看英文名著 學(xué)考研英語(yǔ)翻譯技巧

　　國(guó)外一位著名的語(yǔ)言學(xué)家曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)“A word has no meaning unless it is used in a text．”（“一個(gè)詞本身是毫無(wú)意義的，除非把它運(yùn)用到一個(gè)文本中”）。文學(xué)名著無(wú)疑是最理想的文本。在名著中常常會(huì)有涉及到考研英語(yǔ)中的長(zhǎng)難句，同學(xué)們也可以在繁重的復(fù)習(xí)之余，從名著中培養(yǎng)一下自己的語(yǔ)感。在欣賞名著的同時(shí)，培養(yǎng)英語(yǔ)閱讀技巧與運(yùn)用能力同時(shí)也可以在中文的對(duì)照中學(xué)習(xí)翻譯的技巧。

　　今天萬(wàn)學(xué)海文給大家?guī)?lái)的是《長(zhǎng)腿叔叔》片段，它的作者簡(jiǎn)?韋伯斯特（1876―1916）是美國(guó)著名作家馬克?吐溫的孫侄女，也是美國(guó)著名的小說(shuō)家，因?yàn)橛羞^(guò)在孤兒院生活的經(jīng)歷，故其著作多以孤兒作為主人公，其中《長(zhǎng)腿叔叔》是最膾炙人口的作品，長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)暢銷不衰，被媒體評(píng)價(jià)為“一本百年難得一見(jiàn)的好書(shū)，內(nèi)容勝過(guò)路易莎?奧爾科特的《小婦人》”。

　　請(qǐng)同學(xué)們閱讀時(shí)準(zhǔn)確理解概念或結(jié)構(gòu)較復(fù)雜的句子。

　　《長(zhǎng)腿叔叔》第一章片段

　　一、

　　原文：For Jerusha and the ninety-odd other children in the orphanage, the first Wednesday of every month was quite a torturous day. On this day, each child had to be clean and well-groomed, every corner in every room had to be neat and tidy, every floor had to sparkle, and every bed had to be made perfectly flat so that the tiniest wrinkle would not show. All of this preparation was to get ready for the visit of the Trustees' of the orphanage which always fell on this day. Each child had been told time and again that if a Trustee were to ask him or her a question, he or she was to answer in a clever and respectful way.

　　譯文：對(duì)潔茹以及孤兒院里其他九十幾個(gè)院童來(lái)說(shuō)，每個(gè)月的第一個(gè)禮拜三是一個(gè)十分難熬的日子。在這一天，每一個(gè)院童都必須梳洗得乾乾凈凈，房間各個(gè)角落都打掃得整整齊齊，連每一塊地板都擦得光潔無(wú)比，每一張床鋪都平整得連一小條縐褶都沒(méi)有；如此嚴(yán)陣以待，是因?yàn)楣聝涸旱亩麓笕藗冊(cè)谶@一天會(huì)大駕光臨。每一個(gè)孩子并且也都被再三交代，如果有董事大人問(wèn)他們什麼話，必須非常乖巧、恭敬地回答。

　　二、

　　原文：Jerusha was the oldest child in the orphanageshe was already 18 years old. According to the rules, the orphanage only had to keep children up until the age of 16, but Jerusha was an exception. Because her grades were quite good, the orphanage decided to let her continue her studies and allowed her to go to the high school in town. At this point, Jerusha had just graduated from high school and was just staying to help out around the orphanage.

　　譯文：潔茹是孤兒院里年紀(jì)最大的孩子，她今年已經(jīng)十八歲了。本來(lái)按照規(guī)定，孤兒院只養(yǎng)育院童到十六歲，潔茹卻是一個(gè)例外；因?yàn)樗某煽?jī)相當(dāng)優(yōu)異，院方才決定讓她繼續(xù)升學(xué)，到村子里去念高中。潔茹最近高中剛畢業(yè)，都在院里幫忙。

　　三、

　　原文：Just as in today's case, in order to prepare a most perfect Wednesday visit for the Trustees, Jerusha had worked the entire day. Luckily, everything had gone as she had planned, and now the Trustees had heard the orphanage's reports, were sipping tea, and some were even beginning to leave one by one, off to their various other appointments. Watching the Trustees' shadows as they left, Jerusha's heart once again became filled with visions. Despite the fact that Mrs. Lippett had repeatedly warned her that such fantasies would only torture and upset her, and that having these fantasies would not change realityMrs. Lippett said Jerusha was doomed to never set foot outside the orphanageshe could not help but have them all the same. If only one day, she could be just like the Trustees and, carrying her bags, step into a big car and tell the driver to take her homewhat kind of a feeling would that be?

　　譯文：像今天，為了準(zhǔn)備一個(gè)圓滿的禮拜三，潔茹已經(jīng)忙了一整天。幸好一切都如她所預(yù)料的非常順利，現(xiàn)在董事大人們聽(tīng)完報(bào)告，享用完茶點(diǎn)，已經(jīng)紛紛離去，準(zhǔn)備去赴其他的約會(huì)了。望著他們離去的背影，潔茹的心里再一次涌起了幻想。盡管李派特太太不斷告誡她，這樣的幻想只會(huì)折磨她自己，使她更苦惱，并且也不可能改變事實(shí)她很難離開(kāi)孤兒院一步的；可是潔茹仍然忍不住會(huì)想，如果有一天，她也能拎著行李，像這些董事大人們一樣，跨進(jìn)轎車，吩咐司機(jī)回家，那會(huì)是一種什麼樣的感覺(jué)？

　　四、

　　原文：For 18 years Jerusha had been living in an orphanage. She was simply unable to imagine what "home" would be like.

　　譯文：十八年來(lái)，潔茹一直生活在孤兒院里，「家」到底是什麼樣子，她根本無(wú)從想像！

　　五、

　　原文：Just as Jerusha became lost in her thoughts, a little boy ran over looking for her and said that Mrs. Lippett wanted to see her immediately. A little upset, Jerusha headed towards the office, all the time in her heart thinking, "What did I do wrong? Were the sandwiches not thin enough? Did the cherry cakes not taste right? Or did one of the Trustees notice the hole in little Susie's stockings?"

　　譯文：當(dāng)潔茹正在發(fā)呆的時(shí)候，有一個(gè)小男孩跑來(lái)找潔茹，說(shuō)李派特太太叫她趕快去。潔茹有些不安地朝辦公室走去，心里一直在想：「我做錯(cuò)了什麼嗎？是三明治切得不夠?。亢颂腋獾奈兜啦粔蚝?？還是有董事大人看到了小蘇西襪子上的破洞？」

　　六、

　　原文：When Jerusha went downstairs, the light in the big empty hall was not yet on, but she caught a glimpse of the last Trustee getting into his car to leave the orphanage. It was too dark, however, to see the Trustee very clearlyshe could only get a good impression of him from the back. He was quite tall, and had long legs. He looked just like a big, dancing Daddy Longlegs that was calling for his ride home!

　　譯文：潔茹下樓時(shí)，空蕩蕩大廳中的燈還未點(diǎn)亮，她剛好看見(jiàn)最後一位董事大人正準(zhǔn)備坐進(jìn)車子離去，但因光線太暗，她并沒(méi)有看清楚他的樣子，只是從他的背影中得到一個(gè)強(qiáng)烈的印象他很高，腿很長(zhǎng)，簡(jiǎn)直就像一只舞動(dòng)著長(zhǎng)腿正在叫車的大蜘蛛！

　　【單字解釋】

　　1.orphanage [n.孤兒院]

　　2.torturous [a.折磨人的]

　　3.preparation [n.準(zhǔn)備]

　　4.respectful [a.恭敬的]

　　5.fantasies [n.幻想]

　　6.doom l [vt.注定]

　　7.unable [a.不能的]

　　8.immediately [ad.接近地]

　　【佳句欣賞】

　　He was quite tall, and had long legs. He looked just like a big, dancing Daddy Longlegs that was calling for his ride home!

　　他很高，腿很長(zhǎng)，簡(jiǎn)直就像一只舞動(dòng)著長(zhǎng)腿正在叫車的大蜘蛛！