新一代大学英语2课文翻译.pdfVIP

新一代大学英语2课文翻译--第1页

UNIT1

About2,400yearsagoinAthensamanwasputtodeathforasking

toomanyquestions.Therewerephilosophersbeforehim,butitwas

withSocratesthatathesubjectreallytookoff.Ifphilosophyhasa

patronsaintitisSocrates.

大约是2,400年以前，在雅典，有一个人因为问了太多问题被判了死刑。在他之前，也有

许多哲学家，可哲学这门学科却是从他——苏格拉底开始，才进入一个真正腾飞的阶段。苏格拉

底之于哲学，就是一位引路和守护的圣人。

Asayoungmanhehadbeenabravesoldierfightinginthe

PeloponnesianWaragainsttheSpartansandtheirallies.Inmiddleage

heshuffledaroundthemarketplace,stoppingpeoplefromtimetotime

andaskingthemawkwardquestions.Thatwasmoreorlessallhedid.

Butthequestionsheaskedwererazor-sharp.Theyseemed

straightforward;buttheyweren’t.

年轻时的苏格拉底曾是一名勇敢的战士，参与了伯罗奔尼撒战争，抵御斯巴达人及其盟军。

到了中年，他在市集随处走动，时不时拦下路人，问他们一些难以回答的问题。他差不多就只

干这个。但他的问题都很犀利，看似简单直白，实际却不好回答。

Theword“philosopher”comesfromtheGreekwordsmeaning“love

ofwisdom”.TheWesterntraditioninphilosophyspreadfromancient

Greeceacrosslargepartsoftheworld,attimecross-fertilizedby

ideasfromtheEast.Thekindofwisdomthatitvaluesisbasedon

argument,reasoningandaskingquestion,notonbelievingthingssimply

becausesomeoneimportanthastoldyoutheyaretrue.Wisdomfor

Socrateswasnotknowinglotsoffacts,orknowinghowtodosomething.

Itmeantunderstandingthetruenatureofourexistence,includingthe

limitsofwhatwecanknow.Philosopherstodayaredoingmoreorless

whatSocrateswasdoing:askingtoughquestions,lookingatreasons

andevidence,strugglingtoanswersomeofthemostimportantqu