张培基英语散文5

再说包装（节录）吴冠中More on Packaging (Excerpt)Wu Guanzhong包装的本质是伪装。Basically, packaging means false embellishment.要点：“伪装”在本文中应理解为“错误的装饰”，因此译为false embellishment.为了美观，略施装饰，无可厚非，斥之伪，有点刻薄。商品离不开包装，离谱的包装，岂止伪，存心欺蒙顾客。日本人很讲究包装，一个漂亮的大匣里面藏着精致的小匣，小匣里还有更小的匣，一层层的包装待你剥到底，最后裸露的往往只是一块小小的糖果。Nevertheless, a little embellishment for the sake of nice appearance is not altogether inadvisable, and it is a bit harsh to denounce it as falsehood. Merchandise can never do without packaging, but going too far with it means something worse than falsehoodit is deliberate cheating. Japanese are very particular about packaging. Hidden inside one beautiful big box will be a number of gradually smaller delicate ones placed one inside another. You have to tear them off one by one until you finally hit on nothing but a tiny piece of candy.要点：1，此处的“无可厚非”，并没有译为beyond reproach,但此词的语气稍重，因此改译为is not altogether inadvisable2，“离谱的包装”即“过分的包装”，译为going too far with it,或overdoing it, too much of it3，“一个漂亮的大匣里面藏着精致的小匣，小匣里还有更小的匣”译为Hidden inside one beautiful big box will be a number of gradually smaller delicate ones placed one inside another. 这种表方位的“有”字句，很容易译为there be，这种译法更加突出主语，值得学习！综述：注意第三点省去there be的用法 我们进入了包装的时代，这恰好提醒我们进入了伪劣假冒的时代。“豪华精美”包装的礼品满天飞，送这种豪华礼品的人与被送者之间绝无真诚的友情，聪明的包 装者是明悟这一实际的，所以工夫用在礼品之外，包装之上。外国也包装，也走人情，也行贿，但以包装作欺蒙则我们传统中早有提示：金玉其外，败絮其中。We have entered the age of packaging, or rather the age of counterfeit and shoddy merchandise. Attractively-packaged gifts can be found everywhere. Aware of the complete absence of real friendship between sender and receiver of a gift, shrewd businessmen have been racking their brains trying to beautify the packing design rather than improve the commodity itself. People in foreign countries are also particular about packaging, and also bribe with gifts, but we have a longer tradition of hoodwinking customers by means of packaging, as witness the ancient Chinese saying, “Gold and jade without, rubbish within.” 要点：1，“我们进入了包装的时代，这恰好提醒我们进入了伪劣假冒的时代。”可按“与其说我们进入了包装时代，不如说我们进入了假冒伪劣时代”译为We have entered the age of packaging, or rather the age of counterfeit and shoddy merchandise.加入关联词，更加凸显句间逻辑关系，后面的“所以工夫用在礼品之外”也使用rather翻译为“注重包装而不是商品本身”2，“以包装作欺蒙则我们传统中早有提示：金玉其外，败絮其中”意即“以包装欺骗顾客，是我们很久以来的传统，以金玉其外败絮其中为证” we have a longer tradition of hoodwinking customers by means of packaging, as witness the ancient Chinese saying, “Gold and jade without, rubbish within.”综述：增译关联词可以凸显句与句之间的逻辑 包装歌星、包装书画家、包装著作包装早已是堂而皇之的事业，不怕社会讥讽了。书籍装帧应让人一目了然著作的内涵与品位，是极深奥的艺术创作工作，但 今日书店书摊上琳琅满目，一片花里胡哨，连书名都认不出来。印一张白底黑字的封面吧。Star singers, painters and calligraphers, authors all go in for self-packaging overtly in disregard of public ridicule. Binding and layout, which provide clear insights into the content and quality of a book, call for profound artistic work. But, today, bookstores and bookstalls are a riot of loud glaring color, so much so that the book titles are overshadowed and become hardly recognizable. Why not have book covers printed just as black and white instead?要点：1，“堂而皇之”即“公开的”译为overtly，openly2,“不怕”本处意为“不管，不顾”译为in disregard of3，“但今日书店书摊上琳琅满目，一片花里胡哨”译为But, today, bookstores and bookstalls are a riot of loud glaring color，其中a riot of 译为“一片”loud glaring color 即“艳丽夺目的色彩”4，“印一张白底黑字的封面吧”意即“还不如印一张白底黑字的封面”译为Why not have book covers printed just as black and white instead?突出了作者的语气综述：注意最后一点，增强语气 伪装是个人的野心，也适应社会的需求。官吏的乌纱、皇帝的蟒袍用以吓唬老百姓，他们退堂退朝后便恢复本来面目，毋须衣冠沐猴了。西装、革履、领带，这种 包装在西方已定型几百年，并早已成为全世界公认的正式服饰，而且居然在不断更新的时装流变中岿然不动。但休闲服的兴起，不知是否会冲垮这端着架子的西装传统，因人们最终要追求自在与舒适，一切架子与伪装都将被抛弃。Packaging serves to satisfy social needs as well as personal ambition. Imperial officials and emperors used to wear black gauze hats and boa-design robes respectively to frighten common people into submission. After a court session or imperial court session was adjourned, they would respectively cease to dress up as such and become their usual selves. The Western-style suit with leather shoes and necktie to go with it is a kind of packaging that has taken shape in the West ever since several hundred years ago. It has long become universally accepted formal wear and even survived the vicissitudes of garment style intact. Nevertheless, nobody can tell if the tradition of wearing the stiff and formal Western-style suit will end up being broken by the upsurge of popular casual wear. In the final analysis, people prefer ease and comfort to any form of affectation and pretence.要点：1，“衣冠沐猴”即“人类打扮的猴子”，意译为“乔装打扮”=dress up as suach2,“这种包装在西方已定型几百年” 译为The Western-style suit with leather shoes and necktie to go with it is a kind of packaging that has taken shape in the West ever since several hundred years ago.其中to go with it 意为“与相配”，也可改用to match it3，“端着架子的” 意思是自高自大，为显示身份而装腔作势，通常用来形容人，现形容装束宜理解为“呆板正式”，译为stiff and formal综述：除了上述句式，本段一些中国特色的词会比如“蟒袍”“乌纱”“革履”都是需要记住的困水记何为Stranded in a FloodHe Wei本月上旬，相隔仅一天，我家老房子先后遭逢两次水灾。旧筑地处繁华市区的低洼地，多年来常为积水所困，但水漫厨房乃至客厅，登堂入室，以今年这两次最为严重，尤其是第二次。Early this month, my old house was twice flooded within