职称英语综合类阅读理解第二十六篇Seeing_the_World_Centuries_Ago逐句翻译

Seeing the World Centuries Ago看许久以前的世界

If you enjoy looking through travel books by such familiar authors as Arthur Frommer or Eugene Fodor 如果你喜欢读类似亚瑟?弗洛梅尔或尤金?弗多这些令人熟知的作家写的旅行图书，it will not surprise you to lean that travel writing has a long and venerable history. 那么你就不会惊讶于旅行写作那悠长、令人肃然起敬的历史。Almost from the earliest annals of recorded time individuals have found ready audiences for their accounts of journeys to strange and exotic locales.几乎从最早有记载的时期开始，人们就发现，他们对去一个陌生地方旅行的记录是不乏读者的。

One of the earliest travel writers，a Greek geographer and historian named Strabo，lived around the time of Christ. 公元前后的希腊地理学家、历史学家斯特雷波，就是最早的旅行作家之一。Though Strabo is known to have traveled from east of the Black Sea west to Italy and as far south as Ethiopia 虽然斯特雷波因从黑海的东部出发，西至意大利南至埃塞俄比亚而闻名，he also used details gleaned from other writers to extend and enliven his accounts 他也借鉴了其他作者的记录来使他的作品内容更丰富生动。His multivolumed work Geography provides the only surviving account of the cities，peoples，customs，and geographical peculiarities of the whole known world of his time. 他的多卷著作《地理》是唯一一部记录当时世界上城市、人、风俗、地理特征的作品。

Two other classic travel writers，the ltalian Marco Polo and the Moroccan Ibn Battutah，lived in roughly the same time period. 大概同时期的另两位优秀的旅行作家是意大利人马可?波罗和摩洛哥人伊本?白图泰。Marco Polo traveled to China with his father and uncle in about A.D.1275 and

remained there 16 or 17 years，波罗在公元1275年同他的父亲和叔叔去了中国，在那里待了十六七年，visiting several other countries during his travels. 在这期间他也去了一些其他国家。When Marco returned to ltaly he dictated his memoirs，including stories he had heard from others to a scribe，回到意大利后,他向一位作家口述了他旅行的回忆以及从别人那里听到的故事，with the resulting book II milione being an instant success. 最终《马可?波罗游记》问世，迅速红了起来。Though difficult to attest to the accuracy of all he says，Marco's book impelled Europeans to begin their great voyages of exploration. 虽然很难证实他所说的是否都属实，但马可的书促使欧洲人开始了他们伟大的航海探索之旅。

Ibn Battutah's interest in travel began on his required Muslim journey to Mecca in 1325 伊本?白图泰在1325年出发去麦加朝圣，从此开始了他的旅行。and during his lifetime he journeyed through all the countries where Islam held sway. 在他的有生之年，他去了所有的穆斯林占据统治地位的国家旅行。His travel book the Rihlah is a personalized account of desert journeys，court intrigues，and even the effect of the Back Death in the various lands he visited 。他的书《伊本?白图泰游记》记载了沙漠旅行、宫廷阴谋，甚至包括他游历过的各种各样的地方受黑死病的影响。In almost 30 years of traveling it is estimated that Ibn Battutah covered more than 75，000 miles. 据估计，在差不多30年里，伊本?白图泰的旅行行程有7万5千多英里。

词汇:

venerable / adj. 庄严的，值得尊敬的

enliven / v. 使生动

account / n. 记述

voyage / n. 航行

exotic / v. 异国的，外来的

注释:

1. Almost from the earliest annals of recorded time individuals have found ready audiences for their accounts of journeys to strange and exotic locales. 几乎从最早有时间记载开始，人们就发现，他们对去一个陌生地方旅行的记录是不乏读者的。

2. …Marco's book impelled Europeans to begin their great voyages of exploration.……马可的书促使欧洲人开始了他们伟大的航海探索之旅。

3. …he journeyed through all the countries where Islam held sway.……他去了所有伊斯兰教掌权的国家旅行。

练习:

1. This passage is mostly about__________.

A) why people find travel writing exciting B) the literary style of three early travel writers C) where three early travel writers went and wrote about D) how to write a travel book

2.Ibn Battutah traveled__________. A) to China B) to Ethiopia

C) throughout the Muslim word D) for 16 or 17 years

3. The books bf the three writers were popular because__________.

A) they listed good places to stay B) they told of strange and exotic locales C) they explained the best routes to get to places D) all of their stories were firsthand accounts

4. The overall organization of this passage is through__________. A) chronological order B) spati al description C) travel writers’ personal

narratives D) persuasive details

5. In this passage attest means to__________. A) give an examination to B) draw a map of C) tell lies to D) give proof of 答案与题解：

1.C 本题问的是:这篇文章主要讲了什么? A的意思是为什么人们觉得旅行写作令人激动。 B 的意思是三位早期旅行作家的文学风格。C 的意思是三位早期旅行作家去过的地方以及他们的写作内容。D的意思是如何写一部旅行作品。根据本文内容，C选项最符合题意。因此C是正确的答案。

2.C 本题问的是:Ibn Battutah到过哪里旅行?根据最后一段的第一句话:he journeyed through all the countries where Islam held sway，可知，他去过了所有穆斯林的国家。因此C是正确的答案。

3.B 本题问的是:三位作家的作品都很受欢迎，原因是什么? A 的意思是他们列出了好的地方。B的意思是他们写出了陌生的外面的地方。C的意思是他们说明了去一些地方的最好路线。D的意思是他们的所有故事都是一手资料。根据第一段的最后一句话可知，旅行作品吸引读者的地方在于它描述了一个陌生的地方，因此B是正确的答案。

4.A 本题问的是:这篇文章的整体布局是依照什么?本文主要依照时间顺序介绍了公元前后的三位作家，按时间先后用序，因此A是正确的答案。

5. D 本题问的是:在这篇文章中attest是什么意思? attest出现在第三段的最后一句话，为的是表达马可所说的无法被证实是否都属实。A 的意思是考察。B的意思是画一张地图。C的意思是说谎。D的意思是证实。因此D是正确的答案。

The United States has moved beyond the industrial economy stage to the point where it has become the world’s first service economy. Almost three-fourths of the nonfarm labor force is employed in service industries, and over two-thirds of the nation’s gross national product is accounted for by services. Also, service jobs typically hold up better during a recession than do jobs in industries producing tangible goods.

During the 20-year period of 1966 to 1986, about 36 million new jobs were created in the United States―far more than in Japan and Western Europe combined. About 90 percent of these jobs were in service industries. During this same time span, some 22 million women joined the labor force―and 97 percent of these women went to work in the service sector. These employment trends are expected to continue at least until the year 2000. For the period 1986-2000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that over 21 million new jobs will be created and 93 percent of them will be in service industries.

Moreover, most of this explosive growth in services employment is not in low-paying jobs, contrary to the beliefs of many economists, business and labor leaders, and politicians. These people argue that manufacturing jobs, which have been the economic foundation of America's middle class, are vanishing. They claim that factory workers are being replaced with a host of low-wage earners. It is true that manufacturing jobs have declined, with many of them going to foreign countries. It is also true that there has been

growth in some low-paying service jobs. Yet cooks and counter people still represent only 1 percent of the U. S. labor force today: Furthermore, for many years the fastest-growing occupational category has been “professional, technical, and related work.”These jobs pay well above the average, and most are in service industries.

About one-half of consumer expenditures are for the purchase of services. Projections to the year 2000 indicate that services will attract an even larger share of consumer spending. A drawback of the service economy boom is that the prices of most services have been going up at a considerably faster rate than the prices of most tangible products. You are undoubtedly aware of this if you have had your car or TV set repaired, had your shoes half-soled, or paid a medical bill in recent years.

When we say that services account for close to one-half of consumer expenditures, we still grossly understate the economic importance of services. These figures do not include the vast amounts spent for business services. By all indications, spending for business services has increased even more rapidly than spending for consumer services.

词汇：

gross national product 国民生产总值，略作GNP

drawback 缺点，不利条件;退款;退税

tangible goods 有形商品

understate 没有充分表达实情地陈述，打折扣地报道

注释：

1.The United States has moved beyond the industrial economy stage to the point where it has become the world’s first service economy. 美国已经跨越了工业经济的阶段，成为世界上第一个服务型经济的国家。

2.…service jobs typically hold up better during a recession than do jobs in industries producing tangible goods. ：……服务业的工作往往要比从事生产有形商品的工作更能经受经济萧条的打击。

3.contrary to the beliefs of many economists…：……这与许多经济学家的观点相反……

4.a host of：一大群

5.projections to the year 2000…：……到2000年的规划……

6.account for close to one-half of consumer expenditures…：……占了将近一半的消费开支……close to的意思是“接近……”。例如：We have

a parking lot close to our street.在街道附近我们有一个停车场。

7.by all indications…：根据所有的迹象来看……

练习：

1. The first paragraph intends to tell us that

A. services are more important than industries producing tangible goods.

B. services are important.

C. service jobs make more money than other jobs.

D. services are more comfortable than other jobs.

2. Between 1966 and 1986, the United States created about

A. 32.4 million service jobs.

B. 32.4 million jobs.

C. 22 million service jobs.

D. 198 million service jobs.

3. Many economists, business and labor leaders and politicians believe that

A. most of the explosive growth in service employment is not in

low-paying jobs.

B. most of the fast growth in the service sector is in low-paying jobs.

C. manufacturing jobs are disappearing because they are to longer attractive.

D. most of the fast growth in the service sector is in high-paying jobs.

4. The importance of services can be shown

A. only by consumer expenditure.

B. only by money spent on business services.

C. by money spent on business services as well as on consumer services.

D. only by money spent on food and housing.

5. What does the writer of this passage disapprove of regarding services now?

A. Their fast growth.

B. Their decline.

C. Their prices.

D. Their quality.

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答案与题解：

1.B 第一段指明了文章的大意，即标题表达的意思。因此B是明显的答案。

2.A 通过计算便知。而选项BCD均是错的。

3.B 从第三段的短语contrary to可看出B是正确的答案。

4.C 主要根据最后一段的第一句和第二句：When we say that services account for close to one-half of consumer expenditures, we still grossly understate …These figures do not include the vast amounts spent for business services.便可知道答案。

5.从倒数第二段可看出作者对价格上涨不满。作者说，A drawback of the service economy boom is that the prices of most services have been going up at a considerably faster rate than the prices of most tangible products. You are undoubtedly aware of this if you have had your car or TV set repaired, had your shoes half-soled, or paid a medical bill…因此C是正确的答案。

译文：服务业的重要性

美国已经跨越了工业经济的阶段，成为世界上第一个服务型经济的国家。几乎3/4的非农业劳动力受雇于服务业。服务业的产值在国民生产总值中所占比例已超过2/3。而且，服务业的工作往往要比从事生产有形商品的工作更能经受经济萧条的打击。

从1966年至1986年这20年间，美国新增加了大约3 600万个工作，比日本和西欧合起来还多。这些工作约有90%是服务性行业。在这同一时期，有2 200万妇女也加入到劳动大军中来，其中有97%在服务业工作。这种就业趋势可望持续到2000年。美国劳动统计局预测，在1986年至2000年期间，大约将增加2 100万个工作，其中93%在服务业。

而且，服务行业就业率的这种爆炸性增长大部分并不是低薪的工作。这与许多经济学家、商人、工会首脑和政界人士的观点相反。这些人争论说，已经是美国中产阶级经济基础的生产性工作正在消失。他们声称，产业工人正被一大群低工资的打工仔所代替。的确，生产性工作已经减少，有些生产性工作流向了茵外。也确实有一些低报酬的服务型工作巳经有所增长。然而像厨师和售货员仍然仅占美国当今劳工队伍的1%。而且多年来发展最快的职业种类一直是“职业性的、技术性的以及有关的工作”。这些工作的报酬高于平均工资，而它们大部分都在服务业。

消费开支大约有1/2是以购买服务为目的的。到2000年的规划表明，服务业将吸引一个更大的消费开支份额。服务型公司繁荣发展的一个缺点是，大部分服务的价格比大部分有形商品的价格上涨要快得多。如果近年来你的汽车或彩电修理过，你的鞋子打过后掌或者你支付过医药费，毫无疑问你会清楚这一点。

如果我们说服务几乎占了消费开支的一半时，我们仍然没能充分表明服务业的经济重要性。这些数字没有包括大量的用于商业性服务的开支。根据所有的迹象来看，商业性服务的开支比消费服务的开支增长得更快些。