第九讲 正译与反译(negation).ppt

Affirmation and Negation ??Allan Peng The Eastern and Western peoples think and speak differently. This difference is sometimes so great that they think and speak just in the opposite way. What is affirmative to the one may be thought negative by the other, and vice versa. Every language has its peculiarities in negation. Some translators, even some noted translators often made ridiculous errors in this respect through carelessness. Accordingly negation means much in translation and every translator must attach great importance to this point. 从广义上说，任何反说转正说和正说转反说以及任何相反概念的转译都属于这种译法。如hunger march----反饥饿游行，terror war-----反恐战争，dust mask---防尘罩，tear test----抗拉扯实验, the head of the story---故事的后面等都属于广义的正反译法。 而今天讨论的主要指带有否定词的正反翻译。英语中含有no，not，never，none，un-，-less，im-，in-，ir-等成分的词句，都被视为否定表达，简称反说。相反，英语中不含这些成分的词句称为肯定说法，简称正说。汉语中含有“不”，“没”，“未”，“休”，“莫”，“非”，“否”，“勿”等也都是否定表达。 Some people may draw a wrong conclusion that English speaking people use less negative than we Chinese. This is hardly true though they often play down and are careful in using negative forms, as negative words not, no, never, without, etc. are always stressed so sentences containing these words sound strong and even harsh in tone. But it is still a matter of habit. There are many negative sentences in English in which the negative is merely a kind of emphasis, so such sentences can be or better be translated into affirmative ones in Chinese. 在翻译中通常都可以保留原文的否定表达，但有时为了表达更为顺畅，符合目的语的表达方法，或为了增强语言效果，有时反说正译，或正说反译。 归纳起来，正反互译主要有以下一些情况： A. 从正面表达，译文从反面表达 1．动词 Such a chance was denied me. 我没有得到这样一个机会。 2．副词 A: The boy is quite clever. B: Exactly. 甲：这孩子很聪明。 乙：一点不错。 3．形容词 1）It would be most disastrous if even a rumor of it were given. 甚至只要有一点点风声漏出去，结果就不堪设想。 2）The explanation is pretty thin. 这个解释是相当不充实的。 3）His refusal is not final. 他的拒绝不是不可改变的。 4．前置词 1）This problem is above me. 这问题我不懂。（或：我解决不了）。 2）It was beyond his power to sign such a contra