翻译鉴赏批评之桃花源记英译文的批评赏析

《桃花源记英译文的批评赏析》

原文：晋太元中，武陵人捕鱼为业；缘溪行，忘路之远近。

译文一：

During the reign of Chin，there was a fisherman of Wuling. One day he was walking along a bank.

译文多为短句，简单通畅，“以捕鱼为业”翻译成“fisherman”简练地道。“忘路之远近”并入下一句翻译，打破原文结构，得意忘形。译文二：

In the year of Taiyuan of the Jin Dynasty，there lived a man in Wuling jun who earned his living by fishing. One day he rowed his boat along the stream, unaware of how far he had gone when all of a sudden, he found himself in the midst of a wood full of peach blossoms.

译文为一个较长的复合句，更符合目标读者的习惯。“忽逢桃花林”并在一起翻译，打破原文结构。

译文三：

During the reign of Tai Yuan of Tsin Dynasty，a certain fisherman of Wuling, who had followed up one of the river branches without taking note whither he was going, came suddenly upon a grove of peach-trees in full bloom, extending some distance on each bank, with not a tree of any other kind in sight.

译文亦为较长的复合句，并将“忽逢桃花林。夹岸数百步，中无杂树”

合并于此句，一气呵成，表明了译者的英语功底之深厚。但“数百步”译为“some distance”意思不明确。“桃花林”译为“a grove of peach-trees in full bloom”生动形象。

译文四：During Taiyuan’s reign in the Jin Dynasty，a man from Wuling Prefecture made a living as a fisherman.

与译文一很相似，简单易懂，表达地道。译文四用了复合句，使整个句子结构更为流畅。

译文一简单易懂，翻译得意忘形；译文四表达地道，更易被目标读者所接受; Gelies的译文摆脱原文结构的束缚，表达地道，生动形象，但部分过于脱离原文。

原文：初极狭，才通人。复行数十步，豁然开朗。

译文一：At first the opening was very narrow, barely wide enough for one person to go in. After a dozen steps, it opened into a flood of light. “豁然开朗”译为“it opened into a flood of light”形象生动。

译文二：His first steps took him into a passage that accommodated only the width of one person. After he progressed about scores of paces，it suddenly widened into an open field.

“初极狭，才通人。”以人做主语，形成与其他译文不同的特色。

译文三：So he made fast his boat, and crept in through a narrow

entrance, which shortly ushered him into a new world of level country, of fine pools, and of luxuriance of mulberry and bamboo.

译文“made fast his boat”与原文的“弃船”不符，且后面的“a new world of level country, of fine pools, and of luxuriance of mulberry and bamboo”出现多个of，表达冗赘，且描写的不够形象。

译文四：The cave is so narrow at first that only one person could pass the through. With a few dozen more steps，a bright open plain suddenly came in sight.

此译文与译文一极其相似，“豁然开朗”翻译成“a bright open plain suddenly came in sight.”显得更累赘。

译文一生动形象；译文二具有自己的特色；译文三此处译文与原文不符，且句子读起来繁琐拖；译文四准确具体，用词精确，表达形象地道。