问答题 There are a great many reasons for studying what philosophers have said in the past. One is that we cannot separate the history of philosophy from that of science. Philosophy is largely discussion about matters on which few people are quite certain, and those few hold opposite opinions. As knowledge increases, philosophy buds off the sciences.
We also see how every philosopher reflects the social life of his day. (46) But we can hardly guess what the world will look like to men and women with several generations of communism behind them, who take the brotherhood of man for granted, not as an ideal to be aimed at, but a fact of life, and yet know that this brotherhood was only achieved by ghastly struggles.
The study of philosophies should make our own ideas flexible. We are all of us apt to take certain general ideas for granted, and call them common sense. We should learn that other people have held quite different ideas, and that our own have started as very original guesses of philosophers.
If a dog could speak, it would probably not distinguish between motion and life. Some primitive men do not do so, and travelers interpret them as saying there are spirits everywhere. (47) In our age of machines we are apt to look for mechanical explanations of everything, yet it is only three hundred years since machines had been developed so far that Descartes first suggested that animal and human bodies were machines.
A scientist is apt to think that all the problems of philosophy will ultimately be solved by science. I think this is true for a great many of the questions on which philosophers still argue. (48) For example, Plato thought that when we saw something, one ray of light came to it from the sun, and another from our eyes, and that seeing was something like feeling with a stick. We now know that the light comes from the sun, and is reflected into our eyes. We don't know in much detail how the changes in our eyes give rise to sensation. (49) But there is every reason to think that we learn more about the physiology of the brain, we shall do so, and that the great philosophical problems about knowledge and will are going to be pretty fully cleared up.
(50) But if our descendants know the answers to these questions and others which perplex us today, there will still be one field of which they do not know, namely the future. However exact our science, we cannot know it as we know the past. Philosophy may be described as argument about things of which we are ignorant. And where science gives us a hope of knowledge it is often reasonable to suspend judgment. That is one reason why Marx and Engels quite rightly wrote so little on many philosophical problems which interested their contemporaries. (484 words)

【正确答案】[参考译文]
但是我们几乎无法猜出人们在共产主义社会里生活几代后，世界对他们来说会变成什么样子。到那时人们认为人与人之间的和睦相处将是理所当然的，不是作为一种需要努力追求的理想境界，而是作为一种生活的现实。然而我们知道，必须经过艰辛的努力才能实现这种和睦相处的境界。

【答案解析】[译点精析]
(1)在介词短语with several generations of communism behind them中communism是名词，翻译时最好转化成动词短语，译为“在共产主义社会里生活”，又因为who take the brotherhood这一定语从句的先行词是men and women，整个介词短语可单独成句，置于what the world...men and women之后，以使定语从句与先行词相连。
(2)根据上下文，and之后的主句中承前省略了主语we，翻译时应将其补译出来。该句中that宾语从句的谓语部分是被动语态(was achieved)，根据汉语表述多主动语态的习惯，应将被动转化为主动；介词短语by ghastly struggles应置于was achieved之前翻译，以使译文通顺。
(3) take...for granted的意思是“认为……是理所当然的”，例如：We take for granted that we have an endless supply of clean water．我们想当然地认为我们拥有无穷的洁净水供应。not…but…的意思是“不是……而是……”，根据上下文，but a fact of life是承前省略的用法，完整形式是but as a fact of life，翻译时，应将省略部分译出，be aimed at是被动语态，也应将被动语态转化为主动语态。

【正确答案】[参考译文]
在我们这个机械化的时代，我们倾向于从机械的角度来寻求对所有事物的解释，但自从人们研制机器达到一定程度，以至于笛卡尔首先提出动物和人类都是机器的说法，中间仅仅隔了300年的时间。

【答案解析】[译点精析]
(1) age在此处意为“时代”，be apt to意为“易于……的，有……倾向的”，例如：He was apt to blurt out the whole truth，in cases where other people would have kept silence.他常常直言不讳地说出全部真相，而其他人在这种情况下则往往会保持沉默。
(2)分句1中的mechanical是形容词，为使句意通顺，翻译时需转化为副词，译为“从机械的角度”；explanations是名词，需相应转换为动词，其后的everything也相应转化为其宾语。
(3)分句2中develop的意思是“研制”，该分句中含有一个“so…mat…”结构，意为“如此……以至于”；had been developed是被动语态，根据汉语的表达习惯，应将被动语态转化为主动语态。

【正确答案】[参考译文]
例如，柏拉图认为，当我们看到某个物体的时候，一束来自太阳的光线和另一束来自我们眼中的光线都投射到该物体上，而且看东西和用棍子去感知是差不多的。

【答案解析】[译点精析]
(1)宾语从句中的it指代上句中提到的something，翻译时应该译出其所指；介词短语from the sun是后置定语，修饰ray of light，翻译时应将其置于ray of light之前。and another from our eyes这一表达承前省略了came to it以避免重复，翻译时可与one ray of light from the sun共用一个谓语，此处即可译为“一束来自太阳的光线和另一束来自我们眼中的光线都投射到该物体上”。
(2)something like意为“大约，差不多”，例如：He left something like ten thousand pounds when he died.他临终前留下大约一万英镑的遗产。

【正确答案】[参考译文]
但我们完全有理由认为我们了解了更多大脑的生理结构，我们会做到这一点的，而且与知识和意志相关的伟大的哲学问题都将会完全被破解。

【答案解析】[译点精析]
(1)there is every reason to...意为“有充分的理由，有种种理由，完全有理由”，例如：There is every reason to believe that you will win the game.有充分的理由相信你会赢得比赛。
(2)think后面接有三个并列的宾语从句。其中第二个宾语从句we shall do so省略了连词that，翻译时将三者顺次译出即可。
(3)介词短语of the brain作后置定语，修饰physiology，翻译时应将其置于physiology之前。同样，介词短语about knowledge and will作后置定语，修饰problems，翻译时也应将其置于problems之前。
(4) clear up意为“解决，解答”。例如：It's necessary for you to clear up the misunderstanding.你有必要澄清这个误会。

【正确答案】[参考译文]
但即使我们的后代找到了这些问题的答案，以及一些目前困扰我们的问题的答案，仍然会存在一个他们不了解的领域，那就是未来。

【答案解析】[译点精析]
(1)which perplex us today这一定语从句较简单．可将其置于others之前译出。根据these questions可知，others的意思是other questions，且others之前省略了the answers to，翻译时要将省略成分译出。perplex意为“使困惑，使糊涂“。例如：When new math was introduced into schools，many parents were perplexed by it．当学校开设新的数学课时，许多家长对此感到迷惑不解。
(2)of which they do not know这一定语从句也较简单，可置于field之前，即译为“他们不了解的领域”。namely的意思是“即，也就是”，例如：We should concentrate on our target audience，namely youngsters aged between 15 and 20.我们需关注我们的目标观众群体，即年龄在15岁到20岁之间的年轻人。