06-10三级笔译翻译实务真题.docx

2006年5月人事咅B三级笔译真题
第一部分英译汉
Freed by warming, waters once locked beneath ice are gnawing at coastal settlements around the Arctic Circle.
In Bykovsky, a village of 457 on Russia's northeast coast, the shoreline is collapsing, creeping closer and closer to houses and tanks of heating oil, at a rate of 15 to 18 feet a year.
"It is practically all ice - permafrost - and it is thawing.n For the four million people who live north of the Arctic Circle, a changing climate presents new opportunities. But it also threatens their environment, their homes and, for those whose traditions rely on the ice-bound wilderness, the preservation of their culture.
A push to develop the North, quickened by the melting of the Arctic seas, carries its own rewards and dangers for people in the region. The discovery of vast petroleum fields in the Barents and Kara Seas has raised fears of catastrophic accidents as ships loaded with oil and, soon, liquefied gas churn through the fisheries off Scandinavia, headed to markets in Europe and North America. Land that was untouched could be tainted by pollution as generators, smokestacks and large vehicles sprout to support the growing energy industry.
Coastal erosion is a problem in Alaska as well, forcing the United States to prepare to relocate several Inuit villages at a projected cost of $100 million or more for each one.
Across the Arctic, indigenous tribes with traditions shaped by centuries of living in extremes of cold and ice are noticing changes in weather and wildlife. They are trying to adapt, but it can be confounding.
In Finnmark, Norway's northernmost province, the Arctic landscape unfolds in late winter as an endless snowy plateau, silent but for the cries of the reindeer and the occasional whine of a snowmobile herding them.
A changing Arctic is felt there, too. "The reindeer are becoming unhappy/ said Issat
Eira, a 31 -year-old reindeer herder.
Few countries rival Norway when it comes to protecting the environment and preserving indigenous customs. The state has lavished its oil wealth on the region, and Sami culture has enjoyed something of a renaissance.
And yet no amount of government support can convince Mr. Eira that his livelihood, intractably entwined with the reindeer, is not about to change. Like a Texas cattleman, he keeps the size of his herd secret. But he said warmer temperatures in fall and spring were melting the top layers of snow, which then refreeze as ice, making it harder for his reindeer to dig through to the lichen they eat.
"The people who are making the decisions, they are living in the south and they are living in towns/1 said Mr. Eira, sitting inside his home made of reindeer hides. "They don f t mark the change of weather. It is only people who live in nature and get resources from nature who mark it.11
A push to develop the North, quickened by the melting of the Arctic seas, carries its
own rewards and dangers for people in the region. The discovery of vast petroleum fields in the Barents and Kara Seas has raised fears of catastrophic accidents as ships loaded with oil and, soon, liquefied gas churn through the fisheries off Scandinavia, headed to markets in Europe and North America. Land that was untouched could be tainted by pollution as generators, smokestacks and large vehicles sprout to support the growing energy industry.
第二部分汉译英
维护世界和平，促进共同发展，谋求合作共赢，是各国人民的共同愿望，也是不可抗拒的当今时代潮流。

中国高举和平、发展、合作的旗帜，坚持走和平发展道路，与世界各国一道，共同致力于建设一个持久和平、共同繁荣的和谐世界。

中国与世界从未像今天这样紧密相连。

中国政府把中国人民的根本利益与各国人民的共同利益结合起来，坚持奉行防御性的国防政策。

中国的国防服从和服务于国家发展
战略和安全战略，旨在维护国家安全统一，确保实现全面建设小康社会的宏伟目标。

屮国永远是维护世界和平、安全、稳定的坚定力量。

中国在经济不断发展的基础上推进国防和军队现代化，是适应世界新军事变革发展趋势、维护国家安全和发展利益的需要。

中国不会与任何国家进行军备竞赛，不会对任何国家构成军事威胁。

新世纪新阶段，中国把科学发展观作为国防和军队建设的重要指导方针，积极推进中国特色军事变革，努力实现国防和军队建设全面协调可持续发展。

2006年11月人事部三级笔译真题
第一部分英译汉
Faced with growing evidence that avian influenza is spreading in birds, the World Health Organization on Wed nesday signed an agreement with the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding to build up its stockpile of medicines in case of a pandemic in humans.
Under the agreement, Roche will reserve three million treatments of its Tamiflu antiviral medicine for use by the UN agency in case of a worldwide human pandemic
of avian flu.
M It f s just enough to deal with an initial outbreak/1 said Jong-Wook Lee, director-general of the WHO. n But clearly this is not enough to deal with a full pandemic/1
The agency says only 57 people in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia have died, mainly from contact with infected birds. The virus has killed millions of chickens and led to preventive culling across Asia since late 2003.
Sustained human-to-human infection has not yet been recorded.But the World Health Organization warns that bird flu, which first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, could mutate genetically, making it easier for humans to catch and transmit the disease among
themselves.
Signs the disease has spread recently to birds in Siberia and Kazakhstan are adding to concerns, the WHO says. A panel of European Union experts will convene Thursday in Brussels to discuss measures to prevent the spread of bird deaths to European poultry.
When asked whether he thought a widespread outbreak in humans was imminent, Lee said: H We don*t know when it will come. But it would be hugely irresponsible if the WHO and member states did not take preventive measures now."
Roche declined to give figures for its stockpiles of Tamiflu.
A spokeswoman for the company, Martina Rupp, said it took from 12 to 18 months to deliver the drug after an order was placed- a relatively long time due to a complicated production process.
第二部分汉译英
2 5年来，中国坚定不移地推进改革开放，社会主义市场经济体制初步建立，开放型经济已经形成，社会生产力和综合国力不断增强，各项社会事业全面发展，人民生活总体上实现了由温饱到小康的历史性跨越。

从1 9 7 8年至2 0 0 3年的2 5年间，屮
国经济年均增长9 . 4%。

2 5年前，中国年国内生产总值为1
4 7 3亿美元，去年已达到1 4 0 0 0多亿美元。

2 5年前，中国年进出口贸易总额为2 0 6亿美元，去年已达到8
5 1 2亿美元。

2 5年前，中国外汇储备为1・
6 7亿美元，去年已达到4 0 3 3亿美元。

目前，中国经济总量居世界第六, 进出口贸易总额居世界第四。

中国之所以能够发生这样巨大的变化，最关键的原因是我们始终坚持走屮国特色社会主义道路，始终坚持改革开放，激发了全体人民的积极性、主动性、创造性。

屮国虽然取得了很大的发展成就，但中国人口多，底子薄，生产力不发达，发展很不平衡，生态环境、自然资源与经济社会发展的矛盾比较突出。

虽然中国人均国内牛产总值
己经突破1 0 0 0美元，但仍排在世界一百位以后。

中国要实现现代化，使全体人民都过上富裕生活，还需要进行长期不懈的艰苦奋斗。

我们已经明确了本世纪头2 0年的奋斗目标，这就是全而建设惠及十几亿人口的更高水平的小康社会，到2 0 2 0年实现国内生产总值比2 0 0 0年翻两番，达到4万亿美元，人均国内生产总值达到3 0 0 0美元使经济更加发展、民主更加健全、科教更加进步、文化更加繁荣、社会更加和谐、人民牛活更加殷实。

2007年5月人事部三级笔译真题
第一部分英译汉
It took nine years from the time the Danish and Swedish governments agreed to build a fixed link between their countries to the time the first car, train, truck and bicyclists crossed the Oresund Bridge.
Construction of the bridge, including design and cornerstone, began in March 1991 and was completed in July 2000. Today, it is the longest stone-stayed road and rail bridge in the world. At approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers), including the tunnel, it is an engineering and architectural marvel. But as time has proven, the bridge is a cultural and economic boon as well. The sleek span of concrete whose design typifies Scandinavian minimalism has contributed greatly to the development of the Oresund region: the eastern part of Denmark, including Copenhagen, and the southwestern part of Sweden, including Malmo and Lund.
The level of commuting between Malmo and Copenhagen has quadrupled since the opening of the bridge in 2000, and the number of Danes moving to the south of Sweden has increased sixfold. The Oresund region has become a cultural and economic powerhouse, considered a model region by the European Union.
Work on the bridge began in 1995, and was undertaken by a team of international
consulting and construction companies.
From the beginning, construction of the bridge complied with some of the world's toughest environmental regulations, as well as many advanced design and construction details. The Mexico-based CEMEX, one of the worlds largest producers of Cement and ready-mix concrete, was awarded a contract to deliver tons of high-quality cement to help build the main part of the bridge, the two approach bridges and the tunneL
When it opened in July 2000, the Oresund Bridge consisted of a 3-5-kilometer immersed tunnel, the largest of its kind in the world, a 4-kilometer long artificial island (made from mud dug out from the bottom of strait to make space for the tunnel) and a 7.8-kilometer cable-stayed bridge, the world's longest bridge including both a highway and a railroad.
Though just half of the total construction, the actual bridge span, is visible above water, the overall architecture was designed to please the eye from both the Danish and Swedish sides of the strait.
The four 204-meter (670 feet) tall pillars carrying the bridge have a simple Scandinavian design. To drivers and passengers crossing the bridge, the pillars provide a visual, as well as actual, impression of stability and calm.
The two-level structure is made of steel and concrete. Along tile two approach bridges, tracks are piaced in concrete troughs that turn into steel decks on the bridge. The bridged upper deck carries cars and trucks, while the lower deck accommodates the railroad. The four pillars are grounded in giant cement boxes placed at the bottom of
the strait, about 18 meters below sea level
Last year, an average of 13,600 vehicles and 17,000 passengers crossed the bridge everyday, and traffic continues to increase by 10-20 percent every year.
Throughout the construction process, the Danish and Swedish environmental agencies have surveyed but found no changes in the wildlife, birds, fish and vegetation surrounding the bridge. In addition, the chemicals used in construction and the
percentage of waste materials have been kept to a minimum, as required by both Danish and Swedish laws.
In 2003, the Oresund Bridge won the IABSE (International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering) Outstanding Structural Award for its innovative design, planning and construction management, as well as its strict compliance with the time schedule, budget and environmental requirements.
第二部分汉译英
能源是人类社会赖以生存和发展的重要物质基础。

纵观人类社会发展的历史，人类文
明的每一次重大进步都伴随着能源的改进和更替。

能源的开发利用极大地推进了世界
经济和人类社会的发展。

过去100多年里，发达国家先后完成了工业化，消耗了地球上大量的自然资源，特别是能源资源。

当前，一些发展中国家正在步入工业化阶段，能源消费增加是经济社会发展的客观必然。

屮国是当今世界上最大的发展屮国家，发展经济，摆脱贫困，是屮国政府和中国人民在相当长一段吋期内的主要任务。

20世纪70年代末以来，中国作为世界上发展最快的发展中国家，经济社会发展取得了举世瞩目的辉煌成就，成功地开辟了中国特色社会主义道路，为世界的发展和繁荣作出了重大贡献。

中国是目前世界上第二位能源生产国和消费国。

能源供应持续增长，为经济社会发展提供了重要的支撑。

能源消费的快速增长，为世界能源市场创造了广阔的发展空间。

中国已经成为世界能源市场不可或缺的重要组成部分，对维护全球能源安全，正在发挥着越来越重要的积极作用。

2007年11月人事部三级笔译真题
第一部分英译汉
One of the biggest decisions Andy Blevins has ever made, and one of the few he now
regrets, never seemed like much of a decision at all. It just felt like the natural thing to do.
In the summer of 1995, he was moving boxes of soup cans, paper towels and dog food across the floor of a supermarket warehouse, one of the biggest buildings here in southwest Virginia. The heat was brutal The job had sounded impossible when he arrived fresh off his first year of college, looking to make some summer money, still a skinny teenager with sandy blond hair and a narrow, freckled face.
But hard work done well was something he understood, even if he was the first college boy in his family. Soon he was making bonuses on top of his $6.75 an hour, more money than either of his parents made. His girlfriend was around, and so were his hometown buddies.
It was just about the perfect summer. So the thought crossed his mind: maybe it did not have to end. Maybe he would take a break from college and keep working. He had been getting Cs and D's, and college never felt like home, anyway.
n I enjoyed working hard, getting the job done, getting a paycheck/ Mr. Blevins recalled. n I just knew I didn't want to quit.”
So he quit college instead, and with that, Andy Blevins joined one of the largest and fastest-growing groups of young adults in America. He became a college dropout, though nongraduate may be the more precise term.
Many people like him plan to return to get their degrees, even if few actually do. Almost one in three Americans in their mid-20,s now fall into this group, up from one in five in the late 1960's, when the Census Bureau began keeping such data. Most come from poor and working-class families.
"The system makes a false promise to students/1said John T. Casteen III, the president of the University of Virginia, himself the son of a Virginia shipyard worker.
第二部分汉译英
中国自1978年开始实行改革开放政策以来，极大地解放和发展了中国的社会生产力，我国国内生产总值年均增长9.67%o中国在世界经济总量中所占比重不到1%,现在已经达到了4%。

从1978—2005年，中国经济年均增长9%以上，GDP 由1 473亿美元增加到22 600亿美元，年进出口贸易总额由206亿美元增加到16000亿美元，外汇储备
由1亿多美元增加到8 000多亿美元。

目前，中国经济总量居世界第4位，进出口贸易总额居世界第3位。

中国的崛起就是要充分利用世界和平的大好时机，努力发展和壮大自己。

同时又以自己的发展，维护世界和平。

中国的崛起离不开世界。

中国必须坚持对外开放的政策，在平等互利的基础上，同世界一切友好国家发展经贸关系。

屮国坚持以和平的方式发展，一贯奉行独立自主的和平外交政策。

屮国的外交宗旨是维护世界和平、促进共同发展。

中国的发展有利于中国周边地区的稳定、世界的持久和平与各国的共同发展。

事实表明，中国经济的发展，正在成为亚太地区、乃至整个世界经济增长的重要推动力量。

中国的崛起不会妨碍任何人，也不会威胁任何人。

屮国用科学发展观指导国内发展，同时维护国际社会的可持续发展。

中国充分利用世界和平发展带来的机遇发展自己，又以自身的发展更好地维护世界和平。

中国坚持奉行独立自主的和平外交政策，宗旨就是维护世界和平、促进共同发展。

中国发展是世界发展的一个重要组成部分，中国以自己的发展促进了世界的和平，为人类社会的发展进步作出了贡献。

中国为促进周边地区和世界经济的稳定与发展作出了贡献。

尊重和维护世界的多样
性，构建和谐社会。

中国坚持奉行独立自主的和平外交政策，宗旨就是维护世界和平、促进共同发展。

2008年5月人事部三级笔译真题
第一部分英译汉
A year ago, this lush coastal field near Rome was filled with orderly rows of delicate durum wheat, used to make high quality Italian pasta・ Today it overflows with rapeseed, a tall, gnarled weedlike plant bursting with coarse yellow flowers that has become a new manna for European farmers: rapeseed can be turned into biofuel
Lured by generous new subsidies to develop alternative energy sources - and a measure
of concern about the future of the planet - European farmers are plunging into growing crops that can be turned into fuels meant to produce fewer emissions than gas or oil when burned. They are chasing after their counterparts in the Americas who have been cropping for biofuel for more than five years.
"This is a much-needed boost to our economy, our farms/ said Marcello Pini, a farmer, standing in front of the sea of waving yellow flowers he planted for the first time this year. "Of course we hope it helps the environment, too/*
In March, the European Commission, disappointed by the slow growth of the biofuels industry in Europe, approved a directive that included a "binding target11requiring member states to use 10 percent biofuel for transport by 2020 ・ the most ambitious and specific goal in the world.
Most EU states are currently far from achieving the target, and are introducing new incentives and subsidies to boost production.
As a result, bioenergy crops have now replaced food as the most profitable crop in a number European countries. In this part of Italy, for example, the government guarantees the purchase of biofuel crops at €22 per 100 kilograms, or $13.42 per 100 po unds - nearly twice the €1 l-to-€12 rate per 100 kilograms of wheat on the open market last year. Better still, European farmers are allowed to plant biofuel crops on H set-aside n fields, land that EU agriculture policy would otherwise require them to leave fallow to prevent an oversupply of food.
But an expert panel convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization this month pointed out that the biofuels boom produces both benefits as well as tradeoff and risks - including higher and wildly fluctuating global food prices. In some markets grain prices have nearly doubled because farmers are planting for biofuels,
"At a time when agricultural prices are low, in comes biofuel and improves the lot of farmers and injects life into rural areas/ said Gustavo Best, an expert at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. H But as the scale grows and the demand for biofuel crops seems to be infinite, weTe seeing some negative effects and we need to hold up a yellow light.”
Josette Sheeran, the new head of the UN World Food program, which fed nearly 90 million people in 2006, said that biofuels created new dilemmas for her agency. "An increase in grain prices impacts us because we are a major procurer of grain for food. So biofuels are both a challenge and an opportunity?
In Europe, the rapid conversion of fields that once grew wheat or barley to biofuel oils like rapeseed is already leading to shortages of ingredients for making pasta and brewing beer, suppliers say. That could translate into higher prices in supermarkets.
”New and increasing demand for bioenergy production has put high pressure on the
whole world grain market/ said Claudia Conti, a spokeswoman for Barilla, one of the largest Italian pasta makers. H Not only German beer producers, but Mexican tortilla makers have see the cost of their main raw material growing quickly to quickly to historical highs.11
For some experts, more worrisome is the potential impact to low-income consumers from the displacement of food crops by bioenergy plantings. In the developing world, the shift from growing food to growing more lucrative biofuel crops destined for richer countries could create serious hunger and damage the environment in places where wild land is converted to biofuel cultivation, the FAO expert panel concluded.
But officials at the European Commission say they are pursuing a measured course that will prevent the worst price and supply problems that have plagued American markets.
n We see in the United States farmers going crazy growing corn for biofuels, but also producing shortages of food and feed/ said Michael Mann, a commission spokesman. "So we see biofuel as a good opportunity - but it shouldn't be the be-all and end-all for agriculture.11
In a recent speech, Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU agriculture and rural development commissioner, said that the 10 percent EU target was H not a shot in the dark/ but rather carefully chosen to encourage a level of biofuel industry growth that would not produce undue hardship for the Continents poor. Over the next 14 years, she calculated, it would push up would raw material prices for cereal by 3 percent to 6 percent by 2020, while prices for oilseed may rise between 5 percent and 18 percent. But food prices on the shelves would barely change, she said.
第二部分汉译英
中国历来重视人才工作，并实施"人才强国“战略，大力开发人力市场资源，为人才发挥作用创造必要的条件和环境中国日前实行的是工程技术人员职称聘任制度，经过多年的实践，中国已经形成了一套比较完整的工程技术人员制度，并探索实行工程技术人员职称聘任制度制度。

工程技术人员职务聘任制度形成于计划经济时期，随着社会主义市场经济的建立和经济社会的发展需要进一步完善和改革，人事部、建设部、教育部、中国工程院、中国科协等部门专门成立了领导小组，组织关于技术人才的研究，提出工程技术人才改革框架，建立以业绩和能力为导向的、科学的、人才绩效评价制度，并积极促进工程师国际互认和资格准入制度。

网友整理，仅供参考：
Business of Green: An appeal to slow down on biofuel
Last Friday an advisory panel to the European Environment Agency issued an extraordinary scientific opinion: The European Union should suspend its goal of having 10 percent of transportation fuel made from biofuel by 2020.
The European Union's biofuel targets were increased and extended from 5.75 percent by 2010 to 10 percent by 2020 just last year. Still, Europe's well-meaning rush to biofuels, the scientists concluded, had produced a slew of harmful ripple effects - from deforestation in Southeast Asia to higher prices for grains.
In a recommendation released last weekend, the 20-member panel, made up of some of Europe's most distinguished climate scientists, called the 10 percent target
M overambitious n and an "experiment” whose "unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control.n
"The idea was that we felt we needed to slow down, to analyze the issue carefully and then come back at the problem/1 Laszlo Somlyody, the panefs chairman and a professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, said in a telephone interview.
He said that part of the problem was that when it set the targets, the European Union was trying desperately to solve the problem of rising transportation emissions H in isolation/1 without adequately studying the effects of other sectors like land use and food supply.
H The starting point was coiTect: Fm happy that the European Union took the lead in cutting greenhouse gasses and we need to control traffic emissions/ Somlyody said. "But the basic problem is it thought of transport alone, without considering all these other effects. And we don't understand those very well yet.M
The panel's advice is not binding and it is not clear whether the European Commission will follow the recommendation.
It has become increasingly clear that the global pursuit of biofuels - encouraged by a rash of targets and subsides in both Europe and the United States ・ has not produced the desired effect.
Investigations have shown, for example, rain forests and peat swamp are being cleared to make way for biofuel plantations, a process that produces more emissions than the biofuels can save. Equally concerning, land needed to produce food for people to eat is planted with more profitable biofuel crops, and water is diverted from the drinking supply.
In Europe and the United States, food prices for items like pizza and bread have increased significantly as grain stores shrink and wheat prices rise.
The price of wheat and rice are double those of a year ago, and corn is a third higher, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said this week.
"Food price inflation hits the poor hardest, as the share of food in their total expenditures is much higher than that of wealthier populations/1 said Henri Josserand of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Biofuels are not, of course, the only reason for high food prices. Fuel to transport food is more expensive with oil more than $100 a barrel. There have been unexpected droughts this year as well.
Should we conclude that all biofuels are bad?
No. But motivated by the obvious problems now emerging, scientists have begun to take a harder look at their benefits-
For example, the European Environment Agency advisory panel suggests that the best use of plant biomass is not for transport fuel but to heat homes and generate
electricity.
To be useful for vehicles, plant matter must be distilled to a fuel and often transported long distances. To heat a home, it can often be used raw or with minimal processing, and moved just a short distance away.
汉翻英
是介绍上海世博会的
比较简单。

就没贴出來了。

2010年11月CATTI三级笔译
汉译英
互联网推进了中国经济社会发展。

在经济领域，互联网加速向传统产业渗透, 产业边界日益交融，新型商务模式和服务经济加速兴起，衍生了新的业态。

互联网在促进经济结构调整、转变经济发展方式等方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。

互联网成为推动中国经济发展的重要引擎。

包括互联网在内的信息技术与产业，对屮国经济高速増长作出了重要贡献。

互联网与实体经济不断融合，利用互联网改造和提升传统产业，带动了传统产业结构调整和经济发展方式的转变。

互联网发展与运用还催生了一批新兴产业，工业咨询、软件服务、外包服务等工业服务业蓬勃兴起。

信息技术在加快自主创新和节能降耗，推动减排治污等方面的作用口益凸显，互联网己经成为屮国发展低碳经济的新型战略性产业。

中国政府将大力推动电子商务类、教育类网站发展，积极推进电子政务建设，支持发展网络广播、网络电视等新兴媒体，倡导提供形式多样、内容丰富的互联网信息服务，以满足人们多样化、多层次的信息消费需求。

参考译文：
The Internet is helping promote the economic and social development of China. In the economic sector, the Internet has spread its influence into traditional industry, which leads to the emergence of new business models and service economy, generating new types of industries. The Internet is
playing an increasingly important role in promoting economic restructuring and transforming the pattern of economic development. The Internet has become an engine promoting the economic development f China. IT including the Internet and its industry has made significant contributions to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy. The combination of the Internet and the real economy, the reform and nhancement of traditional industry through IT, have given an impetus to the restructuring of traditional industry and changing of the pattern of its development. The development and application of the Internet has given rise to the emergence of many new industries. Services for the development of industries such as industrial counseling, software service and outsourcing are mushrooming. The role of IT
in promoting independent innovation, energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection has become ever more prominent. The Inter-net has emerged as a new strategic industry in China's development of low-carbon economy.
英译汉（全文）
Microfinance for solar power
Rina Chandran
27 October 2009
Unique microfinance schemes are lighting the lives of South Asian villagers. In a region where millions go without electricity, the use of solar-powered devices such as solar cookers and lanterns will go a long way in promoting the use of renewable energy while bringing down carbon emissions.
Ahmedabad: When night falls in remote parts of Africa and the Indian subcontinent, hundreds of millions of people without access to electricity turn to candles or flammable and polluting kerosene lamps for illumination.
Slowly through small loans for solar powered devices, microfinance is bringing light to these rural regions where a lack of electricity has stymied economic development, literacy rates and health.
A woman sews clothes on a sewing machine driven by solar energy in Ahmedabad/ Photo credit: Amit Dave/ Reuters "Earlier, they could not do much once the sun set. Now, the sun is used differently. They have in creased their productivity, improved their health and socio-economic status/' said Pinal Shah from SEWA Bank, a micro-lending institution.
Vegetable seller Ramiben Waghri took out a loan to buy a solar lantern which she uses to light up her stall at nigh匚The lantern costs between $66-$112, about a
week^s income for Waghri.
“The vegetables look better by this light, and it9s cheaper than kerosene and doesn't smell/9 said Waghri, who estimates she makes about 300 rupees ($6) more each evening with her lantern.
“If we can use the sun to save some money, why not?M
In India, solar power projects, often funded by micro credit institutions, are helping the country reduce carbon emissions and achieve its goal to double the contribution of renewable energy to 6%，or 25,000 megawatts, within the next four years.
Off-grid applications such as solar cookers and lanterns, which can provide several hours of light at night after being charged by the sun during the day, will help cut dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the fourth biggest emitter5 s carbon footprint, said Pradeep Dadhich, a senior fellow at energy research institute TERI.
“ They are reaching people who otherwise have limited or no access to electricity, and depend on kerosene, diesel or firewood for their energy needs/5 he said.
"The applications not only satisfy these needs, they also improve the quality of life and reduce the carbon footprint/9
SEWA or Self Employed Women，s Association, is among a growing number of microfinance institutions in India focused on providing affordable renewable energy sources to poor people, who otherwise would have had to stand for hours to buy kerosene for lamps, or trudge miles to collect firewood for cooking.
SKS Microfinance, Indians largest MFI, offers solar lamps to its 5 million customers, while Grameen Surya Bijlee (Rural Solar Electricity) Foundation helps fund lamps and home and street lighting systems for villagers in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
u Providing electricity is a government responsibility, but it，s a gigantic task and the government alone cannot do it,” said Shirish Garud, coordinator of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) in South Asia.
“In many cases, the end-user has no access to conventional banking and financial services, which is why we need MFIs：
The Aryavart Gramin bank has approved loans for the installation of 8,000 solar-home-systems in Uttar Pradesh, Indians most populous state and a key grain growing region.
In Africa too, micro-loans are bringing solar systems to homes, schools and cottage industry businesses in remote regions, off-the-grid. Poor people use money they would
have spent on kerosene to pay back their loans for the solar devices.
Billion lamps
Hundreds of millions of people in India have little or no access to electricity. Yet demand for power by industries in a country which saw its GDP at or above 9% in the three years to 2007/08 has taken a toll on capacity and infrastructure.
Of the 76 million homes in India that have no access to electricity, 65 million use carbon-emitting kerosene, according to REEP. Kerosene is highly flammable and the fumes are noxious. Every year thousands of people in developing countries die from accidents involving kerosene stoves and lamps.
Developing nations now emit more than half the world's greenhouse gases and that figure is set to rise.
In India, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to jump to between 4 billion tonnes to 7.33 billion tonnes in 2031. There is no figure for India's current greenhouse gas emissions.
Its per capita emissions, estimated at 1.2 tonnes, are expected to rise to 2」tonnes by 2020, according to a recent government-funded study.
^Hundreds of millions of people in India have little or no access to electricity "India adds about 10 gigawatts of power every year and is likely to see a shortfall of as much as 21,000 MW as capacity expansion fails to keep up with demand, leading to more outages. Solar power will ease some strain on the grids.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, the state-owned and private sector power plants can generate between 3,700 to 4,300 megawatts of electricity a day, against a demand of 5,500 megawatts, according to the state run power development board.
With only 40% of the countrypeople having access to electricity, microfinance institutions such as Grameen Bank have made a major push towards expanding the use。