1. Have you ever stopped to think　how your life would change if the world ran out of oil? Take a look at your day.　The roof of your home is probably made waterproof by an oil product, bitumen.　The same product is used for the road surface outside your home. Before you　leave to go to work or school, just examine your surroundings. Is the room　warmer than the cold air outside? Oil, or electricity from oil-fed generators　may be keeping you comfortably warm. If you are comfortably cool in a tropical　climate, your air conditioning unit may also depend on oil-fed　generators.

　　1、你曾想過(guò)沒(méi)有，如果世界上用盡了石油，你的生活會(huì)發(fā)生什么樣變化呢？請(qǐng)看一看你的日常生活。你家的屋頂可能是用一種叫瀝青的石油產(chǎn)品做成防水的。瀝青同樣可用來(lái)鋪你家外面的路面。在你離家去上班或上學(xué)之前，請(qǐng)觀察一下你周圍的環(huán)境。房間里會(huì)比外面冷空氣暖和嗎？這是石油或由燃油發(fā)電機(jī)發(fā)出來(lái)的電使你感到舒適溫暖。如果你在炎熱的氣候里感到舒適涼爽，那么你家的空調(diào)器可能也是靠燃油發(fā)電機(jī)工作的。

　　2.　In the kitchen and the bathroom you will probably see some plastic fittings such　as tiles and working surfaces; polystyrene cups; curtains made from synthetic　materials; disinfectants and detergents. All owe their origin to the oil known　as petroleum （Latin/Greek 'petra', rock, and Latin 'oleum', oil）, found deep in　the earth. Look inside the medicine cupboard for more petroleum products,　medical paraffin and petroleum jelly. Cosmetics such as face creams, lipsticks　and hair preparations are often based on　petroleum.

　　2、在廚房和浴室里你可能看到一些塑料器具，如塑料地板和塑料操作臺(tái)面、聚苯乙烯杯子、合成材料的浴簾、消毒劑和去污劑。所有這些都是來(lái)自稱為“Petroleum”的石油�！癙etroleum”（石油）是（由拉丁或希臘文"petro"（巖石）和拉丁文"oleum"（油）組成），深埋在地下。向藥廚里看看，你可以找到更多的石油產(chǎn)品，如藥用石蠟和凡士林�；瘖y品如雪花膏、唇膏、洗發(fā)劑等，常用石油作為基本原料。

　　3.　When you're out, notice the fields and gardens. Fertilizers and insecticides　made from petroleum can improve crop production. Recently protein feeds for　animals have been developed by growing yeast in a petroleum based stock. As you　head for your bus, train or car, all of which use petroleum products in the form　of fuel to move them and lubricants to keep them in working order, take a look　in the mirror. What are you wearing today? A polyester shirt or dress, nylon　socks or stockings, and acrylic sweater-a raincoat of PVC （polyvinyl chloride）?　All of these are based on petroleum　products.

　　3、當(dāng)外出時(shí)你會(huì)看到農(nóng)田和花園�；屎蜌⑾x劑是由石油制取的，可以使農(nóng)作物增產(chǎn)。最近已經(jīng)研制出一種動(dòng)物食用的蛋白質(zhì)飼料，它是用石油作為基本原料加上酵母而制成的。公共汽車、貨車或小轎車，都是靠石油產(chǎn)品作燃料開動(dòng)的，用潤(rùn)滑油保持這些車輛正常工作。當(dāng)你去乘車之前要照一照鏡子�？纯唇裉齑┦裁匆路茫渴腔w服裝（襯衫還是外套），是尼龍襪（短襪還是長(zhǎng)襪），晴綸毛衣還是塑料雨衣？而所有這些都是用石油產(chǎn)品作原料的。

　　4.　Scientists predict that the world's known oil resources will run out early in　the next century. But long before then the world will have to decide on its　priorities. Can we afford to use so much of our limited petroleum supplies for　private motoring? Should airlines compete on similar routes allowing planes to　fly long distances with empty passenger seats? What alternative energy resources　can be　developed?

　　4、科學(xué)家預(yù)言世界上已探明的石油資源將在下個(gè)世紀(jì)初用盡。但遠(yuǎn)在那時(shí)候以前，世界就必須確定石油是優(yōu)先考慮控制使用的物資。石油儲(chǔ)量既然有限，我們還能把那么多的石油用于私人汽車嗎？難道航空公司還應(yīng)該為了在類似的航線上競(jìng)爭(zhēng)而允許他們的客機(jī)有空座的長(zhǎng)途飛行嗎？能開發(fā)出什么樣的替代能源呢？

　　5. Again, at one time or another, you may have found that all such animals hear. Hunters know that birds are attracted by artificial calls, and fishermen emphasize that you should be as quiet（原文quite） as possible if you don't want to go home empty handed. And if you ever hunted frogs in your childhood, you know how softly you had to tread! Moreover, it seems absurd that birds should sing and frogs croak, if they could not even hear their own voices.

　　5、此外，你可能曾經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)所有的這些動(dòng)物都在聽。獵人們知道鳥類會(huì)被人造的聲音所吸引，漁夫們則強(qiáng)調(diào)，如果你不想空手而歸的話就要盡可能的安靜。如果你在童年抓過(guò)青蛙，你應(yīng)該知道要多么輕柔地走動(dòng)。說(shuō)實(shí)在，青蛙在叫，鳥兒在唱，如果它們甚至聽不到自己發(fā)出的聲音，豈不荒謬。

　　6. By direct observations and many experiments, biologists have discovered that practically all animals have some sense of hearing or vibration. Earthworms feel vibrations in the soil, fish can be trained to respond to certain tones, male mosquitoes are attracted by the sound of the female, and frogs will respond to a tape recording of their own voices.

　　6、通過(guò)直接觀察和許多試驗(yàn)，生物學(xué)家已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，實(shí)際上所有的動(dòng)物都具有某種聽覺(jué)或振動(dòng)感。蚯蚓在土壤里能感覺(jué)震動(dòng)，魚類可以訓(xùn)練的對(duì)特定的音調(diào)有反應(yīng)，雄性蚊子可以被雌性蚊子的聲音所吸引，青蛙對(duì)它們自己的聲音的錄音有所反應(yīng)。

　　7. The inner ear is composed of delicate membranes which bear dense patches of specialized cells called maculae. Each of these collections of cells can carry a message to the brain. What message is carried by a macula depends upon how it is affected. The message which is carried is not, however, always connected with the hearing sense. For instance, a certain kind of tadpole can tell the depth of the water it is swimming in by the pitch of a tone which is produced by its own lungs.

　　7、內(nèi)耳由脆弱的薄膜構(gòu)成，它承載著密集的由被稱作斑疹的特殊細(xì)胞構(gòu)成的片。每個(gè)這樣的細(xì)胞群都能夠把信息傳遞給大腦，而斑疹承載怎樣的信息依賴于它是怎樣受影響的。但是被承載的信息并不總是與聽覺(jué)相連。舉個(gè)例子，有一種蝌蚪能感知它所游泳之處水的深度，它是通過(guò)某種自己肺部產(chǎn)生的聲音的音調(diào)來(lái)判定的。

　　8. In the human and all other mammals, the macula has developed into an organ which can easily be seen. This organ is called the cochlea. This spiral shaped organ contains the macula itself and it is called "organ of Corti" after its discoverer. If you have ever seen a snail shell, you know how a cochlea looks.

　　8、對(duì)于人類和其他所有哺乳類動(dòng)物來(lái)說(shuō)，斑疹已經(jīng)進(jìn)化成為一種很容易看見(jiàn)的器官，這種器官稱作“耳蝸”。這一螺旋形的器官包括了MACULAE本身，以及后來(lái)被其發(fā)現(xiàn)者稱為“CORTI”的器官。如果你看到過(guò)蝸牛的殼，你就知道耳蝸的形象。

　　9. When sound waves enter the cochlea, which is really a tube coiled around, they set a membrane into a back and forth motion and cause a new wave. This is something like the way in which high and low sounds are produced by a flute or whistle. The high sounds are produced when the air is prevented by the holes from going through, while the low sounds are produced by allowing more of the air to pass. All this is what produces the differences between high and low sounds. The loudness of a sound is evidently produced by how much the membrane is cause to move.

　　9、當(dāng)聲波進(jìn)入耳蝸這條盤旋的管道，它令薄膜前后移動(dòng)并且產(chǎn)生新的波動(dòng)。這種方式類似于長(zhǎng)笛或是哨子所產(chǎn)生的高低音。當(dāng)洞穴被阻擋導(dǎo)致空氣不能通過(guò)通道時(shí)就產(chǎn)生高音，而有更多空氣通過(guò)通道時(shí)則產(chǎn)生低音。這些造成了高音和低音的不同。而聲音的大小則明顯的決定于耳膜運(yùn)動(dòng)。

　　10. Whether or not hearing is really produced in all animals by the effect of pressure is not definitely known by scientists as yet. We do know, however, that nature has set up some very delicate hearing mechanisms for its creatures. Scientists must explore much further for more knowledge about how animals use their ears.

　　10、對(duì)于所有的動(dòng)物來(lái)說(shuō)，聽覺(jué)是否真的因?yàn)闅鈮旱挠绊懚a(chǎn)生，至今科學(xué)家們?nèi)匀粵](méi)有明確的了解。但是我們知道，自然界已經(jīng)為它的生物們建立了一些非常精細(xì)的聽覺(jué)機(jī)制。科學(xué)家們必須進(jìn)行更加深入地探討才能夠?qū)?dòng)物如何應(yīng)用它們的耳朵獲得更多的知識(shí)。

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