2015年5月人事部三级笔译实务真题(上)
发布时间:2017年12月28日
发布人:nanyuzi  

第一部分 英译汉

 

For generations, coal has been the lifeblood of this mineral-rich stretch of eastern Utah. Mining families proudly recall all the years they toiled underground. Supply companies line the town streets. Above the road that winds toward the mines, a soot-smudged miner peers out from a billboard with the slogan “Coal=Jobs.”

 

But recently, fear has settled in. The state’s oldest coal-fired power plant, tucked among the canyons near a town, is set to close, a result of new, stricter federal pollution regulations.

 

As energy companies move away from coal toward cleaner, cheaper natural gas, people here have grown increasingly afraid that their community may soon slip away. Dozens of workers at the Carbon Power Plant have learned that they must retire early or seek other jobs. Local trucking and equipment outfits are preparing to take business elsewhere.

 

“There are a lot of people worried,” said Kyle Davis, who has been employed at the plant since he was 18. Mr. Davis, 56, worked his way up from sweeping floors to managing operations at the plant, whose furnaces have been burning since 1954. “I would have liked to be here for another five years,” he said, “I’m too young to retire.”

 

But the Rocky Mountain Power, the utility that operates the plant, has determined that it would be too expensive to retrofit the aging plant to meet new federal standards on mercury emissions. The plant is scheduled to be shut by April 2015. “We had been working for the better part of three years, testing compliance strategies,” said David Eskelsen, a spokesman for the utility. “None of the ones we investigated really would produce the results that would meet the requirements.”

 

For the last several years, coal plants have been shutting down across the country, driven by tougher environmental regulations, flattening electricity demand and a move by utilities toward natural gas. This month, the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the country’s largest public power utility, voted to shut eight coal-powered plants in Alabama and Kentucky, and partly replace them with gas-fired power. Since 2010, more than 150 coal plants have been closed or scheduled for retirement.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the stricter emissions regulations for the plants will result in billions of dollars in related health savings and will have a sweeping impact on air quality. In recent weeks, the agency held 11 “listening sessions” around the country in advance of proposing additional rules for carbon dioxide emissions.

 

“Coal plants are the single largest source of dangerous carbon pollution in the United States, and we have ready alternatives like wind and solar to replace them,” said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, which wants to shut all of the nation’s coal plants.

 

For many here, coal jobs are all they know. The industry united the area during hard times, too, especially during the dark days after nine men died in a 2007 mining accident some 35 miles down the highway. Virtually everyone around here knew the men, six of whom remain entombed in the mountainside. But there is quiet acknowledgement that this place will have to change–if not now, soon.

 

Pete Palacios, who worked in the mines for 43 years, has seen coal roar and fade here. Now 86, his eyes grew cloudy as he recalled his first mining job. He was 12, and earned US $1 a day. “I’m retired, so I’ll be fine. But these young guys?” Pete Palacios said, his voice trailing off.

 

参考译文:

 

在美国犹他州东部矿藏丰富的地区,人们世代以煤炭为生。采煤世家自豪地回想他们常年在地下辛勤劳动的岁月。镇上街道两旁,物资补给商店林立。通往煤矿蜿蜒的道路上方矗立着广告牌,上面写着“煤炭=就业的标语,一位满脸煤灰的矿工往外观望。

 

然而,最近人们已开始担心。该州运营最久的燃煤电厂建在离镇不远的峡谷之中,近来已确定关闭,因为要执行更严格的联邦污染治理新条例。

 

由于能源公司弃用煤炭而改用更清洁、更廉价的天然气,当地人越来越担心他们这个社区不久就会消失。加朋电厂有数十位工人已获悉,他们必须提前退休,或转行。当地的货运和设备公司也准备从别的地方承揽业务。

 

“许多人都在发愁。”凯尔·戴维斯说。他从18岁一直在电厂工作,今年56岁了。他从清洁工干起,一直干到业务主管,厂里的锅炉自1954年以来从未熄过火。他说:我希望在此再干五年。我还年轻,不能退休。

 

但是这家电厂的运营商洛基山电力公司已确定,为达到联邦汞排放新标准而翻新这家老厂开支太大。这家电厂将于2015年4月关闭。公司发言人戴维·埃斯基尔森说:三年里,我们用了大部分时间尝试达标的方法,但我们试用的方法确实都不能产生达标的结果。

 

最近几年,燃煤电力在美国各地相继关闭,这是因为环保条更严格,电力需求萎缩,电力公司改用天然气的缘故。本月,美国最大的公用电力管理机构田纳西工程管理局的董事会投票决定,关闭在亚拉巴马和肯塔基两个州的八家燃煤电厂,其中一部分以燃气电力厂取而代之。自2010年以来,已有150家燃煤电厂关闭,或准备停运。

 

据环境保护署统计,对电厂实行更严格的限排规定,将节省数十亿美元相关医疗费用,并对空气质量产生重大影响。近几周,环境保护署在美国各地举行了11次听证会,以便今后提出有关二氧化碳排放的补充规定。

 

喜来俱乐部开展的非煤运动主张关闭美国所有的燃煤电厂。这项活动的负责人布鲁斯·尼勒斯说:“燃煤电厂是有害碳污染物一个最大排放源,而且我们现在已有替代能源,比如用风能和太阳能取而代之。”

 

在这里,许多人只知道以煤为生。煤炭行业也曾在困难时期把整个矿区凝聚起来,尤其是在2007年艰难的日子里。在离高速公路大约35英里开外的地方发生了矿难,九人丧生。当地人几乎都认识罹难者,其中六人至今还埋在山里。然而,人们心里明白,这个地方必定要发生变化——即使现在不变,不久也要变。

 

皮特·帕拉西奥斯在矿上工作了43年,见证了这里煤炭业的兴衰。现在他已86岁高龄,回想初次采煤的情景,眼光已显浑浊。当时他12岁,一天只挣一美元。我已经退休了,所以我还行。但这些年轻人怎么办?皮特·帕拉西奥斯声音越来越低,他说不下去了。