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英漢翻譯復(fù)建1——Life in the Universe

2023-07-09 22:00 作者:古新紀(jì)的五花肉 0人讀過 | 我要投稿

原文

“Are there living things anywhere else in the Universe?”

To answer this question, first we must consider what makes a living thing, whether plant or animal, and then what conditions living things need in order to go on living.

Living things, like everything else, are made of atoms, which are grouped into molecules. A molecule is the very smallest possible bit you can have of any substance. When you break up a molecule of water, for example, you no longer have water at all, but only the atoms of which water is made—one atom of oxygen and two of hydrogen. The molecules of living things are made, not of two or three atoms, but of hundreds or thousands in different complicated patterns.

If they become too hot, these complicated molecules of living things break up into separate atoms and cease to be living. Therefore, there cannot be life on the Sun or any of the stars because they are far too hot.

Living molecules are also damaged by X-rays, and many of them by ultra-violet rays, so they are not likely to exist on a planet close to the Sun or any other star where there is no atmosphere to keep off these radiations.

Living things also need energy to make them breathe, grow and move. On Earth plants and animals get their energy, directly or indirectly, from the Sun. So planets, which are far from the Sun and extremely cold, are not places where living things could exist. It seems that we still have a long way to go before we get a satisfactory answer.

文本分析

本文文字淺顯易懂，沒有找到出處，也許是兒童科普讀物吧==，屬于科技類文本。

英國翻澤理論家紐馬克將各種文本分為三大類型,即嚴(yán)肅文學(xué)作品、官方文告、自傳文學(xué)、私人書信"等歸類為“表達(dá)型文本將”，將“自然科學(xué)、科技、工商經(jīng)濟(jì)”類文書歸為“信息型文本”，將“通告、說明書、公共宣傳、通俗作品”等歸為“呼喚性文本”，對(duì)于不同的文本,翻譯時(shí)采取的策略是不同的。紐馬克認(rèn)為“表達(dá)型文本”翻譯時(shí)，必須遵從作者的“神圣的”核心地位,宜采用“語義翻譯”方法，以彰顯個(gè)性；而后兩種文本的核心是“真實(shí)性”與“讀者層”，因此翻譯時(shí)采用“交際翻譯”策略（原傳道，2005）。

翻譯此類文本，要注重忠實(shí)性，準(zhǔn)確性，同時(shí)，也要關(guān)注可讀性。

做到忠實(shí)、準(zhǔn)確要特別注意術(shù)語的表述。如文中出現(xiàn)的兩個(gè)概念，star和planet（同時(shí)也要關(guān)注satellite），雖然都可以叫做星星，但含義實(shí)際有很大區(qū)別。

Star:?a fixed luminous point in the night sky which is a large, remote incandescent body like the sun

Planet:?a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit round a star

可見，star指恒星，planet指行星。如果這兩個(gè)概念沒搞清楚，很容易出現(xiàn)誤譯，如：Living molecules are also damaged by X-rays, and many of them by ultra-violet rays, so they are not likely to exist on a planet close to the Sun or any other star where there is no atmosphere to keep off these radiations. 如果將兩者任一的譯成星星，意思就千差萬別了。

另，注意where there is no atmosphere to keep off these radiations修飾的是planet。太陽是有大氣層的^^。

試譯

“宇宙中的其他地方有生命嗎？”

要回答這個(gè)問題，我們首先需要知道生物，包括動(dòng)物和植物是由什么組成的，其次再考慮生物需要什么生存條件。

生物與其他東西一樣，都由原子組成，原子又以一定順序組成分子。分子是構(gòu)成物質(zhì)的最小單位。以水為例，分解水分子后，水便不存在了，只能得到一個(gè)氧原子和兩個(gè)氫原子，它們組成水的原子。生物的分子并非只由兩三個(gè)原子構(gòu)成，而是由成百上千個(gè)原子以各不相同且復(fù)雜的模式組合而成。

如果溫度太高，這些復(fù)雜的分子將會(huì)分解為單獨(dú)的原子，生物就會(huì)死亡。因此，太陽或其他恒星上都不會(huì)產(chǎn)生生命，因?yàn)樗鼈兊臏囟冗^高。

X射線也會(huì)破壞分子結(jié)構(gòu)，紫外線也會(huì)損傷很多分子。因此，靠近太陽或靠近其他恒星的行星，它們因?yàn)闆]有大氣層阻隔輻射，所以不太可能產(chǎn)生生命。

同樣，生物呼吸、生長及行動(dòng)都需要能量支撐。地球上的動(dòng)植物直接或間接地從太陽獲取能量。所以，遠(yuǎn)離太陽的行星，溫度極低，也不適宜孕育生物?？磥恚玫綕M意的答案，仍然還有很長的路要走。