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〈钥匙Keys〉
我拥有这么多足以让我炫耀自己社会地位的钥匙，可就缺了最重要的一把。
I had all these keys to show off my social status, but that one—the most important key of all—was conspicuously missing.

〈屋顶A Roof Over My Head〉
我这一辈子，只有一个愿望，走进一间有屋顶的房间，睡在一张有床单的床上。
For my whole life, I’ve had only one wish: to be able to go inside a house with a roof and sleep on a bed with sheets.

〈对数字正确的认识A Proper Grasp of Numbers〉
老王说我和他有一个共同的特征，那就是我们对数字非常敏感。我常看到一些人雇用了一批所谓的财务专家使用了大批电脑程式，我和老王就凭着我们的经验和直觉，轻而易举地打败了这些号称专家所用的电脑。
Old Wang once observed that he and I shared a common characteristic: we were both very sensitive to numbers. I’ve often seen people hire teams of so-called financial experts to design lots of fancy computer models, but they were never a match for me and Old Wang--by simply relying on our instincts and experience, we never had any trouble besting them.

〈我的家My Home〉
我快结婚了，最近我看到很多有钱孩子所拥有的昂贵玩具，不觉有点担心。以我的收入，我未来的孩子是不会有这些玩意儿的。
I’d soon be getting married. Lately I’d seen a lot of expensive toys that rich children had, and I couldn’t help feeling a little worried—with my income, I wouldn’t be able to give my children those things.

〈纽特，你为什么杀了我？Newt, Why Did You Kill Me?〉
过去我总以为战争最大的恐怖是战争中这么多无辜的人被杀，今天我才知道战争最大的恐怖，是将善良的人变成了刽子手。
I used to think that the most horrible thing about war was how it takes the lives of so many innocent people. Only today did I realize that actually, the most horrible thing about war is how it turns good people into murderers.

窃听者

我的专长是遥控技术，工作地点是美国的一家专门设计通讯卫星的公司，在过去，卫星放上去以后，要修起来是很困难的事，可是我们现在的做法是事先将卫星里面设计好了可以遥控的维修系统，如果卫星失灵，我们可以在地面送一些讯号上去，也可以因此找出毛病的问题所在，如果情形不严重，我们可以在地面用遥控的方法将它修好。

卫星很少失灵，我们平时就做一些遥控的检验工作，这些检验做多了，大家也就马马虎虎，只要功能正常，我们一概都在数据上签字了事。

一个月以前，我闲来无事，将检验的数据仔细看看，忽然发现了一个怪异的现象，这个现象过去没有的，两年前才开始有，因为不正常的程度非常之小，不影响运作，所以没有人发现。

我立刻向我的上司报告这件事，他调出了好几颗卫星的资料，这才发现，两年前，大家都正常，现在都有问题了。

我们有一个备而不用的紧急扫描系统，通常这是在卫星有问题时才启动的，我的上司决定启动这种系统，结果令我们吓得一身冷汗，原来有人在我们的卫星上装了窃听器，而且天线一概朝向太空。


The Eavesdroppers
（1）
I’m an expert on remote control technology, and I work at an American company that specializes in designing communication satellites. It used to be that once a satellite was launched, repairing it was next to impossible, but now what we do is install a remote-controlled repair system in the satellite before launching it. Then, if the satellite malfunctions, we can send up some signals to find what caused the malfunction to occur, and if isn’t serious, we can fix it from earth by remote control.

But satellites rarely malfunction, so we generally spend most of our time running tests on our remote control systems. After a certain number of tests, we got a little perfunctory—as long as a satellite was functioning properly, we’d just sign the data and call it good.

Then one day last month when I had nothing better to do, I took a careful look at the test data from one satellite and was surprised to discover a strange phenomenon. I’d never seen anything like it before—it had only been going on for two years. Because it was a very small irregularity and hence had not interfered with the satellite’s operations, no one had discovered it before.

I immediately reported the news to my boss. He retrieved data for a bunch of other satellites, and what we found was that those satellites, too, were normal two years ago, but now they all had the same problem.

My boss decided to activate the emergency scanning system we had for situations like this. We broke out in a cold sweat at the alarming results it returned: someone had bugged all our satellites, and the antennas of the bugging devices were pointing toward outer space!


◎ expert（n.）专家
◎ remote control（n.）遥控（註：此处指遥控技术，但也可指操控家用电器的遥控器。）
◎ technology（n.）科技
◎ specialize（v.）擅长；专精
◎ communication satellite（n.）通讯卫星
◎ install（v.）安装；装设
◎ malfunction（v.）故障
◎ signal（n.）信（讯）号
◎ perfunctory（adj.）随便的；草率的；敷衍的
◎ properly（adv.）正常地
◎ phenomenon（n.）现象
◎ irregularity（n.）不正常；异常
◎ interfere (with)（v.）干涉；影响
◎ operation(s)（n.）运作
◎ boss（n.）老板；上司；上级
◎ retrieve（v.）取回；（重新）找回
◎ normal（adj.）正常的
◎ activate（v.）启动
◎ emergency scanning system（n.）紧急扫描系统
◎ situation（n.）情形；状况
◎ bug（v.）窃听（註：尤指暗地安装器材所进行的窃听。）
◎ bugging device(s)（n.）窃听装置


◎解析重点
＝(be) an expert on… 精通......；擅长......；为......的专家
－I’m an expert on remote control technology, and I work at an American company that specializes in designing communication satellites.
我的专长是遥控技术，工作地点是美国的一家专门设计通讯卫星的公司。

解析
expert一般作名词居多，以上的英译句中的即是，它的意思为「专家」、「学有专精的人」，其后常接on这个介词，之后再接着精通擅长的领域。比如你想以英文表达「他是位谈判专家（高手）。」即可用（He’s an expert on negotiation.）来表现。在此要特别要提醒读者，expert也可以作形容词解，意思为「专精的」、「内行的」，要注意的是此时，其后常使用at这个介词。在此情况下，前面相同的那句话：「他是位谈判专家（高手）。」可以写为（He’s expert at negotiating.）

＝next to impossible 几近不可能(1段)
－It used to be that once a satellite was launched, repairing it was next to impossible, but now what we do is install a remote-controlled repair system in the satellite before launching it.
在过去，卫星放上去以后，要修起来是很困难的事，可是我们现在的做法是事先将卫星里面设计好了可以遥控的维修系统。

解析
不妨就这么来学这个片语了。你到家音乐厅看表演，中场休息时候，灯光打亮，你往身旁一看，不得了，美国前总统就坐在你身边（The ex-president of the United States sits right next to you.），难怪你从一开始就有一种莫名其妙的安全感。
看到没，next to…原本指的是「在......旁边」，也就是「很接近......」、「很靠近......」的意思。既然如此，next to impossible不就是「很接近不可能」，也就是中文常说的「几近不可能」的意思吗？



＝run a test on…　 对......进行测试
－But satellites rarely malfunction, so we generally spend most of our time running tests on our remote control systems.
卫星很少失灵，我们平时就做一些遥控的检验工作。

解析
整个run a test on…片语所使用的四个字里，动词run的用法最令人费解。但发挥一些想像力，仔细思量后，读者也应该觉得好玩。看过人们在运动场上跑步健身吗？沿着跑道，一圈一圈地跑（run），一旁看的人觉得无趣，慢跑的人却乐在其中。
读者们请回到主题来，就是run这个字。它给我们的意象是从起点到终点，週而复始，不停地「跑」（run）。所以，假如检测工作（test）就像跑道，是个有开头有结束的程序，那么用run a test以表达「进行一套检测程序」不也有趣而合理吗？


＝have nothing better to do 闲来没事；闲着没事
－Then one day last month when I had nothing better to do, I took a careful look at the test data from one satellite and was surprised to discover a strange phenomenon.
一个月以前，我闲来无事，将检验的数据仔细看看，忽然发现了一个怪异的现象。

解析
使用have nothing better to do这个用语来表现「闲来没事」实在译得很妙。从字面上来看，它是「找不到更好的事情做」的意思。你在家里晃来晃去，无所是事，家里的老母看不过去，可否跟你说过：「如果你闲着没事，去把碗盘洗一洗。」在老母眼里，洗碗不是什么舒服愉快的事情，但总比「找不到更好的事情做」好。
如果你现在就闲闲没事，就让我们把老母的话当成题目练习吧。Give it a try if you have nothing better to do now.



＝ break out in a cold sweat 　吓出一身冷汗；冒一身冷汗
－We broke out in a cold sweat at the alarming results it returned: someone had bugged all our satellites, and the antennas of the bugging devices were pointing toward outer space!

结果令我们吓得一身冷汗，原来有人在我们的卫星上装了窃听器，而且天线一概朝向太空。

解析
很活泼的一个片语，和中文的「吓出（break out）一身冷汗（in a cold sweat）」百分之百吻合。其实break out岂止这样的用法，中文有「笑逐颜开」，英文也有相当类似的(someone’s face) break out into a sweet (big) smile这样的用法。

None

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