翻译题
When Stevens Institute of Technology hired me a decade ago, it installed me for several months in the department of physics, which had a spare office. Down the hall from me, Albert Einstein's electric-haired visage beamed from a poster for the "World Year of Physics 2005." 【F1】Passing the office of a physics professor who made the mistake of leaving his door open, I stopped and asked the question implicitly posed by the "Year of Physics" poster Will there ever be another Einstein? The physicist scrunched up his face and replied, "I'm not sure what that question means." Let me try to explain. Einstein is the most famous and beloved scientist of all time. We revere him not only as a scientific genius but also as a moral and even spiritual sage. Abraham Pais, Einstein's friend and biographer, called him "the divine man of the 20th century." 【F2】To New York Times physics reporter Dennis Overbye, Einstein was an "icon" of "humanity in the face of the unknown." So to rephrase my question: Will science ever produce another figure who evokes such reverence? Einstein took advantage of his fame to speak out on nuclear weapons, nuclear power, militarism and other vital issues through lectures, essays, interviews, petitions and letters to world leaders. When he spoke, people listened. It is hard to imagine any modern scientist, physicist or biologist, being lionized in this manner. One reason may be that science as a whole has lost its moral sheen. The public is warier than ever of the downside of scientific advances, whether nuclear energy or genetic engineering. 【F3】Moreover. as modern science has become increasingly institutionalized, it has started to resemble a guild that values self-promotion above truth and the common good. Einstein also possessed a moral quality that set him apart even in his own time. 【F4】According to Robert Oppenheimer, the dark angel of nuclear physics, Einstein embodied "a wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn." The aspiring scientists and engineers I encounter at my school give me hope that science has a bright future. 【F5】But I suspect that we will never see Einstein's like again, because he was the product of a unique combination of time and temperament. Einstein, incidentally, didn't think he lived up to his own reputation. "I am no Einstein," he once said. On top of all his other qualities, the man was modest.
【答案解析】①本句是复合句。句首的现在分词短语Passing the office…相当于when I passed the office…,作主句的时间状语。②who引导的定语从句修饰先行词professor。③过去分词短语implicitly posed by…poster作后置定语,修饰question;“Year of Physics”意为“物理年”。④冒号后的问句是question的同位语从句,补充说明“物理年”海报隐晦提出的问题。
【答案解析】①此句为主系表结构的简单句,主干之外只有一个介宾短语,结构相对简单。②句首的介宾短语作状语,说明主干所述内容是针对何人而言;另一个介宾短语in the face of...意为“在……面前;面对”,作后置定语修饰humanity“人类”;the unknown是“定冠词+形容词”结构,通常表示一类人或物,此处可理解为“未知的事物”。
【答案解析】①本句结构不算复杂。主干为主谓宾结构;两个逗号间的the dark angel of nuclear physics是Robert Oppenheimer的同位语,解释其身份。②at once childlike and profoundly stubborn是修饰purity的后置定语,补充说明此purity的其他特点;at once意为“同时”。