英语二笔翻译真题2008年11月

2008年11月英语二级《笔译实务》试题

Section 1: English-Chinese Translation（英译汉）

Part A Compulsory Translation（必译题）

Mangoes in Africa, as elsewhere, often fall prey tofruit flies, which destroy about 40% of thecontinents crop. In fact, fruit flies are so common in African mangoes that America has bannedtheir import altogether, to protect its own orchards. African farmers, meanwhile, have fewpractical means to defend their fruit. Chemical pesticides are expensive. And even for thosewho can afford them they are not that effective since, by the time a farmer spots aninfestation, it is too late to spray. Agricultural scientists have also looked at controlling fruit flieswith parasitic wasps. But the most common ones kill off only about one fly in 20, leaving plentyof survivors to go on the rampage. Lethal traps baited with fly-attracting pheromones areanother option. But they, too, are expensive. Instead, most farmers simply harvest their fruitearly, when it is not yet fully ripe. This makes it less vulnerable to the flies, but also less valuable. Farmers whose trees are teeming with worker ants, however, do not need to bother with any of this. In a survey of several orchards in Benin, Dr van Mele and his colleagues foundan average of less than one fruit-fly pupa in each batch of 30 mangoes from trees where worker

ants were abundant, but an average of 77 pupae in batches from trees without worker ants.The worker ants, it turns out, are very thorough about hunting down and eating fruit flies, aswell as a host of other pests. Worker ants have been used for pest control in China and otherAsian countries for centuries. The practice has also been adopted in Australia. But Dr van Meleargues that it is particularly suited to Africa since worker ants are endemic to the mango-growing regions of the continent, and little training or capital is needed to put them to work. Allyou need do is locate a suitable nest and run string from it to the trees you wish to protect.The ants will then quicklyn find their way to the target. Teaching a group of farmers in BurkinaFaso to use worker ants in this way took just a day, according to Dr van Mele. Those farmersno longer use pesticides to control fruit flies, and so are able to market their mangoes

as organic to eager European consumers, vastly increasing their income. The ants, so to speak,are on the march.

Part B Optional Translation（二选一题）

Topic 1 （选题一）

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Topic 2（选题二）

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