With the exception of fusion and iter , the overall european effort is paltry , and is mainly based in universities ? which are good at identifying ideas , but are not equipped to take them forward into commercial application 热聚变和国际热核聚变能源研究项目作为唯一的例外之外，整个欧洲在能源研究开发方面的努力主要建立在许多大学的基础上?它们在鉴别想法方面不错，但是缺乏足够资源能够将好的想法推进到商业应用。
The paltry sum of thirteen hundred and some odd dollars set against the need of rent , clothing , food , and pleasure for years to come was a spectacle little calculated to induce peace of mind in one who had been accustomed to spend five times that sum in the course of a year 那区区多块钱，要用来对付今后多年的房租衣食以及娱乐。这样的前景，是不会让一个习惯于一年之内就要花掉倍于这个数目的钱的人感到心情平静的。
Opponents say mines often pollute nearby rivers and seas , damaging the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen ; and local communities ' rewards for running such risks are paltry , because most tax revenues from mining go to distant national capitals , and the profits disappear abroad 反对者认为，采矿常常污染周边河流及海域，因此将危及农民和渔夫的生计；比起对当地居民的回报，冒如此风险是得不偿失的，因为大部分的税收收入将交予政府，同时利润流向了国外。
When fate wronged me , i had not the wisdom to remain cool : i turned desperate ; then i degenerated . now , when any vicious simpleton excites my disgust by his paltry ribaldry , i cannot flatter myself that i am better than he : i am forced to confess that he and i are on a level 当命运亏待了我时，我没有明智地保持冷静，我开始绝望，随后坠落了，现在要是一个可恶的傻瓜用卑俗的下流话激起我的厌恶，我并不以为我的表现会比他好些，我不得不承认我与他彼此彼此而已。
I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives ; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the remorseless grasp of mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons , there to feed the monster machines while they themselves are being starved and stunted , body and soul 我想到为微薄的工资被迫出卖劳力的妇女；想到那些在这个制度下被剥夺了童年，小小年纪便落入贪婪之神残酷魔掌的孩子们，他们被驱入工业牢笼成为机器怪兽的食物，心灵和肉体受尽折磨。
Mourners who trek through a muddy field have left only paltry offerings at ta mok ' s tomb : a clump of burned - out incense sticks , five plastic cups of water , a black oil lamp whose flame has died and a roll of toilet paper that people here say is to wipe his mouth when he has consumed any food that is left for his wandering soul 走过泥泞的道路前来向塔莫致意的人们在他墓前留下的供品相当寒酸：一束烧完的香、五杯清水、一盏火已经熄灭的黑色油灯和一?卫生纸?当地人说，这是为了让他在尝过人们留下的祭品之后可以用来擦嘴。
It was a subject of regret and absurd as well on the face of it and no small blame to our vaunted society that the man in the street , when the system really needed toning up , for a matter of a couple of paltry pounds , was debarred from seeing more of the world they lived in instead of being always cooped up since my old stick - in - the - mud took me for a wife 正当普通市民确实需要加强体质的时候，由于舍不得区区两三英镑，就不去看看自己所生活在其中的大千世界。这位老古板自从娶了老婆，就一直关在家里。真是令人遗憾，一望可知是很荒唐的事，这在相当程度上要归罪于我们这个自负的社会，不管怎么说，真是岂有此理。
