今天，我们来看2015年英语一翻译的第3个句子。
(48) But the force of geographic conditions peculiar to America, the interplay of the varied national groups upon one another, and the sheer difficulty of maintaining old-world ways in a raw, new continent caused significant changes.
翻译：但是美洲所独有的地理条件的作用，不同族群之间的相互影响，以及在一个原始的新大陆保持旧世界方式的困难程度，所有这一切，引发了意义深远的改变。
我们来彻底总结一下peculiar这个单词。
1. 最常见意思：奇怪的；怪异的；
Peculiar 这个词，最常见的意思是：奇怪的；怪异的。
比如：
a peculiar smell/taste奇怪的气味╱味道
for some peculiar reason：因为某些奇怪的原因
例句1：
Heissuch apeculiarpersonthat I have never been able to figure him out. 他是如此古怪，我从来都看不懂他。
例句2：
I hada peculiar feelingwe’d met before. 我有一种奇怪的感觉，觉得我们以前见过面。
类似的词还有 odd, strange; bizarre; weird。
这5个词意思比较相近，在大部分情况下是可以相互替换的，我们不需要分得特别清楚。
重点注意一下每个词的感情色彩：
odd/peculiar: 偏中性，略微贬义，表示某个人/事情有点不一样，有点怪异。
strange/weird：强贬义，表示某个人/事情很奇怪。
bizarre：超强贬义，一般不形容人，只形容事情或者东西。This is a bizarre outfit. 这件衣服太奇葩了吧！接受无能！
大家可以记住这张图：
所以，peculiar 最常见的意思是：有点怪异的，奇怪的。它比较偏中性，没有特别强的感情色彩。
但是，what is peculiar is that…。奇怪的是，在考研英语当中，peculiar 只要出现，都不是“奇怪”的意思，而是另一个意思：“独特的；特有的”。
2. peculiar 熟词僻义：特有的；独特的
当 peculiar 用于 peculiar to… 短语，或者 someone’s own peculiar… 时，peculiar 为“特有的”意思。这时候，peculiar 就没有贬义了，而是完全中性的词。
比如：
a humour that is peculiar to American sitcoms美国情景喜剧特有的幽默
a species of bird peculiar to Asia亚洲独有的鸟类
his own peculiar style：他独特的风格
The problem of racism is not peculiar to this country. 种族歧视问题并非只有这个国家才有。
来看真题例句：
例句1：
It turns outthat peculiar wayof conductingthe experiments may have led to misleadinginterpretations of what happened.（2010真题）
翻译：这表明实验所采取的独特方式可能造成了对所发生事情的误解。
例句2：
Furthermore, humans have the ability to modify the environment in which they live, thus subjecting allother life forms totheir own peculiar ideas and fancies.（2003翻译）
翻译：此外，人类还有能力改善自己的生存环境，从而让所有其他生命形式服从于人类自己独特的想法和想像。
例句3：
The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protectionsfor the “peculiar institution,”including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.（2008真题）
这个句子，是很多同学都看不懂的长难句之一，我们详细分析一下。
第一部分：
The southern states wouldnot have signed the Constitutionwithout protections for the “peculiar institution,”including a clausethat counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.
主干：南方各州不会签署宪法（注意，这里用到了虚拟语气，表示虚拟的条件）
第二部分：
The southern states wouldnot have signed the Constitutionwithout protections for the “peculiar institution,”including a clausethat counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.
without 引导的介词短语，作状语。
翻译：在没有保护他们的“独特制度”的前提下。
第三部分：
The southern states wouldnot have signed theConstitutionwithout protections for the “peculiar institution,”including a clausethat counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.
including 引导的同位语，解释说明前面的“peculiar institution”。这里的“clause”是“规定”“条例”的意思。
第四部分：
The southern states wouldnot have signed theConstitutionwithoutprotections for the “peculiar institution,”including aclausethat counted a slave as three fifths of a manfor purposes of congressional representation.
黄色部分为定语从句，修饰前面的clause。
翻译：这个规定将一个奴隶算作是五分之三人。
The southern states wouldnot have signed theConstitutionwithoutprotections for the “peculiarinstitution,”including aclausethat counted a slave as three fifths of a manfor purposes of congressional representation.
目的状语，修饰前面的动词 count。为什么这样计算？
翻译：为了在国会选举代表时的一些目的。
所以，整句话的翻译就是：
The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.
如果不保护他们的“特殊制度”，南方各州是不会签署联邦宪法的。“特殊制度”中有一条规定：在选举国会代表时，一个奴隶可算作五分之三个公民。
这就是 peculiar 作“独特的；特有的”意思。
3. peculiarity
peculiar 名词形式是：peculiarity,它相应地也有两个意思：
（1）怪癖；古怪之处
（2）独特性
和形容词性一样，在考研当中，遇到 peculiarity, 一般都是“独特性”的意思。
作业：明天，我们来看2015年考研英语一翻译的第4，5个句子。
(49) The first shiploads of immigrants bound for the territory which is now the United States crossed the Atlantic more than a hundred years after the 15th-and-16th-century explorations of North America.In the meantime, thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. These travelers to North America came in small, unmercifully overcrowded craft. During their six-to-twelve-week voyage, they survived on barely enough food allotted to them. Many of the ships were lost in storms, many passengers died of disease, and infants rarely survived the journey. Sometimes storms blew the vessels faroff their course, and often calm brought unbearably long delay.
To the anxious travelers the sight of the American shore brought almost inexpressible relief. Said one recorder of events, “The air at twelve leagues’ distance smelt as sweet as a new-blown garden.” The colonists’ first glimpse of the new land was a sight of dense woods.(50) The virgin forest with its richness and variety of trees was a real treasure-house which extended from Maine all the way down to Georgia.Here was abundant fuel and lumber. Here was the raw material of houses and furniture, ships and potash, dyes and naval stores.
请大家仔细阅读这两个句子，并将其完整翻译出来。
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欢迎大家在评论区留言打卡，我陪你走到最后！
欢迎大家在评论区留言打卡，我陪你走到最后！
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