2013考研英语一 阅读真题Text3
原文+对照翻译( 本文采用豆包进行整理)
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.
直到几十年前，我们对未来的展望大体上都极为乐观，尽管这种乐观并非所有人都完全一致。科学技术能够治愈人类所有的苦难，进而让所有人都过上充实且充满机遇的生活。
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.
如今，乌托邦式的美好幻想早已不再流行。因为我们愈发深刻地认清了自身面临的一系列威胁，从小行星撞击、流行性流感，到气候变化。你甚至可能会不由自主地认为，人类已经没什么值得期待的未来了。
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 Conservation 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.”
但这种悲观情绪是毫无根据、完全错位的。化石记录表明，许多物种都已经存续了数百万年，人类为何不能呢？以更宏观的视角审视人类在宇宙中的位置，就会清晰地发现：我们即便无法存续数十万年，也极有可能存活数万年之久。查阅世界自然保护联盟濒危物种红色名录中关于智人的条目，你会看到这样的描述：该物种被列为无危物种，分布范围极广、适应能力强、种群数量目前呈增长趋势，且不存在会导致整体种群数量下降的重大威胁。
So what does our deep future hold? A growing number of researchers and organisations are now thinking seriously about that question. For example, the Long Now Foundation has as its flagship project a mechanical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence.
那么人类遥远的未来究竟会如何？越来越多的研究者与机构开始认真思考这个问题。例如，恒今基金会的旗舰项目是一座机械钟，其设计目标是在数千年之后依然能够正常计时。
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.
人们主观上总会觉得，思考如此漫长的时间跨度，反倒比预判眼前的近期未来更加容易。当代科技的潜在发展及其引发的社会影响，复杂到令人眼花缭乱，我们所能设想的种种可能性，或许最好交由科幻作家与未来学家去探索。这也是我们创办《Arc》这本专注于研究近期未来的新刊物的原因之一。
But take a longer 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 themselves.
但拉长时间维度来看，有相当多的事情我们都可以十分确定地做出预判。古往今来皆是如此，历史是开启未来的钥匙：我们如今已经足够多地识别出塑造地球与人类历史的长期规律，足以对我们的后代将要身处的环境，做出有事实依据的预测。
This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more like a passing fad. To be sure, the future is not all rosy. But we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans, and to improve the lot of those to come.
这种长远的视角，让对人类前景的悲观看法，看起来更像是一时的风潮。诚然，未来不会全然美好顺遂。但我们如今已经拥有足够的知识，能够降低许多曾威胁早期人类生存的风险，也能够改善后代的生存境遇。
重难点核心单词
vision 展望，愿景
uniformly 一致地，清一色地
glowingly 极度乐观地
fulfillment 满足感，充实感
utopia 乌托邦，理想国
appreciation 深刻认知，洞悉
asteroid 小行星
epidemic 流行的，传染性的
tempted 忍不住的，倾向于的
gloominess 悲观，沮丧
misplaced 毫无根据的，不合时宜的
fossil 化石
endure 存续，坚持
species 物种
Homo sapiens 智人
distributed 分布广泛的
adaptable 适应力强的
decline 下降，衰退
flagship 旗舰，核心
hence 今后，此后
willfully 刻意地，主观地
lengthy 漫长的
timescale 时间跨度
immediate 近期的，当下的
dazzlingly 极其，非常
complicated 复杂的
envisage 设想，预想
dedicate 致力于，专注于
considerable 相当大的
assurance 把握，确信
pattern 规律，模式
descendant 后代，子孙
perspective 视角，眼光
pessimistic 悲观的
prospect 前景，前途
fad 一时潮流，风尚
rosy 美好的，乐观的
knowledgeable 有见识的
existence 生存，存在
长难句翻译 + 翻译方法
1. Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largely—though by no means uniformly—glowingly positive.
中文翻译：几十年前，我们对未来的畅想整体上十分乐观，只是这种乐观并不是所有人都完全一样。
翻译方法：先译主干部分，双破折号中间的插入语单独拆分后置翻译，不打乱主句语序，更符合中文表达习惯。
2. Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity, leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.
中文翻译：科技会解决人类所有的疾苦，让每个人都能过上充实、充满机遇的生活。
翻译方法：逗号后的现在分词表结果，翻译时转化为顺承语句，直接译出带来的结果，不用生硬直译句式。
3. 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.
中文翻译：从宏观角度看待人类在宇宙中的位置就会发现，人类就算存活不了几十万年，也很有可能存活几万年。
翻译方法：祈使句并列结构，直接译成连贯的中文陈述句；中间插入语采用补充说明的译法，简洁自然。
4. The potential evolution of today’s technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated.
中文翻译：如今科技的潜在发展，以及它带来的社会影响，都极其错综复杂。
翻译方法：把中间补充成分并入主干，整合语序，避免英文式的割裂感，贴合中文短句表达。
5. 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 themselves.
中文翻译：我们已经掌握了足够多塑造地球和人类历史的长期规律，足以有据地预测后代未来的生存环境。
翻译方法：后置定语前置翻译，长句拆解成两个中文短句，拆分冗余修饰，精简语句，通顺易懂。
