考研翻译能力训练(14)

2010.10
College
English
Technologies tend to be global,both by nature and by name.Say “television ”,“com -puter ”or “internet ”anywhere and chances are you will be understood.But hand -held phones?For this ubiquitous technology,mankind suf -fers from a Tower of Babel syndrome.Under millions of Christmas trees North and South Americans have been unwrapping cell phones or celulares.Yet to Britons and Spaniards they are mobiles or m óviles.Germans and Finns refer to them as Handys,because they fit in your hand.The Chinese,too,make calls on a sho ji ,or “hand machine ”.And in Japan the term of art is keitai ,which roughly means “something you can carry with you ”.1
无论从本质上还是称谓上看，科技往往有全球特征。

在任何地方提到television 、computer 或internet ，别人可能都能明白。

但手提电话呢？对这个无处不在的科技产品，人类却患上了“巴别塔”综合症。

每到圣诞节，南北美洲的人们从无数圣诞树下打开的圣诞礼物叫做cell phones 或celulares 。

不过对英国人和西班牙人而言，叫做mobiles 和m óviles 。

德国人和芬兰人称其为Handys ，因为这种电话可以拿在手中；中国人也用这玩意儿打电话，称之为sho ji （手机）；日本人则用keitai （携帯）这个词，大意为“可随身携带之物”。

This disjunction is revealing for an object that,in the space of a decade,has become as es -sential to human functioning as a pair of shoes.Mobile phones do not share a single global moniker because the origins of their names are
deeply cultural.“Cellular ”refers to how modern wireless networks are built,pointing to a tech -nological worldview in America.“Mobile ”em -phasizes that the device is untethered,which fits the roaming,once -imperial British style.Handy highlights the importance of functionality,much appreciated in Germany.But are such differ -ences more than cosmetic?And will they persist or give way to a global mobile culture?2
称谓上的不一颇发人深省。

10年间，移
动电话对人类已成了鞋一样的必需品。

而之所以没有一个全球性的称谓，是因其名字的起源有深厚的文化内涵。

Cellular （蜂窝状的）说明现代无线网络的建构方式，表明美国的科技世界观。

mobile(可移动的)强调不受束缚，正与昔日大英帝国漫游无拘的风格相吻合。

Handy （手边的）则突出其实用功能，这一点德国人非常看重。

但这些差异仅是表面现象吗？这些差异将长期存在，还是会为全球移动电话文化所同化？
As airtime gets cheaper,the untethered masses tend to use their mobiles more.In early 2000an average user spoke for 174minutes a month,according to the GSM Association (GS -MA),an industry group.By early 2009that had risen to 261minutes,which suggests that humanity spends over 1trillion minutes a month on mobiles,or nearly 2m years.Nobody can keep track of the flood of text messages.3
由于电讯资费越来越便宜，广大手机用户越来越多地使用移动电话。

根据全球移动
通信协会(GSMA)的统计数字，2000年初，普
The Mobile Culture 移动电话文化
笤考试专栏笤
59
2010.10
College English
通用户每月通话时间为174分钟；而到2009年初，这一数字上升至261分钟，这表明全世界人们每月使用移动电话通话总时长超1万亿分钟，近200万年。

海量的短信就更无从统计了。

On average Germans —who are fond of saying that “talk is silver,silence is golden ”—spend only 89minutes each month calling others for Handy -based conversation.In con -trast,Americans won ’t shut up.Their average monthly talk -time is a whopping 788minutes.The chattiest of all are Puerto Ricans,who have by far the highest monthly average in the world of 1,875minutes,probably because op -erators on the American island offer all -you -can -talk plans for only $40,which include calls to the mainland.In Paris people openly complained when bothered by others talking loudly about intimate matters,but complaints were rare in London.In both places,people tended to separate phone and face -to -face con -versations,for instance by retreating to a quiet corner.The Chinese often let themselves be interrupted,fearing that otherwise they could miss a business opportunity.China is distinct because of economics and relatively lax regu -lation.Many consumers use shanzhai (“ban -dit ”)phones,produced by hundreds of small handset -makers.Knock -offs are common,with labels such as “Nokia ”and “Sumsung ”.Other innovative manufacturers have developed spe -cialized phones,for instance handsets that can respond to two phone numbers,or models with giant speakers for farmers on noisy tractors.4
德国人的口头禅是“开口是银，沉默是金”———他们月均手机通话时间只有89分钟。

与之相反，美国人总滔滔不绝，月均通话时间高达788分钟。

最爱煲电话粥的是波多黎各人，他们以月均高达1875分钟的通话时间位居世界首位。

究其原因，可能是因为
运营商为这个美洲小岛上的居民提供了仅
40美元的包月服务，想怎么打就怎么打，包
括拨打美洲大陆的电话。

在巴黎，如果别人在自己面前大声谈论私事，会忍不住抱怨。

而伦敦就鲜有这类抱怨。

但无论在巴黎还是伦敦，与他人面对面交谈时如电话响了，人们往往会走开，比如退到僻静的角落接电话。

中国人则通常任凭电话干扰，生怕错过商机。

中国的情况很独特，主要是经济方面的原因及法规的不严。

许多消费者使用小作坊生产的山寨手机，这类厂子在中国成百上千。

假借“诺基亚”、“三星”等的冒牌手机非常普遍。

一些具有创新意识的制造商已开发出专门用途手机，如双卡双待手机，或面向开拖拉机农民的高音量手机。

翻译要点注解：
这篇文章对世界各国的移动电话文化差异做了介绍与评述。

翻译时需注意遣词用字、正反交替、结构调整、专有词语约定俗成等翻译技巧。

1.ubiquitous 无处不在的；Tower of Babel syndrome “巴别塔”综合症。

2.
disjunction 分离，分裂，折断，此处可译为“称谓上的不一”；revealing 有启迪作用的；untethered 不受束缚的；once -im -perial 昔日（大英）帝国的；cosmetic 化妆用的，装点门面的，表面的；give way to 让步，让位于。

3.
airtime 电影或电视节目开始的时间，此处指电讯资费；the untethered masses 不受限的民众；keep track of 跟上……进
展，明了。

4.
shut up 住口；won ’t shut up 反说正译：总是滔滔不绝；whopping 巨大的，庞大的；Puerto Rico 波多黎各，加勒比海岛国，美国殖民地；all -you -can -talk 想怎么说就怎么说；lax 不严格的；knock -off 翻版仿制品；handsets that can respond to two phone numbers 双卡双待机。

大学英语
笤考试专栏笤
60。