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这 是一篇典型的现象—解释性语篇。文章第一段先指出一个有趣的现象，即足球明星们似乎都正好出生在年初几个月（即人们似乎觉得超强足球能力是天生的）。第二段介绍了人们对这个有趣现象的四种猜测性解释。第三、四段介绍了佛罗里达州立大学心理学教授安德斯·埃里克森的看法，他首先研究了人的记忆力，认为记忆力的强弱不是天生的，而是后天训练所得。第五段中，埃里克森则推而广之地认为（亦即全文结论），记忆力、计算机能力以及足球能力都是经过后天努力而形成的，不是天生的（也就是说，人们关注足球运动员的出生月份是没有意义的）。
If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006's World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy
quirk
: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months. If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be ever more
pronounced
.
What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a)certain
astrological
signs confer superior soccer skills; b) winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer
stamina
; c) soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer
mania
; d) none of the above.
Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly i. "none of the above." Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. "With the first subject, after about 20 hours of training, his digit span had risen from 7 to 20," Ericsson recalls. "He kept improving, and after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers."
This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person "encodes" the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.
Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying expert performers in a wide range of pursuits, including soccer. They gather all the data they can, not just performance statistics and biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers. Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers—whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming—are nearly always made, not born.
如果你查看2006年世界杯锦标赛上所有足球运动员的出生证明，你可能发现一个值得注意的现象：优秀足球运动员更可能出生在上半年，而不是下半年。如果你查看进入世界杯和职业比赛的欧洲国家青年队的话，那么你会发现这种奇怪的现象甚至更明显。
该怎么解释这种奇怪的现象呢？以下是几种猜测：a）某种星座的人具备更具有足球天赋；b）冬季出生的婴儿往往具有更高的供氧能力，这提高了他们踢足球的耐力；c）热爱足球的父母更可能在春季（每年足球狂热的鼎盛时期）怀孕；d）以上各项假设都不成立。
58岁的安德斯·埃里克森是佛罗里达州立大学的一位心理学教授，他坚信“以上各项都不成立”。埃里克森在瑞典长大，他一直在研究核工程直到后来他认识到，如果他转向心理学领域，他会有更多机会从事自己的研究。约30年前，他进行了第一个与记忆有关的实验——训练一个人先听一组任意挑选的数字，然后复述这些数字。“在接受大约20个小时的训练后，第一个试验对象（复述）的数字组合从7个上升到20个，”埃里克森回忆说。“他的记忆力不断提高，在接受约200个小时的训练后，他复述的数字已经达到80多个。”
这次实验的成功，连同后来证明“记忆本身并非由遗传决定”的研究，使得埃里克森得出结论——记忆过程是一种认知练习，而不是一种本能练习。换句话说，无论两个人在记忆力方面可能有什么样的天生差异，这些差异都会被每个人如何恰当地“解读”所记的信息所掩盖。埃里克森确信，了解如何有目的地解读信息的最佳方法就是一个为人所知的有意练习过程。有意练习需要的不只是简单地重复一个任务。相反，它涉及确定明确的目标、获得即时反馈以及注重方法与结果。
因此，埃里克森和他的同事开始研究包括足球运动员在内的各行各业的优秀人才。他们收集了能够收集到的所有资料，不只是表现方面的统计数据和传记详细资料，还包括他们自己对取得很高成就的人员进行实验室实验的结果。他们的研究得出了一个非常令人惊奇的结论——我们通常称为才能的特征被高估了。或者，换句话说，成就优秀者（无论在记忆还是手术方面，在芭蕾还是计算机编程方面）几乎都是培养的，而不是天生的。
This success, coupled 1 later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more 2 a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In 3 words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped 4 how well each person "encodes" the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice entails more than 5 repeating a task. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.
Key
1．with 2．of 3．other 4．by 5．simply
（1）Textual Translation (篇章翻译)
In these strange old times, when fantastic dreams and madmen's reveries were realized among the actual circumstances of life, two persons met together at an appointed hour and place. One was a lady, graceful in form and fair of features, though pale and troubled, and smitten with an untimely blight in what should have been the fullest bloom of her years; the other was an ancient and meanly dressed woman, of illfavored aspect and so withered, shrunken and decrepit, that even the space since she began to decay must have exceeded the ordinary term of human existence. In the spot where they encountered, no mortal could observe them. Three little hills stood by each other, and down in the midst of them sunk a hollow basin, almost mathematically circular, two or three hundred feet in breadth, and of such depth that a stately cedar might just be visible above the sides.
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（2）Sentence Translation（句子翻译）
①子曰：“道千乘之国，敬事而信，节用而爱人，使民以时。”
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②子夏曰：“贤贤易色；事父母，能竭其力；事君，能致其身；与朋友交，言而有信。虽曰未学，吾必谓之学矣。”
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参考译文
(1)在古怪的旧日时光里，当狂想和疯子的白日梦在现实生活中实现时，有两个人在约定的时间地点碰面了。其中一位女士仪态优雅，面容姣好，尽管她面色发白，在盛年过早地受到病痛的折磨；另外一位老妇人穿着寒酸，面色难看，她是如此的瘦小、干巴，以至于她看上去好像活了好几个世纪。在她们碰面的地方，凡人是看不到她们的。三座小山紧挨在一起，中间是一块下陷得看上去呈圆形的盆地。宽度约为两三百英尺。盆地的深度也与宽度差不多，从旁边看上去，一棵高大的雪松也仅是隐约可见。
(2) ①Confucius said. "When administering a country in possession of a thousand military chariots, you should strictly and cautiously handle the major national affairs, keep your promises, cut down expenses and value talented people, and remind farmers not to miss the farming season."
②Zi Xia said. "If a person pays much attention to his morality but not to feminine charms, does his best to show filial devotion and obedience to his parents, serves his lord sparing no sacrifice, keeps honest and reliable with friends, I should definitely say that he has once studied the historical documents even if he himself denies."
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As an old saying goes. "Honesty is the best policy." Honesty is laureated as a virtue by most, if not all, of the world's cultures. Honesty will be given high priority provided that we are asked what the most significant quality is in our friends or partners. As a matter of fact, the public seem to think that being honest is for others rather than for themselves. Concerning the adverse consequences of deception, I harbor the view that practicing honesty is in our own best interest.
To begin with, one negative impact of dishonesty turns out to be a waste of time and energy. Fabricating falsehood consumes plenty of efforts. Those who concoct lies spare no effort to guarantee the fact that others conceive them as trustworthy. Under such circumstances, the first lie one fabricates is not the last on the grounds that lying seems to act as marijuana with the result that the more you lie, the more addictive you will be. Those who are confided to falsehoods are engaged in weaving a web of lies to the point that they have little time to do anything.
In addition to a huge drain on one's time and energy, deception has serious repercussions on one's mental health. Frequent lies give rise to a sense of guilt and shame in one's heart. Most liars still have a conscience deep down inside in that it is an immortal behavior to tell lies. Additionally, those who fall into a sea of falsehood are apt to be in a dilemma. For example, those who falsify resumes with the aim of gaining employment are likely to be in an anxious emotion about the possibility of losing jobs given that the boss discovers their lies.
Finally, one will be bound to pay for his dishonest conduct. Lying seems to be equivalence to taking a gamble in that one must undertake the risk of failure. Generally speaking, those who tell lies are too conceited to hold that they outwit those who are very honest. Unfortunately, when deception is exposed to the public, what floods them entails great loss, or even spells their downfall. What's worse, having one's falsehood concealed perhaps equates to losing one's job, being deserted by friends and family, or even spending time in jail.
All in all, the fact that we must be confronted with is dishonesty seems to exist around us. However, we must come to realize the matter that it is unlikely to eliminate the deceit. What we can do is to decide what we will be like, such as whether to practice truthfulness or to what extent. Depending on what is mentioned above, including a waste of time and energy, damaging our mental health and bringing about great losses, we can boil down to one conclusion that honesty turns into our only alternative.