专八翻译练习

<汉译英>中国的文学

中文原文：

与舞蹈和音乐相伴的歌谣跟口头流传的神话，远在文字出现之前就已大量产生。中国

的文学正是发端于此。不过歌谣本是人们在生活中随兴而发的东西，上古时代也没有保存

和记载它们的手段，因之也就很快湮灭，不留痕迹。我们只能从一些古籍书中推断它们的

存在。古书中记载了一些据称年代非常久远的歌谣，但是大多出于后人的伪托，能够断定

朝代的歌谣要到《诗经》里才能看见。从这点来看，古代神话对中国文学的影响更为显著。

参考译文：

Long before the emergence of the written word, ballads, accompanied by mu

sic anddance,and myths, passed around by word of mouth, were widely popular.

Chinese literature findsits origins in these traditions. However, ballads were what

people improvised out of daily life, anddue to lack of means to record and preser

ve them in ancient times, they quickly disappearedwithout leaving much of a trac

e. Today, we can only deduce their existence from ancient books,which recorded s

ome time-honored ballads, though most of these are belived to be derivatives ofl

ater generations. Ballads in the Book of Songs are the earliest writings that can be

dated. From thispoint of view, ancient mythology obviously has had a great influ

ence on Chinese literature.

汉译英《追忆往事》

中文原文：

老太太总以自家花园里那棵高大的玫瑰树为荣。她非常喜欢告诉别人，数年前她初次

结婚时从罗马带回来的枝条，是如何长成如今这般高大的。那时，她与丈夫乘马车从罗马

旅行归来(那时还没有火车)，途经锡耶那南部的崎岖路段时，马车坏了，他们被迫就宿于

路边的小屋里。住宿条件当然非常差；她一夜未能安眠，一早便起身穿好衣服，立于窗前，

感受着扑面而来的席席凉风，等待着黎明的到来。事隔多年，她仍然记得那情景。明月高

悬在青山群峦之上，远处山峰上的小镇逐渐明亮起来，月亮慢慢消退，晨曦把群山涂得粉

红。突然之间，一束阳光照亮了城镇。城里的窗户相继明亮起来，反射出耀眼的光芒。最

后，整个小城宛若繁星，在天空中不停闪烁。

参考译文：

The old lady had always been proud of the great rose-tree in her garden, and

was fond oftelling how it had grown from a cutting she had brought years befor

e from Italy, when she wasfirst married. She and her husband had been travelling

back in their carriage from Rome ( it wasbefore the time of railways ) and on a ba

d piece of road south of Siena they had broken down, andhad been forced to pas

s the night in a little house by the road-side. The accommodation waswretched of

course; she had spent a sleepless night, and rising early had stood, wrapped up,

ather window, with the cool air blowing on her face, to watch the dawn. She coul

d still, after all theseyears, remember the blue mountains with the bright moon a

bove them, and how a far-off townon one of the peaks had gradually grown whit

er and whiter, till the moon faded, the mountainswere touched with the pink of th

e rising sun, and suddenly the town was lit as by an illumination,one window after

another catching and reflecting the sun' beam, till at last the whole little citytwin

kled and sparkled up in the sky like a nest of stars.

<汉译英>进取的幸福

中文原文：

正是因为不停地追求进取，我们才感到生活幸福。一件事完成后，另一件随之而来，

如此连绵不绝，永无止境。对于往前看的人来说，眼前总有一番新天地。虽然我们蜗居于

这颗小行星上，整日忙于琐事且生命短暂，但我们生来就有不尽的希望，如天上繁星，遥

不可及。只要生命犹在，希望便会不止。真正的幸福在于怎样开始，而不是如何结束，在

于我们的希翼，而并非拥有。

参考译文：

We live in an ascending scale when we live happily, one thing leading to anot

her in an endlessseries. There is always a new horizon for onward-looking men, a

nd although we dwell on a smallplanet, immersed in petty business and not endu

ring beyond a brief period of years, we are soconstituted that our hopes are inacc

essible, like stars, and the term of hoping is prolonged until theterm of life. To be

truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end, of what wewa

nt and not of what we have.

汉译英

中文原文：

传道者感叹到：“著书立说没有止境”，却没发觉他已高度评价了作家这一职业。的

确，写作、旅行、积聚财富都是没有终结的。一个问题引发另外一个问题。我们不断学习，

且永远达不到心中所渴望的那般学识渊博。我们永远雕刻不出自己心仪的塑像。当发现一

个新大陆,或翻过一座山脉时，我们总会看到远方还有未曾涉足的海洋与陆地。宇宙浩渺，

总会有供我们勤奋努力的东西，总会有供我们探索的空间。它不像卡莱尔的著作，可以读

完。即使在其一角，在一个私人花园，或一个农庄附近，四季轮回，天气瞬息万变，哪怕

在那里生活了一辈子，也总会有让我们惊喜的事情。

参考译文：

"Of making books there is no end," complained the Preacher; and did not per

ceive how highlyhe was praising letters as an occupation. There is no end, indeed,

to making books or experiments,or to travel, or to gathering wealth. Problem giv

es rise to problem. We may study for ever, and weare never as learned as we woul

d. We have never made a statue worthy of our dreams. And whenwe have discove

red a continent, or crossed a chain of mountains, it is only to find another oceano

r another plain upon the further side. In the infinite universe there is room for our

swiftestdiligence and to spare. It is not like the works of Carlyle, which can be rea

d to an end. Even in acorner of it, in a private park, or in the neighbourhood of a s

ingle hamlet, the weather and theseasons keep so deftly changing that although

we walk there for a lifetime there will be alwayssomething new to startle and deli

ght us.

<汉译英>婚姻的旅程

中文原文：

当你步入婚姻的殿堂，你可能认为已经爬到了山顶，剩下的只是悠闲地沿着平缓的山

坡下山。然而，这只是恋爱的结束，婚姻的开始。拥有一颗骄傲而又叛逆的心，坠入爱河

与赢得爱情都是难事；但维持爱情也很重要，夫妻都应相敬如宾,互相关爱。当真爱起始于

圣坛之时，夫妻之间便开始了一场智慧与慷慨的竞争，一场为了一个不可能实现的理想而

持续一生的奋斗。不可能实现？啊，当然不可能，因为他们不是一个人，而是两个呀。

参考译文：

Again, when you have married your wife, you would think you were got upon

a hilltop, andmight begin to go downward by an easy slope. But you have only e

nded courting to beginmarriage. Falling in love and winning love are often difficu

lt tasks to overbearing and rebelliousspirits; but to keep in love is also a business

of some importance, to which both man and wife mustbring kindness and goodw

ill. The true love story commences at the altar, when there lies beforethe married

pair a most beautiful contest of wisdom and generosity, and a life-long struggleto

wards an unattainable ideal. Unattainable? Ay, surely unattainable, from the very f

act that theyare two instead of one.

<英译汉>

英文原文：

Lehman shares dip in spite of earnings surge

Lehman Brothers yesterday reported a 47 per cent jump insecond-quarter ea

rnings but its shares fell sharply amid investorfears that volatile markets and risin

g interest rates could cut into Wall Street's recent run ofblockbuster

profits.

The Wall Street bank said it earned $1bn, or $1.69 a share, in the second quar

ter, up from$683m, or $1.13 a share, a year earlier. Strong fixed-income trading re

sults offset a sharp drop indebt-underwriting revenue.

参考译文：

雷曼第 2 季度收益大增47%

雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）昨日公布，公司第二季度收益大增47%，但其股价却

大幅下挫，原因是投资者担心波动较大的市场和不断上升的利率，会中止华尔街投行近来

利润大增的趋势。

这家华尔街投行表示，公司第二季度收益为 10 亿美元，合每股收益1.69 美元，而

上年同期的收益为6.83 亿美元，合每股1.13 美元。该公司固定收益产品交易业务业绩强

劲，抵消了债券承销收入大幅下降的负面影响。

<英译汉>

英文原文：

Britain Loses Half Of Its Millionaires

Suddenly everyone is talking about disappearing millionaires.

Tuesday there was The Wall Street Journal talking aboutthe vanishing Maryla

nd millionaires. Now comes word that Britain has lost about half its millionaires.

The reason isn't emigration or tax revolts. It is personal finances.

As I have been writing for the past year, the rich have been hammered by this

crisis, largelybecause of the plunge in the value of their investments and real esta

te. As a result, the millionairepopulation (especially the lower end) is taking a dive

.

参考译文：

英国百万富翁人数减少近半

突然之间，人人都在谈论不断消失的百万富翁们。

周二，《华尔街日报》有篇文章谈到了美国马里兰州百万富翁越来越少。现在有消息说，

英国的百万富翁人数减少了约一半。

这并不是因为富翁们移民或是避税去了，而是个人财务状况出了问题。

正如过去一年中我所写的，富人们在此次危机中遭受了重创，原因主要是他们的投资

和房地产的价值锐减。正因为如此，百万富翁（特别是富翁中的“贫困户”）的人数骤减。