视译练习材料2

时代变迁（口译练习材料）1.

1.I have certainly seen lots of changes in my lifetime! I look around my home and see 'mod cons' that I could never have dreamed of fifty or sixty years ago. I spent the early part of childhood in a cottage without running water or electricity and yet these days, I feel paralyzed if there is a power cut for even just an hour or two! So, I have changed too. Things that I couldn't even imagine in the past now seem quite normal.

2. Businessmen can travel from London to New York in three hours and lots of people exceed the seventy-mile-per-hour speed limit on motorways. A person of 75 is not old these days. A serious illness does not mean certain death because there have been so many advances in medical science. We no longer need to be afraid of contracting （becoming infected）diseases like polio or smallpox.

I can speak to my son in Australia from my own sitting room here in Manchester, watch athletes running a race on the other side of the world without moving from my own home and I can even do my shopping while I sit here in an armchair. I never need to worry about food going bad in the warm weather and, at the flick of a switch, I can have a hot meal in a couple of minutes. So, it seems, the quality of life has greatly improved since my own childhood.

3. I'm not convinced, however, that people are happier today than they were 50 years ago. We are certainly materially better off than we were but most people still seem to be weighed down by problems. My daughter and her family are a good illustration. They have a spacious, comfortable home with every labour-saving device you can think of. There's a washing machine, a clothes dryer, a food processor, a vacuum cleaner and all sorts of other household items which are designed to save time but it seems to me that my daughter and her husband just spend all that

'saved' time working! They never relax and are always complaining of being tired and 'stressed'. 4. Children these days have all sorts of 'educational toys' and yet they seem unable to amuse themselves. My daughter tries to limit the time her children spend watching television but when they aren't watching TV, they are miserable. They play with new toys for a day or two and then discard them once the novelty has worn off. When we were children, we had almost nothing but we were so inventive. We had all sorts of fun and games in the nearby woods. But, of course, children can't play safely outdoors any longer. There is so much crime and parents are afraid to let their children go out alone in case they are molested, kidnapped, raped or even murdered. These crimes may not be directly related to modern inventions but there must be some connection.

5. The increased number of burglaries is definitely a result of the fact that we now have many more possessions for people to steal. When I was a child, we could leave our house unlocked when we went out. There was nothing that would be of any use to anyone! But even though I now live alone, I have all sorts possessions that are attractive to burglars - my radio, the TV, a video, a micro-wave cooker and so on. I don't keep cash at home though. These days there is no need for cash, is there? I just use cheques and credit cards. That's another major change, I suppose.

6. There are all sorts of new inventions and I'm surprised how easily an old lady like me adjusts. I always thought I'd never be able to use a telephone but now I couldn't live without one. My daughter often suggests that I should have a computer. I can't imagine that, yet one never knows! I used to think 'that you can't teach an old dog new tricks' but I have to admit I have learned lots of new 'tricks' in my old age. It's essential to move with times I suppose. I do feel sense of nostalgia about the past yet I rather enjoy the convenience of Britain in the 1990's!