译一译：英语翻译实例练习

　　参考译文：

　　Olympic celebs got trademarked in China

　　Never be boggled over by the sight of advertisements hyping feedstuffs, swimsuits, animal drinks, soccer shoes respectively branded by Lin Dan, Ye Shiwen, Lin Dan(again), and Liu Xiang. In actual fact, there had been a violent scramble¹ for registering names of famous Chinese athletes before the 30th Olympic Games was declared open. The flame for registering celeb names in China is fanned by the formidable profits hidden behind the brand name as exhibited by the iPad case where Apple paid 60 million dollars to Weiguan International as the settlement fee for the brand use in mainland China.

　　翻译和写作一样，为了吸引读者，每一篇作品都需要注入一些新鲜的血液，给读者以新鲜感。当然，我们这里说的新鲜感，不是指把原文的一些表达方式直接借入译文所带来的新鲜感，因为那种翻译借用是特定情况下的翻译策略，我们倡导的是文学写作对新鲜表达方式的网罗使用，这当然离不开对译者语言水平的深度挖掘。在母语译成外语的过程中，译者创造性使用语言的困难是巨大的，因为一个人的外语要达到和母语一样纯熟殊为不易。

　　首先我们看第一篇文字，要使自己的翻译不同于他人，就需要特别注意选用新鲜（或者说具体形象的更准确，毕竟所用的词都是现成的而非译者首创的）的表达方式，这就需要深刻挖掘译者头脑中储存的同义词，也可以通过查阅同义词典部分解决这个问题，同时需要译者平时积累各种不同的表达方式。举例说明，“一定不要觉得诧异”中的“诧异”一词，在英语就有很多种不同的说法，也包括jerry透明2所用到的pop one’s eyes out（目瞪口呆），halsparks所用到的be freaked out（使极度兴奋），这些接近或超越同义词边界的表达方式。实际上，这些词语的选择也体现了翻译灵活性的应用。“争相抢注”中的“争相”二字，翻译成英语也有很多不同说法，网友的翻译包括：vie, compete, fight, eagerly, contend等不一而足，我在参考译文中选择了scramble一词，其英语解释是：compete energetically with each other for sth., 应该说是比较符合这里“你争我夺”的形象的。最后一句中的“热衷抢注”一说在翻译时也需要仔细对待，综合上文，我在参考译文使用了形象的比喻说法：the flame is fanned，网友的翻译大多没有注意到这一形象的表达方式。

　　译题二：新生开学要买苹果三件套 家长伤不起参考译文：

　　Parents flinch² from the freshmen³’s frenzy⁴ of Apple’s three hit productsSince the middle of this month, Tsinhua University, together with other institutions of high learning, has been welcoming their freshmen from across the country. Anticipating the coming college life, a good number of students, reports our education correspondent, are eager to buy some personal “gadgets”, of which the digital products are a must, with “Apple’s three hit products”, i. e. iPhone4s, iPad3 and mac book topping the list of their favorites. The freshmen’s frenzy of the three hits is obviously more than their working-class parents could bear both mentally and monetarily⁵.

　　However, most parents eventually greenlight the “demand” of their children, and say, “It’s not so easy for our children to be admitted to a college or university, so let’s try our best to buy whatever they need even if it means we have to live a harder life in the years to come.” In view of this phenomenon, educational experts warn that heed⁶ should be given to the prevalent consumerism among the post-90s in China that have been long doted on by their parents.

　　第二篇文字的标题的翻译破费力气，“伤不起”是一个汉语的网络流行语，直译成英语可能是too delicate to bear a blow, vulnerable, be prone⁷ to getting hurt等意思，但在实际使用中，其可能包含的意思有很大差别，在本句中虽然可以考虑译成be prone to getting hurt，但从新闻标题的角度来看，缺少新意，笔者绞尽脑汁，想到了现在的翻译，其特色是使用了英语头韵的修辞手段（flinch from the freshmen’s frenzy），而且frenzy这个词汇在文中再次被用到，而“伤不起”则采用了直译的方式（more than the working-class parents could bear），在该句中mentally and monetarily也使用了头韵的修辞手段，从而增添整个译文在用词上的新鲜感。下面分析网友对“依从”一词的翻译，看看其中词语选择的问题，网友使用的词语有：fulfill their request, say yes to, buy them what they want, choose to meet their children’s need等，笔者选择了greenlight，即“开绿灯”的意思，也是一个比较新鲜的表达方式。“盲目消费”一词笔者译成了consumerism，其英文解释是：the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically beneficial。这一经济学的理论严重影响了社会风气，造成现代社会对物的极端崇拜。有三位网友选择了blind consumption的译文，明显有中国英语的特点，如果选择直译，可以考虑译成extravagant consumption。

　　译题三：伦敦奥运闭幕式唱响“英国之声”

　　参考译文:

　　London ends 2012 Olympic Games with a celebration of “British Music”

　　The 30th Olympic Games ended with British-centric music and live performance that combined to showcase “an affecting, fabulous⁸ and fun story”. Similar to the opening circumstance to have showed off the British national health system, the closing ceremony featured a show of sports and life that had brought together 380 school children from East London. David Arnold, music director of London Olympiad, depicted⁹ the finale as “a grand banquet” that followed “the wedding ceremony”.

　　After the flag-lowering ritual, the audience was entertained by the exhilarating “eight-minute” samba show by more than 200 Brazilian dancers from Rio de Janeiro, the hosting city of the 31st Olympic Games.

　　最后这篇材料的翻译涉及回译的技巧，因为一些话是直接引用，所以想尽量查找的原文，可惜这一次并没有成功，所以至少尽力推测原说话人可能的说话方式去翻译。标题中的“唱响”在不同的英语媒体报道中使用的词语不一样，celebration是Arnold本人的用词，也有媒体使用了bang这样的拟声词。为了使翻译更加形象化，“展现”、“展示”、“带来”这三个表示描写演出方式的词语，笔者分别选择了showcase和show off和feature来对译。为了增加词语的变化，译者分别使用了ceremony, circumstance, ritual这三个同义词来对译原文的一个词。这段文字jerry透明2的翻译总体上比较好，该网友的第一篇翻译也很好，可以算比较成熟的翻译。

　　除了用词的形象性外，最后还想谈一谈翻译的基本功问题。汉译英的难度要大于英译汉，如果没有很好的英语基本功，有时候连基本的正确性都难以保证，其他更高层次的翻译技巧学了再多也没有用处。翻译考试可以根据分数确定一个人的翻译水平，但实际应用中，翻译首先有一个是否合格的标准，语言问题是必须迈过的一道门槛，迈不过这道门槛的译者还需在语言基本功上多下功夫。除了扩大词汇量以外，英语语法方面的知识、英汉对比方面的知识、英美文化方面的知识、材料所涉及的背景知识都是译者必须学习和积累的。虽然现在有了网络，一些知识查找起来比较方便，但译者头脑中储存的知识才是最方便取用的。

 

1 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

2 flinch   

v.畏缩，退缩

参考例句：

• She won't flinch from speaking her mind.她不会讳言自己的想法。
• We will never flinch from difficulties.我们面对困难决不退缩。

3 freshmen   

n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We are freshmen and they are sophomores. 我们是一年级学生，他们是二年级学生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• University freshmen get lots of razzing, but they like the initiation. 大一新生受各种嘲弄，但是他们对这种入门经验甘之如饴。 来自辞典例句

4 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

5 monetarily   

adv.金融地

参考例句：

6 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

7 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

8 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

9 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。