在美《爱梦想的羞怯女孩》 -英语翻译教程-中英双语赏析

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爱梦想的羞怯女孩

A Shy Dreamer

在美

Zaimei

🔥提示：标题译作A Shy Dreamer，这是精简译法，因为dreamer一词就可表示“爱梦想的女孩”，此处不用过分强调性别，标题只是文章的一部分，看完内容即可知道。

我们宿舍里没有穿衣镜，饭厅门口倒是有一面。

Our bedroom has no full-length mirror. There is one at the canteen entrance.

🎈…倒是有一面（镜子），译作there is one…，one指代full-length mirror（全身镜/穿衣镜）

每当我穿上一件漂亮的新连衣裙，我就禁不住暗暗地想往镜子里瞧瞧自己。

I always cherish a secret desire to take a peep before it at myself in a beautiful new dress.

🎈前文always可表示“每当”，此处便可用一个英语短语来译该汉语分句。“禁不住（暗暗地）”译作cherish a secret desire to（cherish是晕染了感情色彩的have），译文生动地刻画出了女孩的娇羞，比couldn’t help doing感染力要强。

但总是在要去瞧的时候就感到特别不自在而踉跄离去——总是在关键时刻打了退堂鼓。

However, each time when it comes to the fulfillment, I get seized with such an uneasiness that I literally stagger away—backing out at the critical moment.

🎈和上句一样，此处用了简缩译法，以fulfillment（实施行动）一词来译”要去瞧”的复杂概念。又，译文加了literally一词是限定stagger只指动作，并强调此种动作特点。

🎈被…（情绪）包围/笼罩be/get seized with…

《小麻雀》

想到这个，我忽然的很难过。

Suddenly I was seized with sadness.

我就是这么羞怯,简直羞怯得不可救药！

Shy I am, so helplessly!

🎈Shy I am倒装句旨在强调shy。

英语中，有些倒装是出于语法上的需要，非用倒装语序不可，具有强制性；有些则是为了达到某种修辞效果，如强调、平衡、衔接等。

我从小就对自己没有信心，这是问题的根子。

At the root of it is my diffidence by which I have been enslaved since childhood.

🎈缺乏自信diffidence

自信(self-)confidence

这种情绪使我受到一点点表扬都会难为情，使我怎么也说不出一个“不”字，也使我不敢向父母多要一分钱。

It embarrasses me at the mildest flattery, crushes my utmost efforts to say “no”, and prevents me from asking my parents for one cent more than necessary.

🎈再次用短语（at the mildest flattery）来译汉语分句（“我受到一点点表扬”），可见这是汉译英常用的技巧。

此外，这种缺乏信心的情况也影响了我对钢琴的热爱。

Among other things, diffidence has wormed its way into my love of piano.

🎈worm one’ s way into意为“渗透进来”，既然my love of piano渗进了diffidence，当然就受其影响了。

那是我14岁的时候，有一个星期天的早晨，我被一阵唱赞美诗的响亮歌声唤醒。

At the age of 14, one Sunday morning, I was woken up by a resounding hymn.

🎈“唱赞美诗的响亮歌声”→响亮/悠扬的赞美诗，现译作a resounding hymn。根据下句可知：歌声是从教堂里传来的，用resounding一词修饰比用loud合适。

我循着这上帝的召唤来到附近的一所教堂，一进教堂我就被那钢琴的乐音吸引住了，简直不能自拔。可是我父母哪儿买得起钢琴呀。

Tracing that call of God into a neighbouring church, I found myself inexorably attracted by the melody of a piano—something beyond the means of my parents.

🎈found myself attracted是“不由自主被吸引住”，inexorably译“简直不能自拔。”

🎈破折号后面又是用英语一个短语把原文一个独立句子译出了。可是我父母哪儿买得起钢琴呀→我父母买不起/办不到→超出能力beyond the means of…

🎈“不能”译作beyond

我还没有那么大的本事it is far beyond my capacity to（老舍《养花》）

不可能beyond the possible （聂绀弩《我若为王》）

不可描述beyond words

更糟糕的是，据说钢琴家都有音乐细胞，是遗传的；我想我父亲是工程师，母亲是技术员，哪会遗传什么音乐细胞呀。

To make it worse, people say a pianist is supposed to have music in the blood, but I believe I had none from my engineer father and technician mother.

🎈have sth in the blood是英语习语，sth指某种特性，in the blood指由遗传而具有，原文实指遗传的音乐天赋，因此可用上述习语来表达。

可是好多天我脑子里尽想这些，我是在梦想了。

For days on end, I kept thinking of nothing else. I had a dream.

🎈on end表示“连续地、不断地”。

例如

He would disappear for weeks on end.

他常常是连续几周不见人影。

我不是做发财的梦。为了发财我的几个好朋友都下海了，当了个体商贩。

It wasn’t a dream after gold, which enticed some of my close friends to engage in business as a self-employed trader or a street pedlar.

🎈a dream after gold按a dream (of being) after gold理解，be after指追求、搜寻…，例如：They were after the money…（他们想得到这笔钱）。“下海”只能意译为engage in business,“商贩”是个大概念，只好译成两词trader or street pedlar（等于peddler）

她们手指上戴的金戒指脖子上戴的精美项链有时也让我看得眼花缭乱, 但是透过这些东西我仿佛看见她们也有难言之隐,使我对这种发财狂望而生畏退避三舍。

I was sometimes dazzled by their gold rings or elegant necklaces behind which, however, I seemed to catch sight of skeletons in their cupboards and was frightened away from the craze for fortune.

🎈skeletons in the cupboards是习语，指不可告人的家丑，此处借译“难言之隐”。

🎈“（令人）眼花缭乱”此处译作be dazzled by，类似意思的译法多半和dazzle这个词管不了关系。

季羡林《上海菜市场》

这里面五光十色，<令人眼花缭乱>。

The rich assortment of hues and colors were dazzling.

乱花渐欲<迷人眼>

A riot of blooms begin to dazzle the eyes

失望之余，我孤独自处，被缺乏自信的情绪沉重地笼罩着，什么也干不了，只好转向梦想求得安慰，求得勇气来好高鸯远地希冀那得不到的东西。

Out of despair, I retreated into seclusion, diffidence weighing heavy on me. I could do nothing but turn to my dream for comfort, for courage to aim high and wish for the impossible.

🎈aim high本指”目标远大”，但和wish for the impossible连用则可表达“好高鹫远”之意。

茅盾《白杨礼赞》

那是一种<力争上游>的一种树，笔直的干，笔直的枝。

With straight trunks and branches, white poplars aim high.

🎈the impossible是the+adj结构，表示一类人或一类物。

我深信我要想买得起昂贵物品（对我来说，那就是钢琴），首先必须在学业上求上进，力求学历尽量高些。

I was convinced that before I could afford anything expensive (to me, it was a piano), I should climb up the academic ladder as high as possible.

🎈译文将“学业”、“学历”合并起来，使用了一个形象语汇the academic ladder。

这以后的九个年头，为了保持求学（尤其是英语学习）的高昂斗志，我压抑着对音乐的朦胧向往。

For the next nine years I carefully smothered my hazy aspiration for music to keep aflame my quest for learning, especially in English studies.

🎈smother作动词，指“压抑（情感或反应）；镇压/压制（活动或行为）”。keep aflame my quest for learning按keep my quest for learning aflame理解，aflame是形容词，指“燃烧的”，也就是此处的斗志昂扬。

我的这番努力取得了丰硕成果，我在家乡读完了中学和大学，都很顺利。

My efforts were so rewarding that I went successfully through high school and college in my hometown.

🎈译文中的so…that…结构补充出了逻辑关系。

我还考上了首都北京的一家名牌大学读第二学位。当我接到通知书时我真感动得热泪盈眶了。

When I received the admission notice for a second degree course at a prestigious university in Beijing, the national capital, tears welled up in my eyes.

🎈“考上大学”也就是“收到了录取通知”，现译作received the admission notice。

🎈涌出well up，这个短语中well是动词。well的词性丰富，不同语境中注意甄别。

我懂英语，我知道这就是我的本钱，我可以和有钢琴的人进行互助，我教他英语他让我弹琴。

I knew my command of English was my asset, for I might make a deal with a pianist who would give me access to his piano in exchange for English lessons.

🎈command of指…造诣/掌握程度/水平。

例句

I have a good command of both English and Portuguese.

我的英语和葡萄牙语都很熟练。

🎈此处“互助”从下文看相当于make a deal with（进行一种交易）。“有钢琴的人”总是会弾琴的，而pianist指a person who plays the piano,故可对应。

这个愿望实现了！

And that has come true!

🎈has come true也可写作has been realized。二者都可表示愿望实现。

时至今日，每当我手指触及雪白的琴键，准备弹一曲时，仍然感到羞怯。

To this day whenever I lay my fingers on the snow-white keyboard, ready for a melody, I still feel shy.

🎈“雪白的琴键”有点点奇怪，明明是黑白相间的hhh。

我深知自己音乐天赋有限，但我这个爱梦想的羞怯女孩却找到了一条成功之路,那就是竭尽一切努力务使梦想成真。

I am quite aware of my limited music talent, but as a shy dreamer I have found my way to success—making every effort to tum a dream into reality.

🎈“深知”可译作be convinced/convince that/be aware of/know/believe…。看见believe别一股脑译成“相信”，有时候它和think差不多。

🎈竭尽全力、不遗余力spare no effort/make every effort/do or try one’s best to do…或work/go all-out for/to…或do whatever sb can to do…

🔥必背词汇

peep      n.偷偷一瞥

英义

a quick or secret look at sth

例句

Dave took a quick peep at the last page.

戴夫迅速地瞟了一下最后一页。

diffidence     n.缺乏自信

英义

lack of confidence

例句

She overcame her natural diffidence and spoke with great frankness.

她克服了胆怯的毛病，非常坦率地说出了自己的想法。

🔥重点表达

全身镜/穿衣镜full-length mirror

饭厅门口at the canteen entrance

暗暗地瞧瞧…take a peep at

踉跄离去stagger away

被…（情绪）包围/笼罩be/get seized with…

在关键时刻打退堂鼓back out at the critical moment

受到一点点表扬都会难为情it embarrasses me at the mildest flattery

渗透进来worm one’ s way into

超出能力beyond the means of…

遗传…have sth in the blood

连续地、不断地on end

追求、搜寻…be after

下海engage in business

目标远大aim high

好高鹫远aim high and wish for the impossible

涌出well up

竭尽全力、不遗余力make every effort to do

🔥复盘测试

全身镜/穿衣镜

饭厅门口

暗暗地瞧瞧…

踉跄离去

被…（情绪）包围/笼罩

在关键时刻打退堂鼓

受到一点点表扬都会难为情

渗透进来

超出能力

遗传…

连续地、不断地

追求、搜寻…

下海

目标远大

好高鹫远

涌出

竭尽全力、不遗余力

🔥表达对比

「迄今」有几种表达？

To this day whenever I lay my fingers on the snowwhite keyboard, ready for a melody, I still feel shy.

（时至今日），每当我手指触及雪白的琴键，准备弹一曲时，仍然感到羞怯。

This is what we know so far.

下面是(迄今)我们所了解到的。

Up to now both sides in the dispute have been cautious, but now the gloves are off and a serious confrontation is expected.

（到目前为止）争论的双方都保持谨慎的态度，但现在他们已不再迴避忍让，一场恶斗即将开始。

Commodities have until now primarily featured as a diversifier in investors’ portfolios due to a tendency to rise in times of poor equity and bond market returns.

（到现在为止）商品在投资者组合主要起着多元化投资的作用，因其在股票和债券市场表现差的时候上涨。

The exhibition contains some of his best work to date.

这个展览有他（迄今为止）一些最好的作品。

未经允许不得转载：帕布莉卡 » 在美《爱梦想的羞怯女孩》 -英语翻译教程-中英双语赏析