2018年翻譯資格考試初級筆譯試題：糧食問題
英譯漢
There was, last week, a glimmer of hope in the world food crisis. Expecting a bumper harvest, Ukraine relaxed restrictions on exports. Overnight, global wheat prices fell by 10 percent.
By contrast, traders in Bangkok quote rice prices around $1,000 a ton, up from $460 two months ago.
Such is the volatility of today‟s markets. We do not know how high food prices might go, nor how far they could fall. But one thing is certain: We have gone from an era of plenty to one of scarcity. Experts agree that food prices are not likely to return to the levels the world had grown accustomed to any time soon.
Imagine the situation of those living on less than $1 a day - the “bottom billion,” the poorest of the world‟s poor. Most live in Africa, and many might typically spend two-thirds of their income on food.
In Liberia last week, I heard how people have stopped purchasing imported rice by the bag. Instead, they increasingly buy it by the cup, because that‟s all they can afford.
Traveling though West Africa, I found good reason for optimism. In Burkina Faso, I saw a government working to import drought resistant seeds and better manage scarce water supplies, helped by nations like Brazil. In Ivory Coast, we saw a women‟s cooperative running a chicken farm set up with UN funds. The project generated income - and food - for villagers in ways that can easily be replicated.
Elsewhere, I saw yet another women‟s group slowly expanding their local agricultural production, with UN help. Soon they will replace World Food Program rice with their own home-grown produce, sufficient to cover the needs of their school feeding program.
These are home-grown, grass-roots solutions for grass-roots problems - precisely the kind of solutions that Africa needs.
參考譯文：
上周，世界糧食危機出現(xiàn)了一線轉(zhuǎn)機。烏克蘭預(yù)期糧食豐收，因而放寬了糧食出口限制。一夜之間，全球小麥價格下挫 10%。相比之下，曼谷大米報價為每噸 1,000 美元左右，相比兩個月前每噸 460 美元的價格有了大幅上漲。
這就是當(dāng)今市場劇烈波動的真實寫照。我們無從知曉價格的漲跌幅度，但是有一點可以肯定，那就是：我們已經(jīng)告別了富足時代，轉(zhuǎn)而進入了匱乏時代。專家們一致認為，短期內(nèi)糧價不太可能恢復(fù)到正常水平。
現(xiàn)在全球“最底層的 10 億人”每天生活費不足 1 美元，是世界上最貧苦的人群，我們不妨設(shè)身處地想想他們現(xiàn)在的處境如何。這個群體中大部分人生活在非洲，對于他們當(dāng)中的許多人而言，食品開支往往要占到收入的三分之二。我聽說上周利比里亞的民眾不再拿袋子去購買進口大米，更多的人米，因為他們的錢只夠買一杯米。走訪西非國家后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)我們?nèi)杂欣碛杀３謽酚^。在布基納法索，當(dāng)?shù)卣e極進口抗旱糧種，同時在巴西等國家的幫助下改善對寶貴水資源的管理。在科特迪瓦，一個女性合作社在聯(lián)合國基金的扶持下開辦了一家養(yǎng)雞場，為當(dāng)?shù)卮迕駝?chuàng)收又增產(chǎn)，這種模式也很易于推廣。
在其他國家和地區(qū)，有的婦女團體在聯(lián)合國的幫助下逐步擴大當(dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)規(guī)模。用不了多久，她們就可以生產(chǎn)出足夠多的大米來滿足當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)校供餐的需要，屆時世界糧食署也將終止在當(dāng)?shù)氐募Z援工作。對于基層問題總可以找到因地制宜的解決方案，對非洲而言尤其如此。
