"NATURE," "natural," and the group of words derived from them, or allied to them in etymology, have at all times filled a great place in the thoughts and taken a strong hold on the feelings of mankind. That they should have done so is not surprising when we consider what the words, in their primitive and most obvious signification, represent; but it is unfortunate that a set of terms which play so great a part in moral and metaphysical speculation should have acquired many meanings different from the primary one, yet sufficiently allied to it to admit of confusion. The words have thus become entangled in so many foreign associations, mostly of a very powerful and tenacious character, that they have come to excite, and to be the symbols of, feelings which their original meaning will by no means justify, and which have made them one of the most copious sources of false taste, false philosophy, false morality, and even bad law.
So large a part of human life passes in a state contrary to our natural desires, that one of the principal topics of moral instruction is the art of bearing calamities. And such is the certainty of evil, that it is the duty of every man to furnish his mind with those principles that may enable him to act under it with decency and propriety.
The sect of ancient philosophers, that boasted to have carried this necessary science to the highest perfection, were the Stoics, or scholars of Zeno, whose wild enthusiastick virtue pretended to an exemption from the sensibilities of unenlightened mortals, and who proclaimed themselves exalted, by the doctrines of their sect, above the reach of those miseries, which embitter life to the rest of the world. They therefore removed pain, poverty, loss of friends, exile, and violent death, from the catalogue of evils; and passed, in their haughty stile, a kind of irreversible decree, by which they forbad them to be counted any longer among the objects of terror or anxiety, or to give any disturbance to the tranquillity of a wise man.
This edict was, I think, not universally observed, for though one of the more resolute, when he was tortured by a violent disease, cried out, that let pain harrass him to its utmost power, it should never force him to consider it as other than indifferent and neutral; yet all had not stubbornness to hold out against their senses: for a weaker pupil of Zeno is recorded to have confessed in the anguish of the gout, that "he now found pain to be an evil."
Such is the certainty of evil, that it is the duty of every man to furnish his mind with those principles that may enable him to act under it with decency and propriety.
この文は勿論、such…thatの構文です。今回の場合、SVCが倒置してCVSになっていますが、SVCのCの部分にsuchだけがきたような構造では、such=so greatと置き換えるのが普通です。例) Her anxiety was such that she could neither eat nor sleep.「彼女の不安はあまりに大きかったので、彼女は食べることも寝ることもできなかった。」
よって、Such is the certainty of evilは「苦難の確実性はあまりにも大きいので」というのが直訳で、「人生においては確実に苦難が訪れるので」というくらいに意訳してもよいでしょう。That以下の部分はit is…toVの形式主語構文で比較的容易であったと思われますが、under itというのはunder evilのことで、「苦難のさなかでも」という感じですね。furnish his mind with those principlesは「そういう原理を学ぶ」でいいんじゃないでしょうか。with decency and proprietyは類似した単語の組み合わせで辞書的に訳すと「品位と礼節をもって」というくらいの意味になりますが、少し遊んでもいいのなら、「見苦しくないように」と意訳したりするのはどうでしょう。
The sect of ancient philosophers, that boasted to have carried this necessary science to the highest perfection, were the Stoics, or scholars of Zeno, whose wild enthusiastick virtue pretended to an exemption from the sensibilities of unenlightened mortals, and who proclaimed themselves exalted, by the doctrines of their sect, above the reach of those miseries, which embitter life to the rest of the world.
They therefore removed pain, poverty, loss of friends, exile, and violent death, from the catalogue of evils; and passed, in their haughty stile, a kind of irreversible decree, by which they forbad them to be counted any longer among the objects of terror or anxiety, or to give any disturbance to the tranquillity of a wise man.
ここはみなさん、巧く訳されていると思いました。ただ、passed a kind of irreversible decree, by which…のところはby whichをほとんどandのように捉えて、「ある種の撤回不可能な勅令を発し、〜を禁じた」と訳したほうが通りがいいかもしれませんね。
さて、次のパラグラフですが、ここは文法的にやや難しいので少し丁寧にやりましょう。まず、
This edict was, I think, not universally observed,
for though one of the more resolute, when he was tortured by a violent disease, cried out, that let pain harrass him to its utmost power, it should never force him to consider it as other than indifferent and neutral
forは勿論「理由」を表す接続詞で、その直後に従属節のthough節が続いているのですが、このthough節の動詞句、cried out, that…のところが厄介だったようです。このthat…は勿論、cry out「叫ぶ」目的語で、thatの直後に続く、let pain harrass him to its utmost powerは「命令文による譲歩節」で、
Let it be ever so humble, there is no place like home.
=Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.
(たとえどんなに慎ましやかであっても、やっぱり家が一番だ)
に類するものだと考えてもらえればよいです。そうすると、let…powerは「たとえ苦痛が限界まで彼を苦しめても」ということになりますね。そして、譲歩に対する主文のところでは、it should never force him to…とありますが、ここではshouldにこめられた「話者の意志」の意味を読み取ることが大切です。ここでの「話者」とは勿論、one of the more resoluteのことです。cried outということからもわかるように、このthat節の中身は本来、このone of the more resoluteが実際に発話した内容だと思われます。それが間接話法となってthat節内に組み込まれることで時制の一致などがおこっていますが、このshouldも本来はshallであったと考えられますね。これを直接話法の形に戻すと、
One of the more resolute cried out, “Let pain harass me to its utmost power, it shall never force me to consider it as other than indifferent and neutral.”
yet all had not stubbornness to hold out against their senses: for a weaker pupil of Zeno is recorded to have confessed in the anguish of the gout, that "he now found pain to be an evil."
はそんなに問題がなかったと思います。前半部、hold out againstは「〜に抗す、〜に耐える」という意味の熟語です。Yetはthough節に呼応して置かれているもので、if…thenのようなものですから訳しても訳さなくてもいいです。yet以外にstill、neverthelessなどが用いられたりしますね。訳の工夫ということで言うと、上のcried out that…を直接話法で訳すのなら、ここの最後のhe now found pain to be an evilのところも直接話法でいきたいですね。
Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park', based on a novel by Michael Crichton, and its sequel 'The Lost World' address the issue of contemporary losses in species diversity indirectly through their focus on the best-known historical extinction of an entire group of species, that of the dinosaurs. 『At first sight, both films seem to fit comfortably into the well-worn plot stereotype of the artificially created monsters that turn against their creators, as well as that of the confident scientist who believes he can control nature only to find that such perfect mastery slips from his hands: from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and H.G. Wells's Island of Dr. Moreau to the monster animals that populate 1950s Hollywood films, this formula is too well known to need any mentioning. But W.J.T. Mitchell, in 'The Last Dinosaur Book', places Spielberg's films into a somewhat different context when he notes that "the greatest epidemic of dinosaur images occurs in the late twentieth century, just at the moment when widespread public awareness of ecological catastrophe is dawning, and the possibility of irreversible extinction is becoming widely evident." Mitchell does not discuss this aspect in any further detail, but his observation derived from his survey of a long history of dinosaur representations opens the way for an analysis of how the revival of a long-extinct group of species in Jurassic Park can be read not only as the horror and suspense device that it undoubtedly is, but also as an imaginative scenario that diverts possible anxieties over contemporary losses in species diversity.』
the well-worn plot stereotype of the artificially created monsters that turn against their creators,
as well as
that(=the well-worn streotype)of the confident scientist who believes he can control nature only to find that such perfect mastery slips from his hands
の箇所ですが、as well asがほとんどandと同じように機能しているという点、後半のthatがthe well-worn plot streotypeの代用であるという点は問題ないと思います。こうひい氏はここのstreotypeの内容にあたる、the artificially created monsters that...のところと、the confident scientist who...のところを学校文法における限定の関係代名詞の訳し方のルールに従って、「〜な人工のモンスター」、「〜な科学者」といったような名詞を中核にする形式で訳出されているわけですが、K-youngさんは、限定の関係代名詞であることをさほど強く意識せず、この部分にある種の動的な関係を読み取っています。
from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and H.G. Wells's Island of Dr. Moreau to the monster animals that populate 1950s Hollywood films, this formula is too well known to need any mentioning.
from A to Bは基本ですし、主文のtoo~to構文も見落とすことはまずないでしょう。後は訳し方の問題ですが、一応、僕は以下のように訳しました。
when he notes that "the greatest epidemic of dinosaur images occurs in the late twentieth century, just at the moment when widespread public awareness of ecological catastrophe is dawning, and the possibility of irreversible extinction is becoming widely evident."
an imaginative scenario that diverts possible anxieties over contemporary losses in species diversity
のところですが、動詞divertはCobuildの英英辞典によると、次のような定義があります。
If you say that someone [diverts] your attention from something important or serious, you disapprove of them behaving or talking in a way that stops you thinking about it.
And when I came to the English philosophers, with perhaps a slight prejudice, for it had been impressed upon me in Germany that, with the possible exception of Hume, they were quite negligible and Hume’s only importance was that Kant had demolished him, I found that besides being philosophers they were uncommonly good writers. And though they might not be very great thinkers, of this I could not presume to judge, they were certainly very curious men. I should think that few could read Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan’ without being taken by the gruff, downright John Bullishness of his personality, and surely no one could read Berkeley’s ‘Dialogues’ without being ravished by the charm of that delightful bishop. And though it may be true that Kant made hay of Hume’s theories it would be impossible, I think, to write philosophy with more elegance, urbanity, and clearness. They all, and Locke too for that matter, wrote English that the students of style could do much worse than study.
<一文目>
for it had been impressed upon me in Germany that, with the possible exception of Hume, they were quite negligible and Hume’s only importance was that Kant had demolished him,
ここは、forが「理由」を表す接続詞で、「というのも〜だから/なぜなら〜だから」という感じで、一体、何の「理由」なのかと言うと、勿論、with perhaps a slight prejudiceの「理由」ですね。それはいいとして、it had been impressed upon me in Germany that…というのはK-youngさんの仰るとおり「ドイツ留学の話」ととらえてよいのですが、そうすると、
ふみのり氏:
それというのもヒュームをなんとか除外するとしてもその他は取るに足らず、そのヒュームですら重要な事柄と言えばカントに論破されたことという
ふみのり氏が伝統的な構文主義の訳を提示しているのに対し、K-youngさんは、やわらかい日本語、のほうを重視されている感じがします。ただ、ふみのり氏はやや舌足らずなところがあるような感じもしますし、K-youngさんは少し構造を崩しすぎなのではないか、という印象も受けます。まあ、私の主観ですが。ここはやはり、二つのthatは別々に訳したほうがいいような気がします。で、その場合に難しくなってくるのは、with the possible exception of Humeのpossibleですね。もしこのpossibleを無視すれば、
というくらいにほとんど直訳でいけそうなんですが、「ヒュームを除いて」としてしまうと、「possible」の意味合いが出てこない。ここでpossibleが入っているかどうかは結構重要で、単にwith the exception of Humeと言うと、はっきり「ヒュームは除いて」と言い切っているので、「少なくともヒュームはnegligibleではない」、ということになるわけですが、possibleが入ってくると、「ひょっとしたらヒュームは例外かもしれないが」という感じになるので、ヒュームも「実は例外ではなく他同様negligibleだ」ということはありえるわけです。しかし、
<第三文>
I should think that few could read Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan’ without being taken by the gruff, downright John Bullishness of his personality, and surely no one could read Berkeley’s ‘Dialogues’ without being ravished by the charm of that delightful bishop.
I should think that…は「多分〜ではないかと思う」という感じですね。few could…without~ingは「…すればまず誰もが〜する」という定訳がありますが、「…して〜しない人などまずいない」でもかまわないかと思います。
<第四文>
And though it may be true that Kant made hay of Hume’s theories it would be impossible, I think, to write philosophy with more elegance, urbanity, and clearness.
ここは英語の解釈的には、後半のwith more elegance, urbanity and clearnessの後ろにthan Hume didという比較の対象が隠れていることをはっきりと看破できるかが問題でしたが、まあ、さすがにこれは大丈夫ですね。make hay of〜は熟語で「〜を台無しにする、めちゃくちゃにする」という意味で、上のdemolishと同義で用いられていますね。
We left Philadelphia by steamboat, at six o'clock one very cold morning, and turned our faces towards Washington.
In the course of this day's journey, as on subsequent occasions, we encountered some Englishmen who were settled in America, and were travelling on their own affairs. Of all grades and kinds of men that jostle one in the public conveyances of the States, these are often the most intolerable and the most insufferable companions. United to every disagreeable characteristic that the worst kind of American travellers possess, these countrymen of ours display an amount of insolent conceit and cool assumption of superiority, quite monstrous to behold. In the coarse familiarity of their approach, and the effrontery of their inquisitiveness (which they are in great haste to assert, as if they panted to revenge themselves upon the decent old restraints of home), they surpass any native specimens that came within my range of observation: and I often grew so patriotic when I saw and heard them, that I would cheerfully have submitted to a reasonable fine, if I could have given any other country in the whole world, the honour of claiming them for its children.
「旅では避けられぬか」は少し違うと思います。Subsequentは「後の」と言う意味で、as on subsequent occasionsは珈琲氏の訳のように「後の機会にもそうであったように」という意味でしょう。
第四文目、後半
ここが今回の英文の山場でした。確かに結構難しいと思います。
I often grew so patriotic when I saw and heard them, that I would cheerfully have submitted to a reasonable fine, if I could have given any other country in the whole world, the honour of claiming them for its children.
で、その後のthat節は当然、前のsoと連なり、so~that構文をなしているわけですが、I would cheerfully submitted to a reasonable fineは仮定法過去完了で、「(〜なら)私は喜んで相当の罰金も甘んじて受けるだろうに」と言っている。いきなり何で「罰金」の話が出てくるかは、最後に付されている条件節で納得がいきます。if節は
I could have given(V) /any other country (in the whole world)(O1)/ the honour of claiming them for its children(O2)
という二重目的語構文で、文字通りの意味は、「もしイギリス以外のいかなる国にであれ、彼ら(許しがたい同郷人)を自らの子供たちだと主張する名誉ある権利を与えることができるなら」ということでしょう。if節中のcouldは定石どおり「可能」の意味を表します。勿論、「名誉」というのは皮肉以外の何ものでもありません。claim...for~がやや難しかったかもしれませんが、文脈から言って、この訳しかないと思います。平たく言えば、お金を積んででも彼らにイギリスの出身であることをやめて欲しい、と思っているわけです。【訳例】のほうでは、「私」ではなくany other countryを主語にする形で訳しました。
次のパッセージは以前に出題した英文でMaughamが読みやすいと言っていたイギリスの哲学者George BerkeleyのPrinciples of Human Knowledgeから抜粋してきたものです。ここで、Berkeleyは「外界の事物が我々に知覚されることから独立して存在している」という一般の意見を奇妙な謬見とみなし、それに反論を加えています。最初に出てくる、this tenetというのはこの「謬見」のことを指します。このことを踏まえて『』で括った部分を和訳してみてください。
If we thoroughly examine this tenet it will, perhaps, be found at bottom to depend on the doctrine of abstract ideas. For can there be a nicer strain of abstraction than to distinguish the existence of sensible objects from their being perceived, so as to conceive them existing unperceived? Light and colours, heat and cold, extension and figures- in a word the things we see and feel- what are they but so many sensations, notions, ideas, or impressions on the sense? and is it possible to separate, even in thought, any of these from perception? 『For my part, I might as easily divide a thing from itself. I may, indeed, divide in my thoughts, or conceive apart from each other, those things which, perhaps I never perceived by sense so divided. Thus, I imagine the trunk of a human body without the limbs, or conceive the smell of a rose without thinking on the rose itself. So far, I will not deny, I can abstract---if that may properly be called abstraction which extends only to the conceiving separately such objects as it is possible may really exist or be actually perceived asunder.』But my conceiving or imagining power does not extend beyond the possibility of real existence or perception. Hence, as it is impossible for me to see or feel anything without an actual sensation of that thing, so is it impossible for me to conceive in my thoughts any sensible thing or object distinct from the sensation or perception of it.
For can there be a nicer strain of abstraction than to distinguish the existence of sensible objects from their being perceived, so as to conceive them existing unperceived?
となるべきところです。a strain ofはa streak ofと同様の意味で、「一種の抽象化」「ちょっとした抽象化」というくらいの感じですね。than以下でも注意が必要です。後半のso as to Vは「目的」としても「結果」としても意味は通りますが、so as toVはいずれにしても副詞要素ですから、前のdistinguishを修飾し、distinguish…unperceivedは一塊である、と考えるべきです。
ここが、今回の出題の英文構造上の一つの山場でした。正直かなり難しかったと思います。まず、重要なのは細かい要素も無視しないということです。might as easilyという助動詞的要素が入っていますが、これは直訳すれば「同じだけ容易に〜できるかもしれない」という意味ですね。might as wellと置き換えてもほとんど意味は一緒です。このasは、原級比較as…asにおける、前半のasで、副詞的に機能し「同じだけ、同様に」という意味を表します。しかし、唐突に「同じだけ」と言われても、何を基準に「同じだけ」と言っているのかわかりません。原級比較のas…as〜であれば後半のas節がその基準を提示する役割を果たすのですが、今回のようなケースでは、基準となるものを文脈から補うしかありません。言い換えるならば、might as well V/might as easily Vというのは、might + as … as〜構文における、後半のas以下が省略された形、とも言えるのです。ですから、might as well V1 as V2というように、後半のas以下をともなった形が出てくることもあるわけです。
さて、今回のケースですが、では、ここで省略されたas V2が何かということを考えると、やはり、直前で言われていた、separate any of them from perceptionということでしょう。ですので、このFor my partの文を、基準となるもの、を補って書き換えると、
For my part, I might as easily divide a thing from itself as (I might) separate any of them from perception.
というのが直訳です。さて、ここまでは文法力で再生できても、ここからは文脈把握力と、レトリックに対する耐性の問題になってきます。この文の命題内容は、上の直訳で問題ないのですが、当然、筆者の込めた意味はこれでは伝わりません。というのも、ここで言われているdivide a thing from itselfというのは、「絶対にできないこと」の一例として持ち出されているものに過ぎないからです。
[基礎編]の鯨構文の解説のところで、than以下のa horse (is a fish)というのは「絶対に間違っていること」「真実性が0パーセントであること」の例であり、鯨構文は、a whale is a fishの度合いが、そのa horse is a fishの度合いと同じだ、と主張することで、a whale is a fishということがいかに誤った考えであるかを強調する修辞法である、と説明しました。
今回の文にも殆ど同じことが言えます。筆者は、ここで問題となっているseparate any of them from perceptionがいかに不可能なことかを強調するために、それがdivide a thing from itselfという「明らかに絶対にできないこと」と同じ程度に容易だ、と言っているのです。その意図を汲んで訳すなら、
勿論、いわゆる[熟語]として覚えている人が多い、might as well Vが「Vしたほうがよい、Vするも同じだ、Vしたほうがましだ」といった意味を持つのは、全て、このmight + as ~ asというのが元になっているのであって、一応の訳語は覚えるにしても、常に原理を理解しておくことが重要なのですが、実際は、プロの翻訳でもこの種の構文の読み落としは結構あるようです。私自身もいくつか発見したことがあります。
So far, I will not deny, I can abstract---if that may properly be called abstraction which extends only to the conceiving separately such objects as it is possible may really exist or be actually perceived asunder.
次にwhich以下の構造ですが、such objects as it is possible may really exist or be actually perceived asunderのところはかなり複雑で注意が必要です。まずここでのasはsuchと連動するもので、擬似関係代名詞などと呼ばれているものですが、その後ろに続くit is possible…というのは、いわゆる「連鎖関係詞」の構造です。つまり、
It is possible (that) X may really exist or be actually perceived asunder
In the related arts of politics and government, judicious economies with truth are a stock-in-trade; neither art would be possible without them. We accept the necessity at times for evasions, equivocations, dissemblings and downright falsehoods in the practices of public life, and regard as naive anyone who insists otherwise.