一些較難理解的英文詞語

【編者按】本文內容節選自新華社譯審王季良先生的翻譯筆記。作者從其翻譯外刊的實踐中選取例句，配以地道的中文翻譯，有時輔以適當說明，指津點要，陳說翻譯難點。本刊認為，這些翻譯點滴對學習翻譯者大有裨益，特刊發以饗讀者。

1. in the liquid-coal pipeline

In China， there is about $ 25 billion worth of investments currently in the liquid-coal pipeline.

在中國，目前在液化煤項目方面的投資約為250億美元。

[結構類似的句子：As a result， Russia is in the semi-conductor caboose. 結果，俄羅斯在半導體方面落在最后。]

注意：in the pipeline是個英文習語，英英字典的釋義是：undergoing preparation， production， or completion; in the works.

2. welcome to

Welcome to the finance-district offices of Hitachi credit corp. Here， one floor above a sparkling new Hitachi computer showroom， clerks pencil numbers into ledger books and finger abacuses. （WSJ， June 12， 1987）

請看看日立信貸公司金融區辦公室的情形吧。這些辦公室設在新建的熠熠生光的計算機展室上面一層。職員們在這里用鉛筆把數字記入賬冊，手指撥著算盤。

[為了說明welcome to的這種用法，茲再舉一例：Welcome to the “Second Revolution”， a phrase used by both Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to describe the upheaval in economics and ideas now under way in the two communist powers. （Time， Nov. 7， 1987）]

3. cannot realistically

America cannot realistically mount another Marshall plan. （NYT， Aug. 29， 1982）

美國要再實行一項馬歇爾計劃是不切實際的。

4. nobody can accurately

Nobody can accurately call those who plotted， financed and carried out the infamous mass slaughter of Sept. 11 militants， resistance fighters， gunmen， partisans or guerrillas. The most precise word to describe a person or group who murders even one innocent civilian to send a political message is terrorist. （William Safire， NYT Magazine， Sept. 23， 2001）

對于臭名昭著的9·11大屠殺的策謀者、經費提供者和實施者，稱他們為好斗分子、抵抗戰士、職業殺手、狂熱信徒或游擊隊員，都不確切。對于為了發出一種政治信息而殺害無辜平民的人或團伙，即便只是殺死一人，稱呼他們的最確切的用詞是恐怖分子。

5. cannot honorably

You cannot honorably ignore his opinions.

不理睬他的意見，就會顯得你沒有雅量。

6. dangerously foolish area

The Korean peninsula was a dangerously foolish area in which to pin down a major portion of U.S. military power.

把美國相當大一部分軍事力量駐扎在朝鮮半島，是愚蠢到危險地步的做法。

7. powerful head of protectionist steam building up in Congress

The Reagan administration has to defuse the powerful head of protectionist steam building up in Congress， which requires the Japanese in particular—disliked even more intensely by the Washington trade lobbies—to move quickly in liberalizing their markets and dismantling their trade barriers. （The Sunday Times， July 5， 1987）

里根政府必須要化解國會中積聚起來的強大的保護主義壓力。這就尤其要求日本——因為華盛頓的貿易游說團對日本的厭惡情緒越來越強烈——迅速行動，開放市場，消除貿易壁壘。

8. cloud three

He added， these reports “emanate from cloud three.”

他還說，這些報道是“無中生有”。

[cloud three的意思詞典上、網上都查不到，路透社記者的注解是：The American expression “cloud three” means beyond the realm of possibility.]

9. just what the doctor ordered

“Ah， just what the doctor ordered！” exclaimed Bob when Mary brought him a glass of lemonade.

瑪麗給鮑勃端來一杯檸檬汁時，鮑勃說道：“啊！這正是我想要的！”

[注：just what the doctor ordered是口語，意思是：exactly what is needed or wanted，不可按字面照搬。]

10. each country will be the judge of

Each country will be the judge of what constitutes an erratic fluctuation in its exchange rate.

什么情況算是一國貨幣的匯率不正常波動，要由每一個國家自己判斷。

11. level playing field

“Just 500 years ago—yesterday in evolutionary terms—a British baby had only a 50 per cent chance of making it to reproductive age. Now， the figure is around 99 per cent，” says Steve Jones， a geneticist at University College London. There is also a more level playing field in the reproduction game. “No longer， as in the Middle Ages， do a few rich men have many children while many of those in poverty are forced into the army or into monasteries，” he says.

倫敦大學學院的遺傳學家斯蒂夫·瓊斯說：“就在五百年前——從進化論的角度說猶如昨天——英國的嬰兒還只有50%的可能活到成年（或生育后代的年齡）。現在，這個數字是99%左右。”在繁衍后代方面，條件也比較公平了。他說：“在中世紀，少數富人生育很多子女，而許多窮人卻不得不去當兵（或：從軍）或進寺院。這種情況已一去不復返了。”

1籍貫上海市。職稱譯審。1953年畢業于北京外國語學院（今北京外國語大學）英語系。畢業后分配于新華社，從事國際新聞翻譯工作（英譯中），直至1991年3月退休。其間，1983年7月至1986年3月由農業部借調到聯合國糧農組織中文組，任翻譯審校工作。回國后曾在中國新聞學院兼職，教授過翻譯課和外國報刊閱讀課。曾參與翻譯《華盛頓傳》（全譯本）、《里根小傳》、《美國編年史》等。