英文散文结构简练、语言简洁、文笔流畅 ,且十分讲究其独特的语言风格 ,给人以美的感受。在翻译时 ,充分体现散文的风格是至关重要的。以供大家参考。
Have You Seen the Tree
My neighbor Mrs. Gargan first told me about it."Have you seen the tree?" she asked as I was sitting in the backyard enjoying the October ilight.
关于那棵树，最初是我的邻居加根太太告诉我的。“你见过那棵树吗?”她问道，当时我正坐在后院欣赏十月的暮色。
"The one down at the corner," she explained. "It's a beautiful tree-all kinds of colors.Cars are stopping to look. You ought to see it."
“就是下去拐角处的那棵”她解释说，“漂亮极了—五颜六色的。好多车路过都停下来看，你该去看看。”
I told her I would, but I soon fot about the tree. Three days later, I was jogging down the street, my mind swimming with petty worries, when a splash of bright orange caught my eye. For an instant, I thought someone's house had caught fire. Then I remembered the tree.
我对她说我会去看的，可转眼就忘记了关于树的事。三天后，我顺着街道慢跑，脑子里充斥着恼人的小事，忽然，一片耀眼的橘红色映入眼帘，有一会儿，我还以为是谁家的房子着火了呢，但我马上想到了那棵树。
As I approached it, I slowed to a walk. There was nothing remarkable about the shape of the tree. a medium-sized maple. But Mrs. Gargan had been right about its colors.Like the messy whirl of an artist's palette, the tree blazed a bright crimson on its lower branches, burned with vivid yellows and oranges in its center. and simmered to deep red at its top. Through these fiery colors cascaded thin rivulets of pale-green leaves and blotches of deep-green leaves, as yet untouched by autumn.
我慢慢走近它.就像朝圣者缓缓步向神殿，我发现靠近树梢的地方有几根光秃秃的枝丫，上面黑乎乎的小枝像鹰爪一般伸向天空。枯枝上落下的叶子一片猩红，像地毯似的铺在树干周围。
Edging closer-like a pilgrim approaching a shrine-I noticed several bare branches near the top, their black igs scratching the air like claws.The leaves they had shed lay like a scarlet carpet around the trunk.
当我靠近树时，禁不住放慢了脚步。树的形状并没有什么非凡之处，是一棵中等大小的枫树。但加根太太说得不错，它的色彩确实奇特，像画家调色板中斑斓的颇料，令人眼花缭乱。树底部的枝丫好似一片鲜红的火海，树的中部燃烧着明快的黄色和橘色，顶部的树梢又爆发着深红色。在这火一样的色彩中，流淌着浅绿的叶子汇成的小溪，深绿的叶子斑驳点缀其间，似乎至今末曾受到过秋天的侵袭。
With its varied nations of color, this tree seemed to bee a globe, embracing in its broad branches all seasons and continents: the spring and summer of the Southern hemisphere in the light and dark greens, the autumn and winter of the Northern in the blazing yellows and bare branches.
这棵枫树集各种颇色于一体。如果一种颜色就是一个国家，枫树俨然成了一个缤纷的地球，它张开宽大的枝条，历数着四季轮回，容纳着五湖四海。深浅错落的绿叶，昭示着南半球的春夏，耀眼的黄叶和光秃秃的枝丫勾勒出北半球的秋冬。整个星球就围绕这一时空的交集点和谐运转。
As I marveled at this all-enpassing beauty, I thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson's ments about the stars. If the constellations appeared only once in a thousand years, he observed in Nature, imagine what an exciting event it would be. But because they're up there every night, we barely give them a look.
我为这棵树无所不包的美而惊叹不已。这时,我想起了著名作家拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生有关星星的评论。他在《自然》一书中写道：倘若星座一千年才出现一次，那么，星座的出现是一桩多么激动人心的事;可正因为星座每夜都挂在天上，人们才很少去看上一眼。
I felt the same way about the tree. Because its majesty will last only a week, it should be especially precious to us. And I had almost missed it.
对于眼前这棵树，我也有同感。它此时的华美只能维持一个星期，所以它对于我们就相当珍贵。可我竟差一点错过了。
Once when Emily Dickenson's father noticed a brilliant display of northern lights in the sky over Massachusetts, he tolled a church bell to alert townspeople. That's what I felt like doing about the tree. I wanted to bee a Paul Revere of autumn, awakening the countryside to its wonder.
有一次，当埃米莉·迪金森的父亲偶然看见马萨诸塞州上空一道炫目的北极光时，他立刻跑到教堂鸣钟告知所有市民。现在，我也产生了同样的想法，我要向世人宣扬这棵树。我愿成为秋天的信使。让田园乡村每一个角落的人们都了解它的神奇。
I didn't have a church bell or a horse, but as I walked home, I did ask each neighbor I passed the same simple but momentous question Mrs. Gargan had asked me: "Have you seen the tree?"
可我没有教堂的大钟，也没有快马，但当我走在回家的路上，我会问遇见的每一位邻居加根太太曾问过我的那个极其简单又极其重要的问题:“你见过那棵树吗?”
Solitude
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.To be in pany,even with the best, is soon wearisome. I love to be alone. I never found the panion that was sopanionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene beeen a man and his fellows. 'The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day, hoeing orchopping，and not feel lonesome. beacause he is employed; but when he es home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but must be where he can "see the folks," and recreate, and,as he thinks. remunerate himself for his day's solitude; and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and "the blues"; but he does not realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer ire his. and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does, though it may be a more condensed form of it.
大部分时候，我发现独处都是有益于健康的。有人陪伴，即使是最好的同伴，不久也会心生厌烦，兴致将消散。我爱独处。我没有遇见比孤独更好的伴侣了。我们置身国外，立行人群之中，通常比独处室内更加寂寞。一个思考着的或工作着的人总是孤独的，就让他去他想去的地方吧。孤独不是以和同伴之间的距离里程来衡量的。真正勤奋的学生，在剑桥学院一个拥挤的蜂房里，就像沙漠中的苦行僧一样孤单。农夫可以整日在田间或林中独自工作，耕地或者伐木，却并不感到寂寞，因为他有活儿干;可是当他晚上回到家中，却不能在房间坐下独自思考，而必须去“能看到乡亲”的地方消遣娱乐，正如他所想的，去补偿他五天的孤寂;因此他不明白学生如何可以整日整夜地独坐在家里，而不感到倦怠和“优郁”;但他没有意识到，学生虽然身处室内，却依然在自己的田野上耕耘，在自己的森林中采伐.就像农夫在他的田地林间工作一样，之后学生也和农夫一样要去寻求消遣，山要去交朋结友，只是娱乐方式可能更加简明一些。
Society is monly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old mushy cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquetteand politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not e to open war.We meet at the post office, and at the sociable,and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty munications. Consider the girls in a factory-never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live.The value of a man is not in his skin.
社会交际往往极其廉价。我们相聚的时间十分短暂,没有足够的时间让彼此获得任何有价值的新事物。我们在一日三餐的时候见面，我们就如陈腐的奶略，却让彼此相互品尝出新味道。我们必须一致同意若干条规则，也就是我们所谓的礼节和礼貌，使这种经常的聚会相安无事，我们还要一致同意我们没有争吵的必要。我们在邮局碰面，在社交场合碰面，每天晚上在炉火边碰面;我们生活得很拥挤，相互干扰，彼此牵绊，我想，我们因此失去了对彼此的尊重。当然，所有重要的、真诚的沟通，次数少一些就足够了。想一想工厂里的女工——永远不会独处，甚至在梦中也难得是独自一人。如果一平方英里只有一个居民，就像我这样，那要好多了。一个人的价值不在于他的外在。
The Pleasures of Ignorance
It is impossible to take a walk in the country with an average town *** an—especially, perhaps, in April or May-without being amazed at the vast continent of his ignorance. It is impossible to take a walk in the country oneself without being amazed at the vast continent of one's own ignorance. Thousands of men and women live and die without knowing the difference beeen a beech and an elm, beeen the song of a thrush and the song of a blackbird. Probably in a modern city the man who can distinguish beeen a thrush's and a blackbird's song is the exception. It is not that we have not seen the birds. It is simply that we have not noticed them. We have been surrounded by birds all our lives, yet so feeble is our observation that many of us could not tell whether or not the chaffinch sings, or the colour of the cuckoo.
和一个普通的城里人在乡村漫步—特别是，可能在四五月份——你不可能不对他无知的领域之广而感到惊讶。一个人去乡间散步，你不可能不对自己无知的领域之广而感到惊讶。成千上万的男男女女活着然后死去，一辈子也不知道山毛榉和榆树之间有什么区别，不知道画眉和黑鹂的啼鸣有什么不同。现代都市中能辨别画眉和黑鹂叫声的人大概是极其罕见的。并非我们没有见过这两种鸟儿，仅仅是因为我们从不去注意它们。我们一生中都有鸟儿生活在我们周围，然而我们的观察力是如此微弱，以致我们中间许多人弄不清楚苍头燕雀是否全唱歌，说不出布谷鸟是什么颜色。
This ignorance, however, is not altogether miserable. Out of it we get the constant pleasure of discovery. Every fact of nature es to us each spring, if only we are sufficiently ignorant, with the dew still on it. If we have lived half a lifetime without having ever even seen a cuckoo, and know it only as a wandering voice, we are all the more delighted at the spectacle of its runaway flight as it hurries from wood to wood conscious of its crimes, and at the way in which it halts hawk-like in the wind, its long tail quivering, before it dares descend on a hill-side of fir-trees where avenging presences may lurk.
然而，这种无知并不完全是不幸的。从无知中，我们能源源不断地获取发现带来的喜悦。但愿我们真的一无听知，那么每到春天，各种自然现象就会带着清新的露珠呈现在我们眼前。如果我们已生活半生，甚至未曾见过一只布谷鸟，而仅仅把它当成一个四处飘荡的声音，那么.当我们亲眼目睹它因为自知自己的罪恶在林木间匆匆逃离穿梭，看到它如何如鹰般在风中骤然停止鸣叫，摆动着瑟瑟发抖的长尾翼，不敢在小山旁的冷杉上停歇，担心那里危机四伏时，我们一定会更加欣喜。
It would be absurd to pretend that the naturalist does not also find pleasure in observing the life of the birds, but his is a steady pleasure, almost a sober and plodding occupation, pared to the morning enthusia *** of the man who sees a cuckoo for the first time. And, as to that, the happiness even of the naturalist depends in some measure upon his ignorance, which still leaves him new worlds of this kind to conquer.He may have reached the very Z of knowledge in the books, but he still feels half ignorant until he has confirmed each bright particular with his eyes. Assuredly the men of science have no reason as yet to weep over their lost ignorance. There will always be a fortune of ignorance waiting for them under every fact they turn up.
如果假设博物学家在观察鸟类的生活时发现不到乐趣，那是荒谬可笑的。和清晨有人第一次看到布谷鸟的兴奋相比，博物学家的快乐是稳固的，他们的工作是严肃和漫长的。为此，甚至是博物学家的幸福在某种程度上也取决他的无知，无知给他留下这类新天地让他去征服。他的书本知识可能已经达到了顶峰，但是，在他亲眼证实每一个光辉的细节之前，他仍然感到自己是半无知的，无疑，科学家们迄今没有理由为他们错过的无知而哭泣。在他们发掘出的每一个事实下面总将会有一笔无知的财富在等待着他们。
But your and my ignorance is not confined to cuckoos. It dabbles in all created things, from the sun and moon down to the names of the flowers, including nearly everything you and I have taken for granted. One of the greatest joys known to man is to take such a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge. The great pleasure of ignorance is, after all, the pleasure of asking questions. The man who has lost this pleasure or exchanged it for the pleasure of dogma, which is the pleasure of answering, is already beginning to stiffen. Do not fet that Socrates. was famed for wisdom not because he was omniscient but because he realised at the age of seventy that he still knew nothing. Once more I shall see the world as a garden through the eyes of a stranger, my breath taken away with surprise by the painted fields.
但是，你我的无知绝不仅仅局限于布谷鸟，它涉及所有的创造物，上到太阳和月亮，下到百花的名称，几乎包括所有你我认为是理所当然的事物。人类感受过的最大快乐之一就是迅速逃到无知中去追求知识。无知的巨大乐趣，归根结底，是提问的乐趣。已经失去了这种快乐的人，或已经用这种快乐去换取教条的乐趣(即回答问题的乐趣)的人，已经开始僵化。不要忘记苏格拉底之所以以智慧闻名于世，并不是因为他无所不知而是因为他在70岁的时候认识到他还什么都不知道.而我将再一次用陌生人的眼光来审视这个花园一样的世界，每当我看到那如画的田野，我都将惊叹不已。
在世界经济全球化及中国加入WTO的形势下,社会需要大量能够用英语在国际上进行科技、经贸、法律和 文化 等方面交流的专业人才。下面是我带来的英语 文章 阅读带翻译，欢迎阅读!
英语文章阅读带翻译篇一
In the public interest
The Scandinavian countries are much admired all over the world for their enlightened social policies. Sweden has evolved an excellent system for protecting the individual citizen from high-handed or incompetent public officers. The system has worked so well, that it has been adopted in other countries like Denmark, Norway, Finland, and New Zealand. Even countries with large populations like Britain and the United States are seriously considering imitating the Swedes.
The Swedes were the first to recognize that public officials like civil servants, collectors can make mistakes or act over-zealously in the belief that they are serving the public. As long ago as 1809, the Swedish Parliament introduced a scheme to safeguard the interest of the individual. A parliamentary committee representing all political parties appoints a person who is suitably qualified to investigate private grievances against the State. The official title of the person is 'Justiteombudsman', but the Swedes commonly refer to him as the 'J.O.' or 'Ombudsman'. The Ombudsman is not subject to political pressure. He investigates complaints large and small that come to him from all levels of society. As complaints must be made in writing, the Ombudsman receives an average of 1200 letters a year. He has eight lawyer assistants to help him and he examines every single letter in detail. There is nothing secretive about the Ombudsman's work, for his correspondence is open to public inspection. If a citizen's complaint is justified, the Ombudsman will act on his behalf. The action he takes varies according to the nature of the complaint. He may gently reprimand an official or even suggest to parliament that a law be altered. The following case is a typical example of the Ombudsman's work.
A foreigner living in a Swedish village wrote to the Ombudsman complaining that he had been ill-treated by the police, simply because he was a foreigner. The Ombudsman immediately wrote to the Chief of Police in the district asking him to send a record of the case. There was nothing in the record to show that the foreigner's complaint was justified and the Chief of Police stoutly denied the accusation. It was impossible for the Ombudsman to take action, but when he received a similar complaint from another foreigner in the same village, he immediately sent one of his lawyers to investigate the matter. The lawyer ascertained that a policeman had indeed dealt roughly with foreigners on several occasions. The fact that the policeman was prejudiced against foreigners could not be recorded in he official files. It was only possible for the Ombudsman to
find this out by sending one of his representatives to check the facts. The policeman in question was severely reprimanded and was informed that if any further complaints were lodged against him, he would be prosecuted. The Ombudsman's prompt action at once put an end to an unpleasant practice which might have gone unnoticed.
斯堪的纳维亚半岛各国实行开明的社会政策，受到全世界的推崇。在瑞典，已逐渐形成了一种完善的制度以保护每个公民不受专横的和不称职的政府官员的欺压。由于这种制度行之有效，已被其他国家采纳。
是瑞典人首先认识到政府工作人员如文职人员、警官、卫生稽查员、税务人员等等也会犯错误或者自以为在为公众服务而把事情做过了头。早在1809年，瑞典论会就建立一个保护公民利益的制度。议会内有一个代表各政党利益的委员会，由它委派一位称职的人选专门调查个人对国家的意见。此人官衔为“司法特派员”，但瑞典人一般管他叫“J.O.”，即“司法特派员”。司法特派员不受任何政治压力的制约。他听取社会各阶层的各种大小意见，并进行调查。由于意见均需用书面形式提出，司法特派员每年平均收到1,200封信。他有8位律师作他的助手协助工作，每封信都详细批阅。司法特派员的工作没有什么秘密可言，他的信件是公开的，供公众监督。如果公民的意见正确，司法特派员便为他伸张正义。司法特员采取的行动因意见的性质不同而有所不同。他可以善意地批评某位官员，也可以甚至向议会提议修改某项法律。下述事件是司法特派员工作的一个典型例子。
一个住在瑞典乡村的外国人写信给司法特派员，抱怨说他受到警察的虐待，原因就是因为他是个外国人。司法特派员立即写信给当地警察局长，请他寄送与此事有关的材料。材料中没有任何文字记载证明外国人所说的情况符合事实，警察局长矢口否认这一指控。司法特派员难以处理。但是，当他又收到住在同一村庄的另一个外国人写的一封内容类似的投诉信时，他立即派出一位律师前去调查。律师证实有个警察确实多次粗鲁地对待外国人。警察歧视外国人的事在官方档案中不可能加以记载，司法特派员只有派他的代表去核对事实才能了解真相。当事的警察受到严厉的斥责，并被告知，如果再有人投诉他，他将受到起诉。司法特派员及时采取的行动，迅速制止了这一起不愉快的事件，不然这件事可能因未得到人们注意而不了了之。
英语文章阅读带翻译篇二
Instinct or cleverness?
We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. Man continually wages war on item, for they contaminate his food, carry diseases, or devour his crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. Reading about them increases our understanding with out dispelling our fears. Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly
organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinaing. We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle ?
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tiny insects called aphides were to be found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a laop colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on an experiment which, even though it failed to get rid of the ants, kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape , making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphides. The tape was so sticky that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise) that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything about it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of
the tree. I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!
我们自幼就在对昆虫的惧怕中长大。我们把昆虫当作害多益少的无用东西。人类不断同昆虫斗争，因为昆虫弄脏我们的食物，传播疾病，吞噬庄稼。它们无缘无故地又叮又咬;夏天的晚上，它们未经邀请便飞到我们房间里，或者对着露出亮光的窗户乱扑乱撞。我们在日常生活中，不但憎恶如蜘蛛、黄蜂之类令人讨厌的昆虫，而且憎恶并无大害的飞蛾等。阅读有关昆虫的书能增加我们对它们的了解，却不能消除我们的恐惧的心理。即使知道勤奋的蚂蚁生活具有高度组织性的社会里，当看到大群蚂蚁在我们精心准备的午间野餐上爬行时，我们也无法抑制对它们的反感。不管我们多么爱吃蜂蜜，或读过多少关于蜜蜂具有神秘的识别方向的灵感的书，我们仍然十分害怕被蜂蜇。我们的恐惧大部分是没有道理的，但去无法消除。同时，不知为什么昆虫又是迷人的。我们喜欢看有关昆虫的书，尤其是当我们了解螳螂等过着一种令人生畏的生活时，就更加爱读有关昆虫的书了。我们喜欢入迷地看它们做事，它们不知道(但愿如此)我们就在它们身边。当看到蜘蛛扑向一只苍蝇时，一队蚂蚁抬着一只巨大的死甲虫凯旋归时，谁能不感到敬畏呢?
去年夏天，我花了好几天时间站在花园里观察成千只蚂蚁爬上我那棵心爱的桃树的树干。那棵树是靠着房子有遮挡的一面暖墙生长的。我为这棵树感到特别自豪，不仅因为它度过了几个寒冬终于活了下来，而且还因为它有时结出些甘甜的桃子来。到了夏天，我发现树叶开始枯萎，结果在树叶背面找到成串的叫作蚜虫小虫子。蚜虫遭到一窝蚂蚁的攻击，蚂蚁从它们身上可以获得一种蜜。我当即动手作了一项试验，这项试验尽管没有使我摆脱这些蚂蚁，却使我着迷了24小时。我用一条胶带把桃树底部包上，不让蚂蚁接近蚜虫。胶带极粘，蚂蚁不敢从上面爬过。在很长一段时间里，我看见蚂蚁围着大树底部来回转悠，不知所措。半夜，我还拿着电筒来到花园里，满意地(同时惊奇地)发现那些蚂蚁还围着胶带团团转。无能为力。第二天早上，我起床后希望看见蚂蚁已因无望而放弃了尝试，结果却发现它们又找到一条新的路径。它们正在顺着房子的外墙往上爬，然后爬上树叶。我懊丧地感到败在了足智多谋的蚂蚁的手下。蚂蚁已很快找到了相应的对策，来对付我那套完全不科学的办法!
英语文章阅读带翻译篇三
From the earth: greatings
Radio astronomy has greatly increased our understanding of the universe. Radio telescopes have one big advantage over conventional telescopes in that they can operate in all weather conditions and can pick up signals coming from very distant stars. These signals are produced by colliding stars or nuclear reactions in outer space. The most powerful signals that have been received have been emitted by what seem to be truly colossal stars which scientists have named 'quasars'.
A better understanding of these phenomena may completely alter our conception of the nature of the universe. The radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in England was for many years the largest in the world. A new telescope, over twice the size, was recently built at Sugar Grove in West Virginia. Astronomers no longer regard as fanciful the idea that they may one day pick up signals which have been sent by intelligent beings on other worlds. This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. Highly advanced civilizations may have existed on other planets long before intelligent forms of life evolved on the earth. Conversely, intelligent being which are just beginning to develop on remote worlds may be ready to pick up our signals in thousands of years' time, or when life on earth has become extinct. Such speculations no longer belong to the realm of science fiction, for astronomers are now exploring the chances of communicating with living creatures (if they exist) on distant planets. This undertaking which has been named Project Ozma was begun in 1960, but it may take a great many years before results are obtained.
Aware of the fact that it would be impossible to wait thousands or millions of years to receive an answer from a distant planet, scientists engaged in Project Ozma are concentrating their attention on stars which are relatively close. One of the most likely stars is Tau Ceti which is eleven light years away. If signals from the earth were received by intelligent creatures on a planet circling this
star, we would have to wait twenty-two years for an answer. The Green Bank telescope in West Virginia has been specially designed to distinguish between random signals and signals which might be in code. Even if contact were eventually established, astronomers would not be able to rely on language to communicate with other beings. They would use mathematics as this is the
only truly universal language. Numbers have the same value anywhere. For this reason, intelligent creatures in any part of the universe would be able to understand a simple arithmetical sequence. They would be able to reply to our signals using similar methods. The next step would be to try to develop means for sending television pictures. A single picture would tell us more than thousands of words. In an age when anything seems to be possible, it would be narrow-minded in the extreme to ridicule these attempts to find out if there is life in other parts of the universe.
天文学方面最新发展使得我们能够在银河系和其他星系发现行星。这是一个重要的成就，因为相对来说，行星很小，而且也不发光。寻找行星证明相当困难，但是要在行星上发现生命会变得无比艰难。第一个需要解答的问题是一颗行星是否有能够维持生命的条件。举例来说，在我们的太阳系里，对于生命来说，金星的温度太高，而火星的温度则太低。只有地球提供理想的条件，而即使在这里，植物和动物的进化也用了40亿年的时间。
一颗行星是否能够维持生命取决于它的恒星——即它的“太阳”——的大小和亮度。设想一下，一颗恒星比我们的太阳还要大，还要亮，还要热20倍，那么一颗行星为了维持生命就要离开的它的恒星非常远。反之，如果恒星很小，维持生命的行星就要在离恒星很近的轨道上运行，而且要有极好的条件才能使生命得以发展，但是，我们如何才能找到这样一颗行星呢?现在，没有一台现存的望远镜可以发现生命的存在。而开发这样一台望远镜将会是21世纪天文学的一个重要的研究课题。
使用放置在地球上的望远镜是无法观察到其他行星的生命的。地球周围温暖的大气层和望远镜散出的热量使得我们根本不可能找到比行星更小的物体。即使是一台放置在围绕地球的轨道上的望远镜——如非常成功的哈勃望远镜——也因为太阳系中的尘埃微粒而无法胜任。望远镜要放置在木星那样遥远的行星上才有可能在外层空间搜寻生命。因为我们越是接近太阳系的边缘，尘埃就越稀薄。一旦我们找到这样一颗行星，我们就要想办法将它的恒星射过来的光线遮暗，这样我们就能彻底“看见”这颗行星，并分析它的大气层。首先我们要寻找植物，而不是那种“小绿人”。行星上最容易生存下来的是细菌。正是细菌生产出我们在地球上呼吸的氧气。在地球上发展的大部分进程中，细菌是地球上唯一的生命形式。作为地球上的居民，我们总存有这样的希望：小绿人来 拜访 我们，而我们可以和他们交流。但是，这种希望总是只在科幻小说中存在。如果我们能够在另一颗行星上找到诸如细菌的那种低等生命，那么这个发现将彻底改变我们对我们自己的看法。正如美国国家航空和宇宙航空局的丹尼尔.戈尔丁指出的“在其他地方发现生命会改变一切。任何人类的努力和想法都会发生变化。”
编者按：《Alice in Wonderland》是一个英语长篇故事带翻译，这个故事是爱丽丝梦游仙境中的一个章节，这篇故事是带有中文翻译的。
讲述者
Hello. Alice is in the woods. She's trying to find her way back to the beautiful garden that she saw when she first arrived in Wonderland. Here she is, outside a little house. She's wondering who lives there.
大家好!现在Alice来到了森林里，她试图回到刚开始的那个小花园里。而现在，她来到了一间小屋子的外面，她想弄清楚是谁住在这里。
Alice
I wonder who could live in such a little house!
我想知道这么小的屋子里住的是谁!
讲述者
Before she had the chance to wonder for very long, a fish ran out of the woods and knocked on the door. The fish was wearing a footman's uniform. Another footman opened the door. Alice was near enough to hear what the fish said.
在她搞清楚这件事之前，一条鱼从树林里跑过来，来到这间屋子前面敲起了门。那条鱼穿着一身男仆服装。这时候，另一个男仆把门打开了，Alice凑上前去听那条鱼在说什么。
男仆
From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.
女王陛下邀请公爵夫人一起玩槌球。
Alice
The Duchess!!
公爵夫人!!
讲述者
Alice was so curious she went to knock on the door. But there was no use knocking, because it was so noisy inside the house that no-one could possibly hear her little knock. Alice was even more curious now so she opened the door…
Alice怀着好奇的心情前去敲门，但是里面非常吵闹，根本没人听到她的敲门声。这下Alice更好奇了，于是她直接把门推开了…
Alice
Hello?
有人吗?
讲述者
And she found herself in a noisy, smoky kitchen. A cook was cooking a pan of soup over the fire and the Duchess was holding a crying baby. There was also a big cat who was sitting above the fire and smiling from ear to ear. Everyone was sneezing except the cook and the cat.
Alice发现自己身处一间烟雾缭绕的厨房里，吵闹声很大。一个厨师在火上煮汤，公爵夫人抱着一个正在啼哭的小孩子。火堆旁边坐着一只大猫，这只猫满脸笑容，一副很开心的样子。除了那位厨师和那只猫，所有人都在打喷嚏。
Alice
There's too much pepper in that soup!Please would you tell me why your cat grins like that?
汤里的胡椒粉放得太多了!请告诉我为什么那只猫一直咧着嘴笑?
公爵夫人
It's a Cheshire-Cat, and that's why.
不为什么，这是一只柴郡猫。
Alice
I didn't know Cheshire-Cats grinned. In fact, I didn't know cats could grin.
我不知道柴郡猫是这样的，其实我都不知道猫也可以笑。
公爵夫人
You don't know much, and that's afact.
你不知道很正常，事实就是这样。
讲述者
Just then, the cook took the pan of soup off the fire, and started throwing pots and pans and plates and dishes all around the kitchen. Some of them hit the Duchess, but she didn't seem to notice. Some of them hit the baby, who was crying anyway.
就在这时，厨师把汤从火上取了下来，开始在厨房里乱扔锅碗瓢盆，有的砸到了公爵夫人，但她好像并没有在意，还有几个砸到了那个正在哭的小孩子。
Alice
Oh please! The baby! Be careful!
啊!拜托!请小心孩子!
公爵夫人
Here! You hold it if you like!
你来!要不你抱着!
讲述者
And the Duchess threw thebaby at Alice who just managed to catch it.
公爵夫人把孩子扔向Alice，Alice顺利接到孩子。
Alice
Ohhh!!
喔!!!
公爵夫人
I must go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen.
我必须要走了，我得去和女王一起玩槌球。
讲述者
And, with that, The Duchess left. Alice held the baby and wondered what to do with it.
说到这，公爵夫人就离开了。Alice抱着孩子不知道如何是好。
Alice
What am I going to do with you?You're a strange shape… Oh! You're a not a baby. You're a… you're a pig!
我抱着这孩子干什么?这孩子长得真奇怪啊!噢!这不是个婴儿!这是一只小猪!
讲述者
It was easy to decide what to do with a pig. Alice took it outside and let it go into the woods. The Cheshire-Cat sat in a tree and watched her.
这下Alice知道该怎么办了，她直接把小猪带到了外面，放回了树林里。柴郡猫坐在树上看着她。
Alice
Cheshire-Cat, could you tell me which way I should go?
柴郡猫，你能告诉我，我该去哪里吗?
柴郡猫
A Hatter lives over here, and a MarchHare lives over there. They're both mad.
一个卖帽子的住在这儿，一只发情的野兔住在那儿，他俩都很暴躁。
Alice
But I don't want to meet mad people.
但是我不喜欢暴躁的人
柴郡猫
Oh,we're all mad here. Are you playing croquet with the Queen today?
噢!我们这儿的人都很暴躁!你今天要去和女王一起玩槌球吗?
Alice
I'd love to play croquet with theQueen… but she hasn't invited me.
我很想去，但是女王并没有邀请我。
柴郡猫
You'll see me there…
我会去那儿的，再见!
讲述者
The cat disappeared. Alice set off inthe direction of the March Hare's house and soon she came to a house. Outside the house she saw a tea-party quite unlike any tea-party she had ever seen before. Next time, I'll tell you all about the Tea Party and what happened when Alice met the March Hare and the Hatter. Goodbye.
说完，柴郡猫就不见了。Alice起身朝着野兔家的方向走去，不一会儿她就来到了一所房子前。她看到房子外面正在举办一场茶会，但这场茶会跟她以往见过的任何茶会都不一样。下一集，我会给大家详细讲一下这次茶会，以及Alice遇到野兔和帽商之后发生了什么事。再见!
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