But in the case of minerals it is especially difficult to give a reliable estimate of reserves because surveys have not been completed and it is not certain that all sources are known. Uranium provides a good example of this fact.
Section VIII: English-Chinese Translation (20 points)
 (2)
9. 换言之，矿物就是存在于地球上的而且必须经过挖掘、钻孔、人工爆炸或类似作业才能获得的物质。
10. 煤和油是植物和动物的残体。原矿石和原油必须加以精炼才能使用。
11. 人类文明的各个时期通常是根据从们在各个时期所主要使用的物质名称而命名的，例如石器时代、铁器时代，等等。
12. 使用原料的能力大小取决于各种因素，例如，获取原料的手段、开采方法和加工技术。
13. 提炼原矿石的厂房设备通常不是设在开采原矿石的国家而是设在其他国家。
14. 直到六十年前人们才发现一种开采铝矿石的方法，从而有可能从中得出一种成本低廉、大规模提炼的炼铝法。
15. 在过去的几十年间，人们对待矿物的态度是：仿佛他们可以永远不断地得到矿物供应。
16. 可是现在他们认识到，其中有些矿物的蕴藏是很有限的，他们甚至还是可较合理地估计出这些矿石“可望存在多少年”，也就是说，经过多少时间之后，这些矿物的全部书籍矿源和蕴藏量将被耗尽。

五.1985年考研英语翻译真题及答案解析
Translate the following sentences into English. (15 points)
1. 这项计划和原来的计划比起来，要完整得多。
1. Compared with the original one, this plan is far more complete.
2. 只有这样我们才能赶上世界的先进科学技术水平。
2. Only in this way can we catch up with the world's advanced levels in science and technology.
3. 你对下一步该做些什么，清楚了吗?
3. Are you clear about what you should do next?
4. 在旧中国，几乎没有什么机器制造工业，更不用说电子工业了。
4. In old China, there was hardly any machine-building industry, to say nothing of an electronic industry.
5. 他在这次旅行中的所见所闻给他留下了深刻的印象。
5. What he saw and heard on his trip gave him a very deep impression.
Choose either of the following two passages. Only the underlined sentences are to be translated. (20 points)
(1)
Television is now playing a very important part in our life. But television, like other things, has both advantages and disadvantages. Do the former outweigh the latter?
In the first place, television is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. (1) For a family of four, for example, it is more convenient as well as cheaper to sit comfortably at home, with almost unlimited entertainment available, than to go out in search of amusement elsewhere. (2) They do not have to pay for expensive seats at the theatre, the cinema, or the opera, only to discover, perhaps, that the show is disappointing. (3) All they have to do is press a button, and they can see plays, films, operas, and shows of every kind, not to mention political discussions and the latest exciting football match. (4) Some people, however, maintain that this is precisely where the danger lies. The television viewer takes no initiative. He makes no choice and exercises no judgment. (5) He is completely passive and has everything presented to him without any effort on his part.
(6) Television, it is often said, keeps one informed about current events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science and politics, and offers and endless series of programs which are both instructive and entertaining. The most distant countries and the strangest custom are brought right into one's sitting-room. (7) It could be argued that the radio performs this service just as well; but on television everything is much more living, much more real. Yet here again there a danger. We get so used to looking at it, so dependent on its flickering pictures, that it begins to dominate our lives.
There are many other arguments for and against television. The poor quality of its programs is often criticized. But it is undoubtedly a great comfort to many lonely elderly people. And does it corrupt or instruct our children? I think we must realize that television in itself is neither good nor bad. (8) It is the uses to which it is put that determine its value to society.
(1)
1. 譬如，对于一个四口之家，舒舒服服地坐在家里收看电视，就能看到几乎是数不清的娱乐节目，这比到外面别的地方去消遣便宜得多，方便的多。
2. 他们不必花钱去戏院、电影院，或歌剧院买价钱很高的戏票，结果他们也许还会发现所演出的节目很令人失望。
3. 他们所要做的只是按一下电钮，就能看到各种戏剧、电影、歌剧和各式各样的演出，更不用说各种政治辩论和最近举行的激动人心的足球赛。
4. 可是，有些人则坚持认为这恰恰是危险的所在。
5. 看电视的人是完全被动的，他可以毫不费力就能看到所播放的每一个节目。
6. 人们常说，电视能使一个人对时事了如指掌，随时了解科学和政治方面的最新发展。同时还能源源不断地为观众提供各种既有教育意义又带有娱乐性的节目。
7. 可能会有人提出无线电广播也同样能做到这一点;但在电视屏幕上，每个节目都显得更加生动，更加真实。
8. 电视对社会的价值取决于我们怎样去利用它。
(2)
An office is the "Brain" of a business. (9) In an office, figures, lists and information are compiled which tell the managers or heads of the business what is happening in their shops or factories. These figures guide the managers by telling them what has happened and what is happening.?
Information comes into an office in all sorts of ways but the main items of information come in regularly. (10) It is part of the job of the clerks to collect and classify that information and to put it into such a form that it is easily interpreted and understood. Offices collect information then they classify it.
This work of collection is common in an office from the sorting of mail every morning to the accountant's work in finding out the final figure for the year's profit. (11) Classification always requires the arrangement of the same kind of information, often into lists or columns. (12) For this work, correctness, accuracy and speed, as in all office work, are essential.
There is no value, however, in collecting figures which mean nothing. Figures are guides which should help we make decisions. (13) The interpretation of information and of tables should tell us where success or failure lies, where profit can be had and where losses occur. (14) On this kind of information and from the known figures, a choice is made and a series of such choices may make a policy.
A firm which has three factories may find, for instance, from its figures, that one factory is losing money and a choice may lie between either a change of manager, a cut in production, an increase in production or closure of the factory. Whichever one of these decisions is taken becomes the policy. (15) It is clear that a decision leading to a policy can only be as good as the information on which it is based.
Consequently there is a constant search for more and more exact information. (16) Managers will want to have all the necessary facts before they can make the best decision and it is normal for them to seek for more and more information.
(2)
9. 在办公室里，人们将各种数据、表格和资料(信息)加以汇编以便让经理们或企业的主管人员了解他们的商店或工厂目前正在发生的情况。
10. 职员们的一部分任务就是手机这种资料(信息)将它分类并制成这样一份表格，这份表格要能是这种资料(信息)易于解释，易于理解。
11. 分类工作始终需要将同样的资料加以整理，往往是将它们列成表格或专栏。
12. 对于这种工作来说，像所有的办公室工作一样，正确性、准确性和速度是必不可少的。
13. 对资料(信息)和报表所做的解释，应能给我们显示出成败之所在哪里可以有盈利以及哪里出现了亏损。
14. 根据这种资料(信息)和那些已知的数据，就能作出一种选择，而一系列这样的选择就能形成一项决策。
15. 很显然，形成决策的那个决定的好坏，只能取决于它所依据的资料(信息)的好坏。
16. 经理们必定需要在掌握一切必要的情况之后才能作出最佳的决定。对他们来说，要求得到越来越多的资料(信息)是很正常的。







六.1990年考研英语翻译真题及答案解析
Translate the following sentences into English (15 points)
1. 你应该仔细核对全部资料，以避免严重错误。
1. You should check all the data carefully so as to avoid serious mistakes.
2. 尽管这个实验复杂，他们决心按时把它完成。
2. Although the experiment is complicated, they are determined to finish it on time.
3. 一切迹象表明这个人对这里发生的情况毫无所知。
3. All signs showed that the man knew nothing of what had happened here.
4. 只有那些不怕困难的人，才有可能在工作中取得卓越的成果。
4. Only those who are not afraid of any difficulties have the chance of achieving outstanding results in their work.
5 这篇作品与其说是短篇小说，不如说更像是新闻报导。
5. This piece of writing is more like a news report than a short story.
Section VII English-Chinese Translation
Read the following passage carefully and then translate the sentences underlined into Chinese. (20 points)
People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. (1) They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature vs. nurture.”
1. 他们想要说明，为什么我们具有某些性格特征和表现出某些行为。
(2) Those who support the “nature”side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors.
2. 在这场争论中，赞成“天性”一方的那些人认为，我们的性格特征和行为模式大多是由生物因素所决定的。