Book 6 Unit 3
Book 6 Unit 3.mp3 (00:00 – 01:38)
Exercise
Listen to the following talk and fill in the following blanks with information from the talk.
The pterosaur was a flying dinosaur that could weigh (1) _______ pounds. How it got off the (2) _______ is a mystery to many scientists. Many of them believed that it (3) _______ into the air like a (4) _______, but a scientist from the Johns Hopkins University believes that it leapt into the air off all (5) _______ legs. He said that unlike birds, pterosaurs had different body (6) _______. Birds have stronger (7) _______ legs whereas pterosaurs had stronger front legs. When launching into the air, the pterosaur's (8) _______ moved before the arms, enabling the creature to be in the air in less than a (9) _______, which was (10) _______ in a world filled with tyrannosaurs.
Key: (1) 500 (2) ground
(3) leapt / launched (4) bird (5) four
(6) structures (7) hind (8) legs (9) second (10) handy
Translation
English-Chinese Translation
1. There wasn't time to explain that Mac was a young, witty macho cop who walked into the
hospital with 32 pounds of attack equipment, looking as if he could single-handedly protect the whole city, if not the entire state.
译文：
没有时间解释迈克是个多么身强力壮、头脑灵活的年轻警官。他走进医院的时候带着32磅重的武器装备，看上去能以一己之力保护整座城市，甚至整个州。
讲解： 这句话比较长，包含多层意思，我们通常要用拆译法，比如将这里的定语从句单独译成一句。在翻译explain时，使用了加译法（“多么??”），使之更符合汉语的表达习惯。另外，末尾的if not ...（= even if not ...）如果直译，应该是“即使??”，但可以灵活转译成“甚至??”，使整句表达更加流畅。
2. Six months isn't such a long time in the whole scheme of things, but it was long enough to
see him lose his youth, his wit, his macho, his hair, his bowel and bladder control, his sense of taste and smell, and his ability to do the slightest thing for himself.
16
Book 6 Unit 3
译文： 在万物的发展过程中，六个月并不长，但长得足以目睹他失去那么多的东西：年轻的身体、灵活的头脑、强壮的体魄、头发、控制大小便的能力、味觉和嗅觉、还有一丁点儿自理的能力。
讲解： 这句话的难点是lose后面并列的多项宾语。如果直接译成“失去年轻的身体、灵活的头脑??”，句子结构将太过冗长。这里的技巧是使用一个总述-分述结构，增强表达效果。
3. Had we, the whole medical community, become so arrogant that we believed in the illusion of
salvation through science?
译文： 作为医者这个群体，我们就变得如此傲慢，以至于相信科学真的可以拯救人这种天方夜谭吗？
讲解： 在本句中，whole medical community是we的同位语，翻译时在句首译出为好。另外，在翻译抽象名词illusion和salvation时，可以根据汉语的句式和语气，作适当的添加（拯救“人”）或扩展（“天方夜谭”）。
4. Cradling her in my arms was like cradling myself, Mac, and all those patients and nurses who
had been in this place before, who do the best they can in a death-denying society.
译文： 怀里搂着她，就像是搂着我自己、迈克、还有每一个曾经在这里的病人和护士。这些人以最大的努力生存在一个否定死亡的社会中。
讲解： 如果直译cradling her in my arms，一般可译作“把她搂在怀里”，但后文就得顺势译成“把??搂在怀里”。注意省略号处带有并列的宾语和定语从句，这种译法会使句子生硬、不自然。改进的技巧是把此类较复杂的部分放到句末，例如在本句中，换用“怀里搂着??”就可以实现。
Chinese-English Translation
1. 这几位俄罗斯作曲家的一个共同特点是他们的作品都充满了俄罗斯民间音乐的元素。
(infuse) Translation:
A characteristic these Russian composers share is that their compositions are infused with Russian folk music elements.
2. 被绑儿童的父母同意付给绑匪索要的赎金，恳求他们不要伤害他们的小女孩。(plead) Translation:
The parents of the kidnapped child, agreeing to pay the ransom the kidnappers asked for,
17
Book 6 Unit 3
pleaded with them not to hurt their little girl.
3. 新上任的主管曾在国外担任过类似的职务，他给公司的管理注入了新的理念。(inject) Translation:
The newly appointed director, who has taken a similar position overseas, injects new ideas into the management of the company.
4. 一名好的教授应该能够对一个深奥、复杂的问题作出清晰、易懂的解释。(lucid) Translation:
A good professor should be able to give a lucid and intelligible explanation of an abstruse and complicated issue.
5. 根据法律，他是否要为他已故父亲遗留的债务负责？(liable for) Translation:
According to law, is he held liable for the debts his deceased father has left unpaid?
6. 作家成功地把几个浪漫的爱情故事编进这部总体上严肃的历史小说里去。(weave into) Translation:
The writer has successfully woven some romantic love stories into this generally serious historical novel.
7. 毫无疑问，当这名因脑部严重受伤而昏睡了二十多天的病人最终苏醒过来时，医生们创
造了一个奇迹。(work a miracle) Translation:
The doctors had undoubtedly worked a miracle when the patient who had been in a coma for more than 20 days as a result of severe brain injuries had finally come to.
8. 完成了所有要交的学期论文、考完了所有必须要考的考试后，她感到人都快要倒下来了。
(beaten) Translation:
After finishing all those term papers she had to submit and all those exams she had to sit for, she felt completely beaten.
Error-correction Exercise
The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, only ONE word is involved. You should proofread the passage and correct it in the following way:
For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a \∧\believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a dash \—\blank provided at the end of the line.
18
Book 6 Unit 3
EXAMPLE:
When ∧ art museum wants a new exhibit, it never buys things in finished form and hangs them on the wall. When a natural history museum wants an exhibition, it must often build it.
(1) an (2) never (3) exhibit 1. ___________ 2. ___________ 3. ___________ 4. ___________ 5. ___________ 6. ___________ 7. ___________ 8. ___________ 9. ___________ 10. ___________ There is a tendency to think of each of the arts as a separate area of activity. Many artists, therefore, would prove that there has always been a warm relationship between the various areas of human activity. In general, in late nineteenth century the connections between music and painting are particularly close. Artists were invited to design clothes and settings for operas and ballets, but sometimes it was the musicians who were inspired by work of contemporary painters. Of the musical compositions that were considered critical to the visual arts, perhaps most famous is Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky had composed the piece in 1874 after the death, at the age of 39, of the artist victor Hartmann. Though their friendship had not been a particularly long-lasting one, Mussorgsky was shocked by Hartmann's expected death. The following year the critic, Vladimir Stasuv, who decided to hold an exhibition of Hartmann's work, suggested that Mussorgsky try to control his grief by writing something as memory of Hartmann. The exhibition serves as Mussorgsky's inspiration. The ten pieces that has made up Pictures at an Exhibition are intended as symbols rather than representations of the paintings in the exhibition. Between the pieces is a promenade, where the composer walks from one paint to another. The music is sometimes witty and playful, sometimes almost alarming and frightening. Through a range of surprised visions, Mussorgsky manages to convey the spirit of the artist and his work. Key: 1. ∧ late: the （“世纪”之前加定冠词） 2. are: were （陈述过去的事实） 3. ∧ work: the （这里是特指） 4. ∧ most: the （形容词最高级之前用the） 5. had: had （用一般过去时即可）
6. expected: unexpected （注意上文的shocked） 7. as: in （in memory of是“纪念”的意思） 8. has: have （that指代的是复数ten pieces） 9. paint: painting （用名词painting，表示“画”）
19
Book 6 Unit 3
10. surprised: surprising（用现在分词表示“令人吃惊的”）
Skill Development
定冠词the的用法
一般来说，不定冠词a和an用于泛指，适用于第一次提及的事物；定冠词the用于特指，适用于之前提及的事物。但除此（练习第3题）之外，the还用在其他的结构中（练习第1题和第4题）。 练习中出现的关于the的错误都是遗漏了the。要识别这些错误，必须依靠语法知识、词汇知识、并结合对上下文的理解。例如形容词最高级前必须用the（语法知识）、某些时间短语（century）前必须用the（词汇知识）。第3题也漏了the，注意虽然work是第一次提及，但根据上下文，指的就是那些contemporary painters的作品，仍然是特指。
20