关于数字的英语故事阅读
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关于数字的英语故事篇1
Numbers
数字
A lady noticed her husband standing on the bathroom scale, sucking in his stomach. Thinking he was trying to weigh less with this maneuver, she commented,"I don’t think that’s going to help.""Sure it will,"he said."It’s the only way I can see the numbers."
一个女人看见丈夫使劲收腹站在体重秤上，以为他想称得轻一点，就说：“没用的。” 丈夫说：“当然有用，这样我才能看到秤上的数字。”
关于数字的英语故事篇2
Originated in the Christian legends -the Last Supper of ' disciple Judas betrayed Jesus to the Roman and his 12 disciples,a total of 13 individuals with eating the Last Supper,after Jesus was arrested executions.13 on behalf of the traitor Judas,on behalf of Good ore,the Christian national general disgust 13,dinner,parties,things are not like 13 people together to do some of the streets on the 13th,do not have 13-story buildings.
最早起源于基督教传说——耶稣最后的晚餐.耶稣的门徒犹大向罗马当局出卖了耶稣.耶稣和他12个门徒一共13个人一起吃了最后的晚餐,之后耶稣就被逮捕处决了.
13代表叛徒犹大,代表耶稣受难.因此,基督教国家一般厌恶13,吃饭、聚会、做事都不喜欢13个人一起做,有的街道没有13号,楼房没有13层.
关于数字的英语故事篇3
十大经典数字背后的故事
Numbers factor into everything. Some numbers have become so well-known that nobodyquestions where they came from or how they became so important.
数字无处不在。有些数字广为人知，成为生活中再平常不过的代号，人们甚至都无意追溯其缘起。
66
10.66号公路
It's known as America's Main Street. It's the place where you can get your kicks. Running fromChicago to Los Angeles, Route 66 is an icon of Americana, whisking travelers across thenation's heart. The road was decommissioned in 1985, but it still holds a mythical place inAmerican culture.
66号公路从芝加哥一路横贯到洛杉矶，被称为"美国主干线"，是美国文化的象征之一。它让无数旅行者蠢蠢欲动，吸引人们驾车驰骋，穿越这个民族的心脏，探寻其魅力。1985年，66号公路被迫退役，虽已不复见于公路地图，但其传奇般的过往仍在美国文化中举足轻重。
So why 66? Why not 12, or 384? Let's go back to the beginning. In 1917, Wisconsin becamethe first state to prohibit the marking and naming of roads without the approval of thegovernment. Previousl
y, it was common for roads to be sponsored by motor clubs, privatecompanies, and tourist boards, who would choose the route that best suited them—regardlessof whether it was the best or quickest path for motorists. To replace this confusing system,Wisconsin's State Highway Commission developed an efficient layout of numbered highways,an innovation that was quickly adopted across the country. In 1925, St. Louis was selected asthe hub for four major highways traveling across the US. None of them was supposed to benumbered 66. Instead, Routes 40, 50, and 60 would run east/west, while Route 61 would travelnorth/south. But the plan hit a bump when Kentucky demanded the name Route 60 for thehighway between Virginia Beach, Virginia and Springfield, Missouri (which ran right throughKentucky). The reason? Kentucky was the only state in the Missouri Valley without a road thatended in zero. Really, it was that petty. The original plan was for Route 60 to run betweenChicago and Los Angeles, but Kentucky suggested that this could be renamed Route 62. TheBluegrass State got their way, but other state highway agencies weren't enthusiastic aboutthe Route 62 name—they wanted something more memorable. After noticing that the numberwas still available, Midwest agency members Cyrus Avery and B.H. Piepmeier sent a letter tothe Bureau of Public Roads simply stating, "We prefer 66 to 62." And that was that—the mostfamous road in the United States got its name after a silly fight over numbers ending with zero.
那么问题来了，为什么要叫"66号公路"，而不是"12号公路"或者"384公路"呢?让我们回到最初来一探究竟。1917年，威斯康星州成为第一个通过"未经政府允许，不得给公路标号或命名"法案的州。在此之前，公路名称一般都由汽车俱乐部、私人公司或旅游局来命名，这些机构选择最适合他们宣传的公路予以赞助，而不考虑这条路对于车主来说是不是最好、最快、最便捷。所以，为了取代这些纷繁复杂的公路系统，威斯康星州公路委员会规划以数字命名公路，这一创举迅速被其他州所借鉴。1925年，圣路易斯被选为横跨美国的四大主要公路网的中心枢纽。起初，人们完全没有考虑66这个数字，而是计划用60命名东西向的那条公路，用61命名南北向的那条公路，用40和50命名另外两条公路。但是，由于肯塔基州要求以60命名穿过肯塔基州的那条公路，于是计划泡汤。为什么肯塔基想要60呢?因为在密苏里谷，肯塔基是唯一一个没有以0结尾公路的州。没办法，谁让肯塔基州规模小呢。最初的计划是将芝加哥到洛杉矶的洲际公路编号为60，但是肯塔基州想给经过自己州的公路编号60，所以提议将这条公路改名为62。牧草州(美国肯塔基州别名)一意孤行，可其他州并不买账，大家都想要一个更具纪念意义的编号。意识到彼此相
执不下也不能解决问题，中西部地区的代理成员Cyrus Avery和B.H. Piepmeier给国家公共道路管理局写了一封信，说"我们不喜欢62，给我们66吧"。于是，在一场激烈的"抢零风波"后，伟大的66号公路就这样诞生了!
-22
9.第22条军规
"Catch-22" is a common phrase in English-speaking countries. It can defined as "a paradox inwhich the attempt to escape makes escape impossible." The term comes from Joseph Heller'sclassic novel of the same name, although its popularity as a phrase didn't really take off untilthe 1970 movie came out. In the book and movie, the phrase refers to an Air Force ruling thatonly a crazy person would make an extremely dangerous bombing run without trying to getout of it. Any pilot who doesn't try to get out of it is clearly deranged and therefore qualifiesfor immediate medical leave on the grounds of insanity. However, anyone who asks not tomake the run must be sane (since trying to get out of danger is the sign of a rational mind)and therefore any pilot who requests medical leave for insanity cannot be granted it. Eitherway, every pilot has to make the run. Catch-22.
"Catch-22"在英语国家是个常用短语，用来形容"自相矛盾、不合逻辑的规定或条件所造成的无法脱身或左右为难的困境"。它出自约瑟夫·赫勒的经典同名小说，不过直到1970年同名电影上映，这个短语才真正为人所熟知。在同名小说和电影中，catch-22指空军部队的一条军规，它规定"只有疯子可以免于执行轰炸的飞行任务"。如果一个飞行员真的疯了，想不去执行轰炸任务，他可以提出申请，证明自己疯了，休病假，免于飞行。可是，任何想以神智不清为由不去执行任务的人一定是心智健全的(因为对自身安全表示关注，乃是头脑理性活动的结果)，所以没人能取得疯癫的病假，因而每个飞行员都必须执行轰炸任务。这就是第22条军规，又谓"坑人二十二"。
But why Catch-22? Well, it's mostly because another book took the original number. In 1955,the first chapter of what became Catch-22 appeared in a magazine under the title full book hit stores in 1961, but by then there was another popular book with "18" in thetitle: Leon Uris's Mila 18. The publishers thought that the reading public couldn't handle twobooks with the same number in the title, so Catch-18 became Catch-22. But it's not like 18 wasjust some random number Heller pulled out of the sky—it had a specific meaning that the newtitle lost. In Jewish culture, 18 is a highly significant number—the 18th letter in the Jewishalphabet is "chai" which means life (or living). Early drafts of Heller's work had more of a Jewishemphasis. Heller suggested Catch-14 as an alternate title, but the catchier Catch-22 won out.
那么为什么是第22条呢?这就要追溯到另一本书了。1955年，小说
《第22条军规》的第一章发表在一本杂志上，不过当时这本小说名为《第18条军规》;1961年，全书完成，小说面世。当时，利昂·尤里斯的小说Mila18很受欢迎，出版者考虑到读者可能会混淆两本同带数字18的书，于是建议将Catch-18改为Catch-22。赫勒起初选取数字18，不是一时兴起、毫无缘由的。在犹太文化中，18是一个很重要的数字，犹太字母表中的第18个字母是"chai"，意思是生命或生存。赫勒的早期作品比较强调犹太文化，不过改名之后的小说名称失去了这一暗含寓意。赫勒曾经想过用Catch-14，不过最后还是选择了更吸引眼球的Catch-22。
y numbers
8.不吉利的数字
Different cultures consider different numbers to be bad luck. In English-speaking countries, it'susually 13 which is held to be unlucky. This belief might go back as far as the Babylonian Codeof Hammurabi, which skips a 13th law for unclear reasons. There are quite a few otherindications that the number had negative connotations in the ancient world, including Judasbeing the 13th person to arrive at the Last Supper. The belief could have originated in ancientSumeria, where 12 was considered the perfect number.
每个文化中都有所谓的厄运数字，而在英语国家，这个恶名就落到了数字13身上。"13不吉利"的说法最早要追溯到古巴比伦的《汉谟拉比法典》，该法典中跳过了第13条法律，原因不明。另外，古代有很多关于13不吉利的传说，其中一个是说在最后的晚餐上，犹大是第13位到场的客人。还有人将不吉利13的缘起归于古苏美尔文化，该文化中12被视作完美的数字。
In modern times, there are still many buildings in North America that don't have a 13th floordue to the superstition. Every year, Friday the 13th sees about $$800 million less in economicactivity than you'd expect, as people tend to avoid the day for traveling or events likeweddings. In 1907, Thomas Lawson had a hit bestseller with Friday the Thirteenth, in which acrazed stockbroker attempts to bring down the market, further cementing the day's poorreputation. In Asia, it's four which is considered bad luck. The number four in Chinese soundsremarkably similar to the word for death. Naturally, people don't like to associate with anythingthat sounds like death. China went as far as discontinuing license plates with the number fourin them. As American buildings skip 13, some Chinese buildings skip the fourth floor. Fans ofthe acclaimed Hong Kong police thriller Infernal Affairs (which was given a Hollywood remake asThe Departed) may have noticed that the classic elevator scene skips the fourth floor.
现在，北美的很多建筑仍然由于这一迷信而有意跳过楼层13，甚至每年恰逢13号星期五的经济额也比其他时候少8亿之多，因为人们都尽量避免在那一天出去旅游
或举办婚礼之类的大型活动。1907年，托马斯·劳森所著之书《黑色星期五》跻身畅销书单，书中描述了一个精神失常的股票经纪人企图使市场股价下滑的故事，这又进一步加重了13的不吉利意味。在亚洲，人们往往认为数字4不吉利，中文中数字"4"的发音跟"死"的发音相近，所以人们听到"4"就很自然的联想到了"死"。在中国，人们的车辆牌照往往没有4，就像美国建筑会跳过楼层13一样，中国有些大楼也会跳过楼层4。一些钟爱香港警匪片的粉丝们也许留意过，在电影《无间道》(曾于2006年被好莱坞翻拍为《无间道行者》)经典的电梯一幕中，电梯上没有4层的按钮。
Numbers
7.运动场上的数字
Look around any sporting event and you'll see thousands of fans wearing their favorite players'jersey. These days, the most popular players are practically synonymous with their origin of numbered jerseys couldn't be any simpler. In soccer, or football to most of theworld, shirt numbers were introduced to match up with your position on the field. Goalies wore1, and at the other end of the field the field strikers wore 9 and 10. The first substitute wore12, and the next wore 14—naturally, few players wanted to wear unlucky 13. These days,numbers mostly no longer correspond to position, but some elements of the system remain,like the term "false nine " for a striker who tends to drop deep into midfield instead of stayingforward like a traditional 9.
环顾各大运动赛场，会发现无数的粉丝穿着代表他们最喜欢的运动员的运动服。现在，运动员似乎跟他们场上所穿衣服的号码融为了一体。运动员穿带有数字的运动衫，原因很简单。比如说大多国家的足球或橄榄球项目，球衣号码就代表着球员在场上的位置。守门员穿1号，前锋穿9号和10号，第一替补穿12号，第二替补穿14号——没人愿意穿不吉利的13号。现在，数字大多与位置无关，不过有些数字的位置信息还是保留了下来，比如说"伪9号"，指的是一个经常回撤到中场拿球的中锋，而不是传统的只在禁区线附近活动的正统9号。
In baseball, the first team to wear numbers was the minor league team in Reading,Pennsylvania in 1907. Nine years later, the Cleveland Indians of the majors wore numbers forthe first time (it only lasted a few weeks, but they brought them back later). As with soccer,baseball's numbers coincided with positions—in this case in the usual batting order. So BabeRuth's famous 3 wasn't his personal choice, it was because he batted third in the lineup. ThePhiladelphia Athletics were the last team to fully embrace numbers—they wouldn't wear themfor home games until 1937 .
在棒球运动中，宾夕法尼亚州雷丁的一支棒球小联盟于1907年首次身着带号码的球衣进行比赛。9
年后，美国职棒大联盟球队克里夫兰印地安人队首次身着号码球衣。跟足球一样，棒球服的数字也跟位置对应，不过棒球服的数字排序简单，是根据打击顺序排列的。所以，巴比·鲁斯身着三号球服并不是出自个人意愿，而是由他在场上的位置决定的。费城的棒球运动员是最后一批完全接纳数字球衣的队伍，直到1937年，他们才愿意穿上带号码的球衣进行主场比赛。
6.205 Communists
6.205名共产党员
In one of the most infamous speeches in American political history, Senator Joseph McCarthymade a shocking allegation—there were communists working in the US government! Thespeech was headline-grabbing then, and it might be even more notorious now. McCarthy wouldeventually flame out after accusing the US Army of harboring communists and becoming thebutt of ridicule for his over-the-top antics, which famously climaxed with him being chided, "Have you no sense of decency?"
美国参议员约瑟夫·麦卡锡曾大肆宣称美国政府有共产党员渗透，这一演讲也成为美国政坛史上一次臭名昭著的演讲。该演讲的主题在当时夺人眼球，在当下更是声明狼藉。麦卡锡谴责美国军队包庇共产党员，这种滑稽透顶的言论让他变成了人们的笑柄，大家斥责他："你难道都没有一点良知吗"，麦卡锡这才消停了。
But his 1950 speech caused a sensation. The speech was given in the rather incongruoussetting of the Women's Republican Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. There's some debate overhow many communists McCarthy claimed were in the government, since he later announcedthat there were 57 card-carrying communists in the State Department, but most agree that theoriginal number he gave was 205. So where did the flamboyant McCarthy pull that 205number out of? Believe it or not the number did have some basis in reality. In 1946, the StateDepartment's screening committee identified 284 potential security risks—people with far leftties. Later in the year, 79 of them were let go, leaving 205. Congress had been informed ofthese findings in 1946, but it didn't raise much of a stir. In 1950, immediately after the AlgerHiss trial, the first Soviet atomic bomb test, and the fall of China to communism, the mood wasvery different. So despite McCarthy's questionable motives, he did have reason to believe thataround 205 State Department employees could potentially be security risks. Naturally,McCarthy wildly exaggerated (he was so adamant that he had discovered 205 communiststhat it took the State Department weeks to realize he was alluding to their own investigation)but he didn't just make the number up out of thin air either.
1950年，在对西弗吉尼亚共和党妇女俱乐部的演讲中，麦卡锡声称自己有一张纸，上面记录着为国务院工作的57名共产党人名单，这一举动引起舆论哗然。不过大家
都认为最初的人数有205个。那么，狂傲的麦卡锡是从哪里挑出的205人呢?不管你信不信，这个数字还真有现实依据。1946年，国务院审查委员会指控了284名潜在危险人物，唯一的证据就是对公务员进行"忠诚调查"后的甄别材料。其后一年，284人中有79人被解雇，剩下205人。国会早在1946年就公布过这些材料，但当时并未引起注目。而到了1950年，阿尔杰·希斯审判案后不久，苏联发起第一次原子弹实验，中国也成为共产主义共和国，于是使得美国的气氛也变得不同。所以，尽管麦卡锡动机可疑，但他确实有理由质疑国务院存在205名左右的危险分子。很明显，麦卡锡夸大了事实(他坚持说有205名共产党员，国务院花了数周才意识到麦卡锡是拐弯抹角的指明他引用了他们之前调查的数据)，但这个数字也不是凭空捏造的。
5.城镇的命名
Naming a town seems like a pretty straightforward thing. In America, they're mainly namedafter people, local landmarks, or other towns. So if someone tells you it's called New Yorkbecause people just liked it better that way, you can correct them and say it was named for theeventual King James II of England, then known as the Duke of York and Albany.
给城镇命名听上去似乎很简单。美国的城镇一般以人物、地标或其他城镇的名字为名，所以如果有人跟你说纽约之所以叫纽约，只是因为人们喜欢这么叫时，你就可以纠正并告诉他，纽约的叫法其实包含了对当时的约克和奥尔巴尼公爵、英王詹姆斯二世的尊敬。
But what about towns named for numbers? One such town came to public attention via thenational pastime. Bill Voiselle was a major league baseball pitcher during the 1940s. Today,he's best remembered for his uniform number—at a time when everyone wore low numbers,Voisselle wore #96. His reasoning was pretty simple: he was from the town of Ninety Six,South Carolina. Ninety Six got its unusual name from a simple quirk of cartography. In 1730,surveyor George Hunter marked the area as being 96 miles from the Cherokee town ofKeowee. The number made it onto the maps, and the name has stuck around ever ional building supply chain 84 Lumber got its name in a similar way—the company wasfounded in the town of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania. Like most number-based towns, there are allsorts of crazy stories about how Eighty Four came to be named, but the most likely story isactually quite simple. The small rural community wanted the name Smithville for their postalroute. That name was already taken in eastern Pennsylvania, so postmaster H.F. Weir asked forthe route to be named after the year the post office was built: 1884. A slightly abbreviatedversion ended up becoming the town's official name.
那么，以数字为名的城镇又有什么说法呢?比尔·维斯乐
是20世纪40年代棒球大联盟的一名投手，他因自己的球衣号码为人所熟知，那个时候，大家的球衣号码都是小数字，而维斯乐球衣背后的号码是大数字96。他说选这个数字的原因很简单：他来自南卡罗来纳的九十六小城，这个小城因制图时的一个小失误而得名96。1730年，测量员乔治·亨特一时疏忽把这个小城距切罗基原住民居住地的距离标到了地图上，自那之后，这个小城就成了96小城。84木材是一家连锁国家建材供应商，跟96小城一样，它的命名也是源自公司所在的地区：宾夕法尼亚州的84小城。大多以数字命名的小城都有着各种各样的稀奇传说，84小城也不例外，不过，它的来历相对比较简单。起初，这个小城想以Smithville来命名其邮递路线，但那个名字已经被宾夕法尼亚州东部的一个小城用了，于是邮政局长 H.F. Weir征求大家意见，建议用邮局所建年份1884做名字，最后，大家选择了年份的后两位数作为小城的官方名称。
57
4.亨氏57变
The Heinz Company is known for making condiments—so many of them that the companyfamously adopted the advertising slogan "57 Varieties." The company was founded in 1869 andhas prospered ever since, although it took a bit of a tumble when John Kerry ran for Presidentin 2004. Since Kerry was married to Teresa Heinz, the widow of company Heir John Heinz III,some Republicans claimed that purchasing Heinz products was "like giving to the Democrats."Unsurprisingly, Heinz survived this backlash and continues to produce well over 57 products.
亨氏集团以其调味品著称，很多调味品都采用了"57变"的广告语。亨氏集团自1869年成立以来生意一直很好，只是2004年约翰·克里竞选总统时业绩有些下滑，因为克里娶了亨氏集团继承人约翰·海茵茨三世的遗孀特丽莎·海茵茨，所以一些共和党人认为购买亨氏集团的产品"就像在给民主党投票"。不过，亨氏集团最终还是熬过了这次抵制行动，继续生产了57种产品。
So why is the number 57 associated with Heinz? It all started in 1896, when company founderHenry Heinz was on a train in New York City and passed a sign advertising 21 different styles ofshoes. Heinz thought that was brilliant—it made the company seem complex and diversifiedand appealed to many different tastes in shoes. By that point, his company already had wellover 60 products available, but Heinz decided 57 worked better. Some sources say heconsidered 57 his lucky number, others claim that his lucky number was five, and his wife's wasseven. Or maybe he just liked how it sounded. Regardless, the number 57 doesn't actually referto 57 specific varieties of anything—it's just a catchy marketing device.
为什么57会跟海茵茨扯上关系呢?这要追溯到1896年，那一年，亨氏集团创始人
亨利·海茵茨在纽约市的火车上，正巧看到路边一则广告上展示着21种不同风格的鞋子。海茵茨心想，这个广告主意不错，能展现出公司鞋子产品的多样化并吸引不同需求的消费者购买。那个时候，他的公司已经生产了60余种产品，但是海茵茨觉得57更好。有传言说57是海茵茨的幸运数字;还有人说5是他的幸运数字，7是他妻子的幸运数字;也或者他就仅仅是喜欢57的发音呢。不管怎么说，虽然是选择了57，但这并不是指代57种特定的调味品，而是吸引市场眼球的一个手段。
Million Jews
3.600万犹太人
There are some numbers that shouldn't be questioned, yet Holocaust denial has been aroundsince the 1950s, when the influential American priest Gerald L. K. Smith claimed that no Jewshad been killed by the Nazis—they had all secretly emigrated to America instead. Former IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is still telling anyone who can stand to hear him talk that theHolocaust is a myth, while others content themselves with claiming that the six million Jewsestimated to have been killed is an exaggeration.
有些数字不容人们质疑，可是自20世纪50年代起，否认大屠杀的事就一直未平息。美国一位很有影响力的牧师Gerald L. K. Smith声称，纳粹不曾杀害过一个犹太人，相反，犹太人都被秘密安全转移到美国了。前伊朗总统马哈茂德·艾哈迈迪-内贾德仍然大言不惭的跟那些能忍着听完他讲话的人说纳粹德国对犹太人的大屠杀是一个迷;还有一些人则安慰自己说600百万犹太人被杀害有些夸大其词。
But six million isn't just a random guess—it's well documented. The Nazis kept detailedrecords of their atrocities, including how many Jews were moved to concentration camps orkilled by roving death squads. Adolf Eichmann, as responsible as anyone for planning theHolocaust, was confident that a bit over five million Jews had been killed. Historians have doneextensive work to determine the exact number—including those who never even made it toEichmann's camps. For example, SS records confirm at least 7,000 died during the fighting ofthe 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. After meticulously scouring the records, the historian LucyDawidowicz put the total number killed at 5.93 million. Other historians have reached similarfigures. The fact that these figures derive from German bureaucratic records should beenough to blow a hole in any Holocaust denier's theories. There was a Holocaust, it was real,and the Nazis are the ones who said so.
但是600万这个数字并不是随意的猜想，而是有文件记载的。纳粹党人保留了他们暴行的详细记录，包括有多少犹太人被运往集中营，有多少人死于敢死队。在犹太人大屠杀中执行"最终方案"的主要负责者纳粹战犯阿道夫·艾希曼承认有500多万犹太人被杀
害。历史学家做了大量工作以获得确切数字，想知道那些都没能到集中营就丧命的人数。就如，根据SS党卫军的记录，单在1943年华沙犹太人隔离区起义中，就有至少7000名犹太人被杀害。经过细致调查和统计，历史学家Lucy Dawidowicz指出，被迫害的犹太人有593万，其他历史学家的统计也跟这个计算结果相近。这些根据德国官方记录而得出的受害人数足以抨击否认大屠杀的人的阴谋论。大屠杀真实存在，迫害方纳粹党就是这场残暴屠杀的见证者。
38th Parallel
2.三八线
The 38th parallel is a circle of latitude that served as the initial basis for the famousdemilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea—the most heavily fortified border inthe world. The DMZ traces its origins to World War II. As US forces landed in the south ofKorea and the Soviet Red Army overran the Japanese forces in the north, there needed to be aline where the two armies could meet without overlapping (and possibly ending up fighting eachother). The 38th parallel was chosen. But why?
三八线是一条用以划分南北朝鲜之间受降范围的暂时军事分界线，是世界上防卫最森严的一条边界线。其历史要追溯到第二次世界大战，那时，美国武力登陆朝鲜南部，苏联红军将日本军力控制在北部，所以需要有一条分界线来划分两国部队控制的受降区，以免两国军队见面打起来。于是，就选择了三八线，为什么呢?
It turns out that the line had no real historical significance. Prior to the Allied invasion, Koreafunctioned as a whole pretty well. It was the Soviets and Americans who decided to split thenation. Dean Rusk, a member of General George Marshall's staff (and a future Secretary ofState), looked over a National Geographic map with Army Colonel Charles "Tic" Bonesteel. Thepair were determined that Seoul should be in the American zone, but they couldn't find anatural break north of the city. They eventually settled for the 38th parallel, around 56kilometers (35 mi) north of Seoul. The Soviets agreed to the entirely arbitrary dividing line andthe rest is (war-torn) history.
事实证明这条分界线的确立并没有什么历史性的意义。盟军入侵之前，朝鲜还是个完整的国家，是苏联和美国硬生生把这个国家一分为二。乔治·马歇尔将军的一位年轻参谋迪安·拉斯克上校(Dean Rusk，后来担任美国国务卿)和陆军军官查尔斯·邦斯迪尔审视了国家地图后，认为首尔应该归在美国受降区，但是他们没能在这个城市的北部找到一个自然分界线。于是最后选择了距首尔北部大约56,000米，位于北纬38度附近的一条线。苏联对这个随意划分的分界线也表示同意，三八线就这么形成了。
man's Top 10 lists
1.莱特曼的前10榜
Everyone love
s lists. There are even websites based on the idea. But the idea behind a Top 10list didn't originate in the Internet age—magazines have been doing them for decades. Butnothing helped popularize Top 10 lists as much as Late Night with David Letterman.
每个人都喜欢榜单，有很多网站也是基于排名而设立。不过，前十排行这个主意可不是缘起于互联网时代，杂志媒介已经采用这种形式数十年了。但要说让前十榜单这一形式红起来的，那还要属午夜聊天节目《大卫深夜脱口秀》。
In its early days, Letterman was known for being edgier than other talk shows—since it was onlater in the evening, it had more leeway to get away with silly stunts. Writer Randy Cohen hasoften been given credit for the idea of doing a humorous Top 10 list, but Cohen himself saysit was more of a team effort. Which is good, because it seems like everyone who worked forLetterman except Letterman himself thinks they came up with the idea as a spoof of other Top10 lists. The direct inspiration was likely a Cosmopolitan list of the 10 sexiest men over first list, written by Kevin Curran, was the Top 10 Words That Almost Rhyme With "Peas."But what about Listverse? Well, our very first list was published way back in 2007. And whileListverse didn't always follow the 10-item format, it works well, as history has shown us.
早期时候，这档脱口秀以其生动犀利的语言而闻名，因为节目是在午夜播出，所以可以尽情嬉笑怒骂，将娱乐精神展现的淋漓尽致。人们常常将前十排行这一创意归功于写手兰迪·科恩，不过科恩自己说这更多的是团队协作的成果。这样想也好，因为这样一来，似乎除了主持人莱特曼以外，每个为这档脱口秀工作的人都可以把自己算作创造前十榜单笑料的一员。前十排行的直接灵感来源于Cosmopolitan的"十大60岁以上的最性感大叔"榜单。《大卫深夜脱口秀》中的第一份前十排行榜是凯文·库然写的"十大跟peas(豌豆)押韵的词语"。
翻译：毛志遥