Section 1 英译汉 (60分)

按照法律规定，在英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士，家长一定要使自己的孩子在5岁至16岁期间在学校或其它地方接受全日制教育，在北爱尔兰则为4岁至16岁。大约93%的学生享受公家提供经费的免费教育，其他学生上独立学校，这种学校靠学生家长缴费来筹措经费。

许多三、四岁的孩子上幼儿园和幼儿班（在英格兰还有小学校里的小班）。某些民办的日托幼儿园和学前游戏小组（大都是家长组织的）也提供学前教育。

政府已作出承诺，要大力发展学前教育，使所有的儿童在开始上学的时候在识字和识数方面都有一点基础。在英格兰和威尔士，政府从1998年9月开始为所有4岁的孩子提供免费幼儿教育，如果他们的父母需要的话。政府还承诺，随后要分阶段实现为三岁的孩子提供免费幼儿教育的目标。为达到这些目标，地方教育当局与民间志愿办学者合作，已制定出“早期教育发展计划”。制订这类计划意在表明民办幼儿园、游戏小组和学校可以怎样通过合作来最好地为孩子和家长服务。从1999年4月起，早期教育发展组织和发展计划将扩大范围，以提供与早期教育相结合的优良的儿童保健。此外，政府还在英格兰与地方当局以及其它部门合作建立“优秀早期教育中心”，以展示教育与儿童保健方面的好的做法。

在苏格兰，地方教育当局一直领导这方面的工作。1998年8月以来，他们与民间志愿办学者合作，进行规划，协调学前教育，提供更多名额。政府计划在1998年冬季前使所有的儿童在上学前一年享受到良好的非全日制教育。

北爱尔兰义务教育入学年龄较低，为4岁，每年9月学生按统一日期入学。一项由教育局与图书馆管理局、其它法定办学单位和民间志愿办学者联合执行的学前教育发展计划已经增加了学前教育学生的名额。

Section 2 汉译英(40分)

It isn’t often that one has the chance to congratulate a noted woman writer on her 80th birthday. So on October 5 last year，when I went to Bing Xin’s house，I felt very excited. I explained that I hoped she would tell me something about how she became a poet. “I haven’t written poetry for many years,” she said smiling. “But I still love to read good poetry.”

Bing Xin was fortunate to have parents who encouraged her to study and write. When she was attending a women’s college in Beijing in 1919，an event occurred which changed the whole course of her life. That was the May 4th Movement，a patriotic democratic movement started by students in Beijing. The mass demonstrations made a deep impression on her. She threw herself into the struggle and was put in charge of publicity by the Student Union. She wrote poems，articles and stories，attacking imperialism and feudalism in its various forms.

Going to the U.S. in 1923 to study literature，she wrote down her impressions on the way and during her stay there. These were published in the collection To Little Readers. The book brought her instant fame，not only because she was a woman writer，but also because of the noble sentiments in the book. Quite a few younger writers say it was Bing Xin’s writings that started them on the road they have since followed.