英语阅读：双语美文两篇

英语阅读：双语美文两篇

读美文，是一种生活享受，也是一种心灵上的自我熏陶。通过阅读，你会发现在这个大千世界里还有如此如花般美妙的事情，还有如此稀奇而古老的思想，还有如此奇妙而令人向往的经历。英语阅读，让我们在提升自己的同时爱上了生活。

一、爱，是欣然接受你的笨拙

I was four, playing outside in the humid Kentucky air.

我当时4岁，在户外玩，周围是肯塔基潮湿的空气。

I saw my grandfather’s truck and thought, Granddad shouldn’t have to drive such an ugly truck.

看见爷爷的卡车，想着爷爷不应该开这么难看的卡车。

Then I spied a gallon of paint.

于是我偷偷搞来一加仑的油漆。

Idea! I got a brush and painted white polka dots all over the truck.

我有了个好主意！我用刷子在卡车上画满了白色波点。

I was on the roof finishing the job when he walked up, looking as if he were in a trance.

爷爷走出来的时候，我正好在屋顶上进行收尾工作，我想看看他对“新卡车”是否有所察觉。

“Angela, that’s the prettiest truck I’ve ever seen!”

“安吉拉，这是我见过的最漂亮的卡车！”

Sometimes I think adults don’t stop to see things through a child’s eyes.

有时候我想，大人们不会停下脚步去从一个孩子的视角看世界。

He could have crushed me. Instead, he lifted my little soul.

（但是爷爷却不同）他没有打击我，而是让小小的我欢欣鼓舞。

二、“威胁”之下的社会文明

Do you come from a country that has, let’s say, a history of environmental disasters or conquests? Then your culture is probably “tight”—it has strong social norms and doesn’t tolerate much deviance from those norms. And your society is probably autocratic with few political and civil liberties. Or, a happier history probably led to your culture being “loose,” with more rights and openness. So says a study in the journal Science. [Michele Gelfand et al, Differences Between Tight and Loose Cultures: A 33-Nation Study]

你的国家是否有过一段生态灾害或者被侵略的历史？那么你所接受的的文明很可能就是一种“绷紧”的文明——有力的社会准则，不能容忍许多脱离准则的行为。而你所处的社会也可能是少数政党专制的社会，不能享受许多公民权利。或者稍微“欢乐”一点的历史又会让它的文明变得“宽松”且更加开放，公民也能享受更多的权利。这项研究发表在《科学》期刊上。[Michele Gelfand et al, Differences Between Tight and Loose Cultures: A 33-Nation Study]

Researchers surveyed almost 7,000 people in 33 countries. They asked respondents to scale the truth of statements such, “In this country, if someone acts in an inappropriate way, others will strongly disapprove.” Participants also rated the acceptability of activities such as kissing in public.

研究人员对33个国家近7千人进行调查。他们要求调查对象对一些言论的真实度进行评估，比如说“你所处的国家中，如果有人行为不当，其他人会强烈反对。”受试者同时也需为一些行为比如说公众场合接吻的可接受度做出评判。

Then the researchers correlated those answers with current and historical data about ecological and societal threats, population density, even the prevalence of diseases. They found that the more stresses a society has faced—whether ecological or human-made—the more likely that culture is to be a tight one.

接着，研究人员将这些答案与现下和历史上的生态社会威胁、人口密度，甚至是流行疾病的数据结合分析，发现一个社会所面对的压力越大，不管是天灾还是人祸，这个社会所形成的文化越为“绷紧”。

The scientists say that its threat history could explain why a given culture