英语翻译基础(英汉互译)-试卷18.doc

英语翻译基础（英汉互译）-试卷18

(总分：12.00，做题时间：90分钟)

一、英汉互译(总题数：6，分数：12.00)

1.英译汉（分数：

2.00）

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.Since the earliest times in England, the traveler" s inn has always been a warm and hospitable place, a gathering place for voyagers to rest and recover. The tireless landlord, the local customers sharing drinks and food, the welcoming atmosphere, have all become part of the legend of the typical English country and city life. In later centuries, the English tavern took on the role of community gathering place, being the location where friendly chatter and fierce social debate mixed with business discussions, and food, wine, beer and coffee were consumed as the noise of convivial exchanges rose. In modern times, the English pub often continues to function as the communal meeting place, especially for people whose homes are too small to entertain any number of guests or friends. In many Asian countries, the local restaurant serves a similar social function. In Ireland, the pub has acted as a central attraction for poorer villagers in the rural areas, and as a literary and social focus in the cities. In keeping with the sociable nature of pub gatherings, music as well as talk has become a central part of this institution in Ireland. Now people around the world are able to experience the friendly nature of the Irish pub, which follows in the wake of its English equivalent as a welcome and growing expert. English pubs have been found in America, in parts of Europe and throughout the world where English pub is witnessing an outburst of international popularity as westerns turn away from their television and computer screens and seek to put a human face to their social contacts. They are finding it in the bars and corners of Irish pubs where Guinness stout, the Irish national drink, is available in the tall dark creamy pint glasses and Irish music is the regular fare. An international representative for the Irish manufacturers of Jameson" s whiskey, Patrick Mc-Carville, points out that while the world has been laughing at Irish jokes (a stereotype of the Irish way of life) , the Irish have been quietly carrying out an economic coup which is seen in the evidence of the explosion of Irish pubs.（分数：2.00）

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair, this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. Small-minded officials, rude waiters, and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment. For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside world. The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life: if you didnt take in the stranger and take care of him, there was no one else who would. And someday, remember, you might be in the same situation. Today there are many charitable organizations which specialize in helping the weary traveler. Yet, the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the US, especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. " I was just traveling through, got talking with this American, and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner—amazing. " Such observations reported by visitors to the US are not uncommon, but are

not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition. As is true of any developed society, in America a complex set of cultural signals, assumptions, and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And, of course, speaking a language does not necessarily mean that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail to "translate" cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example, when an American uses the word "friend" , the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor" s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet, being friendly is a virtue that many Americans value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.（分数：2.00）

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 4." Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather. " This statement, often made by Englishmen to describe the peculiar meteorological conditions of their country, is both revealing and true. It is revealing because in it we see the Englishman insisting once again that what happens in England is not the same as what happens elsewhere; its truth can be ascertained by any foreigner who stays in the country for longer than a few days. In England one can experience almost every kind of weather except the most extreme. The snag is that we never can be sure when the different sorts of weather in one day, but we may very well get a spell of winter in summer and vice versa. This uncertainty about the weather has had a definite effect upon the Englishman" s character; it tends to make him cautious, for example. The foreigner may laugh when he sees the Englishman setting forth on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, but he may well regret his laughter later in the day! The English weather has also helped to make the Englishman adaptable. It has been said that one of the reasons why the English colonized so much of the world was that, whatever the weather conditions they met abroad, they had already experienced something like them at home! And, of course, the weather" s variety provides a constant topic of conversation. Even the most taciturn of Englishmen is always prepared to discuss the weather. And, though he sometimes complains bitterly of it, he would not, even if he could, exchange it for the more predictable climate of other lands.（分数：2.00）

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 5.It used to be said that English people take their pleasures sadly. No doubt this would still be true if they had any pleasures to take, but the price of alcohol and tobacco in my country has provided sufficient external causes for melancholy. I have sometimes thought that the habit of taking pleasures sadly has crossed the Atlantic. And I have wondered what it is that makes so many English-speaking people somber in their outlook in spite of good health and a good income. In the course of my travels in America I have been impressed by a kind of fundamental malaise which seems to me extremely common and which poses difficult problems for the social reformer. Most social reformers have held the opinion that, if poverty were abolished and there were no more economic insecurity, the millennium would have arrived. But when I look at the faces of people in opulent cars, whether in your country or in mine, I do not see that look of radiant happiness which the aforesaid social reformers had led me to expect. In nine cases out of ten, I see instead a look of boredom and discontent and an almost frantic longing for something that might tickle the jaded palate. But it is not only the very rich who suffer in this way. Professional men very frequently feel hopelessly thwarted. There is something that they long to do or some public object that they long to work for. But if they were to indulge their wishes in these respects, they fear that they would lose their livelihood. Their wives are equally unsatisfied, for their neighbor, Mrs. So-and-So, has gone ahead more quickly, has a better car, a larger apartment and grander friends. Life for almost everybody is a long competitive struggle where very few can win the race, and those who do not win are unhappy. On social occasions when it is de rigueur to seem cheerful,

the necessary demeanor is stimulated by alcohol. But the gaiety does not ring true and anybody who had drunk too much is apt to lapse into lachrymose melancholy.（分数：2.00）

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 6.The second admirable quality of our gentry and professional class is the refusal to take bribes. Perhaps "refusal" is too strong a word, for he would be a daring man who even attempted to bribe this type of gentleman. "It would be like violating a nun!" as a "crook" once said to me, when for a moment he contemplated buying a private advantage from an English official. It is seldom thought of, and it is hardly ever done. Our Civil Servants in India, for instance, have repeated opportunities of making a lot of money by taking bribes, but I remember only one case of even a suspicion of corruption. This reputation for incorruptibility is the greatest of our advantages in administering the Empire. Its rarity among nearly all the other peoples I have known raises our officials almost to the level of divine superiority, and without it we could not hold the Empire together, nor would it be worth the pains. A businessman who has worked long under the system of concessions in Russia tells me that it is now impossible to bribe the Commissar or other high officials there. That is an immense advance, for under Tsarism one had only to signify the chance of a good bribe and one got what one wanted. But nowadays on the suspicion of bribery both parties are shot off-hand. It is a drastic way of teaching what we have somehow learnt so smoothly that we are scarcely conscious of the lesson or of our need of it. Yet there was need. Less than two centuries ago, bribery ran riot among our aristocracy and politicians, so that a Prime Minister could boast that every man had his price. The change is remarkable, and in spite of all that can be justly said against our Public Schools, I think it may be traced to an unconscious sense of honour somehow instilled among the boys.（分数：2.00）

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