2009年5月CATTI二级笔译真题(英译汉)

　　2009年5月英语二级《笔译实务》试题

　　Section 1: English-Chinese Translation(英译汉)

　　Part A Compulsory Translation(必译题)

　　There was, last week, a glimmer of hope in theworld food crisis. Expecting a bumperharvest,Ukraine relaxed restrictions on exports. Overnight, global wheat prices fell by 10percent.

　　By contrast, traders in Bangkok quote rice prices around $1,000 a ton, up from $460twomonths ago.

　　Such is the volatility of today's markets. We do not know how high food prices might go,norhow far they could fall. But one thing is certain: We have gone from an era of plenty to oneofscarcity. Experts agree that food prices are not likely to return to the levels the worldhadgrown accustomed to any time soon.

　　Imagine the situation of those living on less than $1 a day - the “bottom billion,” thepoorest ofthe world's poor. Most live in Africa, and many might typically spend two-thirds oftheir incomeon food.

　　In Liberia last week, I heard how people have stopped purchasing imported rice by thebag.Instead, they increasingly buy it by the cup, because that's all they can afford.

　　Traveling though West Africa, I found good reason for optimism. In Burkina Faso, I sawagovernment working to import drought resistant seeds and better manage scarce watersupplies,helped by nations like Brazil. In Ivory Coast, we saw a women's cooperative running achickenfarm set up with UN funds. The project generated income - and food - for villagers inways thatcan easily be replicated.

　　Elsewhere, I saw yet another women's group slowly expanding their localagriculturalproduction, with UN help. Soon they will replace World Food Program rice with theirownhome-grown produce, sufficient to cover the needs of their school feeding program.

　　These are home-grown, grass-roots solutions for grass-roots problems - precisely the kindofsolutions that Africa needs.

　　Part B Optional Translation(二选一题)

　　Topic 1 (选题一)

　　For a decade, metallurgists studying the hulk of the Titanic have argued that the storiedoceanliner went down quickly after hitting an iceberg because the ship's builder usedsubstandardrivets that popped their heads and let tons of icy seawater rush in. More than 1,500people died.

　　Now a team of scientists has moved into deeper waters, uncovering evidence in thebuilder'sown archives of a deadly mix of great ambition and use of low-quality iron thatdoomed theship, which sank 96 years ago Tuesday.

　　The scientists found that the ship's builder, Harland and Wolff, in Belfast, struggled foryears toobtain adequate supplies of rivets and riveters to build the world's three biggest ships atonce:the Titanic and two sisters, Olympic and Britannic.

　　Each required three million rivets, and shortages peaked during Titanic's construction.

　　"The board was in crisis mode," said Jennifer Hooper McCarty, a member of the teamthatstudied the company's archive and other evidence. "It was constant stress. Everymeeting it was,'There's problems with the rivets, and we need to hire more people.' "

　　The team collected other clues from 48 Titanic rivets, using modern tests, computersimulations,comparisons to century-old metals and careful documentation of what engineersandshipbuilders of the era considered state of the art.

　　The scientists say the troubles began when the colossal plans forced Harland and Wolff toreachbeyond its usual suppliers of rivet iron and include smaller forges, as disclosed incompany andBritish government papers. Small forges tended to have less skill and experience.

　　Adding to the threat, the company, in buying iron for Titanic's rivets, ordered No. 3 bar,knownas "best," not No. 4, known as "best-best," the scientists found. They also discoveredthatshipbuilders of the day typically used No. 4 iron for anchors, chains and rivets.

　　So the liner, whose name was meant to be synonymous with opulence, in at least oneinstancerelied on cheap materials.

　　The scientists argue that better rivets would have probably kept the Titanic afloat longenoughfor rescuers to have arrived before the icy plunge, saving hundreds of lives.

　　Topic 2(选题二)

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