2018年翻譯資格考試中級(jí)筆譯模擬題：為什么我們要學(xué)習(xí)歷史

　　英譯漢

　　Why study history?

　　I turned down the lights in my classroom and asked the students to close their eyes and, “Imagine you are at a beach on a sunny day.” With your mind’s eye, look around you. You see the waves lapping at the shore. To your left you see children in colorful swimsuits building sand castles, laughing and splashing in the water. To the right you see a boat dock painted blue. Several small boats are tied to the dock. You are living in the present, observing your surroundings and feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin.

　　After spending some time sitting on the beach, you are becoming bored and hot, and you begin to think of the future. What do you want to do? How did you decide? Based on your past experience you know the water will be cool and refreshing, and playing in the waves will be fun, so you decide to go for a swim. Living in the present, you are making a plan for the future based on your knowledge of the past. The present, the future and the past are always tied together and are always with us.

　　It’s getting later now, and the sun is beginning to set over the water. It is time to think about going home. You recall that you arrived at the beach on a boat and that you left the boat tied to the dock. You know how you will get home. This knowledge is comforting, and you decide to stay awhile longer and enjoy the sunset. As you can see, your decisions about the future are based on your knowledge of the past.

　　But, suddenly a spaceship falls from the sky knocking you unconscious. You awake with amnesia, remembering nothing of the past. You don’t know why you are on a beach, where home is or how to get there. It’s getting dark and you are frightened. You groaned in agony because your loss of the past means you are hopelessly lost in trying to cope with the future.

　　Relax. You will probably never be struck by a falling spaceship… and you will learn what you need to know about beaches and swimming and getting home from your own personal experience. But, how will you learn of important thing that you cannot experience for yourself? How will you learn of the larger world outside your own personal experience?

　　This is why we have schools, so you can learn from the experiences of others gathered over centuries of human experience. Without this knowledge, you would suffer from a kind of amnesia that would leave you lost when it comes to understanding important matters in you future. For example, why would foreign terrorists want to attack you and other Americans? Should the United States go to war with Iraq? Should we try to stop global warming? Should we work for economic justice in the world? Should scientists be allowed to alter human genes?

　　You live in a free society, in a democracy, where citizens are expected to help decide these kind of issues and—the truth is—citizens DO help decide important issues in our country. It was the people, not the government, that brought the Vietnam War to an end. It was the people who led the way in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; the government followed. The people of the United States, and their elected representatives, will decide if they can support a war against Iraq.

　　We all need knowledge from the past—whether it comes from personal experience or from studying history. It is our only guide to the future.

　　參考譯文:

　　我將教室的燈光調(diào)暗并且叫學(xué)生們閉上眼睛，“想象這是陽(yáng)光燦爛的一天，你在海邊，”用你想象的眼睛去看看周?chē)�，你看�?jiàn)波浪在拍打著海岸。左邊是穿著五顏六色泳衣的孩子，有的在用沙子做城堡，有的笑著，有的在戲水;右邊有一個(gè)漆成藍(lán)色的船塢，上面系著幾艘船。你身處現(xiàn)在，一邊觀察著周?chē)�，一邊感受著�?yáng)光照在身上的溫暖。

　　在沙灘上坐了一會(huì)兒后，你覺(jué)得無(wú)聊了并且感覺(jué)熱，然后你開(kāi)始考慮接下來(lái)的事情。你想做什么?怎么決定的?據(jù)以往的經(jīng)驗(yàn)?zāi)阒�道水將變涼而且使你精神振作，在水里玩玩肯定很有意思，所以你決定去游泳。你身在現(xiàn)在，但是卻在根據(jù)以前的經(jīng)驗(yàn)為將來(lái)作計(jì)劃�，F(xiàn)在，將來(lái)，過(guò)去，這三者總是連在一起也總是伴隨著我們的。

　　天色漸晚了，太陽(yáng)慢慢地隱沒(méi)在水中。該是考慮回家的時(shí)候了。你記起來(lái)你是坐船來(lái)海邊的，而且把船系在船塢上了，你知道怎么回家。想到這里你感到很欣慰，并且決定再多待一會(huì)兒，享受一下夕陽(yáng)西下的美景。就像你所知道的，關(guān)于未來(lái)的決定是以過(guò)去的經(jīng)驗(yàn)為基礎(chǔ)的。

　　但是，突然一艘宇宙飛船從空中掉下來(lái)把你打暈了，你醒了過(guò)來(lái)但是失憶了，過(guò)去的事情什么都不記得了。你不知道自己為什么在海灘上，家在哪，怎么回去。天黑了，你感到很害怕。你痛苦的嘆息，因?yàn)槟闶�去了過(guò)去就意味著沒(méi)有辦法應(yīng)付將來(lái)的事情。

　　放松，你也許永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)被掉下來(lái)的宇宙飛船砸中，而且你會(huì)從自身的經(jīng)驗(yàn)中得到你需要知道關(guān)于海灘、游泳和回家的事情。但是你怎么學(xué)習(xí)那些自己無(wú)法親身體會(huì)但是又很重要的事情呢?你怎么學(xué)習(xí)自己沒(méi)經(jīng)歷過(guò)的外面的世界呢?

　　這就是為什么我們有學(xué)校，因?yàn)橛袑W(xué)校所以我們可以學(xué)習(xí)幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)前人所積累的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。沒(méi)有這些知識(shí)，你可能要經(jīng)歷一種失憶的感覺(jué)，這種感覺(jué)會(huì)使你在將來(lái)面臨很多重要的事情的時(shí)候感到迷失。例如說(shuō)，為什么國(guó)外的恐怖分子想要襲擊你和其他美國(guó)人?美國(guó)應(yīng)該對(duì)伊拉克發(fā)動(dòng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)嗎?我們應(yīng)該阻止全球變暖嗎?我們應(yīng)該為世界經(jīng)濟(jì)的公正而努力嗎?科學(xué)家應(yīng)該修改人類(lèi)的基因嗎?

　　我們生活在一個(gè)自由民主的社會(huì)，在這樣的社會(huì)中，公民應(yīng)該協(xié)助政府在這些問(wèn)題上作決定，事實(shí)上，我們國(guó)家的公民確實(shí)在這些問(wèn)題上起了作用。結(jié)束越南戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的不是政府，而是人民。站在60年代民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)最前面的也是人民，政府跟在后面。美國(guó)的人民以及他們所選出來(lái)的代表會(huì)決定是否應(yīng)該支持對(duì)伊拉克的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。

　　我們都需要過(guò)去的經(jīng)驗(yàn)——不管是我們的親身經(jīng)驗(yàn)還是從歷史中學(xué)來(lái)的，它是我們前進(jìn)的唯一指導(dǎo)。

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