上篇IntroductiontoInterpretation1Chapter英语口译教程I.ThedevelopmentofinterpretationInterpretingisatypeoftranslation,anactofrenderingspokenwordsfromonelanguageintoanother.Interpretinghasarecordedhistoryofseveralthousandyears.InChina,asearlyasintheZhouDynasty,therewereinterpreterswhoworkedforthegovernment.However,interpreting,asaninternationally-recognizedprofession,isratheryoung.Beforethe20thcentury,almostallimportantinternationalmeetingswereheldexclusivelyinFrench,asFrenchwastheonlyrecognizedlanguageofdiplomacy;thus,nointerpreterswereneeded.Nonetheless,aroundtheturnofthe20thcentury,political,culturalandeconomicexchangesamongdifferentnationsincreasedtremendously;consequentlymorelanguagesbecameinvolvedininternationalexchanges,andFrenchgraduallylostitsdominantposition.ProfessionalinterpretingmadeitsfirstappearanceattheParisPeaceConferencein1919,whichmarkedthebeginningofinterpretingasamodernprofession.Sincethen,interpretinghasbecomevirtuallyanessentialpartofeveryinternationalconference.II.Thetwomostwidely-usedformsofinterpretationProfessionalinterpretingisaserviceactivitywithacommunicationfunction.Thepurposesofcommunicationmayvarywiththeoccasions;differentoccasionsmayrequiredifferenttypesofinterpreting.Generallyspeaking,therearetwotypesofinterpreting:consecutiveinterpreting(CI)andsimultaneousinterpreting(SI).Consecutiveinterpretation,whichrequiresnowell-equippedboothsandsophisticatedwiringsystem,isthemostwidelyusedformofinterpretationinChinaonvariousoccasions—rangingfromformaltalkstonegotiations.Intheconsecutivemode,theinterpretergiveshisinterpretationimmediatelyafterthespeakerhasfinishedasegmentofspeech.Thesegmentsmaylastfromafewsecondstoseveralminutes.Sincethespeakerpausesfromtimetotimefortheinterpretertointerpreteachsegmentofthespeech,theinterpreterhasthetimetotakenotesandanalyzethemessageasawholesothathecanunderstandthemessagemoreeasily.Simultaneousinterpretation,whichoccupiesnotimeapartfromthattakenbytheoriginalspeakerbutrequiresratherexpensiveandhighlysophist...
