《(完整版)Unit2SpaceInvaders课文翻译综合教程四.pdf》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《(完整版)Unit2SpaceInvaders课文翻译综合教程四.pdf(3页珍藏版)》请在taowenge.com淘文阁网|工程机械CAD图纸|机械工程制图|CAD装配图下载|SolidWorks_CaTia_CAD_UG_PROE_设计图分享下载上搜索。
1、(完整版)Unit2SpaceInvaders课文翻译综合教程四Unit 2Unit 2Space InvadersSpace InvadersRichard StengelAt my bank the other day,I was standing in a line snaking around some tired velvet ropes whena man in a sweat-suit started inching toward me in his eagerness to deposit his Social Securitycheck。As he did so,I minu
2、tely advanced toward the woman reading the Wall Street Journal infront of me,who,in mild annoyance,began to sidle up to the man scribbling a check in frontof her,who absentmindedly shuffled toward the white-haired lady ahead of him,until we were allhugger-mugger against each other,the original lazy
3、line having collapsed in on itself like a Slinky.I estimate that my personal space extends eighteen inches in front of my face,one foot toeach side,and about ten inches in back though it is nearly impossible to measure exactly howfar behind you someone is standing。The phrase personal space has a qua
4、int,seventies ring toit(Youre invading my space,man”),but it is one of those gratifying expressions that areintuitively understood by all human beings。Like the twelve-mile limit around our national shores,personal space is our individual border beyond which no stranger can penetrate without making u
5、suneasy。Lately,Ive found that my personal space is being invaded more than ever before。In elevators,people are wedging themselves in just before the doors close;on the street,pedestrians arezigzagging through the human traffic,jostling others,refusing to give way;on the subway,ridersarenolongertakin
6、gpainstocarveoutlittlezonesofspacebetweenthemselvesandfellow-passengers;in lines at airports,people are pressing forward like fidgety taxis at redlights。At first,I attributed this tendency to the”population explosion”and the relentlessMalthusian logic that if twice as many people inhabit the planet
7、now as did twenty years ago,each of us has half as much space。Recently,Ive wondered if its the season:Tshirt weathercan make proximity more alluring(or much,much less)。Or perhaps the proliferation of coffeebars in Manhattan the number seems to double every three months is infusing so much caffeinein
8、to the already jangling locals that people can no longer keep to themselves.Personal space is mostly a public matter;we allow all kinds of invasions of personal spacein private.(Humanity wouldnt exist without them.)The logistics of it vary according to geography.People who live in Calcutta have less
9、 personal space than folks in Colorado.Dont tread on mecould have been coined only by someone with a spread.I would wager that people in the NorthernHemisphere have roomier conceptions of personal space than those in the Southern。To an Englishman,a handshake can seem like trespassing,whereas to a Br
10、azilian,anything less than a hug may comeacross as chilliness.(完整版)Unit2SpaceInvaders课文翻译综合教程四 Like drivers who plow into your parked and empty car and dont leave a note,people nolonger mutter Excuse me when they bump into you.The decline of manners has been widely lamented.Manners,it seems to me,ar
11、e about giving people space,not stepping on toes,granting peopletheir private domain。Ive also noticed an increase in the ranks of what I think of as space invaders,mini-territorial expansionists who seize public space with a sense of manifest destiny。In movietheatres these days,people are staking a
12、claim to both armrests,annexing all the elbow room,while at coffee shops and on the Long Island Railroad,individuals routinely commandeer boothsand sets of facing seats meant for foursomes.Ultimately,personal space is psychological,not physical:it has less to do with thespace outside us than with ou
13、r inner space。I suspect that the shrinking of personal space isdirectly proportional to the expansion of self absorption:people whose attention is inward donot bother to look outward。Even the focusof science these days is micro,not macro.The HumanGenome Project is mapping the universe of the genetic
14、 code,while neuroscientists are usingsoupedup M。R。I。machines to chart the flight of neurons in our brains。In the same way that the breeze from a butterflys wings in Japan may eventually produce atidal wave in California,I have decided to expand the contracting boundaries of personal space。In the lin
15、e at my bank,I now refuse to move closer than three feet to the person in front of me,even if it means that the fellow behind me starts breathing down my neck空间入侵者空间入侵者理查德斯坦格尔1几天前,我去银行排队,队伍沿着松松垮垮的天鹅绒围栏蜿蜒前伸,这时一位身穿运动套装的男子急不可耐地从我后头向前挪步,想尽早办理社会保险支票存储业务。当他这么做的时候,我只好谨小慎微地向排在我前面阅读华尔街日报的女士挪动步子。她略有不快,于是侧身向她前
16、面那位正在涂写一张支票的男士走去,而这位男士则漫不经心地拖着脚走向他前面的银发老太。这样我们的队伍就变得七歪八扭,原来慵懒的队伍活脱脱变成了个“机灵鬼”1。2我估计我个人空间的范围身前有 18 英寸,身后10 英寸,两侧各1 英尺尽管要估算某人站在你身后多远几乎是不可能的.“个人空间”这个词组带有一种古雅的、70 年代的味道(“老兄,你侵犯了我的空间”),但这是一个能让全人类一下子明白过来的令人满意的词组之一。就像我们国家拥有12 海里领海权一样,个人空间就是我们的边界,只要有陌生人穿过这个边界,就会使我们感到不安.3最近,我发现我的个人空间比以往任何时候所遭受的侵犯都更加厉害。电梯里,人们抢
17、在关门之前拼命挤进来;马路上,行人奋勇向前,在人流中穿梭,推推搡搡,拒不让路;地铁中,乘客不再刻意在自己和别人之间留出狭小空间;在机场队伍中,人们拼命向前压上,就像等待红灯时烦躁不安的出租车一样。4最开始我把这种趋势归结于“人口爆炸”以及无情的马尔萨斯理论。该理论认为,如果现在居住在地球上的人口比 20 年前多一倍,每个人得到的空间就缩小一半。近来,我怀疑是不是季节的原因:穿着T 恤衫的(完整版)Unit2SpaceInvaders课文翻译综合教程四天气使彼此靠近更具吸引力(抑或使吸引力大大减少).或许是因为曼哈顿咖啡厅的激增-数量每 3 个月翻一番将如此多的咖啡因注入原来就已经烦躁不安的当地
18、人体内,使他们更加难以离群索居。5个人空间基本上是个公众场合的问题;私下里,我们允许对个人空间进行各种各样的侵犯.(没有这些“侵犯,人类不可能存在。)如何界定个人空间的大小因地而异。住在加尔各答的人比科罗拉多的人个人空间要来得少.“别踩我”这句话只可能是由拥有大牧场的人杜撰发明的。我敢担保北半球的居民比南半球的个人空间的概念要宽大.对英国人来说,握个手简直就是擅闯禁地,而对巴西人来说,不给你来个拥抱就会给人一种冷若冰霜的感觉。6就像司机撞上你停着的空车连个条子也不留,人们撞上人再也不说声“对不起”。世风日下,哀声遍野。在我看来,礼貌就是给别人以空间,不冒犯他人,允许别人有隐私。7我还注意到,那
19、些我所认为的空间入侵者们的规模在不断扩大,这些小小的领土扩张主义者们带着舍我其谁的架势堂而皇之地侵占着公共空间。这些日子,在影剧院中,人们霸占着两边的扶手,吞并手肘的全部空间;在咖啡厅里和长岛的铁路上,往往一个人就占领了面对面的火车座,而这种座位本来是给4 位顾客或乘客的.8归根结底,个人空间是个心理上的问题,而非物理上的问题:与其说它与我们的外部空间相关,不如说它与人的内心空间相关。我怀疑个人空间的缩水直接与自我专注的扩大成比例:那些只关注自我的人根本不屑于关注外部世界。这些日子,甚至科学研究都聚焦于微观世界而非宏观领域。人类基因组工程正力图绘制基因代码的全貌,神经科学家们正使用加强型磁共振成像机捕捉脑神经元的飞速漫游。9正如日本一只蝴蝶轻舞飞扬可能最终引发加利福尼亚的一场海啸,我决心一己之力拓展不断收缩的个人空间。在我办事银行的队伍中,如果前面有人,我一定和他最少保持3 英尺的距离,即便排在我后面的人的呼吸在我脖颈上都感受得到也在所不惜。