新概念英語美文短文欣賞
《新概念英語》自出版以來受到了英語學習者的熱烈歡迎，《新概念英語》的成功不僅在於其嚴密科學的英語語法體系,而且還在於其內涵豐富的文化體系。《新概念英語》展示了二語教材中語言和文化相互交融的關係。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!
篇一
Archaeology
考古學
Archaeology is a source of history, not just a humble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts. Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that has created the human world in which we live -- and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment.
考古學是歷史學的一個來源，而不是地位卑微的輔助學科。 考古資料本身也是一種歷史文獻，而不僅僅是文字資料的例證。正像任何一位歷史學家那樣，考古學家研究調查並盡力去重構一個過程，這個過程創造了我們生活的人類世界，也創造了我們自身，因為我們都是我們所處的時代和社會環境的產物。
Archaeological data are all changes in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The sum total of these constitutes what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits certain peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contrast between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records.
考古學的資料就是人類行為所造成的物質變化。更簡潔地說，是石化了的人類行為。這些變化的總和構成了我們所說的考古學記錄。這些記錄自有其獨特和不足之處，因而導致人們對考古歷史和更熟悉的文字記載歷史進行相當膚淺的對比。
Not all human behavior fossilizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they leave no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a dictaphone or written down by a clerk.
並不是所有的人類行為都留下化石。我說的話，你通過空氣振動聽見，這當然是人類造成的物質變化，也可能有重大的歷史意義，但這些話在考古學中未留下絲毫痕跡，除非有人用錄音機錄下來或文書把這些話寫了下來。
The movement of troops on the battlefield may "change the course of history," but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist's standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic materials are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar materials will decay and vanish in dust in a few years or centuries, save under very exceptional conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduced to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the gap.
戰場上軍隊的行動可能“改變歷史的程序”，但從考古學的觀點來看，這同樣是難以捕捉的;可能更糟的是，多數有機物質會腐爛。任何由木頭、生皮、絨線、亞麻、草、毛髮以及相似物質做成的東西除非在一些非常特殊的條件下，幾年或幾個世紀以後，會在塵土中腐爛並消失。在短時期內，能留下考古記錄的東西也都會退化為石頭、骨頭、玻璃、金屬和陶器的碎片。 然而，現代考古學通過運用適當的技術和比較的方法，在從泥炭、沙漠和凍土中所獲得的一些幸運發現的輔助下，能夠填充這個空缺的很大部分。
篇二
A Rare Fossil Record
罕見的化石記錄
The preservation of embryos and juveniles is a rate occurrence in the fossil record. The tiny, delicate skeletons are usually scattered by scavengers or destroyed by weathering before they can be fossilized. Ichthyosaurs had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures because, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less subject to erosion. Still, their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by other animals, a lack of swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid burial. Given these factors, some areas have become a treasury of well-preserved ichthyosaur fossils.
胚胎與幼體被儲存下來在化石記錄中是少見的事情。微小纖細的骨骼通常在石化前就被食腐肉的動物拆散了，或者被風化作用破壞掉了。魚龍比起陸地的動物有更大的機率被儲存下來，因為它們作為海洋動物常生活在腐蝕性較小的環境中。但是它們的石化需要一系列因素：軟組織的腐爛速度緩慢，很少被其他動物殘食，缺少混雜、沖走小骨頭的快速水流和波浪，以及相當快地被掩埋。當這些因素存在時，某些地區就會變成一個充滿儲存完好的魚龍化石的寶庫。
The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for analysis. The ichthyosaur remains are found in black, bituminous marine shales deposited about 190 million years ago. Over the years, thousands of specimens of marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates have been recovered from these rocks. The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos. Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time. The embryos are quite advanced in their physical development; their paddles, for example, are already well formed. One specimen is even preserved in the birth canal. In addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30 inches long.
在德國獲爾茲梅登，那兒的沉積物給人們提出了一個有趣的分析案例。人們在黑色的、含瀝青的海洋頁岩中發現了約19，000年前沉積下來的魚龍化石。幾年時間內，在這些岩石中取得了數以千計的海洋爬行動物、魚類以及無脊椎動物的標本。它們的儲存質量非常的好，但更令人稱奇的是儲存下來的育有胚胎的魚龍化石數目。在獲爾茲梅登附近一個小地區的六個不同的頁岩層中分別發現了育有胚胎的魚龍化石。這表明大量的魚龍經年累月重複使用一個特定的地點。那些胚胎已經發育得相當完整了。比如，它們的蹼槳已經完全形成了。有一個標本甚至被儲存在產道中。而且，那塊頁岩包含著很多在20到30英寸之間的新生幼體的化石。
Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare elsewhere? The quality of preservation is almost unmatched and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of the fossils. But these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.
為什麼在其他地方那麼稀少的懷孕雌獸和幼體在獲爾茲梅登卻那麼多呢? 因為其儲存質量幾乎舉世無雙，採集工作的進行一直是一絲不苟的。大家都認識到這些化石的價值極其珍貴，但這些因素並不能解釋這個有趣的問題：為什麼在一個特定的地點會如此集中地出現即將臨產的懷孕魚龍群呢?
篇三
The Nobel Academy
諾貝爾委員會
For the last 82 years, Sweden's Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal. But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from within.
在過去的82年裡，瑞典的諾貝爾委員會決定了誰將獲得諾貝爾文學獎，因此也就決定了誰將從偉大或近乎偉大榮升為不朽。但在今天，該委員會卻遭到了評選委員會內外的猛烈批評。
Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself. According to Ingmar Bjorksten, the cultural editor for one of the country's two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent "what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes".
批評者們爭論說：評選獲獎者時，起作用更大的不是真實的寫作能力，而是該委員會以及瑞典特有的內部政治。按照瑞典兩家主要報紙之一的文化版編輯Ingmar Bjorksten的說法，該文學獎仍然是“人們所說的一種非常瑞典式的做為：反映瑞典口味”。
The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences. This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy's inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary world.
對於其評選過程中目光短淺的指責，該委員會辯護說，該委員會與世界幾大文學之都相距遙遠，實際上使該委員會免受外來的干擾。這也許是對的，但批評者們反駁說，也正因為相距如此遙遠，該委員會才不能準確地把握文學界的真正趨勢。
Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek. If for no other reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that accompany it; not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also dramatically increases sales of an author's books.
儘管對評選程式存在著關注，該文學獎將繼續作為世人最為推崇的文學的標誌而存在，並將繼續是作家們難以達到卻又會不斷追逐的目標。如果不考慮其他因素，而僅僅考慮與之俱來的經濟利益，該獎也將繼續為人所渴求：這不僅因為該獎本身就是一筆可觀的現金收入，而且該獎還將極大地增加一個作家的著作的銷量。