2017年11月翻译资格考试三级英语笔译实务真题及答案

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2017 年 11 月翻译资格考试三级英语笔译实务真题及答案

Section 1: English-Chinese Translation (50 points)

It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a

multinational company.

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.

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 didn’t 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.”

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.

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.

“The native English speaker is the only one who might not feel the need to

accommodate or adapt to the others,” she adds.

Non-native speakers generally use more limited vocabulary and simpler

expressions, without flowery language or slang. And then there’s cultural

style, Zurich-based Michael Blattner says. When a Brit reacts to a proposal by

saying “That’s interesting”, a fellow Brit might recognise this as

understatement for, “That’s rubbish.” But other nationalities would take the

word “interesting” on face value, he says.

In Berlin, Dale Coulter, head of English at one language course provider, saw

German staff of a Fortune 500 company being briefed from their Californian HQ

via video link. Despite being competent in English, the Germans gleaned only

the gist of what their American project leader said. So among themselves they

came up with an agreed version, which might or might not have been what was

intended by the California staff.

It’s the native speaker who often risks missing out on closing a deal, warns

Frenchman Jean-Paul Nerriere, formerly a senior international marketing

executive at IBM.

“Too many non-Anglophones, especially the Asians and the French, are too

concerned about not ‘losing face’ — and nod approvingly while not getting

the message at all,” he says.

“When trying to communicate in English with a group of people with varying

levels of fluency, it’s important to be receptive and adaptable, tuning your

ears into a whole range of different ways of using English”, says Jenkins,

professor of global Englishes at the UK’s University of Southampton.

“People who’ve learned other languages are good at doing that, but native

speakers of English generally are monolingual and not very good at tuning in to

language variation,” she says.

In meetings, Anglophones tend to speed along at what they consider a normal

pace, and also rush to fill gaps in conversation, according to Rob Steggles,

senior marketing director for Europe at a telecommunications company.

He recommends making the same point in a couple of different ways and asking

for some acknowledg- ement, reaction or action.

参考译文:

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。

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。

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。”

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。

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。”

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