新概念英語經典文章

　　《新概念英語》是經過長期實踐檢驗,並被公認為世界上最為經典、權威、正規、系統的英語教材之一。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　Skyscrapers and Environment

　　摩天大樓與環境

　　In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.

　　60年代後期，許多北美人把注意力轉向了環境問題，那些嶄新的玻璃鋼摩天大樓受到了廣泛的批評。生態學家指出，城市中密集的高層建築經常給公共交通與停車場的承載能力造成過重的負擔。

　　Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts -- enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.

　　摩天大樓還是電能的過度消費者與浪費者。最近的某一年，紐約市摩天寫字樓1，700萬英尺辦公面積的增加使電能的最高日需求量提高了120，000千瓦。這些電能足以供紐約的整個奧爾巴尼市使用一天。

　　Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss ***or gain*** through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

　　玻璃表面的摩天大樓特別地浪費。 通過半英寸的平板玻璃牆壁損失***或增加***的熱量是典型的加入絕緣板的石牆所允許的熱量損失***或增加***的十倍以上。為了減輕取暖裝置或空調裝置的壓力，摩天大樓的建造者們已經開始使用雙面上釉的玻璃鑲板和塗上了金色或銀色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，來減少強光照射和熱量的增加;但是，鏡面的摩天大樓會提高周圍空氣的溫度並會對附近的建築物產生影響。

　　Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year -- as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109, 000.

　　摩天大樓也對城市的衛生設施造成了沉重的壓力。單單紐約市的二個世界貿易中心大樓如果完全被佔滿的話，每年就會產生2，250，000加侖的汙水。 這相當於康涅狄格州的斯坦福市這樣大的城市一年所產生的汙水量，而康州的斯坦福市擁有109，000人口。

　　2

　　Skyscrapers and Environment

　　摩天大樓與環境

　　In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.

　　60年代後期，許多北美人把注意力轉向了環境問題，那些嶄新的玻璃鋼摩天大樓受到了廣泛的批評。生態學家指出，城市中密集的高層建築經常給公共交通與停車場的承載能力造成過重的負擔。

　　Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts -- enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.

　　摩天大樓還是電能的過度消費者與浪費者。最近的某一年，紐約市摩天寫字樓1，700萬英尺辦公面積的增加使電能的最高日需求量提高了120，000千瓦。這些電能足以供紐約的整個奧爾巴尼市使用一天。

　　Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss ***or gain*** through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

　　玻璃表面的摩天大樓特別地浪費。 通過半英寸的平板玻璃牆壁損失***或增加***的熱量是典型的加入絕緣板的石牆所允許的熱量損失***或增加***的十倍以上。為了減輕取暖裝置或空調裝置的壓力，摩天大樓的建造者們已經開始使用雙面上釉的玻璃鑲板和塗上了金色或銀色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，來減少強光照射和熱量的增加;但是，鏡面的摩天大樓會提高周圍空氣的溫度並會對附近的建築物產生影響。

　　Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year -- as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109, 000.

　　摩天大樓也對城市的衛生設施造成了沉重的壓力。單單紐約市的二個世界貿易中心大樓如果完全被佔滿的話，每年就會產生2，250，000加侖的汙水。 這相當於康涅狄格州的斯坦福市這樣大的城市一年所產生的汙水量，而康州的斯坦福市擁有109，000人口。

　　3

　　Piano

　　鋼琴

　　The ancestry of the piano can be traced to the early keyboard instruments of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries -- the spinet, the dulcimer, and the virginal. In the seventeenth century the organ, the clavichord, and the harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard group, a supremacy they maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end of the eighteenth century.

　　鋼琴的家系可以追溯至15至16世紀早期的鍵盤樂器，包括小型撥絃琴、洋琴和維金娜琴。17世紀時風琴、敲絃琴和撥絃琴成為鍵盤樂器類的主要成員。這種至高無上的地位一直為它們所保持，直到18世紀末期鋼琴將它們取代。

　　The clavichord's tone was metallic and never powerful; nevertheless, because of the variety of tone possible to it, many composers found the clavichord a sympathetic instrument for intimate chamber music.

　　敲弦古鋼琴的音調有金屬的音質，缺乏雄勁。然而由於它的音調變化多，許多作曲家發現對於親切的室內樂是一種得體的樂器。

　　The harpsichord with its bright, vigorous tone was the favorite instrument for supporting the bass of the smallorchestra of the period and for concert use, but the character of the tone could not be varied save bymechanical or structural devices.

　　人們最喜歡用具備明快有力音調的撥絃古鋼琴來配合當時小型管弦樂團的低音樂器以及在演奏會上演奏。但它的音調難以變化，除非使用機械或構件裝置。

　　The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by a harpsichord maker in Italy***though musicologistspoint out several previous instances of the instrument***.This instrument was called a piano e forte ***soft and loud***, to indicate its dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer with a felt-padded head.

　　18世紀早期的義大利，鋼琴在一位撥琴鋼琴製造者手中得到完善***儘管音樂理論家們指出有更早的例子***。 這種樂器被稱為piano e forte***義大利語，柔和而響亮的***，以顯示它有力的多樣性。 演奏者用一個頭部帶皮氈的彈擊樂錘敲擊琴絃。

　　The wires were much heavier in the earlier instruments. A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century, including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the perfection of a metal frame, and steel wire of the finest quality, finally produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance.

　　更早的這種樂器之上的金屬絲要重得多。從此，持續到19世紀的一系列機械上的改進，包括引入踏板以維持音調或使其柔和，改善金屬框架，以及使用最佳效能的鋼絲，最終產生了一種具備無數音調效果的樂器。這些效果涵蓋了從最精緻的和聲到幾乎全部的管絃樂音響，從明快流暢的吟唱的音調到尖銳的打擊樂器的清晰動人的恢巨集氣勢。