1. Civil engineering，the oldest of the engineering specialties，is the planning，design，construction, and management of the built environment．This environment includes all structures built according to scientific principles，from irrigation and drainage systems to rocket-launching facilities.土木工程，最老的工程专业，是建筑环境的规划、设计、施工和管理。
这个环境包括从灌溉和排水系统到火箭发射设施的所有根据科学原理建造的结构物。
2. Civil engineers build roads，bridges，tunnels，dams，harbors，power plants，water and sewage systems，hospitals，schools，mass transit，and other public facilities essential to modern society and large population concentrations．土木工程师修建道路、桥梁、隧道、大坝、港口、发电站、水系统和污水系统，医院、学校、公共交通系统，以及现代化社会和大量人口集中的地方所必需的其他公共设施。
3. Computers are a necessity for the modern civil engineer because they permit the engineer to efficiently handle the large quantities of data needed in determining the best way to construct a project．计算机对于现代土木工程师而言是必不可少的，因为它们可使工程师高效地处理大量数据，这些数据是在确定最优施工方案时所需要的。
4. They also determine the combination of appropriate materials：steel，concrete，plastic，stone，asphalt，brick，aluminum，or other construction materials．他们还确定适当的材料组合：钢材、混凝土、塑料、石料、沥青、砖、铝或其他的建筑材料。
5. In this branch of civil engineering, engineers build pipelines and related facilities which transport liquids, gases, or solids ranging from coal slurries (mixed coal and water) and semiliquid wastes, to water, oil, and various types of highly combustible and noncombustible gases.在土木工程的这个分支里，工程师修建运输液体、气体或固体的管道和相关的设施，运输的物质范围从煤浆和半液体废料到水、石油和不同类型的高燃性和非燃性气体。
6. They coordinate the activities of virtually everyone engaged in the work：the surveyors；workers who lay out and construct the temporary roads and ramps，excavate for the foundation，build the forms and pour the concrete；and workers who build the steel framework．These engineers also make regular progress reports to the owners of the structure．事实上，他们协调工程中每个人的活动：勘测员、为临时道路和斜坡定线和施工、挖基础、建模和浇注混凝土的工人、以及绑扎钢筋的工人。
这些工程师还为建筑业主定期提供进度报告。
7. This art includes，in addition to buildings，all the civil engineering structures such as dams，canals，tunnels，aqueducts，and bridges．除了建筑物，这艺术还包括所有的土木工程结构物，比如大坝、运河、隧道、沟渠和桥梁。
8. The scientific basis for the design of buildings as shelters and for the design of civil engineering structures for other purposes is identical．对于作为躲避处的建筑物和作其他用途的土木工程结构物，它们的设计科学依据是相同的。
9. The plan of a structure，always the first consideration of an architect，is the resolution of these different purposes into an organization of spaces that will fulfill the intent of the building．建筑物的结构平面图，总是建筑师的第一考虑，它把对建筑物的各种要求安排成体现建筑意图的空间组合。
10. Any beam spanning a void tends to bend downward between the supports，putting the lower half of the beam under tension．任何横跨空间的梁都会在支点间出现下弯的趋势，从而使梁的下半部处于拉应力状态。
11. Wood，a fibrous material，withstands tension as readily as it does compression. 木材是一种纤维性材料，既可承受压应力，又可承受拉应力。
12. Wooden beams may be relatively longer than stone beams，and wooden posts slender and widely spaced．木梁比起石梁可以相对长些；木柱比较细且间距宽。
13. Through the related architectural forms shaped by their purpose，governed by the materials，proportioned and given scale and character by the designer，buildings become expressions of the ideals and aspirations of the generations that built them．The successive styles of historic architecture are incarnations of the spirit of their times．经由建筑目的所成形，受材料、比例和设计者给出的尺寸及特征所支配的相关建筑形式，建筑物成了建造它们的那代人的理想和抱负的展示。
历史性建筑的连续性风格就是那个时代的精神化身。
14. Materials and structural forms are combined to make up the various parts of a building, including the load-carrying frame, skin, floors，and partitions. The building also has mechanical and electrical systems, such as elevators, heating and cooling systems, and lighting systems. The superstructure is that part of a building above ground, and the substructure and foundation is that part of a building below ground.各种材料和不同的结构形式共同组成了建筑物的不同部分，包括承重结构，外壳，楼板和隔墙。
建筑物也有像升降机、供暖、冷却、照明等机械和电力的系统。
上部结构是建筑物地面以上的部分，而下部结构和基础则是建筑物地面以下的部分。
15. Until the late 19th century, the exterior walls of a building were used as bearing walls to support the floors. This construction is essentially a post and lintel type, and it is still used in frame construction for houses. Bearing-wall construction limited the height of buildings because of the enormous wall thickness required直到19世纪晚期，建筑物外墙被用作支承楼板的承重墙。
这种结构本质上一种梁柱模型，并且仍然被用于住宅的框架结构中。
由于需要巨大的墙体的厚度很大，承重墙结构而限制了建筑物的高度。
16. This perimeter wall, in effect, constitutes a bearing wall. One reason for this trend is that stiffness against the action of wind can be economically obtained by using the walls of the building as a tube; the World Trade Center buildings are another example of this tube approach. In contrast, rigid frames or vertical trusses are usually provided to give lateral stability.实际上，这个环形墙组成了一个承重墙，产生这种趋向的一个理由是，采用建筑物的墙壁作为一个筒体，可以非常经济地获得起到抗风作用的刚度。