民办 于 2000/10/04 12:56:17 发表在 汉英
读书评译（１３）：什么时候“就是这样”?
冯庆华《实用翻译教程》（上海外语教学出版社，１９９７）也是一本很好的英汉、汉英翻译教材。以后几期《读书评译》将讨论该书的某些可以改善之处。例如，第４３４－４３５页有这样一段英文（选自Studs Terkel 所作《Working》）：
In them days, the doorman was ... ohh! You had to be dressed nice -- white gloves and a stiff collar. And the white tie there, even like the waiters use, the head waiter. Nicer uniforms than this. In the summertime, gray uniform and white gloves, always gloves. You had to wear hats always. I had a problem one time with the boss. I didn't want to wear a cap. I don't know why. I always take it off. He comes by, I put it on. But that's the way it is.
该教程第３５４页的汉语翻译是这样的：
那时候，看门的是……嗬，全身穿的毕挺：白手套，硬领子，白领结，就像饭店里的领班服务员用的。穿的制服比这漂亮多啦。夏天是一身灰制服、白手套（老得戴着手套），还得戴上帽子。有段时间我还真与老板过不去——我不愿戴帽子 ，也不知是为啥。我老是脱了帽子。他来了，我就戴上，他一走，我就脱了，就这么脱呀戴的。可如今就是这样的。
评：英文没有表示“他一走，我就脱了”那句，可能是打字员漏了。要讨论的是英文的最后一句，But that's the way it is。本来，译成“就这么脱呀戴的”，就够了。但译者或编者最后又加了一句“可如今就是这样的”，似乎是画蛇添足。英文的But that's the way it is，是所谓历史现在时，还是说过去的情况，不应看见现在时就想当然地译成“可如今就是这样的”。
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无可耐何？
作者：4fun - 2000/10/04 13:19:00
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You had to be dressed nice 。。。。 But(because) that's the way it is.
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as far as I understand:)
作者：4fun - 2000/10/04 13:46:28
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"可如今就这样了。" 是不对的。
The guy hated wearing a hat in the hot summer time,
but that's the way how those doormen dressed up at work
in those days.
让我翻：“可我也没招儿，那他妈的是规矩。”：)
To get to know what exactly the author meant here by "That's
the way it is", you should read the whole story. THAT'S THE
WAT IT IS, ISN'T IT?:)
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a quickie and then some sugar (i've been extremely busy so it has to be a quickie ;-))
作者：新学生 - 2000/10/05 00:41:43
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You're both right on this. We see that this narrator (the door man, like so many door men we know) speaks a certain ethnic dialect of the language. He's not really precise in the use of different tenses. "But that's the way it is" should be "but that was the way it was", most likely. And Mr. 4fun's interpretation is likely correct. But then again, this is a "recording" of the door man's interview (is it?). As we all know, a lot of other factors in a conversation can change the meaning of the spoken words. Of course, there is also the context thing Mr. 4Fun mentioned. So my guess is we'll never know what the door man meant by it exactly. However, the original translation was wrong. No question.
The Chinese translation also lacks the "street-talk" flavor that the original narration is so rich in. Mr. 4Fun has a better handle on it (although we could cut down on the cursing :-)).
Now for something else totally unrelated. (Uncle Yeti will get a kick out of this.)
I was on a 4 train going downtown. Happened to notice a series of ads for TVland. (How could I not notice? They have the walls all covered.) TVland shows some of the popular old tv shows on cable. I have to admit that most of the ads lost me because the tv shows they refer to were WAY before my time. On top of that, most of the ads are visual rather than verbal and I'm no good at describing a picture. Anyhoo, two of the ads did crack me up.
One of the two refers to "Adam-12", a show about 1960's LAPD. The ad says this, "One Adam-12, whassup!" Supposedly, "One Adam-12 ..." was the signature radio announcement they used on the show. "Whassup" (what's up), on the other hand, is a (now very popular) catch phrase from a series of Budwiser (beer) commercials. (The commercials are very funny. You have to see them. I can't really explain it.) So, the writer of the ad is making two pop culture references in one sentence. And it's funny!
The other one refers to "the A-Team", supposedly an action/comedy series with an attitude. The ad goes, "Yes, that's my final answer, fool!" And of course, we talked about the "final answer" reference a few weeks ago.
p.s. with apologies to everyone, i have NOT abandoned ship. just very busy. will have more time to kill at/on/... hy00 in a couple of weeks. later.
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另：XY姐，上回看电影的作业完成了吗？观后感写出来了吗？
作者：新学生 - 2000/10/05 00:57:14
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Hey. Your uncle wouldn't mind paying me for that. Would you? But I can only make a quarter this time: right IN
作者：Last Hermit - 2000/10/05 07:26:13
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但俺不觉得时态不对，看门人是为了生动而由过去时换成了现在时。这在叙事或小说里常用。
拙译：
那时候看门的呀……嘿！穿要穿得好看－－手套要白，领子要挺。还有，领带也是白的，活像个服务员领班。制服比这好看多啦。到了夏天就穿灰色制服白色手套，手套缺不得。一天到晚还得戴着帽子。有一回俺还和老板过不去。俺就是不想戴帽。俺也不知道为什么。俺老它脱掉。他过来俺就戴上。可这也辙呀。
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Meunique
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no and no; whassup and wasabe
作者：deadbeat 新学生 - 2000/10/05 10:20:13
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more on "whassup". here is a link to an article that explains the "whassup" phenomenon.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/index/ad303.htm
in case you have trouble getting to this site, i'll cut and paste the article below.
the info in the article is a little old though. the most recent episode in the "whassup"
series happens in a japanese sushi place. the guy (whom you have come to know from the other
episodes) and his girlfriend sit at a table. when the waiter brings them their food and wasabe
(a japanese horse-radish type mustard, for the cook in tian xin), the guy starts saying "whassabe".
and before you know it, the chefs all join in on this "whassabe" chanting. just as the chorus begin to
pick up tempo, the girlfriend gives him a disapproving looking. and boy, that shuts him up in a
heartbeat. i know, i know, i totally ruined the joke for ya. but believe me (or believe what you're
about to read in the article), it's just too funny.
another note. was i wrong about Reagan's use of "where's the beef"? yes, according to the article.
i guess i was wrong because i never actually heard Reagan using it -- i think i read about it somewhere.
05/08/00- Updated 12:59 PM ET
(none)
'Whassup?!' spots introduce catch phrase
Both men, women latch on to Bud campaign
The 'Whassup?!' guys are five African-American buddies who greet
each other with an extended 'Whassup?!' In one spot, the five call each
other and bounce back and forth on "call waiting" yelling 'Whassup?!'
In another, the guys watching a football game at a bar call a pal at
home to say 'Whassup?!' The pal tries to hide that he's watching figure
skating with his girlfriend. In a third, they arrive at one guy's
apartment for a party and 'Whassup?!' each other on the entry
intercom. They mistakenly 'Whassup?!' a nerdy pizza guy who pushes
the buzzer. Tagline for all: "True."
By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY
Every once in a while, an advertising
catch phrase catches fire and becomes
part of the pop-culture lexicon.
Think ''Where's the Beef?'' for
Wendy's, ''Just do it'' from Nike or
''Think different'' for Apple.
Those slogans might pale in popularity
to the ''Whassup?!'' craze.
The first Budweiser commercial
featuring a group of male-bonding,
beer-drinking buddies using the
''Whassup?!'' greeting hit the airwaves
only in late December.
Yet in just a few months, the campaign
created by ad agency DDB
Worldwide in Chicago and directed
by filmmaker Charles Stone III has
rocketed to the top of the ad world.
And it has made ''Whassup?!'' the hip
greeting of choice.
Men and women love the ads.
Athletes such as Wayne Gretzky
embrace the spots. Film celebrities such as Spike Lee and Dustin Hoffman
are backslapping Stone as he embarks on a feature film career.
Participants in Ad Track, USA TODAY's exclusive weekly poll, like the
spots, too. Of those familiar with the campaign, 30% liked it ''a lot,'' much
higher than the average score of 22%. However, 28% disliked the ads,
more than double Ad Track's average score of 13%.
Why the conflict? The ads polarize younger and older consumers.
The spots score best with 18- to 24-year-olds: 52% of these participants
said they liked them ''a lot.''
Participants 65 years old and up don't get them, or don't want to: 61%
dislike the ads.
Those numbers are consistent with
Anheuser-Busch's own research, says
Bob Lachky, vice president of brand
management.
''It's off the charts with 21- to
45-year-olds across all races,'' Lachky
says. ''But from the beginning
'Whassup?!' has not made sense to
people 60 years old and older.''
Something you might not know about the popular spots: They didn't even
start out as ads.
Stone, a music video director, made a short film called True, featuring him
and his real-life buddies from Philadelphia exchanging the greeting.
The film kicked around the film festival world for a year before coming to
the attention of DDB creative director Vinny Warren.
''I thought it would make a great Bud spot,'' Warren says.
But in the beginning, as A-B and DDB collaborated with Stone to transform
his film into a TV commercial, they still could have ruined the idea.
In an early script, for example, Stone had his characters saying ''Right''
rather than ''True'' because he thought traditional A-B wouldn't want to use
the slang term. But Lachky asked him to change it back to the original line.
Says Lachky: ''It sounded like something out of the '60s. 'True' is cool. Why
would we want to cheese it up with something like 'Right On?' '' Recalls
Stone: ''I was floored. That was really a turning point.''
The campaign is spreading around the world via the Web, where the ads
can be seen at Budweiser.com.
And advertisers know they've struck gold when Web surfers begin buzzing
about their work. So it has gone with the ''Whassup?!'' campaign, which has
become The Blair Witch Project of ads.
Since Day One, Web surfers have
posted one parody after another. The
creator of one recent spoof had to pull
the plug, though, after The Associated
Press threatened to sue. The spoof
animated the now-famous AP photo of
a law-enforcement official with a gun
and Elian Gonzalez, with the principals
mouthing ''Whassup?!''
One key to the spots' appeal: The real-life friendship seen in the ads. ''These
spots capture that moment when your friend calls you up just to break your
chops. And you wouldn't have it any other way,'' observes veteran
copywriter Ernest Lupinacci.
Says Lachky: ''The challenge for us is to keep it fresh. You have to be
careful you don't overstay your welcome.''
The beer marketer has been here before.
Remember the ''Yes I am'' and ''I Love You Man!'' campaigns for Bud
Light?
Lachky reports the shelf life for those campaigns was one to two years. But
A-B's popular talking frogs and lizards have been airing for more than five
years, so there's no telling how long ''Whassup?!'' can run.
That is, unless George W. Bush or Al Gore decide it would be cool to steal
the ''Whassup?!'' phrase for their campaigns.
Walter Mondale's use of the ''Where's the Beef?'' line against Gary Hart in
the 1984 presidential campaign helped put the kiss of death on it.
1 - For information about Harris Ad Track call David Krane of Harris Interactive
at 212-539-9648. Based on a nationwide poll of 369 adults who had seen the
Budweiser ads. Poll was conducted April 7-10; margin of error is *5.0
percentage points. Overall average based on 227 ads.
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It's not Ronald Reagan but Julie Burchill who said "Where's the Beef".
作者：Last Hermit - 2000/10/05 11:07:18
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Show me a frigid women and, nine times out of ten, I'll show you a little man.
Julie Burchill (b. 1960), British journalist, author. "W"Where's the Beef"in Arena, (London, 1988; repr. in Sex and Sensibility, 1992).
The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright ?1993, 1995, 1997, 1998 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Meunique
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prof. LH, i was talking about the last paragraph of the article.
作者：xin xue sheng - 2000/10/05 12:28:05
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into the void: yes, you can watch those commericials at Budweiser.com. need quicktime to view them.
作者：xin xue sheng - 2000/10/05 16:42:02
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没辙！
作者：Last Hermit - 2000/10/06 05:14:22
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Meunique
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Sounded like Mr.T of the A-team
作者：The Yeti - 2000/10/05 22:39:38
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The A-team was a bad imitation of the Mission Impossible.
Mr.T is a big macho muscular guy who would say things like " I will break your
neck, fool." (Not the exact words, but something like that.)
The leader of the team is a cigar chewing bad-imitation of James Bond cum The Saint.
They had several episodes in which these guys were hiding somewhere in order to surprise
the bad guys while the leader of the A-team was smoking his cigar. The bad guys must
have a very poor sense of smell since they never seemed to be aware of the present
of the burning cigar ! I am sure this cigar prop must be one of these product
placement arrangements.
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补足脱漏，But that's the way it is 意义彰显
作者：学而 - 2000/10/07 11:28:17
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正如民办君怀疑的，冯书引文有脱漏。现将原文有关部分照引如下：
I didn't want to wear a cap. I don't know why. I always take it off.
He comes by, I put it on. He goes away, I take if off. Off and on, off
and on. But that's the way it is. (Terkel: Working, p.180)
这样看来，But that's the way it is 不过是说，“我当时就是这么着 (您别
奇怪)。这句是该段落的末句。下一段讲别的事。
”Terkel 的 Working 一书，是各类从业人员的口述记录。在讲述过去
的事情时，时不时转换到现在时。另一段 (全段)：
One time I felt lousy, I had hay fever. I was on the elevator, I say,
low, "Good morning" to the man. And he says to me, "Don't you say good
morning?" I say, "I did say good morning." 'Cause I had hay fever and I
feel bad. He didn't spoke to me no more and he cut me off for Christmas.
But I didn't care. It was about 1932, '33. See how people are.
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