3.3　翻译示例汇总

一、判断词义

1. What you have always wanted until now has been a set, steady, constant purpose. I therefore exhort you to persevere in a thorough determination to do whatever you have to do as well as you can do it. I was not so old as you are now when I first had to win my food, and do this out of this determination, and I have never slackened in it since.

【译文】直到现在为止，你所缺乏的一直是确定的，持续不变的目标。因此我极力劝告你，以坚定的决心去做你必须要做以及你能够做的事情，并坚持到底。我初次必须自食其力（自谋生计）时，年岁还不及你大。我即借着此种决心，迄今从未松懈。

【解析】句中的wanted是一个多义词，在此处作为及物动词用。根据《英汉大词典》，want作及物动词的释义包括：

①要；想要；希望；

②缺少，缺乏；

③（主英）需要；

④想见，要求（某人）到来，想与（某人）谈话，想用（某人）；

⑤缉拿，追捕；

⑥感到缺少；

⑦（口）（后接不定式）应该。

分析7个可供选择的释义，可以判断得出第二项释义是wanted在此处的最恰当的含义。

2. He took charge of his failing father and after a time obtained permission: for his sister to live with him. Her malady frequently returned, but always with due warning, when brother and sister would be seen walking together to the asylum, both weeping bitterly.

【译文】此后，他即照顾风烛残年的父亲，且在一段时间之后，获准自精神病院中将他的姐姐接回与他同住。她的疾病经常复发，所幸皆有征兆，此时人们见到他们姐弟二人相偕走向精神病院，双双泣不成声。

【解析】句中failing常见的意思是“失败的”，但是此处failing father是否就是“失败的父亲”之意呢？分析句子的语法结构可看出，failing father是took charge of的宾语，而took charge of在这里是“看管，照顾”的意思，“看管失败的父亲”似乎意思上不太合逻辑，因此，failing不是作“失败的”解，而是指“衰败的”，在这里可适当调整翻译成“风烛残年的”。

3. Few expected to see so large a man: he is gigantic, a six feet four at least; few expected to see so old a person; his hair appears to have kept silvery record over fifty years; and then there was a notion in the minds of many that there must be something dashing and “fast” in his appearance, whereas his costume was perfectly plain, the expression of his face grave and earnest, his address perfectly unaffected and such as we might expect to meet with in a well-bred man somewhat advanced in years.

【译文】很少人预料见到如此高大的一个人：他身材魁梧，身高至少也有六尺四寸。很少人预料见到年纪如此大的一个人，他的头发看起来已花白了五十多年。此外，在很多人的心目中，他的外表必定有些时髦和“放荡”的样子，但是，相反的是他衣着十分朴素，面部的表情严肃而诚挚，他的演讲十分自然，他具有我们可能遇到的年高德劭者的特征。

【解析】这里只有一个句子，分析一下本句的语法结构，可以发现…and then…whereas…as…表现的递进、转折、总结等逻辑关系。whereas所连接的是相反的关系，说明描述对象外表与内涵的反差，因此dashing and “fast”与plain，grave，earnest就构成对比，在翻译的时候要注意用恰当的措辞再现出那种对比的意义。

4. Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.（选自《傲慢与偏见》）

【译文】嗨，亲爱的，你可要知道，朗太太说，租内瑟菲德庄园的是英格兰北边来的一个年轻人，有大笔家当；说他星期一坐了一辆驷马轿车来看了房子，一看就十分中意，马上跟莫里斯先生租妥，说要在米迦勒节以前就搬进去，而且他的几个佣人下个周末就要先住进去了。

【解析】参考译文把that的意思全部明显化，译成“朗太太说……说……说……”。在译文中重复“说”在一定程度上准确地表达了原文that的含义，兼顾了这段话在上下文，甚至整篇小说的影响。

二、选择用词

1. I write this note today because your going away is much upon my mind, and because I want you to have a few parting words from me to think of now and then at quiet times. I need not tell you that I love you dearly, and am very, very sorry in my heart to part with you.

【译文】今天我写这封短笺，一方面是因为你的离去萦绕我心，另一方面是因为要给你只字片语，供你在宁静的时刻里，时而思量。我毋须告诉你，我爱你有多深，与你分离，我心惆怅不已。

【解析】very，very sorry in my heart若译为“愁肠百结”，显得有点过分，“愁肠百结”意为“忧愁的心肠绕成了一百个结，形容焦躁、痛苦、忧伤之极”。显然原文并没有表达这么严重的伤感情调。“惆怅不已”与“愁肠百结”是近义词，都表达情感忧愁，只不过在程度上存在一定的差异。前者表示“伤感、愁闷”，已足以表达原文中父子离别之情。

2. It is my comfort and my sincere conviction that you are going to try the life for which you are best fitted. I think its freedom and wildness more suited to you than any experiment in a study or office would ever have been; and without that training, you could have followed no other suitable occupation.

【译文】你将体验的生活是最适合你的，这是我的安慰，也是我诚挚的信念。我认为那种自由与无拘无束的生活较比书房或办公室的工作更适合你。缺少那种训练，你就不能从事其他适合你的职业。

【解析】原文中的wildness与freedom并列，很明显并没有负面的含义，表示“不受约束”之意。wildness译为“无拘无束”较好。

3. A plain man of the people I and extraordinary fortune attended him. He offered no shining qualities at the first encounter: he did not offend by superiority. He had a face and manner which disarmed suspicion, which inspired confidence, which confirmed good will. He was a man without vices. He had a strong sense of duty, which it was very easy for him to obey. Then, he had what farmers call a long head; was excellent in working out the sum for himself; in arguing his case and convincing you fairly and firmly.

【译文】他是一位平凡的人，但生逢其时（但有不平凡的际遇）。初次见面，人们看不出他有什么才华。他不会以优越惹人不快（盛气凌人）。他的容貌与举止消除（人们对他的）猜疑，激发（人们对他的）信心，而且肯定他的善意。他是一位行为端正的人。他具有强烈的责任感（尽忠职守），对他来说易如反掌。他有着农夫们所谓的“长头”（即深具远见），擅长于找出问题的症结。他辩才无碍，使人们对他的论点坚信不疑。

【解析】原文所用的是书面语言，用词比较正式，如extraordinary fortune attended him，first encounter等等；句子结构复杂多变，主动句、被动句、并列句、从句、介词短语结构等交错使用，朗读起来朗朗上口，富有韵律的美感。译文也应该选择一些汉语表达相当正式程度的词语，通常采用四字格或者成语来体现正式性和韵律之美。译文比较好地再现了原文的语体特征。

4. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can exe-cute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth: to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar.（Of Studies by Francis Bacon）

【译文】读书足以怡情，足以博彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时，其博彩也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，然纵观统筹、全局策划，则舍好学深思者莫属。读书费时过多易惰，文采藻饰太盛则矫，全凭条文断事乃学究故态。（王佐良译）

【解析】原文用语典雅、庄重，古色古香，王佐良的译文通过使用一些文言用词，如“以”“也”“其”“之”等等，赋予译文与原文相当的典雅味道，是巧用文言用词的经典之作。

三、变换用词

1. The weather of summer is hot, while winter is cold and dreary. Both of these seasons are not for us to study. In the time of autumn, cold winds which are not at all pleasant generally blow. But spring has none of these drawbacks; the flowers bloom, the woods and grasses grow luxuriantly. The weather is mild and the air is balmy. In fact, this season seems full of good things and better fitted to be the time for doing something.

【译文】夏天的天气炎热，冬天的天气寒冷阴沉。这两个季节均不适合我们读书。在秋天的日子，通常寒风飒飒，一点也不令人喜悦。但是春天毫无这些缺憾，（百）花儿盛开，草木茂盛，气候温和，春风和煦。事实上，这一季节似乎充满美好的事物，且是更宜于工作的时间。

【解析】原文用词文雅，描述春夏秋冬各自的特色，构成一幅优美的图景。因此翻译就不能用词沉闷、重复、累赘，而必须灵活选择，体现原文多姿多彩的特色。译文中“（百）花儿盛开，草木茂盛，气候温和，春风和煦”，这些用词优雅、凝练，既表达了原文的字面意思，又体现了语言表达丰富多彩的美感。

2. The Presidency is an eighteen-century invention up against the problems of the late twentieth; it has never been as all-powerful as a generation of civics texts made it seem, and it has been further reduced by the reaction—some say overreaction—to its Empire Period under Johnson and Nixon.

【译文】总统的职务是在18世纪创立的，而现在面临的却是20世纪末的问题。这个职位从来没有像历代的公民学教科书中所描绘的那样权威赫赫；而且，经过约翰逊和尼克松两个当权时期所得到的反应——有些人说那是过火的反应——它已遭到进一步削弱。

【解析】invention在句子中作名词用，而在译文中译作动词“创立”。invention在这里翻译成动词“创立”比翻译成名词“发明”更加适于与句子的其他成分搭配，也使译文的行文更加简洁明了。

3. She tries to calm her daughter with a faint smile and gentle caress of her hair.

【译文】她淡淡地微笑着，温柔地爱抚着女儿的头发，让她平静下来。

【解析】译文把原句的形容词faint、gentle翻译成副词，把名词smile、caress翻译成动词，使表述更富有动感。

四、词语搭配

1. The pictures that linger in his mind, called up in a moment by such sensations as the smell of roses or of new-mown hay, are of a simpler nature. A little cottage nestling amidst the wayside trees, the blue smoke curling up against the green, and a bower of roses round the door; or perhaps a village street of which the name has been long forgotten, with its rambling old inn, and, a little distance away, the hoary, grey church-tower in its township of tombstone—there are the pictures of old England that are carried away to other climes.

【译文】小小的农舍偎依在路旁的树丛中，袅袅炊烟飘向绿色的屏障，荫凉的蔷薇丛环绕着门庭；远处的小街可见一座设计不太规范的客店，灰色教堂的尖顶在不远处耸立于乡村墓地中——这才是古老英国的真实图景，这才是英国留给游客的印象。

【解析】仔细分析一下划线部分句子，该句意思都在描述pictures，一共有5幅图景：小屋、炊烟、玫瑰、街景、教堂。这些图景在原文中是并列关系。译文中用平衡的句式勾勒各幅图景，保全原文对图景的形象描述。

2. We have achieved much because we have built on each other’s successes. We have been open to new partnerships, to new projects, to new ideas, and to new horizons. And above all, we have joined together as a Pacific community, turning a great ocean into a bridge, not a barrier, between nations.

【译文】我们取得了巨大成就，因为我们从各自的成功中相互受益。我们欢迎新的伙伴关系、新项目、新思想和新环境。最重要的是，我们作为太平洋地区的成员共同努力，将浩瀚的海洋变成了连接国与国之间的桥梁，而不是设置壁垒。

【解析】翻译great ocean这个词组时，需要考虑词语之间的偏正关系搭配。great是一个用法广泛的英语单词，其含义非常丰富，而用来修饰ocean，就把great的意思具体化、确定化。此处可以译为“大洋”而不能译成“伟大的海洋”或“主要的海洋”。相对而言，“浩瀚的海洋”更能体现原语的气势，显得形象具体。

3. The list of candidates being talked about in Washington and on Wall Street is half what it was before the Nov. 2 election, when prominent Democrats such as former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin were considered hot prospects had Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry won the White House.

【译文】与11月2日总统大选之前相比，美国政府内部和华尔街所关注的美联储主席候选人人数减少了一半。当时假若民主党总统候选人约翰·克里成功入主白宫的话，同是民主党人的前财政部长罗伯特·鲁宾是新一任美联储主席的热门人选。

【解析】being talked about in Washington and on Wall Street作为 the list of candidates的修饰成分，按照英语表达习惯置于修饰对象之后。翻译成汉语时，需要将修饰成分提前，才符合汉语语言规范。

4. Never take a mean advantage of any one in any transaction, and never be hard upon people who are in your power. Try to do to others as you would have them do to you, and do not be discouraged if they fail sometimes. It is much better for you that they should fail in obeying the greatest rule laid down by our Savior than that you should.

【译文】在处理任何业务时，决不要占任何人便宜，也决不要苛刻对待你的部属。你要别人怎样对待你，你就要怎样对待别人（己所不欲，勿施于人）。如果他们有时亏待你，你也不必气馁。宁可别人不遵从我们救世主订下的最伟大的法规，你自己也不能违背。

【解析】take advantage of sb. 字典意思为“捉弄某人”，按照字典意思翻译，与原文意思不合，此处是动词与宾语的搭配不合情理。而fail文中作不及物动词，后面不需要带宾语，但是翻译成汉语时由于意义的搭配，必须加上宾语。译文根据原文的思想把take advantage of sb.译为“占任何人便宜”，给fail搭配上宾语，译为“亏待你”，搭配合理，意思完整。

5. Mouth cancer was once considered to mostly affect older men, but it is now becoming more common in younger people and women. It is possible that binge-drinking and smoking could be helping to fuel rising rates of the disease as these are key risk factors.

【译文】过去一度认为那些年纪大一些的人更容易患口腔癌，但从目前情况来看，该病在年轻人中正呈现出与日俱增的发展趋势。医生们经研究认为，年轻人过度饮酒和吸烟可能是导致口腔癌在该群体中发病率节节上升的两个“帮凶”。

【解析】helping一词是翻译的难点，尤其需要考虑该动词的主语。因为该句的主语是“过度饮酒和抽烟”，而且是后面宾语的原因，所以helping应该翻译成“导致”为好。

五、特殊词汇翻译

1. 俗语俚语

to be in the dog house失宠或受冷遇

to bend sb.’s ear与某人交谈

to get the lead out振作精神或焕发热情

fruit水果；俚语为“同性恋者”

duck鸭子；俚语为“奇特的人”，作动词用表示“闪避”

He tried to duck his responsibilities.他想要逃避责任。

on the make：英国指热衷于追名逐利，在美国多指一个男人拜倒在妇人石榴裙下

对死亡的表达有：

to go to sleep长眠

to close one’s eyes闭眼，瞑目

to expire逝世

to breathe one’s last咽气

to pay the debt of nature了结尘缘

to be no more没有了，不在了

to log down one’s life献身

to pass away与世长辞

to go west命赴黄泉

对妇女怀孕的不同表达：

She is five months gone. 她怀孕5个月了。

to wear the apron high不是围裙系得高高的，而是怀有身孕

to be in a delicate condition不是处于微妙易碎的状态，而是怀有身孕的妇女

2. 习语成语

to be a parrot鹦鹉学舌；人云亦云

turn a deaf ear to置若罔闻

stir up a hornet’s nest捅了马蜂窝

a drop in the ocean沧海一粟

Strike while the iron is hot.趁热打铁。

To die on one’s feet is better than to live on one’s knees.好死不如赖活。

Blood is thicker than water.血浓于水。

He who laughs last laughs best.谁笑到最后，谁笑得最好。

Give knaves an inch and they will take a yard.得寸进尺。

a sly old fox老奸巨猾的人；老狐狸

to fish far praise沽名钓誉

fish in troubled waters浑水摸鱼

like father like son有其父必有其子

as strong as a horse强壮如牛

bullshit狗屁，胡说八道

love me, love my dog 爱屋及乌

to shed crocodile tears猫哭老鼠

to throw pears before swine对牛弹琴

as timid as a rabbit / chicken胆小如鼠

goose skin / flash鸡皮疙瘩

the black sheep of the family害群之马

the goose is cooked生米已经煮成熟饭

like a cat on hot bricks热锅上的蚂蚁

Every dog has his day.凡人皆有得意日。

Old dogs will learn no new tricks.老年人学不了新东西。

Live like cat and dog.成天吵架。

a bull in a china stop动辄闯祸的粗人

monstrous audacity狗胆包天

a damned snobbish狗眼看人低

Like begets like.龙生龙，凤生凤。

a dog with two tails非常高兴，兴高采烈

After a storm comes a calm.否极泰来。

He that respects others shall likewise be respected.敬人者，人恒敬之。

All good things come to an end.天下无不散之筵席。

Give a dog a bad name and hang him.欲加之罪何患无词。

3. 术语新词

money bill金融法案

real estate房地产

money market短期资金市场

game management狩猎管理

treasury bonds长期国债

time deposit定期存款

idle loans呆滞贷款，呆账

good governance善政廉政

inventory库存产品