2012年9月中级口译考试真题,答案与解析

Spot Dictation:

We all have problems and barriers that block our progress, or prevent us from moving into new areas. Our problems might include the fear of speaking in front of a group, anxiety about math problems, or the reluctance to sound silly trying to speak a foreign language. It\'s natural to have problems and barriers, but sometimes they limit our experience so much, we get bored with life. When that happens, consider the following three ways of dealing with the problem or barrier.

One way is to pretend it doesn\'t exist. Avoid it, deny it, and lie about it. It\'s like turning your head the other way, putting on a fake grin, and saying, "See, there\'s really no problem at all. Everything is fine."

In addition to looking foolish, this approach leaves the barrier intact, and we keep bumping into it. So, a second approach is to fight the barrier, to struggle against it. This usually makes the barrier grow. It increases the barrier\'s magnitude. A person who is obsessed with weight might constantly worry about being fat. He might struggle with it every day, trying diet after diet. And the more he struggles, the bigger the problem gets.

The third alternative is to love the barrier. Accept it. Totally experience it. Tell the truth about it. Describe it in detail.

Applying this process is easier if you remember two ideas. First, loving a problem is not necessarily the same as enjoying it. Love in this sense means total and unconditional acceptance. Second, unconditional acceptance is not the same as unconditional surrender. Accepting a problem is different than giving up or escaping from it. Rather, this process involves escaping into the problem, diving into it headfirst, and getting to know it in detail.

Often the most effective solutions come, when we face a problem squarely, with eyes wide open, then we can move through the problem, instead of around it. When you are willing to love your problems, you drain them of much of their energy.

【评析】

本文选自Dave Ellis 的著作Becoming a Master Student其中的一个章节：Love your problems and experience your barriers，本文主要介绍了解决问题的三种办法，第一种是直接无视它，就当不存在；第二种是正视它，挑战它，第三种则是爱上困难，充分体验。然后又 给出两个观点，教你更容易地应用这些办法。

总体而言，难度不大，文章选材方面还是比较中规中矩的，关于问题和困难的相关话题也是考生比较熟悉的部分。词汇方面也没有什么难词偏僻词，考生应该不会感到太难。

Statements:

Question1:

Obviously Kell has been unhappy with her present job. She works as a nurse but she would drop a teacher at a primary or secondary school.

Question2:

We don\'t have enough information for our financial plan, but it\'s due tomorrow. I\'m afraid we\'ll just have to make do with what we have got.

Question3:

There is more pressure than ever in the competitive job market to stand out from the crowd. Continuing your education is one way to get that extra edge.

Question4:

Our production supervisor warned John to punch in on time, dress appropriately for the job and stop taking extra breaks.

Question5:

The ability to work effectively with people from other countries is especially important if you plan a career in MMC management where international experience is an essential prerequisite.

Question6:

Now it is common to find fast food restaurants everywhere. These restaurants serve people who are too rushed to find time to eat a proper meal.

Question7:

Makinen hit what appeared to be oil on the road,and his car slammedinto a concrete barrier, tearing the right rear wheel almost completely off his Mitsubishi Lancer.

Question8:

One of the greatest public health successes has been the massive decline in smoking rates, which are now translating into reduced deaths from cancer and heart disease.

Question9:

In modern society, private houses are not just places for people to live in. Rich people have long-viewed real-estate as a suitable vehicle for their earnings.

Question10:

You need to draw a vertical line two inches from the left edge of your note-taking page. With this line, you still have six inches of space on the right to write down you notes.

【评析】

1. 此题描述对现在工作的不满和宁愿做的工作。重点在but后面。

2. 此题描述利用现在资源做经济计划的事。考生应注意due（到期）以及make do with（勉强应对）便可知题意。

3. 此题描述如何应对就业压力大的一种方法。难点在extra edge (额外的奖励或优势)。

4. 此题描述主管对John的要求。找准三个并列动词就易于理解。

5. 此题描述什么情况下同外国人有效地工作很必要。题中有个从句，where，修饰MMC。

6. 此题描述快餐店服务的人群。重点在第二句，fast restaurant 应为熟知单词，根据意思也能理解题意。

7. 此题描述Makinen 撞车的原因和结果。难点是单词，concrete barrier (水泥栏杆)，rear wheel(后轮)。

8. 此题描述公众健康取得的一大成就。难点是要了解一些普通疾病的说法以及death rate(死亡率)，decline(下降)。

9.  此题描述私人住宅不仅是用来居住的现状。real-estate(不动产)，vehicle (工具，媒介)。

10. 此题描述划线的问题。掌握单词vertical (垂直的)，考生还应注意具体数字。

Talks and Conversations 1

W: Ah, Bill, have you got a minute?
M: Yes, but can you make it fast? I’m pretty busy.
W: OK. Ah, I’m sorry about this, Bill. I know you’re busy but I’ve got to go somewhere this afternoon. Can I take the afternoon off?
M: Oh, come on, Helen!
W: But it’s really important. I mean it is really something urgent.
M: Look, I’m sorry Helen but I can’t. I’ve got two people off sick.
W: Well, how about a couple...
M: Look, we’ve got to finish this report today. The boss has been waiting in the office.
W: I know that, Bill. How about just an hour?
M: Yes, all right. I suppose so. But next time I want a bit more warning.

Questions:

11. Why did Helen want to talk to Bill?
12. What is the relationship between the man and the woman?
13. At last, how long was Helen permitted to take her leave?
14. What did Bill want Helen to do next time?

【解析】

本篇属于情景对话，首先应当抓住关键词组take off（请假），接下来就很好理解了。对话中女士因为下午紧急要去某地向男士请假，但是男士一开始因为手上的报告必须要在今日之内完成交给老板而没有准假。之后女士告知实在佷重要，能否请一个小时的假，男士最终答应了。

关键词：take off：请假 urgent：adj. 紧急的 warning：adj. 警告的；引以为戒的

Talks and Conversations 2

Hi, welcome, today I am going to talk about how children learn social behaviors. Especially how they learn lessons from the family, which is the most basic unit of our social structure. There is a lot of discussion these days about how families are changing and whether non-traditional families have a good or bad effect on children. But it is important to remember that the type of family a child comes from is not nearly as important as the kind of love and support that exist in a home. There are three ways by which children acquire their behavior through rewards, punishments and finally modeling. In today’s lecture, let‘s first discuss rewards. A reward can be defined as a positive reinforcement for good behavior. An example of a reward is when a parent says, “If you eat your vegetables, you can have ice cream for dessert”. Or a parent might say, “Finish your homework first, then you can watch TV.” Most parents use rewards unconsciously because they want their children to behave well. For example, a parent might give a gift to a child, because the child behaved well. Or parents may give a child money for doing what the parents asked.

Questions:

15. What is discussed in the lecture?
16. According to the talk , what is more important for children to learn good social behaviors?
17. There are three ways by which children acquire their behavior. Which one is discussed in detail in the talk?
18. Which of the following is not a positive reinforcement for good behavior?

【评析】

本篇文章内容难度适中。虽然其中穿插长句子。但是问题答案都是文章中可以直接听出来的。举例说明能帮助大家很好的理解内容。因此在听的时候，要有上下文的概念，前面如有长句没听懂，注意后面的例子说明。全文的意思就一目了然了。

本篇话题是“孩子如何学习社会行为”。主要集中的讲的是家庭这个社会单元对孩子行为的影响。并且提到孩子学习社会行为的三种方式：奖励、惩罚、模范。本课中主要讲的是“奖励”这种方式。

关键词：Social behavior  社会行为，社交行为 Social structure 社会结构

Talks and Conversations 3

John: Good morning, Betty. Do you know what the assignment is for our term paper in history?
Betty: Sure John. But weren’t you in class on Monday? That’s when it was given out.
John: No, I missed that class. Was there a handout?
Betty: No, the instructor just wrote the assignment on the board.
John: Could I copy the assignment from your notes?
Betty: You could if I had copied it all down, but I just wrote down the part that I wanted.
John: Oh no...
Betty: You see, there were four choices of topics for the term paper, but when I saw them, I knew which one I wanted, so I didn’t copy the others down.
John: Can you remember any of the others?
Betty: Let’s see... There was one about World War I, something about it, but I don’t remember what. And there was one called the idea of progress in the 19th century.
John: And what was the last one?
Betty: I can’t remember. My mind is a complete blank. Maybe you could ask someone else.
John: Yes, I will. Anyway, those are certainly broad topics.
Betty: Yes, but you can focus on a special area within them. Which one would you take?
John: Of course, I don’t know what the last one is, but of these three, I think I’d take the idea of progress.
Betty: That’s very abstract.
John: Yes, but it is one of my interests and I’ve read a lot on the subject. I’ve never written a term paper on it though.
Betty: Me neither. I haven’t even read about it. Are you going to class on Wednesday?
John: Yes.
Betty: Maybe he’ll write it on the board again.
John: I hope so. Good luck with your paper.
Betty: Same to you.

Questions:

19. How many topics did the teacher give for the term paper?
20. How was the assignment given out by the instructor?
21. Why can’t John copy the assignment from Betty’s notes?
22. Why does John choose to write on the idea of progress in the 19th century?

【评析】

本段听力讲述的是男同学周一没有去上课，来询问女同学老师给出的期末论文题目是什么。恰巧老师给出的是4个话题以供挑选，女同学没有记下所有的话题，只是凭 记忆讲述了两个话题给男同学听。男同学在已知的话题中倾向于写“the idea of progress in the 19th century”，因为他喜欢这方面知识，而且之前也有阅读。问题都是常见细节题，涉及所给话题数目、话题告知方式等，难度不大，只要认真听不难得出答 案。

Talks and Conversations 4

Welcome to my lecture on interpreting. Interpreting is a relatively new area of research. It is all too often subsumed under the heading of translation. For example, many translators associations include interpreters. Many books on translation include a section on interpreting. Many translators do some interpreting work and vice versa. Of course, there is an overlap between the two areas that are so alike and yet so different. All of this means that interpreting is still in the process of establishing itself as a discipline in its own right.

My aim in this lecture is to provide an overview of interpreting to anyone interested in interpreting in general, or indeed in becoming an interpreter. For years, I have been collecting information about international and regional organizations in this field. I was quite surprised about some of the results of the questionnaire.

Firstly, with the exceptions of the European Union and the United nations, the actual number of interpreters employed by many organizations is quite small.

Secondly, I have not found any support for the common notion that interpreters do not have a lifelong career that they work solidly for five years or so, earning quite a lot of money, and then disappear into the sunset. On the contrary, they continue to work as interpreters until retirement age, and in some cases, beyond it.

Thirdly, English is the international language of business, and it’s used in boardrooms and business meetings throughout the world. English is also the international language of science. In the 1960s and 1970s of the last century when foreign languages were not like widely taught, many international conferences needed interpreters. Nowadays, most educated people learn foreign languages. And as a result, the need for interpreters at this type of meeting has diminished.

Questions:

23. Who are most likely to be interested in the lecture?
24. Which of the following is not true about interpreting?
25. What is the common notion about interpreters?
26. What accounts for the smaller number of conference interpreters today?

【评析】

本 文节选自美国作家费伦的The Interpreter\'s Resource（口译员的资源），属于“外教社翻译硕士专业系列教材”口译实践指南丛书。内容上，先是讲口译与翻译的一些区别，然后说明是要对口译做概 述，最后提出在调查研究中发现的一些比较奇怪的现象，包括：①公司录用口译者很少；②并没有任何证据表明口译者 的工作是吃青春饭的；③现在社会对商务和科学方面的口译者的需求正在减少。文章介绍的都是口译翻译相关的词汇，这些词本身并没有太大的难度，属于考生比较 熟悉的词汇范围之内。

Talks and Conversations 5

W:David Macdonald is best known for his work with watercolor painting. His work has been included in over 36 exhibitions. He is also renowned as an art teacher with work in a summer watercolor painting intensive program for high school students. David, how did you start making art?

M: Initially, it was a way to create some private space. As the third in a family of nine children, I always shared a bedroom with at least three of my brothers. I would help my parents unpack the groceries and unfold the paper bags that I could use inside as drawing paper. Through hours of drawing, I was able to create my own little world. I was introduced to watercolor painting during my second year in college. And ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by it.

W: What is the source of your ideas?

M: Anything can become a conscious or unconscious inspiration. I can get lost in the country or in the city streets or in the supermarket. Even the shapes and colors of the vegetables give me all sorts of ideas. On a more scholarly level, I was influenced by Chinese and Japanese painters during college.

W: Is there any advice you would like to give to our students?

M: An artist has to believe in him or herself. The dedication, courage and energy my students bring to classroom are more important than anything I can offer. If you want to stand above the crowd, your passion for your art must be manifest through a willingness to work harder than anyone else. The students who succeed see their art as a way of life and not simply as a way of earning a living. My job as a teacher is to help my students realize their potential and bring eloquence to their unique voice.

Questions:

27. What is the topic of the interview?
28. How did the man start to learn watercolor painting?
29. Why did the man talk about the vegetables in the supermarket?
30. Which of the following is not true about the successful art students?

【评析】

此篇是对水彩画家David Macdonald的一篇采访。涉及到David如何开始学画画，他什么时候开始画油画，怎么样获得灵感以及对学生们的建议。一个采访问题，相应的回答，中等难度，没有生僻词，采访对话也较易于理解。

掌握单词：watercolor painting  水彩画；grocery  n. 食品杂货；inspiration  n. 灵感；conscious  adj. 有意识的；unconscious  adj. 无意识的；dedication  n. 奉献，献身；potential  n. 潜力；eloquence  n. 雄辩，口才；

Sentence Translation:

 

1. Courses for adults students may be vocational or recreational, that is, they may be related to a person’s job or taken purely for interest and pleasure.
参考译文：针对成年学生的课程可能是职业性的或者是娱乐性的，即课程可能与一个人的工作相关或者纯粹的是出于兴趣娱 乐而上课。

【解析】

本句话难度不大，如果考生一时没有反映出vocational和recreational的意思，也不必慌张，因为之后就是对这两个单词的解释，如果记下来，完全可以倒推出这两个单词的意思。

关键词：

vocational：adj. 职业的，行业的

recreational：adj. 娱乐的，消遣的

2. To overcome their fear of unknown attackers on the cities’ streets, many Americans now take instruction in Sun Swordof Oriental Self Defense such as karate and martial arts, commonly known as Gongfu or Wushu.
参考译文：为了克服对城市街道上陌生的攻击者的恐惧，很多美国人采取《太阳之剑》中的东方自卫术，诸如空手道和技击，它们 通常又被成为功夫或者武术。

【解析】

本句话稍有难度，sword, karate等词需要考生平时的积累，但是通过attackers，Gongfu，Wushu这样的词语，考生应该能判断出句子的大意。

instruction：n. 指令，教导

sword：n. 剑

karate：n. 空手道

martial arts：武术，技击

3. Drinking tea has been a long tradition of a typical British family. Recent studies suggest that tea can cut the risk of cancer and heart disease and retard the aging process.
参考译文：喝茶一直以来都是典型英国家庭的传统。近期的研究显示，茶能够降低罹患癌症和心脏病的风险，还能延缓衰老。

【解析】

本句带有科普性质，但是内容并不陌生，也没有太多的难词、生词，唯一的难点可能是retard，解释为“减慢，延迟”。

关键词：

retard：v. 延迟，减慢

aging process：衰老

4. I’ve been looking into the question of having the goods sent by air. It’s quick. The goods are less liable to damage than by sea and there’s less risk of hold-ups.
参考译文：我一直在研究空运货物的问题。它很快，而且相比海运，空运的货物不宜损坏，延误的风险也较小。

【解析】

本句稍有难度，诸如be liable to...和hold-up可能对不少考生有点陌生。

关键词：

be less liable to：不易……

hold-up：n. 停顿，耽误

5. If you lost two percent of your body weight in water, your brain power and performance level may start to weaken. Another four to seven percent may leave youfeeling dizzy.
参考译文：如果你身体中的水份减少2%，你的头脑开始迟钝，表现力开始下降。如果再减少4-7%，你会感到眩晕。

【解析】

这句话难度适中，但是考生要注意听的同时，快速反应所提及的数字，好在这句话中的数字比较简单。另外诸如dizzy这样的词也需要平时的积累。

关键词：

weaken：v. 减少，衰弱

dizzy：adj. 眩晕的

Passage 1：

【原文】

While the rest of the world played soccer or the British football, Americans played basketball and baseball. But now soccer is rapidly becoming a major sport in the United States for reasons as simple as the game itself. School officials like it and kids like it. For the school authorities, it’s much cheaper to set up a soccer team. And for the kids, they don’t need to be big or tall to play soccer. All they need is the desire to run.

【参考译文】

当世界其他地方都在踢足球或英式足球的时候，美国人在打篮球和棒球。但是现在，足球已经快速成为美国一个主要的运动项目，其中的缘由和这项运动本身一样简 单。校领导喜欢足球，孩子们也喜欢足球。对于校方来说，成立一个足球队成本更少。而对孩子们来说，踢足球并不要求他们长得高高壮壮。他们所需要的就是对奔 跑的渴望。

【评析】

这篇文章还是很容易的。话题是我们非常熟悉的体育。平时注意体育话题相关词汇积累。

翻译的时候，注意表达。本篇语气篇口语化。因此翻译一篇文章弄清楚文章的风格也很重要，这样表达时，就知道到底是正式语气表达还是非正式语气表达。有时也有必要了解文章的体材：议论性、说明性还是描述性，从整体把握译文的风格。

1.“as simple as …itself”一般译为“正如…本身一样简单或纯粹”

2.“big or tall”。在这里我们形象地译为“高高壮壮”或“高高大大”

Passage 2：

【原文】

What really makes me mad is the attitude towards morals. Some people are really shocked because actors are allowed to walk about the stage with little clothes on these days. But these same people are not shocked by advertisements which persuade the public to buy things which can do real harm to people, like cigarettes and alcohol for example. I think a lot of advertisements are much more immoral than so-called pornographic or dirty plays and books because they lie or at least disguise the truth.

【参考译文】

真正让我发狂的是人们对道德的态度。演员可以着装暴露，在台上走来走去，这让一些人感到惊讶，然而同样是这批人，却不会因为广告劝说公众购买如烟酒等对他 们有害的产品而震惊。我认为比起那些所谓的色情或黄色节目和书刊，很多广告更不道德，因为它们在说谎，至少在掩盖真相。

【评析】

本段话共由4句话组成，后三个句子都略微偏长，但是并不复杂，所以难度一般。较难把握的几个词组如下：

1. little clothes连用。little如果作为“少”修饰的是不可数名词，很明显这里不合适，可以考虑little表示“短的”意思，意译为“着装暴露”。

2. pornographic对学生词汇量要求较高。这个单词表示“色情的、黄色的”。同时，dirty这里不能直译为“脏的”，而应该采用它的引申义“下流的、色情的”。

3. disguise较难，表示“掩饰、掩盖”，disguise the truth也就可以翻译为“掩盖真相”。

阅读理解第一篇：

阅读理解第一篇选自口译阅读教程 Unit 5 Reading B “artificial waterways”

Today, most countries in the world have canals. Even in the twentieth century, goods can be moved more cheaply by boat than by any other means of transport. Some canals, such as the Suez or the Panama, save ships weeks of time by making their voyage a thousand miles shorter. Other canals permit boats to reach cities that are not located on the coast. Still other canals drain lands where there is too much water, help to irrigate fields where there is not enough water, and furnish water power for factories and mills.

3. The size of a canal depends on the kind of boats going through it. The canal must be wide enough to permit two of the largest boat using it to pass each other easily. It must be deep enough to leave about two feet of water beneath the keel of the largest boat using the canal.

4. Some canals have sloping sides, while others have sides that are nearly vertical. Canals that are cut through rock can have nearly vertical sides. However, canals with earth banks may crumble if the angle of their sides is too steep.                              

5. Some canals are lined with brick, stone, or concrete to keep the water from soaking into the mud. This also permits ships to go at greater speeds, since they cannot make the banks fall in by stirring up the water. In small canals with mud banks, ships and barges must limit their speed.                                           

6. When the canal goes through different levels of water, the ships must be raised or lowered from one level to the other. This is generally done up by means of locks. If a ship wants to go up to higher water, the lower end of the lock opens to let the boat in. Then this gate closes, and the water is let into the lock chamber from the upper level. This raises the level of the water in the lock until it is the same as the upper level of water. Now the upper gates can be opened to release the ship into the higher water. Of course there must always be enough water on the upper level to allow for the flooding of the lock.Sometimes a canal contains a series of locks when the difference in levels is very great.

7. In places where it does not rain very often, irrigation canals drain water from rivers or lakes and carry it to fields. Sometimes artificial lakes, such as the lake behind the Aswan Dam on the Nile River, provide the irrigation water.

8. In places where there is too much water, canals can drain the water off the land for use in farming. In Holland, acres and acres of land have been drained in this way. Since much of this drained land is below sea level, the water in the canals has to be pumped up to sea level. Dikes have been built in Holland to keep the sea from covering the land, as it did in the past.

9. Sometimes canals have to be built across deep valleys. Bridges or aqueducts are constructed for this purpose. The Romans often brought water to cities from great distances by building such bridges, at the top of which were canals. Some canals go through mountains by means of tunnels. One such tunnel, near Marseille, France, is over four miles long.

10. Canals existed in Egypt thousands of years ago. The great canal at Babylon, between the Tigris and Euphrates, was built about 2000 B. C.. The Grand Canal of China, which is over 900 miles long, was begun about 2,500 years ago, and took centuries to finish. During the seventeenth century, France built many canals that are still in use today. However, they are not so heavily traveled as they were a hundred years ago, before railways were built. One such canal is a short-cut between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. In Russia, there are canals reaching from Leningrad to the Caspian Sea. Canals in Germany permit boats to go from the Black Sea to the North Sea. The Kiel Canal provides a passageway between the North Sea and the Baltic. In America, the Great Lakes are all connected by canals, enabling ships to go from the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Lawrence River to Lake Superior. Since the lakes are at different levels, they are connected by locks.

11. Many countries have built canals near the coast, and parallel to the coast. These waterways make it possible for boats to travel between ports along the coast without being exposed to the dangers of the open sea.

【简析】历年中级口译考试没有出现过的现象出现了，阅读部分，没有直接采用过《阅读教程》上的篇章，而这次就这样被搬到了考场上，一方面，我们意识到出题 老师越来越 浆糊意外，也了解，随着中级口译低龄化的出现，出题老师对考生也越来越仁慈了，不管怎么样，我们老师都有要求同学回家完成教程，所以，看过书的同学一定很 开心，因为开篇，我们就捡了个大便宜。

Passage Translation C-E:

【原文】

近代以来，亚洲经历了曲折和艰难的发展历程。亚洲人们为改变自己的命运，始终以不屈的意志和艰辛的奋斗开辟前进道路。今天，人们所看到的亚洲发展成就，是勤劳智慧的亚洲人民不屈不挠、锲而不舍奋斗的结果。

亚洲人民深知，世界上没有放之四海而皆准的发展模式，也没有一成不变的发展道路，亚洲人民勇于变革创新，不断开拓进取，探索和开辟适应时代潮流，符合自身实际的发展道路，为经济社会发展打开了广阔前景。

【译文】

In modern times, Asia experienced twists and turns in its development. To change their destiny, the people of Asia have been forging ahead in an indomitable spirit and with hard struggle. Asia\'s development achievements today are the result of the persistent efforts of the industrious and talented Asian people.

The people of Asia are fully aware that there is no ready model or unchanging path of development that is universally applicable. They never shy away from reform and innovation. Instead, they are committed to exploring and finding development paths that are in line with the trend of the times and their own situations, and have opened up bright prospects for economic and social development.

【评析】

文中较难处理的句子有：“亚洲人们为改变自己的命运，始终以不屈的意志和艰辛的奋斗开辟前进道路。”其中“亚洲人们……开辟前进道路”是主干结构，“为改 变自己的命运”表示目的，可以译成不定式to change their destiny放在句子前面，“以不同的意志和艰辛的奋斗”译成介词短语放在句尾。“放之四海而皆准的发展模式”的中心词是“模式”，修饰语“放之四海而 皆准的”意为“普遍适用的”，可译为定语从句放在中心词后。最后一个句子较长，可根据句意进行拆分，确定主干词，对语序进行调整，以流畅的英文表达出来。

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