2018年翻译资格考试初级笔译试题：民主

　　英译汉

　　Democracy and personal liberty are not limitless, and they are under the control of certain conditions. It is known that in most parts of the world, the relation between population and resources is already unfavorable and will probably become even more unfavorable in the future.

　　The unbalanced relation between population and resources makes the growing poverty more deteriorating. This growing poverty constitutes a permanent menace to peace. And not only to peace, but also to democratic institutions and personal liberty. For overpopulation is not compatible with freedom. An unfavorable relationship between numbers and recourses tends to make the earning of a living almost intolerably difficult. Labor is more abundant than goods, and the individual is forced to work long hours for little pay. The unfriendly nature or the equally unfriendly wielders of political and economic power enable labor to have no surplus of accumulated purchasing power.

　　Democracy is, among other things, the ability to say “no” to the boss. As a man lives in a society confining to a government, he can’t say “no” to the boss, unless he is sure of being able to eat when the boss’s favor has been withdrawn. And he cannot be certain of his next meal unless he owns the means of producing enough wealth for his family to live on, or has been able to accumulate surplus out of past wages. If he had a chance of moving to virgin territories, where he could make a fresh start, he would be able to say “no” to the boss, but there is no free land.

　　In an overcrowded country, very few people own enough to make them financially independent; very few people are in a position to accumulate purchasing power. Moreover, in any country where population presses hard upon natural resources, the general economic situation is apt to be so precarious that government control of capital and labor, production and consumption, becomes inevitable. It results that democratic ideals will not work in conditions of poverty and extreme social unrest.

　　参考译文

　　民主和个人自由并非没有界限，而是受到某些条件的制约。众所周知，在世界绝大多数地方，人口和资源的关系已经非常不利，而且将来可能会更加不利。

　　人口和资源之间不平衡的关系，使得不断增长的贫困现象更加恶化。不断增长的贫困，不仅对世界和平构成永久的威胁，而且还对民主设置和个人自由造成损害。因为过多人口就不能自由地和谐相处。人口数和资源间的不利关系，往往使得谋生达到几乎无法忍受的困难程度。劳动力比商品更加丰富，个人为获得可怜的工资被迫工作更长的时间。不友善的自然或者同样不友善的政治、经济权力的掌控者，使得劳动力没有剩余的购买力。

　　民主有别于其他事情，是对老板说“不”的能力。作为一个生活在受政府支配的社会中的人，除非他确信没有政府的恩惠他也能够吃饱，除非他拥有的财产能足够满足家庭生存，或者从过去工资中积累了可观的剩余，否则是不会对老板说不的。如果他有机会迁到未开垦的疆域，一切可以重新开始，他甘愿对老板说“不”，但世上并没有自由国。

　　在人口过度拥挤的国家，很少人拥有能够在经济上保持独立的财产，很少人的购买力能够不断增长。而且，在任何国家，如果人口给自然资源带来巨大压力，那么，普遍的经济状况就会趋于不稳定，政府对资本、劳动力、生产和消费的控制就不可避免。其结果是在贫困和极度社会动荡条件下，民主理念不起作用。