翻译题
Mars has been much possessed by death. In the late 19th century Percival Lowell, an American astronomer, persuaded much of the public that the red planet was dying of desertification. H.6. Wells, in "The War of the Worlds", imagined Martian invaders bringing death to Earth. 【F1】Science was not much cheerier than science fiction: space probes revealed that having once been warmer and wetter, Mars is now cold, cratered and all-but-airless. Perhaps that is why the dream of taking new life to Mars is such a stirring one. Elon Musk, an entrepreneur, has built a rocket company, SpaceX, from scratch in order to make this dream come true. How odd, then, that Mr. Musk's motivation is born in part of a fear as misplaced as it is striking. He portrays a Mars colony as a hedge against Earth-bound extinction. 【F2】Science-fiction fans have long been familiar with this sort of worry about existential risks—in the 1950s a science fiction writer and inventor told them that confined to Earth "humanity had too many eggs in one rather fragile basket." Others agree. Stephen Hawking, a noted physicist, is one of them. 【F3】If humans stick to a single planet, he warns, they will be sitting ducks for a super virus, a destructive artificial intelligence or a nuclear war that could finish off the whole lot of them at any time. It is true that, in the long run, Earth will become uninhabitable. But that long run is about a billion years. Yes, a natural or maliciously designed pandemic might kill billions. So might a nuclear war, at a pinch climate change might cause similar destruction. But extinction is more than just unprecedented mass mortality, it requires getting rid of everyone. Neither diseases nor wars do that. 【F4】An asteroid as big as the one that dispatched the dinosaurs might take out the whole species, but humans have had the foresight to catalogue the asteroids up to the task and none is coming close in the foreseeable future. So the chance of earthly extinction from any known cause in the next few centuries is remarkably low. As for the unknown, why would they wipe humans from the face of one planet while leaving those on the rock next door in peace? If worrying about forthcoming extinction is unrealistic, trying to hide from it is ignoble. 【F5】At_the margins, it is better that the best and brightest share Earth's risks than have a way to run away from them. Dream of Mars, by all means, but do so in a spirit of hope for new life, not fear of death.
【答案解析】①本句是复合句，由冒号连接的两个分句组成，冒号后的内容是对前文的解释说明。②分句1是Awas not much cheerier than B的比较结构，A是science“科学”，B是science fiction“科幻小说”，文中将二者的情况进行对比。③分句2包含了that引导的宾语从句，说明航天探测器探测的结果。宾语从句中的现在分词短语having once been warmer and wetter作状语，说明火星过去的状态。④从句后半句是主系表结构，由三个并列的形容词cold，cratered和all-but-airless作表语，说明火星现在的状态。
【答案解析】①本句是复合句，分句2是对分句1中的worry作进一步解释说明。分句1为主系表结构，其中be familiar with sth．意思是“对……熟悉”，文中是指科幻迷们对人类生存危机感到熟悉和忧虑。②分句2的主语是a science fiction wnter and inventor，前面是不定冠词a，说明一个人有两重身份，即“既是科幻小说作家，又是发明家”。③句末双引号间的内容had too many eggs in one rather fragile basket借用了经济学的基础知识，即“把过多鸡蛋放在一个篮子里”，说明投资过于集中，风险太大。
【答案解析】①本句是由but连接的并列复合句，分句1陈述小行星对地球有巨大的潜在性威胁，as big as the one是比较结构作后置定语，修饰asteroid，意思是“像……一样大”的小行星。that引导的定语从句具体说明行星的情况。②注意正确理解the whole species中whole的含义，这里不是常见义“整个的”，而是指“全部的”，暗含包括人类在内的所有物种。③分句2的谓语是have the foresight to do sth．结构，意思是“有远见做某事”，catalogue sth．up指“将某物分类”。这句话是指“把小行星分类记录是有先见之明的做法”。
问答题15.【F5】
【正确答案】起码，由世上最聪明绝顶的人分担地球的种种危机，好过他们设法逃避危机。
【答案解析】①本句是由it作形式主语的复合句。真正的主语是that引导的主语从句，还原成一般的句式即that the best and brightest share Earth's risks is better than have a way to run away from them，将最聪明的人的两种做法进行对比，肯定前者share Earth's risks是可取的。②句末的them指代前文的Earth’s risks，即“地球的危机”。