中科院英语A速读 第二册1-20翻译 (修订版).doc

英语速读（第二册）1-20翻译 Passage 1: Quake-proofing a house 1. Most houses and commercial structures that were constructed after 1980, when Japan’s building code had its last revision, are still standing. 日本最近一次对其建筑规范进行重大修订是在1980年，之后所建的大部分房屋和商业建筑至今仍完好无损。 2. Charles Scawthorn, vice president of EQE International, a San Francisco firm that specializes in quake-resistant engineering, says that ”This is the real heart of the seismic-hazard problem. ” 国际EQE的副总裁，San Francisco 公司的抗震工程师Charles Scawthorn说：“这（改进现在的建筑结构）就是地震危害的核心问题。” 3. What he saw convinced him that relatively simple precaution could have prevented the most common form of damage: the roofs and upper stories of buildings crashing down onto lower floors. 他看到的使他相信那些相对简单的预防措施应该能够防止最常见的毁害：房顶和上层倒塌在下面的地板上。 4.In the traditional Japanese house, Scawthorn says, the first floor lacks interior walls that could help support the weight of the second floor, as they would for a Western home; Scawthorn说，传统的日本房屋缺乏用于支撑第二层楼重量的内墙，而西方房屋的内墙则能支撑二层楼的重量。 5.Retrofitting buildings to survive another Big One is still rare in Japan, but in the wake of the Kobe tragedy it may catch on. 在日本翻新建筑物使其幸免于大地震的做法仍然少见。不过，在神户地震的悲剧后，这种做法也许会更加普遍。 Passage 2: The official language 1. Not since the first decades of the twentieth century have so many people entered the United States. 自二十世纪的十年以来从来没有这么多人进入美国。 2. But they are by no means alone. They argue that immigrants speaking poor English are cut off from the mainstream Americas economy, and are thus doomed to depend on the largesse of the state. 他们认为那些英语说得糟糕的移民会和主流的美国经济脱钩，而因此注定要靠国家的慷慨救济而生活。 4. Opponents of English as an official language say that bilingual education is a more realistic, long-term solution for helping foreign-born Americans assimilate. 不赞成将英语作为官方语言的反对者说，双语教育对于帮助外籍美国人融入本土是一种更为现实长效的方案。 Passage 3: Hazard 1. Gangster movies of the old type often featured menacing threats of a “one-way ride”. 从前的黑帮影片通常会有“死路一条”的威胁恐吓。 2.The young adult is still relatively free from life-threatening diseases, althoug