The translator must have an excellent,up-to-date knowledge of his 11 languages, full facility in the handlingof his target language, which will be his mother tongue or language of habitualuse, and knowledge and understanding of the 12 subject-matter in his field ofspecialization. This is, as it were, his professional equipment. In addition tothis, it is desirable that he should have an 13 mind, wide interests, a good memory and the ability to grasp quicklythe basic principles of new developments. He should be willing to work on hisown, often at high speeds, but should be humble enough to 14 othersshould his own knowledge not always prove adequate to the task in hand. He shouldbe able to type fairly quickly and accurately and, if he is working mainly forpublication, should have more than a nodding 15 with printing techniques andproof-reading. If he is working basically as an information translator, let ussay, for an industrial firm, he should have the flexibility of mind to enablehim to 16 rapidly from one sourcelanguage to another, as well as from one subject-matter to another, since thisability is frequently required of him in such work. Bearing in mind the natureof the translator′s work, i.e. the processing of the written word, it is,strictly speaking, 17 that he should be able to speak the languages heis dealing with. If he does speak them, it is an 18 rather than a hindrance, but this skillis in many ways a luxury that he can do away with. It is, however, desirablethat he should have an approximate idea about the pronunciation of his sourcelanguages even if this is restricted to 19 how proper names and placenames are pronounced. The same applies to an ability to write his sourcelanguages. If he can, well and good; if he cannot, it does not matter. Thereare many other skills and 20 that are desirable in a translator.
第18题选
A.priority
B.drawback
C.advantage
D.competence