2003年第2篇第2句 One such cause now seeks to end biomedical research because of
the theory that animals have rights ruling out their use in research. 词汇:
biomedical//adj. 生物医学的
bio- // 生物的
rule out// 排除;阻止 结构:
One such cause now seeks to end biomedical research (主干) //because of the
theory (because of原因状语)//that animals have rights ruling out their use in
research(that同位语从句,其中ruling out…是分词短语作定语,修饰rights). 译文:
现在就有这样一种受到误导的事业,它试图终止生物医学研究,因为有一种理论认为,动物是有权利的,不能将其用来做研究。
翻译思路:句子间承接和行文逻辑
文章第一句话,引用了名人名言,“all that is needed for the triumph of a misguided cause is
that good people do nothing.”这个名言有两点信息,其一是the triumph of a misguided
cause;其二是good people do nothing。这个有点让人摸不著头脑,到底是什么cause,谁是good people。
第二句话,马上开始解答疑惑,One such cause now seeks to end biomedical research because
of…,作者用such来承接,说明这个cause就是上文的那个misguided cause,而这个cause的triumph就是要end biomedical
research;再用because of来进一步解释原因。由此,解答了读者的第一个悬念,what is the misguided cause?
还有第二个悬念,who is the good people?大概可以从because of后面的内容看得出来because of the
theory that animals have rights,再进一步用分词短语补充,是什么rights,就是ruling out
their(指animals’) use in research。但是,还不确信到底谁是good people,由此可以吸引读者接着往下看。