The first outline of The Ascent of Man was written in July 1969 and the last foot of film was shot in December 1972. An undertak

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问题     The first outline of The Ascent of Man was written in July 1969 and the last foot of film was shot in December 1972. An undertaking as large as this, though wonderfully exhilarating, is not entered lightly. It demands an unflagging intellectual and physical vigour, a total immersion, which I had to be sure that I could sustain with pleasure; for instance, I had to put off researches that I had already begun; and I ought to explain what moved me to do so.
    There has been a deep change in the temper of science in the last 20 years: the focus of attention has shifted from the physical to the life sciences. As a result, science is drawn more and more to the study of individuality. But the interested spectator is hardly aware yet how far-reaching the effect is in changing the image of man that science moulds. As a mathematician trained in physics, I too would have been unaware, had not a series of lucky chances taken me into the life sciences in middle age. I owe a debt for the good fortune that carried me into two seminal fields of science in one lifetime; and though I do not know to whom the debt is due, I conceived The Ascent of Man in gratitude to repay it.
    The invitation to me from the British Broadcasting Corporation was to present the development of science in a series of television programmes to match those of Lord Clark on Civilisation. Television is an admirable medium for exposition in several ways: powerful and immediate to the eye, able to take the spectator bodily into the places and processes that are described, and conversational enough to make him conscious that what he witnesses are not events but the actions of people. The last of these merits is to my mind the most cogent, and it weighed most with me in agreeing to cast a personal biography of ideas in the form of television essays. The point is that knowledge in general and science in particular does not consist of abstract but of man-made ideas, all the way from its beginnings to its modem and idiosyncratic models. Therefore the underlying concepts that unlock nature must be shown to arise early and in the simplest cultures of man from his basic and specific faculties. And the development of science which joins them in more and more complex conjunctions must be seen to be equally human: discoveries are made by men, not merely by minds, so that they are alive and charged with individuality. If television is not used to make these thoughts concrete, it is wasted.

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答案 《人类的进程》一书的提纲初稿是1969年7月完成的,影片的最后一部分是1972年12月拍摄的。像这样大的一个项目,虽然异常精彩,令人激动,却并不是轻易上马的。它要求我保持旺盛的脑力和体力,专心致志地投入工作。我还必须能持之以恒,并从中得到乐趣;比方说,我不得不停下已经开始的研究工作;我 还应当说明一下,究竟是什么促使我承担这项工作的。 二十年来,科学的发展趋势发生了深刻的变化:关注的焦点已经从自然科学转移到生命科学。结果,便把科学越来越吸引到个体特性的研究。然而相关的观察者几乎没有认识到此事对于改变科学塑造的人的形象产生了多么深远的影响。我是一个研究数学的人,早先学的是物理学,若不是中年有幸有几次机会涉足生命科学,我也不会对它有所认识。我应当感谢我交的好运,是它使我在一生中参与了两个创新的科学领域。尽管我并不知道应该向谁表示感谢,我编写了《人类的进程》一书,以表示我的感激之情。 英国广播公司邀请我做的是通过一套电视节目来表现科学的发展过程,以与克拉克勋爵制作的关于文明的电视节目相匹配。通过电视来进行解说有几大好处:它有力、直观,能使观众身临其境或亲身参与所描述的过程,它的语言亲切,能使观众觉得他所看到的是人们的行动而不是事件。这些优点之中,我认为最后一点最为突出,它是一股最大的动力促使我同意以电视散文的方式从个人的角度来讲述各种思想的发展史。重要的是知识总体,尤其是科学知识不是由抽象的思想构成的,而是由人的思想构成的,自有知识开始直到现代千奇百怪的模式莫不如此。所以介绍打开自然界之门的基本思想,必须表现出它们很早就已产生,而且是产生在人类最纯朴的文化之中,产生于人类基本的、具体的感官之中。同时还必须表现出使种种思想形成越来越复杂的结合体的科学的发展也同样是人类的贡献:种种发现都是人们通过实践完成的,而不仅仅是他们头脑的产物,因此它们都是有生气的,而且具有个人的特色。如果电视未能把这些思想表现得很具体,那岂不是浪费!

解析     1.It demands an unflagging intellectual and physical vigour, a total immersion, which I had to be sure that I could sustain with pleasure; for instance, I had to put off researches that I had already begun; and I ought to explain what moved me to do so. 它要求我保持旺盛的脑力和体力,专心致志地投入工作。我还必须能持之以恒,并从中得到乐趣;比方说,我不得不停下已经开始的研究工作;我还应当说明一下,究竟是什么促使我承担这项工作的。
[分析] 理解结构采分点。
    原文是一个复合句,而译文则分译成了两句话。把which引导的定语从句单独分出来,作下一句中的一个分句。使用增词法,在名词pleasure增补动词“得到”;a total immersion增补为“专心致志地投入工作”。
    2.temper倾向、趋势
[分析] 理解结构采分点。
    temper倾向、趋势:the temper of modern French arts现代法国的艺术倾向。
    3.from the physical to the life sciences从自然科学转移到生命科学
[分析] 理解结构采分点。
    从life science(生命科学)可以猜测出physical science是与生命科学相对的“自然科学”。physical除了含有“物质的、身体的、物理的”之意外,还有“自然规律的”的意思:It is a physical impossibility to be in two places at once.同时身处两地在自然法则上是不可能的。
    4.As a mathematician trained in physics, I too would have been unaware, had not a series of lucky chances taken me into the life sciences in middle age. 我是一个研究数学的人,早先学的是物理学,若不是中年有幸有几次机会涉足生命科学,我也不会对它有所认识。
[分析] 理解结构采分点。
    原文中开头的一个介词短语As a mathematician trained in physics在译文中被译成了两个分句“我是一个研究数学的人,早先学的是物理学”。从句是虚拟语气的倒装形式,关键是要把虚拟语气“若不是……也不会”翻译出来。
    5.Television is an admirable medium for exposition in several ways:powerful and immediate to the eye,able to take the spectator bodily into the places and processes that are described, and conversational enough to make him conscious that what he witnesses are not events but the actions of people.通过电视来进行解说有几大好处:它有力、直观,能使观众身临其境或亲身参与所描述的过程,它的语言亲切,能使观众觉得他所看到的是人们的行动而不是事件。
[分析] 理解结构采分点。
    原文是一个简单句。原则上译文还是一个长句子。但在翻译过程中要对原句的主要成分形容词性短语进行处理。本句的主干句为Television is an admirable medium for exposition in several ways,可以译为“通过电视来进行解说有几大好处”。但它后面的形容词性短语powerful…,able…,conversational…虽然不是完整的句子,但译文中要改变原有的结构,增加主语,形容词powerful,conversational要转换词性,译成动词。
    6.admirable极好的
[分析] 用词选词采分点。
    望文生义是翻译的一大忌讳,因此要根据不同的语境选择不同的词义。看到admirable首先想到的意思是“令人钦佩的”,这个意思放在原文中似乎也无大 错,但仔细琢磨,会觉不妥,它的另一个意思“极好的”正是原文要表达的意思。
    7.it weighed most with me in agreeing to cast a personal biography of ideas in the form of television essays.它是一股最大的动力促使我同意以电视散文的方式从个人的角度来讲述各种思想的发展史。
[分析] 用词选词采分点。
    本句的关键是对一些词或短语的理解与翻译。在翻译句中的weigh…with(对……有影响)时,如果译成“它在……方面对我有很大影响”,则没有把原句要表达的深层含义译出。原句中的“影响”的程度实际上是一种极大的推动力,因此,译文“它是一股最大的动力促使……”更好。cast系统阐述:He cast his work in the form of a chart.他把他的工作以图表的形式作系统说明。biography(对某人或对某动物、货币或建筑等)形成、成长和衰亡的记载(或历史):the biography of the area这个地区的沧桑史。
    8.The point is that knowledge in general and science in particular does not consist of abstract but of man-made ideas, all the way from its beginnings to its modern and idiosyncratic models.重要的是知识总体,尤其是科学知识不是由抽象的思想构成的,而是由人的思想构成的,自有知识开始直到现代千奇百怪的模式莫不如此。   [分析] 用词选词采分点。
    point指“要点”,但如翻译成“要点是……”,就不如“重要的是”更符合汉语习惯。介词短语in general前用的是knowledge而in particular前则是science,由knowledge(知识)一词推断,science应该译成“科学知识”而不是“科学”。
    9.Therefore the underlying concepts that unlock nature must be shown to arise early and in the simplest cultures of man from his basic and specific faculties.所以介绍打开自然界之门的基本思想,必须表现出它们很早就已产生,而且是产生在人类最纯朴的文化之中,产生于人类基本的、具体的感官之中。
[分析] 理解结构采分点。
    本句为定语从句,从句部分修饰主语,在译文中可保持原有结构,即译成“所以介绍打开自然界之门的基本思想”。原句的谓语动词是被动式,应翻译成主动式“必须表现出”。动词后面的不定式和in…from介词短语要翻译成一个主语后带三个并列动词的形式,即“它们很早就已产生,而且是产生在人类最纯朴的文化之中,产生于人类基本的、具体的感官之中。”
    10.And the development of science which joins them in more and more complex conjunctions must be seen to be equally human: discoveries are made by men, not merely by minds, so that they are alive and charged with individuality.同时还必须表现出使种种思想形成越来越复杂的结合体的科学的发展也同样是人类的贡献:种种发现都是人们通过实践完成的,而不仅仅是他们头脑的产物,因此它们都是有生气的,而且具有个人的特色。
[分析] 用词选词采分点。
    本句的动词must be seen to的翻译方法同上一句。翻译human(人类的)时要根据上下文的意思选出合适的表达方式。human后的句子一直在谈论“发现”是如何如何与人类有关,可见,人对科学的发展作出了巨大贡献,因此human译成“人类的贡献”较为合适。
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