2010年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题分析
Part C
Directions:
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)
One basic weakness in a conservation system based wholly on economic motives is that most members of the land community have no economic value. Yet these creatures are members of the biotic community and, if its stability depends on its integrity, they are entitled to continuance.
When one of these noneconomic categories is threatened and, if we happen to love it, we invent excuses to give it economic importance. At the beginning of the century songbirds were supposed to be disappearing. (46) Scientists jumped to the rescue with some distinctly shaky evidence to the effect that insects would eat us up if birds failed to control them. The evidence had to be economic in order to be valid.
It is painful to read these roundabout accounts today. We have no land ethic yet, (47) but we have at least drawn nearer the point of admitting that birds should continue as a matter of intrinsic right, regardless of the presence or absence of economic advantage to us.
A parallel situation exists in respect of predatory mammals and fish-eating birds. (48) Time was when biologists somewhat overworked the evidence that these creatures preserve the health of game by killing the physically weak, or that they prey only on “worthless” species. Here again, the evidence had to be economic in order to be valid. It is only in recent years that we hear the more honest argument that predators are members of the community, and that no special interest has the right to exterminate them for the sake of a benefit, real or fancied, to itself.
Some species of trees have been “read out of the party” by economics-minded foresters because they grow too slowly, or have too low a sale value to pay as timber crops. (49) In Europe, where forestry is ecologically more advanced, the noncommercial tree species are recognized as members of the native forest community, to be preserved as such, within reason. Moreover, some have been found to have a valuable function in building up soil fertility. The interdependence of the forest and its constituent tree species, ground flora, and fauna is taken for granted.
To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. (50) It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts.
46. 科学家们急忙拿出抢救方案 ,但提出的证据明显站不住脚 ,其大意是 ,如果鸟类不能控制昆虫 ,昆虫就会把我们吃掉。
注释 该句由简单句 +短语 +同位语从句组成。 1)第一部分中 jumped to the rescue应译为 “急忙拿出抢救方案, 赶来相助 ”,这是一个常用短语, 比如 : Our car couldn’t start, so our friend came to our rescue and drove us home. (我们的车无法启动, 所以朋友赶来相助, 开车送我们回家)。 shaky evidence意为 “站不住脚的证据”。 2)第二部分中 to the effect that . . .意为 “大意是……”。如: He issued a statement to the effect that he would resign. (他发表了一个声明, 大意是他将辞职。) that之后的从句是同位语从句, 解释 “大意 ”的内容。
47. 但是我们至少近乎承认了这样一种观点: 不管鸟类对我们是否有经济价值, 生存都是它们的固有权利。
注释 句子的基本结构是主句 +宾语从句。1)第一部分中 draw near... 应译为 “接近……,向……靠近”。 the point of admitting . . .意为 “承认……的那个地步”。2)第二部分中 as a matter of intrinsic right可译为 “作为天生 (固有 )的权利”。这里考生可以掌握文章中这样一个背景知识:有人认为, 动物的存在是为了人类的需要, 即它们有 “经济 ”价值。而这正是生态学家批评的观点, 因为生态学家认为, 动物的存在不是因为它们对人类有价值, 而是因为它们自身有这个权利, 即所谓的intrinsic right。另外, 短语 regardless of意为 “不管 ”, 如: I shall buy the computer, regardless of price. (我要买那台电脑, 不管价格多少。)
48. 曾几何时, 生物学家在一定程度上滥用了这条证据: 这些生物通过杀死体弱者来保持物种的健康, 或它们只捕食 “没有价值的”物种。
注释 句子可以分为三个部分: 1)第一部分中 Time was when...是一个固定搭配, 意为 “曾经有段时期……”。 2)第二、三部分合起来构成一个主句 +同位语从句的结构。主句中 overwork可译为 “过度使用”。 3)第三部分中 that..., or that...构成两个平行的同位语从句, 修饰前面的evidence。该部分的难点在于理解 game一词。在此 game不是 “游戏 ”, 而是 “猎物”。 prey on意为 “捕食 ,猎食”。
49. 在生态林业更为发达的欧洲 ,没有商业价值的树种被合理地视为当地森林群落的成员 ,并受到相应的保护。
注释 句子的基本结构可分为两部分。1)第一部分是一个地点状语 In Europe, 但地点状语又带了一个定语从句where...。这部分可译为 “在生态林业更为发达的欧洲”。 2)第二部分是主句, 其中 noncommercial tree species可译为 “没有商业价值的树种”。 native forest community可译为 “当地的森林群落”。 to be preserved as such中的 such指 members of the native forest community, 这个不定式可译为 “作为当地森林群落的成员而被保护”。 within reason是短语, 意为 “合情合理地”。
50. 这一保护系统往往忽视并最终消灭陆地生物群落中很多缺乏商业价值、但对其健康运行却至关重要的物种。
注释 句子的主干结构为主句 +定语从句: 1) and thus eventually to eliminate是插入语, 与前边的 to ignore平行。 eliminate意为 “消灭”。 2)第二部分包括两个定语从句: that..., but that...,修饰前面的 elements。
