the featureless landscape of the steppe.

没有特色的草原地带景色

Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is , the more difficult is it to bring it home.--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer

奇特几乎总能提供一种线索。一种犯罪越是普通,越是不具特点,就越难以查明。英国作家柯南·道尔爵士

||1:Network engineering is not a glamorous profession, and the physical structures of the greatest network ever built lack the grandeur of a hydroelectric dam or a continent-spanning railway.||2:But they do have their own style: featureless , virtually deserted buildings, full of marching rows of high-tech servers and routers fed by thick bundles of cable, their cooling fans forming a roaring chorus in the chilly gloom.||3:That style is modulated by the local culture of wherever the building happens to be.||4:Thus one American firm goes for a super high-tech, “cyberrific” look in an attempt to impress clients.||5:Frankfurt’s internet exchange is a model of cool rationality, whereas London’s is grotty and coming apart at the seams.

||1:网络工程并非一个光鲜的行业，而且最为庞大网络的实物构造缺乏水电大坝的宏伟壮观，也没有洲际铁路的绵延大气。||2:但它确实有自己的特点：普普通通、几乎废弃的大楼里，整齐地排满了富含高科技的服务器和路由器，由厚厚的几捆电缆连接起来，它们的散热风扇在冷清昏暗中组成了一支正在高歌的合唱队。||3:无论大楼在哪，这种特点都会受到本地文化的影响。||4:因此，一个追求超高科技风格的美国公司，打造“网络交通”的外观是给客户留下深刻印象的一种尝试途径。||5:法兰克福网络交换中心就是良好理性的一个模板，而伦敦的则是脏乱带着些破裂。

Mr Sonneborn’s American equivalent is Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report”, a mock-news show on a comedy channel. Both assume a political persona and rarely step out of it. Unlike Mr Sonneborn’s turbo-centrist, Mr Colbert’s on-screen character is a lovably deranged right-winger who would do well with the real-life audience of Fox News if he traded his irony for earnestness. “Satire is not comedy,” says Mr Sonneborn. “It has aggressive momentum.” In America, that means mocking partisanship.|| In Germany, the target is the featureless blob that passes for party politics.||

||1:在美国，索恩伊博的同道中人就是斯蒂芬·科尔伯特，他是某个喜剧频道的一个讽刺新闻节目——“科尔伯特报告”的主持人。||2:两者都假定自己是一个政治家但却极少真正涉足政治。||3:不同于索恩伊博的中立主义，科尔伯特在荧幕上表现的是一个可爱的，滑稽的右翼分子。如果他用自己的讽刺行为去换取观众的热心，他就能和福克斯新闻的真实观众们极好地相处。||4:索恩伊博表示，“讽刺并不只有哗众取宠的成分，它同时也富有一定的攻击性。”||5:在美国那只是意味着党派性偏见和讽刺。||6:而在德国，它目标则放在了被误认为是党派政治行为的一些平淡无奇琐事上。||

The beetles and their dung balls were then released in the centre of a circular arena made of flattened sand and enclosed by a featureless circular wall.

这些蜣螂和它们的粪球都被放在了一个平铺着沙子圆形场地的中央，场地的围墙也没有什么特别之处。

But Dr. Sallenger said the practically featureless topography of Isle Derniere had never matched his idea of what a beach should look like.

但是萨兰格博士说Derniere小岛几乎平凡的地形和他想象中的海滩一点也不像。

How sea turtles navigate across vast expanses of featureless ocean to reach feeding and breeding sites has long been a mystery.

海龟是如何横渡一望无际而又似乎毫无特色的海洋抵达遥远的捕食区和繁殖地的，这个问题长久以来一直是个海洋之谜。

featureless buildings clustered around a series of lonesome quadrangles.

聚集在一大片偏僻四合院周围的毫无特色的建筑物

Pictured above, Opportunity’s tire tracks cross a nearly featureless Martian desert, emanating from a distant horizon.

上图是机遇号穿越一片无特征沙漠时，从遥远的地平线延伸出的轮胎印。

The motion-capture data were used to animate a humanoid avatar that was featureless and gender-neutral.

他们采集到的数据被用在了一个没有特征、没有性别的人形物上面。

A bright orange object rose toward the airplane from a cluster of low, featureless concrete buildings.

一个明亮的橙色物体从一处低矮寻常的水泥建筑群间射向飞机。

A water truck wet down the street to give life and sheen to those surfaces which otherwise would have been murky, featureless blacks.

一辆水车浇湿了整条街道，使那些本来阴暗且毫无特色的黑色表面变得富有生气和充满光泽。

Television programmes, in particular, do not compete for audiences on a completely featureless playing field.

尤其是电视节目，不要在一个完全没有特点的领域竞争观众。

The soothing screen of a Sat Nav system shows roads as thin, abstract strips striding through a featureless grey emptiness.

在卫星导航系统的屏幕上显示的线路是一条自平淡无奇的灰色虚无中延伸出的抽象细长的线条。