大学英语读写译 第四册 Unit2 课文翻译
Para. 9
1. Today, technological change is so rappid 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.
=今天的技术变化异常神速，购买某种产品时你就知道，在过几个月，比这个产品性能更好、运作更快捷的款式就会问世，而你却不得不继续使用旧款式的产品。
2. Someone else, in other words, has it better.
=换句话说，别人买到的产品要比你的好。
3. It’s as if disappointment were built into acquisition from the very beginning.
=这种失望感仿佛从你开始购买这件产品时就已经深深植入你的认知系统中了。
Para. 10
1. Daily stress, an annoying sense of disappointment, fear that the government knows a lot more about you than you would like it to ----- these are obviously some of the ways in which technology reduces people’s sense of well-being.
=日常生活的压力、一种令人烦恼的失望感、对政府知晓你的情况超出你所希望的程度而造成的恐惧感——这些显然都是技术降低了人们幸福感的几个方面。
2. But the most important impact of technology on people’s sense of well-being is in the field of health care.
=然而，技术对人们的幸福感的最重要的影响体现在医疗保健方面。
3. Before the Industrial Revolution, two out of every three Europeans died before the age of 30. =工业革命以前，每三个欧洲人中就有两个的寿命不足30岁。
4. Today, life expectancy for women in Western Europe is almost 80 years, and it continues to increase.
=而今天，西欧妇女的寿命差不多是80岁，而且还会继续提高。
5. The point is obvious: the vast majority of people are happy to be alive, and the more time they get on earth, the better off they feel they’ll be.
=道理很明了：绝大多数人很乐意活下去，他们在地球上生活的时间越长感觉就越好。
6. But until very recently, life for the vast majority of people was nasty, rough, and short.
=但是，就在不久前，绝大多数人还过着龌龊不堪、牲口不如的生活，而且寿命非常短暂。
7. Technology has changed that, at least for people in the rich world.
=技术改变了这一状况，至少对于富裕国家的人们来说情况是如此。
8. As much as we should worry about the rising cost of health care and the problem of the uninsured, it’s also worth remembering how valuable for our spirits as well as our bodies are the benefits that medical technology has brought us.
=我们在为医疗保健费用的提高和没有参加保险的人们的问题担忧的同时，同样也应该记住，医疗技术所带给我们的身体和精神上的好处是多么有价值。
Para. 11
1. On a deeper level, what the technological improvement of our health and our longevity emphasizes is a paradox of any discussion of happiness on a national or a global level: even though people may not be happier, even though they are wealthier and possess more technology, they’re still as hungry as ever for more time.
=从更深层次上来说，我们在健康和长寿方面所取得的进步却强调了在国家和全球层面讨论