中英文科学写作.doc

中英文科技写作

如 ask a question ， answer a question ， formulate a problem ， solve a problem 等;

[1] I have a question about the last page of your presentation.

[2] I have a problem about the last page of your presentation.

前者的意思是你有不清楚或者不明白的东西要问，后者是指你认为 the last page of your

presentation 有错误。

例3 too 和 also 的用法区别：

[1] I have done this quickly too.

[2] I have also done this quickly.

例4 few 和 several 用法区分。 several 的意思是 几个 ， few 的意思是 几乎没有 或者 少 ，

但是 a few 的意思是 几个 。如：

[1] (a) I bought several books today. [1] (b) I bought a few books today.

这两句话的意思略微不同：前者情况是指买的比较多，而后者指的是买的比较少。

[2] There is very few water left in the bottle. (那个瓶子里面几乎没有水了。)

[3] Very few students came to today s seminar. (今天参加讲座的学生很少。)

[4] Few students came last night. (昨晚只来了几个学生。)

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[5] A few students came last night. (昨晚来了几个学生。)

例5 很多学生都不能区分科技英语中的property, character 和characteristic。翻译成中文都是 特

征 、 特性 和 性质 ，但是在英文中意思不同。

[1] quality 最普通用词，既可指有形或无形的特性，又可指个性或共性的特征。

[2] character多指一类人或事物所具有的独特的典型的特征。

[3] characteristic 指某人或某物天生有别于他人或他物的内部特质或外表特征。

例6 Obscure (动词和形容词) 的主要意思是 遮挡 。很多同学以为 obscure 的意思就是 模糊 ，

应该用fuzzy, blur, dark, faint 等的时候误用obscure。

[1] The black hole is obscured by the dust along the line of sight.

[2] The image of the star is fuzzy, because the telescope is out of focus.

[3] The image of the star is blurred, because the telescope ...

[4] The source appears to be dark (或者faint), because of the obscuration by the gas in front of it.

例7 At last 和 Finally 不完全一样。如 Finally, we reconstruct the expansion history of the

Universe up to with the distance moduli of SNe Ia and GRBs. Finally 换成 At last，意思是不同的：

前者的意思是， 最后，我们重建(了) ...... ，后者的意思是 我们终于重建(了) ...... 。

例8 suspect or suspicious (正面) 和 doubt or doubtful (负面)。例子：

[1] We suspect that the observed deviation of data from the model prediction is caused by the

over-simplification of the model. (我们怀疑观测数据和模型的偏离是由于模型过分简化造成的。)

[2] We doubt that the observed deviation of data from the model prediction is caused by the over-simplification of the model. (我们怀疑观测数据和模型的偏离不是由于模型过分简化造成的。)

例9 distinction (定性的区别) 和difference (定量的不同)：

[1] A distinction should be made between a star and a planet.

[2] The difference between the two measurements is only 10%.

例10 due to , because of , since , because 和 as 都有 因为 和 由于 的意思，但是使用起来

很不一样。

[1] However, due to the fact that (注意此处需要the fact that) the inner disk temperature or BB

temperature is lower than several keV, the disk or NS flux below 2 keV contributes a considerable

portion in the whole energy band.

或者可以改为：

[2] However, because of the fact that the inner disk ...

[3] However, since the inner disk ...

179 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

[4] However, the disk or NS flux below 2 keV contributes a considerable portion in the whole energy

band, because the inner disk or BB temperature is lower than several keV.

推荐表达[4]，因为主次关系明确，而且 because 的主要意思就是 因为 ，而 since 的主要意思

是 自从 (描述时间)。不建议使用 as ，因为 as 的主要意思是 作为 。以下是使用 due to 和

because of 的例子：

[5] Due to the expansion of the universe, the distances between galaxies become farther and farther.

[6] Because of your work, this problem has been solved completely.

在大多数情况下， due to 和 because of 可以通用，但是意思略微有所不同。 due to 指自然发

展、顺理成章的理由， because of 指主动介入导致结果的理由。

例11 revise、correct、modify 的区别：

revise or revision or revised 意为 修改或者更新，没有错误，但是不够完善

correct or correction or corrected 意为 修正或者改正，有错误，需要改过来

modify 的意思介于两者之间。

1.2 大小写

例12 能量的单位：eV (不是ev)，keV (不是KeV), MeV (不是meV)，GeV，TeV。

例13 方程后面如果不是句号，后面的紧接的句子不能另起一段，而且第一个字母必须是小写;

方程后面如果是句号，后面紧接的句子可以另起一段，也可以不另起一段，但是第一个字母必

须是大写。

例14 冒号后面如果接的是句子，则第一个字母是大写;如果是单词或词组，则第一个字母是小写。

[1] It requires that a clock still show proper time after being read: The quantum uncertainty in its

position must not introduce significant inaccuracies in its measurement of time over the total running

time. (请注意这里的 show 用动词原形，因为 require 是命令语气。)

[2] I classify black holes into three categories: mathematical black holes, physical black holes or

astrophysical black holes. (请注意这里的 or 经常被误写为 and 。)

1.3 单复数

例15 data 是复数(单数是 datum );spectrum, nova, formula, nuclear, index, locus, torus, modulus,

radius, focus 的复数分别是spectra, novae, formulae, nuclei, indices, loci, tori, moduli, radii, foci。

例16 In Figure 7, I show the conversion efficiency of different kind (应改为kinds) of black hole

accretion systems.

例17 指示代词的单复数this, that, these, those 的用法。错误的例子：

This (or that) two pictures are taken ... 应该改为 These (or those) two pictures are taken ... 。

180 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

1.4 数字的英文写法

例18 如果能够使用一个单词的数一般不用阿拉伯数字。比如 nine books 或者 twenty books 而

不是 9 books 或者 20 books 但是后面接物理量单位时，9 kg 是正确的，nine kg 是错误的。

例19 日期的写法：the first of July, 2006;July first, 2006;the second of July, 2006;the third of July;

the

(USA), 28-07-2006 (Europe and the rest of world)。

4th of July;the 28th of July;July 28th,

2006;2006-07-28;07-28-2006

例20 30 年代： 1930s 是正确的， 1930 s 是错误的。

例21 Up to now, about 20 (应改为twenty) black holes with masses around ten (应改为10) solar

masses, called stellar mass black holes, have been identified observationally.

1.5 词义的选取

例22 一般情况下使用单词的第一个意思。比如 for 的意思包括 为了 、 因为 ，但是在科技文

章里面只使用 为了 。需要 因为 的时候用 because 或者 since 。再比如 as 的意思包括 作为 、

因为 等，但是在科技文章里面只使用 作为 。

例23 while 主要有两个意思： 当...... 时候 和 然而 。但是科技英文尽可能使用单词的第一个

意思，因此建议只使用 while 为 当...... 时候 ，当需要使用 然而 的时候用 whereas 。

例24 大部分学生都知道even 有几个意思，但是很多学生不清楚如何使用。举几个例子：

[1] Even though (虽然) a scientist does not make a lot of money, I still choose doing research

because ...

[2] Even if (尽管) this book costs a lot of money, I will still buy it because ...

[3] This book is very good, even (甚至) better than the most popular book written by...

例25 primary 的意思，几乎所有的学生都在使用primary 的时候误用作 初始 (initial) 或者 初

级 (elementary) 或者 非正式 (preliminary)。实际上primary 的主要意思是 主要 。例子：

[1] The energy spectrum of this source is consisted of two components; the primary (主要) component

is a blackbody with a temperature of 1 keV and the secondary (次要) component is a power-law with

a photon index of -2.

[2] After analyzing these data, our preliminary (初步) conclusion is that this accretion disk has an

inner disk radius of 20 km.

[3] After analyzing these data, our primary (主要) conclusion is that this accretion disk has an inner

disk radius of 20 km.

1.6 冠词

181 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

例26 可数名词以单数出现的时候前面必须加冠词 a 或者 the 。 a 是不定冠词，没有特指的含

意; the 是定冠词，必须有特指。比如：

[1] (a) I bought a book about Einstein yesterday. (有很多关于爱因斯坦的书，我买了其中的一本，

但是从这句话了你无法了解到底是哪一本。)

[1] (b) I bought the book about Einstein we discussed in the class yesterday.

[1] (c) I bought the book about Einstein s love stories.

[1] (d) I bought the book about Einstein. (尽管没有明确指出，但是谈话的双方都知道是哪一本书，

或者世界上只有一本关于爱因斯坦的书。)

[2] I bought three books about Einstein s general relativity. (随便三本。)

[3] I bought the three books about Einstein s general relativity. (只有三本。)

[4] I bought the three most popular books about Einstein s general relativity. (三本最受欢迎的。)

[5] I bought three most popular books about Einstein s general relativity. (最受欢迎的其中三本。)

[2] [5] 的意思完全不同。

例27 the equation 3 , the table 4 , the figure 5 都是错误的，因为 the 都不需要。

例28 In above calculations, we have ... 改为

In the above calculations, we have ... (显然是特指。)

例29 same 前面一般加the，因为是特指。

比如 The same method is also used here. 几乎所有同学都错误地写成 Same method

is also used here.

再比如 We have chosen the cross-correlation method, the same as that used by Ling Zhang

(2006). 是正确的。

例30 single 后面如果是可数名词单数的话，仍然需要在single 前面加 a 或者 the ，比如 a single

book ， the single tree 。

例31 物理量符号前面一般不需要加 the ，因为已经是特指了。例如 Empirically,

is roughly correlated to observed peak (需改为the observed peak) spectral energy Ep by lg Ep =(2.76

0.07) - (3.61 0.26) lg . We employ this empirical relation to

estimate the (删除the) Ep of Swift

GRBs and correct the observed peak luminosity to a bolometric band. 但是 We employ this

则单位和前面的数字之间就没有

空格了。

例87 左括号 ( 和前面的字母之间必须有空格，和后面的字母之间没有空格，右括号 ) 和前面

的字母之间没有空格，和后面的字母之间有空格(除非右括号 ) 的后面是标点符号)。例如：This

problem has been solved (Einstein 1915) and consequently applied to many

astrophysical settings (Freedman 1932; Lieu 1945). 逗号 , 和点号 . 和前面的字母之间没有空

格，和后面的字母之间有空格。

例88 用上标表示的单位出现小数点的情况：0.1角秒(0 .1)，0.1角分(0 .1)，0.1度(0 .1)，1.1角

秒(1 .1)，1.1角分(1 .1)，1.1度(1 .1)，这里单位和数字之间没有空格。

3.3 的引用方法

例 天文类英文期刊参考文献的常用引用方法：

[1] Zhang et al. (1999) have shown that black holes can eat

matter...

[2] It has been shown by Zhang et al. (1999) that black holes eat matter.

[3] It has been known that black holes can eat matter (Zhang et al. 1999).

常见的错误例句是：

[1] Zhang et al. 1999 have shown...

[2] It has been shown by Zhang et al. 1999 that black holes eat matter.

[3] It has been known that black holes can eat matter (Zhang et al. (1999)). 请注意括号的位置。

3.4 制图

例90 关于画图：坐标轴需要名称和单位，几乎所有绘图程序缺省设置的图上的字母和数字字体

都太小，基本原则是按照杂志要求的尺寸印出来后图上的字母和数字和正文的字体相当或者略

大，但是应该比 figure caption 的字体大一些。

4 语法分析

4.1 语态

例91 尽量不要使用主动式，特别是 People have done... ，应该写 It has been calculated... by

xxx (如果你不想强调到底是谁做的，而仅仅想列出是谁做的，就不要写 by xxx ，而只要列出

参考文献就可以了)。

1 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

例92 Several issues about black hole growth have clarified. 应该修改为 Several issues about black

中英文科技写作(3)

例93 The configuration is consists of three parts. 是错误的。有两个正确的写法：

[1] The configuration is consisted of three parts.

[2] The configuration consists of three parts.

例94 模型分为三类 经常被写成 Models divide into three classes ，正确的写法是 Models are

divided into three classes 。

例95 黑洞位于星系的中心： Black hole locates in center of galaxy. 是错误的，应该改为 A black

hole is located in the center of a galaxy.

每一个星系的中心都有一个黑洞： A black hole is found in the center of every galaxy.

或者 Every galaxy harbors a black hole at its center.

所观测的5 个星系中心都有一个黑洞： Each of the five

galaxies observed harbors a black hole at

its center. 或者 A black hole is found (located) in the center of each of the five galaxies observed.

4.2 时态

例96 关于时态的正确使用：

(1) 叙述你本的工作使用一般现在时;

(2) 描述你以前的相关工作使用一般过去时;

(3) 描述别人以前的工作使用一般过去时;

(4) 但是当你现在的工作是以前你的或者别人的某个工作的延续时，对那个工作的描述需要使

用一般完成时;

(5) 在文章的summary 部分描述本文章的结果时可以使用一般现在时、过去时和一般完成时，

如 The black hole we studied in this work ... , In this paper we have calculated... , It has been

shown that ... , We study this problem ... , We analyze these data... , We start from ... , We

found that ... , We conclude that , It is shown , In this paper we calculate ...

(6) 在回复审稿人的信里面，谈到你这篇文章中你做了什么的时候用一般过去式，或者一般完

成时，如：

[1] Thanks for the referee s suggestion. Actually we calculated the mass accretion of three sources, but

neglected to include the result in the paper.

[2] We included Figure 2 and Table 3 in the revised manuscript.

[3] We thank the referee for these insightful comments and suggestions.

[4] We have improved the manuscript substantially.

[5] The manuscript has been improved significantly by including...

[6] 如果是回复审稿人的第二封信，开头可写为：We have further improved the manuscript

190 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

following the suggestions in the second referee report...

(7) 描述发生在过去的一件事用过去时，描述虽然过去发生的、但是已经被认定为 普遍事实

(general truth) 的使用一般现在时，如：

[1] Homan et al. (2006a, 2006b, 2007a) suggested that XTE J1701-462 was a Z source, because it

exhibited typical CDs of Z sources and its timing properties were also consistent with those of Z

sources.

例句[1] 并没有错误，但是如果写成：Homan et al. (2006a, 2006b, 2007a) suggested (发生在过去)

that XTE J1701-462 is (普遍事实) a Z source, because it exhibited (发生在过去) typical CDs of Z

sources and its timing properties are (普遍事实) also consistent with those of Z sources. 则意义有所

不同，更加强调 XTE J1701-462 is a Z source 和 its timing properties are also consistent with those

of Z sources 是被认定的 普遍事实 。

再举两个例句：

[2] In yesterday s battle, three soldiers were killed and one was injured.

[3] Now a total of 15 soldiers are dead and nine soldiers are injured.

5 句法分析

5.1 句子成分的缺少或多余

例97 宾语里面不要出现不特指的人，很多文章出现 This has enabled people (people 应删除) to

do 。

例98 get (包括 got ) 使用的太多，可以适当使用 obtain , derive , deduce , acquire 等( This

result is got. 不要使用)。

例99 Very importantly, SNe eject a lot of matter... 是正确的。 Very importantly, SNe are powerful

fountains of high energy particles... 是错误的，importantly 应该修改为important。

例100 As one of our valued authors I believe you may interested to hear about

IOP Asia-Pacific, a new website from IOP Publishing dedicated to showcasing research from the

Asia-Pacific region. 这句话有两个错误，一个是主语不清楚，一个是被动用错了。需要修改为 As

one of our valued authors, I believe, you may be interested to ... 。

5.2 句子开头

例101 We 作为句子的开头太频繁：只有作者特别想强调是 我们 做的，而不是 别人 做的时

候才使用 We 作为句子的开头，在一篇文章的开始和总结部分可以适当地使用一些，正文中间

一般都是使用倒装句字。

例102 Now 作为句子的开头太频繁。因为科技的基本时态就是一般现在时，所以基本上没

有必要使用 Now (见关于时态的讨论)。

191 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

例103 尽量不要出现 We feel ... We think ... 之类的句子。

例104 科技中不用下列口语化的东西：it s, can t, couldn t，doesn t 等。

例105 除了命令式之外，一个完整的句子必须有主语(而且

只能有一个)、谓语和宾语。

很多同学在一个句子里面用多个主语。如

[1] (a) The black hole binary is a very exciting source of high frequency QPOs, we

therefore decided to study it. 是错误的，因为这个句子有两个主语： the black hole binary 和 we 。

正确的写法是：

[1] (b) We decided to study the black hole binary, because it is a very exciting source of high

frequency QPOs. 或者

[1] (c) The black hole binary is a very exciting source of high frequency QPOs; we therefore decided

to study it.

再给一个例句：

[2] (a) The black hole binaries contain a primary black hole and a companion star, the mass exchange

between them through an accretion disk in the well-known thin accretion disk model.里面有几个错

误，修改后如下，

[2] (b) A black hole binary contains a primary black hole and a companion star, in which the mass

exchange between them is through an accretion disk described by the well-known thin accretion disk

model.

5.3 两个谓语

例106 This is come from ... 应该改为 This comes from (或者 This is from )。

例107 This radio-quiet quasar is also have a relativistic jet. 改为 This radio-quiet quasar al so has a

relativistic jet.

5.4 复句

例108 复句里面 which 和 that 是主语，比如 Thus the temperature is determined by the heating of

the central source s luminosity, which is (注意这里需要 is )

given by equation 2.

例109 一个句子作为宾语时，该句子前面应该有that：

[1] We find (改为find that) the CDM model is consistent with the joint data in 1- confidence

region.

[2] It is actually the expansion of the event horizon which (改为that) swallows the infalling shell.

[3] Almost all gravitational potential energy is converted into the kinetic energy of the accreted matter

which (改为that) free-falls into the black hole and thus is (注意这里需要 is ) lost into the event

horizon of the black hole.

[4] I am thinking about the environment distribution to (改为that may) course this missing emission.

192 中国科学院上海天文台年刊 2010 年

例110 复句里面主谓颠倒，如 It was not clear who did it and why was it (改为it was) necessary to

make the universe suitable for our existence.

例111 不要用特别长的句子： The fit parameters listed in Table 3 are more accurate than those listed

in Table 5, because, as shown by the top panels in Figure 2, the count rate variation within each of the

29 HID regions used to group data for producing the PCA spectra is extremely minimized, while, as

shown by the bottom panels in Figure 2, the count rate varies substantially within most of the eight

segments used to group data for producing the broadband spectra. 主语很多，结果超复杂!可以简

化为

The fit parameters listed in Table 3 are more accurate than those listed in Table 5, because the count

rate variation is minimized within each of the 29 HID regions used to group data for producing the

PCA spectra, as shown by the top panels in Figure 2. However, the count rate varies substantially

within most of the eight segments used to group data for

producing the broadband spectra, as shown

by the bottom panels in Figure 2.

5.5 两个句型

例112 A 随着B 增加而增加 的正确翻译是： A increases with increasing B. 或者 A increases

with B. 例如：

[1] However, when the source moves on the upper track, the inner disk radius increases with

increasing of (改为with) the disk accretion rate.

[2] Panel B in Figure 11 shows the inferred NS surface magnetic field strength during the episodes in

which the inner disk radius increases with the increasing of the (改为increasing) disk accretion rate.

错误的翻译：

[1] A increases by increasing B.

[2] A increases with B increases.

[3] A increases with increases B.

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