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SECTION A
1. That year every guy on campus had a leatherjacket, and Rob couldn’t stand the idea of being the only football player whodidn’t, so he made a pact that he’d give me his girl in exchange for my jacket.那一年校园里每个人都有件皮夹克，而罗伯是校足球队中唯一没有皮夹克的，他一想到这个就无法忍受，因此他和我达成了一项协议，用他的女友换我的夹克。
（1）he’d give me his girl in exchange for my jacket作pact的同位语，阐释pact的内容。
pact意为“协议”。近义词有convention、treaty、compact。
（2）in exchange of意为“作为对……的交换”。例：In exchange for a peacefulenvironment for the future generations, our revolutionary predecessors shedtheir blood and even sacrificed their precious lives.为了给后代创造一个和平的环境，我们的革命先烈们抛头颅、洒热血。
2. But she was pretty, well-off, didn’t dye herhair strange colors or wear too much makeup. She had the right background to bethe girlfriend of a dogged, brilliant lawyer. 但她美丽而且富有，没有把头发染成奇怪的颜色，也没有化很浓的妆。她拥有合适的家庭背景，完全有条件成为一名坚忍且出色的律师的女友。
（1）dye意为“把……染上颜色”。现在分词为dyeing。
（2）此处dogged为形容词，意为“顽强的”。They, through sheer dogged determination, slowly gained respect fortheir efforts.他们凭借顽强的毅力慢慢为自己的努力赢得了尊重。其副词形式为doggedly。
3. If I could show the elite law firms I appliedto that I had a radiant, well-spoken counterpart by my side, I just might edgepast the competition.如果在竞聘时，我能够让我所申请的顶尖律师事务所看到我身边有着一位光芒四射、谈吐优雅的另一半，我就很有可能在竞聘中略胜一筹。
（1）本句包含由if引导的条件状语从句，状语从句中the elite law firms I applied to为show的间接宾语，that I had a radiant, well-spoken counterpart by my side宾语从句为show的直接宾语。其中，间接宾语中I applied to为定语从句，修饰先行词firms。
（2）句型if sb. could do…, sb. just might do…用于假设。例：If you could make thebest of what you have instead of dreaming what you don’t have, you just mighthave already achieved great success. 如果你能好好利用现在拥有的一切而非幻想你所没有的，你很可能已经取得巨大的成功了。
（3）radiant意为“光芒四射的”。例：On her wedding day the bride looked truly radiant.婚礼那天，新娘看起来光芒四射。
（4）此处edge为动词，意为“略胜一筹”。可替换为have an edge over。其作动词讲还有“慢慢移动”之意，例：He edged closer to the telephone, ready to grab it.他慢慢地移动到电话旁边，准备拿起它。另外，edge作名词时，还有多个常见词组：
①on edge紧张的
例：My nerves were constantly on edge.我的神经持续紧张。
②take the edge off减弱
例：Poor health took edge off her performance.健康不佳使她表演减分了。
4. “Radiant” she was already. I could dispenseher enough pearls of wisdom to make her “well-spoken”. 她已经是“光芒四射”了。而我能赋予她足够多的“智慧之珠”，让她可以变得“谈吐优雅”。
（1）此处表语radiant提前，构成部分倒装，目的是为了强调“她”外形美好。
（2）dispense意为“分发，分配”，此处意译为“赋予”。此外，dispense还有多种释义：
①（机器）售出（产品）
例：The cash machine spewed outsome receipts apologizing for its inability to dispense money.自动取款机因其无法提款而输出了一些致歉的纸条。
②配发，配售（药）
例：Health officials hope to begindispensing anti-retroviral drugs on a wide scale at the beginning of the nextyear.卫生官员们希望在明年年初大规模配发抗逆转录病毒药物。
5. What I had in mind was a little eccentric. Ithought the venue with a perfect view of the luminous city would lighten themood. 我的想法有些古怪。我想，在这个能够俯瞰灯火辉煌城区的地方，人的心情会变轻松。
（1）what I had in mind是由what引导的主语从句。with a perfect view of the luminous city作venue的定语，修饰venue。
（2）eccentric意为“古怪的”。例：He is an eccentric character.他是一个古怪的人。另外，eccentric作名词意为“古怪的人”。
（3）luminous意为“发亮的”。名词形式为luminance光明。
6. Failures in logic distort the truth, and someof them are well known. 逻辑上出现问题会歪曲事实，其中一些逻辑谬误是非常常见的。
distort意为“歪曲”。例：The media distort realities. They categorized people as all good orall bad.媒体扭曲事实，他们把人分为十足的好人和坏蛋。其名词形式为distortion“变形；扭曲；曲解”；其形容词形式为distorted“歪曲的”。
7. I could see she wasstumped. 我看得出她被难住了。
stump意为“把……难住”。例：John is stumped bythe unexpected question.约翰被这个意想不到的问题难住了。另外，stump还有多种释义：
①（选举前为候选人）作巡回政治演说（动词）
例：Since September, the president has stumped for the Republicans in 23states.自九月以来，这位总统已经在23个州为共和党人作了巡回政治演说。
②残余部分
例：If you have a tree stump, check it for fungus.如果你有树桩，就在上面找找菌类。
拓展：“你把我难住了”有多种表达方式，如：You beat me.；You really baffled/put me.；You got me there.
8. The man never answered the boss’s question.Instead he appealed to the boss’s sympathy—Ad Misericordiam 这个人根本没有回答老板的问题。而只是在博取老板的同情，这就是‘文不对题’。”
（1）句型sb. never/seldom do…. Instead, sb. do…用于强调。例：Some of our publicservants never serve the people. Instead they take advantages of theirprivileges and authorities to seek personal interests to the maximum extent.一些人民公仆不为人民服务，而是利用手中的特权、职权最大限度地为自己谋私利。
（2）appeal to意为“唤起，吸引”，此处意译为“博取”。例：The university boasts many world-famous experts, professors, and theworld’s best research library. Therefore, it appeals to many students andresearchers around the world.这所学校拥有许多著名的专家、教授以及世界上最好的研究图书馆，因此吸引了来自世界各地的学子和研究人员。此外，appeal to还有多种释义：
①呼吁
例：He appeals to the state for an extension of the unemploymentbenefits.他呼吁国家延长失业救济。
②诉诸
例：I suggest one need to appeal to artistic intentions to some extent.我认为我们应该在某种程度上诉诸艺术家的意图。
9. She blinked, stilltrying hard to keep back her tears. 她眨眨眼睛，仍在竭力地忍住眼泪。
（1）blink意为“眨眼”。例：She blinked and forced a smile.她眨了眨眼，挤出了一丝微笑。另外，其还有“闪烁”之意，例：Green and yellow lights blinked on the surface of the harbor.绿色和黄色的灯光在港湾上面闪烁。
（2）现在分词结构still trying hard to keep back her tears作目的状语。其中keep back意为“忍住”，可替换为wind back、hold back。
10. “Polly,” I groaned, “don’t derail thediscussion.” “波莉，”我抱怨道，“别打岔，这一推论是错误的。”
（1）groan意为“抱怨”。例：Her parents were beginning to groan about the price of the collegetuition.他父母开始抱怨大学的学费。另外，groan还有多种释义：
①呻吟
例：Slowly, he opened up his eyes and began to groan with pain.他慢慢地睁开眼睛，然后开始痛苦地呻吟。
②堆满
例：The bar table groans under the weight of huge plates of the freshestfish.酒吧柜台上堆满了大盘大盘新鲜的鱼。
③受重压
例：Consumers were groaning under the weight of the high interest rate.消费者们受着高利率的重压。
（2）derail意为“打断”，在此处意译为“打岔”。名词形式为derailment。
11. With five nights of diligent work, I actuallymade a logician out of Polly. 经过五个夜晚的辛勤付出，我竟然真的将波莉打造成了一个逻辑行家。
（1）with five nights of diligent work作状语，阐释了我的努力付出。
（2）make…out of…意为“使……变成”。例：The aim of the military academy is to make the qualified officersout of the young cadets after four years’ study and training.这所军校的目标是经过四年的学习和训练将这些年轻的军校生变成合格的军官。
12. She’d learned her lessons well, farsurpassing my expectations. 她学得很好，远远超过了我的预期。
（1）此处far为副词，表示程度。far beyond sb.远远超过某人。
（2）surpass意为“远远超出”。例：She threw an excellent party that surpassed expectations.她办了一次远远超过预期的精彩聚会。surpass还有“优于，超过”的含义，例：He was determinedto surpass the achievement of his older brother.他决心超过他哥哥的成就。
另外，surpass形容词形式surpassing意为“卓越的；优秀的”，scenery of surpassing beauty无比优美的景色。
13. I laughed with somewhat less amusement,hiding my dread that she’d learned her lessons too well. A few more false stepswould be my doom. I decided to change tactics and try flattery instead. 我又笑了笑，不过不觉得那么有趣了，同时还不能表露出我害怕她学得太好了。再错几步我可就无法挽回了。我决定改变策略，转而尝试奉承她。
（1）现在分词结构hiding my dread that she’d learned herlessons too well作伴随状语，其中包含由that引导的同位语从句，阐释“我”担心的内容。
（2）此处doom为名词，取“世界末日”之意。另外doom还有多种释义：
①厄运（名词）
例：his warnings of impending doom他对即将到来的厄运发出的警告
②悲观（名词）
例：Why are people so full of gloom and doom? 人们的心里为什么满是悲观失望？
③注定（动词）
例：That argument was the turning point for their marriage, and the onewhich doomed it to failure.那次争吵是他们婚姻的一个转折点，它注定了他们婚姻的失败。
14. “You certainly can discern a fallacy when yousee it,” I said, my hopes starting to crumble. “你还真是能在遇到逻辑谬误时辨别它们，”我说，心里的希望已经开始破灭了！
（1）discern意为“察觉出”。例：It is possible to discern a number of techniques in her work.从她作品中可以识别出很多创作手法。另外，discern还有多种释义：
①了解
例：It is often difficult to discern how widespread public support is.了解公众支持的广泛程度常常是困难的。
②（依稀）看出
例：We could just discern the house in distance.我们只能勉强辨别出远处的房子。
（2）crumble意为“（制度，关系，希望）崩溃”。例：The economy crumbled under the weight of United Nations sanction.在联合国制裁的重压下，他们的经济崩溃了。此处crumble意为“（希望）破灭”。
15. I leaped to my feet,my temper flaring up. 我一跃而起，怒火中烧。
（1）leap to one’s feet意为“跳起来”。类似词组有rise to one’s feet站起来，struggle to one’s feet挣扎着站起来。
（2）flare up意为“突然发怒”。例：Temper flared and harsh words were exchanged.人们大动肝火，对骂起来。此外，flare up还有多种释义：
①（火焰等）突然旺起来
例：The match flared and went out.火柴闪亮了一下就熄灭了。
②（疾病、损伤）突然加剧
16. How could you give me the axe over Rob? Lookat me, an ingenious student, a tremendous intellectual, a man with an assuredfuture. Look at Rob, a muscular idiot, a guy who’ll never know where his nextmeal is coming from. 你怎么会甩了我而选择罗伯？看看我，一个聪明过人的学生，一个不同凡响的知识分子，一个前途无量的人。再看看罗伯，一个肌肉发达的蠢材，一个有了上顿没下顿的家伙。
（1）give sb. the axe意为“抛弃某人”，例：If you continue to play your preciouscollege years away, success will give you the axe upon graduation.如果你继续浪费大学的珍贵时光，毕业时你将一事无成。结构类似的短语有give sb. the boot解雇某人，give sb. the slip乘（某人）不备时溜掉。
（2）句型look at…; look at…用于对比。例：Look at us, living in tall buildings,wearing Nike and Adidas, eating McDonalds and KFCs, drinking Cola and Pepsis.Look at the refugees in the war stricken areas, sheltering in poor straw sheds,having almost nothing to wear, to eat and to drink. How can we complain ourlives? 看看我们，住着高楼大厦，穿着耐克、阿迪，吃着麦当劳、肯德基，喝着可口可乐和百事可乐；再看看那些战乱地区的难民们，住在破烂不堪的小茅房里，没穿的，没吃的，没喝的。我们怎么还能抱怨自己的生活？
（3）此处intellectual为名词，意为“知识分子”。其做形容词有“智力的；高智力的”之意。
（4）an ingenious student, a tremendous intellectual, aman with an assured future为me的同位语，阐释我是一个怎样的人。同理a muscular idiot, a guy who’ll never know where his next meal iscoming from为Rob的同位语，阐释Rob的形象，其中who’ll never know wherehis next meal is coming from为定语从句，修饰先行词guy，定语从句中包含一个由where引导的宾语从句，做know的宾语。
17. “Wow, what a presumption! I’ll put it in away someone as brilliant as you can understand,” retorted Polly, her voicedripping with sarcasm.“喔，这是什么假设啊！为了让像你这样聪明的人能够明白，我这么说吧……”波莉反驳道，声音里充满了讽刺。
（1）I’ll put it in a way someone as brilliant as youcan understand中someoneas brilliant as you can understand为定语从句，省略了关系词，修饰先行词way。
（2）be dripping with意为“满是”，例：Though the lady is dripping with jewels,her words and actions are dripping with vulgarity and rudeness.这位女士虽然珠光宝气，但是言行却粗俗无礼。
SECTION B
1. Orthodox views prize intelligence andintellectual rigor highly in the modern realm of universities and tech industryjobs. 传统观念认为，那些在现代大学或科技领域从事工作的人必须具有很高的智力和缜密的逻辑。
（1）orthodox意为“普遍接受的，传统的”，例：orthodox medicine传统医学。反义词为unorthodox。此处可替换为conventional，traditional。
（2）此处prize为动词，意为“高度重视，珍视”。例：an era when honesty was prized above all other virtues尊诚实为美德之首的时代。另外，prize在不同词性下有多种释义：
①难能可贵的事物（名词）
例：World peace is the greatest prize of all.世界和平是最可贵的珍宝。
②奖品，奖金（名词）
例：prize draw抽奖、claim one’s prize领取奖品
③（优秀的，出类拔萃的）
例：He’s a prize specimen of the human race.他是人中楷模。
（3）rigor取“严密”之意，intellectual rigor在此处意为“缜密的逻辑”。
（4）realm意为“领域”，the realm of politics政治领域。另外，realm还有“王国”之意，例：Defense of the realm is crucial.王国的防御是至关重要的。
2. One of the underlying assumptions of thisvalue system is that smart people, by virtue of what they’ve learned, willformulate better decisions. 这种价值体系所蕴藏的一个假设就是，聪明人凭借他们渊博的知识，会做出更明智的决策。通常情况下这种假设是成立的。
（1）此句中that smart people, by virtue of what they’ve learned,will formulate better decisions是一个由that引导的表语从句；其中by virtue of what they’ve learned为方式状语，阐释聪明的人是如何做出明智的决策的；方式状语中what they’ve learned做介词短语的宾语。
（2）by virtue of意为“凭借”，例：She defeated the bad guy by virtue of courage and a pair of vices.她凭借勇气和一对老虎钳打败了那个坏蛋。近义词为by meansof。
（3）formulate意为“构想出（计划或方案）”。例：Little by little, he formulated his plan for escape.他一点点地构想出了他的逃跑计划。另外，formulate还有“确切表达”之意，例：She has lots ofgood ideas, but she has difficulty formulating them.她有很多好的想法，但就是不善于表达。名词形式为formulation。
3. Yet psychologists who study human decisionmaking processes have uncovered cognitive biases common to all people,regardless of intelligence, that can lead to poor decisions in experts andlaymen alike. 但是，研究人类决策过程的心理学家们却发现，不管智力高低，每个人都有可能出现“认知偏差”，并且这些偏差会导致人们做出错误的决定，无论是专家还是门外汉。
（1）who study human decision making processes为who引导的定语从句，修饰先行词psychologists。have uncovered cognitive biasescommon to all people中cognitive biases为宾语，common to all people为宾补。
（2）uncover意为“发现”。前缀-un有“除去”的含义，类似的单词有：unbind解放，unlock开锁，undo解开，unpack开包，unbutton解开纽扣，uncap脱帽。
（3）此处alike为副词，意为“两者都，同样地”。例：Good management benefits employees and employers alike.良好的管理对雇主和雇员都有利。另外alike还有多种释义：
①相似地（副词）
例：They try to treat their children alike.他们尽量对自己的孩子一视同仁。
②相像的（形容词，作表语）
例：My sister and I do not look alike.我和我妹外貌不相像。
4. Understanding how and in what situations theyoccur can give you an awareness of your own limitations and allow you to factorthem into your decision-making. 了解了这些偏差是在什么情况下产生的、怎么产生的，可以让你意识到自身的局限性，在决策过程中就能避免受到这些因素的影响。
（1）此句中how and in what situations they occur做understanding的宾语，其中they occur为定语从句，省略了关系副词，修饰先行词situations。
（2）factor…into意为“把……考虑在内”。例：Now it has become popular for people to factor calories into theirfood choices.现在人们在选择食物时把热量考虑在内已经变得很普遍了。近义词有take…into account/consideration。
5. Through this people attribute the failures ofothers to character flaws and their own to mere circumstance, subconsciouslyconsidering their own characters to be stainless. 有这种认知偏差的人把别人的失败归咎于性格缺陷，而把自身的失败归咎于周边环境，潜意识里里认为自己性格是完美的。
（1）此句中subconsciously considering their own charactersto be stainless为伴随状语，其中their own characters为consider的宾语，to be stainless为宾补。their own to mere circumstance为省略句，完整的应为attribute the failure of their own to mere circumstance。
（2）attribute…to意为“把……归因于”。例：The company attributed the loss to higher material and labor costs.公司把亏损归因于原料和劳动力成本的上涨。近义词为ascribe…to。
（3）stainless在此处取“（人或名声）纯洁无瑕”之意，意为“完美的”。此处可替换为flawless。
6. It also leads us to attribute our own successto our qualifications, discounting luck, while seeing others’ success as theproduct of mere luck. 同样，犯这种错误的人也会将自身的成功归因于自身的素质而不是运气，却将别人的成功仅仅归因于运气。
（1）discount在此处意为“认为……不重要，不理会”。例：Trades tend to discount the rumor.商人们倾向于不理会这个传闻。
（2）此处mere为形容词，意为“只不过（用于强调）”。例：There is more to good health than the mere absence of disease.健康不仅仅指不生病，还包括更多。另外，mere还有多种释义：
①单单的（用于指某事虽小却有重要影响）
例：The mere mention of the food had triggered off hunger pangs.单单提到食物就引起了阵阵饥饿感。
②只不过（用于强调数量之少）
例：60% of teachers are women, but a mere 5% of women are principals.60%的老师是女性，但是只有5%的女性是校长。
7. In other words, we typically demand moreaccountability from others than we do from ourselves. 也就是说，我们通常要求别人承担更多责任，而不是自己。
（1）accountability意为“有责任”。动词形式为account；形容词形式为accountable负有责任的。例：Public officials can finally be heldaccountable for their actions.政府官员最终要对他们的行为负责。
（2）we do from ourselves中do代指demand more accountability，than前后形成对比。
8. Not only does this lead to petty judgmentsabout other people, it also leads to faulty risk assessment when you assumethat certain bad things only happen to others. 这样，我们不仅会变得心胸狭窄，对别人做出不公正的评价，也会因为持有坏事只会发生在别人身上的想法而对风险做出错误的评估。
（1）not only放句首，后面句子用倒装，此句中does this lead to petty judgments about other people助动词does提前，构成了部分倒装。
（2）petty意为“小气的，狭隘的”，此处意译为“不公正的”。另外，petty还有“小的，琐碎的，微不足道的”之意，近义词为trivial、minor。
（3）when you assume that certain bad things onlyhappen to others为when引导的条件状语从句，其中包含了由that引导的宾语从句that certain bad thingsonly happen to others，做assume的宾语。
（4）此处assume意为“假设”，it is generally assumed that普遍认为。另外，assume还有多种释义：
①承担（责任）
例：The court assumed responsibility for the girl’s welfare.法庭承担保障了这个女孩福利的责任。
②呈现，显露
例：The matter has assumed considerable importance.这件事看来相当重要。
③假装
例：She assumed an air of concern.她假装很关心的样子。
9. Every time it stalls or has a little error,you assume that it was triggered by a hacker and that your suspicions arevalid. 那么每次电脑死机或者有其他小问题，你都会觉得是黑客攻击引发的，并且对自己的推论深信不疑。
（1）此句every time引导时间状语从句；主句包含两个由that引导的宾语从句，做assume的宾语。
（2）此处stall取其“熄火，抛锚”之意，意译为“死机”。另外，stall作动词还有多种释义：
①故意拖延（以赢得时间）
例：They are still stalling on thedeal.他们仍在拖延时间，而不急于达成协议。
②暂缓，搁置
例：attempts to revive the stalledpeace plan旨在重新启动搁置的和平计划
（3）be triggered by意为“由……引起的”。近义词有be caused by、as a consequence of、as a result of。
10. This bias plays an especially big role inrivalries between two opposing views. Each side partitions their own beliefs ina logic-proof loop, and claims their opponent is failing to recognize validpoints. 这种偏差在对立观点的对抗中也会显现。每一方都认为自己的观点无懈可击、逻辑严谨，并认为对方忽略了关键的信息。
（1）play a role in意为“发挥作用”，此处意译为“显现”。例：Our greed tends to play a rolein loss of our mental balance.我们心理失衡，常常是贪念作祟。
（2）partition与claim在结构上对仗，均可意译为“认为”。
11. Outwitting confirmation bias therefore requiresexploring both sides of an argument with equal diligence. 所以，要克服这种偏差，就要公正认真地探究论题的两面。
outwit意为“智胜”。例：Somehow he alwaysmanages to outwit his opponents.他反正总能智胜对手。此处可替换为outsmart。
拓展：前缀-out有“超过”的含义，如outdo胜过、outlive活得比……长、outnumber在数量上超过、outbid出价对于别人。
12. When witnesses are called to testify in acourt trial, the confidence in their testimony is measured along with andagainst the evidence at hand. 当目击证人被传唤出庭作证时，法庭对他们的证词的信任度往往是靠已得的各种证据来衡量的。
（1）confidence意为“信任”。另外，confidence还有“保密”之意，例：We told you all these things.我们告诉你的这些事情都是保密的。
（2）against意为“比照（某事物）”，例：Our policies haveto be judged against a clear test: will it improve the standard of education? 我们的政策需要比照一个明确的检验，即会提高教育水准吗？另外，against还有多种释义：
①反对
例：Joan was very much against commencing drug treatment.琼非常反对开始药物治疗。
②以防
例：Any business needs insurance against ordinary risks such as fire,flood, and breakage.任何企业都需要保险来防范诸如火灾、洪灾和破损等常见风险。
③以……为背景
例：His red clothes stood out clearly against the snow.他的红衣服在白雪中格外显眼。
13. Since the retention and retrieval of memoriesis biased toward vivid, sensational, or emotionally charged examples, decisionsbased on them can often lead to strange, inaccurate conclusions. 人们往往会因为事情的生动与否、震撼程度以及对情感的触动程度不同，保留和重拾的记忆也不同，因此基于这些例子所做的决定结果往往古怪、有偏差。
（1）retention和retrieval押头韵。retention意为“记忆力”，retrieval意为“读取（信息）”；此处处理为“保留和重拾回忆”。
（2）charged在此处意为“高度兴奋的，充满感情的”。例：A wedding is an emotionally charged situation.婚礼是一个激动人心的场合。另外，charged还可意为“带电的”。
14. Repelling the availability bias calls for anempirical approach to a particular decision, one not based on the obscuredreality of vivid memory. 如果要消除“可得性偏差”，人们在做决定时，就要以已经过验证的证据为依据，而不能以与现实不太相符的某段鲜明的记忆为依据。
（1）repel取其“击退，打退”之意，此处意译为“消除”。近义词为roll back。另外，repel还有“使厌恶”之意，例：a violent excitement that frightened and repelled her使她害怕和厌恶的一次暴力骚动。
（2）call for意为“需要”，例：It’s a situation that calls for a blend of delicacy and force.这种情况下需要的是刚柔并济。另外，call for还有多种释义：
①前往接某人
例：I’ll call for you at seven o’clock.我七点去接你。
②要求
例：They angrily called for Robinson’s resignation.他们愤怒地要求罗宾逊辞职。
15. Gamblers with a high threshold for risk putmoney into a slot machine hoping for a big return, but with each pull of thelever they lose some money playing the odds. 玩老虎机的赌徒明知有高风险，还一次次地把钱投入其中，希望获得丰厚的回报，但他们一次次地操纵拉杆，最终都以失败告终。
（1）threshold意为“临界点”，例：Moss has a highthreshold for pain and a history of fast healing.莫斯的忍痛力很强，而且有迅速愈合的经历。另外，threshold还有多种释义：
①门口
例：He stopped at the threshold of thebedroom.他在卧室门口停了下来。
②即将经历
例：We are on the threshold of anew era in astronomy.我们即将迈入天文学的新时代。
（2）play the odds意为“碰运气”，例：They decided to have fun at the casino and play the odds.他们决定在赌场中玩玩，碰碰运气。
16. If they have been pulling the lever manytimes in a row without success, they might decide that they had better keepspending money at the machine, or they will have wasted everything they alreadyput in. 如果他们连续赌了多次也没成功一次，那么他们可能认为必须继续投钱进去，否则就会血本无归了。
in a row意为“连续”。例：It is the third week in a row in which the company’s share price hasfallen.这是该公司股价持续下降的第三个星期了。
17. In everyday life this can lead people to stayin damaging situations because of how much they have already put in, stuck onthe erroneous belief that the value of that time or energy they have investedwill decay or disappear if they leave. 在日常生活中，这种谬误往往会诱导人们为了之前投入的成本而继续维持在损失的状态中，同时执拗于一种错误的观念，他们认为自己一旦放手，之前投入的时间和精力就会付之一炬。
（1）此句中that the value of that time or energy they haveinvested will decay or disappear if they leave为belief的同位语，阐释观念的内容；其中they have invested为定语从句，修饰先行词time or energy。
（2）erroneous意为“错误的”。副词形式为erroneously，名词形式为erroneousness。
（3）decay在此处意为“消失，付之一炬”。另外，decay有多种释义：
①腐坏
例：The bodies buried in the fineash slowly decayed.埋在细灰里的尸体慢慢腐烂了。
②衰败
例：In practice, the agency systemhas decayed.实际上，这种代理制已经衰退。
18. When a decision matters, it is best to relyon watertight logic and a careful examination of the evidence and to remainaware that what seems like good intuition is always subject to errors ofjudgment. 在做重要的决定时，要依靠严密的逻辑并对证据进行仔细审查。同时，要高度警惕，那些看上去良好的直觉往往会导致做出错误的判断。
（1）此句包含一个由when引导的条件状语从句，主句中it为形式主语，真主语为并列的两个不定式短语to rely on watertight logic and a careful examination of theevidence and to remain aware that what seems like good intuition is alwayssubject to errors of judgment；其中that what seems like good intuition is always subject to errors ofjudgment为宾语从句，做remainaware的宾语；宾语从句中包含由what引导的主语从句what seems like goodintuition。
（2）watertight意为“严密的，无懈可击的”，例：If she couldjust establish the time the picture had been taken, Mick would have awatertight alibi. 只要她能确定拍这张照片的时间，米克就可以有一个无懈可击的不在现场证明。
（3）be subject to意为“有……倾向的”。另外其还有“受支配，从属于”之意，例：This replacement will have to be done in the future or we will besubject to shortage of power like California. has experienced.这个替换过程在将来是一定会实现，否则我们将像加利福尼亚州所经历的那样受限制于能源短缺。