汉英翻译实践第十讲(《灰尘的旅行》及中外翻译简史)

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只有几十粒

灰尘；在海洋上空的空气里，每一 立方厘米大约有一千多粒灰尘；在城市街道上的空气里，

每一立方厘米大约有十万粒以上 的灰尘；在住宅区的空气里，灰尘还要多得多。

这样多的灰尘 在空中旅行，

对气象变化产生了很大影响。

原来灰尘还是制造云 雾和雨点

的小工程师，它们会帮助空气中的水分疑结成云雾和雨点。没有灰尘，

就没有白云，也没有

大雨和小雨了；没有灰尘，在夏天，强烈的日光将直 接照射在大地上，使气温无法降低

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。

这是灰尘在自然界中的功用。

如果我们追问一下，

?

到底是些什么东西呢

?

我们可以得到

下面一系列的答案：

有的是来自山地岩石的碎末，

有的是来自田野的干燥土末，

有的是来自

海面的由浪 花蒸发后生成的食盐粉末，

有的是来自火山灰，

还有的是来自星 际空间的宇宙尘。

这些都是天然的灰尘。

II.

理解难点提示

(Suggestions for Comprehension)

1.

这几个“从??到??”是说灰尘的运动方向，还是说其存在之地？

2.

“有灰尘的行踪”是说灰尘本身不存在了，还留下了踪迹吗？

3.

前面以“它”指代灰尘，这里为什么又说“无数的灰尘”？

4.

“用显微镜”的具体方式是什么？

5.

“田野和高山的空气里，每一立方厘米”是说一立方厘米的 什么东西？

6.

这两个分句的关系如何？

III.

译文

(Target Text)

The Travels of Dust (1)

Dust, a tireless traveler on earth

1

, floats along with the movement of air and can be said to be

all-pervasive

2

.

Dust

can

be

found

3

almost

everywhere

in

the

space around

us,

indoors

and

outdoors,

over

cities

and

the

country,

plains

and

mountains,

deserts

and

the

sea

4

.

Space

truly

without

dust

can

only be created in laboratories.

In the sunny sky

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dust is invisible; only when sunlight shines into a dark room can one see

numberless

dust

particles

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flying

in

the

air.

Bigger

particles

can

be

seen

by

the

naked

eye,

but

smaller ones may be smaller than germs

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, and cannot be observed even through a microscope

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.

According to the results of experiments, on dry days there are a few dozen particles of dust in

each cubic cm of air over the fields and mountains, more than a thousand over the sea, more than

100,000 in the streets of cities, and much more in residential areas

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.

So much dust traveling in the air exerts great influence on weather changes. It turns out that

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dust particles are tiny engineers that make clouds and raindrops, helping as they do the moisture to

condense

into

clouds,

fog

and

raindrops.

Without

them,

there

would

be

no

white

clouds,

nor

drenchers or drizzles

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; without them, the scorching sun

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in summer would shine directly on the

earth, making it impossible

for the temperature to come down

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. That is the function of dust in

nature.

If we ask where all the dust comes from and what on earth it is, we can get the following

series of answers: from tiny bits of rock in mountainous regions, from dry earth in the fields, from

salt powder formed by evaporated spray on the sea, from volcanic ashes, or

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from meteoroid in

outer space. All this is natural dust.

IV

.

表达解说

(Explanation of Expression)

1.

汉译英时，如果“