Disposition of words词语的 翻译（四）

参考文献Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written -

English Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press

Success In Advanced English Writing 高级英语写作指南 祁寿华 上海外语教育出版社

实用口译手册 钟述孔 中国对外翻译出版公司

英汉翻译教程 吕俊 上海外语教育出版社

Warming-up

The fall of 2006 found me on the campus of XYNU.

Sunday morning found him still unwell.

The 1980’s saw the long-term resolution of Hongkong’s future and the successful conclusion of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

80年代中英联合声明的成功签订使香港的前途问题得到了长远的解决

Words and the stories

Face the music The last strawEat crow (boarding

house ,hotel,inn,hostel,pub,motel)

Talk turkey Break the ice Keep up with the

Joneses

accept criticism or punishment for something you have done /

the last straw – the last problem in a series of problems that finally makes you give up, get angry etc.

admit that you are wrong and say that you are sorry

talk seriously about the details esp the business

try to have the same new , impressive possessions that other people have

Words and the stories

Face the music The last strawEat crow Talk

turkey Break the ice Keep up with the

Joneses

面对现实超过负担限度的事

情 , 最不可忍受的事情

被迫承认错误打开窗子说亮话打破僵局, 打破沉默和周周围的人互相攀比

I. correct one mistake of “ that government of the people, by the people for the people, shall not perish form the earth.

II. 口语体和书面体的区别 writing style and colloquial style ;spoken and

writing; reason---- conversational style and academic style ; more

about the defining:

1 The terrorists threaten to execute( kill and formally do sth) a hostage every thirty minutes if their demands are not met.

2 Tonight I make a pledge( a formal promise) to change America’s policy, never again will allow our political self-interest to deter(stop someone from doing sth) us from doing what is morally right. Atrocity ( an extremely cruel and violent action) and terror are not political weapons. And to those who use them, your day is over.

Well, translation serves for the communication, to communicate effectively, we need to to understand the different levels of diction: formal and informal, abstract and concrete, general and specific, its appreciative sense and depreciative sense and its derogatory sense, and we also need to watch out for slang and jargon, we also need to learn about figures of speech creatively so that we can make the Chinese version expressively

Formal diction is used in the standard discourse suitable for academic or business writing.

Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to discuss my application and credentials （ qualifications and documents that a person is what he claims to be ） with you. I enjoyed meeting and other senior executive officers and I trust that my experience in market analysis will prove useful in helping your company expand your market share among the competitors. I look forward to hearing from you soon .

Informal diction is more conversational and reflects a more casual relationd between writer and audience, as shown in the following part:

Thanks much for writing that big reference letter for me. It means so much to me . I believe my work in market analysis will be quite useful for the company, I hope they will consider my application seriously and offer the position for me.

If the same job applicant writes to a personal friend about the same topic, the diction used could be even more informal or colloquial.

I’ve got all the right stuff for the company, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I get another call form them soon. They must be nuts if they pass me up. Oh, I need this job badly, and wish me good

luck..

The formality or informality( the conversational style and academic style) of diction is not absolute but relative, much writing we so everyday is neither exclusively formal nor completely informal. However, we should be aware of and be sensitive to the different levels of formality, choose words properly, match the style with the situation.

Five different levels

1 Ladies and Gentleman, The company cannot ascertain why this has happened. We are not in a position to explain the drop in price, but we do not feel that the trend will continue.

2 Well, I told them at the meeting this morning, you can’t tell why that’s happened. Now, you just can’t explain this drop in price, but I don’t think it’s going to go on.

Five styles

The Frozen style

The Formal style

The consultative style

The Casual style

The intimate style

The Frozen Style

The uppermost level of the five, is only used for very solemn or historic( symbolic) occasions.

The Formal style

It is generally for important occasions or serious matters( including international meetings and conference, diplomatic talks or negotiations and banquet speeches, formal meetings,etc) so the English is generally “ tight-structured and well-planned or well-organized with a conscious variation of vocabulary and sentence-structure, and user of the Formal style may refer to the same thing or idea in several different ways, thus avoid unnecessary repetition, and pronunciation is distinct and as “ standard” as possible.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.

让每一个国家都知道――－不管它对我们怀着善意还是恶意，我们准备付出任何代价，挑起任何重担，对付任何困难，支持任何朋友，反对任何敌人，以确保自由的存在和胜利。

让每一个国家都知道－不管它是希望我们国运昌盛还是衰退，我们将不计任何代价，承受任何负担，应付一切艰难，支持所有朋友，对抗每个敌人，来确保自由的存在与成功。

The consultative style

It is used by native speakers in a wide range of everyday activities-or ,we are permitted to say, it is used for ordinary everyday purposes ,such as carrying on small group-discussions, buying and selling, and so on.

Unlike the formal style, it is usually not consciously varied or planned, it tends to be relatively loose.

“ Contraction” as “you can tell”, “ that’s happened”, “just can’t explain”, “don’t explain” is usually used in this style.

The Casual style

It is mainly for conversation with friends on informal occasions or in our leisure time.

The intimate style

It is rarely written is basically for our private moments or rather it is for use with grammar and sentences are often “ reduced to a bare minimum”.

Word choice

Informal and formal

Extent and degree

General and specific ( appreciative and depreciative and derogatory )

Formal and Informal

show tell live use soon close start so glad real

demonstrate indicate inform reside utilize the near future end- conclude-

complete commence consequently content genuine

Formal and Informal

try get hide see talk with about after that

attempt obtain Concealbehold converse withwith reference to thereafter

The Extent or the Degree of Words

Tiny-small/little (size, weight, force, importance ,etc)-average-big-huge (great, titanic )-enormous.

Tall /high – towering

Few/little-a few/a little-many/much-numerous/a great deal of /a plenty of

peasant – farmer preach- propagate (propaganda) –publicize –

disseminate thin- slim/slender- skinny overweight- fat-–corpulent –plump famous- infamous -notorious difficult- tough-challenging determined -pig-headed -stubborn

英译汉要适当处理economical and good or nice and inexpensive; use

lame argument or forced argument( 强 ); willfully make trouble or be deliberately provocative( 无 ) ， give a dog an evil name and hang him( 欲 ) getting swollen-headed ( forgetting oneself) to stir or incite anger or resentment); thanks to –due to, owing to, because of- in consequence of, wise and resourceful- a bag of tricks, etc.