华夏文化源远流长,汉语博大精深,或含蓄,或典雅,在英译汉过程中,合理把握语言,特别是四字成语的运用,会让译文熠熠生辉。以下是作者精选的经典八级译例。
1) Jordan is 30 and at the height of his playing and earning power – but it was not, by his own account, taken hastily, rashly or under any duress.( TEM8,1994)
乔丹年仅三十, 论球艺、薪金都处在鼎盛时期。但乔丹本人声称, 此举并非草率行事或迫于无奈。
2) These were battle-tested veterans with long ties to Reagan and even longer ones to the Republican Party, men who understood presidential politics as well as any in the country.( TEM8,1996)
这是一些久经沙场的退伍老兵,与里根有经年累月的交集,与共和党的联系则更为久远。这些人深谙总统政治,一如他们熟知这个国家中的所有政治事务那样。
3) The backdrop of the campaign was hospitable, with lots of good news to work with: America was at peace, and the nation’ economy, a key factor in any election, was rebounding vigorously after recession.( TEM8,1996)
竞选的背景十分喜人,可作为资本的政绩不胜枚举。例如,特别是美国是太平盛世,任何选举中都至关重要的国民经济在走出低谷后开始强劲反弹。
4) To speak of American literature, then, is not to assert that it is completely unlike that of Europe.( TEM8,1998)
要谈论美国文学,倒并非意欲断言,它与欧洲文学大相径庭。
5) In the savage fighting, German itself was laid waste(市容萧条、田野荒芜), the towns and countryside were devastated and ravished, the people decimated. (北京工业大学,2006)
在这次野蛮的战争中,德国全境一片荒芜,城乡处处残垣断壁,惨遭蹂躏,生灵涂炭,十室九空。
6) If people mean anything at all by the expression “untimely death”, they must believe that some deaths run on a better schedule than others。(TEM8,2000)
如果“英年早逝”有弦外之音(理)的话,那一定是人们相信,有些人死得寿终正寝,而另一些人则死的过早。
7) They are aware that there is a difference between being loving and acting loving, between being stupid and acting stupid, between being knowledgeable and acting knowledgeable.(TEM8.2002)
他们深知真心关爱和虚情假意的不同,懂得愚顽不化和大智若愚的区别,清楚学识渊博和貌似(佯装)才高的差异。
8) Winners do not play “helpless”, nor do they play the blaming game. Instead, they assume responsibility for their own lives. (TEM8.2002)
胜者绝不耍弄,“凄惨无助”之把戏,也不玩弄委过于人(怨天尤人)之游戏,相反,他们会毅然肩负人生的责任(尽职尽责)。
9) He describes the broad streets, rows of houses, a bustling metropolis. But his cousin looks around bewildered (TEM8,2003)
他向她描绘了宽阔的街道,鳞次栉比的房屋,以及熙熙攘攘的城市。他的表妹环顾四周不知所措。
10) Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds。 (TEM8, 2005)
最普通的现象是,我们拿起书本时迷迷糊糊(目的不明),三心二意。
11) We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.(TEM8,2006)
我们面临的将是一场极其严酷的考验,将是旷日持久的斗争和苦难。
12) I feel entitled at this juncture(在此时), at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.(TEM8, 2006)
在此千钧一发之际,我想我有权呼吁(要求)各方的积极配合.在此我呼吁让我们众志成城,并肩作战吧。
13) And among universities, Harvard stands out. With its great tradition, its iconic reputation, its remarkable network of 300,000 alumni, Harvard has never had as much potential as it does now. .(TEM8, 2007)
哈佛在大学中间,鹤立鸡群。凭其光荣的传统、显赫的声誉及其非凡的300000校友人脉网,哈佛的潜力前所未有。
14) But the mountains were raised to more than Alpine height,and there was interspaced far larger between them of savannahs and forest lawns.(TEM8,2010)
不过群山挺然参天(高耸入云),势拔阿尔卑斯峰,诸山相距空旷,丰草如茵,林地开阔,错落其间
15) There is an amorous moonlight prompting to love—to love not only for an individual but sometimes for the whole universe. (上海外国语大学,2005)
时有多情的月光唤发(催生)爱慕之情——不仅是对个体的情爱,有时甚至是对宇宙苍生的博爱。
16) His face was neither bright nor dark, neither alive nor dead, neither ready nor resigned.(北京工业大学,2005)他的模样既非容光焕发,亦非忧郁不堪(满脸阴云)。既非生气勃勃,亦非死气沉沉,既非敢想敢做(心甘情愿)亦非逆来顺受。
17) And that is part of this same, unremarkable theme: spring does come. (中国人民大学,2003)
春天确实来了:亘古不变,平淡无奇。
18) At the hotel he was disobedient, but he was beautifully behaved and sensitive with me.(北京科技大学,2006)
在饭店它也不听话,但是举止得体,敏感细腻。
19) Rescue workers competed with bewildered bystanders for access to overloaded mobile-phone networks.(北京航空航天大学,2010)
救援人员与惊慌失措的路人竞相(拨打手机)使用着已经超负荷的移动电话网(本已拥堵不堪的手机电话网)。
20) How many a pear which presents a blooming face to the world is rotten at the core. How many an innocent-looking apple is harboring a worm in the bud. But the orange has no secret faults. Its outside is a mirror of its inside.(北京第二外国语学院,2010)
有多少梨子,在向人们展现光鲜亮丽的笑容时,内里已经腐烂不堪。有多少看上去纯洁无瑕的苹果,刚刚含苞就已经包藏蛀虫。而柑橘却不遮瑕疵,表里如一。
21) Today, it is no shame to suffer failure in striving for something new, but it is shame to stay in a rut.(国际关系学院,2008)
创新失败已经不足耻辱,固步自封才可耻。
22) Decades ago, Americans in the business world would wear gray suits, one looking like another. Individuality was a sin that was booed in the mainstream society(国际关系学院,2008)
几十年以前在美国,在企业界做事的就是穿灰色西装,千人一面,那个时代,个性则是标新立异,遭到主流诟病。
23) Third, loyalty to one’s company is gone and lost, but people are more devoted to their professions.(国际关系学院,2008)
第三点,对公司的忠诚,可说是荡然无存;但是对自己职业的忠诚,反而有增无减。
24) Is any punctuation mark as feared and abused as the hapless hyphen?(华东师范大学,2007)
还有比倒霉的连字符更令人不安,遭人滥用的标点符号吗。
25) He was a clever man but with a habit of running into debt.(华东师范大学,2008)
他是个聪明人只是有东挪西借的爱好。
26) The lavish, drenching, downpour in extravagant excess had been glorious.(上海对外贸易学院,2007)数日滂沱、倾泻如注的大雨下得如此猛烈,颇为壮观。
27) Why do smart, articulate, and self-confident people often become terrified in front of a group?(上海师范大学,2007)
为什么聪明绝顶、伶牙俐齿、自信满满的优秀人物一到公共场合就会惊恐万状呢?
28) And there is evidence to show that the physiological and therefore the spiritual life, not only of women, but of men too, mysteriously ebbs and flows with the changes of the moon.(上海外国语大学,2005)
有证据表明,不管男性还是女性,其生理活动和精神活动都会随着月亮的圆缺盈亏而神秘的时消时长。
29) Their sudden and fantastic alternations constitute the ordinary weather of our minds.(上海外国语大学,2005)
它们不可思议,来去匆匆,更替变化就构成了我们平常的心境。
30)You cannot think about it (注:指月亮)for long without finding yourself invaded by one or other of several essentially numinous sentiments.(上海外国语大学,2005)
因月遐想,你就会情不自禁的陷入这样或那样的神秘莫测的遐想中。
31)It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others.(上海外国语大学,2007)
有个很奇怪的现象:同样的罪过,别人犯就是十恶不赦,自己犯则情有可原。
32) It was full of sap, full of leaves and full of boughs.(上海外国语大学,2007)
那时它,树液充沛,枝茂叶繁,欣欣向荣。
33)When I beheld this I signed, and said within myself, “Surely mortal man is a broomstick!”(上海外国语大学,2007)
我看到了这一切,不禁兴叹,自言自语一番:人不也是一根扫帚把吗?
34)They agreed to forgive and forget and became friendly again.
他们同意(摒弃)冰释前嫌,重修旧好了。
注:个别翻译参考网络。