1 - 阅读感悟
(1)苏东坡与权利。
“I feel like a tired hose who balks at climbing up a hill.”
苏东坡参加考试初入仕途时的雄心壮志,到如今,他把自己比喻成疲惫的马,体现对官场的乏力。
(2)本章主旨。
If Su Tungpo's fate / in the next twenty years / is indicative of / an official's lack of freedom / of personal movement,// it should be a powerful argument / against any scholar's joining politics / who can make a living otherwise.
开头的第一句话就点名了本章的主旨:人在官场,身不由己,苏东坡何去何从全由皇帝决定。这个句子的结构也值得学习。
(3)苏东坡的善良。
If that was a beautiful thing to do, it was a beautiful thing to do —— that was all.
对于苏东坡的善良,本章中用买房子的事情再一次予以佐证。“成全一桩美事,全因其美,无它。”林语堂用这句话写出了苏东坡秉性纯良,不用金钱来衡量事情值不值得做。
(4)精彩译文。
① “ To speak about politics only when in office is the normal rule." “不在其位,不谋其政。”
②“Wang chuckled but did not reply.” "王安石笑而不语。"
③“... he had his heart in his mouth.” "... ... “心都快跳出来了。”
2 - Words and Expressions
(1)break in on(或upon)
原文:This news broke in on him at the beginning of March in 1084.(P524)
①突然扰乱…而使中断,打扰,突然打断(谈话等):
【例句】Children shouldn"t break in on adults" conversation。打断他人的谈话是不礼貌的。
②突然袭击;闯入:
【例句】The police broke in upon the robbers. /警察突然袭击了那伙强盗。
(2)toss off
原文:... of which he tossed off a great many.
①轻而易举地完成某件事:
【例句】She tossed off a letter during the 10-minute break.
在10分钟休息时,她很快地写了一封信。
②to perform, write, consume, etc, quickly and easily 迅速而轻松地表演、写作、消耗等,文中就是这个意思。
③将某物一饮而尽。
(3)entrust:表示“委托,交付”,可同义替换成leave,pass,hand等。
原文:... in order to entrust this old preist to one of his friends at Shingkuo.
(4)at a stroke:一下子,一举。
原文:At a stroke,the rewards of his years of labor were wiped out...
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