请大伙想一想下面这两句翻译得对不对:
1. 他不考虑危险冲进大火去抢救困在屋子里的人。Ignoring the danger, he rushed into fire to rescue those trapped in the house.
2. 他奋不考虑身跳进急流去救那个男生。He jumped into the torrent1 to save the boy disregarding his own life.
从语法上看这两句都没错,粗一看用词仿佛也没问题,甚至有些词典也是如此译的。英译的问题出在ignore和disregard这两个词上。大家来看看最新版(第四版)的Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English对disregard下的概念 [v] to ignore something or treat it as unimportant; [n] when someone ignores something they should not ignore: 再看看ignore的概念:1. to deliberately2 pay no attention to something that you have been told or that you know about, 2. to behave as if you had not heard or seen someone or something.大家可以看出这两个词都强调故意忽视或者不考虑本来需要注意或顾及的事物,是一种疏忽大意或独断一意孤行的行为,而奋不考虑身是说顾不上或来不及考虑,所以如此译把好事变成了坏事,给人以故意拿生命开玩笑的感觉。正确的词应该是regardless,当然,用at the risk of ones life (冒着生命的危险)也可以。
这提醒大家要分辨英语中表示否定的词缀的确切含义,譬如dis-和-less都是表示否定的词缀,但含义是不同的:-less一般加在名词之后,表示没,从意思上说和加在动词前的un-类似,表示一般意义上的否定,如a coverless box 是一只没盖子的盒子,uncover a box (与cover a box相反的动作)意为打开一只盒子的盖子,但 discover a box 则是发现了一只盒子的意思,即dis- 所表示的否定意思比un- 还要进一步。有时,加上否定词缀后词义会发生变化,大伙都了解uneven 并非even的反义词;uninterested 是interested 的反义词,表示不有兴趣,可是disinterested 的意思却是没偏见或成见。
还有一句有问题的英译与本文开始讨论的两句有类似之处:
3. 他没脱衣服就跳下水去救那个溺水儿童。He jumped into the water to save the drowning child without taking off his clothes.
如此翻译出来的英语叫人感觉脱衣服是救人之前一项需要的程序,假如译为he didnt even take off any clothes或he had not time to take off his clothes 就会要好得多。有人问能否说He jumped into the water to save the drowning child wholly dressed?我觉得也不好,由于wholly dressed给人一种全副盛装的感觉。假如有人故意出洋相,不脱衣服跳入游泳池,倒可以说He jumped into the swimming pool without taking off his clothes / wholly dressed.