Section 1: English – Chinese Translation (英译汉)
This section consists of two parts, Part A — “Compulsory Translation” and Part B — “Choice of Two Translations” consisting of two sections “Topic I” and “Topic 2”. For the passage in Part A and your choice of passage in Part B, translate the underlined portions, including titles, into Chinese. Above your translation of Part A, write “Compulsory Translation” and above your translation from Part B, write “Topic I” or “Topic 2” (60 points, 100 minutes)
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题) (30 points)
Nowhere to Go
For the latest on the pursuit of the American Dream in Silicon Valley, all you have to do is to talk to someone like “Nagaraj” (who didn’t want to reveal his real name). He’s an Indian immigrant who, like many other Indian engineers, came to America recently on an H-1B visa, which allows skilled workers to be employed by one company for as many as six years. But one morning last month, Nagaraj and a half dozen other Indian workers with H-1Bs were called into a conference room in their San Francisco technology-consulting firm and told they were being laid off. The reason: weakening economic conditions in Silicon Valley, “It was the shock of my lifetime,” says Nagaraj.
This is not a normal bear-market sob story. According to federal regulation, Nagaraj and his colleagues have two choices. They must either return to India, or find another job in a tight labor market and hope that the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) allow them to transfer their visa to the new company. And the law doesn’t allow them to earn a pay-check until all the paperwork winds its way through the INS bureaucracy. “How am I going to survive without any job and without any income?” Nagaraj wonders.
Until recently, H-1B visas were championed by Silicon Valley companies as the solution to the region’s shortage of programmers and engineers. First issued by the INS in 1992, they attract skilled workers from other countries, many of whom bring families with them, lay down roots and apply for the more permanent green cards. Through February 2000, more than 81,000 worker held such visas — but with the dot-com crash, many have been getting laid off. That’s causing mass consternation in U.S. immigrant communities. The INS considers a worker “out of status” when he loses a job, which technically means that he must pack up and go home. But because of the scope of this year’s layoffs, the U.S. government has recently backpedaled, issuing a confusing series of statements that suggest workers might be able to stay if they qualify for some exceptions and can find a new company to sponsor their visa. But even those loopholes remain nebulous. The result is thousands of immigrants now face dimming career prospects in America, and the possibilities that they will be sent home. “They are in limbo. It is the greatest form of torture,” says Amar Veda of the Silicon Valley-based Immigrants Support Network.
The crisis looks especially bad in light of all the heated visa rhetoric by Silicon Valley companies in the past few years. Last fall the industry won a big victory by getting Congress to approve an increase in the annual number of H-1B visas. Now, with technology firms retrenching, demand for such workers is slowing. Valley heavyweights like Intel, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard have all announced thousands of layoffs this year, which include many H-1B workers. The INS reported last month that only 16,000 new H-1B workers came to the United States in February — down from 32,000 in February of last year.
Last month, acknowledging the scope of the problem, the INS told H-1B holders “not to panic,” and that there would be a grace period for laid-off workers before they had to leave the United States. INS spokeswomen Eyleen Schmidt promises that more specific guidance will come this month. “We are aware of the cutbacks,” she says. “We’re trying to be as generous as we can be within the confines of the existing law.”
Part B Choice of Two Translations (二选一题) (30 points)
Topic 1 (选题一)
What Is the Force of Gravity?
If you throw a ball up, it will come down again. What makes it come down? The ball comes down because it is pulled or attracted towards the Earth. The Earth exerts a force of attraction on all objects. Objects that are nearer to the Earth are attracted to it with a greater force than those that are further away. This force of attraction is known as the force of gravity. The gravitational force acting on an object at the Earth’s surface is called the weight of the object.
All the heavenly bodies in space like the moon, the planets and the stars also exert an attractive force on objects. The bigger and heavier a body is, the greater is its force of gravity. Thus, since the moon is a smaller body than Earth, the force it exerts on an object at its surface is less than that exerted by the Earth on the same object on the Earth’s surface. In fact, the moon’s gravitational force is only one-sixth that of the Earth. This means that an object weighing 120 kilograms on Earth will only weigh 20 kilograms on the moon. Therefore on the moon you could lift weights which are six times heavier than the heaviest weight that you can lift on Earth.
The Earth’s gravitational force or pull keeps us and everything else on Earth from floating away to space. To get out into space and travel to the moon or other planets we have to overcome the Earth’s gravitational pull.
Entry into Space
How can we overcome the Earth’s gravitational pull? Scientists have been working on this for a long time. It is only recently that they have been able to build machines powerful enough to get out of the Earth’s gravitational pull. Such machines are called space rockets. Their great speed and power help them to escape from the Earth’s gravitational pull and go into space.
Rockets
The powerful space rocket works along the same lines as a simple firework rocket. The firework rocket has a cylindrical body and a conical head. The body is packed with gunpowder which is the fuel. It is a mixture of chemicals that will burn rapidly to form hot gases.
At the base or foot of the rocket there is an opening or nozzle. A fuse hangs out like a tail from the nozzle. A long stick attached along the body serves to direct the rocket before the fuse is lighted.
When the gunpowder burns, hot gases rush out of the nozzle. The hot gases continue to rush out as long as the gunpowder burns. When these gases shoot downwards through the nozzle the rocket is pushed upwards. This is called jet propulsion. The simple experiment, shown in the picture, will help you to understand jet propulsion.
Topic 2 (选题二)
Basketball Diplomacy
CHINA”S TALLEST SOLDIER never really expected to live the American Dream. But Wang Zhizhi, a 7-foot-1 basketball star from the People’s Liberation Army, is making history as the first Chinese player in the NBA. In his first three weeks in America the 23-year-old rookie has already cashed his first big NBA check, preside over “Wang Zhizhi Day” in San Francisco and become immortalized on his very own trading cards. He’s even played in five games with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, scoring 24 points in just 38 minutes. Now the affable Lieutenant Wang is joining the Mavericks on their ride into the NBA playoffs — and he is intent on enjoying every minute. One recent evening Wang slipped into the hot tub behind the house of Mavericks assistant coach Donn Nelson. He leaned back, stretched out and pointed at a plane moving across the star-filled sky. In broken English, he started singing his favorite tune: “I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.”
Back in China, the nation’s other basketball phenom, Yao Ming , can only dream of taking flight. Yao thought he was going to be the first Chinese player in the NBA. The 7-foot-5 Shanghai sensation is more highly touted than Wang: the 20-year-old could be the No.1 overall pick in the June NBA draft. But as the May 13 deadline to enter the draft draws near, Yao is still waiting for a horde of business people and apparatchiks to decide his fate. Last week, as Wang scored 13 points in the Dallas season finale, Yao was wading through a stream of bicycles on a dusty Beijing street.
Yao and Wang are more than just freaks of nature in basketball shorts. The twin towers are national treasures, symbols of China’s growing stature in the world. They’re also emblematic of the NBA’s outsize dreams for conquering China. The NBA, struggling at home, sees salvation in the land of 1.3 billion potential hoop fans. China, determined to win the 2008 Olympics and join the World Trade Organization, is eager to make its mark on the world — on its own terms. The two-year struggle to get these young players into the NBA has been a cultural collision — this one far removed from U.S.-China bickering over spy planes and trade liberalization. If it works out, it could be — in basketball parlance — the ultimate give-and-go. “This is just like Ping-Pong diplomacy,” says Xia Song, a sport-marketing executive who represents Wang. “Only with a much bigger ball.”
Two years ago it looked more like a ball and chain. Wang’s Army bosses were miffed when the Mavericks had the nerve to draft their star back in 1999. Nelson remembers flying to Beijing with the then owner Ross Perot Jr. — son of the eccentric billionaire — to hammer out a deal with the stone-faced communists of the PLA. “You could hear them thinking: ‘What is this NBA team doing, trying to lay claim to our property?’” Nelson recalls. “We tried to explain that this was an honor for Wang and for China.” There was no deal. Wang grew despondent and lost his edge on court.
This year Yao became the anointed one. He eclipsed Wang in scoring and rebounding, and even stole away his coveted MVP award in the Chinese Basketball Association league. It looked as if his Shanghai team — a dynamic semicapitalist club in China’s most open city — would get its star to the NBA first.
Then came the March madness. Wang broke out of his slump to lead the Army team to its sixth consecutive CBA title — scoring 40 in the final game. A day later the PLA scored some points of its own by announcing that Wang was free to go West. What inspired the change of heart? No doubt the Mavericks worked to build trust with Chinese officials (even inviting national- team coach Wang Fei to spend the 1999-2000 season in Dallas). There was also the small matter of Chinese pride. The national team stumbled to a 10th-place finish at the 2000 Olympics, after placing eighth in 1996. Even the most intransigent cadre could see that the team would improve only if it sent its stars overseas to learn from the world’s best players.
Section 2: Chinese-English Translation (汉译英)
This section consists of two parts, Part A — “Compulsory Translation” and Part B —“Choice of Two Translations” consisting of two sections “Topic 1” and “Topic 2”. For the passage in Part A and your choice of passage in Part B, translate the underlined portions, including titles, into English. Above your translation of Part A, write “Compulsory Translation” and above your translation from Part B, write “Topic 1” or “Topic 2” (40 points, 80 minutes)
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)(20 points)
中华民族历来尊重人的尊严和价值。还在遥远的古代,我们的先人就已提出“民为贵”的思想,认为“天生万物,唯人为贵” ,一切社会的发展和进步,都取决于人的发展和进步,取决于人的尊严的维护和价值的发挥。中国党领导人民进行、建设和改革,就是要实现全中国人民广泛的自由、民主和。今天中国所焕发出来的巨大活力,是中国人民拥有广泛自由、民主的生动写照。中国在公元一世纪人口就已达到过六千万左右,众多人口的衣食住行,几千年来一直是中国历代所要解决的首要问题。今天的中国是一个有十二亿多人口的发展中大国,仍然必须首先保障最广大人民的生存权和发展权,不然一切其他权利都无从谈起。中国确保十二亿多人的生存权和发展权,这是对世界进步事业的重大贡献。
Part B Choice of Two Translation (二选一题) (20 points)
Topic 1 (选题一)
艾滋病
艾滋病是一种威胁生命的疾病,它侵袭人体内的自然免疫系统,破坏人体的自卫能力。
艾滋病本身并不致命,但是,由于人体的免疫系统遭到破坏,病人几乎没有能力低于其他许多疾病的侵袭,例如,肺炎、癌症、致盲性疾病和精神错乱。
艾滋病毒存在于人的体液中。这种病毒可以通过性生活或共用静脉注射器传播,也可以通过血制品传播,并且可以从患艾滋病的孕妇身上传播给她的妊娠婴儿。
有关艾滋病传播的许多说法是错误的。与艾滋病患者一起工作或上学不会传染上艾滋病,触摸他们用过的饮水杯或其他东西也不会传染上艾滋病。专家们说:没有人因为与艾滋病患者一起生活、照料艾滋病患者或触摸艾滋病患者而染上艾滋病。
Topic 2 (选题二)
时间之谜
如果你能够看懂时钟,你就可以知道一天的时间。但是谁也不知道,时间本身究竟是什么。时间是看不到、摸不着、听不见的,我们只能记录时间消逝的办法才知道时间的存在。虽然我们成功的测量了时间的分分秒秒,但时间仍然是宇宙间及其神秘的现象之一。
思考时间的一个方法是设想一个没有时间的世界。那样,就不可能有运动了,因为时间和运动是不可分开的。一个没有时间的世界只有在没有变化的情况下才能存在。因为时间和变化是联系在一起的。当某件事发生变化时,你知道时间已经流逝。在现实世界里,变化是永无止境的,有一些变化,如月食,只发生在瞬间,而另一些变化则反复出现,比如日出和日落。人们一直注意那些反复出现的自然现象,在人们开始计算这些现象时,他们就开始测定时间了。
2004年5月英语二级《笔译实务》试题
Section 1: English-Chinese Translation(英译汉)(60 point)The time for this section is 100 minutes.
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)(30 points)
The first outline of The Ascent of Man was written in July 1969and the last foot of film was shot in December 1972. An undertaking aslarge as this, though wonderfully exhilarating, is not entered lightly. It demands an unflagging intellectual and physical vigour, a total immersion, which I had to be sure that I could sustain with pleasure; for instance, Ihad to put off researches that I had already begun; and I ought to explai-n what moved me to do so.
There has been a deep change in the temper of science in the last20 years: the focus of attention has shifted from the physical to the life sciences. As a result, science is drawn more and more to the study of in-dividuality. But the interested spectator is hardly aware yet how far-reaching the effect is in changing the image of man that science moulds. Asa mathematician trained in physics, I too would have been unaware, had not a series of lucky chances taken me into the life sciences in middle age. I owe a debt for the good fortune that carried me into two seminal fields of science in one lifetime; and though I do not know to whom the debt is due, I conceived The Ascent of Man in gratitude to repay it.
The invitation to me from the British Broadcasting Corporation was to present the development of science in a series of television programmes to match those of Lord Clark on Civilisation. Television is an admirable medium- for exposition in several ways: powerful and immediate to the eye, able to take the spectator bodily into the places and processes that are described, and conversational enough to make him conscious that what he witnesses are not events but the actions of people. The last of these merits is to my mind the most cogent, and it weighed most with me in agreeing to cast a personal biography of ideas in the form of television essays. The point is that knowledge in general and science in particular does not consist of abstract but of man-made ideas, all the way from its beginnings to its modern and idiosyncratic models. Therefore the underlying concepts that unlock nature must be shown to arise early and in the simplest cultures of man from his basic and specific faculties. And the development of science which joins them in more and more complex conjunctions must be seen to be equally human: discoveries are made by men, not merely by minds, so that they are alive and charged with individuality. If television is not used to make these thoughts concrete, it is wasted.
Part B Optional Translations (二选一题)(30 points)
Topic 1 (选题一)
It’s not that we are afraid of seeing him stumble, of scribbling a mustache over his career. Sure, the nice part of us wants Mike to know we appreciate him, that he still reigns, at least in our memory. The truth, though, is that we don’t want him to come back because even for Michael Jordan, this would be an act of hubris so monumental as to make his trademark confidence twist into conceit. We don’t want him back on the court because no one likes a show-off. The stumbling? That will be fun.
But we are nice people, we Americans, with 225 years of optimism at our backs. Days ago when M.J. said he had made a decision about returning to the NBA in September, we got excited. He had said the day before, “I look forward to playing, and hopefully I can get to that point where I can make that decision. It’s O.K., to have some doubt, and it’s O.K. to have some nervousness.” A Time/CNN poll last week has Americans, 2 to 1, saying they would like him on the court ASAP. And only 21 percent thought that if he came back and just completely bombed, it would damage his legend. In fact only 28 percent think athletes should retire at their peak.
Sources close to him tell Time that when Jordan first talked about a comeback with the Washington Wizards, the team Jordan co-owns and would play for, some of his trusted advisers privately tried to discourage him. “But they say if they try to stop him, it will only firm up his resolve,” says an NBA source.
The problem with Jordan’s return is not only that he can’t possibly live up to the storybook ending he gave up in 1998 — earning his sixth ring with a last-second championship-winning shot. The problem is that the motives for coming back — needing the attention, needing to play even when his 38-year-old body does not — violate the very myth of Jordan, the myth of absolute control. Babe Ruth, the 20th century’s first star, was a gust of fat bravado and drunken talent, while Jordan ended the century by proving the elegance of resolve; Babe’s pointing to the bleachers replaced by the charm of a backpedaling shoulder shrug. Jordan symbolized success by not sullying his brand with his politics, his opinion or superstar personality. To be a Jordan fan was to be a fan of classiness and confidence.
To come back when he knows that playing for Wizards won’t get him anywhere near the second round of the play-offs, when he knows that he won’t be the league scoring leader, that’s a loss of control.
Jordan does not care what we think. Friends say that he takes articles that tell him not to come back and tacks them all on his refrigerator as inspiration. So why bother writing something telling him not to come back? He is still Michael Jordan.
Topic 2 (选题二)
Even after I was too grown-up to play that game and too grown-up to tell my mother that I loved her, I still believed I was the best daughter. Didn’t I run all the way up to the terrace to check on the drying mango pickles whenever she asked?
As I entered my teens, it seemed that I was becoming an even better, more loving daughter. Didn’t I drop whatever I was doing each afternoon to go to the corner grocery to pick up any spices my mother had run out of?
My mother, on the other hand, seemed more and more unloving to me. Some days she positively resembled a witch as she threatened to pack me off to my second uncle’s home in provincial Barddhaman — a fate worse than death to a cool Calcutta girl like me — if my grades didn’t improve. Other days she would sit me down and tell me about “Girls Who Brought Shame to Their Families”. There were apparently, a million ways in which one could do this, and my mother was determined that I should be cautioned against every one of them. On principle, she disapproved of everything I wanted to do, from going to study in America to perming my hair, and her favorite phrase was “over my dead body.” It was clear that I loved her far more than she loved me — that is, if she loved me at all.
After I finished graduate school in America and got married, my relationship with my mother improved a great deal. Though occasionally dubious about my choice of a writing career, overall she thought I’d shaped up nicely. I thought the same about her. We established a rhythm: She’d write from India and give me all the gossip and send care packages with my favorite kind of mango pickle; I’d call her from the United States and tell her all the things I’d been up to and send care packages with instant vanilla pudding, for which she’d developed a great fondness. We loved each other equally — or so I believed until my first son, Anand, was born.
My son’s birth shook up my neat, organized, in-control adult existence in ways I hadn’t imagined. I went through six weeks of being shrouded in an exhausted fog of postpartum depression. As my husband and I walked our wailing baby up and down through the night, and I seriously contemplated going AWOL, I wondered if I was cut out to be a mother at all. And mother love — what was that all about?
Then one morning, as I was changing yet another diaper, Anand grinned up at me with his toothless gums. Hmm, I thought. This little brown scrawny thing is kind of cute after all. Things progressed rapidly from there. Before I knew it, I’d moved the extra bed into the baby’s room and was spending many nights on it, bonding with my son.
Section 2: Chinese- English Translation(汉译英)(40 point) The time for this section is 80 minutes.
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)(30 points)
奥林匹克运动的生命力和非凡魅力在于在奥林匹克运动中居核心地位的奥林匹克精神。体育的目的在于追求人类身心全面发展,并在此基础上促进社会的 发展和进步。现代奥林匹克运动的创始人顾拜旦(Pieere de Coubertin)认为体育是全人类的一项伟大事业。他将奥林匹克运动的目标设定为促进不同国家、不同文化之间的相互理解,从而促进和维护世界和平,推进人类文明。这一理想使奥林匹克运动得以经百年而不衰。作为全世界奥林匹克大家庭成员的一个盛大聚会,奥林匹克运动已经成为促进世界和平、进步与发展的一只重要社会力量。
Part B Optional Translations (二选一题)(20 points)
Topic 1(选题一)
近年来,中国经济保持快速发展,为世界经济发展注入了活力。实践证明了中国在加入世贸组织之前的预言:中国的发展离不开世界,世界的发展需要中国。未来 20 年,在全面建设小康社会的进程中,中国一定会对世界经济的发展和实现全人类的共同进步做出历史性的贡献。为此,中国将继续扩大外贸,大力实施西部大开发战略,进一步改善投资环境,为外商提供更大的商机。同时,中国将引导和支持更多有比较优势的企业对外投资,开展平等互利、形式多样的经济技术合作。中国将进一步加强双边、多边和区域经济合作,实现世界各国各地区的共同发展。
Topic 2 (选题二)
移动电话正在成为 21 世纪一个主要的技术领域。在几年之内,移动电话将会发展成为多功能的通信工具,除了语音之外,还可以传输和接收视频信号、静止图像、数据和文本。个人通信的新纪元即将到来。
在一定程度上多亏了无线网络的发展,电话正在与个人电脑和电视融合起来。不久之后,配有高分辨率显示屏的轻巧手机便可以与卫星连接。人们可以随时随地通话,收发电子邮件或者参加视像电话会议。这种手机也许还会吸收电脑的许多主要功能。移动通信工具有望带来一些互联网所能提供的新服务,如股票交易、购物及预订戏票和飞机票。
电信已在全球范围内展开。不久之后,用一台装置就可以收到几乎任何形式的电子通信信号。最有可能的是一部三合一手机。在家里它可以用作无绳电话,在路上用作移动电话,在办公室里用作内部通话装置。有些专家甚至认为移动视像电话将超过电视,成为主要的视频信息来源。
2004年11月英语二级《笔译实务》试题
Section 1: English-Chinese Translation(英译汉)(60 point)
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)
Until recently, scientists knew little about life in the deep sea, nor had they reason to believe that it was being threatened. Now, with the benefit of technology that allows for deeper exploration, researchers have uncovered a remarkable array of species inhabiting the ocean floor at depths of more than 660 feet, or about 200 meters. At the same time, however, technology has also enabled fishermen to reach far deeper than ever before, into areas where bottom trawls can destroy in minutes what has taken nature hundreds and in some cases thousands of years to build.
Many of the world’s coral species, for example, are found at depths of more than 200 meters. It is also estimated that roughly half of the world’s highest seamounts — areas that rise from the ocean floor and are particularly rich in marine life — are also found in the deep ocean.
These deep sea ecosystems provide shelter, spawning and breeding areas for fish and other creatures, as well as protection from strong currents and predators. Moreover, they are believed to harbor some of the most extensive reservoirs of life on earth, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 100 million species inhabiting these largely unexplored and highly fragile ecosystems.
Yet just as we are beginning to recognize the tremendous diversity of life in these areas, along with the potential benefits newly found species may hold for human society in the form of potential food products and new medicines, they are at risk of being lost forever. With enhanced ability both to identify where these species-rich areas are located and to trawl in deeper water than before, commercial fishing vessels are now beginning to reach down with nets the size of football fields, catching everything in their path while simultaneously crushing fragile corals and breaking up the delicate structure of reefs and seamounts that provide critical habitat to the countless species of fish and other marine life that inhabit the deep ocean floor.
Because deep sea bottom trawling is a recent phenomenon, the damage that has been done is still limited. If steps are taken quickly to prevent this kind of destructive activity from occurring on the high seas, the benefits both to the marine environment and to future generations are incalculable. And they far outweigh the short-term costs to the fishing industry.
Part B Optional Translations (二选一题)(30 points)
Topic 1 (选题一)
Most of the world’s victims of AIDS live — and, at an alarming rate, die — in Africa. The number of people living with AIDS in Africa was estimated at 26.6 million in late 2003. New figures to be published by the United Nations Joint Program on AIDS (UNAIDS),the special UN agency set up to deal with the pandemic, will probably confirm its continued spread in Africa, but they will also show whether the rate of spread is constant, increasing or falling.
AIDS is most prevalent in Eastern and Southern Africa, with South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya having the greatest numbers of sufferers; other countries severely affected include Botswana and Zambia. AIDS was raging in Eastern Africa — where it was called “slim”, after the appearance of victims wasting away — within a few years after its emergence was established in the eastern Congo basin; however, the conflicting theories about the origin of AIDS are highly controversial and politicized, and the controversy is far from being settled.
Measures being taken all over Africa include, first of all, campaigns of public awareness and device, including advice to remain faithful to one sexual partner and to use condoms. The latter advice is widely ignored or resisted owing to natural and cultural aversion to condoms and to Christian and Muslim teaching, which places emphasis instead on self-restraint.
An important part of anti- AIDS campaigns, whether organized by governments, nongovernmental organizations or both, is the extension of voluntary counseling and testing (VCT).In addition, medical research has found a way to help sufferers, though not to cure them.
Funds for anti- AIDS efforts are provided by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities around the world; the fund was launched following a call by the UN Secretary-General in 2001. However, much more is needed if the spread of the pandemic is to be at least halted.
Topic 2 (选题二)
As a leader of a least developed country, I speak from experience when I say that poverty is too complex a phenomenon, and the strategies for fighting it too diverse and dependent on local circumstances, for there is no single silver bullet in the war on poverty.
We have learned the hard way over the years. We have experimented with all kinds of ideas.
Yet a report recently released by the World Economic Forum shows that barely a third of what should have been done by now to ensure the world meets its goals to fight poverty, hunger and disease by 2015 is done. I am now convinced that the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000 can only be attained through a global compact, anchored in national policies that take into account local circumstances.
Aid and trade are both necessary, but they are not enough on their own. Neither is good governance enough in itself. Above all, nothing can move without the direct participation of local communities. I fear that we lecture too much. This is not the best way.
I will give an example of how such a compact worked in Tanzania to achieve universal basic schooling.
In the mid-1990s, almost all indicators for basic education were in free fall. The gross enrollment rate had fallen from 98 percent in the early 1980s to 77.6 percent in 2000. The net enrollment rate had likewise fallen, from over 80 percent to only 58.8 percent.
Then several things happened. We decided at the top political level that basic education would be a top priority, and adopted a five-year Primary Education Development Plan to achieve universal basic education by 2006 — nine years ahead of the global target.
Good governance produced more government revenues, which quadrupled over the last eight years. In 2001, we received debt relief under the World Bank’s enhanced HIPC (heavily indebted poor countries)Initiative. Subsequently, more donors put aid money directly into our budget or into a pooled fund for the Primary Education Development Program (PEDP).
The government’s political will was evidenced by the fact that over the last five years the share of the national budget going to poverty reduction rose by 130 percent. We abolished school fees in primary schools.
Then we ensured that all PEDP projects are locally determined, planned, owned, implemented and evaluated. This gave the people pride and dignity in what they were doing. After only two years of implementing PEDP, tremendous successes have been achieved.
Section 2: Chinese- English Translation(汉译英)(40 point)
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)(20 points)
进入新世纪,国际形势继续发生深刻复杂的变化。世界多极化和经济全球化灾曲折中发展。科技进步日新月异,我们既面临着必须抓住的发展机遇,也面临着必须认真应付的严峻挑战,尽管当今世界还存在着这样那样的矛盾和利益冲突,不确定、不稳定因素有所增加,但和平与发展仍是当今时代的主题,世界要和平、国家要发展、人民要合作是不可阻挡的历史潮流。
当前亚洲形势总体稳定,和平、发展、合作已成为前进中亚洲的主流。经过共同努力,亚洲有关国家摆脱了金融危机的阴影,战胜了非典和禽流感疫情的冲击,经济结构调整取得成效,产业升级换代步伐加快,区域合作方兴未艾,抗御风险能力不断增强。亚洲仍然是全球最具发展活力的地区之一,也继续是全球贸易的重要增长点之一。我们对亚洲的发展前景充满信心。
Part B Optional Translations (二选一题)(20 points)
Topic 1(选题一)
中国目前已经建成1.9万公里公路。自1990年以来,中国每年都要新增3700公里公路。到2020年公路网将连接中国所有重要城市。中国公路里程将仅次于美国,达到55000公里。
高速公路网将带来深远的影响。城市带将形成;人们的生活方式将会发生变化;枢纽城市的经济增长率将迅速上升,因为便利的交通条件将吸引更多的投资者。
许多国际开发商支持这种看法。世界银行和亚洲开发银行正用巨额贷款支持中国开展公路建设。它们认为公路建设对于缓解贫困至关重要。自上世纪末,亚洲开发银行已减少它在中国经济发达的东部地区的公路投资,而将重点转向较为贫困的西部地区。
在公路建设中,中国也很重视支线公路建设,因为支线公路可以使小城镇充分利用附近干线公路建设带来的发展机遇。
Topic 2 (选题二)
长期以来西方人一直怀疑由草药制成的中成药是否有效。在过去的几年内,中国传统医药在世界范围内经历了严格的科学审查。
为证明和提高传统治疗方法的效益,中国投入了巨资在这方面进行艰苦研究。一直在努力使自己成为世界上传统中医研究的带头人。也提出它将把自己建成一个中医技术中心。
传统中医药的研究工作在亚洲以外地区的大学和其他机构也蓬勃开展。这些揭开传统医学秘密的研究工作可能会为中西医都大感头疼的疾病患者带来福音。
尽管在理论上中西医之间还存在着分歧,一些对中医药感兴趣的著名国际制药公司已开始在中国实施小规模的研究项目。一批新药已在亚洲各地接受试验。
2005年5月英语二级《笔译实务》试题
Section 1: English-Chinese Translation(英译汉)(60 point) The time for this section is 100 minutes.
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)(30 points)
It was one of those days that the peasant fishermen on this tributary of the Amazon River dream about.
With water levels falling rapidly at the peak of the dry season, a giant school of bass, a tasty fish that fetches a good price at markets, was swimming right into the nets being cast from a dozen small canoes here.
“With a bit of luck, you can make $350 on a day like this,” Lauro Souza Almeida, a leader of the local fishermen’s cooperative, exulted as he moved into position. “That is a fortune for people like us,” he said, the equivalent of four months at the minimum wage earned by those fortunate enough to find work.
But hovering nearby was a large commercial fishing vessel, a “mother boat” equipped with large ice chests for storage and hauling more than a dozen smaller craft. The crew on board was just waiting for the remainder of the fish to move into the river’s main channel, where they intended to scoop up as many as they could with their efficient gill nets.
A symbol of abundance to the rest of the world, the Amazon is experiencing a crisis of overfishing. As stocks of the most popular species diminish to worrisome levels, tensions are growing between subsistence fishermen and their commercial rivals, who are eager to enrich their bottom line and satisfy the growing appetite for fish of city-dwellers in Brazil and abroad.
In response, peasants up and down the Amazon, here in Brazil and in neighboring countries like Peru, are forming cooperatives to control fish catches and restock their rivers and lakes. But that effort, increasingly successful, has only encouraged the commercial fishing operations, as well as some of the peasants’ less disciplined neighbors, to step up their depredations.
“The industrial fishing boats, the big 20- to 30-ton vessels, they have a different mentality than us artisanal fishermen, who have learned to take the protection of the environment into account,” said the president of the local fishermen’s union. “They want to sweep everything up with their dragnets and then move on, benefiting from our work and sacrifice and leaving us with nothing.”
Part B Optional Translations (二选一题) (30 points)
Topic 1 (选题一)
Ever since the economist David Ricardo offered the basic theory in 1817, economic scripture has taught that open trade—free of tariffs, quotas, subsidies or other government distortions—improves the well-being of both parties. U.S. policy has implemented this doctrine with a vengeance. Why is free trade said to be universally beneficial? The answer is a doctrine called “comparative advantage”.
Here’s a simple analogy. If a surgeon is highly skilled both at doing operations and performing routine blood tests, it’s more efficient for the surgeon to concentrate on the surgery and pay a less efficient technician to do the tests, since that allows the surgeon to make the most efficient use of her own time.
By extension, even if the United States is efficient both at inventing advanced biotechnologies and at the routine manufacture of medicines, it makes sense for the United States to let the production work migrate to countries that can make the stuff more cheaply. Americans get the benefit of the cheaper products and get to spend their resources on even more valuable pursuits, That, anyway, has always been the premise. But here Samuelson dissents. What if the lowerwage country also captures the advanced industry?
If enough higher-paying jobs are lost by American workers to outsourcing, he calculates, then the gain from the cheaper prices may not compensate for the loss in U.S. purchasing power.
“Free trade is not always a win-win situation,” Samuelson concludes. It is particularly a problem, he says, in a world where large countries with far lower wages, like India and China, are increasingly able to make almost any product or offer almost any service performed in the United States.
If America trades freely with them, then the powerful drag of their far lower will begin dragging down U.S. average wages. The U.S. economy may still grow, he calculates, but at a lower rate than it otherwise would have.
Topic 2 (选题二)
Uganda’s eagerness for genuine development is reflected in its schoolchildren’s smiles and in the fact that so many children are now going to school. Since 1997, when the government began to provide universal primary education, total primary enrollment had risen from 3 million to 7.6 million in 2004. Schools have opened where none existed before, although there is some way to go in reaching the poorest areas of the country.
Uganda has also made strides in secondary and higher education, to the point that it is attracting many students from other countries. At the secondary level, enrollment is above 700,000, with the private sector providing the majority if schools. For those who want to take their education further, there are 12 private universities in addition to the four publicly funded institutions, together providing 75,000 places.
Education is seen as a vital component in the fight against poverty. The battle for better health is another, although it is one that will take longer to win in a country that carries a high burden of disease, including malaria and AIDS. Here, the solutions can only arise from a combination of international support and government determination to continue spending public money on preventive care and better public health information.
Current government plants include recruiting thousands of nurses, increasing the availability of drugs and building 200 new maternity units.
Uganda’s high rate of population growth, at 3.6 percent per annum, poses a special challenge in the fight against poverty, says Finance Minister Gerald Ssendaula, who points out that the fertility rate, at 6.9 children per female, is the highest in Africa.
The government’s newly revised Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) puts the “restoration of security” at the top of the current government agenda. This is because it estimates that Uganda has lost 3 percent of its gross domestic product each year that the conflict has persisted. Displaced people are not only a financial burden, they are unable to the economy.
The other core challenges identified by the revised PEAP are finding ways to keep the lowest income growing, improving the quality of education, giving people more control over the size of their families and using public resources transparently and efficiently. It is a document that other poor countries could learn from.
Section 2: Chinese- English Translation(汉译英)(40 point) The time for this section is 80 minutes.
Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题)(20 points)
矿产资源是自然资源的重要组成部分,是人类社会发展的重要物质基础。中国是世界上最早开发利用矿产资源的国家之一。过去50年,中国在矿产资源勘探开发方面取得巨大成就。这为中国经济的持续、快速、健康发展提供了重要保障。
中国高度重视可持续发展和矿产资源的合理利用,把可持续发展确定为国家战略,把保护资源作为可持续发展战略的重要内容。
中国是一个人口众多、资源相对不足的发展中国家。中国主要依靠本国的矿产资源来保障现代化建设的需要。同时,中国又积极引进国外资本和技术开发中国矿产资源,利用国外市场与国外矿产资源,并努力推动中国矿山企业和矿产品进入国际市场。
Part B Optional Translations (二选一题)(20 points)
Topic 1(选题一)
众所周知,鸟无翅膀不能飞,人无双腿不能走。但对尹小星而言,鸟无翅膀不能飞,人无双腿却能走!
1970年出生于江苏一户农民家庭的尹小星,出生仅8个月就患小儿麻痹症并发急性肺炎。虽然最终保住了命,他却再也不能站立。因为身体残疾,初中毕业后小星不得不辍学。生存的压力对他来说显得格外沉重,他贩过水果,养过鸡,还下功夫学习过中医。
在他21岁的时候,这个年轻人竟怀揣一幅地图,手持一个指南针,摇着轮椅踏上了走遍全中国的艰难路途。
近21年来小星手摇轮椅,足迹遍布31省、市、自治区,行程7万多公里,用坏了4部轮椅。他实现了徒手攀登泰山、华山、衡山等20多座名山,孤身翻越海拔5231米的唐古拉山,手摇轮椅走过丝绸之路,穿越塔克拉玛干(Taklimakan)大沙漠,徒手攀登上海东方明珠电视塔,完成从沙漠到的旅行。
Topic 2 (选题二)
长城是世界一大奇迹。现在,每年都有几百万人到长城游览。在旺季,几处最著名的景点总是让成群结队的游客挤得水泄不通。
中国人修筑城墙的历史久远,可以追溯到战国时期。历史上,中国共修过大约20座长城。在所有这些长城中,明长城最长,达到6700公里。在当时,中国技术在世界上处于领先地位,因此明长城的结构也是最复杂的。明长城的修筑是为了抵御北方游牧民族的入侵。
清朝建立后,由于它的建立者本身也是游牧民族,他们觉得没有必要继续修筑长城。不过,清还是颁布法令对长城进行保护,禁止拆砖。但是,岁月的流逝和连续战乱使人们易到之处遭到了严重的破坏。
十几年来,蓬勃发展的旅游业促进了长城的修缮工程。目前,多城已经修复,或正在修缮中。
2003年12英语二级《笔译综合能力》试题参考译文
Part A
无家可归
这不是正常的有市场疲软而引发的悲剧故事。根据联邦的规定,纳加拉吉和他的同事有两个选择:要么立即回印度,要么在供过于求的劳动市场找到一份新工作,然后寄希望与移民规划局把他们的签证转到他们的新公司去。在法律上,他不能有收入,除非他办完移民局所有的手续之后。“没有工作,没有收入,我怎么生存呀?” 纳加拉吉愁眉不展。
不久前,H-1B签证还是硅谷各公司解决当地程序员和工程师短缺问题的香饽饽。H-1B签证始于1992年,移民局希望通过签发这种签证来吸引其他国家的熟练工人来美工作。他们中的许多人带着妻儿,落地生根,并申请有永久居住权的绿卡。截止到2000年2月,大约有8.1万名工人持有这种签证。但随着网络经济的崩溃,许多人遭到解雇。这导致了在美国移民社区的很大不安。当一个工人丢了饭碗,移民局就认为他“没有身份乐”,在理论上,你可以认为他必须卷起行李回家了。由于今年工人被解雇幅度太大,美国近来有所让步,宣布了一系列模糊不清的,暗示如果他们符合某些特例并能找到一个公司为他们担保签证的话,他们还可以留下来。这一的结果就是数以千计的移民在美国面临着暗淡的不确定的前景,甚至被突然遣送回家。“他们生活在地狱的边缘,这也许是最痛苦的。”坐落在硅谷的移民互助网络组织的阿玛·维达这样认为。
在过去的几年里,硅谷的公司对这种H-1B的作用大肆吹捧,导致现在的情况更加糟糕。不久前,它们刚刚成功说服国会增加每年的H-1BQ签证的签发数量。但现在技术公司的紧缩使这一需求减慢。今年,硅谷的大公司如英特尔﹑思科和惠普都宣布裁员上千人,其中有许多H-1B签证持有者。移民局上个月声称今年2月份有大约16,000名H-1B工人来到美国,大大低于去年2月份的32,000人。
上个月,了解到问题的严重性的美国移民局通知H-1B签证持有者“不要惊慌”,在他们被迫离开美国之前,会有一个宽限期。移民局的女发言人埃仑·史密斯表示:“我们对裁员很清楚,这个月将有更多的导向性的出台。我们将在现有法律允许的范围里采取更宽容的。”
Part B 选题一
什么是重力?
假如你把一个球往上抛,它还会掉下来。球为什么会掉下来呢?球掉下来是因为球被吸引或拉向地球。地球对所有物体都施加吸引力。离地球较近的物体所受的吸引力,比远离地球的物体所受的吸引力大。这种吸引力通常叫做重力。作用于地球表面上物体的引力,叫做物体的重量。
空间所有的天体,如月球﹑行星和星星,对物体也都有吸引力。物体越大﹑越重,其引力也就越大。既然月球比地球小,因此,月球对月球表面上一物体施加的力,将比地球对地球表面上同一物体施加的力要小。实际上,月球的引力只有地球引力的六分之一。这就是说,地球上一个重120公斤的物体,在月球上会只重20公斤。因此,在月球上你能举起的重量,将是你在地球上所能举起的最大重量的六倍。
地球的引力或拉力,使我们和地球上别的任何东西都不致漂浮到空间中。要飞向空间并到月球或其他行星去旅游,就必须克服地球的引力。
进入空间
怎么才能克服地球的引力呢?科学家们为此进行了长期的研究。直到最近,他们才能够制造出足以克服地球引力的强有力的机器。这种机器就称为宇宙火箭。宇宙火箭的巨大速度和强大的动力,帮助它挣脱地球的引力而进入空间。
火箭
强大的宇宙火箭的工作原理和简单的烟火火箭是一样的。烟火火箭有一圆柱形壳体和一锥形头部。壳体内充填黑色火药作为燃料。它是一种化学品的混合物,能迅速燃烧形成炽热的气体。
火箭的底部有一个通道,即喷口。从喷口伸出一根尾巴似的引信。沿壳体装着一根长棍,用以在引信点着以前确定火箭发射的方向。
当黑色火药燃烧时,炽热的气体,即燃气从喷口急速排出。只要黑色火药还在燃烧,燃气就不断急速排出。当这些燃气通过喷口往下喷出时,火箭就被向上推进。这就叫做喷气推进。图中所示的简单实验,可以帮助你了解喷气推进。
选题二
篮球外交
姚和王不仅仅是篮球队员中的奇人。这两座塔是国家的财富,是中国在世界上地位提高的象征。他们也是NBA梦想征服中国的象征。NBA,还在国内争斗的时候,就看到了在13亿潜在篮球迷的国土上的前景。中国——志在夺取2008年奥运会主办权和加入世界贸易组织——正急于在世界上留下标记,当然是按照自己的条件。两年来,让这些年轻球员加盟NBA的斗争已经演变成一场文化冲突——这种冲突被美中之间关于侦察飞机和贸易自由化的争吵大大淡化了。如果成功的话,它可能是——用一句篮球术语来说——最终的二人配合。“这就像乒乓外交,”夏松,一个代表王的体育市场经理人说,“只不过球个大些。”
两年前,这件事情更像是锁链。当小牛队早在1999年要挑选他们的明星时,王所在的头头们非常恼火。尼尔森仍记得与当时(小牛队)的拥有人罗斯·小皮劳特——那个行为古怪的亿万富翁的儿子——一块飞往北京,同面孔古板的人民干部敲定一项交易的情景。“你能听见他们所想的:‘这个NBA球队在干什么,想对我们的财产提出要求吗?’” 尼尔森回忆道。“我们试图解释这对王和中国都是一件光荣的事。”交易没达成。王变得十分沮丧,失去了场上锋芒。
这年,姚成为选定球员。他在得分和挣抢蓝板球方面超过了王,甚至在中国篮球协会联赛中夺走了他垂涎已久的MVP(最有价值球员)奖。表面看来,似乎他所在的上海队——一个中国最开放城市中充满活力的半资本主义俱乐部——将首先把它的球星送进NBA。
后来,3月巅峰来临。王打破消沉,率领八一队连续第六次摘取联赛桂冠——他在决赛中独得40分。一天以后,人民宣布王可以自由地去西方,又为自己赢了不少分。是什么因素导致了这种变化?毫无疑问,与小牛队致力于与中国建立信任的努力密不可分(甚至邀请国家队教练王飞在达拉斯度过1999-2000赛季)。当然还有一些小小的中国人的自尊心因素。国家队在2000年奥运会结束时踉踉跄跄地挤到第10位,而在1996年列第8位。即使是最顽固的干部也会明白,只有把自己的球星派到海外向世界最优秀的球员学习,才能提高球队的水平。
Section 2: Part A 必译题(20分)
The Chinese nation has always valued human dignity and value. Even in the ancient days, our ancestors came up with the idea of people being most important, believing that “man is the most valuable among all the things that heaven fosters.” Progress and development of a society hinge on human progress and development and depend on how well human dignity is maintained and how much human value is realized. The Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people in carrying out revolution, development and reform precisely for the purpose of ensuring the entire Chinese people broad freedoms, democracy and human rights. The immense vitality displayed by China today is a vivid reflection of the broad freedoms and democratic rights enjoyed by the Chinese people. China’s population reached around 60 million as early as in the first century. For several thousand years, to meet the people’s need for food, clothes, housing and transport has all along been the primary human rights challenge for successive governments in Chinese history. In today’s China, which is a large developing country with a population of over 1.2 billion, top priority should still be given to ensuring the greatest possible majority of its people the rights to subsistence and development. Otherwise, there would be no other rights to speak of. To have been able to ensure our people these rights is in itself a major contribution to the progress of the world human rights cause.
Part B 二选一题(20分) 选题一
AIDS
AIDS is a life-threatening sickness that arracks the body’s natural defense system against disease. It can destroy the body’s ability to protect itself.
AIDS itself does not kill. But because the body’s defense system is damaged, the patient has little ability to fight off many other diseases, such as pneumonia, cancer, blindness and mental disorders.
The AIDS virus is carried in a person’s body fluids. The virus can be passed sexually or by sharing instruments used to take intravenous drugs. It also can be passed in blood products or from a pregnant woman with AIDS to her developing baby.
Many stories about the spread of AIDS are false. You cannot get AIDS by working or attending school with someone who has the disease. You cannot get it by touching drinking glasses or other objects used by such persons. Experts say no one has gotten AIDS by living with, caring for or touching an AIDS patient.
选题二
MYSTERY OF TIME
If you can read a clock, you can know the time of day. But no one knows what time itself is. We cannot see it. We cannot touch it. We cannot hear it. We know it only by the way we mark its passing. For all our success in measuring the tiniest parts of time, time remains one of the great mysteries of the universe.
One way of thinking about time is to imagine a world without time. Then there could be no movement, because time and movement cannot be separated. A world without time could exist only as long as there were no changes. For time and change are linked. When something changes, you know time has passed. In the real world, changes never stop. Some changes happen only once in a while, like an eclipse of the moon. Others happen repeatedly, like the rising and setting of the sun. People have always noted natural events that repeat themselves. When people began to count such events, they began to measure time.
2004年5月英语二级《笔译实务》试题参考译文
Section 1: 英译汉 (60分) Part A (必译题)(30分)
《人类的进程》一书的提纲初稿是1969年7月完成的,影片的最后一部分是在1972年12月拍摄的。像这样大的一个项目,虽然异常精彩,令人激动,却并不是轻易上马的。它要求我保持旺盛的脑力和体力,专心致志地投入工作。我必须确保持之以恒,并从中得到乐趣;比方说,我不得不停下已经开始的研究工作;我还应当说明一下,究竟是什么促使我承担这项工作的。
二十年来,科学的发展趋势发生了深刻的变化:关注的焦点已经从自然科转移到生命科学。结果,便把科学越来越吸引到个体特征的研究上来。然而感兴趣的旁观者几乎没有意识到此事对于改变科学塑造的人的形象产生了多么深远的影响。我是一个研究数学的人,以前学过物理学,若不是中年有幸有几次机会涉足生命科学,我也不会有所认识。我应当感谢我交的好运,是它使我在一生中参与了两个启发性的科学领域。尽管我并不知道应该向谁表示感谢,我编写了《人类的进程》一书,以表示我的感激之情。
英国广播公司邀请我做的是通过一套电视节目来表现科学的发展过程,以与克拉克勋爵制作的关于文明的电视节目相匹配。通过电视来进行解说有几大好处:它有力、直观,能使观众身临其境或亲身参与所描述的过程,它的语言亲切,能使观众觉得他所看到的是人们的行动而不是事件。这些优点之中,我认为最后一点最为突出,它是一股最大的动力促使我同意以电视散文的方式从个人的角度来讲述各种思想的发展史。重要的是知识总体,尤其是科学知识不是由抽象的思想构成的,而是由人的思想构成的,自有知识开始直到现代千奇百怪的模式莫不是如此。所以介绍打开自然界之门的基本思想,必须表现出它们很早就已产生,而且是产生在人类最淳朴的文化之中,产生于人类基本的、具体的感官之中。同时还必须表现出使种种思想形成越来越复杂的结合体的科学的发展也同样是人类的贡献:种种发现都是人的产物,而不仅仅是头脑的产物,因此它们都是有生气的,而且具有个人的特色。如果电视未能把这些思想表现得很具体,那岂不是浪费!
Part B 二选一题 (30分)
选题一
不是因为我们害怕看到他会因失误而给他辉煌的生涯画上遗憾的一笔。从善意的角度说,我们想让迈克知道,我们仍然欣赏他,至少在我们的记忆中,他仍然是英雄。事实上,我们不想让他重返球场,即使他是迈克尔·乔丹。我们觉得这是个贸然之举,我们不想看到自信的商标蜕变成一种自负的象征。我们不想让他重返球场,因为没有人喜欢卖弄。失误呢?那将会很有趣。
但是我们是有着225年乐观历史的美国人,我们都是好心人。当乔丹几天前宣布他将在九月重返NBA时,我们曾为之一振。宣布的前一天,他说过:“我盼望能打球,并希望事情能如愿以偿。有些人怀疑,有些人紧张,都属正常。”《时代》周刊和美国有线新闻网上周做的一项调查表明,每两个美国人当中就有一个人希望乔丹尽快重返赛场。只有21%的人们认为,如果他的重返导致一场彻底失败,将会损害他的传奇。事实上只有28%的人认为运动员应该在他的运动巅峰时期引退。
与乔丹关系密切的人告诉《时代》周刊,当乔丹第一次谈到重返它与其他人共同拥有的华盛顿奇才队并为之效力时,一些他最信任的顾问试图私下打消他的愿望。“但他们说,如果试图阻止他,只能鉴定他的决心,”一位NBA人士如是说。
乔丹复出所产生的问题不仅仅在于他不可能重现1998年的神话,那一年,他以一个精彩的最后一秒投篮,使球队赢得了冠军,也为自己赢得了第六只金指环。问题是他重返的动机——他需要人们的关注,需要在38岁体力不支时,仍然打球。这一切都有悖于他所创造的神话——一个展示绝对控制力的神话。如果说二十世纪的第一个球星巴比·鲁斯是一个身材魁梧肥胖的鲁莽之夫和酒鬼天才,乔丹则证明了刚毅所能带来的优雅风度,并以此结束了二十世纪。巴比对观众的颐指气使被乔丹无奈耸肩的魅力所取代。乔丹代表着成功,因为他的名字没有被他的政治倾向、他的观点或是他的超级明星个性所玷污。乔丹迷就是典雅和自信迷。
明明知道加盟奇才队他将不可能进入联赛第二轮赛事,明明知道他将与联赛最佳投手无缘,他的重返赛场就是一种失控。
乔丹并不在乎我们在想什么。他的朋友说:他把所有奉劝他不要复出的文章都贴在冰箱上作为激励。那么,我们为什么还要喋喋不休地告诉他不要复出呢?他依然是迈克尔·乔丹。
选题二
即使我长大些,不再适合做这样的游戏,不再对母亲说我爱她,我仍然相信自己是世上最好的女儿。难道不是吗?每当母亲吩咐,我不是总一路跑着到阳台去查看晒在那儿的腌芒果?
当我步入少年,我好像变成了一个更乖更可爱的女儿。难道不是吗?每天下午,当妈妈需要新的调料,我不是总放下手头的工作去街角的杂货店帮她买?
另一方面,我的母亲对我的爱却好像越来越少。有时她活像个巫婆,因为她威胁如果我的学习成绩还没有起色,就要把我送到远在巴哈马乡下的二叔家——这对于像我这样心高气奥德加尔各答女孩而言,将是比死亡更悲惨的命运。有时她又会让我坐着听她讲有关“带给家庭耻辱的女孩”的故事。显然一个人会面对许多变坏的可能,因此母亲决心让我对每个可能都保持警惕。基本上,她对我想做的每一件事都持反对意见,从去美国学习到烫头发。她的口头禅是“除非我死了”。很明显,我对母亲的爱远远超过了她对我的爱——如果她爱我的话。
当我结束了在美国的研究生学习并结了婚,我和母亲的关系改善了许多。虽然偶尔她还对我的当作家的选择表示怀疑,但总的来说她认为我做的事情还算不错。对于她我也这样认为。我们之间建立起一种循环:她从印度写信给我,告诉我各种趣闻,并寄来我最喜欢的腌芒果;我从美国打电话给她,告诉她我都忙了些什么事情,并寄去她最喜欢的香草布丁。我们的爱是对等的——至少在我的儿子阿南德出生前,我是这样认为的。
儿子的降生一下子打乱了我的平静、规律、有秩序的生活,使我措手不及。出院后的六周里,我一直被产后抑郁症的阴影包围着。 当夜里我和我的丈夫抱着哭闹不止的儿子,走来走去哄他睡觉,我开始认真考虑是否要“撤退”。我怀疑自己是否适合做母亲。母爱——究竟是什么?
有一天清晨,我在为阿南德换尿布,他突然咧开没有牙的嘴,冲我笑起来。那一刻我在想,这个褐色的瘦弱的小东西毕竟还是很可爱的。之后事情就进展得很顺利了。不知不觉之间,我已在婴儿室里添了一张床并在很多天晚上睡在那儿,陪着我心爱的宝贝。
Section 2: 汉译英 (40分) Part A (必译题)(20分)
The vitality and special appeal of the Olympic Games lie in the Olympic spirit, which is the soul of the soul of the Games. The goal of sports is to pursue comprehensive physical and mental development and, on the basis of this, to accelerate social progress. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympiad, considered sports a great undertaking of humanity. The goal of the Olympic Movement defined by him is to promote undertaking among different countries and cultures, maintain world peace and advance human civilization. This ideal has enabled the Olympic Games to thrive for more than a century. The Olympic Games have been a grand gathering of members of the Olympic family throughout the world, and the Olympic Movement has become a major social force to promote world peace, progress and development.
Part B 二选一题 (30分)
选题一
In recent years, China’s economy has maintained rapid development, injecting vigor into global economic growth. Facts have confirmed the prediction made by China before its WTO accession: China’s development cannot be sustained without the world, and world development needs China. In the coming 20 years, China is bound to make historic contributions to global economic development and to the common progress of mankind, while building a well-off society in an all-round way. To achieve this, China will continue to expand foreign trade, energetically implement its west development strategy, further improve its investment environment, and provide overseas investors with greater business opportunities. Meanwhile, it will guide and support competitive enterprises to invest overseas and carry out diverse forms of economic and technological cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. China will further intensify bilateral, multilateral and regional economic cooperation, so as to achieve common development in all countries and regions in the world.
选题二
The cell phone is becoming one of the major technologies of the 21st century. Within a few years, it will become a multi-functional communicator of transmitting and receiving not only sound, but also video, still images, data and text. A new era of personal communication is on the way.
Thanks in part to the growth of wireless networks, the telephone is converging with the personal computer and the television. Soon light-weight phones outfitted with high-resolution screens will be connected to satellites. People can talk, send and receive e-mail, or take part in video conferences anytime, anywhere. These phones might also absorb many of the key functions of computers. Mobile devices are expected to be ideal for some of the new services that are available via the Internet, such as trading stocks, shopping and booking theater and airline tickets.
The telecommunication revolution is developing around the globe. It will soon be possible to receive almost all forms of electronic communication through a single device. A three-in-one phone is most likely. It can serve as a cordless at home, a cell phone on the road and an intercom at work. Some experts even suggest that cell videophones could overtake television as the major source of visual information.
2004年11月英语二级《笔译实务》试题参考译文
Section 1: 英译汉 (60分) Part A (必译题)(30分)
前不久,科学家们对深海生物还知之甚少,也不太相信它们正受到威胁。现在,随着深海探测技术的发展,研究人员发现660多英尺,即200米深的海底生存着大量多种多样的物种。但与此同时,渔业人员也可以依靠技术到达以前更深的地方,进行海底拖网捕捞,而此种深海捕捞则可在几分钟内就把大自然几百年乃至几千年的一切毁灭。
例如,世界上的许多种珊瑚在二百多米深的海底才能找到。此外,据估计世界上一些最高的海底山约有一半位于深海海底。这些海底隆起的地方,海洋生物特别丰富。
这些深海生态系统为鱼类和其它生物提供生存、产卵、繁殖的场所,俄保护它们免遭大海流和猎食者的侵袭。此外,据信这些深海生态系统蕴藏着世界上最丰富的生命宝库,估计有五十万至一亿种生物生活在这些大体上未经勘探极脆弱的生态系统中。
当我们现在刚刚开始认识这些地区极其丰富的生物多样性,并发现这些新物种可能为人类社会带来好处时——如新食品和新药品,这些地区却面临着永远消失的危险。由于确定物种丰富地区的能路增强,由于拖网捕涝能到达比过去更深的区域,商业渔船可把足球场大小的拖网撒入海中,碰上什么捕捞什么,同时损坏了脆弱的珊瑚,破坏礁石和海底山的脆弱结构,而正是这些东西为生活在深海海底的无数鱼类和其它海洋生物提供了赖以生存的场所。
因为深海海底拖网捕捞是最近才出现的一种现象,它所造成的损害还是有限的。如能赶紧采取措施防止这些在公海上的破坏活动,它为海洋环境和子孙后代带来的好处将是无法估量的。这些好处将远远超过渔业短期内需承担的花费。
Part B 二选一题 (30分)
选题一
世界上大多数艾滋病患者生活在非洲,并以惊人的速度大批死亡。据估计,2003年底非洲的艾滋病患者达到2660万人。联合国联合防治艾滋病计划署是联合国为对付艾滋病而设立的专门机构,该机构将要公布的最新数字可能证实艾滋病还在非洲继续蔓延,但同时也可以说明它蔓延的速度是维持不变,或在加快,还是在放慢。
艾滋病最猖獗的地区是非洲的东部和南部,在南非、津巴布韦和肯尼亚患者人数最多,疫情严重的国家还包括博茨瓦纳和赞比亚。1981年艾滋病的出现在世界上得到确认,没过几年,这种病就在非洲东部流行起来——当地人管它叫“瘦病”,因为患者的容貌是日渐消瘦。关于这种病毒的发源地,一种说法是发源于东刚果盆地;然而关于艾滋病来源的说法不一,很有争议,且带有浓厚的政治色彩;这场争论至今还远未结束。
整个非洲都在采取措施,最主要的是提高公众意识和防范手段,包括建议忠实于一个性伴侣和使用避孕套。人们一般不愿使用避孕套,因为不习惯,还有文化方面的原因,同时它也不符合教和教的教义,它们更强调自我约束。
在防治艾滋病的活动中,重要的一项就是提倡“自愿就医检查”,这项活动,有的市组织的,有的是民间组织的,也有的是和民间共同组织的。此外,医学研究也找到了一种办法,虽然不能治愈,也可对患者有所帮助。
“全球预防艾滋病、肺结核、疟疾基金会”是世界各国部门、市民社会、私人企业和患者群体的一个协作机构,是应联合国秘书长的号召,于2001年发起成立的。这一机构为防治艾滋病的各项活动提供资金。然而,即便只是为了制止艾滋病的蔓延,这也是远远不够的。
选题二
作为一个最不发达国家的领导人,就切身体验而言,我认为贫穷是一个非常复杂的现象,战胜贫穷的方法也是多种多样的,而且在很大程度上取决于当地的情况,因此也就没有一件特别有效的法宝。
许多年来,我们吃过不少苦头。我们对各种不同的主张进行了试验。
然而,世界经济论坛不久前发表的一份报告称,全世界应在2015年完成的战胜贫穷、饥饿和疟疾的目标,至今只勉强完成了应完成的三分之一。现在我确信,要实现联合国于2000年确定的各项新前年发展目标,必须要有一项全球协议。该协议必须基于符合当地情况的国家。
援助和贸易都是必要的,但光靠它们还是不够的。只靠善治也是不够的。事实上,没有地方社会力量的直接参与,任何事情都不可能取得进展。我担心的是我们说得太多。这可不是上策。
我想举一个例子来说名义向全球协议是怎么在坦桑尼亚运作,以实现普及基础教育的。
二十世纪九十年代中期,基础教育几乎各项指标都大幅下滑。毛入学率从八十年代初的98%下降到2000年的77.6%。净入学率也从80%以上下降到只有58.8%。
随后发生了几件事情。最高政治领导层决定将基础教育列为最优先发展的项目,并通过了“小学教育五年发展计划”,规定于2006年普及基础教育,比全球的规定目标提前九年。
善治使国库日渐充实,收入八年来翻了两番。2001年,我们接受了世界银行为重债穷国进一步免除债务的安排。随后还有捐助者直接把钱划入我们的预算,或捐给小学教育发展计划设立的合作基金。
的政治决心从以下情况可以得到验证:五年来,国家预算中用于消除贫穷的部分增加了130%。我们还取消了小学的学费。
此外,我们还保证所有涉及小学教育发展计划的项目都由地方来确定、规划、拥有、执行和评估。这就使得人们为自己的所作所为感到骄傲,感到光彩。小学教育发展计划只实行了两年,就取得了巨大的成
Section 2: 汉译英 (40分)
Part A (必译题)(20分)
In the new century, the international situation has continued to undergo profound and complicated changes. World multipolarization and economic globalization are progressing amid twists and turns. Science and technology are advancing with each passing day. We have before us both development opportunities that we must seize and grave challenges that we must deal with seriously. Despite the widespread conflicts and clashes of interests and increasing numbers of factors of uncertainty and instability in the world today, peace and development remain the overriding themes of the times. The world needs peace, countries desire development and people want cooperation. This has become an irresistible trend of history.
At present, Asia, on the whole, enjoys stability, with peace, development and cooperation becoming the mainstream of an advancing Asia. With concerted efforts, relevant Asian countries have freed themselves from the shadow of the financial crisis, overcome the impact of SARS and bird flu, succeeded in economic restructuring, quickened the tempo of industrial upgrading and transformation, promoted a robust regional cooperation, and increased the capacity to tide over potential risks. Asia has retained its position as one of the world’s most dynamic regions and a key growth point in global trade. We are full of confidence in the future of Asia’s development.
Part B 二选一题 (30分)
选题一
Up to now, China has built 19,000km of highways. Since 1990, some 3,700km of highways have been added each year. By 2020, highway networks will connect all major Chinese cities, and the total length of China’s highways will be 55.000km, second only to that of the United States.
The impact of highway networks will be huge. Urban belts will emerge; people’s lifestyles will change; and the economic growth rate of interchange cities will surge, as the convenient transportation facilities will attract more investors.
Many international developers share this view. Both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are lending heavily to support China’s road expansion. They believe highway construction is vital for poverty alleviation. Since the late 1990s, the Asian Development Bank has reduced its road investment in China’s economically developed eastern areas and shifted its focus to the relatively poor western region.
During its highway construction, China pays great attention to the building of feeder roads, as they can help smaller towns make full use of the development opportunities brought about by the construction of nearby trunk highways.
选题二
For a long time, Westerners have been skeptical about the efficacy of China’s patent drugs made of medicinal herbs. In the past few years, traditional Chinese medicine has been subject to rigorous scientific scrutiny worldwide.
To prove and enhance the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine, China’s mainland (the mainland of China) has poured huge amounts of money into hard research on this field. While Hong Kong has been endeavoring to make itself the world leader in research on traditional Chinese medicine, Taiwan has put forward a plan to transform itself into a traditional Chinese medicine technology center.
Research into traditional cures is also blossoming at universities and other institutions outside Asia. These efforts to unlock the secrets of traditional remedies could produce benefits for sufferers of diseases that have confounded both Western and traditional Chinese medicines.
Although there are still differences between Western and traditional Chinese medicines in theory, some world-known pharmaceutical companies, taking interest in traditional Chinese medicine, have launched small research projects in China. A number of new medicines have already undergone trials across Asia.
2005年5月英语二级《笔译实务》试题参考译文
Section 1: 英译汉 (60分)
Part A (必译题)(30分)
在亚马逊河的这一支流上捕鱼的农民就希望遇上那天的情况。
旱季最缺水的时候,河面迅速下降,一大群鲈鱼正游进从十几只小船上撒下的网里。鲈鱼味道鲜美,能在市场上卖个好价钱。
“要是运气不错,赶上今天这种情况,就能挣350美元,”劳鲁•苏扎•阿尔梅达说道。他是当地渔民合作社的一位负责人。他一边兴高采烈地说着,一边摆好了架式准备干活。他说:“对我们这样的人来说,这可是一大笔钱呀。”因为就算一个人运气好,能找到工作,按最低工资计算,要四个月才能挣这么些钱。
然而就在不远的地方,有一只大型商业渔船在游弋,那是一只“母船”,备有巨大的储藏冰柜,还拖着十几只小船。船员都在船上等候,等到剩余的鱼进入主河道以后,他们就用高效率的刺网进行捕捞,能捞多少,就捞多少。
亚马逊河在世界上是物产丰富的标志,到它现在正经受一场过量捕鱼的危机。随着人们最喜爱的各种鱼类数量日渐减少,到了令人担忧的地步,靠打鱼糊口的渔民和他们商业对手之间的紧张关系也日益加剧,因为这些对手一心想着装满自己的船舱,以满足巴西乃至国外城里人越来越大的吃鱼胃口。
针对这种情况,亚马逊河沿岸的农民群众,在巴西境内也好,在秘鲁等邻国也好,纷纷成立合作社,以求控制捕鱼量,增加河湖中鱼的数量。但是,这方面的努力虽日见成效,却促使那些为商业目的而捕鱼的机构以及附近一些不大守规矩的农民加紧进行掠夺。
“那些工业化的渔船,二、三十吨位的,他们的想法跟我们这些手工操作的渔民不一样,我们懂得考虑怎样保护环境,”当地的渔业工会说道。“他们想用拖网一网打尽,然后有上别处去打。我们出力,他们受益,弄得我们一无所有。”
Part B 二选一题 (30分)
选题一
自从经济学家李嘉图于1817年提出基本理论以来,经济学方面的经典著作都说自由贸易免除关税、限额和补贴,也没有的其他小动作,因此会增加双方的利益。美国的是不遗余力地实行这一理论。为什么说自由贸易可以使大家普遍受益呢?这可以在所谓“相对优势”的理论中找到答案。
打个简单的比方,假如一位外科医生,既擅长动手术,又会做常规的验血工作,要取得较好的效益,就应让她集中精力做手术,同时雇一个能力较差的技术员去搞化验,因为这样就能让这位外科医生最有效的利用自己的时间。
引申而言,虽然美国既擅长发明高级的生物技术,有精于日常的药品生产,明智的做法还是把药品生产从美国转移至生产费用更低的国家。这样,美国人就可以一方面因廉价产品获利,一方面把自己的资源用来从事更有价值的事业。这一向就是讨论问题的前提。但是现在萨缪尔森却提出了不同的看法。如果低工资国家也掌握了先进的产业,怎么办?
据他估计,假如把过多的美国工人失去的较高工资的工作包到国外去,美国从廉价商品的获益不见得能补偿它购买力下降造成的损失。
萨缪尔森断言:“自由贸易并不总是一种双赢的局面。”他说,当今世界这个问题尤其突出。因为像印度和中国这样的大国,他们的工资低的多,可是他们的能力有在不断提高,美国能生产的产品,他们几乎都能生产,美国能提供的服务,他们也几乎都能够提供。
假如美国与这些国家进行自由贸易,它们低的多的工资产生的巨大影响就会把美国的平均工资往下拉。据他推算,美国的经济仍然会增长,不过比应有的增长速度要低。
选题二
乌干达渴望得到真正的发展,这种愿望不仅反映在小学生的笑脸上,而且还体现在那么多孩子在上学的现实中。自1997年开始普及小学教育以来,小学在校总人数已从300万增至2004年的760万。过去没有学校的地方,现已开办了学校,不过要把教育发展到国内最贫困的地区,还要经过一番努力。
乌干达在发展中等教育和高等教育方面也取得了进展,甚至吸引了其他国家的许多学生前来就学。在中等教育方面,在校人数现已超过70万,大多数学校是民办的。如有学生想继续深造,除4家公立大学外,还有12家私立大学,共7.5万个名额。
人们认为教育是战胜贫困的重要一环,努力增强体质也是重要的一环。然而,乌干达饱受疾病的拖累,如疟疾、艾滋病等,增强体质绝非一日之功。在这方面,要解决问题,必须一方面靠国际援助,一方面要下决心,继续拨款预防疾病,并加强宣传公共卫生知识。
目前计划包括招聘数千名护理人员,增加药品供应,新建200所产科诊所。
财政杰拉尔德•森达乌拉说,乌干达人口的年增长率为百分之3.6,这样高的增长率对消除贫困构成特殊障碍。他还指出,乌干达平均每个女人生6.9孩子,这一生育率是全非洲最高的。
最近修订过的《消除贫困行动计划》将“恢复安全”列为当前的首要任务。这是因为它估计连年不断的冲突已使乌干达的国内生产总值每年下降3个百分点。流离失所的人们不仅是财政方面的负担,也不能为发展经济出力。
修订过的《消除贫困行动计划》列举的其他重大事项还包括设法不断提高最低收入,改进教育质量,帮助人们最好地控制家庭人口,透明而有效地使用公共资源等。这一文件值得其他贫困国家借鉴。
Section 2: 汉译英 (40分)
Part A (必译题)(20分)
Mineral resources are an important part of natural resources and an important material foundation for the development of human society. China is one of the first countries in the world to develop and utilize resources.
Over the past five decades, China has made great achievements in the survey and development of its mineral resources. This has provided an important guarantee for the sustained, rapid and sound development of the Chinese economy.
The Chinese Government attaches great importance to sustainable development and the rational utilization of mineral resources. It has made sustainable development a national strategy and the protection of resources an important part of this strategy.
China is developing country with a large population and a relative shortage of resources. It depends mainly on the exploitation of its own mineral resources to meet the needs of its modernization program. Meanwhile, it has made energetic efforts to introduce foreign capital and technology to exploit its own resources, make use of foreign markets and foreign mineral resources, and strive to help its own mining enterprises and mineral products to enter the international market.
Part B 二选一题 (30分)
选题一
As everyone knows, birds cannot fly without wings and a person cannot walk without legs. But for Yin Xiaoxing, while birds cannot fly without wings, a person can walk even without legs!
Born in 1970 into a farmer’s family in Jiangsu Province, Yin Xiaoxing suffered from polio and acute pneumonia at the age of only eight months. He survived but lost the ability to stand on his feet. Because of his disability, Xiaoxing had to give up his study after junior middle school. The burden of life seemed to be especially heavy for him. He tried to make a living by selling fruits, raising chickens and taking pains to learn traditional Chinese medicine.
At the age of 21, this young man, with a map and a compass in hand, embarked on the hard journey of traveling around China in his wheelchair.
In the last 12 years, Yin Xiaoxing traveled a total of 70,000 kilometers in his wheelchair and left his footprints in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. During this period, he wore out four wheelchairs. He left a trail of human records including climbing more than 20 famous mountains like Mont Tai, Mount Hua and Mount Heng with his hands, crossing the 5,231-meter-high Mount Tanggula alone, traveling along the Silk Road in wheelchair, crossing the Taklimakan Desert, getting to the top of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai with his hands, and completing the journey from the desert to Hong Kong.
选题二
The Great Wall is a wonder of the world. Now, millions of people journey to the Great Wall each year, making its most popular sites besieged by hordes of tourists during busy seasons.
The Chinese have a long history of building walls, dating from the Warring States period. In history, about 20 walls were built, with the wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty being the longest, extending 6,700 km. China was the most technologically advanced nation in the world then, so the wall was also the most sophisticated in structure. It was built to ward off the invasion of nomads from the north.
After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, since its founders were themselves nomads, they did not see a need to continue with wall building. Nonetheless, the Qing government did institute a law to preserve the wall, banning the removal of bricks from it. But, the impact of time and continuous wars have left the wall greatly damaged in its most accessible sections.
Over the past 10-plus years, the booming tourist industry has stimulated the Great wall’s renovation project. Now, many of its sections have been or are being revamped.