1997年:English to ChineseOpera is expensive: that much is inevitable. But expensive things are inevitably the province（范围）ofthe rich unless we abdicate（退位、放弃）society’s power of choice. We can choose to make opera and other expensive forms of culture, accessible（易接近的，可达到的）to those who cannot individually pay for it. The question is: why should we? No body denies the imperatives（必要的）of food, shelter, defence, health and education. But even in a prehistoric cave, man-kind stretched out a hand of not just to eat, drink or fight, but also to draw. The impulse（冲动）towards culture, the desire to express and explore the world through imagination and representation（表述、陈述）is fundamental. In Europe, this desire has found fulfillment （完成、成就）in the masterpieces of our music, art, literature and theatre. These masterpieces are the touchstones（标准、试金石）for all our efforts; they are the touchstones for the possibilities to which human thought and imagination may aspire（立志、追求目标、渴望）; they carry the most profound （深厚的、深刻的）messages that can be sent from one human to another.【参考答案】欣赏歌剧是一种奢侈：你必须为此支付昂贵的票价。

然而，享用昂贵的东西并不完全是富人的特权，除非我们放弃社会选择的权利。

我们有权利使歌剧和其他昂贵的文化形式面向大众，面向那些个人没有支付能力的人。

然而，问题是我们为什么要这么做。

没有人会否认食物、居所、防护、健康与教育是不可或缺的。

但是，即使在史前的穴居时代，人们伸出手来，也不仅仅是为了吃喝，为了搏杀，而且还有一个目的，那就是动手作画。

人们对文化的冲动，即人们希望通过想象和再现来表现并探索这个世界的愿望，才是最根本的。

在欧洲，人们通过音乐、美术、文学和戏剧等方面的不朽作品的创作，实现了这一愿望。

这些杰作是衡量人类努力程度的试金石，是检验人类思维和想象潜能的标准，它们有着最深厚的寓意，并在人们彼此之间传播。

1998年: I agree to some extent with my imaginary English reader. American literary historians are perhaps prone to view their own national scene too narrowly, mistaking prominence for uniqueness. They doover-phrase their own literature, or certainly its minor figures. And Americans do swing from aggressive over phrase of their literature to an equally unfortunate,imitative deference. But then, the English themselves are somewhat insular in their literary appraisals. Moreover,in fields where they are not pre-eminent — e. g. inpainting and music —they too alternate between boastingof native products and copying those of the Continent.How many English paintings try to look as though theywere done in Paris; how many times have we read inarticles that they really represent an “English traditio after all.To speak of American literature, then, is not toassert（断言、声称）that it is completely unlike that ofEurope. Broadly speaking, America and Europe havekept step（同步）. At any given moment（在任何时候）the traveler could find examples in both of the same architecture, the same styles in dress, the same books onthe shelves. Ideas have crossed the Atlantic as freely asmen and merchandise, though sometimes more slowly.When I refer to American habit, thoughts, etc., I intendsome sort of qualification（限制、限定、资格）to precede（领先、超前）the word, for frequently the differencebetween America and Europe (especially England) willbe one of degree（唯一只是在程度上）, sometimes onlyof a small degree. The amount of divergence（分歧、差异）is a subtle （微妙的）affair, liable（有可能的）to perplex the Englishman when he looks at America. He is looking at a country which in important senses （重要的感觉）grew out of his own, which in several ways（在有些方面）still resembles his own — and which is yet a foreign country. There are odd overlappings（重叠）and abrupt unfamiliarities; kinship(亲缘关系) yields to a sudden alienation（疏远关系）, as when we hail（打招呼） a person across the street, only to discover from his blank（没有表情的）response that we have mistaken a stranger for a friend.【参考译文一】因此，我们在说“美国”文学，并不表明我们认为美国文学与欧洲文学截然不同。

一般来说，美国和欧洲一直在同步发展。

无论何时，旅游者在两地都能看到同一式的建筑，见到同一款式的服饰，读到摆在书架上的同一风格的书籍。

在大洋两岸，人们的思想观念，就容易同人员与货物一样，可以自由交流，尽管有时会略显迟缓。

谈到美国人的习惯、美国人的思维等概念时，我想在“美国式的”这几个词前面再加上某种修饰，因为欧美之间（尤其是英美之间）的差异往往只是程度上的差异而已，而且在有的时候，是极低程度上的差异而已。

差异的程度微乎其微，很可能会使审视美国的英国人感到迷惑不解。

重要的是，英国人所审视的这个国家诞生于英国，并在不少方面仍与英国相差无几---然而，实实在在是个异邦。

两地有着莫名的共同之处，以及令人深感突兀的陌生感。

原先的亲戚已形同陌路，就仿佛隔着马路招呼，等看到对方一脸茫然时，我们才意识到认错人。

1999年：In some societies people want children for what might be called familial reasons: to extend the family line or the family name, to propitiate the ancestors; to enable the proper functioning of religious rituals involving the family. Such reasons may seem thin in the modern, secularized society but they have been and are powerful indeed in other places.In addition, one class(一类) of family reasons shares a border（接壤、相近）with the following category, namely, having children in order to maintain or improve a marriage: to hold the husband or occupy（使…忙（有事干）the wife; to repair or rejuvenate the marriage; to increase the number of children on the assumption（设想、假设consumption 消费）that family happiness lies that way. The point is underlined（突出、显现）by its converse（反面、相反）: in some societies the failure tobear children（养孩子）(or males) is a threat to the marriage and a ready cause for divorce.Beyond all that（除了这些）is the profound（深刻的、深远的）significance of children to the very institution（结构）of the family itself. To many people, husband and wife alone do not seem a proper family（完整的）—they need children to enrich the circle（丰富家庭生活、拓宽生活圈子）, to validate（使…有效）its family character（家族的特征、风格）, to gather（增加、集合）the redemptive（赎回的, 用于补偿的）influence of offspring. Children need the family, but the family seems also to need children, as the social institution（社会结构）uniquely（唯一）available, at least in principle, for （获得）security, comfort, assurance, and direction in a changing, often hostile world. To most people, such a home base, in the literal sense, needs more than one person for sustenance（生计）and in generational extension（家族的繁衍）.【参考答案】另外，有一类家庭原因与下列类别不无共同之处，那就是：生儿育女要么是为了维系现有婚姻，提高婚姻质量，要么是为了拴住丈夫，使妻子有所事事，要么是为了修复婚姻，给婚姻注入新的活力，亦或是出于多子多福的观念而多生儿女。