?蔡姍姍

本期點評：蔡姍姍

譯題一：Recent research suggests people actually can take charge of their own happiness and boost it through certain practices. "The billion-dollar question is, is it possible to become happier?" said psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside. "Despite the finding that happiness is partially genetically determined, and despite the finding that life situations have a smaller influence on our happiness than we think they do, we argue that still a large portion of happiness is in our power to change."

從網友對這段話的翻譯來看，大家的理解都沒有問題。但即便像這種沒有晦澀的詞語、難懂的句子的文章，想把每個細節都處理得完美也并非容易。第一句話中的practice，有人將其翻譯為“練習”，不夠妥當。Practice 除了有“練習”的意思外，還可解釋為action，意為“行動、實踐、執行”。提升幸福感肯定不是通過“練習”，而是“行動”，理解了這一點，這句話可翻譯為“日前有研究表明，人們其實可以掌控自己的幸福，并通過一些實際行動來提升自己的幸福感。”引號中的“the billion-dollar question”，字面含義為“價值億萬的問題”，直接將其作為最終的譯文顯然不妥，那么一個“價值億萬的問題”是個什么樣的問題呢？不難理解，它應該是“關鍵的、重要的問題”。在翻譯的過程中，上下文對于單個詞的理解十分重要，例如前面提到的practice和the billion-dollar question兩處，即便你不太確定它們的準確含義，但只要稍微結合以下語境，做出判斷也就不難了。

譯題二：Wal-Mart Stores is taking another swing at the online movie business with the acquisition of Vudu. The retail giant announced the deal on Monday following widespread speculation that an acquisition would be coming soon. Financial terms were not disclosed.Vudu executive vice president Edward Lichty said Vudu "will give Wal-Mart a powerful new vehicle to offer customers the content they want in a way that expands the frontier of quality, value and convenience."

這段話第一句中的take a swing at 意為to strike or attempt to strike with the fist，筆者建議將此句話翻成中文后順序稍作調整，避免整句話頭重腳輕，因此可處理為“沃爾瑪日前宣布收購電影下載網站Vudu，此舉為其進軍在線電影市場后所出的又一記重拳”，第二句話網友的翻譯存在偏差，follow一詞在新聞報道中十分常用，表示“在……之后”，比如２月２５日英語點津雙語新聞《全日空國際航線將設女士專用衛生間》中的一句話：The spokesman denied that the new service was introduced following complaints about men soiling the bathrooms. 翻譯成中文后，表述方式需進行一定的調整，使其更符合中文的表達習慣。所以上述這句話不妨翻譯成“該零售業巨頭于本周一宣布了這一交易，而此前有關收購在即的猜測流傳甚廣。”從以上例子可以看出，要想把一篇英文翻得通順連貫，一要注意信息點的先后順序，二是要符合漢語的表達習慣。

譯題三： American Shaun White was in a league of his own defending his Olympic snowboarding halfpipe title on Wednesday, drawing gasps of astonishment with a gravity-defying new trick when he knew he had gold in the bag. White, roared on by an ecstatic crowd hailing him as 'Shauntastic', had already recorded the highest score of the final on his first run, as he soared several storeys above the halfpipe and launched a sequence of high-flying twisting flip moves.

要翻好這段話，首先別被原文中一堆貌似陌生的詞語嚇倒，比如in a league of his own, gravity-defying, snowboarding halfpipe title以及甚至造出來的Shauntastic這樣的詞。很多人覺得體育類文章的閱讀和翻譯比較困難，問題也在于此，生詞多，平時接觸的少。縱觀諸位網友的翻譯，對一句話中in a league of his own都有點“敬而遠之”，繞道而行，in a league of one’s own其實是一個固定短語，意為“Far excelling even the closest contender; not having any worthy competition ”，wiseme06對這個短語的處理很好，翻譯成“毫無懸念地”，或者是“輕松地”都可以。原文中所用的gravity-defying這個說法形象生動，banchezu 將其翻譯為“向地球引力發起挑戰”，是充分理解了這個詞語的含義，再結合wiseme06的翻譯，可處理為“他似乎向地球引力發起了挑戰，以一個直上云霄的新技巧贏得觀眾陣陣驚呼” 。根據新聞背景，第一段說的是肖恩的第二跳，這個new trick指的是他亮出的“空中抓板”絕活。對于when he knew …是否要翻出來的問題，筆者認為不同風格的翻法可以進行不同的處理，可以參考wiseme06和echo echo的翻譯。“Shauntastic”似乎是Shaun和fantastic一詞的合成，意思是說他不可思議，筆者將其翻成“牛人肖恩”。不過肖恩還有個更酷的外號——“飛翔的番茄”，那是因為他有著一頭的紅發。

翻譯要重“神似”

翻譯中回譯和隱喻的處理

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作者簡介：蔡姍姍，中國日報網編輯，負責英語點津的雙語新聞等欄目。

（中國日報網英語點津 編輯蔡姍姍）