You hear it all along the river [1]. You hear it，loud and strong, from the rowers as they urge the junk with its high stem, the mast lashed alongside, down the swift running stream [2]. You hear it from the tracker [3]，a more breathless chant, as they pull desperately against the current [4]，half a dozen of them perhaps if they are taking up wupan [5], a couple of hundred if they are hauling a splendid junk, its square sail set, over a rapid [6]. On the junk, a man stands amid ships beating a drum [7] incessantly to guide their efforts, and they pull with all their strength. like men possessed [8], bent double；and sometimes in the extremity of their travail [9] they crawl on the ground, on all fours [10]，like the beasts of the field. They strain, strain fiercely [11], against the pitiless might of the stream  [12]. The leader goes up and down the line and when he sees one who is not putting all his will into the task he brings down his split bamboo [13] on the naked back. Each one must do his utmost or the labour of all is vain. And still they sing a vehement, eager chant, the chant of the turbulent waters. I do not know how words can describe what there is in it of effort. It serves to express the straining heart，the breaking muscles, and at the same time the indomitable spirit of man which overcomes the pitiless force of nature. Though the rope may part and the great junk swing back, in the end the rapid will be passed；and at the close of the weary day there is the hearty meal.
 
背景介绍
本篇节选自毛姆（W. S. Maugham)的写景抒情散文《河之歌》（The Song of the River），文章情景交融，读来让人倍感亲切。作者毛姆是二十世纪英国最重要、也是最知名的作家之一。他于20年代末曾到中国，并有机会沿长江湖流而上进入四川。毛姆把他在中国旅行所见写成一本散文集，名为《在中国屏幕上》（on a Chinese Screen),本文即选自该书

难点解析
1. You hear it all along the river. 首先，必须仔细阅读全文，明确代词it指代的是什么，即"歌声”。其次，必须注意中文强调状态时，习惯省略主语。此句可译为“沿河上下都可以听见那歌声。”
2. as they urge the junk ... down the swift running stream: (1) junk此处不能解释为“垃圾”，通过下文提到的stem(船尾）和mast(桅杆）,可以推断它是船的一 种 --- a Chinese flat bottomed ship with a high poop and battened sails(中国式帆船)；（2)理顺从句内部关系,将主干部分先译出，再译修饰成分。