第23届韩素音青年翻译奖竞赛译文1

第23届\韩素音青年翻译奖\竞赛译文1：如何翻译“tax incentives”?

高斋翻译TransElegant整理的CATTI和MTI备考资料

英译汉

Are We There Yet?

我们到了吗？

America’s recovery will be much slower than that from most recessions; but the government can help a bit.

美国这一次的经济复苏将比以往多数衰退都要慢得多，不过政府倒是能助一臂之力。

“WHITHER goest thou, America?” That question, posed by Jack Kerouac on behalf of the Beat generation half a century ago, is the biggest uncertainty hanging over the world economy. And it reflects the foremost worry for American voters, who go to the polls for the congressional mid-term elections on November 2nd with the country’s unemployment rate stubbornly stuck at nearly one in ten. They should prepare themselves for a long, hard ride.

“美利坚，汝欲何往？”半个世纪前，杰克·凯鲁亚克代表“垮掉的一代“曾如是发问。如今，这也是笼罩这世界经济的最大的疑问，也反映了美国选民最大的忧虑。11月2日国会中期选举在即，而美国的失业率至今盘踞在10%左右，挥之不去。前路漫漫，道阻且远，他们理应有所准备。

The most wrenching recession since the 1930s ended a year ago. But the recovery—none too powerful to begin with—slowed sharply earlier this year. GDP grew by a feeble 1.6% at an annual pace in the second quarter, and seems to have been stuck somewhere similar since. The housing market slumped after temporary tax incentives to buy a home expired. So few private jobs were being created that unemployment looked more likely to rise than fall. Fears grew over the summer that if this deceleration continued, America’s economy would slip back into recession.

自上世纪30年代以来最为严重的经济衰退已于一年前结束，只是经济复苏起步伊始本就不够强劲，又在今年年初骤然缓慢下来。第二季度国内生产总值的年化增长率只有区区1.6%，而且似乎自此一直在此徘徊。对购买住房的临时税收激励政策到期之后，房地产市场便又一蹶不振。私有领域创造的就业岗位所增无几，因而失业率看来可能会不降反升。整个夏天人们都在担心，忧虑倘若复苏持续放缓，美国经济极有可能再次滑进衰退的深渊。

Fortunately, those worries now seem exaggerated. Part of the weakness of second-quarter GDP was probably because of a temporary surge in imports from China. The latest statistics, from reasonably good retail sales in August to falling claims for unemployment benefits, point to an economy that, though still weak, is not slumping further. And history suggests that although

nascent recoveries often wobble for a quarter or two, they rarely relapse into recession. For now, it is most likely that America’s economy will crawl along with growth at perhaps 2.5%: above stall speed, but far too slow to make much difference to the jobless rate.

所幸，这些担忧现在看来是有些杞人忧天了。第二季度国内生产总值增长乏力，部分原因可能是美国从中国的进口暂时性激增。最新的统计显示，8月零售额还说得过去，失业补贴申请人数有所下降，连同其他最新的数据，都表明经济虽说依然低迷，但并不是在继续下滑。历史经验表明，经济复苏初期的一两个季度内常常波动，但极少会再次陷入衰退。目前来看，美国的经济很可能会以2.5%左右的增速缓慢爬升，这比停滞期的增速高一些，但回升的速度远不足以带动失业率下降。

《中国翻译》译文