2017年翻译考试初级笔译模拟题：什么是全球化

　　【汉译英】

　　什么是全球化

　　全球化是描述全球社会出现的一个术语，在这个社会中，世界上一个区域在经济、政治、环境、文化方面的事件会很快对世界其它地区的人们产生重大影响。2全球化是通信、运输、信息科技发展的结果。它体现了连接个体、社区、公司以及各国政府间日益增长的经济、政治、科技文化联系。全球化包括多国公司和跨国公司的成长。监管世界贸易和金融的国际机构3在全球化时代发挥着日益重要的作用。4

　　尽管绝大多数人依然是单一国家的公民，然而他们却比以往任何时候在文化上、物质上、心理上5更多地参与着其它国家人民的生活。遥远的事件通常会产生迅速重大的影响6，我们生活中的日常用品，如我们穿的衣服、吃的食物、开的汽车——都是全球化的产品。

　　全球化最明显的证据是贸易和资本(股票、债券、货币和其它投资)流动的增长。自1950年到2001年全球出口额7增加了20倍。到2001年世界贸易已增至全球生产的产品和提供的服务总和的四分之一。就资本而言，在20世纪70年代早期，日成交货币只有一百亿到两百亿美元。到21世纪初，日货币交易已逾1.5兆亿美元。

　　大多数专家认为全球化是通信、运输和信息科技改善的结果8。例如，由于通信和信息处理的革新，不仅货币，股票、证券以及其他金融资产一天二十四小时9都能够在全球范围内进行交易。从纽约到伦敦一个三分钟长的电话在1930年花费超过300美元(按2000年的价格计算)，瞬间的通讯非常昂贵。如今这类花费已微不足道。10

　　通信和信息技术的进步使得商业订单的处理成本节省90%以上。比如，11利用计算机在互联网上进行银行交易，对银行业来说每笔花费几分钱，而用传统方法就会要花费数美元。20世纪的后30年计算机处理能力的实际成本平均每年下降30%。人们几乎在任何地方都能与他们的顾客、家人一周七天、一天24小时保持迅捷的联系。

　　通信领域的进步将全球的人们随时联结起来。例如通讯卫星使全球广播、电视新闻事件，如战争、国家灾难、体育赛事和其他娱乐活动等。互联网、手机和传真机实现了迅捷通信。

　　全球化的另一表现是交通运输条件的改善。喷气式飞机的次日货物递送使世界变得越来越小。即使是速度缓慢的远洋运输货轮也由于集装箱货运这样的革新，提高了效率12、降低了成本。

　　信息科技的进步也降低了13商业成本。例如，按股票市场价值计算，全球思科系统公司14是世界上最大的公司之一。然而思科仅有三家工厂生产用于互联网维护的设备，而将其他的工作转包给了别的公司。

　　成本的降低使美国公司得以移到海外，同时也使外国制造商在美国境内设厂更为容易。日本丰田汽车公司在北美销售的汽车三分之二是在北美制造的。

　　不仅是货物、货币和信息在迅速地长途移动，越来越多的人口也在大范围快速流动。移民是全球化时代的一个重要特征。工人们寄回本国的钱已经成为很多国家的重要收入来源。

　　【参考译文】

　　What Is Globalization?

　　Globalization is a term for the emergence of a global society in which economic, political, environmental, and cultural events in one part of the world quickly come to have significance for people in other parts of the world. Globalization is the result of advances in communication, transportation, and information technologies. It describes the growing economic, political, technological, and cultural linkages that connect individuals, communities, businesses, and governments around the world. Globalization also involves the growth of multinational corporations and transnational corporations. The international institutions that oversee world trade and finance play an increasingly important role in this era of globalization.

　　Although most people continue to live as citizens of a single nation, they are culturally, materially, and psychologically engaged with the lives of people in other countries as never before. Distant events often have an immediate and significant impact. Items common to our everyday lives - such as the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the cars we drive - are the products of globalization.

　　The most dramatic evidence of globalization is the increase in trade and the movement of capital (stocks, bonds, currencies, and other investments). From 1950 to 2001 the volume of world exports rose by 20 times. By 2001 world trade amounted to a quarter of all the goods and services produced in the world. As for capital, in the early l970s only $ 10 billion to $ 20 billion in national currencies were exchanged daily. By the early part of the 2lst century more than $ 1.5 trillion were traded daily to support the expanded levels of trade and investment

　　Most experts attribute globalization to improvements in communication, transportation, and information technologies. For example, not only currencies, but also stocks, bonds, and other financial assets can be traded round the clock and around the world due to innovations in communication and information processing. A three-minute telephone call from New York City to London in 1930 cost more than $ 300 (in year 2000 prices) , making instant communication very expensive. Today the cost is insignificant.

　　Advances in communication and information technologies have helped slash the cost of processing business orders by well over 90 percent. Using a computer to do banking on the Internet, for example, costs the banking industry pennies per transaction instead of dollars by traditional methods. Over the last third of the 20th century the real cost of computer processing power fell by 35 percent on average each year. People can be almost anywhere and remain in instant communication with their employers, customers, or families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

　　Advances in communications instantly unite people around the globe. For example, communications satellites allow global television broadcasts to bring news of faraway events, such as wars and national disasters as well as sports and other forms of entertainment. The Internet, the cell phone, and the fax machine permit instantaneous communication. Improvements in transportation are also part of globalization. The world becomes smaller due to next-day delivery by jet airplane. Even slow, oceangoing vessels have streamlined transportation and lowered costs due to innovations such as containerized shipping.

　　Advances in information technologies have also lowered business costs. The global corporation Cisco Systems, for example, is one of the world's largest companies as measured by its stock market value. Yet Cisco owns only three factories to make the equipment used to help maintain the Internet. Cisco subcontracts the rest of its work to other companies around the world.

　　The lowering of costs that has enabled U. S. companies to locate abroad has also made it easier for foreign producers to locate in the United States. Two-thirds of the automobiles sold in North America by Japan's Toyota Motor Company are built in North America

　　Not only do goods, money, and information move great distances quickly, but also more people are moving great distances as well. Migration is a major feature of this era of globalization. Remittances sent home by workers to their home countries have become an important source of income for many countries.