[资料分享] 【习惯性GRE】--1006G--【阅读】--NO行文分析 2-1AS [复制链接]

No. 2-1

SECTION A

Extended debate concerning the exact point of origin of individual folktales told by

Afro-American slaves has unfortunately taken precedence over analysis of the tales’ meaning

and function.

(开篇第一句写得相当漂亮！Debate has unfortunately taken precedence over analysis. 通过unfortunately可以体会出作者对extended debate持负态度。负态度的具体指向为”origin of individual folktales told by Afro-American slaves”，与此不同的是，作者通过unfortunately taken precedence over…tales’ meaning and function提出正态度，强调重点应该摆在meaning and function. 再压缩一下整句意思：debate应该注重tales’ meaning and function，而不是origin. 接下来，一个正常的行文思路是“阐述为什么”或者进一步解释关键词)

Cultural continuities with Africa were not dependent on importation and

perpetuation of specific folktales in their pristine form.

(importation and perpetuation即为origin的另一种表述方式，这一句话为批判对象debate concerning origin的延伸，广义上的同位语。但Cultural continuities是什么？作者为什么提出这个新概念？作者暗含的意思是：研究folktales，不能简单地就事论事，不能纠结于表象，folktales担任了cultural continuity传递者的重要角色。如果只是简单地讨论“来自何处，去往何处”，难免会“无关痛痒”。这里就引发了一个疑问：既然folktales承担了cultural continuity传递者作者，而这种传递又不体现在origin—importation and perpetuation，那又隐藏于何处呢？答案马上揭晓)

It is in the place that tales occupied in

the lives of the slaves and in the meaning slaves derived from them that the clearest

resemblances to African tradition can be found.

(原来Cultural continuity位于place/meaning中…注意place不是地名的意思，是前文提到的function…此处前后对应关系为place—function, meaning—meaning, cultural continuity—African tradition. 作者作此文的出发点到这里已经表露无遗—研究一个民族或部落或种群，就要讨论他们的文化，而该文化的体现者之一是folktales，folktales的meaning/function相比较于origin又最能体现文化。因此debate的重点放在meaning/function是一种更有意义的作法)

Afro-American slaves did not borrow tales

indiscriminately from the Whites among whom they lived. Black people were most influenced

by those Euro-American tales whose functional meaning and aesthetic appeal had the greatest

similarity to the tales with deep roots in their ancestral homeland.

(一种文化的起源无外乎“自创”与“借鉴”。对于“借鉴”，单纯地讨论从哪儿借过来并没有实质性意义，也就是origin。相反，借鉴的原因，即为什么会选择Euro-American tales作为借鉴对象值得思考—因为Afro-American与部分Euro-American的tales中隐藏的文化具有一定的相似程度，正是这种相似才产生文化认同感，进而去借得与吸收。这也就是作者为什么会提出“functional meaning/aesthetic appeal”的相似性。Tales相似à文化相似à文化认同à文化借鉴à借鉴者之一tales)

Regardless of where slave

tales came from, the essential point is that, with respect to language, delivery, details of

characterization, and plot, slaves quickly made them their own.
(结尾也较漂亮！came from—origin，make their own—function and meaning，作者首尾响应，再次表明立场—加大function/meaning研究力度。虽然部分tales起源于外界，但slaves的借鉴吸收和运用已经将其变成自己文化的一部分。这个变的过程已经在tales中增加自己的元素，使得其与最初的origin不同，如果再一味地研究origin，对了解tales中隐藏的真正Afro-American cultural continuities并无明显作用。而function/meaning则不同，他们是内化在Afro-American tradition中)