英语世界第11期点评
发布时间:2017年09月02日
发布人:nanyuzi  

【原文】


美德成于心,

诚信见于行,

文明贵于恒。


本期原文是一条公益广告,即以社会公众利益为目的而设计的一种普及、非营利的广告,具有效益性、现实性和号召性三大特点。在翻译上,又可归为“公示语翻译”,既有普遍性,又有特殊性。


普遍性,是指其具有一般翻译的性质;特殊性,则指其特有的言简意赅,捉人眼球。例如,“热烈欢迎外国朋友来我校参观指导!”,许多人会翻译成“Warmly welcome foreign friends come to our school for inspection!”,实则,可以大大简化为“Welcome to our school!”或“Our school welcome you!”。而“美食天堂,异彩平添”不必按字面意思译成“Delicious heaven; Extraordinary splendor in riotous profusion”,而Food Paradise即可解决。至于“生意兴隆通四海,财源茂盛达三江”,若译成“Business is thriving, reaching out to the five continents of the world; Revenues are accruing, flowing in from the four corners of the earth”,则难以吸引大众的注意,故不妨精炼为“Business booms far and near, profits net there and here”。


可能因本次原文看似简单,所以参赛者人数剧增。然而,“言简意不简”,许多译文又过于简单,典型的,如:①Virtue forms in mind; / Honesty shows in behavior; / Civilization lies in persistence. ②Virtue is established in souls, / Integrity is seen in actions, / Civilization is valued in perseverance.


其中,一些关键字眼值得认真推敲。如“成于心”,将“成”译成form、establish、shape、produce、become等都略显简单;这里表述的是一种心智的历练过程,故不如用nurture、foster、cultivate等。至于“心”,如以往所述,有mind、heart、soul等之分。西方文化里,mind一般代表理智,heart则为多为情感,如英语说:My mind tells me “no”, but my heart tells me "yes". (我的理智对我说不,但我的情感却令我屈从。)希拉里(Hillary)在回忆录中说,她嫁给克林顿(Clinton)主要是followed her heart but not her mind,言外之意,若依理性而非情感,可能就不会嫁给他了。当然,实际运用中heart亦可包括理性成分,如:①若有人提出批评意见,我会非常在意的。(If someone says something critical I take it to heart.)②他告诉她,自己所做的一切都是为了她好。(He told her that he only had her interests at heart.)所以,heart比mind的涵义更广。而soul则更多强调“deep feeling or emotion, the spiritual part of a person, believed to exist after death”,不乏宗教色彩,如:He believed his immortal soul was in peril. (他认为他不死的灵魂有堕入地狱的危险。)故应慎用。


“见于行”,将“见”译成see、exist、show亦略显肤浅,不如manifest、evidence、reveal等贴切,而“行”又有behavior、action、conduct、deed等选择。分析起来,①behavior: the reaction of something under specified circumstances,即具体环境中的行为;②action: something done (usually as opposed to something said), 即主要相对“言”的实际行动;③conduct: manner of acting or conducting yourself, namely a person’s way of behaving (behavioral attributes), the way a person behaves toward other people,即侧重于人际关系方面的行为;④deed: a notable achievement,即多为褒义举动。综合考虑,似以action为宜。


最后一句中的“文明”,参赛者大都按字面意思译成了civilization,但其实经不住推敲。该词的基本涵义为:A society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations); the fact of becoming or state of being highly developed socially, with a system of government, methods of education etc. 即主要是对社会整体进步程度而言的,如: In 20 years they have reached the level of civilization it took our society a century to reach. (他们用二十年达到了我们社会花了一个世纪才达到的文明程度。)而这里指的主要是个人行为。类似的,有的用了culture,其实该词本质上也是集体行为(all the knowledge, values and customs shared by a society or a group of people in a society)。容易误译的,如将一个人的“文化水平”译成cultural level,实际应为educational background或schooling等。细加分析,这里的“文明”指的是个人素质,于是quality、quality people、good qualities便应进入首选范畴,如:①Quality people are essences in our quest for quality service. (优秀人员是提供高质素服务的先决条件。)②Those are good qualities that we would want in every employee.(这些都是我们想要每位员工都具备的良好素质。)③他有许多好的品质,其中最好的就是善良。(He has many good qualities, but his best quality is his kindness.)。有的译者采用了这样的句式:


He who has great virtues has rooted his righteous behaviors in his heart deep.

He who is a man of integrity only reveals himself from his acts followed.

He who is a civilized citizen only shines in his persistence in behaviors related.


显示其阅读范围和素养,其思路也值得肯定;不足之处,在不够确切和工整,故不妨修改如下:


He who is virtuous has his righteousness rooted in the heart;

He who is honest has his credibility manifested in actions; 

He who is civil has his quality attested in persistence.


就本质而言,“公示语”是一种在公众场合看的语言,负载着某种社交的特殊使命,因而又要注重通俗、易接受。这就不能不涉及到之前论述过的汉英“意合”与“形合”的特点。简言之,汉语是“意合”(Paratactic),即句中及句间的语法意义是靠其内在涵义和逻辑关系来表达的(The grammatical relations are conveyed by the connotations and logic contained within or between the sentences),而英语在性质上是一种“形合”(Hypotactic)的语言,即句中及句之间的成分是靠语言形式相连接(The dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses are linked with connectives)。典型的例子,如“早知这样,我就不来了”,译为英文则要加上许多“零碎”:If I had known it earlier, I would not have come等。


据此,该三句也可融合为:While virtue is nurtured in the heart, credibility has to be attested by one’s actions, and time ultimately proves good qualities. 在许多情况下,同样可以收到公益广告的宣传效果。