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I am finally about to submit my test. There is one thing, however, that boggles my mind. In this article about Theodore Roosevelt, here's the problematic segment:
"...I think it was a big problem for TR as to what to do because he believed himself I think all of his life inferior as a human being to his father. He had to go into politics in part because his father had been defeated by politics. That was his one defeat and then beaten by the bosses in a brief foray into politics at the end of his life and there was the one thing that Theodore Roosevelt could do that his father didn't. He beat the political boss."
The article says "that was his one defeat", and instead of telling about his one defeat, it continues with "and then", and right after that they say a sentence about this one defeat.
It seems to me this sentence would make more sense if they put a comma after "defeat", and revoke the "and then"... otherwise, what do they mean by "and then"? how does it modifies the sentence? it personally doesn't make any sense to me.
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> would make more sense
That is truly a god-awful piece of confusing crap! There is little clue as to what each referent might be (father or son?!) and the grammar is tortured in its confusion of tenses. I *think what is intended is a meaning something like this – but I could easily be wrong!
“I think it was a big problem for TR to know what to do because all through his life he believed himself to be an inferior human being to his father. In part he was motivated to go into politics precisely because his father had been defeated in politics: that was his father’s one defeat, confirmed by being beaten by the bosses in a brief foray back into politics at the end of his life. This was therefore the one thing the son could do that his father did not succeed at: TR could beat the political boss.”
hth!
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It does! "confirmed by"... yes, that's what the sentence means to say.
Thanks chief, and that is indeed a god-awful piece of confusing crap!
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And the application has been officially dispatched. Phew!
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Welcome. When do you get to hear results or any other feedback?
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I don't really know.. :-/ and actually I've been kinda kicking myself for not asking that in the meeting. I'm guessing, or hoping, that sometime in this next week. I'll give them a call tomorrow to make sure they got it, and incidentally ask them about the "results date". For anyone who wouldn't mind knowing I'll naturally post them here....sheesh this is stressful.
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...and of course I'm late... but I was just going to contribute something that you have probably already done, Logwood: with confusing, all-over-the-place text like this, I'd go to some trustworthy source (read encyclopaedia, biography, whatever), and check up on the facts of TR's father's life. That way you know at least what the text is trying to communicate and then you can work around the ambiguities and dreadful syntax... Do let us know how the results go! 
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Hola! thanks for chiming in, late or not. I normally would research about it (in the Wiki though! I choose comfort over credibility! ), but searching for an answer in this particular case may prove long and problematic, since the last part of the article is more about opinions than facts. At any rate, if I still fail this test after being so overly-pedantic then I may just better look for another career! FYI, they'll only have the results next week, so I got lots of time to bum around here. 
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Including that piece of crap writing was brilliant! Not every document that comes across a translator's desk is well written. When something like this comes along, you still have to translate it. "This is a piece of crap and I'll not translate it!" is not an acceptable option at times like that.
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Wull … On the other hand expecting someone who hasn't studied translating to be able to handle such a problem is too much in my opinion. This would seem to be a matter for advanced study. Ideally when one is presented with such nonsense one should be able to confront the author and find out what is meant. In the real world such luxuries are not always available and when doing simultaneous translation, as for speeches to multilingual audiences, not at all possible. Perhaps it was included just to see what the prospective student would do with it.
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