2005年英语专业八级考试中的英汉翻译.docVIP

1. 引言 2005年英语专业八级考试中的英汉翻译的原文选自维吉尼亚·伍尔夫（Virginia Woolf）1926年的一篇讲演—“How Should One Read a Book?”。原文如下（要求考生翻译划线部分）： It is simple enough to say that since books have classes—fiction, biography, poetry—we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author; try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice. If you hang back, and reserve and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness, from the twist and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this, acquaint yourself with this, and soon you will find that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite. 原文通俗明白，句子结构也不复杂，较长的句子也由简单分句组成。我们曾预料考生在理解上不会有太大问题，更多的是测试考生的汉语表达。但是对近十万份试卷的评改和讨论的结果却大大出乎阅卷者的意外。80%左右的考生拙译、误译连连，分析其缘由，当归结到理解之失误，而理解之失误又可主要归结于对这篇不足200个单词的短文的文脉的整体把握不当。所谓“文脉”（unity and coherence in writing），即是文章的线索，指的是语篇中各语言成分之间的语义联系，或者语篇中一个成分与另一个可以与之相互解释的成分之间的关系。我们下面将从这方面对考生译文进行分析。 2. 译文分析 我们从评阅的试卷中摘录了较为典型的译例来分析，兼顾理解和表达两方面。为提高判断的准确性，我们在非考试环境下，让20名英语专业三年级学生在相同时间内（不使用工具书）翻译此段，然后把他们的译文和八级考生的译文进行比较，以帮助我们分析造成相关问题的原因。考生译文分析如下（下文中的 ET 指 examinee’s translation）。 (1) It is simple enough to say that since books have classes—fiction, biography, poetry—we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. 试译：既然书籍分门别类，有小说、传记、诗歌等，我们也应区别对待，从中汲取它们各自所能提供的——此话说起来再容易不过了。 此句（全段的主题句; topic sentence）并不要求考生翻