新概念3的第12课 Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island.We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines.Life there is simple and good.Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work.The other side of the picture is quite the opposite.Life on a desert island is wretched.You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe,Waiting for a boat which never comes.Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures,but few us have had the opportunity to find out.
Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer.They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired.During the journey,their boat began to sink.They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food,matches,and cans of beer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island.There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water,but this did not prove to be a problem.The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy.As they had brought a spear gun with them,they had plenty to eat.They caught lobster and fish every day,and,as one of them put it 'ate like kings'.When a passing tanker rescued them five days later,both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.
第四册的
Chickens slaughtered in the United States,claim officials in Brussels,are not fit to grace European tables.No,say the American:our fowl are fine,we simply clean them in a different way.These days,it is differences in national regulations,far more than tariffs,that put sand in the wheels of trade between rich countries.It is not just farmers who are complaining.An electric razor that meets the European Union's safety standards must be approved by American testers before it can be sold in the United States,and an American-made dialysis machine needs the EU's okay before is hits the market in Europe.
As it happens,a razor that is safe in Europe is unlikely to electrocute Americans.So,ask businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,why have two lots of tests where one would do?Politicians agree,in principle,so America and the EU have been trying to reach a deal which would eliminate the need to double-test many products.They hope to finish in time for a trade summit between America and the EU on May 28TH.Although negotiators are optimistic,the details are complex enough that they may be hard-pressed to get a deal at all.
Why?One difficulty is to construct the agreements.The Americans would happily reach one accord on standards for medical devices and them hammer out different pacts covering,say,electronic goods and drug manufacturing.The EU -- following fine continental traditions -- wants agreement on general principles,which could be applied to many types of products and perhaps extended to other countries.
From:The Economist,May 24th,1997
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