大红袍板栗参考答案与翻译作业.doc

大红袍板栗参考答案与翻译作业

大红袍板栗

Translate the following passage into English (to be handed in).
大红袍板栗
说起广德的板栗，还真有历史，名子也有来头。广德板栗统称“大红袍”。这里面有故事。据说那一年，慈禧太后正为自己的儿媳妇、同治皇帝的皇后生气，气的饭吃不下，胃还疼。跟前的太监李莲英是一个多灵光的角色，立刻叫人把广德州刚贡上来的板栗献上来。慈禧看着这象玛瑙一般的栗子，叫人剥开，咬了一口，香香的、甜甜的、糯糯的，好吃、开胃，吃了几粒，胃疼也好了许多。就问李莲英：这是哪里贡来的食品？叫什么名?李莲英说：“回太后，这是广德州贡来的板栗，还没起名，请老佛爷赐名。”慈禧一听非常高兴就说：“都说广德的板栗好吃，果然如此，而且这板栗的颜色也好看，就象你身上穿的这件大红袍子，就叫大红袍吧。”从此，广德的大红袍板栗就出了名。

Students’ Work:
原译文（王晓雪07英语1班）：
Bright Red Robe
There is a long history about Guande Chestnut as well as it’s name. Thanks to a popular story, the chestnut is generally known as “Bright red robe”. It is said that one year, the concubine of Xianfeng emperor, Cixi, got mad with her daughter-in-law, emperor Tongzhi’s empress, so that she got stomachache and lost her appetite. The eunuch Li Lianying, an extremely cunning servant, fonded and trusted by Ci, instructed other servants to present the tribute chestnuts paid from Guande. The chestnuts, looked like agate, distracted her attention. Bit a shelled one, with scented, sweet and sticky impression, she praised the chestnuts as feast and appetizer. What’s more, the pain of stomachache reduced a lot after having some. She then asked Li the resource and name of the food. Li said: “This is a tribute of Guande and they still lack a formal name. Can you bestow upon them a name?” Quite delightful hearing the news, she said: “It’s known to us that Guande chestnuts are delicious. They do live up to their reputation. And the color is as good-looking as your bright red robe. So, let’s call them “Bright red robe”.
From then on, Guande chestnut is famous as “Bright red robe” across the country.

修订译文：
Bright Red Robe
Guande Chestnut has a long history and it got its name in an unusual way. Thanks to a popular story, the chestnut is generally known as “Bright red robe”. It is said that one year, Cixi, a concubine of Emperor Xianfeng, got mad with her daughter-in-law, Emperor Tongzhi’s empress, so that she got stomachache and lost her appetite. Li Lianying, an extremely cunning eunuch, favored and trusted by Cixi, instructed other servants to present some chestnuts from Guangde. The agate-like nuts distracted her attention. She bit a shelled one. It was fragrant, sweet and sticky--- a feast and appetizer indeed. What’s more, the pain of her stomach reduced a lot after she had some. She then asked Li the sources and name of the food. Li said: “They are tribute of Guangde and they still lack a formal name. Can you bestow upon them a name?” Quite delightful to hear the news, she said: “It’s known to us that Guangde chestnuts are delicious. They do live up to their reputation. And the color is as good-looking as your bright red robe. So, let’s call them ‘Bright red robe’”.
From then on, Guangde chestnut has become famous as “Bright red robe” across the country.

参考答案：
Dahongpao Sweet Chestnuts
（汪精玲译）
The sweet chestnut in Guangde has its special past record and its name cannot be taken lightly. All chestnuts there are called Dahongpao, which in Chinese means a scarlet gown. It is said that the name was given by Empress Dowager Cixi of Qing Dynasty. The story goes like this:
That year, Cixi got so mad with her daughter-in-law, Emperor Tongzhi’s empress, that she lost appetite for anything, and what’s more, she had a pain in the stomach. A quick-minded eunuch named Li Lianying sent at once for sweet chestnuts, the new tribute from Guangde. Cixi looked at the agate-like chestnuts, had one shelled and then took a small bite. The taste was savory, sweet and glutinous. After finishing a couple of them, she felt her pain lightened/alleviated. When she was told by Li that the chestnuts had no formal name, Cixi gladly bestowed on them the title --- Dahongpao, for she felt the scarlet color of the shell was exactly like that of the servant’s (or the castrated man’s) gown. Since then, Guangde’s sweet chestnuts have become famous all over the land.

1. Translation of proper nouns
大红袍

慈禧太后
the empress dowager
Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi, Empress Dowager Tz'u-an
the two dowager empresses (Tz'u-an and Tz'u-hsi)
the Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi,
同治
Tung-Chih, Tung-Chih Emperor
(THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA
General editors: DENIS TWITCHETT and JOHN K. FAIRBANK
Cambridge University Press 1978)

2. The use of indefinite and definite articles: the, a, an

3. Translation of direct speeches

Homework
1. Review today’s work and do exercises 1-4 (P 31-32 Textbook)
2. Translate the following from English into Chinese (to be handed in).
Wranglers and Stranglers
Years ago, a group of brilliant young men at the University of Wisconsin威斯康星州seemed to have amazing creative literary talent. They were would-be poets, novelists and essayists. They were extraordinary in their ability to put the English language to its best use. These promising young men met regularly to read and critique each other's work. And critique it they did!
These men were merciless with one another. They dissected仔细分析 the most minute literary expression into a hundred pieces. They were heartless, tough, even mean in their criticism. The sessions became such arenas of literary criticism that the members of this exclusive club called themselves the "Stranglers."
Not to be outdone, the women of literary talent in the university were determined to start a club of their own, one comparable to the Stranglers. They called themselves the "Wranglers." They, too, read their works to one another. But there was one great difference. The criticism was much softer, more positive, more encouraging. Sometimes, there was almost no criticism at all. Every effort, even the most feeble微弱的 one, was encouraged.
Twenty years later, when an alumnus男校友 of the university conducted an exhaustive彻底的 study of his classmates' careers, he noticed a vast difference in the literary accomplishments of the Stranglers as opposed to与…相比 the Wranglers. Of all the bright young men in the Stranglers, not one had made a significant literary accomplishment of any kind. From the Wranglers had come six or more successful writers, some of national renown, such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote The Yearling.
Talent between the two? Probably the same. Level of education? Not much difference. But the Stranglers strangled, while the Wranglers were determined to give each other a life. The Stranglers promoted an atmosphere of contention争论 and self-doubt. The Wranglers highlighted the best, not the worst.
Ted Engstrom