问答题 August was once a time for dreaming, wandering the empty streets of this city, reading silly-season newspaper stories after a leisurely lunch, gazing at squares where fountains plashed and the pregnant or the old chatted on benches at dusk. Then something happened. The world speeded up. Stress levels soared. Idle moments evaporated. Egos expanded. Money outpaced politics. Rage surged. August aborted this year. It morphed into the serious season. The beach lost out to the barricades. A time of outrage is upon us. Now a feeling has grown in Western societies that uncontrollable forces are at work shrinking possibility. History has never seen a global power shift as radical as the current one that managed to be peaceful.
Growth, jobs, expansion, excitement—and, yes, possibility—lie in the great non-Western arc from China through India to South Africa and Brazil. The world has been turned upside-down. What we are witnessing is how shaken Western societies are by such inversion. As new powers emerge, globalization has altered the relationship between capital and labor in the former's favor. Returns on capital have proved higher relative to wages. The gap between rich and poor has become a gulf. The only people who walked away unscathed from the great financial binge were its main architects and greatest beneficiaries: such as bankers and financiers. This, too, is fueling a time of outrage that has left Western politicians chasing shadows.

【正确答案】八月曾经是一段梦想的时光，任你倘佯在这座城市空荡荡的街道上，悠闲地享用午餐后读读无聊季节无重大新闻的报纸，黄昏时分两眼凝视着广场发呆，此时广场上喷泉飞溅，孕妇或老人则坐在长凳上闲聊。

【答案解析】[解析] 本例为一结构较简单的长句，句式为(it)was a time for doing…doing…doing…doing…，最后一个现在分词短语的宾语squares后跟了两个由where引导的定语从句，汉语可拆句译出。汉语译文加上了原文省略的逻辑主语“你”，符合汉语的表达。注意silly-season newspaper stories的翻译。

问答题 Then something happened. The world speeded up. Stress levels soared. Idle moments evaporated. Egos expanded. Money outpaced politics. Rage surged. August aborted this year. It morphed into the serious season. The beach lost out to the barricades. A time of outrage is upon us.

【正确答案】世界的节奏加快。人们紧张的程度激增。悠闲的时光随即消逝。自我意识膨胀。敛财超过了政治。民众的愤怒情绪迸发。//今年的八月泡汤了，变成了一个严峻的时节。路障取代了海滩。我们遭遇了一个愤怒的时期。

【答案解析】[解析] 本例共有11个短句，语句短小，有力地表达了作者欲传递的意思，从句式角度看翻译难度似略有降低，但几个动词(短语)的汉译仍值得关注，有一定的挑战性，如outpace，abort，morph into，lose out to。Stress levels soared．也可简译为“压力/紧张水平急剧上升。”

问答题 Now a feeling has grown in Western societies that uncontrollable forces are at work shrinking possibility. History has never seen a global power shift as radical as the current one that managed to be peaceful.

【正确答案】不可控制的力量正在起作用，从而减少了各种可能性。这种感觉在西方社会越来越强烈。历史上全球性力量转移从未像当前这样激进，而这种转移曾经以和平方式进行。//

【答案解析】[解析] 本例两句均为复合句，前句中的that从句为对主语a feeling的补充说明，其中的分词短语shrinking possibility相当于一定语从句(=which shrink possibility)，修饰uncontrollable forces。后句that从句用于修饰主句宾语global power shift。汉语均可拆句分译。主句动词has seen为英语的习惯比喻说法，汉译多略去这一比喻。

问答题 Growth, jobs, expansion, excitement—and, yes, possibility—lie in the great non-Western arc from China through India to South Africa and Brazil. The world has been turned upside-down. What we are witnessing is how shaken Western societies are by such inversion.

【正确答案】增长、就业、发展、兴奋——是的，还有可能性——都在非西方国家，即由中国经印度到南非、巴西的一个弧形圈。世界已经颠倒了过来。我们目睹的是西方社会如何被这一翻天覆地的变化所动摇。

【答案解析】[解析] 本例前两句为简单句，一长一短。第三句为并不长的复合句，但含一主语从句What we are witnessing和一表语从句how shaken Western societies are by such inversion。注意二、三句的(turned)upside-down和such inversion在逻辑和语义上的对应关系。用成语“翻天覆地”译inversion是一不错的表达。

问答题 As new powers emerge, globalization has altered the relationship between capital and labor in the former's favor. Returns on capital have proved higher relative to wages. The gap between rich and poor has become a gulf.

【正确答案】在新兴力量崛起之际，全球化已经改变了资本和劳动力的关系，使之对资本有利。资本的收益证明比工资要高的多。贫富差距已变成鸿沟。

【答案解析】[解析] 本例三句话，仅第一句为复合句。注意labor一词在此类语境中多指“劳动力，劳方”，因此capital and labor的常见表达labor and capital一般译成“劳资双方”。

问答题 The only people who walked away unscathed from the great financial binge were its main architects and greatest beneficiaries: such as bankers and financiers. This, too, is fueling a time of outrage that has left Western politicians chasing shadows.

【正确答案】从这场金融狂热中安然脱身且毫发未损的，只是其主要的设计者和最大的受益人：诸如银行家和金融家等。这也滋长了一个义愤时代的出现，使得西方政客们不知所措。

【答案解析】[解析] 本例两句均为复合句，前句含一由who引导的定语从句修饰主语，后句则含一由that引导的结果状语从句。本句中的几个词unscathed，binge，fueling等都采用了其比喻用法，注意汉语翻译与之的对应程度，如unscathed和“毫发未损”均为比喻，但喻体形式不一。chase shadows一般译成“捕风捉影”、“徒劳”，这里译的“茫然不知所措”也是一不错的选择。