【翻譯筆記】《圍城》英譯選句 - 有緣千里來相會
作者:金球小哈哈
來源:滬江英語
2012-01-25 08:30
?
原文:
人家終身大事,比賭錢要緊得多呢。我就看不出鮑小姐又黑又粗,有什么美,會引得方先生好好二等客人不做,換到三等艙來受罪。我看他們倆要好得很,也許到香港,就會訂婚。這真是“有緣千里來相會”了。(錢鐘書 - 圍城 )
翻譯關鍵詞:終身大事,又黑又粗(粗俗的coarse),有緣千里來相會
譯文:
Romance is the big event of a lifetime, far more important than gambling. I just can't see what there is about that Miss Pao, coarse and dark as she is, to make Mr. Fang give up a perfectly good second-class berth for the discomforts of the third class. I see those two are getting on gloriously. Maybe by the time the boat reaches Hong Kong they'll get married. It's certainly a case of 'fate bringing people together from a thousand Li away.'?(美 Jeanne Kelly, Nathan K.Mao <譯> –Fortress Besieged)
翻譯筆記:
終身大事
*?指一個人一輩子的大事情,大都指男女婚嫁,與婚姻marriage相聯(lián)系。
文中譯為the big event of a lifetime,還有其他的譯法the important affair of a final settlement in life
讓我們來看下這樣一個例句:
Avoid living for the moment- marriage is the big event of a lifetime.
別只為現(xiàn)實活著—婚姻是終身大事。
?
又黑又粗
是不是很奇怪,為什么這個詞也要解釋?因為這里的粗的含義很特別,并不是大家想象中thick的解釋。
* 文中的“粗”是指粗俗的,下等的。譯為coarse
它的近義詞有vulgar;gross。但有所不同的是:
coarse指缺乏教養(yǎng),言談粗俗,舉止粗野;而vulgar則側重對聽者的冒犯;gross的語勢更為強烈。
有緣千里來相會
* 指兩個有緣份的人,無論相距多遠,終究會相遇的。文中譯為:fate bringing people together from a thousand Li away
字面上解釋是:命運將人們從千里遠的地方相聚起來,就是“有緣千里來相會”的含義。
完整的一句話是“有緣千里來相會,無緣對面不相逢”出自施耐庵-《水滸傳》第三四回
解釋為:如果彼此有緣,即使相隔千里也能相會;如果雙方無緣,雖然近在咫尺,也不會相逢、相識。
譯為:As decreed by providence you have met him; otherwise you might have failed although you traveled a long way.
(本文由滬江原創(chuàng),轉載請注明出處)