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原文:辛楣道:“大家干一杯,預(yù)敬我們大哲學(xué)家未來的好太太。方先生半杯也喝半杯?!薄灵共恢来笳軐W(xué)家從來沒娶過好太太,蘇格拉底的太太就是潑婦,褚慎明的好朋友羅素也離了好幾次婚。(錢鐘書 - 圍城 )

翻譯關(guān)鍵詞:干一杯,unware的用法,crawl與creep,好幾次

譯文:Hsin-mei said, “Everyone drink a toast in advance to the good wife of our great philosopher. Mr. Fang, you drink too, even if only half a glass.” Hesin-mei was unaware that great philosophers have never had good wives. Socrates' wife was a shrew and poured dirty water on her husband's head. Aristotle's mistress rode on him like a horse, telling him to crawl on the floor naked, and even making him taste the whip. Marcus Aurelius' wife was an adulteress, and even Ch'u Shen-ming's pal Bertrand Russell had been divorced several times.? (美 Jeanne Kelly, Nathan K.Mao <譯> –Fortress Besieged)

翻譯筆記:
干一杯

我們常用的“干一杯”的表達有drink a toast和cheers。趙辛楣說這句“大家干一杯”,我們也可以說:So everyone, cheers! 那么,“為……干杯”我們通常說:To good health!(“為健康干杯!”)A toast to the friendship! (“為友誼干杯!”)
我們需要注意的一點是,toast單獨用來指“烤面包片”時,是一個統(tǒng)稱。我們不說a toast來表達“一片烤面包”,也不說toasts表示“多片烤面包”,而是說a slice of toast和slices of toast。

unaware的用法

與aware一樣,unaware后面接of或以that引導(dǎo)的從句,如:
He is aware of our presence. / He is aware that we are here.
又如:He was unaware of her presence. / He was unaware that she was present.

crawl與creep

中間關(guān)于Socrates,Aristotle和Marcus Aurelius的事例是譯者為了讓讀者更好理解而插入的添加成份,用來加強“大哲學(xué)家從來沒娶過好太太”這句話的例證。我們要做的并非深究其真實性,然而,Aristotle的太太讓其光著身子在地上爬這個crawl其實是含有貶義成分的。我們來比較一下crawl與creep就知道了。
crawl多指蛇,蟲類等身體沿地面或其他表面的動作,很少用來形容人。如:
There is an insect crawling up your back.
有一條蟲子正在你的背上往上爬。
creep多指四肢爬行的哺乳動物或人等偷偷摸摸、無聲緩慢的前行動作。如:
They arrived late and crept into the classroom.
他們遲到了,便悄悄地溜進教室。

好幾次

“好幾次”這個詞的感情色彩應(yīng)該是“多”,試比較下面兩句:
I bought several books this morning.
我今天早上買了好幾本書[不止一兩本]。
I bought some books this morning.
我今天早上買了幾本書[不多]。

(本文由滬江原創(chuàng),轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處)

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