2. 外语
  3. There is some impertinence as well as some foolhardiness in the way in which we buy animals for so much gold and silver and call

There is some impertinence as well as some foolhardiness in the way in which we buy animals for so much gold and silver and call

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问题    There is some impertinence as well as some foolhardiness in the way in which we buy animals for so much gold and silver and call them ours. One cannot help wondering what the silent critic on the hearthrug thinks of our strange conventions--the mystic Persian, whose ancestors were worshipped as gods whilst we, their masters and mistresses, groveled in caves and painted our bodies blue. She has a vast heritage of experience, which seems to brood in her eyes, too solemn and too subtle for expression; she smiles, I often think, at our late-born civilization, and remembers the rise and fall of dynasties. There is something, too, profane in the familiarity, half contemptuous, with which we treat our animals.  We deliberately transplant a little bit of simple wild life, and make it grow up beside ours, which is neither simple nor wild. You may often see in a dog’s eyes a sudden look of the primitive animal, as though he were once more a wild dog hunting in the solitary places of his youth. How have we the impertinence to make these wild creatures forgo their nature for ours, which at best they can but imitate?
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答案 人们一掷千金购买动物，据为已有，这种做法既有些荒唐又不免轻率。有人不禁要问，那位端坐在壁炉跟前地毯上的无言的批评家，也就是那头神秘的波斯猫，对我们这种古怪的习俗有何感想。我们这些主人主妇们，当初在山洞里爬来爬去，浑身涂成蓝色时，曾把她的祖先奉为神明。她阅尽人间沧桑，似乎一切都映照在她那严肃微妙而难以言传的眼睛里。我常想，她会讥笑我们迟到的文明，会记得王朝的兴衰。人类对待自己动物的态度，常是亲密中有几分不敬，近乎于蔑视。我们刻意移植一点点单纯的野生动物，让他们同我们既不单纯又不野蛮的生命共生共长。你或许常会看到某条狗突然射出原始动物的目光，仿佛它再次成了野狗，回到了年轻时在荒山野岭中猎食的日子。我们怎么会荒唐地要使这些野生动物放弃自己的本性，向我们靠拢呢?人的本性，动物充其量也只能模仿。
解析    1．There is some impertinence as well as some foolhardiness in the way in which we buy animals for so much gold and silver and call them ours．
   上句in which中which指the way。call them ours可意译为“据为已有”。译文：人们一掷千金购买动物，据为已有，这种做法既有些荒唐又不免轻率。
   2．She has a vast heritage of experience，which seems to brood in her eyes，too solemn and too subtle for expression；she smiles，I often think，at our late-born civilization，and remembers the rise and fall of dynasties．
   She has a vast heritage of experience，照字面译是：“她有经验的大遗产(或传统)。”令人不知所云。可意译为：她阅尽人间沧桑。too．．．for expression为形容词短语，修饰eyes。译文：她阅尽人间沧桑，似乎一切都映照在她那严肃微妙而难以言传的眼睛里。
   3．There is something，too，profane in the familiarity，half contemptuous, with which we treat our animals．
   相比之下，英语爱用物称作主语，汉语爱用人称作主语。with which中的which指something, too， profane in the familiarity，half contemptuous，因此译文中要把这些包括进去。译文用人称作主语，能理顺这种关系；人类对待自己动物的态度，常是亲密中有几分不敬，近乎于蔑视。
   4．How have we the impertinence to make these wild creatures forgo their nature for ours，which at best they can but imitate?
   本句impertinence与第一句中的impertinence是重复呼应，为体现这种修辞手段，使全文连贯，译文要保持这种重复呼应关系。impertinence在第一句中如译成“荒唐”，这句中也应译成“荒唐”：我们怎么会荒唐地要使这些野生动物放弃自己的本性，向我们靠拢呢?人的本性，动物充其量也只能模仿。
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