III Year Lettorato Inglese 2017-2018
(Peterson-More) 
 

Recent Pudney Passages (suggested translations)

Pudney pg. 118, passage 22

Until you have learned these rules you will not be able to face/tackle/handle a translation of average difficulty.

I assure you that you are unlikely to/ it is unlikely that you will pass the annual exam if you have not studied/ you do not study these exercises thoroughly/carefully.

You should start/ It’s a good idea to start/ begin (studying) immediately/now/at once/straight away. As compared to last year’s, / to the one last year, the examination will be just as difficult. Turn your home/homes //OR: transform your house into an enormous/huge study/ studies and get to work!

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Pudney pg. 119, passage 24

The large number of/So many /agents in charge of/responsible for protecting the Pope were not enough/sufficient to prevent the attack on his life by Alì Agca in St. Peter’s Sqaure on [that Tuesday] March 13, 1981. If a nun hadn’t grabbed/caught him by the jacket he wouldn’t have been captured/ he would have escaped.

[…]

Who organized the attack? What objective were they trying to reach? At the trial Mr. Agca did not did clarify the matter/ did not provide any clarification. He didn’t apologize; he didn’t explain anything. On Christmas Day / At Christmas in 1983 the Pope visited him in prison. It was a historic moment/ An iconic photograph was taken: the conversation between the would-be assassin and his attempted victim.

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Pudney pg. 119, passage 25

Despite/ In spite of the publicity/ widespread attention given to the problem/issue/matter/question, the birthrate in Italy has been falling/ has fallen so much/so drastically/ so sharply

OR:

there has been such a drastic/huge/sharp decline in the birthrate in Italy

as to cause concern/ raise alarm that in/within a few centuries Italians will become extinct/be an ‘endangered species.’ […]

In an interview the Minister for the Family stated/declared/said/claimed that he/she would encourage young couples/people to have more children by offering (them) tax breaks/relief on their first/main homes, more jobs for heads of families and part-time jobs with the same rights as full-time jobs. Moreover, he/she said he would work to open more nursery schools/pre-schools/ to assist with child care// to ensure there is child care for working couples. He/she concluded saying that until Italians are convinced of the gravity of the situation/ OR: how serious/dire the situation is, Italy will become evermore/ more and more a country of elderly people/ the elderly.

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Pudney pg. 120, passage 26
 

A ten-year-old child/boy who fell from a cliff approximately 10 meters high/ who fell approximately 10 meters from a cliff on Wednesday, August 3, was saved by a rescue helicopter which/ that had taken off/ took off from a passing/ nearby aircraft carrier.

Many people saw/watched/ were present at the rescue and for all of them it was the first time they had seen/witnessed such an operation/ this type/kind of operation. […]

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Pudney pg. 125, passage 31

At 11:30pm beneath the Mururoa atoll/ in the bowels of the Mururoa atoll, the first nuclear bomb of the Chirac era exploded. A few minutes later the Defense Minister declared/announced/proclaimed/explained, “we had to undertake/carry out this experiment. If we had already had the information we need(ed), we wouldn’t have had to reach/arrive at/get to this point.” 

France’s challenge to [the rest of] the world began recently, and the experiments/ and it will continue as long as French officials/ French experts/the French believe that certain foreign nations pose a threat to France’s national security// OR: believe/think there is a threat to [French] national security by some/certain foreign countries. The public response was [much] greater than expected: a million people all over the world held protests/demonstrated/protested [in the streets] on the night of the explosion.

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Pudney pg. 129, passage 35

The majority of people /Most of the people/ Most of those who arrive in Italy illegally are looking for jobs/work. They would never have [even] dreamed of leaving their own countries if they had had a good/decent standard of living there. Yes/Certainly/Of course, they can/could be accused of risking their lives and not realizing the danger(s) they face. Who organized their trip/journey//Who organized the trip for them? Who should be blamed?

A port/maritime official [apparently] said/confirmed that the authorities who are/were supposed to patrol/police the territorial waters have found themselves in difficulty/ in a difficult situation in recent days. It seems that some criminals aboard/on inflatable rafts have protected/shielded themselves with children [in order] to avoid capture.  

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Pudney pp. 129-130, passage 36

There is much talk/ Many people talk about the job crisis, especially/also as regards the arrival of so many foreigners/ people from abroad/from other countries. They are accused of stealing/taking jobs from Italians, of working for low wages/pay/salaries/little money, but some experts reportedly said that the situation would change when the new jobs law was/had been introduced.

Many young people admit they are not/would not be willing/ready to work as hard as (the) immigrants and that they don’t want their jobs/their work to take them far away from home/from their homes/ What can be done to find a proper/an appropriate/ the right balance? This has been a major problem in recent years, but the authorities claim/say they are unable to resolve it.

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Pudney, pg. 138, Translation Passage 1 (lines 1-11)

The town council/local administration/authorities has/have finally realized there is a problem/OR: has finally woken up. On Friday, January 27, the mayor of Milan discovered/found that / the air in the city is unbreathable/his city’s air was/is unbreathable. [High/excessive] P/pollution levels that should never have been reached were registered/recorded/found [both] in the city center/downtown and on the outskirts. [Indeed, /In fact,] A/a thick, foul-smelling fog had/has spread over 90% of the territory// OR: 90% of the territory was covered by a thick, foul-smelling fog.

The authorities [have] launched an initiative without precedent in Italy, asking citizens to limit using their cars/ OR: their car use and the heating inside/within their homes. They even considered/thought of/spoke about closing [the] schools in the upcoming/next few days.