打工手记【13】:and,译途绊脚石也【4月27日阳光上午】

标签:
当心小词and |
分类: 美哉英语 |
题图: 天安门城楼上
躬耕译林数十载,回眸间,不乏回味处。
1985年,《现代英语用法词典》(共计5册,以下简称“现代”),陆续出版,见一册,购一册,闲时翻阅,颇得意趣。
一日,在院落里翻阅,在有关and的“成语”词条(第147页)下读到:
for hours and hours [years and years, etc.] 好些个钟头[年等]
词典就此列出了以下三句例句,作进一步演绎:
1/ We waited for hours and hours.
2/ Old Mr. Bryan has known grandfather for years and years,
since they were boys.
3/ There are books and books.
哟!人的思维定势真可怕。你看,for hours and hours / for years and
years,当然可以理解为“好些个钟头[年等]”,可是,上列第3句There are books and
books能理解为“有好些本书”(即“有许多许多的书”)吗?-- 疑心骤萌。
但是,一时半会儿的感觉岂能算数?假如books and
books别具含义,应该拿出权威证据呀!
存疑在心,平时阅读,便多了一个心眼。
果然,在查阅English Idioms and How to Use
Them(第三版,p.319)时,突然双目一亮!该词典的阐述如下:
Similarly, a man who has found that all shop-keepers are not
alike, but that some do their business honestly while others do
not, or that some execute orders neatly and promptly while others
do not, may indicate his sense of the difference by saying: there
are shop-keepers and shop-keepers. So we have,
There are dinners and dinners.
当初对“现代”的怀疑,正确!现在证据在手。
却原来,There are friends and friends / There are shop-keepers and
shop-keepers / There are dinners and
dinners是一种英语的婉约表达。其字面意思(有点“王顾左右而言他”)是:有各式各样的朋友/店主/宴会,等等,但是,其隐含意思却是在说,世上的人或物有好坏优劣之别。
以上三句分别可以翻译成:
(世上)有好朋友,也有坏朋友;
(世上)有好店主,也有坏店主;
(世上)有好的饭菜,也有坏的饭菜。
因此,“现代”列出的例句3(There are books and books)的意思是:(世上)有好书,也有坏书。
而绝非“有好些本书”!
此后不久,又在A University Grammar of English (p.275)读到:
There are teachers and teachers. (= There are good teachers
and bad teachers.)
至此,《现代英语用法词典》之舛误,已可“定案”,There are books and
books一句可放心地译为:书籍多多,有好有坏!-- 语法家编撰的“现代”有误。
笔者忽然想起,1978年携全家游杭州西湖,在三潭印月见许多美国游客,我跟几位美国游客交谈时,说了一句:There are
American tourists and American
tourists!我想表达的意思是,美国游客太多了!可是,闻此言,当时与我交谈的美国游客却面面相觑。对他们的表情,当时我就不解,其一直存疑于心。至此,恍悟!
译途漫漫,绊倒译者最多的,非大词、非艰涩之词,而是小词,常用词汇。and,英语中最常用的十个单词之一,绊倒多少人,甚至包括语法学家!
and,陷阱多多,另外一个含and的短语,也可视为“绊脚石”之一。
试读以下三句:
1/ I didn’t like the speech, but at least it was nice and
short.
2/ The place is nice and healthy.
3/ It is nice and cool out here.
nice + and + short / healthy /
low,如何理解其中的and?这个and不含实义,没有“和”的意思。
据此,上列三句分别可以译成:
1/ 我不喜欢那个发言,但好在它很短。
2/ 这地方挺有益于健康。
3/ 外边凉爽极了。
除了nice,有时,还有good+and…的短语。如:
1/ Jack had hit her good and well.
2/ I pushed Bill good and hard.
good and …不等于nice and …。A Dictionary of American Idioms
(p.129)对good and …的释义是:very; completely。
因此,以上两句,应分别译成:
1/ 杰克重击她一记。
2/ 我猛推了比尔一下。
good and …和nice and …之异在于前者不具有a favorable
meaning(满意或赞赏的意味)。
And -- 译者的绊脚石!本文挂一漏万,只能提个醒而已。