Lesson Six：The Beauty of Britain 打印本页
I. Outline of the Text
Part 1: (Paras. 1-2)
Geographically Britain is small, but has superb variety . Within its 240,500 square kilometers, it has mountains, plains, rivers and lakes, like any big country. The mountains in Britain are merely mountains in miniature. Part 2: (Paras. 3-4)
Britain is a country of happy surprises. On a rolling plain, he might suddenly find before him mountains with very steep slopes. In a highly industrialized district, he might unexpectedly encounter a bit of rough heath country. Part 3: (Paras. 5-6)
The British landscape is characterized by moderation. That is to say, the Britain has achieved perfect balance between Nature and Man. This feature is most clearly shown in the suburbs, where the residents enjoy both the civilization of the city and the easy life of the country gentlemen.
Ⅱ. Text
1.The beauty of our country -or at least all of its south of North Scotland-is as hard to define as it is easy to enjoy. be hard to do sth. 很难做…
译:我们国家的美，至少北苏格兰以南所有的地方之美欣赏容易，描绘难。
Remembering other and larger countries, we see at once that one of its charms is that it is immensely varied within a small range. charm: attraction
immensely: 无限地，广大地，非常
译: 想起别的、比我们大的国家，我们明显的魅力之一就是幅员虽小，但景象万千。
We have here no vast mountain ranges, no boundless plains, no miles of forest, and are deprived of the grandeur that may accompany these things. deprive of: 剥夺 grandeur: 宏伟 accompany: 陪伴
译:我们这里没有连绵的山脉，没有一望无际的平原，没有延绵数百英里的森林，当然也就没有与之相应的那份宏伟。
A great deal of everything is packed into little space. be packed into: 挤进…里，涌进
I suspect that we are always faintly conscious of the fact that this is a smallish island, with the sea always round the corner. be conscious of: be aware of 意识到，知道 faintly: vaguely 隐隐约约地，模糊地
译:我想我们总是隐隐约约地意识到，这是个相当小的岛国，无论我们在何处，大海都近在咫尺。
We know that everything has to be neatly packed into a small space. 译:我们知道每样东西都得整整齐齐地安放在一个小小的空间里。 Nature, we feel, has carefully adjusted things -mountains, plains, rivers, lakes-to the scale of the island itself. adjust …to 调整…以适应…
译:我们感到大自然按照这个小岛的尺寸精心地调整了岛上的山峦、平原、河流、湖泊的规模。
A mountain 12,000 feet high would be a horrible monster here, as wrong as a plain 400 miles long, a river as broad as the Mississippi.
译:一座12,000英尺高的大山，在这里就会成为一个庞然大物，就像连绵400英里的平原、与密西西比一样宽的河流在这不协调一样。
In America the whole scale is too big, except for aviators. scale: 范围 aviator: 飞行员
except for: 前后为两个不同的比较对象。
译: 在美国整个比例都太大，当然，对飞行员来说是个例外。
There is always too much of everything. There you find yourself in a region that is all mountains, then in another region that is merely part of one immense plain. Immense：广阔的，极广大的
译: 每样东西的数量都很多。你在一处，发现周围到处是高山，在另一处发现那只不过是辽阔平原的一隅之地。 You can spend a long, hard day in the Rockies simply traveling up or down one valley. simply: only
译: 在落基山中，即便花上一整天的时间，也只能辛苦地爬完一个山谷。 You can wander across prairie country that has the desolating immensity of the ocean. wander: v. 徘徊
prairie: 平原，大草原 desolating：荒凉的
immense : a. 广阔的，无边的 Immensity: n.
译:你可以在荒芜人烟、海洋般辽阔的大草原上漫步。 Everything is too big; there is too much of it. 译:所有的东西都太大、太多。 vary v.
variety : n various: adj. 2.Though the geographical features of this island are comparatively small, and there is astonishing variety almost everywhere, that does not mean that our mountains are not mountains，our plains not plains.
译: 尽管这个岛的地理特征相对较小，但几乎所有地方都有着令人惊叹的多样性，而这并不是说我们的山不是山、平原不是平原了。
Consider that piece of luck of ours, the Lake District.
consider: think about
You can climb with ease -as I have done many a time -several of its mountains in one day.
with ease: without difficulty 轻而易举地 many a time：许多次
译:你可以在一天之内轻松地在该地区爬好几座山，我多次这么干过。 Nevertheless, you feel that they are mountains and not mere hills -as a correspondent pointed out in The Times recently. correspondent: journalist
译: 不过，正如一个记者最近在《泰晤士报》所指出的那样，你觉得那都是真正的山，而不是丘陵。
This same correspondent told a story that proves my point. A party of climbers imported a Swiss guide into the Lake District, and on the first morning, surveying the misty peaks before him. import: invite
译: 这个记者所讲的故事证明了我的观点。一群登山者请了位瑞士导游，进入了湖泊区。第一个早晨，映入他们眼帘的是云雾缭绕的峰巅。
He pointed to a ledge about two thirds of the way up one of them and suggested that the party should spend the night there.
译: 他指着一个山峰的三分之二处的一块平坦的岩石，建议登山队在那里过夜。
He did not know that that ledge was only an hour or two's climb away and that before the light went they would probably have conquered two or three of these peaks. before the light went: before it was dark
译: 他并不知道那地方离山脚只有一两个小时的路程，天黑之前，这样的山峰他们可以征服两三个。
He had not realized the scale of the country. 译: 他没有意识到这个国家的大小。
He did not know that he was looking at mountains in miniature. What he did not know was that he was certainly looking at mountains, and he was right, for these peaks, some of them less than 3,000 feet high, have all the air of great mountains. suggest doing sth.
suggest that +clause (should do)
译: 他没有意识到他看到的是微型山川，他只知道他是在看山，这点他是对的。因为这些山峰，虽然有的还不到3,000英尺高，却有大山的气派。 3.With variety goes surprise. go with: 伴随
译: 与气象万千的地貌并存的是奇异的景物。 Ours is the country of happy surprises. 译: 我们国家的奇观巧妙而自然。
You have never to travel long without being pleasantly astonished.
It would not be difficult to compile a list of such surprises that would fill the next fifty pages, but I will content myself with suggesting the first few that occur to me.
compile: 编纂，编辑
content oneself with: 对…感到满足，满足于… occur to sb. 某人想到、想起
译: 列出50页的奇观并不困难，然而仅举最先出现在我脑海里的几例就足以说明问题。 If you go down into the West Country, among rounded hills and soft pastures, you suddenly arrive at the bleak tablelands as if the North had left a piece of itself down there.
go down into: 进入 pasture：草地，草原 bleak：荒凉的
译: 如果进入西部地区，你会发现自己身处坡度不大的丘陵和平缓的草地，并突然会碰到荒凉萧瑟的高地，好像北部高原将自己的一部分留在了此地。
But before you have reached them you have already been surprised by the queer bit of marshland, as if a former inhabitant had been sent to Cambridge and had brought his favourite marshland walk back from college with him into the west. Marshland：沼泽
译: 可是还没等你真正到达高地，你又会发现一处不该出现的小片沼泽地令你惊诧不已，好像从这里去剑桥大学的一位学子在学成回乡时把自己心爱的沼泽小路从大学带了回来。 4.The Weald is another of them. East Anglia has a kind of rough heath country of its own that I for one never expect to find there and am always delighted to see. for one: 举例来说，以…为例
译: 威尔德地区又是一个奇观。东英格兰自身竟有这么一片崎岖不平的荒野之地。以我为例，看到它我既感到惊诧不已，又感到欣喜万分。
Then, after the easy rolling Midlands, the dramatic Peak District, with its genuine steep slopes, never fails to astonish me, for I feel that it has no business to be there. Dramatic：引人注目的，戏剧性的
译: 看过平缓起伏的米德兰之后，突然映入眼帘的是那引人注目的、山坡陡峭的皮克区，它总是让我惊诧不已，因为我真不知道它在此处有何贵干。
A car will take you all round the Peak District in a morning. It is nothing but a crumpled green pocket handkerchief.
译: 乘车一个上午就能让你逛完皮克区，它只不过是一块皱皱巴巴的绿手帕。
Again, there has always been something surprising to me about those cone-shaped hills that suddenly pop up in Shropshire and along the Welsh border I have never explored this region properly, and so it remains to me a country of mystery, with a delightful fairy-tale quality about its cone-shaped hills. Again: besides 此外 cone-shaped: 锥形的
pop up：appear suddenly 突然出现
fairy-tale: 充满神话色彩的，优美无比的 quality: 质量
Nevertheless, we hear of search parties going out there to find lost travelers. 可是，听说还是有搜索队到那里去寻找迷路的旅游者。
I could go on with this list of surprises, but perhaps you had better make your own.
go on with: 继续下去
译: 我可以继续列举别的奇观，不过最好你自己去列举。
5.Another characteristic of our landscape is its exquisite moderation. Landscape 风景，地形
exquisite 优美的，高雅的，异常的 moderation: 折衷，适度
It looks like the result of one of those happy compromises that make our social and political plans so irrational and yet so successful. compromise：妥协，折衷
译: 自然风光的适度看起来就好像是恰到好处的折衷的结果，正是这种折衷使得我们的社会和政治问题的规划决策似乎不尽合理，却又十分成功。
It has been born of a compromise between wildness and tameness, between Nature and Man.
be born of: 出身于
wildness and tameness: 野蛮和驯化
译: 这种折衷源于野性与驯化、自然与人工的协调。
In many countries you pass straight from regions where men have left their mark in every inch of ground to other regions that are desolate wilderness. desolate：荒凉的
译: 在许多国家，你从在每一寸土地上都留下了人类痕迹的地区直接来到没有人烟的荒原。 Abroad, we have all noticed how abruptly most of the cities seem to begin: here, no city; there, the city.
译: 在国外，我们都注意到了多数城市突然出现在眼前，这儿没有一点儿城市的迹象，那儿一下子就是城市了。
With us the cities pretend they are not really there until we are well inside them. 译: 在这里，我们是不知不觉地踏入城市，蓦回首，发现早已在其中。 They almost insinuate themselves into the countryside. insinuate into: 迂回地潜入
译: 他们又好像是悄悄地、不动声色地溜进了乡村。
This comes from another compromise of ours, the suburb. come from: 来自
译: 这种情况起因于我们另一种折衷现象--郊区。 There is a great deal to be said for the suburb. This sentence means the suburb has many advantages. 译: 郊区实在是值得大书特书。
To people of moderate means, compelled to live fairly near their work in a city, the suburb offers the most civilized way of life. civilized: 现代的，文明的
译: 对于中等收入水平、不得不住在离市区工作单位相当近的人来说，住在郊区使他们能过上最文明的生活。
Nearly all Englishmen are at heart country gentlemen. at heart: 在内心里
译: 几乎每个英国人实质上都是乡村绅士。
The suburban villa enables the salesman or the clerk, out of hours, to be a country gentleman.
自考0795综合英语(二)基础班课程讲义全下册Lessom6
