第三大类：技术与进步类

1．汽车工业的发展变化

段落大意：汽车工业的快速发展加速了竞争，和“大鱼”之间的竞争使得世界汽车工业重新分配力量。

There is no industry having more far-reaching effects in the world-wide community than the automobile industry. The automobile has changed the lives, culture, and economy of the people and nations that manufacture and demand them. Ever since the late 1800s when the first modern car was invented by Benz and Daimler in Germany, the automobile has grown into a billion dollar industry affecting various aspects of our lives. There are more than 400 million passenger cars (轿车) alone on the road today. During the early twentieth century, the United States was home to more than 90 percent of the world automobile industry, but has shrunk（缩小）to about 20 percent in today’s world. This drastic change has occurred as a result of the booming (急速发展的) economies in nations such as Japan, Germany, Canada, France, and Italy. The total US auto industry sale is $205 billion, which accounts for 3.3 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By the end of 19th century, there were about 500 auto manufacturers, but that number dropped sharply to 23 by 1917, and today the Big Three (美国三大汽车公司) dominate the market. Ford (福特), General Motors (通用汽车) and Chrysler (克莱斯勒) make up the Big Three which account for 23 percent of the world’s motor vehicle.

2．工业化的意义

段落大意：英国的工业化发展对西方工业化发展具有示范作用；同时，工业化也带来了社会变革。

Industrialization is the process of converting (转变) to a socio-economic order (社会经济结构) in which industry is dominant. How or why some agrarian (农业的) societies have evolved into industrial states is not always fully understood. What is certain, though, is that the changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution (工业革命) in the late 18th and 19th centuries provided a prototype (原型) for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and North America. Along with its technological components, such as the mechanization (机械化) of labor and the reliance upon inanimate sources of energy, the process of industrialization entailed profound social developments. The release of the labor from feudal (封建的) and customary obligations created a free market in labor, with a pivotal (关键的) role for a specific social class, the entrepreneur. Cities drew large numbers of people off the land and provided massive workers for the new industrial towns and factories. Later industrializing countries attempted to manipulate (控制) some of these elements. The Soviet Union, for instance, industrialized largely on the basis of forced labor and elimination of the entrepreneur, while in Japan strong state involvement (国家参与) stimulated and sustained the entrepreneur’s role. Other states, notably Denmark and New Zealand, were industrialized primarily by commercializing (商业化) and mechanizing (工业化) agriculture.

3．工业化的发展变革

段落大意：工业化发展带来了心理和社会的变革。

Although urban-industrial life offers unprecedented (前所未有的) opportunities for individual mobility (流动性) and personal freedom, it can take high social and psychological tolls (代价). Various observers such as Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim cited the “alienation”(异化) and “anomie”(混乱) of individual workers faced by seemingly meaningless tasks and rapidly altering goals. The fragmentation（破碎）of the extended family and community tended to isolate individuals and to counter (对抗) against traditional values. From the very beginning, industrialism appears to create a new strain of poverty, whose victims for a variety of reasons are unable to compete according to the rules of the industrial order. In the major industrialized nations of the late 20th century, such developments as automated technology, an expanding service sector, and increasing suburbanization (郊区城市化) signaled what some observers called the emergence of a post-industrial society.

4．技术发展的影响

段落大意：技术的发展给人们带来诸多好处，其中的两大好处不容忽略：其一，技术的发展提高了人们的生活质量；其二，技术的发展帮助探索未知世界。
Technology, which is changing the world every day, has benefited people’s lives a lot, including two main advantages. Firstly, technology has improved the quality of people’s lives remarkably. People can get much more entertainment and information with the development of modern technology. The inventions of mobile phone and Internet also make the world increasingly smaller. People can communicate easily and share information as they like even if they are far away. Moreover, better medical instruments can be used to cure the patients. On average, people will live longer than before. Another important advantage is that with the help of technology, human beings can know more about the unknown world. For example, scientists can study the microscopic (微小的) material such as the structure of the DNA and the huge universe at the same time. Many discoveries have shown the mysteries of the nature, broadening our horizon. 

5．技术发展对环境的影响

段落大意：技术的发展对环境的破坏作用和解决方案。
However, one thing of great importance is that some technologies do harm to the environment. A typical example is the universal use of air-conditioners, which has a great influence on “green house effect” (温室效应). It can cause the temperature of the earth to increase. Furthermore, some technologies are used to break the balance of nature in order to get more profits. As a result, humans will be punished and lose more in the end.  In order to solve the problem above, government should make some laws and follow the disciplines of development. In other words, products which pollute the environment should be charged with more taxes. Also, the environmentally harmful technology must be replaced by the new one gradually.

6.  克隆技术的发展

段落大意：两类克隆技术的不同特点及其发展的现实意义。

There are two types of cloning. One is therapeutic cloning (治疗性克隆) that involves harvesting stem cells (干细胞) from embryos (胚胎). These are the biological equivalent of a template (模板). They can develop into any kind of mature functional cell (功能性细胞) and thus help cure many degenerative (退化的) and auto-immune (自我免疫) diseases. The other kind of cloning is much derided (嘲笑) in popular culture as the harbinger（预言） of a Brave New World (美好新世界，指社会大变动后出现的使人满怀希望的新时期，常含讽刺). A nucleus (细胞核) from any cell of a donor is embedded (植入) in an egg (卵细胞) whose own nucleus has been removed. The egg is then implanted in a woman’s womb (子宫) and a cloned baby is born nine months later. Biologically, the cloned infant is a replica (复制品) of the donor. Cloning is often confused with other advances in bio-medicine and bio-engineering such as genetic selection (基因选择). It cannot in itself be used to produce “perfect humans” or select sex or other traits (特征). Hence, some of the arguments against cloning are either specious (似是而非的) or ignorant.

7. 克隆技术发展过程中有关生命权的讨论

段落大意：克隆技术对生命权的威胁以及生命权的定义。

According to skeptics of cloning, the nucleus removed from the egg could otherwise have developed into a human being. Thus, removing the nucleus amounts to murder. It is a fundamental principle of most moral theories (道德理论) that all human beings have a right to life. The existence of this right implies obligations or duties of third parties towards the right-holder. One has a right against other people. The fact that one possesses a certain right prescribes (规定) others certain obligatory behaviors and proscribes (禁止) certain acts or neglect. This Janus-like nature (两面性) of rights and duties as two sides of the same coin creates great confusion. People often and easily confuse rights and their accompanying (伴随的) duties or obligations with the morally decent, or even with the morally permissible. In order to protect other people’s rights, one should never confuse these obligations with what one SHOULD or OUGHT to do morally in the absence of a right.

8.  有关安乐死的讨论

段落大意：安乐死是自我生命终结权的表现之一，是以自愿为前提条件的。
The right to euthanasia (安乐死), to have one’s life terminated (终结) at will, is restricted by numerous social, ethical, and legal rules, principles, and considerations. Briefly speaking, in many western countries one is thought to have a right to have one’s life terminated with the help of third parties, if one is going to die shortly anyway or if one is going to be tormented and humiliated by great agony for the rest of the life. Of course, one has to be in sound mind and to will his/her death consciously and forcefully.

9.  对克隆技术的主要担忧

段落大意：人们对克隆技术的主要担忧聚焦在对胚胎大量死亡的担忧，这被认为是对生命的亵渎和不道德行为。
The main concern about cloning is that even the therapeutic one, will cause large number of embryos, nealy 95% with current biotechnology, to die. Others can be secretly and illegally implanted in the wombs of “surrogate mothers” (代理母亲). It is undeniably immoral, goes the argument above, to kill so many embryos. Cloning is such an immature technique that its success rate is still unacceptably low. There are alternative ways to harvest stem cells which are less costly in terms of human life. If we accept that life begins at the moment of fertilization (受精), this argument is valid. However, it also implies that once cloning becomes safer and scientists become more adept, cloning itself should be permitted. This is unacceptable to those who fear a slippery slope. They abhor the very notion of “unnatural” conception. To them, cloning is human’s narcissistic (自我崇拜的) act and an ignorant and dangerous interference in nature. They would ban procreative (生产性的) cloning, regardless of how safe it is. Furthermore, they believe that the therapeutic cloning, will allow bold scientists to cross the boundary between permissible (curative cloning) and illegal (baby cloning).

10.  肝细胞疗法

段落大意：细胞疗法主要指肝细胞克隆疗法，少数人对此项技术的滥用不应阻碍该项技术的发展。
Cell therapy based on stem cells often leads to tissue rejection (组织排斥) and requires costly and potentially dangerous immunosuppressive (免疫制疫力的) therapy. However, when the stem cells are harvested from the patient himself and cloned, these problems are avoided. Therapeutic cloning has vast untapped (未开发的) —though at this stage still remote—potential to improve the lives of hundreds of millions. As far as the term “designer babies” (设计婴儿) goes, pre-natal cloning (胎前克隆) and genetic engineering (基因工程) can be used to prevent disease or cure it, to suppress unwanted traits, and to enhance desired ones. It is the moral right of a parent to make sure that his progeny (后代) suffers less, enjoys life more, and attains the maximal level of welfare throughout his or her life. That such technologies can be abused by over-zealous, or mentally unhealthy parents in collaboration with greedy or unscrupulous (无道德原则的) doctors, should not prevent the vast majority of stable, caring, and sane parents from gaining access to them.

11．互联网带给社会的变革和影响

段落大意：互联网对人类生活的影响及其未来的发展。

The Internet is, literally a network of networks. It consists of thousands of interconnected networks spanning the globe. The computers that form the Internet range from huge mainframes (大型主机) in research establishments to modest PCs in people’s homes and offices. Despite the recent hype（大肆宣传）, the Internet is not a new phenomenon. It stems from a collection of computers in the 1970s that were linked together to form the US Department of Defense’s (国防部门) communications systems. Fearing the consequences of nuclear attack, there was no central computer holding vast amounts of data; rather the information was dispersed (分散) to thousands of machines. Protocols (协议), a set of rules known as TCP/IP, were developed to allow separate devices to work together. The original network has a long history since it was upgraded and expanded, and TCP/IP is now a “de facto” (事实上的) standard. Millions of people worldwide are using the Internet to share information, make new associations and communicate. Individuals and businesses, from students and journalists to consultants, programmers and corporate giants, are all making the most of the power of the Internet. For many businesses the Internet is becoming an integral part of their success. The future holds promises for even bigger success of Internet.          

12．互联网音乐产业

段落大意：互联网促成了音乐产业的全球化发展。

The music industry is in a time of growth at this very moment. Its growth has been increasing rapidly across many geographical boundaries and has been established through information technology (信息技术), especially the Internet. The music industry has not only been affected by globalization (全球化) as an economic institution, but has also become a worldwide-globalized commodity (商品). Though its product is not a necessity, it is affected by large economic factors and has become a large market. Moreover, the music market has globalizing tendencies for the consumers. People listen to music in cars, workplaces, shopping centers and restaurants. Runners listen to music as they exercise. Patients listen to music while sitting on the dentist chair. Everybody listens to music everywhere at anytime. Try to go on line and among links on Travel, Stock Quotes (股票报价), Sports or Entertainment, you will certainly find a link on Music.

13．互联网的道德制约

段落大意：互联网的作用及其道德制约。

No one will deny that the Internet is the most useful tool for research, business, and education. However, the Internet is a subject of a topic as controversial as the legalities of abortion or homosexual (同性恋) rights. Many erotic (色情的), illegal, and unhealthy materials are available on the Internet such as pornography (色情作品) and pirated (盗版的) software. On the other hand, many educational tools are on-line as well. This creates an urgent need for the establishment of ethics in the Internet realm. The Internet is a worldwide computer network of home, corporate, and government computers. It is necessary to understand that the Internet is not just composed of web pages, but of files, e-mails, newsgroups, internal computer networks, personal computers etc. The media that provide the majority of the controversial content are most often here.

14．互联网的消极影响

段落大意：互联网对人心理状态的消极影响。

While our culture holds the Internet as a technological wonder, one thing that we can’t neglect is that Internet also has a negative effect on individuals and their social skills. A recent study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University concludes that the use of Internet leads to small but statistically significant increases in misery and loneliness and a decline in overall psychological well-being (American Psychological Association, 1998). The Home Net project studied a sample of 169 people in Pittsburg during their first year or two online. Data showed that as people in this sample used the Internet more, they were found to have contact with fewer friends. They also spent less time talking with their families, while experiencing more daily stress and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occurred even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the Internet.

15．互联网对青少年的消极影响

段落大意：互联网正在消极地影响着青少年的社会交往能力。

According to the Home-Net study, teenagers are much heavier (更严重的) Internet users than their parents. While adults tend to use the Internet as part of their jobs and to get employment-related information, teenagers are more likely to use the Internet to play games, to listen to music, and to make acquaintance with (结识) new people. This particular appeal (吸引) has caused further concern among educators such as Michael A. Weinstein, professor of Political Science at Purdue University. He believes Internet users will “lose the savvy (悟性) and skills and patience to conduct social relations in the corporeal (物质) world”, and that the Internet will intensify the negative effect that television has already had on our social skills. Taking his view then, it is assumed that we are encouraging our children to become social nitwits (笨蛋)!

16．有关科技发展的安全性争论

段落大意：有些人强烈反对科技的发展，例如，他们认为科技发展过程中不存在绝对安全，绝对安全只是一种假象。

Throughout history, some have violently opposed scientific developments. For example, Guardian columnist Jeremy Rifkin described biotechnology as “a form of annihilation (灭绝) every bit as deadly as nuclear holocaust (大屠杀), and even more profound”. This dispute between science and anti-science, progress and reaction, the materialist (唯物主义者) and idealist (唯心主义者) philosophies, can never be resolved. It is a fundamental philosophic divide (分界线) that cannot be bridged. One or the other must prevail. The argument that we must wait for a consensus (共识) to emerge is conservative, for this would mean waiting forever. No amount of additional debate can ever win round the opposition to progress, because that opposition is based on faith-based dogma (教条); it is impervious (无动于衷的) to evidence and reason. Calls for stop of development are prevarication (支吾搪塞). Similarly, the search for absolute safety, like all searches for absolutes, is a delusion (幻想), which makes the precautionary (预防的) principle another reason for stasis (停滞).

17．克隆技术[m1] 受到阻碍

段落大意：对克隆技术研究的禁止制约了对人类有益的克隆技术的发展。

Opponents of cloning opposed In Vitro Fertilisation (体外受精) too. Possibly one million babies have been born through IVF since 1978. This safe and beneficial procedure came from decades of improving techniques on a variety of animals. Safe cloning will similarly result from animal research, and a ban on research would prevent work of making cloning safe. In Germany the government has banned all research work on embryos, so Germany makes no contribution and has no influence in this field. Britain’s parliament has passed a law that regulates therapeutic cloning (治愈性克隆), but unfortunately bans all efforts at reproductive cloning (繁殖性克隆).

18．生物技术

段落大意：对一些生物技术（例如肝细胞和克隆技术）的禁止将在很大程度上制约对人类有益的发展。

Fear of biotechnology （生物技术） has done great harm, because technological stagnation (停滞) poses greater risks than technological innovation. Banning stem cell research or research into reproductive cloning would prevent many promising (有希望的) developments in medical research. It could drive such research to countries less equipped to balance safety with development. The biotechnology revolution, IVF for instance, has already brought enormous benefits and will bring much more, provided that we encourage and support research into cloning.

19．信息系统在商业社会中发挥的作用

段落大意：信息系统在现代商业社会中起到了至关重要的作用。

Today’s information systems are both technical and social in nature. Management must understand the importance of information for the organization. It is management’s job to understand how information is collected, processed (加工), and distributed. We are all extremely affected by information systems and must be willing to understand and work with them. Our global economy does not allow us to depend on face-to-face transactions (交易) as in the 1980s. Today, few managers can ignore the importance and impact of how information is handled by their organization. Information systems play a critical role in today’s business organization and society.

20．DNA芯片与制药业的发展

段落大意：DNA芯片改变了基因的研究并且转变了制药业的研究和生产方式。

When future historians look back on the greatest scientific advancements of the 20th century, they will undoubtedly focus on only three events: the Apollo Moon landing, the invention of the microprocessor (微型计算机), and possibly the greatest scientific endeavor (成就) yet, genomics（基因学）, the science of identifying genes and how they work in humans. It is possibly not a total coincidence then that two of this century’s greatest advancements have grown out of the same cradle (摇篮) of technology, Silicon Valley (硅谷). The first advancement was the invention of the microprocessor, and the second was the invention of the DNA chip (芯片), also called the DNA array or biochip (生物电路芯片). These DNA chips are the newest tools being used in the study of genomics. They are changing the way researchers analyze the genetic make-up of cells, and will soon make traditional pharmaceutical (药物的) research obsolete. This allows for whole new generations of drugs that will be made to combat diseases by effecting changes in their specific genetic design.

21．计算机产业的垄断

段落大意：垄断的定义及其在计算机领域的体现。

The definition of pure competition is the absence of significant barriers for new firms to enter the market. Monopoly (垄断), correspondingly, arises because of such barriers. A monopoly firm is the exclusive seller of a good or service with no close substitutes (近似替代品). The market in which the monopoly firm operates is called a monopoly market. Two forces dominated developments in the computer industry in 1995, the arrival of Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows 95 personal computer operating system and the overnight authority of the Internet and the World Wide Web, a subset (子集) of the Internet for multimedia use. Events in 1995 drew so much attention to both Windows 95 and the Web that by the end of the year the computer mouse had become almost as well known to the world population as the television remote control. Both Windows 95 and the Web were milestones on what clearly emerged during the monopoly.