1. In the coming decades, Europe’s influence on affairs beyond its borders will be sharply limited, and it is in other regions, not Europe, that the 21st century will be most clearly forged and defined. Certainly, one reason for NATO’s increasing marginalization stems from the behavior of its European members. With NATO, critical decisions are still made nationally; much of the talk about a common defense policy remains just that — talk. There is little specialization or coordination. Missing as well are many of the logistical and intelligence assets needed to project military force on distant battlefields. With the Cold War and the Soviet threat a distant memory, there is little political willingness, on a country-by-country basis, to provide adequate public funds to the military.

在接下来的几十年里，欧洲对国际事务的影响力将会锐减，推动和定义21世纪的将是世界上的其他地区，绝非欧洲。诚然，北约不断被边缘化，部分原因归咎于它的欧洲成员国。在北约，各国独自做出重大决断；关于共同防御政策的谈判，到目前依然仅仅还是个谈判；分工协调微乎其微；将军事力量投放到遥远战场所需的许多后勤保障和情报资源也处于缺失状态。冷战和苏联威胁都已成为遥远的回忆，各国没有多少政治意愿向军队提供充足的公共资金。

2. Political and demographic changes within Europe, as well as the United States, also ensure that the transatlantic alliance will lose prominence. In Europe, the E.U. project still consumes the attention of many, but for others, especially those in southern Europe facing unsustainable fiscal shortfalls, domestic economic turmoil takes precedence. No doubt, Europe’s security challenges are geographically, politically and psychologically less immediate to the population than its economic ones. Mounting financial problems and the imperative to cut deficits are sure to limit what Europeans can do militarily beyond their continent. It is true that the era in which Europe and transatlantic relations dominated U.S. foreign policy is over.

欧洲内部及美国在政治和人口结构方面的变化也注定了这个跨大西洋联盟会失去其重要性。在欧洲，欧盟一体化方案仍然得到了许多国家的关注，但是对于其他国家来说，特别是对于欧洲南部出现难以为继的财政赤字的国家来说，国内的经济乱象却是列居首位的。无疑，欧洲的安全难题在地理、政治和心理方面对于欧洲人的影响都不像经济难题那么紧迫。日益突出的金融问题和削减赤字的必要性必定会限制欧洲各国在欧洲大陆以外所能采取的军事行动。确实，欧洲和跨大西洋关系主导美国外交政策的时代已经结束。

【解析】
本次高口英译汉考题来源于The Washington Post，原文题目为Why Europe No Longer Matters，主要讨论目前欧洲的政治经济影响力不断减弱的现状，难度适中。相信熟读国际时政新闻评论的同学对这个话题并不陌生，也相信许多考生在看到政治经济类的重点词汇marginalization，deficit，fiscal ，turmoil等等这些词时，会有抑制不住的兴奋。不过，想要把这两段话翻译出正式书面的预提，一些重点词汇和句子还是不可掉以轻心的，需要推敲琢磨。

先看看难词：
marginalization n. 边缘化
logistical adj. 后勤的
demographic adj. 人口的，人口统计学的
fiscal shortfalls 财政短缺
turmoil n. 混乱，骚动
precedence n. （在时间﹑ 顺序﹑ 行列等上）领先于某人/某事物的权利; 优先权
imperative n. 必要的事；紧急的事；必须履行的责任；需要；必要性

难句：
第一段中，“With NATO, critical decisions are still made nationally”这里要吃透原文的意思，nationally的翻译要恰当，这里指的是北约各自的成员国各自决策自己国家的事务。另外，specialization（专业化，专门化）在这里的翻译可以体现出考生的水平。接下来是第一段中的难句Missing as well are many of the logistical and intelligence assets needed to project military force on distant battlefields.为防止主语部分过长放在句首而造成英语句子的头重脚轻，这句话采用了全部倒装，主语many of the logistical and intelligence assets needed to project military force on distant battlefields，many of the logistical and intelligence assets是主语的主干部分，needed to project military force on distant battlefields过去分词短语作后置定语修饰needed to project military force on distant battlefields，恢复为正常语序，该句为Many of the logistical and intelligence assets needed to project military force on distant battlefields are missing as well.

第二段中较难翻译的部分如：第二句中的consumes the attention of many和unsustainable，第三句中，immediate和population（注意这里指某国的人，而非人口）英文用词形象生动，翻译时很容易造成了解句意，但却找不到合适的词来表达的情况。这里也提醒考生平时在阅读正式文体（尤其是新闻时评类文章）时对正式性、恰当性用词的积累，考生翻译时要注意斟酌用词。