Advanced Week 155

写在前面的话

“ScalersTalk 口译进阶小组”的前身是“ScalersTalk 交传小组”，成立于 2015 年 2 月，现阶段，小组继续专注高级阶段的交替传译与同声传译训练，在巩固语言基本功的同时训练各类口译技能，从而为承担正式场合的口译打下坚实基础。 96 周起，小组全面引入 CATTI 新版二口教材的训练，时间为每天晚上 8 点到 9 点，训练期间播放录音、记笔记，在空白处按暂停键后做口译，用 QQ 发群语音，然后对照文档，查找漏译和错译的部分，标出口译时较为困难的词汇和表达，随时发到群里；每天早上 6 点到 7 点训练复述。

本周复盘说明

第 155 周训练材料为交替传译和复述，本日志整理的是复述材料How Many Children Can a Human Have in a Lifetime? 的部分内容。

第 155 周——复述材料知识点整理

段落一

Women can reproduce for about half their lifetime and can only give birth about once every year or so, so it makes sense that women can only have a fraction as many children as men. One study estimated that women can have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime, and depending on how many babies she gives birth to at a time, a woman can probably have around 15 to 30 children max.

解析

• reproduce: When living things reproduce, they produce young plants, animals, etc.生殖；生育；繁殖

• have a fraction: women can only have a fraction as many children as men女性所生的孩子数量远少于男性

• have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime 一生怀孕15次 pregnancy: the period during which one is pregnant

• have around 15 to 30 children max 生育15到最多30个孩子 (此处max = at most)

段落二

But the most prolific mother ever, according to Guinness World Records, was Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev in 19th-century Russia. She is said to have given birth to 69 children over 27 pregnancies. That’s a lot for one woman, but that’s nothing compared to our friend from earlier, Moulay Ismail. According to records, he had four wives and 500 women in his harem.

解析

• prolific: producing a great number or amount of something作品丰富的；多产的

• give birth to 69 children over 27 pregnancies 怀孕27次，生育69个孩子

• that’s nothing compared to 跟……比起不算什么

• harem: especially in the past in some Muslim societies, the wives or other female sexual partners of a man, or the part of a house in which they live（尤指旧时伊斯兰教徒的）妻妾

段落三

But there are factors that not even an emperor can control, like how a man’s sperm becomes less mobile and more abnormal as he grows older, which ultimately reduces his chances of fathering children later in life. In fact, studies suggest that men over 50 have an up to 38% lower chance of impregnating a woman compared to men under 30. For Ismail, he fathered most of his children relatively young, so by age 57, he had an estimated 1,171 kids. But he wasn’t the only man in history with tons of progeny.

解析

• become less mobile and more abnormal

• father children: 生孩子 (father: v. to become the father of a child by making a woman pregnant)

• impregnate: [technical] to make a woman or female animal pregnant使怀孕; 使受精

• someone have an up to 38% lower chance of doing compared to someone

• progeny: the young or offspring of a person, animal, or plant（人或动植物的）后代，后裔

段落四

In fact, by tracking types of Y chromosomes, scientists estimate that up to 16 million men today, who live in regions that Khan conquered, could have been descendants of him or his close male relatives. But, did these men really reach their maximum human possibility? Turns out, the records on Ismail only spanned 32 years of his life. By one calculation, he really could have had hundreds more. If you compare that to men in more modern times, the most prolific fathers today have about 200 children. That’s nowhere near 1,171, and honestly, it’s probably for the best.

解析

• Y chromosomes: Y 染色体

• descendants: a person who is related to you and who lives after you, such as your child or grandchild 后裔 (progeny, offspring)

• the records only spanned 32 years of his life: 他一生中只有32年有相关历史记录

• that’s nowhere near 远远不够