中美关系一直是国际舞台上的热点问题，与两国的发展和人民的生活息息相关，特别是在新冠肺炎疫情爆发以后，中美两国的未来更是成为世界关注的焦点。自1979年中美正式建交以来，两国的关系经历了多年的起起伏伏，双方政要为两国的和平发展做出了不懈的努力。今天底老师给大家分享一些中国驻美大使崔天凯先生在有关中美关系下一个四十年讲话中的地道英语表达，大家准备好小本本，开始学习吧。

1. As Confucius said, ‘At forty I had no more perplexities. While we celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations, there are still some perplexities in China-US relations.

最近看了很多《三十而已》的剧情讨论，也知道了三十而立可以翻译成：At thirty, I planted my feet firm upon the ground. 在以后的场合中，提到中美关系四十年，也一定会需要翻译这句“四十不惑”，崔天凯大使就给我们译员做了一个很好的示范，“四十不惑”英文是At forty I had no more perplexities’，希望学员们可以记住这两个表达；

2. There are still noises in America, clamoring for a new cold war or for partial and even complete decoupling of our two counties

这句话的画面感很强，noise和clamor形成呼应，形象的用一种带“聒噪感”的动词体现了中美关系中的不和谐因素。这些不和谐的因素就是decoupling，原意为分离，这里译为脱钩。

3. Some people here blame a rising China, who they claim will displace the US to be the world’s new hegemon.

claim一词是翻译考试百考不厌的点，可以是“指出”、“声称”、“宣称”、“断言”等。同学们笔译的时候，要特别考虑上下文的意思判断选词。这是里把中国的发展看作是不应该发生的事情，对中国进行无端的指责，blame和claim用的很地道。

4. However, even with some dazzling GDP figures, China remains a developing country.

用dazzling修饰figures,有一种“耀眼夺目”的感觉，学员们在翻译国家经济增长数据喜人的时候，可以考虑用这个词。

5.The wealth gap between different regions and between different income groups is still yawning.

Yawn这个词在字典中的英文解释是：If you yawn, you open your mouth very wide and breathe in more air than usual, often when you are tired or when you are not interested in something.这是一个很形象的用词，嘴巴张开代表“鸿沟”“差异”的存在。如果我们说贫富差距加大，也可以用这个词：The gap between the rich and the poor is yawning.

6.China develops itself to deliver a better life to its people, not to scramble for global dominance.

大家可能不太熟悉scramble这个词的意思，它同样有很强的画面感。我们查字典可以知道它有争抢、争夺的意思。它的英文释义可能更生动一些：If a number of people scramble for something, they compete energetically with each other for it. 所以scramble可以和后面的global dominance可以联系在一起记忆，global dominance就是争夺的目标。

7. This is not an act of expediency，but a voluntary choice made in light of our history, realities and development goals.

Expediency means doing what is convenient rather than what is morally right. 中文有权宜之计的意思，表明中国不称霸不是想在世界树立伪善的形象，而是基于本国历史和国际政治现状做出的发自内心的选择，voluntary意为of your own free will or design; not forced or compelled，表示没有受到任何人的强迫自发的行为。

8. Please ask yourself: can a major adjustment of China policy, as touted by some people really tip the scale in America's favor?

在这句话中，崔天凯大使对所有美国人提出一个问题：少数人吹捧的对华政策大调整是否真的对美国有利？ tout有吹嘘，吹捧的意思，大都华而不实，不切实际。

9. It is extremely unwise for the US to touch the red line time and again, as it will cause long-term damage to our relations and even get America embroiled in an unwanted conflict.

一次又一次地触及红线，time and again这个词组非常地道。embroil意为force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action，一种受“牵连”“卷入困境”的意思显现出来。

10. And it is most unconstructive to decouple people-to people exchanges. It is these exchanges that have sustained the China-US relationship and added a human touch to it.

在后疫情时代的中美关系发展中，一定会强调要加强人文交流，很多学员会简单的笼统翻译为cultural exchange，其实是有偏差的，正确的译法是：people-to-people exchanges。

最后底老师想给大家分享一个在做时政口译时需要注意的问题。虽然我们在平时可以积累一些时政术语，但是到实战中正确运用绝非易事。我们在做口译时，有时不一定会代表本国立场进行翻译，这就会考验译员是不是能保持一个中立的态度去完成口译工作。国际关系的译文非常考验译员的选词能力，学习单词的时候也一定要搭配着句型学习。