2017年5月CATTI二级笔译英译中真题解析（下）

本文来自外刊文章Profiting From Friendship

Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, only half-jokingly, call it the URL strategy. The three letters usually stand for Uniform Resource Locator—the unique address of any file that is accessible via the internet. But in the world of internet start-ups, URL has another meaning: Ubiquity first, Revenue Later.

硅谷的企业家半开玩笑地称其为“URL策略”。这三个字母通常代表统一资源定位符，即能通过互联网访问的文件的唯一地址。但是对于互联网初创公司来说，URL还有另一个含义:先让社交网站无处不在，然后再考虑盈利。

点评：

近几年来汉英考试当中经常出现科普类内容，这种内容对于考生最大的影响是题材不熟悉，很容易一个字没看懂，整篇文章的理解就会发生偏差，很多考生由于答到第二篇时间紧张，来不及把全文整体看完，就匆匆下笔，最后导致失分，因此我们仍然应该注意，在下笔翻译之前至少应该完成第一段的完整阅读，给全文定一个良好的调子。

URL strategy, start-ups:这两个概念是首段的文眼，必须准确把握他的意思，才能够了解整篇文章是有关于互联网创业的内容，这样翻译起来无论是在术语上还是在口吻上就都有了把握。

URL has another meaning: Ubiquity first, Revenue Later.这个地方在翻译的时候也要注意，首先要知道url代表了一个新的意思，但同时又要非常清楚的了解，当中无法进行每一个单词的对应，因此只要翻出大一就可以了.这里比较难译的是那个，Ubiquity  later.像这类的词汇在英语当中可以非常简略，但是在汉语当中就必须要把它所有的内容都补齐，

This pretty much describes the strategy of most big online social networks, which over the past few years have concentrated on piling on users rather than worrying about profits. That has allowed them to build huge followings, but it has also raised a big question-mark over their ability to make money from the audiences they have put together.

这在很大程度上描述了大多数大型线上社交网络的战略，在过去的几年里，这些社交网络集中精力积累用户，而不是担忧如何盈利。这使得他们建立庞大的用户群，也让人质疑他们是否有能力从用户群中赚钱。

点评:

这个段落理解的难度并不大，难在表达上，首先，原文对于用户这个概念的表达非常丰富，使用了users，following和the audiences这些都是英语求雅替换的比较常见的表现，我们在翻译的时候完全不必考虑是否每一个都需要换词。

raised a big question-mark：这个用法在英语当中是一个形象的说法，在汉语中我们只需要翻出他的意思，也就是质疑，而至于其中的那个big，完全可以考虑翻成一个程度副词，“非常”就可以了。不要为了所谓忠实于原文，机械的将它翻成“画一个大问号”，这种译法不符合原文的文体。

And the issue is whether the social-networking industry can come up with a wildly successful form of advertising in the same way that Google has been able to make billions of dollars from the targeted ads that run alongside the search results it serves up.

现在的问题是，社交网络行业能否想出一种非常成功的广告形式，就像谷歌那样，通过在提供的搜索结果中有针对性地投放广告赚到数十亿美元一样。

点评：

而这个句子的难点在于整个句子比较长，一共五行，我们在翻译的时候需要，有意识的加一些标点，把句子断开。这个句子的核心部分是一个比较级，比较急的后边又带了一个定语从句，因此我们在处理的时候，把第一个逗号段在广告形式，第二个逗号段在谷歌那样，将定语从句中“run alongside”简单整合为投放一词，并且把targeted因此由形容词变成副词，这样这个句子的节奏感就比较好了。

Without such a formula, runs the argument, social networks such as Facebook will never amount to much. Doubters claim that the networks face two big handicaps. The first is that people logged into social-networking sites are there to hang out with their friends, so they will pay no attention to ads. The second is that because the sites let users generate their own content, they will find it hard to attract advertisers because brands will not want to take the risk of appearing alongside examples of profanity, obscenity or nudity—or all three at once.

有人认为，如果没有这样的模式，那么Facebook等社交网络将永远不会有多大的价值。持怀疑态度的人声称，这些网络面临着两个巨大的障碍。第一，人们登录社交网站是为了同朋友交流,所以他们不会关注广告。第二,因为网站允许用户自行创造内容,因此很难吸引广告商，因为品牌商们不愿意承担广告出现在污言秽语、色情内容和裸体等内容旁边的风险。

点评：

runs the argument，就是有人论证说的意思。

amount to much直译为赚到多少钱，转译为没有多大价值，to hang out这个词的本意是一起出去玩儿，由于是在网络上，不能面对面，因此就翻译成交流。

or all three at once：这个上下文比较清楚，所以可以省略。

The broader outlook for networking sites is more encouraging. One reason is that advertisers are being drawn to the leading sites by their sheer scale. Facebook's audience is bigger than any TV network that has ever existed on the face of the earth. Another thing that has attracted companies is the networks' ability to target ads with laser-like precision, thanks to the data they hold on their users' ages, gender, interests and so forth. Although there are still lingering concerns about brands appearing next to racy content, firms seem more willing to run this risk now that the networks' advertising proposition has become more compelling.

社交网站更长远的前景更令人鼓舞。其中一个原因是，广告商正被领头网站的巨大规模吸引。Facebook的受众比世界上任何电视网络都要多。另一件吸引公司的事情是，网站掌握用户的年龄、性别、兴趣等数据，能够精准地投放广告。尽管人们仍然担心品牌会出现在不雅的内容旁边，但公司现在似乎更愿意冒这个风险，因为网络的广告主题已经变得越来越露骨了。

点评：

laser-like precision此处的比喻不用翻译，直接翻译为极其精准的就可以了。

compelling.根据上下文翻译得更深入一些。

In addition to advertising-driven business model, networks are already making healthy profits from sales of games and virtual goods. The beauty of this business for social networks is that the cost of producing and storing virtual inventory is minimal. Moreover, because these are closed markets, networks can fix prices at levels that generate fat margins. To some, the notion that big money can be made from selling make-believe items may seem bizarre. But the practice replicates the physical presents that people give to one another to cement relationships in the real world.

除了广告驱动的商业模式之外，网络已经从游戏和虚拟商品的销售中获得了可观的利润。对于社交网络来说，这一模式的魅力在于生产和存储虚拟商品的成本几乎为零的。此外，由于是封闭市场，网站可以将价格定在能产生丰厚利润的水平上。对一些人来说，通过出售虚拟物品赚大钱的想法可能显得有些怪异，但是，这种作法仅仅是照搬了人们为了巩固在现实世界的关系赠予有形礼物的行为。

点评：

The beauty of：这个可以具体的翻译为魅力在于，或者好处在于minimal这个词直译是最小的，但在这里我们应该把它翻译成近乎为零。

But the practice replicates the physical presents that people give to one another to cement relationships in the real world.

这个句子翻译的时候要注意搭配，因为主语是做法，到宾语的时候也应该是行为。