翻译题目

科举制(imperial examination system)是中国古代朝廷(imperial government)选拔官员的制度。它始于商朝(the Sui Dynasty)，历时1300多年直到清朝(the Qing Dynasty)。科举考试在中国古代教育史上长期占 有主导地位。在古代社会，因为阶级意识很强，下层民众很少有机会在朝廷谋职。“科举”评价体系让来自贫困家庭的孩子有机会参加政府考试，并为家庭带来荣誉。科举制被证明是比它之前的任何考试制度都更公平、影响更深远。

表达难点

1.第1句中定语“中国古代朝廷选拔官员”较长，故将其处理成that引导的定语从句，“选拔官员”作目的状语，用to select officials来表达。
2.第2、3句的逻辑主语都是“科举制度”，分别讲述科举制的发展及历史地位，意思联系紧密，故可考虑合译成一句，把第2句作为句子的主句，第3句处理成现在分词短语，做伴随状语。“占有”可直译作holding，但用enjoy—词来表示“享有……”的意义，表达更为生动。
3.翻译第4句中“下层民众很少有机会在朝廷谋职”时将否定的意义从“少有机会”转译到“很少有人”（few people），更符合英语的表达习惯。
4.倒数第2句中的谓语动词“让……有机会”可译成offer sth. to sb.或provide sb. with sth.的结构。注意句末的“并为家庭带来荣誉”是与“参加政府考试”并列，故处理为与to attend... exam并列的省略to的不定式。
5.最后一句的“科举制被证明......”在翻译时可套用prove to be句式，变被动形式为主动形式，或译为it is proved that...的句型。“它之前的任何考试制度”可直译为any other previous examination system或将 “它之前的”处理成“考试制度”的后置定语existing before it。

参考译文

The imperial examination system is the one that the imperial government adopted to select officials in ancient China. It was first put into practice in the Sui Dynasty and lasted more than
1300 years until the Qing Dynasty, enjoying a long and dominant position in the history of ancient Chinese education. In the ancient society, because of the strong class consciousness, few people from lower classes had the chance to get any position in the government. The "keju" evaluation system offered opportunities to children from poor families to attend the government exams and bring honor to their families. This system proved to be fairer and more far-reaching than any other examination system existing before it.