(全)英语精读之雅思11含译文abc.docx

英语精读之雅思11含译文abcAOf all mankind’s manifold creations, language must take pride of place.在人类琳琅满目的创造设计中，语言的地位至高无上Other inventions -the wheel, agriculture, sliced bread - may have transformed our material existence, but the advent of language is what made us human.诸如汽车，农耕及面包片之类令人啧啧称奇的发明，有可能能提高物质生活质量，但掌握了语言，人方为人Compared to language, all other inventions pale in significance, since everything we have ever achieved depends on language and originates from it.人类一切成就都肇始于语言，所以别的任何发明较之语言都显得逊色Without language, we could never have embarked on our ascent to unparalleled power over all other animals, and even over nature itself.没有语言，人类绝不可能凌驾于别的动物，自然之上。

BBut language is foremost not just because it came first.后不僭先，绝不是语言地位首屈一指的原因In its own right it is a tool of extraordinary sophistication, yet based on an idea of ingenious simplicity:虽然是能表达无限内容的工具，但是其设计初衷是化繁为简this marvellous invention of composing out of twenty-five or thirty sounds that infinite variety of expressions which, whilst having in themselves no likeness to what is in our mind, allow us to disclose to others its whole secret, and to make known to those who cannot penetrate it all that we imagine, and all the various stirrings of our soul.极具人类设计之光的语言，是由二三十个元辅音气流调配成字词，进而能使人吐露心中隐私，能传达出旁人难以洞察的心中所想，情之所动，再也不会有只可意会不可言传之情景。

This was how, in 1660, the renowned French grammarians of the Port-Royal abbey near Versailles distilled the essence of language, and no one since has celebrated more eloquently the magnitude of its achievement.这是1660年凡尔赛的皇家修道院派著名的语法学家对语言本质的精炼提炼，自此对语言的赞誉再无能出其右者Even so, there is just one flaw in all these hymns of praise, for the homage to languages unique accomplishment conceals a simple yet critical incongruity, language is mankind greatest invention - except, of course, that it was never invented.但是，向语言致敬的这些溢美之词中，暗藏着一个能打翻所有赞美之词的悖论：语言的确是最体现人类智慧的曲尽其妙的创制，那么，不动脑思考的言语，自然不在其中。

This apparent paradox is at the core of our fascination with language, and it holds many of its secrets.好学深思勤于思考乃是语言得以心游万仞,精骛八极的关键所在，也是语言的袖里玄机CLanguage often seems so skillfully drafted that one can hardly imagine it as anything other than the perfected handiwork of a master craftsman.语言的设计可谓巧夺天工，称其是匠心独具的登峰造极之作，应该无人否定How else could this instrument make so much out of barely three dozen measly morsels of sound?屈屈二十几个语音究竟如何构成语言的呢？In themselves, these configurations of mouth - p,f,b,v,t,d,k,g,sh,a,e and so on - amount to nothing more than a few haphazard spits and splutters, random noises with no meaning, no ability to express, no power to explain.就本质而言，无论辅音还是元音都不过是气走唇舌之声响，杂乱无章，不堪名文，无力载意。

But run them through the cogs and wheels of the language machine, let it arrange them in some very special orders, and there is nothing that these meaningless streams of air cannot do: from sighing the interminable boredom of existence to unravelling the fundamental order of the universe.但是，经语法调度语音成为语言要素之后，原本毫无意义的鼻息气流便成了无所不能的表义工具：从鸡毛蒜皮的琐碎杂事，到宇宙运行的不易之典，全知全能。