狗 The Dog 老舍 Lao She | 译文摘自张培基《英译中国散文选二》 中国狗恐怕是世界上最可怜最难看的狗。此处之“难看”并不指狗种而言,而是与“可怜”密切相关。无论狗的模样身材如何,只要喂养得好,它便会长得肥肥胖胖的,看着顺眼。中国人穷。人且吃不饱,狗就更提不到了。因此,中国狗最难看;不是因为它长得不体面,而是因为它骨瘦如柴,终年夹着尾巴。 Of all dogs in the world, those in China are perhaps the most pitiful and ugly-looking. But it is their wretched life rather than their breed that is to blame for their ugliness. All dogs, if well-fed, will be plump and nice-looking irrespective of their bodily form. In poverty-striken China, people don’t even have enough to feed themselves, let alone dogs. Chinese dogs are ugly-looking not because they are born like that, but because they’ve been reduced to skin and bones by hunger, with tails between their legs all the year round. 要点: 1, plump表示“胖乎乎的”,之前说过这种小词在文学翻译中灰常常用,比如“各种走”“各种跑”“各种哭”“各种笑”都是需要积累的~ 2, “中国人穷。人且吃不饱,狗就更提不到了”即“在贫穷的中国,人尚且吃不饱,更别提狗了”译为In poverty-striken China, people don’t even have enough to feed themselves, let alone dogs. let alone 作“更别提”“更不必说”解,之前我们也有过总结,表相同意思的还有much less, still much, not to mention |