1. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas--legends handed down from one generation of story-tellers to another.
解讀:legends作sagas的同位語,後接被動分詞短語做定語。
基本結構：主+定+謂+賓+同位。
翻譯:他們保存歷史的唯一方法是把歷史作爲英雄故事講述--由說書者代代相傳。
can tell the difference almost at a glance for the spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.
解讀:主謂賓+原因狀語(省略句)
an insect never more than six 應該理解爲昆蟲只有六條腿而不是昆蟲絕不多於六條腿,全句翻譯如下:
翻譯:誰都可以一眼就看出蜘蛛與昆蟲不同,蜘蛛都是八條腿,而昆蟲最多隻有六條。
3. Such inns as there were dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread ofen twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine.
解讀:第二個分句中,simply是副詞，意爲“食物只有···”，而accompanied含被動意思，說明人們把陳麪包和乳酪搭配着吃，並不是乳酪自己同麪包相配。第二句作者把謂語省略了。
翻譯：那裏的小旅店通常又骯髒，跳蚤又多.吃的食物僅僅是當地產的乳酪加上存放了一年之久的麪包，大家只能就着下等酒把它們吞下去.
gorilla is something of a paradox in the African scene.
解讀：這裏的paradox並不是說猩猩是自相矛盾的動物，而是指人們對其捉摸不透。
翻譯：大猩猩是非洲景觀中有點讓人捉摸不透的傢伙。
this and many other things remain almost as much a mystery as they were when the French explorer Du Chaillu first described the animal to the civilized world a century ago.
解讀:句子是一個比較複雜的主從複合長句，應該採用分句法，逆序法來譯，先將when引導的狀語從句譯，再譯出主句。
翻譯：100年前法國探險家Du Chaillu第一次向文明世界敘述過這種動物，如今這一切和其他許多事情幾乎像100年前一樣，仍然是個謎。
6.I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.
解讀:identity指的是與衆不同的個性，不是指身份
翻譯：假如有人認爲我是一個麻煩的話，我一定會感到十分得意。至少，被人看成問題會使別人在某種程度上認識我是誰。這點正是年輕人所熱衷追求的事情之一。
the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise.
解讀：local patriotism是熱愛本鄉本土之心，注意不要理解成地方主義(localism)
翻譯：當你在鄉村的草坪上比賽時，隨意分爲兩邊，並不存在熱不熱愛本地區的問題，只有這個時候纔有可能爲了娛樂和鍛鍊而進行比賽。
textile areas it has long been customary for mothers to go out to work, but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now a not unusual factor in a child's home life, the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty-five years.
解讀：作爲一個複合句，原文包含三個意思，主要應當注意幾個動詞的不同時態，從而分清楚三層意思之間的關係。
翻譯：雖然在那些紡織工業區，母親出去上班早已司空見慣，但是現在這種現象更爲普遍，如今兒童的家庭生活中，母親去上班已經是習以爲常的事情了。因爲在最近二十五年中，已婚婦女就業的人數已經增加了一倍多。
9. It is unusual now for father to pursue his trade or other employment at home, and his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work.
翻譯：現在做父親的一般都不在家裏幹本行活計或者其他行當，而他的孩子們即便有可能的話，也很少能在他的工作場所見到他。
10. Everyone knows that if he shouts in the vicinity of a wall or a mountainside, an echo will come back.
翻譯：大家都知道，假如一個人在牆壁附近或是山腰裏大聲呼喊，就會產生一個迴音。
11. In our new society there is a growing dislike of original, creative men. The manipulated do not understand them; the manipulators fear them. The tidy committee men regard them with horror, knowing that no pigeonholes can be found for them.
解讀:主要考慮"tidy"的諷刺語氣。
翻譯:在現代社會裏，人們對開拓型的有創造力的人有一種與日俱增的厭惡情緒。受人擺佈的人不理解他們，擺佈別人的人害怕他們。衣冠楚楚的委員們知道不可能使他們就範，因此懷着恐懼的心理看待他們。