選篇導(dǎo)讀

中國(guó)語(yǔ)言和語(yǔ)法有哪些特性呢？對(duì)于這個(gè)問(wèn)題可能很多人會(huì)想到“智慧”，“富有邏輯性”或者是“直覺(jué)”。

而林語(yǔ)堂先生所說(shuō)的“女性特征”又是怎么回事呢？且看今日之《英文觀止》。

賞析批注

Common sense and practical mind are characteristics of women rather than of men, who are more liable to take their feet off the ground and soar to impossible heights. The Chinese language and grammar show this femininity exactly because the language, in its form, syntax, and vocabulary, reveals an extreme simplicity of thinking, concreteness of imagery, and economy of syntactical relationships.

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Common sense and practical mind are characteristics of women rather than of men, who are more liable to take their feet off the ground and soar to impossible heights.

practical， 指“實(shí)用的”，e.g. Skirts aren’t very practical in my kind of work. 我的這種工作穿裙子是不實(shí)用的。

characteristics，指“特征”，e.g. He has all the characteristics of a great husband.他有著一個(gè)好丈夫應(yīng)該擁有的所有特征。

liable，指“可能”，e.g. You’re more liable to injury when you don’t get regular exercise. 不規(guī)律的鍛煉更有可能受傷。

soar，指“翱翔”，e.g. As it lifted off the ground it realized it could fly and began to soar in the air.當(dāng)它從地面升騰時(shí)，它意識(shí)到它可以飛，然后它開(kāi)始凌空翱翔。

句子分析：本句在寫(xiě)女子的特性—— 常識(shí)和實(shí)用心理，同時(shí)也從側(cè)面描寫(xiě)了男子的特性—— “喜憑空遐想”，“翱翔非非之境”來(lái)與女子特性形成對(duì)比。其中“take their feet off the ground”用得形象生動(dòng)，一個(gè)動(dòng)作使讀者能感受到“男人們腳離地面，胡亂遐想”的場(chǎng)面。

本句譯為：常識(shí)和實(shí)用的心理為女子之特性，較甚于男子。男子常喜憑空遐想，翱翔非非之境。

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The Chinese language and grammar show this femininity exactly because the language, in its form, syntax, and vocabulary, reveals an extreme simplicity of thinking, concreteness of imagery, and economy of syntactical relationships.

femininity，指“女性特征”，e.g. You don’t have to lose your femininity to be an independent, successful woman. 成為一個(gè)獨(dú)立成功的女性，你不必丟掉你的女性特征。

syntax，指“句法”，e.g. The mistakes made when reading seem to involve the syntax of the sentence. 閱讀時(shí)所犯的錯(cuò)誤似乎都涉及句子的語(yǔ)法。

reveal，指“顯示”，e.g. His letters reveal a different side of his personality. 他的信件顯示出他個(gè)性的另一面。

extreme，指“極端的”，e.g. Extreme poverty still exists in many rural areas. 許多地區(qū)的極度貧困現(xiàn)象依然存在。

concreteness，指“具體化”，e.g. Originally I was confused by my father’s mixing of abstraction and concreteness. 起初，我被我父親那些抽象和具體的混合思想所迷惑了。

imagery, 指“意象”，e.g. The sea is often used in Bible imagery to symbolize the great mass of mankind. 海在圣經(jīng)中常被用為眾多人類(lèi)的意象象征。

syntactical, 指“句法的”，e.g. Commas are used in some syntactical constructs to separate the elements of a list. 逗號(hào)在一些語(yǔ)法構(gòu)造里用于分隔一個(gè)列表的元素。

句子分析：本句主句為“The Chinese language and grammar show this femininity exactly”，“the language reveals an extreme simplicity...syntactical relationships”是由because引導(dǎo)的原因狀語(yǔ)從句，“in its form, syntax, and vocabulary” 在句中做狀語(yǔ)。僅通過(guò)一句話(huà)，就總結(jié)出中國(guó)語(yǔ)言和語(yǔ)法所體現(xiàn)的女性特征——思想的質(zhì)樸性，想象的具體性以及句法關(guān)系的簡(jiǎn)潔性。其中“show” 和 “reveal” 兩個(gè)動(dòng)詞，都有“展示，表現(xiàn)”之意，但是程度由淺到深，體現(xiàn)了作者思維的嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)性。

本句譯為：中國(guó)語(yǔ)言和語(yǔ)法顯出女性的特征，正因?yàn)檎Z(yǔ)言的形式，章句法、應(yīng)用詞匯、顯出思考上之極端簡(jiǎn)單性，擬想之具體性，和章句法之關(guān)聯(lián)關(guān)系之經(jīng)濟(jì)。