2018年翻译资格考试初级笔译模拟题：人类的进程
英译汉
Until recently, scientists knew little about life in the deep sea, nor had they reason to believe that it was being threatened. Now, with the benefit of technology that allows for deeper exploration, researchers have uncovered a remarkable array of species inhabiting the ocean floor at depths of more than 660 feet, or about 200 meters. At the same time, however, technology has also enabled fishermen to reach far deeper than ever before, into areas where bottom trawls can destroy in minutes what has taken nature hundreds and in some cases thousands of years to build.
Many of the world's coral species, for example, are found at depths of more than 200 meters. It is also estimated that roughly half of the world's highest seamounts - areas that rise from the ocean floor and are particularly rich in marine life - are also found in the deep ocean.
These deep sea ecosystems provide shelter, spawning and breeding areas for fish and other creatures, as well as protection from strong currents and predators. Moreover, they are believed to harbor some of the most extensive reservoirs of life on earth, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 100 million species inhabiting these largely unexplored and highly fragile ecosystems.
Yet just as we are beginning to recognize the tremendous diversity of life in these areas, along with the potential benefits newly found species may hold for human society in the form of potential food products and new medicines, they are at risk of being lost forever. With enhanced ability both to identify where these species-rich areas are located and to trawl in deeper water than before, commercial fishing vessels are now beginning to reach down with nets the size of football fields, catching everything in their path while simultaneously crushing fragile corals and breaking up the delicate structure of reefs and seamounts that provide critical habitat to the countless species of fish and other marine life that inhabit the deep ocean floor.
Because deep sea bottom trawling is a recent phenomenon, the damage that has been done is still limited. If steps are taken quickly to prevent this kind of destructive activity from occurring on the high seas, the benefits both to the marine environment and to future generations are incalculable. And they far outweigh the short-term costs to the fishing industry.
参考译文
《人类的进程》一书的提纲初稿是1969年7月完成的，影片的最后一部分是在1972年12月拍摄的。像这样大的一个项目，虽然异常精彩，令人激动，却并不是轻易上马的。它要求我保持旺盛的脑力和体力，专心致志地投入工作。我必须确保持之以恒，并从中得到乐趣;比方说，我不得不停下已经开始的研究工作;我还应当说明一下，究竟是什么促使我承担这项工作的。
二十年来，科学的发展趋势发生了深刻的变化：关注的焦点已经从自然科转移到生命科学。结果，便把科学越来越吸引到个体特征的研究上来。然而感兴趣的旁观者几乎没有意识到此事对于改变科学塑造的人的形象产生了多么深远的影响。我是一个研究数学的人，以前学过物理学，若不是中年有幸有几次机会涉足生命科学，我也不会有所认识。我应当感谢我交的好运，是它使我在一生中参与了两个启发性的科学领域。尽管我并不知道应该向谁表示感谢，我编写了《人类的进程》一书，以表示我的感激之情。
英国广播公司邀请我做的是通过一套电视节目来表现科学的发展过程，以与克拉克勋爵制作的关于文明的电视节目相匹配。通过电视来进行解说有几大好处：它有力、直观，能使观众身临其境或亲身参与所描述的过程，它的语言亲切，能使观众觉得他所看到的是人们的行动而不是事件。这些优点之中，我认为最后一点最为突出，它是一股最大的动力促使我同意以电视散文的方式从个人的角度来讲述各种思想的发展史。重要的是知识总体，尤其是科学知识不是由抽象的思想构成的，而是由人的思想构成的，自有知识开始直到现代千奇百怪的模式莫不是如此。所以介绍打开自然界之门的基本思想，必须表现出它们很早就已产生，而且是产生在人类最淳朴的文化之中，产生于人类基本的、具体的感官之中。同时还必须表现出使种种思想形成越来越复杂的结合体的科学的发展也同样是人类的贡献：种种发现都是人的产物，而不仅仅是头脑的产物，因此它们都是有生气的，而且具有个人的特色。如果电视未能把这些思想表现得很具体，那岂不是浪费!
