The simile sets out to establish the moral polarities between good and evil, but it then works almost systematically to undo that understanding.

这里的比喻开始创造出善与恶之间的,两极性，然而后来它又几乎自动的抹去了这种理解。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

He's making a claim for language while erasing it.

他在抹去语言的同时对语言提出了要求。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

Wouldn't a later writer have cleaned up this ancestral record if this were in fact something composed at a later period? Also, he notes that the representation of inter-ethnic relationships in the patriarchal stories does not accord with the reality of a later period.

后世的作者难道不会把祖先不光彩的记录抹去吗,如果事实上这故事是后来创作的话？同时，他还提出，宗族故事中所展示的种族间关系,与后世的现实是不相一致的。

耶鲁公开课 - 旧约导论课程节选