中级口译之英译汉模拟题03

Passage 11

Today, we pioneers and leaders of electronic commerce, are meeting here to call for changes in US patent law. We believe such changes are needed to deal with new business models related to the growth of the Internet.// I share the same view with Jeff Bezos, chief executive of online bookseller Amazon.dot.com. Mr. Bezos argued in an open letter that current patent laws could end up harming all kinds of businesses if the laws were not adapted to new business methods used in e-commerce.// I think U.S. Patent laws are designed to protect the commercial rights of people who have invested in new products, systems or methods. Hereby I propose that the period of protection offered by patents should be cut from 17 years to about 4 years. I also propose a one-month period of public consultation before patents are issued.// If changes in the patent laws are going to have any real impact, they must be made soon, before too many more new business method patents are issued. Some of my colleagues in the industry have already begun lobbying lawmakers to make the changes. But we have to be a little bit more patient because it will take at least two years for any changes proposed now to be approved by lawmakers and established as law.//

今天我们这些电子商务的创始人和领导人在此集会，共同呼吁修改美国专利法。我们认为互联网的发展已形成了一些新商业模式，专利法必须经过修改才能应付这些新情况。//我同在线书店亚马逊电子商务公司的首席执行官杰夫.贝索斯特有相同的观点。贝索斯先生在一封公开信中指出，现行的专利法若不加以修正以适应电子商务的新模式最终将影响所有的商务活动。//我认为，制定美国专利法的根本出发点是为了保护那些投资开发新产品、新系列新方法者的权益。我在这里提议，专利权的保护期应该由原来的17年缩短为4年。同时我也建议，专利发布前应该有一个月的公示咨询期。//如果想让专利法的修改真正起到作用，那就必须加快修订步伐，不然的话，等越来越多的商务模式新专利颁布后再进行修改，为时已晚。电子商务产业的一些同行已开始有立法人修改法律。但是我们还得耐心等待，现在提出的修改建议至少要等上两年才能被立法部门确定为正式的法律。//

Passage 12

From recorded time, man has been fascinated and delighted with music. Bone whistles, used as a type of flute, have been found dating back to 5,000 BC. Paintings from the Stone Age show early musical instruments. In modern times, man has further developed his interest in music and in recorded sound with the hardware of sound reproduction.// American inventor Thomas Edison, who was considered the father of sound recording, developed the phonographin 1877, the first device to record music in the world. While Edison concentrated at first mainly on the reproduction of voice, it was not long before the musical uses of his invention were recognized and marketed.// The widespread use of electricity in the post-World War Two period led to the invention of the modern, portable record player. It was, however, “mono”. The real enthusiastic listener to music wanted a realistic reproduction of music with “hi-fidelity” or “hi-fi”.// The 1980s saw an even greater series of developments in sound reproduction hardware. The examples are the Sony Corporation's invention and development of the tiny portable tape players known as the “Walkman”, and the compact disc, or CD, system based on the technology of computers with music information stored and reproduced digitally.//

有史记载以来，人类一直痴迷于音乐，为音乐所陶醉。用作笛子的骨哨早已出现在公元前5，000年。从石器时代的画中我们可以见到早期乐器的模样。现代人进一步发展了对音乐的兴趣，十分钟情于用声音复制设备来录音的方式。//被誉为录音之父的美国发明家托马斯·爱迪生于1877年发明了留声机，这是世界上第一台录音设备。爱迪生最初的精力主要放在对说话声音的复制上，然而时隔不久，爱迪生这项发明的音乐应用价值便为世人所认识，并被推向了市场。//第二次世界大战之后，电的广泛使用使现代便携式点唱机面世。不过这种点唱机只能单声道放音。而真正的音乐发烧友想要的是一种给人以身临其境感觉的高保真音响设备。//到了80年代，声音复制设备的发展迈出了一系列更大的步伐。例如，推出了由索尼首创开发的被称之为“随身听”的袖珍便携式磁带放音机，以及采用电脑技术以数码储存与再现音乐信息的CD激光唱片音响。//