09级 英汉基础翻译练习.doc

09级 英汉基础翻译练习 Passage 1 San FranciscoSan Francisco, open your Golden Gate, sang the girl in the theatre. She never finished her song. That date was 18th April, 1906. The earth shook and the roof suddenly divided, buildings crashed to the ground and people rushed out into the streets. The dreadful earthquake destroyed the city that had grown up when men discovered gold in the deserts of California. But today the streets of San Francisco stretch over more than forty steep hills, rising like huge cliffs above the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.The best way to see this splendid city, where Spanish people were the first to make their homes, is to take one of the old cable cars which run along the nine main avenues. Fares are cheap; they have not risen, Im told, for almost a hundred years.You leave the palm trees in Union Square - the heart of San Francisco - and from the shop signs and the faces around you, you will notice that in the city live people from many nations - Austrians, Italians, Chinese and others - giving each part a special character. More Chinese live in China Town than in any other part of the world outside China. Here, with Chinese restaurants, Chinese post-boxes, and even odd telephone-boxes that look like pagodas, it is easy to feel you are in China itself.Fishermans Wharf, a place all foreigners want to see, is at the end of the ride. You get out, pause perhaps to help the other travelers to swing the cable car on its turntable (a city custom), and then set out to find a table in one of the gay little restaurants beside the harbor. As you enjoy the fresh Pacific seafood you can admire the bright red paint of the Golden Gate Bridge in the harbor and watch the traffic crossing beneath the tall towers on its way to the pretty village of Tiberon.Passage 2 NY City Seeks to Expand Lower-Cost UnitsThe City Council yesterday approved the first major overhaul of the most popular tax break for apartment building developers, adopting a plan intended to induce them to build tens of thousands of apartments for people other than the wealthy.The changes, which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg supported and which would go into effect4 in 2008, significantly increase the areas of the city in which developers who want the tax break must make one out of every five apartments they build affordable to lower-income people. The boundaries of those areas would be reconsidered every two years in light of trends in the housing market. In addition, and for the first time in the 35-year history of the program, those lower-priced apartments would have to be included in each building and could not be built elsewhere in the city. There would be a cap on the size of the tax break given for market-rate apartments, to limit the degree to which the program might be said to subsidize gentrification. The revised program would also include a $400 million trust fund for developing low and moderately priced housing, especially in the citys 15 poorest neighborhoods in the city. Housing officials estimate that the program, which is said to have fueled the construction of 110,000 units since 1971, will generate 20,000 new units of lower-priced housing over the first 10 years. The apartments, for rent or sale, will be set aside for low-income New Yorkers. Passage 3 A New NationAt the beginning of the 20th century, Australia was an open and democratic “new world” society. In the absence of a strongly defined aristocracy or ruling class, there was a sense that one person was as good as another. It was commonly held that people made what they could of themselves, given their abilities. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 through the proclamation of the Constitution for the Federation of six states. The founders of Federation believed that they were creating something new and were concerned to avoid the pitfalls of the old world. They wanted Australia to be harmonious, united and egalitarian. They had progressive ideas about human rights, observance of democratic procedures and the value of a secret ballot. They drew the line on matters of race, however; one of the first acts of the new Commonwealth Parliament was to pass the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, which ensured that immigrants would be of primarily European origin. (The White Australia policy was gradually dismantled after World War II until by the mid-1970s it was totally abolished. Australia now has a non-discriminatory migration policy.) Numerous diverse links with Britain existed, which many people continued to regard as “the mother country”. Australias constitutional links with Britain have been progressively loosened since that time.The great champion of Federation was Sir Henry Parkes, who believed that Australia was ready for unity because of “the vigor, the industry, the enterprise, the foresight, and the creative skill of its people” . Passage 4 Americans with Bad Habits Claim “Excellent” HealthNearly one in five U.S. workers claims to be in excellent health despite being overweight, smoking, drinking excessively or seldom exercising, according to a newly published survey. In the nationwide study of 1,450 employed adults released by Oxford Health Plans Inc., 17 percent described their health as excellent but displayed not-so-excellent habits. Of those people, 55 percent claimed they were at least 25 pounds (11 kg) overweight, 31 percent smoked, 21 percent drank at least three glasses of alcohol a day, 29 percent drank at least four cups of coffee or tea, and 36 percent never exercised, it said. In addition, a quarter of them said they were likely to eat fried foods and salty or sugary snacks. “Denial is dangerous when it comes to your health. It exacts a heavy toll down the road,” Alan Muney, executive vice-president of Oxford, said in a statement. The study also showed people with healthier habits such as frequent exercise and good diet are most motivated at work, ranking 8.9 on a 10-point scale, and most useful on the job, scoring 9 on a 10-point scale. Those with the healthiest habits were the least likely to lose sleep over their jobs and least likely to miss personal or family activities due to work. Of those workers with the most detrimental habits, 37 percent said they sat at their desks all day, 41 percent took no breaks at work and 18 percent were most likely to lose sleep over work. Passage 5Classes at American CollegeThe year at an American college is divided into 2 semesters or 3 quarters. Semesters are l5 weeks; quarters are 10 weeks. American college students usually attend school from September to May. Occasionally their academic pursuits extend into the summer.Students choose their classes a few weeks prior to the start of each term. Universities offer a great many classes in the students main area of study and in other areas as well. Students must take both. These include science, mathematics, computer, history and English. Other classes may be just for fun, like dance, theater or sports. Tests usually are given in the middle of the term and at the end. The final examinations are extremely important. In some classes, the professor asks the students to write a research paper or complete a certain task instead of taking a test.Classes usually are organized through lectures. For example, a student may attend 2 or 3 lectures a week by the professor. As many as several hundred students sit at each lecture. Sometimes they also attend a smaller class to ask questions and discuss what the professor says. These small classes are taught by professors assistants. In science classes, students also have a long laboratory class each week.What do American students study at college? The US Department of Education says the most popular area of study is sciences and management. Next is social science, which encompasses history, sociology, literature, public relations and political science. English is another popular field of study. Then comes computer science and health and life sciences like biology, chemistry and physics. Education is popular, too. Foreign languages are not popular as a main area of study among American college students. However, students at many colleges must study a language other than English before they can graduate. The most popular foreign language is Spanish, followed by French and German. Passage 6 Do as the Romans DoHere I must put in a few words about my experience here in China. If I have dinner with a Chinese host, he always presses more food onto my plate as soon as I have emptied it of the previous helping. That often makes me feel very awkward. I have to eat the food even if I dont like it, because it is considered bad manners in the West to leave ones food on the plate. I have also noticed that when a Chinese sits at, say, an Americans dinner party, he very often refuses the offer of food or drink though he is in fact still hungry or thirsty. This might be good manners in China, but it is definitely not in the West. In the United States, it is impolite to keep asking someone again and again or press something on him. Americans are very direct. If they want something, they will ask for it. If not, they will say, No, thanks.” Heres an example: When an American is offered beer by the host, and he doesnt like beer, he will probably say, “No, thanks. I just dont feel like it. Ill take some diet Pepsi-Cola if you have it.” That is what an American will do. Americans consider it confusing to avoid telling the true facts, even if avoiding the truth is done only to be polite. Americans are taught that “Honesty is the best policy”. But in some countries, courtesy might be more important than honesty. That is where misunderstanding occurs, when people from two different countries meet. So when I am here in China, I have to observe the customs here. But when you go to the United States, you had better “do as the Romans do.”Passage 7RobotEven before the first robot was built, the subject of robotics was controversial. The word “robot” was coined in 1921 by a Czech playwright who wrote about a colony of machines endowed with artificial intelligence that eventually turned against their human creators. Although that account was fictional, the first industrial robots were in use by the early 1960s. Today, we continue to be intrigued by robots and their potential for both good and evil.Basically, a robot is any machine that performs work or other actions normally done by humans. Most robots are used in factories to make products such as cars and electronics. Others are used to explore underwater, in volcanoes and even on other planets.Robots consist of three main components: a brain, which is usually a computer; actuators and mechanical parts such as motors, wheels and gears; and sensors for detecting images, sound, temperature, motion and light. With these basic components, robots can interact with their environment and perform the tasks they are designed to carry out.The advantages are obvious robots can do things humans just dont want to do, and they are usually more cost effective. Robots can also do things more precisely than humans and allow progress in medical science and other useful advances.But, as with any machine, a robot can break down and even cause disaster. Theres also the possibility that wicked people will use robots for evil purposes. Yet this is also true with other forms of technology such as weapons and biological material.Robots will probably be used even more in the future. They will continue to do tasks where danger, repetition, cost or the need for precision prevents humans from performing. As to whether they will be used for good or evil, that depends on the nature of the humans who create them. Passage 8 The First SnowThe first snow came.How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs of the living, on the graves of the dead!All white save the river, that marked its course by a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless trees, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches.What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical.No more tramping hoofs, no more rattling wheels!Only the chiming of sleigh-bells was beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children.Passage 9Spare That SpiderWhy, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human raceInsects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animalsWe owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spidersMoreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings.Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to themOne can tell the difference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in a grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitchSpiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insectsIt is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many th