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scale at the Nuremberg trials following World War II, and isnow employed by the United Nations as the usual method oflanguageswitching (Frishberg, 1990: 8). The emergence and development ofsimultaneous interpretation is to facilitate the growth of internationalorganizations after the Second World War and the international conferences inwhich several languages are used at the same time. The interpreter39。s role hasalso changed as he/she moves from a very visible, high profile position as aconsecutive interpreter to being a voice from a booth at the back of aconference venue. As interpreting developed, ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE DESINTERPRETES DE CONFERENCES (AIIC,國(guó)際會(huì)議譯員協(xié)會(huì))was set upin 1953 and became a proponent of better conditions for its members.Universities began offering courses of interpreting, which helped theinterpreter attain professional skills and status, and academics began to doresearch on interpreting. Conference interpreting continues to play animportant role around the world today both at the international level and at aregional level. China, with the advancement of its international status, thefrequency of its international contacts and the implementation of its opendoorpolicy, has achieved dramatic success as a socialist market economy, and thus has often bee the first choice for a lot of overseas investors and travelers. Under such circumstances, the interpreter has been entrusted with the historical responsibility of bridging the language and cultural barriers andenhancing international munication as an indispensable intermediary force.That is to say, the interpreter is provided with even more opportunities as wellas laid greater demands upon. So the interpreter should seize theseopportunities and take up the challenges boldly in order to contribute a greatdeal to the economic and cultural development of our country. Features Although interpretation and translation have quite similar requirementsfor interpreter39。/translator39。s knowledge base, a mastery of at least twolanguages, flexible use of information transfer techniques, etc., the twooperations, as a matter of fact, differ a great deal from one another.Interpretation, when pared with written translation, has its distinctivefeatures as follows. Firstly, extemporaneousness. To be specific, interpretation is anunpredictable, impromptu bilingual munication activity. On someinterpretation occasions, such as press conferences and international businessnegotiations, topics can vary a lot and thus are often quite unpredictable.Welltrained and experienced interpreters may try to make preparationbeforehand, but still things unexpected may crop up. What39。s more, the partiesconcerned often hope to express their thoughts without stopping and pass themon to each other as soon as possible, but the interpreter, as an intermediary, issure to interfere to a certain degree. In most cases, the two sides involved wishthat the interpreter does not take up too much of their time. Therefore, theinterpreter needs to be equipped with superb impromptu capability of reactionas well as fluent expression petence. Secondly, stressfulness. Interpretation is a task with great pressure. Theinterpreter generally works in a gathering of people (except in simultaneousinterpretation, where the interpreter is often isolated in a soundproof booth.),and is usually found in the center of a large group. Sometimes, interpretationoccasions are quite formal, serious and solemn, such as in an internationalconference and diplomatic talk, which usually brings great psychologicalpressure on less experienced interpreters. Emotional tension is sure to have aneffect on interpreters39。 selfconfidence and dulls their minds, and stage frightwill result in frequent slipsinterpreteratmosphere.isnot supposedof tongues. However, generally speaking, theto deliberately cover or conciliate the spotIt is his/her basic professional ethic to reflect the atmosphere as itis, no matter whether it is heated, depressive, grave or casual. Thirdly, independence. The interpreter has to be selfdependent. Usually,the interpreter in the whole interpretation process has no one to depend on, andhas to think on his/her own feet, with only seconds to choose the right words.Whenever problems crop up, he/she has no other way out but handle them atonce. He/she is seldom allowed to consult reference books or ask others forhelp during the interpreting process. To do so would mean stopping theproceedings and making everyone wait, which is very unprofessional. Theinterpreter must be responsible for his/her own interpretation, and mustinterpret everything as it is said. He/she literally has no time to evaluate, toreview, to edit, to correct, or to think things over: for thoughts take too muchtime. His/her choice of words is final, so he/she must be correct, for there islittle room for correcting mistakes once the interpreted version is uttered.Fourthly, prehensiveness. Interpretation requires prehensiveskills with relation to observing, listening, speaking, writing, reading, etc.Observing means that the interpreter is supposed to observe thosenonverbal factors including speakers39。 facial expression, gestures, bodypostures as well as emotional changes, etc.。 listening means that theinterpreter is supposed to hear and understand various accents and speecheswith different speed。 speaking means that the interpreter is supposed to havesmooth and efficient code switching between the source language and thetarget language。 writing means that the interpreter is supposed to take notesfleetly。 and reading means that the interpreter is supposed to read andunderstand the messages in sight interpretation. Various information sourcesand transmission channels not only bring certain difficulties, but also createdisadvantageous conditions, which require the interpreter to utilize his/herprehensive capabilities to handle. Fifthly, miscellaneousness. Interpretation requires knowledge of a widerange of fields. It is beyond doubt that interpretation is quite professional,which requires that the interpreter be equipped with good linguistic knowledge,fluency in bilingual expression as well as proficiency in interpretationpetence. However, in actual interpretation, it is a fact of life that theinterpreter will meet people from all walks of life, with different educationaland cultural backgrounds. This further requires the interpreter to be versatile.Certainly, nobody can boast himself or herself a master of everything, but justas Herbert puts it that a good interpreter should know something ofeverything, and everything of something(仲偉合,2003: 64). Category There are many different ways of classifying interpretation. According to