In his classic novel, "The Pioneers", James Fenimore Cooper has his hero, a

游客2023-12-18  19

问题     In his classic novel, "The Pioneers", James Fenimore Cooper has his hero, a land developer, take his cousin on a tour of the city he is building: He describes the broad streets, rows of houses, a teeming metropolis. But his cousin looks around bewildered. All she sees is a forest. "Where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me?" she asks. He’s astonished she can’t see them. "Where? Why everywhere," he replies. For though they are not yet built on earth, he has built them in his mind, and they are as concrete to him as if they were already constructed and finished.
   Cooper was illustrating a distinctly American trait, future-mindedness: the ability to see the present from the vantage point of the future; the freedom to feel unencumbered by the past and more emotionally attracted to things to come. As Albert Einstein once said, "Life for the American is always becoming, never being."

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答案    在J.F.库伯的经典小说《开拓者》中,有这么一个情节:小说的主人公房地产开发商带他的堂妹到他拟建城市的地方走了一遭。他向她描绘了宽阔的街道,成排的房屋,简直就是一个热闹的大都市。堂妹看后,很是不解,因为她看到的只不过是一大片森林。她问道:“你要给我看的城市美景在哪里呢?”开发商对她看不见这一切甚是诧异,回答说:“咦?眼前这不就是嘛!”这是因为,城市虽然还没有建起来,可在他的心目中却早已实实在在,就好像已经建成。
   在这里,库伯展示了美国人的一大特点,即超前意识。这就是:他们能够站在将来的角度上看待现在,认识上不受过去的束缚,感情上对即将发生的事物更感兴趣。正如A.爱因斯坦所说,“美国人看待生活总是将会怎样,而不是现在怎样。”

解析    这篇短文从某部作品中引了个小情节,然后发了几句议论;要求两段全译。理解和表达都比较容易。
   1.在他的经典小说《开拓者》中,J.F.库伯使他的主人公——一个房地产开发商——带着他的堂弟看他正在建的城市。
   第一个“他”应与“J.F.库伯”对调。因为汉语中总是先出现名词再出现代词,而英语中却往往在主句 (或句子的主要部分)里用名词,其他地方(无论在前在后)用代词。
   “使”过于生硬。“堂弟”错了,从下文的“she”看,应是女性。“正在建的”;从下文的“a forest”可以看出还没有动工。应理解为“打算建城市的地方”。
   2.“哪里!为什么到处,……”
   “Why”是感叹词,表“惊讶”。而且本句的表达应该很口语化。
   3.……从将来的有利点上看现在的能力
   “从将来的有利点上”译得太死,应该进行变通。
   4.……感觉上不受过去影响的自由
   又是死译,与上文不衔接。
   5.“对美国人来说,生活总是成为,绝不是现在。”
   “becoming”和“being”放在一起,显然意在构成对比。因此,前者意思是“将会如何如何”,后者意在“现在如何如何”。
   从上面的讨论中可以看出,容易译的考题也必须表达清楚。而且,从常理上说,原文容易理解时,就更应该表达好,因为可以用于琢磨表达的时间相对地多一些。
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