CATTI翻译资格考试二级笔译综合能力及实务真题详解

2003年12英语二级《笔译综合能力》试题

Part1 Summary Writing

1.Read the following English passage and then write a Chinese summary of approximately 300 words that expresses its main ideas and basic information (40 points, 50 minutes)

Deceptively small in column inches, a recent New York Times article holds large meaning for us in business. The item concerned one Daniel Provenzano, 38, of Upper Saddle River, N.J. Here is the relevant portion:

When he owned a Fort Lee printing company called Advice Inc., Mr. Provenzano said he found out that a sales representative he employment had stolen $9,000. Mr. Provenzano said he told the man that “if he wanted to keep his employment, I would have to break his thumb.” He said another Advice employee drove the sales representative to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, broke the thumb with a hammer outside the hospital, and then had a car service take the man home after the thumb was repaired.

Mr. Provenzano explained that he “didn’t want to set an example” that workers could get away with stealing. The worker eventually paid back $4,500 and kept his job, he said. I know that you’re thinking: This is an outrage. I, too, was shocked that Provenzano was being prosecuted for his astute management. Indeed, I think his “modest proposal” has a lot to teach managers as they struggle with the problems of our people-centered business environment. Problems such as ….

Dealing with the bottom 10%. GE made the system famous, but plenty of companies are using it: Every year you get rid of the worst-evaluated workers. Many managers object that this practice is inhumane, but not dealing with that bottom 10% leads to big performance problems. Provenzano found a kinder, gentler answer. After all, this employee would have been fired virtually anywhere else. But at Advice Inc., he stayed on the job. And you know what? I bet he become a very, very —very —productive employee. For most managers Provenzano’s innovative response will be a welcome new addition to their executive tool kit. And by the way, “executive tool kit” is clearly more than just a metaphor at Advice Inc.

Being the employer of choice. With top talent scarce everywhere, most companies now want to be their industry’s or their community’s most desirable. Advice Inc. understood. The employee in question wasn’t simply disciplined in his supervisor’s office and sent home. No, that’s how an ordinary employer would have done it. But at Advice Inc., another employee —the HR manager, perhaps? —took time out his busy day and drove the guy right to the emergency room. And then —the detail that says it all —the company provided a car service to drive the employee home. The message to talented job candidates comes through loud and clear: Advice Inc. is a company that cares.

Setting an example to others. An eternal problem for managers is how to let all employees know what happens to those who perform especially well or badly. A few companies actually post everyone’s salary and bonus on their intranet. But pay is so one-dimensional. At Advice Inc., a problem that would hardly be mentioned at most companies —embezzlement —was undoubtedly the topic of rich discussions for weeks, at least until the employee’s cast came off. Any employee theft probably went way, way —way —down.

When the great Roberto Goizueta was CEO of Coca-Cola he used to talk about this problem of setting examples and once observed, “Sometimes you must have an execution in the public square!” But of course he was speaking only figuratively. If he had just listened to his own words, Goizueta might have been an even better CEO.

Differentiation. This is one of Jack Welch’s favorite concepts —the idea that managers should treat different employees very differently based on performance. Welch liked to differentiate with salary, bonus, and stock options, but now, in what must henceforth be known as the post-Provenzano management era, we can see that GE’s great management thinker just wasn’t thinking big enough.

This Times article is tantalizing and frustrating. In just a few sentences it opens a whole new world of management, yet much more surely remains to be told. We must all urge Provenzano to write a book explaining his complete managerial philosophy. 2.Read the following Chinese passage and then write an English summary of approximately 250 words that expresses its central ideas and main viewpoints (40 points, 50 minutes)

越是对原作体会深刻，越是欣赏原文的每秒，越觉得心长力，越觉得译文远远的传达不出原作的神韵。返工的次数愈来愈多，时间也花得愈来愈多，结果却总是不满意。……例如句子的转弯抹角太生硬，色彩单调，说理强而描绘弱，处处都和我性格的缺陷与偏差有关。自然，我并不因此灰心，照样“知其不可为而为之”，不过要心情愉快也很难了。

工作有成绩才是最大的快乐：这一点你我都一样。

另外有一点是肯定的，就是西方人的思想方式同我们距离太大了。不做翻译工作的人恐怕不会体会到这么深切。他们刻画心理和描写感情的时候，有些曲折和细腻的地方，复杂繁琐，简直与我们格格不入。我们对人生琐事往往有许多是人为不值一提而省略，有许多只是罗列事实而不加分析的；如果要写情就用诗人的态度来写：西方作家却多半用科学家的态度，历史学家的态度（特别巴尔扎克），像解剖昆虫一半。译的人固然懂得了，也感觉到它的特色，妙处，可是要叫思想方式完全不一样的读者领会就难了。思想方式反映整个的人生观，宇宙观，和几千年文化的发展，怎能一下子就能和另一民族的思想沟通呢？你很幸运，音乐不像语言的局限那么大，你还是用音符表达前人的音符，不是用另一种语言文字，另一种逻辑。（《博雷家书》）

Part 2 Reading Comprehension (20 points, 20 minutes)

In this section you will find after each of the passages a number of questions or unfinished statements about the passage, each with four (A, B, C and D) suggested answers or way of finishing. You must choose the one which you think fits best.

To Err Is Human by Lewis Thomas

Everyone must have had at least one personal experience with a computer error by this time. Bank balances are suddenly reported to have jumped form $379 into the millions, appeals for charitable contributions are mailed over and over to people with crazy sounding names at your address, department stores send the wrong bills, utility companies write that they’re turning everything off, that sort of thing. If you manage to get in touch with someone and complain, you then get instantaneously typed, guilty letters from the same computer, saying, “Our computer was in error, and an adjustment is being made in your account.” These are supposed to be the sheerest, blindest accidents. Mistakes are not believed to be the normal behavior of a good machine. If things go wrong, it must be a personal, human error, the result of fingering, tampering a button getting stuck, someone hitting the wrong key. The computer, at its normal best, is infallible.

I wonder whether this can be true. After all, the whole point of computers is that they represent an extension of the human brain, vastly improved upon but nonetheless human, superhuman maybe. A good computer can think clearly and quickly enough to beat you at chess, and some of them have even been programmed to write obscure verse. They can do anything we can do, and more besides.

It is not yet known whether a computer has its own consciousness, and it would be hard to find out about this. When you walk into one of those great halls now built for the huge machines, and standing listening, it is easy to imagine that the faint, distant noises are the sound of thinking, and the turning of the spools gives them the look of wild creatures rolling their eyes in the effort to concentrate, choking with information. But real thinking, and dreaming, are other matters. On the other hand, the evidence of something like an unconscious, equivalent to ours, are all around, in every mail. As extensions of the human brain, they have been constructed the same property of error, spontaneous, uncontrolled, and rich in possibilities.

Question 1: The title of the writing “To Err Is Human” implies that

A.making mistakes is confined only to human beings.

B.every human being cannot avoid making mistakes.

C.all human beings are always making mistakes.

D.every human being is born to make bad mistakes.

Question 2: The first paragraph implies that

https://www.360docs.net/doc/207108136.html,puter errors are so obvious that one can hardly prevent them form happening.

B. a computer is so capable of making errors that none of them is avoidable.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/207108136.html,puters make such errors as miscalculation and inaccurate reporting.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/207108136.html,puters can’t think so their errors are natural and unavoidable.

Question 3: The author uses his hypothesis that “computers represent an extension of the human brain” in order to indicate that

A.human beings are not infallible, nor are computers.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/207108136.html,puters are bound to make as many errors as human beings.

C.errors made by computers can be avoided the same as human mistakes can be avoided.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/207108136.html,puters are made by human beings and so are their errors.

Question 4: The rhetoric the author employed in writing the third paragraph, especially the sentence “A good computer can

think clearly and quickly enough to beat you at chess…” is usually referred to in writing as

A. climax.

B. p ersonification

C. hyp erbole

D. o nomatopoeia

Question 5: The author compared the faint and distant sound of the computer to the sound of thinking and regarded it as the product of A. dreaming and thinking B. s ome property of e rrors C. c onsciousness D po ssibilities

The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American by Jeff Smith

Our real American foods have come from our soil and have been used by many groups —those who already lived here and those who have come here to live. The Native Americans already had developed an interesting cuisine using the abundant foods that were so prevalent.

The influence that the English had upon our national eating habits is easy to see. They were a tough lot, those English, and they ate in a tough manner. They wiped their mouths on the tablecloth, if there happened to be one, and they ate until you would expect them to burst. European travelers to this country in those days were most often shocked by American eating habits, which included too much salt and too much liquor. Not much has changed! And, the Revolutionists refused to use the fork since it marked them as Europeans. The fork was not absolutely common on the American dinner table until about the time of the Civil War, the 1860s. Those English were a tough lot.

Other immigrant groups added their own touches to the preparation of our New World food products. The groups that came still have a special sense of self-identity through your ancestors who came from other lands was supposed to disappear in this country. The term melting pot was first used in reference to America in the late 1700s, so this belief that we would all become the same has been with us for a long time. Thank goodness it has never worked. The various immigrant groups continue to add flavor to the pot, all right, but you can pick out the individual flavors easily.

The largest ancestry group in America is the English. There are more people in America who claim to have come from English blood than there are in England. But is their food English? Thanks be to God, it is not! It is American. The second largest group is the Germans, then the Irish, the Afro-Americans, the French, the Italians, the Scottish, and the Polish. The Mexican and American Indian groups are all smaller than any of the above, though they were the original cooks in this country. Question 6: Which of the following statements is nearly identical in meaning with the sentence “they ate until you would expect them to burst” in the second paragraph?

A.You bet they would never stop to eat till they are full.

B.What you can expect is that they would not stop eating unless there was no more food.

C.The only thing you would expect is that they wouldn’t stop eating till they had had enough of the food.

D.the only thing is that they wouldn’t stop eating till they felt sick.

Question 7: Which of the following statements is Not true?

A.English people had bad table manners.

B.American food was exclusively unique in its flavors and varieties.

C.American diet contained a lot of fat, salt and liquor.

D.Europeans were not at all accustomed to the American way of eating.

Question 8: The author’s attitude towards American food is that

A.American food is better than foods from other countries.

B.American food is superior to European food.

C.European food had helped enrich the flavors and varieties of American food.

D. People from other countries could still identify from the American foods the foods that were unique to their countries.

Q9: Immigrant groups, when they got settled down in the United States, still have had their own sense of self-identity because

A.their foods are easily identified among all the foods American eat.

B.their foods stand out in sharp contrast to foods of other countries.

C.they know pretty well what elements of American food are of their own countries’ origin.

D.they know pretty well how their foods contribute to American cuisine.

Question 10: Which of the following statements is true?

A. People from other cultures or nations start to lose their self-identity once they get settled down in America.

B.The “melting pot” is supposed melt all the foods but in reality it doesn’t.

C. The special sense of self-identity of people from other countries can’t be maintained once they become Americans.

D. The “melting pot” finds it capable of melting all the food traditions into the American tradition.

2003年12月英语二级《笔译实务》试题

Section 1: English – Chinese Translation (英译汉)

This section consists of two parts, Part A —“Compulsory Translation” and Part B —“Choice of Two Translations” consisting of two sections “Topic I” and “Topic 2”. For the passage in Part A and your choice of passage in Part B, translate the underlined portions, including titles, into Chinese. Above your translation of Part A, write “Compulsory Translation” and above your translation from Part B, write “Topic I” or “Topic 2” (60 points, 100 minutes)

Part A Compulsory Translation (必译题) （30 points）

Nowhere to Go

For the latest on the pursuit of the American Dream in Silicon V alley, all you have to do is to talk to someone like “Nagaraj” (who didn’t want to reveal his real name). He’s an Indian immigrant who, like many other Indian engineers, came to America recently on an H-1B visa, which allows skilled workers to be employed by one company for as many as six years. But one morning last month, Nagaraj and a half dozen other Indian workers with H-1Bs were called into a conference room in their San Francisco technology-consulting firm and told they were being laid off. The reason: weakening economic conditions in Silicon V alley, “It was the shock of my lifetime,” says Nagaraj.

This is not a normal bear-market sob story. According to federal regulation, Nagaraj and his colleagues have two choices. They must either return to India, or find another job in a tight labor market and hope that the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) allow them to transfer their visa to the new company. And the law doesn’t allow them to earn a pay-check until all the paperwork winds its way through the INS bureaucracy. “How am I going to survive without any job and without any income?” Nagaraj wonders.

Until recently, H-1B visas were championed by Silicon V alley companies as the solution to the region’s shortage of programmers and engineers. First issued by the INS in 1992, they attract skilled workers from other countries, many of whom bring families with them, lay down roots and apply for the more permanent green cards. Through February 2000, more than 81,000 worker held such visas —but with the dot-com crash, many have been getting laid off. That’s causing mass consternation in U.S. immigrant communities. The INS considers a worker “out of status” when he loses a job, which technically means that he must pack up and go home. But because of the scope of this year’s layoffs, the U.S. government has recently backpedaled, issuing a confusing series of statements that suggest workers might be able to stay if they qualify for some exceptions and can find a new company to sponsor their visa. But even those loopholes remain nebulous. The result is thousands of immigrants now face dimming career prospects in America, and the possibilities that they will be sent home. “They are in limbo. It is the greatest form of torture,” says Amar Veda of the Silicon V alley-based Immigrants Support Network.

The crisis looks especially bad in light of all the heated visa rhetoric by Silicon V alley companies in the past few years. Last fall the industry won a big victory by getting Congress to approve an increase in the annual number of H-1B visas. Now, with technology firms retrenching, demand for such workers is slowing. V alley heavyweights like Intel, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard have all announced thousands of layoffs this year, which include many H-1B workers. The INS reported last month that only 16,000 new H-1B workers came to the United States in February —down from 32,000 in February of last year.

Last month, acknowledging the scope of the problem, the INS told H-1B holders “not to panic,” and that there would be a grace period for laid-off workers before they had to leave the United States. INS spokeswomen Eyleen Schmidt promises that more specific guidance will come this month. “We are aware of the cutbacks,” she says. “We’re trying to be as generous as we can be within the confines of the existing law.”

Part B Choice of Two Translations (二选一题) （30 points）

Topic 1 (选题一)

What Is the Force of Gravity?

If you throw a ball up, it will come down again. What makes it come down? The ball comes down because it is pulled or attracted towards the Earth. The Earth exerts a force of attraction on all objects. Objects that are nearer to the Earth are attracted to it with a greater force than those that are further away. This force of attraction is known as the force of gravity. The gravitational force acting on an object at the Earth’s surface is called the weight of the object.

All the heavenly bodies in space like the moon, the planets and the stars also exert an attractive force on objects. The bigger and heavier a body is, the greater is its force of gravity. Thus, since the moon is a smaller body than Earth, the force it exerts on an object at its surface is less than that exerted by the Earth on the same object on the Earth’s surface. In fact, the moon’s gravitational force is only one-sixth that of the Earth. This means that an object weighing 120 kilograms on Earth will only weigh 20 kilograms on the moon. Therefore on the moon you could lift weights which are six times heavier than the heaviest weight that you can lift on Earth.

The Earth’s gravitational force or pull keeps us and everything else on Earth from floating away to space. To get out into space and travel to the moon or other planets we have to overcome the Earth’s gravitational pull.

Entry into Space

How can we overcome the Earth’s gravitational pull? Scientists have been working on this for a long time. It is only recently that they have been able to build machines powerful enough to get out of the Earth’s gravitational pull. Such machines are called space rockets. Their great speed and power help them to escape from the Earth’s gravitational pull and go into space.

Rockets

The powerful space rocket works along the same lines as a simple firework rocket. The firework rocket has a cylindrical body and a conical head. The body is packed with gunpowder which is the fuel. It is a mixture of chemicals that will burn rapidly to form hot gases.

At the base or foot of the rocket there is an opening or nozzle. A fuse hangs out like a tail from the nozzle. A long stick attached along the body serves to direct the rocket before the fuse is lighted.

When the gunpowder burns, hot gases rush out of the nozzle. The hot gases continue to rush out as long as the gunpowder burns. When these gases shoot downwards through the nozzle the rocket is pushed upwards. This is called jet propulsion. The simple experiment, shown in the picture, will help you to understand jet propulsion.

Topic 2 （选题二）

Basketball Diplomacy

CHINA”S TALLEST SOLDIER never really expected to live the American Dream. But Wang Zhizhi, a 7-foot-1 basketball star from the People’s Liberation Army, is making history as the first Chinese player in the NBA. In his first three weeks in America the 23-year-old rookie has already cashed his first big NBA check, preside over “Wang Zhizhi Day” in San Francisco and become immortalized on his very own trading cards. He’s even played in five games with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, scoring 24 points in just 38 minutes. Now the affable Lieutenant Wang is joining the Mavericks on their ride into the NBA playoffs —and he is intent on enjoying every minute. One recent evening Wang slipped into the hot tub behind the house of Mavericks assistant coach Donn Nelson. He leaned back, stretched out and pointed at a plane moving across the star-filled sky. In broken English, he started singing his favorite tune: “I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.”

Back in China, the nation’s other basketball phenom, Yao Ming , can only dream of taking flight. Yao thought he was going to be the first Chinese player in the NBA. The 7-foot-5 Shanghai sensation is more highly touted than Wang: the 20-year-old could be the No.1 overall pick in the June NBA draft. But as the May 13 deadline to enter the draft draws near, Yao is still waiting for a horde of business people and apparatchiks to decide his fate. Last week, as Wang scored 13 points in the Dallas season finale, Yao was wading through a stream of bicycles on a dusty Beijing street.

Yao and Wang are more than just freaks of nature in basketball shorts. The twin towers are national treasures, symbols of China’s growing stature in the world. They’re also emblematic of the NBA’s outsize dreams for conquering China. The NBA, struggling at home, sees salvation in the land of 1.3 billion potential hoop fans. China, determined to win the 2008 Olympics and join the World Trade Organization, is eager to make its mark on the world —on its own terms. The two-year struggle to get these young players into the NBA has been a cultural collision —this one far removed from U.S.-China bickering over spy

planes and trade liberalization. If it works out, it could be —in basketball parlance —the ultimate give-and-go. “This is just like Ping-Pong diplomacy,” says Xia Song, a sport-marketing executive who represents Wang. “Only with a much bigger ball.” Two years ago it looked more like a ball and chain. Wang’s Army bosses were miffed when the Mavericks had the nerve to draft their star back in 1999. Nelson remembers flying to Beijing with the then owner Ross Perot Jr. —son of the eccentric billionaire —to hammer out a deal with the stone-faced communists of the PLA. “You could hear them thinking: ‘What is this NBA team doing, trying to lay claim to our property?’” Nelson recalls. “We tried to explain that this was an honor for Wang and for China.” There was no deal. Wang grew despondent and lost his edge on court.

This year Yao became the anointed one. He eclipsed Wang in scoring and rebounding, and even stole away his coveted MVP award in the Chinese Basketball Association league. It looked as if his Shanghai team —a dynamic semicapitalist club in China’s most open city —would get its star to the NBA first.

Then came the March madness. Wang broke out of his slump to lead the Army team to its sixth consecutive CBA title —scoring 40 in the final game. A day later the PLA scored some points of its own by announcing that Wang was free to go West. What inspired the change of heart? No doubt the Mavericks worked to build trust with Chinese officials (even inviting national- team coach Wang Fei to spend the 1999-2000 season in Dallas). There was also the small matter of Chinese pride. The national team stumbled to a 10th-place finish at the 2000 Olympics, after placing eighth in 1996. Even the most intransigent cadre could see that the team would improve only if it sent its stars overseas to learn from the world’s best players.

Section 2: Chinese-English Translation （汉译英）

This section consists of two parts, Part A —“Compulsory Translation” and Part B —“Choice of Two Translations” consisting of two sections “Topic 1” and “Topic 2”. For the passage in Part A and your choice of passage in Part B, translate the underlined portions, including titles, into English. Above your translation of Part A, write “Compulsory Translation” and above your translation from Part B, write “Topic 1” or “Topic 2” (40 points, 80 minutes)

Part A Compulsory Translation（必译题）（20 points）

中华民族历来尊重人的尊严和价值。还在遥远的古代，我们的先人就已提出“民为贵”的思想，认为“天生万物，唯人为贵”，一切社会的发展和进步，都取决于人的发展和进步，取决于人的尊严的维护和价值的发挥。中国共产党领导人民进行革命、建设和改革，就是要实现全中国人民广泛的自由、民主和人权。今天中国所焕发出来的巨大活力，是中国人民拥有广泛自由、民主的生动写照。中国在公元一世纪人口就已达到过六千万左右，众多人口的衣食住行，几千年来一直是中国历代政府所要解决的首要人权问题。今天的中国是一个有十二亿多人口的发展中大国，仍然必须首先保障最广大人民的生存权和发展权，不然一切其他权利都无从谈起。中国确保十二亿多人的生存权和发展权，这是对世界人权进步事业的重大贡献。

Part B Choice of Two Translation （二选一题）（20 points）

Topic 1（选题一）

艾滋病

艾滋病是一种威胁生命的疾病，它侵袭人体内的自然免疫系统，破坏人体的自卫能力。

艾滋病本身并不致命，但是，由于人体的免疫系统遭到破坏，病人几乎没有能力低于其他许多疾病的侵袭，例如，肺炎、癌症、致盲性疾病和精神错乱。

艾滋病毒存在于人的体液中。这种病毒可以通过性生活或共用静脉注射器传播，也可以通过血制品传播，并且可以从患艾滋病的孕妇身上传播给她的妊娠婴儿。

有关艾滋病传播的许多说法是错误的。与艾滋病患者一起工作或上学不会传染上艾滋病，触摸他们用过的饮水杯或其他东西也不会传染上艾滋病。专家们说：没有人因为与艾滋病患者一起生活、照料艾滋病患者或触摸艾滋病患者而染上艾滋病。

Topic 2 （选题二）

时间之谜

如果你能够看懂时钟，你就可以知道一天的时间。但是谁也不知道，时间本身究竟是什么。时间是看不到、摸不着、听不见的，我们只能记录时间消逝的办法才知道时间的存在。虽然我们成功的测量了时间的分分秒秒，但时间仍然是宇宙间及其神秘的现象之一。

思考时间的一个方法是设想一个没有时间的世界。那样，就不可能有运动了，因为时间和运动是不可分开的。一个

没有时间的世界只有在没有变化的情况下才能存在。因为时间和变化是联系在一起的。当某件事发生变化时，你知道时间已经流逝。在现实世界里，变化是永无止境的，有一些变化，如月食，只发生在瞬间，而另一些变化则反复出现，比如日出和日落。人们一直注意那些反复出现的自然现象，在人们开始计算这些现象时，他们就开始测定时间了。

2004年5月英语二级《笔译综合能力》试题

Section 1: Vocabulary and Grammar (25 points) The time for this section is 25 minutes.

Part 1 Vocabulary Selection

1 The explanation given by the manager yesterday was not at all _____ to us.

A. satisfy

B. satisfied

C. satisfactory

D. satisfying

2 Part of the funds will be used to ____ that old blbrary to its original splendor.

A. rest

B. recover

C. replace

D. restore

3 This silk has gone right _____ and we have not sold a single piece of it for weeks.

A. out of fad

B. out of pattern

C. out of custom

D. out of fashion

4 The new Personal Digital Assistance contained a large ___ of information about an individual life.

A. deal

B. amount

C. number

D. account

5 Primitive superstitions that feed racism should be _____ through education.

A. ignored

B. exalted

C. eradicated

D. canceled

6. _____ pollution control measures are expensive, many local governments hesitate to adopt them.

A. Although

B. However

C. Because

D. Moreover

7. The less the surface of the ground yields to the weight of the body of a runner, _____ to the body.

A. the stress it is greater

B. greater is the stress

C. greater stress is

D. the greater the stress

8. Annie Jump Cannon, _____ discovered so many stars that she was called “the census taker of the sky.”

A. a leading astronomer,

B. who, as a leading astronomer,

C. was a leading astronomer,

D. a leading astronomer who

9. Kingdom of Wonders, _____ in 1995 in Fremont, Calif., became an industry legend for two toys: a talking bear and a ray-gun game.

A. find

B. found

C. founded

D. founding

10. Over a very large number of trials, the probability of an event _____ is equal to the probability that it will not occur.

A. occurring

B. to occur

C. occurs

D. occur

11. Only one-fifth of Americans saw oil as the chief reason that the U.S. made a war on Iraq, but 75 percent of the French and of the Russians believed _____.

A. to

B. so

C. go

D. do

12. Sadly, while the academic industry thrives, the practice of translation continues to _____.

A. stack

B. stage

C. stagnate

D. stamp

13. Your blunt treatment of disputes would put other people in a negative frame of _____, with the result that they would not be

able to accept your proposal.

A. mind

B. idea

C. intention

D. wish

14. If you are an energetic person with strong views as to the right way of doing things, you find yourself _____ under pressures. A. variably B. invariably C. invaluably D. invalidly

15. Uncle Vernon, quite unlike Harry Potter who looked nothing like the rest of the family, was large, very fat, and _____, with an enormous black mustache. A. neck-less B. neck-lace C. reckless D. rack-less

16. Home to _____ and gangsters, officials and laborers, refugees and artists, the city was, in its prime, a metropolis that exhibited all the hues of the human character. A. magnates B. magnets C. machine D. magnitudes 17. His _____ behavior made everyone nervous. He was always rushing to open doors and perform other small tasks, apologizing unnecessarily for any inconvenience that he might have caused.

A. oblivious

B. observant

C. obsequious

D. obsolescent

18. He was completely __________ by her tale of hardship. A. taken away B. taken down C. taken in D. taken up

19. Americans who consider themselves _____ in the traditional sense do not usually hesitate to heap criticism in domestic matters over what they believe is oppressive or wasteful. A. pedestrian B. penchant C. patriarch D. patriotic

20. As technological advances put more and more time between early school life and the young person's final access to

specialized work, the stage of _____ becomes an even more marked and conscious period.

A. adolescence

B. adjacency

C. advantage

D. adventure

Part 2 Vocabulary Replacement

21. That boy is suffering from unrequited love and pines away. A. fervent B. obsessive C. secret D. unreturned

22. For a long time in that vast region, this law was in abeyance. A. a ctive use B. dou bt C. discussion D. disuse

23. A court-martial has but recently decided to acquit him.

A. declare he is not guilty

B. upwardly mobile

C. excessively overweight

D. privately educated

24. There are more people who are obese today than 20 years ago.

A. gainfully employed

B. upwardly mobile

C. excessively overweight

D. privately educated

25. As a conductor, Leonard Bernstein is famous for his intensely vigorous and exuberant style.

A. e nthusiastic

B. n ervous

C. p ainful

D. e xtreme

26. When insects feed on decaying plant material in a compost pile, they help turn it into useful garden soil.

A. a vailable

B. o rganic

C. di s tasteful

D. d ecomposing

27. Researchers have discovered that dolphins are able to mimic human speech.

A. i m port

B. i m itate

C. i m pair

D. h umor

28. The dichotomy postulated by many between idealism is one of the standard clichés of the ongoing debate over international

affatrs. A. division B. combination of two parts C. disparity D. contradiction

29. Attempts have been made for nearly three decades to increase the amount of precipitation from clouds by seeding them with

salt or silver iodide. A. Devices B. Hypotheses C. Efforts D. Suggestions

30. Justices of the peace have jurisdiction over the trials of some civil suits and of criminal cases involving minor offenses.

A. supremacy

B. authority

C. guidance

D. obedience

31. The feeling of competition among the students in all the classrooms where the test was going on was noticeable to everyone.

A. discord

B. discovery

C. rivalry

D. cooperation

32. The artist spent years on his monumental painting, which covered the whole roof of the church, the biggest in the country.

A. archaic

B. sentimental

C. outstanding

D. entire

33. Many of the electric and electronic products we purchase and consume today are what some industrial experts call “homogeneous toys”. A. i d entical B. hom osexual C. unrelated D. distinguishable

34. Anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff furthered her reputation as an authority on Native American culture with her study of the symbols, myths, and rituals of the Huichol people. A. deserved B. retained C. renewed D. advanced

35. This reflects the priority being attached to economic over political activity, partly caused by a growing reluctance to enter a calling blighted by relentless publicity that all too often ends in destroying careers and reputations.

A. powerfulness

B. unwillingness

C. r e naissance

D. apologeticness

Part 3 Error Correction

36. An epigram is usually defined being a bright or witty thought that is tersely and ingeniously expressed.

A. a s

B. as be

C. a s be en

D. to being

37. Upon completing his examination over the patient, the doctor offered his judgment of her conditions.

A. of

B. o ff

C. a bout

D. around

38. If they spend some time on Chinese history, they will be more able to predict China’s future.

A. more

B. a ble

C. be tter

D. be tter a ble

39. When she returned back by abroad, she told us all about her experience as an illegal immigrant.

A. by

B. ba ck

C. f r om

D. b ack from

40. He was looking impatient at the visiting salesman, who showed no signs of getting ready to leave.

A. patient

B. patience

C. impatience

D. impatiently

41. The recent conference on the effective use of the seas and ocean was another attempt resolving major differences among countries with conflicting interests. A. resolve B. resolves C. to resolve D. being resolved

42. Life insurance, before available only to young, healthy persons, can now be obtained for old people, and even for pets.

A. before young, healthy persons available only,

B. available only to young, healthy persons before,

C. available only to persons young, but more healthy,

D. before young and healthy persons only available to,

43. Following a year of fast development, by the first quarter of this year, China has had about 1,100 e-commerce websites.

A.China had about 1,100 e-commerce websites by the end of last March

B.by the end of the first quarter of this year, China has had about 1,100 e-commerce websites

C.by the end of this recent past March, China has about 1,100 e-commerce websites

D.by the end of this first quarter, China had about 1,100 or so e-commerce websites

44. Sino-foreign educational program on business is popular in China now, and the demand for high level interpretation is great.

A. programs in enterprises / high level interpreters

B. programs in international business / senior interpreters

C. program in international biz / senior interpretations

D. programs of business / high-level interpretations

45. Many students agreed to come, but some students against because they said they don’t have time.

A. were against because they said they did not

B. were against because they say they don’t

C. were against it because they said they did not

D. were against coming because they said they don’t

46. While it is essential that the text covers the subject adequately, it is also important that it is neither too detailed or too complex for the intended reader. A. for B. nor C. no D. not

47. Consumer porcelains in Jingdezhen are not selling well in export market as compared with those made in Liling, Hunan Province and Zibo, Shandong Province.

A. on export market

B. in exporting market

C. in exported market

D. in the export market

48. It is a market which sales value might be more than 10 billion yuan.

A. a market with a sales value that might be

B. a market which might be sales value

C. a market with sale value might be

D. market with sales might be a value

49. As an English major student, I think business English is more practical than other fields.

A. a English student / field

B. a English major student / regions

C. a English major / courses

D. an English student major / sciences

50. We should let more young parents and their children can enjoy scientific early education.

A.provide more young parents and their children to enjoy early education

B.provide more young parents and their children to enjoy early education and scientific

C.provide young parents and their children enjoy more scientific early education

D.provide young parents and their children with more early education services

Section 2: Reading Comprehension (50 points) The time for this section is 70 minutes.

Questions 51 —60 are based on the following passage.

Social control refers to social processes, planned or unplanned, by which people are taught, persuaded, or forced to conform to norms. In every society, some punishments or negative sanctions are established for deviant behavior. Without deviant behavior there would not be need for social control and without social control there would not be a way of recognizing the boundary between the acceptable and the unacceptable.

Social control may be either formal or informal. Informal mechanisms include expressions of disapproval by significant others and withholding of positive rewards for disapproved behavior. Most people internalize norms in the course of socialization. This is any group’s most powerful protection against deviance, in that the individual’s own conscience operates as an agent of social control. When informal sanctions fail, formal agents of social control may be called upon. In contemporary society, such formal agents and agencies include psychiatry and other mental health professions; mental hospitals; police and courts of law; prisons; and social welfare agencies. All these formal agents function to limit, correct, and control violation of norms. Conflict theorists would also point out that social control agents and systems tend, in any society, to serve the interests of powerful groups and to enforce the norms most beneficial to those who make the rules and who, therefore, define unacceptable behavior.

Social control, whether formal or informal, has a dual function. First, it punishes the wrongdoer and reaffirms the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Second, and less recognized, it regulates the manner in which deviants are treated.

51. Social control refers to processes by which ____.

A.norms are developed

B. norms are enforced

C. people are educated and trained

D. people are rewarded and punished

52. Every society has its own ____. A. planned systems B. controlled norms C. recognized boundary D. established sanctions

53. Informal mechanisms of social control include the following EXCEPT ____.

A. a high level of interest in ensuring conformity

B. expression of disapproval by significant others

C. withholding of positive rewards for the deviants

D. people’s internalization of norms in socialization

54. The most powerful protection against deviance is ____.

A. negative sanctions

B. severe punishments

C. the individual’s conscience

D. unrestrained suppression

55. Formal agents of social control include the following EXCEPT ____.

A.police stations

B. mental hospitals

C. welfare agencies

D. vocational schools

56. The purpose of formal agents is to ____.

A. make beneficial rules

B. preserve social orders

C. control violation of norms

D. define acceptable behavior

57. Which statement about social control agents is NOT true?

A.They tend to serve the interest of those who enforce the norms.

B.They tend to serve the interest of those who receive a benefit.

C.They tend to serve the interest of those who make the rules.

D.They tend to serve the interest of those who are powerful.

58. According to conflict theorists, social control agents and systems are ____.

A. liberal

B. partial

C. neutral

D. overall

59. In the third paragraph, “a dual function” refers to ____.

A. formal and informal

B. rewards and penalities

C. approval and disapproval

D. clarification and regulation

60. The perspective from which the author discusses social control is ____.

A. bi o logical

B. s ociological

C. p sychological

D. anthropological

Questions 61 —70 are based on the following passage.

Every group has a culture, however uncivilized it may seem to us. To the professional anthropologist, there is no intrinsic superiority of one culture over another, just as to the professional linguist, there is no intrinsic hierarchy among languages. People once thought of the languages of backward groups as undeveloped. While it if possible that language in general began as a series of grunts and groans, it is a fact established by the study of “backward” languages that no spoken tongue answers that description today. Most languages of uncivilized groups are, by our most severe standards, extremely complex. They differ from Western languages not in their sound patterns or grammatical structures, which usually are fully adequate for all language needs, but only in their vocabularies, which reflect the objects and activities known to their speakers. Even in this aspect, two things are to be noted. First, all languages seem to possess the machinery for vocabulary expansion, either by putting together words already in existence or by borrowing them from other languages and adapting them to their own system. Second, the objects and activities requiring names and distinctions in “backward” languages, while different from the West, are often surprisingly numerous and complicated. A Western language distinguishes merely between two degrees of remoteness (“this” and “that”). But some languages of the American Indians distinguish between what is close to the speaker, or to the person addressed, or removed from both, or out of sight, or in the past, or in the future.

61. Every group of human beings has ____.

A. its own set of ideas, beliefs and ways of life

B. an extremely complex and delicate language

C. its own elegant music, literature, and other arts

D. the process of growing crops or raising animals

62. To the professional linguists, ____.

A. there is no intrinsic superiority of cultures

B. there is no intrinsic hierarchy of languages

C. all languages came from grunts and groans

D. all languages are most severe and standard

63. Most languages of uncivilized groups are ____.

A. a dequate

B. n umerous

C. i n genious

D. i n genuous

64. “Backward” languages fall behind Western languages in ____.

A. ways to transfer ideas

B. forms to satisfy needs

C. abilities to answer description

D. systems to expand vocabulary

65. All languages, whether civilized or not, have their own ____.

A. ways to transfer ideas

B. forms to satisfy needs

C. abilities to answer description

D. systems to expand vocabulary

66. Which of the following statements is implied in the passage?

A. Anthropologists have nothing to do with linguists.

B. Linguists have nothing to do with anthropologists.

C. The study of languages casts light upon the study of cultures.

D. The study of cultures casts no light upon the study of languages.

67. It is implied that all cultures have to be viewed ____.

A. p rofoundly

B. i n trinsically

C. i n dependently

D. p rofessionally

68. According to this passage, to learn a foreign language would require one to ____.

A. do more activities

B. learn about a new culture

C. meet more people

D. need more names

69. The author’s attitude shown in this passage toward “backward” languages is ____.

A. restrained

B. subjective

C. objective

D. resolute

70. This passage is on the whole ____.

A. narrative

B. instructive

C. prescriptive

D. argumentative

Questions 71 —80 are based on the following passage.

The field of medicine has always attracted its share of quacks and charlatans —disreputable women and men with little or no medical knowledge who promise quick cures at cheap prices. The reasons why quackery thrives even in modern times are easy to find.

To begin with, pain seems to be a chronic human condition. A person whose body or mind “hurts” will often pay any amount of money for the promise of relief. Second, even the best medical treatment cannot cure all the ills that beset men and women. People who mistrust or dislike the truths that their physicians tell them often turn to more sympathetic ears.

Many people lack the training necessary to evaluate medical claims. Given the choice between (a) a reputable physician who says a cure for cancer will be long, expensive and may not work at all, and (b) a salesperson who says that several bottles of a secret formula “snake oil” will cure not only cancer but tuberculosis as well, some individuals will opt for “snake oil”.

Many “snake oil” remedies are highly laced with alcohol or narcotic drugs. Anyone who drinks them may get so drunk or stoned that they drown their pains in the rising tide of pleasant intoxication. Little wonder that “snake oil” is a popular cure-all for minor aches and hurts! But let there be no misunderstandings. A very few “home remedies” actually work. However, most remedies sold by quacks are not only useless, but often can be harmful as well.

71. In this passage, a quack or a charlatan is someone who ____.

A. has a special ability

B. has little knowledge

C. is not a good doctor

D. pretends to be a doctor

72. The sentence “pain seems to be a chronic human condition” means pain seems to ____.

A. be very serious

B. be very difficult

C. last for a long time

D. be always happening

73. Quackery thrives even in modern times because ____.

A. patients pay any amount of money

B. patients do not like their physicians

C. quacks say that they can help patients

D. best medical treatment costs very much

74. People who seek the advice of quacks and charlatans are those who ____.

A. are poorly educated

B. are highly educated

C. dislike medical treatments

D. mistrust physicians’ truths

75. To evaluate medical claims, one must ____.

A. turn to reputable doctors

B. make an adequate choice

C. have the necessary training

D.disbelieve promise of relief

76. According to the author, a very few home remedies are ____.

A. u seless

B. h armful

C. pl e asant

D. e ffective

77. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Quacks are really sympathetic.

B. “Snake oil” does not work.

C. Doctors cannot cure all ills.

D. Patients are often impatient.

78. Many individuals opt for “snake oil” because they ____.

A. are misled by a secret formula

B. cannot afford a treatment

C. lack medical knowledge

D. do not trust physicians

79. “Snake oil” is a popular cure-all for minor aches and hurts because it has ____.

A. actually worked

B. some fruit stones

C. been misunderstood

D. alcohol or narcotic drugs

80. Which of the following would be the best title of this passage?

A. Distrust of Physicians

B. Medical Treatment

C. Snake Oil Remedies

D. Guard Against Quackery Questions 81 —90 are based on the following passage.

Modern industrial society grants little status to old people. In fact, such a society has a system of built-in obsolescence. There is no formal system for continuing our education throughout our life in order to keep up with rapidly changing knowledge. When our education and job skills have grown obsolete, we are treated exactly like those who have never gained an education or job skills and are not encouraged or given the opportunity to begin anew.

As a society becomes more highly developed, the overall status of older people diminishes. Improved health technology creates a large pool of old people, who compete for jobs with the young. However, economic technology lowers the demand for workers and creates new jobs for which the skills of the aged are obsolete, forcing older people into retirement. At the same time, young people are being educated in the new technology and are keeping pace with rapid changes in knowledge. Finally, urbanization creates age-segregated neighborhoods. Because the old live on fixed incomes, they must often live in inferior housing. All these factors —retirement, obsolete knowledge and skills, inferior standards of living —lower the status of the aged in society.

A century ago, when one could expect to live only to 50 or so, the life span more or less coincided with the occupation and family cycle. But today the average life span allows for fifteen to twenty years of life after these cycles. It appears that our life span is outpacing our usefulness in society.

81. By “a system of build-in obsolescence” the author means ___.

A. no formal systems exist in modern industrial society

B. old people have no status in modern industrial society

C. young people have chances in modern industrial society

D. knowledge changes rapidly in modern industrial society

82. According to the first paragraph, which of the following is true?

A. People don’t have to gain education.

B. People don’t have to learn job skills.

C. People don’t have to be treated as equals.

D. People don’t have chances to begin anew.

83. The more highly developed a society is, ____.

A. the more advanced technology will be

B. the larger the number of people will be

C. the more diminished old people’s status will be

D. the lower the overall status of the people will be

84. The high development of economic technology ____.

A. makes job skills out of fashion

B. lowers the demand for workers

C. forces old people into retirement

D. creates new jobs for older people

85. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Retired people could only live on fixed incomes.

B. Retired people are more skillful than young people.

C. Young people are educated in the new technology.

D. Young people are keeping pace with rapid changes.

86. According to this passage, the status of the aged is lowered by their ____.

A. forced retirement

B. inferior housing

C. longer l i fe s pan

D. fixed incomes

87. The sentence “our life span outpaces our usefulness” means we can live longer ____.

A. and make progress

B. and do more work

C. but move slowly

D. but become useless

88. The author’s attitude toward the aged is ____.

A. realistic

B. optimistic

C. pessimistic

D. sympathetic

89. It can be deduced from this passage that one should ____.

A. learn new s kills

B. be open-minded

C. have a good personality

D. keep pace with the times

90. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A. The Problem of Aging

B. Social Structures

C. Economic Technology

D. Continuing Education

Questions 91 —100 are based on the following passage.

When you first drift off into slumber, your eyes will roll about a bit, your temperature will drop slightly, your muscles will relax, and your breathing will become quite regular. Your brain waves slow down a bit, with the alpha rhythm predominating for the first few minutes. This is the first stage of sleep. For the next 30 minutes or so, you will drift down through Stage 2 and Stage 3. The lower your stage of sleep, the slower your brain waves will be. About 40-60 minutes after you lose consciousness, you will reach the last stage. Your brain waves will show the delta rhythm. You may think that you stay at this deep stage all the rest of the night, but that turns out not to be the case. About 80 minutes after you fall into slumber, your activity cycle will increase slightly. The delta rhythm will disappear, to be replaced by the activity pattern of Rapid Eye Movements lasts for 8-15 minutes and is called REM sleep.

During both light and deep sleep, the muscles in your body are relaxed but capable of movement. As you slip into REM sleep, a very odd thing occurs —most of the voluntary muscles in your body become paralyzed. Although your brain shows very rapid bursts of neural activity during REM sleep, your body is incapable of moving. REM sleep is accompanied by extensive muscular inhibition.

91. On the part of an average sleeper, there ____ of sleep in cycles.

A. is one stage

B. are two stages

C. are six stages

D. are four stages

92. When a person falls into the state of sleep, his ____. A. eyeballs will roll about a bit

B. mind will relax more and more

C. breathing will slow for minutes

D. temperature will increase slightly

93. The lower your stage of sleep, ____. A. the faster your eyes will roll about B. the quieter your breath will become

C. the slower your brain waves will be

D. the higher your temperature will be

94. After you have reached the deepest sleep, ____.

A. you will stay at the fourth stage the rest of the night

B. you will lose your consciousness for 40-60 minutes

C. your brain waves will show the delta rhythm

D. your brain waves will show the alpha rhythm

95. In the REM sleep, ____. A. the delta rhythm will disappear B. the activity pattern will appear

C. something will occur in front of you

D. your eyes will begin to dart around

96. You will fall into the fourth stage of sleep ____.

A. about 80 minutes after you fall into slumber

B. some 10 minutes after you fall into REM sleep

C. about 40 minutes after you lose consciousness

D. some 30 minutes after you brain waves slow

97. The first paragraph of this passage tells us about ____. A. the rhythms of brain waves

B. the daily activities of sleep

C. the stages of sleep in cycles

D. the daily activities in cycles

98. In this passage, the word “paralyzed” means unable to ____.

A. move

B. think

C. work

D. speak

99. The phrase “extensive muscular inhibition” means ____.

A. the body is incapable of movement

B. the muscles in the body are relaxed

C. voluntary muscles are capable of movement

D. the brain shows rapid burst of neural activity

100. The best title for this passage would be ____.

A. Brain Waves

B. Sleep Cycles

C. Daily Activities

D. Body Activities

Section 3: Cloze Test (25 points)

In the following passage, there are 25 blanks representing words that are missing from the context. Y ou are to put back in each

of the blanks the missing word. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. The time for this section is 25 minutes.

Some consumer researchers distinguish ____ (1) “rational” motives and “emotional” (or “non-rational”) motives. They use the term “rationality” ____ (2) the traditional economic sense that assumes ____ (3) consumers behave rationally when they carefully consider all alternatives ____ (4) choose those that give them the greatest utility (i.e., satisfaction). ____ (5) a marketing context, the term “rationality” implies that the consumer selects goods based ____ (6) totally objective criteria, such

____ (7) size, weight, price, and so on. “Emotional” motives imply the selection of goods ____ (8) to personal or subjective criteria —the desire ____ (9) individuality, pride, fear, affection or status.

The assumption underlying this distinction is ____ (10) subjective or emotional criteria do not maximize utility or satisfaction, ____ (11), it is reasonable to assume that consumers always attempt to select alternatives that, ____ (12) their view, serve to

maximize satisfaction. Obviously, the assessment of satisfaction is a very personal process, based ____ (13) the individual’s own needs as ____ (14) as on past behavioral, social, and learning experiences. What may appear ____ (15) irrational to an outside observer may be perfectly rational ____ (16) the context of the consumer’s own psychological field. For example, a product purchased to enhance one’s self-image (such as a fragrance) is a perfectly rational form of consumer behavior. ____ (17) behavior did not appear rational to the person who undertakes it ____ (18) the time that it is undertaken, obviously he or she would not do it. ____ (19) the distinction between rational and emotional motives does not appear to be warranted.

Some researchers go so far ____ (20) to suggest that emphasis ____ (21) “needs” obscures the rational, or conscious, nature of most consumer motivation. They claim that consumers act consciously ____ (22) maximize their gains and minimize their losses; that they act not ____ (23) subconscious drives but from rational preferences, ____ (24) what they perceive to be ____ (25) their own best interests.

2004年5月英语二级《笔译实务》试题

Section 1: English-Chinese Translation（英译汉）（60 point）The time for this section is 100 minutes.

Part A Compulsory Translation（必译题）（30 points）

The first outline of The Ascent of Man was written in July 1969and the last foot of film was shot in December 1972. An undertaking aslarge as this, though wonderfully exhilarating, is not entered lightly. It demands an unflagging intellectual and physical vigour, a total immersion, which I had to be sure that I could sustain with pleasure; for instance, Ihad to put off researches that I had already begun; and I ought to explai-n what moved me to do so.

There has been a deep change in the temper of science in the last20 years: the focus of attention has shifted from the physical to the life sciences. As a result, science is drawn more and more to the study of in-dividuality. But the interested spectator is hardly aware yet how far-reaching the effect is in changing the image of man that science moulds. Asa mathematician trained in physics, I too would have been unaware, had not a series of lucky chances taken me into the life sciences in middle age. I owe a debt for the good fortune that carried me into two seminal fields of science in one lifetime; and though I do not know to whom the debt is due, I conceived The Ascent of Man in gratitude to repay it.

The invitation to me from the British Broadcasting Corporation was to present the development of science in a series of television programmes to match those of Lord Clark on Civilisation. Television is an admirable medium- for exposition in several ways: powerful and immediate to the eye, able to take the spectator bodily into the places and processes that are described, and conversational enough to make him conscious that what he witnesses are not events but the actions of people. The last of these merits is to my mind the most cogent, and it weighed most with me in agreeing to cast a personal biography of ideas in the form of television essays. The point is that knowledge in general and science in particular does not consist of abstract but of man-made ideas, all the way from its beginnings to its modern and idiosyncratic models. Therefore the underlying concepts that unlock nature must be shown to arise early and in the simplest cultures of man from his basic and specific faculties. And the development of science which joins them in more and more complex conjunctions must be seen to be equally human: discoveries are made by men, not merely by minds, so that they are alive and charged with individuality. If television is not used to make these thoughts concrete, it is wasted.

Part B Optional Translations （二选一题）（30 points）

Topic 1 （选题一）

It’s not that we are afraid of seeing him stumble, of scribbling a mustache over his career. Sure, the nice part of us wants Mike to know we appreciate him, that he still reigns, at least in our memory. The truth, though, is that we don’t want him to come back because even for Michael Jordan, this would be an act of hubris so monumental as to make his trademark confidence twist into conceit. We don’t want him back on the court be cause no one likes a show-off. The stumbling? That will be fun.

But we are nice people, we Americans, with 225 years of optimism at our backs. Days ago when M.J. said he had made a decision about returning to the NBA in September, we got excited. He had said the day before, “I look forward to playing, and hopefully I can get to that point where I can make that decision. It’s O.K., to have some doubt, and it’s O.K. to have some nervousness.” A Time/CNN poll last week has Americans, 2 to 1, saying they would like him on the court ASAP. And only 21 percent thought that if he came back and just completely bombed, it would damage his legend. In fact only 28 percent think

athletes should retire at their peak.

Sources close to him tell Time that when Jordan first talked about a comeback with the Washington Wizards, the team Jordan co-owns and would play for, some of his trusted advisers privately tried to discourage him. “But they say if they try to stop him, it will only firm up his resolve,” says an NBA source.

The problem with Jordan’s return is not only that he can’t possibly live up to the storybook ending he gave up in 1998 — earning his sixth ring with a last-second championship-winning shot. The problem is that the motives for coming back — needing the attention, needing to play even when his 38-year-old body does not — violate the very myth of Jordan, the myth of absolute control. Babe Ruth, the 20th century’s first star, was a gust of fat bravado and drunken talent, while Jordan ended the century by proving the elegance of resolve; Babe’s pointing to the bleachers replaced by the charm of a backpedaling shoulder shrug. Jordan symbolized success by not sullying his brand with his politics, his opinion or superstar personality. To be a Jordan fan was to be a fan of classiness and confidence.

To come back when he knows that playing for Wizards won’t get him anywhere near the second round of the play-offs, when he knows that he won’t be the league scoring leader, that’s a loss of control.

Jordan does not care what we think. Friends say that he takes articles that tell him not to come back and tacks them all on his refrigerator as inspiration. So why bother writing something telling him not to come back? He is still Michael Jordan.

Topic 2 （选题二）

Even after I was too grown-up to play that game and too grown-up to tell my mother that I loved her, I still believed I was the best daughter. Didn’t I run all the way up to the terrace to check on the drying mango pickles whenever she asked?

As I entered my teens, it seemed that I was becoming an even better, more loving daughter. Didn’t I drop whatever I was doing each afternoon to go to the corner grocery to pick up any spices my mother had run out of?

My mother, on the other hand, seemed more and more unloving to me. Some days she positively resembled a witch as she threatened to pack me off to my second uncle’s home in provincial Barddhaman — a fate worse than death to a cool Calcutta girl like me — if my grades didn’t improve. Other days she would sit me down and tell me about “Girls Who Brought Shame to Their Families”. There were apparently, a million ways in which one could do this, and my mother was determined that I should be cautioned against every one of them. On principle, she disapproved of everything I wanted to do, from going to study in America to perming my hair, and her favorite phrase was “over my dead body.” It was clear that I loved her far more than she loved me — that is, if she loved me at all.

After I finished graduate school in America and got married, my relationship with my mother improved a great deal. Though occasionally dubious about my choice of a writing career, overall she thought I’d shaped up nicely. I thought the same about her. We established a rhythm: She’d write from India and give me all the gossip and send care packages with my favorite kind of mango pickle; I’d call her from the United States and tell her all the things I’d been up to and send care packages with instant vanilla pudding, for which she’d developed a great fondness. We loved each other equally — or so I believed until my first son, Anand, was born.

My son’s birth shook up my neat, organized, in-control adult existence in ways I hadn’t imagined. I went through six weeks of being shrouded in an exhausted fog of postpartum depression. As my husband and I walked our wailing baby up and down through the night, and I seriously contemplated going AWOL, I wondered if I was cut out to be a mother at all. And mother love — what was that all about?

Then one morning, as I was changing yet another diaper, Anand grinned up at me with his toothless gums. Hmm, I thought. This little brown scrawny thing is kind of cute after all. Things progressed rapidly from there. Before I knew it, I’d moved the extra bed into the baby’s room and was spending many nights on it, bonding with my son.

Section 2: Chinese- English Translation（汉译英）（40 point）The time for this section is 80 minutes.

Part A Compulsory Translation （必译题）（30 points）

奥林匹克运动的生命力和非凡魅力在于在奥林匹克运动中居核心地位的奥林匹克精神。体育的目的在于追求人类身心全面发展，并在此基础上促进社会的发展和进步。现代奥林匹克运动的创始人顾拜旦（Pieere de Coubertin）认为体育是全人类的一项伟大事业。他将奥林匹克运动的目标设定为促进不同国家、不同文化之间的相互理解，从而

促进和维护世界和平，推进人类文明。这一理想使奥林匹克运动得以经百年而不衰。作为全世界奥林匹克大家庭成员的一个盛大聚会，奥林匹克运动已经成为促进世界和平、进步与发展的一只重要社会力量。

Part B Optional Translations （二选一题）（20 points）

Topic 1（选题一）

近年来，中国经济保持快速发展，为世界经济发展注入了活力。实践证明了中国在加入世贸组织之前的预言：中国的发展离不开世界，世界的发展需要中国。未来 20 年，在全面建设小康社会的进程中，中国一定会对世界经济的发展和实现全人类的共同进步做出历史性的贡献。为此，中国将继续扩大外贸，大力实施西部大开发战略，进一步改善投资环境，为外商提供更大的商机。同时，中国将引导和支持更多有比较优势的企业对外投资，开展平等互利、形式多样的经济技术合作。中国将进一步加强双边、多边和区域经济合作，实现世界各国各地区的共同发展。

Topic 2（选题二）

移动电话正在成为 21 世纪一个主要的技术领域。在几年之内，移动电话将会发展成为多功能的通信工具，除了语音之外，还可以传输和接收视频信号、静止图像、数据和文本。个人通信的新纪元即将到来。

在一定程度上多亏了无线网络的发展，电话正在与个人电脑和电视融合起来。不久之后，配有高分辨率显示屏的轻巧手机便可以与卫星连接。人们可以随时随地通话，收发电子邮件或者参加视像电话会议。这种手机也许还会吸收电脑的许多主要功能。移动通信工具有望带来一些互联网所能提供的新服务，如股票交易、购物及预订戏票和飞机票。

电信革命已在全球范围内展开。不久之后，用一台装置就可以收到几乎任何形式的电子通信信号。最有可能的是一部三合一手机。在家里它可以用作无绳电话，在路上用作移动电话，在办公室里用作内部通话装置。有些专家甚至认为移动视像电话将超过电视，成为主要的视频信息来源。

2004年11月英语二级《笔译综合能力》试题

Section 1: Vocabulary and Grammar (25 points) The time for this section is 25 minutes.

Part 1 Vocabulary Selection

1.The Kyoto Protocol has been designed to ____ the global environmental problems. A. dress B. address C. stress D. distress

2.Part of the investment is to be used to ____ that old temple to its original splendor. A. rest B. recover C. replace D. restore

3.The list of things we need to think about which will be ______ by climate change is endless.

A. affiliated

B. affected

C. affirmed

D. effected

4.Now a single cell phone is able to store a large ____ of information about an individual life.

A. deal

B. number

C.amount

D. account

5.We will not be held responsible for any damage which results ____rough handling. A. from B. off C. in D. to

6.Our products are displayed in Stand B22, ____ you will find me during office hours. A. when B. which C. that D. where

7. We cannot see any possibility of business _____ your price is on the high side of the prevailing market trend.

A. which

B. since

C. that

D. though

8.Over a very large number of trials, the probability of an event _____ is equal to the probability that it will not occur.

A. occurring

B. occurred

C. occurs

D. occur

9. “They’re the best team I’ve seen thus far,” says ____ men’s basketball coach Larry Brown.

A. American’s

B. US

C. the USA

D. United State of America

10. Many Americans do not understand why there is so much international criticism of the US policy on ____ change.

A. atmosphere

B. sky

C. weather

D. climate

11. In order to obtain the needed information, you should write simply, clearly, and concisely ____ the reader wants to know.

A. what

B. that

C. so that

D. which

12. Regarding insurance, the ____ is for 110% of the invoice value of the goods that a manufacturer wants to export.

A. a mount

B. c over

C. insurance

D. premium

13. Since the shipment consists of seasonable goods. it is important that it is ____ as soon as possible.

A. de leted

B. d emanded

C. delivered

D. detached

14. The long service of decades of the to-be-retired with the company was ____ a present each from the President.

A. confirmed by

B. recorded in

C. acknowledged wit

D. appreciated for

15. Home to magnates and gangsters, refugees and artists, the city was, in its ____ a metropolis that exhibited all the hues of the

human character. A. prime B. primary C. privacy D. probation

16. Buildings in the southeast of the UK are going to have to be constructed ____ those in Scotland if the report findings are

correct. A. as B. like C. likely D. are like

17. The state of Michigan now requires sports fans to make an annual ____ of $125 to $500 a seat to keep their end zone

perches at Michigan Stadium. A. tributary B. attribution C. contribution D. distribution

18. The possibilities for ____ energy sources, including solar power, wind power, geothermal power, water power and even

nuclear energy promise greatly to the earthlings. A.altitude B.alternate C.alternating D. alternative 19. Americans who consider themselves ____ in the traditional sense do not usually hesitate to heap criticism in domestic

matters over what they believe is oppressive or wasteful. A. pedestrian B. penchant C. patriotic D. patriarch 20. The countries that are being blamed for the extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are the rich and developed countries.

On a different ____, the developing countries feel they will suffer the most of it. A. nod B. note C. norm D. notion Part 2 Vocabulary Replacement

21. He remained calm In the face of the impending danger. A. terrific B. trivial C. astonishing D. imminent

22. “Holmes!” I whispered. “What on earth are you doing in this disgusting place?”

A. humble

B. unpleasant

C. underprivileged

D. noisy

23. The futility of the program resulted from poor planning. A. possible failure in the future

B. ineffectiveness and uselessness

C. blindness to its mistakes

D. potential disaster

24. Construction of the gigantic office building in this city was for years intermittent

A. stopping and starting at intervals

B. something that will happen soon

C. being watched with keen interest

D. anything that comes and goes

25. Although many modifications have been made in it, the game known in the United States as football can be traced directly

to the English game of rugby. A. r u les B. changes C. demands D. leagues

26. Your silence implies countenancing his abject behavior; therefore please clarify your stand to him.

A. s upporting

B. o bscuring

C. c oncealing

D. a ssisting

27. The graduate committee must be in full accord in their approval of a dissertation.

A. i n decisive

B. s ullen

C. vo cal

D. u nanimous

28. We regret being unable to entertain your request for providing free boarding to 15 sportsmen for two weeks.

A. r e ceive

B. c omply

C. coincide

D. consider

29. Justices of the peace have jurisdiction over the trials of some civil suits and of criminal cases involving minor offenses.

A. s uperiority

B. a uthority

C. gu idance

D. c onsider

30. One of the things we have to do to prevent a pandemic is to make sure people understand and know what they can do to

minimize the commotion. A. command B. c ollusion C. turmoil D. tutelage

31. One of the effective ways to lessen environmental pollution is the reservation and protection of more swamps.

A. vast thick corals

B. pockets of wet land

C. warm volcanoes

https://www.360docs.net/doc/207108136.html,lions of bees and wasps

32. The word “wrath” in The Grapes of Wrath by the Nobel prize winner John Steinbeck probably means:

A. great anger

B. large crowds

C. hard labor

D. sudden storms

33. The artist spent years on his monumental painting, which covered the whole roof of the church, the biggest in the country.

A. archaic

B. sentimental

C. outstanding

D. entire

34. The ancient Jewish people regarded themselves as the salt of the earth, the chosen few by God to rule the world.

A. outcast

B. elite

C. nomad

D. disciple

35. Many of the electric and electronic products we purchase and consume today are what some industrial experts call

“homogenous toys”. A. identical B. homosexual C.unrelated D. distinguishable

Part 3 Error Correction

36. An “epigram” is usually descried as a bright or witty thought that is tersely and ingeniously expressed.

A. described

B. discarded

C. de served

D. d isconcerted

37. Human beings are superior to animals that they can use language as a tool of communication.

A. in that

B. in which

C. for that

D. for which

38. The Xinjiang Airlines serve passengers and customers in the southeast of China only.

A. serves

B. to serve

C. serving

D. service

39. The senior senator has in the past three terms both experienced the sweet taste of success and the bitterness of defeat in his

legislation fights with his opponents. A. both experiences B. experiences both C. experience both D. experienced both

40. Our company has been made one of the largest manufacturers in the field of chemical industry.

A. become, in

B. made, in field of

C. became, in the field

D. been made of, in

41. Daylight saving time was instituted to increase productivity. A. reorganized B. started C. encouraged D. taught

42. Many students agreed to come, but some students against because they said they don’t have time.

A. did not because they say they did not

B. were against because they say they don’t

C. did not because they said they did not

D. were against coming because they said they don’t

43. Some of the Low-end Made-in-China mechanical-electronic products are not selling well in export market as compared

with what are termed as high-end ones.

A. on export market

B. in exporting market

C. in exported market

D. in the export market

44. Construction is expanding all over China, no doubt many materials will be needed at a very big amount in future.

A. China, no doubt many materials will be needed for a very big amount

B. China, no doubt many materials will be needed in a very big amount

C. China, no doubt many materials will be needed in large amounts

D. China, no doubt many materials will be needed for large amounts

45. The recent conference on the effective use of the seas and oceans was another attempt resolving major differences among

countries with conflicting interests. A. resolve B. resolves C. to resolve D. being resolved

46. Water makes up some 70 percentage points of the body, and drinking enough water —either tap water or expensive

mineral water —will ensure that the body is properly lubricated and flushed.

A. per-cent

B. per capita

C. percent

D. percentage

47. “We’re not bringing in millions of dollars,” says a director of development. “But we want to make sure the demand is there

before we act to the project.” A. of B. off C. on D. for

48. By using new foreign textbooks, we could not only learn the right expression of business ideas, but also we will know the

lastest developments in the business world. A. but also will know the lastest

B. but also know the lastest

C. but also know the latest

D. but also come to know the latest

49. The affluent middle class created by the Asian boom now take up over from exports as the main engine of growth.

A. take over from exports

B. take from exports

C. take exports

D. takes exports

50. Japan and the newly industrialized countries are passing labor-intensive sects as garmentmaking over to less developed

nations and moving into advanced technology and services.

A. sects like

B. sectors like

C. sections as

D. sections such as

Section 2: Reading Comprehension (50 points) The time for this section is 70 minutes.

Questions 51 —60 are based on the following passage.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1988 to assess information on climate change and its impact. Its Third Assessment Report predicts global temperature rises by 2100 of between 1.4℃and 5.8℃. Although the issue of the changing climate is very complex and some changes are uncertain, temperature rises are expected to affect countries throughout the world and have a knock-on effect with sea-level rises.

Scientists have argued about whether temperature rises are due to human activities or due to natural changes in our environment. The IPCC announced in 2001 that “most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is likely to be attributable to human activities”. This was a more forceful statement than in1996 when the Second Assessment Report stated that there was a “discernible human influence on the climate” which was the first time they had concluded such a link. Many experts believe the

faster the climate changes, the greater the risk will be.

Key points of the projections for climate change globally include that by the second half of the 21st century, wintertime rainfall in the northern mid to high latitudes and Antarctica will rise, that meanwhile Australia, Central America and southern Africa are likely to see decreases in autumn precipitation, that some land areas in the tropics will see more rainfall, and that there will generally be more hot days over land areas.

51. IPCC probably does not ______.

A.analyse climate change information

B. record weather changes on its premises

C. predict what is to happen to the earth

D. collect weather date from many countries

52. According to the passage, a Chinese city that recorded 45 degrees Celsius at noon on August 4,2004, will most probably

witness a temperature measuring _____ at 12:00 sharp in the year of 2100.

A. 46.1℃

B. 1.4℃

C. 5.8℃

D. a number that I do not know

53. According to the author, climate researchers _____.

A. are quite sure about why it’s getting hotter and hotter

B. declared that we humans are the cause why it’s getting hotter

C. have discussed the possible cause why it’s hotter

D. have claimed that changes in nature are the roots of hot days

54. Based on the text, we know that temperature rises will probably _____.

A. knock off sea levels

B. have a serious effect on sea-level rises

C. keep the sea level rising

D. keep knocking at the sea

55. The IPCC announcement three years ago that “most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is” _____.

A. possibly due to human activities

B. possibly because human activities

C. due to likely human activities

D. human activities likely attributable

56. Which statement was more forceful?

A.“Global temperature will rise by 2100 between 1.4℃and 5.8℃

B.“Temperature rises are expected to affect countries throughout the world”.

C.“Most of the warming is likely to be attributable to human activities”.

D.There was a “discernible human influence on the climate”.

57. The Second Assessment Report was released ____ years ago. A. five B. six C. seven D. eight

58. “Such a link” in the passage refers most probably to _____.

A. IPCC and climate changes

B. global temperatures and sea levels

C. natural changes and human activities

D. human activities and temperature rises

59. “The risk” mentioned in the text probably refers to _____.

A. a possibility that there will be more climate changes

B. a potential that sea level will possibly keep rising

C. temperature rises that are expected to affect all countries

D. a prediction warning human beings not to ruin the environment

60. Obviously, the word “precipitation” most probably refers to _____.

A. latitude

B. rainfall

C. t e mperature

D. p rojection

Questions 61 —70 are based on the following passage.

Now which are the animals really to be pitied in captivity? First, those clever beings whose lively urge for activity can find no outlet behind the bars of the cage. This is most conspicuous, even for the uninitiated, in the case of animals which, when living in

a free state, are accustomed to roaming about widely. Owing to this frustrated desire, foxes and wolves housed, in many

old-fashioned zoos, in cages which are far too small, are among the most pitiable of all caged animals.

Though pinioned swans generally seem happy, under proper care, by hatching and tearing their young without any trouble, at migration time things become different: they repeatedly swim to the lee side of the pond, in order to have the whole extent of its surface at their disposal, trying to take off. Again and again the grand preparations end in a pathetic flutter of their half wings; a truly sorry picture!

This, however, rarely awakens the pity of the zoo visitor, least of all when such an originally highly intelligent and mentally alert animal has deteriorated, in confinement, into a crazy idiot, a very caricature of its former self. Sentimental old ladies, the fanatical sponsors of the societies for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, have no compunction in keeping a grey parrot in a

relatively small cage or even chained to a perch. Together with the large corvines, the parrots are probably the only birds which suffer from that state of mind, common to prisoners, namely, boredom.

61. What is an “outlet” in the context of this passage? A. An opportunity for expression. B. A place to let.

C. A chance of escape into a wood

D. An exit for a marketer.

62. What does “the uninitiated” mean?

A. People who visit animals in urban zoos.

B. People who do not like animals of the wild.

C. People who know little about a certain topic.

D. People who do not visit zoos every year.

63. According to the author in Paragraph 1, what animals suffer most in captivity?

A. Climbing animals.

B. Hunting animals.

C. Parroting animals.

D. Singing animals.

64. What do you think “hatching and rearing their young” means?

A. Raising families.

B. Getting on well with smaller birds.

C. Behaving like young birds.

D. Attacking smaller birds.

65. Which is the “lee side” of the pond?

A. The side the wind is blowing from.

B. The side which is sheltered from a storm.

C. The side the wind id blowing towards.

D. The side where the water is the deepest.

66. According to the author, swans in captivity are ______.

A. happy unless their wings have been cut

B. happy most of the time, but unhappy sometimes

C. unhappy most of the time

D. only happy when they are bringing up families

67. What effect does confinement have on clever animals, according to the text?

A. They never stop trying to escape.

B. They lose all their muscles.

C. They become unhygienic.

D.They may go mad.

68. In Paragraph 3, the expression “have no compunction about” most probably means” have no _____.

A .reaction to B. understanding of C. second thoughts about D. enlightenment on

69. What does the author say about sentimental old ladies?

A. They do not care about animals.

B. They hate making animals suffer.

C. They enjoy making animals suffer.

D. They do not realise the consequences.

70. What do you think “large corvines” probably are?

A. Another kind of bird.

B. Another kind of parrot.

C. Another kind of swans.

D. Other birds that convince us. Question 71—80 are based on the following passage.

The fact that most Americans live in urban areas does not mean that they reside in the center of large cities. In fact, more Americans live in the suburbs of large metropolitan areas than in the cities themselves.

The Bureau of the Census regards any area with more than 2,500 people as an urban area, and does not consider boundaries of cities and suburbs.

According to the Bureau, the political boundaries are less significant than the social and economic relationships and the transportation and communication systems that integrate a locale. The term used by the Bureau for an integrated metropolis is an MSA, which stands for Metropolitan Statistical Area. In general, an MSA is any area that contains a city and its surrounding suburbs and has a total population of 50,000 or more.

At the present time, the Bureau reports more than 280 MSAs, which together account for 75 percent of the US population. In addition, the Bureau recognizes 18 megapolises, that is, continuous adjacent metropolitan areas. One of the most obvious megapolises includes a chain of hundreds of cities and suburbs across 10 states on the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia, including Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. In the Eastern Corridor, as it is called, a population of 45 million inhabitants is concentrated. Another megapolis that is growing rapidly is the California coast from San Francisco through Los Angeles to San Diego.

71. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Metropolitan Statistical Areas

B. Types of Population Centers

C. The Bureau of the Census

D. Megapolises

72. According to the passage, where do most Americans live?

A. In the center of cities.

B. In the suburbs surrounding large cities.

C. In rural areas.

D. In small towns.

73. The underlined word “reside” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _____. A. f i ll B. de cide C. occupy D. live