2008年6月6级阅读理解逐句翻译
-
2008
年
6
月
一、
Imagine waking up and finding the value
of your assets has been halved.
想象你一觉醒来，发现自己的资产减半。
No, you’re not an investor in one of
those hedge funds that failed completely.
不，你并不是其中一支彻底失败的基金的投资者。
With
the
dollar
slumping
to
a
26-year
low
against
the
pound,
already-expensive
London
has
become
quite unaffordable.
随着美元兑英镑跌至
26
年来的最低值，物价本就偏高的伦敦变得更让人难以承受。
A coffee at Starbucks,
just as unavoidable in England as it is in the
United States, runs about $$8.
一杯星巴克的咖啡在
英国不得不买到
8
美元，同在美国如出一辙。
< br>
The once all-powerfu
l
dollar isn’t doing a Titanic against just the
pound.
无所不能的美元在兑换英镑时，不再是庞然大物。
It is sitting at a record low against
the euro and at a 30-year low against the Canadian
dollar.
美元兑欧元的汇率创下新低，并在与加元的汇兑中处于
30
年来的最低值。
Even the Argentine peso and Brazilian
real are thriving against the dollar.
就连阿根廷闭锁和巴西雷亚尔都比美元有活力。
The weak dollar is a source of
humiliation, for a nation’s self
-esteem
rests in part on the strength
of its
currency.
疲软的美元带来了屈辱，因为一个国家的尊严部分来源于本国货币
的强度。
It’s
also
a
potential
economic
problem,
since
a
de
clining
dollar
makes
imported
food
more
expensive and exerts upward pressure on
interest rates.
这也是一个潜在的经济问
题，因为编制的美元使得进口食品价格上扬，并施加加息的压力。
And
yet
there
are
substantial
sectors
of
the
vast
U.S.
economy-from
giant
companies
like
Coca-Cola
to
mom-
and-pop
restaurant
operators
in
Miami-for
which
the
weak
dollar
is
most
excellent news.
但对于庞大美国经济体中大
量的产业部门
-----
从可口可乐这样的大公司到迈阿密的夫
妻餐
厅经营者
----
美元疲软的消息
对他们来说可是再好不过了。
Many
Europeans
may
view
the
U.S.
as
an
arrogant
superpower
that
has
become
hostile
to
foreigners.
一些欧洲
人视美国为一个傲慢的超级大国，并且认为美国对外国人怀有敌意。
But nothing makes people think more
warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar.
但当人们想起美国时，没有什么比疲软的美元更带劲的了。
Through April, the total number of
visitors from abroadwas up 6.8 percent from last
year. Should
the trend continue, the
number of tourists this year will finally top the
2000 peak.
整个
4
月的游
客总数比去年同期增加了
6.8%
，如果这种趋势延续下去，今
天游客的人数将
最终比
2000
年的峰
值还多。
Many Europeans now
apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans
view Mexico-as a cheap
place to
vacation, shop and party, all while ignoring
th
e fact that the poorer locals can’t
afford to
join the merrymaking.
一些欧洲人现在看待美国的方式恰似美国人看待墨西哥一样
-----
一个廉价的度假、购物和举
行派对的场所，他们都忽略了那些更贫穷的本
土居民不能承担这种寻欢作乐的费用。
The money
tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade
deficit. So do exports, which thanks in
part to the weak dollar, soared 11
percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first
five months
of 2007, the trade deficit
actually fell 7 percent from 2006.
游客的消
费帮助减缓了我们长期以来的贸易赤字。
出口也是如此，
部分由
于疲软的美国，
2006
年
5
月
----2007
年
5
月的出口额飙升了
11%
。与
2006
年相比，
2007
< br>年前
5
个月的贸易赤字
居然下降
了
7%
。
If you
own shares in large
American corporations, you’re a winner in the
weak
-dollar gamble.
如果你持有美国大公司的股票，那么你会是疲软美元投机中的赢家。
Last week Coca-
Cola’s stick
bubbled to a five
-year high after it
reported a fantastic quarter.
< br>上周可口可乐发布了令人振奋的一季数据后，其股价攀升至五年来的新高。
Foreign
sales accounted for
65 percent of Coke’s beverage business.
Other American companies
profiting from this trend include McDonald’s and
IBM.
海外销售占据可口可乐
65
%
的饮料业务。
其他美国企业，包括
麦当劳和
IBM
在这种趋势下也赢得了利润。
< br>
American tourists, however,
shouldn’t expect any relief soon.
然而，美国游客不应该期望任何迅速的改善。
The dollar lost strength the way many
marriaqe:break up- slowly, and then all at once.
美元疲软的过程就如同婚姻破裂的过程
----
都是缓慢的，然后才是快速的。
And currencies don’t turn on a
dime.
货币不会立即升值。
So if you want to avoid the
pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic
dollar, cancel that summer
vacation to
England and look to New England.
因此如果你想避免不断惨淡的美元带来的痛苦，
那就取消去英格兰的暑期度
假计划，
该去新
英格兰州吧。
There, the dollar is still treated with
a little respect.
在那儿，美元还是有点尊严的。
二、
In
the college-admissions wars, we parents are the
true fights.
在大学入学的战役中，我们这些家长都是真正的战士。
We are pushing our kids to get good
grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build
resumes so
they can get into the
college of our first choice.
我们督促自己的孩子取
得更好的成绩，
参加权门学科评鉴考试
（
SAT
）
预备课程和填写简历，
以便
他们能进入第一志愿的大学。
I’ve twice
been to the wars,
and as I survey the battlefield, something
different is happening.
我已参
加过两次这场战役，我在这战场上存活了下来，不同的情况总是在发生。
We see our kids’ college background as
e prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them.
我们把自己孩子的大学牌子是视为我们培养他们好坏程度的奖
赏。
But we can’t
acknowledge that our
obsession(
痴迷
) is more about
us than them.
但我们不能理解的是我们的痴迷是为了自己还是孩子。