少量多餐学英语|学步集:第5则第二章开始啦!你们有没有一点成就感了呢?
我不知道多少读者是和我一起,不仅背这些语句,而且还读原书的。有的话,不妨应一声。我希望多些这样的同道之人,因为学习的效果会更好。
Chapter 2 Reading Kafka (1)
1. Texts accompanying silent films
默片台本
2. We see, if we look closely, that...
如果观察仔细,就会发现……
注意:
这句充分体现出look与see的区别,前者重过程,后者重结果。
3. By a "readerly text" Barthes meant one for which an authoritative interpretation already
exists and has simply to be accepted by the reader, where as a "writerly text" has no definite interpretation and invites the reader to participate actively in making sense of the text.
注意:
① 不要混淆authoritative和authoritarian。
② "By A, sb means B."或者"By A is meant
B."都是很地道的句式。
③ make sense of sth.是词组。
④ All theatre before his [i.e. Brecht] own was "culinary", requiring the spectator simply to sit back and consume the drama in a passive emotional trance.
他(指布莱希特)之前所有的戏剧都是“肴馔类”的,只要观者靠背坐好,在一种被动的情感迷幻中消费剧作。
注意:
① 翻译要体现theatre和drama的区别。
② 英语无集合名词“观众”,只有可数名词“观者”,audience是集合名词“听众”。
5. perplex the attentive reader with psychological and epistemological enigmas
用心理学和认识论的诸多谜团来困惑细心读者
注意:
① 区别confuse、puzzle和perplex。
② enigma多指言行,与mystery、puzzle等的区别,请参看《梅里亚姆—韦伯斯特大学词典》第11版。
6. the juddering platform of the moving tram
有轨电车开动时那剧烈摇晃的上下客平台
注意:
① judder的使用域。
② platform这里不是月台。英国有的双层巴士,platform开在车身后部。
7. his lack of bearings and his deficient sense of belonging
他的方向感缺失与归属感匮乏
注意:
① bearing用单数还是复数,直接影响语义。
② 一如上句,本句翻译略变原文结构,为了“好看”,自
以为无伤大雅。
8. The death sentence, and its execution, defy belief.
死刑及其执行令人难以置信。
注意:
defy 这个用法很好。我小时候背过:The aeroplane defies gravity.飞机克服了重力。
9. Yet the events, as they unfold rapidly, carry absolute conviction.
然而,这些事件迅速发展,让人彻底信以为真。
注意:
① 用unfold,多少有些天注定的意思。
② carry与conviction搭配。
10. strident verbal violence
凶悍的语言暴力
注意:
strident的读音、本义、引申义(这里用的即是)。
11. swear their servants to secrecy
让仆人们发誓守密
注意:
① 词组swear sb. to secrecy,也可说to silence。
② 汉语里是“守密”,还是“守秘”?
12. When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect. He was lying on his hard shell-like back and, by lifting his head a little, he could see his curved brown belly, divided by stiff arching ribs, on top of which the bed-quilt was precariously poised and seemed about to slide off completely. His numerous
legs, which were pathetically thin compared to the rest of his body, danced helplessly before his eyes.
注意:
① 我曾想,his curved brown belly这里有个形容油光锃亮的词就好了。现在又觉得,这不是卡夫卡阴沉色系的做派。
② precariously poised是“稍不注意就失去平衡的”。
③ danced helplessly栩栩如生。你注意过抓住金龟子时,它那几只脚的挣扎吗?此处用过去进行时,可能更瘆人吧。
④ 能背诵最佳。
[这是一段卡夫卡《变形记》的英译。即便是译文,我都觉得太生动了,难怪业余昆虫学家纳博科夫照着文字描述画出了样子,还考证是什么种类的怪虫。不过,卡夫卡并不希望读者花心思去想象虫子的具体模样。首版行世时,封面上画的还是人……]