Ⅴ. Translation of News Reportings
Stylistic Features
a)用词问题新闻报刊用词追求新奇(Novelty),因最热门的专业
而会使用各种用词手段。
例1. Following eyeball-to-eyeballconsultations with
the butcher and the baker and the grocer, she
hits a button to commandeer supplies for
tonight’s dinner party. (Time)
在与屠户、面包师、食品商磋商达成高度一致
后,她拿下了今天晚宴的全部供应权。
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2. When the Good Samaritanand I informed
the woman that an ambulance was on its
way, she perked up, saying that she did
not want an ambulance but would like to
go home. (New York Times)
当我和好心人告诉这位女士救护车就快来
了,她突然精神起来,说她不需要救护车,
只想回家。
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3. As a result of his hawkishstance and the
电脑防火墙
hardlineposition taken by a number of
other officials, the dispute became
孕晚期失眠enormously magnified. (Time Weekly)
他的立场强硬,其他的很多官员也寸步不
让,争端急剧扩大。
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.“时髦词”(vogue word)
New words
4. Each time he speaks, Bush has to be
mindful of the need to preach hope to
Israelis and Palestinians, cajole moderate
Arabs, warn rogue states, reassure
European allies and point a finger at
would-be terrorists. It’s a huge piece of
multitaskingfor a man who is best at doing
one thing at a time. (Time)
5
每次布什发表讲话,他都要注意多方面
的事情,宣扬给巴以人民带来和平,笼络
中间的阿拉伯人,警告“无赖”国家,安
抚欧洲同盟国,叱骂恐怖主义分子,对于
他这样的一个善于一次做一件事情的人来
说这无疑是一项多任务处理作业。
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5. Adds tycoon Rahul Bajaj: ― With political
uncertainty and no money for infrastructure, I
don’t e a revival of consumer demand in
1999.‖(Asiaweek)
商界巨头Rahul Bajaj 补充说:“由于政治不
稳定,基础设施基金缺乏,我觉得1999年的消费
需求没有复苏的可能。”
6. Recently Iraqi officials sought formal talks with
the European Union, apparently aiming to win
allies in the showdownwith Washington.
(Newsweek)
近来伊拉克官员正谋求同欧盟的正式会谈,
显然是准备在同华盛顿的最后决战中争取同盟。
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Coinage
7. During the three centuries the French
occupation lasted, so many French words
were absorbed by the native language that
vocabularywiit is French rather than
四史读后感
Germanic.
在法国占领的三个世纪以来,许多法语
词被当地语言所吸收,以至于就词汇而言,
它是法语词,而不是德语词。
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Supercrat (bureaucrat in the highest position)
高级官员
Moneywi (with regard to money)
在金钱方面
Youthquake:youth-quake
(美国60年代的青年运动狂澜)网络暴力的危害
Mafia (mafia 地下秘密组织,原指意大利人
在美国的秘密贩毒集
团,即黑手党)
国防9
春游湖Borrowed words
8. Song took Hu Jintao as his protégé, praising
him as a ―walking map of Gansu‖ becau of
Hu’s famous photographic memory.
宋把胡(锦涛)看作是他的贴身助手,称赞他
是“甘肃的活地图”,因为胡的精确记忆力是出
了名的。
9. Some busloads of Iraqi pilgrims were still en
routeto Mecca, birthplace of the Prophet
Mohammed, when the first bus turned back.
当第一辆公共汽车返回时,仍有几辆公车满载
着伊拉克的朝圣者通往圣地麦加,Prophet
Mohammed的出生地。
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.借用,掺用特点
10. Koo had spent all that day, Jan.6, trying
to convince the Blue Hounot to force
him to give up LG’s miconductor
business to Hyundai Electronics Industries.
Koo 一月六号花了整一天的时间竭力说
服韩国政府不要强迫他放弃半导体产业并
将其出让给Hyundai 电子产业公司。
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11. Baghdadis kissing the Arabs by
launching an all out ―Arab friendship‖
campaign.
伊拉克正全面发动一场“阿拉伯友谊”
的运动来笼络阿拉伯国家。
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Beantown
豆城—波士顿
Big Apple
大苹果—纽约
Big Board
(纽约证交所的)大行情板—纽约股市
Fleet Street
弗利特街,舰队街—英国新闻界
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12. Cities all around the Pacific are
battening down the batchesas El Nino
threatens meteorological mayhem.
太平洋的周边城市正紧锣密鼓地准备应
付威胁气象界的厄尔尼诺现象。
13. The degree of internal stability is the
litmus testof nation’s credit-worthiness.
一个国家内部的稳定程度是其值得信任
度的试金石。
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报刊英语中常见的文学人物:
James Bond
Peter Pan
Man Friday
Superman
Robin Hood
Sherlock Holmes
Tarzan
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模糊性
所谓模糊语言,并不是指含混不清,模棱两可,
只能使人产生误解的语言。恰恰相反,它利用语
义的模糊性,准确反映出生活中的模糊概念。模
糊词语则是指具有不确定的外延的词语,其模糊
性是语言本身所固有的。
1)指示“连续客体”的词
包括时间词、颜色词、年龄词、象声词等。
如年龄词“童年”、“幼年”、“少年”、“青
年”、“壮年”、“中年”、“老年”就具有模
糊性,它们相邻之间没有泾渭分明的界限。
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2) 可分等级的词
主要是可分等级的形容词或副词,如
long/short, deep/shallow, wide/narrow,
light/heavy, big/small等。
3)某些抽象词
如love,hate,freedom, human rights
4) 无实际所指的词
如goblin(妖魔),unicorn(独角兽),
ghost (鬼),centaur (半人半马的怪物)
5)数词
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如ten, twenty, hundred, a hundred and one,
a thousand and one, million, billion等,可
用作模
糊数,泛指“多”义,
He has warned me against pickpocket
twentytimes.
他多次提醒我谨防扒手。
6)模糊限制语
如about, probably, many, sort of ,
kind of ,more or less,roughly 等
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模糊词语的功能
1)增加报道可信程度
2)合乎读者阅读习惯
3)符合新闻报道特性
4)促使新闻报道活泼
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b) 句法特点
.英语新闻报导常采用”扩展的简单句”(the
expanded simple ntence)
.英语新闻文体倾向于用主动语态,使读者产生一种
“直接感”(Directness)
.广泛使用直接引语和间接引语
.从文体学的篇章分析(discour analysis)来看,
英语新闻写作的基础都是“消息”写作,遵循以下
程式:1)导语,一般以尽量简明的表述方式概括
主要事实;2)导语以下各段按事实的重要性递次
发展。(the inverted pyramid format)
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拙译举隅
1.Unemployment has stubbornly refud to
contractfor more than a decade.
原译:十多年来,失业一直顽固地拒绝压缩。
改译:失业人数居高不下,已持续十多个年头了。
2. Companies with a big staff in Beijing find
themlves squeezedbetween high operating
costs and shrinking business.
原译:在北京的员工庞大的公司发现自己受着高
运行成本和萎缩业务两方面的压榨。
改译:在北京,员工队伍庞大的公司出现了运行
成本高、业务量不断萎缩的局面,举步维艰。
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3. Some state-owned restaurants usually offer slow and
rude rvice, less than appetizing food and appalling
toilets.
原译:有些国营饭馆通常提供慢而粗鲁的服务,不可口
的饭菜和可怕的厕所。
改译:有些国营饭馆通常上菜慢,服务差,饭菜糟,厕
所脏。
4. With the reshuffle, Keizo Obuchi has put together a
much younger cabinet with a broader spread of talent.
原译:经过改组,(日本首相)小渊惠三组成了一个大
大年轻化并含有更多贤能之士的内阁班子。
改译:(日本首相)小渊惠三的内阁班子经过改组,大
为年轻化了,且更广泛地吸收了各方面的贤能之士。
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5. Peasants now ll vegetables at moving
prices determined by their supply and
their customers’ demand.
原译:现在农民出售蔬菜,价格根据他们
蔬菜的供应量和顾客的需求而移动。iphone黑屏
改译:现在农民出售蔬菜,价格随行就市。
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6. June’s World Cup in Seoul are a curity nightmarefor
Japan as well as South Korea.
原译:六月份在汉城举办世界杯,对韩国和日本来说,都
是一场安全噩梦。
改译:六月份在汉城举办世界杯,其安全工作不仅对韩国
而且对日本都构成了一个大难题。
7. The former white hou intern repeatedly implied that
she possd compromisinginformation abou
t Clinton,
which was , if publicized, liable to harm his re-election for
presidency.
原译:这名前白宫实习生多次暗示,她掌握着克林顿的妥
协性情况。这些材料公布出来会危及克林顿能否连任总统。
改译:这名前白宫实习生多次暗示,她掌握着(有损)克
林顿的负面材料。这些材料公布出来会危及克林顿能否连
任总统。
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8. The man was lured by a bar girl to a
nearby hou and cretly filmed in a
compromising position with the woman.
原译:该男子被一吧女诱骗到附近的一所
房子里。他对那女人妥协的姿势被人偷偷
录了像。
改译:该男子被一吧女诱骗到附近的一所
房子里。他与那女人在一起的时候,被人
偷偷摄下了有损其形象的镜头。
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9. A growing number of parents complain that children
nowadays always live ahead of their salaries.
原译:越来越多的父母抱怨,现在子女总是生活在他们
的工资之前。
改译:越来越多的父母抱怨,现在子女的生活开销总是
大得令他们入不敷出。
10. At least six people were killed and eight others injured
in a six-car pileupas a result of a head-on collision
between a delivery lorry and a sports car driving on the
wrong side of the road.
原译:一辆货运面包车与一辆误道行驶的赛车正面碰撞,
导致6辆汽车接二连三地撞击,造成至少6死8伤。
改译:一辆厢式货车与一辆逆向行驶的赛车迎面相撞,
致使6车发生连环追尾事故,造成至少6死8伤。
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佳译赏析
巧用四字
1. The presidential candidate and his wife have
had two decades investing in each othersince
their marriage.
总统候选人和夫人婚后20年来,一直恩爱体贴,
鱼水难分。
2. The BBC reporteres overwhelmed the police as
much with courtesy as with force,and rushed to
the scene in time.
英国广播公司记者软磨硬闯,冲破了警察阻拦,
及时赶到事发现场。
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3. The then young nator was struck by
the powerful profile of his cretary of
Asian descent, her rich black hair falling
freely onto her shoulders, the intensityof
her dark eyes.
当时这位年轻的参议员为他亚裔秘书的出
众长相所倾倒:她乌发披肩,亮泽飘逸;
一双黑眸,顾盼生辉。
当时,参议员还很年轻,他被自己那位亚
裔女秘书的出众长相迷住了:垂肩秀发,
无拘无束;一双黑眸,波光撩人。
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4. A mix of arrgance and continued fear of Iraqi
intentionscolours Kwaitii reactions to no-fly
zones.
一方面,科威特人傲慢自负,另一方面,他们
始终对伊拉克的种种企图感到担忧。这种矛盾
心态左右着科威特人对设置禁飞区问题的态度。
5. But after six years of a stormymarriage, the
strong woman decided to end it. She didn't
want her so
n to grow up thinking that kind
relationship was normal.
在六年风雨交加的婚姻生活之后,这位女强人
决定结束这一场婚姻。她不愿让儿子在这样的
环境中长大,误认为这种婚姻关系很正常。
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6. Becau of his one-man style of operation,
Henry Kissinger had become a kind of
bottleneck in his own National Security
Council system.
由于亨利基辛格惯于独断专行,他已经成
了国家安全事务委员会工作中的一块绊脚
石。
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7. The realityof a nur’s job is still
appalling pay, mounting workload and
dismal living conditions.
护士工作的实际情况依然是:工资太低,
任务太重,生活太苦。
8. A ttlementand peacewill remain
elusive for the new Israeli prime minister.
对于以色列新任总理来说,解决问题,实
现和平,仍然是一种毫无把握的事。