2008年 考研英語翻譯試題解析
上海新東方 靳萌
本次考試試題來源于Mayo W. Hazeltine所寫的一篇學(xué)術(shù)評論，主題是關(guān)于達(dá)爾文在現(xiàn)代科學(xué)中的地位。
In his autobiography，Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary modesty. He points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but 46 he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations, He disclaimed the possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. 47 He asserts, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. 48 On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning.
This, he thought, could not be true, because the "Origin of Species" is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that "I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree."49 He adds humbly that perhaps he was "superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully."
Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kinds gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said: "Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry; I have tried lately to read Shakspeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets me thinking too energetically of what I have been at work on, instead of giving me pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did." 50 Darwin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character.
試題解析
46 he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations,
參考答案：
他相信，或許這種困難也有其好處，正是這種困難促使他能夠長時間專注地思考每一個句子；從而能夠在推理和自己的觀察中發(fā)現(xiàn)錯誤。
解析
本句屬于典型的長句題，篇幅長，結(jié)構(gòu)層疊，意在考察考生分析句子結(jié)構(gòu)的能力。
本句的句法結(jié)構(gòu)為主語、謂語加上以that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句，句子主干為he believes that….that從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是主語“this very difficulty ”加上含有情態(tài)動詞的謂語“may have” 及其賓語the….advantage of forcing…, and thus enabling…。Of后面forcing和enabling組成并列結(jié)構(gòu)，共同修飾advantage。并列結(jié)構(gòu)的后半部分中，出現(xiàn)了thus enabling…，考前充分研究過往年考題的同學(xué)不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個結(jié)構(gòu)和03年61題的thus subjecting…這個結(jié)構(gòu)幾乎完全相同，可以使用“從而“、”因而“等詞來處理。。
本題中的詞匯考點(diǎn)中絕大部分都是傳統(tǒng)考點(diǎn)。句子中的compensating 曾在97年75題出現(xiàn)過，advantage 在90年65題中考過，force在2000年73題中考過， observation在02年62題中考過。
47 He asserts, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics.
參考答案：達(dá)爾文還聲稱，對于冗長且完全抽象的思想，他的理解能力十分有限。因?yàn)檫@個原因，他確信自己在數(shù)學(xué)方面根本不會成功。
