2019年翻译资格考试三级口译练习题：郁金香

　　你会花多少钱买一捧郁金香?几块钱?几百块?花个一百万怎么样?你可能不会愿意花那么多钱。

　　那如果把花换成房子，或者某宠物用品网站的一部分股权，你又愿意花多少钱呢?

　　曾几何时，郁金香、房产和宠物用品网站的股票都卖出过比他们本身价值高得多的价格。而且以上这三种产品，都经历过价格攀升然后突然跌落谷底的过程。

　　经济学家称之为“泡沫”，那么泡沫到底是怎么回事呢?

　　为了更便于大家理解，我们还是从郁金香开始说起。话说17世纪，荷兰进入了其鼎盛时期。

　　在17世纪30年代，阿姆斯特丹已然是一个重要港口和商业中心。荷兰的船只从亚洲大量进口香料，在欧洲售卖，赚取利润。因此，阿姆斯特丹随处可见技术高超的富商巨贾，他们为了炫耀自己的财富，都会住花园房。而当时需求量尤其大的一种花就是郁金香。

　　商贸船将郁金香从东方带到了欧洲大陆。也因为如此，郁金香一直都被看做是一种异域之花，并且极难种植。一棵郁金香开花可能需要数年。17世纪30年代，郁金香之中爆发出一种病毒，感染了病毒的郁金香的花瓣上长出了彩色的火焰状的条纹，它们的外观更加美丽了。

　　像这样的郁金香比普通郁金香更加稀有，因此自然也更贵，这样一来，郁金香的热度也随之飙高。不久，荷兰举国上下都为郁金香神魂颠倒，郁金香狂热因运而生。当某种商品的价格飙升，并且人们愿意花费比商品价值高得多的价钱购买商品时，狂热就诞生了。

　　参考译文

　　How much would you pay for a bouquet of tulips? A few dollars? A hundred dollars?

　　How about a million dollars? Probably not.

　　Well, how much would you pay for this house, or partial ownership of a website that sells pet supplies?

　　At different points in time, tulips, real estate and stock in pets. com have all sold for much more than they were worth. In each instance, the price rose and rose and then abruptly plummeted.

　　Economists call this a bubble. So, what exactly is going on with a bubble?

　　Well, let's start with the tulips to get a better idea. The 17th century saw the Netherlands enter the Dutch golden age.

　　By the 1630s, Amsterdam was an important port and commercial center. Dutch ships imported spices from Asia in huge quantities to earn profits in Europe. So, Amsterdam was brimming with wealthy, skilled merchants and traders who displayed their prosperity by living in mansions surrounded by flower gardens. And there was one flower in particularly high demand: the tulip.

　　The tulip was brought to Europe on trading vessels that sailed from the East. Because of this, it was considered an exotic flower that was also difficult to grow, since it could take years for a single tulip to bloom. During the 1630s, an outbreak of tulip breaking virus made selected flowers even more beautiful by lining petals with multicolor, flame-like streaks.From:examw.com/catti

　　A tulip like this was scarcer than a normal tulip and as a result, prices for these flowers started to rise, and with them, the tulip's popularity. It wasn't long before the tulip became a nationwide sensation and tulip mania was born. A mania occurs when there is an upward movement of price combined with a willingness to pay large sums of money for something valued much lower in intrinsic value.