Hit-the-nail-on-the-head、Things-The-Throw-away-Society等12篇英语散文中英对译.docx

Unit 1Text AHit the nail on the head恰到好处Alan Warner 1）Have you ever watched a clumsy man hammering a nail into a box? He hits it first to one side, then to another, perhaps knocking it over completely, so that in the end he only gets half of it into the wood. A skillful carpenter, on the other hand, will drive the nail with a few firm, deft blows, hitting it each time squarely on the head. So with language; the good craftsman will choose words that drive home his point firmly and exactly. A word that is more or less right, a loose phrase, an ambiguous expression, a vague adjective, will not satisfy a writer who aims at clean English. He will try always to get the word that is completely right for his purpose.你见过一个笨手笨脚的男人往箱子上钉钉子吗？他先是左敲敲，然后右敲敲，有时还会将整个钉子锤翻，结果钉子只敲进一半。而一个娴熟的木匠，只需坚实巧妙地正对钉头敲几下，就能一钉到底。语言也是如此。一位优秀的艺术家选择词语时会力求准确有力地表达自己的观点。差不多的词，不准确的短语，模棱两可的表达，含糊不清的修饰，都无法满足一个力求用词精确的作家的要求。他会一直寻找那个能准确表达他意思的词。 2）The French have an apt phrase for this. They speak of “le mot juste,” (the exact word) the word that is just right. Stories are told of scrupulous writers, like Flaubert, who spent days trying to get one or two sentences exactly right. Words are many and various; they are subtle and delicate in their different shades of meaning, and it is not easy to find the ones that express precisely what we want to say. It is not only a matter of having a good command of language and a fairly wide vocabulary; it is also necessary to think hard and to observe accurately. Choosing words is part of the process of realization, of defining our thoughts and feelings for ourselves, as well as for those who hear or read our words. Someone once remarked: “How can I know what I think till I see what I say?” this sounds stupid, but there is a great deal of truth in it.法国人有一个很贴切的短语来表达这个意思，即“le mot juste”,恰到好处的词。有很多关于精益求精的作家的故事，比如福楼拜可以花几天时间力求使一两个句子在表达上准确无误。在浩瀚的词海里，词与词之间有着微妙的区别，这使我们很难找到能准确表达我们意思的词。这不仅是扎实的语言功底和相当的词汇量的问题，还需要人们绞尽脑汁，细致观察。措辞是认识过程的一个步骤，也是自我情感表达，使自己以及听众和读者深刻理解的一个环节。有人提出：“在我思想未成文前，我怎么知道自己的想法？”这听起来似乎很离谱，但它确实很有道理。 3）It is hard work choosing the right words, but we shall be rewarded by the satisfaction that finding them brings. The exact use of language gives us mastery over the material we are dealing with. Perhaps you have been asked “What sort of a man is so-and-so?” You begin: “Oh, I think hes quite a nice chap but hes rather” and then you hesitate trying to find a word or phrase to express what it is about him that you dont like, that constitutes his limitation. When you find the right phrase you feel that your conception of the man is clearer and sharper.选择正确的词并非易事。一旦找到了那个词，我们就会感到很欣慰。准确的用语有助于我们深入了解我们描述的事物。可能有人问过你：“某某是怎样的人？”你回答：“我觉得他是个很不错的家伙，但他非常”接着你犹豫了，试图找到一个词或短语来说明他到底讨厌在哪里。当你找到一个恰当的短语时，你发觉自己对他的看法更清楚更准确了。 4）Some English words have a common root but are used in very different senses. Consider human and humane, for example. Their origin is the same and their meanings are related, but their usage is distinct. A human action is not the same thing as a humane action. We cannot speak of a Declaration of Humane Rights. - There is a weapon called a humane killer, but it is not a human killer.有些英语词汇词根相同但意思却大不相同。例如human和humane,这两个词的词根相同，意思也是相关的，但是用法完全不同。human action 是人类行为，而humane action是人道行为，两者截然不同。我们不会说人道权力宣言，而是说人权宣言。就像有一种工具叫做humane killer,即麻醉屠宰机， 而不是叫human killer的杀人机器。 5）We dont have to look far afield to find evidence of bad carpentry in language. A student, replying to an invitation to dinner, finished his letter: “I shall be delighted to come and I am looking forward to the day with anxiety.” Anxiety carries with it suggestions of worry and fear. What the writer meant was possibly eagerness. Anxiety has some kinship with eagerness but it will not do as a substitute in this context.语言中用词不当的例子在我们身边随处可见。有人邀请一名学生去吃饭，他写信给予回复，结尾是这样的：“我将很高兴前来赴约，并且满怀不安期待着这个日子的到来。”anxiety 这个词含有烦恼和恐惧的意思。那个学生可能是想表达一种期盼的心情。虽然anxiety跟期盼有一定的关联，但在这个语境中的意思是不能等同的。 6）The leader of a political party in Uganda wrote a letter to the Press which contained this sentence: Let us all fight this selfishness, opportunism, cowardice and ignorance now rife in Uganda and put in their place truth, manliness, consistency and singularity of mind.乌干达一名政党领袖给新闻界的一封信中有句话这样写到：让我们打破这被自私、投机、懦弱和无知充斥的乌干达，代之以真理、刚毅、坚定和奇异的精神。 7）This stirring appeal is spoilt by a malapropism in the last phrase, the word singularity. What the writer meant, I think, was singleness of mind, holding steadfastly to the purpose in mind, without being drawn aside by less worthy objects. Singularity means oddity or peculiarity, something that singles a man out from other men.这一振奋人心的呼吁被最后一个词singularity的误用破坏了。我猜想作者真正想要表达的意思是思想的专一，即坚定一个信念永不改变，咬定青山不放松，不被次要的目的干扰。而singularity指的是古怪或特性，是将一个人从其他大部分人中区分出来的那种依据。 8）Without being a malapropism, a word may still fail to be the right word for the writers purpose, the “mot juste”. A journalist, writing a leader about Christmas, introduced a quotation from Dickens by saying:All that was ever thought or written about Christmas is imprisoned in this sentence.排除了文字误用，一个词仍有可能无法准确传达作者的真实意图。一名记者在描写圣诞节社论时，引用了狄更斯的话：任何有关圣诞节的想法和文字，都被禁锢在了这个句子里Imprisonment suggests force, coercion, as if the meaning were held against its will. It would be better to write contained or summed up. Epitomized might do, though it is rather a clumsy-sounding word. Searching a little farther for the “mot juste” we might hit on the word distilled. This has more force than contained or summed up. Distillation suggests essence and we might further improve the sentence by adding this word at the beginning:The essence of all that was ever thought or written about Christmas is distilled in this sentence.“禁锢”意味着强迫、压迫，就好像意义在违背其真实意愿。“包容”或者“概述”地写则会好一些。比如“概括”，尽管念起来非常拗口。进一步探索这个“准确的词”，就能够发现“提炼”。提炼意味着找到本质，因此我们能够通过在开头加上这个词，进一步提升整个句子：任何有关圣诞节想法和文字的本质，都背提炼到了这个句子里。English has a wide vocabulary and it is a very flexible language. There are many different ways of making a statement. But words that are very similar in meaning have fine shades of difference, and a student needs to be alive to these differences. By using his dictionary, and above all by reading, a student can increase his sensitivity to these shades of difference and improve his ability to express his own meanings exactly.英语有很大的词汇量，它是一种非常灵活的语言。创造一种效果可以有很多种方式。但在意义上非常相近的词，其外形可以有很大的差别，而学生需要巧妙地掌握这些区别。借助字典，最重要的是借助阅读，可以加深学生对这些外形的掌握，以及提高他们准确表达意愿的能力。 9）Professor Raileigh once stated: “there are no synonyms, and the same statement can never be repeated in a changed form of words.” This is perhaps too absolute, but it is not easy to disprove. Even a slight alteration in the wording of a statement can subtly shift the meaning. Look at these two sentences:(1)He died poor.(2)He expired in indigent circumstances.专家罗利曾声明：“没有同义词这个概念，变换了形式的词根本不可能表达同一种意义。”这样说或许太过绝对，但并不是毫无道理。就算是对一个词进行一个很细微的变动，也会细微地改变意义。看下面两个句子：（1） 他死的时侯很穷。 （2） 他断气时穷困潦倒。In one sense expired is a synonym for died and in indigent circumstances for poor, but when the whole statement is considered, we cannot maintain that the two are the same. The change in words is a change in style, and the effect on the reader is quite different. It is perhaps easier to be a good craftsman with wood and nails than a good craftsman with words, but all of us can increase our skill and sensitivity with a little effort and patience. In this way we shall not only improve our writing, but also our reading.在某种意义上，expired 是died 的同义词，in indigent circumstances 是poor 的同义词，但从整个句子上看来，我们不能说这两个句子是一样的。词上变化只是形式的变化，而在读者看来词义却大不同。成为一个善与木头和钉子打交道的优秀木匠，要比成为一个善与字词打交道的优秀木匠要容易的多，但我们都可以通过努力练习加强技巧和敏感度。这样我们不仅可以提高写作能力，还有阅读能力。10）The foreign student of English may be discouraged and dismayed when he learns that there are over 400,000 words in the English language, without counting slang. But let him take courage. More than half of these words are dead. They are not in current use. Even Shakespeare used a vocabulary of only some 20,000 words. The average Englishman today probably has a vocabulary range of from 12,000 to 13,000 words. It is good to make your vocabulary as complete as you can, but a great deal can be said and written with a vocabulary of no more than 10,000 words. The important thing is to have a good control and command over the words you do know. Better know two words exactly than three vaguely. A good carpenter is not distinguished by the number of his tools, but by the craftsmanship with which he uses them. So a good writer is not measured by the extent of his vocabulary, but by his skill in finding the “mot juste”, the word that will hit the nail cleanly on the head.即使不算上俚语，英语就已有40余万词汇，这可能会让学习英语的外国学生感到灰心和沮丧。但是，让他们感到欣慰的是，当前超过一半的词汇已经不再使用。就算莎士比亚也只使用两万字左右的词库。现在，普通英国人的词汇量在12000到13000之间。词汇量的扩大当然是有好处的，但是其实10000左右的词汇量对于说话和写字来说已经足够。关键在于扎实的掌控和运用你所知道的这些词汇。精准地掌握两个词的意思比模糊地明白三个词的意义要来得好。评判一个木匠好坏的依据并不在于他拥有的工具数量的多少，而在于他的技艺是否精湛。同样，衡量一个作家好坏的标准并不在于他词汇量的多少，而在于他寻找恰当词汇的能力，这个词要能一针见血，恰到好处。Text BThings: The Throw-away Society垃圾社会、一次性社会Alvin Toffler1）“Barbie,” a twelve-inch plastic teen-ager, is the best known and best-selling doll in history. Since its introduction in 1959, the Barbie doll population of the world has grown to 12,000,000 more than the human population of Los Angeles or London or Paris. Little girls adore Barbie because she is highly realistic and eminently dress-upable. Mattel, Inc., maker of Barbie, also sells a complete wardrobe for her, including clothes for ordinary daytime wear, clothes for formal party wear, clothes for swimming and skiing.十二英寸高的塑料小人“芭比”曾是历史上最著名最畅销的洋娃娃，自从1959年问世以来，全世界的芭比娃娃的数量增长到1200,0000人比洛杉矶，伦敦和巴黎任何一个城市的人口还要多。小女孩热衷芭比娃娃是因为他很像真的而且可以任意更换衣服，作为芭比娃娃的生产厂家，Mattel公司还出售芭比的整体衣柜，包括日常便装，正式晚装，泳装和滑雪衫。2）Recently Mattel announced a new improved Barbie doll. The new version has a slimmer figure, “real” eyelashes and a twist-and turn waist that makes her more humanoid than ever. Moreover, Mattel announced that, for the first time, any young lady wishing to purchase a new Barbie would receive a trade-in allowance for her old one.最近Mattel公司推出一款更高级的芭比娃娃，这个新产品身材更苗条，有仿真睫毛，又可以扭转弯曲的腰肢，所有这些特点使其更加人性化。此外，M公司还首次宣布，任何一个购买芭比娃娃的女士都可以获得旧芭比娃娃的折价优惠。3）What Mattel did not announce was that by trading in her old doll for a technologically improved modes, the little girl of today, citizen of tomorrows super-industrial world, would learn a fundamental lesson about the new society: that mans relationships with things are increasingly temporary.M公司所没有宣布的是，通过折旧芭比娃娃来销售新款芭比娃娃，今天的小女孩，明天工业化社会的公民就会得出这样一个对社会的基本认识：人类和物品的关系越来越短暂。4）The ocean of man-made physical objects that surrounds us is set within a larger ocean of natural objects. But increasingly, it is the technologically produced environment that matters for the individual. The texture of plastic or concrete, the iridescent glisten of an automobile under a streetlight, the staggering vision of a cityscape seen from the window of a jet these are the intimate realities of his existence. Man-made things enter into and color his consciousness. Their number is expanding with explosive force, both absolutely and relative to the natural environment. This will be even more true in super-industrial society than it is today.我们周围人造物品的海洋外围还有更广阔的自燃物品的海洋。但是这个技术制造的环境逐渐影响着人类。塑料或混凝土结构， 街灯下霓虹闪烁的汽车，从飞机窗口俯瞰到的缓慢移动的城市这些人类的亲密伙伴。人造物品进入并影响了人类意识，其数量急剧增长， 无论是就绝对而言还是相对而言。这种现象在将来的超级工业化社会会更加突出。5）Anti-materialists tend to deride the importance of “things.” Yet things are highly significant, not merely because of their functional utility, but also because of their psychological impact. We develop relationships with things. Things affect our sense of foreshortening of our relationships with things accelerates the pace of life.唯心主义者试图否认物品的重要性，但是物品是非常重要的，不仅因为它有实用功能，还因为其对精神的影响，我们发展和物品的关系，物品影响我们对关联和断联的意识。他们在情景结构中的作用，我们和物品关系的缩短加快了生活的节奏。6）Moreover, our attitudes toward things reflect basic value judgments. Nothing could be more dramatic than the difference between the new breed of little girls who cheerfully turn in their Barbies for the new improved model and those who, like their mothers and grandmothers before them, clutch lingeringly and lovingly to the same doll until it disintegrates from sheer age. In this difference lies the contrast between past and future, between societies based on permanence, and the new, fast-forming society based on transience.此外，我们对物品的态度反映了基本的价值评判。有的小女孩兴高采烈的把她们的芭比娃娃换成新款高级的娃娃，有的小女孩象她们的母亲和祖母年少时一样，终日抱着同一个娃娃，形影不离，爱不释手，直到长大后娃娃从生活中消失，没有什么比这更具有戏剧性的对比了。这种不同在于过去和未来的对比，对于永久的社会和新的变幻无常的社会的对比。7）That man-thing relationships are growing more and more temporary may be illustrated by examining the culture surrounding the little girl who trades in her doll. This child soon learns that Barbie dolls are by no means the only physical objects that pass into and out of her young life at a rapid clip. Diapers, bibs, paper napkins, Kleenex, towels, non-returnable soda bottlesall are used up quickly in her home and ruthlessly eliminated. Corn muffins come in baking tins that are thrown away after one use. Spinach is encased in plastic sacks that can be dropped into a pan of boiling water for heating, and then thrown away. TV dinners are cooked and often served on throw-away trays. Her home is a large processing machine through which objects flow, entering and leaving, at a faster and faster rate of speed. From birth on, she is inextricably embedded in a throw-away culture.观察一下旧芭比换新芭比的小女孩身后的文化就可以看出人类和物品间的关系越来越短暂，这些孩子很快会知道有很多物品以极快的速度进入并离开他们的生活，不只是芭比娃娃。纸尿裤，围裙，纸巾，手绢，非循环使用的苏打汽水瓶所有这些在她家被迅速使用，有的被无情的丢弃。玉米松饼放进一次性的烤罐，菠菜放进塑料袋中，这种塑料袋可以一起放进沸水锅中加热然后丢弃。电视上的烹饪节目也经常使用一次性的碟子。她的家就是一个大型处理机器，通过这个机器，物品以越来越快的速度不断流动，进入又离开，从出生开始，她就被包围在一次性的文化中。8）The idea of using a product once or for a brief period and then replacing it, runs counter to the grain of societies or individuals steeped in a heritage of poverty. Not long ago Uriel Rone, a market researcher for the French advertising agency Publicis, told me: “The French housewife is not used to disposable products. She likes to keep things, even old things, rather than throw-away curtain. We did a marketing study for them and found the resistance too strong.” This resistance, however, is dying all over the developed world.对一次性物品的使用让人想到了粮食问题和祖祖辈辈生活在贫困中的人，不久前，法国广告代理公司P的一位市场调查员U R 告诉我:“法国的家庭主妇并不习惯于使用一次性的产品，她们喜欢把东西留着，即使是旧物品也不会丢。我们代表公司宣传一种一次性的塑料窗帘。我们队她们作市场调查，却发现她们的抵制情绪很强。”这种抵制在其他发达国家越来越少了。9）Thus a writer, Edward Maze, has pointed out that many Americans visiting Sweden in the early 1950s were astounded by its cleanliness. “We were almost awed by the fact that there were no beer and soft drink bottles by the road sides, as, much to our shame, there were in America. But by the 1960s lo and behold, bottles were suddenly blooming along Swedish highways What happened? Sweden had become a buy, use and throw-away society, following the American pattern.” In Japan today throw-away tissues are so universal that cloth handkerchiefs are regarded as old fashioned, not to say unsanitary. In England for sixpence one may buy a “Dentamatic throw-away toothbrush” which comes already coated with toothpaste for its one-time use. And even in France, disposable cigarette lighters are commonplace. Form cardboard milk containers to the rockets that power space vehicles, products created for short-term or one-time use are becoming more numerous and crucial to our way of life.因此，作家E M 指出在十二世纪五十年代初期，很多区瑞典观光的美国人都被瑞典的干净所震惊“让我们敬佩的是路边没有一个啤酒瓶和软饮料瓶，而自惭形秽的是，美国到处都是。但是到二十世纪六十年代，看看吧，各种瓶瓶罐罐凸现在瑞典的高速公路上怎么了？跟美国一样，瑞典已经变成一个购买，使用一次性物品的国家了。在当今的日本，一次性的纸巾非常普遍，手绢已经老土了，而且也不卫生。在英国，花七便士就可以买到已经挤好牙膏，一次性使用的牙刷。即使在法国，一次性的打火机也很普遍，从牛奶只喝到为太空提供动力的火箭，它们对我们的生活起着越来越重要的作用。10）We develop a throw-away mentality to match our throw-away products. This mentality produces, among other things, a set of radically altered values with respect to property. But the spread of disposability through the society also implies decreased durations in man-thing relationships. Instead of being linked with a single object over a relatively long span of time, we are linked for brief periods with the succession of objects that supplant it.我们已经形成了一种一次性的心态，来适应一次性的产品。这种心态使得我们对于物品的价值观产生了巨大的改变。然而社会中的一次性文化的蔓延也预示着人类和物品的关系持续的时间越来越短。我们只是和一系列马上将被代替的物品保持短期的联系，而不是和某一物品保持长期的联系。Unit 2Text AGrouping the Gifted:Pro按天分分组：正方1）I regard gifted children as those who possess some quality or innate ability which has been recognized and identified by any number of testing and observation devices and who manifest interest and success in either physical, intellectual, or artistic pursuits.我认为天才的儿童是这样一些人：他们具备在各种测验仪器与观察仪器上得到识别和确认的某些素质和天赋的能力。他们在体育、智力或艺术领域表现出兴趣并获得成功。2）These might be children who are gifted athletes but who have real trouble mastering academic subject matter, or students who are poor athletes but are highly intellectual “quiz kids” who knock the top off all measuring devices. “Gifted” may describe pupils of average intelligence who have exceptional ability in art or music, or it may refer to the child with an IQ of 135 who excels in everything. 这些儿童可能是天才的运动员，而在掌握学校的文化课程方面却有着很大的障碍；也可能是体育一无所长，却能攻克所有测试难题的高智“神童”；天才既可以指那些智力平平却在艺术或音乐方面有超凡能力的学生；也可以指那些在任何方面都表现出色，智商为135的学生。3）How can we deal with these gifted? I firmly believe that we should group them as nearly as possible according to interest and ability (giftedness) and challenge them with a type of program that will help them to grow to the fullest extent of their abilities and capacities. 我们怎样对待这些天才呢？我坚信我们应按兴趣和能力(天赋多少的程度)尽可能接近地把他们分在一组，用能够帮助他们尽可能充分发挥他们的能力和才华的教学计划给他们考验、刺激。4）This grouping could take the form of special subject arrangements in the elementary grades, a situation in which a class is heterogeneously grouped most of the day but is divided at times into special interest or ability class groups for special instruction. In high school, it may take the form of grouping students in regular classes according to any number of criteria but basically those of interest and proficiency (or lack of proficiency) in various subject areas.在低年级可安排特别课程加以组班，即在一天中的大部分时间里学生在多元化的班级学习，而在一些时间内，只按特别兴趣和能力分类组班，专门施教。在中学，可任意规定标准组织普通班，但基本上可按