新编英语教程5(第三版李观仪)Unit1-8课文及译文参考名师优质资料.pdfVIP

Haveyoueverwatchedaclumsymanhammeringanailintoabox?Hehitsitfirsttooneside,thento

another,perhapsknockingitovercompletely,sothatintheendheonlygetshalfofitintothewood.A

skillfulcarpenter,ontheotherhand,willdrivthenailwithafewfirm,deftblows,hittingiteachtim

squarelyonthehead.Sowithlanguage;thegoodcraftsmanwillchoosewordsthatdrivehomehispoint

firmlyandexactly.Awordthatismoreorlessright,aloosephrase,anambiguousexpression,avagu

adjectiv（模糊的形容词）,willnotsatisfyawriterwhoaimsatcleanEnglish.Hewilltryalwaystogetth

wordthatiscompletelyrightforhispurpose.

你见过一个笨手笨脚的男人往箱子上钉钉子吗？只见他左敲敲，右敲敲，说不准还会将整个钉子锤翻，结果敲来敲

去到头来只敲进了半截。而娴熟的木匠就不这么干。他每敲一下都会坚实巧妙地正对着钉头落下去，一钉到底。语言也

是如此。一位优秀的艺术家谴词造句上力求准确而有力地表达自己的观点。差不多的词，不准确的短语，摸棱两可的表

达，含糊不清的修饰，都无法使一位追求纯真英语的作家满意。他会一直思考，直至找到那个能准确表达他的意思的词。

TheFrenchhaveanapt（贴切的）phraseforthis.Theyspeakof“lemotjuste,”(theexactword)th

wordthatisjustright.Storiesaretoldofscrupulous（一丝不苟的）writers,likeFlaubert,whospentdays

tryingtogetoneortwosentencesexactlyright.Wordsaremanyandvarious;theyaresubtl（微妙的）and

delicat（细腻的）intheirdifferentshades（色调）ofmeaning,anditisnoteasytofindtheonesthat

expressprecisely（正是，恰恰）whatwewanttosay.Itisnotonlyamatterofhavingagoodcommandof

languageandafairlywidevocabulary;itisalsonecessarytothinkhardandtoobserveaccurately.Choosing

wordsispartoftheprocessofrealization,ofdefiningourthoughtsandflingsforourselves,aswellasfor

thosewhohearorreadourwords.Someoneonceremarked:“HowcanIknowwhatIthinktillIswhatI

say?”thissoundsstupid,butthereisagreatdealoftruthinit.

法国人有一个很贴切的短语来表达这样一个意思，即“lemotjust”,恰到好处的词。有很多关于精益求精的作家的

名人轶事，比如福楼拜常花几天的时间力求使一两个句子在表达上准确无误。在浩瀚的词海中，词与词之间有着微妙的

区别，要找到能恰如其分表达我们意思的词绝非易事。这不仅仅是扎实的语言