in 1978, when those freshmen arrived.
―他们是一个特别聪明的群体，他们自己也清楚这一点，‖以香港为基地的《中国劳工通讯》调查主任罗宾梦曾说过。1978年当那些新生刚到北京大学时，他正作为英国交换生在北大学习。
―They were the first students in 10 years let into university on merit, and they were going places.‖ ―他们是那10年中根据考试成绩录取的第一批学生，此后他们就任于各个地方。‖
But back in 1977, most had only a few desperate weeks to prepare for the examination that would change their lives. The timing was especially daunting for those who had been cut off from schooling for years. All over China, students found themselves scrambling to find textbooks, seeking out former tutors and straining to recall half-forgotten formulas.
但是回到1977年，大部分的人只有几周的时间来拼命准备那场将改变他们命运的考试。当时的时机对那些早已离开学校多年的学生来说是特别令人气馁的。整个中国的学生都在争抢着找寻教科书，寻找以前的导师，试图回忆起那些被遗忘了的公式的蛛丝马迹。
Ms. An, who now works in New York as the director of public relations for Committee of 100, a Chinese-American advocacy group, exaggerated the seriousness of a back injury and took a month‘s medical leave, which she devoted to studying.
现在在纽约就职的安女士，领导着一个百人的公共关系委员会，这是一个华裔宣传小组。当时她夸大了她背部的伤情，请了一个月的病假，并把这一个月的时间用于学习。 ―I had to succeed,‖ she said. ―我必须成功，‖ 她说。
The examination tested not only academic subjects, but also political correctness. 这场考试考的不仅是学科知识，也检查着人们的政治―觉悟‖。
Han Ximing, now 50 and a Chinese literature professor at Nanjing Audit University, said she felt she was already well prepared to handle political questions from careful study of the party line in official newspapers in rural Jiangsu Province.
现年50岁的韩西冥是南京审计学院的中文系教授，她说当时在江苏省的农村中通过学习官方报纸中的党的路线，使她举得应对这种政治问题已是胸有成竹了。
For years, the papers had been filled with criticism of Deng Xiaoping. ―That was a big topic,‖ she said. ―Actually, I had no idea why Deng was supposed to be so bad.‖
许多年来，这些报纸都充满了对邓小平的批评。―那是一个很大的话题，‖她说。―其实，当时我也不明白为何邓小平被形容得如此糟糕。‖
In reality, it was the return of Deng, the veteran Communist leader, to a position of power in Beijing after the fall of the Gang of Four that led to the reinstatement of the annual exam, and a return to the pragmatism that would soon ignite decades of explosive economic growth.
事实上，正是由于邓小平，这位经验丰富的共产党领导在四人帮倒台后重新回到政治舞台，才促成了高考的恢复，和实用主义的回归，这使得中国往后几十年的经济开始了腾飞。 Among those who have assumed positions of power, aside from Mr. Li of the Politburo, are Zhou Qiang, the governor of Hunan Province; Wang Yi, party secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and a former ambassador to Japan; and Jin Liqun, vice president of the Asian Development Bank. 除了政治局常委的李先生，那些位居要职的77届还有湖南省省长周强；外交部党委书记及前中国驻日大使李毅；以及亚洲发展银行的副总裁金立群。
Artistic talent to emerge from the class of ‘77 includes the filmmakers Zhang Yimou (―Raise the Red Lantern‖) and Chen Kaige (―Farewell My Concubine‖), and the writer Chen Cun.
77届涌现出的艺术人才还包括电影制作人张艺谋（《大红灯笼高高挂》），陈凯歌（《霸
王别姬》），还有作家陈村。
―To be immodest, it was a phenomenal generation,‖ said Fan Haoyi, now 50, who earned a chance to study French at the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages (now the Beijing Foreign Studies University), a stepping stone to a business career in Africa and Europe. ―We had a rage to learn.‖ ―不谦虚地说，我们这代人是杰出的一代，‖ 现年50岁的范蒿仪说。当年他就读于北京外国语学院（现如今的北京外国语大学），这成为他在非洲和欧洲的事业跳板。―我们都能狠下心来学。‖
Many successful candidates said they felt they had been given a priceless opportunity, and they were determined to make the most of it. ―We were not just gifted, we also worked really hard,‖ said Ms. Han, the literature professor.
许多成功的考生说他们觉得他们被赋予了极其宝贵的机会，他们决心充分利用它。―我们不仅仅有天赋，我们也学得非常努力，‖文学教授韩女士说。 Still, not everyone jumped at the chance to take the exam. 不过，并非每个人都能抓住这次高考的机会。
After years when privilege and opportunity were reserved for the offspring of senior officials or people with approved class backgrounds, many prospective candidates doubted that the test would be fair. Others were reluctant to give up the security of even menial jobs. 多年后，当特权和机会为高官子弟或者特权阶级所保留时，许多考生开始怀疑这场考试的公平性。其他人则不愿放弃即使是能得到琐碎工作的安全感。
For Ms. An, the desire to escape her rural life was tempered by the conviction that taking the exam was risky. Relations between the farmers and students were complex; if she failed and was forced to return to the village, she worried that she would be given all the dirty jobs. 对于安女士来说，清楚参加这场考试的风险使得她渴望摆脱乡村生活的愿望更加坚定了。农民和学生的关系是很复杂的；如果她高考失败了，她就会被送回农村，她最担心的事是她将得到的是最脏最累的工作。
―They didn‘t like us being there because they had to share their land,‖ she said. ―But if we tried to leave, they would think we looked down on them.‖
―他们不喜欢我们待在那儿，因为他们必须和我们共享他们的土地，‖ 她说。―但是如果我们试图离开，他们会觉得我们看不起他们。‖
Li Xiyue was also part of a rural production team. The work was hard but he found it difficult to imagine any other future for himself. ―By the time I was sent to the rural areas, this policy had been in place for 10 years,‖ said Mr. Li, 50, who won a seat at Guangxi University and went on to become a writer and university lecturer. Hard farm labor ―was normal,‖ he said. ―Going to college was not normal.‖
李西岳也是这个农村生产队的一分子。农活儿虽然辛苦，但他很难想象他还能有别的未来。―当我被下放到农村去的时候，这一政策已经实行了十年之久，‖ 50岁的李先生说，他后来被广西大学录取而后成为了一名作家和大学教师。艰苦的农活是―正常的 ‖他说。―但去上大学在当时可是不寻常的。‖
Still, he found time to study in his spare time. ―The problem was, it was difficult to find interesting material,‖ he said. ―I would even read the literature that came with farming equipment.‖
不过，他一有空闲便会学习。―问题是，很难找到有意思的材料，‖他说。―我甚至会阅读与农具相关的文献。‖
When the time came to take the university entrance exam, some found it difficult to break with the commune.
当高考的时间来临时，很多人发现他们很能与公社决裂。
Ms. Han was allowed to return home to study for the exam, but she became alarmed when she heard that she had been criticized at a commune meeting for pursuing personal ambition at the expense of the revolution.
虽然韩女士当时被允许回家复习以参与考试，但令她感动惊慌的是当她听说在公社大会上，她已经成为众矢之的，她被说成是为了追求个人野心而宁愿牺牲革命的人。
―I ran back to the team, but my father was very angry and brought me home,‖ she said. ―He banned all further contact with them.‖
―我跑回了生产队，但是我父亲非常生气地把我带回了家，‖她说。―他禁止我与他们进一步的联系。‖
Ms. An said she had taken some French in middle school, but classes were overlaid with politics and broken up by military training and factory work. Less than confident, she went to see a former teacher who assured her that the examiners would not ask overly complicated questions.
安女士说，在中学时她已经开始学习一点儿法语，但是这些课均被附加以政治的别有用心，并且被军训和工厂的工作打断。由于缺乏自信，她拜访了一位以前的老师，这位老师向她保证考官不会出过于复杂的考题。
But the teacher predicted that she would be asked why she wanted to study French, advising her to say she was doing it to serve the revolution.
但是她的老师预计她将被问到学习法语的原因，并且建议她回答学习法语的目的是为了服务革命。
―They did ask me that,‖ said Ms. An, who qualified to study French at the Beijing Language Institute (now the Beijing Language and Culture University) and later at the Sorbonne in Paris. ―他们确实问了我这个问题，‖ 安女士说，安女士后来被北京语言学院（现在的北京语言文化大学）的法语系录取，此后就读于巴黎的索邦大学。
When the academic year began in 1978, after the lost decade of the Cultural Revolution, it was an unusually mature freshman class that entered universities across the country. Ms. Han said that some of her fellow students at Nanjing Normal University were twice her age. ―I had a classmate who was the father of four kids,‖ she said.
文革夺去教育的10年后，1978年当新的学年开始时，全国各地的大学迎来了一批不寻常的成熟学生。韩女士说她在南京师范大学时，有的同学的年龄是她的两倍。―我有一个同学已经是四个孩子的父亲。‖她说。
As they began their studies, many were fired by idealism and eagerness to achieve a fresh start for themselves and their country. 当他们开始学习时，很多人由于理想主义和急切盼望为自己和他们的国家带来一个新的开始而被开除了。
―It was a time full of dreams and hopes for the future,‖ Ms. Han said. ―那是个充满了梦想和对未来的希望的年代，‖韩女士说。
Thirty years later, many express mixed feelings about the direction events took. While acknowledging the benefits of China‘s economic development, some voiced disappointment with the pace of political change. Others complained that rapid material progress had fostered greed and cynicism. 三十年后，许多人对当时社会形势的转变表达了复杂的情绪。虽然承认对中国的经济发展给人们带来的利益，但是一些人表达出了他们对政治变革的失望。另外一些人则抱怨道物质文明的快速发展所滋生出的贪婪和玩世不恭。
―A lot of things we could not even imagine have become reality,‖ Mr. Li, the writer and lecturer, said. ―But it‘s painful to see so much corruption, especially among high-ranking officials.‖
―许多我们过去无法想象的事已经成为了现实，‖作家及大学教授李先生说。―但是看到这多么腐败现象，特别是在高层官员中的腐败，很令人痛心。‖
Unit 5 ( using google translation tool ) Usain Bolt: how far and fast we go ? By john naish
As Usain Bolt again breaks his record, humans are fast approaching their physical limit
由于博尔特再次打破他的纪录，人类正在迅速接近其物理极限
The casual supremacy of Usain Bolt’s record-vapourising 100m sprint on Sunday night has everyone wondering how much more human beings can wring from their bodies. Have we witnessed the ultimate, unsurpassable sprint? Or, like Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, did we just watch another barrier to human achievement getting kicked down?
上周日晚上博尔特的纪录vapourising百米冲刺的休闲霸主地位大家不知道多少人可以从他们的身体拧干。我们已经见证了极致，无法超越的冲刺？或者，像罗杰班尼斯特的四分钟一英里，我们刚才看的另一个障碍人类成就得到踢下来了吗？
Science, which increasingly underpins any sporting endeavour, claims to have the answer. We are at the far edges of the envelope, it says, but the show is about to get even more interesting: for now, humanity will continue to get faster, higher, stronger — so long as we can keep finding athletes who are ever bigger, freakier and more pathologically fixated. At just 22, Bolt certainly thinks there’s more under the bonnet. The triple Olympic champion shaved 0.11 seconds from his win at Beijing in 2008 to record a time of 9.58 seconds.
科学，它越来越多地支撑着任何体育事业，号称有答案。我们正处在信封的远边，它说，但显示的是即将获得更有趣的：现在，人类将继续变得更快，更高，更强 - 只要我们能不断发现运动员谁是以往任何时候都更大，freakier更病理迷恋。在刚刚22，博尔特当然认为有发动机罩下的更多。三重奥运冠军剃光0.11秒从他在北京的胜利在2008年录得9.58秒的时间。
“I think it will stop at 9.4 but you never know,” the Jamaican says. Well, record-breaking has a habit of confounding even the best-qualified pundits. Maurice Greene, the former 100m world champion and world record holder, who retired last year, reckoned he might see a low 9.6 but never a 9.5. Fifty years ago, many thought the four-minute mile unachievable. Then Bannister did it in 1954 and the psychological gates burst open. More than 1,000 runners have since broken four minutes.
“我认为它会停在9.4，但你永远不知道，”牙买加说。好了，破纪录有混淆甚至是最合格的专家的习惯。莫里斯·格林，前百米世界冠军和世界纪录保持者，谁去年退休，估摸着他可能会看到一个低9.6，但从来没有一个9.5。五十年前，许多人认为四分钟一英里无法实现的。那么班尼斯特做到了在1954年和心理上门爆裂开来。 1000多名选手已经打破以来四分钟。
But before we get too cocky, here’s the baleful eye of statistical analysis. “We are going into a plateau where performance improvements will be more incremental and a single anomalous sprint doesn’t change that,” says Greg Whyte, the Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University.
但在此之前，我们太骄傲自大，这里是统计分析的恶意眼球。 “我们正在进入一个高原，在那里性能的提升将是渐进的和一个反常的冲刺不会改变，”格雷格说，怀特，应用运动和运动科学的利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学的教授说。
Whyte has created a mathematical model for future athletics records, based on their progress over the years. “Our research shows that performances have begun to plateau. With shorter events such as the 100m the margins are ever shorter. The world record in 1912 was 10.6 seconds, so we’ve not gone much quicker than that in a century.”
怀特产生了对未来竞技记录的数学模型的基础上，其多年来进展。 “我们的研究表明，演出已经开始高原。用较短的活动，如100米的空间也越来越短。在1912年的世界纪录是10.6秒，所以我们没有去比一个世纪快得多。“
Whyte’s predictions are bolstered by a study last year by the French Institute of Sport, which concludes that athletics will finally hit the ceiling in 2060. After that, no more world records. The institute analysed all 3,260 world records set since the first modern Olympics in 1896, and says that athletes are nudging their physiological limits. It estimates that athletes were operating at 75 per cent of their potential in 1896, while in 2008, they were at 99 per cent. By 2027, the athletes in about half of the events will have reached 100 per cent, and by 2060 they all will.
怀特的预测是由体育的法国学院，结论是田径终于碰到天花板在2060之后，没有更多的世界纪录由研究带动的最后一年。该研究所分析，自第一届现代奥运会于1896年设定的所有3,260项世界纪录，并说运动员轻推自己的生理极限。据估计，运动员在自己的潜力为75％，1896年经营，而在2008年，他们在99％以上。 2027年，在大约一半的事件的运动员将达到100％，而到2060年，他们所有的意志。
Meantime, excitement will still mount, each millisecond presenting a more tantalising milestone than ever. To achieve this, sport will increasingly rely on, well, freaks: physically highly unusual specimens endowed with remarkable psychological resilience.