1.The American economic system is. organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.

　　〔參考譯文〕美國的經(jīng)濟(jì)是以基本的私有企業(yè)和市場導(dǎo)向經(jīng)濟(jì)為架構(gòu)的，在這種經(jīng)濟(jì)中，消費(fèi)者很大程度上通過在市場上為那些他們最想要的貨品和服務(wù)付費(fèi)來決定什么應(yīng)該被制造出來。

　　2. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.

　　〔參考譯文〕因此，在美國的經(jīng)濟(jì)體系中，個體消費(fèi)者的需求與商人試圖最大化其利潤的欲望和個人想最大化其收入效用的欲望相結(jié)合，一起決定了什么應(yīng)該被制造，以及資源如何被用來制造它們。

　　3. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product.

　　〔參考譯文〕另一方面，如果大量制造某種商品導(dǎo)致其成本下降，那么這就有可能增加賣方和制造商能提供的供給，而這也就會反過來降低價格并允許更多的消費(fèi)者購買產(chǎn)品。

　　4. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

　　〔參考譯文〕在美國經(jīng)濟(jì)中，私有財產(chǎn)的概念不僅包含對生產(chǎn)資源的所有權(quán)，也指其他一些特定的權(quán)利，如確定一個產(chǎn)品價格和與另一個私人個體(經(jīng)濟(jì)單位)自由簽定合同的權(quán)利。

　　5. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employers are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns.

　　〔參考譯文〕同時這些計算機(jī)記錄下哪些時間是最忙的，哪些員工工作效率最高，這樣就能相應(yīng)地做出人員人事安排。而且它們(計算機(jī))也能為促銷活動找到那些擁有優(yōu)先權(quán)的顧客。

　　6. Numerous other commercial enterprises, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers.

　　〔參考譯文〕不計其數(shù)的其他商業(yè)企業(yè)，從劇院到雜志出版商，從公用燃?xì)怆娏υO(shè)施到牛奶處理廠，都通過計算機(jī)的使用給消費(fèi)者帶來更好、更有效率的服務(wù)。

　　7. Exceptional children are different in some significant way from others of the same age For these children to develop to their full adult potential, their education must be adapted to those differences.

　　〔參考譯文〕殘疾兒童在許多關(guān)鍵方面都與其同齡人不同。為了讓這些孩子發(fā)展其全部的成人后的潛能， 他們的教育必須適應(yīng)這些不同。

　　8. The great interest in exceptional children shown in public education over the past three decades indicates the strong feeling in our society that all citizens, whatever their special conditions, deserve the opportunity to fully develop their capabilities.

　　〔參考譯文〕在過去的30年中，公共教育中顯示的對殘疾兒童的巨大關(guān)注表明了我們社會中的一種中強(qiáng)烈的情緒，那就是所有的公民，不管其情況有多特殊，都應(yīng)享有充分發(fā)展其能力的機(jī)會。

　　9. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable price, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices.

　　〔參考譯文〕它(廣告)能夠直接幫助貨物以比較合理的價格被迅速分銷出去，因此可以(使公司)建立一個堅固的國內(nèi)市場，同時也使以具有競爭力的價格提供出口變得可能。

　　10. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements.

　　〔參考譯文〕除去議會有27件法案來規(guī)范廣告的條件，沒有任何一個正式的廣告商敢于推銷一種商品卻不能兌現(xiàn)其在廣告中的承諾。

　　11. If its message were confined merely to information and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the color of a shirt is subtly persuasive-advertising wound be so boring that no one wound pay any attention.

　　[參考譯文]如果其信息只被局限于告知一一就廣告而言，如果這不是完全不可能達(dá)到的，也是非常難做的，因為即便是一個諸如襯衫的顏色的選擇這樣的細(xì)節(jié)都會具有微妙的說服意味，那么廣告就會如此地乏味以至于沒有人會關(guān)注它。

　　12. The workers who gets a promotion, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language-all these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for there efforts.

　　[參考譯文]得到了升遷的工人們，成績進(jìn)步的學(xué)生，學(xué)會了一門新語言的外國人一一這些都是那些有可衡量的結(jié)果宋顯示其努力的人們的例證。

　　13. As families move away from their stable community, their friends of many years, their extended family relationships, the informal flow of information is cut off, and with it the confidence that information will be available when needed and will be trustworthy and reliable.

　　[參考譯文]隨著家庭離開他們原來穩(wěn)定的社區(qū)，離開他們多年的朋友和擴(kuò)展的家庭關(guān)系，非正式的信息流動被切斷了，隨之而去的是對在需要時能獲得可靠和值得信賴的信息的信心。

　　14. The individual now has more information available than any generation, and the task of finding that one piece of information relevant to his or her specific problem is complicated, time--consuming, and sometimes even overwhelming.

　　[參考譯文]現(xiàn)在每個人能夠得到的信息比任何時代的人都多，而找到與他/她的特定問題相關(guān)的那一點(diǎn)信息的任務(wù)不僅復(fù)雜、耗時，有時甚至令人難以招架。

　　15. Expertise can be shared world wide through teleconferencing, and problems in dispute can be settled without the participants leaving their homes and/or jobs to travel to a distant conference site.

　　[參考譯文]通過遠(yuǎn)程會議，專家知識可以在全世界范圍內(nèi)被分享，而爭論的問題能夠得到解決，同時相關(guān)人員也不必離開他們的家庭或工作跑到一個遙遠(yuǎn)的開會地點(diǎn)。

　　16. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A-types seem in some way better than their B type fellows.

　　[參考譯文]現(xiàn)在這種讓孩子們和其同學(xué)或時間競爭的熱情導(dǎo)致了一個雙層結(jié)構(gòu)，在這個結(jié)構(gòu)里面善于競爭的A類好像在某個方面要比他們B類的同輩更勝一籌。

　　17. While talking to you, your could-be employer is deciding whether your education, your experience, and other qualifications will pay him to employ you and your "wares" and abilities must be displayed in an orderly and reasonably connected manner.

　　[參考譯文]在跟你談話的時候，可能成為你的雇主的人就一直在衡量你的教育、經(jīng)驗和其他資格是不是值得他雇用你，而你的"商品"和能力一定要以一種有條不紊而且合情合理的相互關(guān)聯(lián)的方式被展示出來。

　　18. The Corporation will survive as a publicly funded broadcasting organization, at least for the time being, but its role, its size and its programs are now the subject of a nation wide debate in Britain.

　　[參考譯文]英國廣播公司將作為一個公共基金支持的廣播組織存在下來，至少目前會這樣，但是它的角色、它的規(guī)模和它的節(jié)目現(xiàn)在在英國成了全國上下的討論話題。

　　19. The debate was launched by the Government, which invited anyone with an opinion of the BBC--including ordinary listeners and viewer to say what was good or bad about the Corporation, and even whether they thought it was worth keeping.

　　[參考譯文]這場辯論是由政府發(fā)動的，政府請任何一個對英國廣播公司有意見的人一包括普通的聽眾和觀眾一來說說這個公司好在哪里或壞在哪里，甚至要說說他們是否認(rèn)為這個公司值得被保留下來。

　　20. The change met the technical requirements of the new age by engaging a large profess signal element and prevented the decline in efficiency that so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation after the energetic founders.

　　[參考譯文]這種變化通過引入許多的專業(yè)因素從而適應(yīng)了這個新時代的技術(shù)要求，并且它(這種變化)防止了效率的降低。這種效率的降低在精力充沛的創(chuàng)業(yè)者之后的第二代和第三代人(領(lǐng)導(dǎo)公司)的時候，經(jīng)常會毀掉那些家族公司的財富。