[新東方]2006年考研英語翻譯深入剖析

Is it true that the American intellectual is rejected and considered of no account in his society? I am going to suggest that it is not true. Father Bruckbergen told part of the story when he observed that it is the intellectuals who have rejected American. But they have done more than that. They have grown dissatisfied with the role of intellectual. It is they, not American, who have become anti-intellectual.

First, the object of our study pleads for definition. What is an intellectual? (46) I shall define him as an intellectual who has elected as his primary duty and pleasure in life the activity of thinking in a Socratic（蘇格拉底） way about moral problems. He explores such problems consciously, articulately, and frankly, first by asking factual questions, then by asking moral questions, finally by suggesting action which seems appropriate in the light of the factual and moral information which he has obtained. (47) His function is analogous to that of a judge, who must accept the obligation of revealing in as obvious a manner as possible the course of reasoning which led him to this decision.

This definition excludes many individuals usually referred to as intellectuals—the average scientist for one. (48) I have excluded him because, while his accomplishments may contribute to the solution of moral problems, he has not been charged with the task of approaching any but the factual aspects of those problems. Like other human beings, he encounters moral issues even in everyday performance of his routine duties—he is not supposed to cook his experiments, manufacture evidence or doctor his reports. (49) But his primary task is not to think about the moral code, which governs his activity, any more than a businessman is expected to dedicate his energies to an exploration of rules of conduct in business. During most of his walking life he will take his code for granted, as the businessman takes his ethics.

The definition also excludes the majority of factors, despite the fact that teaching has traditionally been the method whereby many intellectuals earn their living. (50) They may teach very well, and more than earn their salaries, but most of them make little or no independent reflections on human problems which involve moral judgment. This deion even fits the majority eminent scholars. “Being learned in some branch of human knowledge is one thing, living in public and industrious thoughts,” as Emerson would say, “is something else.”

縱觀今年的考研翻譯題目，我們覺得其難度適中。與近三年的考題相較，2006年的翻譯比2004的難，而比2005容易一些。換而言之，今年試題的難度值應(yīng)該介于0.52與0.53之間。另外，本篇翻譯題目就其文體而言，仍然屬于近年非常熱門的社會(huì)科學(xué)類文章。由此可見，考研翻譯難度總體趨于穩(wěn)定已成定局。

盤點(diǎn)今年考題，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)：傳統(tǒng)的考點(diǎn)出現(xiàn)了一邊倒的局面，如定語從句、比較結(jié)構(gòu)、指代關(guān)系等考點(diǎn)的出現(xiàn)頻率有所上升（2004—2006全是如此），而賓語從句、主語從句、表語從句、被動(dòng)結(jié)構(gòu)、插入結(jié)構(gòu)等送分型考點(diǎn)的重要性則相對(duì)降低。此外，定語從句和指代關(guān)系的難度有所下降，而比較結(jié)構(gòu)的難度則有所上升。較之以往，今年的考題，對(duì)學(xué)生實(shí)際運(yùn)用英語的能力有更高的要求。

以下，我們將逐一分析此次考試的五道試題：

46：I shall define him as an intellectual who has elected as his primary duty and pleasure in life the activity of thinking in a Socratic way about moral problems.

很明顯，本題是以定語從句作為分水嶺的，我們由此將句子分成兩部分：即主句和定語從句。前一部分中，有以下得分點(diǎn)值得關(guān)注：首先，我們應(yīng)該可以把握“define…as”（把……定義為……）這個(gè)詞組。然后，我們需要對(duì) “him”做一些處理。這里的“him”我們既可以翻譯成為“知識(shí)分子”，也可以省略不譯。也就是說，前句我們可以翻譯成：“我會(huì)把‘知識(shí)分子’定義為這樣的人，他們……”或者是“我對(duì)于‘知識(shí)分子’的定義是……的人”。再次，本句中出現(xiàn)的“intellectual”（知識(shí)分子）是一個(gè)高頻詞匯，曾經(jīng)在歷年的考研試卷中出現(xiàn)過至少20次。在2003年的62題中，“intellectual enquiry”翻譯為“知識(shí)探究”，可見，“intellectual”本身是一個(gè)一詞多義的高頻詞，我們考生在平時(shí)的復(fù)習(xí)過程中需要給予這樣的小詞以足夠的關(guān)注。

后一部分，是由who引導(dǎo)的定語從句。在這個(gè)從句中，我們首先注意到一個(gè)詞組“elect…as”（把……作為）。進(jìn)而我們不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，這里由于句子本身的賓語比較長，因此賓語補(bǔ)足語被前置了。即本來是elect A as B這樣一個(gè)結(jié)構(gòu)，但由于A太長，最終變成了elect as B A這樣一個(gè)結(jié)構(gòu)，即elected as his primary duty and pleasure in life(B) the activity of thinking in a Socratic way about moral problems(A).從語法角度講，這就是把S＋V＋O＋C 主謂賓補(bǔ)結(jié)構(gòu)（S＝主語；V＝謂語；O＝賓語；C＝賓補(bǔ)）中的C前置成為S＋V＋C＋O。同樣的結(jié)構(gòu)，以往也曾考過，比如2003年第65題，本來是make something possible，但由于something以及它的修飾成分太長，結(jié)果變成了make possible something (which makes possible immense amounts of concrete research and understanding)。同樣是possible作為句子的賓補(bǔ)，如果something是短賓語，那么適用make something possible的結(jié)構(gòu)，而如果something是長賓語，那么就適用make possible something的結(jié)構(gòu)。

最后，本句中出現(xiàn)的“moral”（道德）一詞也是歷年考研試卷中的高頻詞匯，已經(jīng)考察近30次了。

綜上，本句可以翻譯為：“我會(huì)把‘知識(shí)分子’定義為這樣的人，他們把以蘇格拉底的方式來思考道德問題的活動(dòng)作為人生的主要任務(wù)和樂趣�！�

47：His function is analogous to that of a judge, who must accept the obligation of revealing in as obvious a manner as possible the course of reasoning which led him to this decision.

本句同樣考到（非限制性）定語從句，所以句子也可以分成主句和定語從句兩部分。主句部分相對(duì)容易，而這其中“analogous”算是個(gè)難詞。但是有上下文“to that (function) of a judge”這本身就顯示“his function”和“that of a judge”之間是某種類比關(guān)系。而此處的“analogous”正是“類似”的意思。

定語從句部分則相對(duì)較難，也是本句翻譯的關(guān)鍵。眾所周知，理解長難句的關(guān)鍵是找出主干，本句定語從句的主干就是“who must accept the obligation”，而“obligation”后面全部是修飾成分——整個(gè)定語從句是從句套從句的復(fù)雜結(jié)構(gòu)，無法很好地融合在同一個(gè)修飾成分中，所以不妨采取后置法，通過重復(fù)先行詞把本句定語從句譯成：“后者（即法官—作者注）必須接受如下（這一）義務(wù)，即……”。

此外，這個(gè)定語從句對(duì)語言的運(yùn)用能力要求更高，比如“in as obvious a manner as possible”是“reveal”（揭示）的“manner”（方式），因此，本結(jié)構(gòu)亦可作“in a manner as obvious as possible”（以盡可能淺顯的方式）。

再比如，“revealing”的賓語本來是“the course of reasoning which led him to this decision”，但中間插入了較長的方式狀語“in as obvious a manner as possible”，這就給理解造成一定困難。

還有，which led him to this decision是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)短的定語從句，可以作為一個(gè)修飾成分。因此我們不妨采用前置法，把該定語從句作為中心詞的修飾語。其中值得注意的是“l(fā)ead to”這個(gè)詞組在考研翻譯中也已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)數(shù)次了。

由此，我們可以如下翻譯：“知識(shí)分子的作用與法官類似，后者必須接受如下義務(wù)，即以盡可能淺顯的方式揭示導(dǎo)致他做出某一決定的推理過程�！�

48：I have excluded him because, while his accomplishments may contribute to the solution of moral problems, he has not been charged with the task of approaching any but the factual aspects of those problems.

縱觀全句，句子雖長，可是理解還是比較簡(jiǎn)單的。主要是主句加上一個(gè)本身帶有讓步狀語從句的原因狀語從句。

主句部分主要考察了指代關(guān)系。其中，當(dāng)?shù)谝淮纬霈F(xiàn)代詞“him”的時(shí)候，考生不難發(fā)現(xiàn)它指代的就是最近的中心詞“average scientist”（一般科學(xué)家）。而在后面的原因狀語從句中，則再一次考察了“his”的指代關(guān)系。根據(jù)“代一不代二”的原則，同句出現(xiàn)反復(fù)指代，那么只要翻譯首次出現(xiàn)的代詞即可。因此，這里的“his”可以直接翻譯為“他的”。

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