李尧

本期点评专家：李尧

译题一：Six amazing hybrid animals

Ligers, tigons and grolar bears, oh my! Take a look at some of these otherworldly hybrid animals and you'll realize the possibilities are endless.

Though they rarely occur in nature, individuals from different but closely related species do occasionally mate, and the result is a biological hybrid - an offspring that shares traits from both parent species. You may have heard of the mysterious sheep-pig creature, but it turns out that one isn't a true hybrid.

Here are six bizarre, but truly unique half-breeds.

第一段文字比较容易，大家翻译得也还不错，只是中文表达欠缺一点。Otherworldly这个字似乎不太容易把握。有的人翻译成“非同一般”，有的人翻译成“超俗”，还有的人翻译成“天外来客”，都不够准确。看字典，这个字的意思主要是“来世的”、“非现实世界的”，但在翻译时直接用释义读起来不够顺畅。网友emilyw73 的版本最值得推崇，处理为“天外来客”十分巧妙。不少朋友把“the possibilities are endless”翻译成“没有什麽是不可能的”很好。“Though they rarely occur in nature”翻译成“尽管这种事情在自然界很少发生”为好。a biological hybrid中的hybrid在遗传学中的解释应该是“ 杂种”，即“基因相异的父母或牲畜所繁衍的后代”。最后一句可以翻译成：“以下就是这六种奇异的，却真正独一无二的杂交物种”。

译题二：Desire and curiosity

It is in virtue of his own desires and curiosities that any man continues to exist with even patience, that he is charmed by the look of things and people, and that he wakens every morning with a renewed appetite for work and pleasure. Desire and curiosity are the two eyes through which he sees the world in the most enchanted colors: it is they that make women beautiful or fossils interesting: and the man may squander his estate and come to beggary, but if he keeps these two amulets he is still rich in the possibilities of pleasure.

第二段大家翻译得五花八门。从总体上看，我觉得下面这位朋友翻译得比较完美：

人们之所以有持久的耐心生存下去是因为他们的愿望与好奇心，由于这两样，人们对于世上的一切（人和物）总是兴致勃勃，每天早上醒来的时候便重新充满了对工作的热情和对快乐的渴求。愿望与好奇是人们用来观察世界的一双眼睛：它们使世界变得绚丽多彩，女人显得妩媚动人，化石也变得妙趣横生；一个人可能倾家荡产，沦为乞丐，然而，只要他没有失去愿望与好奇心这两样宝贝，他仍将可以拥有许多的快乐。

不足之处是“化石也变得妙趣横生”翻译得不好。《汉语词典》对“妙趣横生”的解释是：“洋溢着美妙意味，多指语言、文章或美术品。”因此用它来修饰“化石”是不对的。其实翻译成“化石也变得有趣”就可以了。这位译者可能为了和前面的“妩媚动人”相对应，后面用了个“妙趣横生”。这种追求文字表面上华美的做法是不足取的。翻译的第一个功能当然是正确地传达出原文的意思，而不是表现译者自己的文字能力。

译题三：Never sell your soul

The question for all of you today is: how will you define what you make of yourself?

To me, what you make of yourself is actually two questions. There's the "you" that people see on the outside. And that's how most people will judge you, because it's all they can see what you become in life, whether you were made President of this, or CEO of that, the visible you.

But then, there's the invisible you, the "you" on the inside. That's the person that only you and God can see. For 25 years, when people have asked me for career advice, what I always tell them is don't give up what you have inside. Never sell your soul. Because no one can ever pay you back.

第三段问题也不大。“how will you define what you make of yourself?” 这句话不难理解，但翻译起来却不那么容易。我觉得吃透上下文之后，照意思翻译成“如何给你自己下定义”就可以了。有了这个“前提”，后面的话就好译了。比如“There's the ‘you’ that people see on the outside.…… the visible you.”

可以翻译成“人们表面上看到的你……有形的你。”“ the invisible you, the ‘you’ on the inside.”翻译成“无形的你，即外在的你。” 把“ Never sell your soul. Because no one can ever pay you back.”翻译成“永远不要出卖自己的灵魂。因为没人会给你回报。”

另外，大部分朋友把President翻译成“总统”，我觉得不如翻译成“总裁”好。以上意见未必都对，仅供大家参考。

以上看法供大家参考。

语言的约定俗成与翻译
英译中过程中的词义判断
翻译要重“神似”
上期点评：广州亚运会口号“动感亚洲,感动世界”的翻译
上期点评：“审时度势”、“万众一心”的译法
上期点评：“火车票实名制”如何译最佳？

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专家简介：

李尧，中国作家协会会员，商务部国际商务官员研修培训学院教授。已经翻译出版英、美、澳大利亚文学、文化、历史专著四十六部。多部作品获奖。2008年，澳大利亚政府因其在中澳文化交流，特别是在文学翻译领域的突出成绩，授予李尧先生“杰出贡献奖章”。

（中国日报网英语点津 编辑：蔡姗姗）