汉英语篇翻译练习答案：1．RetirementAttitudes toward retirement vary from person to person. Some people think that they will enjoy their time in retirement, but when it comes they may feel a little disappointed. Unwilling to resign themselves to the prospect of being put on the scrap heap, they try to seek alternative outlets for their energies and alternative sources of income that employment can provide. Others have already prepared themselves for the significant change in their lives. Tired out after all exhaus ting life revolving around work, they are anxious to relax in retirement with all the strains relieved. As there is no more need to rush to catch a morning bus and no more anxiety about promotion, they now have enough time to fulfill an old dream, such as writing, painting, growing flowers and traveling around. On the whole, female workers tend to have a more favorable attitude towards retirement than male workers. Withdrawal from employment to complete domesticity is a far less threatening experience for a woman than for a man.2. Good-bye, My Ill-fated Motherland!The moment I set foot on the deck of the ship, there began my temporary separation from Chinese oil and a feeling of parting sorrow welled up in my heart. At sailing time, I stood on deck watching the ship receding slowly from the bank until I was out of sight of the towering waterfront buildings and the foreign warships on the Huangpu River. Thereupon I turned round with hot tears in my eyes, murmuri ng, “Good-bye, my ill-fated motherland!”Good-bye, my ill-fated motherland! I own what I am to the upbringing you have given me during the past 22 years. I have spent every day of my life in your warm bosom and under your loving care. Y ou have given me joy and sorrow as well as food and clothing. This is where my close relatives were born and brought up and where I have friends here and there. Y ou gave me a wide variety of happiness in my early childhood, but you have also been the source of my sorrow ever since I began to understand things.Here I have witnessed all sorts of human tragedy. Here I have come to know the times we live in. Here I have undergone untold sufferings. I have been struggling, fighting and, time and again, found myself on the brink of destruction and covered all over with cuts and bruises. I have laid to rest, with tears and sighs, some of my close relatives—relatives victimized by old feudal ethnics.Here, besides beautiful mountains and rivers and fertile farmland, we have ghastly prisons and execution grounds as well. Here bad people hold sway while good people suffer and justice is trodden down underfoot. Here people have to wage a savage struggle in order to win freedom. Here man eats man. O the numerous terrible scenes! O the numerous sad memories!O the grand Y ellow River! O the mysterious Y angtze River! Where on earth are your glories of the past? O my native land! O my people! How can I have the heart to leave you!Good-bye, my ill-fated motherland! Much as I hate you, I’ve got to love you as ever.（选自《英语世界》2004年第三期，张培基译）3. A Flower BedIn winter, sunny days were scarce here, as it was surrounded by hills all around. Today, however, the fog was wonderfully thin and the air was filtered through with golden sunlight that tinted everything on the ground with a joyful hue.I stepped out of the small dim garret—our office—where I was shut in all year round. I lifted my head and opened my arms wide as if to embrace someone in front.I went ambling along a narrow path and came to a new village. It was a quiet and well-knit cluster of villas, like a beautiful garden. As I noticed the curtains of the windows were drawn and the screen doors locked, I guessed the wealthy residents, unaccustomed to the cold and lonesome winter there, must have swarmed into the bustling city.Coming to a small wooden bridge, I looked toward the hill opposite and saw a path of green spread out on the slope. The grass there had withered and new wheat was sprouting up across the wintry hillside.As a faint aromatic scent seemed to be wafting into my nostrils, I turned only to find a stretch of a gentle incline thickly strewn with golden-coin-like flowers. They were probably the tough daisies, whispering in private to each other about this intruder: what on earth is he looking for h ere?Looking down I saw my own shadow nestling on the ground. To be sure, I would like to nestle on the ground, for these lonely and fragrant flowers would naturally make a lovely bed. Though it was winter, it had to be warm underground, I guessed.I thought of the place in the distance where my departed other half was buried. I hoped that it was not covered with withered grass only, and that there were flowers, known or unknown, growing, and growing thick enough to make a flowerbed for her.I believe in a place where love is buried, there is warmth to be found there.Let my memorial tears drop quietly on the flower bed and, one day, and I believe the day will eventually come, I will be lying underneath it in my long sleep and it must be warm there.I seem to have come here in search of something, but I will never be able to find anything, except hoping that some day I will go and sleep underneath a flower bed where the land is one in which there is an interflow of warmth and love.(选自《中国翻译》，2004年第5期，高巍，刘士聪译)4．Have One’s Own JudgmentA famous foreign enterprise that invested in China wanted to employ a reception secretary for its public relation department.A beautiful girl with a bachelor degree in electric engineering emerged a winning candidate through the difficult screening process of employment. At its last stage she faced an oral test together with another girl who was her equal not only in good looks but also in scholastic status.The girl we talk about was confident in herself and successful in the oral test. It seemed she would get the chance. The examiner told her on behalf of the company that she could come to the office of the company next Monday as a new recruit. At last he asked her, “Have you anything else to say?” Stunned by the unexpected question, the beautiful girl was quite at a loss, saying involuntarily, “I have to talk with my parents before I give an answer.” Surprised, the examiner said calmly, “In that case, let’s wait till you are ready.”The next day the girl came to tell that her parents agreed to her beginning work next Monday. But the examiner said regretfully, “Sorry, the job vacancy is filled by another adequate candidate. Y ou had better have a try in another place.” The beautiful gir l was stupefied. She asked for an explanation and was told, “What is needed here is a person who knows her own mind.”That was how a good opportunity slipped away right under the nose of a beautiful girl.（选自《英语沙龙》，2004年第10期,李立刚译）5．Why leather Was Used to Make ShoesLong, long ago, human beings used to walk barefooted.A king happened to travel far into the countryside. He was greatly troubled by the rugged roads where gravel and broken stones pricked and numbed his feet. When he returned to his palace he issued an order that all the roads be covered with cattle hide. He thought it was beneficial not only to himself but also to the people and hoped walking would no longer be a painful thing.But even if all cattle in the kingdom were kill ed there wouldn’t be enough hide to get the work done. Evidently it was a stupid attempt. As it was an imperial order people could do nothing but shake their heads and sign.At this juncture a clever servant in the palace ventured to make a suggestion. “Y o ur Majesty, why not take an easier way? Y ou don’t have to mobilize so many people, to have so many oxen killed, nor so many money wasted. What you have to do is simply to cover each of your feet with a little piece of hide.” Surprised and pleased, the king immediately changed his mind and endorsed the plan.This is said to be the origin of using leather to make shoes. Though it sounds odd and strange it inspires us to think. It is much easier to change oneself than to change the world. So it will be much be tter for one to change oneself before one makes an attempt to change the outer world. Why don’t you try to put yourself in the position of person you deal with? Y ou will find it easier to solve a problem when you change your way of thinking.(选自《英语沙龙》，2004年第7期,梁云译）6．Lifetime RegretMu MuIn the 1980s,one young lady issued a public pronouncement dismissing all men under the height of 1.70 metres as “handicapped”. It was met with an avalanche of responses from virtually all unmarried women in the nation.After making perennial efforts to measure my exact height, I reached the inescapable conclusion that I was permanently handicapped. Back in those days, I was a callow young chap vastly capable of daring and foolhardiness, and determined to wr estle with this prejudice against men’s lack of height. So by hook or by crook, I married a girl who was 1.74 metres in height. Such an astonishing tour de force thus achieved greatly bolstered the morale and esteem of those of us who were “ handicapped”.But only after the girl was enticed into matrimony did I begin to feel my self-inflicted anguish. This over-reaction of mine not only failed to put an end to my “permanent handicap”, but also gave me lifetime regret. I was deprived of the earthly pleasure of walking with my wife in the street with my strong arm around her delicate neck because it meant that my feet would be lifted from the land that had nurtured me, and worse still, my sacred bellybutton would be put on public display.What happens now is that whenever we go out together, with my outstretched arms tightly clinging to my wife’s shoulder, I am pretty much like a monkey hanging on to a wire pole, allowing her to drag me along the street…In excruciating agony, I often ponder this: if I could live my life once again, I would never try to achieve the elimination of prejudices of any kind for the simple reason that there is a price to pay.（选自《中国翻译》，2002年第1期,孙艺风译）7．HomecomingIn the dead of winter, I made the two thousand li journey home to the village I had left over 20 years ago.As befitted the cold seasons, the weather got duller as I neared my destination and a freezing wind whistled into the ship’s cabin. Peering out from the chink in the awning, I could see far and near under the pale yellow sky some lonely desert-looking villages, and I began to feel depressed.Oh, was this the native village I had missed so much all these 20 years?No, in my memory, my native village was not like this; it was far better. And yet if you asked me to describe its charm and attractions, I could have been unable to do so at all. Perhaps it was just like this after all. So I began to console myself: This really was home. Y es, though it might not have improved much, it was not necessarily quite as miserable as all that. Rather, it was my own mood which had changed; for this homecoming was far from a joyful one.This time, I was returning to my native village only to leave it for ever. The old house where my relatives and I had stayed for so many years had been sold to another family. The deadline was for the end of this lunar year, so I had to get back before the lunar New Y ear’s Day. Then I would have to l eave for good my old familiar house and village, and move my family to the place where I was earning my living.(钟述孔译)8．How to Beat the Current Export SlumpIn recent years, many Chinese exporters have seen their efforts increasingly undercut by the impact of the spreading financial crisis in Asia. The lifeless economies of many countries in the region have caused their consumer markets to shrink. Their teetering currency rates have caused their purchasing power to be weakened. In some cases political instability, changing economic circumstances, mounting protectionist barriers or diplomatic rows have made it difficult for us to export to those countries. We must take effective measures to beat the export slump.We must press forward with the reform in the foreign trade regime. Conglomeration —forming allies with farming, manufacturing, or scientific research with foreign trade as the locomotive /flagship —points the way ahead to strengthened competitiveness. Outmoded state-owned enterprises, large or medium-sized, should be revamped to be become more viable. Those enterprises better positioned should be granted the license/right to move into exporting. The orientation of industry towards the export market is a major step in t he reform of China’s foreign trade management structure.The traditional makeup of export products needs to be optimized. Gone are the days when merchandise geared to price competition on mass market had its way. Now, in the highly competitive world the co ncepts of “export of fine quality or else no export at all” and “good services before and after sales” should be the order of the day. The dynamic E TM approach—namely elaborately transformed manufacturing should be used to increase the added value on export commodities. And efforts must be made to turn out premium and novel products with a ready market or the so-called “hard-hitting”/ “knockout” items that can break/edge their way into foreign markets. With the market changing so quickly, export companies should keep moving up-market—do what we are best at by going where others cannot go or do whatever we have a competitive edge over our rivals.It is important to tap the market potential around the world. And geographical market diversification is the key to surviving the unsteady world market. In common parlance, it is unwise to “put all our eggs in one basket”. The selection of new markets should be done by evaluating both their risks and opportunities— simultaneously and quickly. Monitor all markets constantly so that we can export to the right countries or regions at the right times. Only a dynamic, forward-looking and viable export company is capable of weathering over the bad times and making a good killing in good times. When some markets slump, there are always other markets remaining buoyant. Thus, we can stand a chance to gain on the swings what might be lost on the roundabouts.Our export products must have first class quality, design, styling and presentation. But effective publicity, advertising and promotion are also essential. Development of expertise in advertising in foreign languages targeted at foreign markets is particularly important. Discovery of profitable outlets and connections is also of great significance. Participation in trade fairs abroad, foreign travels by sales forces and the setting up of production facilities or sales outlets overseas must ensure that they are result-ended. Finally, the injection of new know-how and new capital into our economy will help increase the productivity and quality of our export products. It is also important to reduce costs through improved management, and to raise the caliber of personnel through enhanced training. With the series of preferential policies implemented to the letter and with infrastructure constructions and services provided satisfactorily, we are surely hopeful of stepping up a new up-surge in alluring inward investments from external countries and regions.(选自《中国翻译》，2004年第6期,丁衡祁译)。