问答题
The stages of a writer"s professional life are marked not by a name on an office door, but by a name in ink. There was the morning when my father came home carrying a stack of Sunday papers because my byline was on page one, and the evening that I persuaded a security guard to hand over all early edition, still warm from the presses, with my first column. But there"s nothing to compare to the day when someone hands over a hardcover book with your name on the cover. I"m just not sure the moment would have had the same grandeur had my work been downloaded instead into an e-reader.
Reading is not simply an intellectual pursuit but an emotional and spiritual one. That"s why it survives. There are still millions of people who like the paper version, at least for now. And if that changes—well, what is a book, really? Is it its body, or its soul?
【正确答案】
【答案解析】一位作家写作生涯的各个阶段并不是体现在办公室门牌的名衔上,而是体现在油墨印刷的姓名上。某天清晨,父亲拿着一摞星期日晨报回到家,报纸首页上有我的文章,我的名字赫然纸上;某天晚上,我软磨硬泡终于说服保安人员给了我一份刚刚印出来的还存留着印刷温度的报纸,上面有我的第一个专栏作品。然而,有人把印着你的大名的精装本递给你的那一刻是无可比拟的。假如我的作品不是印刷成册而是被下载到电子阅读器的话,我不确定那一刻我是否会同样风光无限。
阅读不仅仅是对知识的追求,更是一种对情感和精神的追求。正因如此,书本才流传至今。仍有数百万人喜欢阅读纸质书籍,至少现在是这样。如果情况发生了变化——那么,到底什么是书?真正的书?是它的形式还是它的灵魂?
[解析] The stages of a writer"s professional life are marked not by a name on an office door, but by a name in ink.
这句话中两个“name”的含义稍有不同,我们都知道办公室门牌上写着的主要是一个人的职位、头衔,而书本上用油墨印刷的是作者的姓名。因此根据常识,我们可将第一个“name”译为名衔,第二个为姓名。
一位作家写作生涯的各个阶段并不是体现在办公室门牌的名衔上,而是体现在油墨印刷的姓名上。
There was the morning when my father came home carrying a stack of Sunday papers because my byline was on page one, and the evening that I persuaded a security guard to hand over all early edition, still warm from the presses, with my first column.
这里的“page one”是报纸的第一页,也就是我们常说的首页。句子后半部分的“persuade”是“劝说,说服”的意思。但是根据常识:保安人员是不会轻易将刚刚印出来的报纸送人的,因此翻译时要体现出这种说服的艰难性,参考译文加上了修饰成分“软磨硬泡”,使译文更加合理。句子的最后“with my first column”在原句中仅为修饰成分,但是这部分恰恰阐释了作者花费大力气去获取那份报纸的原因:他的第一个专栏作品印在上边。翻译时,可将这句话译为分句,译为“上面有我的第一个专栏作品”。
某天清晨,父亲拿着一摞星期日晨报回到家,报纸首页上有我的文章,我的名字赫然纸上;某天晚上,我软磨硬泡终于说服保安人员给了我一份刚刚印出来的还存留着印刷温度的报纸,上面有我的第一个专栏作品。
But there"s nothing to compare to the day when someone hands over a hardcover book with your name on the cover.
“there"s nothing to compare to”译为“……是无可比拟的”。原句中的“name”参考译文译为了“大名”,将拿到自己作品的精装本时的高傲和喜悦之情表现了出来。
然而,有人把印着你的大名的精装本递给你的那一刻是无可比拟的。
I"m just not sure the moment would have had the same grandeur had my work been downloaded instead into an e-reader.
“have the same grandeur”的含义是“那一刻自己非常有面子”,那一刻对自己而言是壮丽的、是风光的,根据“grandeur”的含义,再结合作者想要表达的骄傲心情,可译为“风光无限”。
假如我的作品不是印刷成册而是被下载到电子阅读器的话,我不确定那一刻我是否会同样风光无限。
Reading is not simply an intellectual pursuit but an emotional and spiritual one.
“not simply...but”译为“不仅仅是……更是”,前者只是程度稍微弱些而已,并非是一种彻底的否定。
阅读不仅仅是对知识的追求,更是一种对情感和精神的追求。