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wordNature nurtures mankind unselfishly with its rich resources. Yet, man is so carried away in his transformation of nature that he is unaware that it also has limitations and needs constant care. Now worn by the excessive demands of mankind, nature is unable to maintain the ecological balance needed. Humanity is faced with the problem of how to stop, or at least to moderate, the destruction of Mother Nature. T Man in the Realm of NatureAlexander SpirkinThe text is downloaded from the website: close1RT Human beings live in the realm of nature. They are constantly surrounded by it and interact with it. Man is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he drinks, and the food he eats. We are connected with nature by blood ties and we cannot live outside nature.人在自然界亚历山大斯伯金人类生活在大自然的王国里。他们时刻被大自然所包围并与之相互影响。人类呼吸的空气、喝下的水和摄入的食物，无一不令人类时刻感知到大自然的影响。我们与大自然血肉相连，离开大自然，我们将无法生存。close2RT Man is not only a dweller in nature, he also transforms it. Humanity converts natures wealth into the means of the cultural, historical life of society. Man has subdued and disciplined electricity and pelled it to serve the interests of society. Not only has man transferred various species of plants and animals to different climatic conditions, he has also changed the shape and climate of his environment and transformed plants and animals.人类不仅生活在大自然之中，同时也在改变着大自然。人类把自然资源转变为各种文化，社会历史的财富。人类降服并控制了电，迫使它为人类社会的利益服务。人类不仅把各种各样的动植物转移到不同的气候环境，也改变了他生活环境的地貌和气候并使动植物因之而发生转变。close3RT As society develops, man tends to bee less dependent on nature directly, while indirectly his dependence grows. Our distant ancestors lived in fear of natures destructive forces. Very often they were unable to obtain the merest daily necessities. However, despite their imperfect tools, they worked together stubbornly, collectively, and were able to attain results. Nature was also changed through interaction with man. Forests were destroyed and the area of farmland increased. Nature with its elemental forces was regarded as something hostile to man. The forest, for example, was something wild and frightening and people tried to force it to retreat. This was all done in the name of civilisation, which meant the places where man had made his home, where the earth was cultivated, where the forest had been cut down.随着社会的开展，人类对大自然的直接依赖越来越少，而间接的依赖却越来越多。我们远古的祖先生活在大自然的威胁与破坏力的恐惧之中，他们常常连根本的生活物资都无法获取。然而，尽管工具不甚完备，他们却能同心协力，顽强工作，并总是有所收获。在与人类的相互作用中，大自然也发生了改变。森林被破坏了，耕地面积增加了。大自然与其威力被看成是和人类敌对的东西。譬如，森林被认为是野性的和令人恐惧的，因此人类便想方设法使其面积缩小。这一切都是打着“文明的旗号进展的，所谓“文明，就是人类在哪里建立家园，耕耘土地，哪里的森林就被砍伐。 随着社会的开展，人类对大自然的直接依赖越来越少，而间接的依赖却越来越多。我们远古的祖先生活在大自然的威胁与破坏力的恐惧之中，他们常常连根本的生活物资都无法获取。然而，尽管工具不甚完备，他们却能同心协力，顽强工作，并总是有所收获。在与人类的相互作用中，大自然也发生了改变。森林被破坏了，耕地面积增加了。大自然与其威力被看成是和人类敌对的东西。譬如，森林被认为是野性的和令人恐惧的，因此人类便想方设法使其面积缩小。这一切都是打着“文明的旗号进展的，所谓“文明，就是人类在哪里建立家园，耕耘土地，哪里的森林就被砍伐。close4RT But as time goes on mankind bees increasingly concerned with the question of where and how to obtain irreplaceable natural resources for the needs of production. Science and mans practical transforming activities have made humanity aware of the enormous geological role played by the industrial transformation of the earth.然而，随着岁月的流逝，人类越来越关注的是在何处得到和如何得到生产所需的不可替代的自然资源的问题。科学与人类改变大自然的实践活动已经使人类意识到了工业在改变地球的进程中对地质产生的重大影响。close5RTAt present the previous dynamic balance between man and nature and between nature and society as a whole, has shown ominous signs of breaking down. The problem of the so-calledreplaceable resources of the biosphere has bee particularly acute. It is getting more and more difficult to satisfy the needs of human beings and society even for such a substance, for example, as fresh water. The problem of eliminating industrial waste is also being increasingly plex.目前，人与自然以与自然与社会整体之间过去存在的动态平衡，已呈现崩溃的迹象。生物圈中所谓可替代资源的问题变得极为锋利。人类和社会的需求，即便是简单得像淡水一样的物质，也变得越来越难以满足。去除工业废物的问题也变得日益复杂。close6RTModern technology is distinguished by an ever increasing abundance of produced and used synthetic goods. Hundreds of thousands of synthetic materials are being made. People increasingly cover their bodies from head to foot in nylon and other synthetic, glittering fabrics that are obviously not good for them. Young people may hardly feel this, and they pay more attention to appearance than to health. But they bee more aware of this harmful influence as they grow older.现代技术的特征是生产和使用日益丰富的人工合成产品。人们生产成千上万的人工合成材料。人们越来越多地用尼龙和其他人造纤维把自己从头到脚地包裹起来，这些绚丽的织物显然对他们无益。年轻人或许很少注意到这一点，他们更关注的是外表，而不是健康。但是上了年岁之后，他们就会感受到这种有害的影响。close7RT As time goes on the synthetic output of production turns into waste, and then substances that in their original form were not very toxic are transformed in the cycle of natural processes into aggressive agents. Today both natural scientists and philosophers are asking themselves the question: Is mans destruction of the biosphere inevitable?久而久之，这些合成物质转变成废弃物，那些原本毒性不大的物质在自然循环中变为极其有害的物质。自然科学家和哲学家如今都在问自己这样一个问题：人类对生物圈的破坏难道是无法防止的吗？close8RT The man-nature relation the crisis of the ecological situation is a global problem. Its solution lies in rational and wise organization of both production itself and care for Mother Nature, not just by individuals, enterprises or countries, but by all humanity. One of the ways to deal with the crisis situation in the man-nature system is to use such resources as solar energy, the power of winds, the riches of the seas and oceans and other, as yet unknown natural forces of the universe.人与大自然的关系 生态环境的危机 已经成为一个全球性问题。这一问题的解决之道在于理性而明智地协调生产和对大自然的关爱之间的关系，这不仅要依靠个人、企业或者某些国家的力量，而且要依靠全人类的力量。解决人与大自然关系危机的方法之一，就是使用太阳能、风能、海洋能等资源，以与其他尚不为人所知的宇宙中的自然能。close9RT But to return to our theme, the bitter truth is that those human actions which violate the laws of nature, the harmony of the biosphere, threaten to bring disaster and this disaster may turn out to be universal. How apt then are the words of ancient Oriental wisdom: live closer to nature, my friends, and its eternal laws will protect you!但是，回到我们原先的主题上，令人难以承受的事实是那些违背了自然规律、破坏了生物圈和谐的人类行为将会带来灾难，而这种灾难也许是全球性的。古代东方智者的话讲得真是恰如其分：朋友们，你要是亲近大自然，大自然就会用那永恒不变的规律永远呵护你！closeTechnology and Happiness技术与幸福In the 20th century, Americans, Europeans, and East Asians enjoyed material and technological advances that were unimaginable in previous eras.=20世纪的美国人、欧洲人和东亚人都享受到了过去历代人都无法想象的物质和技术进步所带来的乐趣。2. In the United States, for instance, gross domestic product per capita tripled from 1950 to 2000.=譬如，在美国，从1950年到2000年，人均国民生产总值翻了3倍。3. Life expectancy soared.=人的寿命大幅度提高。4. The boom in productivity after World War II made goods better and cheaper at the same time.=二战后生产力的迅速开展使商品物美价廉。5. Things that were once luxuries, such as jet travel and long-distance phone calls, became necessities.=诸如乘飞机旅行和打长途 等曾经是奢侈的事情成了生活中不可或缺的一局部。6. And even though Americans seemed to work extraordinarily hard, their pursuit of entertainment turned media and leisure into multibillion-dollar industries.=即使美国人工作时似乎是格外勤奋努力的，可他们对娱乐的追求却使得他们将媒体和闲暇转变成了盈利数十亿美元的产业。Para. 21. By most standards, then, you would have to say that Americans are better off now than they were in the middle of the last century.=那么，根据大多数标准衡量，你会说，现在的美国人比上个世纪中叶富裕得多。2. Oddly, though, if you ask Americans how happy they are, you find that they are no happier than they were in 1946 (which is when formal surveys of happiness started).=然而，奇怪的是，如果你问美国人有多幸福，你会发现，他们并不比1946年时幸福1946年正式开始对幸福状况进展调查。3. In fact, the percentage of people who say they are “very happy has fallen slightly since the early 1970s - even though the ine of people born in 1940 has, on average, increased by 116 percent over the course of their working lives.=事实上，那些说自己“非常幸福的人所占的比例自20世纪70年代早期以来一直稳中有降尽管20世纪40年代出生的人的收入在他们的工作生涯中平均增长了116%。4.You can find similar data for most developed countries.=你可以在大多数兴旺国家找到相似的数据。Para. 31. The relationship between happiness and technology has been an eternal subject for social critics and philosophers since the advent of the Industrial Revolution.=自工业革命出现以来，幸福与技术之间的关系一直是社会批评家和哲学家们长期研究的课题。2. But its been left largely unexamined by economists and social scientists.=然而，这个课题根本上还没有受到经济学家和社会科学家们的关注。3. The truly groundbreaking work on the relationship between prosperity and well-being was done by the economist Richard Easterlin, who in 1974 wrote a famous paper entitled “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?=经济学家理查德伊斯特林在经济繁荣和幸福的关系方面进展了具有开拓性的研究，并于1974年发表了一篇题为“经济增长改变人类命运吗？的著名论文。4. Easterlin showed that when it came to developed countries, there was no real correlation between a nations ine level and its citizens happiness. =伊斯特林明确，就兴旺国家而言，一个国家的收入和国民的幸福之间并没有真正的相互关系。5. Money, Easterlin argued, could not buy happiness - at least not after a certain point.=伊斯特林认为，金钱买不到幸福至少 金钱达到了一定程度以后是如此。6. Easterlin showed that though poverty was strongly correlated with misery, once a country was solidly middle-class, getting wealthier did not seem to make its citizens any happier.=伊斯特林明确，尽管贫穷与苦难密不可分，但是，一个国家一旦达到稳定的中产阶级水平，更富有一些似乎就不会使其国民感到更多的幸福了。Para. 41. This seems to be close to a universal phenomenon.=这近乎是一种普遍现象。2. In fact, one of happiness scholars most important insights is that people adapt very quickly to good news.=事实上，研究幸福的学者们最重要的观点之一是：人们对好消息很快便习以为常。3. Take lottery winners for example. One famous study showed that although winners were very, very happy when they won, their extreme excitement quickly evaporated, and after a while their moods and sense of well-being were indistinguishable from what they had been before the victory.=拿彩票中奖者为例吧。一项重要的研究明确，尽管彩票中奖者中奖时会感到非常非常幸福，可这类兴奋很快就消逝了。一段时间之后，他们的心情和幸福感与中奖之前并没什么区别。Para. 51. So, too, with technology: no matter how dramatic a new innovation is, no matter how much easier it makes our lives, it is very easy to take it for granted.=人们对待技术的态度也是一样的：无论一种新事物多么引人注目，也无论它使我们的生活变得多么舒适，人们很快就会认为这是理所当然的事情。2. You can see this principle at work in the world of technology every day, as things that once seemed miraculous soon bee mon and, worse, frustrating when they dont work perfectly. =在技术世界里，你每天都会看到这一原如此在发挥作用。曾经一度被视为非常神奇的东西很快就变的习以为常，更糟的是，当这些东西运转不正常时，还会令人沮丧。3. Its hard, it turns out, to keep in mind what things were like before the new technology came along.=事实明确，要把新技术问世之前的情形牢记在心原来是如此困难！Para. 61. Does our fast assimilation of technological progress mean, then, that technology makes no difference?=那么，我们对新技术的快速吸收是否意味着技术没有发挥什么作用呢？2. No. It just makes the question of technologys impact, for good or ill, more plicated.=不，决非如此。不论好坏，这只是把技术对人类的影响的问题变得更复杂而已。3. Lets start with the downside.=让我们先从负面影响谈起吧。4. There are certain ways in which technology makes life obviously worse.=在某些方面，技术显然使得生活更加糟糕了。5. Telemarketing, traffic jams, and identity theft all e to mind.=譬如，我们马上会想到 推销、交通阻塞以与身份资料失窃等情况。6. These are all phenomena that make people consciously unhappy.=这些都是让人们明显意识到不幸福的现象。7. But for the most part, modern critiques of technology have focused not so much on specific, bad technologies as the impact of technology on our human relationships.=可是，现代的技术评论文章多半都没有把焦点集中在具体的、有害的技术本身上，而是集中在技术对人际关系的影响上。Para. 71. Privacy has bee increasingly fragile in a world of linked databases.=在数据库联网的世界里，隐私变得越来越脆弱。2. In many workplaces, technologies like keystroke monitoring and full recordings of phone calls make it easier to watch workers.=在许多工作场所，诸如按键监控和 全程录音之类的技术使得对员工的监视变得更加容易了。3. The notion that technology disrupts relationships and fractures munity gained mainstream prominence as an attack on television.=技术扰乱了人际关系，破坏了社区交往这样的观念成为人们攻击电视时的主要焦点。4. Some even say that TV is chiefly responsible for the gradual isolation of Americans from each other.=有些人甚至说，电视是美国人逐渐相互疏远的罪魁祸首。5. Similarly, the harmful effects of the Internet, which supposedly further isolates people from what is often called “the real world.=同样也有人认为，互联网的负面影响进一步使人们远离了我们常说的“真实世界。Para. 81. This broad criticism of technologys impact on relationships is an interesting one and is especially relevant to the question of happiness, because one of the few things we can say for certain is that the more friends and the closer relationships people have, the happier they tend to be.=这种广义上关于技术影响人际关系的批评颇有趣味，尤其与幸福的问题密切相关，因为我们真正有把握说清楚的事情没有几件，但其中之一是：人们的朋友越多，关系越密切，就越幸福。Para. 91. Today, technological change is so rappid that when you buy something, you do so knowing that in a few months theres going to be a better, faster version of the product, and that youre going to be stuck with the old one.=今天的技术变化异常神速，购置某种产品时你就知道，在过几个月，比这个产品性能更好、运作更快捷的款式就会问世，而你却不得不继续使用旧款式的产品。2. Someone else, in other words, has it better.=换句话说，别人买到的产品要比你的好。3. Its as if disappointment were built into acquisition from the very beginning.=这种失望感仿佛从你开始购置这件产品时就已经深深植入你的认知系统中了。Para. 101. Daily stress, an annoying sense of disappointment, fear that the government knows a lot more about you than you would like it to - these are obviously some of the ways in which technology reduces peoples sense of well-being.=日常生活的压力、一种令人烦恼的失望感、对政府知晓你的情况超出你所希望的程度而造成的恐惧感这些显然都是技术降低了人们幸福感的几个方面。2. But the most important impact of technology on peoples sense of well-being is in the field of health care.=然而，技术对人们的幸福感的最重要的影响表现在医疗保健方面。3. Before the Industrial Revolution, two out of every three Europeans died before the age of 30.=工业革命以前，每三个欧洲人中就有两个的寿命不足30岁。4. Today, life expectancy for women in Western Europe is almost 80 years, and it continues to increase.=而今天，西欧妇女的寿命差不多是80岁，而且还会继续提高。5. The point is obvious: the vast majority of people are happy to be alive, and the more time they get on earth, the better off they feel theyll be.=道理很明了：绝大多数人很乐意活下去，他们在地球上生活的时间越长感觉就越好。6. But until very recently, life for the vast majority of people was nasty, rough, and short.=但是，就在不久前，绝大多数人还过着龌龊不堪、牲口不如的生活，而且寿命非常短暂。7. Technology has changed that, at least for people in the rich world.=技术改变了这一状况，至少对于富裕国家的人们来说情况是如此。8. As much as we should worry about the rising cost of health care and the problem of the uninsured, its also worth remembering how valuable for our spirits as well as our bodies are the benefits that medical technology has brought us.=我们在为医疗保健费用的提高和没有参加保险的人们的问题担忧的同时，同样也应该记住，医疗技术所带给我们的身体和精神上的好处是多么有价值。Para. 111. On a deeper level, what the technological improvement of our health and our longevity emphasizes is a paradox of any discussion of happiness on a national or a global level: even though people may not be happier, even though they are wealthier and possess more technology, theyre still as hungry as ever for more time.=从更深层次上来说，我们在健康和长寿方面所取得的进步却强调了在国家和全球层面讨论幸福问题的一个自相矛盾的说法：即使人们不会更幸福，即使他们更加富裕并拥有更多技术，他们还会像以前那样渴望长寿。2. Its like that old joke: the food may not be so great, but we want the portions to be as big as possible.=这就像那个古老的笑话一样：食品也许并不好，可我们都想让自己得到的那一份尽量大一些。FameFame is very much like an animal chasing its own tail who, when he captures it, does not know what else to do but to continue chasing it. Fame and the exhilarating celebrity that acpanies it, force the famous person to participate in his or her own destruction. Ironic isnt it?声誉就像一直不断追逐自己尾巴的动物,当抓住自己的尾巴时,它也不知道除了继续追逐之外他还能做什么. 声誉和令人兴奋的名望相伴,促使着名人们走向消灭.很讽刺,不是么?Those who gain fame most often gain it as a result of possessing a single talent or skill: singing, dancing, painting, or writing, etc. The successful performer develops a style that is marketed aggressively and gains some popularity, and it is this popularity that usually convinces the performer to continue performing in the same style, since that is what the public seems to want and to enjoy. But in time, the performer bees bored singing the same songs in the same way year after year, or the painter bees bored painting similar scenes or portraits, or the actor is tired of playing the same character repeatedly. The demand of the public holds the artist hostage to his or her own success, fame. If the artist attempts to change his or her style of writing or dancing or singing, etc., the audience may turn away and look to confer fleeting fickle fame on another and then, in time, on another, and so on and so on.那些声名鹊起的人通常是因为他们具有某项天赋或者掌握了某样技能:唱歌,跳舞,绘画或者写作等.一个成功的表演者因为开展了一种激进的市场表演风格而倍受欢迎.也正是这种名气促使他保持着这种表演艺术.因为这是观众想要的和喜欢的.但是到最后,歌手会因为年复一年的唱着同样的歌而感到厌烦.画家会因为一直画着同样的风景和肖像而感到无趣.演员会因为长期表演同样的角色而感到厌倦.公众的需求掌握着艺术家们的获得声誉与否的关键.如果艺术家们想要去改变他们书法风格,唱腔或者舞步等的时候,观众们就有可能离开,把那些转瞬即逝的名誉授予他人.然后接着,给另一个再另一个再另一个.Who cannot recognize a Tennessee Williams play or a novel by John Updike or Ernest Hemingway or a poem by Robert Frost or W.H. Auden or T.S. Eliot? The same is true of painters like Monet, Renoir, Dali or Picasso and it is true of movie makers like Hitchcock, Fellini, Spielberg, Chen Kai-ge or Zhang Yimou. Their distinctive styles marked a significant change in the tradition forms and granted them fame and fortune, but they were not free to develop other styles or forms because their audience demanded of each of them what they originally presented. Hemingway cannot even now be confused with Henry James or anyone else, nor can Frost be confused with Yeats, etc. The unique forms each of them created, created them. No artist or performer can entirely escape the lure of fame and its promise of endless admiration and respect, but there is a heavy price one must pay for it.厄普代克和欧纳斯特.海明威的小说/罗伯特.弗罗斯特/W.H.奥登和托.史.艾略特的诗歌?同样的还有画家莫奈,雷诺阿,达利或者毕加索,还有电影制作节家希契科克, 费里尼,斯皮尔伯格,陈凯歌或者X艺谋.他们与众不同的风格标志着传统形式的重大变革,从而授予他们声望和财富.但是他们没有开展其他风格或模式的自由,因为他们的观众需要的是他们最先呈现的形式.即使现在,海明威还被混淆为亨利詹姆斯或者其他的什么人;弗洛斯特也没有被混淆为耶茨.他们创造的独一无二的风格成就了他们.没有任何一个艺术家或表演者能够完全逃脱声誉的诱惑,因为声誉能给他们带来无止境的赞美和尊重.但是想要获得声誉就一定要付出沉重的代价.Fame brings celebrity and high regard from adoring and loyal fans in each field of endeavor and it is heady stuff. A performer can easily e to believe that he or she is as good as his or her press. But most people, most artists do not fain fame and fortune. What about those performers who fail, or anyone who fails? Curiously enough, failure often severs as its own reward for many people! It brings sympathy from others who are delighted not to be you, and it allows family and friends to lower their expectations of you so that you need not pete with those who have more talent and who succeed. And they find excused and explanations for your inability to succeed and bee famous: you are too sensitive, you are not interested in money, you are not interested in the power that fame brings and you are not interested in the loss of privacy it demands, etc.all excused, but forting to those who fail and those who pretend not to notice the failure. 在每个领域里, 声望都能够带来名气, 能够在那些满怀崇敬之心的忠实的粉丝里受到高度关注.但是它是是个容易使人沉醉的东西. 一个表演者很容易相信自己的成就与舆论者称赞一样.但是很多人,很多艺术家并没有获得声誉和财富.那些失败者的表演者,或者其他失败了的人呢?说来也奇怪,对于很多人来说,失败却常常是对他们的失败的补偿.它招来那些庆幸自己不是你的人的怜悯; 它使得你的家人,朋友降低对你的期望,从而你不必再与那些比你有天赋,比你成功的人攀比.他们为你不能成功成名的无能寻找各种各样的借口和解释: 你太容易受伤,你对金钱不感兴趣,你不屑于那些伴随名誉而来的权利,你也不喜欢因为知名而使隐私受到侵犯,等等. 所有的借口,只是为了安慰是那些失败了的人,或者那些假装不在意失败的人罢了. History has amply proven that some failure for some people at certain times in their lives does indeed motivate them to strive even harder to succeed and to continue believing in themselves. Thomas Wolfe, the American novelist, had his first novel Look Homeward, Angel rejected 39 times before it was finally published and launched his career and created his fame. Beethoven overcame his tyrannical father and grudging acceptance as a musician to bee the greatest, most famous musician in the world, and Pestalozzi, the famous Italian educator in the 19th century, failed at every job he ever had until he came upon the idea if teaching children and developing the fundamental theories to produce a new form of education. Thomas Edison was thrown out of school in fourth grade, at about age 10, because he seemed to the teacher to be quite dull and unruly. Many other cases may be found of people who failed and used the failure to
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