4篇翻译练习

No. 1Excerpts from KissingerThat afternoon, the greatest disappearing act in modern diplomatic history was to unfold. It had all been worked out meticulously in advance between the White House and Pakistan's President Yahya Khan.The plan worked smoothly. First, Kissinger paid a ninety-minute courtesy call on the President. Next, the word went out, as previously arranged, that the visiting American, exhausted by the long journey, would have to cancel a formal dinner in his honor and would be driven to the eighty-five-hundred-foot-high hill station of Nathia Gali for a brief rest. The next day, July 9, the Pakistan government announced that Kissinger would be forced to extend his stay in Nathia Gali because of "a slight indisposition" --- "Delhi belly", some reporters called it, a common enough problem for fast-moving travelers.As part of the cover, the trip to Nathia Gali was to be as conspicuous as possible. So a decoy caravan of limousines, flying the flags of the United States and Pakistan and accompanied by a motorcycle escort, rolled through the streets of Islamabad and up into the mountains.To preserve the fiction, the government kept a steady stream of visitors driving from Islamabad to Nathia Gali to pay their respects to the indisposed traveler. The Chief of Staff of the Pakistan army, the Minister of Defense, and a score of other officials dropped in to inquire about Kissinger's health. All were intercepted by Khan. He'd serve them a cup of coffee and tell them that Kissinger was resting and could not be disturbed.Actually, Kissinger had never gone to Nathia Gali.No. 2Excerpts from Wilde's The Happy PrinceHigh above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.He was very much admired, indeed. "He is as beautiful as a weathercock," remarked one of the Town Councilors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; "only not quite so useful, " he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not."Why can't you be like the Happy Prince?" asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. "The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.""I am glad there is someone in the world who is quite happy," muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue."He looks just like an angel," said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks, and their clean white pinafores."How do you know?" said the Mathematical Master, " you have never seen one.""Ah! But we have, in our dreams, " answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her."Shall I love you?" said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, andthe Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer."It is a ridiculous attachment," twittered the other Swallows, "she has no money, and far too many relations; " and, indeed, the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came, they all flew away.After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love. "She has no conversation," he said, " and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind. " And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtsies. "I admit that she is domestic," he continued, "but I love traveling, and my wife, consequently, should love traveling also."No. 3Domestic Problems in the U.S.The willingness of the United States general public and its government to bear other burdens for global economic development, for the alleviation of poverty, for resolution of regional issues has seriously eroded since the end of the Cold War.In part the decline in this willingness has an economic base. With the loss of manufacturing jobs to developing countries, there has been a decline in middle-income opportunities within the United States, increasing the polarization of society into those who earn very high and very low incomes. The decision of American firms to adapt quickly to changing economic circumstances helps keep the firms very vital, but many people are displaced from their jobs.The displacement of workers as individual firms discard them causes social hardships. This reduces US public support for helping developing countries and increases public demand for aggressive trade policy, especially toward countries that appear to make it difficult for the US to export products and yet enjoy a substantial trade surplus with the United States. In addition, budget pressures in the United States, as in other countries, are weakening the public's willingness to undertake many kinds of financial burdens, both within the United States and abroad.The political turnovers in the US government and changing political moods make it difficult to sustain continuous long-term relationships between the US government and foreign countries. The lack of clear overall foreign policy goals after the end of the Cold War leaves the US government with no strong determination to counter political pressure groups. In recent decades there has been a growth of single issue pressure groups, often with a modest-sized membership base, that have learned how to develop the relationships with political leaders to become effective in Washington politics because there are few voices enunciating overall interests to counter their influence.美国普通公众和政府愿意承担其他负担对全球经济的发展，对贫困，对区域问题的解决缓解，因为冷战的结束已经严重侵蚀。