2017翻譯考試英語筆譯初級模擬題：中國近代史的開端

　　【漢譯英】

　　中國近代史的開端

　　1840年英國無恥地對中國發(fā)動了戰(zhàn)爭，其罪惡目的在于保護他們在中國的鴉片貿(mào)易。119世紀初，英國東印度會司向中國大量走私產(chǎn)自當時英國的殖民地印度的鴉片。2這種不法貿(mào)易不僅耗費了中國大量的錢財，而且極大地損害了鴉片吸食者的身心健康。3所以，清政府中林則徐等一批頭腦清醒的官員，力主全面禁止鴉片貿(mào)易。4清政府的統(tǒng)治者們也意識到鴉片泛濫的危害，1838年，任命林則徐為欽差大臣，命其到廣州實行禁煙。當時，廣州是大多數(shù)英國煙販停留、交易的地方。51839年初，林則徐到任廣州，隨即采取了堅決措施，嚴令禁止鴉片貿(mào)易。6勒令英國煙販們上繳全部鴉片，總計22000箱(每箱約120斤鴉片)，并且在離廣州不遠的虎門當眾銷毀。7在英國的鴉片貿(mào)易利益集團強烈要求下，英國政府決定向中國發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭。他們向中國派出艦隊，共戰(zhàn)船四十多條，軍隊四千，逼近中國海域。8林則徐帶領當?shù)剀娒褡隽顺浞值臏蕚�，在廣東痛擊了侵略者。9腐敗無能的清廷統(tǒng)治者們畏懼英國的先進武器，又擔心人民力量的壯大，是戰(zhàn)是和始終舉棋不定。10最后，為了結(jié)束戰(zhàn)爭，接受了英國提出的所有條件。林則徐被貶官，流放新疆。

　　1842年八月，在南京城外停泊的英國戰(zhàn)船上，第一個由西方勢力強加給中國的不平等條約——《南京條約》簽署了。條約規(guī)定中國賠償英國2100萬銀圓;割讓香港給英國，開放5個通商口岸(廣州，廈門，福州，寧波和上海)，對英國進出口貨物征收的關稅必須由兩國協(xié)商決定。翌年，英國又強迫中國簽訂了兩個協(xié)議，允許英國領事對在中國犯罪的英國公民按照英國法律審理，中國給其他國家的貿(mào)易優(yōu)惠也必須給予英國。11換言之，中國要給予英國領事裁判權(quán)和片面最惠國待遇。

　　中國在鴉片戰(zhàn)爭中戰(zhàn)敗，暴露了她在軍事上的軟弱和政治上的落后。西方列強發(fā)現(xiàn)迫使中國接受不平等條件是輕而易舉的。因而，戰(zhàn)后，英國和其他西方國家，包括法國、德國、俄國和美國，還有東方的日本，或單獨或聯(lián)合對中國發(fā)動侵略戰(zhàn)爭，以不同的方式欺凌中國，以獲取優(yōu)惠、特權(quán)、賠償、租界.甚至領土。12一般來說，他們的目的都能達到。19世紀后半葉的中國歷史就充滿了這樣的屈辱。由此，中國從一個有主權(quán)的封建國家，開始逐漸淪為一個半封建、半殖民地的國家。13

　　【參考譯文】

　　The Beginning of the Modern History of China

　　In 1840 Britain shamelessly launched a war on China for a criminal purpose - to protect their opium trade.

　　In the early nineteenth century, the British East India Company smuggled to China large quantities of opium produced in India, which was then a British colony. This illegal trade not only cost China enormous sums of money, but did great harm to the health and moral quality of those who were addicted to the drug. So clear-headed officials in the Qing government like Lin Zexu wanted to have the trade completely banned. The Qing rulers also saw the danger of the spread of opium, and in 1838 appointed Lin High Commissioner and entrusted him with the task of banning the opium trade in Guangzhou, where most British opium dealers were staying and doing business.

　　After arriving in Guangzhou early in 1839, Lin took resolute and strict measures to ban the trade. He compelled the British merchants to surrender all their opium, totaling 22, 000 chests (one chest containing about 120 jin of opium) and had it publicly burned in Humen, not far from Guangzhou.

　　The British government, urged by the interest groups connected with the opium trade, decided to wage war on China. They sent a fleet of over 4,0 battleships with 4,000 troops to Chinese seas.

　　The invaders were repelled by the army and people of Guangdong, where Lin Zexu had made necessary preparations. The decadent and corrupt Qing rulers were so frightened by the superior weapons of the British, and so afraid of the rise of the people, that they had wavered all along between fighting and suing for peace, and finally decided to accept the British demands so as to end the war. Lin Zexu was demoted and exiled to Xinjiang.

　　In August 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing, the first unequal treaty imposed on China by a Western power, was signed on board a British battleship anchored near Nanjing. The treaty stipulated that China should pay Britain an indemnity of 21,000,000 silver dollars, cede Hong Kong to Britain, open five ports (Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai) to foreign trade, and tariffs on British goods should be fixed by mutual agreement. In the following year Britain forced on China two new agreements, which allowed British consuls to try British people who had committed crimes in China according to British law, and made China give Britain all the privileges in trade that China would give to any other country. In other words, China gave Britain the right of consular jurisdiction and unilateral most-favoured-nation treatment.

　　China's defeat in the Opium War exposed her military weakness and political backwardness.

　　Western powers saw that it was easy to force her to accept unequal conditions. So after the war Britain and other Western countries, including France, Germany, Russia and the United States, and Japan in the east, jointly or separately started aggressive wars on China, or bullied China in different ways, to demand privileges, special rights, indemnities, concessions and even territory, and generally they got what they wanted. Chinese history in the second half of the nineteenth century was full of such humiliating events. They marked the turn of China from a feudal country into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.