Then and look at?

[sky753]

Hello Everyone,

The following two paragraphs are taken from my oral translation book. My version is different from that provided by the book. I don't understand why the author translate the sentence this way? According to the original Chinese and my understanding , the underlined should be translated as "First , let's look at how the car cause air pollution." I would like to know here which one is proper?


My topic today is the car and air pollution. In particular, I want firstly to discuss the ways in which the car car causes air pollution. And secondly, how we can control or reduce air pollution from the car.

First, then, how does the car cause air pollution. What happens is that the car’s internal combustion engine is a kind of chemical factory on a small scale. It uses a mixture of petrol and air, and this mixture explodes and burns., to produce the energy which propels the car. But while this is happening, many complicated chemical reactions are taking place. In particular, part of the petrol-air mixture is not completely burned up, and so the exhaust gases from the engine contain some very dangerous chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead and hydrocarbons.

Regards

Sky

[babzlingo]

Hi
The difference between those two sentences is more stylistic than grammatical. One poses a ? and the other is just an introductory statement. I hope you don't mind, but I have some suggested changes in article use and sentence structure. The first sentence could also be "...today is cars and air...." "The underlined sentence could also be "...how do cars cause air...."

My topic today is the car and air pollution. In particular, I want, firstly, to discuss the ways in which cars causes air pollution and, secondly, how we can control or reduce air pollution from cars.

First, then, how does a car cause air pollution? What happens is that the car’s internal combustion engine is a kind of chemical factory on a small scale. It uses a mixture of petrol and air, and this mixture explodes and burns to produce the energy which propels the car. But while this is happening, many complicated chemical reactions are taking place. In particular, part of the petrol-air mixture is not completely burned up, so the exhaust gases from the engine contain some very dangerous chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead and hydrocarbons.

I am new to this forum...hope this helps.

[sky753]

Originally Posted by babzlingo

Hi
The difference between those two sentences is more stylistic than grammatical. One poses a ? and the other is just an introductory statement. I hope you don't mind, but I have some suggested changes in article use and sentence structure. The first sentence could also be "...today is cars and air...." "The underlined sentence could also be "...how do cars cause air...."

My topic today is the car and air pollution. In particular, I want, firstly, to discuss the ways in which cars causes air pollution and, secondly, how we can control or reduce air pollution from cars.

First, then, how does a car cause air pollution? What happens is that the car’s internal combustion engine is a kind of chemical factory on a small scale. It uses a mixture of petrol and air, and this mixture explodes and burns to produce the energy which propels the car. But while this is happening, many complicated chemical reactions are taking place. In particular, part of the petrol-air mixture is not completely burned up, so the exhaust gases from the engine contain some very dangerous chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead and hydrocarbons.

I am new to this forum...hope this helps.

Thanks!

And do you mean that both sentences work in the context! What do you mean by saying " pose a " ? Do you mean posing a question? From your point of view , is this passage written by native English speakers? I am still confused with the question. I don't know which version is more correspond to original Chinese?

[David L.]

Yes, the sentence 'poses a question'.

1. both translated sentences are grammatically correct, and as a native speaker might write/speak.
2. you consider that your translation is more faithful to the original Chinese

So - choose your interpretation...and as the reader, I would prefer it. To pose a question as an introductory sentence sounds old-fashioned. I have visions of someone giving a lecture on birds to half a dozen people in some very small village hall, and saying at some point, " So how, then, can we help our feathered friends to survive our icey winters? Firstly, we can..."

[sky753]

Originally Posted by David L.

Yes, the sentence 'poses a question'.

1. both translated sentences are grammatically correct, and as a native speaker might write/speak.
2. you consideer that your translation is more faithful to the original Chinese

So - choose your interpretation...and as the reader, I would prefer it. To pose a question as an introductory sentence sounds old-fashioned. I have visions of someone giving a lecture on birds to half a dozen people in some very small village hall, and saying at some point, " So how, then, can we help our feathered friends to survive our icey winters? Firstly, we can..."

Thanks

Why do you choose "let's look at...' as it is frequently used or as it is smooth to you? As a foreigner, such problems really confuse us. Of couse language is to express one's ideas and to communicate. Only can the expressions be understood by both receivers, there is no need for us to probe the differences to that extent. However, from accedemic aspect, it is worthy!

[David L.]

"let's look at' is a phrase you will often hear in some lecture or presentation:

"Let's take a look at the next graph." and PowerPoint may flash a new picutre up, or in the old days, someone would change the slide in the projector.