英语样题及答案丨2024年多语种商务翻译竞赛

多语种商务翻译大赛英语

 

译汉样题

请将下列文章译为中文

“Shop like a billionaire.” With that enticing slogan Temu touted itself to Americans watching the Super Bowl on February 11th. Football fans had been treated to a similar advert from the e-commerce company at last year’s event. But this time the message was hammered home. In all, Temu’s ad played five times. That won’t have been cheap. A 30-second slot during this year’s Super Bowl cost around $7m. JPMorgan Chase, a bank, reckons the company will spend $3bn on marketing this year, up from $1.7bn in 2023.

Temu, based in Boston, is an offshoot of Pinduoduo, a Chinese e-commerce firm. It is attempting to replicate the success of Shein, a Chinese fast-fashion seller, which shot to success in America in 2021 helped by clever marketing and ultra-low prices. In their bid to win over American shoppers the duo are spending so lavishly on digital ads that their footprints show up in big tech companies’ earnings. On February 1st Susan Li, the chief financial officer of Meta, a social-media giant, said that Chinese advertisers contributed 10% of her firm’s revenue last year and five percentage points to its worldwide revenue growth. In November Josh Silverman, the boss of Etsy, an online marketplace for artisan knick-knacks, blamed Temu and Shein for pushing up the price of digital advertising.

All that spending has bought some brand recognition. Last year Temu was the most downloaded app in America, Britain, France and Germany, according to Business of Apps, a research firm. Shein is already a shopping sensation among American teenagers. But can the firms win over American shoppers en masse?

Although Temu stocks a broader range of items, from children’s toys to industrial tools, than Shein, which mostly sells clothing, they have similar business models. For both, the main advantage is price. Michael Morton of MoffettNathanson, a research firm, estimates that the same items of women’s clothing on Temu are two to four times dearer on American websites. Temu offers electric toothbrushes, sunglasses and backpacks for about $1 each.

The pair keep costs low in many ways. One is to cut out middlemen and deal directly with Chinese factories. Another is to charge merchants lower fees than American rivals do. They also eschew enormous logistics operations in America like Amazon’s. Instead they ship products from warehouses in China and have them delivered to shoppers in America by UPS, FedEx or the post. Customers thus get low prices, but not speedy delivery. Packages can take weeks to arrive.

So far the pair have made only small presence into America’s e-commerce market. Temu and Shein both have shares of about 1%, according to Bernstein, a broker. Amazon has 38%. Even so, the local giant is taking them seriously. In December Amazon said it would cut merchants’ fees for clothing priced under $15, probably in response to the twin threat. In September it rolled out an end-to-end supply-chain service in which it picks up goods from merchants’ factories and ships them to customers, mirroring what its Chinese rivals do.

But Amazon is unlikely to be hurt first, or most. Clothing and accessories account for only 16% of its sales, according to eMarketer, a research firm, so Shein is probably a bigger threat to fast-fashion labels such as Forever 21. And for Temu, the absence of a local logistics network will make it difficult to compete with Amazon when it comes to goods customers want quickly, such as dishwasher tablets. It is probably a bigger threat to eBay or Etsy.

That may eventually change. Both firms have bought warehouse space in America and struck partnerships with local logistics firms. Shein is reportedly poaching supply-chain specialists from Amazon. Temu may also start to sell dearer goods, such as smartphones, a shift its parent pulled off in China. That would put it into more direct competition with Amazon and the similarly mighty Walmart.

Mark Shmulik of Bernstein argues that increasing market share from zero to 1% is more difficult for new e-commerce firms than raising it from 1% to 5%. Getting consumers to first take notice is tricky. Once a brand is familiar, it is easier to sell customers more things—and more expensive ones, too. Temu and Shein may have already done the hardest part of making it in America.

 

 

英译汉解析

1. Shop like a billionaire.” With that enticing slogan Temu touted itself to Americans watching the Super Bowl on February 11th. Football fans had been treated to a similar advert from the e-commerce company at last year’s event. But this time the message was hammered home.

这几句话描述了Temu在美国美国国家橄榄球联盟(NFL)的年度冠军赛,又称超级碗(Super Bowl)上的广告宣传。tout一词的本意是“兜售”,在这里根据语境译为“宣传”。第二句原文“Football fans had been treated to a similar advert”为被动语态,与中文相比,英文当中出现被动语态的频率更高,在翻译时,我们往往会采取不同方式进行处理。译文将“这家电商公司”作为主语,同时将原文的主语(football fans)作为宾语,从而避免在中文里面出现被动语态。同时,为了使读者更加明确所表达的信息,译文将“last year’s event”具体化为“去年的超级碗比赛”。第三句“But this time the message was hammered home.”中,hammer something home的意思是“to emphasize a point, an idea, etc. so that people fully understand it”,本句原意是指Temu想要传达的营销信息被人深深记住了。译文同样进行了灵活处理,译为“但这一次,它火力全开”,“它”指的是Temu。

 

2. It is attempting to replicate the success of Shein, a Chinese fast-fashion seller, which shot to success in America in 2021 helped by clever marketing and ultra-low prices.

本句的原文较长,句子结构也比较复杂。首先,“a Chinese fast-fashion seller”是Shein的同位语。对于同位语的处理,如果该部分内容较短,可以像译文那样将其放在名词前面,即“中国快时尚电商Shein”。后面which引导的非限定性定语从句用来说明Shein的情况,即“shot to success in America in 2021..”,其中shoot to success与shoot to fame意思相似,均表示to suddenly become successful or famous,译文用“异军突起”很好地表达了原文意思。最后“helped by clever marketing and ultra-low prices”则说明了Shein成功的原因,原句直译是“在……的帮助下”,译文则巧妙地处理为“它的成功得益于”。

 

3. Although Temu stocks a broader range of items, from children’s toys to industrial tools, than Shein, which mostly sells clothing, they have similar business models. For both, the main advantage is price.

本句的原文结构不太复杂,难点在于如何整合原文信息和组织语言,使其更加符合中文的表达习惯。本句的主句是Although Temu stocks a wider range of items ... than Shein, they have similar business models。“from children’s toys to industrial tools”补充说明了Temu销售的商品品类,而“which mostly sells clothing”阐述了Shein的业务范围。译文并未采用原文的结构和顺序,而是将插入语和定语从句的内容前置,先介绍了两家公司各自的业务,然后再说明两家公司在商业模式上的相似之处。此外,译文还根据句群所表达的意思,重新组织了语句。

 

4. Michael Morton of MoffettNathanson, a research firm, estimates that the same items of women’s clothing on Temu are two to four times dearer on American websites.

本句涉及商务翻译中常见的数字倍数问题。其中,A is N times larger than B通常会被错误译为A是B的N+1倍。实际上,A is N times larger than B所表达的意思与A is N times as large as B相同,都是表示A是B的N倍。

 

5. And for Temu, the absence of a local logistics network will make it difficult to compete with Amazon when it comes to goods customers want quickly, such as dishwasher tablets. It is probably a bigger threat to eBay or Etsy.

解析:这两句话将Temu和与几个美国本土电商平台在服务上进行横向比较,内容上难度不高,可能出错的地方是dishwasher tablet的意思。洗碗机在国内普及度并不高,所以大家对dishwasher tablet并不太了解。Tablet的常见释义是药片、平板电脑,而dishwasher tablet是指洗碗机专用的清洁块。遇到平时不太熟悉的字词,一定要仔细查证,以免望文生义。

 

 

汉译英样题

2021年,中国经济持续恢复,国内生产总值突破110万亿元,达到114.4万亿元,同比增长8.1%,占世界经济比重约为18%,对世界经济增长的贡献率达到25%,连续12年成为世界第二大经济体。经济结构持续优化,全国规模以上工业增加值同比增长9.6%,快于GDP增速1.5个百分点,较2020年也加快6.8个百分点。最终消费支出、资本形成额、净出口分别拉动国内生产总值增长5.3、1.1和1.7个百分点。通货膨胀率保持低位,就业保持稳定,全年新增就业人数达1269万人。中国经济全面复苏为外商投资创造了良好的环境,增强了外商投资信心,促进了外商投资稳定增长。

在一系列促消费、培育壮大国内市场政策措施的推动下,中国消费市场持续恢复。一是国内消费规模持续扩大。2021年,全国社会消费品零售总额同比增长12.5%,达到44.1万亿元,最终消费支出对经济增长贡献率为65.4%,达到近年来最高水平。其中,新型消费、绿色消费快速发展,实物商品网上零售额、新能源汽车销量分别同比增长12%、160%,升级类消费需求更加旺盛,体育健身等消费品零售保持两位数增长。二是消费能力持续增强。2021年,中国居民人均可支配收入35128元,实际增长8.1%,其中,居民人均可支配收入中位数达9975元,增长8.8%。中国人均GDP达到1.26万美元,接近世界银行高收入国家标准的门槛。

 

汉译英解析

1. 2021年,中国经济持续恢复,国内生产总值突破110万亿元,达到114.4万亿元,同比增长8.1%,占世界经济比重约为18%,对世界经济增长的贡献率达到25%,连续12年成为世界第二大经济体。

本句原文为一整个长句,译文根据语义关系,分拆为两个英文句子。首先,第一句要确定好主语,译文以“its GDP”为主语,从而串联起后面的信息。而“中国经济持续恢复”则被处理成“with China’s continuous economic recovery”放在句首,使整个句子的结构更加紧凑,符合英文表达习惯。“同比增长8.1%”被译为为“with a year-on-year increase of 8.1%”,也可以表示为“up by 8.1% year-on-year”。“占世界经济比重约为18%,对世界经济增长的贡献率达到25%”被处理为现在分词引导的状语成分,即“accounting for ... and contributing to ... ”,这也是翻译当中常见的处理方法。第二句的译文在开头加上了“As a result”,清楚表明了原文中隐含的逻辑关系,即正是由于2021年国内生产总值的增长,才使中国连续12年成为世界第二大经济体。此处还要注意数字的转换,“万亿”可以直接表达为“trillion”。

 

2. 通货膨胀率保持低位,就业保持稳定,全年新增就业人数达1269万人。

句中两处“保持”被分别译为stay和remain,这符合英文避免重复用词的特点。“全年新增就业人数达1269万人”被处理成“with 12.69 million new jobs added throughout the year”放在句尾,避免三个分句均采用主谓宾的形式,起到丰富句型表现形式的效果。“新增就业人数”被译为“new jobs”,也可以译为“with 12.69 million new people/employees joined the workforce”。

 

3. 经济结构持续优化,全国规模以上工业增加值同比增长9.6%,快于GDP增速1.5个百分点,较2020年也加快6.8个百分点。

本句要注意主动和被动语态,“经济结构持续优化”容易误译为“The economic structure continued to optimize”,但经济结构无法自我优化,而是被优化,因此译文将其处理成被动语态。后面的“快于……”和“较……加快”处理成了相同结构,“... higher than”。其中“较2020年也加快6.8个百分点”是与2020年的GDP增速相比,因此不可以遗漏“that of”。

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