翻译题目:
中国古人曾将碎石悬在一块,风吹时就能发出清脆的声音,他们将这种东西称为“占风铎”,目的是用来知风。占风铎应该就是风铃的由来。有人觉得风铃会招魂,不适合摆设,但在亚洲的一些区域,大家觉得风铃能带来好运,常用风铃来预测风水。风铃能发出让人愉快的清脆声音,因此大家在闷热潮湿的夏日就会把风铃挂在窗边,给人以清爽的感觉。
参考译文:
Ancient Chinese once hung broken stones together, which would emit a clear sound when the wind blew. They called this object "Zhan Feng Duo" and used it to detect the direction of the wind. Zhan Feng Duo is believed to be the origin of the wind-bell. Some people think that wind-bells attract spirits and should not be placed, but in some regions of Asia, people believe that wind-bells can bring good luck and are often used to predict feng shui. Wind-bells can emit pleasant and clear sounds, so people often hang them at the windows during hot and humid summer days, giving people a refreshing feeling.
翻译分析:
1 、文化定义的翻译:
“占风铎”是一个具备特定文化背景的定义。翻译为“Wind-telling Bell”可以保留其原始含义,即用于感知风的方向的器具。
“风水”也是具备中国特点的文化定义,这里翻译为“feng shui”,但在一些正式的场所或文献中,或许会选择更详细的翻译,如“geomancy”或“feng shui principles”。
2 、语境的转换:
“风吹时就能发出清脆的声音”这部分翻译时,加入了“when the wind blew”来描述声音产生的条件,使英文读者能更明确地理解其情境。
3 、语义的明确:
“中国古人曾将碎石悬在一块”被翻译为“Ancient Chinese once hung broken stones together”,如此的表达更为明确,防止了“碎石悬在一块”可能产生的歧义。
4 、表达的地道性:
“给人以清爽的感觉”被翻译为“giving people a refreshing feeling”,如此的表达更符合英文的习惯使用方法,也更易于被英文读者理解。