翻译资格考试英语口译中级模拟题：爱情考验
John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he did not, the girl with the rose.
约翰·布兰彻从长椅上站起来，整理了一下军服，仔细观察着中央地铁站熙熙攘攘的人流。 他在寻找着那个与他心有灵犀但却从未谋面的女郎，那个戴着一朵玫瑰的女郎。
His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in the Library of University of Florida when he was doing his graduation project at college. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. But before he received a reply from her, he was shipped overseas for service in the Gulf War in Iraq.
他对她产生兴趣是在13个月前做毕业设计的时候，在佛罗里达大学图书馆， 他被书架上拿下的一本书深深吸引了。并不是因为上面的文字，而是页边用铅笔做的注解。 那温柔的字体反映出那是一个聪慧的灵魂和富有远见的头脑。 在书的扉页上他发现了前拥有者的名字，荷利丝·梅耐尔小姐。 通过一段时间的努力他终于找到了她的地址， 她住在纽约市。 布兰彻给她写了一封信还邀请她回信， 但还没等到他接到回信，就被派到伊拉克的海湾战场上去了。
During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it would not matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Iraq, they scheduled their first meeting -7:00 PM at Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me,"she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 in the station Mr. Blanchard was looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen.
随后的一年又一个月，两个人在鸿雁往来中互相了解了对方。 每一封信都在互相渴望的心中播下了浪漫的种子 并生根发芽。 布兰彻向她要一张照片但是她拒绝了， 她觉得如果他真的喜欢她是不会在乎她的长相的。 在他从伊拉克返回的当天，他们定下了第一次约会---晚上7点钟在纽约的中央地铁站。 “你会认出我的，”她在信中说，“我会在衣领上别一朵玫瑰花。” 所以那天7点钟在地铁站，他在等一个从未谋面但早已令他心仪已久的女孩。
I will let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:
A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past forty, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes....
一个身材苗条的姑娘向我走来。 一头金发自然卷曲在小巧的耳朵后;眼睛像花一样蓝， 她的嘴唇和下巴柔美而棱角分明，身着浅绿色的套装，就好像春天一样。 我快步走向她，完全忘记注意她根本没别什么玫瑰花。 看见我向她走去，她嘴角露出诱人的微笑。 “想干嘛，水手?”她低声说。 几乎无法控制自己，我向她走近了一步，然后就看见了真正的荷利丝小姐。 她就站在那个女孩的身后： 一个年过四旬的中年妇女，灰白的头发裹在一顶旧帽子里， 身材微胖，低跟鞋中露出臃肿的脚踝......
The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I were split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.
穿绿套装的那个姑娘很快离开了。 我觉得自己好像被撕裂了，随她而去的愿望是如此强烈，对这个成为我精神知己的女人的渴望也是如此深! 而且她站在那儿! 她苍白丰满的面庞流露出温柔和睿智，灰色的眼睛里闪着柔和的光芒。 我没有犹豫， 抓紧了那本用来识别我的蓝色皮面的小旧书。
This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?" The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"
这不会是爱，但值得珍惜，甚至比爱情更好，一段我曾经而且将来也必须感谢的友谊。 我立正敬礼并把那本书递给那个女士，尽管我开口说话的时候失望的苦涩哽住了喉咙。 “我是约翰·布兰彻中尉，你一定是梅耐尔小姐， 很高兴在这里见到你。 我能请你去吃饭吗?” 那位女士脸上露出宽容的笑容。 “我不知道这一切到底是怎么回事，孩子，”她回答，“但那个刚过去穿绿衣服的女孩请求我把这朵玫瑰别在衣服上， 还说如果你邀请我去吃饭，就让我告诉你她在街对面的那家大餐厅等着你。 她说这是一个什么考验!”
It is not difficult to imagine Blanchard's reaction after hearing these words. He might have flown into that restaurant. Meanwhile, we have to admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. Although we all expect beautiful things in life, what life offers us cannot satisfy us for good. There are many difficulties, setbacks, or even despair, which not only make us suffer from physical or psychological pain but challenge our moral standards as well. It always remains a problem for us whether these standards would be heightened or lowered when we meet occasions that demand crucial but instant choices.
我们不难想像布兰彻先生听到这些话以后的反应， 他也许是飞奔进那家餐厅的。 同时我们也不得不钦佩梅耐尔小姐的智慧。 尽管我们都期待生活中会有美好的事情，但生活给与我们的东西不会永远都令我们满意。 生活中会有很多困难、挫折，甚至是绝望，不仅让我们承受肉体或精神上的痛苦，而且也会考验我们的道德水准。 对我们个人来说面对这些考验，道德标准是被提高了还是降低了始终都会是一个问题，特别是碰到需要当时就做出但却十分重要的决定的时候。
Miss Maynell understood that the true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive and Blanchard scored perfectly in this test. Few would doubt that a romance as such would have a happy ending because they shared the views on the important ingredient of love. This proved well what Houssaye had written, "Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are."
梅耐尔小姐明白一个人的真心只有通过他对平庸的反应才能看得出来，布兰彻先生在考验中获得了满分。 很少有人会怀疑这样的一个浪漫故事不会有一个美满的结局，因为他们对爱情的看法是那么的一致。 这很好地证明了法国作家乌赛的话，“告诉我你爱的是什么样的人我就知道你是什么人。”
