the globe to countries or cultures we would never dream of visiting in real life. We’ll have experiences which are new, sometimes disconcerting, maybe deeply attractive, possibly unpleasant or painful,but never less than liberating from the real world we come from.
刘易斯·卡罗尔书中的爱丽丝不小心掉到兔子洞里，在那里发现了一 个神奇的仙境。当我们打开一本书时，我们也会像爱丽丝那样走进一个全新的世界。我们能从一个年长人的角度，或通过一个孩子的眼睛来观察生 活；我们可以周游世界，遍访现实生活中从没想过要访问的国家和文化； 我们可以体验未曾经历过的事情，这些事情有时令人不安，也许引人入胜； 可能是不愉快的也可能是令人痛苦的，但无论如何都至少能把我们从现实 世界中解放出来。
The English poet William Cowper(1731-1800) said “Variety’s the very spice of life , That gives it all its flavour” although he neglected to say where or how we could find it.But we know he was right.We know we live in a world of variety and difference. We know that people live various different lives,spend their time in various different ways,have different jobs,believe in different things,have different opinions,different customs,and speak different languages.Normally, we don’t know the extent of these differences,yet sometimes when something unusual happens to make us notice,variety and difference appear more as a threat than an opportunity.
英国诗人威廉·考珀（1731–1800）说，“变化是生活的调味品，它让 生活变得有滋有味。”虽然他没有说在什么地方以及怎样才能找到变化，但 我们知道他说得对。我们知道我们生活在一个充满变化与差异的世界里，我们知道人们的生活方式各不相同，人们过日子的方式不同，做不同工作， 有不同信仰，持不同观点，有不同的风俗习惯，操不同语言。通常，我们不知道这些差异的大小， 但一旦发生了不平常的事情并引起了我们的注意， 这种变化或差异与其说是机会，毋宁说是威胁。
Reading books allows us to enjoy and celebrate this variety and difference in safety, and provides us with an opportunity to grow. To interact with other people’s lives in the peace and quiet of our homes is a privilege which only reading fiction can afford us. We even understand, however fleetingly, that we have more in common with other readers of books in other cultures than we might do with the first person we meet when we step out of our front doors. We learn to look beyond our immediate surroundings to the horizon and a landscape far away from home.
读书让我们能够安全地享受和庆贺这种变化与差异，为我们提供成长的机会。在家里安详平和的环境中与他人的生活互动，这是阅读小说才享 有的特权。我们甚至感觉到——哪怕只是在那一瞬间——我们和异文化读 者的共同点要多于我们和家门口随便碰到的一个人的共同点。我们学会把 目光移出我们周围的环境，投向天边，去领略一下异域山水。
If we ever question the truth of the power of reading books, we should take the trouble to go to our local library or bookshop, or even, if we’re fortunate enough, to the books on our shelves at home. We should wonder at the striking vistas created by the titles of novels ranging from the
classics to the most recent:The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Fourth Hand by John lrving, Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger or Slamon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday. Then we should reflect on the other lives we’ll meet once we begin to read.
如果我们怀疑读书是否能给我们力量的话，我们就应该麻烦自己去一 趟当地的图书馆或书店，或者，如果我们足够幸运的话，从家里的书架上 取一本书来读一读。 我们会惊奇于古今小说的标题所创造出来的壮观景象：约翰·斯坦贝克的 《愤怒的葡萄》 约翰·、 欧文的 《第四只手》 亚历山大·、 索 尔仁尼琴的《癌症病房》 、厄内斯特·海明威的《丧钟为谁而鸣》 、格雷厄 姆·格林的《哈瓦那特派员》 、奥黛丽·尼芬格的《时间旅行者的妻子》 、 保罗·托迪的《到也门钓鲑鱼》 。一旦开始阅读，我们就必须思考我们在书 中读到的别样人生。
Every book will have its own language and dialect, its own vocabulary and grammar. We may not always understand every word or sentence, but whether we’re enchanted or whether we feel excluded, our emotions are nevertheless stimulated. Other people and other cultures are not always distant because of geography. In a book we may confront people who live in a different climate, have different religious beliefs, or come from from a different ethnic group.Even ours neighbours down the road may be strangers who we can only meet through books.
每一本书都有自己的语言、方言、词汇和语法。我们不见得总能理解 其中的每一个字、句，但不管我们是痴迷其中，还是觉得被排除在外，我 们的情感被调动起来了。尽管在地理上有一定的距离，但其他民族、其他 文化未必就离我们那么遥远。在书里我们可能遇见生活在不同气候、有不 同信仰、来自不同民族的人。即便是住在同一条街上的邻居，我们都有可 能只在书上相识。
As soon as we are able to listen, books are supremely influential in the way we live. From the bedtime story read by a parent to their child all the way though to the sitting room lined with books in our adult homes, books define our lives.The English writer E.M.Forster(1879-1970) even hinted at a more mystical power which books possess over us.He wrote,”I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready,and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have gone ourselves.”It’s as if the right book comes to seek us out at the right moment, and offers itself to us-it’s not us who seek out the book.
小时候，在我们刚刚能听讲的时候，书对我们的生活方式就产生了很 大的影响。 从父母给孩子读的睡前故事一直到成年后家中摆满书柜的客厅， 书界定了我们的人生。英国作家 E. M.福斯特（1879–1970）暗示书对我们 具有另一种更加神秘的支配力。他写道： “我认为能影响我们的书籍是那些 我们已经准备要读的书，它们只是在我们已经选定的道路上走得比我们更 远一些而已。 合适的书好像自己就会在恰当的时候找到我们，出现在我 ”们面前，而不是我们去寻找那本书。
Thomas Merton(1915-1968),the American monk,priest and writer,was once asked a series of seven questions by a journalist:Name the last three books you have read,the three books you are reading now ,the books you intend to read ,the books that have influenced you, and why, a book that everyone should read,and why.For the books which had influenced him,he cited poetic works of William Blake,various plays by ancient Greek thinkers and writers,and a number of religious writings.When asked why they had influenced him,he replied, “These books and others like them have helped me to discover the real meaning of my life,and have made it possible for me to get out of the confusion and meaninglessness of an existence completely immersed in the needs and passivities fostered by a culture in which sales are everything.”
美国修士、牧师及作家托马斯·默顿（1915–1968）曾经被记者一连串 地问了 7个问题：说出你最近读完的 3本书；你正在读的 3本书；你打 算要读的书；对你有影响的书，并解释为什么；一本每人都要读的书，并 解释为什么。关于对他有影响的书，他列出了《威廉·布莱克诗集》 、古希腊思想家和作家写的各种戏剧以及一些宗教作品。当被问及这些书为何会 影响他时，他回答说： “这些书——还有其他类似的书籍——帮助我找到了 人生的真谛，它们把我从生活的困惑和空虚中解脱出来。销售就是一切的 文化培育了人的需求和被动，而那种生活就深陷其中。”
So how would you answer the questions? 那么，你又会如何回答这些问题呢？ In 1947,Clifton Fadiman coined the term home-run book.When a baseball player hits a home run, he hits the ball so hard and so far he’s able to run round the four bases of the diamond, and score points not only for himself but for the other runners already on a base. It’s the most enjoyable and satisfying event in a baseball game. Likewise, a home-run book describes not the child’s first reading experience, but the first time they read a book which induces such pleasure and satisfaction that they can’t put it down. For hundreds of millions of children around the world,the best know example of a home-run book will be the Harry Potter stories.
1947年，克里夫顿·费迪曼发明了“全垒打书籍”这个词。当一个棒 球手打出一个全垒打时，因为击球有力、打得远，他有时间跑完整个棒球 场内的四个垒，不仅自己得分，而且帮其他各个垒的跑垒者得分，这是棒 球赛里最有趣和最开心的事情。同样，一本“全垒打书籍”指的不是儿童 的第一次读书的经历，而是指他们第一次读到一本能给他们带来极大的愉 悦和满足感的书、痴迷到手不释卷的经历。对世界上数以亿计的儿童来说，
As adults, we’re always looking for our own home-run books,not just for the first time,but time after time again.Whoever has read a novel in one sitting will always remember the pleasure and satisfaction which await us,and eagerly,insistently,sometimes even desperately seeks to reproduce the marvellous sensation again.We cannot withstand the hunger to visit
another world, to meet different people,to live other lives and to reflect on ourselves.
“全垒打书籍”的最典型的例子就是《哈利波特》系列小说。 作为成年人，我们总在寻找自己的“全垒打书籍”，不是第一次，而是 一次又一次地寻找。所有一口气读完一本小说的人都会记得那种令人期待 的愉悦和满足感，并会焦急、固执、有时甚至疯狂地寻求重复体验这种感 觉。我们想周游另一世界、会见不同国家不同民族的人、经历别样人生并 自我反省，我们无法遏制这样的渴求。
Danger!Books may change your life.Such is the power of reading. 危险！书可能会改变你的人生。这就是读书的力量。
Unit 3 时装潮流 50年
No history of fashion in the yeas 1960 to 2010 can overlook or underestimate two constant factors: the ubiquitous jeans and the rise and fall of hemlines for women’s skirts and dresses.
1960至 2010年间的时装史存在着两个不可忽略或不可低估的不变因 素：一是无处不在的牛仔裤，二是女装裙摆的升降。
Denim,the material which jeans are made of, was know in France in the late 16th century,but it was Levi Strauss who saw that miners in the Californian gold rush in the min-19th century needed strong
trousers,which he reinforced with metal rivets.Blue denim jeans remained popular in the US as work clothes until the 1950s,but then became
associated with youth, new ideas,rebellion and individuality.When Levi Strauss & Co began to export blue jeans to Europe and Asia in the late 1950s,they were bought and worn with huge enthusiasm by young people and recognized as a symbol of the young,informal American way of life.
牛仔裤是用粗斜纹布做的，早在 16世纪末法国就有了这种布料。直 到 19世纪中叶，李维·施特劳斯发现在加州淘金热中劳动的矿工很需要用这种耐用布料做成的牛仔裤，他还用铆钉来加固裤子。直到 1950年代， 蓝色粗斜纹布做的牛仔裤一直只是流行的工装，但是后来牛仔裤变成了青 春、新思想、反叛及个性的标志。1950年代末，李维·施特劳斯公司开始 向欧亚出口蓝色牛仔裤。年轻人趋之若鹜，视其为美国活力四射的、随意 的生活方式的象征。
Hemlines have a more peculiar significance during this period.It has often been noted that there is a precise correlation,with only a few exceptions,between the length of women’s skirts and the economy.As the stock market rises, so do hemlines, and when it fails,so do they.Exactly why women should want to expose more or less of their legs during periods of economic boom and bust remains a mystery.But the general trend is inescapable.Whenever the economic outlook is unsettled,both men and women tend to wear more conservative clothes.
裙摆在这一时期有着特殊的意义。人们时常会注意到，女人的裙摆和 经济之间存在一种颇为精确的关联性，且鲜有例外。股市升时裙摆也跟着 上升；股市跌时裙摆就跟着下降。在经济繁荣和萧条时期女性到底为什么 要多暴露或少
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