和谐英语

您现在的位置是:首页 > 英语翻译 > 英语笔译资料

正文

《围城》英译选句 - 大哲学家从来没娶过好太太

2011-02-18来源:sally
原文:辛楣道:“大家干一杯,预敬我们大哲学家未来的好太太。方先生半杯也喝半杯。”——辛楣不知道大哲学家从来没娶过好太太,苏格拉底的太太就是泼妇,褚慎明的好朋友罗素也离了好几次婚。(钱钟书 - 围城 )

翻译关键词:干一杯,unware的用法,crawl与creep,好几次

译文:Hsin-mei said, “Everyone drink a toast in advance to the good wife of our great philosopher. Mr. Fang, you drink too, even if only half a glass.” Hesin-mei was unaware that great philosophers have never had good wives. Socrates' wife was a shrew and poured dirty water on her husband's head. Aristotle's mistress rode on him like a horse, telling him to crawl on the floor naked, and even making him taste the whip. Marcus Aurelius' wife was an adulteress, and even Ch'u Shen-ming's pal Bertrand Russell had been divorced several times.  (美 Jeanne Kelly, Nathan K.Mao <译> –Fortress Besieged)

翻译笔记:
干一杯

我们常用的“干一杯”的表达有drink a toast和cheers。赵辛楣说这句“大家干一杯”,我们也可以说:So everyone, cheers! 那么,“为……干杯”我们通常说:To good health!(“为健康干杯!”)A toast to the friendship! (“为友谊干杯!”)
我们需要注意的一点是,toast单独用来指“烤面包片”时,是一个统称。我们不说a toast来表达“一片烤面包”,也不说toasts表示“多片烤面包”,而是说a slice of toast和slices of toast。

unaware的用法

与aware一样,unaware后面接of或以that引导的从句,如:
He is aware of our presence. / He is aware that we are here.
又如:He was unaware of her presence. / He was unaware that she was present.

crawl与creep

中间关于Socrates,Aristotle和Marcus Aurelius的事例是译者为了让读者更好理解而插入的添加成份,用来加强“大哲学家从来没娶过好太太”这句话的例证。我们要做的并非深究其真实性,然而,Aristotle的太太让其光着身子在地上爬这个crawl其实是含有贬义成分的。我们来比较一下crawl与creep就知道了。
crawl多指蛇,虫类等身体沿地面或其他表面的动作,很少用来形容人。如:
There is an insect crawling up your back.
有一条虫子正在你的背上往上爬。
creep多指四肢爬行的哺乳动物或人等偷偷摸摸、无声缓慢的前行动作。如:
They arrived late and crept into the classroom.
他们迟到了,便悄悄地溜进教室。

好几次

“好几次”这个词的感情色彩应该是“多”,试比较下面两句:
I bought several books this morning.
我今天早上买了好几本书[不止一两本]。
I bought some books this morning.
我今天早上买了几本书[不多]。