小说翻译技巧实例分析

English:

The Three New Yorks

by Elwyn Brooks White

(1) There are roughly three New Yorks. (2) There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. (3) Second, there is the New York of the commuter-the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. (4) Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. (5) Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last-the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. (6) It is this third city that accounts for New York's high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. (7) Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. （8）And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference; each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.

译文:

三个纽约

作者：埃尔文•布鲁克斯•怀特

(1) 大致说来有三个纽约。(2) 首先是那些土生土长的男男女女的纽约，他们对这座城市习以为常，认为它有这样的规模和喧嚣，乃是自然而然、不可避免的。(3) 其次是家住郊区、乘公交车到市内上班的人们的纽约--这座城市每到白天就被如蝗的人群吞噬进去，每到晚上又给吐出来。(4) 第三是外来人的纽约，他们生于他乡，到纽约来寻求机缘。(5) 在这三座充满骚动的城市中，最了不起的是最后一座--那座被视为最终归宿的城市，视为追寻目标的城市。(6) 正是由于这第三座城市，纽约才有了紧张的秉性、诗人的气质、对艺术的执着追求、无与伦比的成就。(7) 上班族给纽约带来了潮汐般时涨时落的骚动，当地人保证了纽约的稳固和持续发展，而外来人则赋予纽约以激情。（8）无论是从意大利来到贫民窟开小杂货店的农夫，还是从密西西比州某小镇跑出来躲避邻居的淫秽目光的年轻姑娘，还是从玉米地带1满怀酸楚地拎着手稿跑来的小伙子，情况都没有什么两样：每个人都怀着初恋的激情拥抱纽约，每个人都以冒险家的新奇目光审视纽约，每个人散发出的光和热，足以令爱迪生联合电气公司2相形见绌。
1 玉米地带：指美国中西部盛产玉米的地区，尤指衣阿华州、伊利诺斯州和印第安纳州。
2 爱迪生联合电气公司：纽约市的最大电气公司，全市的用电、天然气和蒸汽，主要由该公司提供。
（选自《中国翻译》2000年第一期，75-76页）

[分析]
这段文字的主要翻译技巧有：直译加注(literal translation + annotation)，形合(hypotaxis)等。
句⑴There are roughly three New Yorks.
词序调整(inversion)。

句⑵There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the
city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable.
切分(division)；takes the city for granted--选词(diction)；
句⑶Second, there is the New York of the commuter-the city that is devoured by locusts

[1] [2] 下一页