21世纪大学英语第三册

Unit 1

中国人从小就相信英雄得具有大无畏和自我牺牲精神(self-sacrifice)。当国家利益和个人利益相冲突时，英雄们总是选择牺牲自己。刘胡兰和董存瑞在中国家喻户晓。在1947年，15岁的刘胡兰由于积极投身中国解放运动而被敌人杀害。战士董存瑞手托炸药包（a pack of explosives），炸毁了敌人的碉堡（blockhouse），并献出了自己的生命。
Chinese people are brought up to believe that a hero has to be associated with tremendous courage and self-sacrifice. Whenever there is a contradiction between the interest of nation and their own,Chinese heroes always choose to sacrifice themselves. Both Liu Hulan and Dong Cunrui are household names in China. Liu was a 15-year-old girl killed by the enemy in 1947 for being actively involved in liberation of China. And Dong was a soldier who blew off the enemy blockhouse by holding a pack of explosives in his hand and killed himself in the explosion. However, it is open to question whether they can still be role models today since the criteria for heroes have diversified along with the passage of time.

Unit 2

汉语常被认为是一种非常古老的语言。从某种意义上说，这种说法不免失之偏颇。人类所有的语言都可追溯到朦胧的史前时期(prehistory)，但目前我们还无法确定这些语言是否都同宗同源。五千年前华夏祖先说汉语的方法同英语人士的祖先说英语的方式大致相似。而从另一种意义上说，汉语确实也是一种很古老的语言。今天所存留下来的最早的汉字已有近四千年的历史。这些文字均为甲骨雕文(incisions on bones and tortoise shell)。
Chinese is often termed as a very old language. In a sense such a statement is misleading. All human languages go back to the dim uncertainty of prehistory, and at present we have no way of knowing for sure whether or not they can all be traced back to the same root. Five thousand years ago the ancestors of Chinese people spoke an early form of Chinese language in much the same way that the ancestors of English-speaking people were using English. In another sense, however, Chinese is indeed a very old language. The earliest written forms of Chinese in existence today date back nearly 4,000 years. These writings are incisions on bones and tortoise shell.

Unit 3

去年年底公布的一次全国范围的调研结果描绘了18至19岁的一代青年人对公众事件漠不关心的现象。这一代青年与以前的青年相比，所知的更少，所关心的更少，也更少评论领导人和社会制度。这一代人对政治、政府乃至有关外面世界的新闻报道的冷漠态度已经开始影响中国的政治和社会。至今还没有人能充分地解释这一现象。也许缺乏能鼓动人心的事件，家庭的衰落以及网络的兴起可以解释一二。年轻人自己则认为这是公民教育的缺陷引起的，并且不断地谈到他们的压力——对就业和成绩全力以赴的关注以及对职业前景的担忧。

Unit 4

最近几年，出国留学的人有不断上升的趋势。许多中国学生想要了解西方的文化和商业经济。然而，也有一些学生想要移民出去。开始时他们可能觉得挺开心，但随着时间的推移，他们会觉得在一个不同文化的国家生活非常困难，或感觉受到不平等待遇。为了拿到绿卡，他们不惜一切代价地拼命工作。然而当他们拿到了绿卡,他们可能发现真正的问题在于一些人因为他们是亚洲人而歧视他们。这使得中国人在国外生活非常艰难。

In recent years, studying abroad has flourished. Many Chinese students want to learn more about western culture and business.However, some students want to study abroad in order to move there.They might be happy at the beginning, but as time goes by they might find living in a different culture very difficult. They might also find that they aren’t treated as equals. In order to get a green card some people will work hard and pour their heart and soul into this endeavor. When they get the green card, however, they might discover that some people discriminate against them because they are Asians, which makes it difficult for Chinese to live abroad.

Unit 5

中国人的消费态度发生了巨大转变。随着旅游增多，中国人不但开阔了视野，接触到的奢侈品范围也更加宽广。一旦出国，他们最热衷的活动就是购物。许多奢侈品公司视中国消费者为一个潜在的庞大消费群体：重视地位，日益富裕，渴望名牌，狂热消费。据估计，现在约有1000到1300万大陆人消费奢侈品，主要是企业家和在跨国公司工作的年轻专业人士。

In China, attitudes to consumption have changed dramatically. As the Chinese travel more, they are broadening not only their minds but also the range of luxury goods they come into contact with. Once abroad, their favourite activity seems to be shopping. Many luxury firms see Chinese shoppers as a potentially huge group of status-conscious, increasingly wealthy people hungry for brands and fanatical about shopping. It’s estimated there are now around 10m-13m mainland customers for luxury goods – mostly entrepreneurs and young professionals working for multinational firms.

Unit 6

重阳节 (Double Ninth Festival) 是一个中国的传统节日，每年农历的 9 月初 9 ，人们都会登高，赏菊 (chrysanthemum)，敬老。根据《易经》(The Book of Changes) 的阴阳学说, 9 是代表阳的，这就是为什么那天被称为“重阳”。1988年，中国政府把那天定为“老人节”。在节日的当天，晚辈们要向长辈们表示尊敬和爱戴，祝他们健康、长寿。在中国的某些地方，那天还是纪念祖先的日子。