翻译题目:

汉语是一种非常古老的语言。很多文献记载说明,汉字起来自于新石器年代仰韶文化时期,最早的汉字已有近4000年的历史。汉字在其漫长的进步史中演化出不一样的书写形式,比如篆书、隶书、楷书和行书。中国书法家笔下的汉字总是以字形的夸张获得艺术成效,比如一些旅游胜地的石刻碑文。

参考译文:

Chinese is a very ancient language. A large number of literary records indicate that Chinese characters originated from the Neolithic Age during the Yangshao culture period, and the earliest Chinese characters have a history of nearly 4,000 years. In its long history of development, Chinese characters have evolved into different writing styles, such as seal script, official script, regular script and cursive handwriting. Chinese calligraphers often use exaggerated shapes of Chinese characters to achieve artistic effects, such as stone inscriptions in some tourist attractions.

翻译分析:

1、专有名词翻译:

“新石器年代”被翻译为“the Neolithic Age”,这是国际通用的术语,用于描述人类历史上最早用石器工具的年代。

“仰韶文化时期”被翻译为“Yangshao culture period”,其中“仰韶”是文化名字的音译,而“文化时期”则说明了这一时期的特定文化阶段。

2、历史和文化背景转换:

“最早的汉字已有近4000年的历史”被翻译为“the earliest Chinese characters have a history of nearly 4,000 years”,准确地传达了汉字的古老性。

“汉字在其漫长的进步史中演化出不一样的书写形式”被翻译为“Chinese characters have evolved into different writing styles in their long history of development”,这里用了被动语态,强调了汉字进步史的动态过程。

3、书法术语翻译:

“篆书”、“隶书”、“楷书”和“行书”是中文书法的四种基本字体,分别被翻译为“seal script”、“official script”、“regular script”和“cursive handwriting”。这类翻译遵循了英文书法术语的常用表达。

4、艺术成效表述:

“中国书法家笔下的汉字总是以字形的夸张获得艺术成效”被翻译为“Chinese calligraphers often use exaggerated shapes of Chinese characters to achieve artistic effects”,这里用“exaggerated shapes”来传达“字形夸张”的定义,并用“achieve artistic effects”来讲明这种夸张带来的艺术成效。

5、举例说明:

“比如一些旅游胜地的石刻碑文”被翻译为“such as stone inscriptions in some tourist attractions”,这里的“石刻碑文”指的是刻在石头上的文字,用“stone inscriptions”来翻译,同时“tourist attractions”则准确地指出了这类石刻所在的地址。