高级英语 新编英语教程5 课文+翻译 unit10.doc

Unit10 Things: The Throw-away Society by Alvin Toffler “Barbie,” a twelve-inch plastic teen-ager, is the best known and best-selling doll in history. Since its introduction in 1959, the Barbie doll population of the world has grown to 12,000,000— more than the human population of Los Angeles or London or Paris. Little girls adore Barbie because she is highly realistic and eminently dress-upable. Mattel, Inc., maker of Barbie, also sells a complete wardrobe for her, including clothes for ordinary daytime wear, clothes for formal party wear, clothes for swimming and skiing. 十二英寸高的塑料小人“芭比”曾是历史上最著名最畅销的洋娃娃，自从1959年问世以来，全世界的芭比娃娃的数量增长到1200,0000人—比洛杉矶，伦敦和巴黎任何一个城市的人口还要多。小女孩热衷芭比娃娃是因为他很像真的而且可以任意更换衣服，作为芭比娃娃的生产厂家，Mattel公司还出售芭比的整体衣柜，包括日常便装，正式晚装，泳装和滑雪衫。 Recently Mattel announced a new improved Barbie doll. The new version has a slimmer figure, “real” eyelashes and a twist-and turn waist that makes her more humanoid than ever. Moreover, Mattel announced that, for the first time, any young lady wishing to purchase a new Barbie would receive a trade-in allowance for her old one. 最近Mattel公司推出一款更高级的芭比娃娃，这个新产品身材更苗条，有仿真睫毛，又可以扭转弯曲的腰肢，所有这些特点使其更加人性化。此外，M公司还首次宣布，任何一个购买芭比娃娃的女士都可以获得旧芭比娃娃的折价优惠。 What Mattel did not announce was that by trading in her old doll for a technologically improved modes, the little girl of today, citizen of tomorrow’s super-industrial world, would learn a fundamental lesson about the new society: that man’s relationships with things are increasingly temporary. M公司所没有宣布的是，通过折旧芭比娃娃来销售新款芭比娃娃，今天的小女孩，明天工业化社会的公民就会得出这样一个对社会的基本认识：人类和物品的关系越来越短暂。 The ocean of man-made physical objects that surrounds us is set within a larger ocean of natural objects. But increasingly, it is the technologically produced environment that matters for the individual. The texture of plastic or concrete, the iridescent glisten of an automobile under a streetlight, the staggering vision of a cityscape seen from the window of a jet— these are the intimate realities of his existence. Man-made things enter