上海外国语大学考研翻硕MTI翻译基础经典练习

上海外国语大学

考研翻硕MTI翻译基础经典练习

英译汉

The United States is devoting billions of dollars to compete with Russia militarily, but maybe we should try to compete educationally. Russia now has the largest percentage of adults with a university education of any industrialized country — a position once held by the United States, although we’re plunging in that ranking.

These figures come from the annual survey of education from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., and it should be a shock to Americans.

A basic element of the American dream is equal access to education as the lubricant of social and economic mobility. But the American dream seems to have emigrated because many countries do better than the United States in educational mobility, according to the O.E.C.D. study.

As recently as 2000, the United States still ranked second in the share of the population with a college degree. Now we have dropped to fifth. Among 25-to-34-year-olds we rank 12th, while once-impoverished South Korea tops the list.

A new Pew survey finds that Americans consider the greatest threat to our country to be the growing gap between the rich and poor. Yet we have constructed an education system, dependent on local property taxes, that provides great schools for the rich kids in the suburbs who need the least help, and broken schools for inner-city children who desperately need a helping hand. Too often, America’s education system amplifies not opportunity but inequality.

By the mid-1800s, most American states provided a free elementary education to the great majority of white children. In contrast, as late as 1870, only 2 percent of British 14-year-olds were in school.

Then the United States was the first major country, in the 1930s, in which a majority of children attended high school. By contrast, as late as 1957, only 9 percent of 17-year-olds in Britain were in school.

Until the 1970s, we were pre-eminent in mass education, and Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University argued powerfully that this was the secret to America’s economic rise. Then we blew it, and the latest O.E.C.D. report underscores how the rest of the world is eclipsing us.

In effect, the United States has become 19th-century Britain: We provide superb education for elites, but we falter at mass education.

In particular, we fail at early education. Across the O.E.C.D., an average of 70 percent of 3-year-olds are enrolled in education programs. In the United States, it’s 38 percent.

In some quarters, there’s a perception that American teachers are lazy. But the O.E.C.D. report indicates that American teachers work far longer hours than their counterparts abroad. Yet American teachers earn 68 percent as much as the average wages of the American college-educated workers, while the O.E.C.D. average is 88 percent.

汉译英

欧盟处理希腊之乱同中国有关吗

1 当中国拯救股市的大规模行动拉开帷幕的时候，欧洲的金融秩序遭到来自希腊的严峻挑战。希腊星期天举行的全民公决拒绝了国际债权人对其改革提出的要求，这是欧元区自建立以来从未有过的僵局。希腊已经对IMF的贷款还息违约，本月很可能继续对欧盟债务违约。希腊银行关闭已经一周多，这个国家处在破产边缘。

2 在希腊全民公决说“不”的情况下，一些人对中国的动向十分关心。中国会援助希腊吗？以及中国会在欧盟的内部纠纷中扮演什么有趣的角色吗？

3 这样的好奇心情有可原。中国有雄厚的外汇储备，希腊又是中国“一带一路”建设方向上的重点国家之一。中国显然愿意成为希腊解决经济社会发展问题的一个伙伴。

4 然而中国对希腊摆脱困境的帮助一定会追求全面的建设性，这意味着中国会希望自己的参与既有利于希腊，也有利于欧盟。这是中国对外关系的基础性价值观，可谓根深蒂固。

5 中国总理李克强等人多次表示愿意希望看到希腊留在欧元区，这可不是冠冕堂皇的外交辞令。中国清楚，希腊问题事关欧元区治理及欧盟一体化全局。中国恐怕是欧盟之外最真心希望欧盟向好的国家之一，欧盟是中国第一大贸易伙伴，双方没有地缘政治纠葛，欧盟强大了，受到最多牵制的是美国，中国什么损失都没有。

6 中国民间当然也有一些对希腊向欧盟“造反”幸灾乐祸看热闹的人，但那是市井情绪，那些人世界上哪里出事都高兴，中国自己出事，只要直接意义上事不关己，他们也挺乐呵。这样的情绪经常会流向互联网上，看上去像是“舆论”一样。