英漢翻譯的原理與實踐unit08

Unit 8

I、課外練習(xí)參考譯文：

人們始終認(rèn)為美麗是值得稱贊的。幾乎人人都以為漂亮的人會比別人幸福健康，婚姻美滿，職業(yè)高尚。個人事務(wù)咨詢員會給他們提供更好的求職建議，甚至法官對漂亮的被告態(tài)度也會格外溫和。然而，在主管人員中，美麗可成為一種不利因素。

漂亮對于步步高攀想當(dāng)主管的男子是一種積極因素，但對于女子卻反而有害。

人們認(rèn)為英俊的男主管比外貌平平者更有誠信，認(rèn)為努力和能力是他們成功的原因。

人們以為漂亮的女主管比不漂亮者缺乏誠信，她們的成功不是由于能力，而是由于運氣之類的因素。

人們覺得所有不漂亮的女主管比漂亮的女主管更有誠信，更有能力。然而，耐人尋味的是，與一夜之間獲得成功的漂亮人士相比，人們認(rèn)為一夜之間獲得成功的不漂亮人士更多地是由于人際關(guān)系，而不是由于能力。

為什么會認(rèn)為漂亮女子沒有能力呢?人們認(rèn)為，與不漂亮者相比，漂亮女子更具有女性特點，而漂亮男子則更具有男性特點。所以，漂亮女子從事女子從事的傳統(tǒng)職業(yè)時就具有優(yōu)勢，而漂亮女子從事男子從事的傳統(tǒng)職業(yè)時看來則缺乏所需的“男性”特點。

這種情況甚至在政治界也一樣。安•波門最近發(fā)表了一份關(guān)于外貌漂亮對政治候選人的影響的研究報告，她說：“當(dāng)人們看待某人的唯一依據(jù)只有外貌時，她們對男子和女子的態(tài)度是不一樣的。”她要求125名大學(xué)本科學(xué)生把兩組照片按照漂亮的順序進行排隊，一組是男子，一組是女子。她告訴學(xué)生這些都是一些政治職位競選人的照片，再要求她們把照片按照他們打算投票的順序進行排隊。

結(jié)果表明，漂亮男子完全擊敗了漂亮女子，但被排在最漂亮之列的那幾名女子一律獲得的票數(shù)最少。

II、英漢翻譯原理第四講：怎樣表達譯文?

【例61】 Dawn breaking over the islands, very beautiful in a soft grey light with many clouds. There is a transparency about the light here which cannot be described or painted.

×拂曉已降臨島上，灰色的柔光，許多云彩，景色美極了。這里有透明的光線，它是不能描寫也不能畫出來的。

【譯文】 曙色中的海島美極了，晨光熹微，彩云片片，澄徹的光影無法形容，無法描畫。

【例62】 Constant technological advances in soil conservation and livestock production will be required to keep pace with this ever-growing need.

×將需要水土保持與畜牧業(yè)生產(chǎn)不斷的技術(shù)進步以適應(yīng)這種日益增長的需求。

【譯文】 為了適應(yīng)這種日益增長的需求，水土保持與畜牧生產(chǎn)的技術(shù)需要不斷進步。

一、要擺脫原文語句結(jié)構(gòu)的影響：

【例63】 Interest in historical methods has arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves.

×對歷史研究方法的興趣較少來自于把歷史作為一門學(xué)科的有效性的外界挑戰(zhàn)，而更多來自于歷史學(xué)家們內(nèi)部的爭論。

【譯文】 人們之所以關(guān)注歷史研究的方法，主要是因為史學(xué)界內(nèi)部意見不一，其次是因為外界并不認(rèn)為歷史是一門學(xué)科。

【例64】 Distance from the event should make the memories less painful.

×事件的久遠(yuǎn)自然會減少回憶的痛苦。

【譯文】 時過境遷，痛苦的往事自然在記憶中淡漠。

【例65】 Perhaps, after all, there was no enigma(費解的事物，謎團)about him, except in the minds of lesser men who found it hard to conceive such tenacity of purpose.

【譯文】 也許他身上畢竟沒有什么不可思議的東西。所謂不可思議，只是那些不如他的人對他那種堅韌不拔的意志感到不可思議而已。

【例66】 It was an elderly woman, tall and shapely still, though withered by time, on whom his eyes fell when he stopped and turned.

【譯文】 他站住，轉(zhuǎn)過身來，定睛一看，是個年邁婦女，個子很高，依然一副好身材，雖然受歲月折磨而顯得憔悴。

二、要避免照搬英漢詞典中的釋義：

【例67】 Like my friend, I now have an alternative to complaining. When I'm bored with my life, I take my pencils out in the back yard and doodle for an hour, trying to sketch trees that look like trees.

×就像我的朋友一樣，我現(xiàn)在有了一種代替抱怨的東西。當(dāng)我對生活感到厭倦時，我就拿出鉛筆到后院去心不在焉地亂涂一個小時，試圖畫出看上去像樹的樹木速寫。

【譯文】 同有位朋友一樣，我現(xiàn)在不再抱怨，而是去做一些別的事情。在生活中感到厭倦時，我就拿起鉛筆，到后院里隨便涂鴉個把小時，畫畫樹林的速寫，盡量畫得看上去像是樹林。

【例68】 His irritation could not withstand the silent beauty of the night.

×他的煩惱經(jīng)不起安靜的良宵美景的感染力。

【譯文】 更深夜靜，美景宜人，他的煩惱不禁煙消云散。

【例69】 But this arms race strained the government's principles as well as its budgets.

【譯文】 但是這場軍備競賽使政府的原則無法自圓其說，也使其預(yù)算捉襟見肘。

III、課堂練習(xí)(將下列句子譯成漢語，并注意運用漢語的表達優(yōu)勢使譯文盡量通順流暢)：

1.She showered us with telegrams.

2.Your comment is more bravely made than correct.

3.The man, more dead than alive, was brought in and locked in the cellar.

4.Civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.

5.There was something original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased all of them.

6.It was a dry, cold hand, and the grip was severe, with more a feeling of bones in it than friendliness.

7.Hitler's mistakes gave Roosevelt the victory: just as at Waterloo it was less Wellington who won than Napoleon who lost.

8.If an entrepreneur was suddenly given as much money as he wanted would he stop his activities or use the money to develop new ones? History is very much on the side of the new activities.

IV、課堂練習(xí)參考譯文：

1.她的電報紛至沓來。

2.你的評論勇敢有余，正確不足。

3.那人被半死不活地帶進地窖關(guān)了起來。

4.謙恭不是軟弱，真誠總須憑據(jù)。

5.這個方案富于創(chuàng)造性，獨出心裁，很有魄力，所以他們都很滿意。

6.那是一只干癟冰冷的手，緊緊的一握，只讓人覺得摸到一把骨頭，并沒有感受到什么友情。

7.希特勒犯下的錯誤使羅斯福取得了勝利：正如在滑鐵盧戰(zhàn)場上，與其說是威靈頓贏了，不如說是拿破侖輸了。

8.如果一名企業(yè)家突然得到他想要的那么多錢，他會停止經(jīng)營活動呢，還是會用這筆錢去開拓新的經(jīng)營活動?歷史表明，企業(yè)家多半會去開拓新的經(jīng)營活動。

V、課外練習(xí)(將以下短文譯成漢語，注意運用漢語漢語的表達優(yōu)勢使譯文盡量通順流暢)：

If an occupation census had been taken in the eleventh century it would probably have revealed that quite 90 percent of the people were country inhabitants who drew their livelihood from farming, herding, fishing or the forest. An air photograph taken at that time would have revealed spotted villages, linked together by unsurfaced roads and separated by expanses of forest or swamp. There were some towns, but few of them housed more than 10,000 persons. A second picture, taken in the mid-fourteenth century would show that the villages had grown more numerous and also more widespread, for Europeans had pushed their frontier outward by settling new areas. There would be more people on the roads, rivers and seas, carrying food or raw materials to towns which had increased in number, size and importance. But a photograph taken about 1450 would reveal that little further expansion had taken place during the preceding hundred years.

Any attempt to describe the countryside during those centuries is prevented by two difficulties. In the first place, we have to examine the greater part of Europe's 3,750,000 square miles, and not merely the Mediterranean lands. In the second place, the inhabitants of that wide expanse refuse to fit into our standard pattern or to stand still.

In 1450, most Europeans probably lived in villages, but some regions were so hilly, lacking in good soil, or heavily timbered that villages could not keep going, and settlement was that of solitary herdsmen or shepherds. Some areas had better access to market than others and were therefore more involved in commercial agriculture than in farming. Large landowners were more likely than small landlords to run their estates and especially their domains more systematically -- and also to keep those records from which we learn most of what we know about the subject. Some areas had never been quite feudalized; their farmers were more free from lordship and even from landlordship. Some regions had been recently settled, and their tenants had been offered liberal terms of tenure in order to lure them into the wilderness. Finally, there was a time element; the expansion and prosperity that characterized the period from the twelfth to the fifteenth century produced or maintained conditions which were unsuitable to the stormier days preceding or the lean ones following it. (384 words)