为方便学习，本文所涉及的单词、词组、例句已单独拎出，请参见本次发送的第二篇文章
原文
工业革命前的中国 第四部分
Brindley had begun on his own account, out of interest, to survey the waterways that he travelled as he went about his engineering projects for mills and mines.
The Duke of Bridgewater then got him to build a canal to carry coal from the Duke's pits at Worsley to the rising town of Manchester...
Brindley went on to connect Manchester with Liverpool in an even bolder manner, and in all laid out almost four hundred miles of canals in a network all over England.
逐句对比
比较自己的翻译和庄绎传先生的, 学习差异所在。
Brindley had begun on his own account, out of interest, to survey the waterways that he travelled as he went about his engineering projects for mills and mines.
我的译文：出于兴趣，Brindley 从事他的磨坊和矿机工程的同时，独自对所路过的航道进行勘察。
参考译文：布林德雷在为他的磨坊和矿井建筑工程四处奔走的时候，出于兴趣和自愿，对沿途经过的河道进行了勘察。
译文的一个差别在于 on his own account，我译成了 独自, 庄先生是将它和 out of interest 合在一起，译成了 自愿。
我感觉似乎都可以，不过 独自 有点将他人排除在外了，也许布林德雷当时还有其他手下员工帮忙呢？
另外一个差别，go about (着手干；做；处理)，这个词的翻译，我太生硬了，sigh，庄先生译成 四处奔走，多舒服。
顺便记一下这个词组 on one's account，以及另一个 by one's account
on your own account by yourself or for yourself靠自己; 为自己:
•Carrie decided to do a little research on her own account.卡丽决定自己做点研究。
If you take part in a business activity on your own account, you do it for yourself, and not as a representative or employee of a company.
【搭配模式】：PHR after v
•She had plans to set up in business on her own account.她计划自己创业。
by your own account
■Something that is true by your own account is what you say is true although you have not proved it 据（某人）自己所说
•By his own account, he's quite wealthy.他自称很富有。
The Duke of Bridgewater then got him to build a canal to carry coal from the Duke's pits at Worsley to the rising town of Manchester.
我的译文：布里奇沃特的公爵请他开凿一条运河，以便从公爵在 Worsley 的矿洞运送到正在兴起的曼彻斯特。
参考译文：于是布里奇沃特公爵就让他开一条运河，以便把煤从公爵在乌斯利拥有的矿井运往新兴城市曼彻斯特。
rising: 成上升趋势的, 比如，the river is rising 河水在上涨。
还有：
The school accepts children who are rising five years old.这间学校招收接近五岁的孩子。
rising star:
a person who is quickly becoming popular, successful, etc.
Brindley went on to connect Manchester with Liverpool in an even bolder manner, and in all laid out almost four hundred miles of canals in a network all over England.
我的译文：Brindley 开始更大胆的着手连通曼彻斯特和利物浦，进而开凿了一个近乎 400 英里的运河网络，遍布整个英国。
参考译文：布林德雷还更加大胆地运用运河把曼彻斯特和利物浦联结起来，修凿了总长度为 400 英里的遍布全英国的运河网。
这一段理解上没什么问题，但中文的组织还是欠缺，中文功底不好不行啊啊
2-工业革命前的中国4
来练习一下吧
参考译文见下一篇翻译练习.
工业革命前的中国 第五部分
Two things are outstanding in the creation of the English system of canals, and they characterise all the Indutrial Revolution.
One is that the men who made the revolution were practical men.
Like Brindley, they often had little education, and in fact school education as it then was could only dull an inventive mind.
The grammar schools legally could only teach the classical subjects for which they had been founded.
The universities also (there were only two, at Oxford and Cambridge) took little interest in modern or scientific studies; and they were closed to those who did not conform to the Church of England.