英国《卫报》昨天的一篇报道的第一段是这样的: The International Booker winner Marieke Lucas Rijneveld has written a poem responding to the controversy that broke out after they withdrew from the job of translating Amanda Gorman’s poetry into Dutch, writing that they took the decision because they were “able to grasp when it / isn’t your place”.
报道的作者大概也知道读者会对其中的“has”和“they”的错位产生疑问,于是在文章第二段第一句以最简便的方式做了解释: The non-binary author and poet had been announced…
When asked by the BBC whether given Swaziland’s financial crisis King Mswati should have refused the gift and asked for the value of the jet to be given instead to the Swazi people, Mr Simelane said: “The English say, ‘You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.'”
在节目中,这个老渔民接着笑着说:“Did I just call the First Minister a horse? I hope not”。
There was no rhyme nor reason why it happened, it’s just sport and that’s the final result. We can go back and analyse the result until the cows come home but that won’t change what happened.
Until the cows come home 这个表达有两个可能的来源,第一是把牛放到草地上之后,一般要到第二天它们才回来,因为需要挤奶了。第二是在苏格兰高地,一般把牛放到草地上之后就不管了,直到要送去卖的时候才赶回来。
JK Rowling 本周四将出版她第一本以成年读者为对象的小说 The Casual Vacancy。Vacancy 意思清楚,但加上 Casual 就有点让人摸不着头脑。幸好出版社还是透露的一些情节,所以把书名放到小说语境中,可以推断其实这是一个英国的选举专门词汇,指的是地方区议员(parish councillor)在任上离职后,产生的一个职位空缺,就叫 casual vacancy,根据英国的地方政府法案,必须马上通过选举填补这个空缺,这就是这本小说开头的情节。这个术语的正式翻译,可以参考香港政府的官方译法“临时空缺”,因为香港采用的英国的体制,这本小说书名可以翻译为《临时空缺》。
入选今年Booker Prize提名名单的 Hilary Mantel 的小说 Bring Up the Bodies 也有点让人无从着手。有些中文媒体把这里的 Bodies 翻译成了“尸体”,是错误地理解了原意。这本小说是作者的小说《狼厅》(Wolf Hall)的续集,写的是皇后 Anne Boleyn 的失宠陨落的过程,在叙事者克伦威尔的暗中策划下,Anne Boleyn 以“通奸叛国”罪名下狱,但审判过程还是要走走样子的,“bring up the bodies”是开庭审判此案时的一道命令,通知负责关押皇亲国戚的伦敦塔监狱中的护卫将Anne Boleyn的“同党”们提来候审。所以这本书的书名译成《提堂》是最合适的,而且还和《狼厅》呼应。
有些书的书名就根本没法翻了,比如去年有一本受到各方高度赞扬的小说 There But For The,作者是 Ali Smith。这个古怪的书名看上去是取自一句谚语“There but for the grace of God, go I”(“如非蒙主恩典,我非垮不可。”)的前半句,但其中的四个单词其实是书中四章的标题。我没看过这本书,无法从书的内容中领会到书名的深意,只有等待高手来提供一个准确传神的译名了。
Andrew Mitchell 当然刚好是私立学校出身。过后他向当事警察道了歉,但否认用了“plebs”一词。这个词之所以成了新闻焦点,是因为这正好代表了民众心目中保守党的固有形象:出身社会上层,对低于他们这一阶层的民众,从心底里瞧不起,平时把傲慢与鄙视藏得很好,一不小心就暴露出来了。“plebs”的意义很难翻译出来,也许可以用“泥腿子”这个译法。
1) “You know who really gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks.” – Stewart Francis
提示:give a bad name 的双关含义
2) “Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily I was the one facing the telly.” – Tim Vine
提示:这个笑话可能现场听比看句子更好笑,看到“back to back”时,我已经觉得笑点会是在这里
3) “I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister.” – Will Marsh
4) “You know you’re working class when your TV is bigger than your book case.” – Rob Beckett
5) “I’m good friends with 25 letters of the alphabet … I don’t know Y.” – Chris Turner
6) “I took part in the sun tanning Olympics – I just got Bronze.” – Tim Vine
这个其实挺好,还应景
7) “Pornography is often frowned upon, but that’s only because I’m concentrating.” – George Ryegold
8) “I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!” – Stewart Francis
9) “I waited an hour for my starter so I complained: ‘It’s not rocket salad.” – Lou Sanders
10) “My mum’s so pessimistic, that if there was an Olympics for pessimism … she wouldn’t fancy her chances.” – Nish Kumar
这个比较有趣
上周五英国首相卡梅伦拒绝在拯救欧元协议上签字,在英国媒体上,有的用 veto,有的用 walk out 来形容。如果英国真的离开欧洲,那回变成什么呢?
有一种说法是那些持欧洲怀疑论的保守党议员希望 Britain to be like Switzerland with nuclear weapon。Switzerland 是指像瑞士那样中立、做局外人,nuclear weapon 则是指还有核大国身份。这一说法似乎最早在 The Economist 杂志网站上出现,形容这些保守党议员既想脱离欧洲,又想保持英国国际地位的不切实想法。