2023“外研社·国才杯”“理解当代中国”全国大学生外语能力大赛(英语组)笔译赛项翻译解析专栏上新啦!今天小编为大家带来笔译国赛文学类翻译真题及全国亚军译文,并特邀北京外国语大学邓小文副教授点评,带领大家体会文学翻译的达意、传神与美感。
国赛真题
我当然不是“思想者”,但不是“思想者”也会有自己的“思想”,而孤独与“思想”总是如影相随的。失却了感悟的召唤,这是创作中最痛苦的时刻,你怀疑自己已江郎才尽,已堕落为蹩脚的三流工匠。你渴望有一阵狂风豪雨来洗涤枯竭的心灵,于是把废弃的稿纸胡乱地塞进垃圾袋,又恶作剧地把垃圾袋从五楼扔进花圃,然后走出书房,在郊外的山野间啸傲狂奔,或挤进狐朋狗友之间海吹神侃。这时候,你已经远离了文学,认定那是一种生命中不能承受之重。然而就在这中间的某个时刻,你心头突然亮起一道闪电,一切的混沌皆豁然开朗,所谓的感悟正向你澎湃而来,你潇洒地一抖身躯又回来了,并且深深地理解了孤独的优美和价值。
大散文呼唤一种沉雄壮阔的大手笔和大气派,但这并不排斥审美灵性的张扬。任何一种形式的文学或艺术作品,其中都应该有诗性的流动。散文是一个作家综合实力的较量,这中间包括作家的生命体验、人格精神、知识底蕴、艺术感觉和营造语境的文字功力。所谓“综合”不应理解为工匠式的拼接和堆砌(尽管有时可以操作得很精巧),而是一种诗性的重塑,有了这种重塑,散文才能在“力”和“美”两方面皆锋芒毕露,并走向各自的极致。
——摘自夏坚勇散文集《湮没的辉煌》
亚军译文展示
2023英语组笔译赛项
全国亚军
张宸 南京大学
I am certainly not a “thinker”, yet a man who is not a “thinker” can also have his own “thoughts” that more often than not come in pairs with solitude. The loss of the call of inspiration is the most distressful moment in the course of writing, as it makes you doubt if you are at your wit’s end and have been reduced to a third-rank untalented craftsman. You long for a hail of storm to wash up your drained heart, so you recklessly thrust the abandoned drafts into the rubbish bag, dump it into the garden from the fifth floor playfully, and get out of your study into the wilderness of the countryside, growling and galloping, or into the company of your playful friends, bragging and boasting. At this time, you have drifted away from literature, perceiving it as an unbearable weight on your life. At a particular moment amid this, however, a lightning will suddenly light up your heart, clearing up all the chaos. The so-called inspiration will be flooding towards you, and after a light-hearted twist of the body you come to yourself, with a thorough comprehension of the beauty and value of solitude.
The grand prose calls for a magnificent, heroic style, but this is not incompatible with the elevation of the aesthetic spirit. A poetic flow should be embedded in any genre of literature or artworks. Prose is a test for a writer’s comprehensive capabilities, which incorporates the writer’s life experience, personality, accumulation of knowledge, artistic senses, and the literary talent to create the context. “Comprehension” should not be deemed as the copy-pasting and rigid addition as a craftsman will do (though sometimes this can be a delicate operation), but a poetic reshaping with which the prose can fully manifest its power in “strength” and “beauty” and achieve excellence in both of the two aspects.
(为真实展示选手赛场风貌,文章是从iTEST 智能测评云平台中直接导出的原生作品,仅供学习分享使用。)
亚军译文有哪些可圈可点和待改进之处?大赛组委会特邀北京外国语大学邓小文副教授带来精彩点评。
专家点评
文学翻译除了要准确传达原文的内容和含义之外,更希望体现原文的神韵,要求译文本身不仅达意,而且能传神,最好还具有美感。每位读者心中最好的译文可能不尽相同,但好的译文都会有些共同之处或各自的亮点让人喜欢或叹服。
这篇译文虽然有些小瑕疵,如某些用词并不十分妥当,但胜在关键词理解准确,译文整体比较达意,逻辑衔接比较好,甚至还有些美感(尤其是第一段)。对于这一篇文学色彩浓厚、难度较大的文学段落英译来说,实属难得。
第一段
第一句原文是双否定句体现强调,选手使用了三个not来体现原义,实属用心巧妙。“孤独”译为solitude非常准确,这是全文的关键抽象概念,可见选手对于全文的理解比较到位。“江郎才尽”译为at your wit’s end,“工匠”译为craftsman都比较准确和形象。
但“将废弃的稿纸塞进”译为abandon drafts过于拘泥于字面,扔作家写废的手写稿译为discard manuscripts更准确,“扔”译为dump少了点画面感,译为toss更能体现急匆匆从五层一甩手往下抛的既视感。
Growling and galloping, bragging and boasting用了头韵修辞格,读起来朗朗上口。At this time, at a particular moment amid this, however等句间逻辑连接词的使用使得译文行文流畅,逻辑连贯。
“澎湃而来”译为flooding过于贴合字面,原文的含义是灵感迸发从心中涌出,用surge更能体现原义。“一抖身躯”“你又回来了”属于文学表达,前者译为a light-hearted twist of the body有点不知所以但也还可以意会,后者译为you come to yourself非常准确。“深深地理解了”译为thorough comprehension过于直白,且不具有美感。“优美和价值”仅用beauty一个词就足以,全篇讲的是孤独的美,并没有谈价值观,value加上反而显得突兀。
第二段
第一句“沉雄壮阔的大手笔和大气派”“审美灵性的张扬”这两个表达都非常具有文学色彩,选手译为a magnificent, heroic style, the elevation of the aesthetic spirit 算是译出了大概含义,还可以认真体会和挖掘原文的具体含义,进而在译文中进行阐释。
“生命体验”应该译为life experiences,使用复数形式。“艺术感觉”并不是强调感官“senses”,而是感受“sensibilities”。“营造语境”译为create the context过于直白,理解狭隘,其实指的就是(遣词造句的)文字功力。“堆砌”译为rigid addition比较勉强,其实是craftsman putting pieces together。“走向各自的极致”指的是作家在文学作品中展现出力和美,用achieve excellence in与语境含义稍有偏差。
总的来说,该选手语言基本功扎实,对关键词理解准确,可做到达意,整体行文流畅、逻辑连贯。若选手能更好地体会原文内涵,挖掘部分词语背后的具体含义,那么译文会更为传神、更具美感。
看完亚军的精彩译文和专家点评,大家是否对于文学翻译有了更好的理解?想要了解更多翻译技巧,点击下方橙字,获取往期精彩内容!