英语笔译实务3级配套训练第二单元英译汉二BeijingIsNoLongerLikeaBlack-an

英语笔译实务 3级配套训练 第二单元 英译汉（二）

Beijing Is No Longer Like a Black-and-White Photograph

Vocation in China was a new experience. In Beijing in the 1980s, we felt like birds in a cage. At that time foreigners couldn’t travel at will around the country. My few trips outside Beijing were usually “business only”. Few Chinese cities were open to foreigners, and we needed travel permits everywhere we went. Airline flights were few, tickets were hard to get and they cost more for us than for Chinese citizens. Worst of all, our interactions with Chinese people were extremely limited. For example, two men stood at the door of the hotel where we lived, challenging every Chinese who entered. You could say that our China experience was shallow.

In my memory, Beijing was like a black-and-white photograph. Few cars were on the streets, only bicycles. Everyone wore dark blue clothing. In the parks, the ground was bare of even a blade of grass. The gray buildings all looked alike. But when I stepped off the plane in Beijing in September 20,2001, the black-and-white photograph exploded into bright color and came to life. Impressive new high-rise buildings lined the streets, which were jammed with buses, trucks, and private cars. People wearing colorful clothing thronged the department stores and bookstores.

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Coffee houses, fast-food joints, and every kind of restaurant beckoned us to try every kind of food. Small children played happily in verdant parks. Is this Beijing, I wondered, or Hong Kong? I walked and gawked, like a peasant visiting the city for the first time.

Because I had seen the China of 20 years ago, I could compare the old with the new. The changes in material circumstances were enormous, and easy to recognize. But I wanted to understand the deeper changes – in people’s thinking, attitudes, and lifestyles. But how could a foreigner penetrate the surface, to see into the Chinese state of mind? Arriving in Beijing, I couldn’t help but notice the ads and signs everywhere. So I thought, could I use them to understand today’s China?

课文词汇 throng gawk

参考译文

群集 呆呆地看

beckon penetrate

召唤；吸引 渗透；看穿；洞察

北京不再是一幅黑白照片

在中国度假是一种崭新的经历。80年代在北京，我们觉得自己就像是笼中鸟儿。那时外国人不能随意到全国各地旅行。我仅有的几次外埠旅行也都是“只办公事”。当时没有几个中国城市对外国人开放，去哪儿都要得到批准。飞机航班也极少，很难买到机票，而我们买机票还要比中国公民花钱多。最糟糕的是，我们和中国人的交流受到严格限制。举个例子，

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在我们住的宾馆门口就有两个人站岗，凡是第一个要进去的中国人，他们都要盘问一番。可以说，我们那里对中国的感受不深。

在我的记忆中，北京就像一幅黑白照片。街道上只有自行车，汽车寥寥无几；人人都穿深蓝色衣服；公园里，土地裸露，寸草不生；灰色的楼房看上去千篇一律。可是，2001年9月20日，我来到北京，刚走下飞机，黑白照片却一下子变成了鲜艳的彩色照片，而且是那么富有生气（生机勃勃）。马路两侧，一幢幢新建的高楼大厦鳞次栉比，威严耸立。马路上满是公共汽车、卡车和私人轿车。人们穿着色彩各异的服装，云集在商店和书店。各式各样的咖啡厅、快餐连锁店和餐厅吸引着我们去品尝各种食品。小孩子在绿草如茵的公园里嬉戏（快乐地玩耍）。我问自己，这是北京还是香港？我就像个第一次进京的农民，一边走一边傻傻地看。

因为我见过20年前的中国，我就能将新老景象加以比较。物质环境的变化是巨大的，也是容易感受到的，但我想了解更深层的变化——人们在思维、态度以及生活方式上的变化。但是一个外国人又如何能够透过表面现象来看到中国人的内心呢？到了北京之后，我立刻就注意到了无处不在的广告与标志。于是我想，我可不可以通过他们来了解今天的中国？

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