Passage 13

　　漢語常被認為是一種非常古老的語言。從某種意義上說，這種說法不免失之偏頗。人類所有的語言都可追溯到朦朧的史前時期，但目前我們還無法確定這些語言是否都同宗同源。五千年前華夏祖先說漢語的方法同英語人士的祖先說英語的方式大致相似。而從另一種意義上說，漢語確實也是一種很古老的語言。今天所存留下來的最早的漢字已有近四千年的歷史 . 這些文字均為甲骨雕文。大部分銘文為神諭圣旨，內(nèi)容大都與政治事件和宗教活動有關(guān)，有些則是關(guān)于天氣和戰(zhàn)爭的記錄。 漢語有豐富的古代文字作品，源遠流長，遠非其他一種語言的文字可與之媲美。一些最古老的文字屬象形文字。

　　Chinese is often termed a very old language. In a sense such a statement is misleading. All human languages go back to the dim uncertainty of prehistory， and at present we have no way of knowing for sure whether or not they can all be traced back to the same root. Five thousand years ago the ancestors of Chinese people spoke an early form of Chinese language in much the same way that the ancestors of English-speaking people were using an early form of the English language. In a sense， however， Chinese is indeed a very old language. The earliest written forms of Chinese in existence today date back nearly 4，000 years. These writings are incisions on bones and tortoise shell. Most of the inscriptions are oracular， dealing mostly with political and religious events， or with weather or warfare. Chinese has an abundance of ancient writings that reach back continuously in time further than the writings of any other language in the world. Some of the earliest written Chinese characters were quite pictographic.

　　Passage 14

　　我們都知道信息存儲、傳輸和處理是提高社會整體發(fā)展水平的最重要的保障條件之一，也是世界各國高技術(shù)競爭的焦點之一。但并非每一個人都知道，世界上最重要的信息是人類基因組提供的信息。人類基因組蘊含著人類生、老、病、死的絕大多數(shù)遺傳信息，破譯這些信息將會在疾病的診斷、新藥物的研制、新療法的探索等領(lǐng)域引發(fā)一場革命。一些科學家認為，破譯人類遺傳密碼的重要性不亞于人類登月的“阿波羅計劃”。人類基因組圖譜及初步分析結(jié)果的公布，對生物科學和生物技術(shù)的發(fā)展起著重要的推動作用。 我們確信的是，35 億年前高度復(fù)雜的分子DNA 就出現(xiàn)了。DNA 是地球上所有生命的基礎(chǔ)，它有著像螺旋式樓梯一樣的雙螺旋結(jié)構(gòu)。

　　We all know that information storage， transmission and processing constitute some of the most important guarantee conditions for enhancing the level of overall social development， as well as a focal point in the competition of high technologies between various countries. But not everyone realizes that the most significant information reservoiris no other than the human genome. The human genome contains most of the hereditary information related to the birth， aging， diseases and death of humankind. Its decoding will bring about a revolution to the diagnosisof diseases， to the development of new medicines and to the exploration of new therapies. Some scientists believe the work to decipherthe human genetic code is no less important than the Apollo moon landing program. The publication of the map and preliminary conclusion of the human genome played an important role in promoting the development of life science and biotechnology. What we do know is that by three and a half billion years ago the highly complicated moleculeDNA had emerged. DNA is the basis of all life on earth. It has a double helixstructure， like a spiral staircase.

　　Passage 15

　　幾千年來我們中國人一直視筷子為一種可以將飯從碗中逐口送入口中的最簡單同時也是最有效的工具。早在周朝時期，筷子便被人們用來夾取葷、蔬菜，而米飯在那時則用手來取食。全國各地的筷子大小基本一樣，而所用的材料的種類則各有不同，所選材料有竹子、木材、漆器、玉石、象牙、塑料、鋁、銀、金等。特長的竹筷通常用于廚房中。中國人使用筷子的方法很有藝術(shù)性，各人有各人的方法，就好像簽名一樣，不盡一致。中國人一般都能隨心所欲的用筷子夾起一粒米飯，一粒豌豆，一只滑溜溜的蘑菇或海參。 使用筷子時，要把一雙筷子夾在大拇指和食指之間。要點是讓其中的一根筷子保持不動，活動另一根筷子，以便能像鉗子一樣夾取食物。

　　For thousands of years we Chinese have always regarded chopsticks the simplest possible and the most efficient tool for transporting bite-sized morsels of food form a bowl to the mouth. As early as in the Zhou Dynasty， chopsticks were used for picking up meat and vegetables， while hands were used for rice. Chopsticks， which are roughly uniform in size throughout China， can be made of a variety of materials， including bamboo， wood， lacquer， jade， ivory， plastic， aluminum， silver and gold. Special long bamboo chopsticks are generally used in the kitchen. The way we Chinese handle our chopsticks is quite artistic and varied from person to person like one's signature. An average Chinese can very easily pick up a single tiny grain of rice， or a tiny piece of peas， or a slippery button mushroom or sea cucumber. When using chopsticks， one should place both sticks between the thumb and forefinger. The point is to keep one stick still and move the other so as to make them work like pincers.