书市Oxford As I See it讲解

Lesson Five

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 keywords

By 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< /p>

何造成的。

堂堂的

< br>:

翻译时要传达原文内的戏谑口吻。翻译

Profoun d

，如不用

自嘲，可用自谦：

喜欢刨根 问底的

，但不能译成

“

造诣深