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Ireland is a sovereign state in western Europe, occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, whose metropolitan area is home to around a quarter of the country’s 4.6 million inhabitants. The state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic with an elected president serving as head of state. The head of government is nominated by the lower house of parliament.
愛爾蘭是西歐主權(quán)國家，面積占愛爾蘭島的 5/6，僅與北愛爾蘭接壤。首都都柏林是最大的城市，人口約為全國 460萬人口的 1/4。愛爾蘭是單一制議會制共和國，總統(tǒng)由選舉產(chǎn)生并擔(dān)任國家元首，政府首腦則由眾議院提名產(chǎn)生。

【注釋1】
Unitary: 有參考譯文翻譯為 “中央集權(quán)制”，這里個人感覺“單一制”更貼切一些。百度能搜到不少愛爾蘭是中央集權(quán)的表述，但可靠度有待考證。

以維基百科 對 unitary state 的解釋來看，其相對詞匯為 federations，而且unitary state 也包括意大利，意大利則是非中央集權(quán)國家，所以“中央集權(quán)”這個詞義可能不太合適。

“地方分權(quán)型國家也稱非中央集權(quán)型國家。主要代表是實行地方自治的意大利、英國、瑞典、挪威等?！?/p>

【注釋2】
Sovereign state 主權(quán)國家，指擁有獨立主權(quán)的國家。主權(quán)國家是國際社會的最基本成員。世界上共有195個主權(quán)國家，包括193個聯(lián)合國會員國和2個聯(lián)合國觀察員國（巴勒斯坦和梵蒂岡）。

Following the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty, Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. Initially a dominion, Ireland received official British recognition of full legislative independence in the Statute of Westminster of 1931. A new constitution was adopted in 1937, by which the name of the state became “Ireland.” In 1949, Ireland was declared a republic under the Republic of Ireland act 1948.
愛爾蘭獨立戰(zhàn)爭以及隨后的《英愛條約》簽署之后，愛爾蘭于1922年脫離聯(lián)合王國獲得獨立。獨立之初，愛爾蘭只是一個自治領(lǐng)，1931年英國議會通過《威斯敏斯特條例》，其完整的獨立立法權(quán)才得到英國正式承認。1937年，愛爾蘭制定，新憲法定國名為愛爾蘭。1949年，愛爾蘭通過《1948年愛爾蘭共和國法案》，宣布成為共和國。

Ireland ranks among the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita. In 1973, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth, coupled with a dramatic rise in inequality. The country achieved considerable prosperity from 1995 to 2007. This was halted by an unprecedented financial crisis that began in 2008, in conjunction with the concurrent global economic crash.
按人均GDP來看，愛爾蘭位居全世界最富有國家之列。1973 年，愛爾蘭頒布了一系列自由經(jīng)濟政策，推動了經(jīng)濟快速增長，也導(dǎo)致社會不平等問題加劇。1995 年至 2007 年，愛爾蘭經(jīng)濟蓬勃發(fā)展。然而，隨著 2008 年空前的金融危機與世界經(jīng)濟崩潰，這一良好經(jīng)濟展勢頭戛然而止。

In 2011 and 2013 Ireland was ranked as the seventh-most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. It also performs well in several metrics of national performance, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. It pursues a policy of neutrality through non-alignment.
2011年和2013年，根據(jù)《聯(lián)合國人類發(fā)展指數(shù)報告》，愛爾蘭成為世界第七大最發(fā)達國家。在其他多個國家評價指標中排名也非常出色，包括新聞出版自由、經(jīng)濟自由、公民自由。該國遵循不結(jié)盟的中立外交政策。

The population of Ireland stood at 4,588,252 in 2011, an increase of 8.2% since 2006. As of 2011, Ireland had the highest birth rate in the European Union (16 births per 1,000 of population). In 2012, 35.1% of births were to unmarried women. Annual population growth rates exceeded 2% during the 2002-2006 period, which was attributed to high rates of natural increase and immigration. This rate declined somewhat during the subsequent 2006-2011 period, with an average growth rate of 1.6%.
2011年，愛爾蘭總?cè)丝谶_到4,588,252，相比2006年增長了8.2%。截止2011，愛爾蘭擁有歐盟最高的出生率：16‰。2012年，未婚先孕而出生的新生兒占35.1%。2002年至2006年期間，年人口增長率超過2%，原因是較高的自然增長率以及移民涌入。2006年至2011年期間增長率略微下降，平均增長率為1.6%。

【注釋3】數(shù)字的書寫規(guī)范：如果一個數(shù)值很大，數(shù)值中的“萬”“億”單位可以采用漢字數(shù)字，其余部分采用阿拉伯數(shù)字。 示例1：我國1982年人口普查人數(shù)為10億零817萬5 288人 （國家標準 GBT15835－2011代替GBT15835－1995）

Ireland ranks fifth in the world in terms of gender equality. In 2011, Ireland was ranked the most charitable country in Europe, and second most charitable in the world. Contraception was controlled in Ireland until 1979, however, the receding influence of the Catholic Church has led to an increasingly secularized society . In 1983, the Eighth Amendment recognized “the right to life of the unborn”, subject to qualifications concerning the “equal right to life” of the mother. The passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, guaranteeing the right to have an abortion performed abroad, and the right to learn about “services” that are illegal in Ireland but legal abroad. The prohibition on divorce in the 1937 Constitution was repealed in 1995 under the Fifteenth Amendment. Divorce rates in Ireland are very low compared to European Union averages while the marriage rate in Ireland is slightly above the European Union average。
在性別平等方面，愛爾蘭排名世界第五。2011年，愛爾蘭獲評歐洲最慈善國家，世界第二大最慈善國家。1979之前，愛爾蘭控制避孕藥使用，但由于天主教教會影響日漸衰微，愛爾蘭社會越來越世俗化。1983年，愛爾蘭第八憲法修正案確立“未出生的胎兒享有生命權(quán)”，胎兒同母親具有“同等生命權(quán)利”。第十三以及第十四修正案通過后，公民開始享有在國外墮胎的權(quán)利，并享有了解、獲取相關(guān)“服務(wù)”信息的權(quán)利，這種服務(wù)在國外合法，但在愛爾蘭是非法的。1937年憲法禁止公民離婚，1995年第十五修正案廢除了這一條目。與歐盟平均水平相比，愛爾蘭離婚率非常低。同時，結(jié)婚率略高于歐盟平均水平。

【注釋 4 】“the right to life of the unborn” 的意思

參考資料：愛爾蘭議會通過歷史性法案允許有限合法墮胎：愛爾蘭國內(nèi)強大的反墮胎力量源于其深厚的天主教背景。1861年，《愛爾蘭人身傷害法》禁止在愛實施墮胎，提出以及執(zhí)行墮胎均將面臨刑事處罰。1983年，愛爾蘭第8憲法修正案確立未出生嬰兒享受與自然人一樣的法律地位。

【注釋5 】learn about 如何翻譯？
結(jié)合文章背景，搜索愛爾蘭憲法+修正案，基本沒有對應(yīng)結(jié)果。只能搜英文版，正好可以查到維基百科的介紹。從介紹中則可以了解這句話的意思。

Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland： The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland specified that the prohibition of abortion would not limit the right to distribute information about abortion services in foreign countries. It was effected by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1992, which was approved by referendum on 25 November 1992 and signed into law on the 23 December of the same year.

Capital punishment is constitutionally banned in Ireland, while discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, religion, race is illegal.
愛爾蘭憲法禁止死刑，此外，年齡、性別、性取向、婚姻、家庭狀況、宗教等方面的歧視都是非法的。

【注釋6】 Based on 可以略去

Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce an environmental levy for plastic shopping bags in 2002 and a public smoking ban in 2004. Recycling in Ireland is carried out extensively and Ireland has the second highest rate of packaging recycling in the European Union.
愛爾蘭在2002年率先對塑料購物袋使用征收環(huán)境稅，2004年又成為第一個推行公眾場所禁煙令的國家。愛爾蘭廣泛實施廢物循環(huán)利用，并已成為歐盟包裝循環(huán)利用率第二高的國家。

【全篇解析】：文章語法結(jié)構(gòu)方面難度不算太大，難點主要在于歷史、政治背景知識。語言表達也是很重要的方面，不少考友譯文版本意思沒錯，但行文不夠流暢，一些數(shù)字等方面的表述也不太規(guī)范。實際考試時沒有辦法去查閱背景資料，能做到的只能是盡可能保證理解無誤、表達清晰地道，這也是平時更應(yīng)注意和提高的地方。以上譯文及解析僅供參考，如有批評建議，歡迎指正。