2019年翻译资格考试英语笔译初级模拟题：达尔文

　　In his autobiography, Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary modesty. He points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations. He disclaimed his possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. He asserted, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning. This, he thought, could not be true, because the “Origin of Species” is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that “I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree.” He adds humbly that perhaps he was “superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.”

　　Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kids gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said:“Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music.” Darwin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character.

　　参考译文

　　在其(指达尔文)自传中，他指出，想要简洁明了地表达自己观点的时候，他总会遇到很大的困难。他相信，正是这种困难或许能够扬长避短，以使他长时间专注地思考每一个句子;因此，使他能在推理和自己的观察中发现自己的缺点。他说他自己反应迟钝，理解力差，就象著名的赫胥黎一样。他还断言，在深入理解冗长且完全抽象的一系列观点上，他的能力受到了局限。有鉴于此，他曾深信自己在数学方面本来就不该获得成功。他还认为自己的记忆杂乱而模糊，从某一个方面来说，甚至是很糟糕，以至于他记住一次约会或者是一行诗歌的话，几天就能忘记。另一方面，批评家指责他尽管善于观察，但却不能推理，对此，他并不接受且认为毫无依据。他认为，这种批评是错误的，因为《物种起源》这本书从头到尾都是长篇大论，却说服了很多有才华的人。他承认，如果不具备推理能力，没有人能够写出这样的书。他愿意说自己是“有我应该具有的发现能力和常识判断能力，正如每一个成功的律师和医生一样;但是，我认为，我的水平不高。”他谦虚地补充道，或许他“和普通人比起来，更能够注意到那些别人容易忽略的细节，更能够对此加以详细地观察”。

　　在其晚年著作中，他表示，在过去的二三十年中，他的思想在两三个方面发生了变化。到三十岁左右，诗歌带给他极大的快乐。以前，绘画也能给他带来兴致，而音乐能给他无穷的乐趣。然而，他在1881年说：“这几年来，读一行诗，我就受不了。我最近还想要试图读读莎士比亚，可发现，相当乏味，难以忍受到了令人呕吐的程度。我也几乎快要丧失了自己对音乐和绘画的品味了。一般来说，音乐让我更加积极深入地思考目前的工作，而不能给我乐趣。我现在依然能够欣赏美景，但是它却不能象从前一般带给我极大的愉悦。”达尔文认为，失去对音乐和绘画方面的兴趣，不仅失去了幸福，而且还可能损伤智力，甚至可能会伤害道德。

　　词义推敲：

　　this very difficulty very表示强调，我们可以翻译为“正是这个困难”

　　compensating advantage 补充的/补偿的优势，

　　forcing him to 强迫他去

　　intently 刻意地，专心地，集中地

　　enabling him to 使他能够

　　reasoning 推理

　　Asserted 宣称，声称

　　Follow 理解

　　Abstract 抽象的，深奥的

　　train of thought 一连串的思想，思路，思想(固定搭配)

　　On the other hand 另一方面

　　as well founded 这个结构的完整形态应该是“as well founded one(指代charge)，我们翻译“就像那些有根有据的指控一样”。

　　charge 指控，控诉

　　critics 批评家，评论家

　　observer 观测者，观察员

　　no power of reasoning 缺乏推理的能力

　　add 增加，补充

　　humbly 谦虚地，谦恭地

　　superior to 优越于

　　the common run of men 普通人，比如：She's different from the common run of students. 她跟一般学生不同。

　　convince 使确信，使信服

　　the loss of these tastes 失去这些兴趣

　　a loss of happiness 失去幸福

　　be injurious to 有害于…