根据全国硕士研究生统一考试英语考试大纲规定,考研翻译“主要考查考生准确理解概念或结构较复杂的英语文字材料的能力。要求考生阅读一篇约400词的文章,并将其中5个画线部分(约150词)译成汉语,要求译文准确、完整、通顺。”
一 考研翻译的题型
简单来说,解答考研翻译题型的注意事项可以归纳为以下几点:
1)英语(一)部分主要考5个长难句的翻译;
2)分值为满分10分,平均每句话2分;
3)考场上做答速度一般控制在20分钟内5个句子的翻译全部完成;
4)只翻译划线部分,非划线部分要不要看?答案很简单:对于基础较为扎实的同学来说,在拿到试卷的时候,可以通读整篇文章,尤其是文章开头部分;相反,对于基础较为薄弱的考生,如果担心时间不够用,可以直接翻译划线句,但是在碰到划线句中某一个单词难以理解或代词指代等问题的时候,则要有针对性地看上下文。
我们以2018年考研翻译题为例,看看考研翻译在试卷上的出现方式:
Part C Translation:
Directions:
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 Points)
Shakespeare's lifetime was coincident with a period of extraordinary activity and achievement in the drama. (46) By the date of his birth Europe was witnessing the passing of the religious drama, and the creation of new forms under the incentive of classical tragedy and comedy. These new forms were at first mainly written by scholars and performed by amateurs, but in England, as everywhere else in Western Europe, the growth of a class of professional actors was threatening to make the drama popular, whether it should be new or old, classical or medieval, literary or farcical. Court, school, organizations of amateurs, and the traveling actors were all rivals in supplying a widespread desire for dramatic entertainment; and (47) no boy who went to a grammar school could be ignorant that the drama was a form of literature which gave glory to Greece and Rome and might yet bring honor to England.
When Shakespeare was twelve years old the first public playhouse was built in London. For a time literature showed no interest in this public stage. Plays aiming at literary distinction were written for schools or court or for the choir boys of St. Paul's and the royal chapel, who, however, gave plays in public as well as at court. (48) But the professional companies prospered in their permanent theaters, and university men with literary ambitions were quick to turn to these theaters as offering a means of livelihood. By the time that Shakespeare was twenty-five, Lyly, Peele, and Greene had made comedies that were at once popular and literary; Kyd had written a tragedy that crowded the pit; and Marlowe had brought poetry and genius to triumph on the common stage—where they had played no part since the death of Euripides. (49) A native literary drama had been created, its alliance with the public playhouses established, and at least some of its great traditions had been begun.
The development of the Elizabethan drama for the next twenty-five years is of exceptional interest to students of literary history, for in this brief period we may trace the beginning, growth, blossoming, and decay of many kinds of plays, and of many great careers. We are amazed today at the mere number of plays produced, as well as by the number of dramatists writing at the same time for this London of two hundred thousand inhabitants. (50) To realize how great was the dramatic activity, we must remember further that hosts of plays have been lost, and that probably there is no author of note whose entire work has survived.
参考答案
(46)在他出生之际,宗教戏剧在欧洲正在消失;在古典悲剧和喜剧的激发之下,各种新形式的戏剧产生了。
(47)戏剧是一种文学形式,它曾给希腊和罗马带来荣耀,早晚也会给英国带来荣耀;任何一个上过文法学校的学生都不会不知道这一点。
(48)但是专业剧团在他们的常驻剧院蓬勃发展,有文学抱负的大学生迅速热情地投身到这些剧院并以此谋生。
(49)一种本土文学剧产生了,它与公共剧院的联合关系建立起来了,至少,其中一些伟大的传统也就此出现了。
(50)要认识戏剧活动曾经的辉煌,我们必须要进一步知道,许多戏剧作品已不复存在,或许名家之作也难以完整存留。
二 考研翻译的命题原则
根据对大纲和最近十几年来考研翻译已经考过的真题进行分析,我们发现考研翻译具有如下明显的特点:
首先,考研翻译的短文内容大多是涉及当前人们普遍关注的社会生活、政治、经济、历史、文化、哲学、心理和科普方面的题材。如:
举例
1990年:人的性格和行为分析
1991年:能源与农业
1992年:智力评估的科学性
1993年:科学研究的方法
1994年:科学家、技术与科学发展的关系
1995年:标准化测试与评估
1996年:科学发展的差别和动力
1997年:动物的权利
1998年:天体物理学中的大爆炸理论
1999年:历史研究的方法论
2000年:政府调控与工业化发展
2001年:计算机与未来生活
2002年:行为科学的发展
2003年:人类学的发展
2004年:语言学
2005年:传媒领域中的电视媒介
2006年:美国知识分子的作用
2007年:法学推广的意义
2008年:论达尔文的思想及其变化
2009年:正规教育
2010年:生态环保
2011年:环境对人心智的影响
2012年:普遍真理
2013年:无家可归者的心灵花园
2014年:对贝多芬音乐的评价
2015年:欧洲移民与美国的建立
2016年:心理健康
2017年:英语的全球性优势地位减弱
2018年:莎士比亚时代的戏剧发展
从上述内容可以看出,考研翻译的文章具有一定的专业性和学术性,但是属于大学生应该了解的“通识”范畴。其体裁基本上是议论文。
根据笔者对考研翻译多年的教学经验来看,考研英语(一)翻译题型的历年真题中,难度最大的应该是1998年、1999年、2011年、2012年、2013年这5年的试题,复习这5年的试题要注意仔细推敲和研读。当然,偶尔有些年份,也可能有一两个特别的句型结构导致试题难度增加。自从2014年以后,考研翻译难易程度就保持在一个“多长句,偶有难句”的水平上。
总之,考研翻译通常被称为“长难句翻译”,试题难度都比较大。突破了长难句的翻译,可以大幅度提高对英语的理解能力和阅读能力,所以考生在考研复习的每一个时期,都要重视长难句的理解和翻译。落实到具体行动上,则要多做翻译,掌握基本的翻译方法,慢慢就可以达到下笔如有神的状态。
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