本文选自吴应时主编的《大学英语六级阅读真题精读——晨读伴侣》。本书对历年国家大学英语六级考试(CET-6)的仔细阅读部分进行了详尽而精准的分析、翻译和注释,对四六级考生有着事半功倍的效果,对提升整体英语能力也很有帮助。

学习导读:

利润能让人变得疯狂起来,对于法制观念不强的人来说犹是。四六级考试的价值观可以看出来仍旧是社会主义的核心观念,即使其所选用的文章来自资本主义的西方国家。其实在社会学界,对现代性进行反思、对资本主义进行批判反倒成为了美国社会学的重要研究领域。不是说资本主义不好,而是在肯定市场经济的同时,对其所带来的负面产物进行深刻反思。喜欢思考的同学不妨阅读下这两本书:《单向度的人(马尔库塞)》和《现代性的后果(安东尼·吉登斯)》。

Amitai Etzioni is [not] surprised [by the latest headings about scheming 1corporate crooks]. [As a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School in 1989], he ended his work [there] (disgusted 2   with his students’ overwhelming 3 lust 4 for money). “They’re taught that profit is all (that matters)”, he says. “Many schools don’t [even] offer ethics courses [at all].”
阿米泰·伊兹欧尼对最近关于公司骗子的报道一点都不意外。他在1989年担任哈佛商学院的客座教授,后来由于厌恶自己的学生对金钱的狂热贪欲而结束教职。“他们接受这样的教育:利润至高无上。”他说,“很多学校甚至根本就没有开设伦理学课程。”

注:1. scheme n. 方案, 图谋, 体制

v. 计划; 策划, 密谋; 设计; 拟订计划; 搞阴谋;【同】contrive, connive, plan

“That's the only kind of scheme in which it would be practical,” added Mr Jones.
“这将是唯一具有可操作性的方案”,琼斯先生补充道。

[冷知识:这句话选自BBC英国广播公司,British English通常在先生、女士后面略去小点“.”,所以句中是Mr Jones,如果是American English则习惯于用Mr. Jones来表达。][选自:BBC: RELATED BBC SITES]

2. disgust n. 厌恶; 嫌恶

v. 使作呕。例:

He seemed to have stirred up in his mind a disgust.
在他心里,似乎激起了一股怨恨。

He was invited to Washington to advise on the poverty program, but left in disgust.
他被邀请到华盛顿就扶贫项目发表意见,但失望而归。

[选自:NEWYORKER: Books as Bombs]

3. overwhelm v. 战胜; 压倒; 征服; 覆盖。例:

If I cannot overwhelm with my quality, I will overwhelm with my quantity.
如果我不能以质量压倒,我就一定要以数量压倒。

It is written in long and run-on sentences that overwhelm the sense of order and logic.
写作中对不另起一段的长句的追求盖过了句子的意思通顺和逻辑连贯。

[选自:CNN: VIEWS FROM THE FRINGE]

4. lust n. 贪欲, 色欲, 欲望 v. 贪求,渴望; lust for sth. 贪恋…

The lust of men must not be overdone.
人们的欲望不该过分。

Their gratitude for the normalcy of their own marriages was almost like an awkward lust.
对驻外工作的人们来说,他们只求平凡的婚姻生活都几乎是奢望。

[选自:NEWYORKER: The Repatriates]

Etzioni expressed his frustration 1 (about the interests) (of his graduate students). “[By and large], I [clearly] had not found a way [to help classes full of MBAs see] that there is more to life than money, power, fame and self-interest,” 2 he wrote [at the time]. [Today] he [still] takes the blame [for not educating these “business-leaders-to-be].” “I [really] feel [like I failed them,]” he says. “[If I was a better teacher] maybe I could have reached them.”
伊兹欧尼在谈到他的研究生的兴趣时显出失望的神色。“总的来说,我显然还没有找到方法来帮助全是MBA学生的班级意识到生活不仅仅是金钱、权力、名誉和自我利益,”他那时曾写道。如今,他还在为没能教育好这些“未来的商界精英”而自责。“我真的觉得是我辜负了他们。”他说,“如果我是个更好的老师,或许就能打动他们了。”

注:1. frustration n. 挫败; 受挫; 挫折。例:

Frustration predisposes him to look on the dark side of things.
挫折使他遇事只看其阴暗面。

但该词更重要的是了解其动词frustrate的用法,使某人失望、受挫。例:

At the same time, the report found that cell phones can frustrate users.
当时,该报道发现手机会让用户(手机的使用者)受挫。

[选自:CNN: How Americans really use cell phones]

2. 该句中that there is … self-interest划分成了宾语,实质上这句话只是作目的状语to help classes full of MBAs see里面see这个动作的宾语。

Etzioni was a respected ethics 1   expert [when he arrived [at Harvard].] He hoped his work (at the university) would give him insight 2 [into how questions of morality 3 could be applied [to places] (where self-interest flourished 4].) What he found wasn’t encouraging. Those would-be executives had, says Etzioni, little interest [in concept] (of ethics and morality) [in the boardroom] – and their professor was met [with blank 5 stares 6  ] [when he urged his students [to see business in new and different ways].]
初到哈佛时,伊兹欧尼是位倍受尊敬的伦理学专家。他期望在大学的工作可以使他洞察到道德问题该如何在私欲膨胀的领域得以应用。然而,他的发现并不令人振奋。他说,这些未来的管理者对在会议室中培训伦理和道德的概念几乎提不起什么兴趣——而当他督促他们要以全新的、不同的角度看待商业行为时,他们却用困惑不解的眼光盯着他。

注:1. ethics n. 伦理学, 道德学; 伦理观; 伦理学著作; 道德标准。【派】ethical adj. 伦理的,民族的。例:

Aristotle’s ethics is the ethics of self-realization.
亚里士多德的伦理学是自我实现的伦理学。

2. insight n. 洞察力, 见识;习惯用语:

gain (have) an insight into 了解, 熟悉; 看透, 识破

They engage in ethics discussions with a great deal of commitment and insight, even relief.
他们怀着大量的投入、洞察甚至是慰藉投入到关于伦理学的讨论中。

[选自:CNN: Telling right from wrong starts at the top]

3. morality n. 道德, 品行, 教训。例:

Ethics is the study of morality. It is a systematic attempt to make sense of morality.
伦理是关于道德的一门学问,将对道德的理解系统化。

4. flourish n. 茂盛; 华饰; 兴旺 v. 繁荣; 活跃; 茂盛; 挥舞; 装饰; 炫耀, 夸耀。例:

He showed us his new design with much flourish.
他炫耀地向我们展示他的新设计。

The extra nutrients fed these tiny organisms, causing them to flourish in the sunny surface waters.
对这些微小有机物喂以额外的营养,使其在阳光下的水面上活跃生长。

[选自:MSN: Ancient Ocean 'Dead Zone' Delayed Life After Mass Extinction]

5. blank n. 空白, 空白处; 空虚; 空白表格; 空弹

adj. 空白的; 无表情的, 茫然的; 空的, 无内容的; 无变化的, 单调的

v. 使无效, 封锁, 取消; 消失; 变得模糊, 成为空白。文中作形容词。

6. stare n. 凝视, 注视; 瞪眼

v. 盯, 凝视; 竖立; 显眼, 显见; 盯, 注视, 凝视; 目不转睛地看。例:

Having heard what I said, James looked at me with cold stare.
听了我讲的话以后,詹姆斯冷然地瞪着我。

Believe me, people stare in jealousy when I do this and ask about it.
信我吧,当我在行动和询问时,人们只会睁大眼睛满是嫉妒。

[选自:FORBES: Best Gear for the Traveling Golfer]

Etzioni sees the experience [at Harvard] and says there’s much about business schools (that he’d like to change.) “A lot of the faculty 1teaching business are bad news themselves,” Etzioni says. [From offering classes that teach students how to legally manipulate contracts, to reinforcing 2 the notion of profit over community interests], Etzioni has seen a lot (that’s left him .) And [because of what he’s seen taught in business schools], he’s [not] surprised [by the latest rash of corporate scandals 3]. “[In many ways] things have got a lot worse [at business schools], I suspect.” Says Etzioni.
伊兹欧尼认为在哈佛商学院的经历令他大开眼界,并说商学院里有很多他想改变的地方。“很多教职员工教授商务课程本身就是坏消息了,”他说。从开设课程教学生如何合法地篡改合同,到强化“利润高于公共利益”的观念,伊兹欧尼已见到很多使他摇头兴叹的例子。而且由于他在商学院见证了所教授的课程,他对最近爆发的种种公司丑闻并不感到意外。“我怀疑商学院里的情况在很多方面还要糟得多,”他说。

注:1. faculty n. 才能, 全体教员, 能力, 学系。例:

He has the faculty of [或者a faculty for] doing two things at once.
他有一心二用的能力。

The site allows users to search registered students, faculty and staff at their college.
该网站允许用户搜索他们学院注册的学生、老师以及教工。

[选自:CNN: Daring to date across party lines]

2. reinforce v. 增援, 加强; 加固; 增加, 补充; 强化, 加深。例:

It would reinforce the tendency to use the UN to ratify the gains of surprise attack.
这会助长利用联合国使通过突然袭击的办法夺占的领土得到认可的倾向。

We must reinforce planning and management capacities for the education sector as a whole.
我们必须加强教育部门整体的规划和管理职能。

[选自:UNESCO: Education]

3. scandal n. 丑闻, 丑事; 流言蜚语, 诽谤; 耻辱, 丢脸; 公愤, 反感。例:

A crime or scandal brings much notoriety to those involved in it.
罪行或丑闻常使有牵连的人声名狼藉。

In a statement soon afterward, he offers his regrets and acknowledges some responsibility for the scandal.
接下来没多久,在一份声明中,乔·帕特诺表达了他的歉意,以及表达对部分(性侵幼童)丑闻负责。

[选自:NPR: How A Scandal Brought Down Joe Paterno]

Etzioni is [still] teaching the sociology 1   (of right and wrong) and [still] calling for ethical business leadership. “People (with poor motives) will [always] exist,” he says. “[Sometimes] environments constrain 2those people and [sometimes] environments give those people opportunity.” Etzioni says the booming 3 economy (of the last decade) enabled those individuals [with poor motives] [to get rich before getting in trouble]. His hope [now]: that the cries (for reform) will provide more fertile 4  soil [for his long-standing messages about business ethics].
伊兹欧尼现在仍然在教授明辨是非的社会学,而且仍在呼吁合乎道德的商业领导。“永远都会有动机不纯的人存在,”他说。“有时环境会约束他们,有时会给他们提供机会。”伊兹欧尼说,过去十年迅猛发展的经济使一些动机不良的人能够在遭殃之前变富。他现在希望:对改革的呼声将给他长期坚持的商业道德的想法提供更加肥沃的土壤。

注:1. sociology n. 社会学。社会学家是sociologist,社会学的sociological。另外,可以顺便掌握跟社会学不分家的人类学anthropology。

2. constrain v. 强迫; 拘束; 抑制。该词很重要,务必理解,而且在写作中用处很广。例:

Given such a situation, governments have only two options: to address the fundamental policy issues or to further constrain growth.
如遇这样一种局势,政府只有两条路可走:不是去解决有关根本政策问题,就是限制经济的进一步增长。

“This will continue to constrain healthcare demand even as the economy recovers, ” the report said.
报告指:“即便经济复苏,这一政策也会继续限制医疗需求。”

[选自:MSN: Higher health-care costs curb use, says report]

3. boom n. 隆隆声; 嗡嗡声; 澎湃声; 景气

v. 发出隆隆声; 激增, 暴涨; 声音隆隆而过; 迅速发展, 兴旺; 用隆隆声表达; 使兴旺; 使迅速发展; 使出名。例:

During the housing boom, builders were selling more than 1.2 million homes per year.
在房地产暴涨的时期,开发商每年售出了一百二十万套房子。

[选自:WSJ: States, IRS to Join Probe of Home-Builder Pay Practices]

4. fertile adj. 肥沃的, 能生产的, 生产多的。例:

A fertile and needful trade flowed between our two countries.
在我们两国之间进行着繁荣和互惠互利的贸易。

The Silk Route was also fertile ground for traveling Buddhist monks in search of converts.
丝绸之路对于追求信仰而沿路朝圣的佛教徒来说也是沃土。
[丝绸之路也可说成silk road,不过最好还是说route,毕竟这个路是线路,而不是道路。]

[选自:CNN: Afghanistan: Treasure chest of early Asian culture]