解析:
(71)The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind;it is simply the mode by which all phenomena are reasoned about and given precise and exact explanation.
結構分析:句子的框架是The method of scientific investigation is nothing but…;it is simply the mode by which all phenomena are reasoned about and given…。本句分號前為長單句,分號后句子與前句并列,意思遞進,which引出定語從句修飾mode;結構nothing but譯為“只是”。
參考譯文 科學研究的方法不過是人類思維活動的必要表達方式,也就是對一切現象進行思索并給以精確而嚴謹解釋的表達方式。
(72)It is not that the scales in the one case,and the balance in the other,differ in the principles of their construction or manner of working;but that the latter is much finer apparatus and of course much more accurate in its measurement than the former.
結構分析:句子的框架是It is not that…;but that…。這并不是A,而是B。A、B分別為兩件事:A是the scale…and the balance…differ in…,B是the latter is…。這句話如果直譯,應為“并不是一種情況里的磅秤與另一種情況里的天平在構造原理和工作方式上有何不同,而是后者是種精密得多的儀器,在計量方面當然也就比前者精確得多。”這里的in one case承前指前文“面包師和買肉者用普通磅秤稱量貨物”,in the other呼應前文的“化學家利用他的天平和其它刻度精細的儀器進行困難、復雜的分析”。the latter,后者,the former,前者,顯然分別對應上半句里的the scale in one case和the balance in the other。 參考譯文 這并不是說面包師或買肉的所用的磅秤和化學家所用的天平在構造原理或工作方式上存在差別,而是說與前者相比,后者是一種精密得多的裝置,因而在計量上就要更準確得多。
(73)You have all heard it repeated that men of science work by means of induction(歸納法)and deduction,that by the help of these operations,they,in a sort of sense,manage to extract from Nature certain natural laws,and that out of these,by some special skill of their own,they build up their theories.
結構分析:句子的框架是You have all heard it…that…,that…,and that…。句中的it是形式賓語,真正的賓語是后面的三個并列分句:A.that men of science work…and deduction;B.that by the help of these operations,they…manage to…certain natural laws;C.and that…,they…their theories.在第二個分句中,they指代前面的men of science,these operations指前文的means of induction and deduction,operations在這里根據上下文要譯成“方法”而不能譯成“操作”;在第三個分句中,代詞these指代第二個分句中的certain natural laws。
“men of science”顯然是“scientists”的另外一種說法,在1993年的英譯漢文章中,作者還使用了“a man of science”,“a scientific man”之類的表達法,掌握了英語變化表達的特點,就能很輕松地把它們都譯成“科學家”。
參考譯文 你們都多次聽說過,科學家是用歸納法和演繹法工作的,而且從某種意義上來說,他們依靠這種方法力求從自然界歸納出某些自然規律,然后根據這些規律,用自己的某種非同一般的本領,建立起他們的理論。
(74)And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can be by no means compared with these processes,and that they have to be acquired by a sort of special training.
結構分析:句子的框架是And it is imagined…that…,and that…。這是典型的句型It+is+p.p.(過去分詞)+that clause。It是形式主語,句子真正的主語是兩個并列的that引導的主語從句,由連詞and連接。operation此處不能譯成“操作”,根據上下文應譯成“活動”,這里的processes要譯成“思維過程”,而不能簡單地理解成“過程”。
原文中有三個被動語態is imagined,be compared和be required,譯成漢語都變成了主動表達:認為、相比和掌握。
參考譯文 許多人以為,普通人的思維活動根本無法與科學家的思維過程相比,認為這些思維過程必須經過某種專門訓練才能掌握。
(75)Probably there is not one here who has not in the course of the day had occasion to set in motion a complex train of reasoning,of the very same kind,though differing in degree,as that which a scientific man goes through in tracing the causes of natural phenomena.
結構分析:句子的框架是這樣一句型:Probably there is no one here…。后邊緊跟一定語從句修飾no one:who has not had occasion to do something(in the course of the day)。這里定語從句里的否定與主句的否定一起構成雙重否定,目的是加強語氣:大概不會有誰一天到晚都沒有機會去…。后面的不定式的內容也很復雜:set in motion意為“進行”;train這里指一系列、一連串的東西,a complex train of reasoning即一連串的思考;the same…與as…被though differing in degree隔開。這里“the very same kind as that…”就是指“與…完全同一類型(的思考)”,very用在名詞性結構前,往往起強調作用。
參考譯文 大概這里不會有人一整天都沒有機會進行一連串復雜的思考活動。這些思考活動與科學家在探索自然現象原因時所經歷的思考活動,盡管復雜程度不同,但在類型上卻是完全一樣的。