研究生高级英语读写译教程课翻译第五单元 张敬源研究生高级英语读写译教程课文翻译第五单元 张敬源研究生高级英语读写译教程课文翻译第五单元 张敬源研究生高级英语读写译教程课文翻译第五单元 张敬源.doc

I fear I cannot picture America as altogether an Elysium—perhaps, from the ordinary standpoint I know but little about the country. I cannot give its latitude or longitude; I cannot compute the value of its dry goods, and I have no very close acquaintance with its politics. These are matters which may not interest you, and they certainly are not interesting to me.我恐怕不能把美国描绘成十足的天堂 -- 从一般的角度来说，也许我对这个国家所知甚少。我说不出它的经、纬度；我算不来它出产谷物的价值；我对它的政治也不十分熟悉。这些东西可能不会使你们感兴趣，它们当然也不会让我感兴趣。 ??The first thing that struck me on landing in America was that if the Americans are not the most well-dressed people in the world, they are the most comfortably dressed. Men are seen there with the dreadful chimney-pot hat, but there are very few hatless men; men wear the shocking swallow-tail coat, but few are to be seen with no coat at all. There is an air of comfort in the appearance of the people which is a marked contrast to that seen in this country, where, too often, people are seen in close contact with rags.??在美国上岸后得到的第一个深刻印象，就是美国人可能算不上是世界上穿得最漂亮的,但却是穿得最舒服的民族。那里看得到头顶不堪入目的烟囱式高顶礼帽的男人，但很少有不戴帽子的男人；还看到穿着难看至极的燕尾服的男人，但很少有不穿外套的男人。美国人的穿戴透露着舒适，这和在我国常可以看到的人们衣衫褴褛的情形形成了鲜明的对比。 ??The next thing particularly noticeable is that everybody seems in a hurry to catch a train. This is a state of things which is not favourable to poetry or romance. Had Romeo or Juliet been in a constant state of anxiety about trains, or had their minds been agitated by the question of return-tickets, Shakespeare could not have given us those lovely balcony scenes which are so full of poetry and pathos.??我特别注意到的第二个特点，是似乎每个人都在急着赶火车。这种情形对诗歌和浪漫爱情是不利的。要是罗密欧和朱丽叶老是为乘火车而担心，或是在为返程车票而烦恼，莎士比亚就不可能写出那几幕如此富有诗意与伤感情调的阳台戏了。 ??America is the noisiest country that ever existed. One is waked up in the morning, not by the singing of the nightingale, but by the steam whistle. It is surprising that the sound practical sense of the Americans does not reduce this intolerable noise. All Art depends upon exquisite and delicate sensibility, and such