1、英语专业历年专八翻译真题及答案英语专业历年专八翻译真题及答案 1997年:English to Chinese Opera is expensive: that much is inevitable. But expensive things are inevitably the province(范围) of the rich unless we abdicate(退位、放弃) societys power of choice. We can choose to make opera and other expensive forms of culture, accessible(易接近的，
2、可达到的) to those who cannot individually pay for it. The question is: why should we? No body denies the imperatives(必要的)of food, shelter, defence, health and education. But even in a prehistoric cave, man-kind stretched out a hand of not just to eat, drink or fight, but also to draw. The impulse(冲动) t
3、owards culture, the desire to express and explore the world through imagination and representation(表述、陈述)is fundamental. In Europe, this desire has found fulfillment(完成、成就) in the masterpieces of our music, art, literature and theatre. These masterpieces are the touchstones(标准、试金石) for all our effor
4、ts; they are the touchstones for the possibilities to which human thought and imagination may aspire(立志、追求目标、渴望); they carry the most profound (深厚的、深刻的)messages that can be sent from one human to another. 【参考答案】欣赏歌剧是一种奢侈:你必须为此支付昂贵的票价。然而，享用昂贵的东西并不完全是富人的特权，除非我们放弃社会选择的权利。我们有权利使歌剧和其他昂贵的文化形式面向大众，面向那些个人没有
5、支付能力的人。然而，问题是我们为什么要这么做。没有人会否认食物、居所、防护、健康与教育是不可或缺的。但是，即使在史前的穴居时代，人们伸出手来，也不仅仅是为了吃喝，为了搏杀，而且还有一个目的，那就是动手作画。人们对文化的冲动，即人们希望通过想象和再现来表现并探索这个世界的愿望，才是最根本的。在欧洲，人们通过音乐、美术、文学和戏剧等方面的不朽作品的创作，实现了这一愿望。这些杰作是衡量人类努力程度的试金石，是检验人类思维和想象潜能的标准，它们有着最深厚的寓意，并在人们彼此之间传播。 1998年: I agree to some extent with my imaginary English rea
6、der. American literary historians are perhaps prone to view their own national scene too narrowly, mistaking prominence for uniqueness. They do over-phrase their own literature, or certainly its minor figures. And Americans do swing from aggressive over phrase of their literature to an equally unfor
7、tunate, imitative deference. But then, the English themselves are somewhat insular in their literary appraisals. Moreover, in fields where they are not pre-eminent e. g. in painting and music they too alternate between boasting of native products and copying those of the Continent. How many English
8、paintings try to look as though they were done in Paris; how many times have we read in articles that they really represent an English tradition after all.To speak of American literature, then, is not to assert(断言、声称)that it is completely unlike that of Europe. Broadly speaking, America and Europe h
9、ave kept step(同步). At any given moment(在任何时候) the traveler could find examples in both of the same architecture, the same styles in dress, the same books on the shelves. Ideas have crossed the Atlantic as freely as men and merchandise, though sometimes more slowly. When I refer to American habit, th
10、oughts, etc., I intend some sort of qualification(限制、限定、资格)to precede(领先、超前) the word, for frequently the difference between America and Europe (especially England) will be one of degree(唯一只是在程度上), sometimes only of a small degree. The amount of divergence(分歧、差异) is a subtle (微妙的)affair, liable(有可能的
11、) to perplex the Englishman when he looks at America. He is looking at a country which in important senses (重要的感觉)grew out of his own, which in several ways(在有些方面)still resembles his own and which is yet a foreign country. There are odd overlappings(重叠) and abrupt unfamiliarities; kinship(亲缘关系) yiel
12、ds to a sudden alienation(疏远关系), as when we hail(打招呼) a person across the street, only to discover from his blank(没有表情的) response that we have mistaken a stranger for a friend.【参考译文一】因此，我们在说美国文学，并不表明我们认为美国文学与欧洲文学截然不同。一般来说，美国和欧洲一直在同步发展。无论何时，旅游者在两地都能看到同一式的建筑，见到同一款式的服饰，读到摆在书架上的同一风格的书籍。在大洋两岸，人们的思想观念，就容易
13、同人员与货物一样，可以自由交流，尽管有时会略显迟缓。谈到美国人的习惯、美国人的思维等概念时，我想在美国式的这几个词前面再加上某种修饰，因 为欧美之间(尤其是英美之间)的差异往往只是程度上的差异而已，而且在有的时候，是极低程度上的差异而已。差异的程度微乎其微，很可能会使审视美国的英国人感到迷惑不解。重要的是，英国人所审视的这个国家诞生于英国，并在不少方面仍与英国相差无几-然而，实实在在是个异邦。两地有着莫名的共同之处，以及令人深感突兀的陌生感。原先的亲戚已形同陌路，就仿佛隔着马路招呼，等看到对方一脸茫然时，我们才意识到认错人。 1999年: In some societies people wa
14、nt children for what might be called familial reasons: to extend the family line or the family name, to propitiate the ancestors; to enable the proper functioning of religious rituals involving the family. Such reasons may seem thin in the modern, secularized society but they have been and are power
15、ful indeed in other places. In addition, one class(一类) of family reasons shares a border(接壤、相近)with the following category, namely, having children in order to maintain or improve a marriage: to hold the husband or occupy(使 忙(有事干) the wife; to repair or rejuvenate the marriage; to increase the numbe
16、r of children on the assumption(设想、假设 consumption 消费) that family happiness lies that way. The point is underlined(突出、显现) by its converse(反面、相反): in some societies the failure to bear children(养孩子) (or males) is a threat to the marriage and a ready cause for divorce. Beyond all that(除了这些 )is the pro
17、found(深刻的、深远的) significance of children to the very institution(结构) of the family itself. To many people, husband and wife alone do not seem a proper family(完整的) they need children to enrich the circle(丰富家庭生活、拓宽生活圈子), to validate(使有效) its family character(家族的特征、风格), to gather(增加、集合) the redemptive(赎
18、回的, 用于补偿的)influence of offspring. Children need the family, but the family seems also to need children, as the social institution(社会结构)uniquely(唯一) available, at least in principle, for (获得)security, comfort, assurance, and direction in a changing, often hostile world. To most people, such a home ba
19、se, in the literal sense, needs more than one person for sustenance(生计) and in generational extension(家族的繁衍). 【参考答案】 另外，有一类家庭原因与下列类别不无共同之处，那就是:生儿育女要么是为了维系现有婚姻，提高婚姻质量，要么是为了拴住丈夫，使妻子有所事事，要么是为了修复婚姻，给婚姻注入新的活力，亦或是出于多子多福的观念而多生儿女。当然，我们也可以从问题的反面得到昭示:在某些社会，无法生育子嗣(或不能生育男孩)对婚姻而言是最大的威胁，也可作为夫妻分手的现成理由。 后代对家庭这一体制本身
20、所具有的深远意义远非如此。在许多人看来，丁克家庭算不上真正的家庭。夫妻需要孩子来拓宽自己的生活圈子，实现家庭在传宗接代中的作用，并从子孙后代身上获取某种回报。在这个变幻莫测，常常不尽友善的世界上，家庭作为社会的基本单位，至少可在原则上，以其独特方式为家人提供安全保障，抚慰家人受伤的心灵，为家人指出生活方向，因此，孩子需要家庭，但与此同时，家庭也需要孩子。 If people mean anything at all by the expression_r untimely(不合时宜的，timely:适时的、及时的) death, they must believe that some deat
21、hs run on(连续, 不分段, 流逝, 涉及)a better schedule than others. Death in old age is rarely called untimelya long life is thought to be a full one. But with the passing(= passing away 死亡)of a young person, one assumes(假定、设想) that the best years lay ahead and the measure(尺度、评价) of that life was still to be t
22、aken. History denies this, of course. Among prominent(卓越的、突出的)summer(壮年时期, 青春)deaths, one recalls those of Marilyn Monroe(马丽莲梦露 )and James Deans(詹姆士迪恩斯), whose lives seemed equally brief and complete. Writers cannot bear the fact that poet John Keats(约翰济慈)died at 26, and only half playfully(开玩笑地) ju
23、dge their own lives as failures when they pass that year. The idea that the life cut short is unfulfilled is illogical because lives are measured by the impressions they leave on the world and by their intensity(强度、亮度=achievements: 成就)and virtue(德行、品德). 【参考译文】 如果人们使用死不逢时的时候有所指的话，那肯定认为一些人的逝世是寿终正寝，而另外
24、一些人的辞世则是英年早逝。很少有人会说因年老 而死亡是死不逢时-人们总是把老年人的寿终正寝看作是一种圆满。但是对于一个英年早逝的人，人们常常认为他的好日子还在后头，对他短暂的一生作出评价还为时尚早。 然而，历史对此观点持否定态度。谈到英年早逝的人物，人们常常回想起马丽莲梦露和詹姆士迪恩斯。二人生命虽短，却功成名就。作家们难以接受英国诗人约翰济慈 26岁便匆匆辞世的残酷现实，然而，当他们 26岁时，只有自嘲虚度年华碌碌无为的份了。那种认为生命短暂就不圆满的观点是不合逻辑的，因为评价一个人的一生应当看他给世人留下的印象，他所取得的成就，以及他的个人品质。 Possession for its ow
25、n sake or in competition with the rest of the neighborhood would have been Thoreaus idea of the low levels. The active discipline of heightening ones perception of what is enduring in nature would have been his idea of the high. What he saved from the low was time and effort he could spend on the hi
26、gh. Thoreau certainly disapproved of starvation, but he would put into feeding himself only as much effort as would keep him functioning for more important efforts. Effort is the gist(要点，主旨) of it. There is no happiness except as we take on(接纳) life-engaging(有魅力的、迷人的) difficulties. Short of the impo
27、ssible, as Yeats put it, the satisfaction we get from a lifetime depends on how high we choose our difficulties. Robert Frost was thinking in something like the same terms(相同的表达、看法) when he spoke of The pleasure of taking pains. The mortal flaw (致命的缺陷)in the advertised version of happiness is in the
28、 fact that it purports(宣称、声称) to be effortless. We demand difficulty even in our games(体育比赛、游戏). We demand it because without difficulty there can be no game. A game is a way of making something hard for the fun of it. The rules of the game are an arbitrary(武断的) imposition(强迫接受) of difficulty. When
29、someone ruins the fun, he always does so by refusing to play by the rules. It is easier to win at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to change the wholly arbitrary rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules. No difficulty, no fun. 参考译文】 努力是问题的关键。如果不经历艰难困苦，就没有幸福可言。正如爱尔兰诗人叶芝所言，除 了极少数不大可能出
30、现的情况外，我们一生中得到的满意程度取决于我们愿意克服的困难有多大。美国诗人罗伯特费罗斯特谈到苦中求乐时，也表达了相同的看法。出现在广告中的幸福都有一个致命的错误，那就是，不费吹灰之力即可获得幸福。 即使在体育比赛中，我们也需要克服困难。我们需要克服困难，因为没有困难就没有比赛。比赛就是使某件事情变得更加困难，以便难中取乐。制定比赛规则就是故意制造困难。违反竞赛规则也就丧失了比赛乐趣。下棋时，如果不受规则的约束，高兴怎么走就怎么走，你很容易取胜。然而，乐趣源于胜利而又遵守规则。没有困难，也就没有乐趣。 meanings. When they refer to a person as a win
31、ner, we do not mean one who makes some else lose. To us, a winner is one who responds authentically by being credible, trustworthy, responsive, and genien, both as an individual and as a member of a society. Winners do not decide their lives to a concept of what they imagine they should be; rather, they are themselves and so much do not use their energy putting on a performance, maintaining pretence(伪装) and manipulating(操纵) others. They are aware that there is a difference between being loving and acting loving, between being stupid and acting stupid, between being knowledgeable and acting
