张春柏 汉译英 附录二 短文翻译练习.pdf

附录二 短文翻译练习 1 附录二 短文翻译练习附录二 短文翻译练习 英译汉 英译汉 1 The History of April Fools Day How do you think April Fools Day originated Was there a historic epidemic of spring fever tomfoolery in a tiny Finnish town in the early 1800s Did a New Yorker in 1910 find a cockroach in his coffee cup and decide to recreate the experience for his officemate thereby sparking a famous April 1st lawsuit In a convincing testimonial to the saying that truth is stranger than fiction we ll tell you the story or at least present the most viable theory of how April Fools Day came to be Once upon a time back in 16th century France before computers people celebrated New Year s Day on March25 the advent of spring It was a festive time They partied steadily until April 1 In1564 when the calendar reformed and became Gregorian 格里高利历 即阳历 King Charles IX proclaimed perhaps pompously that New Year s Day should be celebrated on January 1 instead of in the spring Diehard conservatives resisted the change or perhaps didn t hear about it due to the absence of e mail and continued to celebrate New Year s from March 25 to April 1 During this period of spring festivity the more flexible French mocked the rigid revelers by sending them foolish gifts and invitations to non existent parties The victim of an April Fools Day prank was called a poisson d avril2 or an April fish because at that time of year the sun was leaving the zodiacal sign of Pisces 双鱼座 April Fools Day hit its stride in England in the 18th century and was brought to colonial America by the English Scottish and French We may never learn the true origin of April Fools Day However the deeper question facing us today is What s the best gag I can pull off 4 2 The Sphinx Laius king of Thebes was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his throne and life if his new born son should be suffered to grow up He therefore committed the child to the care of a herdsman with orders to destroy him but the herdsman moved with pity yet not daring entirely to disobey tied up the child by the feet and left him hanging to the branch of a tree In this condition the infant was found by a peasant who carried him to his master and mistress by whom he was adopted and called Oedipus or Swollen foot Many years afterwards Laius being on his way to Delphi accompanied only by one attendant met in a narrow road a young man also driving in a chariot On his refusal to leave the may at their command the attendant killed one of his horses and the stranger filled with rage slew both Laius and his attendant The young man was Oedipus who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father 附录二 短文翻译练习 2 Shortly after this event the city of Thebes was afflicted with a monster which infested the highroad It was called the Sphinx It had the body of a lion and the upper part of a woman It lay crouched on the top of a rock and arrested all travelers who came that way proposing to them a riddle with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe but those who failed should be killed Not one had yet succeeded in solving it and all had been slain Oedipus was not daunted by these alarming accounts but boldly advanced to the trial The Sphinx asked him What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet at noon on two and in the evening upon three Oedipus replied Man who in childhood creeps on hands and knees in manhood walks erect and in old age with the aid of a staff The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished The gratitude of the people for their deliverance was so great that they made Oedipus their king giving him in marriage their queen Jocasta Oedipus ignorant of his parentage had already become the slayer of his father in marrying the queen he became the husband of his mother These horrors remained undiscovered till at length Thebes was afflicted with famine and pestilence and the oracle being consulted the double crime of Oedipus came to light Jocasta put an end to her own life and Oedipus seized with madness tore out his eyes and wandered away from Thebes dreaded and abandoned by all except his daughters who faithfully adhered to him till after a tedious period of miserable wandering he found the termination of his wretched life 3 My Father My father lived in a small wooden house in western Canada where he carved himself out a fruit orchard from the hillside and the forest He had chosen it with one of the most beautiful view in the world an open valley and a river winding with mountains beyond and the Kootenay lake just visible in the north and built himself a wide window to look out on three sides This window and six Chippendale chairs which he had rescued in a farmer s sale and a few of his sketches on the walls were all the luxury of the place I spent two winters with him and once brought him a pot of primulas while the snow still lay heavy all around but he soon took occasion to say casually that he was not fond of forced plants they took away something for him of the first rapture of the spring His loves were very deep and gentle they seemed not to be centered in islands of possession like most human loves but to be diffused among people and animals and plants and even the shapes of things he saw for he was a most sensitive artist He lived among flowers and was first in his valley to send for bulbs from Holland and to fill his orchard with daffodils under the flowering trees He was a good rider and a great walker and fond of the woodsmen and the hunters and those who spend half the year away from their fellow men visiting traps in the mountain forests Four years before his death when he was seventy two a stroke took away from him the open air life he loved and though by the strength of his will he managed step by step with the passing months to walk a mile or so with a stick to lean on most of his time came to be spent in the windows that looked out on his view Here he told me the changing clouds and the light of the river would fill his mind with 附录二 短文翻译练习 3 pleasantness for hours at a time and lead his thoughts into endless variation and I believe this to be true and that he was happy for not only did he never complain but his whole atmosphere was one of serenity and peaceful interest in all things as they came And later when I have thought of happiness and what it may be I have always seen his gentle old head in the window with the hillside full of tame pheasants and pigeons and the valley and the mountains beyond and have felt that the secret must have something in it of those older worlds which were as real to him as ours 4 Cultural Conflict International communication is communication between members of different cultures This definition is simple But the process is complex Intercultural communication involves differing perceptions attitudes and interpretations We know that even two people from the same culture can have communication problems People can intentionally hurt each other by something they say or do Isn t it logical then that communication problems can be compounded among people who do not have the benefit of shared experiences i e language and culture Cultures do not communicate individuals do Everyone has a unique style of communication But cultures determine a general style for their members The relationship of the individual to his culture is analogous to an actor and his director The actor puts his own personality into his acting but is nevertheless influenced by the director We are not always aware of the subtle influences of our culture Likewise we may not perceive that others are influenced by their cultures as well Problems and misinterpretations do not result every time members from two cultures communicate However when cultural conflicts do arise they may be perceived as personal rather than cultural In the following example it is a cultural misunderstanding that creates negative feelings and confusion A young woman from one culture is looking out of the window and sees a male acquaintance from another culture He signals to her by puckering his lips She quickly looks away from the window Later she ignores him He is confused and she is angry The misunderstanding was due to the woman s failure to understand the man s nonverbal signal In her culture his gesture conveys a sexual advance According to his culture he was only saying nonverbally Oh there you are I ve been looking for you The woman s misinterpretation resulted in her angry reaction and his confusion If the two had known more about each other s nonverbal cues they could have avoided the cultural conflict Some misunderstandings are insignificant and can be easily ignored or remedied Other conflicts are more serious in that they can cause misunderstandings and create persistent negative attitudes toward foreigners Difficulties in intercultural communication arise when there is little or no awareness of divergent cultural values and beliefs In cross cultural interaction speakers sometimes assume that what they believe is right because they have grown up thinking their way is the best This ethnocentric assumption can result in negative judgments about other cultures Another manifestation of ethnocentric attitudes is that people become critical of individuals from different cultures 附录二 短文翻译练习 4 Sometimes negative reactions do not result from actual interaction but rather from the fixed preconceived beliefs we have about other people These over generalized beliefs or stereotypes frequently shape people s perceptions of each other Stereotypes originate and develop from numerous sources such as jokes textbooks movies and television Movies about cowboys and Indians portray cowboys as civilized and Indians as wild and primitive A child who knows about the American Indian only through watching these movies will have a distorted and false image of this group of people Stereotypes perpetuate inaccuracies about religious racial and cultural groups Stereotyped beliefs prevent us from seeing people as individuals with unique characteristics Negative stereotypes lead to prejudice suspicion intolerance or hatred of other cultural groups Cultural conflicts occur as a result of misinterpretations ethnocentrism stereotypes and prejudice Preventing these conflicts is possible with increased awareness of our own attitudes as well as sensitivity to cross cultural differences Developing intercultural sensitivity does not mean that we need to lose our cultural identities but rather that we recognize cultural influences within ourselves and within others 5 The Pleasures of Reading All the wisdom of the ages all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries are easily and cheaply available to all of us within the covers of books but we must know how to avail ourselves of the most unfortunate people are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books If I am interested in people in meeting them and finding out about them some of the most remarkable people I ve met existed only in a writer s imagination then on the pages of his book and then again in my imagination I ve found in books new friends new societies new words If I am interested in people others are interested not so much in who as in how Who in the books includes everybody from science fiction superman two hundred centuries in the future all the way back to the first figures in history How covers everything from the ingenious explanations of Sherlock Holmes to the discoveries of science and ways of teaching manners to children Reading is a pleasure of the mind which means that it is a little like a sport your eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader Reading is fun not because the writer is telling you something but because it makes your mind work your own imagination works along with the author s or even goes beyond his Your experience compared with his brings you to the same or different conclusions and your ideas develop as you understand his Every book stands by itself like a one family house but books in a library are like houses in a city Although they are separate together they all add up to something they are connected with each other and with other cities The same ideas or related ones turn 附录二 短文翻译练习 5 up in different places the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in literature but with different solutions according to different writings at different times Books influence each other they link the past the present and the future and have their own generations like families Wherever you start reading you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas and in the long run you not only find out about the world and the people in it you find out about yourself too Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be If you concentrate on books somebody tells you you ought to read you probably won t have fun If you put down a book you don t like and try another till you find one that means something to you and then relax with it you will almost certainly have a good time to read you probably won t have fun If you put down a book you don t like and try another till you find one that means something to you and then relax with it you will almost certainly have a good time and if you become as a result of reading better wiser kinder or more gentle you won t have suffered during the process 6 COMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS Samuel Smiles A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps for there is a companionship of books as well as of men and one should always live in the best company whether it be of books or of men A good book may be among the best of friends It is the same today that it always was and it will never change It is the most patient and cheerful of companions It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress It always receives us with the same kindness amusing and instructing us in youth and comforting and consoling us in age Men often discover their affinity to each other by the love they have each for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both have for a third There is an old proverb Love me love my dog But there is more wisdom in this Love me love my book The book is a truer and higher bond of union Men can think feel and sympathize with each other through their favorite author They live in him together and he in them Books said Hazlitt wind into the heart the poet s verse slides in the current of our blood We read them when young we remember them when old We feel that it has happened to ourselves They are to be had very cheap and good We breathe but the air of books A good book is often the best um of a life enshrining the best that life could think out for the world of a man s life is for the most part but the world of his thoughts Thus the best books are treasuries of good words the golden thoughts which remembered and cherished become our constant companions and comforters They are never alone said Sir Philip Sidney that are accompanied by noble thoughts The good and true thought may in times of temptation be as an angel of mercy purifying and 附录二 短文翻译练习 6 guarding the soul It also enshrines the germs of action for good words almost always inspire to good works Books possess an essence of immortality They are by far the most lasting products of human effort Temples and statues decay but books survive Time is of no account with great thoughts which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author s minds ages ago What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good Books introduce us into the best society they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived We hear what they said and did we see them as if they were really alive we sympathize with them enjoy with them grieve with them their experience becomes ours and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe The great and good do not die even in this world Embalmed in books their spirits walk abroad The book is a living voice It is an intellect to which one still listens Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old The imperial intellects of the world are as much alive now as they were ages ago 7 Significance of Wildlife Protection With rapid extinction of many wild species more and more people come to realize the great significance of wildlife protection We have to understand the problem in a new light that we protect ourselves through protecting wildlife On the one hand any species of widlife as a critical joint of the ecological chain helps to establish the ecological balance If one species becomes extinct it will disappear forever What is more it will inevitably result in the extinction of a chain of wildlife and the disruption of the ecological balance Unpredictable disasters may occur On the other hand with the development of modern science and technology man is just beginning to learn about wildlife For example if wild rubber trees had been extinct two centuries ago there would be no auto industry today Moreover wildlife preserves unknown genetic codes which may turn out to be of vital importance and free human beings from fatal diseases and natural disasters in the future It is imperative for us to protect wildlife right now before it is too late because man has already polluted the environment seriously and threatened the existence of many wild species Let take actions to protect wildlife Learning to live in harmony with all wildlife is part of modem civilization 8 COLNING CLONING is suddenly in the news thanks to revolutionary techniques developed by genetic engineers and other new breeds of biologists The newspapers are full of stories describing how scientis