最新-2018年职称英语综合B建华版小抄字典小抄 精品

*第六篇Brands
The word brand is a comprehensive term that encompasses other narrower terms.
A brand is a name, term, symbol, and/or special design that is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers. A brand differentiates one seller’s products from those of competitors. A brand name consists of words, letters, and/or numbers that can be vocalized. A brand mark is the part of the brand that appears in the form of a symbol, design, or distinctive coloring or lettering. It is recognized by sight but may not be expressed when a person pronounces the brand name.
A trademark is a brand that is given legal protection because, under the law, it has been appropriated by one seller. Thus trademark is essentially a legal term. All trademarks are brands and thus include the words, letters, or numbers that can be pronounced. They may also include a pictorial design. Some people erroneously believe that the trademark is only the pictorial part of the brand.
One major method of classifying brands is on the basis of who owns them—producers or middlemen. Sunbeam, Florsheim, Spalding (athletic products), and Sara Lee are producers’brands, while Allstate, Shurfine, Sysco, Craftsman, and Penncrest are middlemen's brands.
The terms national and private have been used to describe producer and middleman brand ownership, respectively. However, marketing people prefer the producer middleman terminology. To say that the brand of poultry feed marketed in three states by a small Birmingham, Alabama, manufacturer is a national brand, whereas the brands of Penney’s or Sears are private brands, stretches the meaning of the terms national and private.
译文：品牌
品牌是一个综合性的术语，它包括其他范围更小的术语。

一种品牌可以是一个名字、一个术语、一个符号或是一个特殊的标志，用以区别不同卖主或卖主群体的货物或劳务。

品牌可以把一个卖主的商品同其他竞争者的商品区分开来。

一个品觯的名字由可以清晰读出的单词、字母及数字组成。

商标是品牌的一个组成部分，其形式为一个符号、一种图案、一种与众不同的色彩或字母书写。

它可以从视觉上确认，但在读品牌的名学时不一定能表达出来。

商标是受法律保护的品牌，因为依据法律，它已被卖主占有了。

因此，商标实质上是一个法律术语。

所有的商标都是品牌，它也就包括可以被读出的单词、字母及数字。

商标上也可能有图案设计。

有些人错误地认为，商标仅是品觯中
的图案部分。

品牌分类的一种主要方法是依据其所有人——制造商和中间商来划分。

山比母、弗拉什姆、斯巴尔丁（体育用品）和萨拉李等是制造商的品牌，而奥斯泰特、舒费因、赛斯克、克拉夫茨曼和Penncrest则是中间商的品牌。

’
国有和私有这两个术语分别用于描述制造商与中间商的品牌所有权。

不过，销售人员更偏爱生产者——中间商这个术语。

我们说阿拉巴马州伯明翰市一家小广生产的、在三个州都有出售的家禽饲料为国有品牌，而Penney's或Sears 为私有品牌，就把国有和私有这两个术语的意思引申了。

*第八篇Easy Learning
Students should be jealous. Not only do babies get to doze their days away, but they’ve also mastered the fine art of learning in their sleep.
By the time babies are a year old they can recognize a lot of sounds and even simple words. Marie Cheour at the University of Turku in Finland suspected that they might progress this fast because they learn language while they sleep as well as when they are awake.
To test the theory, Cheour and her colleagues studied 45 newborn babies in the first few days of their lives. They exposed all the infants to an hour of Finnish vowel sounds—one that sounds like “oo”, another like “ee”and a third boundary vowel peculiar to Finnish and similar languages that sounds like something in between. EEG recordings of the infant’s brains before and after the session showed that the newborns could not distinguish the sounds.
Fifteen of the babies then went back with their mothers, while the rest were split into two sleep-study groups. One group was exposed throughout their night-time sleeping hours to the same three vowels, while the others listened to other, easier-to-distinguish vowel sounds.
When tested in the morning, and again in the evening, the babies who’d heard the tricky boundary vowel all night showed brainwave activity indicating that they could now recognise this new sound. They could identify the sound even when its pitch was changed, while none of the other babies could pick up the boundary vowel at all.
Cheour doesn’t know how babies accomplish this night-time learning, bunt she suspects that the special ability might indicate that unlike adults, babies don’t “turn off”their cerebral cortex while they sleep. The skill probably fades in the course of the first year of life, she adds—so forget the idea that you can pick up tricky French vowels as an adult just by slipping a language tape under your pillow. But while it may not help grown-ups, Cheour is
hoping to use the sleeping hours to give remedial help to babies who are genetically at risk of language disorders.
译文：容易的学习
学生们应该感到嫉妒。

婴儿们不仅整天睡觉，而且他们还能在睡眠中掌握学习的艺术。

婴儿到了一周岁时，他们可以识别出很多音，甚至一些简单的单词。

芬兰Turku大学的Marie Cheour怀疑他们进步这么快的原因可能是他们不仅在醒着时学语言，而且在睡觉时也在学语言。

为了检验这个理论，Cheour 和她的同事们在45个新生儿生命最初的几天里对他们进行了研究。

他们让所有的婴儿听一个小时的芬兰元音"一其中一个类似“00”，另一个类似“ee”，还有一个芬兰语和类似语言特有的边界音，听起来像两者之间的声音。

在此之If和之后的婴儿大脑的脑电图记录显示新生儿不能辨别这几个声音。

然后，其中15个婴儿随他们的母亲回去了，而另外的婴儿被分成两个睡觉时学习小组。

一个组的婴儿夜间睡觉的时候还放着同样三个元音的录音，而其他的婴儿只听其他的较容易区分的元音。

在早晚各进行了测试之后，那些整晚都在听难识别的边界音的婴儿显示出的脑波活动说明他们现在能够识别这个新声音了。

甚至当这个音的音调变化时他们仍能够识别出来，而其的婴儿没有一个能识别这个边界音的。

Cheour不知道婴儿是如何完成这个夜间学习的,但是她怀疑这种特殊能力说明跟大人不一样，婴儿睡觉时没有把大脑皮层“关掉”。

她接着说，这种技能可能在生命的最初过程中渐渐消失，因应忘掉这样一个想法，即你作为一个成年人只需要把一盘语言录音带塞在枕头下面就可以学会法语中一些麻烦的音。

伹是，虽然这并不能帮助成年人，Chedtir希望这些睡眠时间可用来帮助那些从基因上来说会发生语言障碍的婴儿。

*第十篇The Workers' Role in Management
Traditionally, it has been the workers' role to work and management's role to manage. Managers have planned and directed the firm's operations with little thought to consulting the labor force. Managers have rarely felt compelled to obtain the workers' opinions or to explain their decisions to their employees. At most, companies have provided"suggestion boxes" in which workers could place ideas for improving procedures. In recent years, however, many management specialists have been arguing that workers are more than sellers of labor一they have a vital stake in the companyand may be able to make significant contributions to its management. Furthermore, major company decisions profoundly affect workers and their dependents. This is particularly true of plant
closings, which may put thousands on the unemployment lines. Should workers, then, play a stronger role in management?
Workers should have a role in management. At the very least, the labor force should be informed of major policy decisions (A common complaint among rank-and-file workers is the lack of information about company policies and actions). Between 1980 and 1985 about five million workers were the victims of plant closings and permanent layoffs, often with no warning. At least 90 days' notice ought to be given in such instances so that workers have time to adjust. Management should consult workers before closing a plant, because the workers might be able to suggest ways of improving productivity and reducing costs and might be willing to make concessions that will help keep the plant operating.
It should become a general practice to include work&s in some managerial decision making. There ought to be representatives of the workers on the firm's board of directors or other major policymaking groups. if rank-and-file workers are given a voice in the planning and management of the work flow, they will help to make improvements, their morale will rise, and their productivity will increase. As a further incentive, they must be given a share in the company's profits. This can be done through employee stockownership plans, bonuses, or rewards for efficiency and productivity. Finally, when a plant can no longer operate at a profit, the workers should be given the opportunity to purchase the plant and run it themselves.
译文：工人在管理中的作用
传统上，工人的作用是生产，管理者的作用是管理。

管理者计划和指导公司的运作，而很少想到去征求劳动者的意见。

管理者们很少觉得应听取工人的意见或向他们的雇员解释公司的决定。

公司最多提供些“意见箱”，工人们至多将改善生产流程的意见投入意见箱。

然而，近几年来，许多管理专家一直在争论工人们不仅仅出卖劳动力，而且对公司有很大的利害关系，或许还能对公司的管理做出重大贡献。

此外，公司的重大决定往往对工人及其家属影响极大。

如果工厂倒闭，这一点就更加确定无疑了。

它可能会把成百上千的人推到实业的边缘。

那么，工人们应该在企业管理中发挥举足轻重的作用吗？
工人们应该在管理中扮演自己的角色。

至少，劳动者应该被告知公司的政策决定（普通工人最普遍的抱怨就是对公司的政策和行动缺少了解）。

在1980年和1985年之间，有500万工人在没有事先被告知的情况下，成了工厂倒闭和永久性停工的牺牲品。

在这种情况
下，应至少提前90天通知工人们，这样工人们才能有时间调整。

管理者在关闭工厂之前，应该征求工人们的意见，因为工人们也许会提出一些建议来提高生产率，降低成本，或许他们还愿意为了帮助工厂运转而做出让步。

工人参与制订管理决策应得到普遍实施。

公司的董事会或其他重大决策制订组里也应该有工人代表。

如果普通工人对流水线生产的计划和管理有发言权的话，他们会帮助改善状况，而且他们的士气也会提升，生产效率也会提高。

作为进一步地刺激，公司应给他们一份利润分成。

这可以通过工人股票持有权方案、红利或者发效益奖获得以实现。

最后，当一个工厂不能再获利经营的时候，工人们应该被赋予购买和经营本工厂的机会。

*第六篇How We Form First Impression
1We all have first impression of someone we just met. But why? Why do we form an opinion about someone without really knowing anything about him or her —aside perhaps from a few remarks or readily observable traits.
2The answer is related to how your brain, allows you to be aware of the world. Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in how a person’s eyes, ears, nose, or mouth are placed in relation to each other makes you see him or her as different1. In fact, your brain continuously processes incoming sensory information —the sights and sounds of your world. These incoming “signals” are compared against2 a host of “memories” stored in the brain areas called the cortex system to determine what these new signals “mean.”
3If you see someone you know and like at school3, your brain says “familiar and safe. ‘‘If you see someone new, it says, “new —potentially threatening.”Then your brain starts to match features of this stranger with other “known”memories；The height, weight, dress, ethnicity, gestures, and tone of voice are all matched up. The more unfamiliar the characteristics, the more your brain may say, “This is new. I don’t like this person.” Or else, “I’m intrigued. “Or your brain may perceive a new face but familiar clothes, ethnicity, gestures —like your other friends；so your brain says: “I like this person.”But these preliminary “impressions”can be dead wrong4.
4When we stereotype people, we use a less mature form of thinking（not unlike the immature thinking of a very young child）that makes simplistic and categorical impressions of others. Rather than leam about the depth and breadth of people —their history, interest, values, strengths, and true character —we categorize them as jocks,
geeks, or freaks.
5However, if we resist initial stereotypical impressions, we have a chance to be aware of what a person is truly like. If we spend time with a person, hear about his or her life, hopes, dreams, and become aware of the person’s character, we use a different, more mature style of thinking —and the most complex areas of our cortex, which allow us to be humane.
译文：对别人的第一印象是怎样形成的
对刚刚遇到的人我们都会留下第一印象，为什么？为什么我们会对一无所知的人形成自己的印象——除去一些描述或显而易见的特征？
这与你的大脑如何感知世界是息息相关的。

大脑对面部特征十分敏感，即使是每个人在眼睛、耳朵或嘴部的细小差异也会使大脑察觉到其不同之处。

实际上，大脑一直在不断地对接收到的感官信息进行处理——包括影像和声音。

大脑将这些“信号”与储存在脑皮层系统的大量“记忆”相比较以便确定这些新收到的信号的“意思”。

如果你在学校看到某个你认识而且喜欢的人，你的大脑会做出“熟悉安全”的判断；如果你看见了一个陌生的人，你的大脑会告诉你“陌生，有潜在的威胁”，紧接着你的大脑会开始将这个陌生人的特征与“已知”的记忆进行比较，包指身高、体重、穿着、种族、手势以及音调等等。

特征越不相符，大脑越会告诫你，“这是陌生人，我不喜欢这个人”，或“我很好奇”。

大脑也可能观察到一张新面孔，但却有着熟悉的穿着、种族特征和手势——像你的朋友，这时大脑会告诉你“我喜欢这个人”。

但这些第一印象却可能是完全错误的。

当区分人时，我们使用一种欠成熟的思维方式（与小孩子不成熟的想法一样）去对别人做出简单并且范畴化的判断。

（这佯的后果是）我们将人区分为骗子、反常的人或怪人，而不是对人的深度和广度，即历史、兴趣、价值、力量或真正的性格有所了解。

但是，如果对模式化的第一印象加以抑制，我们就会有机会对一个人有真正的了解。

如果我们花一些时间与一个人在一起，倾听他或她的生活、希望和梦想，了解了这个人的性格，我们才会用一种不同的、更成熟的方式去思考——即用脑皮层中最复杂的区域进行思考，而这会使我们更富有人情味。

*第七篇How to Argue with Your Boss
1 Before you argue with your boss, check with the boss's secretary to determine his mood. If he ate nails for breakfast1, it is not a good idea to ask him for something. Even without the boss's secretary, there are keys to timing2: don't approach the boss when he's on deadline3; don't go in right before lunch, when he is apt to be distracted and rushed4; don't go in just before or after he has taken a vacation.
2 If you're mad, that will only make your boss mad. Calm down first. And don't let a particular concern open the floodgates for all your accumulated frustration5. The boss will feel that you think negatively about the company and it is hopeless trying to change your mind. Then, maybe he will dismiss you.
3 Terrible disputes can result when neither the employer nor the employee knows what is the problem the other wants to discuss. Sometimes the fight will go away when the issues are made clear. The employee has to get his point across clearly in order to make the boss understand it6.
4 Your boss has enough on his mind without your adding more7. If you can't put forward an immnediate solution, at least suggest how to approach the problem. People who frequently present problems without solutions to their bosses may soon find they can't get past the secretary8.
5 To deal effectively with a boss, it's important to consider his goals and pressures. If you can put yourself in the position of being a partner to the boss, then he will be naturally more inclined to work with you to achieve your goals9.
译文：怎样与老板争论
在你与老板争论以前，先去老板秘书那里问一下老板的情绪，如果他情绪很糟，去向他提要求可不是一个好主意。

即使没有老板的秘书，在选择时间方面也有窍门：别在老板赶期限时去找他；别在午饭前去找他，因为这时他最易走神，匆忙行事；别在他度假前后去找他。

如果你快发疯了，只会使你的老板也气疯。

先平静一下。

别让某件特别的事情打开你积怨的闸门。

老板会认为，你对公司持完全否定的态度，而且无法改变你的观点。

接下来，你可能要被开除。

当雇主和雇员双方都不明白对方要说什么时，会发生可怕的争执。

有时问题弄清时，矛盾也就消除了。

雇员必须清楚地传达他的观点，让老板明白。

即使你不给老板添麻烦，他要考虑的事也已经够多的了。

如果你无法提出直接的解决方案，至少要表明怎样对待此问题。

那些经常给老板提问题，而不提出解决方案的人会发现他们连秘书那一关也过不了。

要想和老板相处融洽，多考虑他的目标和压力非常重要。

如果你能把自己摆在老板的合伙人的位置上，他自然会愿意与你合作，达到你的目的。

*第九篇Transport and Trade
Transport is one of the aids to trade. By moving goods from places where they are plentiful to places where they are scarce，transport adds to their value. The more easily goods can be brought over the distance that separates producer and
consumer，the better for trade. When there were no railways，no good roads，no canals，and only small sailing ships，trade was on a small scale.
The great advances made in transport during the last two hundred years were accompanied by a big increase in trade. Bigger and faster ships enabled a trade in meat to develop between Britain and New Zealand，for instance. Quicker transport makes possible mass-production and big business，drawing supplies from，and selling goods to，all parts of the globe. Big factories could not exist without transport to carry the large number of workers they need to and from their homes. Big city stores could not have developed unless customers could travel easily from the suburbs and goods delivered to their homes. Big cities could not survive unless food could be brought from a distance.
Transport also prevents waste. Much of the fish landed at the ports would be wasted if it could not be taken quickly to inland towns. Transport has given us a much greater variety of foods and goods since we no longer have to live on what is produced locally. Foods which at one time could be obtained only during a part of the year can now be obtained all through the year. Transport has raised the standard of living.
By moving fuel，raw materials，and even power，as，for example，through electric cables，transport has led to the establishment of industries and trade in areas where they would have been impossible before. Districts and countries can concentrate on making things which they can do better and more cheaply than others and can then exchange them with one another. The cheaper and quicker transport becomes，the longer the distance over which goods can profitably be carried. Countries with poor transport have a lower standard of living.
Commerce requires not only the moving of goods and people but also the carrying of messages and information. Means of communication，like telephones，cables and radio，send information about prices，supplies，and changing conditions in different parts of the world. In this way，advanced communication systems also help to develop trade.
译文：交通与贸易
交通是贸易的辅助手段之一。

把货物从它们比较丰富的地区运到这种货物稀少的地区，交通增加了它们的价值。

把货物从生产者那里运送到一定距离之外的消费者那里越容易，对贸易就越有利。

过去没有铁路，没有很好的公路，也没有运河，只有小帆船，所以贸
易的规模很小。

在过去的两百年中，运输业取得了巨大的进展，伴之而来的是贸易的迅猛增长。

例如，更大更快的轮船使英国和新西兰之间发展了肉食贸易。

快捷的运输使大批量的生产和大的企业成为可能。

它们从全球各地购买原料，又把产品销售到全球各地。

如果没有方便的交通把他们所需的大批工人从家乡带来或送回，大的工厂就不可能存在。

除非顾客们能很快从郊区赶到城里并且货物能迅速地被送到家里，否则，城市里的大商场也不可能发展起来。

除非食物能从远处运来，否则，大城市也无法生存。

交通能够防止浪费。

如果大量的鱼被运到了港口却不能很快送往内陆城镇，那么很多就要被浪费。

交通使我们的食品和货物丰富起来，因为我们再也无须以当地所产的东西为主要食品了。

过去一年内某一时间才能得到的食物现在一年四季都可以得到。

交通提高了人们的生活水平。

通过运输燃料、原料，甚至电力（例如，可通过电缆），交通使工业和贸易在原来不可能的地区发展起来，地区和国家可以集中生产那些比别的地区成本低、质量又好的产品，然后互相交换。

交通运输越便宜越快捷，那么货物的产地和目的地之间的距离就越远，同时又能贏利。

交通落后的国家生活水平也较低。

商业的发展不仅需要有货物和人口的迁移，而且要求信息的传递。

一些联系手段，如电话、电报和无线电广播可以给人们带来世界各地的价格、供应的信息，让人们了解变化的情况。

先进的通信系统可以以这种方式帮助发展贸易*第十八篇Goal of American Education
Education is an enormous and expensive part of American life. Its size is matched by its variety.
Differences in American schools compared with those found in the majority of other countries lie in the fact that education here has long been intended for everyone —not just for a privileged elite. Schools are expected to meet the needs of every child, regardless of ability, and also the needs of society itself. This means that public schools offer more than academic subjects. It surprises many people when they come here to find high schools offering such courses as typing, sewing, radio repair, computer programming or driver training, along with traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and languages. Students choose their curricula depending on their interests, future goals, and level of ability. The underlying goal of American education is to develop every child to the utmost of his or her own possibilities, and to give each one a sense of civic and community consciousness.
Schools have traditionally
played an important role in creating national unity and “Americanizing”the millions of immigrants who have poured into this country from many different backgrounds and origins. Schools still play a large role in the community, especially in the small towns.
The approach to teaching may seem unfamiliar to many, not only because it is informal, but also because there is not much emphasis on learning facts. Instead, Americans try to teach their children to think for themselves and to develop their own intellectual and creative abilities. Students spend much time, learning how to use resource materials, libraries, statistics and computers. Americans believe that if children are taught to reason well and to research well, they will be able to find whatever facts they need throughout the rest of their lives. Knowing how to solve problems is considered more important than the accumulation of facts.
This is America's answer to the searching question that thoughtful parents all over the world are asking themselves in the fast-moving time: “How can one prepare today's child for a tomorrow that one can neither predict nor understand?”
译文：美国教育的目标
教育是美国人的生活中很重要的一部分，花销也大。

其规模宏大，种类多样。

与其他大多数国家相比，美国教育的不同在于美国教育是为每一个人设置的~"不只是为享有特权的优等生。

学校是要满足每个孩子的需要，不论其能力如何，同时也要满足社会本身的需求。

这意味着公立学校提供的教育不只限于学术方面的课程。

很多人来到美国之后会吃惊地发现，高中除了提供传统课程，例如：数学、历史和语言之外，他们还提供一些课程如打字、缝纫、无线电修理、计算机课程或驾驶训练课程。

学生选择课程是根据个人喜好、目标以及能力水平。

美国教育的潜在目标是将每一个孩子的能力最充分地发挥出来，培养每一个孩子的公民和社区觉悟感。

成千上万的移民者涌入这个国家，他们的出身背景不同。

传统上,学校在建立民族团结以及使移民者美国化两方面起着重大作用。

在社区中，尤其在小城镇，学校仍然起着重要作用。

大家对美国的教学方法彳以乎也很陌生。

因为这种教学方法不仅不正式，而且不把重点放在学习具体知识上。

相反，美国人教孩子独立思考，教他们自己去开发自己的智慧以及创造能力。

学生花很多时间学习怎样使用参考资料、图书馆、数据以及计算机。

美国人认为只要孩子具有好的推理能力，好的研究方法，他们就能在以后找到自己所需的具体知识。

他们还认为懂得怎样解决问题比积累事实更重要。

在这个变化万千的时代里，全世界细心的父母都在思考一个尖锐而深刻的问题：“怎样为孩子的明天做准备呢？孩子的明天既不能预料也不能理解。

”上述的教学方法正是美国对这一问题的回答。

*第十九篇The Family
The structure of a family takes different forms around the world and even in the same society. The family's form changes as it adapts to changing social and economic influences. Until recently, the most common form in North America was the nuclear family，consisting of a married couple with their minor children. The nuclear family is an independent unit. It must be prepared to fend for itself. Individual family members strongly depend on one another. There is little help from outside the family in emergencies. Elderly relatives of a nuclear family are cared for only if it is possible for the family to do so. In North America，the elderly often do not live with the family ; they live in retirement communities and nursing homes.
There are many parallels between the nuclear family in industrial societies，such as North America，and of families in societies such as that of the Inuits，who live in harsh environments. The nuclear family structure is well adapted to a life of mobility. In harsh conditions，mobility allows the family to hunt for food. For North Americans，the hunt for jobs and improved social status also requires mobility.
The nuclear family was not always the North American standard. In a more agrarian time，the small nuclear family was usually part of a larger extended family. This might have included grandparents，mother and father，brothers and sisters，uncles，aunts，and cousins. In North America today，there is a dramatic rise in the number of single-parent households. Twice as many households in the United States are headed by divorced，separated，or never-married individuals as are comprised of nuclear families. The structure of the family，not just in North America, but throughout the world，continues to change as it adapts to changing conditions.
译文：家庭
在全世界，甚至在同一个社会中，家庭结构有着不同的形式。

家庭的构成形式随着不断变化的社会和经济影响而改变。

直到最近，北美洲最普遍的家庭形式为核心家庭，由一对夫妇和他们未婚的孩子构成。

核心家庭是一个独立的单位。

它必须能够照料自己。

家庭成员紧密依赖着彼此。

在紧急情况下，外界提供给家庭的帮助微乎其微。

核心家庭中，只有当条件允许的时候，才会照料家中年长的
亲属。

在北美洲，老人很少和家人一起生活，他们‘般住在退休社区和养老机构。

在工业社会，例如北美洲，核心家庭之间有很多相似点。

在居住在恶劣环境中的因纽特人的社会中，家庭间也有很多相似点。

核心家庭结构良好地适应于流动性的生活。

在恶劣的条件下，流动性能让一个家庭吃饱饭。

对北美洲人来说，找工作和提高社会地位同样需要流动性。

核心家庭并不总是北美洲人的标准。

在农业社会时期，小型的核心家庭经常是大家庭的一部分。

其中可能包括了祖父母、父母、兄弟姐妹、叔伯、阿姨以及表兄弟姐妹。

在现在的北美洲，单亲家庭的数目大幅度增加。

由核心家庭构成的单亲家庭的数目是美国由于离婚、分居或者未婚导致的单亲家庭的两倍。

不仅在北美洲，在世界范围内，家庭结构都会随着不断变化的条件而改变。

*第二十篇Tales of the Terrible Past
It is not the job of fiction writers to analyze and interpret history. Yet by writing about the past in a vivid and compelling manner，storytellers can bring earlier eras to life and force readers to consider them seriously. Among those taking on the task of recounting history are some black writers who attempt to examine slavery from different points of view.
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison deals specifically with the legacy of slavery in her book Beloved. The main character in this novel，a former slave called Sethe，lives in Ohio in the years following the Civil War，but she cannot free herself from her horrific memories. Through a series of flashbacks and bitter reminiscences，the reader learns how and why Sethe escaped from the plantation she had lived on; the fate of her husband，who also tried to escape; and finally，what happened to the child called Beloved. Morrison's scenes of torture and murder are vivid and strongly convey the desperation of the slaves and the cruelty of their owners.
Charles Johnson's Middle Passage approaches slavery from a different，yet no less violent，vantage point. His main character，Rutherfprd Calhoun，is a ne'er-do-well free black American who stows away on a slave ship bound for Africa to collect its "cargo". Put to work after he is discovered，Calhoun witnesses firsthand the appalling conditions in which the captured Africans are transported. When they finally rebel and take over the ship，he finds himself in the middle -- and is forced to come to terms with who he is and what his values are.
Neither Beloved nor Middle Passage is an easy read，but both。