its subject(to use maynard mack's categories)is "life-as-spectacle," for readers,diverted by its various incidents,observe its hero odysseus primarily from without;the tragic iliad,however,presents "life-as-experience":readers are asked to identify with the mind of achilles,whose motivations render him a not particularly likable hero. (5)

其主题〔若借鉴梅纳德。迈克(maynard mack)的两个分类范畴的话〕是“人生作为外部景象”,因为读者的注意力被作品那形形色色的事件所分散,主要是从外部来观察其主人公奥德修斯(odyssus)的;然而,富于悲剧色彩的《伊利亚特》所表现的则是“人生作为内心体验”:读者被要求与阿基琉斯(achilles)的心灵产生共鸣,而其行为动机却致使他变作一个并非特别惹人喜爱的主人公。 (从分号后的语句推理出前面的意思)

:hero:主人公;without:外部;likable:有吸引力的

难句类型:

复杂修饰、插入语、抽象词、熟词僻义

解释:请思考:如果看不懂分号前的without的意思,是否可以用合理化原则根据分号后的那句话推理出其意思?

本句中尽管也存在一些复杂修饰和插入的内容,但是本句话之所以难懂,与其说是因为这些东西的影响,倒不如说是因为用词的抽象和语义的难以理解。作为一篇文学评论型的文章,文章中充斥着一些很抽象的词汇;本句话中就有subject/category/spectacle/divert/incident/hero/primarily/without/present/identify/motivation/particularly/likable等。背过这些单词的中文释义,并不意味着在阅读中能够清楚地理解其真正含义。对于抽象词的训练方法,请参见附录中<阅读抽象词提速法>。这里仅解释几个对于这句话最重要的单词:hero:在此不是指英雄,在文学评论型的文章当中,此单词的意思是主人公。

without:在此处是一个熟词僻义,意思是外部,等于outside。

likable:不可望文生义,它不是像什么东西的意思,而是有吸引力的意思,其同义词有pleasant或attractive.

本句中,对于理解全句起到最大影响的,就是能否正确理解without这个单词,然而问题在于,如果不认识without的熟词僻义,是否可用合理化原则根据分号后的那句话推理出其意思?根据紧跟着分别的however,我们可以推断出分号前后的两句话所说的内容截然相反,因此可以从i戏剧的描述中推出,without的意思应该是不去认同其主人公的内心世界。

意群训练

its subject(to use maynard mack's categories)is "life-as-spectacle," for readers,diverted by its various incidents,observe its hero odysseus primarily from without;the tragic iliad,however,presents "life-as-experience":readers are asked to identify with the mind of achilles,whose motivations render him a not particularly likable hero.