A Deconstructive Analysis of Four Chinese Versions of The Old Man and the Sea

Translation does not take place in a vacuum and translation activities are affected and manipulated by the historical and social contexts,and neither the translator nor the translation is ever neutral.For deconstructionists,translations can never be identi⁃cal replicas of the source text,and translation augments and modifies the original.This paper aims to make a deconstructive analy⁃sis of the four Chinese versions of The Old Man and the Sea so as to probe into the rationality and necessity of the multi-versions of one same literary work.

Differences between Interpreting and Translation

本文并非学术性的专论,而是深入浅出地将口译和笔译的特点和区别介绍给读者。口译和笔译分别为interpreting和translation.文章的重点在前者,并将其分为consecutive(连贯口译或即席翻译)和simultaneous(同声传译)。如果读者认为同声传译一定比即席翻译难的话,不妨看一下作者的详细分析。 有些问题,笔者虽热衷翻译多年,却也未考虑过,如:The key skills of thetranslator are the ability to understand the source language and the culture ofthe country where the text originated,and,using a good library of dictionariesand reference materials,render that material into the target language.此言概括得极为精当,特别有见地的是开门见山地提出了翻译和文化的关系。从这些类似的论述中,读者似可一窥翻译工作的个中辛苦,理解成为一名experiencedinterpreter(还有translator)的不易。从这个意义上说,本对照读本的翻译工作虽已尽编写人员之心力,但由于翻译工作的高度复杂性,错讹之处肯定难免.欢迎广大读者的批评指正。