The Delicate Art of the Forest 讲解.doc

Lesson OneThe Delicate Art of the Forest林中高招Mark TwainText1 Coopers gift in the way of invention was not a rich endowment; but such as it was he liked to work it, he was pleased with the effects, and indeed he did some quite sweet things with it. In his little box of stage-properties he kept six or eight cunning devices, tricks, artifices for his savages and woodsmen to deceive and circumvent each other with, and he was never so happy as when he was working these innocent things and seeing them go.CooperCOOPERGrammarAs it was= as it was not rich= though it was not richVocabularydelicateMarked by sensitivity of discrimination:a critics delicate perception.inventionthe act of producing something new for the first timeendowment/endaumEnt/n.1.The act of supplying with income, or a talent.2.Funds or property donated to an institution, an individual, or a group as a source of income.3.A natural gift, ability, or quality.stage-propertythings, objects used on stages except scenery, costumescunningMarked by or given to artful subtlety and deceptivenessdeviceA plan or scheme, especially a malign one.artificeskillful trickssavageNot civilized; barbariccircumventoutwit; to defeat or outwit by cleverness or stratagem; to surround or encircle with enmitymoccasinA soft leather slipper traditionally worn by Native AmericanstwigAny small, leafless branch of a woody planthandyReadily accessiblevesselA craft, especially one larger than a rowboat, designed to navigate on watersteera.To direct the course of.b.To maneuver (a person) into a place or course of action.skipperThe master of a shipundertowThe seaward pull of receding waves after they break on a shore.sailorcraftcannonA large, mounted weapon that fires heavy projectiles. Cannon include guns, howitzers, and mptlyimmediatelydaisySlangOne that is deemed excellent or notable.trailA mark or trace left by something that has moved or been dragged by.stumpTo clear stumps from; To bring to a halt; baffleslushSoft mud; slop; mire.vacateTo cease to occupy or hold; give up译文库伯的发明天份并不怎么样，虽然如此，他却不厌其烦地运用它，而且还自鸣得意。他还真的用它干了几件十分惬意的事。在他的舞台道具盒里，只有七八个高招、秘诀和妙计，能够让他的土人和林子中的人相互蒙来蒙去。他最大的快事就是摆弄这些天真的把戏，看（欣赏）它们起作用。Key wordsCoopers gift (invention/ endowment) was not rich; but he liked to work it, and did some quite sweet things with it. His stage-properties (for his savages and woodsmen to deceive and circumvent each other with) are only six or eight cunning devices (tricks, artifices), and he was happy to work them and see them go.TextA favorite one was to make a moccasined person tread in the tracks of the moccasined enemy, and thus hide his own trail. Cooper wore out barrels and barrels of moccasins in working that trick.译文其中一个他喜欢的，就是让一个穿鹿皮鞋的人踩着另一个也穿鹿皮鞋的敌人的脚印，借以掩盖自己的行踪。干这个让库伯不知磨烂了多少双鹿皮鞋（靴筒）。TextAnother stage-property that he pulled out of his box pretty frequently was his broken twig. He prized his broken twig above all the rest of his effects, and worked it the hardest. It is a restful chapter in any book of his when somebody doesnt step on a dry twig and alarm all the reds and whites for two hundred yards around. Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig.译文另一个他常常从他的盒子里拿出来的道具就是他的断树枝。他比什么都喜欢干树枝，所以不遗余力地使用它。他的书要是有哪一章没有人踩上干树枝，惊动周围二百码内的印地安人和白人，那就谢天谢地了。每回库伯笔下的人碰到危险，而一分安静一分金的时候，他保准要踩上一根干树枝。TextThere may be a hundred handier-things to step on, but that wouldnt satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he cant do it, go and borrow one. In fact, the Leatherstocking Series ought to have been called the Broken Twig Series.译文尽管附近有上百种东西可以踩，但那称不了库伯的心。库伯要他最后找一个干树枝。要是他找不到，就去借一个。照他这样，皮袜子故事集干脆就叫它断树枝丛书好了。The Leather Stocking TalesThe Leatherstocking Tales, a series of five popular novels by James Fenimore Cooper, constitute an epic of the American wilderness. Natty Bumppo, the central character, embodies the spirit of the frontier in The Deersayer (1841), where he is an idealized youth, and in The Prairie (1827), in which, as an old man, he is transfigured and dies. The other novels in the series are The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Pathfinder (1840), and The Pioneers (1823).TextI am sorry there is not room to put in a few dozen instances of the delicate art of the forest, as practised by Natty Bumppo and some of the other Cooperian experts. Perhaps we may venture two or three samples.译文很遗憾，我没有足够的篇幅，写上几十个例子，看看奈地班波和其他库伯专家们是怎样运用他的森林中的高招。大概我们可以试着斗胆举它两三个例子。TextCooper was a sailor - a naval officer; yet he gravely tells us how a vessel, driving toward a lee shore in a gale, is steered for a particular spot by her skipper because he knows of an undertow there which will hold her back against the gale and save her. For just pure woodcraft, or sailorcraft, or whatever it is, isnt that neat?译文库伯曾经航过海当过海军军官。但是他却一本正经（煞有介事）地告诉我们，一条被风刮向海岸就要撞礁的船，被船长驶向一个有离岸暗流的地点而得救。因为暗流顶着风，把船冲了回来。看看这森林术，这行船术，或者叫别的什么术，怎么样？（千载难逢的机会，可就是被库伯找到了，）真巧吧（真是干净利索吧）？TextFor several years Cooper was daily in the society of artillery, and he ought to have noticed that when a cannon-ball strikes the ground it either buries itself or skips a hundred feet or so; skips again a hundred feet or so - and so on, till finally it gets tired and rolls.译文有好几年，库伯每天都呆在炮兵部队。他当然注意到了一个炮弹落到地上要么钻到地里，要么就会弹起来，跳出百把尺，再弹再跳，直到跳不动了，就往前滚。TextNow in one place he loses some females - as he always calls women - in the edge of a wood near a plain at night in a fog, on purpose to give Bumppo a chance to show off the delicate art of the forest before the Reader. These mislaid people are hunting for a fort. They hear a cannon-blast, and a cannon-ball presently comes rolling into the wood and stops at their feet. To the females this suggests nothing. The case is very different with the admirable Bumppo. I wish I may never know peace again if he doesnt strike out promptly and follow the track of that cannon-ball across the plain through the dense fog and find the fort. Isnt it a daisy?译文现在有个地方，他的几个女性（他总是这样称呼女的）在一个雾夜在平原附近的树林边上迷了路。他的目的就是给班波一个机会来给读者显示一下他的森林中的本事。这些迷了路的人正在寻找一个城堡。她们听到一声炮响，接着一发炮弹就滚进树林，停在她们脚下。对女性，这毫无价值。但对可敬的班波则完全不同了。我敢发誓，要是班波不立刻行动，跟着弹痕，穿过浓雾，跨过平原，找到要塞，就让我一生不得安宁。怎么样？够巧的了吧？TextIf Cooper had any real knowledge of Natures ways of doing things, he had a most delicate art in concealing the fact. For instance: one of his acute Indian experts, Chinachgook (pronounced Chicago, I think), has lost the trail of a person he is hopelessly lost. Neither you nor I could never have guessed out the way to find it. It was very different with Chicago. Chicago was not stumped for long. He turned a running stream out of its course, and there, in the slush in its old bed, were that persons moccasin-tracks. The current did not wash them away, as it would have done in all other like cases - no, even the eternal laws of Nature have to vacate when Cooper wants to put up a delicate job of woodcraft on the reader.译文如果库伯不是对自然规律一无所知，他就是故意隐瞒事实。比方说，他的精明的印地安专家之一，名叫芝稼哥（我想，该读作芝加哥）的，跟踪一个人，在穿过树林的时候，脚印就找不到了。很明显，脚印是再也没法找到了。无论你还是我，都猜不出，怎么会找到它。对芝加哥可完全不同。他没迟疑多久。他改变了一条小溪的流向，在原来泥泞的河床上，那人的鹿皮鞋印竞然历历在目。在其他情况下，脚印一定被水冲得荡然无存，但在（库伯笔下）这里流水竟然冲不掉脚印！对，当然不会冲掉啰！因为只要库伯要给读者显示一下他森林中的本事，永恒的自然规律也会失效。翻译三要素信 Trustfulness达 Conveyance of the original purpose, ideas, viewpoints, and tone.雅 Retention of the original stylistic features in the target language.要做到上述三点，而不必苛求词性、词序，甚至是句子次序的一致。译出语气：他的书要是有哪一章没有人踩上干树枝，惊动周围二百码内的印地安人和白人，那就谢天谢地了。为了达，可以增加原文设有，但字里行间有的意思：因为暗流顶着风，把船冲了回来。看看这森林术，这行船术，或者叫别的什么术，怎么样？（千载难逢的机会，可就是偏偏被库伯找到了，）真巧吧（真是干净利索吧）？不考虑原来的词性：我敢发誓，要是班波不立刻行动，跟着弹痕，穿过浓雾，跨过平原，找到要塞，就让我一生不得安宁。尽量保持原文风格：他的精明的印地安专家之一，名叫芝稼哥（我想，该读作芝加哥）的Requirements of good compositionUnity 主题突出Coherence 文思连贯Variety 句型多样Purpose of Mark TwainTo inform that novel writing must avoid1. Unnecessary and monotonous repetition of words and events2. Arbitrary plottingFirst paragraphTitle: Coopers stage-propertiesthe moccasin trickbroken twigIts second sentence is the topic sentenceSecond paragraph1. Sailorcraft2. Fort finding3. Trail findingIts topic sentence: even the eternal laws of Nature have to vacate when Cooper wants to put up a delicate job of woodcraft on the reader.举例说明是最好的写作方法八级考试是要得分，我们只要掌握一个万无一失的能得分的写作方法就够了。破题 A good surprising topic sentence语不惊人死不休 Always be the best 即出人意料，又言之有理 The beauty of an article is to seek certainty in surprise出人意料 Surprise 不说大家都说的话言之有理 Certainty 你的例子能说明你的观点CoherenceEnglish sentences are made of two parts: known and unknownThe known part is often at the beginning, and it is made of1. repetition2. pronoun3. synonymIf you dont have the known part, you have to use1. connectives2. similar structureFor examplemoccasins moccasined person, moccasined enemythat trick oneNatty Bumppo the Leatherstocking Series, the Broken Twig Seriessamples instancesthese mislaid people he loses some femalesIsnt that neat Isnt it a daisy?VarietyA short incisive sentence among long sentences is both emphatic and pleasing as a variation in the rhythm of a paragraph.A rarely used periodic sentence sentence can give the sense of suspensionShort sentencesPerhaps we may venture two or three samples (LL 25-26)Isnt it a daisy? (L. 45)Apparently that trail is hopelessly lost. (LL. 51-52)Chicago was not stumped for long. (L. 52)Periodic sentenceAnother state-property that he pulled out of his box pretty frequently was his broken twig.Suspense: his broken twigLoose sentence: His broken twig was another state-property that he pulled out of his box pretty frequently.If Cooper had any real knowledge of natures way of doing things, he had a most delicate art in concealing the fact.Suspense: main clauseLoose sentence: Main clause + subordinate clauseLook upinvention: the act of producing something new for the first timeendowment: inherent talent, ability, qualitystage-properties: things, objects that actors and actresses use on the stage except painted scenery and costumesartifices: skillful tricks, schemescircumvent: to defeat or outwit by cleverness or stratagem; to surround or encircle with enmityundertow: under-water current towards seaConversational phrasespulled out pretty frequently (LL 11-12)doesnt step on (L14)If he cant do it, go and borrow one (L20)Im sorry (L23)it gets tired (L35)if he doesnt strike out (L43)I think (LL48-49)RepetitionTwig: six timesmoccasins, trick, delicate,etc. are also often repeated.Positive words used in negative sense/ in unfavorable connotations;delicate, sweet, artifices, innocent, hardest, stage-properties, experts, woodcraft, sailorcraft, neat, daisy, admirable, etc.Most of twains humor depends upon his dictionTone and point of viewTone: ironic, bitter, humorous, sarcastic and condescendingPoint of view: that of professional writer, a literary critic, an authority on novel-writingStyle is the man: very humorous, outspoken, witty, bitter, sarcastic and highly opinionated阅读理解必须包括下述九个方面才算真理解了：I. WriterII. ReaderIII. Ideas (the best topic/title)IV. Organization (topic sentence, supporting details, controlling ideas)V. Style (ad, public speaking, lecture, news report, legal document, etc.)VI. Tones (angry, complaint, ironic, sober, playful, humorous, etc.)VII. Attitude of the writerVIII. Points of view (expert, housewife, children, etc.)IX. Purpose (to inform, instruct, entertain, persuade, argue, etc.)Underline the keywords要想读得快，必须划关键词。Keywords are the words that carry new information.How to Underline the KeywordsTwo methods:1.Only read the subject, verb and object of the main clause.If they make sense, go on to the next sentence, dropping all the rest in the main clause and all the subordinate parts.2.Just pick up the words important to you, or important to the subject or purpose, and then reorganize in your own way, caring nothing about grammar.The following article is very difficult, if you dont use the method of underlining the keywords. Now lets read it.The speaker made the point that although there were many good reasons in favour of equality for women in all spheres , and particularly perhaps in the sphere of political activity where they needed a voice and above all needed to be able to influence others on their behalf, there were reasons against this as matters stood at the present time. He was asked whether any matters, regardless of how far they seemed to be in the interests of government and leaving aside the question of the popularity or otherwise of the move, could be more important than the liberty of a large section of the population of what was a so-called free country. He replied that he had repeated before that the moral issue was a clear one; however, emotional appeals and the use of words like freedom and justice avoided the most practical aspect of the affair. No government in its senses, however enlightened its leader, however large its majority, however secure in the favour of the people was going to be able to introduce a motion such as Votes for Women without considerable controversy flaring up. How much less were they going to be able to introduce it with a government on the brink of falling, the nation on the edge of war and the country radically opposed to any move which would seem to the electorate to threaten the long established traditions of the British way of life.Lets underline the keywords.The speaker made the point thatalthough there were many good reasons in favour of equality for women inall spheres , and particularly perhaps in the sphere ofpolitical activity where they needed a voice, andabove allneeded to be able to influence otherson their behalf,there were reasons against thisas matters stood at the present time.He was asked whether any matters, regardless of how far they seemed to be in the interests of government and leaving aside the question of the popularity or otherwise of the move,could be more important than the liberty of a large sectionof the population of what was a so-called free country.He repliedthat he had repeated before that the moral issue was a clear one; however, emotional appeals and the us