拉丁文在过去是欧洲学术界共通的语言。现在学术写作中会用到拉丁语术语,常见的有“etc.”, “i.e.”, “vs.”, “circa”, “et al.” and “e.g.”。这里让我们快速了解一下它们在科学写作中的正确用法。1. Etc它是“et cetera”的缩写,翻译成中文是“其它”,“等等”或“其余”。用法示例:The factors that affect heat transfer are temperature, viscosity, time etc.影响传热的因素有温度、粘度、时间等。The concerns of nomadic tribes are numerous, including shortage of water, poor sanitation, rampant unemployment, etc.游牧部落的担忧是多方面的,包括缺水、卫生条件差、失业现象猖獗等。2. i.e它是“id est”的缩写,意思是“即是”。它通常用于澄清之前的陈述、提炼一般性陈述,或者以不同的形式重述它,它还可以用于提供有关先前语句的附加信息。用法示例:The philosopher always manages to turn any conversation towards kids, i.e. the possibility of having legitimate children together.哲学家总是设法把话题转向孩子,也就是说有合法与孩子在一起的可能性。The experiments were supposed to be carried on healthy vegan subjects i.e. participants who do not consume any animal-based products.实验应该是在健康的素食主义者身上进行的,也就是不吃任何动物性产品的参与者。3. Vs它是‘versus’的缩写,意思是比较。用法示例:The researcher wanted to compare the time taken by early stage researchers vs established scientists for drafting a review article. 研究人员想比较早期研究人员和成熟科学家起草综述文章所花的时间。The upcoming webinar will discuss the effects of drug A vs drug B on mental health of patients.即将到来的网络研讨会将比较药物A与药物B对患者心理健康的影响。4. Ca它是“circa”的缩写,字面意思是“大约”,用来表示大概的日期。用法示例:Shortly after King Arthur II seized the throne from Richard II, George died (ca. 1400 A.D.), perhaps due to an illness. 亚瑟王二世从理查二世手中夺取王位后不久,乔治就去世了(约公元1400年),可能死于疾病。5. Et al它是“et alii”的缩写,意思是“...等其他人”。这个缩写通常用在论文引文或参考文献中,起到缩短人物名单的效果。用法示例:Previous studies (Singhal et al., 2015) have demonstrated that temperature has a significant effect on the extraction of polyphenols from blueberries.先前的研究(Singhal等人,2015)已证明温度对蓝莓多酚的提取有显著影响。The work of Wu et al. (2012) established the scale for taste measurements in adolescents.吴先生等人在2012年建立了青少年味觉测量量表。6. E.g它是“exempli gratia”的缩写,用于给出所述事实的代表性示例。用法示例:The policy makers have a lot of problems to deal with before reforming the guideline, e.g., the economic deficit, medical concerns, and social security.政策制定者在制定改革指导方针之前需要解决诸多问题,如经济赤字、医疗问题、社会保障等。Some studies (e.g., Wilson & Walker, 2016) have supported this argument with their robust experiments. 他们通过一些可靠的研究(例如,Wilson&Walker,2016年)支持了这一论点。7. Ab initio这个拉丁语的意思是“从一开始”。用法示例:The agreement was declared to be illegal ab initio.协议从一开始就被宣布为非法。8. In vivo 和 in vitro拉丁语中的“in vitro”和“in vivo”分别表示“发生在活体外”和“发生在活体内”。