2. 外语
  3. In the mid-1800s a caterpillar, the size of a human finger, began spreading across the northeastern U.S. This appearance of the

In the mid-1800s a caterpillar, the size of a human finger, began spreading across the northeastern U.S. This appearance of the

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问题     In the mid-1800s a caterpillar, the size of a human finger, began spreading across the northeastern U.S. This appearance of the tomato hornworm (番茄天蛾) was followed by terrifying reports of fatal poisonings and aggressive behavior toward people. In July 1869 newspapers across the region posted warnings about the insect, reporting that a girl had died after a run-in with the creature. That fall a local newspaper printed an account from a doctor. The physician warned that the caterpillar was "as poisonous as a rattlesnake" and said he knew of three deaths linked to its venom.
    Although the hornworm is a voracious eater that can strip a tomato plant in a matter of days, it is, in fact, harmless to humans. Entomologists had known the insect to be innocuous for decades, and his claims were widely mocked by experts. So why did the rumors persist even though the truth was readily available? People are social learners. We develop most of our beliefs from the testimony of trusted others such as our teachers, parents and friends. This social transmission of knowledge is at the heart of culture and science. But as the tomato hornworm story shows us, our ability has a gaping vulnerability: sometimes the ideas we spread are wrong.
    Over the past five years the ways in which the social transmission of knowledge can fail us have come into sharp focus. Misinformation (错误信息) shared on social media has fueled an epidemic of false belief. The same basic mechanisms that spread fear about the tomato hornworm have now intensified—and, in some cases, led to—a profound public mistrust of basic societal institutions.
    "Misinformation" may seem like a misnomer here. After all, many of today’s most damaging false beliefs are initially driven by acts of disinformation (虚假信息), which are deliberately deceptive and intended to cause harm. But part of what makes disinformation so effective in an age of social media is the fact that people who are exposed to it share it widely among friends and peers who trust them, with no intention of misleading anyone. Social media transforms disinformation into misinformation
    Many social scientists have tried to understand how false beliefs persist by modeling the spread of ideas as a contagion. In a contagion model, ideas are like viruses that go from mind to mind. You start with a network, which consists of nodes, representing individuals, and edges, which represent social connections. You seed an idea in one "mind" and see how it spreads.
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答案 19世纪中叶，一种手指大小的毛毛虫开始在美国东北部地区大量出现，这种被称为“番茄天蛾”的昆虫出现后，各种危言耸听的报道随之而采，称其具有致命的毒性，并且会攻击人类。1869年7月，该地区各个报纸都刊出了对这一昆虫的防范警示，称有一个女孩在与番茄天蛾相碰后死亡。那年秋天，有个当地报纸刊登了一个医生的说法。该医生提醒说，这种昆虫“毒性与响尾蛇相当”，还表示他已经知道三个因其毒液而死亡的病例。虽然番茄天蛾是一种贪食的昆虫，可在几天内剥光一株西红柿，但事实上它对人类是无害的。早在几十年前昆虫学家们就清楚它的无害性，那个医生的“声明”也遭到许多专家的嘲笑。那么为什么在真相已然存在的情况下，谣言依旧猖獗呢?人类是社群型学习者。我们所形成的大部分观点都是源于所信赖的人的证实，如老师、父母和朋友。这种社群型的知识传播模式处于文化和科学的核心地位。但正如番茄天蛾的故事所示，我们有一个巨大的能力缺陷——有时候我们所散播的观点是错误的。 由于这种社群型的知识传播有可能让大众失望，在过去五年里，其传播方式已成为焦点问题。社交媒体上分享的各种错误信息助长了错误观点的蔓延，番茄天蛾事件中散播恐惧的同一种基本机制已强化了(在一些情况下甚至导致了)公众对基本社会制度的严重不信任。不过，此处用“错误信息”一词似乎显得不够准确。毕竟，当下很多最具破坏性的错误观念最初都是由散播虚假信息这一行为所驱动，这类行为均属于有意误导，本意就是要造成伤害。但虚假信息之所以在这个社交媒体时代如此“开放”，部分是因为接触到这类信息的人们在无意误导任何人的情况下，将这信息广泛传播给了信任他们的朋友和同龄人。社交媒体将虚假信息转化为错误信息。很多社会科学家已尝试把思想传播的过程模拟为接触性传染，以此去理解错误观点是如何持续存在的。在接触性传染中，观点就像病毒一样，从一个大脑传递到另一个。以一个网络作为开始，当中包含了很多节点和边缘，节点代表个人，边缘则代表社会连接。接着就在其中一个“大脑”中播撒一种观点，观察它如何进行扩散。
解析 1.terrify原意为“令人恐惧的，吓人的”，根据上下文可知，这些恐怖的报道最后被证明是谣言，因此可翻译为“耸人听闻的”更加准确。
2.account为多义词，有“账户，账号”和“描述，说法”等义项，这里是指报纸刊出的一个医生的观点，因此要选择第二个义项。
3.persist意思为“留存，保持，坚持”，这里用作rumors“谣言”的谓语，可根据搭配翻译为“依旧猖獗”。
4.belief作可数名词时意为“宗教信仰；观点，看法”，结合句意在此处取第二个义项。
5.This appearance of the tomato hornworm交代了未具体指明的昆虫叫“番茄天蛾”，故此处可以增补为“这种被称为‘番茄天蛾’的昆虫”。句子用了this appearance作主语，若译为“……的出现”则翻译腔比较重，把它变为动词更符合中文的表达习惯
6. We develop most of our beliefs from the testimony of trusted others是典型的英语行文习惯，若按照原句子结构直译则为“我们从信任的人的证言中发展出大部分观点”，十分拗口。此句想表达的是，我们在建立观点时受到信任的人的影响，认为他们已经对事情证实过了，因此可转换一下结构，译为“我们所形成的大部分观点都是源于所信赖的人的证实”。
7.exposed用的是被动语态，如果直译则为“暴露于……”，由于后面宾语的it指“虚假信息”，因此这里可以化被动为主动，译为“接触”。
8.seed在这里作动词，可表示“结籽”或“播种，播撒”，宾语是an idea，因此可翻译为“播撒”。
9. "Misinformation" may seem like a misnomer here若直译为“错误信息可能在这里看起来像是个误用词”，显得较为生硬，可根据汉语多用动词结构的特点，将其灵活译为“不过，此处用‘错误信息’一词似乎显得不够准确”。
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