英语四级翻译练习题：无知

　　我感到确信的惟一坚实的科学真理是，我们对自然界知之甚少。的确，我将此看作是过去100年里生物学的主要发现。如果我们中有人告诉18世纪启蒙运动的先哲们，我们知道的如此之少，前面的路是多么的迷茫，那一定令他们甚感诧异。20世纪科学对人类智慧最重要的贡献就是使我们突然面对我们的无知，且如此之深广。早此时候，我们要么假装明白事物的运作方式，要么忽略这一问题，要么干脆就杜撰一些所谓的事实来添补空白。既然我们已开始认真的探索，我们隐约看到了问题如此之大，答案又是多么得遥不可及。如果你完全无知，那么无知本身倒不是件很坏的事情。难的是详细地了解无知这一事实，发现那些无知的地方和不那么无知的地方。

　　参考译文：

　　The only solid pieces of scientific truth about which Ⅰ feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. Indeed, I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far from being answered. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-had spots.

英语四级翻译练习题：癌症

　　自从理查德尼克松向癌症宣战以来已经有三十年了。其间，不少专家、学者耗费巨资试图寻找各种方法以攻克这个难题。但是今天的癌症死亡率与七十年代仍旧差不多一样高。美国妇女中死于乳腺癌患者是世界上许多其他国家的五到三十倍。在泰国每十万妇女中仅2至5人死于乳腺癌，而美国的妇女会有30至40人遭此厄运。就其原因，没有人会否认其与饮食很有关系。有些科学家认为：“每天人们摄入二至三磅食物，这是我们与环境最大范围的接触。”因此人们必须十分重视良好的饮食习惯。虽说正确的饮食习惯不能根除世界上的癌症，但它有利于减少患癌症的风险。

　　参考译文：

　　It has already been three decades since Richard Nixon declared fight against cancer, during which many specialists and scholars spent a large amount of money trying to seek various ways to crack this hard nut. Yet today the death rate of cancer is nearly as high as it was in the 1970s. American women's death rate of breast cancer is five to thirty times as high as that of women in many other countries of the world. In Thailand, only two to five out of every 100,000 women die of breast cancer, whereas in the United States, 30 to 40 meet that fate. Among all the reasons, no one denies that diet is a large part of the reason. Some scientists hold, “It's our greatest exposure to the environment because humans put two to three pounds of food into their bodies every day.” Hence people should place a great emphasis on good eating habits. Though the correct eating habit can't eliminate cancer in the world, it can help reduce the risk of cancer.

英语四级翻译练习题：文艺复兴

　　首先，文艺复兴包含了文学、艺术、科学、哲学、教育和宗教方面令人映像深刻的新的成就。尽管这些文化形式的基础都来自古典主义，但它们很快繁荣起来，并摆脱了希腊、罗马的影响，事实上，绘画、科学、政治和宗教上的很多成就与古典文化遗产都没有什么关系。其次，文艺复兴包含了许多鲜明的观点和态度，使其所处的社会呈现出独特的风貌，大体上这些中值得注意的是乐观主义和个人主义，但所有这些中最重要的还是人文主义。在最宽泛的意义上，人文主义可以被定义为对人的价值的强调。这个词出自西赛罗，他曾用该词来表达对自由艺术的投入或与人类尊严最一致的主题。人文主义者反对经院哲学家成天埋头于神学和逻辑，他们努力构造一种流畅的、优美的形式，使之看起来更注意人类本性里的美感和非理性。

　　参考译文：

　　The Renaissance embraced, first of all, an impressive record of new achievements in art, literature, science, philosophy, education and religion. Although the foundation of many of these was classical, they soon expanded beyond the measure of Greek and Roman influence. Indeed, many of the achievements in painting, science, politics and religion bore little relation to the classical heritage. Secondly, the Renaissance incorporated a number of dominant ideas and attitudes that gave it the impress of a unique society. Notable among these in general were optimism, and individualism; but the most significant of them all was humanism. In its broadest meaning humanism may be defined as emphasis on the human values. It was a term derived from Cicero, who used it in the sense of devotion to the liberal arts, or the subjects most compatible with the dignity of man. The humanists rejected the Scholastic philosophy with its preoccupation with theology and logic. They strove for a smooth and elegant style that would appeal more to the aesthetic than to the rational side of man's nature.

英语四级翻译练习题：管理部门

　　管理部门能够大刀阔斧地进行全面的组织变动，但是你让一个经理把某个人的办公桌从这儿挪到那儿，看他会遇到多么大的困难。一切变革都会遇到抵制，问题是如何使变革尽量大一些，以使它们有获得成功的机会。

　　参考译文：

　　Management can make a sweeping organizational change, but just let a manager, try to change someone's desk from here to there, and see the great difficulty he encounters. All change is resisted, so the question is how can the changes be made big enough so that they have a chance of succeeding.