U14  Language and Commenication

语言与交际

Preface to The Columbia Encyclopedia

       Reading Comprehension

       (包括“答案与题解”)

       Notes

       课文参考译文

       练习

         ●Cloze

●Reading Passages(包括“疑难长句翻译与注解”)

         ●Translation

●Writing(包括“审题指导”)

Preface to The Columbia Encyclopedia

The Columbia Encyclopedia began its existence in the 1920s when Clarke Fisher Ansley and Columbia University Press recognized the need for a “first aid” for those who read. They created a handy, reliable one-volume encyclopedia that would be a suitable companion to a good dictionary and atlas. Now in its sixth edition some 80 years later, The Columbia Encyclopedia continues to serve the purposes for which it was conceived.

Like the world we live in, the contents within this book have changed in many significant ways since the first edition, but even the seven years since the last edition have seen changes of great importance. In the early 1990s electronic mail was unknown to most Americans and the World Wide Web was just being born; now they have transformed the Internet into an inescapable part of our lives, both at home and at work. Inside this encyclopedia’s cover you will find articles on electronic mail and the Web as well as on many other aspects of the computer revolution that affect our lives. Reference books, too, have been affected by the computer revolution, and some days it seems that the death of the printed encyclopedia is here. Those of our readers who feared that this would happen to The Columbia Encyclopedia need fear no longer. With this new edition of the book, Columbia University Press reaffirms the vision that first led it to publish this work. That vision has not been invalidated by the information revolution. Readers continue to want a book that can be turned to for information whenever needed. This encyclopedia remains the handiest one-stop, one-volume solution for that need.

Each time the encyclopedia is opened a similar journey can begin, and it is the rare reader who has not been fascinated by what there is to know about the world. More than 80,000 cross-references will lead you from entry to entry on the countries, regions, and cities of our world; the plants and animals with which we share this planet; and those men and women who have made and are making history in government, business, the sciences, and the arts. You cannot learn everything here, but The Columbia Encyclopedia remains quite a kit for “first aid”. The sixth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia encompasses the discoveries, crises, and other events of the 1990s— and the innumerable decades and centuries gone before. For a one-volume work, the scope is immense.   The nearly 51,000 entries in the encyclopedia assemble six and a half million words on a vast range of topics. Changes in the arts and literature, in mathematics and physics, in medicine and politics, in society and sports, and in many other fields can be found in the articles within this book. The genetic and reproductive revolutions in all their complexity will also be found within our pages: the hopes and challenges of gene therapy and the Human Genome Project.

The encyclopedia always has been both informative and a pleasure to read, and we are pleased to say—and our loyal readers will be pleased to hear—that it remains as it was. The editors and writers who have produced this edition have striven to provide our readers with useful articles that are both reliable and readable: accurate, perceptive, concise, and at times even a little witty. In this they were no different from their predecessors, and although this edition is the work of new writers, researchers, and editors, the encyclopedia is also the product of the accumulated efforts and insights of all those who labored before us. Nearly 1,300 new entries grace this volume, and almost 40 percent of the existing entries were revised when preparing this edition. We have made a special effort to expand and enrich our computer, medical, and other science coverage, even while maintaining the traditional strengths that have made the encyclopedia a great reference work.

My editorial colleagues on this project were professionals of the highest caliber, with decades of accumulated experience working on encyclopedias and other reference books; they were as knowledgeable, dedicated, and hardworking a group of people as anyone could hope to work with. I think I may say for all of us who worked on the book in so many different ways, both on this edition and on earlier ones, that we all regard this encyclopedia less as a book than as a kind of public trust. We always have committed ourselves to giving our readers the best, despite the imperfections that inhere in any human endeavor. We hope that those who use this encyclopedia experience the pleasure and insight that we have worked to provide.

1. From the last sentence of the second paragraph we learn that the sixth edition of the encyclopedia           .

 ［A］ is better than any other books in meeting your need for information

 ［B］ encompasses all the changes brought about by the information revolution

 ［C］ continues to be a convenient, reliable one-volume reference book

 ［D］ survives the information revolution by keeping its original purposes

2. What seems to have undergone the greatest changes in the sixth edition of the encyclopedia?

 ［A］ The contents.

 ［B］ The range of subjects covered.

 ［C］ The purposes.

 ［D］ The principles.

3. Paragraph 3 is similar to Paragraph 2 in that both emphasize           .

 ［A］ the unchanged purposes in this edition

 ［B］ the enrichment made in this edition

 ［C］ the range of topics covered only in this edition

 ［D］ the general features of the encyclopedia

4. How many entries have been added to the sixth edition?

 ［A］ Nearly 51,000.

 ［B］ 6.5 million.

 ［C］ 40 percent as many as the existing entries.

 ［D］ Nearly 1,300.

5. While new entries are added to this edition, what remains unchanged is the           .

 ［A］ writing and editing team

 ［B］ coverage of knowledge

 ［C］ writing and editing principle

 ［D］ insight of the writers and editors

答案与题解

1.［C］

在本句中，one-stop的含义是“不需要再去参阅其他工具书”，在这本百科全书中读者就能找到自己需要的所有东西。that need指读者的需要。

［D］意为：没有受到信息革命的影响，保持了其最初目的。

2.［A］   意为：内容。

文章第二段重点谈论了信息革命给百科全书的内容带来的影响，第三、四段提到其他新知识内容的影响。

［B］意为：涵盖的领域。涵盖的领域并没有多大改变，变化的是某个领域的内容更加充实。

［D］意为：(编写)原则。

3.［B］   意为：本版充实的内容。

［C］不对。例如：旧版本中也包括计算机网络方面的内容，新版本只是丰富了这方面的内容，吸收进一些新的词条。

4.［D］

根据第四段倒数第二句，新增添的词条(entry)约1 300条，而旧版本中40%的条目被修订(revise)。

5.［C］   意为：编写原则。

参阅第四段和最后一段。

Notes

1. 第一段第二句中atlas作“地图册”讲。

2. 第三段第一句是一个并列主从复合句，前后两个分句由and连接。句架是Each time... a similar journey can begin, and it is the...reader who...。在前面句子中，the encyclopedia is opened是由关系副词when所引导的定语从句，修饰each time，只是关系副词when在句子中省略了。后面分句是一种强调结构，在这里强调主语reader，后面what引导名词从句，作介词by的宾语。

3. 第三段第三句中kit作“成套工具”讲。

4. 第三段第四句是一个简单句，句架是The sixth edition of...encompasses the discoveries, crises, and other events of the 1990s—and the...。句中破折号后的内容是进一步具体解释前面句子中of the 1990s的。

5. 第四段第三句是一个并列主从复合句，前后两个分句由and连接。句架是...they were no different from..., and although this edition is..., ..., ..., the encyclopedia is...the product...and insights of all those who...。后面的分句是一个简单主从复合句，主句是the encyclopedia is...。although在句中引导让步状语从句。

6. 第四段第四句中grace是动词，是“给……增光”的意思。

7. 第五段第二句是一个简单主从复合句。句架是I think I may say..., ..., that we all regard...。句中that引导名词从句，作say的宾语。for all of us who ...仅是一个状语；关系代词who引导定语从句，修饰us。less...than在句中作“与其说……不如说”讲。

8. 第五段第三句中committed ourselves to 作“承诺……做某事”讲。

课文参考译文

《哥伦比亚百科全书》序言

《哥伦比亚百科全书》是在20世纪20年代问世的，当时克拉克·费希尔·安斯利和哥伦比亚大学出版社都认识到读书人需要“急救”。他们出版了一部方便而可靠的一卷本百科全书，希望它会成为一部好词典和地图册的合适同伴。现在，80年后的《哥伦比亚百科全书》已印刷了第六版，仍继续为当初构想的目的服务。

像我们所居住的世界一样，这部书的内容同第一版相比已在许多重要方面发生了变化，但即使在上一版问世之后的7年中也发生了重大变化。在20世纪90年代初，电子邮件对大多数美国人都是陌生的，万维网刚刚开始出现；现在，电子邮件和万维网已把国际互联网变成我们生活中不容忽视的一部分，在家中和工作中都是如此。在这部百科全书中，你会找到有关电子邮件和互联网的条文，以及关于影响到我们生活的计算机革命的许多其他方面的条文。参考书也受到计算机革命的影响，看来印刷的百科全书总有一天会寿终正寝的。我们的读者中担心《哥伦比亚百科全书》会出现这种情况的人再也不需要担心了。哥伦比亚大学出版社借本书这个新版问世的机会重申最初导致出版这部书的看法。信息革命并没有使那个看法作废。读者们继续需要一本在他们需要获得信息的任何时候都能进行查阅的书。这部百科全书仍然是满足那种需要的最方便的、一应俱全的一卷本解答工具书。

每次打开这部百科全书都能开始一次类似的旅行。很少有读者不为这本介绍世界的书着迷。书中八万多相互参照会引导你阅读一个个词条，来了解我们世界上的一些国家、地区和城市；了解这个星球上与我们共同生存的植物和动物；了解在政府、企业、科学和艺术界已经创造历史和正在创造历史的那些男男女女。你们不能在这里学到一切，但是《哥伦比亚百科全书》仍是一个相当不错的“急救”工具。第六版《哥伦比亚百科全书》包含20世纪90年代以及在那之前无法数清的岁月和世纪的发现、危机和其他事件。这部一卷本百科全书是包罗万象的。书中近5.1万个词条把题材广泛的650万字收集在一起。能在这部书的条文中发现艺术和文学、数学和物理学、医学和政治、社会和体育以及许多其他领域发生的变化。在我们的书中也能发现错综复杂的遗传学革命和生殖革命：基因治疗法以及人类基因组工程的希望和挑战。

这部百科全书一向是既能提供信息又读起来令人愉快，而且我们乐于说——我们的忠实读者也乐于听——这部书和过去一样。完成这一版的编辑和作者已力争向我们的读者提供既可靠又具有可读性的实用条文：准确、犀利、简明、有时候甚至有点诙谐。在这方面，他们与前任没有两样，虽然这一版是新作者、新研究人员和新编辑的作品，但是这部百科全书也是在我们之前辛勤工作的所有那些人多年积累的努力和深刻见解的产物。差不多1 300个新词条给这一卷增了光，在准备这一版的时候几乎对40％的现有词条做了修订；甚至在保留使这部百科全书成为伟大参考书的那些传统优点的同时，我们还特别努力扩大并丰富了计算机、医学和其他科学方面的内容。

在这个项目上，我的编辑同行都是最有才能的专业人员，在编辑百科全书和其他参考书方面积累了数十年的经验；他们这批人知识渊博，具有献身精神，工作努力，任何人都希望与他们合作。我想我可以代表曾以许多不同方式编辑这一版和较早各版百科全书的所有的人说，我们大家都认为这部百科全书与其说是一部书，还不如说是公众对我们的一种信任。尽管人类的任何尝试都有内在的缺陷，我们始终承诺要把最好的东西呈献给我们的读者。我们希望使用这部百科全书的人能感受到我们尽力提供给他们的快乐和深刻见解。

练习