第一题：
【原文】作为历史悠久、国际一流的高等学府，新加坡国立大学秉持“致力激发创意精神，教育学生并为国家和社会培养人才”的宗旨，培育了大批思想活跃、学识渊博的杰出人才。你们坚持“无墙文化”，提倡自由思想和人才交流，在百年校庆之际提出“思想任驰骋，生活显姿彩”的口号，彰显了开拓创新、造福社会的理念。我相信，按照贵校的宗旨和理念，依托优秀的师资队伍、雄厚的科研实力、广泛的国际合作关系，国大一定能够为国家和本地区以至全球提供更多的高质量教育成果。
【译文】NUS has a long history and is internationally renowned.
"Advance knowledge and foster innovation, educate students
and nurture talent, in service of country and society." Guided by
this motto, NUS has produced many outstanding graduates well
grounded in knowledge and with inquisitive mind. NUS has a
"no walls" culture, that is, no walls around minds and no walls
to talent. At its centenary, NUS committed itself to unleashing
minds and transforming lives in keeping with the vision of
fostering innovation and the spirit of enterprise for the
betterment of society. I am convinced that guided by its mission
and vision and with its first-class faculty, strong scientific
research capability and a network of partners around the world,
NUS will, through its quality education, contribute more to
Singapore, to Asia and to the whole world.
【评点】
1. “致力激发创意精神，教育学生并为国家和社会培养人才”、“无墙文化”和“思想任驰骋，生活显姿彩”都是有现成译文的说法，不能自由发挥，必须回译。
2. “秉持‘致力激发创意精神，教育学生并为国家和社会培养人才’的宗旨”如果直译为 Guided by the motto of?，句子过长且重点不突出，译者先将“致力激发??培养人才”提出来译为一句，再以 Guided by this motto 承上启下，很好地解决了问题。
3. “无墙文化”和“提倡自由思想和人才交流”不是并列关系，后者是对前者的解说，译者因此作了相应处理。
4. “思想活跃、学识渊博的杰出人才”不必都按“形容词+名词”模式译出，译者的处理方法就很值得学习。
第二题：
人们通常喜欢听好听的话，一听到拂耳之言就容易产生不悦甚至愠怒。一个人特别是身居要职的人要能够心悦诚服地倾听逆耳之良言并从中获得智慧，就需要一种容忍和大度的雅量，而这往往依赖于人们的心性修养和对人性缺陷的克制;否则，就会给那些善于运用花言巧语和投其所好的人提供可乘之机，并伤害那些直言不讳的忠诚之人。
在理智上，人们大概愿意接受“兼听则明，偏信则暗”、“忠言逆耳利于行”等一类古老的真理，或者乐于信服老子说的“美言不信，信言不美”的哲理。但在行为上，人们又时常背离这些古训，不愿意听或听不进“逆耳”之言，”最终犯下严重的过失。
【参考译文】
We tend to hear words pleasant to the ear but have displeasure and resentment at words harsh to the ear. A man, especially one occupying an important position, needs tolerance and magnanimity to lend an ear to truthful yet offensive words with heartfelt admiration so as to gain wisdom from them, and those qualities can be only cultivated through the nurturing of the soul and the restraint in human weaknesses. Otherwise, opportunities are exploited to the advantage of those with sweet words on the lips to tickle the ear of others, only to hurt those loyal people outspoken in their remarks.
Intellectually, we are probably willing to believe in the ancient truths that we’ ll be enlightened if we listen to both sides and we will be benighted if we heed only one side, that honest advice, though unpleasant to the ear, benefits conduct. Also, we are delightfully convinced of Laotzi’s philosophy that true words are not embellished and the embellished words are not true. However, in our behaviours, we tend to depart from those estabilished maxims, reluctant to accept and follow those uncomfortable truths until eventually grave errors are committed.
