【正文】 ar transaction, much more than the amount of money involved must be known. Both the buyer and the seller should be familiar with not only the money amount, but with the amount and quality of the product or service to be exchanged, the time and place at which the exchange will take place and payment will be made, the form of money to be used, the credit terms and discounts that apply to the transaction, guarantees on the product or service, delivery terms, return privileges, and other factors. In other words, both buyer and seller should be fully aware of all the factors that prise the total “package” being exchanged for the askedfor amount of money in order that they may evaluate a given price. 價格的定義 價格決定資源的使用方式。 價格也是有限的產(chǎn)品與服務在買方中的配給 手段。美國的價格系統(tǒng)是復雜的網(wǎng)狀系統(tǒng)，包括經(jīng)濟生活中一切產(chǎn)品買賣的價格，也包括 名目繁多的各種服務，諸如勞動力、專職人員、交通運輸、公共事業(yè)等服務的價格。所有 這些價格的內(nèi)在聯(lián)系構成了價格系統(tǒng)。 任何一種個別產(chǎn)品或服務的價格都與這個龐大而復雜的系統(tǒng)密切相關，而且或多或少地受到系統(tǒng)中其它成份的制約。如果隨機挑選一群人，問問他們?nèi)绾味x價格，許多人會回答價格就是根據(jù)賣方提供的產(chǎn)品或服務，買方向其付出 的錢數(shù)。換句話說，價格就是市場交易中大家認同的產(chǎn)品或服務的貨幣量。 該定義就其本 身來說自有其道理。但要獲得對價格在任何一樁交易中的完整認識，就必須考慮到大量 非貨幣因素的影響。 買賣雙方不但要清楚交易中的錢數(shù)，而且要非常熟悉交易物的質(zhì)量和數(shù)量，交易的時間、地點，采用哪種形式付款，有怎樣的緩付和優(yōu)惠，對交易物的質(zhì)量保證、 交貨條款、退賠權利等等。也就是說，為了能估算索價，買賣雙方必須通曉構成交易物價 格的通盤細節(jié)。04 Electricity The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators. Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for million of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity. All living cell send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out pulses of record。 they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells have bee so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cell are linked together, the effects can be astonishing. The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can seed a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it live. ( An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts.) As many as fourfifths of all the cells in the electric eel’s body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to length of its body. 電 當今時代是電氣時代。人們對電燈、收音機、電視和電話早已司空見慣以致很難想 象沒有它們生活會變成什么樣。當停電時，人們在搖曳不定的燭光下暗中摸索； 因沒有紅 綠燈的指示，汽車在道路上遲疑不前；冰箱也停止工作，導致食物變質(zhì)。人們只是在兩個世紀前一點才開始了解電的使用原理，自然界卻顯然在這方面經(jīng)歷過了數(shù)百萬年。 科學家不斷發(fā)現(xiàn)許多生物世界里可能有益于人類的關于電的有趣秘密。所有生物細胞都會發(fā)出微小的 電脈沖。當心臟跳動時，把它發(fā)出的脈沖記錄下來就成了心電圖，這可讓醫(yī)生了解心臟的 工作狀況。大腦也發(fā)出腦電波，這可在腦電圖上記錄下來。許多生物細胞發(fā)出的電流都是 極微小的，小到要用靈敏儀器才能記錄和測量。 但一些動物的某些肌肉細胞能轉(zhuǎn)化成一個個發(fā)電機，以致完全失去肌肉細胞的功能。這種細胞大量地連接在一起時產(chǎn)生的效果將是 非常令人吃驚的。電鰻就是一種令人驚異的蓄電池。 它可以在水中發(fā)出相當于 800 伏特電壓電流(家庭用戶的電壓只有 120 伏特)。 在電鰻的身體里，多至五分之四的細胞都專門用 來發(fā)電，而且發(fā)出的電流的強度大約和它身體的長度成正比。05 The Beginning of Drama There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The on most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the worldeven the seasonal changesas unpredictable, and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama. Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used, Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire munity did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the acting area and the auditorium. In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effectsuccess in hunt or battle, the ing rain, the revival of the Sunas an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities. Another theory traces the theater39。s origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this vies tales (about the hunt, war, or other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds. 戲劇的起源 關于古希臘戲劇的起源存在著多種理論，其中一個最普遍為人接受的理論 假設認為戲劇從儀式演化而來。 這個觀點是這樣進行論證的：一開始，人類把世界上的自 然力量，甚至季節(jié)的變化都看成是不可預料的。 他們試圖通過各種方式去控制這些未知的、令人恐懼的力量。 那些似乎帶來了滿意結(jié)果的手段就被保留下來并且重復直到這些手段固 化為不變的儀式，最后產(chǎn)生了能夠解釋或者掩蓋這些儀式神秘性的故事。隨著時間的推移， 一些儀式被廢棄了，但這些后來被稱作神話的故事流傳下來并且為藝術和戲劇提供了素材。認為戲劇從儀式演化而來的人們還認為那些儀式包含了戲劇的基本因素，因為音樂、舞蹈、面具和服裝幾乎經(jīng)常被使用，而且，必須為演出提供一個合適的地點；如果不是整個社區(qū)共 同參加演出，經(jīng)常在演出區(qū)和觀眾席之間劃分出明顯的分界。另外，儀式中還有演員， 而且宗教領袖通常承擔演出任務，因為在儀式的執(zhí)行中避免錯誤的發(fā)生被認為有相當大的重要性；他們經(jīng)常帶著面具，穿著服裝象演員那樣扮演其它人、動物或