篇章口译是英译汉吗(外刊经济学人文章精读)(1)


上周《经济学人》周刊有一篇分析欧洲银行业的文章,文章不长,用词地道精炼又不深奥,很大程度上体现了英文报道的美感,我们看看第一段就好。




原文

If a bank is accused of money-laundering or sanctions-busting by Uncle Sam, the fallout is often devastating. Consider the case of Halkbank, a big Turkish lender, which was indicted this week by prosecutors in New York for evading sanctions on Iran. When the news broke, its share price sank and yields on its bonds soared as investors worried that it might face crippling punishment. Yet the surprising thing is that, notwithstanding America’s tough approach, dodgy business by international banks remains common, even in jurisdictions that you might think were squeaky clean. In particular, Europe seems to have a serious money-laundering problem that it needs to get a grip on。


译文

如果一家银行被山姆大叔指控||洗||钱||和||违||反||禁||令||,后果将不堪设想。看一看|土|耳|其|银行Halkbank就知道了,因逃避|伊|朗|禁|令|这周在纽约被提起公诉。消息一出,投资者担心其可能面临致命处罚,Halkbank股价暴跌,债券收益率暴涨。令人惊讶的是,尽管美国严格管控,但跨国银行干些见不得人的勾当已成常态,甚至是那些你觉得应当无比干净的业务领域。特别是欧洲,借贷业务存在似乎存在严重的问题需要抓紧控制。




词解


篇章口译是英译汉吗(外刊经济学人文章精读)(2)

  • is accused of

accuse表示“控告、控诉、谴责”,接介词为of,表示控告的意思后边一般接具体的罪行,罪行可以是名词,比如谋杀/盗窃(murder / theft),也可以是动名词,比如逃避制裁(evading sanction)。其他情况一般理解为“控诉、谴责”,具体含义要看语境。

比如:

accuse sb of murder / theft → 控告某人谋杀/盗窃。

The government was accused of incompetence. → 政府被指责无能。

2019年7月27日经济学人周刊提到朝鲜谴责俄罗斯侵犯其领空:

South Korea accused Russian aircraft of violating its airspace during a joint military exercise with China.




篇章口译是英译汉吗(外刊经济学人文章精读)(3)


  • fallout

fallout原指(核事故或核爆炸后的)放射性沉降,引申为不好的后果/余波。

柯林斯词典对fallout的解释:

If you refer to the fallout from something that has happened, you mean the unpleasant consequences that follow it. (fallout表示不好的后果)

从词典的解释看,fallout后接介词from,即表示产生后果的源头事物(人事物都可以表示)。

例句:

Grundy lost his job in the fallout from the incident.

自那次事件后Grundy就丢了工作。




  • evading sanctions on…

evade sanctions是一个固定用法,表示逃避制裁。sanction与宾语之间用介词on/against联系,sanctions on Iran → 对|伊|朗|的制裁。




篇章口译是英译汉吗(外刊经济学人文章精读)(4)

  • cripple

cripple动词意思为“使残废”,引申为“严重损害”。

2018年12月经济学人周刊谈到||华||为||事件,有如下表述:

If that happened it could cripple the firm, although the Chinese government or state-owned banks would probably bail it out if necessary.

如果这些主张实施了,将会严重损害|华|为|,尽管中国政府和国有银行很可能对其援助。


对动名词形式crippling的用法,柯林斯词典解释:

If you say that an action, policy, or situation has a crippling effect on something, you mean it has a very serious, harmful effect. → crippling可以表示行动、政策或者境况存在非常严重的影响。

比如:a crippling disease → 严重损害健康的疾病;crippling debts → 导致经济瘫痪的债务。




  • not with standing

意思是“尽管如此”,同义词是despite、in spite of,但是notwithstanding的语气是三个词中最弱的,仅仅表示障碍存在。

例句:

The teams played on, notwithstanding the rain.

尽管下雨,各队仍然比赛。

表示下雨对比赛来说不是大障碍。




  • dodgy business

dodgy意思是“狡诈的、可疑的”,dodgy business是一个固定搭配,字面意思是“可疑的事”,一般表示违规、违法的事,也可以翻译为“见不得人的勾当”、“不老实的事”,文中指的是银行洗钱这种违法行为。

例句:

But many think it demonstrates that Britain is better at keeping dodgy business under wraps.

但是很多人认为,这证明英国善于秘密从事那些不老实的交易。

另外dodgy deal也是一个固定说法,表示“见不得人的交易”、“可疑的、暗地里的交易”。

2019年7月份经济学人周刊谈到意大利经济的时候,有一句话:

The suspicions of a sinister Moscow-Rome axis have been stirred by tapes, published this week and confirming earlier reports, that appear to show a former close aide to Mr Salvini meeting unidentified Russians in Moscow to discuss the secret funding of the League with money derived from a dodgy oil deal.

这里a dodgy oil deal → 见不得人的石油交易/暗地里的石油交易




篇章口译是英译汉吗(外刊经济学人文章精读)(5)

  • squeaky clean

这是一个固定用法,柯林斯词典解释:

If you say that someone is squeaky clean, you mean that they live a very moral life and have never done anything wrong. → 形容人非常干净、品行完美、无可挑剔。

例句:

squeaky clean hair → 光洁的头发。

Maybe this guy isn't so squeaky clean after all. 也许他并不是完美的人




  • get a grip on

grip表示紧抓,get a grip on sth表示紧抓/控制某事件,也可以把get写成take。

还可以用keep代替get和take, 一直保持着紧抓/控制。

4月20日的经济学人周刊

Mr Atambayev has kept a grip on the country’s biggest party, the…

|阿|坦|巴|耶|夫|一直控制着国家最大政党…

再比如8月3日的经济学人周刊谈到美国城市|巴|尔|的|摩|问题,说民主党一直努力紧紧控制城市的问题:

It has long struggled to get a grip on the city’s problems.

,