Home
Reading
Listening
Translation
Writing
Vocabulary
Forum
Home > Learning English > Translation Tips
钱钟书经典美文《窗》翻译详解

同时,我们悟到,门和窗有不同的意义

At the same time it also becomes clear that the door has a different significance from the window

“悟到”和上一句中的“明白”是相同的意思,it become clear that 这一说法比it seems that 要肯定一些。

当然,门是造了让人出进的

Of course, doors were made for people to pass through

出进可以译成to come out and go in,但译成to pass through就显得句子紧凑、精炼一些。

但是,窗子有时也可作为进出口用

but a window can also sometimes serve as an entrance or as an exit

entranceexit这两个词比doorwindow抽象化了,充分表明了“进出口”的字面意思和含义。

譬如小偷或小说里私约的情人就喜欢爬窗子

and is used as such by thieves and by lovers in novels

译文用了by thieves and by lovers,而不说by thieves and lovers,因为这本来就是两类人,不能放在一起混为一谈。

所以窗子和门的根本分别,决不仅是有没有人进来出去

In fact the fundamental difference between a door and a window has nothing to do with them being either entrances or exits

比较一下different between和前文的different from):说两者之间的区别,用different between A and B;而说A怎样不同于B则说 A is different from B.

若据赏春一事来看,我们不妨这样说

When it comes to the admiration of spring, it could be put this way

When it comes to是比较中庸的说法,不那么正式,但也不那么随意,意思是“说起赏春……”,让人们对下文有一个期待。

有了门,我们可以出去

a door makes it possible for one to go out

“有了门”不能译成with a/the door,因为这里不是说有还是没有,而是有门存在,人们就可以进出房屋。

有了窗,我们可以不必出去

whereas a window makes it possible for one not to have to

Whereas而……。这是一个连接词,表示一种前后的比较或对照。这里的句型和上面是一样的,但是后面的not to have to 是不定式的否定形式,后面省略了go out

窗子打通了大自然和人的隔膜。

A window helps to pull down the partition between man and nature

“由于有了窗子,人和大自然之间的隔膜才得以打破”,窗子起的是一种促进作用,其本身并不能去“打破”什么,因此用了helps to pull downpartition隔离墙。“隔膜”是解剖学词汇,这里用的是其引申意义,不能按字面译成diaphragm,那样意思就不对了。man and natureman是指整个人类,所以不用任何冠词;nature则是不可数名词。

把风和太阳逗引进来,使屋子里也关着一部分春天

It leads breezes and sunlight in, and keeps part of the spring in the house

Lead:引导,引领。keep…in the house:使停留在屋里不能外出。

让我们安坐了享受,无需再到外面去找。

It allows one to sit and enjoy the spring in peace, and makes it unnecessary to go looking for it outside

原文是说“安坐”,而实际上“安”的意思也应当能涵盖“享受”,只是从词的节奏上感觉“安坐”和“享受”都是两个字的词,似乎是并列的。译文里译成了 sit…in peace,等于将状语移了一个位。注意这句中几个it的含义,第一个it指代window,第二个it是形式宾语,引出后面的to go…,第三个it是指代the spring

(来源:catti.net.cn

     1   2  


Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous
热点词库
- 专家谈翻译“八戒”
- 汉英翻译中的词类转换
- 浅谈歇后语的翻译
- 翻译“近朱者赤,近墨者黑”
- 中餐馆菜单翻译技巧
Chinglish Corner