PBS高端访谈:美国最终会不会采用公制计量法?

 　　GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight, we return to one of — another of our periodic essays.

　　There are many hot topics under debate in 2016. Bestselling author Daniel Pink wants us to focus on one issue not making headlines, how the metric system measures up.

　　DANIEL PINK, Author: This is my phone. Like many of you, I use it to check the temperature. And right now, a spring afternoon in Washington, D.C., my phone says that, outside, it's 16 degrees.

　　That's not a mistake. That's Celsius¹. And I'm not a crank or a Canadian. It's just that, a few years ago, I went metric, and it's time for you and the rest of America to join me.

　　Let me take you back in time, the 1970s, Columbus, Ohio. I'm in third grade. One day, Mrs. Williams tells us something amazing. In a few years, she says, the United States will go fully² metric.

　　Four decades later, I'm still waiting, all 84 kilograms of me. Today, only two other countries still have not embraced the metric system, Liberia and Myanmar. But metric is a good idea whose time has finally come.

　　美国最终会不会采用公制计量法?

　　On the muddy racetrack of 2016, it now offers a rare political trifecta. It's good for business, good for international harmony and good for kids.

　　Begin with business. Getting our organizations on a single standard will avoid mistakes like the one a while back when a $125 million Mars orbiter exploded because NASA was using the international standard, but its contractor³ was using pounds. Metric makes international trade easier and smoother and eliminates duplication in manufacturing and labeling.

　　Next, international relations. America has a tattered⁴ image overseas, but going metric can help mend that by showing we're ready, willing and able to work with the rest of the world.

　　And, finally, children, those little creatures every candidate says are the future. Our kids' future is global and high-tech⁵. Well, 95 percent of the globe has already gone metric. So has 100 percent of science and technology. Just as kids in China are racing⁶ to learn English, the world's linguistic⁷ standard, shouldn't American kids be mastering metric, the world's measurement standard?

　　There's another advantage I have learned from my own conversion⁸ to liters and meters. Metric is easier than the Liberian system. Believe me, it's much simpler to divide by 10 and 100 than by eight and 12.

　　There's even evidence that, when prescriptions⁹ calls for doses in milliliters and come with a metric dispenser, people make far fewer mistakes than when dosages are in teaspoons¹⁰, which raises another question.

　　Teaspoons? It's two-and-a-half centuries since we broke from King George, and our health care system is using teaspoons? We can do better, America, but we will have the lead our politicians, instead of waiting for them to lead us.

　　So, take out your phones and switch to Celsius. Reset¹¹ your bathroom scale to kilograms. Maybe even dump your yardsticks¹² into Boston Harbor.

　　Together, we can lead this country into the future, even if we have to do it millimeter by millimeter.

　　GWEN IFILL: All right.

 

1 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

4 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

5 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

6 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

7 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

8 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

9 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

10 teaspoons   

n.茶匙( teaspoon的名词复数 )；一茶匙的量

参考例句：

• Add two teaspoons of salt. 加两小匙盐。
• Add 3 heaped teaspoons of sugar. 加满满的三匙糖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

12 yardsticks   

比较或衡量的标准，尺度( yardstick的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Your success in life can be measured by many yardsticks. 你在生活方面的成功是可以用许多标准来衡量的。
• Common yardsticks for measuring success are cost, choice, performance, and security. 判断一个操作系统是否成功的通用尺度包括成本、普及度、性能和安全性。