2005年研究生招生基础英语试题参考译文（“王阳明捉贼”部分）

好学英文网投稿作者介绍：北京外国语大学高级翻译学院 李长栓

中文原文：
明代哲学家王阳明早年被贬到贵州龙场做地方官时，捕获了当地一个强盗头目。该头目在受审时说：“我犯的是死罪，要杀要剐，任你怎么处置，只请你不要和我谈道德良知。像我这种人是从来不谈这个的，甚至连想都没有想过。”王阳明说：“好的。今天我不和你谈道德良知。不过，天气这么热，你看在审案前我们还是把外衣脱了吧。”强盗头目说：“好！”脱去外衣后，王阳明又说：“还是热，再把内衣也脱了吧。”强盗头目当然不会在乎赤膊，于是就脱去内衣。庭上庭下两人身上只剩下一件裤头。而此时王阳明更进一步，说道：“干脆我们把裤头也脱了吧，全身赤裸更自在……”一听说连裤头也要脱，强盗头目赶紧说：“这可使不得！这可使不得！”面对此情此景，王阳明当即来了一番水到渠成的因势利导：“为什么‘使不得’，这是因为在你心中还剩有那么一点羞耻感。可见就是像你这样十恶不赦的家伙，我照样可以和你谈‘道德良知’……”强盗头目心服口服，随即讲自己的种种罪行一一如实供出。

参考译文：
The ancient philosopher Wang Yangming offended some powerful officials of the imperial court and was demoted to the position of a local official in the remote province of Guizhou. During his term, he arrested the head of a burglary gang. In the trial, the suspect said, "I have committed a death penalty crime. You can kill me or torture me all you want but spare me the moral talk. A guy like me never talks morals. I don't even think about them."
Wang replied, "OK, I won't talk morals with you today but since it's hot, I suggest we take off our coats before the trial."
"OK," said the suspect, and took his coat off.
"It's still too hot, perhaps we should take off our shirts too," said Wang.
The gangster naturally didn’t mind being bare-chested, so he took off his shirt. Now both of them had nothing left but their pants. Wang then said, "What about the pants? We’ll be more comfortable if we’re naked." From hxw.red.
"No way! No way!" protested the suspect.
At this point, Wang cut to his point and said, "The reason why you wouldn't take off your pants is that you still know shame. This proves that even a notorious and ruthless man like yourself is concerned with morality. "The suspect was so impressed by Wang's argument that he confessed all his crimes.

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2005年研究生招生基础英语试题参考译文.doc