【例句】日光晒到哪里,就把椅凳移到哪里,忽然寒风来了,只好逃难似地各自带了椅凳逃入室中,急急把门关上。 【讨论译文】Where there was sunshine, there we would move our chairs. When the cold wind came, however, we would scamper indoors like refugees, each carrying a chair or stool and hastily closing the doors behind us. **句的译文据称是模仿下列成语的句式:“Where there's a will, there's a way.”(有志者事竟成。)可是这两者的结构不一样,后半句用了“there we would move our chairs”,与前面不对应,与成语用法也不对应,失去了该成语的组合特征,无法引起译者所希望的联想。正常套用该成语的例子(后半句也用there's ),如:“Where there's life, there's hope.” “Where there's love, there's courage.” “Where there's wildfire, there's smoke.” “Where there's tea,there's hope.” “Where there's light,there's darkness.” 等等。所以讨论译文是不通的,如果要把它说得通,那应该是:“We would move our chairs where there was sunshine”。 另外,译者将“逃难似地……逃入室中”译成scamper indoors like refugees,可是不想一想refugees真的是这样逃的吗?虽然中文里确实用了“逃难似地”,似乎相当于“像难民那样”,也就是译者翻译的like refugees,但作者在这里强调的是进入室内的速度快,而不是说其他方面如同难民。笔者反复说过,翻译*忌讳的就���只看字面,而不看实意,只看局部,而不看整体。中文里用“逃难似地” 来表示逃跑速度快是正常用法,但在英语里说scamper indoors like refugees就非常莫名其妙,因为速度不是难民逃跑的特征,难民逃跑可以快也可以慢,其特征是流离失所,背井离乡,无家可归。那么,人家跑进自己家里怎么可能会like refugees?这就是不加思索、照搬原文用法带来的荒唐结果。 【参考译文】As the sun moved across the sky, we would have to move our tables and chairs around also and always stay where we could soak up the sun. When it suddenly became blustery, we would rush to seek refuge indoors.