【原文】

中午不睡，下午崩溃。即便到了冬天，我也需要小眯一会，多年来一直如此。看看周围的朋友同事，有如此顽强午休习惯的占比很大。

如在夏天，午睡文化的力量简直神奇，大家吃罢午饭，整个大楼内一片寂静，工作停转，大家约定俗成，各不打扰。

经常在网络和报刊上曝光在宜家商场的沙发、席梦思上小睡的顾客，还有在公园长椅、草坪上小睡的游客，我对这些午睡者表示同情，睡意来袭，排山倒海，真的无法阻挡啊！大概人与人之间的区别在于随意和不随意，你随意睡可能有碍观瞻，触及了文明底线；如果你是一个不随意的人，午睡必须到一个相对私密的空间，那么就是文明之睡了。

（摘自陆地《午睡文化》）

翻译的“语境化”转换

原文节选自刊发于《羊城晚报》的一篇散文《午睡文化》，语言自然活泼，口语化、日常化特点明显，但言浅意深，翻译时需深入理解，做多层次语境化转换。

一、文化语境

“午睡”作为原文中心词，在投稿译文中主要有三种译法，分别是sleep、nap、siesta。sleep 概念较为宽泛，不够聚焦，而siesta与汉语中的午睡有着截然不同的历史文化语境。siesta为西班牙语词，出现于17世纪中叶，指的是地中海或热带地区因炎热天气无法进行劳作而产生的午睡；而中国的午睡则根植于传统中医和儒家修身养性的观念，经过上千年的发展，已成为一种社会群体的系统性行为，反映了中国人对工作、健康的平衡，是中国人生活哲学的具象化活动，具有一定文化内涵。因此，将午睡译为siesta，可能造成文化误读，不妨以 afternoon nap直接作行为层面的说明，文化内涵在后文补充。

二、叙事语境

原文只出现了两个“我”，其余部分更像是从“上帝视角”描述午睡现象，最后一段中的“你”则像是与读者对话。事实上，汉语中叙事者所用的“你”“我”很多时候只是泛指，类似英语中的one或someone，并非是对话语境。细读原文可知，整篇文字都是从作者自身视角出发，对午睡这种社会性文化现象进行观察与思考，因此，英文语境中，需将叙事视角明晰。这种转换理念在第三段第一句体现得尤为明显，原文根据汉语习惯，描述了“报刊曝光午睡游客”的现象，转换到英语中，以I为抓手，能帮助译文更好聚焦，语篇性得到增强。

三、社会语境

在汉语的社会语境中，“文明”一词有多重内涵，如广义上的社会发展的阶段、特定时间地区的文化总和等。但原文第三段中的“文明”更为狭义，并非与“野蛮”“未开化”相对，仅指行为层面的礼貌与得体。理解这一点后，就能明白所谓“触及文明底线”只是公共场合让人觉得尴尬的“不文明”行为，绝非十恶不赦的野蛮行径，因此要把握翻译的“度”，不能直接做字面转换译为bottom line of civilization。同理，“随意”指的是午睡者对午睡地点不讲究，在公共场合做不合宜的事情，投稿译文将其译为casual难以表达深层含义。

节选文段从午睡现象描述入手，对传统惯习与现代社会文明行为准则的关系进行反思，小中见大，语言虽简单随意，但要理解透彻、准确转换、顺畅表达并不容易。译者要从文化、叙事、社会等多维度理解思考，进行技巧性转换，不被原文形式所束缚，大胆挖掘深层内涵，才能做到更高层次的“忠实”。

参考译文：

Without a nap in lunch hours, drowsiness will creep over me soon afterwards. Thus, I need naps, even on winter days, and I have been a napper for years. In fact, friends and colleagues around me who stick to such a set practice are the majority.

Napping, as a social convention in China, is widespread in summer in particular, as if casting a sleeping spell on the whole office building. Tacitly, everyone leaves space to others for napping in their lunch break.

I notice, through newspapers and the internet, that so many are found napping in public places:  on sofas or Simmons in IKEA, and on park benches or the lawn. I fully understand them, for drowsiness is so overwhelming that nobody can resist. Nonetheless, napping manner makes difference. Those who nap in public places embarrass passers-by, which is not a behaviour with decency. On the contrary, if someone is a person of self-control and prefers to nap in personal space, he or she will be regarded as a napper with manner.

(From “Afternoon Napping” by Lu Di)

优秀译文：

@Brunch

No nap at noon, no energy in the afternoon. Even during the winter, I also need a short nap, and I have had this routine for years. Many of my friends and colleagues around me also have such a persistent habit--a lunch break.

Summer, for example, will witness the miracle power of the lunch nap culture. After lunch, the whole building will be steeped in silence, as everyone stops working and agrees to leave each other alone at that time.

It is common to find customers taking a nap on the couch or Simmons at the IKEA and tourists grabbing a quick nab on a park bench or the lawn to be exposed on the Internet or newspapers. But I am empathizing with these lunch nappers, for I know that the feeling of sleepy cannot be holding back once it comes "aggressively". Maybe the difference between people is that some people are causal and others conscious. A casual person napping at a random place is likely to leave a bad impression, reaching limits of civilization. While it will be a civilized napping if a conscious person chooses to take a lunch break in a relatively private space.

@Yilia

For many years, I am in the habit of taking a nap at noon, or I would feel like having all my energy sapped for the whole afternoon. I find myself in need of a shuteye even in winter times. A disproportionate number of friends and colleagues around me are in the grip of this stubborn habit as well.

In summer times, its spell over us all is magic. As soon as lunch is over, the whole office building is in a hush. All work stops. Everyone seems to be in a tacit agreement: nobody is to disturb anybody else.

I am sympathetic with those shoppers who are stealing a doze on an IKEA sofa or mattress, or travelers who are taking a snooze on a bench or on the lawn in a park, as is often exposed on the Internet or newspapers. Drowsiness is simply too overwhelming to stop! Probably what distinguishes one napper from another is their sense of decency, or the lack of it. Without the proper amount of decency a napper may sleep in a way that is considered offensive or utterly uncivilized by others. Meanwhile, a more decent napper will always find him/herself a space where at least some privacy is ensured, which, naturally, is the more civilized way.

Excerpts from The Habit of Taking a Nap, by Ludi