二、要理解特殊语言现象的特殊含义：
John is now with his parents in New York; it is three years since he was a high school teacher in Washington.
约翰现在同父母一起住在纽约；他不在华盛顿当中学教师已有三年了。
She didn’t attend the meeting because she wanted to.
她去开会并不是她自己想去。
As a place to live, it left much to be desired. As a secret training base for a new plane, it was an excellent site, its remoteness effectively masking its activity.
作为居住之处，这里有许多不足之处。但作为新型飞机的秘密训练基地，却是非常理想的。它地处边陲，人们不易了解其中的活动。
The teacher didn’t tell her students that in so many words, but obviously something about her attitude convinced them.
×老师没有用很多话把这种情况告诉学生，但她的某种态度显然使学生相信情况的确如此。
老师没有把这种情况对学生明说，但她的某种态度显然使学生相信情况的确如此。
If I am getting a free ride, how come I am so tired when I go home at the end of a shift?
×如果我是免费乘车的话，我上完一次班回家后怎么会那么累呢？
如果我上班偷闲的话，我下班回家怎么会那么累呢？
I am sorry I was a little short with you just now. I don’t feel myself today.
×如果我刚才陪你的时间短了一些的话，我很抱歉。今天我自己也没有感觉到。
刚才对你态度不好，我很抱歉。今天我身体有点不舒服。

三、要结合上下文语境进行理解：
The financial implications of this resolution remain to be defined.
本决议所涉及的财政问题尚待确定。
本决议对财政工作的意义尚待阐明。
The tyrants might array their cruelty, but the people would oppose their bravery.
暴君恣意肆虐，人民则奋勇反抗。
Managers face a host of new business realities, such as changing patterns of employment that include an explosion of outsourcing and new alliances.
×管理人员面对的是商界前所未有的种种现实，诸如就业的模式不断变化 包括外购。重组等现象的猛增。
管理人员面对的是商界前所未有的种种现实，诸如企业用工方式的不断变化 包括大幅度增加外部采办和新建联产单位。

III、课堂练习（以下各句的译文在理解上都有问题。请正确理解以下各句，并指出译文中的理解错误）及参考译文：

My delegation is not satisfied that the case has yet been made for convening such a broad conference.
×我方代表团对于没有人提出理由说明应召开如此广泛的会议很不满意。
我方代表团认为，还没有人提出充分理由说明应召开如此广泛的会议。（satisfy 说服，使确信）
The nationalized industries have been spoon-fed for so long that they don’t care whether they give value for money, or make a profit or loss.
×国有工业长期受到优厚待遇， 他们不在乎钱， 也不在乎盈利或亏损。
一些国有行业长期受到优厚待遇，他们不在乎钱花得是不是值得，也不在乎盈利或亏损。
I was not quite sure whether they had locked the door; and when I dared move, I got up and went to see. Alas! no jail was ever more secure.
×我不敢肯定他们是不是把门锁上了；等到我敢走动的时候，我站起身来走过去看看。天啊！没有一所监狱更加牢固。
我不敢肯定他们是不是把门锁上了；等到我敢走动的时候，我站起身来走过去看看。天啊！锁得牢牢的好象监狱一般。
Very hesitatingly I selected a tube of blue paint, and with infinite precaution made a mark about as big as a bean on the snow-white field.
×我迟疑不决地选了一管蓝色颜料，然后小心翼翼地画了一笔，就像雪白的田野上的一粒蚕豆那么大小。
我迟疑不决地选了一管蓝色颜料，然后非常小心翼翼地在画布雪白的底色上点了豆子般大小的一点。
I agree with you that many laws are unjust, but if you make every law a matter of conscience you will end up in jail.
×我同意你的意见，很多法律是不公正的，但如果你都凭良心来制定每项法律的话，你最终就得坐牢。
我同意你的意见，很多法律是不公正的，但如果你对待每项法律都要讲良心的话，你最终就得坐牢。
Ring farewell to the century of physics, the one to which we split the atom and turned silicon into computing power,
×向物理世纪告别吧，在这个世纪里，我们分裂了原子，把硅变为计算机的动力。
向物理学的世纪告别吧，在这个世纪里，我们实现了原子的分裂，我们把硅变成了计算能力。
The sun sets regularly on the Union Jack these days, but never on the English language.
×现在太阳从英国国旗上有规则地落下，但是英语却不是这种情况。/ 现在英国国旗上照到的阳光日益减少，但英语却不是这种情况。
现在，英国已不再是个“日不落”的国家了，但是英语却还是在广泛地流行使用。（Union Jack英国国旗）
I hear the Hindoo teaching his favorite pupil the loves, wars, adages, transmitted safely to this day from poets who wrote three thousand years ago.
×我听见有三千年前的诗人们书写的、完好无损地流传至今的、有印度教士传授给得意门生的、有关爱情故事、战争和格言。
我听见印度人在向他的得意门生传授爱情故事、战争和格言，这些都是由三千年前的诗人所写并完好地流传至今。

IV、课外练习（正确理解下列短文，并将其译成汉语）：

First impressions are often lasting ones. Indeed, if you play your cards right, you can enjoy the benefits of what sociologists call the “halo effect.” This means that if you’re viewed positively within the critical first few minutes, the person you’ve met will likely assume everything you do is positive.  

How you move and gesture will greatly influence an interviewer’s first impression of you.  In a landmark study of communications, psychologists discovered that seven percent of any message about our feelings and attitudes comes from the words we use, 38 percent from our voice, and a startling 55 percent from our facial expressions. In fact, when our facial expression or tone of voice conflicts with our words, the listener will typically put more weight on the nonverbal message.  
To make your first encounter a positive one, start with a firm handshake. If the interviewer doesn’t initiate the gesture, offer your hand first. Whenever you have a choice of seats, select a chair beside his or her desk, as opposed to one across from it. That way there are no barriers between the two of you and the effect is somewhat less confrontational. If you must sit facing the desk, shift your chair slightly as you sit down, or angle your body in the chair so you’re not directly in front of your interviewer.  

Monitor your body language to make sure you don’t seem too desperate for the job, or too eager to please. Keep a Poker face in business situations. Inappropriate smiling is the most common example of a nonverbal behavior that undercuts verbal messages — making you appear weak and unassertive.  Good eye contact is also important. One study found that job applicants who make more eye contact are perceived as more alert, dependable, confident and responsible.

For some people hope dies slowly.
对有些人来说，希望不会轻易破灭。
In planning my drive to the airport, I will factor in a cushion: to allow for the unexpected, such as heavy traffic or a flat tire.
我在安排开车前往机场时，总会考虑留一点时间，以防路上遇到交通堵塞或者轮胎漏气等意外情况。
The blue in his fine eyes seemed to preclude his being a Syrian, but there was an encouraging curve in his nostrils.
看他那双蓝眼睛，他似乎不可能是叙利亚人，但看他鼻子的曲线，却又使人觉得他很有可能是的。
The pace was comfortable, so I decided to stay where I was.
我觉得这种步速跑起来轻松，所以我就决定保持这种速度。
He always lives ahead of his salary.
他总是不到发薪水的日子就把钱花完了。或：他的薪水总是不够花。
美国语言教学家Wilga M. Rivers 说过理解中要掌握三个层次的意义，即词语意义、语法或结构意义以及社会和文化意义（the three levels of meaning: lexical meaning, structural or grammatical meaning, and social-cultural meaning）。
So that’s how I became just another kid in school.
就这样，我成了学校里一名和其他孩子一样的普通孩子。
At first, they were being nice.
起初人们只是出于一时的好心。
John Major faces severe social and economic problems as well as tough debate over European integration, but his top priority will be to maintain the Tories’ long lease on 10 Downing Street.
梅杰面临严重的社会和经济问题以及关于欧洲统一的艰苦辩论，但是他的当务之急将是维系保守党的长期执政。
德国译学教授Wolfram Wilss说：
Translating requires the syntactic, semantic, stylistic and text-pragmatic comprehen­sion by the translator of the original texts.（翻译过程要求译者在句法、语义、文体和语篇语用各方面对原文的进行理解。）
一、要理解原文语句的内部关系：
Go to hell! You report what I have done to the authorities.
×去你的吧！你去向领导汇报我对他们的不敬吧！
去你的吧！你去向领导汇报我的所作所为好啦！
He ate his savoury, and hurried the maid as she swept the crumbs.
×他一边吃着最后的一道消食小吃，一边催促女佣人赶快打扫碎屑。
他吃完最后的一道消食小吃，在女佣人打扫碎屑时，催她快一点。
Derek fancies himself as a ladies’ man, but he spends too much time admiring himself in the mirror for my liking.
×德里克自以为是讨女人喜欢的人，可是为了讨我喜欢，他却花很多时间在镜子面前自我欣赏。
德里克自以为是个讨女人喜欢的人，可是我不喜欢他花那么多的时间在镜子面前自我欣赏。

I.上节 课外练习参考译文：

我最初开始散步是作为一种脱身之计。在办公室里忙了一个上午之后，我发现午饭时出去走一走，吸一口新鲜空气，享受一下阳光，十分令人神清气爽。我还发现，在夜间充满寒意的空气中散步也是一种使人心旷神怡的放松办法。

一个冬夜，经过了医院里好几个小时精疲力竭的工作后我漫步在空旷无人的大街上，那种感觉永远都无法忘却。我一下子发现自己不再感到紧张疲劳。什么病人的病情、个人的烦恼，似乎就像寒夜中呼出的热气，一下子都烟消云散了，   

我把散步纳入了每天的日程，不仅精神振作了，而且体重和血压也逐渐下降了。我开始查阅有关散步的医学文献。通过研究，还通过从事家庭保健医生工作中的临床观察，我发现，无论年龄大小，散步都能健身瘦身，延年益寿。  
散步同游泳、骑车、跑步等一样，是一种有氧运动，能够增加皮肤和肌肉的供氧，从而增进体能和耐力。这种运动可成为预防心血管疾病的主要因素。  
散步是一种最不激烈、最为安全的有氧运动，对绝大多数人都极其合适。以舒适的速度步行能促进心肺活动，从而提高心肺功能，虽然比起其他各种运动方式来散步的作用较为缓慢。

II. 什么是好的译文？

There is a mix of confrontation and cooperation between them.
他们之间既有对抗，又有合作。
He died, and was survived by wife and three children.
他死了，撇下了妻子和三个孩子。
Law enforcement cannot responsibly stand aloof.
司法部门如果对此不闻不问，那就是失职。
Evidently he had the first quality of an angler, which is not to measure the pleasure by the catch.
他显然具备了垂钓者的首要品质，即以钓为乐，钓多钓少无所谓。
Nothing out of its place is good, nothing in its place is bad.
×身外之物无一是善，身内之物无一是恶。
凡事不当无一是好，凡事得当无一是坏。
Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered and enjoyed every day.
×幸福似甘露，日日可享用。
幸福犹如甘露，要天天采集才能日日享用。
忠实原文是指译文与原文实质内容上的一致，而不是形式上的一致。译者由于对原文理解不深，不能透过原文的形式掌握其实质内容，仅见其形，未见其神，这样译出的文字形式上似乎与原文一致了，但与原文的意思却相去甚远。这便是犯了翻译上的形式主义。但是灵活出了格，过分强调译文的流畅，而不受原文意思的约束，闹了独立性，在原文的思想内容之外随意添枝加叶，这种译法称之为自由主义。
This was one of the secrets of his great popularity, but it was a popularity which was as unsettled as the waves. It swelled, and bubbled, and foamed for a while, only to recede, and be lost to its former possessor.
×这是他名噪一时的一个秘密，但这种名声如同波涛一样起伏不定：在短暂的时间内如日中天，盛极一时，炙手可热，但转瞬间又烟消云散，终于在原来有些声望的人身上消失了。
这是他名噪一时的一个秘密，但这种名声如同波涛一样起伏不定：一时间奔腾高涨，汹涌澎拜，转瞬间又一落千丈，终于在原来享有这种声望的人身上荡然无存。

佳译欣赏：
A thief is a thief.
贼性难改。
There was no snow, the leaves were gone, the grass was dead.
天未下雪，但叶落草枯。
Human affairs are all subject to changes and disasters.
人世间，事不由己，变迁灾祸，难以逆料。
It was a day as fresh as grass growing up and clouds going over and butterflies coming down can make it. It was a day compounded from silences of bee and flower and ocean and land, which were not silences at all, but motions, stirs, flutters, risings, fallings, each in its own time and matchless rhythm.
绿草萋萋，白云冉冉，彩蝶翩翩，这日子是如此清新；蜜蜂无言，春花不语，海波声歇，大地音寂，这日子是如此安静。然而并非安静，因为万物各以其独特的节奏，或动，或摇，或震，或起，或伏。

III. 课堂练习（努力按照忠实原文和译文流畅两项标准，把下列句子译成汉语）：
She couldn’t have come at a better time.
She has been a widow only six months.
I believe the speech was needlessly stubborn.
The Macedonian argument has a Greek dimension too.
The Englishman feels no less deeply than any other nationality.
From a physical standpoint, there ought to be as many colours as there are different wave lengths.
But the next century we’ll be able to alter our DNA radically, encoding our visions and vanities while concocting new life-forms.
As a human being, we should demonstrate our intellectual and moral superiority by respecting others for who they are — instead of rejecting them for who/what they are not.

IV. 课堂练习参考译文：
她来得正是时候。
她的丈夫去世至今不过半年。
我认为那篇讲话口气强硬，大可不必。
马其顿之争同希腊也有关系。
英国人同其他民族一样，也有丰富的感情。
从物理学的观点来看，不同的波长有多少种，颜色就有多少种。
但下个世纪我们将能根本改变DNA，能在构建新的生命时把我们的种种想象、种种出于虚荣的要求，都编入遗传密码。
作为人，我们应该不问他人的身份如何都尊重他们，从而显示出自己高超的智慧和道德，而不要因为他们没有某种身份或地位而去卑视他们。

V. 课外练习（努力按照忠实原文和译文流畅两项标准，把下列短文译成汉语）：

I first took up walking as a means of escape. After a busy morning in my office, I found it refreshing to take a stroll at lunchtime, to breathe the fresh air and feel the sun. Another walk in the cold night air was, I discovered, an exhilarating way to unwind.
I’ll never forget the feeling I got one winter night as I walked the deserted streets after many grueling hours at the hospital. I suddenly realized that I no longer felt tense or tired. All the worries about my patients’ illnesses, as well as my own personal cares, seemed to evaporate as quickly as the smoky vapor of my breath in the frosty night.  As I incorporated walking into my schedule, not only were my spirits lifted, but my weight and blood pressure were gradually reduced. I began reviewing the medical literature on walking. From this research, and my clinical observations as a family physician, I found that it is possible to walk your way to better health, a trimmer body and a longer life — no matter what your age.   
Walking — like swimming, bicycling and running — is an aerobic exercise which builds the capacity for energy output and physical endurance by increasing the supply of oxygen to skin and muscles. Such exercise may be a primary factor in the prevention of heart and circulatory disease.   
As probably the least strenuous, safest aerobic activity, walking is the most acceptable exercise for the greatest number of people. Walking at comfortable speed improves the efficiency of the cardio-respiratory system by stimulating the lungs and heart, but at a more gradual rate than most other forms of exercise.

Public opinion plays a vital and healthy role in the political realm.
×公共舆论在政治领域起着生命力的、健康的作用。
舆论在政治领域起着极其重要的、有益的作用。
I am sure that it would change the situation if you are kind enough to lend support to me.
×我相信如果你有足够的好心支持我的话，它将会改变形势。
我相信如果你非常好心能撑我一把的话，情况就不一样了。
Jobs and work do much more than most of us realize to provide happiness and contentment.
×职业和工作带来很大的幸福和满足，而我们大多数人并不意识到这一点。
职业和工作对于获得幸福和满足起了很大的作用，我们大多数人对此却认识不足。

两类问题：一类是译文语义基本符合原文，但汉语表达有欠正确；另一类是汉语表达尚有可读性，但译文语义不符原文。

目前翻译界普遍接受的，也是作为一般翻译学习者必须努力掌握的标准，简而言之是两条：忠实 (Faithfulness) 和流畅 (Smoothness)。

For Nat Nakasa the pledge he was required to sign — to leave his country and never return proved too much; he committed suicide in New York.
×纳特·纳卡萨不得不发誓离开祖国，不管情况如何永不返家，并自杀于纽约。
对纳特·纳卡萨来说，要他签字保证离开祖国永不返回是难以接受的：他在纽约自杀了。
In the wake of his mother’s death some thirty-six years later, Hemingway turned back to the adventure and tried to write a novel about it.
×在他母亲去世36年之后，海明威又想起了那次历险奇遇，并试图写一部小说。
大约36年过后，在他母亲去世后的不久海明威又想起了那次遭遇的险情，并试图就此写一部小说。

外语腔是初学翻译者不知不觉地会在汉语译文中表现出来的一种不当倾向。翻译时所要表达的内容来自外语原文，原文的词语和结构形式随着内容一起进入到我们的大脑，于是原文的语言形式被带入译文，造成了译文的外语腔。
The only concession he made to the climate was to wear a white dinner jacket.
×他对气候的唯一让步就是穿了一件白色的短餐衣。
气候变化，他仅稍稍作了一点变通，赴宴时穿了件白色的短礼服。
If certain animal psychologists are right, a dog adopts his family in a most literal way — taking it for granted that the family is the band of dogs he belongs to.
×假如某些动物心理学家的分析正确，狗在很大程度上代表着它的家人 － 理所当然这一家也就属于狗帮了。
假如有些动物心理学家的分析正确，狗对于他所在家庭的认同是非常实际的－－它理所当然地认为这一家人就是它所归属的一群狗。

现代西方著名翻译理论家Eugene A. Nida 在其理论著述中经常谈到读者反应的问题。他认为，翻译的服务对象是读者，要评判译文质量的优劣，必须看读者对译文的反应如何，同时必须把这种反应与原作读者对原文可能产生的反应进行对比，看两种反应是否基本一致。

除了忠实和流畅这两项基本标准之外，好的译文还必须保持原文的风格，包括民族风格、时代风格、语体风格、作者个人的语言风格等。文艺作品的翻译尤其要求这样做。译者不能破坏或改变原文的风格，不能以译者的风格代替原作的风格。