2021年11月CATTI三笔实务英译汉真题-椅背后倾有错吗？

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2021年11月三笔实务真题讲的是坐飞机时，将椅背后倾是否合理。关于这个问题，作者完全反对，而且还大肆批判航空公司为了一己私利，不顾乘客的死活。这篇文章与以往真题不同的是，这次的真题更通俗，也更口语化。来看看真题内容吧：

Stop reclining your airplane seat. 别再调节飞机座椅靠背了。

recline: to lie or lean in a comfortable position with your back supported by something 斜倚；向后倚靠

Badly satisfied, Cathy sat down, and he reclined beside her.

凯瑟琳很不满意地坐下来，他在她身旁半躺着。《呼啸山庄》

正文共： 9613字 4图 预计阅读时间： 25分钟 翻译不易，谢绝转载

Two domestic airlines already limit your ability to lean back in economy class. Even if the airline doesn’t make the decision for you, it’s the polite thing to do. And, most important, it’s the right thing to do.

两家国内的航空公司已经开始限制经济舱的乘客调节椅背了。即使不是航空公司这样要求，出于礼貌也应这样做。最重要的是，这样才是正确的做法。

lean back 向后倾斜，这里指座椅后倾，与前文的recline意思相近。

She leaned back, crossed her arms.

她向后靠，双臂交叉。《福尔摩斯基本演绎法》

“Seat reclining is one of the most irritating, inconvenient, self-indulgent habits,” says Simon Sapper, an organizational consultant and frequent traveler based in London. “Period.”

“调节椅背是最让人恼火、最易造成不便、也最放纵自己的习惯，”西蒙·萨珀如是说，他是一名常驻伦敦的机构顾问，经常坐飞机出行，“这种做法应该立即停止。”

irritating 气人的, 使人不愉快的

irritating gas 刺激性毒气；刺激性气体

irritating smoke 刺激性烟气

be irritated 怄气

衍生词：irritate (v.) – irritating (a.) -irritated (a. )-irritation (n.)

She had an irritating habit of repeating everything I said to her.

她有个令人恼火的毛病，就是把我对她说的每一件事都告诉别人。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

self-indulgent 自我放纵的，名词形式是self-indulgence

indulge: to allow someone to do what they want or enjoy

放纵；沉迷；满足（欲望、兴趣等）；听任

indulge in 沉溺于；沉浸于其中；惑乱；肆意从事

indulge oneself in sth 沉溺于某事

Take time to indulge 尽情享受吧

indulge in wishful thinking 白日做梦

indulge life 放纵生活

period 这个词在这里用作副词，表示“到此为止，没有讨论的必要了”。

如果不知道这个词意可能会觉得摸不着头脑，而且就一个单词，连上下文都没有，考试的时候只能查字典了。

period: a word added to the end of a statement to emphasize that the speaker will not discuss it further

就这么定了；不用再说了；用于强调已经没有讨论的必要

The answer is no, period! 答案是不，不要再说了！《牛津词典》

period除了表示这个意思，还有其他的含义：

1）an amount of time during which sth. happens 时期；阶段

spring and autumn period 春秋时代

warring states period 战国时代

2）the punctuation mark (.) that is used at the end of a sentence or in abbreviations 句号；句点

3）the time about once a month when a woman who is not pregnant

经期；月经

When did you last have a period? 你上一次月经是什么时候？《牛津词典》

But click around the internet for a while, and you’ll find that this debate is far from settled. Many of the blogosphere’s “experts” believe it’s their God-given right to recline. Ironically, the loudest seat recliners don’t even fly in economy class.

但是只消在网上稍微浏览一下，就会发现关于这一问题的争辩尚无定论。博客里面，很多“专家”认为调节座椅靠背是他们与生俱来的权利。可笑的是，支持调节座椅靠背最起劲的人居然都不坐经济舱。

far from settled 远未得到解决，settle在这里表“解决: to end an argument by making an agreement”. settle 还有其他的含义：

1）to go and live permanently in a particular place 定居；停留

She had decided to settle permanently in France.

她已经决定永久定居法国。《牛津词典》

2）to become or make sb/sth become calm or relaxed

平静下来，安静下来，定下心来

This should settle your stomach.

这样你的胃应该就不难受了。

《牛津词典》

God-given right 直译是“上帝赋予的权利”，引申为“与生俱来的权利”。

loudest seat recliners这个词非常形象，有点讽刺意味，不得不说作者的言辞还挺犀利的。recliner是recline的名词形式，在这里指支持座椅后倾的人。loudest是loud的最高级，指“最大声的”，在这里引申为最支持座椅后倾的人，可以译为“嚷嚷得最大声说要支持座椅后倾的人居然都不坐经济舱”，或者“支持调节座椅靠背最起劲的人居然都不坐经济舱”。

So, as a public service, let’s settle this argument now. Reclining your airline seat is unacceptable because we’re officially out of space. It’s rude – and it’s wrong.

调节椅背是一项公共服务，关于这一问题的争议现在就该解决。调节椅背的做法并不妥当，因为据称飞机的空间不够。这种做法很没有礼貌，而且也是错误的。

officially在这里表示“据称，据传”，英文释义为：

officially: according to information that has been told to the public but that may not be true

Officially, he resigned because of bad health.

据官方说法，他是因健康状况不佳而辞职的。《牛津词典》

There’s no space to recline. Airlines are trying to squeeze more passengers on a plane to make more money. Before airline deregulation, many economy class seats had a generous 36 inches of “pitch,” a rough measure of legroom. Today, some seats have as little as 28 inches.

座椅靠背没有向后倾斜的空间了。航空公司正尝试往一架飞机里塞更多的乘客，以便捞更多的钱。在航空公司没放松管制之前，很多经济舱的座位还有36英寸的倾斜空间，这个空间大概可供伸腿。而现在，一些座位只有少得可怜的28英寸的倾斜空间了。

deregulation 是regulation前加了前缀 de, de做前缀表示“除去”、“取消”以及“否定”、“非”、“相反”的意思。deregulation 表示“解除管制；撤销管制”。

其他de做前缀的词有：

decamp 撤营

decode 解码

deforest 砍伐森林

decolonize 非殖民化

devaluation 贬值

“I feel most folks would rather sacrifice the 2 inches of reclining backward not to have someone sitting in their lap for the distance of a flight,” says Mary Camillo, a travel advisor from Middletown, New Jersey. “Airlines should instill on passengers what parents have been trying to instill in their children for years. That is, if you do not have enough to share with everyone, then wait until you do.”

“我觉得大部分人宁愿不要那2英寸的倾斜空间，也不想在整个飞行过程中有个人坐在他们腿上。”一位来自新泽西米德尔顿的旅游顾问玛丽·卡米洛说道。“航空公司应该向乘客灌输父母多年来一直试图灌输给孩子的观念。那就是，如果你的东西无法平分给每一个人，那就等东西够了再分享。

sit in one’s lap 坐在某人的大腿上，比较常见的用法是sit on one’s lap。

instill on/in 慢慢地灌输

Also, airlines should immediately stop using the phrase “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.” That’s an invitation to lean back all the way. But it’s a cruel joke. On two airlines – Delta and Spirit – you can’t fully recline. On other airlines, you’ll invade another passenger’s personal space, which might lead to an unfriendly confrontation.

此外，航空公司还应立即停止使用诸如“向后坐好、放松身心、享受旅行”这种话。因为这样会一直诱导人向后调节座椅的。但这不过是无稽之谈。因为达美和精灵这两家航空公司的座椅是无法完全倾斜的。在其他航空公司的飞机上，这样做会侵犯另一位乘客的私人空间，可能会导致不愉快的冲突。

You can do a lot of things on a plane. For example, you can tell your life story to your seatmate. You can eat a Limburger cheese and Bermuda onion sandwich. You can press the flight attendant call button repeatedly. But all are probably bad ideas.

在飞机上，可以做的事情很多。比如说，你可以跟邻座乘客说说你的故事，吃气味浓烈的林堡干酪和百慕大洋葱三明治，你还可以反复按下按钮呼叫空乘人员，但是这些做法并不提倡。

“Seat recline is a moral issue,” says Jennifer Aspinwall, a frequent air traveler who writes the World On A Whim blog.” What do you do if the person in front of you reclines all the way? What if you turn around to discover that a 6-foot-4 passenger seated behind you? Do you eat your meal in your lap while the tray table cuts into your stomach or do recline as well and crush the legs of the person behind you?”

“调节椅背是一个道德问题，”詹妮弗·阿斯平沃尔说，她经常坐飞机出行，她在博客“突发奇想的世界”一文中写道，“如果坐在你前面的那个人座位全程后仰，你会怎么办？如果你转身看到你后面坐的是一个一米九的大高个又怎么办？你是要在大腿上吃饭，让桌板抵住你的腹部，还是也把座位后仰，压着后面那个人的腿呢？

the World On A Whim 突发奇想的世界，这是詹妮弗写的博客的标题。

on a whim 表示“突发奇想；心血来潮”。

We decided, more or less on a whim, to sail to Morocco.

我们多少有些心血来潮地决定乘船去摩洛哥。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

a 6-foot-4 passenger 六寸四英尺，这里指的是乘客的身高。6英尺4英寸约等于1.9304米，译成“一米九左右的高个子”。

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Reclining a seat is wrong.

我想用不着我再多说了。向后调节座位大错特错。

Airlines should lock their economy seats from reclining – permanently

航空公司应该的永久地锁住经济舱的座位，使之不能后倾。

So if there’s no room to recline your airplane seat, and it’s wrong, why do so many airlines still allow it? Because if they didn’t, it would be an admission that they no longer care about your comfort. Airlines are stacking you into a plane like cargo – no two ways about it.

既然没有空间调节飞机座椅，而且这种做法又是错的，那么为什么还会有这么多的航空公司允许调节座椅呢？因为如果他们不允许这么做，那就是承认了他们不再关心乘客的舒适度。航空公司只好把乘客像货物一样塞进飞机里，别无他法。

if…why…表示“既然……为何……”

If you love each other, why not get married?

要是你们彼此相爱，干嘛不结婚呢？《牛津词典》

“I wish all airlines would eliminate the recline function,” says Larry Hickerson, a retired Air Force inspector and million-miler from Peoria, Arizona. “Since airlines went to ridiculously tight pitches, recline sets up an untenable situation.”

“我希望所有航空公司都能取消座椅后倾功能，” 美国亚利桑那州皮奥瑞亚一名退休的空军巡视员，同时也是百万英里飞行记录的保持者拉里·希克森说道，“既然航空公司的座椅后倾间距已经小到可笑的地步，那么座椅后倾根本就不现实。”

million-miler 是一个名词形式，miler 与上文出现的recliner一样，加了一个后缀变成了名词，我们都知道er是形容人的，比如teacher, worker, planner 等，这里当然也是指人，指的是飞行里程长达100万英里的人。

pitch 这个单词的含义特别特别多，在这里指的是“倾斜间距；倾斜度”。

pitch 还可以表示“摊位；球场；露营地；沥青”等等。

untenable: impossible to continue because of serious problems, opposition

难以捍卫的；站不住脚的；不堪一击的

untenable argument 不能自圆其说

untenable condition 无法承受状况

Right now, about half the people reading this column probably want to name their firstborn after me. The other half want to kill me. And the airline folks? They’re laughing.

现在，看这篇文章的人可能有一半的人想让他们的第一个孩子随我姓，另一半的人想杀了我。航空公司呢？他们开心得不得了/他们恐怕笑出了声。

want to name their firstborn after me 这里用了夸张（hyperbole）的修辞手法，可以直接译为“让他们的第一个孩子随我姓”，也可以意译为“有一半的人赞同我的看法”。使用这样的句子让整篇文章变得很有意思，下文作者就要开始怼航空公司了，就在大家都在争论调节椅背是否正确的时候，作者看透了事情的本质，矛头直指航空公司的贪婪无耻，真的是人间清醒啊。

They’re laughing 本来想翻译成“笑出了猪叫声”，还好我控制住了自己。:)

“The airline industry loves the seat reclining argument because it divides us,” argues Christopher Elliott. “And while we’re arguing about two inches of personal space, they’re busy collecting more money from passengers and slowly — ever so slowly — removing even more room. This debate is the perfect distraction.”

“航空公司喜欢看到我们因为座椅倾斜的问题争辩，因为这样可以让我们产生分歧，”克里斯朵夫·埃利奥特说，“当我们在为2英寸左右的私人空间争个不停的时候，他们正忙着挣顾客的钱，并且慢慢地，不知不觉地缩减空间。这场争论完全转移了大家的注意力。”

Whether you think reclining your airline seat is wrong or not, let’s agree on one thing: Greedy airlines got us to this point. Fighting over the scraps of space won’t fix it. If we ever needed thoughtful government regulation, maybe it is now.

无论你认为调节椅背的做法是否有错，有一点我们可以达成共识：是贪心的航空公司让我们走到了这一步。为这一两寸的空间争来争去于事无补。要说我们什么时候需要政府深思熟虑的监管，现在恐怕是时候了。

if ever 引导条件状语从句，起强调作用，表示“要说什么时候”。比如：

If ever eyes could speak, hers did very plainly.

假如眼睛能讲话，她的眼睛说得清楚极了。

How to deal with a seat recliner

如何应对调节座椅的人？

Reclining an airline seat is still allowed on most domestic flights. Here’s how to deal with someone who leans into your airspace.

大多数的国内航班依然允许座椅后倾。以下几种方法可以用来应对座椅后倾侵入你的空间的人：

lean into your airspace 直译是“后倾至你的领空”，可以译为“入侵了你的领空”，或者“侵占了你的空间”。这两者都能传达出原文所要表达的意思。

Ask them to lean forward. Timing and tone are important here. The moment someone leans back, gently tap the person on the shoulder and politely ask them if it would be possible not to recline their seat. Be. Extra. Nice.

让他们把座椅调回去。时机和语气相当重要。当一个人在把座椅向后调的时候，你可以轻轻地拍一下这个人的肩膀，礼貌地询问他是否可以不要把座椅向后调。千万要非常客气。

the moment 在这里做连词，后面可直接接句子，表示“一……就……”。

the moment 在这里的用法，是名词性短语引导时间状语从句，把名词当做连词使用。类似的短语还有 the minute, the instant, 都可表示“一……就……”。

一些副词也能直接引导时间状语从句，表示“一……就……”, 比如：

immediately, instantly, directly

We’ll come directly we have finished.

我们一结束就来。

Get a flight attendant involved. Some leaners are clever and wait for you to go to the restroom before leaning. Then they feign sleep, which makes you reluctant to bother them. Oldest trick in the book. You can always ask a flight attendant for help.

请空乘来帮忙协调。有的人很聪明，会等到你去洗手间后才把座椅往后调。接着便佯装睡觉，这样你就不愿去打扰他们。书上的老套路了。出现这种情况，你可以随时找空乘帮忙。

get sb. involved 表示“让某人参与其中”，这里是指让空乘出面协调。

feign sleep 佯装睡觉；假装睡着

feign death 假死术

feign muddleheaded 难得糊涂

feign ignorance 装糊涂；假装不知道

feign surrender 诈降

Move airplane seats. If you see another open seat in your class of service, feel free to move, as long as the seat belt sign isn’t illuminated. You might also want to ask a flight attendant for permission. As a reminder, the seats in front of the exit row don’t recline. So usually, an exit row seat means you’ll keep your legroom. And maybe, your sanity.

换座位。如果你所搭乘的航班有空余的座位，那就换个位子，只要安全带指示灯没有亮起就行。你最好还是征得空乘人员的同意。提醒一下，出口前的那排座位是不能调节的，所以通常这排座位能够保证一定的腿部空间，也许也能让你保持理智。

…means you’ll keep your legroom. And maybe, your sanity.

……让你有地方放腿，也让你保持理智。最后一句话应该是keep your sanity，省略了keep。这句话说明之前作者也有过很憋屈的经历，可能被逼疯了。想象不到？看下图就知道了：

公众号：翻硕那些事儿