billiu

希望交流。

soup

Post by billiu
希望交流。

我感兴趣, 可惜没时间. 我平常也看"Fortune", 觉得里面的文笔不够简练, 也不够传神. 若是读名著, 又不能有深入的体会. 若是读"New Yorker", 因为生词太多, 所以读不太懂.

请问你精读读什么?

billiu

其实英语精读是很有意思的。

soup

Post by billiu
其实英语精读是很有意思的。

一条风景很好的路. 但是, 路很长很远.

soup

Post by billiu
希望交流。

“What I Have Lived For
Bertrand Russell

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy – ecstasy so great that I would have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness – that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. … “



在第一段的第二句里, 作者已经讲到了 ”have blown me hither and thither”, “like great winds”, 就已经包含了 difficult to control by myself 的意思, 为什么他还要讲 ”in a wayward course” 这几个字? 他是否不够简练? 还是他在强调这个 course? 表示他已经在 the deep ocean of anguish 里面体验了很长的 journey 了? 但是, when great winds blow him over a deep ocean, 他当然经历了一个 journey.

在第二段的第一句里, 作者已经讲到了 “ecstasy”, 为什么他还要讲 ”for a few hours of this joy” , 而不是说 ”for a few hours of it (i.e. the ecstasy)”? 他是否不够简练?

poupon

Post by billiu
希望交流。

I am interested in sharing the joy of reading with you guy.  Contact me via

silhouette_cbt[email="silhouette_cbt@hotmail.com"]@hotmail.com[/email]

and go ahead to send me sth u think enjoyable.

Merci.

billiu

1.Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the verge of despair.

从句法上说，上面的三个片语都是状语成分，修饰“blown”的；

从修辞上说，这段话给出了一个非常形象的描述。当他回忆他的一生，他的思想（或者人生）受到外界的很多影响，有过很多变化，承受了很多煎熬，现在仍然没有希望。当作者要说明一件事情的时候，他自然要从多方面详细地说，试图给读者一个立体的印象。绝无重复之嫌。（从数学的角度来讲，只有对线性系统描述的时候容易发生重复的可能，描述非线性系统的时候不太容易发生重复）。



你之所以觉得这句话难以理解也许是因为它不太符合中国人的叙事习惯，如果改为：“like great winds, have blown me hither and thither over a great ocean of anguish, in a wayward course, reaching to the verge of despair. ”也许更容易理解一些。

2.“而不是说 ”for a few hours of it” 如果是用it，放在原文中看有点指代不明。当然你还可以把这句话念出来，看是用joy顺口还是用it顺口。

soup

Post by billiu
1.Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the verge of despair.

从句法上说，上面的三个片语都是状语成分，修饰“blown”的；

从修辞上说，这段话给出了一个非常形象的描述。当他回忆他的一生，他的思想（或者人生）受到外界的很多影响，有过很多变化，承受了很多煎熬，现在仍然没有希望。当作者要说明一件事情的时候，他自然要从多方面详细地说，试图给读者一个立体的印象。绝无重复之嫌。（从数学的角度来讲，只有对线性系统描述的时候容易发生重复的可能，描述非线性系统的时候不太容易发生重复）。



你之所以觉得这句话难以理解也许是因为它不太符合中国人的叙事习惯，如果改为：“like great winds, have blown me hither and thither over a great ocean of anguish, in a wayward course, reaching to the verge of despair. ”也许更容易理解一些。

2.“而不是说 ”for a few hours of it” 如果是用it，放在原文中看有点指代不明。当然你还可以把这句话念出来，看是用joy顺口还是用it顺口。

我还是不同意你的看法. 谢谢你回答. 唉, 打字很费时间啊.

带我去江湖

These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course
－－－hither and thither--which is equivalent to swing forth and back, but it may be regular. The next emphasis is on wayward for which the exact meaning is uncontrollable and irregular. So it makes sense in this way.

joy instead of it.
---it is a common problem of what 'it' refers to? the love or the ecstacy. Another reason is the repeat the keyword, ecstacy, and avoid the repitition at the same time.

Learning is a hard way.

soup

Post by 带我去江湖
These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course
－－－hither and thither--which is equivalent to swing forth and back, but it may be regular. The next emphasis is on wayward for which the exact meaning is uncontrollable and irregular. So it makes sense in this way.

joy instead of it.
---it is a common problem of what 'it' refers to? the love or the ecstacy. Another reason is the repeat the keyword, ecstacy, and avoid the repitition at the same time.

Learning is a hard way.

Good points! Thank you!

1. You wrote: “－－－hither and thither--which is equivalent to swing forth and back, but it may be regular. The next emphasis is on wayward for which the exact meaning is uncontrollable and irregular. So it makes sense in this way.” Yep, it makes sense in THIS way! The key difference between the two emphases is the regularity vs. irregularity and the predictability vs. unpredictability.

I think I’ve used the wrong dictionary to aid my understanding of the masterpiece of Bertrand Russell, “What I Have Lived For”. I just used the “Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary”. That’s not precise enough. e.g. In the dictionary, “hither and thither” is just explained by “in many different directions”. Not accurate enough! And in the “American Heritage Dictionary”, the explanation of “hither and thither” is:
“Given to or marked by willful, often perverse deviation from what is desired, expected, or required in order to gratify one's own impulses or inclinations.
Swayed or prompted by caprice; unpredictable.” A much more precise interpretation.

I learned a lesson here: I should use the right reference dictionary.

2. You wrote: “joy instead of it.
---it is a common problem of what 'it' refers to? the love or the ecstacy. Another reason is the repeat the keyword, ecstacy, and avoid the repitition at the same time.”

Your interpretation is pretty reasonable.

3. You wrote: “Learning is a hard way.” Allow me to supplement it. Learning is also a fun way.

4. I sense your understanding of English is good. May I ask what your background is? Was your university major English?