the world food supply is going to becomesteadily tighter over the next thirty years—even here in the United States. By2001,the population of the United States will be at least two hundred fifty million and possibly two hundred seventy million,and the nation will find it difficult to expand food production to fill the additional mouths. (74)This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it difficult to continue agriculture in the high energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields.
It seems almost certain that by2001the United States will no longer be a great food exporting nation and that,if necessity forces exports,it will be at the price of belt tightening at home.
In fact,as food items will end to decline in quality and decrease in variety,there is very likely to be increasing use of flavouring additives. (75)Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support for all,people will have to accept more “unnatural food”.
1992年英译汉试题
“Intelligence” at best is an assumptive construct—the meaning of the word has never been clear. (71)There is more agreement on the kinds of behavior referred to by the term than there is on how to interpret or classify them. But it is generally agreed that a person of high intelligence is one who can grasp ideas readily,make distinctions,reason logically,and make use of verbal and mathematical symbols in solving problems. An intelligence test is a rough measure of a child’s capacity for learning the kinds of things required in school. It does not measure character,social adjustment,physical endurance,manual skills,or artistic abilities. It is not supposed to—it was not designed for such purposes. (72)To criticise it for such failure is roughly comparable to criticising a thermometer for not measuring wind velocity.
The other thing we have to notice is that the assessment of the intelligence of any subject is essentially a comparative affair.
(73)Now since the assessment of intelligence is a comparative matter we must be sure that the scale with which we are comparing our subjects provides a “valid” or “fair” comparison. It is here that some of the difficulties which interest us begin. Any test performed involves at least three factors: the intention to do one’s best,the knowledge required for understanding what you have to do,and the intellectual ability to do it. (74)The first two must be equal for all who are being compared,if any comparison in terms of intelligence is to be made. In school populations in our culture these assumptions can be made fair and reasonable,and the value of intelligence testing has been proved thoroughly. Its value lies,of course,in its providing a satisfactory basis for prediction. No one is in the least interested in the marks a little child gets on his test; what we are interested in is whether we can