英语翻译学习笔记 找点活

一、解说
1. 在旧社会，我们评剧演员常常挣钱不够吃饭，艺人们大都是拉家带口的，生活困难。In the old society, pingju players seldom made enough to live on, and so most were saddled with big families their life was hard.
    原句中的“我们”就是指“评剧演员”，而且是泛指，故无须译出；“player”有复数后就表示泛指。后面译文中“life”前面相应用“their”，而不用“our”。

2. 演员们唱完戏还要各自找点儿活干，有人拉排子车，有人卖破烂，卖烟卷儿，当小工，拾烟头是普遍现象。Apart from acting they had to find other work. Often they pulled handcarts, sold junk or cigarettes, hired themselves out as coolies, or collected cigarette stubs.
    “演员们唱完戏”在译成英语时不要用时间状语，它并不是指演员们唱完戏后再去找活干，而是指除了唱戏之外还要找活干以贴补家用。
    如果把“……是普遍现象”译作“...was a common phenomenon”太正式一点。译文中用“often”恰到好处。

3. 下雨或阴天回戏，不响锣就不给钱，是那时的规矩。If a performance was cancelled because of bad weather, the rule in those days was: No show, no pay.
    “回戏”就取消演出，“不响锣”指不演出。

4. 腊月二十三封箱，把“祖师爷”请到前台去，后台冷冷清清，演员们就更苦了，要等到年初一开戏了，才能挣到钱。On the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, when theatres closed and the patron saint of actors was invited to the front stage, leaving the backstage deserted, actors were even worse off, unable to earn any more until the reopening on New Year's Day.
    “腊月二十三”就是农历二十三。“the patron saint”是守护神的意思。 “leaving the backstage deserted”是现在分词短语作状语，表示伴随状态。“unable to earn any more until the reopening on New Year's Day”是形容词短语作主语补足语。“unable to earn any more until the reopening on New Year's Day”采用了反译法。
    注意全句的译法：把“腊月二十三”作为一个时间状语，然后把在这一天做的事情以一个“when”引导的从句给出，主句是“actors were even worse off”。
    从这个句子的英汉对照可以进一步看出，汉语的叙事多靠并列结构（并列分句和并列谓语），各成分之间的顺序主要靠时间顺序和逻辑顺序来展开；而英语可以通过动词的变化来表达动作发生的先后顺序，而且大量使用分词和从句，灵活性很大。

5. 我家里生活苦，父亲做小买卖，妈妈是家庭妇女，弟弟妹妹多；家里最大的是我，才十三岁，就唱戏养家了。My family was hard up, with Father a peddler, Mother a housewife, and so many children to feed. At thirteen, as the eldest child, I acted to help support the family.
    碰到长句时采用分译法是常用的手段。本译文把后一分句译成一个单句很自然。
    前一分句只把“我家里生活苦”处理成一个单句，后面的三个并列成分以一个介词短语译出，处理得很成功。介词“with”用以表示方式、情况、环境或条件（indicating the manner, circumstances or condition in which sth is done or takes place）。

6. 早晨去喊嗓子，我带着一个小篮拾煤核，为了回家取暖。Each morning when I went out to practice singing in the open air, I took a little basket to scrounge for cinders for our stove.
    虽然汉语里是“为了回家取暖”，而英语应译成“for our stove”。当英汉不能一一对应时，应灵活处理，根据译入语的表达习惯而定。
    “scrounge”意为：get (sth) by borrowing or taking it without permission借得或擅取（某物）。
    例：1) She's always scrounging (money) off her brother. 她总找哥哥借钱。
        2) I managed to scrounge the materials to build a shed. 我设法弄点材料搭个棚子。
    “cinder”意为：small piece of partly burnt coal, wood, etc that is no longer burning but may still be hot煤渣，炭渣，炉渣等（不再燃烧但仍可能有余热）。

7. 拾煤核也要放聪明点儿，常常换换地方，为的不受那些野男孩子的欺负。Even when scrounging for cinders you had to have your wits about you and shift from place to place to avoid those mischievous boys who banded together to collect cinders too.
    原文的后半句与下一句原文合并在一起翻译了，这样译文比较紧凑。主要的含义体现在“mischievous”一词中，至于如何欺负，下面有具体的描述，这里简译不会造成任何理解上的问题。
    “have/keep one's wits about one”意为：be/remain alert and ready to act时刻警惕；随机应变。
    例：You need to keep your wits about you when you're dealing with a man like that.同那种人打交道得随机应变。

8. 他们看见女孩拾煤核就捣乱，揪我的小辫，向我身上扔虫子，吓得我看见他们就躲。Because when they found me scavenging they made trouble, pulling my plait or throwing insects at me, so that the sight of them frightened me away.
    原文中的“女孩”应是泛指，但译文将其处理成“me”，是特指，主要是想与下半句吻合。男孩子看见女孩子就要欺负这层意思在上一句已有所体现，所有这里改译成特指的“我”应该是可以接受的。
    “scavenge”意为：search through waste for items that one can use （指人）在垃圾堆里寻找有用之物。
    例：You can often scavenge nice bits of old furniture from skips. 从废物堆里往往能捡到一些挺好的旧家具。

9. 封箱回戏，等于演员们封嘴，大家可苦了。When that happened, actors' pay stopped and they were hard put to it.
    “封箱回戏”是上一句的重复，英文应尽量避免重复，故用“When that happened”来表述。“等于演员们封嘴”也是行话，意思就是演员的工资停发了，英文只能用意译的方式处理。
    “put to it”的意思是“使处于困境”。“they were hard put to it”是被动语态。

10. 各自找生活路子，我们女孩子就做点女孩子能做的活。Each had to fend for himself, and we young actresses did whatever work we could pick up.
    “fend for oneself”意为：take care of or look after oneself; support oneself照顾自己；自谋生计；独立生活。
    例：It is time you left home and learnt to fend for yourself. 你应该离家自立了。

11. 我同几个女孩子去东亚毛纺织厂，分线头、扫地等干点杂活。I went with some other girls to the East Asia Woollen Mill to do odd jobs like unraveling strands of wool or sweeping the floor.
    “当小工”和“干点杂活”在意义上是重复的。译文已作了取舍。另外，汉语是“分线头、扫地等干点杂活”，而英文是“to do odd jobs like unraveling strands of wool or sweeping the floor”，注意语序的差别。

12. 这个号码就是上工的证明。That number showed that we were taken on.
    “take sb on”意为：employ sb; engage sb雇用某人；聘用某人。
    例：She was taken on as a graduate trainee. 她应聘为新毕业的实习生。