2017年12月大学英语四级翻译题库:七夕
请将下面这段话翻译成英文:
七夕
每年农历七月初七是中国的情人节(Valentine's Day )。关于这个节日有一个美丽的传说:王母娘娘(the Queen ofHeaven )最年幼的女儿“织女”爱上了人间的男子“牛郎”,王母反对仙女与凡人相爱,就用银河(Milky Way)将他们隔开。但牛郎和织女的爱情感动了人间的喜鹊(magpie),每年七月初七这一天,喜鹊会搭起一座鹊桥让这对情侣相见。而如今在这一天,年轻的女子常在月下向织女祈祷,期望得到美满的姻缘。
参考翻译:
Chinese Valentine's Day
The seventh day of the seventh month in the lunarcalendar is Chinese Valentine's Day. There is abeautiful legend about this festival: Zhi Nu, theyoungest daughter of the Queen of Heaven, fell inlove with Niu Lang, a cowherd on earth. Zhi Nu's mother was opposed to the love between afairy and a human, so she separated the two lovers with the Milky Way. However, their lovestory moved the magpies on earth. Those magpies gather together annually on the seventhday of the seventh lunar month to form a “magpie bridge”,so that the couple can meet eachother once in a year. Today, on this day, young girls often pray to Zhi Nu in the moonlight,wishing for a happy marriage.
解析
1.农历:表示农历应该在“某月某日”后面加上in the lunarcalendar (因农历与月球的运转有关),或者简译为onthe...day of the...lunar month。
2.牛郎和织女:可翻译为the Cowherd and the GirlWeaver,因为是中国人物,也可以直译为汉语拼音,之后再用英文对其身份做补充说明。
3.人间:可翻译为earth,也可翻译为the human world。
4.用…隔开:应为 separate…with…
5.每年:除了译为every year以外,还可以用annually来表示,这里用 annually比较恰当,强调一年一次。
6.在月下:若直译为under the moon则不够地道,可转译为“在月光中(in the moonlight)。
7.祈祷、期望:这是两个同时发生的动作,因而可使用现在分词wishing表示伴随,简化句子结构。