(1)学术英语阅读和翻译

LECTURE ONE
Text One:
The Age of the Earth
This is a question to which we may never have the exact answer. Man has wondered about the age of the earth since ancient times, and there were all kinds of myths and legends that seemed to have the answer. But he couldn't begin to think about the question scientifically until about 400 years ago.
When it was proven at that time that the earth revolved around the sun (in other words, that the earth was part of our solar system)，then scientists knew where to begin. To find the age of the earth, it was necessary to explain how the solar system was born. How did the sun and all the planets come into being?
One theory was called the nebular hypothesis. According to this theory, there was once a great mass of white-hot gas whirling about in space and getting smaller and hotter all the time. As the gas cloud grew smaller, it threw off rings of gas. Each of these rings condensed to form a planet, and the rest of the mass shrank into the center to become the sun.
Another explanation is called the planetesimal theory. According to this, millions and millions of years ago, there was a huge mass made up of small, solid bodies called planetesimals, with the sun at the center. A
great star came along and pulled on the sun so that parts of it broke away. These parts picked up the tiny planetesimals the way a rolling snowball picks up snow, and they became planets.
Whichever theory is right, astronomers have figured out that it all probably happened about 5,500,000,000 years ago! But other scientists besides astronomers have tackled this question. They tried to find the answer by studying how long it took for the earth to become the way we know it. They studied the length of time it takes to wear down the oldest mountains, or the time needed for the oceans to collect the salt they now contain.
After all their studies, these scientists agree with the astronomers: The earth is about 5,500,000,000 years old!
【参考译文】
地球的年龄
地球已经存在多长时间这一问题，也许很难有个确切的答案。

自古以来，人们一直都在猜测地球的年龄，有过各种神话故事和动人传说，也似曾有过一些不同的答案。

约从400年前开始，人们才从科学的角度去探索和揭示这个奥秘。

当时的科学家证实了“地球围绕太阳运转”的基本事实（换言之，地球当属太阳系的一部分），此后，科学家也就真正懂得应该如何着手去探索和揭示地球的奥秘。

假如真想找到有关地球年龄的答案，首先就应了解太阳系的形成过程。

那么，太阳和其他行星究竟是如何形
成的呢？
最初曾有科学家提出一种理论，称之为星云假说。

根据这种理论，很久以前曾有一个巨大的白热气团，这个巨大气团总在太空中不停地回旋，气团越变越小，而且愈加炙热。

随着气团逐渐缩小，若干气环脱离气团。

每个脱离的气环经过冷凝之后演变成为一颗新的行星，逐渐缩小的气团被卷入核心之后最终变成了太阳。

另有一种理论称为微星假说。

根据这一假说，若干万亿年以前，曾经有个以太阳为中心的大气团，它是由若干小块而坚硬的星体所组成，它们叫微星。

有一次，另外一颗大恒星朝着这个大气团的方向移动，那颗大恒星的引力牵动了这个大气团中心的太阳，结果导致了大恒星的局部残裂，若干破裂的小星块滚雪球般地吸引着不同的微星，终而形成一些新的行星。

无论上述哪种理论正确，天文学家已经基本测出地球的形成时期，即地球早在55亿年前就已形成！除天文学家外，其他领域的科学家也致力于研究地球的演变过程，测算地球演变至今所需花费或经历的时间，他们几乎殊途同归，同样揭开了千古之谜。

这些科学家主要通过研究原始山脉遭受磨损的程度及其历时，抑或通过测算海水所含盐量、海盐累积速率以及海水盐度变化历时等。

其他领域的科学家通过不同手段的研究，最终得出相同的研究结论，他们完全赞同天文学家的下述观点：地球如今已有55亿岁的高龄了！
Text Two:
The Atmosphere of the Earth
As we read about man's plans to explore the moon and other planets, we often come across the question of an atmosphere. Do other planets have an atmosphere, too?
As far as scientists know，there is no other planet or star that has an atmosphere like ours. What is atmosphere? We can think of it as a great ocean of air that surrounds the earth and that extends up for hundreds of miles.
This ocean of air is just about the same the world over. In general, it consists of certain gases which are always found in the same proportions. About 78 percent of it is nitrogen, about 21 percent oxygen, and the remaining one percent consists of what are called rare gases- argon, neon，helium, krypton, and xenon.
The air that blankets the earth has the same chemical composition up to a height of about 18 miles, though it may be that this figure goes as high as 44 miles. When you reach the top layer of this atmosphere, you are at the end of what is called the troposphere. This is the layer nearest the earth.
At 18 to 31 miles above the earth's surface, there is a layer of hot air, probably about 108 degrees Fahrenheit. The warmth is caused by the absorption of heat from the sun by the ozone which is present. Ozone is a
special form of oxygen in which a molecule consists of three atoms of oxygen instead of the usual two. The hot ozone layer serves to protect us from the most active of the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Without it，we could not stand the sun's light.
Still higher up is a layer, or series of layers, of the atmosphere called the ionosphere. This extends from about 44 miles to 310 miles above the earth. It consists of particles electrified by the sun.
The molecules in the air are in constant motion. The atmosphere can be maintained only if the molecules keep colliding with others so they can't escape. But as we go higher and higher, the air becomes thinner. The chances become very small that a molecule from below will bounce back from a collision with a molecule above. So the molecules escape to outer space and our atmosphere thins out into nothingness. There is a region called the exosphere where escaped molecules move about freely, which starts at about 400 miles and extends up to about 1,500 miles.
【参考译文】
地球的大气层
谈到人类探索月球和其他星球计划时，常会遇到“大气层”这个问题，其他星球也存在同样的问题吗？
就科学家所知，其他行星或恒星并不像地球一样拥有大气层。

那么，何谓大气层？不妨把其视为环绕地球外围并且往上延伸数百英里以外的一个巨大气团（亦称“空气的海洋”或称“人类的第二海洋”）。

科学家发现，巨大气团与整个世界的大小相当，通常是由某些同等比例的气体所组成，其中氮气约占78%，氧气约占21%，其余的气体叫稀有气体，包括氩气、氖气、氦气、氪气和氙气等，约占1%。

约在18英里处的高空（即使18英里这个数字很有可能还会升至44英里），包围地球的大气化学成分相同。

位处大气层的顶端（或位处对流层的末端）时，也即大气层与地球的最近点。

在离地表18到31英里处的高空有一个热气层，温高约达华氏108度，这主要是因该气层中的现存臭氧吸收太阳热量所致。

臭氧是一种特殊的氧气，臭氧的任一分子均由3个氧原子组成，而不像一般氧气那样是由2个氧原子组成。

热臭氧层可以保护生灵免遭太阳最活跃的紫外线的伤害。

假如没有热臭氧层的保护，我们根本无法承受阳光的直接辐射。

再往上面的更高地方则是另外一个或多个气层，称为电离层。

电离层约从离地44英里处的高空向上延伸到310英里处的高空，它由受到太阳电离的粒子所组成。

空气中的分子总在不停地运动，当分子保持互相碰撞以致无法逃逸时，大气的状态才能得以保持。

不过，越往高处空气也会变得愈加稀薄，来自下面与来自上面的分子互相碰撞之后再次弹回原位的概率几乎很小。

因此，分子逃逸进入外层空间，大气便会变得愈加稀薄，直至荡然无存。

另有一个区域称为外逸层，约从离地400英里处开始向上延伸到1500英里处的高空，逃逸的分子可在外大气层四处自由运动。

Text Three:
The Continents Ever Joined Together
Take a look at a map of the world. Now look at the two continents of South America and Africa. Do you notice how South America sticks out to the right where Brazil is, and how Africa is indented on the left side? Doesn't it seem as if you could fit them together like a puzzle and make them one continent?
Well, about one hundred years ago a German scientist named Alfred Wegner was doing just that. He wrote: "He who examines the opposite coasts of the South Atlantic Ocean must be somewhat surprised by the similarity of the shapes of the coastlines of Brazil and Africa. Every projection on the Brazilian side corresponds to a similarly shaped indentation on the African side.
Wegner also learned that naturalists had been studying the prehistoric plant and animal life of South America and Africa and had found many similarities. This convinced him that these two continents were once attached and had drifted apart.
He formulated a theory which he called the theory of the displacement of continents. According to this theory, the land masses of the earth were once all joined together in one continuous continent. There were rivers，lakes，and inland seas. Then for some unknown reason，this land mass began to break up. South America split off from Africa and
drifted away. North America split off from Western Europe and floated to the west. All of the continents as we now know them were thus formed.
Did this actually happen as Wegner says it did? We don't know. It's only a theory. But as you can see from the map, there is some evidence to support it. And the study of prehistoric plant and animal life makes it seem possible, too. Besides，the earth's crust is still shifting today. So perhaps Wegner was right!
【参考译文】
大陆板块彼此曾相连
【大陆板块曾经相接何处？】
打开世界地图，瞧瞧南美和非洲两块大陆，是否您也会发现，左边的南美大陆如何向外凸出，巴西恰好坐落于此，而右边的非洲大陆如何向内凹进？难道您不觉得，这简直像个谜团，几乎可把彼此陆块拼在一起连成一个整体！
约在一个世纪以前，一位名叫阿尔弗雷德·瓦格纳的德国科学家曾就这么做过。

据他记载：“仔细观察过南大西洋左右两岸的人们，必然会对巴西和非洲岸线的拼接吻合程度略感惊讶。

巴西岸线的凸出部分与非洲岸线的凹进部分基本吻合”。

瓦格纳也知道，博物学家曾对南美洲和非洲的史前植物和动物做过比较研究，发现它们之间具有很多相似之处。

这使他更加坚信南美洲和非洲这两大陆块原先一度相连，尔后才开始分离和漂移。

他并据此提出了大陆漂移假说。

根据这种理论，地球上所有的大
陆板块原本都是连成一体，形成一个巨大陆块，陆上也有河流、湖泊和内海等。

由于至今不详的某种原因，巨大板块后来开始崩裂分离。

南美洲大陆终于脱离了非洲大陆，并开始向西漂移。

北美洲与欧洲大陆分离，从此不与西欧接壤，脱离之后也是向西漂移。

从理论的角度来看，大家目前所知道的几个大陆板块实际上就是这样形成的。

这一切真的就像瓦格纳所说的那样发生的吗？当然，我们也搞不太清楚，这只能说是一种理论。

不过，正如从地图上可以看到的那样，有些实证足以支持这种假说。

况且，两个大陆板块上的史前动植物研究似乎也能够使这种假说站得住脚。

此外，地壳至今仍在漂动移位。

因此，瓦格纳的理论也许是正确的。