CATTI一级笔译样题EC

图片摄于大外by王亚勤

The Travels of Marco Polo was conceived in a prison cellin Genoa, Italy, in 1298. Afew years earlier Polo had returned to the West after an epic journeythat lasted some 24 years. He then saw action in a naval battle between the Venetian and Genoese fleets, and was captured.It was in jail that he met and befriended Rustichello of Pisa, a well-known writer and collector of Arthurian romances. Their collaboration yielded a book that would give Europe its first authoritative account of the Middle and Far East, in particular China, and reveal the presence of a vast empire and advanced civilization far greater than anything Europeans could achieve or evenimagine.

1298年，马可波罗在意大利热那亚的监狱里构思出了《马可波罗游记》一书。数年前他回到了西方，而在此之前他进行了一场长达24年的艰难旅程。之后，他参与了威尼斯与热那亚之间的一场海战，最终不幸被俘。正是在狱中，他结识了来自比萨的鲁斯提契洛。鲁斯提契洛不仅是一位著名作家，还是一位亚瑟王传奇故事的收藏家。他们二人合作写出了一本书，该书标志着欧洲第一部讲述中东和远东（尤其是中国）的权威性著作的诞生，向当时的欧洲人展示了中国这个东方大国及其先进文明，那时中国的发展水平是他们难以达到甚至难以想象的。

More than 100 copies of that long-lost original exist, many dating from the 14^thand 15^thcenturies. There is no definitive manuscript, however, and all existing versions have been embellished, doctored or censored by the Christian establishment over the years. Modern editions are thus collations and translations of imperfect copies. This murky historyhelps explain why the book describes what the Venetian could not possibly have seen, and overlooks sights that any traveler to China must have witnessed – like the Great Wall, foot-binding and chopsticks. Skeptics say that Polo never ventured to China and that he and Rustichello used second-hand information from other travelers, especially Arab traders.Certainly, there is no hard historical evidence that Polo actually visited all the places he describes. But most of the detail has since been corroborated by historians and geographers, confounding critics and confirming the importance of the book as the fullest and most accurate account of Asia in its time.

该书原稿早已遗失，目前尚存100多种抄本，其中多数可追溯到14、15世纪。然而，目前尚无权威版的手抄本。多年来，这些版本都经过了基督教的添枝加叶、篡改或是删剪。因此，现代的版本都是那些有缺陷抄本的整合及翻译。这段波谲云诡的历史帮助解释了为何该书描述了威尼斯人可能本不得而知的一面，同时忽略了每一位来华者都会亲眼见到的事物，比如长城、裹脚和筷子。而怀疑主义者认为马可波罗从未去过中国，他和鲁斯提契洛只是利用了一些道听途说的信息，这些信息主要来自于阿拉伯商人之口。当然，并没有确凿的证据可以证明他真的去过书中所描述的那些地方。但多数细节自此之后都已得到历史学家和地理学家的证实，这不仅驳倒了批评者的言论，也证实了该书的重要性。在当时，该书是最为详尽准确的描述亚洲的著作。

Originally call Description of the World, Travels aims for geographicalcompleteness,nottheimmediacyandexcitementofpersonalencounter.It’snotatravelogue.Consistentwith the possibility that Polo was not an eyewitness, his book is not “on-the-spot” reporting, and only loosely follows an itinerary. To modern audiences, the book may seem dull and repetitive,to be dipped into, not read cover to cover.Yet Travels was a revolutionary piece of writing. It radically altered European understanding of Asia by forcing the West to recognize a superior culture in the East, and, by describing with such verve the luxuries and sensuousness of Chinese cities, it impressed the idea of an exotic East on the European psyche.

该书原名为《世界描述》，旨在向世人提供地理信息，而非表露个人旅途际遇的紧迫感。它并非真正意义上的游记。该书不是他所做的现场报道，只是大致对他的旅行计划进行了记述，从这一点来看，这和前面所说的“他可能并未亲自去过这些地方”不谋而合。对于现代读者来说，该书可能有些枯燥乏味，只能草草浏览，无法逐页细看。然而，《马可波罗游记》可谓一篇惊世之作。因为它彻底改变了欧洲人对亚洲的想法，该书生动描绘了中国城市的繁华秀美，使西方人对优越的东方文化有了初步了解，加深了欧洲人心理中对异国东方的印象。

The Venetian literally changed the Western view of the world. European maps in his time were based on Biblical interpretations and classical mythology. Jerusalem was at the center. Then came Polo’s book, describing great civilizations in the East, and a world not centered on Jerusalem, politically or geographically. This recasting of the world into a more dynamic and multi-centered geographical space was the first step toward what we now call globalization.

威尼斯人确实改变了西方各国对世界的看法。马可波罗那个年代的欧洲地图是基于圣经中的解释和传统神话故事而绘制的。耶路撒冷位于地图中心，然后波罗的书就问世了，该书描述了东方各大文明，告诉世人无论在政治上还是地理上，世界的中心都不是耶路撒冷。他把世界重塑为一个更加动态、多中心的地理空间，这是迈向我们如今所谓全球化的第一步。

Travels is a book of liberal and enlightened humanism. No one can fail to appreciate its celebration of the heterogeneity of nature, geography and, above all, people. His work expresses wonder and joy in what is unfamiliar. Races are differentiated but not denigrated, and the customs of different cultures are met with enthusiastic curiosity, not the conformism and prejudice prevalent in Europe at the time. Travels had a moral for medieval Europe: let diversity and tolerance replace division and xenophobia –a moral no less relevant today than in Marco Polo’s time.

《马可波罗游记》一书的内容反映了自由、启蒙的人文主义思想。它对自然和地理多样性，特别是对人的多样性的颂扬显而易见，表达了对新奇事物的好奇与兴奋。不诋毁不同种族，对不同文化传统充满热情与好奇，对当时欧洲盛行的千篇一律的事物或既存偏见嗤之以鼻。该书对中世纪欧洲也提出了一种道德标准：让多样性与包容性取代分裂和仇外思想。这不论是在马可波罗所处的年代还是在今天都有现实意义。