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本段中的His rocket harnesses a nuclear process to produce a hot gas plasma值得我们重视，这是harness的转义过程：1）（名词）马具；挽具→2）（动词）套上马具；套车→3）（动词）支配；利用。
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遗憾的是，上文的springboard能守其本义（跳板）而译，而本句的harness，只能以其转义译之：利用。
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Another new method of propulsion is already flying through our Solar System. Pushed only by an electronically driven “ion engine”, Deep Space One is already over-100 million miles from Earth. It works by ionising xenon gas and expelling it with the aid of electric fields, so providing a gentle but constant thrust. The ion engine provides a force about the same as a single sheet of paper exerts on your hand—far too weak to lift a spacecraft from the surface of a planet—but the continuous acceleration has already pushed Deep Space One to a speed ten times higher than any of the manned rockets we use today.
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另一个加大推进力的新方法已大显身手于太阳系。由电动离子发动机推动的“深空1号”已到达距离地球超过1亿英里的地方。它通过电离氙气，借助电磁场将氙气释放，以此提供轻柔但持续的推进力。离子发动机提供的推力，差不多相当于一张纸对手掌施加的压力——这个力量太微小，远不足以将宇宙飞船推离行星球表面——但持续的加速已使“深空1号”的运行速度高出目前任何人造火箭运行速度的10倍。
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本段出现providing a gentle but constant thrust，核心名词是thrust，而thrust在常人心目中绝对是一个非科技用词，因为，它口语用词特色明显。请观察其转义过程：1）刺，戳（v.）→2）戳，刺，猛推（v.）→3）推进力（n.）→4）（各种科技英语专业词汇）［矿］煤柱压裂；［机］推力；侧向压力，轴向力；反压力；［地质］冲断层。以上变化显示了一个普通词汇如何被借开去，最后演变成一个十足的科技英语名词。thrust一词在很多场合用来取代其他看上去更“科技”的名词，如推进力drive, propulsion等。
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thrust带给我们的启示是：不能“以貌取词”，许多专业性很强的词汇借自于常用的简单词汇。翻译时不可掉以轻心。
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Interstellar travel
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星际航行
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To leave the Solar System and carry humans to the stars we will have to find a way of traveling near to the speed of light. Even then a journey could take hundreds or thousands of years. Traveling at 1/10 the speed of light it would take over forty years to reach the nearest star, Alpha Centauri.
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要想飞出太阳系，将人类送上恒星，我们也许得寻找到一个能以近似光速飞行的方法。即便到时候，一次星际航行也可能需要上百甚至上千年时间。以1/10的光速到达距离最近的恒星——半人马座主星，需要40多年的时间。
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科技文章好像不存在口吻（tone）问题。这是一个可怕的误解。比如本段的we will have to find a way of traveling near to the speed of light就值得研究。will have to的意思就是“应该，必须”等，但其口吻要比must, should, ought to等情态动词语气更舒缓，口吻更自然。上段使用经常表示推测或是猜测的口语表达will have to，确实进入了破之境界，如此一破，行文更自然，读者也找回一种亲切感。
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One giant source of free energy is our Sun. Bob Forward has designed the solar sail, a craft that doesn’t have to carry its own fuel supply. It’s driven by the power of the Sun’s rays, and it will be the fastest machine ever built. “The sunlight bounces off the aluminum sails and in the process gives it a tiny push,” explains Forward. Like the ion probe it will accelerate and accelerate and it’s not a total dream. NASA is already experimenting with deploying large sails in Earth-orbit. Propelled by light, solar sails will travel thousands of times faster than Apollo or the Shuttle.
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太阳是巨大的免费能源之源。鲍勃·福沃德已设计了一艘带有太阳帆的宇宙飞船，它无需加载任何燃料以供自用。它由太阳射线放出的能量推动，速度将是人类所造飞船中最快的。“太阳光在铝制船帆上反射，在这个过程中，给飞船微小的推力，”福沃德解释道。像离子发动机一样，它能够加速再加速。这并非只是一个美梦。美国国家航空航天局正在试验将大型飞船部署在地球轨道。由于受到太阳光能的推动，登日飞船的航速将比阿波罗宇宙飞船、航天飞机快好几千倍。
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另外，本段中出现了solar sail，已经成为一个固定的科技词汇，具有鲜明的科技个性，因此，不可草率地将之误译为“登日飞船”！
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勤查词典，是避免误解已经被收入词典的科技术语的有效途径。词典告诉我们，solar sail指太阳帆或太阳反射器（在行星际飞行中利用太阳能的一种设备）。
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Asleep or awake?
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休眠还是清醒？
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Even with the perfect spaceship it isn’t going to be easy. In his classic sci-fi novel 2001, Arthur C. Clarke used the concept of suspended animation as a way for humans to cope with long space flights. He imagined that we would be able to put the human body into hibernation—suspended animation—to escape the boredom of long interstellar missions.
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即便有尽善尽美的宇宙飞船，星际航行也绝非易事。亚瑟·C·克拉克在他著名的科幻小说《2001》中，引入了暂时性休眠的概念，以此作为人类应付漫漫太空航行的方法。他设想，我们可以将人体催入冬眠状态，即暂时性休眠，从而使宇航员免受漫漫星际航行的寂寞无聊之苦。
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上段中的suspended animation又是一个值得我们研究的遣词现象。首先，两个普通词汇被借而构成新的科技术语，翻译时，再也不能将两词简单相加，译成“暂停的＋生机”。词典收入了suspended animation，并指出其作为科技术语的含义：［医］假死，晕厥。那么，有了这个现成的释义，译者是否就能照搬词典而译之呢？显然不行。因为，这里提供的仅是适用于医学范畴的术语。而本文却是一篇宇航科技文章。因此，我们必须灵活处理，将suspended animation译成“暂时性休眠”。
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An even more drastic measure might be to freeze the astronauts. We already use cryogenic techniques to preserve dead bodies and store human embryos. Freezing living adults may not be so far away, but perhaps we won’t have to do that. Perhaps we should use our existing technology and send frozen embryos across to the far corners of the cosmos.
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一个更极端的方法是冷冻宇航员。我们已将低温学技术运用于保存尸体和贮存人体胚胎。冷冻活人可能不是遥远的事情，但我们未必非得采用这个方法。或许，我们可以运用现有的技术，将冷冻的胚胎送至宇宙的边际。
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Freezing living adults may not be so far away一句也极为口语化，特别是其中的may not be so far away。语体向下破格的情况非常显见。译文应尽量保留这种语体破格的口吻：冷冻活人可能不是遥远的事情。
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It could certainly save on space. Then hundreds of years from now, billions and billions of miles away, the embryos will be thawed and their hearts will start beating. These space-farers of the future will not grow inside a mother’s body but will be incubated in a machine. They will be brought up by robot. It may seem strange and radical but one day it might just happen…
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冷冻的胚胎在太空中能够得到很好的保存。几百年后，在距离地球数十亿英里处，冷冻的胚胎将会解冻，胎儿的心脏便开始跳动。这些未来的宇宙旅人，并非在母体内孕育，而是在机器中孵育。他们将由机器人抚养长大。这看似怪诞离奇，但说不定哪一天，这些事情就变成现实了呢？
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