2019年翻譯資格考試英語(yǔ)筆譯初級(jí)模擬題：達(dá)爾文

英譯漢

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 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 his possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. He asserted, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason 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. 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.” 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 kids 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 also almost lost my taste for pictures or music.” 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.

參考譯文

在其(指達(dá)爾文)自傳中，他指出，想要簡(jiǎn)潔明了地表達(dá)自己觀點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，他總會(huì)遇到很大的困難。他相信，正是這種困難或許能夠揚(yáng)長(zhǎng)避短，以使他長(zhǎng)時(shí)間專注地思考每一個(gè)句子;因此，使他能在推理和自己的觀察中發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的缺點(diǎn)。他說(shuō)他自己反應(yīng)遲鈍，理解力差，就象著名的赫胥黎一樣。他還斷言，在深入理解冗長(zhǎng)且完全抽象的一系列觀點(diǎn)上，他的能力受到了局限。有鑒于此，他曾深信自己在數(shù)學(xué)方面本來(lái)就不該獲得成功。他還認(rèn)為自己的記憶雜亂而模糊，從某一個(gè)方面來(lái)說(shuō)，甚至是很糟糕，以至于他記住一次約會(huì)或者是一行詩(shī)歌的話，幾天就能忘記。另一方面，批評(píng)家指責(zé)他盡管善于觀察，但卻不能推理，對(duì)此，他并不接受且認(rèn)為毫無(wú)依據(jù)。他認(rèn)為，這種批評(píng)是錯(cuò)誤的，因?yàn)椤段锓N起源》這本書(shū)從頭到尾都是長(zhǎng)篇大論，卻說(shuō)服了很多有才華的人。他承認(rèn)，如果不具備推理能力，沒(méi)有人能夠?qū)懗鲞@樣的書(shū)。他愿意說(shuō)自己是“有我應(yīng)該具有的發(fā)現(xiàn)能力和常識(shí)判斷能力，正如每一個(gè)成功的律師和醫(yī)生一樣;但是，我認(rèn)為，我的水平不高。”他謙虛地補(bǔ)充道，或許他“和普通人比起來(lái)，更能夠注意到那些別人容易忽略的細(xì)節(jié)，更能夠?qū)Υ思右栽敿?xì)地觀察”。

在其晚年著作中，他表示，在過(guò)去的二三十年中，他的思想在兩三個(gè)方面發(fā)生了變化。到三十歲左右，詩(shī)歌帶給他極大的快樂(lè)。以前，繪畫(huà)也能給他帶來(lái)興致，而音樂(lè)能給他無(wú)窮的樂(lè)趣。然而，他在1881年說(shuō)：“這幾年來(lái)，讀一行詩(shī)，我就受不了。我最近還想要試圖讀讀莎士比亞，可發(fā)現(xiàn)，相當(dāng)乏味，難以忍受到了令人嘔吐的程度。我也幾乎快要喪失了自己對(duì)音樂(lè)和繪畫(huà)的品味了。一般來(lái)說(shuō)，音樂(lè)讓我更加積極深入地思考目前的工作，而不能給我樂(lè)趣。我現(xiàn)在依然能夠欣賞美景，但是它卻不能象從前一般帶給我極大的愉悅。”達(dá)爾文認(rèn)為，失去對(duì)音樂(lè)和繪畫(huà)方面的興趣，不僅失去了幸福，而且還可能損傷智力，甚至可能會(huì)傷害道德。

詞義推敲：

this very difficulty very表示強(qiáng)調(diào)，我們可以翻譯為“正是這個(gè)困難”

compensating advantage 補(bǔ)充的/補(bǔ)償?shù)膬?yōu)勢(shì)，

forcing him to 強(qiáng)迫他去

intently 刻意地，專心地，集中地

enabling him to 使他能夠

reasoning 推理

Asserted 宣稱，聲稱

Follow 理解

Abstract 抽象的，深?yuàn)W的

train of thought 一連串的思想，思路，思想(固定搭配)

On the other hand 另一方面

as well founded 這個(gè)結(jié)構(gòu)的完整形態(tài)應(yīng)該是“as well founded one(指代charge)，我們翻譯“就像那些有根有據(jù)的指控一樣”。

charge 指控，控訴

critics 批評(píng)家，評(píng)論家

observer 觀測(cè)者，觀察員

no power of reasoning 缺乏推理的能力

add 增加，補(bǔ)充

humbly 謙虛地，謙恭地

superior to 優(yōu)越于

the common run of men 普通人，比如：She's different from the common run of students. 她跟一般學(xué)生不同。

convince 使確信，使信服

the loss of these tastes 失去這些興趣

a loss of happiness 失去幸福

be injurious to 有害于…