1、篇章听译教程是口译网口译论坛制作的口译训练网络课堂系列教程之一，旨在为口译学习者和口译培训教师解决训练材料不足的问题，既可以作为口译学习的入门课程，也可以作为准备中高级或二三级口译考试的辅助材料。本教程按照由易到难、循序渐进的方式提供不同题材、不同风格的英语篇章内容，使用者可以依据各自的学习目的进行篇章理解、复述听写、交替口译或同声传译等不同形式的训练。篇章听译教程首先推出五期，总计 60 篇文章，由听力王（第一期主编）、David（第二期主编）、iky（第三、四期主编） 和 Interpreter（第五期主编） 四人历时一个月完成。第一期为听力基础训练，共 20 篇短文，每篇文章 300 词
2、左右，时间控制在 2 分钟以内，按照标准语速朗读，词汇难度大约在大学英语四级水平左右，体裁以记叙文和说明文为主，是比较理想的口译初期训练材料。建议口译初学者充分利用第一期内容，重点解决听的问题，每篇文章可以先记大意，再做复述练习；有一定口译基础的学习者可以通过暂停或回放试做交替口译训练；而达到中等以上水平的口译学习者则可以将材料作为同声传译的训练材料。每天不要求多，哪怕仅做一篇，只要认真总结，相信一定会有所收获。第二期为英语讲座听力训练，共 10 篇文章，重点针对口译笔记进行强化。文章的语言难度逐渐加大：前几篇承接第一期训练难度，大约在大学英语 4 级水平，学习者可边听边记笔记，完成填空练习，
3、并对照笔记示范进行总结；后几篇在时长和语言难度上有所增加，供口译学习者检验自己的笔记和口译水平；最后一篇达到英语专业 8 级水平，目的在于加强学习者听力理解和长时间记笔记的能力。笔记训练是提高口译质量和水平的基础技能，建议大家每篇文章都要听三遍以上：首先认真听语音，熟悉全文；第二遍开始边听边记笔记，并尝试根据笔记内容口译；第三遍完成填空练习，校对答案，根据文字材料检查自己的训练效果。温馨提示：前两期的内容侧重于听的方面，我们认为听是口译的基础和关键，只有认真完成了前面的训练，并且确实从中有所提高，才可以继续下面的学习。第三期为记叙文口译训练，共 10 篇文章，选材多为著名的英语故事、记叙散文或
4、小说节选，内容各自独立，语音纯正，配乐优美，每篇文章都附有英语原文和中文译文，既适合作口译复述训练，也适合模仿朗读和背诵。建议口译学习者按照： （1）无笔记听记+复述（2）重听并记笔记+初译（3）对照原文重听+ 视译（4）全文听记口译 的方法进行口译训练；训练结束后最好能够用英语跟读原文，模仿语音语调，同时提高口语表达能力。第四期为说明文口译训练，共 10 篇文章，配有英语原文和中文译文，题材广泛，实用性和可译性都较强，与第一期侧重听力和复述不同的是，本期内容口译学习者应将重点放在笔记和口译的提高上。第五期为演讲词口译训练，在篇章听译教程的最后一期里，我们共精选了 10 篇有代表性的英语演讲，
5、语音多为演讲原声，语速和语言难度适中，学习者可以参考上面几期的训练方法自主学习。完成了本期的学习后，相信广大的口译学习者们定能充满自信的迎接更高难度的口译挑战。温馨提示：为了真正提高学习者的训练效果，每篇训练材料后所附的原文、译文、答案等均设置为回复可见，请大家不要急于求成，真的在听完每篇文章做过口译训练后再回复该帖阅读参考内容。关于更多的口译自我训练方法，请参考： 口译训练指南学习笔记口译学习重在勤奋认真、持之以恒。如果真的希望将自己的口译水平提高上来，必须要坚持到底，认真总结。在自主学习和训练的过程中，我们希望大家能够留言跟帖写出自己的答案、译文、心得等，这样既可以作为你自己学习的记录，也
6、是对我们编辑者的莫大支持！今后，我们将陆续制作出更多的内容来充实到篇章听译教程中，欢迎广大口译爱好者在论坛给我们提出宝贵意见和建议。1 People have been working on the idea of the helicopters for more than four hundred years. About four hundred years ago, a man thought of a flying machine and drew a picture of it. It was like a helicopter in some ways. But the peopl
7、e of that time did not know about the science of flying. So the mans idea remained a picture on a piece of paper for many years.About one century ago, some men made models of flying machines and the first airplanes were born. Since then aviation has been making incredible progress.In about 1930, som
8、e people made a big helicopter. It could carry more than one man, but it could not stay still in the air very long. Then some other people made another kind of helicopter, which carried only one man, but could fly for many hours.Today there are many kinds of helicopters, big and small. One of the ne
9、west helicopters is very light and easy to handle. It can be put in the back of a car. People in some places cannot always drive their cars to the airport to board a plane. Some of them have helicopters of their own, though they are not always rich people. They fly to the airport in their helicopter
10、, get on a plane, and take off again.The helicopter is so useful that some day it may take the place of the car and the train and maybe many other means of transportation. Then people will go to work in their own helicopters just as they do in their cars today. Indeed, the helicopter is a great achi
11、evement of science.2 Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15,1929. He was a black clergyman, who devoted himself completely to the struggle for equal rights for the black people and an end to segregation in the South of the United States. In 1955, he organized a black boy
12、cott of the city buses in Montgomery, Alabama. The black people there had decided that they would no longer ride in segregated buses. Led by King, they appealed to the courts for support of their effort. The boycott against segregation lasted 381 days, and ended in victory the next year.In the sprin
13、g of 1963, he began to organize a march to Washington to persuade the U.S. government to back a mass Civil Rights Movement for black people. On August 28 that year, some 250 OO0 Americans of all races and faiths joined him and other civil rights leaders in an unprecedented demonstration of solidarit
14、y. From all over the country, citizens came to “march on Washington“ in support of civil rights legislation. It was then that King delivered the most impressive speech of his career. Many of those present wept, deeply moved by these words that will forever be remembered by all freedom-loving people.
15、In 1964, at the age of only 35, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But only four years later, on April 4, 1968, the day before another mass demonstration, he was shot and killed by an assassin.3 One of the features of large modern cities is the number of big department stores, most of which are t
16、o be found in or near the central area. Theyre vast buildings many stories high, where you can buy almost anything you need, from a box of toothpicks to a suite of furniture. Most of them are very modern and are equipped with convenient elevators and escalators, and have well-planned lighting, air-c
17、onditioning and ventilation. You can spend hours wandering around in one of these department stores, and you will probably lose your way while you are doing so, in spite of the many signs pointing the way to the elevators and exits.If you have been in one of these stores so long that you feel hungry
18、, you and your family will not need to leave the building, for nearly all the big stores have cafes, snack bars or restaurants in them. After a meal, you can inspect the goods on sale at your leisure, and you will not be forced to buy anything, though occasionally an assistant may ask you whether he
19、 or she can be of help to you.Another feature of Shanghais shopping life is the chain-store, in which prices are lower than in the big store, and a wide variety of goods are offered chiefly foodstuffs, household goods, clothing and stationery. The goods are displayed on open shelves and counters, an
20、d it is a regrettable fact that some shoplifting goes on sometimes, in spite of the vigilance of the store security guards.A lot of the food stores in Shanghai now operate on the “serve yourself“ system: you go in, pick up a basket or a cart, walk round the shop and choose what you need. At the exit
21、 there are a number of counters where you pay for all your purchases together4 In the United States the cost of living has been steadily rising for the past few decades. Food prices, clothing costs, housing expenses, and tuition fees are constantly getting higher and higher. Partly because of financ
22、ial need, and partly because of career choices for personal fulfillment, mothers have been leaving the traditional role of full-time homemaker. Increasingly they have been taking salaried jobs outside the home.Making such a significant role change affects the entire family, especially the children.
23、Some consequences are obvious. For example, dinnertime is at a later hour. Mothers leave home in the morning, feeling guilty because they will not be home when their children return from school. They suppress their guilt since they believe that their work will benefit everyone in the long run. The i
24、ncome will enable the family to save for college tuition, take an extended vacation, buy a new car, and so on.The emotional impact on the children can be significant. After all, they are alone several hours, and they feel that their mothers should “be there“ for them. They might need assistance with
25、 their homework or want to share the days activities. All too often, however, the mothers arrive home exhausted and face the immediate task of preparing dinner. Their priority is making the evening meal for the family, not engaging in relaxed conversation.5 If you break your arm or leg, the doctor w
26、ill probably send you to a hospital to have an X-ray photograph taken to find out just where the break is and what kind of break it is. If a small child swallows a coin or some other hard object, as sometimes happens, the doctor will take an X-ray photograph of the childs stomach. Every hospital has
27、 an X-ray department, and doctors now depend on these photographs to find out if there is anything wrong with the lungs, for example, which can not be seen from outside the body.X-rays were first discovered by a German scientist, Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, in 1895, almost by accident.He and other scien
28、tists were experimenting with passing electric currents through certain gases in a special glass tube. Then one day Rontgen noticed that, even when the tube was covered with black paper, some strange kind of radiation was coming through. This aroused Rontgens curiosity. The next thing he found out w
29、as that if he put his hand between the rays and a photographic plate, the rays would print a shadow of the bony framework of his hand on the plate. So Rontgen made the first X-ray picture of a hand, showing just how the bones in the hand fit together.When Rontgen wrote an account of what he had disc
30、overed, he called these new rays X-rays, for “X“ is a symbol often used for something which is not yet understood. Other scientists called them Rontgen rays in honor of the man who first found them, but X-ray is the name now commonly used.6 Atoms are the building blocks of our world tiny units that
31、make up everything around us. In the same way that wheels, bands, screws, and pins fit together to make a clock or a toy, atoms of various kinds fit together to form the substances around us.At one time or another, almost everyone has taken apart a toy or a clock to see what makes it work. The resul
32、t is simply a collection of parts. Some people can figure out how to put the parts together again, to rebuild the toy or clock. And a few people can even work out ways to make entirely new devices out of the toy or clock parts.Modern scientists have learned to do very much the same kind of thing wit
33、h matter. Matter is anything that takes up space and has weight. Air, water, rock, and even people are composed of matter. All matter can be split into smaller and smaller pieces. There is a limit, however, to how small the pieces can be. A molecule is the smallest piece that keeps the characteristi
34、cs of the original substance. For instance, a sugar molecule is the smallest piece that is still like sugar.With special equipment a molecule can be broken down into still smaller parts. These are atoms. From this example, we can see why atoms are called the building blocks of matter. All the kinds
35、of matter in the world are made from only about 100 different kinds of atoms.7 Since the dawn of history, men have gathered information and have attempted to pass it on to other men. The carving of word-pictures on the walls of ancient caves as well as hieroglyphics on stone tablets represent some o
36、f mans earliest efforts to convey information. Evidently, these efforts were very simple and primitive.But as civilizations grew more complex, better methods of communication were needed. The written word, carrier pigeons, the telegraph and many other devices carried ideas faster and faster from man
37、 to man but still not fast enough to satisfy ever-growing needs. In recent years, as men entered the information epoch, a new type of machine, the electronic computer, has come into being and has become increasingly important in the lives of all people. With the invention and development of computer
38、s, it is as if man has suddenly come upon Aladins magic lamp.Generally speaking, the basic job of computers is the processing of information. For this reason, computers can be defined as devices which accept information, perform mathematical or logical operations with the input information, and then
39、 supply the results of these operations as new information.Computers can work through a series of problems and make thousands of logical decisions without ever becoming tired. However, although computers can replace men in dull, routine tasks, they only work according to the instructions given them,
40、 in other words, they have to be programmed. Their achievements are not very spectacular when compared to what the minds of men can do.8 Canada has the largest surface area in the world after the former U. S. S. R., but it is rather sparsely populated. Most Canadians live in the south, within about
41、500 kilometers of the border with the U.S.A.The far north of Canada lies within the Arctic Circle, where the winters are long and bitterly cold. Eskimos live in the Arctic, a region where it is too cold even for trees to grow. South of that region is a vast area with many forests and lakes.The more
42、populated part of southern Canada stretches about 5 000 kilometers from east to west. Here are found valuable forests, rich deposits of minerals, and various manufacturing industries. Behind the coastal region lie the high Rocky Mountains which are very popular with tourists.To the east of the Rocki
43、es are vast grasslands, called prairies, where cattle are reared and a large amount of wheat is grown. Coal and oil also come from this area. In southeastern Canada is the important lowland region around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. This region is the Chief farming and manufacturing a
44、rea in Canada. Mining is also important and well developed there. And this is where Canadas two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal, as well as the capital, Ottawa, are located.English and French are the official languages. About 45 out of every 100 Canadians are descended from British people, and
45、about 29 are of French origin. The country is divided into ten provinces and two thinly populated territories. It has a central government, with a parliament, headed by a prime minister.9 Everybody knows that the car is a marvelous machine. The experts predict that cars of the future will be made of
46、 plastics and carbon fibers that will be much stronger than steel and much lighter in weight. Even the engines will be made of these materials.Cars of the future will be smaller and lighter but their designs will probably be similar to those of the latest models of the modern sports cars. There will
47、 probably not be any extreme design changes for a long time.The real frontier for cars of the future lies not in body design but with computer activation. Cars may someday actually drive themselves. Highways would probably be wired so that cars could be programmed to travel a certain route and make
48、the trip with or without a driver. Everyone in the car would be able to relax, even take a nap, as the car speeds along at hundreds of kilometers per hour. The car would be radar-and computer-controlled to never touch other driverless cars, trucks or buses on the road. Changes of destination along t
49、he way could be made from a computer in the car to a central computer controlling and regulating the traffic.Most automobile designers and engineers believe that such cars are certain to be built in the future, perhaps, even as early as the early 21st century which would make it in your lifetime.10 Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Then, maybe, this is for you:When you worry about not being able to sleep and twist around, trying to find a comfortable position, youre probably only making matters worse. What happens is that your heart rate actually increases,
