上海交大版应用型大学英语综合教程第3册unit1课文翻译与练习答案解读

Unit 1 The Story of Steve Jobs
This is the text of the Commencement Address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, at Stanford University, delivered on June 12, 2005.
1 I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
2 It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"They said, "Of course."My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. This was the start in my life.
3 And 17 years later I did go to college.But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trusted that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions 本文是苹果计算机公司和皮克斯动画工作室的首席执行官史蒂夫?乔布斯
于2005年6月12日在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上的演讲稿。

1 今天，我很荣幸能来到这所世界顶尖大学参加你们的毕业典礼。

我大学没有毕业。

说实话，现在是我最接近大学毕业的时刻。

我在里德学院读了6个月就退学了，但是作为旁听生又在那里待了18个月左右，然后才真正离开学校。

那么我为什么要退学呢？
2 这要从我还没有出生的时候说起。

我的生母是个年轻未婚的研究生，因此她决定把我送给别人收养。

她觉得我必须由有大学学历的人收养。

于是，她安排好了一切，只要我一出生，就把我交给一位律师和他的妻子收养。

但是我出生之后，他们在最后一刻决定他们还是想要一个女孩。

当时我父母还在候补名单上，一天半夜他们接到一个电话，问他们：“有个新生儿，是意外怀上的，是个男孩，你们要吗？”他们回答：“当然要。

”但是，我的生母随后发现我母亲大学没有毕业，我父亲甚至连高中也没毕业，因此拒绝在最后几份领养文件上签字。

直到几个月后，我父母承诺将来一定让我上大学，她才同意了。

这就是我生命的开始。

3 17年后，我确实上了大学。

但是出于无知，我选了一所几乎与斯坦福一样昂贵的学校，因此，工薪阶层的父母把所有积蓄都花在了我的学费上。

6个月过去了，我看不到其中的价值所在。

我不知道我的人生定位，也不知道大学将如何帮我找到答案，而我正在这里耗尽父母一生的积蓄。

所以我决定退学，并相信一切都会顺利。

这在当时看来非常可怕，但现在回头看看，那是我做过的最棒的决定之一。

I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting. It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
4 Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sanserif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
5 None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
6 Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, 从退学的那一刻起，我就不用再上那些不感兴趣的必修课，而开始去学那些看上去更有意思的课程。

但一切也不全是这么美妙。

我没有自己的宿舍，只有在朋友的房间里打地铺；我拣可乐瓶子，把退来的5美分押金攒起来去买吃的；而到了每个周日晚上，我都会步行7英里，穿过城镇去克利须那觉悟会的庙宇饱餐一顿。

我喜欢这样。

我依照好奇心和直觉做事，大多事后证明是非常值得的。

让我给你们举个例子：当当时里德学院开设可能在全国是最好的书法课程。

园里的每一张海报、每一个抽屉的每张标签上都有漂亮的书法。

4 因为我已经辍学，不用参加正规的课程，所以我决定去上这门课，学习书法。

我了解了衬线和无衬线字体，学会了如何在不同的字母组合间改变间距，知道了如何让大字体显得很漂亮。

这种科学所无法捕捉的、美妙的、充满历史感的微妙艺术，让我心醉神迷。

5 这一切在我的生活中是否实用，我不抱希望。

直到10年后，当我们在设计第一台麦金托什电脑时，我想起了这些东西。

于是，我们把所有这些都设计进了Mac机。

这是第一类拥有漂亮字体排版的电脑。

如果我没有在大学旁听那门课程，Mac就不会有多种字体以及间距分配合理的字型，很可能现在的微软PC也不会有这些字型——你们要知道，Windows也只是抄袭Mac，并非独创。

如果我从未退学，我就绝不会旁听那门书法课，而个人电脑可能也不会有现在这样美妙的字体排版。

在大学的时候，我当然不可能把这些点点滴滴都串起来展望未来。

但在十年后再回首，一切都变得非常、非常清晰。

6 同样，你们现在也无法预见这类琐碎的经历之间能有什么联系，只有在回首往事时才能发现。

你们要相信，这些片断会在未来以某种方式连
destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. 接起来。

你们必须相信一些东西——勇气、命运、人生、因缘等等。

这个方法从未让我失望，也正是它改变了我的整个人生。

New Words
commencement
[C, usu. sing.] a ceremony at which students receive their academic degrees or diplomas 学位授予典礼，毕业典礼
He made a speech at the commencement.
他在毕业典礼上作了演讲。

We will get our diplomas at the commencement in May or June.
我们将会在五、六月份举行的毕业典礼上拿到毕业证书。

[C, U] beginning 开始，开端
The commencement of this year will be better.
今年将会有一个更好的开始。

Animation
n. [U] 动画制作
n. [C] a film or movie in which drawings of people and animals seem to move 动画片
quit
vi/vt. to leave your job, school, etc. 离开；离校
He got his present job when he quitted/quit the army.
他退伍后找到了现在这份工作。

If I don't get a pay raise, I'll quit.
如果不给我加薪，我就不干了。

vi/vt. (informal) to stop doing sth. 停止，戒掉
Quit fooling around!
别胡闹了!
You must quit smoking. Most important of all, you should start taking exercise.
你必须戒烟；最重要的是，你该开始运动了。

biological
a. connected with the processes that take place within living things 生物的；与生命过程有关的
a child's biological parents
孩子的亲生父母
a. connected with the science of biology 生物学
The school has a large biological laboratory.
这所学校有一个很大的生物实验室。

unwed
not married 没有结婚的，未婚的
In 1993 alone, 26,270 babies were born to unwed teens.
仅仅在1993年便有26270名婴儿为未婚少女所生。

adoption
n. [C, U] the act of adopting a child 收养，领养
He was pleased with the adoption of a little girl.
他很高兴收养了一个小女孩.
n. [U] the decision to start using sth. such as an idea, a plan or a name 采纳，采用
The adoption of this policy would relieve the unions of a tremendous burden.
采用这一政策将会减轻工会沉重的负担。

adopt
vt. to take sb. else's child into your family and become its legal parent(s) 收养，领养
vt. to formally accept a suggestion or policy by voting 正式通过，表决采纳（建议、政策等）vt. to start to use a particular method or to show a particular attitude towards sb./sth. 采用（某方法）；采取（某态度）
relent
vi. to finally agree to sth. after refusing 终于答应，不再拒绝
Afterwards she relented and let the children stay up late to watch TV.
后来她让步了，让孩子们看会儿电视，晚点再睡。

The police will not relent in their fight against crime.
警方在跟犯罪分子的斗争中决不手软.
vi. to become less determined, strong, etc. 减弱，变缓和
The pressure on us to finish this task will not relent.
为完成此项任务，我们受到的压力不会减轻。

naively
ad. in a naive manner 无知地；天真地
They naively assume things can only get better.
他们天真地以为情况肯定会好转。

scary
a. causing fear or alarm 引起恐慌的
That movie was too scary.
那部电影太吓人了。

stumble
vi. 1) to move or walk in an unsteady way 跌跌撞撞地走，蹒跚而行
A drunk stumbled past us.
有个喝醉的人跌跌撞撞地从我们身边走过。

The tired old man stumbled along.
那位疲惫的老人蹒跚而行。

vi. 2) to hit one's foot against sth. while one is walking or running and almost fall 绊脚
I stumbled over a tree root.
树根绊了我一下。

He stumbled on the staircase and hurt his leg.
他在楼梯上绊了一跤，伤了腿.
intuition
n. 1) [U] the ability to know sth. by using your feelings rather than considering the facts 直觉力
Nobody told me where to find you. It was sheer intuition.
没有人告诉我到哪儿去找你。

我纯粹是凭直觉找到你的。

Intuition told me you were an honest man.
直觉告诉我你是个诚实的人。

n. 2) [C] （一种）直觉
I had a sudden intuition about the missing jewels.
我凭直觉突然知道失踪的珠宝的去向。

I had an intuition that we would win at last.
我有一种直觉，那就是我们最终会成功。

calligraphy
n. [U] (the art of producing) beautiful handwriting 书法；书法艺术
I'm considering studying calligraphy or Chinese painting.
我正在考虑要学书法还是国画。

The graphic arts include calligraphy and lithography.
平面造型艺术包括书法和平版印刷术。

calligraph
vt. to produce by means of calligraphy 用美术体书写
serif
n. [U] a short line at the top or bottom of some styles of printed letters 衬线，截线sanserif
n. [U] 无衬线字体
typeface
n. [C] （印刷用的）字体
typography
n. [U] 印刷术，排版，版面设计
historical
a.1) connected with the past （有关）历史的
Are there any historical sites in this area?
这个地区有什么历史遗迹吗？
The book is based on historical events.
这本书是以历史事件为基础的。

a. 2) based on the study of history 有关历史研究的，历史学的
We have no historical evidence for it.
我们缺乏可以证明这一点的史学依据。

It's a historical fact.
这是历史事实。

artistically
ad. in an artistic manner 艺术性地；在艺术上
She is artistically aware.
她艺术感很强。

The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished.
这个房间装饰得十分豪华雅致。

fascinating
a. extremely interesting and attractive 极有吸引力的，迷人的
The results of the survey made fascinating reading.
调查结果读起来令人饶有兴趣。

proportionally
ad. corresponding in size or amount 成比例地，相应地
Crime rate is proportionally much higher in the north of the country.
就比例而言，犯罪率在这个国家的北部要高得多。

Families with children spend proportionally less per person than families without children. 有孩子的家庭人均开销比没有孩子的家庭相对要少。

font
n. [C] 字型，字体；铅字
gut
n. [C, usu. pl.] 内心，直觉，本能
destiny
n. 1) [U] the power believed to control events 命运
Destiny drew us together.
命运把我们连在了一起。

n. 2) [C] what happens to sb./sth. (thought to be decided beforehand by fate) 天数，天命
It was his destiny to die in a foreign country.
他注定要客死异国。

karma
n. [U] 因缘，因果报应
Phrases and Expressions
be honored (to do sth.) =to feel proud and happy （做某事）感到荣幸
I was honored to have been mentioned in his speech.
他在讲话中提到了我，真是荣幸。

I'm honored to meet you.
很荣幸见到您。

put (sb./sth.) up for 提供；推荐，提名
We decide to put up the family jewels for auction.
我们决定把家中的珠宝拿去拍卖。

Harrison put up for the secretaryship.
哈里森自荐秘书一职。

work out
1) to develop in a successful way 成功地发展
My first job didn't wok out.
我的第一份工作干得不好。

The new strategy may not work out well.
新战略也许不会产生令人满意的效果。

2) to train the body by physical exercise 锻炼身体
I work out regularly to keep fit.
我经常做运动以保持健康。

stumble into sth.
to become involved in sth. by chance 无意间涉足某事
The urge to wider voyages caused men to stumble into New America.
扩大航行范围的紧迫要求使人类意外地发现了新美洲。

have a hope of 有……的希望
make all the difference
to have an important effect on sb./sth.; to make sb. feel better 有很大影响，使大不相同
A few kind words at the right time make all the difference.
在适当的时候说几句体贴话能产生很大的影响.
Proper Nouns
Steve Jobs史蒂夫·乔布斯
Stanford University斯坦福大学
Pixar Animation Studios皮克斯动画工作室
Reed College里德学院
Hare Krishna国际克利须那觉悟会
Macintosh麦金托什电脑（苹果电脑中某系列个人电脑）
3.Questions on the text
1. What did Steve Jobs do after he dropped out of Reed College?
He stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before he really quit.
2. What can we learn from Steve Jobs' narration about his biological mother?
His biological mother was a young college graduate student when she gave birth to Steve Jobs as a single woman. She put up Steve Jobs for adoption, and felt strongly that her son should be adopted by college graduates and sent to college in the future.
3. What kind of people were Steve Jobs' adoptive parents?
His parents were a working-class couple without a college degree. His mother never graduated from college and his father never graduated from high school. However, they did send their adopted son to college as they had promised, and this cost them nearly all their savings.
4. Why did Steve Jobs drop out of Reed College?
Because he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and no idea how college was going to help him figure it out. Besides, the college was so expensive that all of his parents' savings were being spent on his tuition.
5. What did Steve Jobs think about his decision of dropping out? Why?
He thought it was one of the best decisions he had ever made as he looked back on his past. After he dropped out, he didn't have to take the required classes and he had the opportunity to take classes that interested him. Much of what he learned in this way proved priceless later on.
6. Why did Steve Jobs say his life as a drop-in in the college was not all romantic? Because he was living a shabby life during the 18 months: he didn't have a dorm room, so he slept on the floor in friends' rooms; he returned coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with; he would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
7. What did Steve Jobs learn in the calligraphy class?
He learned about serif and sanserif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
8. What do you think the graduating students can learn from Steve Jobs' life experience? They might learn to trust in something—their gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. They might also learn to have the confidence to follow their heart even when off the beaten path.
4.Working with words and phrases
A.Put the following Chinese expressions into English.
生母 [biological mother]
收养某人 [adopt somebody]
签署最终的领养文件[sign the final adoption papers]
无意间进入演艺界 [stumble into acting]
凭好奇心与直觉 [follow one's curiosity and intuition]
实际用途 [practical application]
B. Complete the following sentences with appropriate words in the text.
1. At first she threatened to dismiss us all, but later she r(elented).
2. If you can't have children of your own, why not consider a(doption)?
3. She sensed something wrong by i(ntuition).
4. She went to Cambridge on a scholarship but d(ropped) out a year later.
5. I fail to see what women find so f(ascinating) about him.
6.Practice: interpreting
After the speech, a reporter interviewed Steve Jobs. The following is the conversation between the reporter and Steve Jobs. Interpret it into English with your partner.
记者：您好，乔布斯先生。

我可以就您的演讲进行采访吗？
Reporter: Hello, Mr. Jobs. Can I have an interview with you about your speech?
乔布斯：好的。

Jobs: Sure.
记者：您能够再谈一下您的身世吗？
Reporter: Can you tell your story to us again?
乔布斯：就像我刚才说的，我的生母是一个年轻未婚的研究生，所以她决定让别人收养我。

我的养父母都不是大学毕业生，但他们答应会供我上大学，所以我的母亲才最终同意让他们收养我。

Jobs: Just as what I said, my biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate and she decided to put me up for adoption. However, neither of my parents who adopted me went to college. My biological mother agreed at last after they promised that someday I would go to college.
记者：不过您父母确实做到了他们所承诺的，送您上了大学。

Reporter: Your parents did do what they had promised. They sent you to college.
乔布斯：是的，17年后，我考进了里德学院。

Jobs: Yes, I went to Reed College 17 years later.
记者：但是您并未读完大学，能给我们讲一下您当时为什么要辍学吗？
Reporter: But you didn't graduate from college. Can you tell us why you dropped out?
乔布斯：好的，我在里德学院读了半年后就辍学了。

一方面是因为学费太贵，我父母一生的积蓄都花在了我的学费上；另一方面，我看不出读大学的价值所在。

所以我就辍学了。

Jobs: OK. I dropped out six months after I started my studies in Reed College. On the one hand, the tuition was so expensive that all my parents' savings were being spent on my tuition. On the other hand, I could not see the value of attending college. So I dropped out.
记者：那您怎么看当时这一决定的？
Reporter: What do you think of your decision of dropping out?
乔布斯：就像我刚才演讲中所提到的，这或许是我所做的最棒的决定之一。

我辍学之后参加了书法班，学到了衬线和无衬线字体，10年后这些在设计Mac时都用上了，不然，很有可能现在的个人电脑就没有这种美妙的版面设计了。

Jobs: Just as I mentioned in my speech, that was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Since I had dropped out of Reed College, I took a calligraphy class and learned about serif and sanserif typefaces which were designed into the Mac 10 years later. Otherwise, personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
记者：您的故事让我们学到了很多东西。

谢谢您接受我的采访。

Reporter: We learn a lot from your story. Thanks for granting my interview.
7.Practice: translation
A.Put the following sentences in the text into Chinese. Pay special attention to the italicized expressions.
1. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
我在里德学院读了6个月就退学了，但是作为旁听生又在那里待了18个月左右，然后才真正离开学校。

2. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
我的生母是个年轻未婚的研究生，因此她决定把我送给别人收养。

3. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
这在当时看来非常可怕，但现在回头看看，那是我做过的最棒的决定之一。

4. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
我依照好奇心和直觉做事，大多事后证明是非常值得的。

5. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
这一切在我的生活中是否实用，我不抱希望。

B. Complete the sentences by translating into English the Chinese given in the brackets.
1.[Every time I saw the straw hat] (每当我看到那顶草帽), it reminded me of the tour I had made years before.
2. This is[the most wonderful time that I have ever had] (我度过的最美好的时光).
3. [I'm honored to attend the closing ceremony of the conference] (我很荣幸能参加大会闭幕式) and give you a speech.
4. Bill Clinton has helped to get the two American journalists released and he seems to [have
a hope of making peace] (有希望调解) between North Korea and the US.
5. One friend of mine has decided to [quit his/her well-paid but demanding position] (辞去那份工资高但要求也高的工作) recently.
Summary outline:
1. The start of Steve Jobs' life;
2. The reason why he dropped out of college;
3. What he learned in the calligraphy class after dropping out of college;
4. The effect of what he learned in the calligraphy class in his life;
5. The implications of Steve Jobs' story.
Reference answer： Steve Jobs was adopted several months after birth since his biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student. As his parents had promised, Jobs did go to college 17 years later. However, he found the college was much too expensive and he couldn't see the value of attending it, so he dropped out six months later. Then he dropped in on a calligraphy class which he found fascinating. He learned serif and sanserif typefaces and many other things, of which he found an application 10 years later—they were all designed into the first Macintosh computer. It made all the difference in Jobs' life. If he had never dropped out, he would have never dropped in on the calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have had the wonderful typography that they do. Therefore, one has to trust in something—his/her gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, and this approach will give one the confidence to follow whatever he/she trusts in.
computer repairs
A customer has bought a new computer, but she is having a lot of trouble with it. She is now calling Computer Technical Support for help.
Clerk:Hello and thank you for calling Computer Technical Support. How can I help you? Customer:Yeah, I bought one of your laptop computers about three weeks ago, but it just isn't working properly.
Clerk: Well, sorry to say, but your computer is no longer under warranty. It ran out yesterday. Customer: What? A three-week warranty? Clerk: Yes, I'm afraid so. What's the problem?
Customer:Well, first of all, the machine always freezes and has crashed at least a zillion times. Clerk: Uh, madam...
Customer: And I think the computer's infected with spyware and the Big Banana Trojan virus. That's my biggest concern.
Clerk: Oh, uh, madam...
Customer: And plus there are a ton of pre-installed third-party applications that just clutter the computer. I'm at my wits' end trying to get this thing working.
Clerk: Madam. I have to put you on hold. Customer: What?
Clerk:It's going to take us a minute or so to diagnose the problems. I'm going to transfer you to our technician. 职员：您好，欢迎致电电脑技术支持部。

请问有什么需要帮忙？
顾客：是的，大约三个星期前我买了一台你们的手提电脑，但是它运行总是不正常。

职员：啊，很抱歉，但您的电脑已不在保修期内。

它昨天已经过期了。

顾客：什么？三周的保修期？
职员：是的，就是这样。

到底是什么问题呢？
顾客：首先，它总是死机，而且瘫痪了无数次。

职员：呃，女士……
顾客：而且我认为这台电脑感染了间谍软件和大香蕉木马病毒，这是我最担心的。

职员：哦，呃，女士……
顾客：再加上这里面有太多预装的第三方应用软件，它们把电脑弄得很混乱。

我现在没有办法让电脑工作。

职员：女士，我得请您稍等一下。

顾客：什么？
职员：我们需要一些时间来判断这些问题。

我将把电话转给我们的技术人员。

电话录音：感谢您的等待。

您的来电对我
Phone Recording: Thank you for waiting. Your call is important to us. You are number 84 in the queue. Your approximate waiting time is 2 hours 17 minutes, or whenever we get around to answering your call. 们非常重要。

您的等候号码是84号。

您的等待时间大约是2小时17分，或者我们一有机会便会回复您的来电。

New Words
Warranty
n. [U, C] a written agreement in which a company selling sth. promises to repair or replace it if there is a problem within a particular period of time 保修单
zillion
n. [U, C] an extremely large number 极大的数目
I've told you a zillion times what the problem is. Don't you understand it now?
关于问题的症结，我已经跟你讲了无数遍了。

你现在还不明白吗？
clutter
vt. to fill an area with too many things and make it messy 凌乱地塞满，乱堆放
I hate some computer companies because they tend to clutter their machines with junk software most people don't use.
我讨厌某些电脑公司，因为他们老是在电脑上乱装些大多数人根本用不上的垃圾软件。

queue
n. [C] a line of people, cars, etc. waiting for sth. or to do sth. 队，行列
Phrases and Expressions
be under warranty
to be bound by a written promise by a company to fix or replace one of its products 在保修期内
The camera is still under warranty.
这个相机仍在保修期内。

run out
1)(of an agreement or a document) to become no longer valid 过期，失效
Sometimes, a product you buy will function perfectly long after the warranty runs out.
有时候买来的产品在保修期过了很久之后，仍然很好用。

2)(of a supply of sth.) to be used up or finished 用完，耗尽
Time is running out for the trapped miners.
被困矿工的时间正在一点点流失。

be at one's wits' end
to be very worried or upset because you have tried every possible way to solve a problem but cannot do it 智穷计尽；全然不知所措
To tell the truth, I'm at my wits' end trying to figure out the problem with my computer.
我想找出电脑里存在的问题，但说实话，我已经一筹莫展了。

get around/round to doing sth.
抽出时间来做某事
3. Text
A Do-anything Pen May Change the Face of Computing 万能笔革新计算机技术
1 At a conference in California yesterday, the audience of 500-some technology veterans watched in fascination as a company called Livescribe introduced its brilliant invention: a pen.
2 Well, not just a pen—a computer that looks like a pen. The pen does have ink and it makes lines on paper, but it also records a digital file of whatever you write—both text and sketches—by using an infrared camera to read a code of tiny, nearly invisible gray dots on the paper. It can also read bar codes. To make it work, you need to either buy a recycled paper notepad from Livescribe, or roll your own by downloading a graphics file that prints on most laser printers.
3 It also records the sound around you and links it to what you were writing at the time. Tap the pen to that text again, it reads the little dots, and you get an audio playback from that time. As a journalist with lousy handwriting and no shorthand skills, I could use that. Just write an outline of what someone is saying in an interview, and tap on the notes to hear again what the person said.
4 That in itself would be very cool, but the Livescribe folks have bigger plans. Here are some other things the pen can do:
5 Create 3D audio files
The Livescribe headphones include microphones, so you can record the sound exactly how and when it hits each of your ears. Play it back through any headphones, and you get the same effect as if you were hearing sounds around you.
6 Create flash animations
Whatever you write or draw can be captured as a flash movie. Play it back and you see the drawings take form on your screen. Click on parts of the text in the animation and launch any linked items, such as web pages, audio files, or videos.
7 Access commentary in a book
The pen works for reading as well as writing. As an example, Livescribe showed me a Bible, printed on
1 昨天，在加利福尼亚的一个会议上，500名资深技术员饶有兴趣地观看了Livescribe公司展示其卓越发明：一只钢笔。

2 当然这不仅仅是一只笔——是看上去像笔的电脑。

这只钢笔确实有墨水，能在纸上留下笔划，同时也能把你写的任何东西录为数码文件——文本和草图都可以——利用红外摄像机读入代码，即一种在纸上几乎看不见的小灰点。

此外，它还能读入条形码。

要让它工作，你需要从Livescribe公司购买环保型记事本，或是自己下载适用于大多数激光打印机的图像文件。

3 它还能记录你身边的声音并把这种声音同你当时所写的东西连接在一起。

比如，在对应文件上再次轻击钢笔，它会读入这些小灰点，播放当时录入的声音。

我是一名新闻记者，字迹潦草，还不会速记，正好需要它。

在采访中只须就采访内容写个提纲，然后用笔轻击笔记，就可以再听一遍受访人所说的话了。

4 这种功能本身已经够新奇了，但是Livescribe人有更大的计划。

下面是这只钢笔的其他功能：
5 制作3D音频文件
Livescribe耳机有麦克风，因此你能实时、实效记录传入你耳朵的声音。

播放时，用任何耳机听，你都能得到和你当时听到的一样的效果。

6 制作flash动画片
无论你写什么、画什么，都能被捕捉成flas*******。

播放时，你会看见你的图画在屏幕上如何成形。

点击动画文件的不同部分，可以转到不同的超链接，如网页、音频或视频文件。

7 显示书中的注释
这只钢笔既能写也能读。

例如，Livescribe给我展示了一本印在那种特殊纸张上的《圣经》，轻击纸上的文字就。