劍橋雅思10test2passage1閱讀原文翻譯

劍橋雅思10test2passage1閱讀原文翻譯

段落A

Alan Macfarlane,professor of anthropological science at Kings College,Cambridge,has,like other historians,spent decades wrestling with the enigma of the Industrial Revolution.Why did this particular Big Bang–the world-changing birth of industry–happen in Britain?And why did it strike at the end of the 18th century?

劍橋大學(xué)國(guó)王學(xué)院的人類學(xué)教授艾倫·麥克法蘭，也像其他史學(xué)家一樣，數(shù)十年來(lái)一直致力于探索工業(yè)革命之謎。為什么這種特殊的“大爆炸”（改變世界的工業(yè)的誕生）在英國(guó)發(fā)生？為什么它在18世紀(jì)末出現(xiàn)？

段落B

B Macfarlane compares the puzzle to a combination lock,‘There are about 20 different factors and all of them need to be present before the revolution can happen,’he says.For industry to take off,there needs to be the technology and power to drive factories,large urban populations to provide cheap labour,easy transport to move goods around,an affluent middle-class willing to buy mass-produced objects,a market-driven economy and a political system that allows this to happen.While this was the case for England,other nations,such as Japan,the Netherlands and France also met some of these criteria but were not industrialising.‘All these factors must have been necessary but not sufficient to cause the revolution,’says Macfarlane.‘After all,Holland had everything except coal,while China also had many of these factors.Most historians are convinced there are one or two missing factors that you need to open the lock.’

麥克法倫將這一謎題與密碼鎖相比較，他說(shuō)：“大約有20種不同的因素。而在革命發(fā)生之前，所有這些因素都必須存在”。為了使工業(yè)騰飛，需要文有技術(shù)和動(dòng)力來(lái)驅(qū)動(dòng)工廠，大量的城市人口提供廉價(jià)勞動(dòng)力，便利的交通系統(tǒng)方便貨物運(yùn)輸，富裕的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)愿意購(gòu)買大量生產(chǎn)的物品，以及市場(chǎng)驅(qū)動(dòng)的經(jīng)濟(jì)和允許這種情況發(fā)生的政治制度。雖然英國(guó)就是這種情況，但日本，荷蘭和法國(guó)等其他國(guó)家也符合其中一些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，不過(guò)它們并未實(shí)現(xiàn)工業(yè)化。“所有這些因素都十分必要，但并不足以引發(fā)革命”，麥克法蘭說(shuō)，“畢竟，荷蘭擁有除了煤炭之外的一切條件，而中國(guó)也有許多因素。大多數(shù)歷史學(xué)家相信，解開(kāi)謎題仍然缺失一兩個(gè)因素?！?/p>

段落C

The missing factors,he proposes,are to be found in almost every kitchen cupboard.Tea and beer,two of the nation’s favourite drinks,fuelled the revolution.The antiseptic properties of tannin,the active ingredient in tea,and of hops in beer–plus the fact that both are made with boiled water–allowed urban communities to flourish at close quarters without succumbing to water-borne diseases such as dysentery.The theory sounds eccentric but once he starts to explain the detective work that went into his deduction,the scepticism gives way to wary admiration.Macfarlane’s case has been strengthened by support from notable quarters–Roy Porter,the distinguished medical historian,recently wrote a favourable appraisal of his research.

他提出，我們可以在每家每戶的櫥柜中發(fā)現(xiàn)缺失的因素。茶和啤酒是該國(guó)最受歡迎的兩種飲料。它們推動(dòng)了這場(chǎng)革命。茶中的活性成分單寧和啤酒中啤酒花的防腐特性-以及二者均用開(kāi)水制成的事實(shí)-使城市社區(qū)能夠在狹小的范圍內(nèi)蓬勃發(fā)展，而不會(huì)屈從于痢疾等水源性疾病。這個(gè)理論聽(tīng)起來(lái)有些古怪，但是一旦他開(kāi)始解釋具體的推理過(guò)程，這種懷疑就讓位于欽佩。麥克法蘭的說(shuō)法得到其他著名學(xué)者的支持-羅伊·波特，著名醫(yī)學(xué)歷史學(xué)家，最近贊揚(yáng)了他的研究。

段落D

Macfarlane had wondered for a long time how the Industrial Revolution came about.Historians had alighted on one interesting factor around the mid-18th century that required explanation.Between about 1650 and 1740,the population in Britain was static.But then there was a burst in population growth.Macfarlane says:‘The infant mortality rate halved in the space of 20 years,and this happened in both rural areas and cities,and across all classes.People suggested four possible causes.Was there a sudden change in the viruses and bacteria around?Unlikely.Was there a revolution in medical science?But this was a century before Listers revolution*.Was there a change in environmental conditions?There were improvements in agriculture that wiped out malaria,but these were small gains.Sanitation did not become widespread until the 19th century.The only option left:is food.But the height and weight statistics show a decline.So the food must have got worse.Efforts to explain this sudden reduction in child deaths appeared to draw a blank.’

很久以來(lái)，麥克法倫一直想知道工業(yè)革命是如何發(fā)生的。歷史學(xué)家在18世紀(jì)中葉發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)有趣的需要解釋的因素。大約在1650年和1740年之間，英國(guó)人口保持靜止不變。但隨后其人口突然經(jīng)歷爆發(fā)性的增長(zhǎng)。麥克法倫說(shuō)：“嬰兒死亡率在20年內(nèi)減少了一半，這在農(nóng)村和城市以及所有階層中都發(fā)生了。人們提出四個(gè)可能的原因。是因?yàn)橹車牟《竞图?xì)菌突然發(fā)生了變化嗎？不太可能。醫(yī)學(xué)界發(fā)生了革命嗎？但這距離李斯特斯革命還有一個(gè)世紀(jì)的時(shí)間。環(huán)境條件有變化嗎？農(nóng)業(yè)方面確實(shí)有所提升消除了瘧疾。但這些都是微不足道的改進(jìn)。直到19世紀(jì)，衛(wèi)生設(shè)施才開(kāi)始普及。剩下的選擇只有食物了。但是身高和體重的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)反而有所下降。所以食物肯定變?cè)懔?。解釋這種兒童死亡人數(shù)突然減少的努力似乎一無(wú)所獲。

段落E

This population burst seemed to happen at just the right time to provide labour for the Industrial Revolution.‘When you start moving towards an industrial revolution,it is economically efficient to have people living close together,’says Macfarlane.‘But then you get disease,particularly from human waste.’Some digging around in historical records revealed that there was a change in the incidence of water-borne disease at that time,especially dysentery.Macfarlane deduced that whatever the British were drinking must have been important in regulating disease.He says,‘We drank beer.For a long time,the English were protected by the strong antibacterial agent in hops,which were added to help preserve the beer.But in the late 17th century a tax was introduced on malt,the basic ingredient of beer.The poor turned to water and gin and in the 1720s the mortality rate began to rise again.Then it suddenly dropped again.What caused this?’

人口爆炸似乎恰好發(fā)生在為工業(yè)革命提供勞動(dòng)力的時(shí)候。麥克法倫說(shuō)：“當(dāng)你開(kāi)始進(jìn)行工業(yè)革命時(shí)，人們住在一起可以實(shí)現(xiàn)經(jīng)濟(jì)上的高效率。但是那樣你就會(huì)染上疾病，尤其是那些來(lái)自人類廢棄物的疾病?！睔v史記錄中的一些發(fā)現(xiàn)表明，當(dāng)時(shí)水生疾?。ㄓ绕涫橇〖玻┑陌l(fā)病率有所變化。麥克法蘭推斷，無(wú)論英國(guó)人當(dāng)時(shí)喝什么東西，它對(duì)疾病控制一定十分重要。他說(shuō)：“我們喝啤酒。長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)，英國(guó)人受到啤酒花中強(qiáng)力抗菌劑的保護(hù)。它被添加以幫助保存啤酒。但是在17世紀(jì)后期，對(duì)啤酒的基本成分麥芽開(kāi)始征稅。窮人轉(zhuǎn)向喝水和杜松子酒，在18世紀(jì)20年代，死亡率再次開(kāi)始上升。然后卻突然又下降了。是什么原因造成的呢？

段落F

Macfarlane looked to Japan,which was also developing large cities about the same time,and also had no sanitation.Water-borne diseases had a much looser grip on the Japanese population than those in Britain.Could it be the prevalence of tea in their culture?Macfarlane then noted that the history of tea in Britain provided an extraordinary coincidence of dates.Tea was relatively expensive until Britain started a direct clipper trade with China in the early 18th century.By the 1740s,about the time that infant mortality was dipping,the drink was common.Macfarlane guessed that the fact that water had to be boiled,together with the stomach-purifying properties of tea meant that the breast milk provided by mothers was healthier than it had ever been.No other European nation sipped tea like the British,which,by Macfarlane’s logic,pushed these other countries out of contention for the revolution.

麥克法蘭將目光轉(zhuǎn)向日本。日本在同一時(shí)間也出現(xiàn)了大型城市，而且也沒(méi)有衛(wèi)生設(shè)施。與英國(guó)相比，水生疾病對(duì)日本人口的影響要小很多。難道是因?yàn)樗麄兾幕兴⑿械牟鑶幔葵溈朔ㄌm隨后注意到，英國(guó)茶飲的歷史提供了非同尋常的時(shí)間巧合。在18世紀(jì)初期英國(guó)開(kāi)始與中國(guó)進(jìn)行直接快船貿(mào)易之前，茶葉相對(duì)昂貴。到了18世紀(jì)40年代，大約在嬰兒死亡率下降的時(shí)候，這種飲料就很普遍了。麥克法蘭猜測(cè)，必須將水煮沸，再加上茶具有凈化胃的特性，使得母親提供的母乳比以往任何時(shí)候都更健康。沒(méi)有其他歐洲國(guó)家像英國(guó)人那樣飲茶。按照麥克法倫的邏輯，正是這一因素使得其他國(guó)家喪失了革命的機(jī)會(huì)。

段落G

But,if tea is a factor in the combination lock,why didn’t Japan forge ahead in a tea-soaked industrial revolution of its own?Macfarlane notes that even though 17th-century Japan had large cities,high literacy rates,even a futures market,it had turned its back on the essence of any work-based revolution by giving up labour-saving devices such as animals,afraid that they would put people out of work.So,the nation that we now think of as one of the most technologically advanced entered the 19th century having‘a(chǎn)bandoned the wheel’.

但是，如果茶是解開(kāi)謎題的因素，那么為什么日本沒(méi)有率先在茶起重要作用的工業(yè)革命中取得進(jìn)展呢？麥克法蘭指出，即使17世紀(jì)的日本擁有大型城市，較高的識(shí)字率，甚至是期貨市場(chǎng)，但它因擔(dān)心失業(yè)，而放棄了諸如動(dòng)物這樣節(jié)省勞動(dòng)力的裝置，從而違背了以工作實(shí)踐為基礎(chǔ)的革命的核心。因此，我們?nèi)缃裾J(rèn)為的作為技術(shù)最先進(jìn)的國(guó)家之一的日本在進(jìn)入19世紀(jì)的時(shí)候放棄了革命的機(jī)會(huì)。

>> 雅思 托福 免費(fèi)測(cè)試、量身規(guī)劃、讓英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)不再困難<<