【口译培训】在听录音前,请先查找下列词汇,短语,并了解其各种可能的用法和意义:
1.awareness
2. inequity
3.lives of despair
4.exposure
5.unspeakable
6.the age of accelerating
7.technology
8.impact
9.every life has equal value
10.revolting
11.harsh
12.subsidize
13.measles
14.malaria
15.pneumonia
16.hepatitis B
17.yellow fever
18.rotavirus
文章节选自比尔.盖茨2008年6月7日在哈弗大学毕业典礼上的演讲
But taking a serious look back ... I do Have one big regret.
I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world—the appalling disparities of health. and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.
I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.
But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries—but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity—reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries.
It took me decades to find out.
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the worlds inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here. I hope you've had a chance to think about how—in this age of accelerating technology— we can finally take on these inequities,and we can solve them.
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause—and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year – none of them in the United States.
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being delivered.
If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: "This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: "How could the world let these children die?"
The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.
【口译培训】录音下载地址:http://pan.baidu.com/s/1c0ELVuo
重点词汇积累:
1) disparity:指在年龄、地位、经济实力等方面的差距、不平等。在特定某个方面的差距,一般用 disparity in 来表示,如 disparity in age,position, wealth,etc.; 而表示两种事物之间的差距时,一般用disparity between来表示,如disparity between mental labor and manual labor。
2) condemn:表示“对……进行谴责、诅咒”等。短语condemn to用来表示“注定会......”Their lack of qualifications condemned them to a lifetime of boring,usually poorly-paid work...
3) cheat out of:通常 cheat someone out of something 指的是“利用不正当手段从 某人那里骗得某样东西”,但文中的be cheated out of educational opportunities 指的是“无法获得教育机会”的意思。
4) priority:“优先权”之意,常用搭配有 give priority to something 和 have priority over something,前者指的是“将重点放在某件事上,或优先处理某件事,后者指的是“ 一件事比另一件亊更重要”。
5) measles:“麻疹”,该病症常发于儿童时期,其病症为皮肤出现红色斑点、发烧、鼻喉处出现黏液症状。
6) malaria:“疟疾”,传染性疾病,常通过已感染病菌的蚊虫传播症状为问歇件寒热发作。据世界卫生组织统计,该病目前在92个国家和地区仍处于高度和 中度流行,每年发病人数为1. 5亿,死于疟疾者逾200万人
7) pneumonia:"肺炎”,由细菌或病毒引起的肺部(肺气胞)发炎。
8) hepatitis B:即通常人们所说的“乙肝”,这是由乙型肝炎病毒(hepatitis B virus, 简称HBV)引起的一种世界性疾病。据统计,全世界无症状乙肝病毒携带者 超过2. 8亿,我国约占9300万。
9) yellow fever:“黄热病”,一种由黄热病病毒引起的急性传染病,埃及伊蚊是其 主要传播媒介。
10) rotavirus:“轮状病毒”,一种能导致婴儿或新生畜患胃肠炎的病毒。
参考译文:
但如果现在认真回想起来,我确实有一个很大的遗憾
当年我离开哈佛的时候,根本没有意识到这个世界是多么的不平等。人类在健康、财富和机遇上的不平等大得可怕,使得无数的人们被迫生活在绝望之中。
但是,人类最伟大的进步并不是这些科学发现,而是如何让这些科学发现去减少人类的不平等。不管通过何种手段——民主制度、强有力的普及教育、高质量的医疗保健,还是广泛的经济机会——减少不平等乃是人类社会最高的成就。
当我离开校园的时候,根本不知道在这个国家里,有几百万的年轻人因受蒙蔽而无法获得接受教育的机会。我也不知道,发展中国家里有无数的人们生活在无法形容的贫穷和疾病之中。
我花了几十年才明白了这些事情。
在座的各位同学,你们是在与我不同的时代来到哈佛的。你们比以前的学生,更了解世界是怎样的不公平。在你们的哈佛求学过程中,我希望你们已经思考过一个问题,那就是在这个新技术加速发展的时代,我们怎样最终应对这种不公平, 以及我们怎样来解决这个问题。
为了讨论的方便,请想象一下,假如你每个星期可以捐献一些时间,每个月可以捐献一些钱——你希望这些时间和金钱,可以用到对拯救生命和改善人类生活有最大作用的地方。你会选择什么地方?
对美琳达(译注:Melinda为盖茨的妻子)和我来说,这也是我们面临的问题:我们如何将我们拥有的资源,能为最大多数人,做至善之事。
在讨论过程中,梅琳达和我读到了一篇文章,里面说在那些贫穷的国家.每年有数以百万计的儿童死于麻疹、疟疾、肺炎、乙型肝炎、黄热病等疾病,而这此疾 病在美国早已不成问题。还有一种以前我从未听说过的轮状病毒,每年导致50万儿童死亡,但是在美国一例死亡病例也没有。
我们被震惊了。我们以前认为如果数以百万计的儿童正在死亡线上挣扎.而且他们是可以被挽救的,那么世界理应将用药物拯救他们作为头等大事。但是事实并非如此。那些价格还不到一美元的救命的药剂,并没有送到他们的手中。
如果你相信每个生命都是平等的,那么当你发现某些生命被挽救了,某些生命被放弃了,你会感到无法接受。我们对自己说:“事情不可能如此。如果这是真的,那么它理应是我们努力的头等大事。”
所以,我们的反应跟任何人一样。我们问:“这个世界怎么可以眼睁睁的看着那些孩子死去?”
答案很简单,也很残酷。在市场经济中,拯救这些儿童是一项没有利润的工作,政府当然也不会提供补助。这些儿童之所以会死亡,是因为他们的父母在经济上没有实力,在政治上没有能力发出声音。
但是,你们和我不一样,我们在经济上有实力,在政治上能够发出声音。
口译培训点评:
(1) But taking a serious look back ... I do have one big regret 但如果现在认真回想起来,我确实有一个很大的遗憾。
注:这个句子是盖茨演讲内容的转折,也是基调的转折。从轻松诙谐转到沉重严肃,对听者理解十分重要,因此翻译时要特别注意。
(2) But humanity^ greatest advances are not in its discoveries — but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.
但是,人类最大的进步并非来自这些发现.而是来自于那些有助于减少人类不公平的发现。
注:此句翻译抓住关联词非常重要,不但有助于逻辑关系的整理.同时联系到盖茨事业所属的领域——是人类社会重要的发现之一,表现出他这个认识的伟大之处和深刻意义。
(3) It took me decades to find out.
我花了几十年才明白了这些事情。
(4) We were shocked.
我们被震惊了。
注:这两个句子结构简单,理解上不会有什么问题,但表达了盖茨强烈的思想冲击。口译时重要之处在于重现盖茨的语气和感情.
(5) We had just assumed that if... But it did not.
我们以前认为如果……但事实并非如此。
注:同上面的两个短句一样,此处盖茨先用一个长句紧接上一个非常短的句子进行转折,演讲时达到非常好的效果.因此口译时要注意突出该短句的感情色彩。
(6) If you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not.
如果你相信每个生命都是平等的,那么当你发现某些生命被挽救了,而另一些生命被放弃了,你会感到无法接受。
注:此句处理时要抓住关联词以帮助记忆和理解,
(7) The answer is simple, and harsh.
答案很简单,也很残酷.
注:两个简单的形容词,一个简单的句子,从提出问题到给出答案的过渡, 口译时也应该简单、有力,抓住听者的感情..
(8) But you and I have both.
但是,你们和我不一样,我们在经济上有实力,在政治上能够发出声音.
注:一个句子三个代间,口译时应注意中英文的差异.笔记中该标明的代词 内容应结合上下文给予标明。
抓住了盖茨此段演讲的基调之后,我们可以很容易发现,从开头到结束,盖茨一直强调的遗憾,尚未解决,每个大学生走上社会应该关注并努力消除的问题就是一个单词inequality,即人类社会的极端不公平。