2004年英语专业八级考试翻译试卷及参考译文

2004年英语专业八级考试翻译试卷及参考译文

Part ⅣTranslation (60 min)

SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISH

Translate the underlined part of the following text into English. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.

在人际关系问题上我们不要太浪漫主义。人是很有趣的，往往在接触一个人时首先看到的都是他或她的优点。这一点颇像是在餐馆里用餐的经验。开始吃头盘或冷碟的时候，印象很好。吃头两个主菜时，也是赞不绝口。愈吃愈趋于冷静，吃完了这顿宴席，缺点就都找出来了。于是转喜为怒，转赞美为责备挑剔，转首肯为摇头。这是因为，第一，开始吃的时候你正处于饥饿状态，而饿了吃糠甜如蜜，饱了吃蜜也不甜。第二，你初到一个餐馆，开始举筷时有新鲜感，新盖的茅房三天香，这也可以叫做“陌生化效应”吧。

Version 1：

We should not be too romantic in interpersonal relations. Human beings are very interesting. Often when you meet a person for the first time, you only notice his or her merits first. This is quite like your dining experience in a restaurant. When you are having the first course / starter or the cold dishes you are full of praise. The more courses you have, the calmer you will become. When the feast/dinner is over, you will have found all its demerits/ defects. Then, delight turns into anger, praise into complaint, and a nodding head into a shaking one. This is because: first, when you begin to eat you are hungry, and when you are hungry even husk/chaff tastes sweeter than honey; whereas when you are full, even honey does not taste sweet at all. Second, when you arrive at the restaurant, and when you pick up the chopsticks, everything there is new to you. A newly built latrine smells fragrant for the first three days. This may be called the defamiliarization effect.

Version 2：

It is advisable not to be too romantic on interpersonal matters. Humans are peculiarly interesting so that in their contact with a person, they tend to notice noting but his or her merits. This is rather analogous to our experience of dining in a restaurant. At the beginning, when we take the starter or cold dishes, we are very much impressed. For the first two main courses, we are also profuse in praise. However, we calm down as we eat on. After we finish the feast, all sorts of faults are found. Then we are no longer pleased but angry; no longer complimentary but complaining and fastidious; no longer nod our satisfaction but keep shaking our heads. All this happens because, first, we were in a state of hunger at the time we began to eat. When hungry, one may feel even the taste of chaff especially delicious, but may not feel the sweetness of honey after eating his or her fill.

Version 3：

We should not be too romantic in terms of interpersonal relations. We are such interesting beings that when we meet someone for the first time we notice only his/her merits. This is quite like having dinner in a restaurant. Usually the first course or the cold dishes leave us a good impression. And we also praise the first two main courses. The more we have, the calmer we