2015年考研英语统考翻译题原题及翻译Within the span of a hundred years, in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a tide of emigration—one of the great folk wanderings of history—swept from Europe to America. 46) This movement, driven by powerful and diverse motivations, built a nation out of a wilderness and, by its nature, shaped the character and destiny of an uncharted continent.
17世纪到18世纪早期的一百多年间，人类历史上一次大规模的人口迁移席卷欧洲和美洲大陆。这次人口迁移是由各种不同的强大驱动力促成的，它使一个国家在一片荒原上建立起来，其特性也塑造了这片新大陆的性格和命运。
47) The United States is the product of two principal forces-the immigration of European peoples with their varied ideas, customs, and national characteristics and the impact of a new country which modified these traits. Of necessity, colonial America was a projection of Europe. Across the Atlantic came successive groups of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Scots, Irishmen, Dutchmen, Swedes, and many others who attempted to transplant their habits and traditions to the new world.
如今的美国是两种主要力量的产物。首先是思想、风俗和民族特点各不相同的欧洲移民，其次是一个新的国家对这些特征的影响和改变。殖民地时期的美国不可避免地成为了一种欧洲的投影。一批有一批的移民从英国、法国、德国、苏格兰、爱尔兰、丹麦、瑞典以及其他欧洲国家来到北美，并试图将他们的习俗和传统移植到这片新大陆。
48) But, the force of geographic conditions peculiar to America, the interplay of the varied national groups upon one another, and the sheer difficulty of maintaining old-world ways in a raw, new continent caused significant changes. These changes were gradual and at first scarcely visible. But the result was a new social pattern which, although it resembled European society in many ways, had a character that was distinctly American.
但是在一个未开垦过的新大陆维持以前的移民前的生活方式是非常困难的，再加上北美的独特地理条件以及不同民族群体间的相互影响，这一切都使原来的风俗习惯发生了显著的变化。这些变化是循序渐进的，最初几乎注意不到，但其最终的结果却是一个新的社会模式。这种模式虽然在很多方面和欧洲社会相似，但却有着明显的、专属于美国的特征。
49) The first shiploads of immigrants bound for the territory which is now the United States crossed the Atlantic more than a hundred years after the 15th- and 16th-century explorations of
North America. In the meantime, thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. These travelers to North America came in small, unmercifully overcrowded craft. During their six- to twelve-week voyage, they subsisted on barely enough food allotted to them. Many of the ship were lost in storms, many passengers died of disease, and infants rarely survived the journey. Sometimes storms blew the vessels far off their course, and often calm brought unbearably long delay.
对北美的地理探索是在15和16世纪进行的。一百多年后，第一批移民横渡大西洋来到了如今美国所在的这片土地。此时，西班牙人已经在墨西哥、西印度群岛以及南美建立了很多殖民地，并且发展迅速。在到达北美之前，这些人要坐着拥挤不堪的小船在海上颠簸六到十二周的时间，而每天得到的食物配给少得可怜。很多船在风暴中沉没，很多人死于疾病，而婴幼儿则几乎没有生存下来的可能。有时风暴会将他们的船吹到离航线很远的地方，而平静无风天气则可能使他们的航程陷入长时间的、让人无法承受的停顿。
“To the anxious travelers the sight of the American shore brought almost inexpressible relief.”said one recorder of events, “The air at twelve leagues’distance smelt as sweet as a new-blown garden.”The colonists’first glimpse of the new land was a sight of dense woods. 50) The virgin forest with its richness and variety of trees was a veritable real treasure-house which extended from Maine all the way down to Georgia. Here was abundant fuel and lumber. Here was the raw material of houses and furniture, ships and potash, dyes and naval stores.
这些焦虑的旅客在看到美洲海岸时，感到的是几乎难以言表的解脱。有人曾这样记述道，“离海岸还有三十多海里的时候，乘客们就嗅到了大陆的气息，这种气息如此甜美，就像是刚刚开满鲜花的花园。”这些殖民者第一眼看到的北美大陆是一片茂密的森林。这片原始森林树木繁茂，树种众多，从现在的缅因州一直延伸到佐治亚州。这对他们来说真是一座宝库，可以为他们提供充足的燃料、木材和原材料。有了这些，他们就可以建造房屋、家具、船只，就可以制造钾碱、染料和松脂。
