20180914长难句翻译

【昨日回顾】

Historians, especially those so blinded by their research interests that they have been accused of “tunnel method,” frequently fall victim to the “technical fallacy.” Also common in the natural sciences, the technical fallacy mistakenly identifies the discipline as a whole with certain parts of its technical implementation.

史学家，尤其是那些单纯局限于他们研究兴趣的史学家，被指责为使用“单方向研究法”，常常成为“纯技术方法论”的牺牲品。“纯技术方法论”错误地把整个学科与学科研究的某些操作方法等同起来，这种情况在自然科学领域里也屡见不鲜。

【今日长难句】

It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources, and to social science historians who equate their activity with specific techniques.

【结构解析】

1. it 所指代的内容，需要联系上文方能做出判断。因此，联系昨天的句子，it指代the technical fallacy, 即：（纯）技术错误。

2. 句子主干为it /applies to /traditional historians and to social science historians，其中，apply to 表“与……相关/存在于……”

3. who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources和who equate their activity with specific techniques为定语从句，分别修饰traditional historians和social science historians。由于定语从句较长，建议处理为单句。

4. activity一词在本句中译为活动不妥，“历史学家的活动”显然表意模糊，译为“历史学家的研究”更为恰当。

【词的处理】

apply to 与……相关；适用于……；存在于……

external  / ikˈstə:nl/ adj. 外部的

internal / inˈtə:nl/ adj. 内部的

criticism  / ˈkritisizəm / n. 批评，批判，指责

equate  / iˈkweit / vt. 同等看待，使等同

equate… with … 认为……就是……

【参考译文】

It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources, and to social science historians who equate their activity with specific techniques.

这种谬误同样存在于历史传统家和历史社科家；前者认为历史仅仅是史学界内部和外部人士对各种史料来源的评论，后者则认为历史的研究是具体方法。

【明日长难句】

They were, by far, the largest and most distant objects that scientists had ever detected: a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light-years from earth. But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.