内容简介:

14岁的少女苏菲某天放学回家,发现了神秘的一封信。——你是谁?——世界从哪里来?就这样,在一位神秘导师的指导引下,苏菲开始思索从古希腊到康德,从祁克果到佛洛伊德等各位大师所思考的根本问题。与此同时,苏菲不断接到了些极不寻常的来信,世界像迹团一般在她眼底展开。苏菲运用少女天生的悟性与后天知识,企图解开这些迹团然而事实真相远比她所想的更怪异、更离奇……《苏菲的世界》,即是智慧的世界,梦的世界。它将会唤醒每个人内心深处对生命的赞叹与对人生终极意义的关怀和好奇。

作者简介:

乔斯坦·贾德1952年生于挪威,担任高中哲学教师多年。自1986年出版第一部作品以来,已成为挪威世界级的作家。1991年《苏菲的世界》出版后,成为挪威、丹麦、瑞典和德国的畅销书,销量达三百万册。目前,已有三十多个国家购买了该书的版权。

Sophie’s World

A Novel About the History of Philosophy

by Jostein Gaarder

Translated by Paulette Miller
 Chapter 1. The Garden of Eden (Part II)

№.1 - You can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die, she thought. But it’s just as impossible to realize you have to die without thinking how incredibly amazing it is to be alive.

【译文】“如果你没有意识到人终将死去,就不能体会活着的滋味。”她想。然而,同样的,如果你不认为活着是多么奇妙而不可思议的事时,你也无法体认你必须要死去的事实。

【小编评注】这里,思考哲学的科学方法——辨证思维,已经渐渐萌生于苏菲那颗好奇的心中。

【语法提示】在这个长句中,“realizing that you have to die”和“thinking how incredibly amazing it is to be alive”都是分词短语作定语,通过否定形式的连词“without”来修饰相对应的逻辑主语。我们可以发现,分词短语用在句中比会比定语从句作定语显得更为简洁。

【举一反三】分词短语用法总结:

(1) 分词可与其宾语构成分词短语:

Following this road, you will find the bus stop.(要是沿着这条路走,你会找到车站。)

(2) 介词及其宾语作修饰语,可与前面的分词构成分词短语:

Walking along the street, he saw a bar.(他在街上走时,他看到了一个酒吧。)

(3) 副词作修饰语,可与前面的分词构成分词短语:

He came into the room laughing loudly.(他笑着走进屋子。)

(4) 表示某种时态或语态的分词也是分词短语:

Having graduated, he became a worker.(毕业后他当了工人。)

№.2 - She was startled to find that it contained another white envelope, exactly like the first. But the mailbox had definitely been empty when she took the first envelope! This envelope had her name on it as well. She tore it open and fished out a note the same size as the first one.

【译文】她很惊讶的发现里面居然有另外一封信,与第一封一模一样。她拿走第一封信时,里面明明是空的呀!这封信上面也写着她的名字。她将它拆开,拿出一张与第一封信一样大小的便条纸。

【短语笔记】tear … open - 拆;fish out - 打捞,掏出

【举一反三】表达“拆信”这个动作时, rip open the letter 以及 tear open a letter 都是可用的动词短语。

【例】

First it will pass through sharp metal bars which will tear open the plastic bags in which rubbish is usually packed. (首先,垃圾要通过尖的金属棒,金属棒会把装垃圾的塑料袋弄破。)

Fishing out his pipe, he filled it and puffed at it without a word.(他掏出烟斗,装满烟丝,一言不发地抽了起来。)

№.3 - It was possible that space had always existed, in which case she would not also need to figure out where it came from. But could anything have always existed? Something deep down inside her protested at the idea. Surely everything that exists must have had a beginning? So space must sometime have been created out of something else.

【译文】很可能太空是早就存在的。如果这样,她就不需要去想它是从哪里来了。但一个东西有可能原来就存在吗?她内心深处并不赞成这样的看法。现存的每一件事物必然都曾经有个开始吧?因此,太空一定是在某个时刻由另外一样东西造成的。

【小编评注】追根溯源对于任何事情来说都很难能可贵,无论是对于科学研究,还是哲学思考。

【短语笔记】figure out - 弄清楚

【举一反三】同义短语为work out,例如:Can you work out the equity of company?(你能算出这个公司的资产净值吗?)

【例】They tried to figure out whether he left of his own free will or at the point of a gun. (他们试图弄清楚他是已抛弃了自己的自由意志还是在以死威胁。)

№.4 - And above all, how was she supposed to trace this Hilde person?

【译文】更重要的是,苏菲要怎样才能找到这个名叫席德的人?

【小编评注】本章的悬念留在这里,不冗赘,不随性,是一个简练的小结。

【短语笔记】be supposed to - conj. 应该(据说,被期望,获准)

【例】The test card was transmitted by television companies at times when viewers weren't supposed to be watching. (电视台会在用户收看电视的低峰时段传送图像测试卡。)

(本文由沪友 落落 独家提供,转载请注明出处。)