林巍《日本人的极端》 ~ 文学翻译-经典英译-中英双语赏析

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The Japanese Extreme
《日本人的极端》

From my experience, I know the Japanese are very serious about their work. In Australia, I was once a tour guide for a Japanese group. After receiving two private phone calls for a few minutes, one of the team members came to me and said: “Shi go to was hi go to de su! W aka ri ma su ka?” (“Business is business, do you understand?”) which left me an indelible impression.
日本人做事极其认真，对此我有着切身的体会。在澳大利亚，我为一个日本代表团做导游时，接到两个“私人”电话，聊过一阵。之后，一个团员走到我跟前说，“仕事は仕事てす！分かりますか？”（工作就是工作！你懂吗？）。对此我刻骨铭心。
Surely, the Japanese work ethics is highly desirable. Once they decide to do something, they want to be the best. National characteristics of this kind can be both good and bad depending on their orientation. A Japanese friend of mine told me that they can’t even trust themselves since it is so easy for them to go to extremes if not confined by external forces. Abolishing Japan’s military troops after World War II was undoubtedly one of the safest ways to ensure peace.
无疑，日本人的这种工作态度是值得推崇的。他们不做则矣，做则要做到最好。当然，这种民族性格，若用对了地方是好事，若方向错了，也很危险。一位日本朋友对我说，对于日本人的这种极端性格，他们自己甚至也会怀疑自己，即需要某种外力加以约束。所以，二战后取消了日本的军队，无疑是一种保险的做法。
Historically, given the fact that the Japanese culture didn’t encourage egocentrism in the way the Chinese had profoundly, they developed “novelism” to embrace advantages of other nations to complement this cultural difference.
就历史渊源而言，日本人没有中国人的“自我中心主义”，即认识到自己没有深厚的文化底蕴，所以必须以他人之先进，补自己之不足，但却由此形成了“最新主义”。
The guiding principles for the Japanese to capture foreign advantages are summarized in three words: preservation, innovation and culmination. Preservation, is to firmly lay a solid national foundation; innovation, to break through the original pattern and create something new; and culmination, to reach the top of all achievements.
日本人一般的对外借鉴原则是“守”、“破”、“离”。“守”是指基本功要扎实，“破”是要在此基础上打破原有模式，而“离”则是要脱离原本，以达到最高境界。
Japanese borrowing is not an ordinary practice; it always pursues the highest standard of Japanese products, retaining their best qualities but adding new features.
日本人并不满足于一般的“拿来主义”，而是在内容、至少在外观上加以改造，以制出有自己特色的made in Japan的产品，从而追求“最新”。

重点单词
complementn. 补足物，补语，余角 vt. 辅助
culminationn. 顶点；高潮
minutesn. 会议记录，(复数)分钟
encouragevt. 鼓励，促进，支持
desirableadj. 值得有的，令人满意的，有吸引力的 n. 有吸引
extremeadj. 极度的，极端的 n. 极端，极限
ethicsn. 道德规范
patternn. 图案，式样，典范，模式，型 v. 以图案装饰，仿造
embracev. 拥抱，包含，包围，接受，信奉 n. 拥抱
preservationn. 保存

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