Non-British, and even some British, must be having difficulty understanding the present differences that have cropped up in Lond

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问题     Non-British, and even some British, must be having difficulty understanding the present differences that have cropped up in London between Queen Elizabeth II and her prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
    The important thing to know is that Mrs. Thatcher is prime minister in the government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but has no rank and no authority in a lot of places that are associated with Queen Elizabeth. Thatcher is solely and exclusively British. The Queen is a good many other things besides a British Queen.
    The Queen must act on Mrs. Thatcher’s advice in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but she has to act on the advice of other people in other places. And now we have a case where the advice she is getting from some of her ministers in some of those other places is at variance with the wishes of Thatcher. It puts her in a difficult position.
    Not even all the islands covered by the phrase "British Isles" are under the British Parliament or are even British. For example, the Isle of Man lies in the middle of the Irish Sea and is equidistant, from England. Scotland. Wales, and Ireland. But its political antecedents are Scandinavian. Its citizens call themselves Manxmen. They have their own local legislature. They recognize the Queen as the Lord of the Isle of Man, not as at British Queen.

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答案 对于当前伦敦发生的女王伊丽莎白二世和首相玛格丽特?撒切尔之间的分歧不用说外国人,就是某些英国人,想必都感到难以理解。 有一点是需要知道的:撒切尔夫人是大不列颠和北爱尔兰的政府首相,但在与伊丽莎白女王有关的许多地方她既无官也无权力。撒切尔的一切,仅限于英国,而女王除了是英国女王之外还有许多其他身份。在大不列颠和北爱尔兰,女王必须按撒切尔的意见行事,但她还需在其他地方按其他人的意见行事。现在的情况是:其它某些地方某些部长向她提出的意见与撒切尔的愿望相抵触,这就使她陷于困难境地。 甚至“不列颠诸岛”这一名称所指的岛屿也不全受英国国会管辖,或者说甚至不属于英国。例如,处于爱尔兰中部,和英格兰、苏格兰,威尔士及爱尔兰距离相等的马恩岛就是如此。其祖先政治上归属斯堪的那维亚,其人民自称是马恩克斯人。他们有自己的地方议会机构。他们承认女王是马恩岛君主而不认为她是英国女王。

解析     这段文字节选自Joseph C.Harsch的《女王与首相的分歧》(The Queen’s Commonwealth)。文章一针见血地指出英国女王与首相存在分歧的深刻历史、政治原因,同时,为非英语国家的英语学习者提供了一个了解英国与英联邦各国之间关系的良机。
1.  crop up:appear or arise(esp.unexpectedly)(出现或发生)。例如,All sorts of difficulties cropped up.(各种各样的困难都一齐来了。)/The subject cropped up in the course of conversation.(谈话时无意中谈到了这个题目。)。
2.  solely and exclusively:原文强调撒切尔的权力与官衔仅仅局限在大不列颠及北爱尔兰王国,solely类似Texclusively。
3.things:在此处应按上下文决定译法,单靠词典解决不了问题。Things表示“(女王除了英国女王之外还有很多其他)身份”。
4.  act on…advice:do what he suggests(照某人的建议去做;依劝告行事)。
5.her ministers:her指英国女王;ministers却并非指英国大臣,因为下文有those other places,显然不是指英国。
6.  at variance(with):in disagreement;having a difference of opinion(不和;意见不同)。
7.  British Isles:应译为“不列颠诸岛”,是个地理名词。British或Britain作为地名和正式国名(The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)时译成“不列颠”,但一般场合均译为“英国的”、  “英国”,如本句后面的两个British。
8.  under the British Parliament or are even British:under:(indicating various conditions)。这样给翻译带来一定的难度。例如,under discussion(在讨论中)/under sentence of death(被判处死刑)/England under the Stuarts(斯图亚特王朝统治下的英困)。这里指“受……管辖”。
9.the Isle of Man:马恩岛。
10.equidistant:separated by equal distances等距离的。
11.England:在与Scotland等并列时只是个地理名词,应译为“英格兰”。
12.antecedent:意为ancestor(祖先),此句意为“其祖先政治上归属斯堪的那维亚”。
13.Scandinavian:of Scandinavia(Denmark,Norway,Sweden,Iceland)。指北欧的斯堪的那维亚(包括丹麦、挪威、瑞典、冰岛)。
14.Lord:supreme male ruler(最高统治者;君主)。
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