写在前面

今年二笔实务的两篇汉译英，一篇与时事热点、国民健康有关——国产肺炎球菌疫苗，另一篇为环境保护类主题——土地荒漠化，今天的推文是其中一篇——土地荒漠化的译文，并附上学习要点的总结，其中的很多短语和句子，可直接拿来背诵，用在翻译和写作中。

本版本译文由Hearty原创，如有疏漏，烦请指正，未经许可，严禁转载。

考场原文

日益严重的土地荒漠化不仅导致了生态环境恶化，还降低了资源的质量和数量，影响工农业生产和人民生活。

对民族团结和社会安定造成了严重影响，它已成为制约中国中西地区，特别是西北地区经济、社会发展的重要因素。

在中国，土地荒漠化的后果是：加剧人地矛盾，缩小人类生存空间。中国每年新増人口约1400万，沙化土地年均増加3436平方公里，耕地面积逐年减少。人地矛盾日益突出，大 约2.4万村庄、乡镇遭受风沙危害。

—些村庄、县城被迫多次搬迁。其次，加剧自然灾害的频率和程度，恶化生态环境，破 坏人类生存条件。土地荒漠化是导致中国近期沙尘暴频发，荒漠化地区生物多样性骤减、风蚀及黄河中下游旱涝灾害频繁的主要原因之一。荒漠化地区的植被急剧减少，许多物种濒危或趋于灭绝。中国每年输入黄河的16亿吨泥沙中就有12亿吨来自沙漠化地区。

参考译文

The escalation of desertification not only leads to environmental degradation, but also reduces sharply the quality and quantity of resources and adversely influences industrial and agricultural production and people’s lives.

To make matters worse, desertification also takes a heavy toll on national unity and social stability. It has become a major hindrance to socio-economic development in the central and western regions of China, especially the northeastern part.

In China, desertification results in the mounting tensions between man and land and the reduction of people’s living space. While China adds 14 million people each year, it has witnessed an average annual increase of 3,456 square kilometers of desertification-afflicted land and the reduction of arable land for consecutive years. The conflict between man and land has become an increasingly protruding one with some 24 thousand villages and towns highly exposed to the hazards of wind and dust.

Under such circumstances, communities in some villages and towns are forced to move several times. Desertification also causes the increased incidence and enormity of natural disasters, which wreaks havoc on the ecological environment and damages the living environment of humanity. Desertification is one of the major reasons behind the rising occurrence of natural disasters such as sandstorms, wind erosion, flood and drought in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. It also accounts for the drastic reduction of biodiversity. With vegetation falling sharply, legions of endangered species are now close to extinction. Among the 1.6 billion tons of silt discharged into the Yellow River each year, 1.2 billion tons come from the desertified areas.

要点总结

日益严重的土地荒漠化：the escalation of desertification,escaltion为《经济学人》等外刊中的高频词，表示「（事态，情况的）升级，加剧」，动词形式为escalate。

导致：lead to,result in, cause都可以。

生态环境恶化：environmental degradation，亦可表达为ecosystem degradation，degradation表示「恶化，退化」。

资源的质量和数量： the quality and quantity of resources。

影响工农业生产和人民生活：adversely influences industrial and agricultural production and people’s lives.此处增译adversely，表示这种影响是负面的、不利的。

对民族团结和社会安定造成了严重影响：take a heavy toll on national unity and social stability.take a heavy toll on sb./sth也是非常地道的一个短语，表示「对...造成严重损失」，toll一词表示「毁坏，损失」，环境损害：the environmental toll。

制约...的重要因素：a major hindrance to...「制约...的因素」可视为一种“阻碍”，故可选用hindrance。

经济、社会发展:socio-economic development。

加剧人地矛盾：此处可转译为定语加剧的＋中心语矛盾，得到 the mounting tensions between man and land，短语前增译一个result in,表示“导致”； 

沙化土地年均増加3436平方公里：an average annual increase of 3,456 square kilometers of desertification-afflicted land，沙化土地：可以表示为desertified areas，也可形象地表达为：desertification-afflicted land（深受荒漠化困扰的土地）。

耕地面积逐年减少：the reduction of arable land for consecutive years。

大约2.4万村庄、乡镇遭受风沙危害。with some 24 thousand villages and townships highly exposed to the hazards of wind and dust.be exposed to sth...除了表示“暴露于”，还可以表示「遭受...」之意。

—些村庄、县城被迫多次搬迁： communities in some villages and towns are forced to move several times。由于“被迫搬迁的”应是村庄里的社区及成员，故此处增译了communities一词，「搬迁」一词也可用relocate。

加剧自然灾害的频率和程度：cause the increased incidence and enormity of natural disasters。

恶化生态环境：wreak havoc on the ecological environment，wreak havoc on表示「对...造成巨大破坏」。

生物多样性骤减：the drastic reduction of biodiversity.

每年输入黄河的16亿吨泥沙：the 1.6 billion tons of silt discharged into the Yellow River each year, discharge作动词可表示「排放，流入」。