人们认为这种合金钢是这里能提供的最好的合金钢。
Electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed as light .
电磁波传送的速度和光速相同。
Microcomputers are very small in size ,as is shown in Fig.5.
如图5所示,微型计算机体积很小。
In water sound travels nearly five times as fast as in air .
声音在水中的传播速度几乎是在空气中传播速度的五倍。
Compared with hydrogen, oxygen is nearly 16 times as heavy .
氧与氢比较,重量大约是它的十六倍。
The resistance being very high ,the current in the circuit was low.
由于电阻很大,电路中通过的电流就小。
Ice keeps the same temperature while melting .
冰在溶化时,其温度保持不变。
An object, once in motion ,will keep on moving because of its inertia.
物体一旦运动,就会因惯性而持续运动。
All substances ,whether gaseous ,liquid or solid ,are made of atoms .
一切物质,不论是气态、液态,还是固态,都由原子组成。
六、长句
为了表述一个复杂概念,使之逻辑严密,结构紧凑,科技文章中往往出现许多长句。有的长句多达七八个词,以下即是一例。
The efforts that have been made to explain optical phenomena by means of the hypothesis of a medium having the same physical character as an elastic solid body led, in the first instance, to the understanding of a concrete example of a medium which can transmit transverse vibrations ,and at a later stage to the definite conclusion that there is no luminiferous medium having the physical character assumed in the hypothesis.
为了解释光学现象,人们曾试图假定有一种具有与弹性固体相同的物理性质的介质。这种子尝试的结果,最初曾使人们了解到一种能传输横向振动的具有上述假定所以认为的那种物理性质的发光介质。
七、复合词与缩略词
大量使用复合词与缩略词是科技文章的特点之一,复合词从过去的双词组合发展到多词组合;缩略词趋向于任意构词,例如某一篇论文的作者可以就仅在该文中使用的术语组成缩略词,这给翻译工作带来一定的困难。例如:
full-enclosed 全封闭的(双词合成形容词)
feed-back反馈(双词合成名词)
work-harden 加工硬化(双词合成词)
criss-cross交叉着(双词合成副词)
on-and-off-the-road路面越野两用的(多词合成形容词)
anti-armoured-fighting-vehicle-missile反装甲车导弹(多词合成名词)
radiophotography无线电传真(无连字符复合词)
colorimeter色度计(无连字符复合词)
maths (mathematics)数学(裁减式缩略词)
lab (laboratory)实验室
ft (foot/feet)英尺
cpd (compound)化合物
FM(frequency modulation)调频(用首字母组成的缩略词)
P.S.I. (pounds per square inch)磅/英寸
SCR(silicon controlled rectifier )可控硅整流器
TELESAT(telecommunications satellite )通信卫星(混成法构成的缩略词)
根据上述的科技文章的物占,在翻译过程中就要注意各种不同的翻译技巧与方法。例如被动态的译法、长句的处理方法、的倍数的译法等等。