2018年翻譯資格考試中級筆譯模擬題：為什么我們要學習歷史
英譯漢
Why study history?
I turned down the lights in my classroom and asked the students to close their eyes and, “Imagine you are at a beach on a sunny day.” With your mind’s eye, look around you. You see the waves lapping at the shore. To your left you see children in colorful swimsuits building sand castles, laughing and splashing in the water. To the right you see a boat dock painted blue. Several small boats are tied to the dock. You are living in the present, observing your surroundings and feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin.
After spending some time sitting on the beach, you are becoming bored and hot, and you begin to think of the future. What do you want to do? How did you decide? Based on your past experience you know the water will be cool and refreshing, and playing in the waves will be fun, so you decide to go for a swim. Living in the present, you are making a plan for the future based on your knowledge of the past. The present, the future and the past are always tied together and are always with us.
It’s getting later now, and the sun is beginning to set over the water. It is time to think about going home. You recall that you arrived at the beach on a boat and that you left the boat tied to the dock. You know how you will get home. This knowledge is comforting, and you decide to stay awhile longer and enjoy the sunset. As you can see, your decisions about the future are based on your knowledge of the past.
But, suddenly a spaceship falls from the sky knocking you unconscious. You awake with amnesia, remembering nothing of the past. You don’t know why you are on a beach, where home is or how to get there. It’s getting dark and you are frightened. You groaned in agony because your loss of the past means you are hopelessly lost in trying to cope with the future.
Relax. You will probably never be struck by a falling spaceship… and you will learn what you need to know about beaches and swimming and getting home from your own personal experience. But, how will you learn of important thing that you cannot experience for yourself? How will you learn of the larger world outside your own personal experience?
This is why we have schools, so you can learn from the experiences of others gathered over centuries of human experience. Without this knowledge, you would suffer from a kind of amnesia that would leave you lost when it comes to understanding important matters in you future. For example, why would foreign terrorists want to attack you and other Americans? Should the United States go to war with Iraq? Should we try to stop global warming? Should we work for economic justice in the world? Should scientists be allowed to alter human genes?
You live in a free society, in a democracy, where citizens are expected to help decide these kind of issues and—the truth is—citizens DO help decide important issues in our country. It was the people, not the government, that brought the Vietnam War to an end. It was the people who led the way in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; the government followed. The people of the United States, and their elected representatives, will decide if they can support a war against Iraq.
We all need knowledge from the past—whether it comes from personal experience or from studying history. It is our only guide to the future.
參考譯文:
我將教室的燈光調暗并且叫學生們閉上眼睛，“想象這是陽光燦爛的一天，你在海邊，”用你想象的眼睛去看看周圍，你看見波浪在拍打著海岸。左邊是穿著五顏六色泳衣的孩子，有的在用沙子做城堡，有的笑著，有的在戲水;右邊有一個漆成藍色的船塢，上面系著幾艘船。你身處現(xiàn)在，一邊觀察著周圍，一邊感受著陽光照在身上的溫暖。
在沙灘上坐了一會兒后，你覺得無聊了并且感覺熱，然后你開始考慮接下來的事情。你想做什么?怎么決定的?據(jù)以往的經驗你知道水將變涼而且使你精神振作，在水里玩玩肯定很有意思，所以你決定去游泳。你身在現(xiàn)在，但是卻在根據(jù)以前的經驗為將來作計劃�，F(xiàn)在，將來，過去，這三者總是連在一起也總是伴隨著我們的。
天色漸晚了，太陽慢慢地隱沒在水中。該是考慮回家的時候了。你記起來你是坐船來海邊的，而且把船系在船塢上了，你知道怎么回家。想到這里你感到很欣慰，并且決定再多待一會兒，享受一下夕陽西下的美景。就像你所知道的，關于未來的決定是以過去的經驗為基礎的。
但是，突然一艘宇宙飛船從空中掉下來把你打暈了，你醒了過來但是失憶了，過去的事情什么都不記得了。你不知道自己為什么在海灘上，家在哪，怎么回去。天黑了，你感到很害怕。你痛苦的嘆息，因為你失去了過去就意味著沒有辦法應付將來的事情。
放松，你也許永遠也不會被掉下來的宇宙飛船砸中，而且你會從自身的經驗中得到你需要知道關于海灘、游泳和回家的事情。但是你怎么學習那些自己無法親身體會但是又很重要的事情呢?你怎么學習自己沒經歷過的外面的世界呢?
這就是為什么我們有學校，因為有學校所以我們可以學習幾個世紀以來前人所積累的經驗。沒有這些知識，你可能要經歷一種失憶的感覺，這種感覺會使你在將來面臨很多重要的事情的時候感到迷失。例如說，為什么國外的恐怖分子想要襲擊你和其他美國人?美國應該對伊拉克發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭嗎?我們應該阻止全球變暖嗎?我們應該為世界經濟的公正而努力嗎?科學家應該修改人類的基因嗎?
我們生活在一個自由民主的社會，在這樣的社會中，公民應該協(xié)助政府在這些問題上作決定，事實上，我們國家的公民確實在這些問題上起了作用。結束越南戰(zhàn)爭的不是政府，而是人民。站在60年代民權運動最前面的也是人民，政府跟在后面。美國的人民以及他們所選出來的代表會決定是否應該支持對伊拉克的戰(zhàn)爭。
我們都需要過去的經驗——不管是我們的親身經驗還是從歷史中學來的，它是我們前進的唯一指導。
