2014年5月份CATTI二级笔译考试，英译汉的两个语篇均来自《纽约时报》：第一篇是关于乔布斯夫人的介绍，第二篇是关于人文学科衰落的报道。由于《纽约时报》的文章并不艰深，句子结构也并不复杂，考题的选材也是中规中矩，没有太多的生僻词汇，不需要考生频繁的查阅词典。从翻译技巧的角度来讲，第一篇基本上属于记叙文体，第二篇属于论说文体。第一篇在翻译过程中需要考生适当注意在汉语选词及表达方式上的色彩性，第二篇则需要考生在选词及表达方式上更侧重严谨性。这两篇文章在语句理解方面不存在多少难度。下面是真题的译文，供大家参考：
　　英译汉第一篇（出自2013年5月17日《纽约时报》关于乔布斯夫人的介绍）
　　Marlene Castro knew the tall blonde woman only as Laurene， her mentor. They met every few weeks in a rough Silicon Valley neighborhood the year that Ms. Castro was applying to college， and they e-mailed often， bonding over conversations about Ms. Castro’s difficult childhood. Without Laurene’s help， Ms. Castro said， she might not have become the first person in her family to graduate from college.
　　马勒尼·卡斯特罗当初只知道那位高挑身材，金发碧眼的女士名叫劳伦，是她的导师。卡斯特罗女士准备申请大学那年，每隔几个星期，她们就会在硅谷附近的一个简陋的社区里见面，也会经常互通邮件，常聊起卡斯特罗女士艰苦童年的话题。要是没有劳伦斯的帮助，卡斯特罗女士也不会成为家族里的第一位大学生。
　　It was only later， when she was a freshman at University of California， Berkeley， that Ms. Castro read a news article and realized that Laurene was Silicon Valley royalty， the wife of Apple’s co-founder， Steven P. Jobs.
　　直到后来，卡斯特罗女士被加州大学伯克利分校录取后，她才从一篇新闻报道中得知，劳伦女士竟然是苹果公司联合创始人斯蒂芬·P·乔布斯的夫人，是硅谷的贵族！
　　“I just became 10 times more appreciative of her humility and how humble she was in working with us in East Palo Alto，” Ms. Castro said.
　　卡斯特罗女士说，“我极为钦佩她那种谦逊的态度以及她在与我们一道工作在帕洛阿尔托时所显示出的那种谦虚精神。”
　　The story， friends and colleagues say， is classic Laurene Powell Jobs. Famous because of her last name and fortune， she has always been private and publicity-averse. Her philanthropic work， especially on education causes like College Track， the college prep organization she helped found and through which she was Ms. Castro’s mentor， has been her priority and focus.
　　朋友和同事们都说，这是劳伦·波维尔·乔布斯的传统做事方式，尽管因其姓氏（乔布斯）及拥有的巨额财富而远近闻名，但她总是保持低调，避免出现在公众视野中。她热衷于公益事业，尤其在教育领域，她创建了“大学之路”，（注：劳伦创办了一家小型公司以匿名的方式捐款，并且在1997年创办非营利教育组织“大学之路(College Track)”，帮助弱势高中生取得大学学位。）旨在帮助人们准备申请大学，也正是通过这个组织，她成为了卡斯特罗女士的导师，卡斯特罗女士成为了她重点关注和帮扶的对象。
　　Now， less than two years after Mr. Jobs’s death， Ms. Powell Jobs is becoming somewhat less private. She has tiptoed into the public sphere， pushing her agenda in education as well as global conservation， nutrition and immigration policy.
　　现如今，乔布斯先生去世不到两年，波尔威·乔布斯女士逐渐受到公众的关注。她开始悄然进入公众视野，推动她在教育领域的公益事业，并且还将关注点转向了全球生态保护，营养问题，和移民政策等领域。
　　“She’s been mourning for a year，” said Larry Brilliant， who is an old friend of Mr. Jobs. “Her life was about her family and Steve， but she is now emerging as a potent force on the world stage， and this is only the beginning.”
　　据乔布斯先生的一位老朋友，拉里·布里恩特透露：”因为她丈夫的去世，乔布斯女士整整难过了一年，家庭和丈夫曾是她生活的全部，但是，她现在已成为世界这个舞台上的一股强劲的力量，而她现在所做的一切，还只是开始而已。
　　But she is doing it her way.
　　乔布斯女士以她特有的方式在行动着。
　　“It’s not about getting any public recognition for her giving， it’s to help touch and transform individual lives，” said Laura Andreessen， a philanthropist and lecturer on philanthropy at Stanford who has been close friends with Ms. Powell Jobs for two decades.
　　斯坦福大学慈善专业讲师，同时也是乔布斯女士长达20年的密友与慈善家，劳拉·安德森说：“她的付出并不是为了获取公众的认可，而是为了有助于感化和改变那些需要帮助的人”。
　　While some people said Ms. Powell Jobs should have started a foundation in Mr. Jobs’s name after his death， she did not， nor has she increased her public giving.
　　尽管许多人建议乔布斯女士应以他去世的丈夫的名义发起一个基金会，然而，她并没有这样做，也没有增加任何公共捐赠。
　　Instead， she has redoubled her commitment to Emerson Collective， the organization she formed about a decade ago to make grants and investments in education initiatives and， more recently， other areas.
　　取而代之的是，她加倍努力的为艾默生联合会工作，这是一个十年前由她创建的组织，旨在帮助和投资教育事业，而近期，这个联合会的项目也囊括了其它领域。
　　“In the broadest sense， we want to use our knowledge and our network and our relationships to try to effect the greatest amount of good，” Ms. Powell Jobs said in one of a series of interviews with The New York Times.
　　波尔威·乔布斯在一次纽约时报的系列采访中说：“从广义上说，我们是要用知识和人脉关系给社会带来最大的益处。”
　　英译汉第二篇 2013年6月30日《纽约时报》人文科学不该衰败
　　In the past few years， I’ve taught nonfiction writing to undergraduates and graduate students at Harvard， Yale， and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Each semester I hope， and fear， that I will have nothing to teach my students because they already know how to write. And each semester I discover， again， that they don’t.
　　在过去几年里，我曾在哈佛大学、耶鲁大学、和哥伦比亚大学新闻学研究生院为本科生和研究生教授学术写作。每个学期我都充满希望，同时又有所担心，我担心如果我的学生已经掌握了写作，我将没有什么东西教授给他们。而每个学期我都一再发现，他们还是不会写作。
　　The teaching of the humanities has fallen on hard times. So says a new report on the state of the humanities by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences， and so says the experience of nearly everyone who teaches at a college or university. Undergraduates will tell you that they’re under pressure — from their parents， from the burden of debt they incur， from society at large — to choose majors they believe will lead as directly as possible to good jobs. Too often， that means skipping the humanities.
　　人文学科的教学已经陷入困境。美国文理科学研究院的一篇新报告对人文学科的现状做出了这样的评述，而且几乎每位高等院校的教师也有相同的体会。本科生会告诉你，他们承受着巨大的压力，这种压力来自其父母、来自债务的负担，来自全社会，而这种压力使得他们必须选择那些他们认为会更快、更有可能带来高薪工作的专业。这也经常意味着，逃掉人文学科的课程。
　　In other words， there is a new and narrowing vocational emphasis in the way students and their parents think about what to study in college.
　　换句话说，当考虑在大学里该选择什么专业时，在学生和父母中产生了一种对职业选择的狭隘倾向。
　　There is a certain literal-mindedness in the recent shift away from the humanities. It suggests a number of things.
　　近来当人们将注意力逐渐从人文学科转移开来的时候，人们是在考虑专业选择的某种实用性。这预示着一系列的问题。
　　One， the rush to make education pay off presupposes that only the most immediately applicable skills are worth acquiring. Two， the humanities often do a bad job of explaining why the humanities matter. And three， the humanities often do a bad job of teaching the humanities.
　　一．急于让教育产生回报的冲动预示着，只有那些最直接应用的技能才值得学习。二.人文学科自身往往没能很好地阐释其重要性。三.人文学科往往并未向学习者很好地传授人文知识。
　　What many undergraduates do not know — and what so many of their professors have been unable to tell them — is how valuable the most fundamental gift of the humanities will turn out to be. That gift is clear thinking， clear writing and a lifelong engagement with literature.
　　许多本科生所不知道的，同时也是他们许多教授未能告诉他们的是，人文学科那最基本的精髓将最终证明会有多么的珍贵。这种精髓就是思路清晰、行文简明，以及一生对文学的痴迷。
　　Writing well used to be a fundamental principle of the humanities， as essential as the knowledge of mathematics and statistics in the sciences. But writing well isn’t merely a utilitarian skill. It is about developing a rational grace and energy in your conversation with the world around you.
　　善于写作原本是人文学科的一个根本原则，这就如同数学和统计学在科学领域中一样的重要。然而，善于写作不仅仅是一个实用技能，它是一个人在与周围世界人们的交流中所培养起来的那种理性的优雅和能量。

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