1、英译汉练习短文6篇 Passage 1Satiric Literature1Perhaps the most striking quality of satiric literature is its freshness, its originality of perspective. Satire rarely offers original ideas. Instead, it presents the familiar in a new form. Satirists do not offer the world new philosophies. What they do is loo
2、k at familiar conditions from a perspective that makes these conditions seem foolish, harmful, or affected. Satire jars us out of complacence into a pleasantly shocked realization that many of the values we unquestioningly accept are false. Don Quixote makes chivalry seem absurd; Brave New World rid
3、icules the pretensions of science; A Modest Proposal dramatizes starvation by advocating cannibalism. None of these ideas is original. Chivalry was suspected before Cervantes2, humanists objected to the claims of pure science before Aldous Huxley3, and people were aware of famine before Swift4. It w
4、as not the originality of the idea that made these satires popular. It was the manner of expression，the satiric method, that made them interesting and entertaining. Satires are read because they are aesthetically satisfying works of art, not because they are morally wholesome or ethically instructiv
5、e. They are stimulating and refreshing because with commonsense briskness5 they brush away illusions and secondhand opinions6. With spontaneous irreverence, satire rearranges perspectives, scrambles familiar objects into incongruous juxtaposition, and speaks in a personal idiom instead of abstract p
6、latitude.Satire exists because there is need for it. It has lived because readers appreciate a refreshing stimulus, an irreverent reminder that they live in a world of platitudinous thinking, cheap moralizing7, and foolish philosophy. Satire serves to prod people into an awareness of truth, though r
7、arely to any action on behalf of truth. Satire tends to remind people that much of what they see, hear, and read in popular media is sanctimonious, sentimental, and only partially true. Life resembles in only a slight degree the popular image of it. Soldiers rarely hold the ideals that movies attrib
8、ute to them, not do ordinary citizens devote their lives to unselfish service of humanity. Intelligent people know these things but tend to forget them when they do not hear them expressed8.Notes 1这篇文章用词正式，句式严谨、周密、冗长，文风较为华丽。翻译时选词要正式，可多用四字结构和铺排形式。2Cervantes: 塞万提斯（1754-1616），西班牙伟大的作家、诗人、戏剧家。 3Aldous H
9、uxley:奥尔德斯赫胥黎（1825-1895），英国生物学家，作家。 4Swift: 斯威夫特（1667-1745），英国作家，擅长用讽刺和幽默揭露社会黑暗现象。 5briskness：brisk意为keen or sharp in speech or manner。 6secondhand opinions：不可翻译为“二手的观点”，应该是“人云亦云的的观点”。 7cheap moralizing：这里cheap意思不是“便宜的”，而是vulgar, contemptible; moralizing不是“道德”，而是“说教”。 8when they do not hear them exp
10、ressed：当直译不方便时，我们可用视点转移法：但是当周围人不谈起时Key讽刺文学 或许讽刺文学最突出的特点是它耳目一新、视角独创。讽刺文学很少给人以原创的思想,但是它却将人们熟悉的事情以全新的形式展现出来。讽刺作家并不给人以新的哲学理念。他们所做的只是从某一视角来看待一些为人熟知的事情，在这一视角下，这些事情显得愚蠢不堪、充满危害而又矫揉造作。讽刺作品将我们从自鸣得意中震醒，让我们既愉快又惊诧地看到，我们从未质疑、全盘接受的价值观中，有很多都是错误的。唐吉珂德使得骑士精神显得荒谬可笑；挑战新世界嘲笑了科学的自诩；一个小小的建议则建议食用人肉，使饥饿问题戏剧化。这些思想中没有一条是原创的：在
11、塞万提斯之前就有人怀疑骑士精神；在赫胥黎之前人文主义者就反对宣称纯科学的至高无上；在斯威夫特之前人们就已经意识到饥荒问题。并不是思想的独创而使得讽刺文学受人欢迎，而是它的表述方式、嘲讽方法使得它趣味横生、有娱乐性。人们阅读讽刺文学只是因为在美学上它是让人心满意足的艺术品，而不是因为它在道德上有益或伦理上的教益。它激人兴奋、爽人身心，因为它只是运用常理通识、辛言辣语，便将各种幻想和人云亦云的观点一扫而光。讽刺文学自心而来不拘谦恭，它重新调整视角，将熟悉的事物紊杂地放置在一起，用个性化的语言而不是抽象的陈词滥语表述出来。 讽刺作品之所以存在是因为人们需要它。它存续至今，是因为读者欣赏爽身怡心的刺激
12、和不拘谦恭的告诫，它提醒读者，他们生活的世界里充满了陈腐的思想意识、低俗的道德说教和愚蠢的哲学理念。讽刺作品虽然很少代表真理促成行动，但它却能使人们感悟到真理。讽刺作品常常告诉人们，他们在大众媒体中所看到的、听到的、读到的大多是伪装善良、多愁善感或只有部分真实。生活只在很小的程度上与大众对它的印象相符。士兵们很少拥有电影赋予他们的理想，而普通老百姓也决不会把自己的生命无私地奉献给人道主义服务。聪明人知道这些事实，但是当周围人不谈起时，他们常常会忘记掉。 Passage 2American Folk ArtWhat we today call American folk art was, art
13、 of, by, and for ordinary, everyday1 “folks” who, with increasing prosperity and leisure, created a market for art of all kinds, and especially for portraits. Citizens of prosperous, essentially middle-class republicswhether ancient Romans, seventeenth-century Dutch burghers, or nineteenth-century A
14、mericanshave always shown a marked taste for portraiture. Starting in the late eighteenth century, the United States contained increasing number of such people, and of the artists who could meet their demands.The earliest American folk art portraits come, not surprisingly, from New England especiall
15、y Connecticut and Massachusettsfor this was a wealthy and populous region and the center of a strong craft tradition. Within a few decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population was pushing westward, and the portrait painters could be found at work in western Ne
16、w York, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. Midway through its first century2 as a nation, the United States population had increased roughly five times, and eleven new states had been added to original thirteen. During these years, the demand for portraits grew and grew, eventually to be satisf
17、ied by camera. In 1839 the daguerreotype was introduced to America, ushering in the age of photography, and within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted portraits. Once again an original portrait became a luxury, commissioned by the wealthy and executed by the profes
18、sional.But in the heyday of portrait paintingfrom the late eighteenth century until the 1850s anyone with a modicum of artistic ability could become a limner, as such a portraitist3 was called. Local craftspeoplesign, coach, and house paintersbegan to paint portraits as a profitable sideline; someti
19、mes a talented man or woman who began by sketching family members gained a local reputation and was besieged with requests for portraits; artists found it worth their while to pack their paints, canvasses, and brushes and to travel the countryside, often combining house decorating with portrait pain
20、ting.Noteseveryday: 意为commonplace, ordinary midway through its first century: 美国独立后50年间 portraitist：译为“画师”，以和前面的limner（画家）相区别。 Key美国民间艺术 我们所说的美国民间艺术是由普通百姓所拥有、创造并享受的艺术。随着财富和闲暇与日俱增，他们创造了各种艺术的市场，特别是肖像绘画。家境殷实的、主要是中产阶级的市民不管他们是古罗马人，或是17世纪荷兰自治城市富裕居民，抑或是19世纪的美国人都对肖像绘画艺术表现出突出的爱好。从18世纪晚期开始，美国这一群体的数量不断增加，而且满足画
21、像要求的艺术家也不断地增加。 勿需惊奇，美国最早的民间艺术画像来自于新英格兰地区特别是康涅狄格州和.麻萨诸塞州因为这一地区富裕、人口稠密，而且是浓厚艺术传统的中心。1776年独立宣言宣布后的几十年中，人口不断西徙，在纽约州西部、俄亥俄州、肯塔基州、伊利诺斯州、密苏里州，人们随处可见肖像画师绘画的身影。美国独立后50年间，人口增加了近5倍，原先13个州又增加了11个。在这些岁月里，肖像绘画的要求不断增长，直到有了照相机才算得到满足。1839年银版照相法传入美国，摄影时代开始，而且，在不超过一代人的时间内，手工画像就不再风靡了。从此，人物画像又成为了奢侈品有钱人提出绘画要求，专业画家来完成绘画。
22、但是在肖像绘画的全盛时期从18世纪晚期到19世纪50年代任何有一点艺术才能的人都可以成为“画家”，当时的肖像画师就是这么被人称呼的。当地艺人标牌、马车、房屋的画师也开始画人物肖像作为一个赚钱的副业。有时候有绘画天赋的男子或妇女一开始只给家庭成员勾勒画像，很快在当地声誉鹊起，然后很多人前来要求画像；艺术家们发现，他们收拾起颜料、画布、画笔去各地巡游，既做房屋装饰又画人物肖像，是一件非常值得的事情。 Passage 3CrowsCrows are probably the most frequently met and easily identifiable members of the nati
23、ve fauna of the United States. The great number of tales, legends, and myths about these birds indicates that people have been exceptionally interested in them for a long time. On the other hand, when it comes to substantiveparticularly behavioralinformation, crows are less well known than many comp
24、arably common species and, for that matter, not a few quite uncommon ones, the endangered California condor, to cite one obvious example .There are practical reasons for this.Crows are notoriously poor and aggravating subjects for field research. Keen observers and quick learners, they are astute ab
25、out the intentions of other creatures, including researchers, and adept at avoiding them. Because they are so numerous, active, and monochromatic, it is difficult to distinguish one crow from another. Bands, radio transmitters, or other identifying devices can be attached to them, but this of course
26、 requires catching live crows, who are among the wariest and most untrappable of birds.Technical difficulties aside, crow research is daunting because the ways of these birds are so complex and various. As preeminent generalists, members of this species ingeniously exploit a great range of habitats
27、and resources, and they can quickly adjust to changes in their circumstances. Being so educable, individual birds have markedly different interests and inclinations, strategies and scams. For example, one pet crow learned how to let a dog out of its kennel by pulling the pin on the door. When the do
28、g escaped, the bird went into the kennel and ate its food. Key乌鸦 乌鸦可能是美国本土动物中最常见、也是最容易识别的成员（物种）。关于它的奇闻异事和神话传说（故事、传说和神话）流传众多，可见，人们对它的浓厚兴趣由来已久。另一方面，在提及对它的本性特别是行为方面的了解时，与其他同样普通和一些非常罕见的物种一个显而易见的例子是加州濒临灭绝的秃鹫相比，它更鲜为人知。这其中有一些实际的原因。 众所周知，野外的乌鸦研究成果甚少，并让研究者苦恼不已。它们观察敏锐，领悟快捷，善于分辨其他动物和研究人员的意图，并能巧妙地避开他们。由于乌鸦数量众多、
29、颜色单一、机警灵活，人们很难把它们区分开来。人们当然可以把脚环、无线电发射机和其他识别装置缚在乌鸦身上，但这却要满足一个前提，那就是活抓乌鸦但这却是最为机警、最难抓到的鸟类之一。 乌鸦的研究之所以令人却步，撇开技术上的困难不谈，其原因之一便是它们生活方式复杂多变。它们是超凡的多面手，其种族中的一些成员创造性地开发了大量的栖息地、利用大量的资源，而且能很快适应环境的变化。由于善于学习，每个乌鸦个体都有迥然不同的兴趣、爱好，策略和花招。比如，有一只宠物乌鸦，学会将狗窝上的门闩拉开放狗出窝。狗出窝后，它便进去，享用了狗的美食。 Passage 4Life on EarthLife originate
30、d in the early seas less than a billion years after the Earth was formed. Yet another three billion years were to pass before the first plants and animals appeared on the continents. Lifes transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life
31、.What forms of life were able to make such a drastic change in lifestyle The traditional view of the first terrestrial organisms is based on megafossils-relatively large specimens of essentially whole plants and animals. Vascular plants, related to modern seed plants and ferns, left the first compre
32、hensive megafossil record. Because of this, it has been commonly assumed that the sequence of terrestrialization reflected the evolution of modern terrestrial ecosystems. In this view, primitive vascular plats first colonized the margins of continental waters, followed by animals that fed on the pla
33、nts, and lastly by animals that preyed on the plant-eaters. Moreover, the megafossils suggest that terrestrial life appeared and diversified explosively near the boundary between the Silurian and the Devonian periods, a little more than 400 million years ago.Recently, however, paleontologists have b
34、een taking a closer look at the sediments below this Silurian-Devonian geological boundary. It turns out that some fossils can be extracted from these sediments by putting the rocks in an acid bath. The technique has uncovered new evidence from sediments that were deposited near the shores of the an
35、cient oceans-plant microfossils and microscopic pieces of small animals. In many instances the specimens are less than one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter. Although they were entombed in the rocks for hundreds of millions of years, many of the fossils consist of the organic remains of the organism
36、.These newly discovered fossils have not only revealed the existence of previously unknown organisms, but have also pushed back these dates for the invasion of land by multicellular organisms. Our views about the nature of the early plant and animal communities are now being revised. And with those
37、revisions come new speculations about the first terrestrial life-forms.Key在地球形成不到十亿年的时间后，生命就起源于早期的海洋了。然而（按照以前通行的观点），要再过30亿年，第一批动植物才出现在大陆上。或许，正如生命的起源一样，生命从海洋向陆地的过渡，同样在进化论上受到质疑。 什么形式的生命能使其生活方式发生如此惊人的变化？对于第一批登陆的生物，传统的观点是建立在巨化石基础上的，这些巨化石是一些基本上完整的动植物的较大标本。与现代种子植物和蕨类植物有种属相关的微管植物，留下了一批巨化石记录。因此，人们可以推测，生命登陆的
38、次序反映了现代陆生系统的进化。按照这种观点，维管植物首先移居到大陆水域的周边，其次是以这种植物为食的动物，最后是吃这种食草动物的动物。而且，巨化石也表明（提示），在四亿多年前的志留纪和盆泥纪之间的期间（在志留纪和盆泥纪之间的期间，即四亿多年前），陆生生命已经出现，种类也急剧增加。 但是最近，古生物学家一直对志留纪-盆泥纪抵制界限以下的积淀物进行更为周密的调查。结果表明，将岩石放在一些盛有酸的容器里，一些化石就能从这些沉淀物中离析出来。这项技术从古海洋岸边的沉积物中又发现了新的证据植物的微小化石以及在显微镜才可以看得见的小动物的碎片。多数情况下，标本的直径不足1/10微米。尽管他们在岩石中埋藏了
39、数亿年，许多化石仍遗留有生物体的有机物质。 这些新发现的化石不仅揭示了先前不为人质的有机体的存在，也将多细胞生物进居陆地的时间向前推移。我们对早期动植物群体（群落）本质的看法正得以修正，随之而来的是对第一批陆生生命的新推断。 Passage 5Historical MethodsWhile there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to
40、recreate and explain the significant events of the past. Caught in the web of its own time and place, each generation of historians determines anew what is significant for it in the past. In this search the evidence found is always incomplete and scattered; it is also frequently partial or partisan.
41、 The irony of the historians craft is that its practitioners always know that their efforts are but contributions to an unending process. Interest in historical methods has arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels
42、 among historians themselves. While history once revered its affinity to literature and philosophy, the emerging social sciences seemed to afford greater opportunities for asking new questions and providing rewarding approaches to an understanding of the past. Social science methodologies had to be
43、adapted to a discipline governed by the primacy of historical sources rather than the imperatives of the contemporary world. During this transfer, traditional historical methods were augmented by additional methodologies designed to interpret the new forms of evidence in the historical study. Method
44、ology is a term that remains inherently ambiguous in the historical profession. There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts peculiar to historical work in general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various branches of historical inquiry. Historians, especially thos
45、e so blinded by their research interests that they have been accused of “tunnel method,” frequently fall victim to the “technicist fallacy.”Also common in the natural sciences, the technicist fallacy mistakenly identifies the discipline as a whole with certain parts of its technical implementation.
46、It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources, and to social science historians who equate their activity with specific techniques.Vocabulary: practice: customcreate: make sth from the past exit again or seem to exist againaffini
47、ty: a close connection between two things because of qualities or features that they sharerevere: respect and admireprimacy: the state of being the most important thing or personinherent: a quality that is inherent in something is a natural part of it and cannot be separated from itequate: to consid
48、er that two or more things are similar or connectedKey历史研究方法 虽然每一位历史学家对历史有自己的界定，但是，现代最习惯的做法是，将历史看着是对过去重大事件进行再现并予以解释。每一代的历史学家，总会根据自身所处的时代和位置，重新判定过去的事件中哪些是重要的。这样找到的证据往往是不完全的、零散的；也常常是片面的、有着个人偏见的。对历史学家研究技艺的讽刺在于，运用这一技艺的人总是知道，他们所付出的努力不过是在给一个无边无际的过程不断加砖添瓦。 人们对历史学研究方法产生兴趣原因有二，其主要原因是历史学家内部意见不统一，其次原因是，将历史学作为一门需要智力活动参与（进行分析和研究）的学科是否合理，外界持尚有怀疑态度。虽然以前的历史学重视与文学和哲学的紧密关系，但是在提出新问题、并为理解过去提供有益的方法方面，新兴的社会科学似乎提供了更多的机会。社会科学方法论必须调整之后适应这样的学科：它由历史资料的重要程度决定，而非根据当代世界所必不可少的需求决定。 在历史学的研究中还有其他的一些方法是用来解释历史资料的。而在上一转化过程中，这些方法使得传统研究方法更为有效。 在历史学界，方法论是一个从根本上就非常含糊的术语。它到底是普通历史研究中所特有的概念，还是适合于各个分支领域的研究技巧，人们对此尚无定论。历
