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笔译群是ScalersTalk旗下专攻笔译的训练组织，如果你想提高笔译水平，找到志同道合的小伙伴，请猛戳链接： 完成任务后请在A群、B群或C群找到Kevin（9797#####）或瑶瑶（3674#####）以word文档的形式发送到瑶瑶的QQ邮箱，通过审核小组审核后便可进群。
注：笔译小组只接受邮件申请，请勿QQ留言，凡是以其他方式提交任务的，均不会回复或者响应。收到邮件后3天左右回复。
以上三个群都不在的小伙伴，可先申请加入C群（群号：456036104，验证消息：ScalersTalk）。笔译训练小组每周清退一次不积极参加训练的组员。
下面是笔译训练群的第六十二周（2016.06.27-2016.07.03）训练日志。
WHICH would you prefer to be: a medieval monarch or a modern office-worker? The king has armies of servants. He wears the finest silks and eats the richest foods. But he is also a martyr to toothache. He is prone to fatal infections. It takes him a week by carriage to travel between palaces. And he is tired of listening to the same jesters. Life as a 21st-century office drone looks more appealing once you think about modern dentistry, antibiotics, air travel, smartphones and YouTube.
当中世纪的君王或者成为现代的办公室白领，你更想要哪种生活？君王仆人成群，锦衣玉食，但是却饱受牙痛折磨之苦，稍不注意就会受到致命的感染。君王坐着马车在各宫殿间溜达一圈，也需要一周的时间，而且每天都面对同样的弄臣面孔，听着他们说话就厌烦。而想想现代的牙科学、抗生素、航空旅行、智能手机以及YouTube，你就会发现21世纪的办公室职员的闲散生活要更有趣的多。
(be) a martyr to 是...殉道者；受...长期折磨的人
be prone to 有...倾向，易于遭受...的。 -prone可用于构成形容词，如injury-prone
jester 逗乐小丑，弄臣
drone 雄蜂。因雄蜂不干活，所以又引申为“懒人，无所事事的人”
antibiotics 抗生素
虽然这篇文章的整体难度较大，但是开头这一段还是比较友好的。“He wears the finest silks and eats the richest foods.”译文处理成“锦衣玉食”实在很精到。还有从此以后suffer终于有替代词了，表达“受...之苦”be a martyr to也是不错的选择喔。
中国始终在钓鱼岛海域保持经常性的存在，并进行管辖。中国海监执法船在钓鱼岛海域坚持巡航执法，渔政执法船在钓鱼岛海域进行常态化执法巡航和护渔，维护该海域正常的渔业生产秩序。中国还通过发布天气和海洋观测预报等，对钓鱼岛及其附近海域实施管理。
China has maintained routine presence and exercised jurisdiction in the waters of Diaoyu Dao. China's marine surveillance vessels have been carrying out law enforcement patrol missions in the waters of Diaoyu Dao, and fishery administration law enforcement vessels have been conducting regular law enforcement patrols and fishery protection missions to uphold normal fishing order in the waters of Diaoyu Dao. China has also exercised administration over Diaoyu Dao and the adjacent waters by releasing weather forecasts and through oceanographic monitoring and forecasting.
经常性存在 routine presence
进行管辖 exercise jurisdiction （注意exercise这个动词）
海监船 marine surveillance vessel
渔政执法船 fishery administration law enforcement vessel
附近海域 the adjacent waters
海洋观测预报 oceanographic monitoring and forecasting
最近南海问题受到多方关注，所以多记一些相关表达还是没坏处的。
The question is more than just a parlour game. It shows how tricky it is to compare living standards over time. Yet such comparisons are not just routinely made, but rely heavily on a single metric: gross domestic product (GDP). This one number has become shorthand for material well-being, even though it is a deeply flawed gauge of prosperity, and getting worse all the time (see article). That may in turn be distorting levels of anxiety in the rich world about everything from stagnant incomes to disappointing productivity growth.
现在的问题比上述这个休闲游戏复杂多了。上面这个游戏表明了跨时代来比较生活水平有多棘手。然而这种比较并非只是一种惯常比较，它主要依赖于单一的衡量标准：国内生产总值（GDP）。尽管这个指标在衡量经济繁荣程度方面存在很大缺陷，并且各种弊端日益凸显，但它俨然已经成为是物质财富的代名词。这样可能会反过来歪曲富裕国家中人们感到不安的程度，从收入不景气到生产率增长不尽人意，这些不安涉及到各方各面。
parlour game 室内游戏，休闲游戏
tricky 难办的，棘手的，微妙的
shorthand ①速记法 ②~for sth （对某事）简略的表达方式
gauge 依据，标准
这一段主要是注意长句的拆分整合，以及语序的调整。
做好今年政府工作，要把握好以下三点：第一，稳定和完善宏观经济政策。
To deliver a good performance in the work of the government this year, we need to concentrate on the following three areas: First, we need to ensure continuity in and make improvements to macroeconomic policies.
今天是名副其实的每日一句。“把握好以下三点”其实就是“着重以下三点”。另外，虽然李长栓讲要尽量避免使用弱势动词+名词化动词。。。本着简明英语的原则，写作的时候还是少用比较好哈哈。
Defenders of GDP say that the statistic is not designed to do what is now asked of it. A creature of the 1930s slump and the exigencies of war in the 1940s, its original purpose was to measure the economy’s capacity to produce. Since then, GDP has become a lodestar for policies to set taxes, fix unemployment and manage inflation.
GDP指标的捍卫者认为这个统计数据设计的初衷并不是现在这样。GDP指标是20世纪30年代经济大萧条和40年代战时紧急情况的产物，最初用于衡量经济生产能力。从那时起，GDP就成了制定税收制度、解决失业、和应对通货膨胀等一系列政策的指导原则。
exigency 急切需求，迫切要求
lodestar 北极星；指导原则
这一段话在理解上并没有太大难度，语意表达通顺即可。
清理规范进出口环节收费，建立并公开收费项目清单。
We will overhaul and regulate charges for imports and exports, and establish and release a complete list of such charges.
清理 overhaul
短短的一句话有4个动词，因此其选择就显得很重要。所谓清理规范收费项目，就是要大刀阔斧的实施整改，砍掉非必须不合理的收费项目，减轻企业负担。所以使用overhaul和regulate也就可以理解了。
Yet it is often wildly inaccurate: Nigeria’s GDP was bumped up by 89% in 2014, after number-crunchers adjusted their methods. Guesswork prevails: the size of the paid-sex market in Britain is assumed to expand in line with the male population; charges at lap-dancing clubs are a proxy for prices. Revisions are common, and in big, rich countries, bar America, tend to be upwards. Since less attention is paid to revised figures, this adds to an often exaggerated impression that America is doing far better than Europe. It also means that policymakers take decisions based on faulty data.
然而，GDP往往极其不准确：在计算人员调整核算方法之后，2014年尼日利亚的GDP飙升了89%。各种猜测也流行开来：英国的性交易市场规模预计会随男性人数增长而扩大；脱衣舞俱乐部的收费可以衡量物价水平。核算标准的修订普遍存在，除美国以外的富裕大国，通常都会将GDP上调。由于很少有人会去注意修订后的数据，所以这更会加深人们脑海中美国经济远远强于欧洲这种言过其实的印象。这也意味着决策者会基于错误的数据做出决策。
number-cruncher 与数字打交道的人，计算人员
proxy (~ for sth) 指标
bar 用作介词表示“除...外”
有一点值得注意：原文的一些未尽之语或者抽象表达，在翻译的过程中要将其说清道明。比如“Revisions are common”合理增译为“[核算标准的]修订普遍存在”就更为准确。
用改革的办法解决城镇化难点问题。抓紧实施户籍制度改革，落实放宽户口迁移政策。
We will draw on reform to solve tough issues in urbanization. We need to promptly implement reforms to the household registration system and relax controls over the transfer of household registration.
难点问题 tough issues
户籍制度 household registration system
迁移 transfer
表达“放宽”的常用词有好几个，比如relax, lift, ease, liberalise, 都可以表示“放宽、减轻（限制、制裁等）”。
If GDP is failing on its own terms, as a measurement of the value-added in an economy, its use as a welfare benchmark is even more dubious. That has always been so: the benefits of sanitation, better health care and the comforts of heating or air-conditioning meant that GDP growth almost certainly understated the true advance in living standards in the decades after the second world war. But at least the direction of travel was the same. GDP grew rapidly; so did quality of life. Now GDP is still growing (albeit more slowly), but living standards are thought to be stuck. Part of the problem is widening inequality: median household income in America, adjusted for inflation, has barely budged for 25 years. But increasingly, too, the things that people hold dear are not being captured by the main yardstick of value.
如果GDP按其自身的条件都日渐不足的话，那么它作为福利的衡量标准就更不可信了。卫生福利、完善的医疗保健以及给人提供舒适环境的供暖、空调设施都是生活水平得到提高的真实写照，但是GDP的增长却往往低估了这种进步，二战之后几十年里一直如此。但是，至少两者过去的变化方向是一致的，GDP快速增长，生活质量也在不断提高。现在，GDP仍在增长（虽然较为缓慢），但是人们认为生活水平却停滞不前。问题之一是不平等状况正不断加剧：美国家庭收入中位数在根据通胀进行调整后，25年来几乎没有什么没有增长。但是同样，越来越多的情况是人们看重的一些东西也没有计入到GDP这个主要的价值衡量标准中。
on one’s own terms 按某人自己的条件
benchmark 基准
dubious 不可信的，靠不住的
sanitation 卫生设备，卫生设施体系
median household income 家庭收入中位数
yardstick 衡量标准，准绳
练习的时候，我对于median household income的理解是有疑问的，这是指“美国中等家庭收入”还是“美国家庭收入中位数”，后经Google查证：Median household income in a given year is the income for a household that's at the midpoint of all household incomes reported. 以及普及一下为何要adjust for inflation: This allows you to compare median household incomes from different years. Without this adjustment, income would appear to rise because of inflation. 至此，这篇难度较高的文章练习就结束了，可以发现文中使用了很多表示“衡量标准，指标”的近义词，大家注意积累。
加强和创新社会治理。深化社会组织管理制度改革，加快行业协会商会与行政机关脱钩。
We will strengthen and make innovations in social governance. We will deepen reform of the management of social organizations, and accelerate efforts to untie industry associations and chambers of commerce from any connections they may have with the government.
治理 governance
行业协会 industry association
商会 chamber of commerce
脱钩 untie
要注意积累“商会”一类的固定表达。
The driver of a Tesla Model S electric car was killed in a crash that occurred while the vehicle was driving itself in “autopilot” mode, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has opened a formal investigation. The accident, on May 7, is thought to be the first death resulting from a crash involving a self-driving car.
美国国家公路交通安全局(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)披露，一辆特斯拉Model S电动车在使用“自动驾驶”模式行驶途中发生车祸，导致驾驶者死亡，对此案的正式调查已经开启。 这起车祸发生在5月7日，应该是涉及自动驾驶汽车的第一起致死事故。
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 美国国家公路交通安全局
autopilot 自动驾驶
Automakers and Silicon Valley companies like Tesla and Google are pushing to perfect automated vehicles and speed their introduction, but the big question has been whether the technology is reliable in a life-or-death situation.
各大汽车生产商及特斯拉(Tesla)和谷歌(Google)这样的硅谷公司，正在推动自动化车辆的完善，加速把它们引入市场，但最大的问题是：在生死关头，这种技术是否可靠。
in a life-or-death situation 在生死关头
In a statement, the safety agency said it learned of the fatality from Tesla, and has sent an investigative team to examine the vehicle and the crash site in Williston, Fla., about 100 miles northwest of Orlando. The team is looking at the car’s automated driving system and whether it played a role in the crash.
公路交通安全局在一份声明中表示，它从特斯拉那里得知了这起死亡事件，并已派出一个调查小组对出事车辆和车祸现场进行调查。车祸发生在佛罗里达州的威利斯顿，位于奥兰多西北方向约100英里处。调查团队正在检查该车的自动驾驶系统，以及它在车祸中起到的作用。
automate [usu. passive] 使自动化
The safety agency did not identify the Tesla driver who was killed when a tractor-trailer turned in front of the car. But the Florida Highway Patrol identified him as Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio.
公路交通安全局没有披露特斯拉驾驶者的身份。车祸发生时，有一辆大卡车在特斯拉前面转弯。不过，佛罗里达公路巡警部门称，死者名叫约书亚•布朗(Joshua Brown)，40岁，来自俄亥俄州的坎顿。
tractor-trailer 牵引式挂车
Tesla, in a news release that did not name the driver, said he was a man ‘‘who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission.’’
特斯拉在新闻稿中没有提到驾驶者的姓名，只是说他“一生专注于创新和技术发展，对特斯拉的使命坚信不移”。
Mr. Brown apparently posted videos of himself riding in autopilot mode. “The car’s doing it all itself,’’ he said in one, smiling as he took his hands from the steering wheel. In another he praised the system for saving his car from an accident.
布朗似乎贴出过自动驾驶模式下他在车中的视频。“这辆车自己就可以行驶，”在一段视频中，他一边说，一边微笑着把双手从方向盘上移开。 还有一次，他称赞自动驾驶系统避免了一起事故。
The traffic safety agency said it was working with the Florida Highway Patrol in the inquiry into Mr. Brown’s fatal accident. The agency cautioned that the opening of an investigation did not mean it believed there was a defect in the vehicle being examined. The traffic safety agency is nearing the release of a new set of guidelines and regulations regarding the testing of self-driving vehicles on public roads. They were expected to be released in July.
公路交通安全局表示，它正在与佛罗里达公路巡警部门一起调查布朗的死亡事件。该机构谨慎地表示，开启调查并不意味着它认为受检查的车辆本身有缺陷。 公路交通安全局正准备发布一套新的关于自动驾驶车辆在公共道路上测试的准则和监管条例。这些内容预计会在7月公之于众。
Tesla said in its news release that it had informed the traffic safety agency about the accident “immediately after it occurred.” But the company reported it publicly only on Thursday, after learning that the agency had begun to investigate. Earlier this month, the agency’s leader, Mark Rosekind, said at an automotive technology conference in Novi, Mich., that the new rules would provide “guidance for how to get all of these autonomous new safety technologies on the road safely.”
特斯拉在新闻稿中称，“事件发生后”，他们“立即”通知了公路交通安全局。但直到得知该机构开始调查后，特斯拉才在本周四公布此事。 本月早些时候，公路交通安全局主管马克•罗斯金德(Mark Rosekind)在密歇根州诺维召开的汽车技术会议上表示，对于“如何让各种新的自动化安全技术在道路上安全地运行”，新的规则将提供指导。
autonomous 自治的，自主的
Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has praised the company’s self-driving feature, introduced in the Model S last fall, as “probably better than a person right now.” But in its statement on Thursday, the company cautioned that it was still only a test feature and noted that its use ‘‘requires explicit acknowledgment that the system is new technology.’’
特斯拉去年秋天推出Model S时，其首席执行官埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)称赞他们的自动驾车功能“现在很可能优于人类”。 但在周四的声明中，该公司告诫众人，这项功能仍然处于测试阶段，使用时“需要直接确认，这一系统属于新技术”。
explicit 清晰明确的，直言的
It noted that when a driver activated the system, an acknowledgment box pops up, explaining that the autopilot mode “is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times.”
文中指出，当驾驶员启动自动驾驶系统时，会有一个确认框弹出，显示自动驾驶模式“是一项辅助功能，需要你一直把双手放在方向盘上”。
activate 使活动，激活
pop up 突然出现，弹出 (pop-up window 弹出式窗口)
steering wheel 方向盘
这篇文章难度并不大，生词也不多。需要注意的是句子的断句问题，一些并不复杂的句子通过断句和增补会使译文更加通顺。文中“The safety agency did not identify the Tesla driver who was killed when a tractor-trailer turned in front of the car.”就是一个例子。另外文中的一些表达，如be nearing sth也可以试着用在写作中。
历史的道路，不会是坦平的，有时走到艰难险阻的境界。这是全靠雄健的精神才能够冲过去的。
The course of history is never smooth. It is sometimes beset with difficulties and obstacles and nothing short of a heroic spirit can help surmount them.
有时走到艰难险阻的境界 It is sometimes beset with difficulties and obstacles
一条浩浩荡荡的长江大河，有时流到很宽阔的境界，平原无际，一泻万里。有时流到很逼狭的境界。两岸丛山迭岭，绝壁断崖，江河流于其问，回环曲折，极其险峻。民族生命的进展，其经历亦复如是。
A mighty long river sometimes flows through a broad section with plains lying boundless on either side, its waters rolling on non-stop for thousands upon thousands of miles. Sometimes it comes up against a narrow section flanked by high mountains and steep c1iffs winding through a course with many a perilous twist and turn. A nation, in the course of its development, fares likewise.
平原无际，一泻万里 a broad section with plains lying boundless on either side, its waters rolling on non-stop for thousands upon thousands of miles
两岸丛山迭岭，绝壁断崖，江河流于其问，回环曲折，极其险峻 a narrow section flanked by high mountains and steep c1iffs winding through a course with many a perilous twist and turn
人类在历史上的生活正如旅行一样。旅途上的征人所经过的地方，有时是坦荡平原，有时是崎岖险路。志于旅途的人，走到平坦的地方，因是高高兴兴地向前走，走到崎岖的境界，愈是奇趣横生，觉得在此奇绝壮绝的境界，愈能感到一种冒险的美趣。
The historical course of man's life is just like a journey. A traveler on a long journey passes through now a broad, level plain, now a rugged, hazardous road. While a determined traveler cheerful1y continues his journey upon reaching a safe and smooth place, he finds it still more fascinating to come to a rugged place, the enormously magnificent spectacle of which, he feels, is better able to generate in him a wonderful sensation of adventure.
level用作形容词的几个义项大家可以积累一下。
崎岖的 rugged
今天这一篇还是比较文艺的，有很多四字词，还有对称结构，要保留原文的气韵并非易事。一定程度上通过选用合适的词汇及句式结构可达到这一目的。
“冲过去”→克服艰难险阻→surmount，直译行不通的时候就要意译了。Nothing short of a heroic spirit can...正说反译可增加气势。
“平原无际，一泻万里”，“丛山迭岭，绝壁断崖”处理成伴随结构会使译文更加紧凑流畅。