语言·翻译《摩根财团》英汉对照阅读笔记公众号【麦小丁】征集优质文章

巜摩根财团》英汉对照阅读翻译笔记 (11)

2019-01-05  本文已影响1人  Happylins

段落分析

这一段主要描写英国投资者对美国的愤怒和不满。文章一开始就可以看到满满的火药味。如果认真观察,可以发现许多爆发力十足的单词:thunder 怒斥,cheat 骗子,rascal 无赖,ingrate 忘恩负义之徒。接下来的部分描述财政部代理人去欧洲见詹姆斯罗斯柴尔德。这个人估计是欧州金融界响当当的一个人物。不然他不会称自己是”最具权威的人”。不但金融家对美国的违约怒火中烧,连宗教人士和文学家也都加入讨伐行列。

原文段落

British investors cursed America as a land of cheats, rascals, and ingrates. State defaults also tainted federal credit, and when Washington sent Treasury agents to Europe in 1842, James de Rothschild thundered, “Tell them you have seen the man who is at the head of the finances of Europe, and that he has told you that they cannot borrow a dollar. Not a dollar.”7 Clergyman Sydney Smith sneered at the American “mob” and said that whenever he met a Pennsylvanian at a London dinner, he felt “a disposition to seize and divide him. . . . How such a man can set himself down at an English table without feeling that he owes two or three pounds to every man in the company, I am at a loss to conceive; he has no more right to eat with honest men than a leper has to eat with clean men.”8 Even Charles Dickens couldn’t resist a jab, portraying a nightmare in which Scrooge’s solid British assets are transformed into “a mere United States’ security.”

单词与短语

Rascal n. a dishonest person 无赖

中文里的老赖就可以用这个词来形容。

Ingrate n. an ungratelful person 忘恩负义的人

a land of cheats, rascals, and ingrates. 这个地方遍地都是骗子,无赖,和忘恩负义之徒。之所以会出现这样的评论要去联系上文去看去。美国各州政府拒绝支付债券利息。也难怪英国人会这么说。

Mob n. a large and often disorderly crowd 乌合之众

这个词也可以用来形容聚众闹事的歹徒。

Disposition n. a tendency 书面语,这里用来指短暂的情绪

Feel a disposition to seize and divide him 想抓住他,将其撕碎

Jab v. to deliver a short straight punch 击打

couldn’t resisit a jab 也忍不住加入了功击者的行列

Mere adj. nothing more than 语气上的肯定,区区,仅仅

Mere mords won‘t help. 只是动动嘴皮子解决不了问题。

金立群译文

英国投资者痛骂美国是骗子、无赖和忘恩负义的国度。各州的拖欠还影响到联邦信用。1842年当财政部代理人从华盛顿去欧洲时,詹姆斯・罗斯柴尔德怒吼道:“回去告诉他们,你已见到欧洲金融最具权威的人,那个人要你告诉他们,一美元也甭想借到,哪怕是一美元。”(7)悉尼・史密斯牧师讥笑这些美国“乌合之众”说,无论何时,只要他在伦敦的宴会上碰到宾夕法尼亚人,他“都想抓住他,将其撕碎……这样一个人如何能坐在英国餐桌旁,而不感到他欠在座的每个人两三英镑,我想象不出来。他没有权利和诚实的人们一起就餐,就像麻风病人无权和干净人一道就餐一样”。(8)就连查尔斯・狄更斯也忍不住加入了攻击者的行列,他描绘了一场噩梦,梦中吝啬鬼的全部英国资产都转换成了“可怜的美国证券”(9)。

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