请君掂量上下文-浅提学校翻译课程之怪现象
周一的翻译课程中，笔者遇到了一个神奇的句子：When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things.
之所以说这个很神奇，是因为课程中对它的处理方式。这句话我比较熟了，第一次看到这句话是在10年买的上海交通大学出版社毛荣贵编的新世纪大学汉英翻译教程一书中，第55页上提及该处。这句话是20世纪初的美国小说家Theodore Dreiser的长篇小说Sister Carrie，嘉丽妹妹中的一段。
该段话的原文是：
When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human tempter. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counsellor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognised for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens, then perverts the simpler human perceptions.
这段话在译员之中其实很有名，因为其中的一句“The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human tempter.”作者毛荣贵在不知其解的情况下联系了一下美国那边的教授，得到的回复却是：When I first read your problem sentence, I had no idea what it meant. Its meaning became clear only within the context of the paragraph. Thus I doubt that most college students could make much sense of this paragraph without a lot of struggle-and most would hate it!
在本土人眼中这句话都堪称无解，因此它名声在外了。书中该句的译文是：大都市里到处是狡诈的骗局，其程度并不差于比它小的多的装着人样的诱惑者。
上课时并没有提到前面说的那个神奇的句子，但也很不妥。只给出了文段的第一句，孤零零的第一句，到了she does one of two things这里自然让没有了解背景的人很困惑。这时候做老师的把译文一拿出来念，得到一片啧啧之声。其实只要把整段话拿出来，说明出处，每个人看到了后文的either。。。和or。。。都会很容易的解决掉这一句。问题就是，你为什么不把上下文联系起来，从头到尾统统的都是单句翻译，有很多单句里还夹杂着谚语俚语，孤零零的一句拿出来当然很难，可如果能提供出上下文，把文段的信息构架起来，这些俗语谚语还是有很多可以轻易搞定的。别忘了前面提到的那个教授的回复“Its meaning became clear only within the context of the paragraph. ”
当年韩寒，方舟子pk的时候，韩寒很有力的一个依据就是方舟子在批驳韩寒的东西时，引用韩寒的原文直接卡在逗号上就完了，连整句话都没弄下来，更别说是文段和全文的意思了，奇葩式的断章取义遭到了韩寒的一阵嘲笑。
林语堂先生当年就翻译做过理论总结，他是很在意单句翻译的，即“句译”，提出了“传神，字神句气与言外之意”这些观念，但又指出这一切有一个前提：译者要对于源文文字上及内容上透彻的了解，首先从整体上把握原作风格和作者的风格神韵，然后以句为单位理解源文，以句为单位写出原文。——还是从整体下手，把握了整体以后，再处理句子。而不是随便抽出来一句，上不着村下不着店，就是不妥啊。
至于When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things.这一句，毛荣贵书上的译文为“一个18岁的姑娘离家出门，她的遭遇不外乎两种”，我的版本是“摆在她前面的路也就两条了，要么她。。。，再不然就是。。。”。
这里提一下我时常转发的博客里的一条信息，一年级时候的笔译老师，水平也算是一小撮人之下万人之上了，具体内容为“刚刚看到一条学生留言，问一句话的翻译。因为一句两句解释不清楚，所以专门发篇文章，一吐为快。那句话是这样的：I've not seen such a fashion for improving the lot of those who live in less happy lands since I was a child in Britain memorizing what bits of the empire sent what goods to the mother country.看完后第一反应是不知所云，莫名其妙。我不知道该同学的原文是只有这么一句还是有上下文，但是只给我这么一句孤立语境的句子对于翻译有害无益。”
就这些了，没什么其他的了。今后的课程中如果能多些上下文的信息就好了。了。了。。了。。。
