英语专八考试汉译英考前练习讲解（10）
一艘货轮卸货后在浩瀚的大海上返航时，突然遭遇了可怕的风暴。水手们惊慌失措，经验丰富的老船长果断地命令水手们立刻打开货舱，往里面灌水。“船长是不是疯了，往船舱里灌水只会增加船的压力，使船下沉，这不是自寻死路吗?”一个年轻的水手嘟哝着。
看着船长严厉的脸色，水手们还是照做了。随着货船里的水位越升越高，随着船一寸一寸地下沉，猛烈的狂风巨浪对船的威胁却一点一点地减少，货轮渐渐平稳了。
船长望着松了一口气的水手们说：“百万吨的巨轮很少有被打翻的，被打翻的常常是份量轻的小船。船在负重的时候，是最安全的;空船时，则是最危险的。”
Homeward bound after unloading its cargo, a ship ran into a violent storm in the middle of a vast ocean. The seamen were thrown into a panic. Without hesitation, the old but seasoned captain ordered water be poured into the hold immediately. "A mad man, isn't he? He is going to bring his own destruction by filling water into the hold and making the ship go down", grumbled a young sailor.
Noticing the captain's stern look, the sailors reluctantly carried out his order. With the water coming up in the hold and the ship going down inch by inch, the threatening of the violent storm to the ship gradually subsided and the ship started to stablize.
The captain said to the relieved sailors: "A million ton" ship seldom turns over; it's often the small ships that sank easily. It's safest when a ship is with load, and the most dangerous when without."
这就是“压力效应”。那些得过且过，没有一点压力，做一天和尚撞一天钟的人，像风暴中没有载货的船，往往一场人生的狂风巨浪便会把他们打翻。
This is called the "pressure effect". The man who always muddles through in his work will easily be frustrated in a competitive society just like an unloaded ship that will turned over easily in a storm.