科技英语阅读(李健版)

Unit 1 Environment

Earth’s Health in Sharp Decline, Massive Study Finds

大规模研究发现：地球的“健康”每况愈下

The report card has arrived from the largest ever scientific Earth analysis, and many of the planet’s ecosystems are simply not making the grade.

有史以来对地球进行的最大规模的科学分析结果表明，地球上的许多生态系统都达不到标准。

The UN-backed Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report found that nearly two-thirds of Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems, including clean water, pure air, and stable climate, are being degraded by unsustainable use.

由联合国主持的《千年生态系统评估综合报告》指出，由于不可持续的使用，地球上将近三分之二的用来维持生命的生态系统（包括干净的水源、纯净的空气以及稳定的气候）正遭受破坏。

Human has caused much of this damage during the past half century. Soaring demand for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel have led to dramatic environmental changes, from deforestation to chemical pollution, the report says. The already grim situation may worsen dramatically during the first half of the 21st century, the report’s authors warn.

以上大部分的破坏都是人类在过去的半个世纪里造成的。据报告分析，随着人类对食物、淡水、木材、纤维以及燃料等资源的需求日趋激增，环境发生了极大的变化，引发了诸如滥伐森林、化学污染等问题。因此，该报告的作者警告说，照此下去，本已岌岌可危的生态环境将会在21世纪的上半叶进一步恶化。

Over 1,300 governmental and private-sector contributors from 95 countries collaborated to create the landmark study. For four years they examined the plant’s many habitats and species and the systems that bind them together. The United Nations Environment Programme compiled the report and released the results yesterday in Beijing, China.

这项历史性的研究由来自世界95个国家的政府部门以及民间组织的1,300多位科学家共同完成。四年来，他们考察了地球上许多生物的生长环境、物种以及将他们联系起来的生态体系。联合国环境规划署对该报告进行了编辑整理并于昨天在中国北京公布了研究结果。

“Only by understanding the environment and how it works, can we make the necessary decisions to protect it,”UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a press statement accompanying the report’s release.“Only by valuing all our precious natural and human resources, can we hope to build a sustainable future.”

在公布该报告的新闻发布会上，联合国秘书长科菲·安南指出：“只有了解环境及其运作过程，我们才能制定出必要的措施加以保护它。”他还说，“只有珍惜所有宝贵的自然资源和人类资源，我们才有希望去建设一个可持续发展的未来。”

Socioeconomic Impact

对社会经济的影响

The report paints a rather bleak picture for biodiversity throughout much of the natural world. Perhaps 10 to 30 percent of earth’s mammal bird and amphibian species are facing extinction.

该报告对自然界的大部分生物多样性持悲观态度，地球上可能有10%—30%的哺乳动物，鸟类以及两栖动物濒临灭绝。

The massive ecological survey was begun in response to Annan’s Millennium Development Goals, a UN initiative that aims to dramatically reduce socioeconomic problems, such as hunger

and extreme poverty, by 2015.

这次大规模生态调查是根据安南的《千年发展目标》展开的，该发展目标是由联合国发起的，旨在2015年之前大幅减少饥饿与极度贫困等社会经济问题。

“The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment give us, in some ways for the first time, an insight into the economic importance of ecosystem services and some new and additional arguments for respecting and conserving the Earth’s life-supporting systems.”said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme.

总部位于内罗毕的联合国环境规划署执行主席克劳斯·托普弗说：“从某些方面来说，《千年生态系统评估综合报告》让我们首次认识到生态系统服务功能的经济价值，并使我们对尊重和保护地球生命维护系统有了新的见解。”

Current human usage patterns of Earth’s environment have increased the global food supply, albeit too slowly to accomplish the UN goal of halving word hunger by 2015.

目前由于人类社会对地球环境的开发利用，食物供应不断增加，然而增长的速度仍然太慢，难以完成联合国制定的在2015年之前消除全球一半饥饿人口的目标。

The negative effects of ecosystem strain also include collapsing fisheries, coastal“dead zones” near sediment-heavy river mouths, shifting water quality, and unpredictable regional climate, the report says.

报告还说，过度使用生态系统的负面影响还包括渔业的衰退，含有大量沉积物的河口周围近海“死亡区”的出现，水质的变化以及不可预测的区域性气候等。

Deforestation and other radical ecosystem alterations also promote disease, such as malaria and cholera, as well as new strains of existing contagions.

此外，森林的滥伐和其他生态系统的巨大改变也加剧了诸如疟疾、霍乱等疾病的传播，并使已有传染病分化出新的类别。

Changes to water systems may increase the frequency and severity of destructive floods. Over a hundred thousand people were killed in the 1990s by floods, which also caused destruction to the tune of 243 billion dollars (U.S.), according to the report.

根据该报告，水资源体系的变化会增加毁灭性洪灾的爆发频率和程度。在20世纪90年代，洪灾造成的死亡人数超过10万，损失约2,430亿美元。

The regions facing the greatest environmental degradation are also among the world’s poorest: sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, and parts of Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia.

目前，世界上环境破坏最严重的地区恰是全球最贫穷的地区：撒哈拉沙漠以南之中部非洲地区，亚洲中部，拉丁美洲的部分地区，以及亚洲的南部及东南部。

Call for Radical Change

呼吁彻底改变现状

The report urges drastic policy changes to the ways in which natural resources are used.

《千年生态系统评估综合报告》呼吁在自然资源利用方面对目前的政策进行大幅度的改变。

From an economic perspective, the study suggests that many intact ecosystems should be regarded as more valuable than those altered for comical use.

该研究认为，从经济角度看，与那些被用于商业开发的生态系统相比，很多完整生态系统的价值更高。

For example, citing wetland wildlife habitat, water pollution filtration, water storage and recreational value, the report appraised intact Thai mangroves at a thousand U.S. dollars per acre (0.4 hectare). The same mangroves were valued at only U.S.$200 an acre after they had been

cleared for fish and shellfish farming.

例如，该报告通过对湿地野生动植物的生境、水污染过滤情况、水资源储存能力以及娱乐价值等方面的分析，估算出保护完整的泰国红树每英亩（0.4公顷）价值为1,000美元，而同样的红树，由于渔业及贝类养殖业的开发而遭到了破坏，其价值仅为每英亩200美元。

“The overriding conclusion of this assessment is that it lies within the power of human societies to ease the strain we are putting on the nature services of the planet, while continuing to use them to bring better living standards to all,” the report’s 45-person board of directors said in a statement.

由45位成员组成的研究委员会在一份声明中指出，“这个评估报告最重要的结论是，如何在利用地球生态系统提升人类生活水平的同时，缓解我们对其所施加的压力，这完全取决于我们人类社会。”

“Achieving this however will require radical changes in the way nature is treated at every level of decision-making and new ways of cooperation between government, business and civil society,” the statement continued. “The warning signs are there for all of us to see. The future now lies in our hands.”

该声明还指出：“但是，要达到上述目的，需要彻底改变人们对待自然的方式，小到各级决策的制定，大到政府、商业和文明社会之间新的合作。警钟已经敲响，未来掌握在我们自己手里。”

The board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report was co-chaired by Robert Watson, chief scientist of the World Bank, and A. Hamid Zakri, director of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies.

担任《千年生态系统评估综合报告》委员会主席的是世界银行的首席科学家罗伯特·沃森和联合国大学高等研究所主任A. 海米德·扎卡雷。

Unit 2 Energy Sources

The Future of Alternative Energy

替代能源的前景

Residential energy use in the United States will increase 25 percent by the year 2025, according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) forecasts. A small but increasing share of that extra power will trickle in from renewable sources like wind, sunlight, water and heat in the ground.

据美国能源部预测，至2025年美国的家用耗电将增加百分之二十五，增加的电量中将有一小部分来源于再生能源（如风、阳光、水、地热），而且这部分还会不断增大。

Last year alternative energy sources provided 6 percent of the nation’s energy supply, according to the DOE.

据美国能源部统计，去年替代能源占整个国家能源供给的百分之六。

“The future belongs to renewable energy,” said Brad Collins, the executive director of the American Solar Energy Society, a Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit organization. “Scientist and industry experts may disagree over how long the world’s supply of oil and natural gas will last, but it will end,” Collin said.

美国太阳能协会（该协会是一个位于科罗拉多州博德市的非盈利性组织）的主管布拉德

?柯林斯说：“未来属于可再生能源。尽管就世界石油和天然气可以持续多久，科学家和工业专家可能有不同观点，但是油气资源终将耗尽。”

While renewable energy is generally more expensive than conventionally produced supplies, alternative power helps to reduce pollution and to conserve fossil fuels.

尽管可再生能源通常比传统能源更昂贵，但是替代能源有助于减少污染、保护矿物燃料。

“People sometimes get caught up in cost-effectiveness,”said Paul Torcellini, a senior engineer at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) in Golden, Colorado. “But it can be a question of values and what we spend our money on.”

美国能源部国家再生能源实验室（位于科罗拉多州戈尔登市）的一位高级工程师保罗?陶塞列尼说：“有时人们考虑的只是节省成本的问题，但是这可能是一个价值观念的问题，一个我们把钱用于何处的问题。”

Below, a look at some recent developments in renewable-energy technology:

接下来我们一起了解关于可再生能源技术的新发展

Solar Power

太阳能

Photovoltaic, or solar-electric, systems capture light energy from the sun’s rays and convert it into electricity. Today these solar units power everything from small homes to large office buildings.

光电系统获取太阳光线的光能并将其转化成电。现在这些太阳能设备可以为各种建筑供电，小到家庭大到办公楼。

Technological improvements have made solar-electric modules more cost-effective. In the 1980s the average price of energy captured with photovoltaic was 95 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Today that price has dropped to around 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Collins, of the American Solar Energy Society.

技术进步使得光电设备更加划算。20世纪80年代，光电系统供电的平均价格为每千瓦时95美分；而根据美国太阳能协会的统计，如今这一价格已降至每千瓦时20美分左右。

The cheaper rate is still more expensive than the average national price of electricity, which in 2003 was a little over 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Annual Energy Review.

即使略微便宜的光电价格仍然高于全国电价的平均价格，据美国能源部发行的《能源周刊》统计，2003年每千瓦时的电价均价略高于8美分。

Other recent advances include “thin film” photovoltaic technology, a high-tech coating that converts any surface covered with the film into a solar-electric power source. Boats and RVs that use the film are now on the market.

其他最新的发展包括薄膜光电技术，这种高科技的涂层能够将任何覆盖此类薄膜的表面转化成一种光电电源。使用这种薄膜技术的轮船和娱乐用车目前已上市销售。

Engineers have also developed a roofing material coated with electricity-producing film. “The guy who puts on the roof (on a house now) puts on the solar panels at the same time,”Torcellini said. The roofing material withstands inclement weather and, on bright days, taps sunshine for electricity.

工程师们也研究出一种涂有发电薄膜的屋顶材料。人们在搭建屋顶时，同时就可以放上这种太阳能嵌板，陶塞列尼说道。这种屋顶材料能耐极端天气，而且在阳光明媚的时候可以利用太阳光发电。

NREL researchers, meanwhile, are working to devise more efficient and cheaper solar-electric systems. Most traditional photovoltaic solar units on the market today convert between 11 and 13 percent of the sun’s light into energy. Engineers think they can improve on that.

与此同时，美国可再生能源实验室的研究人员正在研发更为高效、价格更低的光电系统。目前市场上大多数传统光电设备可以将百分之十一至百分之十三的太阳光转化成能量，工程师们认为这一比例还可以再提高。

Jeff Mazer, a Washington, D.C.-area photovoltaic engineer, notes that most thin-film photovoltaic systems today have a 7 to 11 percent efficiency rating. But he estimates that thin films could surpass that rating within three years. He also notes that some new traditional solar modules achieve 15 percent efficiency and believes that figure can climb to 17 percent in the near future.

华盛顿地区的一位光电工程师杰夫?梅泽说现在的多数薄膜光电系统的效能等级只有百分之七至百分之十一。然而，据他估计，薄膜光电系统在三年内可以超过这一等级。他还说一些新式传统太阳能设备可以实现百分之十五的效能，但他相信这一数字可以在不久的将来攀升到百分之十七。

In the last two decades solar-thermal panels (units used to warm household hot water, pools and spas) have become highly efficient. “Energy costs have decreased from 60 cents to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour since the 1980s,” Collins said.

近20年中，光热板（用于为家庭热水、水池、泉水升温的设备）的效能大大提高。柯林斯说：“自20世纪80年代起，能源成本从每千瓦时60美分降至8美分。”

Solar-powered water heaters are typically more expensive than conventional ones, but, as with other products that harness alternative energy, consumers benefit by knowing their energy costs up-front Torcellini said. “Otherwise, you’re hedging your bets about the future cost of traditional energy sources by using standard appliances,” he said.

太阳能热水器通常比常规热水器更昂贵，但是像利用替代能源的其他产品一样，消费者可以预先知道其成本从而获益。陶塞利尼说：“否则，将难以抉择：是仍然使用普通热水器，还是致力于降低未来传统能源的成本。”

Wind Power

风能

Compare to other renewable energy sources, wind power competes with conventional energy at a price less than 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Collinis.

据柯林斯的说法，与其他可再生能源相比，风能更具有竞争力，其每千瓦时的价格比传统能源低4美分。

Wind energy projects around the world now generate enough energy to power nine million typical U.S. homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

美国风能协会（一个总部位于华盛顿的贸易团体）称目前世界各地的风能项目发电足可以为九百万典型的美国家庭供电。

One of the newest trends in wind power is the construction of offshore wind farms, cluster of electricity-generating turbines erected in open-water areas with strong winds.

利用风能的最新趋势之一就是建设离岸海上风力发电厂，在风力较大的空旷水域建造一组组的发电机组。

Europe now has 17 wind farms spinning offshore. The Arklow Bank Offshore Wind Park, 8

miles (13 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Ireland, is one such project. Its seven turbines generate enough electricity to power 16,000 homes. While few homes generate their own wind power in the U.S., many power companies allow consumers to opt for power generated at a wind plant or other renewable source.

欧洲现在有17个海上风力发电厂在运转。距离爱尔兰东海岸8英里（13公里）的阿克罗银行海上风力园就是这样的一个项目，它的七个涡轮机产生的电力足够为16000户家庭供电。尽管目前鲜有美国家庭利用风能自己发电，但是许多电力公司允许消费者选择风力供电或者其他可再生能源供电。

On Tuesday, Colorado voters will consider a ballot initiative that would requires power companies to provide 10 percent of their electricity from wind and other renewable sources by 2015.

周二科罗拉多州的选民将考虑举行一次公民投票，要求至2015年电力公司为他们提供的电力中的有10%是来自于可替代能源。

“If that passes, power companies will offer more rebates to homeowners to encourage renewable energy production,” said Sheila Hayter, an NREL senior engineer.

美国可再生能源实验室的一位高级工程师希拉?海特说：“如果该投票表决能够通过，电力公司将能够给房主提供更多折扣，鼓励他们使用可再生能源。”

Ground Heat

地热

Tapping into the ground offers another option to regulate household heating and cooling.

开发地下能源为调节家庭供暖和降温提供了另一种选择。

In most areas of the United States, the ground below the frost line maintains an average temperature between 50 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 12 degrees Celsius).

在美国的大部分地区,冰冻线以下地面的平均温度保持在50至54华氏度(10至12℃)。

Ground-source heat pumps, also called geo-exchange systems, use this relatively constant temperature to keep homes at comfortable temperatures. The devices employ a series of underground, liquid-filled tubes or wells. Liquid flows through the pipes into the home, where a heat exchanger either adds or subtracts heat from indoor air, depending on the season. In winter, that means added warmth captured from the ground. “If you can (do that), your furnace doesn’t have to work so hard,” Hayter said.

地热泵系统，也称为地热交换系统，采用这种相对恒定的温度保证家中的室温维持在舒适的温度。这种装置使用一系列地下液体管或液体井。液体流经这个管道进入家中,通过一个热交换器根据季节增减室内空气的热度。在冬天,这意味着增加了从地面获得的温度。海特说，“如果能够这样，家中的火炉就不必如此辛苦了”。

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study found that geo-exchange systems can save up to 70 percent of home-heating costs.

美国环保局的研究发现，地热交换系统可节省高达百分之七十的家庭供暖成本。

Unit 3 Plants and Animals

Plant Adaptation

植物的适应性

Like a human being or an animal, a plant must adapt to its environment in order to survive. Survival usually means struggle. It may be hard to think of a plant as “struggling,”yet that is often the case.

像人类和动物一样，植物为了生存也必须适应周边的环境。生存就意味着竞争，我们很难想象植物之间的竞争。但也就那么回事。

A plant, first, must compete with other plants for light, air, soil and water. Second, it must contend with people and animals, who may eat it or make the environment unfit for it to live in. Third, the physical environment itself may be hostile or inadequate to a plant’s need. Is there enough light, water, air and soil? Is it warm and cool enough for a given plant species?

首先，不同的植物之间会争夺阳光、空气、土壤和水分。其次，植物也会与那些吃它或者威胁到它生存环境的人类和动物竞争。再次，植物所处的环境也可能也是有敌对性的或者不利于其生长的。怎样才能有足够的阳光、水分、空气和土壤？气温的冷热就是植物生长的主要因素吗？

Light is vital to a plant, especially a green one. Green plants manufacture foodstuffs in sunlight—a process known as photosynthesis. Light also affects the rate of water absorption and flower formation.

光对于植物来说是最基本的，尤其是对于绿色植物来说。绿色植物在光照下能制造养分—这是一种被称为光合作用的过程，而光也能影响水分蒸发的速率和花蕾的形成。

Temperature must also be taken into account. If it falls below 1°Celsius or rises above 43°Celsius, serious injury or death results for most vegetation. Temperature also directly influences the formation of seeds and the production of blossoms. It also helps determine the geographic distribution of plants.

温度也是必须考虑的因素。对于大多数植物来说，温度低于一度或者高于四十三度都会对其造成严重的损伤甚至死亡。而温度也直接影响了种子的萌芽以及开花。当然温度也会决定植物在地理上的分布。

Plants cannot survive without water. Many need immense quantities for their development. Therefore, the humidity of atmosphere, the amount of precipitation and the presence of streams, lakes and soil moisture are important to plants.

没有水植物也是无法生存的。有些植物的生长过程需要大量的水分，因此潮湿的空气、大量的降水以及溪流湖泊和湿润的土壤对于植物都是重要的。

Most plants need plenty of air. The atmosphere contains gases that are essential to their life: oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and nitrogen.

大多数植物需要有足够空气。大气中包含一些对其生命所必要的气体，包括：氧气、二氧化碳、水蒸气和氮气。

Not only the air itself, but its movement—the wind—affects plants greatly. Wind spreads pollen, spores and certain seeds, enabling plants to grow in many places. But a powerful wind may distort or even kill vegetation, particularly trees. It may below away needed soil. Also, wind increases the rate of evaporation and so may create a water shortage for plants.

空气移动所产生的风对于植物也有很大影响。风有助于传播花粉、孢子和种子从而将它们播种在各种地方。但强风也有可能折断或者损害植物，尤其是大树。而大风吹走了一些有养分的土壤，也会加快水分的蒸发从而使植物处于缺水状态。

Soil is extremely important to land plants. A plant’s development depends in large part on the nature of the soil: its wetness, acidity, minerals and the amount of oxygen it contains.

土壤对于陆生植物来说是必不可少的。植物的生长很大一部分需要依靠其土壤的特性：

其中包含它的湿度、酸度、矿物成分、含氧量。

A plant is also influenced by other living things with which it competes. It has to withstand parasites, hungry birds and grazing or gnawing mammals. Yet a plant often needs animals to spread its pollen or scatter its seeds.

植物生长也会受到其他竞争生物的影响。它必须要经受寄生菌、饥饿的鸟类、牛羊等食用叶子的动物对其的影响，但同时植物也需要动物帮助传播花粉以及播洒种子。

The stems and leaves of trees and shrubs show us some of the adaptations that enable a plant to get the maximum amount of light and air.

有树叶和枝干的树以及灌木向我们展示了它们的适应性，这也告诉了我们植物是怎样获得最大量的光和空气的。

In such trees as beech, elm, oak, apple and chestnut, there may be shoots that are primarily vertical while others are primarily horizontal. To secure a maximum amount of sunlight, the leaves on the vertical shoots are arranged in spirals so that any given leaf does not shade the leaf next below it on the shoot. Though the buds on a horizontal shoot of these trees may be arranged spirally, the leaves commonly arrange themselves alternately in a common plane on either side of the shoot.

和那些山毛榉树、榆树、橡树、苹果树和栗子树一样，它们有一些枝芽主要是垂直生长的，另一些是水平生长。为了能获得最多的阳光，一些垂直生长的枝芽会螺旋缠绕生长以不至于遮挡到自己下边的叶子。虽然那些水平生长的枝芽上的花蕾有可能被其他枝芽缠绕着，但树叶会根据自身环境的变化调整自己的生长方向。

In many trees that have their leaves placed opposite to each other, each pair occupies the space between the pair immediately below. You can see this by looking down on a shoot of the horse chestnut. Similar very perfect arrangements will be noted in many climbers. The arrangement of the leaves in the horse chestnut, when examined at the end of a shoot and vertically, has been termed a leaf mosaic, because of the variegated pattern that the leaves of this tree present. Another common device for a similar purpose is the fringelike dividing of the leaf. The carrot plant has this type of leaf. Such a leaf obtains good sunlight but does not shade to a great extent the leaves below it. Moreover, it is in less danger from strong winds.

许多树的叶子会在树枝上相反的方向生长，这样就能让它能迅速占领空间。要是从上往下看七叶树你就能看到这个现象。像这种非常完美的缠绕方式在许多攀岩植物身上能看见。由于树叶分布的多样性，无论你从枝芽末端或者垂直看过去，七叶树的树叶就像马赛克一样。出于同样目的的另一种方式就是树叶的分布像流苏一样。如胡萝卜的叶子就是这种类型。这也是为了能尽可能的获得最大限度的眼光又不至于遮挡到下方的树叶，并且这样的树叶分布更能让它抵御强风。

There are numerous plants that live in environments where light never penetrate. Many of these plants are fungi. They have no chlorophyll, but subsist on organic matter, produced by animals or other plants, that may be found whatever the fungi flourish. Rains washing into the underground nooks and crannies may be one of the agents responsible for getting organic matter into these places.

有大量的植物生长在光线渗透不到的环境中。这些植物大多是一些真菌类植物。真菌类植物他们自身没有叶绿素，但他们却可以寄生在其他动物或植物产生的有机物中。而雨水冲入地下的隐蔽处或者裂缝也会带来一些有机物。

In caves and underground mines, or in pits and wells, where there is a certain amount of light penetration—even if very little—we find that the plants are principally green. Not only is this so,

but the green coloring of vegetation in caves is often luxuriantly brilliant. In fact, it may appear even more vivid than that of a plant in the open air. This is true of liverworts, many mosses and some of the ferns that flourish abundantly in these situations. In such cases the chlorophyll granules are developed in a very special way. The light falling on the plant cells is concentrated on the chlorophyll granules themselves, which thus receive a sufficient supply for food-making.

在一些凹陷处、地下矿山、深坑或者矿井只要有甚至非常少的光线射入，我们都能发现这些植物都是很绿的。不仅如此，那些矿井中的植物还有丰富的叶绿素，甚至它们比外面那些能接触到充足阳光的植物颜色更艳丽。像欧龙牙草、许多蘑菇、一些蕨类植物也能在这种环境中大量生长。在这种环境下叶绿色粒子都按照很特殊的形式在运动。落在植物细胞上的光线聚焦在叶绿色分子上就能提供它足够的能量制造食物。

Plants also receive a minimum of light in the depths of the sea or at the bottom of lakes and pools, since sunlight is weak or absent there. The light under water diminishes in proportion to the depth. It is also greatly influenced by the amount of sediment in suspension and consequently varies before and after storms and at different distances from the mouths of rivers and streams.

即使在光线很弱或者稀薄的深海或者湖泊和水塘的底部，植物也能得到少量的光线。而光线在水下的削弱程度和水深是成正比的，它会被水下大量的悬浮颗粒所影响。在暴风雨前后这个比例关系也是不停变化，甚至离小河和溪流的入口处不同距离的比例也是不同的。

Complete darkness reigns at depths greater than 200 meters below the surface of clear sea water. At a depth of 170 meters, the illumination is about equal to that at the surface of the water during moonlight. Under such conditions, plants possessing chlorophyll cannot manufacture the sugars ordinarily formed by green plants in sunlight. This explains why plants possessing green coloring matter are rarely seen at depths of more than 60 meters. As a matter of fact, by far the greatest part of the vegetation of the sea is found within about 30 meters of the surface.

在海平面下方两百多米深度几乎是黑暗的区域。在170米处水下的光线强度和夜晚月光的强度差不多。在这样的情况下，这里的植物就不能像原始的植物通过叶绿素来制造糖类了。这也就解释了为什么在60米水深以下植物含有的叶绿色就很少了。所以，海里大部分的植物还是生活在水深三十米以上的。

In the process of photosynthesis the leaves of plants do not absorb all the colors of the spectrum to the same degree. The red, orange and yellow rays of light that reach the leaves are absorbed much more effectively than the rest. In deep marine water, vegetation receives more blue to green light than it does red to yellow. This is another reason why conditions are particularly unfavorable for plant growth at considerable depths below the surface of the sea.

在光合作用的过程当中，植物对各种颜色光谱的吸收程度是不同的。红、橙、黄光谱比其他颜色的光谱更容易被吸收。植物在深水里吸收的蓝色光谱比绿色光谱更多，这也是深水为什么不适宜植物生长的原因了。

A striking adaptation is found in red algae. These plants contain, in addition to chlorophyll, pigments known as carotenoids and phycoerythrins. These pigments are present in considerable quantities and give the red algae their characteristic color. They also absorb blue to green colors of light more than chlorophyll does. It is suspected that after they absorb light, they transmit the energy from this light to chlorophyll, for photosynthesis.

红藻有很强的适应性，因为这类植物除了叶绿素以外还有如类胡萝卜素和藻红蛋白。这些色素大量的存在于红藻当中并使它们具有特定的颜色。它们也能比叶绿色吸收更多的蓝光和绿光。令人不可思议的是吸收阳光后它们能利用光合作用把光能存到叶绿素当中。

In tropical forests the tree growth is often so profuse that sunlight may never reach the ground. In these hot and humid climates there are a great many epiphytes—plants such as Spanish moss, orchids and staghorn fern—that grow on other plants.

热带雨林中的植物通常茂密到能遮挡住所有的光线。在这种又热又潮湿的气候条件下生长着大量的附生植物，例如寄生藤、兰花和鹿角蕨。

The epiphytes grow on upper limbs of trees and on poles. Their roots are suspended in air and they absorb moisture and gases from the humid atmosphere. The cells of epiphytes are not directly parasitic, for they contain chlorophyll and they manufacture their own food. However, they may injury trees by their sheer weight.

那些附生植物生长在一些树木的枝干上，它们将自己的根暴露在空气中来吸收这潮湿空气中的水分和空气。这些寄生植物也并不需要直接寄生，它们含有自己的叶绿色能制造食物，但它们自身的重量可能损伤到大树。

The liana is a vine with a woody stem, which encircle the trunk of a tree as it climbs to the highest branches. In this way, though the liana is rooted in the soil, it can reach the sunlight.

那些有着木质藤条的藤本植物缠绕着树干生长，似乎想爬到最高的树枝去一样。就这样即使它扎根在土里也能照射到阳光。

Unit 4 Landscaping and Homes

Landscaped Roofs Have Chicago Mayor Seeing Green

芝加哥的屋顶绿化

When cities run out of valuable real estate, planners look up. The search for green space is no exception. Europe’s green roofs have long provided environmental, aesthetic and economic benefits. Is the idea growing in the United States?

由于当城市中宝贵的房屋建筑用地已所剩无几，城市规划者开始将目光转向空中。寻找绿色空间也不例外。欧洲的绿色屋顶长期以来为人们提供了环境、审美和经济方面的利益。这种想法是否也会根植在美国呢？

Mayor Richard Daley began a green roof initiative in Chicago, Illinois, after he saw the gardenlike roofs in Europe.

在伊利诺伊州芝加哥市，当市长理查德?戴利看到了欧洲花园般的屋顶之后，便开始了绿色屋顶的创意。

“I thought, with all the flat roofs in Chicago, you could reclaim thousands of acres for the environment and also help buildings with heating and cooling and controlling rainwater going into the sewer system,” he said during a recent telephone interview.

在最近的一次电话采访时他说：“我认为，如果把芝加哥所有平坦的屋顶都利用起来，可以开辟数千英亩的土地用于美化环境，还有利于建筑物供暖、降温，以及进入排污系统的雨水控制。”

“When you look out over the city, instead of steel and concrete, you see something for the environment,” he continued. “So I just thought that was the way for us to go”

他继续说：“当你透过窗户眺望看这个城市时，你看到的不是钢筋混凝土，而是一些美化的环境。所以我想，这就是我们应该做的到事情。”

绿色屋顶通常是由无需经常维护的抗旱植物组成（如景天属暑天景植物）。这些屋顶的

厚度均小于4英寸（10厘米），可直接在上面种植或制作成已有植物预先栽种在上面的种植垫。即使斜屋顶也可以进行绿色屋顶处理。

利用率较高的绿色屋顶系统可以包括多种植物和园林要素，如树木，但只有在平坦的屋顶上才行。这种绿色屋顶需要更深的种植材料或土壤替代物，它们更重，更昂贵，并且需要更多的维护。

绿化屋顶的最大好处之一是水资源管理。它们能吸收落在屋顶上的大约50%-60%的雨水，这些雨水一部分通过植物蒸发（或“呼气”）回到大气中而消耗掉了，另一部分水保留在土壤中或其他培养媒介中，。其余的则缓慢地、在人们的控制下缓慢地流入城市雨水排水系统，这个过程有助于抑制城市供水系统中大量雨水激增的现象，而要扩充该系统的费用是很昂贵的。

位于东兰辛伊斯兰莘市的密歇根州立大学植物和土壤学家布拉德?罗说：“在许多城市，甚至一场雷雨就可能造成（雨水的排水系统）溢流，并与污水混在一起。谁知道它们会流到哪儿去呢？”

绿色屋顶的支持者还列举出其他好处，如节省能源。一个绿色屋顶可以降低多少能源成本，这取决于屋顶类型和使用该屋顶当地的气候。比较温暖的气候是节省能源的最佳条件，因为与降低取暖费相比，使用绿色屋顶能够更有效地减少空调费用。

绿色屋顶的另一个好处是它的寿命长于常规屋顶，典型的屋顶可能使用20年，而绿色屋顶将持续40-50年。他们可以保护屋顶防水层免受紫外线和昼夜极端温度波动的损坏，这些问题有可能导致屋顶裂缝。

虽然绿色屋顶的成本是传统常规屋顶成本的1.5-2倍，但支持者认为，即使不考虑节能因素，从长远经济利益看，屋顶绿化仍很划算。

屋顶绿化也有助于减轻被称为“城市热岛效应”的现象，当高密度人造建筑材料吸收阳光的热能时，就会发生这种小气候现象。

罗说：

“在亚特兰大炎热的夏季，亚特兰大城市的温度可能比农村的温度高10华氏度（5.6摄氏度）。绿色屋顶有助于温度的这种非自然上升。”

Green-Roof Zoning

绿色屋顶区

In Germany, where green roof are most common, the city of Stuttgart has promoted green roof and fa?ade planting through subsidies for nearly 20 years.

在德国，绿色屋顶是最常见的。，在财政补贴的支持下，斯图加特市在财政补贴的支持下促进屋顶和建筑物正面外墙的绿化已将近20年了。

Martina Laun and Klaus-Juergen Evert serve in the city’s park and cemetery department. They noted that the number of green roofs in the city is permanently increasing, thanks to a combination of subsidies and zoning laws, which require green roofs in certain areas.

玛蒂娜?劳恩和克劳斯?于尔根?埃弗特在城市公园和墓地部门工作。他们指出，该城市的绿色屋顶一直在增加，这归功于补贴和分区法这两种措施的结合，在某些地区分区法要求建设绿色屋顶。

Under a grant-aid program established by the Stuttgart City Council, private citizens are awarded grants to help cover construction costs.

根据斯图加特市议会的补助款项目的规定，公民个人可以得到补助款以支付建设绿色屋顶的费用。

Between 1986 and 2003, the plan subsidized some 50,018 square meters (540,000 square feet) of private green roofs at a total cost of U.S.＄1,076,000. During the same period, the city also invested U.S.＄2,523,000 for roof paintings on public buildings. The total area covered was

＄102,423 square meters (1.1 million square feet).

1986年至2003年，该项目资助了50,018平方米（54万平方英尺）的私人绿色屋顶，总费用为107.6万美元。在同一期间，该市还投资252.3万美元进行公共建筑的屋顶绿化。总面积达到102,423平方米（110万平方英尺）。

Laun and Evert noted that the program has fostered aesthetic benefits as well as environmental ones. “Nature’s rhythm is made visible by seasonal changes in the vegetation, even in an urban roof environment,” the pair wrote in an e-mail to National Geographic News. “In terms of design, roof planting represents a considerable aesthetic improvement and altogether a significant ecological benefit.”

劳恩和埃弗特指出，该计划培育了人们的审美观以及环保理念。两人在一封给《国家地理新闻》的电子邮件中说：“自然的节律是通过植被的季节性变化展现出来的，即使在城市屋顶这样的环境也是如此。”从设计上看，屋顶绿化代表了人们审美观的巨大改变并产生了显著的生态效益。

Cultivating Converts

赢得更多的支持者

The green roof concept is winning more converts in the United States. Ford Motor Company created a 10.4-acre (4.2-hectare) living roof, the world’s largest, atop its Dearborn, Michigan, truck plant final-assembly building.

在美国,绿色屋顶正在赢得越来越多的支持者。福特汽车公司在密歇根州迪尔伯恩卡车总装配厂的屋顶上建造了一个全世界最大10.4英亩（ 4.2公顷）的“活的屋顶”，面积为10.4英亩（4.2公顷）是世界上最大的。

In Chicago, Mayor Daley is leading by example. City Hall sports a green roof that was the city’s first. Over a hundred building projects, incorporating a million square feet (93,000 square meters) of green roof, are now underway. Official are even experimenting with green roofs at O’Hare International Airport as a means to reduce noise.

在芝加哥市，市长戴利以身作则，市政大厅第一个修建了绿色屋顶。正在施工的建设项目超过100个，其中包括100万平方英尺（93,000平方米）的绿色屋顶。官员们甚至尝试在奥黑尔国际机场建设绿色屋顶，作为一种减少噪音的手段。

At the Chicago Center for Green Technology, demos showcase green-roof technology to everyone from developers and builders to schoolchildren. The center also serves as a research center, where leading suppliers are invited to install different green-roof plots that are monitored and compared.

在芝加哥绿色科技中心，展品向包括开发商、建设者和到中小学生在内的每一个人展示绿色屋顶技术，该中心也还是一个研究中心，邀请大供应商来安装各种各样的绿色屋顶板块，并对其进行监测和比较。

And the city government is providing at least a nudge to those involved in new building ventures. Projects that receive tax-incremen t financing support from the city are required to include some level of green roof.

市政府至少为对那些从事新的建筑工程的人们至少提供了一些动力，凡享受城市税收增值和财政支持的项目都必须包括一定程度的绿色屋顶。

“I hate to say that we are mandating, but we’re really talking to big box stores, architects, contractors, developers and others about how important green roofs are to the environment and to business,” Delay said.

戴利说：“我不想说这是强制规定，但我们的确在向那些巨型零售商店、建筑师、承包

商、开发商，以及其他人宣传绿色屋顶对环境和商业是多么的重要。”

The mayor believes that the city’s cleaner, greener roofs are an important part of long-term environmental planning close to home.

市长认为，更加清洁、更加绿色环保的屋顶是与我们家园关系密切的长期环境规划的一个重要组成部分。

“The environmental movement often seems like it’s happening somewhere else and people forget about our own community,” he said. “We need to be sure that we’re planning well.”

他说：“环境改善运动似乎总是发生在其他的地方，但人们却忘记了自己的社区。我们必须确保我们规划的很好。”

Unit 5 Computer

The Disappearing Computer

正在消失的计算机

“Will we be surrounded by computers by 2010? Yes, but we don’t know it,” says Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect.

到2010年，我们将被计算机包围吗？是的，但我们却觉察不出来。

—比尔?盖茨（微软公司总裁和首席软件设计师）

A few years from now, the average home entertainment system might not look much different than it does today. But it will probably have an Internet connection that enables it to download and play digital music and video, display album artwork and song title on the television, and even interrupt your listening if an important message arrives. It will have a central processor, disk storage, graphic hardware and some kind of intuitive user interface. Add a wireless mouse and a keyboard, and this home entertainment systems will start looking a lot like a personal computer. Will people buy and use these systems in large numbers? Absolutely. Will they think of them as computers? Probably not.

几年后，普通家庭娱乐系统可能与现在并没有太大的区别，但它很可能具有网络连接功能，用来下载和播放数字音乐和视频，在电视上显示艺术作品集和歌曲的名字，甚至收到重要邮件时打断正在播放的内容来提示你。它将拥有一个中央处理器、磁盘存储器、制图硬件和某种直观的计算机用户界面。如果再在加上一个无线鼠标和键盘，这个家庭娱乐系统看起来便很像是一台个人电脑。人们会大量购买和使用这些系统吗？当然会。他们会认为这种系统就是电脑吗？也许不会。

According to the Gartner Dataquest, an American research firm, the world computer industry shipped its one billionth PC in 2002, and another billion more are expected to be built in the next six years. Almost all of the first billion were traditional desktop and laptop PCs, but the second billion will be very different. They will be optimized for the things that people actually want to do with them—we will have tablet-sized PCs for taking notes at meetings or reading e-mail on the couch, entertainment PCs that play music and movies on the living-room television, and pocket-sized PCs that keep people connected and informed wherever they are.

根据格特纳信息咨询公司（一家美国研究公司）的统计，世界计算机业在2002年销售了第10亿台个人电脑，而还有10亿台电脑预计在此后的6年中生产出来。第一批的10亿台电脑几乎都是传统的台式机和笔记本电脑，但第二批的10亿台电脑将会明显不同，人们

对它们进行了尽可能的完善，使它们能更好的按照人们的期望运作，例如微型电脑，开会时我们可以用它来做笔记，或是躺在床上阅读电子邮件；娱乐型电脑，用来在客厅电视上播放音乐和电影；袖珍型电脑，用来与他人保持联系，无论你身处何处。

Add to this the exploding number of embedded computers—the kind found in mobile phones, gas pumps and retail point-of-sale systems—which are fast approaching the power and complexity of desktop PCs. On one estimate, people in the United States already interact with about 150 embedded systems every day, whether they know it or not. These systems—which use up to 90% of the microprocessors produced today—will inevitably take on more PC-like characteristic, and will be able to communicate seamlessly with their traditional PC counterparts. They will also become amazingly ubiquitous. In 2001, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the world microchip industry produced around 60m transistors for every man, woman and child on earth. That number will rise to one billion by 2010.

除此之外，还有各种数量庞大的嵌入式计算机（如在手机、加油站和零售终端设备中使用的计算机），在功能和复杂性方面正迅速赶上台式电脑。据估计，在有意无意之中，美国人每天会接触到大约150个嵌入式计算机系统。这些系统使用了现在生产的90% 的微处理器，它们将不可避免地呈现出更多个人电脑的特点，而且能够与传统PC机进行无缝对接。这一系统将无处不在。根据半导体工业协会的调查，在2001年，世界芯片业为地球上的每位男士，女士和儿童生产了大约6千万个晶体管，这一数字到2010年将上升为10亿。

At the same time, the general-purpose PC as we know it today will continue to play an important—and increasingly central—role in most people’s lives, but it will be at the centre of a wide range of intelligent devices that most people wouldn’t think of as “computers” today.

与此同时，今天的多功能PC机将继续在大多数人的生活中发挥重要（而且是越来越重要）的作用，但其中心地位将体现在今天大部分人不认为是“电脑”的各类智能设备中。

This scenario is in sharp contrast to the computers of just a few years ago—back in the pre-Internet age—which were still mostly passive appliance that sat in the corner of the den or living room. Back then, people used their PCs for little more than writing letters and documents, playing games of managing their family finances. As a communications tool, they were largely ineffective, except for a few primitive e-mail networks and bulletin-board systems. The PC had not yet become essential to most people’s lives—not in the sense that the television, telephone or automobile now are.

这种情景与仅仅几年前的计算机形成了鲜明的对比（回溯到网络时代之前），那时的计算机多是被动的设备，被安置在书房或客厅的角落里。那时，计算机的使用仅限于书写信函、文件，玩游戏或处理家庭财务。作为通讯工具，其效率很低，仅能应用于少数简单的电子邮件网络和电子布告栏系统。个人电脑尚未成为大多数人生活的必需品（不像现在的电视、电话或汽车那样）。

But today we are in the early years of a truly digital decade, in which the intelligence of the PC is finding its way into all kinds of devices, transforming them from passive appliance into far more significant and indispensable tools for everyday life. Many of the core technologies of computing—processing power, storage capacity, graphics capabilities and network connectivity—are all continuing to advance at a pace that matches or even exceeds Moore’s Law (which famously, and correctly, predicted that the number of transistor on a computer chip would double every two years).

但是我们今天已经处在真正数字化时代的初期，在这一时期，个人计算机的智能化正应

用于各种设备，使它们从被动的设备转化为日常生活中重要得多的不可或缺的工具。许多计算机的核心技术（如处理能力、存储量、制图能力和网络连接）将继续以莫尔法则（该法则因正确预测了用于计算机芯片上的半导体将以每两年增加一倍的速度增长而闻名）、甚至超过莫尔法则的速度发展。

Computers are becoming smaller, more powerful, less power-hungry and far less expensive, making it easier to build computing power and connectivity into everyday devices. And user interfaces—including speech and handwriting recognition—are growing more efficient and easier to use.

计算机体积正变得越来越小，功能越来越强大，能耗更低，价格也越来越便宜，因而使其更容易与日常设备连接，并发挥其计算功能。此外，计算机用户界面（包括语音和文字识别）正变得越来越有效，越来越易于应用。

有趣的未来

正当人们寻找更多的方式把这些价廉、灵活、可以各种各样的方式满足用户需要的设备引入自己的生活时，计算机本身却逐步在我们的生活中“消失”。虽然我们距离那个充满虚拟智能机器的世界还很遥远，但正在发展的计算机技术将变得如此完善、自然，我们将越来越注意不到它的存在。与此同时，计算机技术的普及程度将会达到我们视而不见的地步，正如当今发达国家中大多数人信赖的电话服务。

众多新技术（如价格低廉、柔性灵活的显示器，指甲盖大小的、能够存储兆兆字节数据的微电子机械系统芯片，以及依靠周围热能和机械运动来运转的大功率感应式无电池计算机）使计算机技术一方面无处不在，而另一方面又几乎淡出了人们的视线。

计算机技术也将从经济学的角度给人们带来变化。通过降低成本，电子产品制造商能更容易地在即使是最普通的设备中装入类似于个人电脑的智能和装置，最后，计算机技术本身也会变得十分经济实惠。

所有这一切都将从根本上改变了我们对计算机的看法。使用计算机将会变得像开灯时使用电源一样简单。计算机将会像电力一样，在几乎你所做的一切事情中发挥作用，但计算机技术的使用本身将不再是孤立的。我们将集中精力研究用计算机能做些什么，而不是研究这一设备本身。计算机无处不在，几乎成为我们生活中每一个部分的必需品，但它们最终将真正地从我们的生活中“消失”。

Unit 6 Robot

For Simpler Robots, a Step Forward

简单—机器人的进步

The moment of truth had come for the knee-high robot standing on its improvised runway at a hotel news conference.

在酒店新闻发布会上，一个只有人们膝盖高的机器人站在为它临时准备的通道上。揭开秘密的时刻到了。

Reporters circled it, their microphones and cameras trained on the machine as it tried to start up. Then a curious 13-year-old boy who had joined the throng reached out, poked his fingers between the robot’s metal legs and gave them an exploratory push.

当这台机器启动时，众多记者围了上来，把麦克风和摄像机都对准了它。人群中一个13岁的男孩好奇的用手指在机器人的金属腿上戳戳这儿，戳戳那儿，又试着推了推。

With that, the robot, built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, live up to its

nickname, the Toddler. It rocked gently until the poking stopped, steadied itself and marched firmly across the level surface, a tabletop propped up on cinderblocks.

这时人们可以看到，这台由麻省理工学院制造的机器人的确像它的昵称：“学步的小孩”(Toddler)。它轻轻地晃动了一会儿，直到那个小孩不再动它，接着它平稳地迈着步子从台子（一个由煤砖支起的桌面）的一端走到另一端。

If two-legged robots are ever going to walk among people, they may look a lot like this sturdy machine and two others, introduced Feb. 17 on the makeshift catwalk at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

如果未来装有双腿的机器人真的行走于人群中，它们也许看起来和这个敦实的机器人以及另外两个机器人没有什么不同。在2月17日美国科学促进会召开的年会上，这三个机器人都出现在了那个临时通道上，与公众见面。

The robots—the others were built at Cornell and at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands—are designed in a way that differs significantly from standard creations. One of the robots moves so efficiently that in the future it may be able to amble along for a day, not the 20 or 30 minutes most robots now manage without recharging or refueling.

这些机器人（其它两个由康奈尔大学和荷兰的代尔夫特理工大学制造）在设计方式上明显不同于常规。其中一个机器人的移动效率如此之高，也许将来它可以连续行走一天，而不像大多数的机器人每隔二、三十分钟就得充电或添加燃料。

“And our robots walk far more naturally,” said Andy Ruina, a professor at Cornell who took one of the robots to the meeting and whose nephew Josh Bennett, of Chevy Chase, Md., did the unscripted poking.

康奈尔大学教授安迪?瑞纳说：“我们的机器人行走起来更为自然。”他将其中的一个机器人带到了那天的会议上，他的侄子乔希?贝内特（来自马里兰州的查维蔡斯市）就是当时用手指戳机器人的那个男孩。

The design may be important not only for future energy-saving robots, but also for intelligent prostheses—leg and foot replacements for amputees.

这种设计不仅对将来节能型机器人很重要，同时对智能修复（即为截肢者置换腿或脚）也十分重要。

Dr. Ruina’s robot and its companions from Delft and M.I.T. are descendants of some early ramp-walking machines, mechanical devices that have been around for a century. These contraptions—toys like wadding penguins and later two-legged robots—were not powered in any way. Instead, they relied on gravity and the mechanics of objects in motion to walk stably down sloping surfaces.

瑞纳博士的机器人和另外那几个机器人的前生是某些早期开发的能够在斜坡上行走的机器人，这些机械设备已有近一个世纪历史了。这些奇妙的装置（像步履蹒跚的企鹅玩具，后来发展为两足机器人）没有任何动力，而是依靠重力和物体机械学运动原理，可平稳的走下斜坡。

Modern versions of the machines, called passive-dynamic walkers, have been built for decades and have long been thought useful models of human locomotion, Dr. Ruina said. But in the past the machines were not able to walk on level ground.

瑞那博士说，现代模式的机器人（即被动动力式两足机器人）已有几十年的历史，长期以来一直被认为是反映人类运动方式的可以利用的模式。但在过去，这种机器人无法在水平面上行走。

Now the researchers from the three universities have shown that the classic passive-dynamic

walking machines need not depend on gravitational power. Instead, they have put small motor on their robots and shown that they can walk on level ground. The robot s’walkings are described in detail in the journal Science.

现在，来自这三所大学的研究人员指出，传统的被动动力式两足机器人不需要依赖重力。他们把小型马达安装在机器人身上，这样机器人就可以在水平面上行走了。这种机器人的运转原理在《科学》杂志中有详细的描述。

“Our machines show that there is nothing special about gravity,”said Russ Tedrake, a postdoctoral researcher at M.I.T.’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and one of the Toddler’s creators.

麻省理工学院大脑与认知科学部的博士后研究员、Toddler的设计者之一鲁斯?泰德雷克说：“我们的机器人表明重力并不是什么特殊现象”。

Unlike famous state-of-the-art walking robots like Honda’s Asimo, which typically have complex control algorithms that demand extensive, real-time computation, the Cornell biped, as well as the Delft one, walk with simple control algorithms, Dr. Ruina said. “Our sensors detect ground contacts, and our only motor commands are on-off signals issued once per step,”he said.

瑞那博士说，康奈尔大学的两足机器人和荷兰代尔夫特的机器人不同于那些闻名于世的、最先进的步行机器人（如本田公司制造的名叫“阿西莫”的机器人），后者通常具有复杂的控制和计算程序，需要大量实时计算，而前者步行时只使用简单的控制和计算程序。他说：“我们的传感器可以探测与地面的接触，而且发动机的唯一指令就是每走一步就发出一次开关信号”。

Perhaps to show how much the passive-dynamic robots depend on mechanics and not on electronic calculating power for their humanlike gai t, the Delft robot has a blue bucket for a head, and the Cornell robot has an orange plastic bird attached to its head.

也许是为了表明被动动力式两足机器人具有人类的步态，并且依靠的不是电子计算能力而是机械力，代尔夫特机器人的头被设计成一个蓝色的桶状物，而康奈尔大学的机器人则有一个橙色塑料小鸟固定在头部。

This less-is-more approach also applies to sensory feedback. The Cornell and Delft robots don’t use sophisticated, real-time calculations or a lot of feedbacks as do other robots that continuously sense the angles of their joints, for example. “This suggests that human walking, too, might require only very simple controls,”Dr. Ruina said. (The M.I.T. robot does incorporate sensory feedback as a means of learning how to walk.)

这种“以少胜多”的方法也用在了传感反馈方面。康奈尔大学和代尔夫特的机器人并不像其它机器人那样使用复杂尖端的实时计算器或大量的反馈信息，例如不停地感应关节的角度等。瑞那博士说：“这表明人类行走可能也只需要非常简单的控制。”（麻省理工学院的机器人使用传感反馈，以学习如何走路。）

Michael J. Foster, director of the National Science Foundation division that supported some of the M.I.T. research, said the work demonstrated that complex objects could be controlled simply. The walking robot goes through complex motions, yet explicit computer control is not needed over every joint.

国家科学基金会负责资助麻省理工学院研究项目的部门主任迈克尔?福斯特认为，上述研究说明复杂的物体是可以用简单的方法进行控制的。虽然步行机器人要进行复杂的运动，但并非每一个关节都需要计算机明确的指令。

“Much of the control is given to us by the laws of physics rather than by our own efforts

in programming,” Dr. Foster said.

福斯特博士说：“许多控制是由物理学定律决定的，而不是我们通过设计程序实现的”。

马克?雷伯特是美国专门从事人体仿真软件工程公司—波士顿动力学公司的总裁。他认为，被动动力式两足机器人的设计原理对将来的机器人时代是很重要的。他说：“每一个实用的可行走机器人的设计都将运用这些原理。如果能正确处理好机械结构，比如调整腿的上、下两部分的重量和长度来模仿自然行走的力学原理，那么机器人的腿就会按照物理学的规律正确运动。”

他认为在被动动力式两足机器人的设计中，这一机械装置赋予机器人各种因素，使其按照自然的方式行走。他说：“这样我们就不必依赖计算机来了解物体的运动原理。”

康奈尔大学制造的机器人在前进时用的能量非常少，主要是因为其被动力学设计强调重力和惯性的自然相互作用，而将控制和驱动力降至最低限度。瑞那博士说：“我们的机器人使用的能量只有其它动力机器人的1/10、1/20或1/50”,取决于机器人的类型和能量的计算方式。“我们运用力学原理控制机器人的大量动作，而不是使用电动机实时控制所有的关节。”

康奈尔大学的机器人每只手臂上都装有一个12伏特的电池，用以提供发动机驱动脚踝在踏步时所需的能量。机器人腿部的弹簧也储存着能量。在机械结构方面，每只手臂都与其相反一侧的腿连接在一起。

密歇根大学的博士生史蒂夫?考林斯是该机器人的设计者，当时他还是瑞那博士指导下工作的一个本科生。他说：“随着腿的摆动，一个小型电动机拉动弹簧，”弹簧的拉伸为腿部运动提供了推力。当前脚着地时，芯片就会向后脚发出开始运动的指令。

考林斯先生认为，重要的是要考虑到人们自然行走的方式。他说：“腿像一个钟摆，”即可以让其自然的摆动，也可以在外力的作用下运动。他补充道：“我们让机器人的腿部自然摆动。”

目前，被动动力式机器人只能向前运动，而例如在爬楼梯时，它们则需要更多的动力。

将来被动动力式机器人的一些设计原则可能会与高端机器人的设计原则相结合，从各个角度进行控制。考林斯先生说：“也许在不需要使用高能量时，我们会使用自然动力学的原理来控制机器人的行走。”即使机器人不是完全按照被动动力原则设计的，只要某些部件是这样设计的，也会使成本降低。

考林斯先生希望将从开发康奈尔机器人所获得的灵感用于他所从事的肢体修复的工作。希望将制造康奈尔机器人过程中得到的启示运用到修复术的研究工作中。在国家科学基金会的支持下，他建立了一个生产假脚的公司。他说：“通过被动动力模型的研究，使我们能够深入了解步行中能量的使用方式，”特别是有关步与步之间进行转换的具体情况，这种转换对步行中所使用的能量有很大的影响。他说：“基于这些了解，我们应该能设计出耗能少、易于行走的假脚。”

麻省理工学院的泰德雷克博士对于被动动力式机器人未来将会如何发展还不能确定。他说：“在目前这种情况下，我们希望能够说服日本机器人制造商，在他们设计的机器人中加入一些我们的想法。”

第七单元

By far the most common genetically modified (GM) organisms are crop plants. But the techn

ology has now been applied to almost all forms of life, from pets that glow under UV light to bact eria which form HIV- blocking "living condoms" and from pigs bearing spinach genes to goats tha t produce spider silk. 到目前为止最常见的转基因生物体是农作物。然而，这项技术现在已经应用于几乎所有形态的生命,从宠物在紫外线照射下发光到构成HIV-blocking 的“活的安全套”的细菌,从继承菠菜基因的猪到生产蜘蛛丝的山羊。

GM tomatoes, as puree, first appeared on British supermarket shelves in 1996 (a different fre sh GM tomato first appeared in the US in 1994), but the consumer furore that surrounded GM tech nology did not erupt until February 1999. This was because a controversial study suggested that a few strains of GM potatoes might be toxic to laboratory rats. Those experiments, subsequently crit icised by other experts, were carried out in Scotland by biochemist Arpad Pustzai.

转基因西红柿酱, 在1996年第一次出现在英国的超市货架上 (1994年不同的新鲜番茄在美国首次出现),但直到1999年2月消费者对基因技术的愤怒才爆发。这是因为一个颇有争议的研究表明,几株转基因土豆可能对实验室老鼠有毒。那些随后被其他专家批评了的实验由生化学家Arpad Pustzai在苏格兰进行。

What followed was a European anti-GM food campaign of near religious fervour. Spearheade d in the UK by environmental groups and some newspapers, the campaign would have far-reachin g consequences. It culminated in an unofficial moratorium on the growth and import of GM crops in Europe and led to a trade dispute with the US.

随之而来的是一场接近宗教狂热的欧洲反对转基因食品运动。在英国环保团体和一些报纸的带领下,这场运动将产生深远的影响。非官方的禁止转基因作物的成长和进口在欧洲达到了高潮并且导致了与美国的贸易争端。

GM crops are today very rare in Europe, strict labelling laws and regulations are in place for f ood (DNA bar codes), and public opinion towards the technology remains largely negative.

Several UK government reports have offered qualified support for GM crops and produce, th ough they argue that the economic benefits of the technology are currently small. Some African na tions have also opposed engineered crops, even to the point of rejecting international food aid cont aining them.

今天在欧洲转基因作物是非常罕见的, 在食品有严格的标签法律规定（DNA 条码）但对技术的公众舆论仍然在很大程度上是消极的。几个英国政府报告说已经提供合格的支持转基因作物生产,尽管他们认为目前此技术的经济效益很小。一些非洲国家也反对转基因作物,甚至到了拒绝包含他们的国际粮食救援的程度。

GM produce has been taken up with far less fuss in the US (where it does not have to be label led), India, China, Canada, Argentina, Australia and elsewhere. However controversy over a type o f GM corn - only approved for animal feed - which turned up in taco shells and other products stirr ed opinion in the US.

转基因产品在美国 (它不需要被贴标签)，印度，中国，加拿大，阿根廷，澳洲以及其他的地方不用大惊小怪。然而关于墨西哥玉米饼壳和其他产品的一种转基因玉米的争议激起的意见，只批准把作为动物饲料。

The human race has methodically improved crop plants through selective breeding for many t housands of years, but genetic engineering allows that time-consuming process to be accelerated a nd exotic traits from unrelated species to be introduced. But not everyone agrees this is represents progress. 人类通过几千年的选择性育种有条不紊地改善作物，但基因工程使这费时的过程加快和引进无关物种的外来特征。但并非每个人都同意这个代表进步。

The root of genetic engineering in crops lies in the 1977 discovery that soil bug Agrobacteriu m tumefaciens can be used as a tool to inject potentially useful foreign genes into plants. With the help of that microbe, and other gene-implantation technologies such as electroporation, and gene g uns, geneticists have developed a multitude of new crop types.

作物基因工程的根源在1977年发现土壤微生物可以作为一种工具使用，将潜在有用的外源基因注入植物。在微生物和其他如电穿孔和基因枪的基因植入技术的帮助下，基因学家得到了大量的新作物种类。

Most of these are modified to be pest, disease or herbicide resistant, and include: soya, wheat, corn (maize), oilseed rape (canola), cotton, sugar beet, walnuts, potatoes, peanuts, squashes, tomatoes, tobacco, peas, sweet peppers, lettuce and onions, among others. The bacterial gene Bt is one of the most commonly inserted. It produces an insecticidal toxin that is harmless to people. 其中大多数新作物种类为防虫害，抗疾病或抗除草剂类型，其中包括:大豆、小麦、玉米、油菜、棉花、甜菜、核桃、土豆、花生、南瓜、番茄、烟草、豌豆、甜椒、生菜和洋葱等。Bt 菌是最常见的植入基因之一。它产生的杀虫毒素对人无害。Supporters of GM technology argue that engineered crops – such as vitamin A-boosted golden rice or protein-enhanced potatoes – can improve nutrition, that drought- or salt-resistant varieties can flourish in poor conditions and stave off world hunger, and that insect-repelling crops protect the environment by minimising pesticide use. 基因技术的支持者认为，转基因作物，如富含维生素A 的金稻米或蛋白质增强型马铃薯，可以改善营养;抗干旱或抗盐品种能在恶劣的环境下茁壮生长，避免世界粮食短缺;能够驱蚊虫的农作物则通过减少农药使用而起到保护环境的作用。Other plants have been engineered to improve flavour, increase shelf life, increase hardiness and to be allergen-free (see also: hay fever-free grass). Geneticists have even created a no-tears onion to banish culinary crying, and novel caffeine-free coffee plants. 其他植物通过基因工程，达到改善口味，增加保质期，提高硬度和防过敏(例如，无花粉症草) 。遗传学家甚至培育了无泪洋葱以避免烹饪时流泪和新型不含咖啡因的咖啡树。“Frankenfood”Fears“魔怪食品”的忧虑Critics fear that what they call “Frankenstein foods”could have unforeseen, adverse health effects on consumers, producing toxic proteins (and allergens) or transferring antibiotic-resistance and other genes to human gut bacteria to damaging effect. But there has been little evidence to back up such risks so far. 评论家担忧所谓的“魔鬼食品”会对消费者健康造成难以预见的不良影响，产生有毒蛋白质(和过敏原毒蛋白)或将耐抗生素性和其它基因转移到人类肠道细菌中。但至今，人们没有足够的证据来支持对这种风险的担忧。More plausible threats are that modified crops could become insidious superweeds, or that they could accidentally breed with wild plants or other crops – genetically polluting the environment. This could be a potentially serious problem if “pharm” crops, engineered to produce pharmaceutical drugs, accidentally cross breed with food varieties (or seeds become mixed up). 一个更加似乎合理的威胁是: 转基因作物可能成为隐伏的超级杂草，或者偶然中他们与野生的植物品种或其他作物杂交，造成环境基因污染。如果“药用”作物，即通过转基因技术生产医疗用药，意外地与食品品种杂交(或他们的种子混在一起) ，这则可能是一个潜在的严重问题。Large numbers of field trials, carried out by the UK government and others, reveal that gene transfer does occur. One 2002 study showed that transgenes had spread from US to traditional maize varieties in Mexico. A 2004 study revealed that conventional varieties of major US food crops have also been widely contaminated. Another study proved that pollen from GM plants can be carried on the wind for tens of kilometres. 由英国政府和其他人员进行的大量田间试验表明基因转移确实存在。2002 年的一项研究表明，转植基因已经从美国蔓延到墨西哥传统的玉米品种。2004 年的一项研究显示，美国主要粮

科技英语阅读答案Unit 4

Unit 4 Electronic Information (Robots) Part I EST Reading Reading 1 Section A Pre-reading Task Warm-up Questions: Work in pairs and discuss the following questions. 1.How does a QB work? QB has a speaker, microphone, camera, and video screen. It connects to the internet over Wi-Fi. You control it from your computer in a web browser, using a headset and screen. If you have a camera you can show live video of yourself, or you can show a still picture on bad hair days. 2.Is driving a QB difficult? Is there a hand-held control device I can use with my computer to control the Anybot? It's pretty easy. You use the 4 arrow keys to make it turn, go forward or back. Its built-in guidance system takes care of the rest by avoiding furniture and people, and gliding straight through doorways. All the time you’re seeing real-time video from the robot’s head, so you know where you are. Most people get used to it in a few minutes. Not necessary, all you need is your keyboard. 3.Is a Wi-Fi network in the home or business needed? Yes. You should have 802.11g access points for best results. You should use encryption –WPA2 is easiest. We find Meraki business-class access points work well and are affordable and easy to set up. They have long-range and outdoor models too. 4.What kind of sensors does the Anybot have, and what is the resolution on the Anybot camera? Two cameras, 3 microphones, lidar, a 3-axis gyroscope and encoders on the wheels. The main camera is 5 megapixels. 5.How do you control or drive the Anybot? You should control or drive it through a web browser. You don't need any special equipment, but you’ll sound better with a headset. Section C Post-reading Task Reading Comprehension 1. Directions: Work on your own and fill in the blanks with the main idea.

科技阅读翻译第一单元

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1.How common are other civilizations in the universe? This question has fascinated humanity for centuries, and although we still have no definitive answer, a number of recent developments have brought it once again to the fore. Chief among these is the confirmation, after a long time wait and several false starts, that planet exist outside our solar system. 外星文明在宇宙中是普遍存在的吗？这个问题已经困扰了人类几个世纪。虽然我们到现在也不能给出一个确定的回答，但是最近的一些科技进展再一次把这个问题推到了风口浪尖。其中最重要的，就是经过了漫长的等待和无数错误的尝试，我们终于确认了地外行星的存在。 2.By the time the debris settled and the collective misery was tallied, the devastation had in some respects exceeded even that of El Nino of 1982-1983, which killed 2,000 worldwide and caused about 13 billion dollars in damage. 一切尘埃落定之后，人们开始统计此次厄尔尼诺现象造成的损失。这次毁灭性的灾难造成的损失在某些方面更甚于1982到1983年间的厄尔尼诺现象，那次在世界范围内有2000余人遇难，导致的经济损失高达130亿美元。 3.The sun had set 12 minutes earlier, and twilight was waning on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. It was July 17, 1998, and another tranquil Friday evening was drawing to a close for the men, women and children of Sissano, Arop, Warapu and other small villages on the peaceful sand spit between Sissano Lagoon and the Bismarck Sea. 太阳在12分钟前就已经落山了，铺洒在巴布亚新几内亚北岸的暮色渐渐的减弱。那是1998年7月17日，对生活在Sissano、Arop、Warapu和其他位于俾斯麦海和Sissano泻湖之间安静的沙滩上的村庄的村民来说，只不过是又一个宁静周五傍晚即将来临。 4.To the extent that planets are necessary for origin and evolution of life, these excitingdiscoveries certainly argue well for the widely held view that life pervades the universe. 如果说行星是生命诞生和进化的必要条件，那么这些令人振奋的发现为生命在宇宙中是普遍存在的论调提供了有力的佐证。 5.There is no specific technology, no silver bullet to extend the oil supplies. But there are sure an awful lot of copper bullets lying around. 没有什么特别的科技，也没有什么灵丹妙药可以增加石油供给。但是，肯定有许多其他的办法等待着我们利用。 6.Many people have argued that once primitive life has evolved, natural selection will inevitably cause it to advance toward intelligence and technology. But is this necessarily so? That might be something wrong with this argument was famously articulated by nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950. If extraterrestrials are commonplace, he asked, where are they? Should their presence not be obvious? This question has become known as Fermi Paradox. 许多人认为一旦原始生命产生了，自然选择必定使他进化为智慧生命和科技文明。但是事实真的如此吗？这个问题已经被核物理学家恩里克·费米在1950年十分清晰的阐述了。他问道，如果地外文明是十分普遍的，那么，他们在哪儿呢？难道他们的存在没有办法观测吗？这就是著名的费米佯谬。 7.Even though the link between birds and dinosaurs is family established, the definition of birds has become a difficult problem. The fact is that it is hard to draw a line between birds and dinosaurs that is anything other than arbitrary. 尽管鸟类与恐龙的联系已经牢牢地建立起来了，但鸟类的定义仍然是一个难题。事实上，

《科技英语阅读教程》陈勇版课文翻译(可编辑修改word版)

核电与核辐射 1986 年4 月26 日，切尔诺贝利核电站的一个反应堆发生爆炸，将相当于400 颗广岛原子弹的放射性尘降物散布到整个北半球。在此之前，科学家对辐射对植物和野生动物的影响 几乎一无所知。这场灾难创造了一个活生生的实验室，尤其是在这个被称为禁区的1100 平方英里的区域。 1994 年，德州理工大学生物学教授罗纳德·切瑟和罗伯特·贝克是首批获准完全进入该区域的美国科学家之一。“我们抓了一群田鼠，它们看起来和野草一样健康。我们对此非 常着迷。”贝克回忆说。当Baker 和Chesser 对田鼠的DNA 进行测序时，他们没有发现 异常的突变率。他们还注意到狼、猞猁和其他曾经稀有的物种在这片区域游荡，仿佛这里 是原子野生动物保护区。2003 年由一组联合国机构建立的切尔诺贝利论坛发表了声明一份关于灾难20 周年的报告证实了这一观点，称“环境条件对该地区的生物群落产生了积极 影响”，将其转变为“一个独特的生物多样性保护区”。 五年前，贝克和切塞尔在这片区域搜寻田鼠。Mousseau 到切尔诺贝利去数鸟，发现了与之相矛盾的证据。穆萨乌是南卡罗莱纳大学的生物学教授，他的合作者安德斯·佩普·穆 勒现在是巴黎南方大学生态、系统学和进化实验室的研究主任。他们发现该地区家燕的数 量要少得多，而那些存活下来的家燕则遭受着寿命缩短、(雄性)生育能力下降、大脑变小、肿瘤、部分白化病(一种基因突变)以及白内障发病率更高的痛苦。在过去13 年发表的60 多篇论文中，Mousseau 和Moller 指出，暴露在低水平辐射下对该区域的整个生物圈产生 了负面影响，从微生物到哺乳动物，从昆虫到鸟类。 包括贝克在内的批评人士对穆萨和穆勒持批评态度。贝克在2006 年与切塞尔合著的《美国科学家》(American Scientist)文章中指出，该区域“实际上已成为一个保护区”，穆萨和穆勒的“令人难以置信的结论只得到了间接证据的支持”。 我们所知道的关于电离辐射对健康影响的几乎所有信息都来自于一项正在进行的对原子弹幸存者的研究，该研究被称为寿命研究，简称LSS。辐射暴露的安全标准基于LSS。然而，LSS 留下了关于低剂量辐射影响的大问题没有得到解答。大多数科学家都同意，没有所谓 的“安全”辐射剂量，无论剂量有多小。小剂量是我们最不了解的。LSS 并没有告诉我们多 少低于100 毫西弗(mSv)的剂量。例如，引起基因突变需要多少辐射，这些突变是可遗传 的吗?辐射诱发的疾病(如癌症)的机制和遗传生物标记物是什么? 三重危机2011年 3月福岛第一核电站创建另一个生活摩梭实验室和穆勒可以研究低 剂量的辐射,复制他们的切尔诺贝利核事故研究和允许他们“更高的信心,影响我们看到有关辐射,而不是其他因素,“摩梭说。福岛310平方英里的隔离区比切尔诺贝利小，但在其他方面 是一样的。这两个区域都包括被遗弃的农田、森林和城市地区，在这些地区，辐射水平在 短距离内变化数量级。而且几乎可以肯定，他们进入福岛的速度比科学家进入苏联控制的 切尔诺贝利的速度还要快。简而言之，福岛事件提供了一个解决争议的机会。 福岛核事故发生后的几个月里，穆萨乌和莫勒就开始在这座正在冒烟的核电站以西受污染的山林里清点鸟类数量，但他们无法进入这个区域，亲眼看看家燕的情况。最后，在2013 年6 月，穆萨乌是首批获准完全进入福岛禁区的科学家之一。 对辐射的敏感度在生物和同一物种的个体之间有很大的差异，这是重要的原因之一，不要从蝴蝶推断到家燕或从田鼠推断到人类。蝴蝶对辐射特别敏感，Mousseau 说。2012年8 月，在线期刊《科学报告》(Scientific Report)发表了一篇论文，研究福岛核泄漏对淡草蓝 蝶的影响。冲绳县琉球大学的生物学教授大木若二(Joji Otaki)透露，在这种不雅行为发生两个月后，在福岛附近采集的蝴蝶出现了翅膀、腿和眼睛畸形的情况。Mousseau 和Moller 对切尔诺贝利和福岛昆虫的调查显示，蝴蝶作为一个群体数量急剧下降。但御宅族

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