翻译题
"Things are not what they used to be." How often do those in the older generation use this phrase to scold the morals, attitudes and behavior of younger rivals? And yet, how often do the same people, often in positions of power and responsibility, deny the changes in circumstance that newer generations complain about with justification? 【F1】So, let's be clear young scientists today face a harsher, more competitive, stricter, more dispiriting workplace than their bosses and senior colleagues did at the same stages of their own careers. Things are simply not the same as they were back in the day. They are more difficult. The research community—from individual scientists to institutions and funders—must respond. Much has been written about the oversupply of PhD students and the insecurity of the postdoc years. It is hard, and getting harder, to get a foot in the research door. 【F2】In the United States, for example, funding success rates for all age brackets are less than half what they were in 1980, so researchers have to spend more time seeking funds. That burden falls most heavily on new faculty members. Young investigators are still learning an array of professional skills. 【F3】They are less likely than their senior colleagues to have support staff, and more likely to have young children, as well as spouses with their own professional obligations. They have less time than ever to do research or ponder big ideas. New faculty members need more flexibility and support than established investigators with smoothly running groups, often staffed by long-term scientists and technicians. 【F4】Too often, however, these young researchers must address urgent needs—to secure funding and publications—by sacrificing more important goals, such as learning how to run a lab and explore new questions. Extreme competition means that researchers have little time for anything not tied directly to getting ahead. This makes them conservative, rather than ambitious. Scientific assessment often comes down to adding up publications and citations. This steers researchers into the projects most likely to produce scientific papers, often making tiny advances; those who embark on open questions risk stepping off the track to tenure. That is not how science should work. Those with power to make changes must do something. First, they must provide support for young scientists. Second, those demands must change. 【F5】Comment pieces address how to give academic researchers the freedom to pursue discoveries that matter over work that mostly lengthens publication lists.
【答案解析】①本句是复合句。主句为let's be clear…，冒号后面的主从复合句解释说明let’s be clear的内容，即需要弄清楚的内容。②句中包含一个比较结构face a harsher…workplace than their bosses and senior colleagues did…their own careers，作比较的两个对象是young scientists和their bosses and senior colleagues，比较的内容是workplace的境况，比较时间是today和at the same stages of their own careers。
【答案解析】①本句为so连接的并列句。句首的In the United States为地点状语，意为“在美国”。for example“例如”为插入语，表明本句是对上段内容的举例说明；上段末提到“跻身科研界越发艰难”，此处可视为举例佐证。②分句1中，for all age brackets为介词短语作主语funding success rates的后置定语，解释说明funding success rates的年龄范围。③系表结构what they were in 1980的they指代funding success rates，less than意为“少于；小于”，此处是说当今的funding success rates不足1980年的一半。④分句2中，spend some time doing sth．意为“花时间做某事”。
【答案解析】①本句是语法意义上的简单句，包含由and连接的两个并列谓语。②主语They指代前一句提到的Young investigators“年轻研究员”；两个并列谓语均为be likely to do sth．结构，意为“可能做某事”，都使用了比较结构，分别是less likely．．．than…和more likely．．．than…，其中第二个谓语结构为避免重复，承前省略了are和比较状语than their senior colleagues。第二个逗号后的as well as意为“也，还”，相当于in addition to。③句末的with their own professional obligations作spouses的后置定语。
【答案解析】①本句为篇幅较长的简单句。旬首的Too often为频度副词，置于句首起强调作用；however为插入语，表明本句与前一句存在转折关系。②破折号后面由to引出的不定式短语to secure funding and publications解释说明address urgent needs的内容。③第二个破折号后面的介词短语by sacrificing more important goals作方式状语，说明address urgent needs的方式；句末的such as…是对more important goals的举例说明。