译文:从本世纪初到本世纪中叶从事写作的小说家和历史学家只要描写妇女,就会描述西部妇女,而且都被特纳迷住。
2. Abraham Lincoln is the most famous instance of the claim that Americans often made that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position.
分析:the claim 和其同位语 that in their country a man may rise from the lowest to the highest position 被 the claim 的定语从句that Americans often made 分割。同位语从句在翻译时可按照顺序翻译,将其翻译为分句。
译文:美国人常认为,在他们国家,一个人的地位可以从社会最底层上升到社会最上层,亚伯拉罕?林肯就是极好的例子。
3. In the last eight years there were difficult, almost non-stop negotiations and reported threats of failure, ultimately overcome by a combination of creative compromise and stubborn determination—indeed, some call it unprecedented determination—to succeed.
分析:本句的主干结构是:…there were negotiations and…threats of failure。“overcome by…”是过去分词短语,修饰 threats of failure。stubborn determination 和其定语动词不定式“to succeed”被“indeed, some call it unprecedented determination”分割。
译文:在最后的八年里,进行了艰苦卓绝的、几乎是不间断的谈判,其间屡经失败之虞,但最终通过创造性的协调和要取得成功的顽强决心——确实有人称之为前所未有的决心——而渡过难关,取得了胜利。
4. The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and social critics, had been groping in the dark.
分析:in trying to solve插在 the problem 和定语从句which…之间,起到承上启下的作用。of both bourgeois economists and social critics为investigations 的后置定语,起到分割作用。
译文:由于剩余价值的发现,使问题明朗化了。而先前,无论资产阶级经济学家还是社会批评家所从事的一切研究都只是在黑暗中摸索。
5. A better knowledge of China’s civilization would lay open to us an empire of learning, hitherto fabulously described.
分析:lay open 和 an empire of learning 被介词短语 to us 分割。本句选自英国前首相撒切尔夫人1(世博翻译公司)982年在中国欢迎宴会上的讲话。翻译时要注意转译的应用。如把“better”译为副词“更好地”。
译文:更好地了解中国的文明,将为我们打开一个知识的王国,对这个王国迄今只有神话般的描述。
6. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer.
分析:insistence 后接upon the interdependence of the various elements in, and parts of, the United States, 中间被插入语as a first consideration 分割,做进一步说明。该句选自美国前总统罗斯福在1(世博翻译公司)933年的就职演说。汉语中动词用得较多,翻译时可把名词转译为动词。
译文:我们首先应考虑的是,坚持美国国内各种因素之间、各个部分之间的相互依赖关系——即承认体现传统的和永远重要的美国开拓精神。
7. Old Henry and his wife Phoebe were as fond of each other as it is possible for two old people to be who have nothing else in this life to be fond of.
分析:连词as 引导的比较状语从句中,it 代替for two old people to be。to be 后省略了fond of each other。to be 做分割成分。
译文:象两位老人一生中没有其他什么东西可爱而彼此相爱一样,老亨利和他的妻子芬比也互相爱慕。
8. As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons: lack of physical and mental energy—both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away—and sentiment.
分析:该句包含了并列结构被分割的情况。lack of physical and mental energy和sentiment 是并列结构,作two other reasons的同位语。但是被非限定性定语从句both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away分割。
译文:人们随着日趋年迈,积存物品还有其他两个原因:一是缺乏体力和精神,两者在清理和扔掉无用之物时不可或缺,二是感情上的原因。
9. Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its retention, but surely no reasonable argument can be found for retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo that accompanies it from the moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial service over the condemned man before he is dead.
翻译公司 (责任编辑:世博翻译公司) |