Unit1
We all sensed we were coming to the end of our stay here, that we would never get a chance like this again, and we became determined not to waste it. Most important of course were the final exams in April and May in the following year. No one wanted the humiliation of finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Libraries which were once empty after five o’clock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their pale, sleepy faces with pride, like medals proving their diligence.
我们都觉得在校时间不多了，以后再也不会有这样的学习机会了，所以都下定决心不再虚度光阴。当然，下一年四五月份的期末考试最为重要。我们谁都不想考全班倒数第一，那也太丢人了，因此同学们之间的竞争压力特别大。以前每天下午五点以后，图书馆就空无一人了，现在却要等到天快亮时才会有空座，小伙子们熬夜熬出了眼袋，他们脸色苍白，睡眼惺忪，却很自豪，好像这些都是表彰他们勤奋好学的奖章。
Tomorrow? It’s all a lie; there isn’t a tomorrow. There’s only a promissory note that we are often not in a position to cash. It doesn’t even exist. When you wake up in the morning it’ll be today again and all the same rules will apply. Tomorrow is just another version of now, an empty field that will remain so unless we start planting some seeds. Your time, which is ticking away as we speak (at about 60 seconds a minute chronologically; a bit faster if you don’t invest your time wisely), will be gone and you’ll have nothing to show for it but regret and a rear-view mirror full of “could haves”, “should haves” and “would haves”.
明天行吗？明天只是个谎言；根本就没有什么明天，只有一张我们常常无法兑现的期票。明天甚至压根儿就不存在。你早上醒来时又是另一个今天了，同样的规则又可以全部套用。明天只是现在的另一种说法，是一块空地，除非我们开始在那里播种，否则它永远都是空地。你的时间会流逝（时间就在我们说话的当下嘀嗒嘀塔地走着，每分钟顺时针走60 秒，如果你不能很好地利用它，它会走得更快些），而你没有取得任何成就来证明它的存在，唯独留下遗憾，留下一面后视镜，上面写满了“本可以做”、“本应该做”、“本来会做”的事情。
对于是否应该在大学期间详细规划自己的未来，学生们意见不一。有的人认为对未来应该有一个明确的目标和详细的计划，为日后可能遇到的挑战做好充分的准备；有的人则认为不用过多考虑未来，因为未来难以预料。
(map out; brace
oneself for; uncertainty)
Students differ about whether they should have their future mapped out when they are still at university. Some think they should have a definite goal and detailed plan, so as to brace themselves for any challenges, whereas some others think they don’t have to think much about the future, because future is full of uncertainties.
经过仔细检查，这位科学家得知自己患了绝症。虽然知道自己将不久于人世，他并没有抱怨命运的不公，而是准备好好利用剩下的日子，争取加速推进由他和同事们共同发起的那个研究项目，以提前结项。( tick away; make the best of; have a shot at)
After a very careful check-up, the scientist was told he had got a fatal disease. Although he knew that his life was ticking away, instead of complaining about the fate, the scientist decided to make the best of the remaining days, and speed up the research project he and his colleagues initiated, and have a shot at completing it ahead of schedule.
Unit5
Josh shivered as he checked the address on the slip of paper in his hand. He’d never been to Joanne’s, but knew it by reputation, not because of its food, which had often been maligned, or its jazz orchestra, which had a guest slot for a well-known movie director who played trumpet, but because of the stellar quality of its sophisticated guests: politicians, diplomats, movie actors, hall-of-fame athletes, journalists, writers, rock stars and Nobel Prize winners – in short, anyone who was anyone in this city of power brokers.
乔希打了个冷战，他打开手里的纸条核对了一下地址。之前他没来过乔安妮餐厅，但对于它的鼎鼎大名却早有耳闻，倒不是因为这里的饭菜有多美味，其实这里的菜品屡遭恶评，也不是因为这里的爵士管弦乐队有一位知名电影导演客串吹小号，而是因为这里汇集了有头有脸的宾客，可以说是星光璀璨，他们中有政客、外交家、电影明星、载入名人堂的体育明星、记者、作家、摇滚明星、诺贝尔奖得主等等——总之，这里的每一位客人都是这座权力之城里的一个人物。
The Swedes and the Saudis in this true story have different concepts of the role of personal relationships in business. For the Swedes, business is done with a company; for the Saudis, with a person whom one has learned to know and trust. As long as one does not know another person well enough it is convenient to have present an intermediary or go-between, someone who knows and is trusted by both parties. At the root of the difference between these cultures is a fundamental issue in human societies: the role of the individual versus the role of the group.
在这个真实的故事里，瑞典人和沙特人对人际关系在商业中的作用有着不同的理解。对瑞典人来说，他们是在和一个公司做生意；但对沙特人来说，他们是在和一个他们了解并且信任的人做生意。只要他们对某个人还不够了解，就会让一位双方都认识并信任的中间人或介绍人在场，这样做会比较方便。这两种文化的差异源于人类社会的一个根本问题：即个人角色与集体角色的问题。
这位年轻人是个侦探小说迷，在看了福尔摩斯探案故事之后，他自以为完全掌握了侦探技巧，于是就开始调查一起抢劫案。经过几个星期的周密调查，他倒是追查到了三名疑犯，只可惜案发时这三个人都身在国外。(know sth inside out; track down)
This young man liked reading detective stories. After finished reading Holmes’ stories, he thought he had known the detective’s skills inside out and started to investigate a case of robbery. After a few weeks of close investigation, he tracked down three suspects, who turned out to be abroad when the robbery took place.
在本书中我们确实体会到了两种文化之间的差异。不过作者没有详细叙述这些差异，而是仔细讨论了两种文化的相同点，其中说得最多的是为什么这两种文化都如此强调工作的热忱。(dwell on; of which; loyalty)
In this book, we do find some differences between the two cultures. But instead of dwelling on the differences, the author presents lengthy discussions on things they have in common, of which their loyalty to work are most thoroughly touched upon.
Unit8
On International Women’s Day, Soviet women bask in their menfolk’s love and gratitude. In the morning, as it is a holiday, they lounge in bed instead of going out to work. Their husbands, with much cursing and clattering of pans, cook breakfast for the family; by ten o’clock they proudly serve their wives a charred and shrivelled egg. Beside the woman’s plate will be a bunch of flowers and a little gift, a bottle of scent perhaps, or a pair of tights, which she will exclaim over until the children, scarlet with fury, insist that their mother makes them their proper breakfast.
在国际妇女节那一天, 苏联的妇女们沐浴在男性所给予的爱意和感激之中。因为这一天是假日，早上她们不用去上班，可以懒洋洋地躺在床上。而她们的丈夫们则要为全家人做早饭，虽然嘴里骂骂咧咧的，还弄得锅碗瓢盆叮当乱响；到了十点，丈夫颇为自豪地把煎得焦糊糊、皱巴巴的鸡蛋端到妻子跟前。盘子边上还放着一束鲜花，一份小礼物，可能是一瓶香水或者一双裤袜，妻子会高兴得大叫起来，激动好一会儿，直到孩子们怒气冲冲地跑过来，小脸涨得通红，闹着要妈妈给他们做一顿像样的早餐。
For good or bad, the world has possibly undergone more changes in the past two decades than it did in the past two centuries. We have used more resources, burnt more fuel, caused more pollution and killed off more animals and plants as we have come closer to each other to form a truly global village. Television, we thought, was the last uniting factor till we got a feel for the Internet. All these changes have made us take a different look at the world beyond and our home within. Nothing comes without a rider in this global market. If we want to be part of the dazzle and comfort that the West is known for, we had better accept some of its anomalies, too. This is not to say that festivals mean something else to the West.
不管是好是坏, 世界在过去二十多年间所经历的变化可能比过去两百年间所经历的还要多。为了让彼此间联系得更紧密，营造出一个真正的地球村，我们消耗了更多的资源，烧掉了更多的能源，造成了更多的污染，灭杀了更多的动植物。过去，我们一直把电视看作是连接全世界的终极手段，直到我们了解了互联网，才发现事实并非如此。所有这些变化都让我们用另外一种眼光来看待外面的世界以及我们自己的家园。在这个全球市场中，得到任何东西都是要付出代价的。如果我们想拥有西方世界那著名的眩目而舒适的生活，我们也必须接受西方文化中的一些异常事物。当然，这并不是说节日对于西方人来说有着不同的意义。
和妻子离婚之后，他知道自己将受到朋友们无穷无尽的指责，因为他们都听信流言，认为他为了一个更年轻的女人而抛弃了妻子。每次在街上碰到朋友，他们都会严厉地责备他不该背叛自己的妻子。他终于明白，如果谣言一直不散的话，人们会逐渐地信以为真。(never hear the end of it; dump; bump into; stick around)
When he divorced his wife, he knew that he would never hear the end of it from his friends, because they all believed the rumor that he had dumped her for a younger woman. Whenever he bumped into a friend in the street, they would reprimand him severely for betraying his wife. He realized with his own experience that if a rumor stuck around long enough, people would gradually take it as true.
在经历了这么多磨难后，他把所有的愤怒、不满和绝望都发泄在周围人身上了，不管他们是家人还是同事。对于他这些反常的行为我们不能视而不见，而要多给他一些关心和爱。我们相信，他一定会重拾信心，挺过这段艰难时期。(undergo vent;be they shut one’s eyes and ears to; be bound to)
After undergoing so many misfortunes, he vents all his anger, discontent and despair on people around him, be they families or colleagues. Instead of shutting our eyes and ears to his anomalies, we should offer him more cares and love. We believe he is bound to recollect himself and go through the tough time.
Unit9
先前的一些调查表明，在这个国家的政治选举中种族曾经是最为重要的因素，因为这是一个由多个种族、多个民族组成的国家。随后，大量移民的涌入使得情况更为复杂。候选人不得不把信仰、文化等问题考虑进来。(be comprised of; substantial; complicate)
According to some prior surveys, race used to be the most important factor in political elections of this country, as the population is comprised of multi-races and multi-ethnics. However, a substantial number of immigrants complicated the situation. Candidates are obliged to take the issues of faith and cultures into consideration.
所有对政治感兴趣的、才华出众的年轻人都梦想着有朝一日成为伟大的政治领袖，对世界有积极的影响，让世界变得更美好。但是可悲的是，他们中的许多人在实现自己的梦想之后，只关心维护自己的权力地位而不是想着服务人民。更糟的是，有的时候他们会滥用他们的权力来满足自己的贪 欲，而让国家和人民的利益受损。(aspire; have impact on; maintain)
All talented young men who are interested in politics aspire to become great political leaders some day, to have impact on the world in a positive way and make it a better place. But sadly, many of them, after realizing their dreams, will only be concerned with maintaining their power and status instead of serving people. What is worse, sometimes they will abuse power to satisfy their greed at the expense of the country and people.