英语四级翻译真题:科举制

　　3.翻译第4句中“下层民众很少有机会在朝廷谋职”时将否定的意义从“少有机会”转译到“很少有人”(fewpeople)，更符合英语的表达习惯。

　　4.倒数第2句中的谓语动词“让……有机会”可译成offer sth. to sb.或provide sb. with sth.的结构。注意句末的“并为家庭带来荣誉”是与“参加政府考试”并列，故处理为与to attend... exam并列的省略to的不定式。

　　5.最后一句的“科举制被证明......”在翻译时可套用prove to be句式，变被动形式为主动形式，或译为it isproved that...的句型。“它之前的任何考试制度”可直译为any other previous examination system或将 “它之前的”处理成“考试制度”的后置定语existing before it。

　　参考译文

　　The imperial examination system is the one that theimperial government adopted to select officials inancient China. It was first put into practice in the SuiDynasty and lasted more than

　　1300 years until the Qing Dynasty, enjoying a longand dominant position in the history of ancientChinese education. In the ancient society, because of the strong class consciousness, fewpeople from lower classes had the chance to get any position in the government. The "keju"evaluation system offered opportunities to children from poor families to attend thegovernment exams and bring honor to their families. This system proved to be fairer and morefar-reaching than any other examination system existing before it.