对外经贸大学英语翻译第二章

During a Q&A session he accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting CNN personnel “on numerous occasions”.

It is accept that endorphins act on the nervous system to reduce pain, much as opium does. Not so widely known is the idea that endorphins keep the brain young , enabling people to live 125 years. How can I improve my English

“how can I improve my English ?”Ever since arrived Beijing almost two years ago I have heard this question: from an English major , from a stranger on the stranger, form a brave soul standing in the middle of a large lecture hall, from a dark shadow beside me one evening at an English corner.

It seems a perfectly fair and simple question, and it’s a question I hate. I hate because it seems completely reasonable but is actually a trap, because it seems so easy but is actually a riddle to stump Oedipus. And I’m no Oedipus.

It is an innocent question invariably asked by earnest students, and every time I hear it I feel that this sincere plea must admit of a clear answer and that I, as an English teacher, should know what this answer is. I always feel I have failed somehow when I have to admit that I don’t.

Oh, I have answers，and I stumble around in my response, hoping the students won’t notice how unsure I am. I have answers，but I do n’t have the answer, not the answer I think they’re looking for.

Whatever they are really asking for, it feels like they’re asking for a quick fix, a magic bullet which will fix all their mistakes and expand their vocabulary in six easy steps.

I can’t provide that. The truth is there’s only one easy way to learn a language: you must be immersed in that language from the time you are two years old until you are four years old. These are the years, linguists tell us, during which children don’t learn a language, but rather catch it like a disease. They pick it up without conscious effort..

After that mysterious time, learning a language is work. It is exciting and fun work sometime, but also a matter of discipline and time. Some people are naturally better at this work than others: some naturally enjoy this kind of work as others might naturally enjoying jogging or doing math problems.

I suspect most people who ask me that question :How can I improve my English”-already know all this . Though they no doubt hope as I would that I have some secret knowledge to offer, they are probably not expecting as much as I fear they are. I usually give them the following advice: do n’t expect to find an easy way to learn. The only way to learn a language is to use a language, to practice day after day.

Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closet natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style.

There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the very simplest things and because it takes a man’s life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and only heritage he has to leave.

It is not all books that are as dull as their readers. There are probably words addressed to our condition exactly, which, if we could really hear and understand would be more salutary than the morning or spring to our lives, and possibly put a new aspect on the face of things for us. How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.

What is translation? Often , though not by any means always, it is rendering the meaning of a text. Common sense tells us that this ought be simple, as one ought to be able to say something as well in one language as in another. On the other hand, you may see it as complicated, artificial and fraudulent, since by using another language you are pretending to be someone you are not.

Translation means the conversion of an expression from one language into another. To say it plainly, translation is an art to reproduce the exact idea of the author by means of a language different from the original. From the above definition of translation we know that the original thought of expression must be kept as far as possible. Nothing could be added to or taken away from the original work. The duty of the translation is simply to change the vocabulary, not the thought. In translation therefore, there are two essential elements: accuracy and expressiveness. Accuracy is the first indispensable quality of translation. The translator must cautiously stick to the author’s idea. Words selected and sentences constructed must be such as to convey the exact original thought. Expressiveness is to make the translation readily understood. In other words, the translator must express his author’s idea as clearly as forcibly as he can by the medium he employs. Accuracy is to make the thought definite and exact; while expressiveness is to make the translation vivid and attractive.