高中时，我用一件开司米羊毛衫跟人换了个黑色的臂章。我参加人权游行，反对国防演习，抗议越南战争。作为妙龄18的少女，当一名反战分子，真是轻松自在。那时我还没有一个11岁的孩子要抚养。
3 (1) Today, I am typical of the women whom gun manufactures have been aiming at as potential buyers -- and one of the millions who have taken the plunge.
时至今日，我成了一个典型的被枪支制造商看重并视为其潜在买主的那种女人--成了成千上万个采取这种行动的人中的一员。
4 I began questioning my pacifist beliefs one Halloween night in Phoenix, where I had moved when I married. I was almost home when another car nearly hit mine head-on. With the speed of a New York cabbie, I rolled down my window and screamed curses as the driver passed. He instantly made a U-turn, almost climbing on my back bumper. By now, he and his two friends were hanging out of the car windows, yelling that they were going to rape, cut and kill me.
一个万圣节的晚上，在我婚后移居的凤凰城，我开始怀疑自己的和平主义信条。一辆车与我的车差点迎头相撞时，我几乎都到家了。我以纽约城出租车司机的敏捷，快速摇下车窗高声咒骂那位开车的。他当即掉转车头，几乎撞上我的车后保险杠。这时，他和两个同伴从车窗伸出头来，嚷嚷着要强奸我，砍我，杀了我。
5 I already had turned into our driveway when I realized my husband wasn't home. I was trapped. The car had pulled in behind me. I drove up to the back porch and got into the kitchen,
where our dogs stood waiting for me. The three men spilled out of their car and into our yard. 我开进车道才想起丈夫不在家。这下我进退两难。那辆车尾随着跟了进来。我把车开到后门廊停下，冲进厨房，我家的那两条狗站在那儿等我。那三个家伙从汽车里一拥而出，进了院子。
6 My heart was pumping. I grabbed the collars of Jack, our 200-pound Irish wolfhound, and his 140-pound malamute buddy, Slush. Then I kicked open the back door -- I was so scared that I became aggressive -- and actually dared the three creeps to keep coming. With the dogs, the odds had changed in my favor, and the men ran back to the safety of their car, yelling that they'd be back the next day to blow me away. Fortunately, they never returned. 我的心怦怦直跳。我抓起杰克和斯露西的颈圈――一条是200磅重的爱尔兰狼狗，另一条是它的伙伴，140磅重的北极犬。随后我一脚踢开后门――我吓坏了，变得暴躁好斗――事实上我要激那三人过来。有狗相助，局势变得对我有利，他们退回安全的车里，嚷嚷着说要明天来宰了我。总算幸运，他们没再露面。
7 A few years and one divorce later, I headed for Los Angeles with my 3-year-old son, Jordan (the dogs had since departed). When I put him in preschool a few weeks later, the headmistress noted that I was a single parent and immediately warned me that there was a rapist in my new neighborhood.
几年后，我离了婚，带着3岁的儿子乔丹前往洛杉矶（那两条狗也死了）。几个星期后我送他去幼儿园，老师发现我是个单身母亲，马上提醒我，我刚搬入的居住区里有个强奸犯。
8 I called the police, who confirmed this fact. The rapist followed no particular pattern. Sometimes he would be waiting in his victim's house; other times he would break in while the person was asleep. Although it was summer, I would carefully lock my windows at night and then lie there and sweat in fear. Thankfully, the rapist was caught, but not before he had attacked two more women.
我给警察局打了个电话，他们证实了这一情况。那个强奸犯没有什么特别的作案规律。有时他在受害者家里等候，有时他趁人入睡时潜入。当时正是夏天，可夜间我还是谨慎地锁住窗户，然后躺在床上，吓得浑身是汗。谢天谢地，那个强奸犯被逮捕了，可那是在他又强暴了两名女子之后。
9 Soon the papers were telling yet another tale of senseless horror. Richard Bamirez, who became known as \(2) His alleged crimes were so brutal, his desire to inflict pain so intense, that I began to question my beliefs about not taking human life under any circumstances. The thought of taking a human life disgusts me, but the idea of being someone's victim is worse. And how, I began to ask myself, do you talk pacifism to a murderer or a rapist? 不久，报纸上又报道起另一个丧心病狂的恐怖人物的事来。此人名叫理查德·巴米里，人称“入室杀手”，被抓获前，一连几个月残害、杀死他人。据称他的犯罪行为非常野蛮，他加害于人的欲望非常强烈，这使我开始对自己在任何情况下决不杀人的信念产生了怀疑。取人性命的想法令我憎恨，但成为他人受害者的念头更可怕。我开始问自己，你怎么跟一个杀人犯或强奸犯来谈论和平呢？
10 Finally, I decided that I would defend myself, even if it meant killing another person. (3) I realized that the one-sided pacifism I once so strongly had advocated could backfire on me and worse, on my son. Reluctantly, I concluded that I had to insure the best option for our survival. My choices: to count on a cop or to own a pistol.
最后，我决定要自我防卫，哪怕这意味着杀死他人。我意识到，自己曾积极提倡的一厢情愿的和平主义会为害自身，更糟的是，会为害我的儿子。于是我极不情愿地决定：为了我们的生存，我必须确保有一个最佳选择方案。我的选择：依靠警察，或拥有一支枪。
11 I called a man I had met a while ago who, I remembered, owned several guns. He told me he had a Smith & Wesson 38 Special for sale and recommended it, since it was small enough for me to handle yet had the necessary stopping power.
我给不久前认识的一个人打电话，我记得他有好几支枪。他告诉我，他有一支史密斯－韦森0.38口径特种枪要出售，建议我买下，因为那支枪小巧好使，又有必要的威慑力。
12 I bought the gun. That same day, I got six rounds of special ammunition with plastic tips that explode on impact. These are not for target practice; these are for protection.
我买下了枪。在同一天，我弄到了6发包着塑料头、一撞击就崩碎的特别的子弹。这些子弹不是打靶练习用的，是防身用的。
13 For about $50, I also picked up a metal safety box. Its push-button lock opens with a touch if you know the proper combination, possibly taking only a second or two longer than it does to reach into a night-table drawer. Now I knew that my son, Jordan, couldn't get his hands on it while
I still could.
花了大约50美元，我还买了个金属安全盒。如果知道正确的暗码，它的按钮式锁一碰就开，大概比伸手去床头柜抽屉取他只慢一两秒钟。我知道儿子乔丹拿不到它，但我拿得到。
14 When I brought the gun home, Jordan was fascinated by it. He kept picking it up, while I nervously watched. But knowledge, I believe, is still our greatest defense. And since I'm in favor of education for sex, AIDS and learning to drive, I couldn't draw the line at teaching my son about guns.
我把枪拿回家，乔丹兴奋得不得了。他不停地拿起来看，我紧张地瞧着。但我相信，知识仍是我们最有力的防范手段。由于我主张对孩子进行性知识教育，艾滋病知识教育，以及让孩子学会开车，我不能不赞成教儿子关于枪的知识。
15 Next, I took the pistol and my son to the target range. I rented a 22-caliber pistol for Jordan. (A .38 was too much gun for him to handle.) I was relieved when he put it down after 10 minutes -- he didn't like the feel of it.
随后，我携枪带儿子去射击场。我给乔丹租了一支0.22口径的手枪。（0.38口径的他摆弄不了。）10分钟后他放下了枪，我不禁松了口气――他不喜欢握枪的感觉。
16 But that didn't prevent him from asking me if he should use the gun if someone broke into our house while I wasn't home. I shouted \so loud, we both jumped. I explained that, if someone ever broke in, he's young and agile enough to leap out the window and run for his life. 但他并不因此不来问我，如果我不在家时有人闯入，他能不能用枪。我大喝一声“不行！”，喊声响得把我们都吓得跳了起来。我解释说，要是真有人闯入，他人小，又灵活，完全可以跳窗逃生。
17 Today he couldn't care less about the gun. Every so often, when were watching television in my room, I practice opening the safety box, and Jordan times me. I'm down to three seconds. I'll ask him what's the first thing you do when you handle a gun, and he looks at me like I'm stupid, saying: \sure it's unloaded. But I'm not to touch it or tell my friends about it.\Jordan's already bored with it all.
如今他对那支枪早没了兴趣。两人在我的卧室一起看电视时，我常常练习开启安全盒，乔丹替我计时。我已经快到只需要3秒钟了。我会问他，拿枪时第一件要做的事是什么，他像看傻瓜似的看着我，说：“要看看子弹是不是没上膛。不过我是不会去碰它，也不会跟朋友们说的。”乔丹对枪已经厌倦了。
18 I, on the other hand, look forward to Mondays -- \Night\at the target range -- when I get to shoot for free. I buy a box of bullets and some targets from the guy behind the counter, put on the protective eye and ear coverings and walk through the double doors to the firing lines.
而我则盼着每个星期一――射击场的“女士专场”――我可以免费练习射击。我在柜台上买一盒子弹，几个靶子，戴上护眼罩和护耳罩，穿过双层门，来到射击区。
19 Once there, I load my gun, look down the sights of the barrel and adjust my aim. I fire six
rounds into the chest of a life-sized target hanging 25 feet away. As each bullet rips a hole through the figure drawn there, I realize I'm getting used to owning a gun and no longer feeling faint when I pick it up. The weight of it has become comfortable in my hand. And I am keeping my promise to practice. Too many people are killed by their own guns because they don't know how to use them.
到了那儿，我把子弹装上膛，看着枪管上的瞄准器调整瞄准方向。我对着25英尺开外的真人大小的靶子的胸部连发6弹。随着一发发子弹洞穿对面画着的图像，我意识到，自己正在习惯拥有枪支，拿枪时不再害怕了。枪的重量在手上已觉得挺舒服。我坚持练习。太多的人由于不知如何使用枪而死在自己的枪下。
20 It took me years to decide to buy a gun, and then weeks before I could load it. It gave me nightmares.
我花了好多年才决定买枪，又花了好几个星期才学会把子弹装上膛。枪让我恶梦不断。
21 One night I dreamed I woke up when someone broke into our house. I grabbed my gun and sat waiting at the foot of my bed. Finally, I saw him turn the corner as he headed toward me. He was big and filled the hallway -- an impossible target to miss. I didn't want to shoot, but I knew my survival was on the line. (4) I wrapped my finger around the trigger and finally squeezed it, simultaneously accepting the intruder's death at my own hand and the relief of not being a victim. I woke up as soon as I decided to shoot.
一天夜晚，我梦见自己醒来，发现有人闯进屋子。我一把抓起枪，坐在床脚处等着。最后我看着他拐过墙角朝我走来。他很高大，把过道都堵住了――根本不可能击不中。我不想开枪，但我知道生死在此一搏。我手指扣住扳机，最后用力一扣，准备在亲手结束侵入者性命的同时庆幸自己没有成为牺牲品。就在我决定开枪时我醒了。
22 I was tearfully relieved that it had only been a dream. 我如释重负，不由得热泪长流，幸亏这只是个梦。
23 I never have weighed the consequences of an act as strongly as I have that of buying a gun -- but, then again, I never have done anything with such deadly consequences. Most of my friends refuse even to discuss it with me. They believe that violence leads to violence. 我从来没有像在买枪一事上对某种行为的后果如此反复权衡――可是，我也从来没做过后果如此严重的事。我的大多数朋友甚至不肯跟我谈论这事。他们认为，暴力只能导致暴力。
24 They're probably right. 他们或许是对的。
unit 4
Was Einstein a Space Alien?
1 Albert Einstein was exhausted. For the third night in a row, his baby son Hans, crying, kept the household awake until dawn. When Albert finally dozed off ... it was time to get up and go to work. He couldn't skip a day. He needed the job to support his young family.
1. 阿尔伯特.爱因斯坦精疲力竭。他幼小的儿子汉斯连续三个晚上哭闹不停，弄得全家人直到天亮都无法入睡。阿尔伯特总算可以打个瞌睡时，已是他起床上班的时候了。他不能一天不上班，他需要这份工作来养活组建不久的家庭。
2 Walking briskly to the Patent Office, where he was a \orried about his mother. She was getting older and frail, and she didn't approve of his marriage to Mileva. Relations were strained. Albert glanced at a passing shop window. His hair was a mess; he had forgotten to comb it again.
2. 阿尔伯特是专利局三等技术专家。在快步去专利局上班的路上，他为母亲忧心忡忡。母亲年纪越来越大，身体虚弱。她不同意儿子与迈尔娃的婚事，婆媳关系紧张。阿尔伯特瞥了一下路过的商店的橱窗，看见自己头发凌乱，他又忘了梳头了。
3 Work. Family. Making ends meet. Albert felt all the pressure and responsibility of any young husband and father. 3. 工作，家庭，维持生计——阿尔伯特感受到了一位年轻丈夫和年轻父亲所要承担的全部压力和责任。
To relax, he revolutionized physics.
他想放松下，却使物理学发生了突破性进展
4 In 1905, at the age of 26 and four years before he was able to get a job as a professor of physics, Einstein published five of the most important papers in the history of science--all written in his \spare time.%ut that. He argued that light came in little bits (later called \for quantum mechanics. He described his theory of special relativity: space and time were threads in a common fabric, he proposed, which could be bent, stretched and twisted.
4. 1905年，在他被聘为物理学教授的前四年，26岁的爱因斯坦发表了科学史上最重要论文中的五篇——这些论文都是他在“业余时间”完成的。他证明了原子和分子的存在。1905年之前，科学家们对此没有把握。爱因斯坦论证说光以微粒形态出现（后来被称为“光子”），这为量子力学奠定了基础。他把狭义相对论描写为：时空如同普通织物中的线，他提出，这些线可以弯曲、拉长和交织在一起。
5 Oh, and by the way, E=mc2. 5. 对了，顺便提一下，E = mc2。
6 Before Einstein, the last scientist who had such a creative outburst was Sir Isaac Newton. It happened in 1666 when Newton secluded himself at his mother's farm to avoid an outbreak of plague at Cambridge. With nothing better to do, he developed his Theory of Universal Gravitation. 6. 在爱因斯坦之前，最近一位迸发出如此创造性思想的科学家当数艾萨克牛顿
爵士。事情发生在1666，为了躲避在剑桥爆发的瘟疫，牛顿去母亲的农场隐居。由于没有