【答案解析】Lappet Butterflies (刘士聪译文)
At the foot of Mount Emei, around Fuhu Temple, there lives a species of butterfly—one of the rarest rarities of the mountain—that is probably even more beautiful than the most beautiful butterflies in the world.
With its wings closed it resembles a withered tree leaf hanging from a branch—scarcely noticeable to the human eye. Gathering its wings with exquisite patterns, it conceals its beautiful colors.
When it flutters out from a cluster of blooming flowers and alights somewhere in the middle of its graceful flight, it turns into a dried leaf, not even of a withering yellow, but of a deathly grey:
It disguises its shape and colors in order to protect itself, but nevertheless it can"t help ending up in being captured, not only because of its beauty, but more because of the withered quality of its appearance that covers up its beauty.
It is misled to believe that by so doing it can keep itself out of danger. On the contrary it makes itself more attractive, because there is another creature—man—that is cleverer than this butterfly. This creature is extremely skilled in masquerading himself; no masquerading whatsoever can slide by under his nose.
Man captures it, makes a specimen of it and sells it in the market at increasingly high prices. What happens as a result is that there is hardly any of the butterflies to be found—the species is dying out.
The government has now decided to put a ban on its capture, but it"s too late. The ban, instead, multiplies its price. The butterfly is on the verge of extinction.
Since we have got a pair of wings of beauty and truth, there is no reason to hide them. Why do you have to turn yourself into a withered-leaf-like butterfly as you are bound to be netted and sold at the market? Isn"t it better to fly around freely on your flashing, colorful wings and keep up the line of your species though some of you have to meet their doom?
I want both sides of my wings to shine.
I hope everything in the world shows their true colors.
[解析] 1．“峨眉山、伏虎寺”译为Mount Emei，Fuhu Temple。专有名词可以音译。
2．“不仅因为……更因为……”译为not only because of...，but more because of...。
3．“殊不知”可理解为没想到、恰恰相反，译为On the contrary。
4．“有一种生物比它还聪明，这种生物的特技之一是装假作伪，因此装假作伪这种行径是瞒不过这种生物的——人的。”原文中为了强调人类，将“人”放在了句末破折号之后。翻译时，为了更好地处理句子的逻辑关系，可以适当调整一下原文的顺序。
5．“下令禁止”译为“put a ban on”。
6．be bound to注定要……。