Advanced Week 163

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。

本周复盘说明

第 163 周训练材料选用了几篇 TED 演讲，小组成员利用该材料练习了交替传译和同声传译，并学习原文的词汇、表达和句型句式。设备建议：你需要电脑或手机播放音频、手机发送语音。本日志整理的是第 163 周同声传译练习的部分材料，是 Justin Hall-Tipping 的演讲 Freeing energy from the grid。

第 163 周——知识点整理

段落一

Wouldn't it be really great if the window could flick back the heat into the room if we needed it or flick it away before it came in? One of the materials that can do this is a remarkable material, carbon, that has changed its form in this incredibly beautiful reaction where graphite is blasted by a vapor, and when the vaporized carbon condenses, it condenses back into a different form: chickenwire rolled up. But this chickenwire carbon, called a carbon nanotube, is a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of one of your hairs. It's a thousand times more conductive than copper. How is that possible? One of the things about working at the nanoscale is things look and act very differently. You think of carbon as black. Carbon at the nanoscale is actually transparent and flexible. And when it's in this form, if I combine it with a polymer and affix it to your window when it's in its colored state, it will reflect away all heat and light, and when it's in its bleached state it will let all the light and heat through and any combination in between. To change its state, by the way, takes two volts from a millisecond pulse. And once you've changed its state, it stays there until you change its state again.

参考译文

如果窗户能够根据我们的需要把热量反射回屋里或者在其进入屋子之前反射回去不是很棒吗？具备此功能的材料之一就是碳，在这个如此美妙的反应里碳改变了形态，石墨被汽化，然后再冷凝，变成一种不同的形态，像卷起来的铁丝网。但是这个碳网叫做碳纳米管，它比你的头发丝还细十万倍，它比铜的导电能力要高一千倍。这是怎么实现的？原因之一是碳纳米管的结构十分与众不同。你也许觉得碳是黑的，但碳纳米管里的碳是透明的，并具备弹性。碳处于此种形态下，如果我将其与一聚合物结合，贴到你的窗户上，在它着色的情况下，它能反射掉所有的光和热；在它是无色的状态下，它能让所有的光和热透过，也可在两种状态间调节。要调节它的状态，只需要1毫秒电脉冲的2伏电。一旦改变状态后会持续下去，直到你再次调节。

解析

• flick: to make something move away by hitting or pushing it suddenly or quickly, especially with your thumb and finger （尤指用大拇指和另一手指）弹，拂 flick something off/away/out; flick something over/across/at/into/back/down etc.

• remarkable/extraordinary/brilliant/bright 讲话中出现的褒义形容词

• graphite: a soft black substance that is a kind of carbon , used in pencils, paints, and electrical equipment 石墨（碳的一种形式，用于铅笔、油漆和电气设备中）

• vapor: gas or extremely small drops of liquid which result from the heating of a liquid or solid （蒸）汽；vaporize: to turn, or cause something to turn, from a solid or liquid state into gas （使）汽化

• condense: if a gas condenses, or is condensed, it becomes a liquid （使）凝结，（使）冷凝 condense into

• But this chickenwire carbon, called a carbon nanotube, is a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of one of your hairs. It's a thousand times more conductive than copper.

  • chickenwire:'chicken wire: a type of thin wire net used to make fences for chickens （做鸡栏的）细铁丝网

  • nanotube: a microscopic tube whose diameter is measured in nanometers especially one of pure carbon （尤指碳）纳米管

  • 按照顺译方法，遇到倍数的翻译时，谨慎使用“比”字，该句可处理为：“但是这个碳网叫做碳纳米管，是十万分之一的头发丝的宽度，是一千倍的铜的导电能力”

• One of the things about working at the nanoscale is things look and act very differently.

  • nanoscale: having dimensions measured in nanometers

  • 纳米层面的很多东西看起来和实际情况是不一样的。

• affix: to fasten or stick something to something else 使固定; 粘上，贴上 affix sth to sth

• millisecond pulse 毫秒脉冲

段落二

EBox is testing new nanomaterials to park an electron on the outside, hold it until you need it, and then be able to release it and pass it off. Being able to do that means that I can generate energy cleanly, efficiently and cheaply right where I am. It's my energy. And if I don't need it, I can convert it back up on the window to energy, light, and beam it, line of site, to your place. And for that I do not need an electric grid between us. The grid of tomorrow is no grid, and energy, clean efficient energy, will one day be free. If you do this, you get the last puzzle piece, which is water. Each of us, every day, need just eight glasses of this, because we're human. When we run out of water, as we are in some parts of the world and soon to be in other parts of the world, we're going to have to get this from the sea, and that's going to require us to build desalination plants. 19 trillion dollars is what we're going to have to spend. These also require tremendous amounts of energy. In fact, it's going to require twice the world's supply of oil to run the pumps to generate the water. We're simply not going to do that. But in a world where energy is freed and transmittable easily and cheaply, we can take any water wherever we are and turn it into whatever we need.

参考译文

电子盒子正测试碳纳米管材料是否能将停留其外面的电子保留住，直到你需要的时候再释放它。能做到这个意味着我能在任何地方以清洁高效低廉的方式发电。这是我的能源。如果我暂不需要，可以在窗户上将其转化为能源，光一直照亮你的屋子，而这一切完全不需要电网连接你我间的设备。未来的电网不需要电网。清洁高效的能源也将完全免费。如果能做到这一点那就剩下最后一个问题，就是水。我们每个人每天需要这样的八杯水，因为我们是人类。如果水资源枯竭——这已经在有些地区发生了，不久的将来在全球其他地区也会出现这样的问题——我们就得从海里取水，这就要建海水淡化处理厂。这得花上19万亿美元。还需要无法估计的大量能源。事实上，这需要两倍全世界的石油供给保持机器运转来淡化海水。我们不会这么做。但是如果这个世界上能源能被自由地获取，并能便捷而低成本地进行转化的话，我们可以随处取水，并将其处理成我们需要的形式。

解析

• EBox is testing new nanomaterials to park an electron on the outside, hold it until you need it, and then be able to release it and pass it off.

  • test sth to do

  • park: spoken to put something in a particular place for a period of time, especially in a way that annoys someone 把（某物）放在（某处，尤以令人不快的做法） park sth on/in etc sth

  • pass off: to emit (a substance) as a gas or vapour, or (of a substance) to be emitted in this way

• Being able to do that means that … 能做到这个意味着……

• The grid of tomorrow is no grid. 未来的电网不需要电网。

• the last puzzle piece 缺失的最后一块

• twice the world's supply of oil 两倍的全世界石油量