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Harper Lee was an ordinary woman as stunned as anybody by the extraordinary s

游客2024-01-02  23
问题    Harper Lee was an ordinary woman as stunned as anybody by the extraordinary success of To Kill a Mockingbird. "It was like being hit over the head and knocked cold," Lee, who died Friday at age 89, said during a 1964 interview. "I didn’t expect the book to sell in the first place. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of reviewers, but at the same time I sort of hoped that maybe someone would like it enough to give me encouragement." To Kill a Mockingbird may not be the great American novel. But it’s likely the most universally known work of fiction by an American author over the past 70 years. Lee was cited for her subtle, graceful style and gift for explaining the world through a child’s eye, but the secret to the novel’s ongoing appeal was also in how many books this single book contained. To Kill a Mockingbird was a coming-of-age story, a courtroom thriller, a Southern novel, a period piece, a drama about class and, of course, a drama of race. "All I want to be is the Jane Austen of South Alabama," she once observed.
   The story of Lee is essentially the story of her book, and how she responded to it. She was a warm, vibrant and witty woman who played golf, fished, ate at McDonald’s, fed ducks by tossing them corn seeds, read voraciously, and got about to plays and concerts. She just didn’t want to talk about it before an audience. To Kill a Mockingbird was an instant and ongoing hit, published in 1960, as the civil rights movement was accelerating. It’s the story of a girl nicknamed Scout growing up in a Depression-era Southern town. A black man has been wrongly accused of raping a white woman, and Scout’s father, the resolute lawyer, defends him despite threats and the scorn of many. Praised by The New Yorker as "skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious," the book won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a memorable movie in 1962. Mockingbird inspired a generation of young lawyers and social workers, was assigned in high schools all over the country, and was a popular choice for citywide, or nationwide, reading programs, although it was also occasionally removed from shelves for its racial content and references to rape. By 2015, sales topped 40 million copies. When the Library of Congress did a survey in 1991 on books that had affected people’s lives, To Kill a Mockingbird was second only to the Bible. Lee herself became more elusive to the public as her book became more famous. At first, she dutifully promoted her work. She spoke frequently to the press, wrote about herself and gave speeches, once to a class of cadets at West Point. But she began declining interviews in the mid-1960s and, until late in her life, firmly avoided making any public comment about her novel or her career. Her novel, while hugely popular, was not ranked by many scholars in the same category as the work of other Southern authors. Decades after its publication, little was written about it in scholarly journals. Some critics have called the book naive and sentimental, either for dismissing the Ku Klux Klan as a minor nuisance or advocating change through personal persuasion rather than collective action.
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答案     和所有人一样，平凡的哈珀-李(Harper Lee)对《杀死一只知更鸟》(To Kill a Mockingbird)所取得的非凡成就大为震惊。本周五，李离世，享年89岁。“当时感觉像是被击中了头部，整个人都懵了。”她在1964年的一次采访中说：“这本书的畅销让我始料未及。当时希望评论家能笔下留情，且能给我来个痛快的了断，但同时又幻想着或许有人会喜欢它，能给我一些鼓励。”《杀死一只知更鸟》也许称不上美国小说经典，但它可能是70年来美国作家所创作的最为耳熟能详的作品。细腻的文笔、优雅的文风，以及透过儿童视角洞察世间万物的天赋，令李广受赞誉，但令这本小说经久不衰的真正秘诀，却在于其所包蕴的丰富内涵。《杀死一只知更鸟》是一个成长故事，一部法庭惊悚片，一本南方小说，一部时代经典，一部关于社会阶层的戏剧，当然也是一出种族冲突大戏。李曾说：“我就想成为南阿拉巴马州的简-奥斯汀。”
    小说情节及作家观点实际上就是李个人经历的反映。她热情活泼、诙谐幽默，喜欢打高尔夫球、钓鱼、吃麦当劳、用玉米粒喂鸭子。她还酷爱阅读，并常常去看戏剧表演和听音乐会。这些事她只是不想在读者面前谈起而已。《杀死一只知更鸟》出版于1960年，彼时民权运动正如火如荼。小说一经出版即获成功，且热度持续不减。故事讲述了一个生活在大萧条时期的南方小镇，绰号叫斯科特的女孩的成长经历。书中一名黑人被诬陷强奸了一名白人女性。斯科特的爸爸是一位行事果敢的律师，尽管饱受威胁和嘲笑，仍坚持为这名黑人辩护。《纽约客》(The New Yorker)称这本书“技术娴熟、朴实无华、构思巧妙”，其荣获普利策奖之后，于1962年被翻拍成了一部令人难忘的电影。尽管不时因涉及种族问题和提及强奸而被迫下架，《杀死一只知更鸟》却激励了整整一代年轻律师和社会工作者，它不仅成为全美高中的必读书目，还是美国市级和国家级阅读项目的热门书选。截至2015年，该书销量超过4000万册。1991年美国国会图书馆开展的“影响人生的书籍”调查活动显示，《杀死一只知更鸟》的影响力仅次于《圣经》。随着小说声名渐起，李本人却变得愈发离群索居。起初，为竭力推广作品，她频繁在新闻界发声，写自己的故事，并发表演讲，还曾给西点军校的学员们做过演讲。但到了20世纪60年代中期，李开始拒绝采访，晚年的她甚至坚决不再对自己的小说或写作生涯公开发表任何评论。这本小说尽管广受欢迎，但学界并未将其归入南方作家的作品行列。出版几十年后，学术期刊中也鲜见有关它的评论文章。一些评论家认为该作品天真幼稚且过于感性，理由是其弱化了“三K党”的恶行，并倡导通过个人规劝而非集体行动来实现变革。
解析 1．Harper Lee was an ordinary woman as stunned as anybody by the extraordinary success of To Kill a Mockingbird．和所有人一样，平凡的哈珀-李(Harper Lee)对《杀死一只知更鸟》(To Kill a Mockingbird)所取得的非凡成就大为震惊。
  分析  语言措辞类
  本句的结构与语义并不复杂。首先，要尽量将原文别具匠心的ordinary与extraordinary这组反义词的对比意义准确呈现出来。如果仅仅将ordinary译成“普通的”，不足以体现原文精髓，且行文也不够自然顺畅，而译为“平凡的”则能更好地与“非凡的”形成呼应。其次，Harper Lee与woman同指一人，根据同指译法的原则，此处无须赘述“哈珀-李是一个平凡的女人”，而是将ordinary译成前置定语，从而使整句主谓清晰、行文流畅。另外，该书译名《杀死一只知更鸟》几经变更：1983年江苏人民出版社译为《枪打反舌鸟》，之后因其国外电影版大热，Mockingbird的汉语译名也随之改为“知更鸟”。2009年，译林出版社译为《杀死一只反舌鸟》，而后又在2012年修订更名为《杀死一只知更鸟》，该译名由此流传开来。
2．“It was like being hit over the head and knocked cold…”“当时感觉像是被击中了头部，整个人都懵了……”
  分析  语言措辞类
  knock cold本意是to render unconscious or senseless，knock out击倒，震晕。文中形容作家在突如其来的成功面前一时不知所措。
3．“I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of reviewers，but at the same time I sort of hoped that maybe someone would like it enough to give me encouragement．”“当时希望评论家能笔下留情，且能给我来个痛快的了断，但同时又幻想着或许有人会喜欢它，能给我一些鼓励。”
  分析  语言措辞类
  本句中，quick和merciful两个并列形容词修饰death，但如果直译为“希望评论家笔下能给我一个又快又怜惜的死”，不仅显得语气呆板，而且不符合汉语表达习惯。因此，此处首先采取断句译法，将两个词分别翻译；其次采取词性转换的译法，将形容词merciful译为动词“留情”，并恰如其分地与at the hands of合译为四字短语“笔下留情”；最后，为了整句通顺，将较长的quick death(痛快的了断)后置翻译，death此处并不是指真正的死亡，而是意指某种不好的结果或是事件的了结，所以译为“了断”能更贴切些。
4．Lee was cited for her subtle，graceful style and gift for explaining the world through a child’s eye，but the secret to the novel’s ongoing appeal was also in how many books this single book contained．细腻的文笔、优雅的文风，以及透过儿童视角洞察世间万物的天赋，令李广受赞誉，但令这本小说经久不衰的真正秘诀，却在于其所包蕴的丰富内涵。
  分析  句子结构类
  本句前半句符合英语句子语义重心常常在前的特点，汉语句子语义重心一般在后，因此，翻译时可采取换序译法，将李广受赞誉的三个原因前置翻译。而翻译后半句时，首先需要理清句子结构，找出句子主谓宾成分，即…the secret…was also in…books this single book contained。明确结构后，不要急于直译为“……秘诀在于一本书中包含很多书”，以免晦涩哕唆且意义不明，而需要根据其上下文语境，意译为“……秘诀在于其所包蕴的丰富内涵”或“……秘诀在于其包罗万象(内涵丰富)”，这样翻译更为传神达意。
5．To Kill a Mockingbird was a coming-of-age story, a courtroom thriller，a Southern novel，a period piece，a drama about class and，of course，a drama of race．《杀死一只知更鸟》是一个成长故事，一部法庭惊悚片，一本南方小说，一部时代经典，一部关于社会阶层的戏剧，当然也是一出种族冲突大戏。
  分析  篇章理解类
  本句是对…but the secret to the novel’s ongoing appeal was also in how many books this single book contained的进一步解释，具体列举了小说的丰富内涵。译者需要对原著内容及此句中的重要英语词汇有所了解，才能翻译得准确恰当。coming-of-age story一般译为“成长小说(故事)”；a courtroom thriller可译为“法庭惊悚片”(小说主要冲突围绕激烈缜密的法庭辩论展开)；a Southern novel一般指美国南北战争后出现在南方的一种严肃而带有悲剧性的小说作品，以福克纳为代表的南方小说家通过描写美国南方的历史与现实，隐含现代哲学中的厌世主义，其中既有现实主义具象的写实性，也不缺乏现代主义的想象力、穿透力与悲观色彩，甚至还保留有几分西方19世纪浪漫主义文学中对英雄人物与理想形象的崇仰之情，南方小说在美国文学史上曾占据举足轻重的地位；a period piece一般是指“具有时代感和历史意义的作品”，此处可译为“时代经典”。至于重复运用的drama一词，翻译时通过变通为同义译词的方法，可丰富原文在译入语中的表达节奏与层次。
6．She was a warm，vibrant and witty woman who played golf，fished，ate at McDonald’s，fed ducks by tossing them tom seeds，read voraciously，and got about to plays and concerts．她热情活泼、诙谐幽默，喜欢打高尔夫球、钓鱼、吃麦当劳，用玉米粒喂鸭子。她还酷爱阅读，并常常去看戏剧表演和听音乐会。
  分析  句子结构类
  本句中，有关小说作者性格和喜好的描写较多，翻译时建议将诸多重要信息合并重组或是拆分断句，以增强译文的审美性和韵律感。首先，形容词warm，vibrant和witty可以合并重组，译成符合汉语表达习惯的四字格短语，比如warm(温暖的)和vibrant(充满生气的)可以合并译为“热情活泼”；而为了与之押韵整齐，可将witty，译为“诙谐幽默”。其次，定语从句部分可采取合并译法，将其译为主语的谓语部分，从而使译文结构更加简洁明了。最后，考虑到读书、看剧、听音乐，较“热情活泼”的前几项爱好略有不同，因此可采取增译法，重复其逻辑主语“她”，既能强调句子结构，又能避免整句的冗余之嫌，还能使句子有一定的递进和层次感。
7．To Kill a Mockingbird was an instant and ongoing hit，published in 1960，as the civil rights movement was accelerating．《杀死一只知更鸟》出版于1960年，彼时民权运动正如火如荼。小说一经出版即获成功，且热度持续不减。
  分析  句子结构类
  本句在翻译时应首先明确其主干信息，即…was…a hit，但如果采取顺句翻译，译为“……立刻并持续获得成功，出版于1960年，彼时民权运动正如火如荼”，不符合汉语语义前轻后重的习惯和特点。因此，建议翻译时采取换序译法，重新调整句子各部分信息的顺序，将句子主干信息最后译出，使之既符合汉语表达习惯，又能凸显句子主要信息。另外，对于instant和ongoing两个并列形容词，不管是译成“即刻并持续获得成功”，还是“即刻且持久的成功”，都令人感觉拗口生硬，建议可采取断句译法，将其拆分成两部分信息，分别译为四字格“即获成功”和“持续不减”，这样更为顺畅达意。
8．Praised by The New Yorker as“skilled，unpretentious，and totally ingenious,”the book won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a memorable movie in 1962．《纽约客》(The New Yorker)称这本书“技术娴熟、朴实无华、构思巧妙”，其荣获普利策奖之后，于1962年被翻拍成了一部令人难忘的电影。
  分析  语言措辞类
  本句中，skilled，unpretentious，and totally ingenious三个形容词非常简单，但翻译时应注意译文的审美性，四字格译法“技术娴熟、朴实无华、构思巧妙”则使之不仅言简意赅、节奏明朗，还能传神达意，具有文字美感。
9．Mockingbird inspired a generation of young lawyers and social workers，was assigned in high schools all over the country,and was a popular choice for citywide，or nationwide，reading programs，although it was also occasionally removed from shelves for its racial content and references to rape．尽管不时因涉及种族问题和提及强奸而被迫下架，《杀死一只知更鸟》却激励了整整一代年轻律师和社会工作者，它不仅成为全美高中的必读书目，还是美国市级和国家级阅读项目的热门书选。
  分析  句子结构类
  本句虽然属于复杂长句，但结构却相对清晰。首先，它符合英语句子语义重心常常在前的特点，而汉语句子语义重心则一般在后，因此，翻译时可采取换序译法，将让步状语从句前置，主句则后置翻译，从而凸显句子主干信息。其次，主句中的inspired，was assigned和was，属于主句中的三个并列谓语部分，如何使三者顺畅过渡，并体现句子层次感，是此处的翻译重点。根据上下文语境，建议可采取语态转换的译法和增译法，将was assigned被动变主动，与后句在译文形式上保持一致；同时，在inspired前增加“却”来承接前句并表达转折关系，在was assigned和was前，增加“不仅”和“还”来表达递进关系，并加强句子间的逻辑性。
10．Lee herself became more elusive to the public as her book became more famous．随着小说声名渐起，李本人却变得愈发离群索居。
  分析  语言措辞类
  本句中，famous和elusive反差感强烈，因此翻译时也要尽量表达出原文巧妙的措辞效果，而四字格短语“声名渐起"和“离群索居”，此处看似是南辕北辙的语境，却能恰如其分地传神达意。
11．Some critics have called the book naive and sentimental，either for dismissing the Ku Klux Klan as a minor nuisance or advocating change through personal persuasion rather than collective action．一些评论家认为该作品天真幼稚且过于感性，理由是其弱化了“三K党”的恶行，并倡导通过个人规劝而非集体行动来实现变革。
  分析  词性转换类
本句中，介词for引出either…or…这个并列结构，解释说明小说被视为naive and sentimental的两个理由。如果将其直译为“……天真幼稚且过于感性，或因为其……或因为其……，，则显得过于呆板，建议将介词for翻译成名词“理由、原因”并作为句中主语，引出两个并列的谓语部分dismiss和advocate。同时，句中dismissing the Ku Klux Klan as a minor nuisance原意为“不予理会‘三K党’这个小麻烦”，结合上下情境，建议将minor这一形容词译为动词“弱化”，使之与dismiss呼应，两者结合表达的含义为to think sth．is not important enough for one to consider，并将nuisance相应译为“恶行”以搭配“弱化”，从而使译文表达自然顺畅，同时也能真实反映“三K党”背景和原著主张。
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