美文英汉翻译

1、Lesson 7 Journey Upthe Nile (Excerpt 1)1. Egypt, wrote the Greek historian Hecataeus, is the gift of the Nile. No other country is so dependent on a single lifeline. Egypts very soil was born in the Niles annual flood; with the flood came the life-giving mud that made Egypt the granary of the ancien

2、t world. And as rain fell in the Ethiopian highlands and the snows melted in the Mountains of the Moon, the river was everlastingly renewed.沿尼罗河而上（节选1）希腊历史学家赫卡泰奥斯 写道：埃及是尼罗河赠送 的礼物。再没有什么国家 对单一生命线如此依靠。 埃及的土壤都是由尼罗河 每年的洪水冲上来的。洪 水带来了泥土，万物得以 生长，使埃及成了古代世 界的粮仓。埃塞俄比亚高 原上的的雨水和月亮山上 融化的积雪，为尼罗河提 供了无穷无尽的水源。2. This

3、 is the best place on earth,” said Ahmed, an Egyptian fellah, or farmer, I encountered in the Nile Delta, that incredibly fertile 8,500-square-mile triangle between Cairo and the Mediterranean coast. The delta and the narrow Nile Valley to the south make up only 3 percent of Egypts land but are home

4、 to 96 percent of her population. Here nearly 48 million people live in an area only slightly larger than Maryland. The rest of Egypt “这是世界上最好的地 方，”阿赫迈德对我说。 他是我在尼罗河三角洲遇 见的一位农民（当地人管 农民叫“夫埃拉”）。从开 罗到地中海之间的这块八 千五百平方公里的三角地 带，土壤异常肥沃。三角 洲到南边狭窄的尼罗河谷 只占埃及领土的百分之 三，却有百分之九十六的 人口住在那里。这块土地 比美国马里兰州略大一点 儿，住着大约四千八百万

5、 人口。剩下的地方都是沙 漠。is desert.3. Truly Allah hasblessed us,” Ahmedexclaimed piously. Soil,water, sun 一 we can growanything!”“真主可真的是保佑我们 啊！”阿赫迈德虔诚的说 道。“只要有土，水，和 阳光 我们种什么都 行！4. In the gathering duskAhmed and his fivecompanions had invited meto join them. Their galabiasand turbans stained by thesweat and di

6、rt of a longdays work, they sat in frontof a wayside shop, enjoyingthree of the best things inlife along the Nile 一 tea,conversation, and the water在傍晚的聚会上，阿赫迈 德和五个同伴早就约我一 起玩儿。经过一天的劳作， 他们的袍子和头巾沾满了 汗水和泥土。这时他们坐 在路边一家商店的门口， 享受着尼罗河沿岸人们生 活中最大的三件乐事喝茶、聊天、抽水烟。在 附近一条水渠旁，驴子背 上驮着刚割的苜蓿，等着 主人牵它们回家，时而发 出急促的嘶叫声，和浇地

7、 用的水泵不断发出的突突pipe. At the edge of a nearby canal, donkeys laden with freshly harvested alfalfa, waited for their masters to lead them home, braying a fretful counterpoint to the steady thud of an irrigation pump.5. All this suggested ancient harmonies. Yet the Nile has been changed by modern man in w

8、ays not yet fully understood. In 1971 engineers and workers completed the Aswan High Dam, nearly 600 miles upriver from Cairo toward声交织在一起。所有的一切使人感到古代 的和谐。而现代的人们， 以自己并不完全理解的方 式改变着尼罗河。1971年， 工程师和工人们建成了阿 斯旺高坝。这座高坝在从 开罗沿尼罗河向苏丹边境 走去，大约六百英里的地 方。这是自修建金字塔以 来最大的公共工程了。过 去给农民带来灾难的水旱 灾害，现在不再发生了。work tothe grea

9、test public work to化，工业也用上了水坝发 出的电力。化，工业也用上了水坝发 出的电力。the Sudanese frontier. It is埃及的农业也发生了变但这也带来了负面影响。6. But there have been但这也带来了负面影响。洛塞河是尼罗河入海处的be undertaken in Egypt since the Pyramids. The devastating floods and droughts that imposed a recurrent tax of suffering on the fellahip no longer occur.

10、Egyptian agriculture has been transformed, and industry is benefiting from power generated by the dam.negativeeffects also. 一个支流，我站在河口的Standing on a sandy beach沙滩上看到一个小镇，感到迷感不解。这仿佛是一这仿佛是一个被人遗弃的小镇，一片个被人遗弃的小镇，一片at the mouth of the Rosettabranch of the Nile, I was puzzled by what seemed a ghost town -

11、a sad vista of crumbling buildings, smashed windows, and broken wires dangling from utility poles. One house teetered drunkenly, half in, half out of the sea.7. Last summer, people stayed in those rooms - this was a summer resort,” said a voice behind me. The speaker was a young EgyptiannamedMuhamma

12、d, member of a team from Alexandria that 萧条的景象，房子濒于倒 塌，窗户破碎，断了的电 线挂在电线杆上。有一所 房子好像喝醉了的人一样 摇摇晃晃，一半泡在海里， 一半在陆上。“去年夏天，那所房子还 有人住，这是一个避暑胜 地，”在我身后有人这样 说道。说话的是一位埃及 青年，名叫穆罕默德，他 是一个考察队的队员，是 专门从亚历山大港到这个 荒芜的村庄来考察沿海地 区水土流失情况的。“海 水越来越往里边来，”穆 罕默德说。他指着坐落在 had come to this abandoned village to study coastal erosion.

13、 Now the sea is moving in,” Muhammad said. He pointed to a lighthouse perched on a tiny island a couple of miles offshore: That lighthouse used to be on land. About six years ago it became an island. Day by day the sea is eating the land 一 the dam has stopped the sediment of the Nile from replenishi

14、ng the shoreline.”8. As we chatted, a brightly painted sardine 离海岸几英里的小岛上的 一座灯塔说：“那灯塔本 来是在陆地上的。大约在 六年前它成为了一个小 岛。海水一天天的冲刷着 陆地一一大坝已经使尼罗 河的沉积物不能沉积下来 加固海岸线。”我们正在聊着，只见一条 颜色鲜艳的画着沙丁鱼船 抛锚了。船长上了岸和我 boat dropped anchor. The captain came ashore and joined our conversation. Before they started the High Dam 25 y

15、ears ago,” he said, the Nile mud had a lot of food in it, and so the sardines gathered near the mouth of the river to feed. Now there is no mud, and no food for the fish 一 theyve left us.”9. If all this can happen in 25 years, what will happen after 50 years, or 100 or 200?” asked 们聊天。他说“25年前， 在他们修建

16、大坝之前，尼 罗河的泥沙里面有很多可 吃的东西，所以沙丁鱼就 聚集在河口找食吃。现在 泥沙没有了，鱼没有吃的 了，也就不来了。”“如果说25年就发生这么 多的变化，50年、100年、 200年之后又会怎样 呢？ ”穆罕默德问道。Muhammad.Tombs and temples ofancient Egypt follow theNile well into Sudan.Driving southward fromCairo into the valley, Ientered a landscape thatowed little to the presentera. For the nex

17、t 1,800miles the thin blue ribbon ofthe Nile, flowing slowlynorth, unwound over brownsoil and green fields, someonly a few yards wide,others as broad as an Iowacornfield. At the edge of thefields rising in dramatichills or stretching flat to the尼罗河沿岸直到苏丹镜内 很远的在方，到处可见古 埃及的坟墓和寺庙。我从 开罗驱车南行，进入尼罗 河谷，这里的景

18、色还没有 受到多少现代的影响。从 这里可往前800英里，尼罗 河像一条细细的蓝色丝带 缓缓的流向北方，沿途穿 过棕色的土地和绿色的田 野。这里的田地窄的不过 几码，宽的则赶得上美国 爱荷华州的玉米田。田地 外边是寸草不生的棕色沙 漠，有的地方突然隆起像 是小山，有的地方则平平 地伸向地平线。horizon, lay the brownbarren deserts.I had the illusion that I was driving through one immensely long, narrow farm. The villages and towns were usually pe

19、rched on the edge, so as not to waste arable soil and because there was a need, before the High Dam tamed the Nile, to live beyond the reach of the annual floods. The road followed the我感到仿佛是开车穿过一 个狭窄而极长的农场。大 小村镇一般都处在田地边 上，这是为了不浪费耕地， 同时也是因为用高坝控制 尼罗河水之前，有必要住 得远一点，以躲避每年发 生的洪水。公路是顺着尼 罗河修筑的，有的过庄稼 地，有时像是划

20、的一条黑 线，将庄稼与沙漠截然分 离。course of the Nile, nowpassing through the fields,now drawing a black lineseparating them from the desert.At El Awamia, just south of Luxor, I watched farmers harvest sugarcane. A village elder, Amin Ibrahim, invited me into his house and gave me a cheerier view of the effects of

21、the Aswan High Dam than I had heard before. Before the dam we were obsessed with the flood - would it be too high or too low? said Amin. Like all the generations of my family back to the pharaohs, I used to plant my 就在勒克索南面的爱阿瓦 米亚，我看到农民们在收 获甘蔗。阿明伊布哈依姆 邀请我到他家并讲述了阿 斯旺高坝的景况比我 以前听到的更令人激动的 场面。阿明说：还没有修 坝的

22、时候，我们老是惦记 着洪水今年的洪水会 太大呢？还是比较小呢？ 从法老之辈开始，我们祖 祖辈辈种庄稼，但从来不 知道是否能有收成。现在 我们再不用担心了，因为 我们知道利用水，并知道 水量的多少，我们第年可 收三季庄稼。家家户户都 有电。在浇灌田地方面， 消耗已经代替桔槔。过去crops and never know if I would harvest. Now there is no fear; we know there will be water, and how much there will be. And we can get three crops a year instead

23、 of one. There is electricity in our houses and to run pumps, so we do not have to work the shaduf. We used to go to the house of a rich man to hear the radio. Now, since we grow crops all year, we buy our own radios and even televisions.”我们常到富有人家听收音 机，现在自从我们一年到 头都能种植庄稼，我们买 了自己的收音机，甚至电 视机。”Judicious

24、ly,Amin坦白地说，阿明承认修坝也有不好的一面，“土地比conceded that there was过去更贫瘠，因为过去有another, less happy, side to尼罗河带来的泥沙使土地肥沃，现在却没有了那种the story: The land is泥沙。我们不得不花费很poorer, because the mud多钱来买化肥。即使这样，that used to come with the庄稼还是减产。”Nile flood has stopped. We must use fertilizers that cost a lot of money. Even so, t

25、hecrops are less.”他领我穿过他家附近的田He led me through fields地，地面上覆盖着盐碱，near his house. The ground现在不像以前了，河水不was encrusted with salt.泛滥，盐分就冲不走了。”The flood does not carry阿明解释道。过去，尼罗 河的洪水每年为沿岸的田away the salt as before,”地带来二千吨的淤泥。当Amin explained. The annual洪水即时，浸入土壤的水flood of the Nile used to排出内部盐分，并把盐分deposit

26、 as much as 20带到地中海。这也是一种 大自然循环和净化系统。million tons of silt on the fields along the river. As the flood receded, the water draining through the soil leached out the salts and carried them off the Mediterranean. It was a naturalsystem ofreplenishmentandcleansing. Today this treasury of silt is trapped

27、behind the dam, and there is no effective drainage system.现在宝贵的泥沙被水坝挡 住了，却没有除盐的有效 办法。(from National Geographic Magazine)Notes:A. the gift of the Nile译作尼罗河送来的礼物”富有历史沧桑感，语言生动形象。B.为使译文通顺易懂，把插入语处理成主句形 式，其余部分作其宾语从句。was born是一个形象性的说法，如译作“出生”则行文不通。为保存原文语言的生动形象，译作“带来”。3. A.本句为倒装句；B. the life-giving mud译作万物得

28、以生长的 泥土”。原文中as引导一个状语从句，主句是被动语 态形式。翻译时，用从句中的主语“雨水”和“积雪，作整个句子的主语，并且整个句子译 作主动语态形式，这样较符合汉语表达习惯。everlastingly renewed的字面意思为不断得到 更新”，不过根据上下文，还是译作-为尼罗河） 提供了无穷无尽的水源”较顺当。but are home to 96% of her population” 按字面为“却是96%的人口的家”。译作“却有96%的人 口住在这里”，更符合汉语表达习惯。make up组成，在此处可译为“占”。6. A. Allah指真主“安拉”。B.soil, water, s

29、un为了强调这三者对作物生长的 重要性，采用名词并列形式，翻译时可把主语 和谓语补上“我们拥有土地、水和阳光”。in the gathering dusk这是一个形象性的说法，汉语译不出来，译作“天色渐渐暗了下来”。A. galabia袍子；turban头巾，此二者都为穆斯林教徒用物；注意句中独立结构、伴随状语；译文的第二句句首加上这时候”，使前后联 系更紧密；原文用三个名词 tea, conversation and the water pipe代指三件事情，翻译时采用增译法增 加动词喝茶、聊天、抽水烟”。canal引申为“水渠” ；fretful烦燥的；acounterpoint to s

30、omething 在这里是比喻用法，意 为“和形成对比”、“和交织在一 起”。ancientharmonies字面意思是古代的和谐”，通过上文可以看出此处描写的是一种生活气氛， 因此可以增译为“古代的和谐气氛”。为免行文艰涩，语意模糊，把原文中状语in waysnot yet fully understood用增译法处理成一个分 句，放在后面。A. fellahin是fellah的复数形式；tax在此意为“负担”、“重负”、“影响”，不能译作“税。B.根据原文时态的应用，译文中恰当地添加了“过 去”和“现在”两词。standing后面是一个很长的状语，译文将其拆成分句处理，句子比较好安排。 g

31、host town 意为废弃的城镇 ”，a sad vista of . 是ghost town的同位语，a sad vista of后跟的名 词都被译作一个一个分句，这样更符合汉语表 达习惯。vista意为“深景”、“远景”。teetereddrunkenly是一种拟人的说法，描述房屋像人喝醉一样摇摇晃晃，一半在海里面，一半 在岸上。a team根据上下文意为 考察队；同位语及that- 定语从句皆拆译为汉语分句。(the sea is) eating the land 须对动词 eat 引申翻译 为冲刷一般过去时的时间状语从句转译成进行中的并 行动作。Tombs and temples o

32、f ancient Egypt follow the Nile well into Sudan.本句若按字面译作古埃及的坟墓和庙宇沿尼罗河 伸入苏丹境内很远则行文不通，也令人费解。把原句 主语转换成宾语翻译更好：尼罗河沿岸直到苏丹境内很远的地方，到处可见古埃及的坟墓和庙宇。Driving southward from Cairo into the valley, I entered a landscape that owed little to the present era.译A：注意主十句的翻译句式。定语从句部分可 译为：几乎没有受到现代社会的影响。译B：驾车从开罗往南行至尼罗河谷，映人眼

33、帘 的是一番与现代截然不同的景色。Forthe next 1,800 miles the thin blue ribbon of the Nile, flowing slowly north, unwound over brown soil and green fields, some only a few yards wide, others as broad as an Iowa cornfield.A. the thin blue ribbon是一种比喻的说法，描述 尼罗河像一条细细的蓝丝带。B. flowing slowly south现在健忘短语作状语，处 理成并列动词。译A：从这里可往前一千八百英里，尼罗河像一 条细细的蓝色丝带，缓缓流向北方，沿途穿过棕色的 土地和绿色的田野，这田地窄的不过几码，宽的则赶 上美国依阿华州的玉米地。译B：蓝色土带般的尼罗河绵延1800英里，在棕 色的土地和绿色的田野间缓缓向北流去。田地有的仅 几码宽，有的则如依阿华州的玉米地那么宽。At the edge of the fields, rising in dramatic hills or stretching flat to the horizon, lay the