2014年職稱英語(綜合類)教材閱讀理解文章及譯文23

　　The Only Way Is Up

　　Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don't permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

　　When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

　　The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

　　Elisha Otis, a US inventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

　　A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.

　　"It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space we carry around with us -- and you just can't choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

　　Don't worry about them. They are probably from a university.

　　詞匯：

　　skyline：空中輪廓線 tension 緊張

　　pulley 滑輪 bubble 幻想;妄想

　　fairground 集市場地

　　注釋：

　　1.It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.：正是這項技術(shù)贏得了人們對新發(fā)明的信心。本句使用了強調(diào)句型It is …that…被強調(diào)的是this，所指代的是上文中所說的Otis發(fā)明了電梯剎車的事。

　　2.The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.：對于研究人類來說，最接近的方式就是在電梯里觀察他們。句中that指的是上一句中提到的科學(xué)家一直對動物園的動物進行觀察。

　　3.about the bubble of personal space：有關(guān)私人空間的幻想。

　　5. Psychologists find the lift a good place where they can study human behaviour because

　　A) here humans behave the way animals do.

　　B) people in a lift are all scared.

　　C) here some people take notes.

　　D) in a lift the bubble of personal space breaks.

　　答案與題解：

　　1.C be concerned with是“關(guān)心;關(guān)注”的意思，故可排除B和D兩個選項，根據(jù)前面一句話，these cities是指那些不允許建筑物超出一定高度地城市，即不愿意改變固有形象的城市。

　　2.B 文中第三段說早在19世紀(jì)建造高樓的技術(shù)已經(jīng)存在，限制樓高的因素只有一個，即人們下班后不想像爬山那樣去爬樓梯，說明當(dāng)時還沒有找到把人往高處送的辦法。

　　3.D 答案在第四段，Otis發(fā)明的剎車使人們對這個新玩意兒增強了信心，他在游樂場里讓大家試乘了幾年才把這個想法出售給建筑師和運營商。

　　4.B 現(xiàn)在電梯已經(jīng)十分普遍，沒有人會覺得乘電梯是件好玩的事。

　　5.D 電梯的空間狹小，相對擁擠，人們想要享有私人空間的要求在這里成了幻想，就如同關(guān)在動物園籠子里的動物一般，這位心理學(xué)家提供了一個研究在這種情況下人的行為難得的機會。

　　譯文：只好向上

　　想到一個現(xiàn)代化的城市首先進入腦海的就是它的空中輪廓線。幢幢高樓如根根插入天空的手 指一般。確實有些城市因不愿改變城市固有的風(fēng)格而不允許建筑物超出一定的高度。但任何一個 城市想要引起世界關(guān)注，第一件事就是建造摩天大樓。

　　當(dāng)人口在城市聚集時，就產(chǎn)生了對土地的需求。城市是資本的聚集地，對土地的需求可以實 現(xiàn)。而在城市利用土地賺錢最好的方法就是在最小的土地面積上居住最多的人。這就意味著要建 高樓。

　　早在19世紀(jì)建造高樓的技術(shù)已經(jīng)存在，但樓房的高度還受一個很重要的因素的制約。那就是 樓房必須能讓頂層的居民上下方便，人們下班回家后肯定不想像爬山那樣去爬樓梯。

　　美國發(fā)明家艾莉莎?奧的斯為我們創(chuàng)造了電梯，他更喜歡叫它升降機。其實其中大部分技術(shù) 都是很古老的，電梯使用的是跟埃及人修建金字塔同樣的滑輪系統(tǒng)。奧的斯所作的貢獻是將滑輪 系統(tǒng)與一個蒸汽機連接起來制成一個剎車裝置確保電梯上的鏈條斷開時電梯不會墜落。正是這項 技術(shù)贏得了人們對這項新發(fā)明的信心。事實上他在游樂場里讓大家試乘了幾年才把這個想法出售 給建筑師和營造商。

　　電梯在現(xiàn)代社會肯定不能成為主題公園的看點了，乘電梯也成了再普通不過的事情，有時甚 至?xí)屓擞X得厭煩。然而心理學(xué)家及其他研究人類行為的學(xué)者則發(fā)現(xiàn)了電梯的妙處。原因很簡單。 科學(xué)家經(jīng)常在動物園里研究動物，而對于研究人類來說，最接近的方式就是在電梯里觀察他們。

　　工作場所心理學(xué)家賈利?菲茨基波恩說：“電梯空間狹小，人們想要享受私人空間的要求在 這里成了幻想，你不可能選擇隨意離開那里?！彼€指出人被封閉在這個小空間里會產(chǎn)生很多不 同的情緒。有些人會感到害怕，有些人則把它當(dāng)作接近老板的好機會。有些人喜歡站在靠門的地 方,有些人則藏在角落里。大部分的人試圖混在人群里，而有些人特意表現(xiàn)以引起別人的注意， 還有的人索性靠在角落記筆記。

　　不要擔(dān)心，他們可能只是大學(xué)里的研究者。