美丽英文41

　　The puzzle of Love
With Valentine’s Day at mid-month, February is the month of love and romance with cards, candy, flowers and gifts exchanged between loved ones.
Love is everywhere. The language of love is universal. Amour, Amore, Amor, Liebe, Karlek, Mowg, Laska, Lyubof, Agape. By any name, love makes the world go 'round. People don’t just love, they "fall" into it, as if by accident. It causes broken hearts and offers the keys to happiness. People suffer incredible hardships and even give up kingdoms for it.
For an analytic¹ like me, this brings up the question - what is Love? What is this mysterious condition, at once a panacea² and affliction? How does it come about?
In real life, many appear to have selection criteria³ for love, or think they do. "Cute" (physically⁴ appealing) is usually at the top of the list; but then a cute girl, or guy, sounds stupid, and the attraction quickly declines. One bachelor I know keeps finding fault with all the women he meets — teeth too big, hair too long, etc., ad infinitum — which is why he is still a bachelor.
It is interesting to note the different (and often conflicting) preferences. In some cultures "plump" may be attractive (indicating that the prospective⁵ mate is healthy and well-fed), while in the West "thin is in." A hero is often described as "tall, dark and handsome"; the villain⁶ is presumably short, pale-skinned and ugly. Of course, short girls would probably prefer short guys. Perhaps "dark" indicates a rugged⁷, outdoor look, as opposed to a nerdy bookworm. But then, these days techy types are in style. And what exactly is ugly? Bald is usually negative, though Capt. Picard evidently attracts a lot of admiring females.
Unaccountably, chance meetings bring "love at first sight" and the inexplicable⁸ attraction of "soul-mates." Fate changes everything.
In the West, most people seek their own partners in the social environment — at church, in a bar, at work or at a party. But in some cultures young people don’t make their own choice. Parents feel that the young don’t have enough wisdom, and so they select partners for their children. The bride and groom⁹ may not even meet until the wedding day, though in modern times they may be allowed to see photos or even have a couple of discreet¹⁰ dates. Some claim a much better success rate for arranged marriages, over the seemingly random¹¹ western selection process. But I suspect that the cultures where parental¹² selection is common also have a strong prohibition¹³ against divorce, which skews the results-many couples remain in unhappy marriages.
Today, computer-dating services make the process of finding a mate easy and very effective. Everyone posts their own description and a picture, with a list of their own preferences for a partner. The computer then selects likely candidates and puts them in touch. This process has yielded wonderful results for millions. Indeed, Love has bridged continents in this way.
Whatever the selection mechanism¹⁴, the success rate of marriage in the United States is somewhat less than fifty percent. We have been to weddings where the bride and groom seemed perfectly¹⁵ suited — and then they were divorced within a year. And too, we have wondered at the attraction between two totally different types, physically and socially very different people who are evidently still happy together after decades. The puzzle of love is difficult to decode¹⁶.
While on the subject of marriage: in spite of the old song: Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage, modern society has seen a big trend toward couples living together without going through any formalities, at least until they have children. Until the so-called "marriage tax" was eliminated, filing a joint¹⁷ tax return even had a financial disadvantage.
Moving to a different plane, love does not simply refer to romance between the sexes — it is the special feeling between two people-same sex partners, parent and child, siblings¹⁸, family, friends. Some people feel love for their pets, and it’s clearly reciprocal.
As technology advances and computers become smarter, will machines become capable of love? In the Star Trek¹⁹ series, Data wants to experience love and sometimes gets close to an analysis of the "feeling." In the movie AI, a lifelike robot is imprinted²⁰ with "love" that is unconditional²¹, intense and indestructible. The mother loves the humanoid too, but rejects him when she has to choose between the synthetic²² child and her own natural son.
And there are other kinds of love, which perhaps need different words. Some people are moved to great personal sacrifice for the love of humanity. Patriotic²³ love is something greatly admired by compatriots, but despised by enemies. How does anyone fathom²⁴ the love of a mother who can encourage her child to do a suicide bombing?
And then, there is love of God — human love for an unseen spiritual being. The love of God is preached by all religions, but is something few can truly demonstrate beyond lip service.
You know, I’ve never understood the bible story of God testing Abraham's love by asking him to sacrifice his first-born son, and then stopping him from committing murder only after he demonstrates a clear intent.
For the cynic, there is always Tina Turner’s song:
Whats love got to do with it?
What's love, but a second-hand²⁵ emotion?
Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken?

1 analytic   

adj.分析的，用分析方法的

参考例句：

• The boy has an analytic mind. 这男孩有分析的头脑。
• Latin is a synthetic language,while English is analytic.拉丁文是一种综合性语言，而英语是一种分析性语言。

2 panacea   

n.万灵药；治百病的灵药

参考例句：

• Western aid may help but will not be a panacea. 西方援助可能会有所帮助，但并非灵丹妙药。
• There's no single panacea for the country's economic ills. 国家经济弊病百出,并无万灵药可以医治。

3 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

6 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

7 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

8 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

9 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

10 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

11 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

12 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

13 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

14 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

17 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

18 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

19 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

20 imprinted   

v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The terrible scenes were indelibly imprinted on his mind. 那些恐怖场面深深地铭刻在他的心中。
• The scene was imprinted on my mind. 那个场面铭刻在我的心中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 unconditional   

adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的

参考例句：

• The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
• My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。

22 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

23 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

24 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

25 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。