【摘要】在經(jīng)濟(jì)新聞、政府報告等政經(jīng)類文章中,經(jīng)常會看到描述某個數(shù)據(jù)上升、增加了多少,或者下降、減少了多少。有些譯者在翻譯此類句子時,通常都會用一些常見的英語對應(yīng)詞來翻譯。筆者閱讀了很多英語經(jīng)濟(jì)類新聞,發(fā)現(xiàn)有些英語表達(dá)法很新穎,因此搜集、總結(jié)了《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》等英語報刊中描述此類現(xiàn)象的地道表達(dá)法,希望譯者翻譯時能夠借鑒這些表達(dá)法,提高譯文的可讀性。
【關(guān)鍵詞】增加;下降;翻譯
【作者簡介】何艷紅(1980-),女,成都中醫(yī)藥大學(xué)國際教育學(xué)院助教,碩士研究生,研究方向:應(yīng)用語言學(xué)。
1.“The latest prices have actually stabilized and are coming up from the bottom,” said Ms. Wong, adding that she expected property prices to increase by 15 percent.
王女士稱:“實(shí)際上,近期房價已趨于穩(wěn)定,并從低谷開始回升?!焙笥盅a(bǔ)充說,她預(yù)計房價將上漲15%。
2. Hourly earnings in America grew by 2.5% at an annual rate in October, the fastest pace since 2009.
10月份,美國工人時薪的年增長率達(dá)2.5%,達(dá)到2009年以來的最快增速。
3. Brazils annual rate of inflation rose to 10.5% in November, the highest it has been in 12 years.
巴西11月通脹年率上升至10.5%,為12年來最高。
4. Inflation climbed 2% last month.
上個月的通脹率上升了2%。
climb的含義之一為“to increase in number, amount, or level”,表示“〔數(shù)字、數(shù)量或水平〕升高,攀升”。
以上四個例句中,分別采用了increase、grow、rise、climb這四個詞。譯者通常使用以上幾個英語對應(yīng)詞來表達(dá)“上升”“增加”“上漲”等含義。
1. While third-quarter profits for S&P 500 companies are marginally ahead of expectations (as is usually the case), they are still likely to be 4% lower than they were a year ago; sales will probably fall by 3%.
盡管標(biāo)準(zhǔn)普爾指數(shù)500強(qiáng)公司第三季度的利潤稍微超出了預(yù)期(一般情況都是如此),利潤仍然可能比一年前的要低4%,銷售額可能也會下滑3%。
2. Having relied on oil exports for a big proportion of its revenue, Russias government was reportedly reworking its budget to reduce spending by a further 10% and ordering state departments to carry out “stress tests” in which they assume a further fall in oil prices.
由于俄羅斯的財政收入很大一部分來自石油出口,據(jù)報道,俄國政府正在重新調(diào)整其財政預(yù)算,進(jìn)一步削減10%的財政支出,并認(rèn)為石油價格還會進(jìn)一步下跌,要求國家各部門執(zhí)行“壓力測試”。
以上兩例中,fall表示“下滑”“下跌”的含義,值得注意的是,例1中fall為動詞,而例2中fall為名詞。
3. The news is no better in Europe, where third-quarter profits are expected to be down 5.4% on the year, with revenues dropping 7.9%.
歐洲的境遇也好不到哪去。今年,第三季度的利潤預(yù)期減少5.4%,收益則會下滑7.9%。
drop也是常用的表達(dá)“下降”含義的詞。
總之,在日常翻譯過程中,譯者應(yīng)該重視詞匯及表達(dá)方式的積累,使譯文更加簡潔、表達(dá)形式更豐富,提高譯文的品質(zhì)。
參考文獻(xiàn):
[1][英]霍恩比.牛津高階英漢雙解詞典[M].北京:商務(wù)印書館、牛津大學(xué)出版社(中國)有限公司,2000:9.
[2]陸谷孫.英漢大辭典[M].上海:上海譯文出版社,2007:3.