And the horror that fascinated him and gave such dreadful unity to his tales is often the unavoidable conflict of the self by a perfect justice, the exposure of a guilty act in a form that makes its reveal a falling back of the mid against itself.
请问划线部分如何理解? 这里这个mid的意思是?
你的句子选自“纽约书评”网站的一篇文章。
详细情况参见:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/02/05/edgar-allan-poe/
文章的题目是:On Edgar Allan Poe《论埃德加·爱伦·坡》(十九世纪美国诗人、小说家和文学评论家)。
这篇文章曾被江苏四校用作联考英语考试试题中的阅读理解篇目。联考考试试题本身有误,可能是以讹传讹是什么原因吧,你提供的句子也有误。应该是下面这个句子:
And the horror that fascinated him and gave such dreadful unity to his tales is often the inescapable confrontation of the self by a perfect justice, the exposure of a guilty act in a form that makes its revelation a recoil of the mind against itself.
【翻译】让他着迷而且给他的故事带来这样完整统一的那种恐怖,常常是合乎法律的正义所带来的不可防止的自我冲突,对犯罪行为的揭露,所用的展示方法是背叛自我的心灵退缩。
【简析】最难理解的部分是:the exposure of a guilty act in a form that makes its revelation a recoil of the mind against itself.
1. the exposure of a guilty act:对犯罪行为的揭露
2. in a form...用某种方法
3. that makes its revelation a recoil of the mind against itself:定语从句修饰方法form,that关系代词。
4. makes its revelation a recoil of the mind against itself:make +名词(宾语)+名词(宾补),让...成为...
5. a recoil of the mind:心灵的退缩
6. against itself:与自己相背而行,作定语。