英语翻译whetherthegovernmentshouldincreasethefinancingofpurescienceattheexpenseoftechnologyorviceversaoftendependsontheissueofwhichisseenasthedrivingforce.政府是应该通过(减少技术经费的投入)来增加

Question

英语翻译
whether the government should increase the financing of pure science at the expense of technology or vice versa often depends on the issue of which is seen as the driving force.政府是应该通过(减少技术经费的投入)来增加对纯理论科学经费的投入,抑或相反,往往取决于将哪一方视作驱动力.括号里的意思是怎么看出的,技术经费的投入那部分我还可以理解,哪里有减少的意思?

Answer 1

at the expense of”以…为代价；由…支付费用“
the financing of technology 和 the financing of pure science是并列,为免重复,就把at the expense of (the financing of) technology里the financing of 省略了,所以就变成了at the expense of technology.
这样就可以理解为”理论科学经费投入的增加是以牺牲技术经费的投入为代价的“.