英文原著翻译的一点感受

杨玉学

英语词的形态变化多，注重形式变化，而汉语注重意的表达。所以英译汉的关键是以语段的透彻理解为目标，而汉译英则必须抓住英语的形式结构，特别是动词的形态变化。以下为本人在原著中的翻译。

Thus actually and symbolically the eighth floor was the highest elevation upon which the novel unfolded，but it was a long，far cry from our below-street-level apartment and might well have proved disorienting had I not been consciously concerned with a fictional character who was bent upon finding his way in areas of society whose manners，movtives and rituals wre baffling（The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison）.

因此这个八楼的房间事实上象征性地成了这本小说徐徐展开至最高潮之福地。但是悠长的呼吁依然来自生活远逊平均水平的贫民区。如果我并不曾有意识地关注故事中的人物和他在一个自己的言行举止，动机和礼则处处受阻的社会中如何艰难寻路的话，那这样的呼吁简直是庸人自扰。

It is when one begins to lose the consciousness of freedom， and when the idea of necessity enters the world at all，when there is any hurry or strain anywhere，a letter to be written or a train to catch，when you have got to work， to make the horses of the dream gallop，or to make the rifles go off，that the dream is declining，and turning into the nightmare.

當人们开始失去自由的意识，当实际需要变为现实，当处处都显得匆忙，出现压抑——比如写一封信，赶一趟火车，又比如，你不得不起身工作，不得不让梦想的骏马开始奋蹄，或者让手中的火枪开火。此时，梦也会自贬身份，堕落为梦魇。（“Out of Africa” by Isak Dinesen）

编辑 谢尾合