Перевод естественнонаучных текстов. Translating Natural Science Texts

А.В. Вдовичев
И.В. Баценко

ПЕРЕВОД 
ЕСТЕСТВЕННОНАУЧНЫХ 
ТЕКСТОВ

TRANSLATING
NATURAL SCIENCE
TEXTS

Учебное пособие

Москва
Издательство «ФЛИНТА»
2020

УДК 811.111'255(075.8)
ББК 81.432.1-8я73
В25

Рекомендовано Редакционным советом
Минского государственного лингвистического университета.
Протокол № 1/42 от 19.01.2016 г.

Ре це нзе нты:
канд. филол. наук, доцент Н.И. Мосунова (БГУ);
канд. пед. наук, доцент Н.П. Грицкевич (МГЛУ)

В25 

Вдовичев А.В.
Перевод 
естественнонаучных 
текстов. Translating Natural 
Science 
Texts 
[Электронный 
ресурс]: 
учеб. 
пособие 
/ 
А.В. Вдовичев, И.В. Баценко. — М. : ФЛИНТА, 2020. — 174 с.
ISBN 978-5-9765-4081-1
Целью 
настоящего 
пособия 
является 
развитие 
навыков 
письменного перевода естественнонаучных текстов. Оно содержит 
тренировочные упражнения и тексты для устного и письменного 
перевода.
Для студентов филологических и переводческих факультетов, а 
также для студентов неязыковых вузов.

УДК 811.111’255(075.8)
ББК 81.432.1-8я73

ISBN 978-5-9765-4081-1 
© Вдовичев А.В., Баценко И.В., 2020
© Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2020

Посвящается памяти
великолепного педагога, 
профессионального пере вод чи ка, 
отзывчивого коллеги
Сталины Адамовны Игнатовой

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Подготовка специалистов в области перевода предполагает 
практику по переводу научной литературы. Настоящее пособие 
предназначено для студентов филологических и переводческих 
факультетов и имеет своей целью формирование знаний, умений 
и навыков, необходимых для выполнения письменного перевода 
естественнонаучных текстов.
Пособие состоит из шести разделов, каждый из которых 
посвящен отдельной области естественной науки (биологии, 
генетике, геологии, физике, химии и астрономии) и предназначен для отработки и закрепления практических навыков перевода специальных текстов. Данные разделы имеют одинаковую 
структуру и включают тексты для перевода, глоссарий терминов, относящихся к определенной области знаний, а также 
упражнения на закрепление специальной лексики и усвоение 
грамматических особенностей естественнонаучных текстов.
Поскольку понимание предмета текста является важным 
предварительным этапом перевода, после каждого текста следуют упражнения, направленные на проверку понимания естественнонаучных терминов, терминологических сочетаний, аббревиатур. Обязательным этапом работы над темой каждого раздела 

является задание по письменному переводу текста с русского 
языка на английский.
Пособие подготовлено с учетом требований учебных программ по письменному переводу естественнонаучных и 
общественно-политических текстов для студентов филологических и переводческих факультетов, но может использоваться в 
качестве дополнительного пособия или материала для самостоятельной работы в неязыковых учреждениях высшего образования.

UNI T  1. BIOLOGY

Text 1

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

The life sciences, as the name implies, study living organisms. 
They also are known as the biological sciences or biology. 
Alongside physics and chemistry, biology is one of the largest and 
most important branches of science. At the highest level, biology is 
broken down based on the type of organism being studied: zoology, 
the study of animals; botany, of plants; and microbiology, of 
microorganisms. Each fi eld of biology has contributed to mankind or 
the Earth’s well-being in numerous ways. Most prominently: botany, 
to agriculture; zoology, to livestock and protection of ecologies; and 
microbiology, to the study of disease and ecosystems in general.
Besides classifi cations based on the category of organism being 
studied, biology contains many other specialized sub-disciplines, 
which may focus on just one category of organism or address 
organisms from different categories. This includes biochemistry, 
the interface between biology and chemistry; molecular biology, 
which looks at life on the molecular level; cellular biology, which 
studies different types of cells and how they work; anatomy, which 
examines the structure of living things; physiology, which looks at 
organisms at the level of tissue and organs; ecology, which studies 
the interactions between organisms themselves; ethology, which 
studies the behavior of animals, especially complex animals; and 
genetics, overlapping with molecular biology, which studies the code 
of life, DNA.
The foundations of modern biology include four components: 
cell theory, that life is made of fundamental units called cells; 

evolution, that life is not deliberately designed but rather evolves 
incrementally through random mutations and natural selection; 
gene theory, that tiny molecular sequences of DNA dictate the entire 
structure of an organism and are passed from parents to offspring; 
and homeostasis, that each organism’s body includes a complex suite 
of processes designed to preserve its biochemistry from the entropic 
effects of the external environment.
The basic picture in biology has stayed roughly the same since 
DNA was fi rst imaged using x-ray crystallography in the 1950s, 
although there are constant refi nements to the details, and life is so 
complex that it could be centuries or even millennia before we begin 
to understand it in its entirety. But it should be made clear that we 
are moving towards complete understanding: life, while complex, 
consists of a fi nite amount of complexity that only appreciably 
increases on relatively long timescales of hundreds of thousands or 
millions of years. Evolution, while creative, operates slowly.
(from https://en.wikipedia.org)

Text 2

WHAT IS LIFE?

The question seems simple enough. But biologists, although 
they have a vast knowledge of living things, fi nd that the defi nition 
of life isn’t always so obvious — sometimes the dividing line 
between living and nonliving things is quite obscure. For example, 
a virus is lifeless by itself, because it does not grow, metabolize, 
or respond to its environment, but it can reproduce once it enters a 
living cell.
Instead of trying to reach a precise defi nition of life, scientists 
focus on the characteristics that seem to distinguish living things. 
No single characteristic tells us what life is, but together they form 
a composite that generally sets living things apart from nonliving 
things. Nearly all living things share the following characteristics:

● Growth. Growth in living things is more than simply an 
increase in size. Living things are able to produce organic 
molecules that become part of their structure.

● Metabolism. Living things undergo chemical processes to 
produce the materials and energy necessary for life.

● Reproduction. Living things are able to produce more of their 
kind sexually or asexually.

● Movement. Almost every living thing moves, either 
by moving from place to place or undergoing internal 
movements such as circulation or the movement of organs.

● Responsiveness. Living things react to their changing 
environments.

● Adaptation. Most living things are able to adjust to changes 
in their living conditions. Adaptation helps an organism 
survive and reproduce in its particular environment.
The two most widely accepted theories of the origin of life are 
the theory of panspermia and the theory of chemical evolution. The 
theory of panspermia claims that spores — specialized reproductive 
cells — from some other part of the universe landed on the Earth 
and began to develop.
The theory of chemical evolution proposes that life developed 
through a series of chemical reactions in the atmosphere and oceans 
early in the Earth’s history. This theory is more widely accepted 
today than the theory of panspermia.
In order to understand the theory of chemical evolution, we need 
some knowledge of the elements of life. The most common elements 
in living things are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, 
and sulfur. Other elements are present in smaller amounts.
Water, the simplest chemical compound of importance to living 
things, makes up 50 to 95 percent of most organisms and is an 
essential part of many life processes. Most chemical reactions within 
organisms can occur only in a water solution, and water is also a part 
of many such chemical reactions. In addition, water moves nutrients 
within organisms.

Most of the principal compounds in living things — except 
water — contain carbon. Almost all living material consists of about 
50 kinds of carbon molecules, plus the macromolecules — large, 
complex molecules — formed from them. The four main types of 
macromolecules are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
Carbohydrates consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen 
and serve as the principal energy source for most living things. 
Carbohydrates also provide the basic material from which many 
other kinds of molecules are made.
Lipids consist primarily of carbon and hydrogen. The bestknown lipids are animal fats and vegetable oils, both rich sources 
of energy. Many kinds of organisms store food in the form of lipids. 
Other lipids form the basic structure of cell membranes.
Proteins are the most common — and most complex — 
macromolecules in living things. They are important structural parts 
of the tissues of cells and of the substances between cells. They are 
also the most varied — human beings have thousands of different 
proteins. Proteins in the form of enzymes also play an essential role 
in the control of chemical reactions in the body. Proteins are made 
up of one or more long chains called polypeptides, which consist of 
many small molecules called amino acids. All amino acids contain 
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen.
Nucleic acids store and transmit the information necessary for 
producing proteins. They consist of long chains of smaller molecules 
called nucleotides, which consist of a nucleic base (adenine, guanine, 
cytosine, or thymine), a sugar, and a phosphate group. There are 
two types of nucleic acids: DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA 
(ribonucleic acid). DNA carries the hereditary information that an 
organism passes on to its offspring — it determines that a cat will 
produce a cat, not a dog. DNA has a nucleotide consisting of one of 
the four bases plus deoxyribose, a form of sugar. RNA, serving as 
a pattern for building proteins, transmits DNA’s instructions. RNA 
consists of a nucleotide that has adenine, guanine, cytosine, or uracyl 
plus ribose, a more complex form of the sugar contained in DNA.
(from www.faculty.washington.edu)

VOC AB UL ARY

adenine (A) — аденин
autotroph — автотроф, автотрофный организм (организм, рост и размножение которого не зависят от внешних источников органических соединений)
bladder (urinary bladder) — мочевой пузырь
carbohydrates — углеводы
carbon dioxide — углекислота, углекислый газ
cartilage — хрящ
cavity — полость
cell — клетка
cephalic — головной, расположенный около головы, верхний
cervix — шея; шейка (какого-л. органа)
cytosine (C) — цитозин
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) — дезоксирибонуклеиновая кислота (ДНК)
ecosystem — экосистема
enzyme — фермент, энзим
fertilization — оплодотворение, опыление, удобрение
gall bladder — желчный пузырь
guanine (G) — гуанин
heterotroph — гетеротроф, гетеротрофный организм (организм, для 
рос та и размножения которого необходимы экзогенные органические вещества)
homeostasis — гомеостаз(ис) (постоянство внутренней среды организма, ее устойчивого равновесия с внешним миром)
lipid(e) — липид
livestock — домашний скот
lymph node — лимфатический узел, лимфоузел
metabolism — метаболизм, обмен веществ
nucleic acid — нуклеиновая кислота
nucleotide — нуклеотид
nutrient — питательное вещество, нутриент
organogenesis — органогенез (формирование органов во время роста)
ovary — анат. яичник, бот. завязь

pancreas — поджелудочная железа
polypeptide — полипептид
predator — хищник, пожиратель
protein — белок, протеин
puberty — половая зрелость, период полового созревания
reproduction — репродукция, воспроизведение, размножение, воспроизводство, возобновление (растений)
ribonucleic acid (RNA) — рибонуклеиновая кислота (РНК)
spleen — селезенка
thoracic — торакальный, грудной
thymine (T) — тимин
thymus — тимус, вилочковая железа, зобная железа
uterus — (pl. -ri) матка
vertebrate body — позвоночное животное
zygote — зигота, оплодотворенная яйцеклетка

Exercise 1. Give Russian equivalents for the following terms.

1) metabolism; 2) nutrient; 3) cell; 4) fertilization; 5) zygote; 
6) autotroph; 7) heterotroph; 8) organogenesis; 9) puberty; 
10) reproduction; 11) homeostasis; 12) predator; 13) enzyme; 
14) protein; 15) carbohydrate.

Exercise 2. Give English equivalents for the following terms.

1) гетеротрофный организм; 2) питательное вещество; 
3) клетка; 4) оплодотворение; 5) оплодотворенная яйцеклетка; 
6) автотроф; 7) обмен веществ; 8) органогенез; 9) половая 
зрелость; 10) размножение; 11) гомеостаз(ис); 12) хищник.

Exercise 3. Substitute the corresponding terms for the following 
defi nitions.

1) deals with plants; 2) deals with animals; 3) examines the 
structure of living things; 4) deals with the normal functions of