2024年5月13日发(作者：两台电脑用一个打印机)

新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记【Lesson16、17、18】

Lesson16

【课文】

First listen and then answer the following question.

听录音，然后回答以下问题。

What is the author's main argument about the modern city?

In the organization of industrial life the influence of the factory upon the physiological and

mental state of the workers has been completely neglected. Modern industry is based on the

conception of the maximum production at lowest cost, in order that an individual or a group of

individuals may earn as much money as possible. It has expanded without any idea ofthe true

nature of the human beings who run the machines, and without giving any consideration to the

effects produced on the individuals and on their descendants by the artificial mode of existence

imposed by the factory. The great cities have been built with no regard for us. The shape and

dimensions of the skyscrapers depend entirely on the necessity of obtaining the maximum

income per square foot of ground, and of offering to the tenants offices and apartments that

please them. This caused the construction of gigantic buildings where too large masses of human

beings are crowded together. Civilized men like such a way of living. While they enjoy the

comfort and banal luxury of their dwelling, they do not realize that they are deprived of the

necessities of life. The modern city consists of monstrous edifices and of dark, narrow streets full

of petrol fumes and toxic gases, torn by the noise of the taxicabs, lorries and buses, andthronged

ceaselessly by great crowds. Obviously, it has not been planned for the good of its inhabitants.

ALEXIS CARREL Man, the Unknown

【New words and expressions 生词和短语】

physiological adj. 生理的

maximum adj. 限度的

consideration n. 考虑

descendant n. 子孙，后代

artificial n. 人工的

impose v. 强加

dimension n. 直径

skyscraper n. 摩天大楼

tenant n. 租户

civilized adj. 文明的

banal adj. 平庸

luxury n. 豪华

deprive v. 剥夺

monstrous adj. 畸形的

edifice n. 大厦

toxic adj. 有毒的

ceaselessly adv. 不停地

throng v. 挤满，壅塞

【课文注释】

t疏忽，忽略。

①作动词，If you neglect someone or something, you fail to give them the amount of

attention that they deserve.

例句：No country can afford to neglect education.

任何国家都不容忽视教育。

②作名词。

例句：She was severely criticized for neglect of duty.

她因玩忽职守而受到严厉批评。