【正确答案】正确答案：I was sometimes dazzled by their gold rings or elegant necklaces behind which, however, I seemed to catch sight of skeletons in their cupboards and was frightened away from the craze for fortune. Out of despair, I retreated into seclusion, diffidence weighing heavy on me. I could do nothing but turn to my dream for comfort, for courage to aim high and wish for the impossible. I was convinced that before I could afford anything expensive, I should climb up the academic ladder as high as possible.

【答案解析】解析：1．翻译的总体时态宜选用一般过去时，这可以由“都下海了，当了个体商贩”看出来。难点在于对“难言之隐”“发财狂”“好高鹜远”等词语的翻译。 2．原文中虽然有“手指上戴的”“脖子上戴的”这样的字眼，但在翻译的时候可以不译出on their finger及ontheir neck这样的字眼，因为这些纯属为多余信息。“让……眼花缭乱”可以用dazzle一词表示。由于后面的句子有“透过这些东西”，因此，可以将“金戒指”和“精美项链”置于第一个分句句尾，并通过定语从句将前后两个分句连接起来。注意这里的“透过”应该译成behind而非though，因为behind含有“与表面看到的不一样的背后事实”之意。 3．skeletons in their cupboards是习语，指不可告人的家丑，此处借译“难言之隐”。“望而生畏退避三舍”译作be frightened away from．．．。这里的“发财狂”是指发财狂热，因此译为the craze for fortune。 4．“失望之余”实际上是指“由于失望，出于失望”，因此译为out of despair/disappointment，“孤独自处”就是指一个人呆着，没有与外界的接触，因此选用seclusion一词。这里的“孤独”是指外在的客观状态，不可理解成内心的孤独感之类的；“缺乏自信”译作diffidence。 5．“好高骛远”一词实际是同义并列，“好高”与“骛远”意义相同，翻译时译出其中一个的意思即可，可译成aimhigh。 6．译文最后将“学业”“学历”合并起来，使用了一个形象词汇the academic ladder，译文简洁到位。