新高级阅读前（双语）28（815）

PASSAGE TWENTY-EIGHT

Spirit of contract

1.Last night I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a distance of about eighty miles.

2.It was late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left, and I became increasingly impatient.

3.At one point along an open road, I came to a crossing with a traffic light. I was alone on the road by now, but as I drove near the light, it turned red and I made a stop.

4.I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. Not a car, no suggestion of car lamps, but there I sat, waiting for the light to change, the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.

5.I started wondering why I refused to run the light. I was not afraid of being caught,because there was clearly no policeman around, and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.

6.Much later that night, the question of why I’d stopped for that light came back to me. I think I stopped because it’s part of a contract we all have with each other.

7.It’s not only the law, but it’s an agreement we have, and we trust each other to honor it: we don’t go through red lights.

8.Trust is our first inclination . Doubting others does not seem to be natural to us.

The whole construction of our society depends on mutual trust, not distrust.

9.We do what we say we’ll do, we show up when we say we’ll show up; and we pay when we say we’ll pay.

10.We trust each other in these matters, and we’re angry or disappointed with the person or organization that breaks the trust we have in them.

11.I was so proud of myself for stopping for the red light that night.

第二十八篇

契约精神

1.昨晚我开车从哈里斯堡到刘易斯堡，大约有八十英里的路程。

2.很晚了。有几次，我被堵在一辆缓慢行驶的卡车后面，在一条狭窄的道路上，我的左边有一条坚实的白线，我变得越来越不耐烦。

3.在一条开阔的道路上，我来到了一个有红绿灯的十字路口。这时只有我一个人在路上，但当我把车开到红灯附近时，它变成了红灯，我停了下来。

4.我向左看，向右看，向后看。什么都没有。没有车，也没有车灯的影子，但我就坐在那里，等着灯变，方圆至少一英里内只有我一个人。

5.我开始想为什么我拒绝闯红灯。我并不害怕被抓住，因为周围显然没有警察，穿过它当然也不会有危险。

6.那天晚上很晚的时候，我又想起了为什么要停下来等那盏灯。我想我停下来是因为这是我们彼此之间契约的一部分。

7.这不仅是法律，也是我们之间的协议，我们相信彼此会遵守:我们不闯红灯。

8.信任是我们的第一倾向。怀疑别人似乎不是我们的天性。

我们整个社会的建设取决于相互信任，而不是不信任。

9.我们说到做到，我们说什么时候露面就什么时候露面，我们说什么时候付钱就什么时候付钱。

10.在这些事情上，我们彼此信任，我们对破坏我们信任的个人或组织感到愤怒或失望。

        11.那天晚上我为自己停车等红灯而感到骄傲。