1. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas--legends handed down from one generation of story-tellers to another.

　　解讀:legends作sagas的同位語(yǔ),后接被動(dòng)分詞短語(yǔ)做定語(yǔ)。

　　基本結構：主+定+謂+賓+同位。

　　翻譯:他們保存歷史的唯一方法是把歷史作為英雄故事講述--由說(shuō)書(shū)者代代相傳。

　　2.One can tell the difference almost at a glance for the spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.

　　解讀:主謂賓+原因狀語(yǔ)(省略句)

　　an insect never more than six 應該理解為昆蟲(chóng)只有六條腿而不是昆蟲(chóng)絕不多于六條腿,全句翻譯如下:

　　翻譯:誰(shuí)都可以一眼就看出蜘蛛與昆蟲(chóng)不同,蜘蛛都是八條腿,而昆蟲(chóng)最多只有六條。

　　3. Such inns as there were dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread ofen twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine.

　　解讀:第二個(gè)分句中,simply是副詞，意為“食物只有···”，而accompanied含被動(dòng)意思，說(shuō)明人們把陳面包和乳酪搭配著(zhù)吃，并不是乳酪自己同面包相配。第二句作者把謂語(yǔ)省略了。

　　翻譯：那里的小旅店通常又骯臟，跳蚤又多.吃的食物僅僅是當地產(chǎn)的乳酪加上存放了一年之久的面包，大家只能就著(zhù)下等酒把它們吞下去.

　　4.The gorilla is something of a paradox in the African scene.

　　解讀：這里的paradox并不是說(shuō)猩猩是自相矛盾的動(dòng)物，而是指人們對其捉摸不透。

　　翻譯：大猩猩是非洲景觀(guān)中有點(diǎn)讓人捉摸不透的家伙。

　　5.All this and many other things remain almost as much a mystery as they were when the French explorer Du Chaillu first described the animal to the civilized world a century ago.

　　解讀:句子是一個(gè)比較復雜的主從復合長(cháng)句，應該采用分句法，逆序法來(lái)譯，先將when引導的狀語(yǔ)從句譯，再譯出主句。

　　翻譯：100年前法國探險家Du Chaillu第一次向文明世界敘述過(guò)這種動(dòng)物，如今這一切和其他許多事情幾乎像100年前一樣，仍然是個(gè)謎。

　　6.I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

　　解讀:identity指的是與眾不同的個(gè)性，不是指身份

　　翻譯：假如有人認為我是一個(gè)麻煩的話(huà)，我一定會(huì )感到十分得意。至少，被人看成問(wèn)題會(huì )使別人在某種程度上認識我是誰(shuí)。這點(diǎn)正是年輕人所熱衷追求的事情之一。

　　7.On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise.

　　解讀：local patriotism是熱愛(ài)本鄉本土之心，注意不要理解成地方主義(localism)

　　翻譯：當你在鄉村的草坪上比賽時(shí)，隨意分為兩邊，并不存在熱不熱愛(ài)本地區的問(wèn)題，只有這個(gè)時(shí)候才有可能為了娛樂(lè )和鍛煉而進(jìn)行比賽。

　　8.In textile areas it has long been customary for mothers to go out to work, but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now a not unusual factor in a child's home life, the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty-five years.

　　解讀：作為一個(gè)復合句，原文包含三個(gè)意思，主要應當注意幾個(gè)動(dòng)詞的不同時(shí)態(tài)，從而分清楚三層意思之間的關(guān)系。

　　翻譯：雖然在那些紡織工業(yè)區，母親出去上班早已司空見(jiàn)慣，但是現在這種現象更為普遍，如今兒童的家庭生活中，母親去上班已經(jīng)是習以為常的事情了。因為在最近二十五年中，已婚婦女就業(yè)的人數已經(jīng)增加了一倍多。

　　9. It is unusual now for father to pursue his trade or other employment at home, and his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work.

　　翻譯：現在做父親的一般都不在家里干本行活計或者其他行當，而他的孩子們即便有可能的話(huà)，也很少能在他的工作場(chǎng)所見(jiàn)到他。

　　10. Everyone knows that if he shouts in the vicinity of a wall or a mountainside, an echo will come back.

　　翻譯：大家都知道，假如一個(gè)人在墻壁附近或是山腰里大聲呼喊，就會(huì )產(chǎn)生一個(gè)回音。

　　11. In our new society there is a growing dislike of original, creative men. The manipulated do not understand them; the manipulators fear them. The tidy committee men regard them with horror, knowing that no pigeonholes can be found for them.

　　解讀:主要考慮"tidy"的諷刺語(yǔ)氣。

　　翻譯:在現代社會(huì )里，人們對開(kāi)拓型的有創(chuàng )造力的人有一種與日俱增的厭惡情緒。受人擺布的人不理解他們，擺布別人的人害怕他們。衣冠楚楚的委員們知道不可能使他們就范，因此懷著(zhù)恐懼的心理看待他們。