20190710长难句
【前文回顾】
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 frame work.
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.
Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification, for if all humans share common origins, it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings.
自亚里士多德的时代起，对普遍原理的探求就一直是科学事业的主要特征。在某些方面，寻找事物的共性也正是科学的定义/内涵。牛顿的运动定律和达尔文的进化论都是把很多不同现象纳入到一个单独框架来解释。
在物理学上，有一种方法是将这种追求统一的冲动发挥到极点，它寻找一种万能的理论，即一种单一的能够解释我们所能看到的一切的通用公式。然而，考虑到/鉴于这样的一种理论所涉及的维度和范畴，它是否还算是一种简化就变得越来越说不清楚了。尽管如此，寻找万物的统一性仍然是一个主要目标。很久以来，在自然科学这种趋势在社会科学中也很明显。
在这里，达尔文主义似乎提供了一个正当理由：如果所有的人类都有共同的起源，那么文化差异能够追寻到更有限的开端，这一假设好像也是合理的。
【今日长难句】
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.
【结构解析】
1. “Just as”引导方式状语从句，译为“正如…”；从句主干为被动句，即：the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals/ might all be considered /forms of sexual selection, 译为：正如人类令人眼花缭乱的多种求偶仪式都能被认为是性别选择的某种模式一样，
2. 后半句为句子主干，也是被动句，即：the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history /are governed by /universal features. 译为：世界上的语言、音乐、社会习惯和宗教习俗甚至历史都可能由某些统一的特点所驾驭。
【词的处理】
bewildering / biˈwildəriŋ / adj.令人困惑的
variety / vəˈraiəti / n. 不同种类
courtship / ˈkɔ:tʃip; NAmE ˈkɔ:rt- / n. 求爱；求偶
ritual / ˈritʃuəl / n. 程序；仪规；礼节
sexual / ˈsekʃuəl / adj. 性别的
language / ˈlæŋɡwidʒ / n. 语言
religious / riˈlidʒəs / adj. 宗教的
custom / ˈkʌstəm / n. 风俗；习俗
govern / ˈɡʌvn; NAmE ˈɡʌvərn / vt. 统治；控制；管理
universal / ˌju:niˈvə:sl; NAmE -ˈvə:rsl / adj. 普遍的；全体的
feature / ˈfi:tʃə(r) / n. 特色；特征
【参考译文】
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.
正如人类令人眼花缭乱的多种求偶仪式都能被认为是性别选择的某种模式一样，世界上的语言、音乐、社会习惯和宗教习俗甚至历史都可能由某些统一的特点所驾驭。
【明日长难句】
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.
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