decay(decay翻译)

16年天津大学真题

 

前言什么？你还想午休？起来练习翻译了。

我打开后台一看，除了打卡译文之外，还夹杂着一堆看不懂的消息。这是什么情况？发生了什么？？

我的表情就像大爷一样迷惑，像可达鸭一样茫然可能是我年纪大了吧，平日基本没使用微博，也不太了解超话具体是干嘛的，简单理解：大概就是我成“明星”了？看着这些私信，我不禁思考起人生的终极问题，“我是谁？我从哪里来？我要到哪里去？” 。

不过，同学们开心就好，能给同学们紧张的学习生活增添几分乐趣也是挺好的

。

前段时间后台有同学发给我院校题目（下文加粗部分），我才知道天津大学16年就考了这篇，此前恰好也推送了这篇文章开篇段落的翻译风车(1)，同学们可以结合起来看话说，如果早几年更了这篇，就算是押中原题了，只是15年我还没开通公众号。

看来，我与出题老师暗合，如果更得勤快一点，指不定发的哪篇文章就成了院校真题，不练小心错过一个亿

原文Thinking over the losses which England has had forced upon her by steam and the ingenuity of the engineer, one is disposed to count the decay of the windmill among the first. Perhaps in the matter of pure picturesqueness the most serious thing that ever happened to England was the discovery of galvanized iron roofing; but, after all, there was never anything but quiet and rich and comfortable beauty about red roofs, whereas 

the living windmill is not only beautiful but romantic too: a willing, man-serving creature, yoked to the elements, a whirling monster, often a thing of terror. No one can stand very near the crashing sweeps of a windmill in half a gale without a tightening of the heart — a feeling comparable to that which comes from watching the waves break over a wall in a storm. And to be within the mill at such a time is to know something of sound’s very sources; it is the cave of noise itself. No doubt there are dens of hammering energy which are more shattering, but the noise of a windmill is largely natural, the product of wood striving with the good sou’wester; it fills the ears rather than assaults them. The effect, moreover, is by no means lessened by the absence of the wind itself and the silent nonchalance of the miller and his man, who move about in the midst of this appalling racket with the quiet efficiency of vergers. 

In my mill, of course, there is no such uproar; nothing but the occasional shaking of the cross-pieces of the idle sails. Everything is still; and the pity of it is that everything is in almost perfect order for the day’s work. The mill one day — some score years ago — was full of life; the next, and ever after, mute and lifeless, like a stream frozen in a night or the palace in Tennyson’s ballad of the “Sleeping Beauty.” There is no decay — merely inanition. One or two of the apple-wood cogs have been broken from the great wheel; a few floor planks have been rotted; but that is all. A week’s overhauling would put everything right. But it will never come, and the cheerful winds that once were to drive a thousand English mills so happily now bustle over the Channel in vain.

点评讲解Thinking over the losses which England has had forced upon her by steam and the ingenuity of the engineer, one is disposed to count the decay of the windmill among the first. 

Think over意思是“仔细考虑”，有同学译成“谈及/试想/回想起/一想到”，都不够准确，或是错误which England has had forced upon her by steam and the ingenuity of the engineer是定语从句，先行词losses，这里的翻译需要变通一下，不能直接翻译为：英国通过蒸汽和工程师的...强加给...。

你是不是就是这么翻的

count sth among the first意思是“把...列为第一”，指风车的淘汰是英国的第一大损失整句话的大致意思就是，仔细盘算一下蒸汽动力和工程师的发明给英国造成的损失，人们会觉得风车的衰败是第一大损失。

下面请同学们来认领自己牛头不对马嘴的译文：“针对英格兰用蒸汽和工程师的建造对这片土地造成的破坏，第一，就应该调查风车的损坏程度”“她一想到英国用蒸汽和工程师的高超技艺作为借口，强加于她所带来的损失，就止不住地想先。

估算一下风车腐烂的程度”“想到英国因蒸汽和工程师的计谋而蒙受损失，人们首先想到风车的衰败”英格兰用蒸汽和工程师的建造？她一想？调查？借口？计谋？估算？损坏程度？下面的译文我已经不敢看了，我有充分的理由怀

疑这些译文是故意来气我的，但是我没有证据。

Perhaps in the matter of pure picturesqueness the most serious thing that ever happened to England was the discovery of galvanized iron roofing; but, after all, there was never anything but quiet and rich and comfortable beauty about red roofs, whereas the living windmill is not only beautiful but romantic too: a willing, man-serving creature, yoked to the elements, a whirling monster, often a thing of terror.

这段开头说的是，镀锌铁屋顶的出现让风景不再那么天然，其实就像城市的钢筋水泥是对自然的破坏一样discovery翻译成“发现”的同学请自觉罚站，镀锌铁这种材料并不是天然存在的，译成“发现”就不对，可译为“发明/出现”。

下一句，同学们基本都理解错了，也基本没见过能翻译准确的这里说的是，作者怀念红瓦屋顶，但红瓦屋顶毕竟只能带来安静、舒适和富丽，而风车就不一样了，它不仅美丽，而且浪漫有同学把逻辑完全译反了，作者是青睐风车的，有同学译成风车不如红瓦屋顶？。

冒号后面视为同位语，三个同位语并列，a willing, man-serving creature, a whirling monster, a thing of terror.yoked to the elements是a willing, man-serving creature的定语。

yoke指套在牲口脖子上的“轭”，也有“枷锁/奴役”的意思。man-serving不要译成“为人民服务”，这里不用展现你的思想觉悟。

elements之前在福尔摩斯那几篇文章讲过No doubt there are dens of hammering energy which are more shattering, but the noise of a windmill is largely natural, the product of wood striving with the good sou’wester; it fills the ears rather than assaults them. 。

前面谈到风车旋转时的威力令人胆战心惊，而站在风车里面的时候还能听到敲打声，但是声响总体还是natural的，这里的natural很多人也没能理解到位，就直译成“是自然的”，“噪声大体是自然的”是什么意思？语义不明，这里说的其实就是，风车的响声主要还是自然形成的，而非人力所为，那具体是怎么形成的？后面就用了同位语the product of wood striving with the good sou’wester进行解释，原来是wood和sou’wester的合力的产物。

wood是什么？很多同学肯定又是一头雾水了，wood就是指的木制翼板，意思就是，木制翼板在风的吹动下旋转发出的声响，作者写得非常形象，动词用strive with而这种响声充斥耳畔，但也不至于让人感到难受，assault用得非常妙。

整段逻辑环环相扣，你看看你们翻译成啥样hammering energy不宜译成“敲打能量”。

写累了，剩下了自行对照体会吧。

参考译文细数蒸汽动力和工程师的聪明才智给英格兰造成的种种损失，人们会很自然地将风车的衰落排在一位也许就天然美景而言，英国遭遇的最大不幸莫过于镀锌铁皮屋顶的出现；不过，红瓦屋顶毕竟只能带来宁静、富丽和舒适，而飞转的风车却不仅优美，而且浪漫：一个受自然之力驱使，甘愿为人服役的家伙、一头旋转飞舞的野兽、一只常常令人生畏的怪物。

没有人能够在大风中靠近轰隆旋转的风车，而不感到心头一紧——这种感觉好比在暴风雨中目睹巨浪来袭，大坝决堤此时，身处磨坊之中能够感知声响之源头；这里便是噪声之巢穴毫无疑问，这里还有更加震天动地的锤打声，但风车运转的声浪大体还是拜自然之力所赐，是木制翼板与大好的西南风角力的结果；这声浪充斥耳畔，却不会震耳欲聋。

而且，这种感受不会因为风的停息，或者磨坊主和工人若无其事地埋头干活而丝毫减弱，他们就在这种骇人的轰鸣声中四下活动，像教堂司事一样安静而高效我所在的磨坊自然是没有这般喧嚣；除了闲置的翼板横梁偶尔颤动几下之外，一切平静如水；遗憾的是，一切又几乎井然有序，仿佛为当天的工作做足了准备。

二十多年前的某天，这座风车曾经充满活力；但之后却永归沉寂，毫无生机，宛若一夜冻结的小溪，又或丁尼生《睡美人》中的宫殿风车并没有破败，只是失去生气罢了巨大的转轮上只有一两只苹果木做的轮齿坏损；地板上也只有几块木板腐烂，仅此而已。

只需一周的翻修，一切就会恢复正常，但那天却永远不会到来了，曾经吹动上千座英格兰磨坊一齐欢舞的阵阵好风，如今只是匆匆掠过英吉利海峡上空，徒劳无功

怎么样，这篇文章不好翻吧，想翻得好就更难了。我能想象你们翻译时叫苦连天，怀疑人生的样子，明明单词都认识，就是死活看不懂，死活翻不出，翻出来又都是

，哈哈。