood poison. This, however, means nothing. Snakes did not acquire their poison for use against man but for use against prey such as rats and mice, and the effects on these of viperine poison is almost immediate.

　　JOHN CROMPTON The snake

　　【New words and expressions 生词和短语】

　　saliva n. 唾液

　　digestive adj. 助消化的

　　defy v. 使不可能

　　analysis n. 分析

　　prey n. 被捕食的动物

　　fierce adj. 凶猛的

　　tussle n. 扭打

　　carnivore n. 食肉动物

　　vertebrate n. 脊椎动物

　　lizard n. 蜥蜴

　　concoct v. 调制

　　potency n. 效力

　　conversion n. 转变

　　arsenic n. 砒霜

　　strychnine n. 马钱子碱

　　mamba n. 树眼镜蛇

　　cobra n. 眼镜蛇

　　venom n. 毒液

　　neurotoxic adj. 毒害神经的

　　viper n. 蝰蛇

　　adder n. 蝮蛇

　　rattlesnake n. 响尾蛇

　　haemolytic adj. 溶血性的

　　viperine adj. 毒蛇

【课文注释】

　　1.How it came about that snakes...a mystery.这句话的主语是一个句子：How it came about that snakes manufactured poison，谓语部分是is a mystery。主语从句中的it是形式主语，真正主语是that snakes manufactured poison，因为主语太长，所以使用it作先行主语的结构。

　　2.over the periods，经过很长时间。

　　例句：Over the peroids, she finally managed to walk out of the breaking-up shadow which had brought much pain to her.

　　经过很长时间，她终于走出了那段曾给她带去无数伤痛的分手阴影。

　　3.convert into，改变成。

　　If one thing is converted or converts into another, it is changed into a different form.

　　例句：The solar cell can convert the energy of sunlight into electric energy.

　　太阳能电池能把阳光的能量转化为电能。

　　4.live on，靠……生活。

　　关于live的短语在第9课：王室谍报活动中有讲过哦，可以去复习一下^^戳我去复习>>

　　5.a two-edged weapon，一把双刃刀，这里的意思是：如果食肉动物都有毒液，就会造成食肉动物之间的互相残杀。

　　双刃剑、双刃刀，也可以说成double-edged sword: a situation or decision that has both positive and negative aspects

　　例句：Scientific development may be a two-edged weapon, on one hand it lifts people's living standard, on the other hand it poses potential threats to the environment.

　　科技进步是一把双刃剑，一方面它提高了人们的生活水平，另一方面也对环境构成了潜在威胁。

　　6.act on，对……起作用;遵照。

　　①If a force or substance acts on someone or something, it has a certain effect on them.有作用。

　　例句：These medical herbs are said to act on the heart.

　　据说这些药草对心脏起作用。

　　②If you act on advice or information, you do what has been advised or suggested.遵照。

　　例句：A patient will usually listen to the doctor's advice and act on it.

　　通常病人都会听从并遵照医生的建议去做。

　　7.by far the more unpleasant，更难受得多，by far是“……得多”的意思。

　　例句：It is quicker by far to go by train.

　　乘火车要快得多。

　　8.so to speak，插入语，有“可以这样说”，“打个比方说”的意思。

　　9.Be that as it may，这是一个倒装的让步状语从句，相当于however that may be，可译成“尽管如此”。

　　10.does its business with man，在人的身上发挥作用，要人的命。

　　11.the effects on these of viperine poison，these是指rats and mice，介词宾语结构of viperine poison是作effets的定语。

　　【参考译文】

　　蛇是怎样产生毒液的，这是一个谜。蛇的唾液本来和我们人的消化液一样柔和，但经过漫长的时间，演变成了今天仍无法分析清楚的毒液。毒液不是生存竞争强加给 它们的，它们也可以不用毒液捕捉动物而生存，就像今天成千上万的无毒蛇那样。毒液对毒蛇来说只不过是一种舒适生存的优越手段，它使蛇不用费多大力气就能捕 获到食物，轻咬一口即可。为什么只有蛇才有毒液呢?譬如说，如果猫有毒液，那对猫会大有帮助，它就不必再和又大又凶的老鼠边跑边博斗了，也不必再和大兔子 扭斗了，只要咬一口，就不必再费大力气。因此，任何食肉动物有了毒液，都能从中获益。不过，当它们相互撕打时，毒液就成了利弊参半的武，可以杀死对方，也 可以被对方的毒液杀死。然而，在脊椎动物中，大自然神秘模测地只选择了蛇(还有一种蜥蜴)，人们弄不清楚大自然为什么在某些蛇的身上调制出如此高效的毒液 来。

　　人们可能认为，唾液转变成毒液，其中有固定的程序。其实没有。有些蛇产生的毒液在各方面与另外一些毒蛇产生的毒液不相同，就像砒霜不同于马钱子碱一样。不同毒蛇产生的毒液产生的效果不同，一种毒液作用于神经，另一种毒液作用于血液。

　　产生神经毒液的蛇有一种非洲树眼镜蛇和眼镜蛇，它们的毒液称为神经毒素。蝰蛇(蝮蛇)和响尾蛇产生血液毒素，称为溶血性毒液。这两种毒液都很可怕，但溶血 性毒液尤其厉害。据说，神经毒液在两种毒液中是较为原始的一种，而溶血性毒液，打个比方说，是根据改良配方生产的一种较新的产品。不过，神经毒辣液比溶血 性毒液在人身上起作用快得多。但是，这没有什么关系，因为蛇有毒液不是用来对付人的，而是对付它的猎物，诸如鼠类，毒液对这些猎物会立刻起作用。

Lesson21

　　【课文】

　　First listen and then answer the following question.

　　听录音，然后回答以下问题。

　　How did William Hart's childhood prepare him for his acting role in Western films?

　　William S. Hart was, perhaps, the greatest of all Western stars, for unlike Gary Cooper and John Wayne he appeared in nothing but Westerns. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged. It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film, and devised the protagonist he played in every film he made, the good-bad man, the accidental-noble outlaw, or the honest-but-framed cowboy, or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip; in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his frontier environment.

　　Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood, Hart actually knew something of the old West. He had lived in it as a child when it was already disappearing, and his hero was firmly rooted in his memories and experiences, and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier. And although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized, myth and reality did join hands in at least one arena, the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.

　　Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians were bewildered by politicians, bankers and businessmen, and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. Hart's good-bad man was always an outsider, always one of the disinherited, and if he found it necessary to shoot a sheriff or rob a bank along the way, his early audiences found it easy to understand and forgive, especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.

　　Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century found it pleasant to escape to a time when life, though hard, was relatively simple. We still do; living in a world in which undeclared aggression, war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by.

　　CARL FOREMAN Virtue and a Fast Gun from The Observer

　　【New words and expressions 生词和短语】

　　supreme adj.

　　protagonist n. 主角

　　outlaw n. 逃犯，亡命之徒

　　framed adj. 遭到陷害的

　　vicious adj. 恶毒的

　　mythology n. 神话

　　vanished adj. 消失了的

　　absurdly adv. 荒诞地

　　arena n. 竞技场在

　　encroaching adj. 渐渐渗入的

　　Indian n. 印第安人

　　bewilder v. 使手足无措

　　alien adj. 外来的

　　taboo n. 戒律

　　disinherit v. 剥夺...继承权

　　undeclared adj. 未经宣布的

　　hypocrisy n. 伪善

　　chicanery n. 诈骗

　　impending adj. 迫近的，近在眉睫的

　　immolation n. 杀戮

　　code n. 准则

【课文注释】

　　1.nothing but，仅仅，只是。

　　例句：There was nothing but silence in the room.

　　这间屋内声息全无，一片寂静。

　　例句：He is nothing but a hypocrite, pretending that he knows nothing about it.

　　他是一个虚伪的人，假装对那件事一无所知。

　　2.supreme，的，的。

　　①(权力﹑ 级别或地位)的;至高无上的。

　　例句：He is the supreme ruler of a vast empire.

　　他是一个庞大帝国的统治者。

　　the Supreme Court：法院。

　　② 最重要的;的。

　　例句：Winning an Olympic gold medal was, I suppose, the supreme moment of my life.

　　我认为我荣获奥运会金牌时是我一生中最重要的时刻。

　　3.It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film，正是他创造了西部电影的基调。这是一个强调句。

　　4.in short，总而言之，一句话。

　　例句：In short, I am interested in all of the sports.

　　简而言之，我对一切运动都感兴趣。

　　在作文中可以用来结尾，这里也帮大家总结下其它可以用来结尾的短语^^

　　To sum up

　　In a word

　　All in all

　　Taking into all these factors

　　In conclusion

　　5.in conflict with，和……有矛盾。

　　例句：It is a statement in conflict with other evidence.

　　这一陈述与其他证词不一致。

　　6.the old West，指密西西比河以西地区。

　　7.be rooted in，生根于。

　　例句：The belief of founding a new China was deeply rooted in his mind.

　　建立行中国的想法深深的根植在他的脑海中。

　　8.join hands in，携手联合。

　　例句：Let's join hands and struggle for a better future together.

　　让我们携起手来，共同为美好的明天而奋斗。

　　9.arena，竞技场，舞台。

　　①arena的本意是圆形剧场或竞技场。

　　例句：The Roman arena was very famous.

　　罗马竞技场是很出名的。

　　②arena引申意为活动或斗争的场所或场面。

　　例句：A member of congress works in the political arena.

　　国会议员在政界活动。

　　10.live by，靠……过活，以……为生。

　　例句：Man shall not live by bread alone.

　　人活着不能仅靠面包。

　　【参考译文】

　　威廉.S.哈特大概是美国西部电影明星中的佼佼者。他和加里.古柏、约翰.韦恩不同，他只在西部电影中扮演角色。在1914年至1924年期间，他，独霸影坛。正是他创造了西部电影的基调，即在他自己的拍摄的影片中他所塑造的主人公形象：被认为是坏人的好人，出人意料的高尚的逃犯，诚实却遭陷害的牛仔或因流言蜚语蒙受嫌疑的司法官。总之，主人公是一个自相矛盾，又与他的拓荒环境相矛盾的人物。

　　哈特与大部分同时代在好莱坞的演员不同，他确实了解西部早期拓荒生活的一些情况。作为一个孩子他曾在西部生活过，当时西部拓荒生活正在消失。他塑造的英雄人物深深地扎根于他本人的记忆和经历之中，也扎根于有关已经消失的拓荒生活的历史和神话之中。虽然在美国历没有任何时期或地区像西部拓荒时期那样被荒谬地浪漫主义化了，但神话和事实至少在某一个舞台上共存，也就是存在于个人与渐渐闯入的文明这两者的冲突之中。

　　习惯与大自然和印第安人作斗争以求生存的拓荒者被政客、银行家和商人搞得晕头转向，最后被圈地、尖律我外来的清规戒律所击败。哈特扮演的被误为坏人的好人总是一个局外人，总是一个被剥夺继承权的人。如果他认为在进行过程中有必要枪击一个司法官或抢劫一个银行，他的早期观众很容易接受，觉得应该原谅他，特别是当哈特最后战胜了前来进攻的印第安人时，观众更能原谅他。

　　生活在20世纪20年代的观众认为，逃到一个即使艰苦但比较简朴的时代中去是件愉快的事，我们今天仍有这种感觉。如今，不宣而战的侵略、战争、虚伪、诈骗、无政府状态以及即将临头的毁灭成了我们日常生活的一部分，我们都希望有一个赖以生存的行为准则。

新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记【Lesson19、20、21】.doc

本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/Pp2X.html