It‘s a rough world out there. Step outside and you could break a leg slipping on your doormat. Light up the stove and you could burn down the house. Luckily， if the doormat or stove failed to warn of coming disaster， a successful lawsuit might compensate you for your troubles. Or so the thinking has gone since the early 1980s， when juries began holding more companies liable for their customers misfortunes.
Feeling threatened， companies responded by writing ever-longer warning labels， trying to anticipate every possible accident. Today， stepladders carry labels several inches long that warn， among other things， that you might - surprised！ - fall off. The label on a childs Batman cape cautions that the toy “does not enable user to fly.”
While warnings are often appropriate and necessary - the dangers of drug interactions， for example - and many are required by state or federal regulations， it isnt clear that they actually protect the manufacturers and sellers from liability if a customer is injured. About 50 percent of the companies lose when injured customers take them to court.
Now the tide appears to be turning. As personal injury claims continue as before， some courts are beginning to side with defendants， especially in cases where a warning label probably wouldnt have changed anything. In May， Julie Nimmons， president of Schutt Sports in Illinois， successfully fought a lawsuit involving a football player who was paralyzed in a game while wearing a Schutt helmet. “Were really sorry he has become paralyzed， but helmets arent designed to prevent those kinds of injuries，” says Nimmons. The jury agreed that the nature of the game， not the helmet， was the reason for the athletes injury.
At the same time， the American Law Institute - a group of judges， lawyers， and academics whose recommendations carry substantial weight - issued new guidelines for tort law stating that companies need not warn customers of obvious dangers or bombard them with a lengthy list of possible ones. “Important information can get buried in a sea of trivialities，” says a law professor at Cornell Law School who helped draft the new guidelines. If the moderate end of the legal community has its way， the information on products might actually be provided for the benefit of customers and not as protection against legal liability.
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警告标签
外面是一个危险的世界。出门的时候你可能被踏脚垫绊倒摔断腿，点燃火炉的时候你可能烧掉房子。幸运的是如果踏脚垫或者火炉没有能提醒你可能带来的灾难，那么一场成功的法律诉讼可以补偿一下你的麻烦的损失。在20世纪80年代早期这种就有了这种想法，那时候陪审团开始让公司为其顾客的不幸承担更多的责任。
感觉到这种威胁的存在，公司开始用写的很长的警告标签来作出反映，试图预料每一种可能的事故。今天四角梯可能带有长达几英寸的警告标签，在这些警告中由你可能感到惊奇的内容：警告说你可能从梯子上滑落。在孩子们的蝙蝠侠的斗篷的警告标签说：不能让使用者飞起来。虽然警告是无可厚非和必要的例如药物的相互作用——这些也被联邦和州的法律所要求的，如果一个顾客受到伤害，我们也不清楚这种警告能否确保生产和销售商免于责任。当受到伤害的顾客与他们打官司的时候，50％的公司都会输掉的。
现在的形势开始改变了。随着个人受伤的指控还像以前一样，但是一些法庭开始站在被告一边了，特别是在警告标签不能起到作用的案件中。5月份，I的总裁成功的赢得了关于一个美式橄榄球运动员受伤的法律诉讼，这个运动员在运动中受伤瘫痪，那时带了S的头盔。N说到“我们真的很遗憾他变成了瘫痪，但是头盔不是设计用来防止这种损伤的。”法官也同意是运动本身的特性而不是头盔才是运动员受伤的原因。
与此同时ALI－一个由法官律师和学者组成的团体，他们的意见举足轻重－发布了新的行为伤害法的指导方针，指出公司不需要对明显的危害对顾客进行警告，也不需要尽可能的列出所有可能的危害。C法律院校的教授说重要的信息可能被淹没在这无用的琐碎信息之中，他也帮助起草这个指导方针。
如果指导方针在法律界得到正确的执行，那么产品信息就可以真正为顾客提供有益的帮助，而不是为了避免法律责任。
In the last half of the nineteenth century “capital” and “labour” were enlarging and perfecting their rival organisations on modern lines. Many an old firm was replaced by a limited liability company with a bureaucracy of salaried managers. The change met the technical requirements of the new age by engaging a large professional element and prevented the decline in efficiency that so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation after the energetic founders. It was moreover a step away from individual initiative， towards collectivism and municipal and state-owned business. The railway companies， though still private business managed for the benefit of shareholders， were very unlike old family business. At the same time the great municipalities went into business to supply lighting， trams and other services to the taxpayers.
The growth of the limited liability company and municipal business had important consequences. Such large， impersonal manipulation of capital and industry greatly increased the numbers and importance of shareholders as a class， an element in national life representing irresponsible wealth detached from the land and the duties of the landowners； and almost equally detached from the responsible management of business. All through the nineteenth century， America， Africa， India， Australia and parts of Europe were being developed by British capital， and British shareholders were thus enriched by the worlds movement towards industrialisation. Towns like Bournemouth and Eastbourne sprang up to house large “comfortable” classes who had retired on their incomes， and who had no relation to the rest of the community except that of drawing dividends and occasionally attending a shareholders meeting to dictate their orders to the management. On the other hand “Shareholding” meant leisure and freedom which was used by many of the later Victorians for the highest purpose of a great civilization.
The “shareholders” as such had no knowledge of the lives， thoughts or needs of the workmen employed by the company in which he held shares， and his influence on the relations of capital and labour was not good. The paid manager acting for the company was in more direct relation with the men and their demands， but even he had seldom that familiar personal knowledge of the workmen which the employer had often had under the more patriarchal system of the old family business now passing away. Indeed the mere size of operations and the numbers of workmen involved rendered such personal relations impossible. Fortunately， however， the increasing power and organisation of the trade unions， at least in all skilled trades， enabled the workmen to meet on equal terms the managers of the companies who employed them. The cruel discipline of the strike and lockout taught the two parties to respect each others strength and understand the value of fair negotiation.
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劳资关系
在十九世纪后半段劳资之间的矛盾在扩大并且用现代模式建立来建立他们自己的组织。许多老式的公司被拥有董事局并雇佣经理的有限责任公司所替代，这种变化通过扩大专业元素，并且阻止效率的下降适应了新时期技术的需要，而效率的下降正是使很多家族式企业在创始人的第二代和第三代就失去了他们的财富，这是从个人创业到集中和多人共有或着政府所有的商业的前进的一大步。铁路公司尽管由于持股者的利益，仍然是私有商业，但是他已经不像旧的家族式企业。与此同时许多公用事业也开始以公司的形式来为公众提供照明交通和其他服务给纳税人。
有限责任公司的增长和公共商业的发展已经带来严重的后果，如此巨大的个人操作的资本和工业极大地增加了持股者作为一个阶级的数量和重要性。国家生活里出现了一种和土地责任相分离的不负责任就有财富的人，而且几乎也没有进行商业管理的义务。机关在十九世纪美洲非洲印度澳大利亚和欧洲的部分国家都是由英国的资本发展起来，因此英国的持股者因为世界性的工业化运动变得很富有。像A和R等小镇都成了这种阶级退休后的所去之处，并且他们除了拿个人的分红和偶尔参加一次股东大会对他们的经理进行指示以外与其他毫无关系，从另外一个角度而言，股东就意味着休闲和自由，从而被许多人作为最高追求的胜利者。
这些股东对他们所持股公司雇用的工人生活思想和需要毫无所知，因此他们对劳资关系的影响也不好。管理运作公司赚薪水的经理与工人有更直接的联系，并且知道一些工人的要求，但是他们与以前那种家族式企业的所有者相比，对工人的了解也很少。实际上操作的规模和工人的数量使这种经理对工人的很好了解成为不可能，但是幸运的是，工会不断增长的权力和加强的组织，至少在技巧性行业，可以是工人与雇用他们的经理处在平等的地位。罢工和封厂的残酷后果和使双方相互尊重并知道公平谈判的重要性。
Rumor has it that more than 20 books on creationism/evolution are in the publishers pipelines. A few have already appeared. The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid cientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life. Cosmology， geology， and iology have provided a consistent， unified， and constantly improving account of what happened. “Scientific” creationism， which is being pushed by some for “equal time” in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are given， is based on religion， not science. Virtually all scientists and the majority of non-fundamentalist religious leaders have come to regard “scientific” creationism as bad science and bad religion.
The first four chapters of Kitchers book give a very brief introduction to evolution. At appropriate places， he introduces the criticisms of the creationists and provides answers. In the last three chapters， he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programmes and tactics， and， for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists， the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise. When their basic motivation is religious， one might have expected more Christian behavior.
Kitcher is philosopher， and this may account， in part， for the clarity And fectiveness of his arguments. The non-specialist will be able to obtain at least a notion of the sorts of data and argument that support evolutionary theory. The final chapter on the creationists will be extremely clear to all. On the dust jacket of this fine book， Stephen Jay Gould says： “This book stands for reason itself.” And so it does - and all would be well were reason the only judge in the creationism/evolution debate.
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进化论
据传言有20多本关于神创论／进化论的书已经在出版商的印刷厂里了。其中的几本已经面市了，出版这些书的目的就是向那些未被启蒙的处于混乱之中的人们揭示并没有两种相等的可用的科学理论来解释宇宙和人的起源和进化。宇宙学，地质学生物学已经为过去发生的事情提供了一个固定的统一的并且不断发展的解释。“科学的”神创论建立在宗教而不是科学的基础上的，实际上所有的科学家和非原教主义的大多数人已经逐渐将“科学的”神创论看作是坏的科学和宗教。
K的书的前四章，把进化论做了一个简明的介绍。在合适的地方他引进了对神创论的评判并提供解答。在最后三章里，他取下拳击手套，给与神创论者重重的打击。他描述神创论的程序和策略，并且对那些不熟悉神创论者行为方式的人而言，神创论者的欺骗和歪曲会令他们有不愉快的惊奇。当他们的动机是宗教时，一个人可能用行为。
K是一位哲学家，也许者也可以部分的说明他论述的条理清晰性和有效性。非专业人士也至少通过一系列数据和争论得到进化论的观点。在神创论的最后一章这个更为清晰。在这本书的包装封面上写道：这本书代表了理性。的确如此，因为如果把理性作为神创论进化论争论的唯一判断标注的时候就好办了。
A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly， courteous， and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair， this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians， and should best be considered North American. There are， of course， exceptions. Small-minded officials， rude waiters， and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.
For a long period of time and in many parts of the country， a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion， and brought news of the outside world.
The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone， if hungry， injured， or ill， often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life： if you didnt take in the stranger and take care of him， there was no one else who would. And someday， remember， you might be in the same situation.
Today there are many charitable organizations which specialize in helping the weary traveler. Yet， the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the US， especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. “I was just traveling through， got talking with this American， and pretty soon heinvited me home for dinner - amazing.” Such observations reported by visitors to the US are not uncommon， but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial， but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.
As is true of any developed society， in America a complex set of cultural signals， assumptions， and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And， of course， speaking a language does not necessarily mean that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail to “translate” cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example， when an American uses the word “friend”， the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitors language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet， being friendly is a virtue that many Americans value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.
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美国传统
有一种说法不断被去美国的参观者提出：美国人对他们是多么的友好，热情，并且乐于助人。公平而言，这种现象描述对加拿大和加拿大人也是存在的。并且可以认为在北美都存在。当然也有例外，小心眼的公务员，粗鲁的服务员，不礼貌的出租车司机在美国也不是不存在的。但是只有上述的观察太多才值得评论，很长时一段时间以来在这个国家的很多部分，一个旅行者都是一个受欢迎“闯入者”，枯燥和孤独沉闷的的生活，使那些彼此居住的很遥远的家庭的通常难题。陌生人和旅行者是生活多样性的来源，并且带来外面世界的消息。边境的艰苦现实也形成了热情好客的传统。一个人单独旅行，如果饥饿受伤或者患病除了向最近的小屋或者居民寻求帮助以外，没有别的地方可以去。对旅行者来说这不是一个可以选择的问题，对定居者也不是一时的慈善的冲动。这仅仅是反映了日常生活的艰苦，如果不收留这个陌生人并照顾他们，那么就没有其他人可以这样做。但是要记住，也许有一天你也会遇到同样情况。
今天由很多慈善组织专门帮助那些有困难的旅行者。但是在美国对陌生人热情好客的老传统仍然存在。特别是在远离繁忙旅行路线的小城镇。我只是旅行经过这里，和这个美国人随便聊了聊，他竟然很快的邀请我去他家里吃晚饭。——真是令人惊奇。这种说法常常被到美国的参观者提到。但是不能被正确的理解。许多美国人的友谊不应该被理解为表面的或者是虚伪，而是文化传统历史性发展的结果。
就像在很多发达的社会一样，美国在所有社会关系的下也有一套复杂的文化、标识，假设。当然会讲一门语言并不意味着他就理解了这种语言所在社会的社会和文化模式。那些不能正确的理解文化含义的参观者就会得出错误的结论。例如一个美国人使用朋友这个词的时候，这词的文化含义也许和参观者的语言和文化中的含义十分不同。在公交车上的短暂相遇远远不能分辨出是热情客气的还是真正的兴趣。但是友善是一种美德，许多美国人都很看重这个美德，并希望他们的朋友和邻居也看重这种美德。
Few creations of big technology capture the imagination like giant dams. Perhaps it is humankinds long suffering at the mercy of flood and drought that makes the ideal of forcing the waters to do our bidding so fascinating. But to be fascinated is also， sometimes， to be blind. Several giant dam projects threaten to do more harm than good.
The lesson from dams is that big is not always beautiful. It doesnt help that building a big， powerful dam has become a symbol of achievement for nations and people striving to assert themselves. Egypts leadership in the Arab world was cemented by the Aswan High Dam. Turkeys bid for First World status includes the giant Ataturk Dam.
But big dams tend not to work as intended. The Aswan Dam， for example， stopped the Nile flooding but deprived Egypt of the fertile silt that floods left - all in return for a giant reservoir of disease which is now so full of silt that it barely generates electricity.
And yet， the myth of controlling the waters persists. This week， in the heart of civilized Europe， Slovaks and Hungarians stopped just short of sending in the troops in their contention over a dam on the Danube. The huge complex will probably have all the usual problems of big dams. But Slovakia is bidding for independence from the Czechs， and now needs a dam to prove itself.
Meanwhile， in India， the World Bank has given the go ahead to the even more wrong-headed Narmada Dam. And the bank has done this even though its advisors say the dam will cause hardship for the powerless and environmental destruction. The benefits are for the powerful， but they are far from guaranteed.
Proper， scientific study of the impacts of dams and of the cost and benefits of controlling water can help to resolve these conflicts. Hydroelectric power and flood control and irrigation are possible without building monster dams. But when you are dealing with myths， it is hard to be either proper， or scientific. It is time that the world learned the lessons of Aswan. You dont need a dam to be saved.
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巨型水坝很少有大型技术像巨型水坝一样令人神往。也许是长期以来人类遭受洪水和干旱的折磨，所以才使控制水为我们所用变得那么吸引人。但是在吸引人的同时也有一些盲目。一些巨型水坝项目的害处远大于好处。
从水坝的道德教训是大的不总是美好的。建造巨大强力的水坝已经变成显示国家成就的符号和人们承认自己的努力。埃及在阿拉伯世界的领导地位是通过建造阿埃旺大巴巩固的。土耳其向世界一流国家迈进的努力就是包括建立巨大的A水坝。
但是谁把不总是按照人们想象的去发挥作用的。例如A虽然阻止了尼罗河的洪水泛滥，但是也阻止了河水泛滥留下的养料丰富的淤泥－反过来留下了一个满是弊病的水库由于淤泥太多几乎不能在发电了。但是对水进行控制的迷信仍然坚持。这周在文明欧洲的中心地带SH向连接两国的D大坝上互派军队。巨大的复杂的D可能有大型所具有的所有难题。但是S刚从分离出来而独立，并且现在需要一个大的醒目来证明自己。与此同时在印度世界银行向已经错误导向的大坝投资。尽管很多建议者说这个水坝将给普通人和环境带来很多破坏世界银行仍然坚持这样做，这是有利于由权利的人的，但是这也不能确定。
正确的方法是科学的研究水坝的特性和控制水的花费和成本可以有助于解决这些冲突难题。水力发电洪水控制和灌溉不建立巨型水坝也是可以实现的。但是把巨型水坝做成一种迷信的时候，就是不正确不科学的了。现在到了世界从A大坝得到教训的时候了，你们不需要被一个大坝所拯救。
With the start of BBC World Service Television， millions of viewers in Asia and America can now watch the Corporations news coverage， as well as listen to it.And of course in Britain listeners and viewers can tune in to two BBC television channels， five BBC national radio services and dozens of local radio station. They are brought sport， comedy， drama， music， news and current affairs， education， religion， parliamentary coverage， childrens programmes and films for an annual licence fee of￡83 per household.
It is a remarkable record， stretching back over 70 years - yet the BBCs future is now in doubt. The Corporation will survive as a publicly-funded broadcasting organisation， at least for the time being， but its role， its size and its programmes are now the subject of a nation-wide debate in Britain.
The debate was launched by the Government， which invited anyone with an opinion of the BBC - including ordinary listeners and viewers - to say what was good or bad about the Corporation， and even whether they thought it was worth keeping. The reason for its inquiry is that the BBCs royal charter runs out in 1996 and it must decide whether to keep the organisation as it is， or to make changes.
Defenders of the Corporation - of whom there are many - are fond of quoting the American slogan. “If it aint broke， dont fix it.” The BBC “aint broke”， they say， by which they mean it is not broken （as distinct from the word “broke”， meaning having no money）， so why bother to change it？
Yet the BBC will have to change， because the broadcasting world around it is changing. The commercial TV channels - ITV and Channel 4 - were required by the Thatcher Governments Broadcasting Act to become more commercial， competing with each other for advertisers， and cutting costs and jobs. But it is the arrival of new satellite channels - funded partly by advertising and partly by viewers subscriptions - which will bring about the biggest changes in the long term.
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随着BBC世界服务电视的开播，数百万的亚洲和美洲的观众可以直接观看公司的新闻节目，就像听广播新闻一样。大不列颠的听众和观众更理所当然可以收看到BBC电视的两个频道，收听5个全国性的广播和当地很多广播电台。内容包括体育、喜剧、戏剧音乐新闻时事教育宗教国会儿童节目及电影，每户的每年许可证费用是83英镑。
回首70年的历程，这是一个非凡的记录，但是BBC的将来现在还是不确定的，公司作为一个公共投资成立的广播组织继续存在下去，至少像现在这样，但是他的角色规模和他的节目，现在是英国公民讨论的一个主题。
这个讨论由政府发动的。他们邀请了任何对BBC提出看法的人，包括普通的观众和听众，让他们来说出公司的那些方面是差的，那些方面是好的，并且他们认为公司是否值得保留下去。
这次调查的原因是BBC的皇家角色从1996年就不再存在了。因此必须要决定是否保留这个组织还是做一些变化。公司的保卫者，喜欢引用美国人的口号，如果没有被打破就不要去修理。他们说BBC没有被打破，至少从他们的意义上，为什么要麻烦的去改变呢。
但是BBC必须要改变，因为他周围的广播世界都在改变，商业电视频道，第五频道第四频道，都被要求变得更加商业化，互相竞争获得广告，并且削减费用和工作岗位。但是正是新的卫星频道－它们的部分资金来自广告收入，部分来自用户收视费——从长期来看会带来最大的变化。
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