今晚分享的這個(gè)句子來(lái)自本周知新共學(xué)12月翻譯群的一次練習(xí),選自經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人今年早些時(shí)候的一篇文章,標(biāo)題是Over 65 Shades of Grey。
This binary way of thinking, seeing retirement as a cliff edge over which workers and consumers suddenly tumble, bears little relation to the real world.
先摳詞吧:
Binary: consisting of two parts由兩部分組成的;二元的;雙重的
a binary star system 雙星系
比較難理解的是binary way of thinking,搜索一下平行文本可知:
binary thinking denotes a system of thought that predominantly considers things in an “either, or”, “right, wrong”, “black, white” way, ignoring any subtleties or consideration of third or more alternatives.
people who habitually think in this way are usually fairly unintelligent and unimaginative.
g.w. bush: “you’re either with us, or your with the terrorists”.
me: “wow, bush can only seem to understand the world through binary thinking…”
從上可知,這個(gè)是非黑即白、一刀切、極端絕對(duì)的思想。
值得注意的是,binary thinking的平行文本中,還有一句話是這樣解釋的:
It can also be thought of as "black and white" thinking; binary thinking means not accounting for or consideringshades of grey.
這里有個(gè)shades of grey也和這篇文章的標(biāo)題Over 65 Shades of Grey有異曲同工之妙,我要么考慮了黑的一面,要么考慮了白的一面,就是不考慮中間地帶的灰色一面。
說(shuō)多了,繼續(xù)摳詞:
tumble over/backwards/down: to fall down quickly and suddenly, especially with a rolling movement倒下,跌倒,摔倒; 滾
She lost her balance and tumbled backwards.
她失去了平衡,朝后倒去。
bear a relation to sb/sth:?to be similar to someone or something else與某人/某物相似/有關(guān):
The things she says bear little relation to what she actually does.她言行不太一致。
這句話最難的地方在于這個(gè)定語(yǔ)從句:retirement as a cliff edge over which workers and consumers suddenly tumble勞動(dòng)者和消費(fèi)者突然跌落的懸崖,不可能是他們真的跌落懸崖。
我們可以想象一下,跌落懸崖就是急轉(zhuǎn)直下,突然下跌。結(jié)合語(yǔ)境,前面說(shuō)退休,那么退休就不存在workers一說(shuō)了,不存在勞動(dòng)者了,說(shuō)明他的工作能力沒(méi)有了,等于是工作能力掉下懸崖了。另一方面,這句話所在段落的上面一段有說(shuō):
As the world greys, growth, tax revenues and workforces will decline while spending on pensions and health care will increase.
隨著世界老齡化加劇,經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)、稅收收入以及勞動(dòng)力都會(huì)出現(xiàn)衰退,而養(yǎng)老金和醫(yī)療保健上的支出卻會(huì)增加。
說(shuō)明退休之后,經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)會(huì)放緩,有個(gè)原因就在于消費(fèi)不足,老年人的消費(fèi)是比年輕人少很多的,他們的開支很大一部分是醫(yī)療,而醫(yī)療一般是國(guó)家在承擔(dān),不是自己掏錢的。
所以這里的消費(fèi)者掉下懸崖,意思應(yīng)該就是他們的消費(fèi)能力急轉(zhuǎn)直下。
綜上,worker借代的是工作能力,consumer借代的是消費(fèi)水平,也就是,人退休之后,工作能力和消費(fèi)水平都急轉(zhuǎn)直下/大不如前。群里一位譯友@艷艷姐 是這樣翻譯的:
將退休年齡看做涇渭分明的界限,似乎一旦過(guò)了這個(gè)線,工作狀態(tài)和消費(fèi)能力就會(huì)突然垮掉。
供參考。
最后提供官方譯文供參考:
仿佛臨退休就是走到了懸崖邊,員工和消費(fèi)者會(huì)猛然跌落。