华外培训中心 33 英语专业八级考试强化班
能使你开动脑筋思考。
4、中文表达有一定的难度
6)Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support for all, people will have to accept more ―unnatural food.‖
[简析]这种until或not…until连接的句子体现了英美人的思维方式,在翻译时要对句序进行调整,才符合中文的表达习惯。在表达时是有难度的。
[译文] 除非人类意识到要把人口减少,以使地球能为所有人提供足够的食品,否则人们将不得不接受更多的“人造食品”。
7) 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.
[简析]在这里,less… more… 是两个事物重要程度的比较,可以译成“主要是??其次是??”,“与其说??不如??”,“主要不是??,而是??”等等。
此外,本题的主语是interest,是物;英文中这样的句子很多,在多数情况下中文则习惯于以人做主语,因此,最好转换成人做主语的句子方符合中文习惯:人们对??有兴趣。
[译文] 人们之所以关注历史研究的方法论,主要是因为史学界内部意见不一,其次是因为外界并不认为历史是一门学问。
(三)英译汉解题思路与方法
1.先泛后精——阅读原文的正确方法
在动手翻译之前,应当首先把短文当作泛读题看一遍,主要是对全文的大意、段落之间的关系有所了解。在不影响对文章主旨的理解的情况下,若有不懂的句子大可不必在意。下一步可以逐个对划线部分的句子精读一番,争取对各个句子有准备的理解,这样才可能进行正确的翻译。
Microsoft’s gatekeeper is loyal, noisy, and aggressive, rather like the dog to which he is often compared: the pit bull. Steve Ballmer is the man who regularly struck fears into his stall in Seattle by shouting at them so loudly his voice could be heard at the opposite end of the building. 51. Ballmer has said he is going to try to be less of a loudmouth or as he put it a ―bullheaded leader of people‖. But it is in part his aggression that got him where he is today. He has been loyal to Gates since joining the company in 1980 after a short spell in marketing and at business school, 52. Unlike Gates, who still looks like a pasty programming geek in his Armani suits, Ballmer looks like a man of 42 should: bald, virile and happy in his skin. He is seen as a cheer leader to Gates' introvert but the two have developed similar mannerism in the years they have worked together. The weirdest manifestation of this is the way Ballmer is said to rock backwards and forward to the same frequency as Gates, when the two are locked in discussion. According to rumor, they are trying to align their brainwaves to promote mental breakthrough.
53. Ballmer lives for his job. In his free time he is just another boring millionaire 华外培训中心 34 英语专业八级考试强化班
who spends little of what he has made in Microsoft share ownership. He may be married with two children but his few outside interest are jogging every morning and watching basketball on his one day off a week. When Ballmer and Gates were at Harvard, Ballmer was a well-known personality while Gates stayed in his room holding all-night poker games. 54. At the beginning of term Ballmer memorized the names of all his classmates from the college register. He ran a student literary paper, managed a football team and even graduated. 55. Despite these traits, he and Gates are fashioned from the same chip board. He is made the same stuff as Gates, but with a few more human functions programmed into his operating system.
2.先分后合——理解原文的正确方法
透彻的理解是做好翻译题的前提。透彻的理解是指对作者的观点态度了解清楚。要把题目中的各个部分句子的相互关系搞清楚。对于较长的句子可以首先划出句子的主干,然后再看剩下的部分在句中对于主干是什么关系。具体说,就是要:
1)分清每个句子的主干(主语和谓语);
2)分清各个从句的作用及其说明关系; 3)分清各种短语的作用及其说明关系; 4)分清代词的指代关系。
1) Where there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past.
[简析]这个句子的主干是while…从句,modern practice…主句,以及that定语从句。这是一个简单的复合句。句子的主语是modern practice, 谓语是conform to; while从句表示对照,因此可以翻译为“一方面??另一方面”或“??但是”。
As…as…是同级比较,是抽象意义上的比较,需要灵活翻译(参照以前翻译题中出现的more… than…, less… more…)。在这个句子中直译为“有多少历史学家就有多少对历史下的定义”,实际上也就是说“每个历史学家对历史下的定义各有不同。”
代词one是承接上文的definitions,表示one definition; that sees… as… past是one的定语从句,修饰one; attempt的后面的不定式to recreate…past是做定语修饰attempt.
词汇方面:modern practice 在这里的意思实际是the practice of modern historians(现代史学家的实践),可转译为“现代史学研究”;conform to 意为“符合、遵守一般的规则、准则”;see…as…意为“把??看作”;significant events在这篇具体讨论关于历史学的文章中应该译成“史实”。
[译文]不同的史学家对史学的界定几乎都不相同,但现代史学研究倾向于认为史学就是要再现重大史实并对其做出解释。
3.先死后活——表达原文的正确方法
中英思维方式有同有异,语言表述亦然。我们在将英文翻译到中文时,就应该遵循这样的思路,即当两者思维方式和表达习惯相同或接近时,可以照原文直
华外培训中心 35 英语专业八级考试强化班
译,否则,就要意译(活译)。比如下面两个例子:
1) When the automobile burst upon the dusty highways about the turn of the century, most Americans saw it as a horseless carriage, not as a prime mover of a new way of life.
[译文] 本世纪初当汽车骤然出现在尘土飞扬的公路上时,大多数美国人把它看成是不用马的马车,而不是一种新的生活方式的原动力。
[简析]除去把时间状语about the turn of the century 提至句首(符合汉语习惯)外,其他变化很小,中英文几乎是对应的。直译没有问题。
2) When it comes to reading, they are as good as blind. [译文]一拿起书本,他们可就是睁眼瞎。 [简析]如果这句话直译(死译),“当谈到读时,他们就和盲人一样好。”这种译文无法让人理解,显然错了。
必须注意的是:无论直译或是意译(活译)都必须在正确无误地理解原文的基础上,按照中文的表达习惯,将原文内容准确、完整、通顺地表达出来。在这里要强调指出,一旦出现需要意译(活译)时,应使用下列几种翻译技巧:
1)改变句子结构和数量
为什么要这么做,因为英文句子喜长,一个句子中有从句、短语,而汉语句子喜短,一个句子中没有过多的附加成份,经常以单个独立句子出现。比如,
(1) It is safe to assume that influenza will make a nuisance of itself even during an average winter and in a country with sophisticated medical services, to the extent of causing much discomfort and killing thousands of people, chiefly the old infirm.
[译文]不妨这样认为,流感即使发生在不太寒冷的冬天,即便是在医疗服务设施先进的国家,它也会带来烦扰,因为它足以引起患者严重不适,使数以千计的人(尤其是老年患者)丧生。
[简析]原文句子结构是it is … that主从复合句,句量是2。但是考虑到中文习惯,处理成6个分句,因为汉语惯用短句,即把in a country…, to the extent of causing…and killing…都译成汉语句子,同时把chiefly…用括号处理并放在people之后,因为它本来就是对people做解释说明的。这样,原文结构被改变了,但中文意思正确,译文简练,而且也符合汉语习惯,句子短,叙述清楚。
(2) Airlines around the world, spurred by growing passenger volume and the need to replace hundreds of aging 1960-era jet, have embarked on an unprecedented shopping spree.
[译文] 迫于乘客流量的不断增加,又加上有必要对已日显陈旧的60年代喷气客机进行更换,世界名航空公司掀起了一股前所未有的购机热潮。
[简析] 原文句子结构是airlines… have embarked on…是一个简单句,一对主谓语,其间有一个spurred by… 1960-era jet分词短语,两边逗号分开,说明相对独立,从意义上讲是说明谓语的,译文表达时把它处理为一个句子,英文一句话,中文三句话。
2)改变词类
由于英文和中文在用词造句上有时候差异很大,为了适应中文表达需要,就可能出现这样一些情况,英文中的名词,到中文里则是动词,或者相反;英文中是形容词,到中文里可能变成动词,总之,英译汉时,词类转换是无法避免的。
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(3) The little electronic servant, capable of delivering a frosty beer from the fridge (refrigerator), picking up the kid’s toys and washing the occasional window, probably won’t be a mass-market item in the 1990s.
[译文] 尽管这小电子仆人能从冰箱里拿冰镇啤酒,能把小孩玩具拣起来,还能偶尔洗洗窗户,但在90年代它不会成为大众消费品。
[简析] 英文washing the occasional window是没有问题的,但翻译成中文:能够清洗“偶尔的窗户”就完全不通了,根本不存在什么“偶然的窗户”或“必然的窗户”之后,因此,必须转换词类,将occasional形容词译成中文的副词,否则就是概念错误。
3)改变词量
英译汉时,由于前面讲的两个原因,原文的词量不可能和译文词量相等。不存在1:1,肯定要增加或减少一些词量。
(1) It should, however, be borne in mind that this process itself might involve a chain of difficulties, in this case of a political nature.
[译文] 但是应该记住,这个过程本身也许会带来一连串的困难,在此情况下,这些困难是政治性的。
[简析] 译文中加词“这些困难”是合理的,如不加词,“在政治性质的情况下”,无法理解。
(四)英译汉解题过程(词汇、语法、表达三要素之解决)
如果我们把英译汉解题的具体过程进行分解,其步骤应当是如下所述: 第一步:从头至尾仔细阅读原文一遍;
第二步:正确分析理解原文中的关键词汇(包括短语); 第三步:正确分析理解原文中的关键语法(影响理解的); 第四步:正确用汉语表达原文的具体内容(即得出正确译文)。
This paper puts forward some of the challenges associated with greening the university curriculum, in other words, the process of providing all university students with the opportunity to learn sustainability concepts and sustainability solutions is relevant to their responsibilities as citizens and future members of the work force.
(1)词汇问题:①greening绿化。
②sustainability原意:持续能力,在此处译成“可持续
发展”,即有持续发展能力。
③process原意:过程,程度,此处引申为“大学课程绿化”。 ④solutions原意:解决,此处引申、为“可能性”
(2)语法问题:①associated curriculum至是分词短语,说明前面的
challenges,作后置定语用。
②with sth.是provide sb.的搭配。
③to learn不定式是opportunity的后置定语。 ④as此处是介词,意思是“作为”。 (3)中文表达问题:
[译文]这篇文章提出一些对于大学课程绿化的挑战。换句话说,大学课程绿化就是为所有高校学生提供学习可持续发展的概念以及可持续发展可能的机会,
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