句子功能的再現(xiàn)（4）

　　(4)①大概是物以稀為貴罷。②北京的白菜運(yùn)往浙江，便用紅頭繩系住菜根，倒掛在水果店頭，尊為“膠菜”;福建野生著的蘆薈，一到北京就進(jìn)溫室，且美其名曰“龍舌蘭”。③我到仙臺也頗受了這樣的優(yōu)待，不但不收學(xué)費，幾個職員還為我的食宿操心。

　　No doubt the rarer a thing the higher the value. When Beijing Cabbage is shipped to Zhejiang, it is hung upside-down in the green grocer’s by a red string tied to the root, and given the grand title “Shandong Vegetable”. When the aloe which grows wild in Fujian comes to Beijing, it is ushered into a hothouse and given the beautiful name "Dragon Tongue Orchid". In Sendai I too enjoyed such preferential treatment; not only did the school not ask for fees, but several members of the staff even showed great concern over my board and lodging.

　　(魯迅《藤野先生》，楊憲益、戴乃迭譯)

　　該例中幾個陳述句組成一個完整的語意群。句①“物以稀為貴”是論點，句②、③白菜和蘆薈來到異地以及“我”留學(xué)日本的經(jīng)歷是論據(jù)。譯文再現(xiàn)了原文的信息功能，且語義相符。首先需要提出的是段首“大概”一詞。“大概”這一“表示有很大可能性”的副詞在此并非對“物以稀為貴”概念的推斷，而是對句②、③敘述的經(jīng)歷當(dāng)屬“物以稀為貴”情況的推斷。譯者透徹理解原文，不用Probably (the rarer a thing ...)機(jī)械照譯句①開頭的“大概”，而是用No doubt取代，準(zhǔn)確傳達(dá)了原文信息。原文句②含兩個復(fù)合句，句式基本為意合，譯文均處理為形式嚴(yán)整的When ... , it is ... and ...的主從復(fù)合句。句③則譯成帶分號的兩個并列句，語義與原文相符，句式也大致相同。