Mock exam, May 7, 2004
Translation:
Translate the following into clear, correct English.
Nicht überraschend rühmt sich New York als die Stadt mit den meisten Mega-Reichen, denn 31 Milliardäre residieren in der Stadt, und weitere neun in ihrer Umgebung. Die zweitgrößte Konzentration findet man jetzt in Moskau, wo acht neue Mitglieder in diesem Jahr dem Club der Elite beitreten konnten, und wo jetzt im Ganzen 23 Milliardäre wohnen. Darauf folgt Hongkong mit 16 und San Francisco mit elf Milliardären. Paris, Los Angeles und Tokio haben jeweils zehn, gefolgt von London mit neun Milliardären.
Fast jeder zweite Milliardär der Welt lebt in den Vereinigten Staaten. Diese 275 Personen verfügen gemeinsam über einen Nettowert von 909 Milliarden Dollar. An zweiter Stelle steht Deutschland mit 42 Milliardären, die auf 158 Milliarden Dollar (127,8 Milliarden Euro) geschätzt werden.
Neu in der Liste ist J. K. Rowling, die Autorin der fünf Harry-Potter-Bände, die 250 Millionen Mal verkauft wurden und zwei erfolgreiche Filme hervorgebracht haben. Ihr Aufstieg von der Sozialhilfeempfängerin zur Milliardärin hat das Interesse zahlreicher Medien auf sich gezogen.
Translation
It is no
surprise that New York is proud of calling itself the city with the greatest
number of the mega rich, for 31 billionaires have their residences inside the
city and a further nine of them in the surrounding area. The second largest
concentration of them can now be found in Moscow, where eight new members were
able to join this elite club, and this is the place, where 23 billionaires are
living altogether. It is followed by Hongkong with 16, and San Franzisco, Los
Angeles, and Tokio each have ten, followed by London with nine
billionaires.
Almost
every second billionaire lives in the United States. These 275 persons together
account for a net amount of money of 909 billion dollars. Second in the
list is Germany with 42 billionaires, who are estimated at a 158 billion
dollars (127.8 billion Euro).
New on the
list is J.K. Rowling, author of the five Harry Pottter books, which were sold
more than a 250 times and have resulted in two successful films. Her climb from
someone on the dole to a billionaire has caught the interest of a great number
of media.
Correction
|
Translation |
Original |
|
It is no
surprise that New York is proud of calling itself the city with the greatest
number of the mega rich, for 31 billionaires have their residences inside the
city and a further nine of them in the surrounding area. The second largest
concentration of them can now be found in Moscow, where eight new members
were able to join this elite club this year, and this is the place |
Not surprisingly, New
York City boasts the largest concentration of the mega-rich, with 31
billionaires residing in the city and nine more living nearby. The
second-largest concentration is now found in Moscow, where eight new members
joined the elite club this year, bringing the total there to 23. Hong Kong
follows with 16, and San Francisco boasts 11. Paris, Los Angeles and Tokyo
have 10 each. London trails with nine. |
|
Almost
every second billionaire lives in the United States. These 275 |
Nearly half
of the world’s billionaires live in the United States. These 275 people have
a combined net worth of $909 billion. Germany is second, with 42 billionaires
worth $158 billion. |
|
New on
the list is J.K. Rowling, author of the five Harry Potter books, which |
One of
the new faces on the list is author J.K. Rowling, whose five Harry Potter
novels have sold 250 million copies and spawned two successful movies. She
has attracted considerable media attention for rising from welfare mother to
billionaire. |
Essay: Write an essay of 400-600 words agreeing or
disagreeing with some point in this text.
Make sure your thesis (main point) and supporting points are clear and
easy to follow.
The United States remains
the pre-eminent scientific and technological power in the world, but there are
signs that it is losing ground to foreign competitors. To some extent this is
inevitable — and even desirable. The greater the diffusion of scientific
capabilities, the better off the world will probably be. Still, the situation
in the United States is worrisome. Fewer and fewer young Americans seem
interested in technical careers, and fewer young foreigners will be arriving to
take their places. If this trend is not reversed, the pool of trained
scientists and engineers in this country will shrink, and the shortfalls may
harm economic growth and the technical underpinnings of national security.
These measures of America's success and decline were laid out in
articles this week by William J. Broad of The Times and in a voluminous report
by the National Science Foundation. The United States still spends far more on
research and development than any other nation. That has enabled this country
to dominate high-technology exports, publish more scientific papers and win more
Nobel Prizes than other nations, but they are closing the gap.
The number of articles published in scientific and technical journals by
American authors has flattened out for the past decade after three previous
decades of growth. Western Europeans now publish substantially more papers than
Americans do. The American researchers' share of Nobel Prizes has fallen to
about half.
Although this is hardly a time of crisis for American science, common
sense suggests efforts to head off further erosion. The administration seems
misguided in planning to cut research funds in real terms for 21 agencies in
coming years while increasing only the research concerned with defense,
domestic security and the space program. The administration should ease the
security-driven visa restrictions that keep away foreign students and
scientists. Most important, the decline in the number of Americans training to
become scientists and engineers suggests the need to reinvigorate science
education in the public schools. Manpower trends can take a decade or two to
reverse.
Essay
According
to the essay in the New York Times, May 7, 2004, the USA is heading toward a
crisis, both a political and an economical. The scientific and technological
power of the USA is threatened. The following reasons are named in the text by
the editor:
1. Fewer
and fewer young Americans want to take up technical careers,
2. Fewer
young foreigners are able take the places of those Americans not taking up
those careers, because it is harder to obtain the necessary visas,
3. Research
funds are cut.
The
consequences could be, that economic growth can be harmed and national security
be threatened in the future. In my opinion, this crisis at first sight seems to
be comparable to the so called "Sputnik shock" about 40 years ago.
The USA has to catch up with its competitors. This time, however, seems to be
entangled in so many wars and in its military presence all over the world, that
it would be difficult for the country to disengage and change the present
situation fast. Armed forces, however, are expensive and a burden on the
national budget. The Bush administration, being heavily engaged in the Iraq
war, is lacking the money, which should be better used for education and research
instead.
Another
point is, that the USA is heading towards self-isolation for some reasons. The
autonomous USA does not take its western allies into their military decisions
and can therefore not expect much help. European partners are not willing to
support its allies, which would also mean a financial support. Then the Islamic
world is gradually turning against a U.S. dominated world. A major conflict
with terrorist attacks on western civilization and the "American way of
life" is not only threating American military life. The 9/11 has
shown, that even on US territory Americans are not safe any longer.
There is
still another reason for a forthcoming crisis, which is not easy to tackle.
Eastern countries like China and Russia are major competitors for the USA.
Formerly weak economies are already taking up leading positions in somes fields
of scientific research. They are also suitable places for western industries to
produce much cheaper and high technology industries are leaving their mother
countries. While these countries are concentrating on their own economy, the
U.S.A at the same time is concentrating on its world wide presence and nuclear
weapon program.
However,
there does not seem to be a change in the attitude of the American president
and there has to be one pretty fast. In my opinion, nothing will happen
and even become worse, as long as politicians and presidents are acting
in their private interest. With the oil industry in the background, national
interests are left out completely. The alleged interest of the president for
the security and justice of the world is nothing more than the financial
interest of rich business people sending the U.S. army to oil producing
countries to fight for the oil market in the name of the president.
Correction
According
to the essay in the New York Times, May 7, 2004, the USA is heading toward a
crisis, both a political and an economical one.
The scientific and technological power of the USA is threatened. The following
reasons are named in the text by the editor:
1. Fewer and fewer young Americans want to
take up technical careers,
2. Fewer young foreigners are able take the
places of those Americans not taking up those careers, because it is harder to
obtain the necessary visas,
3. Research funds are being cut.
The
consequences could be, that economic growth can will be
harmed and national security be threatened in the future. In my
opinion, this crisis at first sight seems to be comparable to the so so-called
"Sputnik shock" about 40 years ago. The USA has to catch up with its
competitors. This time, it however, seems to be entangled in
so many wars and in its military presence all over the world, that it would be
difficult for the country to disengage and change the present situation fast.
Armed forces, however, are expensive and a burden on the national budget. The
Bush administration, being heavily engaged in the Iraq war, is lackinglacks
the money,
which should be better usedis needed
for education and research instead.
Another
point is,
that the USA is heading towards self-isolation, for some several reasons.
The autonomous
USA does not take include its western
allies into
their its military
decisions and can therefore not expect much help from them, not even financial
help. European partners are not willing to support its
allies, which would also mean a financial support. Then Tthe
Islamic world is also gradually turning against a U.S. .-dominated
world. A major conflict with terrorist attacks on western civilization and the
"American way of life" is not only threatening American
military life. The 9/11 has shown, that even on US territory Americans
are not safe any longer.
There is
still another reason problem underlying for
a likely forthcoming
crisis, which is not easy to tackle. Eastern countries like China and Russia
are major competitors for the USA. Formerly weak economies are already taking up leading
positions in somes fields of scientific research. They
are also suitable places for western industries to produce much more cheaper cheaply, and
high technology industries are leaving their mother home countries.
While these countries are concentrating on their own economyeconomies,
the U.S.A at the same time is concentrating on its world wide presence and
nuclear weapons program.
However,Although
there
does not seem to be a change in the attitude of the American
president
does not seem likely, and there has to be
one pretty fast. In my opinion, nothing will happen, and and things will
probably even become worse, as long as politicians and presidents are acting
in their private interest. With the oil industry in the background, national
interests are left out completely. The alleged interest of the president for in the security
and justice of in the world is
nothing more than the financial interest of rich business people sending the
U.S. army to oil oil-producing
countries to fight for the oil market in the name of the president.