年糕(Chinese New Year Cake)是中国人的传统食品，距今已有两千年的历史。早期被用来祭奠灶神(the Kitchen God)，其后渐渐成为一种春节特色食品。年糕主要是用糯米粉(glutinous rice flour)制作而成，有黄、白两色，象征金、银。在汉语中，“粘”与“年”同音，而“糕”与“高”同音，所以年糕寓意人们的生活水平一年比一年提高。年糕营养丰富，不但吃起来香甜可口，而且还有健身祛病的作用。中国地域广、各地的风俗习惯不同，因而年糕的种类也多种多样。

　　参考翻译:

　　Chinese New Year Cake is a traditional food for Chinese people with a history of 2,000 years. In early times, it was used as an offering to the Kitchen God and gradually evolved into a kind of food typical in the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year Cake is made of glutinous rice flour, with yellow or white as its color, symbolizing gold and silver. In Chinese, "sticky" is identical in sound to "year" and "cake" to "high", so Chinese New Year Cake also implies that people's standard of living would be improved year by year. Chinese New Year Cake, containing lots of nutrition, not only tastes sweet and delicious but also benefits people health and wards off diseases. China is vast in territory and its customs vary from place to place, thus the types of Chinese New Year Cake are also various.

　　翻译解析：

　　1.第一句话的主干结构是“年糕是中国人的传统食品”;“距今...的历史”可翻译为with a history of 2,000 years放主句后。

　　2.第二句应增译主语“年糕”，为避免重复，故翻译为it;“被用来”和“渐渐成为”作it的并列谓语，第—个谓语动词要使用被动语态。

　　3.第三句“年糕主要是…”中，“象征金、银”是对年糕颜色的进一步说明，可处理为现在分词短语symbolizing gold and silver。

　　4.第四句“在汉语中…”较长，句中“所以”提示，可用连接词so承接前后分句，注意so引导的分句中“人们的生活水平…提高”要使用被动语态。

　　5.倒数第二句的主语是“年糕”，后跟三个谓语。可将“营养丰富”处理为现在分词短语containing lots of nutrients在句中作状语;“不但…而且…”连接两个并列谓语可套用not only...but also...句式来表达。