翻譯社提供以下資訊
英文翻譯練習四
Passage One
The science of. meteorology is concerned with the study of the structure, state, and behavior of the atmosphere. The subject may be approached from several directions, but the scene cannot be fully approached from any one vantage point . Different view must be integrated to give perspective to the whole picture.
One may consider the condition of the atmosphere at a given moment and attempt to predict changes from that condition over a period of a few hours to a few days ahead. This approach is covered by the branch of the science called synoptic meteorology.
Synoptic meteorology is the scientific basis of the technique of weather forecasting by means of the preparation and analysis of weather maps and aerological diagram . The practical importance of the numerous applications of weather forecasting cannot be overestimated . In serving the needs of shipping, aviation, agriculture, industry, and many other interests and field of human activity with accurate weather warnings and professional forecast advice, great benefits are reaped in the form of the saving of human life and property and in economic advantages of various kinds. One important purpose of the science of meteorology is constantly to strive, through advanced study and research, to increase our knowledge of the atmosphere with the aim of improving the accuracy of weather forecasts.
The tools needed to advance our knowledge in this way are the disciplines of mathematics and physics applied to solve meteorological problems. The use of these tools forms that branch of the science called dynamic meteorology.
Passage Two
Much attention has been given in the media to the so-called information superhighway which is supposed to use computer and telecommunication technology to completely change the way Americans will do business and receive information and entertainment at home in the future. There have been countless newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio discussions, meetings and conferences about it. However, according to a public opinion poll, most Americans say they have never heard of it.
The people who conducted the poll didn't actually talk to most Americans, of course, but they did talk to 1 255 individuals, and they say the result has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent age points. 13ut even if it's off by three percentage points, it's still amazing. Two-thirds of Americans do not recall having heard of the in-formation superhighway. And, even among the 34 percent who have heard of it. Most say that they have little understanding of what it is. J3ut even though most of those who have heard of it don't know what it is, six out of ten of them say that they are for it.
It seems very odd that people can admit that they don't know what something is and yet say they are for it, or against it, for that matter. It generally works out better when you find things out, rather than this business of linking something before finding out what it is. This is the way they know anything about it or not.
Unfortunately, this is the way political leadership works today: the so- called leaders read the polls to find out what the people want and here's the poll telling us that the people are ready to say what they want without knowing the first thing about it. This is the blind leading the blind. No wonder things are the way they are.
Passage Three
Taste is such a subjective matter that we don' t usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone' s preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone’s preference, is that it’s one person’s opinion. But because the two big cola companies-Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively, we have wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-Cola classic or Pepsi fans: find your brand in a blind tasting.
We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola classic or Pepsi, Diet Coke, or Diet Pepsi. These were people who thought they' d have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand.
We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them four unidentified samples of co1a one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi, then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants’ choices with what mere guess-work could have accomplished.
Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7 of 27 identified all four sample correctly.
While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong. Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so fatigue, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.
Passage Four
Lincoln was a strong executive who saved the government, saved the United States. He was a President who understood people and when time came to make decisions he was willing to take the responsibility and make those decisions no matter how difficult they were. He knew how to treat people and how to make a decision stick and that’s why he is regarded as such a great administrative.
Carl Sandburg and a lot of others have tried to make something out of Lincoln that he wasn’t. He was a decent man, a good politician, and a great President, and they’ve tried to build up things that he never even thought about. I’ll bet a dollar and a half that if you read Sandburg’s mouth and mind that never even occurred to him. He was a good man who was in the place where he ought to have been at the time important events were taking place, but when they write about him as though belongs in the pantheon of the gods, that’s not the man he really was. He was the best kind of ordinary man and when I say that he was an ordinary man, I mean that as highpraise, not deprecation. That’s the highest praise you can give a man. He’s one of the people and becomes distinguished in the service that he gives other people. He was one of the people, and he wanted to stay that way. And he was that way until the day he died. One of the reasons he was assassinated was because he didn’t feel important enough to have proper guards around him at Ford’s Theatre.
參考譯文:
1. 人們利用準確的天氣警報和專業預報，服務於航海、飛行、農業、工業，以及人類許多其他利益和活動領域。在挽救人類生命及財產和獲得各種各樣的經濟利益方面，人類也獲取了巨大的收益。
2. 媒體對所謂的資訊高速公路予以極大的關注。資訊高速公路運用電腦和電信技術徹底改變美國人的做事方法，將來人們在家裡便可以通過它來獲取資訊，得到娛樂。
3. 但由於兩大可樂飲料公司--可口可樂和百事可樂在市場銷售方面競爭如此激烈，我們想知道口味偏愛對於品牌的專一究竟起多大作用。
4. 他是一位理解民眾的總統，該做決定時，不管困難有多大，他願意承擔一切責任並作出決定。
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