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  3. The oldest method of determining the new moon is by observation of first visibility: the competent authorities either watch the

The oldest method of determining the new moon is by observation of first visibility: the competent authorities either watch the

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问题     The oldest method of determining the new moon is by observation of first visibility: the competent authorities either watch the sky themselves or receive reports from persons deemed reliable. Although in principle this may seem the most accurate system, so long as the moon is considered as a visual rather than an astronomical phenomenon. It is open both to abuse in the interest of a faction and to interference from bad weather, which may be limited but not abolished by a rule that if after 29 days of the current month have elapsed the new moon is not observed on that evening. It shall be deemed to be observed on the next, so that no month may contain more than 30 days.
    Observation was also problematic in a community too large for rapid communication, and extremely inconvenient for astronomers who wished either to establish how many days had elapsed between two events in the past, or to predict the date of one in the future; for this reason, since the synodic month is a little over 29. 5 days long, a reasonably accurate lunar calendar will result from an alternation of 30-day "full" and 29-day "hollow" months, giving a year of 354 days; this schematic principle underlies the modern Jewish calendar (though with numerous complications) and the theoretical Muslim calendar used by astronomers and in conversion tables. It has the advantage that it can be extended as far ahead (or indeed back) as may be wished without regard to any external fact.
    Intellectual advance offers another possibility, of calculating the conjunction, and beginning the month either on that day (as in China) or on the following day (as in southern India). In this way, the real moon is still taken into account, as in the observed calendar, but relations between dates, whether past or future, can be established as precisely as in the purely schematic calendar, though only for so long as the calculations are deemed reliable.
    Most lunar calendars attempt to correct the discrepancy between lunar and solar year by the addition, every few years, of an extra month; this is known as intercalation of embolism. It may take place when certain external conditions are met, as in the Jewish calendar while it was based on observation, and still does in Hindu lunar calendars. Alternatively, a rule may be applied; on rough method, known in antiquity and used in some early Christian Easter tables, is to add 3 months in 8 years, but more accurate is the addition of 8 months over a 19-year cycle. This is commonly known as the Metonic cycle, after Meton, a Greek astronomer who reportedly proposed it in 432 BC; however, it was first employed by the Babylonians, who possessed the most important lunar calendar of antiquity. It is used in the modern Jewish calendar (subject to certain qualifications) in the Chinese; it was also adopted by the Christian Church for calculating Easter.
    Modern Westerners, to whom the Jewish and Muslin calendars are the most familiar non-solar varieties, distinguish lunisolar calendars with intercalation, which follow the moon but keep watch on the sun, from lunar calendars, which admit no intercalation and leave the sun out of account. However, the Muslim calendar, which is of this latter description, is exceptional; not only the Jewish, but the ancient Greek, Gaulish, Babylonian, and Chinese calendars are lunisolar, as are the moon-based calendars of India. It makes more sense to regard this as the predominant species of lunar calendar, and the non-intercalating calendar as the minority species rather than a third kind.
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答案 观测月亮初显是判定新月最古老的方法：相关部门或亲自观测天空，或接收所谓可靠人士的观测结果。尽管从原理上讲这似乎是最精确的判定方法，但只要将新月视为视觉现象而非天文现象，观测月亮就会被某些利益派别滥用，也会受到恶劣天气的干扰。这种判定方法并未被完全否定，但它受到一条规则的制约，即如果在当月的第29日晚没有观测到新月，则应视为在次日观测到，因此任何一个月都不会超过30天。 同时，由于观测团体规模过大，无法及时沟通，所以观测过程问题重重，而且对那些想确定过去两次新月间的间隔天数，或想预测未来一次新月出现日期的天文学家来说也极为不便。因此，鉴于一个朔望月略长于29. 5天，即30天的“大月”和29天的“小月”交替出现，使全年共有354天，由此一种相当精确的算法——阴历产生了。这种严谨的算法成为现代犹太历法(不过存在诸多复杂情况)、天文学家使用的理论穆斯林历法以及换算表的基础。其优势在于，它的使用范围扩大了，不论客观实际如何，人们都能随意将之用于未来(或以前)。 随着认知进步，另一种计算“合朔”的历法产生。将“合朔”出现的当天(比如中国)或次日(比如印度南部)定为月初。据此，就像在通过观察获得的历法中一样，定朔仍然被考虑在内，但是每月天数的多少，无论是过去的还是将来的，只要计算结果准确，都可以像现在用最精准的历法计算出来的结果一样。 多数阴历试图通过每隔几年增加一个月来修正阴历和阳历之间的差异，这种做法被称作“置闰法”。正如基于观察而来的犹太历法一样，只要满足特定的外部条件，置闰就会发生，即便在印度历法中也是如此。或者，人们还可能运用另一条规则来修正差异。在古代，一些早期基督教复活节日历表中使用了一种粗略的方法，即每8年增加3个月，不过更为精确的方法是以19年为一个周期，每周期增加8个月。这便是众所周知的“默冬周期”，以传闻中于公元前432年提出这一概念的希腊天文学家默冬的名字命名。然而，最早使用这种计算方法的却是巴比伦人，他们拥有古代最重要的阴历。中国使用的现代犹太历中(受某些条件的限制)也使用了这种算法。此外，基督教会也用它来计算复活节的日期。 阳历之外，现代西方人最熟悉的历法是犹太历和穆斯林历。他们将阴阳历与阴历区分开来，前者包含置闰，密切观察月亮的同时又观测太阳，后者则不考虑太阳且不含置闰。但是，虽符合阴历的描述，伊斯兰历却是例外。不仅仅是犹太历，就连古希腊人、高卢人、巴比伦人和中国人的历法都是阴阳历，印度的月历也是如此。因此将阴阳历视作历法中的主要类别，将不增加天数的阴历视作少数历法而非第三种更为合理。
解析     这段话内容较多，翻译时应当根据意群将之拆分为多个分句。be open to后跟的名词分别为abuse和interference，英文多用名词，而中文多用动词，故翻译时进行词性转换，将名词转换为动词，分别处理为“被……滥用”和“受到……干扰”。而在处理最后的同位语从句时，鉴于从句中包含了一个规则的具体介绍，内容较多，翻译时先将主干内容译出，然后将规则的具体内容放在最后，以冒号引出，层次更清晰，更便于译文读者理解。
    synodic month指“朔望月”，又称“太阴月”，是月球绕地球公转相对于太阳的平均周期，也是月相盈亏的平均周期。此外，full month和hollow month根据文中的解释，分别对应中文里的“大月”和“小月”，“大月”有30天，而“小月”有29天。英文中分号通常起到将独立子句连接成一句话的作用，翻译时常常以分号为界，将前后处理为独立的单句。
    这段话中出现了一个天文学的专业术语“默冬周期”，翻译时需要对这个概念有一定的了解。介词after-在这里的含义是“以……命名”。分号后的第二句中出现了一个被动结构was first employed，目的在于强调后边的内容，突出使用这种算法的人是谁，翻译为中文时，则要按照中文的表达习惯，将其转换为主动结构。
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