2009年5月翻译考试英语初级笔译实务真题及答案
试题部分：
Section 1: English-Chinese Translation (英译汉) (60 points)
Translate the following passage into Chinese. The time for this section is 120 minutes.
Business of Green: An appeal to slow down on biofuel.
Last Friday an advisory panel to the European Environment Agency issued an extraordinary scientific opinion: The European Union should suspend its goal of having 10 percent of transportation fuel made from biofuel by 2020.
The European Union's biofuel targets were increased and extended from 5.75 percent by 2010 to 10 percent by 2020 just last year. Still, Europe's well-meaning rush to biofuels, the scientists concluded, had produced a slew of harmful ripple effects - from deforestation in Southeast Asia to higher prices for grains.
In a recommendation released last weekend, the 20-member panel, made up of some of Europe's most distinguished climate scientists, called the 10 percent target "overambitious" and an "experiment" whose "unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control."
"The idea was that we felt we needed to slow down, to analyze the issue carefully and then come back at the problem," Laszlo Somlyody, the panel's chairman and a professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, said in a telephone interview.
He said that part of the problem was that when it set the targets, the European Union was trying desperately to solve the problem of rising transportation emissions "in isolation," without adequately studying the effects of other sectors like land use and food supply.
"The starting point was correct: I'm happy that the European Union took the lead in cutting greenhouse gasses and we need to control traffic emissions," Somlyody said. "But the basic problem is it thought of transport alone, without considering all these other effects. And we don't understand those very well yet."
The panel's advice is not binding and it is not clear whether the European Commission will follow the recommendation.
It has become increasingly clear that the global pursuit of biofuels - encouraged by a rash of targets and subsides in both Europe and the United States - has not produced the desired effect.
Investigations have shown, for example, rain forests and peat swamp are being cleared to make way for biofuel plantations, a process that produces more emissions than the biofuels can save. Equally concerning, land needed to produce food for people to eat is planted with more profitable biofuel crops, and water is diverted from the drinking supply.
In Europe and the United States, food prices for items like pizza and bread have increased significantly as grain stores shrink and wheat prices rise.
The price of wheat and rice are double those of a year ago, and corn is a third higher, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said this week.
"Food price inflation hits the poor hardest, as the share of food in their total expenditures is much higher than that of wealthier populations," said Henri Josserand of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Biofuels are not, of course, the only reason for high food prices. Fuel to transport food is more expensive with oil more than $100 a barrel. There have been unexpected droughts this year as well.
Should we conclude that all biofuels are bad?
No. But motivated by the obvious problems now emerging, scientists have begun to take a harder look at their benefits
For example, the European Environment Agency advisory panel suggests that the best use of plant biomass is not for transport fuel but to heat homes and generate electricity.
To be useful for vehicles, plant matter must be distilled to a fuel and often transported long distances. To heat a home, it can often be used raw or with minimal processing, and moved just a short distance away.
Section 2: Chinese-English Translation (汉译英) (40 points)
Translate the following passage into English. The time for this section is 60 minutes.
作为一个国际商业中心，上海拥有繁忙的港口，亚洲最重要的证券交易所之一，以及世界500强都不能忽视的巨大市场。
上海已建成全国的博物馆和歌剧院，还将举办2010年世界博览会，向人们展示其商业和文化中心的地位。在世博会153年的历史中，拥有1700万人口的上海将成为发展中国家的首个东道主。
预计在2010年5月至10月的世博会期间，参观人数将达到创纪录的7000万人次。世博会的主题为：城市，让生活更美好。上海希望通过举办世博会盈利的同事，能够吸引资金流向其服务业。从长远来看，世博会将有利于城市改造并全面提升上海的国际形象。
上海计划为世博会投资30亿美元。为确保世博会举办期间交通顺畅，还将投入更多资金用于改造道路和地铁。
根据世博会规划，所有会展建筑将建在黄浦江两岸，包括众多高科技展厅和一个会议中心。上海市政府决心通过举办世博会，不断改善城市生活。世博会结束后，大部分场址将被改造成生活、办公和休闲设施。
