英语翻译练习册:

翻译练习册

英译汉练习

I． Sentences for Translation

Diction

1. Needing some light to see by, the burglar crossed the room with a light step to light the light with the light green shade.

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3. Accession shall be subject to approval of two-third vote of the Directors of the Governing Body.

4. Subject to the fulfillment of other formalities, they shall be granted all necessary permits.

5. Payments are subject to change in keeping with inflation.

6. Before it begins to work, the yeast is subject to disruption caused by 1

fluctuations in temperature.

7. Perhaps this is the very mechanism of the creators of our nation who hold these truths to be self-evident.

8. And, again as a result of the development of modern technology, mechanism in philosophy became an upstart.

9. Under capitalism drug and alcohol are used by some as an escape mechanism.

10. The two model variants of the socialist economic mechanism are to be distinguished from the point of view of market function.

11. But people are apt to marvel at an ingenious mechanism and obliterate the man who makes it.

12. The mechanism of the process, slow and delicate , often escapes our attention.

Conversion

1. Such news was no joke.

2. Her sighs made it clear she was unhappy.

3. Every man is a fool sometimes, and none at all times.

4. Trust not a new friend nor an old enemy.

5. He stood watching her go down the street with a slow, self-satisfied sway of her body.

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6. There is a limit to one’s youth, but no limit to his wisdom. Draw on the limitless wisdom during the short span of youth.

7. In the British system, a parliamentary election also determines who shall be Prime Minister, but the American Constitution provides for separate election of President and Congress.

8. She cast impatient glances at the footpath.

9. We have decided to place a trial order for the following on the terms stated in your letter.

10. Lower temperatures are associated with lower growth rate.

11. Please let us know if our terms are acceptable.

12. Kindly give our claims your prompt attention and let us have your remittance in due course.

13. The new contract would be good for 5 years.

14. There are many wonderful stories to tell about the places I visited and the people I met.

15. Today has seen the practical fulfillment of the historic decision taken on 25 October 1971, when the General Assembly voted to restore to the People’s Republic of China its lawful rights in this organization.

Passive Construction

1. Illnesses must be correctly diagnosed before they can be treated with medicine.

2. Principles mean very little unless they are acted up.

3. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

4. Their friendship was turned to enmity through idle gossips.

5. We were informed that the damage had been caused by rough 3

handling when the goods were being loaded on board the ship at the dock.

6. Buyer’s request for insurance to be covered up to the inland city can be accepted on condition that such extra premium is for buyer’s account.

7. Chinese, overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao, and foreign personnel of the company are requested to pay individual income tax in accordance with Chinese tax laws and regulations.

Addition and Omission

1. He made sincere apologies to each of the teacher.

2. “Impossible” is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

3. We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.

4. Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

5. Later, Churchill told me that such hesitations were really rare.

6. Then I thanked my host and walked down the poad lawn, back to the meadow and the sparkling pook, where I lay on the grass and fell into a sweet sleep.

7. Lenin stressed that it is precisely the people who create history.

8. It was for your benefit that we decided to return.

9. She was sweet and amiable and kindly again.

Division and Combination

1. I am going to see my grandmother, who was ill in bed, to take her some butter and eggs and a fresh baked cake that my mother has 4

made for her.

2. The cook turned pale, and asked the housemaid to shut the door, who asked Brittle, who asked the tinker, who pretended not to hear.

3. But as the song surged up in increasing loudness, even the most timid lost their fear and joined in, and all the things that King had said at the meeting in the ballroom, things that they hadn’t believed or had only half believed, became suddenly and powerfully true.

4. The Civil War, lasting four years and costing at least a million lives, civilian and military, was the most extensive war ever fought on the soil of the New World, a war that proved to the planters in a revolutionary way that human beings in America could no longer be bought or sold, worked and killed at will to serve the profit of parasitic landowners.

Negation

1. She earns a good salary, so she shouldn’t be badly off.

2. Unless it goes hand in hand with science, democracy will have no future.

3. To be poor and independent is very nearly an impossibility.

4. Let bygones be bygones.

5. First catch your hare and then cook it.

6. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

7. This problem can never be taken too seriously.

8. Don’t be afraid of calling a spade a spade even when it comes to your boss.

9. In the absence of a settlement through negotiation, the case under dispute can be submitted to arbitration.

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10. As soon as you get the license, please don’t fail to cable us.

11. We regret our inability to accept your claim because the cases, when being loaded, left nothing to be desired.

12. Some of our export commodities are still awash with problems: low technical nature, lower quality and grade.

II. Texts for Translation

1. British newspapers—all of them some of the time, and some of them almost all the time—behave badly in two ways. They intrude unnecessarily and often hurtfully into people’s privacy; and they publish inaccurate, sometimes made—up stories. The victims have little redress. If they are rich and the article is defamatory, they can sue for libel. Most cannot afford to do so, and even the rich cannot prevent an invasion of their privacy. Fierce competition, particularly between tabloid newspapers, leads to more feet in more doors.

2. A new era is upon us. Call it what you will: the service economy, the information age, and the knowledge society. It all translates to a fundamental change in the way we work. Already we’re partly there. The percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen dramatically in the “industrialized world”. Today the majority of jobs in the United States, Europe and Japan (two thirds or more in many of these countries) are in the service sector, and the number is on the rise. More women are in the workforce than ever before. There are more part—time jobs. More people are self—employed. But the peadth of the economic transformation can’t be gauged by numbers alone, because it also is giving rise to a radical new way of thinking about the nature of 6

work itself. Long—held assumptions about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relationship between individuals and employers—all these are being challenged.

We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead. No one looking ahead 20 years ago possibly could have foreseen the ways in which a single invention, the microchip, would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots. Tomorrow’s peak through in biotechnology, artificial intelligence or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of innovations. But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more vital, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth. Computer literacy will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write. The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of pursuing rote task will be valued above all else.

3. We all want every human being to be able to enjoy a reasonable standard of living, but conventional belief is that this can be achieved by economic development. The snag is that you cannot have economic growth without further increasing the exploitation of natural resources. The world’s ecology is finite. It is an inescapable fact that long—term survival depends on keeping a balance between economic growth and the sustainable exploitation of the world’s dwindling natural resources. This is going to be difficult enough to achieve, but it will be quite impossible if the national and international aid agencies only invest in economic development, and leave the conservation of natural resources 7

and help for population control to voluntary agencies.

4. There will be a change to cooler weather. Monday will be cloudy with some rain in the North and the West but sunshine and showers elsewhere. As a deep depression moves into northern Scotland on Tuesday rain will spread across all areas with strengthening winds. During Wednesday and Thursday it will be pighter with blustery showers, which could give some snow over Scottish mountains. By then it will be noticeably cooler and fresher in all parts of the country. Further rain and strong winds will continue into the weekend.

5. Washington, December 2 (Xinhua)—President George Bush"s approval rating with Americans has fallen below 50 per cent for the first time since he took office, according to a poll released on Saturday by Time magazine. The poll of 500 Americans conducted on November 26 found Bush’s popularity at 46 per cent. Bush’s rating was as high as 91 per cent in some polls during the January—Fepuary Gulf War but has steadily declined because of the country’s economic recession.

6. Ada is a new computer language that is still being designed. It is sponsored by the US Department of Defense (DOD). Ada is called after a “friend” of Charles Babage, who pioneered computers. It will probably become the DOD’s standard for programming the computers built into its weapon system. Some people believe that Ada could also replace every other computer language but one (Cobol) in civilian use. When all the US’s military computer “speak” Ada, other NATO countries will have to follow suit. But the language will be just as 8

suitable for controlling all sorts of equipment——from production Lines and robots to communication networks.

Ada’s strong point is that it takes in many of the techniques of designing computer language that engineers have perfected over the last ten years. In particular, Ada programs will be “portable” from one computer to another, and engineers will be able to combine them as easily as bolting Meccano together.

Programs on general-Purpose computers have to be run with “job control” commands that perform housekeeping duties like making sure that the correct files of data are available. The commands usually amount to a language in their own right and differ from computer to computer. Scientists will be investigating whether Ada can be used as a job control, as well as a programming language.

7. A father is busy putting decorations on the Christmas tree but as quickly as he puts them on his two-year-old son pulls them off. He is about to put the child in a playpen when his wife suggests that it might make more sense to put the tree in the play-pen and leave the child outside. Instead of keeping the child away from the tree one can keep the tree away from the child. Lateral thinking involves moving sideways to look at things in a different way. Instead of fixing on one particular approach and then working forward from that the lateral thinker tries to find other approaches.

You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper. A committee that is convinced that parking meters are the only way to control city parking will spend its time deciding what meters to use, where to put them and how to patrol them. A lateral thinker would 9

look at other approaches: letting people park anywhere they liked so long as they left their headlights on; giving people licenses which would allow them to park free in town on only one day a week and so encouraging car sharing; visible licenses that the motorist would pay for if he wanted to park anywhere in town.

Our thinking traditions are very firmly based on logical thinking in which we start off with a certain way of looking at things and then see what we can deduce from that. This can be called vertical thinking since it involves building on what is accepted as traditional. Vertical thinking is for using ideas and lateral thinking is for changing them.

Most of our thinking does not take place at the logical stage but at the perceptual stage which precedes this. Lateral thinking is to do with changing perceptions and finding new ways of looking at things. Lateral thinking is the practical process of creativity. There are various deliberate techniques such as the use of stepping stones (produced, for instance, by reversing the usual situation). Lateral thinking turns creativity into a tool. In a patterning system such as the mind provocation is as important as analysis－and more important for changing ideas.

8. London--Unemployment in the United Kingdom topped 10％of the workforce in April，producing anguished new complaints from British labor and industry.

The April figures showed an increase in registered joblessness to a seasonally adjusted 2,466,000 persons from 2,380,800 the previous month and 1,456,200 the year earlier. The unemployment rate rose to l0.1 from 9.9％in March and 6％ a year ago，the Department of 10

Employment said.

Len Murray，General Secretary of Trades Union Congress，the British labor confederation，said the“figures set another dismay and depressing post-World War II record．”

The Confederation of British Industry，a major employer group, described the jobless rise as a“matter of both regret and concern.”The CBI said it already has predicted that the number of unemployed will rise to three million by the end of the year.

9. CARACAS，May l8（Reuter via Xinhua）--Foreign ministers and top representatives from l22 developing nations meet today to define their relations with industrialized countries and outline formulas for international co-operation.

Thirty-five foreign ministers from the“group of 77”developing nations will be present and other member-countries are expected to be represented by high-level non-ministerial delegations at the two-day meeting.

Over the past week，working commissions of the group have analyzed common objectives on raw materials，energy ，trade，development，finance，exchange of technology，and industrialization. The Group of 77 was set up as an informal grouping within the United nations in 1964．It works closely with the UN Conference on Trade and Development（UNCTAD）to promote trade. The number of member-countries has since grown.

The commissions，whose members include countries in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries（OPEC），agreed on a meeting of state-owned energy companies in Vienna next year. 11

The group of 77 favors setting up its own multinational energy companies.

The two-day meeting in Caraballeda，near Caracas，will be opened by Venezuelan President Luis Herrera Campins.

汉译英练习

1.人际关系

有时候，在工作中重要的倒是能否处理好人际关系而不是有多大的才能。人际关系就是一种善于听取别人意见，体察别人的需要，虚心接受批评的能力。善于处理人际关系的人敢于承认错误，敢于承担自己的责任，这是对待错误的一种成熟和负责任的态度。这就是为什么许多平平庸庸的公司雇员在大调整中保住了位置，而有才能的人反而下岗。因为他们很注意处理各方面的关系，所以八面玲珑，到处有缘。而人际关系差的人往往不能处理好批评。碰到错误，他们首先想到自己，拒不承认自己有错，或情绪低落或大发雷霆，成为有剌的人，难以相处。

2.诚实的回报

最近，美国报刊报道了一则感人的消息：一对穷困的美国夫妇， 12

两人都失业了，由于付不起房租，不得不搬出了久居的家，带着独生子在汽车里住了几个星期。

一天，他们在路上发现一个钱包，里面有2500美元，这对于贫困中的他们是多么急需呀！丈夫认为应交给警察局，妻子闪了一念“留下”之后，也觉得应该交还失主。很快，失主就来认领了，按照美国的惯例，失主应付给捡拾者20%左右的酬金。然而，他却分文未给就走了，对此，警察感到非常失望和遗憾，便将此事告知了新闻界，于是，报纸、电视都报道了这件事。

一时间，警察局收到全国成百上千的来信，信中赞扬这对夫妇的诚实，有的信中还夹着100美元或200美元。一位先生问清了钱包里的钱数，如数寄来了2500美元，这对夫妇前后收到总钱数达6000美元，还有一位愿免费向这对夫妇提供住房，直到他们的经济状况转好为止，有200家公司向这对夫妇提供就业机会。当记者采访这对夫妇时，妻子哭了。在美国有一名谚语：诚实是最好的对策。这对夫妇的经历又一次证实了它。

3.我的最大爱好是沉思默想。我可以一个人长时间地独处而感到愉快。独享欢乐是一种愉快，独自忧伤也是一种愉快。孤独的时候，精神不会是一片纯粹的空白，它仍然是一个丰富多彩的世界。情绪 13

上的大欢乐和大悲痛往往都在孤独中产生。孤独中，思维可以不依照逻辑进行。孤独更多地产生人生的诗情——激昂的和伤感的。孤独可以使人的思想向更遥远更深邃的地方伸展，也能使你对自己或环境作更透彻的认识和检讨。

4.金融危机

现在的国际金融是没有国界的。当东京的股市大跌时，受影响的不只是日本，而是全世界。因此要保持我们中国的经济稳定发展，就要帮助恢复亚太地区的稳定和发展。我们中国在这次亚洲金融危机中勇敢地承担了自己的责任。

5 经济发展的代价

今天的发展不能以牺牲将来为代价。应当看到中国过去二十年的经济迅速发展带来很大的代价。我们喝的水被污染了，我们呼吸的空气被污染了。森林越来越少了。这个代价还不只是环境上的。代价还有社会风气的变坏。

6 经济改革

目前在中国正进行着一场意义深远的社会和经济改革。这个伟大的 14

改革使封闭的计划经济变成了以市场为基础的开放经济。千百万人为此脱了贫，经济得到史无前例的发展。人均收入翻了倍，大多数人过着二十年前不可想象的生活。

7.科学家们相继发现，大量减少食量的动物寿命长的多。限食试验以老鼠为观察对象。在专门配制的饲料中，卡路里含量占通常供应的65%左右。供试验用的老鼠如不限食在36个月之后很少仍能存活。但采用低热量饮食即可活55个月。同时以低热量饮食饲养的鼠群几乎不患肾脏或心脏疾病，且能较持久地保持其智能与活力。

8.电信市场

该公司在北京召开亚太客户会议。这是该公司80年历史上首次在中国举行这样的会议。公司总裁解释原因时说：一是为了答谢中国政府对公司在中国的发展提供的帮助；二是借此机会听取用户意见拓展市场。但此间经济界人士认为这说明中国正成为亚太地区增长最快的电信市场。

9.电脑技术

有些人担心电脑技术的广泛使用会进一步恶化就业形势。但另一 15

种观点认为尽管这对个人来说会丢掉饭碗，对整个社会来说由于提高了生产率，因而有利于经济的发展。不管对社会影响如何，有一点是肯定的：有技术的人变得越来越吃香，没技术的人工作越来越难找。

10.中国饮茶的风尚，到了第七世纪的唐代，已经相当盛行了。那时日本派有大批的留学生，到中国来学习中国文化，自然也学会了中国的饮茶。日本现在的所谓茶道，向西方人士夸说是日本独特的艺术，其实完全是中国的古风，明代以前的烹茶办法。除了日本以外，最讲究喝茶的外国人，应该是英国人了，而英国人懂得喝茶，至今还不过两三百年的历史。

11．际互联网最初是为美国国防部建立的一个试验性网络，现在涵盖了世界范围内的2000多万台计算机，估计每年还要增加50万台。它提供电子邮件、数以千计的简报式新闻以及各种数据库服务。你可以用电子邮件把问候语与电视图像、声音、数据等压缩在一起。更重要的是，它通过大信息量的数据交换促进人们之间的合作。人们已经进行了在互联网现场传输声音和图像的实验。互联网的庞大规模使它有望成为信息高速公路的主干线。但为了支持越来越多的用户和多媒体应用，必须增加频带宽度，这是信息高速公路的核心技术问题。

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12．学问是自己的事，不能依靠别人的。环境好，图书设备充足，有良师益友指导启发，当然有很大的帮助，但是这些条件具备，也不一定能保证一个人在学问上就有成就。世间也有不少在学问上有成就的人，并不具备这些条件。最重要的因素，还是个人自己的努力。求学是一件艰苦的事，许多人不能忍受那必经的艰苦，所以不能得到成功。

13. 价值观是社会赖以生存的一些原则，社会将这些价值观转换为称为规范的行为准则。这些规范告诫人们他们应该如何行事， 也使人们清楚他们能预计到别人会如何行事。能遵循这些规范的人被视为“正常人”而为社会所接纳。那些不遵循社会规范的人人们则避之不及。有些规范表明在处理社会关系中能够做什么，不能够做什么，另一些规范则有更大的社会力量来强化它们。

14. 无视法律的行为带来的危害是多种多样的。在人行道上随地吐痰当然是令人讨厌的，但比起那些大工厂在违规的地方埋置危险化学废料的违法行为，则对人的危害小得多。乘地铁逃票当然没有像房东无视防火安全规定那样会危及人的生命安全。然而正是那些极常见的玩忽法律（scofflawry）的行为造成的危害最直接、最严重了。 17

而且一旦形成习惯，成为普遍经常性的东西，就可能破坏社会结构。

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