2017年12月英语六级翻译预测：中国家庭教育

　　请将下面这段话翻译成英文：

家庭教育问题自古以来就是人们关注的焦点，但被作为一种学科进行研究，在我国也只是近年来的事情。这是时代发展、人才需求、国民整体素质提高所必须涉及的问题。有人曾把儿童比作一块大理石，说把这块大理石塑造成一座雕像需要六位雕塑家：1.家庭;2.学校;3.儿童所在的集体;4.儿童本人;5.书籍;6.偶然出现的因素。从排列顺序上看，家庭位列首位，可以看得出家庭在塑造儿童的过程中起到很重要的作用。

　　参考翻译:

Since ancient times,family education has been thefocus of people’s attention,but it is only in recentyears that it has been studied as a discipline inChina.This is an inevitable issue relating to thedevelopment of the times,the demand of talents andthe improvement of the overall quality of the nation.Someone once compared children to apiece of marble,saying that,to shape the marble into a statue,six sculptors are required:firstly,family,secondly,schools;thirdly,the group children belong to;fourthly,children themselves;fifthly,books;sixthly,occasional factors.Judging from the order,we can see family ranksfirst,which means femily plays a very important role in the process of cultivating children.

1.这是时代发展、人才需求、国民整体素质提高所必须涉及的问题：翻译时可以适当转换，把“必须涉及的”转换成“不可避免的”。另外，翻译此类列举的长句时，要先抓住并译出主干，然后依次翻译各修饰成分即可。本句的主干是“这是必须涉及的问题”，故该句翻译为This is an inevitable issuerelated to the development of the times,the demandof talents and the improvement of the overallquality of the nation.

2.把...比作：可译为compare...to。compare with则表示“与...相比”，而do not compare with则表示“比不上...”。

3.把这块大理石塑造成一座雕像需要六位雕塑家：可以适当变通，译成被动语态，故本句可译为to shapethe marble into a statue,six sculptors are required。

4.偶然出现的因素：可译为occasional factors。

5.家庭位列首位：可译为family ranks first其中rank first意为“排第一，名列第一，位居第一”。

6.在塑造儿童的过程中：可译为in the process of cultivating children。“塑造”即“培养”，译为cultivate。