英文原著翻譯的一點感受

楊玉學

英語詞的形態變化多，注重形式變化，而漢語注重意的表達。所以英譯漢的關鍵是以語段的透徹理解為目標，而漢譯英則必須抓住英語的形式結構，特別是動詞的形態變化。以下為本人在原著中的翻譯。

Thus actually and symbolically the eighth floor was the highest elevation upon which the novel unfolded，but it was a long，far cry from our below-street-level apartment and might well have proved disorienting had I not been consciously concerned with a fictional character who was bent upon finding his way in areas of society whose manners，movtives and rituals wre baffling（The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison）.

因此這個八樓的房間事實上象征性地成了這本小說徐徐展開至最高潮之福地。但是悠長的呼吁依然來自生活遠遜平均水平的貧民區。如果我并不曾有意識地關注故事中的人物和他在一個自己的言行舉止，動機和禮則處處受阻的社會中如何艱難尋路的話，那這樣的呼吁簡直是庸人自擾。

It is when one begins to lose the consciousness of freedom， and when the idea of necessity enters the world at all，when there is any hurry or strain anywhere，a letter to be written or a train to catch，when you have got to work， to make the horses of the dream gallop，or to make the rifles go off，that the dream is declining，and turning into the nightmare.

當人們開始失去自由的意識，當實際需要變為現實，當處處都顯得匆忙，出現壓抑——比如寫一封信，趕一趟火車，又比如，你不得不起身工作，不得不讓夢想的駿馬開始奮蹄，或者讓手中的火槍開火。此時，夢也會自貶身份，墮落為夢魘。（“Out of Africa” by Isak Dinesen）

編輯 謝尾合