大學英語自學教程(上冊) unit 23 課文譯文參考
大學英語自學教程(上冊) unit 23 非言語交際
23-A. Non-verbal Communication
If anyone asked you what were the main means of communication between people, what would you say? That isn’t a catch question. The answer is simple and obvious. It would almost certainly refer to means of communication that involve the use of words. Speakers and listeners-oral communication, and writers and readers-written communication. And you’d be quite right. There is, however, another form of communication which we all use most of the time, usually without knowing it. This is sometimes called body language. Its more technical name is non-verbal communication. Non-verbal, because it does not involve the use of words. NVC for short.
When someone is saying something with which he agrees, the average European will smile and nod approval. On the other hand, if you disagree with what they are saying, you may frown and shake your head. In this way you signal your reactions, and communicate them to the speaker without saying a word. I referred a moment ago to "the average European”, because body language is very much tied to culture, and in order not to misunderstand, or not to be misunderstood, you must realize this. A smiling Chinese, for instance, may not be approving but somewhat embarrassed.
Quite a lot of work is now being done on the subject of NVC, which is obviously important, for instance, to managers, who have to deal every day with their staff, and have to understand what other people are feeling if they are to create good working conditions. Body language, or NVC signals, are sometimes categorized into five kinds: 1.body and facial gestures; 2.eye contact; 3.body contact or "proximity"; 4.clothing and physical appearance; and 5.the quality of speech. I expect you understood all those, except perhaps "proximity." This simply means "closeness". In some cultures-and I am sure this is a cultural feature and not an individual one-it is quite normal for people to stand close together, or to more or less thrust their face into yours when they are talking to you. In other cultures, this is disliked; Americans, for instance, talk about invasion of their space.
Some signals are probably common to all of us. If a public speaker (like a professor, for example) is all the time fiddling with a pencil, or with his glasses, while he is talking to you, he is telling you quite clearly that he is nervous. A person who holds a hand over his mouth when he is talking is signaling that he is lacking in confidence. If you start wriggling in your chairs, looking secretly at your watches or yawning behind your hands, I shall soon get the message that I’m boring you. And so on. I'm sure you could make a whole list of such signals-and it might be fun if you did.
All the signals I have mentioned so far can be controlled. If you are aware that you are doing these things, you can stop. You can even learn to give false signals. Most public speakers are in fact nervous, but a good speaker learns to hide this by giving off signals of confidence. Other kinds of NVC are not so easy to control. Eye contact, for instance. Unless you are confessing intense love, you hardly ever look into someone else’s eyes for very long. If you try it, you’ll find they will soon away, probably in embarrassment.
I’ve already mentioned proximity, so just a brief word now about our last two categories, which concern the way people dress and the way they speak. These are both pretty obvious signals. People may dress casually and speak casually, which signals that they are relaxed. Or they can dress formally and speak formally, showing their tenseness. In fact, non-verbal communication can, as the saying goes, speak volumes.
【課文譯文】
非言語交際
如果有人問你人與人之間最主要的交際手段是什么，你會怎么說?這倒不是一個難以回答的問題。答案簡單明了。幾乎可以肯定地說，它指的是運用語言進行交際。說話者和聽話者之間是口頭交際，作者和讀者之間是書面交際。你的回答已經相當正確。但是，還有另一種交際手段，這一手段我們多數時間在使用，卻又常常忽視。它有時被叫作體勢語。更專業些的名字是非言語交際。之所以稱之為非言語交際，是因為它不涉及言詞。非言語交際的縮略語為NVC。
一般的歐洲人，在聽別人說他贊同的事情時，會微笑并點頭表示贊許。如果不同意別人的話，他會皺眉、搖頭。用這種方式無需言詞就可以把自己的態度傳達給說話者。筆者剛才提到“一般的歐洲人”，是因為體勢語與文化密切相關。為了不誤解別人，也不被人誤解，了解這一點非常必要。例如，中國人的微笑可能是表示某種不安而不是贊許。
關于NVC這個課題，現在正進行著大量的研究工作。這些研究工作顯然很重要。比如，對管理者來說，他們每天與員工打交道，為了創造良好的工作環境，他們必須了解員工們的感覺。人們有時把體勢語或稱NVC信號分為五種：1.身體姿勢和面部表情；2.目光接觸；3.身體接觸或“親近程度”；4.著裝與外貌；5.語言特點。筆者認為大家明白上述除“親近程度”以外的各條。“親近程度”簡單來說就是“親密程度”。在有些文化中——筆者非�？隙ǎ坝H近程度”是一種文化特征而非個體特征——人們站得很近是很正常的；同樣，人們在談話時不時地把臉湊近你的臉，也是正常的。但在另一些文化中，上面這些行為就不受歡迎。比如，美國人會說這侵犯了他們的個人空間。
一些體勢語信號非常普遍。如果在公共場所講話的人(如大學教授)一直在玩弄鉛筆或眼鏡，說明他很緊張。說話時把手放在嘴上的人說明他缺乏信心。如果聽講的人開始在椅子上扭來扭去，偷偷地看手表或用手捂住嘴打哈欠，講話的人很快就得到這樣的信息：“我的話令人厭煩”。如此種種，不勝枚舉。筆者相信讀者可以列出一長串這樣的體勢語信號。試試吧，會很有趣的。
上面所提到的體勢語信號，都是可以控制的。如果意識到自己在那樣做，可以停下來。甚至可以給出虛假的信號，實際上，多數在公共場合講話的人都會感到緊張，好的講話者學會了通過發出有信心的信號來掩蓋緊張情緒。其他的NVC信號就不容易控制。比如，目光接觸。除非有強烈的愛，否則，人們很難長久地注視別人的眼睛。如果試一下你就會發現，別人會轉移目光，看別處，而且可能會局促不安。
筆者已經提到過親近程度，現在來簡短地談談最后兩種體勢語信號，它們與人們的著裝與說話方式有關。這兩種信號都很明顯。衣著隨便、談吐自然的人很放松，衣著正規、談吐嚴謹的人情緒緊張。事實上，正如常言所說，非言語交際此時無聲勝有聲。
大學英語自學教程(上冊) unit 01 怎樣成為一名成功的語言學習者
01-A. How to be a successful language learner?
“Learning a language is easy, even a child can do it!”
Most adults who are learning a second language would disagree with this statement. For them, learning a language is a very difficult task. They need hundreds of hours of study and practice, and even this will not guarantee success for every adult language learner.
Language learning is different from other kinds of learning. Some people who are very intelligent and successful in their fields find it difficult to succeed in language learning. Conversely, some people who are successful language learners find it difficult to succeed in other fields.
Language teachers often offer advice to language learners: “Read as much as you can in the new language.”“ Practice speaking the language every day. ”“Live with people who speak the language.”“Don’t translate-try to think in the new language.”“ Learn as a child would learn; play with the language.”
But what does a successful language learner do? Language learning research shows that successful language learners are similar in many ways.
First of all, successful language learners are independent learners. They do not depend on the book or the teacher; they discover their own way to learn the language. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, they try to find the patterns and the rules for themselves. They are good guessers who look for clues and form their own conclusions. When they guess wrong, they guess again. They try to learn from their mistakes.
Successful language learning is active learning. Therefore, successful learners do not wait for a chance to use the language; they look for such a chance. They find people who speak the language and they ask these people to correct them when they make a mistake. They will try anything to communicate. They are not afraid to repeat what they hear or to say strange things; they are willing to make mistakes and try again. When communication is difficult, they can accept information that is inexact or incomplete. It is more important for them to learn to think in the language than to know the meaning of every word.
Finally, successful language learners are learners with a purpose. They want to learn the language because they are interested in the language and the people who speak it. It is necessary for them to learn the language in order to communicate with these people and to learn from them. They find it easy to practice using the language regularly because they want to learn with it.
What kind of language learner are you? If you are a successful language learner, you have probably been learning independently, actively, and purposefully. On the other hand, if your language learning has been less than successful, you might do well to try some of the techniques outlined above.
【課文譯文】
怎樣成為一名成功的語言學習者
“學習一門語言很容易，即使小孩也能做得到�！�
大多數正在學習第二語言的成年人會不同意這種說法。對他們來說，學習一門語言是非常困難的事情。他們需要數百小時的學習與練習，即使這樣也不能保證每個成年語言學習者都能學好。
語言學習不同于其他學習。許多人很聰明，在自己的領域很成功，但他們發現很難學好一門語言。相反，一些人學習語言很成功，但卻發現很難在其他領域有所成就。
語言教師常常向語言學習者提出建議：“要用新的語言盡量多閱讀”，“每天練習說這種語言”，“與說這種語言的人住在一起”，“不要翻譯——盡量用這種新的語言去思考”，“要像孩子學語言一樣去學習新語言”，“放松地去學習語言�！�
然而，成功的語言學習者是怎樣做的呢?語言學習研究表明，成功的語言學習者在許多方面都有相似之處。
首先，成功的語言學習者獨立學習。他們不依賴書本和老師，而且能找到自己學習語言的方法。他們不是等待老師來解釋，而是自己盡力去找到語言的句式和規則。他們尋找線索并由自己得出結論，從而做出正確的猜測。如果猜錯，他們就再猜一遍。他們都努力從錯誤中學習。
成功的語言學習是一種主動的學習。因此，成功的語言學習者不是坐等時機而是主動尋找機會來使用語言。他們找到(說)這種語言的人進行練習，出錯時請這些人糾正。他們不失時機地進行交流，不怕重復所聽到的話，也不怕說出離奇的話，他們不在乎出錯，并樂于反復嘗試。當交流困難時，他們可以接受不確切或不完整的信息。對他們來說，更重要的是學習用這種語言思考，而不是知道每個詞的意思。
最后，成功的語言學習者學習目的明確。他們想學習一門語言是因為他們對這門語言以及說這種語言的人感興趣。他們有必要學習這門語言去和那些人交流并向他們學習。他們發現經常練習使用這種語言很容易，因為他們想利用這種語言來學習。
你是什么樣的語言學習者?如果你是一位成功的語言學習者，那么你大概一直在獨立地、主動地、目的明確地學習。另一方面,如果你的語言學習一直不太成功,你不妨試試上面提到的一些技巧。
大學英語自學教程(上冊) unit 02 稅、稅、還是稅
02-A. Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes
Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes, Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the worst taxes.
Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes.
Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax (14 to 70 percent) increases as a person's income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.
The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confusing.
The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms: property tax (people who own a home have to pay taxes on it) and excise tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal buildings.
Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different views on many issues, they tend to agree on one subject: taxes are too high.
【課文譯文】
稅、稅、還是稅
美國人常說，人的一生有兩件事可以肯定會發生：死亡和稅收。美國人并不壟斷死亡市場，但許多人卻感到美國以最重的賦稅領先于世界。
稅指人們為支持政府而繳納的資金。在美國通常有三級政府：聯邦政府，州政府及市政府，因此就存在三種稅。
收入超過幾千元的工薪人士必須向聯邦政府繳納一定比率的稅金。這一比率因人而異，取決于各人的工資數。聯邦政府實行累進收入所得稅制，也就是說，稅率(14%～70%)隨個人收入的增加而增加，由于高額稅收，人們在4月15日很不愉快，因為這一天是繳納稅款的日子。
第二種稅是繳納給州政府的，這些州包括紐約，加利福尼亞，北達科他以及其他47個州中的任何一個。一些州的收入所得稅的收取辦法同聯邦政府的相似，當然其稅率要低一些。一些州設有銷售稅，即對你在該州所購買的任何商品所收的一定比率的稅金。比如，某人想買一包25美分的煙。如果該州收取8%的銷售稅，那么買這包煙要花27美分，這一錢數就包括銷售稅。一些州利用收入所得稅外加銷售稅的辦法來提高稅收，各州的稅收法規五花八門，令人費解。
第三種稅是向市政府繳納的。這種稅有兩種：一種是財產稅(擁有房屋的人都必須交稅)，另一種是本國消費稅，即對城市汽車所征收的稅金。城市將這些資金用于教育、警察和消防部門、公共設施及市政建設。
由于美國人須付高額稅金，所以他們經常感到每周有一天純粹是在為繳稅而工作。人們總是在抱怨稅收太高。他們常�？棺h政府濫用他們的稅金。他們說政府將太多的錢花在無用且不符合實際的項目上了。盡管美國人在很多問題上有不同的看法，但他們在一個話題上的意見總是一致的：稅收太高。
大學英語自學教程(上冊) 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!
【課文譯文】
大西洋
大西洋是將歐洲和美洲分隔開的海洋之一。它使南北美洲長達幾個世紀之久都未被人發現。
人們對大西洋有許多誤解，這使得早期的海員不愿意遠航駛入大西洋。一種想法是大西洋遠抵“世界的`邊緣”，海員們擔心他們會一直航行到地球邊上掉落下去。另一個想法是在赤道處，大西洋的海水是滾燙的。
大西洋的面積只是太平洋的一半，但也非常遼闊。哥倫布穿越過的地方寬達4000多英里(6000公里)。即使最窄的地方寬度也有大約2000英里(3200公里)，這是一片位于南美洲最東端與非洲最西端之間的水域。
大西洋有兩點非同尋常。其一是在如此遼闊的海洋里少有島嶼。另外，大西洋是世界上含鹽量最高的海洋。
大西洋海水量很大，人們無法想像到底有多少水。但如果假設不再有降雨和河水注入，則需4000年大西洋才會干涸。大西洋平均水深有2英里(3.2公里)多一點，但有些地方要深得多。最深處在波多黎各島附近，深達30246英尺——約6英里(9.6公里)。
世界上最長的山脈之一從大西洋海底隆起，這條山脈沿海底中部向南北延伸，幾座山峰露出海面，形成島嶼。亞速爾群島就是大西洋中部山脈露出水面的幾座山峰。
佛羅里達州向東幾百英里有一處海域叫馬尾藻海，這里由于很少刮風，海面很平靜。在使用帆船的時代，船員們擔心他們會因無風而在此處無法航行。有時他們確實會遇到這種情況。
海流有時被稱作“海洋中的河流”。大西洋有一條這種“河流”，叫做墨西哥灣流，這是一股暖水流；另外一條是拉布拉多海流——這是來自北冰洋的冷水流。洋流對流域附近大陸的氣候有影響。
大西洋為兩岸的人們提供了豐富的食物。大淺灘是最著名的捕魚區之一，位于紐芬蘭附近。
今天，大西洋是一條重要的航路，這條航路并不總是風平浪靜，毫無危險。暴風雨會掠過洋面，堆起大浪。從北冰洋漂來的冰山也會橫穿航道。
我們現在有快捷的旅行方式，這個大洋似乎也變小了。哥倫布橫越大西洋用了兩個多月的時間，一艘現代化快輪不到4天就可完成這一航程，而乘飛機從紐約到倫敦只用8小時，從南美到非洲只用4小時。
大學英語自學教程(上冊) unit 04 改善你的記憶力
04-A. Improving Your Memory
Psychological research has focused on a number of basic principles that help memory: meaningfulness, organization, association, and visualization. It is useful to know how these principles work.
Meaningfulness affects memory at all levels. Information that does not make any sense to you is difficult to remember. There are several ways in which we can make material more meaningful. Many people, for instance, learn a rhyme to help them remember. Do you know the rhyme “Thirty days has September, April, June, and November…? ” It helps many people remember which months of the year have 30 days.
Organization also makes a difference in our ability to remember. How useful would a library be if the books were kept in random order? Material that is organized is better remembered than jumbled information. One example of organization is chunking. Chunking consists of grouping separate bits of information. For example, the number 4671363 is more easily remembered if it is chunked as 467,13,63. Categorizing is another means of organization. Suppose you are asked to remember the following list of words: man, bench, dog, desk, woman, horse, child, cat, chair. Many people will group the words into similar categories and remember them as follows: man, woman, child; cat, dog, horse; bench, chair, desk. Needless to say, the second list can be remembered more easily than the first one.
Association refers to taking the material we want to remember and relating it to something we remember accurately. In memorizing a number, you might try to associate it with familiar numbers or events. For example, the height of Mount Fuji in Japan - 12, 389 feet - might be remembered using the following associations: 12 is the number of months in the year, and 389 is the number of days in a year (365) added to the number of months twice (24).
The last principle is visualization. Research has shown striking improvements in many types of memory tasks when people are asked to visualize the items to be remembered. In one study, subjects in one group were asked to learn some words using imagery, while the second group used repetition to learn the words. Those using imagery remembered 80 to 90 percent of the words, compared with 30 to 40 percent of the words for those who memorized by repetition. Thus forming an integrated image with all the information placed in a single mental picture can help us to preserve a memory.
【課文譯文】
改善你的記憶力
心理研究集中在有助于記憶力的幾個基本原則，即富有意義、組織、聯想和想像。知道這些原則如何發揮作用是非常有益的。
富有意義從各個方面影響記記力。你很難記住對你毫無意義的信息，我們可以用幾種辦法使材料變得更有意義。例如，很多人學會用韻音來幫助他們記憶。你知道“九、四、六、十一有30天……”這首押韻詩嗎?它幫助人們記住一年中哪些月份有30天。
信息的組織也對我們的記憶能力造成差異。圖書館的書如果陳列得雜亂無章對我們還會有什么幫助嗎?組織過的材料比混雜的信息更容易記住。組織信息的一個例子就是組塊。組塊是將一個個單獨的信息組織成信息塊。例如，4671363這組數字如果被組塊成467 13 63就更容易記住。分類是另一種組織方法。假定要求你記住一組詞：男人、凳子、狗、書桌、女人、馬、孩子、貓、椅子。很多人會將這些詞分成相似種類的幾組，即男人、女人、孩子；貓、狗、馬；凳子、椅子、書桌。不用說第二種排列比第一種排列更容易記憶。
聯想指將我們要記憶的材料和我們已準確記住的信息聯系起來。在記憶數字時，可以將這一數字與我們所熟悉的數字或事件聯系起來，例如，日本富士山的高度為12，389英尺，這一數字可以用下面的聯想法記�。�12是一年中的月份數，389是一年的天數(365)加月數的兩倍(24)。
最后一個基本原則是想像。研究表明，如果人們把需要記憶的東西進行想像，各種記憶能力都會有顯著的提高。在一項研究中，一組受試者被要求使用想像法學習一些生詞，而另外一組用重復法學習生詞。用想像法記憶單詞的一組記住了80%～90%的生詞，相比之下，用重復法記憶單詞的一組只記住了30%～40%的生詞。因此，將所有的信息放在一幅內心的圖畫里，從而形成一個整體形象，可以幫助我們保存記憶。
大學英語自學教程(上冊) unit 05 對食物的錯誤看法
05-A. Fallacies about Food
Many primitive peoples believed that by eating an animal they could get some of the good qualities of that animal for themselves. They thought, for example, that eating deer would make them run as fast as the deer. Some savage tribes believed that eating enemies that had shown bravery in battle would make them brave. Man-eating may have started because people were eager to become as strong and brave as their enemies.
Among civilized people it was once thought that ginger root by some magical power could improve the memory. Eggs were thought to make the voice pretty. Tomatoes also were believed to have magical powers. They were called love apples and were supposed to make people who ate them fall in love.
Later another wrong idea about tomatoes grew up - the idea that they were poisonous. How surprised the people who thought tomatoes poisonous would be if they could know that millions of pounds of tomatoes were supplied to soldiers overseas during World War II.
Even today there are a great many wrong ideas about food. Some of them are very widespread.
One such idea is that fish is the best brain food. Fish is good brain food just as it is good muscle food and skin food and bone food. But no one has been able to prove that fish is any better for the brain than many other kinds of food.
Another such idea is that you should not drink water with meals. Washing food down with water as a substitute for chewing is not a good idea, but some water with meals has been found to be helpful. It makes the digestive juices flow more freely and helps to digest the food.
Many of the ideas which scientists tell us have no foundation have to do with mixtures of foods. A few years ago the belief became general that orange juice and milk should never be drunk at the same meal. The reason given was that the acid in the orange juice would make the milk curdle and become indigestible. As a matter of fact, milk always meets in the stomach a digestive juice which curdles it; the curdling of the milk is the first step in its digestion. A similar wrong idea is that fish and ice cream when eaten at the same meal form a poisonous combination.
Still another wrong idea about mixing foods is that proteins and carbohydrates should never be eaten at the same meal. Many people think of bread, for example, as a carbohydrate food. It is chiefly a carbohydrate food, but it also contains proteins. In the same way, milk, probably the best single food, contains both proteins and carbohydrates. It is just as foolish to say that one should never eat meat and potatoes together as it is to say that one should never eat bread or drink milk.
【課文譯文】
對食物的錯誤看法
很多原始民族認為吃某種動物可以使他們獲得這種動物的一些好的品質。例如，他們認為吃鹿可以使他們跑得像鹿一樣快。一些野蠻部落相信，吃戰爭中表現勇敢的敵人會使他們勇敢。吃人現象開始發生可能是因為人們渴望變得像他們的敵人那樣強壯、勇敢。
一些文明人曾經認為，姜根有某種魔力，能改善他們的記憶力。蛋能美化他們的聲音。也有人認為西紅柿有魔力。西紅柿被稱為愛的蘋果，他們認為吃西紅柿能使人墜入愛河。
后來又出現了另一個關于西紅柿的錯誤觀點——西紅柿有毒。如果認為西紅柿有毒的人知道二戰中數百萬磅的西紅柿提供給了在海外的戰士們，他們會多么吃驚!
甚至在今天也有很多關于食物的錯誤看法，其中一些看法很普遍。一種想法認為魚是最佳益腦食物。魚是有益于大腦的食物，就像它對肌肉、皮膚、骨骼一樣有益。但是沒有人能夠證明對于大腦來說魚比其他種類的食物更好。
另外一種想法認為，吃飯的時候不應該喝水。雖然用水把食物沖下去來代替咀嚼不是個好主意，但是人們發現吃飯時喝點水是有益的。水能使消化液更自由地流動，有助于消化食物。
很多想法是關于食物混在一起吃的，而科學家告訴我們，這些想法毫無根據。幾年前有一種很普遍的看法，認為不能在同一餐中喝桔子汁和牛奶，其理由是桔子汁中的酸性物質能使牛奶凝結而難以消化。事實上，牛奶在胃里總會遇到一種使它凝結的消化液，而這種凝結是消化的第一步。類似的一種錯誤想法認為在同一餐中吃魚和冰淇淋會形成一種有毒的化合物。
還有一種關于食物混在一起吃的錯誤想法，即不能在同一餐中吃蛋白質食物和淀粉質食物。例如，很多人認為面包是一種淀粉質食物。雖然面包主要是一種淀粉質食物，但它也含有蛋白質。同樣，牛奶可能是最好的單一食物，但它也含有蛋白質和淀粉。不要吃面包喝牛奶，這種說法是愚蠢的，就像說不要把肉類和土豆一起食用一樣。
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