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中国是世界第一的外贸出口国，这意味着这是中国影响世界最显著的时代。过于中国的外贸发展现状你了解多少呢？关于外贸的表达你又积累了多少呢？接下来让我们一同学习《经济学人》最新的相关报道吧！
原文导读（节选） A slow train from China
Last month train rumbled into Budapest carrying a yellow-striped freight solar-power equipment, air-conditioning kit and other bits and pieces.It had travelled for 16 days, all the way from Shandong, a province in eastern China. Aspart of China’sBelt and Road Initiative,freight trains now serve more than 50 cities in Europe and Asia from Shandong. They are called “Qilu” trains, a nod to the ancient Qi and Lu kingdoms that flowered in that part of China in theConfucian era.
China’s exports, whether by rail, road, sea or air, have made rapid progress in the past two years. They rose byalmost 30% in dollar terms in 2021. Over 5,000 Qilu trains have left the station since 2018. But in April, China’s export growth slowed to a desultory chug. In dollar terms, exports were only 3.9% higher than a year earlier.
To increase trade by any amount in these conditions is impressive. But the headline 3.9% expansion reported by China’s customs agency on May 9th was more nominal than real. More detailed statistics, published later in the month, are likely to show that the price of China’s exports rose by perhaps 8% or more in April, compared with a year earlier, according to ubs, a bank. If so, the volume of China’s exports must haveshrunk last month.
第一段：Last month train rumbled into Budapest carrying a yellow-striped freight solar-power equipment, air-conditioning kit and otherbits and pieces.It had travelled for 16 days, all the way from Shandong, a province in eastern China. Aspart of China’sBelt and Road Initiative,freight trains now serve more than 50 cities in Europe and Asia from Shandong. They are called “Qilu” trains, a nod to the ancient Qi and Lu kingdoms that flowered in that part of China in theConfucian era.
推荐译文：上个月，一列火车轰隆隆地驶入布达佩斯，车上载有黄色条纹的货运太阳能设备、空调套件和其他零碎物品。它已经行驶了16天，从中国东部的山东省一路驶来。作为中国 "一带一路 "倡议的一部分，货运列车从山东出发，服务于欧洲和亚洲的50多个城市。它们被称为 “齐鲁号”列车，这是对中国古代齐鲁王国的赞誉，那时儒家思想在该地盛行。
知识点解读： 1.rumble：隆隆声，尤指大炮、车流或雷电发出的声音。〔a series of long low sounds, especially from big guns, traffic, or THUNDER〕，例如，“The train rumbled past. 火车隆隆地驶过。”
在这里我们需要积累关于不同声音的不同表达：
Splash：液体泼溅的声音，溅泼声，{ the sound that a liquid makes when something hits it, or when it hits against another thing }，例如，“The cup makes a splash when it is dropped into the water. 杯子掉入水中时发出泼溅声。”
rustle：沙沙声，窸窣声，尤其指纸张、树叶或者衣服发出的声音，{ a continuous quiet sound from papers, leaves, or clothes when they rub together}，例如，“The leaves rustled in the wind. 树叶在风中飒飒作响。”
hum：嗡嗡声，尤指电子设备、发动机、蚊子等发出的声音或谈话的声音，{a quiet low continuous sound, especially from electrical equipment, an engine, or people's conversation}，例如，“We hear the hum of conversation from the next room. 我们听到隔壁房间嗡嗡的谈话声。”
creak：门、木地、床等受到挤压后发出的嘎吱声，{a long high sound that something makes when someone opens it, walks on it, sits on it etc - used especially about a door, wooden floor, bed, or stairs}，例如，“The door in the old house creaked noisily. 老房子的门发出嘎吱嘎吱的响声。”
2.bits and pieces：零星小玩意，非常地道的英文表达，例如，“I always have a lot of bits and pieces in my coat pocket. 我的大衣口袋里总是装着零七八碎的东西。”
3.part of：……的一部分。大家千万要注意，“……的一部分”这个表达是没有冠词a的，不能说成a part of.
4.Belt and Road Initiative：一带一路，外宣考试和MTI考研的热门词汇，因此我们在这对此相关的词汇做一些拓展：
文明之路：a road connecting different civilizations
廉洁之路：a road with high ethical standards
国之交在于民相亲，民相亲在于心相通：Friendship, which derives from close contact between the people, holds the key to sound state-to-state relations.
5.Confucian：儒家的，孔子，孔子的。千万要记住——孔子的英文是 “Confucian”，不是“Kongzi”,千万不要闹笑话，相应的，孟子的英文是“Mencius”而不是“Mengzi”，基本的文化常识要有。其对应的名词形式为“Confucianism”，表示“儒家思想，孔子学说”。
6.Era：时代，书面语用词，指历史上的纪元、年代，可与epoch和age互换，侧重时期的延续性和整个历程。我们对比学习一下跟其他表示“时代、时期”的词的区别：
age 常指具有显著特征或以某杰出人物命名的历史时代或时期。
epoch 正式用词，侧重指以某重大事件或巨大变化为起点的新的历史时期。
period 最普通用词，概念广泛，时间长短不限，既可指任何一个历史时期，又可指个人或自然界的一个发展阶段。
times 侧重某一特定时期。
如狄更斯在《双城记》的开篇写到的“这是一个最好的时代,这是一个最坏的时代……”中就用到了不同的词（建议大家全文背诵这段话，可以套用翻译）：“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so. far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
第二段：China’s exports, whether by rail, road, sea or air, have made rapid progress in the past two years. They rose by almost 30% in dollar terms in 2021. Over 5,000 Qilu trains have left the station since 2018. But in April, China’s export growth slowed to a desultory chug. In dollar terms, exports were only 3.9% higher than a year earlier.
推荐翻译：中国的出口，无论是通过铁路、公路、海运还是空运，在过去两年都取得了快速进展。按美元计算，它们在2021年增长了近30%。自2018年以来，超过5000辆齐鲁列车已经离站。但在4月份，中国的出口增长放缓到一个令人失望的地步。按美元计算，出口仅比上年同期增长3.9%。
知识点解读：
1.Rise by:“上升了…“，强调的是上升的量。另一个长得很像的词组是”rise to“，表示的意思是”上升到了……“，强调的是上升的结果，大家一定要注意区分。除此之外，关于”rise“这个词，我们还要对比其与另外两个词：raise和arise：
Rise：指具体的或抽象的事物由低向高移动，例如，“House prices have risen sharply in recent months. 房价在最近几个月里急剧上涨。“常见的固定搭配有“on the rise 在增加；在上涨”，“give rise to 使发生，引起”，“rise up 上升；起义；叛变”等。
arise 书面用词，多用于诗歌或比喻中，具有特殊的修辞色彩，例如，“A sudden impulse of anger arose in him.他突然升起一阵怒火。”常见的固定搭配为“arise from 由…引起，起因于”。
raise多指把某物从低处升到高处，有时作引申用，例如，“raise a flag.升旗。”除此之外，“raise”还可以表示“抚养”，比如说，“raise children.抚养孩子。
第三段：To increase trade by any amount in these conditions is impressive. But the headline 3.9% expansion reported by China’s customs agency on May 9th was more nominal than real. More detailed statistics, published later in the month, are likely to show that the price of China’s exports rose by perhaps 8% or more in April, compared with a year earlier, according to ubs, a bank. If so, the volume of China’s exports must have shrunk last month.
推荐翻译：在这种情况下，贸易增长的任何数量都是令人印象深刻的。但是，中国海关总署5月9日报告的3.9%的头条扩张是名义上的，而不是实际的。据ubs银行称，本月晚些时候公布的更详细的统计数据可能会显示，与一年前相比，中国4月份的出口价格可能上升了8%或更多。如果是这样的话，中国的出口量在上个月肯定有所缩减。
知识点解读：
1.Shrink：vt. & vi. 收缩；退缩，过去式和过去分词分别为“shrank”和“shrunk”。常见的地道表达有“shrink from 退避；在…前面畏缩”，例如，“A shy man shrinks from meeting strangers. 羞怯的人怕见生人。”
在这里需要对比几个表达“收缩”的词语：
shrink 侧重指因收缩而达不到原有的长度、体积或容积，例如，“The dress shrank when I washed it. 这件衣服洗后缩水了。”
condense 指将东西压缩得更紧密、紧凑，但不失去原有的内容，例如，“Soup condenses when boiled. 汤煮过后就浓了。”
compress 指把乱而不成形的东西压成一定形状，例如，“Wood blocks may compress a great deal under pressure. 木块受压时可缩小很多。”
contract 主要指以内、外部力量进行紧缩，也可用作引申，除此之外，contract还可以表示“合同”。同样能表达“合同、条约”的还有“agreement”和“treaty”。 23年翻硕考研竞争会越来越激烈，我们联合学长学姐建立了23年MTI翻译硕士考研备考群：787242621
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