英语翻译基础历年真题试卷汇编52
(总分12,考试时间90分钟)
2. 英汉互译
英译汉
1. To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error. If the matter is one that can be ttled by obrvation, make the obrvation yourlf. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so becau he thought he knew. Thinking that you know when in fact you don"t is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone. Many matters, however, are less easily brought to the test of experience. If, like most of mankind , you have passionate convictions on many such matters, there are ways in which you can make yourlf aware of your own bias. If an opini
on contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If someone maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are tho about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Percution is ud in theology, not in arithmetic, becau in arithmetic there is knowledge , but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yours getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. From How to Avoid Foolish Opinions by Bertrand Rusll
2. All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter **pletely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair. Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that ud to define them—a mother" s approval , a father" s nod—are covered by moments of their o
wn accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives. Though it all, despite it all, Eddie privately adored his old man, becau sons will adore their fathers through even the worst behavior. It is how they learn devotion. Before he can devote himlf to God or a woman, a boy will devote himlf to his father, even foolishly, even beyond explanation.
