中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
 |
| 张明权 |
“不要把情绪带到工作中去”，这是一般的职场规则。但是，这条职场规则渐渐引起了争议。因为人不是机器，情绪是人天生就有的，它不可能因为人在工作就不产生了，一旦产生了，它也不会因为被压抑就不存在了。
参考译文：
Shall we ask for “mental leave”?
We ask for “sick leave” in case of sickness or “casual leave” for a sound reason. But shall we ask for “mental leave” if we are not in the mood? To the admiration of a lot of employees, some companies now adopt the fresh “mood management” that allows their employees to ask for “mental leave” to curb their agitation at work.
According to general work ethics, “We should not bring our bad mood to work.” But the rule has gradually become disputed. Men should not be reduced to the state of machines, for they are born with emotions. Mood does not choose to spare people engaged in work. On the contrary, mood refuses to be suppressed once it comes to our mind.
本期点评的主题是新词。最近林书豪热催生了一批网络新词，英语点津栏目也有报道。汉语新词的英译问题在前面的点评中也有涉及，回译是其中的一种方法，原因是中国媒体经常翻译外电的报道，不少词汇是在国外产生之后译成中文的，但更多的新词是中文自己创造的，而且随着网络的发展，特别是微系列应用程序的广泛使用，汉语网络新词的产生更是层出不穷。
在上面的译题中，“情绪假”是一个新词，本来我想直接翻译成moody leave的，但我通过网络检索我发现，英语中已经有了mental leave这样的说法，所以我只好弃而不用选择这个已有的译法。在网友的翻译中，情绪假基本有两种译法，一是moody leave，一是mood leave。由此我想到一个问题，网络时代做翻译最好的方法就是勤查网络，网络为我们提供了极其丰富的语言资源。回到译题上，虽然“情绪假”不能译成moody (或mood)leave，那么下文的“心情管理”是否可以翻译成mood management呢？经查网络发现，英语中分别有两个相关词汇，一个是心理学术语emotion management，是指通过情绪调节解决生活矛盾和排解不良情绪，另一个是传播学中的mood management theory，是一种媒体理论，意指通过人们有选择地接触大众媒介内容，包括音乐和电视节目，接触的方式有助于管理他们的情绪。从词义的组合来看，两个翻译都没问题，但由于术语具有规范性，所以这里最好翻译成emotion management。网友journey520使用了emotion management这个术语，该网友的翻译整体上也很好，兹复制如下以备分析：
Employees are entitled to ask for “sick leaves” once they fall ill. Likewise, “private affair leaves” are available when emergencies come to them. However, how to remedy the situation where employees fail to concentrate on their work? Is there anything like “emotional leaves” that might help? Some companies have already drawn the envies from a number of people, as they bring up a fresh managerial philosophy named “emotion management”, which stipulates that employees are offered “emotion leaves”—a policy aimed at improving employees’ efficiency by giving them time to readjust themselves. It is commonly acknowledged in workplace that never should people mix their personal feelings with their work. Nevertheless, the established principle now becomes gradually exposed to wide disputes. The opponent argues that people are different from machines because they possess personal senses. The emotion won’t be erased by constant work, and once it germinates, it won’t be pent up.
汉语“有事”翻译成when emergencies come to them似乎不妥，因为“有事”的概念是很宽的，包括家庭出了某些状况（problems crop up in one’s family）, 也可能是其他情况，只要是理由充分即可。Draw then envies (from)和management stipulates这两处搭配读起来感觉有些别扭，再者，整个句子显得比较罗嗦，不够简洁。never should people mix their personal feelings with their work这句话不需要用倒装。
年关将至，聚会繁多，“失歌症患者”又要出来“横行肆虐”，这个词语也就此位列新浪微博搜索热词排行榜第一名。
参考译文：
Off-key singing is a symptom of “amusia”, experts say
“Why are you so keen on singing when you’re completely off key?” “Sorry, I didn’t realize that I was out of tune.” Everyone is expected to meet people singing off key narcissistically playing a “mic hog”. Of course, what matters most is not that they are born tone-deaf, but that they are not conscious of that at all. Actually, the off-key people are suffering from an ailment called “amusia”, experts say.
With the Chinese Lunar New Year is around the corner, there are more and more parties for people to attend, where the “amusia patients” run “amuck” and contend for the microphone. Therefore, “amusia” quickly rises to the top of hot words searched on Sina microblogs immediately it appears.
“失歌症”是一个新词，但这一回很多网友找到了英语的新词amusia来对译，这是值得赞许的。“麦霸”的翻译比较容易查到，所以大部分网友的翻译都是正确的，包括Michael Pa, karaoke master, mic hog等。下面分析的是zhugefuqin的译文。
Singing Out of Tune- Experts Name “Amusia”
“You don’t sing in tune at all, why are you keeping singing? But I really don’t realise it.” You are sure to have such friends who sing out of tune but always act as a Karaoke master in narcissism. Of course, the biggest problem doesn’t lie in their off key but in their innate unawareness of that. Actually, singing out of tune is a kind of disease, and experts call it amusia.
With the new year coming and more parties, those “amusia sufferers” will come out again and sing in an unpleasant tune. Therefore, the word “amusia” ranked first on the hot- word searching list of Sina Microblog.（一些明显的拼写错误已纠正）
首先，in their off key有问题，off key不能直接做介词的宾语。再者，正如该网友所担心的是，“横行肆虐”不容易翻译，实际上，这里原文带有戏谑的成分，翻译也不必太过机械，只要译出“麦霸”那种不顾别人感受抢着话筒唱歌的情形就可以了。Run amuck带有“抓狂”的意思，所以还是比较形象的。
参考译文：
Ways to cope with the New Year anxiety
Messy papers cluttering up the desk, gift boxes of all kinds filling your car, numb but forced expressions on your face, the perfunctory tone in the phone calls with your families……these are not scenes characteristic of the end of a year but surely those most intensely and frequently seen in this period of time.
It is obvious that the year end witnesses the highest pressures on employees, for they are all expected now to show their “achievements” of the year to their superior, to their clients, to their relatives and friends, so that they bear out their hard work of a whole year. Unfortunately, so many employees are disheartened by the bonus of their companies. The last straw is the news they hear that Volkswagen pays each of its employees a bonus equivalent to a total of 27 months’ salary. That’s more than enough for everyone to survive this year.
下面分析的是“小学生逛街”的译文：
Messy documents spread on the desk, gifts piled on the back seats of a car, hurried but numb expressions and perfunctory tone in a call of families, are not the scenes only seen at the end of a year but with the highest frequency.
It is obvious why at the end of a year people feel huge press. It is the time everyone needs to hand over achievement sheets. We need to present our performance to the boss, customers and relatives, more importantly ourselves. In recent days, Volkswagen announced the release of the annual bonus which amount to 27-month-salary. It adds more pressure on many people. How could we have a happy holiday?
这篇译文总体上比较简洁，没有大的语法和用词问题。问题出在原文上，首先是“成绩单”和“交代”怎么译比较好？We need to present our performance to the boss, customers and relatives, more importantly ourselves. 这句话足够简洁，但省略太多，“成绩单”这个比喻译成非比喻用词performance没问题，但把“交代”一词直接省却，还是不妥的。再者是在最后一句话说得太突然，逻辑衔接不够，在英译时可以适当补充一些信息。
最后说几句题外话，由于去年开始参加了大型英汉词典的编写工作，翻译点评的写作出现了一些滞后的现象，还请各位网友见谅。在点评上难免存在不够细致的地方，具体问题欢迎email交流。
本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。
更多文章
“作者说话”还是“译者说话”？ --谈一谈译者的角色身份认同
专家简介：
张明权，安徽省固镇县人，江苏大学外国语学院副教授，英语语言文学硕士，上外博士课程班进修。主要从事英语语言学和翻译学研究，在国内外学术期刊发表论文10余篇，出版译著两部，发表其他文章20余篇，有大量翻译实践经验，翻译总字数接近200万。Email: mqzhang@ujs.edu.cn。
（作者：张明权 中国日报网英语点津 编辑：Julie）
