英语世界翻译大赛原文教学内容

第九届“郑州大学—《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛英译汉原文

The Whoomper Factor

By Nathan Cobb

【1】As this is being written, snow is falling in the streets of Boston in what weather forecasters like to call “record amounts.” I would guess by looking out the window that we are only a few hours from that magic moment of paralysis, as in Storm Paralyzes Hub. Perhaps we are even due for an Entire Region Engulfed or a Northeast Blanketed, but I will happily settle for mere local disablement. And the more the merrier.

【1】写这个的时候，波士顿的街道正下着雪，天气预报员将称其为“创纪录的量”。从窗外望去，我猜想，过不了几个小时，神奇的瘫痪时刻就要来临，就像《风暴瘫痪中心》里的一样。也许我们甚至能够见识到《吞没整个区域》或者《茫茫东北》里的场景，然而仅仅部分地区的瘫痪也能使我满足。当然越多越使人开心。

【2】Some people call them blizzards, others nor’easters. My own term is whoompers, and I freely admit looking forward to them as does a baseball fan to April. Usually I am disappointed, however; because tonight’s storm warnings too often turn into tomorrow’s light flurries.

【2】有些人称它们为暴风雪，其他人称其为东北风暴。我自己则有一个叫法：呐喊者。我大方地承认道我期待着它们的到来，正如一位篮球迷盼望着四月份的来临。然而通常情况下，我会大失所望，因为今天发布了风暴警报，明天往往只飘起小雪。

【3】Well, flurries be damned. I want the real thing, complete with Volkswagens turned into drifts along Commonwealth Avenue and the MBTA’s third rail frozen like a hunk of raw meat. A storm does not even begin to qualify as a whoomper unless Logan Airport is shut down for a minimum of six hours.

【3】好吧，小雪令人厌恶。我想要实实在在的东西，包括大众汽车成了联邦大道的漂浮物，波士顿市运输局的第三条轨道像一大块生肉一样被冻住了。除非洛根机场至少关闭六个小时，否则这一场风暴根本配不上称作呐喊者。

【4】The point is, whoompers teach us a lesson. Or rather several lessons. For one thing, here are all these city folks who pride themselves on their instinct for survival, and suddenly they cannot bear to venture into the streets because they are afraid of being swallowed up. Virtual prisoners in their own houses is what they are. In northern New England, the natives view nights such as this with casual indifference, but let a whoomper hit Boston and the locals are not only knee deep in snow but also in befuddlement and disarray.

【4】关键是，呐喊者们给了我们一个教训。或者几个教训。一方面，所有的城里人为他们的生存本能感到自豪，霎时间，他们不能忍受街道上的风险因为害怕被吞没。他们就好像是自己房子里的囚犯。在新英格兰的北部，当地人对这样的夜晚习以为常，但是让一位呐喊者袭击波士顿，居民不仅深陷雪中而且陷入困境和混乱。

【5】The lesson? That there is something more powerful out there than the sacred metropolis. It is not unlike the message we can read into the debacle of the windows falling out of the John Hancock Tower; just when we thin k we’ve got the upper hand on the elements, we find out we are flies and someone else is holding the swatter. Whoompers keep us in our place.

【5】教训？那里有比神圣的大都市更强大的东西。这与我们可以从约翰•汉考克大厦掉落下来的崩溃信息没什么不同；正当我们自认为凌驾于风雨之上时，才发现我们只是沧海一粟，另有高人将我们玩弄于股掌之间。呐喊者们将我们困在原地。

【6】They also slow us down, which is not a bad thing for urbania these days. Frank ly, I’m of the opinion Logan should be closed periodically, snow or not, in tribute to the lurking suspicion that it may not be all that necessary for a man to travel at a speed of 600 miles per hour. In a little while I shall go forth into the streets and I know what I will find. People will actually be walking, and the avenues will be bereft of cars. It will be something like those marvelous photographs of Back Bay during the nineteenth century, wherein the lack of clutter and traffic makes it seem as if someone has selectively airbrushed the scene.

【6】他们也使我们放慢了速度，如今对于乌尔巴尼亚来说不是一件坏事。坦率地讲，为了向潜在的怀疑致敬，即可能不是每个人都必须以每小时600英里的速度行走，我认为不管下不下雪，洛根应该定期关门。我应该去街道上走上一小会儿就能知道自己寻找什么。实际上人们将要行走，大道上没有车子。如同19世纪巴克湾那些