摘要:释义(paraphrase)是指舍弃原文中的具体形象,直接解释出原文的意思。在翻译一些具有鲜明民族色彩的词语(如成语、典故)时,如果直译不能使译入语读者明白意思,而加注又使译文太噜嗦,并且原文重意不重形、重意不重典时,可采用释义法。它既可使译文简洁明了,又不损害对原文信息的传达。例如: as drunk as a fiddler 酩酊大醉(在古英格兰,民间小提琴手在公共场合为舞蹈伴奏,人们往往以酒酬谢,因此往往会喝得大醉.后人用此成语时,常常重意不重形与典,因此,不必直译为 "像小提琴手一样酩酊大醉",采用释义法即可.)
as rich as Croesus 十分富有(Croesus 是公元6世纪小亚细亚吕底亚国王,十分富有.如直译为 "像科里瑟斯一样富有",倒让读者十分费解,因为读者不知 "科里瑟斯"为何许人,并且后人用此词时,常常意重于典,所以不如释义为 "十分富有",简单明白.)
bring down the house 全场喝彩(不能直译为 "把房子都弄倒了")
(1) It's not easy to become a member of that club-they want people who have plenty of money to spend, not just every Tom, ***, and Harry.
(8) Early Reagan was a mirror image of early Carter.里根上台时在做法上跟执政初期的卡特毫无二致。
(a mirror image 如直译为"镜子里的形象",就让人感到非常别扭,远不如"毫无二致"自然。)
(9) She scolded her maid and was as cross as two sticks.她骂斥自己的女仆,而且脾气非常不好。
(如直译为"像两根棍子一样暴躁",让人不知所云,并且此处重意不重形,翻译时只好采用释义法。)
(10) Up Broadway he turned, and halted at a glittering café, where are gathered together nightly the choicest products of the grapes, the silkworm and the protoplasm.
他拐到百老汇路上,在一家灯火辉煌的饭店前停下来,那里每晚汇集上好的美酒、华丽的衣服和有地位的人物。
(文中the choicest products of the grapes, the silkworm and the protoplasm如直译为"葡萄、蚕和原生质最精良的产物",难令读者明白其意。这里,grape(葡萄), silkworm(蚕), protoplasm(原生质)属于修饰学上的提喻(synecdoche),用原材料分别指它们的制成品──酒、衣服与人。翻译时只得舍弃原文形象,直接释明其意。)
(11) Little in his childhood suggested he would someday become a bridge across Latin and Anglo cultures.
(12) Words are not themselves a reality but only representation of it, and the King's English, like the Anglo-French of the Normans, is a class representation of reality.