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帖子21 精华0 寄托币30 声望0 注册时间2002-6-9 10楼 发表于 2003-2-5 07:31 | 只看该作者 Secrecy in industry 工业中的秘密
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 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
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
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。
Silicon valley 硅谷
What does the computer industry thrive on apart from anarchy?
Technology trends may push Silicon Valley back to the future. Carver Mead, a pioneer in integrated circuits and a professor of computer science at the California Institute of Technology, notes there are now work-stations that enable engineers to design, test and produce chips right on their desks, much the way an editor creates a newsletter on a Macintosh. As the time and cost of making a chip drop to a few days and a few hundred dollars, engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failures. Mead predicts that inventors will be able to perfect powerful customized chips over a weekend at the office -- spawning a new generation of garage start-ups and giving the U.S. a jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast. 'We're got more garages with smart people,' Mead observes. 'We really thrive on anarchy.'
And on Asians. Already, orientals and Asian Americans constitute the majority of the engineering staffs at many Valley firms. And Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Indian engineers are graduating in droves from California's colleges. As the heads of next-generation start-ups, these Asian innovators can draw on customs and languages to forge righter links with crucial Pacific Rim markets. For instance, Alex Au, a Stanford Ph. D. from Hong Kong, has set up a Taiwan factory to challenge Japan's near lock on the memory-chip market. India-born N.Damodar Reddy's tiny California company reopened an AT & T chip plant in Kansas City last spring with financing from the state of Missouri. Before it becomes a retirement village, Silicon Valley may prove a classroom for building a global business.
US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, October 2, 1989
New words and expressions 生词和短语
silicon
n. 硅
integrated
adj. 综合的
circuit
n. 线路，电路
California
n. 加利福尼亚（美国州名）
workstation
n. 工作站
chip
n. 芯片，集成电路片，集成块
newsletter
n. 时事通讯
Macintosh
n. 苹果机，一种个人电脑
penalize
v. 处罚，惩罚
customize
v. 按顾客具体需要制造
spawn
v. 引起，酿成
thrive
v. 兴旺，繁荣
anarchy
n. 无政府状态，混乱
oriental
n. 东方人
constitute
v. 构成
drove
n. 群
innovator
n. 发明者
forge
v. 发展
memory-chip
n. 内存条
AT & T
美国电话电报公司 (American Telephone and Telegraph)
Kansas
n. 堪萨斯（美国州名）
Missouri
n. 密苏里（美国州名）
参考译文