翻译擂台第9期点评
发布时间:2017年09月02日
发布人:nanyuzi  


【原文】



[1]中国女排在此次奥运会上夺冠后,“女排精神”再次成为走红的热词。[2]人们一般认为所谓女排精神,就是拼搏、坚持、永不放弃等,似乎有了这种精神,便可在任何赛事中立于不败之地。[3]但是,精神固然可以影响,却永远代替不了物质。[4]正如女排教练郎平所说:“不要一赢球就谈女排精神,也要看我们努力的过程。[5]女排精神一直在,但单靠精神不能赢球,还必须技术过硬。”


选文是时政文体,首先应准确把握原文,然后力求以平实、简练的语言译出。


[1]中,很多参赛者将“(女排)精神”译作了spirit,如the spirit of women's volleyball team has become a hot topic again,看似不错,但分析起来,这里更多指的是一种体育竞赛中的士气,不妨用morale,其本义为“the amount of confidence and enthusiasm, etc. that a person or a group has at a particular time”;而“热词”重在词语方面,多于topic。故该句不妨译为:Following the victory of the Chinese women volleyball team at the recent Olympic Games, the “morale of the Chinese women volleyball team” has once again become a catchphrase.


[2]中,比较典型的,如:"Women’s volleyball team spirit" is believed to be the spirit of struggling, persistence, and never giving up, with which people seem to be able to stand in an invincible position in any competition. 这种译法似乎也可接受。但“人们一般认为”不一定永远是believed,而“拼搏、坚持、永不放弃等”亦可加以整合;同时,又不一定恪守原文的标点,即可根据英文的表达方式,将其更加明确:In general, the phrase symbolizes a fighting spirit of persistence which never gives up. To many, it seems that once a team or an individual is imbued with this spirit, any battle can be won in competitions eventually. 


[3]中,这里的“影响”若处理成动词matter,是可以接受的,若译成influence则应有宾语。“物质”问题较多,参赛者一般译成materials、matters、substance等,如“Such spirit indeed matters, but never replaces certain materials”, 可问certain materials到底是什么东西?显然conditions、real things更恰当,故不妨译为:However, make no mistake, morale, or spirit, can surely influence the outcome but never substitutes for the real thing. 


[4]中,“不要……一……就……,也要看……”,意思是:不要每当什么的时候,就过分强调什么,而忽视什么。典型的译文,如“People tend to talk of the Women’s Volleyball Spirit immediately after the team wins. However, they are also supposed to see the efforts we’ve made”,似乎强调得还不够。过分强调、叨唠,可以用harp on... ,如:I wish you wouldn't harp on about it all the time.(我希望你不要老是喋喋不休地谈论那件事了。)而“也要看”的实质是“请不要忽视”“以往重视不够”,故该句不妨译为:As their coach Lang Ping said, “People should not harp too much on the ‘morale of Chinese women volleyball team’ and value too little the hardship of our training every time we win a game.”


[5]中,参赛者一般都能顺理成章地译成“The spirit is always right here. To win the match, we are supposed to combine the spirit with strong skills.”“The spirit of our team remains the same, but to win takes more than that. A highly skillful team is a must as well.”等,但这里的“技术过硬”,固然可以用superb、strong skills、very skillful等,但更多是指具有超过对手的技术实力,故不妨译为:“As the morale is always there as before, one should never forget that a game is not won solely by morale but by skills that surpass those of your opponents.”


总之,既要吃透原文意思,又不要被原文的句式、标点等束缚,从而使译文得到更加妥善的处理。