远在文字出现之前,口头流传的歌谣(ballad)和神话就已广泛流行。中国文学正是开始于此。然而,歌谣本是人们在生活中随兴而发(improvise)的东西,上古时代也没有保存和记载它们的方式,因此很快就湮灭,不留痕迹。如今,我们只能从一些古书中推断它们的存在

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问题     远在文字出现之前,口头流传的歌谣(ballad)和神话就已广泛流行。中国文学正是开始于此。然而,歌谣本是人们在生活中随兴而发(improvise)的东西,上古时代也没有保存和记载它们的方式,因此很快就湮灭,不留痕迹。如今,我们只能从一些古书中推断它们的存在。古书中记载了一些年代非常久远的歌谣,但大多被认为是后人的伪托之作。能够断定出处的歌谣最早见于《诗经》(The Book of Songs)。从这点来看,古代神话(mythology)对中国文学的影响更为显著。

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答案 Long before the emergence of the written word, ballads and myths, transmitted by word of mouth, had been widely popular. Chinese literature finds its origins in these traditions. However, as ballads were what people improvised out of daily life, and there was a lack of means to record and preserve them in ancient times, they quickly disappeared without a trace. Today, we can only deduce their existence from ancient books, which record some time-honored ballads, but most of them are believed to be faked by later generations. Ballads with certain sources date from The Book of Songs. From this point of view, ancient mythology has a greater influence on Chinese literature.

解析 1.第一句中,“口头流传的”可译作后置定语,用过去分词短语transmitted by word of mouth表示。
2.第二句中,“开始于此”指的是开始于前面提到的歌谣和神话,可用traditions代称。
3.第三句中,“上古时代”可处理为时间状语,译为in ancient times;“湮灭”可译为disappeared;“不留痕迹”可译为without a trace。
4.第四句中,“推断”可译为deduce。
5.第四句和第五句可合译为一句,将第五句处理为which引导的非限制性定语从句,使译文更加紧凑、连贯。
6.第六句中,“能够断定出处的歌谣”即“有确定出处的歌谣”,可译为ballads with certain sources;“最早见于”即“始于”,可用date from表示。
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