一、解說
1. As recently as the early 1960s, the phrase "environmental law" would probably have produced little more than a puzzled look, even from many lawyers. 就在二十世紀六十年代初，甚至連許多律師接觸到“環保法”這個詞兒，大半也只會感到納悶而已。
    “as recently as”不同于“as early as”，前者強調句中描述的事情距離現在很近，后者強調時間的遙遠，所以譯作“就在…”，而不是“早在…”說明事情變化得很快。當初大家對“環保法”還非常陌生，而現在已成為人們關注的話題。
    “the phrase "environmental law" would probably have produced little more than a puzzled look, even from many lawyers”這句話的字面意思是：“環保法”這個詞兒或許只給人們甚至于大多數律師帶來迷惑的神色。“某個詞給人們帶來某種神色”這樣的表述不符合漢語的習慣，故把“許多律師”提上來作主語，謂語動詞就選用“感到”，這樣的主謂搭配比較符合漢語的表達習慣，也符合句意。

2. There were, of course, numerous state and some federal laws intended to protect America's rivers and streams from excessive industrial pollution and to guard wildlife from the de前一單元dations of man.當然，已經有了各市地多州法和一些聯邦法，其立法意圖是保護美國的江河，使之免受過分的工業污染并保護野生生物不受人類的掠奪。
    “intended to protect America's rivers and streams from excessive industrial pollution and to guard wildlife from the de前一單元dations of man”是過去分詞短語，作定語修飾“laws”。遇到這樣長的修飾語常常要用斷句的方法來翻譯，這里譯作“其立法意圖是…”，把原來的過去分詞轉換成名詞，再找一個動詞“是”來搭配，構成主謂結構。
    “protect ...from...”和“guard ...from ...”同義，均為“保護…免遭…”。

3. With enforcement power dispersed among many federal, state and local agencies, most of which were seriously undermanned, and with noncompliance penalties so slight as to have little more than harassment value, there were few incentives to obey the laws. 由于執法的權力分散在許許多多的聯邦、州和地方等三級機關（而這些機關大多人手嚴重不足），也由于因違法而科處的罰款微不足道（從而只有惱人心煩的意義），人們就缺乏服從法律的勁頭了。
    句中的兩個“with”表示原因，相當于“because of”，故譯作“由于”和“也由于”，使兩個分句平穩地連接。
    “dispersed”是過去分詞，作介詞賓語的補語，但在譯文中已轉換成該分句中的謂語動詞。
    “there were few incentives to obey the laws”要保持原有結構也很難，故加了主語“人們”和謂語“缺乏”。

4. Indeed, many environmental statutes were so little publicized and so vaguely worded that their existence was hardly known and their meaning was scarcely understood. 說真的，許多環境法的宣傳工作之薄弱與措詞之含糊，使人簡直不知道有環境法，而環境法的意義也就無人了解了。
     在法律文章中，被動語態用得比較多，在翻譯時應根據漢語的表達習慣作適當的調整。此句中的“their existence was hardly known and their meaning was scarcely understood”便是一例。

5. A powerful indictment of America's disregard of ecology, Silent Spring was aimed chiefly at the wholesale use of chemical pesticides, especially DDT. 《沉默的春天》有力地控訴了美國之忽視生態，它主要是針對大規模使用農藥——特別是滴滴涕。
    “A powerful indictment of America's disregard of ecology”就是指后面的“Silent Spring”，故“《沉默的春天》”提前譯出，做主語，然后把原來的名詞“indictment” 處理成動詞做謂語，原來修飾名詞的形容詞在譯文中就成了修飾動詞的副詞了。
    因為“Silent Spring”已拿到前面作主語去了，所以后一分句就用“它”來指代。

6. In 1965 a court action took place that ranks in environmental importance with the publication of Silent Spring. 1965年又發生了一件訴訟，其對環境之重要意義，不亞于《沉默的春天》之出版。
    “that ranks in environmental importance with the publication of Silent Spring”引導一個定語從句，譯文采用了斷句手法，后一分句用一個“其”字來指代前面提到的“一件訴訟”。

7. That was the reversal by a court of appeals of a Federal Power Commission decision to grant a license for a Consolidated Edison power plant at Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River in New York. 某上訴法院駁回了聯邦電力委員會關于向紐約哈得遜河畔施多姆金山愛迪生聯合發電廠頒發許可證的決定。
    句首的“that”指前一句是的訴訟。為了連貫和避免重復，前一句末用了冒號引出這一訴訟的內容。
    把原來“by”后面的名詞短語處理成主語，整個被動語態就譯成了主動語態，之比較符合漢語的表達方式。
    另外，原句中“decision”的修飾語在譯文中仍處理成修飾語，而且意思表達得很清楚，這是很不容易的。

8. The court ordered new proceedings that were to "include as a basic concern the 前一單元servation of natural beauty and of national historic shrines." 該法院命重新處理該案并“以保護自然美和歷史名勝為基本注意事項”。
    本句中的修飾語“that were to 'include as a basic concern the 前一單元servation of natural beauty and of national historic shrines.'”就難以保持原來的位置，為了通順，被處理成一個分句。