"You served in the military?" He asked. He was looking at me carefully. I got the impression that the boys(此处引申为警察) in the room had seen the tape and were guessing how I could have overpowered(制服) the big guy so completely. "No", I replied, not knowing what to say next. I was good at killing. Could I say that?



"Chickens," I said.



"What did you say?"



"Chickens. I've killed lots of chickens on my farm. When they're dying. You get to know where their weak points are. And I've strong hands. " These hands have ripped open rib cages and pulled out beating hearts, I wanted to say.



I made bail(保释金) of 10 000 and my husband came and collected me. "Next time you go to town, I'm going with you", he said, "it's too dangerous for you to travel alone. " Yes, it is really too dangerous.



Unit 13 One Evening



一个晚上



世间什么东西最难理解？恐怕是女人的心思。她为什么离开他？她去了哪里？她是个什么样的人?她到底为什么不接受他的表白？谜语太多，可怜的迈克尔猜不出，只能回味往事……



It was freezing cold outside, no pigeons in sight. But Sara insisted on an appointment. They had to meet by the bench in the park. When she said this, she meant the bench where they usually sat and enjoyed the sun in summer, talking about nothing and everything. Michael never complained, and he didn't complain about the thick snow, or the fact that the cold wind blew so hard that he hardly could see anything in the background, and the long journey back from London still made him a bit feeble and dizzy. Sara said they had to meet.They had to meet by the bench at exactly seven P.M. She's always punctual. When Michael arrived, Sara had already been there, like a ghost.



"Sara?" Michael said as strong winds started and blew away the snow, exposing the cement beneath.



With courtesy, she looked up at Michael and smiled. "Hi!"



"What's wrong? You said you want to talk about something and it sounded serious."



"Yeah, well... I just want to talk to you. "



She could talk by the phone, or invited him over to her apartment, or asked to meet in a cafeteria or somewhere. Somewhere more comfortable and warm than standing in the ankle deep snow under the blizzard(大风雪) in a park.



"Let's go to Lizzie's. It's warmer there. It's minus 10 centigrade out here, and I'm sure we could have some coffee and pudding(布丁) right now", Michael held out his hand. Usually she would take it and they would walk to Lizzie's, which was not too far, and sit there talking when it was too cold to sit in the park. But this time she just shook her head and stayed where she stood.



"Sara, it's freezing cold here. We might catch flu or worse pneumonia. Let's go before I froze into a human-icicle(冰柱) and then you have to drag me around. I am heavy you know", he smiled to her.



"It won't take long", she said after pausing a little while. Something suddenly made Michael felt that the snowstorm is happening inside him, stopped his pulse and frozen his entire inner organs.



"Sara?"



She watched him looking all confused and worried and felt so warm inside. This guy was the only person she should face today. She had to do this. Sooner or later she had to do this. She knew this would hurt him more than she was hurt by it. But this was the only chance. Her only chance to get away from him. Although she knew so well there was no way to get away from something like that. From pain.



The wind grew more fiercely. Michael by now grabbed her by her shoulders and asked her repeatedly" title="ad.反复地；再三地">repeatedly what was wrong with her.



As if the cold has numbed her.



"Do you remember the first time we ever sit in this bench together?" She asked.



"Yes. You walked your dog and so did I. And Russel and Biff made friends with each other and so did we. "



Actually Michael had seen her several times before. He was new in the block, just moved in from his old apartment up north. He came to the park in company with Biff and walked the pet every afternoon, hoping he would meet the girl with vivid eyes.



Sara smiled. Her big eyes looked sad. Michael was getting frustrated.



"Did I do something to make you upset? Did anyone do something that made you upset? Are you OK? What's wrong, Sara? Tell me and let me help you. "



How could she tell him the truth? She just stood there in the freezing cold and scared Michael to death. Something was wrong. She had been so careful not to let Michael knew too much. Not to let him went too deep inside her life and heart. They said he was all right so she could be friend with him. They had warned her that she could not have any attachment to this man. Beware of this man. It was too dangerous. He was innocent.



"So am I!"she protested at the time. And she was wrong, and she was right. She knew they were right too. She said to herself that she could stop it anytime she wanted to. She knew she was wrong about this. Who can stop love?



"I like Lizzie's apartment", she said,looking down her feet.



"Then let's go there. Much better there than here. "



"I can't !"



For several silent seconds she stared deep into his eyes, the window of his soul, searching for a reason to hate this man. There was nothing there but deep worries.



"You emitted light, Michael", she whispered.



"What?"



"Knowing you is probably the best thing that could happen to me in the past couple of years. Or for the years to come. "



Suddenly his throat went dry. They never officially dated and he never exactly told her he loved her. Maybe she got tired with all of the uncertainties. Women expected their boyfriends to verbalize tenderness all the time. This seemed like a good time. Maybe he should tell her he loves her. And then maybe she wouldn't leave him.



"Sara, I love you!"



She looked startled to his declaration. Michael could swear she looked disappointed. Or maybe angry? It was very cold outside and the snow blurred(使…变模糊) his vision. Did she cry? Perhaps. He had to say it. If it could make her stay, then why in hell not?



"Thank you",that was all she said to it. His heart sank.



All plausible outcomes went through his head. What could I do to make her stay? Should I beg? Should I get on my knees and beg her to stay? Should I cry in front of her? Oh God, please...



"I don't expect you to understand anything, Michael. I can't even ask you to forgive me for what happened. I'm sorry. "



"No. No, I don't understand, and that's why you have to explain to me. What happened Sara? What is going on? Something happened while I'm away, that's for sure. Did I do something wrong? Tell me and maybe I can make up for it. "



Sara tried so hard not to cry. At the corner she could see the woman wearing a black coat looking at her watch. She was standing there all the time while Sara talked to Michael. She had grown impatient.



"Please, Michael", she whispered slowly and hugged the bewildered man..His scent, his warmth, his deep voice tone while talking to Sara, she would miss all of them.



Michael was unsure how to wrap his arms round her frail figure. Inside, his heart was starting to break to pieces. But he would not give up just yet.



She let go of him and stared at him with some determination in her eyes.



"I want you to know that I do love you. I hope we will get to meet again, Michael."



"Where are you going?"



She just smiled to him and walked away. Something just punched Michael right on his chest.He felt like a stone just hit him. The blow didn't injure him physically but the damage was indescribable. He stood there paralyzed for some seconds before he could move his legs and started chasing her.



"Sara !"



Sara kept on walking to the lady in the black coat. A white car pulled by and she opened the door for Sara.



"Sara! Wait!"



But she didn't look back. She got in the car and the car drove away. The rear of the car disappeared from his eyesight in the dusk.



Sara's apartment was already cleaned empty. They didn't let her leave anything behind. Not even a note for Michael. No one knew where she went, or who she was. Nobody knew if she had any relatives who could tell where she was going to, and no one knew more than that she loved dogs and she was a very quiet girl. Sara just disappeared. And only Michael was crazy on his search for clues.



Spring came, and Biff demanded to be taken for a stroll on the park one afternoon. Passing the bench, Michael didn't stop. A young couple had occupied the bench now, talking with tins of coffee in their hands. Michael thought it would be nice to stop at Lizzie's for some coffee and cherish the old days before going home.



Unit 14 Information Systems Today



今天的信息系统



信息技术对于人类的生活是重要的和不可或缺的。信息的传送、记录或存储和处理是信息的三种基本步骤。科技不断发展，对信息技术的掌握可以使人类的进化更加迅速……



Information technology is important and indispensable to the life of human beings. Trammission, recording or memory and processing of information are three essential process of information.



Virtually, the information technology has been changingeveryday. The basic challenge of the coming decade is how to make the already available technologies as useful and friendly to a user as the telephone or television set is to the common man.



Computers are a major segment of the new information technologies. The constant growth of semiconductor technology and the proliferation (增殖) of the semiconductor memory devices has brought possibilities that you use personal computers to do anything you want to,for instance, record a message and phone back an answer.



With the help of satellite communication, the transmission of data has become very fast. The data can be telexed(电传)；the voice over a telephone can be transmitted on local, national and international network. The transmission of images through technology, that's via a TV, is again going to be a major challenge, as how to combine all these three components of information technology into one. It will bring about various problems. The first is the privacy that goes with it. For further addition to the impact of communication, one can switch over from voices to images and data, depending on an individual's need.



It is major challenge before the society at large and the library professionals as how to compress a library into a computer. Moreover, on the user's part it is not easy to sit at a terminal and read. Basically some psychological and social changes especially exert a subtle influence on the minds of the young children, so that they grow up with the habit of reading on a computer screen.



It is also a fact that a large number of computers have been used as sophisticated typewriters. If you ask somebody who is the actual user of the computer, it is probably the secretary. A lot of PCs have dust covers on them and one cannot be sure how frequently they are removed. It is a strange phenomenon that people haven't come out of their "hang-ups". The terminal or keyboard of a personal computer is looked up as an extension of a sophisticated typewriter. Also there is a conventionalbarrier in sitting and typing out the matter, which needs to be overcome.



That's why the advertising expenditures have to be toned down(降低) to a certain level of reality. There is worldwide a competition going on as to how quickly you can gather, dispatch or transmit the information. There has been a tremendous bombardment(爆炸) of information from all sides. As the demand grows from the public to share the information, at the same time every section of the society is demanding more and more its share of message that goes across. Besides, the homes have been invaded by the message of consumerism(消费主义)--information about goods, marketing, politics, etc. The tender minds of children are gradually corroded by all the matter.



It is going to be a long struggle to convert all the paper knowledge into the electronic medium. Moreover, if we want to solve the literacy problem, the computers may help in self-learning. The noble place of a teacher will be taken up by a personal computer, as whatever one will see on the screen will become a reality, why should anyone go to one's parents or teachers when the PC can provide answers to all your questions. Already, the latest PC is there in the market in the United States, which can store all full encyclopedias in it, even the whole library.



With the widespread of information, the categorized structure of the organization breaks up.There is no need of various layers of management to perform the varied tasks that are easier to be done by computers. During the last decade there was an open declaration that one person can manage a project or a company. In the 70's there was the concept of controlling finance(财务控制). Today, the widespread of information through various media has to be managed.



In the 1940's there used to be radio sets that had vacuum tubes, which have been replaced today by the integrated circuit(集成电路). A technological advancement is gauged by the power it gives or the energy it consumes and the cost that is involved. The technology that was prevalent in the 1940's used to be about 100 percent more expensive and about 1 000 times energy consuming. Electronics in turn has revolutionized(使…根本改变) the computer industry today.



Today, in the field of digital communication, there is digital transmission, digital switching and signaling that is taking place. The progress of the digital techniques mainly depends on computer's development and the progress of digital transmission systems based on it have merged computer and communication.It has made possible the realization of the three basic functions, i.e. , the transmission, memory and processing in a simple form and realization of further advanced and more complicated systems. This progress has given us many useful means to better our social life and welfare.



Unit 15 A Favor at the Gates



天堂门前的恩惠



如果一个孝顺的女儿没有完成父亲的最后一个愿望，父亲就死去了，她会在以后的日子里如何生活？我甚至连母亲都要怨恨，恨她没能给父亲留一点尊严。但她更恨自己的软弱，恨自己当时的不作为，恨自己选择了逃避……



I hate February. Maybe I do misunderstand it but it's the most desolate time of a year. White-gray skies and coldness are its only equivalent features. February signifies death. I know this is true because on a cold gray mid-February day, seven years ago, came the news of my father's terminal illness.



We had suspected for some time that whatever was wrong with Dad would be something petty and curable. He had always maintained an active life even in his seventies, but this winter had hit him pretty hard. A cough that wouldn't go away was followed by episodes of fatigue so severe that he wouldn't or couldn't look after himself. Eventually he had to be hospitalized and the tests confirmed our worst and ever-present fear--cancer. Though his pension could help cover his prescriptions but the diagnoses came too late for any type of treatment to have effect. There was nothing feasible to do but bring him home and wait for the inevitableoutcome.



When Dad first came home there was an air of denialsurrounding everyone whom came to visit him. They talked to him as if he would recover soon; wished him well when they departed, and if anyone ever gave him the chance to talk about the finality of his life that I never knew. Good-bye shouldn't be so hard to say, but it often is heart-breaking.



February gave way to March and then April came with its vitality and promise of new life. I suppose everyone feels the irony(具有讽刺意味的事) at the times like that. We sit by the side with no option but hopelessly watch the life drain from someone we love while the seasons turn and we can do nothing to stop death from its approaching. As my dad decayed and faded inside the house,the lawn turned green, the pond glowed like porcelain, all the trees leafed to fullness and the tulips(郁金香) sprang forth as though all was exactly as it should be. There is no fairness in destiny.



I often spoke with my mother during the final weeks of dad's life. She talked endlessly about the magnitude of her frustration and fatigue. There were times when she angered me with her negative and insensitive(麻木的) comments and there were times when I felt how tired she must be.Mom never said she was afraid to be widowed but at times I could sense how uneasy she was; I was not aware how she might react when the end came. The truth about death was hidden somewhere between our interpretation and what we refuse to admit. I carried the guilt of mutely hoping my dad's death would be quickened, thus sparing him and myself the agony of prolonged pain.



Death seems to determine to rip apart any fragile bond that exists between the living and the dying. On the last Sunday I was ever going to see my father, while talking leisurely, he mentioned how much he loved French fried potatoes and how he wished he could have a big plate of them now.Mom overheard his comment and began screaming that how she had cooked everything he had asked for and he didn't eat any. She screamed so loud that I was embarrassed for my father and myself.She was like a pirate who left my father shipwrecked. He looked away from my eyes but I saw bitter tears rolling down from the corners of what once were the greenest eyes I'd ever seen. At that moment I hated my mother. I hated her for making me pity my father. I hated her for being spiteful,though mostly I hated myself. It would have been a simple thing for me to accommodate my dad's request of French fried potatoes. I could have jumped right up and told mom I knew how tired she must be and even if dad didn't or couldn't eat them, I'd fix them for him. I could have told mom to go sit down and rest. Or I could have told her Dad was just talking about the recipe of food he enjoyed. I could have done a million things different from what I did. Sadly all I did was far from my emotions. As Mom was still yelling and Dad was trying to conceal his hurt, I made some lame excuse for leaving.



During my drive home I thought of how Mom had made my visit with Dad so depressing. The picture of Dad's smiling face turning so quickly to one of hurt wouldn't leave my mind. Why had she screamed out at him? Dad only wanted some fried potatoes. Mom could have said no or maybe later. On the contrary, she had lashed out at him with such rage that he shrank in fear at her onslaught (冲击), as did I. Why didn't I gather an ounce of courage and stand up to Mom? Would it have been so hard for me to intervene? My father was dying and all he had asked for was some French fried potatoes. We were just talking about foods we enjoyed, like prawn(对虾), lobster(龙虾), beef stew with pepper and mushroom soup, etc. The worst criminals condemned to death can request a last meal and get it. Where was the justice in refusing my father a plate of French fried potatoes? I couldn't stop the tears as they overflowed from my eyes.



I opened the door to the home I shared with my husband and daughter, hoping to get in the bathroom before they could ask any questions. Luckily my husband was on the telephone and he barely glanced at my way as I came through the kitchen. I splashed cold water on my face and tried my best to conceal the redness the crying had created in my eyes. When I finally opened the door, my husband was standing on the other side, waiting for me to come out. He pulled me gently into his arms and whispered how much he loved me and how sorry he was to have to tell me my father had just passed away.