Be very wary of opinions that flatter your self-esteem. Both men and women, nine

游客2023-12-04  20

问题 Be very wary of opinions that flatter your self-esteem. Both men and women, nine times out of ten, are firmly convinced of the superior excellence of their own sex. There is abundant evidence on both sides. If you are a man, you can point out that most poets and men of science are male; if you are a woman, you can resort that so are most criminals. The question is inherently insoluble, but self-esteem conceals this from most people. We are all, whatever part of the world we come from, persuaded that our own nation is superior to all others. Seeing that each nation has its characteristic merits and demerits, we adjust our standard of values so as to make out that the merits possessed by our nation are the really important ones, while its demerits are comparatively trivial. Here, again, the rational man will admit that the question is one to which there is no demonstrably right answer. It is more difficult to deal with the self-esteem of man as man, because we cannot argue out the matter with some non-human mind. The only way I know of dealing with this general human conceit is to remind ourselves that man is a brief episode in the life of a small planet in a little corner of the universe, and that for aught we know, other parts of the cosmos may contain beings as superior to ourselves as we are to jelly-fish.

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答案     不管来自世界何地,我们大家都相信自己的民族优越于其他民族。鉴于每个民族皆有其特有的“长处”与“短处”,我们就调整自己的价值标准,以便证明自己民族的“长处”是真正重要的,而“短处”相对来说则是次要的。在这个问题上,有理性的人也一定会承认,并没有毋庸置疑的准确答案。而作为人类,人的自尊心很难对付,因为我们无法与某种非人类的观点进行论辩,以求得结论。据我所知,对待这种人类普遍具有的自负情绪的唯一办法就是提醒我们自己:在茫茫宇宙中一个小小角落的一颗小小星球的生命历程上,人类仅仅是一个短暂的插曲。说不定在宇宙中的其他地方存在着比我们更为高级的生命,就如同我们之于水母那样。

解析 1.画线部分第一句中,whatever part of the world we come from作状语,处于句子的中间位置,翻译时按照汉语的表达习惯,需要转换词序,将其放在句首,可译为“不管来自世界何地”。
2.画线部分第二句中,Seeing that译为“鉴于”;merits和demerits一般译为“优点”和“缺点”,此处修饰“民族”,可译为“长处”和“短处”;so as to make out可译为“以便证明”。
3.画线部分第三句,there is no demonstrably right answer按字面看,表示没有一个说法“可以被证明就是”对这个问题的“正确的解答”。但这样不符合汉语的表达习惯,因此须灵活处理,可译为“在这个问题上,有理性的人也一定会承认,并没有毋庸置疑的准确答案”。
4.画线部分第四句,argue out的意思是“把(不同意见)辩个水落石出,把……辩论出结果,辩清楚”。
5.画线部分最后一句中,for aught we know相当于for aught I know,意思是“据我所知”。
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