江西省第十二届翻译赛试题

I. 英译汉（50分）

Hearth and Home

It was a phrase commonly on men’s lips in times past; until, that is, about fifty years ago. Why is it now so little—if at all—used? And what are the implications of this?

It is hardly too much to say that in almost the whole of mankind’s history—from the very earliest times to the most recent period of the Second World War—the hearth was the most significant center of the human home. From cave to castle to mansion to council house, a fire has been the warm heart of every household, every temporary camping ground protected by windshields or thorn bushes, every permanent settlement surrounded by stockades, every home in every community. It was here—round the fire, at the hearth—that cooking, eating, drinking, and all the familiar festivities of families and kinsfolk were enjoyed. After their hunting, their labor, their forays into the wider world, which provided them with their livelihood as well as with challenges and dangers, men, women and children, old and young, gathered about the hearth, this one common center of momentary security, relaxation, leisure, and temporary happiness.

Who can doubt, too, that it was when men discovered how to make and use fire in their ongoing struggle for survival, that it was here that they began to invent and enjoy their stories, songs, dances, mimes, plays, and entertainments, but perhaps especially their stories. As the tiny fires of human knowledge and invention, presaging much of what was to follow, began to flare up in the long-endured vastness of the primeval darkness, families, clans and tribes, gathered about them, enjoying this new warmth, this new security—all the surrounding dangers now set at a safer distance. Within this new-bounded circle of firelit protection, the cumulative imagination and creation of human society began its long historical work of establishing a new world within the world of nature.

Light had broken on the long primeval darkness of the world。 Now, as the sparks crackled upward and soared away to disappear into the great abyss of the night, as the yellow and orange flames winged their tapering and wavering beauty up into the black void, the bonds between those who belonged to each other in these small intimate communities—sharing the same conditions, problems and pleasures of life—became ever more deeply established and enriched, as their storytelling began: about the characters of the animals they hunted; the dangers, excitements, enjoyments of their hunting expeditions; the new things in the world they were continually discovering, and their new ways of dealing with them; the qualities—serious and funny—of their own characters and those of their comrades; the awesome dreams they dreamed—about blood, birth, creation, fire, death。

All the million manifold stories which slowly went into the establishment of human customs and cultures, grew about the shared fire now blazing with life at the center: the source of utility in the daytime, and of comfort, pleasure, and the delights and glories of imagination at night。 In some such context of hearth and home, in some such ways, were born the basic sentiments of human civilization; were the primary and enduring values of human custom, the primary ideals of human nature established。 And in such ways, too, they have long continued throughout the whole of human history。

(From Society, Nov. / Dec. 1993)

II. 汉译英（50分）

浦江大学人文学院中外文化进修（研习）中心招生

白雪纷飞，冬意正浓，在中国最大的传统节日——春节即将来临之际，由浦江大学人文学院与杰华商务中心联合创办的中外文化进修（研习）中心为您推出假日好去处——集学习、考察、娱乐为一体的“中国民俗文化讲习考察班”。

本次开班，以浦江大学人文学院强大的师资为后盾，以其文史哲研究的硕果为底蕴，聘请资深专家、教授作中国民俗各方面的专题讲座，包括中国饮食、中国民俗、中国茶道、中国酒文化、中国书法与绘画欣赏等，并根据学员中英文程度决定授课语言。与此同时，本中心将结合授课内容，安排专业人员带队考察。有领略中国文明悠久历史风采的古都风貌考察——北京至西安；有体验中国少数民族生活风情的桂林至昆明考察。

中国民俗文化讲习考察班是专为驻本市的境外人士设计的，以了解中国传统和民俗为目标，以小班专业人员教授为形式，以学习与考察相结合为手段的寓学于乐的短期培训班。它既能使你享受旅行的乐趣，又能使你切身体会中华民族优秀灿烂的传统文化，“读万卷书，行万里路”，在短短的三周内一举完成。

本中心拟定于某年某月某日起开班，名额有限，报名从速。