新東方名師：點(diǎn)評2008年度考研英語翻譯題

　　本次考試試題來源于Mayo W. Hazeltine所寫的一篇學(xué)術(shù)評論，主題是關(guān)于達(dá)爾文在現(xiàn)代科學(xué)中的地位。

　　In his autobiography，Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary modesty. He points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but 46 he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations, He disclaimed the possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. 47 He asserts, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. 48 On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning.

　　This, he thought, could not be true, because the "Origin of Species" is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that "I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree."49 He adds humbly that perhaps he was "superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully."

　　Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kinds gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said: "Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry; I have tried lately to read Shakspeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets me thinking too energetically of what I have been at work on, instead of giving me pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did." 50 Darwin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character.

　　試題解析

　　46 he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations,

　　參考答案：

　　他相信，或許這種困難也有其好處，正是這種困難促使他能夠長時間專注地思考每一個句子;從而能夠在推理和自己的觀察中發(fā)現(xiàn)錯誤。

　　解析

　　本句屬于典型的長句題，篇幅長，結(jié)構(gòu)層疊，意在考察考生分析句子結(jié)構(gòu)的能力。

　　本句的句法結(jié)構(gòu)為主語、謂語加上以that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句，句子主干為he believes that….that從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是主語“this very difficulty ”加上含有情態(tài)動詞的謂語“may have” 及其賓語the….advantage of forcing…, and thus enabling…。Of后面forcing和enabling組成并列結(jié)構(gòu)，共同修飾advantage。并列結(jié)構(gòu)的后半部分中，出現(xiàn)了thus enabling…，考前充分研究過往年考題的同學(xué)不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個結(jié)構(gòu)和03年61題的thus subjecting…這個結(jié)構(gòu)幾乎完全相同，可以使用“從而“、”因而“等詞來處理。。

　　本題中的詞匯考點(diǎn)中絕大部分都是傳統(tǒng)考點(diǎn)。句子中的compensating 曾在97年75題出現(xiàn)過，advantage 在90年65題中考過，force在2000年73題中考過， observation在02年62題中考過。

　　47 He asserts, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics.

　　參考答案：達(dá)爾文還聲稱，對于冗長且完全抽象的思想，他的理解能力十分有限。因?yàn)檫@個原因，他確信自己在數(shù)學(xué)方面根本不會成功。

　　試題解析

　　本句主干結(jié)構(gòu)為主語he加上謂語asserts，后跟that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句。賓語從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是his power to… was…，其中不定式to引導(dǎo)的部分 follow …of thought做power的定語;而在for which reason所引導(dǎo)的非限制性定語從句中，又包含一個由that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句。for which reason引導(dǎo)非限定性定語從句，結(jié)構(gòu)復(fù)雜，信息量較大，應(yīng)該采用后置法翻譯，比較簡便的方法是翻譯為“由于這個原因”。

　　本題涉及到的詞匯中也有不少往年考點(diǎn)的重現(xiàn)。如abstract在03年65題考過，而reason，reasoning，reasoned，reasonable這類單詞考過無數(shù)次。Asserts 一詞，同46題中引出觀點(diǎn)的believe一詞，也曾反復(fù)考察過多次，功能相同�？荚~還有 argue, claim, contend, point out, state 等。

　　值得注意到是，雖然follow一詞以前也曾出現(xiàn)過(02年74題)，但是“理解”這個意思是第一次考察。

　　48 On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning.

　　參考答案

　　另一方面，有些評論認(rèn)為盡管達(dá)爾文善于觀察，卻并不善于推理。達(dá)爾文并不接受此種言論，認(rèn)為這是沒有根據(jù)的。

　　試題解析

　　本句篇幅最短，但是難度最大。相信許多同學(xué)在第一遍閱讀過這個句子的時候，將as well 理解為一個整體詞組，用于引導(dǎo)并列結(jié)構(gòu)。但是我們在課堂上所反復(fù)接觸過的并列結(jié)構(gòu)具備一個非常明顯的特點(diǎn)，就是并列成分的時態(tài)形式統(tǒng)一。而本句中，accept使用原型，founded 則是被動語態(tài)(將founded 理解為find的過去式的同學(xué)也大有人在，這是混淆了found作為動詞“找到”的過去式和動詞“建立”的原型之間意義區(qū)別的結(jié)果)。

　　其實(shí)，正確拆分本題的句法結(jié)構(gòu)后，我們可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個結(jié)構(gòu)與06年46、47題中連續(xù)出現(xiàn)的賓語和賓語補(bǔ)足語之間倒裝的結(jié)構(gòu)如出一轍。06年度題目中我們曾仔細(xì)分析過，謂語動詞后如果跟了篇幅較長的賓語，在英語中往往會將賓語后置，而將賓語補(bǔ)足語前提。本句就是典型的將“as well founded”前提到accept 之后，而正常的語序應(yīng)是 accept sth. as . 而accept的賓語charge這個詞之后的that引導(dǎo)的是一個同位語從句。

　　理解了這個最難的部分，其他的結(jié)構(gòu)就相對簡單很多了，而且多數(shù)是往年考點(diǎn)的重現(xiàn)。比如 on the other hand，在07年47題剛剛考察過;而由while引導(dǎo)的讓步狀語從句，while的意思等同于although, 也在99年61題等題目中間出現(xiàn)過。詞匯方面，critics在95年71題出現(xiàn)過。

　　49 He adds humbly that perhaps he was "superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully."

　　試題解析

　　第四句話，相對簡單一些，主干結(jié)構(gòu)仍然是賓語從句，其中包含了一個由which引導(dǎo)的定語從句。同46題一樣，本句中也有并列的分詞短語結(jié)構(gòu)，不過在此處應(yīng)該處理成“在做…事情的過程中”。這并不是一個新的考點(diǎn)，曾在99年63題中出現(xiàn)過。

　　參考答案

　　他謙遜地補(bǔ)充道，或許他“比普通人更能夠注意到那些容易忽視的細(xì)節(jié)，并對其進(jìn)行仔細(xì)的觀察”。

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