№.1 -?In all history, nothing is so surprising or so difficult to account for as the sudden rise of civilization in Greece.Much of what makes civilization had already existed for thousands of years in Egypt and in Mesopotamia, and had spread thence to neighbouring countries. But certain elements had been lacking until the Greeks supplied them. What they achieved in art and literature is familiar to everybody, but what they did in the purely intellectual realm is even more exceptional.

【譯文】在全部的歷史里，最使人感到驚異或難于解說的莫過于希臘文明的突然興起了。構(gòu)成文明的大部分東西已經(jīng)在埃及和美索不達(dá)米亞存在了好幾千年，又從那里傳播到了四鄰的國家。但是其中卻始終缺少著某些因素，直等到希臘人才把它們提供出來。希臘人在文學(xué)藝術(shù)上的成就是大家熟知的，但是他們在純粹知識的領(lǐng)域上所做出的貢獻(xiàn)還要更加不平凡。

【小編評注】希臘文明的輝煌成就是有目共睹的，德國哲學(xué)家黑格爾曾說說：“一提到希臘這個(gè)名字，在有教養(yǎng)的歐洲人心中，尤其在我們德國人心中，自然會(huì)引起一種家園之感?！逼鋵?shí)，對于深受西方文化熏陶的現(xiàn)代中國人而言，希臘又何嘗不會(huì)引起我們的家園之感呢？

【短語筆記】account for - 說明（原因等）；對 ... 負(fù)責(zé)；（在數(shù)量方面）占 ...

【舉一反三】on account of - 因?yàn)?/p>

【例】

(1)The treasurer has to account for the money paid to him.（財(cái)務(wù)負(fù)責(zé)人必須說明交給他的錢是怎樣用的。）

(2)On account of his more elevated position, the general had the enemy at vantage.（因?yàn)樘幱谳^高的位置，那位將軍占敵人的上風(fēng)。）

№.2?-?Where a religion was bound up with the government of an empire, political motives did much to transform its primitive features.

【譯文】只要一種宗教和一個(gè)帝國政府結(jié)合在一片，政治的動(dòng)機(jī)就會(huì)大大改變宗教的原始面貌。

【小編評注】論宗教與政治的互動(dòng)關(guān)系。

【短語筆記】be bound up with - 與 ... 密切相關(guān), 和 ... 息息相關(guān)

【舉一反三】bound的另兩個(gè)相關(guān)短語用法：表示開往某地，僅有目的地時(shí)，用be bound for,后接目的地；表示從某地開往某地，出發(fā)地和目的地都有時(shí)，用be bound from...to...

【例】

(1)Her illness is bound up with the pressure of her study and work.（她的疾病與她緊張的學(xué)習(xí)和工作有密切關(guān)系。）

(2)The ship is bound from Qingdao to Shanghai.（這艘船是從青島開往上海。）

№.3?-?The Homeric gods were the gods of a conquering aristocracy, not the useful fertility gods of those who actually tilled the soil. As Gilbert Murray says: "The gods of most nations claim to have created the world. The Olympians make no such claim. The most they ever did was to conquer it. And when they have conquered their kingdoms, what do they do? Do they attend to the government? Do they promote agriculture? Do they practise trades and industries? Not a bit of it. Why should they do any honest work? They find it easier to live on the revenues and blast with thunderbolts the people who do not pay. They are conquering chieftains, royal buccaneers. They fight, and feast, and play, and make music; they drink deep, and roar with laughter at the lame smith who waits on them. They are never afraid, except of their own king. They never tell lies, except in love and war."

【譯文】荷馬的神祇們乃是征服者的貴族階級的神祇，而不是那些實(shí)際在耕種土地的人們的有用的豐產(chǎn)之神。正如吉爾伯特?穆萊所說的：“大多數(shù)民族的神都自命曾經(jīng)創(chuàng)造過世界，奧林匹克的神并不自命如此。他們所做的，主要是征服世界?！?dāng)他們已經(jīng)征服了王國之后，它們又干什么呢？他們關(guān)心政治嗎？他們促進(jìn)農(nóng)業(yè)嗎？他們從事商業(yè)和工業(yè)嗎？一點(diǎn)都不。他們?yōu)槭裁匆獜氖氯魏卫蠈?shí)的工作呢？依靠租稅并對不納稅的人大發(fā)雷霆，在他們看來倒是更為舒適的生活。他們都是些嗜好征服的首領(lǐng)，是些海盜之王。他們既打仗，又宴飲，又游玩，又作樂；他們開懷痛飲，并大聲嘲笑那伺候著他們的瘸鐵匠。他們只知怕自己的王，從來不知懼怕別的。除了在愛和戰(zhàn)爭中而外，他們從來不說謊?！?/p>

【小編評注】希臘的悲劇精神乃是源自希臘人的混合宗教，即遠(yuǎn)古西亞宗教的內(nèi)核注入荷馬宗教的形式之中，生命得到了最高的表現(xiàn)形式。

【短語筆記】till the soil - 松土，耕地

【舉一反三】表達(dá)耕種的短語有很多，例如：cultivate land - 開墾貧瘠土地；plough the field/land - 耕地

【例】

(1)All this to rise with the roosters and till the soil. （這都是為了飼養(yǎng)公雞，種田耕地。）

(2)Land being the cultivated manicured place that provides, whatever, the harvest, things like that while wilderness was some place that was barren, it does not produce fruit. （被開墾培育過的土地為人們提供豐收的果實(shí)，有些荒野地卻是貧瘠的，不會(huì)產(chǎn)生果實(shí)。）

(3)After the seventh year, i.e. the sabbatical year, farmers can plough field again. （第七年過后，也就是安息年，農(nóng)民可以繼續(xù)耕地。）

№.4?-?The civilized man is distinguished from the savage mainly by prudence, or, to use a slightly wider term, forethought. He is willing to endure present pains for the sake of future pleasures, even if the future pleasures are rather distant.

【譯文】文明人之所以與野蠻人不同，主要的是在于審慎，或者用一個(gè)稍微更廣義的名詞，即深謀遠(yuǎn)慮。他為了將來的快樂，哪怕這種將來的快樂是相當(dāng)遙遠(yuǎn)的，而愿意忍受目前的痛苦。

【小編評注】文明是內(nèi)涵倫理、道德的價(jià)值理想，現(xiàn)代性的內(nèi)在野蠻性不是一種外在之物，而是內(nèi)在于現(xiàn)代人的心靈之中。因此，我們現(xiàn)代人更加需要懂得審慎、畏懼和有敬仰之心。

【短語筆記】for the sake of - 為了；為了 ... 的利益

【舉一反三】近義短語： for the purpose of - 為了 ... 目的；為了 ... 而做某事

【例】

(1)We kept silent for the sake of maintaining peaceful relations with Russia.（為了維持和俄羅斯的和平關(guān)系，我們一直在保持沉默。 ）

(2)For the purpose of being more handsome on his wedding day, he had woolen wedding clothes made to order. （為了婚禮那天顯得帥氣些，他特意定做了一身呢料禮服。 ）

№.5?-?Civilization checks impulse not only through forethought, which is a self-administered check, but also through law, custom, and religion. This check it inherits from barbarism, but it makes it less instinctive and more systematic.

【譯文】文明之抑制沖動(dòng)不僅是通過一種自我抑制的深謀遠(yuǎn)慮，而且還通過法律、習(xí)慣與宗教。這種抑制力是它從野蠻時(shí)代繼承來的，但是它使這種抑制力具有更少的本能性與更多的組織性。

【小編評注】造成文明洗心革面的惟一重要的變化，是影響到思想、觀念和信仰的變化。自我約束，在道德范疇內(nèi)，是非常美好的一種品德。

【短語筆記】forethought - 深謀遠(yuǎn)慮；先見；考慮將來

【例】The Industrial Revolution has unfolded, for the most part, without design or forethought.（ 工業(yè)革命開展已久，但多半時(shí)候并未經(jīng)過縝密思考，也沒有前瞻的視野。）

（本文由滬友 落落 獨(dú)家提供，原文譯文摘自《西方哲學(xué)史》[商務(wù)印書館,1977-6]，轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處。）