【正文】 reading my words out loud to the entire class. What39。The Art of Eating Spaghetti.39。第二天上午，我別無選擇，只好把我為自己而寫的貝爾維爾晚餐的故事交了上去。等我為自己寫好了之后，我可以再為弗利格爾先生寫點什么別的東西。那是我想重新捕捉并珍藏在心中的一個時刻。多麗絲和我都還從來沒吃過，在座的大人也是經(jīng)驗不足，沒有一個吃起來得心應(yīng)手的。 4 This title produced an extraordinary sequence of mental images. Vivid memories came flooding back of a night in Belleville when all of us were seated around the supper table ─ Uncle Allen, my mother, Uncle Charlie, Doris, Uncle Hal ─ and Aunt Pat served spaghetti for supper. Spaghetti was still a little known foreign dish in those days. Neither Doris nor I had ever eaten spaghetti, and none of the adults had enough experience to be good at it. All the good humor of Uncle Allen39。像 暑假二三事 那樣傻乎乎的題目倒是一個也沒有，但絕大多數(shù)一樣乏味。他長著古板的尖下巴，古板的直鼻梁，說起話來一本正經(jīng)，字斟句酌，彬彬 有禮，活脫脫一個滑稽的老古董。據(jù)說他拘謹(jǐn)刻板，完全落后于時代。我覺得英文語法枯燥難懂。t until my third year in high school that the possibility took hold. Until then I39。但有一位讀者特別不該忘記。你能猜出是誰嗎？當(dāng)拉塞爾ve been bored by everything associated with English courses. I found English grammar dull and difficult. I hated the assignments to turn out long, lifeless paragraphs that were agony for teachers to read and for me to write. 為自己而寫 拉塞爾我痛恨那些長而乏味的段落寫作，老師讀著受累，我寫著痛苦。我看他有六七十歲了，古板之極。 3 I prepared for an unfruitful year with Mr. Fleagle and for a long time was not disappointed. Late in the year we tackled the informal essay. Mr. Fleagle distributed a homework sheet offering us a choice of topics. None was quite so simpleminded as What I Did on My Summer Vacation, but most seemed to be almost as dull. I took the list home and did nothing until the night before the essay was due. Lying on the sofa, I finally faced up to the unwele task, took the list out of my notebook, and scanned it. The topic on which my eye stopped was The Art of Eating Spaghetti. 我作好準(zhǔn)備，打算在弗利格爾先生的班上一無所獲地混上一年，不少日子過去了，還真不出所料。我把作文題帶回家，一直沒寫，直到要交作業(yè)的前一天晚上。s house reawoke in my mind as I recalled the laughing arguments we had that night about the socially respectable method for moving spaghetti from plate to mouth. 這個題目在我腦海里喚起了一連串不同尋常的圖像。艾倫舅舅家詼諧有趣的場景全都重現(xiàn)在我的腦海中，我回想起來，當(dāng)晚我們笑作一團，爭論著該如何地把面條從盤子上送到嘴里才算合乎禮儀。我想重溫那個夜晚的愉快。 6 When I finished it the night was half gone and there was no time left to pose a proper, respectable essay for Mr. Fleagle. There was no choice next morning but to turn in my tale of the Belleville supper. Two days passed before Mr. Fleagle returned the graded papers, and he returned everyone39。兩天后弗利格爾先生發(fā)還批改過的作文，他把別人的都發(fā)了，就是沒有我的。 好了，孩子們， 他說。s more, the entire class was listening. Listening attentively. Then somebody laughed, then the entire class was laughing, and not in contempt and ridicule, but with openhearted enjoyment. Even Mr. Fleagle stopped two or three times to hold back a small prim smile. 于是他開始念了。就連弗利格爾先生也停頓了兩三次，好抑制他那一絲拘謹(jǐn)?shù)奈⑿?。t you see ─ it39。這是我整個求學(xué)生涯中最幸福的一刻。 他這番話使我沉浸在十全十美的幸福之中?！澳愠鲕噯幔俊蔽覇柕?。m in no hurry, I told him. Go ahead and finish your letter. “我不著急，”我對他說，“你接著把信讀完吧。我想我都能背出來了。”我估量他有六七十歲了，便猜測說：“是孩子還是孫子寫來的？” 4 6 This isn39。d meet, that is. I39。實際上，過去我倆總是以‘老朋友’相稱的 —— 就是說，當(dāng)我倆相見時。t. But I take it he39。我倆小時候就一起玩，所以我倆的友誼確實很長了。ve had such a long friendship, I said. “保持這么長久友誼的人可真不多見啊，”我說?！? 13 You said 39?！扒皟蓚€星期過世 啦?！? 16 He didn39。他又開口時，與其說是跟我說話，還不如說是自言自語：“我真該一直保持聯(lián)系。不過總是有事情冒出來，好像就是抽不出空來?！靶爬镞€提到呢。s pretty personal. “謝謝你，”我說，“不過 我不想讀你的信。s nothing personal now. Go ahead, he urged me. 司機聳一聳肩。 21 The letter was written in pencil. It began with the greeting Old Friend,and the first sentence reminded me of myself. I39。稱呼寫著“老朋友”，而開頭第一句話讓我想到自己。 22 You must have spent a lot of time together, I said to him. “你們倆準(zhǔn)是在一起度過了不少時光， ”我對他說。s what we39?！? 25 You know, I said to him, When it says here that there aren39?！? 26 Time goes by, the driver said. “時間不饒人啊，”司機說。s been mostly just Christmas cards. Of course there39。可最近這二三十年來，主要就是寄寄圣誕卡了。t it? “這一處寫得好， ”我說，“這里寫道：‘你多年的友誼對我非常重要，遠比我能說出來的重要得多，因為我不擅長說這樣的話。d like to receive a letter like that from my oldest friend. 司機說了句什么，可我沒聽明白，因為他似乎哽噎得厲害?！耙虼宋蚁肽阋欢ㄏ胫牢业胗浿恪?？信的署名是湯姆？ 33 I thought your friend39。d died. So I never mailed it. “這封信不是湯姆寫給我的，”他解釋說，“我是湯姆?！拔蚁胛艺嬖撛缧戇@封 信。 7 Professor Hawking thinks it important to keep everybody in touch with what science is about. In this article he explains why. 霍金教授認(rèn)為使每個人都了解科學(xué)是干什么的非常重要。有人想中止這種種變化，回到那個他們認(rèn)為更純潔更樸素的時代。 2 Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn39。知識與技術(shù)不可能說忘就忘了。惟一能阻止進一步發(fā)展的辦法或許是一個壓制任何新事物的全球政府，但人類的進取心與創(chuàng)造力如此旺盛，即便這個政府也不會成功。在一個民主社會里，這意味著公眾需要對科學(xué)有一個基本的了解，從而可以作出明達的決定，而不是把決定留給專家去作。這也是人們之所以支持各種綠色組織的一個重要因素。s famous equation, E=mc2. Maybe I would have sold twice as many copies without it. 怎么樣才能利用這種興趣，向公眾提供所需要的科學(xué)知識，以便其在酸雨、溫室效應(yīng)、核武器以及基因工程等問題上作出明達的決定呢？顯然，必須把基礎(chǔ)建立在學(xué)校課程上。雖然公式是闡述數(shù)學(xué)概念的一種簡單而精確的方式，它們卻使大多數(shù)人望而生畏。 5 Scientists and engineers tend to express their ideas in the form of equations because they need to know the precise values of quantities. But for the rest of us, a qualitative grasp of scientific concepts is sufficient, and this can be conveyed by words and diagrams, without the use of equations. 科學(xué)家和工程師傾向于用公式闡述觀點，因為他們需要知道量的精確值。我在學(xué)校從未學(xué)過分子生物學(xué)或晶體管，但基因工程和計算機是極有可能改變我們未來生活的兩項發(fā)展。電視科學(xué)節(jié)目的制片人應(yīng)該認(rèn)識到，他們負(fù)有教育民眾的重任，而不僅僅是為他們提供娛樂。新聞標(biāo)題通常只字不提科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)背后的長年努力。對于他們，美國夢的含義就是才能與勤勞能讓你從小木屋走向白宮。s American Dream Frederick C. Crawford 托尼t(yī) know. But one evening I found him standing in the driveway, behind my garage. He was about fivefootseven or eight, and thin. 他來自意大利羅馬以南某地一個滿地石子的農(nóng)莊。 2 I mow your lawn, he said. It was hard to prehend his broken English. “我割你的草坪，”他說。“托尼我走進屋子，心里有點不快?！? 7 I told her of my experience the night before. We thought it strange that he had not asked for pay. 我就把前晚的事跟她說了。但在星期五，回家略微早了些，我又在汽車庫后面看到