本篇两篇文章，Modern Media: Dying for Information, Sentence Translation 和 Passage Translation。

1803 - Dying for Information

As most of us currently are working for this or that kind of modern media, information really is the name of the game in our jobs. In this information era, there are merits and demerits of the so called “information explosion”. In my speech, I'd like to address some of the demerits first. I suppose part of the problem today is that there's too much information out there, and not all of it is reliable. It's a complete maze of information and you can easily get lost in it. Actually, Reuters produced a report on this very topic for this forum: information overload. The report had a very appropriate title Dying for Information. It was based on interviews with 1,300 managers in different countries, so it was very thorough. The report showed that two thirds of managers suffer from stress and poor health, and one of the main causes is what they're calling “information anxiety syndrome”. It was cause mostly by the Internet. Apparently, managers are getting so frustrated knowing that the information they need is out there somewhere. But it could take them the rest of their lives to find it, which is driving them crazy! Second, it's ever getting too fast now in these days of computerised world. As a result, people start making mistakes with all this information coming at them. In the financial markets, losing a fortune can be as easy as pressing the wrong button! A few years ago the whole London FTSE 100 Index actually fell by two percent when some trader typed $300 million into his computer instead of $30 million. Another example was back in the late 90s, some guy at Salomon Brothers, I think it was, made an even bigger mistake. Sold 850 million pounds' worth of French government bonds -- by accident. Well, he leaned on his computer keyboard and sold the lot!

Of course, there are merits. With fast and easy access, people are much better informed than they used to be. We all enjoy the ubiquitous mobile phone, which connects us with the rest of the world. I had the opportunity to work with the subsidiary of a multinational mobile phone company. The managers of the company regularly benchmark all its national divisions against each other, i.e. comparing individuals' performances, according to different criteria, to see who's outperforming whom. And then, the top performers in each category coach the others on how to get the same results. Actually, it was estimated that just one knowledge -- sharing exercise like this boosted the company's sales revenue by $65 million. It's a typical example of what we call “knowledge management”, or KM. Today, the most important asset is the information our employees carry around in their heads: their intellectual capital. If you think about it, so much routine work can be automated, digitised or outsourced, your knowledge -- your expertise -- is all you've got, really. In fact, KM guru Thomas A. Stewart has calculated that whereas the cost of a product used to be about 80% materials and 20% know-how, now in this information and digital age it is split 70:30 the other way.

翻译




问题

1803 - Cardiovascular Disease

Today I'm going to be speaking on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. By cardiovascular disease, I mean heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease, which is also known as clots to the legs. When a person has a heart attack, what happens is there's partial or complete blocking of the arteries which feed the heart muscle. In a stroke, we are talking about the blocking of one or more of the arteries which feed the brain. In peripheral vascular disease, again also known as clots to the legs, there's a blocking of one or more of the arteries to usually one of the legs.

Now there are risk factors which do give us an idea of who might develop one of these problems or these diseases. Some of the risk factors are alterable. That is, the person at risk can actually do something about them. And then there are some risk factors which are unalterable. I'm going to run through the unalterable ones first and then the alterable ones second.

OK, the first unalterable risk factor, gender. Males appear to be at a much higher risk for cardiovascular disease than females, at least up until about fifty years of age. Um, the simplest explanation is that estrogen, a hormone which is made in women's bodies up until menopause, appears to protect women from cardiovascular disease. Second, age. As a person ages, their risk of getting cardiovascular disease increases. There's not much we can do about aging, but that is a factor -- that the older a person is, the more, the higher their risk for cardiovascular disease.

Third, diabetes. People with diabetes have a higher rate of cardiovascular disease. It's not known why, but unfortunately the statistics bear this out.

And then, family history. In fact, when you hear about youngish men, let's say men in their thirties who have heart attacks or strokes, usually it's because of family history. I mean, even if they have other risk factors, um, having a heart attack in one's thirties is, is very rare, and the cause is usually hereditary. So, those are the unalterable risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Um, the alterable risk factors for cardiovascular disease include, first of all, high blood pressure. High blood pressure, again, does tend to run in families, but, there are some very, very good medications that people can take that have very few side effects in order to control high blood pressure. High blood pressure often occurs in people who are obese, uh, very overweight. But then there are many otherwise healthy people who simply have high blood pressure. And the important thing is to get these people on an appropriate medication, keep their blood pressure within normal range, and that will decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease.

Next, obesity. Um, some very high percentage of Americans are considered obese. Obesity technically means at least twenty percent above ideal weight. Clearly this puts a person at risk for diabetes and high blood pressure, and so it's very important to get rid of that excess weight. It's a very, very complex disease process. Usually, obese people have trouble metabolizing fats, and so generally a low-fat diet is recommended for people who are obese.

Next, cigarette smoking is clearly a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. People who smoke cigarettes have more heart attacks and strokes and peripheral vascular disease, you know, blood clots in the legs. Clearly they have a higher incidence of these diseases earlier in life, than non smokers. Uh, the tars, the nicotine that are breathed into the blood stream, not only raise blood pressure, but they probably also affect the way fats are metabolized as well.

And then, stress. If somebody does have an extremely stressful lifestyle, um, it's clearly been linked with cardiovascular disease. People who are, um, perfectionist, easily angered, competitive people who, who work very hard and play very hard. Um, these people, it's thought, tend to be under more stress and, therefore, under more of a risk for cardiovascular disease.

And then lastly, sedentary lifestyle has just been added as one of the alterable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. People who do not exercise, even if they have low blood pressure, are not obese, do not have diabetes, are female, don't smoke cigarettes, are young, um, keep their stress down and eat low-fat diet, people who, even if all those factors are in their favor, if a person does not exercise, they increase their chances of cardiovascular disease. So, there we go another good reason to exercise.

1803 - Sentence Translation

Sentence-1 If you are working in the US, it would be a good idea to find out about the local sports teams so that you can participate in the almost inevitable discussions about “how our team will do this year”.

Sentence-2 I may be old-fashioned, but I do object to the modern TV heroes. A lot of them seem to be no more than professional killers modeled on James Bond. They kill with hardly any conscience at all.

Sentence-3 New Hampshire is the only state with neither a sales nor an income tax, and this is a major attraction for tax-weary residents of other states, but its workers' wages are among the lowest in the country.

Sentence-4 Ocean warming and extreme weather are devastating the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In 2016 alone, 29 percent of shallow-water coral was lost. Parts of the reef have been destroyed by cyclones or eaten alive by starfish.

Sentence-5 The stock index is trading at the price-earnings ratio of 50 times. It means that if you buy a stock today, it will take 50 years for the company to generate enough profits to pay you back your capital.

翻译

1803 - Passage Translation

Passage 1

Canada is a huge country, in fact one of the largest in the world. Yet it has only 30 million people, which is less than half of the population of the United Kingdom. It extends from the Great Lakes in the south to the majestic Rocky Mountains in the west, and the bleak Arctic islands in the far north. There are great variations in climate.Winters are extremely cold except in Vancouver which has a milder climate owing to its location on the west coast,so take a heavy overcoat and a fur hat. Canadian summers are warm on the whole, especially inland, so you'll only need lightweight clothing.

Passage 2

For getting the news as soon as it happens, the Internet is often people's first choice. TV news comes in second, radio news falls third, and print media come in last, In order to compete with the Internet, some newspapers and TV stations are changing the way they deliver the news. Instead of reporting the news objectively, they try to keep their readers' and viewers' interest by focusing on the most upsetting or shocking details. This trend toward sensationalism is making people question the truth of the news. According to one study, 55% of Americans used to believe what they heard or read in news reports. Recently, that number has dropped to 29% for television and even lower for newspapers.

翻译