第一篇:考研英语翻译:心有灵犀一点通
凯程考研辅导班,中国最强的考研辅导机构,http://www.xiexiebang.com
考研就找凯程考研,学生满意,家长放心,社会认可!
考研英语翻译:心有灵犀一点通
记得刚学英语那会,第一次听到别的菜鸟把那句着名的学习口号翻译成“Good good study, day day up”我们都乐翻了,后来又有人充分发挥汉语特长,发展出“Give you some colour see see”之类的牛言壮语,尽开些让中国人会心一笑、外国人莫名其妙的“国际玩笑”。在课堂上我们一直被告诫,中英思维方式差异很大,稍不留神就会犯“中国式英语”的错误,比如“加油”不能说“add oil”,“红茶”不是“red tea”,似乎中英转换总要“指鹿为马”一番才能说地道了。难道中英文里就没有长得像的地方?错了,要是这样想简直就是浪费脑细胞。
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其实,中英思维常常心有灵犀一点通,要能把这些“想到一块去”的地方都记住,就等于只要说中国式的英语就是在说地道的英语,多省事啊!
看看下面这些地道的翻译,也许我们会很惊讶:原来中国人和英国人还真能想到一块去啊!呵呵,这年头,就算是老中和老外的样子长得很像都没什么值得奇怪的呢,没听说还有人力荐巴西名模出演林黛玉吗?好了,如果这些翻译能让你印象深刻,并且能让你在今后想用到它们的时候手到擒来,那也许这只是一次抛砖引玉,以后你自己会搜集到更多“巴西出产的林黛玉”,轻轻松松地就把英语说地道了。
黑市——black market
丢脸——lose face
坏蛋——a bad egg
玩火——play with fire
伤感情——wound the feeling
见世面——see the world
泼冷水——throw cold water on
酸葡萄——sour grape
纸老虎——paper tiger
新鲜血液——new blood
连锁反应——chain reaction
黄金时代——golden age
空中楼阁——castle in the air
沧海一粟——a drop in the ocean
两面派的——double-faced
打破纪录——break the record
火上加油——add fuel to the flame
混水摸鱼——fish in troubled water
穿针引线——thread a needle
大开眼界——open the eyes of sb.全心全意——heart and soul
束之高阁——be put on the shelf 凯程考研,考研机构,10年高质量辅导,值得信赖!以学员的前途为已任,为学员提供高效、专业的服务,团队合作,为学员服务,为学员引路。凯程考研辅导班,中国最强的考研辅导机构,http://www.xiexiebang.com
考研就找凯程考研,学生满意,家长放心,社会认可!
以牙还牙——a tooth for a tooth
以眼还眼——an eye for an eye
趁热打铁——strike the iron while it is hot
祸不单行——misfortunes never come singly
漆黑一团——be completely in the dark
洗手不干——wash one's hands of
公开的秘密——open secret
伤某人的心——break one's heart
武装到牙齿——armed to the teeth
铁石心肠的——marble-hearted
一脚进黄土——have one foot in the grave
捧到天上去——praise to the sky
被牵着鼻子走——be led by the nose
出现在地平线上——appear on the horizon
戴有色眼镜看人——look through coloured spectacles
只见树木不见森林——cannot see the wood for the trees 凯程教育:
凯程考研成立于2005年,国内首家全日制集训机构考研,一直从事高端全日制辅导,由李海洋教授、张鑫教授、卢营教授、王洋教授、杨武金教授、张释然教授、索玉柱教授、方浩教授等一批高级考研教研队伍组成,为学员全程高质量授课、答疑、测试、督导、报考指导、方法指导、联系导师、复试等全方位的考研服务。凯程考研的宗旨:让学习成为一种习惯;
凯程考研的价值观口号:凯旋归来,前程万里; 信念:让每个学员都有好最好的归宿;
使命:完善全新的教育模式,做中国最专业的考研辅导机构; 激情:永不言弃,乐观向上;
敬业:以专业的态度做非凡的事业;
服务:以学员的前途为已任,为学员提供高效、专业的服务,团队合作,为学员服务,为学员引路。
如何选择考研辅导班:
在考研准备的过程中,会遇到不少困难,尤其对于跨专业考生的专业课来说,通过报辅导班来弥补自己复习的不足,可以大大提高复习效率,节省复习时间,大家可以通过以下几个方面来考察辅导班,或许能帮你找到适合你的辅导班。
师资力量:师资力量是考察辅导班的首要因素,考生可以针对辅导名师的辅导年限、辅导经验、历年辅导效果、学员评价等因素进行综合评价,询问往届学长然后选择。判断师资力量关键在于综合实力,因为任何一门课程,都不是由
一、两个教师包到底的,是一批教师配合的结果。还要深入了解教师的学术背景、资料著述成就、辅导成就等。凯程考研名师云集,李海洋、张鑫教授、方浩教授、卢营教授、孙浩教授等一大批名师在凯程授课。而有的机构只是很普通的老师授课,对知识点把握和命题方向,欠缺火候。
凯程考研,考研机构,10年高质量辅导,值得信赖!以学员的前途为已任,为学员提供高效、专业的服务,团队合作,为学员服务,为学员引路。凯程考研辅导班,中国最强的考研辅导机构,http://www.xiexiebang.com
考研就找凯程考研,学生满意,家长放心,社会认可!
对该专业有辅导历史:必须对该专业深刻理解,才能深入辅导学员考取该校。在考研辅导班中,从来见过如此辉煌的成绩:凯程教育拿下2015五道口金融学院状元,考取五道口15人,清华经管金融硕士10人,人大金融硕士15个,中财和贸大金融硕士合计20人,北师大教育学7人,会计硕士保录班考取30人,翻译硕士接近20人,中传状元王园璐、郑家威都是来自凯程,法学方面,凯程在人大、北大、贸大、政法、武汉大学、公安大学等院校斩获多个法学和法硕状元,更多专业成绩请查看凯程网站。在凯程官方网站的光荣榜,成功学员经验谈视频特别多,都是凯程战绩的最好证明。对于如此高的成绩,凯程集训营班主任邢老师说,凯程如此优异的成绩,是与我们凯程严格的管理,全方位的辅导是分不开的,很多学生本科都不是名校,某些学生来自二本三本甚至不知名的院校,还有很多是工作了多年才回来考的,大多数是跨专业考研,他们的难度大,竞争激烈,没有严格的训练和同学们的刻苦学习,是很难达到优异的成绩。最好的办法是直接和凯程老师详细沟通一下就清楚了。
建校历史:机构成立的历史也是一个参考因素,历史越久,积累的人脉资源更多。例如,凯程教育已经成立10年(2005年),一直以来专注于考研,成功率一直遥遥领先,同学们有兴趣可以联系一下他们在线老师或者电话。
有没有实体学校校区:有些机构比较小,就是一个在写字楼里上课,自习,这种环境是不太好的,一个优秀的机构必须是在教学环境,大学校园这样环境。凯程有自己的学习校区,有吃住学一体化教学环境,独立卫浴、空调、暖气齐全,这也是一个考研机构实力的体现。此外,最好还要看一下他们的营业执照。
凯程考研,考研机构,10年高质量辅导,值得信赖!以学员的前途为已任,为学员提供高效、专业的服务,团队合作,为学员服务,为学员引路。
第二篇:考研英语翻译
二、定语从句翻译方法
1,前置法
当从句结构和意义比较简单,不会对主句部分造成理解上的困难,此时可以前置法,把它翻译成“„的”的定语词组,并放在被修饰词的前面。将英语的复合句翻译成汉语的简单句。
Since our chief business with them is to enable them to share in a common life we can not help considering whether or not we are forming the powers which will secure this ability.(2009,翻译 49)
在这个句子中,关系代词指代前面的powers,这个简单的定语从句构成比较简单,只有几个单词构成,因此万学海文建议考生们在翻译的时候就要把它放在所修饰的先行词之前。参考译文:由于我们对年轻人所做的首要工作在于使他们能够在生活中相处地融洽,因此我们不禁要考虑自己是否在形成让他们获得这种能力的力量。
2,后置法
当从句结构较为复杂,意义较为繁琐,意思表达不清时,选择用后置法,此时把定语从句单独翻译成一个句子,放在原来它所修饰的词的后面,关系代词可以翻译为先行词,或者与先行词相对应的代词。
In Europe, as elsewhere, multi-media groups have been increasingly successful;groups which bring together television, radio newspapers, magazines and publishing houses that work in relation to one another.(2005年 翻译 47)
本句中含有两个定语从句,一个用which引导,一个用that引导,对于which引导的定语从句,无论从结构和意义上来说,都比较复杂,所以在翻译的时候,万学海文提醒考生们可以把它和先行词拆开,单独翻译成一个句子。That引导一个比较简单的定语从句,可以采用上面提到的1的翻译方法—前置法,因为它的构成比较简单,只有几个单词构成,因此在翻译的时候就要把它放在所修饰的先行词之前。这个句子是方法1和2的结合,我们不妨把它背诵下来。
参考译文:在欧洲,像在其他地方一样,传媒集团越来越成功,这些集团将相关的电视、广播、报纸、杂志和出版社结合起来。
3,状译法
英语当中有一些定语从句,不仅只是起到一个定语的修饰作用,而且在逻辑上与主句有状语关系,用来解释原因、条件、结果、让步等。此时,我们尽量从意义上发现这些逻辑上的关系,然后翻译成汉语中相对应的逻辑关系,把定语从句翻译为状语从句。
There will be television chat shows hosted by robots, and cars with pollution monitors that will disable them when they offend.(2001,翻译 46)
Monitor后面跟的定语从句与when引导的状语从句隐含着一种结果关系,翻译的时候,一定要表现出来。
参考译文:届时,将会出现由机器人主持的谈话节目和装有污染监控器的汽车。一旦这些汽车排污超标,监控器就会使其停驶。
第三篇:考研英语翻译技巧
考研英语翻译技巧
在整个考研英语真题当中,对广大考生要求最高的除了英文写作之外恐怕就是英文长句翻译了。诚然,考研英语翻译确实是一项对考生综合能力测试要求比较高的一项题目,因为它不仅仅是对考生的基本短语词汇、句式语法、阅读理解、文化常识等要求有非常好的掌握能力,同时也对考生的语义表达、语言组织能力提出了较高的要求。
那么一般考生在做考研英语翻译时,就应该先通读全文,了解文章大意,再从全局上把控文章脉络,然后结合具体语境对所要翻译的句子进行抽丝剥茧,找出句子主干,再进一步将句子融入到全文当中,对照上下文的相关含义再开始具体的翻译,完成后再阅读几遍,使自己翻译的句子语句通顺流畅而又附有文采,体现出自己翻译的水准,以赢得更高得分。
下面考研1希望能为大家带来些许帮助。
一,顺序翻译:前后一致时,简单。
二,倒序翻译:相同的,甚至是完全相反,从句子的后面开始翻译,在具体翻译时候按照中文语同时做到
三,一开,使其分为若干个相对独立的小语句,翻译时候对这些小而简单的句子依次翻
语法句式结构等完全没有一点的中文习惯,然后按照自己的表述习惯,将句子结构打乱,组合出新的句子以准确的表达出所要表达的含义。
五,综合翻译:事实上,对于一个考验英语中出现的语句,要对塔进行准确的翻译,一般仅靠某一种单纯的翻译方法是很难翻译准确的,这时候就需要将自己已经掌握的各种方法灵活运用起来,合理的将各种方法综合利用,以便将英语原文准确的翻译出来。
第四篇:2011考研英语翻译
考研英语翻译是一种要求较高的综合性题型。此题主要考查考生的词汇量、语法知识、阅读能力和汉语表达能力,尤其注重考查考生通过上下文理解词和短语含义的能力。
可见,考研翻译题不仅要求考生要有良好的英语基础,还要有扎实的汉语功底和英译汉的基本技能。因此,要做好这一部分,必须要从以下三方面进行一个整体把握:如何解读长句,如何把握词语的含义,以及如何运用翻译技巧恰当表述原文。
下面,就从这三方面详细讲述:
一、如何解读长句
长句解读向来是许多考生感到最头疼的问题,原因是汉语的句子强调意合,语法结构较松散;而英文句子强调形合,注重语法形式。中国学生已经习惯了意合式的思维,在解读英文长句的过程中会有意无意地采用汉语思维,认为句子就是单词的排列,认识了单词,句子就能基本读懂,其结果是要么解读错误,要么干脆读不懂。
要克服这个困难,必须把握英文句子形合的主要特点。形合即形式的逻辑。英文形式的逻辑主要有两个方面:
1.英文的核心句式是简单句,即主语+谓语(系动词)+宾语(表语)的模式,而该句型的核心是动词,一个简单句有且只有一个动词。只要能识别动词,就等于识别了简单句。
2.数个简单句如果连接成长句,必须依靠连词。连词有两种:并列连词(and, or, but, so)和连接从句的各类连词。
把握住这两个主要的方面,解读长句就不难了。首先找出动词的个数。如果只有一个动词,说明句子只不过是一个简单句的扩展,句子之所以显得长,无非是增加了一些作定语、状语或宾语补足语之类的短语,如介词短语和非谓语短语之类。只要能区分这些短语,就能很快找到该简单句的核心结构,从而理清句子的核心意义。如果句子中出现了两个或两个以上的动词,说明该句子是由两个或两个以上的简单句联合而成的长句,这时就需要找出它们之间的连接点——连词。找到连词,就可以将长句截分开来。然后根据连词所揭示的逻辑关系将各个简单句的意义串起来,长句的意思就明晰了。下面举例说明。
They may teach very well, and more than earn their salaries, but most of them make little or no independent reflections on human problems which involve moral judgment.以上是2006年第50题。该句出现4个动词,分别是teach, earn, make和involve,说明包含四个简单句。这四个简单句又分别由and, but和which三个连词连接起来,只要能解读三个连词的逻辑意义,整个句子的意思就不难解读。
二、如何把握词语的含义
英汉词汇一个很重要的区别在于,汉语的词汇意义一般较为固定,而英语的词汇大都一词多义,意义随上下文不断变化。这就要求考生在复习的时候,首先要熟悉往年阅读考题当中经常出现的一词多义现象,其次要多做练习,学习根据上下文把握词语的含义。通常,根据上下文把握词语的含义有两种常用的方法:
1.根据词性。有些词语,词性不同则意义不同。例如2003年考过concrete这个词,如果是名词,意思就是“混凝土”;如果是形容词,意思就是“具体的”。
2.根据搭配。所谓搭配,就是通过上下文中和该词意义联系最密切的词来识别该词的具体含义。例如2004年考过develop the idea这个说法。这里的develop不能简单地译为“发展”或“培养”,必须依据其宾语idea,重新将判断其含义,比如可译为“产生”或“形成”等。
3.根据文章背景。如果一个词语若按词典意义翻译出来不合中文习惯,而根据其所在句的内容也无法确定其意义时,还需要参照文章中其它信息(如文章主题)来确定其词义。此外,再次强调:考研翻译考的是词汇的深度,而不是词汇的广度,也就是考查同学们是否能够掌握和运用这个词,放在不一样的上下文语境中,又能否真正理解。所以建议同学们不要简单、机械地去记词义,而要真正地理解词汇在上下文中的具体用法。考研翻译题中的词汇考点可分为这么几类:
1.熟词僻义。例如07年49题,“political stories”,很多同学想当然地译成“政治故事”,实际上,大家根据上下文理解一下,就会发现,这里的“story”不可能解释为“故事”,而是上文“news”的一个同意替换。
2.专有名词。复习过的同学应该知道,05年的翻译题中曾出现过专有名词the Old Continent,continent一词常用来指代“欧洲大陆”。与此类似的一些常识还包括:Canadian Constitution指加拿大宪法;the New World是美洲大陆的代名词;native American不是指美国本土居民,而是美洲的土著印地安人;the States是the United States的简称;the Big Apple是纽约的代称等。
3.常考难词。例如:“intellectual”,这是一个典型的常考词,曾经在历年的考研试卷中出现过至少20次。这个词除了在最早的90年考察过“智力”这一最常用意思外,在后来的题目中则分别考查了“知识”、“知识分子”等非常用意思。例如:在03年的62题中,“intellectual enquiry”翻译为“知识探究”;06考到“define him as an intellectual”本句中出现的“intellectual”作“知识分子”解;07年“intellectual equipment”中 “intellectual”义为“知识”。这样反复出现的高频词题型,我们考生在平时的复习过程中需要给予这样的小词以足够的关注。
词汇的复习对于考研翻译,同时对阅读都有着决定性意义,在备考的时候第一关就要突破词汇关。
三、如何运用翻译技巧准确表述原文
理解原句的意思不等于说能用汉语准确表达。由于英汉文化差异,英语句子的表述方式和汉语大不相同,因此,很多考生感到原文理解了,就是没办法用汉语说出来。汉语表达当然涉及考生本人的汉语功底,但就翻译而言,还在于对翻译技巧的灵活运用。翻译技巧的作用在于定位英汉表达的差异,并解释常用的转换原则。
考研英语翻译主要有如下一些翻译技巧:
1.从句的翻译技巧。重点是定语从句的翻译,几乎每年必考;
2.短语的翻译技巧。如果多个短语并列,构成很长的短语,就需要把短语转换成汉语的小句翻译出来。
3.语序问题。例如,汉语习惯先说事实,再表态;而英语习惯先表态,再说事实。这样,翻译的时候就需要注意语序的问题。举个很简单的例子,英语说Nice to meet you.汉语则习惯说“见到你很高兴。”“见到你”是事实,“很高兴”是表态。
通过以上三方面,考生对翻译应该会有一个基本的把握。但是,在平时与考生的接触中了解到,面对翻译题,部分考生知难而退,完全放弃了翻译部分,这是极不可取的。而另有一部分考生,在做翻译训练时,明显存在以下两点误区:
第一、盲目练习。
很多考生复习考研翻译,买了很多模拟题来练习。其实,不需要做太多模拟题,而是先要牢牢掌握考研翻译历年真题。真题是英语专家经过仔细筛选,核对考研英语的大纲,并经过审题人的层层审查,最终形成的,而模拟题出题人的水平参差不齐,所选择的题材和体裁都不一定适合考研翻译,与真题有较大差异。研究生入学考试实行这么多年以来,考研翻译的选题范围基本确定,只要把握好了这些真题,无论是单词还是长难句,都会有“似曾相识”的感觉。
因此,给各位考生的建议是:以历年真题为标准,仔细把握,在此基础上,适当选择一些模拟题练习。
第二、“看”翻译。
长期以来,准备考研的学生,如果说有人在练习翻译这个部分的话,经常会有这样的情况:自己对着汉语译文看英语句子,都能看懂,觉得英语原文中,每一个单词的意思都能理解,甚至把英语和汉语译文子完全背下来,认为这样去参加考试,翻译部分肯定没有问题了。其实,非也。可能有同学已有过这样的感受:等到真正考试,必须自己动手写汉字、做翻译的时候,才发现:句子中每个单词都认识,英语句子的意思似乎也明白,可就是不能把英语句子转换成汉语,不知道该怎么表达,可以说是“只可意会,不可言传”。
这就提醒各位考生,翻译是“做”出来的,不是“看”,也不是“背”出来的。因此,要真正练习翻译,一定要在不看任何汉字提示的前提下,自己动脑动手,把英语翻成汉语。这是考生中普遍存在的2种错误观点。那么,平时该如何练习翻译题呢?建议各位考生可以采取“翻译练习五步走”。
翻译的步骤可以概括为理解、表达、修改、核对和记忆五步。
1.理解。正确地理解原文,是做好翻译的前提。考生应先略读全文,从整体上对整篇文章的行文结构、主旨大意和基调有个大致的把握;再分析所要求翻译的部分,弄清句子结构,分析词汇及惯用语,明确句子的整体意思及其在上下文中所处的地位。
2.表达。用自己的话把作者的意思再现出来,这一点对汉语功底要求比较高,具体操作过程中要注意英汉两种语言的差异,运用翻译技巧,直译或意译,或者两者结合,用中文进行翻译,使译文通顺。
3.修改。从某种意义上来说,这和翻译过程一样重要。不要直接看译文,自己进行修改。可以查词典,可以翻语法工具书,具体应从以下几方面考虑:译文是否完整准确,是否通顺,有无扭曲原文意思,有无错译(如数字、日期等细节信息)、漏译(插入语等)。对用词不断进行修改润色,使译文在尊重原文的情况下,更符合中文习惯,修改这一过程是真正能够提升考生英语基本功的过程。
4.核对。看看参考译文和自己的翻译是否相同,看看参考答案的修饰关系是怎么安排的,有何可取之处。
5.记忆。对于这句话中的漏译或者错译的词,查工具书,确定其意思,并且记住。综合以上的分析,广大考生应该对于考研翻译有了一个大致的把握。最后,希望各位考生在备考的时候应该把更多的精力放在扎扎实实提高词汇量、对于长难句的把握上。在打下坚实的语言能力基础之上,再运用一定的应试技巧和策略,多做多练,持之以恒,在考研翻译部分定能取得高分。
第五篇:英语翻译一本通
比较结构
从语法上讲,有以下几种结构可以比较:
1)如果要表达人与人、事物与事物之间是相似的,就可以用as 或是 like。此外,so do I, neither / nor do I 等也表示相似。
2)当要表达的事物之间在某一方面一样时,可用 as…as…(后接形容词或副词)和 as much / many…as…(后接名词或动词)结构。
3)表达事物之间差别的结构可采用 more(…than)或 less(…than),后可接形容词、副词、动词或名词。但要注意的是 more…than 还可译作―与其说……,不如说……‖,在这种结构里,more + 形容词(或副词)并不构成比较结构。另外还要注意的是,在 more…than 以后的英语虽然是肯定的,但译成中文必须是否定的。
实际上,英语的比较结构比较复杂,阅读时应注意英汉两种语言在表达上的差异。
1.―What we take out of the sea is no longer as important as what we do not put into it,‖ said a noted underwater explorer, describing how pollution of sea-life cycles ultimately threatened even terrestrial respiration.分析:What we take out of the sea是主语从句,它与what we do not put into从句相比较。这里把从海洋中获取资源和向海洋倾倒生活和工业垃圾造成严重的污染后果进行比较。否定词在as 从句的比较结构中常见,但是在― not…as(well等)as‖结构中只否定前面的部分,后面的部分表示肯定。本句中为了强调what we do not put into it,翻译时前置,并使用了肯定语气。
译文:一位著名的海底探险家在说明海洋生物界的污染最终甚至会对陆地生物的呼吸产生威胁时指出,―现在我们不往海里倾倒什么,已经比我们从海洋中捞取什么更为重要了。‖
2.Tapping the new spirit, there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful world that is truly humane.分析:no nobler nor more ambitious 中的 nor 是连词,常与 neither 或 nor 连用,有时也与 no, never 等表示否定的词连用。主句是含有 no more…than 的普通比较句型。分词短语tapping the new spirit 是表示目的的状语。本句选自美国前总统卡特在1977年的就职演说。
译文:为了发扬这种新的精神,在这一新的开端开始之际,对美国来说,最崇高和最有雄心勃勃的任务是帮助建立一个真正人道、正义、和平的世界。3.A whale is no more a fish than a horse is.分析:本句虽然短,但要理解和正确翻译并不容易。首先,no more 可以换成 not any more;其次,than 后面的部分,表面上看上去是肯定的,但是实际上是否定的。这个 no more…than 的真正意思是 not…just as…not(不……正如……不……一样),than 的前后两部分都是否定的。注意它和 not more…than 的区别:not more…than 的意思是―不比……更‖。
译文:鲸不是鱼,正如马不是鱼一样。
4.A whale is no less a mammal than a horse is.分析:no less…than正好与 no more…than 意思相反,than 前后两部分都是肯定的,它的意思是 quite as…as(是……也是……)。再者,注意它和 no less…than 的区别:no less…than 的意思是―在……方面不亚于‖。
译文:鲸是哺乳动物,正如马是哺乳动物一样。
5.Interest in historical methods has arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves.分析:arisen 后面的基本结构是 less through…and more from…,意思是―与其说……
倒不如说……‖。as an intellectual discipline 中的as 的意思是―作为‖,整个短语修饰history,即把历史作为一门学问。但前面的challenge to 则对此说法提出挑战。本句应当采用意译法为好,例如:interest…arisen,如果译成―对历史方法的兴趣已经产生‖,不如译为―人们对历史研究的方法产生了兴趣‖。
译文:人们之所以关注历史研究的方法论,其原因主要不在于外界对历史学是否是一门严格意义上的学问提出质疑,而在于历史学家内部的相互争吵。
6.But we are much less conscious of the extent to which work provides the more intangible, but more crucial, psychological well being that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.分析:这是一个主从复合句。to which work provides the more intangible, but more crucial, psychological well-being 是 extent 的定语从句。that can make the difference between a full and an empty life 是 psychological well-being 的定语从句。intangible,crucial 和 psychological 这三个形容词很容易被误认为是平行结构,事实上,intangible,crucial是修饰 psychological well-being 的。翻译本句不能用直译,例如extent 就不能直接译出来。故采用意译为主。译文:但我们很少认识到,工作在心理健康方面给予我们的决定生活是充实还是空虚的那种难以察觉、但至关重要的东西有多少。
7.The aims of our present-day culture are avowedly ease and material well being: shorter hours;a shorter week;more return for less accomplishment;more soft-soap excuses and fewer honest, realistic demands.分析:本句虽然很长,却是简单句。句子的主干是 the aims are avowedly ease and material well being,除此之外,后面的全部与aims 是同位语关系,进一步说明aims。比较结构用的是形容词的比较级 shorter hours, more return…。翻译时采用顺序法。形容词的比较级则译为汉语的偏正结构。
译文:我们当代文明承认的目标就是追求舒适和物质享受:每天的工作时间越来越短;每周的工作日越来越少;以少的成就换取多的报酬;姑息宽容的理由越多,正当而又实际的要求就越少。
8.Marriage has never been more popular and desirable than it is now——so appealing in fact, that even those who are in the process of divorce can scarcely wait for the law to allow them to marry again.分析:本句是主从复合句,than 后面跟的是一个句子:it is(popular)now,appealing 的逻辑主语是marriage,其主干结构是 so…that…;that 引导的状语从句表示结果。在该状语从句中还有who 引导的定语从句,修饰those,wait for 与否定词连用,表示―急于做某事‖。翻译时采用顺序法。但是who 从句需要译成定语。
译文:婚姻从未像现在这样受大众欢迎,为大众所渴望。事实上,婚姻是如此地吸引人,以至那些正在办理离婚手续的人,几乎等不到法律的判决,就想再度结婚了。
9.Much as she loved her cat, we may imagine that she was more horror than grief-stricken at her discovery.分析:本句中的as 放在主语前面,并与副词连用,引导让步状语从句,意思是―尽管‖。在该句中还有 that 引导的宾语从句,作 imagine 的宾语。比较级结构中,总是拿两个同类的事物或概念做比较。
译文:尽管她很爱那只猫,但是我们可以想象,当她发现那只猫的样子时,与其说是伤心至极,不如说是惊恐万分。
10.Such estimates are little better than guesses.分析:本句的比较结构是little better than,意思相当于 almost the same as,意为―几乎 2
与……一样‖、―简直是‖。
译文:这类估算近于猜测。
倒装和分割结构
为了强调句子的某些部分,或是为了保持句子平衡,英语中常常使用倒装。大体说来,倒装可以分为主谓倒装和非主谓倒装。主谓倒装里又分为完全倒装和部分倒装。在翻译的时候,既可以按照主谓语的顺序翻译,也可以按照字面意思翻译。非主谓倒装只是将强调部分前置,以保持句子平衡或是起强调作用。翻译时可以采用顺序译法或是倒序译法。
1.For example, they do not compensate for social inequality, and thus do not tell how able an underprivileged youngster might have been had he grown up under more favorable circumstances.分析:本句中had he grown up under more favorable circumstances 属于部分倒装。正常语序为:if he had grown up under more favorable circumstances。在正式文体中,可以将虚拟条件句中的if 省略,并将助动词提前。
译文:例如,它们(指测试)并不弥补社会的不公,因此不能说明一个贫困青年,要是在比较有利的境况下长大,会有多大才干。
2.Nonstop waves of immigrants played a role, too and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday’s ―baby boom‖ generation reached its child-bearing years.分析:该句中so did bigger crops of babies 属于语法倒装。用so 来代替前述肯定句谓语部分所说情况。
译文:不间断的移民浪潮也起了作用——而且随着昔日在―生育高峰期‖出生的一代人达到生育年龄,婴儿的出生数量增加了,这同样起了作用。
3.Much as I have traveled, I have never seen anyone to equal her in thoroughness, whatever the job.分析:该句的Much as I have traveled是一个由as 引导的让步状语从句。相当于though I have traveled much,但语气要比后者强。这种结构要求部分倒装。
译文:我虽然见多识广,但还从未见过比她细心的人,不管什么职业。
4.Only when you have acquired a good knowledge of grammar can you write correctly.分析:相信大家对这种结构都不陌生。Only后加副词、介词、状语从句时要用部分倒装。但是要注意的是,如果only修饰的不是状语,则不用倒装。
译文:只有很好地掌握了语法知识,写出来的东西才会正确。
5.Nowhere do 1980 census statistics dramatize more the American search for spacious living than in the Far West.分析:当句首是否定副词或含有否定词的词语时,一般要部分倒装。
译文:1980年哪里的人口普查统计资料也不如远西地区的更能生动地说明美国人对宽敞的生活环境的追求。
6.Hardly had he began to speak when the audience interrupted him.分析:hardly…when 的结构表示―刚…就…‖。含有这种结构的句子常将 hardly 置于句首,而采用部分倒装的语序。此外,hardly 分句中一般采用过去完成时,而 when(或 before)分句中使用过去时。还有,与 hardly…when…结构类似的用法还有 barely(scarcely)…when…
译文:他刚开始讲,听众就打断了他的话。
7.To such length did she go in rehearsal that two actors walked out.分析:such…that 结构可将such或含有such 的词组放在句首,使全句采用部分倒装。与此用法类似的还有so…that结构。
译文:她在排演中搞得太过分,以致两名男演员退出不干了。
8.Certain it is that all essential processes of plant growth and development occur in water.分析:本句为表语前置,表示强调。正常语序应为:It is certain that…。
译文:植物发育生长的全部基本过程当然是在水中发生的。
9.We rally should not resent being called paupers.Paupers we are, and paupers we shall remain.分析:这两句话是为了使上下文紧密衔接,从而将第二个并列分句的表语前置。
译文:我们确实不应因为被称作穷光蛋而愤愤不平。我们的确是穷光蛋,而且还会继续是穷光蛋。
10.Then, down the crowed thoroughfare comes the University of Cambridge’s most distinctive vehicle, bearing its most distinguished citizen.分析:正常语序应为:The vehicle came down the thoroughfare。为使语言生动形象,文学作品中常用这类倒装。在翻译时要尽量翻译出原句的语言效果。这里bear=carry。
译文:从拥挤的街道上驶来了一辆剑桥大学最有特色的车,车上坐着学校最著名的人物。
语法关系密切的两个句子成分被其他句子成分分隔的现象称为分割结构。英语中,分割结构的类型是多种多样的。例如,英语句子的主语和谓语一般都紧密相联,它们之间很少插入介词等比较长的结构。但是,在有些情况下,或是为了保持句子的平衡,避免头重脚轻;或是为了语义严密,结构紧凑,在主语和谓语之间有时也会插入其他成分。此外,还有定语(或定语从句)与其中心词被分隔;某些词语与其所要求的介词被分隔;动词与其宾语被分隔;介词与其宾语被分隔等等。总之,英语的分割应遵循尾重原则(应把长而复杂的成分放在句末,使结构匀称)和句尾信息焦点原则(把新信息,即语意重点放在句末)。同时,在阅读时要注意找出原来属于一个整体部分的意义。
1.Most novelists and historians writing in the early to mid-twentieth century who considered women in the West, when they considered women at all, fell under Turner’s spell.分析:本句的主干结构是:Most novelists and historians…fell under Turner’s spell.Turner 是美国历史学家。under a spell:被迷住,着迷。writing in the early to mid-twentieth century who considered women in the West, when they considered women at all 修饰主语,起分割主谓的作用。而其中的状语从句when they considered women at all 是定语从句who considered women in the West中的状语成分。
译文:从本世纪初到本世纪中叶从事写作的小说家和历史学家只要描写妇女,就会描述西部妇女,而且都被特纳迷住。
2.Abraham Lincoln is the most famous instance of the claim that Americans often made that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position.分析:the claim 和其同位语 that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position 被 the claim 的定语从句that Americans often made 分割。同位语从句在翻译时可按照顺序翻译,将其翻译为分句。
译文:美国人常认为,在他们国家,一个人的地位可以从社会最底层上升到社会最上层,亚伯拉罕·林肯就是极好的例子。
3.In the last eight years there were difficult, almost non-stop negotiations and reported threats of failure, ultimately overcome by a combination of creative compromise and stubborn determination—indeed, some call it unprecedented determination—to succeed.分析:本句的主干结构是:…there were negotiations and…threats of failure。―overcome by…‖是过去分词短语,修饰 threats of failure。stubborn determination 和其定语动词不定式―to succeed‖被―indeed, some call it unprecedented determination‖分割。
译文:在最后的八年里,进行了艰苦卓绝的、几乎是不间断的谈判,其间屡经失败之虞,4
但最终通过创造性的协调和要取得成功的顽强决心——确实有人称之为前所未有的决心——而渡过难关,取得了胜利。
4.The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and social critics, had been groping in the dark.分析:in trying to solve插在 the problem 和定语从句which…之间,起到承上启下的作用。of both bourgeois economists and social critics为investigations 的后置定语,起到分割作用。
译文:由于剩余价值的发现,使问题明朗化了。而先前,无论资产阶级经济学家还是社会批评家所从事的一切研究都只是在黑暗中摸索。
5.A better knowledge of China’s civilization would lay open to us an empire of learning, hitherto fabulously described.分析:lay open 和 an empire of learning 被介词短语 to us 分割。本句选自英国前首相撒切尔夫人1982年在中国欢迎宴会上的讲话。翻译时要注意转译的应用。如把―better‖译为副词―更好地‖。
译文:更好地了解中国的文明,将为我们打开一个知识的王国,对这个王国迄今只有神话般的描述。
6.It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer.分析:insistence 后接upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States, 中间被插入语as a first consideration 分割,做进一步说明。该句选自美国前总统罗斯福在1933年的就职演说。汉语中动词用得较多,翻译时可把名词转译为动词。
译文:我们首先应考虑的是,坚持美国国内各种因素之间、各个部分之间的相互依赖关系——即承认体现传统的和永远重要的美国开拓精神。
7.Old Henry and his wife Phoebe were as fond of each other as it is possible for two old people to be who have nothing else in this life to be fond of.分析:连词as 引导的比较状语从句中,it 代替for two old people to be。to be 后省略了fond of each other。to be 做分割成分。
译文:象两位老人一生中没有其他什么东西可爱而彼此相爱一样,老亨利和他的妻子芬比也互相爱慕。
8.As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons: lack of physical and mental energy—both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away—and sentiment.分析:该句包含了并列结构被分割的情况。lack of physical and mental energy和sentiment 是并列结构,作two other reasons的同位语。但是被非限定性定语从句both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away分割。
译文:人们随着日趋年迈,积存物品还有其他两个原因:一是缺乏体力和精神,两者在清理和扔掉无用之物时不可或缺,二是感情上的原因。
9.Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its retention, but surely no reasonable argument can be found for retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo that accompanies it from the moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial service over the condemned man before he is dead.分析:这是一个由but引导的并列句。前一分句较简单,who引导的从句作those 的定 5
语,but 后的从句较复杂,从句套从句,for retention…dead是argument的定语。因为它比较长,所以把谓语动词can be found放在它和argument之间,形成分割结构。该句较长,可以分为三层:第一层是those…retention,第二层是but…mumbo-jumbo,第三层是that accompanies…dead。基本上可采用顺序法翻译。
译文:那些相信死刑的人可能有保留死刑的理由,但是肯定找不到合理的论据来保留那令人厌恶的繁文缛节。这一套繁文缛节从法官戴上顶在假发上的擦笔布似的黑帽子宣判死刑之时开始,一直伴随到为被判处死刑的人在其毙命之前诵读葬礼祷文为止。
10.The second aspect is the application by all members of society, from the government official to the ordinary citizen, of the special methods of thought and action that scientists use in the work.分析:这是一个很典型的分割结构。主干结构是:The second aspect is the application…of the special methods of thought and action,application和修饰它的介词短语被一个长长的by短语分割。
译文:第二个方面是,社会上的一切成员,从政府部门中任工职的官员到普通公民,都应运用科学家们在研究工作中所采用的专门的思维方法和工作方法。
定语从句与先行词分隔及其翻译
通常,定语从句紧跟在先行词之后,但在具体的运用中,往往也出现有定语从句与先行词被分隔的现象。本文就定语从句与先行词分隔的种种情况、分隔的原因及其汉译进行探讨。
一、定语从句与先行词分隔的形式 1被谓语分隔,例如:
Many forms of apparatus have been devised by which a more ac-curate knowledge of blood pressure can be obtained.人们已经设计出许多医疗器械,通过这些医疗器械,可以对血压有一个更为精确的了解。
Hardly a man came to the exhibition but was deeply impressed by the originality of his works.来参观的人几乎无一不对他的作品的创造性留下深刻印象。2被非从句定语分隔,例如:
Singapore is at the start of a long road,already well trodden in the west,that leads to such solutions as shelter and rest homes.新加坡眼下正踏上一条西方国家早已走了很远的漫长道路,即最终建立收容所和休养院来解决问题。
Does this mean that in time fish might learn to leave alone all food on hooks that they have seen before?这难道不就意味着,鱼儿很快就可能学会避开那些它们常见的鱼钩上的食物吗? 3被状语分隔,例如:
Never say anything behind a person's back that you wouldn't say to his face.当面不愿说的话,千万不要在背后说。
I remember viewing a half dozen men in a chair factory whose job was to bend several pieces of steel and attach them so that a folding chair would result.我记得曾在一家椅子厂见过六个工人,他们的工作是将几根钢管弯曲并组成一把折椅。
Tem perature plays the same part in the flow of heat that pres-sure does in the flow of fluids.温度在热的传导中所起的作用和压力在液体的流动中所起的作用相同。4被补语分隔,例如:
The cook turned pale,and asked the housem aid to shut the door,who asked Brittles,who asked the tinker,who pretended not to hear.厨子的脸色变得苍白,要女仆把门关上,女仆叫布立特尔关,布立特尔又叫补锅匠关,而补锅匠装着没听见。5被同位语分隔,例如:
One was a violent thunderstorm,the worst I had ever seen,which obscured my objective.有一次是暴风骤雨,猛烈的程度实为我平生所仅见。这阵暴风雨遮住了我的目标。6被插入语分隔,例如:
Is there anyone you can think of who may know which hospital he was sent to?你能不能想到有谁可能知道他被送往哪一家医院了?
二、定语从句与先行词分隔的原因
1为了保持句子结构平衡,避免―头重脚轻‖,将定语从句与先行词分隔,例如:
Mr.Leon said in the future,computer would be developed which would be small enough to carry in the pocket.利昂先生说,将来会生产出小得可以放在口袋里的计算机。
2为了突出或强调主句中的主谓结构所表达的意义,将定语从句与先行词分隔,例如: Chinese trade delegations have been sent to African countries,who will negotiate trade agreem ents with the respective govern-ments.中国已派出贸易代表团前往非洲各国,以便与这些国家的政府商谈贸易协定。The day is not far off when a lot of housework can be done by machine.大量家务活由机器来干的日子不远了。
3先行词所带的非从句定语常需置于定语从句之前而造成先行词与定语从句分隔,例如: There was som ething original,independent and heroic about the plan that pleased all of them .这个方案有创造性,而且别出心裁,又有魅力,所以深得他们的喜欢。
No doubt there are questions of princi-ple involved which can not be ignored and underestimated.无疑,这里涉及人们不能忽视或低估的原则问题。
三、与先行词分隔的定语从句的汉译
1将定语从句译为汉语―的‖字结构,置于先行词之前,例如:
Yet there exist com plex computations in science and engineer-ing which people are unable to make.到目前为止,在科学和工程方面还存在许多人们无能为力的复杂计算。
He merely swallows this theory because there is something about it that appeals to the twentieth-century m entality.他全盘接受这一理论,只是因为这一理论中有一种迎合二十世纪心理的东西。
I think it is clear that each side entertainssuspicions of the other which are unjust.我认为双方显然相互怀着没有正当理由的猜疑。
2将定语从句单独译为一个分句,例如:
There is som ebody waiting for you who I think might be one of your friends from your native town.有个人在外面等你,我想这个人可能就是你家乡的一位朋友。
The molecules exert forces upon each other,which depend upon the distance between them .分子相互之间存在着力的作用,该力的大小取决于它们的距离。
The result of this is the retention of too much air in the respiratory tract at each expiration which prevents the fresh air from being taken in at the next inhalation from reaching the lung alveoli.其结果就是在每次呼气时呼吸道里保留过多的空气,这样就在下次吸气时妨碍吸入的新鲜空气抵达肺泡里。
3将定语从句与先行词溶合译出,例如: He is a wise man who speaks little.智者言少。
No method is known by which it is possible to create energy out of nothing.大家知道,根本没有什么方法能够凭空创造能量。
否定句
英汉两种语言在表达否定的方式和手段上有很大差别。比如说,英语中否定句的否定范围
具有不同的情况。因此,英语中的很多否定句都是有歧义的。在阅读时只能通过上下文来得出正确的结论,排除歧义。此外,英语中否定句的重心也是阅读中应当注意的问题。一般说来,从语法上来看,not与谓语动词连用时,是否定谓语动词的;no与名词连用时,是否定名词的。但是,从否定的重心来看,却并非如此。举个简单例子:Don’t give up because it is difficult.这句话就只能理解为:不要因为困难就放弃。另外,还需要注意的是,不定代词中的every、all、both以及副词quite、always等,与否定词结合时,不是全部否定,而是部分否定,即,不是―全不是‖,而是―不全是‖。以上所说的都是在阅读否定句时应当注意的问题,希望大家通过以下的例句仔细揣摩,认真体会。
1.Certainly I don’t teach because teaching is easy for me.Nor do I teach because I think I know answers, or because I have knowledge I feel compelled to share.分析:这句话主要涉及的是否定的范围问题。如果把because从句排除在否定范围之外,其意思为:―……因为我觉得教书容易,所以没有教书……‖(= …because teaching is very easy for me, I don’t teach…);如果把because从句包括在否定范围之内,则为:―……我之所以教书,并不是因为我觉得教书容易……‖(=…I teach, but it isn’t because teaching is easy for me…)。虽然这两句话的上下文表明,后一种理解更加符合逻辑,但是在实际的使用过程中,―not…because‖这一结构也有可能出现将because从句排除在否定范围之外的情况。所以由此不难看出,because与否定词连用时,根据上下文的不同常常有两种含义。但是在具体的句子中,一般只有一种是符合逻辑的。
译文:当然,我之所以教书,并不是因为我觉得教书容易。我之所以教书,也不是因为我认为自己能够解答问题,或者因为我满腹学问,情不自禁地要与别人分享。
2.All that glitters is not gold.分析:这是一个典型的―部分否定‖(partial negation)的例子。高中时狒狒一直不明白。―all…not‖从表面上看来,往往会被当作―全部否定‖(total negation),因而经常被译成―所有……都不……‖。实际上,这个结构所表达的意思通常是―部分否定‖的。意思相当于―并不是所有……都……‖。因此,遇到这种结构的时候,要根据上下文和逻辑关系进行分析。译文:闪光的不一定都是金子。
3.When the lights came on again, hardly a person in the city can have turned on a switch without reflecting how great a servant he had at his fingertips.分析:在这句话中,―hardly…without‖构成了―双重否定‖(double negation)。虽然只有without在词形上具有明显的否定特征,但是hardly(以及scarcely, barely, few, little等)虽然没有明显的否定特征,却有否定的词义。实际上,双重否定表达的是肯定的意思,因此在翻译成汉语时,既可以将原句按照两个否定的形式表述出来,也可按照否定的语气译出。
译文:电灯又亮了,该城的人们打开开关的时候,想必几乎人人都会想到,电灯是随时可供他们使用的多么有用的东西呀
4.It’s a beautiful cottage not more than five minutes from the nearest beach.分析:注意―not more than + 数词(或名词)‖与―no more than + 数词(或名词)‖这两个结构在意思和口气上的差别。前者没有什么特殊含义,只是客观地表示―不超过‖、―至多‖等意思;而后者则带有讲话者的主观看法或口气,强调数量之少或者事物之小以及微不足道。一般可以译做―仅仅‖、―只不过‖等。
译文:那是一幢漂亮的村舍,离最近的海滩仅5分钟的路程。
5.One cannot be too careful in making the decision as it is such a critical case.分析:在这句话中,cannot be too careful不能理解为―不能太谨慎‖,因为联系句子后半部分的状语从句中来看,逻辑上是讲不通的。实际上,―cannot be too…‖这个结构虽然形式上为否定,但是意思上并非否定,而是起到一种加强肯定语气的作用。通常可以译做:―无 8
论怎样……也不会过分‖、―越……越好‖等,这种结构的变形有―can never(或scarcely, hardly等)…too + adj.(或adv.)‖等。
译文:因为这是一个如此重要的问题,所以做出决定时无论怎样谨慎都不过分。
6.There was the growing realization that for all their vastness, the resources to be found in the oceans and seas were not inexhaustible.One could not hunt whales at will without risking their extermination or catch herring limitlessly without threatening survival of the stock.分析:that引导的从句that for all their vastness, the resources to be found in the oceans and seas were not inexhaustible是realization的同位语从句。介词for相当于in spite of。句子中的not inexhaustible为双重否定结构。第二句中也用了not without双重否定结构。有否定词without的双重否定结构,翻译时一般可以译成肯定句。但是,在需要加强语气的时候,也可以译成双重否定句。
译文:人们越来越认识到,尽管海洋无边无垠,但其资源并不是取之不尽用之不竭的。人们不可能随心所欲地捕鲸而不使其遭致灭绝的危险,或无限制地捕捞鲱鱼而不威胁到该物种的繁衍生息。
7.One private school served notice when it opened that ― no person shall be considered as eligible who shall not be moving in the circle of Gentlemen, no retail trader being allowed in any circumstances to be so considered.‖
分析:该句的主干结构是―One private school served notice…‖。名词notice与其同位语从句―that ― no person shall be considered as eligible who shall not be moving in the circle of Gentlemen, no retail trader being allowed in any circumstances to be so considered‖被 when引导的状语从句分割。该句中no所表达的否定往往转移到谓语动词上。
译文:一所私立学校开学时发布通知说:―凡属非绅士圈中者皆不得进入本校,小商贩决不予以考虑。‖
8.True, not everyone sees me as you saw me or even as I see myself;but deep down inside I have that marvelous feeling that comes from being an integrated whole person, not afraid of being just what I am.分析:这是一个省略句,补全应该是这样的:It is true that …。两个as都是连词,意思是―像‖、―如同‖。deep down inside是but从句中的状语,意思是―内心深处‖。that comes是feeling的定语从句。翻译该句,要从that处断开,把that从句译成一个表示原因的状语从句。省略的部分不需要增补。
译文:的确,并不是每个人都像你那样看待我,也不像我那样看待我自己,然而在内心深处我有一种说不出的美妙感觉,这是我塑造自己的完整人格,并且毫无顾忌地坚持自我的结果。
9.But we can hardly guess what the world will look like to men and women with several generations of communism behind them, who take the brotherhood of man for granted, not as an ideal to be aimed at, but a fact of life, and yet know that this brotherhood was only achieved by ghastly struggles.分析:这是一个主从复合句。what the world will look like to men and women with several generations of communism behind them是guess的定语从句,what引导这个从句。该句中的we显然指后面的men and women,所以翻译时要灵活。
译文:但对曾有过几代共产主义思想的人们来说,将来的世界看上去将是什么样子,人们还很难做出推测。现在人们总是把他们之间的手足之情看作是理所应当的事,认为生活本来就是这样,而不是当作理想的目标来看待。然而,他们知道这种手足之情只有通过巨大的努力才能得到。
10.It would have been impossible for me to have told anyone what I derived from these novels, for it was nothing less than a sense of life itself.分析:这是由for连接的并列复合句。句中第一个it是形式主语,代替后面的不定式短语;第二个it指前一句话的what I derived from these novels,意思是―我从小说中获得的感受,nothing less than是固定用法,意思是―完全是‖。他在形式上是否定的,在意义上是肯定的,翻译时要译成汉语肯定句
译文:那时,要告诉别人我从这些小说中获得了什么收益是不可能的因为我所获得的完全是对生活自身的感受。
省略和并列平行结构
英语中词的省略现象很多。其目的是为了符合英语表达习惯和修辞特点。省略词语决不是可以随意增删词句,而是要必须遵循以下几条原则:
1)可有可无的,或是多余的。
2)省略的词义已经体现在上下文中。
阅读时,必须根据上下文找出英语中省略的词语翻译时再根据汉语的习惯进行适当增补。
1.Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn expect to the nearest cabin or settlement.分析:在时间、地点、条件、让步、方式状语从句中,如果从句的主语与主句的主语相同(或为it),而从句的谓语又含有be(包括连系动词be和助动词be),则可以省略―主语+be‖
译文:独自旅行的人,要是饿了、受伤了或是生病了,除了最近的小木屋或居民点,常常无处求援。
2.Anything from cosmic rays to radiation to diet may activate a dormant oncogene, but how remains unknown.分析:这是一个由but连接的并列句。其中第二个分句的主语是一个主语从句。由于该主语从句的主谓宾与第一个分句相同,所以被全部省略。只剩下疑问副词how。
译文:任何东西,从宇宙射线到辐射,以至日常饮食,都可能激活潜伏的致癌基因,但如何激活的,仍然不得而知。
3.Fighting means killing, and civilized peoples ought to be able to find some way of setting their disputes other than by seeing which side can kill off the greater number of the other side, and then saying that that side which has killed most has won.And not only has won, but, because it has won, has been in the right.分析:介词短语by seeing which side…前省略了setting their disputes。seeing which side can kill off the greater number of the other side与saying that that side which has killed most has won是介词by后的两个并列成分。
译文:打仗意味着残杀。文明的民族应该能够找到某种解决争端的方法,而不是通过看哪一方能消灭另一方更多的人,然后说杀人最多的一方获胜来解决争端。胜者不仅胜了,而且还因为胜利而有理。
4.A few weeks with one firm, a few days with another, then out of a job, then on again for a month perhaps and so on.分析:这是省略句,省略了句子的主语和谓语。这样使句子的结构更加紧凑。在文学作品中常有这种句子。翻译时要用恰当的连接词,把句子的紧凑性翻译出来。
译文:给这家公司干几周,又给那家干几天,然后失业没活儿干,接着又找到工作干上个把月,就这样一会儿有工作,一会儿失业。
5.So, tips will no doubt net much less during the summer and the company will be less 10
interesting.分析:这是并列句。由and连接。第一句中的谓语动词是will net, net在这里做动词,意为―挣得、赢得‖。第二句的谓语动词是will be,因为两个句子在结构上是平行的,所以省略了will,又因为省略的是助动词,因此汉语中不必译出。
译文:整个夏天挣的小费必将很少很少,而且还得和乏味的人在一起干活。
6.Each and every story preaches from the same gospel: tomorrow will be different from today, violently different perhaps.分析:该句的最后一部分省略了主语和谓语,因为前一句的主语和谓语与它是相同的。若不省略就会显得很罗嗦,翻译时也要省略。
译文:每篇小说都宣扬着同一条信念:明天与今天不一样,也许会非常不一样。
7.By taking thought, men can move mountains——and have.分析:该句的最后一部分用表示完成式的助动词have代替了前面提到的动词。
译文:凭借智慧,人能移山,实际上人类已经做到了。
8.You see, dear, I know that the stick-in-the-mud people are doing us a good turn and themselves a bad one by going back to secret trials and executions so soon, and I know that if you who are left stand together steadily and hit hard, you will see great things.分析:这是并列复合句。主干结构是I know that…and I know that…。两个that 引起两个宾语从句。第一个宾语从句中省略了are doing themselves a bad turn。第二个宾语从句中有一个条件状语从句。
译文:你瞧,亲爱的,我知道那些陷入泥潭的家伙,如此迫不及待地重新使用起秘密审讯和秘密处决的手段,这实际上是在帮我们的忙,而害了他们自己;我还知道,如果你们留下来的人能够坚定地团结一致,给他们以狠狠的打击,你们就会取得伟大的成就。
9.When the media add interpretation and analysis, as they must to do their job fully, strong dislike of the messengers may become intense.分析:as 引导的从句说明when从句的内容,可以说是从句的从句,翻译时最好放在主句之后,起补充说明作用。句中must 后省略了谓语add interpretation and analysis。
译文:媒体一旦增添了解释和分析,就会引起人们的强烈反感,然而,媒体又必须这样做才能充分发挥其作用。
10.To get a description of direction along the line, we shall call the line on one side of the origin positive, on the other side negative.分析:―to get…‖不定式短语表示目的。on the other side 前面省略了and we shall call the line,后面省略了of the origin。翻译时应把省略的部分补出来。
译文:为了描述这条直线的方向,我们把位于原点一侧的直线叫做正的,而把位于原点另一侧的直线叫做负的。
英语常用并列连词,如and, but, so, yet, for, nor, or, not only…but also, either…or或 neither…nor等连接两个或几个同等成分,这种结构称为并列结构。连接的同等成分可以是两个或几个动词的宾语、两个或几个名词的定语、两个或几个介词短语等。如果并列连词连接的是两个或几个简单句,则构成一个并列句,使用并列结构可以使文字简洁,结构紧凑,并避免重复。
1.But the individualist approach, by attacking gender roles, denying the significance of physiological difference, and condemning existing familial institutions as hopelessly patriarchal, has often simply treated as irrelevant the family roles important to many women.分析:句中由by引导的三个并列平行结构表示原因。treated as…结构使用了倒装结构,因为the family roles后面有修饰成分,故将其置后。
译文:而个人主义的方法由于攻击性别角色,否定生理差别的重要性,攻击现存的家庭体制是不可救药的父权制,结果把对许多妇女来说非常重要的家庭角色完全视为无关紧要了。
2.There is no complete inventory of positions or people in federal service at this level.The lack may be explained by separate agency statutes and personnel systems, diffusion among so many special services, and the absence of any central point(short of President himself)with jurisdiction over all upper-level personnel of the government.分析:介词by 后面的separate…personnel systems, diffusion…special services和the absence of…the government为三个并列成分。表示缺少详细记载的原因。句中一些词要转译。译文:这个级别的联邦政府官员和职位没有完整的记载。对此(缺少详细记载)所做的解释可能是,各部门的条例和人事制度各不相同,分布的特殊服务部门太多并缺少一个中心机构(总统本人除外)来管理所有的政府高级官员。
3.He refuses to consider sufficiently the wants of the customer, who must buy, not the thing he desires but the thing the English gentleman wants to sell.分析:动词consider 后面的宾语是the wants of the customer。非限定性定语从句who must buy… 修饰the customer,not the thing …but the thing…是并列成分。
译文:他们不肯充分考虑顾客的需要,顾客必须买的不是他们所希望买的东西,而是英国绅士想要卖的东西。
4.Green, hilly, with abundant trees, it was a beautiful country, the Virginia-Kentucky border territory——or would have been, except for the mines.分析:和it was a beautiful country 并列的分句(it)would have been是虚拟语气,后面省略了a beautiful country。Green, hilly, with abundant trees修饰a beautiful country,放在主句前是为了强调。
译文:一片翠绿,丘陵起伏,林木茂盛,弗吉尼亚州和肯塔基州接界的地区是一片美丽的山野——要不是有煤矿的话,理应如此。
5.The lack of insistence on personal honor, the surface informality, the disparaging responses to compliments, and willingness to admit mistakes are part of the egalitarian tradition, as are the Americans’ pride in what they have been able to achieve and their criticism of things that fall short of perfection.分析:该句的主句由四个并列的名词短语做主语,即The lack of insistence…,the surface informality, the disparaging responses…和willingness to admit mistakes。另外,值得一提的是,as 引导的比较状语从句使用了倒装语序。这是为了保持句子平衡。
译文:美国人一方面对所取得的成就感到自豪,一方面又对未臻完美的事物进行批评,这是其平等主义传统的一部分;同样,他们不坚持个人的面子,不拘表面的礼节,对别人的称赞采取自贬的态度,以及愿意承认错误,也是其平等主义传统的一部分。
6.The standardized educational or psychological tests that are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting students, employees, and military personnel have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress.分析:该句中,to aid in 后面跟了四个并列的动名词,而四个并列的动名词后又跟了三个并列的宾语。
译文:广泛用来借以对学生、雇员和军事人员进行选拔、分类、分配任务或提拔的教育或心理方面的标准化测试,最近受到了书报杂志,甚至国会的抨击。
7.That is why women remain children their whole life long: never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, clinging to the present moment, taking appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first importance.分析:该句中,四个现在分词短语构成并列结构,做状语。对前面的表语从句进行补充说明。
译文:那就是为什么妇女一生都不成熟:从来都只看见眼前的事情,都只抓住眼前的一刻,都把表面当本质,都倾心于琐事而放过至关重要的事。
8.But since the consequences of poverty are related to powerlessness, not to the absolute supply of money available to the poor, and since the amount of power purchasable with a given supply of money decreases as a society acquires a larger supply of goods and services, the solution of raising the incomes of the poor is likely, unless accompanied by other measures, to be ineffective in a wealthy society.分析:该句有两个并列的由and 连接的原因状语从句,都是由since引导,available to the poor修饰money, purchasable with a given supply of money修饰the amount of power。主句中的从句unless accompanied by other measures分割了is likely和to be ineffective in a wealthy society。
译文:但是,既然贫穷与穷人可得到的货币绝对供应量无关,而是无权力所造成的,既然用一定量的货币所能购买的权力量随着一个社会获得的商品和服务量的增加而下降,那么提高穷人收入的解决办法在一个富裕社会很可能不会奏效,除非同时采取其他的措施。
9.It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.分析:old story是句子的表语,后面有两个介词短语做定语。它们在结构上是相同的,在连词until后面都有状语从句。翻译时也要译成两个平行的句子。
译文:人们老是这一套:直到失去我们所拥有的东西,才知道遗憾;直到我们生病后,才意识到健康的重要。
10.If you take into account the despairing who no longer even look for work;the unfulfilled who can only get a few hours’s work a week but are desperate for more;the uninspired who stay in the tertiary studies because they can’t get a job;and the ashamed who won’t admit to joblessness, then Australia’s real unemployment rate is probably closer to 16%, or even higher.分析:这是一个主从复合句。从句由if 引导,主句是then Australia’s…higher。该句之所以长,主要是长在从句上,take 后面有四个并列的宾语。它们都是在形容词前面加上定冠词the来表示一类人。
译文:如果算上连找工作都不再去想的绝望者,每周只能工作几个小时但又渴望多干点工作的不满足者,找不到工作而只好呆在高校读书的垂头丧气者和羞于承认自己失业的人,那么澳大利亚的实际失业率也许更接近16%,甚至更高些。
考研英语长难句
1.That sex ratio will be favored which maximizes the number of descendants an individual will have and hence the number of gene copies transmitted.(难度系数5,下同)译文:那种性别比例能在最大程度上增加一个个体所能拥有的后代数量,并因此能在最大程度上增加所传递到后代身上去的基因复制品的数量。难句类型:倒装、省略
a.本句的正常语序应当是:That sex ratio which maximizes the number of descendants an individual will have and hence the number of gene copies transmitted will be favored.但是因为主
语That sex ratio之后的以which引导的修饰它的定语从句,如果按照以上语序,则有头重脚轻之感。所以原文将此长长的从句倒装成谓语will be favored之后。
b.在which引导的从句中,有两处省略:第一处在maximize的第一个宾语the number of descendants that an individual will have中,an individual will have是修饰descendants的定语从句,但是,因为descendants在从句中作have的宾语,所以引导词that可以省略。第二处省略是在第二个the number of 之前,省略了与前面一样的成分that sex ratio which maximizes.And hence在此表示后面的成分作为前面―最大化一个个体的后代的数目的‖结果。
意群训练:That sex ratio will be favored which maximizes the number of descendants an individual will have and hence the number of gene copies transmitted.2.(This is)A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give away abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower.(5++)复杂+倒装+省略;(这是一种)照亮现实的欲望,此欲望从来就不会唐突的取代后面的那种欲望,后者是我们可以将其部分的理解为一个兼任小说加和科学家的人想要去准确并具体的记录下一朵花的结构和文理的那种意义上的欲望。
解释:本句子的难度在一切GRE、GMAT包括LSAT考试中所出现的难句中堪称登峰造极,可以确定地讲,类似此句子的难度的语言,在计算机考试的现场绝无可能出现。如果对此句话不感兴趣,可以把其废掉不读。
A、这句话读起来别扭的第一个原因,是因为它根本就不是一个句子。句首省略了this is。这种用一个词代替一个句子的方式如果在书面语中出现,只能出现在高级英语中,因此我们以前的英语学习中从未遇到过。其形式类似于我们中文的―精彩‖是―这句话真是精彩‖的省略形式。
B、desire后跟着两个大的修饰成分,一个是to throw over reality a light,其中的a light 是被倒装到了over reality之后,正常应是throw a light over reality.不过这个便装部分与throw距离不远,读者看得还算懂。关键是第二个修饰成分。注意:从that开始直到句尾结束的长长的定语从句不是修饰其前的light的,而是修饰一开始的desire的。
C、第二个修饰成分中又来了一个倒装,由于作者为了强调never,所以将其提前,引发了定语从句中的倒装:正常语序应该是that might never be given away,倒装后系动词was被提前,given因为在情态动词might之后所以变成了原型give。A give way to B,是A让位于B,而A be given way to B,则是A取代B。on the part of 之后的部分修饰后面的desire, what引导的从句现场阅读时可以看成一个名词。What从句中的不定式to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower中又有一个避免头重脚轻的倒装,正常语序应该是to record the structure and texture of a flower exactly and concretely。
D、就算能够看懂这句话的结构,可能仍然理解不了意思。本句的意思是,哈代(注:人名老的冲动是一种简单的、说明现实的欲望,新冲动是一种即是小说家又像科学家的仔细研究一个东西的特点那样的欲望(新冲动),前一种欲望是永远也不能取代后者的。意群训练:(This is)A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give away abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower.3.Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones.(3)
难句类型:复杂修饰、省略、抽象词 译文:哈代的缺陷一方面缘起于他的某种明显的无能,无法控制好那结不尽相同的创作冲动 14 的穿梭往来;另一方面缘起于他不愿意去培养和维持那些富于生机活力和风险性强的创作冲动。
解释:介词from的宾语有两个并列的部分,由and所连接,在and之后的第二个from前,省略了前面一样的谓语动词derive。本句之所以难,有两个原因,一是derived from 后面的成分太长,初学者难以一下子看下来;二是作为一篇文科文章,用词抽象,难以迅速理解。意群训练:Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones.4.Virginia Woolf's provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs.Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics, since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the “poetic” novelist concerned with examining states
of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness.(5)难句类型:复杂修饰、省略、抽象词
译文:弗吉尼亚.伍尔夫(Virginia Woolf)在创作《黛洛维夫人》(Mrs.Dalloway)时有关其创作意图的这番发人深思的陈述,迄今为止一贯为文学评论家们所忽略,因为它突出反映了她诸多文学兴趣中某一方面,而这一方面则与人们对―诗性‖小说家(poetic novelist)所形成的传统见解大相径庭。所谓的―诗性‖小说家,所关注的是审视想入非非和白日梦幻的诸般状态,并致力于追寻个体意识的通幽曲径。
解释:本句逗号以前只有复杂修饰的长主语有些难,但总的来讲比较好懂,since引导的原因状语从句较难。
A、since之后的it指前面的statement, highlight的宾语an aspect之后有两个修饰成分,一个是of her literary interests,另一个是以that引导的定语从句that is very different from the traditional picture of the poetic novelist,都是修饰an aspect的。Novelist后面又有由and 连接的两个介词结构concerned with doing 修饰novelist.B、句中有两处省略,一是在her literary interests that is very different from当中,修饰interests的定语从句中引导词+be that is 一起省略了。第二处在and之后,由于concerned with与前面的concerned with重复,所以concerned被省略。
C、本句另外一个难懂的地方,就是使用了大量的抽象词。这是文学市评论题材的文章的一个特点。
Virginia Woolf's provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs.Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics, since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the “poetic” novelist concerned with examining states
of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness.5.As she put it in The Common Reader , ―It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote;and yet , as we read him , we are absorbing morality at every pore.‖(5-)抽象词、抽象词组、比喻
就像她在《致普通读者》一书中所表达的那样,―尽管可以毫无疑问的说,没有任何法律被指定出来,也没有任何高楼大厦被建立起来是因为乔叟说了什么或者写了什么;然而,当我们读它的书的时候,我们身上每一个毛孔都充满了道德‖ 这句话不但用了词抽象,还用了比喻的修辞手法。是指没有因为乔叟的言论而产生任何实际的行为规则或政治机构,但我们受其影响之深,以及其影响力之大。
As she put it in The Common Reader , ―It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or
one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote;and yet , as we read him , we are absorbing morality at every pore.‖
6.With the conclusion of a burst activity , the lactic acid level is high in the body fluids , leaving the large animal vulnerable to attack until the acid is reconverted , via oxidative metabolism , by the liver into glucose , which is then sent(in part)back to the muscles for glycogen synthesis.(4+)难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、专有名词
译文:随着爆发出来的运动的结束,再体液中乳酸含量会变得很高,使得大型动物处于容易受到攻击的状态,直到乳酸通过有氧新陈代谢,被肝脏转化成(convert into)葡萄糖,而葡萄糖接下来又会(部分)传送回肌肉中重新合成糖原。
解释:本句中修饰成分极多,以分词修饰和介词结构修饰为主,作各种类型的状语。前面的状语和主句还好理解,从leaving开始句子变难;leaving引导的直到句末的结构来做整个句子的状语;分词中又包含了三个状语,其中的两个via oxidative metabolism by the liver又起到了插入语的作用,把be converted into拆成两段。
本句的另外一个特征是其中充斥着专有名词。其中的body fluids, oxidative和synthesis通过字面的意思或者根据词头、词根我们还是应该猜出其意思的,lactic acid, metabolism和muscle这三个词在生物类文章中极其常用,大家应该背下来;而glycogen这种东西则没办法,只能作一个首字母提炼。但是请记住,GRE和GMAT文章中只要出现了这种专有名词,出题者是一定会在文章中把它在文章中所乃至的词义解释清楚的,所以读者遇到文章中做了解释的专有名词,应该力求把解释看懂。
意群训练:With the conclusion of a burst activity , the lactic acid level is high in the body fluids , leaving the large animal vulnerable to attack until the acid is reconverted , via oxidative metabolism , by the liver into glucose , which is then sent(in part)back to the muscles for glycogen synthesis.7.Although Gutman admits that forced separation by sale was frequent, he shows that the slaves’ preference, revealed most clearly on plantations where sale was infrequent, was very much for stable monogamy.(3+)难句类型:插入语
译文:虽然古特曼承认,由于奴隶买卖而造成的被迫离散甚为频繁,但他还是证明,奴隶的偏爱——在那些奴隶买卖并不频繁的种植园上被最为显著地揭示出来——在很大程度上侧重于稳定的一夫一妻制(monogamy)。
解释:本句中插入语的使用revealed most clearly on plantations where sale was infrequent, 后半个分句中的主语that slaves' preference与系动词was离得太远,造成阅读的困难。意群训练:Although Gutman admits that forced separation by sale was frequent, he shows that the slaves’ preference, revealed most clearly on plantations where sale was infrequent, was very much for stable monogamy.8.Gutman argues convincingly that the stability of the Black family encouraged the transmission of-and so was crucial in sustaining-the Black heritage of folklore, music, and religious expression from one generation to another, a heritage that slaves were continually fashioning out of their African and American experiences.(4)难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
译文:古特曼人令人信服地论辨道,黑人家庭的稳定有助于包括民间传说、音乐、及宗教表达在内的黑人文化遗产一代一代传递下去,因而在维持文化遗产方面也起着至关重要的作用,而对于这种文化遗产,黑奴们不断地从其非洲和美洲的经历中予以丰富发展。
解释:由that引导的宾语从句中,encouraged的宾语the transmission of the Black heritage被 16
同时表示并列和转折的and so 分开,给读者造成了阅读上和理解上的困难。最后一个逗号后面的部分是修饰前面的black heritage的同位语。
意群训练:Gutman argues convincingly that the stability of the Black family encouraged the transmission of-and so was crucial in sustaining-the Black heritage of folklore, music, and religious expression from one generation to another, a heritage that slaves were continually fashioning out of their African and American experiences.9.This preference for exogamy, Gutman suggests,may have derived from West African rules governing marriage, which, though they differed from one tribal group to another, all involved some kind of prohibition against unions with close kin.(3+)难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
译文:古特曼表示,这种对于外部通婚的偏爱很有可能缘起于西部非洲制约着婚姻的规定,尽管这些规定在一个和另一个部落群体之间不尽相同,但都涉及到某种对近亲联姻(union with close kin)的禁止。
解释:本句有两个插入语,第一个插入语Gutman suggests割裂了主句的主语和谓语。West African rules后跟着两个修饰成分,第一个是分词修饰(governing marriage), 第二个是以which引导的非限定性定语从句,从句中出现了第二个插入语though they differed from one tribal group to another,又割裂了从句引导词与谓语之间的联系。
意群训练:This preference for exogamy, Gutman suggests,may have derived from West African rules governing marriage, which, though they differed from one tribal group to another, all involved some kind of prohibition against unions with close kin.10.His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe.(4+)
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词
译文:该社会学家的命题当被应用于针对美国黑人的歧视时,相对而言尚能适用,但他对种族偏见所下的定义——即―以种族为基础的、针对某个群体的消级的先入之见,而该群体在任何特定的种族竞争地区则被普遍认作一种族‖——可被理解成同样也襄括了针对加利福尼亚州的中国人以及中世纪的犹太人这样一些种族群体的敌视态度。
解释:本句长度惊人,插入部分比较长,再加上不乏抽象词,所以较为难懂,在表示转折的后半个分钟中,长长的插入语as racially based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition作为主语his definition of racial prejudice的同位语,使分句中的主谓相隔千山万水。除此之外,本句用词抽象,语义难以理解,对读者的词汇功底要求较高。考试现场如无法读懂,宜用合理化原则中的取非读法,but之前的分句说的是其论点对美国黑人的种族歧视是较为管用,转折后的内容就应该说其理论对华人和犹太人相对无用。
意群训练:His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as “racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition,” can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe.11.Such variations in size,shape, chemistry,conduction speed,excitation threshold, and the like as had been demonstrated in nerve cells remained negligible in significance for any
possible correlation with the manifold dimensions of mental experience.(5)难免类型:复杂修饰
译文:类似于这些已经被在神经细胞中证明的在大小、形状、化学过程、产生的速度、兴奋阈值及其类似的方面上所发生变化,当他们被用来与大脑的体验以可能的方式联系起来的时候,他们在重要性上仍然是微不足道的。
解释:即使是初练难免的人其实也很熟悉such thing as something这样的语言方式,可是当中间的小东西thing居然变成了一个长达十二个单词的大东西的时候,实在令人搞不清后面的as及其后的something 到底为哪方神圣。再加上以such as 为中心的长主语距离系动词remain太远,更增加了本句的难度。请读者反复阅读,直到读出这样的感觉:顺序阅读原文时,原文似乎就是几大块,就好像是such things as a remain negligible in a certain sense.意群训练:Such variations in size, shape, chemistry, conduction speed, excitation threshold, and the like as had been demonstrated in nerve cells remained negligible in significance for any possible correlation with the manifold dimensions of mental experience.12.It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural differences among neuron types;however , proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or its condition was influenced by these differences , which seemed instead to influence the developmental patterning of the neural circuits.(5)有可能通过其他方法来证明神经元种类间的细微的结构差异;可是,这样的证据是缺乏的,即神经冲动的性质或者状态是受这些差异所影响的,而这些差异看起来却能影响神经网络的发育模式。难免类型:复杂修饰、倒装
解释:与很多人的印象相反,lack从来就不能作形容词,它只有动词或名词的词性。其形容词的形式是lacking,意思是缺乏的、不足的。
本句的在however 之前和之后的两个分句,是两个倒装结构,前一个是小倒装,正常语序是:to demonstrate refined structural differences among neuron types by other methods: however后面是个大倒装,lacking之后的that引导的同位语人名是修饰主语proof的,但是因为它太长,所以为了避免头重脚轻,被放到lacking之后,正常的语序应该是proof that the quality of..was lacking 意群训练:It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural differences among neuron types;however, proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or its condition was influenced by these differences, which seemed instead to influence the developmental patterning of the neural circuits.13.Although qualitative variance among nerve energies was never rigidly disproved, the doctrine was generally abandoned in favor of the opposing view, namely, that nerve impulses are essentially homogeneous in quality and are transmitted as “common currency” throughout the nervous system.(4)尽管在神经能量上存在着质的不同,这一点从来都没有在严格的意义上被反对过,但是以上教条通常被抛弃掉,而转向相反的观点,即:神经冲动从根本上本质相同,而且被当作―一种普通流‖在整个神经系统中传播。难句类型:复杂修饰、双重否定
解释:前半个分句中有一个双重否定,was never rigidly disproved,这种表示法用中文说出来还是比较好懂的,原因是我们熟悉中文的这种表示法,但在英文中出现,因为在以前的学习中见得少,所以感觉上很别扭。因此,同学们的任务,就是通过反复阅读此类句子来熟悉这样的英语。其实在英文表达中,很多双重否定与中文表达是一样的,表示肯定;如not unlimited就等于limited。但是值得读者注意的是在GRE和GMAT这两种对考生的逻辑有苛刻要求的考试中,如果这种双重否定中所涉及的概念不是dichotomous(即二分法的词汇,比如上面例 18
子中的limited和unlimited),则双重否定不一定表示肯定;比如本例中的not disprove, 不能理解为agree,不反对者中,的确有人会同意,但通常心存疑虑,随大流者居多。不但如此,大双重否定中加上限定词以后,在否定的范围上也有所变化,如本句的be never rigidly disproved,没有完全被反对,不能理解为从来都被严格支持的,而应该理解成从来都可能有人支持的。综上所述,对双重否定的句子,简单的把其置换为肯定,不是最精确的理解。而最好的办法,就是通过多读、多练来熟悉其语言表达及其逻辑方式,按照其字面的表达理解成没有完全否定,然后大脑中反应出其目前的生存状态是一个仍未消失的状态;这种理解才是在考试现场既快速又精确的理解。
运用前面所说的用合理化原则中的取非读法,可以很容易的读出作者在后半个分句中想说前面的那种观点被反对了。但是,初学者会对这个分句中的something be abandoned in favor of something else这种语言表达感到突然,如果理解成因为喜后者而抛弃了前者,虽然也能说得通,但是其实原文从来没有这种因果关系,in favor of强调的是这两种动作的同时性;抛弃了前者,而转向后者,namely之后的内容是前面的opposing view的同位语。
意群训练:Although qualitative variance among nerve energies was never rigidly disproved, the doctrine was generally abandoned in favor of the opposing view, namely, that nerve impulses are essentially homogeneous in quality and are transmitted as “common currency” throughout the nervous system 14.Other experiments revealed slight variations in the size, number, arrangement, and interconnection of the nerve cells, but as far as psycho neural correlations were concerned, the obvious similarities of these sensory fields to each other seemed much more remarkable than any of the minute differences.(4-)尽管其他实验显示在神经细胞的大小、数量、排列和相互连接上有一些小的差异,但是就心理-神经的关系而言,这些感官区域彼此之间的明显的相似性看起来比起微小的差异更为令人注目。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:在前后两个分句之间有一个插入语as far as psycho neural correlations were concerned。在后面的分句中,主语the obvious similarities之后的、修饰主语的成分较长、以至于有很多读者看到相隔很远的more remarkable than时一下子反应不过来是什么比后者更明显。其简化形式应为:similarities seemed more remarkable than differences。
意群训练:Other experiments revealed slight variations in the size, number, arrangement, and interconnection of the nerve cells, but as far as psycho neural correlations were concerned, the obvious similarities of these sensory fields to each other seemed much more remarkable than any of the minute differences.15.Although some experiments show that, as an object becomes familiar, its internal representation becomes more holistic and the recognition process correspondingly more parallel, the weight of evidence seems to support the serial hypothesis, at least for objects that are not notably simple and familiar.(4+)
虽然某些实验表明,随着一个物体变得熟悉起来,其内心再现图像亦更具整体感,辨认过程相应地更趋于平行,但证据的砝码似乎在支持序列假设(serial hypothesis),至少是对于那些不甚简单、不甚熟悉的物体来说。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略
解释:在Although引导的分句中,谓语shows后面跟着一个长长的宾语从句,从句中先出现一个插入语as an object becomes familiar,之后的内容是由and 连接的两套并列的主谓宾。其实and前后就是两个句子,只不过作者省略了后面的句子中与前面相同的引导词that和谓语become。
句子中有一个生词holistic,其实即使不认识,也能用合理化原则猜出它是后面serial的反义词、parallel的同义词,大约是统一、完整或同时的意思;其实只要能理解到其是与serial相反的意思即可。
意群训练:Although some experiments show that, as an object becomes familiar, its internal representation becomes more holistic and the recognition process correspondingly more parallel, the weight of evidence seems to support the serial hypothesis,at least for objects that are not notably simple and familiar.16.In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement, historians have focused a great deal of attention in recent years on determining more accurately the status of women in various periods.(3+)
在很大程度上,由于女权主义运动(feminist movement)的缘故,史学家近年来汇聚了大量的注意力,来更为准确地确定妇女在各个历史时期的地位。Focus A on B;难句类型:倒装
解释:focus A on B指把A集中于B,本句中介词on的宾语determining/more accurately the status of women in various periods中有一个小倒装,正常语序应该是determining the status of women in various periods more accurately。
意群训练:In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement, historians have focused a great deal of attention in recent years on determining more accurately the status of women in various periods.17.If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons , it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact –real Amazonian societies – but rather to offer ―moral lessons‖ on the supposed outcome of women’s rule in their own society.(4)如果我们先研究一下为什么古人会提到亚马逊人,下面的一点就变得清晰了,那就是古希腊对于这种社会的庙睡不是太多的被用来表达观察的历史事实——真正的亚麻逊社会的——而是为了对于妇女在其社会中的统治的预期后果提供一种―道德教导‖。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词
解释:有两个词汇需要先解释一下:something be meant to represent是use something to mean的被动语态。mean在这里不是常用的“……的意思是”的意思,而是表示做某事所表达的目的、意图,其英文释义为:to serve or intend to convey, show, or indicate。句中的结构为:something be meant not so much to,, but rather to, 实际上是把be meant to和not rather 的两个固定搭配套在一起,意思是:不是为了...而是为了...另外,suppose的意思很抽象,不容易理解。此词既有据信、被认为的意思,也有预期的意思,还有表示贬义的假想的被想当然的意思。
本句的supposed用法极其特殊,在此处的意思,用以上任何一个释义来理解居然都可以成立,既是在说一个预期的社会状态,又是在说一个虚构出来的、本来不存在的社会状态,其用法类似于中文中的一语双关,是文章作者自以为文笔精妙之处。
意群训练:If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons, it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact-real Amazonian societies-but rather to offer “moral lessons” on the supposed outcome of women's rule in their own society.18.Thus, for instance, it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom is not a literally correct description of this atom, but only an approximation to a somewhat more correct equation taking account of spin, magnetic dipole, and
relativistic effects;and that this corrected equation is itself only an imperfect approximation to an infinite set of quantum field-theoretical equations.(5)
因此,举例来说,对数学家而言,了解到下述情形可能会令其惊愕不已,即薛定谔(Schrodinger)的氢原子方程式并非是对该原子作出的一种绝然正确的描述,而仅仅是个近似值,趋近于一个在某种程度上更为正确的将自旋、磁性偶极子、以及相对论效应考虑在内的方程式;而这个得以纠正的方程式就其本身而言也只是一个不完美的近似值,趋近于无穷无尽的一整套量子场论方程式。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略
解释:读到此句时,数学家不见得震惊,晕倒的考生恐怕不在少数。不但句子结构复杂,而且罗列了大量的专有名词。对于不是理科的同学来讲,在阅读这篇文章的现场清楚地明白应该读到什么程度远比研究这些生僻的专有名词更重要。其实是否知道薛定鄂方程对读者来说并不见得重要,GRE考试的出题者也不见得知道它;关键是要读懂句子的主要意思;数学家不能理解不精确和近似值的伟大意义。不过在本书中,出现的句子均以阅读训练为目的,所以读者仍要把句子的结构读清楚。
主句中的主语it是一个开工主语,其具体的内容应该是从to learn开始一直到句子结束的长达八行的不定式,但是此不定式实在太长,如果放在句首则句子无法平衡。Learn后面带着两个以that引导的宾语从句,中间以分号和and分开,可以把分号以后的句子看成是and it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that的省略形式。
意群训练:Thus, for instance, it may come as a shock to mathematicians to learn that the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom is not a literally correct description of this atom, but only an approximation to a somewhat more correct equation taking account of spin, magnetic dipole, and relativistic effects;and that this corrected equation is itself only an imperfect approximation to an infinite set of quantum field-theoretical equations.19.The physicist rightly dreads precise argument, since an argument that is convincing only if it is precise loses all its force if the assumptions on which it is based are slightly changed, whereas an argument that is convincing though imprecise may well be stable under small perturbations of its underlying assumptions.(5+)
物理学家恐惧于那些精确无误的论据不无道理,因为某种只有在它是精确无误的条件下才令人置信的论据,一旦它赖于建立其上的假设稍有变化,便会失去它一部的作用;而与此相反,一个尽管并不精确无误但却令人置信的论据,在其基本假设(underlying assumption)稍微受干扰的情况下,仍然有可能是站得住脚的。
难句类型:复杂修饰
解释:本句在文章中就是一个自然段,虽然长度比不上前面第一章中所举的那个长达10行的例子,但是难度绝不在那句话之下。本句堪称句子的大杂烩,连主句带从句居然一共有八个。从大往小说,由whereas连接了两个大句子,whereas后面的句子中的主语an augument之后又跟了一个定语从句that is convincing though imprecise,修饰augument。whereas前面共有六个句子,由the physicist作主语的主句;由since引导的原因状语从句,修饰since从句中主语an augument的由that引导的定语从句,此定语从句中的条件状语从句only if it is precise;since从句中的条件状语从句if the assumptions on which it is based are slightly changed,以及修饰此从句中的主语assumptions的定语从句on which it is based一共八个句子,从句套从句,实在令人叹为观止。
然而,在考试现场去数句子的数目,是只有呆子才会干的事,读者们惟一要干的事就是反复阅读这句话,什么时候练到不必去想其语法结构就能按原文顺序读懂,才算初步掌握;再进 21
一步把它读顺,直到你看不出这个句子有什么特别的地方,看上去还挺舒服就算训练成功。意群训练:The physicist rightly dreads precise argument, since an argument that is convincing only if it is precise loses all its force if the assumptions on which it is based are slightly changed, whereas an argument that is convincing though imprecise may well be stable under small perturbations of its underlying assumptions.20.However, as they gained cohesion, the Bluestockings came to regard themselves as a women’s group and to possess a sense of female solidarity lacking in the salonnieres, who remained isolated from one another by the primacy each held in her own salon.(4-)
起初,蓝袜女们确实模仿了法国沙龙女主人,将男性襄括到其小圈子中来。然则,随着她们获得的凝聚力,她们渐趋将自己视作一女性团体,并拥有了一种妇女团结意识,而这种意识在法国沙龙女主人身上则荡然无存,因为她们每个人在其自己的沙龙中自视甚高而彼此孤立隔绝开来。
难句类型:复杂修饰 解释:本句读到表示并列的连词and开始变难。and之后的不定式与前面的不定式是并列的,to的前面省略了一个与前面一样的谓语came。lacking之后的分词作定语修饰a sense of female solidarity其后的由who引导的定语从句又修饰逗号前面的salonnieres此从句中又有一个定语从句that each salonniere held in her own salon修饰其前的primacy,但是由于引导词that在从句中作宾语,因此被省略。
意群训练:However, as they gained cohesion, the Bluestocking came to regard themselves as a women's group and to possess a sense of female solidarity lacking in the salonnieres, who remained isolated from one another by the primacy each held in her own salon.21.As my own studies have advanced, I have been increasingly impressed with the functional similarities between insect and vertebrate societies and less so with the structural differences that seem, at first glance, to constitute such an immense gulf between them.(5)随着我的研究不断深入,我对昆虫和脊椎动物群落之间的功能类似性印象愈来愈深刻,而对结构上的差异印象愈发淡漠,虽然这些结构上的差异初看上去似乎构成了二者间一条无法愈越的鸿沟。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略 解释:本句子的中间一段impressed with the functional similarities between insect and vertebrate societies and less so with the structural differences容易令人看晕,其中的insect and vertebrate societies and less so with由两个and连接了三个部分,然而它们其实不是同一层次的并列,第一个and实际上是between insect societies and vertebrate societies的一部分,是并列的,而and之后的less so with其实是对于一个完整的表达方式I have been increasingly less impressed with的省略形式,去掉了与前面重复的成分。
后面修饰的structural differences的定语从句that seem, at first glance, to constitute such an immense gulf between them中,又出现了一个别扭的插入语at first glance,把应该连在一起的seem to 粗暴地分开,令人不熟悉此类难句的人倍感不适。
意群训练:As my own studies have advanced, I have been increasingly impressed with the functional similarities between insect and vertebrate societies and less so with the structural differences that seem, at first glance, to constitute such an immense gulf between them.22.Although fiction assuredly springs from political circumstances, its authors react to those circumstances in ways other than ideological, and talking about novels and stories primarily as instruments of ideology circumvents much of the fictional enterprise.(4)虽然小说无疑起源于政治情状,但其作者则是以非意识形态的方式对这些政治情状作出反应 22 的,而将小说和故事主要地当作意识形态的工具来探讨,会在相当程度上阻碍小说事业。难句类型:复杂修饰 解释:本句从句子的结构上来讲,惟一的难度在于and之后的句子的主语talking about novels and stories primarily as instruments of ideology太长,以至于看到谓语circumvent的时候已经搞不清楚主谓了。更大的难度恐怕还在于对两个词汇的理解circumvent和enterprise。我们以前所背过的circumvent有两个词义,一个是规避,一是以计谋战胜,但是这两种意思放到此处都显然不通;其实circumvent有一个我们没有背过的最常用的意思是包围、限制或陷害;至于enterprise常用的意思是企业,这里的指事业。
意群训练:Although fiction assuredly springs from political circumstances, its authors react to those circumstances in ways other than ideological, and talking about novels and stories primarily as instruments of ideology circumvents much of the fictional enterprise.23.Is this a defect, or are the authors working out of, or trying to forge, a different kind of aesthetic?(3)
这究竟是一种缺陷呢,还是这些作者想要按照一种与众不同的美学体系进行创作,抑或是在试图创立一种与众不同的美学体系? 难句类型:插入语
解释:本句的句子既短,意思也不难理解,但插入语(or trying to forge)的干扰作用却极强。意群训练:Is this a defect, or are the authors working out of, or trying to forge, a different kind of aesthetic? 24.In addition, the style of some Black novels, like Jean Toomer's Cane, verges on expressionism or surrealism;does this technique provide a counterpoint to the prevalent theme that portrays the fate against which Black heroes are pitted , a theme usually conveyed by more naturalistic modes of expression ?(5)
不仅如此,有些黑人小说(比如JT的甘蔗)的风格接近与表现主义和超现实主义;这种技巧是否为流行的主题提供了一个和谐的对应呢?这种主题刻画了黑人注意与之相抗争的命运,这是一个通常用更为自然主义的表现手法所表达的主题。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:在本句中有三个词需要先解释一番:verge on这个词组是接近于、濒于的意思,hero在文学作品中是主人公的意思,pit作动词时,除了挖坑、窖藏之外,还有使竞争、使斗争的意思,其英文释义为:to set as gamecocks into or as if into a pit to fight, to set into opposition or rivalry usually used with against.在此用的是后一种语义的被动语态fate against which Black heroes are pitted.如果用主动语态则是:pit black heroes against fate。
另外本句的结构复杂,分号之后是一个一般疑问句,但是由于修饰成分过多,过长,使得读者看不清楚这个句子在问什么。其实如果没有最后的那个prevalent theme的同位语a theme usually conveyed by more naturalistic modes of expression,本句会易懂得多。
意群训练:In addition, the style of some Black novels, like Jean Toomer's Cane, verges on expressionism or surrealism; does this technique provide a counterpoint to the prevalent theme that portrays the fate against which Black heroes are pitted, a theme usually conveyed by more naturalistic modes of expression? 25.Black Fiction surveys a wide variety of novels, bringing to our attention in the process some fascinating and little-known works like James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-
Colored Man.(4)注意:bring A to B ——〉bring to B A 《黑人小说》考察了极为广泛的一系列小说,在此过程中让我们注意到了某些引人入胜但却鲜为人知的作品,如詹姆斯。韦尔登。约翰逊(James Weldon Johnson)的《一个曾经是有 23
色人的自传》(Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man)。难句类型:倒装
解释:在以bringing开头的作状语的分词中出现了倒装,bring A to B被倒装为bring to B A,其倒装的原因仍是为了避免头重脚轻,正常的语序应该如下:bringing some fascinating and little-known works like James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man to our attention in the process.意群训练:Black Fiction surveys a wide variety of novels,bringing to our attention in the process some fascinating and little-known works like James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.26.Although these molecules allow radiation at visible wavelengths,where most of the energy of sunlight is concentrated, to pass through, they absorb some of the longer-wavelength,infrared emissions radiated from the Earth’s surface, radiation that would otherwise be transmitted back into space.(4)虽然这些分子允许可见波长(visible wavelength)的辐射——阳光的绝大部分能量就汇集于此——不受阻挡地穿透,但它们却会吸收某些较长波长(longer-wavelength),亦即从地球表面辐射出的红外发射(infrared emission),这种辐射若不是二氧化碳的缘故就会被重新输送回太空。
难句类型:复杂修饰、抽象词 解释:前面的分句中有一个不算很长的插入语,但是因为它插入的位置正好在固定搭配allow something to do something中间,将allow和to分得很远,所以读起来让人感觉很不舒服。后面的分句中的最后一行radiation that would otherwise be transmitted back into space是其前面的infrared emissions的同位语。其中的otherwise是副词作状语,表示如果后面的分句所说的they absorb some of the longer-waverlength, infrared emissions不发生时的后果。
意群训练:Although these molecules allow radiation at visible wavelengths,where most of the energy of sunlight is concentrated,to pass through,they absorb some of the longer-wavelength,infrared emissions radiated from the Earth's surface,radiation that would otherwise be transmitted back into space.27.The role those anthropologists ascribe to evolution is not of dictating the details of human behavior but one of imposing constraints—ways of feeling, thinking, and acting that
“come naturally” in archetypal situations in any culture.(4)这些人类学家所归诸于生物进化的作用,不是规定人类行为的种种细节,而是将各种限制强加于人类——即在任何文化的典型情景中都会―自然表露‖的情感、思维、以及行动方式。难句类型:复杂修饰、省略
解释:尽管我们很熟悉the role of something的这种表达,但本句中the role of被作者胜利很活。首先,在role后面有一个省略了引导词that的定语从句(因为role在从句中作ascribe的宾语),这样就把role和系动词is隔得很远。其次,but前面的句子的主要结构The role is not of doing something其实是The role is not the role of doing something的省略形式,因为后面的the role与前面的完全重复,如果不把它省略掉,谁看到都要觉得啰嗦。因为同样的道理,but之后的one of imposing constraints实际上是is one role of imposing constraints的省略形式。意群训练:The role those anthropologists ascribe to evolution is not of dictating
the details of human behavior but one of imposing constraints— ways of feeling,thinking, and acting that
“come naturally” in archetypal situations in any culture.28.Which of the following most probably provides an appropriate analogy from human morphology for the ―details‖ versus ―constraints‖ distinction made in the passage in relation to
human behavior?(5)
以下哪一个选项最有可能为文章中所谈到的与人类行为有关的―人类行为细节‖相对―人类所受限制‖之间的差异,从人类形态的角度上提供了一个合适的类比? 难句类型:复杂修饰、抽象词
解释:本句子在所有GRE或GMAT阅读题的题干中是最难读懂的题干之一。本句不但结构复杂,而且用词抽象,使得读者如果想根据语义来搞清楚谁修饰谁,也变得极为困难。分析如下:本句的主干是Which of the following provides an analogy for the details versus constraints distinction?.Versus是一个介词,等于against,即体育比赛中的VS。其他的所有成分均是一些修饰成分。其中一个对答题最重要的限制条件是from human morphology,说明这种类比的比较双方所比的必须是人类形态上的特征。
意群训练:Which of the following most probably provides an appropriate analogy from human morphology for the “details” versus “constraints” distinction made in the passage in relation to human behavior? 29.A low number of algal cells in the presence of a high number of grazers suggested, but did not prove,that the grazers had removed most of the algae.(3+)在存在大量食草动物的同时却只有少量的水藻花粉囊,这暗示出——但没能证明——食草动物已吞噬了大部分水藻。难句类型:插入语 解释:本句主语很长,而且谓语suggested与that引导的宾语从句间被插入语but did not prove隔开,造成阅读障碍。当suggest与but did not prove连在一起使用的时候,其意思不是建议,而是指一种基于主观臆测的推理,中文翻译成―暗示‖。其英文释义为:to call to mind by though or association the explosion suggested sabotage。GRE、GMAT及LSAT文章中,常用suggest, but do not prove来描述一种没有真凭实据、可能有问题的理论,然后在后面的叙述中把它否定掉。
意群训练:A low number of algal cells in the presence of a high number of grazers suggested, but did not prove,that the grazers had removed most of the algae.30.Perhaps the fact many of these first studies considered only algae of a size that could be collected in a net(net phytoplankton), a practice that overlooked the smaller phytoplankton that we now know grazers are most likely to feed on , led to a de-emphasis of the role of grazers in subsequent research.(5)可能这样一个事实,那就是很多这样的最初的研究只是考虑了那些能够用网捞起来的大小的水藻,这样一个忽视了更小的浮游生物(而这些浮游生物我们现在知道是捕食者主要的食物)的做法,导致了在接下来的研究中对于捕食者的作用的贬低。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:句子的结构繁杂。句子的主语令人吃惊地长,在最后一个逗号后的led以前,全是主语!其实句子的主干简单,就是the fact led to a de-emphasis of the role of grazers。但是本句的主语the fact后面的修饰成分长得吓人,先是个定语从句;定语从句中又套了一个定语从句。然后逗号后面的a practice引导的部分是前面的主语的同位语兼任插入语,practice后面的修饰它的一大堆东西又是定语从句套着定语从句。本句是典型的层层修饰结构。
意群训练:Perhaps the fact that many of these first studies considered only algae of a size that could be collected in a net(net phytoplankton), a practice that overlooked the smaller that we now know grazers are most likely to feed on, led to a de-emphasis of the role of grazers in subsequent research.31.Studies by Hargrave and Geen estimated natural community grazing rates by measuring
feeding rates of individual zooplankton species in the laboratory and then computing community grazing rates for field conditions using the known population density of grazers.由哈格雷夫(Hargrave)和吉恩(Geen)所进行的研究,对自然条件下的群落捕食速率进行了估计,其手段是通过测量出实验室内单独的浮游动物种类的捕食速率,然后利用已知的食草动物种群密度,计算出实地状况下的群落捕食速率。难句类型:复杂修饰 解释:本句对阅读者的阅读能力提出了更高的要求,不但要求读者读清楚句子的复杂的结构,而且对读者的词汇能力也提出了更高的要求。
By以前结构无需解释,by以后有两个作介词宾语短语的动名词结构,measuring和后面表示并列和顺接的and then之后的computing,说的是计算方法;前一个measuring说的是先算出实验室中浮游动物品种的单位捕食速率,后面的computing前其实省略了一个by,而且在这个动名词结构中还包括一个分词结构using the known population density of grazers,用已知的捕食者的种群密度计算出其野外的群体捕食速率。整个的by以后的计算过程简单了就是:实验室单位速率×野外密度=野外群体速率 另外本句中的词汇也颇有迷惑性;虽然没有太难的单词,但是很多单词都是同义词和反义词,容易让人读混;(斜线分隔同义词,冒号分隔反义词)
estimate/measure/compute;feeding rates/grazing rates;zooplankton/grazers;natureal/field;laboratory community;individual
意群训练:Studies by Hargrave and Geen estimated natural community grazing rates by measuring feeding rates of individual zooplankton species in the laboratory and then computing community grazing rates for field conditions using the known population density of grazers.32.In the periods of peak zooplankton abundance, that is, in the late spring and in the summer,Haney recorded maximum daily community grazing rates, for nutrient-poor lakes and bog lakes, respectively, of 6.6 percent and 114 percent of daily phytoplankton production.(3+)在浮游动物数量激增的高峰期,亦即在春季后期以及夏季,哈尼记录了最大程度上的每日群落食草比率,对于营养物不充足的湖和沼泽湖而言,分别为每日浮游植物繁殖量的6.6%和114%.难句类型:插入语
解释:句中有两组插入语,每组两个插入语,尤其是第二组,把rate of从中间劈开。不过因为句义尚好理解,所以本句只是有一点别扭,但不算太难。
意群训练:In the periods of peak zooplankton abundance, that is, in the late spring and in the summer, Haney recorded maximum daily community grazing rates, for nutrient-poor lakes and bog lakes, respectively, of 6.6 percent and 114 percent of daily phytoplankton production.33.The hydrologic cycle, a major topic in this science, is the complete cycle of phenomena through which water passes, beginning as atmospheric water vapor, passing into liquid and solid form as precipitation, thence along and into the ground surface, and finally again returning to the form of atmospheric water vapor by means of evaporation and transpiration.(4)水文循环(hydrologic cycle),作为该学科中的一个主要课题,指的是水所经过的诸现象的整个循环过程,开始时是作为大气中的水蒸气,转而作为雨、雪、露、雹一类的降水量经过液体和固体形态,由此而沿着地层表面分布或进入地层表面,最终通过蒸发和散发作用再度回复到大气水蒸气的形态。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略 水文循环(hydrologic cycle),作为该学科中的一个主要课题,指的是水所经过的诸现象的 26
整个循环过程,开始时是作为大气中的水蒸气,转而作为雨、雪、露、雹一类的降水量经过液体和固体形态,由此而沿着地层表面分布或进入地层表面,最终通过蒸发和散发作用再度回复到大气水蒸气的形态。
解释:beginning开始的一系列分词都是修饰主语The hydrologic cycle的,分别是beginning/passing/passing/returning。值得注意的是,thence along and into the ground surface 是thence passing along and entering into the ground surface的省略形式,但是看上去意思却很清楚。类似这样的省略,是出题者合理地利用了省略来达到改编学术论文时压缩文章篇幅的目的。意群训练:The hydrologic cycle, a major topic in this science, is the complete cycle of phenomena through which water passes, beginning as atmospheric water vapor, passing into liquid and solid form as precipitation, thence along and into the ground surface, and finally again returning to the form of atmospheric water vapor by means of evaporation and transpiration.34.Only when a system possesses natural or artificial boundaries that associate the water within it the hydrologic cycle may the entire system properly be termed hydrogeologic.(4)
只有当一个系统拥有自然的或人工形成的边界来把边界中的水与水文循环联系起来的时候,才有可能把整个的系统恰当的成为与水文地质学有关。难句类型:复杂修饰、倒装
解释:only放在句首时,主句的情态动词may倒装,这是我们高中就已经学过的东西。然而句首的only与倒装的may距离如此之远,这在以前却没有见过,所以读上去让人不习惯。另外一个难点在于,前面的由when所引导的时间状语从句中,宾语boundaries后面跟了一个定语从句,that associate the water within it with the hydrologic cycle,而且从句中的associate with又被water within it所分开,读者还要分神去考虑it所指的是什么,所以读到后面倒装的may的时候,难免不知所云。
意群训练:Only when a system possesses natural or artificial boundaries that associate the water within it with the hydrologic cycle may the entire system properly be termed hydrogeologic.35.The historian Frederick J.Turner wrote in the 1890’s that the agrarian discontent that had been developing steadily in the United States since about 1870 had been precipitated by the
closing of the internal frontier——that is, the depletion of available new land needed for further expansion of the American farming system.(4)
史学家弗雷德里克.杰.特纳(Frederick J.Turner)于十九世纪九十年代著述道,美国约自18世纪70年代以来一直在持续不断发展的农民不满,由于国内边远地区(internal frontier)的封闭而更趋加剧——亦即是说,美国农业系统进一步扩展所必需的可资利用的新土地几近耗竭。
难句类型:复杂修饰
解释:典型的句子套句子。主句是F.J.T.wrote that,宾语从句中主干是the agrarian discontent had been precipitated by the closing of the internal frontier,在从句的主语the agrarian discontent后面又来了一个定语从句。
意群训练:The historian Frederick J.Turner wrote in the 1890’s that the agrarian discontent that had been developing steadily in the United States since about 1870 had been precipitated by the
closing of the internal frontier——that is, the depletion of available new land needed for further expansion of the American farming system.36.In the early 1950’s,historians who studied preindustrial Europe(which we may define here as Europe in the period from roughly 1300 to 1800)began,for the first time in large numbers, to
investigate more of the preindustrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent who
comprised the political and social elite: the kings, generals, judges, nobles, bishops, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books.(4)难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
译文:二十世纪五十年代早期,研究前工业化时代欧洲(此处我们可将其界定为约自1300年至1800年这一时期的欧洲)的史学家,首次以众多的人数(杨鹏的书中:第一次以大量的数据),开始调查前工业化时代欧洲人口中的大多数,而非那些构成了政治与社会精英阶层的百分之二或三的人口,即国王、将军、法官、贵族、主教、以及地方上的达官显贵,而正是这部分人一直到那时为止普遍充斥于史学著作。解释:句子中有两个插入语,一个是跟在preindustrial Europe之后的which we may define here as Europe in the period from roughly 1300 to 1800,这个插入语的直接作用是解释前面的preindustrial Europe的年代,而起到的客观作用则是把主句中的主语和谓语分割得很远;第二个插入语是在began, for the first time in large numbers, to investingate中间,把一个好好的began to斩为两段。
这句话另外一个难以理解的地方是more of the preindustrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent,表示的是在工业化以前的欧洲人口中超过了那2%到3%的人,亦即占97%到98%的人民群众。意群训练:In the early 1950’s,historians who studied preindustrial Europe(which we may define here as Europe in the period from roughly 1300 to 1800)began,for the first time in large numbers, to
investigate more of the preindustrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent who comprised the political and social elite: the kings, generals, judges, nobles, bishops, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books.37.Historians such as Le Roy Ladurie have used the documents to extract case histories,which have illuminated the attitudes of different social groups(these attitudes include, but are not
confined to, attitudes toward crime and the law)and have revealed how the authorities administered justice.(3+ 难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
译文:象勒罗伊。拉迪里(Le Roy Ladurie)一类的史学家利用这些文献史料从中挖掘出某些个案史(case history)来,阐明了不同社会群体的态度(这些态度包括,但并非局限于,对犯罪和法律的态度),并揭示出当局是如何执行审判的。
解释:逗号以后的内容都是修饰逗号以前的case history的。在which引导的非限定性定语从句中有一个插入语(these attitudes include, but are not confined to, attitudes toward crime and the law),我们可以看到这个插入语中又套了一个插入语but not confined to。
意群训练:Historians such as Le Roy Ladurie have used the documents to extract case histories,which have illuminated the attitudes of different social groups(these attitudes include, but are not
confined to, attitudes toward crime and the law)and have revealed how the authorities administered justice.38.It can be inferred from the passage that a historian who wished to compare crime rates per thousand in a European city in one decade of the fifteenth century with crime rates in another decade of that century would probably be most aided by better information about which of the following?(5)难句类型:复杂修饰 译文:从文章中可以推断出来,一个希望比较十五世纪以前一个十年的某个欧洲城市中的每千人的犯罪率与另外一个十年中的犯罪率的历史学家将会被以下那种信息的提高所最好的帮助?
解释:句首的it是形式主语,其具体内容是从that开始到句子结束的全部内容。That从句中,主语a historian 之后修饰它的超长的定语从句是这个句子难以读懂的原因。Compare crime rates with crime rates中间被修饰第一个crime rates的两个修饰成分per thousand in a European city in one decade of the fifteenth century分隔得很远。在with之后的第二个crime rates后面,省略了与前面重复的per thousand in a European city。
意群训练:It can be inferred from the passage that a historian who wished to compare crime rates per thousand in a European city in one decade of the fifteenth century with crime rates in another decade of that century would probably be most aided by better information about which of the following? 39.My point is that its central consciousness—its profound understanding of class and gender
as shaping influences on people’s lives—owes much to that earlier literary heritage, a heritage that, in general, has not been sufficiently valued by most contemporary literary critics.(4)难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语 译文:我的论点是,其作品的中心意识——它将阶级和性别作为人们生活的决定性影响而作出的深邃理解——在很大程度上借鉴了那个早期的文学遗产,而这一遗产就总体而言还尚未获得大多数当代文学评论家的足够重视。
解释:宾语从句中的主语和谓语被长插入语分开,造成阅读障碍。插入语中有一个固定搭配understanding of A as B,是把A理解成B的意思。不过本句中as的宾语不容易理解:shaping influences on people’s lives可以理解成―形成了对人们生活的影响‖也可以理解成―对人们生活的塑造性(决定性)影响‖。当然后面的理解是正确的,然而在阅读现场想要在瞬间做出正确判断,还有赖于考生的阅读理解力和词汇功底的深浅。插入语后面还有一个固定搭配:A owes much to B,指前者有很多东西是来自于后者,得益于后者的。
意群训练:My point is that its central consciousness—its profound understanding of class and gender
as shaping influences on people’s lives—owes much to that earlier literary heritage, a heritage that, in general, has not been sufficiently valued by most contemporary literary critics.40.Even the requirement that biomaterials processed from these materials be nontoxic to host tissue can be met by techniques derived from studying the reactions of tissue cultures to biomaterials or from short-term implants.(5)即使是这样的要求,即从这些材料中加工出来的生物材料应该对受移植者的组织无害,也能够通过从研究组织培养对生物材料的反应而来的,或从研究短期移植而来的技术来满足。难句类型:复杂修饰、省略、专有名词、固定搭配
解释:主语the requirement后面带着一个长长的修饰主语的同位语;由于requirement的同位语中要求使用虚拟语气,所以其中的系动词成了原型(should be省略了should)。如此之长的修饰成分过后,谓语can be met与主语的关系已经很难理清了。从by开始的状语结构更为复杂;修饰techniques的后置的定语derived from studying the reactions of tissue cultures to biomaterials or derived from studying short-term implants实际上是由or所连接的两个固定搭配the reactions of tissue cultures to biomaterials;第二个derive from中还套了另外一个固定搭配the reactions of tissue cultures to biomaterials;第二个derive from则干脆把derive给省略了。此外,本句的专有名词奇多,这使得阅读的难度非常高。
意群训练:Even the requirement that biomaterials processed from these materials be nontoxic to host tissue can be met by techniques derived from studying the reactions of tissue cultures to biomaterials or from short-term implants.41.But achieving necessary matches in physical properties across interfaces between living and
nonliving matter requires knowledge of which molecules control the bonding of cells to each 29
other—an area that we have not yet explored thoroughly.(4)
但是,要想沿着原生和非原生物质之间的界面获取生理特性的必要匹配,需要某种知识,即什么样的分子控制着细胞彼此间的结合——而对这一领域,我们尚未进行充分的探索。难句类型:复杂修饰 解释:本句这样的复杂修饰和插入语的作用差不多;主语achieving necessary matches之后的修饰成分in physical properties across interfaces between living and nonliving matter把主语和谓语requires分开。值得注意的是修饰宾主的of which molecules 中的which在此不是定语从句的引导词,而是一个形容词,意思是哪个。
意群训练:But achieving necessary matches in physical properties across interfaces between living and
nonliving matter requires knowledge of which molecules control the bonding of cells to each other—an area that we have not yet explored thoroughly.42.Islamic law is a phenomenon so different from all other forms of law—notwithstanding, of course, a considerable and inevitable number of coincidences with one or the other of them as far as subject matter and positive enactments are concerned—that its study is indispensable in order to appreciate adequately the full range of possible legal phenomena.(5)伊斯兰法是一种如此不同于所有其它法律形式的现象——毋庸置疑,尽管就其主要内容和有积极意义的法规而言,与其它法律形式中的这种或那种形式存在着相当数量的且不可避免的巧合相似之处——以致于对它进行研究便显得不可或缺,以便充分理解有可能存在的法律现象的全部范围。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词
解释:这是一个被GRE考生尊称为No.题三大难文章之一的伊斯兰法中的臭名昭著的句子。本句插入语前后都不难,关键是如何对待这段插入语。
首先,插入语很长,在原文中有四行。笔者在前面不只一次提醒读者,三行心目的插入语必须跳过,看懂前后的内容再回头来看插入语。插入语难懂的第一个原因是其中混有大量的抽象词和法律术语;还有一个重要原因,那就是它其实不是一个完整的句子。把插入语中所有的修饰成分扒光,只剩下一个单词:coinsidences,而主语和谓语it has则被作者省略。不管从哪个角度上来看,这句话中的那个插入语都极像是ETS布下的一个陷阱:首先,插入语的内容对理解文章毫无作用;其次,考试中对插入语也出题;第三,其实这句话中的插入语根本不必读。也可以根据插入语前后的内容用合理化原则的取非读法猜出其意思。插入语前后的内容是伊斯兰法与其他法律不同,插入部分以notwithstanding开关,又有of course,可见插入部分一定是让步证据,因此可以对前后的内容取非,猜出插入部分一定是在说伊斯兰法与其他法律有相同之处。
句末的in order to appreciate adequately the full range of possible legal phenomena中,包含一个倒装;正常语序的appreciate the full range of possible legal phenomena adequately中的副词adequately被提到appreciate的宾语之前。
Islamic law is a phenomenon so different from all other forms of law-notwithstanding, of course, a considerable and inevitable number of coincidences with one or the other of them as far as subject matter and positive enactment are concerned-that its study is indispensable in order to appreciate adequately the full range of possible legal phenomena.43.(Both Jewish law and canon law are more uniform than Islamic law.)Though historically there is a discernible break between Jewish law of the sovereign state of ancient Israel and of the Diaspora(the dispersion of Jewish people after the conquest of Israel),the spirit of the legal matter in later parts of the Old Testament is very close to that of the Talmud,one of the primary codifications of Jewish law in the Diaspora.(5)
尽管从历史角度来看,在古代以色列作为独立主权国家的犹太教法与大流散时期(Diaspora,即以色列被征服后古代犹太人被巴比伦人逐出故土)的犹太教法之间存在着一个明晰可辨的断裂,然则,《旧约全书》(Old Testament)后半部分中法律内容的精神与《犹太教法典》(Talmud)极为一脉相承,而所谓的《犹太教法典》,是指大流散时期犹太教法的主要典籍辑录之一。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略、专有名词
解释:本句与上一句同来自于同一篇文章,本文的主题是伊斯兰法,但作者反复用犹太法来吓唬读者,同样ETS也未就此句话出题。
这句话难读是因为两个原因:第一、作者在between Jewish law of the sovereign state of ancient Israel and of the Diaspora一句中的and之后省略了Jewish law,使人看到of the Diaspora ancient Israel and of the Diaspora一句中的and之后省略了jewish law,使人看到of the Diaspora时搞不清楚在什么与什么之间;第二个难懂的原因,是文中出现了大量的专有名词、法律术语和历史背景。其实读者除了Israel 和Jewish两个单词有必要也有可能认识之外,其他单词既不需要了解也无法了解,像什么Diaspora(大流散时期)、Old Testament(旧约全书)、Talmud(犹太教法典)等奇怪名词,在非宗教国家的考生的大脑中,一点概念都没有,更不要说其英语的表达了。那么ETS的出题者在阅读文章中搞出这种东西来,不是有意违背公平出题原则之嫌了吗?
其实出题者也并没有要求读者把这些内容搞清,只需知道前面那句话是一个判断句,说犹太法和伊斯兰法一致,后面这句话是对上面一句话的解释,因此肯定也在说它一致。再看第二句话的结构,上来就是一个用though表示的让步语气,我们可以看出在一个break between,那么逗号后就应该是省略了but的转折语气,该说没有break between,果然我们看到了very close to 的字样。我们也知道,既有让步又有转折时,作者强调转折之后的内容。所以这句话仍是在说犹太法一致。
043 Both Jewish law and canon law are more uniform than Islamic law(这是作者加的便于理解的话).Though historically there is a discernible break between Jewish law of the sovereign state of ancient Israel and of the Diaspora(the dispersion of Jewish people after the conquest of Israel), the spirit of the legal matter in later parts of the Old Testament is very close to that of the Talmud, one of the primary codifications of Jewish law in the Diaspora.44.Islam, on the other hand, represented a radical breakaway from the Arab paganism that preceded it;Islamic law is the result of an examination, from a religious angle,(examination)of legal subject matter that was far from uniform, comprising as it did the various components of the laws of pre-Islamic Arabia and numerous legal elements taken over from the non-Arab peoples of the conquered territories.(4)
另一方面,伊斯兰教则代表着与此前存在的阿拉伯异教(Arab paganism)的一种根本上的决裂;伊斯兰法是从宗教的角度,对各种杂乱无章、绝无共同点的法律内容进行考察所致的结果,而这些法律内容实际上是由前伊斯兰阿拉伯国家(Pre-Islamic Arabia)法律的不尽相同的组成部分以及由从被征服的土地上非阿拉伯民族借鉴过来的无数法律因素所构成。(as it did)实际上是一句插入语。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语 解释:这句话是接着上面的那句话写下来的,是在说伊斯兰法的不一致。句中有三个插入语,都起到了一定的干扰作用。第一个是on the other hand,隔开了主语和谓语。第二个是from a religious angle,分开了examination of,第三个as it did,根本就是句废话,分断了动词
comprise 和动词的宾语the various components。
意群训练:Islam, on the other hand, represented a radical breakaway from the Arab paganism that preceded it;Islamic law is the result of an examination, from a religious angle, of legal subject matter that was far from uniform, comprising as it did the various components of the laws of pre-Islamic Arabia and numerous legal elements taken over from the non-Arab peoples of the conquered territories.45.One such novel idea is that(idea)of inserting into the chromosomes of plants discrete genes that are not a part of the plants’ natural constitution;specifically, the idea of inserting into nonleguminous plants the genes, if they can be identified and isolated, that fit the leguminous plants to be hosts for nitrogen-fixing bacteria.Hence,(there is)the intensified research on legumes.(5)
此句最好能够熟读,更好的是背诵下来。(复杂修饰+插入+省略+倒装)
这其中的一个新颖思想就是,在植物的染色体(chromosome)内注入并非是该植物自然构造一个部分的那些不相关联的因基:具体而言,这一思想是,在非豆科植物内注入这样一些基因,倘若这些基因可被辨识出来并被分离开来,而这些基因业已使豆科植物宜于充当那些具备固氮作用的细菌的寄主。由此,对豆科植物的研究日趋深入。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、倒装、省略
解释:本句的难度以倒装为主,复杂为辅;然而二者相互借力,难度更大,而且本句中有两个省略,就更令读者头痛。
句子一开始的One such novel idea is that of 之中的that of, 是that idea of 的省略形式。此外容易理解,后面开始变难。Inserting into the chromosomes of plants discrete genes(that are not a part of the plants' natureal consttution)看上去不舒服的原因,是作者在此用了一个便装;正常语序应该是:inserting discrete genes(that are not a part of the plants' natureal constitution)into the chromosomes of plants,即把非此植物的genes插入到该植物中。之所以倒装,是因为discrete genes加上复杂修饰的成分以后太长之故。同样,后面的the idea of inserting into nonleguminous plants the genes, if they can be identifyied and isolated, that fit the leguminous plants to be hosts for nitrogen-fixing bacteria一句,正常的语序也是the idea of inserting the genes, if they can be identifyied and isolated, that fit the leguminous plants to be hosts for nitro-fixing bacteria into nonleguminous plants,即把便利豆科植物成为固氮菌的寄主的基因(如果它们能够被找到并分离出来的话)插入到非豆科植物的基因中去。这一回。Genes之后不但有定语从句的复杂修饰,而且在genes和that从句之间还有一个不短的插入语,增加了阅读难度。
最后的一句话,Hence, the intensified research on legumes, 其实也不是一句话,只是一个词:research。作者省略了there is,其实引处即便看不清语法结构,作者的意思还是可以懂的。因此,笔者在前面强调的―如果可以看懂意思,不必去分析语法‖,在实战的应用中有其意义;GRE和GMAT中很多表达其实不严格遵守语法,或者有考生不懂的语法,读者处心积虑地研究它们,不但没有实战意义,而且还令读者徒增烦恼。
本句是GRE和GMAT考试中集各种语言现象之大成者,包括了几乎所有的难句类型,希望读者一定把这句话读熟;有心者最好能把它背熟,一定对提高你的阅读能力有好处。
意群训练:One such novel idea is that(idea)of inserting into the chromosomes of plants discrete genes that are not a part of the plants’ natural constitution:specifically,the idea of inserting into nonleguminous plants the genes,if they can be identified and isolated,that fit the leguminous plants to be hosts for nitrogen-fixing bacteria.Hence,(there is)the intensified research on legumes.32
46.It is one of nature’s great ironies that the availability of nitrogen in the soil frequently sets an upper limit on plant growth even though the plants’ leaves are bathed in a sea of nitrogen gas.(3+)下述情形真可谓是自然界的一个莫大讽刺:土壤中所能获得的氮肥量往往对植物的生长构成了一个上限,虽然植物的叶子被沐浴在一片氮气的海洋中。难句类型:复杂修饰
解释:It是形式主语,其真正的内容是that之后的由even though连接的两个句子。其实本句的真正难度倒不在于句子的结构,而是对于其意思的理解:尤其是文科同学,可能缺乏必要的背景知识,就更不容易读懂。句中的set an upper limit on plant growth直译为‖给植物的生成设立一个上限‖,其真正的意思是―限制了植物的生长‖;因此the availability of nitrogen in the soil frequently sets an upper limit on plant growth之中的availability一定指的是氮的供给之少。整句话的意思是,土壤中的氮植物能够利用,却太少;而空气中虽有大量的氮,植物却不能利用,这岂不是自然界开的一个大玩笑。
It is one of nature’s great ironies that the availability of nitrogen in the soil frequently sets an upper limit on plant growth even though the plants’ leaves are bathed in a sea of nitrogen gas.47.Unless they succeed,the yield gains of the Green Revolution will be largely lost even if the genes in legumes that equip those plants to enter into a symbiosis with nitrogen fixers are identified and isolated,and even if the transfer of those gene complexes,once they are found,becomes possible.(4)
除非他们能取得成功,不然的话,绿色革命的产量收益将在很大程度上损失殆尽,即使豆科植物中使这些植物有条件进入到与固氮细菌共生关系的基因可被辨识出来和分离开来的话,且即使这些基因综合体(gene complex),一旦被发现之后,其移植得以成为可能的话。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语 解释:主句比较简单,而后面跟着的由and连接的两个表示让步的条件状语从句就相对复杂,第一个从句是用一个修饰主语的定语从句that equip those plants to enter into a symbiosis with nitrogen fixers把主谓隔开;第二个从句则运用了插入语once they are found把主谓隔开。意群训练:Unless they succeed,the yield gains of the Green Revolution will be largely lost even if the genes in legumes that equip those plants to enter into a symbiosis with nitrogen fixers are identified and isolated,and even if the transfer of those gene complexes,once they are found,becomes possible.48.Its subject(to use Maynard Mack’s categories)is “life-as-spectacle,” for readers,diverted by its various incidents,observe its hero Odysseus primarily from without;the tragic Iliad,however,presents “life-as-experience”:readers are asked to identify with the mind of
Achilles,whose motivations render him a not particularly likable hero.(5)
其主题〔若借鉴梅纳德。迈克(Maynard Mack)的两个分类范畴的话〕是―人生作为外部景象‖,因为读者的注意力被作品那形形色色的事件所分散,主要是从外部来观察其主人公奥德修斯(Odyssus)的;然而,富于悲剧色彩的《伊利亚特》所表现的则是―人生作为内心体验‖:读者被要求与阿基琉斯(Achilles)的心灵产生共鸣,而其行为动机却致使他变作一个并非特别惹人喜爱的主人公。(从分号后的语句推理出前面的意思)注:hero:主人公;without:外部;likable:有吸引力的 难句类型;复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词、熟词僻义
请思考:如果看不懂分号前的without的意思,是否可以用合理化原则根据分号后的那句话推理出其意思?
解释:本句中尽管也存在一些复杂修饰和插入的内容,但是本句话之所以难懂,与其说是因为这些东西的影响,倒不如说是因为用词的抽象和语义的难以理解。作为一篇文学评论型的 33
文章,文章中充斥着一些很抽象的词汇;本句话中就有subject/category/spectacle/divert/incident/hero/primarily/without/present/identify/motivation/particularly/likable等。背过这些单词的中文释义,并不意味着在阅读中能够清楚地理解其真正含义。对于抽象词的训练方法,请参见附录中<阅读抽象词提速法>。这里仅解释几个对于这句话最重要的单词:
hero:在此不是指英雄,在文学评论型的文章当中,此单词的意思是主人公。Without:在此处是一个熟词僻义,意思是外部,等于outside。Likable:不可望文生义,它不是像什么东西的意思,而是有吸引力的意思,其同义词有pleasant或attractive.本句中,对于理解全句起到最大影响的,就是能否正确理解without这个单词,然而问题在于,如果不认识without的熟词僻义,是否可用合理化原则根据分号后的那句话推理出其意思?根据紧跟着分别的however,我们可以推断出分号前后的两句话所说的内容截然相反,因此可以从I戏剧的描述中推出,without的意思应该是不去认同其主人公的内心世界。意群训练:Its subject(to use Maynard Mack’s categories)is “life-as-spectacle,” for readers,diverted by its various incidents,observe its hero Odysseus primarily from without;the tragic Iliad,however,presents “life-as-experience”:readers are asked to identify with the mind of
Achilles,whose motivations render him a not particularly likable hero.49.Most striking among the many asymmetries evident in an adult flatfish is eye placement: before maturity one eye migrates,so that in an adult flatfish both eyes are on the same side of the head.(3+)
在一条成年比目鱼身上显著存在的诸多不对称(asymmetry)特征中,最为吸人注目的是眼睛的摆位:在成年之前,一只眼睛发生移动,因此在成年比目鱼身上,两只眼睛均位于头部的同一侧面。
难句类型:倒装、省略
解释:本句的倒装本质上与我们早就的一种倒装结构是一样的,即形容词放在句首时,主语和谓语倒装。本句的主干的正常语序应该是:Eye placement is most striking;倒装后成了Most striking is eye placement。但是这种倒装在GRE考试中出现,又有了新的特色,被提到句首的Most striking被长长的状语among the many asymmetries evident in an adult flatfish与后面的主语和表语分开,造成阅读困难。
意群训练:Most striking among the many asymmetries evident in an adult flatfish is eye placement: before maturity one eye migrates,so that in an adult flatfish both eyes are on the same side of the head.50.A critique of Handlin's interpretation of why legal slavery did not appear until the 1660’s suggests that assumptions about the relation between slavery and racial prejudice should be reexamined , and that explanations for the different treatment of Black slaves in North and South America should be expanded.(4)
一个对于H的关于为何法律上的奴隶制没有在17世纪60年代以前出现的原因所作解释的批评显示,关于奴隶制和种族偏见之间的关系的假说应当重新检查,而且显示出,对于在北美和南美之间的对黑怒的不同处理的解释应当被扩展。难句类型:复杂修饰、省略
解释:句子的主干清楚:A critique suggests that…, and suggests that…。但是因为句子的结构复杂、修饰成分多,再加上后面的and 之后的suggests被省略,所以句子的结构很难被读出来的。
本句的suggest不再是暗示,而是显示、说明的意思,其同义词有point, indicate, imply。本 34
句的两个suggest之后的宾语从句都根据语法要求使用了虚拟语气。
意群训练:A critique of Handlin’s interpretation of why legal slavery did not appear until the 1660’s suggests that assumptions about the relation between slavery and racial prejudice should be reexamined , and that explanations for the different treatment of Black slaves in North and South America should be expanded.51.The best evidence for the layered-mantle thesis is the well-established fact that volcanic rocks found on oceanic islands, islands believed to result from mantle plumes arising from the lower mantle, are composed of material fundamentally different from that of the mid-ocean ridge system,whose source, most geologists contend, is the upper mantle.(5-)对于地幔分层论点来说,最好的证据乃这样一个确认的事实,即在那些海洋岛屿——这些岛屿据信是源于由下层地幔升上来的地幔柱状溶岩流(mantle plume)——上发现的火山岩石,是由与海洋中部山脊系统的物质根本不同的物质构成的,而这一海洋中部山脊系统的成因,大多数地质学家论辩道,为上部地幔。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:本句前面的主干并不算难,即the evidence is the fact that,难就难在fact之后说明fact 的同位语从句。此从句中既有大段插入语,又有从句,较为难读。同位语从句的主语是volcanic rocks,主语后面的found on oceanic islands是分词修饰volcanic rocks的;islands后面又有一个说明islands的同位语islands believed to result from mantle plumes arising from the lower mantle,此同位语实际起到一个分隔主谓的同位语的作用。其后是谓语动词are composed/of fundamentally different from that of the midocean ridge system, whose source, most geologists contend, is the upper mantle。
句中有一些专有词汇。如果抛开文章不说,单看这一个句子,则句首的layered mantle thesis就难以理解。但是如果读者能够读懂句子的大致意思,看到layered mantle thesisr最有力证据就是其材料fundamentally different from… the upper mantle,这应该可以推测出,既然不同于上层地幔,则这个理论一定是在说地幔有不同的层面。
意群训练:The best evidence for the layered-mantle thesis is the well-established fact that volcanic rocks found on oceanic islands, islands believed to result from mantle plumes arising from the lower mantle, are composed of material fundamentally different from that of the mid-ocean ridge system,whose source, most geologists contend, is the upper mantle.52.Some geologists, however, on the basis of observations concerning mantle xenoliths,argue that the mantle is not layered, but that heterogeneity is created by fluids rich in “incompatible elements”(elements tending toward liquid rather than solid state)percolating upward and transforming portions of the upper mantle irregularly, according to the vagaries of the fluids’ pathways.(4+)
但是,某些地质学家,以对地幔捕虏岩体(xenolith)所作的观察为依据,指出地幔并非是分层排列的,相反,地幔的异质性是由那些富含―不相容成分‖的流质构成的,这些成分趋向于流体而非固体的状态,自下而上渗透扩散,并依照这些流质流向的任意性,不规则地将上部地幔的某些部分予以改变。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:本句的主句中有一个长插入语however, on the basis of observations concerning mantle xenoliths,割裂了主谓,但句子的主要难度还是在that引导的宾语从句中,从句中有由but 所连接的两个句子,一起延续到句末。首选是rich in incompatible elements修饰fluids;后面又有一个同位语和一个分词结构,都是修饰incompatible elements的,最后还有一个状语来修饰那个分词结构,层层修饰,比较复杂。
意群训练:Some geologists, however, on the basis of observations concerning mantle xenoliths,argue that the mantle is not layered, but that heterogeneity is created by fluids rich in “incompatible elements”(elements tending toward liquid rather than solid state)percolating upward and transforming portions of the upper mantle irregularly, according to the vagaries of the fluids’ pathways.53.Fallois proposed that Proust had tried to begin a novel in 1908, abandoned it for what was to be a long demonstration of Saint-Beuve's blindness to the real nature of great writing , found the essay giving rise to personal memories and fictional developments ,and allowed these to take over it a steadily developing novel.(5-)
F认为,P在1908年试图开始写一部小说,又为了写一部批判S-B的 伟大作品的真正本质的视而不见的长篇的证明而放弃了这部小说,其后又发现这一论文又勾起了其个人记忆及小说情节的萌生,使得后者取而代之形成了一部稳定展开的小说。难句类型:复杂修饰、抽象词 解释:本句来自历来被GRE考生尊称为所有GRE文科文章中难度第一的普鲁斯特的追忆似水年华,这篇文章的难度远远高于现在计算机考试的题目。普鲁斯特是公认的意识流小说的先驱,据笔者推测,本文的原作者必定是研究普鲁斯特的大家,因此其文章必然带有思维的跳跃,、不连贯性、时空颠倒等意识流手法:经过ETS的改编后,虽然可读性略有啬,然积重难返、无法救药,于是堕落成一篇流水帐文章。从本句的结构来看,也可以表现作者的这种叙事风格:本句从that引导的宾语从句开始,实际上是以普鲁斯特的意识流向为线索,以列举的方式描述其动机的变化,从一开始的写别的小说,其英文为Prout had tried to…, abandoned…,found…,and allowed..。但是因为abandoned之后的状语for…的结构复杂、用词抽象,所以这个结构不太容易被看出来。Blindness在此不是指真盲,而是指缺乏辨认能力difficult to discern, make out, or discover,视而不见。Give rise to 这个词组的意思是引起,使发生。
意群训练:Fallois proposed that Proust had tried to begin a novel in 1908, abandoned it for what was to be a long demonstration of Saint-Beuve's blindness to the real nature of great writing , found the essay giving rise to personal memories and fictional developments ,and allowed these to take over in a steadily developing novel.54.The very richness and complexity of the meaningful relationships that kept presenting and rearranging themselves on all levels, from abstract intelligence to profound dreamy feelings,made it difficult for Proust to set them out coherently.(5)各种有意义的联系在所有的层次上,自抽象的理性至深刻的梦幻般的情感,层出不穷并不断重新组合排列;正是这些有意义的联系的丰富性和复杂性,致使普鲁斯特难于将它们错落有致地安排好。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词
解释:请原谅笔者在此所做中文翻译的艰涩难懂,为了让读者能够更好地理解句子的结构,本书尽量把中文翻译与英文原文的语序相对应,而且尽可能的不用意译。为了达到这个目的,可以说绞尽脑汁,但本句之难懂也全非笔者之故,原文作者使用了大量的抽象词。本句仍然来自于上面说过的这篇关于普鲁斯特的文章。句中的主语是The very richness and complexity,其后的修饰成分长达三行,of the meaningful relationships that kept presenting and rearranging themselves on all levels from abstract intelligence to profound dreamy feelings,其中还夹杂着插入语,有效地分开了主语和谓语。其实本句虽然结构也比较复杂,但是不见得比前面的句子复杂得多,其真正的难点,还在于句子中大量的抽象词的使用。由于笔者在附录中所提到的原因,抽象词可以严重地占据大脑资源,因此带有大量的抽象词的结构复杂的句子就更为难 36
懂,比如本句就是一个很好的例子,复杂修饰与抽象词狼狈为奸,句意另人难以理解。意群训练:The very richness and complexity of the meaningful relationships that kept presenting and rearranging themselves on all levels, from abstract intelligence to profound dreamy feelings,made it difficult for Proust to set them out coherently.55.But those of who hoped, with Kolb, that Kolb’s newly published complete edition of Proust's correspondence for 1909 would document the process in greater detail are disappointed.(4)但是我们当中的那些希望(也算上K本人)K新出版的P1909年书信的全集能够更加详细的记录下这一过程的人都大失所望。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语 解释:本句中从句套从句,致使主语those of us与谓语的距离很远,而且中间的成分又极多,使得句子很难读懂。修饰主语those of us的定语从句who hoped之中又套了一个宾语从句,宾语从句的主语complete edition又被一前一后的两个定语所修饰,之后才依次是宾语从句的谓语、宾语:主句的系动词、表语。意群训练:But those of us who hoped, with Kolb, that Kolb’s newly published complete edition of Proust's correspondence for 1909 would document the process in greater detail are disappointed.56.Now we must also examine the culture as we Mexican Americans have experienced it , passing from a sovereign people to compatriots with newly arriving settlers to , finally,a conquered people – a charter minority on our own land.(5-)
现在我们必须也按照我们墨西哥裔的美国人的经历来审视这个文化,我们的经历是从一个主权的民族变成了新来的定居者的同胞,在最终沦落成为一个被征服的民族——在我们自己的土地上的契约的少数民族。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、固定搭配
解释:主句中的as we Mexican Americans have experienced it 是examine的状语,说明审视的角度;后面直至句尾的分词结构又是experience的状语,详述了经历的具体过程。就是这个分词有些难懂,因为我们熟知的结构是from…to…没有见过,也没有想到过后面居然还有一个to,因此看到这个套了一个插入语的newly arriving settlers to , finally, a conquered people的时候头脑发生混乱,不明所以、不知所措。这里的to还是与前面的from搭配的,也就是说,原文的结构是from…to…to… 意群训练:Now we must also examine the culture as we Mexican Americans have experienced it , passing from a sovereign people to compatriots with newly arriving settlers to , finally,a conquered people – a charter minority on our own land.57.It is possible to make specific complementary DNA’s(cDNA’s)that can serve as molecular probes to seek out the messenger RNA’s(mRNA’s)of the peptide hormones.If brain cells are making the hormones, the cells will contain these Mrna'S.If the products the brain cells make resemble the hormones but are not identical to them, then the cDNA’s should still bind to
these mRNA's, but should not bind as tightly as they would to mRNA's for the true hormones.(4)
科学家可以制造出特异的(specific)互补DNA’s(cDNA’s),以此作为分子探子(molecular probe),探觅出肽激素的信使RNA’s(mRNA’s)。如果大脑正在制造着肽激素,则细胞就会含有这些信使RNA’s.假若细胞所制造的产品类似于肽激素但并非与这些肽激素全然相同,那么,互补cDNA’s应仍然和这些信使mDNA’s粘结的程度。含有这些mRNA’s的脑细胞然后就可以被分离开来,研究者可对其信使RNA’s进行解码,以确定它们的蛋白质产品究竟是什么,并确定这些蛋白质产品在何种程度上类似于真正的肽激素。难句类型:易混词
解释:与其他的难句不同的是,心上的英文不止一句。笔者之所以在本句中不设标志和翻译,是因为这三句话从结构和意思上来说并不难。然而很少有人能够真正的一次把这段话读清楚,原因在于两个容易混淆的单词cDNA’s和mRNA’s在文中交替出现,而且相互作用;再加上brain cell和hormones从中捣乱,更难读清楚原文的意思。原文的主要意思如下:可以用cDNA’s来探测mRNA’s。如果脑细胞产生了荷尔蒙,则其中必有mRNA’s意味着可用cDNA探测荷尔蒙。如果脑细胞制造的不是真荷尔蒙,则可以用cDNA’s与其中的mRNA’s附着的情况来确定此荷尔蒙的真假。
意群训练:It is possible to make specific complementary DNA’s(cDNA’s)that can serve as molecular probes to seek out the messenger RNA’s(mRNA’s)of the peptide hormones.If brain cells are making the hormones, the cells will contain these Mrna’S.If the products the brain cells make resemble the hormones but are not identical to them, then the cDNA’s should still bind to
these mRNA’s, but should not bind as tightly as they would to mRNA’s for the true hormones.58.The molecular approach to detecting peptide hormones using cDNA probes should also be much faster than the immunological method because it can take years of tedious purifications
to isolate peptide hormones and then develop antiserums to them.(4)
采用cDNA探子来测定肽激素的这一分子生物学方法同时也应该比免疫学的方法速度来得快,因为对于免疫的方法来说,需耗费好几年枯燥的提纯进程,方能将肽素分离了出来,然后再培养出针对它们的抗血清。难句类型:复杂修饰、易混指代
解释:主语后的修饰成分同样隔开了主语和谓语,但本句的难度主要在because从句中。按照一般的习惯,作为从句主语的it应该指主句的主语,但本句的主句是一个比较结构,A should be faster than B because it…,此处it也可以指B。但是因为这种指代不符合和我们以前所形成的习惯,所以阅读现场不得不边读边根据句意来判断,这就增加了阅读理解的难度。现场阅读时,类似antiserums的这种专有名词不必理会,仅需从词头anti推出这是一个反p荷尔蒙的东西即可。意群训练:The molecular approach to detecting peptide hormones using cDNA probes should also be much faster than the immunological method because it can take years of tedious purifications
to isolate peptide hormones and then develop antiserums to them.59.Nevertheless, researchers of the Pleistocene epoch have developed all sorts of more or less fanciful model schemes of how they would have arranged the Ice Age had they been in charge of events.(3+)
然而,研究P时代的研究者发展除了各种各样的或多或少有些奇怪思想的模型系统,用来显示如果由他们来决定地质事件的话他们将会如何安排冰川纪。难句类型:复杂修饰、倒装、修辞 解释:句末的由how引导的名词性从句中包括了双重的倒装,正常的语序本来是:If they had been in charge of events, they would have arranged the Ice Age in certain model schemes。本句中由于arrange的方式被提前,就造成了arrange的动作执行者也要提前,前面的if they had been 则必须后置;这样一来又造成了if被省略,成为had they been的倒装结构。
另外,作者为了表达其对于这些研究者的模型的负态度,并炫耀其幽默感,在本句中使用了虚拟语气,并使用了fanciful这个词以表示这些研究的不负责任、异想天开的幼童心理。意群训练:Nevertheless, researchers of the Pleistocene epoch have developed all sorts of more or less fanciful model schemes of how they would have arranged the Ice Age had they been in charge of events.38
60.This succession was based primarily on a series of deposits and events not directly related to
glacial and interglacial periods, rather than on the more usual modern method of studying biological remains found in interglacial beds themselves interstratified within glacial deposits.(4)
这一序列演替(succession)所依据的,主要是一系列与冰川期和间冰期并不直接相关的地质沉积物和地质事件,而不是依据更为普遍的现代方法,去研究间冰层(interglacial bed)中所发现的生物残留物,而这些间冰层本身又在冰川沉积物发生间层化(interstatified)。难句类型:复杂修饰、省略、易淆指代 解释:句子中的rather than 之后省略了与前面重复的being based,直接加上了介词on。Modern method后面的部分都是修饰method的。其中的remains既可以作动词也可以作名词,此处是名词的用法,biological remains指的是类似于动物化石之类的遗迹。读到这里我们看到了句子的难点,themselves既可以指前面离得很远的modern method(当然,在语法上来讲单复数不一致),也可以指前面离得较远的biological remains,亦可以指紧挨着的interglacial beds,到底是指代哪一个,只有通过理解句意,才能确定在此处指biological remains。
意群训练:This succession was based primarily on a series of deposits and events not directly related to
glacial and interglacial periods, rather than on the more usual modern method of studying biological remains found in interglacial beds themselves interstratified within glacial deposits.61.There have been attempts to explain these taboos in terms of inappropriate social
relationships either between those who are involved and those who are not simultaneously involved in the satisfaction of a bodily need, or between those already satiated and those who appear to be shamelessly gorging.(5)人们试图对这些禁忌作出解释,所依据的要么是那些正置身于某一身体需要满足的人与那些并置身于某一身体需要之满足的人之间的,要么是那些早已酒足饭饱的人与那些正在不知羞耻地狼吞虎咽失之间的不相称的社会关系。难句类型:复杂修饰、省略
解释:前面的主架构There have been attempts to explain these taboos很简单,从in terms of inappropriate social relationships开始句子变难,ralationship后面跟着一个一直延续到句末的长长的修饰成分,其中有两个固定搭配,either…or…和between…and…,不但如此,原文把这两个搭配又套在一起,变成了either between…and…,or between…and…;再加上每一个between…and之后都是those who这样的结构,就愈发令人眼花缭乱了。
意群训练:There have been attempts to explain these taboos in terms of inappropriate social
relationships either between those who are involved and those who are not simultaneously involved in the satisfaction of a bodily need, or between those already satiated and those who appear to be shamelessly gorging.62.Many critics of Family Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights see its second part as a counterpoint that comments on,if it does not reverse, the first part, where a “romantic” reading receives more confirmation.(5)
研究艾米丽。勃朗特(Emily Bronte)小说《呼啸山庄》(Wuthering Heights)的许多文学评论家,将小说的第二部分视作一种对比物,即使没有将第一部分予以逆转的话,也是在对第一部分作出一种诠释评判,而在小说第一部分中,一种―浪漫的‖的读解能获得更为充分的确证。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:上面的翻译中为了符合中文习惯不得不把修饰the first part的where引导的定语从句 39
翻译到中括号以外。本句主要难在两个地方,一个是插入语if it does not reverse如何理解,另一个是counterpoint的意思是什么。产生,插入语的位置比较讨厌,把comments on the first part这样一个连贯的说法割成两段,增加了阅读的难度。而且它的意思容易理解错;if既可以理解成如果的意思,也可以理解成即使的意思。如果理解成即使的意思,则上下文的意思则要理解成即使不反对第一部分,也要给予第一部分一个负面的评论。然而此处不能这样理解,因为that之前的counterpoint的意思不是相反、对立,而是指和谐的组成部分的意思。这个词来源于一个音乐术语,指音乐中的对位法、旋律配合,引伸为形容两个不同的东西彼此和谐一致,同义词是harmony。因此文中的if it does not reverse的意思是假如不反对第一部分,则是与第一部分和谐一致的评论的意思。这种情况下,插入语纯属废话。
意群训练:Many critics of Family Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights see its second part as a counterpoint that comments on,if it does not reverse, the first part, where a “romantic” reading receives more confirmation.63.Granted that the presence of these elements need not argue an authorial awareness of novelistic construction comparable to that of Henry James,their presence does(15)encourage attempts to unify the novel’s heterogeneous parts.(4+)
诚然,这些因素的存在并不能证明作者对小说架构的意识可与亨利。詹姆斯(Henry James)的那种意识相比拟;然则,任何力图将小说所有形形色色的因素统一起来的做法,在某种程度上注定是无法令人信服的。Granted that:大家都统一、当然,表让步,=admitted , of course.难句类型:复杂修饰、抽象词
解释:本句的结构固然复杂,但造成最大的阅读难度的,主要还是对一些抽象词的理解。正面是对一些关键词汇的解释:
Granted that出现在句首,其意思是大家都同意、当然,实际上是一种让步语气,等于admitted,of course。
Need not argue中的argue在此不是表示常用的那个辩论、争论的意思,而是表示意味着或证实的意思,其同义词是maintain或prove。
Camparable的词义有两个,除了读者熟悉的that can be compared之外,还有一个意思是worthy of comparison,其同义词是as good as。本文中用的是后面的那个意思,对于这个词义的理解,后面的第18题考到了。
意群训练:Granted that the presence of these elements need not argue an authorial awareness of novelistic construction comparable to that of Henry James,their presence does(15)encourage attempts to unify the novel’s heterogeneous parts.64.This is not because such an interpretation necessarily stiffens into a thesis(although rigidity in any interpretation of this or of any novel is always a danger), but because Wuthering Heights has recalcitrant elements of undeniable power that,ultimately,resist inclusion in an all-encompassing interpretation.(5)这倒不是因为这样的一种解释必定会僵化成为一个命题(尽管对这部或任何一部小说的解释中,僵化死板总是一种危险),而是因为《呼啸山庄》拥有一些极难驾御的因素,以其无可辩驳的力度,最终拒绝被囿于一个囊括无遗的解释中。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词
解释:本句的两个插入语虽然有一些干扰性,但是最为主要的难点在于成批出现的抽象词,如interpretation/necessarily/stiffen/thesis/rigidity/recalcitrant/element/undeniable/power/ultimately/resist/inclusion/all-encompassing等。据笔者估测,对于初学GRE或GMAT的学习者而言,在一句话中出现了三个心上的抽象词就会使阅读理解造成障碍,而这句话中出现了十三个这 40
样的单词,读不懂也不足为怪。
训练:This is not because such an interpretation necessarily stiffens into a thesis(although rigidity in any interpretation of this or of any novel is always a danger), but because Wuthering Heights has recalcitrant elements of undeniable power that, ultimately, resist inclusion in an all-encompassing interpretation.65.The isotopic composition of lead often varies from one source of common copper ore to another, with variations exceeding the measurement error;and preliminary studies indicate
virtually uniform is topic composition of the lead from a single copper-ore source.(4)铅的同位素构成经常在一种普通铜矿石来源与另一种铜矿石来源之间存在差异,其差异程度超出测量误差;而最初的研究表明,对于来自单独一个铜矿石来源的铅来说,其同位素构成几乎是毫无二致的。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、专业抽象词
解释:本句是一个怪异的现象的典型例子:句子的结构谈不上复杂,所用单词也不难,但是除非读者有理工科的科研(最好是材料科学的科研)背景,否则句子虽然能够得读下来,但是却搞不清句子说的是什么意思。首先,句子中出现的一些词汇虽然也都比较常见,但是在理科文章中出现,就有了专有名词的意味,同时还带有很抽象的学术含义,笔者称之为专业抽象词,如isotopic composition, source, variation, measurement error;preliminary study等。认识这些单词,并不意味着懂得它们在文章的意义和作用。比如说measurement error,大家都可以望文生义地理解成测量错误、测量误差,但是在对文章的阅读中这种字面上的理解是远远不够的。其实此处强调的并不是测量中出现的错误和毛病,而是指那些每次测量都会发生的、永远也无法避免的、在测量值和实际值之间的正常的差异。因此,本句话的真实含义也难以理解。句子只是罗列了一堆事实,而作者真正想说的意思是什么呢?其实variations exceeding the measurement error的言外之意是这些不同variations是真正有意义的不同,而不是试验的误差;那么不同矿源的铜矿的铅同位素成分真的不同,相同的矿源的铅同位素几乎相同,就意味着我们可以通过测量铅同位素的成分来确定铜矿的矿源(挖掘地)。
意群训练:The isotopic composition of lead often varies from one source of common copper ore to another, with variations exceeding the measurement error;and preliminary studies indicate
virtually uniform is topic composition of the lead from a single copper-ore source.66.More probable is bird transport, either externally, by accidental attachment of the seeds to feathers, or internally, by the swallowing of fruit and subsequent excretion of the seeds.(3+)更有可能的是鸟类运输:或者是通过外部途径,即由于种籽偶然粘附在羽毛上;或者是通过内部方式,即由于鸟类吞食果子并随后将种籽排泄出来。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、倒装
解释:句首有一个倒装,正常语序是bird transport is more probable。后面的句子中由于插入部分的频繁出现使句子显得十分凌乱。意群训练:More probable is bird transport, either externally, by accidental attachment of the seeds to feathers, or internally, by the swallowing of fruit and subsequent excretion of the seeds.67.A long-held view of the history of English colonies that became the United States has been that England’s policy toward these colonies before 1763 was dictated by commercial interests and that a change to a more imperial policy , dominated by expansionist militarist objectives , generated the tensions that ultimately led to the American Revolution.(4+)
一个对于后来成了美国的英国殖民地的历史的长久以来的观点,认为英国在1763年以前对于这些殖民地的政策被经济利益所支配,而且认为一种向着更大程度帝国制度的政策上的转变——为扩张主义的军事目标所左右——产生了最终导致美国革命的紧张气氛。
难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:主架构简单,可是主语和表语从句都不让人省心。句子的主干其实就是:A long-held view has been that..。但是主语A long-held view之后却是修饰它的一个三层的定语:of the history of the english colonies that became the United States。系动词has been之后所接的表语从句其实不止一个,其实原句是用了and来连接两个并列的表语从句,has been that…and has been that…。后面的has been照例被省略。
意群训练:A long-held view of the history of English colonies that became the United States has been that England’s policy toward these colonies before 1763 was dictated by commercial interests and that a change to a more imperial policy , dominated by expansionist militarist objectives , generated the tensions that ultimately led to the American Revolution.68.It is not known how rare this resemblance is, or whether it is most often seen in inclusions of silicates such as garnet, whose crystallography is generally somewhat similar to that of diamond;
but when present, the resemblance is regarded as compelling evidence that the diamonds and inclusions are truly cogenetic.(4)现在尚不知这种类似稀少到何种地步,也不知道是否它最常见于象石榴石一类的硅酸盐内含物中,而这类物质的晶体结构普遍地在某种程度上类似于金刚石的晶体结构。但一旦存在,这种类似就被视作极有说服力的证据,证明金刚石与内含物确是同源的。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语
解释:本句的句子既长,专有名词又多,从句层出不穷,故而难懂。在本句中出现的专有名词中,除了silicates硅酸盐这个单词常常出现于理科文章中,需要记忆之外,其他单词阅读现场简单处理一番既可:inclusions可以猜出是被包含的物质;garnet作首字母提炼叫g:crystallography只要能从词头推出这个单词与晶体有关即可。
意群训练:It is not known how rare this resemblance is, or whether it is most often seen in inclusions of silicates such as garnet, whose crystallography is generally somewhat similar to that of diamond;but when present, the resemblance is regarded as compelling evidence that the diamonds and inclusions are truly cogenetic.69.Even the “radical” critiques of this mainstream research model, such as the critique developed in Divided Society, attach the issue of ethnic assimilation too mechanically to factors of economic and social mobility and are thus unable to illuminate the cultural subordination of Puerto Ricans as a colonial minority.(4+)
即使是对这一主流研究模型的―激进‖批评,诸如《分裂的社会》(Divided Society)一书中所提出的那种批判,亦将少数民族同化问题过分机构地与经济和社会移动性的因素联系起来,因此无从阐明波多黎各人作为一个殖民地少数民族的文化从属关系。难句类型:复杂修饰、插入语、省略、抽象词
解释:本句实际上是由and连接的两个句子,阅读的一个难度在于,and之后省略了they(此处指前面的主语the radical critiques,)而are thus able to 又与前面离得太远,使读者难以找到主语。
另外,句中的固定搭配attach A to B和illuminate C as D当中的A、B、C,全部既长又抽象,理解起来较为困难。
意群训练:Even the “radical” critiques of this mainstream research model, such as the critique developed in Divided Society, attach the issue of ethnic assimilation too mechanically to factors of economic and social mobility and are thus unable to illuminate the cultural subordination of Puerto Ricans as a colonial minority.42
翻译实践
一、词语的正确理解 1.词语的正确搭配及意义 一个词,在词典中尽管有许多意思,但是用在某个特定的句子中,和不同的词语进行搭配时,以及在不同的语法结构中,只有一个确定的意思。因此,在翻译时要善于抓住词语的搭配和语法结构,确定词义。以下举例说明:
1)I can think of a good few medical students who would willingly ―work their way through colleges‖ by filling in as nurses at our understaffed hospitals.误译:我可以想象不少读医的学生是愿意来我们人手不足的医院当护士帮助病人填写病历,以此来挣钱读完大学的。正译:我可以想象不少读医的学生是愿意来我们人手不足的医院临时充当护士,以此来挣钱读完大学的。分析:fill in用做及物动词词组,和a blank/a check./a form等搭配时,是做―填写‖、―填入‖解释的,但是如果用作不及物动词词组时,和for sb.as sb.搭配,就是做―暂时代替‖来解释。
2)(An intelligence test does not measure character, social adjustment, physical endurance, manual skills, or artistic abilities.)To criticize it for such failure is roughly comparable to criticizing a thermometer for not measuring wind velocity.误译:批评这样的失败就好比批评温度计不能测出风速一样。
正译:批评智力的测试不反映上述情况,就好比批评温度计不能测出风速一样。
分析:很多情况下,failure这个词是做―失败‖解释的,但是,当failure后面接动词不定式,形成failure to do sth.的结构的时候,这个failure就应当解释为―未能‖、―没有‖。
3)―In short,‖ a leader of the new school contends, ―the scientific revolution, as we call it, was largely the improvement and invention and use of a series of instruments that expanded the reach of science in innumerable directions.‖
误译:新学校的一位领导人坚持说:―总而言之,我们所说的科学革命主要是指一系列器具的改进、发明和使用。这些改进、发明和使用使科学发展的范围无所不及。‖
正译:新学派的一位领导人坚持说:―总而言之,我们所说的科学革命主要是指一系列器具的改进、发明和使用。这些改进、发明和使用使科学发展的范围无所不及。‖ 2.词语的上下文意义
―吾生也有涯,而单词也无涯‖:)是的,一个人认识词汇的能力总是有限的,翻译时碰到不认识的词的可能性很大。在考研的试题中,常考查多义词,这时我们千万不能想当然,受思维定势的影响,按照自己印象最深,或最熟悉的词义去理解,而是应当充分利用上下文来分析和确定词义。下面举例说明:
1)It seems to me that the time is ripe for the Department of Employment and the Department of Education to get together with the universities and produce a revised educational system which will make a more economic use of the wealth of talent, application and industry currently being wasted on certificates, diplomas and degrees that no one wants to know about.误译:我认为时机已成熟。就业部门和教育部门应同大学携起手来,修正我们的教育制度,使之能把学生的才能、申请及工业都更好地运用于经济方面。而这些才能、申请及工业现在都浪费在无人感兴趣的证书、文凭和学位上。
正译:我认为时机已成熟。就业部门和教育部门应同大学携起手来,修正我们的教育制度,使之能比较合理地使用学生的才能、勤奋和刻苦。而现在他们这些才能和努力都浪费在无人感兴趣的证书、文凭和学位上。
分析:虽然application常做―申请‖解释,但是由上下文来看,这里显然不是这个意思,而是 43
另一个意思:勤奋刻苦。同样,industry也有这个问题,它多做―工业‖解释,但根据上下文应当是―勤劳‖的意思。此外,这里的economic也是误译,只是看它和economy有些像,就想当然地译成―经济‖,这是不对的,应当是看它在文章里的具体环境,采用―节约的‖、―合理的‖这个译法。
2)When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying about, not mention the equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see, it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads.误译:当你想到那些看得见的,到处飞翔的鸟儿,更不用说同样多的、看不见的诸如野鼠、田鼠之类的动物时,除了在大路上,你很难见到动物的死尸。正译:虽然你可以想象到无数鸟儿在天空中飞翔,更不要说同样多的、但看不见的诸如野鼠、田鼠之类的动物,但是除了在大路上之外,你很难见到动物的死尸。分析:这是when的一个典型的错误翻译。这里的when并不是表示时间关系,而是做―虽然‖解释,表示情况的转折。3.词语形式对词义的影响
名词是很活跃的一类词语,一个名词用作单数或复数、用作可数或不可数、前面有没有定冠词,它的意义都是大不相同的,因此,在有名词出现的翻译中要格外注意名词的形式。下面举例说明:
1)(There is a definite link between smoking and heart disease and lung cancer.)But this doesn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company.误译:但这并不能使人们感到太多不舒服,因为你是在一个好的公司里。正译:但这并不能使人们感到太多不舒服,因为和你一样抽烟的人很多。
分析:company作可数和不可数名词时的意义是不同的。作可数名词时是―公司‖,而作不可数名词时是―伙伴‖、―伴侣‖的意思,要格外小心。
2)The question became one of whether man could control the disease he had invented.误译:因此,问题就成了人们能否控制住他们自己创造出来的这种疾病。正译:因此,问题就成了人类能否控制住他们自己创造出来的这种疾病。分析:man用作单数,且前面又没有冠词修饰时,作mankind(人类)解释。4.词语的内涵与引申义
很多词在具体的翻译中是不能简单套用词典中现成的解释的。这就要求我们根据词语的内涵和引申的意义准确把握词义。下面举例说明:
1)He stepped right in after them, like it or not, and he was determined that nothing as petty as good manners should keep him from a chance of enlightenment.误译:他不管人家欢迎不欢迎,紧跟着他们走了进去。什么礼貌不礼貌,他顾不得这一套。他决心不错过这个受启蒙的机会。
正译:他不管人家欢迎不欢迎,紧跟着他们走了进去。什么礼貌不礼貌,他顾不得这一套。他决心不错过这个机会,把心里的问题弄明白。
分析:enlightenment在词典中的意思确实是―启蒙‖、―启发‖,但是在这里如果原封不动地照搬,不仅生硬,且不符合原文意思,这里就需要我们把它的引申意义找出来,即―把问题搞清楚‖。
二、辨析词性结构
英语中有许多词汇不仅仅有一种词性,而是分属好几个词类,不妨来看看这个句子:Workers can fish.在没有上下文的情况下,可以有两种解释,一是把can看作助动词,而把fish看作动词原形,就是―工人们能够捕鱼‖;二是把can看作实义动词,而把fish看作名词,就是―工人们把鱼制成罐头‖。这两种解释都是合理的。还有些时候,一些词从形式上虽然可以判断 44
词性,但是由于在句子中的功能不同,所表达的意思也不同。因此,正确判断词性对于理解词语的意义甚至全句的意义起到了决定性的作用。下面我们就具体从两个方面来分析: 1.词性和句子结构
一个词,由于其词性不同,在句子中的位置也就不同,因此,利用其语法特征往往可以确定词性,进而确定词义。下面举例说明:
1)Until the World War brought chaos to most of their institutions, their whole lives were regulated;perhaps more than those of any other people save the Spaniards, by a regard for precedent.误译:在第一次世界大战给他们的大部分风俗习惯带来变化之前,他们的所有生活是受到控制的,可能比起其他人更是通过对先例的尊重来挽救西班牙人的。
正译:在第一次世界大战给他们的大部分风俗习惯带来变化之前,他们的所有生活,除了西班牙人之外,或许比其他民族都更受到先例的制约。分析:save可以用作动词,但是如果作为动宾结构的话,它的主语又是什么呢?perhaps more than those of any other people和perhaps more than thirty people是两种不同的结构,后者是名词短语,可以作主语;但是前者只是一个形容词短语,不能做主语。其次,如果by a regard for precedent是save的状语的话,前面也没有必要用逗号隔开。实际上,这个by a regard for precedent是和were regulated组成的一个被动结构:were regulated by…。这样,save这一部分就不是一个句子,只是一个修饰成分。事实上,save是个介词,作―除了‖解,相当于but,或是except。
2)(Some of these causes are completely reasonable results of social needs.)Others are reasonable consequences of particular advances in science being to some extent self-accelerating.误译:另一些原因则是科学存在的某些特定发展到自我加速而形成的必然结果。
正译:另一些原因则是由于科学在一定程度上自我加速而产生某些特定发展的必然结果。分析:译成―科学存在‖显然是把science being理解为一个意群,把being看作一个名词,诚然,being是有―存在‖这个意思,但是,在这个句子中,如果按照上面的理解,那么to some extent self-accelerating又如何解释?在句子中又充当什么成分?其实,如果我们把being看成是一个分词,形成being to some extent self-accelerating的分词短语修饰particular advances in science,结构就一下子清晰了,意思也通顺了。
3)All humanity in the long run would benefit through having the habitat of the highest race extended and scattered Germanic peoples united under one rule.误译:从长远来看,如果能把最优秀的民族的国土扩展并分散到世界各地,日耳曼各民族团结在一个统治之下,那么人类最终会从中受益的。
正译:从长远来看,如果能把最优秀的民族的国土扩展开来,使分散的日耳曼民族团结在一个统治之下,那么人类最终会从中受益的。
分析:按照原译,united是一个谓语动词,但是作―团结‖解释时,unite一般是及物动词,也就是说,单从结构上来看,句子应是scattered Germanic peoples were united under one rule.但是这句话里没有were,因此united不象谓语动词。实际上,仔细分析全句,就会发现这是一个have sth.Done的句型,其中的united和extended一样都是过去分词。2.词性和上下文
下面举例说明词性与上下文的关系:
1)I think, however, that provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness.误译:然而,我认为,所给的工作量不很大,对大多数人来说即使最单调的工作也总比无所事事好受。
正译:然而,我认为,对大多数人来说,只要工作量不是太大,即使所做的事再单调也总比无所事事好受。
分析:原来的译文是把provided看作过去分词,修饰work,语法上好象没有什么问题,但是意思不通,逻辑也不对,其实,只要把它看作一个连词,作―假如‖、―只要‖解释就通顺了。这是provided的一个特殊用法,希望大家注意。
2)We assemble thousands of operatives in the factory, and in the mine, of whom the employer can know little or nothing, and to whom he is little better than a myth.误译:在工厂里,在我的工厂里,我们聚集了成千上万的工人,老板对他们不可能了解许多,而对他们来说,老板也不过是个神话人物。
正译:在工厂里,在矿上,我们聚集了成千上万的工人,老板对他们不可能了解许多,而对他们来说,老板也不过是个神话人物。分析:这句话要是粗心一点就会出错,很容易把mine当作―我的……‖解释。其实这里的mine是一个实词,作名词的意思是―矿井‖、―矿山‖,仔细分析这个句子,发现上下文里没有提到―我的‖,其实还有一点,就是mine作物主代词的时候前面是不加the的。
三、克服望文生义
望文生义就是指对句子中的某个词语或某个结构不仔细辨认,不仔细分析,而是想当然,凭着一知半解,对生疏、不认识的词语和结构妄加推测;或是粗心大意,由于词语的拼法或句子结构十分接近,而把词语或句子的意思搞错。这种问题在考研的时候更容易出现,因为没有足够的时间对所译的句子及其上下文进行推敲,所以,我们在平时就要多加注意这方面的训练,以便在考场上能够从容应对。下面我们就从四个方面来具体讲解: 1.派生词的误译
英语中的派生词是很多的,但是派生出来的意思却不尽相同,拿exhaust来说,exhaustible是―可耗尽的‖的意思,而exhausting则是―使人筋疲力尽‖的意思,所以切不可望文生义,误解意思。下面举例说明:
1)Industrialism itself has actually gone through many successive stages of development.误译:工业本身实际上已经历了发展的许多成功阶段。正译:工业本身的发展实际上已连续经历了许多阶段。
分析:succeed是动词―成功‖,success是名词―成功‖,successful是形容词,作―成功的‖解释,因此就想当然地推断successive也是―成功的‖之意,实际上,successive和―成功‖没有任何关系,它的基本意思是―连续的‖。
2)This seems mostly effectively done by supporting a certain amount of research not related to immediate goals but of possible consequence in the future.误译:这一点看来可非常有效地被解决,通过支持与目前目标无关的科研,但在将来有可能的后果。正译:给某些与眼前目标无关但将来可能产生影响的科研的支持,看来通常能有效地解决这一问题。
分析:很容易就看出原文翻译得文理不通,其中许多错误是理解上的,主要是这个mostly的理解,我们都知道most是副词,作―很‖、―非常‖、―十分‖解释,因此就想当然地以为mostly也是这个意思,这就大错特错了,most虽然也是副词,但是它的意思是―主要地‖、―通常地‖,所以,辨析这些细小差别,对文章的理解有至关重要的作用。2.形似词的错看
英语中有很多词,相差只有那么一两个字母,稍不注意就会看错,因此,在翻译时做到细心十分重要。下面就举例说明:
1)The U.S.infantryman, while requiring far too luxurious logistical support, put up a nice fight in France;he was fresh well-fed, and unscarred by battle.误译:美国步兵虽然需要过于奢侈的后勤支持,但是在法国进行了顽强的战斗,他们精神饱满,营养充足,并没被战争所吓倒。
正译:美国步兵虽然需要过于奢侈的后勤支持,但是在法国进行了顽强的战斗,他们精神饱满,营养充足,还没受到战争的创伤。
分析:显然原来翻译时将unscarred和unscared两个词语混淆了,他们只差一个r,但是意思却差了很多,前者是―未留下痕迹‖的意思,后者是―未被吓倒―的意思,这里看错意思除了粗心的原因之外,文章的意思对读者也有一定的误导。
2)But most probably it will all depend upon campers themselves: how many heath fires they cause;how much litter they leave;in short, whether or not they wholly alienate landowners and those who live in the countryside.误译:但是很可能一切要取决于野营者自己:他们造成多少有益健康的大火,又留下了多么少的东西……
正译:但是很可能一切要取决于野营者自己:他们造成多少野火,又丢下了多少的垃圾…… 分析:这也是典型的粗心大意造成的看错,heath是―荒野―,同样,litter也不是little,这类错误只要细心一些,就完全可以避免。3.动词形式的混淆
英语中有些动词的过去式和其他动词的原形在拼写上是相同的,这也给我们翻译带来了困难,如果不注意时态变化的规则,不分析上下文,就会发生误译。下面举例说明:
1)He founded the University of Chicago Laboratory School, the first of its kind, around the turn of the century.误译:大约在本世纪初他发现了芝加哥大学实验学院,这是类似的这种学院中的第一个。正译:大约在本世纪初他创立了芝加哥大学实验学院,这是类似的这种学院中的第一个。分析:这是把founded看成了find的过去时,实际上founded是found的过去时。4.成语及习惯用语的误译
英语中,有些词组是不能按照字面意思来理解的,因为它们有可能是习惯用语。一个经典的例子就是把―银河‖(Milky Way)译作―牛奶路‖。因此,我们如果发现了译的句子意思不通时,应当想一想这个词组是否还有其他意思,避免译错。下面举例说明 1)In country after country, talk of nonsmokers’ right is in the air.误译:在一个又一个国家里,不吸烟者的权利在空中说开了。正译:不吸烟者的权利问题正在一个又一个国家里议论开了。
分析:in the air按字面意思就是―在空中‖的意思,但是这里显然是一个习惯用语,是―流传‖的意思。
四、关于动词的形式
动词要算是英语句子中最为活跃的部分了,从时态上来说,它有现在时、进行时和完成时等;从语气上来说,它有虚拟语气、正常语气等;从非谓语形式上来说,它有现在分词、过去分词、动名词以及不定式等等。它们语法形式差不多(有的甚至完全相同),但是意义不同,如果不仔细分析,很容易造成误译,下面就从四个方面具体讲讲: 1.动词时态变化后面的隐含意义
我们中国人的作文或是翻译,对于时态的变化不是很注意,最多用―现在‖、―过去‖、―将来‖之类的词表达,但是,在英语里时间概念是由动词的变化来实现的,如果不注意,就很容易造成理解上的偏差。下面来看个例子:
1)Many of life’s problems which were solved by asking family members, friends or colleagues
are beyond the capability of the extended family to resolve.误译:许多可以通过问家里人,问朋友或同事而得到解决的生活中的问题是大家庭无能为力的。正译:许多以前可以通过问家里人,问朋友或同事而得到解决的生活中的问题是现在大家庭无能为力的。
分析:我们说过,英语中的时间概念是通过动词词形的变化来实现的,上面这句话里的主句和从句用了两个不同的时态,分别表示不同的时间范畴,因此,在翻译时要适当加一些时间副词,以符合原意。
2.虚拟语气所表达的非真实含义
虚拟语气是英语中一种独特的语法现象,相信大家有这样的体会:做题的时候可以很正确,但是自己在写文章时从来不用,这就说明我们还没有这种意识。翻译的时候,要么是识别不出,要么是不能很好地表达虚拟语气的非真实意义,下面举例说明:
1)Actions which would have excited his horror in the life about him, in the reading passed through his mind without any comment.误译:故事中这些行径使他对周围的生活惶恐不安,但在阅读中他只是生吞活剥地读,不敢妄加评论。
正译:这般所作所为,要是果真出现在他周围的现实生活中,准会使他惊恐万状。然而在阅读中,他只是生吞活剥地读,不敢妄加评论。
分析:定语从句中使用了一个虚拟语气,也就是说这件事并没有发生,翻译时,要加一些如―原来‖、―本来‖之类的词,才能把非真实情况表达出来。3.情态动词的不同含义 情态动词的意义最是灵活,不好掌握,通常一个词有很多不同的意思,要想准确地翻译出来,除了要对情态动词的基本意思有所了解,更重要的是要联系上下文以及和它搭配的词综合作出判断。下面来看个例子:
1)That he should have written just the first 30 years worth might be thought strange.误译:他本应该写他前三十年重要的事,想来有点奇怪。
正译:他竟然只写他前三十年生活中的重要之事,想来有点奇怪。
分析:should have done在很多情况下都是―本应该‖的意思,表示说话人的埋怨或是责备的口吻,但是,当主句中有strange, sorry, surprising, incredible之类表示说话人感情色彩的词时,要作―竟然‖、―居然‖解释。4.分词的语法意义 分词属于非谓语动词,除了自己固有的语法意义外,在作状语时还常表示原因、条件、转折、让步等伴随含义,因此要注意翻译出这一点。下面举例说明:
1)Secondly, we embarked on a reasoned policy to ensure steady economic growth, the modernization of industry, and a proper balance between public and private expenditure.误译:第二,我们采取了合理的政策,以保证经济的稳步发展、工业的现代化和公私支出之间的适当平衡。
正译:第二,我们采取了经过深思熟虑的政策,以保证经济的稳步发展、工业的现代化和公私支出之间的适当平衡。
分析:reasoned作为过去分词,和reasoning, reasonable是不同的,一般说来,过去分词多表示已经结束的语法意义,即―经过思虑的‖;而现在分词多表示正在进行的意思,翻译时要注意这些细小差别。
五、小心否定陷阱
含有否定词如not, no这一类的句子,处处布满了陷阱,稍不小心就会译错。这是因为,有 48 的否定词会造成否定转移,有的否定词看上去是否定靠近它的部分,实际上是否定离它较远的部分,还有一些否定词在不同的上下文中可以是全部否定,也可以是部分否定,有的否定词和别的否定词连用,句子就成了肯定的意思,等等。要避开这些陷阱,除了要掌握否定句的特殊意义之外,最主要的是要必须仔细分析上下文。下面就分类进行讲解: 1.not…because结构
谓语前面有not等否定词,而句子中有because原因从句,或有表示目的的不定式短语,或有状语短语,在这种情况下,否定往往要发生转移,不再否定跟在它后面的谓语,而是转移否定较远的这些原因从句、不定式短语或是状语短语。在翻译时一定要结合上下文仔细体会意思,不要贸然根据句子表面结构去翻译。下面举例说明:
1)Scientific discoveries and inventions do not always influence the language in proportion to their importance.误译:科学的发现与发明,就其重要性的比例而言,并不一定对语言有什么影响。正译:科学上的发现与发明对语言的影响并不总是与它们的重要性成正比的。
分析:显然,原来的翻译没有注意到这一句里的否定已经转移到状语in proportion to their importance里去了。2.not…, as/like结构
在not…, as/like这样的句子中,人们习惯按照表面的标点划分,把含有not的主句与as或like引导的短语分开处理,译成―正如……一样,……并不……‖。而这个译法歪曲了原文的意思。实际上,按照原文,as/like引导的短语应该在否定范围之内,应当译成―并不像……‖或―正与……相反‖,并把它的语序提前,放在句首。下面举例说明:
1)The number of people who consult psychiatrists today is not, as is sometimes felt, a symptom of increasing mental ill health, but rather the precursor of a world in which the hope of genuine mental health will be open to everyone.误译:人们常常觉得今天去精神病医生那里进行心理咨询的人数多并不表明精神病患者的增多。相反,它正预示着这样一个世界的来临,即在那里真正的精神健康大门将对所有人敞开着。正译:今天这么多人去找精神病医生咨询,并不像人们常常感到的那样说明了精神病患者的日益增多。相反,它正预示着这样一个世界的来临,即在那里真正的精神健康大门将对所有人敞开着。分析:两种译文的区别在于人们是否觉得这么多人去精神病医生那里咨询表明精神病患者的增多。原文的意思是人们觉得的,只是作者提出相反的看法,认为这个现象并不是像人们时常觉得的那样表明了精神病患者的增多,而只是说明人们将有希望获得真正的精神健康。可见句中as is sometimes felt应放在否定范围之内。3.all/every…not结构 all/every…not结构,从其表层结构来看,是全部否定。因而常常被译成―所有(或每一个)……都不……‖,实际上,很多情况下是部分否定:―并不是所有(或并不是每一个)……都……。因此,还是要靠上下文来判断。下面举例说明: 1)But if richness needs gifts with which everyone is not endowed, simplicity by no means comes by nature.误译:但是如果说写华丽文章需要人们都不具备的天资,简洁则决不是天生的。
正译:但是如果说写华丽文章所需要的并不是人人都具备的天资,简洁则决不是天生的 分析:这里的every…not结构就是一个部分否定,要通过上下文来分析。4.not…nearly/possibly结构
看到not…nearly/possibly结构,许多人都按字面意思翻译成―几乎不‖或是―不可能‖。实际上,49
not…nearly/possibly结构是一个固定的搭配,表示―根本不‖。下面举例说明:
1)The food supply will not increase nearly enough to match this, which means that we are heading into a crisis in the matter of producing and marketing food.误译:食品供应的增加将几乎赶不上人口的增长,这就意味着我们在粮食的生产和购销方面正陷入危机。正译:食品供应的增加将肯定跟不上人口的增长,这就意味着我们在粮食的生产和购销方面正陷入危机。
分析:nearly的词典释义是―几乎‖、―近乎于‖,但是当它和not连用时,表示的就是not…at all,应译为―根本不‖、―一点不‖。5.not…or/too/without结构
not…or/too/without结构也是翻译中经常容易出错的。关键在于没有理解or后面的短语,或too/without后面的结构和前面的not有着密切的联系,都是在否定范围之内的。下面举例说明:
1)I cannot state too strongly my appreciation of the part you played in the negotiation in order to bring about the desired result.误译:为了达到预想的结果,你在谈判中起了很大的作用,但我不能对这一点表示过分的夸奖。
正译:为了达到预想的结果,你在谈判中起了很大的作用,对于这一点我怎么感谢也不会过分。分析:cannot state too strongly不能分开来理解。Cannot…too是一个固定搭配,表示―怎么……也不过份‖。
6.not/no…more than结构
not/no…more than可以构成许多不同的短语或词组,此时不应按照字面意思理解,单纯的译成比较结构,而是应该掌握这种结构的主要意思,然后去分析。下面举例说明: 1)Koreans can no more agree on whether the changes have come too fast or too slowly than they can on what Korean democracy is or should be.误译:韩国人再也不能同意变革是否来得太快或太慢,而是同意韩国民主该是什么样子,或应该是什么样子。正译:韩国人对变革是否来得太慢,意见不一,同样对韩国民主是什么样子或应是什么样子,看法也不一。
分析:句中的no…more than实际上和not…any more than是同一结构,表达同样的意思,即―不……正如……不‖的意思。7.not/no…less than结构
同样,not/no…less than结构有些可以通过其表面意思来猜测其意,有些则已经成为固定搭配,有特定的意思。因此,要结合上下文仔细分析。下面举例说明:
1)It would have been impossible for me to have told anyone what I derived from these novels, for it was nothing less than a sense of life itself.误译:真要让我告诉别人我读这些小说有何收益是不可能的,因为我所获得的不比生活本身的意义少。正译:真要让我告诉别人我读这些小说有何收益是不可能的,因为我所获得的就是对生活自身的感受。
分析:nothing less than并没有比较的意思。作为固定的词组,它是―不过是‖、―就是‖的意思。
六、明确指代关系
英语中,替代词的使用频率远远高过汉语,这也就是说,只要有可能,it, this, he, they, one, 50