English Interpreting Comprehensive Ability: Level 2 (Second Edition)

Author: Wang Lidi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not Available
Features: This book is specifically designed for the Comprehensive Test of the National Translation Qualification (Level II) Oral Interpretation Examination. The purpose of the Comprehensive Test is to assess whether examinees' English proficiency and operational skills meet the requirements for professional oral interpretation. The Comprehensive Test consists of four sections: Short Passage Judgment, Short Passage Selection, Medium Passage Selection, and Long Passage Summarization. Examinees must complete these sections through listening. Clearly, to perform well, strong listening skills are essential, which is determined by the nature of oral interpretation. Of course, listening and other skills complement each other and cannot be entirely separated. Imagine that without rich vocabulary and grammar knowledge, without fluent expression skills, and without strong reading and writing abilities, it would be nearly impossible to excel in oral interpretation. Therefore, the training and exercises in this book are both targeted and comprehensive, covering aspects of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The language materials used in this book are primarily sourced from authoritative publications, magazines, newspapers, books, and publications of international organizations in English-speaking countries. The content is authentic and vivid, the language is natural and fluent, the wording is concise and precise, and the requirements for learners' language skills are also high. This aligns with the requirements of the Level II Professional Oral Interpretation Examination. To do translation well, one needs to possess multidisciplinary knowledge. Within the limited scope of this book, reading materials on topics such as politics, economics, science and technology, law, energy, and society are provided to broaden learners' knowledge and related language skills. However, the vast and complex world is ever-changing, and language is also an open system with rich creativity. Any effort can only be a drop in the ocean. Learners should strive to generalize from specific examples and gain a comprehensive understanding to achieve better learning outcomes. In addition to relying on broad knowledge, learners must systematically recognize and master the rules of two languages, especially the foreign language. When it comes to language knowledge, people immediately think of vocabulary and grammar. Of course, these are the basic elements of language and are indispensable. However, language expression is not simply a pile of these elements. The core of language expression is "meaning," and its function lies in expressing ideas, in classifying and describing subjective and objective things. The ability of human language to achieve this is partly due to its creativity and openness, and partly due to its systematicity. Without these two aspects, language expression cannot be realized. Based on the above considerations, the organization and writing of the exercise materials in this book neither follow the order of grammatical structures nor adopt content-based categorization. Instead, they refer to the concepts of Systemic Functional Linguistics and are divided according to the functional system of language expression, while also taking into account the characteristics of oral interpretation and the Comprehensive Test. According to this system, the book is divided into 12 units, each highlighting a specific function and task. The themes of these 12 units are: Behavioral Things, Ideological Consciousness, Relational Judgment, Time, Place, and Manner, Causal Relationships, Negation, Numerical Expression, Modality and Intention, Paraphrasing, Exchange, Text, and Summarization. This thematic categorization, on one hand, can be seen from the content, and on the other hand, the questions in each unit are also designed to provide hints. When we speak, we do not consciously think about whether this sentence is intended to express my behavior, my thoughts, or something else. However, as long as we use language, we must rely on the inherent characteristics of language to express our meaning. In a certain sense, the functional classification system of language provides us with a "roadmap" to master the rules of language use, which differs from grammatical and knowledge-based classification systems. The main body of the book consists of 12 units, each basically divided into four parts. The first part is listening exercises, consisting of two groups. The first group is 10 true-or-false judgment questions, where judgments must be made after listening to each recording. The second group is 10 multiple-choice questions, where the correct answer must be selected after listening to each recording. The second part is reading, with articles ranging from 600 to 900 words in length, covering topics such as international politics, economics, trade, law, society, and science and technology. Before each reading passage, there is an English introduction to help learners grasp the key points. Annotations are provided for difficult parts, along with a vocabulary glossary. The third part is Q&A, which helps learners practice speaking. Learners can first listen to the recording of the text and then answer the questions, or they can first read the text and answer the questions after reading it. The fourth part is writing practice, requiring learners to write a short essay of 200 to 250 words summarizing the content of the text. Similar to the above exercises, learners can try to "listen" to the text, take notes on the key points, and then write the essay. Alternatively, they can first read the text, understand it, and then write a short essay. The latter method is simpler and easier to implement. The first part of the eleventh unit consists of several groups of listening exercises, with each passage approximately 200–250 words long, accompanied by 5 multiple-choice questions for each listening segment. The twelfth unit's exercises consist of two longer articles, each about 500 words, requiring learners to write a short essay after listening to each. The remaining parts of the eleventh and twelfth units are similar to the previous units, with reading and Q&A exercises included. In addition to the 12 units of texts and exercises, the book also includes 5 sets of full-simulation tests for learners to refer to and practice, preparing them thoroughly for the exam.