译·短文：丑妻

丑 妻

S君有妻，丑，为此颇感自豪，常于有靓妻之友面前夸口：“丑妻是宝，见了恶心，不见省心，出门放心，免得有第三者插足。”

友听毕，掩口笑道：“君言差矣，常言道：以为最安全的却是最危险，岂不闻情人眼里出西施吗？”

S君听毕，顿悟，叹道：“听君一席话，胜读十年书，差一点大意失荆州！”

1.“丑妻”：照字面译作 An Ugly Wife，不能算错。但英美人很少这样直楞楞地描写人，宜用一个委婉语, 如: unprepossessing（不迷人的）或 homely（美语，不好看的）等。

2. 题目“丑妻”翻译时宜适当添补，因为全文讲的不是“丑妻”， 而是拥有这么一位老婆的感受，所以我们建议译作: The Advantages of Having a Plain Wife。

3. 第一句话中“妻”字出现了3 遍，不宜来回重复使用 wife 一 字。我们在译“⋯⋯夸口”时用了 spouse：名词，意谓“配偶（夫或妻）”，较 正式，用在此处较合适。

4.“夸口”，我们不译作brag 或 boast， 而译作rave。rave，不及物动词，意谓“（高烧病人）呓语”， 也可作“（神经病似地）赞颂”，用rave about 似比brag about 更传神。 

5.“⋯⋯是宝，⋯⋯”为强调起见，我们译作 an absolute treasure。 absolute 无实义，仅用以加强语气。

6.“不见省心”。按《现代汉语词典》，“省心”是“不操心”。有 的《汉英词典》把“省心”译作 save worry，是正确的，不过这只是没有语境时的直译。我们借用英语的谚语(out of sight, out of mind. 眼不见，心不想)这样译似更符合英语 习惯。 

7. “出门放心”。这句话应这样理解：S 君出差在外时，S 君可放心，其老婆不会乱搞婚外情。各汉英词典上提供的“放心” 的对应词都指心情安定，没有忧虑和牵挂，照搬过来都无法传达原文的内涵。我们建议这样译：… and free from suspicion when the husband is away from home。be free from suspicion 是 “无可怀疑的”。如主语是身为人妻的女性，则常指“道德正派忠于丈夫的”。英语中有句关于凯撒的名言：Caesar’s wife ought to be free from suspicion。我们这样译似可增加译文的情趣。 

8. “⋯⋯免得有第三者插足⋯⋯” 不宜搬字典，把“免得”译 作“avoid”，这样译与上文连贯较差，译句也会较长。“第三 者”的各种情况下的对应译法可以从吴光华的《汉英辞典》 上找到。我们建议把这部分（⋯⋯，免得⋯⋯）译得与上文 连贯些、简练些，像是朋友间的随意交谈：… And there is no fear of ‘ another man’。如果男方不忠，插足者是女性，“第三者”就是 another woman 或 another girl。不能用 the third party （谈判、争端中的第三方）。 

9.“友听毕”。不宜直译为 After he finished listening to …。这样译，不大像英语，也不够简洁；我们建议译作：On hearing this。 “on +动名词”表示“在⋯⋯后立即⋯⋯”。 

10.“掩口笑道”。汉英词典中可找到“掩口而笑”的对应译法：put one’s hand to hide one’s laughter 等。我们认为不宜搬用。

11.“君言差矣”。这句话很有礼貌，十分文气，翻译时宜尽量传 达这一特点。我们建议这样译：Forgive me, sir, for pointing out that you’re wrong there。加一个 Sir，表示礼貌地称呼对方； forgive … for 是为了文明礼貌地或语气正式地纠正对方的错误。

12.“⋯⋯，以为最安全的却最危险，⋯⋯”。这一分句似不宜这样译：What is the safest is the most dangerous。这样的译文嫌长、嫌啰唆，而且原文也并不是指地点的安全与否，而是指一种心态，所以我们建议译作：the greatest danger resides in the false sense of security。reside, 不及物动词，接 in，表示“存在于”，文体 较正式；the false sense of security, 虚假的安全感。这词组很常用，用在此处是恰当的。

13.“情人眼里出西施”。从各汉英词典上，可以找到这句老话的 不少不同译法。值得注意的是：汉语中的这一说法原指“自 己所钟情的女子，即使长相平常，也感到和西施一样美”（《中 国俗语大词典》，上海辞书出版社，1995 年）。简而言之，指男性对女性的盲目的钟爱。而汉英词典上提供的不同译法有 的，如，Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder 或 gazer，适应 范围较宽，也可指人对物、对儿女等的盲目的爱。为了译文 的简洁，我们把这分句（“⋯⋯， 岂不闻情人眼里出西施 吗？”）译作 “Haven’t you heard of love being blind?” 。“Love is blind”可指任何种类的爱。鉴于上下文十分清楚，此处的 love 专指男对女的爱，不会有任何误会。 

14.“感叹道”。sigh 和 sign，发音和拼法近似，粗心的学生容易搞 错，宜注意。“叹道”译作sigh (vi.) 不够，仅作“叹气”解； 这里的“叹道”意谓“感叹”，似宜译作 sigh with feeling。

15. “听君一席话，胜读十年书”。吴光华提供的译文是：I profit more from one consultation with you than from ten years of reading 。 陈欣望在《汉英语林》中提供的译文是：To listen to your lecture is really better than to study for ten years. 这两个译文都不错， 只要适合上下文（是consultation，还是lecture）就行。我们 建议译作：How true it is that one can learn more from the talk of a wise person than from ten years of reading！鉴于“十年书”是 模糊数，非确切数（一年攻读多少天？一天攻读多少小 时？⋯⋯），我们认为这样译似也可以：I profit more from one talk with you than from reading a thousand books. 

16.“大意失荆州”。 据《中国俗语辞典》（上海辞书出版社，1995 年）“‘大意失荆州’是《三国演义》中一个小故事。镇守荆州的关羽看不起东吴的孙权，当他率兵攻打曹操之际，孙权即派兵乘机袭击荆州，关羽被擒。比喻由于麻痹大意，造成 重大损失。”翻译时更不必按字面直译加注，译出大意就够。不过，原文 中的“差一点”翻译时宜慎重处理。不能搬汉英辞典，把“差 一点”译作almost，或nearly。这样译的意思是：S 君的妻曾 有过第三者，S 君家出过险情。从S 君妻的长相来看，S 君不 会有失妻的险情。S 君“顿悟”，只能理解为“S 君”今后要 提防而已。这也是故事的幽默所在。所以我们译作：Otherwise I may lose her through oversight。 oversight 指警觉性未提高之前的“疏忽大意”。

【我的译文】 An ugly wife

Mr S has an ugly wife whom he found proud of. One day, as usual, he boasted of his wife to one of his friends, who has a pretty wife."Having an ugly wife is lucky ."he said, " Seeing her is a torture. Not seeing her, however, is a comfort. And leaving her home worries you not for there is no possibility that she cheats on you."

The friend listened and smiled, "Sorry to disagree with you there. As the saying goes, 'what you think is the safest concerns you the most .' Love blinds you, my friend, you didn't realize how much you care about your wife."

On hearing this, Mr S was suddenly enlightened. He sighed, "That's true. I cannot thank you enough for revealing this to me. Otherwise I would probably lose her for my negligence."

【参考译文】The Advantages of Having A Plain Wife

Mr. S had an unprepossessing wife, of whom he was very proud, so much so that to his friend who had a beautiful wife, he often raved about his spouse like this, “A plain wife is an absolute treasure, unpleasant to look at, but out of mind out of sight and free from suspicion when the husband is away from home. And there is no fear of ‘another man’.”

On hearing this, his friend couldn’t help a smile and the following comment, “Forgive me, sir, for pointing out that you’re wrong there. As the saying goes, the greatest danger resides in the false sense of security. Haven’t you heard of love being blind?”

Suddenly and thoroughly enlightened by his friend’s kind warning, Mr. S sighed with feeling, “How true it is that one can learn more from the talk of a wise person than from ten years’ reading! Otherwise I may lose her through oversight.”

摘自《新编汉英语篇翻译强化训练》居祖纯 编著 清华大学出版社