当代研究生英语读写教程上Unit3课文+翻译.doc

Unit 3 1 The first mistake is to think of mankind as a thing in itself. It isn’t. 第一个错误是把人看作是某种独立的事物。其实并不是。 It is part of an intricate web of life. 人是复杂的生命网络系统中的 一部分。 And we can’t think even of life as a thing in itself. It isn’t. 我们甚至不能将生命本身视为某种独立的事物。它确实不是。 It is part of the intricate structure of a planet bathed by energy from the Sun. 生命是一颗沐浴着太阳能的行星上的复杂结 构的一部分。 2 The Earth, in the nearly 5 billion years since it assumed approximately its present form, has undergone a vast evolution. 地球自从呈目前的形状近 50 亿年以来，已经历了一场巨大的演变。 When it first came into being, it very likely lacked what we would today call an ocean and an atmosphere. 在形成的初期，地球上很可能没有我们今天 称之为海洋和大气层之类的东西。 These were formed by the gradual outward movement of material as the solid interior settled together. 当地球的内部固体紧压在一起时，物质的逐渐向外运动就形成了海洋和大气层。 3 Nor were ocean, atmosphere, and solid crust independent of each other after formation. 地球形成之后，海洋、大气层以及坚固的地壳之间也并非相互独立。 There is interaction always: evaporation, condensation, solution, weathering. 它们之间总有相互作用：蒸发，凝结，溶 解，风化，等等。 Far within the solid crust there are slow, continuing changes, too, of which hot springs, volcanoes, and earthquakes are the more noticeable manifestations here on the surface. 在坚固的地壳内很深之处也有不断的缓慢变化，其中温泉、火山、以及地震是在地球表面上较为 引人注目的地质运动。 4 Between 2 billion and 3 billion years ago, portions of the surface water, bathed by the energetic radiation from the Sun, developed complicated compounds in organization sufficiently versatile to qualify as what we call life.在 20 亿到 30 亿年前期间，一部分地球表面的水在太阳能的作用下，形成了结构复杂的化合物，这些化合物灵 活多变，足以形成我们称之为“生命”的东西。 Life forms have become more complex and more various ever since. 生命形式从那时起就变得更为复杂，更为丰富多彩。 5 But the life forms are as much part of the structure of the Earth as any inanimate portion is. 但是生命形式和地球上许多无生命的部分一样，是地球结构中的一部分。 It is all an inseparable part of a whole. 它是整个地球体系中不可分割的一部 分。 If any animal is isolated totally from other forms of life, then death by starvation will surely follow. 如果把任何动物与其他的生物形式完全隔离开，那么该动物肯定要饿