劍橋雅思原文翻譯The Birth of Scientific English

劍橋雅思5 Test 2 Passage 3閱讀原文翻譯

第1自然段

World science is dominated today by a small number of languages,including Japanese,German and French,but it is English which is probably the most popular global language of science.This is not just because of the importance of English-speaking countries such as the USA in scientific research;the scientists of many non-English-speaking countries find that they need to write their research papers in English to reach a wide international audience.Given the prominence of scientific English today,it may seem surprising that no one really knew how to write science in English before the 17th century.Before that,Latin was regarded as the lingua franca 1 for European intellectuals.

當今世界科學被少數(shù)語言所控制，包括日語，德語和法語，但英語可能是全球最受歡迎的科學語言。這不僅是因為諸如美國這樣的英語國家在科學研究中的重要性。許多非英語國家的科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們需要用英語撰寫研究論文才能吸引廣泛的國際受眾。鑒于當今科學英語的突出地位，在17世紀之前還沒有人真正知道如何用英語進行科學寫作似乎令人驚訝。在此之前，拉丁語被認為是歐洲知識分子的通用語。

第2自然段

The European Renaissance(c.14th-16th century)is sometimes called the‘revival of learning’,a time of renewed interest in the‘lost knowledge’of classical times.At the same time,however,scholars also began to test and extend this knowledge.The emergent nation states of Europe developed competitive interests in world exploration and the development of trade.Such expansion,which was to take the English language west to America and east to India,was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism(and hence the invention of the compass),improvements in cartography and–perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all–the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the Earth in relation to the planets and stars,developed by Copernicus(1473-1543).

歐洲文藝復興時期（14至16世紀）有時也被稱為“學習的復興”。在這期間，人們對遺失的古典知識重新產(chǎn)生興趣。但是，與此同時，學者們也開始測試和擴充這些知識。歐洲新興國家在探索世界和發(fā)展貿(mào)易中產(chǎn)生了競爭利益。這種擴張將英語向西帶到美國，向東帶到了印度。它得到科學發(fā)展的支持，例如磁性的發(fā)現(xiàn)（以及指南針的發(fā)明），制圖學的改進，以及哥白尼（1473-1543）提出的新天文學理論和地球相對于行星和恒星運動的理論。這可能是它們之中最為重要的科學革命。

第3自然段

England was one of the first countries where scientists adopted and publicised Copernican ideas with enthusiasm.Some of these scholars,including two with interests in language-John Wallis and John Wilkins–helped found the Royal Society in 1660 in order to promote empirical scientific research.

英格蘭是科學家熱情接受并宣傳哥白尼思想的最早國家之一。這些學者中的一些人，包括兩位對語言感興趣的學者-約翰·沃利斯（John Wallis）和約翰·威爾金斯（John Wilkins）-于1660年幫助成立了皇家學會，以促進實證科學研究。

第4自然段

Across Europe similar academies and societies arose,creating new national traditions of science.In the initial stages of the scientific revolution,most publications in the national languages were popular works,encyclopedias,educational textbooks and translations.Original science was not done in English until the second half of the 17th century.For example,Newton published his mathematical treatise,known as the Principia,in Latin,but published his later work on the properties of light–Opticks–in English.

在整個歐洲，類似的學院和社團應運而生，創(chuàng)造出新的科學國家傳統(tǒng)。在科學革命的初期，大多數(shù)使用本國語言出版的讀物都是流行著作，百科全書，教育教科書和翻譯。直到17世紀下半葉，原創(chuàng)科學才用英語完成。例如，牛頓用拉丁語發(fā)表了他被稱為“原理”的數(shù)學論文，但隨后關于關的特性的作品則是用英語完成的。

第5自然段

There were several reasons why original science continued to be written in Latin.The first was simply a matter of audience.Latin was suitable for an international audience of scholars,whereas English reached a socially wider,but more local,audience.Hence,popular science was written in English.

原創(chuàng)科學繼續(xù)用拉丁文寫作的原因有很多。首先是讀者的問題。拉丁文適合國際學者群體，而英語雖然在社會上受眾更多，卻以本地人為主。因此，科普讀物是用英語寫作的。

第6自然段

A second reason for writing in Latin may,perversely,have been a concern for secrecy.Open publication had dangers in putting into the public domain preliminary ideas which had not yet been fully exploited by their‘a(chǎn)uthor’.This growing concern about intellectual property rights was a feature of the period–it reflected both the humanist notion of the individual,rational scientist who invents and discovers through private intellectual labour,and the growing connection between original science and commercial exploitation.There was something of a social distinction between‘scholars and gentlemen’who understood Latin,and men of trade who lacked a classical education.And in the mid-17th century it was common practice for mathematicians to keep their discoveries and proofs secret,by writing them in cipher,in obscure languages,or in private messages deposited in a sealed box with the Royal Society.Some scientists might have felt more comfortable with Latin precisely because its audience,though international,was socially restricted.Doctors clung the most keenly to Latin as an‘insider language’.

用拉丁語寫作的第二個原因可能與保密有關。公開出版存在將作者尚未完全開發(fā)的初步理論投入公共領域的風險。對知識產(chǎn)權日益增長的關注是這一時期的一個特征-它既反映了個人與通過智力勞動進行發(fā)明和探索的理性科學家的人道主義觀念，又反映了原創(chuàng)科學與商業(yè)利用之間的日益緊密的聯(lián)系。懂拉丁語的“學者和紳士”與缺乏古典教育的商人之間存在某種社會差別。在17世紀中葉，數(shù)學家通常通過以密碼，晦澀的語言或私下寫在皇家學會的密閉信箱中的信息來掩蓋他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)和證明。某些科學家可能對拉丁語感到更自在，這是因為拉丁語的讀者盡管是國際化的，但處于有限的社會階層。醫(yī)生最熱衷于使用拉丁語作為“內(nèi)部語言”。

第7自然段

A third reason why the writing of original science in English was delayed may have been to do with the linguistic inadequacy of English in the early modern period.English was not well equipped to deal with scientific arguments.First,it lacked the necessary technical vocabulary.Second,it lacked the grammatical resources required to represent the world in an objective and impersonal way,and to discuss the relations,such as cause and effect,that might hold between complex and hypothetical entities.

用英語進行原創(chuàng)科學寫作的第三個原因可能與近代早期英語的語言不足有關。英語不能很好地處理科學論據(jù)。首先，它缺乏必要的技術詞匯。其次，它缺乏以客觀和非人格化的方式展現(xiàn)世界，以及討論可能與復雜的實體和假設的實體之間關系（例如因果關系）所需要的語法資源。

第8自然段

Fortunately,several members of the Royal Society possessed an interest in language and became engaged in various linguistic projects.Although a proposal in 1664 to establish a committee for improving the English language came to little,the society’s members did a great deal to foster the publication of science in English and to encourage the development of a suitable writing style.Many members of the Royal Society also published monographs in English.One of the first was by Robert Hooke,the society’s first curator of experiments,who described his experiments with microscopes in Micrographia(1665).This work is largely narrative in style,based on a transcript of oral demonstrations and lectures.

幸運的是，皇家學會的幾位成員對語言很感興趣，并參與了各種語言項目。盡管在1664年建立一個委員會來提高英語水平的提議幾乎沒有結果，但是該學會的成員為促進用英語進行科學發(fā)現(xiàn)的出版和鼓勵發(fā)展一種合適的寫作風格做出了很多努力。皇家學會的許多成員還出版了英文專著。最早的作者之一是該學會的首任實驗負責人羅伯特·胡克（Robert Hooke），他于1665年在Micrographia上描述了使用顯微鏡所進行的實驗。該作品主要基于口語展示和講座的文本，帶有濃重的敘述風格。

第9自然段

In 1665 a new scientific journal,Philosophical Transactions,was inaugurated.Perhaps the first international English-language scientific journal,it encouraged a new genre of scientific writing,that of short,focused accounts of particular experiments.

1665年新的科學期刊，Philosophical Transaction，正式成立。也許是第一本國際英語科學雜志。它鼓勵了一種新的科學寫作形式，即簡短而集中地描述特定的實驗。

第10自然段

The 17th century was thus a formative period in the establishment of scientific English.In the following century much of this momentum was lost as German established itself as the leading European language of science.It is estimated that by the end of the 18th century 401 German scientific journals had been established as opposed to 96 in France and 50 in England.However,in the 19th century scientific English again enjoyed substantial lexical growth as the industrial revolution created the need for new technical vocabulary,and new,specialised,professional societies were instituted to promote and publish in the new disciplines.

因此17世紀是科學英語地位的形成時期。在接下來的一個世紀里，隨著德語成為歐洲主要的科學語言，這種動力大部分消失了。據(jù)估計，到18世紀末，有401本德語科學期刊，而法國只有96本，英國只有50本。但是，在19世紀，隨著工業(yè)革命對新技術詞匯的需求，科學英語又再次獲得了可觀的詞匯增長，并且建立了新的、專業(yè)的學會來促進和出版新的學科。

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