反译小练习:中译英02

来源:网络发布时间:2010-09-21

  反译题目:
  从五月初到六月底,全球股市一路急剧下跌,亏损额度超过10%,进入七月后,头几周内也只出现小幅度回升。近一年时间里,经济复苏停滞不前,有消极言论称股市的低迷正源于此。欧洲各国负债累累,美国国内失业率又高居不下,人们对此忧心不已,焦虑也逐渐演化成压抑不住的惶恐。
  英文原文中最后两句是两个长句,英翻中的时候,如何拆分长句,这点大家也许可以掌握;但是反过来,如何将中文的短句整合成为一个英文长句,这就比较困难了。因为中文本身没有形成长句的结构特点,一般比较精简短小,所以两者之间的转换,还是很费脑子的。
  以下参考翻译以及节选句子翻译来自的论坛考友:
  joe036:Global stock market experienced a free fall from ealier May to later June, with a loss over 10%, but a marginal rise during the first weeks of July. Economic recovery has been in a standstill over the past year which is considered by some negative opinions as a source of the weak stock market. European countries are in heavily debt and the domestic unemployment stands high in US, causing anxiety which has been gradually turned into an unrestrainable fear.
  点评:第一句中的free fall是很引人注目的用法,相比通常情况下我们会选用的decline、drop等表达“急剧下跌”的词,更加生动。
  后面两个长句的翻译,抓住了将中文短句整合成为长句的几个要点,也即最基本的“凑长句”方法:利用从句模式,从句套从句,层层串联。
  这里比较难的是,中文的几个短句,主语各不同,整合成英文长句的话,我们需要选出一个中心主语。“近一年时间里,经济复苏停滞不前,有消极言论称股市的低迷正源于此”,这里分析一下逻辑关系,一个“正源于此”可以看出,前面讲述经济状况的句子可以处理成一个表原因的从句,那么主句的主语就可以定为是“消极言论”。
  “欧洲各国负债累累,美国国内失业率又高居不下,人们对此忧心不已,焦虑也逐渐演化成压抑不住的惶恐。”
  evawallie:The global stock market has been sliding its way down from the start of May to the end of June, with a loss of over 10%. It came back in the first weeks of July but with little growth. In almost one year, the economy recovery has been stagnating, which was claimed by the negatives to be the source of the stock market downturn. People’s worry for the European countries’ debts and high unemployment of America has gradually escalated to revealing panic.
  点评:全篇语句流畅,结构清楚,在考试中写出这样的译文,是可以保证一个不错的整体分数的。
  总评:从大家的翻译中可以总结出,“急剧下跌”这里的译法,不出decline、drop、slide等动词的使用,summersping同学使用了plunge一词,非常好。不过“失业率”还是有同学会按照中文翻译成unemployment rate——注意哦,如果看英语新闻就会发现,“失业率”其实一个unemployment就足以表达,不用再加一个rate。
  下面,我们来看原文:
  From the beginning of May until late June, stock markets worldwide declined sharply, with losses surpassing 10%. The first weeks of July brought only marginal relief. Ominous voices began to warn that the weakness of stocks was a direct response to the stalling of an economic recovery that has lasted barely a year. Anxiety over debt-laden European countries combined with stubbornly high unemployment in the U.S. allowed concern to blossom into full-bloom fear.
  (英文出自Time)
  清点一下,原文有不少我们可以拿来用的“替换表达”,例如:
  marginal relief:替换little growth
  be a response to:替换 caused by——表达因果关系的时候我们可以这样反过来思维
  debt-laden:替换be in debt
  stubbornly high:很形象的用法,可以替换staying high,表示一个“持久”的状态
  blossom into:替换develop into
  full-bloom:全面发展的,例如full-bloom industry