I have an unending love affair with dictionaries—Auden once said that all a writer needs is a pen, plenty of paper and "the best

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问题     I have an unending love affair with dictionaries—Auden once said that all a writer needs is a pen, plenty of paper and "the best dictionaries he can afford" —but I agree with the person who said that dictionaries are instruments of common sense. The King’s English is a model—a rich and instructive one—but it ought not to be an ultimatum.
    Even with the most educated and the most literate, the King’s English slips and slides in conversation. There is no worse conversationist than the one who punctuates his words as he speaks as if he were writing, or even who tries to use words as if he were composing a piece of prose for print. When E. M. Forster writes of "the sinister corridor of our age," we sit up at the vividness of the phrase, the force and even terror in the image. But if E. M. Forster sat in our living room and said, "We are all following each other down the sinister corridor of our age," we would be justified in asking him to leave.
    Great authors are constantly being asked by foolish people to talk as they write. Other people may celebrate the lofty conversations in which the great minds are supposed to have indulged in the great salons of 18th century Paris, but one suspects that the great minds were gossiping and judging the quality of the food and the wine.

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答案 我一向对词典情有独钟。奥登曾说过,一个作家所需的全部就是一支笔、够用的纸张和“他能买得起的最好的词典”。但我更赞同另一种说法,把词典看作是一种必备的常识工具。标准英语是一种丰富且具有指导作用的典范,但并不是一种最高典范。 即便是那些学问再高、文学修养再好的人,交谈时,他们所讲的标准英语也常常会离谱走调。要是有谁闲聊时也像做文章时一样句逗分明,或者像写一篇要发表的散文一样咬文嚼字,那他便是闲聊中最倒人胃口的那一个。E. M. 福斯特写出“这个时代阴森可怖的长廊”时,其用语之生动及由其所产生的生动有力、甚至可怖的形象令我们拍案叫绝。但假若福斯特坐在我们的会客室里说:“我们大家正一个接一个地步人这个时代的阴森可怖的长廊”,那我们完全有理由请他离开。 时不时便会有一些愚人要求大文豪们聊天时也像写文章时一样字字珠玑。也有些人对18世纪巴黎的文艺沙龙里那些文人雅士的高谈阔论称羡不已。可是,说不定那些文人雅士们在那里也不过是闲聊,谈论酒食的好坏。

解析     an unending love affair中的love affair原意为“风流韵事”,含有贬义,但在这里作者使用了隐喻,将其对词典经久不衰的热爱比作永恒的爱情,别出心裁,翻译时使用“情有独钟”一词更能彰显对词典的热爱。agree with the person表示“赞同某人”,但是在这里作者强调的是赞同某个人所提出的观点和说法,该人具体是谁并不重要,因此翻译时将person省略,而直接指出“赞同另一种说法”,继而用“即”引出这一说法,重点突出。
    本句中educated和literate皆为形容词,前加定冠词the表示某一类人,再结合其中的修饰语most,译为“学问再高、文学修养再好的人”;the King’s English即语法和发音标准的英语,由皇室的传统发展而来;这句话用了隐喻的修辞手法,使用slips and slides将在交谈中所讲的标准英语也会频频变音走调比作在行走中摔跤滑倒,翻译时需根据实际含义进行翻译。
    “the sinister corridor of our age”这一说法意指“在我们这个时代,人们如同穿行于一条阴森可怖的长廊,做着各种可怖的事情”,虽然含有隐喻,但本是引自其他文章,在本文中直译出其含义即可。sit up原意为“坐起,端坐”,表示兴趣、警觉或惊讶,结合语境,使用成语“拍案叫绝”能够体现出对福斯特用语的高度赞赏。image在这里表示“形象,画面”,即福斯特用语所产生的形象,翻译时添加“由其所产生的”,表意更清晰。
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