3. Abraham Lincoln is the most famous instance of the claim that Americans often made that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position.
分析:the claim 和其同位语 that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position 被 the claim 的定语从句that Americans often made 分割。同位语从句在翻译时可按照顺序翻译,将其翻译为分句。
4. The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and social critics, had been groping in the dark.
分析:in trying to solve插在 the problem 和定语从句which…之间,起到承上启下的作用。of both bourgeois economists and social critics为investigations 的后置定语,起到分割作用。
译文:由于剩余价值的发现,使问题明朗化了。而先前,无论资产阶级经济学家还是社会批评家所从事的一切研究都只是在黑暗中摸索。
5. A better knowledge of China’s civilization would lay open to us an empire of learning, hitherto fabulously described.
分析:lay open 和 an empire of learning 被介词短语 to us 分割。本句选自英国前首相撒切尔夫人1982年在中国欢迎宴会上的讲话。翻译时要注意转译的应用。如把“better”译为副词“更好地”。
译文:更好地了解中国的文明,将为我们打开一个知识的王国,对这个王国迄今只有神话般的描述。
6. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer.
分析:insistence 后接upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States, 中间被插入语as a first consideration 分割,做进一步说明。该句选自美国前总统罗斯福在1933年的就职演说。汉语中动词用得较多,翻译时可把名词转译为动词。
7. As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons: lack of physical and mental energy—both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away—and sentiment.
分析:该句包含了并列结构被分割的情况。lack of physical and mental energy和sentiment 是并列结构,作two other reasons的同位语。但是被非限定性定语从句both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away分割。
译文:人们随着日趋年迈,积存物品还有其他两个原因:一是缺乏体力和精神,两者在清理和扔掉无用之物时不可或缺,二是感情上的原因。
8. Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its retention, but surely no reasonable argument can be found for retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo that accompanies it from the moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial service over the condemned man before he is dead.
分析:这是一个由but引导的并列句。前一分句较简单,who引导的从句作those 的定语,but 后的从句较复杂,从句套从句,for retention…dead是argument的定语。因为它比较长,所以把谓语动词can be found放在它和argument之间,形成分割结构。该句较长,可以分为三层:第一层是those…retention,第二层是but…mumbo-jumbo,第三层是that accompanies…dead。基本上可采用顺序法翻译。
译文:那些相信死刑的人可能有保留死刑的理由,但是肯定找不到合理的论据来保留那令人厌恶的繁文缛节。这一套繁文缛节从法官戴上顶在假发上的擦笔布似的黑帽子宣判死刑之时开始,一直伴随到为被判处死刑的人在其毙命之前诵读葬礼祷文为止。
9. The second aspect is the application by all members of society, from the government official to the ordinary citizen, of the special methods of thought and action that scientists use in the work.
分析:这是一个很典型的分割结构。主干结构是:The second aspect is the application…of the special methods of thought and action,application和修饰它的介词短语被一个长长的by短语分割。
译文:第二个方面是,社会上的一切成员,从政府部门中任工职的官员到普通公民,都应运用科学家们在研究工作中所采用的专门的思维方法和工作方法。