1705053900 First things first—we’ll have to build either a giant orbiting launch platform, far bigger than the International Space Station (ISS), or a permanently manned lunar base to provide a springboard for the stars. Some planners feel we should limit ourselves to robotic probes, but others are firmly committed to sending humans. “There’s a debate right now about how to explore space,” says astronaut Bill Shepherd, destined to be the first live-aboard Commander of the ISS. “Humans or machines—I think they are complementary.”

1705053901

1705053902 重要的事情先来。我们必须建造一座巨型的轨道发射台，其规模要远大于国际空间站，或者，建造一个长期驻人的月球基地，作为飞往周围恒星的“跳板”。一些设计者认为，我们应控制在机器探测的限度内，而其他设计者则坚决主张将人送入太空。“目前正在就如何探索太空的问题展开辩论，”宇航员比尔·谢泼德如是说。他被任命为国际空间站首任驻站指挥官。“人或机器——我认为两者是相辅相成的。”

1705053903

1705053904 本段的springboard系“转”的典型，使用了名词springboard的转义。springboard的本义是“跳板”。而其转义为“出发平台”（starting platform）。值得考虑的是，翻译时，是保留本义，让读者意会其转移，还是直接译出转义？这是一个非常有趣的问题。看来，不宜一刀切。作者使用springboard的目的是为了简化和形象，译者何乐而不为呢？故将springboard译成“跳板”。

1705053905

1705053906 The human problem

1705053907

1705053908 人类的问题

1705053909

1705053910 Space is the most hostile environment we will ever explore. Even a single five-hour spacewalk requires months of training, and a vast technical backup to keep it safe. The astronauts and cosmonauts who live aboard the ISS will be there for only a few weeks or months; if we want to travel into deep space it could take years. First we’ll have to find out just how long the human body can survive in a weightless environment. In zero gravity, four pints of body fluid rush from the legs to the head where it stays for the duration of the mission. Astronauts often feel as if they have a permanent cold, and disorientation can become a major problem. In space there’s no physical sensation to let you know when you’re upside down and astronauts have to rely on visual clues from their surroundings. A few hours after reaching orbit, one in three of all astronauts will experience space sickness—a feeling rather like carsickness. And weightless conditions lead to calcium being leached from the bones, and problems with the astronauts, immune systems.

1705053911

1705053912 太空是人类探索所进入的最恶劣的环境。即便是一趟五小时的太空行走，也需要数月的强化训练以及庞大的技术支持来确保其安全。居住在国际空间站的宇航员只能在太空中逗留几周或几个月；但假使我们想进入太阳系外的外层空间，则需要呆上数年。首先，我们得确定人体在失重的情况下能坚持多久。在零重力的环境中，有将近四品脱的体液会从肢端涌至头部，并且，这种状况将一直持续到太空任务结束为止。宇航员会像得了永久性感冒一样，搞不清方向将是他们遇到的一个大的问题。在太空中，你无法从生理上感知自己是倒立还是正立着，宇航员只能通过观察周围的环境据以做出推断。在进入轨道后的几小时内，三分之一的宇航员便会出现宇宙病——一种类似晕车的感觉。同时，失重的环境会导致钙质从骨骼中流失，并引起宇航员免疫系统的紊乱。

1705053913

1705053914 hostile（本义：充满敌意的）文学色彩如此浓重的形容词，让读者眼睛一亮！hostile又体现了“转”字，其转义之一是：unfavorable to health and life（不利于健康及生活的），另如a hostile climate（恶劣气候）。和翻译上段的springboard相反，译the most hostile environment中的hostile却不能守其本义，而必须与其转义译之。所以，科技英语中体现“转”的意境的词汇，翻译时到底如何处理，是译其本义，还是译其转义，要应汉语的表达习惯而定，语言的奥妙与魅力，也许就在于此。

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1705053916 Trillions of rocky fragments—meteoroids—roam our Solar System at speeds of up to 150,000 miles an hour. A meteoroid no bigger than a grain of salt could pierce a spaceship window. Protection from the extreme hazards of space is going to need some clever technology. Space is also full of lethal radiation—X-rays, gamma rays and the high-speed particles called cosmic rays.

1705053917

1705053918 无数岩石块，即流星体，以每小时15万英里的速度漫游在太阳系中。即便是盐粒大小的流星体也足以穿透宇宙飞船的船窗。为了避免太空中隐藏的巨大危险，我们需要一些先进奇巧的技术手段。同时，宇宙中还充满了致命的射线——X射线、γ射线，还有被称为宇宙射线的高速粒子束。

1705053919

1705053920 读者也许难以设想，roam（漫游；闲逛；徜徉）会出现在本文。这是第三境界（“破”）的一个用词，从本应更正式的用词破入具有描写性质的普通用词。翻译时，不妨随“破”逐流，将roam our Solar System译作“漫游在太阳系中”。

1705053921

1705053922 Down here on Earth we are protected by the atmosphere and by our planet’s magnetic field, but in space long haul astronauts suffer gradual but irreversible radiation sickness unless they are carefully shielded. Commander Shepherd is confident the ISS will help us crack the problems “The ISS is going to answer a number of questions about long range exploration in space. A lot of things are going to be pioneered on the space station for future exploration.”

1705053923

1705053924 在地球上，我们受到大气层及其地球磁场的保护，而在太空中，长时间逗留的宇航员会逐渐患上不可逆的辐射病，除非他们全身都能防护得滴水不漏。谢泼德指挥官很有信心地认为，国际空间站能帮助我们解决这些问题。“国际空间站将对许多有关远距太空探索的问题做出解答。许多事物将在空间站中得到首次尝试，为将来进一步探索提供基础。”

1705053925

1705053926 本段遣词集中体现了科技文章遣词的第三境界：“破”。

1705053927

1705053928 本段首句中的long haul是什么意思？《美国传统词典》对其释义明明白白地写：［informal］a long period of time。词典添加的这个informal不可小视！科技文章使用如此informal的词组，不是明显的破吗？

1705053929

1705053930 如前所说，破在科技文章中多为往下破格，孰料，本段就出现了向上破格的例子。gradual but irreversible radiation sickness中的irreversible便是一例。很多词典对其解释是：［律］不能取消的，不能改变的。这个“律”告诉我们，irreversible本来就是一个法律用词，因而，属庄重语体。从正式语体遣词到庄重语体遣词，应是往上破格。

1705053931

1705053932 当含有俚语性质的long haul和法律专用形容词的irreversible出现在同一句中，行文活泼，文采灿烂。

1705053933

1705053934 Stepping stones

1705053935

1705053936 太空起降点

1705053937

1705053938 Saturn V is still the most powerful rocket ever built. But even this vast 3,000 tonne giant carried only enough fuel to send a tiny manned capsule with just three men on a 250,000 mile journey—a mere drop in the cosmic ocean. It is over a quarter of a century since the last man stood on the Moon (commander Gene Cernan on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972), and it seems that it will be another quarter of a century before we return to build a permanently manned base there. Bob Forward—who earns his living from designing spaceships of the future—believes we’ll have to find a cheap way of reaching the Moon before we think of living there. His slingshot concept may seem radical at the start of the 21st century, but it is certainly ingenious.” If you have something rotating quite fast around another thing on the end of a string, it has a tendency to fly away. You have to decide when to let go (from Earth-orbit) and—like a trapeze artist catching his partner—you have to decide when to catch the payload (in lunar orbit).” A lunar base would become a viable stepping stone to deep space. In the 1990s, the Clementine and Lunar Prospector spacecraft detected and broken down to make liquid oxygen and hydrogen rocket fuel needed to blast off into deep space.

1705053939

1705053940 土星5号仍是迄今所造成威力最大的运载火箭。但即便是这样重达3000吨的庞然大物，添加充足的燃料，最多也只能运送一个仅容3人的小型太空舱完成一次25万英里的太空航程——这一距离只是宇宙的沧海一粟。人类最近一次登上月球（1972年，由阿波罗17宇宙飞船航天任务指挥官吉恩·瑟南登月成功）距今已经超过25年。而我们似乎还需要再过25年，才能重返月球，在那儿建造一座长期驻人的基地。鲍勃·福沃德以设计未来的宇宙飞船为业。他认为，我们打算在月球上驻人之前，必须找到一个通往月球的便捷之法。他提出的弹射飞行概念也许在21世纪初被视作天方夜谭，但这绝对是极富创意的。“如果让某一物体围绕着另一端的物体飞速旋转，这个旋转着的物体便有飞离的趋势。你得决定何时脱离（地球轨道），还得决定何时（在月球轨道上）接收运载火箭，就像高空秋千表演者接住他的同伴那样。”月球基地将成为通往外层太空的一个可供居住的“跳板”。20世纪90年代，克莱门廷月球勘探者号宇宙飞船在月球地表之下探测到冰冻的水源。我们可以开采这些冰冻水源，将之融化并分解成液体氧和氢，它们是发射火箭进入外层空间所需燃料的必要组成部分。

1705053941

1705053942 本段出现颇让读者意外的句子：…who earns his living from designing spaceships of the future。一个设计未来太空船的专家为了earn his living——“混口饭吃”。如此搭配，的确出人意料！earn his living是十分口语化的表达，是向下破格的遣词手法。其正式庄重的英语表达应该由his profession取代，因而，此句可改写为whose profession is designing spaceships of the future。翻译时，是应将“破”保留，还是向上回归？试想，假若译作“以设计未来的宇宙飞船混口饭吃”，实在难合汉语表达的审美习惯。译成“以设计未来的宇宙飞船为业”尚还差强人意。由此可见，原文中的“破”，在译文中是保留，还是舍弃，要视译入语是否接受，是否符合译入语的审美习惯而定。

1705053943

1705053944 But before we leave the Solar System on our interstellar quest we will have to conquer it. Mars will become our first target. Whether we’ll reach it directly from Earth, from Earth’s orbit or from the Moon is anyone’s guess but Mars is far from being a barren desert like the Moon.

1705053945

1705053946 但在我们离开太阳系开始星际间的探索之前，我们首先要征服它。火星将是我们的第一个目标。是从地球直接出发到达火星，还是从地球轨道出发，亦或从月球出发，现在谁也说不准。但可以肯定的是，火星决不会像月球那样一片贫瘠。

1705053947

1705053948 作者文思鲜活，行文语体不断破格。本段冒出一个口语表达：anyone’s guess，含义是：谁也猜不准的事。另如：Who is coming to have dinner with us is anyone’s guess.（谁来和我们一起吃饭谁也猜不到。）如此文章，不断插入口语表达，文采不俗，但对译者而言，就增累了。不知anyone’s guess含义者，会从正式及庄重的方面去理解，将之误译成“众说纷纭，尚无定论”。

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