税、税、还是税
美国人常说，人的一生有两件事可以肯定会发生：死亡和税收。美国人并不垄断死亡市场，但许多人却感到美国以最重的赋税领先于世界。
税指人们为支持政府而缴纳的资金。在美国通常有三级政府：联邦政府，州政府及市政府，因此就存在三种税。
收入超过几千元的工薪人士必须向联邦政府缴纳一定比率的税金。这一比率因人而异，取决于各人的工资数。联邦政府实行累进收入所得税制，也就是说，税率(14%～70%)随个人收入的增加而增加，由于高额税收，人们在4月15日很不愉快，因为这一天是缴纳税款的日子。
第二种税是缴纳给州政府的，这些州包括纽约，加利福尼亚，北达科他以及其他47个州中的任何一个。一些州的收入所得税的收取办法同联邦政府的相似，当然其税率要低一些。一些州设有销售税，即对你在该州所购买的任何商品所收的一定比率的税金。比如，某人想买一包25美分的烟。如果该州收取8%的'销售税，那么买这包烟要花27美分，这一钱数就包括销售税。一些州利用收入所得税外加销售税的办法来提高税收，各州的税收法规五花八门，令人费解。
第三种税是向市政府缴纳的。这种税有两种：一种是财产税(拥有房屋的人都必须交税)，另一种是本国消费税，即对城市汽车所征收的税金。城市将这些资金用于教育、警察和消防部门、公共设施及市政建设。
由于美国人须付高额税金，所以他们经常感到每周有一天纯粹是在为缴税而工作。人们总是在抱怨税收太高。他们常常抗议政府滥用他们的税金。他们说政府将太多的钱花在无用且不符合实际的项目上了。尽管美国人在很多问题上有不同的看法，但他们在一个话题上的意见总是一致的：税收太高。
大学英语自学教程(上册) unit 03 大西洋
03-A. The Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americas from being discovered by the people of Europe.
Many wrong ideas about the Atlantic made early sailors unwilling to sail far out into it. One idea was that it reached out to "the edge of the world." Sailors were afraid that they might sail right off the earth. Another idea was that at the equator the ocean would be boiling hot.
The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the Pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2, 000 miles (3,200 km) wide. This narrowest place is between the bulge of south America and the bulge of Africa.
Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. Also, it is the world's saltiest ocean.
There is so much water in the Atlantic that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But suppose no more rain fell into it and no more water was brought to it by rivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than two miles (3.2 km) deep, but in places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This "deep" 30, 246 feet - almost six miles (9.6 km).
One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises the floor of the Atlantic. This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean. The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.
Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. In the days of sailing vessels the crew were afraid they would be becalmed here. Sometimes they were.
Ocean currents are sometime called "rivers in the sea." One of these "river" in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It is a current of warm water. Another is the Labrador Current - cold water coming down from the Arctic. Ocean currents affect the climates of the lands near which they flow.
The Atlantic furnishes much food for the people on its shores. One of its most famous fishing regions, the Grand Banks, is near Newfoundland.
Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the Far North across the paths of ships.
We now have such fast ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller. Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four!
【课文译文】
大西洋
大西洋是将欧洲和美洲分隔开的海洋之一。它使南北美洲长达几个世纪之久都未被人发现。
人们对大西洋有许多误解，这使得早期的海员不愿意远航驶入大西洋。一种想法是大西洋远抵“世界的边缘”，海员们担心他们会一直航行到地球边上掉落下去。另一个想法是在赤道处，大西洋的海水是滚烫的。
大西洋的面积只是太平洋的一半，但也非常辽阔。哥伦布穿越过的地方宽达4000多英里(6000公里)。即使最窄的地方宽度也有大约2000英里(3200公里)，这是一片位于南美洲最东端与非洲最西端之间的水域。
大西洋有两点非同寻常。其一是在如此辽阔的海洋里少有岛屿。另外，大西洋是世界上含盐量最高的海洋。
大西洋海水量很大，人们无法想像到底有多少水。但如果假设不再有降雨和河水注入，则需4000年大西洋才会干涸。大西洋平均水深有2英里(3.2公里)多一点，但有些地方要深得多。最深处在波多黎各岛附近，深达30246英尺——约6英里(9.6公里)。
世界上最长的山脉之一从大西洋海底隆起，这条山脉沿海底中部向南北延伸，几座山峰露出海面，形成岛屿。亚速尔群岛就是大西洋中部山脉露出水面的几座山峰。
佛罗里达州向东几百英里有一处海域叫马尾藻海，这里由于很少刮风，海面很平静。在使用帆船的时代，船员们担心他们会因无风而在此处无法航行。有时他们确实会遇到这种情况。
海流有时被称作“海洋中的河流”。大西洋有一条这种“河流”，叫做墨西哥湾流，这是一股暖水流；另外一条是拉布拉多海流——这是来自北冰洋的冷水流。洋流对流域附近大陆的气候有影响。
大西洋为两岸的人们提供了丰富的食物。大浅滩是最著名的捕鱼区之一，位于纽芬兰附近。
今天，大西洋是一条重要的航路，这条航路并不总是风平浪静，毫无危险。暴风雨会掠过洋面，堆起大浪。从北冰洋漂来的冰山也会横穿航道。
我们现在有快捷的旅行方式，这个大洋似乎也变小了。哥伦布横越大西洋用了两个多月的时间，一艘现代化快轮不到4天就可完成这一航程，而乘飞机从纽约到伦敦只用8小时，从南美到非洲只用4小时。
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