考满分 toefl

1 .<-NARRATOR:->Listen to part of a conversation between a student and the professor of his history of technology class.

旁白：听一段学生和科技历史课教授的对话。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Would it be OK to focus on something related to agriculture?

学生：可以专注于和农业有关的东西吗？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Sure, farming technology is fine, as long as it's premodern.

教授：当然，农业科技是可以的，只要是现代以前的科技就行。

2 .But this isn't a long paper, so you're gonna need to pick a specific area of premodern agriculture, like, um, irrigation... or food crops of ancient Greece...

但这不是一篇长论文，所以你要选定一个现代以前农业的特定领域，像是灌溉技术，或古希腊的粮食作物。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->I'm actually interested in hydroponics.

学生：事实上我对水培法很感兴趣。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->[Unsure, without enthusiasm]Hydroponics... growing plants in water instead of soil...

教授：水培法，在水里种植，而不是在土里。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Well, not in pure water-in water that has the proper mix of nutrients.

学生：不是在纯水中，是在适当混合了营养素的水中。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->O-OK, but... is it a premodern technology?

教授：好吧，但这是一项现代以前的科技吗？

2 .I mean, hydroponics isn't really my specialty, but from the research I've read, we're talking the nineteenth century... maybe the seventeenth century, if you really stretch it.

我是指，水培法不是我的专长，但从我读过的研究来看，我们涉及的是19世纪，如果你真的延伸开来，也许到17世纪。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->[Not trying to say “gotcha”]Oh? But the Aztec civilization back in the thirteenth century in... basically where Mexico City is today...

学生：噢？但在13世纪，阿芝克特文化……差不多是现在的墨西哥市所在地......

2 .An article I read said the Aztecs were using hydroponics in something they called... I've got the word right here... um...[A bit hesitantly] Chinampas.

我读到过一篇文章，说阿芝克特人把水培法用在...我找到那个词了...奇昂帕。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Chinampas-the so-called floating gardens...

教授：奇昂帕，所谓的漂浮花园。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Exactly! So, yeah, the chinampas... The article said, very clearly, these floating gardens are proof that the Aztecs invented hydroponic farming.

学生：正确。对，奇昂帕，文章说这些漂浮花园就是阿芝克特人发明水培法耕种的证据。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, chinampas are artificial islands, built up in shallow lakes-islands made from packed earth and weeds, and, uh, material from the bottom of the lake.

教授：奇昂帕是建在浅湖中的人造岛，由密集的泥土和芦苇，以及湖底物质组成。

2 .They may have appeared to be floating in the water, but in fact they reach all the way to the bottom of the lake.

这些小岛看起来是漂浮于水面的，但事实上它们都直通湖底。

3 .So the primary growing medium-what the plants draw nutrients from-is actually soil, not water.

那么，主要的生长介质，即植物营养素的来源，是泥土，而不是水。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->So the article was wrong about that. Too bad. It seemed like a great topic, but I guess...

学生：所以文章说的是错的？这可太糟了，这看起来是个很好的课题，但我想……

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Wait a minute. Uh, just because chinampas were not technically hydroponic... doesn't mean this couldn't be an appropriate topic for your paper.

教授：等一下，即使奇昂帕不是严格意义上的水培产物，也不代表这对你的论文来说不是一个合适的课题。

2 .Chinampas were still a great premodern technological achievement.

奇昂帕仍然是现代以前的科技上的一大成就。

3 .I mean, they enabled the Aztecs to grow plenty of food... in an area without much available farmland.

我是说，这些奇昂帕使得阿芝克特人能种植大量食物，在农田不足的地方。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->But I wonder why the author wrote that chinampas were hydroponic?

学生：我不明白为什么文章作者说奇昂帕是水培产物。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, it's pretty common for writers to generalize-say, use a term like "hydroponics" to describe other types of agriculture.

教授：这很常见，作家经常会这样概括，用一个术语，像水培法，来描述其它农业类型。

2 .Personally, I'd never say "hydroponic" except for plants growing in liquid.

个人来说，我不会用水培这个词，除非这些植物长在水里。

3 .The crops on chinampas definitely benefitted from the water surrounding them, [doubt, questioning] but hydroponic?

奇昂帕上的植物肯定能从周围水域受益，但……水培……

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->OK, so I'll go with chinampas, but leave out the "hydroponics" part...

学生：好。我会继续研究奇昂帕，但除去水培法的内容。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Actually, there's an important lesson here: we should pay attention to what happened in history, but also how historical events are presented.

教授：事实上，这是非常重要的一课：我们应该注意在历史上都发生了什么事情，但也要注意，历史事件是怎样呈现的。

2 .Why, for example, would writers use a word like "hydroponics" so casually?

比如，为什么作家会随便运用“水培法”这样的词？

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->I guess 'cuz it's a popular topic people wanna read about?

学生：我猜是因为这是个很流行的话题，人们都想看？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Or... to help modern-day readers understand something historical, maybe these writers think a familiar frame of reference is needed.

教授：或者是为了帮助现代读者理解历史事件，也许这些作家认为人们需要一个熟悉的参考系。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Well, that article was in a popular magazine, not a scholarly journal for historians.

学生：文章是一本流行杂志里的，不是历史学家的学术期刊。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->OK, but historians sometimes do the same thing.

教授：好吧，但历史学家有时候也会做同样的事。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->So I guess then that all historians might not describe chinampas in quite the same way either.

学生：我猜，也许不是所有的历史学家都以同样的方式描述奇昂帕的。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Good point. Why not look into that too? ... and include it along with your description and analysis.

教授：说得好。为何不研究一下这个呢？并将其纳入你的描述和分析内容。