英译汉练习

Exercise 1

Adidas Sports Shoes

Over

twenty-eight

years ago, adidas

gave birth to a

new

idea

in sports

shoes.

And the people who wear our shoes have been running and winning ever since. In

fact, adidas has helped them set over 400 world records in track and field alone.

Maybe

that’s

why

more

and

more

football,

soccer,

basketball,

baseball

and

tennis

players

are

turning

to

adidas.

They

know

that,

whatever

their

game,

they

can rely on adidas workmanship and quality in every product we make.

So whether

you are pounding

the roads on a

marathon, or just jogging around

the block, adidas shall be on your feet.

Y

ou

were born to run.

And

we were born

to

help

you do

it better.

Y

ou’ll

find

us anywhere smart sports people buy their shoes. Adidas, the all sports people.

Petal-Drops

For the girl who wants a petal-soft skin

With

Petal-Drops

Moisturizing

Bath-Essence

you

can

give

your

skin

a

petal-fresh softness and fragrance that will last and last the whole day through.

All sorts of oils, delicately perfumed herbal essences and the gentlest of toning

agents---all

combined

with

our

loving

care

to

give

that

oh-so- good-to-be-alive

feeling.

Relax. Petal-Drops your way to a smooth, silky skin.

Choose

from

two

exciting

fragrances:

New

Petal-Drops

Coriander---with

its

faintly spiced hint of seductiveness, or the classic Petal-Drops Lavender.

1

Exercise 2

1. The old man said, ―They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor

as we are.‖

2. They

had been through

it all at

his side--- the bruising battles, the

humiliations

of the defeat…through empty

mid

-1960s---until at

last,

in 1968, they were able to

savor the sweet taste of triumph.

3.

The

thesis

summed

up

the

new

achievements

made

in

electronic

computers,

artificial satellites and rockets.

4. An eagle and a

fox

had

long

lived

together as

good

neighbors; the eagle at

the

summit of a high tree, the fox in a hole at the foot of it.

5. He remembered the incident, as had his wife.

6. Laura wished

now that she

was

not

holding that piece of

bread-and-butter, but

there was nowhere to put it and she couldn’t possibly throw it away

.

7. It was just growing dark, as she shut the garden gate.

8. She laid her hand lightly on his arm as if to thank him for it.

9. If I had known it, I would not have joined in it.

10.

As

scheduled,

American

and

Chinese

diplomats

met

on

January

20,

at

the

Chinese Embassy in Poland. It was the first get-together in more than two years.

2

Exercise 3

Asia

’

s Spreading Shadow

Over the past decade, East Asia has been the world

’

s fastest growing region. And

since

most

of

its

emerging

economies

import

more

than

they

export,

they

have

provided a powerful stimulus to

growth

in rich economies. So

it

is not surprising that

East Asia

’

s recent

financial turmoil

has been blamed

for the

lurches

in

global equity

markets this

week.

But do

East Asia

’

s troubles really carry such

awful consequences

for the world

’

s economy?

Developing Asia (i.e., excluding Japan) accounts for an impressive 23% of world

output,

if

measured

at

purchasing-power

parity

(which

adjusts

exchange

rates

to

account

for

differences

in

prices

between

countries).

But

that

figure

exaggerates

the

likely

impact of the current crisis on

the rest of the

world. If China and India, which

have

not

yet

shared

Asia

’

s

troubles,

are

excluded,

then

the

rest

of

Asia

accounts

for

just 7.3% of world output

and 4.4% of

world trade

in

goods and services---the

main

channel through which developments in the region affect the rich economies.

As the financial turmoil spread from Thailand to Taiwan and now to Hong Kong,

higher

interest

rates,

falling

equity

and

property

prices

and

a

loss

of

business

and

consumer

confidence

have

started

to

take

their

toll

on

consumer

spending

and

business

investment.

Many

forecasters

now expect

Thailand to slip

into recession

in

1998. East Asia, excluding China, is expected to grow by perhaps only 4-5% next year,

down

from

more

than

7%

in

1996.

In

turn,

slower

growth

is

likely

to

mean

fewer

imports from the rest of the world.

America sells almost a

fifth of

its exports

to developing

Asia countries,

Japan a

massive 44%, but Europe only 7%. However, a better measure of the potential impact

of

Asia

’

s economic troubles on rich countries

’

growth rates

is their exports to Asia as

a

percentage

of

their

GDP:

a

modest

2%

in

both

America

and

Europe,

a

more

significant 4.4%

in Japan. Almost three-quarters of Japan

’

s export

growth since 1990

has been generated by increasing sales into Asian markets. Thus Japan

’

s economy will

be hardest hit.

The second

way

in which

East

Asia

’

s

financial traumas will spill over

into rich

industrial

economies

is

that

manufacturers

in

the

region

have

become

super-competitive

thanks

to devaluations of

up to 40% against the dollar.

Add

in

the

fact

that

the region

has a

glut of capacity

in

industries

such as

televisions, chemicals

and steel as a result of over-investment, and

it seems

inevitable

that Asia

’

s exports to

rich economies will surge. American producers will therefore face fiercer competition.

European

and

Japanese

firms

should

get

off

more

lightly

because

their

currencies

have

also

weakened

against

the

dollar,

albeit

by

less

than

the

East

Asians

’

,

over

the

past year.

The silver

lining of this cloud

is that cheaper

Asian

imports

into rich economies

will

help

to

hold

down

the

latter

’

s

inflation

rate.

Likewise,

slower

growth

in

Asia

should

depress

commodity

prices.

This

disinflationary

pressure

may

mean

that

America

’

s Federal

Reserve will

not

need

to raise

interest rates so soon or by as

much

as it otherwise would have needed to.

3

Exercise 4

The Linguistic Capacity

The capacity

for

acquiring and

using a

language

is

a property

that distinguishes

human beings

from all other species.

The

task of the

linguist

is

to explain what

it

is

about

human beings

that renders

them

capable of performing this

feat, and

what

it

is

about

human

languages

that

renders

them

capable

of

being

learned

and

used

by

human beings.

Human

language

learning

is

a

remarkable

phenomenon.

The

child

is

born

into

the world with no language at all. Through exposure to a speech community, the child

begins

to speak at some

time during

the

second

year and

in

five or six

years can be

said

to

know

the

language

quite

well,

if

not

completely

.

This

field

of

language

learning

is

accomplished

by

every

normal

child

without

fail,

and

without

extensive

explicit instruction on the part of adults concerning the < /p>

―

rules

‖

of the language.

Each child in fact reinvents the language of the speech community for himself. In

order to acquire a

language, the

mind of the child

must have built

into

it some

notion

of what is to be learnt. This can be seen from the fact that every speaker of a language

is capable of

creating and

understanding

sentences of that

language that

he

has never

heard before. Consequently

, on the basis of the sentences that he has heard the speaker

must be able to arrive at a set of rules

for creating and

understanding

new sentences.

This

ability

to

project

from

the

sentences

actually

encountered

in

the

course

of

language

learning

to

a

general

set

of

rules

for

creating

and

understanding

novel

utterances

is the

human

linguistic capacity

. It

is, essentially, an

inborn

understanding

of

what

a

possible

language

can

be.

By

studying

the

characteristics

of

human

languages

we

study

this

aspect

of

human

intelligence,

for

the

structure

of

the

languages themselves reflects

the nature of the device that created them

and recreates

them in the mind of every human child.

4

Exercise 5

Going Home

This

valley,

he thought, all this country between the

mountains

is

mine, home to

me, the place I dream about, and everything is the same, not a thing is changed, water

sprinklers

still

splash

in

circles

over

lawns

of

Bermuda

grass,

good

old

home

town,

simplicity, reality.

Walking along

Alvin Street

he

felt

glad

to be

home again.

Everything

was

fine,

common and good, the smell of earth, cooking suppers, smoke, the rich summer air of

the

valley

full

of

plant

growth,

grapes

growing,

peaches

ripening,

and

the

oleander

bush

swooning

with

sweetness,

the

same

as

ever.

He

breathed

deeply,

drawing

the

smell

of

home

deep

into

his

lungs,

smiling

inwardly.

It

was

hot.

He

hadn't

felt

his

senses

reacting

to

the

earth

so

cleanly

and

clearly

for

years;

now

it

was

a

pleasure

even to breathe.

The cleanliness of the air sharpened the

moment so that, walking,

he

felt

the

magnificence

of

being,

glory

of

possessing

substance,

of

having

form

and

motion and intellect, the piety of merely being alive on the earth.

Water,

he

thought,

hearing the soft splash of a

lawn sprinkler;

to taste the

water

of

home,

the

full

cool

water

of

the

valley,

to

have

that

simple

thirst

and

that

solid

water

with

which

to

quench

it,

fulfillment,

the

clarity

of

life.

He

saw

an

old

man

holding a hose over some geranium plants, and his thirst sent him to the man.

The old

man turned slowly,

his

shadow

large against the

house, to

look

into

the

young

man's

face, amazed and pleased.

he said;

he placed the

hose into the young man's hands.

the San Joaquin Valley; best yet, I guess. That water up in Frisco makes me sick; ain't

got

no

taste.

And down

in

Los Angeles, why, the water tastes

like castor oil; I

can't

understand how so many people go on living there year after year.

5

Exercise 6

Halloween Traditions and Symbols

Spirits and Ghosts

Halloween was probably derived

form the Celtic Feast of the Dead, which

originated over 2,000 years ago. The

feast began on Oct. 31, the eve of winter and of

the

Celtic

New

Y

ear.

The

Celts

thought

this

night

a

―

crack

in

time

‖

when

the

dead

could revisit the living.

Costumes

People believed that evil spirits and ghosts roamed the earth on Halloween, so to

stick

the

spirits

into

leaving

them

alone,

people

would

wear

costumes

and

masks

to

hide their

identities. Sometimes

a person was chosen

to dress

up and

lead

the

ghosts

and spirits out of town.

Today

,

both

children

and

adults

enjoy

dressing

up

in

costumes

ranging

from

monsters

to

movie

characters

to

historical

figures.

People

can

be

very

traditional,

cutting eyeholes in a sheet to be a ghost, or very original, wearing a box painted like a

microwave.

Ideas

for costumes can be

found at craft or sewing stores, and pre-made

costumes can be

found

in party stores, craft stores, or

in temporary

Halloween stores

set

up

in

malls.

While

children

usually

dress

up

for

trick-or-treating

or

to

march

in

Halloween parades, adults often attend costume parties in homes or public place.

Trick-or-treating

Trick-or- treating

is a recent

American custom during which children, dressed

in

costumes,

go

from door

to door knocking on doors and pronouncing

―

trick or

treat!

‖

in

hopes of

receiving a treat,

usually small candies.

In earlier times,

the threat

was

if

the

adults

did

not

give

the

children

a

treat,

the

children

would

play

a

trick

on

them.

Today

, adults wishing to give out candy leave a porch light on during the evening, and

often decorate their houses or apartments with symbols of Halloween such as witches,

pumpkins, bats, spiders, skeletons, ghosts, etc..

Jack-O

’

-Lanterns

An old Irish legend describes the story of a man named Jack who was too gready

and

stingy

to

get

into

heaven

but

who

could

neither

get

into

hell

because

he

had

tricked

the

devil.

He

was

doomed

to

wander

the

earth

until

Judgment

Day

.

As

consolation, the devil

threw Jack a

lighted coal

from

hell and Jack place

it

in a turnip

to

make

a

lantern

to

light

his

way

.

Irish

children

would

carve

faces

into

the

turnips

and place candles

inside to

scare away witches. When

many

Irish people

immigrated

to

the

United

States,

children

carved

pumpkins

rather

than

turnips.

Today

,

many

Americans carve pumpkins and place the lighted Jack-O

’

-Lanterns on their front steps

on Halloween night.

6