【CET4】英语四级阅读(英语4级英文怎么说)

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Stone Age

石器时代

02

May Day

The stone age, The Iron Age. Entire epochs have been named for materials. So what to call the decades ahead? The choice will be tough. Welcome to the age of superstuff. Material science — once the least sexy technology – is bursting with new, practical discoveries led by superconducting ceramicsthat may revolutionize electronics. But superconductors are just part of the picture: from house and cars to cook pots and artificial teeth, the world will someday be made of different stuff. Exotic plastics, glass and ceramics willshape the future just as surely as have genetic engineering and computer science.

The key to the new materials is researchers’ increasing ability to manipulate substances at the molecular level. Ceramics, for example, have long been limited by their brittleness. But by minimizing the microscopic imperfections that cause it, scientists are making far stronger ceramics that still retain such qualities as hardness and heat resistance. Ford Motor Co. now uses ceramic tools to cut steel. A firm called Kyocera has created a line of ceramic scissors and knives that stay sharp for years and never rust or corrode.

A similar transformation has overtaken plastics. High-strength polymers now form bridges, ice-skating rinks and helicopter rotors. And one new plastic that generates electricity when vibrated or pushed is used in electric guitars, touch sensors for robot hands and karate jacketsthat automatically record each punch and chop. Even plastic litter, which once threatened to permanently blot the landscape, has proved amenable to molecular tinkering. Several manufacturers now make biodegradable forms; some plastic six-pack rings for example, gradually decompose when exposed to sunlight. Researchers are developing ways to make plastics as recyclable as metal or glass. Besides, composites – plastic reinforced with fibers of graphite or other compounds – made the round-the-world flight of the voyager possible and have even been proved in combat: a helmet saved an infantryman’s life by deflecting two bullets in the Grenada invasion.

Some advanced materials are old standard with a new twist. The newest fiberoptic cable that carry telephone calls cross-country are made of glass so transparent that a piece of 100 miles thick is clearer than a standard window pane.

But new materials have no impact until they are made into products. And that transition could prove difficult, for switching requires lengthy research and investment. It can be said a firmer handle on how to move to commercialization will determine the success or failure of a country in the near future.

石器时代，铁器时代。整个时代都是以材料命名的。那么，未来几十年该怎么称呼呢？这将是一个艰难的选择。欢迎来到超级飞碟时代。材料科学——曾经是最不性感的技术——正在涌现出以超导陶瓷为引领的新的实用发现，这些发现可能会彻底改变电子技术。但超导体只是其中的一部分：从房子、汽车到烹饪锅和人造牙齿，世界总有一天会由不同的材料组成。异国情调的塑料、玻璃和陶瓷将塑造未来，就像基因工程和计算机科学一样。

新材料的关键是研究人员在分子水平上操纵物质的能力不断增强。例如，陶瓷长期以来一直受到其脆性的限制。但是，通过最大限度地减少导致它的微观缺陷，科学家们正在制造更坚固的陶瓷，这些陶瓷仍然保持着硬度和耐热性等品质。福特汽车公司现在使用陶瓷工具来切割钢材。一家名为京瓷的公司生产了一系列陶瓷剪刀和刀具，这些剪刀和刀具可以保持锋利多年，永不生锈或腐蚀。

类似的转变已经取代了塑料。高强度聚合物现在形成桥梁、滑冰场和直升机旋翼。一种新的塑料在振动或推动时会产生电力，它被用于电吉他、机器人手的触摸传感器和自动记录每一次击打和砍击的空手道外套。即使是曾经有可能永久玷污景观的塑料垃圾，也被证明可以进行分子修补。一些制造商现在生产可生物降解的形式；例如，一些六包塑料环在阳光下会逐渐分解。研究人员正在开发使塑料像金属或玻璃一样可回收的方法。此外，复合材料——用石墨纤维或其他化合物增强的塑料——使旅行者的环球飞行成为可能，甚至在战斗中得到了证明：在格林纳达入侵中，一顶头盔偏转了两颗子弹，救了一名步兵的命。

一些先进的材料是旧的标准，有了新的变化。最新的光纤电缆可以在全国范围内传输电话，它是由透明的玻璃制成的，100英里厚的玻璃比标准的窗格玻璃更清晰。

但新材料在制成产品之前不会产生任何影响。这种转变可能会很困难，因为转换需要长期的研究和投资。可以说，在不久的将来，如何转向商业化将决定一个国家的成败。

Economic restructuring plan

经济重组计划

President Arling has put his long awaited economic restructuring program before the Congress. It provides a coordinated program of investment credits, research grants, education reforms, and tax changes designed to make American industry more competitive. This is necessary to reverse the economic slide into unemployment, lack of growth, and trade deficits that have plagued the economy for the past six years.

The most liberal wing of the Presidents party has called for stronger and more direct action. They want an incomes policy to check inflation while federal financing helps rebuild industry behind a wall of protective tariffs.

The Republicans, however, decry even the modest, graduated tax increases in the President’s program. They want tax cuts and more open market. They say if federal money has to be injected into the economy, let it through defence spending.

Both these alternatives ignore the unique nature of the economic problem before us. It is not simply a matter of markets or financing. The new technology allows vastly increased production for those able to master it. But it also threatens those who fail to adopt it with permanent second-class citizenship in the world economy. If an industry cannot lever itself up to the leading stage of technological advances, then it will not be able to compete effectively. If it cannot do this, no amount of government protectionism or access to foreign markets can keep it profitable for long. Without the profits and experience of technological excellence to reinvest, that industry can only fall still further behind its foreign competitors.

So the crux is the technology and that is where the President’s program focused. The danger is not that a plan will not be passed, it is that the ideologues of right and left will distort the bill with amendments that will blur its focus on technology. The economic restructuring plan should be passed intact. If we fail to restructure our economy now, we may not get a second chance.

阿林总T已经向国会提交了他期待已久的经济重组计划。它提供了一个由投资信贷、研究拨款、教育改革和税收改革组成的协调计划，旨在提高美国工业的竞争力。这对于扭转过去六年来困扰经济的失业、增长乏力和贸易赤字的经济下滑是必要的。

总T所在政党中最自由的一派呼吁采取更有力、更直接的行动。他们希望通过收入政策来遏制通货膨胀，同时联邦融资帮助在保护性关税墙后重建工业。

然而，共和党人甚至谴责总T计划中适度的、分级的增税。他们想要减税和更开放的市场。他们说，如果必须向经济注入联邦资金，就让它通过国防开支来实现。

这两种选择都忽视了摆在我们面前的经济问题的独特性质。这不仅仅是市场或融资的问题。这项新技术使那些有能力掌握它的人能够大幅提高产量。但它也威胁到那些未能采用它的人，使他们在世界经济中拥有永久的二等公民身份。如果一个行业不能将自己提升到技术进步的领先阶段，那么它将无法有效竞争。如果不能做到这一点，再多的政府保护主义或进入外国市场也无法使其长期盈利。如果没有利润和卓越技术的经验进行再投资，该行业只能进一步落后于外国竞争对手。

因此，关键在于技术，而这正是总T计划的重点所在。危险不在于一项计划不会获得通过，而在于右翼和左翼的理论家会通过修正案来扭曲法案，从而模糊其对技术的关注。经济结构调整计划应该原封不动地通过。如果我们现在不能重组我们的经济，我们可能就没有第二次机会了。

ERS

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