【原文】

　　長城是世界一大奇跡。現(xiàn)在，每年都有幾百萬人到長城游覽。在旺季，幾處最著名的景點總是讓成群結隊的游客擠得水泄不通。中國人修筑長城的歷史久遠，可以追溯到戰(zhàn)國時期(Warring State period)。歷史上，中國共修過大約20座長城。在所有這些長城中，明長城最長，達到6700公里。在當時，中國技術在世界上處于領先地位，因此明長城的結構也是最復雜的。明長城的修筑是為了抵御北方游牧民族的入侵。

　　【譯文】

　　The Great Wall is a wonder of the world. Now, millions of people journey to the Great Wall each year, making its most popular sites besieged by hordes of tourists during busy season. The Chinese have a long history of building walls, dating from the Warring State period. In history, about 20 walls were built, with the wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty being the longest, extending 6700km. China was the most technology advanced nation in the world then, so the wall was also the most sophisticated in structure. It was built to ward off the invasion of nomads from the north.

　　【點撥】

　　1. “長城是世界一大奇跡”翻譯為“the Great Wall is a wonder of the world”。奇跡在英語中一般用wonder。在最著名的the seven wonders of the world(世界七大奇跡)中，長城也是其中之一。

　　2. 旺季 busy seasons

　　旺季就是熱銷的季節(jié)，生意也就特別忙活，所以這里用“忙活的季節(jié)”來翻譯，可以體現(xiàn)出譯者的變通能力。淡季可相應翻譯為slack seasons。

　　3. 成群結隊 hordes of tourists

　　Horde大群人，還可譯成“a huge crowd/throng”。

　　4. 現(xiàn)在，每年都有幾百萬人到長城游覽。在旺季，幾處最著名的景點總是讓成群結隊的游客擠得水泄不通。Now, millions of people journey to the Great Wall each year, making its most popular sites besieged by hordes of tourists during busy season.

　　這里要用合句翻譯法，把原文中的第二句譯成第一句的伴隨狀語。即把原文中兩個有一定關系的簡單句合為一個句子，且句意不變。

　　5. 追溯 dating from

　　常用來表示“追溯”的短語還有：date back to。