I.? The central question

Q: How did Wang Anshis's personal attributes influence the nature of his policies??

A: Wang Anshih's personal character was the main reason. When he started the reforms, it was common that other scholars and politicians would came up with their own opinions. Listened to them, discussed with them and learned from them should benefit Wang Anshih's policy, but his determination rejected to respected them. Wang Anshih's stubborn and obstinate made the government policy more arbitrary and the less freedom of expression. This was also the major point which Su Tungpo against, because Wang Anshih wanted to use his own thought to replaced other people's view.

II.? The sentence

1. It's necessary to understand the nature of the political battle because the party strife shadowed Su Tungpo's entire life.

party strife ?黨爭(zhēng)

shadow 這個(gè)詞用得十分巧妙，蘇東坡的一生的浮沉籠罩在黨爭(zhēng)的陰影之中

2. The tragedies of the political strife arose from the defects of character of a man who was unable to take good advice and unwilling to admite a mistake.

and連接的平衡結(jié)構(gòu)，unable to take good advice, unwilling to admite a mistake, 用詞簡(jiǎn)單，但非常簡(jiǎn)明。

3. Determination of character, we are told, is a great virture, but a qualification is necessary: so much depends upon what a man is determined to do.

有決心顯然是好事，但關(guān)鍵在于“決心”是有條件的，它取決于決定去做什么，這就是“意志堅(jiān)定”與“一意孤行”的區(qū)別。

4. The tragedy of Wang Anshih comes form fact that he was not in any way self-indulgent or corrupt himself, and that his hand was forced.

這一句的譯文在語(yǔ)序上有些問(wèn)題，容易引人誤解。林語(yǔ)堂的意思是，王安石的悲劇并非是因?yàn)樗涡苑趴v或貪污腐敗，他的人格操守上并無(wú)不當(dāng)之處，問(wèn)題在于他因?yàn)楸黄葻o(wú)奈，助長(zhǎng)了他性格中的偏執(zhí)獨(dú)斷。