新概念英语四文章

Spare that spider 不要伤害蜘蛛(How much of each year do spiders spend killing insects?)Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings. Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. One can tell the difference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in a grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day. It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spider in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.

$课文1 发现化石人1. We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write. 我们从书籍中可读到5,000 年前近东发生的事情，那里的人最早学会了写字。2. But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write. 但直到现在,世界上有些地方，人们还不会书写。3. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas -- legends handed down from one generation of story tales to another. 他们保存历史的唯一办法是将历史当作传说讲述，由讲述人一代接一代地将史实描述为传奇故事口传下来。4. These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, 这些传说是有用的，因为他们告诉我们很久以前生活在这里的移民的一些事情。5. but none could write down what they did. 但是没有人能写下来。6. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from. 人类学家过去不清楚如今生活在太平洋诸岛上的波利尼西亚人的祖先来自何方，7. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago. 当地人的传说却告诉人们：其中一部分是约在2,000年前从印度尼西亚迁来的。8. But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas,if they had any, are forgotten. 但是，和我们相似的原始人生活的年代太久远了，因此，有关他们的传说既使有如今也失传了。9. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first 'modern men' came from. 于是，考古学家们既缺乏历史记载，又无口头传说来帮助他们弄清最早的“现代人”是从哪里来的。10. Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, 然而， 幸运的是，远古人用石头制作了工具，特别是用燧石，11. because this is easier to shape than other kinds. 因为燧石较之其他石头更容易成形。12. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away. 他们也可能用过木头和兽皮，但这类东西早已腐烂殆尽。13. Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace. 石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制造这些工具的人的骨头早已荡然无存，但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来。$课文2 不要伤害蜘蛛14. Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? 你可能会觉得奇怪， 蜘蛛怎么会是我们的朋友呢？15. Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. 因为它们能消灭那么多的昆虫，其中包括一些人类的大敌，16. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; 昆虫就会使我们无法在地球上生活下去，17. they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, 昆虫会吞食我们的全部庄稼，杀死我们的成群的牛羊。18. if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals. 要不是人类受一些食虫动物的保护，19. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders. 我们要十分感谢那些吃昆虫的鸟和兽，然而把它们所杀死的昆虫全部加在一起也只相当于蜘蛛所消灭的一小部分。20. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings. 此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食虫动物，它们丝毫不危害我们和我们的财物。21. Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. 许多人认为蜘蛛是昆虫，但它们不是昆虫，甚至与昆虫毫无关系。22. One can tell the difference almost at a glance, 人们几乎一眼就能看出二者的差异，23. for a spider always has eight legs and insect never more than six. 因为蜘蛛都是8条腿，而昆虫的腿从不超过6条。24. How many spiders are engaged in this work no our behalf? 有多少蜘蛛在为我们效力呢？25. One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in grass field in the south of England, 一位研究蜘蛛的权威对英国南部一块草坪上的蜘蛛作了一次调查。26. and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; 他估计每英亩草坪里有225万多只蜘蛛。27. that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch. 这就是说，在一个足球场上约有600万只不同种类的蜘蛛。28. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. 蜘蛛至少有半年在忙于吃昆虫。29. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, 它们一年中消灭了多少昆虫，我们简直无法猜测，30. but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day. 它们是吃不饱的动物，不满意一日三餐。31. It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country. 据估计，在英国蜘蛛一年里所消灭昆虫的重量超过这个国家人口的总重量。$课文3 马特霍恩山区人32. Modern alpinists try to climb mountains by a route which will give them good sport, 现代登山运动员总想找一条能够给他们带来运动乐趣的路线来攀登山峰。33. and the more difficult it is, the more highly it is regarded. 他们认为， 道路愈艰险愈带劲儿。34. In the pioneering days, however, this was not the case at all. 然而，在登山运动的初期，全然不是这种情况。35. The early climbers were looking for the easiest way to the top, 早期登山者所寻找的是通往山顶的最方便的途径，36. because the summit was the prize they sought, especially if it and never been attained before. 因为顶峰特别是前人未曾到过的顶峰 -- 才是他们寻求的目标。37. It is true that during their explorations they often faced difficulties and dangers of the most perilous nature, 确实，在探险中他们经常遇到惊心动魄的困难和危险，38. equipped in a manner with would make a modern climber shudder at the thought, 而他们装备之简陋足以使现代登山者一想起来就胆战心惊。39. but they did not go out of their way to court such excitement. 但是，他们并非故意寻求这种刺激，40. They had a single aim, a solitary goal--the top! 他们只有一个目标，唯一的目标 -- 顶峰！41. It is hard for us to realize nowadays how difficult it was for the pioneers. 我们今天很难想像昔日的登山先驱们是多么艰苦。42. Except for one or two places such as Zermatt and Chamonix, which had rapidly become popular, 除了泽曼特和夏蒙尼等一两个很快出了名的地方外，43. Alpine village tended to be impoverished settlements cut off from civilization by the high mountains. 阿尔卑斯山山区的小村几乎全是高山环抱、与世隔绝的穷乡僻壤。44. Such inns as there were generally dirty and flea-ridden; 那里的小客栈一般都很肮脏，而且跳蚤猖獗。45. the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread often twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine. 食物是当地的干酪和通常存放了一年之久的面包，人们就着劣酒吞下这种食物。46. Often a valley boasted no inn at all, and climbers found shelter wherever they could 山谷里常常没有小客栈，登山者只好随遇而安。47. sometimes with the local priest (who was usually as poor as his parishioners), 有时同当地牧师 （他通常和他的教民一样穷）住在一起，48. sometimes with shepherds or cheese-makers. 有时同牧羊人或制乳酪的人住在一起。49. Invariably the background was the same: dirt and poverty, and very uncomfortable. 无论住在哪儿，情况都一样：肮脏、贫穷，极其不舒适。50. For men accustomed to eating seven-course dinners and sleeping between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps must have very hard indeed. 对于过惯了一顿饭吃7道菜、睡亚麻细布床单的人来说，变换一下生活环境来到阿尔卑斯山山区，那一定是很艰难的。

将一本书拉下神坛比送上神坛更难。毫无疑问，新概念四册就是被送上神坛的一本教材。在国内，大部分人都只学到新概念三册（据外研社的数据，新概念每年的码洋就能上亿，但学新四的学生又有多少？），因为不能坚持而没有学的人，找到一个替罪羊羔：太难，不是人学的。我甚至听到过很多教师也有同样的观点，认为新四是一本“畜牲学的书”。下面我们从文章出处、词汇、句型几点来确定一下新概念英语四册的难度。先从文章出处来看一下：第一课findingfossilman，是摘自于一本126页的小书，名字也叫findingfossilman，作者RobinPlace，这是一本初级的生物学知识（biology）的书籍，里面的一学人类学的知识都是常识，比如：没有文字的地区用口诉的方法来记录自己的历史。这本书是给高级中学的学生看的（advancedhighschool）。现在很多人考雅思托福都是要出国读本科、研究生，怎么一篇中学生书籍的节选就难了呢？有些文章来自一些著名的报纸杂志，第10课，SiliconValley，摘自USNewsandWordReport《美国新闻和世界报道》，是美国综合性报道和评论的英文周刊。它是仅次于《时代》周刊和《新闻周刊》的第三大新闻杂志，第10课谈论是硅谷，是十年前比较流行的一个名词。文章用词较为平易，两段，共275个词，内容不深，主要讲硅谷中芯片生产的迅猛发展。第8课Tradingstandards贸易标准，摘自英国《经济学人》Theeconomist。杂志最早于1843年9月由詹姆士·威尔逊创，《经济学人》的发行量大约是88万份，其80%以上的读者是在英国以外地区。《经济学人》严肃又不失诙谐的时事经济杂志，杂志认为自己的读者都受过高等教育，因此对很多经济名词、专业术语，从不屑于做解释。《经济学人》会有一些简单的文章，还能找到一些有意思的图表，但总体而言，这是一本需要一定词汇量的杂志。高级英语学习者以能看懂《经济学人》为自豪。但第8课属于《经济学人》中简单的那类，课文发表于1997年，主要谈论各国贸易标准不同阻碍贸易的发展。全文263个词，没有出现过于专业的经济名词，中规中距，并无讽刺幽默，缺乏经济学人的一惯特点。值得注意的是，新概念四册中有大量的科学实验类的文章，如第4课，SeeingHands的能看见的手，讲俄罗斯一位能用手识物的小姑娘；第13课，TheSearchofOil探寻石油，讲开采石油的方法；第19课，Thestuffofdreams,，谈人们对于睡眠的认识；25课，Non-auditoryeffectsofnoise噪音的非听觉效应，讲噪音对人到底有没有影响。这些文章和雅思托福阅读的题材和难度很接近。文章文风正式，中立，没有过多的文采，但是用词宽泛严谨，是学习托福雅思之前良好的基础精读文章。新四最为大家熟知的是有关人文主义的文章，比如第5课FieldenHughes的youth青年，11课英国哲学家罗素的HowToGrowOld如何安排晚年，24课英国哲学家C.E.M.Joad的Beauty，46课丘吉尔的Hobbies。从用词句型的角度，以beauty和hobbies最难，其它文章用词并不生僻，只不过内涵丰富，极富哲理，让人回味。如罗素在回答如何克服死亡的恐惧时说：Thebestwaytoovercomeit—soatleastitseemstobe---istomakeyourinterestsgraduallywiderandmoreimpersonal,untilbitbybitthewallsoftheegorecede,andyourlifebecomesincreasinglymergedintheuniversallife.克服怕死的最好法——至少在我看来是这样——就是逐渐使自己的兴趣更加广泛，逐渐摆脱个人狭小的圈子，直到自我的围墙一点一点地倒塌下来，自己的生活慢慢地和整个宇宙的生活融合在一起。整句没有一个难词，但其中的内涵感染过每一位上新四的同学。而他对于人生的的比喻：Anindividualhumanexistenceshouldbelikeariver--smallatfirst,narrowlycontainedwithinitsbanks,andrushingpassionatelypastbouldersandoverwaterfalls.Graduallytherivergrowswider,thebanksrecede,thewatersflowmorequietly,andintheend,withoutanyvisiblebreak,theybecomemergedinthesea,andpainlesslylosetheirindividualbeing.（个人的存在应该像一条河流，开始很小，被紧紧地夹在两岸中间，接着热情奔放地冲过巨石，飞下瀑布。然后河面渐渐地变宽，两岸后撤，河水流得平缓起来，最后连绵不断地汇入大海，毫无痛苦地失去了自我的存在。）这一段，不提比喻之精巧，单单朗读英文时，句式错落有致，音节优美，极富节奏，朗读起来就是一种享受。正是由于这些名家的篇章，使得新四在严肃的同时，又多了一份生动人文的气息。但我们要反对一种趋势，拿这些名家的篇章代表新四整册，刻意提高新四的难度。再来看一下新四的词汇：如果不是一本正常人学的教材，肯定具有大量不正常的词汇，事实却不是这样，新四的词汇大部分很实用。我们把词汇分为三种类型：第一种，极具新四词汇特色、因为学新四才接触的，而且还极具美感，如：serenity宁静、banal平庸的、reminiscence回忆，或夸张气息的：promiscuous杂乱、orgy放荡、fatuous愚蠢、presumptuous放肆。第二类是和考试类重叠的词汇。据统计：四册共793词,四级317词,(40%),六级542词,(68%),考研428词,(54%)，以14课为例：speculative推测的，deteriorate恶化，multiply增加，turbulent狂暴的，fluctuation波动，deviation偏离，都是考试常用词汇，也是上课时重点练习的单词。第三类是偏僻而很少使用的词汇，如：grip紧张，caprice任性，cactus仙人掌，strata岩层，coringbit取芯钻头。当然新四生词表中也有很多简单的词汇，如：legend传奇，glorious辉煌，devotion投入，chip芯片，cheat欺骗等。最后看一下新四的句型难度：新四的句子是不是极变态而无法读懂呢？当然不是。新四有：Themoredifficultitis,themorehighlyitisregarded.事情越难就越带劲这样的简单句。也有exercisesuchimitativeasfallswithintheirsphere这样更为含糊的表达。但是取中间难度的一个句子，和托福、雅思、考研几个考试对比一下，就能发现，新四的难度，和这几个考试水平是相当的。我们来看新四第7课Bats（蝙蝠）和最新的雅思真题剑桥7测试1的Let’sGoBats的两个句子：剑7这样介绍回声定位的：Blindpeople,withoutevenbeingawareofthefact,areactuallyusingechoesfortheirownfootstepsandofothersounds,thesensethepresenceofobstacles.新概念四是这样介绍的：Ithasbeenfoundthatcertainbatsemitsqueaksandbyreceivingtheechoes,theycanlocateandsteerclearofobstacles—orlocateflyinginsectsonwhichtheyfeed.读者可以比较一下这两者的难度。据说有一个人只能看懂《经济学人》的30%，问自己英文怎么样？他得到的回答是：你基本和文盲差不多。如此说来，新概念四册是帮助你摆脱文盲的必备书籍，是整套教材的完美结束，是完成精学体系的最后一环，是大量阅读前的最后一战。我们恐惧一件事物是因为不了解，比如几年前你可能会认为一个人英语好得不得了，等你英语好了的时候，你会发现没有那么好。我们因为恐惧而拒绝了一个事物，所以，向读者们建议，去了解一下新四，它没有你想象的那么难！本文摘自新东方胡中华老师的博客

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