2003年9月份的中高级口译资格证书第一阶段的考试创下了报考人数历年第一的记录。考生们的热情证实了口译资格证书的含金量，反映了同学们对知识的渴求。但紧张严谨的阅卷工作结束后，我们遗憾地发现在汉译英部分出类拔萃的考生并不多。大部分考生处于25～35分(总分50分)之间，获得40分以上的考生寥寥。阅卷时，我们发现有一部分同学没有完成翻译。这并不是因为他们能力欠缺无法完成，而是很明显地因为时间不够，来不及完成。因此，在这里又要提到如何充分准确地把握考试时间。一般我们建议考生至少留出30分钟用于汉译英。先花大约5分钟时间通读全文，把握文章整体思想和基调；再用2～3分钟在自己认为的难点和重点处做适当记号，理顺段落的层次，这样就可以动笔进行翻译了。翻译时，不提倡打草稿，所以考生应尽量想清楚再落笔，保持卷面的整洁。翻译结束后再花2～3分钟从头浏览一遍，进行复查。

 

　　下面，就考生本次汉译英部分的主要失分点做一些分析：

　　许多专家认为，教学改革的当务之急是要改革现在的课程设置和考试方法，不要让孩子只知道“头悬梁，锥刺股，死读书，读死书”。他们指出，教育改革的关键在于使全社会认识到中，小学教育的目的不只是让学生掌握知识，更应该提高学生整体素质，特别是他们对于人生意义和社会责任这些根本性的问题要有比较深入的思考。学校要在这些方面深入研究，选择合适的内容和方式引导和帮助学生形成正确的观点。如果学校只强调知识教育而忽视了人生课程的引导，那么培养出来的只是一批文字或数字机器，而不是准备进入社会的

 

　　预备人才。(2003年9月汉译英考题)

　　让我们从部分考生的答案着手，思考如何翻译。   

　　<1>许多专家认为，教学改革的当务之急是要改革现在的课程设置和考试方法，不要让孩子只知道“头悬梁，锥刺股，死读书，读死书”。

 

　　考生例句:1）Many experts believe, the most important thing of teaching reform was to change the curricula arrangement and the way of examination. It is no necessary for children to know that they should do like our ancient people who only read books believed the books and not took questions about them, and some body force themselves if they wanted to sleep.

 

　　考生例句:2)  Many experts think that the teaching reforms in the setups of courses and examination methods are currently urgent task. Those students who could study books hard without understanding their meaning should not be encouraged.

 

　　考生例句3) Many experts think that the most important thing to the reform of education is to change the curriculum and the way of exam now. Don' t make the students simply know study hard. study mechanically.

 

　　考生例句4) Many experts believe that the urgent thing of teaching reform is to change the present curriculum and methods of tests. Don't make the children know nothing more than hang the hair. cutting the bottoms; reading only for reading.

　　分析：从以上的考生答案可以看出，这个句子的失分不外乎两点：

 

　　句子结构不明晰，选词不当，语法错误较多  分析这个句子，我们可以将它分为两个句子来译，或是采用并列句结构。但是很多考生不能分辨本句的SV结构．造成结构上的混乱，如句2。还有的同学英语基本功不扎实，不能正确判断时态，如句1，the most important thing of teaching reform was to change…中的was明显应改为is。至于反映了部分考生词汇的匮乏。同时我们提醒考生的是, 在牛时的练习中，要做到扎实，要注意单词的拼写和用法。

 

　　不熟悉汉语俗语的英译  对于本句中出现的“头悬梁，锥刺股，死读书，读死书”这个俗语，考生们真是十八般武艺使尽。有些考生进行了忠实的直译，因而出现了不少“hang one’s hair on the bar，pierce the ass with the knife，read deadly，read dead books”等滑稽的译法，如句4。也有考生“避实就虚”，没有一字一句地对应翻译，而意图用自己的话来解释这句俗语。这是很好的尝试，如句3。但可惜的是．有考生在语法问题上栽跟头，如不注意词性，不注意搭配等等。

 

　　其实，对于这种俗语的翻译，我们提倡意译，即用通俗易懂的说法诠释貌似复杂的句子。平时考生也可以在这方面多加练习。

 

　　参考译文：Many experts think that the top priority task of the moment in teaching / educational reform is the change the curriculum / program of studies and the method of examination and that children should not be ex­pected to grind away at their studies  and learn textbooks by rote.

 

 

　　考生译句1)The expert point out that the major objective of educational reform should be the whole society's awareness of such a fact, the goal for primary and sec­ondary school education is not only to equip the students with necessary knowledge, but also to inspire them to think profoundly on such fundamental problem as meaning of life and social responsibility.

 

　　考生译句2) They pointed out the key of the educational reform lies in making the whole society understand the attainment of middle—school and school education is not only to let studnts master the necessary knowledge, but to improve the total quali­fication of students.

 

　　考生译句3) They pointed that the key point of the teaching innovation is to keep the whole society awaring of the target of the education in primary and middle school. The aim is not just requiring students to occupy the essential knowledge, but also the comprehensive ability of the students, especially the basic thinking of the meaning of life and social responsibility.

 

　　分析：从以上考生译句可以看出，大部分同学对该句的基本结构还是清楚的，因此译句开头大同小异。但问题在于该句较长．译到后面．搭配也不对了(如句2中understand the attainment Of)，词性也管不了了(如句3中keep the whole society awaring of)，甚至还有同学出现漏译．如句2，说明考生对于长句子的把握能力差，归根到底，还是语法不过关。

 

　　同时,我们看到考生译句中对”学生整体素质”的译法错误百出．句2是the total qualification Of students，句3是the Comprehensive ability of the students，句1干脆没译。看来，考生对时代感较强的词汇把握不准。中高级口译考试的考题面广题新，考生应在平时加强对时文的阅读和理解，了解政治经济、文体教育、医学科技等方面的新动态，掌握新词汇。

 

　　参考译文：They have pointed out that the crux Of educational reform is to make the whole society realize that the goal of primary and middle school education is not merely for the students to master necessary knowledge but，more importantly，to raise their overall／holistic quality．In particular，students should be taught to think more about such fundamental issues as the meaning

of life and their social responsibilities．

 

 

　　考生译句 1)  The schools should take more students in these aspects, and select the suitable content and method to lead the students to form the right value.

 

　　考生译句2) To the school's respect, they should do a lot of research on it and choose suitable ways to help the students to have a right point of view of their lives.

 

　　考生译句3) Schools should select proper examples and ways to direct and help students form right ideology by deeply research on the purpose of education.

 

　　分析：这是一个相对较短的句子，也没有生僻难处理的词汇。可是，看看考生们的句子，还是问题颇多。第一是漏译严重．原文“深入研究”中的“深入”二字被同学们忽视，或以“more，a lot of”带过，如句1和句2。我们强调译文需尽量忠实于原文．不要随意删减。第二，还是基本功的问题．单词的拼写、词汇的一知半解、修饰语的搭配等还是影响译文质的主要原因。如句2中的To the school’s respect明显为To the school’s aspect之误；句3中用ideology来等同“观点”显然不对；还有“deeply research”这样的错误出现在高级口译的考试中就太不应该了。

参考译文：Schools need to conduct in-depth researches in this regard and select appropriate teaching materials and methods to guide and help the students into the right way of thinking.

 

 

　　考生译句1)If schools pay much on knowledge education while neglect the direction of life curriculum, the students would become the machine of literate or digits, not the preparatory talents for the society.

 

　　考生译句2) If school only emphasize knowledge education and ignore the introduce lesson to life, then the students we trained are the machines of words and figures rather than the pre-elite who is preparing to enter the society.

 

　　考生译句3) If only knowledge were considered but the directions for live were neglected, what the school educated would be machines that dealt with words anc numbers, but not the prepared generation for the society.

 

　　考生译句4)   Should schools only lay emphasis on education on knowledge am disregard of the lead and guidance of education of life, the students would turn out useless people like machines only know how to write, read and account, not the pretalents for the society.

 

　　分析：以上的句子姑且不论选词是否得当，单单看到没有一种译法在语法上完全正确的．就足以给考生再次敲响警钟：多多练习，加强基本功。如句2中If school only emphasize…忽视了主谓一致：句3中If only knowledge were considered…存在着同样的问题；句4中Should schools only lay emphasis on…虚拟语气的使用错误。

 

　　考生对于原句的理解也存在问题,“文字或数字机器”是指“只会读写计算的人，缺乏主动思维的人，没有创造力的人”，并不是今天我们所指的“数码机器” 。 因此译为“digital machines”是根本不对的。还有，考生的词汇匮乏再次得到证实。“一批”在本句中带有贬义色彩．考生无法找到合适的English equivalent．只好用some , a grow of来代替，大大降低

了译文的质量。

 

　　参考译文：If schools only lay emphasis on the imparting of knowledge and neglect the provision of guidance to the students on how to live a meaningful life ,then that type of school education can only produce a batch of robots capable of writing or computing rather than well-educated people who are ready to play their role in society.

 

　　翻译考察了学员的词汇，语法和文字基调把握能力，是考生英语水平的综合体现。翻译能力的提高决非一朝一夕之功。学员平时应该勤练习，多动脑，充分积累，考场上心不慌，认真对待每一个句子，把握“忠实（信）、通顺（达）”的原则。这样，何愁汉译英拿不到高分呢？