建造大坝的教训是：大的未不总是美好的。但这个教训也无法阻止以下事实，即修建高大雄伟的大坝已成为那些努力得到自我肯定的国家和人民的伟大成就的象征。埃及由于建造了阿斯旺大坝而巩固了其在阿拉伯世界的领导地位。土耳其在力图跻身于第一世界的努力中也包括修建阿塔特克大坝。

　　但一些大坝不会像预期的那样发挥功效。以阿斯旺大坝为例，它阻止了尼罗河洪水泛滥，但也使埃及失去了洪水冲击过后留下的肥沃土壤，换回来的是这么一个疾病滋生的水库。现在这个水库里积满了淤泥，几乎已经无法发电了。

　　不过，制服洪水的神话仍在继续。本周，在欧洲文明的腹地，斯洛伐克人和匈牙利人就为了多瑙河上建一处水坝发生争执，差点动用了军队。这个大型工程可能会引起建大坝出现过的所有常见问题。但斯洛伐克正在努力脱离捷克而独立，因此现在他们需要修建一个大坝来证明自己的实力。

　　与此同时，世界银行已经贷款给印度来那个问题诸多的纳尔马达大坝。尽管世界银行的顾问说，该大坝将给平民带来苦难，而且也会不可避免地破坏那里的环境，但世界银行仍然一意孤行。大坝会给有权势的人带来巨大利益，但却不考虑任何保障。

　　对于建造水坝的影响以及对水坝控制水流的成本和收益进行恰当的科学论证能够有助于解决这些矛盾。水利发电，治理洪水以及灌溉并一定非要靠建大型水坝才能实现。但如果你相信神话，那就很难做到合理或科学。现在是全世界吸取阿斯旺大坝教训的时候了。人类并不需要建一座大型水坝来拯救自己。

　　Passage 2

　　Well, no gain without pain, they say. But what about pain without gain? Everywhere you go in America, you hear tales of corporate revival. What is harder to establish is whether the productivity revolution that businessmen assume they are presiding over is for real.

　　The official statistics are mildly discouraging. They show that, if you lump manufacturing and services together, productivity has grown on average by 1.2% since 1987. That is somewhat faster than the average during the previous decade. And since 1991, productivity has increased by about 2% a year, which is more than twice the 1978 87 average. The trouble is that part of the recent acceleration is due to the usual rebound that occurs at this point in a business cycle, and so is not conclusive evidence of a revival in the underlying trend. There is, as Robert Rubin, the treasury secretary, says, a “disjunction” between the mass of business anecdote that points to a leap in productivity and the picture reflected by the statistics.