2018年翻譯資格考試初級(jí)筆譯試題：民主

　　英譯漢

　　Democracy and personal liberty are not limitless, and they are under the control of certain conditions. It is known that in most parts of the world, the relation between population and resources is already unfavorable and will probably become even more unfavorable in the future.

　　The unbalanced relation between population and resources makes the growing poverty more deteriorating. This growing poverty constitutes a permanent menace to peace. And not only to peace, but also to democratic institutions and personal liberty. For overpopulation is not compatible with freedom. An unfavorable relationship between numbers and recourses tends to make the earning of a living almost intolerably difficult. Labor is more abundant than goods, and the individual is forced to work long hours for little pay. The unfriendly nature or the equally unfriendly wielders of political and economic power enable labor to have no surplus of accumulated purchasing power.

　　Democracy is, among other things, the ability to say “no” to the boss. As a man lives in a society confining to a government, he can’t say “no” to the boss, unless he is sure of being able to eat when the boss’s favor has been withdrawn. And he cannot be certain of his next meal unless he owns the means of producing enough wealth for his family to live on, or has been able to accumulate surplus out of past wages. If he had a chance of moving to virgin territories, where he could make a fresh start, he would be able to say “no” to the boss, but there is no free land.

　　In an overcrowded country, very few people own enough to make them financially independent; very few people are in a position to accumulate purchasing power. Moreover, in any country where population presses hard upon natural resources, the general economic situation is apt to be so precarious that government control of capital and labor, production and consumption, becomes inevitable. It results that democratic ideals will not work in conditions of poverty and extreme social unrest.

　　參考譯文

　　民主和個(gè)人自由并非沒(méi)有界限，而是受到某些條件的制約。眾所周知，在世界絕大多數(shù)地方，人口和資源的關(guān)系已經(jīng)非常不利，而且將來(lái)可能會(huì)更加不利。

　　人口和資源之間不平衡的關(guān)系，使得不斷增長(zhǎng)的貧困現(xiàn)象更加惡化。不斷增長(zhǎng)的貧困，不僅對(duì)世界和平構(gòu)成永久的威脅，而且還對(duì)民主設(shè)置和個(gè)人自由造成損害。因?yàn)檫^(guò)多人口就不能自由地和諧相處。人口數(shù)和資源間的不利關(guān)系，往往使得謀生達(dá)到幾乎無(wú)法忍受的困難程度。勞動(dòng)力比商品更加豐富，個(gè)人為獲得可憐的工資被迫工作更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間。不友善的自然或者同樣不友善的政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)權(quán)力的掌控者，使得勞動(dòng)力沒(méi)有剩余的購(gòu)買(mǎi)力。

　　民主有別于其他事情，是對(duì)老板說(shuō)“不”的能力。作為一個(gè)生活在受政府支配的社會(huì)中的人，除非他確信沒(méi)有政府的恩惠他也能夠吃飽，除非他擁有的財(cái)產(chǎn)能足夠滿足家庭生存，或者從過(guò)去工資中積累了可觀的剩余，否則是不會(huì)對(duì)老板說(shuō)不的。如果他有機(jī)會(huì)遷到未開(kāi)墾的疆域，一切可以重新開(kāi)始，他甘愿對(duì)老板說(shuō)“不”，但世上并沒(méi)有自由國(guó)。

　　在人口過(guò)度擁擠的國(guó)家，很少人擁有能夠在經(jīng)濟(jì)上保持獨(dú)立的財(cái)產(chǎn)，很少人的購(gòu)買(mǎi)力能夠不斷增長(zhǎng)。而且，在任何國(guó)家，如果人口給自然資源帶來(lái)巨大壓力，那么，普遍的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況就會(huì)趨于不穩(wěn)定，政府對(duì)資本、勞動(dòng)力、生產(chǎn)和消費(fèi)的控制就不可避免。其結(jié)果是在貧困和極度社會(huì)動(dòng)蕩條件下，民主理念不起作用。