2017年上半年catti三级笔译实务考前预测卷（第八套）

　　第 1 题：

　　If you have never seen a power plant, you might find it hard to imagine how enormously complex the equipment is or how much heat is generated by the boilers or how much coal it takes to fuel the furnaces for just one day.

　　During the course of a day, the boilers at one of our power plants, Morgantown, for example, can turn 24 million gallons of water into steam. That generating plant alone uses 9,900 tons of coal in its furnaces in just one day. Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) uses so much coal that we have purchased two 80-car unit trains to facilitate the delivery process. And Morgantown alone can produce over 25 million kilowatthours of electricity in a single day''s operation.

　　Electricity is produced by spinning large magnets inside a coil of wire within the generator. The faster we spin the magnets, the higher will be the voltage of the electricity produced. Electricity leaves a PEPCO generator at between 13,800 and 24,000 volts.

　　The next step in the process occurs when electricity passes through a transformer where the voltage is stepped up to continue on its journey. A transmission wire is like a small diameter pipe. Stepping up the voltage is like increasing water pressure, thus speeding the flow of energy through the system.

　　第 2 题：

　　向一位著名的女作家祝贺她八十岁寿辰，这样的机会是不多的，所以我去年十月五日到冰心家里去的时候，心情非常激动。我解释说希望她给我讲一下她是怎样成为诗人的。“我已有多年没有写诗了，”她微笑说，“可是我还是爱读好诗。”

　　冰心很幸运地有鼓励她学习和写作的父母。一九一九年她在北京一所女子学院念书时，一个事件改变了她生命的整个道路。那就是五四运动，一个由北京学生发动的爱国民主运动。群众游行示威的场面给她以深刻的印象。她投身于斗争中，并被学生会任命负责宣传工作。她写了诗歌、文章和故事，以抨击帝国主义和各种形式的封建主义。

　　她在1923年到美国去学文学，在旅途中和在美国居留中写下了她的感受。这些都收在一个集子里出版，就是《寄小读者》。这本书使她声誉突起。这不仅是因为她是一位女作家，而是因为书中的高尚的情操。有不少较年轻的作家说，是冰心的作品使他们走上了其后所走的道路。

　　第 3 题：

　　Because the aircraft industry needs ever-increasing quantities of aluminium plate, new equipment has been designed to automate the making of it. It includes a huge heat-treatment furnace, a crane that lifts hot metal plates without damaging them, and a computer system that can manage the complete flow of work.

　　Five years ago, Europe''s aircraft industry needed only 8,000 tonnes of aluminium plate a year for its products. Last year the figure reached 21,800 tonnes. By 2004 it should total 30,000 tonnes. Each airliner contains 180 tonnes of it. That is why the plant is being rebuilt to increase both the quality and the amount of its product.

　　Aluminium is alloyed with other metals and cast into ingots, and the surface of the ingots is smoothed off. After pre-heating, it is rolled in a mill that can take 3.75-m-wide slabs. The new equipment can make the process more efficient and can produce a better product. For example, computers control the temperature of the hot plates, the rate at which they pass through the mill, the speed of cooling it with water, and so on.

　　The new plant can handle twice the throughput of the one that it is replacing, thanks to the completely automated and computerized process.