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1.Finding fossil man 發現化石人

【資料圖】

We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East,where people first learned to write.

But there are some parts of the word where even now people cannot write.The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas--legends handed down from one generation of another.These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago,but none could write down what they did.Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from.The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.

But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas,if they had any,are forgotten.So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first "modern men" came from.

Fortunately,however,ancient men made tools of stone,especially flint,because this is easier to shape than other kinds.They may also have used wood and skins,but these have rotted away.Stone does not decay,and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.

我們從書籍中可讀到5,000 年前近東發生的事情，那里的人最早學會了寫字。但直到現在,世界上有些地方，人們還不會書寫。 他們保存歷史的唯一辦法是將歷史當作傳說講述，由講述人一代接一代地將史實描述為傳奇故事口傳下來。人類學家過去不清楚如今生活在太平洋諸島上的波利尼西亞人的祖先來自何方，當地人的傳說卻告訴人們：其中一部分是約在2,000年前從印度尼西亞遷來的。

但是，和我們相似的原始人生活的年代太久遠了，因此，有關他們的傳說既使有如今也失傳了。于是，考古學家們既缺乏歷史記載，又無口頭傳說來幫助他們弄清最早的“現代人”是從哪里來的。

然而， 幸運的是，遠古人用石頭制作了工具，特別是用燧石，因為燧石較之其他石頭更容易成形。他們也可能用過木頭和獸皮，但這類東西早已腐爛殆盡。石頭是不會腐爛的。因此，盡管制造這些工具的人的骨頭早已蕩然無存，但遠古時代的石頭工具卻保存了下來。

2.Spare that spider 不要傷害蜘蛛

Why,you may wonder,should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects,and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race.Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds,if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders.Moreover,unlike some of the other insect eaters,spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings.

Spiders are not insects,as many people think,nor even nearly related to them.One can tell the difference almost at a glance,for a spider always has eight legs and insect never more than six. How many spiders are engaged in this work no our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in grass field in the south of England,and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch.

Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects.It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill,but they are hungry creatures,not content with only three meals a day.It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.

你可能會覺得奇怪， 蜘蛛怎么會是我們的朋友呢？因為它們能消滅那么多的昆蟲，其中包括一些人類的大敵，要不是人類受一些食蟲動物的保護，昆蟲就會使我們無法在地球上生活下去，昆蟲會吞食我們的全部莊稼，殺死我們的成群的牛羊。我們要十分感謝那些吃昆蟲的鳥和獸，然而把它們所殺死的昆蟲全部加在一起也只相當于蜘蛛所消滅的一小部分。此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食蟲動物，它們絲毫不危害我們和我們的財物。

許多人認為蜘蛛是昆蟲，但它們不是昆蟲，甚至與昆蟲毫無關系。人們幾乎一眼就能看出二者的差異，因為蜘蛛都是8條腿，而昆蟲的腿從不超過6條。

有多少蜘蛛在為我們效力呢？一位研究蜘蛛的權威對英國南部一塊草坪上的蜘蛛作了一次調查。他估計每英畝草坪里有225萬多只蜘蛛。這就是說，在一個足球場上約有600萬只不同種類的蜘蛛。蜘蛛至少有半年在忙于吃昆蟲。它們一年中消滅了多少昆蟲，我們簡直無法猜測，它們是吃不飽的動物，不滿意一日三餐。據估計，在英國蜘蛛一年里所消滅昆蟲的重量超過這個國家人口的總重量。

3.Youth 青年

People are always talking about "the problem of youth".If there is one--which I take leave to doubt--then it is older people who create it,not the young themselves.Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings--people just like their elders.There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

When I was a teenager,I felt that I was just young and uncertain--that I was a new boy in a huge school,and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem.For one thing,being a problem gives you a certain identity,and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

I find young people exciting.They have an air of freedom,and they not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort.They are not anxious social climbers,and they have no devotion to material things.All this seems to me to link them with life,and the origins of things.It"s as if they were,in some sense,cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures.All that is in my mind when I meet a young person.He may be conceited,ill-mannered,presumptuous or fatuous,but I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect of elders--as if mere age were a reason for respect.I accept that we are equals,and I will argue with him,as an equal,if I think he is wrong.

人們總是在談論“青年問題”。如果這個問題存在的話--請允許我對此持懷疑態度--那么，這個問題是由老年人而不是青年人造成的。讓我們來認真研究一些基本事實：承認青年人和他們的長輩一樣也是人。老年人和青年人只有一個區別：青年人有光輝燦爛的前景，而老年人的輝煌已成為過去。 問題的癥結恐怕就在這里。

我十幾歲時，總感到自己年輕，有些事拿不準--我是一所大學里的一名新生，如果我當時真的被看成像一個問題那樣有趣，我會感到很得意的。因為這至少使我得到了某種承認，這正是年輕人所熱衷追求的。

我覺得年輕人令人振奮，無拘無束。他們既不追逐卑鄙的名利，也不貪圖生活的舒適。他們不熱衷于向上爬，也不一味追求物質享受。在我看來，所有這些使他們與生命和萬物之源聯系在了一起。從某種意義上講，他們似乎是宇宙人，同我們這些凡夫俗子形成了強烈而鮮明的對照。每逢我遇到年輕人，腦子里就想到這些年輕人也許狂妄自負，舉止無理，傲慢放肆，愚昧無知，但我不會用應當尊重長者這一套陳詞濫調來為我自己辨護，似乎年長就是受人尊敬的理由。我認為我和他們是平等的。如果我認為他們錯了，我就以平等的身份和他們爭個明白。

4.The sporting spirit 體育的精神

I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations,and that if only the common peoples of the would could meet one another at football or cricket,they would have no inclination to meet on the hattlefield.Even if one didn"t know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games,for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred,one could deduce if from general principles.

Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive.You play to win,and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win.On the village green,where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved,it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as a the question of prestige arises,as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose,the most savage combative instincts are aroused.Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this.At the international level,sport is frankly mimic warfare.But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and,behind the spectators,of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests,and seriously believe--at any rate for short periods--that running,jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.

當我聽人們說體育運動可創造國家之間的友誼，還說各國民眾若在足球場或板球場上交鋒，就不愿在戰場上殘殺的時候，我總是驚愕不已。一個人即使不能從具體的事例（例如1936年的奧林匹克運動會）了解到國際運動比賽會導致瘋狂的仇恨，也可以從常理中推斷出結論。

現在開展的體育運動幾乎都是競爭性的。參加比賽就是為了取勝。如果不拚命去贏，比賽就沒有什么意義了。 在鄉間的草坪上，當你隨意組成兩個隊，并且不涉及任何地方情緒時，那才可能是單純的為了娛樂和鍛煉而進行比賽。可是一量涉及到榮譽問題，一旦你想到你和某一團體會因為你輸而丟臉時，那么最野蠻的爭斗天性便會激發起來。即使是僅僅參加過學校足球賽的人也有種體會。在國際比賽中，體育簡直是一場模擬戰爭。但是，要緊的還不是運動員的行為，而是觀眾的態度，以及觀眾身后各個國家的態度。面對著這些荒唐的比賽，參賽的各個國家會如癡如狂，甚至煞有介事地相信--至少在短期內如此--跑跑、跳跳、踢踢球是對一個民族品德素質的檢驗。

5.How to grow old 如何安度晚年

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death.In the young there is a justification for this feeling.Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have cheated of the best things that life has to offer.But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows,and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do,the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble.The best way to overcome it--so at least it seems to me--is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal,until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede,and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.An individual human existence should be like a river--small at first,narrowly contained within its banks,and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls.

Gradually the river grows wider,the banks recede,the waters flow more quietly,and in the end,without any visible break,they become merged in the sea,and painlessly lose their individual being.The man who,in old age,can see his life in this way,will not suffer from the fear of death,since the things he cares for will continue.And if,with the decay of vitality,weariness increases,the thought of rest will be not unwelcome.I should wish to die while still at work,knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do,and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

有些老年人因為怕死而感到煩惱。青年人有這種感覺是情有可原的。有理由害怕自己會死在戰場上的年輕人，想到自己被剝奪了生活所能給予的最美好的東西時，感到痛苦，這是可以理解的。可是老年人已經飽嘗了人間的甘苦，一切能做的都做了，如果怕死，就有點兒可憐又可鄙。克服怕死的最好辦法--至少在我看來是這樣--就是逐漸使自己的興趣更加廣泛，逐漸擺脫個人狹小的圈子，直到自我的圍墻一點一點地倒塌下來，自己的生活慢慢地和整個宇宙的生活融合在一起。

個人的存在應該像一條河流，開始很小，被緊緊地夾在兩岸中間，接著熱情奔放地沖過巨石，飛下瀑布。然后河面漸漸地變寬，兩岸后撤，河水流得平緩起來，最后連綿不斷地匯入大海，毫無痛苦地失去了自我的存在。上了年紀的人這樣看待生命，就不會有懼怕死亡的心情了，因為自己關心的一切事件都會繼續下去。 再者，隨著精力的衰退，老年人的疲憊會增長，有長眠的愿望未嘗不是一件好事情，我希望工作到死為止，明白了有人會繼續我的未竟事業，想到能做的事都做了，也就坦然了。　　

6.Banks and their customers 銀行和顧客

When anyone opens a current account at a bank,he is lending the bank money,repayment of which he may demand at any time,either in cash or by drawing a cheque in favour of another person.Primarily,the banker-customer relationship is that of debtor and creditor--who is which depending on whether the customer"s account is in credit or is overdrawn.But,in addition to that basically simple concept,the bank and its customer owe a large number of obligations to one another.Many of these obligations can give in to problems and complications but a bank customer,unlike,say,a buyer of goods,cannot complain that the law is loaded against him.

The bank must obey its customer"s instructions,and not those of anyone else.When,for example,a customer first opens an account,he instructs the bank to debit his account only in respect of cheques draw by himself.He gives the bank specimens of his signature,and there is a very firm rule that the bank has no right or authority to pay out a customer"s money on a cheques on which its customer"s signature has been forged.It makes no difference that the forgery may have been a very skilful one: the bank must recognize its customer"s signature.For this reason there is no risk to the customer in the practice,adopted by banks,of printing the customer"s name on his cheques.If this facilitates forgery,it is the bank which will lose,not the customer.

任何人在銀行開一個活期賬戶，就等于把錢借給了銀行。這筆錢他可以隨時提取，提取的方式可以是取現金，也可以是開一張以他人為收款人的支票。銀行與儲戶的關系主要是債務人和債權人的關系。究竟誰是債務人誰是債權人，要看儲戶是有結余還是透支。除了這一基本的簡單的概念外，銀行和儲戶彼此還需承擔大量義務。其中許多義務往往引起問題和糾紛。但是儲戶不能像貨物的買主那樣來抱怨法律對自己不利。

銀行必須遵照儲戶的囑托辦事，不能聽從其他人的指令。比如，儲戶首次在銀行開戶時，囑咐銀行他的存款只能憑本世人簽字的支票來提取。他把自己簽名的樣本交給銀行，對此有一條非常嚴格的規定：銀行沒有任何權利或理由把儲戶的錢讓偽造儲戶的支票取走。即使偽造得很巧妙，也不能付款，因為銀行有責任辨認出其儲戶的簽名。因此，某些銀行已采用把儲戶印在支票上的作法。這種做法對儲戶毫無風險。如果因這種作法出現了偽造的話，受損失的將不是儲戶，而是銀行。

7.Knowledge and progress 知識和進步

Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest.Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality,it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge.

Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech.With the invention of writing,a great advance was made,for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored.Libraries made education possible,and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law,which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing.All this was comparatively slow until,with the coming of science,the tempo was suddenly raised.Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan.The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent.Moreover,as soon as new knowledge is acquired,it is now turned to practical account.What is called "modern civilization" is not the result of a balanced development of all man"s nature.but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life.

The problem now facing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out,knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil.It is now being used indifferently for both.Could any spectacle,for instance,be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge,with its ever-increasing power,continues.

為什么進步這個概念在現代世界顯得如此突出？無疑是因為有一種特殊的進步實際上正在我們周圍發生，而且變得越來越明顯。雖然人類有智力和道德上沒有得到普遍提高，但在知識積累方面卻取得了巨大的進步。

人一旦能用語言同別人交流思想，知識的積累便開始了。隨著書寫的發明，又邁進了一大步，因為這樣一來，知識不僅能交流，而且能儲存了。藏書使教育成為可能，而教育反過來又豐富了藏書，因為知識的增長遵循著一種“滾雪球”的規律。印刷術的發明又大大提高了知識增長的速度。所有這些發展都比較緩慢，而隨著科學的到來，增長的速度才突然加快。于是，知識便開始有系統有計劃地積累起來。涓涓細流匯成小溪，小溪現已變成了奔騰的江河。而且，新知識一旦獲得，便得到實際應用。所謂“現代文明”并不是人的天性平衡發展的結果，而是積累起來的知識應用到實際生活中的結果。

現在人類面臨的問題是：用這些知識去做什么？正像人們常常指出的，知識是一把雙刃刀，可以用于造福，也可以用來為害。人們現在正漫不經心地把知識用于這兩個方面，例如：炮兵利用科學毀壞人的身體、而外科醫生就在附近用科學搶救被炮兵毀壞的人體，還有什么情景比這更可怕、更怪誕的嗎？我們不得不嚴肅地問問我們自己：隨著日益增長的知識的力量，如果我們繼續利用知識的這種雙重性，將會發生什么樣的情況呢？

8.Bird flight 鳥的飛行方法

No two sorts of birds practise quite the same sort of flight; the varieties are infinite; but two classes may be roughly seen.Any shi that crosses the Pacific is accompanied for many days by the smaller albatross,Which may keep company with the vessel for an hour without visible or more than occasional movement of wing.The currents of air that the walls of the ship direct upwards,as well as in the line of its course,are enough to give the great bird with its immense wings sufficient sustenance and progress.The albatross is the king of the gliders,the class of fliers which harness the air to their purpose,but must yield to its opposition.In the contrary school,the duck is supreme.It comes nearer to the engines with which man has "conquered" the air,as he boasts.Duck,and like them the pigeons,are endowed with such-like muscles,that are a good part of the weight of the bird,and these will ply the short wings with such irresistible power that they can bore for long distances through an opposing gale before exhaustion follows.

Their humbler followers,such as partridges,have a like power of strong propulsion,but soon tire.You may pick them up in utter exhaustion,if wind over the sea has driven them to a long journey.The swallow shares the virtues of both schools in highest measure.It tires not,nor does it boast of its power; but belongs to the air,travelling it may be six thousand miles to and from its northern nesting home,feeding its flown young as it flies,and slipping through we no longer take omens from their flight on this side and that; and even the most superstitious villagers no longer take off their hats to the magpie and wish it good-morning.

沒有任何兩種鳥的飛行方式是相同的。鳥的飛行方式千差萬別，但大體上可分為兩類。任何一艘橫度太平洋的輪船都會有一種小信天翁伴隨飛行許多天。它們隨船飛行一小時也難得見其扇動一下翅膀。沿船體的上升的氣流和沿航線向前的氣流給這種巨翼大鳥以足夠的浮力和推力。信天翁是滑翔飛行的鳥類之王，它能自如地駕馭空氣，但必須順氣流飛行。與滑翔鳥相對的另一類鳥中，數野鴨本領最高。它更近乎于人類自夸的“征服”了空氣的發動機。野鴨及它們相似的鴿子有天賦的鋼鐵般的肌肉，占了體重的很大一部分。這些肌肉以巨大的力量扇動短小的翅膀，使這類鳥能頂著大風飛行很遠的路才會疲勞。

次于野鴨和鴿子的鳥，如鷓鴣，有相似的巨大推動力，但很快會疲勞。如果海風驅使它們飛行很長距離，你可以撿到一些因筋疲力盡而摔下來的鷓鴣。燕子充分兼有這兩類鳥的長處，它既不疲勞，也不炫耀自己的飛翔力；在空中十分自如，可以飛行6，000英里，可以飛往北方做窩的老家，再從老家飛回；一邊飛一邊喂養會飛的雛燕，甚至在頂風時也能在氣流中滑翔，似乎氣流在幫它前進。這些鳥對我們是有益的，雖然我們不再從它們的飛翔姿態來占卜吉兇，連最迷信的村民也不再對喜鵲脫帽行禮，祝它早安了。

9.Beauty 美

A young man sees a sunset and,unable to understand or to express the emotion that it rouses in him,concludes that it must be the gateway to world that lies beyond.It is difficult for any of us in moments of intense aesthetic experience to resist the suggestion that we are catching a glimpse of a light that shines down to us from a different realm of existence,different and,because the experience is intensely moving,in some way higher.And,though the gleams blind and dazzle,yet do they convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined.Greater too than we can describe; for language,which was invented to convey the meanings of this world,cannot readily be fitted to the uses of another.

That all great has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable.In some moods,Nature shares it.There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer,no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a greater beauty,a vision which passes before it is fully glimpsed,and in passing leaves and indefinable longing and regret.But,if this world is not merely a bad joke,life a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars,and existence an empty laugh braying across the mysteries; if these intimations of a something behind and beyond are not evil humour born of indigestion,or whimsies sent by the devil to mock and madden us.if,in a word,beauty means something,yet we must not seek to interpret the meaning.If we glimpse the unutterable,it is unwise to try to utter it,nor should we seek to invest with significance that which we cannot grasp.Beauty in terms of our human meanings is meaningless.

一個年輕人看到日落，由于無法理解和表達日落在他心中喚起的激情，便得出結論：日落處想必是通往遙遠世界的大門。無論是誰，在強烈感受到美的時刻，心中都不禁油生一種遐想：我們似乎瞥見從另一個世界射向我們的一線光芒，那個世界不僅不同于我們這個世界，而且由于美感的強烈感染，在某些方面比我們這個世界更美好。雖然這光芒令人眼花繚亂，但它確實給予我們一種不曾經歷和無法想象的美感和靜謐的啟示。這種美感和靜謐是我們無法描述的，因為我們發明的語言是用來描述這個世界的含義，不能隨便拿來去描述另一個世界。

不可否認，一切偉大的藝術都具有使人遐想到進入天外世界的魅力。在某種狀態下，大自然也有這種魅力。六月蔚藍的天空總使人遙想一個更加蔚藍的蒼穹；美麗的落日總會引起一個更加絢麗的景象未及飽覽便一閃即逝，并在消逝中給人留下不可名狀的渴望和惆悵。如果這個世界不只是一個拙劣的惡作劇，如果人生不只是群星寒光中平凡的.一閃，如果存在不只是對神秘事物的一種空虛的笑聲，如果某種玄妙事物的暗示不是消化不良引起的邪惡情緒，也不是魔鬼為了捉弄我們，使我們發狂而送給我們的邪念，一句話，如果美有某種意義的話，我閃千萬不要去闡明它的意義。如果我瞥見了只可意會不可言傳的事物，企圖把它說出來，那上不明智的；對于我們不理解的事物，我們也不應該去賦予它某種意義。用對我們人類有意義的詞解釋美是沒有意義的。

10.Waves 海浪

Waves are the children of the struggle between ocean and atmosphere,the ongoing signatures of infinity.Rays from the sun excite and energize the atmosphere of the earth,awakening it to flow,to movement,to rhythm,to life.The wind then speaks the message of the sun to the sea and the sea transmits it on through waves--an ancient,exquisite,powerful message.

These ocean waves are among the earth"s most complicated natural phenomena.The basic features include a crest (the highest point of the wave),a trough (the lowest point),a height (the vertical distance from the trough to the crest),a wave length (the horizontal distance between two wave crests),and a period (which is the time it takes a wave crest to travel one wave length).

Although an ocean wave gives the impression of a wall of water moving in your direction,in actuality waves move through the water leaving the water about where it was.If the water was moving with the wave,the ocean and everything on it would be racing in to the shore with obviously catastrophic results. An ocean wave passing through deep water causes a particle on the surface to move in a roughly circular orbit,drawing the particle first towards the advancing wave,then up into the wave,then forward with it and then--as the wave leaves the particles behind--back to its starting point again.

From both maturity to death,a wave is subject to the same laws as any other "living" thing.For a time it assumes a miraculous individuality that,in the end,is reabsorbed into the great ocean of life.

The undulating waves of the open sea are generated by three natural causes: wind,earth movements or tremors,and the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.Once waves have been generated,gravity is the force that drives them in a continual attempt to restore the ocean surface to a flat plain.

海浪是大海和空氣相斗的產物，無限的一種不間斷的標志。太陽光刺激了地球的大氣層，并給予它能量；陽光使空氣開始流動，產生節奏，獲得生命。然后，風把太陽的住處帶給了大海，海洋用波浪的形式傳遞這個信息--一個源過流長、高雅而有力的信息。

這些海浪屬于地球上最復雜的自然現象。它們的基本特征包括浪峰（波浪的最高點）、波谷（最低點）、浪高（從波谷到浪峰的垂直距離）、波長（兩個浪峰間的水平距離）和周期（海峰走過一個波長所需的時間）。雖然，海浪給人的印象是一堵由水組成的墻向你壓過來，而實際上，浪從水中移過，而水則留在原處。如果水和浪一起移動的話，那么大海和海里所有的東西就會向岸邊疾涌過來，帶來明顯的災難性后果。

穿過深水的海浪使水面上的一個微粒按照一種近乎圓形的軌道移動，先把微粒拉向前移動的海浪，然后推上波浪，隨著波浪移動，然后--當波浪把微粒留在身后時--又回到出發點。

從成熟到消亡，波浪和其他任何“活動中”的東西一樣，都受制于共同的法則。一度它獲得非凡的個性，但最終又被重新融進生命的大洋。

公海上起伏的波浪是由3個自然因素構成的：風、地球的運動或震顫和月亮、太陽的引力。一旦波浪形成，地球引力是持續不斷企圖使海面復原為平面的力量。

擴展閱讀

【句型1】It was also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.（Lesson 4）

【譯文】人們同時還發現，盡管她能用手指識別東西，但她的雙手一弄濕這種功能即刻消失。

【講解】the moment her hands were wet是時間狀語從句，意為“她的雙手一濕”。the moment（that）意為“一……就……（as soon as）”，例如：

【原文】She called her mother the moment（that）she reached the hotel.

【譯文】她一到旅館就給她母親打了電話。

【句型2】If there is one—which I take leave to doubt—then it is older people who create it,not the young themselves.（Lesson 5）

【譯文】假如確有這個問題的話——我冒昧對此表示懷疑——那么這個問題是由老年人而非年輕人臆造的。

【講解】if there is one中的one指a problem of youth。which I take leave to doubt系插入語，表示委婉語氣。

【句型3】There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.（Lesson 5）

【譯文】老年人和年輕人只有一個區別：年輕人有光輝燦爛的前景，而老年人的輝煌已成為過去。問題的癥結恐怕就在于此。

【講解】a young one中one替代man以避免重復。句中的兩個冒號系亮點所在，前一個介紹difference的同位語，后一個引出說明性內容。此句闡述青年人與老年人之差別，系作者細致觀察之結論，非高手不能為之。the rub（困難，障礙）也應熟練掌握。例如：

【原文】There’s the rub.

【譯文】難就難在這兒。

【原文】We’d like to travel,but the rub is that we have no money.

【句型4】When I was a teenager,I felt that I was just young and uncertain—that I was a new boy in a huge school,and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem.（Lesson 5）

【譯文】我十幾歲時，總覺得自己年輕，懵懵懂懂——我感到我就像一所大學校里的新生，假如我當時真的極為有趣地被人看作是個問題，我真會感到非常得意。

【講解】that I was a new…problem作felt的賓語，破折號表示引出被強調的部分。本句的要點在于暗喻（metaphor）修辭手法，作者把社會比作a huge school，把自己比作a new boy。

【譯文】我們喜歡旅行，問題是沒有錢。