2019年CATTI三级笔译实务练习题：经济大萧条

　　Effect of the Great Depression1

　　It is difficult to measure the human cost2 ofthe Great Depression. The material hardships were bad enough. Men and women lived in lean-tos made of scrap wood and metal, and families went without meat and fresh vegetables for months, existing on a diet of soup and beans. 3 The psychological burden was even greater4: Americans suffered through year after year of grinding poverty with no letup in sight5. The unemployed stood in line for hours waiting for relief checks, veterans sold apples or pencils on street corners, their manhood - once prized so highly by the nation - now in question6. People left the city for the countryside but found no salvation on the farm. Crops rotted in the fields because prices were too low to make harvesting worthwhile7; sheriffs fended off angry crowds as banks foreclosed long overdue mortgages on once prosperous farms8.

　　Few escaped the suffering. African Americans who had left the poverty of the rural South for factory jobs in the North were among the first to be laid off. Mexican Americans, who had flowed in to replace European immigrants, met with competition from angry citizens, now willing to do stoop labor in the fields and work as track layers on the railroads9. Immigration officials used technicalities10 to halt the flow across the Rio Grande11 and even to reverse it; nearly a half million Mexicans were deported in the 1930s, including families with children born in the United States.

　　The poor — black, brown, and white - survived because they knew better than most Americans how to exist in poverty. They stayed in bed in cold weather, both to keep warm and to avoid unnecessary burning up of calories12; they patched their shoes with pieces of rubber from discarded tires13 , heated only the kitchens of their homes, and ate scraps of food that others would reject.

　　The middle class, which had always lived with high expectations, was hit hard. Professionals and white-collar workers refused to ask for charity even while their families went without food; one New York dentist and his wife turned on the gas and left a note saying, "We want to get out of the way before we are forced to accept relief money." 14 People who fell behind in their mortgage payments lost their homes and then faced eviction when they could not pay the rent.

　　Health care declined. 15 Middle-class people stopped going to doctors and dentists regularly, unable to make the required cash payment in advance for services rendered. 16 Even the well-to-do were affected, giving up many of their former luxuries and weighed down with guilt as they watched former friends and business associates join the ranks of the impoverished.17 "My father lost everything in the Depression" became an all-too-familiar refrained among young people who dropped out of college.

　　Many Americans sought escape19 in movement. Men, boys, and some women, rode the rails in search of jobs, hopping freights to move south in the winter or west in the summer. On the Missouri Pacific alone, the number of vagrants increased from just over 13,000 in 1929 to nearly 200,000 in 1931. One town in the Southwest hired special policemen to keep vagrants from leaving the boxcars. Those who became tramps had to keep on the move, but they did find a sense of community in the hobo jungles20 that sprang up along the major railroad routes. Here a man could find a place to eat and sleep, and people with whom to share his misery. Louis Banks, a black veteran, told interviewer Studs Terkel what these informal camps were like:

　　Black and white, it didn't make any difference who you were.Because everybody was poor. All friendly, sleep in a jungle. We used to take a big pot and cook food, cabbage, meat and beans all together. We all set together, we made a tent. Twenty five or thirty would be out on the side of the rail, white and colored: They didn't have no mothers or sisters, they didn't have no home, they were dirty, they had overalls on, they didn't have no food, they didn't have anything. 21

　　词汇

　　1.lean-to单坡屋顶，披屋，披棚

　　2.grinding poverty难于忍受的贫困，极度贫困

　　3.letup(口语)停止，放松，减弱

　　4.Foreclose预先处理，预先了结;取消赎取抵押品之权利

　　5.overdue过期未付

　　6.stoop labor(收割蔬菜或采摘矮果实等时的)弯腰劳动;弯腰作业

　　7.the Rio Grande格兰德河

　　8.deport驱逐出境

　　9.fall behind落在……后面，拖欠……

　　10.weigh (sb.)down (with...)(因……而)闷闷不乐，使人心情沉重、沮丧、烦恼等

　　11.refrain老调，一再重复的话

　　12.boxcar(铁路上用的)货车车厢，棚车

　　13.hobo流浪汉，游民，流动工人

　　14.hobo jungle(流浪汉、游民的)露营地，(大萧条时期的)失业工人集结地

　　注释

　　1.Great Depression:大萧条，指1929年到1939年发生在美国和其他国家的经济衰退，影响深远，损失惨重，据估计，大萧条时间，世界的经济损失达2500亿美元。

　　2.本句中human cost不是“人力成本”，而是“对人们造成的影响”，翻译时切不可不顾语境，生搬硬套字典解释。

　　3.本句列举了大萧条时期人们的吃住情况，具体说明物质上苦难的深重，汉译时可选用一些具体的动词来翻译原文中相对抽象的make、go without和exist. on等词，同时men and women和families译做叠词，增强感染力。故整句译为：男男女女都住在破木板废铁皮搭起的披棚里，家家户户数月吃不上肉和新鲜蔬菜，只能用清汤和豆子填肚子。另外英语中区分谓语动词和非谓语动词，翻译成汉语时，不必突出这种句法关系，直接译成动词，按汉语语序排列即可。

　　4.这里The psychological burden was even greater呼应前文The material hardships were bad enough，结构相似，通过形容词原型与比较级的对比形成递进，从而突出心理负担的沉重。翻译时，我们固可以按原文语序译做“(大萧条给人们带来的)心理负担更为沉重”，但若颠倒语序，以“更为沉重”起句，更能起到强调作用;从汉语语篇衔接讲，这样译既顺接前句的“深重”，又使“心理负担”和后文的具体事例连贯，很好地起到了承上启下作用，故译为：更为沉重的是心理上的负担。

　　5.本句中with no letup in sight指看不到丝毫停止、减弱或好转的迹象，汉译时，我们不必拘泥原文，字对字翻译，不妨译为“前景渺茫”更为顺畅贴切。

　　6.这里的manhood并不是指“男性的成年期”或“男子总称”，而是指“男子所具有的大丈夫气概，勇敢、刚毅、果断等”，因此我们翻译为“雄姿英发，气概非凡”。此后破折号间的话语是插入语，补充了过去的情形，破折号后的内容说明大萧条时的情况。原文中nation和question押韵，后句now in question短促有力，形成高潮，并与前文相对，翻译时应仔细体会其间的句法和修辞效果，努力实现原文作者的意图。我们不妨将once prized so highly by the nation译为“全国上下，无不赞叹”，铿锵有力，顺应前面的四字结构。now in question则可用调侃的语气翻译成“现在，这种气概不知到哪里去了”与前文形成鲜明对比。

　　7.本句意思是，由于农作物卖不出好价钱，农民们干脆不采摘，让其烂在地里。翻译时要注意英汉语序差别，汉语以意合为主，连词、关联词使用不多，一般按时间先后和先因后果的顺序串联意群，故本句需调整语序，翻译为：农产品价格过低，采摘得不偿失，农作物仝都白白烂在地里。

　　8.翻译本句时需要理清原文意思，调整语序，可译为：许多曾经繁荣富足的农场，因长期拖欠抵押贷款，而被银行没收，愤怒的农民欲夺回财产，但却遭到了警方的阻拦。注意原文并没有直接说农场“被银行没收”，而意为被取消了回赎权，但我们翻译时将这层推断出的意思译明。另外，原文中的sheriffs fended off angry crowds翻译时需要补充逻辑上的缺层，说明来龙去脉，不可简单地翻译成“愤怒的农民遭到警方的阻拦”。

　　9.本句中stoop labor指收割蔬菜或采摘矮果实等时的弯腰劳动，这里可引申译为“干卑微的农活”。后句中work as track layers on the railroads不必字对字翻译成“在铁路上当铺轨工”，而可以参照前句结构，译为“铺设铁轨”。

　　10.翻译本句时需注意technicalities为复数，应译为“各种手段”，体现复数的语法意义。

　　11.the Rio Grande:格兰德河，为美国第三大河流，位于北美洲南部，西班牙语为Rio Bravo(布拉沃河)，北出落基山脉，东南流人墨西哥湾，长约3034公里，其中2000公里为美国同墨西哥的界河。

　　12.这里burning up of calories汉译时若译为“燃烧卡路里”过于具体，可统而言之译为 “热量消耗”。

　　13.patch作动词即可以指用碎片打补丁，也可以指用碎片拼制，根据上下文，我们认为后一个意思更贴切。

　　14.这对纽约夫妇的遗言We want to get out of the way before we are forced to accept relief money，按字面意思为：在被迫接受救济款前，我们想先解脱。如若这样翻译，不免有些拗口，也难以传达这对夫妇离世前的孤傲、凄凉和无助。故此句译为：与其被迫接受救济，还不如离开这个世界。

　　15.本句Health care declined，廖廖数语，但话题峰回路转，一下跳到医疗问题上。如果简单地译为“医疗减退”，既不达意，也不连贯，故译为：医疗条件也每况愈下。

　　16.本句同注7、8-样，翻译时需注意语序，译为：中产阶级没有现金预付门诊费用，不再定期看病。另外，doctors and dentists不必分别译为“医生和牙医”。

　　17.本文条理清晰，从穷人的遭遇讲到中产阶级，再说到富人，每段基本以主题句开始。翻译成汉语时，我们须注意段落间的呼应，增加时代背景，如本段添加的“大萧条中”和第三段起始处添加的“这场苦难中”。本句中weigh down with意为心情沉重，这里后接guilt，不妨译为：郁郁不乐，自责无力相助。

　　18.refrain原意为诗歌或乐曲中的叠句，引申义为“老调、一再重复的话”。在这里，不妨翻译成“口头禅”更符合这些青年无奈的口吻。

　　19.此处seek escape具体指背井离乡，到别处寻找生计，而非弃世以求解脱。翻译时应根据上下文确定原文的具体含义。

　　20.hobo jungles在美国英语中指流浪汉、游民的露营地，又特指大萧条时期的失业工人集结地。翻译这样的词要勤查工具书，不可主观臆断，也不可一知半解，如果翻译成“流浪汉森林”就贻笑大方了。

　　21.本段为黑人的陈述，黑人英语特征明显，语言偏口语化，句子不很完整，有些不合语法但已约定俗成的黑人句法，故翻译前需了解黑人英语特征，避免误解。例如，黑人英语通常使用双重否定表示否定，文中they didn't have no home实为they didn't have anytime。All friendly，sleep in a jungle实为All were friendly and slept in a jungle.此外They didn't have no mothers or sisters中mothers和sisters指所有家人，故不必实译为母亲和姐妹。对于本段的翻译，虽然我们不必用某种中文的社会方言对应翻译，但翻译时还应尽量体现其语体特征。

　　参考译文

　　大萧条的影响大萧条对人们造成的影响无法估量。物质上的苦难本已非常深重。男男女女都住在破木板废铁皮搭起的披棚里，家家户户数月吃不上肉和新鲜蔬菜，只能用清汤和豆子填肚子。更为沉重的是心理上的负担：美国人在极度的贫困中煎熬，年复一年，前景渺茫。失业工人排队数小时等待救济金，退伍老兵则在街角叫卖苹果、铅笔。曾几何时，他们雄姿英发，气概非凡，全国上下，无不赞叹;现在，这种气概不知到哪里去了。人们纷纷离开城市，投奔农村，但是无济于事，农村并不救世。农产品价格过低，采摘得不偿失，农作物全都白白烂在地里;许多曾经繁荣富足的农场，因长期拖欠抵押贷款，而被银行没收，愤怒的农民欲夺回财产，但却遭到了警方的阻拦。

　　这场劫难几乎无人幸免。非洲裔美国人逃离了穷苦的南方农村，在北方工厂找到了工作，。却成为第一批被解雇的工人。墨西哥裔美国人曾大批涌入，以求取代欧洲移民，现在却面临与愤怒的本地公民竞争的局面，这些美国人现在都愿意干卑微的农活，或者去铺设铁轨。为了阻止墨西哥人跨过格兰德河进入美国，移民官员采取了各种手段，甚至将他们遣返回国;20世纪30年代，将近五十万墨西哥人被驱逐出境，其中包括那些在美国生了孩子的家庭。

　　这场苦难中，穷人——无论黑人、棕种人还是白人——都幸存了下来，因为他们比大多数美国人更懂得如何在贫困中生存。天气寒冷时，他们呆在床上，既暖和也减少不必要的热量消耗;他们用废弃轮胎的橡胶碎片做鞋子，只在厨房里生火取暖，用别人不吃的菜皮残渣果腹。

　　生活期望总是很高的中产阶级，在大萧条中也遭遇重创。专业人士和白领员工即使全家嗷嗷待哺，也不愿接受救济;一位纽约的牙医和妻子开煤气自杀前，留下了这样的字条，“与其被迫接受救济，还不如离开这个世界。”那些无法按期支付按揭周供的人，先是失去了自己的房子，而后付不起房租，就给逐出门外。医疗条件也每况愈下。中产阶级没有现金预付门诊费用，不再定期看病。

　　大萧条中，即便富人也深受影响，不得不放弃之前的许多奢华，眼巴巴地看着先前好友、生意伙伴一个个加入赤贫的行列，郁郁不乐，自责无力相助。“我父亲在大萧条中一无所有了”，成了辍学的大学生们再熟悉不过的口头禅。

　　许多美国人辗转流浪，寻找生计。男人，小孩，还有一些妇女，跳上货车，沿铁路四处寻找工作，冬天到南方，夏天到西部。仅密苏里，太平洋铁路沿线，流浪人数就从1929年的13000多增加到1931年的近20万。西南部的一个小镇曾出动特警，阻止流浪者下车。那些沦落流浪的人还得继续流浪。在铁路主干线沿途蔓生的游民露营地，他们倒找到了一份归属。人们可以在这里找到地方吃住，也可以和同病相怜者互诉苦痛。黑人退伍军人Louis Banks，在接受Studs Terkel采访时，描述了这些临时营地的情形：黑人、白人，全都一样，都穷到根了。大家住在一起，倒都很友好。我们支起大锅烧饭，把卷心菜、肉和豆子放在一起煮。我们搭起帐篷，一起生活。二十五岁到三十岁的，不论白人黑人，都出去沿铁路找活：他们没有亲人，也无家可归，穿着工装裤，一身油污，没吃没喝，啥都没有。