职称英语综合类阅读理解第二十篇Tales of the Terrible Past逐句翻译.docxVIP

*第二十篇 Tales of the Terrible Past 讲述可怕的过去It is not the job of fiction writers to analyze and interpret history. 分析和诠释历史并不是小说家的工作。Yet by writing about the past in a vivid and compelling manner ，storytellers can bring earlier eras to life and force readers to consider them seriously. 然而通过用一种生动有趣的方式来描写过去，小说家可以重现早期时代，并引起读者的重视。 Among those taking on the task of recounting history are some black writers who attempt to examine slavery from different points of view.在叙述历史的作家中，有一些黑人作家试图从不同的角度审视奴隶制。Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison deals specifically with the legacy of slavery in her book Beloved . 诺贝尔奖获得者托妮?莫里森在她的作品《宠儿》中专门阐述了奴隶制问题。 The main character in this novel，a former slave called Sethe， lives in Ohio in the years following the Civil War，but she cannot free herself from her horrific memories. 小说的主人公叫塞丝，她以前是个奴隶，内战之后住在俄亥俄，但是她无法让自己从可怕的记忆中解脱出来。 Through a series of flashbacks and bitter reminiscences，the reader learns how and why Sethe escaped from the plantation she had lived on; the fate of her husband，who also tried to escape; and finally，what happened to the child called Beloved. 通过一系列的倒序和痛苦的回忆，读者了解到赛丝为什么以及怎样逃出她赖以生存的种植园，她那同样试图逃出来的丈夫的命运，以及最后发生在叫做宠儿的孩子身上的事情。 Morrisons scenes of torture and murder are vivid and strongly convey the desperation of the slaves and the cruelty of their owners.莫里森对奴隶受折磨和遭谋杀的场景描写得很生动，充分地表达出奴隶们的绝望以及奴隶主的残酷。Charles Johnsons Middle Passage approaches slavery from a different， no less violent， yet vantage point. 查尔斯?约翰逊的小说《中途》从另一个不同的角度来描写奴隶制，但同样充满着暴力。His main character，Rutherford Calhoun， is a neer-do-well free black American who stows away on a slave ship bound for Africa to collect its cargo. 他的主人公叫做卢瑟福?卡尔霍恩，是一个游手好闲、身份自由的美国黑人。他偷偷登上了一艘开往非洲贩卖奴隶的船只。Put to work after he is discovered，Calhoun witnesses firsthand the appalling conditions in which the captured Africans are transported .被发现后，他开始为之工作，并亲眼目睹了非洲人被抓起来，然后被运送到美国这种可怕的状况。When they finally rebel and take over the ship，he finds himself in the middle -- and is forced to come to terms with who h