科技英语阅读教程
2009-4
科学出版社
周一兵，嵇纬武 主编
274
教育部颁布的《大学英语课程教学要求》对我国大学生英语的听、说、读、写、译等能力均提出了三个层次的要求，并在全国兴起了实用性大学英语教学改革与实践的浪潮。为进一步完善大学英语教学改革的成果，努力提高学生的英语实用能力，南开大学、天津大学、北京化工大学、北京航空航天大学、北京科技大学、北京邮电大学、对外经济贸易大学、广东工业大学、哈尔滨商业大学等国内重点高校的英语教师通力合作，编写了“大学英语选修课系列教材”。本套教材包括《高级英语口语教程》、《科技英语阅读教程》、《高级英语阅读教程》、《实用翻译技能集成》、《英美报刊深度阅读》、《高级英语写作教程》、《实用商务英语综合教程》、《英语视听说教程》和《当代英美社会文化新编》等九本教材。本系列教材应用了最新的英语教学理念，吸收了最新的英语教学成果，符合我国大学英语教学改革的最新要求，并体现了四、六级考试改革后的新精神，所有编写内容均为各参编院校多年使用过的优秀素材，具有良好的教学效果和广泛的使用基础. “大学英语选修课系列教材”主要特点如下： 1.选材广泛，内容丰富。本系列教材所选材料均来自国内外原版报纸、杂志、教材、论著、会议论文、实用文件和一些权威网站，语言真实准确、地道优美；内容涉及视听说、口语、阅读、翻译、写作、文化、商务和科技英语等多个领域，适合不同专业学生对英语学习的需求。本系列教材选材注重原汁原味，力图使学生在浩瀚的知识海洋中多方汲取营养，以满足实用性英语教学的需求。如《高级英语阅读教程》的文章大多是近年来有关社会热点问题，并且大都是学生所关心和感兴趣的新闻报道，趣味性、实效性较强；另外，文章内容涉及生活的方方面面，集知识性、科普性、娱乐性于一体，有利于培养学生的学习兴趣。2.注重语言综合技能的训练，实用性较强。通过精心选编的课文和悉心设计的多种实践和交际活动，从多渠道、多层面、多角度向学生输入大量有效语言信息，吸引学生参加多种多样、生动活泼的语言实践和交际活动，进行大量的“交互式”的语言输入（input）和输出（Output）。如《英语视听说教程》、《高级英语口语教程》强调各种微技能的培养和训练，结合具体生活环境和主题，突出听说实践能力的培养；《实用翻译技能集成》围绕实例，阐明方法和技巧，强调翻译实践，培养动手能力。每一章围绕各种翻译技巧，梳理分析，深入浅出，将翻译理论技能和实践训练有机地结合起来。
随着知识经济和全球化时代的到来，科技英语在提高学生科技创新能力以及国际科技合作与交流中发挥着越来越重要的作用。进一步加强当代大学生科技英语阅读能力，是我国高校适应创新型国家建设需求、培养创新型人才的重要内容。为了推动新世纪大学英语教学改革，提高本科生面向科技创新的后期大学英语学习能力，我们精心设计并编写了《科技英语阅读教程》一书。 本书选材以科学普及方面的文章为主，全书共分为16个单元，每个单元包含两个内容相近的篇章，每个篇章后设计有生词、短语、注释以及与课文相关的练习等，并在全书的最后提供了所有练习的参考答案，以方便学习者使用。 本书根据教育部2007年新颁布的《大学英语课程教学要求》以及1998年颁布的《大学英语教学大纲词汇表》确定了全书的词汇量为4500词。生词的注解主要以四级以上的词汇为主，但对个别词义相对少见的四级词汇也增加了注解；在短语方面，本书主要选取大学英语四级学习阶段常见的条目。 为拓展学生的科技和人文素养，本书的课文注释主要从人文和科技知识的角度，加以解释说明。为提高学生的语言运用能力，在练习的设计上，除阅读理解题之外，本书还基于课文中一些地道的表达方式设计了翻译练习，目的是让学习者熟悉英语的表达习惯，进而提高自己的英语水平。
总序前言Unit One Passage A Can We Survive on the Moon? Passage B Chasing the MoonUnit Two Passage A Running on Empty? (1) Passage B Running on Empty? (2)Unit Three Passage A Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat Passage B Studies Say Clearing Land for Biofuels Will Aid WarmingUnit Four Passage A Malware Goes Mobile (1) Passage B Malware Goes Mobile (2)Unit Five Passage A Is Your Car Smarter Than You Are? (1) Passage B Is Your Car Smarter Than You Are? (2)Unit Six Passage A The Memory Hacker Passage B Sweet MemoriesUnit Seven Passage A Robots vs. Humans in Space: Both Will Be Required Passage B The Year in RobotsUnit Eight Passage A Evidence-based Fitness Programs Passage B Multigenerational ProgrammingUnit Nine Passage A New Predictor of Disease (1) Passage 13 New Predictor of Disease (2)Unit Ten Passage A Sharks Passage 13 Sustainable FisheriesUnit Eleven Passage A The Phenomenon of Aging Passage 13 Calorie Restriction: Is This Anti-aging Diet Worth a Try?Unit Twelve Passage A The Rise of Renewable Energy (1) Passage 13 The Rise of Renewable Energy (2)Unit Thirteen Passage A Window on the Extreme Universe (1) Passage 13 Window on the Extreme Universe (2)Unit Fourteen Passage A Are Aliens among Us? (1) Passage 13 Are Aliens among Us? (2)Unit Fifteen Passage A Science 2.0-Is Open Access Science the Future? (1) Passage 13 Science 2.0-Is Open Access Science the Future? (2)Unit Sixteen Passage A Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? (1) Passage 13 Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? (2)Key to the Exercises
Running on Empty？ （I） On a rainy day last month, four drummers, three guitarists, a bagpiper, two didgeridoo players and 186 others assembled in a rural English town to discuss turning their neighborhoods into low-impact communities built around farming, arts and crafts and herbal medicine. After communal meditation and a few speeches, those present gathered in small groupsto discuss everything from transport without oil to engaging local politicians in the "Transition Towns movements stated aim: reducing their carbon footprint2 in response to concerns over diminishing hydrocarbon reserves as well as global warming. The mood in the group discussing energy was somber. One former civil engineer3 predicted the demise of the light bulb within a decade and derided the idea that market forces and human ingenuity could save the planet, laughing it off as "the magic wand" theory. For years, such meetings have been dismissed as eccentric. Most of the worlds oil executives, government ministers, analysts and consultants reject the "peak oil theory —— the notion based on the 1950s work of Marion King Hubert, a Shell geologist, that crude production will soon enter terminal decline. They say it understates remaining reserves, plays down the contribution of technological advances and ignores the role of market forces in shaping future supply. But with the oil price at a record $126 a barrel, more than 1,000 percent higher than a decade ago, fears of the end of the hydrocarbon age have seeped into the mainstream. Many in the industry itself now accept that supply constraints are shaping the price as much as rampant demand. Calls for greater investment to ease these constraints formed the crux of many of the discussions at last months meeting in Rome between energy ministers of the worlds main oil producers and consumers. So are the peak oilists right？ A series of recent events certainly appear to lend credence to those who argue that the worlds ageing oilfields are being sucked dry amid Chinas and Indias determination to lift themselves out of poverty and the wests reluctance to give up the luxuries of modem oil-dependent life. The fact that Russias oil production declined almost half a percentage point in April, the first drop in a decade, was shocking enough news from the worlds second biggest oil producer, whose output was growing at a rate of 12 percent just five years ago. Just days later Saudi Arabia6, the worlds biggest oil producer and by far the largest exporter, confirmed it had put on hold plans to increase the kingdoms production capacity. King Abdullah7, the countrys ruler, put it more bluntly: "I keep no secret from you that, when there were some new finds, I told them, No, leave it in the ground, our children need it." Most other forecasts show the world will need Saudi Arabias oil. Thus the kingdoms reluctance to invest further in its fields has led some to ask whether Saudi Arabia can boost production or whether, after 75 years, the worlds biggest oil deposit has been cashed. The announcement that Saudi Arabia would pump slightly more oil did little to ease prices because it failed to reduce concerns over supply: when the kingdom produces more oil, it eats into its cushion of spare supply. This means such measures sometimes backfire, driving prices higher. One problem is that nobody really knows what is going on inside Saudi Arabias oil industry. Riyadh is so guarded that analysts from Sanford Bernstein9, the financial services company, took to spying on its activity via satellite. They spent nine months monitoring the countrys drilling activities and measuring whether Ghawarl~, the worlds biggest oil-field, had subsided. Their conclusion: Saudi Arabia has to work harder than the countrys engineers and geologists expected in 2004 to squeeze more out of the northern part of the ageing Ghawar field. Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker, has a bleaker view of Ghawars health. He took the news that Saudi Arabia was not planning to expand to 15m b/d" as further evidence that the kingdom was struggling to ward off a collapse of its oilfields. With his book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economyt2, published in 2005, Mr. Simmons, more than any other individual, laid the seeds of doubt over Saudi Arabias future reliability. Poring over 200 technical papers written by engineers over 20 years, some stored electronically and others gathering dust, he uncovered evidence the kingdoms fields were far more complicated to tap and declining more quickly than the secretive nation was willing to reveal. Less well known, but equally damning, is his study of the rest of the worlds oilfields. Mr. Simmons launched his project in 2001 after none of the analysts brought in to help the US Central Intelligence Agency13 map the worlds remaining big sources of oil came up with answers that satisfied him. He found that the world depends on just a few giant, old, declining oilfields and that almost nothing to match them has been discovered since the 1970s. One in every five barrels of oil consumed each day is pumped from a field that is more than 40 years old. Output declines as an oilfield ages ____ sometimes dramatically. The same trend____though at a slower pace____is plaguing most fields around the world, possibly including the four biggest: Ghawar, Cantarell, Kuwaits Burgan and Chinas Daqing. This means running to stand still: each year as much as two-thirds of new oil supply capacity goes towards covering for the slowdown at ageing fields. Mr. Simmons work is potent fodder for peak oilists, who espouse their gloomy views of the future on websites ranging from those with an academic air to more alarmist ones that come complete with advertisements for freeze-dried food and survival guides. Mr. Simmons knows his peak oil views have moved him towards the fringes of a business in which he used to occupy a far more central position. Fears over supply increasingly extend to the corner offices of international oil companies. A rapidly growing number of industry executives and ministers, believe the world is running out of "easy oil". They advocate that consumers, who rely on oil for everything from light to lipstick, should be less wasteful. Industry executives admit that fields in the developed world, such as those in the North Sea and Alaska, are about to peak. Natural gas, coal, corn, sugar cane, algae and turkey innards are promising alternative sources that could fuel Chinas new love affair with the car, they say. Meanwhile the biggest oilfield, as Joseph Stanislaw, adviser to Deloitte Consulting~7, likes to point out, lies beneath Detroit. In other words, millions of barrels a day of oil could be saved if Americans traded in their gas-guzzlers for more efficient vehicles. All of this means global production will follow an "undulating plateau for one or more decades before declining slowly", says Peter Jackson of Cambridge Energy Research Associates19, an industry consulting firm. After studying its oil production and resources database, the group concluded that it saw no decline in the worlds ability to produce oil before 2030. But the ride could yet prove a bumpy one, even CERA admits. Saudi Arabias spare capacity is at its lowest level in a generation, having been eaten into by China and other fuel-hungry customers. This has already added a sizeable premium to international oil prices, though no one has a grasp of exactly how much. Meanwhile, the long-term alternatives have serious downsides. Regarding power of the solar, wind and turkey-gut varieties, even the most optimistic forecasts say these will remain a small fraction of the overall energy mix. In fact, even if all the policies to increase renewable fuels and to use oil more efficiently were to be enacted immediately, the world would still need OPECsdaily production to increase by 11.5m barrels by 2030, the bulk of which would have to come from Saudi Arabia, the International Energy Agencysays. That is a tall order. It is 50-plus percent more than the amount by which OPEC managed to increase output between 1980 and 2006. This time, the oil business is faced with a shortage of skilled labor （the industrys average age is just shy of 50） and a squeeze in the supply of steel and other critical components.
《科技英语阅读教程》教材特色： 把握大学英语教改精髓，倡导实用性英语教学；选材原汁原味、鲜亮活泼、与时俱进；追求语言基础与课程趣味的统一；多渠道、多角度、多层面，高效传递语言信息。
书编写的不错，唯一希望改进的地方是把教材和教参相分离，不要在教材后附练习答案，这样不利于学生做作业。
我们上选修课的教材，还要自己买，汗