2014年職稱英語(理工類)教材閱讀理解文章及譯文3

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　　Citizen Scientists

　　Understanding how nature responds to climate change will require monitoring key life cycle1 events-flowering, the appearance of leaves, the first frog calls of the spring - all around the world. But ecologists can't be everywhere so they're turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizen scientists, for help.

　　Climate scientists are not present everywhere. Because there are so many places in the world and not enough scientists to observe all of them, they're asking for your help in observing signs of climate change across the world. The citizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe a very specific research interest - birds, trees, flowers budding, etc. - and send their observations to a giant database to be observed by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientists track a large amount of data that they would never be able to gather on their own. Much like citizen journalists helping large publications cover a hyper-local beat2, citizen scientists are ready for the conditions where they live. All that's needed to become one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send it3 in.

　　A group of scientists and educators launched an organization last year called the National Pheonology4 Network. "Phenology" is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.

　　One of the group's first efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project BudBurst, collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States. People participating in the project - which is open to everyone - record their observations on the Project BudBurst website.

　　"People don't have to be plant experts -they just have to look around and see what's in their neighborhood," says Jennifer Schwartz, an education consultant with the project. "As we collect this data, we'll be able to make an estimate of how plants and eommunities5 of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes."

　　詞匯：

　　Frog n. 蛙 Ecologist n.生態(tài)學家 Phenology n.物候?qū)W Bud v.發(fā)芽，萌芽;n.芽，花蕾

　　Neighbor(u)rhood n.近鄰;鄰近地區(qū) Database n.數(shù)據(jù)庫

　　Professional adj.專業(yè)的，職業(yè)的;n.職業(yè)選手，專業(yè)人員

　　注釋：

　　1. life cycle：生命周期，即生物發(fā)展過程的系列變化。

　　2. hyper-local beat: beat 在此做名詞用，意思是：某類新聞報道，如，a business beat;商業(yè)專題報道。這是近年來出現(xiàn)的新詞。Hyper-local beat 即hyper-local news，指的是被傳統(tǒng)新聞報道方式所忽略的小型社區(qū)或居民居住區(qū)里發(fā)生的相關(guān)信息報道。在美國由此而誕生了hyper-local news website，專門對主流媒體所沒有覆蓋的地區(qū)所發(fā)生的事件進行報道，其形式多以網(wǎng)民，即短文中所提及的citizen journalists，上傳所在社區(qū)發(fā)生的事件報道、照片或視頻為主。這是網(wǎng)絡(luò)時代產(chǎn)生的又一新生事物。

　　3. data 是復數(shù)形式，但常用做單數(shù)，所以這里的代詞是it。另參見最后一段“As we collect this data, ...”。這里的data 也用作單數(shù)。

　　4. phenology：物候?qū)W或生物氣候?qū)W，是氣候?qū)W和生態(tài)學的邊緣學科，主要研究氣候環(huán)境對生物的影響。

　　5. communities：生態(tài)學詞匯：生物群落，記載比較相似的環(huán)境條件下在特定自然區(qū)域或環(huán)境中生活和互相影響的一群植物和動物。

　　練習：1. Ecologists turn to non-scientist citizens for help because they need them

　　A) to provide their personal life cycles.

　　B) to observe the life cycle of plants.

　　C) to collect data of the life cycle of living things.

　　D) to teach children knowledge about climate change.

　　2. What are citizen scientists asked to do?

　　A) To develop a specific research interest and become professional scientists.

　　B) To send their research observations to a professional database.

　　C) To increase their knowledge about climate change.

　　D) To keep a record of their research observations.

　　3. In "All that's needed to become one... (paragraph 2) ", what does the word "one" stands for?

　　A) a citizen journalist.

　　B) a citizen scientist.

　　C) a scientist.

　　D) a citizen.

　　4. What is NOT true of Project BudBurst?

　　A) Only experts can participate in it.

　　B) Everybody can participate in it.

　　C) It collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants.

　　D) It has its own website.

　　5. What is the final purpose of Project BudBurst?

　　A) To study when plants will have their first buds.

　　B) To find out the types of plants in the neighborhood.

　　C) To collect life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States.

　　D) To investigate how plants and animals will respond as the climate changes.

　　答案與題解：

     1. C第一段和第二段的第一句告訴我們，要在世界范圍內(nèi)觀察氣候?qū)Υ笞匀恢猩锷芷诘挠绊?，?shù)量有限的科學家不可能足跡遍及天下，為此科學家求助于普通公民的參與。所以C 是正確選擇。

　　2. B第二段第三句中encourage ordinary people to observe…的主語是The citizen scientist movement，即公民參與科學觀察的運動。所以D 不是正確選擇。A 和C 不符合文章的句意，因此也不是正確的選擇。這個句子的大意是：這一運動鼓勵普通公民根據(jù)自己的興趣愛好進行科學觀察，并將觀察結(jié)果送交數(shù)據(jù)庫，讓專門領(lǐng)域的科學家做進一步的觀察。B 正確表達了這個意思。

　　3. B one 在這里是一個代詞，其前置詞是citizen scientists ，而不是citizen journalists，這里的one 指的是one of citizen scientists。所以A、C 和D 都不是正確選擇。這個句子的意思是，只要每天或每星期花上幾分鐘收集數(shù)據(jù)并發(fā)送出去，就能成為一個公民科學家。

　　4. A 文章最后一段說，這個計劃向所有人開放(open to everyone)，所以應(yīng)選擇A。B，C，D 所述內(nèi)容都在該段中提到。

　　5. D C 表述的內(nèi)容是Project Budburst 所要做的工作，但其最終的目的不僅僅是收集數(shù)據(jù)，而是研究氣候變化對生物生命周期的影響。因此，D 才是正確答案。

　　譯文：第三篇 公民科學家

　　理解大自然對氣候變化有怎樣的反應(yīng)需要監(jiān)視世界各個角落的關(guān)鍵生命周期事件――花開、葉子的出現(xiàn)、第一只青蛙叫出春天的到來。但是生態(tài)學家不可能去到世界的各個角落，所以他們向非科學家求助，這些非科學家有時也被稱作公民科學家。

　　氣象科學家不可能足跡遍及天下。因為在世界上有如此多的地方，沒有足夠的科學家來觀察它們。所以他們請求你來幫助觀察全世界氣候變化的跡象。公民科學家運動鼓勵普通人根據(jù)自己的興趣來觀察某一個特定的方面――鳥兒、樹木、花卉等等一一并把他們的觀察結(jié)果發(fā)送到一個巨大的數(shù)據(jù)庫來供專業(yè)科學家研究。這有助于數(shù)量有限的科學家得到如果只靠他們自己根本收集不到的巨大數(shù)據(jù)。就像公民記者幫助報道傳統(tǒng)新聞報道方式所忽略的小型社區(qū)的相關(guān)信息一樣，公民科學家也對他們所居住的環(huán)境很熟悉。所需要的就是每天或每周留出兒分鐘來搜集數(shù)據(jù)并發(fā)送過來。

　　一群科學家和教育家在去年發(fā)起了一個叫做紐約國家物候?qū)W的組織?！拔锖?qū)W”就是科學家們所說的在自然中研究每個事件的時間。

　　其中一個小組的首要嘗試就是依靠科學家和非科學家來收集關(guān)于每年植物開花和長葉子的數(shù)據(jù)。這一項目叫做花季追蹤計劃，它收集遍布美國的各種各樣的植物生長周期的數(shù)據(jù)。參與這一項目的人們一一這一計劃對所有人開放――把他們的觀察記錄登錄在花季追蹤計劃網(wǎng)站上。

　　“人們不需要是植物學家――他們僅僅需要環(huán)視四周看看周圍有什么?！盝ennifer Schwarts說，她是這項計劃的教育顧問?！巴ㄟ^收集數(shù)據(jù)，我們就能夠估算出氣候變化對植物和生物群落會有怎樣的影響。