1. As a result, California's growth rate dropped during the 1970s, to 18.5 percent-little more than two thirds the 1960s' growth figure and considerably below that of other Western states.

【譯文】因此，加利福利尼的人口增長(zhǎng)率在70年代降到18.5％，僅略高于60年代增長(zhǎng)率的三分之二，但大大低于西部其他各州。

【析句】注意dropped to 18.5％意為下降到18.5％，而不是下降了18.5％ （dropped by 18.5%）。two thirds the 1960's growth figure表示是60年代生長(zhǎng)率的三分之二。

【講詞】considerable意為"相當(dāng)?shù)?quot;，considerably意為"相當(dāng)?shù)?quot;。The death toll could rise considerably as more information comes in from the area hit by the earthquake.（地震災(zāi)區(qū)傳來(lái)的更多信息顯示，死亡人數(shù)可能會(huì)大幅上升。）

2.  Think of Galileo's 17th century trial for his rebelling belief before the Catholic Church or poet William Blake's harsh remarks against the mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton.

【譯文】想想看，17世紀(jì)伽利略因其叛逆性的信仰而遭到天主教會(huì)的審判，詩(shī)人威廉布萊克對(duì)艾薩克牛頓的機(jī)械世界觀提出尖銳的批判。

【析句】這是一個(gè)類似祈使句的無(wú)主語(yǔ)句，句子的主干其實(shí)是Think of Galileo's 17th century trial... or Blake's harsh remarks。由于賓語(yǔ)較長(zhǎng)，在譯成漢語(yǔ)時(shí)，應(yīng)該調(diào)整句子的結(jié)構(gòu)，以免句子的結(jié)構(gòu)顯得不平衡。

【講詞】remark意為"評(píng)論；言論"，但是如果remark(s)后面接介詞against，那么通常表示"批評(píng)"。像word(s)，statement，comment等都是如此。He denied that he had made any remarks against the leadership of the party.（他否認(rèn)他曾批評(píng)過(guò)該黨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。）