科技英语翻译练习3

1 .With speed increasingly seen as the key to competitive advantage, the dream is to marry the control of an established company with the responsiveness of a start-up. As Linda Applegate reports, advances in IT now means that the “big small”company is finally feasible.In the hierarchical companies of the 1960s and 1970s, informaiton moved slowly and channels of communication were limited. Over the past few years, however, large companies have come under ever-increasing pressure to collect, process and distribute information more quickly in order to compete with smaller, more nimble rivals. The key challenge facing any sizeable organisation today is how to achieve responsiveness without losing the control inherent in a hierarchical structure.All types of organisation are controlled through two sets of processes. Operating processes define how a company produces, sells, distributes and supports its products and services. Management processes define how a company directs, coordinates and controls these operations. Typical management processes include planning, budgeting and human resource management.Traditional hierarchical organisiations control operating processes through standardisations of jobs. These jobs are separated into sequential steps and carried out under direct supervision. However, the line workers lack both the authority and motivation to improve these routine tasks and are limited by their local view of the business. Management processes in such companies are also hampered by the time it takes to recognise that change is needed. Thus, hierarchical control is only truly effective in relatively stable business environments where change happens slowly.Entrepreneurial organisations, on the other hand, allow fast response without any loss of control. Daily personal interaction between the owner and employees ensures flexibility and responsiveness, while instant feedback ensures effective control. However, as the company becomes larger and more complex, this control breaks down and more structured operating and management processes required.Information age organisations can manage the complexity of the large hierarchical structure without losing the speed of the entrepreneurial start-up. IT plays a critical role. It coordinates complex fast-cycle operating processes and, more importantly, gives decision-makers quick access to detailed, real-time information about operations and market performance. Once all the information is flowing, employees can quickly evaluate their decisions and continually refine both strategy and operations. Organisational control then becomes a dynamic, information-enabled learning process rather than a static monitoring system.However, although IT makes the “big small” company possible, it can not motivate people to use information in order to act on behalf of the organisation. The challenge for organisation is therefore to ensure that managers and employees share the same perspective on the business and are motivated to accomplish the same goals。

2. Since agriculture accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world’s fresh water withdrawn from rivers，lakes，and underground aquifers for human use，the greatest potential for conservation lies with increasing irrigation efficiency1. Byreducing irrigation by 10 percent，we could double 2the amount available for domestic water worldwide. This can be done by converting to water-conserving irrigation systems；taking the poorest and steepest lands out of production3；switching to less-thirsty crops （which may require changes to government subsidies for certain crops）；implementing proper agricultural land drainage and soil management practices，and reducing fertilizer and pesticide use.4Typically，governments provide water to large commercial farmers at greatly subsidized rates，decreasing the need for conservation and promoting wasteful practices，leaks out of pipes，or evaporates before reaching fields. Although some of the water lost in inefficient irrigation systems returns to streams or aquifers where it can be tapped again，water quality is invariably degraded by pesticides，fertilizers and salts7. This is in fact another way that commercial agriculture “uses” water：by polluting it so that it is no longer safe to drink. In areas where commercial agriculture is prevalent，runoff 8from farms has poisoned water supply with dangerous levels of toxics.95. This has led to widespread use of wasteful irrigation systems6. Studies show that just 35-50 percent of water withdrawn for irrigated agriculture actually reaches the crops. Most soaks into the ground through unlined canals3 Poorly planned and poorly built irrigation systems not only harm water quality，but can also irreparably1 harm the crop-growing capability of the land through salinization. Especially in arid areas，salts that occur naturally accumulate in irrigated soils. Poorly drained irrigation water can pollute water supply，and raise the groundwater table until it2 reaches the root zone，waterlogging and drowning crops. Globally，some 80 million hectares of farmland have been degraded by a combination of salinization and waterlogging.Switching to conserving irrigation systems has the biggest potential to save water used for agriculture3 （experts say drip irrigation could potentially 4save 40-60 percent of water now used for agriculture）. The most common water-conserving irrigation systems are some form5 of drip irrigation （also called micro-irrigation）. Conventional sprinklers spray water over crops，not only irrigating more land than is needed to grow the crop but also losing much6 to evaporation. Drip irrigation，however，supplies water directly to the crop’s root system in small doses7，where it can be used by the plant’s roots. Water is delivered through emitters 8that drip water at each plant，or perforated piping，installed on the surface or below ground. This keeps evaporation losses low，at an efficiency rate of 95 percent.Although by 1991 some 1.6 million hectares were using drip irrigation worldwide，this is still less than one percent of all irrigated land worldwide. Some countries have made drip irrigation a serious national priority9，such as Israel，which uses drip irrigation on 50 percent of its total irrigated area. But clearly it is the exception，and most dry countries have a long way to go.。