2202124 Introduction to Translation Second Semester 2020Name: Student ID:

Practice Test 3

(20 points, 1 hour, open-book, online) Read the following passage. Then write or type your response to the following questions in the space provided.

Corn is everywhere—in everything from apples to aspirin, body lotion to batteries, margarine to magazines.

Michael Pollan, who has followed corn from its source to a final meal, says, “If you take a McDonald’s meal, you don’t realize it when you eat it, but

you’re eating corn. Beef has been corn-fed. Soda is corn. Even the French fries. Half the calories in the French fries come from the fat they’re fried in, which is likely to be corn oil. So when you’re at McDonald’s…Everything on your plate is corn.”

The story of corn is a complex tale that begins more than 9,000 years ago in the dry valleys of central Mexico and continues on today in grocery store aisles—and the halls of Congress. The turning point in modern corn history was in 1947 when the huge munitions plant at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, switched from making bombs to making chemical fertilizer. After World War II, the government had a tremendous surplus of ammonium nitrate, the principal ingredient in explosives. It is also an excellent source of nitrogen for plants. The chemical fertilizer industry (along with that of pesticides, which are based on the poison gases developed for war) is the product of the government’s effort to convert its war machine to peacetime purposes. Factories and industrial farming, unlike ecological systems, tend to pollute. What happens to that synthetic nitrogen the plants don’t take up? Some of it evaporates into the air, where it acidifies the rain and contributes to global warming. Some seeps down to groundwater, and comes back out of your tap. The nitrates in water bind to hemoglobin, compromising the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the brain. As the Indian farmer activist Vandana Shiva says in her speeches, “We’re still eating the leftovers of World War II.” Grown on every continent except Antarctica, planted on 93 million acres of United States land, and finding its way into nearly everything on the dinner table and elsewhere, the humble corn plant may just be the most influential crop that society has ever seen.

1. Correct and comment on these two students’ translations of the opening corn passage.

Corn is everywhere—in everything from apples to aspirin, body lotion to batteries, margarine to magazines.

Student R: Corrections and Comments:ขาวโพดมอยทวไปหมด เชน มอยทงในแอปเปลและในยาแอสไพรน ทงในโลชนทาผวและในแบตเตอร ทงในมาการนและในแมกกาซน

Student S: Corrections and Comments:ขาวโพดอยทกท—ในทกอยางจาก apple ถง aspirin, บอด lotion ถง แบตเตอรส, margarine

ถง แมกาซนส

2. In the following paradigmatic translation, add possible Thai synonyms for the English words and a full translation of the entire line.

Michael Pollan, who has followed corn from its source to a final meal, says,นายไมเคล พอลแลน ผซง ได ตาม ขาวโพด จาก ของมน แหลง ไป หนง ทสด อาหาร กลาววา

ตดตาม ตงแต ทมา จบ สำารบ กลาวตนกำาเนด

Full translation 1: นายไมเคล พอลแลนไดตดตามขาวโพดจากแหลงทมาไปจนกระทงทำาเสรจเปนอาหาร กลาววาFull translation 2:

3. Briefly explain where in the following cases would retaining the passive voice in Thai be unadvisable and give alternatives.

Passive Voice Cases: Explanations/Alternatives:Beef has been corn-fed.

the fat they’re fried in

Grown on every continent except Antarctica,

planted on 93 million acres of United States land,

4. Translate the quoted text below into Thai.

“If you take a McDonald’s meal, you don’t realize it when you eat it, but you’re eating corn. Beef has been corn-fed. Soda is corn. Even the French fries. Half the calories in the French fries come from the fat they’re fried in, which is likely to be corn oil. So when you’re at McDonald’s…Everything on your plate is corn.”

Translation:

5. Show the structures of the following sentence according to the prompts below.

The story of corn is a complex tale that begins more than 9,000 years ago in the dry valleys of central Mexico and continues on today in grocery store aisles—and the halls of Congress.

Subject (noun phrase): Main verb: What two segments are conjoined by the bold and?Segment 1: Segment 2:

6. Write two possible translations of the quoted text and briefly explain your reasoning for each version. What are the advantages and drawbacks of each?

The chemical fertilizer industry (along with that of pesticides, which are based on the poison gases developed for war) is the product of the government’s effort to convert its war machine to peacetime purposes.

Translation 1: Explanation 1:

Translation 2: Explanation 2: