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剑桥雅思10Test1阅读Passage2原文翻译European Transport Systems 1990-2010欧洲交通运输系统
剑桥雅思10阅读第 一套题目第二篇文章的主题为欧洲交通运输系统发展的趋势和前景。文章共有9段,大体可以分为三部分,分别介绍了目前交通运输需求的增长,其带来的机会和问题,以及对相应的解决方案的评价。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思10 Test1 Passage2阅读原文翻译
段落A
It is difficult to conceive of vigorous economic growth without an efficient transport system.Although modern information technologies can reduce the demand for physical transport by facilitating teleworking and teleservices,the requirement for transport continues to increase.There are two key factors behind this trend.For passenger transport,the determining factor is the spectacular growth in car use.The number of cars on European Union(EU)roads saw an increase of three million cars each year from 1990 to 2010,and in the next decade the EU will see a further substantial increase in its fleet.
很难想象蓬勃的经济发展之下没有高效的交通运输系统的支撑。尽管现代信息技术可以通过促进远程办公和远程服务来减少对物理运输的需要,但是对运输的需求仍在不断增加。这种趋势背后有两个关键因素。对于客运而言,决定性因素是汽车使用量的惊人增长。从1990年到2010年,欧盟(EU)道路上的汽车数量每年增加300万辆,并且在接下来的十年中,欧盟的汽车数量将进一步大幅增加。
段落B
As far as goods transport is concerned,growth is due to a large extent to changes in the European economy and its system of production:In the last 20 years,as internal frontiers have been abolished,the EU has moved from a‘stock’economy to a‘flow’economy.This phenomenon has been emphasised by the relocation of some industries,particularly those which are labour intensive,to reduce production costs,even though the production site is hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from the final assembly plant or away from users.
就货物运输而言,增长在很大程度上是由于欧洲经济及其生产体系的变化:在过去20年中,由于内部边界被废除,欧盟从“库存”经济转向“流动”经济。这种现象重点体现在一些产业的搬迁上,特别是那些是劳动密集型产业。为了降低生产成本,其生产场地与最终装配工厂或者消费者相距上百甚至上千公里。
段落C
The strong economic growth expected in countries which are candidates for entry to the EU will also increase transport flows,in particular road haulage traffic.In 1998,some of these countries already exported more than twice their 1990 volumes and imported more than five times their 1990 volumes.And although many candidate countries inherited a transport system which encourages rail,the distribution between modes has tipped sharply in favour of road transport since the 1990s.Between 1990 and 1998,road haulage increased by 19.4%,while during the same period rail haulage decreased by 43.5%,although–and this could benefit the enlarged EU–it is still on average at a much higher level than in existing member states.
有望加入欧盟的国家的强劲经济增长也将增加运输量,特别是公路运输量。1998年,其中一些国家的出口量已经是1990年的两倍以上,进口量也是1990年的五倍以上。尽管许多候选国都继承了鼓励铁路运输的运输系统,但自20世纪90年代以来,各种运输方式之间的分配急剧向公路运输倾斜。自1990年至1998年之间,公路运输量增加了19.4%,而同期铁路运输量则减少了43.5%,尽管-这有利于扩大后的欧盟-平均而言,它的水平仍然比现有成员国要高得多。
段落D
However,a new imperative–sustainable development–offers an opportunity for adapting the EU’s common transport policy.This objective,agreed by the Gothenburg European Council,has to be achieved by integrating environmental considerations into Community policies,and shifting the balance between modes of transport lies at the heart of its strategy.The ambitious objective can only be fully achieved by 2020,but proposed measures are nonetheless a first essential step towards a sustainable transport system which will ideally be in place in 30 years’time,that is by 2040.
然而,一项新的当务之急-可持续发展-为协调欧盟的共同运输政策提供了机会。这一由哥德堡欧洲理事会同意的目标必须通过将环境因素纳入欧共体政策中来实现,而改变不同运输方式之间的平衡是其战略的核心。这一野心勃勃的目标只有在2020年才能完全实现,但提出的措施是实现可持续交通体系的一项重要步骤。该体系将在30年的时间里到位,即2040年之前。
段落E
In 1998,energy consumption in the transport sector was to blame for 28%of emissions of CO2,the leading greenhouse gas.According to the latest estimates,if nothing is done to reverse the traffic growth trend,CO2 emissions from transport can be expected to increase by around 50%to 1,113 billion tonnes by 2020,compared with the 739 billion tonnes recorded in 1990.Once again,road transport is the main culprit since it alone accounts for 84%of the CO2 emissions attributable to transport.Using alternative fuels and improving energy efficiency is thus both an ecological necessity and a technological challenge.
1998年,运输部门的能源消耗贡献了28%的二氧化碳排放(主要的温室气体)。根据最新估算,如果不采取任何措施扭转交通增长的趋势,到2020年,交通运输产生的二氧化碳排放量将增加约50%,达到11130亿吨,而1990年为7390亿吨。再一次的,公路运输是主要的罪魁祸首,因为仅它自己就占到交通运输整体二氧化碳排放量的84%。因此,使用替代燃料和提高能源效率既是生态上的需要,也是技术上的挑战。
段落F
At the same time greater efforts must be made to achieve a modal shift.Such a change cannot be achieved overnight,all the less so after over half a century of constant deterioration in favour of road.This has reached such a pitch that today rail freight services are facing marginalisation,with just 8%of market share,and with international goods trains struggling along at an average speed of 18km/h.Three possible options have emerged.
同时,必须做出更大的努力以实现模式转变。这样的改变不可能在一夜之间实现,尤其是在经过半个多世纪持续恶化之后(支持道路交通)。现在的差距如此之大,铁路货运业务面临边缘化的危险,其市场份额仅为8%。而国际货物列车正在以平均每小时18公里的速度挣扎。这样,出现了三个可能的选择。
段落G
The first approach would consist of focusing on road transport solely through pricing.This option would not be accompanied by complementary measures in the other modes of transport.In the short term it might curb the growth in road transport through the better loading ratio of goods vehicles and occupancy rates of passenger vehicles expected as a result of the increase in the price of transport.However,the lack of measures available to revitalise other modes of transport would make it impossible for more sustainable modes of transport to take up the baton.
第 一种方法为仅通过定价关注公路运输。这一方法不会伴随对其他交通方式的补充措施。在短期内,由于运输价格的上涨,货车的运输量和乘用车的占用率都会提高,从而有望抑制公路运输的增长。但是,由于缺乏振兴其他运输方式的措施,更为可持续的运输方式将无以为继。
段落H
The second approach also concentrates on road transport pricing but is accompanied by measures to increase the efficiency of the other modes(better quality of services,logistics,technology).However,this approach does not include investment in new infrastructure,nor does it guarantee better regional cohesion.It could help to achieve greater uncoupling than the first approach,but road transport would keep the lion’s share of the market and continue to concentrate on saturated arteries,despite being the most polluting of the modes.It is therefore not enough to guarantee the necessary shift of the balance.
第二种方法也集中于公路运输的定价,但同时还采取措施来提高其他模式的效率(更好的服务质量,物流,技术等)。但是,这种方法不包括对新的基础设施的投资,也不能保证更好的区域凝聚力。与第 一种方法相比,它可以帮助实现更大的分离。但道路运输作为污染最严重的交通方式,将保持最 大的市场份额,并继续专注主要路线。因此,它并不足以实现平衡的转变。
段落I
The third approach,which is not new,comprises a series of measures ranging from pricing to revitalising alternative modes of transport and targeting investment in the trans-European network.This integrated approach would allow the market shares of the other modes to return to their 1998 levels and thus make a shift of balance.It is far more ambitious than it looks,bearing in mind the historical imbalance in favour of roads for the last fifty years,but would achieve a marked break in the link between road transport growth and economic growth,without placing restrictions on the mobility of people and goods.
第三种方法并不是什么新方法。它包括一系列措施,从定价到振兴替代交通方式,再到针对跨欧洲网络的投资。这种综合方法将使其他运输方式的市场份额恢复到1998年的水平,从而实现平衡的转移。考虑到过去50年偏爱道路交通的历史,这比听起来更加野心勃勃。但它将实现道路交通增长与经济增长之间联系的分割,而不对人员和物资的流动施加限制。
剑桥雅思10Test1阅读Passage1原文翻译stepwells印度阶梯井
剑桥雅思10阅读第 一套题目第 一篇文章的主题为印度的阶梯井。文章一共12段,大体可以分为3部分,分别介绍了印度阶梯井的用途,这种井的形态与目前的状况,以及政府开启的修复工作和成果。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思10 Test1 Passage1阅读原文翻译
第1段
During the sixth and seventh centuries,the inhabitants of the modern-day states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India developed a method of gaining access to clean,fresh groundwater during the dry season for drinking,bathing,watering animals and irrigation.However,the significance of this invention–the stepwell–goes beyond its utilitarian application.
在公元六世纪和七世纪,现代印度西北部的古吉拉特邦和拉贾斯坦邦的居民开发了一种在旱季获得清洁,新鲜的地下水以供饮用、沐浴、给动物饮水和灌溉的方法。但是,这一发明的意义(阶梯井)远不止于其功利性的应用。
第2段
Unique to this region,stepwells are often architecturally complex and vary widely in size and shape.During their heyday,they were places of gathering,of leisure and relaxation and of worship for villagers of all but the lowest classes.Most stepwells are found dotted round the desert areas of Gujarat(where they are called vav)and Rajasthan(where they are called baori),while a few also survive in Delhi.Some were located in or near villages as public spaces for the community;others were positioned beside roads as resting places for travellers.
阶梯井是该地区独有的,结构上通常很复杂,大小和形状差别很大。在它们的鼎盛时期,这里是除了最 底层居民之外,所有村民聚会,休闲、放松和朝拜的地方。人们发现大多数阶梯井都分布在古吉拉特邦(在这里被称为vav)和拉贾斯坦邦(在这里它们被称为baori)的沙漠地区周围。在德里也有少数存在。其中一些位于村庄内或附近,作为社区的公共空间;其他则被设置在道路旁,作为旅行者的休息场所。
第3段
As their name suggests,stepwells comprise a series of stone steps descending from ground level to the water source(normally an underground aquifer)as it recedes following the rains.When the water level was high,the user needed only to descend a few steps to reach it;when it was low,several levels would have to be negotiated.
顾名思义,由于水面会随着雨水而消退,阶梯井包括一系列从地面下到水源(通常为地下含水层)的台阶。当水位高时,用户仅需往下走几步即可达到。而当水位较低时,必须都走几个台阶。
第4段
Some wells are vast,open craters with hundreds of steps paving each sloping side,often in tiers.Others are more elaborate,with long stepped passages leading to the water via several storeys.Built from stone and supported by pillars,they also included pavilions that sheltered visitors from the relentless heat.But perhaps the most impressive features are the intricate decorative sculptures that embellish many step wells,showing activities from fighting and dancing to everyday acts such as women combing their hair or churning butter.
一些水井的开口十分巨大,通常每个斜坡都有上百层台阶按阶层分布。其他的则比较复杂,有长长的台阶通道穿过几层楼通往水面。它们由石头建成,并通过柱子支撑,包括能够让游客躲避炎热的看台。但也许是最令人印象深刻的特征是许多阶梯井中都有着复杂的装饰性雕塑,展示战斗、跳舞、以及诸如女性梳理头发和搅动黄油的日常活动。
第5段
Down the centuries,thousands of wells were constructed throughout northwestern India,but the majority have now fallen into disuse;many are derelict and dry,as groundwater has been diverted for industrial use and the wells no longer reach the water table.Their condition hasn’t been helped by recent dry spells:southern Rajasthan suffered an eight-year drought between 1996 and 2004.
几个世纪以来,在印度的西北部建造了数千口水井,但现在大多数已经废弃。由于地下水被转用于工业用途,水井不再能达到地下水水位,因此许多水井都已干涸。最近的干旱也加重了这一情况:拉贾斯坦邦南部在1996年至2004年间遭受了八年干旱。
第6段
However,some important sites in Gujarat have recently undergone major restoration,and the state government announced in June last year that it plans to restore the stepwells throughout the state.
然而,古吉拉特邦的一些重要水井最近进行了重大修复。州政府于去年6月份宣布,计划恢复整个州的阶梯井。
第7段
In Patan,the state’s ancient capital,the stepwell of Rani Ki Vav(Queen’s Stepwell)is perhaps the finest current example.It was built by Queen Udayamati during the late 11th century,but became silted up following a flood during the 13th century.But the Archaeological Survey of India began restoring it in the 1960s,and today it is in pristine condition.At 65 metres long,20 metres wide and 27 metres deep,Rani Ki Vav features 500 sculptures carved into niches throughout the monument.Incredibly,in January 2001,this ancient structure survived an earthquake that measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.
在该州的古都帕坦(Patan),Rani Ki Vav(Queen’s Stepwell)的阶梯井也许是目前最好的例子。它是由乌达亚马蒂女王(Queen Udayamati)在11世纪后期建造的,但在13世纪的洪水之后就被淤塞了。但是印度考古调查局于20世纪60年代开始对其进行修复,如今它已恢复到原始状态。Rani Ki Vav长65米,宽20米,深27米。整个遗迹中拥有500座雕塑。令人难以置信的是,2001年1月,这座古建筑在里氏7.6级地震中幸存了下来。
第8段
Another example is the Surya Kund in Modhera,northern Gujarat,next to the Sun Temple,built by King Bhima I in 1026 to honour the sun god Surya.It actually resembles a tank(kund means reservoir or pond)rather than a well,but displays the hallmarks of stepwell architecture,including four sides of steps that descend to the bottom in a stunning geometrical formation.The terraces house 108 small,intricately carved shrines between the sets of steps.
另一个例子是位于古吉拉特邦北部Modhera的Surya Kund。它紧挨着由国王Bhima一世在1026为朝拜太阳神Surya而建造的太阳神神庙。它实际上类似于一个水箱(Kund的意思是水库或池塘),而不是一个水井。但它显示出阶梯井的结构特征,包括深入井底的,按照令人惊讶的几何结构所建立的四面台阶。台阶之间的露台设置着108个小巧精致的神社。
第9段
Rajasthan also has a wealth of wells.The ancient city of Bundi,200 kilometres south of Jaipur,is renowned for its architecture,including its stepwells.One of the larger examples is Raniji Ki Baori,which was built by the queen of the region,Nathavatji,in 1699.At 46 meters deep,20 metres wide and 40 metres long,the intricately carved monument is one of 21 baoris commissioned in the Bundi area by Nathavatji.
拉贾斯坦邦也有丰富的水井。Jaipur南面200公里处的古城Bundi因其建筑而闻名,这其中就包括阶梯井。一个较大的例子是Raniji Ki Baori。它由该地区的女王Nathavatji在1699年修建的。深46米,宽20米,长40米,它是Nathavatji在Bundi所修建的21个精致的建筑物之一。
第10段
In the old ruined town of Abhaneri,about 95 kilometers east of Jaipur,is Chand Baori,one of India’s oldest and deepest wells;aesthetically it’s perhaps one of the most dramatic.Built in around 850 AD next to the temple of Harshat Mata,the baori comprises hundreds of zigzagging steps that run along three of its sides,steeply descending 11 storeys,resulting in a striking pattern when seen from afar.On the fourth side,verandas which are supported by ornate pillars overlook the steps.
在Japipur以东约95公里处的古老废墟小镇阿布哈内里内(Abhaneri),坐落着印度最古老最深的水井之一,Chand Baori;从美学上讲,它可能是最引人注目的一个。建于公元850年左右,位于Harshat Mata寺庙旁边,该水井在三面分布着数百个曲折的台阶,下降11层的高度。从远处看构成令人惊讶的图像。在第四面,由华丽支柱支撑的阳台俯瞰着这些台阶。
第11段
Still in public use is Neemrana Ki Baoriy located just off the Jaipur-Delhi highway.Constructed in around 1700,it is nine storeys deep,with the last two being underwater.At ground level,there are 86 colonnaded openings from where the visitor descends 170 steps to the deepest water source.
Neemrana Ki Baoriy仍被公众使用,就位于Jaipur-Delhi的高速公路旁。它建于1700年左右,深9层,最后两层位于水下。在地面上,有86个柱廊开口,游客从那里可以向下走过170个台阶到达最深的水源。
第12段
Today,following years of neglect,many of these monuments to medieval engineering have been saved by the Archaeological Survey of India,which has recognised the importance of preserving them as part of the country’s rich history.Tourists flock to wells in far-flung corners of northwestern India to gaze in wonder at these architectural marvels from hundreds of years ago,which serve as a reminder of both the ingenuity and artistry of ancient civilisations and of the value of water to human existence.
如今,在多年的忽视之后,印度考古调查局拯救了许多中世纪工程遗迹。人们已经意识到保存它们作为国家丰富历史一部分的重要性。游客涌向位于印度西北部遥远角落的水井,惊叹于几百年前的这些建筑奇观。这既使人想起了古代文明的创造力和艺术性,也让人明白水对人类生存的价值。
剑桥雅思9Test4阅读Passage3原文翻译The Development of Museums博物馆的发展
剑桥雅思9阅读第四套题目第三篇文章的主题为博物馆的发展。文章一共6段,分别介绍了正在改变的博物馆的功能,人们对博物馆变化的态度,自然历史呈现方式的发展,博物馆负责任所面临的商业压力,博物馆对展品进行阐释的必要性,以及展品完好程度给人们认识所造成的偏差。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test4 Passage3阅读原文翻译
段落A
The conviction that historical relics provide infallible testimony about the past is rooted in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,when science was regarded as objective and value free.As one writer observes:‘Although it is now evident that artefacts are as easily altered as chronicles,public faith in their veracity endures:a tangible relic seems ipso facto real.’Such conviction was,until recently,reflected in museum displays.Museums used to look–and some still do–much like storage rooms of objects packed together in showcases:good for scholars who wanted to study the subtle differences in design,but not for the ordinary visitor,to whom it all looked alike.Similarly,the information accompanying the objects often made little sense to the lay visitor.The content and format of explanations dated back to a time when the museum was the exclusive domain of the scientific researcher.
历史遗迹提供了有关过去的可靠证明,这一信念源于19世纪和20世纪初。当时科学被视为是客观和价值中立的。正如一位作家所观察到的:“现在,如下事实十分明显,人工制品像编年史一样容易被改变,但是公众对它们的真实性的信念仍然存在:有形的文物似乎确实是真实的”。直到最近,这样的信念都可以从博物馆的展示里得到反映。博物馆过去-有些还在-看起来就像是将物品存放在展示柜中的储藏室一样:对想要研究设计上细微差别的学者非常有用,但不适用于普通游客。在他们看来,所有东西看起来都很像。同样,物品所附带的信息对游客来说意义不大。这种阐释的内容和形式可以追溯到博物馆作为科学研究者专有领域的时期。
段落B
Recently,however,attitudes towards history and the way it should be presented have altered.The key word in heritage display is now‘experience’,the more exciting the better and if possible,involving all the senses.Good examples of this approach in the UK are the Jorvik Center in York;the National Museum of Photography,Film and Television in Bradford;and the Imperial War Museum in London.In the US the trend emerged much earlier:Williamsburg has been a prototype for many heritage developments in other parts of the world.No one can predict where the process will end.On so-called heritage sites the re-enactment of historical events is increasingly popular,and computers will soon provide virtual reality experiences,which will present visitors with a vivid image of the period of their choice,in which they themselves can act as if part of the historical environment.Such developments have been criticized as an intolerable vulgarization,but the success of many historical theme parks and similar locations suggests that the majority of the public does not share this opinion.
然而,近来,人们对历史及其呈现方式的态度发生了变化。现在文物展示的关键词是“体验”,越令人兴奋越好。如果可能的话,最好涉及所有的感官。在英国,这种方法优 秀案例有位于约克的约尔维克中心,位于布拉德福德的国家摄影、电影和电视博物馆;以及位于伦敦的帝国战争博物馆。在美国,这种趋势出现得更早:威廉斯堡(Williamsburg)是世界其他地区许多遗产发展的原型。没有人能够预测这一变化过程将在哪里结束。在所谓的历史遗迹上,重演历史事件变得越来越流行,计算机很快能够提供虚拟现实的体验。这将为游客呈现他们所选择的时期的生动图景。在此过程中他们仿佛置身于历史环境中一样。这种发展被一些人批评为令人无法忍受的庸俗化。但是许多历史主题公园和类似地点的成功表明,大多数公众不同意这种观点。
段落C
In a related development,the sharp distinction between museum and heritage sites on the one hand,and theme parks on the other,is gradually evaporating.They already borrow ideas and concepts from one another.For example,museums have adopted story lines for exhibitions,sites have accepted‘theming’as a relevant tool,and theme parks are moving towards more authenticity and research-based presentations.In zoos,animals are no longer kept in cages,but in great spaces,either in the open air or in enormous greenhouses,such as the jungle and desert environments in Burgers’Zoo in Holland.This particular trend is regarded as one of the major developments in the presentation of natural history in the twentieth century.
在相关的发展过程中,博物馆和文物古迹与主题公园之间的鲜明区分正在逐渐消失。他们相互借鉴了彼此的思想和观念。例如,博物馆采用故事情节来进行展览,场所将“主题”作为相关工具。而主题公园则正朝着更具真实性和以研究为基础的展示的方向发展。在动物园,动物不再被关在笼子里,而是在巨大的空间中活动,要么是露天场所,要么是大型的温室,如荷兰Burgers动物园的丛林和沙漠环境。这种特殊的趋势被认为是二十世纪自然历史呈现的主要发展之一。
段落D
Theme parks are undergoing other changes,too,as they try to present more serious social and cultural issues,and move away from fantasy.This development is a response to market forces and,although museums and heritage sites have a special,rather distinct,role to fulfil,they are also operating in a very competitive environments,where visitors make choices on how and where to spend their free time.Heritage and museum experts do not have to invent stories and recreate historical environments to attract their visitors:their assets are already in place.However,exhibits must be both based on artefacts and facts as we know them,and attractively presented.Those who are professionally engaged in the art of interpreting history are thus in a difficult position,as they must steer a narrow course between the demands of‘evidence’and‘attractiveness’,especially given the increasing need in the heritage industry for income-generating activities.
主题公园也正在经历其他变化。它们试图呈现更严肃的社会和文化问题,并摆脱幻想。这种发展是对市场力量的回应。尽管博物馆和遗址需要履行十分特殊的职责,但它们在竞争非常激烈的环境中运作。游客可以选择如何以及在哪里度过闲暇时光。遗址和博物馆专家不必发明故事或重塑历史环境来吸引游客:他们的资本已经到位。但是,展示必须建立在物品本身以及我们所认识他们的基础上,同时又必须具有吸引力。因此,那些专业从事历史阐释艺术的人处于一种左右为难的境地,因为他们必须在“证据”和“吸引力”的要求之间寻找狭窄的路径,特别是考虑到遗产行业越来越需要可以创收的活动。
段落E
It could be claimed that in order to make everything in heritage more‘real’,historical accuracy must be increasingly altered.For example,Pithecanthropus erectus is depicted in an Indonesian museum with Malay facial features,because this corresponds to public perceptions.Similarly,in the Museum of Natural History in Washington,Neanderthal man is shown making a dominant gesture to his wife.Such presentations tell us more about contemporary perceptions of the world than about our ancestors.There is one compensation,however,for the professionals who make these interpretations:if they did not provide the interpretation,visitors would do it for themselves,based on their own ideas,misconceptions and prejudices.And no matter how exciting the result,it would contain a lot more bias than the presentations provided by experts.
可以说,为了使遗迹中的一切都更加“真实”,我们必须对历史准确性做出越来越多的改变。例如,印度尼西亚博物馆中的直立猿人拥有马来人的面部特征,就呼应了公众的观念。同样,在华盛顿的自然历史博物馆中,被展示的尼安德特人正在对妻子做出主导手势。这样的展现告诉我们的更多的是关于世界的当代看法,而非有关我们祖先的事情。但是,进行这种解释的专业人员可以得到一种心理安慰:如果他们不提供这种解释,那么游客就会根据自己的想法,误解和偏见来自己编造。而且,无论结果多么令人兴奋,它所包含的偏见都比专家提供的报告要多得多。
段落F
Human bias is inevitable,but another source of bias in the representation of history has to do with the transitory nature of the materials themselves.The simple fact is that not everything from history survives the historical process.Castles,palaces and cathedrals have a longer lifespan than the dwellings of ordinary people.The same applies to the furnishings and other contents of the premises.In a town like Leyden in Holland,which in the seventeenth century was occupied by approximately the same number of inhabitants as today,people lived within the walled town,an area more than five times smaller than modern Leyden.In most of the houses several families lived together in circumstances beyond our imagination.Yet in museums,fine period rooms give only an image of the lifestyle of the upper class of that era.No wonder that people who stroll around exhibitions are filled with nostalgia;the evidence in museums indicates that life was so much better in the past.This notion is induced by the bias in its representation in museums and heritage centers.
人类的偏见是不可避免的,但是历史展现的另一个偏见根源与材料本身的暂时性有关。一个简单的事实是,历史中并非所有的物品都能在历史进程中存留下来。城堡,宫殿和大教堂的寿命比老百姓的住所更长。房屋家具和其他物品也是如此。在像荷兰莱顿这样17世纪的居民数量与今天几乎相同的小镇中,人们所居住被围墙环绕的城镇面积还不到今天的五分之一。在大多数房屋里,几个家庭一起生活在我们无法想象的环境中。然而,在博物馆中,精美的房间只能提供那个时代上层社会生活方式的图景。难怪逛展览的人充满了怀旧之情。博物馆中的证据表明,过去的生活好多了。这种观念正是由博物馆和遗产在展示中存在的偏差而引起的。
剑桥雅思9Test4阅读Passage2原文翻译Young children’s sense of identity婴幼儿的自我认知
剑桥雅思9阅读第四套题目第二篇文章的主题为婴幼儿的自我认知。文章分为8段,分别介绍了自我认知分为主体自我认知和客体自我认知,主体自我认知的构成因素,模仿在自我认知中的作用,主体自我认知研究局限性的原因,客体自我认知的实例,自我与社会的关系密不可分,关于客体自我认知的实验,自我认知最常见的表达方式等。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test4 Passage2阅读原文翻译
段落A
A sense of self develops in young children by degrees.The process can usefully be thought of in terms of the gradual emergence of two somewhat separate features:the self as a subject,and the self as an object.William James introduced the distinction in 1892,and contemporaries of his,such as Charles Cooley,added to the developing debate.Ever since then psychologists have continued building on the theory.
幼儿会逐步发展出自我意识。我们可以从两个某种程度上相互独立的特征的逐渐出现来考虑这一过程:作为主体的自我和作为客体的自我。威廉·詹姆斯(William James)在1892年引入这一区分,他同时代的人,例如查尔斯·库利(Charles Cooley),也加入这一场不断发展的辩论。从那时起,心理学家一直在持续构建该理论。
段落B
According to James,a child’s first step on the road to self-understanding can be seen as the recognition that he or she exists.This is an aspect of the self that he labelled‘self-as-subject’,and he gave it various elements.These included an awareness of one’s own agency(i.e.one’s power to act),and an awareness of one’s distinctiveness from other people.These features gradually emerge as infants explore their world and interact with caregivers.Cooley(1902)suggested that a sense of the self-as-subject was primarily concerned with being able to exercise power.He proposed that the earliest examples of this are an infant’s attempts to control physical objects,such as toys or his or her own limbs.This is followed by attempts to affect the behavior of other people.For example,infants learn that when they cry or smile someone responds to them.
詹姆斯认为,孩子迈向自我认知的第 一步可以看作是对自己存在的认可。这是自我的一个方面,他称之为“作为主体的自我”,并赋予了它各种要素。其中包括了解自己的代理机构(即自己的行为权),以及了解自己与众不同的特征。随着婴儿探索自己的世界并与照顾者互动,这些特征逐渐显现出来。Cooley(1902)提出,作为主体的自我认知主要与能够锻炼影响力有关。他提出,最早的例子是婴儿试图控制诸如玩具或自己的四肢之类的实在物体。随后是影响他人行为的尝试。例如,婴儿了解到,当他们哭泣或微笑时,有人会对他们做出反应。
段落C
Another powerful source of information for infants about the effects they can have on the world around them is provided when others mimic them.Many parents spend a lot of time,particularly in the early months,copying their infant’s vocalizations and expressions.In addition,young children enjoy looking in mirrors,where the movements they can see are dependent upon their own movements.This is not to say that infants recognize the reflection as their own image(a later development).However,Lewis and Brooks-Gunn(1979)suggest that infants’developing understanding that the movements they see in the mirror are contingent on their own,leads to a growing awareness that they are distinct from other people.This is because they,and only they,can change the reflection in the mirror.
当其他人模仿婴儿时,可以为婴儿提供有关其对周围世界的影响的另一个强大信息来源。许多父母花很多时间,尤其是在最初的几个月里,模仿婴儿的声音和表情。此外,年幼的孩子喜欢照镜子,他们看到的动作取决于自己的动作。这并不是说婴儿将镜子中的反射视为自己的图像(后来的发展)。刘易斯和布鲁克斯-古恩(Lewis and Brooks-Gunn,1979)认为,婴儿对镜子中运动的理解是独立的,这使他们逐渐意识到自己与众不同。因为他们,并且只有他们可以改变镜中的反射。
段落D
This understanding that children gain of themselves as active agents continues to develop in their attempts to co-operate with others in play.Dunn(1988)points out that it is in such day-to-day relationships and interactions that the child’s understanding of his-or herself emerges.Empirical investigations of the self-as-subject in young children are,however,rather scarce because of difficulties of communication:even if young infants can reflect on their experience,they certainly cannot express this aspect of the self directly.
在与他人玩耍的过程中,儿童对自己作为积极行为者的理解不断发展。邓恩(Dunn,1988)指出,正是在这种日常关系和互动中,孩子才对自己产生了理解。然而,由于沟通困难,对幼儿自我主体的实证研究相当缺乏:即使幼儿可以反思自己的经历,他们也无法直接表达自我的这一方面。
段落E
Once children have acquired a certain level of self-awareness,they begin to place themselves in a whole series of categories,which together play such an important part in defining them uniquely as‘themselves’.This second step in the development of a full sense of self is what James called the‘self-as-object’.This has been seen by many to be the aspect of the self which is most influenced by social elements,since it is made up of social roles(such as student,brother,colleague)and characteristics which derive their meaning from comparison or interaction with other people(such as trustworthiness,shyness,sporting ability).
一旦孩子获得了一定程度的自我意识,他们便开始将自己置于一系列的类别中,这些类别在他们获取有关“自己”的独特定义中发挥着重要作用。全面自我意识发展的第二步就是詹姆斯所说的“客体的自我”。许多人认为这一方面的自我受社会影响最 大,因为它是由社会角色(例如学生,兄弟,同事)和通过与他人的比较或互动而得出的特征(例如诚信,害羞,运动能力)组成的。
段落F
Cooley and other researchers suggested a close connection between a person’s own understanding of their identity and other people’s understanding of it.Cooley believed that people build up their sense of identity from the reactions of others to them,and from the view they believe others have of them.He called the self-as-object the‘looking-glass self’,since people come to see themselves as they are reflected in others.Mead(1934)went even further,and saw the self and the social world as inextricably bound together:‘The self is essentially a social structure,and it arises in social experience…it is impossible to conceive of a self arising outside of social experience.’
Cooley和其他研究人员认为,一个人对自己身份的理解与他人对其身份的理解之间存在密切联系。Cooley相信人们会从他人对他们的反应中,以及他们所认为的其他人对他们的看法中建立身份认同。他将客体自我称为“照镜子的自我”,因为人们通过他人的反馈来认识自己。米德(Mead,1934)走得更远,他认为自我和社会世界密不可分地联系在一起:“自我本质上是一种社会结构,它诞生于社会经验之中……无法想象在社会经验之外产生的自我。”
段落G
Lewis and Brooks-Gunn argued that an important development milestone is reached when children become able to recognize themselves visually without the support of seeing contingent movement.This recognition occurs around their second birthday.In one experiment,Lewis and Brooks-Gunn(1979)dabbed some red powder on the noses of children who were playing in front of a mirror,and then observed how often they touched their noses.The psychologists reasoned that if the children knew what they usually looked like,they would be surprised by the unusual red mark and would start touching it.On the other hand,they found that children of 15 to 18 months are generally not able to recognize themselves unless other cues such as movement are present.
ewis和Brooks-Gunn争辩说,发展过程中一项重要的里程碑是,儿童在看不到自己动作时却能在视觉上认识自己。这种认知出现在两岁左右。在一个实验中,刘易斯和布鲁克斯-古恩(Lewis and Brooks-Gunn,1979)在镜子前玩耍的孩子的鼻子上擦了一些红色粉末,然后观察他们多长时间触摸一次鼻子。心理学家认为,如果孩子们知道他们平时的模样,他们会对异常的红色标记感到惊讶并开始触摸它。另一方面,他们发现15到18个月大的孩子通常无法识别自己,除非存在动作之类的其他提示。
段落H
Finally,perhaps the most graphic expressions of self-awareness in general can be seen in the displays of rage which are most common from 18 months to 3 years of age.In a longitudinal study of groups of three or four children,Bronson(1975)found that the intensity of the frustration and anger in their disagreements increased sharply between the ages of 1 and 2 years.Often,the children’s disagreements involved a struggle over a toy that none of them had played with before or after the tug-of-war:the children seemed to be disputing ownership rather than wanting to play with it.Although it may be less marked in other societies,the link between the sense of‘self’and of‘ownership’is a notable feature of childhood in Western societies.
最后,或许普遍意义上自我认知最形象的表现体现在愤怒的展示上。这在18个月到3岁之间的孩子身上最为常见。在对三四个孩子构成的小组进行纵向研究时,Bronson(1975)发现,他们遇到分歧时,沮丧和愤怒的强度在1至2岁之间急剧增加。通常,孩子们的分歧涉及对他们在拔河之前或之后还没有玩过的玩具的争执:孩子们似乎在争辩所有权,而不是想玩它。尽管它在其他社会中可能没有那么明显,但是“自我认知”和“所有权”之间的联系是西方社会童年的显著特征。
剑桥雅思9Test4阅读Passage1原文翻译The life and work of Marie Curie居里夫人的生活与工作
剑桥雅思9阅读第四套题目第 一篇文章的主题为居里夫人。文章一共十一段,按照时间顺序介绍了居里夫人的儿童时期,求学经历,婚后生活,丈夫去世,科研过程,以及所获成就等。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test4 Passage1阅读原文翻译
第1段
Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived.Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867,she is famous for her work on radioactivity,and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize.With her husband,Pierre Curie,and Henri Becquerel,she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics,and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.She was the first woman to win a Noble Prize.
居里夫人可能是有史以来最著 名的女科学家。她于1867年出生在波兰的玛丽亚(Maria Sklodowska),以放射性研究而闻名,曾两次获得诺贝尔奖。她与丈夫皮埃尔·居里(Pierre Curie)和亨利·贝克勒(Henri Becquerel)一起获得了1903年诺贝尔物理学奖,然后成为1911年诺贝尔化学奖的唯 一获得者。她是第 一位获得诺贝尔奖的女性。
第2段
From childhood,Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory,and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education.Because her father lost his savings through bad investment,she then had to take work as a teacher.From her earnings,she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris,on the understanding that Bronia would,in turn,later help her to get an education.
玛丽(Marie)从小就以出色的记忆力着称,并在16岁完成中学教育时获得了金 牌。由于父亲文章来自老烤鸭雅思因不良投资而失去积蓄,她不得不当上老师。她的收入让她有能力资助姐姐Bronia在巴黎的医学学习,因为她了解到Bronia随后会帮助她接受教育。
第3段
In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne.She often worked far into the night and lived on little more than bread and butter and tea.She came first in the examination in the physical sciences in 1893,and in 1894 was placed second in the examination in mathematical sciences.It was not until the spring of that year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.
1891年,这一诺言得以兑现,玛丽去了巴黎,开始在索邦大学学习。她经常工作到深夜,靠面包,黄油和茶为生。她在1893年的物理科学考试中排名第 一,在1894年的数学科学考试中排名第二。那年春天,她被介绍给皮埃尔·居里。
第4段
Their marriage in 1895 marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve results of world significance.Following Henry Becquerel’s discovery in 1896 of a new phenomenon,which Marie later called‘radioactivity’.Marie Curie decided to find out if the radioactivity discovered in uranium was to be found in other elements.She discovered that this was true for thorium.
他们于1895年结婚,这段关系标志着取得具有世界意义的结果的开始。在亨利·贝克勒尔(Henry Becquerel)在1896年发现一种新现象之后(玛丽后来将其称为“放射性”),玛丽·居里决定寻找铀中存在的放射性是否也在其他元素中存在。她发现钍的情况也是如此。
第5段
Turning her attention to minerals,she found her interest drawn to pitchblende,a mineral whose radioactivity,superior to that of pure uranium,could be explained only by the presence in the ore of small quantities of an unknown substance of very high activity.Pierre Curie joined her in the work that she had undertaken to resolve this problem,and that led to the discovery of the new elements,polonium and radium.While Pierre Curie devoted himself chiefly to the physical study of the new radiations,Marie Curie struggled to obtain pure radium in the metallic state.This was achieved with the help of the chemist Andre—Louis Debierne,one of Pierre Curie’s pupils.Based on the results of this research,Marie Curie received her Doctorate of Science,and Marie and Pierre shared with Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.
在将注意力转向矿物时,她发现自己对沥青藻感兴趣,这种矿物的放射性比纯铀高。这一点只能由矿石中存在少量未知的高活性物质来解释。她着手解决这个问题,皮埃尔·居里在加入了她的工作,并促成新的元素-钋和镭的发现。当皮埃尔·居里(Pierre Curie)主要致力于对新辐射源的物理研究时,玛丽·居里(Marie Curie)通过努力获取了金属态的纯镭。这是在皮埃尔·居里的学生之一-化学家Andre-Louis Debierne的帮助下实现的。根据这项研究的结果,玛丽·居里(Marie Curie)获得了科学博士学位。1903年玛丽(Marie)、皮埃尔(Pierre)与贝克勒尔(Becquerel)因发现放射性而共同获得了诺贝尔物理学奖。
第6段
The births of Marie’s two daughters,Irene and Eve,in 1897 and 1904 failed to interrupt her scientific work.She was appointed lecturer in physics at the Ecole Normale Superieure for girls in Serves.France(1900),and introduced a method of teaching based on experimental demonstrations.In December 1904 she was appointed chief assistant in the laboratory directed by Pierre Curie.
玛丽的两个女儿艾琳(Irene)和夏娃(Eve)在1897年和1904年的出生未能中断她的科学工作。1900年她被任命为法国高等师范学校物理系讲师,并引入了一种基于实验演示的教学方法。1904年12月,她被任命为Pierre Curie领导的实验室的首席助理。
第7段
The sudden death of her husband in 1906 was a bitter blow to Marie Curie,but was also a turning point in her career:henceforth she was to devote all her energy to completing alone the scientific work that they had undertaken.On May 13,1906,she was appointed to the professorship that had been left vacant on her husband’s death,becoming the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne.In 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the isolation of a pure form of radium.
她的丈夫在1906年突然去世,这对玛丽·居里来说是个沉痛的打击,但这也是她事业的转折点:从此,她将全力以赴地独自完成他们所从事的科学工作。1906年5月13日,她走上丈夫去世后空缺的教授职位,成为第 一位在索邦任教的女士。1911年,她因分离出纯净形式的镭而获得了诺贝尔化学奖。
第8段
During World War I,Marie Curie,with the help of her daughter Irene devoted herself to the development of the use of X-radiography,including the mobile units which came to be known as‘little curies’,used for the treatment of wounded soldiers.In 1918 the Radium Institute,whose staff Irene had joined,began to operate in earnest,and became a centre for nuclear physics and chemistry.Marie Curie,now at the highest point of her fame and,from 1922,a member of the Academy of Medicine,researched the chemistry of radioactive substances and their medical applications.
第 一次世界大战期间,玛丽·居里(Marie Curie)在女儿艾琳(Irene)的帮助下致力于X射线照相技术的发展,其中包括后来被称为“小咖喱”的,用于治疗受伤的士兵的可移动装置。1918年,艾琳所加入的镭研究所(Radiium Institute)开始认真运作,并成为核物理和化学的中心。玛丽·居里(Marie Curie)达到了其声望的最 高点,并于1922年因研究放射性物质的化学性质及其医学应用开始担任医学科学院的成员。
第9段
In 1921,accompanied by her two daughters,Marie Curie made a triumphant journey to the United States to raise funds for research on radium.Women there presented her with a gram of radium for her campaign.Marie also gave lectures in Belgium,Brazil,Spain and Czechoslovakia and in addition,had the satisfaction of seeing the development of the Curie Foundation in Paris,and the inauguration in 1932 in Warsaw of the Radium Institute,where her sister Bronia became director.
1921年,玛丽·居里(Marie Curie)在她两个女儿的陪伴下,前往美国成功筹集了用于镭研究的资金。那里的女性因她的筹款活动送给她一克镭。玛丽还在比利时,巴西,西班牙和捷克斯洛伐克进行了演讲,此外,她十分欣慰地看到巴黎居里基金会的发展,以及1932年她的姐姐布罗尼亚出任华沙镭研究机构的主任的就职典礼。
第10段
One of Marie Curie’s outstanding achievements was to have understood the need to accumulate intense radioactive sources,not only to treat illness but also to maintain an abundant supply for research.The existence in Pairs at the Radium Institute of a stock of 1.5 grams of radium made a decisive contribution to the success of the experiments undertaken in the years around 1930.This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by Sir James Chadwick and,above all,for the discovery in 1934 by Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie of artificial radioactivity.A few months after this discovery,Marie Curie died as a result of leukaemia caused by exposure to radiation.She had often carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pocket,remarking on the pretty blue-green light they gave off.
居里夫人的杰出成就之一就是认识到积累大量放射源的必要性,以便治疗疾病,并保持充足的研究供应。巴黎镭研究所储存的1.5克镭对1930年左右的实验成功作出了决定性的贡献。这项工作为詹姆斯·查德威克爵士发现中子,以及艾琳(Irene)和弗雷德里克·乔里奥特·居里(Frederic Joliot-Curie)在1934年发现人工放射性铺平了道路。几个月后,居里夫人因暴露于辐射引发的白血病死亡。她经常在口袋里放着装有放射性同位素的试管,赞叹它们发出的漂亮的蓝绿色光。
第11段
Her contribution to physics had been immense,not only in her own work,the importance of which had been demonstrated by her two Nobel Prizes,but because of her influence on subsequent generations of nuclear physicists and chemists.
她对物理学的贡献是巨大的,不仅仅因为她自己的研究(两次诺贝尔奖证明了其重要性),还因为她对后来核物理学家和化学家的影响。
剑桥雅思9Test3阅读Passage3原文翻译information theory–the big idea信息理论-伟大的构想
剑桥雅思9阅读第三套题目第三篇文章的主题为信息理论。文章分为6段,分别介绍了信息传送技术成功拯救“旅行者1号”,信息传送技术的鼻祖,Shannon信息理论建立的基础,影响信息传输的两大因素,shannon信息理论的成功应用,以及更有效的信息存储技术。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test3 Passage3阅读原文翻译
引言
Information theory lies at the heart of everything—from DVD players and the genetic code of DNA to the physics of the universe at its most fundamental.It has been central to the development of the science of communication,which enables data to be sent electronically and has therefore had a major impact on our lives
信息理论是一切的核心-从DVD播放机和DNA的遗传密码到最根本的宇宙物理学。它一直是传播学发展的核心所在。它使数据能够以电子方式发送,并因此已经对我们的生活产生重大影响
段落A
In April 2002 an event took place which demonstrated one of the many applications of information theory.The space probe Voyager I,launched in 1977,had sent back spectacular images of Jupiter and Saturn and then soared out of the Solar System on a one-way mission to the stars.After 25 years of exposure to the freezing temperatures of deep space,the probe was beginning to show its age.Sensors and circuits were on the brink of failing and NASA experts realized that they had to do something or lose contact with their probe forever.The solution was to get a message to Voyager I to instruct it to use spares to change the failing parts.With the probe 12 billion kilometers from Earth,this was not an easy task.By means of a radio dish belonging to NASA’s Deep Space Network,the message was sent out into the depths of space.Even travelling at the speed of light,it took over 11 hours to reach its target,far beyond the orbit of Pluto.Yet,incredibly,the little probe managed to hear the faint call from its home planet and successfully made the switchover.
2002年4月发生了一起事件。它证明了信息理论的许多应用之一。于1977年发射升空的“旅行者1号”太空探测器送回了木星和土星的壮观影像,然后飞离太阳系执行探索恒星的单程任务。暴露于深空的冰冻温度25年后,该探测器开始老化。传感器和电路位于崩溃的边缘。NASA专家意识到他们必须做些什么,否则的话就会永远与探测器失去联系。解决办法是向旅行者1号发送一条消息,指示其使用备用零件更换出现故障的零件。考虑到探测器距地球有120亿公里,这并非易事。通过属于NASA深空网络的无线电天线,该消息被发送到太空深处。即使以光速行进,也花了11个多小时才能到达目标,远远超出冥王星的轨道。然而,令人难以置信的是,这一小型探测器设法听到了来自其母星的微弱声音,并成功进行了转换。
段落B
It was the longest-distance repair job history,and a triumph for the NASA engineers.But it also highlighted the astonishing power of the techniques developed by American communications engineer Claude Shannon,who had died just a year earlier.Born in 1916 in Petoskey,Michigan,Shannon showed an early talent for maths and for building gadgets and made breakthroughs in the foundations of computer technology when still a student.While at Bell Laboratories,Shannon developed information theory but shunned the resulting acclaim.In the 1940s,he single-handedly created an entire science of communication which has since inveigled its way into a host of applications,from DVDs to satellite communications to bar codes—any area,in short,where data has to be conveyed rapidly yet accurately.
这是历史上跨越最长距离的修理,也是NASA工程师的胜利。但是,它也突显了一年前去世的美国通信工程师克劳德·香农(Claude Shannon)所开发的技术的惊人力量。香农于1916年在密歇根州的佩托斯基(Petoskey)出生。他从小就展现出数学和搭建小工具方面的天赋,并在还是学生的时候就在计算机技术的基础上取得了突破。在贝尔实验室时,香农提出了信息理论,但回避了由此产生的好评。在20世纪40年代,他一手创建了后来应用于各种领域的通信科学,从DVD到卫星通讯再到条形码。简言之,任何需要对信息进行快速而准确的传输的领域。
段落C
This all seems light years away from the down-to-earth uses Shannon originally had for his work,which began when he was a 22-year-old graduate engineering student at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1939.He set out with an apparently simple aim:to pin down the precise meaning of the concept of‘information’.The most basic form of information,Shannon argued,is whether something is true or false—which can be captured in the binary unit,or‘bit’,of form 1 or 0.Having identified this fundamental unit,Shannon set about defining otherwise vague ideas about information and how to transit it from place to place.In the process he discovered something surprising:it is always possible to guarantee the information will get through random interference—‘noise’—intact.
这一切似乎与香农最初的应用相差很远。1993年他22岁,是著 名的麻省理工学院工程学的研究生。他一开始的目的很简单:确定“信息”这一概念的确切含义。香农认为,基本的信息形式是判断事物正确与否,这可以用二进制单位“比特”以1或者0的形式来记录。香农确定了此基本形式后,便着手定义关于信息和信息跨地区传输的其他模糊概念。在这个过程中,他发现了一些令人吃惊事情:总是有可能使信息穿过随机的干扰-噪音-而保持完整。
段落D
Noise usually means unwanted sounds which interfere with genuine information.Information theory generalizes this idea via theorems that capture the effects of noise with mathematical precision.In particular,Shannon showed that noise sets a limit on the rate at which information can pass along communication channels while remaining error-free.This rate depends on the relative strengths of the signal and noise travelling down the communication channel,and on its capacity(its‘bandwidth’).The resulting limit,given in units of bits per second,is the absolute maximum rate of error-free communication given signal strength and noise level.The trick,Shannon showed,is to find ways of packaging up—‘coding’—information to cope with the ravages of noise,while staying within the information-carrying capacity—‘bandwidth’—of the communication system being used.
噪音通常表示会干扰到真正信息的多余声音。信息理论通过定理概括了这一概念。它以数学的精确度确定了噪声的影响。更确切的说,香农表示噪音在速度方面存在限制。在特定的速度上,信息可以通过通信频道并保持完整。该速度单位为比特/秒,是在给定的信号强度和噪音水平下,信息无误差传送的最 大绝 对速度。香农指出,提供这一速度的有效方法是在所使用的通信系统的传送能力(即带宽)范围内,找到将信息打包(即编码)的方式,来应对噪声的破坏。
段落E
Over the years scientists have devised many such coding methods,and they have proved crucial in many technological feats.The voyager spacecraft transmitted data using codes which added one extra bit for every single bit of information;the result was an error rate of just one bit in 10,000—and stunningly clear pictures of the planets.Other codes have become part of everyday life—such as the Universal Product Code,or bar code.Which uses a simple error-detecting system that ensures supermarket check-out lasers can read the price even on,say,a crumpled bag of crisps.As recently as 1993,engineers made a major breakthrough by discovering so-called turbo—which come very close to Shannon’s ultimate limit for the maximum rate that data can be transmitted reliably,and now play a key role in the mobile videophone revolution.
多年来,科学家们已经设计出许多这样的编码方法,也证明了它们对许多技术成就至关重要。旅行者号航天器利用编码传输数据,这些编码在每比特信息上都额外增加了一比特信息,使错误率仅为万分之一,得到清晰度惊人的行星图片。其他编码已成为日常生活的一部分,例如通用产品代码或条形码。它使用一种简单的错误检测系统,确保超市的激光结账设备甚至可以在皱巴巴的薯片袋上读取价格。就在1993年,工程师们取得了一项重大突破,发现所谓的Turbo码,这与香农提出的信息可以安全传送的最 大速度极限非常接近。现在,Turbo码在移动可视电话变革中发挥着关键的作用,
段落F
Shannon also laid the foundations of more efficient ways of storing information,by stripping out superfluous(‘redundant’)bits from data which contributed little real information.As mobile phone text messages like‘I CN C U’show,it is often possible to leave out a lot of data without losing much meaning.As with error correction,however,there’s a limit beyond which message become too ambiguous.Shannon showed how to calculate this limit,opening the way to the design of compression methods that cram maximum information into the minimum space.
通过去除含有较少真实信息的多余数据,香农也会开发更有效率地储存信息的方式奠定了基础。正如手机短信“I CN C U”(I can see you的缩写)一样,有可能在省略了很多数据之后,基本意思保持不变。但是,正如纠错一样,省略存在一定的限制。超过该限制信息就会变得模糊不清。香农说明了如何计算这一限制,为设计信息压缩方法,从而将最多的信息塞进最小的空间开辟了道路。
剑桥雅思9Test3阅读Passage2原文翻译Tidal Power潮汐发电
剑桥雅思9阅读第三套题目第二篇文章的主题为潮汐发电。文章分为6段,分别介绍了潮汐发电的优势,如何解决当下的能源问题,英国潮汐发电试验项目,水力涡轮机的有点,以及其前景和弊端。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test3 Passage2阅读原文翻译
引言
Undersea turbines which produce electricity from the tides are set to become an important source of renewable energy for Britain.It is still too early to predict the extent of the impact they may have,but all the signs are that they will play a significant role in the future
利用潮汐发电的水下涡轮机将注定成为英国可再生能源的重要来源。预测其具体的影响程度还为时过早,但所有迹象都表明它们将在未来发挥重要作用。
自然段A
Operating on the same principle as wind turbines,the power in sea turbines comes from tidal currents which turn blades similar to ships propellers,but,unlike wind,the tides are predictable and the power input is constant.The technology raises the prospect of Britain becoming self-sufficient in renewable energy and drastically reducing its carbon dioxide emissions.If tide,wind and wave-power are all developed,Britain would be able to close gas,coal and nuclear plants and export renewable power to other parts of Europe.Unlike wind power which Britain originally developed and then abandoned for 20 years allowing the Dutch to make it a major industry,undersea turbines could become a big export earner to island nations such as Japan and New Zealand.
与风力涡轮机的工作原理相同,海洋涡轮机的动力来自潮汐。它使得像船舶螺旋桨一样的叶片转动。但与风不同,潮汐是可预测的,并且动力输入是恒定的。该技术提高了英国可再生能源自给自足,并大幅度减少其二氧化碳排放的前景。如果潮汐,风能和波浪能都发展良好,英国将能够关闭天然气,燃煤和核电站,并向欧洲其他地区出口可再生能源。与英国最初开发,然后废弃20年,使得荷兰将其作为主要产业的风力发电不同,海底涡轮机可以成为日本和新西兰等岛国的主要出口收入来源。
自然段B
Tidal sites have already been identified that will produce one sixth or more of the UK’s power—and at prices competitive with modern gas turbines and undercutting those of the already ailing nuclear industry.One site alone,the Pentland Firth,between Orkney and mainland Scotland,could produce 10%of the country’s electricity with banks of turbines under the sea,and another at Alderney in the Channel Islands three times the 1,2000 megawatts of Britain’s largest and newest nuclear plant,Sizewell B,in Suffolk.Other sites identified include the Bristol Channel and the west coast of Scotland,particularly the channel between Campbelltown and Northern Ireland.
已经确定潮汐发电站将产生英国六分之一或更多的电力。其价格与现代燃气涡轮机相比具有竞争力,并削弱本已陷入困境的核能发电的竞争力。位于奥克尼和苏格兰大陆之间的彭特兰峡湾(Pentland Firth)一个地方,就可以利用海底涡轮机产生全国10%的电力。而位于海峡群岛奥尔德尼岛的另一个发电站所产生的电量是英国最 大、最 新的位于萨福克的Sizewell B核电厂发电量(12000兆瓦)的三倍。其他已经确定的位置包括布里斯托尔海峡和苏格兰的西海岸,尤其坎特伯雷和北爱尔兰之间的海峡。
自然段C
Work on designs for the new turbine blades and sites are well advanced at the University of Southampton’s sustainable energy research group.The first station is expected to be installed off Lynmouth in Devon shortly to test the technology in a venture jointly funded by the Department of Trade and Industry and the European Union.AbuBakn Bahaj,in charge of the Southampton research,said:‘The prospects for energy from tidal currents are far better than from wind because the flows of water are predictable and constant.The technology for dealing with the hostile saline environment under the sea has been developed in the North Sea oil industry and much is already known about turbine blade design,because of wind power and ship propellers.There are a few technical difficulties,but I believe in the next five to ten years we will be installing commercial marine turbine farm.Southampton has been rewarded£215,000 over three years to develop the turbines and is working with Marine Current Turbines,a subsidiary of IT power,on the Lynmouth project.EU research has now identified 106 potential sites for tidal power,80%round the coasts of Britain.The best sites are between islands or around heavily indented coasts where there are strong tidal currents.
南安普敦大学可持续能源研究小组的新型涡轮叶片和站点设计工作已经取得了很大进展。第 一站预计将很快在德文郡林茅斯附近安装,以便在由贸易和工业部与欧盟共同投资的合资企业中测试该技术。负责南安普敦研究的阿布巴肯·巴哈伊(AbuBakn Bahaj)表示:“潮汐产生的能源前景远胜于风能,因为水流是可预测的且恒定的。在北海石油工业中已经开发出用于应对海底不利环境的技术,并且由于风力和船舶螺旋桨,涡轮叶片设计已广为人知。技术上有一些困难,但是我相信在未来的五到十年中,我们将安装可用于商业化的海底涡轮发电厂。南安普敦在过去三年中获得了215,000英镑的资助,用于开发涡轮机,并正与IT电力子公司Marine Current Turbines合作进行Lynmouth项目。欧盟的研究现已确定了106个潜在的潮汐发电点,其中80%位于英国沿海。最好的地点是在岛屿之间或在有强烈潮汐的深凹海岸附近。
自然段D
A marine turbine blade needs to be only one third of the size of a wind generator to produce three times as much power.The blades will be about 20 meters in diameter,so around 30 meters of water is required.Unlike wind power,there are unlikely to be environmental objections.Fish and other creatures are thought unlikely to be at risk from the relatively slow-turning blades.Each turbine will be mounted on a tower which will connect to the national power supply grid via underwater cables.The towers will stick out of the water and be lit,to warn shipping,and also be designed to be lifted out of the water for maintenance and to clean seaweed from the blades.
海洋涡轮叶片仅需是风力发电机尺寸的三分之一即可产生三倍的功率。叶片直径约为20米,因此需要约30米深的水。与风力发电不同,它不太可能有环境方面的反对意见。人们认为鱼和其他生物不太可能受到旋转相对较慢的叶片的威胁。每个涡轮机将安装在塔架上,该塔架通过水下电缆连接到国家电网。这些塔尖将伸出水面并发出光亮,以警告船只。它们还应被设计成可以从水中抬起以进行维护并清洁叶片上的海藻。
自然段E
Dr Bahaj has done most work on the Alderney site,where there are powerful currents.The single undersea turbine farm would produce far more power than needed for the Channel Islands and most would be fed into the French Grid and be re-imported into Britain via the cable under the Channel.
巴哈伊博士已经完成了奥尔德尼站点的大部分工作,那里有强大的洋流。单个海底涡轮发电场产生的电力将远远超过海峡群岛的需求。大多数将被输送到法国电网,并通过海峡下方的电缆重新输入英国。
自然段F
One technical difficulty is cavitation,where low pressure behind a turning blade causes air bubbles.These can cause vibration and damage the blades of the turbines.Dr Bahaj said:‘We have to test a number of blade types to avoid this happening or at least make sure it does not damage the turbines or reduce performance.Another slight concern is submerged debris floating into the blades.So far we do not know how much of a problem it might be.We will have to make the turbines robust because the sea is a hostile environment,but all the signs that we can do it are good.
一项技术难题是气蚀,即叶片旋转所产生的低压将制造气泡。它们会引起振动并损伤涡轮机的叶片。巴哈伊博士说:“我们必须测试多种叶片类型,以避免这种情况的发生,或者至少确保它不会损坏涡轮机或降低其性能。另一个细微的问题是漂浮的水下碎片会撞向叶片。到目前为止,我们还不知道这一问题的麻烦程度。由于海洋不利的环境,我们将必须使涡轮机十分坚固才行,但我们能做到的所有迹象都是好的。
剑桥雅思9Test3阅读Passage1原文翻译Attitudes to language对待语言的态度
剑桥雅思9阅读第三套题目第 一篇文章的主题为对待语言的态度。文章一共六段,采用总分总结构。开头段描述语言学研究容易引起争议的现象,中间4段描述具体的争议以及不同的学派,最后展望未来。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test3 Passage1阅读原文翻译
第1段
It is not easy to be systematic and objective about language study.Popular linguistic debate regularly deteriorates into invective and polemic.Language belongs to everyone,so most people feel they have a right to hold an option about it.And when options differ,emotions can run high.Arguments can start as easily over minor points of usage as over major policies of linguistic education.
语言研究要想系统化和客观化并不容易。常见的语言辩论经常恶化为辱骂和诡辩。语言属于每个人,因此大多数人认为他们有权对其发表意见。当意见相左时,情绪就会激动起来。无论是针对微小的语言使用,还是针对重大的语言教育政策,争论都可能轻易开启。
第2段
Language,moreover,is a very public behavior,so it is easy for different usages to be noted and criticised.No part of society or social behavior is exempt.Linguistic factors influence how we judge personality,intelligence,social status,educational standards,job aptitude,and many other areas of identity and social survival.As a result,it is easy to hurt,and to be hurt,when language use is unfeelingly attacked.
此外,语言是一种非常公开的行为,因此不同的使用方式很容易受到注意和批评。任何社会部分或社会行为均不能幸免。语言因素会影响我们对性格,智力,社会地位,教育水平,工作能力以及身份和社会生存等许多其他方面的判断。结果,当语言使用受到无情的攻击时,很容易伤害别人,也很容易受伤。
第3段
In its most general sense,prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community.The view is propounded especially in relation to grammar and vocabulary,and frequently with reference to pronunciation.The variety which is favoured,in this account,is usually a version of the‘standard’written language,especially as encountered in literature,or in the formal spoken language which most closely reflects this style.Adherents to this variety are said to speak or write‘correctly’deviations from it are said to be‘incorrect’.
从最普遍的意义上来讲,规定主义认为一种语言形式的内在价值要高于其他形式,并应将其强加给该语言群体的所有人。这一观点在词汇和语法方面尤其突出,并经常与发音联系起来。在这种观点中,最受青睐的语言形式通常为“标准”的书面版本,尤其存在于文学作品中,或者最能反映该风格的正式口语中。据说该语言形式的拥护者要说的或者写的“正确”,偏离该形式的行为会被认为是“不正确的”。
第4段
All the main languages have been studied prescriptively,especially in the 18th century approach to the writing of grammar and dictionaries.The aims of these early grammarians were threefold:(a)they wanted to codify the principles of their languages,to show that there was a system beneath the apparent chaos of usage;(b)they wanted a means of settling disputes over usage,and(c)they wanted to point out what they felt to be common errors,in order to‘improve’the language.The authoritarian nature of the approach is best characterized by its reliance on‘rules’of grammar.Some usages are‘prescribed’,to be learnt and followed accurately;others are‘proscribed’,to be avoided.In this early period,there were no half-measures:usage was either right or wrong,and it was the task of the grammarian not simply to record alternatives,but to pronounce judgment upon them.
所有主要语言已经经过规范性的研究,尤其是在18世纪对语法和词典的编写过程中。这些早期语法学家有三重目的的:(a)他们想编纂自己的语言原则,以表明在明显混乱的用法之下存在一个系统;(b)他们想要找出一种方式来解决用法上的争议,并且(c)他们想指出他们所认为的常见错误,以便“改善”语言。这种方法对语法规则的依赖最能反映其独裁的本质。一些用法是“规定”好的,需要准确学习和遵守;其他用法是“禁止”的,要避免使用。早期阶段没有中间地带:用法要么是对,要么是错。语法学家的任务不是简单地记录不同用法,而是对它们做出判断。
第5段
These attitudes are still with us,and they motivate a widespread concern that linguistic standards should be maintained.Nevertheless,there is an alternative point of view that is concerned less with standards than with the facts of linguistic usage.This approach is summarized in the statement that it is the task of the grammarian to describe,not prescribe—to record the facts of linguistic diversity,and not to attempt the impossible tasks of evaluating language variation or halting language change.In the second half of the 18th century,we already find advocates of this view,such as Joseph Priestley,whose Rudiments of English Grammar(1761)insists that‘the custom of speaking is the original and only just standard of any language’.Linguistic issues,it is argued,cannot be solved by logic and legislation.And this view has become the tenet of the modern linguistic approach to grammatical analysis.
这些态度仍然存在,并且引起了人们对保留语言标准的广泛关注。然而,有一种观点更加关心语言的事实使用,而非其标准。这种观点可以总结为:语法学家的任务是描述而非规定,即记录语言多样性的事实,而不是尝试完成评价语言变种或者阻止语言改变这一不可能的任务。在18世纪后期,我们已经能够找到该观点的支持者,Joseph Preiestley。他的Rudiments of English Grammar指出:“说话的习惯是最初的语言标准,也是唯 一的标准。语言问题不能通过逻辑或立法的方式来解决。这种观点已经成为现代语言学分析语法的宗旨。
第6段
In our own time,the opposition between‘descriptivists’and‘prescriptivists’has often become extreme,with both sides painting unreal pictures of the other.Descriptive grammarians have been presented as people who do not care about standards,because of the way they see all forms of usage as equally valid.Prescriptive grammarians have been presented as blind adherents to a historical tradition.The opposition has even been presented in quasi-political terms—of radical liberalism vs elitist conservatism.
在我们自己的时代,“描述主义者”和“规定主义者”之间的对立常常变得很极端。双方对彼此都存在误解。描述性语法学家被认为是不关心标准的人,因为在他们看来所有用法都是合理的。规定主义的语法学家被认为是历史传统的盲目拥护者。这种对立甚至可以用类似的政治术语来表示:激进自由主义与精英保守主义。
剑桥雅思9Test2阅读Passage3原文翻译A neuroscientist reveals how to think differently神经学家解密创新思考
剑桥雅思9阅读第二套题目第三篇文章的主题为神经学家解密创新思考。文章一共8段,采用总分的结构,开头引出用神经经济学去分析传统叛逆者(创新者)以及他们大脑结构的三个不同之处,随后每一段介绍创新者的一种特点。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test2 Passage3阅读原文翻译
第1段
In the last decade a revolution has occurred in the way that scientists think about the brain.We now know that the decisions humans make can be traced to the firing patterns of neurons in specific parts of the brain.These discoveries have led to the field known as neuroeconomics,which studies the brain’s secrets to success in an economic environment that demands innovation and being able to do things differently from competitors.A brain that can do this is an iconoclastic one.Briefly,an iconoclast is a person who does something that others say can’t be done.
在过去十年里,科学家思考大脑的方式发生了一场革命。我们现在知道,人类做出的决定可以追溯到大脑特定部位的神经元放电模式。这些发现导致神经经济学领域的出现。该领域研究大脑在需要创新的经济领域取得成功的秘密。能够做到这一点的大脑具有叛逆的特点。简而言之,叛逆者是做别人认为无法做到的事情的人。
第2段
This definition implies that iconoclasts are different from other people,but more precisely,it is the brains that are different in three distinct ways:perception,fear response,and social intelligence.Each of these three functions utilizes a different circuit in the brain.Naysayers might suggest that the brain is irrelevant that thinking in an original,even revolutionary,way is more a matter of personality than brain function.But the field of neuroeconomics was born out of the realization that the physical working of the brain place limitations on the way we make decisions.By understanding these constraints,we begin to understand why some people march to a different drumbeat.
这个定义意味着叛逆者与他人不同。但是更确切地说,是他们的大脑在三个截然不同的领域与他人不同:感知,恐惧反应和社会智慧。这三种功能中的每一种都利用大脑中的不同回路。反对者可能认为,大脑无关紧要,以创新甚至是革命性的方式思考更多的是性格而非大脑的作用。但正是因为认识到大脑的客观运转限制着我们的决策方式,神经经济学才由此诞生。通过了解这些约束,我们开始理解为什么有些人会产生不同的想法。
第3段
The first thing to realize is that the brain suffers from limited resources.It has a fixed energy budget,about the same as a 40 watt light bulb,so it has evolved to work as efficiently as possible.This is where most people are impeded from being an iconoclast.For example,when confronted with information streaming from the eyes,the brain will interpret this information in the quickest way possible.Thus it will draw on both past experience and any other source of information,such as what other people say,to make sense of what it is seeing.This happens all the time.The brain takes shortcuts that work so well we hardly ever aware of them.We think our perceptions of the world are real,but they are only biological and electrical rumblings.Perception is not simply a product of what your eyes or ears transmit to your brain.More than the physical reality of photons or sound waves,perception is a product of the brain.
首先要意识到的是,大脑拥有的资源有限。它具有固定的能量预算,大约与40瓦的灯泡相同,因此它已经进化为尽可能高效地工作。也正是这一点阻碍大多数人成为叛逆者。例如,当面对来自眼睛的信息流时,大脑将以最快的方式解读该信息。因此,它将利用过去的经验和任何其他信息来源(例如别人说的话)来理解所看到的内容。这事儿一直发生。大脑采取行之有效的捷径,以至于我们几乎没有意识到它们的存在。我们认为我们对世界的看法是真实的,但它其实仅仅是生物和电子的回响。感知不仅仅是眼睛或耳朵传输到大脑的产物。相比于光子或声波的物理现实,感知更多的是大脑的产物。
第4段
Perception is central to iconoclasm.Iconoclasts see things differently to other people.Their brains do not fail into efficiency pitfalls as much as the average person’s brain.Iconoclasts,either because they were born that way or through learning,have found ways to work around the perceptual shortcut that plague most people.Perception is not something that is hardwired into the brain.It is a learned process,which is both a curse and an opportunity for change.The brain faces the fundamental problem of interpreting physical stimuli from the sense.Everything the brain sees,hears,or touches has multiple interpretations.The one that is ultimately chosen is simply the brain’s best theory.In technical terms,these conjectures have their basis in the statistical likelihood of one interpretation over another and are heavily influenced by past experience and,importantly for potential iconoclasts,what other people say.
感知对于离经叛道至关重要。叛逆者对事物的看法与其他人不同。他们的大脑不会像普通人的大脑那样陷入效率陷阱。叛逆者,无论是因为他们出生如此还是后天习得,已经找到了绕过困扰大多数人的感知捷径的方法。感知不是大脑连接的硬件。这是一个学习的过程,既是诅咒,也是变革的机会。大脑面临着从感觉上解释身体刺激的根本问题。大脑看到,听到或触摸的一切都有多种解释。最终选择的只是大脑的理论。用技术术语来说,这些猜想是建立在一种解释优于另一种解释的统计学可能性的基础之上的,并且受过去经验和其他人的观点的影响很大。这点对于潜在的叛逆者而言十分重要。
第5段
The best way to see things differently to other people is to bombard the brain with things it has never encountered before.Novelty releases the perceptual process from the chains of past experience and forces the brain to make new judgments.Successful iconoclasts have an extraordinary willingness to be exposed to what is fresh and different.Observation of iconoclasts shows that they embrace novelty while most people avoid things that are different.
获取与众不同的思维方式的最好办法是用从未经历过的事物轰炸大脑。新鲜事物从过去经验的锁链中释放出感知过程,并迫使大脑做出新的判断。成功的叛逆者非常愿意接触新鲜和不同的事物。对叛逆者的观察表明,他们拥抱新鲜事物,而大多数人则会避免与众不同的东西。
第6段
The problem with novelty,however,is that it tends to trigger the brain’s fear system.Fear is a major impediment to thinking like an iconoclast and stops the average person in his tracks.There are many types of fear,but the two that inhibit iconoclastic thinking and people generally find difficult to deal with are fear of uncertainty and fear of public ridicule.These may seem like trivial phobia.But fear of public speaking,which everyone must do from time to time,afflicts one-third of the population.This makes it too common to be considered a mental disorder.It is simply a common variant of human nature,one which iconoclasts do not let inhibit their reactions.
但是,新鲜事物的问题在于,它往往会触发大脑的恐惧系统。恐惧是像叛逆者那样思考的主要障碍,它将普通人困在既定轨道上。恐惧有多种类型,但抑制反传统思维并且人们发现很难处理的两种是:对不确定的恐惧和对公众嘲笑的恐惧。这看起来可能像是微不足道的东西。但对公开演讲的恐惧困扰着三分之一的人口,而每个人又都得时不时做公开演讲。正是因为这种现象太过常见,人们很难将其看作一种精神疾病。这使得人们普遍认为它是一种精神障碍。它只是人类本性的一种常见变化,而叛逆者则不会让其阻碍他们的反应。
第7段
Finally,to be successful iconoclasts,individuals must sell their ideas to other people.This is where social intelligence comes in.Social intelligence is the ability to understand and manage people in a business setting.In the last decade there has been an explosion of knowledge about the social brain and how the brain works when groups coordinate decision making.Neuroscience has revealed which brain circuits are responsible for functions like understanding what other people think,empathy,fairness,and social identity.These brain regions play key roles in whether people convince others of their ideas.Perception is important in social cognition too.The perception of someone’s enthusiasm,or reputation,can make or break a deal.Understanding how perception becomes interviewed with social decision making shows why successful iconoclasts are so rare.
最后,要成为成功的叛逆者,一个人必须向他人兜售自己的想法。这就轮到社交智慧登场了。社交智慧是在商业环境中理解和管理人的能力。在过去的十年中,人们对社会型大脑的认知突飞猛进,对这种大脑在团队协作共同决策时所起的作用也了如指掌。神经科学已经揭示了哪些大脑回路负责诸如理解他人想法,同理心,公平和社会认同等功能。这些大脑区域在人们是否能说服他人相信自己的想法方面起着关键作用。感知在社会认知中也很重要。对某人热情,或声誉的看法,可以成就或破坏异一场交易。若能了解感知与社会决策交缠的关系,就能明白为什么成功的叛逆者如此稀少。
第8段
Iconoclasts create new opportunities in every area from artistic expression to technology to business.They supply creativity and innovation not easily accomplished by committees.Rules aren’t important to them.Iconoclasts face alienation and failure,but can also be a major asset to any organization.It is crucial for success in any field to understand how the iconoclastic mind works.
从艺术表现到技术,再到商业,叛逆者在各个领域创造新的机会。他们所提供的创造力和创新是其他人所无法轻易企及的。规则对他们并不重要。叛逆者面临着疏远和失败,但对于任何组织来说他们也是一项重要的资产。了解叛逆者的大脑如何工作对于在任何领域取得成功至关重要。
剑桥雅思9Test2阅读Passage2原文翻译venus in transit金星凌日
剑桥雅思9阅读第二套题目第二篇文章的主题为金星凌日。文章一共7段,大体可以分为三部分,一开始以2004年的金星凌日引出话题,然后主体部分介绍过去观测金星凌日所存在的困难和为克服这些困难所做出的努力,最后说明金星凌日的天文学意义。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test2 Passage1阅读原文翻译
引言
June 2004 saw the first passage,known as a‘transit’,of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122 years.Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe,as Healther Cooper and Nigel Henbest explain
2004年6月,金星122年来首 次穿过太阳面,称为“凌日”。正如Healther Cooper和Nigel Henbest解释的那样,凌日帮助塑造我们对整个宇宙的看法.
自然段A
On 8 June 2004,more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare astronomical event.For over six hours,the planet Venus steadily inched its way over the surface of the Sun.This‘transit’of Venus was the first since 6 December 1882.On that occasion,the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb led a party to South Africa to observe the event.They were based at a girl’s school,where—it is alleged—the combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their observations.
2004年6月8日,全世界一半以上的人口都可以观测到一起罕见的天文事件。在六个多小时的时间里,金星稳步向太阳表面前进。这次金星的“凌日”是自1882年12月6日以来的第 一次。当时,美国天文学家西蒙·纽科姆教授率领团体前往南非观察这一事件。他们将观察点设在一所女子学校,据称,三名女教师的联合队伍在观察的准确性方面胜过专业人士。
自然段B
For centuries,transits of Venus have drawn explores and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe.And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley.In November 1677,Halley observed a transit of the innermost planet,Mercury,from the desolate island of St Helena in the south Pacific.He realized that,from different latitudes,the passage of the planet across the Sun’s disc would appear to differ.By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations,teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle—the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observer’s position.Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal:the distance of the Earth from the sun.This distance is known as the‘astronomical’or AU.
几个世纪以来,金星凌日吸引着探险家和天文学家来到地球的各个角落。你可以将其归因于非凡的博学大师埃德蒙·哈雷(Edmond Halley)。1677年11月,哈雷从南太平洋荒凉的圣赫勒拿岛观察到太阳系最里面的行星-水星凌日。他意识到,从不同的纬度来看,行星穿过太阳的路径似乎有所不同。通过从两个相距较远的位置记录穿行的时间,天文学家团队可以计算视差角-由于观测者位置的差异所造成的天体位置的明显差异。计算该角度将使天文学家能够测量出当时的目标:地球与与太阳之间的距离。该距离称为“天文单位”或AU。
自然段C
Halley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements.Johannes Kepler,in the early 17th century,had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds,which were easily measurable.But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to the planets from the earth.The goal was to measure the AU;then,knowing the orbital speeds of all the other planets round the Sun,the scale of the Solar System would fall into place.However,Halley realized that Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine.As Venus was closer to the Earth,its parallax angle would be larger,and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible to measure the Sun’s distance to 1 part in 500.But there was a problem:transits of Venus,unlike those of Mercury,are rare,occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years.Nevertheless,he accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769—though he didn’t survive to see either.
哈雷意识到,AU是所有天文测量中最基本的一项。开普勒在17世纪初已经证明,行星距太阳的距离决定着它们的轨道速度,这是容易衡量的。但是,没有人找到一种计算其他行星距地球精确距离的方法。其目的就是为了测量AU。在知道所有其他行星绕太阳运行的轨道速度后,太阳系的规模就会明确起来。但是,哈雷意识到水星距离太远,以至于很难确定其视角差。由于金星离地球更近,其视差角会更大。哈雷由此得出结论,通过利用金星,可以将太阳距离的测量误差缩小到1/500。但是与水星不同,金星凌日的现象很少见,每100多年会成对出现两次,这两次之间相隔8年。虽然他准确地预测到金星将在1761年和1769年穿过太阳表面,但他并没有活着见到任何一次。
自然段D
Inspired by Halley’s suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System,teams of British and French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia.But things weren’t helped by Britain and France being at war.The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil.He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India.Feeling on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean,Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit—but the ship’s pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations.Undaunted,he remained south of the equator,keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar before setting off to observe the next transit in the Philippines.Ironically after travelling nearly 50,000 kilometres,his view was clouded out at the last moment,a very dispiriting experience.
受哈雷关于确定太阳系规模的建议的启发,英国和法国的天文学家团队开始对各种地方(包括印度和西伯利亚)进行考察。但是,英国和法国的交战帮了倒忙。最值得同情的人是法国天文学家Guillaume Le Gentil。英国人包围了他在印度Pondicherry的观察站,使他受挫。乘坐法国军舰穿越印度洋时,Le Gentil观测到了一次完美的凌日。但船的起伏和摇晃使得进行准确观测的尝试化为泡影。他没有因此而退缩,一直待在赤道以南,忙着研究毛里求斯和马达加斯加的岛屿,然后出发去菲律宾观测下一次凌日。具有讽刺意味的是,在行驶了将近50,000公里之后,他的视线在最后一刻被云层遮挡,这是非常令人沮丧的经历。
自然段E
While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow,the measurements were dogged by the‘black drop’effect.When Venus begins to cross the Sun’s disc,it looks smeared not circular—which makes it difficult to establish timings.This is due to diffraction of light.The second problem is that Venus exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the Sun’s disc.While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it,both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings.
尽管早期对凌日时间的观测已经达到仪器所允许的上限,但测量却受到“黑点”效应的困扰。当金星开始越过太阳表面时,它看起来有点模糊,而不完全是圆的,使确定时间变得困难。这种现象是由于光的衍射。第二个问题是金星在跃出太阳表面时会出现光晕。尽管这向天文学家表明,金星被厚厚的气体层所包围。它会折射周围的阳光,但这两种现象都使得无法获得准确的时间。
自然段F
But astronomers laboured hard to analyse the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits.John Franz Encke,Director of the Berlin Observatory,finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements:153,340,000km.Reasonably accurate for the time,that is quite close to today’s value of methods in accuracy.The AU is a cosmic measuring rod,and the basis of how we scale the Universe today.The parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars.If we look at a star in January—when Earth is at one point in its orbit—it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months later.Knowing the width of Earth’s orbit,the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance.
但是天文学家们辛苦地分析了这些探险的结果,以观察金星凌日的现象。柏林天文台局长John Franz Encke最终根据所有这些视差测量值确定了AU的数字:153,340,000 km。对于当时来说,这个数字已经足够准确,与当今雷达测量的数值(149,597,879km)十分接近。而雷达因其精 准度已经取代了凌日观测和其他方法。AU是宇宙测量标杆,也是我们今天确定宇宙规模的基础。视差原理可以扩展到测量地球到恒星的距离。如果我们在一月份观测一颗恒星(当地球在其轨道上处于某一点时),其位置似乎与六个月后看到的位置不同。知道了地球轨道的宽度,视觉差可以让天文学家计算其距离。
自然段G
June 2004’s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important event.But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos—detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.
因此,2004年6月金星凌日更像是一场天文奇观,而不是科学上重要的事件。但是,这种凌日为可能是宇宙中最重要的突破之一-探测绕着其他恒星运行的类地行星-铺平了道路。
剑桥雅思9Test2阅读Passage1原文翻译Hearing impairment听觉障碍
剑桥雅思9阅读第二套题目第 一篇文章的主题为新西兰听觉障碍儿童。文章共分为9段,分别介绍了新西兰听觉障碍儿童现状,教室噪音的危害,听觉障碍的各种影响,新西兰政府出台的新 政策等内容。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test2 Passage1阅读原文翻译
自然段A
Hearing impairment or other auditory function deficit in young children can have a major impact on their development of speech and communication,resulting in a detrimental effect on their ability to learn at school.This is likely to have major consequences for the individual and the population as a whole.The New Zealand Ministry of Health has found from research carried out over two decades that 6-10%of children in that country are affected by hearing loss.
幼儿的听力障碍或其他听觉功能障碍可能会对他们的语言和交流能力产生重大影响,从而对他们在学校的学习能力产生不利影响。无论是对个人还是整个人口来说,这都有可能造成严重的后果。新西兰卫生部经过二十多年的研究发现,该国6-10%的儿童受到听力损失的影响。
自然段B
A preliminary study in New Zealand has shown that classroom noise presents a major concern for teachers and pupils.Modern teaching practices,the organizations of desks in the classroom,poor classroom acoustics,and mechanical means of ventilation such as air-conditioning units all contribute to the number of children unable to comprehend the teacher’s voice.Education researchers Nelson and Soli have also suggested that recent trends in learning often involve collaborative interaction of multiple minds and tools as much as individual possession of information.This all amounts to heightened activity and noise levels,which have the potential to be particularly serious for children experiencing auditory function deficit.Noise in classroom can only exacerbate their difficulty in comprehending and processing verbal communication with other children and instructions from the teacher.
新西兰的一项初步研究表明,教室的噪音是师生的主要困扰。现代教学实践,教室中桌子的摆放,较差的课堂声学效果以及机械通风方式(例如空调设备),都导致无法听到老师声音的儿童人数的增加。教育研究人员尼尔森(Nelson)和索利(Soli)也指出,最近的学习趋势涉及相同程度的多种思维和工具的协作互动,以及个人信息的获取。所有这些都增加了活动和噪音水平。对于拥有听觉功能障碍的儿童而言,这可能特别严重。教室里的噪音只会加剧他们在理解和处理与其他孩子的口头交流以及老师的指示方面的困难。
自然段C
Children with auditory function deficit are potentially failing to learn to their maximum potential because of noise levels generated in classrooms.The effects of noise on the ability of children to learn effectively in typical classroom environment are now the subjects of increasing concern.The International Institute of Noise Control Engineering(I-INCE),on the advice of the World Health Organization,has established an international working party,which includes New Zealand,to evaluate noise and reverberation control for school rooms.
听觉功能障碍的儿童可能会由于教室中产生的噪音而无法最 大限度地发挥自己的潜能。教室环境中,噪音对儿童有效学习能力的影响现在受到越来越多的关注。根据世界卫生组织的建议,国际噪声控制工程学院(I-INCE)建立了一个包括新西兰在内的国际工作组,以评估学校教室的噪声和回声控制。
自然段D
While the detrimental effects of noise in classroom situations are not limited to children experiencing disability,those with a disability that affects their processing of speech and verbal communication could be extremely vulnerable.The auditory function deficits in question include hearing impairment,autistic spectrum disorders(ASD)and attention deficit disorders(ADD/ADHD).
虽然教室环境中噪声的有害影响不仅限于残疾儿童,但那些言语和交流能力有缺陷的儿童可能会非常脆弱。所讨论的听觉功能障碍包括听力障碍,自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)和注意障碍症(ADD/ADHD)。
自然段E
Autism is considered a neurological and genetic life-long disorder that causes discrepancies in the way information is processed.This disorder is characterized by interlinking problems with social imagination,social communication and social interaction.According to Janzen,this affects the ability to understand and relate in typical ways to people,understand events and objects in the environment,and understand or respond to sensory stimuli.Autism does not allow learning or thinking in the same ways as in children who are developing normally.Autistic spectrum disorders often result in major difficulties in comprehending verbal information and speech processing.Those experiencing these disorders often find sounds such as crowd noise and the noise generated by machinery painful and distressing.This is difficult to scientifically quantify as such extra-sensory stimuli vary greatly from one autistic individual to another.But a child who finds any type of noise in their classroom or learning space intrusive is likely to be adversely affected in their ability to process information.
自闭症被认为是一种神经和遗传的终生疾病,会导致信息处理方式上的差异。这种疾病的特征是在社会想象力,社会沟通能力和社会互动能力方面存在问题。Janzen认为,这会影响人们以特定的方式理解和与他人产生联系的能力,理解环境中事项与物品的能力,以及理解或回应感官刺激的能力。自闭症使得人们无法以与正常发育的儿童相同的方式进行学习或思考。自闭症谱系障碍通常在理解口头信息和处理语言方面造成重大困难。那些经历过这些疾病的人会经常觉得声音(如人群的噪音,机械产生的噪音)使人痛苦不堪。这很难进行科学地量化,因为这样的超感官刺激在不同自闭症个体之间变化很大。但是,觉得教室里或学习空间中任何噪音都十分烦扰的孩子,其信息处理能力均可能受到不利影响。
自然段F
The attention deficit disorders are indicative of neurological and genetic disorders and are characterized by difficulties with sustaining attention,effort and persistence,organization skills and disinhibition.Children experiencing these disorders find it difficult to screen out unimportant information,and focus on everything in the environment rather than attending to a single activity.Background noise in the classroom becomes a major distraction,which can affect their ability to concentrate.
注意缺陷障碍是神经系统疾病和遗传疾病的指示,其特征在于在维持注意力,努力和坚持,组织能力和抑制力等方面存在困难。患有这些疾病的儿童会觉得很难筛选出不重要的信息,并且容易专注于环境中的所有事物,而不是从事单项活动。教室中的背景噪音成为主要干扰因素,可能会影响他们的注意力集中能力。
自然段G
Children experiencing an auditory function deficit can often find speech and communication very difficult to isolate and process when set against high levels of background noise.These levels come from outside activities that penetrate the classroom structure,from teaching activities,and other noise generated inside,which can be exacerbated by room reverberation.Strategies are needed to obtain the optimum classroom construction and perhaps a change in classroom culture and methods of teaching.In particular,the effects of noisy classrooms and activities on those experiencing disabilities in the form of auditory function deficit need thorough investigation.It is probable that many undiagnosed children exist in the education system with‘invisible’disabilities.Their needs are less likely to be met than those of children with known disabilities.
当面对高水平的背景噪音时,患有听觉功能障碍的儿童通常会发现很难将语音和交流隔离出来并进行处理。这些背景噪音来自于穿过教室结构的外部活动,教学活动以及其他教室内部产生的噪音,这些噪音会因房间回声而加剧。需要采取策略来建设最 佳的教室,并可能需要改变教室文化和教学方法。尤其是,嘈杂的教室和活动对拥有听觉功能障碍的残障人士的影响需要彻底调查。在教育系统中可能存在许多“隐形”残疾却未被确认的儿童。与已知残疾的儿童相比,他们需求不太可能得到满足。
自然段H
The New Zealand Government has developed a New Zealand Disability Strategy and has embarked on a wide-ranging consultation process.The strategy recognizes that people experiencing disability face significant barriers in achieving a full quality of life in areas such as attitude,education,employment and access to services.Objective 3 of the New Zealand Disability Strategy is to‘Provide the Best Education for Disabled People’by improving education so that all children,youth learners and adult learners will have equal opportunities to learn and develop within their already existing local school.For a successful education,the learning environment is vitally significant,so any effort to improve this is likely to be of great benefit to all children,but especially to those with auditory function disabilities.
新西兰政府制定了《新西兰残疾人战略》,并开始了广泛的磋商进程。该战略认识到,在态度,教育,就业和服务获取等领域,残障人士在实现充分的生活质量方面面临重大障碍。新西兰残疾战略的第三项目标是通过改善教育来“为残疾人提供最 佳教育”,以使所有儿童,青年学习者和成人学习者在他们现有的当地学校中都有平等的学习和发展机会。对于成功的教育而言,学习环境至关重要,因此,为改善这一环境而做出的任何努力都可能会对所有儿童,特别是对有听觉功能障碍的儿童带来巨大的好处。
自然段I
A number of countries are already in the process of formulating their own standards for the control and reduction of classroom noise.New Zealand will probably follow their example.The literature to date on noise in school rooms appears to focus on the effects on schoolchildren in general,their teachers and the hearing impaired.Only limited attention appears to have been given to those students experiencing the other disabilities involving auditory function deficit.It is imperative that the needs of these children are taken into account in the setting of appropriate international standards to be promulgated in future.
许多国家已经在制定自己的控制和减少教室噪音的标准。新西兰可能会效法他们的榜样。迄今为止,有关学校教室噪音的文献似乎集中在对学童,老师和听力障碍者的总体影响上。那些拥有包括听觉功能障碍在内的其他残疾的学生似乎得到有限的关注。至关重要的是,在制定未来会公布的适宜的国家标准时,将这些孩子的需求考虑在内。
剑桥雅思9Test1阅读Passage3原文翻译The history of the tortoise乌龟的历史
剑桥雅思9阅读第 一套题目第三篇文章的主题为乌龟的历史。文章共分为6段按照时间顺序,分别介绍了海洋动植物迁徙到陆地,部分因为不适应陆地生活再次返回海洋,乌龟祖先的栖息地,耶鲁大学关于海龟和陆龟的研究,两者的分支,以及最后的结论。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test1 Passage3阅读原文翻译
第1段
If you go back far enough,everything lived in the sea.At various points in evolutionary history,enterprising individuals within many different animal groups moved out onto the land,sometimes even to the most parched deserts,taking their own private seawater with them in blood and cellular fluids.In addition to the reptiles,birds,mammals and insects which we see all around us,other groups that have succeeded out of water include scorpions,snails,crustaceans such as woodlice and land crabs,millipedes and centipedes,spider and various worms.And we mustn’t forget the plants,without whose prior invasion of the land none of the other migrations could have happened.
如果我们回溯的足够遥远,所有东西都生活在海洋之中。在进化史的各个阶段,许多不同动物群体的富有冒险精神的个体搬到陆地上,有时甚至到最干旱的沙漠里,将自己的海水融入血液和细胞液中。除了我们在身边看到的爬行动物,鸟类,哺乳动物和昆虫外,其他成功脱离水生生活的群体还包括蝎子,蜗牛,甲壳类动物(例如木虱和陆地蟹),千足虫和蜈蚣,蜘蛛和各种蠕虫。我们也千万不要忘记植物,没有它们事先侵入陆地,其他迁移都不会发生。
第2段
Moving from water to land involved a major redesign of every aspect of life,including breathing and reproduction.Nevertheless,a good number of thoroughgoing land animals later turned around,abandoned their hard-earned terrestrial re-tooling,and returned to the water again.Seals have only gone part way back.They show us what the intermediates might have been like,on the way to extreme cases such as whales and dugongs.Whales(including the small whales we call dolphins)and dugongs,with their close cousins the manatees,ceased to be land creatures altogether and reverted to the full marine habits of their remote ancestors.They don’t even come ashore to breed.They do,however,still breathe air,having never developed anything equivalent to the gills of their earlier marine incarnation.Turtles went back to the sea a very long time ago and,like all vertebrate returnees to the water,they breathe air.However,they are,in one respect,less fully given back to the water than whales or dugongs,for turtles still lay their eggs on beaches.
从水到陆地的迁移涉及到包括呼吸和生殖在内的生命各个方面的重大重新设计。但是,后来有大量的陆地动物转过身去,放弃了来之不易的适应陆地生活的器官,并再次回到水里。海豹只是返回了一部分。他们向我们展示了在鲸鱼和儒艮等极端情况下的中间体可能是什么样的。鲸鱼(包括我们称为海豚的小鲸鱼)和儒艮,以及它们的近亲海牛,完全不再是陆地生物,而是恢复了其远洋祖先的全部海洋习性。他们甚至不用上岸繁殖。但是,它们确实仍然需要呼吸空气,从未进化出类似于腮这样早期海洋生物的器官。海龟很久以前就回到了大海,就像所有返回海域的脊椎动物一样,他们呼吸空气。但是,从某种意义上讲,它们没有像鲸鱼或儒艮一样完全返回水中,因为海龟仍在海滩上产卵。
第3段
There is evidence that all modern turtles are descended from a terrestrial ancestor which lived before most of the dinosaurs.There are two key fossils called Proganochleys quenstedti and Palaeochersis talampayensis dating from early dinosaur times,which appear to be close to the ancestry of all modern turtles and tortoises.You might wonder how we can tell whether fossil animal lived on land or in water,especially if only fragments are found.Sometimes it’s obvious.Ichthyosaurs were reptilian contemporaries of the dinosaurs,with fins and streamlined bodies.The fossils look like dolphins,and they surely lived like dolphines,in the water.With turtles it is a little less obvious.One way to tell is by measuring the bones of their forelimbs.
有证据表明,所有现代海龟均来自同一陆地祖先。它生活在比大多数恐龙还要遥远的时代。两个关键的化石,Proganochleys quenstedti和Palaeochersis talampayensis,可以追溯到恐龙时代早期。它们似乎与所有现代乌龟和海龟的祖先十分接近。您可能想知道我们如何分辨化石中的动物究竟是生活在陆地上还是在水里,特别是如果仅发现碎片的时候。有时这很明显。带有鳍和流线型身体的鱼龙是生活在恐龙时代的爬行动物。其化石看起来像海豚,它们也肯定像海豚一样生活在水中。对于海龟来说,这一点并不那么明显。一种判断方法是测量前肢的骨头。
第4段
Walter Joyce and Jacques Gauthier,at Yale University,obtained three measurements in these particular bones of 71 species of living turtles and tortoises.They used a kind of triangular graph paper to plot the three measurements against one another.All the land tortoise species formed a tight cluster of points in the upper part of the triangle;all the water turtles cluster in the lower part of the triangular graph.There was no overlap except when they added some species that spend time both in water and on land.Sure enough,these amphibious species show up on the triangular graph approximately halfway between the‘wet cluster’of sea turtles and the‘dry cluster’of land tortoises.The next step was to determine where the fossils fell.The bones of P.quenstedti and P.talampayensis leave us in no doubt.Their points on the graph are right in the thick of the dry cluster.Both these fossils were dry-land tortoises.They come from the era before our turtles returned to the water.
耶鲁大学的Walter Joyce和Jacques Gauthier对71种现存乌龟和海龟的这些特殊骨骼进行了三项测量。他们使用一种三角形方格纸对比这三项测量数据。所有陆龟物种在三角形的上部形成了紧密的点簇。所有的水生乌龟都聚集在三角形的下部。除了部分同时生活在水中和陆地上的物种外,它们没有任何重叠。而不出意料的是,这些两栖物种在三角形中处于海龟和陆龟所形成的点簇的中间部分。下一步是确定这两个化石处于图中何种位置。P.quenstedti和P.talampayensis的骨头没有给我们留下疑惑。它们在图中的点正好位于干燥点群的中心位置。这两个化石都是陆生乌龟。它们来自我们的海龟回到水中之前的时代。
第5段
You might think,therefore,that modern land tortoises have probably stayed on land ever since those early terrestrial times,as most mammals did after a few of them went back to the sea.But apparently not.If you draw out the family tree of all modern turtles and tortoises,nearly all the branches are aquatic.Today’s land tortoises constitute a single branch,deeply nested among branches consisting of aquatic turtles.This suggests that modern land tortoises have not stayed on land continuously since the time of P.quenstedti and P.talampayensis.Rather,their ancestors were among those who went back to the water,and they then re-emerged back onto the land in(relatively)more recent times.
因此,你可能会认为,自陆地时代早期以来,现代陆龟就可能一直待在陆地上,就像大多数哺乳动物在一些同伴回到海中之后所做的那样。但显然不是。如果你绘制所有现代陆龟和海龟的家谱,则几乎所有分支都是水生的。如今的陆龟组成一个独立的分支,深深地嵌套在由水龟组成的分支之间。这表明,从P.quenstedti和P.talampayensis的时代以来,现代陆龟并没有一直待在陆地上。相反,它们的祖先是那些回到水中,但随后又在近期(相对意义上来讲)再次回到陆地上的那些。
第6段
Tortoises therefore represent a remarkable double return.In common with all mammals,reptiles and birds,their remote ancestors were marine fish and before that various more or less worm-like creatures stretching back,still in the sea,to the primeval bacteria.Later ancestors lived on land and stayed there for a very large number of generations.Later ancestors still evolved back into the water and became sea turtles.And finally they returned yet again to the land as tortoises,some of which now live in the driest of deserts.
因此,乌龟代表了引人注目的双重回归。与所有哺乳动物,爬行动物和鸟类一样,它们的远古祖先是海洋鱼类,在此之前是各种或多或少的蠕虫状生物,再往前延伸是原始的细菌。后来的祖先居住在土地上,并在此繁衍了许多世代。在此之后,一些祖先仍然进化回水中,成为海龟。而最后它们再次回到了陆地,成为陆龟,其中一些现在居住在最干旱的沙漠里。
剑桥雅思9Test1阅读Passage2原文翻译Is there anybody out there外星有生命存在吗
剑桥雅思9阅读第 一套题目第二篇文章的主题为对外星生命的探索。文章分为5段,分别介绍了搜寻其他星球生命的原因,搜寻的基本原则,其他星球存在生命的可能性,搜索电波信号,以及如何做出合适的回应等内容。下面是具体每一段的翻译:
剑桥雅思9 Test1 Passage2阅读原文翻译
引言
The question of whether we are alone in the Universe has haunted humanity for centuries,but we may now stand poised on the brick of the answer to that question,as the search for radio signals from other intelligent civilizations.This search,often known by the acronym SETI(search for extra-terrestrial intelligence),is a difficult one.Although groups around the world have been searching intermittently for three decades,it is only now that we have reached the level of technology where we can make a determined attempt to search all nearby stars for any sign of life.
关于我们是否在宇宙中独自存在的问题困扰着人类已有数百年之久。但随着对来自其他文明无线电信号的寻找,我们现在可能正处于解决该问题的边缘。这种搜索通常以缩写词SETI(search for extra-terrestrial intelligence)而闻名,是一项困难的工作。尽管世界各地的团体已经断断续续搜索了三十年,但直到现在我们才达到相应的技术水平,使我们可以坚定地尝试搜索所有附近的恒星以寻找生命迹象。
A部分
The primary reason for the search is basic curiosity—the same curiosity about the natural world that drives all pure science.We want to know whether life evolves naturally if given the right conditions,or whether there is something very special about the Earth to have fostered the variety of life forms that we see around us on the planet.The simple detection of a radio signal will be sufficient to answer this most basic of all the questions.In this sense,SETI is another cog in the machinery of pure science which is continually pushing out the horizon of our knowledge.However,there are other reasons for being interested in whether life exists elsewhere.For example,we have had civilization on Earth for perhaps only a few thousand years,and the threats of the nuclear war and pollution over the last few decades have told us that our survival may be tenuous.Will we last another two thousand years or will we wipe ourselves out?Since the lifetime of a planet like ours is several billion years,we can expect that,if other civilizations do survive in our galaxy,their ages will range from zero to several billion years.Thus any mere existence of such a civilization will tell us that long-term survival is possible,and gives us some cause for optimism.It is even possible that the older civilization may pass on the benefits of their experience in dealing with threats to survival such as nuclear war and global pollution,and other threats that we haven’t yet discovered.
进行搜索的主要原因是基本的好奇心-对自然世界的好奇心驱使所有科学向前发展。我们想知道,我们在宇宙中是否独自存在;我们想知道,如果条件合适生命是否会自然进化,或者地球上是否存在某种特殊的事物,从而孕育了我们在地球上看到的各种生命形式。无线电信号的简单检测就足以回答所有这些最基本的问题。从这个意义上讲,SETI是纯科学机器中的另一个齿轮,它正在不断推动我们知识的发展。但是,还有其他原因让我们对其他地方是否存在生命感兴趣。例如,我们在地球上的文明可能只有几千年的历史,而在过去的几十年中核战争和污染的威胁告诉我们,我们的生存可能十分脆弱。我们会再延续2000年,还是会导致自我毁灭?由于像地球这样的行星的寿命高达数十亿年,我们可以预期,如果其他文明确实在我们的银河系中生存下来,它们的年龄将在零到数十亿年之间。因此,我们听到的任何其他文明的年龄都可能比我们自身要古老的多。这样一个文明存在本身就可以告诉我们长期生存是可能的,并赋予我们一些乐观的理由。在应对生存威胁(例如核战争和全球污染)以及我们尚未发现的其他威胁时,更古老的文明甚至可能会传授他们的一些经验。
B部分
In discussing whether we are alone,most SETI scientists adopt two ground rules.First,UFOs(Unidentified Flying Objects)are generally ignored since most scientists don’t consider the evidence for them to be strong enough to bear serious consideration although it is also important to keep an open mind in case any really convincing evidence emerges in the future.Second,we make a very conservative assumption that we are looking for a life form that is pretty well like us,since if it differs radically from us we may well not recognize it as a life form,quite apart from whether we are able to communicate with it.In other words,the life form we are looking for may well have two green heads and seven fingers,but it will nevertheless resemble us in that it should communicate with its fellows,be interested in the Universe,live on a planet orbiting a star like our Sun,and perhaps most restrictively,have a chemistry,like us,based on carbon and water.
在讨论我们是否独自存在时,大多数SETI科学家采用两个基本规则。首先,UFO(不明飞行物)通常被忽略,因为大多数科学家认为它们所提供的证据不足以进行认真考虑(尽管在将来出现任何真正令人信服的证据时保持开放的态度也很重要)。其次,我们做出一个非常保守的假设,即我们正在寻找一种与我们十分相似的生命形式,因为如果它与我们截然不同,我们很可能不认为它是一种生命形式。而不是我们是否能够与它交流。换句话说,我们正在寻找的生命形式可能有两个绿色的脑袋和七个手指,但是它仍然与我们相似,因为它应该与它的同伴交流,对宇宙感兴趣,生活在一个绕着类似于太阳这样的恒星运转的行星上,并且,或许最 具限制性的条件是拥有跟我们相同的化学结构,建立在碳和水之上。
C部分
Even when we make these assumptions,our understanding of other life forms is still severely limited.We do not even know,for example,how many stars have planets,and we certainly do not know how likely it is that life will arise naturally,given the right conditions.However,when we look at the 100 billion stars in our galaxy(the milky way),and 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe,it seems inconceivable that at least one of these planets does not have a life form on it:in fact,the best educated guess we can make,using the little we do know about the conditions for carbon-based life,leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet orbiting it.That means that our nearest neighbours are perhaps 100 light years away,which is almost next door in astronomical terms.
即使我们做出这些假设,我们对其他生命形式的理解仍然受到严重限制。例如,我们甚至不知道有多少颗恒星拥有行星,而且我们当然也不知道在适当的条件下自然产生生命的可能性。但是,当我们观察银河系中的1000亿颗恒星和可观察到的宇宙中的1000亿个星系时,似乎无法想象这些行星中没有一个拥有生命:事实上,我们对碳基生命的诞生条件了解很少,我们可以做出的最好的有猜测让我们估计,每十万颗恒星中可能有一颗有生命的行星正围绕它运行。这意味着我们与最近的邻居可能相距100光年。在天文学意义上,这几乎就是隔壁。
D部分
An alien civilization could choose many different ways of sending information across the galaxy,but many of these either require too much energy,or else are severely attenuated while traversing the vast distances across the galaxy.It turns out that,for a given amount of transmitted power,radio waves in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz travel the greatest distance,and so all searches to date have concentrated on looking for radio waves in this frequency range.So far there have been a number of searches by various groups around the world,including Australian searches using the radio telescope at Parkes,New South Wales.Until now there have not been any detections from the few hundred stars which have been searched.The scale of the searches has been increased dramatically since 1992,when the US Congress NASA 110 million per year for ten years to conduct a thorough search for extra terrestrial life.Much of the money in this project is being spent on the developing the special hardware needed to search many frequencies at once.The project has two parts.One part is a targeted search using the world’s largest radio telescopes,the America-operated telescope in Arecibo,Puerto Rico and the French telescope in Nancy in France.This part of the project is searching the nearest 1000 likely stars with high sensitivity for signals in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz.The other part of the project is an undirected search which is monitoring all of space with a lower sensitivity,using the smaller antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network.
外星文明可以选择许多不同的方式在银河系之间发送信息,但是其中许多要么需要太多能量,要么在穿越星系的巨大距离时会严重衰减。事实证明,对于给定的发射功率,在1000到3000 MHz频率范围内的无线电波传播的距离最远。因此迄今为止,所有的搜索都集中在寻找该频率范围内的无线电波。目前,世界各地的各种团体进行了许多搜索,包括澳大利亚使用新南威尔士州帕克斯市的射电望远镜进行搜索。到现在为止,还没有从已经搜索的几百颗恒星中找到任何发现。自1992年以来,搜索的规模已急剧增加,当时美国国会给NASA每年1亿美元,连续十年进行深入的地外生命的搜索。该项目中的大部分资金都花在了开发可同时搜索多个频率所需的特殊硬件上。该项目分为两个部分。一部分是采用世界上最 大的射电望远镜进行有目的的搜索。该项目的这一部分以较高的敏感度正在搜索最近1000个恒星,以寻找1000至3000MHz频率范围内的信号。该项目的另一部分是不定向搜索。它使用NASA深空网络的小型天线以较低的灵敏度监视所有空间。
E部分
There is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an alien civilization.Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately.Quite apart from the impracticality of sending a reply over such large distances at short notice,it raises a host of ethical questions that would have to be addressed by the global community before any reply could be sent.Would the human race face the culture shock if faced with a superior and much older civilization?Luckily,there is no urgency about this.The stars being searched are hundreds of light years away,so it takes hundreds of years for their signal to reach us,and a further few hundreds for our reply to reach them.It’s not important,then,if there’s a delay of a few years,or decades.While the human race debates the question of whether to reply,and perhaps carefully drafts a reply.
关于如果我们检测到来自外来文明的信号时该如何应对,存在着很多争论。所有人都同意我们不应该立即答复。除了在这么短的时间内跨越如此巨大的距离发送答复不切实际之外,它还提出了许多国际社会在发送任何答复之前必须解决的道德问题。如果人类面临着优越而古老的文明,人类会面对文化的冲击吗?幸运的是,这一问题并不紧迫。被搜寻的恒星距离我们有数百光年,因此它们的信号到达我们也需要数百年,而我们的回复还需要数百年才能抵达它们那里。因此,有几年或几十年的延迟并不重要。在人类辩论是否应回答的问题时,也许还要仔细起草答复。
剑桥雅思9Test1阅读Passage1原文翻译William Henry Perkin合成染料的发明者
剑桥雅思9阅读第 一套题目第 一篇文章的主题为合成染料的发明者William Henry Perkin。文章共分为十段,前五段按照时间顺序介绍William的人生经历,后五段将重点放在新染料上,介绍其优点所在和获得的成功。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思9 Test1 Passage1阅读原文翻译
第1段
William Henry Perkin was born on March 12,1838,in London,England.As a boy,Perkin’s curiosity prompted early interests in the arts,sciences,photography,and engineering.But it was a chance stumbling upon a run-down,yet functional,laboratory in his late grandfather’s home that solidified the young man’s enthusiasm for chemistry.
威廉·亨利·珀金(William Henry Perkin)于1838年3月12日出生于英国伦敦。珀金(Perkin)小时候的好奇心激发了他对艺术,科学,摄影和工程学的早期兴趣。但一次绊倒在他已故祖父家破旧但实用的实验室中的经历巩固了这名年轻人对化学的热爱。
第2段
As a student at the city of London School,Perkin became immersed in the study at chemistry.His talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by his teachers,Thomas Hall,who encouraged him to attend a series of lectures given by the eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution.Those speeches fired the young chemistry’s enthusiasm further,and he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry,which he succeeded in entering in 1853,at the age of 15.
作为伦敦市立学校的学生,珀金开始沉迷于化学研究。他的老师托马斯·霍尔(Thomas Hall)意识到了他的才华与对这一学科的投入,他鼓励他参加皇家学院著 名科学家迈克尔·法拉第(Michael Faraday)的一系列讲座。这些讲座进一步激发了这名年轻化学家的热情,后来他继续就读于皇家化学学院,并于1853年在15岁的时候成功进入大学。
第3段
At the time of Perkin’s enrolment,the Royal College of Chemistry was headed by the noted German chemist August Wilhelm Hofmann.Perkin’s scientific gifts soon caught Hofmann’s attention and,within two years,he became Hofmann’s youngest assistant.Not long after that,Perkin made the scientific breakthrough that would bring him both fame and fortune.
珀金入学时,皇家化学学院由著 名的德国化学家奥古斯特·威廉·霍夫曼(August Wilhelm Hofmann)领导。珀金的科学天赋很快引起了霍夫曼的注意。他在两年内成为霍夫曼最年轻的助手。此后不久,珀金取得了科学突破,这将为他带来名声和财富。
第4段
At the time,quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria.The drug is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree,native to South America,and by 1856,demand for the drug was surpassing the available supply.Thus,when Hofmann made some passing comments about the desirability of a synthetic substitute for quinine,it was unsurprising that his star pupil was moved to take up the challenge.
当时,奎宁是唯 一有用的疟疾药物。该药物源自南美本地的金鸡纳树皮,到1856年,对该药物的需求已超过了供应量。因此,当霍夫曼(Hofmann)对奎宁合成替代品的需求发表一些评论时,他的明星学生毫不奇怪地接受了挑战。
第5段
During his vacation in 1856,Perkin spent his time in the laboratory on the top floor of his family’s house.He was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline,an inexpensive and readily available coal tar waste product.Despite his best efforts,however,he did not end up with quinine.Instead,he produced a mysterious dark sludge.Luckily,Perkin’s scientific training and nature prompted him to investigate the substance further.Incorporating potassium dichromate and alcohol into the aniline at various stages of the experimental process,he finally produced a deep purple solution.And,proving the truth of the famous scientist Louis Pasteur’s words‘chance favours only the prepared mind’,Perkin saw the potential of his unexpected find.
在1856年度假期间,珀金在他家房屋顶层的实验室里度过了大量时光。他正试图用苯胺生产奎宁。苯胺是一种廉价且容易获得的煤焦油废品。尽管尽了大的努力,但是他最终都没有获得奎宁。相反,他产生了一种神秘的深色污泥。幸运的是,珀金的科学训练和天性促使他进一步研究了该物质。在实验过程的不同阶段将重铬酸钾和酒精掺入苯胺中,最终产生了深紫色溶液。珀金证明了著 名科学家路易斯·巴斯德(Louis Pasteur)的话“机会只留给有准备的人”,他看到了这一意想不到的发现的潜力。
第6段
Historically,textile dyes were made from such natural sources as plants and animal excretions.Some of these,such as the glandular mucus of snails,were difficult to obtain and outrageously expensive.Indeed,the purple colour extracted from a snail was once so costly that in society at the time only the rich could afford it.Further,natural dyes tend to be muddy in hue and fade quickly.It was against this backdrop that Perkin’s discovery was made.
从历史上看,纺织染料是从植物和动物分泌物等天然来源制成的。其中一些,例如蜗牛的腺粘液,很难获得且非常昂贵。的确,从蜗牛中提取的紫色曾经非常昂贵,以至于当时的社会只有富人才能负担得起。此外,天然染料颜色混浊并很快褪色。正是在这种背景下,珀金得出了他的发现。
第7段
Perkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could be used to colour fabric,thus making it the world’s first synthetic dye.Realising the importance of this breakthrough,he lost no time in patenting it.But perhaps the most fascinating of all Perkin’s reactions to his find was his nearly instant recognition that the new dye had commercial possibilities.
珀金很快就意识到,他的紫色溶液可用于为织物着色,从而使其成为世界上第 一种合成染料。意识到这一突破的重要性,他及时申请了专利。但是,也许珀金对他的发现最有意思的反应是他几乎立即意识到新染料具有商业潜力。
第8段
Perkin originally named his dye Tyrian Purple,but it later became commonly known as mauve(from the French for the plant used to make the colour violet).He asked advice of Scottish dye works owner Robert Pullar,who assured him that manufacturing the dye would be well worth it if the colour remained fast(i.e.would not fade)and the cost was relatively low.So,over the fierce objections of his mentor Hofmann,he left college to give birth to the modern chemical industry.
珀金最初将他的染料命名为Tyrian Purple,但后来被人们称为mauve(来自于法国用于制造紫罗兰色的植物)。他询问苏格兰染料厂老板罗伯特·普拉尔(Robert Pullar)的建议。他向他保证,如果颜色定型很快(即不会褪色)并且成本相对较低,那么制造这种染料就非常值得。因此,在他的导师霍夫曼(Hofmann)的强烈反对下,他离开了大学,开启了现代化学工业。
第9段
With the help of his father and brother,Perkin set up a factory not far from London.Utilising the cheap and plentiful coal tar that was an almost unlimited byproduct of London’s gas street lighting,the dye works began producing the world’s first synthetically dyed material in 1857.The company received a commercial boost from the Empress Eugenie of France,when she decided the new colour flattered her.Very soon,Mauve was the necessary shade for all the fashionable ladies in that country.Not to be outdone,England’s Queen Victoria also appeared in public wearing a mauve gown,thus making it all the rate in England as well.The dye was bold and fast,and the public clamoured for more.Perkin went back to the drawing board.
在他的父亲和兄弟的帮助下,珀金在离伦敦不远的地方建立了一家工厂。利用廉价和丰富的煤焦油(伦敦燃气街道照明几乎无限的副产品),该染料厂于1857年开始生产世界上第 一种合成染料。该公司得到了法国女皇Eugenie的商业帮助。这种新颜色使她受宠若惊。很快,淡紫色就成为该国所有时尚女士的必备品。不甘落后的英格兰女王维多利亚也穿着淡紫色礼服在公众场合露面,使得该颜色在英国也流行起来。这种染料清晰而着色迅速,公众渴望更多。珀金回到实验室中。
第10段
Although Perkin’s fame was achieved and fortune assured by his first discovery,the chemist continued his research.Among other dyes he developed and introduced were aniline red(1859)and aniline black(1863)and,in the late 1860s,Perkin’s synthetic dye discoveries had outcomes far beyond the merely decorative.The dyes also became vital to medical research in many ways.For instance,they were used to stain previously invisible microbes and bacteria,allowing researchers to identify such bacilli as tuberculosis,cholera,and anthrax.Artificial dyes continue to play a crucial role today.And,in what would have been particularly pleasing to Perkin,their current use is in the search for a vaccine against malaria.
尽管珀金的首 个发现为他赢取了名望和财富,但该化学家仍在继续他的研究。他开发和引进的其他染料包括苯胺红(1859年)和苯胺黑(1863年),以及19世纪60年代后期的珀金绿。珀金合成染料的发现所产生的成果远远超出了装饰性的范畴。染料在许多方面对医学研究也至关重要。例如,它们被用来标记以前看不见的微生物和细菌,从而使研究人员能够鉴定出诸如结核,霍乱和炭疽等细菌。如今,人造染料仍然扮演着至关重要的角色。而且,令珀金特别高兴的是,它们目前的用途是寻找对抗疟疾的疫苗。
剑桥雅思8Test4阅读Passage3原文翻译Collecting Ant Specimens采集蚂蚁样本
剑桥雅思8阅读第四套题目第三篇文章的主题为采集蚂蚁样本。文章采用总分结构,一上来先说分类学与生态学采集蚂蚁的方法不太一样,然后分别介绍了手工采集法,诱饵采集法,落叶层抽样法,陷阱采集法。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思8 Test4 Passage3阅读原文翻译
第1段
Collecting ants can be as simple as picking up stray ones and placing them in a glass jar,or as complicated as completing an exhaustive survey of all species present in an area and estimating their relative abundances.The exact method used will depend on the final purpose of the collections.For taxonomy,or classification,long series,from a single nest,which contain all castes(workers,including majors and minors,and,if present,queens and males)are desirable,to allow the determination of variation within species.For ecological studies,the most important factor is collecting identifiable samples of as many of the different species present as possible.Unfortunately,these methods are not always compatible.The taxonomist sometimes overlooks whole species in favour of those groups currently under study,while the ecologist often collects only a limited number of specimens of each species,thus reducing their value for taxonomic investigations.
收集蚂蚁可以很简单,例如捡起走失的蚂蚁并将它们放在玻璃罐中,也可以很复杂,例如完成一个区域内所有蚂蚁种类的详尽调查,并估算它们的相对数量。所使用的具体方法将取决于收集的最终目的。对于分分类来说,最好是能够从一个巢穴中获取包含所有种类(包括成年和幼小的工蚁,以及蚁后和雄性,如果存在的话)在内的长序列,以便确定物种内的多样性。对于生态研究,最重要的因素是收集尽可能多的不同物种的可识别样本。不幸的是,这些方法并不总是能够互相兼容。分类学家有时会忽视整个物种,而倾向于当前正在研究的那些族群;而生态学家通常只收集每种物种数量有限的标本,这样就降低了它们在分类学研究中的价值。
第2段
To collect as wide a range of species as possible,several methods must be used.These include hand collecting,using baits to attract the ants,ground litter sampling,and the use of pitfall traps.Hand collecting consists of searching for ants everywhere they are likely to occur.This article is from Laokaoya website.This includes on the ground,under rocks,logs or other objects on the ground,in rotten wood on the ground or on trees,in vegetation,on tree trunks and under bark.When possible,collections should be made from nests or foraging columns and at least 20 to 25 individuals collected.This will ensure that all individuals are of the same species,and so increase their value for detailed studies.Since some species are largely nocturnal,collecting should not be confined to daytime.Specimens are collected using an aspirator(often called a pooter),forceps,a fine,moistened paint brush,or fingers,if the ants are known not to sting.Individual insects are placed in plastic or glass tubes(1.5-3.0 ml capacity for small ants,5-8 ml for larger ants)containing 75%to 95%ethanol.Plastic tubes with secure tops are better than glass because they are lighter,and do not break as easily if mishandled.
为了收集尽可能广泛的物种,必须使用几种方法。它们包括手工收集,使用诱饵吸引蚂蚁,对地面垫料进行采样以及使用陷阱。手工收集包括在可能出现蚂蚁的任何地方搜索蚂蚁。这包括地面上,岩石、原木或其他物体之下,地面腐烂的树木里,植被中,树干上和树皮下。可能的话,应从巢穴或觅食柱中收集,并至少收集20至25个个体。这样可以确保所有个体都属于同一物种,并因此可以增加它们进行详细研究的价值。由于某些物种主要在夜间活动,因此收集不应仅限于白天。可以使用吸气器(通常称为pooter),镊子,细的湿油漆刷俩进行收集。如果知道蚂蚁不会叮人的话,也可以使用手指。将单个蚂蚁放在装有75%至95%乙醇的塑料或玻璃管中(小蚂蚁为1.5-3.0 ml,大蚂蚁为5-8 ml)。拥有固定盖子的塑料管比玻璃管更好,因为它们更轻,并且如果处理不当的话也不会轻易断裂。
第3段
Baits can be used to attract and concentrate foragers.This often increases the number of individuals collected and attracts species that are otherwise elusive.Sugars and meats or oils will attract different species and a range should be utilised.These baits Can be placed either on the ground or on the trunks of trees or large shrubs.When placed on the ground,baits should be situated on small paper cards or other flat,light-coloured surfaces,or in test-tubes or vials.This makes it easier to spot ants and to capture them before they can escape into the surrounding leaf litter.
诱饵可用于吸引和集中觅食者。这通常会增加收集到的个体数量,并吸引本来难以捉摸的物种。糖,肉或油会吸引不同的物种,因此应使用多种诱饵。这些诱饵可以放在地面,或者树木或大灌木的树干上。当放置在地面上时,诱饵应放在小纸片或其他浅色的平面上,或在试管或小瓶中。这样可以在蚂蚁逃脱到周围的枯枝落叶中之前,更轻松地发现并捕获它们。
第4段
Many ants are small and forage primarily in the layer of leaves and other debris on the ground.Collecting these species by hand can be difficult.One of the most successful ways to collect them is to gather the leaf litter in which they are foraging and extract the ants from it.This is most commonly done by placing leaf litter on a screen over a large funnel,often under some heat.As the leaf litter dries from above,ants(and other animals)move downward and eventually fall out the bottom and are collected in alcohol placed below the funnel.This method works especially well in rain forests and marshy areas.A method of improving the catch when using a funnel is to sift the leaf litter through a coarse screen before placing it above the funnel.This will concentrate the litter and remove larger leaves and twigs.It will also allow more litter to be sampled when using a limited number of funnels.
许多蚂蚁都很小,主要在地面上的树叶里和其他杂物中觅食。手工收集这些物种可能很困难。收集它们的最成功的方法之一是聚集它们正在觅食的叶子并从中提取蚂蚁。通常将落叶放在大漏斗上的滤网上,并进行加热。当叶子逐渐干燥时,蚂蚁(和其他动物)会向下移动并最终从底部掉出,并被收集在漏斗下方的酒精中。此方法在雨林和沼泽地区特别有效。一种在使用漏斗时提升捕获量的方法是,先将叶子通过粗滤网过滤一遍,然后再将其置于漏斗上方。这将使叶子更集中,并去除较大的叶子和树枝。当漏斗数量有限时,它还可以对更多的树叶进行采样。
第5段
The pitfall trap is another commonly used tool for collecting ants.A pitfall trap can be any small container placed in the ground with the top level with the surrounding surface and filled with a preservative.Ants are collected when they fall into the trap while foraging.The diameter of the traps can vary from about 18 mm to 10 cm and the number used can vary from a few to several hundred.The size of the traps used is influenced largely by personal preference(although larger sizes are generally better),while the number will be determined by the study being undertaken.The preservative used is usually ethylene glycol or propylene glycol,as alcohol will evaporate quickly and the traps will dry out.One advantage of pitfall traps is that they can be used to collect over a period of time with minimal maintenance and intervention.One disadvantage is that some species are not collected as they either avoid the traps or do not commonly encounter them while foraging.
陷阱是收集蚂蚁的另一种常用工具。陷阱可以是任何小型容器,该小容器可以放在地上,其顶部与周围的表面齐平,并装满防腐剂。蚂蚁在觅食时掉入陷阱并被收集。陷阱的直径可以在18毫米到10厘米之间变化,所用数量可以是几个到几百个不等。陷阱的大小在很大程度上受个人喜好的影响(尽管较大的陷阱通常更好),而陷阱的数量将由正在进行的研究确定。所使用的防腐剂通常是乙二醇或丙二醇,因为酒精会迅速蒸发使得陷阱会变干。陷阱的一个优势是,它们可以在一段时间内持续收集,而不怎么需要维护和干预。一个缺点是无法收集某些五种,因为它们要么避开陷阱,要么在觅食时通常不会遇到陷阱。
剑桥雅思8Test4阅读Passage2原文翻译Biological control of pests生物防虫法
剑桥雅思8阅读第四套题目第二篇文章的主题为生物防虫法。文章共有10段,大体可以分为两部分。前半部分介绍现有杀虫剂的缺点,如害虫的抗药性,成分有害,引发疾病等;后半部分介绍生物防虫的优势及具体的例子。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思8 Test4 Passage2阅读原文翻译
第1段
The continuous and reckless use of synthetic chemicals for the control of pests which pose a threat to agricultural crops and human health is proving to be counter-productive.Apart from engendering widespread ecological disorders,pesticides have contributed to the emergence of a new breed of chemical-resistant,highly lethal superbugs.
事实证明,持续不顾后果地使用合成化学品控制有害生物对农作物和人类健康构成威胁,并且会适得其反。除引起广泛的生态失调外,农药还促成具有抗药性和高致死性的超级害虫的诞生。
第2段
According to a recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO),more than 300species of agricultural pests have developed resistance to a wide range of potent chemicals.Not to be left behind are the disease-spreading pests,about 100 species of which have become immune to a variety of insecticides now in use.
根据粮食及农业组织(FAO)的最新研究,超过300种农业害虫对多种强效化学物质产生了抗药性。更不用说传播疾病的害虫,其中约有100种已对目前使用的各种杀虫剂免疫。
第3段
One glaring disadvantage of pesticides’application is that,while destroying harmful pests,they also wipe out many useful non-targeted organisms,which keep the growth of the pest population in check.This results in what agroecologists call the‘treadmill syndrome’.Because of their tremendous breeding potential and genetic diversity,many pests are known to withstand synthetic chemicals and bear offspring with built-in resistance to pesticides.
农药施用的一个明显缺点是,在消灭有害生物的同时,它们还消灭了许多有用的非目标生物,从而使有害生物种群的生长受到控制。这导致了农业生态学家所说的“跑步机综合症”。由于害虫具有巨大的繁殖潜力和遗传多样性,许多害虫都能够抵抗合成化学物质并生育对农药具有内在抗性的后代。
第4段
The havoc that the‘treadmill syndrome’can bring about is well illustrated by what happened to cotton farmers in Central America.In the early 1940s,basking in the glory of chemical-based intensive agriculture,the farmers avidly took to pesticides as a sure measure to boost crop yield.The insecticide was applied eight times a year in the mid-1940s,rising to 28 in a season in the mid-1950s,following the sudden proliferation of three new varieties of chemical-resistant pests.
“跑步机综合症”可能造成的严重破坏已由中美洲棉农的遭遇充分说明。20世纪40年代初期,在以化学为基础的集约化农业的光辉下,农民们热衷于使用农药作为提高作物产量的可靠措施。20世纪40年代中期,杀虫剂每年施用八次。20世纪50年代,由于三种新的耐化学性害虫突然扩散开来,该数字上升到一个季度施用28次。
第5段
By the mid-1960s,the situation took an alarming turn with the outbreak of four more new pests,necessitating pesticide spraying to such an extent that 50%of the financial outlay on cotton production was accounted for by pesticides.This article is from Laokaoya website.In the early 1970s,the spraying frequently reached 70 times a season as the farmers were pushed to the wall by the invasion of genetically stronger insect species.
到20世纪60年代中期,情况发生了令人震惊的转折,又爆发了4种新的害虫,使得喷洒农药成为必要措施,以致于棉花生产中50%的经济支出都用在了农药上面。20世纪70年代初,由于基因上更强的昆虫物种的入侵,农民们被逼到极限,每个季度甚至经常喷洒70次。
第6段
Most of the pesticides in the market today remain inadequately tested for properties that cause cancer and mutations as well as for other adverse effects on health,says a study by United States environmental agencies.The United States National Resource Defense Council has found that DDT was the most popular of a long list of dangerous chemicals in use.
美国环境机构的一项研究表明,当今市场上大多数农药对导致癌症和突变的性质以及对健康的其他不利影响存在测试不足。美国国家资源保护委员会发现,DDT是许多正在使用的危险化学品中受欢迎的一种。
第7段
In the face of the escalating perils from indiscriminate applications of pesticides,a more effective and ecologically sound strategy of biological control,involving the selective use of natural enemies of the pest population,is fast gaining popularity-though,as yet,it is a new field with limited potential.The advantage of biological control in contrast to other methods is that it provides a relatively low-cost,perpetual control system with a minimum of detrimental side-effects.When handled by experts,bio-control is safe,non-polluting and self-dispersing.
面对无差别使用农药不断加深的危险,生物控制,这一更有效和无害的生态战略(选择性害虫种群的天敌)正迅速受到欢迎-不过,至今它仍然是一个潜力有限的新领域。与其他方法相比,生物控制的优点在于它提供了一种成本相对较低,永性久的控制系统,且有害副作用最小。由专家处理时,生物控制是安全、无污染、并且可以自我扩散的。
第8段
The Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control(CIBC)in Bangalore,with its global network of research laboratories and field stations,is one of the most active,non-commercial research agencies engaged in pest control by setting natural predators against parasites.CIBC also serves as a clearing-house for the export and import of biological agents for pest control world-wide.
班加罗尔的英联邦生物防治学院(CIBC)与全球研究实验室和实地工作站都有联系,是从事害虫防治最活跃,非商业性的研究机构之一。其致力于寻找使用害虫的自然天敌。CIBC还是全球范围内用于虫害控制的生物制剂进出口的交换所。
第9段
CIBC successfully used a seed-feeding weevil,native to Mexico,to control the obnoxious parthenium weed,known to exert devious influence on agriculture and human health in both India and Australia.Similarly the Hyderabad-based Regional Research Laboratory(RRL),supported by CIBC,is now trying out an Argentinian weevil for the eradication of water hyacinth,another dangerous weed,which has become a nuisance in many parts of the world.According to Mrs Kaiser Jamil of RRL,‘The Argentinian weevil does not attack any other plant and a pair of adult bugs could destroy the weed in 4-5 days.‘CIBC is also perfecting the technique for breeding parasites that prey on‘disapene scale’insects–notorious defoliants of fruit trees in the US and India.
CIBC成功地使用了一种原产于墨西哥的食用种子的象鼻虫来控制令人讨厌的银胶菊草。该草对印度和澳大利亚的农业和人类健康都产生了负面影响。同样,在CIBC的支持下,位于海得拉巴的地区实验室(RRL)现在正在尝试一种阿根廷象鼻虫,以根除另一种危险的杂草-水葫芦。这种杂草已在世界许多地方成为困扰。据RRL的Kaiser Jamil女士说:“阿根廷象鼻虫不会攻击任何其他植物,一对成年的昆虫可以在4-5天内破坏杂草。CIBC还正在完善繁殖以“二萜类”昆虫为食的寄生虫技术。这些臭名昭著昆虫使得美国和印度的果树落叶。
第10段
How effectively biological control can be pressed into service is proved by the following examples.In the late 1960s,when Sri Lanka’s flourishing coconut groves were plagued by leaf-mining hispides,a larval parasite imported from Singapore brought the pest under control.A natural predator indigenous to India,Neodumetia sangawani,was found useful in controlling the Rhodes grass-scale insect that was devouring forage grass in many parts of the US.By using Neochetina bruci,a beetle native to Brazil,scientists at Kerala Agricultural University freed a 12-kilometrelong canal from the clutches of the weed Salvinia molesta,popularly called‘African Payal’in Kerala.About 30,000 hectares of rice fields in Kerala are infested by this weed.
以下例子证明了如何有效地实施生物防治。20世纪60年代后期,当斯里兰卡茂盛的椰子林被采叶类杀虫剂所困扰时,从新加坡进口的幼虫寄生虫使该害虫得到了控制。人们发现,印度本土的天然捕食者Neodumetia sangawani可用于控制罗得岛草鳞昆虫,该昆虫在美国许多地方都在吞食草料。喀拉拉邦农业大学的科学家们使用巴西本土的甲虫Neochetina bruci,使得一条长达12公里的运河从喀拉拉邦的杂草(Salvinia molesta,通常被称为“非洲Payal”)中解放出来。这种杂草在喀拉拉邦侵害了大约30,000公顷稻田。
剑桥雅思4 Test 2阅读Passage 2原文翻译澳大利亚替代医疗alternative medicine in Australia
剑桥雅思4第二套题目第二篇文章介绍了澳大利亚替代医疗的发展状况。文章正文分为六个自然段,基本按照时间顺序进行,逻辑结构还是很清晰的。先说了澳大利亚人不愿意接受替代医疗,然后说明病人和医生态度的逐渐改变,最后又展望了发展前景。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
引文
The first students to study alternative medicine at university level in Australia began their four-year,full-time course at the University of Technology,Sydney,in early 1994.Their course covered,among other therapies,acupuncture.The theory they learnt is based on the traditional Chinese explanation of this ancient healing art:that it can regulate the flow of‘Qi’or energy through pathways in the body.This course reflects how far some alternative therapies have come in their struggle for acceptance by the medical establishment.
第 一批在大学层次学习替代医疗的澳大利亚学生在1994年初于悉尼科技大学开始了他们为期四年的全日制课程。他们的课程在其他疗法之外还涵盖针灸。他们学到的理论基于中国对这种古老疗法的传统解释:它可以调节“Q i”或能量在身体内的流动路径。这门课程反映了替代疗法在争取医疗机构接受方面取得了多大的进展。
第1自然段
Australia has been unusual in the Western world in having a very conservative attitude to natural or alternative therapies,according to Dr Paul Laver,a lecturer in Public Health at the University of Sydney.‘We’ve had a tradition of doctors being fairly powerful and I guess they are pretty loath to allow any pretenders to their position to come into it.’In many other industrialised countries,orthodox and alternative medicine have worked‘hand in glove’for years.In Europe,only orthodox doctors can prescribe herbal medicine.In Germany,plant remedies account for 10%of the national turnover of pharmaceuticals.Americans made more visits to alternative therapists than to orthodox doctors in 1990,and each year they spend about$US1 2 billion on therapies that have not been scientifically tested.
在保罗·拉沃(悉尼大学公共健康学院的讲师)看来,澳大利亚对自然或者替代疗法抱有十分保守的态度,这在西方世界很不寻常。我们已有医生的传统相当强大,我想他们很不愿意让任何觊觎他们地位的东西进入其行业。在许多其他工业化国家,正统疗法和替代意料已经合作了很多年。在欧洲,只有正统医生可以开草药。在德国,植物疗法占全国药品营业额的10%。1990年,美国人对替代治疗师的访问次数比对正统医生的访问次数还多。每年,他们在未经科学检验的治疗上花费约12亿美元。
第2自然段
Disenchantment with orthodox medicine has seen the popularity of alternative therapies in Australia climb steadily during the past 20 years.In a 1983 national health survey,1.9%of people said they had contacted a chiropractor,naturopath,osteopath,acupuncturist or herbalist in the two weeks prior to the survey.By 1990,this figure had risen to 2.6%of the population.The 550,000 consultations with alternative therapists reported in the 1990 survey represented about an eighth of the total number of consultations with medically qualified personnel covered by the survey,according to Dr Laver and colleagues writing in the Australian Journal of Public Health in 1993.‘A better educated and less accepting public has become disillusioned with the experts in general,and increasingly skeptical about science and empirically based knowledge,’they said.‘The high standing of professionals,including doctors,has been eroded as a consequence.’
在过去的20年中,对正统药物的清醒态度使得澳大利亚替代疗法的受欢迎程度稳步上升。在1983年的国家健康调查中,有1.9%的人说在调查前的两周内,他们曾经联系过按摩师,自然疗法,整骨,针灸或中医。到1990年,这一数字已上升到人口的2.6%。拉弗博士及其同事在1993年《澳大利亚公共卫生杂志》上写道,在1990年的调查中,与替代治疗师进行的550,000次咨询约占该调查所涵盖的拥有合格医疗资质人员的诊治总数的八分之一。受过更好教育,对替代医疗不怎么接受的公众对一般意义上的专家失去了幻想,并日益怀疑以科学和实证为基础的知识,他们说,因此,包括医生在内的专业人士的较高地位受到了侵蚀。
第3自然段
Rather than resisting or criticising this trend,increasing numbers of Australian doctors,particularly younger ones,are forming group practices with alternative therapists or taking courses themselves,particularly in acupuncture and herbalism.Part of the incentive was financial,Dr Laver said.‘The bottom line is that most general practitioners are business people.If they see potential clientele going elsewhere,they might want to be able to offer a similar service.’
越来越多的澳大利亚医生,特别是年轻的医生,没有抵制或批评这种趋势,而是与替代治疗师结合或自己参加相关课程,尤其是针灸和草药方面的课程。拉弗博士说,部分动机是经济上的。“最重要的是,大多数全科医生是商人。如果他们看到潜在客户流向其他地方,他们可能希望能够提供类似的服务”。
第4自然段
In 1993,Dr Laver and his colleagues published a survey of 289 Sydney people who attended eight alternative therapists’practices in Sydney.These practices offered a wide range of alternative therapies from 2 5 therapists.Those surveyed had experienced chronic illnesses,for which orthodox medicine had been able to provide little relief.They commented that they liked the holistic approach of their alternative therapists and the friendly,concerned and detailed attention they had received.The cold,impersonal manner of orthodox doctors featured in the survey.An increasing exodus from their clinics,coupled with this and a number of other relevant surveys carried out in Australia,all pointing to orthodox doctors’inadequacies,have led mainstream doctors themselves to begin to admit they could learn from the personal style of alternative therapists.Dr Patrick Store,President of the Royal College of General Practitioners,concurs that orthodox doctors could learn a lot about bedside manner and advising patients on preventative health from alternative therapists.
1993年,拉沃博士和他的同事们发表一份对289名参加过8个替代医疗诊所项目的悉尼民众的调查。这些诊所的2 5位治疗师提供了广泛的替代疗法。接受调查的人患有慢性病,而正统医学对此几乎无济于事。他们评论说,他们喜欢替代疗法治疗师的整体方法以及其友好的态度、真挚的关心和细致的关注。调查也突显了正统医生冷淡,非人格化的态度。根据这一调查和在澳大利亚进行的其他相关调查,越来越多的人从他们的诊所流失。所有这些都指向正统的医生的不足。而这也导致主流医生自己开始承认他们可以学习替代性治疗师的个人风格。皇家全科医师学院院长Patrick Store博士同意,除了行为方式之外,正统医生也可以从替代医疗师那里学习如何建议病人采取预防性措施
第5自然段
According to the Australian Journal of Public Health,18%of patients visiting alternative therapists do so because they suffer from musculo-skeletal complaints;12%suffer from digestive problems,which is only 1%more than those suffering from emotional problems.Those suffering from respiratory complaints represent 7%of their patients,and candida sufferers represent an equal percentage.Headache sufferers and those complaining of general ill health represent 6%and 5%of patients respectively,and a further 4%see therapists for general health maintenance.
根据《澳大利亚公共卫生杂志》,有18%的寻求替代治疗师的患者之所以这样做,是因为他们患有肌肉骨骼疾病。12%的人患有消化系统疾病。这仅比那些患有情绪问题的人多1%。患有呼吸道不适的患者占病人的7%,念珠菌患者所占的比例相同。头痛患者和抱怨整体健康的患者分别占病人的6%和5%,另有4%的人寻求治疗师的全面健康呵护。
第6自然段
The survey suggested that complementary medicine is probably a better term than alternative medicine.Alternative medicine appears to be an adjunct,sought in times of disenchantment when conventional medicine seems not to offer the answer.
调查表明,补充医学可能比替代医学的名字更为合适。当传统疗法无法提供答案而人们不再为此痴迷的时候,替代疗法似乎是一种辅助。
剑桥雅思4 Test 1阅读原文翻译Passage 3视觉符号与盲人visual symbols and the blind
剑桥雅思4第 一套题目的第三篇文章主要是关于盲人是否能够理解视觉符号的问题。文章分为两大部分,第 一部分探讨盲人对具体的图形的认知,包括5个自然段;第二部分探讨盲人对抽象符号的理解,包括3个自然段。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
第 一部分
第1自然段
From a number of recent studies,it has become clear that blind people can appreciate the use of outlines and perspectives to describe the arrangement of objects and other surfaces in space.But pictures are more than literal representations.This fact was drawn to my attention dramatically when a blind woman in one of my investigations decided on her own initiative to draw a wheel as it was spinning.To show this motion,she traced a curve inside the circle(Fig.1).l was taken aback.Lines of motion,such as the one she used,are a very recent invention in the history of illustration.Indeed,as art scholar David Kunzle notes,Wilhelm Busch,a trend-setting nineteenth-century cartoonist,used virtually no motion lines in his popular figures until about 1877.
从最近的许多项研究中可以明显看出,盲人能够理解用轮廓和透视图来描述物体的排列和空间中其他的表面。但是图片不仅仅是文字上的表述。当我的一项调查中的一位盲人女士主动决定画出一个正在旋转的车轮的时候,这一事实引起了我的极大注意。为了显示这一动作,她在圆内绘制了一条曲线。我吃了一惊。她所使用的运动的线条是图示发展史上最近才有的发明。确实,正如艺术学者David Kunzle指出的那样,Wilhelm Busch,一位19世纪引领潮流的漫画家,直到1877年左右才开始在他广受欢迎的人物中使用动态线条。
第2自然段
When l asked several other blind study subjects to draw a spinning wheel,one particularly clever rendition appeared repeatedly:several subjects showed the wheel’s spokes as curved lines.When asked about these curves,they all described them as metaphorical ways of suggesting motion.Majority rule would argue that this device somehow indicated motion very well.But was it a better indicator than,say,broken or wavy lines–or any other kind of line,for that matter?The answer was not clear.So I decided to test whether various lines of motion were apt ways of showing movement or if they were merely idiosyncratic marks.Moreover,I wanted to discover whether there were differences in how the blind and the sighted interpreted lines of motion.
当我让其他几个盲人研究对象绘制旋转的轮子的时候,一种特别聪明操作反复出现:一些研究对象用曲线来表示轮子中的辐条。当被问及这些曲线时,他们都将它们描述为暗示运动的比喻方式。多数规则认为这种方法很好的指出了运动。但这是否比断线或波浪线或其他任何类型的线更好呢?答案尚不清楚。因此,我决定测试各种运动线是否是显示运动的合适方式,或者它们仅仅是特质标记。此外,我想发现盲人和视力正常的人在解释运动线之间是否存在差异。
第3自然段
To search out these answers,I created raised-line drawings of five different wheels,depicting spokes with lines that curved,bent,waved,dashed and extended beyond the perimeter of the wheel.I then asked eighteen blind volunteers to feel the wheels and assign one of the following motions to each wheel:wobbling,spinning fast,spinning steadily,jerking or braking.My control group consisted of eighteen sighted undergraduates from the University of Toronto.
为了找到这些答案,我创建了五个不同车轮的凸线图,用弯曲,扭曲,波浪形,虚线和超出车轮周界的线来描绘辐条。然后,我让18位盲人志愿者感受轮子,并为每个轮子分配以下动作之一:摆动,快速旋转,平稳旋转,抽动或刹车。我的控制组由来自多伦多大学的18位视力正常的大学生组成。
第4自然段
All but one of the blind subjects assigned distinctive motions to each wheel.Most guessed that the curved spokes indicated that the wheel was spinning steadily;the wavy spokes,they thought,suggested that the wheel was wobbling;and the bent spokes were taken as a sign that the wheel was jerking.Subjects assumed that spokes extending beyond the wheel’s perimeter signified that the wheel had its brakes on and that dashed spokes indicated the wheel was spinning quickly.
除一个盲人外,所有盲人都为每个车轮分配了独特的动作。多数人猜测,弯曲的辐条表明车轮在稳定旋转。波浪状的辐条,他们认为,意味着车轮正在摆动;扭曲的辐条被视为车轮在摇晃。研究对象认为超出车轮边界的辐条表示正在刹车,而虚线的辐条表示车轮正在快速旋转
第5自然段
In addition,the favoured description for the sighted was the favoured description for the blind in every instance.What is more,the consensus among the sighted was barely higher than that among the blind.Because motion devices are unfamiliar to the blind,the task I gave them involved some problem solving.Evidently,however,the blind not only figured out meanings for each line of motion,but as a group they generally came up with the same meaning at least as frequently as did sighted subjects.
除此之外,在每一案例中,视力正常的人跟盲人所偏爱的描述一模一样。而且,视力正常的人的共识程度只比盲人高一点。因为运动装置是盲人不熟悉的,所以我给他们的任务涉及到一些解决问题的方法。但是,显然,盲人不仅弄清楚了每种运动线条的含义,而且作为一个整体,他们至少会和视力正常的人一样频繁地得出相同的含义。
第二部分
第1自然段
We have found that the blind understand other kinds of visual metaphors as well.One blind woman drew a picture of a child inside a heart–choosing that symbol,she said,to show that love surrounded the child.With Chang Hong Liu,a doctoral student from China,I have begun exploring how well blind people understand the symbolism behind shapes such as hearts that do not directly represent their meaning.
我们发现盲人也可以理解其他种类的视觉比喻。一名盲人女性在心脏内画了一个孩子的照片,她说她选择那个符号来表明爱包围着孩子。我与来自中国的博士生刘昌宏一起,开始探索盲人如何理解诸如心脏之类的形状背后的象征,而这些象征并不直接代表其含义。
第2自然段
We gave a list of twenty pairs of words to sighted subjects and asked them to pick from each pair the term that best related to a circle and the term that best related to a square.For example,we asked:What goes with soft?A circle or a square?Which shape goes with hard?
我们为视力正常的对象提供了二十对单词的列表,并要求他们从每对单词中选择与圆最相关的术语和与方形最相关的术语。例如,我们会问:哪个词与“软”搭配?一个圆形还是方形?“硬”和哪种图形搭配?
第3自然段
All our subjects deemed the circle soft and the square hard.A full 94%ascribed happy to the circle,instead of sad.But other pairs revealed less agreement:79%matched fast to slow and weak to strong,respectively.And only 51%linked deep to circle and shallow to square.(See Fig.2.)When we tested four totally blind volunteers using the same list,we found that their choices closely resembled those made by the sighted subjects.One man,who had been blind since birth,scored extremely well.He made only one match differing from the consensus,assigning‘far’to square and‘near’to circle.In fact,only a small majority of sighted subjects-53%–had paired far and near to the opposite partners.Thus,we concluded that the blind interpret abstract shapes as sighted people do.
我们所有的对象都认为圆是软的,而正方形是硬的。整整94%的人将快乐与圆联系起来,而不是悲伤。但是其他的配对则显示出较少的一致性:79%的人将快与慢,弱与强相连。而且只有51%的人将“深”与圆形相连,将“浅”与方形相连。当我们使用相同的列表测试四个完全失明的志愿者时,我们发现他们的选择与视力正常的受试者的选择非常相似。自出生以来一直失明的一名男子得分极高。他只有一项匹配与他人不同,将“远”分配给正方形,将“近”分配给了圆形。实际上,只有一小部分视力正常的人(53%)将远与进跟相反的词汇匹配。因此,我们得出的结论是,盲人像视力正常的人一样解释抽象形状。
剑桥雅思4 Test 1第二篇文章的主题为鲸鱼和海豚的各种感官。文章由6个自然段组成,前三段分别介绍鲸鱼和海豚的嗅觉、味觉、触觉、以及视觉,第四段和第五段分析眼睛位置、栖息地与视力的关系,最后一段再次回到它们的听觉上。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
文末附有这篇雅思阅读文章要掌握的词汇,以及具体的答案解析。
这套题目剩下两篇文章的翻译请点击这里:剑桥雅思4 Test 1阅读原文翻译Passage 1&剑桥雅思4 Test 1阅读原文翻译Passage 3视觉符号与盲人
第1自然段
Some of the senses that we and other terrestrial mammals take for granted are either reduced or absent in cetaceans or fail to function well in water.For example,it appears from their brain structure that toothed species are unable to smell.Baleen species,on the other hand,appear to have some related brain structures but it is not known whether these are functional.It has been speculated that,as the blowholes evolved and migrated to the top of the head,the neural pathways serving sense of smell may have been nearly all sacrificed.Similarly,although at least some cetaceans have taste buds,the nerves serving these have degenerated or are rudimentary.
我们和其他陆地哺乳动物觉得理所应当的某些感觉在鲸类动物中或者减少或消失,或者在水中不能很好地发挥作用。例如,从它们的大脑结构看来,有齿物种无法闻到气味。须鲸物种,在另一方面,似乎有一些相关的大脑结构,但不清楚这些是否有用。据推测,随着气孔的进化并迁移到头顶,起到嗅觉作用的神经通路可能几乎全部被牺牲了。同样,尽管一些鲸类具有味蕾,但服务于它们的神经已经退化或十分原始。
第2自然段
The sense of touch has sometimes been described as weak too,but this view is probably mistaken.Trainers of captive dolphins and small whales often remark on their animals’responsiveness to being touched or rubbed,and both captive and free-ranging cetacean individuals of all species(particularly adults and calves,or members of the same subgroup)appear to make frequent contact.This contact may help to maintain order within a group,and stroking or touching are part of the courtship ritual in most species.The area around the blowhole is also particularly sensitive and captive animals often object strongly to being touched there.
有时触感也被描述为较弱,但是这种观点可能是错误的。圈养海豚和小鲸的培训师往往提到,他们的动物会对被抚摸或者摩擦做出反应。而无论是圈养还是自由放养的所有鲸类动物个体(特别是成年鲸鱼和幼崽之间,或同一亚种的成员之间)都会频繁接触。这种接触可能有助于维持群体内的秩序。在大多数物种中,抚摸或触碰是求偶仪式的一部分。气孔周围的区域也特别敏感,圈养动物经常强烈反对接触它们那里。
第3自然段
The sense of vision is developed to different degrees in different species.Baleen species studied at close quarters underwater–specifically a grey whale calf in captivity for a year,and free-ranging right whales and humpback whales studied and filmed off Argentina and Hawaii–have obviously tracked objects with vision underwater,and they can apparently see moderately well both in water and in air.However,the position of the eyes so restricts the field of vision in baleen whales that they probably do not have stereoscopic vision.
在不同的物种中,视觉得到了不同程度的发展。在水下近距离处研究的Baleen物种-具体来说包括被圈养一年的灰鲸幼崽,以及在阿根廷和夏威夷附近研究并拍摄的自由放养的右鲸和座头鲸-显然在水下用视觉跟踪物体,并且它们无论是在水中还是在空气中都能够看的很清楚。但是,眼睛的位置限制了鲸鱼的势力范围,以至于它们可能没有立体视觉。
第4自然段
On the other hand,the position of the eyes in most dolphins and porpoises suggests that they have stereoscopic vision forward and downward.Eye position in freshwater dolphins,which often swim on their side or upside down while feeding,suggests that what vision they have is stereoscopic forward and upward.By comparison,the bottlenose dolphin has extremely keen vision in water.Judging from the way it watches and tracks airborne flying fish,it can apparently see fairly well through the air-water interface as well.And although preliminary experimental evidence suggests that their in-air vision is poor,the accuracy with which dolphins leap high to take small fish out of a trainer’s hand provides anecdotal evidence to the contrary.
另一方面,大多数海豚和鼠海豚的眼睛位置表明它们具有向前和向下的立体视觉。淡水海豚在喂食时经常侧卧或倒立游泳,其眼睛位置表明它们所具有的视觉是向前和向上立体的。相比之下,宽吻海豚在水中的视野非常敏锐。从它观察和跟踪空中飞鱼的方式来看,它显然可以通过空气与水的界面看的相当清楚。尽管初步的实验证据表明其在空气中的视力很差,但海豚飞跃起来从训练师手中取走小鱼的精 准度提供了与之相反的证据。
第5自然段
Such variation can no doubt be explained with reference to the habitats in which individual species have developed.For example,vision is obviously more useful to species inhabiting clear open waters than to those living in turbid rivers and flooded plains.The South American boutu and Chinese beiji,for instance,appear to have very limited vision,and the Indian susus are blind,their eyes reduced to slits that probably allow them to sense only the direction and intensity of light.
毫无疑问,可以用个体物种的栖息地来解释这种变化。例如,视觉对于居住在开阔水域的物种显然比生活在浑浊的河流和泛滥平原中的物种更有用。例如,南美boutu和中国beiji的视力似乎非常有限,而印度的susus则是瞎的,他们的眼睛变成狭缝,这可能使他们只能感知光的方向和强度。
第6自然段
Although the senses of taste and smell appear to have deteriorated,and vision in water appears to be uncertain,such weaknesses are more than compensated for by cetaceans’well-developed acoustic sense.Most species are highly vocal,although they vary in the range of sounds they produce,and many forage for food using echolocation1.Large baleen whales primarily use the lower frequencies and are often limited in their repertoire.Notable exceptions are the nearly song-like choruses of bowhead whales in summer and the complex,haunting utterances of the humpback whales.Toothed species in general employ more of the frequency spectrum,and produce a wider variety of sounds,than baleen species(though the sperm whale apparently produces a monotonous series of high-energy clicks and little else).Some of the more complicated sounds are clearly communicative,although what role they may play in the social life and‘culture’of cetaceans has been more the subject of wild speculation than of solid science.
虽然味觉和嗅觉会有所衰减,水中的视觉也不太确定,但这些弱点都被鲸类发达的听觉所弥补。尽管它们产生的声音范围各不相同,但大多数种类都具有很强的发声能力,并且许多动物使用回声定位法觅食。大型鲸鱼主要使用较低的频率,并且通常在其曲目方面受到限制。值得注意的例外是夏天的弓头鲸几乎像歌一样的合唱,以及座头鲸的复杂而令人难以忘怀的话语。一般而言,带齿的物种使用的频谱要多于Baleen物种(虽然,抹香鲸显然会产生一系列单调的高能滴答声,没有其他内容),因此它们会使用更多的频谱,并产生更广泛的声音。一些更复杂的声音显然具有交流目的。尽管它们在鲸类社会生活和文化中所扮演的角色更多的是推测而非实在的科学。
剑桥雅思4 Test 1的第 一篇文章讲解了某一项关于孩子对热带雨林所持观点的研究。文章分为11段,分别介绍了调查的结果,产生错误观念的原因,该项研究的目的等。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
文末附有这篇雅思阅读文章要掌握的词汇,以及具体的答案解析。
这套题目剩下两篇文章的翻译请点击这里:剑桥雅思4 Test 1阅读原文翻译Passage 2鲸鱼感官&剑桥雅思4 Test 1阅读原文翻译Passage 3视觉符号与盲人
第1段
Adults and children are frequently confronted with statements about the alarming rate of loss of tropical rainforests.For example,one graphic illustration to which children might readily relate is the estimate that rainforests are being destroyed at a rate equivalent to one thousand football fields every forty minutes–about the duration of a normal classroom period.In the face of the frequent and often vivid media coverage,it is likely that children will have formed ideas about rainforests-what and where they are,why they are important,what endangers them–independent of any formal tuition.It is also possible that some of these ideas will be mistaken.
成人和儿童经常面对有关热带雨林正在以的惊人速度丧失的说法。例如,儿童很容易联想到一种图形化的解释:据估计热带雨林被破坏的速度相当于每四十分钟一千个足球场-大约是正常课堂的持续时间。面对媒体频繁而生动的报道,孩子们可能会形成关于雨林的想法:它们的种类和位置,它们为什么重要,以及什么使它们陷入威胁。这些观念独立于任何正式的教育。它们中的一些也可能是错误的。
第2段
Many studies have shown that children harbour misconceptions about‘pure’,curriculum science.These misconceptions do not remain isolated but become incorporated into a multifaceted,but organised,conceptual framework,making it and the component ideas,some of which are erroneous,more robust but also accessible to modification.These ideas may be developed by children absorbing ideas through the popular media.Sometimes this information may be erroneous.It seems schools may not be providing an opportunity for children to re-express their ideas and so have them tested and refined by teachers and their peers.
许多研究表明,孩子们对“纯粹的”,课程里的科学怀有误解。这些误解并不是孤立存在的,而是被整合到一个多方面但有组织的概念框架中,使它成为完整的观点。其中一些是错误的,但更多的是可靠的,并且是可以修改的。这些想法可能是儿童通过吸收大众媒体的观点而形成的。有时,该信息可能是错误的。看来学校可能没有为孩子们提供一个重新表达他们想法的机会,并因此让老师和他们的同伴对这些想法进行测试和完善。
第3段
Despite the extensive coverage in the popular media of the destruction of rainforests,little formal information is available about children’s ideas in this area.The aim of the present study is to start to provide such information,to help teachers design their educational strategies to build upon correct ideas and to displace misconceptions and to plan programmes in environmental studies in their schools.
尽管大众媒体对热带雨林破坏的大规模报道,很少有关于孩子在这一领域观点的信息。当前这一研究的目的是开始提供这些信息,以帮助教师在正确的观念上设计他们的教育策略,替换错误的认知,并在学校的环境学习中计划新的项目。
第4段
The study surveys children’s scientific knowledge and attitudes to rainforests.Secondary school children were asked to complete a questionnaire containing five open-form questions.The most frequent responses to the first question were descriptions which are self-evident from the term‘rainforest’.Some children described them as damp,wet or hot.The second question concerned the geographical location of rainforests.The commonest responses were continents or countries:Africa(given by 43%of children),South America(30%),Brazil(25%).Some children also gave more general locations,such as being near the Equator.
这项研究调查的孩子对热带雨林的科学知识和态度。要求中学生填写包含五个开放式问题在内的调查问卷。对第 一个问题的最常见回答是“雨林”一词的不言而喻的描述。一些孩子将它们描述为湿润、潮湿或高温。第二个问题涉及雨林的地理位置。最普遍的回答是各大洲或国家:非洲(占43%的儿童),南美(占30%),巴西(占25%)。一些孩子还提供了更一般的位置,例如靠近赤道。
第5段
Responses to question three concerned the importance of rainforests.The dominant idea,raised by 64%of the pupils,was that rainforests provide animals with habitats.Fewer students responded that rainforests provide plant habitats,and even fewer mentioned the indigenous populations of rainforests.More girls(70%)than boys(60%)raised the idea of rainforest as animal habitats.
对问题三的答复涉及雨林的重要性。由64%的学生提出的主要想法是,雨林为动物提供了栖息地。较少的学生回答说,雨林提供了植物栖息地,而提到雨林土著种群的则更少。提出雨林作为动物栖息地的想法的女孩(70%)比男孩(60%)多。
第6段
Similarly,but at a lower level,more girls(13%)than boys(5%)said that rainforests provided human habitats.These observations are generally consistent with our previous studies of pupils’views about the use and conservation of rainforests,in which girls were shown to be more sympathetic to animals and expressed views which seem to place an intrinsic value on non-human animal life.
同样,但在较低的水平上,更多女孩(13%)比男孩(5%)认为雨林提供了人类栖息地。这些意见与我们以前的对学生关于热带雨林用途和保护的意见的研究结果是一致的,其中女孩被证明更加同情动物,并表达出对非人类动物生命内在价值的看法。
第7段
The fourth question concerned the causes of the destruction of rainforests.Perhaps encouragingly,more than half of the pupils(59%)identified that it is human activities which are destroying rainforests,some personalising the responsibility by the use of terms such as‘we are’.About 18%of the pupils referred specifically to logging activity.
第四个问题涉及破坏雨林的原因。也许令人鼓舞的是,超过一半的学生(59%)认为是人类活动正在破坏热带雨林,其中一些人通过使用诸如“我们是”这样的术语来个人化责任。约有18%的学生专门提到伐木活动。
第8段
One misconception,expressed by some 10%of the pupils,was that acid rain is responsible for rainforest destruction;a similar proportion said that pollution is destroying rainforests.Here,children are confusing rainforest destruction with damage to the forests of Western Europe by these factors.While two fifths of the students provided the information that the rainforests provide oxygen,in some cases this response also embraced the misconception that rainforest destruction would reduce atmospheric oxygen,making the atmosphere incompatible with human life on Earth.
约有10%的学生表达了一种误解,认为酸雨是造成雨林破坏的原因。同样比例的人说,污染正在破坏雨林。在这里,孩子们混淆了破坏热带雨林与到破坏西欧森林的因素。虽然五分之二的学生提供了雨林提供氧气的信息,但在某些情况下,这种回应还包含了这样一种误解,即雨林的破坏会减少大气中的氧气,使大气不适合地球上的人类。
第9段
In answer to the final question about the importance of rainforest conservation,the majority of children simply said that we need rainforests to survive.Only a few of the pupils(6%)mentioned that rainforest destruction may contribute to global warming.This is surprising considering the high level of media coverage on this issue.Some children expressed the idea that the conservation of rainforests is not important.
在最后一个关于热带雨林保护重要性的问题的回答中,大多数的孩子只是说,我们需要雨林生存。只有极少数的学生(6%)提到雨林的破坏可能导致全球变暖。考虑到媒体对这一问题的高度报道,这令人惊讶。一些孩子表示保护雨林并不重要。
第10段
The results of this study suggest that certain ideas predominate in the thinking of children about rainforests.Pupils’responses indicate some misconceptions in basic scientific knowledge of rainforests’ecosystems such as their ideas about rainforests as habitats for animals,plants and humans and the relationship between climatic change and destruction of rainforests.
这项研究的结果表明,某些想法在儿童关于雨林的思考中占主导地位。学生的反应表明对雨林生态系统一些基本知识的误解,如他们对热带雨林作为动物,植物和人类栖息地的看法,以及气候变化和雨林破坏之间的关系。
第11段
Pupils did not volunteer ideas that suggested that they appreciated the complexity of causes of rainforest destruction.In other words,they gave no indication of an appreciation of either the range of ways in which rainforests are important or the complex social,economic and political factors which drive the activities which are destroying the rainforests.One encouragement is that the results of similar studies about other environmental issues suggest that older children seem to acquire the ability to appreciate,value and evaluate conflicting views.Environmental education offers an arena in which these skills can be developed,which is essential for these children as future decision-makers.
学生没有主动提出他们认识到雨林破坏原因的复杂性。换句话说,他们没有意识到雨林为什么重要,以及推动雨林破坏活动背后的复杂社会、经济与政治因素。一种鼓励是,关于其他环境问题的类似研究结果表明,年龄较大的儿童似乎具有认识,重视和评估矛盾观点的能力。环境教育为这些技能的发展提供了一个舞台,这对于作为未来的决策者的孩子来说至关重要。