2013年考研外语阅读理解第三篇全文翻译

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2013年考研外语阅读理解第三篇全文翻译

注释:未来总是隐藏在迷雾中,借助已有的知识推测未来贯穿于整个已知的和我可以预见的人类文明史,尤其在工业化和信息化革命大幅度提升人类改造自然的能力并带来相当严重的后果之后,注重实证的西方科学体系甚至产生了过去干脆叫神棍的未来学。人类的未来如何,甚至于人类能否存在到下个世纪甚至下个十年,争议一直不断,但我始终相信一点,在明天,在黑暗之后,太阳照常升起

the sun rises as usual。

我在本文翻译中大量使用了意译,并在后面给出了直译,强烈提示,意译是一种很高的翻译技巧,按照考研判分的标准,如果采用意译,基本可以肯定是要么满分要么零分,如果自己的水平没有足够的把握,绝不要轻易使用。

Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largely - though by no means uniformly - glowingly positive. Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity, leading to lives of

fulfillment and opportunity for all.

曾经,人类的未来似乎一片光明(意译,直译为前景辽阔,蒸蒸日上,只是发展各异)。科技的发展必定能治愈顽疾,满足需求,提供契机。

Now utopia has grown unfashionable, as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us, from asteroid strike to epidemic flu and to climate change. You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.

然而如今梦想已成灰(utopia乌托邦,unfashionable过时的),我们要面对的是更可怕的现实,彗星撞地球、重度流感,甚至气候变更。人类的未来看来一片灰暗(意译,直译为你可能不知不觉地认为人类只有很少可期待的未来)。

But such gloominess is misplaced. The fossil record shows that many species have endured for millions of years - so why shouldn't we? Take a broader look at our species' place in the universe, and it becomes clear that we have an excellent chance of surviving for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years . Look up Homo sapiens in the "Red List" of threatened species of the International Union for the Conversation of Nature (IUCN) ,and you will read:"Listed as Least Concern as the species is very widely distributed,adaptable, currently increasing, and there are no major threats resulting in an overall population decline."

如果你这么认为,那你就错了(意译,直译为这种灰暗放错了地方,gloominess 黑暗,沮丧)。化石资料表明很多物种曾生存百万年之久,凭什么认为人类不能?纵观地球生物史(universe是太空之意,但考虑到地外生命尚无任何可靠证据,还是转译为地球更合适),人类的辉煌不过是近几百年的事情(人类完全具备对抗自然的能力是从工业革命时代开始起的,农耕时代的人类文明可以自保,但开

发利用自然那个时代还称不上,所以我改变了这里的年代的对应译法,译注),较之其他生物的数以万计的生存周期还早着呢。国际自然保护联合会(全名为国际自然与自然资源保护联合会,总部设于瑞士,本文中没有列出全名,也许是因为太长了?)濒危物种红色名录中将智人(现代人的生物学名称,这两个词均为拉丁文,译注)作为最不可能的濒危物种(从后文抽取过来,least concern最不被担心的)列于其上,并配以如下注释,“列入该物种饱受争议,因为该物种完全适应目前地球生存条件,并仍处于持续发展中,尚无任何可能的威胁将导致

该物种数量的大幅减少。”

So what doesour deep future hold? A growing number of researchers and organisations are now thinking seriously about that question. For example, the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a medical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence .

人类未来何在?已经有越来越多的组织和个人开始认真思考这个问题。这方面最知名的努力之一(flagship project旗舰项目)莫过于美国恒今基金会(美国

学者StewartBrand1994年成立的非政府组织,主旨是思考人类未来,该组织在1999发起了该组织最大的一项活动,用4200万美元建立一座万年钟,放于Texas 州深山里,依靠太阳能运作并对时,这是货真价实的万年钟。额外说一句,提起来就恼火,笔者在1994年买了一个万年钟,可以指示星期日月和阴历,没想到2006年就自动跳回到了1994年,大概生产厂家也没想到它能运作这么久。这个只能运行十二年的万年钟至今仍放在笔者的办公桌上,看看它在保证电力运行的情况下到底能扛多久,顺便也可以当个电子表用。译注)建造的一座精密时钟(medicalclock医疗用时钟,转译为精密时钟,译注),理论上讲,它可以准确

运行上千年。

Perhaps willfully, it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future. The potential evolution of today's technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated, and it's perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can envisage. That's one reason why we have launched Arc, a new publication dedicated to the

near future.

吃饱了撑的?也许(willfully固执任性),不过很有意思的是推测一万年后的

事物往往比推测明天要发生什么容易得多。人类科学的飞跃,及其可能带来的社会影响已经远远超出了预期,后天究竟会发生什么还是让科幻小说家和未来学家们去操心好了(意译,直译为留待科幻小说家和未来学家们去研究将要面对的可能)。这也就是为何要发行面向未来的“彩虹”刊物的原因之一(此处可能不准,

叫Arc的组织和刊物书籍实在太多了)。

But take alonger view and there is a surprising amount that we can say with considerable assurance. As so often, the past holds the key to the future: we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of the planet,and our species, to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants will find

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