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《围城》英译选句 - “逢场作戏”

2011-02-23来源:sally
原文:“方先生人聪明,一切逢场作戏,可是我们这种笨蛋,把你开的玩笑都得认真——”唐小姐听方鸿渐嗓子哽了,心软下来,可是她这时候愈是心疼,愈心恨,愈要责罚他个痛快——(钱钟书 - 围城 )

翻译关键词:逢场作戏,哽(咽),愈……愈……

译文:“You're an intelligent person. You have a little fun now and then, but dunces like us take all your jokes seriously.” When Miss T'ang heard Fang Hung-chien choke back a sob, her heart softened. But at that moment the greater the pity she felt in her heart, the more resentful she became and the more she felt like really attacking him. (美 Jeanne Kelly, Nathan K.Mao <译> –Fortress Besieged)

翻译笔记:
逢场作戏

印象最深刻的是在课堂上,每当遇到成语或俗语的时候,老师通常不会立即翻译,而是先问我们:“这是什么意思?”你还别说,我们通常被问倒一大片。这些个词平日里常用,但要确实的解释,就突然不知如何开口了。而我们要实现的译文也不是一个字一个字的译出来,理解才是最重要的,只有在充分理解原文的基础上,才能译出精彩的译文。所以我们先来理解“逢场作戏”的中文释义:原指卖艺人遇到合适的演出场地,就开场表演。后用作随俗应酬,凑热闹的意思。于是就有了译文中的a little fun now and then。成语或四字结构短语的汉译英其实也是口笔译很常考的内容,遇上此类情况,我们不必拘泥于原文,只要用英文中的形容词、名词或一些特殊结构处理即可。再来看看“逢场作戏”的其他常用译法:join in the fun on occasion; act according to circumstances(又“随机应变”); take part in merely accidental amusement等,又如:

他抽烟只是逢场作戏。
He smokes occasionally, and just for fun.

咱们搞这一行的只不过是逢场作戏嘛。
We of this trade know too well that we are only playing a game.

哽(咽)

“哽”亦有两层含义,1. 声气阻塞:哽咽;哽塞。2. 食物阻塞在喉不能下咽:哽阻;哽噎。这两种表达方法均可以用choke来表达。如:

他心里一酸,喉咙哽得说不出话来。
He felt a pang of sadness, and got so choked up he couldn’t speak.

吃饭哽着了  be choked by food

词组choke sth. back或choke back sth.则指“强忍住(愤怒、悲伤等)不让自己表现出来”。如:

He choked back tears as he described what had happened.
She choked back a sob.
I choked back my anger.
注意:a sob是“一个呜咽的动作”或“一声呜咽”,a sobbing是“一阵呜咽”。

愈……愈……

这次我们借原文的“愈是心疼,愈心恨,愈要责罚他个痛快”来说说the做关系副词(“到某个程度地”)和指示副词(“到那个程度地”)的用法。我们先看译文:the greater the pity she felt in her heart, the more resentful she became and the more she felt like really attacking him。

下面几点该注意:
(1)    一般说来,句子里有了关系副词the (greater),必须也有指示副词the (more)。
(2)通常关系副词the在前,指示副词the在后。偶尔指示副词the在前,关系副词the在后,如:
She sang the worse, the more she practiced.
她练习得越多,唱得越不好。
(3)关系副词the用在从句的开首,不可用在从句的主语的后面,如上面这句话不可说成:
She sang the worse, she practiced the more.

在看以下几个例句巩固记忆吧:

The sooner the better.
愈早愈好。
The more learned a man is, the more modest he is (或is he).
一个人学问越好,越是谦虚。
The more he tried to sleep, the more he could not.
他越想要睡着,越睡不着。