Suggested answer:
Nowadays in China, it's no longer so hard for high school graduates to go to university, because there are three times as many universities as there were 20 years ago. But to be admitted by a first-class university, you still need to be more competitive than your peers.
2. 你花钱参加这个项目是很值的，因为你从中获得的职业技能可以改善你的就业前景，而且你所有的努力终将会得到回报。(acquire; prospects; pay off) Suggested answer:
It is worthwhile to spend money on this project, for the career skills you acquire in the process are bound to help improve your prospects in your search for a job and all your efforts will eventually pay off.
3. 虽然通过和这些志愿者并肩工作，我可以学会怎样与他人合作，但我得交参加费。我不得不承认为此我正在花更多的时间去兼职挣钱，这让我总觉得时间不够用。(work side by side with / alongside ...; acknowledge; save up for) Suggested answer:
Though I can learn teamwork by working side by side with other volunteers, I need to pay for the participation. I have to acknowledge that I am now spending more time doing part-time jobs to save up for the project, which makes me feel a shortage of time.
4. 不同的运动在身高、年龄、力量、耐力等方面对参加者有不同的要求。因此有多少种运动就有多少类型的运动员。想参加运动的人总能找到合适的项目。(in terms of; as many... as ...; no doubt) Suggested answer:
Different sports have different requirements in terms of height, age, strength and stamina. Therefore, there are as many types of athletes as there are sports. There can be no doubt that anyone who wants to get some exercise can find the right sport.
1. But unfortunately, once inside the box, it explodes, and Kugelmass finds himself not back in the world of literature, but in an old textbook, Remedial Spanish, being chased by an irregular verb. It's a surreal story, one among many in novels since H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895. Suggested answer:
可不幸的是，他刚进去盒子就爆炸了。库格马思发现自己并未回到文学世界，而是落入一册名叫《西班牙语补习》的旧课本里，被一个不规则动词追得到处跑。这是一个超现实的梦幻故事，自1895年H.G.威尔斯写《时间机器》以来，类似的故事在许多小说中出现过。
2. Because the universe is filled with heavy objects exerting gravitational pull, spacetime is not flat but an irregular series of curves. We know this because astronomers can see stars which should be invisible because they're blocked by
closer obstructions. Instead of travelling in a straight line, the light from these stars bends round anything which gets in the way. Suggested answer:
因为宇宙充满了产生万有引力的重物体，所以空间时间不是平的，而是一连串不规则的弧形。我们知道这一点，是因为天文学家能看见理应被较近的物体遮蔽的遥远的恒星。从这些恒星发出的光不是沿直线运动的，而是绕过阻碍直线运动的物体沿弧线运动。
3. Supposing it hurled a hundred million tons of rock and debris into space. This explosion would require a bomb far greater than any that has ever exploded. But a few basic sums would show that such a blast, as well as killing every single inhabitant of the earth, would only shift the earth about a quarter of an inch out of its orbit.
Suggested answer:
假设爆炸将一亿吨岩石和碎渣抛入宇宙，那么这个炸弹的威力要比任何以往的炸弹都要大。但是，稍做运算就能说明，这样一场爆炸除了会把地球上的生物全部杀死之外，充其量也只能让地球偏离轨道大约四分之一英寸。
4. As the spaceship revolves round the sun, it gathers so much speed that it moves backwards into history. But this is nonsense, not relativity. As Jones puts it, \clocks will run the other way if you go fast enough.\
Suggested answer:
宇宙飞船围绕太阳飞行，速度越来越快，最后竟然飞回到了历史之中。但这是瞎编乱造，而不是相对论。正如琼斯所说：“爱因斯坦说没有什么比光速更快；但没有说如果你跑得够快，钟表就会倒转。”
Translate the sentences into English.
1. 他说得对。那座建筑物倒塌的样子表明承包商偷工减料，工人违规操作。但我们需要展开调查，以便获取具体的、确凿的证据。(be right about; suggest; carry out) Suggested answer:
He was right about that. The way the building fell suggests that the contractor had cut corners and the workers had not followed regular procedures. But we need to carry out an investigation to gain specific, hard evidence against them.
2. 尽管这个村子离城不远，村民们要想进城也得翻山越岭走约四小时的山路。最后他们决定挖一条隧道，打通挡路的那座山。(right through; block) Suggested answer:
Despite the short distance between the village and the town, it took the villagers about four hours to go over the mountains to reach the town. Finally they decided to make a tunnel that goes right through the mountain that blocked their way.
3. 天气非常冷，他们只得围着炉子取暖。他们遭遇了暴风雪。暴风雪不仅冻死了许多野生动物和家畜，也切断了他们的粮食供应。(soak up; fall victim to; as well as) Suggested answer:
So cold was the weather that they gathered around the stove to soak up warmth. They had fallen victims to the snow storm which, as well as killing many wild animals and livestock, had cut off their food supplies.
4. 这纯粹是谎言。我知道他心里在想什么。他是要把失败的责任推到这些年来为了这个项目日夜辛劳的那些人身上，自己却逃避失败的罪责。(nothing but; lay the finger of blame on)
Suggested answer:
This is nothing but a lie. I know what he has in mind. He is trying to lay the finger of blame on those who have for all these years worked day and night for the project and escape his own responsibility for the failure.