翻译范例

第十一周

语篇翻译

1.英汉语篇的差异

1.1.英汉语篇章的衔接与连贯手段差异

1.2.英汉语篇章的句式结构差异

1.2.1 主语突显与话题突显

1.2.2 聚集与流散

1.2.3 繁复与简短

1.3 英汉语篇章的信息分布差异

一般认为，英语在传递信息时是信息末尾着重和末尾焦点并存，而汉语在传递信息时则体现为信息末尾焦点。

末尾着重指在排列句子成分时，把“重”的成分置于接近句末的地方；在说话时，语调群的语调核心通常也在末尾。一个成分的“分量”可以从长度（如音节的多少）或语法结构的复杂程度（修饰语的多少等）来确定。末尾焦点指的是把新信息安排在句子的后半部，新信息中最重要的部分则安排在句子的末端。在英语中，有时为了避免“头重脚轻”的现象出现，习惯将句子中较长的成分置于句末，以体现造句的末尾着重原则。

信息末尾焦点原则是书面语中的一大规律，对它的熟练掌握有利于我们准确翻译这样一类句子。如：

The computer works with high calculating speed, high stability and lower consumption.

这台计算机计算速度快，稳定性强，耗电量较低。

析：the computer works 是已知信息，而原文于句尾的with结构才是新信息。

2.篇章翻译

要翻译好篇章，译者首先要对原文进行语义分析、语体分析和结构分析。语义分析要着重弄清原文的题材和全部思想内容：原文的主题意义是什么，作者有什么样的思想观点，作品的读者对象是谁，作品是在何时、何地写的等；而文体分析旨在搞清楚原文的体裁和文体特点，如是文学作品则还需进行人物的形象分析、个性分析以及意境营造、情节发展分析等。同时，还要进行各种关系意义的分析，如人物行为与情境，人物与角色等。譬如所译为科技文章，那么翻译就得考虑怎么准确传达原文的信息内容、再现原文的科技语言风格；如所译篇章是文学作品，那么翻译时就应考虑如何使译文即能传神达意、又能体现原文的文学语言特色；如果是广告，那么翻译时就应考虑如何再现原文的社会功能。

My Country versus Me

I knew something about the Cold War of the 1950s, even though I didn’t come to the U.S. until 1964. As an American nuclear scientist, I helped fight and win the Cold War. But I also had read the book Thread of the Silkworm, by Iris Chang, about the career of Tsien Hsue-shen, one of the most brilliant students in all of China, who in 1935 was selected in a national competition to go to college in the U.S., to MIT. He became one of America’s leading physicists, helping to pioneer our nation’s space program—but then he came under suspicion during the Cold War. Accusations of ties and deportation destroyed his reputation and ended his teaching career at Clatech and MIT. Tsien was arrested and jailed in an INS detention prison, where a bright light was flashed on him every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day. The constant pressure and surveillance of Tsien during the McCarthy period drove him to leave his home in America and to go back to China—where he became the “father”of the Chinese ballistic missile program. Tsien’s life and the treatment he received in America is a well-known tragic story among Chinese American scientists.

我的国际反对我

尽管我是1964年才来的美国，但我对50年代的冷战还是有所了解的。作为美国的核子科学家，我帮助美国打赢了冷战。可我读过张纯如撰写的《中国导弹之父》一书。这本书讲述了钱学森的经历。钱学森是全中国最优秀的学生之一，1935年在全国竞争中胜出后被选到美国大学学习，就读于麻省理工学院。他后来成为美国主要物理学家之一，帮助美国开拓了国家空间项目—但后来却在冷战期间受到怀疑。他被控与美国共产党有联系、受到了麦卡锡式的审判和驱逐的威胁，声名因此被毁，加州理工学院和麻省理工学院的教学生涯也因此而终结。钱被逮捕后，被关押在移民局拘留所监狱。在狱中的一天24小时中，每15分钟就有一道电光照在他身上。在那麦卡锡主义从猖獗的时期，他一直受到迫害和监视，被迫离开美国的家而回到中国—在那里他成为中国弹道导弹项目之父。钱学森在美国的经历和遭遇在美国华裔科学家中是人所共知的悲剧。

2.1 语篇衔接

语法衔接和词汇衔接。语法衔接包括照应、省略、替代和连接；词汇衔接包括重复、同义反义词、上下义局部-整体关系和搭配。

It may be that i am a pessimist, for spring it is, not autumn, that akes me sad. Spring has always rightly been identified with youth, and the sorrows of youth are poignant and bitter. The daffodils which challenge so proudly and splendidly the boisterous March winds are soon shriveled and defeated, limply wrinkling to remind us of the inevitable ravages of time. The world is urgent with bursting life, with the wild exciting beauty of youth, but it is an impetuous beauty of senses racing impatiently into the florid and surfeited luxury of summer. Here is no comfort and fulfillment, only passionate creation of transitory delight.

或许我是一个悲观主义者，那使我惆怅伤感的季节，不是秋天而是春天。春天总被理所当然地与青春相提并论，但青春也有辛酸而痛苦的悲哀。在暴烈的三月风中昂首挺立、蔚为壮观的水仙花，不久便枯萎凋败了，那无精打采的萎傿，在提醒我们那不可抗拒的无情时光的蹂躏。春天的世界，万物竟生，充斥着狂热昂奋的青春美，然而，这是一种来去匆匆的感官上的美，很快就急不可耐地转化为夏天那种过分艳丽、过度繁茂的奢华景象。春天没有安逸和完美，只不过是激情冲动产生的转瞬即逝的快乐罢了。

2.2 语篇连贯

He wanted to join the Chinese Communist Party group in Berlin, he would study and work hard, he would do anything he was asked to do but return to his old life, which had turned to ashes beneath his feet.

译文一：他要求加入中国共产党在柏林的党组织，他一定会努力学习和工作，只要不再回到旧的生活里去--它已经在他的脚下化为尘埃了，派他做什么工作都行。

译文二：他要求加入中国共产党在柏林的党组织，他一定会努力学习和工作，只要不再回到旧的生活里去，派他做什么工作都行--那种生活已经在他的脚下化为尘埃了。

我睁大了眼，紧裹在沉思中。许多面孔，错落地在我眼前跳舞；许多人声，嘈杂地在我耳边争讼。暮地一切都寂灭了，依然是那答、答、答的小声从床边传来，像有人在叩门2.

Eyes wide open now, i became immersed in thought. A multitude of facts danced randomly before my eyes, whilst in my ears, a cacophony of voices fought to be heard. Then, suddenly, everything vanished, and there was that little tap, tap, tapping again, coming from over by the window, as if someone was knocking at the door.

杭州市属七个县境内，北有超山，西有天目山，溯钱塘江而上，有富阳鹤山，桐庐瑶琳仙境、桐君山和严子陵钓台，建德灵硒三洞，新安江“千岛湖”等名胜，形成一个以西湖为中心的

广阔旅游区。

The beauty spots in the seven nearby countries form a vast area for tourists with West Lake at its center. To the north of Hangzhou stands the Chao Hill, and to the west Mt. Tianmu. Coming up to the Qiantang River one finds oneself at Stork Hill in Fuyang County. Nearby in Tonglu County are the Yaolin Wonderland, the Tongjun Hill and the Terrace where Yan Ziling, a hermit of the Eastern Han Dynasty, loved to go angling by the Fuchun River. Jiande Country boasts of the three Linqi Caves and the Thousand Islet Lake at the source of the Xin'anjiang River.

一、根据汉英句群和段落衔接和连贯的特点修改下面译文：

我当时是接管中央美术学院的军代表。听说白石老人是教授，每月到学校一次，画一张画给学生看，作示范表演。有的学生提出要把他的工资停掉。

我说：“这样的老画家，每月来一次画一张画，就是很大的贡献。…

I was then the military representative at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. I was told that Baishi was a professor there and that he came to the Academy once a month. Every time he came he would paint a picture as an example for the students to imitate, but some of them proposed that his salary should be stopped.

“For an artist as old as he is, to come once a month and produce a painting is a great contribution,”

I explained…

我读的书并不多，就是一条，相信毛主席讲的实事求是。过去我们打仗靠这个，现在搞建设、搞盖个也靠这个。

I have not read many books, but I believe in Chairman Mao’s thesis of seeking truth from facts. In the past, we relied on this in fighting wars; and we continue to rely on this in the current construction and reform.

老梁赞叹似地轻轻说：“你瞧这群小东西，多听话！”

我就问道：“像这样一窝蜂，一年能割多少蜜？”

老梁说：“能割几十斤。密封这东西，最爱劳动。广东天气好，花又多，密封一年四季都不闲着。酿的蜜多，自己吃的可有限。每回割蜜，留下一点点，够它们吃的就行了。它们从来不争，也不计较什么，还是继续劳动，继续酿蜜，整日整月不辞辛苦…

Old Liang said softly, almost with a sigh: “look at these little things. How obedient!”

I then asked: “How much honey does such a beehive yield each year?”

“A few scores of catties. Bees love best of all to work. In Guangdong, the weather is fine and there are many flowers; the bees work all year round with a stop. They eat very little of the honey they produce. Each time when the honey is taken away, we just leave them a little sugar, enough for them to eat. They never make trouble. They go on working and making honey all day long and all year round without complaining…”

二、翻译下列段落，注意分析原文的衔接手段，力求使译文衔接自然，语义连贯。

1. 父亲是革命家，也是诗人。他的诗，非文人墨客的遣兴之作。诗言志，父亲的诗中的一题，一景，一人，一事，无不记述着中国革命发展的英雄业绩。古往今来，有史诗一说，父亲的诗篇，连贯起来，可谓中国革命的不休史诗。

Father is a poet as well as a revolutionary. However, his poetical writings are unlike those of some

men of letters that involve private concerns. As the saying goes, “poetry expresses genuine feelings.” There is not one line or one episode in Father’s poems but portrays some soul-stirring heroic deeds of the Chinese people in their revolutionary struggle. In the West, there is the word “epic”. Father’s poetical writing, in their entirety, deserve to be called a spectacular epic of the Chinese revolution.

2. 白杨不是平凡的树。它在西北极普遍，不被人重视，就跟北方农民相似；它有极强的生命力，磨折不了，压迫不倒，也跟北方的农民相似。我赞美白杨树，就因为它不但象征了北方的农民，尤其象征了今天我们民族解放斗争中所不可缺的朴质，坚强，以及力求上进的精神。

让那些看不起民众，溅视民众，顽固的倒退的人们去赞美那贵族化的楠木（那也是直干秀欣的），去鄙视这极常见、极易生长的白杨罢，但是我要高声赞美白杨树！

White poplars are no ordinary trees. But these common trees in Northwest China are as much ignored as our farmers in the North. However, like the farmers in the North, they are bursting with vitality and capable of surviving any hardship or oppression. I pay tribute to them because they symbolize our peasants in the North and, in particular, the spirit of honesty, tenacity and forging ahead—a spirit central to our struggle for national liberation.

The reactionary diehards, who despise and snub the common people, can do whatever they like to eulogize the elite Nanmu (which is also tall, straight and good-looking) and look down upon the common, fast-growing white poplar. I, for my part, will be loud in my praise of the latter!

3.近几年来，父亲和我都是东奔西走，家中光景是一日不如一日。他少年出外谋生，独立

支持，做了许多大事。哪知老境却如此颓唐！他触目伤怀，自然情不能自己。情郁于中，自然要发之于外；家庭琐屑便往往触他之怒。他待我渐渐不同往日。但最近两年的不见，他终于忘却我的不好，只是惦记着我，惦记着我的儿子。

In recent years, both father and I have been living an unsettled life, and the circumstances of our family going from bad to worse. Father left home to seek a livelihood when young and did achieve quite a few things all on his own. To think that he should now be so downcast in old age! The sad state of affairs of the family drove him to utter despair, and his pentup emotion had to find a vent. That is why even mere domestic trivialities often provoked his anger, and he became less and less nice with me. However, the separation of the last two years has made him more forgiving towards me. He keeps thinking about my son and me.

雨后，院里来了个麻雀，刚长全了羽毛。它在院里跳，有时飞一下，不过是由地上飞到花盆沿上，或由花盆上飞下来。看它这么飞了两三次，我看出来：它并不会飞得再高一些，它的左翅的几个长翎拧在一处，有一根特别的长，似乎要脱落下来。

As soon as the rain stopped, a sparrow, almost full-fledged, flew into the courtyard. It hopped around, fluttered at times, darting up to the edge of the flowerpot and back to the ground again. Watching it move up and down like this a couple of times, I realized that it could not fly any higher as the plumes on its left wing have got twisted, and one is sticking out as if about to come off any moment.

析：汉语句群里往往有些词或词组重复出现。有时作为一种修辞手段，加强语气。原文中描

述一个受伤的小麻雀飞翔的情况，出现了多达五次的“飞”字，使句群内部语义连贯，主题突出。但英文行文往往避免词语重复现象，而且事实上小麻雀飞的具体动作并不完全一样，因此，译文围绕主题，采用近义词替换的方式，分别用“flew into, fluttered, darting up, move up and down, fly词词和词组，确切表达了词语意义，也实现了句群的语义连贯。

当前最重要的任务是发展国民经济，提高人民生活水平。为了实现这一目标，我们必须改革旧的经济体制，进一步解放生产力；我们应当向世界敞开大门，学习其他国家的先进的科学和技术。只要我们坚持改革开放政策，就一定能把我国建设成强大的社会主义国家。

Our primary task at present is to develop national economy and promote the living standards of the people. Therefore, we must reform the old economic system so as to further liberate productive forces. Moreover, we should be open to the outside world so that we can learn advanced science and technology from other countries. And we are sure to build Chinese into a powerful socialist country so long as we stick to the reform and opening policy.

析：原句群由三个句子组成，它们之间隐含着非常紧密的逻辑联系。第一句是中心句，提出当前奋斗的目标，第二句、第三句则围绕第一句的内容，具体说明达到该目标的必要手段以及这些措施所带来的必然结果。译文除了用so long as译出原文中“只要”一词的原意，还添加了and, therefore, so as to, moreover, so that, and 等连接词语，以充分表现原文句群句子之间的逻辑意义，符合英文的形和特征。例如，and表示并列关系，说明“当前的重要任务有两个”；therefore表现因果关系，强调实现目标必须采取的措施；so as to说明“改革旧的经济体制”是为了“解放生产力”，moreover表示递进关系，说明要实现目标，除了改革体制，还要“向世界敞开大门”，最后，and进一步强调了改革开放的必然结果，并把前文联系起来。整个译文句群流畅通顺，紧凑完整。