2008年翻译解析

2008

年考研翻译解析

In his autobiography, Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary modesty. He points

out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but (l)he believes that

this

very

difficulty

may

have

had

the

compensating

advantage

of

forcing

him

to

think

long

and

intently

about

every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors m reasoning and in his own observations. He disclaimed the

possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. (2) He asserted, also, that

his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain

that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory,too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So

poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry.

(3)On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was

a

good

observer,

he

had

no

power

of

reasoning.

This,

he

thought,

could

not

be

true,

because

the

of

Species

is

one

long

argument

from

the

beginning

to

the

end,

and

has

convinced

many

able

men.

No

one,

he

submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that

fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must

have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree

run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.

Writing

in

the

last

year

of

his

life,

he

expressed

the

opinion

that

in

two

or

three

respects

his

mind

had

changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kinds

gave

him

great

pleasure.

Formerly,

too,

pictures

had

given

him

considerable,

and

music

very

great,

delight.

In

1881, however, he said:

taste

for

pictures

or

music.

(5)

Darwin

was

convinced

that

the

loss

of

these

tastes

was

not

only

a

loss

of

happiness,

but

might

possibly

be

injurious

to

the

intellect,

and

more

probably

to

the

moral

character.

[406

words]

文章分析

本文节选自一篇关于达尔文的学术评论

Charles Darwin

：

His Place in Modern S cience

《

<

查理斯

·

达尔文

在现代科学中的地位》

)

。

本文介绍了达尔文对自己智力水平的谦虚评价以及他认 为培养兴趣爱好有益于智

力发展的观点。

本文考查的知识点：一，各类从句，包括定语从句，宾语从句，同位语从句，从句嵌套；倒装句式中