Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
1、 Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory framework. (46) 【In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.】 It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail. Nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal. This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47) 【Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification, for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings.】 Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48) 【To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.】 That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language. The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language-acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly. (49) 【The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality, identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many languages, which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints.】 Gray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages. (50) 【Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it, whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations.】 Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lineage-specific and not governed by universals.
正确答案：
参考译文：
46. 在物理学界，一种方法将这种寻求统一的冲动发挥到极致，并试图寻找一种可以阐明一切的理论——一个可以解释我们所看到的一切的生成公式。
47. 这里，达尔文主义似乎提供了理由，因为如果所有人类都有共同的起源，那么似乎有理由认为文化多样性也可以追溯到更有限的起源。
48. 从共有特征中筛选出独有特征或许能让我们理解复杂的文化行为是如何产生的，以及从进化和认知角度理解是什么引导了文化行为。
49. 第二次努力——由约书亚·格林伯格发起——采用了更加经验主义的方法来研究语言的普遍性，确定了多种语言的共有特征（尤其在词序方面），这些特征被认为代表了由于认识限制而产生的偏见。
50. 乔姆斯基的语法应该体现语言变化的模式，这些模式独立于语言谱系或贯穿谱系的路径，而格林伯格的语言普遍性则预示了特定类型的词序关系之间存在着紧密的相互依赖关系。
答案解析：
生词本：
impulse n. 冲动 unification n. 统一
generative adj. 生成的 equation n. 等式；方程式
Darwinism n. 达尔文进化论 justification n. 正当的理由
diversity n. 多样性 constrained adj. 限制的；约束的
filter out 滤除；滤出 evolutionary adj. 进化的
cognitive adj. 认知的 in…terms 就……而言；从……角度
empirical adj. 经验主义的 universality n. 普遍性
trait n. 特性 constraint n. 限制
pathway n. 路径；途径 whereas adj. 然而
表达难点：
46. ①本句中for unification是impulse的后置定语，翻译时需要放在impulse之前，且与上一段中的search for universal principles（寻找普遍法则）表达相同含义，这里for应该转译为“寻找”。②take sth. to its extreme表示“将某物发挥到极致”。③we see是省略引导词的定语从句修饰all，翻译时同样放在all之前即可。
47. ①本句是主句+原因状语从句的结构，其中原因状语从句中又嵌套了条件状语从句和宾语从句，同时使用了it seems reasonable to suppose …，其中it作形式主语，真正的主语不定式进行了后置，翻译时尤需注意，这里需翻译成“似乎有理由认为……”。②constrained表示“被限制的”，也就是“有限的”。
48. ①本句中包含了四个从句，翻译时需要注意。filter out A from B表示“从B中筛出A”。②what is unique和what is shared是一组对应的名词性从句，从本句话前面的universal features（普遍特征）可知，这两个从句指的同样是features，可分别翻译为“独有特征”和“共有特征”。③后面的how和what引导的从句是understand的宾语，how可以译为“如何”。④it指代的是cultural behavior（文化行为），翻译时可以直接翻译出指代的内容。
49. ①本句中The second是承接上文中提到的The most famous of these efforts，因而此处需要增译为The second effort，同样by Joshua Greenberg需要增译为initiated by Joshua Greenberg。②Approach to universality中to需要转译为“研究”，结合语境可知universality指的是语言的普遍性，因而此处同样需要增译为“语言”。③which引导的非限制性定语从句可以顺序直译，将which指代的内容traits翻译出来即可。
50. ①that引导的定语从句修饰patterns，由于从句较长，可进行拆分，翻译为“这些模式独立于……”。②it指代pathway，tracked through it在翻译时可调整到pathway之前。③介词结构between…同样可以在翻译时进行前置。
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