2005年第四篇阅读精翻【考研英语】

2005年第四篇阅读

paragraph1

1. Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. 

Americans（主语） no longer expect（谓语） public figures（宾语）, whether in speech or in writing（状语）, to command the English language（宾补） with skill and gift（状语）.

figure  n.人物，数字

speech  n.演讲

command  v.掌握

gift  n.天赋

翻译：美国人不再期望公众人物在演讲或者写作中，可以带着天赋和技巧掌握英语了。

2. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. 

Nor do（谓语里的助动词）【部分倒装句】 they（主语） aspire（谓语） to such command（宾语） themselves.

aspire  v.渴望，追求

翻译：他们也不追求他们自己可以掌握。

3. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of language and Music and Why We Should Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.

In his latest book（状语）, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, John McWhorter（主语）, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views（补充说明JM这个人）, sees（谓语） the triumph（宾语） of 1960s counter-culture（定语修饰triumph） as responsible（宾补） for the decline of formal English（状语）.

degradation  n.退化，降格

controversialist  n.争论者

liberal   adj.自由的

conservative   adj.保守的

triumph  n.胜利，成功

翻译：在JM（一个混合着自由和保守观点的语言家以及善辩家）的最近的一本书里，《做我们自己的事情：语言和音乐的退化，以及我们为什么应该喜欢，在意》，他认为1960年代反主流文化的胜利应该为正式英语的衰落负责任。

paragraph2

1. Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education. 

Blaming the permissive 1960s（主语） is（谓语） nothing new（宾语）, but（but连接并列句） this（主语） is（谓语） not yet another criticism（宾语） against the decline in education（定语修饰criticism）.

blame  v.责备，归咎于

permissive  adj.放纵的，许可的

criticism  n.批评

翻译：指责1960年代的放纵不是一个新鲜事，但这不是对于教育衰落的另一种批评。

2. Mr. McWhorter’s academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of “whom”, for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.

Mr. McWhorter’s academic speciality（主语） is（谓语） language history and change（宾语）, and（and连接的并列句） he（主语） sees（谓语） the gradual disappearance（宾语） of “whom”（定语修饰disappearance）, for example（插入语）, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.

gradual  adj.逐渐的

disappearance  n.消失，灭亡

regrettable  adj.遗憾的，可惜的

case-ending   语格尾缀

翻译：M先生的大学专业是语言历史和语言改变，并且他看到“whom”的逐渐消失是自然的，并且和古英语的语格尾缀的消失一样没有什么可遗憾的。

paragraph3

1. But the cult of the authentic and the personal, “doing our own thing”, has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. 

But the cult（主语） of the authentic and the personal（定语修饰cult）, “doing our own thing”, has spelt（谓语） the death（宾语） of formal speech, writing, poetry and music（定语修饰death）.

cult  n.狂热，信徒

authentic  adj.真正的，真实的

poetry  n.诗

翻译：但是对真实和个性的狂热崇拜（“做我们自己的事”），已经导致了正式的演讲、写作、诗歌和音乐的死亡。

2. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page.

While（while连接的并列句） even the modestly educated（主语） sought（谓语） an elevated tone（宾语） when（when引导的时间状语从句） they（从句主语） put（从句谓语） pen（从句宾语） to paper（宾补） before the 1960s（时间状语）, even the most well regarded writing（主语） since then has sought（谓语） to capture spoken English （宾语）on the page（状语）.

modestly  adj.适中的，谦虚的

elevated  adj.提高的，高尚的

well regarded  受好评的

capture  v.抓捕，俘获

翻译：1960年代前，即使受到中等教育的人在他们写作时都去寻求一个高尚的曲调，在那之后，最受到好评的写作也都开始在书面上追求口语的英语。

3. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. 

Equally, in poetry,（状语） the highly personal, performative genre（主语） is（谓语） the only form（宾语） that（that引导的定语从句） could claim（从句谓语） real liveliness（从句宾语）.

performative  adj.表述行为的

genre  n.体裁，类型

liveliness   n.活泼，鲜明

翻译：一样的是，在诗歌方面，高度的个性化和具有表现力的体裁才是可以被称作真实鲜明的形式。

4. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.

In both oral and written English（状语）, talking（主语） is triumphing（谓语） over speaking（介词短语表比较）, spontaneity【并列句，此处省略谓语】 over craft（介词短语表比较）.

oral  adj.口头的

spontaneity  n.自发性，自动性

craft  n.工艺，手艺

翻译：不管是口语还是写作的英语，交谈胜过演讲，即兴发挥胜过精心准备。

paragraph4

1. Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. 

Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture（状语）, the trend（主语） that（that引导的定语从句修饰trend） Mr. McWhorter（从句主语） documents（从句谓语） is（谓语） unmistakable（宾语）.

entertaining  adj.令人愉快的

array  n.排列，一系列

document  v.记录，记载

翻译：用一系列令人愉快的来自于雅俗文化的例子去证实，M先生记录的趋势是没错的。

2. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. 

But it（形式主语） is（谓语） less clear（宾语）, to（to引导的插入语补充说明） take the question of his subtitle, why（why引导的主语从句） we（从句主语） should（从句谓语）, like, care.

subtitle  n.副标题

翻译：但是他书里面副标题“为什么我们应该在意”的答案还不明确。

3. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. 

As a linguist（状语）, he（主语） acknowledges（谓语） that（that引导的acknowledge的宾语从句） all varieties（从句主语） of human language（定语修饰varieties）, including non-standard ones like Black English（补充说明human language）, can be powerfully expressive（从句谓语）—there exists【相当于there be句型】 no language or dialect （主语） in the world（状语） that（that引导的定语从句修饰language or dialect） cannot convey（从句谓语） complex ideas（从句宾语）.

variety   n.种类，多样

non-standard  adj.不标准的

expressive  adj.表现的，表达的

dialect  n.方言

convey  v.传递，传达

翻译：作为一个语言学家，他承认所有种类的人类语言，包括不标准的黑人英语，都有很强的表现力——这个世界上没有语言或者方言不能够传达复杂的信息。

4. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper. 

He（主语） is not arguing（谓语）, as（as引导的状语从句） many（从句主语） do（从句谓语）, that（that引导的arguing的宾语从句） we（从句主语） can no longer think straight（从句谓语） because（because引导的状语从句） we（从句主语） do not talk（从句谓语） proper.

翻译：他和很多人不同，他并不认为我们会因为不能够适当的说话就不能够清晰的思考。

paragraph5

1. Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. 

Russians（主语） have（谓语） a deep love（宾语） for their own language（状语表对象） and（and连接并列谓语） carry（谓语2） large chunks（宾语） of memorized poetry（定语修饰chunks） in their heads（状语）, while（while引导的并列句） Italian politicians（主语） tend（谓语） to elaborate speech（宾语） that （that引导的定语从句）would seem（从句谓语） old-fashioned（从句宾语） to most English-speakers（表对象）.

chunk  n.大块，矮胖的人

elaborate  v.精心制作，详细阐述

翻译：俄罗斯人深深的爱着他们自己的语言，并且在他们的脑中带着大量的记住的诗歌，而意大利的政客们更倾向于精心准备一个对于大多数说英语的人已经过时的演讲。

2. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. 

Mr. McWhorter（主语） acknowledges（谓语1） that（that引导的acknowledge的宾语从句） formal language（从句主语） is（从句谓语） not strictly necessary（从句宾语）, and（and连接的并列谓语） proposes（谓语2） no radical education reforms（宾语）—he（主语） is really grieving over（谓语） the loss of something（宾语） beautiful more than useful（定语修饰something）.

propose   v.建议

翻译：M先生承认正式的语言不是严格的必需品，并且没有建议根本的教育改革——他是真的为了那些美丽多过有用的东西的消亡而感到悲伤。

3. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”. 

We（主语） now take（谓语） our English（宾语） “on paper plates instead of china（状语）”.

plate   n.碟，金属板

翻译：我们现在用纸盘而不是瓷器装着我们的英语。

4. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.

A shame（宾语1）, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one（宾语2）.【省略句，省略了主谓】

shame  n.羞耻

翻译：或许很让人感到羞愧，但可能是无法避免的。