笔译高级:翻译佳作欣赏-邓颖超致宋美龄的信
1988年5月邓颖超致宋美龄的信
【概述】本文系邓颖超致宋美龄的信,表面看似私人信件,实则为关系海峡两岸的官方信函。鉴于此信的重要性,写信人语气诚恳,将真情付诸笔端,措辞严谨,用词字斟句酌,可谓字字珠玑,于平白朴实之中见刚柔相济,于心平气和之中透露出忧国忧民之意识。其中“烈士暮年,壮心不已”更是让人垂泪。信件内容布局属中式思维,采取了迂回的说理法。写信人没有开门见山直陈意旨,而是先回顾数十载的友谊,转而关心对方的近期身心健康。接着借对方姐姐所言称赞对方的爱国热情。最后才触及问题实质,殷切希望对方能为海峡两岸的统一做出贡献。这种迂回法使对方有一个心理转变的过程,由历史而转至现实,逐渐打动对方,使之最终付诸实践,信件对对方的感召力是不言而喻的。
庐山初识,匆匆五十年矣,山城之聚,金陵之晤,犹历历如昨。别后音讯阔绝四十余年,诚属憾事。
Two score and ten years have elapsed since our acquaintance at Mt.Lushan, Our gathering in Chongqing the mountain city and our meeting in Nanjing are still fresh in my mind as if they took place only yesterday. It is a deep regret that we had lost contact with each other for forty odd years.
幸友谊犹存,两心相通。每遇客从远方来,道及夫人起居,更引进怀旧之情。近闻夫人健康如常,颇感欣慰。
Yet it is a great comfort to us that we still retain friendship and mutual understanding. Every time a friend comes from afar and mentions your daily life, I cannot help recalling the past. It is a great comfort to me when I hear that you are in good health.
令姐孙夫人生前,极为思念夫人,每每言及夫人爱国情切,必将致大力于中国之统一。
Your honourable sister Mrs.Sun missed you very much during her lifetime. She often talked of your ardent patriotism and utter devotion to the reunification of China.
孙夫人手足情深,亟盼生前能与夫人一晤;曾亲笔致函夫人,然未能如愿,终成遗憾。尝读夫人之《我将再起》,思感殊多。
Mrs.Sun always kept a sisterly affection for you and had a strong wish to have a meeting with you, for which she wrote you a letter. Yet she failed to fulfill her wish, which is a regret. I have the honor to read your book I Shall Rise Again ,which provoked abundant reflection in me.
回首当年,国难方殷,夫人致力全民抗战,促成国内团结,争取国际援助,弘扬抗日民气,救助难童伤兵,厥功至伟。
Looking back in the past, I remember that national calamities plagued China at that time. You made great contributions by devoting yourself to the War of Resistance Against Japan and the unity of all forces in China, by working hard for the international assistance and the morale of the Chinese people in fighting against the Japanese aggressors and by helping to rescue the refugee children and wounded soldiers.
今夫人年事虽高,犹时时关心国家之强盛,民族之再起,于海峡两岸有关系之缓和,亦多所推动。夫人谋国之忠,诚如令姐孙夫人所言,我极为钦佩!
Despite the fact that you are getting on in years, you still have our national prosperity and prosperousness in mind, which helps to ease the relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Your utter devotion to our country is just as what your honorable sister Madam Song had described, which really and truly deserves my admiration.
环顾当今世界,风云迭起,台湾前途令人不安。今经国不幸逝世,情势更趋复杂。此间诸友及我甚为关切,亟盼夫人与当政诸公,力维安定祥和局势,并早定大计,推动国家早日统一。
The present world situation being so turbulent, the future of Taiwan has become a worrying matter. Now that Jingguo has passed away, which has made the situation all the more complicated. Your friends here and I are very much concerned about it. We sincerely hope that you and all of the Taiwan government officials would do your utmost to maintain peace and harmony in the island and make your decisions as early as possible to strive for an early reunification of the Chinese nation.
我方以为,只要国共两党为国家民族计,推诚相见,以平等之态度共商国事,则一切都可以商量,所虑之问题均不难解决。
In our view, it is mot difficult to solve the problems that we are concerned about for we can settle everything through discussion as long as Kuomingtang and the Communist party of China put the national interest above all and have consultation with each other on the basis of equality and sincerity.
我亦年逾八十。今虽卸政务繁荷,然念念不可置之者,唯国家统一一端耳。“烈士暮年,壮心不已”。
I am also over eighty years old and have been relieved of my office, but I am just unable to put off my mind the reunification of our nation, which justifies the famous line from Cao Cao:” A noble-hearted man retains his high aspiration even in his old age.”
我与夫人救国之途虽殊,爱国之心则同。深愿与夫人共谋我国家民族之统一,俾我中华腾飞于世界。
Our ways to save the nation are different ,but our patriotic feelings are the same, I wish that we could join our efforts for the reunification of our nation so as to turn China into a strong nation in the world.
我与夫人交往,数十载矣。历时弥久,相知愈深。直率陈言,尚祈谅察。海天遥隔,诸希珍重。临颖神驰,期待回音。
We have had contact with each other for several decades. The passage of time has deepened our mutual understanding. Please do forgive me for my straightforwardness. We reside poles apart, and I sincerely wish you to take good care of yourself .I will always be thinking of you and I am looking forward to your early reply.
这篇一篇转摘的文章,翻译的非常的好,供大家一起学习,讨论。
笔译高级:鲁迅《一件小事》中英文全文
我从乡下跑到京城里,一转眼已经六年了。其间耳闻目睹的所谓国家大事,算起来也很不少;但在我心里,都不留什么痕迹,倘要我寻出这些事的影响来说,便只是增长了我的坏脾气,——老实说,便是教我一天比一天的看不起人。
但有一件小事,却于我有意义,将我从坏脾气里拖开,使我至今忘记不得。
这是民国六年的冬天,大北风刮得正猛,我因为生计关系,不得不一早在路上走。一路几乎遇不见人,好容易才雇定了一辆人力车,教他拉到S门去。不一会,北风小了,路上浮尘早已刮净,剩下一条洁白的大道来,车夫也跑得更快。刚近S门,忽而车把上带着一个人,慢慢地倒了。
跌倒的是一个女人,花白头发,衣服都很破烂。伊从马路上突然向车前横截过来;车夫已经让开道,但伊的破棉背心没有上扣,微风吹着,向外展开,所以终于兜着车把。幸而车夫早有点停步,否则伊定要栽一个大斤斗,跌到头破血出了。
伊伏在地上;车夫便也立住脚。我料定这老女人并没有伤,又没有别人看见,便很怪他多事,要自己惹出是非,也误了我的路。
我便对他说,“没有什么的。走你的罢!”
车夫毫不理会,——或者并没有听到,——却放下车子,扶那老女人慢慢起来,搀着臂膊立定,问伊说:
“你怎么啦?”
“我摔坏了。”
我想,我眼见你慢慢倒地,怎么会摔坏呢,装腔作势罢了,这真可憎恶。车夫多事,也正是自讨苦吃,现在你自己想法去。
车夫听了这老女人的话,却毫不踌躇,仍然搀着伊的臂膊,便一步一步的向前走。我有些诧异,忙看前面,是一所巡警分驻所,大风之后,外面也不见人。这车夫扶着那老女人,便正是向那大门走去。
我这时突然感到一种异样的感觉,觉得他满身灰尘的后影,刹时高大了,而且愈走愈大,须仰视才见。而且他对于我,渐渐的又几乎变成一种威压,甚而至于要榨出皮袍下面藏着的“小”来。
我的活力这时大约有些凝滞了,坐着没有动,也没有想,直到看见分驻所里走出一个巡警,才下了车。
巡警走近我说,“你自己雇车罢,他不能拉你了。”
我没有思索的从外套袋里抓出一大把铜元,交给巡警,说,“请你给他……”
风全住了,路上还很静。我走着,一面想,几乎怕敢想到自己。以前的事姑且搁起,这一大把铜元又是什么意思?奖他么?我还能裁判车夫么?我不能回答自己。
这事到了现在,还是时时记起。我因此也时时煞了苦痛,努力的要想到我自己。几年来的文治武力,在我早如幼小时候所读过的“子曰诗云”⑵一般,背不上半句了。独有这一件小事,却总是浮在我眼前,有时反更分明,教我惭愧,催我自新,并且增长我的勇气和希望。
A SMALL INCIDENT
(From the "Call to Arms" collection)
translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang)
Six years have slipped by since I came from the country to the capital. During that time the number of so-called affairs of state I have witnessed or heard about is far from small, but none of them made much impression. If asked to define their influence on me, I can only say they made my bad temper worse. Frankly speaking, they taught me to take a poorer view of people every day.
One small incident, however, which struck me as significant and jolted me out of my irritability, remains fixed even now in my memory.
It was the winter of 1917, a strong north wind was blustering, but the exigencies of earning my living forced me to be up and out
early. I met scarcely a soul on the road, but eventually managed to hire a rickshaw to take me to S-Gate. Presently the wind dropped a little, having blown away the drifts of dust on the road to leave a clean broad highway, and the rickshaw man quickened his pace. We were just approaching S-Gate when we knocked into someone who slowly toppled over.
It was a grey-haired woman in ragged clothes. She had stepped out abruptly from the roadside in front of us, and although the rick-
shaw man had swerved, her tattered padded waistcoat, unbuttoned and billowing in the wind, had caught on the shaft. Luckily the rickshaw man had slowed down, otherwise she would certainly have had a bad fall and it might have been a serious accident.
She huddled there on the ground, and the rickshaw man stopped.
As I did not believe the old woman was hurt and as no one else had seen us, I thought this halt of his uncalled for, liable to land him trouble and hold me up.
"It’s all right," I said. "Go on."
He paid no attention - he may not have heard - but set down the shafts, took the old woman’s arm and gently helped her up.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I hurt myself falling."
I thought: I saw how slowly you fell, how could you be hurt?
Putting on an act like this is simply disgusting. The rickshaw man asked for trouble, and now he’s got it. He’ll have to find his own way out.
But the rickshaw man did not hesitate for a minute after hearing the old woman’s answer. Still holding her arm, he helped her slowly forward. Rather puzzled by his I looked ahead and saw a police-station. Because of the high wind, there was no one outside. It was there that the rickshaw man was taking the old woman.
Suddenly I had the strange sensation that his dusty retreating figure had in that instant grown larger. Indeed, the further he walked the larger he loomed, until I had to look up to him. At the same time he seemed gradually to be exerting a pressure on me which threatened to overpower the small self hidden under my fur-lined gown.
Almost paralysed at that juncture I sat there motionless, my mind a blank, until a policeman came out. Then I got down from the rickshaw.
The policeman came up to me and said, "Get another rickshaw. He can’t take you any further."
On the spur of the moment I pulled a handful of coppers from my coat pocket and handed them to the policeman. "Please give him this," I said.
The wind had dropped completely, but the road was still quiet.
As I walked along thinking, I hardly dared to think about myself.
Quite apart from what had happened earlier, what had I meant by that handful of coppers? Was it a reward? Who was I to judge the rickshaw man? I could give myself no answer.
Even now, this incident keeps coming back to me. It keeps distressing me and makes me try to think about myself. The politics and the fighting of those years have slipped my mind as completely as the classics I read as a child. Yet this small incident keeps coming back to me, often more vivid than in actual life, teaching me shame, spurring me on to reform, and imbuing me with fresh courage and fresh hope.
笔译高级指导:《醉翁亭记》(潘正英)英译
The Story of the Old Drunkard Tower
The prefecture of Chu is surrounded with hills on all sides. The wooded ravines of the south-west peaks are particularly beautiful. Lo, there is Lang Ya Hill shrouded in deep, luxuriant blue. After a few miles’ walk in the mountains, the murmur of a stream will gradually come within hearing—that is the Brewing Fountain poursing down between two peaks. By turning round the peak along a bending path there appears a tower standing like a perching bird above the fountain –that is the Old Drunkard Tower. Who built the tower? A Buddhist monk, the Wise Immortal. Who gave it the name? The Prefect refers to himself. The Prefect comes to drink here with his guests. Only a little drinking will make him drunk; and being the eldest he therefore calls himself the old drunkard. The old drunkard is not interested in the wine, but in the hills and rivers. The joy of hills and rivers, found in the heart, mingles itself with the wine.
To illustrate, the sunrise dispersing the mists over the woods, and the return of clouds dimming the caves below the rocks—this is the alteration of light and shade, which represents the morning and everning in the mountains. Sweet smell emitting from the fresh wild grass; luxuriant shades made by the fine trees; the high, clear skies, windy and frosty; rocks standing out of receding water—these are the changes of the four seasons in the mountains. Going out in the morning and coming back in the evening, one finds each of the four seasons has its different scenery, and the pleasure is inexhaustible.
As for the carriers on the road, the wayfarers taking rest under the trees, some shouting ahead and some score hehind, and others bent with burdens going to and fro without a break—these are visitors from Chu itself. To angle at the stream where the stream is deep and the fishes are fat; to brew the fountain water into wine where the water is delicious and the wine is clear; and with mountain game and wild vegetable placed before him in a confused manner—that is the Prefect at banquet. The pleasure of revelry is music neither of string, no of bamboo. The shooters hitting the marks; the chessplayers scoring vitory; winecups and counters mixed together; and people sitting down and rising up with much noise—the guests are happy and merry. And amidst the crowd a man with a sallow face and white hair, being hardly able to stand firm—that is the Prefect made drunk.
Soon the sun touching the mountain, and the shadows of men being scattered in confusion—the Prefect, followed by his guests, is going back. In the shades of the groves warbling is heard up and down—the birds are enjoying themselves after the departure of the visitors. The birds enjoy mountains and woods, but understand not the pleasure of men; and men enjoy the pleasure of following the Prefect in excursion, but they know not what pleasure the Prefect enjoys. He who shares their pleasures in drunkenness, and when awake can relate it in writing—this is the Prefect. Who is the Prefect?—Ou-yang Hsiu of Lu Ling.
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第一期
单句篇(一)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.
译文:世事皆利弊并存。
赏析:原句结构比较特殊("It is ... that ..."),理解起来有点困难。“对谁都没有好处的风才是坏风”,也就是说大多数情况下风对人都是有好处、有坏处,在引申一步就是成了上面的译句。林佩耵在《中英对译技巧》一书中(第68页)还给了几个相同结构的英文句子。翻译的前提是理解。有人指出。市面上见到的翻译作品,有好多都带有因理解不正确而产生的低级错误,“信”都谈不上还妄谈什么“达”和“雅”!初学翻译的朋友,在理解原文上当不遗余力。
2.
原文:Their language was almost unrestrained by any motive of prudence.
译文:他们几乎爱讲什么就讲什么,全然不考虑什么谨慎不谨慎。
赏析:如果硬译,译文势必成了“他们的言论几乎不受任何深思熟虑的动机的约束”。译者本其译,化其滞,将原句一拆为二,充分运用相关翻译技巧,译文忠实、通顺。
3.
原文:Get a livelihood,and then practise virtue.
译文:先谋生而后修身。(钱钟书译)
赏析:原句是祈使句,译句也传达出了训导的意味。用“谋生”来译“Get a livelihood",用“修身”来译“practise virtue",可谓精当。巧的是,原句七个词,译句也是七个汉字。
4.
原文:I enjoy the clean voluptuousness of the warm breeze on my skin and the cool support of water.
译文:我喜爱那洁净的暖风吹拂在我的皮肤上使我陶然欲醉,也喜爱那清亮的流水把我的身体托浮在水面。(章振邦译)
赏析:"voluptuousness"不会"clean",是"breeze""clean","support"不会"cool",是"water""cool",这种“甲乙两项相关联,就把原属于形容甲的修饰语移属于乙”的修饰手法叫“移就”(transferred epithet)(《英语修辞赏析》,第145页)。在翻译带有移就修辞手法的英语句子时,有时需要按照汉语习惯将属于甲的修饰语还给甲,章振邦先生在这个译例里就做了这种处理。除此之外,译者还进行了结构上的调整,将原句拆译为两个排比句,加强了译句的表现力。译句的选词也极为考究,整个译句读来音韵流动,口齿生香。
本次课后习题:
用今天学到的翻译以下句子,每一次相信都有非常大的收获哦!
1.It is a wise man that never makes mistakes.
2.It is a bad action that success cannot justify.
3.It is a good horse that never stumbles.
答案:
1.智者千虑,必有一失。
2.胜者为王。
3.马有失蹄
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第二期
单句篇(二)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:I’m not the first man who has made mistakes.
译文:自来出错的人多了,我又不是头一个。(黄邦杰:《译艺谈》)
赏析:译成“我又不是第一个出错的人!”也很忠实、通顺,只是平淡了一点。译成如上的汉语句子,说话人“死不悔改”的态度就活灵活现了。翻译是不应仅仅满足于达意,还要追求传神。
2.
原文:The clear heaven overhead was emptied of all its gold.Dusk spread over it,abruptly darkening the Seven Hills.
译文:天宇澄清,余晖尽散,夜幕降临,罗马七丘顿时昏暗。(翁显良译)
赏析:读这样的译文,是否让您想到了盛行于汉魏六朝时期的赋?一般说来,过多的美化译文很容易歪曲原文的意义和精神,而此处译文却同原文在意义和精神上丝丝相扣,这就是见译者功力的地方了。
3.
原文:There are books and books.
译文:书有种种,好坏不一。
赏析:一个看似简单的英文句子,要正确理解确需一番想象力和推理。理解正确了,还有表达的好坏,比如译成“(世上)有各种各样的书”,就没有“书有种种,好坏不一”来的整齐上口。
4.
原文:These alternations of mood were the despair and joy of Ethan Frome.(Edith Wharton:Ethan Frome)
译文:她这样一会儿一种情绪,叫伊坦时而灰心,时而高兴。
赏析:将"alternations of mood"掰开译为“一会儿一种情绪”后面跟上叫伊坦时而如何、时而如何,自然、流畅。对比原文和译文,在水平上体现了不同的层次.
在上期中碰到的问题中,大家普遍对习题2不是很理解,再这里我说下讲解,可供大家参考:
习题中的3道题都是林佩耵在《中英对译技巧》一书中给的几个与节目第一句相同结构的英文句子,而第二题运用节目第一句的思维,把"It is a bad action that success cannot justify"直译成"没有胜利维护的就不是好的战斗",那么引申出"只有胜利维护了的战斗(只有战斗胜利了)才是好的战斗",这样译出来的感觉就非常霸气,也就是说不管我在这场战斗中是好是坏,只要我胜利了,这场战斗就是好的了.所以可以得出"胜者就是王".
这个讲解较为通俗,以便大家能够更好的理解.
另外请大家在答题时勇敢写上自己的答案,就是非常不肯定,没有头绪,也请写上自己的想法,因为这样,等到看到答案后才能更好的学习到,接受这次的知识.
此次课后作业:翻译下面的句子
1.It was morning but the winter sky was dark.
2."What the devil are you doing away from your work at this time o’ day?"
答案:
1.It was morning but the winter sky was dark.
译文:一个冬天的清晨,天色十分阴暗.
赏析:语际转换中,词与词之间的关系也可能发生变化。原句中,"winter"修饰"sky",译文中,"winter"转而修饰"morning"了,这种修饰关系的变化,是出于汉语表达的需要。不论采用什么样的翻译技巧,目的都是为了曲尽原意,使译文符合汉语的行文习惯。
2."What the devil are you doing away from your work at this time o’ day?"
译文:“你他妈怎么这时跑开了,不快快干活?”(张谷若译)
赏析:原文语言鄙俗,译文语言也当鄙俗,故有“你他妈”放在句前。“不快快干活儿”去掉也未尝不可,只是这样的话,句子读来便有点太局促了,语气舒展不开。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第三期
单句篇(三)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:Paula didn’t need any lessons when it comes to office politics.
译文:说到办公室里明争暗斗那一套,保拉可算是无师自通。
赏析:坊间可见的翻译教程在论及词的翻译时,大多谈到了词义的引申,学习翻译的朋友对这一技巧也烂熟于心,但如何引申却是个大学问。"office politics"引申译为“办公室里明争暗斗”,不能不让人佩服:没有对"office politics"词义的深刻理解,是断然不敢这么大胆的;"didn’t need any lessons"译为“可算是无师自通”。也颇值得称道;再加上句子结构的适当调整,佳译便诞生了。
2.
原文:...while his father and mother had written a rather sad letter,deploring his precipitancy in rushing into marriage,but making the best of the matter by saying that,though a dairywoman was the last daughter-in-law they could have expected,their son had arrived at an age at which he might be supposed to be the best judge.(Thomas Hardy:Tess of the d’Urbervilles)
译文:父母倒是有信,不过信上写的,未免叫人听着不受用,只埋怨他,说他不该这样急不能待地就结婚;但是事情既是没法更改了,他们又说,虽然万没有想到,会娶一个挤牛奶的女孩做儿媳妇,但是儿子已经长大了,也许自己明白是非好歹了,当爹妈的也就不用跟着瞎操心了,用此自遣。(张谷若译)
赏析:“万没有想到”、“没法儿”、“明白是非好歹了”、“用不着跟着瞎操心了”等,都是明白如话的语言,也许同原文比较正式的文体不是很吻合,但考虑到父母给子女的信所用的就应是谈家常的语言,译文反而较原文更合情理,况且上下文所用的也都是这种明白如话的语言句(可惜此处无法抄录),放在这样的上下文中也显得很自然。
3.
原文:The result of this was that believers still believed and doubters remained doubtful.
译文:此事的结果是信者自信之,疑者自疑之。
赏析:"信者自信之,疑者自疑之",是何等地道的汉语,何等贴切的表达。
4.
原文:He had left a note of welcome for me,as sunny as his face.
译文:他留下一封信,对我表示欢迎;那信写得热情洋溢,一如其人。(黄邦杰:《译艺谈》)
赏析:原句看来简单,也很好理解,但就是不好译,关键在于"sunny"一词,既同前面的"note"呼应,又照后面的"his face",译成“热情洋溢”就解决了这个问题。"as his face"译为“一如其人”,也颇具匠心。
本期题目:翻译下列句子
1.A new dignity crept into his walk.
2.A pretty face has ruined an empire.
本期答案:
1.A new dignity crept into his walk.
译文:走起路来,不觉平添了几分尊严。(黄邦杰《译艺谭》)
赏析:原句出自美国黑人作家杜波依斯(William E. B. Du Bois)所著的《黑人的灵魂》(The Souls of Black Folk),译者移模先将其译为“走路的姿态不知道什么时候开始给人一种庄重的印象”,黄邦杰先生赞译文“读起来相当明快爽朗,对照原文,又字字都有来历,有些词在原文的字面上虽然没有,却在其含义之中”。这段评语言之凿凿,有根有据。黄先生受译文的启发,又提出了一个新译,即上面的译句,用“平添”来表达"new",用“不觉”来译"creep",确实精妙。
2.A pretty face has ruined an empire.
译文:多少人间佳丽曾经倾国倾城啊!
赏析:原句的陈述化成了译句的感叹,语气得到了加强;“人间佳丽”、“倾国倾城”两个具有丰富文化内涵的四字词组的使用,不仅与原句意思严丝合缝,读起来也节奏鲜明、朗朗上口。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第四期
单句篇(四)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:They come out on to the village green and photograph each other in a stone armchair,said to be the throne of Artila.(Nancy Mitford:The Water Beetle)
译文:踏上村中草地,看到一张石椅,听说是匈奴王阿提拉的宝座,就要照相;一个个登上大位,你给我照,我给你照。(翁显良译)
赏析:名词在英语中占优势,英语句子倾向于多用名词和介词。现代汉语中动词占优势,一个句子不限于只用一个动词,可以连续使用几个动词,即所谓的动词连用,这是现代汉语句法的显著特征之一。请看这里的原文和译文,原文里只用了两个动词(过去分词"said"这里不计),而译文中确有六七个动词之多,前面几个动宾结构连用,中间不用任何连接词,纯靠动作发生的时间先后而产生语义上的关联,读来顺畅、自然。“一个个登上大位,你给我照,我给你照”,颇能描情绘景:追名逐利,是人的天性,争不到名利,能跟有名望的人沾点边,也好像成了一大快事。从另一个角度来看,原文信息焦点在"photographeach other",如将原文后半部分译为“互相在据说是匈奴王阿提拉的宝座的石椅上照相”,未免有些头重脚轻之嫌,用“一个个登上大位,你给我照,我给你照”稍稍展开一下,既弥补了这种缺陷,又使叙述更加生动、形象。
2.
原文:Zorro:You’ll kill no more,Colonel,no more.
译文:佐罗:你恶贯满盈了,上校。(电影《佐罗》)
赏析:如果让蹩脚的译者来译这一句,恐怕只会在“再也没有机会杀人了”这个意思上打转转,跳出这个圈子,想象自己就是仗剑走天下,为百姓除暴安良的侠客佐罗,细心去感受佐罗彼时彼地的心情,“恶贯满盈”便会脱口而出了。演员演戏要投入角色中去,翻译电影对白,同样需要投入到角色中去。
3.
原文:Is it necessary to shout?
译文:说话就说话,非得叫唤不可吗?(吕叔湘译)
赏析:简简单单、普普通通的英文句子,一到吕叔湘先生手里,他总能译出特色。"It is necessary to shout"句子本很简单,换作另一个人来译,八九不离十是类似这样的一句:“有必要大喊大叫吗”或者更通俗一点“干吗吵吵嚷嚷的”也可以说是“信、达、切”了,而吕先生却并不甘心,为了译出说话人含蓄、委婉的口气,他将原句译成“非得叫唤不可吗”并在前面加上“说话就说话”这么一句,将说话人不愿或不敢张扬事态,想好言好语同听话人交流的心理曲曲折折的传达了出来。
4.
原文:This film is a dramatic treatment of a threatened stoppage in a factory.
译文:本片用戏剧手法,表现一家工厂面临罢工威胁的情况。
赏析:汉语句子多较短,结构较松散,所以英译汉时常要进行拆句处理,即将原文中具有相对独立意义的一个单词或短语,拆译成一个小句来表达。此处译者就遵循了这一原则,将"dramatic treatment"这一具有相对独立意义的短语抽出来,独立成句,较好的避免了硬译(“影片是对一家工厂的一场受到威胁的罢工的戏剧的处理”)的出现,受到了文从字顺的好效果。
本期题目:翻译下列句子
1."But where’s thy gentleman,Tess?"(Thomas Hardy:Tess of the d’Urbervilles)
(提示:注意句末标上的原文的出处,结合场景译会更原汁原味。)
2.That Home is Home though it is never so Homely.
本期答案:
1.
译文:“你那一口子哪,苔丝?”(张谷若译)
赏析:知识分子之间也许会问“尊夫人呢”而像在学校里就和苔丝亲密、没有受过多少教育的乡间女子恐怕那个怕只会用“你那口子呢”或“你那一口子在哪”这样的表达方式。
小机灵补充:在鉴赏像《苔丝》这种文学作品时,不仅要会译它原本的意思,要想译得出色,在场景的关注上是一个关键,不能只以它的片面意思,还要懂得把原汁原味的小说意境表达出来,这样,欣赏原汁原味的纯文学才有了意义和乐趣。^O^
2.
译文:家虽不佳仍是家。(刘炳善译)
赏析:此处译例出自刘炳善先生一篇谈翻译的文章,刘先生想用这个译例说明翻译时灵感思维的重要性,又是绝妙的译句真可谓“千呼万唤不出来,得来全不费功夫”。刘先生说他这个译句是一刹那间在脑海中闪现的。本例的译句确实让人叫绝:原句中有"Home","Home","Homely"这三个形,音相同(相似)的词,译句中有“家”,“佳”,“家”这三个音同的字,原句中不可传达的形美化成了译句中的音美,以“创”补“失”,不失为一条思路。俗语云,“机遇只青睐有准备的头脑”,想在翻译实践方面作出一定成就的人不可不在平时多做准备。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第五期
单句篇(五)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:You might drop the "sir" in private.
译文:在私下里,你就不要“阁下、阁下”的啦。
赏析:回想一下,日常生活中遇到类似的情况,我们不就是用这样的汉语说话的吗?
2.
原文:I am never at a loss for a word,Pitt is never at a loss for the word.
译文:我从来不愁找不到一个词来表达思想,而皮特则从来不愁找不到最恰当的那个词来。
赏析:理解是翻译的基础,在理解时,译者必须注意分析原文中的每一个细节,即小如冠词者也不可轻视。"a word"译为“一个词”,"the word"译成“最恰当的那个词”,都是正确理解的结果。如果对这个译文不满意,马红军在《翻译批评散论》一书中还提供了一些译法,可资比较:(1)我总能找到一个词,而皮特总能找到那个绝妙好词。(2)我总能找到一个觉得妙的词,而皮特总能找到那个绝妙的好词。(3)我总能找到一个意思相当的词,而皮特总能找到那个意思恰当的词。(4)我和皮特都能出口成章,但我用的词大都不可言妙,而他用的总是妙不可言。(5)我总是滔滔不绝,而皮特总是字字千金。
3.
原文:"Sitting still at home is the heavenly way;the going out is the way of the world."(by Abu Musa,taken from Henry David Thoreau’s"A Winter Walk")
译文:“在家安居者天之道也,出外奔波者人之道也。”(夏济安译)
赏析:原句出现在亨利.大卫.梭罗的“冬日漫步”一文中,是出自更古的阿部.穆萨之口,用古色古香的语言将句子译出来,体现了阿部.穆萨和亨利.大卫.梭罗不同时代的语言特点。原句是个颇具有警策意味的句子,译句采用了排偶结构,排偶结构同文言语素结合在一起,警策意味就出来了。
4.
原文:He sought the distraction of distance.
译文:他想远走高飞,免得心烦。
赏析:"sought...distance"引申为“想远走高飞”,将"distraction"抽出来,正说反译,这样一处理,译文便自然、流畅了。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第六期
单句篇(六)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:All around was open loneliness and black solitude,over which a stiff breeze blew。(Thomas Hardy:Tess of the d’Urbervilles)
译文:周围一切,只是一片空旷的荒寒,一团漆黑的僻静,一股劲风,在上面吹动。(张谷若译)
赏析:“一片”、“一团”、“一股”,量词的准确使用增强了疑问的表现力。
2.
原文:She denied it,denied everything,bone and stone.
译文:她矢口否认,死不认账。
赏析:原文中的"bone and stone"形象生动,但将其直译成“语气硬得像骨头和石头”,去不一定能为我国读者所接受,改译成“死不认账”,就自然、生动的多。翻译本来就是一个有得有失的过程,完全传达原文的意义、精神、意韵、形象实不可能,好的译者总是善于抓住原文的精髓,在译文中尽力将其传达出来,而将原文那些相对而言不甚重要的且又无法传达的割舍开去,借用依据哲学的术语,就是“抓住要矛盾或矛盾的主要方面”,至于哪些是“主要矛盾或矛盾的主要方面”,哪些是“次要矛盾或矛盾的次要方面”,取决于翻译的目的、翻译语境以及译者的理解能力。
3.
原文:The reverberation of fighting between the forces of India and Pakistan are reaching us in increasing volume.
译文:印度和巴基斯坦两国部队的杀伐声一阵紧似一阵传到我们这里来。(黄邦杰:《译艺谭》)
赏析:黄邦杰先生说:“对一个译者来说,译一个词,不仅要正确的把词义译出,而且要把这词所具有的特色、词义的细微差别以及作者褒贬的态度和正反的说法,不温不火、不多不少地加以体现。”"The reverberation of fighting"译为“杀伐声”,"in increasing volume"译为“一阵紧似一阵”,绘声绘色,活灵活现,让人不能不佩服。
4.
原文:The ignorant old woman who ruled for the entire last half of the nineteenth century did more than any other single person to hold back China’s progress.(Lin Yutang:Moment in Peking)
译文:那个愚蠢无知的老太婆统治了十九世纪后五十年,使中国不能进步,她可算功劳第一。(张振玉译)
赏析:“她可算是功劳第一”,反语的使用,辛辣无比。
本期练习:翻译下列句子
His discourse,says Speidel,"become lost in fantastic digressions."
答案:
译文:斯派达尔后来说,他的的谈话“越说越远,越说越离奇,最后不知说到哪里去了。”
赏析:只有五个词的"became lost in fantastic digressions",被译成了由十九个汉字组成的、由三个逗号隔开的、意思上层层递进的独立成份,译者的引申不可谓不远,但引申始终是围绕作者的原意这个轴心来进行的。翻译技巧上所说的“添词不添意”指的就是这种处理。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第七期
单句篇(七)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:...but he had still at intervals a kind listener in Mrs.Philips,and was ,by her watchfulness,most abundantly supplied with coffee and muffin.(Jane Austen:Pride and Prejudice)
译文:不过,菲利普斯太太间或还好心好意地听他说说话,而且亏她留心关照,总是源源不断地给他倒咖啡,添松饼。(孙致礼译)
赏析:对比原文与译文会发现:原文主语是"he",译文中主语改成了“菲利普斯太太”,原文中作宾语的名词"listener",译成汉语后成了动宾词组“听他说说话”,在译句作谓语,当然,"kind"也就译成了副词“好心好意地”,修饰谓语动词。后面的介词宾语"watchfulness",在译句中也化成了动词,作谓语。原文中只用了一个"supplied",译成汉语成了“倒”和“添”两个动词,后面各自带自己的宾语。这些翻译技巧的使用都是为了表达上的需要,形势虽然变了,内容却不变,而且译文同原文一样文从字顺。
2.
原文:He would carry a fowling piece on his shoulder,for hours together,trudging through woods and swamps,and up hill and down dale,to shoot a few squirrels or wild pigeons.(Washington Irving:"Rip Van Winkle")
译文:有时他还会为了打几只松鼠或野鸽子,掮着一支猎枪,穿林越泽,上山入谷,一连跋涉好几个钟头。(万紫、雨宁译)
赏析:目的放前,行为放后,这是汉语的一种行文习惯。"carry"译成“掮着”,而不是“扛着”,味道更足。“穿林越泽,上山入谷”译得更简洁明了,且暗含一点幽默的意味。用“跋涉”一词来形容Rip Van Winkle为了打猎不辞辛苦地到处跑,颇能传神,也是为了传达那么一点点的幽默。
3.
原文:Let us go into this deserted woodman’s hut,and see how he has passed the long winter nights and the short and stormy days.(Henry David Thoreau:"A Winter Walk")
译文:那边有一座樵夫的小屋,樵夫本人不在,但我们也不妨进去看看。冬夜漫长,冬日苦短而多风雪,这种生活真是够那樵夫忍受的。(夏济安译)
赏析:原文只一句话,用"and"将两个动词谓语连在一起,译成汉语,成了六个小句。译文以“那边”开头,是为了承接上文;"deserted"只是一个词,在译文中化成了一个句子(“樵夫本人不在”);“我们也不妨进去看看”,译得委婉,同时与“樵夫本人不在”形成照应。译文的后半部相对于原文结构上调整较大,两个名次词组("the long winter nights","the short stormy days")都被译成了小句,并列在一起,烘托出樵夫生活的艰辛。整个译文虽在结构上与原文有很大不同,但意思准确,表达自然、流畅。
4.
原文:He was not mean in friendship nor in ambition.
译文:他讲友谊,有抱负。
赏析:莎士比亚有言:"Brevity is the soul of wit",写文章也好,搞翻译也好,简洁都是可贵的品质。这里的译者将原文的否定正译,用了两个结构相同的动宾词组,形成并列,干净、利索。
本期练习:翻译下列句子
He sank down with his face in his hands.
答案:
He sank down with his face in his hands.
译文:他两手蒙着脸,一屁股坐了下去。
赏析:增词法是英译汉常用的技巧之一。所谓增词法,“就是在翻译是按意义上(或修辞上)和句法上的需要增加一些词来表达更忠实通顺地表达原文的思想内容”(《英汉翻译教程》)。此处英文句子,本来用“他两手蒙着脸,坐了下去”,就已经可以传达基本意思了,增加了“一屁股”三个字,使译文更加生动形象。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第八期
单句篇(八)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:The night was as dark by this time as it would be until morning;and what light we had, seemed to come more from the river than the sky,as the oars in their dipping struck at a few reflected stars.(Charles Dickens:Great Expectations)
译文:这时夜色已经黑透,看来就要这样一直黑到天明;我们仅有的一点光亮,似乎不是来自天空,而是来自河上,一桨又一桨的,搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星。(王科一译)
赏析:天色已经黑透,月亮尚未升起,只有几点孤星在天空闪耀,倒映在水里,水手轻轻地、一桨一桨地划,船浆划破了水面的平静,也搅碎了孤星倒映在水里的一点点清冷的光。没有用什么特别的形容词,也不需要什么特别的翻译技巧,大体顺着原文往下译,只是在必要的时候做一点变换,化原文的“形合”(如"as"等的使用)为译文的“意合”,便将原文的意境全部呈现了出来,译文之美丝毫不亚于原文,这实在是一种真功夫。虽然译文的美,来自于所有词语共同构建起来的意境,但单个译语的选择之独到,不能不让我们击节称赞,如“一桨又一桨的”,“搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星”,都是诗一样的语言。
2.
原文:All things beside seem to be called in for shelter,and what stays out must be part of the original frame of the universe,and of such valor as God himself. (Henry David Thoreau:"A Winter Walk")
译文:别的东西都寻求隐蔽保护去了,凡是能卓然独立于寒风之中者,一定是天地灵气之所钟,是自然界骨气的表现,他们具有和天神一般的勇敢。(夏济安译)
赏析:一般性翻译,只要译文准确、通顺,大抵就说得过去了,而文学作品的翻译要求却高得多,译文除了准确、通顺以外,还必须传达出原文语言上的文学“味”。请看这里的译句,“卓然独立于寒风之中”、“天地灵气之所钟”,都是文学的语言。郭沫若说,对于一个翻译文学作品的人来说,“一杯伏特卡酒不能换作一杯白开水,总要还它一杯汾酒或茅台,才算尽了责”。
3.
原文:But this naval competition strained the Liberal Government’s principles as well as their budgets.
译文:但是这种海军竞赛使自由党政府的原则无法自圆其说,也使其预算捉襟见肘。
赏析:英文中有些词词义搭配能力很强,像这里的"strained",一个词便带了两个宾语,一个抽象,一个具体,完全按照英文句子结构来译,译文势必显得笨重,将"strained the Liberal Government’s principles as well as their budgets"拆成两部分翻译,并使用汉语成语“自圆其说”和“捉襟见肘”,就干净利落多了。翻译技巧是为翻译效果服务的,对于容易翻译的句子,翻译技巧可能显得多余,译者也不会有意识地使用翻译技巧,而对于译起来较难的句子,有意识的运用翻译技巧,恐怕就很有必要了。
4.
原文:His mother had whipped him for drinking some cream which he had never tasted and knew nothing about;it was plain that she was tired of him and wished him to go;if she felt that way,there was nothing for him to do but to succumb.(Mark Twain:The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
译文:他的妈妈怪他吃了奶油,还揍了他一顿,其实他根本没有吃,对奶油的事儿一无所知;她分明是在讨厌他,希望他走得远远的。既然她有那个念头,他也没办法,只有认了。(严维明译)
赏析:汉语行文,多将原因放前,结尾放后,故在译文中,“怪他吃了奶油”调到了“还揍他一顿”之前,除此之外,译文基本是顺着原文结构译下来的。为了再现原文的风格,译文选词用语注重通俗、口语化,如用“妈妈”而不用“母亲”,用“怪他吃了奶油”,不说“责备他吃了奶油”。译文后半部也极平易浅近,自然流畅。
本期练习:翻译下列句子
If you think me in a way to be happier than I deserve,I am quite of your opinion.
答案:
If you think me in a way to be happier than I deserve,I am quite of your opinion.
译文:如果你认为我的幸福来之太易,得之有愧,那我完全同意你的看法。(张经浩)
赏析:“如果你认为我的幸福来之太易,得之有愧”,是地道的汉语,是在吃透原文意义、精神基础上的再创造,明显比译者自己的初译“如果你认为我已得到的幸福比我应该得到的更多”要好。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第九期
单句篇(九)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:Thus the initiative to partition Poland completely,to deny the Polish people any independent existence of their own whatsoever,came from the Russians.But the Germans did not need much urging to agree.
译文:由此可见,首先提出完全瓜分波澜,不许波兰人成为一个独立民族存在的,是俄国人。德国人当然求之不得。
赏析:"Thus"译为“由此可见”,表现了译者在译词时的灵活性;"partition"在英文中本为中性词,译者根据句子内容的语义,译为“瓜分”,表达出了作者的倾向性;"did not need much urging to agree"字面意思是“不需要催促就同意了”,译者引申为“当然求之不得”,符合作者写作时的感情倾向,即对强国欺辱弱小国家的愤怒。好的译文总是能译出原文背后的“情”。
2.
原文:Chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh dispeopled the streets.
译文:阵阵寒风,带着雨意,街上冷冷清清,几乎没有什么人了。
赏析:英文是形合的文字,英语句子讲究结构严谨;汉语重意合,遣词造句推崇形散而神不散。请看这里的英文句子,主、谓、宾一目了然,原因和结果清清楚楚,如果按这样的顺序、结构直译成汉语,势必凝滞不化。为了使译句能够体现汉语句式的特点,译者大胆地进行了结构调整,将原文一句切分成四个短语(小句),充分利用句子内部语义上的联系,不用任何关联词,由风到雨,到街再到人,用白描的手法将一幅寒夜凄雨图呈现在读者面前。
本期练习:翻译下列句子
Every family is said to have at least one skeleton in the cupboard.
答案:
原文:Every family is said to have at least one skeleton in the cupboard.
译文:俗话说,衣柜里面藏骷髅,见不得人的事儿家家有。(徐式谷译)
赏析:在英语中,"the skeleton in the cupboard"是个几乎人人皆知的成语,但如果将其直译成汉语“衣柜里的骷髅”,恐怕就没有多少人能猜出它的意思。如何在翻译中既保存原短语形象,又能让不熟悉英语文化的读者了解原短语的意思,这实在是个困难。徐式谷先生的这个译例可以给我们很多的启发:译文前一部分致力于保存原文的形象,后一部分解释原文的意思,且“髅”和“有”押韵,读起来舒服、自在,很像句格言。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第十期
单句篇(十)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:On this board,thirsty strangers deposited their cups as they stood in the road and drank,and threw the dregs on the dusty ground to the pattern of Polynesia,and wished they could have a restful seat inside.(Thomas Hardy:Tess of the d’Urbervilles)
译文:患酒喝的客人,都站在路上买醉,往这块隔板上放空酒杯;他们把酒渣儿洒在满是尘土的地上,做成玻里尼西亚群岛的花样。他们很想能在屋子里面,有一个安身落座的地方。(张谷若译)
赏析:"thirsty"是“口渴的”的意思,用在原文中当然不是指“客人”渴了想喝水,译成“患酒喝得”恐怕是最好的选择。“站在路上买醉”,似乎不是很忠实于原文,但转念一想,既然爱酒都爱到"thirsty"的地步,那么终于寻找到了一个喝酒的机会,不喝个半醉不醉,反而不可想象了,所以“买酒”即“买醉”。
2.
原文:No greater misfortune can befall a country than to be governed by an old tyrant.
译文:国之横祸,莫过于暴君当政。
赏析:现代汉语是在古汉语的基础上发展起来的,相当于现代汉语来说,古汉语有它自己的优势,如词汇丰富、语法有弹性、表情表意能力强等等,在写作和翻译时,适当的运用一些古汉语的语素或词,能给文章带来一种书卷气,显得庄重典雅。上面这个译例就体现了这种特色,译者灵活套用了古汉语的句子结构,使用了古汉语的个别语素(词语),译出的句子简洁、庄重,读者好似看见了一个学识渊博的老学究在摇头晃脑地评说历史。
3.
原文:Hearing Debs was an experience.
译文:听德布斯演讲可真带劲。
赏析:如果说上一译句让我们看见了一个学识渊博的老学究在摇头晃脑地评说历史的话,读了这一句译文,我们看到的是另一种场面:一个求知若渴、激情满怀的青年学子在听了一场演讲后,眉飞色舞地对没有去听演讲的同伴大谈特谈演讲人演讲艺术之高超。译者使用了口语体“可真带劲”来译"was an experience",准确、生动。
4.
原文:Charity begins at home,they say.(Thomas Hardy:Tess of the d’Urbervilles)
译文:人家不是说,行善得由己及人吗?(张谷若译)
赏析:“行善得由己及人”,在形式上颇像哲言警句,在意义上非常忠实于原文。
翻译下列句子
He was a fool for danger.
答案:
原文:He was a fool for danger.
译文:他是个天不怕、地不怕的人。
赏析:英译汉时,常常会遇到一些词或词组,在词典上找不到恰当的译词(组),如逐字死译,只会使译文生硬晦涩,这是就需要对词或词组的意义进行某种处理。"a fool for danger"译为“天不怕地不怕的人”,是做了释义的处理,译者巧妙地借用了汉语里的俗语“天不怕地不怕”,形象地传达了译句的“意”和“情”。
笔译高级指导:名篇名译第十一期
单句篇(十一)
译事三难:信、达、雅。求其信,已大难矣!故信矣,不达,虽译,犹不译也,则达上焉。...易曰:“修辞立诚。”子曰:“辞达而已!”又曰:“言而无文,行之不远。”三者乃文章正轨,亦即为译事楷模。故信、达而外,求其尔雅...——严复《天演论.译立言》
1.
原文:The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion of the nation.
译文:大都市是一国的财富集中之地,时髦风尚的观瞻所系。
赏析:动词"absorb"在译文中化成了名词词组“集中之地”和“观瞻所系”,这种英译汉时“动”变“名”的小花招,对翻译有兴趣的朋友恐怕已烂熟于心了吧?译句工整的结构也值得提及。
2.
原文:Friendship and play shorten the day.
译文:好朋友,共游玩,日子过得欢。
赏析:原句出自一首儿歌,为了让译句容易为少年儿童接受,丰华瞻先生以效果对等为翻译原则,不受原句形式上的束缚,打破原句的结构,创造性地将原句切分为三个部分,分别处理。针对原句中"play"同"day"押韵,译者选了“玩”和“欢”两个字,韵母相同,读来流利、上口,也便于记忆。
3.
原文:She has beauty still,and,if it be not in its heyday,it is not yet in its autumn.
译文:她依然很美,如果不是芳华正茂,也还不到迟暮之年。(黄邦杰)
赏析:"heyday""autumn"都是比喻的用法,原句后半部还有对仗,翻译时不能不考虑这些因素,译成如上的句子,“不论从意思、文字或对仗来比较,中译都可与原作旗鼓相当”
本期练习:翻译下列句子
Who dares do all that may become a man,and dares no more,he is a man indeed.(William Shakespeare)
答案:
Who dares do all that may become a man,and dares no more,he is a man indeed.(William Shakespeare)
译文:能屈能伸,方为大丈夫。
赏析:汉语俗语同莎氏名言在意思上竟如此吻合!虽然如此,看到莎氏的这句话就能想到这样一句俗语,也并非像想象得那么简单,没有一定的胆识、英汉语水平和翻译经验,是不会也不敢这么译的。
笔译考试根据考试题型安排复习
1、把扩大词汇量与注重对词汇的掌握结合起来综合能力检验的是对词汇量和对单词掌握的程度,就是会不会用词。掌握一定数量的词汇和具备比较扎实的语法知识是翻译的基础,没有大的词汇量根本没有办法顺利完成翻译。考试前,应该如何准备才能在短期内,让词汇量有较明显的提高呢?翻译资格考试注重实用,以考核学生对语言的综合运用能力为主。考生在掌握好基本的词汇同时,尤其值得注意的是一些固定搭配的词汇、俚语或成语,和在特定场合或在专业领域里有着不同解释的词汇。首先,可以对于词汇应先有一个大致的分类,比如,旅游类的专业词汇、政治时事方面的专业词汇等等。第二,还可以结合平时总结出来的出现频率较高的词汇作一个归类,这样复习起词汇来就更有针对性。第三,背单词合理的时间是自己的零碎时间,不是整块时间。应该理智地制定目标,我们的目的是在短期内“识词”,即把它熟悉到见到头脑中能反映出意思的程度,在今后使用中不断重复出现,就能牢记在心了,不要期望在短期内就能掌握并运用好一个生词。
背单词要用“多管齐下”的方法,首先要嘴巴去读,第二手要写,第三脑子要想。把这三个方面都要做好。如果是简单的背单词,今天背一百,明天再背一百,背到一定时候就会发现脑子里还是一片生词。翻译考试是要求考生有一定数量的词汇量(三级在8000左右、二级在10000左右),但也是强调掌握词汇的质量,也就是说不仅要认识,还要能正确地使用。因此,词汇是要背,要经常复习,通过阅读和做一些翻译练习来不断地掌握词的含义和用法。在学新的单词的时候,也不要忘记把已掌握的单词弄扎实了。
2、重点的重点:阅读练习阅读是翻译资格考试中的重点之重点,考试综合能力阅读部分对于词汇量和阅读速度都有很高的要求。在日常阅读练习时,要默读文章两到三遍,速度可以稍微快些,以了解文章的内容为主,遇到陌生的短语和生词尽量不要翻看课后的单词注解或查字典,要学会从上下文的联系来掌握他们的含义。这样的能力对学员来说至关重要,因为在将来翻译阅读的过程中,我们难免会遇到看不懂或听不懂的情况,在没有老师可以请教、没有资料可以参考的情况下,只能根据当时的情景运用猜测的方法解决问题。另外,经过动脑筋猜测这一过程,再去记忆文章后单词短语,往往印象更深,花的时间更少。
考生们有必要运用一些阅读技巧,避免重复阅读,不要浪费宝贵的时间。翻译资格考试注重学生实际应用能力的考核,考试中的阅读短文来自英语国家的报刊、书籍,涉及政治、外交、贸易、科技、工业、农业等,因此考生平时的阅读范围也就要广泛。考生在复习阶段可以多熟悉这几类的新闻报道内容,对近期发生的新闻事件做到心中有数。在平时阅读中,选材要结合考试的要求和自己的实际情况,不可太简单,也不能超出自己的水平太多;还要注意对文章进行分段,总结段义,结合注释,精读文章。了解了文章的大意之后,就可以从对文章进行细致地研读了,一方面要吃透句型结构、词语的搭配、固定短语在句子中的用法,另一方面也不要忘了结合上下文反复体会每一句乃至每一段的含义。我在精读难度较大的文章时,碰到难以理解的句子就常常回溯到句子所在段落的开头,琢磨上文与此句的关系,有时也会继续读下去,从下文中找到理解此句的线索。如果能够坚持以上下文作为学习的支柱,将来对文章思想内容的整体把握能力就会有很大提高,阅读理解能力自然也就增强了。当然,做到这点的前提是要具备一定的词汇量,否则也无法从上下文里找线索了。
在此需要强调的是,考生还要阅读一些中文资料,丰富和扩大知识面,同时也能提高自己的中文词汇量和表达水平,为外翻中做准备。
精读文章的同时,应该做点短语翻译、介词填空、短文填空,这对巩固语法知识、提高知识运用水平很有帮助。这样的练习题很多,可以从专业八级考试用书、外文出版社出的全国翻译资格考试用书里也有不少的练习题。通过这些练习,进一步加深自己对词的用法和考试技巧的了解,也可以提高考试的速度和准确度。
准备完形填空和阅读理解题时,也需要将以前试题的相应题目逐一分析、总结。对于完形填空来说,可以总结一下哪些语法结构和搭配常在试题中出现,这些结构和搭配出现在试题里的时候,上下文一般会出现什么语言标志等等。完形填空更多地是考语感,考的是对文章理解的程度和准确度、考的是对一些介词和连词的理解和掌握的程度。
笔译时要注意把握原文与译文的相对长度
不同语言文本的信息流率基本上是相同的,即都包含有大约50%的多余信息用以消除物理和心理“噪音”。这就是说,如果听到大约一半话语,通常就有可能填补上没有听到的另一半。交流中的一个重要的基本原则是只把必须交流的东西讲出来,不说一句多余的话,因为同一言语社团的成员共享大量的背景知识,常常有可能用十分简洁的方式交流许多信息。
语际交流的一个主要问题是:在许多情况下,共享信息在数量和种类上存在很大的差距。原语文本中不必说出的内容在译语文本中却往往需要表述清楚。这样一来,译文比原文就要明显地长得多。然而,衡量译文和原文长度差异的重要标准并不是使用词汇的数量或字行的长度。长度上的某些差异可能是由于构词或正字法不同造成的。比如说,德语或西班牙语文本的英译文在总的长度上往往会短一些,这也不是由于文化差异造成的,而主要是由于德语和西班牙语中都有许多必须使用的词尾,而英语中则没有这种情况。相反,一篇汉语文本译成英语后往往要长得多。这倒不一定是由于文化差异的结果,而是由于汉语词的文字符号所占的篇幅相对要少一些。在衡量篇幅长短差异时,完全理想的作法都取决于所指语义特征和联想语义特征的数量。这样测算出来的各种类型的差异就会对两种语言承载信息方式上的差异程度作出唯一切实可靠的解释。换句话说,篇幅的长短必须按照所传递的全部信息量来测算,而不是根据拼写、音位、构词或句法表示词位和词位关系的特定方式来确定。
笔译指导:TheRichAreDifferentfromYouandMe
The Rich Are Different from You and Me
other than that they have more money, of course, as the critic Mary Colum retorted. They’ve got much better ways of hiding their income from the prying eyes of Uncle Sam:
One afternoon in April, six dozen wealthy Americans were entertained at a luncheon party in Midtown Manhattan, along with a special guest from Paris: Henri Loyrette, the director of the Louvre.
The host of the exclusive gathering was the Swiss bank UBS, whose elite private bankers built a lucrative business in recent years by discreetly tending the fortunes of American millionaires and billionaires. As the wine flowed and Mr. Loyrette spoke of the glories of France, UBS bankers courted their affluent guests.
But now, as the federal authorities intensify an investigation into offshore bank accounts, the secrets of this rarefied world are being dragged into the open — and UBS’s privileged clients are running scared.
Under pressure from the authorities, UBS is considering whether to divulge the names of up to 20,000 of its well-heeled American clients, according to people close to the inquiry, a step that would have once been unthinkable to Swiss bankers, whose traditions of secrecy date to the Middle Ages.
Federal investigators believe some of the clients may have used offshore accounts at UBS to hide as much as $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service. Doing so may have enabled these people to dodge at least $300 million in federal taxes on income from those assets, according to a government official connected with the investigation. <BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
$300 million is a lot in practically everybody’s book.
Another difference is that if you stole $300 million and were caught doing it, in all likelihood you’d go to prison. These cats will pay a fine and that will probably be that. After all it would be pretty darned embarrassing if 20,000 of America’s richest ended up doing time. 富人与你我的不同
译:正如评论家玛丽`科伦姆所反驳的:当然,除去富人比我们有更多的钱,他们拥有更多的方法将自己的财富藏好,不让像山姆叔叔那样爱打听的人知道。
四月的一个下午,七十几个美国有钱人受邀来到曼哈顿商业区参加午宴,其中,有一位从巴黎来的贵宾,亨瑞·罗瑞特,影片罗浮宫的导演。
这个高级聚会的主办方是瑞士银行-UBS:瑞士联合银行,该银行的私人精英银行业者在近几年通过细心帮助美国的百万、千万富翁打理财产而大赚了一笔。罗瑞特一边摇动着酒杯,一边娓娓到来法国的光荣史,瑞银的银行家们奉承着他们多金的客人们。
但是,现在由于联邦当局已经加大了对于境外银行账户的调查,这个鲜为人知的世界正慢慢被人所了解,以致瑞银的特权客户人数在减少。
在当局的这种压力下,瑞银正在考虑是否要向此次调查的相关人士泄露多达20,000的美国贵宾名单,这个做法对瑞士银行家们而言,是从未考虑过要做的。因为,他们这种对账户采取保密的传统源自中世纪。
联邦调查员们认为,有些人利用在瑞银的国外账户来掩藏国内税收局高达2千亿美元的财产。据这次调查的相关政府官员说,这样做,可以使他们能够避免上缴因该笔财产所产生的至少3亿美元税款。
在实际生活中,3亿美元对每个人的账户而言都不是一笔小数目。
还有一个区别就是,如果你偷了3亿美元而且被当场抓住,很有可能你要去监狱了。而这些有钱的恶人只会收到一张罚单,而且可能仅次而已了。要知道,如果美国富人中的2万人在这样做的话,这会是非常令人尴尬又厌恶的。
笔译指导:瑞士的“意大利通心粉收获节”
On April 1, 1957 the British news show Panorama broadcast a three-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed both to an unusually mild winter and to the "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil." The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show’s highly respected anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. The segment concluded with the assurance that, "For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti."
The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax generated an enormous response. Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this query the BBC diplomatically replied, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
To this day the Panorama broadcast remains one of the most famous and popular April Fool’s Day hoaxes of all time. It is also believed to be the first time the medium of television was used to stage an April Fool’s Day hoax.
1957年4月1日,英国的Panorama新闻频道播出了一段关于瑞士南部地区盛大的意大利通心粉收获节的三分钟的新闻报道。备受尊敬的该频道的节目主持人Richard Dimbleby在节目中说这次的大丰收主要归功于罕有的温和天气以及“象鼻虫的消除”。电视机前的观众一边观看着电视里面播放的一个瑞士家庭的全家人收获意大利通心粉的场景。该短片最后还言之凿凿地声称,“对于那些喜爱吃意大利通心粉的人,没有比正宗的,自家出产的意大利通心粉更好的选择了。”
这个意大利通心粉收获节的闹剧引发了巨大的反响。许多观众纷纷打电话到BBC电视台询问如何才能种植一棵意大利通心粉树。对于这些问题,BBC的外交式答复是,“放一根意大利通心粉到番茄酱的罐头里面,然后就等着看结果吧。”
直到今天,Panorama的愚人节玩笑始终是最著名和受欢迎的恶作剧之一。也被认为是第一次电视台这种大众媒体上演的愚人节恶作剧。
笔译指导:辛迪·芬奇SiddFinch
Sidd Finch In its April 1985 edition, <EM>Sports Illustrated</EM> published an article by George Plimpton that described an incredible rookie baseball player who was training at the Mets camp in St. Petersburg, Florida. The player was named Sidd Finch (Sidd being short for Siddhartha, the Indian mystic in Hermann Hesse’s book of the same name). He could reportedly pitch a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. The fastest previous recorded speed for a pitch was 103 mph.
Finch had never played baseball before. He had been raised in an English orphanage before he was adopted by the archaeologist Francis Whyte-Finch who was later killed in an airplane crash in the Dhaulaglri mountain region of Nepal. Finch briefly attended Harvard before he headed to Tibet where he learned the teachings of the “great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa” and mastered “siddhi, namely the yogic mastery of mind-body.” Through his Tibetan mind-body mastery, Finch had “learned the art of the pitch.”
Finch showed up at the Mets camp in Florida, and so impressed their manager that he was invited to attend training camp. When pitching he looked, in the words of the catcher, “like a pretzel gone loony.” Finch frequently wore a hiking boot on his right foot while pitching, his other foot being bare. His speed and power were so great that the catcher would only hear a small sound, “a little pft, pft-boom,” before the ball would land in his glove, knocking him two or three feet back. One of the players declared that it was not “humanly possible” to hit Finch’s pitches.
Unfortunately for the Mets, Finch had not yet decided whether to commit himself to a career as a baseball player, or to pursue a career as a French Horn player. He told the Mets management that he would let them know his decision on April 1.
辛迪·芬奇在1985年四月刊,“讲述体育”板块上发表了一篇乔治·普林顿的文章,这篇文章讲述了一个正在佛罗里达的圣彼得斯堡米特营地进行训练的,不可思议的棒球新手,这位球手叫做辛迪·芬奇(辛迪是辛迪哈桑的简称,赫尔曼·黑塞书中的一个印度神秘人也叫这个名字)据说,球手辛迪可以将球击到168英里/小时并使球准确的达到落球点,而之前最快的击球记录也只是103英里/小时。
芬奇以前从未打过棒球。他小时侯在英国的孤儿院长大,后来被一个名叫弗朗西斯·怀特·芬奇的考古学家收养,而这位考古学家却逝世于在尼泊尔境内道拉格力山的空难。芬奇上了哈佛大学,后来又去西藏学习“诗圣喇嘛米拉兰思帕”的教学方法并被冠于了“辛迪,即是神秘瑜伽的思想者”的称号,依靠他西藏思想者的能力,他学会了棒球的击球术。
芬奇在佛罗里达州的米特训练营表现令人惊喜,他的经理对他印象深刻所以特邀他参加了正式的训练。当人们看他击球的时候,用捕球手的话来说:“像是发了疯的椒盐卷饼”。在击球时,芬奇时常在右脚穿着一只旅行鞋,而左脚则光着,他的速度是如此之块力量是如此之大,使他的捕球手接到球之前只能听到一个细微的声音“一种能量速度爆发的回音”,他说,球的冲力可以把他冲击的倒退两三英尺。另一个人则声称“人类的极限”也不如芬奇的击球。
而对米特不幸的是,芬奇无法决定他是要做一个职业棒球手还是去吹法国号。他对管理层说他将会在4月1日告诉他们他的决定。
从07年《政府工作报告》的翻译谈起
《政府工作报告》的翻译更易出现“中式英语”倾向。其原因有三:一是带有中国特色的新词语新提法难以从英文词典中找到现成的对应词;二是对忠实原文的要求更严,为了政治上保险容易套用中文结构亦步亦趋,导致译文机械呆板;三是行文中并列谓语或并列短句居多,句型单一,用词抽象重复,译文更易结构松散,枯燥晦涩。为减少中式英语,可在透彻理解原文的基础上,注意使用两种技巧:⑴替代,主要手段有用代词代替、缩短修饰语、使用概括性名词和变换用词等;⑵主从结构,包括从句、分词短语、介词短语等。
曾在中央编译局工作过多年的美国专家琼·平克姆在她编写的《中式英语之鉴》(The Translator’s Guide to Chinglish)一书中,将中式英语称为 English with Chinese characteristics (中文特色的英文),这与socialism with Chinese characteristics(中国特色社会主义)可称为孪生词语,也说明了中国人使用英语介绍中国特色社会主义,更容易产生中文特色的英语,即“中式英语”。
一. 出现中式英语倾向的原因
由于中国与英语国家的历史背景、政治经济体制、社会文化形态的不同,以及中国人与英语国家人们思维方式和语言习惯的差异,汉译英易产生“中式英语”,就像英译汉易出现“洋腔洋调”一样。无论是文学翻译还是应用翻译都有“中式英语”的倾向,像《政府工作报告》这样的政治性文件的汉英翻译尤其易感“中式英语症”。其原因有三:
1.用词的中国特色
一年一度的《政府工作报告》是中国政府向其人民代表所做的工作总结和工作部署。总结的是建设具有中国特色社会主义事业的新成就,部署的是针对中国国情的大政方针、基本国策,不少新词汇、新词组、新提法都是中国特有的,难以从英文词典中找到现成的对应词。无论是直译还是解释性翻译都难免中文味道。“三个代表”译为Three Represents,用动词represent体现原文“代表”的动态词性,用数量次、复数和大写来满足 “三个代表”简称的名词需要,译文与原文在形式上也很对称。但Three Represents听起来又点怪,仍有中式英语味道,因为用数次修饰动词是违反英文语法的。“三条保障线”(国有企业下岗职工基本生活保障、失业保险和城市居民最低生活保障)是典型的带中国特色的词组,英文里找不到相应的词。今年《政府工作报告》译为three-stage guarantees,后又根据上下文做解释性翻译(ensuring payment of the living allowances for workers laid off from state-owned enterprises, unemployment insurance and subsistence allowances for the urban poor)。但这种译文不一定理想。guarantee有名词词性,字尾加s表示复数,符合英语语法。但stage是指同一事物不同的发展阶段,譬如现代化建设“三步走”战略译为three-stage strategy for modernization drive,不能把几件事用stage相提并论,所以该译文是不准确的。英语专家王弄笙在其《近年来汉英翻译中出现的一些新问题》中提议将“三条保障线”译作the system of three social security programs,既强调了数量的概念,the system又使三者浑然一体,还体现了社会保障的范畴,可谓言简意赅。与数字结合的词组,诸如“五讲、四美、三热爱”等等,都是中国专有的,在英文里找不到相应的词组。即使深刻理解了原文,用通顺易懂的英文译出来,也未必理想。这样的提法在每年的政府报告中都有,在别的政治文件中也不断涌现。
2.对忠实原文有更高的要求
翻译要忠实于原文,“信、达、雅”的翻译标准“信”字当头。政治文件的翻译对忠实原文的要求就更为严格,因为政治文件涉及党和国家大政方针、基本国策,一旦出现纰漏,后果严重。政治文件政策性强,翻译不能随意增字,也不能随意减字,更不能换种说法绕过去。为了政治上保险,过于拘泥于原文字句,亦步亦趋,扣得太死,易产生不符合英文词法句法的中式英语。
3.行文结构和用词的特点
政府报告句子偏长,句型结构单一,多用并列短句或并列谓语,“一逗到底”,连接成分使用不多,层次不太明显。而英语要求句子结构紧凑,逻辑关系严密,层次分明,主谓关系密切。译者必须透彻理解原文,挖掘句子与句子之间逻辑关系。否则,译文容易偏离英语“形合”的要求,产生过多单个的句子,结构松散。另外,用词重复单调,在一句话或相连的几句话里重复使用相同的词是常见的事。有些看起来容易译起来难的词和词组出现频度很高,例如:“加强”、“建设”或“搞好”等,容易产生重复累赘、晦涩难懂的中式英语。
二.克服中式英语的俩种技巧
如何才能克服中式英语呢?从基础上讲,首先要结合业务加强政治学习,吃透报告精神,不要停留在字面意思,避免因缺乏政治知识造成歧义。其次,要加强业务学习,熟悉英文词法句法特点,避免将中文搭配强加在英文上。笔者通过参与历年《政府工作报告》和其它全国人大会议文件的翻译,认真研读推敲文件英译本,留心搜集了一些如何在实践中解决中式英语问题的技巧与范例。归纳起来可分为两种技巧:替代重复指称和使用主从结构。下面以十届人大一次会议朱镕基总理的《政府工作报告》的英译本为例。
1.替代重复指称
英语不喜欢重复,汉译英时要想方设法避免重复,主要手段有用代词代替、缩短或去掉修饰成分、使用概括性名词和变换用词等。
⑴用代词代替
例1.实现了千百年来围湖造田、与湖争地到大规模退田还湖的历史性转变。
This represented a great shift from the centuries-long history of reclaiming farmland from lakes to restoring it to them on a large scale.
这个例子,原文“湖”出现三次,“田”出现两次,而译文中lakes和farmland只出现一次,再次出现使用了代词it和 them来代替。既避免了重复,又增加了连贯性。原文中“围湖造田”“与湖争地”属同意反复,省去一个即可。英语中的代词可分为七、八种,可见代词在英语中比在汉语中用得多。使用代词代替名词是汉译应时避免重复、简化译文的一个常用的手法。
⑵缩短修饰成分
例2.进行了新中国成立以来规模最大的水利建设。五年全国水利建设投资3562亿元,扣除价格变动因素,相当于1950年到1997年全国水利建设投资的总和。
We built water conservancy projects on a scale larger than any other time since the founding of New China. The investment in these projects nationwide totaled 356.2 million yuan for the five years, which was equal to the total investment in this field from 1950 through 1997 after adjusting for price changes.
原文“水利建设”出现三次,译文中water conservancy projects 仅出现一次,第二次用指示代词these将定语缩短,第三次用概括性名词field代替。保留中心词、简化或省略修饰成分,可以避免重复指正。
例3.…2002年5月份,国务院召开全国增收节支工作电视电话会议…2002年9月份,国务院再次召开全国增收节支工作会议…
…in May 2002 the State Council held a national conference on increasing revenue and reducing expenditures …in September 2002, it held another conference…
相同内容的会议第二次出现时,只保留中心词conference,其它修饰成分用another代替,既避免了重复,又使两次会议的同一目的一目了然。
⑶用概括性名词
用概括性名词替代需要重复的词语,也是简练译文的好办法:
例4.要标本兼治,重在治本。
We should seek both temporary and permanent solutions to the problems, with emphasis on the latter.
译文用latter代替permanent solutions,强调对比,避免重复。
例5.认真贯彻落实侨务政策,进一步做好侨务工作。
We should conscientiously implement the Party’s policy on overseas Chinese affairs and do a better job in this regard.
译文中“侨务政策”做解释性翻译policy on overseas Chinese affairs,译文较长,重复出现时必须替代,this regard可以一字概括。
⑷变换用词
《政府工作报告》是关于政府宏观经济调控的报告,有些词意不太明确的“宏观性”词汇和词组出现的频率很高,它们看似容易译时难。必须先吃透具体含义,再进一步变换词汇和确定搭配。否则,译文就会枯燥晦涩。
以“建设”一词为例。在报告中曾重复出现许多次,有关基础设施建设成就总结的同一段落里就出现六处,但“建设”一词的译文却不尽相同,并没有都译成construction,译成construction时搭配也有所不同,例6-例11:
例6.基础设施建设成就显著。
The infrastructure improved remarkably.
例7.进行了新中国成立以来规模最大的水利建设。
We built water conservancy projects on a scale larger than any other time since the founding of New China.
例8.交通建设空前发展,
Transport developed on an unprecedented scale.
例9.邮电通信建设突飞猛进。
Construction of postal and telecommunications facilities greatly expanded.
例10.能源建设继续加强。
Construction in the energy sector was further intensified.
例11.城市规划和公用设施建设明显加强。
Urban planning and public utility construction improved remarkably.
报告中还出现其它方方面面的“建设”,都根据上下文变.
第二十二届韩素音青年翻译奖竟赛英译汉译文和译文评析
Hidden Within Technology’s Empire, a Republic of Letters
隐藏于技术帝国的文学界
索尔•贝妻
When I was a boy “discovering literature”, I used to think how wonderful it would be if every other person on the street were familiar with Proust and Joyce or T. E. Lawrence or Pasternak and Kafka. Later I learned how refractory to high culture the democratic masses were. Lincoln as a young frontiersman read Plutarch, Shakespeare and the Bible. But then he was Lincoln.
我还是个"探索文学"的少年时,就经常在想:要是大街上人人都熟悉普鲁斯特和乔伊斯,熟悉T.E.劳伦斯,熟悉帕斯捷尔纳克和卡夫卡,该有多好啊!后来才知道,平民百姓对高雅文化有多排斥。虽说少年时代身居边陲的林肯就在阅读普鲁塔克,、莎士比亚和《圣经》,但他毕竟是林肯。
Later when I was traveling in the Midwest by car, bus and train, I regularly visited small-town libraries and found that readers in Keokuk, Iowa, or Benton Harbor, Mich., were checking out Proust and Joyce and even Svevo and Andrei Biely. D. H. Lawrence was also a favorite. And sometimes I remembered that God was willing to spare Sodom for the sake of 10 of the righteous. Not that Keokuk was anything like wicked Sodom, or that Proust’s Charlus would have been tempted to settle in Benton Harbor, Mich. I seem to have had a persistent democratic desire to find evidences of high culture in the most unlikely places.
后来,我坐小车、巴士和火车在中西部旅行,经常走访小镇图书馆;发现在衣阿华州基奥卡克市,或者密歇根州本顿港市,读者们借阅普鲁斯特和乔伊斯的作品,甚至还有斯维沃@和安德烈•别雷®的著作。D. H.劳伦斯的书也深受欢迎。有时我会想起上帝愿为十个义人而饶恕所多玛城的故事^并非基奧卡克市和邪恶的所多玛有何相似之处,也并非普鲁斯特笔下的夏吕斯®想移居密西根州的本顿港,只不过我似乎一直有一种开明的想法,希望在最难觅高雅文化的地方找到高雅文化的证据。
For many decades now I have been a fiction writer, and from the first I was aware that mine was a questionable occupation. In the 1930’s an elderly neighbor in Chicago told me that he wrote fiction for the pulps. “The people on the block wonder why I don’t go to a job, and I’m seen puttering around, trimming the bushes or painting a fence instead of working in a factory. But I’m a writer. I sell to Argosy and Doc Savage,” he said with a certain gloom. “They wouldn’t call that a trade.” Probably he noticed that I was a bookish boy, likely to sympathize with him, and perhaps he was trying to warn me to avoid being unlike others. But it was too late for that.
至今,我已写了几十年小说,而且一开始就意识到,这是个颇有争议的职业。20世纪30年代,芝加哥一位年长的邻居告诉我,他给通俗杂志写小说。"街坊邻里都纳闷,为什么不去上班,却见我游来荡去,修剪修剪树木,粉刷粉刷篱笆,就是不去工厂干活儿。可我是作家啊,稿子卖给《大商船》和《萨维奇医生》⑦那些杂志,"他说话时神情有些抑郁。"他们不会把这当作正事儿。"他很可能已经觉察到,我是个喜欢读书的孩子,兴许会与他产生共鸣,或者他想提醒我,不要与众不同,但这为时已晚。
From the first, too, I had been warned that the novel was at the point of death, that like the walled city or the crossbow, it was a thing of the past. And no one likes to be at odds with history. Oswald Spengler, one of the most widely read authors of the early 30’s, taught that our tired old civilization was very nearly finished. His advice to the young was to avoid literature and the arts and to embrace mechanization and become engineers.
一开始也有人告诫我,小说正频临死亡,犹如城郭或弓弩,已属昨日之物。谁也不愿和历史作对。奥斯瓦尔德•斯宾格勒*——30年代初拥有最广泛读者的作者之--曾教导我们,陈腐、古老的文明已几近末路,建议年轻人避开文学和艺术,拥抱机械化,去当工程师。
In refusing to be obsolete, you challenged and defied the evolutionist historians. I had great respect for Spengler in my youth, but even then I couldn’t accept his conclusions, and (with respect and admiration) I mentally told him to get lost.
你拒绝被淘汰,就是对进化论史学家的挑战和蔑视。年轻时我非常尊重斯宾格勒,但即使那个时候,也无法接受他的结论,而(怀着敬慕之情)在心里对他说:你走远点吧。
英汉翻译笔记整理
翻译(英译汉)是在阅读、理解、表述这样一个过程中完成的。阅读和正确理解source
language是极为关键的步骤,至于中文(target
language)表述,如果谈到有什么差异的话,那是个人汉语语言修养的积累结果。我想结合自己学习和体会,和大家谈谈英语中的句式特点,这也是很多网友共同关心的问题。不知大家有什么想法,能给点建议吗?或者说你有什么需要?
纯手工录入,未经整理,错误难免,高手勘误。
第一部分:数词的译法
一、数字增减的译法:
1.句式特征:by+名词+比较级+than
The wire is by three inches longer than that one.这根导线比那根长3英寸。
2.句式特征:表示增减意义的动词+to+n.译为:增加到。。。。或减少到。。。。
Metal cutting machines have been decreased to
50.金属切割机已经减少到50台。
二、百分数增减的表示法与译法
1.句式特征:表示增减意义的动词+%
The output value has increased 35%.产值增加了35%
2.句式特征:表示增减意义的动词+by+%
Retail salses should rise by 8%商品零售额应增加3%
The prime cost decreased by 60%.主要成本减少60%
3.句式特征:表示减少意义的动词+to+%表示减少后剩余的数量
By using this new-process the loss of metal was reduced to
20%.采用这种新工艺,铁的损失量减少到20%
4.句式特征:%+ 比较级 +than表示净增减的数量
Retail sales are expected to be nine percent higher than last
year.今年零售额与去年相比,有望增加9%。
5.句式特征:% + 比较级 + 名词表示净减数
The new-type machine wasted 10 percent engergy supplied.
新型机械能耗量净减10%
6.句式特征:a + % + increase表示净增数
There is a 20% increase of steel as compared with last
year.与去年相比,今年钢产量净增20%
7.句式特征:%+ (of) 名词(代词)表示净减数,数字n照译
The production cost is about 60 percent that of last
year.今年产值仅为去年的60%
8.句式特征:%+up on 或over表示净增数
The grain output of last year in this province was 20% percent up
on that of 1978.去年粮食产量比1978年净增20%。
第二部分 倍数增加的表示法及译法
汉语表示“增加了几倍”时,英语的倍数表示倍数需减一,译成“增加了n-1倍”以表示净增加数。如果译成“增加到n倍”或“为原来的n倍”,则照译不误。
1.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+n times“表示成倍地增长,译成”增加到N倍“或”增加n-1倍“
注:1倍 once; 2倍twice(或double);3倍thrice(或three times)
2.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+by+ n times,该句式与上述相同
3.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+to+ n times表示增加到N倍,译成”增加了n-1倍“
4.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+by a factor of + n times
5.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+比较级+by a factor of + n
times表示增加以后达到的倍数,译成”比。。。。。。大(长、宽。。。)N-1倍“
6.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+ n times+比较级+than。。。。。
7.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+ n times +adj./adv. +as....
8.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+a + n times(或n-fold)
+increase.......表示增加到N倍,译成”增加了N-1倍“
9.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+as + adj./adv.+ again
as.....译成”比。。。。大(长、宽。。。。倍)“
例子: Line A is as long again as line B. A线比B线长1倍。
This machine turns half as fast again as that
one.这台机器转动比那台机器快半倍。
10.句式特点:表示增加意义的动词+half as + adj./adv.+ again
as.....译成”比。。。。大(长、宽。。。。半倍)“
11. 句式特点:用double表示倍数,译成”等于.....的2倍“或”增加了1倍“
12.句式特点:用treble表示倍数增加,译成”增加到3倍“或”增加了2倍“
13.句式特点:用quadruple表示倍数增加,译成”增加到4倍“或”增加了3倍“
第三部分 倍数减少的表示方法
倍数减少在英译时,需把倍数换算成分数。成几倍减少,可以改译成”减少到1/N“或减少了”N-1/N“。而减少了N倍,可改译成”减少到1/N+1“或”减少了N/N+1“。
1.句式特点:表示减少意义的动词+N times表示成N倍减少,译成”减少到1/N“或”减少了N-1/N“
The length of laser tube was reduced ten times.激光管的长度缩短了十分之九。
2.句式特点:表示减少意义的动词+by+N times表示成N倍减少,译成”减少到1/N“或”减少了N-1/N“
The bandwith was reduced by two times.带宽减少了二分之一。
3.句式特点:表示减少意义的动词+by a factor of + N
times表示成N倍减少,译成”减少到1/N“或”减少了N-1/N“
4.句式特点:表示减少意义的动词+a-N times(N-fold)+
reduction译成”减少到1/N“或”减少了N-1/N“
The principal advantage over the old-fashioned machine is a
four-fold reduction in weight.与旧式机器比,主要特点是重量减少了四分之三。
5.句式特点:表示减少意义的动词+N times+as + adj./adv.
.....译成”减少到1/N“或”减少了N-1/N“
6.句式特点:表示减少意义的动词+N times+ 比较级+
than表示减少了N倍,译成”减少到1/N+1”或“减少了1/N+1“
The plastic container is five times lighter than that glass
one.这个塑料容器比那个玻璃容器轻六分之五。
英语倍数句型及其译法
英语表示倍数增减或倍数对比的句型多种多样,其中有 一些(如下文中的句型②、⑤、⑥、⑧、(12)
等,见圈码)很容易译错——其主要原因在于:英汉两语在
表述或对比倍数方面存在着语言与思维差异。现将常 用的英语倍数句型及其正确译法归纳如下:
倍数增加
(一) A is n times as great(long,much,…)as B.(①)
A is n times greater (longer, more,…)than B.(②)
A is n times the size (length, amount,…)of B.(③)
以上三句都应译为;A的大小(长度,数量,……)是B的n倍[或A比B大(长,多,……)n-1倍].
Eg. This book is three times as long as (three times longer
than,three
times the length of )that one.
这本书的篇幅是那本书的3倍(即长两倍)。
注:当相比的对象B很明显时,than(as,of)B常被省去。
(二)increase to n times(④)
increase n times/n-fold(⑤)
increase by n times(⑥)
increase by a factor of n(⑦)
以上四式均应译为:增加到n倍(或:增加n-1倍)。
Eg. The production of integrated circuits has been increased to
three times
as compared with last year.
集成电路的产量比去年增加了两倍。
Eg. The output of chemical fertilizer has been raised five times as
against
l986.
化肥产量比1986年增加了4倍。
Eg. That can increase metabolic rates by two or three times.
那可使代谢率提高到原来的2倍或3倍(即提高1倍或2倍)。
Eg. The drain voltage has been increased by a factor of four.
漏电压增加了3借(即增加到原来的4倍)。
注:在这类句型中increase常被raise,grow,go/step up,multiply等词所替代。
(三)There is a n-fold increase/growth…(⑧)
应译为:增加n-倍(或增至n倍)。这个句型还有其它一些形式:
Eg. A record high increase in value of four times was
reported.
据报道,价值破记录地增长了3倍。
(四)double (增加1倍),treble(增加2倍),quadruple(增加3倍)。(⑨)
Eg. The efficiency of the machines has been more than trebled or
quadrupled.
这些机器的效率已提高了2倍或3倍多。
(五)此外,英语中还有一种用again而不用倍数词来比较倍数的方法,如:
A is as much (large,long,…)again as B.(= A is twice as much
(large,long,…)as
B.(⑩)
应译为:A比B多(大,长,……)1倍。
A is half as much (large, 1ong,…)again as B.
【= A is one and a half times as much (large, 1ong,…)as
B.】(11)
应译为:A比B多(大,长……)一半(即A是B的一倍半)。
倍数减少
(一)A is n times as small (light,slow,…)as B.(12)
A is n times smaller (lighter, slower,…) than B.(13)
以上两句均应译为:A的大小(重量,速度,……)是B的1/n[或A比B小(轻,慢,……)(n-1)/n]。
Eg. The hydrogen atom is near1y l6 times as light as the oxygen
atom.
氢原子的重量约为氧原子的1/16(即比氧原子约轻15/16)。
Eg. This sort of membrane is twice thinner than ordinary
paper.
这种薄膜比普通纸张要薄一半(即是普通纸厚度的1/2)。
注:当相比的对象B很明显时,than/as B常被省去。
(二)decrease n times/n--fold (14)
decrease by n times(15)
decrease by a factor of n(16)
以上三式均译为:减少到1/n[或:减少(n-1)/n]。
decrease常被reduce, shorten, go/slow down等词替代。
Eg. Switching time of the new-type transistor is shortened 3
times.
新型晶体管的开关时间缩短了1/3(即缩短到2/3)。
Eg. When the voltage is stepped up by ten times, the strength of
the current
is stepped down by ten times.
电压升高9倍,电流强度便降低9/10(即90%)。
Eg. The equipment reduced the error probability by a factor of
5.
该设备误差概率降低了4/5。
(三)There is a n-fold decrease/reduction…
应译为:减至1/n [或:减少(n一1)/n]。(17)
这个句型还有其它一些形式,
Eg. A rapid decrease by a factor of 7 was observed.
发现迅速减少到1/7。
Eg. The principal advantage of the products is a two-fold reduction
in
weight.
这些产品的主要优点是重量减轻了1/2。
从上列倍数增减句型及其译法中不难看出:与汉语不
同的是,英语在表述或比较倍数时,无论使用什么句型(除了不含倍数词的again句型外)都包括基础倍
数在内,因此都不是净增或净减n倍,而是净增或
净减n-1倍。所以句型⑤、③表示的倍数增量=句型④;句型(13)表示的倍数比差=句型12,且decrease(by)
3 times应译为“减少2/3”,而不是“减少3/4”。
第四部分 动词的使动用法
动词是英语中词类中最为活跃的成分,至今对于动词的使用我一直是胆战心惊的,现介绍一些使动用法共勉。
1.I slowly walked my horse up the hill.我慢慢地带马上山。
2.The ran the ship aground.他们把船开到滩上去了。
3.The swam their horses in the river.他们使马泅水渡河。
4.I laid myself down to rest my wearied limbs.我躺下来好让疲惫的腿休息一下。
5.They rode out the storm.他们安然渡过风暴
其实,研究动词个人认为,要把握后面有无宾语;宾语是人还是物;是什么样的宾语。欢迎网友探讨,动词的学习研讨方法。
第五部分 同系宾语
1. I dreamed a strange dream.
2.He slept the sleep that knows no waking.
3.I have fought a good fight.
一、在同系宾语上附有修饰形容词时,通常可换成态度副词。
live a long life = live long;
live a happy life = live happily;
die a national death = die nationally;
die a violent death = die by violence
二、有的宾语与动词不同语源,但意义相通,也可以视为同类。
run a race; run a course; run one's career;
fight a battle; blow a gale; strike a blow;
ring a peal; wreak one's vengeance
三、以it构成的类型:
I am determined to fight it out。我决心奋斗到底。
He is starring it in the provinces.他到各地巡回演出。
We had to walk it in the rain.我们不得不冒雨而行。
Can't you swim it?你游不过去吗?
四、在某些熟语中可将同系宾语省略,如look thanks = look a look of thanks
He looked the thanks he could not express.他眼中现出言语无法表达的感谢。
She left the room, looking daggers at me.她以短剑相刺的目光望着我,走出了房间。
五、最高级形容词后,可以省略同系宾语。
The lady was looking her best(look).
She sang her sweest(song) to please him.
第六部分 一组词组
1.all+抽象名词/抽象名词+itself = very + adj.
He was all gentleness to her.他对她非常温存。
To his superiors, he is humility itself。对于长辈,他极为谦逊。
分析:该结构原来是表示某种性质达到极点的一种说法,有“非常”、“尽管”、“一味”、“尽”的含义,有时甚至可以译为“。。。。的化身”、“。。。。的具体化”。普通复数名词用于“all”之后,也是表达这种概念。
He is all smiles.他一味地笑。
She is all eyes.她盯着看。
I am all anxiety.我真担心。
He is all attention.他全神贯注地听着。
2.Something (much) of / nothing (little) of
Mr.Li is something of a philospher.李先生略具哲学家风范。
Mr. Wu is nothing of a musician.吴先生全无音乐家的风味。
Mr. Lu is very much of a poet.陆先生大有诗人气派。
Mr.Liu is little of a scholar.刘先生几无学者风度。
分析:此为表示“程度”的形容词短语,有时可以当作副词翻译。
Something of =to some extent(某程度),在问句和条件句中则用anyting
of(略有、多少)。nothing of译作“全无、毫无”。
相类似的情况:
to be something of = to have something of + 名词+in +代名词
He is nothing in ability of an orator = He has nothing of an orator
in his ability.他毫无演说家的才能。
这类名词的用法,可以处理为副词。
He has seen something of life.他略具阅历。他稍阅世。
Something of 与something like区别:程度上有差异。
something like = something approximateing in character or
amount指数量或性质略同的事物,又作somewhat(似乎、略微)解释。
This is something like a pudding.此物略似布丁。
It shaped something like a cigar.其形状略似雪茄
口译翻译七原则
口译翻译原则一
1)考生在翻译动宾短语的时候,应先考虑宾语的成分。宾语可能为名词、名词词组和句子。不同成分的宾语决定了谓语的使用。比如在以下例子中“希望”的选择面很大,既可以用hope连接句子,也可以用hope for,look forward to等连接名词词组,那么考生就得考虑宾语更容易翻译成词组或句子。因此,动宾连接原则的核心思想是“先宾语,后谓语”,翻译会豁然开朗。
中国人民始终希望天下太平,希望各国人民友好相处。
The Chinese people are always looking forward to global peace and
friendship among all nations.
The Chinese people are always hoping that the world is at peace
and people of all nations will coexist friendlily.
2) 时态原则
时态在翻译中比不像想象中那么简单,往往是考试中的一个难点。时态有时可以体现一种感情因素,特别是进行时的使用,比如在第一个例子中现在进行时的使用体现出对中华民族的一种褒扬、赞美的口吻,翻译出了这句话的“精、气、神”,最后一个例子中过去进行时时常表示一种“特有的行为”,通常是偏向于negative的口吻,所以我们发现这句话十有八九是美国人自己写的。
中华民族历来爱好自由和和平。
The Chinese people have always been cherishing freedom and
peace.
The Chinese people always cherish freedom and peace.
The Chinese people are always cherishing freedom and peace.
中国过去是、现在是、将来是……
China was and remains to be …
中国人民更深感自由与和平的珍贵。
The Chinese people have cherished freedom and peace than
ever.
届时,……
At that time, ……
到2007年,上海市人均国内生产总值预计达到7500美元。
By 2007, the per capita GDP in Shanghai is expected to reach
US$7500.
As a result we were going to be living in a
fundamentally unmanaged economic system.
从而我们可能要生活在一个根本无法掌控的经济体制中。
After all, China and Cuba and other targets of
U.S. –led criticism in the committee were always going to vote and
lobby against Washington.
毕竟中国、古巴等一些在人权委员会中受到以美国为首批评的国家,总是投票或游说反对美国政府。
口译翻译原则二
主语确定原则
由于英语是主语显著语(subject-prominent language),构建在主谓轴(subject-predicate pivot)上,主语决定了句法结构;汉语为语义性语言,其中主语的重要性相对较低,无主语的现象比比皆是。因此在汉英转化中最重要的就是确定主语,主语选择成功了,句子越翻越顺;选择失败,考生越翻越累。主语的确定归根结底有三种方法:使用原主语;重新确定主语;增补主语。
这一目标的实现,最直接的应该是老百姓住得更宽敞了,更舒服了。
The citizens will live more spaciously and comfortably,
benefiting most directly from achieving the goal.
The idea of a national ID, however, was locked
out of earlier drafts of legislation by a coalition of civil rights
and ethnic groups, who opposed a requirement that all non-citizens
carry identifying documents.
然而,持自由论观点的民众和少数民族反对一切美国公民必须随身携带身份证的规定,他们结成联盟,推翻了立法的最初几次草案中关于实施全国统一身份证的主张。
其实,撇开数学,绕过那一大堆公式,一门学科的基本思想还是可以被我们理解和欣赏的。
To be frank, if we leave aside mathematics and bypass the
abundant formulas, the basic principles of the discipline (of
science) are understandable and appreciable.
They cannot control who crosses their borders
either physically or culturally.
无论是外人入境,或是文化入侵,政府都已无能为力。
They have been increasingly chagrined by
Washington’s tendency to ignore the international consensus on
issues ranging from the use of land mines to the Kyoto climate
change treaty.
从地雷禁用条款到京都防止气候变暖条约等一些列问题,美国政府总是对国际舆论置若罔闻,使得这些(倒戈)国家越来越失望/懊恼。
口译翻译原则三
谓语最小化原则
在汉译英中,动词的考察是必然的。其中动词和其他成分的转换也是重中之重。如果考生把所有的动词都翻译成动词的话,只能说明其还属于“入门”境界。因此在第一个例子中共出现7个动词,而在译文中只保留了4个动词。所以我们在翻译中一定要注意动词和其他词性的转换,常见减少谓语的方法有:
a) 把动词变成名词
b) 使用介词短语
c) 使用分词短语
d) 多使用to表示目的的状语
e) 把并列谓语中最后一个谓语处理成“,which”的非限制性定语从句
虽然以上这些方法从本质上讲都是些小打小闹的“噱头”,但是不重视谓语的省略一定不会取得理想的成绩。
今年的亚太经济贸易合作组织会议将主要侧重两个方面:一是加强亚太经合组织成员之间的合作,共同应对可能出现的经济衰退,重树信心;二是继续推进亚太经合组织贸易投资自由化进程,推动世界贸易组织尽早开始新一轮谈判。
The APEC meeting in this year will focus mainly on two aspects:
one is on strengthening the cooperation among all APEC members to
cope with the possible economic recession with rebuilt-up
confidence; the other is on promoting the liberalization of trade
and investment among all APEC members for the start of a new round
of negotiations by WTO.
显然,许多美国的传统支持国家没有投票支持美国,以此对美国奉行单边主义表示不满。
Many traditional U.S. supporters clearly withdrew their votes to
signal displeasure over U.S. unilateralism.
动宾换序原则
在英译汉中,遇上特别长的宾语,初学者总是根据语法习惯亦步亦趋地处理主、谓、宾,结果造成庞大的宾语,头轻脚重,特别不符合汉语的习惯,汉语之所以不喜欢宾语从句,在于汉语喜用主谓短句,对于较长的宾语,一般有两种处理方式:一是把谓语变成直接能够接宾语的表达形式,如react to不必翻译成“对…作出反应”,可变成“面对…”,这种方法在口译中常常出现,因为口译往往无暇考虑句式的大变动;二是把宾语先译出,然后再译出主谓,如第一个例子,或使用谓语的相反含义,再接上原主语,如第二个例子,sustain表示“决定了”,那反义短语就是“取决于”。
The rest of the world will have to react to this
millennial economic shift to Asia, and to the rising power of
China.
在新千年,经济重心将向亚洲转移,中国将迅速崛起,世界其他地区将不得不对此做出反应。
The project budget sustains both the existence of
graduate students and the fiscal solvency of the university.
研究生是否存在,大学是否存在资金偿还能力,这些都取决于项目预算。
口译翻译原则四
句群逻辑关系原则
汉译英中的疑点就是处理句群关系,从逻辑上区分通常有六种:
a) 表示原因关系
“因为…所以”,“因此…”,“由于…”
b) 表示转折关系
“虽然…但是…”,“然而(不过)…”
c) 表示条件关系
“如果…”,“假如…”,“只要…就…”,“一旦…”
d) 表示让步关系
“尽管…”,“就算…也…”,“即使…也…”
e) 表示时间先后关系
“…之后”,“接着…”
f) 表示结果关系
“从而…”,“导致…”
经过二十多年的快速发展,中国西部地区已奠定了一定的物质技术基础,社会保持稳定,市场经济体制正在逐步建立和完善,为西部经济持续快速增长创造了有利的市场环境。
Thanks to the rapid development in the past 20-plus years, a
relatively solid foundation in terms of material wealth and
technology has been laid in the western region of China.
The rapid development in the past 20-plus years witnesses a relatively solid foundation in terms of material wealth and technology in the western region of China
中国将致力于建设国家创新体系,通过营造良好的环境,推进知识创新、技术创新和体制创新,这是中国实现跨世纪发展的必由之路。
Through creating a favorable background, China will be devoted to building a national system for innovation to promote the innovation in knowledge, technology and system, which is the only path/indispensable/essential for China to achieve cross-century/trans-century/century-crossing/turn-of-the-century development.
口译翻译原则五
连接原则
高口翻译难度的侧重点在近几年发生了一个转换:从以前追求成语、俗语到现在语体、语言风格的怪异,比如老舍和钱钟书的“自传”。语言的绝对难度不难,但是形式游散,不容易连接成逻辑感强烈的英语。英语重形合,汉语重意合。所以连接原则首先要求考生具备强烈的“逻辑”使命感,多加连词,两三句之内就要考虑句群的关系,其次考生还要具备合句和缩句的能力,抓住主要谓语,最后换序译法也是考生必需的技能,有时突出重点,调整句序,也是必不可少的。
书无所不读,全无所惑,并不着急,教书做事,均甚认真,往往吃亏,也不后悔。
Not vexed by reading comprehensively though futilely, I deal seriously with teaching and handling affairs and have no regret for suffering losses.
中国加入世界贸易组织的谈判已经进行了15年了。中国的立场始终如一。
China has been engaged in the talks for entry into the WTO for 15
years with its consistent stance.
减少of原则
汉译英中,一出现“…的”许多学生立马想到of…的架构,这种思维模式主要是受到了所属关系的影响。of在英语当中主要是所属关系,而“…的”不仅有所属关系,而且有包含关系等,因此我们在翻译中要看清句子的主主语——真正意义上的主语,而不必选择句子的次主语——语法上的主语。比如在第一个例子中,主主语是“楼”,而次主语才是“质量”,因此如把此句翻成The quality of the building is poor. 虽然也没有错,在考试中也不一定会扣分,但还是显得比较业余。另外在最后一个例子中,译文如译成The development of our relations has made us not only close fiends but also brothers,就显得特别地功利,好像表示我们关系的发展使我们成为兄弟了,而不是我们的关系。总而言之,我们并不是要刻意地减少of架构,而是把一些非定语关系的of架构转化为其它成分。
楼的质量不好。
The building is not well built.
经济全球化的深入发展和科学技术的迅猛进步
the furthering economic globalization and
rapid/swift/speedy/prompt development of science and technology
中国的富强和发展不会对任何国家构成威胁。
A strong, prosperous and developed China will pose no threat to
any countries.
我们之间关系的发展,使我们不仅成为亲密的朋友,而且成为兄弟。
Our relations have so grown that bind us not only as close
friends but also as brothers.
口译翻译原则六
名词词组与分句互译原则
汉语中的两大成分地位较低,分别是宾语和定语。在英译汉中,较长的宾语从句常常会转化为名词词组,比如在第一个例句中的“how”如果翻译为“如何化去税款”这个宾语从句,在汉语中就显得不伦不类,所有一些5W1H的疑问词基本上都有可能转化为名词,如when(时间),where(地点),who(人选),why(原因)。此外,对于修饰语较多的名词性短语,汉语也不喜欢用定语进行堆砌,而偏向用简单的主谓短语,如第二个例子中把“the most skeptical Gates”翻译成“一个持怀疑态度的盖茨”,就不如变成主谓短语“盖茨对此持怀疑态度”。
They provide a means by which wealthy people and
corporations can in effect decide how their tax payments will be
spent.
基金会提供了一种方式,可以让有钱人和大公司能实际支配花去税款的方式。
But the most skeptical Gates of the new
millennium is someone who evinces a passion for giving and
government aid.
但新千年盖茨对此持怀疑态度,热衷于施舍和政府援助。
Now, the debate has shifted away from the ethics
of baby-making and toward the morality of cloning embryos for their
cells and tissues, which might be used to treat diseases.
现在,争论已经从制造婴儿是否违背伦理,转到为提取用于治疗疾病的细胞和组织而克隆胚胎是否违背道德。
But such self-interest is hardly
enlightened.
但这种做法只考虑个人利益,自然难以获得支持。
The project budget sustains both the existence of
graduate students and the fiscal solvency of the university.
研究生是否存在,大学是否存在资金偿还能力,这些都取决于项目预算。
口译翻译原则七
要词原则
无论是中口还是高口翻译篇章中,都有一些貌似十分简单的词,但这些词往往是这篇文章的杀手锏,难度往往高于那些成语、俗语和专业词。比如在第一个例子中的collectively,一般的译者马上会理解为“总而言之”“概括起来”的意思,只有当读完整句的时候,才明白是把亚洲国家整体经济规模“累加”起来,其中进行了转性译法,把副词转换为形容词或名词。这种词在每次考试中至少会有一个,可以被认为是拉开差距的地方。考生如能发现其中的“弦外之音”,将会极大的鼓舞自己的士气。
Collectively, the Asian Countries will have a
larger economy than the rest of the world put together.
亚洲国家的经济总量将超过其他国家地区的总和。
From a small beginning at the turn of the century
……
本世纪初,基金会的数量并不多。
Inside these nations there will be mass
prosperity, but with a large minority in serious poverty, and a
small number who are very rich.
这些国家虽然呈现出欣欣向荣的态势,但其中还有许多处于极端贫穷的弱势人口,还有少部分人口极端富有。
l The major feature of project money, whether its
source is government or business, is that it is given on a
contractual basis, a different contract for each project, so that
the investigator’s independence rests upon his capacity to secure a
succession of contracts.
无论来自于政府或商界,项目资金的重要特点是其建立在契约上,即不同的项目可以争取相同的项目资金,因此调研人员要取得独立,就必须得到连续的研究项目。
The resulting patchwork of laws, people on all sides of the issue say, complicates a nationwide picture already clouded by scientific and ethnical questions over whether and how to restrict cloning or to ban it altogether.
在克隆问题上各方人士认为,关于是否限制克隆、如何限制克隆或索性禁止克隆的科学及伦理问题,已经使全国性立法变得扑朔迷离。而如今各种东拼西凑的法律,只会使全国性立法形成步履维艰。
A law that goes into effect on Jan.1 allows
computer users in the state to refuse unwanted solicitations en
masse and sue spammers who violate their wishers for as much as $1
million.
1月1日,加州通过一条法律,使得计算机用户有权拒收垃圾邮件,并对邮件发送者提出诉讼,要求最高达一百万美元的赔偿。

