An Army of Small Robots

A group of terrorists has stormed into an office building and taken an unknown number of people hostage. They have blocked the entrances and covered windows. No one outside can see how many they are. what weapons they carry or where they are holding their hostages. But suddenly a swat team bursts into the room and captures the assailants before they can even grab their weapons. How did the commandos get the information they needed to move so confidently and decisively?

The answer is a team of small, coordinated robots. They infiltrated the building through the ventilation system and methodically moved throughout the ducts. Some were equipped with microphones to monitor conversations, others with small video cameras, still others with sensors that sniffed the air for chemical or biological agents. Working together, they radioed this real-time information back to the authorities.

This is roughly the scenario that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) presented to robotics researchers in 1998. Their challenge was to develop tiny re'connaissance (разведка, исследование) robots that soldiers could carry on their backs and scatter on the floor like popcorn. On the home front, firefighters and search-and-rescue workers could toss these robots through windows and let them scoot (течь, струиться) around to look for trapped victims or sniff out toxic materials. For now. these scenarios - let alone the life-like robots depicted in science-fiction movies remain well beyond the state of the art. Yet the vision of mini robots has captured the attention of leading robot designers. Rather than concentrate on a few large platforms bristling with

sensors, the focus these days is shifting toward building fleets of small, light and simple robots.

In principle. lilliputian robots have numerous advantages over their bulkier cousins. They can crawl through pipes, inspect collapsed buildings and hide in inconspicuous niches. A well-organized group of them can exchange sensor information to map objects that cannot be easily comprehended from a single vantage point. They can come to the aid of one another to scale obstacles or recover from a fall. Depending on the situation, the team leader can send in a bigger or smaller number of robots. If one robot fails, the entire mission is not lost; the rest can earn. on.

But diminutive robots require a new design philosophy. They do not have the luxury of abundant power and space, as do their larger cousins, and they cannot house all the components necessary to 'execute a given mission. Even carrying something as compact as a video camera can nearly overwhelm a little robot. Consequently, their sensors, processing power and physical strength must be distributed among several robots, which must then work in unison. Such robots are like ants in a colony: weak and vulnerable on their own but highly effective when they join forces.

И Внешнее членение предложения при переводе

Преобразование одного высказывания в два и более называется внешним членением. Например, для публицистических материалов характерны длинные предложения, которые целесообразно при переводе делить на более короткие фразы, то есть, использовать прием внешнего членения высказывания. Внешнее членение также позволяет избегать не свойственных русскому языку громоздких грамматических конструкций.

Пожары охватили Португалию. Погибло еще два человека. Общее количество жертв возросло до 15. В страну для оказания помощи в борьбе с пожарами прибыли пожарные бригады из других стран.

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Задание 58. Переведите предложения, используя прием внешнего членения высказывания.

328. The latest fatalities reported Tuesday included an 88-year-old woman, who fled her home near Ourem in central Portugal last Thursday trying to escape the flames.

329. Also on Monday, a 40-year-old man who was helping to fight fires near his northern village of Vila Nova de Poiares. was killed when a firefighting truck ran over him. police said.

330. Nasiriyah, Iraq - A suicide bomber blew up a truck packed with explosives at an Italian paramilitary base Wednesday, killing at least 26 people.

331. Formal, classroom-based instruction did not become the norm until well into the nineteenth century, at which time teaching began its long and still unfinished evolution into a professional occupation.

332. Large reductions in the ozone layer, which sits about 15-30 km (9-19 miles) above the Earth, take place each winter over the polar regions, especially the Antarctic, as low temperatures allow the formation of stratospheric clouds that assist chemical reactions breaking down ozone.

Ш Задание 59. Переведите текст Обратите внимание на перевод субъектного инфинитивного оборота. Считаете ли вы целесообразным использование приемов членения некоторых предложений, смыслового развития, транскрипции? Какие предложения вводят новую информации)? Как их рекомендуется переводить на русский язык?

String Theory

A WEAK SUN MA У HA VE SWEETENED THE STRADIVARIUS

Myriad proposals have surfaced in the past several centuries to explain how Antonio Stradivari imbued his now priceless wares with transcendental sound. Some have suggested that Stradivari used beams from ancient cathedrals: others argued that he gave his wood a good urine soaking. The latest theory proposes that the craftsman should thank the sun's rays—or lack thereof. Stradivari could not have known that his lifetime coincided almost exactly with the Maunder Minimum — the 70-

year period (from 1645 to 1715) of reduced solar activity that contributed to colder temperatures throughout western Europe during what is called the Little Ice Age.

Stradivari and the Maunder Minimum "began life a year apart," says Lloyd H. Burckle. a paleobiologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. "Which means that during his later years, the golden period, he had to build violins out of wood that grew during the Maunder Minimum." The reduced radiation from the sun would have slowed the movement of the warm air over the Atlantic Ocean to western Europe, setting off a decades-long period of colder, drier climate. Such conditions would have been especially harsh for a tree adapted to temperate climes, such as the Norway spruce (обыкновенная ель), Stradivari's favorite for making soundboards. The result was slower, more even tree growth, which would yield a stronger and denser wood—positive attributes for violin crafting.

A changing climate probably didn't act alone in the Alpine forest of northern Italy, where Stradivari is said to have harvested trunks. Burckle notes. But when coupled with a unique amalgam of environmental factors—such as the regional geology, soil chemistry and moisture and slope and direction of the mountainside on which chosen trees grew—the altered climate becomes a more viable player. Burckle presented his hypothesis to Henri Grissino-Mayer, a tree-ring scientist from the University of Tennessee who has studied the influence of the Maunder Minimum on trees in western Europe, and the pair published the idea in the summer 2003 issue of the journal Dendrochronologia.

If indeed the Maunder Minimum led to the superlative sounds of the Stradivarius instruments, then it might appear that future violins would never produce similarly dulcet tones. "If you say it's the climate and it will never return, that makes it all seem hopeless." remarks Joseph Nagyvary. a chemist and violin maker at Texas A&M University. But having studied for three decades how various wood treatments can enhance the sound of instruments. Nagyvary thinks Stradivarius-like quality is achievable without an ice age: "We can now make the sound just as good."

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Объединение предложений при переводе

Types of Manufacturing Automation

Иногда при переводе бывает целесообразно объединить два простых предложения в сложное. Этот прием можно использовать, если между предложениями существует тесная смысловая связь.

The Moon's surface has remained relatively unchanged for the last three billion years, It may hold the key to understanding how the inner planets in the solar system formed and evolved.

To, что за последние тримиллиарда лет поверхность луныпочти не изменилась, может статьключом к пониманию процессовобразования и развития

внутренних планет солнечной системы.

Задание 60. Используйте прием объединения предложений при переводе.

333. One of the biggest surprises of the space age came in 1959, when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 photographed the moon's far side. It had never been seen before because it is always turned away from Earth.

334. Capturing knowledge from skilled plate mill operators is a slow process that has to take place before the insights from their experience can be modeled and put to use. Yet acquiring the "tacit' knowledge of experienced personnel before they retire is an urgent priority throughout the metal sector.

335. To use the model under operating conditions requires either very powerful computers or the use of parallel processors. This inevitably results in a rise in price, the need for a more complicated secondary cooling control system and puts doubt on the reliability of the system.

336. Unlike the System of Raahe where the operational differential equation for heat conduction has to be solved in real time, this new approach does not require this. It considerably saves computer resources.

337. Automatic stockhouses are controlled by a hierarchical system of computer. The computer system collects data for daily and historical reports which include material usage and furnace status information.

Ш Задание 61. Переведите текст. Используйте прием объединения предложений там, где это целесообразно.

There are diree types of manufacturing automation: fixed automation, programmable automation and flexible automation. Fixed automation or "hard" automation is an automated production equipment in which the order of processing operations is fixed by the facility form. That is, the programmed commands are contained in the machines in the form of different mechanisms that is not easily changed over from one product type to another. It is therefore suitable for products that are made in large quantities.

An automated production line is an example of fixed automation. These lines are typically set up for long production runs, perhaps making millions of product units and running for several years between changeovers. Modern automated lines are controlled by programmable logic controllers. They are special computers that facilitate connections with industrial equipment.

Programmable automation is often used for producing products in batches. For each new batch the production equipment must be reprogrammed and changed over to accommodate the new product style. This reprogramming and changeover takes time to accomplish. There is a period of nonproductive time followed by a production run for each new batch.

Numerical control is a form of programmable automation. In it a machine is controlled by numbers (and other symbols) that have been coded on punched paper tape or an alternative storage medium. Since this form of numerical control is made by computer, it is called computer numerical control, or CNC.

Flexible automation is a kind of programmable automation. The disadvantage with programmable automation is the time required to program and change over the production equipment for each batch of new product. In flexible automation, the variety of products is sufficiently limited so that the changeover of the equipment can be done very quickly and automatically. The reprogramming of the equipment in flexible automation is done off-line. The programming is made at a computer terminal without using the production equipment.

A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a form of flexible automation. Several machine tools are linked together by a material-handling (разгрузочно-погрузочный) system, and all aspects of the

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system are controlled by a central computer. An FMS is distinguished from an automated production line by its ability to process more than one product style simultaneously. At any moment, each machine in the system may be processing a different product.

Вопросы и задания для самоконтроля

338. Что вы знаете о порядке слов английского предложения? В каких случаях рекомендуется обратный порядок слов при переводе?

339. Как переводятся предложения с формальным подлежащим It и оборотом there is/arel

340. Для чего используется прием инверсии? Какие усилительные конструкции вы знаете?

341. Какие трудности встречаются при переводе страдательного залога?

342. Какие значения имеют модальные глаголы? Приведите примеры.

343. Назовите основные правила употребления артиклей.

344. В чем суть следующих переводческих преобразований: подлежащего в обстоятельство или объект, номинализации. замены частей речи, членения и объединения предложений?

345. Какие преобразования происходят при переводе инфинитивных, причастных и герундиальных оборотов? Приведите примеры их перевода.

Ш Грамматический анализ текста, ориентированный на перевод

Для проведения грамматического анализа текста рассмотрим предложенный текст с точки зрения имеющихся в нем грамматических трудностей, лежащих в переводческой сфере, которые переводчик должен увидеть и суметь преодолеть, используя изученные им приемы структурных преобразований при переводе.

346. Читаем весь текст, чтобы получить общее представление о грамматических явлениях, требующих переводческих решений. Затем приступаем к переводу предложений.

347. Находим подлежащее, оно может быть формальным, и сказуемое.

348. Обращаем внимание на порядок слов в переводимом предложении (прямой порядок слов, обратный порядок слов, передача инверсии).

349. При различии структур английского и русского предложений, рассматриваем возможность выполнения грамматических трансформаций при переводе:

• заменяем член предложения:

• используем номинализацию:

• заменяем часть речи:

• прибегаем к внешнему или внутреннему (инфинитив в некоторых функциях, инфинитивные, причастные и герундиальные обороты) членению предложения.

5. Переводим все предложение и проверяем соответствие смыславысказывания оригинала переводу.

Текст

Signs of warming are everywhere in the Arctic, and these changes are sure to affect conditions on the rest of the planet because the polar regions exert an outsize control on the earth's heat balance. Whatever is causing the changes, scientists face the urgent task of predicting what lies ahead rather than waiting to react to the consequences as they unfold. The key problem is that we don't fully understand these processes. What we do know is that the arctic is a complex system: change one thing, and everything else responds. The more we look, the more change we see. Arctic air temperatures have increased by 0.5 degree Celsius each decade over the past 30 years, with most of the warming coming in winter and spring. It indicates that late 20^lh and early 21^s1 century temperatures are at their highest level.

После прочтения текста приступаем к переводу отдельных предложений.

1. Signs of warming are everywhere in the Arctic, and these changes are sure to affect conditions on the rest of the planet because the polar regions exert an outsize control on the earth's heat balance. Это

сложносочиненное предложение, которое состоит из двух независимых друг от друга предложений - простого и

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сложноподчиненного. Простое предложение имеет прямой порядок слов. Учитывая то, что это первое предложение текста, вводящее новую информацию, переводим его, используя обратный порядок слов. Во всей Арктике видны признаки потепления. Поскольку второе сложноподчиненное предложение не зависит от первого, простого, можно прибегнуть к приему внешнего членения: это облегчит восприятие информации. Кроме того, следует обратить внимание на наличие субъектного инфинитивного оборота в главном предложении, что позволяет прибегнуть к внутреннему членению этого предложения. При передачи значения глаголов to affect -вредить и to exert- влиять можно использовать прием номинализации. характерной для научного стиля русских текстов и иногда также уместных в научно-популярной статье. 1. Во всей Арктике видны признаки потепления. Эти изменения наверняка окажут негативное воздействие на состояние всей планеты, поскольку влияние полярного региона на тепловой баланс Земли огромно.

350. Whatever is causing the changes, scientists face the urgent task of predicting what lies ahead rather than waiting to react to the consequences as they unfold. Глагол is causing можно тоже перевести при помощи номинализации. хотя буквальный перевод здесь также уместен. Чем бы ни были вызваны эти изменения (независимо от причин, вызывающих эти изменения). Далее прибегаем к лексико-грамматическим преобразованиям и используем прием смыслового развития. 2. Независимо от причин, вызывающих эти изменения, ученым, прежде всего, предстоит выяснить, к чему они могут привести, чтобы потом не встать перед необходимостью реагировать на неожиданные последствия по мере их появления.

351. The key problem is that we don't fully understand these processes. 4. What we do know is that the arctic is a complex system: change one thing, and everything else responds. В четвертом предложении обращаем внимание на усилительный глагол do. 3. Главная проблема заключается в том, что мы не до конца понимаем происходящие процессы. 4. Мы знаем только то, что Арктика

представляет собой сложную систему: если в ней что-то меняется, все остальное реагирует на эти изменения.

5. The more we look, the more change we see. 6. Arctic air temperatures have increased by 0.5 degree Celsius each decade over the past 30 years, with most of the warming coming in winter and spring. В шестом предложении используем внутренне членение, так как в нем имеется независимый причастный обороте with. 5. Чем больше мы наблюдаем, тем больше видим изменений. 6. Последние тридцать лет температура воздуха в Арктике увеличивается на 0.5 градуса каждые десять лет, причем самое большое потепление происходит зимой и летом.

7. It indicates that late 2(/^h and early 21^s' century temperatures are at their highest level. Произведем замену члена предложения. Определение late 20"' and early 21^s' century превратим в обстоятельство. 7. Это означает, что в конце 20 и начале 21 века температура достигает самой высокой отметки.

Задание 62. Сделайте грамматический анализ второй части текста, применяя все возможные грамматические трансформации при переводе.

Warmer winters have driven some of the shift. When the air is warmer, more precipitation falls from the sky, some of it coming with snow. The thicker snow holds more warmth in the earth, resulting in a longer period during which the tundra is releasing carbon dioxide. But as the tundra becomes shrubbier and as the soil becomes drier in the summer as a result of higher temperatures, the balance could swing back the other way, because plants, particularly woody ones, will fix more carbon and lock it back into the Arctic ecosystem. The most recent studies suggest, in fact, that the magnitude and direction of the Arctic carbon balance depend on the time span that we are examining, with the response varying as the plants adapt to the new conditions.

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