If you’ve ever been on a jury, you might have noticed that a funny thing happens the minute you get behind closed doors. Everybody starts talking about themselves. They say what they would have done if they had been the plaintiff or the defendant. Being on a jury reminds me why I can’t tolerate talk radio. We Americans seem to have lost the ability to talk about anything but our own experiences. We can’t seem to generalize without stereotyping or to consider evidence that goes against our own experience.
I heard a doctor on a radio show talking about a study that found that exercise reduces the incidence of Alzheimer’s. And caller after caller couldn’t wait to make essentially the opposite point: “Well, my grandmother never exercised and she lived to 95.” We are in an age summed up by the saying: “I experience, therefore I’m right.” Historically, the hallmarks of an uneducated person were the lack of ability to think critically, to use deductive reasoning to distinguish the personal from the universal. Now that seems an apt description of many Americans.
【参考译文】
如果你曾经当过陪审员，你可能会注意到一件有趣的事情：一旦关上了门，所有人就开始谈论他们自己。他们会讨论，如果自己是原告或被告的话会做什么。担任陪审员的经历让我明白了我为什么无法忍受谈话性的广播节目。我们美国人似乎只剩下了谈论自己经历的能力。我们似乎无法抛开固有的成见进行总结，也无法客观地分析与自身经历相悖的证据。
我曾听过一位医生在之声节目上讲述一项研究，该研究发现锻炼能降低阿兹海默症(老年痴呆症)的发病率。而此时听众的电话一个接着一个，纷纷迫不及待地表达反对意见：“嗯，我祖母从不锻炼，但她活到了95岁。”我们身处的时代可以用一句话来总结：“我经历过，所以我是对的。”历史上，无知之人的典型特征就是缺乏进行批判性思维、演绎推理和分辨个例与常态的能力。如今，用这句话描述许多美国人似乎恰如其分。
【解析】
文本节选自2011年7月29日的《基督教科学箴言报》(The Christian Science Monitor)，探讨现代人过度依赖个人经验判断、缺乏批判思考的问题。话题相对抽象，难度中上。
作者以担任陪审团的经历引入话题，如果对美国的陪审团制度缺乏了解，也不认识plaintiff和defendant等词汇，则可能在理解上有困难。原文是典型的评论文章，语言介于正式与非正式问题之间，在转换时应注意适当调整句子结构和语序，保证译文通顺易懂。
【原文】
朝气蓬勃，充满活力，丰富多彩的上海是现代中国的缩影。虽然上海的文化遗迹不能与北京媲美，但是上海迷人的城市风貌，风格各异的万国建筑为这座城市注入了无限的魅力。今日之上海，已经成为享誉中外的国际大都市。
漫步在这座日新月异的现代大都市里，你会发现许多精彩的历史亮点，隐现在众多摩天大楼背后的是上海发展变化的轨迹。它们记述了上海自十九世纪末开埠以来，尤其是新中国成立以后，是如何迅猛发展的。
【参考译文】
Shanghai is a dynamic, diverse and stimulating city - the very epitome of modern China. Though Shanghai cannot rival Beijing in cultural heritage, its varied architectural styles and cosmopolitan feel give it a charm of its own. Today's Shanghai has become a world-famous international metropolis.
A walk through this booming city reveals many glimpses of its colorful past. Hidden amongst the skyscrapers are remains of the original Shanghai. They keep on showing how Shanghai has been developing fast and enormously since its opening as a commercial port in the late 19th century, especially after the founding of new China.
【评析】
该篇翻译属于经典话题， 类似于上海城市介绍，考生如果熟悉教材，注意积累相关句型词汇，特别是对“朝气蓬勃、充满活力dynamic, diverse and stimulating、缩影epitome、遗迹heritage、城市风貌cosmopolitan feel、万国建筑varied architectural styles”等常考的表达，应该可以顺利取得高分。
