英汉翻译入门chapter 1

翻译理论与实践

1. Definition of Translation (P1-3)

英国The Oxford English Dictionary: to turn from one language into another

美国Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language: to turn into one’s own or another language

《辞海》、《汉语大词典》：把一种语言文字的意义用另一种语言文字表达出来。

翻译是将一种语言文化承载的意义转换到另一种语言文化中的跨语言、跨文化的交际活动。

? Nothing should be added to or taken from the original work.

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The duty of the translator is simply to change the vocabulary, not the thought. In translation therefore, there are two essential elements: accuracy and expressiveness.

? 从以上的翻译定义来看，我们知道??不可有所增删。译者的任务只是变换词汇而不是改变其意思。因此翻译有两个要素：准确性与表达性（忠实与通顺）。 ? 综合各家之长:

翻译是把一种语言表达的意义用另一种语言传达出来，以达到沟通思想情感、传播文化知识、促进社会文明，特别是推动译语文化兴旺昌盛的目的。

Three key words from the definitions

? 1. Textual (What we usually translate are texts rather than independent words or sentences.)

Eg. 警幻道：“此茶出在放春山遣香洞，又以仙花灵叶上所带之宿露而烹，此茶名曰?千红一窟?。” (第五回)

Thousand Red Flowers in One Cavern(直译) Maiden’s Tears（意译）

? 2. Natural (it is not enough to produce grammatically correct sentencs but idiomatic, natural sentecnces.)

Eg. 1. When things happen that you don’t like, you have two choices: You get bitter or better.

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发生你不喜欢的事情时，你有两种选择：要么痛苦不堪，要么痛快达观。

2. …until absolutely necessary.

直到绝对必须之时→非到万不得已… 3. essential information for travellers 供给旅客重要的信息→旅客须知

4. A managing director has a lonely job. He needs a sparring partner.

一个总经理有一份孤独的工作。他需要一个拳击练习的对手。 →当了总经理做起事来就形单影只，也要有个时时和他交手的人。 5. I will teach him to deceive others.

（I will punish him so that he will not deceive others.） 我要教训他一顿，看他还敢不敢再欺骗人。

6. “Ellen, shut the window. I’m starving!” and her teeth chattered as she shrunk closer to the almost extinguished embers.

“爱伦，把窗子关上，我快冻死了，”她的牙齿在打颤，一面蜷缩身子，向快要熄灭的火炉靠拢。 ? 3. flavor (style)

Eg. “You may run, but you can never hide.” 1)你可以逃亡，但你永远无法把自己藏起来。

简评：直译；词义翻译。译文有感情色彩，且有一定的力量。适用于Bush的文本和中国受众，也适用于同传和交传。

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2)你可以四处逃窜/到处逃亡，但你永远无处藏身。

简评：直译，词义翻译。译文有感情色彩，用了四字结构、注意修辞（见下划线），显得更有力量、韵味。适用于Bush的文本和中国的受众，也适用于同传和交传。

3)不管你怎么逃，（怎么躲，）但是天网恢恢，疏而不漏。

简评：意译；交际翻译（有点创造性）。译文有庄严感、正义感，有权威性、严肃性，创造性使用中国俗语（见划线部分），适合在正式场合和非正式场合使用，修辞效果甚佳。虽然原文在字面上并非如此，但译文到位、寓意深刻，如果美国是代表正义的，那就是佳译，甚至在诸方面都“超越”了原文。 Some types of translation (P3)

1. Interpretation（口译）： Consecutive

interpretation

连续传译/即席翻译

Simultaneous interpretation 同声传译

2. Written（笔译）: “general translation” and “gloss translation”(释词翻译

3. Machine translation

2. Criteria of translation

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“ Five Don?ts”（五不译）; i. e.: Don?t translate：

what is mysterious; （秘密故）

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what is multi-semantic; （多义故）

what is too alien to be reproduced;（此无故） what is hereditary; （顺古故） what is philanthropic. （生善故）

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<<

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? “译”事三难：信、达、雅。求其信，已大难矣。顾信矣不达，

虽译犹不译也，则达尚焉。……译文取明深意，故词句之间，时有所颠倒附益，不斤斤于字比句次，而意义则不倍本文。……至原文词理本深，难于共喻，则当前思后衬，以显其意。凡此经营，皆以为达：为达，即以为信也。《易》曰：“修辞立诚”。子曰“辞达而已！”又曰：“言之无文，行之不远”。三者乃文章正轨，亦即为译事楷模。故信达而外，求其尔雅。

――严复（1854－1921，《天演论·译例言》） ? 译者不但要求达意，并且要以传神为目的，译文必须忠实于原文之字神句气与言外之意。

――林语堂 ? 傅雷：神似（similarity in spirit）

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以效果而论，翻译应像临画一样，所求的不在形似，而是神似。 “ So far as the effectiveness is concerned, translation is done just in the same way as the copying of a painting. What really counts is being alike not in appearance but in spirit.”

江 雪（柳宗元）

千山鸟飞绝，万径人踪灭。 孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪。 许渊冲先生译:

Fishing in Snow From hill to hill no bird in flight, From path to path no man in sight.

所有商人都应该有全球观念。

3. What other people think of you is none of your business. 别人怎么看你，不关你的事。 4. Some men think big and some think little. 有些人雄心壮志；有些人却胸无大志。 5. She tried hard to think away her tears.

她尽力让自己想别的事情，免得掉眼泪。

6. Others would surely think better of them if they can make it to the finals.

如果他们能打入决赛，别人一定会对他们另眼相待。 It was a splendid population--- for all the slow, sleepy,

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sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home.

（出来的）这批人个个出类拔萃——因为凡是呆板、呆滞、呆头呆脑的呆子都呆在了家里。

As a youngster I was effervescent, outgoing, and I talked too much. I had a talent for saying the wrong things at the wrong time. I tortured myself because of the foolish things I had said.

我年轻的时候，活力四射，乐于助人，非常健谈，而且还有在错误的场合发表错误言论的才能。言既出口，内心又懊恼不已。

4. Literal and Liberal Translation

Literal translation(直译): also called word-for-word translation, is ideally the segmentation of the SLT into individual words and TL

rendering of those word-segments one at a time.

? Professor Liu Zhongde(1994:172) defines literal translation as follows: “In the process of translation, literal translation treats sentences as basic units and at the same time takes the whole passage into consideration; a translator who attaches great importance to literal translation does his or her best to reproduce the ideas and writing style of the original work, retaining in the version as many rhetorical devices and sentence structures of the original as possible.” Eg:

1. He is said to be a rough diamond.

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人们说他是一块浑金璞玉。

2. Marriage, with peace, is this world’s paradise; with strife, this life’s purgatory.

和睦的婚姻，是这个世界的乐园；对抗的婚姻，是这个人生的炼狱。 ? You flatter me.

A. 你吹捧我/你抬举我/你拍我马屁。

B. （你）过奖了。哪里，哪里！/岂敢，岂敢！ C. 我可没有那么大的能耐。

（It is an indirect way of refusal or denial.）

? 大哥比我大21岁，经常开玩笑说他养得出我。

A. My brother was 21 years older than I, and he often joked

that he could have fathered me.

B. ? could have fathered a child of my age. ? 面对敌人的刺刀，他面不改色心不跳。

A. The color of his face does not change and his heart does not beat.

B. He doesn’t show the slightest panic/ fear and his heart does not even beat any faster.

Free/Liberal translation(意译): also known as sense-for-sense translation, emphasizes transfer of the meaning or “spirit” of a SL(ST) over accurate reproduction of the original wording. ? Professor

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Liu Zhongde: Liberal translation is

supplementary to literal translation. Liberal translation is employed for the purpose of expressing the original meaning instead of reproducing the original sentence structure or rhetorical device(s). Only when the literal translation approach is not suitable, can the translator resort to the free translation approach.

Eg:

1. Do you see any green in my eye? 你以为我是幼稚好欺骗的吗？

2. If you are unfair to me, I will certainly hang out all your dirty linen.

你要是待我不公平，我就把你那些丑事抖露出去。

3. It is not just Britain’s breathing in which makes it so international, but also its breathing out. 英国之所以成为如此国际化的国家，不仅仅在于她大量地吸纳国外的人力和物力资源，而且还在于她大量地向国外输出其人力和物力资源。

4. Don’t cross the bridge till you get to it. 不要自寻烦恼。（不要过早担忧。） 5．You can spread your wings with Open Studies. 开放型大学让你展翅飞翔。 6. 第一流产品，为足下增光。

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This first-rate shoe polish adds luster to your shoes and honor to you, our friends.

5. Some Translation Theories in the West (P18-22)

英语翻译专栏，全面了解各种翻译资格证考试 ? http://www.docin.com/t-279246.html http://www.docin.com/p-327736917.html

6. Translatability (P22-27)

警幻道：“此酒乃以百花之蕊，万木之汁，加以麟髓之醅，凤乳之麯酿成，因名为?万艳同杯?。”宝玉称赏不迭。(第五回) Ten Thousand Beauties in One Cup Lachrymae Rerum

7. Basic Differences Between English and Chinese (P29-34)

? English: complete structure,

containing subjects and predicates, which must be verbs,

agreement between the S& the P synthetic language a language of “rule of law” ? Chinese: loose/ imcomplete structure

no subject, gender, number, case, tense, aspect,

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voice, mood or morphological changes analytical language

“flowing water” , a language of “rule of man” English vs Chinese grape-vine structure bamboo～ architectural style chronical～ a string of pearls a tray of pearls

“英语句子好比一棵参天大树，一串葡萄，一串珍珠，一树荔枝。而汉语句子好比一根杆子，一盘珠子，一江波涛。” ——陈安定

英、汉语言的十二大差异

1. 中国人重直觉与具象 西方人重理性与逻辑

? 中国人重直觉（intuition）、重形象思维(figurative thinking); 英美人重实证(evidence）、重逻辑思维(logical thinking) 1）中国人的形象思维体现在用具体形象的词语比喻抽象的事物，以物表感、状物言志。如：明枪易躲，暗箭难防（It is easy to dodge a spear thrust in the open, but difficult to guard against an arrow shot from hiding）、脚踩两只船（straddle two boats; have a foot in either camp）、脚踏实地（have a down-to-earth manner）、丢盔弃

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甲（throw away everything in headlong flight）蒙在鼓里（be kept in the dark）等。

2）汉语的量词数量多，文化内涵丰富、生动，也是形象化的体现。如：一面镜子（?）、一朵花（?）、一把椅子（?）、一张桌子（?）、一位客人（?）等。

2. 中国人重整体(integrity)， 西方人重个体(individuality)

1)汉语词义一般较笼统，英语词义一般较具体 2)汉语表意较模糊，英语表意较准确 二十岁的时候，老妈打电话，不等说完三句就恨不能挂了电话。三十岁之后，一听到妈的声音就禁不住哭出声来：“妈呀，您老的

所有担心现在都应验了……”

初译）At the age of twenty, when mother phones me, I am anxious to hang up immediately. After the age of thirty, on hearing mother’s voice on the phone, I cannot help crying out, “Mom, all that you worry about have come true.”

改译）At the age of twenty, while talking with my mother over the phone, I would hang up before my mother had hardly any utterance. After thirty the voice of Mom invariably triggers my weep and wail, “Mom, your worries about my marriage have all come true.”

3. 英语重形合(hypotaxis) 汉语重意合(Parataxis) 汉语属于意合性较强的一种语言，就是说汉语的语法主要是依靠意义，即内在的逻辑关系而组织起来的。和英语相比，句与句之间的界限经常是很模糊的。这主要是因为，汉字是一种表意文字，汉语自古以来就有重“神”、“意”的传统。句子之间常常靠内部的逻辑关系联系在一起，所谓“形散而神不散”。而英语则是一种形合性较强的语言，句子与句子之间往往依靠外在的各种语言形式结合在一起。英语里有表示转折、因果、目的、让步等各种关系连接词，也有引导主语从句、宾语从句、定语从句以及表语从句等的连接词，这就使得句与句之间内在的关系比较明确。因此，在汉英翻译中，我们首先要仔细分析原文内容，找出各个

17 句子间内在的逻辑关系，然后按照英语的表达习惯重新组织语言。

1）上梁不正下梁歪。

If the upper beam is not straight, the lower ones will go aslant. 2）跑得了和尚，跑不了庙。

The monk may run away, but never his temple. 3）留得青山在，不愁没柴烧。

As long as the green mountains are there, one should not worry about firewood.

4) An Englishman who could not speak Chinese was once traveling in China.

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一个英国人，不会说中国话，有一次在中国旅行。

5) 蛇吃癞蛤蟆，癞蛤蟆吃虫子，虫子吃绿叶。

The snake catches the toad that eats the insect that nibbles the green leaves.

4、英语前重心（中心在前） 汉语后重心（中心在后）

1. Tragedies can be written in literature since there is tragedy in life. 生活中既然有悲剧，文学作品就可以写悲剧。

2.我看见他戴着黑布小帽，穿着黑布大马褂，深青布棉袍，蹒跚地走到铁道边。I watched him hobble towards the railway track in his black skullcap, black cloth mandarin jacket and dark blue

cotton-padded cloth long gown.

3. 那么，莎士比亚看似永久的魅力究竟何在？列举以他的作品为基础而改编的现代作品，答案就开始显现了。

So, what is the secret of his seemingly timeless appeal? The answer starts to emerge from a roll call of modern works based on his works. 5. 英语静态语言； 汉语动态语言

英语静态特征在于句法和词汇两个方面，前者常使用非谓语或非限定动词以及省略动词；后者常使用动词名词化、动词的同源名词、动词的同源形容词、介词以及副词等。而汉语则青睐动词。

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1. I fell madly in love with her, and she with me. 我疯狂地爱上了她，她也疯狂地爱上了我。 2. Starvation was a remote threat. 人们一时还不会饿死。

3. He had entertained hopes of being admitted to a sight of the young ladies, of whose beauty he had heard much. (J. Austen) 几位年轻小姐的美貌他耳闻已久，一直希望得以一睹芳容。 4. You must be a very bad learner, or else you must be going to a very bad teacher.

你一定是很不会学，要不就是找了一个很不会教的人。

5. Without knowing how, Captain Dobbin found himself the great

promoter, arranger, and manager of the match between George Osborne and Amelia.

都宾上尉稀里糊涂地就开始拉拢说合，安排调摆，一手操办起乔治和爱米丽亚的这桩婚事。

6. She said this with a provocative glance and a gleam of teeth. 她说这话时挑衅地看了一眼，还把牙一呲。 6、英语重物称（inpersonal）

汉语重人称（personal ） 1. A wave of cigar smoke accompanied Tom in. 汤姆进门时，带来一缕雪茄烟雾。

2. The dates of his earliest plays are often unclear, but it seems

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certain that he began by tackling fairly simple themes.

人们常常弄不清他最早几部剧本的写作年月，但看来确定的是，他开始时只处理一些相当简单的主题。

3. Her ascent of the crooked staircase was a slower process, and her face, as it rose into the light above the last stair, encountered the gaze of all the party assembled in the room.

楼梯七弯八拐，她上楼梯时放慢了脚步。来到楼梯顶端，灯光照亮了她的脸，聚集在卧室里的那一群人一齐投来惊奇的目光。 7、英语多被动 (passive)

汉语多主动 (active)

1. It has been known for a long time that there is a first

relationship between the heart and the liver. 长期以来，大家知道心脏和肝脏的关系是最主要的。 2. 别人问她感受如何，她说：“呼吸困难。”

When asked how she felt, she said, “I have trouble breathing.” 8、英语多复合长句 汉语多简单短句

1. Illness brought her a strange restlessness and made her all the more eager to cling to life and squeeze from it the last drop of happiness. It made her envy health, but it also made her sentimental over a leaf that the wind had blown into her room. 这种病使她特别敏感不安，她越发急切于抓住人生不放，似

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乎是要把人生的甜蜜幸福挤到最后的一滴而后已。这病使她多么羡慕人家的健康，也使她多愁善感，见一叶飘零，随风入室，便愁绪满怀，无以自解。

2. 到南京时，有朋友约去游逛，勾留了一日；第二天上午便须渡江到浦口，下午上车北去。

I spent the first day in Nanjing strolling about with some friends at their invitation, and was ferrying across the Yangtse River to Pukou the next morning and thence taking a train for Beijing on the afternoon of the same day.

9、英语重后饰 汉语重前饰

It is a good plan to imagine an argument with a person having a different bias.

借助于想象与持不同偏见的人进行辩论，是一个很好的办法。 2. 是的，北平是个都城，而能有好多自己产生的花，菜，水果，这就使人更接近了自然。

The city of Peiping brings its residents into closer contact with nature by growing flowers, vegetables and fruit in large quantities. 10、英语重短语； 汉语轻短语

英语句法的基本主体是：短语或词组；汉语更偏重以单词为基本的句

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法成分。

1. You must stand up for your friend. 你得支持你的朋友。

2. Why is this long-dead dramatist who cranked out plays about dead kings, overwrought lovers and grasping moneylenders, held in such high regard?

为什么大家这么推崇这位去世已久的戏剧家，他推创的剧本写的是死去的国王、兴奋过度的情侣和贪婪的放债人？

3. To break the ice, he mentioned the POW (prisoner of war) band he’d started, with the help of the Red Cross.

为了打破沉默，他谈起他在红十字会的帮助下所创办的战俘乐队。

11、英语重时体；

汉语轻时体

1. I’m now living in a very pleasant flat.

我现在住在一间非常舒适的公寓里 2. My wife is always changing her clothes. 我夫人总是在更换服装。 12、英语重形态； 汉语轻形态

1. More recently he introduced himself into the debate on welfare reform by insisting that unmarried motherhood, not joblessness, was 23

the key problem.

最近，由于坚持认为是未婚母亲而不是失业才是问题症结所在，他使自己卷入关于福利改革的争论中去。 2012年专八真题汉译英真题：

泊珍到偏远小镇的育幼院把生在那里养到1岁的孩子接回来。但泊珍看他第一眼，仿似一声雷劈头而来。令她晕头胀脑，这1岁的孩子脸型长得如此熟悉，她心里的第一道声音是，不能带回去！ 痛苦纠聚心中，眉心发烫发热，胸口郁闷难展，胃里一股气冲喉而上，院长说这孩子发育迟缓时，她更是心头无绪，她在孩子所待的房里来回踱步，这房里还有其他小孩，整个房间只有一扇窗，窗外树影婆娑。就让孩子留下来吧，这里有善心的神父和修女，这里将

来会扩充为有医疗作用的看护中心，这是留住孩子最好的地方。这孩子是她的秘密，她将秘密留在这树林掩映的建筑里。 她将秘密留在心头。

Overwhelmed with grief, which made her suffocate as if her throat was stuck by a current of air bursting from her stomach, she felt it burning between the eyebrows. When the hospital President said the child suffered from growth retardation, she was at a loss what to do. She paced back and forth in the room where her child and some other children stay. It’s a one-window room out of which the shadows of trees were dancing. Just leave the child here. This was the best place for her child to live, because there were kind priests and nuns and it would be expanded and developed into a medical care center. The child was her secret which she kept in the building hidden in the woods.

Her heart full of pain, between eyebrows burning, chest stifled, a stream of gas surged from her stomach out of her throat. The dean remarked that the child grew laggardly, which made her even more worried and lost. She walked up and down in the house, which had only one window. 24 Beyond the window, the shadows of trees confused. There were also other children in the house. Just leave the child here. It had benevolent priests and sisters and would develop into a nursing center with medical function. This was the best place for this child, who was her secret and she would stash this secret into the building among thick forests。

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