问答题
The Living Seas

The ocean covers three quarters of the earth"s surface, produces 90 percent of all its life-supporting oxygen, and is the driving force behind the entire weather system. There are over 450 million cubic miles of sea water on the earth; and each cubic mile contains over 150 million tons of minerals.
So vast and so pervasive is the sea that if the earth"s crust were made level, ocean water would form a blanket over 8,000 feet deep.
The oceans contribute immeasurably to the earth"s life support system as well as provide an untapped storehouse of food, minerals, energy, and archaeological treasure.
Advanced atmospheric diving suits permit researchers to descend to depths of 1,500 feet. Yet the ocean"s average depth is greater than 12,000 feet. It is at these depths that remarkable discoveries are being made, discoveries which only a short time ago would have been impossible.
In that depth, where darkness is absolute and pressure exceeds eight tons per square inch, robotic submersibles have discovered enormous gorges, four times deeper than the Grand Canyon. Here, too, are volcanoes that vastly outnumber those on land. Landslides the size of Rhode Island have been recorded, as well as raging undersea storms that go completely unnoticed on the surface while dramatically rearranging the underwater landscapes.
And under these seas the largest single geological feature on earth has been found—a mountain range that dwarfs the Himalayas. It"s a range that covers nearly one quarter of the earth"s surface.
【正确答案】
【答案解析】
富有生命的海洋

海洋占地球表面3/4。地球上维持生命的氧气，90%产生于海洋，整个天气体系变化的动力也来自于海洋。地球上的海水超过4.5亿立方英里，每立方英里含有的矿物超过1.5亿吨。
海洋如此浩瀚，分布如此辽阔，地球表层如果变为平整的，那么海水便会如同一张8000多英尺厚的毯子般覆盖整个地球。
海洋对地球上的生命保障系统做出了不可估量的贡献，同时又是一座尚未打开的宝库，储有食物、矿物、能源和具有很大考古价值的宝藏。
先进的常压潜水衣可以使研究人员下沉到1500英尺的深度。但海洋的平均深度便超过了12000英尺。正是在这样的深度下人们才有了惊人的发现，而这些发现在不久之前是不可能办到的。
这个深度下的海中完全是漆黑一片，每平方英寸的压力超过8吨，潜水机器人在这里发现了巨大的峡谷，比美国科罗拉多大峡谷深3倍。这里火山数量也远远超过了陆地上的火山数量，这里也曾有过规模和罗得岛一样巨大的山崩，还有猛烈的海底风暴，这种风暴在海面上完全觉察不到，却剧烈地改变着水下的景观。
就在这些海洋中，人们发现了地球上举世无双的最大的地质构成——一条使喜马拉雅山相形见绌的大山脉。这条山脉覆盖了地球表面几乎1/4。 [解析] The ocean covers three quarters of the earth"s surface, produces 90 percent of all its life-supporting oxygen. and is the driving force behind the entire weather system.
在翻译这句话的后半句时，我们将语序做了适当的调整，将原文中的“oxygen”(氧气)提至前边做后半句的主语，“the driving force behind...”译为了“动力来自于……”。
海洋占地球表面3/4。地球上维持生命的氧气，90%产生于海洋，整个天气体系变化的动力也来自于海洋。
So vast and so pervasive is the sea that if the earth"s crust were made level, ocean water would form a blanket over 8,000 feet deep.
这句话中包含了一个由if引导的虚拟条件句，因此谓语动词相应为“were...would”，当我们将中文不可能出现的假设情况译为英文时，也要相应地使用这样的虚拟结构。“blanket”这个词在这里为比喻修辞，译为“如同毯子般……”，保留了修辞。
海洋如此浩瀚，分布如此辽阔，地球表层如果变为平整的，那么海水便会如同一张8000多英尺厚的毯子般覆盖整个地球。
Advanced atmospheric diving suits permit researchers to descend to depths of 1,500 feet.
“advanced atmospheric diving suits”为“先进的常压潜水服”。名词“suits”前有三个修饰成分，这样的结构在科技类文章中十分常见，英文中修饰语的排列顺序可以按照一个口诀“限(限定词)数(数量词)描(描述词)大(大小)形(形状)，新(新旧)色(色彩)国(国家)材(材料)名(名词修饰语)”来确定。
先进的常压潜水衣可以使研究人员下沉到1500英尺的深度。
It is at these depths that remarkable discoveries are being made, discoveries which only a short time ago would have been impossible.
这句话中后半个分句中的“discoveries”是前边的同位语，在这里重述便于连接后边出现的定语从句，翻译时，可以处理为相较而言独立的分句。
正是在这样的深度下人们才有了惊人的发现，而这些发现在不久之前是不可能办到的。
In that depth, where darkness is absolute and pressure exceeds eight tons per square inch, robotic submersibles have discovered enormous gorges, four times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
这句话中“four times deeper than”这样的表示倍数关系的表达在科技类文章中也是经常出现的。这句话中的倍数关系为“A是B的4倍”或者“A比B深3倍”。翻译倍数关系时一定要谨慎，避免出错。
这个深度下的海中完全是漆黑一片，每平方英寸的压力超过8吨，潜水机器人在这里发现了巨大的峡谷，比美国科罗拉多大峡谷深3倍。