第二节 翻译的过程

第二节翻译的过程

翻译的过程大体可分为理解、表达和校核三个阶段。

一、理解阶段

（一）确定词语在语境中的意义

同样的词或词组，在不同的语言环境里，意义不同，例如：

1. I never had much in seeing you. There was no love lost between us at any time.

我向来不大想看到你，咱们两人之间大概什么时候都不曾有过好感。（没有爱可失去，no love to lose）

2. We grumble a little now and then, to be sure. But there’s no love lost between us.

当然啦，我们有时也免不了争论几句，但是我们还是相亲相爱。（没有失去爱，not lose love）

3. The slums offered an ugly contrast to the classical grandeur of official Washington. 贫民窟与辉煌的华盛顿官府建筑形成了很难看的对比。

4. The baseball season opens this afternoon and I suspect that most of official Washington are out at the field, including the president and many of the members of the cabinet.

棒球季节于今天下午开始，我猜想华盛顿政府的大部分官员都看比赛去了，包括总统和许多部长在内。

5. Careers officers complain about our educational system that presents them with school-leavers without ideas for employment.

译文一：负责就业的官员抱怨，我们现在的教育制度在向社会提供毕业生时根本没有就业观念。without ideas for employment当作状语，修饰动词presents

译文二：负责就业的官员抱怨，我们现在的教育制度向社会提供的毕业生根本没有就业观念。without ideas for employment看作定语，修饰名词school-leavers Employers deplore the fact that teenagers are unable to spell and write and calculate. （二）理解语言现象

1. He is not more a writer than a painter.

与其说他是个作家，还不如说他是个画家。

2. He is no more a writer than a painter.

他既不是个作家，也不是个画家。

3. He sees the book my way. Even if mine doesn’t sell, his sure will.

对于这部分，他的看法同我一样。即使我的意见难以为人接受，他的意见必能服人。

4. Stop selling me to him.

别在他面前替我说好话。

5. In science, more than in any human institution, it’s necessary to search out the past in order to understand the present and to control the future.

科学较任何其他社会事业更需要探索既往，以便了解现在，掌握将来。

6. These scientists could not believe the two Curies more.

这些科学家完全相信居里夫妇。

（三）理解逻辑关系

1. The old man informed us that his wife had had thirteen children, one in every month of the year and one over besides.

老人风趣地（煞有介事地）告诉我们，他的妻子生了13个孩子，如果用一年十二个月的名字给他们取名的话，还多出来一个。

2. …when he was a young fellow in the sixties.

在60年代，他还年轻时。

3. The earth does not move round in empty space.

地球并不是在空无一物的空间内运转。

4. The object did not move because I pushed on it.

不是因为我推了它，该物体才移动。

5. There is a definite link between smoking and lung cancer. But this doesn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company.

吸烟肯定与肺癌有关，但这并不能使你感到太不舒服，因为吸烟的人不止你一人。

6. Editors of newspaper and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics.

误译：报章杂志的编辑为了要向读者提供些无关重要的细节与数字往往走向极端，

正译：报章杂志的编辑往往走极端，为其读者提供一些无关重要的事实情况和统计数字。

（四）理解原文所涉及的事物（文化背景）

1. Last night I heard him driving his pigs to market.

To drive one’s pigs to market是习语“睡觉打鼾”

昨晚我听到他鼾声如雷，声音就像把猪赶到市场一样。

2. General Smith and my father are on first name basis.

On…basis 意为在…原则上，而不是在…基础上

史密斯将军和我父亲是直呼名字的知交。

3. Keep your chin up.

不是抬起头来，而是“不要失去勇气，振作起来。”

4. Sleep as sound as a log of wood.

不是睡得像段木头，而是“睡得很沉（香）。”

5. (For some, the expense of an away-from-home college education has become so excessively great that many students now attend local schools.)

even after graduation, young people find their wings clipped by skyrocketing housing costs.

（五）理解原文的深层结构

1. She slept late yesterday.

误译：她昨天睡得很晚。

正译：她昨天起床很晚。

2. God is no respecter of persons.

误译：上帝不尊重任何人。

正译：上帝对任何人都一律看待。

3. Some nations possess little in the way of exportable commodities.

误译：有些国家几乎没有什么出商品的办法。

正译：有些国家几乎没有什么可供出口的商品。

二、表达阶段