商务英语笔译综合技能练习
一、下面这封信函的翻译选自英语本科三年级学生的作业。运用所学的翻译标准对其加以评述,指出其中的优
点和不足,并加以改译。
September 18, 2003
I certainly appreciate your interest in the Savannah area of Coastal Georgia. Enclosed is a copy of our booklet describing this area entitled “So You?re Planning to Retire.”
The Coastal Georgia area is finally being discovered by the rest of the world. Not long ago, development was concentrated both north and south of us. These areas are considerably higher in density and property prices. Interest in this area, however, has been extremely high of late, and I can?t resist saying that our time has come.
We are fortunate that we have a mild climate, which permits outdoor activity year round. Golf and tennis are very popular here—there are eight highly rated golf courses within less than half-hour away (three are located in the Coastal Georgia area) and many, many public tennis courts. Our waters offer some of the best fishing to be found; so enjoy the sport or the culinary delight of fish that someone else caught! The growing season is long, and gardeners delight in growing a wide variety of flowers and vegetables. While ours is not a subtropical climate, palmettos grow naturally here. We do have changes in seasons, but not in the extreme.
I have the feeling that this may be the ideal place for you. Property values are still reasonable, the tax rates low. You can expect the investment you make in the Coastal Georgia area to appreciate over the long term, as demands continue to increase for both retirement and vacation homes.
Coldwell Banker is the largest full-service real estate firm in southern Georgia; so I can assure you that you will receive outstanding professional services.
After you?ve read “So You?re Planning to Retire,” please write me. I?d like very much to hear from you.
Oceanic wishes! Harold Robinson
2003年9月18日
亲爱的沃伦先生:
我非常感激您对格鲁吉亚海岸大草原地区的兴趣。在附件里有介绍我们这一地区的小册子的复印件,命名为“找寻桃花源”。
格鲁吉亚沿海地区最终被剩余的世界所发现。不久之前,我们地区的发展主要集中在北部和南部。这些地区具有值得考虑的较高的密度和资产价格。虽然对这一地区有一种相逢恨晚的感觉,但我禁不住要说,我们挣钱的时候来了。
我们非常幸运地拥有允许我们进行全年户外运动的温和气候。高尔夫和网球在这很流行。步行不到半个小时的距离,就有八个高级的高尔夫球场(有三个球场位于格鲁吉亚沿海地区),还有很多很多公共网球场。我们的海域里盛产极品海鱼,在享受运动的同时,也可以像其他人一样得到烹调的乐趣。漫长的春天里,最令花匠们高兴的莫过于百花齐放,万物茁壮成长的繁荣景象。同时因这里不属于亚热带气候,所以矮棕榈可以自然的在此生长。我们在季节上确实有一些变化,但并不是很明显。
我感觉这里可能是您最理想的地方。物有所值,出租车费用也很低。如果您在格鲁吉亚沿海地区进行投资,您就期待着长期的回报吧,因为在这里,退休和度假房屋的需求一直在持续增长。
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Dear Mr. Warren:
科德维尔银行是格鲁吉亚南部最大的提供全面服务的实体公司,我确信您将得到持续的专业服务。 阅读“找寻桃花源”后,请写信给我。期待着您的来信。
大洋彼岸的祝福!
哈罗德·罗宾逊
二、翻译下面的商务英语短文,并谈谈自己对商务翻译的认识。
A wholesaler is an intermediary between the producer and the retailer. His main functions are: (1) “Breaking of bulk”, that is, buying in large quantities from the producer and selling in small quantities to retailers. (2) Warehousing, that is, holding stocks to meet fluctuations of demand. (3) Helping to finance distribution by allowing credit to retailers although paying his own suppliers promptly. (4) Sometimes preparing a commodity for sale by grading, packing, and branding the goods.
Since wholesaling is an essential part of the work of distribution, the elimination of the wholesaler simply means that the work of wholesaling must be undertaken by someone else—the manufacturer or the retailers. Large-scale retailers generally buy direct from manufacturers, but in the case of multiple shop organizations, this merely means that they themselves must undertake the business of warehousing and distribution of stock to their branches.
三、下列6组句子是英国翻译理论家西奥多·萨瓦利(Theodore Savory)提出的六对翻译原则。先译成汉语,然
后对每对原则进行对比、分析、讨论。 1. a. A translation must give the words of the original. b. A translation must give the ideas of the original. 2. a. A translation should read like an original work. b. A translation should read like a translation. 3. a. A translation should reflect the style of the original. b. A translation should possess the style of the translator. 4. a. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original. b. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translator. 5. a. A translation may add to or omit from the original. b. A translation may never add to or omit from the original. 6. a. A translation of verse should be in prose. b. A translation of verse should be in verse.
四、用直译和意译相结合的方法,翻译下列短文。
The furthest we have been is the Moon. If we want to travel into deep space, beyond our own backyard, the Solar System, we?ll need a new breed of spacecraft. It may be the oldest cliché in town, but in the not too distant future,science fiction will turn into science fact. The fantastic spaceships of sci-fi comic books and novels will no longer be a figment of our creative imagination; they may be the real vision of our future.
Engineers and designers are already designing craft capable of propelling us beyond Earth?s orbit, the Moon and the Planets. They?re designing interstellar spaceships capable of traveling across the vast emptiness of deep space to distant stars and new planets in our unending quest to conquer and discover. Our Universe contains over a billion galaxies; star cities each with a hundred billion inhabitants. Around these stars must exist planets and perhaps life. The temptation to explore these new realms is too great.
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五、应用所学的翻译技巧和方法,翻译下列短文,使译文尽量符合目的语的表达习惯。
One way an organization can find staff for job vacancies is to recruit outside the company. It may opt to put an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine which gives a short description of the job and invites introductory letters from applicants. Since the company would not desire applicants who do not have a good profile, it is important that an application form sent to a prospective applicant should request clear information about such things as the applicant?s age, qualifications and work experience as well as references from other individuals who know the applicant well. This information assists the company?s management in making a final decision on those applicants they can short-list for an interview.
The staff conducting an interview together is called an “interview panel”, who, prior to the interview, carefully review the job descriptions, personnel specifications, and applications. To help the panel in their selection, an interview assessment form is often used during the interview when each applicant is checked according to a number of criteria indicated on the form.
六、用所学的增补法、减省法、重复法等翻译技巧和方法,翻译下面的段落。
Every successful business is built on superior senses—of timing, opportunity, responsibility, not infrequently, humor. None, however, is more critical than the ability to sense the market. A senior executive?s instinctive capacity to empathize with and gain insights from customers is the single most important skill he or she can use to direct technologies, product and service offerings, indeed, all elements of a company?s strategic posture. People like Bill Gates brought this ability to the enterprises they founded. Without it, their ventures might have been short-lived or at least far less successful. But many top-level managers, particularly those at industrial companies, consider customer contact the bailiwick of sales and marketing staff. And even if they do believe that market focus is a priority, most retain only limited contact with consumers as their organizations grow, relying instead on subordinates? reports—second-or-third-hand information—to define and sense the market for them.
七、翻译下列短文,注意长句的译法。
It is generally held that the most efficient method of railway operation, and ultimately the most economical, given a reasonably cheap electricity supply, is with electricity as the motive power. The electric locomotive is not dependent, like its steam counterpart, on the competence of driving and firing or the quality of the fuel burned. On the other hand, the speeds that will be possible with any given load are completely predictable and apart from signal or permanent way checks, or other delay-producing casualties, exact observance of schedule times can be guaranteed within narrow limits. With such accurate timetable observance trains can be operated with shorter turnaround times at terminals, which means that more intensive use can be made of rolling stock than is generally possible with steam power.
In suburban areas the rapid acceleration afforded by electric motors from rest and in recovery from speed restrictions makes it possible to work trains with very frequent stops at higher speeds and a closer headway than with steam locomotives. Multiple-unit working, which brings the motors of two or more sets of passenger stock, or two of more locomotives, under the control of one motorman in the leading driving cabin, would be impossible with steam, for each steam locomotive must be manned by its own driver and fireman. Moreover, except on the fastest and heaviest passenger and freight duties, on which it is advisable to have a second man at the head end to assist in the observation of signals and, if necessary, to attend to the electrical equipment, the equivalent of the steam locomotive fireman is unnecessary; thus the great majority of electric trains have a driver only, which makes for considerable economics in staffing.
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八、翻译下列习语。 1. an open secret
2. new wine in old bottles 6. to beat about the bush 8. to return good for evil 10. to show one?s colours 12. to talk black into white 14. to kick a man when he is down 16. as mute as a fish 18. to be dead drunk 20. to shut one?s eyes against 22.to put the cart before the horse
3. to be led by the nose 7. to turn a deaf ear to 11. a leap in the dark 13. at one?s finger tips 15. To err is human. 19. plain sailing 21. a black sheep
4. a wolf in sheep?s clothing
5. to bury one?s head in the sand 9. like a bolt from the blue
17. to have a hand like a foot
23. to put all one?s eggs in one basket 24. to turn over a new leaf 25. While there is life, there is hope. 26. Laugh and grow fat. 27. The burnt child dreads the fire. 29. A snow year, a rich year. 31. Love me, love my dog.
28. Neither fish nor flesh. 30. Seeing is believing. 32. Justice has long arms.
33. Man proposes, God disposes. 34. Step after step one goes a great way. 35. six of one and half a dozen of the other 36. Better a glorious death than a shameful life. 37. One false step will make a great difference. 38. It is the nature of the beast. 39. Answer a fool according to his folly. 40.The younger brother is the better gentleman. 41. You must learn to craw (creep) before you walk. 42. To teach another is to learn yourself. 43. Think today and speak tomorrow. 44. He who rides on a tiger can never dismount. 45. Among the blind the one-eyed man is king. 46. Lock the stable door after the horse is stolen. 47. Lock the stable door before the horse is stolen. 48. Misfortunes never come singly. 49. Joy and sorrow are today and tomorrow. 50. All things are difficult before they are easy. 51. Nothing venture, nothing have. 52. Enough is as good as a feast.
53. Nothing comes wrong to a hungry man. 54. Not to advance is to go back.
55. Homer sometimes nods. (No one is wise at all times.) 56. God on his tongue and the devil in his heart. 57. One good turn deserves another.
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