研究生英语翻译

1、Unit4 The Last Chapter“I love you, Bob.”“我爱你，鲍勃。”“I love you, too, Nancy”“我也爱你，南希。”It was 2 a.m. and I was hearing my parents' voices through the thin wall separating my bedroom from theirs. Their loving reassurances were sweet, touching-and surprising.凌晨两点，我听到与我一墙之隔的卧室中传出了父母的对话，他们对爱的表达令人愉悦，令人感动

2、，却也着实令人吃惊。My parents married on September 14, 1940, after a brief courtship. She was nearing 30 and knew it was time to start a family. The handsome, well-educated man who came by the office where she worked looked like a good bet. He was captivated by her figure, her blue eyes. The romance didn'

3、;t last long.我的父母在一个简短的恋爱期后，与1940年9月14日结婚。那时我母亲已经快30岁了，她觉得是到了该建立家庭的时候了。当那个英俊、受过良好教育的那字经过她的办公室时，她觉得他应该是一个不错的人选，而那个男子也被她美妙的身体和那双蓝色的眼睛所吸引。但这段罗曼史并没有持续太长时间。Seeds of difference sprouted almost immediately. She liked to travel; he hated the thought He loved golf; she did not. He was a Republican; she an ar

4、dent Democrat. They fought at the bridge table, at the dinner table, over money, over the perceived failings of their respective in-laws. To make matters worse, they owned a business together, and the everyday frustrations of life at the office came to roost at home.很快，他们的分歧就显现出来。她酷爱旅游，他不喜欢外出，他喜欢打高尔

5、夫球，她却不感兴趣：他是共和党派，而她支持民主党。他们总是不停地吵架，从桥牌桌上吵到饭桌上，为钱吵，互相埋怨对方的亲戚。更糟糕的是，他们共同经营了一份生意，每天工作上的不如意同样会被带回家吵。There was a hope that they would change once they retired, and the furious winds did calm somewhat, but what remained steeled itself into bright, hard bitterness. “I always thought wed” my mother would be

6、gin, before launching into a precise listing of my fathers faults. The litany was recited so often, I can reel it off by heart today. As he listened, my father would mutter angry threats and curses. It was a miserable duet.原来以为退休后的情况会有所改变，不错，怒火是稍稍平息了一些，但余怒却结成了强烈的怨恨。“我总是觉得我要是”我母亲总爱以这句话开始，然后细数父亲的种种不是。

7、她反复絮叨，以至于我至今还能背诵出来。而父亲则气咻咻地一边威胁，一边嘟嚷着难听的骂人话。那可真是最糟糕的二重奏。It wasnt the happiest marriage, but as their 60th anniversary approached, my sister and I decided to throw a party. Sixty years was a long time, after all; why not try to make the best of things? We'd provide the cake, the balloons, the toa

8、sts, and theyd abide by one rule: no fighting. 虽然父母的婚姻并不是最幸福的，但我们姐妹俩还是决定在他们结婚60年时举办一 个派对。毕竟，60年够长了，为什么不好好改善一下关系呢？我们为二老准备了蛋糕、气球、祝酒辞，只求他们信守一个承诺：不再吵架。The truce was honored. We had a wonderful day. In hindsight it was an important celebration, because soon after, things began to change for my parents. A

9、s debilitating dementia settled in, their marriage was about the only thing they wouldnt lose.停战协定兑现了，60周年纪念日那天，大家都过得非常愉快。现在肴来，那次派对真的很重要，因为从那之后，事情开始慢慢地起了变化。老年痴呆症的各种症状在二老 身上逐渐显现出来，到后来，除了对方，他们什么都不记得了。It began when their memories started to fade. Added to the frequent house-wide hunts for glasses and c

10、ar keys were the groceries left behind on the counter, notices of bills left unpaid. Soon my parents couldnt remember names of friends，then of their grandchildren. Finally they didnt remember that they had grandchildren.最开始是他们的记忆力开始衰退，不仅经常满屋子找眼镜和汽车钥匙，把买好的东西 落在收银台，而且总是忘记支付账单。很快他们连朋友和自己孙子的名字也忘了，最 后甚至不

11、记得自己有孙子。These crises would have at one time set them at each others throats，but now they acted as a team, helping each other with searches, consoling each other with “Everyone does that” or “Its nothing; youre just tired.” They found new rolesbolstering each other against the fear of loss. 在过去，这种危机早

12、就让他们斗得你死我活了。可现在，他们却像团队一样紧密合作，帮对方找东西，互相安慰：“人人都健忘，”“没关系，你可能就是有点累了。”他们开始扮演新的角色帮助对方战胜失忆的恐惧。Financial control was the next thing to go. For all of their marriage, my parents stubbornly kept separate accounts. Sharing being unthinkable，theyd devised financial arrangements so elaborate they could trigger w

13、ar at any time. He, for example, was to pay for everything outside the house; she for whatever went on inside. The who-pays dilemma was so complex for one trip that they finally gave up traveling entirely.财务管理又是另一件麻烦事，因为他们一直顽固地分管各自的财产。不可思议的是，他们共同想出了很详细的财务安排，这些安排精细到随时可能触发他俩之间的战争。比如，父亲支付家里以外事务的账目，而母亲支

14、付家里一切开支。谁来付费这一难题 太复杂了，以至于他们一次旅行都难以实现，最终不得不彻底放弃。I took over the books. Now no one knew how things got paid; no one saw how the columns that spelled their fortunes compared. Next I hired a housekeeper. Cooking and cleaning, chores my mother had long complained about, were suddenly gone. Finally on doc

15、tors orderswe cleared the house of alcohol, the fuel that turned more than one quarrel into a raging fire.我接过了这项重任。从现在起他们谁也不知道账单是怎么支付的，谁也看不到他们的名下分别还有多少財产。然后我雇了个管家给他们煮饭，帮他们打扫屋子。原来母亲一直抱怨家务杂事太繁琐累人，现在也不抱怨了。最后，在医生的嘱咐下，我们将屋里所有的酒都清理掉了，因为那曾经多次将争吵升级到火冒三丈的地步。You could say my parents lives had been whittled aw

16、ay, that they could no longer engage in the business of living. But at the same time, something that had been buried deep was coming up and taking shape. I saw it when my father came home after a brief hospital stay.可以说，我父母的生命慢慢衰弱了，他们甚至连生活都不能自理。但同时，一些在他 们心底埋藏很深的东西逐渐显露广出来。那还要从父亲短暂住院后出院时说起。Wed tried t

17、o explain my fathers absence to my mother, but because of her memory, she could not keep it in her head why he had disappeared. She asked again and again where he was, and again and again we told her. And each day her anxiety grew.我们试图向母亲解释父亲为什么没在她身边，但她记性不好，总是忘记为什么他不见 了，于是一遍遍地问我们父亲在哪儿，我们就一遍遍地回答她。她的牵

18、挂和担忧与日俱增。When I finally brought him home, we opened the front door to see my mother sitting on the sofa. As he stepped in to the room, she rose with a cry. I stayed back as he slowly walked toward her and she toward him. As they approached each other on legs rickety with age, her hands fluttered ove

19、r his face. “Oh, there you are,” she said. “There you are.”当我终于把父亲从医院接回家时，打开前门，看见母亲正坐在沙发上。当父亲走进屋 里时，母亲哭着站了起来。我站在原地，看着他们慢慢走向对方。当他俩摇摇晃晃走到一起时，母亲颤巍巍的手滑过父亲的脸庞，喃喃地说：“你在这儿啊，你在这儿啊”I dont doubt that if my mother and father magically regained their old vigor, theyd be back fighting. But I now see that somethi

20、ng came of all those years of shared days-J days of sitting at the same table, waking to the same sun, working and raising children together. Even the very fury they lavished on each other was a brick in this unseen creation, a structure that reveals itself increasingly as the world around them fall

21、s apart我想，如果父母恢复了往日的活力，他们肯定会继续打架的。但现在，正是因为么多年风风雨雨一同走过：同坐在这张餐桌旁，共同迎接朝霞，一起工作，养育子女他们之间，除了矛盾，还有别的东西。即使是两人之间互相发泄的怒火，到头来反倒成了促成他们关系稳固的砖墙。在周围世界土崩瓦解的时候，他们稳固的关系却日益显露出来。In the early morning I once again heard the voices through the wall. “Where are we?” My father asked. “I dont know,” my mother replied softly.

22、第二天淸晨，隔着墙壁，我又听到他们的声音。父亲问道：“我们在哪儿?”母亲轻声回答说：“我不知道。”How lucky they are, I thought, to have each other.我在想，他们多么幸运，因为他们拥有彼此。Unit7 The BumI had come to Vera Cruz from Mexico City to catch one of the Ward Company s white cool ships to Yucatan; and found to my dismay that, a dock strike having been declared

23、 over-night, my ship would not put in. I was stuck in Vera Cruz.我从墨西哥城来到维拉克鲁斯，打算搭乘沃德公司的白色凉船去尤卡坦州，却沮丧地发现一夜之间码头工人宣布罢工，我的船不能进港靠岸，我被困在了维拉克鲁斯。I took a room in the Hotel Diligencias overlooking the plaza and spent the morning looking at the sights of the town. Having seen all that was to be seen. 1 sat do

24、wn in the coolness of the arcade that surrounded the square and ordered a drink. I watched the people crossing the square; Negroes. Indians. Creoles, and Spanish, the motley people of the Spanish Main; and they varied in color from ebony to ivory.我在德里琴西亚旅馆订了一间俯瞰广场的房间。整个上午就在城里观光游览。看完了所有该看的东西，我在广场周围阴凉

25、的拱廊下面坐下，要了一杯饮料。我看着人们在广场上穿梭，黑人、印度人、克里奥耳人、西班牙人，还有来自美洲大陆加勒比海沿岸的混色人种；他们的肤色从黑色到象牙色，深浅不一。My attention was attracted by a beggar who had hair and beard of a red so vivid that it was startling. He wore only a pair of trousers and a cotton singlet, but they were tatters, grimy and foul, that barely held toge

26、ther. I have never seen anyone so thin; his legs, his naked arms were but skin and bone, and through the rents of his singlet you saw every rib of his wasted body ' you could count the bones of his dust-covered feet.我的注意力被一名乞丐吸引了。他有着一头红色的头发和胡须，那种红色生动得让人惊讶。他只穿了一条裤子和一件棉质汗衫，但这些破衣烂衫污秽不堪，发出一股恶臭，几乎不能蔽

27、体。我还从未看到过如此消瘦的人，他的双腿、他裸露的胳膊只剩下皮包骨头，透过他汗衫的破缝，你看得见他瘦弱身体上的每一根肋骨，你可以数得清他沾满尘土的双脚上的骨头。He was the only one of the beggars who did not speak. He did not even hold out his hand, he merely looked at you, but with such wretchedness in his eyes, such despair in his attitude, it was dreadful; he stood on and on,

28、 silent and immobile, gazing steadfastly, and then, if you took no notice of him, he moved slowly to the next table. I had nothing to give him and when he came to me, so that he should not wait in vain, I shook my head.他是乞丐中唯一一个不说话的人，他甚至不伸手，他只是看着你，双眼透着不幸，神态如此绝望，令人感到可怕。他一直站着，一声不吭，一动不动，眼神直勾勾的。如果没有人理他，

29、他就慢慢地挪到邻桌。我没有东西可以给他，所以当他来到我面前时，我摇摇头，免得他白等一场。But he paid no attention. He stood in front of me, for as long as he stood at the other tables, looking at me with tragic eyes. I have never seen such a wreck of humanity. There was something terrifying in his appearance. He did not look quite sane. At len

30、gth he passed on.但他却无视这一点。他站在我面前，停留时间和在其他桌子前一样长，他用悲伤的双眼看着我，我从来没有看到过如此衰败的人。他的外表有种令人恐惧的东西，而且他看起来神志不清。最后他走开了。It was still very hot, towards evening a breath of air coming in through the windows tempted me into the plaza. I saw once more that strange, red-bearded fellow and watched him stand motionless,

31、 with the crushed and piteous air, before one table after another. He did not stop before mine. I supposed he remembered me from the morning and having failed to get anything from me then thought it useless to try again.天还是很热，快到傍晚的时候，有一丝风透过窗户吹了进来，诱使我来到了广场。我再次看到了那个奇怪的红胡子家伙，看着他一动不动地站在桌子面前，一桌接一桌地走，显得颓丧

32、又可怜。他没有在我的桌子前停留，我猜他从早晨开始就记住我了，因为没有从我这里要到东西，便觉得再来也是无用。Since there was nothing else to do, I stayed on till the thinning crowd suggested it was bed-time.' I had suddenly a strange feeling that I had seen him before. I felt sure that I had come across him, but when and where I could not tell.既然无事可做

33、，我便在广场待着，直到渐渐稀疏的人群暗示我就寝时间到了。我突然有一种奇怪的感觉我以前见过他。我确信我见过他，但我说不清是在什么时候和什么地方。I spent my second day at Vera Cruz as I had spent the first. But I watched for the coming of the red-haired beggar, and as he stood at the tables near mine I examined him with attention. I felt certain now that I had seen him som

34、ewhere. I even felt certain that I had known him and talked to him, but I still could recall none of the circumstances. Once more he passed my table without stopping and when his eyes met mine I looked in them for some gleam of recollection. Nothing. I racked my brains. I went over in my mind the po

35、ssible occasions when I might have met him. Not to be able to place him exasperated me as it does when you try to remember a name that is on the tip of your tongue and yet eludes you. The day wore on.我在维拉克鲁斯度过的第二天和第一天差不多。但我留意着红头发乞丐的到来，而当他站在我附近的桌边时，我用心打量了他。我现在确信我在哪里见过他，我甚至确信我认识他，还和他说过话，但是仍然想不出是在什么场合。

36、他再次经过我的桌子，依然没有停留。当他的目光和我的相遇时，我在他的眼中寻找往事记忆的流露，但还是什么也没有。我绞尽脑汁，在脑海里反复搜寻我可能遇见他的场合。因为想不起能和他对上号的任何场合，我非常恼火，这就和你竭力想记起一个就在嘴边的姓名却怎么也想不起的时候一样。这一天在慢慢地过去。It was Sunday and the plaza was more crowded than ever. As usual the red-haired beggar came along, a terrifying figure in his silence. He was standing in fron

37、t of a table only two from mine, without a gesture. Then I saw the policeman who at intervals tried to protect the public from the importunities of all these beggars sneak round a column and give him a resounding whack with his thong. His thin body winced, but he made no protest and showed no resent

38、ment. The cruel stripe had whipped my memory and suddenly I remembered.这天是星期天，广场上比往常拥挤。红发乞丐像往常一样走来，形象可怕，一言不发。他站在离我只有两张桌子距离的另一张桌子前面，没有任何手势。接着我看到一名警察，他不时地出现以保护大家免受乞丐纠缠强乞之苦。这名警察从柱子后面溜出来，用他的皮鞭使劲抽了红发乞丐一下，清脆而响亮。他瘦弱的身体退缩了一下，但是他没有表示反抗，也没有表现出怨恨。残忍的鞭子打开了我的记忆之门，我突然想起来了。Not his name; that escaped me still, but

39、everything else. He must have recognized me, for I have not changed very much in twenty years, and that was why after that first morning he had never paused in front of my table. Yes, it was twenty years since I had known him. I was spending a winter in Rome and every evening I used to dine in a res

40、taurant in the Via Sistina where you got excellent macaroni and a good bottle of wine. It was frequented by a little band of English and American art students, and one or two writers; and we used to stay late into the night engaged in interminable arguments upon art and literature. He was only a boy

41、 then, he could not have been more than 22; and with his blue eyes, straight nose, and red hair he was pleasing to look at. I remembered that he spoke a great deal of Central America, he had had a job with the American Fruit Company, but had thrown it over because he wanted to be a writer. He was no

42、t popular among us because he was arrogant and we were none of us old enough to take the arrogance of youth with tolerance. He thought us poor fish and did not hesitate to tell us so. He would not show us his work, because our praise meant nothing to him and he despised our censure, his vanity was e

43、normous.不是他的名字，那名字我还是没想起来，但除此之外我全想起来了。他肯定已经认出我了，因为这20年来我没有太大的变化，而这正是第一个上午之后他再也没有在我的桌子前停留原因。是的，我认识他有20年了。那是个冬季，我在罗马。每天晚上，我总在西斯蒂娜路上的一家餐馆吃饭，在那里你可以品尝到优质的通心粉和上好的葡萄酒。一群英国和美国的文科大学生，还有一两位作家，经常光顾这家饭店。我们经常就艺术和文学话题展开无休止的争论，直到深夜。他那时只是个大男孩，不超过22岁。他长得很好看，蓝眼睛、高鼻梁、红头发。我记得他讲过很多中美洲的事情，他在美国水果公司有一份工作，但放弃了，因为他想成为一名作家。他在

44、我们这群人中不太有人缘，因为他傲慢。而我们中间没有一个人年长到有足够的宽容来接受他的傲慢。他认为我们是些愚蠢又可怜的人，而且还会毫无顾忌地告诉我们。他不愿意给我们看他的作品，因为我们的赞美对他毫无意义，他也蔑视我们的批评，非常自负。I recalled his high spirits, his vitality, his confidence in the future, and his disinterestedness. It was impossible that it was the same man, and yet I was sure of it. I stood up, pa

45、id for my drink, and went out into the plaza to find him. My thoughts were in a turmoil. I was aghast. I could never have imagined that he was reduced to this frightful misery. I asked myself what had happened. What hopes deferred had broken his spirit, what disappointments shattered him, and what l

46、ost illusions ground him to the dust? I asked myself if nothing could be done. I walked round the plaza. The light was waning and I was afraid I had lost him. Then I passed the church and saw him sitting on the steps. I went up to him.我回想起那时他高涨的情绪、他的活力、他对未来的信心，还有他的冷漠。这个红发乞丐就是他，这怎么可能？然而我确信就是他。我起身付了账，

47、走进广场去找他。我的思绪一片混乱。我感到惊恐。我真想不到他会沦落到这般可怕的悲惨境地。我问自己发生了什么事，是什么样的希望迟迟不能实现摧毁了他的精神，是什么样的失意将他击垮，是什么样的幻想破灭将他逼向屈辱?我问自己是否已经无计可施。我绕着广场走着。天色渐渐暗了下来，我担心会找不到他。接着，我在经过教堂时，看见他坐在教堂的台阶上，于是我向他走去。“Do you remember Rome?” I said.“你记得罗马吗?”我说道。He did not move. He did not answer. He took no more notice of me than if I were not

48、 standing before him. I did not know what to do. I took a yellow-backed note out of my pocket and pressed it in his hand, he did not give it a glance. But his hand moved a little, the thin claw-like fingers closed on the note and scrunched it up; ho made it into a little ball and then flicked it int

49、o the air so that it fell among the jangling buzzards I turned my head instinctively and saw one of them seize it in his beak and fly off followed by two others screaming behind it. When I looked back the man was gone.他一动不动，也不回答。他看都不看我，就好像我没有站在他面前一样。我不知道该怎么办了。我从口袋里掏出一张黄色背面的钞票，塞在他一只手里，他看也没看。但他的那只手微微动

50、了动。那瘦得像爪子一样的手指收拢后握住钞票把它揉成一团，然后仍向空中，正好落在一群聒噪不安的秃鹰之中。我本能地一扭头，看见一只秃鹰叼住钞票飞走了，另外有两只跟在后面尖叫着飞过。当我回过头来时，人已经不见了。I stayed three more days in Vera Cruz. I never saw him again.我在维拉克鲁斯又待了三天，但再也没见到他。Unit 10 Americas Failure in Science EducationFor anyone concerned about strengthening Americas long-term leadership

51、 in science andtechnology, the nations schools are an obvious place to start. But brace yourself for what youll find. The depressing reality is that when it comes to educating the next generation in thesesubjects, America is no longer a world contender. In fact, US students have fallen far behind th

52、eir competitors in much of Western Europe and in Asian nations like Japan and the Republic of Korea.对于那些关注如何增强美国在科技方面长期领导力的人来说，教育无疑是首先要考虑的阵地。可是你要对结果做好心理准备。显示令人沮丧，在下一代理科教育方面，美国已经不再领先于世界。事实上，美国学生远远落后于大部分西欧国家和日本、韩国等发达亚洲国家的学生。This trend has disturbing implications not just for the future of the American

53、 technologicalleadership but for the broader economy. Already, “we have developed a shortage of highly skilled workers and a surplus of lesser-skilled workers,” warned Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a March 12 address at Boston College. And the problem is worsening. “Were graduatin

54、g too few skilled workers to address the apparent imbalance between the supply of such workers and die burgeoning demand for them,” Greenspan added对于美国未来科技领导力乃至美国整体经济而言，这均是一个令人堪忧的事实。美联储主席艾伦·格林斯潘3月12号再波士顿学院的演讲中已经提出警告：“目前高技能劳动力短缺，低技能劳动力已经供过于求。”而问题还在加剧。格林斯潘接着说：“高技能毕业生数量明显不足以应对高技能劳动力的需求，两者之间呈现出显著的不

55、平衡状态。”As a result, “the future strength of the US science and engineering workforce is imperiled,” the National Science Board warned in a sweeping report issued last year.而结果呢,正如全国科学委员会去年一份总结报告说的那样：美国 未来理工类人才实力将岌岌可危。Global competition全球竞争Until now, America has compensated for its failure to adequate

56、ly educate the next generation by importing brainpower. In 2000, a stunning 38% of US jobs requiring a Ph.D. in science ortechnology were filled by people who were born abroad, up from 24% in 1990, according to the NSB. Similarly, doctoral positions at the nations leading universities are often fill

57、ed with foreign students.至今，美国已经通过输入人才的方式来弥补其在下一代教育方面的失败。据全国科学委员会报道：2000年，美国38%需要理工博士学位的工作是由外国人做的，远远高于1990年的24%，这是个令人震惊的事实。无独有偶，美国名牌大学的波矢学位也通常是外国学生在读。However, because the “the global competition for science and engineering talent is intensifying. the US may not be able to rely on the international m

58、arket to fill our unmet needs,” warns the NSB. Indeed, as globalization accelerates, bright young Indian or Chinese scientists may well have better opportunities at home than in the US.然而，正如全国科学委员会警告：由于全球对理工人才的竞争在加剧，美国不能依赖国际市场来满足国内不足的需求。随着全球化的加速，年轻聪慧的印度科学家和中国科学家在本国完全有更好的机会。The consequences of this c

59、ould be enormous. Because the quality of a nations workforce has such a huge influence on productivity, effective school reform could easily stimulate the economy more than conventional strategies, such as the Bush tax cuts. Consider what would happen if the US could raise the performance of its high school students on math and science to the levels of Western Europe within a decade. According to Eric A. Hunushek, a senior fe