TRANSLATOR’S CHALLENGE
[Time allotment: 60 minutes]
Student’s name: Lê Ngọ c Bích
Student ID: 21041306
Part 1 (40 points): Translate the following sentences into Vietnamese, paying greater attention to
the underlined phrases:
No. Source text
1 Vietnam and Cambodia have expressed
satisfaction at new progress made in their
relations since the establishment of the Royal
Government, and both pledged to do their best
to further improve the traditional friendship
and multi-faceted cooperation between them.
2 Though it has been used in China to treat pain
for thousands of years, acupuncture still makes
many Western doctors uneasy. Dr. Bruce
Pomeranz, a University of Toronto
neurophysiologist, has a more plausible
explanation: acupuncture may stimulate the
release of the body's own natural painkillers
endorphins which act something like morphine.
3 Over the last 40 years, general education has
made sizable contributions to training
students for university studies, with an average
turnout of 4.000 successful candidates every
year.
Further, the recognition that numerous local
high school students have received in national
and international competitions bears testimony
to the quality of teaching in general education
schools.
4 That language is highly complex is shown by
the fact that up to now has not proved possible
to translate mechanically from one language to
another, with really satisfactory results. The best
programmed computer still cannot consistently
translate from, say, Russian into English.
Target text
Việt Nam và Campuchia bà y tỏ sự hà i lò ng về
nhữ ng tiến triển mớ i đạ t đượ c trong quan hệ
kể từ khi thà nh lậ p Chính phủ Hoà ng gia,
đồ ng thờ i cam kết nỗ lự c hết sứ c để nâ ng cao
hơn nữ a quan hệ hữ u nghị truyền thố ng và
hợ p tá c nhiều mặ t giữ a hai nướ c.
Mặ c dù nó đã đượ c sử dụ ng ở Trung Quố c
để điều trị cơn đau từ hà ng ngà n nă m nay
nhưng châ m cứ u vẫ n khiến nhiều bá c sĩ
phương Tâ y lo lắ ng. Tiến sĩ Bruce
Pomeranz, nhà sinh lý họ c thầ n kinh củ a
Đạ i họ c Toronto, có lờ i giả i thích hợ p lý
hơn: châ m cứ u có thể kích thích giả i
phó ng endorphin, loạ i thuố c giả m đau tự
nhiên củ a cơ thể, có tá c dụ ng giố ng như
morphin.
Trong 40 nă m qua, giá o dụ c phổ thô ng đã
có nhữ ng đó ng gó p đá ng kể trong việc
đà o tạ o sinh viên và o đạ i họ c, vớ i số
lượ ng ứ ng viên trú ng tuyển trung bình là
4.000 mỗ i nă m.
Hơn nữ a, sự cô ng nhậ n mà nhiều họ c sinh
trung họ c địa phương đã đạ t đượ c trong
cá c cuộ c thi quố c gia và quố c tế là minh
chứ ng cho chấ t lượ ng giả ng dạ y ở cá c
trườ ng giá o dụ c phổ thô ng.
Ngô n ngữ đó rấ t phứ c tạ p đượ c thể hiện ở
chỗ cho đến nay vẫ n chưa chứ ng minh
đượ c khả nă ng dịch mộ t cá ch má y mó c từ
ngô n ngữ nà y sang ngô n ngữ khá c vớ i kết
quả thự c sự khả quan. Má y tính đượ c lậ p
trình tố t nhấ t vẫ n khô ng thể dịch mộ t
 cá ch nhấ t quá n từ tiếng Nga sang tiếng
Anh.

Part 2 (60 points): Translate the following texts into Vietnamese, paying greater attention to the
phrases in bold:

Source text Target text

THE MEKONG DELTA LEGEND AND
HISTORY
Legend of Funan
The Kingdom of Funan, the earliest civilization
to occupy the Mekong Delta, rose to power
through a successful blend of local culture and
Indian influence. Long ago, so legend has it,
there was a waterlogged land where in lived a
princess, the daughter of a Naga king. One day
a young Brahman named Kaundinya appeared
at the shore. The princess went to greet the
stranger, and as she approached he shot an
arrow from a magic bow into her boat.
Frightened, she surrendered herself to him.
They were married and Kaundinya became
master of the watery realm. As a dowry, the
Naga king drank up the water that covered the
country so that his new son-in-law might
cultivate the soil.

Historical struggle for national survival

The delta's calm, bucolic appearance belies
what has at times been a violent past. From the
days of the Nguyen Lords it was an area of
conquest and settlement, and later
resettlement as populations were shifted in
the periodic upheavals of Vietnam's turbulent
history.
"The delta is the haziest area of all... It's hairy
to operate down there" was how one US Army
general described it. In more flamboyant style,
a 1968 National Geographic article
commented: "War, on any battlefield is a
nightmare. The Mekong Delta compounds the
horror. To fight here means tortuous
slogging through snake-ridden swamps,
where sucking mud grips the legs like wet
concrete. The opposition may be only five feet
away, yet unseen in the thick jungle."
Today, with the fertile delta once again
flourishing, it is hard to believe that modern
warfare once turned this placid countryside
into a nightmare.