新世纪英语综合教程4第二单元 课后答案

心之所向，所向披靡

Unit 2 Book 4

Technology and Happiness

1. Difficult sentences

1) (LL24~25) But it’s been left largely unexamined by economists and social scientists.

What does “it” refer to here?

(= It refers to the relationship between happiness and technology.)

Paraphrase this sentence.

(=But economists and social scientists have hardly examined the relationship between happiness and technology at all.)

2) (LL25~29) The truly groundbreaking work on the relationship between prosperity and

well-being was done by the economist Richard Easterlin, who in 1974 wrote a

famous paper entitled “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?”

What is the meaning of “lot”?

(=It means fortune in life.)

How is the paper of great significance?

(= As a work on the relationship between prosperity and well-being, it is innovative.)

Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=经济学家理查德·伊斯特林在经济繁荣和幸福的关系方面进行了具有开拓性的研究，并于1974年发表了一篇题为“经济增长改变人类命运吗？”的著名论文。)

3) (LL32~33) Money, Easterlin argued, could not buy happiness —at least not after a certain

point.

What does this sentence imply?

(= Money can’t bring people happiness, at least when people’s wealth

has reached to a certain level.)

4) (L.39) …people adapt very quickly to good news.

How usually will people react to good news?

(=They tend to feel happy and excited on hearing good news but they

soon take it for granted.)

5) (L.58) Telemarketing, traffic jams, and identity theft all come to mind.

Explain the three expressions in the sentence, “telemarketing”, “traffic jam” and “identity theft”.

(=Telemarketing means salespeople try to sell products to you on the phone. Traffic jam means your car is stuck in heavy traffic. Identity theft means your personal information is stolen.)

Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=我们马上会想到电话推销、交通阻塞以及身份资料失窃等情况。)

6) (LL60~62) But for the most part, modern critiques of technology have

focused not so much on specific, bad technologies as the

impact of technology on our human relationships.

What do modern critiques of technology mainly focus on?

(= They mainly focus on the impact of technology on our human relationships.)

Paraphrase this sentence.

(=However, current comments on technology have mostly centered on the bad effects of technology on our human relationships rather than particular, harmful technologies.)

7) (LL 66~ 68) The notion that technology disrupts relationships and fractures community gained mainstream prominence as an attack on television.

What do people blame television mainly for?

(=Television is to blame mainly for interfering with the smooth development of relationships between people and breaking up community unity.)

Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=人们对电视的批评主要集中在以下方面：技术扰乱了人际关系、破坏了社区交往。)

8) (LL 78~ 81) Today, technological change is so rapid that when you buy something, you do so

knowing that in a few months there’s going to be a better, faster version of the

product, and that you’re going to be stuck with the old one.

With technology changing so rapidly, is it possible for people to buy the best product? Why or why not?

(=No, because rapid development of technology will always soon produce a better one.)

What can we do with the old version of the product?

(=We have to keep it even if we don’t like it any more.)

9) (LL 82~ 83) It’s as if disappointment were built int o acquisition from the very beginning.

What does this sentence mean?

(=It seems as if people were doomed to disappointment the moment they bought the product.)