问答题 If you're like most people, you may think you can keep away from advertising. You skip newspaper ads, never click on ads on the Internet and leave the room during TV commercials. But that is not necessarily true. Advertising works, which is why, even in hard economic times, Madison Avenue is a $34 billion-a-year business. And trying to tune this stuff out is about to get a whole lot harder. According to current studies, 83% of all forms of advertising principally engage only one of our senses: sight. Hearing, however, can be just as powerful, though advertisers have taken only limited advantage of it. Historically, ads have relied on short tunes and slogans to catch our ear, largely ignoring everyday sounds—a soda being popped, a baby laughing and other noises our bodies can't help paying attention to. Weave this stuff into an ad campaign, and we may be powerless to resist it.

【正确答案】正确答案：如果你和大多数人一样，你或许会以为自己能避开广告。你会跳过报纸上的广告，从不点击网页上的广告，并在电视插播广告时离开房间。但这并不表示我们真的避得开。即使在经济低迷时期，麦迪逊大街一年也有340亿美元的生意，原因就是广告确实是有用的。想要忽略这些广告恐怕比登天还难。根据目前的研究，在所有形式的广告中，83％的广告大都只吸引我们的一种感觉器官——视觉。但听觉的效果其实同样强大，不过广告商对听觉的利用还十分有限。一直以来，广告只借助短歌和广告词来吸引我们的耳朵，而在很大程度上忽略了日常生活中的声音——如开汽水的砰的声音、婴儿的笑声和其他一些我们的身体会不由自主地被吸引的响声。若是把这类东西融入到广告中，或许我们就真的无力抗拒了。

【答案解析】解析： 1．第二段第二句是一个带有非限制性定语从句的复合句。此处的which is why．．．意为“这就是……的原因”，翻译时注意理清因果关系，“广告有用”才是麦迪逊大街生意量大的原因。为了凸显广告的作用，翻译时可将插入语even in hard economic times移至句首，强调就算经济困难时期，广告还是作用很大。Madison Avenue is a $34 billion-a-year business直译成“麦迪逊大街是340亿美元一年的生意”不符合语义逻辑，此处的意思应该是一年有340亿美元的生意在麦迪逊大街上做成，所以此处可意译成“麦迪逊大街一年也有340亿美元的生意”。 2．第三段倒数第二句中，广告利用短歌和广告词明显不是想“抓住”我们的耳朵，而是要“吸引”我们的耳朵，因此catch这个熟词应取其“吸引(某人的兴趣)”之意。破折号后的内容是对前面everyday sounds的举例说明，翻译时若将a soda being popped和a baby laughing直译成“正在开启的发出砰的一声的汽水”和“正在笑的婴儿”，显得生硬不地道，也不能照应前面的everyday sounds起到举例说明这一作用，此处应从sounds“声响”这一角度进行处理，转译作“开汽水的砰的声音”和“婴儿的笑声”更合适。