翻译练习：工业革命前的中国 第一部分
原文
工业革命前的中国 第一部分
England Before the Industrial Revolution
The country was a place where men worked from dawn to dark, and the labourer lived not in the sun, but in poverty and darkness.
What aids there were to lighten labour were immemorial, like the mill, which was already ancient in Chaucer's time.
The industrial Revolution began with such machines; the millwrights were the engineers of the coming age.
逐句对比
比较自己的翻译和庄绎传先生的, 学习差异所在.
我的译文：我的翻译
参考译文：庄先生的参考翻译
The country was a place where men worked from dawn to dark, and the labourer lived not in the sun, but in poverty and darkness.
我的译文：在农村, 人们从早忙到晚, 却依然摆脱不了贫困, 生活暗无天日.
参考译文：在农村, 人们从早到晚都得干活，劳动者并不是沐浴在阳光下，而是生活在贫困和黑暗之中。
我试图意译了，不过译的有些夸张了。。。庄先生是直译，读起来也不错。
从早到晚: from dawn to dark, 也可以说 from day to night
如果是从中文翻译成英文的话，我很可能会这么翻译：
In the country, men worked from dawn to dark...
对比原文 The country was a place where men worked from dawn to dark..., 我自己感觉其实都行，只是可能我英文不够地道，不会想起来这么写。
不过细细咀嚼一下的话，还是有些差别的，后者 The country was a place 重点在突出 country，讲农村的情况，引出后文的改革。前者则语气弱了，重点偏于人了。
多记着几种表达方法，在长篇文章中变换着用，不单调。
What aids there were to lighten labour were immemorial, like the mill, which was already ancient in Chaucer's time.
我的译文：能帮忙减轻劳力的是很传统的劳作方式，比如在古 Chaucer 时代就有了的研磨机械。
参考译文：那些帮助减轻劳动的机械都不知从哪个年代就有了，比如磨坊，在乔叟的时代就已经是古老的了。
记着这个表达 what aids there/here is to....
我的译文：哎，理解错了 immemorial 这个词：
immemorial: adj.（形容词）历史久远的都不知道从什么时候开始的了
词源上解，in- "not" + memorialis (see memorial). Something immemorial is ancient beyond memory;
The industrial Revolution began with such machines; the millwrights were the engineers of the coming age.
ancient和 immemorial有什么区别呢？还有old,antique?
按时间久远程度来排的话大约是这样：
immemorial > ancient > old,
至于 antique 和 old，我目前还不太确定，有知晓的同学欢迎告诉我，多谢~
列举一下例子：
Immemorial is applied to that which is so ancient that its origins are beyond all memory: immemorial customs. The word is often used in the phrase since time immemorial.
Ancient means existing or occurring in times long past: ancient rituals; ancient coins. As applied to history, ancient refers to the period beginning with the earliest times and ending about the time of the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476.
Old, a more general word, must be qualified to avoid ambiguity. It may mean ancient
想起庄先生的一个例子，在美国哈佛大学的演讲词中提到 来到美国你们这座古老而又现代化的学府，这里的古老要用哪个词呢？
要用 old 而不是 ancient，因为哈佛大学当时也只有 300 多年的历史，old 更恰当些。
The industrial Revolution began with such machines; the millwrights were the engineers of the coming age.
我的译文：工业革命之初就是这类机器；那些设计研磨机械的人就是新时代的工程师。
参考译文：而工业革命就是从这些机械开始的。修造磨坊的匠人就是开创新时代的工程师。
这句没什么特别，我的译文：还是翻译腔重了。
工业革命前的中国1
来练习一下吧
参考译文见下一篇翻译练习.
工业革命前的中国 第二部分
The industrial Revolution began with such machines; the millwrights were the engineers of the coming age.
James Brindley of Staffordshire started his self-made career in 1733 by working at mill wheels, at the age of seventeen, having been born poor in a village.
Brindley's improvements were practical: to sharpen and step up the performance of the water wheel as a machine.
It was the first multi-purpose machine for the new industries.
Brindley worked, for example, to improve the grinding of flints, which were used in the rising pottery industry.