1. Perhaps the most commonly voiced objection to volunteer participation during the undergraduate years is that it consumes time and energy that the students might otherwise devote to "academic" pursuits.

[参考译文] 反对在大学期间自愿参加社会服务的最普遍的呼声也许是认为社会服务占去了学生的时间和精力，否则，学生会利用这些时间去做学术研究。

[结构分析] 这是一个主从复合句，主句的主干结构是：Perhaps the most commonly voiced objection is that．．．，主句的主语objection之前的the most commonly voiced和之后的介词短语to volunteer participation均作定语，during the under-graduate years是时间状语；that表语从句的主干结构是让consumes time and energy(that the students might otherwise devote to“academic”pursuits)，其主语是it，指代前面的volunteer participation，谓语是consumes，宾语是time and energy，括号内的that引导time and energy的定语从句，其主语是the students，谓语是might otherwise devote，宾语是that，指代前面的time and energy，to “academic”pursuits是介词短语，作宾语补足语，实际上，devote．．．to．．．已构成固定词组，otherwise作状语。

[知识链接] voiced说出来的；Objection to．．．反对……；volunteer志愿者；undergraduate大学生；consume消耗，消费；otherwise否则，若不然；devote．．．to．．．把……奉献给；academic pursuits学术研究。

2. The blunt truth of the matter is that human beings are not designed for tasks which require relentless vigilance: for the sophisticated human brain these are fatiguing and boring.

[参考译文l 此事说明了一个真切的道理：人类并不是生来就适合做不间断的高度警觉的工作。对于复杂的大脑来说，这些工作太乏倦无味了。

[结构分析] 这是一个主从复合句，主句的主干结构是：The truth is that．．．，that引导的表语从句的主干结构是：human beings are not designed for tasks，之后的which引导定语从句，修饰前面的tasks，其主干结构是which require．．；vigilance，relentless是vigilance的定语；冒号后面的内容是一个独立的句子，是对前面内容的解释，其主语是these，指代前面的tasks，谓语是are，表语是fatiguing and boring, for the sophisticated human brain是介词短语，作范围状语。

[知识链接] blunt率直的，坦率的；relentless连续的，不间断的；vigilance警觉；sophisticated复杂的；fatiguing令人疲倦的；boring乏味的。

3. All that happened is that we have substituted identifying and labeling, which can be done very rapidly, for the tactile sort of feel-seeing that requires much more time and concentration.

[参考译文]所发生的一切仅仅是我们用识别和作标记替代了触觉类的感知，前者可以很迅速地完成，而后者则需要多得多的时间和专注。

[结构分析] 这是一个主从复合句，可以切分为All that happened is that we have substituted identifying and labeling，(which can be done very rapidly，)for the tactile sort of feel-seeing (that requires much more time and concentration)，that happened作主语All的定语从句，难点在于that引导的表语从句；该从句的主干结构是：we have substituted．．．for．．+谓语动词have substituted．．．for．．．是固定搭配；第一个括号内是which引导的定语从句，修饰前面的identifying and labeling，第二个括号内是that引导的定语从句，修饰the tactile sort of feel—seeing。该句翻译时要先译主干结构，which定语从句和that定语从句要放在最后处理。

[知识链接] substitute．．．for．．．用……替代……；identifying识别；labeling作标记；tactile触觉的；feel-seeing感知；concentration专注。

4. What we should like to know is whether life originated as the result of some amazing accident or succession of coincidences, or whether it is the normal event for inanimate matter to produce life in due course, when the physical environment is suitable.

[参考译文] 我们想知道的是生命究竟是起源于某个惊人的事件，或是一系列的巧合呢?还是当自然环境适合，无生命的物质经过相当一段时间就自然而然地产生了生命呢?

[结构分析] 这是一个主从复合句，主干结构是：What we should like to know is whether．．．or whether．．．，What引导主语从句，whether．．．or whether．．．引导并列的表语从句；第一个表语从句的主语是life，谓语是originated，as the result of．．．or．．．coincidence是介词短语，作originated的方式状语；第二个表语从句的主语是山指代后面的不定式to produce．．．course，谓语是is，表语是the normal event；for inanimate matter是介词短语，作范围状语；句末的when引导非限定定语从句，修饰前面的course。翻译时应将when从句置于主句的前面，这也是英译汉时常用的原则，即次要信息在前，主要信息在后。

[知识链接] originate起源；as the result of．．．作为……的结果；amazing令人惊奇的；accident事故，事件'succession连续；coincidence偶然事件；inanimate无生命的；due适当的，适合的；course过程；physical environment自然环境；suitable适当的。

5. The problem is that modern man seems unable to redesign his institutions fast enough to accommodate the new demands, the new intelligence, the new abilities of segments of society which, heretofore, have not been taken seriously.

[参考译文] 问题是，现代人似乎不能尽快及时地修正其已形成的各种习俗以适应那些迄今尚未被认真对待的、来自社会各阶层的新的需求、新的智慧和新的才干。

[结构分析] 这是一个主从复合句，主句的主干结构是：The problem is that．．．，难点在于that引导的表语从句。该从句也是一个主从复合句，可以切分为：modern man seems unable to redesign his institutions(fast enough to accommodate the new demands，the new intelligence，the new abilities of segments of society)(which，heretofore，have not been taken seriously)，括号外的内容是主句，主语是modern man，谓语是seems unable to redesign，宾语是his institutions，his指代前面的modern man，fast enough是redesign的程度状语，to accommodate．．．of society是不定式，作结果状语，句末的which引导定语从句，修饰前面的并列宾语the new demands, the new intelligence, the new abilities，从句的谓语是have not been taken seriously, take sth. seriously是固定短语，参见知识链接，heretofore是副词，作时间状语。翻译时应将which从句转化为前置定语来处理。

[知识链接] man(单数)人类；redesign重新设计，修正；institution习俗；accommodate 适应；intelligence智慧，智商；segment of society社会各阶层；heretofore迄今；take sth．seriously认真对待某事。