中国石化专业技术人员英语学习参考用书(高级)

These

days,

there

is

hardly

a

local

government

that

does

not

talk

about

plans for an eco- village, town or even city.

5

．全世界大约一半的人口居住在城市，所以研究能缓解城市对环境

影响的途径势在必行 。

It

is

fairly

necessary

to

search

for

ways

to

reduce

the

environmental

impact

of

cities

because

around

half

of

the

world‘s

population

is

now

city- dwellers (is now living in cities).

B

．英译汉

Once at a supermarket, I read a thought-provoking sign at the check-out

counter. It said the store was using only plastic bags. The supermarket claimed

that

the

energy

and

exhaust

fumes

expelled

to

transport

fumes

expelled

to

produce and transport the same number of paper bags outweighed the fact that

plastic wasn't biodegradable. Paper bags take up more space and require more

trucks for transport, so the store believed it was lessening its carbon footprint

by using plastic. It got me thinking further. Why not ask for plastic and bring

your used plastic bags each time you visit the grocery store? If you use them

five or six times, or until they start to fall apart, you have really done a good

thing.

You

can

also

use

them

to

line

your

small

wastebaskets,

instead

of

purchasing plastic trash bags.

< br>有一次在一家超市的收银处，我看到了一则发人深思的广告，上面写

着：本店只用 塑料袋。超市声称：事实上生产和运输同量纸袋所消耗的能

源和所排放的废气的危害大大 超过塑料袋不能进行生物降解的危害。而且

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纸袋占用的空间更大，需要更多的卡车运送。因此，超市认为使用塑料袋

可以减少碳足迹。该告示促使我作了进一步的思考。为什么使用了塑料袋

后，不 能每次再去杂货店时带上重复使用呢？如果能用上五六次，或者用

到破了为止，你岂不是 做了一件大好事。你也可以把塑料袋铺在小垃圾筐

里盛垃圾，而不用再买垃圾专用塑料袋 。

UNIT 3 Population

A very important world problem is the increasing number of people who

actually inhabit this planet. The limited amount of land and land resources will

soon

be

unable

to

support

the

huge

population

if

it

continues

to

grow

at

its

present rate.

在我们这个星球上居住的人越来越多，是一个很重要的全球问题。如

果继续按照现有的 增长率发展下去，那么有限的土地及土地资源很快不能

养活这么巨大的人口。

So why is this huge increase in population taking place? It is really due to

the

spread

of

the

knowledge

and

practice

of

what

is

becoming

known

as

―Death Control‖. You have no doubt heard of the term‖ Birth Control‖. ‖Death

Control‖ is something rather difficult. It recognizes the work of the doctors and

scientists who now keep alive people who, not very long ago, would have died

of a variety of then incurable diseases. Through a wide variety of technological

innovations that include farming

methods and the control of deadly diseases,

we have found ways to reduce the rate at which we die. However, this success

is the very cause of the greatest threat to mankind.

那么为什么会出现人口的大量增长呢？这的确 是因为知识的广泛传

播和众所周知的“死亡控制”的结果。毫无疑问，你肯定听到过“生 育控

制”这个术语。

“死亡控制”是大不相同的。它承认了医生 和科学家的工

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作，现在他们能够留住那些患有各种各样绝症的病人的生命。而这些绝症

在不久之前还是不可治愈的。通过大范围的技术创新，其中包括耕作方法

和对绝 症的控制，我们已经找到降低死亡率的方法。然而，正是这项成功

给人类带来最大的威胁 。

If

we

examine

the

amount

of

land

available

for

this

ever-increasing

population, we begin to see the problem. If everyone on the planet had an equal

share

of

land,

we

would

each

have

about

50,000

square

meters.

This

figure

seems to be quite encouraging until we examine the amount of usable land we

actually have. More than three-

fifths of the world‘s land cannot produce food.

如果 计算一下维持不断增长的人口所需的土地量，我们就能意识到这

个问题。如果这个星球上 的每个人都平均分一块土地，我们每个人会拥有

五万平方米。这个数字看似相当振奋人心 ，而当我们计算一个每个人的实

际可用耕地之后，就知道情况不太乐观了。因为世界上超 过

3/5

的土地都

不能生产粮食。

Obviously, with so little land to support us, we should be taking great care

not to reduce it further. But we are not! In

stead, we are consuming its ―capital‖

-

its nonrenewable fossil fuels and other

mineral deposits that took millions of

years to form but which are now being destroyed in decades. We are also doing

the

same

with

other

vital

resources

not

usually

thought

of

as

being

nonrenewable

such

as

fertile

soils,

groundwater

and

the

millions

of

other

species that share the earth with us.

显然，能够养活我们的耕地如此之少，我们就应该想方 设法不要让耕

地继续减少下去。但是，我们并没有这样做！反而我们正在消耗它的“本< /p>

钱”——其不可再生的化石燃料与其它矿藏，它们是在几百万年的时间里

< br>才形成的，然而现在，几十年内就会被消耗殆尽。我们对待其它通常不被

看做是不 可再生的重要自然资源也是如此，譬如肥沃的土地、地下水和千

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百万年与我们共同居住的地球上的物种。

1

．

What can be learnt about the population growth at present?

It continues to increase / grow at its present rate.

2

．

According to the article, what contributes to the population increase?

Death Control.

3

．

What is the doctor

’

s job according to paragraph 2?

They keep people who suffer from incurable diseases alive.

4

．

Why isn

’

t there enough land to support human beings?

Because

the

world‘s

land

has

already

been

taken

up

/

occupied

by

the

ever-increasing population.

5

．

In paragraph 4 the fertile soils are considered as

nonrenewable

.

Exercises

A

．汉译英

1

．亚洲大陆面积占世界陆地面积的

29%

。

Asia makes up twenty-

nine per cent of the world‘s land area.

2

．人口的增 加使土地必须生产更多的粮食。

The

increasing

population

makes

it

necessary

for

the

earth

to

produce

more grain.

3

．我们应 该先进行抽样调查再写报告。

We should conduct a sampling investigation before we write the report.

4

．我承认我在工作中因缺乏经验犯 过这样那样的错误。

I admit that due to lack of experience I have made mistakes of all kinds.

5

．中国的现代化工业和商品经济的发展，促进 了职业流动和人口流

动。

The development of modern industry and commodity economy in China

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has promoted occupational (mobility) and population mobility.

B

．英译汉

A

report,

based

on

United

Nations

projections

showing

slow,

steady

growth of economies and populations, suggests that by midcentury, humanity‘s

demand

on

nature

will

be

twice

the

biosphere‘s

productive

capacity.

At

this

level

of

ecological

deficit,

exhaustion

of

ecological

assets

and

large- scale

ecosystem collapse become real. < /p>

一份以联合国所作的经济和人口缓解增长的预期为基础的报告显示，

到本世纪中叶，人类对自然界的需求将达到生态圈自身生产能力的两倍。

在这样的生态 “赤字”水平下，生态资源的枯竭和大规模的生态系统崩溃

将会成为事实。

Moving

towards

sustainability

depends

on

significant

action

now.

Population size changes slowly, and human-made capital

–

homes, cars, roads,

factories, or power plants

–

can last for many decades. This implies that policy

and investment decisions made today will continue to determine our resource

demand throughout much of the 21st century.

向可持续发展的转变 取决于现在所采取的重大行动。人口数量变化缓

慢，而人类创造的资本，如住宅、汽车、 道路、工厂或发电站等会持续几

十年。这意味着，今天所作的政策和投资决策将决定我们 在

21

世纪的大

部分时间里对资源的持 续需求。

UNIT 4 Earthquake

地震

Earthquakes may be ranked as one of the most destructive forces known

to

man:

since

records

began

to

be

written

down,

it

has

been

estimated

that

earthquake-related

fatalities

(

死亡

)

have

numbered

in

the

millions,

and

that

earthquake-related destruction has been beyond calculation. The greater part of

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such

damage

and

loss

of

life

had

been

due

to

collapse

of

buildings

and

the

effects

of

rockslides,

floods,

fire,

disease,

tsunamis,

and

other

observable

events resulting from earthquakes, rather than from quakes themselves.

地震是 人类所知的最具有破坏力的自然灾害之一。自从有记载以来，

估计由地震造成的死亡达数 百万以上，地震造成的破坏更是不计其数。地

震造成的破坏如此之大，死亡如此之多，主 要是由于地震引发的建筑物倒

塌、岩石崩落、洪水、火灾、疾病等现象造成的，而不是由 于地震本身。

The

great

majority

of

all

earthquakes

occur

in

two

specific

geographic

areas.

One

such

area

covers

the

Pacific

Ocean

and

its

bordering

landmasses.

The other extends from the East Indians to the Atlas Mountains, including the

Himalayas, Iran, Turkey and the Alpine regions. It is in these two great belts or

zones

that

ninety

percent

of

all

earthquakes

take

place;

they

may,

however,

happen anywhere at any time.

大多数地震发生在两个独特的地理位置 。一个是环太平洋地区及相邻

的大陆架，另一个是从印度东部延伸到阿特拉斯山脉，其中 包括喜马拉雅

山、伊朗、土耳其和阿尔卑斯地区。那里随时随地都可能发生地震。

This element of unknown has for centuries added greatly to the dead and

horror surrounding earthquakes, but in recent times there have been indications

that

earthquake

forecast

may

be

possible.

By

analyzing

changes

in

animal

behavior,

patterns

of

movements

in

the

earth's

shell,

variations

in

the

earth's

force

of

attraction,

and

the

frequency

with

which

minor

earth

shakes

are

observed,

scientists

have

shown

increasing

success

in

expecting

when

and

where

earthquakes

will

strike.

As

a

result,

a

worldwide

earthquake

warning

network is already in operation and has helped to prepare for (and thus lessen)

the vast destruction that might otherwise have been totally unexpected.

几个世纪以来，这种对于地震的未知性更大大地增加了地震的 可怕和

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恐惧性。但近几年来已有迹象表明地震预测是可能的。通过分析动物行为

的变化，地壳运动的方式，地球磁场和地心引力的变化以及监测到的轻微

地震的 频率，科学家在预测地震发生的时间和地点上已取得了不断的成

功。因此，世界性地震预 警网络已经运转，而且已经帮助人们对大范围的

破坏做好准备，而这些破坏也可能完全不 能预料的。

It is doubtful that man will ever be able to control earthquakes and get rid

of

their

destructiveness

altogether,

but

as

how

and

why

earthquakes

happen

become better understood, man will become more and more able to deal with

their possible damage before they occur.

人类是否能完全控制地震并消除它的破坏力还未知。但是，随着我们

对地震发生的方式和原因有了更多的了解，在地震发生之前，我们就能更

好地应对可能造成的破坏。

1

．

What are the causes of the great part of the damage and loss of life?

Collapse of buildings and the effects of rock slides, floods, fire, disease

and other phenomena from earthquakes.

2

．

Where are the two most active earthquake belts in the world?

The area encompasses the Pacific Ocean and its contiguous land masses,

East indians to the Atlas Mountains.

3

．

What fact does

“

element of the unknown

”

in paragraph 3 refer to?

It refers to the fact the earthquakes can happen anywhere at any time.

4

．

What four ways are used to anticipate earthquake activity?

a) analyzing chanes in animal behavior

b) patterns of movements in the earth‘s crust

c) variations in the force of gravity and the earth‘s magnetic field

d) observation of the frequency of minor earth tremors

5

．

What

is

the

author

’

s

attitude

toward

the

possibility

of

earthquake

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predictions?

Earthquake prediction is becoming more and more possible

Exercises

A

．汉译英

1

．会议的准备工作正在顺利地进行着。

Preparations for the meeting are proceeding smoothly.

2

．科技发展在 解决老问题的同时也带来了一些新问题。

As

technological

advancement

solves

old

problems,

it

also

creates

new

once.

3

．

1976

年唐山大地震是历史上最严重的自然灾害之一。

The 1976 earthquake in Tangshan was one of the greatest natural disasters

in history.

4

．近几年来，中国、日本和美国对地震发生的时间、地点的预 测取

得了一定的进步。

In recent years, China, Japan and the U.S have made certain progress in

forecasting when and where earthquakes will occur.

5