Oxford As I See it.doc

Oxford As I See it 我所看到的牛津 by Stephen Leacock 史蒂文李考克 著New words dilapidated, (adj.) being in a state of decay: putrefactive fire-escapes, emergency exit in the event of fire ventilation, circulation of air sanitation, disposal of sewage. up-to-date, adj. 1. Informed of or reflecting the latest information or changes: an up-to-date timetable. 2. Being in accord with the latest ideas, improvements, or styles: up-to-date technology; up-to-date fashions. facilities, 1. Something that facilitates an action or process. 2. Something created to serve a particular function: hospitals and other health care facilities. persist (v.) hold firmly; be insistent; insistlive, stick to assertion (n.) the act or an example of stating positively: affirmation, asseveration, averral, avowal, declaration Underline the keywords.Yet in spite of its dilapidated buildings and its lack of fire-escapes, ventilation, sanitation, and up-to-date kitchen facilities persist in my assertion that I believe that Oxford, in its way, is the greatest university in the world. I am aware that this is an extreme statement and needs explanation. Analysis of the text Parallelism: Yet in spite of its dilapidated buildings and its lack of fire-escapes, ventilation, sanitation, and up-to-date kitchen facilities persist in my assertion that I believe that Oxford, in its way, is the greatest university in the world. Leacock begins his comparison in the third sentence. 译文 尽管牛津大学校舍破旧，缺少防火太平门、通风设备、卫生设备和现代厨房设施，我仍坚持，牛津以其特有的方式，是世界上最好的大学。我清楚，这说法太极端，还需要进一步解释。 New words endowment (n.) A gift to a charity or cause: contribution, alms, benefaction, beneficence, charity, donation, bestowal, offering, grant nowhere /nEuhwZE/ adv. 1. Not anywhere. 2. To no place or result: protested the ruling but got nowhere. n. 1. A remote or unknown place: a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Underline the keywords Oxford is much smaller in numbers, for example, than the State University of Minnesota, and is much poorer. It has, or had till yesterday, fewer students than the University of Toronto. To mention Oxford beside the 26,000 students of Columbia University sounds ridiculous. In point of money, the 39,000,000 dollars endowment of the University of Chicago, and the $35,000,000 one of Columbia, and the $43,000,000 of Harvard seem to leave Oxford nowhere. Yet the peculiar thing is that it is not nowhere. Analysis of the text Oxford is much smaller in numbers, for example, than the State University of Minnesota, the University of Toronto, and the Columbia University which has 26,000 students. In point of money, Oxford is much poorer than the 39,000,000 dollars endowment University of Chicago, and the $35,000,000 one of Columbia, and the $43,000,000 of Harvard. Yet the peculiar thing is that Oxford is not nowhere. 译文比方，牛津大学的学生人数，比明尼苏达州立大学少得多，钱也少得多。牛津大学现在，或者说直到昨天，比多伦多大学的学生少。把牛津和有二万六千学生的哥伦比亚大学相提并论，显得很可笑。从钱的角度说，有三千九百万收入的芝加哥大学、三千五百万的哥伦比亚大学、四千三百万的哈佛大学，看来更使牛津无立身之地。奇怪的是，事情并非如此。 New words queer (adj.) Deviating from established or accepted standards or norms: strange, peculiar, curious, unusual, singular profound (adj.) Possessed of or exhibiting wisdom: wise, sagacious, enlightened, judicious, sage Underline the keywordsBy some queer process of its own it seems to get there every time. It was therefore of the very greatest interest to me, as a profound scholar, to try to investigate just how this peculiar excellence of Oxford arises. Analysis of the text Leacock compares Oxford with American universities on the basis of enrollment and endowment. This comparison seems to lead to the conclusion that “Oxford is not great at all.” However, the sentence “Yet the peculiar thing is that” reveals that it is not the conclusion Leacock draws. 译文牛津大学通过本身的一些神奇方式，每次都不示弱。所以，作为一个堂堂的学者，我有极大的兴趣，要搞清牛津大学总是最好，是如何造成的。 堂堂的:翻译时要传达原文内的戏谑口吻。翻译Profound，如不用自嘲，可用自谦：喜欢刨根问底的，但不能译成“造诣深”。 总是最好：翻译时可以进行词性转换。 Analysis of the paragraph 1 In paragraph 1 the comparison develops by stating explicitly in each sentence what is being compared (Oxford and American universities) and the basis of comparison (enrollment and endowment). Thus each sentence is a miniature comparison, complete in itself, and the total effect is built by the addition of several such sentences. This technique keeps a relative balance between things compare, although obvious one of them is paramount. New words flourish v. to be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence frankly (adv.) With candor and sincerity: candidly, directly, forthrightly, honestly laughable, Causing or deserving laughter or derision; ridiculous Applied Science 应用科学 a theological college 神学院 dynamo 发电机 broad daylight 光天化日 heat, 热学 plumbing, 水暧工 electric wiring, 布线 gas-fitting 安煤气 blow-torch 喷灯，焊枪 Underline the keywordsIt can hardly be due to anything in the curriculum or programme of studies. Indeed, to any one accustomed to the best models of a university curriculum as it flourishes in the United States and Canada, the programme of studies is frankly quite laughable. There is less Applied Science in the place than would be found with us in a theological college. Hardly a single professor at Oxford would recognize a dynamo if he met it in broad daylight. The Oxford student learns nothing of chemistry, physics, heat, plumbing, electric wiring, gas-fitting or the use of a blow-torch. 译文这不可能是课程设置（美国叫curriculum，英国叫programme of study)的原因。说真的，对任何熟知美国和加拿大的最流行和最好的课程设置的人来说，牛津大学的课程设置，坦率地说，是十分可笑的。牛津的应用科学课程，比我们这里的一个神学院开设的还要少。没有哪个牛津教授，在大白天遇到一个发电机，会认得出来。牛津大学的学生对化学、物理、热学、管子工、装电线、安煤气、用焊枪，一无所知。 Daylight 译成“光天化日之下”口气太重。 New words run a motor car, take a gasoline engine to pieces, washer A flat disk, as of metal, plastic, rubber, or leather, placed beneath a nut or at an axle bearing or a joint to relieve friction, prevent leakage, or distribute pressure. a kitchen tap, tap: n. 1. A valve and spout used to regulate delivery of a fluid at the end of a pipe. 2. A plug for a bunghole; a spigot. 3. a. Liquor drawn from a spigot. b. Liquor of a particular brew, cask, or quality. 4. Medicine The removal of fluid from a body cavity: a spinal tap. 5. A tool for cutting an internal screw thread. 6. A makeshift terminal in an electric circuit. an expert opinion furnace stamp him as a college man, occasion vt. to provide occasion for; cause a very pardonable pride: 不无道理的骄傲 amateurUnderline the keywords Any American college student can run a motor car, take a gasoline engine to pieces, fix a washer on a kitchen tap, mend a broken electric bell, and give an expert opinion on what has gone wrong with the furnace. It is these things indeed which stamp him as a college man, and occasion a very pardonable pride in the minds of his parents. But in all these things the Oxford student is the merest amateur. 译文随便哪个美国大学生，都会开车，拆御汽油发动机，给厨房的水龙头换垫片，修理电铃，对炉子的故障发表内行的意见。正是这些东西，给他们打上了大学生的印记。他们父母心中也因此而有一种不无道理的自豪。所有这些，牛津大学生顶多只是业余搞搞。 Analysis of the text In paragraph 2, applied science, or mechanical side of curriculum is compared. Leacock first talks all about oxford, from programme of study, to professors, then to students. In sentences 6 and 7, he talks all about American universities. And in the last sentence, he goes back to Oxford. New words mechanical side of education， cultured studies, Housekeeping, Salesmanship, Comparative Religion, the influence of the Press， Human Behavior, Altruism, (n.) Kindly concern for others: benevolence, kindheartedness, beneficence, charitableness, good will, kindliness Egotism (n.) An immodestly high opinion of ones own worth: conceit, vanity, conceitedness, amour-propre, vainness Play of Wild Animals， Underline the keywordsThis is bad enough. But after all one might say this is only the mechanical side of education. True: but one searches in vain in the Oxford curriculum for any adequate recognition of the higher and more cultured studies. Strange though it seems to us on this side of the Atlantic, there are no courses at Oxford in Housekeeping, or in Salesmanship, or in Advertising , or on Comparative Religion, or on the influence of the Press. There are no lectures whatever on Human Behavior, on Altruism, on Egotism, or on the Play of Wild Animals. 译文这真是糟糕透了。不过有人会说，这不过仅仅是工科教育。不错，但是人们在牛津大学的课程中，也无法找到高一级的和文科更有关的应用课程。对我们这些大西洋此岸的人来说，很奇怪，牛津竟然没有家务、营销、广告、比较宗教、报刊影响之类的课程。那儿也不讲人类行为、利他主义、自我欣赏、或是野生动物嬉戏。 工科教育：mechanical 不能译成机械的 文科：culturedstudies 要和工科对应 New words feeble: (adj.) Not strong in temperament or character: mild, docile, easy, weak, weak-willed testament /testEmEnt/ n. 1. Something that serves as tangible proof or evidence: The spacious plan of the city is a testament to the foresight of its founders. 2. A statement of belief; a credo: my political testament. 3. Law A written document providing for the disposition of a persons property after death; a will. 4. Testament Abbr.T. Test. Bible Either of the two main divisions of the Bible. 5. Archaic A covenant between human beings and God. Middle English a will from Latin testamentum from testari to make a will from testis witness; See trei-in Indo-European Roots. testamentary ( -mentEri, -mentri) adj. Underline the keywordsApparently, the Oxford student does not learn these things. This cuts him off from a great deal of the larger culture of our side of the Atlantic. What are you studying this year? I once asked a fourth year student at one of our great colleges. I am electing Salesmanship and Religion, he answered. Here was a young man whose training was destined inevitably to turn him into a moral business man: either that or nothing. At Oxford Salesmanship is not taught and Religion takes the feeble form of the New Testament. The more one looks at these things the more amazing it becomes that Oxford can produce any results at all. 译文 很明显，牛津学生不学这些。这就使他们少了我们大西洋此岸的广义文科的相当一部分课程。有一次，我问我们这边一个名牌大学的四年级学生，“今年你选学什么？”他说，“我选了推销和宗教。”这个年轻人，他所受的训练，注定他或者成为一个有道德的商人，或者一事无成。在牛津，销售学是不教的，而宗教课不过教教新约之类的无精打彩的东西。人们越是这样研究，就越是奇怪牛津怎么能够有好的教学效果。 Analysis of the text In paragraph 3, the cultured studies of the curriculum is compared. There is a variation in Leacocks technique of comparison. He mostly talks about American universities, but he implies that at Oxford, there are no such things. This technique may be called “implied comparison” or “negative comparison.” New words assert (v.) To state to be true: claim, allege, contend, declare, profess, maintain athletics, Activities, such as sports, exercises, and games, that require physical skill and stamina. the Greek letter society the Banjo and Mandolin Club Underline the keywords The effect of the comparison is heightened by the peculiar position occupied at Oxford by the professors lectures. In the colleges of Canada and the United States the lectures are supposed to be a really necessary and useful part of the students training. Again and again I have heard the graduates of my own college assert that they had got as much, or nearly as much, out of the lectures at college as out of the athletics or the Greek letter society or the Banjo and Mandolin Club. In short, with us the lectures form a real part of the college life. 译文两者效果相比较，最令人费解的是牛津大学教授讲课。在加拿大和美国，课堂教学被视为训练学生的必要和有用的部分。我一再听到我们的大学毕业生说，他们从讲课中得到的和从体育运动，或希腊字母协会，或班卓琴、曼陀林琴俱乐部得到的一样多，或差不多一样多。一句话，对我们来说，课堂教学形式是大学教育的主要内容。 上课: lecture不能译成讲座 lecture /lektFE/ n. Abbr. lect. 1. An exposition of a given subject delivered before an audience or a class, as for the purpose of instruction. 2. An earnest admonition or reproof; a reprimand. New words punk, of poor quality; worthless. appeal, to make an earnest or urgent request, as for help. rotten, very bad; wretched. Underline the keywordsAt Oxford it is not so. The lectures, I understand, are given and may even be taken. But they are quite worthless and are not supposed to have anything much to do with the development of the students mind. The lectures here, said a Canadian student to me, are punk. I appealed to another student to know if this was so. I dont know whether Id call them exactly punk, he answer, but theyre certainly rotten. Other judgments were that the lectures were of no importance: that nobody took them: that they dont matter: that you can take them if you like; that they do you no harm. (From My Discovery of England) 译文但牛津不是这样。据我所知，那里课有人上，也有人听。但是上课没有什么用，据说也无助于学生的智力提高。有一个加拿大去的留学生告诉我，“这儿讲的课一点用也没有。”我向另一个学生求教，想知道是不是真的如此。他说，“我不知道是不是真的没用，但肯定它们真烂。”其他的说法是：听不听课不重要；没人去听课；听课无关紧要；你要愿意听就可以听；听听课也没害处。 Analysis of the text In paragraph 4, professors lecture is compared. Paragraph Four has two parts. “At Oxford it is not so” stands between two distinct parts of the paragraph. It serves as a transition and a change of thought, a turning point from the first part to the second part. Leacock uses four methods of comparison in the selection. The danger of using only one technique of development in an extended comparison is that the writing may become boring and monotonous. Parallelism: that clauses at the end of the paragraph. Punk in American means worthless, in British rotten. Purpose of the selection Which does the writer criticize, Oxford or American colleges? The answer is surprising: he criticizes