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Text 1
Food Fight
About the author:
Jeffrey Kluger is a senior writer at Time magazine, covering
science in general and the space program in particular. He
is the coauthor, along with astronaut Jim Lovell, of Lost
Moon, the book that served as the basis of the 1995 movie,
Apollo 13. He is the sole author of a second book, The Apollo
Adventure, that accompanied the release of the movie, and he
is currently writing a new book for Simon & Schuster about
the unmanned space program and the exploration of the solar
system.
His features and columns have appeared in
dozens of publications, including The New York Times Magazine,
Gentlemen's Quarterly, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan. He is an adjunct instructor in the graduate
journalism program at New York University.
About Monsanto:
Monsanto was first established in 1901 and developed into
a giant business enterprise over the past 100 years.
Forty-three company scientists join the ranks of Monsanto
Fellows, expanding the scientific recognition program to include
scientists from Monsanto's Biotechnology, Breeding, Genomics,
Molecular Breeding and Regulatory organizations. The total
number of Science Fellows is now 70.
Language notes.
1. Over
the past decade, genetically modified (GM) food has become
an increasingly common phenomenon as scientists have rewoven
the genes of countless fruits and vegetables, turning everyday
crops into über-crops able to resist frost, withstand herbicides
and even produce their own pesticides.
(在刚刚过去的十年中，科学家们改变了无数蔬菜和水果的基因，把这些日常食用的作物变成了超级作物，能够防霜冻，抗除草剂，甚至本身就能杀虫，因此转基因食物已越来越成为普遍现象。)
Withstand: remain undamaged or unaffected by.
e.g. The structure had been designed to withstand winds of
more than 100 mph.
2. Sales
of GM seeds rose in value from $75 million in 1995 to $1.5
billion last year, and the crops they produce are turning
up not only on produce shelves but also in processed foods
from cookies to potato chips to baby food.
(基因作物种子售出的总值从1995年的七百五十万增加到去年的十亿五千万，并且他们生产的作物不仅出现在直接生产的产品中，而且出现在从饼干、薯条到婴儿食品的加工食品中。)
The word "produce" appear twice in the sentence,
the first is a verb, the second is a noun, meaning things
that have been produced or grown, especially by farming.
e.g. dairy produce.
3. But
many people question whether it's a good idea for fallible
human beings to go mucking about with the genes of other species.
( 但是，许多人提出疑问：让容易犯错的人类摆弄其它物种的基因是否是个好主意。)
Muck something about/around with: spoil something by interfering
with it.
e.g. Someone has been mucking about with my bicycle.
4. It's
one thing if a scientific experiment goes wrong in a lab,
they say, but something else entirely if it winds up on your
dinner plate.
Wind up: arrive or end up in a specified state, situation,
or place
e.g. Kevin wound up in New York.
5. While
that may be, the fact remains that the U.S. Congress may address
a labeling bill of its own later this year, and some private
groups are threatening lawsuits to force the issue.
(也许是这样，但事实是美国国会今年晚些时候会制定他们自己的商标法案，而一些民间团体正在威胁要诉诸法律迫使制定这一法案。)
Address: think about and begin to deal with an issue or problem.
e.g. A fundamental problem has still to be addressed.
6. "The
farmers in France are right," observes Dennis Democrat
from Cleveland, Ohio, who stumbled across the GM-food issue
this year, and is turning it into something of a cause.
(俄亥俄州克利夫兰的丹尼丝·德莫克利特说，“法国的农民是对的，没有什么比食物跟人类的关系更密切。”)
Stumble across/on/upon: find or encounter by chance.
e.g. A police had stumbled across a gang of youths.
7.
Monsanto, which produces the hugely popular herbicide Roundup,
has made just as big a hit with its line of genetically modified
crops that are immune to the Roundup poison.
(蒙生特公司生产了颇受大众欢迎的除草剂Roundup，他们的转基因作物的生产线也非常轰动，因为这种转基因作物对Roundup毒有免疫作用。)
Make a hit: be popular or successful
e.g. You made a big hit with her.
8. Such
souped-up plants are understandably popular with farmers,
for whom even a slight increase in yield can mean a big increase
in profits.
Soup something up: increase the power of efficiency; make
something more elaborate or impressive.
e.g. We had to soup up the show for the new venue.
9. Two
years ago, chief executive Robert Shapiro gambled big on biotech,
spinning off the company's chemical division to focus on the
new science.
(两年前，公司首席执行长官罗伯特·夏皮诺在生物科技上下了大赌注，他将公司的化工部独立出来专门研究这新科学。)
Spin something off: (of a parent company) turn a subsidiary
into a new and separate company.
10. For
now, the most GM foes can hope to push through an agri-friendly
Congress is a proposal for voluntary labeling that biotech
companies would be free to honor or ignore.
(到目前为止，转基因产品的反对者所能希望的，至多是让亲农业的国会通过一项议案，允许生物技术公司自己选择标注还是不注。)
Honor: accept as valid and conform to the requests or demands
of (a government document).
Text 2
A Dinner @ Margaret's
About the author:
Margaret Carlson was named a columnist for TIME magazine in
February 1994. Her column, Public Eye, makes Carlson the first
woman columnist in the magazine's 78-year history.
Prior to coming to TIME, Carlson served as the magazine's
deputy Washington bureau chief, after serving as a White House
correspondent. In addition to her duties at the magazine,
she serves as a panelist on CNN's political programs "Inside
Politics" and "The Capital Gang."
In addition to covering Campaign 2000, during which she spent
time with both Al Gore and George W. Bush, Carlson has covered
the last four presidential elections. In her column, she has
regularly commented on cultural and political issues, including
President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, the campaign finance
scandals, the state of feminism, and education issues.
Carlson joined TIME in January 1988 from the New Republic,
where she was managing editor. Her journalism career has included
stints as Washington bureau chief for Esquire magazine, editor
of Washington Weekly, and editor of the Legal Times of Washington.
Carlson earned a law degree from George Washington University
Law School in Washington, D.C. She completed her undergraduate
work at Penn State University, where she majored in English.
She has one daughter and lives in Washington, D.C.
About Ask Jeeves
Ask Jeeves, Inc. is a leading provider of natural language,
question answering and search technologies for consumers and
companies. The company offers these technologies through two
business units; Web Properties
— a set of online media properties
and search services, and Jeeves Solutions
— an enterprise
software business.
Ask Jeeves Web Properties
Ask Jeeves Web Properties operates leading websites that provide
consumers with a simple and fast way to find relevant answers
to their questions. These websites give companies effective,
targeted tools for reaching a broad base of valuable customers
through a set of unique advertising products. Ask Jeeves also
syndicates its advanced search technologies to portals, content
and destination sites to help companies increase user loyalty
while generating revenue. Ask Jeeves Web Properties include
Ask.com, Ask.co.uk, Teoma.com, and Ask Jeeves for Kids.
Jeeves Solutions
Jeeves Solutions, the enterprise software business of Ask
Jeeves, Inc., is a leading provider of question answering
and analytics technology for corporate websites. Through an
intuitive self-service interface, Jeeves Solutions connects
customers with the information, products and services they
want. Through sophisticated analytics, Jeeves Solutions helps
companies learn from every online customer interaction, providing
them with critical, customer-driven information they use to
guide product, sales and marketing strategies. Customers including
British Telecom, DaimlerChrysler, Dell, Nestle, Nike, Wachovia/First
Union and the State of Washington use Jeeves Solutions to
cost-effectively increase the quality and depth of interaction
with their customers.
Language notes:
1. What
a delicious assignment: invite 12 people to dinner at my Washington
house, come up with any menu I want, hire someone to serve
and clean up, and charge the whole feast to the company.
(这是一项多么怡人的任务：在华盛顿的家中邀请12位宾客共进晚餐，我想要点什么菜就是什么菜，雇人招待和最后的打扫，整个盛宴的开销由公司支付。)
Charge something to: record the cost of something as an amount
payable by someone or on an account.
e.g. They charge the calls to their credit-card accounts.
2.
...always
starting online but resorting to 800 numbers in a pinch...
In a pinch: if absolutely necessary.
3.
...and
default to vendors in California when in doubt, figuring those
guys in Silicon Valley surely have discovered how to stuff
a turkey through a modem.
Default to: (of a computer program or mechanism )revert automatically
to a (pre-selected option).
e.g. When you start a fresh letter the system will default
to its own style.
4.
This is when I fell in love with
Jeeves, the fictional British butler who helped Bertie Wooster
put his pants on one leg at a time, reincarnated in cyberspace
as a cheerful search engine that sorts through all the others
at AskJeeves (ask.com).
(就在此时我爱上了吉维斯（Jeeves）。他是一部小说中的英国男管家，帮伯蒂·伍斯特穿裤子，一次穿一条腿。在网络空间，他化身成一部诚心乐意的搜索引擎，在咨询吉维斯（ask.com）站点中查询所有其它的站点。)
Cyber: relating to electronic communication networks and virtual
reality.
e.g. cyberpunk.
5. You
can't touch, smell or squeeze the merchandise on the Web,
so pictures, however doctored, are essential.
(在网上，你无法触摸、嗅闻或挤捏商品，所以图片无论进行了怎样的处理，是很重要的。)
Doctor: change the content or appearance of something in order
to deceive, falsify; alter the content of (a drink, food,
or substance) by adding strong or harmful ingredients.
e.g. The sports could have been doctored.
6.
...fearful
everyone would be busy during Washington's party-gridlock
season, I had let the guest list swell to a crowd of 30.
Gridlock: a traffic jam affecting a network of intersecting
streets.
7. I
lived out the sorry fact of modern life that at any given
moment, 1 in 5 Americans is on hold for the next available
customer representative with the added indignity, around the
holidays, of having to endure endless rounds of Jingle Bell
Rock.
(我体验到了每时每刻发生在现代社会中的一个令人遗憾的事实：节日期间，在接通下一个顾客代表处之前，每五个美国人中就有一个会遇到占线，于是不得不灰溜溜地一遍遍忍受反复播出的摇滚版的“铃儿响叮铛”。)
Live something out: do in reality that one has thought or
dreamt about.
e.g. Your wedding day is the one time that you can live out
your most romantic fantasies.
With the added dignity: with increasing anger.
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