科技英语词汇特点.docVIP

第一节（略） 第二节 Technical and Semi-Technical Words 科技、半科技专业术语 2.1 Technical words 科技专业术语 An ordinary reader or listener may find it difficult to understand the writing or speech composed purely in scientific language. Words used in technical language present the first obstacle to those who have little or no specific knowledge in the related field. The special vocabulary of EST includes technical and semi-technical terms. 2.1.1 Highly Specialized in Meaning 意义高度专业化 With rapid development of science and technology, new terms are needed to define new phenomena and to explain new things and processes. Often suitable terms have to be invented. Scientists have been extending the vocabularies of their subjects for centuries and each subject has its own store of terms with precise and narrow meanings. For example, stratosphere (同温层), quartz oscillator (石英晶体振荡器), seismology (地震学), polysomic (多倍体的), circumradius (外接圆半径), polystyrene (聚苯乙烯), leukocyte (白细胞), sequoia (红杉), etc. You may find many such kind of words in this book. 2.1.2 The Use of Prefixes and Suffixes 前缀后缀的使用 Many technical terms are made up from Latin or Greek roots with prefixes (前缀) and suffixes (后缀). For example, the word polytetrafluoroethylene (聚四氟乙烯) is made up of five parts: poly- (前缀: 多，复，聚),tetra- (四), fluoro- (氟), ethyl (乙基，乙烷基), and –ene (后缀：烯属烃，苯属烃). Another example, geoastrophysics (地球天体物理学): geo-(地球), astro- (星，天体，宇宙), physics (物理学). Therefore, knowing the meaning of prefixes and suffixes can help you understand the meaning of the words. The following are some of the commonly used prefixes and suffixes in EST. Prefixes 前缀 aero-: 空气，大气；气体；飞机；航空 aerobiology (空气生物学，高空生物学); aeronautics (航空学，飞行学); aeromechanics (航空力学) astro-: 星，天体；宇宙 astrodynamics (天体动力学); astrogeology (天体地质学); astronomy (天文学) anti-: 反，抗，阻；治，止；防止，中和 antibody (抗体); anticancer(抗癌的); anticorrosive [防(腐)蚀(的)] auto-: 自动的，自动调整的；自己，本身 autocontrol (自动控制); autoignition (自燃); auto-switch (自动开关) bio-: 生命；生物；生物学的 biochemistry (生物化学); bioelectricity