2017年11月笔译实务真题及答案.docVIP

2017年下半年英语三级笔译实务试题 It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational company. 区区电子邮件里的一个单词，导致一家跨国公司遭受巨大经济损失。 The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He acted on the wrong one. 这封电子邮件是由一位英语母语人士用英语所写，而邮件接收人则是一位以英语为第二语言的同事。该同事收到邮件后，发现该单词在字典里有两个截然相反的意思，他拿捏不准，并最终选择了那个错误的意思。 Months later, senior management investigated why the project had flopped, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It all traced back to this one word,” says Chia Suan Chong, a UK-based communications skills and intercultural trainer, who didnt reveal the tricky word because it is highly industry-specific and possibly identifiable.“Things spiralled out of control because both parties were thinking the opposite.” 数月过去，该跨国公司的高管开始调查这个项目失败并损失几十万美元的原因。谢宣童（Chia Suan Chong）是一名交流技能和跨文化培训师，供职于一家总部设在英国的机构，她说：“所有的调查线索最终指向这个单词”。谢宣童没有透露具体这个单词，因为该单词是某行业专用词汇，透露该单词可能暴露这家跨国公司的身份。她还说：“由于双方的理解截然相反，事件不断升级，最终失控。” When such misunderstandings happen, it’s usually the native speakers who are to blame. Ironically, they are worse at delivering their message than people who speak English as a second or third language, according to Chong. 出现此类误解，责任在于英语母语人士。谢宣童认为，耐人寻味的是，英语母语人士在传递信息方面比以英语为第二语言或第三语言的人士要糟糕。 A lot of native speakers are happy that English has become the world’s global language. They feel they don’t have to spend time learning another language,” says Chong. 谢宣童说：“众多英语母语人士对于英语成为世界通用语感到窃喜，因为他们觉得这省去了学习其他语言的麻烦。” The non-native speakers, it turns out, speak more purposefully and carefully, typical of someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too fast for others to follow, and use jokes, slang and references specific to their own culture, says Chong. 谢宣童说，事实上，非英语母语人士，特别是会讲第二语言或者第三语言的人士，在传递信息时更加谨慎、目的性更强，而英语母语人士在讲话时通常语速过快导致别人听不懂，并且他们话语中还夹杂着笑话、俚语及自己文化特有的事物。 “The native English