科技英语

English for Science and Technology

 School of Foreign Languages ShanYu

Chapter I The Main Features of EST

Basic Concepts
Section 1 Stylistic Features
Section 2 Grammatical Features
Section 3 Rhetoric Features
 School of Foreign Languages 单宇

Basic Concepts

 EST (English for Science and Technology)

科技英语
 Scientific Texts/ Scientific Prose (from a
point of view of stylistic)
科技文本 / 科技散文
 Translation of EST/ Translation of
Scientific Texts
科技英语翻译 / 科技文体翻译
 School of Foreign Languages 单宇

EST Orientation
 School of Foreign Languages 单宇

Section 1 Stylistic Features

Objectivity

Clarity

Accuracy

Formality
 试比较以下句子的表达

[version 1] The rate of evaporation of a liquid enormously depends on

temperature.
[version 2] The dependence of the rate of evaporation of a liquid on
temperature is enormous.

[version 1] We can improve its performance when we use super-heated

steam.
[version 2] An improvement of its performance can be effected by the
use of super-heated steam.

[version 1] Some scientists suggested that this “active nitrogen”

consisted of the gas in its atomic state.
[version 2] It was suggested by some scientists that this “active
nitrogen” consisted of the gas in its atomic state.
[version 1] The reflected light was taken in by the transducer.
[version 2] The reflected light was absorbed by the transducer.

[version 1] Costs can be reduced by this process.

[version 2] This process consumes 5% less fuel and produces 12% more power.
 School of Foreign Languages ShanYu

Classification of Scientific Style

General Scientific Style

Professional Scientific Style

 School of Foreign Languages ShanYu

Classification
Principle: Functional
Grammar

the scope of the the relationship the channels

Field

Tenor

Mode
subject matter between the and media of
or discourse speakers, such communication,
as their role such as oral or
relationship, written
role status and language,
so on natural or
artificial
language
 General Scientific Style

文体 正式程度 语场 语旨 语式

I--- 低 科普读物 专家与外行之间 自然语言

中小学教材 避免术语
普通
多用修辞格
科技文体

II--- 较低 消费领域的产品说明书、 生产部门与消费者之间 自然语言

使用手册、促销材料等 少量术语
句法灵活

III--- 中等 生产领域的操作规程、维 生产部门的技术人员、职 自然语言

修手册、安全条例等 工之间 部分术语
句法刻板

School of Foreign Languages Sci-tech Research Group

 Professional Scientific Style

文体 正式程度 语场 语旨 语式

IV-- 较高 应用科学技术论文、报 同一领域的专家之间 自然语言为主

告、著作 辅以人工符号
专用
较多专业术语
科技文体
句法规范

V--- 很高 科技论著、法律文本 高级管理人员之间、律师 自然语言为主

之间或专家之间 辅以人工符号
较多专业术语
句法严密

VI--- 最高 数学、力学等基础理论 科学家之间 人工语言为主

科学论著、报告 辅以自然语言
较多专业术语
句法严谨

School of Foreign Languages Sci-tech Research Group

 Register Analysis and Comparison
下面三段话分属不同的文体，对比这三段话并将其翻译成英语，注意它们在遣词造句上
的文体差异，翻译时请注意译文文体的适切性。

① Morse’s Disease is one of a small number of known di-viral diseases in which the primary
and secondary stages are caused by two different viruses or by two morphologically instinct
stages of virus. The primary virus, designated TK-112, retards diffusion of beta-keto acids
from cells, particularly in the epidemics. The secondary virus, TK-113…

② Despite a common belief that Morse’s Disease is a minor childhood ailment, medical
research has uncovered the serious damage which often sneaks up on the victim after the
mild primary symptoms have vanished. Weakened vision, slowed –up reflexes, and even
brain damage may occur, but so slowly that heretofore they have been ascribed to other
causes. The cause lies in a secondary virus which slowly multiplies after the primary virus
has temporarily depleted the white blood corpuscles…

③ For most kids, Morse’s Disease isn’t bad. You get a pimply skin which itches. During the
next couple of days you may feel almost too weak to cross the room. Then it’s over. But
some kids aren’t that lucky. Morse’s Disease sometimes leaves behind a slow poison in the
body which…
 School of Foreign Languages ShanYu

Section 2 Grammatical Features

Tense Factor

Voice Factor

Modal Factor

Mood Factor
 Tense Factor

at present, now, then, first

单词法

时间短语 already, ten years ago, in the

组合法 future, at the end of

屈折时
态法 助动词和谓语动词的屈折变化

School of Foreign Languages Sci-tech Research Group

 举例说明

① Force applied equals mass times acceleration.(F=ma)

② The company will bring its first ”RNAi therapeutic” into the
clinic next year to target VEGF, a protein which causes
uncontrolled blood vessel growth in age-related macular
degeneration, the leading cause of adult blindness, said Dr.
John Maraganore, the president of the company.

① 力等于质量乘以加速度。
② 该公司总裁约翰 · 马拉加诺博士说，公司明年将把它的第一种“ RNAi 治疗剂”应用
于临床，其靶标是 VEGF 这种蛋白质，这种蛋白质在与年龄有关的黄斑变性（成年人
失明的首要原因）中引起血管的失控增长。
RNAi ： RNA(ribonucleic acid) interference, 核糖核酸干涉
VEGF ： vascular endothelial growth factor, 血管内皮（细胞）生长因子
 Voice Factor

主动
语态

被动
语态

文体客观性要求
凸显受事者要求
语篇连贯性要求
礼貌原则要求

School of Foreign Languages Sci-tech Research Group

 举例说明

① In terms of numbers, the alliance today is outmanned,

outgunned, outranked and out planed.
就数量而言，联盟在兵员、枪炮、坦克、飞机等配备方面都远远落后于人家。
② A knowledge of statistics is required by every type of
scientist for the analysis of data.
各类科学家要分析数据，都需要有统计学知识。
③ Many advances in computer technology took place in the
twenty years after 1950. They are generally classified into
four stages or generations.
计算机技术的许多进步是在 1950 年之后的 20 年里取得的，通常可以分为四个阶段或四
代。
④ This text has also been successfully used to teach students
in other fields of engineering.
本教科书也已成功地用来教授其他工程领域的学生。
 Modal Factor

Be able to could can

Shall may will

能
力
提议、
建议

必须、
Have to should must
应该

情态 惯
允
Used to would will
意义 许
推论、
肯定

意
愿
Could can might

Must will ought to

Would will

School of Foreign Languages Sci-tech Research Group

 翻译练习

① The jack can support 2 tons.

② The jack could support 2 tons.
③ The jack should be able to support 2 tons.
④ The jack may be able to support 2 tons.
⑤ The jack might be able to support 2 tons.

① 这个千斤顶能支撑两吨的重量。
② 这个千斤顶可支撑两吨的重量。
③ 这个千斤顶应该能支撑两吨的重量。
④ 这个千斤顶可能能支撑两吨的重量。
⑤ 这个千斤顶或许能支撑两吨的重量。
 翻译练习

• 可以安装电子控制系统。
• 应该安装电子控制系统。
• 必须安装电子控制系统。
• 规定必须装上电子控制系统。

可能性程度 汉语 英语
低 (low) 想、愿意、肯、可 Can, may, could,
might, dare
以、可、可能
中 (median) 会、要、配、值得、Will, would,
should
能、能够、敢
高 (high) 应该、应当、准许、Must, ought to,
need, shall
应、该
Mood Factor

对事实的一般性叙述，可分为肯
定、否定和疑问三种形式
陈述

表示命令、劝告、请求等
语气

分为肯定和否定两种形式
祈使
语气

虚拟
语气 Don’t +V.
Let us not+V.
Don’t you+V/Never+V.

1. 与事实相反，不可能实现或难于实现的事；
2. 表示主观愿望、要求、建议、命令等；
3. 表示委婉语气或主观的推测。
 翻译练习

前几章，我们讨论了许多种方程的解法。
试解这此方程，求出未知数。
请不要碰这个调谐旋钮。
在这种情况下，在这个节点处我们不要使用基尔霍夫电流定律。
请不要直接在电压源两端接成短路！

1. In previous chapters we have discussed methods of solving many kinds of equations.

2. Solve these equations for the unknowns.
3. Don’t touch the tuning knob.
4. In this case, let us not apply KCL at this node.
5. Don’t you attempt a short circuit directly across a voltage source!
虚拟语气

假设时间 条件句中的谓语形式 主句谓语形式

与现在事实相反 过去时 过去将来时

1. 一般动词用过去式 Should/Would/Could/Might+V.
2.be---were/was

与过去事实相反 过去完成时 过去将来完成时

Had+pp. Should/Would/Could/Might+have+pp.

与将来事实相反 1. should+V. 过去将来时（不易实现的事）

2. Were to do
（推测与告诫） 一般将来 / 一般现在（能够实现的事）

①What would happen if the boy on the bridge had thrown the
stone at 20 m/s exactly horizontally instead of vertically?
②Were an error to exist, it is amplified and applied to a motor
drive.
① 要是站在桥上的那个男孩，当时以每秒 20 米的速度完全水平地而不是
垂直地扔出那块石头，那么现存会发生什么情况呢？
② 一旦出现误差，它就会被放大并加到马达驱动器上。
 虚拟语气

形容词 Necessary, essential, important, It +is+adj.+that

imperative, possible, impossible, 例1
natural, desirable, reasonable, S+v+it+adj.+that
better, preferable 等 例2
及物动词 Require, demand, suggest, desire, It +V(pass.)+that 例
propose, order, recommend, request, 3
necessitate 等 S+V(tr.)+that 例 4

名词 Requirement, suggestion, necessity, It+ is +n.+that 例 5

importance, desire, recommendation, n. +is
request, order, condition, constraint, +that+V(pass.) 例 6
restriction, restraint, philosophy 等

School of Foreign Languages Sci-tech Research Group

 翻译练习

例 1 ：极为重要的是，每一步测量得准确。
It is of paramount importance (extremely important)that correct
measurements be carried out at every step.
例 2 ：他们认为，重要的是应注意距离、速度和加速度的代数符号。
They consider it important that proper attention be paid to the algebraic signs of
distances, velocities, and accelerations.
例 3 ：建议立即修改这一设计。
It is suggested that this design should be modified at once.
例 4 ：国际电工技术委员会建议，应该放弃这一标准而采用基于载流导体之间磁力的一
种标准。
The international Electrotechnical Commission has recommended that this
standard be abandoned in favor of one based on the magnetic forces between
current-carrying conductors.
例 5: 读者应袖珍计算器来做基础电子学中所要求的数学计算。
It is recommended that the reader use a pocket calculator to do the mathematical
work required in basic electronics.
例 6 ： x---a 能够除尽分子的条件是 , x=a 是一个根。
The condition that X-a divide the numerator is that x=a be a root.
 虚拟语气

用 于 汉 语 某 些 固 定 结 构 的 转 换 ： 若 （ provided that ） 、 假 如 （ in case ） 、 除 非

（ unless ）、若没有（ without ）、在……情况下（ under ），通过（ by ），要不是
（ but for=were it not for ），在缺乏……的情况下（ in the absence of ）

例 1 ：若没有地球引力，地球上的一切东西都将失重。
Everything on the earth will lose its weight provided there be no gravity.
例 2 ：除非商品的部件能造得几乎一致而使得它们完全可以互换，否则使我们这个社会
变得很富裕的商品的批量生产是不可能做到的。
Mass production of goods that has produced our present affluent society would be
impossible unless their parts could be made so nearly alike as to be completely
interchangeable.
例 3 ：要是没有半导体，就不可能有卫星通信这类事。
Some things, like satellite communications, would be impossible without
semiconductors.
例 4 ：要是没有二进制，电子计算机可能要比现在复杂得多。
But for the binary system, the electronic computers might have been much more
complicated.
例 5 ：没有重力的话，地球周围就没有空气。
In the absence of gravity, there would be no air around the earth.
虚拟语气

中文标志词 英文标志词 从句中的谓语形式

好像 as if 涉及现在：过去时
as though
仿佛 Be---was/were
好似 涉及过去：过去完成时

不论…… Whether…or… （ 省 略 whether 需 倒 Be 动词

不管…… 装）
(Should)+V.
无论…… No matter…

以免 Lest, in case, for fear that (Should)+V.

为了 In order that/so that (Should/could/would/might)+V.

但愿，要是……就好 If only 涉及现在 / 将来：过去时

Wish
但愿
Would rather
倒希望，要是……就 涉及过去：过去完成
 翻译练习

例 1 ：在这种情况下，静电计上的叶片将会岔开，就好像它们曾由于接触了带电的物体而
充了电似的。
In this case, the leaves of the electrometer will diverge just as if they had been
charged from a body electrified by contact.
例 2 ：任何电子设备，不论它是像电视机那么复杂，还是像手电筒那么简单，其工作情
况，均可通过测定其功能单元——“电路”的各个部分的电流大小和方向而知晓。
The operation of any electronic device, be it as complicated as a television receiver or as
simple as a flashlight, can be understood by determining the magnitude and direction of
electric currents in all parts of its functional unit, the circuit.
例 3 ：我们将会看到，不论选择哪个 P 点，该投影在相应于 P 的那一点上有一个尖点。
The projection will be seen to have a cusp at the point which corresponds to P, no
matter what point P be chosen.
例 4 ：电抗支路应该是其中不存在任何电阻的纯电抗，以免电抗电流与外加电压的相位
差不成 90° 。
The reactive branches should be pure reactances with no resistance present in them,
lest the reactive current not be 90°out of phase with the applied voltage.
 School of Foreign Languages ShanYu

Section 3 Rhetoric Features

明喻（Simile）

隐喻（Metaphor）

提喻（Synecdoche）

拟人（Personification）

排比（Parallelism）

押韵（Rhyme）

借代（Metonymy）

反复（Repetition）

低调陈述（Understatement）
词层

① U—bend U—steel U—shaped spring

② Cross—piece shoe button cell daw magnet splice bar
③ H—beam V—be1t H—post R—sweep T—beam J—scope O—ring
④ dovetail slot twist drill heart carrier zigzag line

句层

例 1 When the propeller turns ， it pushes the ship forwards just as a wood
screw goes forwards into a piece of wood when it is turned ．

例 2 Like a solidly hit fast ball, the Big Bang is going—going—going.

形态转移 结构转移
butterfly bolt Sandwich concrete
eagle nose pliers cylinder wall
sunflower disc branch
snail wheel

动作转移 性质转移
Dog course Mother machine
monkey driver balance wheel
grass-hopper conveyor sister metal

领域转移 功能转移
Cyberholic
Word processing Airbrush
digital nervous system carrier rocket
例 3 电脑空间包括飞速发展的无线通讯系统：微波发射塔、通讯卫星和低飞
的卫星。其中，微波发射塔传送着大量的蜂窝电话信号和数据，通讯卫星象
串珠一样与地球在同步轨道上运行，而低飞的卫星就像忙碌的蜜蜂往返穿梭
于全球，使得因相距遥远或行距不定而无法使用有线通讯器材的人们取得联
系。
In (cyber space) includes the rapidly expanding wireless services: microwave
towers that carry great quantities of cellular phone and data traffic; communications
satellites strung like beads in geosynchronous orbit; low-flying satellites that will
soon crisscross the globe like busy bees, connecting folks too far-flung or too much
on the go to be tethered by wires.

例 4 This was something too earth-shaking to handle with kid gloves, and Jaunte
was anxious to make his name immortal.

这个事件是如此惊世骗俗，用小儿科的办法来研究显然不够，而且强特也急
于想让自己的名字流芳百世，所以无论什么方法他都愿意配合。

simile
例 5 Is cloning technology becoming the sword of Damocles to human beings?

克隆技术是否正日益成为人类头上的一柄达摩克利斯剑，无时无刻不在威胁
着人们的安全呢？

例 6 The babel of their plan to invent a perpetual motion machine must terror to the
ground.

他们想发明永动机的计划是空想，到头来必然落空。

metaphor
The exact composition of the corrosion product depends upon the atmosphere
so that the patina may be protected or permit further corrosion leading to deep
and penetrating attack ．

The list of nondestructive testing methods in Table 1 provides a range of proven

tools for a Variety of test conditions and materials ． Yet we are aware that
there are many other methods and modifications of the methods we’ve
discussed ．
synecdoche
The programme ready for computers to “read” is prepared in a specially
designed language.

Since the ear1y 1950s ， when naval missiles came of age ， the way in which
the different navies evaluated the level of importance to be attributed to naval
gun has been marked by ups and downs ．

personification
物质可分为两类：单质和化合物。单质是一种不能分解为其他物质的物质。
化合物是由两种或两种以上元素按一定重量比化合而成的物质。

Substances can be classified into elements and compounds. An element is a

substance which has not been decomposed into other substances. A compound
is a substance composed of two or more elements chemically combined in
definite proportions by weight.

parallelism

It is , basically, a response to propaganda, something like the panic-producing

pheromone that slave-taking ants release to disorganize the colonies of their
prey.
这大致是对信息传递的一种反应像奴蚁释放诱致惊恐的信息素在起作用，
以使其捕食的群体陷入混乱。

Alliteration
More often, the heart disease process progresses silently until symptoms occur
because the pump is not supplying blood in sufficient quantity to other organs.

更常见的是，这种心脏病在发作过程中并无症状，后来发生症状是因为心脏
不能给其他器官供应充足的血液。

Metonymy

可采用下列运行条件：
a) 装置牌规定负载和运行条件下；
b) 装置处于满负载下（情况与 a ）不同；
c) 装置处于无负载下；
d) ……

The following operational conditions may be appropriate:

a) device under specified load and operating conditions;
b) device under full load(if different from a);
c) device under no load
d)…
Repetition
With words:
For large numbers of people, the absence of work is harmful
to their health.
I have studied humane nature, and I knew a thing or two.

With Grammars:
I know he is honest, and I wish I could add he were capable.
It was not without reason that the council decided to take such
measures.

Understatement
 翻译练习

1. More weight must be placed on the past history of patients.

2. Windows has its fans and detractors.
3. In the vertical faces, the glass is clear to take advantage of sunlight.
4. Quantum chemistry is now in its infancy.
5. The thermometer rises or falls accordingly as the air is hot or cold.
6. If a window freezes on your screen, press Ctrl+Alt+Del.
7. Alloys belong to a half-way house between mixtures and compounds.
8. The storm is circular, if we can draw circular isobars we can normally pinpoint
the center of the storm.
9. The doctor may insert thin needles into the skin of a patient at key points
along meridians.
10. The major problems in manufacturing is the control of contamination and
foreign material.
参考译文

（ 1 ）必须更加重视患者的病史。
（ 2 ）人们对 Windows 操作系统褒贬不一。
（ 3 ）立面上的玻璃是透明的，以便利用日光。
（ 4 ）量子化学正处于发展的初级阶段。
（ 5 ）温度计的液柱随空气的冷热而下降或上升。
（ 6 ）如果屏幕上的显示窗口动不了了（死机），请按下 Ctrl+Alt+Del 键。
（ 7 ）合金是一种介于混合物和化合物之间的物质。
（ 8 ）这是因为台风呈环形，所以只要我们画出环形等压线，通常就能精确
地定位台风的中心。
（ 9 ）医生可以把一些细针沿病人身上的经络扎入穴位中。
（ 10 ）制造过程中的一个主要问题是控制污染和杂质。