關於中英文雙語文章閱讀
英語閱讀，是英語學習和英語教學中的一個重要環節，它是我們獲取知識、外界資訊，與外界交流的主要途徑之一。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!
篇一
Statistics
統計學
There were two widely divergent influences on the early development of statistical methods. Statistics had a mother who was dedicated to keeping orderly records of governmental units ***states and statistics come from the same Latin root status*** and a gentlemanly gambling father who relied on mathematics to increase his skill at playing the odds in games of chance. The influence of the mother on the offspring, statistics, is represented by counting, measuring, describing, tabulating, ordering, and the taking of censuses-all of which led to modern descriptive statistics. From the influence of the father came modern inferential statistics, which is based squarelyon theories of probability.
統計方法的早期發展受到兩種截然不同的影響。統計學有一個“母親”，她致力於井井有條地記錄政府機構的檔案***國家和統計學這兩個詞源於同一個拉丁語詞根，status***，還有一個有紳士般的賭博“父親”，他依靠數學來提高賭技，以便在機率的遊戲中取勝。“母親”對其子女統計學的影響表現在計數、測量、描述、製表、歸類和人口普查。所有這些導致了現代描述統計學的誕生。由於“父親”的影響則產生了完全基於概率論原理的現代推理統計學。
Descriptive statistics involves tabulating, depicting and describing collections of data. These data may bequantitative such as measures of height, intelligence or grade level -- variables that are characterized by an underlying continuum -- or the data may represent qualitative variables, such as sex, college major or personality type. Large masses of data must generally undergo a process of summarization or reduction before they are comprehensible. Descriptive statistics is a tool for describing or summarizing or reducing to comprehensible form the properties of an otherwise unwieldy mass of data.
描述統計學涉及對所收集資料的製表、製圖和描述。這些資料可以是數量性的資料，如高度、智商、或者是層級性的資料——具有連續性的變數——或資料也可以代表性質變數，如性別、大學專業或性格型別等等。數量龐大的資料通常必須經過概括或刪減的程式才能為人所理解。描述統計學就是這樣一個工具，它對極其龐雜的資料進行描述、概括或刪減，使其變成能為人理解的東西。
Inferential statistics is a formalized body of methods for solving another class of problems that present great difficulties for the unaided human mind. This general class of problems characteristically involve attempts to make predictions using a sample of observations. For example, a school superintendent wishes to determine the proportion of children in a large school system who come to school without breakfast, have been vaccinated for flu, or whatever. Having a little knowledge of statistics, the superintendent would know that it is unnecessary and inefficient to question each child: the proportion for the entire district could be estimated fairly accurately from a sample of as few as 100 children. Thus, the purpose of inferential statistics is to predict or estimate characteristics of a population from a knowledge of the characteristics of only a sample of the population.
推理統計學是一套已定形了的方法體系，它解決的是光憑人腦極難解決的另一類問題。這類問題的顯著特點是試圖通過取樣調查來作出預測。例如，有一位教育督察想知道在一個龐大的學校系統中，不吃早飯就上學的學生、已經做過防感冒免疫的學生，或其它任何型別的學生佔多大比例。若具備一些統計學的知識，這位督察應明白，詢問每個孩子是沒有必要而且沒有效率的，只要用100個孩子為樣本，他就可以相當精確地得出這些孩子佔整個學區的比例了。因此，推理統計學的目的就是通過了解一個群體中一些樣本的特性，從而對整個群體的特性進行推測和估算。
篇二
Coal-fired power plants
火力發電廠
The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas A. Edison in 1879 created a demand for a cheap,readily available fuel with which to generate large amounts of electric power. Coal seemed to fit the bill, and it fueled the earliest power stations ***which were set up at the end of the nineteenth century by Edison himself***. As more power plants were constructed throughout the country, the reliance on coal increased. Since the First World War, coal-fired power plants have accounted for about half of the electricity produced in the United States each year.
托馬斯·愛迪生1879年發明的白熾燈導致對便宜、易得、可生產大量電能的燃料的需求。煤似乎符合這個要求，併成為第一批電廠的燃料***正是愛迪生本人在19世紀末建造了第一批電廠***。 全國到處興建電廠時，對煤的依賴加深了。自第一次世界大戰以來，美國每年約有一半的電力是以煤為燃料的電廠提供的。
In 1986 such plants had a combined generating capacity of 289, 000 megawatts and consumed 83 percent of the nearly 900 million tons of coal mined in the country that year. Given the uncertainty in the future growth of nuclear power and in the supply of oil and natural gas, coal-fired power plants could well provide up to 70 percent of the electric power in the United States by the end of the century.
1986年這些電廠的總髮電能力達到28,900千瓦並且消耗了當年全國開採的九億噸煤的83%。 考慮到核能發展以及石油、天然氣供應中的不確定因素，到本世紀末，火力發電廠仍可能為美國提供多達70%的電力。
Yet, in spite of the fact that coal has long been a source of electricity and may remain one for many years ***coal represents about 80 percent of United States fossil-fuel reserves***, it has actually never been the most desirablefossil fuel for power plants. Coal contains less energy per unit of weight than natural gas or oil; it is difficult to transport, and it is associated with a host of environmental issues, among them acid rain. Since the late 1960's problems of emission control and waste disposal have sharply reduced the appeal of coal-fired power plants. The cost of ameliorating these environmental problems along with the rising cost of building a facility as large and complex as a coal-fired power plant, have also made such plants less attractive from a purely economic perspective.
然而，儘管煤長期以來一直是電力的原料之一併且可能會繼續如此***煤佔美國化石燃料儲量的80%***，它卻不是電廠的理想燃料。 煤的單位能量含量低於石油和天然氣，而且會導致包括酸雨在內的一系列環境問題。 從1960年以來，排放控制和垃圾處理的問題極大地削弱了燃煤電廠的魅力。 由於減輕這些環境問題需要大量資金，而且建造龐大複雜的燃煤電廠的費用不斷上漲，也使得這些電廠從經濟角度上不具備吸引力。
Changes in the technological base of coal-fired power plants could restore their attractiveness, however. Whereas some of these changes are evolutionary and are intended mainly to increase the productivity of existing plants, completely new technologies for burning coal cleanly are also being developed.
改變火力發電廠的基礎技術卻可能恢復它們的吸引力。 雖然某些技術改進是漸進的，其目的只是提高現有電廠的生產率，但人們正在開發全新的清潔燃煤的技術。
篇三
American black bears
美國黑熊
American black bears appear in a variety of colors despite their name. In the eastern part of their range, most of these bears have shiny black fur, but in the west they grow brown, red, or even yellow coats. To the north, the black bear is actually gray or white in color. Even in the same litter, both brown and black furred bears may be born.
美國黑熊雖然被叫做黑熊但卻有各種各樣的顏色。在它們生活區域的東部，大部分黑熊長有富有光澤的黑毛，但在西部，他們則長著棕色、紅色甚至是黃色的毛。在北部，黑熊其實長著灰色或白色的毛。就是在一胎所生的小熊中，都可能混雜棕毛和黑毛。
Black bears are the smallest of all American bears, ranging in length from five to six feet, weighing from three hundred to five hundred pounds. Their eyes and ears are small and their eyesight and hearing are not as good as their sense of smell. Like all bears, the black bear is timid, clumsy, and rarely dangerous, but if attacked, most can climb trees and cover ground at great speeds. When angry or frightened, it is a formidable enemy.
黑熊是所有美洲熊中最小的，5-6英尺長，300-500磅重。它們的眼睛和耳朵都很小，他們的視力和聽覺不如嗅覺那樣好。像所有的熊一樣，黑熊膽小，笨拙，很少具有危險性。但如果受到攻擊，大部分黑熊會以很快的速度爬上樹和奔跑。當發怒或受驚嚇時，黑熊會成為可怕的對手。
Black bears feed on leaves, herbs, roots, fruit, berries, insects, fish, and even larger animals. One of the most interesting characteristics of bears, including the black bear, is their winter sleep. Unlike squirrels, woodchucks, and many other woodland animals, bears do not actually hibernate. Although the bear does not eat during the winter months, sustaining itself from body fat, its temperature remains almost normal, and it breathes regularly four or five times per minute.
黑熊以樹葉、草、樹根、水果、漿果、昆蟲、魚，甚至更大的動物為食。熊類，包括黑熊的最有趣的一個特點是他們的冬眠。與松鼠、旱獺和其它別的林地動物不同，熊並不真正地冬眠。雖然熊在冬天的幾個月中不吃東西，靠體內脂肪維持生命，但它們的體溫保持正常，並有規律地一分鐘呼吸4或5次。
Most black bears live alone, except during mating season. They prefer to live in caves, hollow logs, or densethickets. A little of one to four cubs is born in January or February after a gestation period of six to nine months, and they remain with their mother until they are fully grown or about one and a half years old. Black bears can live as long as thirty years in the wild , and even longer in game preserves set aside for them.
除交配季節外，大多數黑熊獨自生活。他們喜歡住在洞裡、空心的大木頭裡或茂密的樹叢裡。經過6到9個月的懷孕期後一胎1-4個小熊在1月或2月出生。它們同母熊住在一起，直到它們完全長大，即1歲半左右。黑熊在野外可以活到長達30年，在專門的保護區中甚至能活得更長。