目前，科技消息编译和摘译中的问题甚多，这里举一实例来说明这个问题。有一份专门刊登国外科技消息译文、国内颇有影响的情报刊物在1986年14、16 两期上，分别刊出了同一篇科技消息报道原文的两篇译文，现将原文与两篇译文收录于此：

原文

Freeze-dried Seeds Really Last

When Lowell Woodstock returned to Beltsville in 1978 after 2 years in Saudi Arabia, he found that all the freeze-dried onion seeds he had left from earlier freeze-drying experiment were viable,while more than half the airdried seeds were not.

Woodstock, a plant physiologist with the Agricultural Research Service, kept the freeze-dried seeds for 7 more years of storage at room temperature and 40-50℃ ,found little sign of deterioration.

The original research in 1976 showed that freeze-drying markedly improved storage life of onion,pepper, and parsley seeds at temperatures are equivalent to those in tropics and subtropics.

Woodstock says freeze-drying works very well in combination with air-drying. First, seeds are air-dried to about 10 percent seed moisture and then freeze-dried down to 5 percent.

Air-drying can easily reduce seeds to about 10 percent, but after that point it becomes difficult,requiring either high or prolonged heat, both of which can damage seeds.

Woodstock believes that onion seeds and possibly other vegetable seeds dried by this two-step method can be selected in moisture-proof packets and stored for many years at room temperature or indefinitely at sub-freezing temperatures.

Lowell Woodstock is at the USDA-ARS Seed Research Laboratory.

Agriculture Research， January 1986.

译文一

冻干法能延长种子寿命

美国一位植物生理学家在 1978 年发现，用冻干法保存了两年的洋葱种子仍然能够成活，而保存了同样时间的风干的种子却有一半以上已无法成活。

于是，这位科学家从那时起将洋葱、胡椒、香菜等种子在 40-50℃的室温环境中,用冻干法保存7年多，结果证明这些种子极少有坏死现象。

这位研究人员认为，冻干法可以和风干法配合起来处理种子。首先，用风干法将种子内约10％的水分挥发掉，然后，用冻干法去掉约 10％的水分，但要超过这个限度，就需要长时间的较高温度，这样一来会使种子坏死。经过这种两步法处理过的洋葱种子和其他菜种，可以密封在防潮的袋子内， 在室温环境中贮存许多年。 如果把这些种子放在冰点以下的环境中，还可以无限期地贮存下去。