翻译实训十二

翻译实训十二第二节句群的翻译通过以上各讲的学习，我们对英汉语言在句子层次上的差异已经有了一个比较明晰的认识。

但是真正的翻译实践的基本着眼点却不应该是句子，而应该是语篇。

所谓语篇，指的是按照一定交际目的结合在一起的若干句子或者句群。

为了讲述的方便，我们把包含一个以上句子的句群作为语篇翻译的对象。

句群也叫语段，是在语义上有逻辑关系、在语法上有紧密联系、在结构上衔接连贯的一群句子的组合。

由于在这个层次内各句子之间有以上紧密的关系，所以割裂地翻译单个句子而不考虑句群将可能导致行文不畅甚至错误的翻译。

5．2．1 句群的理解要正确理解一个句群的意义，尤其需要注意事件的逻辑和时间关系。

请看下面例子："It's a gloomy thing, however, to talk about one's own past, with the day breaking. Turn me in some other direction before I go.""不过，在天亮时谈个人的往事，真扫兴。

在我离开以前，把我转到别的方向吧。

""把我转到别的方向"是什么意思？真让人不知所云。

实际上如果联系上文，很容易就可以看出它的真正意思是"谈点别的吧"。

从这个例子中我们可以更进一步认识到，不仅脱离开句子的单个词没有意义，脱离开句群的单个句子的意义也是不容易确定的。

所以在翻译中，必须注意上下文对意义的互相制约。

5．2．2 句群的翻译在正确理解句群的基础上，译者还要注意译文通顺的问题。

和第三讲"句子的翻译"中所提到的一样，要保证句群翻译的通顺，需要注意译文的衔接手段的应用。

衔接手段主要包括重复、替代、省略等。

其中重复是英译汉中最常用的一个语篇衔接手段。

英语语篇中的省略、替代等衔接手段在很多情况下都要转变为汉语的重复衔接。

例如下面几个例子：By now, a rocket will have set off on its 35 million mile trip to Mars and scientists must be waiting anxiously for the results. The rocket will be travelling for six months before it reaches the planet.现在，很可能有一枚火箭已经启程登上了飞往火星的3500万英里的航程，科学家们一定在焦急地等待着结果。

火箭要飞行6个月才能到达火星。

The underground water is very likely to have dissolved in it materials that help it dissolve certain rock materials. The water dissolved the limestone that was once here and carried most of it away.地下水很可能含有某些溶解了的物质，这些物质能帮助地下水来溶解某些岩石的物质。

因此，地下水溶解了一度曾在这里的石灰石，并将大部分石灰石带走。

在这两个例子中，原文使用了上义词替代的方法，在翻译的时候却根据汉语的习惯进行了还原。

下面再看一个例子：Daydreaming, science has discovered, is an effective relaxation technique. But its beneficial effects go beyond this. Experiments show that daydreaming significantly contributes to intellectual growth, powers ofconcentration, and the ability to interact and communicate with others. 科学研究已经发现，白日梦是一种有效的放松手段。

但是它的积极作用还不止此。

试验表明，它对智力的发展、注意力的培养以及发展与人协作交流的能力都极具意义。

这个句群中，原文使用重复的衔接手段，而译文则使用了替代的方法，但是所达到的连贯效果是一样的。

在句群的翻译中，为实现连贯而采用的手段是多种多样的，不仅仅在于上面所说的结构衔接一种问题。

作为翻译的初学者，最重要的还是注意译文连贯的实际效果。

为加深这一印象，我们再看一个例子：Deserts are very dry regions. They have very little rainfall. Few plants live there. Some specialized animals do. Some deserts have a surface of sand. The sand often forms dunes. These are created by the wind. Others have stone or rocks.沙漠是非常干旱的地区。

它们的降雨很少。

很少有植物生长在那里。

有些特殊的动物生长在那里。

有些沙漠表面有一层沙土。

沙土经常形成沙丘。

这些是风造成的。

别的有石头或岩石。

这个句群翻译从信息上来说是忠实于原文的，可是读起来却让人感到支离破碎，非常别扭。

而下面这个译文就好得多：沙漠是十分干旱的地区。

那里的降雨很少，植物也很稀少，只生活着一些特殊的动物。

有些沙漠表面是沙，常常被风刮成沙丘。

另一些沙漠的表面则是石头或岩石。

练习5.2一、研究下面译文，分辨其优劣。

1. Extracting pure water from the salt solution can be done in a number of ways. One is done by distillation, which involves heating the solution until the water evaporates, and then condensing the vapor. Extracting can also be done by partially freezing the salt solution. When this is done, the water freezes first, leaving the salts in the remaining unfrozen solution.从盐水中提取纯水的方法有若干种。

一种是加热蒸馏法，另一种是局部冷冻法。

加热蒸馏法是将盐水加热，使水分蒸发，然后再使蒸汽冷凝成水。

局部冷冻法是使盐水部分冷冻，这时先行冷冻的是水，盐则留在未曾冻结的液体中。

2. As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition.因为恺撒爱我，我为他哭泣；因为他幸运，我为他高兴；因为他英勇，我尊崇他；但因为他有野心，我杀死了他。

用眼泪回报他的爱；用欢乐庆祝他的幸运；用尊崇纪念他的英勇；而用死制止他的野心。

3. Now Jane is delighted to get her diploma. For twice she had wanted to quit school, but she changed her mind with the help of her teacher. 现在珍妮很高兴拿到毕业文凭。

当初她曾两次退学，不过在老师的帮助下，她后来改变了主意。

4. But we do not, as a rule, feel a heavy personal responsibility for the afflicted and deprived for we are pretty thoroughly formed by the individualistic, competitive society we live in.译文A：我们通常并不感到对贫穷困苦的人们负有重大的个人责任，因为我们几乎完全是由我们生活于其中的这个个人主义的、竞争的社会所塑造成形的。

译文B：但是在通常情况下，对那些痛苦无助的人我们感受不到某种沉重的个人义务。

因为我们完全成长在一个追求个人安逸、充满竞争的社会。

5. Daydreaming is highly beneficial to your physical and mental wellbeing, and you will find that this modest, inexpensive investment in time will add up to a more creative and imaginative, a more satisfied, and a more self-fulfilled you.译文A：白日梦对你的身心健康高度有益，你会发现这一小小的廉价的时间投资最终带来的是一个更有创造性，更富想象力，一个更心满意足，和一个更踌躇满志的你。

译文B：白日梦对你的身心都极有好处，你会发现在时间上这种适当的、廉价的投资最终会使你更有创造性，更富想像力，更易得到充实和满足。

二、翻译下列段落，注意内容的连贯。

1. Albert Einstein had a great effect on science and history, greater than only a few other men have achieved. An American university president once commented that Einstein had created a new outlook, a new view of the universe. It may be some time before the average mind understands fully the identity of time and space and so on --- but even ordinary men understand now that the universe is something larger than ever thought before.2. In order to learn a foreign language well, it is necessary to overcome the fear of making mistakes. If the primary goal of language use is communication, then mistakes are secondary considerations that may be dealt with gradually as awareness of those mistakes increases. On the other hand, students should not ignore their mistakes. The language learner may observe how native speakers express themselves, and how native expressions differ from the way the learner might say them. For example, a Spanish speaker who has been saying "I do it" to express willingness to do something in the immediate future, could by interacting with native speakers of English, observe that native speakers actually say "I'll do it". The resulting discrepancy can serve as a basis for the student to modify his way of using the present tense in English. But a student who is unwilling to interact in the first place would lose this opportunity to learn by trial and error.3. This sudden increase in the population of the developing countries has come at a different time. Even if their population had not grown so fast they would have been facing a desperate struggle to bring the standard of living of their people up to the point at which there was enough food, housing, education, medical care and employment for everyone to have areasonable life. The poor countries are having to run faster in their economic activity in order to stay in the same place, and the gap in wealth between rich and poor countries grows wider every year.4. Every human being, no matter what he is doing, gives off body heat. The usual problem is how to dispose of it. But the designers of the Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh set themselves the opposite problem -- how to collect body heat. They have designed a collection system which utilizes not only heat, but the heat given off by such objects as light bulbs and refrigerators as well. The system works so well that no conventional fuel is needed to make the campus's six buildings comfortable.5. How little the young know of loving, I'd think. How foolish to think they have a monopoly on such a precious commodity. The old know what loving truly means; the young can only guess.6. If live concerts are like motion pictures, records are like still photos that we can return to time and time again. We may join Tears for Fears or Sting at any time, simply by putting a needle on a piece of vinyl. Records are literally a "record" of our important thoughts and feelings练习5.2一、（略）二、翻译下列段落，注意内容的连贯。