欧美人文风情第235篇:比尔盖茨的2016夏日书籍

 I've read some terrific books lately. Here are a few you might wanna read this summer. 我最近读了一些很出色的书。这里是几本你今年夏天可能会想读的。

The Vital Question by Nick Lane Nick Lane 的《The Vital Question(重要问题)》

He starts with the basic question of how life started. The work he's done on that is so intriguing¹. 他从生命如何开始那基本问题起头。他对那的研究非常吸引人。

He seems to be the first guy who's really looked into certain weird² things about the mitochondria. 他似乎是第一个真正探究粒线体特定奇怪事情的人。

But he puts forward all sorts of ideas about different diseases that really bear looking into. 但他也提出各种关于不同疾病、非常值得研究的想法。

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari 的《Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind(人类大历史：从野兽到扮演上帝)》

Sapiens is really good. And there's a lot of things about early human history that most people haven't been exposed to. Sapiens 这本书真的很棒。早期人类历史有许多是大部分的人没接触过的。

And he's good and succinct³ on that. And then he goes off in many directions, like, "Are we happier than we've ever been?" 而作者对那很擅长也很简洁明了。接着他来到许多面向，像是「我们比以前更开心吗？」

"And what about robots?" It's got the broad framework. It's a great book. 「机器人怎么样？」这本书的架构很广。是本好书。

How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg Jordan Ellenberg 的《How Not to Be Wrong(数学教你不犯错)》

This book has tons of good stuff in it for a non-mathematician. 这本书对非数学家来说有许多好东西。

He updates you about the world of math, what advances have taken place. 他更新你对数学世界的认识、更新有哪些进展发生。

His enthusiasm comes across. In math, if you don't, kind of, practice it, you get this attrition of your mathematical thinking. 作者的热忱表露出来。数学的领域，如果你没有有点去运用的话，你的数学思考能力就会磨损。

The Power to Compete by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani 三木谷良一和三木谷浩史的《The Power to Compete(竞争的能力)》

To me, Japan is fascinating. In the 1980s and '90s, the Japanese were just turning out engineering and doing great stuff. 对我来说，日本很迷人。在 1980 和 90 年代，日本正在发展工程和进行一些很棒的事。

How did they lose their way? Why have these companies not been more innovative⁴? 他们是怎么迷失的？为什么这些公司没有更创新呢？

Japan's actually had a hard time changing, but the country can be in very good shape. 日本其实在改变上遭受困难，但这国家可以发展得很好。

The thing I spent the most time on is Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. 我花最多时间的是 Neal Stephenson 的《Seveneves(七夏娃)》。

I haven't read science fiction much in the last decade, which is, you know, kind of crazy because I used to read it massively. 我过去十年来没读多少科幻小说，你知道，那有点怪，因为我以前读很多。

This terrible thing happens that has to do with the moon breaking apart. 这件可怕事情的发生和月球碎裂有关。

The planet's gonna undergo this meteoric⁵ bombardment for, like, 5,000 years. 星球将遭受大概五千年的陨石轰炸。

It makes you think about a lot of things. You know, like, if the world's gonna end in two years, who's gonna come to work? 那让你思考许多事。你知道，像是，如果这世界两年内会终结，谁要去工作？

Should kids go to school? It's a really good book. 孩子们应该去上学吗？这是本真的很棒的书。

So those are some of the books I'd recommend this summer. I hope you find something you like. 所以那些就是我今年夏天会推荐的书。希望你找到自己喜欢的。

 

1 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 succinct   

adj.简明的，简洁的

参考例句：

• The last paragraph is a succinct summary.最后这段话概括性很强。
• A succinct style lends vigour to writing.措辞简练使文笔有力。

4 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

5 meteoric   

adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的

参考例句：

• In my mind,losing weight is just something meteoric.在我眼中，减肥不过是昙花一现的事情。
• His early career had been meteoric.他的早期生涯平步青云。