翻译技巧：倍数的翻译（三）

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by a factor of  
词组by a factor of 在《朗文双解》中的解释为"if something increases or decreases by a factor of N, it increases or decreases by N times."以N倍的系数增加或减少。这个解释表达不是很明确，现在把它分成以下两种情况来分析：
(1)表示增加含义时 wｗw.ExamＷ.CoM
Increase/grow…by a factor of N times 增加到N倍，或者增加了N-1倍
; k( s- E3 g1 u2 b& D* DEg: The output of diesel oil for farm use has been increased by a factor of five times these years.
1 @  g1 _2 C# F, L这些年来，用于农业生产的柴油产量增加了四倍。
(2)表示减少含义时
Decrease/fall…by a factor of N times 减少到1/N，或者减少了(N-1)/N。
& g' ]# H, g% aEg: The production has decreased by a factor of three times as against 1977.
: Q8 C% r" ?. E! s4 `  f! U总产量减少到1977年的三分之一。