Section 1 Translation
Part 1 English-Chinese Translation (英译汉)
Translate the following passage into Chinese.
The Travels of Marco Polo was conceived in a prison cell in Genoa, Italy, in 1298.
A few years earlier Polo had returned to the West after an epic journey that lasted
some 24 years. He then saw action in a naval battle between the Venetian and
Genoese fleets, and was captured. It was in jail that he met and befriended Rustichello
of Pisa, a well-known writer and collector of Arthurian romances. Their collaboration
yielded a book that would give Europe its first authoritative account of the Middle and
Far East, in particular China, and reveal the presence of a vast empire and advanced
civilization far greater than anything Europeans could achieve or even imagine.
More than 100 copies of that long-lost original exist, many dating from the 14th
and 15th centuries. There is no definitive manuscript, however, and all existing
versions have been embellished, doctored or censored by the Christian establishment
over the years. Modern editions are thus collations and translations of imperfect
copies. This murky history helps explain why the book describes what the Venetian
could not possibly have seen, and overlooks sights that any traveler to China must
have witnessed — like the Great Wall, foot-binding and chopsticks. Skeptics say that
Polo never ventured to China and that he and Rustichello used second-hand
information from other travelers, especially Arab traders. Certainly, there is no hard
historical evidence that Polo actually visited all the places he describes. But most of
the detail has since been corroborated by historians and geographers, confounding
critics and confirming the importance of the book as the fullest and most accurate
account of Asia in its time.
Originally called Description of the World, Travels aims for geographical
completeness, not the immediacy and excitement of personal encounter. It’s not a
travelogue. Consistent with the possibility that Polo was not an eyewitness, his book
is not “on-the-spot” reporting, and only loosely follows an itinerary. To modern
audiences, the book may seem dull and repetitive, to be dipped into, not read cover to
cover. Yet Travels was a revolutionary piece of writing. It radically altered European
understanding of Asia by forcing the West to recognize a superior culture in the East,
and, by describing with such verve the luxuries and sensuousness of Chinese cities, it
impressed the idea of an exotic East on the European psyche.
The Venetian literally changed the Western view of the world. European maps in
his time were based on Biblical interpretations and classical mythology. Jerusalem
was at the center. Then came Polo’s book, describing great civilizations in the East,
and a world not centered on Jerusalem, politically or geographically. This recasting of
the world into a more dynamic and multi-centered geographical space was the first
step toward what we now call globalization.
Travels is a book of liberal and enlightened humanism. No one can fail to
appreciate its celebration of the heterogeneity of nature, geography and, above all,
people. His work expresses wonder and joy in what is unfamiliar. Races are
differentiated but not denigrated, and the customs of different cultures are met with
enthusiastic curiosity, not the conformism and prejudice prevalent in Europe at the
time. Travels had a moral for medieval Europe: let diversity and tolerance replace
division and xenophobia — a moral no less relevant today than in Marco Polo’s time.
Part 2 Chinese-English Translation (汉译英)
Translate the following passage into English.
建立和完善刑事缺席审判制度是惩治和预防腐败犯罪的需要。腐败是人类社
会的一个痼疾。随着经济全球化进程的加快，腐败犯罪越来越猖獗，给当今世界
各国造成许多严重问题。腐败还同有组织犯罪和包括洗钱在内的经济犯罪之间有
着千丝万缕的联系。
惩治和预防腐败是社会各界和世界各国政府的共同要求。就目前我国的司法
实践来看，我国反腐败形势依然严峻，腐败案件仍处在多发高发时期，部分贪官
携款外逃现象屡屡发生。由于许多国家没有与我国签订双边引渡条约，从这些国
家引渡贪官并追回赃款的难度很大。
如果按照现行刑事诉讼法规定，贪官一旦外逃又不能及时抓捕归案，诉讼活
动只能处于中止状态。我国于2005年签署并加入了《联合国反腐败公约》(UN
Convention Against Corruption)。该公约是第一个全球性反腐败法律文件，资产追
回机制是其一大建树。
《公约》中规定对于贪污公共资金或者对所贪污公共资金的洗钱行为，被请
求缔约国应当在实行没收后，基于请求缔约国的生效判决，将没收的财产返还请
求缔约国。人民法院做出生效判决是我国利用《公约》追回腐败资产的关键。所
以建立和完善我国刑事缺席审判制度势在必行。
Section 2 Finalizing Translated Texts
Part 1 English-Chinese Translation (英译汉审定稿)
Read the following original English text. There are 10 mistakes in the Chinese translated text. Underline and number them and give your corrections in the numbered spaces on the ANSWER SHEET.
“Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over,” Mark Twain once said. At the
start of the 21st century, his gloomy view on the water side of the equation has been
getting endorsements from an impressive — if unlikely — cast of characters. The
Central Intelligence Agency, the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and, most
recently, Britain’s Ministry of Defense have all raised the specter of future “water
wars.” With water availability shrinking across the Middle East, Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa, so the argument runs, violent conflict between states is increasingly likely.
The specter is also on the agenda for the experts from 140 countries gathered this
week at the annual World Water Week forum in Stockholm. Meetings of water experts
are not obvious forums for debating issues of global peace and security. But the ghost
of Mark Twain is in Stockholm this week as we reflect on the links between water
scarcity and violent conflict between states. So, here’s the question. Are we heading
for an era of “hydrological warfare” in which rivers, lakes and aquifers become
national security assets to be fought over? Or can water act as a force for peace and cooperation?
Water conflicts are invariably shaped by local factors. But the sheer scale of these
conflicts makes it impossible to dismiss them as isolated events. What we are dealing
with is a global crisis generated by decades of gross mismanagement of water
resources. The facts behind the crisis tell their own story. By 2025, more than two
billion people are expected to live in countries that find it difficult or impossible to
mobilize the water resources needed to meet the needs of agriculture, industry and
households. Population growth, urbanization and the rapid development of
manufacturing industries are relentlessly increasing demand for finite water resources.
The threats posed by competition for water are real enough — but for every threat
there is an opportunity. Cooperation tends to attract less news than violent conflict.
Perhaps that is why “water wars” get such exaggerated coverage. Yet cooperation over
water is far more widespread than conflict.
How can the world move toward a future of cooperation rather than conflict on
water? We believe that there are three broad rules. First, governments have to stop
treating water as an infinitely available resource to be exploited without reference to
ecological sustainability. Yes, water is scarce in many countries. But the scarcity is the
product of poor economic policies. Improving the efficiency of water use and
encouraging conservation through pricing and more efficient technologies in
agriculture and industry would help reduce scarcity. Second, countries must avoid
unilateralism. Any major upstream alteration to a river system, or increase in use of
shared groundwater, should be negotiated, not imposed. Governments should look
beyond national borders to basin-wide cooperation. Building strong river-basin
institutions could provide a framework for identifying and exploiting opportunities for
cooperation. Third, political leaders need to get involved. Too often, dialogue on
transboundary water management is dominated by technical experts. Whatever their
level of expertise, dedication and professionalism, the absence of political leadership
tends to limit the scope for far-reaching cooperation.
The most obvious reason for greater political and financial investment in
transboundary water cooperation is spelled out in an unlikely source. “By means of
water,” says the Koran, “we give life to everything.” As a single human community
sharing a single planet, we need to look beyond our national borders to work out ways
of sustaining the ecological systems on which human progress depends. By means of
water, perhaps we can display a capacity for resolving problems and sustaining
through cooperation.
马克·吐温说过，“威士忌是供饮用的，水是用来抢夺的。”他对水所持的
悲观看法，到了 21 世纪初，却受到一批如不可能却引人注目的人物的赞同。美
国中央情报局、普华永道会计师事务所，以及最近英国国防部，都谈到将来“为
水而战”的可怕景象。根据他们的说法，由于中东、亚洲以及非洲小撒哈拉地区
可用水量日渐减少，国家间发生暴力冲突的可能性日益增大。
本周有 140 个国家的专家云集斯德哥尔摩，举行世界水周论坛年会。上述
可怕景象也反映在年会的议程上。水专家的会议显然不是讨论世界和平与安全问
题的论坛。然而，马克·吐温的幽灵本周来到了斯德哥尔摩，因为我们要反映水
荒和国家间的暴力冲突的关系。这样问题就来了。难道说我们正走向“为水而战”
的时代，河流、湖泊和地下蓄水层都成为需要争夺的国家安全资产?还是说水可
以成为一支和平与合作的力量?
关于水的冲突总是由局部地区的多种因素引发的。但看一看这些冲突的纯
粹规模，让人不能把它们看作是孤立的事件，而不予重视。我们当前面对的是一
场全球性危机，这种危机是几十年来对水资源管理不当而造成的。危机背后的事
实最能说明问题。预计到 2025 年，在两亿多人生活的那些国家将无法或难以开
发足够的水资源，以满足农业、工业和生活用水的需求。人口增长、城市化、制
造业的迅猛发展都对有限的水资源毫不留情地提出越来越大的需求。争水的威胁
确实存在，但每个威胁都会带来一个机遇。合作往往比暴力冲突吸引更少的新闻
报导。也许正是因为这个原因， 为水而战”才受到那样言过其实的报道。然而，
在水的问题上进行的合作要比它引起的冲突更为广泛。
世界怎样才能在将来为水而合作，而不是走向冲突呢?我们认为，总的说
来有三项规则。第一、各国政府不可继续把水看作是一种可供无限使用的资源，
而不考虑生态的可持续发展。的确，许多国家都在闹水荒。但水荒是贫穷的经济
政策产品。提高水的利用率，通过调整价格和改进工农业技术鼓励节水，都有助
于缓解水荒。第二、各国必须避免单边主义。某一水系的上游的任何重大变化，
或者共用的地下水开采量的增加，应经过谈判，而不能强加于人。各国政府应放
眼跨国界全流域的合作。建立强有力的涵盖全流域的机构将会提供一个框架，以
利于寻求和利用合作机会。第三、政治领导者需要参与。跨边界水管理的对话，
往往由技术专家把持。不论他们的技术水平有多高，不论他们多么敬业与在行，
如果缺少政治领导，都会限制具有深远意义的合作。
为水而进行跨边界合作，需要增加政治的和财政的投入，其最明显的一条
理由，竟来自一个意想不到的出处。《古兰经》云：“借助于水，我们赋万物以生
命。”我们同属一个人类社会，共享一个星球，我们的眼光需要超越自己的国度，
去寻求维护生态系统的途径。也许我们能借助于水来展示一种能力——通过合作
解决问题并实现可持续发展的能力。
Part 2 Chinese-English Translation (汉译英审定稿)
Read the following original Chinese text. There are 10 mistakes in the English translated text. Underline and number them and give your corrections in the numbered spaces on the ANSWER SHEET.
自2002年底起，由于需求拉动，中国“高投入、高能耗、高污染”的产业投
资持续增加。按照目前的工业结构，如果高技术产业增加值比重提高一个百分点，
冶金、化工等高耗能行业比重相应下降一个百分点，万元GDP能耗可降低1.3个百分点。
有关专家预计，随着高能耗企业技术改造的加强，产业结构调整步伐的加快，
未来几年中国节能降耗的成效将会更加明显。但也有人指出,中国的工业化、城
镇化进程加快将加大城市能源需求的压力。
未来五年中国城市人均住宅面积会增加将近30%，达到人均26平方米，农村
人均住房面积增加大约20%，达到人均30平方米。每百户城市家庭的空调数将达
81台，增加1.6倍，百户家庭的汽车拥有量达3.4辆，增加5.7倍。这些都会导致水
泥、钢铁、玻璃等高耗能产品大幅度增长。
另外，按目前的能源消费需求，即使在政府关停和淘汰落后产能，加大高耗
能企业节能工作的情况下，未来五年，煤炭的消费量仍将增加接近10亿吨。这些
都是对中国达到降低能耗20%的目标的极大挑战。
Since the end of 2002, driven by growing domestic demand, China kept increasing investment in industries featured high input, high energy consumption and heavy pollution.Given the country’s current industrial structure, a 1.3-percentage-point drop of energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of the GDP can be
realized provided that the proportion of added value of hi-tech industries grow by 1
percentage point and that of high energy-consuming sectors like metallurgical and
chemical industries falls by 1 percentage point.
Some experts predicted that China would see more distinct results in energy conservation with the strengthening of technological renovation of high
energy-consuming enterprises and the quickened pace of industrial restructuring.
However, some people warned that the acceleration of China’s industrialization and
urbanization would further increase the pressure on energy supply in urban areas.
Per-capita housing in China’s urban areas is expected to surge nearly 30 percent
to 26 square meters in the next five years and that in rural areas will grow 20 percent
to 30 square meters. Air-conditioners owned by every 100 urban households will
increase 1.6 times to 81 sets and cars owned by every 100 urban households will rise
6.7 times to 3.4 units. This will lead to a robust jump of high energy-consuming
products, such as cement, steel, glass and others.
Moreover, China’s coal consumption may approach to 1 billion tons during the
next five years, according to China’s current demand for energy, even if the
government closes down or eliminates backward productivity and intensifies energy
saving of high energy-consuming enterprises. All posing a great challenge to China in
its effort to meet the goal of cutting its energy consumption by 20 percent.
上一篇：翻译资格考试大纲（笔译及口译）
