2017考研英語(yǔ)拓展閱讀：比爾·蓋茨推薦的書(shū)

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Here in Seattle, summer is a gift you earn by gutting out nine months of rain and gloom. The skies are clear, there’s hardly any humidity, and the nights are cool. Best of all, you sometimes get the chance to sit outside reading a great book.

在西雅圖，夏季是自然饋贈(zèng)的禮物。擺脫了9個(gè)月的陰雨連綿，天空一片晴朗，空氣干燥而清爽，而夜間則很涼快。最棒的是，你常常可以坐在戶(hù)外去讀一本好書(shū)。

This summer, my recommended reading list has a good dose of books with science and math at their core. But there’s no science or math to my selection process. The following five books are simply ones that I loved, made me think in new ways, and kept me up reading long past when I should have gone to sleep.

今年夏季，我的推薦書(shū)單中有很多是以科學(xué)和數(shù)學(xué)為核心。不過(guò)，在選擇過(guò)程中，我并沒(méi)有用到任何科學(xué)或數(shù)學(xué)。推薦以下5本書(shū)只是因?yàn)槲蚁矚g這些書(shū)，這些書(shū)給我?guī)��?lái)了新的思維方式，讓我在夜間捧卷時(shí)欲罷不能。

As a result, this is an eclectic list—from an 800-page science fiction novel by a local legend to a 200-page nonfiction book on how Japan can get its economic mojo back. I hope you find at least one book here that inspires you to go off the beaten path when you get some time to yourself this summer.

因此，這是個(gè)主題很寬泛的書(shū)單，其中既有來(lái)自西雅圖知名作家的800頁(yè)科幻小說(shuō)，也有200頁(yè)的非小說(shuō)類(lèi)圖書(shū)——介紹日本經(jīng)濟(jì)如何奇跡般復(fù)蘇。我希望，這個(gè)夏天你有時(shí)間讀書(shū)的時(shí)候，這里至少有一本書(shū)能帶給你新的靈感。

①Seveneves---by Neil Stephenson

《七大家族》——尼爾·斯蒂芬森著

I hadn’t read any science fiction for a decade when a friend recommended this novel. I’m glad she did.

一位朋友向我推薦這本書(shū)的時(shí)候，我已有10年沒(méi)有讀過(guò)任何科幻小說(shuō)。我很慶幸自己沒(méi)有錯(cuò)過(guò)這本書(shū)。

The plot gets going in the first sentence, when the moon blows up. People figure out that in two years a cataclysmic meteor shower will wipe out all life on Earth, so the world unites on a plan to keep humanity going by launching as many spacecraft as possible into orbit.

小說(shuō)從第一句開(kāi)始，就直奔故事情節(jié)，月球爆炸了。人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，一場(chǎng)災(zāi)難性的流星雨將在兩年后橫掃地球，摧毀一切生命。因此，全世界一起制定計(jì)劃，將盡可能多的飛船發(fā)射至太空，確保人類(lèi)的延續(xù)。

You might lose patience with all the information you’ll get about space flight—Stephenson, who lives in Seattle, has clearly done his research—but I loved the technical details. Seveneves inspired me to rekindle my sci-fi habit.

關(guān)于航天飛行的細(xì)節(jié)信息，你可能會(huì)感到無(wú)趣。但生活在西雅圖的史蒂芬森明顯進(jìn)行了研究，而我很喜歡其中的技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)。Seveneves重新喚起了我對(duì)科幻小說(shuō)的興趣。

②How Not to be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking---by Jordan Ellenberg

《魔鬼數(shù)學(xué)：數(shù)學(xué)思維的力量》——喬丹·艾倫伯格著

Ellenberg, a mathematician and writer, explains how math plays into our daily lives without our even knowing it.

愛(ài)倫伯格是一名數(shù)學(xué)家和作家。他在本書(shū)中解釋了，數(shù)學(xué)如何在我們不知情的情況下影響日常生活。

Each chapter starts with a subject that seems fairly straightforward—electoral politics, say, or the Massachusetts lottery—and then uses it as a jumping-off point to talk about the math involved. In some places the math gets quite complicated, but he always wraps things up by making sure you’re still with him.

這本書(shū)的每一章都有非常直觀(guān)的主題，例如選舉策略，或是馬薩諸塞州大樂(lè)透等，然后作者以此為出發(fā)點(diǎn)解釋了其中的數(shù)學(xué)道理。在某些地方，數(shù)學(xué)原理變得很復(fù)雜，不過(guò)他的講解方式能確保你跟上他的思路。

The book’s larger point is that, as Ellenberg writes, “to do mathematics is to be, at once, touched by fire and bound by reason”—and that there are ways in which we’re all doing math, all the time.

正如愛(ài)倫伯格在書(shū)中寫(xiě)道，本書(shū)更主要是告訴大家，“數(shù)學(xué)就是讓你被激情點(diǎn)燃的同時(shí)，又被理性包圍”，而通過(guò)各種方式，我們實(shí)際上每時(shí)每刻都在接觸數(shù)學(xué)。

③The Vital Question---by Nick Lane

《至關(guān)重要的問(wèn)題》——尼克·萊恩著

Nick is one of those original thinkers who makes you say: More people should know about this guy’s work.

作為一名原創(chuàng)思想家，萊恩給人的感覺(jué)就是：應(yīng)當(dāng)讓更多人知道這家伙的著作。

He is trying to right a scientific wrong by getting people to fully appreciate the role that energy plays in all living things. He argues that we can only understand how life began, and how living things got so complex, by understanding how energy works. It’s not just theoretical; mitochondria (the power plants in our cells) could play a role in fighting cancer and malnutrition.

他試圖讓人們充分理解能量在所有生物中扮演的重要作用，以此來(lái)糾正科學(xué)上的誤解。他認(rèn)為，只有理解了能量的作用，我們才能理解生命的起源，以及生物為何如此復(fù)雜。這不僅僅只是理論，正如線(xiàn)粒體(人體細(xì)胞中的能量源)在對(duì)抗癌癥和營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良方面發(fā)揮著重要作用。

Even if the details of Nick’s work turn out to be wrong, I suspect his focus on energy will be seen as an important contribution to our understanding of where we come from.

即使萊恩作品的細(xì)節(jié)最終是錯(cuò)誤的，我也認(rèn)為，他對(duì)能量的關(guān)注將對(duì)了解我們來(lái)自何處做出重要貢獻(xiàn)。

④The Power to Compete---by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani

《競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的力量》——良一谷浩史和三木谷浩史合著

I have a soft spot for Japan that dates back three decades or so, when I first traveled there for Microsoft.

30年前左右，我由于微軟的工作而首次前往日本時(shí)，當(dāng)時(shí)的日本令我感觸良多。

Today, of course, Japan is intensely interesting to anyone who follows global economics. Why were its companies—the juggernauts of the 1980s—eclipsed by competitors in South Korea and China? And can they come back? Those questions are at the heart of this series of dialogues between Ryoichi, an economist who died in 2013, and his son Hiroshi, founder of the Internet company Rakuten.

今天，對(duì)任何關(guān)注全球經(jīng)濟(jì)的人來(lái)說(shuō)，日本都非常有趣。為何日本企業(yè)，那些80年代的巨頭們，在與韓國(guó)和中國(guó)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中逐漸落敗?它們能否重振雄風(fēng)?這些問(wèn)題就是書(shū)中三木谷良一和他的兒子三木谷浩史一系列對(duì)話(huà)的核心。三木谷良一是一名經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，于2013年去世，而三木谷浩史則是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司樂(lè)天的創(chuàng)始人。

Although I don’t agree with everything in Hiroshi’s program, I think he has a number of good ideas. The Power to Compete is a smart look at the future of a fascinating country.

盡管我并不完全贊同三木谷浩史，但我認(rèn)為他提出了許多好的想法。通過(guò)《競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的力量》這個(gè)巧妙的窗口，你可以一窺日本這個(gè)奇妙國(guó)度的未來(lái)。

⑤Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind---by Noah Yuval Harari

《智人：人類(lèi)簡(jiǎn)史》——諾亞·尤瓦爾·哈拉瑞著

Both Melinda and I read this one, and it has sparked lots of great conversations at our dinner table.

梅琳達(dá)和我都讀了這本書(shū)，它也引發(fā)了我們?cè)诓妥郎系脑S多很好的交流。

Harari takes on a daunting challenge: to tell the entire history of the human race in just 400 pages. He also writes about our species today and how artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will change us in the future.

哈拉里完成的是一項(xiàng)很有難度的挑戰(zhàn)：用短短400頁(yè)講完人類(lèi)的整個(gè)歷史。他也講到了人類(lèi)的現(xiàn)狀，以及人工智能、基因工程和其他將給我們的未來(lái)帶來(lái)改變的技術(shù)。

Although I found things to disagree with—especially Harari’s claim that humans were better off before we started farming—I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.

盡管有些東西我并不贊同——尤其是哈拉里認(rèn)為人類(lèi)在開(kāi)始農(nóng)耕之前情況更好，但我仍要向所有對(duì)人類(lèi)歷史和未來(lái)感興趣的人推薦《人類(lèi)簡(jiǎn)史》一書(shū)。