差不多先生传 胡适(上) 翻译
自译: Do you know who is most well-known man in China?
Regard to this man, who is well-known everwhere. He his last name is Cha, his first name is Buduo, in every province, every county, every country. You must have seen him and must have heard others talked aout him. The name of Just-so-so is always being talked for he is the representative of The whole Chinese.
张培基: Do you know who is the most well-known person in China?
The name of this person is a household word all over the country. His surname is Cha and his given name, Buduo, which altogether mean"About the same".He is a native of every province, every county and every village in this country. You must have seen or heard about this person. His name is always on the lips of everybody because he is representative of the whole Chinese nation.
你知道中国最有名的人是谁?
提起此人，人人皆晓，处处闻名。他姓差，名不多，是各省各县各村人氏。你一定见过他，一定听别人提起他。差不多先生的名字天天挂在大家的口头，因为他是中国全国人的代表。
1. household代表“人人皆晓”，all over the country代表“处处闻名”
2."， which altogether mean 'About the Same' "用which引导的从句来解释博大精深的有些有深意的词语
3.he is a native of是...人氏，就是...的本地人
4."You must have seen or heard about ths person."这句译文对的原文有两句“你一定见过他，一定听过别人谈过他”，这里译文采取了合译的用法。
5.be on the lips of sb. 被某人挂在嘴边
自译: The apperance of Mr. Cha Buduo is as same as us. Having a pair of eyes, he sees without clear sight; having two ears, he listen without heart; having nose and mouth,but he have no good taste of the smell and food.Having no smaller brain, he has a blunt memory and a sharp thought.
张培基:Mr.Cha Buduo has the same physiognomy as you and I.He has a pair of eyes, but doesn't see clearly.He has a pair of ears, but doesn't hear well. He has a nose and a mouth, but lacks a keen sense of smell and taste.His brain is none too small, but he is weak in memory and sloppy in thinking.
差不多先生的相貌和你和我都差不多。他有一双眼睛，但看的不很清楚; 有两只耳朵，但听的不很分明; 有鼻子和嘴，但他对于气味和口味都不很讲究。他的脑子也不小，但他的记忆却不很精明，他的思想也不恨细密。
1.has the same physiognomy as you and I 和...有一样的面相
2.接下来的几句话都是排比，注意要对仗工整
3. doesn't see clearly 看的不清楚
doesn't hear well 听的不分明
lacks a keen sense of smell and taste 对于气味和口味都不很讲究
4.be none too small 也不小
5.weak in memory sloppy in thinking "sloppy"意为"无条理，凌乱" 记忆不精明，思想不细密
自译: He often says:"It is okay to do the everything about the same.Why being too keen and sharp?"
When he was a child, his mother asked him to buy brown sugar and he returned with white sugar.When his mother censored him, he waved his head and said,"Isn't brown sugar and white sugar about the same?"
When he was in school, the teacher asked him,"which provice is on the west of Zhili province?" He said:"Shanxi."The teacher said:"You're wrong.The right answer is Shanxi,not Shanxi."He said:"Shanxi and Shanxi, isn't they about the same?"
张培基：He often says,"Whatever we do, it's OK to be just about right. What's the use of being precise and accurate?"
One day, when he was a child, his mother sent him out to buy her some brown sugar,but he returned with some white sugar instead.As his mother scolded him about it, he shook his head and said," Brown sugar or white sugar, aren't they about the same?"
One day in school, the teacher asked him, "Which province borders Hebei on the west?"He answered, "Shaanxi."The teacher corrected him,"You are wrong. It's Shanxi,not Shaanxi."He retorted,"Shaanxi or Shanxi, aren't they about the same?"
1. whatever we do 凡事
be just about right 只要差不多
2. What's the use of… 何必
being precise and accurate 精明
3. "One day,"放在句首，表列举，有一天
4.sent sb. out to do 派遣某人去做某事
5. Instead表示“却”的逻辑短语
6.As 时间状语 "scold him about it,"的"about it"原文没有明确说明因为这件事骂他，但是译成英文时要把它凸显出来
7.border Hebei on the west，“border”贴着靠近， border...on the west在...的西边(挨着)，直隶就是河北
8.本来山西和陕西读音都是“shanxi”，只是音调不同，译文在做了巧妙的处理，把陕西译作“shaanxi”便于与山西的“shanxi”从视觉上进行区别。
9.中文的“说”对应英文有好多个不同含义的单词，要结合语境具体分析，比如老师在差不多先生讲出错误答案后的“说”为纠正的意思，译为“correct”，而差不多先生在老师纠正之后的“说”有狡辩之意，译为“retort”。这里做一下扩展，《红楼梦》里的笑。
自译：One day, when he was employed as a worker in a shop. He can write and calculate, yet so inaccurately that he often miswrite thousand into ten and ten into thousand. That infuried the shoper and often scolded him about it, but he only answered with a chuckle: "what thousand more than ten is only…, aren't they about the same?"
One day, when he need to take the train to Shanghai for emergency. He wandered to the train station without rush and he was late in two minutes and the train had already gone. He stared at the smoke coming out of the train in distance and shook his head and said,"There is no way but to go tomorrow, leave today or leave tomorrow, aren't they about the same? But the train company is too serious. Start the train at 8:30 or 8:32, aren't they about the same?" As he saying, he walked home and couldn't figure out why the train not wait him for only two minutes.
张培基:Later Mr. Cha Buduo served as an assistant at a money shop. He could write and calculate all right, but his mathematics were often faulty. He would mistake the Chinese character 十(meaning 10) for 千 (meaing 1000)or vice versa. The shop owner was infuriated and often took him to task. But he would only explain apologetically with a grin,"The character 千 differs from 十 in merely having one additional short stroke. Aren't they about the same?"
One day, he wanted to go to Shanghai by train on urgent business. But he arrived at the railway station unhurriedly only to find the train already gone, because he was two minutes late. He stood staring helplessly at the smoke belching from the diminishing train, and shook his head,"Well, all I can do is leave tomorrow. After all, today and tomorrow are about the same. But isn't railway company taking it too seriously? What's the difference between departing at 8：30 and 8：32?"He walked home slowly while talking to himself and kept puzzling over why the train hadn't waited for him for another two minutes.
有一天，他为了一件要紧的事，要搭火车到上海去。他从从容容地走到火车站，迟了两分钟，火车已经开走了。他白瞪着眼，望着远远的火车上的煤烟，摇摇头道：“只好明天再走了，今天走同明天走，也差不多。可是火车公司未免太认真了。8点30分开，同8点32分开，不是差不多吗？”他一面说，一面慢慢地走回家，心里总不明白为什么火车不肯等他两分钟。
1.served as an assistant当伙计，伙计就是在店里帮忙做事的人
2.“钱铺”又叫“钱庄”，从事兑换业务，可译为"private bank or banking house",但不如"money(exchange) shop"确切
3. He could write and calculate all right(还可以). 这里译文把可以写，也可以算合并为一句，
If you say that something happens or goes all right, you mean that it happens in a satisfactory or acceptable manner. (事情发生或进展) 令人满意地; 可接受地
Things have thankfully worked out all right.
谢天谢地事情的结果还可以。
4.“总不会精细”译为"mathematics were often faulty"
5.mistake…for…把…弄错成…
6.The Chinese character 十(meaning 10)译文这样的处理方法非常巧妙，体现了要保留其形式，因为汉字是象形字，“十”和“千”在形态上相似，所以容易弄错，但是如果直接翻译成“ten”和“thousand”就看不出其形式上的相似性，所以先解释“十”是什么，是中文汉字，再用一个括号解释其意思。
7.or vise versa 这个词非常好用，体现a可以对b发生作用，而反过来b也对a有相似的作用。
8.掌柜 shop owner
9. infuriated 恼怒的
10.take sb. to task 指责sb.
The boss took him to task over his lateness.
11.“他只是笑嘻嘻赔小心道”译为"would only explain apologetically with a grin." grin是咧嘴笑，“赔小心道”因为是上司，所以说话要小心翼翼的，上司骂了你，要解释，所以是"explain apologetically", "with a grin" 伴随状语，而被上司骂了，中国人的一般表现都是陪笑，这是中国的文化，不能表示自己生气，是虚心接受的意思，但是西方国家的文化就不是这样子了，西方国家的文化中，如果你被上司被呵斥，你的面部表情应该保持严肃，如果笑的话，上司就认为你对待自己犯的错误不严肃，当然了，这涉及到跨文化的知识。
12.A比B只多了…，意思就是a和b不同，所以用"A differs from B in… "然后在in的后面加上具体的不同点，“having one additional short stroke”
13.“搭火车去上海”为“去上海，采取的方式是搭乘火车”，所以译为“go to Shanghai by train”
14. “为了一件要紧的事”是"on urgent business"
15.“从从容容地走到”的译文没有翻译出“走”这个词，所以不要被原文的表面上的文字所束缚，打破表面语言的束缚，去追寻原文要表达的真正意思。译为“arrived at the railway station unhurriedly”
16."only to find",原文没有明确有“却发现”这几个字，因为中文是意合的语言，所有的逻辑词都不需要，但英语是形和的语言，所以逻辑词是一定要的，在原文“他从从容容地走到火车站，迟了两分钟，火车已经开走了。”这里包含的逻辑是他走到火车站，却发现火车已经开走了，因为他迟到了两分钟。所以要在零碎的中文语言中找出其内在的逻辑。
17.原文“他白瞪着眼，望着远远的火车上的煤烟”译为"he stood staring helplessly at"。stood是差不多此刻的状态，虽然在句子中没有明确的指出来，所以翻译这种文章要从中文的语言中构想出一幅画面，把当前语句中没有体现出出来的状态一一译出来，而staring at 只是stood的伴随状态而已，“白瞪着眼”其中带有差不多先生的情绪，而译文“helplessly”体现了差不多先生此刻的无助，在风中凌乱，中文的美体现在字里行间，需要读者用心体会，这一句话的神态描写已经景物描写就是为了衬托出主人公的心情。以景抒情是中文诗歌以及散文的一贯手法。但英文这种“马车夫的语言”必须把所有东西都摆在明面上，否则人家看不出来，所以呢?中文语言背后的隐隐约约的东西翻译成英文时必须得说出来。
18. belch from
to send out a large amount of smoke, flames etc, or to come out of something in large amounts 〔大量〕喷出
a line of chimneys belching out smoke
喷吐着浓烟的一排烟囱
Flames belched from the wreckage.
烈焰从残骸中蹿出来。
19.“远远的火车”译为"the diminishing train", 火车的状态可不是只是远而已，而是慢慢远去，越离越远，所以“diminishing”是很形象生动的
20.原文的“只好”翻译成"Well, all I can do is"体现出差不多先生的无奈
21.after all 这个加词非常巧妙，体现了差不多先生在无可奈何之后，只好自我安慰的状态
22.take sth. too seriously
23.火车发车用“depart”
24. What's the difference between…体现了差不多先生的无所谓的处事方式与火车公司所代表的要求精确的社会的冲突，差不多先生这样的处事方式注定会被精确，每件事都较真的时代的火车抛下，尽管他只迟到了两分钟，失之毫厘，差之千里。可笑差不多先生在遭遇了现实的打击时还是冥顽不灵，用“差不多”的言辞为自己开拓，并且希望这个世界也是这样，但是火车不等人，时代的进步不等人。
25.少了slowly, 不能把语意忘掉
26.中文的“一边…一边…”用Aed…while…Bing
27.自言自语 talk to oneself
28.puzzle over sth. 迷惑
