2018年6月大学英语四级翻译练习：传统婚俗

请将下面这段话翻译成英文：

传统的中国婚礼流程从求婚开始，新郎会送一封书信至新娘家，请求迎娶他们家的女儿。多数情况下，新郎家会雇用一位专业媒人(matchmaker)沟通双方家庭。准新郎和准新娘的生辰八字(BaZi)也要进行比对，以确保根据中国传统占星学(astrology),这对夫妻不犯冲(compatible)。如今，中国大城市的婚礼跟西方很 相似。然而，在小地方，仍然遵循传统，婚礼流程也基本未变。

参考答案:

Traditional Chinese wedding process starts with a proposal for marriage and a 、letter is sent from the groom to the bride's family asking for permission to marry their daughter. In many cases，a professional matchmaker is employed by the i groom's family to communicate the families of both parties. The birthdates of the bride-to-be and groom-to-be are checked to make sure the couple is compatible according to traditional Chinese astrology. Today，wedding ceremonies in large cities of China closely resemble the western ones. In smaller places，however，some of the traditions are still kept and the wedding process remains largely unchanged.

翻译讲解：

1.传统的中国婚礼流程从求婚开始，新郎会送一封书信至新娘家，请求迎娶他们家的女儿：“从…开始”可译为start with;“请求”可译为asking for permission, permission的动词形式是permit，也可作名词，常用短语有：work permit (工作证）、residence permit (居留证）、entrance permit (入境证）。

2.多数情况下，新郎家会雇用一位专业媒人沟通双方家庭:“雇用”可译为 employ，其名词为employee (雇员）、employer (雇主)。

3.准新郎和准新娘的生辰八字也要进行比对，以确保根据中国传统占星学，这对夫妻不犯冲：“确保”可译为make sure; “不犯冲”这个词比较有中国特色， 可能在英文中不能直接找到对应的译法，在翻译前要首先对其含义进行转 化，“不犯冲”即“能共处，可相容”，可译为compatible (兼容的，能共处的）。

4.中国大城市的婚礼跟西方很相似：“相似”可译为resemble或be similar to。

5.然而，在小地方，仍然遵循传统，婚礼流程也基本未变：此句为汉语无主句， 故可译为被动句：In smaller places，however，some of the traditions are still kept and the wedding process remains largely unchanged.