2014年考研英語(yǔ)一翻譯題

Part C

Directions:

Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written on the ANSWER SHEET(10 points)

Music means different things to different people and sometimes even different things to the same person at different moments of his life. It might be poetic, philosophical, sensual, or mathematical, but in any case it must, in my view, have something to do with the soul of the human being. Hence it is metaphysical; but the means of expression is purely and exclusively physical: sound. I believe it is precisely this permanent coexistence of metaphysical message through physical means that is the strength of music.46) It is also the reason why when we try to describe music with words, all we can do is articulate our reactions to it, and not grasp music itself.

Beethoven’s importance in music has been principally defined by the revolutionary nature of his compositions. He freed music from hitherto prevailing conventions of harmony and structure. Sometimes I feel in his late works a will to break all signs of continuity. The music is abrupt and seemingly disconnected, as in the last piano sonata. In musical expression, he did not feel restrained by the weight of convention. 47) By all accounts he was a freethinking person, and a courageous one, and I find courage an essential quality for the understanding, let alone the performance, of his works.

This courageous attitude in fact becomes a requirement for the performers of Beethoven’s music. His compositions demand the performer to show courage, for example in the use of dynamics. 48) Beethoven’s habit of increasing the volume with an extreme intensity and then abruptly following it with a sudden soft passage was only rarely used by composers before him.

Beethoven was a deeply political man in the broadest sense of the word. He was not interested in daily politics, but concerned with questions of moral behavior and the larger questions of right and wrong affecting the entire society.49) Especially significant was his view of freedom, which, for him, was associated with the rights and responsibilities of the individual: he advocated freedom of thought and of personal expression.

Beethoven’s music tends to move from chaos to order as if order were an imperative of human existence. For him, order does not result from forgetting or ignoring the disorders that plague our existence; order is a necessary development, an improvement that may lead to the Greek ideal of spiritual elevation. It is not by chance that the Funeral March is not the last movement of the Eroica Symphony, but the second, so that suffering does not have the last word. 50) One could interpret much of the work of Beethoven by saying that suffering is inevitable, but the courage to fight it renders life worth living.

46. It is also the reason why when we try to describe music with words, all we can do is articulate our reactions to it, and not grasp music itself.

【句型分析】本句主句主干為it is the reason，why引導(dǎo)定語(yǔ)從句，修飾the reason。定語(yǔ)從句的主干是all we can do is articulate our reactions and not grasp music itself，其表語(yǔ)是不定式短語(yǔ)，由于主語(yǔ)中含有do，不定式符號(hào)to省略：articulate our reactions and not grasp music itself。our reactions之后to it為其定語(yǔ)，it指代music。定語(yǔ)從句中還包含when引導(dǎo)的時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句。

【翻譯要點(diǎn)】①本句主干的主句是主系表結(jié)構(gòu)，reason后why引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句較長(zhǎng)，翻譯時(shí)可以與主干部分結(jié)合，調(diào)整表達(dá)為：這也就是為什么….。

②定語(yǔ)從句中，when引導(dǎo)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句，其中with words做狀語(yǔ)，翻譯時(shí)需調(diào)整語(yǔ)序到其修飾的to describe之前，可以表達(dá)為“當(dāng)我們嘗試用語(yǔ)言來(lái)描述音樂(lè)時(shí)”。定語(yǔ)從句的主干順譯即可，其中reaction根據(jù)語(yǔ)境，可以翻譯為“感受”，其定語(yǔ)to it在表達(dá)時(shí)前置，it指代還原為“音樂(lè)”，則可以翻譯為“所有我們能做的，就是明確表達(dá)我們對(duì)于音樂(lè)的感受”，或者調(diào)整表達(dá)為“我們只能明確表達(dá)我們對(duì)于音樂(lè)的感受”。and之后，grasp依據(jù)語(yǔ)境，需要翻譯為“理解”。

【譯文總結(jié)】這也是為什么當(dāng)我們?cè)噲D用語(yǔ)言來(lái)描述音樂(lè)時(shí)，我們只能明確表達(dá)我們對(duì)于音樂(lè)的感受，而不能完全理解音樂(lè)本身。

47. By all accounts he was a freethinking person, and a courageous one, and I find courage an essential quality for the understanding, let alone the performance, of his works.

【句型分析】本句為并列句。第一個(gè)分句he was a freethinking person, and a courageous one，句首by all accounts為固定搭配，意思是“根據(jù)各方面說(shuō)”。第二個(gè)分句的主干為I find courage an essential quality，其中賓語(yǔ)為courage，而an essential quality是賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)。quality后介詞短語(yǔ)for the understanding of his work為其定語(yǔ)，其中還包含一個(gè)插入結(jié)構(gòu)let alone the performance。

【翻譯要點(diǎn)】① 第一個(gè)分句結(jié)構(gòu)比較簡(jiǎn)單，句首固定搭配by all accounts，可以調(diào)整表達(dá)，翻譯為“據(jù)大家所說(shuō)”。主干順譯即可，其中he指代“貝多芬”，one指代person。這一部分可以翻譯為“貝多芬是個(gè)思想自由、充滿勇氣的人”。

②第二個(gè)分句，主干為“我發(fā)現(xiàn)勇氣是一個(gè)關(guān)鍵品質(zhì)”，quality后為其定語(yǔ)for the understanding of his work，其中the understanding of his work意思為“對(duì)于其作品的理解”，做詞性轉(zhuǎn)化后，可以表達(dá)為“理解其作品”，這個(gè)介詞短語(yǔ)需要調(diào)整語(yǔ)序前置于quality，可以翻譯為“理解他作品的關(guān)鍵品質(zhì)”，則第二個(gè)分句可以表達(dá)為“我發(fā)現(xiàn)勇氣，是理解他作品的關(guān)鍵品質(zhì)”。還可以調(diào)整表達(dá)為“我發(fā)現(xiàn)勇氣這一品質(zhì)，是理解他作品的關(guān)鍵”。

③在定語(yǔ)for the understanding of his work中的插入成分，在邏輯上let alone并列the understanding和the performance，二者共用定語(yǔ)of his works，順譯句末即可：更不必說(shuō)是演出其作品的關(guān)鍵品質(zhì)。

【譯文總結(jié)】人們普遍認(rèn)為，他(貝多芬)是個(gè)思想自由、充滿勇氣的人，我發(fā)現(xiàn)勇氣這一品質(zhì)，是理解他作品的關(guān)鍵，更不必說(shuō)是演出其作品的關(guān)鍵。

48. Beethoven’s habit of increasing the volume with an extreme intensity and then abruptly following it with a sudden soft passage was only rarely used by composers before him.

【句型分析】本句主干為Beethoven’s habit was used by composers before him。本句的謂語(yǔ)為被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)，主語(yǔ)habit后介詞短語(yǔ)of increasing the volume with an extreme intensity and then abruptly following it with a sudden soft passage為其定語(yǔ)，是由介詞of與and并列的兩個(gè)動(dòng)名詞短語(yǔ)increasing the volume with an extreme intensity 和then abruptly following it with a sudden soft passage構(gòu)成。

【翻譯要點(diǎn)】①本句主干較為簡(jiǎn)單，但是主語(yǔ)habit后有很長(zhǎng)的后置定語(yǔ)：Habit of increasing the volume…，其中“habit”可以詞性轉(zhuǎn)換為動(dòng)詞“習(xí)慣”，而中文常常先表達(dá)次要信息，則這一部分可以翻譯一句話“貝多芬習(xí)慣增加…”，置于句首。第一個(gè)動(dòng)名詞短語(yǔ)中，with an extreme intensity為狀語(yǔ)，表達(dá)時(shí)需調(diào)整語(yǔ)序到其修飾的increasing the volume前，根據(jù)語(yǔ)境，volume意思為“音量”，則increasing可以翻譯為“增高”。這一部分可以翻譯為“最大限度來(lái)逐漸增高音量”。第二個(gè)動(dòng)名詞短語(yǔ)then abruptly following it with a sudden soft passage，狀語(yǔ)with a sudden soft passage需調(diào)整到following it前表達(dá)，其中passage根據(jù)語(yǔ)境，意思為“樂(lè)段”。則這一部分可以表達(dá)為“然后突然跟上輕柔的樂(lè)段”。整合本句主語(yǔ)與其定語(yǔ)，可以翻譯為“貝多芬習(xí)慣最大限度來(lái)逐漸增高音量，然后突然跟上輕柔的樂(lè)段”。

②本句主干意思為“在他之前，作曲家很少使用貝多芬的習(xí)慣”。中文語(yǔ)義重心在后，將本部分翻譯在句末即可。由于前句譯文已經(jīng)提到這種習(xí)慣，則這部分可以表達(dá)為“在他之前，作曲家很少使用這種習(xí)慣”，結(jié)合語(yǔ)境還可以表達(dá)為“在他之前，作曲家很少使用這種方式”，或者“在他之前，只有極個(gè)別作曲家會(huì)使用這種方式”。

【譯文總結(jié)】貝多芬習(xí)慣最大限度來(lái)逐漸增高音量，然后突然跟上輕柔的樂(lè)段，在他之前，作曲家很少使用這種方式。

49) Especially significant was his view of freedom, which, for him, was associated with the rights and responsibilities of the individual: he advocated freedom of thought and of personal expression.

【句型分析】本句為完全倒裝，主句的主干是his view of freedom was Especially significant。

his view of freedom后為which引導(dǎo)的非限定性定語(yǔ)從句，修飾freedom，關(guān)系代詞which在定語(yǔ)從句中作主語(yǔ)。of the individual修飾the rights and responsibilities，冒號(hào)后進(jìn)行解釋說(shuō)明。

【翻譯要點(diǎn)】

① 本句主干為完全倒裝，但是在翻譯時(shí)，順譯即可，其中his指代“貝多芬的”，主干可以表達(dá)為：尤為重要的是，他(貝多芬)對(duì)于自由的看法….。

② which引導(dǎo)英語(yǔ)從句，修飾freedom，表達(dá)時(shí)翻譯成另一句話“對(duì)于他而言，這種自由是與個(gè)人的權(quán)利和責(zé)任聯(lián)系起來(lái)的”，其中for him還可以調(diào)整表達(dá)為“他認(rèn)為”。

③冒號(hào)后進(jìn)行解釋，可以翻譯為：他倡導(dǎo)思想自由和個(gè)人言論自由。

【譯文總結(jié)】尤為重要的是貝多芬對(duì)于自由的看法，他認(rèn)為，這種自由是與個(gè)人的權(quán)利和責(zé)任聯(lián)系起來(lái)的：他倡導(dǎo)思想自由和個(gè)人言論自由。

50. One could interpret much of the work of Beethoven by saying that suffering is inevitable, but the courage to fight it renders life worth living.

【句型分析】本句主句主干為One could interpret much of the work of Beethoven，之后by saying that suffering is inevitable, but the courage to fight it renders life worth living為狀語(yǔ)，修飾interpret。其中that引導(dǎo)賓語(yǔ)從句suffering is inevitable, but the courage to fight it renders life worth living，為saying的賓語(yǔ)，賓語(yǔ)從句中it指代suffering。

【翻譯要點(diǎn)】①本句主語(yǔ)one，可以翻譯為“人們”或者“我們”。主干可以翻譯為“我們可以解釋貝多芬的大部分作品”。

②主干之后的狀語(yǔ)，可以翻譯為“通過(guò)說(shuō)痛苦是無(wú)法避免的，但是與之相抗?fàn)幍挠職馐沟蒙档美^續(xù)?！?/p>

③整合主干，可以表達(dá)為“我們可以這樣解釋貝多芬的大部分作品：苦難是不可避免的，但是與痛苦抗?fàn)幍挠職馐沟蒙档美^續(xù)?！?/p>

【譯文總結(jié)】我們可以這樣解釋貝多芬的大部分作品：苦難是不可避免的，但是與痛苦抗?fàn)幍挠職馐沟蒙档美^續(xù)。