新概念英语第四册课文及翻译及详解-新概念英语第四册课文翻译及学习笔记：Lesson15

【课文】
　　First listen and then answer the following question.
　　听录音，然后回答以下问题。
　　Why is secrecy particularly important in the chemical industries?
　　Two factors weigh heavily against the effectiveness of scientific research in industry. One is the general atmosphere of secrecy in which it is carried out, the other the lack of freedom of the individual research worker.In so far as any inquiry is a secret one, it naturally limits all those engaged in carrying it out from effective contact with their fellow scientists either in other countries or in universities, or even, often enough, in other departments of the same firm. The degree of secrecy naturally varies considerably. Some of the bigger firms are engaged in researches which are of such general and fundamental nature that it is a positive advantage to them not to keep them secret. Yet a great many processes depending on such research are sought for with complete secrecy until the stage at which patents can be taken out. Even more processes are never patented at all but kept as secret processes. This applies particularly to chemical industries, where chance discoveries play a much larger part than they do in physical and mechanical industries. Sometimes the secrecy goes to such an extent that the whole nature of the research cannot be mentioned. Many firms, for instance, have great difficulty in obtaining technical or scientific books from libraries because they are unwilling to have their names entered as having taken out such and such a book, for fear the agents of other firms should be able to trace the kind of research they are likely to be undertaking.
　　J.D. BERNAL The Social Function of Science
　　【New words and expressions 生词和短语】
　　secrecy n. 秘密
　　effectiveness n. 成效，效力
　　inquiry n. 调查研究
　　positive adj. 确实的
　　process n. 过程
　　patent n. 专利;v. 得到专利权
　　agent n. 情报人员
　　【课文注释】
　　1.weigh against，不利于……。
　　①例句：His criminal record weighed heavily against him.
　　他的前科关系重大，对他很不利。
　　②weigh against也有权衡、斟酌的意思。
　　If you weigh against sth, you consider carefully the relative value or importance of sth.
　　例句：He needs no longer weigh reasons for and against his emigration.
　　他不必再去考虑要不要离开故乡的问题了。
　　③weigh sb down: make sb feel anxious or depressed使某人感到忧虑或沮丧。
　　例句：The responsibilities of the job are weighing her down.
　　她工作责任很重，把她压得无精打采。
　　2.the lack of...缺乏……
　　①If there is a lack of something, there is not enough of it or it does not exist at all.
　　例句：Despite his lack of experience, he got the job.
　　尽管他缺乏经验，他还是得到了那份工作。
　　②lack也可以单独作动词使用。
　　例句：They lacked the money to send him to university.
　　他们没钱送他上大学。
　　③lack作名词，表示对某物的缺乏。
　　例句：The project had to be abandoned for lack of funds.
　　工程因资金匮乏只得放弃。
　　3.in so far as...，就……而言。
　　4.engage in，从事，参与。
　　①If you engage in an activity, you do it or are actively involved with it.
　　例句：I have no time to engage in gossip.
　　我无暇闲聊。
　　②engage to sb，与某人订婚。
　　例句：She's engaged to Peter. 她与彼得订了婚。
　　5.or even, often enough，这里是个插入语，把often enough拿掉句子仍然成立，只是意思稍有变化。
　　6.which are of such general and fundamental nature，其中to be of有“具有”的意思。
　　例句：My advice may be of use for you.
　　我的意见也许对你有用。
　　7.are sought for with complete secrecy，极端秘密地探索。
　　8.such and such a book。某一本书。
　　9.for fear (of doing sth/that...)，唯恐，以免。
　　例句：The nurse walked on tiptoe for fear of waking the patient.
　　护士踮着脚走惟恐会吵醒病人。
　　例句：He told us to keep quiet for fear that we might disturb others.
　　他让我们保持安静，以免打扰别人。
　　【参考译文】
　　有两个因素严重地妨碍工业中科学研究的效率：一是科研工作中普遍存在的保密气氛;二是研究人员缺乏个人自由。任何一项研究都涉及到保密，那些从事科研的人员自然受到了限制。他们不能和其他国家、其他大学、甚至往往不能与本公司的其他部门的同行们进行有效的接触。保密程度自然差别很大。某些大公司进行的研究属于一般和基础的研究，因此不保密对他们才有利。然而，依赖这种研究的很多工艺程序是在完全保密的情况下进行的，直到可以取得专利权的阶段为止。更多的工艺过程根本就不会取得专利权，而是作为秘方保存着。在这化学工业方面尤为突出。同物理和机械工业相比，化学工业中偶然发现的机会要多得多。有时，保密竟达到了这样的程度，即连研究工作的整个性质都不准提及。比如，很多公司向图书馆借阅科技书籍时感到困难，因为它们不愿让人家记下它们公司的名字和借阅的某一本书。他们生怕别的公司的情报人员据此摸到他们可能要从事的某项科研项目。

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