原文:

人家终身大事,比赌钱要紧得多呢。我就看不出鲍小姐又黑又粗,有什么美,会引得方先生好好二等客人不做,换到三等舱来受罪。我看他们俩要好得很,也许到香港,就会订婚。这真是“有缘千里来相会”了。(钱钟书 - 围城 )

翻译关键词:终身大事,又黑又粗(粗俗的coarse),有缘千里来相会

译文:

Romance is the big event of a lifetime, far more important than gambling. I just can't see what there is about that Miss Pao, coarse and dark as she is, to make Mr. Fang give up a perfectly good second-class berth for the discomforts of the third class. I see those two are getting on gloriously. Maybe by the time the boat reaches Hong Kong they'll get married. It's certainly a case of 'fate bringing people together from a thousand Li away.' (美 Jeanne Kelly, Nathan K.Mao <译> –Fortress Besieged)

翻译笔记:

终身大事

* 指一个人一辈子的大事情,大都指男女婚嫁,与婚姻marriage相联系。
文中译为the big event of a lifetime,还有其他的译法the important affair of a final settlement in life
让我们来看下这样一个例句:
Avoid living for the moment- marriage is the big event of a lifetime.
别只为现实活着—婚姻是终身大事。
 
又黑又粗
是不是很奇怪,为什么这个词也要解释?因为这里的粗的含义很特别,并不是大家想象中thick的解释。
* 文中的“粗”是指粗俗的,下等的。译为coarse
它的近义词有vulgar;gross。但有所不同的是:
coarse指缺乏教养,言谈粗俗,举止粗野;而vulgar则侧重对听者的冒犯;gross的语势更为强烈。

有缘千里来相会

* 指两个有缘份的人,无论相距多远,终究会相遇的。文中译为:fate bringing people together from a thousand Li away
字面上解释是:命运将人们从千里远的地方相聚起来,就是“有缘千里来相会”的含义。
完整的一句话是“有缘千里来相会,无缘对面不相逢”出自施耐庵-《水浒传》第三四回
解释为:如果彼此有缘,即使相隔千里也能相会;如果双方无缘,虽然近在咫尺,也不会相逢、相识。
译为:As decreed by providence you have met him; otherwise you might have failed although you traveled a long way.

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