翻译理论与实践1(英译汉)实战练习 15篇1

翻译理论与实践1（英译汉）实战练习15篇1．The Policy of Mass Media1) Life is indeed full of problems on which we have to make decisions as citizens or as private individual.2) But neither the real difficulty of these decisions nor their true and disturbing challenge to each individual can often be communicated through the mass media.3) The disinclination to suggest real choice which is to be found in the mass media is not simply the product of a commercial desire to keep the customers happy.4) The organs of the Establishment however well—intentioned they may be have a vested interest in ensuring that the public boat is not violently rocked and will so affect those who work within the mass media that they will be led insensibly towards forms of production which though they go through the motions of dispute and inquiry do not break through the skin to where such inquires might really hurt.5) They will tend to move when exposing problems well within the accepted cliché—assumptions of democratic society and will tend neither radically to question these clichés nor to make a disturbing application of them to features of contemporary life2. The American and the English1) Of the intrinsic differences that separate American from English the chief have their roots inthe obvious disparity between the environment and traditions of the American people since the seventeenth century and those of the English.2) The latter have lived under a relatively stable social order and it has impressed upon their souls their characteristic respect for what is customary and of good report.3) Until the World War brought chaos to most of their institutions their whole lives were regulated perhaps more than those of any other people save the Spaniards by a regard for precedent.4) The Americans though partly of the same blood have felt no such restrain and acquired no such habit of conformity.5) On the contrary they have plunged to the other extreme for the conditions of life in their country have put a high value upon the precisely opposite qualities of curiosity and daring and so they acquired that character of restlessness that impatience of forms that disdain of the dead hand which now broadly marks them.3. The Education of Humanists1)The education of humanists cannot be regarded as complete or even adequate without exposure in some depth to where things stand in the various branches of science particularly in the areas of our ignorance.2)Physics professors most of them look with revulsion on assignments to teach their subjects to poets.3) The liberal arts faculties for their parts will continue to view the scientists with suspicion and apprehension. 4) But maybe a new set of courses dealing systematically with ignorance in science will take hold.5) The scientists might discover in it a new and subversive technique for catching the attention of students driven by curiosity delighted and surprised to learn that science is exactly as some scientists described it: an “endless frontier.”6) The humanists for their part might take considerable satisfaction in watching their scientific colleagues confess openly to not knowing everything about everyone.7) And the poets on whose shoulders the future rests might late nights thinking things over begin to see some meanings that elude the rest of us.4. . American Study1) The scientific interest of American history centered in national character and in the workings of a society destined to become bast in which individuals were imp0rtant chiefly as types.2) Although this kind of interest was different from that of European history it was at least as important to the world.3) Should history ever become a true science it must expect to establish its laws not from the complicated story of rival European nationalities but from the economical evolution of a great democracy.4) North America was the most favorable field on the globe for the spread of a society so large uniform and isolated as to answer the purposes of science.5) There a single homogeneous society could easily attain proportions of three or four hundred million persons under conditions of undisturbed growth.6) In Europe or Asia undisturbed social evolution had been unknown.7) Without disturbance evolution seemed to cease.8) Wherever disturbance occurred permanence was impossible.9) Every people in turn adapted itself to the law of necessity.5. Jack London1) Life itself led London to reject this approach in his writing.2) He knew what it meant to be one of the disinheritedto be chained to the deadening routine of the machine and to soul-destroying labor for an insufficient reward.3) Consequently he swept aside not only the literature that pretended that ours is a society of sweetness and light but also that which contended that the inculcation of the spirit of Christian fellowship would put an end to class controversy.4) He did not oppose labor organization nor balk at the strike as a weapon of labor; rather he took his heroes and heroines from the labor movement and wove his plots within their struggles.5) He poured into his writings all the pain of his life the fierce hatred of the bourgeoisie that it had produced in him and the conviction it had brought to him that world could be made a better place to live in if the exploited would rise up and take the management of society out of the hands of the exploiters.6. President Carter1) President Carter has been calling his closest advisers together for what is called as a hard reappraisal of his administration’s troubles but who will tell him the truth? 2) You can almost put it down as a general rule in this town that presidents often invite “honest criticism” from their aides but seldom get it and usually don’t follow it when they do.3) The reasons for this are not obscure.4) The Oval Office is the most frightening room inAmerica.5) It imposes a kind of respect on most visitors and even those legislative lions who roar against the president on Capital Hill tend to usually lower their voices and follow their prepared speeches when they walk through the White House door.6) Few While House aides dare to say anything against the president without betraying their fears.7) Even Henry Kissinger who is not an excessively modest or silent man hesitated to face President Nixon with the disaster he knew lay ahead.7.On “Mein Kampf”1) Mein Kampf’s the me song recurring again and again is race race purity race supremacy though nowhere did Hitler attempt to define race.2) It was never intended by Nature Hitler claims that all races should be equal any more than individuals are equal.3) Some are created superior to others.4) The Germans as the world’s strongest race should rule over the inferior through having the habitat of the highest race extended and scattered Germanic peoples united under one rule.6) The vast expansion visualized by Hitler would take place principally at the expense of other races.7) To attain the objectives set by his soaring ambition Hitler proposes three methods: propaganda diplomacy and force. 8) Nowhere in Mein Kampf is the author more revealing of himself and his tactics than in his discussionof propaganda techniques—correctly believed by him to be one of the Nazis’ most effective and formidable weapons.8. How to Write Clearly1) I have never had much patience with the writers who claim from the reader an effort to understand their meaning.2) You have only to go to great philosophers to see that it is possible to express with lucidity the most subtle reflections.3) One cause of obscurity is that many writers think not before but as they write.4) The pen originates the thought.5) The disadvantages of this and indeed it is a danger against which the author must be always on his guard is that there is a sort of magic in the written word.6) The idea acquires substance by taking on a visible nature and then stands in the way of its own clarification.7) But this sort of obscurity merges very easily into the willful.8) Some writers who do not think clearly are inclined to suppose that their thoughts have a significance greater than at first sight appears.9) It is flattering to believe that they are too profound to be expressed so clearly that all who run may read and very naturally it does not occur to such writers that the fault is with their own minds which have not the faculty of precise reis with their own minds which have not the faculty of precise reflection.9. 1) Of course there is a strong element of luck in both success and failure but it is my belief that there are no “secrets” to success.2) One thing I have discovered is that attitudes and values that I acquired in China long before came to the United States have had a great bearing on the success in my business.3) These values have much in common with some of the virtues of Confucianism the Chinese philosophy that stresses moderation.4) However although I respect the spirit of Confucianism I have not tried to adapt this ancient Chinese philosophy to modern society.5) For besides moderation other things I have found to be essential to success are patience adaptability decisiveness confidence unconventional thinking social responsibility and last luck.6) The importance of these attributes is in their interaction.7) Some of them are antithetical to others—patience will often collide with decisiveness for instance—and yet it is hard to think of any of my decisions in which they did not play a role.10. Tragedy1) Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fearso long sustained by now that we can even bear it.2) There are no longer problems of the spirit.3) There is only the question:4) When will I be blown up? 5) Because of this the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about worth the agony and the sweat.6) He must learn them again.7) He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and teaching himself that forget it forever leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart the universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.8) Until he does so he labors under a curse.9) He writes not of love but of lust of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value of victories without hope and worst of all without pity or compassion.11. The Choice of Life1) The lives of most men are determined by their environment.2) They accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with goodwill.3) They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the motorcycle that dashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country.4) I respect them; they are good citizens good husbands and good fathers and of course somebody has to pay the taxes; but I don’t find them exciting.5) I am fascinated by the men few enough in all conscience who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it to their own liking.6) It may be that we have no such thing as free will but at all events we gave the illusion of it.7) At a cross-road it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or the left and the choice once made it is difficult to see that whole course of the world’s history obliged us to take the turning we did.12. Science Fiction1) Moreover if SF is the laboratory of the imagination its experiments are often of the kind that may significantly alter the subject matter even as they are being carried out.2) That is SF has always had a certain feedback effect on society as its visions emotionally engage the future consciousness of the mass public regarding especially desirable and undesirable possibilities.3) The shape a society takes in the present is in part influenced byits image of the future.4) For that matter some individuals in recent years have even shaped their own life-style after appealing models provided by SF stories.5) The diffusion of SF futuristic images of alternative societies through the media of movies and television may have speeded up and augmented SF’s social feed back effects.6) Thus SF is not only change speculator but change agent sending an echo from the future that is becoming into the present that is sculpting it.7) This fact alone makes imperative in any education system the study of the kinds of works discussed here.13. 1) Since the 1970s the Chinese community in the USA has undergone tremendous changes among which is its rapid increase in population as many Chinese have kept flooding into America’s shore.3) As the population of the American citize ns of Chinese descent has increased and their qualities have evidently improved so their economic conditions have prospered.4) It is said that since 1986 the US citizens of Chinese descent have leapt to a good lead over other racial minorities Japanese and Koreans for instance.5) The average Chinese family’s yearly income has now come to exceed that of the average American family.6) At present there is a number ofenterprisers of Chinese descent in the economic circles in the US who enjoy considerable fame.7) An even more cheerful phenomenon is that in recent years there have sprung up in the US prominent scientific and technical talents of Chinese descent.8) Their achievements have come to command the notice and admiration of scientists and technical experts in the world.9) Meanwhile Chinese-descent citizens have roles to play in American political circles as they have risen evidently in political status.14. Attitudes towards retirement vary from person to person.2) Some people think that they will enjoy their time in retirement, 3) but when it comes they may feel a little disappointed.4) Unwilling to resign themselves to the prospect of being put on the scrap heap they try to seek alternative outlets for their energies and alternative sources of income that employment can provede.5) Others have already prepared themselves for the significant change in their lives.6) Tired out after all exhausting life revolving around work they are anxious to relax in retirement with all the strains relieved.7) As there is no more need to rush to catch a morning bus and no more anxiety about promotion they now have enough time to fulfill an old dreamsuch as writing painting growing flowers and traveling around.8) On the whole female workers tend to have a more favorable attitude towards retirement than male workers.9) Withdrawal from employment to complete domesticity is a far less threatening experience for a woman than for a man.15. Mr. Zhang a retired miner bought four chicks early this yeae.2) One day he found one of them missing.2) He got so angry that he kept blaming his wife for it all the time.3) Towards evening into his yard came a chick followed by his neighbor Wang who ran to catch the chick.4) Naturally Zhang’s wife wouldn’t let him go with the chick.5) and so a quarrel ensued.6) It turned out that Wang had also lost one of his two chicks recently which he bought nearly the same time as Mr Zhang did.7) Their quarrel drew another neighbor Lee to the yard to see what was happening.8) Having heard the story he put the chick somewhere between their homes and let it off.9) The chick went straight to join Zhang’s flock and kept returning whenever it was driven to Wang’s home.10) And at Zhang’s call “Chick chick” all the chicks including the one in question recede in response to him.11) Wang had no more to say but made an immediate apologize. Thus ended the quarrel over a chick.。