过去,拥有一辆私家车对大部分人而言是件奢侈的事。如今,私家车在随处可见。汽车成了人们生活中不可或缺的一部分,他们不仅开车上下班,还经常驾车出游。有些城市的汽车増长速度过快,以至于交通拥堵和停车位不足的问题日益严峻,这些城市的市不得不出台新规,上路汽车的数量。由于空气污染日益严重,现在越来越多的人选择购买新能源汽车,也采取了一些措施,支持新能源汽车的发展。
为了方便分析,将原文-译文切分为如下5个意群。下面将逐个意群分析,讨论学员提出的译文。
1.过去,拥有一辆私家车对大部分人而言是件奢侈的事。
译文1:In the past, private cars were luxuries for most Chinese.
译文1不错,主要问题有两个。首先,漏译了“拥有”;其次,没有准确翻译“一辆”,因为译文1用了复数。
译文2:In the past, having a private car was unimaginable for most Chinese people.
译文2不错,主要问题有一个,即没有把“是件奢侈的事”翻译准确,译文用unimaginable ,显然无法对应“奢侈”。
译文3:Possessing a private car used to be an extravagant thing for most Chinese
译文3基本没问题,主要是an extravagant thing的表达略显啰嗦,其实直接用luxury即可。
2.如今,私家车在随处可见。
译文1:But nowadays,we can see them everywhere in China.
译文1的主要问题是“主语没选好”,因为译者没有必要用“we”作主语,这样显得不客观。
译文2:but now private cars are popular in China
译文2的主要问题是“随处可见”没有翻译准确,popular的意思是“流行”,无法对应“随处可见”。我建议改用Ubiquitous这个词。
译文3:while nowadays private vehicles can be seen everywhere
译文3没什么问题,只是“can be seen everywhere”这个表达略显啰嗦,比如改为private vehicles are ubiquitous。不过,考试能写成译文3那样已经可以得分。
3.汽车成了人们生活中不可或缺的一部分,他们不仅开车上下班,还经常驾车出游。
译文1:Cars become an indispensable part of people's everyday life, because people not only drive carsgoing to work and going home,but also drive cars traveling
译文1有很多优点,比如“indispensable”一词用得很准确,比如people一词用得好,因为译者没有根据原文用语翻译为they。的败笔属于句末的people not only drive carsgoing to work and going home,but also drive cars traveling。简单点的说法似乎是:people not only go to work and go home by car, but also go travelling by car.
译文2:Nowadays, Cars play an important role in people's way of life,it help people go to work and travels.
译文2有很多缺点,比如“不可或缺”没有翻译准确,比如缺少连词(英文的逗号不能连接两个句子),比如代词使用不当(it和cars不对应,前者是单数,后者是复数)。剩下的问题就不说了。
译文3:Cars have become an integral part of people’s life, with many people not only commuting by cars but also travelling by driving.
译文3非常优秀,利用了with这个介词连接两句话(译文1用的是连词because)。很少人会想到利用介词with翻译主从关系。
4.有些城市的汽车増长速度过快,以至于交通拥堵和停车位不足的问题日益严峻,这些城市的市不得不出台新规,上路汽车的数量。
译文1:The increasing rate of cars in some cities results in the growing seriousness of traffic jam and the lack of parking spots.As a result,the governments of these cities had to introduce new regulations in order to limit the number of cars on the road.
译文1总体可以,但两个地方的表达欠妥。比如“The increasing rate of cars”其实不能对应“汽车増长速度过快”。另外,had to的时态有误,应该改为have to,因为没必要用过去时。
译文2:However, cities'traffic jam and the inadequacy of parking become increasingly serious by the acceleration of cars in some cities .There cities have to announce new traffic rules to limit the amount of cars in the road.
译文2比译文1差一些。部分表达不够好,比如“the acceleration of cars”其实不能对应“汽车増长速度过快”,比如in the road的介词错误,要改为on the road。另外,“cities'traffic jam and the inadequacy of parking become increasingly serious by the acceleration of cars in some cities ”中的cities出现了两次,肯定有问题。
译文3:As the number of cars in some cities climbs too fast, traffic congestion and parking lots shortage are increasingly emerging as a daunting challenge, so the local governments have to roll out new regulations to restrict the number of cars on roads.
译文3比较好,基本没什么大问题。如果要挑错误,我觉得“traffic congestion and parking lots shortage are increasingly emerging as a daunting challenge”这句话或许可以翻译得更简练,比如traffic congestion and parking lots shortagehave become in increasingly serious. 另外,“the local governments”或许可以改为“the local governments of these cities”,这样更能对应“这些城市的市”。
5.由于空气污染日益严重,现在越来越多的人选择购买新能源汽车,也采取了一些措施,支持新能源汽车的发展。
译文1:The number of people who select buying cars of new energy has surged over the past few years because of the rising seriousness ofair pollution, and the Chinese government has alsotaken some measures to support the development of cars of new energy.
译文1的主要问题是:译文表达太复杂,“The number of people who select buying cars of new energy has surged over the past few years because of the rising seriousness ofair pollution”显得很长,看起来很啰嗦。为什么显得啰嗦呢?因为译者用了很多名词化结构和定语从句(没必要用从句)。可以改为:because of the rising seriousness ofair pollution, more and more people choose to buy cars of new energy,修改后的译文相对简洁。
译文2:As air pollution become increasingly serious,more and more people choose to purchase new energy vehicles.To support the development of new energy cars'industries,the Chinese government also take some actions.
译文2比较好,不过有很多细节错误,比如become要改为becomes;比如to support the development of new energy cars' industries要改为to support their development(their指代前面的new energy vehicles);比如“takes”要改为“takes”(主语government是第三人称单数)。
译文3:Due to increasingly serious air pollution, more and more people turn to purchase new energy vehicles, meanwhile the Chinese government has also adopted some measures to support the development of new energy cars.
译文3比较好,的问题是“meanwhile”不是连词,不能连接两个句子,把“meanwhile”改为in addition。