一元敲开的门
一位刚毕业的女大学生来到一家公司应聘财务会计工作。当面试时，因公司想招聘有经验的资深会计，所以女大学生立即遭到拒绝。但她并没有因此而灰心离开。她诚恳地对主考官说：“请再给我一次机会，让我参加完笔试。”主考官拗不过她，就让她参加了笔试。结果她很顺利地通过了笔试。最后由人事经理亲自复试。
由于这位女大学生的笔试成绩最好，所以人事经理对她颇有好感。但女大学生坦言自己没有工作经验，唯一的会计经验是在学校管过学生会财务，这让人事经理有点失望。不得已，人事经理只好对她说：“今天就面试到这里，如果有消息，我们会打电话通知你。”
女大学生从座位上站起来，从口袋里掏出一元钱，双手递给人事经理：“不管我是否被录用，都请您给我打个电话。”人事经理一下子呆住了，不过他很快就回过神来问：“你怎么知道我们就不给没有录取的人打电话呢？”
“您刚才说了，有消息就打，言下之意就是，没有录取就不打了。”人事经理似乎对这个姑娘产生了浓厚的兴趣，于是又问；“如果你没有被录取，我打电话的话，你想知道些什么呢？”“
请告诉我，在什么地方我没有达到贵公司的要求，我可以努力改进。至于那一元钱，给没有录取的人打电话不属于公司的正常开支，所以这个电话费应该由我付。请您一定打。”
人事经理马上微笑地说：“请你把一元钱收回。我不会打电话了。我现在正式通知你：你被录取了，明天就可以来上班。”
就这样，女大学生用一元钱敲开了机遇的大门。
Door Knocked Open with One Dollar
作者：jiangxh
A newly graduated university girl came to a company to apply for a job of accountant. At the interview, the girl was immediately turned down becau what the company wanted was a nior accountant with experience. However, she did not therefore leave dejectedly. She said to the interviewer in earnest, “Plea give me an opportunity to take the written examination.” The interviewer, unable to dissuade her, allowed her to do so. It turned out that she pasd the written examination successfully. Finally, the personnel m
anager interviewed her in person.
The girl’s highest grade in the written examination won her the favor of the personnel manager. However, the personnel manager became a little disappointed when the girl said frankly that she had had no working experience as an accountant except that she had once taken care of the finance of the student union at the university. Unavoidably, the personnel manager had no choice but to say to her, “That is all for today’s interview. We will call to inform you if there is a result.”
The girl stood up from her at, took out one dollar from her pocket and gave it to the personnel manager with both hands, “Do give me a call plea, whether I am employed or not.” The personnel manager was taken by surpri at the moment, but he regained his nerve immediately and asked, “Why do you think that we are not going to call tho who are not employed?”
“Just now you said that you would call to inform if there were a result, which implied there would be no call for tho not employed.” The personnel manager emed to become gr
eatly interested in the girl, and went on to ask, “ What would you like to know if I were to call and tell you the bad news?” “Then plea tell me why I am not up to the requirements of your respected company, and I would try to improve. As regards the one dollar, it is the payment that I should make for the phone call, becau it does not fall into allowable expenditure of the company to call tho who are not employed. Plea do give me a call.”
The personnel manager smiled at once, “Plea take back your dollar. I will not make the call. Now I formally inform you that you are employed. You can come to work tomorrow.”
Thus, the girl knocked the door of opportunity open with one dollar.
翻译用词要准确是一个重要原则
这是一篇记叙文，有情节，相对而言应该不太难，但是参赛的译文（包括得了名次的译作）还是有很多问题。比如时态的掌握和运用。叙述事件，一般用过去时，只有图片说明、电影说明书，或小说的故事梗概等采用“戏剧性现在时”。时态的接续也是一个问题，
如He said之后的间接引语只能用某种过去时（如过去完成时，过去将来时等），而对话的直接引语部分，则可根据情况用不同的时态。
翻译用词要准确是一个重要原则，负责意思会大走样。不少人从汉英词典查到一个词，不管意思是否适合拿来就用。其实英语和汉语所谓的“对应词”在语意范围、用法等方面往往不对等。比如，原文说一开始女孩就遭到拒绝，其中的“拒绝”不能用refu一词；又如，女孩诚恳地求人事经理再给她一次机会，这里的“诚恳”不少人译为sincerely, cordially，都是不适合的；再如，人事经理听到女孩请她一定给她打电话，经理一下子“呆住了”， 不少人译做dumfounded, shocked，甚至还有人译做was frozen，显然太过分了（surprid就够了，最多只能用stunned）。女孩给人事经理一元钱，有人把“给”译成deliver,说明这些位参赛者并没有弄清deliver表示的take something somewhere的确切意思(还有人用pass一词，也不对)；还有，女孩说；“请告诉我，我在什么地方没有达到贵公司要求”，这里的“地方”其实指“方面”，可是有好几位参赛者竟然译做where I was not good enough（还有人译成in which parts I do not…令人忍俊不禁），说明没有认真思考。恐怕有不少人翻译完了一篇东西，自己也说不清楚起内容（我的许多学生就常有这样的事，考试时尤其如此）。请大家想一想，当面说“正式”通知为什么不能用officially一词。至于把“女大学生”译做femal
e college student，female一词可谓大刹风景，很不礼貌；把公司的“正常开支”译成daily expen也让人觉得很滑稽。这样的错误主要是由于许多人学英语单词时不求甚解，错误地把一个个英语词和汉语词等同起来，脑子里形成了错误的对等概念，因此不管上下文，“以不变应万变”，这是要不得的。做汉英翻译时，从汉英词典找到一个词后，最好再查一下原版的英语词典，看看这个词的确切意思再决定是否合适，还可以查一下同义词词典，找一个更合适的词，了解一下同义词的区别再用。例如表示“负责”的in charge of和responsible for意思不一样；表示“责任”的duty和responsibility也是两回事；demand和requirement都可以译为“要求”，但在英语里这两个词的意思完全不一样（至于有人用request，更沾不上边）。有的用词涉及逻辑，就更要小心。比如主考官答应让女孩参加比试，下面一句说，“结果她很顺利地通过了考试”，许多把“结果”译做as a result，逻辑上显然讲不同，女孩“顺利通过考试”并不是主考官让她参加笔试的“结果”，这里应该用turn out这个短语。
与选词有关的另一个问题是习惯搭配（主要指形容词和名词、动词和宾语的搭配），英语和汉语的搭配往往不一样。大家都知道“参加”的英语是take part in 或join，可是“参加考试”用这两个说法都不对；“主持面试”的“主持”译成preside, host, perform, hold，都不符合
英语习惯；而achieve the requirement, reach the standard等说法也是受汉语影响造成的错误搭配。
英语特别讲究简洁，而不少译文太罗嗦，比如finance一词就够了，无须说成financial affairs；successfully pasd the exam中的successfully 一词颇有蛇足之嫌；“有经验”没有必要译成sophisticated experienced（应去掉sophisticated一词）； made him disappointed显然不及disappointed him简单明了。不少人把“微笑”译做with a smile on his face，请问：除了脸上，哪里还会有微笑？用“双手”译成with both hands就足够了，没有必要说成with both of her hands（她不可能用别人的手。有人译成with her two hands也有点怪，好像她不止两只手）。当然简洁也要符合一定的语法规定，把“如果有消息”简化成if any news就不通了（顺便说一下，这里不能照字面译，因为不录用那个女孩也是news）。She didn’t lo heart and thus leave最后三个词让人不知所云；而got into the examination process的说法，大家都看得出为什么罗嗦得几乎烦人。
如果一个句子包含两个动作，将其中一个处理成分词短语是个好办法，但是分词短语表示的相当于状语，因此必须是相对次要的动作。下面这两个译句显然是本末倒置：She went to the company, applying for a job. The human resources manager smiled, saying, “…”
