第五单元翻译答案
作者： 发表日期：2005-11-25 浏览次数：
第五单元答案
二、学翻译
1. The Wing-folding of the Plover
不少鸟有我们所谓的风度。为了生存的必需,它们注意使自己的飞羽保持完好无缺,爱护身体的每一终端犹如小提琴师爱护自己的手指。不妨看看鸥和一种相近的鸟,叫做鸻(héng),它们会作一种独特的体操。在空中它们同风玩耍,逗乐,翻来滚去,显然不在乎大风怎样朝它们劲吹。但一等不飞了,就滑翔而下,轻轻落脚,似乎不触及地面似的,一阵小跑后停住了。有一瞬间它们把翅膀张开,又向后掠,形态如作一侠士式鞠躬。然后它们带着一种极乐的颤动在鸟巢上安定下来。阿尔陀·利奥波特说:发明“优美”这个词的人一定看见过鸻的收翼动作。
(王佐良译)
2. Old George
我被介绍给老乔治,一个考茨物尔特的石匠。他已年过七十,但仍在干活。我看见他的时候,他在干一项快要失传的手艺:干垒,就是把快塌的旧墙推倒,用它们的材料重垒平整坚实的新墙。他是小个子,有一张满是皱纹的土灰色的脸和一个极大的上唇,看起来象一只有智慧的老猴子。他长长的一生都同石头打交道,身上到处都是小石头。他摆弄身旁的石头——还拿出了几块让我们瞧——那轻松、爱抚的样子就象女人抱婴儿似的。他本人就象是从石头生出来的,一个石矿的精灵。这位老乔治又是虔诚教徒,不谈石头的时候就用一种安静然而充满热诚的态度谈他的古老、朴素的信仰。由于是一个真正的工艺能手,知道他能干出你我干不出的绝活,他显然喜欢他的工作,不是为换得几个先令而付出劳力,而是他自己的完整表现,一种记号,表示他是还在干活的老乔治。不好的墙——不是他垒的——在倒塌,好的墙在树起,墙上的石头垒得又结实又平整,看起来愉快,心里也满意,不是那种讨厌的糙工次活。我一生里从未做过一件事像这位老石工垒墙这样的彻底和真纯。
(王佐良译)
3. Nineteen Eighty-four
一九八四年
一
正是晴朗寒冷的四月天，钟敲了十三点。温斯顿·史密斯缩紧了脖子躲寒风，快手快脚溜进胜利大厦的玻璃门——不过他的动作不够快，没能免得了一阵沙土打着旋儿跟在他的身后刮进门。
门厅里一股子清煮白菜外带破草垫的味儿。门厅的一头，墙上钉了幅彩色海报，挂在墙上未免大得出了格儿。海报上一张大脸盘，足有一米宽：一个汉子，四十五岁上下，胡髭浓黑，长相粗犷又英俊。温斯顿朝楼梯走过去——电梯，你就用不着试。即便最好的时候，电梯也很少开，何况现在，白天里又要停电。如今正在迎接仇恨周，搞节约运动，这也算一个节目哩。温斯顿住在七层楼，可他三十九岁，右脚脖子又有处静脉曲张。他只好慢慢往上爬，路上还歇了好几气。每一层楼，正对电梯间的墙上，都是那幅海报——一张巨大的脸孔凝视着你。有那么一种图画，不管你挪到哪儿，画上的眼睛给搞得老跟着你看，这幅海报也便是如此。下边还有行说明文字，道是：老大哥看着你。
他的房里，一个甜滋滋的声音读着一串什么生铁产量的数字。这声音打一块长方形的金属嵌板传出来，金属板像块模糊的镜子，镶在右边的墙上。温斯顿拧了个旋钮，声音便小了一点，可讲的话依然听得清。这装置叫电幕，它可以调低声音，却没法彻底关掉。温斯顿走到窗户前：他身材矮小，身体虚弱，一身蓝工作服（这还是党的制服哩）显得他越发消瘦。他满头金发，面色天生红润，可用的尽是些粗肥皂钝刀片，加上刚过去的寒冬，害得他皮肤挺粗糙。
玻璃窗关得很严实，可是朝窗外望一眼，依然觉出外面冷得紧。楼下的街上，一股股小旋风刮得尘土碎纸拼了命地飞转。太阳通亮，天空湛蓝，可除了满世界张贴的海报，一切都显得苍白无色。那张脸孔，还留着黑胡子，从每处要津重地朝下面盯着你直看。对面的房子，临街就有那么一幅，上面还写着：老大哥看着你——那双黑眼睛，直盯进温斯顿的心窝子。下边的街上另有张海报，扯破了一个角儿，给风吹得拍打个不停，海报上惟一的词儿英社，一会儿给盖上，一会儿又露出来。远处有架直升飞机从屋顶上掠过去，绿头苍蝇一样盘旋片刻，再划着圈儿飞也似开走，这便是巡警在窥伺人家的窗户。然而巡警其实无所谓。只有思想警察才真叫要命。
温斯顿背后，电幕上那家伙还在唠唠叨叨，讲什么生铁跟超额完成第九个三年计划的情况。这电幕在播音的同时还能接收：不管他温斯顿发出什么声音，只消比极低的耳语高一点，它便能听得见；而且，只要他呆在这金属板的视野里，就不光能给人听到，也能够给人看到。当然啦，无论何时，谁也没法弄清这会儿你是不是正给人家看。思想警察按照怎样的频率，依从何种的系统，将哪个人的线路接通，回答这样的问题只能纯粹靠猜测。甚至不妨设想，他们永远监视着所有人。起码只要愿意，他们总可以接通你的线路呀。人得在这样的假设下面生活——你发出的每一点声音，都有人暗中窃听；你做出的每一个动作，只要不在黑地里，都有人仔细审视。习惯是能够变成本能的；从这个意义上讲，人们早这样生活啦。
温斯顿背朝着电幕。这样会安全些；不过他明白，即使后背也难免暴露出问题。他的工作单位真理部就在一公里开外，这巍峨洁白的建筑，在肮脏不堪的背景之上高耸入云。他隐隐带着点厌恶，心想：哼，这就叫伦敦，一号机场的主要城市——在大洋国，一号机场还是人口第三多的省份哩。他试着想榨出点孩提时的记忆，好告诉他伦敦是不是一直如此。事情怎么会这样？他满脑子记得的，全是些十九世纪的破房子，墙头支着木条，窗户钉着纸板，波浪板盖在屋顶上，花园破败的围墙东倒西歪。到处尽是些轰炸现场，满天尘土翻飞，瓦砾堆里杂草丛生。要么，就是些给炸弹清出的大片空地，一批鸡笼也似肮脏的木制公寓突然间铺天盖地——然而毫无用处，他什么也记不住。除去一系列光亮的画面，看不到背景，弄不清细节，他的童年什么也没留下来。
(张晓辉译)
4.骆驼祥子
Camel Xiangzi
by Lao She
Xiangzi wanted to find a place to sit down and mull things over. Even if he only ended up by crying, at least he would know why. Events had moved too fast for his mind to keep up. But there was nowhere to sit, everything was covered with snow. All the little teahouses were boarded up as it was after ten, and had one been open he wouldn't have gone in anyway. He wanted to find somewhere quiet, because he knew that his tear-filled eyes would brim over any minute.
With no place to sit, he had best walk slowly on; but where should he go? In all this silver world there was no place for him to sit, nowhere for him to go. In this expanse of whiteness, there were only starving little birds and a man at a dead end sighing in despair.
Where to go? This was the problem on which to concentrate first. To a small inn? That wouldn't do. Dressed as he was, he might be robbed during the night, and anyway he shrank from all the lice there. A bigger inn then? He couldn't afford it. All he had in the world was five dollars. A bath-house? They closed at midnight, one couldn't spend the night there. There was nowhere to go.
Quite unawares, he had reached the bridge over the Zhonghai Lake. It stretched away on either side with nothing to be seen but a flurry of snowflakes. Only now did he realize that it was still snowing and, feeling his head, he found his woollen cap wet. The bridge was deserted, even the policeman on duty had disappeared somewhere. The falling snow made the few street lamps appear to be blinking. Xiangzi looked around, his mind blank.
For a long time he stood there, and the world seemed dead. There was not a sound; nothing stirred. The grey-white snow seemed to be taking this chance to flurry lightly and persistently down, to bury the whole world surreptitiously.
5.红楼梦(2)
1) Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang’s version:
A Dream of Red Mansions (An Excerpt)
by Cao Xueqin
Chapter 34
Moved by Affection, Baoyu Moves His Cousin
A Wrong Report Makes Baochai Wrong Her Brother
Dozing off, he dreamed that Qiguan had come to tell of his capture by Prince Zhongshun’s steward; after which Jinchuan appeared, in tears, to explain why she had thrown herself into the well. Half sleeping and half waking, he paid only scant attention. But then he felt himself shaken and caught the faint sound of sobbing. He opened his eyes with a start to see Daiyu. Suspecting at first that this was another dream, he propped himself up to look at her more closely. Her eyes were swollen, her face was bathed in tears: it was Daiyu beyond a doubt. He would have gazed at her longer, but the pain in his legs was so unbearable that he fell back with a groan.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he said. “Though the sun’s set, the ground is still hot. Walking here and back may make you unwell again. I’m not in any pain after my beating, just putting on an act to fool them so that word of it will get out to my father. I’m shamming actually. Don’t you worry about me.”
Daiyu was not crying aloud. She swallowed her tears in silence till she felt as if she would choke. She had a thousand replies to make to Baoyu, but not one word could she utter. At long last she sobbed:
“Never do such things again.”
“Don’t you worry,” replied Baoyu with a long sigh. “Please don’t talk this way. I would die happily for people like them, and I’m still alive.”
At this point some maids in the courtyard announced Xifeng’s arrival. Daiyu at once stood up.
“I’ll go out the back way and drop in again later,” she said.
Baoyu caught her hand protesting, “That’s a strange thing to do. Why should you be afraid of her?”
Daiyu stamped one foot in desperation.
“Look at my eyes,” she whispered. “She’d make fun of me if she saw.”
At once he released her and she slipped past his bed and out through the back court.
2) David Hawkes’ version:
The Story of the Stone (An Excerpt)
by Cao Xueqin
Chapter 34
A wordless message meets with silent understanding
And a groundless imputation leads to undeserved rebukes
He had dozed off. The shadowy form of Jiang Yuhan had come in to tell him of his capture by the Prince of Zhongshun’s men, followed, shortly after, by Golden, who gave him a tearful account of now she had drowned herself. In his half-dreaming, half-awake state he was having the greatest difficulty in attending to what they were saying, when suddenly he felt someone pushing him and became dimly aware of a sound of weeping in his ear. He gave a start. Fully awake now, he opened his eyes. It was Lin Daiyu. Suspecting this, too, to be a dream, he raised his head to look. A pair of eyes swollen like peaches met his own, and a face that was glistening with tears. It was Daiyu all right, no doubt about that. He would have looked longer, but the strain of raising himself was causing much excruciating pain in his nether parts, that he fell back again with a groan. The groan was followed by a sigh.
“Now what have you come for?” he said. “The sun’s not long set and the ground must still be very hot underfoot. You could still get a heat-stroke at this time of day, and that would be a fine how-do-you-do. Actually, in spite of the beating, I don’t feel very much pain. This fuss I make is put on to fool the others. I’m hoping they’ll spread the word around outside how badly I’ve been hurt, so that Father gets to hear of it. It’s all shamming, really. You mustn’t be taken in by it.”
Daiyu’s sobbing had by this time ceased to be audible; but somehow her strangled, silent weeping was infinitely more pathetic than the most clamorous grief. At that moment volumes would have been inadequate to contain the things she wanted to say to him; yet all she could get out, after struggling for some time with her choking sobs, was:
“I suppose you’ll change now.”
Baoyu gave a long sigh.
“Don’t worry, I shan't change. People like that are worth dying for. I wouldn’t change if he killed me.”
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when they heard someone outside in the courtyard saying:
“Mrs Lian has come.”
Daiyu had no wish to see Xifeng, and rose to her feet hurriedly.
Baoyu seized hold of her hand.
“Now that’s funny. Why should you start being afraid ofherall of a sudden?”
She stamped with impatience.
“Look at the state my eyes are in!” she said. “I don’t want them all making fun of me again.”
At that Baoyu released her hand and she bounded round to the back of the bed, slipping into the rear courtyard.
6.三国演义
1) Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang’s version
The Three Kingdoms (An Excerpt)
by Luo Guanzhong
Chapter 46
By a Ruse Zhuge Liang Borrows Arrows
Huang Gal Proposes a Stratagem and Is Beaten
The next day Zhou Yu assembled his officers and summoned Zhuge Liang to a council. The latter went there cheerfully, and after they had taken seats Zhou Yu asked, “What arms are most important in naval fighting? We shall be engaging the forces of Cao Cao soon.”
“On the river, arrows are best,” said Zhuge Liang.
“I agree with you. But we are rather short of arrows. Would you undertake to supply a hundred thousand for our next fight? Since this is for the common good, I am sure you won’t refuse!”
“I shall certainly do my best to carry out your orders,” said Zhuge Liang. “May I ask when you want the arrows?”
“Could you have them ready in ten days.
“The enemy may be here any time. Ten days would be too late.”
“In that case how long do you think you will need?”
“In three days I can give you a hundred thousand arrows.”
“We don’t appreciate jokes in the army!” said Zhou Yu.
“How dare I joke with you, commander?” protested Zhuge Liang. “Give me a written order. If I haven’t done the job in three days, I am willing to accept any punishment.”
In high good humour Zhou Yu ordered his adjutant to draw up an order forthwith. Then he drank to Zhuge Liang’s success and said, “When this task is completed, you will be rewarded.”
“It is too late to start today. I will start tomorrow,” said Zhuge Liang. “Three days from tomorrow you can send five hundred men to the river bank to fetch the arrows. “After drinking a few more cups he took his leave.
“Do you think he is up to some trick?” asked Lu Su.
“I think he has signed his own death warrant,” said Zhou Yu. “I didn’t push him into this. He asked for that formal order before the whole council. Even if he sprouts wings he can hardly escape this time. I shall just tell the workmen to hold things up and not supply him with the material he needs, so that of course he can’t produce the arrows. Then, when I condemn him, no one can protest. Go and see what he’s doing now and keep me informed.”
So off went Lu Su to see Zhuge Liang, who said, “I asked you riot to let Zhou Yu know or he would kill me. But you couldn’t hold your tongue, and now I’m in trouble. How am I to make a hundred thousand arrows in three days? You must come to my rescue.”
“You brought this on yourself,” replied Lu Su. “How can I help you?”
“I want the loan of twenty boats, each manned by thirty men. All the boats should have black cloth curtains and a thousand bundles of straw lashed to both sides. I shall make good use of them. On the third day I promise to deliver the arrows. But on no account tell Zhou Yu, or my plan will fall through.”
Although Lu Su was puzzled, when he went back to Zhou Yu he did not mention the boats. He said only that Zhuge Liang had not asked for bamboo, feathers, glue or varnish, but had some other way of producing arrows.
Zhou Yu was puzzled too but simply said, “Well, we’ll see what he has to say in three days’ time.”
Lu Su quietly prepared twenty fast ships each manned by more than thirty men, as well as the curtains and straw. The first and second days, Zhuge Liang made no move. Before dawn on the third day at about the fourth watch, he secretly invited Lu Su to his boat. When asked the reason he said, “I want you to come with me to fetch those arrows.”
“Where from?”
“Don’t ask that. You will see.”
Then Zhuge Liang had the twenty ships fastened together with a long rope and made them row towards the north bank. The night was foggy and mist lay so thick on the river that men face to face could hardly see each other. He urged the ships forward till by the fifth watch they were close to Cao Cao’s camp, then they were ordered to form a line with their prows to the west, while the crews beat drums and raised a mighty clamour.
Lu Su was alarmed and asked, “What if the enemy attacks?”
Zhuge Liang said with a laugh, “I doubt if Cao Cao will come out in this heavy fog. Let us pass the time pleasantly drinking and go back when the fog lifts.”
When Cao Cao’s troops heard the clamour and beating of drums, Mao Jie and Yu Jin hurried to report to their chief. His orders were, “If their fleet has arrived in a heavy fog like this, they must be up to some trick. Don’t do anything rash. Get the bowmen in your fleet to shoot at them. “He also sent orders to Zhang Liao and Xu Huang to take three thousand archers from their army to the bank at once to help the marines. By the time this order was delivered, the admirals had already ordered bowmen to let fly their arrows to prevent the men of Wu from attacking their camp. Soon a host of army archers also arrived, and all shot together at the river. Arrows fell like rain. Then Zhuge Liang made his crews turn so that their prows pointed east and go closer to the camp so that more arrows might hit them, while they went on sounding drums and raising a din. When the sun rose and the mist began to scatter, he gave orders for a speedy return. By then the straw on all the boats was bristling with arrows, and Zhuge Liang ordered the crews to shout, “Thank you, Cao Cao, for your arrows!” By the time this was reported to Cao Cao, the swift light boats were more than twentylidownstream, and it was impossible to overtake them. Cao Cao was sorry, but there was no help for it.
2) Moss Roberts’ version
Three Kingdoms (An Excerpt)
by Luo Guanzhong
Chapter 46
Kongming Borrows Cao Cao’s Arrows Through a Ruse;
Huang Gai Is Flogged Following a Secret Plan
The next day Zhou Yu gathered his generals together and summoned Kongming, who came eagerly. At the assembly Zhou Yu asked him, “When we engaged Cao Cao in battle on the river routes, what should be the weapon of choice?” “On the Great River, bow and arrow,” Kongming replied. “My view precisely, sir,” Zhou Yu said. “But we happen to be short of arrows. Dare I trouble you, sir, to undertake the production of one hundred thousand arrows to use against the enemy? Please favor us with your cooperation in this official matter.” “Whatever task the chief commander assigns, I shall strive to complete,” replied Kongming. “But may I ask by what time you will require them?” “Can you finish in ten days?” asked Zhou Yu. “Cao’s army is due at any moment, said Kongming. “If we must wait ten days, it will spoil everything.” “How many days do you estimate you need, sir?” said Zhou Yu. “With all respect, I will deliver the arrows in three days,” Kongming answered. “There is no room for levity in the army,” Zhou Yu snapped. “Dare I trifle with the chief commander?” countered Kongming. “I beg to submit my pledge under martial law: if I fail to finish in three days’ time, I will gladly suffer the maximum punishment.”
Elated, Zhou Yu had his administrative officer publicly accept the document. He then offered Kongming wine, saying, “You will be well rewarded when your mission is accomplished.” “It’s too late to begin today,” said Kongming. “Production begins tomorrow. On the third day send five hundred men to the river for the arrows.” After a few more cups, he left. Lu Su said to Zhou Yu, “This man has to be deceiving us.” “He is delivering himself into our hands!” replied Zhou Yu. “We did not force him. Now that he has publicly undertaken this task in writing, he couldn’t escape if he sprouted wings. Just have the artisans delay delivery of whatever he needs. He will miss the appointed time; and when we fix his punishment, what defense will he be able to make? Now go to him again and bring me back news.”
Lu Su went to see Kongming. “Didn’t I tell you not to say anything?” Kongming began. “He is determined to kill me. I never dreamed you would expose me. And now today he actually pulled this trick on me! How am I supposed to produce one hundred thousand arrows in three days? You have to save me!” “You brought this on yourself,” said Lu Su. “How can I save you?” “You must lend me twenty vessels,” Kongming went on, “with a crew of thirty on each. Lined up on either side of each vessel I want a thousand bundles of straw wrapped in black cloth. I have good use for them. I’m sure we can have the arrows on the third day. But if you tell Zhou Yu this time, my plan will fail.” Lu Su agreed, though he had no idea what Kongming was up to, and reported back to Zhou Yu without mentioning the boats: “Kongming doesn’t seem to need bamboo, feathers, glue, or other materials. He seems to have something else in mind.” Puzzled, Zhou Yu said,”Let’s see what he has to say after three days have gone by.”
Lu Su quietly placed at Kongming’s disposal all he had requested. But neither on the first day nor on the second did Kongming make any move. On the third day at the fourth watch he secretly sent for Lu Su. “Why have you called me here?” Lu Su asked. “What else? To go with me to fetch the arrows,” Kongming replied. “From where?” inquired Lu Su. “Ask no questions,” said Kongming. “Let’s go; you’ll see.” He ordered the boats linked by long ropes and set out for the north shore.
That night tremendous fogs spread across the heavens, and the river mists were so thick that even face-to-face people could not see each other. Kongming urged his boats on into the deep fog. By the fifth watch Kongming’s little convoy was nearing Cao Cao’s river base. The vessels advanced in single file, their prows pointed west. The crews began to roar and pound their drums. Lu Su was alarmed. “What if they make a sally?” he asked. Kongming smiled and replied, “I’d be very surprised if Cao Cao plunged into this fog. Let’s pour the wine and enjoy ourselves. We’ll go back when the fog lifts.”
As the clamor reaches Cao Cao’s camp, the new naval advisers Mao Jie and Yu Jin sent reports at once. Cao Cao issued an order: “The fog has made the river invisible. This sudden arrival of enemy forces must mean an ambush. I want absolutely no reckless movements. Let the archers and crossbowmen, however, fire upon the enemy at random.” He also sent a man to his land headquarters calling for Zhang Liao and Xu Huang to rush an extra three thousand crossbowmen to the shore. By the time Cao’s order reached Mao Jie and Yu Jin, their men had already begun shooting for fear the southerners would penetrate their camp. Soon, once the marksmen from the land camp had joined the battle, ten thousand men were concentrating their shots toward the river. The shafts came down like rain.
Kongming ordered the boats to reverse direction and press closer to shore to receive the arrows while the crews continued drumming and shouting. When the sun climbed, dispersing the fog, Kongming ordered the boats to hurry homeward. The straw bundles bristled with arrow shafts, for which Kongming had each crew shout in unison: “Thanks to the prime minister for the arrows!” By the time this was reported to Cao Cao, the light craft, borne on swift currents, were twentylidownriver, beyond overtaking. Cao Cao was left with the agony of having played the fool.
三、作业
1.英译汉
1)就许多方面来说，哈利·波特是个极为不同寻常的男孩。比如说，他在一年之中最恨的就是暑假。再比如，他倒是真心想做他的家庭作业，但他却被迫不得不等在深夜才能偷偷地做。而且，他碰巧是个巫师。
现在差不多已经是半夜了，他正趴在床上，被单像帐篷一样罩在脑袋上。他一手拿着电筒，枕头上放着一本打开的皮面书，是巴希达·巴沙特写的《魔法史》。哈利皱着眉头，鹰毛笔的笔尖在书页上从上而下地移动，正在寻找能帮他完成作业的材料，他的作业题是：试论十四世纪焚烧女巫的做法是完全没有意义的。(郑须弥原译，史宝辉修改)
（节选自《哈利·波特与阿兹卡班的囚徒》）
2)温斯顿突然转身，他已经给自己的脸换了副安详乐观的表情；面朝电幕的时候，这样的表情最理想啦。他走过房间，进到小厨房里。一天当中在这会儿离开真理部，他得牺牲掉食堂的中饭；他也晓得厨房里没什么吃的，只有块黑面包——那得留着当明天的早饭。他就从架子上拿了瓶清亮亮的水儿，瓶上还贴张白色的商标，简简单单写了一行字：胜利牌杜松子酒。这酒一股子油味儿，直叫人恶心，活像中国的黄酒。温斯顿倒了快有一茶杯，打起精神，灌药似地一口吞了下去。（张晓辉译）
（节选自《一九八四年》）
3)约翰·里德是个十四岁的小学生，比我大四岁，因为我才十岁。论年龄，他长得又大又胖，但肤色灰暗，一副病态。脸盘阔，五官粗，四肢肥，手脚大。还喜欢暴饮暴食，落得个肝火很旺，目光迟钝，两颊松弛。这阵子，他本该呆在学校里，可是他妈把他领回来住上一两个月，说是因为“身体虚弱”。但他老师迈尔斯先生却断言，要是家里少送些糕点糖果去，他会什么都很好的。做母亲的心里却讨厌这么刻薄的话，而倾向于一种更随和的想法，认为约翰是过于用功，或许还因为想家，才弄得那么面色蜡黄的。（黄源深译）
（节选自《简·爱》）
4)就其本身来看,大卫的身躯可以是古代的一件异常刚毅、生动的艺术品,只在我们看到他的头部的时候,我们才觉察到它有一种古代世界从未有过的精神力量。我知道这一品质——我称之为英雄的品质——不是多数人认为文化所应该包括的。它鄙视只求方便,不惜牺牲一切我们认为构成文明生活的乐趣。它是快乐的敌人。可是我们又承认蔑视物质障碍,甚至抗拒盲目的命运力量,是人的最高成就。既然说到底,文化依靠人把他的心智和精神的力量扩展到极点,我们也就必需承认米开朗琪罗的出现是西方人历史上伟大事件之一。
(王佐良译)
2.汉译英
1) Utterly unpleased, I went out of bed to answer the phone in the sitting room, where I found a group of people doing a funny group dance. On the other side of the phone was an outrageous girlfriend who said she had been waiting for me for two hours at Jingshan Park. It then occurred to me that I had offered to take her to a meal of Guangdong cuisine. I had to tell a lie—I was ill. She immediately said that she would come and see me. Tomorrow, I said, “I’ll be waiting for you in my home tomorrow.” When I was off the line I asked the dancers why they were dancing such bullshit. One of them replied, it was a task given to the Youth League of their factory. They had to learn to dance it before a certain date so they were practising it after work in my flat. I wanted to ask who they were but thought it might not have been polite to do so. So I went back to bed.
(FromFloating Out of the Sea, Tr. Shi Baohui)
2) Hearing that Na Wu was down and out, Mistress Cloud proposed to her Brother Guo that they should take him in. “Not for him,” she said, “but for the kindness of his grandfather. We can’t have the neighbours saying we’ve no sense of justice.”
Dr Guo always fell in with her proposals. He tried to find out Na Wu’s whereabouts and finally tracked him down in an inn, quite presentably turned out. Dr Guo had expected him to accept their offer with tears of gratitude. Instead Na Wu pulled a long face and tutted impatiently.
(FromNa Wu, Tr. Gladys Yang)
3)The Devotion of My Youth to Youby Feng Xiaogang (An Excerpt)
What a director said below sent shiver to my spines.
He said, “A film has to be wine, even if it has just one sip. What you make is grapes. Though very, very fresh, you have not turned them into wine. They are grapes in the beginning but by the end they are still grapes. Although some directors know this, they lack the process of fermentation. Their films are therefore a sip of wine in the beginning and another sip at the end. What is more terrible is that their films are not made from grapes or cereals. They are chemicals.”
He also said, “Xiaogang, you should make grapes into wine, instead of squeezing them into glasses of fresh grape juice.”
I have heard many criticisms about my films, mostly about their commercial nature. This director, however, has pointed out the root of the problem.
His name is Jiang Wen.
I enjoy chatting but I fear chatting with Jiang Wen because speaking with him requires a lot of effort. It becomes a tiring job when I cannot follow him or I cannot take the initiatives in conversation. I feel a sense of passivity under such situations.
For Jiang Wen, filmmaking is a divine task. It also gives him headaches. He thinks that films should be made by those who really love them. This love should be pure and flawless. You should do it no matter what. I feel embarrassed at his criteria as I think I have vulgarized it. By contrast I take filmmaking as a way to earn a living, and for this purpose I must do everything to sell my product. This is probably owing to my own circumstances and personality. I cannot sacrifice everything simply to reach the summit of it. What I consider first is to keep my loss to the minimum if I lose.
(Tr. Shi Baohui)
