1、2003年 12月笔译二级实务真题试卷及答案与解析 SECTION 1 Compulsory Translation (30 points) 1 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 didnt want to reveal his real name). Hes an Indian immigrant who, like many other
2、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-c
3、onsulting 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 regulations, Nagaraj and his colleagues have two choices. They must either
4、return to India, or find another job in a tight labor market and hope that the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) allows them to transfer their visa to the new company. And the law doesnt allow them to earn a pay-check until all the paperwork winds its way through the INS bureaucracy. “Ho
5、w 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 regions shortage of programmers and engineers. First issued by the INS in 1992, they attract skilled workers from other coun
6、tries, 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 workers held such visasbut with the dot-com crash, many have been getting laid off. Thats causing mass consternation in U.S. immigrant communities. The I
7、NS 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 years layoffs, the U.S. government has recently backpedaled, issuing a confusing series of statements that suggest workers might be able to stay if th
8、ey 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 for
9、m 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
10、 annual number of H-1B visas. Now, with technology finns 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-1
11、B workers came to the United States in Februarydown 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 spokeswo
12、man Eyleen Schmidt promises that more specific guidance will come this month. “We are aware of the cutbacks,“ she says. “Were trying to be as generous as we can be within the confines of the existing law.“ SECTION 2 Optional Translation (30 points) 2 What Is the Force of Gravity? If you throw a ball
13、 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
14、force of attraction is known as the force of gravity. The gravitational force acting on an object at the Earths 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 bo
15、dy is, the greater is its force of gravity. Thus, since the moon is a smaller body than the 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 Earths surface. In fact, the moons gravitational force is only one-sixth that of the Ear
16、th. 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 Earths gravitational force or pull keeps us and everything else on
17、 Earth from floating away to space. To get out into space and travel to the moon or other planets we have to overcome the Earths gravitational pull. Entry into Space How can we overcome the Earths gravitational pull? Scientists have been working on this for a long time. It is only recently that they
18、 have been able to build machines powerful enough to get out of the Earths gravitational pull. Such machines are called space rockets. Their great speed and power help them to escape from the Earths gravitational pull and go into space. Rockets The powerful space rocket works along the same lines as
19、 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 bum rapidly to form hot gases. At the base or foot of the rocket there is an opening or nozzle. A fuse hangs out like
20、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 bums, hot gases or exhaust gases rush out of the nozzle. The hot gases continue to rush out as long as the gunpowder bums. When these gases shoot downwards through
21、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. 3 Basketball Diplomacy CHINAS TALLEST SOLDIER never really expected to live the American Dream. But Wang Zhizhi, a 7-foot-1 basketball star
22、 from the Peoples 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, presided over “Wang Zhizhi Day“ in San Francisco and become immortalized on his very own trading cards.
23、Hes 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 playoffsand he is intent on enjoying every minute. One recent evening Wang slipped into the hot tub behind
24、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 nations other basketball pheno
25、m, 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 draw
26、s 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 shor
27、ts. The twin towers are national treasures, symbols of Chinas growing stature in the world. Theyre also emblematic of the NBAs 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 a
28、nd join the World Trade Organization, is eager to make its mark on the worldon its own terms. The two-year struggle to get these young players into the NBA has been a cultural collisionthis one far removed from U.S.-China bickering over spy planes and trade liberalization. If it works out, it could
29、bein basketball parlancethe 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 hall.“ Two years ago it looked more like a ball and chain. Wangs Army bosses were miffed when the Mavericks had the nerv
30、e to draft their star back in 1999. Nelson remembers flying to Beijing with the then owner Ross Perot Jr.son of the eccentric billionaireto 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?“
31、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 Basketb
32、all Association league. It looked as if his Shanghai teama dynamic semicapitalist club in Chinas 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 titlescoring 40 in the final game. A day la
33、ter 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
34、 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 worlds best players. SECTION 1 Compulsory Transl
35、ation (20 points) 4 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人活力，是中国人民拥有广泛自由、民主的生动写照。中的发展中大国 ，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。 SECTION 2 Optional Tra
36、nslation (20 points) 5 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 人几乎没有能力来抵御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，并且可以从患爱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。与爱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适、照料艾滋病患者或
37、触摸艾滋病患者而染上艾滋病。 6 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，我们只能通过记录时间消逝的办法才知道时间的存在。虽然我们成功地测量了时间的分分秒秒，但时间仍然是宇宙间极其神秘的现象之一。 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
38、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。 2003年 12月笔译二级实务真题试卷答案与解析 SECTION 1 Compulsory Translation (30 points) 1 【正确答案】 无家可归 这不是正常的由市场疲软 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，然后寄希望于移民归化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-IB签证
39、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 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 “没有身份了 ”，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
40、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-1B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
41、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 ?史密特表示： “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。 ” 【试题解析】 1 a bear market 市场疲软。 基本素质采分点。 a bear market“市场疲软行情下跌的市面 ”。与其相对的是 bull market“行情上涨的市面 ”，也就是我们常说的 “熊市 ”、 “牛市 ”。 2 Immigration and Naturalization Services(INS)(美国 )移民 归化局。 基本素质采分点。
42、Immigration and Naturalization Services(INS)为固定的专有名词，要用公认的名称来译。 3 wind ones way 理解结构采分点。 短语 wind ones way(蜿蜒前进 )在文中指 “很不容易做到某事 ”。 4 Until recently, H-1B visas were championed by Silicon Valley companies as the solution to the regions shortage of programmers and engineers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
43、短缺问题的香饽饽。 理解结构采分点。 此句的原文是被动结构，如果直译，则不符合汉语习惯，因此要脱离原文结构翻译。除所给参考译文外，还可译成 “硅谷公司赞同 H-1B签证，因为它可以解决公司当地程序员和工程师短缺问题 ”。 5 the dot-com crash网络经济的崩溃。 基本素质采分点。 the dot-com crash(网络经济的崩溃 )为流行词语。 6 But even those loopholes remain nebulous. The result is.即使实施了这些含糊不清的政策，其结果也是 理解结构采分点。 loophole(漏洞，空子 )，在原文中实际上指的是上一句
44、的 statements，即，政府的含糊 “政策 ”。本句可以意译并同原文的下一句合译成一句话，使句子间衔接更好： “即使实施了这些含糊不清的政策，其结果也是 ” 。 7 The crisis looks especially bad in light of all the heated visa rhetoric by Silicon Valley companies in the past few years。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。 用词选词采分点。 根据上下文， crisis(危机 )应译成 “情况 ”：词组 in light
45、of(根据 )可以省略不译出；all the heated visa rhetoric(热烈的有关签证的煽动性语言 )应译成 “对这种 H-1B的作用大肆吹捧 ”，其中， visa指的是前面提到的 H-1B。因为所述原文是段落的首句，翻译时，应该用 H-1B一 词代替 visa(签证 )，以避免读者不知作者所云，产生歧义。 8 Intel, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard英特尔、思科和惠普。 基本素质采分点。 专有名词要用公认的名称，不可以随便音译。 9 scope 严重性。 用词选词采分点。 scope在此不宜译成 “幅度 ”。原文的上一段讲述了有关签证的糟糕局面， sc
46、ope后面跟了 problem一词，由此可以推断 scope应译成 “严重性 ”。 10 guidance 导向性政策。 基本素质采分点。 guidance(导向性政策 )为常用时事词汇。 SECTION 2 Optional Translation (30 points) 2 【正确答案】 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
47、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飘浮到空间去。要飞向空间并到月球或其他行星去旅行，就必须克服地球的引力。 进入空间 怎样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
48、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，即燃气从喷门急速排出。 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。 【试题解析】 1 Objec
49、ts that are nearer to the Earth are attracted to it with a greater force than those that are further away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。 理解结构采分点。 that are nearer to the Earth和 that are further away是两个限制性定语从句，把它们译为带 “的 ”的定语短语，放在被修饰词之前。比较状语从句则按照正常顺序加 “比 ”字即可。 2 heavenly bodies天体。 基本素质采分点。 heavenly不是一个副词而是一个形容词，意为 “天上的 ”； body指 “物体 ”。 3 Thus, since the moon is a smaller body than the Earth, the force it exerts on an object at its surface is l
