評論
打印
Just to give you a few examples: "ending a pregnancy" versus "killing a fetus;"
這里是一些例子：是“終止懷孕”還是“殺死胚胎”
"a ball of cells" versus "an unborn child;"
“一個細胞聚合的小球”還是“一個尚未出生的孩子”
"invading Iraq" versus "liberating Iraq;"
“侵略伊拉克”或是“解放伊拉克”
"redistributing wealth" versus "confiscating earnings."
“收入重新分配”抑或“沒收財產(chǎn)”
And I think the biggest picture of all would take seriously the fact
而整個圖景中最顯著的一部分是要看到一點：
that so much of our verbiage about abstract events is based on a concrete metaphor
就是我們對抽象事件的描述，大多都是基于實體的隱喻
and see human intelligence itself as consisting of a repertoire of concepts
這反映出人類智能本身是由一整套概念組成
such as objects, space, time, causation and intention
比如物體、空間、時間，因果關(guān)系與意圖
which are useful in a social, knowledge-intensive species,
對我們這種群居的、知識密集型的種群非常有用
whose evolution you can well imagine, and a process of metaphorical abstraction
我們能想象人類的進化和語言的隱喻抽象化過程齊軌并行
that allows us to bleach these concepts of their original conceptual content
慢慢地這些概念里原先的實際內(nèi)容就淡化了
space, time and force -- and apply them to new abstract domains,
空間、時間和力--而它們卻被用在全新的抽象領(lǐng)域里
therefore allowing a species that evolved to deal with rocks and tools and animals,
如此就使得我們這個原本是進化出來，和石頭、工具與動物打交道的種群
to conceptualize mathematics, physics, law and other abstract domains.
能夠形成數(shù)學(xué)、物理、法律等等概念，涉足其他抽象的領(lǐng)域
Well, I said I'd talk about two windows on human nature
我曾說過我要談?wù)勅诵缘膬缮却皯?/div>
the cognitive machinery with which we conceptualize the world,
我們用來概念化世界的知性機能
and now I'm going to say a few words about the relationship types
現(xiàn)在我要說說幾種人際關(guān)系
that govern human social interaction, again, as reflected in language.
它們支配著人類的社交活動，同樣，這些都體現(xiàn)在語言里
And I'll start out with a puzzle, the puzzle of indirect speech acts.
我要從間接話語行為這個謎題開始。
