Unit1hit-the-nail-on-the-head恰到好處

1、Unit 1 hit the nail on the head 恰到好處Have you ever watched a clumsy manhammeri ng a n ail into a box? He hits it first to one side, the n to ano ther, p erha ps kn ock ing it over compi etely, so that in the end he only gets你見過一個(gè)笨手笨腳的男人往箱子上釘 釘子嗎？只見他左敲敲，右敲敲，說不準(zhǔn)還 會(huì)將整個(gè)釘子錘翻，結(jié)果敲來敲去到頭來只 敲進(jìn)了半截。而嫻熟的木匠就不這么干。他

2、half of it into the wood. A skillful carpen ter, on每敲一下都會(huì)堅(jiān)實(shí)巧妙地正對著釘頭落下the other hand, will drive the nail with a few firm, deft blows, hitting it each time squarely on the head. So with Ianguage; the good craftsman will choose words that drive home his point firmly and exactly. A word that is more or

3、 less right, a loose phrase, an ambiguous expression, a vague adjective （模糊 的形容詞） ，will not satisfy a writer who aims去，一釘?shù)降?。語言也是如此。一位優(yōu)秀的 藝術(shù)家譴詞造句上力求準(zhǔn)確而有力地表達(dá)自 己的觀點(diǎn)。差不多的詞，不準(zhǔn)確的短語，摸 棱兩可的表達(dá)，含糊不清的修飾，都無法使 一位追求純真英語的作家滿意。他會(huì)一直思 考，直至找到那個(gè)能準(zhǔn)確表達(dá)他的意思的詞。at clean English. He will try always to get the word that is co

4、mpi etely right for his purpose.The French have an apt （貼占切的）p hrase forthis. They speak of “ le mot juste, ” （the exact word） the word that is just right. Stories are told of scrupulous （絲不茍的） writers, likeFlaubert, who spent days trying to get one or two sentences exactly right. Words are many and

5、 various; they are subtle （微妙的） and delicate （纟田膩的）in their different shades （色 調(diào)） of meaning, and it is not easy to find the ones that express precisely（正是，恰恰）what we want to say. It is not only a matter of havi ng法國人有一個(gè)很貼切的短語來表達(dá)這樣 一個(gè)意思，即“ le mot juste ”，恰到好處 的詞。有很多關(guān)于精益求精的作家的名人軼 事，比如福樓拜?；◣滋斓臅r(shí)間力求使一兩

6、 個(gè)句子在表達(dá)上準(zhǔn)確無誤。在浩瀚的詞海中, 詞與詞之間有著微妙的區(qū)別，要找到能恰如 其分表達(dá)我們意思的詞絕非易事。這不僅僅 是扎實(shí)的語言功底和相當(dāng)大的詞匯量的問 題，還需要人們絞盡腦汁，要觀察敏銳。選 詞是認(rèn)識過程的一個(gè)步驟，也是詳細(xì)描述我 們的思想感情并表達(dá)出來使自己以及聽眾和a good comma nd of Ian guage and a fairly wide讀者深刻理解的一個(gè)環(huán)節(jié)。有人說：“在我vocabulary; it is also necessary to think hard and to observe accurately. Choosing words is par

7、t of the pro cess of realizati on, of defi ning思想未成文之前，我怎么知道自己的想 法？”這聽起來似乎很離譜，但它確實(shí)很有 道理。our thoughts and feeli ngs for ourselves, as well as for those who hear or read our words.Some one once remarked: “ How can I know what I think till I see what I say? ” this soundsstupid, but there is a great dea

8、l of truth in it.It is hard work choos ing the right words, but尋找恰如其分的詞的確是件不容易的事。man is so-and-so （某某等）？” You begin:but he ' s rather ” andtrying to find a word orwe shall be rewarded by the satisfaction that finding them brin gs. The exact use of Ian guage gives us mastery （掌握） over the materia

9、l weare deali ng with. P erha ps you have bee n asked “What sort of a“Oh, I think he ' s quite anice cha p （家伙） then you hesitate p hrase to exp ress what it is about him that you don' t like, that constitutes （構(gòu) 成） his limitati on. When you find the right p hrase you一旦找到了那個(gè)詞，我們就會(huì)感到很欣慰： 辛勞得到

10、了回報(bào)。準(zhǔn)確地用語言有助于我們 深入了解我們描述的事物。例如，當(dāng)有人問 你：“某某是怎么樣的人？ ”你回答說：“恩，我想他是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的家伙，但他非 ?！苯又悛q豫了，試圖找到一個(gè)詞或 短語來說明他到底討厭在哪里。當(dāng)你找到一 個(gè)恰當(dāng)?shù)亩陶Z的時(shí)候，你發(fā)覺自己對他的看 法更清楚，也更精確了。feel that your concep ti on of the man is clearer and shar per.Some En glish words have a com mon root but are used in very differe nt sen ses. Con sider huma

11、n and humane （人道，仁慈的 ）,forexample. Their origin is the same and their meanings are related, but their usage is distinet. A human action is not the same thing as a humane action. We cannot speak ofDeclaration of Humane Rights. - There is一些英語詞匯詞根相同而意義卻截然不 同。例如human和humane,二者的詞根相同， 詞義也相關(guān)，但用法完全不同。“ huma

12、 n action （ 人類行為）”和“ humane action （人道行為）”完全是兩碼事。我們不能說 “人道權(quán)力宣言”，而是說“人權(quán)宣言”。有一種屠殺工具叫“ humane killer （麻醉屠宰機(jī)），而不是humankiller （殺人機(jī)器）。weapon called a humane killer, but it is not huma n killer.We don t have to look far afield to find語言中的壞手藝的例子在我們身邊隨處可evidenee of bad carpentry in Ianguage. A student, reply

13、ing to an invitation to dinner, finished his letter: “I shall be delighted to come and I am look ing forward to the day with anxiety.” Anxiety carries with it suggestions of worry and fear. What the writer meant waspossibly eagerness. Anxiety has some kinship （親屬關(guān)系） with eagerness but it will not do

14、見。有人邀請一名學(xué)生去吃飯，他寫信給予 回復(fù)。請看他的信是這樣結(jié)尾的：“我將很 高興赴約并滿懷不安（an xiety ）期待著那 個(gè)日子的到來。”“ An xiety”含有煩惱和 恐懼的意味。作者想表達(dá)的很可能是一種翹首期盼的心情?！癆nxiety ”跟熱切期盼有一定的關(guān)聯(lián)，但在這個(gè)場合是不能等同的。as a substitute （替代）in this con text.The leader of a political party in Uganda烏干達(dá)一政黨領(lǐng)袖給新聞界的一封信中有一句這樣寫道:wrote a letter to the Press which contained th

15、is sentence:Letusallfightthis讓我們打破這自私、投機(jī)、怯懦和無知selfish ness, opportuni sm,cowardice andignorance now rife in Uganda and put in their充斥的烏干達(dá)，代之以真理，剛毅，堅(jiān)定和 奇異的精神。p lace truth, man li ness,con siste ncyand這一激動(dòng)人心的呼吁被最后一個(gè)詞"奇sin gularity of mind.This stirri ng app eal is sp oilt by a mala prop ismin the

16、 last phrase, the word singularity . What the writer meant, I think, was singleness of mind, holding steadfastly to the purpose in mind, without being drawn aside by less worthy objects. Singularity means oddity or peculiarity, something that singles a man out異(singularity)”的誤用破壞掉了。我猜想作者真正要表達(dá)的意思是思想的

17、專一， 即抱定一個(gè)信念永不改變，咬定青山不放松， 不被次要的目的干擾。而sin gularity指的是古怪，特性，是將一個(gè)人從眾多人中區(qū)分 出來的那種東西。from other men.Without being a mala prop ism, a word may still fail to be the right word for the writer purpose, the “ mot juste ” . A journalist,即使沒有出現(xiàn)詞語誤用，這詞仍可能不 是符合作者意圖的恰如其分的詞。一名記者 在一篇有關(guān)圣誕節(jié)的社論中這樣引出狄更斯的話:writi ng a leade

18、r about Christmas, in troduced a quotatio n from Dicke ns by say ing:“ mot juste （恰倒好 distilled ” .它比包處的詞)”，那就是“ 含和歸結(jié)語氣更強(qiáng)?！盁?”意味得到本質(zhì)(Distillati on （ 提 esse nee ） 的東西。因All that was ever thought or written aboutChristmas is imprisoned in this sentence Imprisonment suggests force, coercion （強(qiáng)迫），as if t

19、he meaning were held aga in st its will. It would be better to write contained or summed up. Ep itomized （集中體現(xiàn)） might do, though it is rather a clumsy -sounding word. Searching a little farther for the “ mot juste ” we might hit on the word distilled （提?。?This has more force tha n contained or summe

20、d up. Distillatio n suggests esse nee and we might further improve the sentence by adding this word at任何有關(guān)圣誕節(jié)的想法和文字已經(jīng)被禁錮(imprisoned ) 在這句話中 “Imprisonment ” 暗示著強(qiáng)迫，威逼，這么一來似乎意思是有悖其初衷的。用“包含(contained ) ”或 “歸結(jié)(summed up ) ”就要好些。“概括(epitomized )” 也行，盡管聽起來有點(diǎn)僵硬。稍微再用點(diǎn)心 我們就能準(zhǔn)確地找到the beg inning:此我們可以進(jìn)一步把這個(gè)句子修改

21、為:The esse nee of all that was ever thought or所有有關(guān)圣誕節(jié)的想法和文字的精華都被提煉到這句話之中。written about Christmas is distilled in this sentence.English has a wide vocabulary and it is a very flexible Ian guage. There are many different ways of making a statement. But words that are very similar in meaning have fine

22、shades of differe nee, and a stude nt n eeds to be alive to these differences. By using his diet ion ary, and above all by readi ng, a stude nt英語詞匯豐富，運(yùn)用靈活。一個(gè)意思有 很多種表達(dá)方式。但是無論意思上如何相近 的詞總是存在著些許區(qū)別。作為學(xué)生就要敏 感地意識到這些區(qū)別。通過查字典，尤其是 通過閱讀，學(xué)生對這類細(xì)微差別敏感性將逐 步增強(qiáng)，準(zhǔn)確表達(dá)自己意思的能力也相應(yīng)提 高。can in crease his sen sitivity to the

23、se shades of differe nee and improve his ability to exp ress his own mea nings exactly.Professor Raileigh once stated: “there are no synonyms, and the same statement can never be repeated in a changed form of words. ” This is perhaps too absolute, but it is羅利教授曾經(jīng)說過：“同義詞是不存在 的。句子用詞改變了，句子就不再是原來的 意思了?！?/p>

24、這也許過于絕對， 但是很難駁倒。 措辭稍有變更，意思會(huì)有微妙的變化。看下not easy to dis prove. Even a slight alterati on inthe word ing of a stateme nt can subtly shift themea ning. Look at these two senten ces:In my childhood I loved to watch trains go by.When I was a child I loved watching trains goby.面兩個(gè)句子:(1)童年時(shí)候我喜歡去看火車開過。(2)當(dāng)我是個(gè)小

25、孩子的時(shí)候我喜歡看火車開過。At fist glanee these two sentences are乍一看這兩個(gè)句子的意思完全一樣。但仔細(xì)看你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它們之間存在細(xì)微的差別。在exactly the same. But look more closely andyou will see that there are very tiny differences. In my childhood is a shade more abstract than when I was a child. WatchingPerhaps emphasizes the looking at trains a我

26、童年時(shí)候比當(dāng)我是小孩子的時(shí)候更加抽 象。而看很可能比去看更強(qiáng)調(diào)看火車這一動(dòng) 作。這個(gè)例子不是很明顯，可能有待商榷。little more than to watch . This is a very subtle但每個(gè)人看了下面例子后一定馬上同意。兩example, and it would be possible to argue about it, but every one would at once agreethat there is a marked differe nee betwee n then ext two stateme nts:He died poor.He expi

27、red in in dige nt eireumsta nces.者之間存在顯著區(qū)別。（1）他死的時(shí)侯很窮。（2）他斷氣時(shí)窮困潦倒。In one sense expired is a synonym for died and in indigent eireumstances for poor, but when the whole stateme nt is con sidered, we cannot maintain that the two are the same. The在某種意義上，expired 是died的同義詞， in indigent eireumstances 是 po

28、or 的同義 詞。但當(dāng)看整個(gè)句子時(shí)，我們就不能堅(jiān)持認(rèn) 為兩句是一樣的了。措辭的變化往往意味著change in words is a change in style, and theeffect on the reader is quite different.It is perhaps easier to be a good craftsman with wood and nails than a good craftsman with words, but all of us can in crease our skill and風(fēng)格的改變，并給讀者以不同的感受。也許 當(dāng)好一個(gè) 譴詞造句的

29、工匠比當(dāng)好一個(gè)與木 頭釘子打交道的木匠要難一些，但是只要我 們付出努力和耐心，我們就能提高自己的技 能和敏感性。這樣我們不僅可以提高我們的寫作能力，還可以提高閱讀能力。sensitivity with a little effort and patienee. In this way we shall not only improve our writ ing, but also our readi ng.English offers a fascinating variety of英語為各種活動(dòng)和嗜好提供了豐富多彩words for many activities and in terest

30、s. Con sider the wide range of meanings that can expressed by the various words we have to describe walk ing, for exa mple. We can say that a man is marching （行軍），pacing （起搏）， patrolling （巡邏），stalking （纏擾），striding（大 步）,treading （踩水），tramping （流浪），stepping out （走出去）,prancing（昂首闊步）, strutting （神氣活現(xiàn)），

31、prowling （潛行）， plodding （單調(diào)乏味 I）, strolling （散步）， shuffling （洗牌），staggering （驚人的），sidling （）,trudging （跋涉），toddling （） , rambling （散漫），roaming （|漫游）,sauntering （參的詞匯。就那走路來說，通過我們擁有的各 種各樣的詞語的意義范圍有多么廣闊。我們 可以說行軍，踱步，巡邏，潛進(jìn)，跨過，踐 踏，重步走，蹦蹦跳跳地走，昂首闊步，高 視闊步，徘徊，沉重緩慢地走，溜達(dá)，曳足 而行，搖搖晃晃地走，側(cè)身而行，跋涉，蹣 跚學(xué)步，漫步，徜徉，漫游，閑蕩，悄悄

32、地 走。觀船上），meandering （蜿蜒）lounging （閑 逛），loitering （游蕩），or creeping （匍匐）.The foreign student of English may be discouraged and dismayed （驚惶）when helearns that there are over 400,000 words in theEnglish Ianguage, without counting slang （俚 語）.But let him take courage. More than half即使不包括俚語在內(nèi)英語就有四十余萬單 詞，這很可能