(单词翻译:单击)
2012年11月全国翻译资格水平考试在不久前结束,天津翻译专修学院的翻译专家团队立即对试题进行了全面的分析和点评。
首先让我们看一下英译汉的试题。英译汉的选材略带文学色彩,这可能将是今后笔译实务英译汉素材选择的一个方向。该篇文章通过一位女性回顾当年其丈夫送给她的一套二手的狄更斯的小说,介绍了狄更斯的一些作品及其人物,同时通过该套小说扉页上的签名,该篇文章的作者与其儿子以书信的方式进行了交流并了解到有关该套小说的最初所有者的一些情况。从文章中的语句表达而言基本没有什么难度,但从文章中所涉及的狄更斯作品名称而言,对于非英语专业的考生来说可能会有些难度。
汉译英部分此次试题的素材从以往的时政主题转变成商业主题,这是三级笔译实务命题的一大变化。文风变了,这也许是笔译实务命题的江南style。此次试题是一篇关于美国一家知名的水龙头制造商及其产品的介绍。这样的文章对于将来从事笔译专业的人士来说确实比较常见,但专家认为,既然是考察汉译英的能力,最好还是以中国的某个企业的介绍作为命题素材更为合适。因为文章中所涉猎的企业名称等内容并不容易翻译得非常准确。就翻译的技巧和语言点以及语汇而言,在翻译培训课中大多都讲到过,难度也并不很大。但如果把英译汉的这篇文章与汉译英的文章相比较,汉译英的语段稍有难度。
英译汉部分的原文与译文:
FOR MORE than 30 years, I have been wondering about L.R. Generson.
三十多年来,我一直在思考着L. R. 杰内森究竟是何许人。
On one of our first Christmases together, my husband gave me a complete set of Dickens. There were 20 volumes, bound in gray cloth with black corners, old but in good condition. Stamped on the flyleafof each volume, in faded block letters, was the name of the previous owner: “L.R. Generson, M.D., Bronx, NY.’’
在我和丈夫一起度过的最初的几次圣诞节中,有一次他送给我了一整套狄更斯的作品。这些书有二十卷,用一块黑色边角的灰布包裹着,这些书尽管有些旧了但保存完好。每一卷的扉页上,都有模糊的大写字母,显示着它们之前的主人的信息:“L. R. 杰内森, 医学博士,布朗克斯,纽约。”
That Dickens set is one of the best presents anyone has ever given me. A couple of the books are still pristine, but others - “Bleak House,’’ “David Copperfield,’’ and especially “Great Expectations’’ - have been read and re-read almost to pieces. Over the years, Pip and Estella and Magwitch have kept me company. So have Lady Dedlock, Steerforth and Peggotty, the Cratchits and the Pecksniffs and the Veneerings. And so, in his silent enigmatic way, has L.R. Generson.
这套狄更斯的作品是我收到的最好的礼物之一。有些书现在还很新,但是一些书像《荒凉山庄》《大卫-科波菲尔》,尤其是《远大前程》,由于多次的反复阅读书已几乎变成散页了。多年来书中的人物一直萦绕在我身边,L. R. 杰内森也以沉默而神秘的方式陪伴着我。
Did he love the books as much as I do? Who was he? On a whim, I Googled him. There wasn’t much - a single mention on a veterans’ website of a World War II captain named Leonard Generson. But I did find a Dr. Richard Generson, an oral surgeon living in New Jersey. Since Generson is not a common name, I decided to write to him.
是否他也像我一样喜爱这些书籍?他是谁呢?有一次心血来潮,我上谷歌搜索关于他的信息。没有搜到多少结果,只在一个老兵网站上搜到了一个叫莱昂纳多-杰内森的二战时期的一个上尉。但是我找到了莱昂纳多-杰内森博士,他是一位新泽西周的口腔医生。由于杰内森不是一个常用的名字,于是我决定写信给他。
Dr. Generson was kind enough to write back. He told me that his father, Leonard Richard Generson, was born in 1909. He lived in New York City but went to medical school in Basel, Switzerland. He spoke 10 languages fluently. As an obstetricianand gynecologist, he opened a practice in the Bronx shortly before World War II. His son described him as “an extremely patriotic individual’’; right after Pearl Harbor he closed his practice and enlisted. He served throughout the war as a general surgeon with an airborne special forces unit in Europe, where he became one of the war’s most highly decorated physicians.
杰内森博士很热心的给我回信。他告诉我他的父亲莱昂纳多-理查德-杰内森1909年生于纽约。后来在瑞士巴塞尔的一家医学院学习,他能熟练的讲十种语言。作为一名产科医生和妇科医生,他二战前不久在布朗克斯曾开了一家诊所。他儿子把他描述为一个极端的爱国主义者;日本偷袭珍珠港后,他随即关闭了诊所参了军。战争期间他以一个医生的身份和一个空军特别飞行队一起在欧洲服役,在当地他成了一名被赋予极高荣誉的医生。
The list of his decorations reflects his ordeals and his courage: multiple Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star with “V’’ for valor, the Silver Star, and also the Cross of War, an extremely high honor from the government of France. After the war, he remained in the Army Reserve and attained the rank of full colonel, while also continuing his medical practice in New York. “He was a very dedicated physician who had a large patient following,’’ his son wrote. Leonard Generson’s son didn’t remember the Dickens set, though he told me that there were always a lot of novels in the house. His mother probably “cleaned house’’ after his father’s death in 1977 - the same year my husband bought the set in a used book store.
他所获得的种种荣誉反映出他所受到的严峻考验及勇气:多个紫心勋章,带有象征英勇V字母的青铜星章,银星勋章以及法国政府所颁发的一项享有极高荣誉的战争十字勋章。战争结束后,他仍在陆军预备役任职,获得了上校军衔,同时,他在纽约继续从医。他儿子说,“他是一名非常敬业的内科医生,很多患者慕名向他求医。” 莱昂纳多·杰内森的儿子不记得那套狄更斯的书籍,但是他告诉我当时他们家一直有很多小说。他的妈妈在1977年他父亲去世后“清理过房间”,而恰在那一年,我丈夫在一家二手书店买了那套书。
I found this letter very moving, with its brief portrait of an intelligent, brave man and his life of service. At the same time, it made me question my presumption that somehow L.R. Generson and I were connected because we’d owned the same set of books. The letter both told me a little about him, and told me that I would never really know anything about him - and why should I? His son must have been startled to hear from a stranger on such a fragile pretext. What had I been thinking?
尽管这封信只简单描述了一个智慧、勇敢的人以及他的军旅生活,但我觉得这封信很感人。同时,我不禁产生一个疑问,由于我和L. R. 杰内森曾共同拥有一套书,我们之间是否有某种缘分。那封信也告诉我了一些他的情况,而且信中还说我不会真正地了解他。为什么我要了解他呢?当他的儿子收到一个陌生人以如此勉强的一个借口给他写来的信时一定会很惊讶。我当时是怎么想的?
One possible, and only somewhat facetious, answer is that I’ve read too much Dickens. In the world of a Dickens novel, everything is connected to everything else. Orphans find families. Lovers are joined. Ancient mysteries are solved and old scores are settled. Questions are answered. Stories end.
一种可能的而且是唯一听起来比较可笑的回答就是我读了太多狄更斯的小说。在他的小说里,任何事物都和其他的事物相关联。他的小说故事结束时,孤儿最终找到了亲人,有情人终成眷属,古老的秘密终被解开,昔日的宿怨最终化解,疑问终被解答。
Leonard Generson’s life touched mine only lightly, through the coincidence of a set of books. But there are other lives he touched more deeply. The next time I read a Dickens novel, I will think of him and his military service and his 10 languages. And I will think of the hundreds of babies he must have delivered, who are now in the middle of their own lives and their own stories.
在一套书的机缘巧合下,莱昂纳多·杰内森的人生对我的生活产生了些许的影响。但他深深地影响了其他人的生活。下次我再阅读狄更斯的小说时,我会想到他,想到他的军旅生涯,和他所讲的10种语言。我也会想到他所接生的数百名婴儿---他们现在正行走在自己的人生道路上,并且书写着自己的故事。
汉译英部分原文与译文:
总部位于美国印第安纳州的得而达(Delta)水龙头公司是美国一家上市公司Masco集团的核心企业。MASCO集团是世界五百强,家居及装饰行业的领导者,在美国乃至世界有70多家子公司,在全球有超过61,000名雇员,年销售额超过121亿美元。
Delta Water Faucet Company, with its headquarters located in Indiana, U.S., is the core enterprise of the U.S. listed Masco Corporation. As one of the world Top 500 Enterprises, the Corporation remains the lead in furnishing and decorating industry, boasting over 70 subsidiaries in the U.S. and around the word, with more than 61,000 employees worldwide and an annual sales volume of over 12.1 billion US dollars.
自从得而达的创始人Alex Manoogian先生在1954年发明了具有划时代意义的单柄水龙头之后,得而达就一直是水龙头制造行业的领导者。德尔达公司是全美水龙头行业中首家成功获得ISO9001质量标准认证的企业。五十多年来一直行业领先,已经成为品质可靠、精巧耐用、物有所值产品的象征。
Delta has all along been the leader of water faucet producing industry since its founder, Mr. Alex Manoogian, invented the single-handle water faucet with epoch-making significance in 1954. It is the first American water faucet corporation to have successfully obtained the certificationof ISO 9001 Quality Standard Certification. Over the past more than five decades, Delta has become the symbol of reliable quality, delicateness and durability, and products deserving the price.(The past more than five decades has marked the leadership of the corporation in its industry and the product has been symbolized by its reliable quality, delicate design, durability and better value for money.)
现在,得而达在美国、加拿大及中国拥有5家大型工厂,年产量超过XXX…在美国乃至全球,美国得而达公司的产品正被越来越多的家庭使用。目前,在全球已经安装了超过2亿个得而达水龙头,是全球水暖专家首选品牌。
Delta owns five large factories in the U.S., Canada and China, with an annual output of ...... Delta’s products are now winning greater popularity among (are winning more access to) families in the U.S. and around the world. Nowadays, over 200 million Delta water faucets are installed all over the world, and the brand is the top choice for global plumbing experts.
得而达作为水龙头和相关产品的全球专家,能够全方位满足全球顾客对设计、功能、质量、外观方面的每一个要求。
As the global expert of water faucets and relevant products, Delta can comprehensively meet all the requirements of global customers on designs, functions, quality and outward appearance.