篇章翻译
The Most Important Speech of the Century
David Nyhan
1. We learned how far up he’ s come on New Year’ s Day when every Chine newspaper heralded a 6000-word speech in which Deng signaled the end of thousands of years of Chine xenophobia.
2. It may eventually come to be regarded the most important speech of the century. For in it, the Maximum Leader of the nation that compris one-fourth of mankind rved notice that China is joining the rest of the world ( save Albania) in the 20th century.
3. “No country can develop by closing its door ,” said Deng. “We suffered from this , and our forefathers suffered from this. ”Reversing thousands of years of official hostility to the world outside the Great Wall, Deng said simply: “Isolation landed Chi
na in poverty, backwardness and ignorance.”
4. This startling admission contradicts thousands of years of Chine policy , going back beyond the Ming Dynasty to the Chin Dynasty ,when the wall was erected to keep barbarians on horback out in the wilds where they belonged.
5. Deng’s message: Do not renounce Marxism, but adopt capitalist ideas where they make n - “it cannot harm us.” Economic reform, spearheaded by younger leaders , is the single most important bulwark for the nation’ s curity , for only with economic strength can bombs , missiles and planes be purchad.
6. If China is trying to catch up to the rest of the world in the 20th century, maybe the 21st century will belong to them. They have people, brains and they can be
impressively disciplined. And t heir industrial potential is awesome.
7. It may come to be commonly accepted in the next century that the most significant speech ever given by a fellow with a cowboy hat came not from Ronald
Reagan but from an 80-year-old Chine man. (选自连淑能《新编英汉翻译教程》)
本世纪最重要的讲话
附录:参考译文(摘自原书) :
戴维·奈恩
在元旦这天,当中国每家报纸都发表了邓小平的一篇六千字的讲话时,我们了解到他走了多远。这篇讲话标志着中国几千年仇外历史的终结。这篇讲话最终有可能被认为是本世纪最重要的讲话。因为在这篇讲话中,占人类总数四分之一的国家的最高领导人宣布,中国在二十世纪正在加入世界其他国家(除了阿尔巴尼亚以外) 的行列。邓说:“任何国家要发达起来, 闭关自守都不可能。我们吃过这个苦头, 们的老祖宗也吃过这个苦头。”邓改变了几千年来官方敌视长城以外的世界的态度, 他明确地说:“闭关自守把中国搞得贫穷落后,愚昧无知。”承认这一点是令人吃惊的, 这同中国几千年来执行的政策大不一样。这种政策可以追溯到明代以前直到秦代,当时修筑了长城,为的是阻挡居住在荒原上的骑马的野蛮人。邓的意思是:不放弃马克思主义,但是只要资本主义的观念有道理, 就采纳, 因为“开放伤害不了我们”。由较
年轻的领导人带头进行的经济改革是国家安全最重要的保障, 因为只有经济实力雄厚,才能购买炸弹、导弹和飞机。如果中国在二十世纪设法赶上世界上其他国家,二十一世纪就可能属于它的。他们有人力,有人才, 他们的纪律性很强。他们的工业潜力也是令人敬畏的。下一个世纪,人们可能会普遍同意,发表最重要讲话的戴牛仔帽的人不是罗纳德·里根, 而是一位八十岁的中国人。
