英譯漢練習短文6篇

1、英譯漢練習短文6篇Passage 1Satiric Literature1Perhaps the most striking quality of satiric literature is its freshness, its originality of perspective. Satire rarely offers original ideas. Instead, it presents the familiar in a new form. Satirists do not offer the world new philosophies. What they do is look

2、 at familiar conditions from a perspective that makes these conditions seem foolish, harmful, or affected. Satire jars us out of complacence into a pleasantly shocked realization that many of the values we unquestioningly accept are false. Don Quixote makes chivalry seem absurd; Brave New World ridi

3、cules the pretensions of science; A Modest Proposal dramatizes starvation by advocating cannibalism. None of these ideas is original. Chivalry was suspected before Cervantes2, humanists objected to the claims of pure science before Aldous Huxley3, and people were aware of famine before Swift4. It wa

4、s not the originality of the idea that made these satires popular. It was the manner of expression， the satiric method, that made them interesting and entertaining. Satires are read because they are aesthetically satisfying works of art, not because they are morally wholesome or ethically instructiv

5、e. They are stimulating and refreshing because with commonsense briskness5 they brush away illusions and secondhand opinions6. With spontaneous irreverence, satire rearranges perspectives, scrambles familiar objects into incongruous juxtaposition, and speaks in a personal idiom instead of abstract p

6、latitude.Satire exists because there is need for it. It has lived because readers appreciate a refreshing stimulus, an irreverent reminder that they live in a world of platitudinous thinking, cheap moralizing7, and foolish philosophy. Satire serves to prod people into an awareness of truth, though r

7、arely to any action on behalf of truth. Satire tends to remind people that much of what they see, hear, and read in popular media is sanctimonious, sentimental, and only partially true. Life resembles in only a slight degree the popular image of it. Soldiers rarely hold the ideals that movies attrib

8、ute to them, not do ordinary citizens devote their lives to unselfish service of humanity. Intelligent people know these things but tend to forget them when they do not hear them expressed8.Notes 1這篇文章用詞正式，句式嚴謹、周密、冗長，文風較為華麗。翻譯時選詞要正式，可多用四字結構和鋪排形式。2 Cervantes: 塞萬提斯( 1754-1616)，西班牙偉大的作家、 詩人、戲劇家。3. Aldo

9、us Huxley:奧爾德斯赫胥黎(1825-1895),英國生 物學家，作家。4. Swift: 斯威夫特( 1 667- 1 745 ) ，英國作家，擅長用諷刺和 幽默揭露社會黑暗現(xiàn)象。5. briskness： brisk 意為 keen or sharp in speech or manner。6. secondhand opinions:不可翻譯為“二手的觀點”，應該是“人云亦云的的觀點” 。7. cheap moralizing ：這里 cheap 意思不是“便宜的” ，而是 vulgar, contemptible; moralizing 不是“道德” ，而是“說教” 。8. w

10、hen they do not hear them expressed:當直譯不方便時， 我們可用視點轉移法：但是當周圍人不談起時Key諷刺文學或許諷刺文學最突出的特點是它耳目一新、視角獨創(chuàng)。 諷刺文學很少給人以原創(chuàng)的思想,但是它卻將人們熟悉的事情以全新的形式展現(xiàn)出來。諷刺作家并不給人以新的哲學理 念。他們所做的只是從某一視角來看待一些為人熟知的事 情，在這一視角下，這些事情顯得愚蠢不堪、充滿危害而又 矯揉造作。諷刺作品將我們從自鳴得意中震醒，讓我們既愉 快又驚詫地看到，我們從未質疑、全盤接受的價值觀中，有 很多都是錯誤的。 唐吉珂德使得騎士精神顯得荒謬可笑； 挑戰(zhàn)新世界嘲笑了科學的自詡； 一

11、個小小的建議則 建議食用人肉，使饑餓問題戲劇化。這些思想中沒有一條是 原創(chuàng)的：在塞萬提斯之前就有人懷疑騎士精神；在赫胥黎之 前人文主義者就反對宣稱純科學的至高無上；在斯威夫特之 前人們就已經意識到饑荒問題。并不是思想的獨創(chuàng)而使得諷 刺文學受人歡迎，而是它的表述方式、嘲諷方法使得它趣味 橫生、有娛樂性。人們閱讀諷刺文學只是因為在美學上它是 讓人心滿意足的藝術品，而不是因為它在道德上有益或倫理 上的教益。它激人興奮、爽人身心，因為它只是運用常理通 識、辛言辣語，便將各種幻想和人云亦云的觀點一掃而光。 諷刺文學自心而來不拘謙恭，它重新調整視角，將熟悉的事 物紊雜地放置在一起，用個性化的語言而不是抽象

12、的陳詞濫 語表述出來。諷刺作品之所以存在是因為人們需要它。它存續(xù)至今，是因 為讀者欣賞爽身怡心的刺激和不拘謙恭的告誡，它提醒讀 者，他們生活的世界里充滿了陳腐的思想意識、低俗的道德 說教和愚蠢的哲學理念。諷刺作品雖然很少代表真理促成行 動，但它卻能使人們感悟到真理。諷刺作品常常告訴人們， 他們在大眾媒體中所看到的、聽到的、讀到的大多是偽裝善20良、多愁善感或只有部分真實。生活只在很小的程度上與大眾對它的印象相符。士兵們很少擁有電影賦予他們的理想， 而普通老百姓也決不會把自己的生命無私地奉獻給人道主 義服務。聰明人知道這些事實，但是當周圍人不談起時，他 們常常會忘記掉。Passage 2 Ame

13、rican Folk ArtWhat we today call American folk art was, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday1 “ folks ” who, with increasing prosperity and leisure, created a market for art of all kinds, and especially for portraits. Citizens of prosperous, essentially middle-classrepublics whetherancient Romans,

14、seventeenth-century Dutch burghers, or nineteenth-century Americans have always shown a marked taste for portraiture. Starting in the late eighteenth century, the United States contained increasing number of such people, and of the artists who could meet their demands.The earliest American folk art

15、portraits come, not surprisingly, from New England especially Connecticut and Massachusetts for this was a wealthy and populous region and the center of a strong craft tradition. Within a few decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population was pushing westward, a

16、nd the portrait painters could be found at work in western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. Midway through its first century2 as a nation, the United States population had increased roughly five times, and eleven new states had been added to original thirteen. During these years, th

17、e demand for portraits grew and grew, eventually to be satisfied by camera. In 1839 the daguerreotype was introduced to America, ushering in the age of photography, and within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted portraits. Once again an original portrait became a l

18、uxury, commissioned by the wealthy and executed by the professional.But in the heyday of portrait painting from the late eighteenth century until the 1850 s anyone with a modicum of artistic ability could become a limner, as such a portraitist3 was called. Local craftspeople sign, coach, and house p

19、ainters began to paint portraits as a profitable sideline; sometimes a talented man or woman who began by sketching family members gained a local reputation and was besieged with requests for portraits; artists found it worth their while to pack their paints, canvasses, and brushes and to travel the

20、 countryside,often combining house decorating with portrait painting.Noteseveryday: 意為 commonplace, ordinarymidway through its first century: 美國獨立后 50 年間portraitist :譯為“畫師”,以和前面的limner （畫家）相區(qū)別Key美國民間藝術我們所說的美國民間藝術是由普通百姓所擁有、創(chuàng)造并 享受的藝術。隨著財富和閑暇與日俱增，他們創(chuàng)造了各種藝 術的市場，特別是肖像繪畫。家境殷實的、主要是中產階級 的市民不管他們是古羅馬人，或是 17 世

21、紀荷蘭自治城 市富裕居民，抑或是 19 世紀的美國人都對肖像繪畫藝 術表現(xiàn)出突出的愛好。從 18 世紀晚期開始，美國這一群體 的數(shù)量不斷增加，而且滿足畫像要求的藝術家也不斷地增 加。勿需驚奇，美國最早的民間藝術畫像來自于新英格蘭地 區(qū)特別是康涅狄格州和 .麻薩諸塞州因為這一地區(qū) 富裕、人口稠密，而且是濃厚藝術傳統(tǒng)的中心。 1776 年獨 立宣言 宣布后的幾十年中， 人口不斷西徙， 在紐約州西部、 俄亥俄州、肯塔基州、伊利諾斯州、密蘇里州，人們隨處可 見肖像畫師繪畫的身影。美國獨立后 50 年間，人口增加了 近 5 倍，原先 13 個州又增加了 11 個。在這些歲月里，肖像 繪畫的要求不斷增長，

22、直到有了照相機才算得到滿足。 1839 年銀版照相法傳入美國，攝影時代開始，而且，在不超過一 代人的時間內，手工畫像就不再風靡了。從此，人物畫像又 成為了奢侈品有錢人提出繪畫要求，專業(yè)畫家來完成繪 畫。但是在肖像繪畫的全盛時期從18 世紀晚期到 19 世紀 50 年代任何有一點藝術才能的人都可以成為 “畫家”， 當時的肖像畫師就是這么被人稱呼的。當?shù)厮嚾藰伺啤?馬車、房屋的畫師也開始畫人物肖像作為一個賺錢的副 業(yè)。有時候有繪畫天賦的男子或婦女一開始只給家庭成員勾 勒畫像，很快在當?shù)芈曌u鵲起，然后很多人前來要求畫像； 藝術家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們收拾起顏料、畫布、畫筆去各地巡游， 既做房屋裝飾又畫人物肖像

23、，是一件非常值得的事情。Passage 3CrowsCrows are probably the most frequently met and easily identifiable members of the native fauna of the United States. The great number of tales, legends, and myths about these birds indicates that people have been exceptionally interested in them for a long time. On the othe

24、r hand, when it comes to substantive particularly behavioral information, crows are less well known than many comparably common species and, for that matter, not a few quite uncommon ones, the endangered California condor, to cite one obvious example .There are practical reasons for this.Crows are n

25、otoriously poor and aggravating subjects for field research. Keen observers and quick learners, they are astute about the intentions of other creatures, including researchers, and adept at avoiding them. Because they are so numerous, active, and monochromatic, it is difficult to distinguish one crow

26、 from another. Bands, radio transmitters, or other identifying devices can be attached to them, but this of course requires catching live crows, who are among the wariest and most untrappable of birds.Technical difficulties aside, crow research is daunting because the ways of these birds are so comp

27、lex and various. As preeminent generalists, members of this species ingeniously exploit a great range of habitats and resources, and they canquickly adjust to changes in their circumstances.Being soeducable, individual birds have markedly different interests and inclinations, strategies and scams. F

28、or example, one pet crow learned how to let a dog out of its kennel by pulling the pin on the door. When the dog escaped, the bird went into the kennel and ate its food.Key烏鴉烏鴉可能是美國本土動物中最常見、也是最容易識別的 成員（物種） 。關于它的奇聞異事和神話傳說（故事、傳說 和神話）流傳眾多，可見，人們對它的濃厚興趣由來已久。 另一方面，在提及對它的本性特別是行為方面的了解 時，與其他同樣普通和一些非常罕見的物種一個顯

29、而易 見的例子是加州瀕臨滅絕的禿鷲相比，它更鮮為人知。 這其中有一些實際的原因。眾所周知，野外的烏鴉研究成果甚少，并讓研究者苦惱 不已。它們觀察敏銳，領悟快捷，善于分辨其他動物和研究 人員的意圖，并能巧妙地避開他們。由于烏鴉數(shù)量眾多、顏 色單一、機警靈活，人們很難把它們區(qū)分開來。人們當然可 以把腳環(huán)、無線電發(fā)射機和其他識別裝置縛在烏鴉身上，但 這卻要滿足一個前提，那就是活抓烏鴉但這卻是最為機 警、最難抓到的鳥類之一。烏鴉的研究之所以令人卻步，撇開技術上的困難不談， 其原因之一便是它們生活方式復雜多變。它們是超凡的多面 手，其種族中的一些成員創(chuàng)造性地開發(fā)了大量的棲息地、利 用大量的資源， 而且能

30、很快適應環(huán)境的變化。 由于善于學習， 每個烏鴉個體都有迥然不同的興趣、愛好，策略和花招。比 如，有一只寵物烏鴉，學會將狗窩上的門閂拉開放狗出窩。 狗出窩后，它便進去，享用了狗的美食。Passage 4Life on EarthLife originated in the early seas less than a billion years after the Earth was formed. Yet another three billion years were to pass before the first plants and animals appeared on the co

31、ntinents. Life s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesisof life.What forms of life were able to make such a drastic change in lifestyle The traditional view of the first terrestrial organisms is based on megafossils-relatively large spe

32、cimens of essentially whole plants and animals. Vascular plants, related to modern seed plants and ferns, left the first comprehensive megafossil record. Because of this, it has been commonly assumed that the sequence of terrestrialization reflected the evolution of modern terrestrial ecosystems. In

33、 this view, primitive vascular plats first colonized the margins of continental waters, followed by animals that fed on the plants, and lastly by animals that preyed on the plant-eaters. Moreover, the megafossils suggest that terrestrial life appeared and diversified explosively near the boundary be

34、tween the Silurian and the Devonian periods, a little more than 400 million years ago.Recently, however, paleontologists have been taking a closer look at the sediments below this Silurian-Devonian geological boundary. It turns out that some fossils can be extracted from these sediments by putting t

35、he rocks in an acid bath. The technique has uncovered new evidence from sediments that were deposited near the shores of the ancient oceans-plant microfossils and microscopic pieces of small animals. In many instances the specimens are less than one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter. Although they w

36、ere entombed in the rocks for hundreds of millions of years, many of the fossils consist of the organic remains of the organism.These newly discovered fossils have not only revealed the existence of previously unknown organisms, but have also pushed back these dates for the invasion of land by multi

37、cellular organisms. Our views about the nature of the early plant and animal communities are now being revised. And with those revisions come new speculations about the first terrestrial life-forms.Key在地球形成不到十億年的時間后，生命就起源于早期的 海洋了。然而（按照以前通行的觀點） ，要再過 30 億年，第 一批動植物才出現(xiàn)在大陸上?；蛟S，正如生命的起源一樣， 生命從海洋向陸地的過渡，同樣在進

38、化論上受到質疑。什么形式的生命能使其生活方式發(fā)生如此驚人的變 化？對于第一批登陸的生物，傳統(tǒng)的觀點是建立在巨化石基 礎上的，這些巨化石是一些基本上完整的動植物的較大標 本。與現(xiàn)代種子植物和蕨類植物有種屬相關的微管植物，留 下了一批巨化石記錄。因此，人們可以推測，生命登陸的次 序反映了現(xiàn)代陸生系統(tǒng)的進化。按照這種觀點，維管植物首 先移居到大陸水域的周邊，其次是以這種植物為食的動物， 最后是吃這種食草動物的動物。 而且，巨化石也表明 （提示）， 在四億多年前的志留紀和盆泥紀之間的期間（在志留紀和盆 泥紀之間的期間，即四億多年前） ，陸生生命已經出現(xiàn)，種 類也急劇增加。但是最近， 古生物學家一直對志

39、留紀 -盆泥紀抵制界限以 下的積淀物進行更為周密的調查。結果表明，將巖石放在一 些盛有酸的容器里，一些化石就能從這些沉淀物中離析出 來。這項技術從古海洋岸邊的沉積物中又發(fā)現(xiàn)了新的證據 植物的微小化石以及在顯微鏡才可以看得見的小動物的 碎片。多數(shù)情況下，標本的直徑不足 1/10 微米。盡管他們在 巖石中埋藏了數(shù)億年，許多化石仍遺留有生物體的有機物 質。這些新發(fā)現(xiàn)的化石不僅揭示了先前不為人質的有機體 的存在，也將多細胞生物進居陸地的時間向前推移。我們對 早期動植物群體（群落）本質的看法正得以修正，隨之而來 的是對第一批陸生生命的新推斷。Passage 5Historical MethodsWhil

40、e there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past. Caught in the web of its own time and place, each generation of historians determines a

41、new what is significant for it in the past. In this search the evidence found is always incomplete and scattered; it is also frequently partial or partisan. The irony of the historian s craft is that its practitionersalways know that their efforts are but contributions to an unending process.Interes

42、t in historical methods has arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves. While history once revered its affinity to literature and philosophy, the emerging social sciences seemed to afford

43、 greater opportunities for asking new questions and providing rewarding approaches to an understanding of the past. Social science methodologies had to be adapted to a discipline governed by the primacy of historical sources rather than the imperatives of the contemporary world. During this transfer

44、,traditional historical methods were augmented by additional methodologies designed to interpret the new forms of evidence in the historical study.Methodology is a term that remains inherently ambiguous in the historical profession. There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts pe

45、culiar to historical work in general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various branches of historical inquiry. Historians, especially those so blinded by their research interests that they have been accused of “ tunnelmethod, ”frequently fall victim to the “ technicist fallacy. ” Acls

46、oommon in the natural sciences, the technicist fallacy mistakenly identifies the discipline as a whole with certain parts of its technical implementation. It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources, and to social science histo

47、rians who equate their activity with specific techniques.Vocabulary: practice: custom create: make sth from the past exit again or seem to exist again affinity: a close connection between two things because of qualities or features that they sharerevere: respect and admireorprimacy: the state of bei

48、ng the most important thing or person inherent: a quality that is inherent in something is a natural part of it and cannot be separated from it equate: to consider that two or more things are similar connectedKey歷史研究方法雖然每一位歷史學家對歷史有自己的界定，但是，現(xiàn)代 最習慣的做法是，將歷史看著是對過去重大事件進行再現(xiàn)并 予以解釋。每一代的歷史學家，總會根據自身所處的時代和 位置，

49、重新判定過去的事件中哪些是重要的。這樣找到的證 據往往是不完全的、零散的；也常常是片面的、有著個人偏 見的。對歷史學家研究技藝的諷刺在于，運用這一技藝的人 總是知道，他們所付出的努力不過是在給一個無邊無際的過 程不斷加磚添瓦。人們對歷史學研究方法產生興趣原因有二，其主要原因 是歷史學家內部意見不統(tǒng)一，其次原因是，將歷史學作為一 門需要智力活動參與（進行分析和研究）的學科是否合理， 外界持尚有懷疑態(tài)度。雖然以前的歷史學重視與文學和哲學 的緊密關系，但是在提出新問題、并為理解過去提供有益的 方法方面，新興的社會科學似乎提供了更多的機會。社會科 學方法論必須調整之后適應這樣的學科：它由歷史資料的重

50、要程度決定，而非根據當代世界所必不可少的需求決定。 在歷史學的研究中還有其他的一些方法是用來解釋歷史資 料的。而在上一轉化過程中，這些方法使得傳統(tǒng)研究方法更 為有效。在歷史學界，方法論是一個從根本上就非常含糊的術 語。它到底是普通歷史研究中所特有的概念，還是適合于各 個分支領域的研究技巧，人們對此尚無定論。歷史學家，特 別是那些盲目從于自己的研究興趣、因而被指責為使用“井 蛙（狹隘）方法”的歷史學家，常常成為“技術謬誤”的犧 牲品。同樣，在自然科學領域，技術謬誤也錯誤地將學科看 成是由一些技術運用所組成的整體。這種謬誤同樣存在于傳 統(tǒng)歷史學派和社會科學歷史學派的身上，前者認為歷史就是 史學界內

51、部和外部人士對各種史料的評議；后者認為歷史的 研究應該是某些具體技術的運用。Passage 6The Method of Scientific InvestigationThe method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind; it is simply the mode by which all phenomena are reasoned about and given precise and exact ex

52、planation. There is no more difference, but there is just the same kind of difference, between the mental operations of a man of science and those of an ordinary person , as there is between the operations and methods of a baker or of a butcher weighing out his goods in common scales, and the operat

53、ions of a chemist in performing a difficult and complex analysis by means of his balance and finely graded weights. It is not that the scales in the one case, and the balance in the other, differ in the principles of their construction or manner of working; but that the latter is a much finer appara

54、tus and of course much more accurate in its measurement than the former.You will understand this better, perhaps, if I give you some familiar examples. You have all heard it repeated that men of science work by means of induction and deduction, that by the help of these operations, they, in a sort of sense, manage to extract from Nature certain natural laws, and that out of these, by some special skill of their own, they build up their theories.And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can be by no means compared