The first Chinese to reach the United States came during the California Gold

游客2023-12-09  32

问题     The first Chinese to reach the United States came during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Like most of the other people there, they had come to search for gold. In that largely unoccupied land, the men staked a claim for themselves by placing markers in the ground. However, either because the Chinese were so different from the others or because they worked so patiently that they sometimes succeeded in turning a seemingly worthless mining claim into a profitable one, they became the scapegoats of their envious competitors. They were harassed in many ways. Often they were prevented from working their claims; some localities even passed regulations forbidding them to own claims. The Chinese therefore started to seek out other ways of earning a living. Some of them began to do the laundry for the white miners; others set up small restaurants; some went to work as farmhands or as fishermen.

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答案     在1849年加利福尼亚淘金热期间,第一批华人到达了美国。就像大多数到那里的人一样,他们是去淘金的。在那片几乎空无人烟的土地上,人们通过在地面上做标记来声明自己对土地的所有权。然而,或许是因为中国人与其他人太不一样.或许是因为他们工作起来极有耐心,以致于有时能把表面上看来毫无价值的采矿领地变得有利可图,他们便成了嫉妒的竞争对手们的替罪羊。这些竞争对手以各种形式骚扰中国人,经常阻止中国人在自己的领地上开矿;一些地区甚至通过了规章,禁止中国人拥有自己的采矿领地。中国人由此开始寻找其他的谋生途径。有些人开始为开矿的白人洗衣服。其他一些人则开设了小饭馆,还有一些人当起了农夫或渔夫。

解析 1、本段介绍首批华人在美国加利福尼亚的工作和生活,语言正式,叙述客观,体悟并传译作者于字里行间表达的对华人的同情是本篇翻译的核心任务。
2、第1句的The first Chinese to reach the United States came during...按the first Chinesecame to the United States during...译为“第一批华人到达了美国”,其中reach与come因义同而合译,但前者强调到之不易,后者仅为引出到达时间,英文表意之慎密可见一斑,译者应细加体会。
3、第3句的the men staked a claim for themselves by…按by…the men believed that theywere the rightful owners of the land译为“人们通过…来声明自己对土地的所有权”;其中stake为多义词,此处意为“立桩标界”。
4、词汇的运用及其意义的确定需接受情景的调节,如第4句中的claim本义为“对某事物的权利,(根据权利提出的)要求”,这里译为“领地”,化抽象为具体,指开矿场地;scapegoat意为“易上当的人”或“替罪羊”,相当于美语词fall guy。
5、很多英文句的逻辑安排,如第4句中的前因后果关系,与汉语一致或大体对应。考生可大胆顺译,同时注意衔接词的运用,如本句的“或许是…,或许是…,以致于…”,使逻辑结构一目了然。
6、翻译中的“斟酌”从来都不是在孤立的词、词组和句之间,而是在连贯的“话语”之间进行的。如第5、6句中,harassed与prevented的“施事”(逻辑主语)均为前文中的envi—ous competitors,译文顺势变被动为主动,并将下文连起来,译为“这些竞争对手…骚扰…,…阻止;…禁止…”,一气呵成,准确地传达了作者的态度和立场。
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