英汉翻译练习之句子翻译

2.1

When

you

walk

through

a

town

like

this- two

hundred

thousand

inhabitants

of

whom

at

least

twenty

thousand

own

literally

nothing

except

the

rags

they

stand

up

in-when you see how the people live, and still more how easily they die, it is always

difficult to believe that you are walking among

human beings. All colonial empires

are in reality founded upon this fact. The people have brown faces besides, there are

so

many

of

them!

Are

they

really

the

same

flesh

as

your

self?

Do

they

even

have

names? Or are they merely a kind of undifferentiated brown stuff, about as individual

as bees or coral insects? They rise out of the earth, they sweat and starve for a few

years,

and

then

they

sink

back

into

then

they

are

gone.

And

even

the

graves

themselves soon fade back into the soil. Sometimes, out for a walk as you break your

way through the prickly pear, you notice that it is rather bumpy underfoot, and only a

certain regularity in the bumps tells you that you are walking over skeletons.

2.2

All

people

who

work

with

their

hands

are

partly

invisible,

and

the

more

important the work they do, the less visible they are, Still, a white skin is always fairly

conspicuous.

In

northern

Europe,

when

you

see

a

labourer

ploughing

a

field,

you

probably give him a second glance. In a hot country, anywhere south of Gibraltar or

east of Suez, the chances are that you don

?

t even see him, I have noticed this again

and

again.

In

a

tropical

landscape

one

?

s

eye

takes

in

everything

except

the

human

beings,

It

takes

in

the

dried-up

soil,

the

prickly

pear,

the

palm

tree

and

the

distant

mountain, but it always misses the peasant hoeing at his patch. He is the same colour

as the earth, and a great deal less interesting to look at.

2.3

But

what

is

strange

about

these

people

is

their

invisibility.

For

several

weeks,

always

at

about

the

same

time

of

day,

the

file

kg

old

women

had

hobbled

past

the

house with their firewood, and though they had registered themselves on my eyeballs

I cannot truly say that I had seen them. Firewood was passing - that was how I saw it.

It

was

only

that

one

day

I

happened

to

be

walking

behind

them,

and

the

curious

up-and-down motion of a load of wood drew my attention to the human being beneath

it.

Then

for

the

first

time

I

noticed

the

poor

old

earth

–

coloured

bodies,

bodies

reduced

to

bones

and

leathery

skin,

bent

double

under

the

crushing

weight.

Yet

I

suppose

I

had

not

been

five

minutes

on

Moroccan

soil

before

I

noticed

the

overloading

of

the

donkeys

and

was

infuriated

by

it.

There

is

no

question

that

the

donkeys

are

damnably

treated.

The

Moroccan

donkey

is

hardly

bigger

than

a

St.

Bernard

dog,

it

carries

a

load

which

in

the

British

Army

would

be

considered

too

much for a fifteen-hands mule, and very often its packsaddle is mot taken off its back

for weeks together. But what is peculiarl y pitiful is that it is the most willing creature

on

earth,

it

follows

its

master

like

a

dog

and

does

mot

need

either

bridle

or

halter.

After a dozen years of devoted work it suddenly drops dead, whereupon its master tips

it into the ditch and the village dogs have torn its guts out before it is cold.

2.4

It was curious really. Every white man there had this thought stowed somewhere

or other in his mind. I had it, so had the other onlookers, so had the officers on their

1

sweating

chargers

and

the

white

N.

C.

Os

marching

in

the

ranks.

It

was

a

kind

of

secret which we all knew and were too clever to tell; only the Negroes didn

?

t know it.

And really it was like watching a flock of cattle to see the long column, a mile or two

miles

of

armed

men,

flowing

peacefully

up

the

road,

while

the

great

white

birds

drifted over them in the opposite direction, glittering like scraps of paper.

3.4

The charm of conversation is that it does mot really start from anywhere, and no

one has any idea where it will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glows.

The

enemy

of

good

conversation

is

the

person

who

has

“

something

to

say.

”

Conversation is not for making a point. Argument may often be a part of it, but the

purpose of the argument is mot to convince. There is no winning in conversation. In

fact, the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to lose. Suddenly they see

the moment for one of their best anecdotes, but in a flash the conversation has moved

on and opportunity is lost. They are ready to let it go.

3.5

So we may return to my beginning. Even with the most educated and the most

literate,

the

King

?

s

English

slips

and

slides

in

conversation.

There

is

mo

worse

conversationalist than the one who punctuates his words as he speaks as if he were

writing, or even who tries to use words as if he were composing a piece of prose for

print. When E. M. Forster writes of

“

the sinister corridor of our age,

”

we sit up at the

vividness of the phrase, the force and even terror in the image. But if E. M. Forster sat

in

our

living

room

and

said,

“

We

are

all

following

each

other

down

the

sinister

corridor of our age,

”

we would be justified in asking him to leave.

4.6

We

observe

today

not

a

victory

of

party

but

a

celebration

of

freedom,

symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change. For I

have

sworn

before

you

and

Almighty

God

the

same

solemn

oath

our

forebears

prescribed nearly a century and three- quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to

abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. A nd yet the same

revolutionary belief for which our forebears fought is still at issue around the globe,

the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the

hand of god.

4.7

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert

our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and

free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of

hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we

shall join with

them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in

the Americas.

And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of

its own house.

4.8

So let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is mot a sign of

weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear,

2

but let us never fear to negotiate.

Let

both

sides

explore

what

problems

unite

us

instead

of

belaboring

those

problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the

inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute control lf all nations.

Let

both

sides

seek

to

invoke

the

wonders

of

science

instead

of

its

terrors.

Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean

depths and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah to

“

undo the heavy burdens

…

(and) let the oppressed go free

”

.

4.9

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the

role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.

I do not shrink from this

responsibility; I welcome it. I do mot believe that any of us would exchange places

with

any

other

people

or

any

other

generation.

The

energy,

the

faith,

the

devotion

which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it, and the

glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And

so

,my

fellow

Anericans

ask

not

what

your

country

can

do

for

you;

ask

what you can do for your country.

My

fellow

citizens

of

the

world,

ask

not

what

America

will

do

for

you

,

but

what together we can do for the freedom of man.

5.10

Gracious

she

was.

By

gracious

mean

full

of

graces.

She

had

an

erectness

of

carriage,

an

ease

of

bearing,

a

poise

that

clearly

indicated

the

best

of

breeding.

At

table her manners were exquisite. I had seen her at the Kozy Kampus Korner eating

the

specialty

of

the

house

–

a

sandwich

that

contained

scraps

of

pot

roast,

gravy,

chopped nuts, and a dipper of sauerkraut-without even getting her fingers moist.

Intelligent

she

was

not

.In

fact,

she

veered

in

the

opposite

direction.

But

I

believed that under my guidance she would smarten up. At any rate, it was worth a try.

It is, after all, easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart

girl beautiful.

5.11

Heartened

by

the

knowledge

that

Polly

was

not

altogether

a

cretin,

I

began

a

long,

patient

review

of

all

I

had

told

her.

Over

and

over

and

over

again

I

cited

instances, pointed out flaws, kept hammering away without let-up. It was like digging

a

tunnel.

At

first

everything

was

work,

sweat,

and

darkness.

I

had

no

idea

when

I

would reach the light, or even if I would. But I persisted. I pounded and clawed and

scraped, and finally

I was rewarded.

I saw a chink of light. And then the chink

got

bigger and the sun came pouring in and all was bright.

6.12

Science is committed to the universal. A sign of this is that the more successful

a science becomes, the broader the agreement about its basic concepts: there is not a

separate Chinese or American or soviet thermodynamics, for example; there is simply

thermodynamics.

For

several

decades

of

the

twentieth

century

there

was

a

Western

3

and a soviet genetics, the latter associated with Lysenko

?

s theory that environmental

stress can produce genetic mutations. Today Lysenko

?

s theory is discredited, and there

is now only one genetics.

6.13

If

man

creates

machines,

machines

in

turn

shape

their

creators.

As

the

automobile is universalized, it universalizes those who use it. Like the World Car he

drives, modern man is becoming universal. No longer quite an individual, no longer

quite

the

product

of

a

unique

geography

and

culture,

he

moves

from

one

climate- controlled shopping mall

to

another, from

one airport

to

the next,

from

one

Holiday

lnn

to

its

successor

three

hundred

miles

down

the

road;

but

somehow

his

location never changes. He is cosmopolitan. The price he pays is that he no longer has

a home in the traditional sense of the word. The benefit is that he begins to suspect

home

in

the

traditional

sense

is

another

name

for

limitations,

and

that

home

in

the

modern sense is everywhere and always surrounded by neighbors.

6.14

art is, in one definition, simply an effort to name the real world. Are machines

“

the real world

”

or only its surface? Is the real world that easy to find? Science has

shown the insubstantiality of the world. It has thus undermined an article of faith: the

thingliness

of

things.

At

the

same

time,

it

has

produced

images

of

orders

of

reality

underlying the thingliness of things. Are images of cells or of molecules or of galaxies

more or less real than images of machines? Science has also produced images that are

pure

artifacts.

Are

images

of

self-squared

dragons

more

or

less

real

than

images

of

molecules?

6.15

The playfulness of the modern aesthetic is, finally, its most striking- and also its

most serious and, by corollary, its most disturbing-feature. The playfulness of science

that

produces

game

theory

and

virtual

particles

and

black

holes

and

that,

by

introducing human growth genes into cows, forces students of ethics to reexamine the

definition of cannibalism. The importance of play in the modern aesthetic should not

come

as

a

surprise.

It

is

announced

in

every

city

in

the

developed

world

by

the

fantastic

and

playful

buildings

of

postmodernism

and

neomodernism

and

by

the

fantastic

juxtapositions

of

architectural

styles

that

typify

collage

city

and

urban

adhocism.

7.16

I

am

not

speaking

of

mere

filth.

One

expects

steel

towns

to

be

dirty.

What

I

allude to is the unbroken and agonizing ugliness, the sheer revolting monstrousness,

of every house in sight. From East Liberty to Greensburg, a distance of twenty-five

miles, there was not one in sight from the train that did not insult and lacerate the eye.

Some

were

so

bad,

and

they

were

among

the

most

pretentious-churches,

stores,

warehouses, and the like - that they were downright startling; one blinded before them

as one blinks before a man with his face shot away. A few linger in memory, horrible

even there: a crazy little church just west of Jeannette, set like a dormer-window on

the

side

of

a

bare

leprous

hill;

the

headquarters

of

the

Veterans

of

Foreign

wars

at

another forlorn town, a steel stadium like a huge rattrap somewhere further down the

4

line. But most of all I recall the general effect

–

of hideousness without a break.

7.17

Here

is

something

that

the

psychologists

have

so

far

neglected:

the

love

of

ugliness

for

its

own

sake,

the

lust

to

make

the

world

intolerable.

Its

habitat

is

the

United States. Out of the melting pot emerges a race which hates beauty as it hates

truth. The etiology of this madness deserves a great deal more study than it has got.

There must be causes behind it; it arises and flourishes in obedience to biological laws,

and not as a mere act of God. What, precisely, are the terms of those laws? And why

do they run stronger in

America

than

elsewhere? Let

some honest

Privat

Dozent

in

pathological sociology apply himself to the problem.

9.18

Joyous! How is one to tell about joy? How describe the citizens of Omelas?

They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy. But we do not say

the

words

of

cheer

much

any

more.

All

smiles

have

become

archaic.

Given

a

description such as this one tends to make certain assumptions. Given a description

such as this one tends to look next for the King, mounted on a splendid stallion and

surrounded by his noble knights, or perhaps in a Golan litter borne by great-muscled

slaves. But there was no king. They did not use swords, or keep slaves. They were not

barbarians. I do not know the rules and laws of their society, but

I suspect that they

were singularly few. As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on

without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb. Yet I

repeat

that

these

were

not

simple

folk,

not

dulcet

shepherds,

noble

savages,

bland

utopians. They were not less complex than us.

9.19

This

is

usually

explained

to

children

when

they

are

between

eight

and

twelve,

whenever they seem capable of understanding; and most of those who come to see the

child are young people, though often enough an adult comes, or comes back, to see

the

child.

No

matter

how

well

the

matter

has

been

explained

to

them,

these

young

spectators are always shocked and sickened at the sight. They feel disgust, which they

had thought themselves superior to. They feel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all

the explanations. They would like to do something for the child. But there is nothing

they can do. If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of the vile place, if it

were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were

done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would

wither and bedestroyed. Those are the terms. To exchange all the goodness and grace

of

every

life

in

Omelas

for

that

single,

small

improvement:

to

throw

away

the

happiness of thousands for the chance of the happiness of one: that would be to let

guilt within the walls indeed.

10.20

Actually, the revolt of the young people was a logical outcome of conditions in

the age. First of all, it must be remembered that the rebellion was not confined to the

United States, but affected the entire Western world as a result of the aftermath of the

first serious war in a century. Second, in the United States it was reluctantly realized

by

some- subconsciously

if

not

openly-that

our

country

was

no

longer

isolated

in

5

either politics or tradition and that we had reached an international stature that would

forever prevent us from retreating behind the artificial walls of a provincial morality

or the geographical protection of our two bordering oceans.

10.21

The rejection of Victorian gentility was, in any case, inevitable. The booming of

American

industry,

With

its

gigantic,

roaring

factories,

its

corporate

impersonality,

and

its

largescale

aggressiveness,

no

longer

left

any

room

for

the

code

of

polite

behavior and well- bred morality fashioned in a quieter and less competitive and. War

or no war,

as the

generations passed, it became increasingly difficult for

our

young

people

to

accept

standards

of

behavior

that

bore

no

relationship

to

the

bustling

business

medium

in

which

they

were

expected

to

battle

for

success.

The

war

acted

merely as a catalytic agent in this breakdown of the Victorian social structure, and by

precipitating our young people into a pattern of mass murder it released their inhibited

violent energies which, after the shooting was over, were turned in both Europe and

America to the destruction of an obsolescent nineteenth- century society.

11.22

To

write

about

the

English

in

standard

and

cosmopolitan

political

terms,

the

usual Left-Centre-Right stuff, is almost always wasting time and trouble. The English

are different. The English are even more different than they think they are, though not

more different than they feel they are. And what they feel-Englishness again-ismore

important than what they think. Lt is instinctive feeling and not rational thought that

shapes and colours actual events in England.

For

example,

although

the

English

seem

to

be

so

sharply

divided,

always

indulging

in

plenty

of

loud

political

abuse,

there

are

nothing

like

so

many

Communists

or

neo-or

potential

Fascists

in

England

as

there

are

in

most

other

countries.

11.23

The real English, who are

?

different

?

, who have inherited Englishness and have

not yet thrown away their inheritance, cannot feel at home in the contemporary world,

representing the accelerated development of our whole age. Lt demands bigness; and

they are suspicious of bigness. (And there is now not only Industrial bigness; there is

also

Scientific

bigness,

needing

more

and

more

to

discover

less

and

less.)

Clearly

everything

cannot

be

done

by

smallish

and

reasonably

human

enterprises.

No

cosy

shipyard

can

undertake

to

build

a

150,000-ton

ship,

But

it

is

safe

to

say

that

while

Englishness may reluctantly accept bigness, its monsters are never heartily welcomed.

They

look

all

right

in

America,

itself

so

large,

but

seem

altogether

out

of

scale

in

England.

1

、当你穿行于这样的城镇

其居民

20

万中至少有

2

万是除开一身聊以

蔽体的破衣烂衫之外完全一无所有－当 你看到那些人是如何生活，

又如何动辄死

亡时，你永远难相信自 己是行走在人类之中。

实际上，

这是所有的殖民帝国赖以

建立的基础。这里的人都有一张褐色的脸，而且，人数是如此之我！他们真的和

你一样同属人类吗？难道他们也会有名有姓吗？也许他们只是像一群群彼此之

间 难以区分的蜜蜂或珊瑚虫一样的东西。他们从泥土里长出来，受苦受累，

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