2012年考研英語一翻譯題

Part C

Directions:

Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearlyon ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)

Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory framework.

(46) In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything — a single generative equation for all we see. It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail. Nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.

This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47) Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification, for if all humans share common origins, it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.

That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.

The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.

(49) The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality, identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints.

Gray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages. (50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it, whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lineage-specific and not governed by universals.

Part C

46. 【解析】本句結構比較簡單，它是一個簡單句，句子主干結構是one approach takes…and seeks…。破折號后面的部分是對前面提到的理論的進一步解釋。

1)take …to extreme…把……發(fā)揮到極致，把。。。推至極限

2)theory of everything萬有理論?；蛘咭部梢砸粋€短語翻譯出來"適用于任何事物的理論"

3)generative equation生成等式、生成方程。

【參考譯文】物理學中的一個理論把這種歸一的沖動發(fā)揮到了極致，它探尋一種萬有理論----一個關于我們能看到的一切的生成方程式。

解析：

47. 【解析】對本句話的理解關鍵在于對for引導的句子的正確理解。因為有兩個逗號，有的同學在考場比較緊急的時間和緊張的狀態(tài)下容易把兩個逗號間的部分理解為插入語，那么這句話就很難理解了。

1)for 引導的句子表原因與前句是并列關系，for原因并列句中又包含一個if引導的條件狀語從句

2)"it seems reasonable to suppose that"對這句話的翻譯可以翻譯成一個長句，也可以分開翻譯成"那么假設文化差異也能夠追溯到更有限的源頭, 這種假設看上去便是合理的了。"

3)對于 "cultural diversit"的理解，我們容易受到之前在備考中經常遇到的"cultural diversity"的影響，直接翻譯成"文化多樣性"，但在本文，前文很多次提到了共性，所以這里我們翻譯為"文化差異"更合適。

【參考譯文】在這里，達爾文主義似乎提供了有力的理由，因為如果全人類有共同的起源，那么假設文化差異也能夠追溯到更有限的源頭好像就是合理的了。

48. 【解析】這句話結構主要在于對三個"what"從句的理解。本題是三個what引導的從句第一個是what引導的賓語從句，做filter out 的賓語。第二個what是介詞from的賓語，from 是固定搭配中的介詞filter out A from B。第三個what是understand的賓語，和how并列

1)句子主干可以看做：To filter out A from B enables us to understand C and D

A指的是"what is contingent and unique"

B指的是"what is shared" how complex cultural behaviour arose"

C指的是"how complex cultural behaviour arose"

D指的是"what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms"

2)Filter out詞組本意是濾掉，。這個單詞可能有同學會不熟悉，但是如果對本句結構理解清楚，看到from這個介詞，加之對前文大意的理解，我們可以猜出這個詞的意思，或者理解為"區(qū)分"等也不影響全句的理解。以避免我們有的同學看到第一個單詞不認識立馬生出的膽怯情緒，影響下文判斷。

【參考譯文】把差異性和獨特性從共性中過濾出來也許能讓我們理解復雜的文化行為是如何產生的，是什么從進化或認知領域指導著它。

49. 【解析】本句結構比較明朗，關鍵是句子前部分單獨很難理解，需要結合前文。這也恰恰說明了考研英語中的翻譯首先是閱讀理解的一部分，不是單獨的翻譯而已。

1)這里的the second與上文的"The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky,"，所里這里應該翻譯成"第二種理論"所以這句話需要根據上下文和邏輯解釋清楚。而不能單純的翻譯成第二。。。

2)對于括號內部的處理，我們可以直接放在括號中即可。

【參考譯文】約書亞格林伯格為尋找語言的共性而付出努力提出了第二種理論。他采用了一個更實用的共性理論，做法是辨認出眾多語言的共有特征(尤其是按照詞序排列)，這些特征被認為代表了由認知局限導致的偏差。

50. 【解析】這句話的結構比較簡單，復雜的是其中大量的術語和不熟悉的詞匯。對于這些詞匯我們根據直譯即可。

本句結構：Chomsky's grammar should show…, whereas Greenbergian….

1)That引導的定語從句修飾patterns

2)這里的"grammar"是指是上文的生成語法，所以這里可以把生成語法翻譯出來。

3)co-dependencies 這個詞需要根據上下詞義加之詞根詞綴來猜測出詞義，因為下文指出是兩者關系，所以可以翻譯為"共存性"。

【參考譯文】喬姆斯基生成語法應該表明語言變化的模式，這些模式獨立于族譜或貫穿其中的路徑，然而格林伯格的共性理論預測詞序關系的特殊類別之間(而不是其他)有著強烈的共存性。