十、直译与意译
1) I don't really know anything about you, because you and I are as different as chalk and cheese. 说实在的,你这人我一点也搞不懂。咱们不是一路人,就跟白土和奶酪不是一码事一样。
2) Light streamed into the room as soon as the door was opened. But outside, the village was still quiet. Neither dogs barked nor roosters crowed.
大门一开,房里亮了。但朝外看去,村里还是鸡不啼狗不叫的,一点声息也听不到。
3) ...The reader's hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine, a dear old lady who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
。。。。。。读者独到小说的最后几页,不禁毛发倒竖:原来,书中的女主角,一位和蔼可亲的老太太,待人一向慈祥宽厚,年轻时却曾经接二连三地先后毒死她的五位丈夫。
4) And the beauty of the pearl, winkling and glimmering in the light of the little candle, cozened his brain with its beauty.
美丽的珍珠,在烛光下闪闪发亮,使人神往,令人陶醉。
5) Between two tall gate-posts of rough-hewn stone (the gate itself having fallen from its hinges at some unknown epoch) we beheld the gray front of the old parsonage terminating the vista of an avenue of black ash-tree.
一条大路,两旁岑树成林,路的尽头可以望见牧师旧宅的灰色门面,路口园门的门扇已不知在哪一年掉了下来,可两座粗石雕成的门柱还巍然矗立着。
6) Swearing, curses, disappointed sighs! With such a fine crop of cocoons the villagers had never dreamed that their lot would be even worse than usual!
全村子都是嚷骂,诅咒,和失望的叹息;人们做梦也想不到今年的“蚕花”好了,他们的日子却比往年更加困难!
7) I gave my youth to the sea and I came home and gave her (my wife) my old age.
译文一:我把青春献给了海洋,我回家的时候便把老年给了我的妻子。
译文二:我把青春献给了海洋,等我回到家里见到妻子的时候,已经是白发苍苍了。
8) Such ideas often produce only false hopes and unnecessary fears.
译文一:这种想法常常只会产生虚假的希望和不必要的恐惧。
译文二:这种想法常常只会产生盲目乐观和不必要的恐惧。
9) A divorced woman is likely to find herself in an unenviable position.
译文一:一个离婚的妇女是很可能发现自己处在一个不令人羡慕的地位的。
译文二:一个离婚的女人很容易察觉自己被人另眼相看。
10) Young women are heading for an early grave through smoking and lack of exercise.
译文一:青年妇女通过抽烟和缺少运动,正在向一个早期的坟墓奔去。
译文二:青年妇女由于抽烟加上缺少运动,实际上是在减短自己的寿命。
11) Eager to trust but determined to verify, many single women in an age of risky romance are hiring private detectives to check the background of their suitors.
译文一:急切地要信任却又下决心要核查,许多单身妇女处在一个危险的年代,她们正雇佣私人侦探来查实追求她们的人的背景。
译文二:这个年月,谈情说爱处处有暗礁,许多单身女子对向自己求婚的人既急切地愿意以身相许,但又一定
要核查对方是否靠得住,于是就纷纷雇佣私人侦探去查清对方的身世经历。
12)Quietly, so as not to disturb the child's mother,he rose from the bed and inched toward the cradle. Reaching down, he gently lifted the warm bundle to his shoulder. Then, as he tiptoed from the bedroom, she lifted her head, opened her eyes and -- daily dose of magic -- smiled up at her dad.
He carried her downstairs, counting the creaks on the way. Together, they settled in at the kitchen table, and the adult in him slipped away. Two children now, they pressed their noses against the glass.
译文一:
为了不打搅孩子的母亲,他悄悄地从床上起来,蹑手蹑脚地走向摇篮。他伸出双手,轻轻地把那热乎乎的被盖包起来靠得到肩上。当他踮着脚从卧室走出来的时候,她抬起头,睁开-双眼——每天能享受到的那种魅力——仰望着她爸爸嫣然一笑。
数着脚步的吱嘎声响,他把她抱到搂下。他们一起来到厨房的桌子边,他的老成持重消失了。现在是两个孩子,他们把鼻子紧紧贴在玻璃上。
译文二:
他不想弄醒熟睡的妻子,小心翼翼地下了地,一步一步慢慢走到女儿的小床边,弯下腰来,伸出双手轻轻地连女儿带包被一起抱了起来贴在自己的胸前,踮着脚尖走出了卧室。怀中的女儿抬了抬头,睁开睡眼,咧开小嘴冲他朦胧地一笑。女儿的笑打动着他这颗当父亲的心,天天如此。
他抱着女儿,一步一步默数着楼梯的台阶静悄悄地走下楼来,坐在了厨房靠窗户的餐桌旁。童趣在他的心中萌动着,他抱着女儿凑近窗户往外看,鼻子紧贴着窗户玻璃,像个孩子一样。
13) Within an hour,a white tablecloth was spread upon the law n. And a s gray streaks of dawn unraveled along the black seam of the distant hill s, father and daughter watched the new day ripple across the neighborhood.
译文一:不到一个小时,一块洁白的桌布便铺到了草坪上。而当黎明时出现的灰色条纹,沿着远处小山之间的隙缝散开的时候,父女俩看到着新的一天轻快地穿巷过户降临了。
译文二:不到一个小时,大地就像脯上了洁白的绒布。远处,山峦重叠的灰暗处在渐渐发白——天快亮了,他和怀里的女儿看着新的一天像溪流一羼缓而来,流过千家万户。
14) Once more it took off, this time clearing the sand but heading straight toward a stump. Narrowly
avoiding it, the bee checked its forward speed, circled and then drifted slowly over the mirrorlike surface of the pool as if to admire its own reflection. As the bee disappeared, I realized that I was still on my knees, and remained on my knees for some time.
蜜蜂又一次飞起来了。这次,它倒是飞跃了沙堆,可径直朝一根树桩冲去,勉勉强强总算饶了过去。接着,它调整了航速,盘旋了几圈,就慢慢地飞到了清澈入镜的水潭上空,象是要欣赏自己的形象。蜜蜂飞走了,我发觉自己还跪着,就这么跪着,跪了许久许久。。。。。。
15) Kant was fond of talking, but preferred to talk alone, and if interrupted or contradicted was apt to show displeasure; his conversation, however, was so agreeable that none minded if he monopolized it.
康德极爱聊天,但他喜欢一个人讲,要是他的话被人打断或受到反驳,他就沉下脸来;不过,他的谈话非常令人愉快,所以即使他独占话头,别人也不见怪。
16) One can never see too many summer sunrises on the Mississippi. They are enchanting. First, there is the eloquence of silence; for a deep hush broods everywhere. Next, there is the haunting sense of loneliness, isolation, remoteness from the worry and bustle of the world. The dawn creeps in stealthily; the solid walls of the black forest soften to grey, and vast stretches of the river open up and reveal themselves; the water is smooth, gives off spectral little wreaths of white-mist; there is not the faintest breath of wind, nor stir of leaf; the tranquility is profound and infinitely satisfying. Then a bird pipes up, another follows, and soon the pipings develop into a jubilant riot of music. You