中石油职称英语课文讲稿6第课36.docVIP

37. How to Avoid Foolish Opinions. 如何避免愚蠢的见解、 　　1. To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone[a.易于...的], no superhuman[a.超人的] genius[n.天才] is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error. 1、要避免人们常常产生的各种愚蠢的观点，并不需要过人的天赋。立几条简单的规则就可以使得你避免荒唐的错误，虽然不能避免一切错误。 单词：prone =易于…的；superhuman =超人的；genius =天赋； 2. If the matter is one that can be settled by observation[n.观察], make the observation yourself. Aristotle[n.亚里斯多德] could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device[n.方法] of asking Mrs. Aristotle[n.亚里斯多德] to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so because he thought he knew. Thinking that you know when in fact you dont is a fatal[adj.致命的] mistake, to which we are all prone[a.易于...的]. I believe myself that hedgehogs[(hedgehog):n.刺猬] eat black beetles[(beetle):n.甲虫], because I have been told that they do; but if I were writing a book on the habits[(habit):n.习惯；习性] of hedgehogs[(hedgehog):n.刺猬], I should not commit[承若] myself until I had seen one enjoying this unappetizing[n.引不起食欲的] diet. Aristotle[n.亚里斯多德], however, was less cautious[adj.谨慎的]. Ancient and medieval[a.中世纪的] authors knew all about unicorns[(unicorn):n.独角兽] and salamanders[(salamander):n.火蜥蜴]; not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic[adj.武断的] statements about them because he had never seen one of them. 2、如果事情可以通过观察来解决的，那你就亲自观察好了。亚里斯多德认为女人的牙齿比男人少，其实很简单，只需请亚里斯多德夫人张一张口来让他数一数，他本是可以不犯这一错误的。他没有那么做，因为他认为他知道。自以为懂而实际并不懂是一种致命的错误，我们都易犯这种错误。我自己相信，刺猬吃黑甲虫，因为人们告诉我，它们是这样的。但如果我要写一本论述刺猬习性的书的话，那么在我未亲眼看到一个刺猬享受这种倒胃口的食品之前，我是不会动笔的。然而，亚里斯多德却不够谨慎。古代和中世纪的作家谈起独角兽和火蛇来如数家珍，但他们中没有一个人认为，因为自身从未见过这些东西的任一种而有必要避免对它们作武断的阐述。 分析:could have avoided… ＝；if I were writing a book on the habits of hedgehogs, I should not commit myself until I had seen one enjoying this unappetizing diet:虚拟语observation ＝观察； fatal =致命的； unappetizing =引不起食欲的； cautious=谨慎的, dogmatic =的； 3. Many matters, however, are less easily brought