2013年07月05日
2013-07-05 11:34阅读：
学生问：
我平时最爱看柯南，很强的逻辑推理，没想到英语也可以这样学习，很感谢谢老师在口译课和笔译课上又唤醒我对英语的兴趣。但希望知道如何能在艰苦的学习中保持对英语的兴趣？
回答：
理解比较难的书面材料，我们只要机器猫口袋里面的3个宝贝就够了：心形的镜子（照出最关键的词）；天平，也就是我的星座（利用平行对应解决问题）和一把剪刀（断结构、换主语、动词化）。
把这三件宝贝给柯南，然后我们来寻找蛛丝马迹破案。例如我们上课讲的这段我特别喜欢的话。2006年首师大英语专业研究生英译汉真题（25分）。
英语有一条公理，就是谜底就在谜面里面，你要换套思维方式就厉害啦。复习这个例子。
Prose of its very nature is
longer than verse, and the
virtues peculiar to it manifest
themselves gradually. If the
cardinal virtue of poetry is
love, the cardinal virtue of
prose is justice; and, whereas
love makes you act and
speak on the spur of the
moment; justice needs inquiry,
patience, and a control even
of the noblest passions. By
justice here I do not
mean
br>justice only to particular people
or idea, but a habit of
justice in all the process
of thought, a style tranquilized
and a form moulded by
that habit. The master of
prose is not cold, but he
will not let any word or
image inflame him with a
heat irrelevant to his purpose.
Unhasting, unresting, he pursues
it, subduing all the riches
of his mind to it,
rejecting all beauties that are
not germane to it; making
his own beauty out of the
very accomplishment of it, out
of the whole work and its
proportions, so that you must
read to the end before
you know that it is
beautiful. But he has his
reward, for he is trusted
and convinces, as those who
are at the mercy of their
own eloquence do not; and
he gives a pleasure all
the greater for being hardly
noticed. In the best prose,
whether narrative or argument,
we are so led on as
we read, that we do not
stop to applaud the writer,
nor do we stop to
question him.
一些同学会对第一句话的后半句不敏感，没有意识到后半句只是重复前半句而已。关键在于and这个词，and左边是上联，右边是下联，就像相声《八扇屏》里面说的，风吹水面层层浪，下联就不能对“雨打沙滩万点坑”，必须要“点点坑”。鬼佬在暗自用longer在对应gradually，意思是散文比诗长，所以散文的好处是“慢慢”才能体会到的。
第二句话，如果翻译成“如果诗歌的主要优点是爱情，那么散文的主要优点是公正”，就驴唇不对马嘴啦。英语这个语言的特点是-打你一巴掌，然后再揉揉你。你一定要向“后面”找这两个词的谜底，也就是它俩的平行对应句子，就会明白一个是“感性”一个是“理性”。
以上只是两个简单的例子，但是，同学们，你们知道吗，有多少人在羡慕我们能够用两种思维思考问题啊！读的高难度文章越多，我们思维的转轨就越快，你看待问题的方式就会越独特，这是件美好的事情。
中国近现代文字有趣的不多，真话少，官样文章多，平衡稳重远大于个性突出，像个老者。读懂英文，将给你一个完全不同的世界，或者说给你一个新世界，那个世界有着一份鲜明的真实和冲动，像个率真的孩子。跨越这两层时空，将是多么大的奢侈。所以，为什么要失去兴趣呢？
