2003 年 12 月翻译资格考试二级英语笔译实务真题及答案
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。中国共产党领导人民进行革命、建设和改革,就是要
实现全中国人民广泛的自由、民主和人权。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政府所要解决的首要人权问题。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,这是对世界人权进步事业的重大
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。
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。根据联邦政府的规定,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,美国政府近来有所让步,
宣布了一系列模糊不清的政策,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。这一政策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政策出台。我们将在现有法律允许的范围里采取更宽容的政策。”
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,王所在部队的
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,同面孔古板的人民解放军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,人民解放军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官员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)