翻译题
萨皮尔一沃尔夫假说的形成 ——2004年英译汉及详解 The relation of language and mind has interested philosophers for many centuries.【F1】The Greeks assumed that the structure of language had some connection with the process of thought, which took root in Europe long before people realized how diverse languages could be. Only recently did linguists begin the serious study of languages that were very different from their own. Two anthropologist-linguists, Franz Boas and Edward Sapir, were pioneers in describing many native languages of North and South America during the first half of the twentieth century.【F2】We are obliged to them because some of these languages have since vanished, as the peoples who spoke them died out or became assimilated and lost their native languages. Other linguists in the earlier part of this century, however, who were less eager to deal with bizarre data from "exotic" language, were not always so grateful.【F3】The newly described languages were often so strikingly different from the well studied languages of Europe and Southeast Asia that some scholars even accused Boas and Sapir of fabricating their data. Na-tive American languages are indeed different, so much so in fact that Navajo could be used by the US military as a code during World War II to send secret messages. Sapir's pupil, Benjamin Lee Whorf, continued the study of American Indian languages.【F4】Being interested in the relationship of language and thought, Whorf developed the idea that the structure of language determines the structure of habitual thought in a society. He reasoned that because it is easier to formulate certain concepts and not others in a given language, the speakers of that language think along one track and not along another.【F5】Whorf came to believe in a sort of linguistic determinism which, in its strongest form, states that language imprisons the mind, and that the grammatical patterns in a language can produce far-reaching consequences for the culture of a society. Later, this idea became to be known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but this term is somewhat inappropriate. Although both Sapir and Whorf emphasized the diversity of languages, Sapir himself never explicitly supported the notion of linguistic determinism.
【答案解析】本句考查的重点是：宾语从句和时间状语从句。 本句主干为The Greeks assumed…，that引导宾语从句，作assumed的宾语；which…引导定语从句，修饰前面assumed…从句。定语从句中long before people realized…为时间状语，修饰took root inEurope，how diverse languages could be作realized的宾语。①定语从句中long before…时间状语在翻译时要根据汉语习惯置于谓语前。②which定语从句修饰的是前面的从句，因此需增译“这种观点”。
【答案解析】本句考查的重点是：时间状语从句和原因状语从句。 本句主干为We are obliged to them…，because…为原因状语从句，里面嵌套了一个as引导的时间状语从句，修饰vanished；who spoke them作定语修饰peoples。①as引导时间状语从句意为“随着，当…的时候”，翻译时候根据汉语表达习惯应置于谓语前，即as…，some of these languages have sincevanished。②因为本句中有原因状语从句，因此增译“之所以”，构成“之所以…，是因为…”的表达。
【答案解析】本句考查的重点是：“SO…that”句型和动词的固定搭配。 本句使用了so…that…句型，主干为The newly described languages were often so strikingly different…that…。From the well studied languages of Europe and Southeast Asia为介词结构作状语，that somescholars even accused Boas and Sapir of fabricating their data为结果状语从句，of fabricating their data作Boas and Sapir的宾补。
【答案解析】本句考查的重点是：状语从句和同位语从句。 本句主干为Whorf developed the idea…，that引导同位语从句，作idea的同位语。Being interestedin…为分词短语作原因状语。①being interested in作原因状语，可增译“由于”，使译文逻辑关系明确。②同位语从句由于较长，可以单独翻译，增译“即”，说明本位语idea的内容。③三个of介词结构作后置定语，均较短，可译为前置定语“…的”。
【答案解析】本句考查的重点是：定语从句和宾语从句。 本句主干为Whorf came to believe in a sort of linguistic determinism…，which引导定语从句修饰linguistic determinism。定语从句主干为which states that…and that…，两个that分别引导宾语从句，作states的宾语；in its strongest form为插入语，将主语which与谓语states隔开。①which引导的定语从句较长，需要单独翻译，再重复先行词。②定语从句里面嵌套的宾语从句较长，可以单独翻译，并在谓语动词states后面加冒号，表明宾语的内容。③in its strongest form作时间状语，意为“在(语言决定论)最极端的时候”，可与states放在一起转译为“(语言决定论)的极端说法是”。④imprison意为“关押，监禁”，这里引申为“束缚、禁锢”，the mind与thought类似，可译为“思维”。