新视野大学英语第三册课文翻译赞(赞(25)赞(
Unit1 A
My brother, Jimmy, did not get enough oxygen during a difficult delivery, leaving him with brain damage, and two years later I was born. Since then, my life revolved around my brother’s. Accompanying my growing up was always “go out and play and take your brother with you”. I couldn’t go anywhere without him, so I urged the neighborhood kids to come to my house for some out-of-control kid-centered fun
我哥哥吉米出生时遇上难产，因为缺氧导致大脑受损。两年后，我出生了.从此以后，我的生活便围绕我哥哥转。伴随我成长的，是“到外面去玩，把你哥哥也带上。”不带上他，我是哪里也去不了的。因此，我怂恿邻居的孩子到我家来，尽情地玩孩子们玩的游戏。
My mother taught Jimmy practical things like how to brush his teeth or put on belt. My father, a saint, simply held the house together with his patience and understanding. I was in charge outside where I administered justice by tracking down the parents of the kids who picked on my brother, and telling on them.
我母亲教吉米学习日常自理，比如刷牙或系皮带什么的.我父亲宅心仁厚，他的耐心和理解使一家人心贴着心。我则负责外面的事，到那些欺负我哥哥的孩子们的父母，告他们的状，为我哥哥讨回公道。
My father and Jimmy were inseparable. They ate breakfast  together and on weekdays drove off to the navy shipping center every morning where they both worked-Jimmy unloaded color-coded boxes. At night after dinner, they would talk and play games late into the evening. They even whistled the same tunes.
父亲和吉米形影不离。他们一道吃早饭，平时每天早上一道开车去海军航运中心，他们都在那里工作，吉米在那搬卸标有彩代号的箱子。晚饭后，他们一道交谈，玩游戏，直到深夜。他们甚至用口哨吹相同的曲调。
So when my father died of a heart attack in 1991, Jimmy was a wreck, beneath his careful disguise. He was simply in disbelief. Usually very agreeable, he now quit speaking altogether and no amount of words could penetrate the vacant expression he wore on his face. I hired someone to live with him and drive him to work, but no matter how much I tried to make things stay the same, even Jimmy grasped that the world he’d known was gone. One day I asked, ”You miss Dad, don’t you?” His lips quivered and then he asked, “What do you think, Margaret? He was my best friend.” Our tears began flow.
所以，父亲1991年因心脏病去世时，吉米几乎崩溃了，尽管他尽量不表现出来。他就是不能相信父亲去世这一事实。通常，他是一个令人愉快的人，现在却一言不发，无论说多少话都不能透过他木然的脸部表情了解他的心事。我雇了一个人和他住在一起，开车送他去上班。然而，不管我怎么努力地维持原状，吉米还是认为他熟悉的世界已经消失了。有一天，我问他：“你是不是想念爸爸？”他的嘴唇颤抖了几下，然后问我：“你怎么看，玛格丽特？他是我最好的朋友。”接着，我俩都流下了眼泪。
My mother died of lung cancer six months later and I alone was left to look after Jimmy.
六个月后，母亲因肺癌去世，剩下我一人来照顾吉米。
He didn’t adjust to going to work without my father right away, so he came and lived with me in New York City for a while. He went wherever I went and seemed to adjust pretty well. Still, Jimmy longed to live in my parents’ house and work at his old job and I pledged to help him return. Eventually, I was able to work it out. He has lived there for 11 years now with many different caretakers and blossomed on his own. He has become essential to the neighborhood. When you have any mail to be picked up or your dog needs walking, he is your man.
吉米不能马上适应去上班时没有父亲陪着，因此搬来纽约和我一起住了一段时间。我走到哪里他就跟到哪里，他好像适应得很好。但吉米依然想住在我父母的房子里，继续干他原来的工作。我答应把他送回去。此事最后做成了。如今，他在那里生活了11年，在许多人的照料下，同时依靠自己生活得有声有。他已成了邻里间不可或缺的人物。如果你有邮件要收，或有狗要遛，他就是你所要的人。
My mother was right, of course: It was possible to have a home with room for both his limitations and my ambitions. In fact, caring for someone who loves as deeply and appreciates my efforts as much as Jimmy does has enriched my life more than anything else ever could have.
当然，母亲的话没错：可以有一个家，既能容纳他的缺陷又能装下我的雄心。事实上，关照像吉米这样一个深爱又感激我的人，更加丰富了我的生活，其他任何东西都不能与之相比。
This hit home a few days after the September 11th disaster on Jimmy’s 57th birthday. I had a party for him in my home in New York, but none of our family could join us because travel was difficult and they were still reckoning with the sheer terror the disaster had brought. I called on my faithful friends to help make it a merry and festive occasion, ignoring the fact that most of them were emotionally drained and exhausted. Instead of the customary “No gifts, please”, I shouted, “Gifts! Please!”
这一点，在9?11灾难后几天更显真切。那天是吉米57岁生日。我在纽约自己的家里为他举办生日宴会，但是我们家的人都没能来参加，因为交通困难，而且灾难带来的恐惧使他们依然心有余悸。我邀请了我的好友，请他们来帮忙把宴会弄得热闹些，增加点欢快气氛，没去理会他们多数人在情感上都有些疲惫这一事实。于是我一反常态，没说“请不要带礼物”，而是向他们喊“请带礼物来”。
My friends-people Jimmy had come to know over the years-brought the ideal presents: country music CDs, a sweatshirt, one leather belt with “J-I-M-M-Y” on it, a knitted wool hat and a cowboy costume. The evening led up to the gifts and then the chocolate cake from his favorite bakery, and of course the ceremony wasn’t complete without the singing.
我的朋友──吉米认识他们多年了──带来了中意的礼物：乡村音乐CD、一件长袖运动衫、一条有“吉米”字样的皮带、一顶编织的羊毛帽，还有一套牛仔服。那天晚上，我们先是送礼物，然后是切从他喜欢的面包店里买来的巧克力蛋糕，当然还唱了“生日歌”，否则宴会就不算完整了。
A thousand times Jimmy asked, ”Is it time for the cake yet?” After dinner and the gifts Jimmy could no longer be restrained. He anxiously waited for the candles to be lit and then blew them out with one long breath as well all sang “Happy birthday”. Jimmy wasn’t satisfied with our effort, though. He jumped up on the chair and stood erect pointing both index fingers into the air to conduct us and yelled, ”One…more…time!” We sang with all of the energy left in our souls and when we were finished he put both his thumbs up and shouted.  “ That was super!”
吉米一次次地问：“该切蛋糕了吧？”等用完餐和送完礼物后，吉米再也控制不住了。他焦急地等着点上蜡烛，然后在我们“生日快乐”的歌声中，一口长气吹灭了蜡烛。户然而吉米对我们的努力还是感到不满足。他纵身跳到椅子上，直挺着身子，双手食指朝天，一边喊一边指挥我们唱歌：“再──来──次！”我们全力以赴地唱。待我们唱完时，他翘起两个拇指喊道：“好极了！”
We had wanted to let him know that no matter how difficult things got in the world, there would always be people who cared about him. We ended up reminding ourselves instead. For Jimmy, the love with which we sang was a welcome bonus, but mostly he had just wanted to see everyone else happy again.
本来我们想让他知道，无论世上有多难的事情，总是有人来关心他。现在反倒是提醒了我们自己。对于吉米来说，我们唱歌时的爱心，是他心中额外的礼物，但是他原先更想看到的，是别人再次感到快乐。
Just as my father’s death had changed Jimmy’s world overnight, September 11th changed our lives; the world we’d known was gone. But, as we sang for Jimmy and held each tight afterward praying for peace around the world, we were reminded that the constant love and support of our friends and family would get us through whatever life might present. The simplicity with which Jimmy had reconciled everything for us should not have been surprising. There had never been limitations to what Jimmy’s love could accomplish.
有如父亲的去世一夜之间改变了吉米的世界，9?11也改变了我们的生活；我们熟悉的世界不复存在了。但是，当我们为吉米唱歌，相互紧拥，祈祷全球和平时，我们也意识到，朋友、家人间永恒的爱和支持可以让我们克服生活中的任何困难。吉米以朴素的方式为我们协调了眼前的一切，他做到这一点并不令人吃惊。吉米的爱可以征服一切，这是任何东西都限制不了的。
Unit2 A
Sports medicine experts have observed for years that endurance athletes, particularly females, frequently have iron deficiencies. Now a new study by a team of Purdue University researchers suggests that even moderate exercise may lead to reduced iron in the blood of women.
运动医学专家经过多年的观察，发现耐力运动员，特别是女性，经常会缺铁。普渡大学研究人员进行的一项新的研究表明：即使是适度的锻炼，也可能会降低女性血液中的铁含量。
"We found that women who were normally inactive and then started a program of moderate exercise showed evidence of iron loss," says Roseanne M. Lyle, associate professor at Purdue. Her study of 62 formerly inactive women who began exercising three times a week for six months was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
“我们发现，那些通常不运动的女性一旦开始适度的锻炼，就会出现铁含量下降的迹象，”普渡大学罗斯安妮?M. 莱尔副教授说。她对62名妇女进行了研究，并将研究结果发表在《体育运动医学与科学》杂志上。这些妇女原先不怎么运动，后来开始了为期6个月、每周3次的锻炼。
"Women who consumed additional meat or took iron supplements were able to bounce back," she notes. "But the new exercisers who followed their normal diet showed a decrease in iron levels."
莱尔指出：“那些增食肉类食品或服用铁质补剂的女性能够恢复到健康状态。但突然参加锻炼却仍沿用旧食谱的人则显示出铁含量降低。”
Iron deficiency is very common among women in general, affecting one in four female teenagers and one in five women aged 18 to 45, respectively. But the ratio is even greater among active women, affecting up to 80 percent of female endurance athletes. This means, Lyle says, that "too many women ignore the amount of iron they take in";. Women of child-bearing age are at greatest risk, since their monthly bleeding is a major source of iron loss. Plus, many health-conscious women increase their risk by rejecting red meat, which contains the most easily absorbed form of iron. And because women often restrict their diet in an effort to control weight, they may not consume enough iron-rich food, and are liable to experience a deficiency.
缺铁在女性中是很常见的，每四个十几岁的少女中有一人缺铁，每五个18至45岁的女性中有一人缺铁。而在积极锻炼的妇女中这一比例更高，女耐力运动员中，缺铁者比例则高达80%。莱尔说，这意味着 “太多女性忽视了自己摄入的铁含量”。 育龄女性危险最大，因为月经是铁流失的重要原因之一。此外，许多保健意识太强的女性也很危险，因为她们拒绝食用牛肉或羊肉，而这些肉中含有的铁最易被吸收。而且，由于女性常常为了控制体重而节食，从而未能摄取足够的含铁丰富的食物，结果可能导致缺铁。
"The average woman takes in only two thirds of the recommended daily allowance for iron," notes another expert. "For a woman who already has a poor iron status, any additional iron loss from exercise may be enough to tip her over the edge into a more serious deficiency," notes the expert.
另一名专家指出，“普通女性每天摄入的铁只是应摄入量的三分之二。” 他指出，“对于那些已经缺铁的女性，任何因锻炼而产生的更多铁质流失都足以导致体内缺铁状况的恶化。”运动可能通过多种机制导致铁流失。
Exercise can result in iron loss through a variety of mechanisms. Some iron is lost in sweat, and, for unknown reasons, intense endurance exercise is sometimes associated with bleeding of the digestive system. Athletes in high-impact sports such as running may also lose iron through a phenomenon where small blood vessels in the feet leak blood.
有些铁随汗液流失。另外，由于某些未知的原因，高强度的耐力运动有时会引起消化系统内出血。运动员从事跑步之类高强度剧烈运动，也可能会因为足部血管失血的现象而使铁质流失。
There are three stages of iron deficiency. The first and most common is having low iron reserves, a condition that typically has no symptoms. Fatigue and poor performance may begin to appear in the second stage of deficiency, when not enough iron is present to form the molecules of blood protein that transport oxygen to the working muscles. In the third and final stage, people often feel weak, tired, and out of breath — and exercise performance is severely compromised.
缺铁分为三个阶段：
第一也即最常见的阶段，是铁质储量不足。这一阶段一般没有症状。
到了缺铁的第二阶段，就会出现疲倦和力不从心，此时体内已没有足够的铁来形成血蛋白分子，将氧输至运动肌肉。在第三即最后阶段，人常常感到虚弱、疲乏无力、喘不过气，运动成绩大打折扣。
"People think that if they're not at the third stage, nothing is wrong, but that's not true," says John L. Beard, who helped design the Purdue study. "You're not stage 3 until your iron reserves go to zero, and if you wait until that point, you're in trouble."
“人们认为，只要不到第三阶段就不会有什么问题。这种想法是不对的。” 帮助设计普渡大学研究的约翰?L. 比尔德说。“只有当你的铁储量为零时，你才会进入第三阶段。而你若坐等到这个时候，你的麻烦就大了。”
However, most people with low iron reserves don't know they have a deficiency, because traditional methods of calculating the amount of iron in blood (by checking levels of the blood protein that transports oxygen) are not sufficient, Beard states. Instead, it's important to check levels of a different compound, which indicates the amount of storage of iron in the blood. While active, child-bearing age women are most likely to have low iron stores, he notes, "Men are not safe, especially if they don't eat meat and have a high level of physical activity." (An estimated 15 percent of male long distance runners have low iron stores.) Beard and other experts say it's advisable for people in these groups to have a yearly blood test to check blood iron reserves.
然而，比尔德指出，大多数铁质储量低的人并未意识到自己缺铁，因为传统的检测血液中铁含量的方法──检验血液中输送氧气的血蛋白的含量──是不够的。其实，有必要检查血液中另一种混合成分的含量，它可以显示血液中的铁含量。他还指出，虽然积极锻炼的育龄妇女最有可能铁含量低，“但男性也并非不缺铁，尤其是在他们不吃肉类而又从事高强度的体力活动的情况下。” （估计有15%的男性长跑运动员铁含量低。）比尔德和其他专家都说，对这些人而言，最好每年验一次血，以测定血液中的铁含量。
If iron levels are low, talk with a physician to see if the deficiency should be corrected by modifying your diet or by taking supplements. In general, it's better to undo the problem by adding more iron-rich foods to the diet, because iron supplements can have serious shortcomings. Supplements may produce a feeling of wanting to throw up, and may be poisonous in some cases. The best sources of iron, and the only sources of the form of iron most readily absorbed by the body, are meat, chicken, and fish. Good sources of other forms of iron include dates, beans, and some leafy green vegetables.
如果铁含量低，就要去看医生，以确定是否该通过调整饮食或服用铁质补剂来校正不足。一般说来，解决问题的最好方法是在食谱中增加含铁丰富的食物，因为铁质补剂可能存在严重缺陷。“服用铁质补剂可能使人想呕吐，有时甚至还会引起中毒。最好的铁来源，以及唯一最易为身体所吸收的铁来源，是肉、鸡和鱼。其他较好的铁质来源包括枣、豆类和一些多叶绿蔬菜。”
"Select breads and cereals with the words 'iron-added' on the label," writes sports diet expert Nancy Clark. "This added iron supplements the small amount that naturally occurs in grains. Eat these foods with plentiful Vitamin C (for example, drink orange juice with cereal or put a tomato on a sandwich) to enhance the amount of iron absorbed." Clark also recommends cooking in iron pans, as food can derive iron from the pan during the cooking process. "The iron content of tomato sauce cooked in an iron pot for three hours showed a striking increase, the level going up nearly 30 times," she writes. And people who are likely to have low iron should avoid drinking coffee or tea with meals, she says, since substances in these drinks can interfere with iron being absorbed into the body.
“选择那些标有‘加铁’字样的面包和麦片，” 运动营养专家南希?克拉克写道，“这些增加的铁质补充了谷物中自然含铁量的不足。将这些食物与含有大量维生素C的食物一起食用──比如吃麦片时喝橘子汁，或在三明治内夹上番茄──可以促进铁质吸收。” 克拉克还建议用铁锅烹食，因为烹调过程中食物能从铁锅中吸收铁质。她写道，“在铁锅内烹煮了3个小时的番茄汁，其铁含量大大提高，增加到原来的30倍左右。” 她说，铁含量可能低的人，吃饭时应避免喝咖啡或饮茶，因为这些饮料中所含的物质会妨碍身体对铁质的吸收。
"Active women need to be a lot more careful about their food choices," sums up Purdue's Lyle. "If you pay attention to warning signs before iron reserves are gone, you can remedy the deficiency before it really becomes a problem."
“运动女性应特别注意选择饮食。”普渡大学的莱尔总结说：“如果你在铁含量流失之前就注意到了警告信号，你就可以在它真正成为问题之前弥补铁质的不足。”
   
Unit5 A
I have never seen Mrs. Clark before, but I know from her medical chart and the report I received from the preceding shift that tonight she will die.
我从未见过克拉克夫人，但看过她的医疗记录和上一位值班医生交给我的报告后，我知道她今晚会去世。
The only light in her room is coming from a piece of medical equipment, which is flashing its red light as if in warning. As I stand there, the smell hits my nose, and I close my eyes as I remember the smell of decay from past experience. In my mouth I have a sour, vinegar taste coming from the pit of my stomach. I reach for the light switch, and as it silently lights the scene, I return to the bed to observe the patient with an unemotional, medical eye.
她屋里唯一的光线来自一台医疗设备，它闪着红光，似乎在发出警告。我站在那里，一股怪味刺激着我的鼻子，我想起了过去闻到过的腐烂的气味，我闭上了眼睛。我嘴里有一股从胃里返上来的酸味。我伸手去开灯。灯静静地照亮了整个病房，我走回病床边，用无动于衷的、医生的目光观察着病人。
Mrs. Clark is dying. She lies motionless: the head seems unusually large on a skeleton body; the skin is dark yellow and hangs loosely around exaggerated bones that not even a blanket can hide; the right arm lies straight out at the side, taped cruelly to a board to secure a needle so that fluid may drip in;the left arm is across the sunken chest, which rises and falls with the uneven breaths.
克拉克夫人已奄奄一息了。她一动不动地躺着：骨瘦如柴的身体使她的头显得特别大；皮肤呈暗黄，松松地裹在嶙峋的、连毛毯也遮掩不住的骨骼上；她的右臂平伸在床边，被无情地用胶带固定在一块板上，以便能固定针头使液体滴入；左臂横放在深陷的胸部，胸口随着不均匀的呼吸一起一伏。
I reach for the long, thin fingers that are lying on the chest. They are ice cold, and I quickly move to the wrist and feel for the faint pulse. Mrs. Clark's eyes open somewhat as her head turns toward me slightly. I bend close to her and scarcely hear as she whispers, "Water." Taking a glass of water from the table, I put my finger over the end of the straw and allow a few drops of the cool moisture to slide into her mouth and ease her thirst. She makes no attempt to swallow; there is just not enough strength."More," the dry voice says, and we repeat the procedure. This time she does manage to swallow some liquid and weakly says, "Thank, you."
我伸手去触摸她放在胸口的细长手指。冰凉冰凉的。我忙将手移到她的手腕，去感觉那微弱的脉搏。克拉克夫人将头稍稍转向我，微微地睁开眼。我俯过身去，勉强听见她微弱的声音：“水。”我从桌上拿起一杯水，用手指封着吸管的一端，滴了几滴凉凉的水到她的嘴里，以缓解她的干渴。她没有用力去吞咽，因为力气不够。“还要，”那干涩的声音说。于是我们又重复了一次。这次她终于咽了一些，并轻轻说了声：“谢谢，你。”
She is too weak for conversation, so without asking, I go about providing for her needs. Picking her up in my arms like a child, I turn her on her side. Naked, except for a light hospital gown, she is so verysmall and light that she seems like a victim of some terrible famine. I remove the lid from a jar of skin cream and put some on the palm of my hand. Carefully, to avoid injuring her, I rub cream into the yellow skin, which rolls freely over the bones, feeling perfectly the outline of each bone in the back.Placing a pillow between her legs, I notice that these too are ice cold, and not until I run my hand up over her knees do I feel any of the life-giving warmth of blood.
她虚弱得没法交谈，因此没等她要求，我就开始做她所需要的。我像抱孩子似的把她抱起来，给她翻了个身。除了一件浅的病号服，她什么也没穿。她又小又轻，像遭受了严重饥荒一样。我打开护肤霜的瓶盖，揩了一些在手心。为了不伤着她，我小心翼翼地把护肤霜擦在她发黄的皮肤上。她的皮肤松松地在骨头上滑动，背上每块骨头的轮廓都能清楚地摸到。当我把枕头放在她两腿之间时，发现它们也是冰凉的，直到把手移到她膝盖以上的部位，我才感受到血液供给生命的热度。
When I am finished, I pull a chair up beside the bed to face her and, taking her free hand betweenmine, again notice the long, thin fingers. Graceful. I wonder briefly if she has any family, and then I see that there are neither flowers, nor pictures of rainbows and butterflies drawn by children, nor cards.There is no hint in the room anywhere that this is a person who is loved. As though she is a mind reader, Mrs. Clark answers my thoughts and quietly tells me, "I sent ... my family ... home ... tonight ...didn't want ... them ... to see ..." Having spent her last ounce of strength she cannot go on, but I have understood what she has done. Not knowing what to say, I say nothing. Again she seems to sense mythoughts, "You …stay …"
而后，我挪了把椅子面朝她坐在床边，握住她那只没被固定的手，此时我又一次注意到她细长的手指。很优雅。一时间，我突然想知道她是否有家庭，接着我发现病房里没有花，没有孩子们画的彩虹和蝴蝶，也没有卡片。房间中没有任何迹象表明她是一个被人爱着的人。
她似乎读懂了我的心思，平静地回答我说：“今天…我让…家里人…都…回家…不想…他们…看见”她耗尽了最后的那点力气，再也说不下去了。但我已然明白她做了些什么。我不知道说什么好，所以什么也没说。她好像又看穿了我的心思：“你…留下…”
Time seems to stand still. In the total silence, I feel my own pulse quicken and hear my breathing as it begins to match hers, breath for uneven breath. Our eyes meet and somehow, together, we become aware that this is a special moment between two human beings .Her long fingers curl easily around my hand and I nod my head slowly, smiling. Without words, through yellowed eyes, I receive my thank you and her eyes slowly close.
时间似乎停滞了。在一片寂静中，我感觉自己的脉搏加快了，我听到自己的呼吸开始伴随着她那不均匀的呼吸一起一落。我们互相对视，不知怎么的，我们都意识到，这是两个生命间的一个特殊时刻。她那细长的手指很轻易地就拢住了我的手，我微笑着慢慢点了点头。无需任何语言，我从她发黄的眼睛中感受到了她对我的谢意，她慢慢闭上了眼睛。
Some unknown interval of time passes before her eyes open again, only this time there is no response in them, just a blank stare. Without warning, her shallow breathing stops, and within a few moments,the faint pulse is also gone. One single tear flows from her left eye, across the cheek and down onto the pillow. I begin to cry quietly. There is a swell of emotion within me for this stranger who so quicklycame into and went from my life.Her suffering is done, yet so is the life. Slowly, still holding her hand, I become aware that I do not mind this emotional battle, that in fact, it was a privilege she has allowed me, and I would do it again, gladly. Mrs. Clark spared her family an episode that perhaps they were not equipped to handle and instead shared it with me. She had not wanted to have her family see her die,yet she did not want to die alone. No one should die alone, and I am glad I was there for her.不知过了多长时间，她又睁开了双眼，只是这一次目光里没有任何反应，只有空洞的凝视。没有一点先兆，她那细弱的呼吸停止了。很快，微弱的脉搏也消失了。一颗泪珠从她的左眼中流出，滑过脸颊，落在枕上。我开始轻声哭泣。对这位迅速走进又走出我生活的陌生人，我心间涌起了一股感情。她的痛苦结束了，可她的生命也结束了。我依然握着她的手，渐渐地，我意识到我并不害怕这种感情之战，意识到这实际是她赐予我的特殊荣幸，而且我还乐意再来一次。克拉克夫人没有让她的家人目睹这一幕他们或许无力面对的人生插曲，却与我分享了它。她不想让家人看着她死去，然而她也不愿孤独地离去。不应当有人孤独离去的，我很高兴能守候在她身边。
两天后，我在报上读到了克拉克夫人的消息。
Two days later, I read about Mrs. Clark in the newspaper. She was the mother of seven,grandmother of eighteen, an active member of her church, a leader of volunteer associations in her community, a concert piano player, and a piano teacher for over thirty years.Yes, they were long and graceful fingers.
原来她是7个孩子的母亲、18个孩子的祖母、教会里的活跃分子、社区志愿者协会的领导人、音乐会钢琴演奏家、从教30余年的钢琴教师。
是啊，她的手指是那样细长而优雅。
Unit7 A
When I was 19, I caught sight of the future and based my career on what I saw. I turned out to have been right."—Bill Gates
“我19岁看到了未来，并将我的所见当作我事业的基点，结果证明我是对的。”──比尔?盖茨
He's the most famous businessman and the richest man in the world—worth an estimated $40 billion in 1997. 他是当今世上最著名的商人、最有钱的富豪──1997年他的资产预计为400亿美元。
Without a doubt, Bill Gates belongs in the same class as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and other great minds who changed the world.
毫无疑问，他与托马斯?爱迪生、亚历山大?格雷厄姆?贝尔以及其他改变世界的伟人属于同一行列。
The self-described "hacker" has dominated the personal computing revolution and modernizedthe whole world in the process..这个自称为“黑客”的人主导着个人计算机革命，并在这一过程中使整个世界现代化.
吉米是男是女Indeed, his classification into any other rank than this would seriously understate his impact on the world的确，将他划入任何其他行列，都可能大大淡化他对世界的影响。
Gates' success stems from his personality: an unbelievable and at times frightening blend of high-voltage brilliance, drive and competitiveness. When the chairman and CEO walks through the corridors of Microsoft, it is like a switch being turned on; everything and everyone around him is charged with 10,000 volts of electricity. Gates sets the example and Microsoft employees follow. The schedule he keeps is one hint as to what he expects from his employees. It's not unusual for the "dean" of the "Microsoft campus" to put in 16-hour days
盖茨的成功源自他的人格：他才华横溢、冲劲十足、争强好胜，这些加在一起令人难以置信，有时甚至令人畏惧。当这位董事长兼首席执行官走过微软大楼的走廊时，他身边的人和物就像被打开了电源，充了一万伏电。盖茨树立了榜样，微软的员工紧随其后。他的工作安排暗示着他对员工的期待。这位“微软校园”的“校长”经常每天工作16小时。
Indeed, if there's one thing that distinguishes the Gates style, it is his time management skills. Conservation of time, energy, and focus are his hallmarks.He moves between playing the role of international spokesman for the age of technology and planning business strategy back at headquarters, getting the maximum amount of work possible out of every minute. Always punctual and always in high gear, he typically leaves only the tiniest cracks in the day for eating, talking to friends or recreation. The joke around Microsoft is that his receptionist is the hardest working person in the world. In fact, he has several receptionists. He probably needs one just to arrange his travel plans and visas to foreign countries.的确，如果说盖茨的风格与他人有别的话，那就是他把握时间的技能。节约时间、精力充沛和专心致志是他的突出特点。
他一会儿充当技术时代的国际代言人，一会儿在微软总部谋划经营策略，充分利用每一分钟，最大限度的开展工作。他总是准时，总是处于高速运转状态，他习惯利用白天的点滴空闲进餐、与朋友交谈或娱乐。微软人笑话他的接待员是天底下最勤奋的人。事实上，他有几个接待员。他或许需要有人专门安排他的旅行计划和去国外的签证。
On the subject of travel, he has become known for saving money and time as well. On business trips, he flies commercial whenever possible and in the interest of time, he never checks his baggage. His hosts also find they save money when he is in town. There is no time in his schedule for tourism of any kind, no excursions or sightseeing trips are on his agenda. It's just work, work, work.说到旅行，他节约钱和时间也是出了名的。出差时，他尽可能坐普通民航飞机；为了节省时间，他从不托运行李。接待他的东道主也发现，他住在城里时他们很省钱。他的时间表上没有计划旅游的时间，日程表上也没有游览或观光计划。有的只是工作，工作，工作。
Another trait that makes him so unusual is his incredible "multitasking" ability. At his desk, he works on two computers, one with multiple frames that sequence data streaming in from the Internet, and the other handling the hundreds of e-mail messages and letters he receives. He may even review data while conducting a meeting using a videophone.另一个使他与众不同的特质是他令人难以置信的“多任务操作”能力。他办公时使用两台电脑，一台开有多重窗口以编排从英特网上不断接收的数据，另一台处理他接收的数以百计的。甚至他在用可视电话主持会议时，还能审核数据。
Gates runs his company mainly through three methods: He bats out a hundred or more e-mail messages a day (and night); he meets every month or so with his top management panel of experts and advisers; and most importantly, he holds two or three small review meetings a day with a procession of teams working on the company's various products. He doesn't address anyone by name or hand out too much praise, but he does go round the table clockwise and listens carefully to everyone who has an idea. When he is unclear about something, he quizzes and challenges his staff. "Educate me on that," he might say, looking to make clear a vague statement. Every decision he makes is based on his knowledge of its merits. He doesn't need to rely on personal politics.盖茨主要通过以下三种方法来经营他的公司：他每天（和每晚）发出100封或更多；他大约每月与由专家和顾问组成的高层管理委员会会晤一次；更重要的是，他每天召开两三个小型碰头会，接连与会的是研发公司各种产品的团队。他不作指名道姓的个别谈话，也不作太多的表扬，只作顺时针方向的圆桌会谈，仔细听取每个人的意见。遇到不太明白的说法，他就询问甚至质疑他的手下。“请就此明示，”他会这么说，希望把不清楚的地方弄明白.他作出的每个决定，都是基于对其价值的了解。他不需要依赖个人权术。
When Bill Gates was in the sixth grade, his parents sent him to see a psychologist. After a year of sessions and tests, the psychologist reached his conclusion. "You're going to lose," he told Gates' mother Mary. "You had better just adjust to it because there's no use trying to beat him." In the 22 years since he dropped out of Harvard to conquer the world of computer operating systems and application software, he has been deadly for competitors trying to claw their way into the market.比尔?盖茨读六年级时，他父母送他去看心理医生。一年后，经过多次看医生和检查，医生有了结论。“您管不了他的，”他对盖茨的母亲玛丽说。“最好接受现实，打他是不管用的。”自从盖茨从哈佛退学转去攻克计算机操作系统和应用软件，22年来他一直是那些企图挤进这个市场的竞争对手的死敌。
In early 1975, at the age of 19, while at Harvard University, he and Paul Allen wrote an interpreter for the programming language used by MITS Altair, the first commercially available personal computer. It was their intense relationship—Gates the workaholic code writer and competitor, Allen the dreamy visionary—that laid the first brick in the foundation of Microsoft. 1975年初，他19岁，还在哈佛大学读书，他和保罗?艾伦写了一份程序设计语言的编译程序，供MITS （微仪表和自动系统公司）的Altair电脑用，这是第一台商业个人电脑。盖茨是个勤奋的编码者和竞争对手，而艾伦却是个充满幻想的梦想家，正是他们的这种密切关系给微软垫定了第一块砖。
In 1976, Gates began licensing Microsoft's software products directly to computer manufacturers, which dramatically increased Microsoft's profits.Although MITS soon folded, Microsoft had already attracted new customers including, at the time, small hardware firms like Apple, Commodore and Tandy. 1976年，盖茨开始许可计算机生产商直接配销微软软件产品，这大大增加了微软的利润。尽管MITS很快就关闭了，微软却已吸引住了新的顾客，还包括当时一些小硬件公司，如苹果公司，柯摩多尔公司和坦迪公司。
In 1980, IBM invited Microsoft to write a series of programming languages for its new personal computer, the IBM PC. Gates offered that Microsoft could also produce the operating systems (MS-DOS). The IBM PC and MSDOS wer bundled together and announced to the public in August 1981.Throughout the 1980s Microsoft moved steadily upward and by the 1990s MS-DOS had been exported around the world and had become the dominant software platform. By 1995, roughly 85 percent of the world's personal computers were using a Microsoft operating system. 1980年，IBM（美国国际商用机器公司）邀请微软为其新产品即IBM个人电脑（IBM PC）编写一整套程序设计语言。盖茨提议微软也可以生产操作系统（即微软磁盘操作系统，MS-DOS）。于是IMB PC和MS-DOS便捆绑在一起，并于1981年8月面世。整个20世纪80年代，微软稳定发展。到了90年代，MS-DOS已出口到世界各地，成了独霸全球的软件平台。到1995年，全世界大约85%的个人电脑使用微软操作系统。
Today the Microsoft campus is a "home" for new ideas and products that currently number over 200. It has mushroomed<to nearly 18,000 employees and $6 billion in profits. By 1992, at least 3,400 of Microsoft's employees had become millionaires from their stocks.如今，“微软校园”成了新思想和新产品的“家园”，产品数量目前超过200种。其雇员迅速增加到将近18,000人，利润达到60亿美元。到1992年，至少有3,400名微软雇员因持有微软股份而成为百万富翁。
Gates hopes to still be running Microsoft for another 10 years, he says, and then promises to focus intensely on his family and giving his money away, but that won't be the last you hear of him. Almost everyone in the developed world has used or is using a product that he owns a piece of, from surfing websites on Microsoft Explorer to watching movies brought to us by the distributor DreamWorks SKG. One can only wonder what he will do in the near future.盖茨说，他希望再经营微软十年，并许诺之后会将主要精力放在家庭和捐赠自己的钱财上。但是这不会是你听到他的最后的故事。
在发达国家，几乎人人都已使用或正在使用含有他的部件的产品。人们借用微软浏览器上网，观看梦工厂带来的影片。人们唯独不知道的是，不久的将来他还会干什么.
Unit8 A
At first it was just plain surprising. Word that scientists succeeded in cloning an adult mammal—an achievement long thought impossible—caught the imagination of everyone. The laboratory process that produced Dolly, an unremarkable-looking sheep, theoretically would work for humans as well.A world with human clones was suddenly within reach. It was science fiction coming to life.起初，这对人们绝对是个震惊。有消息称科学家已经成功克隆了一只成年哺乳动物，一项长期以来被认为是不可能的成就。这一传闻引发了每个人的想象。克隆多莉（一只相貌无奇的绵羊）的实验过程，从理论上说也同样适用于克隆人类。一个克隆人的世界突然间近在咫尺，科幻小说变成了现实。
In the wake of this announcement, governments hurried to draft guidelines for the unknown, a future filled with incredible possibilities. President Clinton ordered a national commissionto study the legal and moral implications of cloning. Leaders in Europe, where most nations already prohibit human cloning, began examining the moral implications of cloning other species Like the Theory of Relativity, the splitting of the atom, and the first space flight, Dolly's appearance has generated a long list of difficult puzzles for scientists, politicians, and philosophers. And wild questions on the topic of cloning continue to mount..此消息宣布之后，为了一个未知世界，一个充满各种不可思议的可能性的未来，各国政府立即起草指导方针。克林顿总统命令一个全国委员会研究克隆在法律和道德上的含义。在欧洲，大多数国家都已禁止克隆人类，各国领导此时也开始研究克隆其他物种的道德含义。就像相对论、原子裂变和第一次太空飞行一样，多莉的出现给科学家、政治家和哲学家们提出了一长串难以解答的难题。关于克隆的奇怪问题不断涌现。
Why would anyone want to clone a human being in the first place?</B>首先，为什么有人想克隆人类?
The human cloning situations that experts consider most frequently fall into two broad categories: 1) parents who want to clone a child, either to provide transplants for a dying child or to replace that child, and 2) adults who for a variety of reasons might want to clone themselves.专家们考虑得最多的关于克隆人类的情形可以分为两大类：1)父母想要克隆孩子，要么是想为面临死亡威胁的孩子提供移植器官，要么是想代替那个孩子；2)成年人出于各种各样的原因想要克隆自己。
Will it be possible to clone the dead?是否可能克隆死去的人?
Perhaps, if the body is fresh, says one expert. The cloning method used requires combining an egg cell with the nucleus of a cell containing the DNA of the person to be cloned. (DNA is a very long, ribbon-like molecule that contains our genetic information.) And that means that the nucleus must be intact. Cells die and the cell nucleus begins to break apart after death. But, yes, in theory at least it might be possible.有位专家说，如果是刚死去不久，也许就可能。所使用的克隆方法要求将一个卵细胞和一个含有被克隆人的DNA的细胞核相结合。(DNA是一种含有我们的基因信息的狭长带状分子。) 这就意味着细胞核必须保持完整。而人死之后，细胞死亡，细胞核就开始分裂。但是，的确，至少从理论上说克隆死去的人是可能的。
Would a cloned human be identical to the original?克隆的人会和母本一模一样吗?
Identical genes don't produce identical people, as anyone who knows a set of identical twins can tell you. In fact, twins are more alike than clones would be, since they have at least shared the same environment within the mother, are usually raised in the same family, and so forth. Parents could clone a second child who resembled their first in appearance, but all the evidence suggests the two would have very different personalities. Twins separated at birth do sometimes share personality characteristics, but such characteristics in a cloned son or daughter would only be reminders of the child who was lost.相同的基因不会复制出相同的人。任何认识一些双胞胎的人都知道这一点。事实上，双胞胎相像的程度胜于克隆人，因为他们至少在母体内分享过相同的环境，通常也在同一个家庭里被抚养长大，等等。父母可能克隆出一个面貌与第一个孩子相似的人，但是所有的证据都表明，这两个人的个性会有很大差异。一出生就被分开的双胞胎，有时可能有相同的个性特征，但是这样的特征出现在克隆的儿子或女儿身上，却只能令人想起失去的孩子。
Even in terms of biology, a clone would not be identical to the "master copy". The clone's cells, for example, would have energy-processing machinery that came from the egg, not from the person who was cloned. But most of the physical differences between originals and copies are so minor that detection of them would require a sophisticated laboratory. The one possible exception is bearing children. The scientists responsible for the successful cloning are not sure that Dolly will be able to have lambs. They will try to find out once she's old enough to breed即使从生物学的角度看，克隆人也不会和“母本”一模一样。比如，克隆人的细胞可能会有来自卵子而非被克隆人的能量加工机制。然而，在母体和克隆体之间存在的身体差异大部分都很小，需要在设备精良的实验室里才能测定。唯一可能的例外就是生育能力。成功地实施了克隆多莉的科学家们也不敢肯定多莉是否能生育。他们会等到多莉到了生育年龄时再确认这一点。
What if parents decided to clone a child in order to harvest organs?如果父母决定克隆一个孩子以获得器官，那会怎样?
Most experts agree that it would be psychologically harmful if a child sensed he had been brought into the world simply as an organ donor. But some parents already produce second children with nonfatal transplants in mind, and many experts do not oppose this. Cloning would increase the chances for a tissue match from 25 percent to nearly 100 percent.多数专家都认为，如果一个孩子感到自己只是作为一个器官捐赠者来到这个世界，那他的心理可能受到伤害。但也有为了进行一些非致命器官的移植而生育第二个小孩的父母，对此许多专家也并不反对。克隆可以将组织适配率从25%提高到将近100%。
If cloned animals could be used as organ donors, we wouldn't have to worry about cloning twins for transplants. Pigs, for example, have organs similar in size to humans'. But the human body attacks and destroys tissue from other species. To get around that, one company is trying to alter the pig's genetic code to prevent pig organs from being attacked. If the company's technicians succeed, it may be more efficient to produce such pigs by cloning than by current methods.如果把被克隆的动物用作器官捐赠体，那我们就不必担心为器官移植而克隆双胞胎了。例如，猪的器官就和人类的差不多大小。但是人体会排斥并破坏来自其他物种的组织。为了克服这一障碍，一家公司正在试图改变猪的基因码，以避免猪的器官受到排斥。如果该公司的技术人员成功的话，那么用克隆技术来繁殖这样的猪比用现行的方法更为有效。
How would a human clone refer to the donor of its DNA?克隆的人将如何称呼其DNA捐赠者?
"Mom" is not right, because the woman who supplied the egg and gave birth to the infant would more appropriately be called Mother. "Dad" isn't right, either. A traditional father supplies only half the DNA in a child. Judith Martin, in her writings under the name of "Miss Manners", suggests the phrase, "Most honored sir or madam". Why? "One should always respect one's ancestors," she says, "regardless of what they did to bring one into the world."称呼“妈妈”不正确，因为提供卵子并生下婴孩的女子才更有资格被称为母亲。称呼“爸爸”也不对。传统意义上的父亲只提供孩子身上一半的DNA。朱迪斯?马丁在用笔名“礼仪小”撰写的著作里建议这样称呼：“尊敬的先生/夫人”。为什么呢? “不论他们用什么方式将你带到这个世界，”她说，“人总得尊敬自己的祖先。”
That still leaves some confusion over vocabulary. The editorial director of one dictionary says that the noun "clonee" may sound like a good term, but it's not clear enough. Instead, he prefers "original" and "copy".这样做还是留下了一些词汇上的难题。一本词典的主编说，名词“被克隆者”听起来不错，但却不够明晰。他更愿意用“母本”和“副本”。
What are the other implications of cloning for society?克隆对社会还有什么其他含义?
The gravest concern isn't really cloning itself, but genetic engineering—the deliberate altering of genes to create human beings according to certain requirements. Specifically, some experts are concerned about the creation of a new (and disrespected) social class: "the clones".最让人担心的不是克隆本身，而是基因工程──即根据特定的要求故意改变基因来创造人类。具体地说，有些专家担心会出现一个新的（和不被尊重的）社会阶层，即“克隆阶层”。
One expert believes the situation could be comparable to what occurred in the 16th century, when Europeans puzzled over how to classify the unfamiliar inhabitants of the Americas, and endlessly debated whether or not they were humans.有位专家相信，这一情形类似于16世纪时的一种情况，当时的欧洲人对如何对美洲的陌生居民进行归类感到困惑，并无休止地争论他们究竟是不是人类。
The list of questions could go on; people are just beginning to wonder about the future of the world after cloning问题不胜枚举，而人们只是刚刚开始探询克隆技术出现后的世界的未来。
Unit9 A
A future husband wanted to be sure that if his marriage didn't work out, he could keep his treasured ice-cream collection safely stored away in a freezer.A woman insisted on verifying who would walk the dog. One man wanted the right to get a divorce if his bride-to-be gained more than 15 pounds once she became his wife.一位即将结婚的男子希望能够确保即使婚姻失败，他仍可以把他珍爱的冰淇淋藏品好好储存在冰柜里。一名女子坚持要求明确婚后由谁来遛狗。一名男子要求，如果他未来的新娘婚后体重增加15磅以上，他有权离婚。
These are some of the crazier clauses of prenuptial agreements. But make no mistake about it, what most of them are about is money—and how financial assets will be divided up if a couple divorces. And divorce, with its accompanying money problems, is common in the United States.以上这些都是婚前协议中一些比较荒唐的条款。但是不要弄错了，大多数婚前协议涉及到的都是钱──以及一旦离婚该怎样分配财产。而且，离婚及其带来的钱财纠纷，在美国是很常见的事。
Prenuptial agreements—or "prenups"—are designed to address these problems as they arise. Prenups are negotiated by lawyers for the prospective spouses, and signed before a minister binds them in marriage. They have been gaining in acceptance in the United States since the early 1980s, when more states began passing laws that affected the division of financial assets in a divorce. The laws are based either on "community property" (split evenly) or on "reasonable distribution" (whatever a judge thinks is "fair").婚前协议──简称prenup──就是用来处理这些问题的。婚前协议由即将结婚的男女双方的律师共同协定，然后由双方在牧师宣布他们结为夫妻之前签署。自20世纪80年代初以来，婚前协议在美国被越来越多的人接受，因为当时越来越多的州开始通过关于离婚财产分配的法律。这些法律要么是基于“共有财产”（平均分配），要么是基于“合理分配”（法官认为怎样“公平”就怎样分）。
The prenups of the famous make the headlines: Lawyers for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis contested the prenuptial agreement between her and Aristotle Onassis after his death, reportedly winning $26 million in an out-of-court settlement.名人的婚前协议总是新闻头条：杰奎琳?肯尼迪?奥纳西斯的律师在亚里士多德?奥纳西斯死后拿出两人的婚前协议对簿公堂，据说她后来在庭外和解中得到了2,600万美元。
But prenuptial agreements are also for lesser known, although wealthy, folks."It's because divorce has such great economic consequences, and successive marriages have become so common," said a family law lawyer.但婚前协议也适用于那些不甚有名却很富有的人。“这是因为离婚会带来巨大的经济后果，而再婚又如此常见，”一位家庭法律师说。
A typical candidate for a prenuptial agreement is a man who has accumulated considerable wealth, has already been stung once, and wants to reduce his <19>exposure</19> to future problems. "They want to make their own arrangements, rather than let a court decide," said the president of the New York chapter of the American Academy of Marriage Lawyers.典型的想签订婚前协议的人是那些积累了大量财富、曾吃过苦头的男性，他们想减少日后的麻烦。“他们想自己安排解决，而不想让法庭裁决，”美国婚姻法律师协会纽约分会的会长说。
Protecting children from a previous marriage is a strong reason for prenuptial contracts.
"Someone may have an estate of $1 billion and he may not want a second spouse to get a payment of half a billion. He may want more for his children," said a lawyer.
The effort to shield assets to be passed on to children and grandchildren is making prenups more common among retired people in their 60s and 70s who are remarrying after a spouse has died.保护前一次婚姻的孩子是签署婚前契约的一个重要原因。“有人可能有价值10亿美元的财产，而他又不想让第二个配偶分得5亿美元。他可能想多留一点给自己的孩子，”一名律师说。为了将财产传到自己的儿孙手中，六、七十岁的退休丧偶老人在老伴时，订立婚前协议也很常见。
Another situation that calls for premarital agreement occurs when a potential spouse has, or is in line for, great inherited wealth or a family business, especially if the future partner has little or nothing at all.另一种要求签订婚前协议的情况大多是，未来的丈夫或妻子已经或即将继承巨额遗产或家庭产业，而未来伴侣却家产不多或一贫如洗。
But even when both parties have signed such an agreement, it can be impossible to enforce it in court if proper guidelines have not been followed. A lawyer is required to write the document, for mistakes in language—even a misplaced preposition—can be disastrous. But never, ever, warn marriage law consultants, should you use the same lawyer as your future spouse does.但是，即使双方签订了这样的协议，如果不遵循正确的指导方针，还是不可能在法院实施它。协议应当由律师起草，因为文字错误──哪怕只是介词放错了位置──也可能是灾难性的。
但婚姻法顾问警告说，永远不要选择你未来伴侣的律师来做你的律师。
Another problem is a prenuptial agreement signed under pressure. To avoid this, some lawyers will not draw up an agreement once a wedding date has been set. "I figure there's a sword hanging over their head, and that's pressure," said one lawyer. Such lawyers counsel their clients never to send out wedding invitations until both signatures are on an agreement. But not everyone takes this advice. A classic example is cited: "An agreement is stuck under somebody's nose on the day of the wedding—and it's usually a 'she'—and she signs, but doesn't even read it."另一个问题是出于压力而签订的婚前协议。为避免这类问题，有些律师不愿在婚期已定之后起草协议。“我认为他们的头上悬着一把剑，那就是压力，”一位律师这样说道。这些律师会建议自己的当事人绝不要在双方签订协议之前发出结婚请柬。但不是每个人都采纳这一建议。律师们援引的一个经典例子是：“婚礼那天，某人──通常是女方──面前突然出现了一份协议，于是，她看都没看一眼就签了字。”
Another lawyer recalled one awkward episode where the two sides were still editing the contract, arguing over what to keep and delete, as 150 wedding guests were arriving for the wedding. When an agreement could not be forged, the wedding was canceled.还有一位律师回想起一件尴尬事：男女双方还在修改协议，争论哪些该保留，哪些该删除，却有150名宾客陆陆续续来参加婚礼。结果由于协议无法确定，婚礼取消了。
A dispute can also break out over prenuptial agreements if a couple decides to divorce while living abroad, or when they have different passports. A lawyer in a London law firm that often handles divorces for British-American couples noted that in Britain, prenuptial agreements were "just about ignored" by the courts because English law says that circumstances of a marriage aren't static, and therefore a judge should decide how financial assets will be divided.如果夫妇决定离婚时正住在国外，或两人拥有不同的护照，那也可能因婚前协议产生纠纷。伦敦一家经常为分处英美两国的夫妇处理离婚事宜的律师事务所的一名律师指出，在英国，法院“基本上忽视”婚前协议，因为英国的法律认为婚姻状况不是静态的，因此应由法官来决定资产怎样分配。
That can lead to "court-shopping", since what matters is the law of the country where the couple is getting divorced. He gave the following example: "A wealthy Mr. Ed Smith gets married to Mrs. Smith, and they enter into a New York prenuptial contract. They live in England, and then decide to get divorced. English lawyers will say to Mrs. Smith, 'No, that contract is not valid,while Mr. Smith will want it to be an American court case.这就可能导致“逛法庭”的现象，因为问题的关键在于夫妇办理离婚时所在国的法律。他举了一个例子：“有位富有的艾德?史密斯先生和史密斯夫人结了婚，而且在纽约签订了婚前契约。可他们住在英国，后来他们决定离婚。英国律师会对史密斯夫人说‘不行，那个契约无效。’而史密斯先生却想把它当作一桩美国案例来处理。
The issue of where it will be held can greatly multiply the amount of time required to reach a settlement.案子将在何处受理，这可能大大增加达成协议所需的时间。”
Romantic love has no <42>bearing</42> on this process, say these lawyers, who consider prenups to be business agreements. Their justification: Some 50 percent of all marriages in the United States end up on the trash heap.这些律师认为，婚前契约是一个商业协议，浪漫的爱情与此过程无关。他们的理由是：在美国，50%的婚姻最终将被扔进垃圾堆。
Moreover, the discussions for a prenuptial agreement, which involve laying bare all one's finances, sometimes save a couple from a terrible marriage. "It sheds light on issues which could later widen and result in divorce," said a lawyer.另外，有关婚前协议的讨论将使两个人的钱财完全公开化，有时这可以使一对夫妇避免一桩可怕的婚姻。一个律师说：“它使人们看清一些问题，而这些问题日后可能扩大，并导致离婚。”
But there is still hope. "Many people sign an agreement, put it in a drawer and never look at it again," the lawyer added.然而希望还是有的。这位律师接着说：“很多人一签好协议，就把它扔进抽屉，然后再也不看它一眼。”