Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. ( 10 points)
Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton's laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory framework.
自亚里士多德时代以来,对普遍原理的探索一直是科学事业的特征。在某些方面,这种对共性的追求定义了科学。牛顿运动定律和达尔文进化论都将大量不同的现象整合到一个单一的解释框架中。
It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail. Nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.
在物理学中,有一种方法将这种统一冲动推向极致,寻求一种万物理论——一个能解释我们所见一切的单一生成方程。然而,考虑到它可能涉及的维度和宇宙,这样的理论是否会是一种简化变得越来越不明确。尽管如此,某种形式的统一仍然是一个主要目标。
This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world's languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features.
自然科学中的这种倾向长期以来在社会科学中也很明显。在这里,达尔文主义似乎提供了理由,因为如果所有人类都有共同的起源,那么假设文化多样性也可以追溯到更受约束的起点似乎是合理的。正如令人眼花缭
(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything – a single generative equation for all we see. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification, for if all humans share common origins, it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.
乱的各种人类求偶仪式都可能被视为性选择的形式一样,也许世界上的语言、音乐、社会和宗教习俗甚至历史都受普遍特征支配。从共享的东西中过滤出独特的东西可能使我们能够理解复杂的文化行为是如何产生的,以及在进化或认知方面是什么引导着它。
That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.
至少,这是人们的希望。但今天在线发表的一项关于语言特征的比较研究提供了一个现实检验。奥克兰大学的Russell Gray和他的同事根据先前两次在语言中寻找普遍性的尝试来考察语法的演化。
The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language-acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.
这些努力中最著名的是由Noam Chomsky发起的,他认为人类天生具有一种先天的语言习得能力,该能力决定了一种普遍语法。然后,少数几条生成规则就足以展开一种语言的整个基本结构,这就是为什么儿童能如此快速地学习语言。第二种方法由Joshua Greenberg提出,对普遍性采取了一种更经验性的方法,识别许多语言共享的特征(特别是在语序方面),这些特征被认为代表了由认知约束导致的偏向。
Gray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lineage- specific and not governed by universals.
Gray和他的同事通过检查四个语系树对它们进行了检验,这些语系树总共代表了2000多种语言。Chomsky的语法应该显示出独立于语系树或通过它追踪的路径的语言变化模式,而Greenberg的普遍性预测特定类型的语序关系之间存在强烈的相互依赖性。这两种模式都没有得到分析的证实,这表明语言的结构是特定于世系的,并不受普遍规律支配。
(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality, identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many languages, which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints.
(50)Chomsky's grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it, whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations.
(46) In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything – a single generative equation for all we see.
参考译文:在物理学中,有一种研究路径把这种追求(科学)统一的冲动推向了极致,试图寻求一种万物之理——也就是能用一个方程式来解释我们所见到的一切现象。
(47) Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification, for if all humans share common origins, it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings.
参考译文:在社会科学领域,达尔文主义似乎为此提供了依据;因为如果所有人类都有共同的起源,那么似乎有理由认为,文化的多样性也可以追溯到为数更少(更为有限)的源头。
(48) To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.
参考译文:把(文化现象中)独有的部分从共有的部分里筛选出来,或许能让我们理解:复杂的文化行为是如何产生的,以及从进化或认知的角度来看,是什么在引导着它。
(49) The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality, identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many languages, which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints.
参考译文:由
(50) Chomsky's grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it, whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations.
参考译文:(按理论预期)乔姆斯基的(普遍)语法应当呈现出这样一些语言变化的模式:它们独立于(语言)谱系树以及在该谱系树中所追踪到的(演化)路径;而格林伯格(式)的语言普遍性则预言:在特定类型的词序关系之间存在着强烈的相互依赖关系。
逐句解析 句前 (N) 即考卷划线句题号,与卷面下划线句一一对应——满分 10 分、每句约 2 分,阅卷把每句切成意群按采 分点给分(★ 为采分点意群)。 【来源】Nature《自然》2011年 4月 14日一篇题为 Universal Truths(普遍真理)的文章。
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