第五讲 翻译难点 语篇把握

英汉段落对比与翻译 I 汉语思维与成段方式. 前面我们讲过,汉语的思维是 “以人为本”,以 “阴阳辨证”为特点的”偶序思维”模式

作出结论,说明看法.例如: (1)我从乡下跑到京城里，一转眼已经六年了。其间耳闻目睹的所谓国家大事，算起来也很不少；但在我心里，却不留什么痕迹，倘要我寻出这些事的影响来，便是增长了我的坏脾气，——老实说，便是叫我一天比一天看不起人。… （鲁迅 《一件小事》） 在这篇文章的第一段，鲁迅先生以极其简洁深刻的文字作为“引子”叙述了事情发

生的背景，却只字没提那件小事。只是在后面的段落里，叙述了小事的经过，最后言简意赅地说明了小事的重大意义。这正是典型的中国逻辑思维和表达方式 生的背景，却只字没提那件小事。只是在后面的段落里，叙述了小事的经过，最后言简意赅地说明了小事的重大意义。这正是典型的中国逻辑思维和表达方式.又如, (2) 平生最喜欢游山逛水.这几年来,很改了不少闲情雅致,只在这山水上头,却还依旧.那五百里滇池粼粼的水波,那兴安岭上起伏不断的绿沉沉的林海,那开满了各色无名花儿的呼伦贝儿草原……一到这些名山大川异地圣景,总有一种奇异的力量震荡着我,几乎忍不住要呼喊起来: 这是我的伟大的亲爱的祖国---.”

在这一段中,作者先用自己喜爱的旅游作为引子,接着列举了到过的名山大川和草原湖泊,最后自然地总结出祖国的大好河山激发了她的强烈爱国热情,叙述得入情入理,完全是中国人的思维模式. II 西方思维与成段方式 西方人,尤其是说英语民族的思维方式是逻辑的,分析的和推理的.这种思维活动在努力形成一个一致的和可以检验的世界框架,并将人的思维强加于自然和社会.具体的说,英美人的思维模式是”线形思维”,往往采用直线推进的方式.

.这从某种程度上反映了其宇宙观的机械性.上帝造人，人造房子，房子什么也不造，就是这种思维模式的一种表现。该模式使得西方人交流时表露较直接。在语言谋篇方式上则体现为：首先亮明观点或看法，点明主题，然后再依次说明背景、条件、原因等。这与中国人的“螺旋思维”相隔千里。例如：

（13）It’s a miracle that New York works well at all （13）It’s a miracle that New York works well at all. The whole things is implausible. Every time the residents brush their teeth, millions of gallons of water must be drawn from the Catshills and hills of Westchester. When a young man in Manhattan writes a letter to his girl in Brooklyn, the love message blown to her through a pneumatic tube-puff-just like that… ( E.B. White The Miracle of New York)

这段话以“纽约能正常运转完全是一个奇迹”作为主题句，然后列举事实说明大城市所面临的困难都被令人置性的解决了，从而证明了奇迹的存在。整个语篇前分后总，自然推进，是典型的英语思维。 III 思维方式在翻译过程中的转换 从上文可以看出,对类似事物的描述,中文和英文的思维方式有时截然不同,因此段落结构和安排也不大一样.在翻译中,我们对这种情况如何处理呢?------思维转换!!!!

(3) Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than man, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. 误译:亚里斯多德本来可以通过其夫人张开嘴巴让他数一数的简单方法,就能避免认为女人的牙齿比男人的少的这一错误. 改译:亚里斯多德认为,女人的牙齿比男人少.其实办法很简单,只要请自己的夫人张开嘴巴数一数,就可以避免犯这样的错误.

(4) …and I was again crushed by the thought that I now stood on the site of the first atomic bombardment, where thousands upon thousands of people had been slain in one second, where thousands upon thousands of others had lingered on to die in slow agony. 译文:此时此刻我就站在第一颗原子弹爆炸的地方.就是在这里,曾经有成千上万的人在原子弹爆炸的一刹那惨遭杀害。另外还有成千上万的人在长期痛苦的折磨中慢慢死去。我一想到这些，心里又感到惶惶不知所措.

(5) 不敢冒点风险,办什么事情都有百分之百的把握,万无一失,谁敢说这样的话 (5) 不敢冒点风险,办什么事情都有百分之百的把握,万无一失,谁敢说这样的话? 译文: who dares to claim that he is 100 percent sure of success right from the outset and without taking any risks? (6) 几千年来,遂形成了老者自以为持重练达而菲薄年少为少不更事;而少年自以为新锐精进,而凌轹老者为老朽昏庸,此真所谓偏颇两失之见也.

译文(a) For thousands of years it has been assumed that the aged, thinking themselves experienced and more skillful, look down upon the young for their greenness in worldly affairs, while the young, thinking themselves fresh in life and more energetic, call the aged old fogies. Either of these views, of course, is far from being impartial.

译文(b): It is, of course, far from being impartial to assume, as it has been for thousands of years, that the aged, thinking themselves experienced and more skillful, look down upon the young for their greenness in the worldly affairs, while the young, thinking themselves fresh in life and more energetic, call the aged old fogies.

Cautious:当在翻译较长的段落时,只能按原来的思路翻译,这是因为一来没有必要,二来不可能 Cautious:当在翻译较长的段落时,只能按原来的思路翻译,这是因为一来没有必要,二来不可能.如果段落太长,将原文的思维转换成译语的思维,反使译文失去了原有的韵味,成为重新创造. 练习 (1)Sydney serves as a gate to adventure in the world’s most adventurous and mysterious land, the home to strange creatures such as the koala, kangaroo, emu, wombat wombat and platypus.

译文:澳大利亚是世界上最神奇的土地,它是考拉熊,袋鼠,鸸鹋,袋熊,鸭嘴兽等珍稀动物的故乡,而悉尼正是通向这座探险乐园的大门 译文:澳大利亚是世界上最神奇的土地,它是考拉熊,袋鼠,鸸鹋,袋熊,鸭嘴兽等珍稀动物的故乡,而悉尼正是通向这座探险乐园的大门. (2) I think it enough that my parents, such as they were, never cost me a pang, and their son, such as he is, never cost them a tear. 译文:我的父母，虽然碌碌一生，从未贻我半点愧疚；而他们的儿子，虽然无多作 为，也从未惹老人一次眼泪。仅此一点，即堪自慰。

(3) 我想,还不发达的国家的人民挤身于先进的大国之中可以学习可以进取,但鄙视祖国鄙视自己,以求存身混迹于异国社会,其本身就包含着难以倾诉的悲剧性…… 译文: I consider it a real tragedy beyond redemption that those from the developing countries who are now trying to rank among those of the developed ones despise their own motherland and themselves so as to worm their way into the society of a foreign country, instead of learning and making progress.