《中年人的寂寞》Mid-life Loneliness
夏丐尊Xia Mianzun
| 译文摘自张培基《英译中国散文选一》
我已是一个中年的人。一到中年，就有许多不愉快的现象，眼睛昏花了，记忆力减退了，头发开始秃脱而且变白了，意兴，体力，什么都不如年青的时候，常不禁会感觉到难以名言的寂寞的情味。尤其觉得难堪的是知友的逐渐减少和疏远，缺乏交际上的温暖的慰藉。
I am already a middle-aged man. At middle age, I feel sad to find my eyesight and memory failing, my hair thinning and graying, and myself no longer mentally and physically as fit as when I was young. I often suffer from a nameless loneliness. The most intolerable of all is the lack of friendly warmth and comfort due to the gradual passing away and estrangement of more and more old pals.
要点:
1,“一到中年”译为At middle age，翻译中介词和动词之间的互动也是值得注意的，如“美国在追求世界霸权时，经常侵犯他国人权”=In pursuit of world hegemony, the U.S. has frequently violated the human rights of other countries.
2,fail是个多义词，在不同情境下有着不同含义，最常见的就是“失败”其他翻译中的常见意思还有“未做到（fail to do）””辜负”此处意为“衰退”
3，“头发秃脱”意为“头发变少”此处用的thin十分形象
4，“意兴，体力，什么都不如年青的时候”=“身体和和精神头都不如年轻的时候好”转换说法~
5，nameless=indescribable,但nameless通常来指不好的事情，文学翻译中还常见一个needless,常用在”needless to say”(不消说)
6，逐渐减少<n.>=the gradual passing away，这里的减少是“死去”之意
综述：从第一段可以看出，这篇文章整体的感情基调是平淡中夹杂着忧伤的，译文中fail, nameless等词也可以看出，因此，在做文学翻译时，把握作者的感情是非常重要的。否则译出来的东西也只是一张皮，起不到翻译的真实作用。
不消说，相识的人数是随了年龄增加的，一个人年龄越大，走过的地方当过的职务越多，相识的人理该越增加了。可是相识的人并不就是朋友。我们和许多人相识，或是因为事务关系，或是因了偶然的机缘——如在别人请客的时候同席吃过饭之类。见面时点头或握手，有事时走访或通信，口头上彼此也称为“朋友”，笔头上有时或称“仁兄”，诸如此类，其实只是一种社交上的客套，和“顿首”“百拜”同是仪式的虚伪。这种交际可以说是社交，和真正的友谊相差似乎很远。
Needless to say, the number of acquaintances increases with one's age. The older one gets, the more widely traveled one is and the more work experience one has, the more acquaintances one is supposed to have. But not all acquaintances are friends. We come to know many people either in the way of business or by mere chance –say, having been at the same table at a dinner party. We may be on nodding or hand-shaking terms, call each other "friend", sometimes write to each other with the salutation of "Dear So-and-So", etc., etc. All these are, in fact, nothing but civilities of social life, as hypocritical as the polite formula dunshou (kowtow) or baibai (a hundred greetings) used after the signature in old-fashioned Chinese letter-writing. We may call them social intercourse, but they seem to have very little in common with genuine friendship.
要点：
1，“一个人年龄越大，走过的地方当过的职务越多，相识的人理该越增加了”，这是一个比较句，基本结构是“the more…the more…”，如：“愈是颜色艳丽的花愈缺少芬芳。”译为The showier the flowers are, the less sweetness they have.
2，“我们和许多人相识，或是因为事务关系，或是因了偶然的机缘…”译为“We come to know many people either in the way of business or by mere chance –say, having been at the same table at a dinner party. ”其中in the way of,意为“为了，关于，以…的方法”表示此处的“因了”
3，We may be on nodding or hand-shaking terms，on terms,中的“be on…terms with”意为“与…是什么关系”，term与terms 在意思上有所区别前者可做“术语，时期，时限”，后者意为“条款，条件，关系”注意区分~
4，“笔头上称”= write to each other with the salutation of "Dear So-and-So"，还有一种说法表示“笔头上的”即be written~如Many things have been written and said of the natural beauty and charms of Los Angeles.（洛杉矶的自然之美以及吸引力使它获得了许多来自笔头以及口头上的褒奖。）written单独也可表示“笔头上，口头上，书面上的”，如“written homework”书面作业
5，“和‘顿首’‘百拜’同是仪式的虚伪”，“顿首”，“百拜”用释义译法译为dunshou (kowtow) or baibai (a hundred greetings) used after the signature in old-fashioned Chinese letter-writing.这种译法常出现于文学翻译中。
6，相去甚远=have little in common with, little 表示“甚少”的用法又粗现啦~
综述：这段的语言依旧平淡，但是出现了几处比较棘手的地方，不要偷懒，该记的记，另外，中国古典文化专有名词，可以采用音译，但其后必须要有解释，这体现着翻译意识（认真脸~~~）
真正的朋友，恐怕要算“总角之交”或“竹马之交”了。在小学和中学的时代容易结成真实的友谊，那时彼此尚不感到生活的压迫，入世未深，打算计较的念头也少，朋友结成全由于志趣相近或性情适合，差不多可以说是“无所为”的，性质比较地纯粹。
Real friendship between two persons originates perhaps from the time of life when they were children playing innocently together. Real friendship is easily formed in primary or middle school days when, being socially inexperienced and free from the burden of life, you give little thought to personal gains or losses, and make friends entirely as a result of similar tastes and interests or congenial disposition. It is sort of "friendship for friendship's sake" and is relatively pure in nature.
要点：
1，“总角之交”或“竹马之交”采用意译法处理。译为Real friendship between two persons originates perhaps from the time of life when they were children playing innocently together.
2，涉世未深=being socially inexperienced and free from the burden of life
3,打算计较的念头也少=“不计较个人得失”=give little thought to personal gains and losses,注意这里的Little又出现了哦，表示“少”。
4，“朋友结成全由于志趣相近或性情适合”，这里的“由于”译为了as a result of,这种替换because of 的用法也值得积累~
5，“差不多可以说是‘无所为’的”译为It is sort of "friendship for friendship's sake"中对于“无所为”的理解应是“无条件的，无目的的”，故采用了句式for…one’s sake(为了…),意为“为了友谊而友谊”,也就是无条件无目的的友谊~在冰心的《话说短文》中有句“为了写作而写作”译为“if one writes simply for the sake of writing”也显示了这个意思。
综述：本段注意文学翻译的意译法，“意译”即free translation ;paraphrase ;liberal translation，是指根据原文的大意来翻译，不作逐字逐句的翻译(区别于“直译”)。优点是易于理解~