(6) The social costs go far beyond the welfare and unemployment payments made by the government. Unemployment increases the chances of divorce, child abuse, and alcoholism, a new federal survey shows. Some experts say the problem is only temporary... that new technology will eventually create as many jobs as it destroys. (7) But futurologist Hymen Seymour says the astonishing efficiency of the new technology means there will be a simple and direct net reduction in the amount of human labor that needs to be done. “We should treat this as an opportunity to give people more leisure. It may not be easy, but society will have to reach a new unanimity on the division and distribution of labor,” Seymour says. He predicts most people will work only six-hour days and four-day weeks by the end of the century. But the concern of the unemployed is for now. (8) Federally funded training and free back-to-school programs for laid-off workers are under way, but few experts believe they will be able to keep up with the pace of the new technology. For the next few years, for a substantial portion of the workforce, times are going to be very tough indeed.
1. 她吃力地伏在显微镜上干活，手焊体积很小的电子计算机，每小时能焊好18个。
2. 一家工厂的跟踪调查表明，被解雇的工人中一年后只有38%的人找到了与原工资相等或优于原工资的工作。
3. 它(新技术的采用导致失业上升)一开始被全球性的经济衰退所引起的失业所掩盖，但到20世纪末，新技术所引起的失业问题可能会构成对社会经济的巨大挑战。
4. 被一台机器抢走你的工作是很伤自尊心的，可又没法还击，但真正伤我心的是要费很大的劲去寻找新的工作。
5. 老工人由于处于技术掌握得很有限的困境，往往不能重新获得其原有的地位和就业机会。
6. 要付出的社会代价远远超过政府在福利与失业救济方面的开支。
7. 未来学家海曼•西摩说，新技术所具有的惊人效率意味着所需要的劳力将出现一个绝对的和直接的净减数。
8. 为失业工人提供的由联邦政府帮助的培训计划和免费重返学校学习的计划目前都在实施中，但专家中几乎没有认为这些计划能跟得上新技术的发展步伐。










十一.1990年考研英语翻译真题及答案解析
Section VI Chinese-English Translation
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。
2. 尽管这个实验复杂，他们决心按时把它完成。
3. 一切迹象表明这个人对这里发生的情况毫无所知。
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。
5. 这篇作品与其说是短篇小说，不如说更像是新闻报导。
1. You should check all the data carefully so as to avoid serious mistakes.
2. Although the experiment is complicated, they are determined to finish it on time.
3. All signs showed that the man knew nothing of what had happened here.
4. Only those who are not afraid of any difficulties have the chance of achieving outstanding results in their work.
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.”
(2) Those who support the “nature”side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. (3) That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory.
Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is pre-determined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts.
Those who support the “nurture”theory, that is, they advocate education, are often called behaviorists. They claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. (4) The behaviorists maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.
Let us examine the different explanations about one human characteristic, intelligence, offered by the two theories. (5) Supporters of the “nature”theory insist that we are born with a certain capacity for learning that is biologically determined. Needless to say: They don’t believe that factors in the environment have much influence on what is basically a predetermined characteristic. On the other hand, behaviorists argue that our intelligence levels are the product of our experiences. (6) Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.
The social and political implications of these two theories are profound. (7) In the United States, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature”proponents to conclude that blacks are biologically inferior to whites. (8) Behaviorists, in contrast, say that differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often deprived of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy.
Most people think neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior.
翻译
Section VII: English-Chinese Translation (20 points)
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. 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。
3. 这种理论的核心是，我们的环境同我们的才能、性格特征和行为即使有什么关系的话，也是微不足道的。
4. 行为主义者坚信，人象机器一样，对环境的刺激作出反应，这是他们行为的基础。
5. 支持“天性”论的人坚持说，我们生来就具有一定的学习才能，这是由生物因素决定的。
6. 行为主义者的看法是，如果一个儿童在有许多刺激物的环境里成长，而这些刺激物能够发展其作出适当反应的能力，那么，这个儿童将会有更高的智力发展。
7. 在美国，黑人在标准化智力测试中的成绩常常低于白人。
8. 相反，行为主义者认为，成绩的差异是由于黑人往往被剥夺了白人在教育及其它环境方面所享有的许多有利条件。

十二.1991年考研英语翻译真题及答案解析
Section V English-Chinese Translation
Read the following passage carefully and then translate the underlined sentences into Chinese. (15 points)
The fact is that the energy crisis, which has suddenly been officially announced, has been with us for a long time now, and will be with us for an even longer time. Whether Arab oil flows freely or not, it is clear to everyone that world industry cannot be allowed to depend on so fragile a base. (1) The supply of oil can be shut off unexpectedly at any time, and in any case, the oil wells will all run dry in thirty years or so at the present rate of use.
(2) New sources of energy must be found, and this will take time, but it is not likely to result in any situation that will ever restore that sense of cheap and plentiful energy we have had in the times past. For an indefinite period from here on, mankind is going to advance cautiously, and consider itself lucky that it can advance at all.
To make the situation worse, there is as yet no sign that any slowing of the world’s population is in sight. Although the birth-rate has dropped in some nations, including the United States, the population of the world seems sure to pass six billion and perhaps even seven billion as the twenty-first century opens.
(3) The food supply will not increase nearly enough to match this, which means that we are heading into a crisis in the matter of producing and marketing food.
Taking all this into account, what might we reasonably estimate supermarkets to be like in the year 2001?
To begin with, the world food supply is going to become steadily tighter over the next thirty years -- even here in the United States. By 2001, the population of the United States will be at least two hundred fifty million and possibly two hundred seventy million, and the nation will find it difficult to expand food production to fill the additional mouths. (4) This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it difficult to continue agriculture in the high-energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields.
It seems almost certain that by 2001 the United States will no longer be a great food-exporting nation and that, if necessity forces exports, it will be at the price of belt-tightening at home.
In fact, as food items will tend to decline in quality and decrease in variety, there is very likely to be increasing use of flavouring additives. (5) Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support for all, people will have to accept more “unnatural food”.
答案解析
Section V: English-Chinese Translation (15 points)
1. 石油供应可能会随时中断;不管怎样，以目前这种消费速度，只需30年左右，所有的油井都会枯竭。
2. 必须找到新的能源，这需要时间;而过去我们感觉到的那种能源价廉而充足的情况将不可能再出现了。
3. 食品供应的增加将赶不上人口的增长，这就意味着我们在粮食的生产和购销方面正陷入危机。