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原文：

那孩子做了兩年的傳達(dá)，老于世故，明白來(lái)客分兩類(lèi)：低聲下氣請(qǐng)求“對(duì)不住，請(qǐng)你如何如何”的小客人，粗聲大氣命令“小孩兒，這是我的片子，找某某”的大客人。今天這一位是屬于前類(lèi)的，自己這時(shí)候正忙，沒(méi)工夫理他。（錢(qián)鐘書(shū) - 圍城 ）

翻譯關(guān)鍵詞：老于世故，低聲下氣，fall into sth.，反身代詞作同位語(yǔ)

譯文：

Having been a messenger for two years, the boy was an old hand at dealing with people and knew that callers fell into two categories: the unimportant ones who requested meekly, “Excuse me, would you please do such and such,” and the big customers who ordered gruffly, “Kid, here’s my card. Go get so-and-so.” The one here today belonged to the former category. As he himself was now busy, he had no time to pay attention to the caller.??(美 Jeanne Kelly, Nathan K.Mao <譯> –Fortress Besieged)

翻譯筆記：

老于世故

表示有社會(huì)經(jīng)驗(yàn)，有善于策略地和沉著地處理各種情況的能力。譯為an old hand at dealing with people; versed in the ways of the world; worldly-wise; sophisticated; know what one is about等。

低聲下氣

形容說(shuō)話(huà)恭順小心，忍氣吞聲的樣子。譯為meekly; speak humbly under one’s breath; meek and subservient ; obsequious等。如：
低聲下氣地乞求施舍 ? ?humbly beg for alms

fall into sth.

可以分為；能夠分成 ?如：
My talk falls naturally into three parts.
我的談話(huà)可以自然分成三個(gè)部分。

反身代詞作同位語(yǔ)

反身代詞作同位語(yǔ)時(shí)，一般具有強(qiáng)調(diào)的作用。反身代詞作同位語(yǔ)時(shí)在句子中的位置較為靈活。如：
She saw it herself. / She herself saw it.
她親眼所見(jiàn)。
The president himself will attend the opening ceremony.
總統(tǒng)要親自出席開(kāi)幕典禮。

（本文由滬江原創(chuàng)，轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處）

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