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选修8 Unit 1 A land of diversity-ReadingCALIFORNIACalifornia is the third largest state in the USA but has the largest population. It also has the distinction of being the most multicultural state in the USA, having attracted people from all over the world. The customs and languages of the immigrants live on in their new home. This diversity of culture is not surprising when you know the history of California.Unit1 加利福尼亚 加利福尼亚是美国的第三大州，而且是人口最多的州。加州与众不同之处在于它也是美国最具多元文化的一个州，它吸引了来自世界各地的人们。这些移民的风俗习惯以及语言在他们的新家都得以延续。当你了解了加利福尼亚的历史后，你就不会对此感到惊讶了。NATIVE AMERCANS Exactly when the first people arrived in what we now know as California, no one really knows. However, it is likely that Native Americans were living in California at least fifteen thousand years ago. Scientists believe that these settlers crossed the Bering Strait in the Arctic to America by means of a land bridge which existed in prehistoric times. In the 16th century, after the arrival of the Europeans, the native people suffered greatly. Thousands were killed or forced into slavery.In addition, many died from the diseases brought by the Europeans. However, some survived these terrible times, and today there are more Native Americans living in California than in any other state.美洲土著人 最早的一批人具体是在什么时候来到我们现在所知道的加利福尼亚地区的，谁也说不清楚。然而，很可能至少在15 ,000年以前美洲土著人就住在加利福尼亚了。科学家们认为，这些迁居者通过一条史前时代曾经存在的大陆桥穿越北极地区的白令海峡到达美洲。欧洲人在16世纪来到这儿后，土著人遭受了极大的苦难，成千上万的人被杀害或被迫成为奴隶。此外，欧洲人带来了疾病，使许多人染病而死，不过，还是有一些人在经历了这些恐怖时期后活下来了。今天住在加利福尼亚的美洲土著人比任何其他州的都要多。 THE SPANISHIn the 18th century California was ruled by Spain. Spanish soldiers first arrived in South America in the early 16th century, when they fought against the native people and took their land. Two centuries later, the Spanish had settled in most parts of South America and along the northwest coast of what we now call the United States. Of the first Spanish to go to California, the majority were religious men, whose ministry was to teach the Catholic religion to the natives. In 1821, the people of Mexico gained their independence from Spain. California then became part of Mexico. In 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico, and after the war won by the USA, Mexico had to give California to the USA. However, there is still a strong Spanish influence in the state. That is why today over 40 of Californians speak Spanish as a first or second language.西班牙人 在18世纪的时候，加利福尼亚是由西班牙统治的西班牙士兵最早是在1 6世纪初期来到南美洲的，他们同土著人打仗，并夺去了他们的土地3两个世纪以后，西班牙人在南美洲的大部分地区定居下来，而且还在我们现在称之为美国的西北沿海地区住下来c在首批移居加州的西班牙人中，大部分是宗教人士，他们的职责是向原住民传授天主教。1821年，墨西哥人从西班牙获得了独立-加利福尼亚于是成了墨西哥的一部分。1846年美国向墨西哥宣战，美国赢得战争胜利后，墨西哥被迫把加利福尼亚割让给美国。但是，这个州至今仍然保留着很强的西班牙的影响。这就是为什么今天还有40%的加利福尼亚人仍然把西班牙语作为第一或第二语言的缘故。 RUSSIANSIn the early 1800s, Russian hunters, who had originally gone to Alaska, began settling in California. Today there are about 25,000 Russian-Americans living in and around San Francisco.俄罗斯人19世纪初期，一批最初到阿拉斯加的俄罗斯猎人开始在加利福尼亚定居下来。今天，住在圣弗朗西斯科（旧金山）及其周边地区的美籍俄罗斯人约有25,000人。GOLD MINERSIn 1848, not long after the American-Mexican war, gold was discovered in California. The dream of becoming rich quickly attracted people from all over the world. The nearest, and therefore the first to arrive, were South Americans and people from the United States. Then adventurers from Europe and Asia soon followed. In fact, few achieved their dream of becoming rich. Some died or returned home, but most remained in California to make a life for themselves despite great hardship. They settled in the new towns or on farms. By the time California elected to become the thirty-first federal state of the USA in 1850, it was already a multicultural society. 淘金矿工 1848年，在美国同墨西哥开战之后不久，在加利福尼亚发现了金矿。发财梦很快就吸引了世界各地的人。距离最近因而来得最早的是南美洲人和美国人。随后跟着来的有欧洲和亚洲的探险家。事实上很少有人圆了发财梦。一些人死了或回家了，但是尽管条件十分艰苦，多数人还是留在了加利福尼亚劳作谋生，并在新的城镇或农场里定居下来。到1850年加利福尼亚成为美国第31个州的时候，它已经是一个有着多种文化的社会了。 LATER A RRIVALSAlthough Chinese immigrants began to arrive during the Gold Rush Period, it was the building of the rail network from the west to the east coast that brought even larger numbers to California in the 1860s. Today, Chinese-Americans live in all parts of California, although a large percentage have chosen to stay in the Chinatowns of Los Angeles and San Francisco.Other immigrants such as Italians, mainly fishermen but also wine makers, arrived in California in the late 19th century. In 1911 immigrants from Denmark established a town of their own, which today still keeps up their Danish culture. By the 1920s the film industry was well established in Hollywood, California. The industry boom attracted Europeans including many Jewish people. Today California has the second largest Jewish population in the United States.Japanese farmers began arriving in California at the beginning of the 20th century, and since the 1980s a lot more have settled there. People from Africa have been living in California since the 1800s, when they moved north from Mexico. However, even more arrived between 1942 and 1945 to work in the ship and aircraft industries.后来的移民 虽然中国移民在淘金热时期就开始到来了，但是更大批量的移民却是在1 9世纪60年代为了修建贯穿美国东西海岸的铁路而来的。今天，加利福尼亚州各地都有美籍华人，尽管有很大比例的华人还是选择住在洛杉矶和圣弗朗西斯科（旧金山）的“中国城”里。 19世纪后期，其他国家的移民，比如意大利人来到了加利福尼亚，他们主要是渔民，也有制酒工人。1911年，丹麦的移民建立了自己的城镇，至今仍然保留着丹麦文化。 20世纪20年代，电影业在加州的好莱坞建立了起来。这个行业吸引了大量的欧洲人，包括许多犹太人。今天，加利福尼亚的犹太人口在美国占第二位。 日本农民是在20世纪初期开始到加利福尼亚来的，而从20世纪80年代以来就有更多的日本人在加利福尼亚定居了。非洲人从1 9世纪就在加利福尼亚住下来，他们是从墨西哥向北迁来的。然而，更多的非洲人是在1942年至1945年期间来到加利福尼亚的，当时他们是到船厂和飞机厂工作。 MOST RECENT ARRIVALSIn more recent decades, California has become home to more people from Asia, including Koreans, Cambodians, Vietnamese and Laotians. Since its beginning in the 1970s, the computer industry has attracted Indians and Pakistanis to California.最近期的移民在最近的几十年里，加利福尼亚成了更多的亚洲人的家，包括朝鲜人、柬埔寨人、越南人和老挝人。从20世纪70年代以来，计算机工业吸引了印度人和巴基斯坦人来到加州。THE FUTUREPeople from different parts of the world, attracted by the climate and the lifestyle, still immigrate to California. It is believed that before long the mix of nationalities will be so great that there will be no distinct major racial or cultural groups, but simply a mixture of many races and cultures.未来展望世界各地的人，由于受到气候条件和生活方式的吸引，仍然在继续迁入加利福尼亚。人们认为，要不了多久，多种国籍的混合将会非常之大，以致不可能存在一种主要的种族或文化群体，而是多种族、多文化的混合体。GEORGES DIARY 12TH14TH JUNEMonday 12th, JuneArrived early this morning by bus. Went straight to hotel to drop my luggage, shower and shave. Then went exploring. First thing was a ride on a cable car. From top of the hill got a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay and the city. Built in 1873, the cable car system was invented by Andrew Hallidie, who wanted to find a better form of transport than horse-drawn trams. Apparently hed been shocked when he saw a terrible accident in which a trams brakes failed, the conductor could not control the situation and the tram slipped down the hill dragging the horses with it.Had a late lunch at Fishermans What. This is the district where Italian fishermen first came to San Francisco in the late 19th century and began the fishing industry. Now its a tourist area with lots of shops, sea food restaurants and bakeries. Its also the place to catch the ferry to Angel Island and other places in the Bay. Did so much exploring at Fishermans What. Am exhausted and dont feel like doing anything else. Early bed tonight!Tuesday 13th, June Teamed up with a couple from my hotel (Peter and Terri) and hired a car. Spent all day driving around the city. Theres a fascinating drive marked out for tourists. It has blue and white signs with seagulls on them to show the way to go. Its a 79km round-trip that takes in all the famous tourist spots. Stopped many times to admire the view of the city from different angles and take photographs. Now have a really good idea of what the citys like. In evening, went to Chinatown with Peter and Terri. Chinese immigrants settled in this area in the 1850s. The fronts of the buildings are decorated to look like old buildings in southern China. Saw some interesting temples here, a number of markets and a great many restaurants. Also art galleries and a museum containing documents, photographs and all sorts of objects about the history of Chinese immigration, but it is closed in the evening. Will go back during the day. Had a delicious meal and then walked down the hill to our hotel.Wednesday 14th, June In morning, took ferry to Angel Island from the port in San Francisco Bay. On the way had a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge. From 1882 to 1940 Angel Island was a famous immigration station where many Chinese people applied for right to live in USA. The cells in the station were very small, cold and damp; some did not even have light but the immigrants had nowhere else to go. Their miserable stay seemed to be punishment rather than justice and freedom to them. They wrote poems on the walls about their loneliness and mourned their former life in China. In 1940 the civil authorities reformed the system so that many more Chinese people were able to grasp the opportunity of settling in the USA. Made me very thoughtful and thankful for my life today.选修8 Unit 2 Cloning-ReadingCLONING: WHERE IS IT LEADING US?Cloning has always been with us and is here to stay. It is a way of making an exact copy of another animal or plant. It happens in plants when gardeners take cuttings from growing plants to make new ones. It also happens in animals when twins identical in sex and appearance are produced from the same original egg. The fact is that these are both examples of natural clones.Unit2 克隆：它将把我们引向何方？克隆一直与我们同在，而如今它还要持续下去。这是一种用来生产与原型完全相同的动植物的方法。当园艺师从生长着的植物上剪下枝条来培植新植物时，就会产生这种现象。这种现象也发生在动物身上，从同一个原生卵子产生性别和相貌相同的双胞胎也是克隆。实际上，这些都是自然克隆现象。Cloning has two major uses. Firstly, gardeners use it all the time to produce commercial quantities of plants. Secondly, it is valuable for research on new plant species and for medical research on animals. Cloning plants is straightforward while cloning animals is very complicated. It is a difficult task to undertake. Many attempts to clone mammals failed. But at last the determination and patience of the scientists paid off in 1996 with a breakthrough - the cloning of Dolly the sheep. The procedure works like this:克隆技术有两大用途。第一，园艺师一直用它生产大量的供商用的植物；第二，它在对新植物物种的研究以及对动物的医学研究方面都是很有价值的。克隆植物简单，但克隆动物就比较复杂了，是一项很难完成的任务。克隆哺乳动物的多次尝试都失败了。但是，科学家的决心和耐心最终得到了回报，这就是1996年具有突破性的克隆羊“多莉”的诞生。它的程序如下图所示：On the one hand, the whole scientific world followed the progress of the first successful clone, Dolly the sheep. The fact that she seemed to develop normally was very encouraging. Then came the disturbing news that Dolly had become seriously ill. Cloning scientists were cast down to find that Dollys illnesses were more appropriate to a much older animal. Altogether Dolly lived six and a half years, half the length of the life of the original sheep. Sadly the same arbitrary fate affected other species, such as cloned mice. The questions that concerned all scientists were: Would this be a major difficulty for all cloned animals? Would it happen forever? Could it be solved if corrections were made in their research procedure?一方面，整个科学界都在关注着首例成功的克隆动物多莉羊的成长多莉看来是在正常地成长着，这很令人鼓舞。接着传来了多莉病重的坏消息。研究克隆的科学家发现多莉得的病更容易发生在年老的羊身上这让他们很沮丧。多莉总共只存活了六年半，这是它的原型羊寿命的一半。可悲的是，同样无法控制的命运也在影响着其他物种，如克隆鼠。科学家的脑海里产生的问题是：“这是不是所有克隆动物的一个主要困难呢？这种现象会不会永远发生？如果改进程序，问题会不会解决？On the other hand, Dollys appearance raised a storm of objections and had a great impact on the media and public imagination. It became controversial. It suddenly opened everybodys eyes to the possibility of using cloning to cure serious illnesses and even to produce human beings.另一方面，多莉的出生引起了一阵强烈的反对，对，对媒体和公众的想象力也产生了巨大的影响。它引起了争议，因为它突然打开了人们的眼界，看到了有可能：用克隆技术来治疗重病，甚至克隆出人类。Although at present human egg cells and embryos needed for cloning research are difficult to obtain, newspapers wrote of evil leaders hoping to clone themselves to attain their ambitions. Religious leaders also raised moral questions. Governments became nervous and more conservative. Some began to reform their legal systems and forbade research into human cloning, but other countries like China and the UK, continued to accumulate evidence of the abundant medical aid that cloning could provide. However, scientists still wonder whether cloning will help or harm us and where it is leading us. 尽管目前供克隆研究的人体卵细胞和胚胎还很难得到，但报纸报道说，有些邪恶头目希望把自己克隆出来以实现他的野心。宗教领袖也提出了道德方面的问题。各国政府惶恐不安而且更加谨慎，有些政府开始改革司法制度，明令禁止进行克隆人类的研究。但是其他国家如中国和英国，则还在继续收集克隆技术有可能提供丰富有的医疗救助的证据。然而，科学察们仍对克隆技术有助于人类还是有害于人类，以及克隆技术将把我们引向何处困惑。THE RETURN OF THE DINOSAURS?The possibility of cloning fierce and extinct wild animals has always excited film makers. And they are not the only ones! The popularity of films such as Jurassic Park, in which a scientist clones several kinds of extinct dinosaurs, proves how the idea struck a mixture of fear and excitement into peoples hearts. But in fact we are a long way from being able to clone extinct animals. Scientists are still experimenting with cloning mammals. This is because the cloning of mammals is still a new science and its story only began seriously in the 1950s as this list shows:1950s cloning of frogs 1996 first clone of a mammal: Dolly the sheep1970s research using the embryos of mice 2000 cow gave birth to a bison 1979 work on embryos of sheep and mice 2001 Chinas first cloned twin calves1981 first experimental clones of mice 2002 first cloned cats1983 first experimental clones of cows 2005 first cloned dog From time to time people suggest that extinct animals like dinosaurs, can possibly be brought back to life through cloning. Unfortunately, with what we know now, this is either impossible or unsuitable. There are many reasons. The initial requirement is that you need perfect DNA (which gives information for how cells are to grow). All efforts of cloning an animal will be in vain if there is not enough diversity in the group to overcome illnesses. Diversity in a group means having animals with their genes arranged in different ways. The advantage is that if there is a new illness some of these animals may die,but others will survive and pass on the ability to resist that disease to the next generation. The great drawback to cloning a group of animals is that they would all have the same arrangement of genes and so might die of the same illness. Then none of them would be left to continue the species. It would be unfair to clone any extinct animals if they were to live in a zoo. A suitable habitat would be needed for them to lead a natural life.Based on what we know now, you cannot clone animals that have been extinct longer than 10,000 years. Actually, dinosaurs disappeared 65,000,000 years ago. So the chance of dinosaurs ever returning to the earth is merely a dream. Unit3 蛇的困扰Inventors and inventions-ReadingTHE PROBLEM OF THE SHRIKESWhen I called up my mother in the countryside on the telephone she was very upset. There are some snakes in our courtyard, she told me. Snakes come near the house now and then, and they seem to have made their home here, not far from the walnut tree. Can you get rid of them please? I felt very proud. Here was a chance for .me to distinguish myself by inventing something merciful that would catch snakes but not harm them. I knew my parents would not like me to hurt these living creatures! 我给住在乡下的母亲打电话的时候，她感到很心烦。“我们院子里有几条蛇，”她告诉我说，“蛇时不时地爬到屋子旁边来，似乎是在屋子附近离胡桃树不远的地方安家了。你能不能把它们赶走？”我感到很自豪。这回我有机会来表现一下自己了。我要发明某种仁慈的东西，既可以把蛇捉住，而又不会伤害它们。我知道我的父母是不会让我伤害这些生物的。The first thing I did was to see if there were any products that might help me, but there only seemed to be powders designed to kill snakes. A new approach was clearly needed. I set about researching the habits of snakes to find the easiest way to trap them. Luckily these reptiles are small and that made the solution easier.我所做的第一件事就是看看有没有现成的任何产品能帮助我。但是，看来只有一种毒蛇的药粉。很明显，我得找一种新的方法了。于是我就着手研究蛇的习性，以便能用最容易的方法来捉住他们。好在这些爬行动物都很小，问题比较容易解决。Prepared with some research findings, I decided on three possible approaches: firstly, removing their habitat; secondly, attracting them into a trap using male or female perfume or food; and thirdly cooling them so that they would become sleepy and could be easily caught. I decided to use the last one. I bought an ice-cream maker which was made of stainless steel. Between the outside and the inside walls of the bowl there is some jelly, which freezes when cooled. I put the bowl into the fridge and waited for 24 hours. At the same time I prepared some ice-cubes.经过一番研究准备之后，我决定采用三种可能的方法：第一，铲除蛇的栖息地；第二，用男人或女人的香水或食物把它们引进陷阱；第三，降低它们的体温，使它们困乏，这样就很容易把它们捉住。我决定采用最后一种方法。我买了一个制冰淇淋的不锈钢碗。在碗的内壁和外壁都抹上果冻，这些果冻冷却后会冻结。我把这个碗放进冰箱，冷冻了24个小时。与此同时，我还准备了一些冰块儿。The next morning I got up early before the sun was hot. I placed the frozen bowl over the snakes habitat and the ice-cubes on top of the bowl to keep it cool. Finally I covered the whole thing with a large bucket. Then I waited. After two hours I removed the bucket and the bowl. The snakes were less active but they were still too fast for me. They abruptly disappeared into a convenient hole in the wall. So I had to adjust my plan.第二次试验我用的还是冻结的碗和冰块儿，但是这次我是在夜晚气温开始变凉的时候把它们放在蛇窝的上方，然后像以前那样用桶把碗罩住，通宵放在那儿。第二天一早我就去看结果。这一次我小心翼翼地蹲下去检查的时候，发现蛇都是睡意浓浓的。但是一把它们提起来，它们就要咬我。因为它们都是毒蛇，所以很显然我还得改进我的捕蛇方案。For the second attempt I froze the bowl and the ice-cubes again but placed them over the snakes habitat in the evening, as the temperature was starting to cool. Then as before, I covered the bowl with the bucket and left everything overnight. Early the next morning I returned to see the result. This time with great caution I bent down to examine the snakes and I found them very sleepy. But once picked up, they tried to bite me. As they were poisonous snakes, I clearly needed to improve my design again.My third attempt repeated the second procedure. The next morning I carried in my hand a small net used for catching fish. This was in the expectation that the snakes would bite again. But monitored carefully, the snakes proved to be no trouble and all went according to plan. I collected the passive snakes and the next day we merrily released them all back into the wild. 第三次试验重复了上一次的程序，不过第二天早晨我的手里拿了一个捕鱼用的小网。这是因为我预料蛇还全再咬人。但是经过仔细监视，证明这些蛇是制造不了麻烦的，一切都按计划进行着。我把这些温顺的蛇收集起来，第二天就愉快地把他们全都释放到野外去了。 Pressed by my friends and relations, I decided to seize the opportunity to get recognition for my successful idea by sending my invention to the patent office. Only after you have had that recognition can you say that you are truly an inventor. The criteria are so strict that it is difficult to get new ideas accepted unless they are truly novel. In addition, no invention will get a patent if it is:a discoverya scientific idea or mathematical modelliterature or arta game or a businessa computer programmea new animal or plant variety由于朋友和亲戚的敦促，我决定把我这次的发明运到专利局去，请他们对我这次成功的思路给予认可。只有你得到这种承认，你才可以说你是一个真正的发明者二（评定）专利标准非常严格，除非新的想法真是新颖的，否则很难被接受。此外，你的想法如果属于下列情况，那么你也不可能得到专利：一种发现一种科学理论或数学模式文学或艺术一场游戏或一笔交易一个电脑程序一种新的动植物物种Nor will you receive a patent until a search has been made to find out that your product really is different from everyone elses. There are a large number of patent examiners, too, whose only job is to examine whether your claim is valid or not. If it passes all the tests, your application for a patent will be published 18 months from the date you apply. So I have filled in the form and filed my patent application with the Patent Office. Now its a matter of waiting and hoping. Youll know if I succeed by the size of my bank balance! Wish me luck!你的产品要经过仔细调查，证明它确实是与众不同的，你才能获得专利。专利局还有一大批审查人员，他们的唯一职责就是审查你的专利申请是否有效。如果通过了所有这些审查，你申请的专利就会在你提出申请的18个月之后公布出来。于是，我填了表，向专利局提交了申请书。现在就是等，待和期盼了。将来你看看我的银行结余金额就会知道我是否成功了祝我好运吧。ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELLAlexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Scotland, but when he was young his family moved to Boston, USA. His mother was almost entirely deaf, so Alexander became interested in help
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