文档介绍：2000 Passage 2
5. The grand mediocrity of today — everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring — means that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in uppermiddleclass pared to the tribes.
【译文】今天这种极其显著的平均化——每个人的生存机会和子女数量都相同——意味着,与部落相比较,自然选择在印度中上阶层已经失去了80%的效力。
【析句】该句的主语是The grand mediocrity,谓语是means,其后跟着that引导的宾语从句,pared to the tribes是过去分词结构作状语,完整的说法是if/when it (the natural selection) pared to the tribes。破折号中间的成分(everyone… of offspring)是插入语,其中survival和number of offspring都是介词in的宾语。
【讲词】 mediocrity意为“平常,平庸”或指“平常的人,平庸的人”。其形容词是 mediocre(平庸,平凡,普通)。When something is distinctly not as good as it could be, it is mediocre.(要是某个东西没有明显的好坏之处,那肯定是一个平庸的东西。)结合插入语(破折号里的词语),可以确定the grand mediocrity of today是指每个人的生存机会和后代的数量相同,因此这个词组可以译为“今天这种很普遍的平均化”。
offspring有子女的意思,但在这里建议译成“后代”,因为显然难以确定只是指一代人。
6. Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: they “look at anic being as a savage looks at a ship,as at something wholly beyond prehension.”
【译文】达尔文有一句话描述那些对进化一无所知的人:他们“看待有机的生命如同野人看着一艘大船,以为是某个完全不能理解的东西”。
【析句】 Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution是主句,冒号后的句子是主句中a phr