释义中选词的标准 Abstract:U sing the app rop riatewo rds in version is clo sely related to smoo th exp ression of o riginal gistand style. App rop riate wo rds can also con t ribu te to vividness, concreteness and generalizat ion of language exp ression, no lack of humo r and w it in it. Th is art icle discu sses th ree m ajo r criteria—f idelity,
conciseness, and gracefu lness of wo rd cho ice in t ran slat ion. It does no t m ean ju st f inding equ ivalen t sof o riginal wo rds in target language, bu t tak ing in to fu ll con siderat ion the con tex t of the wo rds u sedand the co llocat ion betw een these and o ther wo rds, etc.
Key words: cho ice of wo rds; criteria; f idelity; conciseness; vividness
译文一: She had scarcely f in ished speak ing w hen som eone cou ld be heard talk ing and laugh ing in avery loud vo ice in the inner cou rty a rd beh ind them.
译文二: Ju st then they heard peals of laugh ter f rom the back cou rty a rd and a vo ice cried? [ 2 ]
此处对于后院的理解, 译文一译作inner cou rtyard beh ind them (后面的内院) 较译文二backcou rtyard 更合情理, 因为back cou rtyard 后面就再也没有房子了, 而林黛玉拜见外祖母的地方是荣国府的正房, 正房之后的院子应当是内院, 这样才能反映实际情况。
例2: Ideally, one day researchersw ill know enough abou t genesis of earthquake and the natu re ofpart icu lar f au lts to p ro tect quakes direct ly.
此处明眼人一眼就可以看出fau lt 译为错误有违事理逻辑, 查阅《朗文当代英语辞典》可以看到fau lt 的另一释义为a large crack in the rock s that fo rm the Earth’s su rface, 即地表遥的断层, 而不能理解为它的常用义错误。
例3:By the age of 19 Gau ss had discovered fo r h im self and p roved a rem arkab le theo rem in num ber theory know n as the law of quadrat ic recip rocity.
译文一: 高斯19 岁时已经遥地发现并证明了数论中的一个遥定理, 名谓二次互反律。
译文二: 高斯19 岁时已经遥地发现并证明了数理定理——二次互反律[ 4 ] (P121)。
译文二将num ber theo ry 误译为数理, 系不了解该遥所致, 其实它在数学上是指数论, 与数理是两个不同的概念, 可谓差之毫厘, 谬以千里。
在选词遥的同时, 还要注意选词贴切, 这是对遥选词的进一步要求。 要做到既遥又贴切地选词, 必须注意词语的基本意义(deno tat ion) 和引申意义(conno tat ion)。 词的基本意义指该词语的本身, 或客观的固有含义; 引申意义指该词语在一定的搭配或上下文中出现的其他意义, 往往比较含蓄, 带有词语遥者的主观态度或感遥彩[ 5 ] (P30)。
例4:Give m e a sen tence abou t a pub lic servan t, said the teacher.
A sm all boy rep lied, The po licem an cam e dow n the ladder p regnan t.
The teacher took the lad aside to co rrect h im , Don’t you know w hat‘p regnan t’m ean s?
Su re, an sw ered the boy conf iden t ly. It m ean s‘ca rry ing a ch ild ’.
这是运用词的基本意义和引申意义来达到幽默、俏皮的目的。 老师让学生造一个句子, 学生的本意是想说遥背着一个孩子下了梯子, 结果却说成了怀孕的遥下了梯子。 他只知道carry 的基本意义是背, 却不知道carry 的引申意义为怀孕怀胎, 他认为既然p regnan t 相当于carrying a ch ild 的意思, 也就可以表示背孩子的意思, 因而闹了笑话, 令人忍俊不禁。