《Finding fossil man 发现化石人》 -英语翻译教程-中英双语赏析

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Finding fossil man

发现化石人

🎈发现find/discover（discover侧重第一次发现）

🎈远古人类fossil man/ancient man/prehistoric man（此时man不可数，表示“人类”）

Q:英文标题为何不译Discovering ancient man而译Finding fossil man呢？

🎈原因有二。一是英文标题追求简洁扼要，尽可能避免使用大词汇，多用单音节词，如：encourage→spur，prohibit / forbid→ban，compete→vie，nominate→name；二是(F)inding (f)ossil man采用了alliteration（头韵）的手法，读起来很舒服，容易被读者接受，体现了音韵和谐，相似的例子还有《傲慢与偏见》（Pride and Prejudice）、《美女与野兽》（Beauty and the Beast）等。英文的头韵类似中文的双声（汉字的声母相同），如“叮当”。

We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write.

我们从书中可读到5,000年前近东发生的事情，那里的人最早学会了写字。

🎈结构：that…to write是that引导的定从，先行词为things；5,000 years ago 和in the Near East分别是时间状语和地点状语；where引导定语从句，考虑到句式平衡，后置修饰the Near East。

🎈出于句式平衡的语序调整很常见，例如：Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can read and detect colors with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls.中of people who…and walls其实修饰的是句首的cases，但这个修饰部分太长了，而谓语部分have been reported in Russia recently又太短，所以干脆将定语放在了句子后半部分。

🎈读到read of ，其中of不指“…的”，而指“关于”。比如speak/talk of谈到、think of想到、dream of梦到；Of XX表示“论XX”。

🎈…that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East是“事件-地点/时间”的顺序，而中文是“地点/时间-事件”的顺序，这样的语序调整很常见

例如

I saw him at the party yesterday.

我昨天在聚会上看到他了。

🎈, where people first learned to write相当于,because people first learned to write here。即where引导的定从本质上是原因状语从句。在表达效果相同的情况下，用词越少越高级，我们发现定从明显更为简洁。趁热造个句：最近几年大批农民工涌入大城市，<因为他们在那里>可以找到不错的工作并且养活家人。The past few years witnessed the great influx of migrant workers from the countryside to big cities, where they could secure decent jobs and support their families.

But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write.

但直到现在，世界上有些地方种族的人还不会书写。

🎈there be句型：

There seem / appear to be …似乎有

There used to be …曾经有

There happen to be …碰巧有

There is / are going to be …即将有

🎈cannot write（不会书写）可以理解成“与文明隔绝”，这里只是想给大家多扩展一点表达：与……隔绝be cut off from …/be out of touch with …/be isolated from …/be separated from …

The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas, legends handed down from one generation of storytellers to another.

他们保存历史的唯一办法是将历史当作传说讲述，由讲述人一代接一代地将史实描述为传奇故事口传下来。

🎈结构：The only way that…中that引导定从；to recount it as sagas不定式作表语；破折号后的legends…是saga的同位语。

🎈保护，保存，保留preserve/protect/conserve/reserve。其中，preserve侧重保护…的状态，如preserve food / one’s eyesight ；conserve侧重数量，如：conserve wildlife，reserve则强调保留…以供未来使用，如：reserve a table for 2（预定两人桌）

🎈The only way…is to recount it as sagas：动词不定式做表语时， 若前面出现了实义动词“do”, 则常去掉“to”。而All I wanted was to help him.中的to绝不可以省略，因为be动词前并无do的出现。

These legends are useful, because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did.

这些传说是非常有用的，因为他们能够告诉我们生活在远古时期的人们又怎样的迁移，但是他们没有人能够将这些记录下来。

🎈生活在远古时期的人们people who lived long ago

意同下列名词短语：

the first people who were like ourselves

fossil man

people who lived long ago

the first ‘modern men’

ancient men

… the first people like ourselves …

Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Island s came from.

人类学家一直很好奇居住在太平洋小岛上的波利尼西亚人最初的祖先来自于何处。

🎈the remote ancestors远祖（强调隔了好几代）

a distant relative 远亲（强调血缘）

a close / near relative 近亲

🎈the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Island s came from：living in the Pacific Island s came from非谓语动词后置修饰名词。

The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.

关于这些人传说的解释显示这些人中的一部分来自于2000年前的印尼。

🎈about 2,000 years ago中的about表示“大约”。or so也有此意，但要跟在数字之后，如twenty or so（差不多二十个）。

But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten.

但是住在遥远的过去的我们的祖先，连他们的传奇都已经被遗忘了，当然如果他们有传奇的话。

🎈so long ago that even their sagas：so与that连用，that引导结果状从。

🎈who were like ourselves

表示相似：be similar to …/ resemble/ bear a resemblance to …

🎈if they had any不能理解为条件状从，而应理解为让步状从，为“即使有、就算有”。举个例子：God’s reasons, if He has any, are opaque to us.就算上帝有他的原因，我们也无法理解。此外，if any和if ever也表示“即使有、就算有”，但if any前常为名词，if ever前为时间

His descendants, if any, never left the island.

He is seldom, if ever, absent from work.

So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first ‘modern men’ came from.

所以考古学家们既没有历史记载也没有传说可以供他们找出最初的现代人来自于哪里。

🎈既没有…也没有…（来做某事…）have neither… nor…(to do…)

Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds.

然而，幸运的是祖先们用石头做为工具，尤其是燧石，因为他们比其他的种类更加容易定型。

🎈shape这个词在句中是动词，属于名词动用的用法，例如：He shaped the clay into a vase.这样的用法很常见

A gust of wind whipped（扬起） the dust along the road.

Honey, I forgot to duck（躲闪）.

They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away.

他们也可能用过木头和兽皮，但这类东西早已腐烂殆尽。

🎈may / might/must have done表示对过去情况的肯定推测，must语气要强于may/might；can not / could not have done表示对过去情况的否定推测。should / ought to have done（本应做但未做）和should not / ought not to have done（不应做却做了）表示责备的语气。would have done则是一种虚拟语气。

🎈skin（可数）人皮或兽皮

hide专指（鹿、牛等）兽皮

fur指毛皮（毛+皮）

feather指鸟类的羽毛

fur and feather飞禽走兽

fin, fur and feather=all kinds of animals各种各样的动物

最后这两个表达运用了借代（metonymy）的手法，即用特征指代拥有特征的人或事物。例如：A bald slipped out of the house.中的bald（秃头）指秃子；The crown should not yield to the cross.中的crown（王冠）和cross（十字架）分别指代王权和神权。

Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.

石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制造这些工具的人的骨头早已荡然无存，但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来。

🎈and so…中and是连词，so是副词，意为in this way（这样一来）。从句when even the bones…中when不指“当……时”，而时引导让步状从，意为“尽管”，此时when从句常在主语之后。when的这种用法还是很常见的，例如：Why do you walk when you have a car?你既然有车为什么要走路？

🎈disappear / vanish without trace消失的无影无踪

🔥必背词汇

recount         v. 叙述，讲述

recount / relate / report sth. to sb. 向某人讲述某事

tell sb. (about) sth. 向某人讲述（关于）某事（的情况）

narrate v.记叙、记述→narrative n.记叙文

account v.讲述→account for…①占…比例②解释…

saga          n. 长篇英雄传说

epic n.史诗

legend n.民间传说→legendary a.传说的；著名的

myth [C]

mythology [U]神话

anthropologist     n. 人类学家

anthropology    n.人类学

“anthrop ” = man

philanthropist慈善家

“phil ” = love philosopher

“(o)logy ” = to study biology

geology地质学

psychology心理学

physiology生理学

archaeologist考古学家

archaeology考古学

archaic a.古代的

ancestor      n. 祖先

词根词缀记忆法：an (=ante) + ces (to go) + tor (person)

forefather/forebear/ancestor祖宗（常用Pl）

descendant  [C] 直系后代

offspring   [单复同形]子女，子孙后代

posterity   [U]泛指千秋万世的子孙后代

rot     v. 腐烂

rot away腐烂、烂掉

rotten a.腐烂的，变质的

例句

One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.

一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅汤。

decay v.腐烂（注意：和rot不同，decay不和away搭配）

例句

Too much candy will decay your teeth / make your teeth decay.

还可引申为“衰退、衰亡”之意。

🔥重点表达

远古人类fossil man/ancient man/prehistoric man

近东in the Near East

读到read of

保护，保存，保留preserve/protect/conserve/reserve

生活在远古时期的人们people who lived long ago

远祖the remote ancestors

远亲a distant relative

近亲a close / near relative

住在遥远的过去的我们的祖先the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago

即使有、就算有if they had any

既没有…也没有…（来做某事…）have neither… nor…(to do…)

用石头做为工具made tools of stone

燧石flint

腐烂殆尽rot away

飞禽走兽fur and feather

各种各样的动物fin, fur and feather=all kinds of animals

消失的无影无踪disappear / vanish without trace

🔥复盘测试

远古人类

近东

读到

保护，保存，保留

生活在远古时期的人们

远祖

远亲

近亲

住在遥远的过去的我们的祖先

即使有、就算有

既没有…也没有…（来做某事…）

用石头做为工具

燧石

腐烂殆尽

飞禽走兽

各种各样的动物

消失的无影无踪

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