03The Living Seas
富有生命的海洋

導(dǎo)讀

本文是一篇科學(xué)小品文，載于《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic）1986年3月號(hào)，對(duì)海洋的作用及最新發(fā)現(xiàn)作了簡(jiǎn)明扼要的敘述，具有豐富的知識(shí)性。本文具有科技文章的一般特點(diǎn)，即平鋪直敘而不轉(zhuǎn)彎抹角，文字比較通俗易懂，邏輯性強(qiáng)，適于一般讀者閱讀。

美國(guó)迪士尼（Walt Disney）游樂(lè)園中一部分就是介紹海底世界奇跡的景象，稱為The Living Sea，有人譯為“活海”。為避免與“活魚”之類概念混淆，本文標(biāo)題不妨譯成“富有生命的海洋”，似乎更接近文中原意。

The ocean covers three quarters of the earth's surface, produces 90 percent of all its life-supporting oxygen, and is the driving force behind[1]the entire weather system. There are over 450 million cubic miles of sea water on the earth; and each cubic mile contains over 150 million tons of minerals.

So vast and so pervasive is the sea that[2]if the earth's crust were made level, ocean water would form a blanket[3]over 8,000 feet deep.

 

The oceans contribute immeasurably to the earth's life support system as well as provide an untapped storehouse of food, minerals, energy,and archaeological treasure[4].

 

Advanced atmospheric diving suits[5] permit researchers to descend to depths of 1,500 feet. Yet the ocean's average depth is greater than 12,000 feet. It is at these depths that remarkable discoveries are being made, discoveries[6] which only a short time ago would have been impossible.

In that depth, where darkness is absolute and pressure exceeds eight tons per square inch, robotic submersibles [7]have discovered enormous gorges, four times deeper than the Grand Canyon[8]. Here, too, are volcanoes that vastly outnumber those on land. Landslides the size of Rhode Island[9]have been recorded, as well as raging undersea storms that go completely unnoticed on the surface while dramatically rearranging the underwater landscapes[10].

And under these seas the largest single geological feature[11]on earth has been found—a mountain range that dwarfs the Himalayas. It's a range that covers nearly one quarter of the earth's surface.

All these discoveries have come from the exploration of less than one-tenth of this undersea mountain range.

The earth is the only planet we know that has an ocean. The ocean is the largest feature[12] on earth. Yet it's the one feature we know the least about. We know more about the moon 240,000 miles away than we know about the three-fourths of the earth covered with water. Man has set foot on the moon, but not on the most remote part of the earth, 35,000 feet under the sea.

Technology is changing all that. It's literally parting the waves[13]for today's undersea explorers. And it's bringing about the opportunity to transform vision, curiosity[14], and wonder into practical knowledge.

Properly managed as a tool to serve society[15], technology is the best hope for overcoming economic and social problems facing people everywhere. It always has been. The earliest relics of human life are tools. And our ancient ancestors used these tools to understand and change the world around them and make it better. The same is true today[16]. The deep sea is the last frontier[17]left to explore.

翻譯點(diǎn)評(píng)

[1] driving force behind：在其后起作用的推動(dòng)力，此處behind不一定要譯出。

[2] so vast...that...：倒裝句，主語(yǔ)是sea, so...that..．連用，that后為結(jié)果分句，此分句中又包含一個(gè)虛擬條件分句。

[3] blanket：意為“覆蓋層”。

[4] archaeological treasure：意為“在考古學(xué)上非常有價(jià)值的東西”, treasure=very valuable object。

[5] Advanced atmospheric diving suits：意為“先進(jìn)的常壓潛水服”。suits之前堆砌3個(gè)修飾語(yǔ)，這種結(jié)構(gòu)在科技文章中是常見(jiàn)的語(yǔ)言現(xiàn)象（下面注11同此），各修飾語(yǔ)排列次序以意義上與suit密切程度來(lái)決定其靠近程度。atmospheric指保持恒常的大氣壓力。

[6] discoveries：與前文discoveries同位，重復(fù)此詞便于后面再接定語(yǔ)從句，在翻譯時(shí)可以不看成與前面有聯(lián)系，譯成相對(duì)獨(dú)立的漢語(yǔ)分句。

[7] robotic submersibles：與其譯成“機(jī)器人式的潛水裝置”不如譯成“潛水的機(jī)器人”。

[8] the Grand Canyon：指美國(guó)科羅拉多大峽谷。

[9] the size of Rhode Island：此部分做定語(yǔ)修飾Landslides，相當(dāng)于前面省去which are，意為一次山崩可以形成一個(gè)羅得島。羅得島又稱“羅德艾蘭”，是美國(guó)東北的一個(gè)州，面積為3144平方千米。

[10] rearranging the underwater landscapes：是由動(dòng)詞arrange變來(lái)的現(xiàn)在分詞，相當(dāng)于changing之意；landscapes意為“景觀”。

[11] the largest single geological feature：意為“唯一最大的地質(zhì)構(gòu)成”, single=being the only one, feature=the makeup or structure of a thing。

[12] feature：此處的feature與前文的feature略有不同，它意為something that goes to make up something else，因此可以譯為“構(gòu)成部分”。

[13] literally parting the waves: parting the waves（把波浪分開(kāi)）是形象詞語(yǔ)， literally指完全可以按字面形象來(lái)理解，譯時(shí)可以借用漢語(yǔ)詞組“劈波斬浪”。

[14] curiosity：意為the desire to know，因此可譯為“求知欲”。

[15] Properly managed...society：此部分為句子前置修飾語(yǔ)，譯時(shí)可把后面主語(yǔ)加上，形成漢語(yǔ)的一個(gè)相對(duì)獨(dú)立的分句。

[16] The same is true today：順序譯法“同樣情況也適用于今天”不如逆序譯法“今天情況也還是如此”。

[17] frontier：此詞譯為“領(lǐng)域”（《新英漢詞典》第3義項(xiàng)）比譯成“邊界”好。

（陳文伯譯注）

Translation Practices

翻譯練習(xí)

Technology is changing all that. It's literally parting the waves for today's undersea explorers. And it's bringing about the opportunity to transform vision, curiosity, and wonder into practical knowledge.

Key

技術(shù)正在改變這一切，它正在劈波斬浪為今日的水下探索者開(kāi)路。它正在創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)使幻想、求知欲和高深莫測(cè)的事情轉(zhuǎn)化成實(shí)實(shí)在在的知識(shí)。

Emulation美文自己寫得出——學(xué)生仿寫

仿寫范例

Realism or Romanticism

High in the sky, the moon, like an impeccable jade plate, is so consuming that many romanticists will be delighted at its wax and sad for its wane. However, when you appreciate it by a telescope, you'll astonishingly find that the holy moon is no more than a face covered with myriads of pits and volcanoes—and this is realism. In actual life, I'm a realist.

First things first, subsistence comes first, which is the prerequisite of doing anything else. Only by facing the reality and overcoming the difficulties, can we enjoy our life and the bliss of romanticism. I deeply understand that I have to work hard incessantly for my meals, house and even every cent of money, though I also dream to live a life of Xu Zhimo. However, except poems, what else did Mr. Xu own? Didn't he need a dwelling to rest in? Was there anything he gave his wife and children? Maybe one day when a great deal of inexhaustible money falls on me, I would have a recollection of Mr. Xu and his famous words, “Very quietly I take my leave, as quietly as I came here, not even a wisp of cloud will I bring away.”

Secondly, the joy of romanticism won't last long without the foundation of realism. Romanticists take wishes as their wings, whereas the real happy people are those whose wishes won't take the place of their deeds. Once upon a time, the notorious emperor YOU in the Zhou Dynasty in ancient China remobilized tens of thousand soldiers regardless of their weariness by lightening the beacons time and again. However, this turned out to be a joke! And the emperor only aimed to win a smile of his concubine. As a result, very soon the Zhou Dynasty was overthrown and perished in the flood of history. Indeed, just as one poet once put it, “Life is like a shell, which cannot produce the pearl of romanticism unless infused with sand of realism.”

Of course, life without romanticism to many is coffee without sugar or cream. A bit of romanticism can add huge fun and delight to our daily existence. Modern life is designed to drain emotional energy, lack of which only means a serious energy crisis—a crisis more destructive and dangerous than any economic crisis. One of the best ways to overcome such a crisis is to infill a bit of romanticism to our day-to-day existence. However, romanticism without the backing up of realism is out of the question.

All in all, even romanticism needs the reason of realism. We should fill our life with wisdom of realism so that we can be more romantic and mellow.