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语篇翻译--Part I 课文学习--第十页
Text and Translation
 
    英语前后两 句的衔接主要有 and 表示推延和 that 表示回指。译成中文以“由此”这个因果连接词衔接当然更为恰当。还有末一小句(英语是定语分句),中文也以“使”字开头,标示它与上文的因果关系,显得更为顺畅自然。

    His greatness is attributed by his biographers and critics not alone to his profound medical knowledge and insight but to his broad general education, for he was a very cultured man.

    他的传记作家和评论者认为,他的伟大不仅在于医学造诣深,而且在于知识面广。他是一个很有文化素养的人。

    此例与前两例相反:英语有 for 这个典型的因果关系连接词,中译却将此隐含起来,但同样显得自然。若照译为因为,反而逻辑不通了。

    It was a day compounded from silences of bee and flower and ocean and land, which were not silences at all, but motions, stirs, flutters, risings, fallings, each in its own time and matchless rhythm.

    蜜蜂无言,春花不语,海波声歇,大地音寂,这日子是如此安静。然而,并非安静,因为万物以其特有的节奏或动,或摇,或震,或起或伏。

    在这段静与动的对比描写中,英语只用一个 but 转折,汉语却最好再加个“因为”,明示这动静对比,辩证转化的内在道理。

    宝玉听他没说完,便撑不住笑。因踢他道:“休胡说,有人听见笑话。”

    While he was still holding forth, Baoyu could not but burst out laughing. Now he kicked him over and swore: “Shut up, or people will laugh.”

    原汉语“因踢他道”的“因”字,只是略带因果关系之意,其实主要还是表示上文的动作的接续。所以英文正确合理地译作“ Now he kicked him over…” ,以“ Now ”表示这种持续关系,但又不失同样隐含着因果性。

    但是这痛快也是暂时的,等到他抛开书走出房间的时候,他又看见他所不愿意看到的一切了。他立刻感到寂寞,便又无聊地走回房间。

    But his joy was only momentary, for when he tossed the magazine aside and came out of his room, he was confronted with all the things he so disliked. Lonely and bored, he returned to his room.

    原文本来有个表示时间相继的等到起衔接作用 ---- 也隐含有说明原因关系。英语译为“ for ”,恰到好处地明示了这种因果关系,而且读来非常顺畅、地道。

(c) 转折关系

    我们这里所说的转折关系,除狭义的典型的“虽然 …… 但是 ……” 外,还包括让步、对比、转题、替换等,即具有相反、相异、比较之类语义关系上下文的连接。这当然也是事物本身的一种重要的逻辑联系,英汉语的表达描述大致相同,不同之处也主要是在用不用连接语,同时也还有个是否同样表现这种逻辑关系的问题 ---- 由于种种逻辑形式、范畴的互通和交迭,如上面所见的因果性与转折的互换。再如:

    The undersea world is well known as source of natural beauty and a stimulus to human fantasy. The importance of oceanography as a key to the understanding of our planet is seldom as well appreciated.

    海底世界是自然美的源泉和人类幻想的动力,这是大家所熟知的。而作为考察地球的钥匙的海洋学,其重要性人们就认识不足了。

    英语中前后句的衔接主要靠的是 seldom as well(“ 难得同样地 ”) (当然还有词汇语义同现: The undersea world--- oceanography 都是和 well known---- appreciated 语义相关),表面上像是并举关系,但实际上即是对比关系,所以译成汉语时用个“而”字明确表示这种关系,使汉语的前后句得到了很好的衔接与连贯。

    不光是大伙眼皮底下的事儿你赖不掉,就连你打算破坏训练班,偷偷饮病了枣红马,那也成不了无头案。

    You can't wriggle out of this. These are things everyone has seen. And if you think we're still in the dark about your making the sorrel ill and your trying to break up the training class, well, you're mistaken.

    原文的主干结构是“不光是 …… 就连 …… 那也 ……”, 这样的逻辑联接语构成的是一种递进 - 让步关系。英译者对此作了灵活的、地道的英语处理,即将整个意思分为两层。第一层有两个独立的句子,他们主要靠 this 的下指作用和 can't wriggle out 与 has been 的语用联系连接,其中隐含的是因果关系。第二层先用 And 与前一层作并举的逻辑连接,其次主要用 if 和 well 表现条件性的因果推论。因此,几乎完全改变了原文的那种递进 - 让步关系。之所以能够既忠实原文又作如此灵活处理,关键是条件性因果关系与让步关系其实是往往相互重合的。

    This institution, which was a direct blow at the old gentile constitution, was unknown in Athens until the time of Solon; in Rome it was introduced very early, but we do not know when.

    这种同古代氏族制度直接冲突的制度,在雅典直到梭伦时代之前还没有过;在罗马,它很早就有了。究竟什么时候,我们不知道。

    英语中有个 but 明示轻微的转折关系。所以汉译完全可以不必照搬,而是改换成用“究竟什么时候”(照应前文的“很早”),这样的指称性的语义同现的衔接,虽然转折关系隐藏了,译文却更佳了。
 
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