譯林絮談

沙楓

基辛格談“說話算數(shù)”

美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)卿基辛格博士，是以能言善道著稱的。

他一九七三年十一月第六次訪問北京，在北京歡宴席上的講話，話雖不多，卻頗能顯出他的才華。

他一開頭就說：“This is the sixth time that I have had the privilege of visiting China, and today's journey retraced the secret trip that I took in July 1971.”

中譯如下：“這是我第六次榮幸地訪問中國(guó)。今天的旅程重復(fù)了我一九七一年七月份秘密訪華的路線?！?/p>

他接著追述那次秘密訪華：“None of us who took this trip can ever forget the sense of excitement when we entered China for the first time. It was not only that we were visiting a new country, and what we thought was the mysterious country until the Prime Minister pointed out to me that it was due more to our ignorance than to its mystery.”

譯成中文如下：

“參加過那次旅行的所有的人都不會(huì)忘記我們初次進(jìn)入中國(guó)境內(nèi)時(shí)的興奮心情，這不僅是因?yàn)槲覀儊碓L一個(gè)新的國(guó)家，而且我們當(dāng)時(shí)認(rèn)為這是一個(gè)神秘的國(guó)土，一直到總理向我們指出，我們之所以這樣認(rèn)為，更多的是由于我們的無知，而不是由于她的神秘。”

詞鋒一轉(zhuǎn)，基辛格說：“But it was above all because we knew that the normalization of relations between China and the United States was essential for the peace of the world.”

中譯是：“但更重要的是我們知道中美兩國(guó)關(guān)系的正?；瘜?duì)于世界和平是必不可少的?！?/p>

基辛格然后又說：“因此當(dāng)我們第六次來訪的時(shí)候，對(duì)我來說，中國(guó)已不再是神秘的國(guó)土了。我們已經(jīng)懂得了中國(guó)說話是算數(shù)的?！?/p>

最后的一句話，原文為：“We have learned that the Chinese words count.”

“Words count”譯作“說話是算數(shù)的”，中英文完全吻合，貼切得很。

版權(quán)所有