香港几所大学lecture 5口译

Lecture five

：

Figures interpreting (2)

Objectives

:

★

Interpreting figures of different types

★

Practice of figure interpreting

Teaching procedure

Step 1: Review and practice of figure interpreting (30’)

Based on what we have learnt about note-taking and number interpreting, try to do the

following exercises:

1.

中国人口的出生率和增长率分别由

1990

年的

2.106%

和

1.439%

下降到

1997

年的

1.657%

和

1.006%

。到

1997

年末，全国总人口 为

12

亿

3626

万人。

In China

，

the birth rate and growth rate dropped from 2.106% and 1.439% in 1990

to

1.657%

and

1.006%

in

1998

respectively.

By

the

end

of

1997,

China

has

a

population of 1 billion 236 million and 260 thousand (1,236,260 thousand).

2.

陕西历史博物馆占地约

7

万平方米，建筑面积

5

万多平方米。国家投资

1. 44

亿元人民币，兴建了这座博物馆，于

1991

年

6

月建成开放。

The

Shaanxi

History

Museum

covers

an

area

of

70.000

square

meters

with

a

floor

space of over 50,000 square meters. The state government invested 144 million yuan

in the establishment of this museum. It was completed and open to the public in June,

1991.

3. In 1997, Australian universities hosted about 62,000 postgraduate students from all

over the world. The number of international students in Australia continues to grow

by

at

least

14%

annually.

Every

year,

only

300

Chinese

students

are

able

to

get

scholarships from Australian universities.

4.

Today

about

20%

of

American

children

live

with

only

one

parent.

One

of

the

reasons for this is the increasing number of women who have children without being

married. The United States Census Bureau recently released a report on the situation.

The

report

included

women

between

the

ages

of

18

and

44

who

had

never

been

married. It said 24 percent of them had at least one child. Almost 4 million unmarried

women in the United States are mothers. This is an increase of almost 60 percent in

the past ten years.

Step 2: figures of rates, ratios and totals (20)

Rates and ratios are usually spoken or written as follows:

Japan has a population density of 329 inhabitants per square kilometer;

In

1991

unemployment

in

Britain

stood

at

almost

eight

percent;

approximately

one

worker in twelve was unemployed.

They are easy to translate, but we also need to be familiar with some abbreviations

commonly used in rates and ratios:

One in twelve: 1:12

50 kilometers per hour: 50kph

100 miles per hour: 100mph

50 kilogrammes per square centimeter: 50 kg/sq cm

80 rounds per minute: 80rpm

120 words per minute: 120wpm

8% per year: 8% py

1

10 kilowatts: 10 kw

Practice:

First look at the table below which gives information about the area, population, and

population density of the 8 countries. Then read aloud the numbers in English firstly

and then interpret them.

E.g. Belgium has an area of thirty one thousand square kilometers, its population is

ten

million

one

hundred

thousand

and

the

population

density

is

three

hundred

and

thirty inhabitants per square kilometers.

country

area

population

Population density

Belgium

31,000

10,100,000

330

Denmark

43,000

5,200,000

120

Germany

357,000

81,200,000

226

France

544,000

57,600,000

106

Spain

505,000

39,100,000

78

Finland

337,000

5,100,000

15

Italy

301,000

57,100,000

189

Britain

244,000

58,000,000

237

Totals can be expressed in English by a variety of verbs, such as “total, come to, is”.

e.g.: The institutions of higher learning totaled/came to/was 1,075 in 1995 in China.

The total number of the students at all British universities is over 250,000.

The number of students comes to 250,000.

Practice:

1 .

目前，中国共有幼儿园

16.52

万所，在园幼儿

2

，

552.54

万人；小学有

68.7

万

所，在校生

12

，

421.2 4

万人。

2. There are more than 70 universities in Britain. The total number of the students at

all British universities is over 250,000.

Step 3: Some useful expressions (1

0’)

a.

Prepositions such as “of, by, to, at” are often used with quantities to describe trends:

e.g.: There was a rise of 6%.

The figure rose by 3%.

The figure of the middle school students in China will rise to 127 million.

The inflation stood/stayed at 4%.

The scales of the company’s products fell/dropped by 5% last year.

b. To indicate upward movement:

To rise, to increase, to climb, to jump

c. To indicate downward movement:

To fall, to drop, to decline, to decrease

d. To describe stability and fluctuation:

To level out/off

达到平衡

To remain stable

保持平衡

To fluctuate

波动

To stand/stay at

保持在

2

To reach a peak

达到高峰

Step 4: interpret paragraphs with figures (40’)

1.

The

total

number

of

accidents

in

Xi’an

fluctuated

a

lot

duri

ng

the

period

1982-1997.

if

you

look

at

the

table

you

can

see

that

in

1982

the

figure

was

360,000, while in 1997 it had fallen to 313,000, a drop of 47,000. The best year in

the period 1982-1997 was 1984 when it stood at 332,000, after which it rose to

new peak of slightly under 360,000 in 1988. we can see that from 1988 to 1992

there was a steady fall in the number of road accidents.

2.

China overtook America and Japan in 1996 to become the world’s

biggest

steel

producer: its output of 100 million tones was more than 50% higher than that in

1990. South Korea, now number six in the world, saw an even bigger gain of 68%.

In contrast,

Russia’s steel production has slumped by 45% over the same period.

3.

目前，厦门大学 有

26

个院系，开设

61

个专业，具有

个硕士学位和

21

个

博士学位的 授予权，

并有

4

个博士后流动站。

(At present, Xiamen University has

61 sections contained within 26 departments.

It is authorized to

confer master’s

degrees

in

61

subjects

of

study

and

doctoral

degrees

in

21

subjects,

and

has

4

post-doctoral mobile research centers.)

4.

1949

年以来，虽然中国政府在 扫盲运动上已经取得了重大成果，但是

1995

年的抽样调查却显示，< /p>

15

岁以上的文盲仍然有

145

万。

其中

70%

为妇女，

375.5

万人在< /p>

15

至

45

岁之间。

（

Though the Chinese government has made great strides

in eliminating illiteracy since 1949, China still has 145 million illiterates over the

age of 15 according to

China’s 1995 sample survey. 70% a

re women and 37.55

million are between the ages of 15and 45.

）

5.

Major Figures of the 2000 Population Census of China

In

accordance

with

the decision

of

the

State

Council,

China

carried

out

its

fifth

national census on November 1, 2000. The results are as follows:

Total population

China has a population of 1,295,33 million, of which the total population of the 31

provinces,

autonomous

regions,

and

municipalities

(excluding

Taiwan

Province,

and

Jinmen,

Mazu

and a

few

other

islands

of

Fujian

Province

hereafter)

and

of

servicemen and servicewomen of the mainland of China was 1, 265.83 million.

The population of Hong Kong SAR was 6.78 million. The population of Macao

SAR was 440,000. the population of Taiwan Province and of Jinmen, Mazu and a

few other islands of Fujian Province was 22.28 million.

Population Growth

Compared

with

the

population

of

1,133.68

million

from

the

1990

population

census (with zero hour of July 1, 1990 as the reference time), the total population

of

the

31

provinces,

autonomous

regions

and

municipalities

and

the

servicemen

and servicewomen of the mainland of China increased by 132.15 million persons,

or 11.66 percent over the past 10 years and 4 months. The average annual growth

was 12.79 million persons, or a growth rate 1.07 percent.

Population of Family Households

In

the

31

provinces,

autonomous

regions

and

municipalities

of

the

mainland

of

3