對話口譯譯文如下：

Visiting the University Town

Mr. Chen: Mr. Johnson, now we have entered the Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, also known as the Guangzhou University Town. It is positioned as the first-class higher learning institution park in the whole nation, the center for advanced talents cultivation, scientific research and academic exchanges in South China and a new urban area in line with the market economic system in the 21st century as well as Guangzhou's position as an internationalized regional center.

約翰遜：我此次訪問廣州，在參觀幾所本地大學(xué)的時(shí)候，聽到了許多關(guān)于廣州大學(xué)城的情況。陳主任，這地方看上去非常不錯(cuò)。我特別喜歡大學(xué)城被珠江環(huán)繞?？瓷先ニ溆谝粋€(gè)小島上面，是嗎？

Mr. Chen: Exactly! The Guangzhou University Town locates on Xiaoguwei Island 20 kilometers south to the center of urban Guangzhou. 3 years ago, Xiaoguwei Island nothing more than an island in the Pearl River, unknown to the general public of Guangzhou. In March 2001, this island, together with the 43.3 square kilometers of land on its south bank became the land planned for the Guangzhou University Town.Construction started here in October 2003 and only 10 months later, in August2004, the first stage of the construction project was completed. After the end of August that year, more than 38,000 students and 4000 teachers moved by groups into their respective campuses in the University Town and started the new academic year.

約翰遜：我簡直無法相信這座大學(xué)城的工程僅僅用了十個(gè)月時(shí)間！這是又一個(gè)極具說服力的例子，證明了中國的發(fā)展速度。你們確實(shí)創(chuàng)造了許多奇跡。我就讀于英國劍橋大學(xué)，我的母校也被稱為“大學(xué)城”，但和你們的大學(xué)城相比規(guī)模小多了。廣州大學(xué)城共有多少所大學(xué)？

Mr. Chen: The University Town is home to ten major higher learning institutions in Guangdong Province, namely， Sun Yat-Sen University, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, South China Normal University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, and Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. Within the University Town, high degrees of teaching and information resource sharing can be achieved.

約翰遜：不錯(cuò)！大學(xué)城集中了文科和理科的院校，一定能夠創(chuàng)建全面而廣泛的教育體系。這對學(xué)生絕對是個(gè)好消息。//建設(shè)如此大規(guī)模的大學(xué)城，地方政府一定投入巨大。如果沒有政府的支持，是很難取得如此大的成績的。

Mr. Chen: In recent years, it has been a fashion throughout China to build university towns. In the construction of the Guangzhou University Town, we have not only drawn from others' successful experiences,, but also learned from those not so successful examples. The Guangzhou Municipal Government has made huge investment of up to 32 billion yuan. With such a large investment, 18 square kilometers of construction site in the first stage of the project and over 2,300,000 square kilometers of campus and urban facilities under construction, the construction of the University Town is equal to that of a medium size city.

約翰遜：聽起來很不簡單！陳主任，我想知道廣州市政府為什么決定要建設(shè)如此巨大的工程。您知道，我參觀過中山大學(xué)、華南理工大學(xué)和廣東外語外貿(mào)大學(xué)。這些大學(xué)都很大，而且校園和校舍設(shè)計(jì)很精良。那為什么地方政府還要做如此大的投入，來興建大學(xué)城呢？

Mr. Chen: That's a good question! The main reason for building such a university town is that higher education in Guangdong Province has achieved great leaps forward in recent years. Since China's reform and opening-up, Guangdong has created many miracles in its economic and social development. However, the province still lags behind in terms of the proportion of university students in the total population. Take 2002 as an example, gross enrolment rate of higher learning institutions was on 15.3% in Guangdong, only 0.3% over the national average and much lower than 25% in Jiangsu Province and 20% in Zhejiang Province. This is certainly not in conformity with Guangdong's position as a major economic power in China.In the past few years, our province has attached great importance to the development of higher education. In 2003, gross enrolment rate of higher learning institutions increased to 17.5%. and in 2004, with the completion of the University Town, this figure was close to 20%, which was set as the goal for Guangdong's higher education development plan for 2005.Higher learning institutions throughout the province admitted 278,000 students, 50,000 more than 2003. To solve the ensuing problems brought about by this sharp increase of higher education scale, we realized that constructing the University Town is our best option.

約翰遜：我明白了。我認(rèn)為你們做出了明智的選擇。對任何一個(gè)政府而言，直面存在的問題并且妥善處理，都不是一件容易的事情。廣東省政府和廣州市政府顯然拿出了魄力來解決高等教育的問題。入學(xué)率的提升是非常顯著的。我預(yù)言廣東省不僅將維持其經(jīng)濟(jì)強(qiáng)省的地位，也會(huì)在不久的將來成為高等教育大省。

Mr. Chen: I really appreciate your prediction. However, at present, the University Town still faces some problems. For example, with the second stage of construction underway, libraries and sports facilities are mostly lacking. Some dormitories still has irregular Internet connecting services and even water supplies. The whole University Town seems quite deserted. Since it is 40 minutes' to an hour's bus ride away from downtown Guangzhou, students and teachers find it quite inconvenient to travel into and out of the University Town.

約翰遜：陳主任，這不奇怪。如此大規(guī)模的工程是非常復(fù)雜的。不過，好的開端是成功的一半。我相信在你們的努力下，大學(xué)城的進(jìn)展一定會(huì)越來越順利。

Mr. Chen: I totally agree with you, Mr. Johnson. We are working hard to solve these problems. In terms of transportation, we have already started 12 bus lines within the island and 12 bus lines linking the island with the outside. The second stage of construction, which involves up to 2,800,000 square meters, was started in early July 2004 and is expected to have been completed by the end of 2005. At that time, the University Town will further accommodate 140,000 to 150,000 students. The construction projects of stadiums, gymnasiums and cultural facilities of various higher learning institutions is scheduled to start in early 2005 and complete and the end of the year.

約翰遜：我剛說過，廣東人民創(chuàng)造了許多奇跡。你們還有很多工作要做，我祝你們好運(yùn)！