关于宇宙起源的科学发现
——1998年英译汉及详解
They were, by far, the largest and most distant objects that scientists had ever detected: a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light years from earth.【F1】
But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.
That was just about the moment that the universe was born. What the researchers found was at once both amazing and expected; the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s Cosmic Background Explorer satellite—Cobe—had discovered landmark evidence that the universe did in fact begin with the primeval explosion that has become known as the Big Bang(the theory that the universe originated in an explosion from a single mass of energy).
【F2】
The existence of the giant clouds was virtually required for the Big Bang, first put forward in the 1920s, to maintain its reign as the dominant explanation of the cosmos.
According to the theory, the universe burst into being as a submicroscopic, unimaginable dense knot of pure energy that flew outward in all directions, emitting radiation as it went, condensing into particles and then into atoms of gas. Over billions of years, the gas was compressed by gravity into galaxies, stars, plants and eventually, even humans.
Cobe is designed to see just the biggest structures, but astronomers would like to see much smaller hot spots as well, the seeds of local objects like clusters and superclusters of galaxies. They shouldn"t have long to wait.【F3】
Astrophysicists working with ground based detectors at the South Pole and balloon borne instruments are closing in on such structures, and may report their findings soon.
【F4】
If the small hot spots look as expected, that will be a triumph for yet another scientific idea, a refinement of the Big Bang called the inflationary universe theory.
Inflation says that very early on, the universe expanded in size by more than a trillion trillion trillion trillion fold in much less than a second, propelled by a sort of antigravity.【F5】
Odd though it sounds, cosmic inflation is a scientifically plausible consequence of some respected ideas in elementary particle physics, and many astrophysicists have been convinced for the better part of a decade that it is true.
【答案解析】解析：本句考查的重点是：定语从句，主语从句和状语从句。 该句是一个多重复合句，其结构可以分为两层。第一层是句子的主干it was the farthest，that引导定语从句，for引导原因状语从句。注意it在这里是具有指代意义的实义词，它指的是上句提到的距地球约150亿光年的巨大云系。第二层结构在for引导的原因状语从句中，what they，were seeing为主语从句，that existed 15 billion years ago为定语从句，修饰前面的the patterns and structures。
【答案解析】解析：本句考查的重点是：现在分词短语作定语和句子成分的转化。 该句是由and连接并列谓语的简单句，其主干是Astrophysicists…are closing in on…and may report theirfindings，working with…and…instruments…是现在分词作后置定语，修饰主语astrophysicists，实际上是表示astrophysicists所用的研究工具，所以不一定要译成定语，可译为“用…”；at the South Pole修饰groundbased detectors。
【答案解析】解析：本句考查重点是：同位语、习语的翻译。 该句是主从复合句，主干是：If…，that will be a triumph…，a refinement…。as expected是一种习惯用法，意为“正如预料的那样”。idea后的成分是它的同位语，同位语可以用中文的“即、也就是”等词翻译，需要时可以把idea，这个词重复翻译一遍。这里由于同位语较长，可以单独处理成一个句子。called…theory为过去分词做the Big Bang的后置定语，可以译为前置定语，当然也可以独立成句。
【答案解析】解析：本句考查的重点是：倒装句和被动语态。 这是一个由and连接的两个并列句。前一部分主干：cosmic inflation is a…consequence．其中Oddthough it sounds是倒装句，正常语序是Though it sounds odd，为让步状语从句。consequence由of somerespected ideas…修饰。后一部分主干是many astrophysicists have been convinced…that，是一个被动句，翻译中可以译为主动语态。此句中出现了两个it，均指cosmic inflation，按照汉语习惯，应避免过多使用相应的代词，而应将它们所替代的内容直接翻译出来或译成“这一论说”。