Within the span of a hundred years, in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a tide of emigration—one of the great folk wanderings of history—swept from Europe to America. (46) This movement, driven by powerful and diverse motivations, built a nation out of a wilderness and, by its nature, shaped the character and destiny of an uncharted continent.
(47) The United States is the product of two principal forces—the immigration of European peoples with their varied ideas, customs, and national characteristics and the impact of a new country which modified these traits. Of necessity, colonial America was a projection of Europe. Across the Atlantic came successive groups of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Scots, Irishmen,
Dutchmen, Swedes, and many others who attempted to transplant their habits and traditions to the new world. (48) But the force of geographic conditions peculiar to America, the interplay of the varied national groups upon one another, and the sheer difficult of maintaining old-world ways in a raw, new continent caused significant changes. These changes were gradual and at first scarcely visible. But the result was a new social pattern which, although it resembled European society in many ways, had a character that was distinctly American.
(49) The first shiploads of immigrants bound for the territory which is now the United States crossed the Atlantic more than a hundred years after the 15th-and-16th-century explorations of North America. In the meantime, thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. These travelers to North America came in small, unmercifully overcrowded craft. During their six- to twelve-week voyage, they survived on barely enough food allotted to them. Many of the ships were lost in storms, many passengers died of disease, and infants rarely survived the journey. Sometimes storms blew the vessels far off their course, and often calm brought unbearably long delay.
To the anxious travelers the sight of the American shore brought almost inexpressible relief. Said one recorder of events, “The air at twelve leagues’ distance smelt as sweet as a new-blown garden.” The colonists’ first glimpse of the new land was a sight of dense woods. (50) The virgin forest with its richness and variety of trees was a real treasure-house which extended from Maine all the way down to Georgia. Here was abundant fuel and lumber. Here was the raw material of houses and furniture, ships and potash, dyes and naval stores.
1、
(46) This movement, driven by powerful and diverse motivations, built a nation out of a wilderness and, by its nature, shaped the character and destiny of an uncharted continent.
2、
(
47
)
The United States is the product of two principal forces
—
the i
mm
igration of European
peoples with their varied ideas, customs,
and
national
characteristics
and the
impact
of a new country which modi
fi
ed these traits
.
3、
(
48
)
But the force of geographic conditions peculiar to America, the interplay of the varied
national
groups
upon
one
another,
and
the
sheer
diffi
cult
of
maintaining
old-world
ways
in
a
raw,
new continent caused signi
fi
cant changes.
4、
(
49
)
The
fi
rst shiploads of i
mm
igrants bound for the territory which is now the United States crossed the Atlantic more than a hundred years after the 15th-and-16th-century explorations of North America
.
5、
(
50
)
The virgin forest with its richness and variety of trees was a real treasure-house which extended
from Maine all the way down to Georgia
.
1、
【参考译文】这场移民运动由各种强大的动机所推动,在一片荒野之中创立了一个国家,并且,就其本质而言,该运动也塑造了一个未知大陆的性格并决定了它的命运。
【翻译点睛】本句是一个简单句,主语为“This movement”,谓语动词为built和shaped。句中:过去分词短语driven by powerful and diverse motivations是后置定语,用来修饰movement;out of a wilderness是后置定语,用来修饰nation;of an uncharted continent是后置定语,用来修饰character and destiny。翻译时,需注意的重点词组有:①out of a wilderness,out of意为“从……当中”,此处与 a wilderness连用,可译为“在荒野上,从荒野中”;②by its nature译为“就其本质而言,从本质来说”;③uncharted在句中译为“未知的”。
2、
【参考译文】有两股主要力量形成了美国:一种是思想、习俗和民族特征各不相同的欧洲移民,另一种是这个新国家对于上述特征的影响。
【翻译点睛】本句的主干结构是The United States is the product of two principal forces,破折号后面的内容是进行解释说明“forces”的内容的。句中:介词短语of European peoples with their varied ideas,customs,and national characteristics是后置定语,用来修饰 immigration;of a new country which modified these traits是后置定语,用来修饰 impact,该结构中包含一个定语从句which modified these traits,修饰 country。翻译时需注意:①product常见的意思为产品,产物”,此处不必直译为“美国是两股主要力量的产物”,翻译时可将product词由名词转换为动词,引申为“有两股主要力量形成了美国”;②people在句中是复数形式,译为“民族”。
3、
【参考译文】但是美国独特的地理条件,不同民族之间的相互影响,以及在这个原始的新大陆维持原有生活方式的极大难度引起了巨大的变化。
【翻译点睛】整个句子是一个简单句,主语由and并列连接的三个名词短语构成,谓语和宾语部分比较短小,即:caused significant changes。句中:第一个主语为“the force of geographic conditions peculiar to America”,其中“of geographic conditions peculiar to America”是后置定语,修饰force;第二个主语为“the interplay of the varied national groups upon one another”,其中“of the varied national groups upon one another是后置定语,修饰interplay;第三个主语为the sheer difficulty of maintaining old world ways in a raw,new continent”,其中“of maintaining old-world ways in a raw,new continent”是后置定语,修饰 difficulty。翻译时,需注意的重点单词:①interplay译为互相影响”;②sheer译为“独特的”。
4、
【参考译文】15和16世纪的探索发现了北美洲,过了一百多年之后,第一批满载移民
的船只横渡大西洋,驶往现在被称为美国的那片土地。
【翻译点睛】本句的主干结构为“The first shiploads of immigrants crossed the Atlantic”。句中:①bound for the territory which is now the united sates是后置定语,修饰immigrants该句中还包含一个定语从句which is now the United Sates,修饰territory。②more than a hundred years after the 15th and 16th-century explorations of North America是时间状语,其中 after the 15th-and 16th century explorations of North America是后置定语,修饰a hundred year翻译时,需注意的重点词组有:bound for译为“驶向,开往”。
5、
【参考译文】
这片原始森林中有数不胜数且种类繁多的树木,从缅因州一直绵延至乔治亚州,是一座名副其实的宝库。
【翻译点睛】本句的主干结构为“The virgin forest was a real treasure-house”。句中:①with its richness and variety of trees是后置定语,修饰virgin forest;②which extended from Maine all the way down to Georgia是定语从句,修饰treasure-house。翻译时,需注意的重点词组有:①virgin forest译为“原始森林”;②treasure-house译为“宝库”;③extend from...to...意为“从……延伸到……”。