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There were eight Japanese gentlemen having a fish dinner at Bentley’s. They
There were eight Japanese gentlemen having a fish dinner at Bentley’s. They
游客
2023-12-11
22
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问题
There were eight Japanese gentlemen having a fish dinner at Bentley’s. They spoke to each other rarely in their incomprehensible tongue, but always with a courteous smile and often with a small bow.
All but one of them wore glasses. Sometimes the pretty girl who sat in the window beyond gave them a passing glance, but her own problem seemed too serious for her to pay real attention to anyone in the world except herself and her companion.
She had thin blond hair and her face was pretty and petite in a Regency way, oval like a miniature, though she had a harsh way of speaking — perhaps the accent of the school, Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies’ College, which she had not long ago left. She wore a man’s signet-ring on her engagement finger, and as I sat down at my table, with the Japanese gentlemen between us10, she said, " So you see we could marry next week."
"Yes?"
Her companion appeared a little distraught. He refilled their glasses with Chablis and said, "Of course, but Mother..."
I missed some of the conversation then, because the eldest Japanese gentleman leant across the table, with a smile and a little bow, and uttered a whole paragraph like the mutter from an aviary, while everyone bent towards him and smiled and listened, and I couldn’t help attending to him myself.
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答案
在本特利酒店里,有八位日本绅士在吃鱼餐。谁也不懂他们的话,但他们很少交谈,而说话时总是一副笑容可掬的样子,还时常微微鞠躬致意。
他们全戴眼镜,只有一位例外。有时,坐在外边临窗座位的漂亮姑娘不经心地他们一眼,然而,她似乎全神贯注于自己的事情,除了她自己和她的同伴外,世上任何人她都不会真正加以留意的。
她长着纤细的淡黄色头发,漂亮的鹅蛋脸小巧玲珑,颇符合摄政时期的风范,又像一帧袖珍肖像,不过她说起话来却粗声粗气——也许,这是她刚刚离开的母校的腔调,譬如说罗狄恩或切尔特南女子学院。她的无名指上戴了一个男式图章戒指。我在自己的桌边坐下,同她之间隔着那些日本绅士。这时只听得她说,“所以,咱们完全可以下周就结婚。”
“是吗?”
她的同伴显得有点心神恍惚。他给他俩的杯子上又斟上夏布利酒,说: “没错儿,不过我妈……”
下面一段对话没有听清,因为最年长的那位日本绅士笑容满面地向前探了探身子,微微鞠了一躬,然后像鸟舍里发出叽喳声一般说了一大段话,而其他人都满脸堆笑、点头哈腰地听着,于是我也情不自禁地注意起他来了。
解析
本篇节选自英国作家格雷厄姆.格林(Graham Greene)(1904~1991)的The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen。题目的翻译向来是见仁见智,有的倾向直译,有的倾向意译。过去考虑中国读者的接受能力,多采用意译;而现在随着国门的打开,译文更强调符合原文,介绍外国文化,因而趋于直译。此处的“看不见(invisible)”并非指日本绅士有什么超人的魔法,只是对于专心自己事务、对其他一切一概不加留意的女主人公而言,他们如同不存在一般。作者旨在通过这个“视而不见”的插曲刻画女主人公的性格特征并使故事带上了幽默感。由此可见,《视若无睹》(意译)比《看不见的日本绅士》(直译)似乎更能起到提纲挈领的作用。
They spoke to each other rarely…with a courteous smile…:(1)tongue:语言;口语。
譬如,“native tongue(母语)/mother tongue(本国语)”;(2)rarely:修饰的是动词“spoke”,并非全句。不可译为“他们很少用那种不可理解的话语讲话……”;(3)always with a courteous smile:修饰的是略去的主谓语(they spoke to each other)。如简单地译为“……他们很少交谈,总是一副笑容可掬的样子……”,读者会误解为“他们不在交谈时总是……”,因此需要在汉译英时补上省略的谓语“他们很少交谈,而说话时总是……”。
sat in the window beyond:女主人公坐在凸出楼外、三面有窗的一翼(称为“bay window ——凸窗”,即从楼的外墙突出来的一连串窗子,里面形成一个凹壁)里,从叙述者的角度看,称为“beyond(the Japanese gentlemen)”。
passing:匆匆的,不经心的,表面的;随便的。a passing glance:匆匆一瞥。
her own problem seemed too serious for her to pay:一般将“too…to…”结构译为“太……以致……”。但若此句译为“她自己的问题看来太严重了,以致她对……”,有客观描述之嫌。而从下文可以看出,作者是指她把自己的事情看得过重(too serious for her),从而说明了后文发生一系列“视若无睹”插曲的主观因素。
thin:此句表面上看没有什么难点,但“thin”这个单词的把握甚为重要。通常“thin”形容头发是指“稀疏(not closely packed)”。譬如,Your hair’s getting thin.
(你的头发愈来愈少了)。但作者笔下这样一位漂亮小巧的年轻姑娘怎么会头发稀疏呢?原来此处“thin”是“not great in diameter or cross section;fine(细的直径或横断面小的;纤细的)”之意。譬如, “thin wire(细电线)”。由此可见,准确的理解是翻泽的先决条件,必须认真从上下文,乃至通篇的角度来确定。
petite:意为“small,slender,and trim(娇小的,柔弱的,苗条的)”,用于少女或妇女。
Regency:指19世纪初英王乔治三世神经错乱后由其子摄政的时期,当时崇尚纤细小巧,女子以瘦小为美。
oval like a miniature:考虑汉语的表达习惯。原文描写脸“长得漂亮”和“像……一样是椭圆形的”是并列关系。但汉语中就直接描述以“漂亮的鹅蛋脸”为宜。 “like a miniature”乍一看,前文“小巧玲珑(petite)”已经包括进去了,但细细品味作者的意图,才会发现它起到前后呼应的作用,在译文中要直译其具体形象“又像一帧袖珍肖像”才好。
signet-ring: “signet”指“图章;印章”, “signet-ring”指“图章戒指”。
between us: “us”这个代词在译为汉语时,不能简单化处理为“我们”,这样会造成语义混乱。分析上下文,不难发现“us”指“我”和“她”,宜作具体化翻译。
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